Travel Wanderlust

We are on vacation but thought I would put out a few pictures from where we are. 

Klong Phlu Waterfall

Elephants are everywhere

Wish you were here!

Cheers 

😘 M

Thankful Thursday

Erin ~ Thankful for all my friends and family and all their support. 

Andrew ~ Thankful for a computer so I don't have to write everything for school. 

Jack ~ Thankful that I have allowance to buy stuff at the Tuck shop. 

Maggie ~ Thankful that Walter is home this week and most of next week. 

Walter ~ Thankful that we are going on vacation Sunday. I need a break from work. 

Enjoy

😘 M

Thailand Fun Facts:

Siamese cats are native to Thailand. In Thai they are called wichen-maat, meaning “moon diamond.” A 14th-century book of Thai poems describes 23 types of Siamese cats; today only six breeds are left.
Giving a pair of Si Sawat cats (a type of Siamese cats)to a bride is supposed to bring good luck to the marriage. 

V for Victory

A Dodgeball Champion and a Cross Country Star, we can not handle anymore egos in this house. 

Our school hosted a Dodgeball Charity Tournament for Nepal. Students chose their teams and pay a small entry fee to compete. Andrews team of 11, The Unknowns, were the champions of Key Stage 4, year 7, 8, and 9 with Andrew throwing the crushing shot at the last opponent of the other team. He came home with the trophy and 2 friends for a sleepover. The sleepover broke the cultural barriers of people saying it couldn't be done. The 2 boys slept over with Andrew and spent the next day at the mall.  I of course stressed over what to feed the non Americans and went French (lol) with French toast for breakfast.   I never gave much thought on what to feed kids when they came to my house until this moment. Andrew had given me strick instructions on what to feed them for dinner but breakfast?  I guess I made a wise choice when both boys claimed unanimously that it was the best breakfast ever of course my competition was rice so not much competition there. 

Erin's team, Vibe Crushers, well they looked good and really that's all that mattered. Lol. An argument we have in our house regularly, better to look cute or win. Ha!

Andrew with his trophy!  Nice shirt he's sportin wrong sport though. 

Cross Country meet was this week. Jack placed second for year 6 boys, a total of 50+ boys.  He ran a 2k. Andrew gave a great 3k run in his leather school shoes. So Andrew!  He didn't realize that he had been asked to be on the CC team therefore didn't know he had a meet in which case he had to run in his school shoes because he would NEVER draw attention to embarrass himself because he forgot his sneakers. Oh Andrew. You can only shake your head at this kid. He ran great regardless of his shoes and placed in the middle of the pack of the 40 boys in year 8. 

Khun Biayoon our devoted driver was on the sidelines again cheering his heart out for both Andrew and Jack. 

Jack on the podium!

It's an actual real silver medal. Walter and I were really impressed with the hardware. St. Andrews (another international school) was where the meet took place. 

Andrew running his heart out. Notice the shoes. He should do Nautralizer commercials or something. Surprisingly No blisters either. 

Andrew had his first basketball game. It was a great effort by the team but came up short in the last 3 seconds when the opponent threw up a 3 pointer and made it. The one and only attempted and made 3 pointer of the game. Lucky shot. Lol. Regents lost 19-18. 

#33. At least this time he had the right shoes. 

No they don't play shirts and skins. :) I have no idea why this kid is wo a shirt. 

This pic must be before the game. 

Side note:

50 days until Ryan comes for Christmas!  YAHOO!

55 days until our first visitors ~ MY PARENTS!!

Cheers

😘 M

A new reality show coming soon

The Household Help of Thailand, My new reality show.  I'm just testing new titles for the reality show that is being created before my very eyes. I just need a video camera now. ;)

Scene: The maid, the driver, and the gardener (sounds like a beginning to a bad joke) throw in a language teacher and this is my household ( you can stop rolling your eyes, I do live in Thailand) all sitting around discussing their employee. 

The characters: The driver who sits around the car port sleeping and watching movies in the car and rarely entering the house but he speaks decent English and always asks for money. 

The maid who speaks very little English but she is inside the nice air conned house all day cleaning the clean house she cleaned the day before

The gardener/pool boy who speaks no English (at least he pretends he doesn't) and works outside mostly while wearing militia lookin coverings so his skin doesn't darken but he has been working at this house for a VERY long time and also comes in the nice air conned house when something needs to be fixed so he gets lots of respect plus he resides at one of these nice houses here in the neighborhood. 

Small part: The Thai teacher, she is educated and speaks English very well but is only here 2 days a week for a short period of time. She likes to TalK especially about being single. Good grief she needs a boyfriend. 

