Crazy Calls

So we all know Return Visits can go any direction, but I've had a couple lately that were of particular note.

Getting Lost with the Hindi Crowd

In case you hadn't yet heard the exciting news, there is now an official Hindi Pre-Group at Thonburi (my KH).  They have a Sunday meeting twice a month, and their own FS group everyday but Wednesday, when they meet together with the Thai.  The group currently consists of 2 brothers and about 5 sisters.

So last Wednesday one of the sisters, Rakhi and I had a plan.  We'd preach together in Thai for the first part of the morning, then I'd go with her on a call she'd met the week before in that territory.

Part 1 of the Plan went off without a hitch.  Then Terry showed us on the territory map where Rakhi's call was, and off we went to wait for our bus.  Which wasn't coming.  However little song taos (basically trucks with seats in the back and a cap) kept coming and I was able to read that they went to Talat Plu, which is where we needed to go.  After affirming with Rakhi that she was feeling adventurous, we took a Song tao.

Territory map - * is Rakhi's call

And went to the end of the line, confused the driver and got dropped off next to a very large sign declaring "Talat Plu" :)  Fortunately we saw another couple of brothers, who guided us in the right direction. (And FYI we had actually been on the right track already - Yay me!!!)

We start walking, find an area we believe is familiar, but no it's from another day we worked in the territory, so we walk on.  Eventually we find #21, the road we're looking for (Realize here that Thailand can be worse than Athens when it comes to marking roads).  By now Rakhi is done walking and decided to give her RV a call to find the most direct route to their house.  Instead of giving directions, he comes to pick us up on the family motorbike.

You ever tried to fit 3 people on a motorbike?  In Thailand it's fairly common, sometimes you see the who family PLUS their dog, but Rakhi and I are both wearing skirts and would much prefer to sit sidesaddle, which you can't really do with 3 people.  Fortunately I was wearing shorts under my skirt so I bit the bullet and straddled the bike, then Rakhi sat sidesaddle behind me, arms wrapped around my waist as though hanging on for dear life.

Halfway through the ride she tells me she's only half on the bike!  Eek.


Then we get to the house - only it's not her RV's house, but home to a group of Indians whom Rakhi has been told need to hear her message also.  So we sit down.  Primarily we talk to an older Indian woman who has lived in Thailand 30 years, but other people drift through, and in two back rooms I can see people listening intently, though they don't come out.

At some points Rakhi had an audience of 8 or 9 people!

Rakhi ends with the Bible's promise of everlasting life, which greatly interests the woman, who demands to know how to get this.  Rakhi tells her next time, and the subject of food comes up.  Rakhi's RV is going to feed us, which then raises a question amongst the group - a question i still get a chuckle at:

Does the white girl eat Indian food?

Rakhi answers yes.  (Of course.)  Though they continue to reasure that it's just chicken and rice.

So we get back on the motorbike and head to the RV's home...where the RV announces to all his Thai neighbors that a "falang" (white person) is visiting him, and she speaks Thai too!  I felt like quite the spectacle...but they were all very sweet.  Brian has made the comment that it's unusual for a white person to take an interest in the Indians (or the Thai, for that matter) so it makes them curious.  Also, per Rakhi, this family is from a little town in India, so not used to seeing foreigners.

There I meet his wife and son, whom Rakhi had also spoken with previously, and the wife is reminding Rakhi that she'd promised to answer her question (though now I don't remember what the question was...)

 

We all sit on the floor together and Rakhi talks about the Bible with them.  Then the wife makes us Indian food - a yummy, slightly spicy dish of Chicken with rice, coated in a soup-like curry.

I've had Indian food previously, but it's been fairly limited - and I've certainly not had proper instructions on how to eat it!  So I'm looking to Rakhi for guidance.  Only she and I eat, so I feel even more awkward.  We're given spoons to eat it with, and Rakhi explains it's an adoption of Thai custom, because Indians prefer to eat with their hands.

While we eat the Uncle (a term for an older Indian man, not necessarily blood related at all, which can make figuring out actual relationships tricky) cuts up a vegetable for us.  Look good.  Do I use my spoon, which I've been eating off of to get it?  I whisper this to Rakhi, who's like just use your hands.

So I place the cucumber like slice on my plate by hand, then use my spoon to chop it and eat it.  Mm, wrong.  Another Indian man has wandered in (no clue the relation) and is reading over the Bible Teach Book, but stops to demonstrate, pick up with hand, and eat, no detour to the plate or spoon necessary.

It gets better.  I finish the food and have picked the meat off the chicken bones the best I can using the spoon, so set down my dish.  The wife is speaking in Hindi and gesturing - clearly I've done something wrong, while the husband says "Mai bpen lai, mai bpen lai", "don't worry about it".  Rakhi is clearly also conflicted, but eventually translates that normally they pick the bones clean so as to not have any waste.  Which I do.

Except now my hands are gunky.  We're brought water with ice in it, and Rakhi uses it to rinse her fingers over her plate.  But I just can't do it.  It'd be wasting good drinking water, so I use a wet wipe I have in by bag.

Then we finish the study and the RV's son and the other man who'd come in gave us rides to Wong Wian Yai (thankfully they'd determined that 3 to a bike didn't work so well) which was very sweet of them.  And after that lovely Indian meal, I, of course, had to buy some Indian cookies from the bakery.


Which the RV's son thought was hilarious, after Rakhi totally gave up my Indian mitai (sweets) addiction.


 And this has, of course, ended up a lot longer than anticipated...so tune in tomorrow for part two: A Thai Study, Dinner and Me.