Random

I live in a very random country.

We went to a buffet the other night. I felt like I was at the Flying W Ranch as we were in this open but covered eating area where we sat on picnic tables and had little tin grills at each table where they would bring fiery coal to heat our tin grills and grill our meat while we had tin kettles of scorching water to fill the sides of the grill to boil veggies and such. So, the smell of campfire smoke and tables made me felt at home. Random.
Also, in the midst of the buffet where there are dead crawling things to grill, a million types of tofu, vegetables and fruits I couldn’t identify along with vegetable jello . . . there was pizza (granted it was spicy and had shrimp so it still counted as Thai food) and there were French fries in the middle of the buffet. Random.
A lovely assortment of doughnuts for dessert. Random.
There was a Thai band playing on stage (not similar to Wrangler music though – we’re no longer feeling like we are at the Flying W), we are sitting next to a big screen where Thai soap operas are being projected and granted if I did speak Thai fluently, I still couldn’t hear what they were saying because of the music. I was intrigued by the soap operas. My friend made a true statement that the Buddhist culture (which Thailand is 98% Buddhist) teaches to hide a lot of emotion and suppress it. So, when Thai’s act and have to show emotion – a lot of them overdo it and it makes me laugh out loud. Hilarious. But this is our entertainment at the buffet. Random.
Even though this is an all you can eat buffet, if you don’t eat all your food, they weigh it and charge you extra. Random.
We are walking to our cars and as we come up on the stage where 1 Thai guy was playing his guitar, I realize I recognize the song – he is singing a Greenday song in English. Random.
When you go to your car, there is a man who is paid to stand there and shine a flashlight on your vehicle so you can see where to put your key. Courteous, but still Random.

Other randomness? I have a new student in my class. She just showed up the other day. She is from one of the children’s homes. I didn’t know that she was my student until I cranked my neck while singing the National Anthem to see who this unidentified child was that was lined up in the 4th grade line and I had about 2 minutes before going to class to figure out if I was supposed to teach this child or not. Long story short – she is a new student and now is my 9th child. I am trying to get over the fact that I loved that I had 8 students 4 boys and 4 girls – the perfect number to divide in 4 groups or 2 groups or boys vs girls. I was getting used to counting 8 heads and making sure my head was still on at the end of the day. However, I quickly got over my selfishness after meeting Poompui. My new student who doesn’t speak a lick of English. Haha. She fits into our class well. She has the best big-teeth smile and sports her pigtails like she was born with them. She is beautiful. She also loves to hug me. I love hugs but there is a downside. Why is this a downside you may ask? Her height puts her exactly at eye level with my belly. Apparently my pudgy middle intrigues her and she’s turned my stomach into her new toy. While I have to get over my pride and my hurt of having a child constantly poke, prod, squish and jiggle my stomach, I have to laugh. I have to laugh at this child who finds one of my biggest insecurities to be her new fun activity. I have to laugh over the fact that I’m here in the middle of the hottest country (in my opinion at least) - - - by the way, some one should tell the authorities that the air conditioner is broken in this country - - - and I am teaching for the first time in my life and teaching children who struggle to know what I’m blabbing about. I have to laugh at the quirkiness of my 9 students – Arm, Bless, Boonyoung, Dao, Git, Pang, Poompui, Quan and Ying. I have to laugh as nothing usually goes as planned whether it be in school or just in life here in Thailand. I have to laugh at everything random that comes my way. I laugh a lot here and this makes me smile. I’m so glad our God has a sense of humor. I know I’m here for many reasons, but today I am enjoying the laughter of the randomness.