It's a Small World, After All

Just in case anyone was wondering :) , we see the same moon as you, just at a different time. As you know, it has been beautiful the past few nights. We have had very few clouds, and no rain, since I have been here, so the moon has been out (and I can see where I am bicycling at night.)

Today I bicycled down the road from the farm to see the sights for a second time. This time I had my camera.

A little blurry because I did not stop. At the end of the road that leads to the farm is a Wat (temple). The monks actually live in tents at this one, though. Their saffron robes are often hanging out to dry. At 6PM every day, one of them on a loudspeaker leads everyone in some kind of vocal activity (I am not sure what to call it) for at least 40 minutes. Tonight on the way back from supper, I heard it clearly, and I can hear it from my room as well. I asked Jay, who had been a monk for about 6 years, what they were saying and he said he did not know. He said it was Nepalese.

6 years and he didn't know? I should not feel too bad if he doesn't pick up everything I teach him for the 3 months I am here. :) Actually, Jay said he spent a lot of time learning Japanese while he was a monk. He knows at least 5 languages, which is a good thing for Jay, because he loves to talk. He stays here at the farm, so we have already had some good conversations.



Along this road there is a rice patty. Thailand is the world's largest rice exporter, so patties are everywhere. This little one is the closest one I have seen to the farm.

I was a little surprised to find corn fields here as well. There are several nearby, and all in different stages of maturity, including some (not pictured) that are ready to harvest.

The golf course I saw on the way to Mai Rim is actually very close to the farm. Looking past the rice patty here, you can see a fence- and if you look closely, there are golfers to the right beyond the fence. They (or their caddies?) seem to all carry umbrellas for the sun.

Further down the road is a hotel that was never completed. Apparently, there were once great plans to develop this area- they even diverted a river. But all that remains is the abandoned bridge I showed in an earlier post, and this monument. Notice the compost/trash piles in the right foreground. The vegetation seems to grow fast here, and groundskeepers are always trimming and cleaning up. Lots of biomass.





A close-up of the hotel. Looks llike it would have been very nice. It certainly would have made the traffic situation a little different around here.

Tomorrow there is no class. We will be taking a trip to see a "fair" concerning the King's projects. The King and Queen have sponsored many projects around the country (but especially in rural areas such as the hills near Burma in this part of the country) to help better the lot of poor people, and people who have traditionally made their livings illegally. The royal family really does care for the people of their country.

Mai Rim

I mentioned that I was going to go to Mai Rim on Wednesday...here are some pics. It is not very far up the road. Just a few hundred yards from the school is the main road to Chiang Mai. Turning away from Chiang Mai takes you right into Mai Rim, a town that seems to be mainly located along this busy road.



On the way up is the entrance to a golf course. The back end of this course is actually very close to the farm, where I stay. Nathan says it is right expensive. I do not plan on founding out- especially against him. He played on his HS team, and played in college as well.

Another view of the entrance to the golf course. Very pretty. FWIW, one is never very far from home these days. Now that I have finished the book about bad books, I am reading one about knowing your brain. On the quiz in the beginning of the book, I learned that a good way to overcome jet lag is to get some afternoon sun. (I have been sleeping better and more, but still get really drowsy about one or two in the afternoon.) So, I am outside in the sun working on this, tuned into radioio. Just heard a beautiful Moby Grape song, Sitting By The Window. The world is small. The table outside where I am working. The wi-fi reaches here!

Hard at work :)

Back to Mai Rim... Saw this pile of bricks by a building. These are typical of what you see around here. Small bricks with holes in them that show when you're done.

A view along the main road into Mai Rim. I tried to bicycle on the side, but many times there were vehicles parked there and I had to go out in the busy road. In this pic, there is not much traffic because the light up ahead is red. To get your bearings, remember that traffic drives on the left here.

Some businesses on the other side of the street, including one of the very few reminders of home in this little town.

A view inside the market. Lots of good-looking produce, and lots of stuff that takes my appetitie away!

One of the meat stalls. Notice the spinning brushes above to keep the flies off.

An inactive meat stall, showing the flying brushes at rest.

Found a nice place to eat. Huge- I was the only customer. Very nicely decorated with beautiful plants. Menu had English translation- Bonus! I had a chicken curry dish.

Some of the restaurant's landscaping.

Marigolds- just like home!

