Discovering the crazy streets of Ram 2

You know there's that saying: "When it rains, it pours." If I may be so bold to say the opposite, "when it shines, it shines bright." And I'm saying this both literally and figuratively.  I hate to sound like a broken record, but the days are steadily getting hotter, and every passing breeze is sanctuary from the humidity.  Figuratevily speaking, the crazy streets of Ram 2 (Ramkhamaeng 2 - the neighborhood I live in in Bangkok), are shining brighter with the friendly, bright smiles of my neighbors.  I mean, Thai people are nice, but seriously??? They are so overwhelmingly hospitable! The other day, I was rushing home from church so that I could change to play some volleyball with the university students when I ran into some of my students that I taught earlier in the day.  They had a bag of mangoes with them and "Ploy" handed me a mango saying, "ma moo-ang!" I gladly accepted, and as she was handing me one, another gentlemen was telling her to give me more - I gladly accepted those as well! Woo hoo! free mangoes! I thanked the kids, I thanked the nice gentleman, and as I continued to rush home, a grandmother, who...whom...I greet every morning stopped me and gave me two MORE mangoes and she told me "Priow" (sour).  I told her, "Aroi Mak!" (It's delicious!)...again, I attempted to rush home, and the grandmother ushered me across the street to the nice gentleman's home (meanwhile, the nice gentleman was yelling into his house telling his daughter to come downstairs) and he gave me a bagful of mangoes and told me that they are from his farm! I was drooling at the mouth...fresh fresh mangoes...love. His daughter came downstairs and she began speaking to me in English really well, explaining to me that the mangoes from her father's farm are sweet, while the mangoes the grandmother gave me are sour.  Meanwhile, the grandmother was cutting up the mangoes, and gave me some to try with a mango dip which she forewarned, "pet" (spicy). I told her "chaup pet!" (I like spicy!).  The mango dip tasted like tamarind, anchovies, shallots, fish sauce, and some other fun stuff. But it was really really good. I made friends with that household, eating fresh mangoes, trying mango dip (who knew there was such a thing!), and got the daughter's digits and I'm hoping we can hang out so that I can get me some more mangoes...haha..jk jk jk. She wants to learn more English and I told her I would help her.
:) ANYWAY...I finally made it home, changed as fast as my sweatiness would allow me, and made my way back down my neighborhood street...they all yelled "bbai exercise mai?" (going to exercise?)...haha, they're so cute!!!! I speed-walked down and came across my students again, sitting down on a porch of another man's house (who I also say hi to everyday), and I told them to have a nice dinner, and the nice man was telling me to sit down with them to eat!!! Hahaha...SO SWEET!
ahhhhhh...the crazy streets of Ram 2 - crazy crazy sweet. I love it.
Later in the evening, I ran into yet another friend named "Ray" at the night market.  I didn't immediately know that she was there, but I recognized her dog, and so I popped my head into the store and saw that she owned one of the shops! So we got to talking...and she's such a sweet lady. She's currently taking language classes at the church so I get to see her on a weekly basis, although she isn't one of my students.
So yes...when it shines...it SHINES! :) LOVE!!!!

here are some pictures to update on these past weeks:

Rayong

as a university event, we went to plant trees at a marsh.  

I've never done anything like that before and it was the coolest thing ever...

Saving the planet is fun stuff! Go Captain Planet!

our awesome group of university students

doing my part diligently to save the planet

grow well and beautifully my two little trees! 

I named them Adam and Eve. :)

so hungry from all that work!!! :)

Yes, those are plastic bags on my legs...in a desperate attempt to avoid going bare feet.

Makha Bucha Day 

yay for Buddhist holidays!

On my first holiday off, Carolyn and I invited the lovely Napada ladies over to our place

P' Pawn, P' Nong, P' Jompi - barbecuing...mmmmmmm

P' Pawn, P' Jompi, P' Wi cooking up some Som Tam (papaya salad)

Som Tam - green beans, fish oil, sugar, lime, fish sauce, tomatoes, brown stuff, peppers, and other stuff...

P' Wi is an amazing cook. <3

The menu - 4 different types of Som Tam, at 4 levels of Spicy-ness.

...my defrosted contribution...heh~

P' Nong getting ready to bake some cupcakes

Won- da-ful!!! ^^ I had a lot of fun decorating...

Sweet sweet P' Wi... <3

Var - she's one of my students, and also P' Jompi's daughter!

on the table: playing UNO

on the floor: playing Rhumikub

we played UNO for 3 hours.... 

if only I could translate how to play Monopoly Deal and Camps...

so much fun with these great ladies

Saturday Classes

ahahaha!!! So cute!!!

<3

Have a great week everyone!

Indeed, it has been a great week of exploration.

There's been a lot going on on this side of the world - the weather has been getting steadily hotter, a little bit more humid, and I definitely did not pack enough underwear for the amount of showers I'm taking. 
--___-- ........ 


