Sawatdeeka Everyone! Shon Shoe Samantha ka! (Hello Everyone… My name is Samantha)
Well the last two days have been so great! All our time as been allotted to just the right amount of something… Whether it be to getting necessary items, unpacking and getting settled, singing some tunes and playing guitar or just having some heart to hearts over cow neau ma moi (aka mango sticky rice) with Janna…
So we arrive LATE Monday night (around midnight) and Natti and Kung (pronounced koon) met us at the airport! We got our luggage in the car and off we went home… Along the way it started raining slightly… But by the time we got to our new home in Bangkok (me and Janna LIVE in Bangkok now… It’s our HOME… Crazy!) it was POURING!!! We didn’t get home until probably close to 2am… So here we are taking our luggage up the stairs to our place in the pouring rain… Way to start out the adventure of Thailand! Haha! Janna and I were sooo exhausted on the last flight (literally we only woke up to eat dinner/fill out an arrival form they handed us… the rest of the flight we were both out cold – most likely a good 3.5 hrs of sleep of our 4 hour flight haha) but after the car ride and chatting with Natti and Kung we were more awake… So we chatted a bit before we went to bed… I got to sleep around 3am Thailand time… I was so exhausted from travelling that I slept very well!
My body woke me up Tuesday morning before I had planned to get up! Which was great… I could shower and such and feel productive before Janna came in to check I was awake. We were meeting Natti for lunch/shopping/errands and I didn’t have an alarm… cuz my phone is back home in Canada! So Janna and I had breakfast together – the fruit basket that Natti had left in each of our rooms! Yummy mangos for breakfast… along with other fruit that is good but I forget what they are called. I could get used to mangos for breakfast ;) haha! We met Natti at lunch time where we went off to the I.T. Mall… apparently “one stop shopping”. First we had lunch… I had chicken and rice and this soup that comes with it…. and Janna had chicken fried rice. After lunch we went to get phones/SIM cards… then we checked out laptops… where I got my new laptop! (Yes Deanne, there are THAI letters on my keyboard!) Actually even some of the writing on the internet is in Thai… for example… Facebook – when it says “email” and “password” those are written in Thai… I don’t understand…. I’m just glad I know where everything goes! We also went to a store called Lotus… It’s kinda like a Superstore or a Walmart we think… It has everything from blankets to laundry baskets to fans to water, bread and food items, to soap and cleaning supplies etc. We got all that we needed. It was a long tiring day of errands but very productive and very much needed! We came home and had some time to unpack and get settled a bit… I got distracted tuning my guitar (took a while tho - silly tuner) but it was soooo sooo nice to just play for a bit… And my voice is semi-almost-fully back… So I could SING! (with a few coughs every now and again but I’m getting better I swear!) It felt so good to sing and play…
Wednesday morning I got up around 9:30am and skyped with my parents at 10:30am. Janna and I quickly had some pinapple for breakfast cuz I was starving but we were meeting Natti for lunch at the TCCC (Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ) so we didn’t want to have too much. We walked over around noon and found Natti and Kung! They had such a nice meal prepared for us! Rice with a whole bunch of side dishes… Some curry and eggplant, morning glory, chicken and cashews (Janna couldn’t have this L but I thought it was yummy) and then… I think the other one was some sort of a bean noodle dish… Very good. After lunch ----------------- COW NEAU MA MOI!!!!!!!!!!! (Mango Sticky Rice) SO STOKED!!! They even gave us some to take home for later!!!!!!! Mmmmmm! During lunch Kung started to teach us a little bit more about Thai language… A lot of it is tonal… (oh brother lol) Did you know there is 6 different words for the word COW? It means 6 different things! It can mean rice or white, or enter or horn or knee or news! ALL depending on HOW you say it!!! My brain hurt after that! Lol! We went back to our rooms because Natti had so graciously given us the whole day to unpack and get settled! Took me a little longer than Janna but it feels so great to be done! Feels more like home already! Janna and I decided to go get dinner from the place we had gotten it yesterday (with Natti’s help) but tonight we were on our own! I ORDERED IN THAI!!! I even said No Nuts for Janna! J we had cow gai, mai ow tua! (chicken and rice… but we don’t want nuts!) I felt so proud that we could do that! AND we remembered that we had some more cow neau ma moi in the fridge! So we had some mango sticky rice for dessert! J MMMMMMMMMMM!!!! (the mango wasn’t cut as pretty as at lunch – but still tasted delicious… I mean A’Roi Mak!!!) I’m learning! Haha.
It’s been a few full days but it’s been awesome to get here and have time to settle in! Praise God for his provision thusfar… We are here in Bangkok safe and sound! Security/Immigration at the airport went smoothly – we had no problems. AND all our luggage showed up! Praise the Lord! Pray for our transition and our understanding of Thai culture (and language!) as it can definitely be exhausting to learn! Though we are doing quite well and picking up words fast! Also pray that God blesses Natti for all she has done for us! She has been amazing and we love her! Pray for all the DRIME stuff starting to take shape, ask for wisdom and discernment throughout all of our conversations and presentations. As well as pray for our leadership team’s hearts to be prepared and equipped for what they are about to be involved in (and may not even know!)
Thank you so much for all your prayers!!!
Until Blog Number Song (2) – yup I can count to ten in Thai… so I’m going to do so until my tenth blog… LOOK OUT! Haha. J
Sawatdeeka!
No comments:
Post a Comment