Tonight I have been asked to do the Bible Study. I will be covering some first through 3rd or 4th century Church history. As I mentioned before, the students have almost no familiarity with Western history, so the context of the New Tesament is lost on them. I have brought my aerial DVD's of Israel from Preserving Bible Times (the masters of Biblical context, check them out at http://www.preservingbibletimes.org/ , and sign up for Doug's reflections- good stuff.)

Bonus jokes from Emo Phillips (don't know anything about him, just that the first quote was in my Brain book, so I looked up some more).

I used to think that my brain was my most important organ. But then I thought- wait a minute- who’s telling me that?

(Here's one for you COG folks)
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" He said, "Like what?" I said, "Well...are you religious or atheist?" He said, "Religious." I said, "Me too! Are you christian or buddhist?" He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too! Are you catholic or protestant?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me too! Are you episcopalian or baptist?" He said, "Baptist!" I said,"Wow! Me too! Are you baptist church of god or baptist church of the lord?" He said, "Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you original baptist church of god, or are you reformed baptist church of god?" He said,"Reformed Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1879, or reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off.

This one is great...
I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well.

People come up to me and say, "Emo, do people really come up to you?"

I went into Gus's artificial organ and taco stand. I said "Give me a bladder por favor." The guy said "Is that to go?" I said, "Well what else would I want it for?"

For Tarah D and Chris B:
I was in a bar the other night, hopping from barstool to barstool, trying to get lucky---but there wasn't any gum under any of them.

The other day a woman came up to me and said, "Didn't I see you on television?" I said, "I don't know. You can't see out the other way."


One more while I am at it...Certainly made up (saw it as part of someone's signature on an expat blog here in Thailand):

I think it is down in the basement. I'll go upstairs and check. - M C Escher

Mexican tonight

Tonight the teachers asked me to join them for a trip to Chiang Mai and Mexican food. I should have taken my camera- had no idea it would be so eventful. First I locked my keys in the room and had to get back in. I was amazed at how well the door lock worked...but not well enough :)

Then into the back of the truck for the trip to town. Nathan drove with the still-on-crutches Elainea in front. Ben, Erika and I rode in the back. Beautiful night. Nathan parked where I was told there was a Mexican restaurant with generous portions and good Margueritas. One problem- the place was gone, cars parked on what used to be the concrete floor. So off we went looking for another. Found a nice one along the river with a host (turned out to be owner) who was obviously American. He was from New Orleans. His Dad was there helping out tonight- he had been in Burma for a while but ran out of money, apparently. We all had specials (4 of us had special burritos and Erika a quesadilla). Everything was really good, and even better with Singhas all around (local brew). Nathan spied some sweet tea and had to have a glass. Not like Grandma's, he said, but it was a touch of home.

Then it was on to Macro, a sort of Sam's Club that is 75% food. Picked up a few things- like grapes, dates and dried apricots, a few tools to do a little maintenance here at the farm, and a flashlight to help out with the bike ride between the farm and the school when the moon starts waning. Back home, I Skype Shelby (who is %*&@ years old today) and update the blog. Maybe I can get to sleep before 3AM tonight...my body still refuses to get on schedule here.

Gloria told me that they have been arranging therapy for Leon in Chiang Mai. He will have it for 2 weeks, at least (I hope longer). He kinda jumped back into work, and left off therapy. I have encouraged him to get back to it, and so has Gloria, so we are pleased.

Tomorrow I will sit in on Homiletics and teach Doctrines and Pastoral Care. Actually we should give that class another name, because these are not pastors, and may never be. It is more of an advanced leadership class (servant leadership). We will cover some of the specific problems and temptations that servants and leaders in local churches are faced with. Those issues are much the same here in Asia as anywhere else. On Friday night, I plan to present some material on the early history of the Church. One thing they do not have over here is a background in Western history. So the environment during the development of the early Church is quite foreign to them. but I feel strongly that the Bible must be understood in its context. That is a problem even in the West, but moreso here. A tall order, for sure, but at least I can give an introduction.

Concrete

Turned out that Leon took the first classes of the new term, so Nathan and I just sat in and contributed a little. There was good participation, with Bhut and Hkawn Din even sitting in without actually choosing the classes. Well, I'm all ready for Thursday now. I hae been talking to some of the students about how I might be able to best serve their needs. Amazingly enough, it appears that the need to simplify and very clearly explain doctrinal issues to them will fit right in with the ministry plans I have for back home.

