One thing that is certain is that you cannot live in Thailand very long without being made aware of the unseen world that has a strong grip on the people in this country. Like much of Asia, Thailand is very aware of spiritual forces that surround their daily lives. Beautifully gilded temples are scattered throughout the land. Personal altars and god houses are in yards and in front of businesses with food and incense offerings. Feng shui is not just a cool alternate way of decorating; it has a strong spiritual focus with the intent of letting in good spirits and blocking out bad spirits. Taxi drivers have mini altars on their dashboards and blessings painted on the roof over their heads. Monks receive their alms daily in exchange for a blessing. Small idols are worn on necklaces to keep bad spirits away. Fortune tellers have incredible power behind their words. There is a war going on every day, and when I open my eyes, I can see myself on the front line.
Recently, a new lady has been coming to the small group I meet with every Wednesday. I'm really glad that she started attending, because her story astounds me. First of all, let me begin by saying that there's nothing remarkable about her. She's very nice, seems sweet, and I like her, but she is an ordinary person. She is American and has been living in Thailand for about 8 years now with her husband and children, and teaches English in her home. In other words, she could easily be me in a few years. Several weeks ago, she began telling us about her story. She lives in a nice neighborhood in the outskirts of Bangkok, near where I live. She says she'd always gotten along well with her neighbors until recently when one of them, a woman, began acting strangely. She would constantly have incense burning all day. Not little sticks that give a pleasant aroma. Huge sticks that permeate the air and create a cloying heaviness. My friend asked her neighbor why she was doing this, and her answer was that she needed to do this because of a different religion that had moved in. My friend's family are the only Christians in a Buddhist neighborhood. I won't go into details, but the neighbor's actions increased to where there was no doubt that it was focused on my friend's house. It seems her favorite activity now is to stand and stare at my friends house, giving it the evil eye. To my western friends who do not understand, it sounds trivial, but it is no joking matter. My friend is concerned about her children. She had the Thai church come to pray over her house last week, and the attacks increased. I am not going into details, but much more than smoke and staring are going on.
When telling her story, one of our Thai friends suggested that her neighbor had probably gone to see a fortune teller. She said that if the fortune teller had told her to expel the foreign God, that it would explain a lot of her actions. My friend tried talking to her neighbor, but it was useless. Her neighbor again and again said that she had to do it, that she didn't want to but she had to. Our suspicion is that she has a spirit inside her that is controlling her.
When I think of a fortune teller, I usually think of some mixture of Whoppy Goldberg in Ghost and the Zoltar machine from Big. It's almost a joke, and just something you do for fun. I have a hard time taking them seriously. Here, however, it is a whole different playing field. It makes sense, if you think about it, though. As a Christian, I believe it when the Bible says that Jesus and His disciples cast out demons. If they cast them out, they must have existed in the first place. It makes logical sense that demons would no suddenly disappear after the Church was founded. It makes sense, yet it seems so fantastical that I sometimes have trouble accepting it. I have a feeling being here will only open my eyes further.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Believe it or not, a lot has happened since my last update. On a national scale, Thailand had the PM election on Sunday. There were 2 main parties (1 and 10), though technically about 40 parties were running. Interestingly, when a PM is elected, his whole party is elected along with him, which cuts down on the filibustering, I would imagine. Party 1 was the red shirt party, and their leader, Mr. Thaksin, won. This is the leader who was exiled much to the anger of many Thai. By winning the election, he is able to return to Thailand. If he had lost, he would not have been able to return. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be completely dependent on your countrymen deciding whether or not you could return home after a few years. I don't know the details, but it would have to create a bit of anxiety. So far, things are pretty quiet, but we will see what the next few months hold.
On a personal basis, I am back from Laos. The trip was quite frustrating for various reasons. I ended up missing one of my documentations that the school was supposed to have sent with me, so I could not apply for the non-B visa that I need to work in Thailand (kind of like a green card). I had the school fax what I thought was needed, but it wasn't, so I paid 100 baht for an unnecessary fax. Finally, after getting a tourist visa so that I could at least get back home, we got to the hotel.
