Dogs

A cute puppy.  OR a spiteful beast out to get me.

An interesting subject for a blog, yes?  I figured it was worthy of a post, gathering how regularly I find myself cursing these blights on the population.

Now, I'm an animal lover as much as the next person.  Truly.  From age 10 until 15, I was convinced I would grow up to be a vet.  (However, after discovering a lack of desire to study science, and an unfortunate week of work experience in grade 10, I was turned off the idea permanently.)  And I've always doted lovingly on all the creatures my parents house on their farm - cat, ducklings, chickens, cows, even the two pet dogs (Macbeth and Banjo).  I'm not adverse to God's creations in any way, shape or form.

However.



These are crickets, not dog, just to clarify.

Having been chased, growled at, accosted by, threatened with bared teeth, sniffed - and even, once, wilfully attacked (albeit by a chihuahua) - by an uncountable number of canines, I have been forced to declare a personal war against these beasts.

(As in, I will continue to gripe about their existence, as I've always done)

My methods of revenge are limited, though, as the animal-lover within me won't allow me to inflict genuine harm upon them.  But I am all for eating dog, or advocating eradication programs (actually, there are none in practice in Thailand at the moment), or supporting sterilisation programs (this Thailand has - to some extent). 

Cookin' freshly caught fish over a campfire. 
This is how it should be done!

What has sparked this renewed determination to spout dislike for dogs? 

Well, this morning, as I was out appreciating the beauty of the early light, I decided to climb the staircase up a local bridge to get a better view of the river.  Happily, I did so, and having finished admiring the better view, I descended the stairs - only to see a pair of dogs (one a fluffy rat, the other equivalent to a German Shepherd) rushing over to harass a couple of elderly women.  Their owner was fast behind them, and placated the dogs before things got out of hand.  Not keen to attract further trouble, I figured I would climb the stairs again and stay at the top of the bridge until the dogs and said-owner had moved on.

Yummy-looking, yeah?

After waiting a few moments, all seemed safe, so I descended the stairs once again.  But just as I rounded a corner in the staircase, BAM!  That ferocious little hound and his bigger, more-intimidating body guard, were coming up the stairs.  I was blocked in; there was no escape.  With them barking and growling, and my legs feeling especially vunerable, I put my shoe up to the mouth of the bigger dog. 

"Better the shoe than my leg," I reasoned.

Not quite sure what this all would have looked like to the owner as he came up behind them: me with my foot on his beloved's snout, ready to boot him into next year. 

With his arrival, the dogs calmed down, and he moved them on.  I got off those stairs as quickly as possible, muttering rage about unleashed dogs, and thanking God for protecting me, simultaneously.

Which makes me think I should keep my trust in God, not men, not dogs.  But I also realise that it's not a sign of a godly spirit, if I'm busy writing hate blogs about dogs.  So instead, I ask God to help me love and forgive all people and creatures, no matter what they do to me.

That said, I might have dog for dinner tonight.

Loy Krathong and a YWAM Conference

In a moment of distraction from my language study (which I can be totally uncommitted to at times), I thought I'd write about two fun events that happened this week.

First up - Loy Krathong!  Some of you may be aware of what happened to me at this event last year.  Namely my friend Rosy and myself being kidnapped and stuck on top of a float...
But, this year's experience was a lot tamer (thank God!)  I managed to avoid any public events, instead opting for a quiet stroll along the local river boardwalk.  From my inconspicuous vantage point, I watched people celebrating this event, and reflected on the year past.

To explain, Loy Krathong is a Buddhist celebration that is celebrated every November, when the moon is full.

It stems from a traditional religious practice that seeks to both honour the Buddha, and worship the river goddess Phra Mae Khongkha.

Krathong

The practice consists of various different symbolic acts.  The primary one is to make or buy yourself a krathong (which is a small float usually made of banana leaves or bread), light the candle and incense stuck in the krathong, say a prayer and gently place it on the water so that it floats away, down the river.  (If it sinks, bad luck, try again!)  It is regarded as an act of floating your sins away.

Komloi

The second practice is to light a komloi to float your sins away into the night sky.  A komloi is a big paper lantern that has a ring of multi-layered wax paper wired into the centre of the bottom of the lantern.  Once lit, you hold the lantern up and let the smoke from the ring of wax paper fill the lantern.  Once it's fully inflated, you let it go, and it floats away.  Like a small hot air balloon.

 And then there's illegal firecrackers from Burma and China in the hands of 8-year-old boys, young Thai girls competing in beauty pagents, and people selling over-priced turtles and fish for you to re-release back into the river as another act of worship to the river goddess.
It certainly is a beautiful celebration, especially watching hundreds of komloi floating up into the balmy night sky.  I appreciate it for its gentle simplicity.  But, as a person saved from her sins by the grace of God, I know that a banana leaf floating down a river won't save me from myself.  It makes me long to see all of Thailand - ah, who am I kidding?  The whole WORLD - understand the reality of our sinfulness, and come before God to ask Him (He's the only one qualified to do so) to help us.