The 3 main characters are hanging around my car port talking, as I come out of my house they scatter. Not sure what they are afraid of I don't speak Thai. Of course I crack a joke which of course know one understands but they suddenly find the need to get back to work. 

Thai lesson with the teacher which begins with her asking me why "white people" (her words not mine) lay in the sun and tan their skin. She likes to tell me how bad it is for my skin which makes me laugh. She also tells me that Thai people are opposite because white makes you look richer, haha try telling that to the workers in Meijer in MI. 

She and my maid get along well, well, better than I want them too. They like to talk about me, how do I know?  One word I recognize is madam, Thai people are not subtle, more like very direct with zero confrontation. These two are having a conversation turns out they are talking about Walter, the name is easy to understand. Lol. From My teacher I am told Walter offended our maid because he called her a bad name in Thai. Hello Walter doesn't speak Thai. Oh how does one call another a bad word when you don't speak the language. Trying to explain that Walter is just learning Thai to my teacher and maid was a funny conversation. So I'm apologizing to them for something Walter has absolutely no idea what he said plus Walter is never around so this happened 3 weeks ago. Again why am I having this conversation as I shake my head. 

Warning:   If you come to Thailand for a visit don't ever put the E sound before a name. I guess, at least that's what I got out of the conversation. 

One evening Driver asks me for money. I just gave him money 8 days ago. He is denied, don't judge. Lol

Next morning a message is left on my voice mail by him, he is not coming to work brother in law died.  He shows up anyway. I am concerned and go to greet him. He is sad but worried about me, Walter is still away. He continues to tell me that his Brother in law died because of to much whiskey.  He then continues to tell me very matter of factly that he has to take body to man, using his charade skills puts fingers on wrist checking for pulse. He then continues on that he has to take man to bleed him (those are his exact words). Really did I need to hear this. I'm trying to look saddened not sickened. After he says they bleed him I take him to temple to burn him. Again really am I really having this conversation with this man in my car port. 

He says this is why I drove my pick up truck. I should have stopped there but nope I had to ask why driving his truck mattered, like I really needed to know, but the truck was for transporting the body. Turns out Khun Baiyoon had to go pick up the body, his wife could not lift him (charades for stiff man were done by Biayoon) and take him in the back of the pickup truck to all these different places. Now of course I'm feeling guilty that this man is at my house with the dead mans body waiting for him, I give him the day off. Biayoon shows up at 5pm that night to help transport kids and shows up the following day to take me to meet up with Walter. Needless to say we gave him an advancement in his salary Saturday night.  He has to pay for services at the temple. Geez who knew I would be so caught up in another persons life so much. 

I guess I got lucky a friend of mine had her driver show her the picture of the dead persons body to prove why he had to take time off and She did not ask for this proof. 

These are just a few of the happenings going on in this household. Who knew so much drama would swirl around.  You just have to laugh and remind yourself to take it a day at a time. 

We leave for holiday this Sunday. We are quite excited for our first big adventure. We are going to the White Sand Beach in Koh Chang. Koh Chang is the third largest island in Thailand. Khun Biayoon is driving us there. It's about a 3.5 hour trip ending with a ferry ride out to the island. We hope the rain stays away but we are taking a gamble with it being monsoon season. It rained here nonstop today, a typhoon hit Vietnam and we are feeling the effects.   I'm hoping this will pass and we will get a great sunny vacation. 

I bought my first ever fascinator, who knew I would ever say that word or wear something like that. Going to a huge viewing party in Bangkok for the Melbourne Cup. Nope not into horse races but into fun experiences.  

Enjoying the ride!

Cheers

😘 M xx

Side note:

Erin's birthday is November 3. She will be 17!  I can't believe it. If your a Facebook person I would love to light up her wall with tons of well wishes. She has chosen a noble thing for her birthday to donate all her birthday gifts/monies to the Mercy Center. This is a Christian based orphan run by a single American woman. Erin volunteers at this orphan on a weekly basis. She has fallen in love with several of the kids and comes home regularly asking us to adopt. Living in Thailand has given her the realization how fortunate we are. She is really beginning to appreciate this adventure and take full advantage of it. I am her biggest cheerleader!  

Interesting blog sent to me by my cousin Megan. Join the conversation if interested. http://www.conversiondiary.com/2013/10/what-is-the-religious-climate-in-your-part-of-the-world.html

Shopping adventure

This shopping adventure I just couldn't pass up on sharing. 

