"Live your own hot pot"...

..."Don't try to live vicariously through someone else's."

Interested?

These were words spoken to me by my wise and humorous husband. We had gone to the Carrefour, which is basically like WalMart. (We love it by the way.) While in the building, we decided to get something to eat. We picked this place that was in the shopping mall, so it wasn't a street vendor. (so...you can't actually see the rat.) That was the part that enticed me most about it.

It turned out it was a hot pot restaurant. That means there is a pot in the middle of the table. It has chicken broth in it. Then you order stuff to put in the pot that gets boiled right there in front of you and then you eat it. Think fondue. Only with this you eat it like a soup and you let it all hang out in there.

I will be honest with you. I did not want to eat the hot pot with Troy. Troy likes to eat really gross things. I figured he would be happier if he just went crazy with the hot pot, and I ordered something I could recognize. I figured he would get chicken feet and other various parts of things and have at it. That was not going to be possible he informed me because the hot pot is not a one person endeavor. It makes too much for one person. You have to eat it together, or don't get it. This made me feel bad because he seemed really excited so I said "let's do it." We ordered the suggested vegetable tray and the suggested meat tray (nothing too crazy) and we were off.

What I ended up with was a bland soup with pork, squid, shrimp and some other various items including vegetables. It wasn't that it was bad, it just wasn't all that good. So I sat there and ate. While we did, I started looking at all the other tables and seeing what they were ordering for their hot pot. The table next to us looked particularly good so I kept looking over there rather wistfully. At this point, it was clear that I was not really loving the hot pot. It was also apparently very clear that I was coveting the hot pot across the aisle.

It was then that Troy said the immortal words listed above. "Live your own hot pot, don't try to live vicariously through someone else's." After I stopped laughing, I thought "what a great blog."
How often do we do that. We set our course making decisions. Sometimes completely on our own. Sometimes we just want to please our loved ones. The problem arises when we get the results and we are not fully satisfied with how things turn out. We look around and see something better and long for it.

Live your own hot pot! Do something about the pot you've got in front of you. Make it better or learn to appreciate it for what it is. Either way it's your hot pot. You can do something about it. It's never too late. Pray. Ask God for help. He will be glad to help you with your hot pot. It is meant to help feed others as well. Make sure you have in your hot pot what you want in there. Get out the things you don't want in there.

Maybe your married and your sharing your hot pot. In that case, there will be compromise that is necessary, but it can work and it can taste great. You can change the world with your hot pot if you mix it up properly.

OK, you get the point. I'm running away with the analogy now. I just thought it was profound.

I might not have fully enjoyed the hot pot that we had at the restaurant the other day, but I love my life. I have sought God and found out the things about myself that helped me to find out what I am made to do. It took some time and a whole lot more to get here, but I'm here now. Each of us has the same opportunity and has access to the same help. Take advantage of it and live the best life you can.

You Gotta Have Friends...

And these are ours...

I would like to introduce you to our new friends. They run the restaurant in the apartment building down the street from ours. From Left to Right they are Oy in the black. Her daughter Ohm in the white shirt and Den in the yellow shirt. These are the the sweetest girls and they have been wonderful friends to us.

I met them on one of the days we were out looking for an apartment. We had their building on our list and stopped to see it. The day was hot and only getting longer for us as we went from apartment to apartment being told that there was no vacancy. When we stopped at their building, I was hungry and tired. The idea of stopping to get something to eat was looking really good to me. Den was there and she was so sweet. The menu was all Thai so we had no idea what to ask for because we could not read it. She worked it out with us. She speaks great English and she totally took care of us. She made sure that the food was not too hot, and she stated asking us what we were doing and where we were headed. We explained that we were looking for a place to live, but there were no openings anywhere. She told us to go the next building down. She said it was new and very nice. She said the one we were at was older and not as nice so it was better that it was full. We ate and it was wonderful. Then we went where she told us to go and there was an apartment. It ended up being THE apartment and we love it. We were so fortunate to have met her that day, and opening up to her about all our plans paid off immeasurably.

After we moved in we started going back and eating there. Those trips have since turned into visiting and eating is the byproduct. They have officially declared us friends. They have something special to give us every time we go there. They are helping us with our Thai pronunciation and teaching us many things. They are warm and friendly and so gracious. I love my new friends. I really do.

Here is another shot we took on another day. Den was not there that day she was getting her hair done. This picture includes two of the other girls working there. I have not been able to get their names yet. The one on the right works in the little convenience store so she is in and out. The other is Oy's employee so she doesn't get to spend time with us like the two girls that run the place. She isn't smiling very big and that is pretty much normal for her. Troy can pretty much always get her to laugh. She was the only one who seemed a little reluctant to take us in. She gets friendlier every time we go there. I honestly think it is a social position issue because she never sits down with us like they do.

