An Eclectic Mix

A few recent events- some unusual and some tame. We'll start with the tame...

Our community center/church has an English school and we recently had a bowling tournament as a social event. I haven't been bowling in years, and it was big fun, and a great way to build community. The kids had a great time, too. This bowling alley is only a 5 minute song taew (click here for a picture of this handy mode of conveyance) ride away, and I have big plans for a bowling date for Tim and me soon. Classy, huh? But it really is fun, if you just give it a chance...

Did you know that Thailand has an aquarium? A really nice one at one of the enormous malls downtown. We had the opportunity to go recently with some folks visiting from out of town, and here's our girl with her best buddy PJ in front of one of the exhibits.

And now on to the unusual...

A few weeks ago, our friends who own a satay stand by the nearest Sky Train station invited us to a party. As is often the case here in this adventure of speaking Thai, we did not fully understand what was happening. We knew it was a party, we thought it might be in a hotel, we had no idea who it was for. (We have countless conversations during which we nod and smile, having very little idea what is actually being said). Anyway, we agreed to go because we love these folks and who doesn't enjoy a good party?

So when we arrived, we found a huge outdoor alleyway absolutely packed with people, and discovered it was a New Year's party for people from the Isaan (northeast) region of Thailand living in Bangkok. There was to be a concert, and these guys above are a couple of the performers, apparently big names in Isaan music. So it was quite a privilege for us to have our picture taken with them!

There was also food, and this woman is dishing out the green curry, which is a delicious dish but can be quite spicy. I was told it wasn't hot, but that was a Thai person speaking, whose definition of "phet" (the Thai word for spicy) is very different than mine. I took a bite and had to quietly abandon my bowl at the first opportunity. Emmy and I went hungry that night. Tim could handle the curry and Asa enjoyed some yogurt and a banana that I had packed away in my bag.

And on to the concert. There was a huge stage set up and an abundance of red plastic stools for the audience. When the music began, it was the Hawaii Five-0 theme song, and these ladies dressed in feathers came out and danced to it. This picture really doesn't do it justice; I only wish I had the power to transport you to this event- after Hawaii Five-0 the Isaan music began, with performers coming out and being given roses and leis by enraptured fans as they sang. I don't know if you've ever heard Isaan music, but it can initially sound pretty discordant to western ears. Add a high decibel level, brightly flashing multi-colored lights, and you're there! This music was pretty tough for me to handle initially when we came to Thailand, but it's grown on me.

And just in case you were still hungry when the curry ran out, there's always dried squid on a stick, for just 20 baht!

We had such a good time, wacky experience though it was. We're going to our friends' Isaan home for Songkran, the Thai New Year in early April. They assured us that this party was a little bit fun, but the party at Songkran will be a lot of fun! We'll be sure to let you know:).

Wake Up

Asa's first word these days is often "Emmy" with a gesture toward the door. She had found her way into our bed last night, and we let him wake her up this morning. This video is a little long, and I'm not sure why it looks like it's from the 1950's in quality (we'll call it retro). It may fall into the "only grandparents can love" category. So grandparents, enjoy! We love you all!

Our Boy

This boy is 17 and half months old. How time does fly. To think we came to Thailand with him inside of me! We had no idea what joy was ahead. I thought it was about time we had an update, for the benefit of those who love him and don't get to see his supreme sweetness on a regular basis. As you can see, he's all chubby cheeks, lots of teeth, and as jolly as he can be. He has a great, low-pitched chuckle that we hear often. Here he's practicing for a career as a tuk-tuk driver.

He's coming into his communication skills, and it's great fun to talk to him. He has a few basic signs that have been useful for quite some time now, and he's adding words (or approximations of words). He says mommy, daddy and Emmy, as well as more, here you go (when he gives you something), diaper (my personal favorite, as it's usually said in a high-pitched voice with a quizzical look on his face, followed by his bending in half to look at his lower regions), hello and hi, dog, maa (the Thai word for dog), and maybe a few others. He identifies birds and cats by their sounds, and continues to be a lover of all things canine.

He has retained his engaging, mommy-melting, wide open mouth smile, and we see it often. He is still so good-natured and loves life. When something doesn't go his way, he can get quite angry, but it usually blows over quickly. He's taking only an afternoon nap now, and sleeping about 12.5 hours at night.

Looking out the window on a recent rainy morning. He was probably watching the dogs in the street, too. When he hears or sees a dog, he begins to make his whining bark, claps his hands and clicks his tongue in an imitation of Daddy calling a dog. And his love affair with Dog (his personal stinky lovey) has only intensified. We live in fear of losing Dog. We've tried to introduce a new Dog (same stuffed animal, minus the gray and matted legs from countless hours in Asa's mouth), and while he thinks it's a great addition it in no way substitutes for the real thing. When he's tired, needs some comfort, or just hears the word "dog", he begins looking around for his beloved, making his whining bark sound and patting his chest to say "please"!

