Thai Christmas

‘Tis the day after Christmas
And all through Chiang Mai
I reflect on the past weeks
And release a deep sigh,
For the holiday season
Has been like none other;
Here’s the short of the story,
Since there’s so much to cover…

Following is a summary of Christmas activity for me here in Thailand. Who knew that in a country where the public schools are in session on Christmas Day, there’d be so many opportunities for large festivities?

December 14: It was hardly a silent night as we went for an extreme session of Christmas caroling. Festivities started in the early afternoon with a trip to a local AIDS home to sing carols to residents there. In the evening we piled Bible Institute students and church members into vehicles to go house hopping to sing carols to church members’ houses and other places of interest. Sometimes that meant we would be caroling at someone’s house who was already caroling with us, so they’d have to go into their house, turn off all the lights, and after a song or two welcome us into their home and act surprised to see us. In accordance with Thai hospitality, there were of course snacks or full-course meals at each stop along the way. After singing along to the Thai versions of the Christmas carols so many times, I have most of the refrains of the classic carols memorized now. Time we returned home from the last bout of caroling and dropping off church members: 3:30AM.

December 15: Christmas outreach party at Promise Church. This was masterfully led and coordinated by the Bible Institute students. Besides the games, songs, and gift exchange, the highlight was the Christmas skit in which I was fortunate to have the opportunity to take part. The elaborate costumes we wore made it to be what you might consider to be the epitome of a traditional Christmas Eve skit you’d see at church (except it was all in Thai).

December 16: The Sunday Christmas worship at Promise Church was celebrated a bit early since students were home that week. Another large meal for the congregation followed at the guys’ dorm.

December 17: A final get-together meal with the students as the majority headed back home on this day.

December 20: Christmas worship in English and yet another large feast.

December 22: The massive Christmas and New Years celebration in the Hmong villages. The morning started off with the killing of a pig, of which we feasted upon for the next two meals. Watching firsthand the process of the killing and preparing of the pig was one of the most gruesome and graphic experiences my twenty-two year old eyes have ever seen. Fortunately I captured a great deal of the footage on video to share with interested people at a later date, but it’s certainly not for the faint of heart or queasy of stomach! In the early afternoon the village church held a service to celebrate the New Year, and in the evening was a large Christmas outreach party similar to the weekend before, but with more of a Hmong cultural flavor.

December 23: The ride back home from the Hmong villages is worth noting just because we sang Christmas carols in the car for about two full hours without end.

December 24: A Christmas sing-along session at one of the missionary family’s houses, along with good company and food (although my stomach wasn’t doing so well after the return from the Hmong village…the pig wanted out of my digestive tract any way possible, if you know what I mean).

December 25: A relaxing day made complete with a Christmas pancake and smoothie evening meal shared with some good friends in the holiday spirit.

December 26: Christmas might have been officially over in Thailand but it was in full throttle back at home. The highlight was being able to talk to everyone back at home in Wisconsin as the phone was passed from person to person while they were gathered for Christmas dinner.

Christmas this year did not have any snow or sledding. There was no children’s Christmas Eve service from which to be entertained by the antics of anxious and innocent children in front of a congregation. There was no stocking from which to pull out an apple, orange, and other goodies and gifts on Christmas morning. But there were gifts exchanged. There were carols sung. There was a Christmas tree and decorations to beautify the church. Most importantly, there was the joy of a Savior born to this world, no matter if you’re in the United States of America or in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Peace to you this Christmas season and in the New Year.
-Eric

A Safari

You know you’ve been in Thailand for a substantial amount of time when you realize that you’ll have to stop prefacing your journal entries with “You know you’re in Thailand when…” because nothing seems that out of the ordinary anymore…

I’m nearing three and a half months of life in a country that approximately four months ago I probably would not have been able to point out on a world map. Sometimes I can still tune out people speaking Thai because I don’t understand a drop of what they’re saying (especially when watching the television). At other times I understand entire conversations and am surprised to find my own mouth pouring out complete sentences on end without much effort. At times I look around and humorously feel like that one stereotypical “foreign kid” on sitcoms like That 70’s Show. At other times I am completely oblivious to the fact that I am indeed that one stereotypical foreign kid, and I’m too invested in what I’m doing to notice what would have been an absolutely foreign environment to me not so long ago.



Last Wednesday was His Majesty The King’s birthday. Naturally, it was a national holiday which also coincided with Father’s Day here, since The King is a father figure to
all in the country.The midweek holiday allowed our school and two mission churches the opportunity to get outside the Chiang Mai city limits for a two night, two day retreat. We sang, we ate food, we studied the Bible in devotional time and large group gatherings, we ate more food, we played some rather crazy camp and relay games (some involving the consumption of food), we slept two and a half people to a bed, and we ate some more food somewhere in the middle of that all.

The day after returning from the church retreat, all of us guys at the dorm made our own sticky rice. It’s a process I observed to some extent during last month’s excursion to Laos, but this time I was a participant in the process. Making sticky rice is quite simple, actually. Just follow these easy steps at home:

1. Cut off a bamboo shoot and close off one end of it.

2. Fill the bamboo shoot almost full with partially cooked rice and a bit of coconut milk from some coconuts you find in your backyard. Adding a little sugar will go a long ways as well.

3. Set over a fire and cook evenly on all sides until the bamboo shoot is fully darkened.

4. Remove from heat, and when cooled down a bit, cut off the outer layer of the bamboo shoot with a sharp knife.

5. Peel away the rest of the bamboo shoot like a banana, and you’re ready to eat a delectable treat!

In prior entries, I’ve discussed at some length the tradition of wearing yellow, especially on Mondays, as a tribute to His Majesty The King’s favorite color. While at the huge daytime walk-through market recently, I saw the customary yellow polo with the emblazoned symbol for only 89 baht. It’s the cheapest price I’ve ever seen for it and likely ever will see, and so I caved in and bought the polo shirt. So much for my youthful idealism which, until prior, had urged me to wait and read more objective accounts of what The King has done in his sixty years of reign in Thailand before deciding whether I support his principles enough to wear this tributary article of clothing. I guess I can find comfort knowing that while in Thailand, I’ll never read a negative account of The King, so I would’ve probably bought the polo at some point anyway.


The title of this entry is A Safari, and there is no better time than the present to unveil the photos of the safari I went on two weeks ago. Without further ado, I present to you pictures from the overwhelmingly incredible safari adventure:

Okay…so you caught me with the fence in that last picture. When I wrote “safari,” I guess I really meant to say that I went to the Chiang Mai Zoo with the students to do a picture scavenger hunt. Now that my credibility is totally sunk, you’re probably thinking that I’ve been sitting around in the basement of my house the last three and a half months feverishly creating random stories and searching the Internet for relevant pictures in which to superimpose myself. Whether or not that is the case is not the point here. The point is that I hope you’ve enjoyed living this adventure with me through these accounts as much as I’ve enjoyed reflecting on these experiences and writing about them. There’s bound to be more adventures, so say tuned.

-Eric