OceanicThai

Loei - The provincial administration of this northern provinces Friday announced cold-spell disaster zones in 14 districts.Suthep Maneechote, Loei chief disaster mitigation officer, said the temperature in the province has been below 15 Celsius degree for three consecutive days, so the province announced its 14 districts disaster zones.The announcement allowed the provincial administration to provide urgent help to the people affected by the cold spell.He said the provincial administration has provided blankets to about half of the people in need bout about 50,000 more still need help.The Nation (15 degrees Celsius=60 degrees Fahrenheit)

Last Saturday we had a super-tide, they only come at certain times of year, & I thought it was just Spring. The moon was full and we went to the beach at 4p.m. to swim & play. The tide was very, very low and we could see our neighboring Molken Sea Gypsies collecting something in string bags, at least 14 or so people. We left on our shoes and began walking, splashing, & wading to see what kind of sea-creatures we could see. We found a lot of big black sea-cucumbers; if you pick them up they may spit out their poisonous intestines. We saw large sea-urchins, mostly dark purple with long, poisonous spines; they are fun to roll around, just don't get poked. Lots of schools of tiny fish, nurseries just waiting to grow up and explore the sea. We saw different seaweeds, sea anemone , crabs, clams, hermit crabs, weird looking flounders ( I think that's what they were) with both eyes on top of their head, with a cartoon-like mouth and a flat underbelly resembling a slug. The...

Sort of...it is American pumpkin pie, but I use Thai pumpkins instead of a can or an American pumpkin, you know, Jack-O-Lantern type pumpkins. Thai pumpkins are a splotchy dark green, with yellow and orange blended in here and there. They are very hard, and when I cut it open I use a big cleaver and hope I won't lose any fingers. Then I slice it, take the seeds out, brush with butter and bake it for an hour or so. I add the usual other ingredients, can of condensed milk, 3/4 cup sugar, spices, 1 Tbl oil, 2 eggs. I toss it all in the blender and blend until the big chunks are little chunks...then pour into my delicious homemade pie crust. Ahhh ...this has got to be some of the best pumpkin pie in the world...right here in Southeast Asia. Just ask my kids! (Not that they've had any other.)

This time it was in our livingroom, under the Christmas tree. Jasper glimpsed it first, and Froot Loop our dog went after it. Jasper didn't see it clearly, and came running to tell me there was an animal under our Christmas tree. I grabbed a big pestle made of rock thinking it was probably a rat or something. I moved out furniture, first one hinged box, then the next, and I saw it...a long black snake. I told Jasper to get back and the dog started barking and chasing it. I kept hearing a very strange noise, like the cat hissing, except our cat wasn't around. The snake made its way out from under the tree area and went behind the couch, the dog in hot pursuit. I jumped on an ottoman and then decided I wanted to see what kind of snake it was. So I hopped on the couch and looked down at the snake and our dog. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. It was reared up, hooded, and striking at our dog. I jumped down, screamed for the kids to run upstairs, and called Ken. He...

We celebrated with friends, and it was special...all that delicious American food. In the past 8 years we've missed most Thanksgivings. It isn't celebrated here, of course, and things like turkey and cranberries are imported and very expensive. Just not native fare here in tropical Southeast Asia. So yesterday was special. Some families must have brought pecans from home, because we had pecan pie, too. Boy, it's been years since I've had pecan pie! (So of course I had to have 2 helpings.) No cranberries. We did have some yummy ham, though. So that was a little bit of wonderful. Hope you had a bit of wonderful, too.

Yesterday Jasper came running home from the center with a big beetle from our Thai partners. Today he asked me if he could run over there and get another one. I let him go after school, and he came back without a beetle. "Did you get a beetle, Jasper?" "No." "How come?" "They got eaten." "What ate them?" "The people." It took me a minute to remember that our dear Thai partners like to fry up and eat big beetles...and I had a good long laugh when I remembered.

Click on the title above to go to the archive of articles. The 3 most dangerous counties are about a 10-hour drive from here, so what we get is a lot of warnings and an occasional small incident (like our veterinarian getting his fingers blown off by the plug-in.) Not small for our veterinarian , but smaller than the multi-death bombings, shootings, and mayhem that have become a daily occurrence deep South from here. I have also kept track of some of the articles in my Thai Political Blog, link on right. I keep them in a separate blog. Time to make dinner.

Today I went with my friend and Thai-coworker Khrua to get an authentic ancient Thai massage. At $6 a person for an hour, it is definitely worth it, if you don't mind a little pain...Thai massage isn't for the faint-hearted! First I change into a loose cotton outfit and lay down on a mat. The "Massage Doctor" ( Moh Nuat ) puts my feet together and smashes them down, one on top of the other. After a nice, firm foot massage, they apply hard pressure to my thigh to cut off the blood supply to my artery, and when I think I can't stand it anymore, they let go. Then my legs are massaged with penetrating fingers, and they ask me, "Does this hurt?" Usually I say, with teeth clenched together, "May pen ray" or "No problem." If I start squeaking they usually try to tone it down. After that they put my body into a kind of pretzel position and squish me down with their whole body weight, then they do the other side. My knuckles are po...

My favorite classes in college were Cultural Anthropology and Philosophy, both were mind-openers, mind-benders, and I got credit for it all, too. I lived in Germany for 3 years and thoroughly enjoyed it. Before we left for Thailand we spent a term in cultural training, too. Yet no book or class prepares you for the real thing. My first year in Thailand was a blur of culture shock. Then, after learning the language and setting off to work with national Thai partners, I was in for another major, even worse, bout of culture shock...as I learned how it really is here. Meaning what? Learning what people were thinking behind those beautiful smiles, learning about the daily grind of the farmer in the village, and hardest of all, what these people I wanted to get to know and love really thought of me and other westerners. It was hard, too, learning what my Thai friends were thinking about life, others, me. It is one thing to learn about another facinating culture, it is another to li...

Teaching English every night from Monday to Friday, that is. It was my idea, of course, so I can't blame anyone else but me! It is more tiring than I thought it would be. I enjoy teaching English, but I think I am overstretching my schedule. Homeschooling all day, then an hour of reading Thai for fluency, then making dinner, then running off to teach English at 6 p.m. This past week was week #2 and I could barely do anything Thursday and Friday evenings. Thankfully, Dean's interns, Kory and Trevor, were there, too. They helped me out so much. After our Friday evening English lesson we have our cell group, Bible study, and I dozed through most of that. Kennedy was away at meetings 5 hours away in another town this past week, but he is back and when we start up this coming week I think we are going to have to switch off. Wonderwoman, energizer bunny, I am not. What was I thinking? I was thinking, this is what it is going to take for these kids to really learn English so they can ...

Tropical Flowers on the Porch Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Kennedy & Jasper picked these for me. It's amazing to think all of these beautiful flowers came from our yard!

Sweet Puppy Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here's Buk Luk/Froot Loop on my lap. He's such a sweet dog, he loves everyone, even our cat.