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Thai Massage in Thailand is pretty much the greatest thing ever. On Sunday, Stephanie, Kelsey, Maria, Michal Ruth, Ja, Jesse, Preston, Will, and I went for a 1 hour Thai massage. The salon was decorated beautifully and everyone was so nice. They washed our feet, had us change into cotton pajamas, and we laid down on soft mats on the floor. Actually, there was a lot of laughing involved because none of us had ever had a massage and had no idea what was going on. That, and the slippers were about 2 inches too short for Jesse’s feet. The next hour was amazing, as they pressed on all of our muscles and all of our joints. It felt so amazing! Afterwards, we were given the greatest hot tea I’ve ever had. Ja said it was called “matoom” but none of us know what it is in English. The best part of the 1 hour massage - it cost 250 baht. Yes! That’s right! One hour of Thai massage and pampering cost me $6.75. Needless to say, we’ll be going back to Aiyara about once a month.

Su wat dii ka, everyone!

Let’s see… Because most classes were canceled on Monday and Tuesday due to a national holiday, attendance at GrapeJam on Tuesday night was lower than normal. This made it a lot more intimate though, and we had a really great time singing and playing games. The rest of the week was pretty normal, with school and Grapevine activities. After Thursday night’s market, we headed back to the Grapevine to introduce some Thai students, and some American students as well, to the amazingness that is Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It was so great watching it again, although I am not a fan of the newly added computer animated scenes. I think that they’re a bit too obvious. On Friday night we went to “Friday Night Alive” at Muang Thai Church in Bangkok. It was such a great time! We had dinner from street vendors, and then sang praise songs, prayed, and had a great discussion on grey areas of Christianity. I usually hate those talks, but the way we discussed alcohol, by splitting into 2 teams (one team saying that Christians can drink and another saying that they shouldn’t) and then presenting just 5 reasons for their argument went really well. It was very civil and no one was offended or upset. I was just really impressed with how it was handled. The praise and worship was amazing. We learned a song in Thai, and at one point the American students were singing “I Want to Know You” in English while the Thai students were singing it in Thai. It was the greatest sound and was an amazing experience for me.

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Last Friday, after visiting the orphanage, I met Taan in Bangkok for a trip to the National Museum. There was a whole new wing displaying ancient artifacts from the Thailand and Cambodia area. My favorites were the golden throne chair of King Rama V and the stone tablet that was engraved by the man who invented the Thai writing system. After that it was on to the main area of the museum. There were rooms devoted to everything concerning Thai history. There was a transportation room filled with carts and the seats that would be placed on elephants, some covered in mother of pearl and others made entirely of ivory. There was a room of musical intstruments, one of golden artifacts, and lots of rooms containing stone statues from ancient temples. It was really interesting, but after awhile, I can only be fascinated by so many statues of the same thing.

Saturday was Chemistry lab, and it was completely miserable. How am I supposed to finish a lab when there are students giving my partner instructions in Thai (they don’t know what’s going on either), and there are 4 different lab instructors walking around giving me opposite instructions every 5 minutes. Someone needs to make up their mind about what to do. It was so frustrating.

After lab, Will, Amy and I headed up to the Coley’s house to babysit Zula and Moses. It was so much fun! The first thing Moses said when I walked in the house was “I’m sorry. Meagan, but Mom says we shouldn’t watch TV today. She wants us to do arts and crafts.” If you know me, then you probably know how little I watch TV. I think this came from discussions int he van about how we should watch Star Wars sometime. We ended up playing with Star Wars legos, painting with watercolors, playing chess and monopoly, hunting for bugs in the yard, and taking a very long walk to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream. It was a great day.

We have to begin planning out Cambodia trip soon. We’ll be heading there the 2nd weekend in August to renew our visas and see Angkor Wat. That weekend is a long weekend from school because it is the Queen’s birthday.

Prayer requests, you ask? Here are a few:
Emotional and physical health of our team
That we can really get the word out about Grapevine and that lots of people will come
That we handle what culture stress we encounter with positive attitudes
Our Thai lessons and the English lessons that we are giving others
Our witness to others

A lot has been going on, but most of it deals with school, so we’ll skip that.

On Monday, Stephanie, Taan, and I went to Jim Thompson’s house in Bangkok. He was an American Architect who revitalized the Thai silk trade and brought it to America. His house is amazing. It was constructed from 6 original teak houses that he brought to Bangkok from all around Thailand. Thompson disappeared in Malaysia in the 1960s, and no evidence was found about what happened to him. His house was turned into a museum and there is a store with the finest Jim Thompson silk. He collected Southeast Asian art, and he has statues, pottery, and cloth paintings dating back to the 14th century. It was really amazing. I’ve uploaded a lot of pictures to my Flickr account if you want to see more.

Yesterday was the 4th of July and we had a great party at The Grapevine. We had hotdogs, coleslaw, and chili for dinner, a watermelon seed spitting contest, and amazing fireworks. They were big ones too. Greg bought them from Chinatown in Bangkok.

I’m really enjoying meeting new people. Sometimes it’s hard for me to start conversations, but I’ve made a lot of good friends, and I was much more outgoing last night at Grapejam than usual. I think Taan and I will be spending the day in Bangkok on Friday, which should be really nice.