First and Second Firsts

Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010

6:36 am

Firsts

My first day in Thailand was great! Simple things that would normally seem so boring and dull back home, I found fascinating here. Just watching Pastor Doug have worship with his kids, crossing the street (a great exercise in strengthening prayer life), meals, and many other things are so exciting! For breakfast, I had Mangosteen, granola from Sweden, and green oranges.

              Pastor Doug took me to see the office where I was able to contact my parents and tell them I was safe. He showed me around and introduced me to Goi, they're Thai editor. Pastor Doug had Goi take me to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant down the street (I'm vegetarian in Thailand). I'm not sure exactly what I ate, but it was good! I asked Goi how old she was, she said "22, you're 23, 24?" I told her I was only 20 and she nearly dropped her fork! Guess it's the beard. She took me to the ATM where I stood for about three minutes, trying to figure out how much Baht would be enough. Goi said the 200 Baht wouldn't be much at all, but 20,000 Baht would be way too much. I decided to take out 2,000, which turned out to be about $60 in US.

            I went back and met up with Pastor Doug. He wanted to take his kids and me to a restaurant called the Coffee Bean. We walked down the soi, a narrow road that connects the main streets. It's where all the houses and apartments are. We got to the Coffee Bean, which turned out to be a small scale Cheesecake Factory. It was beautiful! I was still full from my lunch with Goi, but I decided I'd order something small. Three spring rolls, a bite of everyone else's food, and a generous slice of strawberry cheesecake later, I was absolutely stuffed!

            After our meal, we went to ride the new sky train, which is taking people throughout the city for free every day during designated hours. It was so much fun! I got to see a lot of the city and we practiced some pseudo-helicopter shots. We got off the train and went through one of the markets to buy some more fruit. We rode a motor taxi back. A motor taxi is like a small truck that has a roof over the bed. You climb in and crawl to one of the benches. From floor to ceiling there may be about three and a half to four feet of clearance. When you come to a place you want to stop, you press a button on the roof that lets out an ear-piercing honk to get the driver's attention. Before getting back home Hannah and Josh wanted me to try a pancake. I was still stuffed, I'd had three meals and it was only about 4:00 pm. Once I saw what the pancake was, I gave in. They make them on the street and you can get it "sweet" or "savory". Depending on your choice, they will put on different kinds of syrups or sauces. Then, they wrap it up into what looks like a flattened ice cream cone. It was pretty good!

            That night, we went and picked up Dawn (Pastor Doug's wife) from the airport. She was in Laos getting some visa issue sorted out. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. I went to bed right away.

Second Firsts

            My second day, was my first Sabbath in Bangkok. I went to BIC, with Dawn, Hannah, and Josh. A man at the door made me sign a guest sheet. When the service started, they read off the names on the guest sheet and had each person stand so the whole congregation could see them. I'm white and at least a foot taller than just about everybody, so I didn't know why it would be necessary for me. They finished reading names and somehow, missed mine. I was okay with that, but the man reading noticed I hadn't stood up, so he pointed at me. I stood up hesitantly and he asked my name and where I was from. Everyone was very friendly. After the service, I was introduced to two other SMs from Walla Walla, who had just arrived the Tuesday before me. Alex was having some trouble with the pollution and told us stories from the coffee shop she worked at back home and Andrew (another one!) told us about his summer in Saipan. I didn't realize there were any other new people so it was really nice to be able to meet them and spend Sabbath afternoon with people who were just as new to everything as I was.

            After two delicious meals and two episodes of Little House on the Prairie, I was fighting to maintain consciousness. I guess the jetlag is still affecting me, because I went to bed at 9:00 pm.

            Things are great so far, and I'm having a blast! I realize that I need to start taking pictures so I can remember what everything looks like. PICTURES COMING SOON!!!