Observations

Another week has gone by in a blur, and it's been more of the same.  I've been going to CLS (CornerStone Language School) to learn Thai for two weeks now, and I can now say that I'm enjoying it.  Since last week, I've started learning vocabulary words and piecing together sentences.  Now that I understand simple sentence structures in Thai, the phrases that I've learned thus far are easier to remember.  Before, I would learn a phrase and in a matter of minutes I'd forget it because I didn't know what word meant what.  Now I'm equipped with a few phrases and questions that I can use out amongst the Thai people.  As I'm learning Thai, I've noticed that the way in which Thai people phrase things is similar to Korean.  So, if I wanted to say How old are you?  I would first start off with the subject you (khun) then old/age (aayu) then the question, how much/many (thaw ray).  It's not very daunting at all!  Plus I have the benefit of living with Thai people.

Also, I'm continuing to teach conversational English with the 3, 1-yr missionaries from Korea, and that has been going well.  It's nice to hold a conversation with people my age, even if its in broken English or Korean.  I also started tutoring 4 Missionary Kids in English.  They're all Korean kids who were either born in Thailand or born in Korea, so they have a few English related problems, whether its speaking, reading, or writing, so 3 of the kids are trying to get into GIS (Grace International School) which is the biggest international school for missionary kids on the planet.  The school has a strict standard when it comes to English proficiency, so I'll be trying to help the MK's to get into GIS.  Aside from GIS being a school for missionary kids, it's also one of the cheapest schools, costing half the tuition of a normal international school, so you can see the pressure a child might receive from their parents to get in.  I'm definitely looking forward to this challenge, and I don't see it as a burden because, this is possibly what I could see myself doing as a career, teaching, and I have a heart for these missionary kids.

Missionary Kids have their own issues and struggles.  Lot of them come to live in a foreign country not out of their own will.  As they adapt to their new surrounings, these kids also bring with them their cultural background (home culture), and also absorb their school culture (i.e. an american style international school, etc) and if they're lucky they're home culture and school culture is one and the same.  So you have a bunch of second and third culture kids, and regardless that they have one another to lean it, it can still be tough.  Take for an example, a korean missionary kid (I use korean because they're has been an explosion of korean missionaries over the past decade, plus its easier for me to relate to other Korean kids) who at home is raised to be Korean, but who lives in Thailand, and is taught in English (American), internally there is a clash of cultures, what is this child?  He/She is Korean, but Koreans in Korea will say that he/she isn't fully korean since the child didn't live there, likewise I'm considered a kyo-po when I visit Korea, the child is definitely not Thai, even if he/she can speak it and know the ins and outs of the culture, and they're not really American because they haven't lived in America.  It becomes an internalized struggle for identity.  I can relate to that, to a certain degree, as I was raised Korean in the States, having learned Korean before English, etc., but I'm also a product of the American culture.  On both sides I'm neither fully Korean because I'm still a kyo-po and I'm not your run of the mill red blooded American in many parts of the USA.  Luckily I had peers, teachers, older brothers and sisters, youth pastors, etc. who could relate to being a hyphenated American and guide me throughout my life and let me know that my identity is in Christ!  A support system was in place for me to thrive and be comfortable in who I am, and that is what the MK's need.  I'm not trying to make these MK's out to be like their in desperate need like North Korean refugees are in need, but there is a need.  There aren't a lot of young mentors and teachers available to nurture these kids, yes they have their parents and each other, but it's not the same as having young adults who can relate investing their time into the young ones.  I know I kind of rambled on, but to bring it back into focus, how do I fit in all this...

As I contemplate about teaching as a career path, I'm thinking about whether or not I should teach overseas and more specifically teach MK's.  Over the course of this year I hope to volunteer at Grace International School, of which I took a tour of last week, and I might add the school is rather impressive in both its programs and facilities, and continue tutoring and from that, I hope to crystallize and make clear God's plan for my life, whether teaching is where God wants to be or not.

On a lighter note, Pastor JJ went to a conference for his missions organization to Bangkok, so I had to look after his kids and Missionary Alex's kids.  It was a lot of fun and a little tiring.  Ethan and Abby's cousins, Nam, Dim (Dream), Nuy, and Diyo also stayed over so it was a packed house.

