Bag my drink

So here in Thailand when you order a drink off the street they sometimes put your drink in a bag as to save the bottles or cups. Here you see my first drink in a bag. It feels awkward to be carrying a bag with your drink but maybe I'll get used to it. The drink by the way is a coconut smoothie, very tasty.

Bonus Photo (EIS Songkron festival)

Songkron

So I had my first experience with the Songkron holiday here in Thailand. Not sure what it all really means however I do know there is an aspect of respect and blessings from the elders and a whole lot of water. A huge component is playing water, or just plain ol getting soaked everywhere you go. On every street there are groups of people with buckets, hoses and water guns soaking everyone who passes by. If you travel you better take a taxi, no walking or open aired transport, because they don’t care they will soak you as you drive by on the motorcycle taxi (really not that safe). They don’t care if your old, if you have a baby, are carrying groceries or if your listening to your ipod, they will get you wet if you walk by or drive by. It is a cool holiday an was nice to experience and it’s cool to see little old ladies carrying water guns on the BTS even if you get wet while going to 7eleven. Here are some photos of the EIS Songkron program.

Photo of the colorful attire at the EIS Songkron festival.

The seniors getting blessings from the teachers.

A traditional dance and colorful costumes.

Some more getting around

So here is the MRT or the subway, and boy was it crowded. You can see on the bottom right I had to basically rest the phone on someone's head to take this photo. This is the only time we have used the MRT since moving here since it goes to places we usually don't go. Just another way of getting around.

Sea of red shirts

So you might have heard of the political unrest here in Bangkok, well don't worry everything is ok for us and we are far from the real action. However a couple of weeks ago we were on our way back for the Adventist hospital where we were getting shots for the kiddies and decided to head to do a little shopping not fully realizing that shopping district was one of the rallying places of the red shirts. When we got off the water taxi we soon saw the sea of red everywhere. It was a very interesting atmosphere more street party than political party and venders everywhere selling red items, we even got Kaiya a red clapper (safe there), of course all of this was before last weekends eruptions of tempers. It should be an interesting next couple of weeks in Bangkok, but once again we are in a safe area and see nothing really in our part of town, it really is more of an inconvenience for us because some of the things we want to do are closed due to the rally. Just wanted to share our day among the reds, grace and peace to you all.

That's huge man

So look at the size of this apple, it's huge almost the size of kaiya's head!! It was really tasty too.

Not in my taxi

So here we are riding in a taxi, and this particular taxi had a sign of things not allowed in the taxi. Some might be hard to see but they are starting form the right; no smoking, no durian fruit, no drinking, no dogs, an interesting picture after that which we can assume means no getting it on, no guns, and a no goats. The no goats confused me if you can think of what it may be let me know. In other taxis we have seen no passing gas sign this was the first one with such a long list of don'ts, funny ones too.

Silly 3D glasses

So need I say more about how cool these glasses are? I think not

More Getting Around

So I've taken pics walking, on a water taxi and motorcycle taxi, and now I show you the sky train. Lots of ways to get around in Bangkok, next time taxi.

Cell phone pic: Slums

So here is a pic from a slum we were at on Saturday for a community service project we did. We had a rice drive in which we collected 1 and a half tons of rice to give out to a poorer community. Here is a pic from that place as you can see the living conditions are horrible and under that trash is water that goes under most of the dwellings in this community. Some very sad sights there but we were blessed to help and hope we blessed a few along the way.

Cell phone pic: Spray me?

So this is what stares at you in all bathrooms as you sit to take care of business. As you can see this on has a slight drip which totally bugs me cause it gets the floor wet and I hate bathrooms with wet floors even if I now it is just water. So as an american this is a foreign device while on a toilet but I guess your supposed to spray your backside when done (some bathrooms have no paper), but if you spray one you'll soon find out it rockets out. I can only imagine using it and getting more than just what I intended wet. I'm sure there is a science to it but I will leave that to others.

Best of o9: Adventures of Life

So you never really know where you will end up and this year is proof of that. Never would I have thought growing up I would end up living in a place like Bangkok. I always thought I would live in Orlando for a long time if not forever, but the Lord's plans are always a little more interesting than my own. My family now lives in Thailand and it has been an adventure to say the least to make this move, not always easy or convenient but always blessed for sure. It was hard (and still is) to leave our friends and family behind especially since we really felt like we had great support in our community at Rio Lindo, however we have for sure seen God at work in our lives and know that the memories we are making now are priceless.

Through this move I have an even bigger love and respect for my wife who left a great place for her to a place that is foreign just to support me and my call to this country. Her support is immeasurable and her dedication to our children is wonderful and am proud to share my life and adventures with her. o9 was a great year and I have felt the Lord's blessings from the birth of Jonah to the start of our new journey here in Thailand.

Best of o9: Manao Soda

So todays best of is Schweppes Manao Soda, a wonderful beverage that I first had six years ago while on a mission trip to Thailand. Since that trip I have had it only a handful of other times when the in-laws would come to Thailand and bring us a six pack. Now I live and Thailand and have access to this delicious drink on a regular basis thus being one of the best of. It is a lime-lemon soda rather than lemon-lime, and it is greatly refreshing especially in the tropical heat of Thailand. If you ever have a chance to try it do so it is very nice.

Best of o9: Sweet Roti

So for todays best of I give you sweet roti. Sweet roti is a delicious delight that you find on the streets of Thailand. It's a dough that is fried nice a crispy then sweetened condensed milked poured on it the sprinkled with sugar rolled up and wrapped in a paper for you take away pleasure. It is simple and awesome it is the krispy kreme of the east. If you ever get the chance you must have sweet sweet roti (drool).