We have been getting to know the people in our building also. They are very nice as well, but they do not speak English so it is taking longer to get to know them better. The building manager does speak English, but he went to China for a month a week after we moved in so we have not been able to talk to him.

When it comes to rats...

How big is big? OR How was your Valentines Day?

When Troy and I lived in Tulsa we had this Italian restaurant we loved. It was a great place where a guy played the piano and the food was authentic because it wasn't a chain. I had a favorite and so did Troy and we went there when we were really wanting to eat our favorite and have a romantic dinner. So when Valenines Day rolled around it made perfect sense that we go there to celebrate the day of love. We made a reservation well in advance and looked forward to the day. When we got there things were not the same. They had changed everthing because of the holiday. They had limited the menu to two choices. Neither of our favorites were available. The price for the meal was twice the price of the normal entrees, and it was so rushed and precooked that the taste was awful. They whipped us through our meal in order to meet the next reservation for that table, and we learned a cold hard lesson about eating out on one of the highest volume nights of the year. That lesson being: Don't do it.

Since then, I have learned to place a great deal less importance on days like that and usually Troy and I honor the day with a celebration at home that we can enjoy. Being in Bangkok, I assumed that the day would pass without my even noticing.

I was wrong.

Apparently they find the idea fabulous here and the place was covered with Valentine present possibilities. The newspaper was filled with adds. The news was showing childen making home made valentines in school. I don't know when they got the holiday here, but it has certainly arrived in full force. People were wishing me a happy valentines day on the elevator. I only know 4 people and only 3 of them speak any English, but I still got asked what our plans were. It was a little annoying to be honest, and I really appreciated a T-shirt I saw a young girl wearing as I walked down the street. It said "I hate Valentines."

It was here and there was nothing I could do about it so when dinner time came we headed out to get something to eat. Remember, we have no kitchen so out is where the food is if you want any. So out is where we went. We came upon a food stall that had it's wares all spread across the tables set up, and the guy running it got real excited. He started telling me how good it all was and I figured this was as good a place as any. Troy and I were usherd to a little table right behind the display so when you looked at his food you would see us behind it sitting at the table. I thougt little of it until later. I picked out a whole fried fish from the pile of whole fried fish he had and Troy ordered a soup. (They seriously do soup here) Our food was put on plates and we began to eat. Then the the guy running the stall stood proudly in front of it and started helping all the people who came up to get food. I realized then that the picture must have been perfect for him. Nothing says "eat here" like two big, white foreigners eating at your stall. It got crazy busy. People joined us at the two other little tables he had. People came up and made their orders. There was no one there when we got there. I actually sat down because I thought we would be a blessing to him, I was so right.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving beside our little table. My first reaction was that it must be one of the hundreds of cats and dogs that hang around wherever there is food, but when I looked it was a big ole rat! He wasn't running, he wasn't even scurrying. He was on the prowl and taking his time about it.

Now. Here I sit. Eating my whole fried fish. I have on flip flops so my feet are mostly exposed and that makes me think about them and then him. All this time we are in full view of the crowd out front. I play it cool. Troy sees him too. He says "there's never a cat when you need one" and I laugh. Then low and behold a cat comes. We see him. We see the rat. He sees us and he sees the rat. The cat looks at us and makes no move whatssoever. The cat was not about to take on this rat. It was just about who was gonna get the scraps. At this point every swallow is going down hard and taking a while. The rat is crawling around and climbing on things. The guy running the stall sees him and he plays it really cool, but is visibly relieved when he realizes that we see the rat and don't seem to be botherd by him. We all look at the cat and shake our heads. The cat looks back and basically says "What?"

Troy and I spend the rest of the meal discussing the relative size of the rat. Troy says he's not very big. To this I say "What?" Like there is such a thing as "a not big enough to be a problem rat." Even the cat agreed with me.

Now the best part about this whole experience is that I found myself a little relieved. All the commercialism surrounding Valentines day had dampend my "Missionary Experience." My romantic dinner with the street vendor, the cat, the rat and Troy...now that made for an awesome Valentines Day!

Home Sweet Home...

So, for those following our journey, we have been here for twelve days. Technically, a little less because the first 2 days didn't really exist. They were twilight travel zone. We arrived in the middle of the night and went from the airport directly to a hotel. From that hotel we moved to a guest house. From the guesthouse we found an apartment and that is where we are now.

Got it? Good.