FRIDAY

Diyo's mom (Abby's Aunt) brought home a northern thai seasonal dish of which was a plate of cooked honeycomb and bee larvae and deep fried bamboo worms that were lighlty salted.  The little ones, Diyo and Abby took the bag of worms and munched on them like they potato chips, so I had one, because if the kids like them, I thought it couldn't be that bad.  To my suprise it was pretty good, it was salty and crunchy like a chip.  As for the bee larvae, when you pop 'em in your mouth and bite down the juices burst in your mouth.  The juices didn't taste like anything, it's life as if you're drinking water, but the bee larvae itself had a hint of honey to taste.

SATURDAY

Kids and I watched Home Alone 3 in the evening, even though I insisted 1 & 2 were better, and I noticed three things.  1. Scarlett Johansenn is in the movie as the older sister to the main character  2.  The janitor from Scrubs made a cameo as a police officer  3.  One of the bad guys were wearing UGGS, why is this significant, because this movie was made in 1997, before the Uggs craze.  I know random crap, but I found it interesting.

SUNDAY

Had been going to Chiang Mai Full Gospel Church (CMFC) the past couple weeks, but we went to Thai Lanna Church (Full Gospel) and I enjoyed the praise and message, mostly due to the fact that I understood the English translator.  I was impressed with the translators (Pastor's wife and daughter) because they spoke fluent English.  Later I found out the Pastor and his family are Filipino, at first I thought they were really dark Thai people, but later on it made sense because when the Pastor's wife was speaking English, she had a Filipino accent, it definitely wasn't a Thai accent.  That particular family have been in Thailand as missionaries for over 20 years, thus the perfect Thai.  It's encouraging to see and meet missionaries from different parts of the world!

Now for some pictures...

More pictures from the villages Pastor JJ and I visited when I was in Wiang Pa Pao.  Some village kids chillin.

Same village kids playing with the water tank

MMM...MMM...Bee larvae, it's what's for dinner

Tried to catch a gecko in my room last night, and I was grabbing it by the tail, it left me a little present, its tail!

Let's Speak English & Wiang Pa Pao

Sawaatdiikhrap!

In other words, hello, in Thai.  Another week has gone by, and I can't believe I've been here two weeks, where has the time gone?  Anyways, I started taking Thai language classes and I've been getting private tutoring from Khruu Usa (teacher Usa), there weren't enough students to have a normal class setting, but it has been nice, since I've been learning at my own pace.  All of last week I've been learning the sounds and tones of the Thai language, and I must say it is difficult.  There are five sets of tones, midtone (think monotone), high tone, low tone, rising tone (like asking a question), and falling tone (opposite of rising tone), and as far as learning these tones, I can't control my rising tones and falling tones...sigh...but I keep trying.  Tones are important because a word in midtone can have a different meaning in another tone.  Example, maa (to come;midtone), máa (horse;high tone) mâa (flip the carrot upside down and it becomes dog; rising tone), so it can get confusing.  I think one day I'll try to record myself and let you hear for yourselves.  Otherwise even with the difficulty it has been fun getting to learn a new language.

Last week I also started, for a lack of a better word, tutoring, some missionaries from Korea, who are staying in Thailand, like myself, English.  They've studied English in Korea, but I'm helping them with their conversational English.  It's funny how a lot of people want to learn English, and it dawned on me how privileged I am to be able to speak a language that others want to learn, and it definitely can be a tool for ministry.  Even though I've only held one session, I've enjoyed it thus far, and I'm looking forward to the next session, since it gives me a chance to talk to others my age, instead of only being able to talk to Pastor JJ (I enjoy our conversations).  This week I'm thinking of playing taboo with them and see how that goes, it should be interesting since they'll be only allowed to speak English.

