Finding the middle path

I keep trying to find my way along the so called Middle Path, but it's hard. As the 5th child of a high-achieving family, and a model minority, I grew up with the mentality that I could do anything I wanted as long as I worked hard for it. It was not hard growing up in Spencer, West Virginia, and my parents wanted us to make the very most of opportunities given to us. As a student, I had an over-achieving personality and work ethnic which often put me in positions on leadership which I enjoyed a lot. It helped that I also had a variety of life experiences as a kid, having been actively involved in girl scouts, 4-H, sports (cheerleading, softball, track and field), marching band and student council. So I had this competitive streak in me, seeking to be my best in whatever sphere I entered. I definitely had the no retreat, no reserve, no regret mentality, and more often than not, I was successful and satisfied.
Going to college humbled me. I was in a bigger playing field where the standards and stakes were much higher, but I found Christ and really wanted Him to be my center. I learned to make Him my motivation, and learned to submit my goals to His authority, seeking to please Him in what I accomplished or attempted to perform. It's not that I stopped being achievement-oriented, but I released the pressure of being #1, and instead just tried to give glory to God by giving my 100% regardless of whether the results were award-worthy or not.
Fast forward to October 2009...I've been teaching at Doi Saket Wittayakom now for 2 years. I went to a BCCC meeting last Friday at the San Kamphaeng School, and something happened where I felt that I wasn't totally in control on what I was saying and doing. I'm trying to decide if that's good or bad, because in the end, what I said then IS what I felt and still feel. And yet it's different from what I agreed to yesterday - changing my initial statements and feelings.
There are 10 schools in Chiang Mai which use the British Council Connecting Classrooms curriculum Asian Dialogues. I love the curriculum, and my students like it too, because they are connected with students from 7 other countries, particularly England and Malaysia. I thrive using this curriculum, because in my heart of hearts, I am a global citizen and want to train students to be global citizens too. I'm not very successful yet in helping the students attain this, for lots of reasons, but we're on the path...
Our 10 schools had a meeting to discuss a cultural celebration which we'll host together about Loy Kratong on Nov 4th. We have many activities planned, and have divided the responsibilities pretty evenly among our schools. The teachers asked for student emcees to connect the activities. I did not voluteer a student, but Khruu Penpong (with whom I spent time on Wednesday at Mae Kue showing her how to use the student website) asked me if I had a student, then went on to volunteer Chanon to the group. So all of the sudden, I'm essentially extoling Chanon's English abilities, and everyone is relieved that we have someone who can do this important job. But I knew and kept telling Penpong, and later P Sawat, that I knew Khruu Toi would not approve.
After talking with Chanon's mother, I still wasn't at peace. He was at Chiang Mai University this week and would be at Mae Jo next week. She wasn't sure he would want to do it and wanted me to wait and talk with him. They called me on Saturday, but I didn't hear the phone. We've been playing phone tag, but haven't connected yet.
Finally I talked with Khruu Toi yesterday. She was adamant that Chanon cannot be an emcee. I knew that she'd feel this way. I felt pushed in putting his name out there, and actually as I am recalling this morning, it was Khruu Penpong that volunteered Chanon, not me. I could have stopped her, but I didn't, because deep down, I also don't agree with Khruu Toi that Chanon can't do it. I think he can be trained, and I think that she's holding our students back by not believing in then and giving them more opportunities. She always says that they aren't ready, but that's not their fault...it's the teachers fault for not opening opportunities to them and giving them the kind of support that they need.
I think of the English speaking competition at Wachirawit last year and have they had students in M6 emcee the whole event. Why can't our students do that? Doi Saket has English competitions on Nov 5, and it's just too close to the Loy Kratong celebration to rely on Suda to emcee that too. But shoudn't she? Or shouldn't Sady or Pacharee or another, older student? If not now, when?
I'm kind of mad, because I feel like we need to train and release our students more, and we're not. The problem is planning and timing of these events. If teachers knew with enough advance preparation, then there's not reason that students shouldn't be given the chance to step up more. So I feel like I'm part of the problem if I'm not doing something to open the door wider for the kids.
And I don't like that I let Khruu Penpong volunteer Chanon on my behalf...or that I let Khruu Toi make me concede so easily yesterday. I set up the conversation in such a way that I wouldn't lose face in explaining how I HAD to volunteer student names fo emcee, which is true. But I didn't tell her how I much I believe in Chanon, and how much I want to see him released to do more, so that his emcee skills are improved. I hate that she disses him, because of his personality, when you can train people to behave in certain ways. I just think that we all need to take more responsibility, and I don't feel like I was completely honest in every step of this process. I don't shirk my responsibilities as a teacher, and as a adult (who needs to be accountable for everything I do). And maybe I downplay how cross-cultural this situation is with the nuances of communication and being spoken for (on the part of Khruu Penpong) or speaking for myself, and showing my true feelings. God teach me! I still want to be teachable, please show me how to be more authentic in every situation.

