Steel Orchid: Off to the movies!

I headed out after school today well prepared.  I had changed into jeans, grabbed a warm sweatshirt, put a pair of socks in my purse, and I was off: to the movies.  I had heard that the theaters here were cold, and it did not disappoint.  By the end of the movie, my nose was numb.  If I ever start missing the chill of Michigan winter I can save myself the airfare and go to a theater.  The theaters here are very nice, and if you want to pay more, there are even luxury recliners you can sit in.  One thing that was different here was that you select your seat when you buy your ticket. At first I was a bit surprised and not sure what she was asking me.  But it really makes sense.  Seats were assigned in the order that the tickets were purchased, and you could sit with your group if you came with a lot of people. With only about 8 of us in the theater today, that wasn't an issue, but I can see how it could be and assigned seats would be a nice feature.  Before every movie in Thailand, between the previews and the actual film, the king's anthem is played, which everyone stands for.  I really liked the pictures of the king's life that they showed during the anthem and the people's love for their king was evident- it gave me chills (and yes, it was the song and pictures, not the AC).  At long last I settled into my seat, leaned back, and the show began.

Just what movie had enticed me to the theater on a Monday afternoon?  The Lady, the biographic film about Aung San Suu Kyi.  It's rare that I go see a movie (about once a year) and is almost always for a specific movie, and not just to see something.  The Lady did not disappoint.  Even though I have been reading a lot about her since my trip in November, I still knew very little about her life before her house arrest. I knew she was the leader for democracy in Burma, but I didn't know why.  The movie, like Hotel Rwanda last week, brought me to tears on several occasions, but despite the loss and grief, it also inspires hope. 

One thing that really struck me was the depth of the sacrifice that she and her family had to make on behalf of so many Burmese people.  There were many periods of painful separation from her husband and sons.  It reminded me about several verses from the Bible, about leaving behind family and friends to follow Jesus.  It reminded me that missionaries throughout the world go through painful separation from family and friends on behalf of many people in many nations.  And, it reminded me that many times the struggle is even greater for those who are left behind.

So I definitely walked out of the movie wanting to hug my family and hold them a little closer from this side of the world.  But I also walked out with a spirit in me to keep on keeping on.  To keep on doing what God has called me to do- teaching my students in both mathematics and the love and knowledge of God, to keep on empowering at risk children by teaching them English, to keep on working for justice in this world in whatever small ways that we can- a voice for the voiceless.  Wherever you are today, I encourage you to continue to fight for true freedom and justice for those around you.  As my dear friend likes to quote, we can not do everything, but we can each do something. And maybe make one of those somethings going out and watching The Lady.  It's a pretty good place to be inspired.

My favorite soi dog

So, I think I have mentioned this guy before.  He lives on our soi (street) and every single time I walk past him, he is sleeping.  And, just like our dear Champ, he has a scar across his nose.  Every time I walk past him I wish I had my camera, and today, I did happen to have my camera as I walked into 7-11 where he was sleeping right outside the door- one of his favorite spots.  He wagged his tail as I walked up to take the picture, but didn't bother to smile for the camera. 

Champ's Thai twin

Tea and treats in toasty temps

First, my apologies for forgetting to take my camera anywhere for about a month now... I'll get back on that. 

Second, I love living in the tropics.  It's hot, yes. I get sweatier than I would like at time, yes. But with cascades of sunshine most days of the year (which I like to look at, but not necessarily stand in) and no need for sweaters or boots or long underwear or mittens or any of the rest of that stuff, I cannot complain.  I love running errands in flip flops year round.  I love the open air hallways of our school and my apartment building.  I love green plants growing outside in February.  Maybe in a few years I could start missing Michigan's winters, but not right now.  Probably the only thing I miss about the cold is cute jackets, which you can't even wear in the depth of winter anyway because the cutest ones are never warm enough for the worst of it.  I certainly hope that spring comes early for all of you- right as your weather starts warming up, ours will go from hot to hottest and maybe then I'll want to trade places with you :)

Today I am going to a tea room downtown with a friend who grew up in London.  Last weekend we were both craving a proper cup of tea, so I was very excited to hear about this tea room.  Of all my experiences from Scotland, tea has had one of the bigger impacts on my life (if you discount the fact that Scotland was actually a precursor to my moving abroad to teach).  It wasn't too hard to get tea with milk in Argentina, and it's easier here than in the US (I just about gag every time they bring me a Lipton bag, though more and more places are starting to carry good tea and understand my request for milk) but it's still not real common here to be able to get it done right. 