Over the weekend, I got a chance to go to Wiang Pa Pao, home of the Jasper Kids!  It seriously felt like home, sweet, home! As I arrived there, I just reminisced about all the fun times I had last summer with my church mission team and the Jasper Kids.  Although most of the kids were back home at their villages, I did get to see a few of the Jasper Kids like, Jonathan, David, Suchee, Piyawan, Israphon, Prapapon, and Nam.  It was also great to see the staff like Ajan Somsak, Ajan Arunee, Ajan Sohn, and Tu (who by the way is starting to paint again).  While at Wiang Pa Pao, Pastor JJ and I went to a couple villages to see if any of the kids were there, I only saw Gripet, but it was still enjoyable, driving up the mountain passes, trekking through creeks, and breathing in the fresh, clean air.  Saturday night, we had pork bbq with the staff at Jasper Kids, and it was awesome (Daniel and Young Kwang, you know what I'm talking about), seriously I ate like 13 pork kabobs by myself, it was aroy ching ching (very delicious).  On Sunday, I got to worship the Lord at the first village I visited last summer, and to say the least, it's very encouraging to see people worshipping God even in a remote small village in Thailand.  God is definitely working people!  Afterwards I came back to Chiang Mai, and having visited Wiang Pa Pao, it just makes me all the more excited when summer rolls around and I'll be at the Jasper Kids helping out with the summer mission teams from the States.  That was my week, I've posted some pictures below, so enjoy, until next time...

Sawaatdiikhrap! (Goodbye)

The Jasper Kids Home, this is the office and sanctuary.

One of the village homes, and that is Pastor JJ, walking along the path.

The field behind the homes, your looking at the rice patties, one thing I noticed is that it's not green, over the summer the mountainside looks green and lush, but since it's the dry season, it doesn't look as beautiful.  If you want to see what northern Thailand looks like during the summer here's a link to our Thailand video from last summer courtesy of Young Kwang Ju.  If the link doesn't work check out the videos of me in my facebook page, it should be there.

On our way to the village for Sunday Worship.  Starting from the back, left to right:  Suchee, Sompon, Daa (Tu's brother), Jonathan, and David.  (Ajan Somsak's truck)

On our way to Wiang Pa Pao; I had to put this picture in, if you get a closer look at the picture it says Cabbages and Condoms, my first impressions was what a weird pair of products to sell together, but I found out that the Cabbages was intended to be Cottages, but they mispelled it.  So it's advertising an inn.  I know kind of vulgar, but oh so funny

Chicken Pox

As of now I have a single entry visa to Thailand, which allows me to stay in Thailand for 3 months and then another 30 days after I leave and re-enter the country.  Needing to stay for a year, I've started the process for a work permit, and one of the things that has to be done is to get a physical.  A couple days ago Pastor JJ takes me to the physician to get a physical, and next thing I know I'm at a pediatrician's office and as I'm sitting there, I look at the chart for the children's vaccinations, and one of the vaccinations catches my eye...chicken pox vaccine...so I ask Pastor JJ if the disease is still widespread in Thailand and he says yes.  Then I ask him if its wise to get the vaccination, and Pastor JJ looks at me funny and says yes and why?  Which I then say I've never had the chicken pox, which he replies with a perplexed look.  It makes me wonder, am I weird for my generation to not have come down with the chicken pox, because I don't remember a lot of kids when I was younger having it.  Anyways, as I go into the office to get my physical, the pediatrician asks me my name, birth date, and measures my weight on the scale, and then he tells me I'm finished.  No need to pull down my pants, turn my head and cough...quick and painless...but of course I didn't get to leave just yet.

The doctor and I had discussed getting some vaccination shots before my "physical"(Hep. A, Japanese Encephalitis, and chicken pox), but I thought we were going to do that another time, but he brings out these syringes and vials and he says lets do it right now.  So I'm preparing myself mentally to get these shots because I hate needles!  As I brace myself I felt a small prick and then the doctor tells me I'm done, I turn around thinking I didn't feel the needle, and as I look at the syringe, he was using the children's needles...hahaha...man was I relieved that he didn't use those regular big ones or even receive the shots on my butt (Pastor JJ kept telling that the doctor would).  Now I am half way there to being immune to the chicken pox!