What is democracy?

I read an article from the Bangkok Post last week about a Thai cartoon that really summed up what democracy in Thailand is. I must try to find the original Thai cartoon, and use it as a springboard of discussion maybe with some teachers. It's probably too advanced for my students.
Punchline of the cartoon is that there are no corrupt leaders in Thailand - it's just the constitution that's bad. So the solution is not to change leaders (which Thailand has done many times), but it's to change the constitution. What does that prove? This is the same beef that I have with Thaksin - the fugitive former prime minister. He was ousted in a military coupe 3 years ago and refuses to come home to face the charges of corruption held against him, because he thinks that the justice system is the problem - not him or anything that he's done. If he really believed in democracy, I think he'd return. It bothers me that people still idolize him. I asked my students once, and so many of them feel very strongly pro-Thaksin, saying that he's good and he did so many good things for Thai people. I agree that his populist policies helped people, especially the poor. But my students can't see how those populist policies aren't sustainable in the long run.
I keep asking myself how Thailand can have the second biggest economy in ASEAN behind Singapore. I've been Burma, Cambodia and Laos and understand how it's ahead of these nations which are still very much developing. But Malaysia with all of those smart, progressive Chinese and Indians? And Indonesia with such a huge population? I think that the government must have huge stores of baht and foreign currency hiding somewhere for the baht to be so strong again the dollar these days.
I guess that if I really believe in jubilee, verses market economy, then I would celebrate a strong baht. But because I still have to rely on my family's and friends' generosity via the church in the US, I want the dollar to be stronger. Anyway...I'm not so mature that I understand everything about politics and economics, but I want to keep learning. It's just so hard to get a handle on Thai ways.

Bury My Heart

I'm reading Dee Brown's book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. I brought it with me to a teacher training meeting last week, and my Thai friends (who are all English teachers, so their English is pretty good) had the hardest time trying to figure out what the book was about. It was funny to hear ask me, finally, if there was an alternative meaning to "Wounded Knee", and yes, actually Wounded Knee is a place.

Anyway, I've wanted to read this book for years, and now that I'm reading it, I'm having a hard time finishing it, because it's just painful to read how horribly out Native American brothers and sisters were treated by the US government, soldiers, frontiersmen and one another (especially after the aforementioned were involved).

The chapter that I just finished was about the War to Save the Buffalo, and how so many western settlers would just kill the buffalo for pleasure and leave their carcasses on the plains to rot. It made me so mad.

My good friend Annette is Korean from southern Cal. When she was young, she went to a Christian camp where everyone was given a Native American name and identity. She prayed the prayer of faith for the first time at this camp, and the one who led her in prayer is someone who's real name Annette never knew - she only her Indian name. When I told Annette that when I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a Native American. We laughed at that. Having grown up in Orange County which had very few Koreans at the time, she always wanted to be white.

Being the 5th kid in my family, I couldn't wait until I was 9, so that I could join the local 4-H Club - the Spencer Challengers, then go to Roane County 4-H camp at Camp Shepherd in Gandeeville, WV. My older siblings (except Melissa) had done the same, and I was eager to go to this weeklong, overnight camp. The campers there were divided into 4 Native American Indian tribes. I became a Cherokee - like my sisters Jessica and Debbie. My brother was a Delaware. I also remember in 4th grade that we had to do a research paper on a Native American Indian tribe, and I was given the Hopi tribe to research. I remember drawing the cover for my report. I had piece of orange construction paper and drew on it with my box of 64 crayola crayons.

