Will you be my friend?

July 12, 2012 at 21:50 (Week 5)
Tags: Champion Car Wash, Christian Missionary Alliance, English language, health, Kenpo, Khon Kaen University, Missionary, MK, Swensen's, Thai cuisine, Thai suki, Zumba

Tuesday, July 10th

Morning activity was English practice at our beloved Champion Car Wash. The employees are eager to learn English better, so Jason’s been teaching them when there’s a lull in the car washing. Today and Thursday we’re going the effort. It’s tricky sometimes but fun.

Teaching English is neat because my unimpressive one language has never been an asset to anyone. But they appreciate talking, and we get to work on Thai at the same time. I don’t know anything about teaching a language, but thankfully Thais usually want to practice conversation. Can do. As long as we play charades.

Elizabeth, Jenna, and I had lunch at S&P after language time. I had hot and sour soup with seafood with gaba rice. The soup was interesting to eat because half the ingredients weren’t actually edible (ginger, lemongrass, various herbs, parts of seafood creatures, etc.). It was like a treasure hunt in my bowl.

Thai Suki w/ Seattleite

This was terrific: we got to have dinner with Debbie Vik, a missionary who went to the same Christian Missionary Alliance church I did in Seattle. She’s been a missionary for 30 years, but mostly in Bangkok and only 1 year in Khon Kaen. One of my fabulous supporters in Seattle told me about Debbie when I wrote them a few months ago, and I’m really glad we got to meet up. We had a great time.

We ate at MK, a Thai restaurant chain that uses the hot pot dining style.  Thai suki is a cross between Japenese sukiyaki, shabu shabu, and Chinese hot pot. You add meats to a communal pot of broth, let them cook for a bit, add vegetables, cook, then serve in individual bowls serve in individual bowls with sweet and spicy “sukiyaki sauce.”

There are so many kinds of meat to choose from! Pig heart, jellyfish, chicken, fried squid, pig intestines, and much, much more.

Our vegetable plate included cabbage, several kinds of mushrooms, herbs, tofu, carrots, and noodles.

This is fun: how to prepare Thai suki at home. Dad, let’s do it.

At MK at certain time intervals a rather loud song plays, all the staff stops, and they do a synchronized dance. Neat-o.

This was fun They give you a slip calculating per person the calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber, etc. of your meal. Way more impressive to me than synchronized dancing.

And then our lives were changed: Debbie introduced us to Swensen’s. Ohhh man, those Dairy Queen blizzards just might not cut it any more. I think I’ve ice cream more often in the past month than I have in about 5 years It’s much harder to say no when it’s so hot outside and your mouth is on fire from lunch or dinner!

Meeting and talking with Debbie was wonderful; it was a precious blessing to make that connection.

Wednesday, July 11th

Rise and shine: Ladies coffee.

Debbie made us raisin scones and homemade applesauce (but sadly I accidentally deleted my pictures of her fantastic scones). She blessed us by sharing her story, which we all hugely appreciated.

Our neighborhood

Lunch @ Tesco then friends @ KKU

We bought oatmeal, bananas, and tea (essentials) upstairs at Tesco Lotus then joined Debbie and friends downstairs for lunch.

I accidentally ordered my som tam a little too spicy and ate it straight up and a little too fast – man did it hurt! It took serious restraint to not buy ice cream for the third time in 24 hours. Did you know gum is fairly effective for mouth-on-fire?

We had Bible study (on The Gospel Centered Life) with the Nesbitts then went to Khon Kaen University for more English Club. At the KKU Complex (like the Student Union) they don’t have AC, so sometimes they spray water from the ceiling to help cool everyone down. I guess it works, but it got pretty humid.

I met and got to know two new friends: Mintee and Khing. They were super nice and hanging out with them was a lot of fun. Hoping to meet again next week  It was a great two days for making dear new friends. Thanks, God.

Elizabeth delighted some of the CCC (Campus Crusade for Christ) staff with her little fan (and her Elizabeth-ness in general).

Elizabeth and I with P’Guy, one of the CCC leaders. She’s wonderful.

For dinner we went to the KKU market. I think I have a new favorite Thai dish. Maybe not all-around favorite, but definitely favorite healthy (Thai healthy is possible!) dish: yum hed fang, spicy mushroom salad. It’s a mix of different kinds of mushrooms, mint, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, chilis, chili paste, other vegetables, and fish sauce. I’m not sure how authentic the recipe I found is, so if you have another please tell me

As if we didn’t sweat enough today

It was hot today, and we were not in AC for a lot of it, but that didn’t stop us from Zumba and P90X Kenpo when we returned home in the evening.

We had some troubles with the camera timer.

But we came out on top in the end. HUOAH.