Day 2: It's a small world after all....

Earlier today I was thinking that jetlag is for amateurs, here I am, I’m typing up this blog at 4:13 in the morning Bangkok time. Ha. It seemed like we were adjusting pretty smoothly until our second day (which is normally when jetlag is the worst.) Brian and I have been going to bed around 3 a.m. our first 2 nights (those who know us well know that that’s kind of an Akers night owl thing) and waking up a little before 8 a.m. feeling good and refreshed. We didn’t even feel the need to take a nap, we just kept ourselves busy walking around, shopping, running errands (like figuring our internet and picking up stuff I forgot to pack.)

Anyway, our second day here was filled with more good food and good people. We didn’t see a lot of people on Thursday, other than the church office staff, but that was remedied on Friday. By the way, I have got to give some serious props to the Immanuel Church office staff for all they do. P’Nong (P’= signifies a way you address someone who is older than you) has been my dad’s secretary for over 20 years. I’m pretty sure we’d all be lost without her. She’s helping us plan and organize our time here. She just makes things happen. It’s awesome!!

We started out Friday with going to visit some of my family who lives on the next street over. We had a little bit of time to catch up with some of my cousins, aunts and one of my uncles. When we were done with our visits, we walked over to this little restaurant near the church for lunch. As we were walking in, we saw P’Nong and a Caucasian woman sitting in a booth so we joined them. As I suspected, the woman is a missionary recently assigned to Thailand (pretty logical guess for a Caucasian woman having lunch with a church staff.) Her name is Karen B. and she’s originally from South Carolina. She’s been in Vietnam for many years and she travels a lot around South East Asia and supports different missionary families. We talked about her work and we somehow started talking about my Kenya trip this summer. As I was talking about my time with our Wycliffe missionaries in Kenya, she had a look on her face and then she asked me, “Did you get to meet Brian and Karen Anders?”

My eyes got really big and I just couldn’t believe it. I just had a small world moment! I told her they were the reason we were in Africa this past summer! The Anders are our home church’s Wycliffe missionaries! Brian Anders came to know Jesus and felt the call to the mission field at North Avenue Presbyterian Church where we are now members! It turns out that Karen B. grew up with Karen Anders and is from her home church in SC as well!! How cool is that!! We finished our very tasty lunch and sat and talked for a while. It was such an unexpected treat!

After lunch, Brian was getting tired so he decided that he’s going to take it easy and maybe take a little nap. He’s been working a bit at night. We have an awesome house sitter in Atlanta, Andy Golden, who’s help Brian coordinate some logistics with uploading files and setting up renderings as Brian talks him through the steps. On a completely random note, the Magic Jack (a device you plug into you computer that gives you phone line,) is completely worth every penny. Brian and I have been using it to call back to the U.S. As Brian would say it, we would really be “up the creek without a paddle” if we didn’t have that device!

So while Brian took an afternoon nap, I went to the county office with my dad to renew my Thai citizenship card. Going to sit in line to get a new ID card was not something I was looking forward to (think going to the DMV to get your license) but I had a really great afternoon just spending time talking with my dad. We talked about life, Biblical hermeneutics, and a lot about the church. After we were done at the county office, we walked over to the BSC (where my mom works) to say hi.

I woke Brian up a little before dinnertime. My mom was going to be working late and my dad had a prayer meeting Friday night so Brian and I were on our own for dinner. We walked to our old haunt, Central World Shopping Center (which parts of it was burned during the Red shirt riots, but it’s back open for business,) and had some DIY Korean BBQ. We had a nice time walking the streets of Bangkok after dark. The streets are just packed with people, street vendors and food carts. I just love the hustle and bustle on the city streets after nightfall.

We got back round 9ish and I was completely beat. I hung out with my mom, took a shower and went to bed by 10:30 or so. Brian decided that he’s going to go and work a little down in the church office. When he was done in the office, he realized that he’s managed to get locked out of the apartment (since my parents thought that he was already in our room.) Thankfully, our church’s IT guy was still in the office so he called up to the apartment so my dad could let Brian in.

That’s it for our 2^nd day in Bangkok. I’ll try to upload some picture soon.