Finally when I was 16, I went to State 4-H camp in Jackon's Mill. When you're 16, you get to go to a camp called "Older Youth" which is an interesting name. On the second to the last night of camp, we had a special campfire. I was chosen to the the ishkatay (wait, did I write this story already sometime in my previous bloglife?) - the one who lit the campfires that night. I also got to pass around the peace pipe to the different tribal chiefs. It was a real privilege for me to dress up as a Native American in this very solemn campfire.

It's so strange to go back now more than 20 years later and really learn the history about the Native American peoples, and what injustices they suffered, and continue suffer. Life is just not fair, but thank God I have Jesus.

My first translation

In early September, I finished translating the prayer booklet, "30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World" from English into Thai. Actually, it should have been completed about a month earlier, since Ramadan 2009 began on August 22nd. But at least I got something printed and distributed. The booklet is updated every year, but I am not sure that I'm going to have the energy to translate something that size for next year. I may just wait until 2011 to translate that a new version.

Overall, it took me the better part of 3 months. While I had the English materials for nearly 5.5 months, I didn't get started until I returned to Thailand from a 2-month visit to the US. I was teaching English full-time at school as well and translating the booklet as a way to continue my Thai studies with Khruu Jai.

I really had no idea how much effort, time and money it would take to translate something like this. For the most part, the money was spent on my Thai lessons. For those 3 months, I would translate as much as possible into poorly written Thai, then spend 2 hours at a time with Khruu Jai explaining what I meant, and she's make corrections to my draft. Then I'd type what she editted into a MS Word document, and she's read it over further correcting any errors. After the whole thing was typed and editted, she read the whole 30 days again (probably more than once), making other corrections and re-writing for clarity.

I had the document printed - nothing high class. But even after it was printed, Khruu still saw errors which she was embarrassed or unhappy with - because she was sure that she corrected those errors on my handy-drive. I don't know how that happened. The first distribution was for a September 11 prayer meeting for people in Chiang Mai - mostly expats - who pray for Muslims. That night happened to also be the night of a crusade by Pastor Matthew, an Indian man who is dearly loved by the church in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. So my book was first presented in public at a very small prayer meeting with a grand total of 13 people.

There is more to tell about this event...I received a marriage proposal that night from a 19-year old kid who began his conversation with me, criticizing me for writing without using an "EQ" about Islamic impressions of western culture...and somewhere in the middle asked me if I was interested in having him as my spouse. That's a common question, coming from a young man who is obsessed with US-culture and thought maybe I was desperate for marriage, and that I would surely have enough money to take him to the US with me the next time that I go. Oh please!

Back to the translation, if I had had time, I would have had someone else edit the document before having it printed, but since I was already "late" to get the thing out during Ramadan, I thought it was just best to print it first. I sent an e-copy to various people, and Acaan Chumsaeng said that he would edit it for me. I hope that he does, and that his draft will make the booklet useable for the Kairos course.

I am not 100% sure what's next in my learning Thai, and future translation projects. I will likely do some parts of the the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church which is Nov 8th this year. We'll see how much of that I can get done before the actual prayer date. I also want to do some stuff that the Global Prayer Digest published about ethne-to-ethne, people groups praying for unreached people groups. I'm just waiting for direction.

Oh Imelda!

I don't know what she's thinking, but she seems totally delusional. I guess that we all are, to some degree. I'm not sure how she manages to have peace with herself. "I knew I was on the side of the right and truth. And if you are on the side of the truth, and you are peace with the truth, you are at peace with God," she said.

Imelda Marcos at peace with herself, not her critics

Writer: AFP

Published: 24/09/2009 at 10:01 AM

In an extraordinary world described by Imelda Marcos, the end of the Cold War began with an adoring Chinese leader's kiss of her hand.

Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos at her residence in Manila. In an extraordinary world as told by Marcos, the end of the Cold War began with an adoring Chinese leader's kiss of her hand. Her famous extravagance was actually a sacrifice to inspire the poor masses of the Philippines.

Her famous extravagance was actually a sacrifice to inspire the poor masses of the Philippines.

And her husband, Ferdinand Marcos, was definitely no dictator.