Now, I had been riding in a bus from 10pm to 6am where I immediately stood in line at the Thai border, then the Laos border, and then again at the embassy until 3pm. During this time, I didn't eat, so I was pretty hungry by the time dinner was served. It was actually pretty good. Then again, almost anything would have tasted great at that point! During dinner, I was able to talk to a few people. Somehow, the conversation was turned to God and I was able to talk to them about salvation, prayer, and Heaven and Hell. The lady said that I was the first person to talk to them about God in the 3 years they'd been in Thailand. She then asked me to pray for Collin, her partner. She actually kept asking me about every time she saw me over the next 24 hours. I said that I would, and have been trying to pray for all 3 of the people I talked to ever since. This was the highlight of the trip, and just about the only bright spot other than the fact that God was able to help me keep a fairly good attitude about it all. Yes, it was frustrating, but at least I had faith that somehow it would all work out. By the end of the embassy run, I was nearly okay with anything.
So, the next day, we left to go back to Thailand. At the Thai border, I ran into some more trouble when the border officer could not find my stamp from leaving Laos. He said I had to go back to the border, wait in line there, get a stamp, then come back to the Thai border, get a stamp, and then I'd be able to leave. Ugh. I went to the lady who handled our passports, and she pointed out the Laos stamp that did in fact exist in my passport, just on a different page. I can't say I blame the guy, though, as it really did blend in with the background on my pages. By the way, can I just say that the new passports are pretty, but very annoying when it comes to finding stamps. Most border stamps are blue or red or a combo. The pages are perfectly tinted that they are really hard to see them. It is very annoying. I miss the old passport look. Anyway, I showed him the stamp and I was able to get across. Just in time to wait some more.
So, after leaving the border, we continued on our merry way back to Bangkok. One thing that was nice was that 2 people did not come back with us (not sure the story) so it was less crowded. Also, one of the guys bought a few movies, so we watched them on our drive. About halfway there, we stopped at one of the gas stations, only to be told that the station was out of gas. The driver than told us that we'd just have to wait until the truck came in the morning. Praise the Lord he was joking. Though to be honest, my thought process at that point was: sure, why not! We drove on and stopped at another station, and it was fine.
We finally pulled in at Bangkok around midnight. I asked him to drop me off where I had met them at the BTS station (sky train), thinking I could take it to the other end and then try to catch a taxi as it would probably be cheaper. It probably would have been, if the trains had still been running. So, I had to get a taxi after all. It wasn't too bad--about 200 baht. I got home around 1am, and I was pretty tired. My roommate was asleep in my room. I think she was planning on welcoming me home, but I'm glad she slept instead as it was so late. I got about 4-5 hours of sleep before getting up to teach in the morning. I can tell you one thing though, coffee never tasted so good as it did that morning.
Friday was a teacher workday, so I had a break from teaching. They were spraying for mosquitoes, so I had to flee the campus for a few hours. We ended up wandering around a mall for a few hours. The original intent was to watch a movie, but no good ones were playing at the mall we went to. They just had Transformers 3 (already saw), Green Lantern (saw and didn't like) and a Thai movie that I had absolutely no interest in.
So, I had a nice long weekend to rest and catch up, and next weekend is a long holiday, so I'll have even more time. A few of us were thinking of heading out to the beach, but we'll see if it happens. Somehow, I ended up being the only planner in the group, which is ridiculous because I'm really not a planner, just in comparison. So, we'll see if we can get a place to stay, as a lot of people are heading out that weekend. Honestly, I'd love to go to the beach, but I hate planning and packing to such an extent that I'd be okay just hanging out in Bangkok. We shall see.
This up coming week, we have Open House, so I'm trying to get my room ready. It looks pretty good, and will look even better once I get some kid work up. Ah the joys of having a TA!
On a personal basis, I am back from Laos. The trip was quite frustrating for various reasons. I ended up missing one of my documentations that the school was supposed to have sent with me, so I could not apply for the non-B visa that I need to work in Thailand (kind of like a green card). I had the school fax what I thought was needed, but it wasn't, so I paid 100 baht for an unnecessary fax. Finally, after getting a tourist visa so that I could at least get back home, we got to the hotel.
Now, I had been riding in a bus from 10pm to 6am where I immediately stood in line at the Thai border, then the Laos border, and then again at the embassy until 3pm. During this time, I didn't eat, so I was pretty hungry by the time dinner was served. It was actually pretty good. Then again, almost anything would have tasted great at that point! During dinner, I was able to talk to a few people. Somehow, the conversation was turned to God and I was able to talk to them about salvation, prayer, and Heaven and Hell. The lady said that I was the first person to talk to them about God in the 3 years they'd been in Thailand. She then asked me to pray for Collin, her partner. She actually kept asking me about every time she saw me over the next 24 hours. I said that I would, and have been trying to pray for all 3 of the people I talked to ever since. This was the highlight of the trip, and just about the only bright spot other than the fact that God was able to help me keep a fairly good attitude about it all. Yes, it was frustrating, but at least I had faith that somehow it would all work out. By the end of the embassy run, I was nearly okay with anything.
