The House Collective

reality.

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It’s challenging to adjust to another culture. This is obvious, of course, but hard to wrap your head around. The smallest things can be so draining. And knowing how small they are and how challenging they are adjust to simply makes it more draining.

And certain days (like today) you just ache for everything to be familiar again; you ache to stop the game/adventure it feels like you are on. But you can’t simply “escape” to familiar things–and that’s maybe the hardest reality of it all: that this is reality.  And as such, it’s here to stay.

something.

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Something just happened; we’re not really sure what.

We went outside this morning to play soccer in the street.  We thought if we went out ourselves and started playing, surely kids couldn’t pass it up.  And they didn’t! We had two girls start to kick the soccer ball around with us within about five minutes, and soon after had mothers smiling at us. We’re hopeful.

But, it ended quite oddly.  After a little while, a mother and toddler came running around the corner, grabbed one of the girls and they ran into a house down the street. Another mother and baby followed around the corner and ran into the same home.

And then five men came–some on a motorbike and some with two trucks.  The back of one truck was filled with people that you could tell were ethnic. The men asked us a question about our home being here/where we live.  We nodded that we live here, and then they turned and went in to the community.  And they started searching the homes. And taking bicycles.

The community was very quiet, except for the five men.  They were laughing.  You could only see about five women and children; no men from the community were around.  And after about twenty minutes of loading up ten or twelve bicycles into the second truck, they left.

After our soccer was stopped, we were on our porch.  When the men left a woman came out and looked at us and shrugged–a sense of hopelessness.  It seemed to say, “What can we do?”

And now more people have come back to the community; the women are talking abruptly among themselves. You can sense their frustration; the anger at being taken advantage of and being able to do nothing.

And we have so many questions. Where are the men from the community? Deported? Or do they know it is better for just the women and children to be there?  Why did some women go to hide and others not?  Are they illegal, where if they let the bikes go they can stay? Or are they legal and still being taken advantage of simply as racism?  Why did the men ask if we lived here?  Would we have been sent away if we didn’t?

And the biggest question to us is this: What do we do?

We believe God has given us this house to rent.  When we initially heard it was furnished and had higher rent, we ruled it out.  That day as we were doing our devotions, I really felt we needed to look into it, so we did.  We called back and went to look at it that afternoon.

We liked it, but it was still a little pricey.  And then, without our asking, they offered to drop the rent by 500B per month.   This brought it back into a reasonable range, and it became a good deal since it came with furnishings for a price similar to one that didn’t.

And we really think it’s perfect.  The two bedrooms allow us to have guests, and a decent-sized living area will allow us to invite teams into our home for dinner, worship nights, etc. But it’s simple, and we are having to stretch ourselves.  We are having to use a squatty potty and make do with a one burner stove and very small refrigerator.  It seemed like a good balance to us: comfortable in some ways and challenging in others.  And though some are skeptical of the neighborhood, we’re hopeful.  We really believe some of our greatest ministry opportunities lie right outside our door, even more so after what we just saw.

We believe we’ve been placed here for such a time as this, if you will.

So what do we do?

oh, no.

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On Tuesday when we had just moved into our house, Sonya took us to Tesco to buy a few things to get by and get started: eggs, bread, milk, cereal, water, salt, pepper, cleaning products, etc.

Well, I had made broccoli, toast, and eggs for dinner tonight, and was trying to add salt.  I had already added some to the broccoli and eggs, but they were still so bland. I shook some on and commented on the funny shape–instead of crystals, they are longer strip-like crystals. That’s when Stephen recognized the shape and looked at the bottle. I bought MSG.  I’ve been choosing to add MSG to our meals for the past three days, unknowingly.

Oh, dear.

neighbors.

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I just watched the delivery man carry in our 9.5kg washer on his back. Yes, one man and one very large washer. Wow.

And, hula hoops are making a comeback in Mae Sot. They are in every market and in every color. We’ve also had the privilege of watching the kids do some pretty amazing work with them.

Really, though, we wanted to write about our neighborhood.  We love it, but we also feel very burdened.  There’s only one other foreign couple that we know of, and it’s a quite diverse area.  They are some wooden homes, some bamboo huts, and some concrete homes (like ours); and there are multiple ethnicities present. Directly across the street from us is a small community of bamboo huts, like this:

And to the left of our front door, you can see our future garden (!) and this:

We’d really love to get to know these communities.  Rather than being the white people who live comfortably across the street, we’d love to invite them into our home. We’d love to be out and play with the children.  We want to love on them.

