Romance and Glamor -- We got it all !!!!

Yes, life on the mission field is very romantic and glamorous, or at least that's what many people seem to think. YEAH, RIGHT!?!?!? There is nothing quite as romantic as the sound of rats squealing on the roof of an Asian "dirty" kitchen while you cook or as glamorous as killing a snake in the kitchen by throwing boiling water on it from a distance. The tricky part of that one was keeping an eye on it so it didn't slither off somewhere and hide while the water in the water pot boiled and I filled three huge glasses so that I could stand across the room and pitch the water from about 6 feet away. I hit it all three times. Now there is a snake skeleton stuck between two water pipes next to the washing machine. I was going to have Tom get it out, but by the next morning millions of ants had reduced it to just the skeleton. I thought that was very good of them to do that, since bones don't stink. Anyway, the ants are gone and the skeleton is still there, lodged between the pipes. Romantic. Glamorous. Weird. You ask "Why don't you move it." The answer, "Perhaps when his friends come by they will become fearful and leave before I boil them too." People who notice it say, "Do you know you have a snake skeleton over there in the corner?" And I say, "Yep." I'm not one of those 10,000 words a day women. Let 'em wonder. I like to watch the looks on their face.

Another really glamorous thing is going on right now. It's rainy season here in Thailand. Every time it rains something happens in the electricity. If you try to turn on the lights on either end of the house it blows the breaker. We have to wait till the rain stops and things dry out a few hours before we can use the switches. If the electricity is on it will usually stay on, but you can't turn it on if it is off, unless it dries out a little. So we have a choice. If we see it getting dark outside like it is going to rain, we have to turn on all the lights we will need for the next several hours and leave them on while it rains. Thomas Edison could probably explain this, but he's dead.

And for the "coup de grace," for the last three weeks most of the team has been sharing a rather nasty viral infection. Six of us have passed it back and forth more than once and Carolyn and Pook have both had to visit the local resort, better known as Bumrungrad Hospital. Gary Karle and I know where every bathroom in the largest mall in Bangkok is located, and Tom has taken enough Imodium to last a year. As of today, none of us are over it completely and Tom and Gary had to go to Nepal. I hope they stay well enough to get the printing done that they went there to finalize.

Romance and glamor. Ya just gotta have it!!!