3 Months

Potted a poinsettia this week for the front porch, yet another first 

I’m home doctoring a cold & cough today. We all seem to get tuckered out & run down quicker living abroad. Work hard + play hard + navigating different cultures = exhausting. Must feel better for the company Christmas party tomorrow night. I hope they keep things appropriate for the girls. It's adults only except for our family and one other. Party concept (their words, not mine) is “Blue Jean,” so guess we’ll climb into sticky blue jeans that we never wear here.

Didn't love the printed Christmas card pictures I recently picked up.  I'm no photographer for one thing, but I actually didn't mind the shot we chose to print until I saw what the printer did to it.  Rewind... a couple months ago we all had passport photos done here for visawork. In processing, they lightened our skin, put major color to our cheeks and lips including Rob's, and made our eyes bluer. All quite hilarious, we looked like clowns except Ry, the child beauty pageant entry. It’s how they do photos here.  Didn't really think they'd tinker with the file I left them for Christmas, but it got the makeover as well. Makes me wonder what they think of our natural looks.

We’re kind of starting to get used to people affectionately touching Riley all the time.  Just on the arm or cheek, a sweet little pat or graze when we're walking through a market or shop.  It's because she's so young & cute & skin so different from theirs. We warned her about such innocent gestures being common here and she's mostly okay with it, except that I think she'd rather they didn't. It is a bit startling coming from the land of don't touch strangers unless you want a lawsuit, and it’s probably confusing to her young mind as we also discuss the inappropriate goings on in this area.  We're all kind of on guard, all the time.

Can't guard them from everything. Yesterday driving home with the girls from school, we passed a semi truck with very pornographic cartoonesque mud flaps. Not a spec of mud on 'em, of course.  Sorry boys, didn't have the camera with me.

Rob's interviewing another potential candidate today for a position at work. From this most recent resume, in addition to knowing DOB, height and weight, he now also knows religion and marital status. Customary here.

This week marks 3 months of Thai charms :-)

School Days

Ry's been working this past month on a Loy Krathong project, and this morning had an adorably elegant presentation & dance at school.  Boys studied Thanksgiving & Plymouth, Mass... hilarious seeing her East Indian classmate haul out a pumpkin pie, and would the Singaporean please pass the cranberry sauce? Shared lots of historical facts with their fun. Ry loves her class. Thai class and reading are her favorite subjects.  Only 6 girls out of 18 kiddos, so they're kinda becoming like sisters.

Al just got pics from school from her last field trip, and I added them to her recent post My Trip to Khao Chamao... check 'em out. Heavy week this week with 3 big tests, glad it's Friday for her. Self-directed little learner, now asking me to "quiz" her all the time. Hope to keep her focus on learning, and not getting all As. Math is still her favorite. 

Sad that their little piggies are getting so big, but I am a thankful parent.

My Trip to Khao Chamao

Hi this is Allie!  I just got back from one of the greatest trips in my life!!!  On Wednesday Morning I left for my field trip to Khao Chamao National Park. On the way we stopped at an Aquariam.  It rocked!  It was right on the ocean!  My favorite part was the huge Sea turtles like in Finding Nemo.  They were so cool!  There were also some really beautiful fish.  The coolest fish was this electric blue with bright orange stripes. When we left the Aquariam I remember looking through my window and seeing houses made out of cardboard,metal and cloth and thinking to myself I am so fortunate to have what I have.  Right when I got out of the van it was like wow I'll always remember this.  There are palm trees and coconuts all the way down the beach and the beach is beautiful  with little straw huts scattered on the sand with beach chairs under them.When we got to the camp my friends and I were all sweaty so we quick got out our swimsuits and ran into the ocean, but then something hurt our legs so we ran off screaming to our cabin.  We showered off and then went to the pool instead.

