OceanicThai

This time it is a New Year's party at the beach and across the street at the Karaoke bar. They are both blasting music and we don't plan to get much sleep tonight. We took photos and video of the local kids doing dances at the beach show/party. When I got there just before 7p.m. the monks were still chanting. The boat the local men made is ready to float tomorrow at noon, on New Year's Day. Almost everyone in the entire area cut their fingernails and hair to put in the boat to take their sins of this past year away. A priest came to encourage everyone to "do good" to their families, their nation, their community.

Saturday we did the party at the Nam Chem church we help out in, Wednesday we brought a group of 5 Baang Sak kids to the party at the Pak Ping church in Bang Niang. Thursday we picked up my dad from the airport after grocery shopping in Phuket. Friday we took the Southern Thailand Orphanage kids and the couple who runs it out to dinner then another church Christmas party at the provincial center of Phang Nga. My dad wanted to do something special for the orphans, so this is what we did. I think they had a lot of fun, and it was special for them. We also wrapped up presents for all 16 kids that went. The littlest ones stayed behind with the other orphanage staff. We got back at 10:00p.m. and I was amazed at what a trouper my dad was, considering jet lag. Today we had a Thai-style "beginning construction" ceremony, but done in both English and Thai, and of course as Christians, not as Theravada Buddihists would do, meaning we did not invite spirits to come dwell in the ...

We went out today to the houses built by the foundation Dean worked with and passed out Christmas cards and brochures about the center that is going to be built in the next several months. It was a great opportunity to meet the people of Baang Sak, this village, and see the houses Mercy Foundation built. I think they must be the nicest of all the foundation houses built here. I encouraged all the local Thai kids to come learn English at the center once it is built. The parents want them to learn both English and computers so they can get a good job someday. It is a good opportunity for their future, especially with all the resorts that are opening up around this area. I am wishing and praying for someone to come help me homeschool the kids, or that an international school will open up near here. There is so much more I want to be involved in, but my first priority is my family, and I can't shirk on my kid's education. I have been gaining proficiency in Thai and I can do ...

Click the title above to see pictures. This marks year 2 since the tsunami and this area had memorials up and down the coast. This is a day of rememberance and mourning, but Thais don't mourn like we do in America, even funerals are parties. It doesn't mean people aren't sad and devasted, it is just another way of dealing with pain. Eating, trying to have fun, trying to laugh, spending a lot of time with friends and avoiding being alone, that is how it's done here. Today marks the anniversary of thousands of deaths, and a day of great suffering for people in this part of the world, on the Indian Ocean. This is also the day that marks a great outpouring of compassion from around the world. Blessings to each of you that helped in some way here on the Andaman Sea.

We had dinner at Amnaat's house again last night, Wednesday evening. His younger son turned 5 years old. Grandma and a sister-in-law cooked up a Thai feast for everyone, mostly adults. We sat at a table outside and on mats. It probably didn't look like a birthday party, there were no decorations, no hats, no cake, just a handful of kids who were related to each other and a bunch of us adults eating Thai food. There were birthday presents, though, and he was all excited. Amnaat's wife died in the tsunami here in Baang Sak. He lives in a tsunami foundation house that belongs to his mother-in-law, built by Dean the guy we are working with, who got the project going to get 51 houses in this village rebuilt. Dean is quite a hero here. Now he is gearing up for his last building project, an Outreach Center for the community, to offer English, Computer, Guitar & a daycare center for working moms. We will be helping at the center along with another Thai Christian couple from Eas...

I was showing our wedding picture to a Thai neighbor yesterday when it dawned on me that today was going to be our our 15th wedding anniversary. Our friends just laughed at us, what a thing to forget! We forget all kinds of things, living here. Anyway, we asked Gee to watch the kids so we could go out on a little date tonight. She brought her little son, Pooh (As in Winnie the Pooh,) is his Thai nickname and they all had fun together. Jasper played the toy piano and Pooh danced around. They watched Tom & Jerry cartoons & ate fried chicken, Thai style, with rice. We, meanwhile, went to a local restaurant, The Viking Steak House, and had Jaegerschnitzel, my favorite dish there. 550 Baht seemed expensive for our meal until I realized that it was cheap for American standards, $15 for the total bill. Then we went out to buy milk and some other things for the house. We weren't even gone 2 hours, which we both found pretty funny. We thought about taking a romantic walk,...

Mayhem, madness, insanity, frenetic, frantic, mosquito-infested, sweaty, smelly, muggy, dusty, trashed out, loud, bezerk, outdoors tables laden with spicy, noodley dishes and mounds of rice, garish plastic decorations and multi-colored streamers and lights, babies crying, dogs barking, kids screaming, music-blaring, MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THAILAND!!! Celebrating Christmas is very different here in Thailand. It is not a national holiday, so it is a "business as usual" kind of day. Most Thais think Christmas is the day Westerners celebrate the birth of Santa Claus. Everywhere all over the country here this month Thai churches are gearing up for their annual Christmas party, which is probably like no other party you have ever attended! Everything is set up outside. A stage will be set up for the program/show with a bank of ear-shattering speakers and microphone. Dinner will be prepared for crowds of hundreds, children and adults. The cooks will wake up at 3-4a.m. to go to the mark...