Category Archives: love all around

sumida-ku

Posted on by

you know how way-back-when when someone had their vacation pictures processed and then forced you to look through them all? that might be what my tokyo posts turn into.

the goals for today’s outing where the tokyo sky tree and ended up with a bonus – the world beer museum.  we started with competently managing the trains – well, mostly competently.  we also learned that if 5 white folks stand in front of the train map looking lost some kind person will step up to help.  thanks kind people.

  

michael was in charge of today’s itinerary and i didn’t study it too closely.  the only real goal we had for today was the tokyo sky tree.  michael knew he wanted to go to the world beer museum at some point, but we hadn’t connected the dots, yet, so we weren’t aware that they were at the same location until we were at said location.

we started with the beer museum – well, we actually started out getting our tickets for the sky tree and then ended up with a three hour wait and since we had empty bellies lunch was where we started.

  ???????????????????????????????

after lunch we still had some time to kill so we wandered the mall and took advantage of several photo ops.

   

then the tree.  the sky tree.

the first stop was 350m.

then we headed up to 451.2m.

the pictures from that high looked surprisingly similar to the ones from the level below – i can’t tell which are which.  but we did find a mirror.

after the sky tree we were all exhausted.  we picked up dinner to go and headed home.  we took the long way to the nearest train station.  or rather the second nearest, the nearest didn’t have a train going the direction we needed it to go in.  but while we were wandering we did come across two separate bicycle parking lots.  bikes seem as big here as motorbikes in chiang mai.

we also got a cool view of the tokyo sky tree.  i bet the view from up there at night is amazing.

we made it back to the apartment and tucked in for dinner.  what did we eat?  pork cutlet sandwiches.  they were on a must eat while you’re in tokyo list that google showed me, so when i saw that we could get them at the mall (the brand google recommended no less) we went for it.  they were good.  i’d put them in the comfort food category.  and there’s no shame in being comfort food.

  

    

yoyogi park

Posted on by

tokyo – day one.  (i’ve done the planning for this vacation with the help of the many people who have taken the time to rate must see attractions in tokyo.)  today we started with yoyogi park.  getting a late start (it was after 12:00 by the time everyone got up and dressed) wasn’t the best for being able to fully enjoy the goings on at yoyogi park, but we still had a great time.

we started our trip out hungry so first order of business was finding lunch.  which meant a walk out of our neighborhood for a little exploring.  right off the bat we came across a picture of tommy lee jones hawking canned coffee.  who knew?

then we found a mirror.

IMG_3185c

we walked down ninja alley – that’s not an official name, but since we know we are staying in the ninja district michael’s certain this is where they did their ninja stuff.  just like michael.

a restaurant.  where we had to point and pray that the pictures were a good representation for what we ordered.

not one complaint – everyone left happy and full.  right now we’re all in agreement that japanese food rocks.

 

dr. pepper in japan – what the what??

  

we tackled the train system next.  i didn’t get any pictures of our struggles doing this.  it wasn’t overly difficult, but the language barrier was noticeable and it took a lot of focus to make sure we got headed the right direction.  but once we got where we were headed we came out of the station to see takeshita street and lots of people – including these gals who seemed to be just hanging out.

and then we got lost.  so we did lots of walking.  and this drove by us – i had no idea what they were but the guys got very excited.  from what i could gather from what the boys were saying is that they’re like life size rock ‘em sock ‘em robots.  i can see that they could be pretty cool.

???????????????????????????????

chan decided to see if he could help.  he took the map and had a seat – a wet seat.  he was a big help – laughter always lightens the mood.

eventually we found yoyogi park.  where we were greeted by some very friendly folks.  we grabbed a few free hugs and high fives, but they were so fast we didn’t get any pictures.

???????????????????????????????

finally we headed into the park.

it was beautiful.  and cool.  but not too cold.  just right.  there were fish to look at and turtles to watch.

and some not so fancy potties with worrisome signs.

barrels of sake wrapped in straw.  you can read about it if you want.

casks of wine for consecration.

and incredibly we came across the travelocity gnome.

it’s a little known fact that gnomes take all the get-up-and-go out of you.

eventually we did get up and go again.  and – amazingly – we found another mirror.

we finished at the park and headed out for the two other things on my list that we had to do while we were in this part of tokyo.  one was find the hachikō statue.

go us!  and the other was see shibuya crossing.  conveniently, that’s where the hachikō statue is located.

we were all exhausted and hungry so we ate at mcdonald’s.  that was chan’s choice.  he says you’re supposed to try mcdonald’s everywhere you go.  it’s some kind of travel law – or something.  i don’t know what i ordered, but it was pretty good.  everyone else ordered what they would have at any other mcdonald’s and they said it was better than they’d had before.  the only thing i’m certain of is that this extablishment had the best  fancy japan potty i’ve ever experienced at a mcdonald’s.

the button that looks like it plays music doesn’t really.  it plays toilet flushing sounds.  my guess is for discretion.

