First Crash

I was running late this morning for my English class so I was going a bit too fast on my motorbike. I saw the street I had to turn left too late so braked hard and tried to make the turn. Bad decision. I lost control of my motorbike and it slide from underneath me throwing me off. I probably only skid on the road for a couple of meters. I jumped as soon as I'd stopped. The adrenaline was pumping and didn't feel much pain at all. Without thinking I was trying to get the bike upright again and off the road. It wasn't as easy as I thought as the bike is quite heavy. A lady come out of her shop and said something to me which I didn't comprehend. I was soon back on the bike and on my way to teach my English class.

Looking back, it could have been so much worse. I have a scratch on my elbow and a bruised hip, but apart from that not any serious injuries and my bike had only a few scratches. If a car had been following behind me, or if I had landed on a different angle, things could have been very bad indeed. I praise God that he allowed me to only have very minor injuries and that I've been taught a lesson to be much fmore careful. I've been a bit too confident on my motorbike recently, weaving in and out of traffic and overtaking when it might have been safer not too. My neighbor has warned me a couple of times already that she was concerned that I drive and ride too fast. Hopefully I won't forget this lesson too quickly.

Now Legal

Last month I had to go and renew my driver's license and try to obtain a motorcycle license. I had never been to the Transport Office in Lampang so I didn't know what to expect. I had every possible document that they might ask for just in case. It was fairly easy in Lopburi but our friends had lots of difficulties in Pitsanulok.

Renewing our driver's license went well and the office staff were great in helping us out. They filled out all the forms for us (it would have taken us ages if we had to do them ourselves) and took us through each step, which included colour blind, reaction and depth perception tests.

However, getting a motorcycle test was a little harder. With the driver's license I had an international license at the time so I didn't have to sit the written test or driving test. I quickly went through some practice exam questions on a terminal while we were getting our driver's license renewed before I was led to the computer terminal where I was to answer 30 multiple choice questions. Pass mark was 23/30. I wasn't too worried as the practice questions seemed pretty commonsense. Fortunately, I could do the exam in English! Unfortunately I failed with a score of 22/30. I shouldn't have changed 2 answers when I was reviewing the question at the end. Then the official handed me the road rules handbook and said that I could redo the test when I'd finished. Why didn't see give me the handbook before I sat the test! Anyway, the second time around was much easy and I passed with 28/30.

Next was the riding test in the afternoon. The official suggested that I practice on the test course beforehand (great advice!). Even going over the test course, I was still a bit worried about what to do at some road signs. By the time the test began, there were at least 30 people there, 3 for the motorcycle test and the rest for the car driving test. The official explained the test course and what we had to do in Thai. When she had finished she turned to me and asked me in front of everyone whether I understood everything explaining that I was a foreigner. I probably only understood about 25% of what she said. I was praying that I wouldn't have to go first so I could see what the others would do and follow them. Thankful the official put me last in position 3 (we all had to do the test at the same time, but about 10 metres behind the person in front). So the test began and my heart racing. I followed the two Thai guys in front for the first bit of the test. However, the first guys went left at a "no left turn" sign. The second guy thankfully didn't make the same mistake. However, at a later stage in the test, the second guy went off the road and parked his bike on a grassed area. I thought this was very strange, but I did hear the official say something about stopping in this grassed area. But then I thought she mentioned something about 3 "stop signs" and we'd only gone pass 2. So I kept going by myself and completed the rest of the test, trying to stay on a narrow plank of wood and then weaving through some cones.

With the test complete, I parked my bike where the other two guys were waiting and went back to the official having no idea whether I'd passed or failed. The official had a smile on her face and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Pass", "Thai failed, foreigner pass". She congratulated me on being confident enough to not follow the mistakes of the other two guys doing the test.

So now I'm riding my motorcycle legally! Good thing because yesterday I was pulled over on my motorcycle for the first time at a check point and asked for my license! If this had happened early last month it would have cost be a 200 baht fine. But I showed him my new license and he waved me on.

First Lord's Supper

At a recent OMF retreat for current language students and those who had left in the past year, I was asked to lead communion. Not being ordained this was the first time that I've led communion. When I read the accounts of the Lord's Supper in the Gospels of Mark & Matthew and the instructions for the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11, it seems clear that the Lord's Supper was celebrate over a meal. However, most churches now only have a small piece of bread (or wafer) and a tiny cup of grape juice. I believe that this is an unhelpful tradition which has developed and been accepted. Some argue that the Lord's supper was orginally a joyful meal which we have now turned into a very somber ritual.

So I suggested to the co-ordinators of the retreat that we celebrate the Lord's Supper over lunch on the final day rather than in the meeting room. They seemed hesitant at first but then agreed.

So on Sunday we celebrated the Lord's Supper during lunch and it was much more meanful in my opinion.

We did have one problem though. We were sharing the camp site with another group within OMF who had Thai Christian workers with them. When they found out that we were going to celebrate the Lord's Supper this way, they said that it would be better if we have separate lunches, because they felt that the Thai worker would not cope with the Lord's Supper being celebrated outside of Church. It is sad that like in Corinth, the Lord's Supper became a cause of division rather than reaffirmation of the unity we have in Christ by his death and resurrection.

