Learning Thai

We visited a wat (Buddhist temple) today, Wat Asokaram- located only a short drive from our house in our province of Samut Prakan. We really enjoyed walking the temple grounds. It's very close to the Gulf of Thailand so we walked through a jungle/swamp area full of monk's houses and strange animals- it turned out to be quite a nature fieldtrip for the girls- huge spiders, 2 1/2 feet long lizards, strange fish/frog creatures that had fins but scooted on their bellies through the mud (can anyone identify?? They moved too fast for a picture), and tiny fabulously colored crabs. It was fun to see the monks' homes too- little shacks on stilts in the mud/water surrounded by jungle vines and trees. They had all their orange robes and towels hanging out to dry. There wasn't much to see when we made it to the Gulf- mainly old tires and lots of mud- Claire was like, "where's the sand and water??"
We took the path back through the swamp area and visited the temple and chedi. Claire said looking at the large Buddha in the temple made her sad because she wanted people to know God. We enjoyed a noodle lunch and a songtaew ride back and then with the kids falling apart (Claire with a knee scrape that was a big time injury to her) and Eliza falling asleep, took a taxi the rest of the way home.

Claire looking at the Buddha and monk statues.

Chedi Thutangka ("a dome shaped monument used to house Buddhist relics or to commemorate significant facts of Buddhism"- this one is said to hold relics of the Buddha)

Wihan Sutti Thamrangsri

Tom and girls in the "jungle"- luckily there was a raised pathway to walk on and keep us out of the mud and away from giant lizzards! It was full of slithery and scarey noises!

A row of Buddhas in front of one of the monk's homes.

Entryway to another monk's house.

Beautiful woods- there was a huge amazing yellow spider in the foreground of this picture that I couldn't get the camera to focus on.

These tiny crabs were a rainbow of colors. I loved this bright blue one.

- Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Colgate's "Green Tea" toothpaste. This is one case where a product's flavor is actually too real-tasting. Using this toothpaste is a lot like chewing on a slightly stale tea bag - it would be a lot better with a little sugar and some hot water. I will have to give it credit for being long-lasting though...a little too long-lasting for my taste!

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I took the girls to the hospital to get another round of vaccinations today. As a reward we bought ice cream from a sidewalk vendor on the way home. Eliza chose to have a scoop of sticky rice added to her cup. They need to get another vaccination in 6 months and when I looked at the appointment card that they gave us at the hospital I realized that we're scheduled to go back on Christmas day. Claire is pretty sure that won't be happening!

This afternoon our landlords came over and visited for a while. They brought Eliza one of her favorite treats - sweetened "lady fingernail" bananas. Eliza is definitely the family member who is most likely to enjoy Thai desserts. I guess the rest of us were already too accustomed to the American variety. They enjoyed watching the girls dig in the dirt in the front yard and we got some Thai practice in. We're very thankful for them and for their friendship.

Tonight eating fajitas at the Japanese table that we normally use for crafts. Any meal that involves eating on the floor is a hit with the girls.

-Tom and Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We have our first visitor from home! I went with Sharon to pick up our friend Twila from the aiport late Wednesday night. It was so fun to see a familiar face coming through that arrivals gate! The girls have been having fun getting reacquainted with their old friend. Eliza was shy at first but warmed up within five minutes and now would rather be held by Twila than by us! She babysat for us last night so Tom and I could have a date. We ate at Tom's new favorite restaurant- Imperial Hot Pot which features a Japanese (sushi, tempura), Chinese (dimsum, etc), and "European" (cheesy potatoes, pork knuckle) buffet and a soup pot on the table in which you make your own soup (it's so strange seeing the piles of raw beef, fish, eggs, etc on people's tables!). We found out that the buffet is a lot more fun without kids and we got to see a movie too, so it was a fun night. Twila brought fun presents like Twizzlers and fancy bandaids from home and the girls had a great time.
We had a worship time at our house this morning and Twila joined us and did a children's story for our kids. It was another good time of encouragment, eating, playing games, and catching up.
We're enjoying this week or two between school ending and Tom beginning his job. We are working our way through a to do list of writing, planning, and house jobs. The break is actually great timing as we'll have time to commit to the prayer team when they are here too. Tom is pursuing the latest teaching job at Bang Muang and we're hoping he'll be able to start after the prayer team leaves. He was able to observe a class similar to the one he would teach and is feeling really positive about this option if things continue to work out.
A few pictures, mostly from today....

