khob-kun Phracêā

It's been two weeks of functioning translator-less, and oh what fun we've had. My students have been great sports. Some of the Thai phrases I've learned crack me up: (to knead dough- literally, to give the dough a massage)

and I've sent my students into fits of giggles and hand clapping over unintended double entendres.

My favorite Thai phrase is the way they express Thanksgiving- literally, Thank You God day. I love it. I think America has lost something in our translation.
This is the second year in a row that there was an empty chair around the Thanksgiving tables in California, and my cousins got to eat my share of Grandma Lelia's awesome rolls, and Mom Mom's Mai Thai Jello salad.

I was happily chopping onions in our lovely new kitchen watching the lights and chaos of Loi Krathong at the Karaoke bars outside the big picture window. I watched fireworks shoot over my motorbike and over the tops of buildings, and a parade of white tissue lanterns launch into the sky, carrying the sins of their owners-to nowhere. Well, to no one.

They ended up back on the street the next morning, or stuck in trees- greyed, burnt ghosts.

The kitchen was filled with the smell of caramelized onions, and I was overwhelmed with thanks. As my friend Janice so eloquently said, " I am thankful that we can pin our hopes for redemption and forgiveness on something more eternal than flaming tissue paper." Me too. I am so grateful to be celebrating Thank You God day in the middle of the hopelessness of Loi Krathong. I am so thankful for His provision-of the kitchen I stood in, of being able to stand. I am thankful that His Light is greater than the darkness outside, thankful that His mercy and hope still extends- thankful that He chooses to use us to work through.

When the chickens (Thai turkey :) were out of the oven- I walked to my motorbike, wiped the ashes off the seat, smiling and greeting my neighbors- and wished them all a Happy Thank You God day- no translator necessary.