Glass Gallery ~ literally any colored vase you want. Rows upon rows of reproduced glass.  Not very creative in the artistry work

Anyone want or need a hand bag or wallet. 100% snake skin ~ this is an entire room of them. Come on any takers I bet you won't find one of these anywhere else. Lol. 1 of a million!!  

Everyone needs a scary oriental figurine ~ and you thought these were made in China.  Ha!

We all need a gold plated statue. I can get you any shape or size. 

Now I'm making you jealous. It's the giant size gold hand. We all could use a hand now and then!  Lol

Silk flowers?  You know yours are probably getting dusty. 

This guy may actually adorn my front porch someday. Don Quixote needs a friend. :)

All this fun stuff is made right here in Thailand. The next time you pick up that item and it says made in Thailand think of me. I can probably buy it here for ten times more than the price you will pay in the USA.   Nothing like cheap labor and massive exports to bring down the cost of something. Lol

Can you imagine I didn't buy anything but I am considering the gold hands.  We all need to give ourselves the high five every now and then!   😜

Cheers

😘 M

To blog or not to blog

Blogging can seem very mundane to the bloggie because it is about ones life. Ones life can just not be that exciting everyday. But ~

Life has become "normal" but as my parents like to remind me there really is nothing normal about my life to them right now. So I'll continue to blog as best I can and those I entertain keep reading and those I bore its just a simple click on delete. 

Monsoon season is here!  I have always read about monsoons but did not pay much attention to the word. Well it has my attention now. Monsoon is a season and it rains everyday damn day not spit but pour. Sometimes it rains so hard it rains in the house. Yep it's a rental!  It seems at night it's the worst. Thunder and lightening like I've never heard. Streets are flooded and the poor people who live in the dirt are now living in mud. Streets get washed away, garbage is everywhere. The other night staying out WAy to late it took over an hour to get home because everywhere that Biayoon went the street was flooded. Cars were floating. It was quite a sight. Thank goodness Khun B was driving, well for other reasons than just the rain, or I would never have gotten home. It rains so much that the giant frogs seem to mistake our pool for a pond and have turned it into a mating pool. Lovely thing to wake up to in the morning plus a nice lesson on natural reproduction for my boys. 

Walter thought the one frog was trying to kill the other as he was trying to separate the 2 frogs. Andrew was like hum dad I think they are doing something else. Obviously Walter missed that issue of National Geographic when he was 12. Don't ask me why he was bothering to separate the 2 frogs. Lol

As for Khun Biayoon maybe you notice the new name. Nope same driver just new name. Well I don't think his name is new it's just new to us. Turns out for a month in a half we were calling him the wrong name. Culture kept him from correcting us. Oh that was a funny conversation between Biayoon and Walter. Walter in his matter of fact, I don't really get this, way did not understand why a man would not correct us with his name.  I am still trying to teach Walter that sometimes you have to just take things the way they are and NOT always understand why. Lol. Basically what we got was we can call him Biayoon, Yoon or really whatever we want just as long as we like "driver style" (his words in your best Thai accent) and pay him at the end of the month. 

Khun Biayoons a good guy and we like him. I still struggle with the whole driver thing. In the beginning I was going out all the time because I felt guilty about him sitting in my driveway now I never go out because I feel guilty about him driving to all these crazy stores where I buy basically nothing because I feel to guilty spending money in front of him. It's a vicious world I live in. ;) At some point I hope to find a balance between these extremes. For now he naps in my car or watches a movie.  Glad I'm paying for him to get his rest and keep up with the arts. Lol

Kids are good. Erin loved her trip to Koh Chang. I'm still trying to get her to take over my blog for the day. She has some funny stories about life at school. For now she is to busy with HW and BF. Yes she has a new friend.  He comes for Sunday dinner and I think is so taken back by the controlled chaos that goes on in this house. It is hard to get a word in with 5 very strong personalities plus a father who towers over this poor boy.  

We are his only experience of American culture except for episodes of the Real House Wives of NY, Big Brother on MTV, oh and once when he went to Disney in FL. Scary that we, along with all those "classy shows" and Disney are giving him an idea of what being an American is. Maybe we need a reality show The Real Life of an American Expat Living in Thailand. Naaaah don't think so then you would see how I truly live and I would never have sympathy again. Lol

Jack is good. He has his name on the wall at school. No not for discipline.  He is the fastest runner in cross country for year 6. Yep that's Jack. After this running session he is now on the Cross Country team at school having 2 meets this month.   He has made some really nice friends and seems to be happy. 

Andrew is super. Finally got a phone so he thinks his 12 year old self is quite cool. Finally broke the culture barrier and had a friend over. It is not common to have kids over on weekends especially those from other countries and being few Americans here you naturally become friends with kids from all over the world. We are going for a sleepover this weekend. Stay tuned!