We now live in Bangkok, Thailand. We live in what is known as Khet Din Daeng. We live on Soi Intamara See Sip Hah. This is a Thai Neighborhood. By that I mean ,this is a place where actual Thai people live. There are some Falang (foreigners) here, but not that many Americans among them. We are the only Americans in our building. There are some Japanese, some Koreans and us. The people here are very nice to us. We do a lot of smiling, head bowing and trying not to do anything insulting or in any way wrong. We like them back and we want things to stay this way.

I have taken some pictures to share with you all. However, I have to give a disclaimer before I do so because there are a couple of things to consider.

First, this is the most sophisticated city in this country. They have it all here. Most missionaries hit the airport and head directly to the countryside or outskirts of the smaller cities. We are doing things a little differently than others because... well...we are not them. So for those who are expecting dirt and squalor, I hate to diappoint you. We do have that here because there are poor everywhere, but we do not live in that.

That said, the other side of the coin needs to be addressed. This is Asia. They have it going on here. Any imaginable luxury is available here. There are luxury condos and highrise apartments with maids and fitness centers and gardens and all kinds of stuff like that. We just don't live in that.

We do live in a really decent furnished "apartment." I put the quote marks there because the term apartment brings to mind certain things to the American mind, most of us having at least been to one. For instance, an apartment in the states may or may not have a balcony, but it always has a kitchen. Not so in the Far East. We pretty much all have balconies here, but no kitchens. They are not built into the average persons abode, and we are not allowed to cook in our homes. That is literally stated in the lease. I think the rules are so clearly stated because of the fire safety issue, but it is not such a strange thing. Most every building has a restaurant on the ground floor or at least several street vendors selling food outside. People work long hours here and they tend to use their homes as a place to sleep so that is what the "apartment" reflects. It is a bedroom with a bathroom and a balcony.

So, without further ado ... here is our new home sweet home.

The following picture is the left wall as you step into the door. What you are seeing is the Entertainment Center/Kitchen Area + the Vanity + the side of the closet. To the left is our totally awesome floor fan. We thank God for that Daily! Then we have the Computer which sits beside our basket of fruit and our Tea Set. The white thing next to the Tea Set is a water boiler. It is really cool. It is a Thermos. Then it plugs in and boils the water you fill it with. We can have instant coffee, tea, soup/noodles and oatmeal. It's the greatest thing. I love it. Underneath them you can see the water bottles and soups and other stuff we have in there. Next there is the Vanity. It's the mirrored thing. What you are seeing around the mirror is a strand of christmas lights with fabric roses. I put those there for a little color. The Mirror opens out and there are shelves inside there. There is a little stool and you cann see that our carry on is stuffed under there as well.

Here is another shot of the same wall, but the Armoire is showing. That is our closet because the room is basically a cement box. Troy has one side and I have the other. What you are seeing on top of it is two of our suitcases. On inside the other. You will see a theme with the suitcases. I have no idea what to do with them. My laundry basket is there and the bathroom. Lets look at it shall we.

The bathroom is pretty interesting. It was really hard to photograph because it is small, but mostly because I was taking the pictures. This first shot is looking into it from the main room. As you can see we have done what we can to store things. There are no cabinets. Nor is there any demarcation between the shower and the rest of the bathroom. It's all the same floor, which is a little weird at first.

This second shot is showing the shower. It is just there. Hanging off the wall. The little box is a very wonderful thing. It is on demand electric to heat the water. This is a God invention if there ever was one. The water can be downright shocking in the morning, but surprisingly ok at night. You can see my mop handle sticking up. There is no putting that away we have to mop the floor everytime someone showers because the whole bathroom gets wet. Again, it's all the same floor. I like it. I always know the floor is clean in there. Mildew is an issue, but if you look at the first picture you can see my little friend Clorox down in the corner. Oh yeah, that is where the drain is.





Now for the rest of the room. Next to the door for the Bathroom we have the Balcony. This is particularly bad photography so let me state again for all to hear. I took these pictures -NOT TROY. He was not involved except to spend some time in photoshop making sure you could actually see what was in the pitcure.



So, bad photogaphy aside, you get the point. There is a balcony there. That black clump in the corner are two more suitcases that have no idea what to do with and a garbadge can. If you look above the doors, you can see the other most wonderful creation of God. The air conditioner. Bless His Holy Name Forever! We have a really good unit that allows us to set it very specifically so we use it for three hours every night. It allows us to cool the place down while we fall asleep and keeps it from running all night which would be hard on the electric bill. We use the fan during the day and sweat when it is not directly on us.

Now if you were to stand at the doors you see above and then turn around, which is what I did, you have the Bed!