better with age

Posted on by

last year there was a post on the oprah blog that listed 24 things that get better with age.  24 seems an odd number.  25 would be better.  i’ve got an excellent idea as to what number 25 should be, but first the 24 from her list:

  • Ford Mustangs
  • A wheel of gouda
  • Sea Glass
  • A cast-iron skillet
  • Amish friendship bread
  • Cowboy boots
  • Scrapbooks
  • Single-malt scotch
  • Sense and Sensibility
  • Ivy-covered walls
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Blue jeans
  • A rib-eye steak
  • Stereo headphones
  • Your sense of self
  • Love letters
  • Hardwood floors
  • Peonies
  • Sexual satisfaction
  • Chinese century eggs
  • A baseball mitt
  • Diamonds in the rough
  • Your vocabulary
  • George Clooney (this one seems somewhat subjective)

and here’s my suggestion for number 25 -

10yrs

this could also serve as a reminder that 10 years is too long to wait to have pictures taken.

and this is love

Posted on by

I have spent the past week on a Thailand Compassion Sponsor Tour. You might recall I did this last year, too. But this year has been different for me – we now have a sponsor child in Thailand and I got to spend a whole day with him. I have many tales to tell and they will come, but I am going to start with this one.

It’s about a husband and a father. A man who loves deeply, unselfishly, and unashamedly. He is currently a single dad – but not by choice. His wife has made some bad decisions. I do not know her story. I know she chose a lifestyle that is not compatible with raising children. I don’t know why she chose this, but I know we all make bad decisions, some more serious than others. Her’s started with her leaving her family and has now led her to jail. It has left her children motherless and her husband alone.

Her husband is raising their 12 year old son and their 11 and 9 year old daughters. The children attend school and they attend to their chores. They help their father. They are the picture of dutiful. I am sure that they do this because they feel it is their responsibility, but it is more than that. In the short time I spent in their home I was impressed by the love they so obviously have for each other. And by their hopefulness for a better future.

The father is a construction worker by trade. It is what he has spent his life doing, but he is no longer able to work as he once was. He has lost much of his sight and requires a great deal of light to see the very little he is able to see. He might be limited in what he is able to do, but he does still work. In construction. Doing the tasks he is able to “feel”. The ones that the years of doing over and over have caused to become like breathing for him. This does limit his earning potential. Some money is better than no money, but it’s not the same as enough. He was the one who did the cooking for the family. Chopping and slicing and stir-frying take on an added degree of difficulty when you cannot see what you are chopping and slicing and stir-frying so his son has taken over the cooking. He sits with his son and instructs him. He teaches him recipes, techniques, seasoning. His son hopes to be a chef one day and is daily being mentored for this by his father. His daughters both want to be teachers. He encourages them both. He tells them they can be teachers – that they are not defined by their current situation.

His wife is soon to be released from jail. He loves her dearly and He wants more than anything for her to return home – to be a mother to their children. To be a partner for him. He wants her to be an active part of their family. He has arranged for her to have a sewing machine. He has arranged clients for her. He has set her up to succeed. His children see this. They know what she has done. They know that there is stigma attached to her having been in jail. They know that their father does not have to welcome her back. And they see that he wants her. That he loves her. That he has not given up on her. And still she has a choice to make. She can choose not to return to them. To leave them motherless and their father alone or she can choose to join them. But the choice is hers. It has not been made for her.

Meeting this family helped me process an issue I’ve been struggling with. For a few months I’ve been working through a crisis of faith. I’ve been wondering just what it is that makes me worthy of God’s love. I know the answer to this – head knowledge they call it. But knowing and feeling are two separate things and my belief and my feelings weren’t in agreement. After meeting this family I realized that the way that husband loves his wife is just a shadow of the way God loves me. The way that husband wants his wife to be a part of their family is what God wants from me. God’s not going anywhere and the only thing he has for me is good. Plans for my success. And it’s my choice, no one can make it for me.

do the kids have to make up flood days

Posted on by

it has flooded.  people kept talking about it.  saying it was imminent.  or saying it wouldn’t reach us.  we weren’t sure who to believe, but we knew who we wanted to believe.  we did all the flood prep we knew to do.  and then we waited.

i went down to the bridge nearest our house and checked out the water levels.  they were definitely rising.  but the whole atmosphere there was so festive that it was hard to take it seriously.  food vendors were out vending food.  people were out playing in the first of the flood waters.  there were so many people gathered taking pictures and chatting and not being at all serious that it made it easy to for it not to feel “real”.

 

i made several trips out to check on the progress of the flood.  and while it was inching it’s way towards our house, it wasn’t inching in a way that was convincing to us.

and then it started on our street.  and then it started at our house.  and it kept it up at our house.  and we started feeling like the flood was a real threat.

 

 

and then the morning came and we woke to this.