The social world here is probably the toughest adjustment for my kids. They are use to having friends over on weekends for sleepovers or go to other peoples houses but here you just don't do it. During the week they are super busy but weekends can be tough if we don't have something planned. 

No longer am I the eager beaver, well sort of.  I have regular things on my plate now. Have made a few friends and have gotten out a bit. I joined a book club, a foodie club, a Rayong Ladies Club just need to put them all together and make it one big club called the Prosecco Club. These ladies like their Prosecco. They even make fun of me now, when I order a beer they refer to it as my "man beer".

 

I survived the book club. On to my new torture of reading the Enchantments, a Russian Novel. If only my English 101 teacher could see me now. Of course I haven't started. Lol

Foodie club is quite fun with a great group of women. We are learning how to cook one another's food from our countries. Our first meeting was Thai cooking. So fun but I will continue to go to the restaurants for Thai food. I don't think I will ever measure up plus don't want the family to think I will now be cooking Thai when all we have to do it drive down the road. Next up is American food well American traditional food. We are going to try and put up our best Thanksgiving meal. Many of these women have never had pumpkin pie. Found out that pumpkins are generally not used for making desserts around the world more used as a vegetable. Plus the big giant orange pumpkins are not common. I can buy a 12lb pumpkin here special ordered and imported from the good ol US of A and pay about 1600 baht. That's about 50 US $. I think I will pass on the pumpkin this Halloween. 

Rayong Ladies Club is like a newcomers club where all the women who are expats bitch about our rough life ( this said in a truly sarcastic voice). This has been a great way to meet new people and exchange information about the happenings going on in Pattaya. 

Week 2 of Thai language classes for me. Interesting to say the least. She keeps me informed on all the sex trade in Thailand and Lady boys. I don't have to read Pattaya Mail anymore.  I get more education from her on the happenings in Thailand. It is eye opening about the things I really didn't want to know. She is EXTREmELy forward with her information. Yikes!  One 30 minute conversation was all about the ladies and white men and what they pay and who their after and how she has no interest in making her money that way (Thank God). Then I started getting serious with her about the morals and values of these women which she looked at me like I was nuts and very flatly told me how else would these women make money. Smacking my head, WHY did I bother to exchange in conversation about this.  Hello I am paying you for language lessons not the Arts of Prostitution Practice.  Basically my Ability to speak Thai is pathetic but boy I can tell you about all the "strange" "activities" here in Thailand. 

Walter's been traveling for work. Last week India this week Korea and Japan. Next week ?  

Ryan got a roommate no more single hood for him. He is doing well and loves MSU. Good thing, now I can remove that from my worry plate. 

Family vacation in 2 weeks to Koh Chang. Kids have a week off of school for Fall break. 

Keep waiting for the leaves to turn here, do Palm trees change color.   

JK ~ weather continues to be hot and humid with a slim chance of sun and a lot of rain. 🌴🌞

Of course just as I wrote this the sun came out. 😄

Girls Night Out ~ we are the women who DONT know when to go home. Fun Night!

Jack in his Koala mask. They had World Animal week at school with the year 6 dressing as Australian Animals. This was the best I could do with no Hobby Lobby. Jack has been studying Australia for weeks now. He's got his "good day mate" down pretty well with his Aussie accent.  

Top of his list ~ trip to Australia!   of course it is Lol

Jacks class ~ Jack' REALLY cool teacher (Jacks words) with the peace signs is in the background. He was the safari guide. 

Cheers

😘 M

Thankful Thursday

Maggie ~ Thankful for the many opportunities I have here in Thailand as an individual and as a family.

(Booked a volunteer weekend trip in November to go teach English to an underpriveldge school in Chiang Mai, by myself)

Erin ~ Thankful that I have such a cute and caring boyfriend.  

(I'm trying to hold in my eye roll and gagging noise as I write this, lol)

Andrew ~ Thankful that I can now describe myself and order food in a Mexican restaurant. 

(Greatttttttt now that we DONT live in Mexico any more, if we move to another country that's when he will learn to speak Thai, yep he's my kid but that doesn't mean I can explain him). 

Jack ~ Thankful that my school has a pool and I get to swim and play games with my friends at school. 

Walter being in India this week excuses him from Thankful Thursday but if he was here it would probably say he was thankful that he doesn't live in India with a 2+ hour commute to work one way. 

This was what caused the traffic jam today.   This picture he took after his driver got through the jam.  

Cheers

😘 M