See Joe

I just got back from the funeral of my friend, Joe. He died of a heart attack at 44. Even with about 70 people standing, there was not enough room in the church so some stood in the vestibule.

Everyone was telling funny stories about all of the foolish things he got into. A heartbreaking story about an accident that nearly killed him 24 years ago. He seemed to be a magnet for both fun and calamaty.


His wife Brenda is such an amazing woman...I never understood how such a dopey guy got such a good girl. I was truly amazed by her courage today. I think she ended up comforting people much more they comforted her.

So that is it. My first friend dying of a natural. The only guy that I made an effort to stay in touch with in my hometown is gone. Such a good guy, I am going to miss him.

News

I have been back in the states 5 days. I was planning on flying down to Florida to see Sandy tommorow, but a long time friend of mine had a heart attack and died. I can not believe it. He was only 43. I am going to go to his funeral on Wednesday and then go to see Sandy.

Things I've learned

I am finished with the construction at the temple and I am going back to America for a little while. I feel like the lives of the children will be better because:

• They have good facilities for cooking, cleaning and bathing
• There will be a staff member to keep things clean
• The school will have a headmaster (I just found him in the last week)
• The school will have 3 full time teachers
• There are some NGO's who say they will help with food and school materials

I have learned a few things in this project.

• You can't do everything...but you can do a lot if you care a lot
• Persistence pays off. Many people want to help on these projects, but sometimes it turns out they can't but most of the time they get busy and forget...you just got to be persistent
• You can't let the times that you get discouraged overwhelm you. Sandy can attest to the number of days that I was frustrated and discouraged...I just fought through it.
• You need to find good partners to work with. I got lucky with the construction crew, unlucky with the NGO's who, with only one exception, have been incompetent and, in two instances, deceitful. Unfortunately, their are a lot of people looking to cheat you of money and a good partner can help you avoid it.

I am leaving the area, but I hope to continue to help the children at the temple .

The Girl's Got Rocks

The previously banished snarl face has returned to the main house after she was banished from her mother's house in Bangkok. Her venom is more robust than ever. A week ago she told me I had to park my motorbike about 40 yards away from my door for no good reason. Of course I said no. The next couple of days she was angry at me and would say something that sounded nasty in Thai. My reaction was to say, "good morning" knowing it would drive her crazy.

Two nights ago I got home and she put a pad lock on the front gate. Got to give the crazy chick credit for having some serious rocks. Unfortunately for her, she did not expect me to ride the motorbike over this other gate which has a small concrete barrier. I got in and called the landlord and got things resolved (I am hoping for a re-re banishment).

My friends

There is a little 10 year old boy who walks around the market near the temple selling trinkets. He is the cutest kid and somehow I became friendly with him and then his sister. These days one or both visit me nearly everyday. He is smart as a whip and can speak a little English. He came with me to the store today and someone asked me in English who the boy was. The boy said, "his friend". Cute. It is quite saddening that he has to work instead of going to school.


In one of the nicest parts of the project, the lead worker has completed all of his work that he was under contract for, so I told him I would start paying him his regular wage. He said later, "no money...when you done I am done...present". Pretty nice when a guy who has next to nothing is willing to give up a few days pay just to help me. I am really lucky to have him.

Under pressure

Today we ran the line for the gas from the septic tank and we got the water out...in other words, it was not quite as disgusting as yesterday.

It turns out that they have not had any water pressure in the bathroom we are now renovating in many years...you could not even run water in the sinks. We were talking about a work around for a while (cutting a new trench in the concrete was the first choice). Then I thought, "why don't they have pressure?" I backtracked through the system in 15 minutes and found that there were some rocks caught in this faucet which controlled the water pressure. 30 seconds later, problem solved. I am amazed they went many years without water for the bathrooms and cleaning when it took such a small amount of time to resolve it.