On Thursday we went hiking up a huge mountain at Khao Chamao National Park.  The mountain was very steep and there was not a very good path.  We had to climb over huge boulders and lots of tree roots.  But it was so worth it when we got to the waterfall!  There is this large pond on the mountain about 2/3 the way up and there is a big waterfall that runs into it.  At first everybody was scared to jump in.  Oh yeah and I forgot to tell you that the whole pond is filled with thousands of big and small fish, the biggest being a little bigger than a foot and the smalllest were about an inch.  The boys were the bravest and hopped in first then a couple of girls got in then I got in with my friends Eun Ji, Reshmi, Arianne, Sarah K and Sarah M.  I was soooo scared, and when I jumped in I think I fell on a fish because we all did canon balls at the same time and I don't think the fish really knew what we were about to do that or else they probaly would have moved.  But after a while everybody got in even my teacher Mrs. Knudsen.  Some people even had their clothes on!  My friends and I all tried to dunk the boys but that didn't turn out so well.  We all tried to get as close to the waterfall as possible but nobody could because the current coming off it was to strong and too hard to get near.  The pond was super deep over 12 feet deep and boy was that water cold!!!  The fish in the pond felt so wierd and slimy.  On the way down from the waterfall I saw a huge lizard at least a foot long. It was cool to see it in its natural habitat.  I am very happy that we did not see any snakes, I was a little worried about that.

Then after that we went to this Thai womens little shop and got to do tye dye.  We at first had a plain white t-shirt and then we folded it a certain way and then we got chopped up bamboo sticks (any size) around a cm thick and up to 10 cm long. And what we did was we got two bamboo sticks and then we put them on each side of the shirt and then we got rubber bands and tied them together(this will make a very cool pattern).  After we had done that all over the shirt the women took it and put it in boiling water with a natural brownish tanish color from bamboo and other natural plants.  Then we let it sit for about 20 min in the water.  After that was done we took it out.  The women and other workers there had taken big buckets out with different soaps and chemicals to keep the tye dye in place so it wouldn't wash out. Then the last step was taking off all the bamboo sticks and rubber bands.  Then it was complete. My tye dye shirt is the brownish tanish color with white circles all over it (from the bamboo sticks).  It turned out pretty cool!

Let me tell you a little bit about the food there was.  The first day (Wednesday) I had octopus, shrimp and fish fried rice and oyster and shrimp soup.  The food was good even though I picked out all the seafood.  Then for dinner that night we had somthing really good....fried chicken and pork.  Then for breakfast each day we had toast, scrambled eggs and mini hotdogs.  And just for your information hotdogs do not go well to eat right after you wake up. Another meal I had was KFC (we stopped at The Big C)  That is a big mall in Pattaya.

     

 In the middle of both nights it was kind of scary.  There are a whole bunch of stray dogs at the place we're staying and in the middle of the night I think there was a dog fight or somthing because me and my friend Sarah both woke up and started screaming we were so scared!  My friend was also scared that there was a dead lady that haunts people there.  ( gossip from the seventh graders who did the same trip last year).  Also was afraid of ghosts.  She kept me up all night.  Then she finally asked me if she could sleep with me because there is a window above her bed.  So I said alright you can sleep here if you'll actually sleep.  This was at like 3 in the morning. The next day we were kind of tired.  But all the kids were happy when we were told that today we get to see our parents and go home.

This trip will always be somthing that I remember and definitely a place to go back with the family and vacation at.  I am looking forward for the next school field trip!!!

  

Home Sweet Home

Burgers, potatoes and corn on the cob for family of 4 on this lovely "August" eve... home, sweet, Friday night home.

To Sit, or Not to Sit

We recently opened our Thai bank account, and now have empty bank accounts on 3 continents. Khun Wiyada, a woman from Rob's HR dept, came with us that day to translate & help with the fairly painless process. In France we mucked our own way through an un-good 2+ hours of account opening joys & charades. Just 40 minutes or so in Thailand.