 

yes, that is our car.  the tan one, not the black one.  but it’s good that the black one is in the picture so people can see we weren’t the only ones to not move our car to higher ground.

we tried to figure out what to do.  we had no idea.  we moved some of our already moved stuff around.  and then the cavalry came.

 

our faithful househelp.  i’m not certain it was wise to drive the motorbike all the way down our street and nong patty, their daughter, seems to not be certain that even getting out in the flood is a good idea (smart girl).  they helped us move the fridge to higher ground and the washing machine.  then they noticed things that we overlooked.  and then they noticed something we didn’t see at all.

 

the snake is trying to swim out on michael’s side of the window.  if you could hear what’s happening right now you would be deafened by the squeels and screeches of jim and myself.  luckily, michael got the window closed so it couldn’t escape.

khao killed the snake.  first he stunned it by whacking it with that stick several times.  he broke the screen doing it.  he did ask permission to break the screen, i thought a no longer living snake was a good trade for a screen.

a second after this shot was taken the back wall was splattered with snake blood.  that smack made sure it was good and dead.  and that snake convinced me that i’m not the kind that’s made of the stuff to wait out the flood in our flooded house.  that and the fact that the toilets would no longer flush.  that just makes for all kinds of ookeyness.

our rescue came from the compassion thailand office.  they sent a fantastic crew of guys out to help move us to a hotel.  luckily, they’d just had 2 days of disaster relief training.  little did they know they’d get to use it so quickly.

michael and i made a trip to the house this morning to check on the dogs.  things were definitely better.

   

tomorrow we will be returning to start the big clean up.  we’ve located a power washer to borrow and have the family on board.  we might regret not getting to it today, but the amount of water just outside the door made it seem a bit of a daunting task.  

there’s a typhoon headed our way and rumor has it that we should be under water again by tuesday.  i’m choosing to continue with my optomistic ways and think it won’t happen.  maybe i’ll change my mind before the water’s lapping at our front door.  but, hopefully, it really won’t happen.

just like the good ol’ days

Posted on by

the past few days we’ve gotten to spend quite a bit of time with our old neighbors. we love our old neighborhood and we still own our house in that neighborhood. we don’t love the house and never really have, but the neighbors are fantastic.

20110701-100912.jpg

there are two families of kids missing from this picture, one has moved away and one just wasn’t around the day we took the picture. c17 and a14 recognize that the time we have spent here has been a bit different from what it would be like if we actually lived back here. not that we still wouldn’t have great times, but it just wouldn’t be all great all the time. everyone has been on their best behavior and grace is free flowing.

s11 struggles more with understanding this. for him this is heaven and – at least in his head – it was always heaven and always will be. forever and ever, amen. and as delightful as these visits are – and as much as i wouldn’t change anything about them – for s11 the goodbyes are excruciatingly painful. worse than the first goodbyes. and they’ve started.

our time in colorado is drawing to an end and these goodbyes are the what fill up the negative column of living in another country.

signs of change

Posted on by

sure signs the seasons they are a changing here in chiang mai

  1. frigid morning and evening temperatures.  and when i say frigid i mean it. it was 66 this morning and i didn’t want to get out from under the warmth of the comforter.  if you had told me 3 years ago that i’d be digging out hoodie sweatshirts and warm socks when the thermometer hit 69 i’d have called you crazy – or at least thought you were crazy.
  2. khom loy.  you actually see them off and on through out the year, but they are in full force as the loy kratong celebration approaches.  releasing these lanterns always feels sort of exotic.  this past weekend i went to a party to celebrate a couple of friends’ 50th birthdays.  as part of the festivities we released many lanterns.  the brisk air and the lanterns made for a perfect cool season evening.

 

 

april break

Posted on by

april break is coming to an end. and we did a bunch of nothing. or at least i did. the oldest two, c16 and c13 went on a mission trip. they spent a week in two villages in northern thailand. they played with kids, assisted with vbs and returned with packs full of stinky clothes. c16 also got sick. he spent a day and a half puking his guts out. probably better he was there than here. because a) i’m not one for the puking. and b) there he had aircon and tv, neither of which he would have had access to here.

april break is 2 weeks here. two very hot weeks. for the first week and a half, michael was home. that meant for the first full week it was the five of us home. it’s been a while since we’ve all been here, together, with not much scheduled. we played games. helped michael with some projects. finished getting a music room together for s10 and slept in. the second week started with the c16 and a13 headed out for their trip. leaving 3 of us here to play songkran. what could be better than the biggest water fight in the whole wide world? especially when they are very fond of using ice water. and throwing it on you by the bucket full. wednesday michael left. that left s10 and me. alone. s10 was certain that the few days between michael leaving and the return of his siblings would be the most boring time in his entire life. i proved him wrong. we made a day trip to the flight of the gibbons – where we had our fill of ziplining and waterfall hiking. and we were not bored at all.

c16 and a13 have returned. monday it’s back to school. and then the countdown to the end of the school year begins.