Today I was moved beyond words when I received an email from a friend who had come to see Mercy and had the opportunity to meet some of the people that I live and work with. He was so moved by what Mercy does and the amazing people that make up this great organization that he went home and donated. Love.amazing.
Yesterday was a rainy, soggy Sunday and the perfect day for laying around. I woke up late to the sound of heavy water pounding the tin roofs of jet-sip-rai and in a daze wandered downstairs to see Pung. I have grown to love this girl like a sister. She's honest, fair, level headed and easy to talk to. We spend the entire day looking at pictures, watching clips of crazy Chinese films, talking about everything you could possibily imagine, telling stories no one would ever believe and laying on the floor listening to catchy pop songs.
We took a walk when the rain began to let up. On our way home Pung stopped for chicken; a stand on the side of the road that looks like a mini KFC - fried chicken everything. While walking I glanced over to see Pung knawling on something that resembled a foot. "Chicken feet!" she exclaimed as she proudly held up this deep fried claw. "Want some?" All I could thing was, "Is there even chicken meat on their feet?"
Back at the house, the other girls were spread out across the cool tile floor of our common room. These girls are from the south of Thailand and have about as much English as I have Thai, so Pung laid between us and translated. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and added plain yogurt on top. I began to notice looks of confusion and disgust across everyones faces. "What?!" I yelled jokingly. They laughed and Pung said, "That looks digusting. What are you eating? The girls are asking how you could eat that!" ((55555))
I couldn't help but laugh an exasperated laugh, "Seriously?? This from the group eating deep fried chicken FEET??"
"What?? These taste good, that just looks gross."
Then the girls relayed that they wondered how I could eat this all the time, adding, "You never eat rice. If you aren't eating rice, it isn't a proper meal."
Touche.
In middle school my wretched principal use to announce, "You learn something new every day" to the entire school every morning. While I may argue that in middle school I'm pretty sure there were a few days I didn't learn something new, this is certainly true here at Mercy.
I'll wrap up this post with a quote from Steven Jobs:
You've got to find what you love and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a huge part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
Happy Monday ladies and gents.
And Bret, I'm glad you now know why it is I love what I do so much. Takes your breath away, right?
All my love
ABA
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