On Friday night I went with Night Light, the organization we are partnering with, to do outreach at the bars in the red light district.
What I saw was incredibly disturbing.
I’m still trying to process through it and figure out how to write about it.
I want to do the subject justice and don’t want to belittle the atrocities that are happening, at the same time I don’t want to sensationalize what I’ve seen or my life on the World Race.
So, more about Night Light is coming, but here is a fun, little, day in the life story.
I stole this pic from Ryan, but saw this on our temple tour day, what a mix of cultures!
I had a pretty funny lunch the other day.
I decided to venture out independently to one of the local food markets.
Eventually, I found a street side restaurant with pictures of the food.
Pictures are a definite must here!
Most Thai people speak a little bit of English, so I walked up and started talking.
I realized there might be trouble when she answered completely in
Thai.
So I did the obvious and kept speaking English.
Figured it couldn’t hurt.
I wanted to know how expensive the soup was, so I pointed at the picture and said, “Bat, Bat?”
That’s the type of money they use here.
She responded with something very informative that sounded like, “Haw waw king cow.”
Definite communication break down.
I would ask questions with lots of gestures in English, she would answer back in
Thai.
All the cooks though this was pretty funny, and kept trying to hide their giggles.
After a lot of deliberation she got out paper and started writing the prices down for me.
I felt pretty excited about the fact that we had gotten that far in the conversation.
After much pointing, I ordered, what I hoped was rice noodles in a vegetable and chicken soup.
A little while later my food came, and it was exactly what I wanted.
I couldn’t believe it.
I never get exactly what I want on this trip.
Even when I’m speaking with some one in English I normally get something completely different then what I ordered.
I enjoyed the soup and rejoiced in my victory.
It felt good to be independent, to figure out how to communicate in a foreign place, and actually get what I was asking for.
It also turned out that the meal was much less expensive then I had expected.
Less then a dollar, oh yeah!
The YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base in Thailand, where I am living this month.
