Missive 7

It’s been a long time between blogs and I fear many people will have stopped looking so I may well be writing to nobody!

I returned to Thailand in mid-January with the South Aussie builders, leaving Colleen behind to await the birth of our fifth grandchild, dodge the hottest of the Thai weather, and help prepare for Michelle’s wedding in May. Pitching in with the building team meant that I was doing little of the admin work so it got a bit neglected although lunchtimes and evenings were usually spent in the office. One thing that was sacrificed was the blogs!

Our building team had the usual faithfuls, Malcolm, Murray, Chris and Gordon with one newcomer, Bob Pettit from Bordertown. The task this time was to demolish the old dining room and kitchen and build a new one with an attached office block. The plans changed a few times in the first few days and the final decision was to leave the old one there, turn it into a kindergarten for the school, and build a new dining room next to it. The office block was split off and built at the end of one of the kids’ houses.

Six weeks of hard work in the blazing sun and we had both new buildings up with the rooves on and most of the walls up to waist height. The other blokes all left and I waved them off and for a week or so was the only “ferengue” at Ban Meata looking after dozens of lovely Thai ladies (more correctly they were looking after me!).So it is back into the routine and trying to catch up a backlog of work I planned to have finished by this time.

It’s been great having our house completed and having somewhere to call home. There have been a few challenges that have slowly been solved. When a Thai team came in to cut down some trees to make way for the new dining room, they dropped one onto the power lines. We pushed the post up again and replaced the fittings on the end of the big girls’ houses, but from that point on that house and my house had power problems. If I put the electric jug on my lights dimmed and my CD player stopped. If I put the hot water tap on to have a shave, the lights went down so much I couldn’t see to shave! And the tapware in the shower was “live” which led to an interesting experience when I backed into it! On top of all that we had a new electric cooktop which was “live” when we plugged it in.

Malcolm got to work on all those things (man of many talents) and fixed most of them by finding a fault in the neutral wire in the big girls’ house, and fixed the cooktop by plugging it in the other way round. All those professional and amateur electricians out there will no doubt understand why all this fixed the problem.

Back at home Colleen’s adventures bear mention. The wait for our grandchild was over on 6th February when Rebecca gave birth to a large (8lbs 14oz) but beautiful Gemma Grace after 20 hours in labour. Colleen’s attempts to escape the ravages of Thailand heat were ironically thwarted as Adelaide sweltered its way through record breaking heatwaves. She and Michelle though have been successful in making good progress with wedding preparations. I will return to Australia on April 15th ready for the wedding on May 9th and we will both head back to Thailand a few days afterwards. The Thai girls with whom Colleen is working in her English classes are missing her greatly and are already excited about the prospect of her return.

School finishes for the “end of year” break this week and the kids have 7 or 8 weeks’ holiday. Those from Ban Meata who have suitable family members will spend a few weeks away for the holidays so it will be a little quieter around the village. On Friday I attended the graduation ceremony for the school. Those in Kindergarten (Anuban) graduate into Primary (Pratom) while the Year 6’s graduate into Junior High (Matiom). You would not believe the pomp and circumstance which surrounds all of this.

The graduands (180 of them) are all seated in one part of the dining area and the parents in another. There is a stage bedecked with rows of roses and other flowers and the tables and stage front are hung with gathered silk. As with all Thai events there are banks of speakers and enough microphones to accommodate the Rolling Stones. Each of the Kindy graduands (all of 5 years old) are dressed in academic robes, a hood and a mortarboard hat. For some reason the Year 6’s have to make do with their uniform. Thanakorn (Principal) and Rob Dunk are also decked out with academic regalia.

We watched some elaborate Thai dancing, Rob made a speech which Pawinee translated and then the presentations began. It was amazing to see these little tykes, schooled to the nth degree doing a slide step, right foot first, across the stage, turn, do a deep curtsey or bow, hold out the correct hand to receive their graduation certificate, step back, curtsey or bow, then walk off stage. There was lots of blue tape on the stage so they would know where to put their foot next!

They then returned to their seats where they stood and sang the national anthem plus another song. The Year 6’s sang a beautiful chorus and it was great to hear the name of Jesus being proclaimed to the hundreds of parents there. There was still more to come with all the little ones lining up again to receive a large framed photo of themselves in full regalia. Round after round of photographs of anything that would stay still long enough completed the ceremony.

A day or so later I was able to attend a ceremony of a different sort altogether. One of our farm workers who is Pawinee’s nephew is to become a Bhuddist monk for a few weeks. Pawinee’s Mum was the driving force behind all this and she was pinning a lot of hope on this grandson “doing the right thing” when so many of her family had turned to this Christian stuff. The celebration, even for such a short stint at the temple, was enormous, and Pawinee was in a bit of a bind, not wanting to support the decision, but not wanting to offend her family and Mum. So I went along as a bit of insurance – she could stay a while and then have to take the “ferengue” back when she wanted to leave.

The party was just down the road a bit and there were half a dozen marquees set up under the trees, the usual stage with huge speakers and lots of microphones, tables and chairs, and a low platform to accommodate the monks who have to be there (all paid a retainer for their presence). Lots of the women were cooking under one of the marquees and when we arrived we were sat down and a huge number of plates of rice and Thai food were pressed upon us. After a while the monks arrived in the back of a ute and they sat in a row on the platform and lit up some bowls of incense or something. For the next hour they stirred their bowls and chanted into the microphone and I can say with good authority that being a great singer is not a pre-requisite for being a monk. I went and got a few photos but could not find Kim, the new initiate. I discovered that he was there (not contributing much to the singing – guess he didn’t know the words!) dressed up in his orange robe with all his hair and moustache shaved off so I didn’t recognise him. I met a large number of Pawinee’s brothers and sisters (she has 8) as well as her Mum and then we came along home. It’s interesting that every Sunday Kim is in church amongst Christians worshipping God and for the next few weeks he will be worshipping Lord Buddha – we are praying that the influence of the Holy Spirit will be stronger!

Our Whun is going very well and has been very excited about the results of her end-of-year tests. She has passed all her subjects, all very well, but not with the distinction of her sister Why who managed 100% again for her Maths! Whun and Why along with Joop Jang and Fa will be the only girls in their house who won’t be going to family for a few weeks of the holiday so I’ll organise a day with them up in the mountains where we have discovered some wonderful places including the Prince’s palace, a monument to the fallen in the war against communist insurgents, and a military museum.

Joop Jang is a delightful girl in the big girls’ house and we got to know her better when we spent time in Bangkok last year with our girls. She is here because her Mum, Dad and brother were killed in a car accident when she was about three. A few years ago a grandfather was killed in a car accident, and just last week her sole remaining grandparent (grandma) was also killed in a car accident. Please pray for her – she is a precious young lady.

Don’t give up on the blog site – keep checking and I’ll try to get a few more pages up over the coming weeks.

God bless
Ron