Already One Week

One week has gone by since I've arrived in Thailand.  To sum it up, it's been an eventful, but fun and satisfying week.  I say that it's uneventful because I haven't done anything ministry wise.  For Pastor JJ and Junya and their Jasper Kids ministry, the months of March and parts of April are their down time.  All the Thai kids have summer vacation right now, until May, so most of the Jasper Kids have gone home to their families.  For me there isn't much to do, and I just started taking Thai language classes today (Monday).   This past week, I've had a lot of time on my hands,  but it was fine because it gave my body some time to adjust and it gave me some time to get over a cold. (I got sick the second day of my stay, kind of sucks, but I guess it's better to get out of the way now, than say a couple months down the road)  

Since coming to Thailand, I've noticed that I've been more disciplined in terms of my daily schedule.  I've been waking up at 6:30 AM every morning, I do my devotions, eat breakfast between 7:30-8, wash up, chill/play with Abby or get in contact with people in the States, eat lunch around 12 or 1, run errands with Pastor JJ,  take a nap around 3 or 4, eat dinner at 6, hang out with Pastor JJ and the family, and wash up at 8, and go to bed by 9PM.  It's been like this, the whole past week, and I know that it sounds boring, but I'm enjoying it and I like having a schedule.  Back home I would go to sleep late, wake up whenever I wanted, and I hated it because I felt I was being unproductive, but now it feels good to wake up early in the morning and do devotions before anything else, to be able to eat three square meals a day (used to only eat lunch and dinner because I didn't wake up in time for breakfast), I feel more productive than before.  This has been my daily routine.

There have been some moments since I've arrived where I felt frustrated that I hadn't hit the ground running, ministry wise, but I understand that God has given me this time, especially the next few months, to learn Thai, internalize my new surroundings, and learn and experience the Thai culture.  Because starting in June I'll be busy helping out with the Jasper Kids ministry.  From June to August I'll be facilitating the short term mission teams  that come,  from September on, hopefully I'll be volunteering at Grace International School and helping out with the Jasper Kids college ministry.  In November - January, Ill help prepare and participate in the Christmas ministries as the Jasper Kids go out to churches and villages up in the mountains.  Before you know it, it will be March, and I return to the States.  I hope and pray that I'll use this down time dilligently to learn the language and culture and also in preparing my heart through prayer and Scripture for all the upcoming opportunities.

Some other observations from the week:

• The food is great here!  I get three home cooked meals by Pastor JJ's mother in law, and it's good every time.
• The weather is mild right now, but it can get hot during the day, like 90 degrees and upwards
• The air quality here in Chiang Mai is pretty bad.  A safe day for air quality rating is somewhere in the 120's, sometime last week it was in the 160's!  (I can't wait to go to Wiang Pao Pao and breathe in the fresh air)
• Everything is so cheap, I got some medicine for less than a $1.50, Dairy Queen ice cream cone was 25 cents, and the electronics store was selling 8gb Kingston Data Traveler usb drives for less than $10.  I can get used to this.
• So far the Thai people I've met have been very nice.
• Played basketball at Grace International School yesterday, and I was impressed by the skill of some of the missionary kids.
• The facilities at Grace International School is pretty nice, they have this giant swimming pool (biggest in Chiang Mai) I'll take pictures the next time I go.
• Had pizza last Friday because Ethan loves pizza and I will say that it tastes the same as in the States.  Only difference is pizza is considered high end food, so if you go to a pizza joint, you better have a date with you, because in Thailand it's known to be a date place.
• Ethan and Abby (Pastor JJ's kids) are adorable.
• My battle against Mosquitos has begun!

I put a band aid over my mosquito bite because it was irritating when I had shoes on.

Some sort of Japanese anti itch band aid, with 호빵 man designs on it

My weapon of choice to battle mosquitos

Sorry I don't have more pics, I'll try to make more of an effort to take my camera with me.  Some prayer requests:

• Pray for continued health
• Consistency in terms of devotions and spending time with the Lord
• Dilligence in learning the language
• Pray for Pastor JJ that God will heal him because he has a bulging disc in his neck which is touching and pinching his nerve and causing pain in his right arm.