But we’re really not sure how to do this.  Obviously it will take time, and I think more than anything the patience to wait for God to provide opportunities.  So if could, pray with us that we’d have eyes to see the chances to get to know them.  We’ve started by simply smiling and waving at everyone as we go.

And last, we had a request for a photo in our borrowed, moldy, sweaty helmets. Here you go, Leslie!

poll.

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Yes, an opportunity for you to speak out!  We decided to use the blog to seek out opinions…

We’re getting some things for the house this week, some of which I’m very excited about (namely our steal-of-a-deal dishes).  Anyway, photos to come as we clean up. It’s a disaster around here currently.

One thing we have considered purchasing is a couch. Right now we have four wooden chairs with seat cushions in our living room, and we thought it might be nice to have a softer piece of furniture that we could both fit on.  We also thought it might feel a little warmer and more homey.

We found a couch that we like–it’s actually comfortable, which is hard to find here, and you can order in the color you like, another good thing in this country. All of the upholstery actually comes off so it’s washable, which is nice. It’s 9,990B, or $326. We’re now trying to decide if it’s a good investment, if we should wait to see, or if we should just be grateful and enjoy wooden furniture!

Oh, and if you want to see it: click here (Unfortunately, this link is long gone.)

And, after you’ve seen it–don’t judge us for the boring color. The only options are a jail-bird stripe pattern, a very flowery one with a white base, bright red, and bright blue. We’re leaning towards the khaki-green shade with pretty pillows.

So, comment away. Let’s see what you think 🙂

whoa. big days.

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It’s been quite the whirlwind of a few days, but here’s what we’ve got:

First, we spent Monday to Tuesday in Noh Poe, a refugee camp about five hours south along the border. Refugee camps change the way you view things. A little village is built around the idea that it is a temporary place to live, but they have been there for nearly twenty years now.  Choosing to focus on the more optimistic or light-hearted aspects of the trip:

  • The drive was extremely curvy and mountainous.  For those of you that have been to “the mountain” in Gatlinburg, imagine that last fifteen minutes of vomit-worthy curves on the way to the house, and then multiply that into at least three hours. Between Stephen and I in the two days, we took a pack of Dramamine.
  • On the way we passed Umpiem camp, where our dear friends Law Del Moo et al. are from, and it made me miss them all so badly. I wish I could swing by to their house to celebrate another birthday over ice cream sundaes, sew for hours, or hum along with a beautiful hymn.
  • We had a lot of bananas and water. Every home you visit offers you food, and bananas must be in season now.
  • We spent most of our time at two children’s homes that are supported by Partners.  Each has about 100 students of varied age (maybe 10ish to as old as 25).  They are all attending school and live in the refugee camps, but their parents are back in Burma, so they live at the home.
  • We attempted to understand many Karen conversations quite unsuccessfully, but more than we did a year ago.  We did come back more motivated to study, too!  (On a side note, Karen lessons are going really well, so thank you so very much to everyone who is faithfully praying for us!)
  • It’s going to be a rough year for the refugee camps.  We learned that the UN is actually not very involved in the refugee camps here in Thailand…it’s all political and right up my alley, but you may find this uninteresting: Thailand is a part of the UN Convention for the Status of Refugees, they ultimately never ratified the document in the 1950s.  Thus, they were recently ranked as one of the top 10 worst places for refugees.  Either way, this comes into play because the UN has very little control or power. Thailand does their own registration for refugees on the border, provides soldiers, etc.  (Interesting note–they haven’t officially registered refugees into the camps for at least five years.) Food and provisions are provided by local NGOs, with the primary organizer being the Burmese Border Consortium (TBBC).  (For those curious, the only place the UN really does play  a role is in resettlement because refugees have to be registered with the UN and apply for resettlement through the UN & UN partners.)  All that to get to this:  TBBC has had to cut their budget this year by 75%. That’s a doosie. Thus, rice will likely only being given to registered refugees and it will have to be simply shared among thousands more.  Bamboo and leaves to repair homes are only being given to the most dire situations, but many are still really desperate to make repairs.  It really breaks my heart because when it comes down to why budgets are being cut: a few big supports of TBBC have claimed that providing for the refugees and displaced actually prolongs the war because it makes life livable outside of their country.  In some ways, yes, this is true–the war is prolonged, but is that bad?  It’s easy to say from an international perspective that war is bad and should end.  It’s a completely different story when that “end” involves the end of whole people groups. It’s a completely different story when you walk in a village of thousands of people making their home in a foreign land where they are quite unwanted because they are simply lucky to be alive.  Anyway, it’s going to be a rough few years, it seems. Partners, too, has had to cut back their budgets in some small ways (not nearly at 75%, thankfully).  It’s hard to be the bearer of bad news into these places of need.

