Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Leaving Thailand

I can't believe our two years is almost up here in Thailand! The mixed emotions hit us everyday. Here are some thought about the best and words of our life here in Nichada, enjoy, Kristy

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Walmart versus Thai Grocery Store

Grocery shopping in Thailand is not an enjoyable process. Neither is shopping in Walmart. For those of you who find Walmart too bright, too crowded and too thrifty....be thankful.

First of all, I have to call for a taxi and wait in the 95 degree, humid weather. Then the cab ride can be interesting, depending on how much english the taxi driver knows...and what else may be in his system. Thank goodness it is only a 10 minute ride.

I arrive at the warehouse- type of grocery store and am instantly hit with the smell of exhaust mixed with humidity in the parking lot. I enter the building and go by many food stands with a variety of unrecognizable food items that all seems to make me nauseous. I make my way up the escalator and enter the "Walmart zone."

To this point I have yet to year a word of English and now I am overwhelmed by people speaking Thai and a Thai radio blaring commercials. The other day I asked 4 employees where the sparkling water was (it had been moved) and I even used my poor Thai, "Chang nam?" No one could help me. I went home with out my favorite drink.

If you are reading this post, you are able to shop in a grocery store and read all of the signs....I am not so lucky. 98% of the signs are in Thai, the currency is Thai baht and the metric system is the only system. As a result I have no idea how much I am spending until I get to the check out AND I have to pay cash. I really should bring a calculator.

Now the smells are the biggest challenge, especially in the meat/seafood department. A few things are packaged but most are in an "open buffet" set up. I have never seen so much raw meat in one place and much of it is not unfamiliar and some of it is downright scary. You just scoop some up, throw it on the scale and the tag is printed for you: in kilos and baht of course. The seafood is incredible, so many things and so very pungent. I quickly buy my package of chicken breasts and smoked salmon and head on my way, to a safer, less stinky section.

I had no idea there were so many kinds of rice, or noodles...or milk in a box! There are only 3 aisle that I frequent- those that cater to expatriates. A few familiar brands are there: Prego, Pepperidge farms, Nestle, Laughing Cow but we are beginning to branch out a bit. There is also a small selection of European products which sounds interesting but actually they just confuse things for me. Now there are Thai, English and French labels to decipher!

Wait- the fun isn't over yet. There is the check out line, which moves INCREDIBLY slow. Slower than Walmart. Apparently folks aren't being timed and so why hurry? The cashier is the bagger, like at Walmart, so no hurry there either. Then I pile all of my bags into the cart, go down the magnetic escalator- kind of cool, head to the curb and hail a taxi...but you have to find a driver that knows where I live so that usually takes two tries, using a mixture of Thai and English. I land in the taxi, and try to decipher the smells for my ten minute return trip. Then I am dropped off in the parking lot, unload the groceries, haul them up 10 steps, load them on a cart, into the elevator, unload them into the apartment and finally return the cart back to the main floor.

Ugh! Walmart is looking pretty good to me these days, I will approach it with new eyes next summer.
Kristy

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Gecko, Gotta Love 'em

One would think that after 15 months living in a place one could adjust to geckos, no luck. They move so incredibly fast and they come out of nowhere! Yesterday I just about jumped out of my skin when I saw one scramble along the molding and run into the closet. This one was about 4 inches long, which is pretty big for a house gecko. I had one in my classroom that was the size of a small paperclip, he was rather cute. But please try to imagine how one little gecko could disrupt learning in classroom.

Neither of the girls are fond of geckos and they quickly scream out for help when they find one in their room. Apparently the most common way geckos enter the house is through the air conditioning units but I haven’t told the girls this yet. Please be assured that we do not kill geckos, that is not the Buddist way. We use a glass to trap the gecko and then slide a piece of paper between the surface and the glass. In our house this has been designated as an adult responsibility.

My favorite Ahnika/gecko story occurred bright and early at 6 am on a school day. She was following Gary into the kitchen and she saw a gecko race down the from the ceiling to the wall, jump on Gary’s shoulders…race down his back to his heel and then race under the refrigerator! “I didn’t know they could jump! I told myself I could handle them because they just stayed on the walls and ceilings, now I am totally freaked out!” she exclaimed.