Best of o9: Skype

So I know Skype is not anything new but before this year I had no use for it, but with the move to Thailand it has become a blessing. Years ago missionaries had no good ecomomical way of communicating with family that didn't take forever to do (snail mail), but things are different now. I have both skype in and skype out that cost together $60 dollars a year and with those two services any number in the States and Canada can call us through a number that is based in Orlando (a local call for my parents). Along with that we can call any number, not just skype to skype, cell or landline in the States or Canada. My parents just joined skype and they were able to see their grandchildren and watch Jonah crawling toward the computer. Now there is an app for the ipod touch in which i can use skype on that! It has been a blessing for us to have skype, to be able to keep in touch with our families in the states and even see them too and all for much less money than we were spending in the states.

Best of o9: A couple of albums

So for todays best of I will share two albums with you one a little older that should have been on last years best of but these are albums that captured my attention this year.

What if you took Paul Simon and added him to the The Police and then put them into todays modern indy music scene? Well you get Vampire Weekend. A great album just give it a listen and see.

The second is a little rock and roll a little country, but in the way Jon Bon Jovi was country for Blaze of Glory, thrown in with a lead singer who sounds like the guy from Kings of Leon. Needtobreathe's new album The Outsiders is a nice album with uplifting lyrics and a nice sound that is different than the generic sounds that can sometimes plague christian bands. A couple of songs to pay attention to are Lay Them Down a rocky gospel song about laying down your burdens, and These Hard Times, a song about finding your way through hard times.

Both albums are very nice and both have a different vibe, hope you enjoy.

Best of o9: Shadows

So David Crowder Band came out with a new album and when they come out with something new they are always in contention for one of my favorites and this year is no different. Shadows from their new album Church Music is the best song of the year. It is a haunting song that talks about the shadows in our life and when we have those troubled times we must always remember the shadow of the cross and how wonderful that shadow was for our salvation. The song is both beautiful and powerful, I remember hearing it for the first time while walking on the streets of Thailand on a hot day and getting chills from it. Here are the lyrics

Life is full of light and shadow
O the joy and O the sorrow
O the sorrow

And yet will He bring
Dark to light
And yet will He bring
Day from night

When shadows fall on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When darkness falls on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When all seems lost
When we're thrown and we're tossed
We remember the cost
We rest in Him
Shadow of the cross

Best of o9

So today I begin my best things of my o9. These are the things that were my favorite things of the year some old some new but all the things I write about are things I have, or experienced for myself personally.

The first one is the Amazon MP3 store. For a couple of years itunes dominated the way I got music till I discover the amazon store and it's weekly deals and free songs. Everyday the store puts up one album that is discounted ranging from 1.99 to 3.99 depending on how new it is. Every month they put up 50 albums for $5 sometimes more recently they have had 800 of them for that price. Also there is a new free song available everyday not just tuesday like itunes and many samplers that are also free and a lot of them with quality music. It has helped me discover new music and expanding my library (not that I really need to) cheaply. If your looking for a alternative to the itunes music store look at Amazon, it's pretty good.

Getting around

So here is this weeks cell phone pic of the week. This is what it looks like to be on a motorcycle taxi tearing down our street.

A little crowded.

So here is a pic from my cell phone, taken while on a water taxi. As you can see it was a little crowded it was all I could do to get my phone out of my pocket and take a pic. It provided me a good opportunity to appreciate the advancements deodorant has made to our society.

Christmas Carolers

So the night after Christmas we had a special treat. As our family was winding down for bed the children's violin and singing group came by our house for some caroling. They shared with us about five songs and a little dance number too. You never know what you'll see in this part of the world and you must always be ready for a show. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and I wish you a happy new year.

Weekly phone pic

So this week I got my US phone unlocked after quite so time of trying. I tried a few places here and no one could do it so I finally called AT&T and without a pause or care they gave me the unlock code with instructions to unlock the phone. With that I now carry a aspect phone with a camera on it, with which I will try and take photos every week and have a phone pic of the week (hopefully), depicting some aspect of Thai living. Here is the first, this is my brother in law walking the streets of Bangkok, giving you a feel of city strolls.

Life changes

So life can change pretty quickly, moving from one country to another, one job to another, from country living to city living and trading cultures, but the biggest has been my schedule. I find it sad that when the clock shows 9:00 pm I find myself thinking I should be in bed. Now if you know me you know the departure that is for me. I have been a night owl all my life, my previous job had me up till 1 or 2 in the morning and sleeping in was 11 or noon. Now however I wake up at 5:45 am and consistently find myself in bed by 9 or 10. I remember my wife asking if i wanted to watch something on the computer and I looked at the clock and it was 9:15 and telling her it was too late! Yup too late! Sleeping in now a days is 8 or 9, wow what a change. I now feel old not cause my body is aching or my sight is leaving but because I'm tired by 10.

Field Trip

So the a couple of weeks ago Kaiya and I joined the freshmen class on a field trip to a flower garden and crocodile farm and elephant park. It was a cool experience, especially for Kaiya. The elephant show and park just enthralled the little girl, we got to see a show feed the elephant and even feed them by hand. At first she wasn't so sure about it but after a while she wanted to buy more bananas to feed the huge animals, and after the ride she wanted more cause in her words the ride was too short. Thailand is one big adventure for the little one and even bigger for her parents.

More Fruit

So this is a melon apple, not very strange but a little different. It is basically a mini honey dew. It seems sweeter than a regular honey dew but it just may have been the ripeness. The apple melon is a neat little delicious fruit.