Living the Life

Perhaps a little-known fact about Bangkok for people who haven't been to Asia, is that it is home of some of the best hospitals in the world. I have never been in a hospital in Colorado or Texas as nice as Bumrungrad or Samitivej. Aside from the state of the art architecture and overall comfy feeling that is devoid from most hospitals, the prices are CHEAP! Thailand is gaining recognition as the place to be for cheap procedures. Anything from necessary major surgeries to cosmetic wants have people flocking to Thailand. It's rumoured that the cost of a return-plane ticket from L.A. to BKK, breast augmentation, and three weeks recovery time in Ko Samui or any of Thailand's lovely islands is cheaper than having the procedure done in the states. Something worth considering if you have any surgical needs/desires :).

I stole this from my friend's blog, but it just captures some aspects of Thailand that just cannot be captured any other way....

The sign to my left reads:

Good News for Foreigners having THAI girlfriends!

If you have any promplem of miscommunication with your Thai girlfriend because of the language barrier.

If you want to express your feelings and cares about her but have no idea how to explain them.

You really need a personal professional translator to make your couple life of different languages a successful one.

"IMT, is an international translation service provider. With over 10 years experiences and professionalism in translation, we offer you an express and accurate translation of your love letters and emails for your uninterrupted and ongoing relationship with your Thai Lovers. "

"IMT, your translating solution"

Really, really, really good news about this cutie is here.

George Galloway Rips Sky News

This is a few weeks old, but I still thought I would post it. Make what you will of it.

I like this.

View from my roof. My building only has only four floors, so it's not too high up :).

I pretty much get told all the time by Asians that I "don't look American" (because we all know that America has such cookie-cutter physical features and all, right? that's a joke). Most commonly I get mistaken for a Russian, which is bad news for me since that mistake normally takes place in the midst of a solicitation for business considering the ever-growing number of former Soviet prostitutes running around here.... but today a boy told me he was surprised when I it turned out I am "just" American because according to him, I look half-Indian. I am just not seeing it, but who knows....maybe... or maybe not :)

I guess there are some photos of Aishwarya Rai, like this one, that might fool my ill-educated friends about her ethnicity... so I guess maybe there are a lot more looks to "indian" than most westerners realize, eh?

*By the way, if you don't know who this woman is by now, you should learn quick!

...Roti Boy is to Thailand (and maybe Southeast Asia as a whole cos I think it is from Singapore). I never understand the fascination with this sort of stuff. It's just junk food! Why do people wait in line for 20 minutes for the stuff???

Yah, this wouldn't be the first place I would choose to get a massage.... call me crazy.

My city has white table cloth restaurants opposite places of "entertainment" (ie places to pick up girls for a price) and cheap lingerie sidewalk sales.

The Klong (pier) I live next to... and the way we get to the other side...

It's been a while since this happened, but I still want to give a shout out to my girl, Stacy Nicole Cochran who got engaged recently. So yeah, HAPPY ENGAGEMENT Stacy! :) Sorry I don't have a pic of you and your beau, Luke, so yeah... my blog gets to just sport one of us :)... hehe.

Since in roughly 50 days, God-willing, I will be doing my "stateside tour" I thought I would try to put some extra effort into formally being your mostly-Bangkok tour guide through a daily photo. Hopefully. If I am disciplined enough to actually take and post. But, I will try! So, here's the first one... 10 baht (25 cent) crepe deals... yummy yums.

...some of the weirdest ex-pats live in Bangkok. Yup, it's true. However, in John Karr's defense about the claim that Thai parents said he was too "strict"- I'm pretty sure that Thais consider any foreigner "strict" who expects their students to actually turn in quality work in a timely manner and who gives low marks for kids who don't. Trust me- Thais don't even allow foreign teachers to fail students who do absolutely no work and who speak absolutely no English. It's just that most teachers give in to the "Thai way"... regardless, this whole story is absolutely weird, especially for a Coloradan-turned-Bangkoker.

...that's the title of my new favourite song by Ziggy Marley. :)

This weekend I was reminded a lot about two communities in my life that truly taught me the religion of love.

