Heading South

Tomorrow morning I am off to Thap Sakae in the south. It's south of Hua Hin in the narrow part between the Gulf of Siam and mountains bordering Myanmar. I'm really excited to be out of the city! A Canadian couple who used to live here in Bangkok have moved down there. The sister has a Bible student who can hear but cannot speak due to problems with her vocal chords. So the sister wants to teach her some signs. They also have a deaf school in the province and want to investigate the potential of interest. The Canadian couple is really great so I'm looking forward to spending time with them. I'm excited to help with the deaf field too. To take advantage of being out of Bkk, I'm hoping to rent a bike for a day and either ride by the coast or into the mountains a bit. Whatever I do I'll for sure get lots of photos.

I'm back in Bkk for a day and then heading down to Malaysia for the English D.C. We fly into Kuala Lumpur then travel to where the D.C. is in Melacca. After the D.C. we're heading down to Johor Bahru to visit some friends. We're only there for 2 days and then head down to Singapore for a day and a half. From there we fly back to Bkk.

The day after we get back I'm heading down to Pattaya for a long weekend. I'm using a voucher for a free night at a nice hotel I received a few years ago. There's also and English couple who lives there that I'll hang out with. The following Monday school starts back up. I'm using every bit of time left!

So I probably won't be blogging again until I get back. I'm sure I'll have a chance to check my email from time to time though.

Music

I am finally a part of the iPod world. I bought an iPod Shuffle. Just clipping it on is perfect for running, much easier than my old MP3 player. So I now also have iTunes. I'd never used it before and I'm impressed. It's very user friendly as is iTunes Store which seems to have EVERYTHING. I've downloaded several new songs, several old songs and even a book I'm going to listen to on my trip coming up.

Since living here I've felt a little out of touch with the latest music. Actually, I've always had a problem remembering who sings what songs. I would hear a song on the radio and like it but not know who sang it or what the song was called. I never liked the idea of buying a whole CD based on liking one song. So I never did. I mostly listened to the radio. I can get CDs much cheaper here so I've become more familiar with who I like. But iTunes is taking me to new heights! How have I been out of touch for so long??? I feel like I'm emerging from being under a rock.

So, my latest downloads:
Rodrigo y Gabriella - I saw them last year at the All Points West concert in NY. I was blown away by them. I bought the whole album, my first iTunes purchase.

Feist - A couple here actually introduced me to her. I love her style! I downloaded the whole album Let It Die. It's all really good.

Paula Abdul - You're welcome to make fun of me. I was a huge Paula fan during middle school. Vibeology from her Spellbound album came to mind when I was thinking of running songs. It now gives me a little surge during a run.

Any suggestions?

Those Chinese

I was at a coffee shop reading yesterday when I was approached by a deaf person. He handed me a card that said he worked with a church and was selling little trinkets. I asked him where he was from. He said China. Hmmm...a deaf Chinese person in Bangkok attempting to preach. I've seen many Thai deaf doing the same thing (for a variety of causes) but not Chinese. We ended up talking for a bit. I told him about our work here. He recognized a brochure I showed him. He told me he had been to Malaysia and met Bible teachers there. He then showed me some photos on his phone of people he met in Kuala Lumpur. I recognized them! They're Witnesses in the sign group in Malaysia! Amazing! It also made me laugh. We sure are thorough in our ministry! Apparently he is too. Ha! I took a picture of him with my phone but have yet to work out the process of getting it onto my computer.

Rainy Run

It's the rainy season. There was a light drizzle outside when I woke up this morning. I pushed myself out the door, by then it had stopped. But by the time I got to the park it had started back up and went a bit beyond drizzling. But I pushed on, what's the point in turning back now! It turned out to be an exhilarating run. I was soaked when I finished and had the luxury of enjoying a hot shower after I got home. I usually don't enjoy hot water when I've been hot all day. My morning was off to a great start!

I'm officially on my summer break from school! Yay! I have 5 weeks total. The first 3 weeks I'll be spending lots of time in service, making up for when I was back in the states. The 4th week I'm heading down south to visit some friends. There is some deaf in their territory and my friends want to learn some TSL. They also live near the beach!

The 5th week I'm off to Malacca, Malaysia for an English DC. I went 2 years ago and LOVED it. We met so many interesting people who I'll get to see again this time. I'm traveling with some good friends from here and we're staying in this really posh hotel where the DC is being held. After the DC we're heading down to Johor Bahru for a few nights and then one night in Singapore. I'm having a dilemna about wether or not to take gum with me for a run in Singapore. I always chew gum while running. Should I chance it?

A Day in the Kitchen

I usually have RVs and a study on Tuesday afternoons but my study canceled. I decided to take the afternoon off. I've been hitting the pavement hard lately and could use some down time. So after chilling out a bit I decided to do a bit of baking.

I started out making healthy cookies. I got the recipe from my sister. There is no sugar (sweetened with honey) and I used buckwheat flour. There's also oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and cinnamon in them. They turned out pretty good. Then I decided to make some granola. It's really good too!

While the cookies were baking I was looking through a whole foods book I have. I was inspired to make peanut butter. I chopped up peanuts in a blender, then added sunflower oil and a little bit of honey. It's kinda like the peanut butter we used to bye from the amish store. It's pretty good.

Then for dinner I had veggies and some grouper. I used loads of garlic on everything. I also seasoned the grouper with seasonall and lime. It was yummy!

I had a really good time with all of it! I put on some music and kinda got lost in what I was doing. I get the same feeling when I paint. I blast the music and get lost in myself. It releases some creative juices and I end up feeling energized and revitalized. It was a great way to spend my free time today!

I should've taken photos...next time.

Singha Cross Country Race

I ran a race yesterday! It was a 9k cross country run on the outskirts of Bkk. I had a rocky start because the taxi driver didn't know the area and couldn't read the map I gave him. We finally got to the park as the runners were just leaving. So I ran to the register table to get my number, pinned it on and was off. It was 3 minutes into the race already. I did ok. My time was 54:18 (I took the 3 minutes off). We ran on grass for a bit and then on a bike path. The grass part was on the bank of a lake so we were running on a sideways incline. I didn't like that, hurt my ankles a bit. But fortunately it wasn't for too long. Otherwise it was a great location. I ended up placing 4th in my division and received a trophy. I don't think there were many women running.

This is my last week of summer school. I'm finishing a week early because the number of kids registered is so low next week. It's perfect timing, we have our C.O. visit next week. I'll also get a head start on catching up on the time I need to make up.