The comings and goings of the Minsky's in Thailand.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Happy New Year

So it's Rosh Hashanah and we decide to attend a celebration. We know about the Chabad House and decide to check it out. We were amazed at what we found. The 2 hour service we expected was only about 45 minutes and then the feast. We had dinner in a room with about 1,000 young Israeli kids and a few geezers like ourselves. There was another room below us with another 1,000 people. The couple we sat with were on their honeymoon and were really sweet. They told us that some of the other people were kids that had just finished their military service and the rest were just vacationing. Most of the other people at our table were the Rabbi's family, 6 kids and his wife. The kids were really sweet and mom had her hands full taking care of the youngest girl who was between 1 - 2 years old and wanted to wander and climb all over the place. The atmosphere was really exciting and joyful. It was all such a total surprise, serendipity. There is another organization that has services in a more upscale high rise kind of neighborhood that we might consider for Yom Kippur just to check them out.

We saw "World Trade Center" yesterday and do recommend it. On the same day we read that the American casualties in Afghanistan & Iraq reached the level of 9/11. It's sad because it doesn't seem like we have accomplished much in these 2 countries and most reports I see have things getting worse instead of better, so the loss of life, American and local is all the more tragic.
The only problem I am having is being able to include pictures here, I think I've tried all the things suggested in the help screens.

From Eleanor:

Last year, I attended Rosh Hashana services at the Chabad synagogue in San Diego. Claire, my oldest granddaughter, came with me. The rabbi, his family and people attending the services were very friendly and welcoming. It was an orthodox service--men on one side--women on the other and two hours of Hebrew prayers read from the prayer book. Claire enjoyed it since a book
, offering detailed commentary in English, accompanied the prayers . The rabbi also gave a wonderful sermon. This was my context when we approached the Chabad House in Thailand on Friday evening.

I had emailed the Thailand office and the rabbi called to invite us to the service. He said that we had two choices--we could attend services at Khao San Road with "a thousand backpackers" or at the downtown Sukumvit location where it would be less crowded. Jules got the impression that the service would be more sedate there. We decided to go for the 1000 backpacker location. The location was familiar to us since we had eaten at the Chabad House restaurant a couple of times. We had checked out upstairs when we were there and had noted an internet cafe, a few small offices, a general waiting area, and a medium sized room which looked like the place where services were conducted. Upon arrival at the restaurant (closed for the evening), we were directed upstairs to the office where we purchased tickets for the evening meal (200 baht each--$5.00). I thought: okay--how nice that, after the regular two hour service, we would break bread together. We were early and we sat in the waiting area with about a dozen young people all speaking Hebrew. After a while, we were ushered into a very large dining area. I thought: even better, the meal will be before the service so we won't be hungry. We were seated long enough to make friends with a couple from Bathsheba in the Negev desert who were on their honeymoon. Then we were told that we needed to move to the bigger dining room upstairs. We got up and moved to an area with about a hundred long tables. Plates of honey were on the tables and each place setting contained a card in Hebrew and a dish containing a quarter of a pomergranite, some beets, a small squash square, several kidney beans, a slice of apple, and a slice of challah. Several bottles of water, coca cola, and sprite were also on the table. People kept streaming in--they were mostly in their twenties--I commented to Jules that they looked like their counterparts anywhere in the world--all dressed fashionably and talking animatedly. Not anyone's vision of backpackers! The rabbi and his family arrived and he invited anyone who wanted to light a candle to go downstairs and do so. There would also be a hand washing ceremony there. After a short time, during which more and more people arrived, the meal began with the traditional blessings. By now the hall was jammed. We were told that the smaller hall downstairs had been opened to accomodate the overflow. It began to dawn on me that there was no place large enough to seat all these people for a traditional service. Okay--we'll probably have the service right here, I thought. Fortunately, our honeymoon couple served as our intermittent interpreters since no English, only Hebrew, was spoken for the rest of the evening. We were instructed to dip our apple slice in the honey. Joyous singing and clapping accompanied the eating of each ingredient on our plate. I especially liked the eating of the kidney beans--everyone was instructed to raise their forks --a thousand kidney beans were elevated--more singing--we were told that eating the bean signified "chasing our enemies away". After we consumed each ingredient on the plate, bowls of food were put on the table--corn, baba ganoush, a tomato sauce dish, shredded carrots with fresh pineapple, rice with cashews and raisins, mashed potatoes, and meatballs in tomato sauce. Dessert was a bowl of vanilla ice cream (non-dairy we presumed--Jules said it was very good). Where were these hundreds of bowls of food prepared?? In the kitchen which prepared the meals for the restaurant consisting of about ten tables?? The rest of the evening passed quickly in a blur of singing and hand clapping--at one point, the rabbi stood on a chair and invited everyone to climb on their chairs to sing and clap some more. He addressed the crowd in Hebrew, giving a short sermon--then there was more singing--everyone knew these songs--everyone except us (we recognized two) and it was over. We looked at each other--wow!--this was our kind of religious service--a joyous feast with a thousand fellow travelers. Another amazing adventure.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

The Coup

So not to worry. Except for a holiday on Wednesday for our school and Urana's, life is generally normal. You do see some troops stationed at bridges and important sites but they don't pull people over or bother anyone. The soldiers wear yellow ribbons around their weapons as a sign of loyalty to the King who is revered.