Pictures!

     Some omelette and rice dish, less than a $1.50

   Pineapple fried rice, less than a $1.50

Ethan getting ready to go to Grace International School.  He's in first grade.

Outside the house.

Living room of Pastor JJ's house.

My bed for the next three months, and more pictures of Ethan and Abby!

My new room for the next three months and the adorable childrenI'll be living with, Ethan and Abby.

Airline food...bleh! But Korean Airline did have BiBimBop which wasn't too bad

SFO send-off thanks for those who came!

Settling In

So I've safely landed in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and I arrived at Missionary JJ's house around 1 AM, Sunday.  The first half of the flight wasn't too bad since I had a whole aisle to myself! When I wanted to sleep, I just sprawled out on three seats.  From Incheon to Chiang Mai, it was pretty rough, the plane was much smaller so the flight was a bit more cramped, plus my body clock was out of whack, making me more tired than usual.  After getting some rest, Pastor JJ and his family and I went to church in the city.  We met up with the other missionary family, the So's  and worshiped the Lord with the local Thai people.  I must say, I was blessed and encouraged to see this church thriving and worshipping God.  More than half the congregation was made up of youth or college students, and to see them whole heartedly praising and worshipping was an awesome sight to behold.  I wish I could've taken some pictures to show everyone, but I forgot to take my camera, I'll try to take some next week.

After church, Pastor JJ and I went to the bank and I opened a Thai bank account, yup so now I'm really in it for a whole year!  As I was applying for this bank account at Bangkok Bank, the teller gave me a a form with a bunch of numbers on it which looked to be some sort of account, and when I asked Pastor JJ about it, he told me as a first time account holder at Bangkok Bank, I was qualified to get free medical insurance for accidental coverage.  So now if I get into some sort of accident (i.e. ran over by a car) I'm insured up to 100,000 baht or roughly $3000!  I couldn't even get any type of medical insurance back in the States even as a part-time employee.  I just thought that was kind of amusing.

After opening a bank account and exchanging my money, I delivered gifts to Pastor JJ's kids (Ethan and Abby) and Missionary So's kids (Brandon, Brianna, and Bridgette) and relaxed the rest of the day until I knocked out at 8PM (I'm not an old man, just real tired yesterday).

So far today, I've dropped off Abby at her Kindergarten and applied to get into the Thai Language School that is nearby.  Hopefully I can start soon, but it hinges on whether there will be another student, because in order to have group classes, two people or more have to sign up at the same time.  At this point I'm waiting for someone else to enroll.  I'm looking forward to learning Thai and all its nuances.   From the looks of things I might run a few more errands today, but mostly relax and catch up.

In terms of ministry, after having talked to Pastor JJ, I'll be spending the next three months here in Chiang Mai learning Thai full time, 5 days a week.  I won't be going back and forth to Wiang Pao Pao to the Jasper Kids because in Thailand all students are on their summer break, so all the kids have gone home to their families.  I'm a little bummed I won't get to see the Jasper Kids until later, but it gives me more time to focus on learning the language, and I'll need every opportunity and advantage I can get since it is a hard language to learn.  In the mean time, I'll still be able to help out with Pastor JJ and his ministry by tagging along with him to attend what seems to be like a nationwide youth and college student Christian conference in southern Thailand later this month or in April, I am excited and looking forward to that. 

All in all, I've just been real blessed to be here, the missionaries have been wonderful, and I'm excited for what's ahead.  Sorry for the long post, I'll try to streamline it a bit more.  I'll post up pictures later today!

Mad Dash

Hey Everyone,

Thank you for all that came out to the airport yesterday!  I just arrived to Incheon Airport about 15 min ago.  My flight was delayed an hour, and luckily I have some time to blog before connecting to the Chiang Mai flight.  It's funny, as I sit and wait at the gate, the majority of the travelers to Chiang Mai are middle aged korean women, while the few Korean men at the gate are gathered near the TV watching Korea vs. Japan in the World Baseball Classic.  Let's go Korea, only a 3 or 4 more hours before I arrive in Thailand.  Hopefully my bags will get there too.