Tomorrow is my last Sunday of English teaching before I have a weekend off and then switch (I think!) back to Saturdays.  It will be so nice to be able to go to church again- I miss it! 

Travels ahead :)

I haven't blogged yet this week because I have busy doing two things: eating dinner with friends (each night this week so far, which has been fun) and buying airline tickets. 

On Monday I was putzing around waiting to meet my friend for dinner so I perused airline tickets for this summer.  I've just been fare watching lately.  I've discovered that I can save significant money (usually) by flying to Chicago and then either getting a ride from my dad or taking the Megabus or Amtrak the rest of the way.  In order to go to Argentina in July, I have two itineraries to book that need to be closely linked together on the return trip: ie, the times must fit perfectly.  Short story is I had to book them at the exact same time to ensure this would all work.  Well, when I looked on Monday one itinerary had dropped $300 since I looked last time and the other had dropped $100.  Both were pretty good prices for the trips. I knew I had a decent deal on Buenos Aires, and was relieved to find out at school the next day that the Thailand-USA ticket was also a decent price. 

So on June 3rd-4th, I head to Chicago via Korea. 
On July 6th-7th I go from Chicago to Buenos Aires vis Panama and Peru.
On July 27th-28th I return to Chicago via Colombia and Panama. 
Then the 28th-29th I come back here via Korea again.  If all goes well, I'll have 12 hours on the ground in Chicago to go to my dad's house and shower and sleep. 
My first day back at work is July 30th :) 

Yesterday I also fulfilled a nearly life-long wish: I booked a ticket to Singapore.  When I was a kid my parents worked with Asian Outreach, a group on UM's campus.  We got to be very close with several students, and two of them even lived with our family at various times.  One such student was Uncle Pong. He was from Singapore, so I grew up hearing about this far-away magical island where is was always hot and the food was delicious.  And at the age of 8 I decided that someday, I was going to go there.  Uncle Ping's girlfriend came to visit while he was in Ann Arbor, so we got to know Aunt Choon as well.  So at the end of March, I am flying to Singapore for 4 days to spend time with Uncle Pong and Aunt Choon and their four kids (teenagers by now) and to experience the wonder and magic of Singapore.  Obviously, from an adult perspective, I know that Singapore is not magical, but I do know it's a great place to visit and I can't wait to go! 

Tonight, no dinner with friends or airline tickets.  I'm feeling kind of under the weather- there's a major bug going around school, so I came home a bit early from school and slept for an hour. I'll heat up some leftover Issan (northern Thai) food from Tuesday and relax and skype with my mom before an early trip to bed.  I  hope I don't get this as bad as everyone else...

God Wins: thoughts on genocide

I'm not a huge movie person.  There are essentially two kinds of movies I like: based on a true story and based on a Jane Austen novel.  This evening I watched one of the former, Hotel Rwanda.  On Friday I borrowed a copy from a friend and after a hot day at Nak Suu today I decided to relax in the AC and watch it.  Several years ago I read Left to Tell  by Immaculée Ilibaguza (which I believe is currently in the Collins library) and it left a deep impression on me.  So on my flights here in January I read We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by Philip Gourevitch (which I will return to the Collins library in June).  Both books deal with the horrific events of 1994 which are the root cause of horrific events in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today.  When I was job searching a little over a year ago Kigali was one of the cities receiving serious consideration.  All this to say, this is a movie I've been wanting to see for a long time. 

