philsquest

the adventure I find myself in / das Abenteuer in dem ich mich finde

Author: philipp (Page 4 of 35)

A new week and a hundredtrilliongazillion things to do

23 November, 2009 / / 0 Comments

I think it is very funny how some younger children use numbers to express extremes. Today I will do that too. Sometimes, specially on Mondays, I can get overwhelmed by to do's, plans, should's etc. Often I thought it was about being not organized enough or even more not disciplined enough. But lately I feel there is another reason th is more likely. I don't want to narrow myself down to one thing I do. I really like options. Something which would be more my wife's attribute. I guess being married long enough rubs of certain qualities. When I sit down to write down all the things I do and all the things I am interest

ed in and all the things I would like to do I can get quite overwhelmed. On the other hand I am absolutely not bored 🙂 Be that work, family or my own personal interests. So there is another week I will try to pack all the things in and balance the different parts of life. 

This week I will spend two or three days in the mountains putting windows and doors in the newly finished center at Hui Kau Laam. I haven't seen the finished building yet. There is still alot to do. Painting, electricity and the surrounding landscaping etc. But I am so excited about it. 

Enneagram

11 November, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Enneagram For the last years I have been reading and studying the Enneagram personality types. The studies helped me immensely to understand myself and certain behaviors, especially in conflict areas and in the way I work and interact in this world. 

After a while I became more fascinated because of the possibilities for growth not just to improve myself, but spiritual growth. The Enneagram is like a key that opens up understanding of myself and God who created me. Most of the books on the Enneagram tend to emphasize the personality improvement and the use of it in work and relationship. There are some books looking more to the spiritual use of the Enneagram. Mostly they tend a little to much to the New Age genre. Still I believe that to often we are trapped in our personalities, formed in our growing up years, that then keeps us from developing as disciples of Jesus. I can see it in my own life and of course many situation in church and the mission-field how personality becomes the drive to live and work in the kingdom of God. I used to try to emphasize the good in that personality and suppress the bad or work around it. The Enneagram shows another way. Namely to move towards essence. Our true self underneath the layers of personality. 

I left on a journey that made me discover alot about myself and my relationship with God. The Enneagram leans more towards mysticism and it takes more then just a test and some type explanation. It is more like a map to discover who we really are and how we relate not only to the world but also to God.

Heavy rain in the mountains

24 September, 2009 / / 2 Comments

Three days ago I made my way up to the mountains to get some more work done on our center. We prepared the frame the other week to get the cement poured for the foundation. Unfortunately when I drove towards the village I was met with a lot of water. passing the last Thai village I saw many people standing on the bridge discussing about the rising waters. The water level was just under the bridge. More then a meter higher then usual. I am passing the village and going off-road towards Hui Kau Laam. As I come to the log bridge going to Catusi. The bridge is totally submerged under water. I usually don't use the bridge, but just pass through the river, which would be impossible now.

I drive on for a couple of hundred meters and meet a truck that slid into a ditch blocking the way to the village. His axel was sitting on the dirt and it was impossible even with 4×4 to et out. The owner came running with a smile and was happy to see me. I seem to e known for being the guy who pulls others out of the dirt with ease. I mean who else got a winch on their truck around here. 

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I drove another couple of hundred meters and meet two electricity poles blocking the road. The heavy rains and the flooding just swept them away with the foundations. There was no way of getting around them, so I needed to drive back a kilometer and make a detour through the jungle over the hill and take a back road into the village. 

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So much to get things done easily here. We had to call off the cement trucks that were supposed to come in to pour the foundations. This part of the project has to wait another one to two weeks. There is no way those trucks can come in when the road is half gone and extremely slippery.

Still I was able to do many other things. I never run out of work up here. 🙂

Thai lesson break

1 September, 2009 / / 0 Comments

This morning I took my last Thai lesson for a while. After over a year I lost my motivation and need a break. With work and all the other things going on I just don't have the capacity for the home work I should be doing to keep up with the lesson's which are quite demanding on that level. So what I'm trying to do till January is repeat vocabulary and practice my reading skills. The last seven chapters I studied were mostly about social problems from Birth control to environmental issues. I cannot put any more words into my brain.

I started Last year somewhere in January taking up Thai again going through the writing and Reading module 4. Then I went through all the books from module 5 (this is basically 1 & 2 grade Thai) After that I studied module 6 (all about Thai culture, geography and important things to know in Thailand) I skipped module 7 starting module 8 social problems in Thailand. 

Looking back I learned alot and I am glad I took the classes. My Thai improved alot and it helped in my work. So I feel quite good about the accomplishment. Learning Thai has been a great challenge. With all the other challenges meeting us here living in another country I sometimes wish English would do it. I miss the freedom and fluency of expression in the language like I would have in German or English. To be honest I wonder if I ever get there. But then I will not give up on it just yet. For now I will just have a break from School.

