Learning Thai

Here's a link to an interesting article that appeared recently in the online edition of the Thai newspaer, The Nation. The editorialist is lamenting the "sorry state of Thai Buddhism" and makes the argument that the moral core of the religion is being disregarded in exchange for a focus on the more ostentatious and superstitious aspects. I'm still thinking about what relevance this has for an attempt to talk about Jesus in that context.

We're back at home now after a week of vacation with Candice's family. Candice and Claire have been busy packing. Yesterday Claire decided that she'd like to take pictures of her stuffed animals that won't be making the move to Thailand. So Candice set her up with the digital camera and she got to work. She has some interesting ideas about what she'd like to take with us - including a heavy toy tractor that she never plays with. We want to do all that we can to help her feel secure during this incomprehensible transition, but I'm not sure if that tractor will make the cut!

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Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 01:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thailand's king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, celebrated his 60th anniversary as monarch last week and I wish that we could have been there to experience the festivities. The Thai peoples' attitude toward their king surpasses even the most patriotic American's appreciation for our leaders. These sentiments came through clearly in the online Thai media. Here are a few of the more poetic examples.

"In an unprecedented gathering of royalty from around the world, kings, queens and royal representatives from 26 countries arrived at the historic Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok yesterday to join in paying tribute to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 60 years on the throne...Throughout the country, Thai television viewers stopped what they were doing to watch enthralled as the world's royalty arrived to honour their beloved monarch." (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/06/13/headlines/headlines_30006357.php).

" 'He-i, he-i,'' the chanters began, and oarsmen holding paddles aloft started to row, embarking on a historic journey to glorify His Majesty the King. Like slivers of gold on a bed of silver, the vessels basked in an aura of pink during the fading light of day." (http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/13Jun2006_news02.php)

"Indeed, the jubilee celebration, which went on between June 8 and June 13, has proved to have had an enormous impact on the Thai people. It has created a long-lasting spiritual bond between them and their Monarch in a way that people from other cultures may find hard to understand.

The Thais love and revere their King deeply for reasons beyond a simple explanation; and it seems that they can't have enough of him. But if one is to venture to explain why the King is so popular among his people, then it is safe to assert that it is because the King has practised the highest virtue in accordance with Buddhist ideology during the 60 years of his reign." (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/06/15/headlines/headlines_30006493.php)

I don't think Bush got press like that in even his most popular days!

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've had a couple of exciting developments in the past two days. Last night we went shopping for luggage and bought five "rolling storage lockers." In a couple of months we'll be trying to fit everything we want to take to Thailand into these and a couple of big suitcases...should be interesting! We had Claire and Eliza try one out for size and it looks like they'll both fit. Now we know that we can just check them through to Bangkok :)

Even more exciting than buying our luggage was receiving our visas in the mail today. That feels like a significant step! Now our passports contain a stamp giving us admission into the Kingdom of Thailand.

We had a good trip to Indiana this past weekend. It was really fast, but we enjoyed our time with Gary and Lorene Link (pastor of Bean Blossom Mennonite Church) and also had a good visit with the Berea Mennonite congregation. This coming weekend we're looking forward to staying home and hosting my parents.

Thanks to those of you who are praying for us. God is preparing the way for us to leave and it's been exciting to walk though this process.

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been trying to spend some time on language-learning before we leave using a combination of Rosetta Stone, podcasts, and the Thai for Beginners book and CD's. Here are some descriptions of the language (from Thai for Beginners) that illustrate why learning it is...a challenge (to put it mildly): "Every Thai syllable starts with a consonant (even if the consonant is a silent /-/). Although the consonant sound comes first, the vowel may be written before, above, below, after or around the consonant depending on the vowel." The Thai alphabet, by the way, consists of 44 consonants and 32 vowels.

Of course memorizing the alphabet could prove to be the easiest part of the language-learning experience. The book direly warns that "Because Thai is a tonal language, its pronunciation presents new challenges for English speakers. If the tone is wrong, you will not be easily understood even if everything else is correct."

In spite of all that, I am enjoying the slow process of learning about this language - it's been a while since I've gotten so excited about being able to read a two letter word!

In other news...this coming Saturday afternoon we're driving to central Indiana. We'll speak at Bean Blossom Mennonite Church on Sunday morning and then at Berea Mennonite Church in the evening. We haven't done many programs yet, so we're still figuring out how to do this, but we're looking forward to sharing our vision for Thailand with these congregations.

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)