[Sorry; back to lighter note.]

  • We were fed some wonderful Karen meals, at one of which I ate these beans that were kind of difficult to chew…I ate quite a few though because I liked the flavor and the opportunityt o eat vegetables. Then I noticed after the meal that everyone was pulling some string part of it off and leaving it on the table. Ooops.
  • I went to shower before heading to bed and we had a candle to use.  I decided to go ahead and bring a flashlight so I had some more freedom to move it (and I figured if I was throwing water everywhere, that candle would out pretty quickly). Well, with my trusty flashlight I discovered a very large spider on the wall by my towel and a whole pack (Stephen counted at least 13) of ginormous cockroaches along the back wall.  They were at least three inches long each.  I started to wonder if maybe it’s best to not know so much of what’s around you.

And that’s Noh Poe in a nutshell?!  Really, it was a pretty short trip and hopefully we’ll be back before too long with a team.

Second, we have a home! We were able to move in Tuesday afternoon when we got back from Noh Poe.   It’s still quite a mess as we try to sort through things and purchase the things we need (dishes, sheets, rice cooker, etc.), but hopefully we’ll be settled in a few days.  They are still a few things to be installed, as well–they are putting in a sink for us (there isn’t one in the bathroom currently) and a hookup for a washing machine this weekend.  Either way, we’re thankful to be in a home and not a guesthouse! We’re thankful we can cook our own food instead of eating out, even if it’s currently eggs & cereal.  We’re also thankful to unpack our clothing for awhile and rediscover what we actually packed a month ago!

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Oh, and we came home to find a HUGE and very fast spider on the floor. He was quite hard to get and had to be massacred leg by leg, but Stephen won.  Aren’t the pink curtains in the back pretty wonderful? We’re hoping to say goodbye to those this weekend, but we’ll see.

Tonight we got our bedroom in order. We emptied it, washed down the walls, mopped the floors, etc. And one room is wonderful!  We’ll continue to pull things together and post pictures.

And third, we have a motorbike!  We were able to purchase one today. Stephen loves it, mostly because he’s now realizing how awful the one we had rented was.  The brakes work, it turns easily, it starts easily, the gas gauge works, it doesn’t randomly die in the middle of the road…could you ask for more?  It really does work great, and we’re excited to have transportation around town.

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img_4452-h.jpgStephen’s most excited about the nice shade of red, while I really love the basket on the front to hold all of our treasures!  This is the driveway of our house, by the way, with our front door in the background.

img_4456-h.jpgIt also came with a free cheap helmet and a very cool Honda jacket, which I thought was much more practical than the blanket…

So there you have it.

Oh, and something I learned about myself this weekend: I’m biased to think that men are better drivers. Perhaps because it’s true of my parents (no offense, mom, but it’s true); and Stephen & I, as well. Hmmm.

a collection of thoughts.

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Thoughts 1.

We visited the local Burmese market tonight and loved it! It’s open every Friday and Saturday, and had a beautiful selection of fruits and vegetables. We’ll be visiting each week, I’m sure, to stock up. I love that it’s cheaper than the stores, supports locals, supports some of my favorite people groups, and supplies delicious, healthy foods: it doesn’t get much better than that.

Thoughts 2.

Our plan is to move into our new house either Tuesday night or Wednesday, and I’m quite excited. We don’t officially have it yet, but it’s reserved for us–we think. I suppose you never know when a big Bangkok boss could come and ruin your plans, so I’m trying not to get too set on it. But, we’re excited!  Here’s some of the high points that won us over:

– It’s a two bedroom house for 6500B a month, which is roughly $220. We like this 🙂

– It comes partially furnished, which includes things like: a refrigerator (about a foot taller than a dorm room one), a sink, one gas burner, a water heater, a bed for each room, a wardrobe for each room (we think), four chairs (we think), a dining table (we think), and air con in one room. (Notice there are quite a few unknowns at this point. It’s challenging when you’re not sure what’s being said.)  We initially were looking for something empty, but the more we looked at how much things would cost, it would be alot of up-front expenses to furnish a house.  And, getting one unfurnished would save us between 500B and 2,000B, which is $16-$65. We thought it was worth it to take the furnishings, especially because we liked them (overall) in this house.  This way, we can move in quickly, settle in, and see how long we’re here before we purchase too much.

– It’s new, with just the landlord having lived in it for a short time to keep it up. I really like the cleanness of this. It’s a cement-style house, and the older ones can be quite moldy.