First, is West Bowles. The people I met there continually challenge me and remind me what it means to truly love. Nowadays, a lot of them are involved in some work going on in Uganda and this weekend I got the chance to read up on all the great things going on there. Those people still truly amaze me and the raw honesty of their desire to love others in the selfless way that Christ taught us truly inspires me and pushes me on in this life we are called to live. Here are some more pictures if you are interested.

Second, my dear friend Ian Buchanan sent me his sermon he was preaching this weekend about standing in the gap on behalf of the oppressed. His lesson told a few stories from our days at Mission Waco. It reminded me of the pure hearts of the people who taught me so much about being all things to all people and really opening your life to individuals. Most of the staff at Mission Waco live in the very neighborhood they work and their houses are more like community centres than the typical private residences us to which us westerners unfortunately have become accustom.

Lately I've just been realizing how blessed I am to know the people I know. People who live lives of honest love and real compassion that drives them to action. Outside of those two communities, I know so many others who are pressing on in attempts to live similiar lives and I thank God everyday for "y'all" (that's a lil' bit of the former Texan in me for you guys! haha).

It's a love story of a different kind. It's about a visa marriage between a gangster and an innocent girl. The two individuals who live separate lives in different cities are still impacted by love.

This was the first Korean movie I have seen and it wasn't bad. While it's quite old, if you get a chance to check Failan out, I say go for it.

You know you love reading about them. I know you love reading about them. So, it's been one year since my growing-too-quickly-for-my-likings kids have changed their lives from dirty, drug using, thuggish, fighting, street kids to clean, school-attending, polite most of the time, almost teenagers (except for beebs who isn't in this picture... and by the way my nepalese friends are telling me when I translate his name to English it should be Bibek, not how I spell it- Beebak... but I think I will continue to mispell my own kid's name, just out of personal preference. haha).... and one year concluded means another year is coming. Which means school fees, bigger clothes, books, food, rent, etc and the monthly pay for our two "staff", Amma our 65 year old Christian widow who was shunned from her Hindu family who works as our chef and all around nuturer for the children of St. Teresa's school for the slums that we are in connection with, and Bhim, our 18 year old villager who came looking for work so we hired him to take care of day to day needs and to act as some sort of older, male role model. He is a really, really good guy. Honest, loving, and hard-working.

Every month it costs about $550 to pay for all things necessary for the kids, Amma and Bhim (both Amma and Bhim spend 24-7 with my kids). Right now about $400/month is certain. The last $150 is kind of something that I just hope to fall from the sky month to month. And usually it happens like that. But, it makes me nervous. So, if you'd like to help ease my nerves, and support our kids, drop me an email. Of course we can always cut corners, but I like to let my kids drink milk twice a week and eat meat once a week and maybe an ice cream once a month... the rest of their weekly diet consists of home-grown vegetables and corn (yeah i know corn is a vegetable but here it is eaten more like the main deal), black tea, rice and lentils.

Remember, the only overhead is Amma and Bhim and really I don't consider that overhead because they are also members of the poor and destitute of our society. Anyway, send me an email.... :) Much love to ya.

Are there sane, love-filled people in the world who actually like Ann Coulter?!

Somehow, it baffles me about how the woman who says things like : Only that I didn't say it loud enough and in a large enough public forum. And when I said we should "execute" John Walker Lindh, I mis-spoke. What I meant to say was "We should burn John Walker Lindh alive and televise it on prime-time network TV" thinks she has the authority or understanding to speak on what a God-filled church church looks like.....

Man, the Christian-Right scares me sometimes....or more accurately, most of the time.

Focus on the Global South has a new book out... I haven't read it yet, but I am going to first thing after I finish my thesis.....

This morning I was out shopping for touristy things. The only other non-Asian in the small shop was a middle age man with camera dangling from his neck. His accent, his dark features, and the way he waved his hands to and fro with excitement made think he might be an Italian. After I asked him where he was from, he looked around to make sure the coast was clear of eavesdroppers before he said in a hushed voice, "Israel."

I simply nodded, as I know his whispers were a result of recent headlines.

"You know...this...this war...this thing we are doing to Lebanon...." His head fell with honest remorse, "it's our black shame."