The Light Between Oceans

Saturday, December 6th - Today I was determined to get to mass at St. Nikolaus, the Catholic church here in town.  When you don't drive yourself, the logistics can be challenging.  You think when you have a driver at your disposal, you'll be able to go where you want, when you want, but somehow it just doesn't always work out that way.  Finally being out of the hotel, it was a good time to try and establish a routine.

The store where we bought our printer was out of the black ink cartridge we needed, so they said they would call us when it came in.  They called Saturday morning, so I arranged for Mick to pick me up a little earlier so I could run in and pick up the ink before mass.  I had just enough time to stop on the video floor and grab a few videos to have for the weekend - very interesting setup, with empty cases on the shelf, and a clerk that goes to get the DVD from an undisclosed location.  No cellophane-wrapped assurances that your getting what you think you're getting.  But they do have a player, and will pop your DVD in to show that it's the right video.

When I got back in the car, Mick said what I thought was, "OK, tempo."  It took me a couple minutes to realize that he was saying "temple," which is the word that makes sense to him for "church."  Going to church for the first time was kind of surreal.  Since neither one of us had been there before, we weren't sure which driveway to pull into, and we nearly went into the Islamic Mosque that is right next door.  The call-to-prayer rang out from the mosque as people took their seats in the church, so the six o'clock mass actually started a few minutes after six to allow the call-to-prayer to finish.  St. Nikolaus church looks so elaborate and fancy from the street, but the actual church is quite simple and quaint.  It is completely open on the sides, with about 14 rows of pews on either side of the main aisle.  So you step directly into your pew from the outside.

The church looks fairly empty here, but every pew was full by the time mass started.  You can see the picture of the king
displayed prominently at the front right.

I was surprised how many Thais attended this English mass (they have a few masses each week in each language - Thai and English).  The priest's English is pretty basic - it's clear there will be no complex discourse for the homily - "the first candle of advent is hope.  The second candle of advent is love."  Most of the farangs in attendance were 60-something men.  I think this is because many Vietnam vets settled here after the war.  The musical accompaniment was just a couple of acoustic guitars - it was pleasantly-simple spirituality.  Thais are very respectful of personal space - they do not hug or even shake hands in public, so I wondered how the "Our Father" and the "Sign of Peace" would work.  They did not hold hands for the "Our Father," but rather just held their hands supine.  For the "Sign of Peace," people give the "wai," hands pressed together under the nose and a slight bow.  I appreciate this reverent version - and no germ-sharing!

Darkness comes quickly here - an explanation I found on the Cornell University website:

The simple answer is that at low latitudes, the sun sets perpendicular to the horizon, while at higher latitudes, the sun can set at a more oblique angle, allowing it to remain close to the horizon after sunset for a longer period of time.

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=121

It was daylight when I went into church, and quite dark when I came out an hour later.  If you want to catch a beautiful sunset, you must look quickly!  The owner of our condo told us we will have beautiful sunsets six months of the year.  Right now the angle of the setting sun is just past our line of vision.  We look forward to fabulous but fleeting displays of Thailand's evening splendor.

Taken from in front of our hotel in September