Yup, as the easily translatable title suggests, i am in the MEET team to Thailand!
Originally, i must say that i had my heart set on going to the Philippines, mainly cos i have had next to no exposure to that half of my heritage. Furthermore, being on the Philippine team would give me the perfect excuse to finally learn some substantial Tagalog (Currently the words that i know can be counted on my fingers and toes).
But i thank God for helping me to put the whole thing in His hands, such that even though i found out i was in the Thailand team instead, there was no feelings of regret or any of that nonsense...
Anyway, i really do think that this is the Lord's plan, and that in His time i'll get a clearer picture as to why Thailand...
That being said, Thailand was my second choice, mainly because when i was there for a month for army training two years ago i saw so much spiritual bondage, which certainly left a deep impression on my heart. Furthermore, it just so happens that i'm doing a Thai history module this sem, together with another Southeast Asian History module that includes lots of Thai stuff, so think God's timing is just so great =)
Then there's the issue of language (wonder if i am destined to never learn my true mother tongue - no close, let alone distant relative of mine speaks mandarin to any definable standard, so how it can end up as my mother tongue is just beyond me...) Currently all the Thai i know falls into several broad categories. An (almost) exhaustive list is as follows [excuse the spelling]:
FOOD/FOOD-RELATED STUFF
tom yum goong/kai/pla
tom kha kai (chicken and coconut soup)
phad thai (noodles)
naam (water)
naam pla (fish sauce - literally fish water)
moo (pork)
neua (beef)
a-roy (delicious)
GREETINGS/SAYINGS
Sawadee krup/kaa
Khop khun krup/kaa
Mai phen rai (never mind - i learnt that from Chang & Eng)
STUFF I LEARNT WHILE I WAS IN THAILAND FOR ARMY STUFF
khap khe (dark/no light)
khap wan (bright/got light)
-learnt these two phrases to communicate with my Royal Thai Army liason on when to turn a flashlight on and off...
HISTORY STUFF
All the kings: Ramkhamhaeng/U Thong/ Narai/ Taksin/ Mongkut/ Chulalongkorn/Vajiravudh/ Prajadhipok etc...
All the various places/terms: Sukhothai/ Lan Na/ Ayudhya/ Thonburi/ Rai/ Phrai/ Nai/ Muang/ Sakdina
OTHERS:
mae naam (river)
naam hong (toilet)
Come to think of it, that means i technically know more Thai than i do Tagalog...
But anyway, all the five other FOC comm people are in other teams... Oh well, on the other hand, all the four of our thursday cg people who are in MEET ended up in the Thailand team: there's Debs, Hwee Shan, Pamela and myself... How coincidental, but at the same time the Lord must have His plans too... So exciting...
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