Speaking of this awesome God brings me to the other event I attended this week: the Northern Regional YWAM Conference.  A fantastic 3-day affair of worship, prayer, healing and listening to the wisdom of God (either from Himself, or through others' sermons).  My understanding of this organisation of Christians (otherwise known as Youth With A Mission) has been expanded.  But more importantly, I witnessed many people humbling themselves before God and before each other, asking forgiveness for past hurts, and being restored and re-enthused for serving God.

This was a wonderful time for me, especially, to be able to find encouragement from other Christian workers, and to have the Lord speak to me about the purpose He has for me.

And do you know, I reckon that same purpose He whispered to me applies to all of us:

I was so concerned with where I was, what I was doing, who I was working with, how I was serving God.  But on Saturday morning, during worship, He stopped me and said, 'It doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing.  I have called you to love Me.  Love Me, and My love will guide you to serve me anywhere.  My love will flow through your fingertips.'

Let Him speak to you, too.

Aung San Suu Kyi FREED, huzzah!

In other breaking news (although it's a few days old now), Aung San Suu Kyi, the recognised leader of the people of Burma (not the military junta), has been released (again) from her housearrest, after spending the 15 of the past 21 years jailed in her own home. Praise God!

This is such a pivotal moment in Burma's history - the country could swing either way.  Further into chaos, or upwards into democracy.  Especially, I think of my friends from Burma who would love nothing more than to be able to return to their homes.  I, myself, desire to see God's hand touch the hearts of this nation and draw these people to Himself, so that they won't go to a Godless eternity of suffering.

Please be praying, during this time of political upheaval, that:
-- Aung San Suu Kyi will be able to reunite her people, and negotiate a democracy with the military junta
-- The fighting and bloodshed will cease between the Burma Army and the rebel state armies
-- The villagers will be freed from persecution, slavery and fear
-- The love of God would be known, and would prevail

Doing or Being?

Which is more important? This is the question that plagues me often.  According to my Western mindset, 'doing' is.
I must do, do, do, or I ain't worth 2 cents!
However, whether by divine ordination or mere circumstance (and we all know I'm not a believer in the latter option), I have found myself forced to simply 'be' for the past week.
With things having quietened down at the office a bit (i.e. no English/Thai classes or visits), boredom quickly overcame me.  And with this bordem, came a sense of worthlessness and lack of purpose.  All within 2 days.  Sad, right?  I know!
Yet admist this perceived 'boredom' - which, really, I should have straightaway justified as more time to really focus on my language learning - God reminded me of a few important truths:
1) Our value is not determined by how busy we are.  Yep, being busy might make us feel important (and I'm paraphrasing from a website here; see below) - but what is actually important is that, no matter our circumstances, we continue to let God do what He wants with us (our lives, our characters, everything).  That's obedience.  Obedience is better than sacrifice
2) No matter how much I love to be busy, He has given me this period of 'stillness' to make new friends, learn some of the language, and adjust to life in Thailand.  I should be shakin' in my boots, to be so brazenly complaining about spare time.
3) It's good to let God discipline me into a new pattern of living - in this case, primarily studying.  Another instance in learning to live in the will of God, not in the will of Jacki.

 Here endeth the sermon.  Kazam!

Here's the website for anyone interested: http://odb.org/2010/10/04/keeping-busy/

What to do with language learning?

Let's face it: the majority of my time at the moment is spent having a grand old time, learning to speak Thai in exchange for an endless stream of English lessons.

My workmates, concentrating hard in the office.
[This is an old photo from last year; the lady at the far right
no longer works here.]

Which I'm not complaining about at all!  I'm really enjoying having a chance to adjust to my new life in an Asian country.  And the people the Lord has surrounded me with are just gorgeous - generous, patient and easy to have a laugh with.
But there are some stresses associated with 'starting from scratch' in a new culture. 
For example, how do you communicate to your landlady that your hot water system is actually electrocuting you each time you take a shower?  What do you say when you realise you've been severely misinterpretated, and have probably so deeply offended the other person that they're likely to be planning your funeral whilst you creep guiltily away?  When you have the vocabulary of a 12-month old (and even that's being generous), how do you make friends?
Praise God, because it really isn't so disastrous as it sounds.  With a good dose of humour, a few blessed souls who have a reasonable command of the basics of the English language, and an already well-used Thai-English dictionary, God has helped me to fumble through each day.

How to cheat death in a small room?

# Having been thoroughly coached by my office workmates (the team at CRCSC), I approached my landlady and explained (in two sentences) about my shower dilemma.  Result? The following evening, my old shower was taken away, and replaced with a new one. Hurrah!