Lunch was especially good yesterday. Seng Pa does a great job in the kitchen, along with whoever is assigned to help her. Today is a national holiday- Constitution Day- so no one is here in the office.

I plan to go to Mai Rim by bicycle today to look around, and maybe pick up a few things if stores are open today. Need some batteries, or a charger, because I just fried my charger transformer. I thought I had checked everything electrical which I brought to make sure it worked on 220, but I guess not. :(

I have been noticing the extensive use of concrete here. I took a few pics.




Telephone poles are concrete. Is this cheaper than wood, or just more durable considering the semi-tropical conditions? I can remember back at Hopkins in one of my materials science classes that we split up into groups one day and argued as if before a town council the relative merits, (and even the "green-ness" although we didn't use the term then) of various light pole materials- wood, steel and concrete. I had never seen a concrete light pole. Now I have.

Even fence posts are concrete. They appear to have been poured into forms in place.

The roads in this area are concrete as well. They do this in PA, too, but they need to be replaced every so often due to freeze-thaw problems. Of course that is not an issue here, which is certainly one reason it is so widely used. Notice the wide expansion joint in the middle- I have to be careful not to let the bicycle wheels get stuck in here- it is about 1-1/2 to 2 inches wide in spots.

Not only the streets, but the curb (right) and gutter (left- to the outside of the street) are concrete also. You could not do this back home or it would crack all up unless you made it real thick and heavily reinforced.

This is a house under construction between the farm and the school. I will take pics as it progresses. Notice they begin with some footer walls and then move up using concrete columns. In this picture, they have begun to install the wooden poles that will support the forms for the ceiling/floor. I have not seen a piece of equipment on this site since I arrived.

A look around

Today I will do some office work for home, and finalize my lesson plans for at least the first part of the week.


Yesterday, I spent some time on the grounds here at the farm. Also enjoyed getting to know Japur, a student that stays here at the farm and takes care of the animals. Japur, Wichai (who had dropped by late afternoon) and I tried to locate our homes on Google Earth. I was successful, but they could only locate the town closest to them, and Wichai's school. They are from Mae Ai, near the Burmese border. Lots of farmland there, and you could see the orchards where Wichai's family works picking oranges.

A short tour of the farm...

Legacy's entrance as it appears from the public road.



Looking out the drive from the farmhouse toward the road.

The (quiet) ducks. The NOISY chickens, who have the run of the place, were elsewhere. The roosters are likely to make noise at most any time of night, except morning like normal roosters. On top of that, they all sound like they are hoarse- maybe I just don't understand cock-a-doodle-doo in Thai.

Banana plants- one of 2 groves.


The fish pond- currently with young tilapia resident.

The new ond under construction- much larger.

A bridge that you can see from the back of the property where the steam is.

On the bridge. It doesn't go anywhere (no finished road at either end.) It looks like it was to be a continuation of the road that passes Legacy's driveway here at the farm.

Meetings with Leon (and Nathan) today about classes, and time to prepare them, but it is slipping by fast already...

Time Zone

OK...I finally changed the time on my computer so that mt posts will reflect the time I actually sent them instead of 12 hours earlier, the time back home. My computer, however, seems to know it is in Thailand. I brought some CD's with me of aerial footage of Israel. When I went to play them, the CD's knew they were being played somewhere away from home, and made me tell them before they would play. It said I could change the location 5 times. My first experience with this.

Speaking of computers, I replaced my laptop right before I came over. Stayed with XP, but upgraded to Office 2007. So far, seems like a pain. In Outlook and Word, and any other app that communicates with the printer, it seems, I get this memory usage surge every 10 seconds. The cursor pauses and turns to an hourglass for about a second. If I am typing at this time (which I am not good at), the letters stop appearing and they get spit out after the second is up. In Outlook, my email list blinks. If I am working on a contact, the contact window minimizes at that time. If I am typing in a form, the cursor is likely to change position on its own and I have to put it back to continue typing. The only way I have discovered to stop this is to disable all the instances of the process spoolsv.exe, which means I cannot print anything. VERY ANNOYING!! Any of you computer whizzes have a fix for this?

As you can see correctly now, I am up at 4 in the morning, which is OK, because I slept well from about 10 until now. I hope that my body can join my computer in knowing where it is by Monday, and the new class schedule.

