OceanicThai

I ate a whole bar of chocolate today. Tomorrow morning I will go running to do penance. (Hopefully.) I told Kennedy not to buy me any more chocolate.

Okay, it was actually a cell group, but it does feel like a party! Auntie wanted it at her place so we went up there around 7 p.m. toting curries, rice in rice-cooker, fried garlic dried pork, some scary hot pepper/fermented fish concoction, & unfrosted cupcakes baked by Poppy. (They can hardly stand the frosting on cakes, it is too sweet.) Auntie Ron is in her 50's and is a tsunami-Christian. We were a little surprised to see a spirit shelf on her wall, complete with idol, incense & candles, but we will talk about that one later, it often takes Thais a long time to get over their fears of retribution from the spirits. Maybe seeing all of us looking at it will be the catalyst she needs to get over her fear and take it down. Her son and his friend working at a nearby resort were there, too. Some of us got out the family photo books and started flipping around in them. We wondered if the "lady-boy" in the pictures was him or someone else, another brother??? Later, K...

It really depends on what country you live in, so I've learned. In the U.S.A my closet looks pretty empty. Here in Thailand it looks pretty full to the average Thai. I have 3 pairs of decent shoes, 2 pairs of of shredded shoes, and for the average American woman, that is pretty much "half-empty" yet, as you are already anticipating, here in Thailand, it is plenty for most. When the average American walks in our house, they might think, "Boy, I'm glad my house doesn't look like that!" Yet, to the average Thai, it is a house to inspire at least a little envy. (We now have tiled floors instead of grey cement, and our house is really cute.) There are always exceptions to the rule, of course. There are also incredibly wealthy Thais, and incredibly poor Americans. As the years go by and people ask me to describe anything, I have to think first, from what viewpoint shall I explain it??? And, of course, what is it that they really want to know?