Our First Guest

How lucky we are to have my parents as our first guest this Christmas season. Nothing like company to make the holidays a bit more festive. My parents took the 22+ hour flight to join us for 3+ weeks. 

Day #2 and I have sympathy jet lag. I think I was so worried about them having terrible jet lag that I have not slept a full nights sleep in a couple of days and now I'm the one who is tired at 3 in the afternoon. Them they are fine. How 2 people 70+ years in age does it I don't know. I'm the one falling asleep on the coach at 8:30p, don't ask I'm pathetic. 

They arrived safe and sound with 6 checked bags and 2 carry ons. Their bags weighed more than 430lbs. Now you ask why?  Groceries!  6lbs of bumble bee tuna, 6lbs of black beans, 2 lbs of tahini, 5 boxes of cereal ( yes it is big K brand) 32oz of egg noodles, syrup, crackers, all the ingredients for Buffalo Chicken Dip x4 ( thanks Bets my boys are very happy about that) baking chocolate and more food than I know what to do with. Weird stuff I know but we are psyched with all this weird stuff. :)

First night we arrived home at 1:30am and proceeded to stay up until 3am chatting and having a glass or two. Shockingly they were up at 8:30am. 

They have met Biayoon who is amazed with my parents and calls my dad Peepaw (which is what my kids call him) and Khun Maeow. After a day my parents are already complaining about cleaning up after themselves on the 2 days that Khun Maeow doesn't work. Lol. My mom says really we have to make our own bed ;). 

First day out Erin, my mom and I head out and I decide foot massage. Why not?  I'm trying to tell my mom what to expect before we walk in but it doesn't matter. She cracks me up. Do you realize that it doesn't matter how loud you talk to someone who doesn't speak the same language as you this person is still not going to understand what your saying. Lol. The foot massage place is a place for relaxation. It is very quiet, the music is very low, and no one talks. Mom we'll lets just say not so much at least in the beginning. First thing is they wash your feet. She is trying to explain to the woman washing her feet why her toe nail is missing. Speaking louder and louder. I shake my head knowing that this woman is not understanding my mom, hello she doesn't speak English. They move us to the massage room which is in front of a huge window looking out on the street. My mom literally talked for the first 8 minutes. I'm trying to tell her to shhh that you don't talk but she doesn't have her hearing aid in on the side I'm on and can't hear me. Just when she is getting louder and becoming somewhat of an annoyance ;) she becomes quiet and within 15 minutes she is silent and within 30 minutes she is snoring. Lol. 

Before we go into the parlor she is telling me that dad is going to be upset and maybe we should wait for dad for foot massages, as she goes on about this I ignore her and proceed with us getting one. After the hour is up she claims that was the best thing she has ever had and can we do this every day and better yet can I hire one to come to the house everyday. Yes she was no longer singing the poor dad tune. 

After massages I have Biayoon drive us down Beach Rd.  She is looking out trying to find something nice to say (believe me it is hard) about where we live. My mom notices ALL the bars and sees the different nationality bars. She asks oh look there is a Norwegian bar has Walter been?  Lol nope Walter has not been to that bar or really any bars on Beach Rd. Thank goodness😝 

First evening we go to one of our favorite restaurants Khun John. Great Thai food!

Day 2 was lots of cards, the Hunger Games Tournament has begun. Walter thinks he is in the lead but that's because he hasn't played a game. ;) Dad and Erin seem to be battling for first. Me, I'm the beatle bomb but what else is new. 

Out to late lunch Saturday on the beach. Having so much fun we missed church. Oops!

It was a beautiful day!

Maybe this is why we missed church. 

Cheers

😘 M

The rented Christmas Tree

What does a turkey dinner and a few Leffe brown beers get you?  A Christmas tree is the answer for us. What started as a crazy dinner conversation one evening landed me a Christmas tree. 

Not having brought one Christmas decoration as the holiday season approached I started to think hmmm this is going to be interesting. Having Ryan and my parents here for Christmas I really wanted the house to have a nice holiday spirit. Living in a Non Christian country I started to think what am I going to do for decorations.