One chair sat in front of the bank employee desk. Khun Wiyada motioned for Rob to take the seat and he did. He’s been here before, he knows what to do. Lots of questions & signing for him since he's the reason we're here. Trailing spouse that I am & Khun Wiyada stood behind Rob while she leaned over him to read papers & translate nearly every question from the bank employee. A few minutes later, the chair at the desk next to ours opened up. Khun Wiyada pulled it next to Rob and motioned for me to take the seat. I motioned for her to do so. She motioned back for me to do so. I motioned back for her to do so... after all, she was doing ALL the work. She was the critical component in the banker/customer/translator working triangle.

I've had several recent scenarios like this. Of course, Rob has been present for all of them so as to make fun of me afterwards. One August morning at hotel breakfast when we came for our preliminary visit, I was walking to our table to take a seat. Due to cross my path was a little, tiny Thai woman with a gargantuan, full tray of hot, hot drinks. Both of her hands were well occupied keeping the thing steady. I stopped & motioned for her to... by all means, go ahead, walk in front of me. She stopped & stood there. I motioned again... PLEASE, go ahead, you're carrying a massive load! She just stood there, unable to put one foot in front of the other. Behind me, Rob nudged me forward on the back so that my risking of her 1st degree burns would sooner be over.

I felt so bad. I had put her in a really awkward position. She had been trained to respect the guest and that was first & foremost. In America where servers, of course, also know to respect their guests, I think 9 out of 10 would have nodded thanks & walked their wide, heavy load past me as quickly as possible. Makes sense in my mind, just like respecting the guest made sense to her. Again, at the bank it made sense to me for laboring Khun Wiyada to take the seat so we could be finished all the sooner. In her mind, I don't know what was going on... we are the guests in her country or Rob is the boss or very possibly manners are just so well ingrained in her... something was going on that did not allow her to sit in that chair.

I've spent enough time in Japan where I've wrestled gracelessly through similar situations. I should know by now that I'm not gonna win such an exchange with an Asian. They're just too good. Flashing back to the near tragedy at hotel breakfast and then seeing Khun Wiyada's growing discomfort while rallying with me in the bank, I finally sat. It’s what you're supposed to do here, though taking the seat may not feel comfortable.

Fishing Villages

First stop in Samasaen. Dried fish, boil at home to make fish stock for soups & sauces

Textured islands off the coast

Colorful boats

Wondering the age of those stilts, may no tsunami ever strike

Fish & squid drying out all over town, in parking lots, front porches, and the street

We see dried fish & squid galore in shops, cool to see where it all comes from & how some are dried using basic techniques

Hot day with fresh watermelon & pineapple from vendor on the dock, 10 baht a bagful (about 30 cents)

Pool!

After Samasaen, we had lunch on the sea in Ban Amphoe. a bigger village closer to touristy Pattaya

Renegade Rob ordered the spicy crab dish

We even got a little cold sitting here, very breezy, felt wonderful to have goosebumps without the aid of air conditioning

Sunday morning excursion to some fishing villages. Sleepy Samasaen is a tiny little treasure... charming like Europe with narrow streets, shop & residential doors just cm away from the occasional motor bike or car. The number of smiles perfectly matched the number of people we saw.

We stayed just over an hour. Extremely quiet, no bustling or desire to do so with the heat. I wonder if there is an early morning rush with the fishing boats. I could have easily uncovered that pool table, racked a game, and played away the afternoon while taking breaks to cross street & help the woman bag her dried fish. I would have to convert to beer. No fru-fru drinks in pineapples in this place. Ry especially seems to be struggling with the temps, so we kept our visits short and were home by 3pm for a heated family game of Monopoly in the cool of our home. I hope the girls can better adjust to longer stretches out in this climate. The heat is paralyzing us in ways and we're not spending nearly as much time outdoors as we did back home. But I do love all the family games we're playing again. Venture part of the day, reconvene at home for simple family bonding... here's to living the dream.