h.michelle's blog

but a poor reflection

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 18, 2010

this week, a friend from venezuela came to stay with us. and as many visitors we’ve had to our home in the community, it was striking to host someone who loved our neighbors so affectionately. regardless of the fact that she knew just 2 words of thai and had never met them before, she treated them all with such tenderness and real joy in meeting them and spent the extra minute interacting with them. after just one day, neighbors were asking about her, remarking on her adorableness, missing her. seeing her simply love people reminded me that of its specialness, of its graciousness. it helped remind me of the value of a simple, warm, yet bold expression of love and that it hasn’t and won’t be lost on people in the day-to-day of life.

what a helpful reflection of what is essential. paul knew it. if i share the gospel and hope with every thai person, but have not love, i am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. if i have the gift of leadership and can rid my community of all drug using and dealing, and if i have faith that can move cities and fathom all theology, but have not love, i am nothing. if i give all ipossess to the destitute and surrender my body to the violence, but have not love, i am nothing.

delight in someone in the margins of your life today.

this warmed my heart

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 13, 2010

i hate cats.
if i could kick cats and not be shunned from society, i would. i won’t go into why for the sake of you cat-people out there, but i pray that one day you will come to the light.
my friend just sent me this blog post of this email exchange between a graphic designer and an admin who just lost her cat and it’s so reprehensibly hilarious. (if you like cats, don’t read it)
i know i should feel sorry for the woman who lost her cat, but the graphic designer is just such a funny a-hole.
ps- as i was reading this thread, a cat right outside my window fell off a neighboring roof and did the whole “raaaarrrrr” cat-scream and i laughed with my head thrown back.

hey diddle diddle

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 13, 2010

you can’t beat thai nicknames. golf, beer, earth, cream, ball. they love using english words as nicknames because their real names are so auspiciously stinking long. the superstition is that if you call someone by a nickname, you can trick spirits so they won’t be able to know the real names of people. hey, it’s also a great trick on people, too. i know like nobody’s real name. any time a thai person adds me on facebook, i never know who it is, especially when they use the cute-but-looks-nothing-like-you profile pic. who the heck is supaporn rattanatharathorn?

a neighboring family has three little kids and i am loving the choices they’ve made for nicknames. the oldest girl is “snooker” (brits’ billiards), the middle 1 yr old boy is “snack” (and he is a pudgeball), and the infant girl is “nickname” (why come up with a nickname when you can just use the word?).
why? so they can go by nook, nack and nick.
that’s right; we live in a nursery rhyme.

what can you accept? i mean, expect?

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 12, 2010


our team started having a monthly day of fasting and prayer that ends with breaking the fast in one of our communities and sharing time with neighbors. yesterday, we met in photong, christy and suzy’s slum and as they were showing us around, christy pointed out the swamp water level and the ubiquitous trash. one of the recent common concerns they’ve been running into as they talk to neighbors is the issue of trash building up in the swamp water below their houses. it’s a huge fire safety concern, jeopardizes health and in general makes the community less pleasant. everybody hates the trash, but everyone just keeps throwing new trash in there; they just accept it.
and then christy pointed out,
“oh, and that’s the shark head our neighbor hung up while we were gone.”
and sure enough, there was an actual dried out shark head dangling from their overhang. could she tell us why it was there or why the neighbors chose to hang it on their eave or what they were going to do with it? nope. she didn’t know. she just accepted it. i was jealous. i wanted a shark head to hang up. she did know that i couldn’t take it, though. dang; a shark head is so badass.
it was like the time i was in a taxi with my friend, lisa, having a great conversation with the driver about his life and about jesus and lots of other things. and then lisa pointed out to me that he had three thumbs.
how you can expect stuff like this?

my way or the thai-way.

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 11, 2010

or if you prefer melding the spelling: “thigh-way.”

but that’s a whole different post altogether…
after being here for almost 3 year, it pretty much feels like home and i generally prefer going along with the thai way of life.
except for a few things. i just can’t onto this thai-way: all together. all the time.

