Walking down the street in the heart of Chiang Mai I came face to face with Alians. We are not alone after all.
Category: Uncategorized (Page 4 of 5)
The other night we had friends over to our house. We had a great evening with a group of Swiss, Germans, Canadians and Americans. I often don’t realise how international we get. As the evening progressed we somehow came to talk about Worldwar two. Dark history of the last century. I remember all the christian conferences where we would speak out forgivenes or receive forgivenes for the sins of our fathers. Of course we also talked about the theories why Hitler didn’t invade Switzerland. The Swiss love to believe that as true "Eidgenossen" and as a wild people, we would have kept the Germans out. To this day we probably don’t know for sure why we stayed "free". Is it the important swiss bank that kept Nazi gold, our neutrality, or we were unimportant at the moment, the third Reich to busy with the rest of the world. Swiss men love to believe that our army would have held back the Panzers. Something I can hardly comprehend having been in the Swiss army myself.
Whatever reason. I have my own theory why Switzerland wasn’t overrun. Switzerland is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. After Hitler would have conquered the whole world Switzerland would have been the only foreign country left. The only place where he could have gone on a holiday using other currency not having to eat "Sausages and Sauerkraut" But could have had a fondue and practise Schwytzerdütsch (swiss german) He just needed a place to go on vaccation.
The other day my wife red the story of Samson to our children. While reading the realization that Samson was the first suicide killer in the bible dawned on her and shocked her at the same time. This story indicates a lot more today then when I grew up. Back then suicide bombers were basically not known except maybe the Kamikaze pilots in World War II. Today there is no day going by without someone sacrificing their lives for a cause by killing themselves and as many people they can take with them.
Samson (read the story on-line) was called by God to implement judgment on the Philistines. He killed them (at least 3,000) while worshipping their God. It says there were tyrants (bad leaders) among them. My guess is that there were a lot bystanders.
What we hear from the suicide bombers today is not much different. They claim God called them to do the very same thing Samson did. Innocent people get killed because of affiliation.
This whole thing really makes me think. I believe Jesus with His live style showed us a different way. To loose ones life not to kill but in service and love for the other. To take our cross and follow Him means so much to get ourselves in a position of total weakness. He also said there is no greater love then to loose ones life for a friend. Jesus is the total opposite of Samson.
I got this video clip from the livenavigator. It’s an add from the berltiz language institute, encouraging germans to improve their english. Really funny.
Yesterday I had a shower in the middle of the day. Just to cool down. It felt so good. As I was standing in the shower I realized that hot season is approaching. The time when everything takes extra effort. Especially mental activities. Today is 33 degrees. Next week 36 is predicted. With April being the hottest month I’m not really looking forward to the heat and sweat. (expect while being at the beach)
On the positive side. The pool will be warm enough for my taste. I like it when the water is more then 25 degrees. We are also closer to our holidays. Something I’m in desperate need of.
This morning I’m going to teach English. Something I did for the last five years. The places are changing. I taught at different schools, different ages. At the moment I teach at the tourist police. It is just a couple of hours a week and i do it on a voluntary basis (meaning for free).
All the children seem to learn English from an early age in Thailand. Still there are not that many people who can speak or carry a conversation in English. I met English teachers in Thai schools who themselves didn’t speak English. Often reading and writing as well as understanding simple texts are not a problem. It is the speaking part which seems to scare them. Sometimes it’s fear of "loosing face" when making a mistake, the fear of being laughed at, or the intimidation of the "farangs" (foreigners) loud voice and self confidence. I have sometimes similar problems when I speak Thai on a bad day. The tones would be wrong, people don’t understand what I’m saying and I would get insecure.
Living oversees shows me how important it is to know English. I cannot get around without. Of course even better would be to learn the language of the country (there are just so many). Specially when you stay in one country for a longer period of time. I encourage people who come here for up to a year to learn the basics of Thai language.
We have discovered a new thing. Actually it’s quite old. A puzzle with numbers. Sudoku is a big hit in Japan since 1984. Here is the history of Sudoku. You have to fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3×3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.
There are different difficulties depending on how many digits are already in the box. You can load down some puzzles for free and try them out. Apparently it is very good exercise for rusty brain cells.
Ich sitze zu Hause rum, höre radio extra bern übers Web, lese und arbeite an den blogs. Nun hier könnt ihr sehen wieso ich lahmgelegt bin. Der grüne Pfeil zeigt auf das Band das ich angerissen habe. Auf den Röntgenaugfnahmen sah der Arzt das ich schon mehrere Male den Knochen an meinen Knöchel verletzt habe. Komischerweise weiss ich nichts davon. Lillian hat gesagt in der Schweiz wäre ich jetzt Krankgeschrieben. Nun dies heisst hier leider nichts. Und ich muss einiges an Arbeit umorganisieren.
Gestern bin ich beim Fussball spielen gefault worden. Als ich mit voller Geschwindigkeit im Sturm auf das Tor rannte, kickte mir ein gegnerischer Spieler in meine rechtes Fussgelenk. Es knackste richtig und war nicht wenig Schmerzhaft. Zum Glück hatte Jemand einen “coldpack” dabei. Dies verhinderte eine starke Schwellung.
Heute bin ich nun ins Spital gegangen. der Arzt rönkte den Fuss und sah das ich in der Vergangenheit mehrere Risse hatte. (Das wusste ich gar nicht). In zwei bis drei Wochen wenn der Schmerz weg ist muss ich dann in die Physiotherapie. Momentan kann ich fast nicht laufen und humple durch das Haus.
All dies kommt jetzt wo ich in Materialtransporte für Bauprojekte in Hui Kau Laam hätte machen sollen.
Letzte Woche musste ich einen medizinischen Fragebogen ausfüllen. Als ich zu der Frage kam wieviel Sport ich betreibe war ich dann doch froh das ich mich wieder mehr bewege als auch schon. Da wird man älter und merkt gar nicht wie unfit man wird. Ich habe über die Jahre immer einwenig Sport betrieben. Vor allem Sportklettern, ein bisschen schwimmen und Radfahren. Ich merkte aber wie mein Herz pumpte sobald ich mich mehr mehr anstengen musste. Als ich noch in der Schweiz als Gärtner arbeitete hatte ich das Problem auch nicht.
Letztes Jahr fing ich dann wieder mit Fitness und Ausdauer an. Ich gehe meist zweimal in der Woche ins Gym und spiele Fussball mit den Kindern und Eltern der deutschen Schule am Samstag Nachmittag. Wenn es die Zeit zulässt gehe ich klettern.
Ich fühle mich richtig fit durch die Bewegung und kann auch in der Arbeit mehr leisten, vorallem wenn ich den zähen Bergbewohnern durch den Dschungel nachlaufe.
Dieses Wochenende war es doch recht streng. Am Freitag in Gym Gewichte heben. Samstag Morgen klettern mit Lillian. Samstag Nachmittag zwei Stunden Fussball spielen bei über 30 Grad.
Nun ist es Montag Morgen und ich spüre meien Beine. Schön kann ich Heute auf meinem bequemen Bürostuhl sitzen.