Thanks but no

Now that people in the community have seen the project, many want to give me a little food or something to say "thanks". The problem is people like really spicy food and I am not certain of how safe the food is. Consequently, I play stupid (quite easy for me!) and make a gesture of some sort and say "thank you!" It seems to work for now.

Look at the fish!

Yesterday I was in the bathroom that is under the temple and I looked in the clogged sink. There are a bunch of little things swimming around. I point it out to one of the workers and he says "fish". Yup, fish in sink under the temple...ok they were some kind of larvae but it seems better to think of them as fish.

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I looked closely at the water on the floor that my feet had been in all morning and, yup, chock full of "fish".

It turns out that the water is a nice combination of lavae, urine (the boys pee in it some times) and spit (the guy next to me refused to stop spitting in the water where we were standing in in our sandals). Lovely.

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The 3 sinks in the bathroom were stopped up for years because the pipes were buried in concrete and the only way to resolve it was to break the concrete. We found that the first sink had wood and wax jammed into it so it must never have worked. The others were clogged with miscellaneous "stuff".

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The septic tank for this bathroom is directly under it, so a brilliant contractor vented the tank to this enclosed area. Fumalicious.

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We broke concrete, dug out a trench, ran pipes for drainage and fumes and put in new lighting. Today, we will remove the bathroom doors and pour a new floor. Tommorow we will put the doors back in and paint.

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The kids use this bathroom during rainy season so fixing it will be a major improvement in their lives during June, July and August. Thanks to the recent donors for their donation for this project.

More Unrest

On the Burma side of the border at 3 Pagodas Pass there are reports of a bomb and on another day a army officer being shot. There is no way to know what the truth is, but something is going on.

The border has not opened since the Thai soldiers were abducted over two weeks ago (they have been released). Initially, the border closure made the town feel like a ghost town, but now people are traveling back and forth through unofficial border crossings.

Pulled over for drunk driving

Last night I got pulled over for drunk driving. It is a little different here since I had not been drinking and the officer at the military/police checkpoint wanted me to get drunk with him. I tried to say no because it was late and I was exhausted, but the guy had a beer and a gun so I figured what the hell had a quick one and I was on my way.

Forced Labor

I had no workers for a few days because the Burmese government decided that a nearby village needed a new building for the residents to rest at while they were traveling around the village. All the men were required to work their for a day, which turned into 2 to 3 days.

I talked to one of my workers, who speaks almost no English so I could be getting the information totally wrong, but he did not seem to be bothered about it at all.

How you doin...look in the mirror

I guess everyone's outlook affects the way they see the world, but when you can not speak to people it the power of your outlook is exaggerated affect.

Every morning I talk to my wife, Sandy, at 8:00. That is generally the last conversation I have until after dinner...sometimes it is the only conversation of the day. Because I only understand a few words of each of the 3 languages I am surrounded by (Thai, Burmese and Mon) I do not understand what people are saying. I understand "foreigner" in all three languages (which is what they refer to me as) so I know when people are talking about me. So I hear that people are talking about me, sometimes followed by laughter. I sometimes wonder what they are saying and why they are laughing. No way for me to know. If I am in a good mood, I think they are saying something nice and I am happier. If I am in a bad mood, they are idiots saying something terrible and I feel angry.

The fact that I am aware of the fact that I am in total control of my happiness makes this situation much easier.

You gotta love him, really...part 2

As mentioned in a previous post about someone painting on the king's pictures, it is against the law to insult the king. BTW the man ended up getting 10 years in jail for this.

Now, you tube has been banned in Thailand because as this article says, someone posted a video which makes the king look like a clown. The surprising thing to me is that from what I hear, people support this type of censorship.

Work Hard

The other day I was getting grumpy with the workers because they were slacking. One in particular was terrible. I told the leader who brought him. He told me the young man had no food and was very weak from hunger. The man said he was donating food to him. I felt pretty guilty until the next day, when I was not paying him and the leader was. The leader got angry and told him he had to go home for not working hard enough.