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Published: August 8th 2007
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The Wai
Saai demonstrating the traditional Thai greeting. I'm up and running again, or rather, my computer is. For whatever reason my laptop crashed earlier today after it went into hibernation mode...I couldn't get it to wake up. My solution was to restore the Windows XP settings to an earlier date and things seem to be working again.
As I'm writing, McAfee is busy searching for any viruses, worms, or other malware on the hard drive. If anything exists, hopefully McAfee will find it and fix it. That's not a given.
What has been happening since my last blog entry?
On Sunday morning I went to Saai's church (Covenant Church). I wrote about this church in previous blog updates, but as a recap, the church meets across the street from Kasetsart University (close to both Saai and me), and has a strong outreach program to university students. As you would expect, the services are in Thai. However, there is a strong international influence due primarily to the presence of two American missionaries (Greg & Ronnie) and their families. Both missionaries speak Thai fluently but most of the preaching is done by the 3rd pastor, Tot, who is Thai. It's a great church home for Saai. I
Sunset
from my balcony see God at work in her and the other believers. Unfortunately, it's not the best fit for me due to the language barrier. I'm slowly learning Thai but not fast enough to attend regularly. It was good to be there though in spite of not understanding any of the sermon. I connected with Ronnie (American pastor) and Arm (6th year Thai student at Kasetsart who spent a summer in America), and agreed to meet them the following night to help with an informal English class on campus. As for next Sunday, I plan to check out an international church called ECB that has English services.
On Monday I finally made it to a gym. There are options out here. In fact, there is a popular fitness chain called "California Wow!" Pretty amusing. Anyway, my objective was to find a cheap and nearby gym. The one at Kasetsart University meets both those criteria. The cost is 50 baht per visit (approx $1.50) and it's within walking distance (a long walk though). There are about 12 Nautilus machines, assorted free weights and quite a few cardio machines (treadmills, ellipticals, bicycles, & rowing). It's small but adequate. The big bonus is that
Laundry
Where is the dryer? Oh, there is no dryer. Let's hang these on my balcony. there is A/C. There are a couple of trainers there to help out too. I've talked to one of them who speaks pretty good English. My routine (umm, 2 visits make a routine, right??? I also went today) includes taking a moped taxi to get there and then walking back. For my workout on Monday, I walked to the entrance to Kasetsart and then took a moped taxi (15 baht - not quite 50 cents) to the gym. Today, I got a moped taxi directly in front of my apartment (20 baht). There's usually a few guys hanging out in front of the apartment with mopeds. Hadn't ever considered using them before today. How do I communicate to the drivers? Good question. At this stage, I've got a flyer from the fitness center and show that to the moped driver (the flyer has the address). A few grunts, and butchered words in Thai and English, and off we go. Riding on the back of these mopeds isn't the safest option maybe, but for short distances on less traveled roads on campus, it's the best option.
Ok, that brings me to Monday night. I met up with Saai for dinner. We went to one of the places she frequented when she was in college. It's an outdoor market of sorts close to campus with multiple vendors that have picnic tables set up. Let's just say it was not one of my favorite meals. Chewy chicken isn't too appetizing. Was that chicken? I'm not going back. Is that ok Saai?
Afterwards Saai was off to her Bible study, and I went to Ronnie's house. I hung out with Ronnie and his family (wife, Heather, and 3 young kids). I enjoyed talking with them, and at about 8:30 we met up with Tot (Thai pastor...I mentioned him earlier) and a student (sophomore), and drove over to campus (Kasetsart University). The English lesson was at dorm #15, a guys dorm. There ended up being 7 Thai students in addition to Ronnie, Tot and I. Ronnie did the teaching but I was actively involved in the lesson plan. It was basically "let's practice by asking Dave questions" night. I enjoyed it. I found that the Thais have a pretty good grasp of reading English, but have trouble speaking it since most of their teachers were Thai and did not know proper pronunciation. Saai said she took English classes from 2nd grade through her sophomore year in college. That's a lot of English. But as I said, most Thais generally have trouble communicating in English since they did not have enough native English speaking teachers in the early grades. Saai said she had native English speaking teachers in High School and 1 semester of college only. I expect that is better than most.
Since I've been here I've seen two movies at SFX Cinema at Central Ladprao Mall: Die Hard 4 and Transformers. Don't tell anybody, but I liked them both. How much are tickets? 120 baht (about $3.60) and all seats are reserved. Prepare to stand also to show respect to the king before the movie starts (there's a constitutional monarchy here in Thailand). Movies are in English with Thai subtitles. I try to block out the English though and read the subtitles. Umm, not really. What are Saai and I doing for our date night tomorrow night? Seeing Harry Potter in the Sky Lounge at Central Ladprao. These are luxury seats with drinks and snacks included for 500 baht each (roughly $15 per ticket). Looking forward to checking these out for the first time. Bereza, didn't you tell me about these?
Jumping off topic...my pictures don't really match the content, but yeah, whatever. I need to take more pictures.
Returning briefly to the subject of computers, you may be interested to hear about my internet connection in the apartment. I've got a decent connection (250 - 300k) for 500 baht per month (about $15). It's fairly restricted (no peer to peer like BitTorrent) and not fast enough for streaming video, but for general surfing, it's fine. The connection goes down occasionally but usually not for long.
In other news, the U.S. dollar is getting weaker and weaker against the Thai baht. The exchange rate was approximately 39 baht per dollar when I visited last year. When I arrived last week, it was barely above 34 baht per dollar. In less than 10 days since, it has dropped to less than 33 baht per dollar. In other words, my buying power is shrinking by the day. I better convert more U.S. dollars to Thai baht quickly. On the positive side, when I start teaching, I will be paid in baht.
I start school at Text & Talk Academy on August 6. Still have about 3 weeks before school starts.
Next blog should be out early next week. There goes Dave. Wait, where am I going?
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Rob
non-member comment
Love it Dave. Great posts. Take care, Rob.