Andrew took his placement test this morning. He of coursed aced it. His words not mine. It's great when your kid is so confident with himself. Erin, Jack and I got picked up by our driver around 11:30 and went to school where Jack had his interview. He actually spoke like a human not a monkey. I think there might actually be a brain in that big head of his. We were with him and the head mistress ( of the primary school, remember its a British school so titles are different). Very nice woman and made Jack feel very comfortable. You should see the uniforms they will be wearing. They are so adorable, little red plaid shorts with white button down linen tops. So British. Andrew will wear a tie, white button down oxford and navy slacks, extremely proper. Erin has to wear business casual everyday. Andrew will wear black sensible business shoes unless he has PE. Jack gets a PE uniform too but he has a choice of wearing an all black sneaker with his uniform and not the black sensible shoe. ( sensible business shoe was her word not mine I just would say ugly black shoe Lol).
After school our realtor took us to north Pattaya where the open fish market is, its called a wet market. OMG again Mexico on steroids x2. You walk down these tiny walkways covered with umbrellas or canopies. First you have to overcome the smell and pour through the people and motor scooters. I swear you could get run over if your not careful. As you begin to tolerate the smell you walk closer and closer to the water and row after row of seafood. I mean row after row after row of seafood. Stuff I have never seen and stuff I may never want to see again. I took pictures. I have never seen so much fresh seafood so fresh that I bent over these fish laying in this metal pan and the damn fish jumped and flopped around. These fish were not in water just laying on ice. They were still breathing. It scared the beejeezus out of me. Of course my kids thought it was hilarious. As they walked around their eyes were like saucers. The shrimp was amazing. There was shark, hermit crabs, octopus, tuna, fish that I couldn't identify, crabs, horseshoe crabs, sting ray, squid. Most of the stuff was still alive. It was moving and spitting. You could also find some chicken and lots of vegetables but mostly just row after row of seafood. It was really wild. Then after you buy your seafood you can take it to the end of the market and they will cook it for 1 kilo for 30 baht. 30 baht is about 1$. So cheap. It will be a place I venture to, I am sure, once I get my Thai legs.
This afternoon was spent back at the pool with everyone. We had lunch at the swim up bar. Walter and I had some Japanese dish with noodles and fresh seafood. I couldn't tell you the name. It wasJjacks recommendation, I guess he had it before. Doesn't every 9 year old eat Japanese noodles with seafood. He has decided that the seafood here is the best he has ever had. I can now vouch that it is very fresh after what I saw today.
We are still waiting to here about the house, whether or not we got it. We sent the contract in this morning. We are waiting on the approval of the owner. He tried to pull a fast one on us. Yesterday we were quoted one price for rent then today it has changed. I guess we didn't get the expat price . Walter was livid and our relocation person got an earful. Lets hope it all gets worked out and we leave here with a house to live in.
So far this has been a great trip for us all to get our Thai legs. It has truly given us a sample of what life will be like. (Okay minus the big fancy hotel and swim up bar. Okay and minus the driver too, plus the going out for every meal.) Well you get the idea. It has given us a chance to see the flavor of the country and get a taste of the culture and know we will survive.
My stress level is down and I only worry about Ryan in the fall. He insists that he will be fine. Which I hope he is. I am sure new worries will come up but I try to take it one day at a time.
Tonight we had dinner and drinks upstairs in the executive lounge. We sat with Anchen, she works with Walter. Well it's funny because in the beginning of our trip we weren't treated so well here. Walter didn't say anything but we started to look at other hotels to move. Well Anchen, who is Thai, heard from Walter that we weren't happy. She called the front desk and gave them an earful. Without knowing this info, yesterday I said to Walter that things were getting better here at the hotel or maybe I'm just getting use to it. Turns out they are falling all over us now because Anchen came in and yelled at them. Told them Kellogg would never use them again. Now we are getting the best service ever including letting us keep the room for nothing tomorrow night because we are getting picked up for the airport at 1:30am. Yes that is no typo, am.
Erin and I went to the open market tonight. What fun. It's all kinds of weird tourist crap. She got an eyeful with the hand carved black wooded penis. Yep that's not another typo. Turns out Pattaya is known for their gay population. Life lessons that's all I keep telling Erin. I bought her a bathing suit for 10$, a skirt for about 9$ and 4 pairs of socks for .30 cents each.
Have I mentioned the massage parlors. They are everywhere like nail salons in the US. Most of them are big picture windows where people sit in the chairs that you see in nail salons and ladies rub your feet or neck or whatever. It is so strange. Erin and I tried to go into one but it turns out we didn't have enough money. We were trying to barter with this woman but she would not have any of it. Erin and I instead went to the ICE bar at our hotel. It is just a giant lounge with these big comfy couches and chairs. They bring you these ice cold towels to wipe your hands. Erin was impressed. :)
Walter took Ryan down to the other end of Beach Rd called Walking street. Interesting is all I can say. Maybe I'll save what walking street is for another email. The black carved wooden penis might give you a clue.
So we learned something new today about Thailand, how they keep the dog population down. Ready, once a year they round up all the stray dogs and send them to Cambodia. Dog is a delicacy in Cambodia. Guess I need to keep a close eye on sparky. I don't need her to turn up on somebodies dinner plate.
Here are some pictures of the wet market below and one from Ryan's adventure tonight.
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