The girls with a present from our older lady neighbor.

Twila and new best friends.

Claire and Joe showing off their fancy matching bandaids.

Claire and her dance moves- she is into anything ballet related right now- inspired by Angelina Ballerina.

Eliza relaxing with Twila and her new pig, Parker (a special allowance- purchased present from Claire).

-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today I finished my last module of Thai language class. No more getting up before 5:30 and spending a couple of hours on buses and the skytrain! When I think about how much Thai I don't know it's a little scary to think that I'm leaving school - but I've definitely learned a lot from my time there. Now I'll need to be more disciplined about setting aside time to practice speaking and reading.

To celebrate the occasion Candice and the girls met me for lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant. We enjoyed the delicious bread, kabobs, and lamb meat. (When we got home, Claire said that she wasn't going to tell Lambie (her long-time favorite stuffed animal) that she had eaten lamb.)

Tomorrow I have a meeting lined up with a lady who recruits teachers for a number of schools. She has some English-teaching vacancies that she's trying to fill, so I'll check those out. Thanks a lot to those of you who are praying about our work/visa situation.

We're also making preparations for the arrival of a group of friends from LCF (our home church). They'll be spending about a week with us in early July and we're really looking forward to that.

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Father's Day in Thailand is in December, but we went ahead and celebrated the good old American version today. Claire jumped out of bed happily this morning when I whispered, "ready to make dad's breakfast?" She had fun washing grapes and breaking eggs and then got a huge kick of serving Daddy breakfast in bed.
We tried out a new church this morning at a hotel- which we really enjoyed and then went out to Sizzler for a father's day lunch with our friends Darrel and Tiang.
As for our own dads- James and Stuart- we are so thankful for you today too! I was just thinking this morning how I love that you both preached at our wedding. It's such a blessing to have faithful, supportive dads like you that are also a great Grandaddy and Grandpa to our kids! We love you!

-Candice

Claire and Eliza are thankful for the best dad ever!

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hope you don't get tired of our weekly flood photos but this morning (Saturday) was a good one so we had to share. The street in front of our house is under water and mysteriously our living room rug is soaked and one book laying on the floor and the bottom of my Settlers game are all wet, but there's no other standing water in the living room. Our neighborhood is currently installing huge drains to help with this chronic problem but unfortunately that won't help us this rainy season! Maybe next year. With my langauge class over, I've been at home with the girls all week and was looking forward to getting out some this weekend- I think there's a plot against me! We started the weekend with sick girls and now we need a boat to get out of the house!

This is right in front of our house- see the trash barrels floating? Our trashcan has disappeared too.

The bigger road that that connects to our side street (soi). Many people don't let the flooding keep them inside!

Claire first thing this morning, still in her nightgown, checking out the flood levels.

P.S. Had to show you the beautiful yellow roses from my sweet husband. They were gorgeous for one day and then the heat shriveled them...but I thoroughly enjoyed their short lives!

P.S. 2 Well, it's now afternoon and the flood water has not receded at all- going crazy with cabin fever and very worried about what happens if it storms tonight! Just wish we'd gone grocery shopping...

-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This may not seem like big news in your world, but in ours, it was a pretty big deal!! Our poor lost books that have been wandering the earth for the past 10 months have finally arrived!! At this point we had pretty much given up all hope that we'd ever see these books again. My Dad sent them "ahead" of us to Thailand before we ever left the US. He was told that they'd arrive in about a month. Dad, the good news is you got the address perfectly right. We're still not sure where they've been ever since. I wish you could have seen the pandemonium that broke out when we opened these boxes tonight! Claire was reunited with her beloved Frances books and other old friends like Courderoy, The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, Madeline etc, etc. Although her memory was a little rusty, she could still fill in some of the lines she memorized last year. We also had some new books in the box which she was very thrilled to see. Eliza didn't remember any of them, so it was quite an extravaganza of books for her too. They are both in book heaven and begging to stay up to keep reading!

