I hate big cities, but never have I stood witness to more consecutive smiling faces from such beautifully gentle people. It’s certainly nothing like New York, and I’m learning to appreciate it more everyday. I felt renewed and excited on my walk to the train station this evening. Once seated, an older gentleman plopped to my left. One glance and my heart sank immediately, again. In a city that’s known for its grin, this man carried the saddest face I had ever looked into. Worse yet, I couldn’t say a thing to him. Not one word. My stare fixated on his window reflection for our 20-minute ride, and once over, I burst into tears – a trend that’s become quite familiar. Ahhh, how devastating it is to feel helpless and wordless. I would have grabbed his hand weren’t it for fear of offending him. I stand amid a language and culture completely foreign, so I need be mindful of everything. I prayed and stared through his face before I walked away… It was all I could think to do.
Oh Internet, the ups and downs are relentless. A learning experience, indeed, but oy.
On a lighter note, the women (and man!) at work are amazing. I couldn’t survive this without them. They make the sweetest gestures and have all gone out of their way to help me assimilate. The cutest was when I asked one of the women to help me find earplugs because it’s terribly noisy on my street. We walked and searched until finally she exclaimed “earplugs!” and pointed to a set of headphones at a cell phone shop. : )
Friday was spent at the prison-training workshop in preparation for Monday’s visit. The prisons are inherently corrupt institutions swollen with people in desperate need of Christ’s saving grace. This is an incredible ministry that I look forward to sharing in-depth after my time there. But it was made very clear, “NO CAMERAS!”
I had a rough start to Saturday and felt compelled to call Rachel, a lovely woman from Australia that arrived around the same time for orientation. We met up that evening to throw around stories and at the end of the night she prayed about every detail of our conversation. Who does that?! It was SO uplifting to meet a woman in such an uncertain and uncomfortable stage in her life, wholly committed to God’s plan. Thank you, Rachel.
It’s funny to catch myself thinking, “I’ve got to remember this!” a bagillion times a day. Everything seems blog-worthy because this experience is totally new, awkward, amazing, and important… but with limited time to spew my thoughts on screen, I’ve got to be really picky, and pickiness stinks. So friends, I will wrap up today’s rant with a few more photos from my home visits and a shot of dinner with the two lovelies that escort me to work every morning. I WILL write about Siam-Care and what the heck I’m doing, but it deserves a thoughtful and thorough introduction that I cannot provide right now.
Beauty in the cracks.
I wanted to eat his face.
She used to have a house full of family. She lost her grandson to AIDS.
Taking care of grandma.
Dinner is SERVED! P’ Pang and P’ Lek.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABBO!!! Xo
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