My friend, Jam, who had me over for a
sleepover after Bible study.



# After attending a small group Bible study on Tuesday night, I was faced with a very cold motorbike ride back to Chiang Rai city (I don't have a motorbike yet; a friend was going to give me a lift).  One of the young university girls, Jam, kindly offered for me to spend the night at her house.  So we bunked in her room, and talked well into the night!  Iceblock worries resolved, and some great bonding time to boot.

# Most Thai people are very forgiving and will write you off as a 'crazy farang' [crazy foreigner] if you say something stupid.  It just means I go very red in the face, 'kor tort' [apologise] my way out the situation, and write the experience down as another lesson learnt about what not to say.

 

Just for fun... :P

On an exciting note, it's less than 2 months until I can move and join with my YWAM team!  I'm loving it here in Chiang Rai, but there is this sense of purpose attached to next year's project that compels me to greatly anticipate what God's going to do there.

This Thursday, I'll go and visit the YWAM team for a few days.  A good opportunity to suss out what my life will be like next year, and a lovely break from the chaos of Chiang Rai, too!

Loving it all the same, and loving you guys, as well!  Just want to say how much I appreciate all these little 'snippets of home news' you're all emailling me.  Keep 'em coming; they really make my day.

Two weeks off the radar

Coming to you from the other hemisphere... the last two weeks have been somewhat of an adventure for me.

Not long after arriving in Chiang Rai, I found out that my YWAM team (who I join up with in January) were planning a 'bonding and sightseeing' time away together.  After a quick schedule reshuffle, and a few stuttered Thai sentences explaining to my landlady that I was going away, I hopped into the ute with everyone else and was whisked away.

The stairs to Doi Suthep, a large
mountain overlooking Chiang Mai.
It has a Buddhist temple at the very
top. And 700 stairs.

Over the week that passed, we travelled to Chiang Mai, Pai, and the Mae Hong Son area.  Mostly we were just getting to know each other - I now have a fairly good feel for the people I'll be working alongside next year - and seeing more of Thailand.  Some of the more unfortunate ones (me  included) spent a great deal of time getting thrown about and soaked by malicious rainclouds in the back of the ute as we travelled from one location to the next.  It's all good experience, right?  That's what I keep telling my poor, bruised bones, anyway.

After that week, I returned to my home base in Chiang Rai for a grand total of one evening, before catching a bus the very next day out to Naan, to visit my old roommate from Townsville, Hannah.  I enjoyed my time with her, and Jan and Larry and Anna, SO much that I stayed until Saturday.  We biked around her village of Baan Luang, visited some of Jan's patients (children with disabilities), had a language lesson with Hannah's teacher, and generally just caused trouble. 

I almost slaughtered Larry and myself one morning as we went out for a run together - I thought he was setting the pace, and he thought I was setting the pace.  Result being that we set an extremely good pace between us and were exhausted by the end of the 6kms!
These two weeks also served good purpose in helping me to feel more comfortable and settled in Thailand - nearly all of the language I learnt last year (and subsequently forgot during my time back in Oz) has been refreshed, and, thanks to God, I'm picking up more new words every day.
I've also discovered my mean side - yes, yes, I know no one else believes it exists, but she's there, I tell you, and she's harsh! 
But she only comes out when it's time to start bargaining with someone.
To further illustrate: yesterday I needed to catch a songtaew (see illustration) from the bus terminal at Chiang Rai, to my house in the centre of town.  I approached a driver and asked him how much it would be.  '150 baht', he said.  The blood drained from my face, I'm sure, because I'd been envisaging a figure closer to 50 baht!

Thai transport - a songtaew (back) and a tuktuk (front).
Songtaews are cheaper, but tuktuks are dangerously
fun!

'No way,' I said, and the hardheaded Jac took over, '70 baht.'
'Mai chai! [No!]], he protested,'120.'
'Uh-uh.  80 baht.'
'Mai chai!'
'90 baht?'
He shook his head. 
I picked up my bag with a 'mai pen rai [don't worry, then],' and walked away.
'Miss,' he called, '100 baht.'
Grizzling, I consented.  As he showed me to my seat, I quickly gave my local friend and expat, Lyndal, a buzz - just to make sure I wasn't being had.
'Out of interest,' I asked her, 'how much should a songtaew ride into the city cost?'
'Oh, anywhere between 100-200 baht.  It's a long drive into town.'

'Ah, I see, cheers.'

I didn't know I could be such a bully.

 Resolution to the story: I tipped the driver an extra 20 baht ontop of the 100baht fare at the end of the ride, hoping that he'd forgive me!

The temple atop Doi Suthep.  You ring the bells to make merit, according to Buddhist belief.