"I have been so misunderstood," Marcos declared during a wide-ranging interview inside her two-storey penthouse apartment overlooking one of Manila's wealthiest suburbs.

Indeed, the former beauty queen's recounting of her life sounds more like a wonderful fairytale than the one tarnished by greed, corruption and power-lust that many outsiders associate with her.

"My dreams were small and puny with the realities that my dreams became," Marcos said as she sat in her main living room surrounded by a stunning array of jade statues and photos of her meeting world leaders.

But at age 80 and with Monday next week marking 20 years since her husband died, the former first lady is acutely aware that not everyone believes in her fairytale, and for many the Marcos story is more akin to a horror movie.

"I don't want to be remembered as a criminal," she said candidly while discussing her legacy.

Indeed, she admitted to remaining driven in the twilight years of her life by her desire to clear the muddied Marcos name.

Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, holding on to power for nearly half of those years thanks to the use of martial law, a compliant military and powerful backing from the United States.

During that time, the woman famous for her shoe collection allegedly conspired with her husband to steal billions of dollars from the people they governed and preside over widespread human rights abuses.

Their rule finally ended after millions of people took to the streets of Manila, key military chiefs joined the masses and the US government helped them escape the angry hordes by flying the disgraced couple to Hawaii.

While Marcos stated that the fact she had never been convicted of any crime should prove she did nothing wrong, she revealed that the endless barbs about her supposed greed continued to cut deeply.

"Every time they put out a biography on Mrs Marcos (they say): 'Oh! She's beautiful!, Oh! Extravagant! Oh! Jewellery. Oh! Shoes," she said.

"What a pity to talk about the superficiality of all this and not the soul."

Sitting with a Picasso hanging on her living room wall, Marcos insisted that her penchant for the finest things in life was aimed at setting an example for the poor.

"My role as first lady was to be a star and a slave. To set the standard because mass follows class. And so I had to enslave myself so that everyone becomes a star," she said.

Marcos insisted she appreciated the poor masses of the Philippines.

"I envy almost everybody, I even envy the beggars in the street because they don't steal, they humiliate themselves to be beggars," she said.

Marcos also defended her phenomenal travels around the world when she was first lady, during which time she undoubtedly was an influential woman, but perhaps not as powerful as she remembered.

One of her proudest moments was her meeting with communist China's revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong, at the height of the Cultural Revolution and Cold War in 1974.

She said that despite big differences between the pair -- with Mao an ageing warrior and her a beautiful representative of a US-backed Asian government -- she paid respects by offering her hand.

"He took my hand and kissed it... And that was the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Because the Philippines was America junior... do you see how serious that was?"

While Marcos's critics may accuse her of self-delusion, a recurring theme during the interview was her complete certainty that she did no wrong and that all criticisms against her were baseless.

"I knew I was on the side of the right and truth. And if you are on the side of the truth, and you are peace with the truth, you are at peace with God," she said.

The Spirit Catches and You Fall Down

I finally read this great book which my friend Jim recommended to be probably 5 years ago. Now that I live in Thailand and have quite a few students who are Hmong, reading the book this year was truly enlightening. I really don't know about US involvement in the Southeast Asian history, particularly in fighting communism in the 1960s in Vietnam and Laos. But reading The Spirit Catches, really makes me want to learn more!

Some of my favorite people in Thailand Hmong (favorite is a word I use liberally). Noom is one. He is now pastor at a church in Isaan - northeast Thailand where he and his wife relocated just in August. When I came to Chiang Mai 6 years ago on a ST trip for the summer, I met Noom at the International Church. Because he can speak English pretty well, we talked more often than I spoke with other people in the youth group at the church. At the time, he was an undergrad, a sophomore I believe. When I returned to Chiang Mai 4 years ago, Noom graduated and began ministering at a church geared for university students. When I visited him at the church, I was always so proud of the man he turned into - a spiritual leader and humble servant of God.