Early November out to dinner with some friends we get on the conversation of Christmas. Over a few Leffe beers we were talking about decorations. My friend who has been an expat for years said she has a fake tree that she puts up but since they will be gone for 3 weeks won't be able to enjoy it. Out of my mouth I blurt can I borrow it. Laughter erupted from the table, really who borrows a Christmas tree. Her husband thought this was a great idea as did she, of course they did these are just the kind of people that would lend out their tree.  The husband decides the agreement on the rental. She is leaving earlier than him leaving him here for a week by himself, he wants turkey dinner, (she does not cook turkey dinner) and some brown Leffe beers. All that for a decorated Christmas tree!  Easy!

So our plan was laid out. She had to use the tree for a coffee morning she was hosting in early December but was leaving for Australia December 10 so I could come and get it before. We needed a ute - a what?  Aussies speak English but sometimes I have absolutely no idea what the words mean - it works both ways :) a ute is a pick up truck. Easy I don't drive remember - oh Biayoon, he has a ute. 

Now this conversation I have with Khun Biayoon is an interesting one he speaks English pretty well when talking about normal day to day driving but when it came to this one not so easy. How do you explain to a non celebrating Christmas person that you need to drive to someone's house and bring me back their Christmas tree, fully decorated I might add. Mind you we all have gates and security guards at our villages. Away Biayoon goes to pick up my rented tree. They carefully place it wrapped in a sheet in the back of his truck, fully decorated I might add.  Oh so slowly he drives off only to be stopped at security asking why he has someone's tree, like the grinch stealing the Christmas trees. The security guard goes and knocks on my friends door asking her about Biayoon taking the tree. He makes her sign a piece of paper that she has no idea what it says (all in Thai) and away Biayoon goes. She meanwhile is texting me. We are in hysterics. She is confused why they made her sign something about her own tree. About an hour later he shows up at the house with the tree. (I drive very slowly madam for your tree, say Khun Biayoon). She lives 10 minutes away. I swear he stopped somewhere to show his friends so they could have a good laugh. 

Biayoon and Jack with the tree in the ute. 

Bad picture but me trying to explain that we need to now take the tree inside. 

Poor sad tree needs some refreshing. 

Final tree!  My kids think it looks pathetic but hey it's a tree. 

At least now I keep up the tradition of my driver thinking I am completely nuts. The next day my friends maid came rushing into her after having arrived in the morning saying madam madam where is the big tree it is gone. After all this it turns out we could have driven to Ikea in Bangkok and gotten a real tree or I could have bought a fake one here but I think it was totally worth it with the amount of laughs that we got over this rented tree. It's definitely a good story as my kids continue to roll their eyes at me!

Never had a fake tree in my life but I'm kinda liking this, nothing to water, no fire hazard.   Clean up and putting away is going to be real easy, I will make sure Biayoon has his ute that day. 😉

Oh and dinner is tomorrow for Greg.  Hope I have enough Leffe beer!

Cheers

😘 M

Only 2 more sleeps until my parents are here!  Yipeeeeeee

Merry Christmas!

Thankful Thursday

Maggie ~ Thankful that Ryan is coming home tonight!

Walter ~ Thankful that my son Ryan is coming home!

Erin ~ Thankful for Ryan coming home!

Andrew ~ Thankful for school to be over. 

Jack ~ Thankful for Ryan, Meemaw, and Pepaw comin to Thailand for Christmas. 

The more we give gratitude the more that flows to us to be grateful for. 

~ Kevin Hall author "Aspire"

Jack had his last football game of the 2013 year and they won. He scored 4 goals and had 1 assist. 

Score 5-2. Of course the driver Khun Biayoon cheered the loudest on the sidelines. 😊 

Cheers

😘 M

Getting ready for the holidays

Ah the holidays are upon us and well it sure doesn't feel like it. I still feel like its summer vacation, had a Mojito tonight. The sun shines everyday and it's around 90*. Everything is lush and green, birds are chirping and flowers are blooming. Are you understanding why it's hard to get into the Christmas spirit. By now in Michigan, I would be freezing, bitching about the snow or cold or all the above. 

