An expat staycation

One of the great advantages of being an expat is the travel. Singapore for the weekend. Tropical beach just because. China for spring break. Michigan in the summer. But that can have a downside too, namely that whenever you have time off, you are on the road so you never get to just "be" at home. This past week I spent my spring break at home. And it was glorious. Lazy mornings in my own bed. Dinners with friends. A baseball game or two. A haircut. A pedicure. A massage. Afternoons spent with friends who will be leaving in June. A book no longer waiting to be read.  A seafood lunch with a non-teacher friend I just don't see often enough. And at the end of the week my body is rested, my house is clean, and my laundry is done. I do love to travel, and can't wait for my adventures in June and July, but it does feel pretty nice to have just lived life at home for the past week and not need to unpack and resettle and recover from vacation. 

Maundy: A new commandment

Maybe this sounds a bit weird, but my favorite church service of the year at my home church, Knox, is Maundy Thursday. I love their service of shadows. I like the way it's dark and hushed and solemn as we prepare for Gethsemane. I like how Communion is done in family, in community. I like its sense of reverence and reflection. I miss it.  At one point this winter I was actually considering flying home for spring break this year,  and having it coincide with Holy Week and a Maundy Thursday trip to Knox had crossed my mind. 

There is a church here that I like to visit for Maundy Thursday, a small Anglican church downtown that flat out wins the prize for best church building in the city. It's old, small, traditional, beautiful. The liturgy is not what I am used to, but I don't mind, and in some ways, I enjoy that every word is crafted, considered, and heavy with meaning. It fits the day somehow. Last night, I particularly enjoyed what the Vicar (I do believe that is the first time in you life I have ever used that word in context, not such an American one!) had to say- intellectual, biblical, Christ centered, and thought provoking. 

Maundy, apparently, means command or mandate, as in Jesus' words to the disciples, a new command I give to you, that you love one another. He spoke about washing feet, about service and love, about abiding, about being willing to just receive it all- how we are always trying to do things for Jesus instead of receive Jesus. He spoke about allowing Jesus to care for us so that we can care for others. In many ways, not anything earth shattering. But it all frames differently for me under the title Commandment Thursday and I'm left wondering a bit how I could get this far without knowing what it meant. There are a lot of funny words floating around churches, I guess I just chalked it up to being a funny church word and moved on. 

Being challenged to both let Jesus wash our feet and then to go and do likewise looks a lot different as a mandate. We all know the line in Jesus' reply, that if Peter doesn't allow his feet to be washed than he has no part with Jesus, but how often do I see it as a command to receive? To receive in prayer, receive in the Word, receive in the vulnerability that says to someone else, I need help. I'm a picky person, and nothing makes me pickier than needing help. In Jesus we have a High Priest who helps us in our weakness, and often he helps us by the people he puts in our lives, if we are willing to receive. 

It's easy to receive, to abide in him, in church. It gets a bit harder when we walk out the door. Or before we walk in it. My week off had not been going to plan. Instead of spending my time resting and socializing and rejuvenating, I'd been just trying to keep it together. In the hours immediately preceding church I was busy beating myself up for not being able to find the restaurant my friend and I were going to eat at before church, leading to a hot sticky walk down streets with which I was not very familiar and then a rushed dinner at a different restaurant and last hurried scramble to get to church on time. Anything that goes wrong in Bangkok in April is made worse by the oppressive heat and humidity that envelop the city, sticking to your pores like glutinous rice in a toddler's hair. It's a small price to pay for missing the Polar Vortex, I know, but it's obnoxious all the same. 

So it was nice to walk under the arches of the airconditioned and stained glass church at 7:02, already a few lines into the service, and hear the words Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name, and shortly after be commanded by Jesus to receive, to abide, to serve, and to love. As we reflected on Jesus' last hours with his disciples, it was good to be reminded that the work was already done, his body broken and his blood spilled, and to be directed to simply receive it, receive him, and then go and love as he loves us. 

And now you prepare a table for us offering us not just bread and wine but your very self, so that we may be filled, forgiven, healed, blessed and made new again. 

Elephants in Chiang Mai

Last weekend Robin and I had the chance to go to Chiang Mai and spent a day at Elephant Nature Park. There are many 'elephant options' there but this one seemed like the best fit for her. The park is an elephant rescue center that has morphed into more of an animal rescue center. After the floods in 2011 they rescued dogs trapped in the floods and now have over 400 of them living in the park. They don't let you ride the elephants, but you are able to feed them, bathe them, and spend a fair amount of time just watching them. You also get to be pretty up close and personal with them at times, which leads to some great pictures. We spend the rest of our time in CM eating amazing food, exploring markets, visiting a temple, lounging by the pool, and getting a massage. Great weekend! 

Feeding time 

I was nervous that bathing time would be full on swimming with them, but we just splashed huge with water, which was fun. And then they promptly went and rolled in the mud again. I guess it keeps them cool and acts like sunscreen. 

Baby elephant in her way to roll in the mud.

Robin really enjoyed the many dogs at the park! 

To nuke, or not to nuke

I don't own a microwave. I've never actually owned one, though most places I have lived have had one. Some people think I'm a little bit nuts for not having one, my own mother for example, but I kind of like it. I spent about half my years in Argentina living with a friend who had a no microwave policy and from watching her, I learned how to make and reheat anything you wanted without one. So when I moved here and had to outfit an entire kitchen from scratch I knew that a microwave was a want, not a need. 

I don't have anything against the microwave and honestly, most of the time I forget that I don't have one. I've grown accustomed to stove top popcorn and reheating food in the toaster oven or on the stove. I do sometimes think that maybe blasting our food with radiation is not the best plan in the world and can get a little puffed up about the whole thing, about not relying on such a modern contraption, but I wouldn't say I'm anti microwave. I certainly eat plenty nuked food at other people's houses. 

But now I'm thinking of buying one. Friends who are moving to the States are selling their Magic Machine, an oven/microwave combo that just might revolutionize my life. Or at least my corn muffins. It can literally bake or nuke, depending on the setting. If I recall, it might even grill too. I've seen entire Thanksgiving dinners created in one of these things. Pie, turkey, you name it. Problem is, it doesn't toast, which means it can't replace the toaster oven and thus I end up with another gadget in my rather small and crowded kitchen. The only place for it, in fact, is on top of the fridge. A bit unsightly. And then there's my pride, joining the throngs across the globe with the ability to reheat a cup of tea in 30 seconds. To nuke or not to nuke, that my friends, is the question.