My Life Abroad: Second Sunday

Holy Redeemer Church, Bangkok

Sunday Mass: I love the church that I found. It is a bus, train, and walk away from home. It took me an hour to get to mass, but was well worth the effort. Going to mass always makes me feel so much more calm and relaxed in new situations. I remember when a family from my church in Sacramento traveled to the Philippines and the mass was still said in the old order. This mass followed the new missal and so included all of the "and with your spirit" that was still being misspoken in the states as well.

Inside/ Altar

I really enjoyed the cultural blend between the Thai and the catholic in the look of the church, as well as the giving of the peace. Instead of shaking one another's hands, everyone turned and "wai"d each other. The wai is the process of bringing ones hands together and giving a slight bow in respect. The level at which you hold your hands in respect to your chin denotes the level of respect. I love this feature as the church is open air with fans mounted to the walls and after the ten minute walk I am very sweaty :). They have weekday masses in the evenings and I think I may begin to go to these at least once a week so that I can familiarize my with the community. As with any Catholic church, there is a building campaign. They are in the process of building a hall to accompany the church.

Yummy Breakfast- Mint Latte

Plant Sculpture in Lumpini Park.

After church I decides to walk toward the large park that I knew was nearby. On the way I stopped in a little bakery shop to have a light meal/drink. Either I will bring a change of clothes or wear something a little more walk able. The dress I wore is fine, but it would be nice to just laze about in shorts and a t-shirt right about now. I ran into a man who wanted me to play this tile game in the park. It was funny, he just led me around and sat me down at this table to I think learn the game. I could not grasp the concept, so I politely excused myself about ten minutes later. I continued walking around the park and stumbled upon my first large lizard. I had seen a baby one earlier and thought "well that isn't that big" boy was I wrong. They are really shy though, so they just keep moving along. I kept walking slowly around the park. A French man stopped me to start talking, but he didn't speak much English. Instead we spoke Spanish with one another. Hilarious that here I am I the middle of Thailand speaking Spanish. A little bit further down the path, another Thai gentleman stopped me to point out a monitor lizard I had just walked over in a drainage grate. This was definitely the biggest one that I had seen.

View in the park.

While in the park, you almost do not hear the traffic of Bangkok. It is just a low rumble in the background, behind the sounds of birds and running water. I pulled out my umbrella to shade myself from the sun, as my shoulders began to get a little pink. After strolling through the park, I headed to the mall, more precisely, the book store. I picked up a few novels to read during breaks at school/ in the van and a Thai language book with Audio CDs. After a light dinner, I headed back home, visited the gym again, and hunkered down for the evening.