Teeth Woe is Us

Poor Ry. Today she broke her 2 front, permanent teeth.  Just walking in a classroom, tripped. A good 25% of both front & center teeth... gone.  Into nervy, root pulp area... pain.  Gonna have to wait a couple months to see if they can be saved, but she thankfully got patched up for the time being.  Pretty darn well, I pray. It looks good, to my anything-but-knowledgeable eye.

Scary to know who to trust.  It's not me, it's my child! She hasn't had these teeth for even a year, needs them for many, many more... and they're front & center. Still relying on our own dentists back home & an ortho up in Bangkok for Allie, who do we see & trust in a moment's notice in a town with skanky looking dental clinics on literally every other corner?  They're truly everywhere here.

Her school principal directed us to another school parent who is a dentist and we got in with him an hour later. Feeling pretty good about his work, time will tell.  By the looks of the outside of his office, I wouldn't have picked him.  But someone's mother once reminded to never judge a book cover, and I think that applies to Thai dental office fronts as well. I pray that Ry & her broken teeth live happily ever after.  And while she's working that out, we have yet another lesson in bending with the breeze.

$60 total fee for x-ray & 2 hours of extremely tedious crafting & repairing on a wiggly child. I had 2 small cavities filled this summer in the States... 45 minutes total, at a cost of $231 EACH. I know, because I just wrote the check.  Hmmmmm. What kind of dental reform is in that new healthcare package, Mr. President?

Gotta scoot, just heard the tooth fairy coming.

Hey

So, what flavor of Pringles are you?

Every Monday morn a woman stops by our new house, selling flowers from her pick-up. Only $3 for a bunch of 10 lovely orchid stems, color of my choice, delivered to the door before 9am. Takes the sting out of starting a new week... and they last a good 10-12 days 

Allie & I delivered load #2 of toys & books to the orphanage... again, THANK YOU! 

Pouring rain outside, but no lightning so Ry goes for it. Trying to use our air con less, we're enjoying our little pool

Thailand Open at the school golf course last week. Cool to see these signs all over the course, after the mayhem this spring.

We're back to our beat... reading logs, algebra, fighting with clarinet reeds, tennis, riding, orphans, running, ant patrol, catching flights. 

Hi-ho!

School's In

School resumed Monday

Girls reporting a great first week back... Ry's made a new buddy from Indonesia (and is learning all about Ramadan as the girl's family is fasting now), and Allie is excited about classes, friends & tennis

This is me the entire first week back... kidding! We popped over to an island Sunday for beaching & lunching to celebrate/mourn return to school, and found this pup in the sand... good times were had by all.  Cheers!

Summer

We spent July back in the States

 Rob's grandparents have energy & love a parade

New sweetheart cousin, Addison

Sweetheart cousins Taylor, Grace & Tristan

Guilty of crowding

3 hour layover O'Hare...

4 hours in Tokyo

THANK YOU to everyone who contributed... we collected 51 board books, 44 toys/sets/puzzles, 2 crib mobiles, and $130 for the orphanage. We'll be home at Christmas, and plan to dedicate another suitcase or two then for the kids. Allie & I delivered load #1 this past week, and it was graciously received.

Riley has begun riding lessons & got a nasty bite last week, but couldn't wait to get back on her horse this week.

New garden

New palms

Snacking in new backyard, likely our only shot at ever having a pool

Our Thai door has changed. Previous lease was coming due with our 1-year Thai anniversary approaching, so we chose a neighborhood on same golf course, but with more kids the girls' age, a small gym with lovely AC, tennis courts for growing enthusiast Allie, a little more space, and our own small pool (just a giant hot tub, really, but still only a meter outside our own door). This is Riley's 7th residence in her 8 enchanted years... 2 for Thai, 2 for France, her first move was at just 4 months-old, so it's not quite as bad as it sounds, but still... gypsies, we are.