Democracy in Thailand is only about 70 years old. We take it for granted but it took us a long time to get it working and it ain't perfect yet, think about slavery & women's suffrage and then think about the 2000 election. Everyone we spoke to doesn't believe that the military people really want to run the country. They are generally respected because they tend to be educated. They are going to try to come up with a better constitution which can prevent someone like Taksin from becoming a dictator. Think of all the pseudo-democracies where the president eventually changes the constitution so he/she can remain in power longer than what was originally laid out in the constitution. Taksin is a Berlusconi kind of a guy, filthy rich, controlling his communications empire and able to buy votes by giving handouts to poor villagers and allegedly able to rig the voting process. He was planning on putting his cronies in the key military positions, it has been in the local paper for weeks, and his last election was nullified because of hanky-panky. Enough politics.

From Eleanor:

All is calm here--yesterday, it was business as usual. We woke up Wednesday morning and learned about the coup. Those of you who live in the snow belt will recognize the feeling that I thought I would never again experience--I called our Thai school (where we have been going for three hours a day, five days a week) and I was told: "No school today." Yeh!!! Hooray!!!, no school. Yes, the schools, banks and government offices were closed for the day. We persuaded Urana not to go downtown to see the tanks--citing Kent State and what could happen to innocent bystanders in volatile situations where people hold guns. We basically stayed home until the evening, and then went to Khoa San Rd, a major tourist area. The crowds were light but everything was normal. We saw a truckload of soldiers guarding the big monument but no sense of menace. Yesterday everything was open and we traveled back downtown to school. A few armed soldiers were posted under every overpass--just sitting around. Downtown, they were posing for pictures with the tourists. Of course, Jules took a few pictures (see photos). There were yellow ribbons tied around every weapon. This means that they are troops loyal to the King who came out with a statement that he supports the coup. (This is unusual--in 1992, the date of the last coup, he remained neutral) The people's attitude is: if the King supports it, so do we and we all know, Thaksin had to go. Right now, it is a wait and see. On the surface the crisis has passed (no demonstrations, communication restored) but only time will tell. We have talked to a lot of people and everyone so far is relieved that Thaksin has been removed. The icing on the cake was the following: he sold his billion dollar communications business and paid not one red cent in taxes.

So do not be afraid to come to Thailand--stay tuned for future events. Personally, I am cautiously optimistic. Eleanor

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

El's comments

We are having a wonderful time--we are living the dream and it's great. Also great to have time--blessed wonderful TIME. We forget how much time we devote to work--getting there and back, getting ready for it, thinking about it. Now, we think about what we want to do today. Thailand is a contrast, between the old and the new. Brand new shopping centers for the ultra rich are popping up everywhere. We live in a Thai neighborhood so it is still pretty cheap but I wonder how long it will be before the old Thailand is a thing of the past. It is not as steeped in history and tradition as other places in Asia, like China, --the Thais are more playful and fun loving but they are very industrious and everyone works at something. In the department stores there are so many clerks that they are falling all over each other--they are very helpful and friendly--even though they can't understand a word you are saying. They will run and get the one person who can speak English. We live in a lovely condo complex. In the morning we get up and swim--in the afternoon we sightsee--at night, we take a yoga class. We can eat at the restaurant downstairs for a few bucks. They will fix me plain boiled chicken and plain rice so I can eat there. We can work out any time we want at the fully equiped health club. It's very nice. The fly in the ointment is the traffic (small price to pay, but a factor in our lives). Basically it's an hour bus ride to get anywhere unless we are going to the local shopping mall, food store, or movie. So all our adventures involve a lot of travel time but, like I said, we do have the time. We have a lot of exploring still left to do in order to see Bangkok. Next on our list is the National Museum. We are just back from Pattaya, a beach resort. I saw at least several dozen old fat white guys with young Thai girls on their arms. The beaches were very crowded with umbrellas, chairs, boats and watercrafts of all kinds--not so relaxing. But the sea was still warm and beautiful so we enjoyed our days on the beach. We are not likely to go back--it is very expensive by Thai standards--too much foreign money around and it's not our cup of tea if you catch my drift. We begin Thai language lessons next week so it's back to school and schedules--that's ok--it will just serve to remind us how precious our free time truly is.

Random Observations 1

In Thailand, people eat with spoons and use their forks to help cut and load the spoon, no knives.
Everything is crowded, the busses, ferries, trains, malls and most of all the streets.
The malls are amazing, Nordstrom/Bloomingdale quality with amazing food courts that serve every kind of food imaginable. There are also great supermarkets in the malls, one place has a giant coffe roasting machine so you pick your beans and they roast it for you on the spot right in front of your eyes.
They also have movie theaters but show very mediocre stuff like 'Snakes on a Plane".
There are food vendors everywhere, selling stuff dirt cheap. Half a delicious pineapple is 25 cents, a plate full of food like you get in a Thai or Chinese restauarnt with rice is about a buck.
Thai people are really nice and helpful and patient.
Thailand is about 95 % Buddhist and most of the temples are gorgeous and they are all over the place.
Bangkok is a huge sprawling city and it takes almost an hour to get anywhere downtown where all the hotels and malls are.