Ever had one of those days where you seem to get everything done, and then some? You do things that have been on your to-do list for months, you buy (and put away!) things that you’ve been meaning to purchase for weeks, you make that recipe you’ve been meaning to try and it tastes great too. I had a day like that recently, and as […]
Run Forward
Sometimes people ask me for advice as they want to start running. The best advice I received when I started running is what I pass along to others: Run forward. Of course people usually run forward, as it takes a lot of concentration and different muscles to run backward. But the point is to put all your effort into moving forward. Too many runners run […]
Brain Connections — Random or Not?
Have you ever seen a certain thing and immediately thought of something else? I’m sure you have. Our brains make connections and associate one thing with others from our memories, knowledge, and experiences. Sometimes the sudden thought makes sense to us — I see a cake for sale and remember that my mom’s birthday is coming up. Sometimes the association is absurd and I wonder […]
“Chinese Fire Drill”, Thai style
I’m not really sure how the term “Chinese fire drill” came about, though I would guess it started as a less-than-kind phrase towards Chinese people. At any rate, I saw an interesting combination today at a stoplight… Two motorbikes pulled up, each with a driver and passenger. Passenger from bike #1 got off and moved to be passenger of bike #2. Passenger of bike #2 […]
How do you know it’s Easter?
In America it’s easy – weeks before the big day, the aisles at Target overflow with pastel-packaged candy and plastic grass, lilies decorate the ends of grocery store counters, and the kitchen smells like vinegar from 49-cent PAAS egg dying kits. Not so in Thailand. My pastor, King, came into the office yesterday with a question. The conversation went something like this: King: “Do most […]
Right Message, Wrong Delivery
I’m sitting on the second floor of Starbucks in the heart of Chiang Mai, looking out over a public square and the most historic gate of the old city wall. This part of town is overwhelmed by the tourist industry–within a half-mile radius there are dozens of tour agencies and cheap hotels, and bars to suit the night crowd. A few Thai guys shove English-language […]
Renewing my visa at Chiang Mai Immigration
In a nutshell, the immigration office is a small room filled to the brim and overflowing with foreigners who do not want to be there. You can almost physically feel the tension, aggravation, and anger that hang in the air. Every 90 days I have to go to the immigration office in Chiang Mai to check in and tell them I am still here. Sometimes […]
Swim Swam Swum
I have been going to Bangkok at least once a month since March of this year. Sometimes it’s for a day (that’s a long day!) and sometimes it’s for a full week, and sometimes it’s in between. Since I’m in the Big City that often, I checked out a pool at a public park and decided to become a member. It’s close enough to my […]
SoccerMom
You know SoccerMom — the mother (or father … I should say SoccerParent) with an extra-large vehicle driving around too many kids to too many events while only having time to grab dinner at the drive-thru, and loving every minute of it. Whenever a team comes into town to help me at TLC, I feel like I turn into SoccerMom. Ok, so maybe I don’t […]
Bronchitis
I had never had bronchitis before. After 12 days of being sick with no relief, I gave in and went to the doctor (on a top 10 list of places I do not like to be). He listened to my sickly saga, looked in my throat, listened to my breathing via stethoscope, and immediately gave the prognosis: bronchitis. The result: a flu vaccine (to ward […]