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 :-)
