Happy Thanksgiving!

This weekend was American Thanksgiving, and the first time I cried since coming to back to Thailand ( I guess it's good to get that out of the way....). I, obviously, was feeling homesick thinking of all my family being together without me. I was sad for them too, and felt a little bad, because it seems like I am usually the one missing and I wonder if my family, especially my niece and nephews, think that I don't care about them. But my family never gives me a hard time about it, so for that I'm thankful.

This weekend I was also feeling thankful for the privileges that I grew up with that are so easy to take for granted, like education, a supportive family, the opportunity to work and support myself without worrying too much about it, and for the most part being pretty safe and comfortable most of my life. Being back in Thailand has reminded me how these are not basic rights that everyone has, most people in the world have really hard lives. I hesitate to share these examples because I don't want to exploit their stories, but I decided that it's important to give you a glimpse into the lives of people I'm meeting here:

First, I met a man today in church whose wife went to Australia for a whole year to pick fruit to earn money for the family. He's home raising the 3 boys.

I also met a pastor who has been dating his fiance for 9 years because he cannot afford the dowry that should be given to her family before they are able to marry.

I've become friends with a woman who visits the apartment complex where I live. She has a 3 month old baby and is always asking me child raising advice (my 2 years helping care for triplets is coming in handy...). The other day she told me that her husband was sexually abusing her 10 year old daughter from her previous relationship, so she sent her daughter away to a boarding school, but didn't know what to do about her husband. She wants to leave him, but is not sure how she will be able to take care of her baby because she had no money of her own.

Another woman I know is raising her 8 year old son by herself as her husband lives in Japan, where he can make enough money to support his family. The paperwork that allows him to work there legally has expired, so he plans to stay there indefinitely. His wife at one time lived in Japan with her husband, but her paperwork also expired, so she cannot go back. At this point, this family doesn't know when they will be able to be together again.

Meeting these people and hearing these stories has left me feeling hopeless with the lack of options that often come from the lack of resources and opportunities. It humbles me because essentially I've never been left without options or ways to be safe and have my needs met, even if it simply meant moving back home and letting my family help me out for a while. I'm sure some of these people would be grateful for these opportunities. As I live and work in Thailand right now, I'm not making a lot of money. But Thai people always say that I'm rich. I used to get frustrated at that, but now I realize that they are right because I have options. I'm choosing to work here in Thailand, but I could also choose to return to the US and make more money. I am rich, because I have the choice to give up my opportunity to make more money. The families that I meet here don't have that choice.

Salt Farming 101

This week I went to Ban Dung and saw a salt farm, and then harvested rice. First, the salt farm:

They pump water from the earth, which has salt in it I guess, and put it in small plots of land. In about a week, the water dries out, leaving just the salt. This salt is then gathered and ground (before grinding, it looks kind of like salt used to melt ice). Once ground, it’s put in large 50kg bags. 1000kg of this “black salt” (although it’s just off white) sells for 500 baht, about $15. This salt is used in industry, not to eat.

Here is the team grinding the salt and impressing me with their strength to carry these 50 kg bags.

To "make salt" that's suitable for cooking or eating, the water is taken from the ground and put in large vats. It’s boiled for about 1 day, with paracetamol (which is Tylenol!) and some rice. This helps the color to be white, and this salt is suitable for eating. A 5kg bag sells for about 8 baht, or 25 cents. Amazing!!

This farm we visited made the most of their land and their resources. They used the husks that are removed from the rice when it is harvested, as well as corn husks to make the fire. They also raised fish around the outside of the salt fields, as well as Eucalyptus trees. These didn’t seem related to the salt farming, but it was interesting none the less.

The downside of this salt farming village was that there was no grass, in fact the ground surrounding all the little huts and houses was filled with piles of what looked like black sand…the remains of the fires that were used to boil the salt. As we drove out of the village, we of course bought 10kg of salt from the farmers who were so gracious to explain the process to us.

Final step: weigh the salt and sell itat stands all along the roadside....as well as send it Bangkok and beyond.

Thai food.....

Traditionally Thai food is eaten sitting on the ground or the floor, sharing common dishes. Here I'm enjoying Vietnamese spring rolls at an outdoor sala by a small, man made lake. We later ate barbequed fish that had once been swimming by our sala, papaya salad (called somtam), sticky rice and larb (spicy minced pork). The fish comes whole, but I've mastered getting the meat off without eating skin, bones or anything else that doesn't particularly interest me. I also consume lots of fruit here, with pineapple and papaya on the top of the list.

Psalm 139

This Psalm has always been important to me, and verse 9 continues to emerge as a recurring encouragement: "If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast..."

God has brought this verse to mind as I've moved to Korea, Thailand, Philadelphia, and now back to Thailand once again. I'm thankful that there's nowhere I can go where God's all powerful hand cannot hold me fast. There's nowhere I can go that's far away from Him. This thought is especially encouraging when I feel lonely and very far away from those I love the most, who are not just on the other side of the sea, but on the other side of the world. The good news is that God is just as present with them as he is with me.

Let the adventure in Thailand begin!!