So far, so good

First day of school picture, the girls were a little apprehensive this year.

I'm just starting my first blog.  This is meant to be as much a diary as a way to connect with family and friends.  I've tried facebook, and I'm not sure it's my cup of tea.  I'll continue with it for awhile.  Most of what you see on facebook will be taken from this blog.

So here we go.

Friday night August 13th
Several days ago I was shopping at Carrefour, a French version of something like Fred Meyer.  They've got a little of everything.  When I'm shopping here I talk with caucasians who can speak both Thai and English to help me with my shopping.  In this regard I met a women named Audrey.  She has a daughter Ahnika's age, so she asked for my phone number in the thought of getting the two daughters together.  You see, the expat population is so transient here that you have to be proactive when it comes to making friends.  Every year you lose about 1/4 of your friends.  If you didn't work hard to constantly replace them you would soon be out of friends.  This is the way it has been since we arrived.  People come up to you and introduce themselves.  They constantly offer help and advice.  They give you stuff, invite you on bike rides, take you out for a beer, loan you tools, loan you bikes, and invite you to wonderful dinners as Audrey and her husband did Friday night.  What a beautiful house, 6 bedrooms, 8 baths, a swimming pool etc.  We had a great time, but . . .

Saturday morning August 14th
I woke up about 4am with Montezuma's revenge.  I'm now the third of the Wood house to have this intestinal battle between Thai and American microorganisms.  For me the battle was quick (about 24 hours).  I'm hoping the Thais won so that I don't have to go through this again.  The battle in Kristy has raged for 7 days now. 

Sunday night August 15th
Usually our Mae Baan (maid) does the laundry, but there was some collateral damage from the intestinal wars that I thought I should take car of myself before she came in on Monday.  I was on my way back from the laundry room for the third time when a night guard held up his hand as if to say stop, and called out "snake".  Needless to say I immediately heeded his warning.  Two guards were in the process of trying to capture a 3 foot long cobra that was within 6 feet of where I had walked on my earlier trips to the laundry room.  I watched as they tried to root it out and capture it or kill it.  We've been told they can sell the snake and get more money for it when they capture it alive.  These guys didn't seem to have the tools to capture it so they kill it with an 8ft piece of bamboo.  The picture I will attempt to post shows the snake dead, or so we thought.  Just after the picture was taken it moved again so they whacked it a few more times.  Then they made a noose out of some twine that they attached to the end of the stick.  I left at this point but wow that was exciting.  You're probably thinking that I was lucky not to have been bitten by this snake.  Keep in mind that they are not out hunting people.  It was obvious it wanted nothing to do with these guards and only showed its hood and teeth when they were poking at it to get it out of its hiding place.  We are to big for them to eat so they won't waste their precious venom on us unless provoked, stepped on etc.  Either way, I'm glad there is one less cobra around our apartment.

First day of school pictures are such a pain