But I'm still so grateful to be here and really taking everyday as they come - everyday has been different and new - I thought that by now I would get into a routine, but it has been the complete opposite!!! Every hour is filled with something to do, someone to meet, something to EAT and when I can squeeze in the time, something to blog about. Here are few places I visited in the past week:

At the night market near our house - there was a quaint Chinese New Years carnival going on.  I tried to win that fake Hello Kitty pillow, but couldn't pop the seven balloons required...even if I tried 3 times and wasted more money than it's actual worth  :(

At Mahatthai with the Joy Kids - we learned about Ruth and Boaz, and the kids are busily coloring away. :)

Some of the Joy Kids! There is a Thai game that involves powder, and well, these kiddies couldn't get away fast enough. NARAK MAK! (very cute!)

At Napada Handcrafts once again.  See all that smoke outside? There are men, with these Ghostbuster packs on, and they go around spraying chemicals to kill all the mosquitos.  Apparently, they kill roaches too because when we went outside there were roaches squirming everywhere. BLEH.

Heading to Sichang Island for my day off...

a day off at the BEACH! is it really only February 10? :)

Clear  - as the clear blue sky - water...can't wait to jump in!

It was a pretty empty beach - empty enough to feel like a private beach. LOVED IT.

soaking in some sun - on my toes. :)

The Grand Palace 

More of the Grand Palace 

ok these two pictures are a but a smidgen of the actual massiveness of this area. 

At the flower market!!! that's $2 for a bouquet of roses...

Pretty orchids....which are also super cheap.

Dinner on the pier after a hard days work...just kidding 

After visiting the Grand Palace and the Flower Market. A perfect way to end the day. :)

:) 

Drinking some chocolate drinks with one of my classes.  

I teach these girls English on Saturday. <3 They're all in junior high

Until next time! Jje geun mai ka!

the shoes are starting to fit...

3 weeks - well, almost...

sometimes I wake up and think that I've been here for much longer than that, like 3 months...then I step outside and am quickly reminded that all I can say for now is "Sawasdee ka." Anything beyond that becomes a game of charades and the universal language of smiling and nodding to who knows what...

Nonetheless, everyday is a great game of charades, an endless supply of smiles and enough nods to deserve a Thai massage... (soon grace...soon).

I'm starting to get the hang of putting words together to make a coherent sentence, and there is no cheaper thrill than saying something in a completely new language and actually understanding it - but more so, natives actually understanding it.  I'm sure that some Thai are just nodding, much like I do when I speak Thai to them, but hey...it's at least so very encouraging. <3

Here's my newest trick:

"chan maa chaak pratheet America, chan pen khon gao lee."

I am from America, but I am Korean.

I tell ya, I've struggled with this whole dual identity thing before when I was younger, but not like this!

I know that when Thai ask me where I'm from, they are expecting me to say "China" or "Japan" haha, but you can see the disappointment on their face when I say "America"

and so goes the dialogue...almost every time, with almost every Thai I've met here:

Thai: Where you come from?
me: with a inner battle in my head going on, I blurt out "America"

Thai: (slight disappointment) Where are you parents from?

me: From Korea

Thai: (with much excitement) ohhhhhh!!!! do you speak Korean?

me: Yes I do!

Thai: ohhhhhhh!!!!! do you know (with variation), "Dae Jang Geum", "Wonbin", "2PM", "I love Korean dramas!"

me: oh! haha...yes they are fun...(secretly hoping that they don't ask me much more than that, seeing as I've only seen ONE in the last 8 years....)

Anyway...it is a great blessing to be Korean-American, and I've really praised God for that...it's been helping a lot to build relationships and start conversation. :) Dae Han Min Gook! and God Bless America! :)

Ministry has also been going really well - I'm starting to get the hang of daily life and really enjoying the "relaxed-ness"(i know...i just made that word up) of Thai culture. This week has been a lot of visiting the Napada handicraft ministry.  They're going to be selling bags up in Chiang Mai this coming weekend (please keep them in your prayers), and that's been keeping them really busy, on top of 2 huge orders that came in.  So Carolyn and I have been spending a lot of time there helping out...cutting loads of fabric.  I managed to scrape some pieces with me today....do what with it? no idea...maybe sew them togehter and make a patch. Hahaha IDK.

different pieces to make an original Napada bag!

Campus ministry is going well - tonight we invited a few of the college students to our place and me, being the Korean and amazing chef, I cooked Shin Ramyun...hahahaa...I can't believe I cooked Ramyun for them!!! anyway it was fun and it was nice for me to eat some Korean home-cooking. I didn't think I missed it...but I dooooooooo....someone send me some samgyupsal! :)

anyway, the kids are great! fun, willing, and receptive - so please pray for them too! I hope I can focus a lot more on campus ministry. I tried to teach them the "babo" game, but it died pretty fast...and then I realized that all the games I knew had to do with numbers. And Katie so wisely said: "well no wonder you Koreans are so good at math." - I personally stink at math, but wow...we really have a lot of number games. We ended up playing the Thai version of 3-6-9 - the Thai version is the same, except you clap on the 3's and 5's. hahhaa...and these are my wonderful friends who lost and being punished. >:)

This is called the "Roti" dance - a punishment dance 

 Amazing Shin Ramyun and Neugori 

brought to you by Grace.

yum.