Wilaiwan is a current 4/4 student of mine. She'd be so embarrased knowing that I'm writing about her, but she's one of the best students in her class, and she's Hmong. Something about her, not unlike Noon, she's has a certain degree of confidence that other students in this class don't have. She isn't afraid to laugh, and a lot of Thai girls cover their mouths when they laugh, which while may appear to be more proper, I think it stifles their joy and humor. Wilaiwan likes to try new things, and she isn't afraid of failure. That Thai concept of face and decorum are present in her life, but she seems to get beyond that and knows how to express herself, even if it seems trite or silly. I like that! So Wilaiwan is pictured here with two of her friends.






There is a Hmong family here in Chiang Mai who are now a part of the mission which I used to be a part of. And Cam does the most adventurous work of anyone that I know personally. I actually wrote "dangerous" before I changed the work to "adventurous", because I wanted to use a more friendly euphemism. While working among Hmong leaders in another nation here in SE Asia just last year, Cam had to hide out in the forest for like 2 weeks. He was never left alone, always had 3-4 other people with him, and these men rotated in and out of with other Hmong leaders who weren't supposed to be having leadership meetings about spiritual things! When he told us this story, I almost couldn't believe it, but wow - what a privilege to know Cam, and to know the risks that he takes just to teach people the Bible.

Okay, so I haven't yet mentioned what I learned about the health care system in northern Cal and how the doctors and care-givers were totally clueless about how Hmong culture understands sickness, particularly epilepsy. After reading the book, I felt like buying copies to give to all of my siblings and cousins who are in health care, so that they will maybe learn from the mistakes and pitfalls of what happened with the Hmong family in The Spirit Catches.

Thanks Jim for a recommendation to a great read.
Here's what Stephanie had on her facebook page...years later at the hospital where The Spirit Catches took place.

By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN

Published: September 19, 2009

MERCED, Calif. — The patient in Room 328 had diabetes and hypertension. But when Va Meng Lee, a Hmong shaman, began the healing process by looping a coiled thread around the patient’s wrist, Mr. Lee’s chief concern was summoning the ailing man’s runaway soul.

Va Meng Lee, a shaman, at Mercy Medical Center in Merced, Calif.

Paraphernalia used by Ma Vue to ward off bad spirits for a newborn.

Ma Vue with her husband and assistant, Yong Chue Xiong, warding away bad spirits for Lance Vang, a newborn, in Winton, Calif.

“Doctors are good at disease,” Mr. Lee said as he encircled the patient, Chang Teng Thao, a widower from Laos, in an invisible “protective shield” traced in the air with his finger. “The soul is the shaman’s responsibility.”

At Mercy Medical Center in Merced, where roughly four patients a day are Hmong from northern Laos, healing includes more than IV drips, syringes and blood glucose monitors. Because many Hmong rely on their spiritual beliefs to get them through illnesses, the hospital’s new Hmong shaman policy, the country’s first, formally recognizes the cultural role of traditional healers like Mr. Lee, inviting them to perform nine approved ceremonies in the hospital, including “soul calling” and chanting in a soft voice.

The policy and a novel training program to introduce shamans to the principles of Western medicine are part of a national movement to consider patients’ cultural beliefs and values when deciding their medical treatment. The approach is being adopted by dozens of medical institutions and clinics across the country that cater to immigrant, refugee and ethnic-minority populations.

Certified shamans, with their embroidered jackets and official badges, have the same unrestricted access to patients given to clergy members.

Shamans do not take insurance or other payment, although they have been known to accept a live chicken.

A recent survey of 60 hospitals in the United States by the Joint Commission, the country’s largest hospital accrediting group, found that the hospitals were increasingly embracing cultural beliefs, driven sometimes by marketing, whether by adding calcium- and iron-rich Korean seaweed soup to the maternity ward menu at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, on the edge of Koreatown, or providing birthing doulas for Somali women in Minneapolis.

In Merced, about 120 miles southeast of San Francisco, the Mercy hospital shaman program was designed to strengthen the trust between doctors and the Hmong community — a form of healing in the broadest sense. It tries to redress years of misunderstanding between the medical establishment and the Hmong, whose lives in the mountains of Laos were irreparably altered by the Vietnam War. Hmong soldiers, Mr. Lee among them, were recruited by the C.I.A. in the 1960s to fight the covert war against Communist insurgents in Laos and afterward, to avoid retribution, were forced to flee to the refugee camps, with most resettling in California’s Central Valley and in the Midwest.

