So anyway, Sunday I went (on my own!) to the Sunday meeting at the ITF tower on Silom road, a major road in Bangkok they taught it on Pimsleur. I took a bus and the BTS there then returned just by bus (which is the cheapest way to go). I knew in this instance where to get off exactly, and youre supposed to ring the bell to let the driver know to drop you at the next stop (they dont stop if no one is getting off and no one is signally they want to get on), but I just feel so pushy ringing the bell, so I figured Id just wait til he stopped- and watched my street go by, then the little market thats open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and we were going over the river - so I rang the bell. It was a small walk home but totally worth it as I found the most delectable donuts inthe world!!! And justified buying and eating them by what a distance it was to get home (though really not that far to walk, especially by Bangkok standards). Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately for my waistline!- I couldnt find it yesterday when we were in the area doing return visits :( I had wanted to share my new found delight with Alanna and her friend just arrived from Taiwan, Fjorn (we bonded over both having unusual boy names as girls). Its funny, Fjorn is here for 10 days -serendipitously leaving on the same day as me! - and she has a list of foods to try long enough to take a month! Yesterday it seemed all foods mentioned were sweet and fried so I teased we were trying to fatten her up. Ohh and on thatnote, we had roti for the first time last night-its a treat from Bangladesh thats reminiscent of a sopapilla filled with banana (and fried then drizzled with condensed milk). Sooooo yummy!
And speaking of food, that takes me to the trip I took (by myself) to Wangwian Yai, or in English: the roundabout with the big horse statue in the middle :) Alanna and I had passed through there the other day and I had seen these nice, inexpensive hats there - Ive been wanting a hat to keep the sun out of my eyes and off the burnt back of my neck; I have an umbrella, but Im no good at the getting it out and putting it away and juggling it with all my books, plus its mostly broke now; guess I shouldve splurged on the $6 umbrella. However on that day I wasnt yet ready to commit, but having had a bit of a headache the day before from too much sun, I wanted a hat before witnessing on Wednesday. So I pulled out my map to find which buses went there (most do, and I probably couldve crossed the road and taken any Song Tao, but I wanted to go by bus).
So I get there, try on all the hats several times and finally indicate to the salesperson Id like to buy this hat; and it was the last one and they wouldnt let me buy it! Ugh! So I had to go through the whole process all over again. But I found and purchased a hat worthy of an English garden party and Eliza Doolittle :) and it was under $2. Sweet! By now I was starving, but had only ever eaten cinnamon donuts holes at Wangwian Yai -not exactly the best dinner in the world- so I walked along to see what I could find. I came across this noodle place a little ways off the roundabout. It look busy and smelled delightful, I just had to figure out what they were serving exactly...So I stood there for 5 minutes trying to read the sign. I fortunately saw no blood in sight (which you do have to be careful of in Thailand), and although Im getting better at reading Thai script, their sign was in a fancy font and I couldnt make out what the letters were let alone sound it out! Oh well, I was starving and it looked good so finally I just approached, pointed to the sign, asked for one and pointed to the noodles Id like-and it was the BEST noodle soup in the world!!!!!! And mind you, that statement shouldnt be taken lightly as Ive now had quite a variety of noodle soups both here and in Malaysia. Oh but it was phenomenal! it had his clear broth that was packed with flavors of lime, garlic, green onion and cilantro, the rice noodles were slippery, but not slimy, and just a bit chewy, the meatballs were sausage, and the bean sprouts added this bit of crunch and really absorbed the flavor of the broth with a tang-plus made you feel you were being healthy for eating your vegetables! Oh it was fantastic; I took a picture of both the dish and the food stall + sign so I could ask Alanna and Terry what exactly Id eaten... Ill definitely be trying to recreate this once I get home :)
I also recently tried another new dish at the food place at the corner of our soi, called Cow Moo Dang -and no Im not making this up. It translates into Rice Pork Red, and is also an absolute delight - I had it two nights in a row, contemplated a third (but hadnt yet tried their wonton soup so got that instead) and even as I write this Im thinking, yum, I could go for some Cow Moo Dang. Its kind of like this pork meat sampler over rice with a hardboiled egg in this sweet and sour red sauce, garnished with green onions and cilantro. And here a note: as I was saying that my favorite bites were those with cilantro in it I learned that they dont call it cilantro in Australia, but it must not feature too strongly in their cuisine as neither Alanna nor Terry knew what to call it. I said its often in Mexican food, but then again Mexican food is also not as prevalent in Australia. I also got this horrified look from Fjorn when I mentioned the Kingdom Hall in Kuala Lumpur being on the 2nd story of a strip mall - and had to explain its not a mall where people strip, but a strip of stores, versus an enclosed building. Oh and on the subject of crosscultural English communication, I had to ask how they referred to chocolate chip cookies (Alanna's bus map had a corner missing that looked like someone had taken a bite out of it, which reminded me of our ancient chocolate chip cookie recipe card), to which Alanna said shed call them chocolate chip biscuits, but Terry would call them cookies. Which of course led me to ask, then what do you call biscuits; muffins. But muffins are sweet. Yes but they also call the biscuit on the McDonalds sandwich a muffin. Thats an English muffin, which led me to trying to explain the difference between an English muffin and a biscuit. Well, you know, a biscuit is more lumpy and light and crumbly and oh yum you need it for biscuits and gravy. To which I got this Look. I think it sounded icky to them, so then I was trying to explain that it isnt a gravy like on mashed potatoes, but a sausage gravy. This led to me explaining how you make it and how it can be hard, in my opinion, to find good biscuits and gravy, because a lot of times the gravy is a bit bland because its more milk than sausage because of course milk is cheaper than sausage.
