The Norms In Thailand

1. having roosters wake you up every morning

2. driving around in the back up a truck with as many people you can fit even if it’s pouring rain

3. eating silk worms

4. driving on the other side of the road

5. seeing dogs EVERYWHERE roaming freely

6. taking your shoes off before entering stores, homes and bathrooms (slip ons are you new bff)

7. squattypotties (I’ll let you imagination wander a bit for this one)

8. throwing your toilet paper into a garbage can instead of flushing it

9. bucket showers with friendly creatures

10. to not grab an item or pass an item over someone’s head (head is seen as the highest part of the body so it should not be touched or hovered over – kids are an exception)

11. driving through a pond because it overflowed from so much rain 

12. having coconut trees in your front yard

13. getting stuck on the road because a bunch of cows of walking by

14. having kids who are a lot younger than you kick your butt in soccer

15. playing checkers with stones

16. always having your shoulders and thighs covered even if it’s 100 degrees, literally. it was 105 the other day…….

17. sweating excessively (who knew butt sweat was a thing? cause I now know it is..ew) 

18. having a gate to protect your home

19. having air conditioners that only have the option to make it cold

20. eating with a fork and spoon (or chopsticks if you’re skilled) with every meal in a certain way (proper form: use the fork to scoop the food onto your spoon and then eat it)

21. greeting people with “Sa-wa-dee-ka” and bowing if you’re a female. greeting with “Sa-wa-dee-kup” and bowing if you’re a male

22. paying in baht – 35 baht = $1 USD

23. swimming in a waterfall

24. being picked on because of my Canadian accent..apparently I say bag, out and about funny and colour isn’t suppose to be spelled with a “u”? 

25. lizards roaming on the walls of your home

26. having green tea and red bean dairy queen ice cream

27. having your team mates freak out every time I say “eh”

28. 7 11’s EVERYWHERE (pray that churches will be spread out like 7 11’s..Thailand has a percentage of roughly 1% Christians)

29. constantly stared at because you have a hairy 6’4 blue eyed and blonde dude on your team (we’ve had people point at him and call him “big man big man” before haha)

30. being talked to in Thai by strangers because they mistaken you for a local 

31. having fish flavoured chips

32. night markets every Sunday and Wednesday (LOTS OF FOOD AND DANCING)

33. leading worship at a church service

34. sharing your testimony in front of a new church while being translated

35. eating chicken foot

36. petting and feeding a giraffe

37. being happily greeted by everyone you walk by (Thai people are very kind! there’s this one gas station who blows kisses, waves, smiles, compliments and makes heart shapes with their hands everytime we go there, it’s so great)

 

These are some of the crazy things God has introduced me to in Thailand and it’s only been 2 weeks, so incredible! I love My Creator! He is such a beautiful artist. I love getting to see more of His creation; the people and the places. I love getting to explore more and more each day with Him and the great people He has brought into my life to see it with. My God is so amazing!

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Job 33:4