I didn't bring one Christmas decoration with me, don't ask why, Walter can answer that and I'm sure his answer will be I told you so.  (Did you see that, that was me sticking my tongue out at him :)

I have bought a few things from various Christmas bazaars. Our super mall Central like to jack up all the prices on the very small plastic and tacky decorations that they carry, of course I bought a few things.  Thais do not celebrate Christmas but they have absolutely no problem making several bucks off of us farangs (Thai word for foreigner) and all the imported junk. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving. Actually we celebrated 3 times. As expats we tend to over celebrate holidays from home to make up on what we think were missing out on, though the only thing we are missing out on are the usual people we are with but in reality aren't we missing those people everyday and not just on holidays. Yes that is my brain thinking way to much into it. It was a great holiday and we had lots of fun. I cooked more than I cook at home and felt very fortunate to have made friends so quickly who included us in their celebration.  I even was able to share our thanksgiving traditions and food with a few non American families who had never celebrated thanksgiving before.  It was nice having so many distractions to keep me from missing out on celebrations we would have been at in the US. 

This also was the first Thanksgiving holiday that I was not with 2 of my boys. Ryan being in the US and Jack getting home later that Thanksgiving night from Chiang Mai. We all survived and I was okay. :)

Ryan flew to San Antonio and was warmly welcomed by my sister and her family. He was very happy to be in a home surrounded by people who love him. Jack was happy because I saved him pie for when he got home. 

Answer to a few questions: yes we get turkey very expensive turkey but it is a Butterball. 

Surprisingly we even had fresh cranberries, expensive cranberries (7$ a bag) Walter brought me canned pumpkin from the states but I can find that here too. I really can find almost anything I want if I'm willing to look and go to 5 or 6 different stores and am not picky about brands. Pattaya is very international. 

I can't believe it is December and we have lived in Thailand for almost 5 months. The first term of school is almost over. Winter break begins this Friday and the kids couldn't be happier. 

Stupid Elms facts:

Finally had to buy our first pack of toilet paper since moving here. Why you ask?  I brought lots in our shipment. Can you now imagine how much since it is December and I haven't bought any until now. That's a lot of toilet paper!

Dog food - just bought our first bag. Yep brought lots of that too. Guess Sparky is going to have to get use to eating non regulated USDA fortified dog food Hahahaha. She will survive. Don't pity her. She is spoiled rotten and fat as a pig. I think the maid secretly feeds her. Khun Maew LOVeS her!  

Haven't bought paper towels yet but it's getting close. 

Almost out of peanut butter but I can get that here. Olive oil dangerously close to being gone but again can buy here too. Our shipment home when we eventually return to the US is going to be extremely light without all this food now I have lots of room to buy pretty Asian things. :)

Cereal I brought is gone and can you believe that the Big K is not represented well here, well you can buy some but my boys swear it taste different. Can you believe big Papa works for the largest cereal company and my kids refuse to eat cereal here. Also if you buy the imported stuff it will set you back a good 9$ a box. Yikes even Walter refuses to buy it. He says he doesn't make enough money to afford it. 😜 He would rather have eggs, cheaper. Lol.   If you come visit bring a box of "K" cereal. Lol. 

My kids would like to add that you can't get sour patch kids. Candy is yuck, unless of course you like seaweed flavored candy or shrimp flavored. This is not a joke. True story. Biggest dried seafood section in the candy isle I have ever seen.  

We still have our driver, though barely. He was in a motorbike accident and out of work for 10 days though he seemed to think he should get paid for all those days off. Khun Biayoon was saved by me but I'm out of saves. If he messes up again he is out. I like him and he is a good guy though he doesn't like to work hard. He is making his way through our movie collection. I make sure after a couple of weeks or so I change out the movies in the car. He appreciates it. 😝

Those 10 days I drove around myself. Yes scary I know but it did make me feel powerful and miss the ability to just jump in my car and go where I want. Sometimes with a driver you feel trapped and feel weird when you just got home and realize you forgot something at the store and need to go back or the thing at the Big C (like a target) wasn't at the regular Big C you go to and want to drive an extra 30 minutes across town to the other Big C so you can get what you want. Plus with a driver I am very conscious with what I spend because I can spend in one shopping trip what he makes in a week. 

