my dad called on wednesday and showed up on thursday after having to cancel plans to travel to china. and i just think, "oh how i love my dad; let me count the ways..."
i like that everyone says that we look alike i like having a 68 year-old shadow i like that my dad is so chatty with anyone, regardless of language comprehensibility i like that my dad's so flexible: even sleeping on the floor in my house and up for everything i like that my dad is so happy i like that my dad has big cheeks i like that my dad teaches me about god i like having breakfast with my dad i like that my dad takes a boatload of photos of random things and whose composition style is like no one else's i like that my dad is so smart i like that my dad is heremy neighbor, dta bang (left), who my mom thinks looks like my dad, with my dad.
"...the crem de la crem of the chess world in a show with everything, but yul brynner." by the way, to all those who haven't visited bangkok, yet. this is exactly what bangkok is like.
disclaimer: no thais were harmed in the making of this video. thank you, megan, for this enlightenment. the musical "chess" is next on my list of must-sees.
this isn't so much faulty english, just more of a huh?!?! is this the place moustache's go where everyone knows their name? maybe it's this: sometimes, i wish i were a man just so i could build facial hair sculptures.this makes me suspicious. why do you have "police dog" coffee? do you also have "swallow-a-balloon-full-of" coffee?
perhaps one of the only things you can't find in bangkok is a deli; not just a sandwich shop, a real kosher delicatessen. oh, the ryes, the pastrami, the hamantashen, the rugelach - it leaves me wishing i had a bubbe.
so, i am a woman on a quest. a quest to make my own deli food: 1. make pickles, 2. bake an artisanal rye, 3. grind mustard, 4. cure and smoke my own pastrami, 5. and in un-deli-like form, bake a red velvet cake. what? i like red velvet cake.
i'm posting this for accountability. my current progress: 1. jarred spicy garlic, dill pickles. recipe.2. rye bread. first bake, disaster: dough was too wet. second bake, second disaster: the loaf rose out, not up. now i'm working on a rye sourdough starter. i may just have to buy the dumb loaf.
the hardest part will be curing and smoking the pastrami. anybody have any advice on building your own meat smoker? i have all the necessary curing ingredients (sodium nitrite is impossible to find in thailand!) and am trying to figure out how i can put together a smoker. man, i hope this works out. i'm like a meshugeneh here.
i ran across the phrase "chinese whispers" and was surprised to find that it was another name for the game "telephone." but, before i learned what it meant, i was thinking of possible meanings and i automatically started thinking of negative implications. after all, "chinese cuts" is a sneaky way of letting someone cut behind you while avoiding any personal consequences and "chinese fire drill" is a frenzied, nonsensical run around a parked car. i looked on urbandictionary.com and found a slew of phrases starting with "chinese."
as a kid, i cringed every time i heard the word "chinese" because i assumed it would be associated with negative connotations. we chinese aren't super well-liked globally; more commonly held as extremely shrewd, often ruthless, exclusive, and uncompromising. and so the term "chinese" has become another way to convey nonsense, confusion, backwardness, stinginess or trickiness. as an adult, though i don't always agree with all things "chinese," i've really grown to love and enjoy my chinese heritage and can see the ways god's made us special. so face it, we're loud; we're proud. and this one billion ain't going away any time soon.
and since i'm chinese, i want in on this ginormous cache of comedy. shouldn't i have the first right? so here are my candidates to add to urban dictionary, especially since i've been living in asia:
china flesh (n.) yet another shade of white you can paint your bedroom chinese compliment (n.) - simultaneously insulting someone while complimenting them. as in, "you're pretty in this picture. not like in real life." can also be referred to as a "thai compliment." chinese vitamins (n.) melamine (is that too harsh?) chinese vacation (n.) a 5 min break to go to the bathroom. confuchsia (n.) a filially pious pink a chinese "light eater" or "wasteful spender" (n.) someone who only makes 10 trips to get food at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
chinese whisper (n.) talking on your cell at full volume.
chinese opera (n.) someone screeching through a song without rhythm...oh wait, that's real. photo by exfordy
"zhen ma ban?" though she just asked seconds ago wrinkleless skin, shaped nails speak dignity, rebelling against hardship grandma rejects dependence, forces herself to dance the two-step the hospital bracelet states fall risk; she likes walking. mom thinks back aloud, "she never complained. until now." frontal lobe dim, unrestrained anger, unsilenced defiance run forth yet she is soon to slumber, sleep pulls longer and we begin to sort cassettes, blouses, back scratchers i say goodbye i love you. she hums acknowledgement.
when i was a kid, i always wanted to be carried. but, because my butthead little brother was born 14 months after me, my carrying days were cut short while he was carried until he was like 10. plus, i was a "dense" little bugger and people got tired really quickly.
i've been floored lately with the notes i've gotten from people praying for my neighbors and me. i love it because it makes me feel like i'm being carried; that i'm somehow not doing this work by myself and that my neighbors are advocated for.
the one that makes me smile so big is a five-year old named michael, whose mom just contacted me. i've never met him and this is what his mom emailed me: "although we haven't seen you, we knew you are doing ministry in thailand from your dad a year ago. my five-year-old son michael almost prays for you every night before he goes to sleep. his prayer is always like this: "dear god please help michelle kao tell everyone in thailand who you are and follow your words."
first off, i about died when i read that. i just thought it was so cute. and also, i better start working harder if i expect to tell everyone in thailand who god is. also, i wish i could post the picture she sent me of michael (but i will choose to not subject everyone's personal privacy to my own blogging fancies). he's adorable with his pink little ears and cheeks. i wrote michael back and attached pictures of me and a couple kids in the neighborhood and my thai mom and told him a little bit about them.
and michael's mom wrote this back to me: "hi michelle, i am glad to hear from you. after i received your email, i read it to michael, and he has prayed for may and toey and your thai mom ever since that day. he prays for may and toey to have a peaceful ife, and their dad to get a job and your thai mom to believe in jesus. even i was amazed when he prayed for these people, because i only read your letter to him one time and he already remembered the kids' names. praise the lord, he gives michael a heart to pray for people he doesn't know. michael's dad lost his job three weeks ago, he prayed for him once, but he prays for may and toey's dad every day since he heard your letter."
then i really died. what a heart on this kid. i wish i had faith like michael's. things like this help me remember that god's got us covered and is carrying us here. p.s. - i still like being carried, but who can carry this beast? don't you feel sorry for phil.
my neighbor, dta bang (left), who my mom thinks looks like my dad, with my dad.