A bug in the system

25 August, 2009 / / 3 Comments

There is a bug in my system…. I mean some bacteria thought my intestines were a nice place to move into and stay. But unfortunately those bugs are quite a nuisance. I am glad pixar hasn't made an animated movie about them yet, or they would be protected by animal advocates all over the world and I could have not taken the drastic measures needed to end my suffering. The suffering that is having someone steel all my food and therefore energy and in addition my un-welcomed visitors started a fight with my permanent tenants. This in turn gave me a high fever. In short I have been in bed for the last three days with diarrhea, fever and splitting headaches. After four days I definitely feel better. Yesterday I had go a shot of antibiotics and today I went for a short walk. I still feel pretty weak though. No trip to the villages this week.

Thai Drivers Lisence

18 August, 2009 / / 2 Comments

If you are in Thailand for a longer time it is worth to get a Thai drivers license. I know that many expats drive their cars with their their regular license and get away with it. If you get stopped you bribe the police man. Another group drives their international license. But Usually those are not valid longer then a year. But why going through the trouble of getting a Thai drivers license? There are several reasons. 

First it is the law (even in Thailand) to have a valid drivers lisence. An international lisence is okay, but it has to be valid. 

Second. If you ever get in a bad accident, you want to have a valid drivers license. (This is especially with motorbikes). You will have enough problems without an invalid license.

Third. You can use the drivers license as a ID card for banking business, at national parks or any kind of place in Thailand and get treated more respectfully and not just as a tourist. Therefore get the Thai price at the parks and zoo’s. Be aware that you can’t use the drivers license to board a plane!

I found the Car registration office in Chiang Mai quite efficient. You still have to take about a day off to do this. Because you need to get an amount of papers and copies first. Then at the place you need to apply, do a reaction test, a color test and watch a forty minute video about Thai traffic laws (I must say I learned alot from the video and was surprised that there are laws in Thailand for traffic).

Here I wrote out the note I got from the office. This is for the renewal of the license. 

1. Non-Immigrant visa and Passport copy (bring the original Passport as well)

2. Certificate of Residency from the Embassy or consulate, or from the Immigration office, or Workpermit, or Residence book(the yellow book) copy and original.

3. Medical certificate

4. Your old Thai drivers lisence

5. Pay the fee of 505 Baht for car, 255 Baht for motorbike

If you have to do a license for car and motorbike you need to make 2 copies of the documents

You also need to come in 9.00 A.M. or 1P.M. to watch the video and do the testing. Of course everyone who lives in Thailand knows that those things and regulations change about every year a little and you need to inform yourself about what you need. For example the last time they didn’t want a medical certificate. 

Finally. Take something to read along or a friend to talk etc. Even though I think they were very efficient, you still have to wait because there are so many people. 

Our kids start school again

16 August, 2009 / / 0 Comments

After a long summer break school starts for my kids again tomorrow. I realized today that my daughter starts 9th. grade. What happened to my little baby? It was not that long ago when she started first grade. My boys start 8th. and 3th. grade. Tomorrow we all we go for the school start to welcome the new teachers.

So the long holidays are over. I started work already and I am busy with the building project in Hui Kau Laam as well as office work. This week I will also start again with my Thai language program. To be honest I am not to motivated right now, but I really want to finish at least this module. 

Schulanfang in der Schweiz

10 August, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Ich habe durch facebook vernommen, das viele in der Schweiz den ersten Schultag haben. Darum möchte ich allen einen guten Start wünschen.

Meine Kinder haben noch eine Woche Ferien. Ich bin Heute mal wieder im Büro um ein paar Dinge zu erledigen. Am Mittwoch geht es wieder ab in die Berge für ein paar Tage.

Posting from facebook

9 August, 2009 / / 0 Comments

I have come a long way when it comes to internet, computer and gadgets. When I was growing up hightech was handling a tape recorder and record songs from the radio. Thinking about all the things I have to constantly learn about. Making a phone call is not just turning a weel anymore. It is a little hightech wonder in my hands that uses voice command, I would use if I could get myself to read the darn instructions in japaneese (:-)

Face book is another one of those conection wonders. Sometimes I spend way to much time on face book, while my blog dies of lack of attention. So the newest thing I try out is updating my blog from facebook. (This is my first post to try it out). On facebook application you can find BLOGIT. This little thing should do the trick. Signing up is rather easy and I think you can use other blog providers then Typepad, wich I use.
You can also automaticly update facebook with your blog post per minifeed. Cool eh? The only downside I see is that you cannot upload pictures or gifs. As far as I can see. The spell check is also missing (bad for me :-(.

Enough rambling on…… try it out.

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Quotes

Before I got into midlife crisis I was in pre-midlife crisis. Life an event I don't want to miss!
... am I moving into post midlife crisis now?
Ah! Life is wonderful!!!!

"Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative."

"Life doesn't end here after all :-)"

From now on it's midlife evaluation, not crisis

Just some thoughts

.... to many to bring to paper :-)

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