During a seven-week training program at Mercy Medical Center, 89 shamans learned elements of Western-style medicine, including germ theory. They visited operating rooms and peered through microscopes for the first time. Looking at heart cells, one shaman, an elderly woman, asked the pathologist to show her a “happy heart.”

Designed to defuse the Hmong fear of Western medicine, the program has “built trust both ways,” said Dr. John Paik-Tesch, director of the Merced Family Medicine Residency Program, which trains resident physicians at Mercy Medical Center.

Since the refugees began arriving 30 years ago, health professionals like Marilyn Mochel, a registered nurse who helped create the hospital’s policy on shamans, have wrestled with how best to resolve immigrants’ health needs given the Hmong belief system, in which surgery, anesthesia, blood transfusions and other common procedures are taboo.

The result has been a high incidence of ruptured appendixes, complications from diabetes, and end-stage cancers, with fears of medical intervention and delays in treatment exacerbated by “our inability to explain to patients how physicians make decisions and recommendations,” Ms. Mochel said.

The consequences of miscommunication between a Hmong family and the hospital in Merced was the subject of the book “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and The Collision of Two Cultures” by Anne Fadiman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997). The book follows a young girl’s treatment for epilepsy and the hospital’s failure to recognize the family’s deep-seated cultural beliefs. The fallout from the case and the book prompted much soul-searching at the hospital and helped lead to its shaman policy.

The Hmong believe that souls, like errant children, are capable of wandering off or being captured by malevolent spirits, causing illness. Mr. Lee’s ceremony for the diabetic man was a spiritual inoculation, meant to protect his soul from being kidnapped by his late wife and thus extending his “life visa.”

Such ceremonies, which last 10 minutes to 15 minutes and must be cleared with a patient’s roommates, are tame versions of elaborate rituals that abound in Merced, especially on weekends, when suburban living rooms and garages are transformed into sacred spaces and crowded by over a hundred friends and family members. Shamans like Ma Vue, a 4-foot, 70-something dynamo with a tight bun, go into trances for hours, negotiating with spirits in return for sacrificed animals — a pig, for instance, was laid out recently on camouflage fabric on a living room floor.

Certain elements of Hmong healing ceremonies, like the use of gongs, finger bells and other boisterous spiritual accelerators, require the hospital’s permission. Janice Wilkerson, the hospital’s “integration” director, said it was also unlikely that the hospital would allow ceremonies involving animals, like one in which evil spirits are transferred onto a live rooster that struts across a patient’s chest.

“The infection control nurse would have a few problems with that,” Ms. Wilkerson said.

A turning point in the skepticism of staff members occurred a decade ago, when a major Hmong clan leader was hospitalized here with a gangrenous bowel. Dr. Jim McDiarmid, a clinical psychologist and director of the residency program, said that in deference hundreds of well-wishers, a shaman was allowed to perform rituals, including placing a long sword at the door to ward off evil spirits. The man miraculously recovered. “That made a big impression, especially on the residents,” Dr. McDiarmid said.

Social support and beliefs affect a patient’s ability to rebound from illness, Dr. McDiarmid added, pointing out that over half of the people who respond to antidepressants do so because of the placebo effect.

One of the goals of the new policy, Ms. Mochel said, is to speed up medical intervention by having a healing ceremony coincide with a hospital stay, rather than waiting days for a patient to confer with family and clan leaders after a ceremony at home.

Attitudes toward Western doctors have begun to loosen as young, assimilated Hmong-Americans assume more powerful roles in the family. Dr. Kathie Culhane-Pera, the associate medical director of the West Side Community Health Center in St. Paul, home to the country’s largest concentration of Hmong, said she worked informally with shamans, obtaining permission from the hospital to turn off the smoke alarms for incense, for example. Signs of the growing movement in cross-cultural health care can be found on the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona, where the federal Indian Health Service has three medicine men on staff and recently instituted a training program similar to Mercy’s.

At White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Hector Flores, the chairman of the family medicine department, refers patients to, traditional Hispanic healers, curanderos, on a case-by-case basis. The facility also trains community members as “promotores de salud,” or health promoters. Dr. Flores called it a “low-tech approach in which the physician is not the end-all, but part of a collaborative team geared toward prevention.”