The kids are great and just livin life. Jack got back from his trip to Chiang Mai he had a fabulous time. I know when my kid has a great time when you don't have to ask how the trip was and he just talks and talks and follows me around the house telling me about his trip. He traveled by airplane with his group, stayed in a tribal village, visited the famous night market, plowed a rice field with a buffalo and got very muddy, rode in a go cart, learned how to fire a cross bow into a papaya, watched a traditional tribal dance, ate all kinds of different foods, learned how to cook over an open pit in the ground, slept at a school in the village, hiked to the highest peak in Thailand, fed pigs, taught English to the school children in the tribe, watched women make silk and did a study of invertebrate in a rain forest. All this done in 4 days with his school mates and this is why he slept for more than 24 hours when he got home. He was a tired boy!  He loved this experience so much that we just put his down payment on his next trip to Nepal in February. Nepal for goodness sake. I want to be one of my kids!!!

I'm working on those adoption papers Kellie. ;)

Andrew made the Fobisea team. Fobisea is where the international schools come together to compete in various sporting events. Each school is allowed to only take 20 kids per age group. Andrews age,   yr 7 and 8 combined, had over 50 kids try out and he was chosen. He is soooo excited. He is going to Brunei in the beginning of April. Yeah google where that is, I had too. Again can I say I want to be one of my children. 

Erin is busy busy busy with school. She really loves it and is very happy. We have to compete with her over the driver on weekends. She seems always to have something going on. School is going really well and she is handling the IB program and work load effortlessly. Boyfriend is over but that is a good thing. She was sad but I told her who wants to date a boy who wears a smaller size jean than most woman anyway. I don't think she really appreciated that comment maybe one day she will understand. Lol

Last weekend Walters boss invited us to join him on a boat he rented. Walter and I don't pass up much in this life we are living and this was not an opportunity we were going to pass on. This boat ended up being a yacht. My kids were SO happy they didn't pass on this offer too. Wow. Incredibly beautiful and SO not something Walters boss does often. We took off from the Ocean Marina in the bay of Pattaya and traveled around. One of the things on my bucket list while being here was to go to monkey island. Monkey island is an island only inhabited by monkeys. Only way to get there is by boat. Monkeys are everywhere and will come up to you as you approach the shore. I got to go to monkey island on this boating trip. I was so excited. Walter, the kids and I swam from the boat to shore and were able to see these monkeys very very close up, like if I stuck my hand out I could touch them. It was really amazing. We did not bring any fruit with us to feed them but that didn't matter they still put on a show. Jumping from the trees and diving into water. It was so neat. 

 

I had no idea monkeys swam but they do and even dive out of tress into the water. 

Our ride

It was a red, white and blue theme day so we rocked our flags!

Big Papa with his girl!

Pattaya hosts the International Firework show. Had a great time. Wow what amazing fireworks. An hour long show of fireworks from 4 different countries. This was our gang that we misbehaved with that night. All bloody Aussies we are the only Americans and they like to tease us tons. :)

This was a photo my girlfriend took that night. We were actually much closer than she was but I thought it was an incredible picture from that night.  We could see these from our house too. 

No school last Thursday. The kings birthday and Thai Fathers Day. The Kings birthday is a big deal here   He turned 86 and has been king since he was 18. He is quite adored and no one likes to speak about what will happen when he is gone. Thailand is having some political difficulties right now. Many protests in Bangkok. We are not affected here in Pattaya but my maid likes to tell me "Thailand bad" and then she shakes her finger at me. I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do with this information so I just shake my head and agree though for me Thailand isn't so bad. Life is good. 😊. 

Since Walter had off and no school for Erin, Andrew and Jack we had a great day of tennis, movies and dinner. 

Walter has been home almost a whole month without traveling probably the reason I haven't blogged much. It has been great having him here.  We have gone out lots, finished the entire season of Breaking Bad (I'll just say OMG that was probably the best TV series I've seen in a while). Watched some movies and just been a family again. It has been nice. He leaves again later this week for Australia but it's ok, It's time for a break JK 😜 and he is only gone for a week.  Plus Ryan will be here so I'll be distracted. Hahaha

Final Countdown

Ryan arrives in less than 5 days. Yahoooooo!!

My parents arrive in 11 days. Yipeeeeee!!

So much to be thankful for during this holiday season.  

Life is good. 😊

Life here is "same same but different". - this is my very favorite sayings that the Thais say.

Cracks me up every time

Cheers

😘 M