All Things Southeast Asia:
- Mosquitoes. I don’t even know what else to say. I have scarred over mosquito bites that still itch! They are small and sneaky here too.
- Sweat. This seems to be a theme for my race, always hot, always sweating. Temps for the countries we were in were usually 90-91 all the time, with indexes hitting over 100 many days. Hearing this phrase from the locals, “it’s not usually this hot here” has become expected and routine. Lots of sun, high humidity, and the occasional afternoon thunderstorm were the norm.
- Monkeys. Kind of cute, but mostly very mischievous.
- Green! After leaving the brown dust of Africa it has been quite refreshing to see so much green, even in the middle of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Lots of trees and plants everywhere, during what would normally be winter back home has been a gift.
- Culture. There is so much culture here in Asia, both what is native to each country, and what other cultures have brought in to influence the native culture. Thailand and Cambodia had very distinct cultures and ways of doing things: you eat rice with a spoon and use your fork to mix it up and scoop rice into your spoon; you put one spoonful of meat or soup on your rice, eat it, and then add the next spoonful; you drop your shoes at the door. Malaysia was a crossroads of many different cultures with the main three being Malay, Chinese, and Indian, but also seeing Middle Eastern, European, and Australian in the mix.
- Public Transportation. Lots of tuk tuks and taxis, and even learning the rail system in Malaysia was necessary to get places. Tuk tuks are the most fun, of course.
- Rice. Need I say more? Every dish comes with rice or is rice. This was great for about a week…
- Heavy spirits. The Asian countries have probably been the hardest places to be so far in terms of how the spiritual world has affected us. Being in the midst of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and various other Chinese religions has been difficult. Our team has been plagued with nightmares, trouble sleeping, frustration, and just overall heaviness and fatigue that we have had to struggle through and really rely on the Lord to give us strength. Prayer and worship has become so much more of a necessity than it had been before.
- Precious Children. Children all over the world are special, but working directly with a lot of children in Asia was so much fun. So much laughter and silliness and just love. The children here love to be wanted, loved, and paid attention to.
- The markets. No other country can hold a candle to Asian markets. We went to one quite frequently in Cambodia and it literally had more variety of things than Walmart. All kinds of fruit, vegetables, spices, meat being cut up before your eyes, fish still flopping in baskets, fried sweets, rice, beans, noodles, all kinds of clothing, shoes, fabric, tailors, backpacks, hammocks, jewelry, electronics…anything you might possibly need and then some. And also, all the smells.
- Malls. We saw tons of malls in Thailand and Malaysia, and they were full of American brand name stores and restaurants which was a bit weird. Malaysia alone had Forever 21, Gap, McDonalds, KFC, Chili’s, TGI Fridays…you get the picture. In Malaysia we lived across the street from two huge malls connected to each other, and just about every section in the city had its own mall.
- Not understanding anything. The language here is one of the most challenging I have ever attempted to understand. So many ways to refer to a person based on their age and relation to you, one vowel said five or six different ways completely changing the meaning of the word, and just challenging words and sounds to begin with left us baffled. Even in Malaysia, where many people speak English in addition to Malay, Chinese, or Indian, we had a hard time. The English here is British, with an Australian/Asian accent, and is just hard to understand sometimes. It was pretty normal to see things spelled on products that didn’t make sense either: prebiotics (probiotics) for example.
**Quick update! We are currently in Quito, Ecuador doing ministry at For His Children, which is an orphanage for babies to preschoolers that have special needs or needed to be removed from unsafe home situations. We are having a wonderful time, and I’m really enjoying being here in South America and being able to speak Spanish again! I also have a brand new team! Check out their blogs and get to know them by clicking on their pictures to the left. I know I’m terribly behind on updates and blogs and things, but I’m really trying to crank them out in the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled.