At the hospital in Merced, Dr. Lesley Xiong, 26, a resident physician, grew up as the granddaughter of two distinguished shamans. Though she chose to become a doctor, she said there was ample room for both approaches. “If I were sick, I would want a shaman to be there,” Dr. Xiong said. “But I’d go to the hospital.”

More Articles in US » A version of this article appeared in print on September 20, 2009, on page A20 of the New York edition.

Durian

It's called the king of fruits - it's spiky when it's still on the tree or uncut, and it's stinky. But if you can handle the smell, the taste is unlike anything else you'll every eat. It's soft, a little gooey actually, and it has threads and a pit. I like it. I'm Filipina, so I can't help but like tropical fruits, even if they smell.
On Friday at school, I brought a student to the principal's office. Sudaporn was needed to introduce the school (in English) to some visitors, and she needed the information from the director, so we went to ask him together. After talking with him, one of the assistant administrators insisted that I take some durian with me. The fruit was peeled and waiting on a plate to be eaten. I asked her how to eat it, since I didn't have anything to eat it with. She said, just pick it up and take it. I pinched off one small bit, trying to act non-chalant but graceful. She said, "Take the whole piece." Yee sh. I picked it up (about half the size of my palm) with two fingers and proceeded to walk back to my department with it. It felt funny, walking two buildings away with a big piece of durian in my hand. But once I got to the English department office, I bit right into the durian and enjoyed its sweet, gooey-ness. Nothing like it.

I forgive you, Denzel!

I saw Pelham 123 with Siew on Saturday night. It was so good. I'm not a huge action movie chick, but this was fun. The script was brilliant - interesting questions about faith and being honest and doing what you have to do to make a living. And of course with John Travolta and Denzel Washington, you really can't go terribly wrong.
I loved seeing the city of New York. She never looked so beautiful, truly. I know I've seen a couple of movies that have been made in the city since 9/11, but wow the bridges, the subway, everything was beautiful in this movie. I don't know how they got those great shots.
One part which I hated was close to the end when Denzel saves the world, so to speak. The mayor offers his ride to Denzel, who politely refuses, saying he will take the subway home (after all that craziness that already happened in the subway tunnel). It wasn't convincing, but D asked the mayor, "Hey are you a Yankees fan?" I nearly boo-ed in the auditorium out loud. It really took all of my self-control not to, actually. But again, it wasn't very convincing. It wasn't like Ben Affect in Paycheck asking his girlfriend who his favorite baseball team is...nor was it like Luke Wilson in Legally Blond announcing that he was getting married at Fenway Park. So I'll forgive Denzel this one stupid line in an otherwise great movie.

Bangkok - twice in 1 month

I got to go to Bangkok twice in July 2009, which was kind of cool. Both trips were with the British Council Connecting Classrooms group. My first trip was the first weekend, and I took a bus there along with some other teachers from Chiang Mai (no one from my school unfortunately). I read "The Orchid Thief" on the way there, and liked it, but wished I had another good book to read on the way back. During both trips, I stayed at the Windsor Suites hotel on Sukhumwit Soi 20. Khruu Sawat was my roommate on the first trip. She teaches at Yupparat Wittayalai in Chiang Mai. Her school is the oldest public school in the city, and she has great experience in teaching social sciences there.

Khruu Sawat and I were invited to be the Chiang Mai representatives at the international coordinator's meeting later in the month - July 27-28 at the Windsor Suites, but this time, we got individual rooms in the older part of the hotel which was recently renovated and had some of the prettiest, shiniest bathroom tiles I've ever seen.

Anyway, on the first visit, I met some cool teachers from Nakron Sii Thammarat. When I told two of them that it's sort of my goal to move further south in Thailand, they said that they'd surely welcome my move, and that they'd ask around to see if any of the other schools in NST had openings. Well, after that, I met new people during nearly every meal at the conference, introducing themselves as a teacher from NST who heard that I was going to move to their city. Funny. I do think about moving south frequently enough that it's something I need to pray about.

The second visit to Bangkok was terrific. I met more cool people, especially from Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. I had some interesting conversations about faith and work and fun. The conference ended with a dinner out at Cabbages and Condoms. I was wondering what Muslim friends would think about this place, but when they learned it was all about educating Thai people about using condoms as a safety measure combatting the spread of AIDs, they were alright with it.