Americans; we stand and declare: we like space! we like independence! we like other peoples’ kids to remain their kids and our kids to remain our kids! we like calling ahead! we like efficiency! we make subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) hints so you know it’s time to go home so we can get back to our own lives!
oh, but
Thais! we sit and gauge the situation and maybe will suggest: we’ll go together. we will stay so you won’t be lonely and friendless. we will start when you start. we will stop when you stop. we will all sleep in one big pile (ok, maybe not a pile, but altogether nonetheless).

whiskey goggles

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 10, 2010

meet jen.

she’s an intern here for the summer from the us. she’s chinese american. everyone thinks we’re sisters. it’s confusing for neighbors. “why does your face look so asian but you speak english so well but you’re learning thai and you’re not sisters?”
jen sent our kid-neighbor, may, back home last night, which we usually do. may’s house is a bit of a drunk-guy hotspot and her dad and friends aren’t with it most of the time. she’s still learning thai so she couldn’t get the complete gist of what they were saying, but jen felt uncomfortable because they kept commenting on her hair.
and then may, embarrassed, would say “daaaaad!”
were they hitting on her?
well, mystery’s solved. we found out today they had some confusion and couldn’t figure out if jen was me. is it michelle with a new haircut? did she get it cut shorter? it kinda looks like michelle? did michelle get shorter? beside the different hairstyle, apparently, a 5inch difference doesn’t give it away.
whiskey goggles, man, whiskey goggles.

just.

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 9, 2010

X just popped out a baby three months ago. hearing from other new moms that they often experience somewhat of an identity crisis, X has contrastingly felt freer in her identity than she has in years. just being a mom is an easier expectation to live up to than being stellar at work, being an entrepreneur, and being spectacularly ambitious. she can do they mom thing. she can let go of the rest.

Y just got engaged and is ecstatic but is stuck in tension. question upon question she asks if she’ll lose herself in this marriage. will she just meld into his life? will he cross over into her world some? is she overreacting? can they have an even and reciprocating marriage? will she still be an equally valuable individual?
Z just lost a friend to cancer. he was a buddhist. she’s a christian. she wonders what this means because of who she is. where will this friend go? what does this mean for her faith?
I just feel exhausted. in our community and church work, things are really starting to roll: organizing youth to plan activities in the community, opened up a youth center, volunteers are partnering withour work, seekers are joining the church, etc. but, i experience joy, stress, irritation and love all in the span of an hour. will it always feel so tiring and do i have enough to give? i wonder what the future here will look like. i wonder too much what my future will look like.
in theory, identity is just who you are. you can’t earn it, choose it, or be without one. so why do we have so much trouble finding it? why does it bring us so much stress to not understand it?

there goes sleeping in.

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 8, 2010

it’s been a slow process trying to organize people in our community. people feel that change and unified work is doubtful. “you can’t change people,” they say. but one of the avenues that has ben working has been among our youth. they’re eager to hope, to plan, and to work.

so, this past month, the kids put on their own exercise program! here are the kids planning the activities and breaking up responsibilties.

they had to pick the most hard-core option: running laps at 6am on saturday morning.
oh man. we didn’t know if we adults could get up, much less kids.
well, they did it! so for 3 saturdays in a row, kids got up and ran around the block in front of the community. kik was in charge of name tags, mu and diu were in charge of registration, earth made a poster, deu brought water.
and the support from neighbors has been remarkable. a couple youth carried a donation box and adults getting their coffee or buying fruit threw in some baht to support the cause. they cheer on the kids. one old grandma ran alongside the kids. aunt jaew specially made food.

they remarked that one of the things they liked most was being able to make friends from different groups and areas in the community.

the third saturday, we asked if they wanted to continue running or change the activity to something else and they unanimously chose to change. but even so, they still get their little butts up on saturday morning ready to run.

we’re in the process of building leaders among the youth and their excitement is even surprising. they keep asking, “when are we meeting next?”

waterloo double dark

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 6, 2010


“from man’s sweat and god’s love, beer came into the world.” – st. arnoldus

cheers.

4th of garakadakom (that’s july to you, punk!)

Posted by: hmichelle on: July 4, 2010

if american history was written by thai people…
*the declaration of independence would have been written. then rejected. then rewritten. then rejected. then rewritten…
*star spangled banner would be sung by a high-pitched, warbly lady (she sings everything here including the king-honoring-song before movies and the 100% berry juice ad).
*uncle samitivej would tweeze out all his goatee.
*the statue of liberty would put on some real clothes and not impersonate a monk.
*independence day eats would be bbq’d fish balls and vanilla milk hot dogs.
happy 4th, friends.
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