It was a very amusing conversation, especially since Alanna and Terry are going to New York in May -their first trip to America- and have been making a list of foods to try while there. Id already completely shocked Alanna and Fjorn by saying I eat sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon and sugar, then describing a dish commonly appearing at potlucks- yams with a butter cinnamon sauce and nuts topped with marshmallows! Apparently sweet potatoes are savory in Australia. However, as she adds these foods to the list with New York style pizza by the slice and hot dogs from a cart, were not sure if theyll be able to try them! Alanna was asking, now how far is Ohio from New York again? See the friend she is staying with is from Jamaica, so I have no clue if the things Im describing are part of her diet, and its not exactly like I know where to find good biscuits and gravy and marshmallow yams in New York! So Alannas thinking to try these things she may need to stay with an America American (her term :) ) at some point, not just a Jamaican American. Im guessing though that someone in the hall will likely be able to help them out though since neither dish is exactly an Ohio specialty. I had to give the bad news that flights from New York to Ohio arent typically cheap- and oddly enough you could find deals to Florida often for cheaper, though physically farther away.
Speaking of Florida, I worked with a Filipino sister named Gloria Monday who had lived in Miama for 9 years. It was interesting in learning how she came in the Truth, because while in Florida, where there are many Witnesses, she never encountered them, but she then came to Thailand, where there are comparatively few Witnesses, and learned the truth. Its funny how these things work. Shes a lovely sister, and I very much enjoyed my morning with her. I was using a new presentation Alanna had written for me - in Thai script! That one caught me a bit off guard, though I could mostly read it. It definitely gives added incentive to memorizing the presentation versus reading it as it would take 10 minutes to sound it out! (remembering it and stumbling over the words only takes about 5). Ive had good success with it thus far. It helps because right at the beginning I mention Im from the US and learning Thai, which I think has received a very kind and patient response from the ones Ive spoken with. It probably doesnt hurt that, per Gloria, people are more interested in knowing what is this foreigner doing here trying to talk to me? It also always amuses me when I carefully give my presentation in Thai, hand them the literature and they say Thank You in English :) Its like wow your Thai is so incomprehensible Im willing to pull out my English :) It was good, though, last Saturday I worked with sister Misato, a Japanese sister who also speaks a good bit of English and she helped me with my tones. Though we doubtless must have been funny to passerbys-Nock Seuk Sa? No Seuk Saa. Seuk Saa? Yes Nock Seuk Saa. Ah Sah Sa Muck. Ah Siah? (Student, formal way of saying study, study? Student. Volunteer. Volunteer?) Which reminds me- sweet sister Wan whom I went out with Monday afternoon has been working on her English! Wednesday she had a letter learning book out in field service :) She is just so cute! And here may I say Ive never been so happy to be short in my life as when Im here in Thailand. Im a good half foot taller than sister Wan! Me! Joanne (from California and also petite) made the amusing comment that back home shes like the super midget where as here in Thailand shes normal, fits right in. Even wearing my wedges at the Kingdom Hall here I feel a bit like a giant, as suddenly Im about the same height as all the Japanese brothers.
Which reminds me (in this increasingly rambly post) Sunday at the English meeting I just happened to sit in front of a couple visiting Thailand from the US. I sat down and was listening to the southern accent when they asked are there any other Americans here? And I turned around and said hi! Im from Ohio :) Though then I got to giggling to myself when theyd said they were from Texas, having recently had a conversation with Alanna as to how it seemed to her all Texans were crazy. (She has a Texan Uncle in Australia and we'd recently talked to a crazy Texan man living in our area) But this couple was actually from Louisiana, but had moved to Texas after Katrina, which was then a bit of common ground, and I told them yes we have a family that moved to our sister congregation after Katrina. Unfortunately they were quite excited about this and I had to burst their bubble by explaining I meant in Ohio-not Bangkok.
Okay, this post has been quite rambly enough so Ill end with a pic, and as Dr. Seuss would say: Do you like my hat? Do you like my hat? Oh yes, just you wait 'enry 'iggins, just you wait! (Ok had to add in a bit of My Fair Lady too!)
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