Appendix A: The People in Your Neighborhood

Do remember when Seseame Street was great? I do. There was this song they would sing every once in a while called "The People in Your Neighborhood." It went something like this:

Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
Say, who are the people in your neighborhood?
The people that you meet each day

Last week as I journyed around the world, I couln't help but ask the same question of Jesus as the expert of the law did in Luke 10:29, "And who is my neighbor?” What he showed me was everyone I meet is my neighbor. I learned I have neighbors all around the world. Here is a list of just some of the people in my neighborhood:

Larry - I met Larry one morning at the Emerald Garden before breakfast. He lives in Madison, Wisconson where he is on staff at UMW. I think he is an IT person there. Larry was in Thailand as a representative of Friends of Thailand. This is an organization of Peace Corp. alumni that had served in Thailand. Larry served the peace corp in 1977 and 1978. Larry's wife is Thai and is a middle school teacher.

Sak - Mr. Sak and I first started communicating before our trip even began. Sak is the day manager at the Emerald Garden. His english was decent, but not decent enough. He leads a great staff of people at the hotel. This resort isn't five star by any means, but the service sure was. I highly recomend going there and meeting Sak yourself!



Pla - Pla was the night manager at the hotel. She did a ton of calling around for us to find a boat that would take us over to Phi Phi. She spoke less english than Sak. But was efficient in getting us the help we needed. I also wrote her name on the dinner check one night instead of my room number. It didn't work.

Brenda - The steorotypical hippie chick. Brenda was an american that had been "hanging out" on Koh Phi Phi for a few many years. I'm pretty open about people's lifestyles, but a lady not shaving her arm pits is where I draw the line. I think one could have braded that hair. She was very nice and was glad to see other Americans coming to help. I think God needs more hippies.

Ryan - Another American we met on the island. Ryan is a southern California boy hailing from the San Francisco area. At 26 Ryan had been traveling around the world up until five months ago when while hitting golf balls at a Thai golf ball range in Koh Samui, the owner offered him a job. Ryan like many others heard of the need on Phi Phi and decided to come and help. He had intended on only staying three days to help but was on his tenth day when we meet him and was planning on staying another ten.

Laura & Jenni - TEXAS! This two twenty-somethings knew they wanted to help in the tsunami relief with no idea on where to help. They got steered towards Phi Phi and never left. Both girls were very up front and proud about being in the 5% of Texas residents that did not vote for George W. Bush.

Annique - If you read all of this blog you remember Annique as the British mom "boat schooling" her kids aroung the world. To get more info on her read the blog! ;-)

Marco - I met Marco out in front of the Kodak shop that had been converted into the island tool shed by the folks at HI Phi Phi. Marco introduced himself and asked if I was Jewish. I thought it was a funny question, until I realized I wasn't wearing a shirt and he could see the star of David tattoo on my back. I told him my wife was jewish and he said, "You must love her a lot." I showed him the one on my forearm and all he could say was, "That's heavy man!" He told me not to go to Chonburi, Thailand. He said they sell Nazi items in the street. I told him that he wouldn't find that on Phi Phi.

Michael - Coming Soon

Ray - Coming Soon

Neil - Coming Soon

La - Coming Soon

Frank - Coming Soon

Rachel - Coming Soon