Not to be confused with the class struggle, which I am reading about in Benjamin Wiker's book "10 Books that Screwed Up the World (and 5 others that didn't help)." Very interesting so far. A quick read. Obvious bias, of course, but one I share, for the most part. Ideas have consequences. I am halfway through and have read about Machiavelli, Descartes (a surprise there, since I was rather fond of some of his work, and biased toward mathematicians, especially French ones- but I never thought through to all the ramifications of his philosophy), Hobbes, Calvin (no, not really, that was a joke), Rousseau, Marx & Engels, Mill, Darwin, Nietzsche and Lenin. Now I'll have to go back and read some of the original works all the way through. The long march away from God, the Bible and morality in the modern world had its philosophical underpinnings in place hundreds of years ago. Of course, it is thousands if you want to go back to Eden, but this book starts with the 16th century.

I'm no Guy Noir, but I've heard that the answer to life's persistent questions is 42. (and don't forget your towel.)

Sabbath

No pics today.

Last night we had a Bible study after dinner. Nathan covered some of the many reasons why the trinity doctrine, besides not being mentioned in the Bible, is not logical. I followed that today with a sermon tracing the history of the doctrine, more on where it falls short, and what is revealed in scripture- that God uses family terms to describe the Godhead and that many sons will be glorified, and The Son is the Captain of their salvation. God will share His glory with man.

(For those of you not familiar with my religious beliefs, the simplest way to explain this is that I believe that the Father and the Son are God, and I believe in the Holy Spirit, just like the early Church, and just as the Council of Nicea declared in AD325. However, I do not agree with the conclusion of the Council of Constantinople in AD381, that the Holy Spirit is "worshiped and glorified together with the Father and Son." There you go, I am a heretic. At least I was after 381- before that I would've been OK.)

La Nu Nan translated into Burmese for the tapes that are sent to Burma and also to the brethren in the Karen refugee camps (here in Thailand). I speak a little, and then shut up while La Nu Nan does the translation, and so on. It is important to keep things very clear- simple. Turns out that it takes longer to prepare that kind of message than one where you have plenty of time and almost limitless vocabulary to explain everything. It will be a challenge, but a good one- for me- to boil the Bible's basic truths down to their fundamental components in not too many words.

At least some of what I will be preparing here for the students I will also write up in a form that can be translated into Burmese for use over there. In talking with Lallian, I learned of another challenge in Burma. He is of the Mizo tribe, and the Bible in the Mizo language is translated from English, not the original languages. Therefore, some errors are carried over, as well as possible new ones due to being 2 languages away from the original. In any case, that Bible has done a good work. Most Mizo are Christian, in a country that is Buddhist.

I hung around at the school after the service, straightened up the library a bit, and showed some of the little ones nature videos on my computer. Big hit. I was surprised at how many of the animals they could identify in English. After dinner, May Yu La (age 6) came up to me and said "Movies!" So we sat down for another half hour or 45 minutes.

Maybe tonight I will have my forst normal night of sleep since arriving (remember, it is 12 hours ahead of EST). It is only a little after 10 and I am drowsy. Good sign. Someone staying across the drive here at the farm is serenading me and the chickens (just about everyone plays a guitar and sings).

Rock-a-bye. Good-night, all.

Howells leave

We had a special dinner and ice cream for the Howells, who left on Friday. They have quite the adventure planned on their way back to the States. Dusti with Jay.

Deanne takes a photo of Trevor (left) and Jacefu with Lallian looking on and Kit in between, on the move as always.

Quite simply one of the sweetest young ladies I have the privilege to know, Autumn Howell.










Deanne (center) shares a fun moment with Utai (left) and Seng Pa (Seng Aung's wife)














"Dr. Dusti" takes the Homiletics class on Thursday night. Two of the students gave biography speeches- one on Ruth and one on Job. Seng Aung on Ruth- "Would you do whatever your mother-in-law told you to do?" Never thought of it that way.

Scary :)

Settled in

Modern and beautiful Incheon, the airport in Seoul. Many places to shop (looked expensive) and a free internet lounge!

My new home away from home- the farmhouse. The Legacy office is here on the main floor. Sao, Goi and Art have desks there, and the teachers come to do business, use the copier or meet with Leon, whose office is in the bedroom next to mine, upstairs.

My room (the windows the left side of the house)

The view below is from the first floor toward the right side of the house.

Big Bird

This is the bird I flew from DC to Seoul. Typically good Asian service and food. Even had stainless steel tableware. Ride was bumpy at times, but overall smooth and pleasant. I would recommend Air Korea to anyone.