Thailand Letter
(This was received as a paper letter and Bob scanned it and emailed it to the family)
August 23,1997
Bangkok, Thailand
Dearest Family,
I have told you we would be on the Internet by now so I am writing to explain why we are not. Virginia and I went into Bangkok on Monday and paid our money and filled out the application and did everything we were supposed to do. Dr. Marc Hall and his wife came over on Wednesday to put the modem on and get it ready for us. WELL - you have to understand the electrical system here in Thailand to really appreciate what happened. We didn't have the right adapter for the modem connection so Marc tried to make the one we had work. He wouldn't give up and worked for hours putting new wires in and everything he could possibly do. He was sure he had it right and when he plugged it in everything "blew" and we were in total darkness. Virginia and I were glad that he was here to handle the electrical box - he tripped the switches and the lights went back on and he decided to go home and try to find a better adapter. He and Cherry, his wife, plan to pick us up at church tomorrow and bring us home and hopefully we will be on e-mail and I will be able to send this letter to you.
I had a wonderful letter from Ann today - THANK YOU SO MUCH! ! ! Virginia and I appreciate so very much the clippings you send - you wouldn't believe how "out of touch" we are. I am so surprised to read about all the rain you are having - my hill won't be dry now. I'm sorry about the people who were carried away with that flash flood in Page, Arizona. I'm also sorry about the young man who was killed in Hobble Creek Canyon by the falling tree limb. I will be upset if Ron rents his beautiful "floor" to someone else - he deserves to have the floor he chooses of his own building. I like Ryan and I'm happy he is at UVSC - if I were in my home he could come over and have a sandwich occasionally with me. I hope so much that Russell gets to play a lot of football this year - I will miss his games - I loved that last year.
JOHN - THANK YOU FOR YOUR WONDERFUL LETTER I RECEIVED THIS WEEK. 1'm happy that your Siggraph was a success and I'm also happy that it is over. You have been in such a state of disarray for so long that I hope you will feel settled soon. The people who were living in our home in Orem wanted to buy it but they couldn't get their money out of New Zealand so I guess that problem hasn't been corrected. Don't let it go on too long.
I have a feeling that my letters are not getting to you. Ann didn't mention hearing from me and Bob didn't mention that Laura received her birthday gift from me. We mail most of them in a dilapidated postal box at the end of our street so maybe that's the problem. I did mail Laura's gift at a post office though. We have a teacher at the Sai Mai School whose husband works at the post office so I have given some of my letters to her for him to mail - maybe she forgot.
You wouldn't believe where we have been all day. WE WENT TO THE WORLD'S LARGEST ELEPHANT SHOW. It was held on the outskirts of Bangkok and our Principal, Pra Pa, and her officer took us. We left at 9 a.m. and got home about 5 p.m. We also went to a wax museum where they had wax figures of all the Ramas (the men who governed Thailand) - Rama l, Rama 2, Rama 3, Rama 4, Rama 5, Rama 6, Rama 7 and Rama 8. Rama 5 freed the slaves - he reigned from 1868 to 1905 and during that time he decreed that all the children born in slavery would be freed when they reached the age of 20. It is so interesting to learn about all these things and compare their situation to the Civil War in America. I am learning so many things - something new each day - I just hope I will be able to remember it all. When we went to the Teakwood Museum we learned so much about Thailand - one thing that has really stayed with me was that the Queen of Thailand at one time in history died when her boat capsized and she drowned because it was against the law for anyone to touch her except her husband and he couldn't reach her in time. There are rules and protocol for EVERYTHING!!!
I have had some wonderful letters. I have heard from Bev Culwell, Barbara Andrews, Lucile Webb, Don & Cheryl, Carol and Adrian Fredericks and from most of you. I haven't heard from the Roy Mellors for awhile. When Marc came on Wednesday he said I had an e-mail message from someone and he forgot to bring it - I'm betting it is from you Roy. A church friend of Mike Theobald called one night to give me greetings from them but I was asleep so Virginia took the message. I LOVE to get mail.
Our little street is SO quaint. We have food vendors going up and down it all day. Virginia and I bought an ice cream bar from one of them today and I said, "My grandchildren would love it here". There are fruit vendors we could buy from too but we haven't yet. We are told to not eat anything from a street vendor so we haven't bought any of their food yet.
I had a funny experience this week. Virginia and I went to the Rittiyawannali School on Wednesday morning and when we got there they told us they were going to spray for mosquitoes and they didn't want us to stay so they would take us shopping until noon. They took us to a department store and I know I tried on at least 20 skirts and blouses. I finally bought two skirts and two blouses and not one of them fits me. The skirts are what they call "free size" and they are flared and long so I look like "you know what". I came home and tried to baste all the seams in the skirts to make them straight instead of flared. Today I sent them with Pra Pa to the dressmaker at Sai Mai to see if she can alter them for me. I am going to get my wardrobe problem solved one of these days I hope. I spent a lot of "Bahts" last week - John, I hope you will be able to figure it all out. They called us from the Mission Office and said we needed to cash a check for three weeks in advance - something is in the wind of the economy here and we don't know what. The Baht was worth 25 to the dollar and now it is over 30.
Julianna - could I ask a HUGE favor of you??? Virginia wrote to her sister and had her send her some children's books from the 2"d grade where she taught and the children here love them. She sent "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See", and the "Napping House". Do you have one book you could send to me - they like good illustrations with very few words. You would need to send it to the Mission Office - THAILAND BANGKOK MISSION - 50/829 MUANG THONG THANI, CHAENGWATANA ROAD - A. PAKKRET, NONTHABURI -11120 THAILAND. I would appreciate it so very much but I will understand if you can't.
I LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY MUCH. PLEASE BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO.
Grandma B