I really like all the people from the British Council that I met. I love the curriculum that I'm using, about teaching global citizenship. It's a worthy goal to be teaching toward, and the people that do the training are all very cool. A future with the British Council? I wouldn't turn an offer down all too quickly, but an offer hasn't come. I have had some financial reimbursements given through British Council accounts, so technically, I think I can call myself a consultant. Yah! I love being a teacher, so it's fun when I get rewarded with travel.

Harry

I'm crazy about Harry Potter. I just saw the movie, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince." I wish I had time to re-read the book before I saw the movie, but I didn't. I wasn't disappointed with the movie. I thought the special effects and overall production were truly brilliant. But I also remember reading the 6th book and the immediate feelings I had afterward. I'm a teacher, and I have always enjoyed reading the books, because I love how JK Rowling develops the relationships between characters, especially between Harry and Dumbledore. The movie definitely brings out the high school romance angst between the students, but it also shows the special bond between teacher and student, and I really appreciate that.
I still curse inability of so many "Christians" who refuse to let their kids read the books or see the movies. Truly lost opportunities, because HP definitely has redemptive, Christ-like qualities which are admirable. And I love quidditch for it's redemptive analogies as well. Too many kids and adults are missing out, because their faith isn't big enough to embrace the fact that truth can be found outside of the Bible.
One thing I love about seeing movies in Thailand, is that when you buy your ticket, you also book your seat. The movie tickets were pre-sold, so there wasn't a lot to choose from when I got to the theater. I had to sit in the 4th row from the front, and I chose the seat closest to the center, which was between two different parties. I had to resist the urge to tell the kids who sat to my left (they were probably young professionals, but they acted like teens) to settle down and shut up. Right from the start when they sat down, I could feel that they weren't going to be well-mannered movie companions. When the king's song came on, they all stood up before me, but they snickered and laughed the whole way through the song, which - had there been police officers in the house - could be used as grounds for arrest. The girl who sat beside me left twice during the movie, just to explain how much she WASN'T into it. Thai kids - no respect!
Anyway, I loved Luna. Even though I just took a "Which HP character are you", and was Hermione, of course, I think in the later books, Hermione is less courageous than in the first 3 books. I think she gets overly distracted by Ron, and her portrayal in film 6 is little more than that unfortunately. I don't remember Ginnny playing as big of a role, but obviously the movie director is setting us up for the afterward which comees after the final book - which I didn't care much for.
Anyway, if I ever find my own Harry Potter missionary, I'll know that he's the man I'm supposed to marry. But I doubt that he exists.

Another first

Today was the first time that I taught Sunday School in Thai at Pratuu Muang Chiang Mai (CM City Gate Church). It was alright. There were 5 kids, ages 9-12, 3 were regulars and 2 were newbies whose families have just become Christian which is pretty exciting. Two of the regulars were kind of antsy, and I didn't make a big effort to discipline them, although if I teach in the future, I'll definitely take more control.

My lesson:
1) Draw simple pictures of different groups of people
Kids who are Christian, kids who aren't yet Christian, the Church (pastors, teachers, member), Government officials, teachers and schools, Christian workers, people of influence, the poor/widows/orphans.
2) Read Jesus' Prayer in Matthew 6. Teach the kids to use a line from Jesus' prayer to pray for the groups we drew pictures of. Kids chose a picture and prayed for different groups of people.
3) I have students copies of a map of Asia, and they had to fill in the names of the countries.
4) Pray for the different groups of people who live in different countries in Asia.

I think it went okay. Hannah said that she was surprised how much Thai I could read and speak. I still surprise myself with that, although David was a little stubborn and refused to speak Thai at all with me. But I was impressed with the new kids. They go to a "Christian" school, so they have to say the Lord's prayer every morning during their school assembly, but they learned how to pray, and did so readily today, which was really cool.
I don't plan to teach this group often. I was just substituting for Miriam who just came back from a 2-week vacation, and asked me to fill in, so that she could rest another Sunday. It gave her the chance to be in service too, so I'm glad that I could help.