So, the next day, we left to go back to Thailand. At the Thai border, I ran into some more trouble when the border officer could not find my stamp from leaving Laos. He said I had to go back to the border, wait in line there, get a stamp, then come back to the Thai border, get a stamp, and then I'd be able to leave. Ugh. I went to the lady who handled our passports, and she pointed out the Laos stamp that did in fact exist in my passport, just on a different page. I can't say I blame the guy, though, as it really did blend in with the background on my pages. By the way, can I just say that the new passports are pretty, but very annoying when it comes to finding stamps. Most border stamps are blue or red or a combo. The pages are perfectly tinted that they are really hard to see them. It is very annoying. I miss the old passport look. Anyway, I showed him the stamp and I was able to get across. Just in time to wait some more.
So, after leaving the border, we continued on our merry way back to Bangkok. One thing that was nice was that 2 people did not come back with us (not sure the story) so it was less crowded. Also, one of the guys bought a few movies, so we watched them on our drive. About halfway there, we stopped at one of the gas stations, only to be told that the station was out of gas. The driver than told us that we'd just have to wait until the truck came in the morning. Praise the Lord he was joking. Though to be honest, my thought process at that point was: sure, why not! We drove on and stopped at another station, and it was fine.
We finally pulled in at Bangkok around midnight. I asked him to drop me off where I had met them at the BTS station (sky train), thinking I could take it to the other end and then try to catch a taxi as it would probably be cheaper. It probably would have been, if the trains had still been running. So, I had to get a taxi after all. It wasn't too bad--about 200 baht. I got home around 1am, and I was pretty tired. My roommate was asleep in my room. I think she was planning on welcoming me home, but I'm glad she slept instead as it was so late. I got about 4-5 hours of sleep before getting up to teach in the morning. I can tell you one thing though, coffee never tasted so good as it did that morning.
Friday was a teacher workday, so I had a break from teaching. They were spraying for mosquitoes, so I had to flee the campus for a few hours. We ended up wandering around a mall for a few hours. The original intent was to watch a movie, but no good ones were playing at the mall we went to. They just had Transformers 3 (already saw), Green Lantern (saw and didn't like) and a Thai movie that I had absolutely no interest in.
So, I had a nice long weekend to rest and catch up, and next weekend is a long holiday, so I'll have even more time. A few of us were thinking of heading out to the beach, but we'll see if it happens. Somehow, I ended up being the only planner in the group, which is ridiculous because I'm really not a planner, just in comparison. So, we'll see if we can get a place to stay, as a lot of people are heading out that weekend. Honestly, I'd love to go to the beach, but I hate planning and packing to such an extent that I'd be okay just hanging out in Bangkok. We shall see.
This up coming week, we have Open House, so I'm trying to get my room ready. It looks pretty good, and will look even better once I get some kid work up. Ah the joys of having a TA!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Laos Bound!
Well, it turns out that i really should have gotten my passport renewed while in Thailand, because it has turned into a huge hassle. My re-entry permit expired with my old passport in May, so I was only granted a 30 day travel visa when I arrived. I went to immigration earlier this week to get my new work permit for the year, only to find out after several hours that I needed to go to the other immigration office. One of the ladies in the office went for me with my papers, but the Ministry of Education told her that it was too close to the expiration of my visa and I had to get a new one. This means that I need to flee the country for a few days. The original plan was for me to go to Cambodia on Thursday. My visa expires on Tuesday, so this would mean that I'd have to pay a fine of 1000 baht. I'd also have to be there for 2 days and 2 nights. There is a professional development workday on Friday where I am supposed to lead a discussion on classroom management. Thursday was the only day because the elections on Sunday mean that the company would not be making their Monday run this week. This plan did not make me very happy. So, we called another company, and made arrangements for me to go to Laos on Sunday night to return on Tuesday night. This plan is much better. :) I'm anticipating confusion and a general sense of having no idea what's happening while undergoing my new adventure. Oh, and a new pretty stamp for my new pretty passport. Yay for small joys!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)