We had a good, encouraging day today. The team came over for worship and to hear about Dan's trip to Bangladesh. We are so encouraged and excited to hear how God is working and moving in Bangladesh and it just renewed our anticipation of what God is doing and wants to do here!

A few other random pictures from the past week...

Claire on they way to the library met a mobile fish salesman. All those bags on the pole are filled with little fish and turtles. We are tempted to add a turtle to our menagerie but aren't sure how Dorothy will respond.

Fun with friends in our kiddie pool yesterday. It's been so hot again lately- we're back into daily cool down swims.

Claire and Eliza at a taco stand after church last sunday, waiting on their tacos.

Thanks to those of you who are praying about our visa situation. We are trusting that God will show us the way in his time. Keep praying!
-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today's planned trip to apply for a work permit did not go exactly as planned. To start with, I found out that we first needed to request a letter of approval from some government ministry whose name I still have not deciphered. Since I was hoping to only work part time at Maheesak School I would need to be classified as a volunteer. But when we finally found the appropriate office we were told that the school did not qualify since they are not non-profit. So, since the school doesn't have the resources to pay me to be a full-time teacher, I'm not sure where that leaves us.

We're disappointed by this turn of events - up until now this has seemed like a great opportunity. Now we don't see how to get past this obstacle. The lawyer had some ideas for other visa options, but they would likely not involve working at this particular school. We were also approached recently by a lady who recruits teachers for schools and she made it sound like she could easily find a full-time job for me. So, maybe that's the direction we should be going. It's just difficult right now to give up on the opening for part-time work and part-time school for Claire that we were excited about at Maheesak. We'd appreciate your prayers for guidance. Thanks!

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today was my lovely wife's birthday. She is now ๓๑ years old (if you can't read Thai I guess you'll just have to guess). To celebrate we met after my class at her favorite Italian restaurant in Bangkok. Then I took the girls home while she enjoyed some solitary shopping time. After supper we gave her a few presents - a T-shirt with 2 monkeys on it from Claire; cheese from Eliza; a silk scarf, earrings, and money for massages from me. The girls were really cute - Eliza told Candice "Happy Birthday Mommy!" about 50 times today and they couldn't wait for her to open her presents.

At the restaurant. We eat here on special occasions - it's completely different from the food we normally eat. No rice and lots of bread, pasta, and dessert.

The birthday girl with her cake which I either a) made from scratch or b) thoughtfully purchased.

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to meet a lawyer and go with him to the Labor Department. Our goal will be to apply for (and hopefully receive) a work permit. This will enable me to teach English at a nearby school. From what I've seen of the school and the job they are offering I think that it would be a great fit. The work permit is also a prerequisite for obtaining a long-term visa. Our current visa expires in early September.

So, if you think of us on Friday morning (Thursday evening in the States) we'd appreciate your prayers!

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 06:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I took Claire along with me to my Thai class. She has been talking about wanting to go for a while now and assured us that she could handle getting up early. We left the house at 6:00 a.m. and didn't get back until around 3:00 p.m. She did a great job - but the class wasn't quite as exciting as she imagined it would be. She carried along a backpack full of books and snacks to keep her occupied, but 4 hours is a long time! Of course she was very charming at the school and the teachers loved her.

She kept imagining how much Eliza must be missing her at home. Eliza did miss her, but Candice reported that she also seemed to really enjoy having some solitary play time. Her big sister can be a rather authoritarian playmate! (Eliza, by the way, got into trouble today for drawing on the wall with a crayon. When Claire asked her later what she was trying to draw (something that neither Candice nor I had thought to ask about), Eliza said "windows.")

After class we ate lunch together and went shopping for Candice's upcoming birthday. It was fun to have a "date" with her - and as always I was amazed by how much she talks when she gets the chance!

We bought breakfast from street vendors on our way to class - waffles and iced chocolate drink.

Claire with two of the Thai teachers at ULS. Kruu Lamyai (left) is my current teacher. Kruu Uthai was my teacher a couple of months ago.

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)