Here's a front shot. The beds here are hard as cement. We had to break down and buy a two inch pad for the bed that is essentially what a mattress should be. They are selling millions of tubes of ointments for muscle pain and I am certain all the pain would end if they would just sleep on something softer. We had to have the thing delivered because we were not going to be able to get it in a taxi so the staff in the office here knew when it arrived. Troy said that while I was downstairs the male manager came in with the lady that works in the office with him. They had come up to check out the pad. Troy said she walked up to the bed, felt the cushion and then went off in Thai. He did not understand a word of it, but he was pretty sure the gist was "I want one of these-go get it right now!" I'm telling you, they would save thousands yearly not having to buy the ointments.

Anyway, here's the front view of the bed.

And from here you are back to the front door and our tour is over. The empty space between the two black suitcases and the bed will one day be a table with two chairs for us to eat at. Right now, the only place to sit down is the plastic chairs on the balcony. They are multi purpose. In fact, I am sitting on one right now. We are looking for another option. The problem has been finding the right thing for a price we are willing to pay. The food is really cheap here, which is a major blessing to our budget, but other things can be expensive here so we are taking our time on the table search.

Well...Thanks for coming over. We hope to see you again soon. Don't be strangers. Come on over anytime. I mean it.

OH! THANK HEAVEN...

THEY HAVE 7-11!

It was just turning over from Tuesday to Wednesday night. I vaguely realized this as I registered that it was past midnight. We had been in a plane or at an airport since 7:30 a.m Monday morning. We now had our belongings loaded and we were headed to the hotel, which meant headed to bed. I had been up almost the whole trip. I only slept for a short bit on the second flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. I knew I was a little fuzzy on the details as we were driven to the hotel, but I could have sworn I saw a 7-11.

Much to my surprise... I did. I did!

They are everywhere! Here is a shot of one that I thought was appropriate. It shows the store and the vendors that are all up and down all the streets here. It turns out the 7-11 is full of things I don't recognize, but the concept is the same. It has all the things you need at twice the price.

The vendors are the real deal. They have great food at great prices and occassionally they have things that even get Troy excited. Yesterday he bought fried worms. He had already had the fried grashoppers and even he wasn't interested in the fried roaches. Some things you just will just never get past. At least that is what I think now. The best part of the whole transaction was the face of the guy who ws selling them to us. He just stared at him with this incredulous look on his face, like Troy had no idea what he was getting. It was clear what they were, but still he stared.

I have another market story, but it will have to be shared with the adult crowd only. Feel free to e-mail me and I will pass on the tale about Troy, the market lady and some intersting parts of the rooster.

They paved paradise...

... and put up a parking lot.

Or in this case, they paved paradise and it became a parking lot. This is an amazing city with modern buildings right alongside tin shacks. The majority of the city seems to need to get to other parts of the city daily. This creates a gridlock that is indescribable. Here are a couple pictures. They were taken from an overpass which given the opportunity is the best way to cross the street, obviously!

The Finches Are All Buddhist...

The Thai people believe that there are spirits dwelling among us. The details vary from place to place within the country, but in Bangkok they believe in phra phum -the spirit of the land.

For every building there must be a spirit house built for the spirit to inhabit. They are usually shaped like little temples. Some are simple while others are very grand to say the least.

The people put food and flowers up on the spirit house for them to enjoy. When wishes are granted in the peoples lives they give the spirit items for the house. These include beds, cars, elephants and other such things. These are for the spirit to enjoy.

What we have seen so far has been thousands of very happy finches. The birds eat the fruit and food left by the worshippers and they have these awesome little houses to spend time in.

I think it is sad to feed a God that never eats. I think that a relationship with a living savior is such an amazing gift to have. It makes me appreciate what has been given to me and makes me look forward to sharing that gift with others.

Here are some pictures of the finch bounty...

It Is Finished...

As we set out for the great unknown all I can think is it is finished! All of it. Everything that God has for us to do we will walk into. He has prepared the way. He has made the path clear to all that he has for us. What we do and all that we accomplish will be because of him. We are simply headed out to find out what he has planned for us from before the foundations of the world. How cool is that?

I am not deluded into thinking that it will all be easy. I know that there will be difficulties for us at times, but they will be because of us not because of God. That much I do know. He loves us and He loves the people he has sent us to. That is all that matters.

So... Tune in boys and girls because the dynamic duo are off and running again. The picture above is of us holding up the Visa to Thailand that is stamped in our passports. We are headed to our portion of the world. We will never be the same. Thailand will never be the same. Souheast Asia will never be the same.