Exploring a different land, I was reminded this week.  A part-Thai buddy of Ry's from school was over for a playdate.  We girls were chatting, and I learned that her dog was hit by a car some months ago.  Allie asked, "Did you bury her in your backyard?" ... "No, we put her in a bag in the freezer." ... "Why?"... "Because my cousins wanted to eat her. They ate my other dog, too." I've always heard of such things, but this was my first personal "encounter." That I know of... don't care to think on THAT too long.

Yes, we are back in Thailand for Year 2.  Bring it on!

Singapore

Welcome to Singapore... drug trafficking is punishable by death, local time is 8pm & current temperature is hokey hot.  That was nearly verbatim the message we heard upon landing there. Night & day different place from Thailand. I'm thankful the girls are getting real feels for just how diversely textured Asia is.

Gentle reminders abound, such as this beside train platform

Plenty of not so gentle reminders as well, rules & such are everywhere. $1,000 fine for riding bike down pedestrian path along river, $500 for eating/drinking on subway...  and they must be enforced because this place is clean, beautiful and rhythmic, yet I don't find it as intense as Japan.

Happy Birthday to you,

You went to the zoo,

You look like a monkey... 

Girls sang after my lovely birthday at the zoo. I'm needing to get more serious about sun protection, so they gifted me with the fun hat.

Great zoo, polar bears were our favorite

Free-roaming monkeys & orangutans were hanging all over

Help me...

Seriously...

Happy Birthday to Dad... cool building trio behind

Night Safari was eery, but nicely done like most everything in S'pore

Highlight was the super active hyenas, wild & freaky

Lovin public transport, but tired from the long day

Her tally is 7 teeth lost in 4 countries

Returned to Thailand a little after midnight last night, and Ry has since lost tooth #8 at her swim practice today. She's wondering how to eat pizza tonight while we Idol. Nice to be home. 

Though I now have a little thing for Singapore, as I really enjoyed that smooth city-state.  Headlining news there this week was the funeral of a founding father.  It had us thinking on why S'pore has become success that it is, and Thailand not. After reading about their Dr. Goh, I'm praying such a public servant figure will arise & lead Thailand in its own beautiful direction.  

Update

We have booked flights to Singapore tomorrow.  Rob needs to be there next week, so we girls might as well tag along. We plan to stay through next week and hopefully return to Thailand next weekend. 

Things have deteriorated quickly this evening in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand, though we have yet to experience anything firsthand. Reports are sickening, with parts of Bangkok in flames.  Fires & unrest in Khon Kaen, where we spent Christmas holiday... wondering if any of our acquaintances there are involved. Strange & confusing, leaving people here behind while we prepare to exit mayhem for a while.

Also interesting to pack up. Not much "stuff" to which I feel attached in the event we get stuck in Singapore for a while. Kids, computer, some clothes...  what else do we need?

Peace, peace, peace.

Life

American Cemetery at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France

Seems wrong, but of the places I've been, this is a favorite (?). It is a quiet, hallowed garden that screams & haunts & enriches & stirs, and that is special.

Back in the Mitten when Ry was small, we discussed the US flag flying at half staff each time a Michigan soldier dies in service. Her youthful eyes were never too cataracted by life to miss flags flying somber instead of proud. "Mom, another soldier died." When US casualties in Iraq hit 1,000, we sighed, "Horrible." Today the total is over 4,000.

Friday night we visited Bangkok for Allie's ortho visit.  Her doctor is in a lovely, new shopping mall on edge of town, not near city center's protests. It mostly felt business as usual with affluent Thais & occasional foreigners shopping, eating, and i-testing as if nothing was failing just blocks away. Yet my mind couldn't help drifting to the nearby redzone where 1 person died earlier that day and 1 the previous night. 

Get home, log in, learn 5 died that evening just a couple kilometers from where Al's braces were rewired to fix "imperfect" teeth and we had our Japanese food fix. Saturday night brought more deaths and now Monday morn... 35 lives reported lost in the past 3 days. 

Living so close to this tragedy while in our own safe & privileged expat world is boggling. I feel guilty planning for our family's birthday trifecta this weekend, celebrating life while our new neighbors are losing theirs... in a fight with their government!!!

Peace to all neighborhoods!