– It has a yard! It’s small, but yards in general are quite rare here.  So many of the houses are in neighborhoods where they put cement all around the houses and you have NO GRASS around your house. Granted, ours is just dirt really, but it’s still dirt! I’m planning on starting a compost pile and eventually starting a garden, which is really exciting.

– It does have air con in one room, which we’re very thankful for. This is real privilege, and we won’t be taking it lightly!

– The landlord is very sweet and actually wanted foreigners to rent from her. I think that’s a good sign, mostly because I don’t want to feel like they’d rather us not be in the country at all…

– Its close to the Partners office, which is nice.

– It has a full gate and fence. This sounds cold, I know, but if you look around here–everyone has 6 foot or more fences of some kind–metal, bamboo, cement, etc., and all have gates that guard the house. We like that ours is a full gate so it seems safer.

Also, the landlord actually owns two houses right next to each other that look pretty much identical. We looked at both since neither is rented and both go for the same price. But, only one had the yard, so we’re pretty excited to have that!

So, hopefully we’ll be moving in soon. We’re headed out of town Monday to Tuesday with some other staff members to visit a refugee camp and children’s home along the border that we support and will bring teams to at times. The plan is to move in when we return…

Thoughts 3.

I’m really thankful for Stephen. He drives us around on the motorbike, and really enables me to get anywhere beyond three blocks. I’m much too scared to drive here, let alone on a motorbike. He’ll ask every once in awhile if he should go right or left, which I have no idea. He’s been pretty amazing at getting around, handling the chaos, and remembering where things are.  I unfortunately still have no idea how to get to our Karen lesson that we go to every day.

Most people on motorbikes wear these cheap helmets that really don’t do much at all for you. Partners insists we wear better helmets that cover your jaw and better protect your head. This is a good rule, but a little annoying now because we’re currently borrowing some old and disgusting ones from other staff members. Helmets are kind of gross to borrow in a hot and sweaty country where everything molds during rainy season.  And, it’s surprisingly hard to hold your head steady while you ride, but with a big helmet on, I bang my head into Stephen’s about ten times per trip (maybe a mile or two).

Thoughts 4.

Did you know there are no Targets in Vermont? Poor state.

big bangkok boss.

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We bought a motorbike today. Sort of.

It’s been a long process of deciding, partially because it’s a hard decision and partially because we’re pretty indecisive people.  We had to consider whether to get a truck or motorbike first. Partners has trucks available for us to use when teams are here, so we didn’t think it was necessary for us to have the expense of a truck (both up front and in fuel). Motorbikes are also quite common around Mae Sot and really enough for just the two of us.  We decided to go ahead and buy new so that we knew it would be reliable as our only form of transportation. That was difficult to decide, though: I love used, and I love cheap.

After taking lots of advice, Honda seemed like the most reliable brand over Suzuki and Yamaha. We also decided to go for 125cc (many are 110cc) so we have a little more power for “two farang”–so basically we’re two fatter white people.  We were also told we should get disc brakes for more safety, particularly during rainy season. Anyway, we picked this: a Honda Wave 125, with disc brakes, new with warranty.

We went with Kristana, our translator (and lifesaver right now, finding us a house and motorbike), to the Honda dealership. It’s a nice dealership and really quite similar to what you’d expect in the states–just smaller, sells motorbikes instead of cars, and they aren’t as aggressive.  Anyway, we found the motorbike we wanted and it happens to be the only one in town.  There aren’t very many 125cc bikes in town anyway, and the Wave is the only 125cc that Honda makes. They’ve been sold out recently and just had this one delivered.

So we bought it. It was quite easy. We paid, signed off, and got our free helmet and blanket. Yes, blanket. Not sure why, but that’s what comes with a new motorbike: a helmet (makes sense), a blanket (not so much sense).  They went to add our basket (!) to the front while I waited, and Stephen went to go return our rented motorbike. And then–wait.

They took it back: the bike, the helmet, the blanket. They returned it all, but not because we asked. Because we had to. Because of the big Bangkok boss.

Apparently the big Bangkok boss is coming. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe…later. They’re not sure. But when he does come, they want to have a Wave on display, so they can’t sell the last one they have.

So they took it back, gave us back our money, and took back the contract. And we left on the same rented motorbike we came on. And supposedly they will call us after the big Bangkok boss comes…tomorrow, next week, or…later. And then we can come buy it, again.

And welcome to Thailand!

That wasn’t the highlight of the day. But, we do have good news: we decided on a house to rent! We’re working on it and will hopefully move in next Wednesday.  Pictures and info to come, but we need to nail down all the details first. We’re just excited for the prospect of getting out of a guesthouse sometime soon!