warm welcomes.

This country sure knows how to welcome people well.

We met Chris & Jenn in Bangkok on Tuesday, after we’d travelled by bus through the night and they’d been flying through the night. And Thailand, with grace, couldn’t present their bags. This left us with a few extra 36 hours in the city. And we, of course, seized the day–smelly, yes; same clothes, yes; but out and about nonetheless.

It was fun to get around the city and even more wonderful to be with familiar faces. We haven’t spoken this much in months. There is so much to say, so many things possible to communicate!  It’s been lovely.

I was quite glad to be back in Mae Sot, though; I love this shady little town and was looking forward to having family fall in love with it, too.

It took a way too long fourteen hours to get home from Bangkok. We finally arrived home to have Jenn ask, “What is that smell?”  Oh, yes; it was seeping our concrete home.

Just before we had left town, our fridge needed defrosting. Our freezer is inside the fridge, thus not working at all, really. Instead, it causes ice to build up and need a defrosting every month or so. And this defrosting was poorly engineered, leaving large amounts of water all over the fridge and floor. We had been delaying it for so long, and finally defrosted it before going to Bangkok.

For over 24 hours we had the defrost on and were switching out dirty clothes in our fridge to absorb the water. And after these twenty four hours, Stephen had about had enough–this has happened before–and broke out with the screw driver and hammer to wedge the ice off in chunks.

It worked quickly. We had huge blocks of ice coming off and melting in minutes in the yard. Until he missed.

Freon began to leak, and we starting searching Google quickly. We plugged the hole with wax intended for prevent water from getting in your ears during swimming. It looked good & seemed like a great solution. So we left.

Not a good solution. Three kilos of frozen chicken, one gallon of milk, one block of cheese, and two bowls of homemade yogurt gone very, very bad. It was rank.

Welcome, guys.

The next few minutes were spent rapidly removing the rancid items and fridge. We tried to eat lunch without gagging and took quick showers before going out to purchase a new fridge that afternoon.

I suppose nothing says welcome to Mae Sot better than you’re plans being changed.

And other than that, we’re loving it. It’s been fun to hear their responses to Thailand, Mae Sot, and life here;  to have our worlds collide. For so long Mae Sot has been a little bit of our Narnia: where we’re describing something that is too far from normal for many to understand or wrap their heads around. You can describe it, and it can be believed; but it can’t be grasped without experiencing it or at least a little something of it. And now they’ve been welcomed to the wardrobe; magically nasty smells and all.