One evening I came home and Mikayla was just a little upset. She had been home alone or so she thought. She had found a gecko in her room. She managed to catch it herself -because one couldn’t just leave it be. It sounds like the catching process took her quite a bit of time. But the worst of it was that in the process of catching the small guy she had chopped part of the tail off of the gecko! She was so worried for him and felt just awful.

She has recently redeemed herself however. This weekend we were at the beach and had taken inter tubes from the sand into the water, we were just about to take off behind a boat when she found a small gecko on her inter tube- “wait, wait, I have to help the gecko!” She bravely took the gecko on her BARE HANDS and walked the 50 feet to shore for the non-swimming creature.
So although they are fast and startle us we are adjusting to the cute, little, harmless creatures. You all should really come and see them, up close and personal. Cockroaches are another story however….

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

First Day of School


Another year, another picture. This year we looked through all of the "First Day of School" pictures, it was amazing to see them change each year. Where did the time go? Can you see Ahnika's braces? She has handled the aches and pains well, she has said several times that she misses fresh vegetables. A mom doesn't hear that very often.

The Night Before the First Day of School


What a difference a year makes. There is simply no comparison to this August and last August, things are amazingly easy the second time around. Since we arrived back in Bangkok on July 27th we have been relaxed yet busy. We have been putting a few more things together in our apartment, baking a lot (all three of the girls) because we now have a bigger kitchen, a full size oven AND a mixer.

Gary and I have spent a lot of time at school, but in a mellow way whereas last August was so stressful: new bank accounts, work visas, setting up internet connections, buying bikes, learning the basics of Thai, buying school uniforms for the girls, figuring where each meal would come from… the list goes on.

But now it is Saturday night and I am ready for school on Monday and I won’t be going in on Sunday. The girls took care of their own uniforms and not only are they familiar with the school they are so comfortable here they were both student hosts today for incoming new students.

Yes, we are still busy. But the stress and anxiety of the unknown is gone. The girls still want to return to the states next summer and that is the plan. So that means that those of you who want to visit us have 9 months. We do have an extra bedroom and bathroom. We also have a lovely new golf cart, bright red, that we are enjoying as we scoot around our community. So if you come to visit us you wouldn’t even have to ride a bike in the heat.

Our Visit to the States

I am writing this as we are flying countless hours back to Thailand, our temporary home. After a mere 5 weeks in the US we have seen so many familiar, wonderful people and it has been great to reconnect while being fed, loved and spoiled. Someone labeled our situation as “rock star status” … need I say more.

Years ago as Gary and I pondered when to go abroad we felt strongly about two things:
1) we wanted the girls to be old enough to remember the experience
2) we wanted them to know where their home and history was. We didn’t want our girls to fall into the category of “third culture kids” or those who move so often that they feel they don’t have a home country and culture. After spending a few weeks in the states, we all know exactly where we belong.

As I sit on the plane I am going through the pictures during our short visit, I have tears in my eyes as I write this. I am simply so grateful.

During the past 5 ½ weeks we have been in 9 different cities….and slept in 12 different places…at least Gary and I have slept in only 12. The girls had many more, it was a sleepover marathon and they wouldn’t have had it any other way. Thank you to each of you who helped us out; with a meal, a bed or a ride here or there. It does take a village, and we know where our village is.




Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Back in Bangkok

We arrived safely in BKK last night around 10:30 pm. It was close to 24 hours of travel and 4 countries: Canada, US, Japan and Thailand. In all of these countries we had to go through immigration, the longest line was the US immigration- and the slowest I might add.
Arriving in BKK was such a different feeling than last year, there was no anxiety and we were able to return to our "home" complete with familiar bedding and personal items.

We are all jet lagged and it should really hit us in the next few hours as it is night in the US. But our wonderful mae bahn tackled the unpacking and we are almost done already. She was glad to see us, but brought us the sad news that her husband passes away two weeks ago. (He had a stroke at the end of May) She is so loyal to us and says she will not need any time off now that we have returned.

It is nice and sunny here, 89 F and humid...it was raining when we left Seattle and 62F. After several mild-no cold- weather in Seattle I am fine with the temp here. Now I can wear my sundresses! I wore my jeans almost every day in July and I only wore them 3 times during the last year here....

Hope all is well with everyone,
Missing you all already,
Kristy