Lasts

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to a Thai Christian funeral for the first time. One of the women at the Nakornping church died pretty suddenly from leukemia and the funeral started the next day. She had a young son and it was so sad to see the slide show of her with her family. It was really interesting to me how it is similar to a Buddhist funeral but without all the Buddhist things. It really is Thai but really is Christian as well. It lasts for several days and they have many people come visit the house and the family feeds everyone and they have the coffin there with lots and lots of flowers and pictures. At the Buddhist funeral I went to there was a long line of monks that were chanting in Pali and everyone waied the whole time. At the Christian funeral it was mostly like a church service with lots of eating and greeting the family. There was singing of some very old hymns that I didn't know in English, let alone Thai, but I was able to kind of read and sing along. The sermon after that was good from what I understood and I learned a few new words listening. One of my favorite things about Thai funerals is the shiny flashy lights that they put on the coffin. At this particular funeral, the electricity wasn't too great so all the other lights went out at one point and were flashing for a while so it was kind of crazy looking and felt more like a disco than a funeral. It was great to see all of the churches together again, even if it was for a really sad occasion so it was a good opportunity to show some unity and love. And it was the last time I will see some of them before I leave.

Dinner with P Rung and Onglee

With Becky and friends on top of a hotel

On a lighter subject, I haven't payed for any of my meals lately because everyone is treating me to last dinners and lunches. Its great! I've been able to go out with P Rung and Onglee, P Tik and Awn, Marvin and Oi, Becky, Robert, and Ying. I am going to miss all of these people so much! I also had my last English class today with my student Jo and she brought me a funny stuffed robot thing that there is no way I will be able to pack and bring home with me but it is still very sweet. I've officially cleaned out the junk from my whole room but I haven't actually packed anything. I'm planning on starting tomorrow. Ahh! That's crazy. I'm also getting ready for Amanda's wedding which is next Saturday and talking to my parents about getting my car and phone all set up and working again. I'm going to be very busy for a while at home and I think it will be good to help me from thinking too much about what I will be missing here in Thailand. Because I will, I know.

I even had to take a last picture with my favorite 7-11 man!

Cha-am and Songkran

From today I have exactly two weeks left in Thailand. What happened?! I can't believe the time has gone by so fast, especially since Amanda and Kara left. I thought it might feel long but it has snuck up on me and I can't wrap my mind around it at all! I started compiling a list of lasts today: last foods, places, and things to buy. I don't know if I will actually do them all but I hope I can. I have been traveling so much lately it will be weird to just be here for these last two weeks but really good to say goodbye to everyone and get all my stuff together.

Last week Mark and I took the night bus on Thursday all the way to Pattaya to see Berm before we all went together to church camp in Cha-am. His birthday was a few days earlier so we got to celebrate with him and see a few of the sights we didn't see last time we were there. We also got to hang out with his little nephew Game who is hilarious. He went with us around town and loved doing everything! He also tried to talk to us a lot in Thai and would get frustrated when we didn't understand everything. It was really funny. He also had a CRAZY laughing fit and wouldn't stop for like 15 minutes. It was also good to see that Berm's parents were feeling better because they both have been having health issues, which is why he's been home for two months.

 Game and Berm at Shabushi for Berm's birthday

Visiting a vineyard in Pattaya

On Saturday the three of us drove from Pattaya to Cha-am to help set up camp. Cha-am Beach Camp is where lots of Churches of Christ from all over Thailand come together for a week at the beach and worship and learn together and get to see other believers when they may not all the rest of the year. It actually started on Tuesday night so we were REALLY early. But is was great to meet the people from Bangkok who were in charge and we were really glad to have something to do. They were super welcoming and asked us to help with many things like making name tags and digging holes and setting up the food stalls. We had to use our Thai skills a lot and we learned lots of new words. Our new friends Tan and Lin really enjoyed teaching us slang that you would never learn in school. It was hilarious. We had also been told that it would be miserable hot and we would hate having to sleep on the beach all week, but it was actually really nice weather, not raining and not too hot.

Playing Phase 10 with Lin, Ai, and Tan

Hanging out on the beach with new friends

When camp actually started Mark and I helped sell drinks with our new friends and were able to take orders in Thai. I only messed up a couple of times. I forgot the word for can instead of bottle and gave this little boy the wrong thing and he looked at me like I was crazy! Many of the people there are from small towns where there aren't very many farangs (foreigners) so they were really scared to talk to us or order from us. Its weird to have people scared of you. I helped in the kids class one day and a mom plopped a baby down next to me and the baby looked up at me, made a shocked face, and started bawling. It was fun in the kids class because their Thai is about the same as mine so I could understand a lot but I don't really know craft words so I would just point at stuff and act things out. All in all it was a really good time to see the church coming together and to see how it really is a full body here because I really only work with young adults and I sometimes forget about the whole picture.

Having fun

Selling drinks with P Tum

Thursday we left and came back to Chiang Mai on another night bus with a few hours in Bangkok. I was actually able to find my way around after having been there 3 years ago! I was amazed. We wanted to get back in time to celebrate the last day of the Thai New Year, Songkran, with our friends here in Chiang Mai. After only a couple hours of sleep we went with our Chinese friends to the moat in the city. We spent all day throwing water on each other and everyone walking by. It was crazy and so fun! Some people put ice in their water and it was freezing. I got a sunburn and a few scrapes from my bucket I used to throw water but it was really great and a good way to connect with some of the Chinese students I didn't know very well.

Yai getting splashed

Tong playing in the water