If you haven't seen the film, I highly recommend it.  Tears flowed freely at several points as I watched the grief and loss of families torn apart not just by war, but by genocide.  What strikes me the most when I read about what happened in Rwanda, or in Cambodia or any other number of places, is that the rest of the world knew what was going on- and did nothing- even after the lessons from the Holocaust (did we really learn anything from that?). As Edmund Burke famously said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."  But even as I type that I realize how complicated that is for foreign governments, and how frequently UN peacekeepers are quite useless.

Sometimes I wonder, what is going on in the world today that we know about, yet are doing nothing?  Several places come to mind that are in the midst of terrible conflict, some with spokespeople or intervention and some without, but it all makes me so grateful that God is a God of justice.  No matter how many tears I cry- at the atrocities in memoirs or movies or in the news or in my own city- they are nothing compared to the tears that he cries.  Honestly, if I didn't know that God wins, that he knows and sees all things and that he will come for judgement, than I don't think I could live in this world.

Everywhere you look there is suffering- it crosses the boundaries of race and nationality and class and religion.  I see heartbreak and poverty every day on the streets of Bangkok.  I saw it on the streets of Detroit.  Every church, temple, mosque, or synagogue on planet earth if full of hurting broken people.  And yet, God offers us hope, and that is why I can learn about all this stuff and still get out of bed in the morning.  God wins.  That's the bottom line.  God brings justice to Rwanda, to Cambodia, to the streets of Syria and Egypt.  I need to do all I can to fight and stand for justice now, but rest assured, what we cannot see, God can.  What we cannot avenge, he will.  On the last page of the book, when the last word of the story has been written, God wins.

Cooking Dinner

Sometimes you don't realize the things you miss until you get to experience them - and then you think, oh man, I really miss this!  One of my favorite activities in the States is hanging out and cooking dinner with my friends (generally while their kids run in circles around us, which just makes it that much more entertaining for me) but it's not something that's a regular part of life here.  Yesterday my friend had invited me to come over and cook dinner together, and it was awesome.  We made salmon with fresh salsa and a great veggies and cous-cous salad, chatting and sipping wine while we worked.  Swiss chocolate and fresh raspberries and blackberries topped off the meal as we retired to laugh and talk in the living room. 

It seems that it's much less common here to hang out with friends in your home, and it's something I definitely miss.  I mean, going out for dinner or tea or whatever is great, but there is something about being able to sit and relax and just be together in a home that fosters greater friendship and conversation.  It is really too bad that I don't/can't cook more, but I do love having friends here for tea.  I am hoping that having people over is something I will do more once I move. I certainly love having people in my apartment now, but I do wonder how many of them are keen on hanging out in one of the on-campus apartments. 

But anyway, yesterday was lovely and especially nice as it was the first Friday in a while that I've had the energy to stay up past 8pm- oh the life of a teacher!

See Spot Run: Basic reading

Yesterday was a huge accomplishment for me in my study of Thai.  I stopped by to see a friend in her office, and then headed up to my classroom to teach my last class of the morning.  By the time I got up the stairs I had an email from her.  When I opened it, it was short, but entirely in Thai!  I was pretty surprised. She speaks only English with me and our conversation hadn't even been about language.  Wow, I thought, she must be trying to challenge my Thai and see what I can do! So I read through it and was able to make out all of it but one bit.  One syllable I could tell was the sound "nay" but I had no idea what it meant. So I could get the entire second thing she said but only about half of the first line because of the word "nay". 

I wrote back telling her I was a bit confused and explaining which bits I understood and which bits I did not.   Turns out she was trying to send the email to someone else (a Thai)! And I understood it!  Today I asked her what the nay was.  Turns out it was the first part of the word "nation" referring to a building near campus called the Nation Building.  I got the "chan" part, but chan has a meaning on it's own- though it's spelled differently from the "chan" sound in nation, I couldn't tell since my Thai spelling is nonexistent.  Just working on speaking and listening and reading for now.  Once I knew the word nation, I understood the entire email :)  All two lines of it anyway! 

And if you hadn't noticed, I'm feeling pretty proud of that :)