Frightening Accident

Our second son is very active and quite a dare devil. He shows no fear at time which is very frightening for a parent. Two nights ago while we were at the OMF guesthouse having left Lampang at just after 5am and arriving in Bangkok some 9 hours laters. We were finally getting our boys to bed when our second son slipped on the edge of the bed and fell head first on to the tiled floor. I rush over and picked him up and he was trying to scream but nothing was coming out. Then he started to have what seemed like a seizure. His limbs stiffened, his eyes rolled back and then he became unconscious. Lisa ran off to get the OMF medical adviser who lived in the same building. As our son lay on the bed unconscious, our eldest son was saying, he's died, he's died. After about 5-10 seconds, I can't be sure of the exact amount of time, our son regained consciousness and started screaming in pain. After a couple of minutes he had settled down. Because he had lost consciousness, the medical advisor said that he needed to go to hospital for observation. At the hospital, X-rays of his skull ruled out any fractures. At this stage there doesn't seem to be any lasting effects on our son.

It was a terrible accident. I am amazed that he did not suffer a traumatic head injury and that he is not in hospital right now. We still have to observe him for the next couple of months or any neurological changes, but right now he seems no worse for wear.

The incident with the pitbull last week and now this accident, we do feel that God is protecting this little guy.

Pitbull escapes again!

Yesterday afternoon, the pitbull which bit our househelp, escaped again from its house while I was out with the children and some friends (and their children) on the street.

Our friend shouted a warning and when I turned around I saw the pitbull charging at me (it may have been chasing our dog who was escaping back home?). I threw a container of chalk which I had in my hand at it, missing the dog but then it served away from me and ran in the direction of Aidan. By God's grace the pitbull got halfway to Aidan before it turned back. By then the owners of the pitbull had come out and managed to call the dog back.

Straight after, I went to owners of the dog and told them in a raised voice that "I was not satisfied with them" and some other things. I knew what I wanted to say to them in English but in Thai it was not very easy. Possibly a good thing because I was so livid that I might have said things which would not have been pleasant.

We are told that this pitbull has bitten at least 10 people, including our neighour's son. This would be scandal in Australia but here people will avoid the problem until something so bad happens that the authorities are forced to act (for example, the recent fire which killed 60 people in a nightclub in Bangkok. The authorities knew about the problems and that the place did not meet safety standards but only when disaster struck and people died did they act).

We praise God that no one was hurt. Please pray that something can be done about this situation. I have talked with our neighhours again and to our landlord this morning. The owner of pitbull said that they would put up a sign saying that there was a dog and to keep the gate shut. However, they did not to put a mask on the dog as I requested when our househelp was bitten last month and again this morning. Our next door neighour who's husband is a policeman, said that her husband had done something at his police station but I didn't really understand all that she was saying.

I had trouble sleeping last night thinking of what might have happened to Aidan.

Please pray for our safety and that of the children. Please pray that something may be done about the dog.

Chinese New Year

Our neighbour (wife) is Chinese we found out yesterday. They had this table set out yesterday morning on Chinese New Year on their driveway. They were waving incense sticks around the table and around the house and letting off fire crackers (to ward off spirits?). It was a stark reminder of our neighbour's belief in other Gods and spirits.

We also found that the wife just closed down the resturant in town and is moving to Bangkok. We are not sure of the reason but we are guessing it might be due to the hard economic times. This week our neighhour next door who is a police man told our househelp to warn us about people who might want to rob us at the park due to the downturn in the economy.

Our famous son

Our son's teacher mentioned something about a photo of our son but I didn't really understand what she was saying. We only ever understand less than half of what she says as she tends to speak at a normal pace (which is a bit too fast for us) and using formal words. She pointed outside the school to the left and to the right. So when I left the school I kept an eye out for what she might have meant. Then I saw it, a couple of blocks away from the school on one of the bigger roads leading to a bridge.

The banner advertising our son's school

On closer inspection: Our son is on the left

It might have been nice if the school had asked us our permission before plastering our son's face on two huge banners. It is very common in Thailand to use foreign children in advertising for Thai schools. The girl on the right is in our son's class and her father is foreign and her mother's is Thai. At least our son isn't blond haired and blue eyed or he'd really stand out and people might actually recognise him from these banners.

It was Children's Day in Thailand on Saturday so we went to a field near the army base in Lampang and had some fun.

No, Phayu our dog is not dressing up for a starring role in a play. She was recently sterilized and the oversized collar is meant to stop her from undoing her stitches.

This is the pitbull which bit our househelp. Lisa went to the hairdresser in our street who said that this dog had bitten 10 people already (not thet 4 people I advised previously). Still no mask on the dog. We are a bit frustrated because now have to keep the kids inside the gates of the house when they are playing, just incase this beast escapes from his house.

15 minutes turns into over an hour and half

It should have only taken 15 minutes. I had taken 3 digital photos of the family, cropped them so that they were exactly as the Australia Passport office wanted them, and all the shop had to do was print them. I had done most of the work so I thought it would take only 15 minutes. Like so many other times, I was waiting around tapping my foot for over an hour and a half before finally the photos were ready. At least it wasn't as bad as the time I went to put a middle seat belt in the car. I was told an hour. 4 hours later I was still waiting (Fortunately Lisa didn't go into labour that afternoon)! No wonder the Thais are ever so patient.

Lost in Translation

Our neighbour invited us to their New Year's party. This was our first ever invitation by a Thai person to a party. To get invited into a Thai person home is a big deal so I was chuffed. Some very important people were at the party, but couldn't tell you who they were as I didn't understand the explaination in Thai. Our neighour's son-in-law who is a surgeon couldn't translate the Thai word into English. So even things are lost in translation. That's life right now. We only ever get part of the conversation. I still struggle with the Thai months of the year, even after nearly 2 year! Bit of a problem when I'm at the school trying to work out when the school holidays are.