He loves his sister. He thinks whatever she's doing is the most interesting thing ever, and while this leads to the inevitable frustrations at times ("he's coloring on my draaaaawing!"), she is very protective of him and they enjoy each other, more and more as time goes on and he's more able to play. It's the highlight of my day to see them playing together, whether it's wrestling on the couch or playing peek-a-boo in the curtains.

Walking on the beach with his Uncle Dave on our recent team retreat. He is fearless at the beach; very unlike his big sister, who, until recently, would not stand in the sand, much less go into the ocean!

And this is our favorite early evening activity- taking soccer ball (or toothbrush, or whatever object he fancies) for a walk in the stroller. You can only imagine all of the people I get to meet following this little guy around the neighborhood. Oh, and this is the best. When we meet someone, we say, "Asa, sawatdee-khap", and he wais and does a little "I Dream of Jeanie" head nod. It's really just too cute, and gets quite a reaction.

I don't mean to gush, and he has his moments (like when he simultaneously smashed two large, glass measuring cups on the kitchen floor today!), but he is just an incredible joy. Thank you God for this precious gift!

Aspects of Oddity

Emily has asked me to tell share with the world (or, rather, the 5-10 people who occasionally visit us here) 5 strange things about myself. Because of my deep and enduring love for Emily, here we go:

1- I have some strange habits regarding words. One is that I like to say them backwards. This started in middle school, when I was on the softball team and we had to run laps, which I found torturous. To take my mind off of the situation at hand, I began singing songs in my head, but saying the words backwards. Required more concentration, I guess. I've continued the habit over the years, but now with children and a foreign language taking up so much space, I don't do it so much anymore. Also, when I learned to count syllables in elementary school, I found myself doing it compulsively, with many words I encountered. I still do this sometimes. I'll count syllables of a word or phrase (in my head), and sometimes I even (this is really odd) count them on my fingers over and over until I reach a multiple of 5.

2- I love to bake chocolate chip cookies. I mean, I really love to do this. I just enjoy the process of putting it all together, and eating the batter is great, too. If I had a Friday night all to myself, a book and butter, sugar, flour, etc. is all I would need for a great time.

3- Nothing gets me going on a run like listening to All Things Considered on NPR. (I found that in my adulthood I had to take up running so that I didn't get enormously fat from all of those chocolate chip cookies.) I've tried those cool music programs where you can download music with certain beats per minutes to get you revved up, but it doesn't work for me. But give me a good report on Bird Flu in Asia and I can go for miles.

4- I always think the plane is going to crash. I know all of the statistics about driving vs. flying, but when we're boarding a plane, it always seems very likely and logical to me that this will be the one to go down. This is not a good mindset to have when you're living overseas, and thankfully I don't get panicky about it at this point. I really do trust God with it.

5- I love the way my children's breath smells. This may be common for mothers, I don't know. But I think their breath is just the essence of their sweetness (one recent exception was when a well-meaning lady at church gave Asa some smelly squid snacks. I couldn't get his teeth brushed fast enough!). I imagine I won't feel this way about their breath when they're teenagers:). In addition, I felt similarly about our dog Bonsai (but not to the same extent, and not when he had eaten something disgusting, which was fairly frequently). This was really repulsive to Tim.

If I had more time, I would mention my longstanding love for Randy Travis, or the fact that I've had the same stick of deodorant since we came to Thailand almost two years ago, but I guess that's it for now!

Keri and Cousin Amy, you want to give it a try?

Southern Belle

Language school is officially over. Although I enjoyed it, it was hard, and I am glad we can get back to some normalcy in terms of routine. In honor of completing this module, I'm going to share my favorite story from the past weeks. One day, I was sitting in class during a break. A Japanese man sits beside me, and he said (in Thai), "Khun Rhianna, I have heard that in the southern part of America women are called 'southern belles'." I told him that was sometimes true. He then said, "I think that you are a southern belle." In a classroom in Bangkok, being called a southern belle by a Japanese man. Of course, I was thrilled:).

Home Sweet Home

A number of folks have kindly asked to see what our new home is like. So, without further ado, I'll share a bit of it with you along with some of our favorite fun and/or interesting aspects of our new neighborhood...

This home has been a tremendous blessing for us. It suits us quite well, and it's very convenient to our office/church/teammates. It's about the size that our house in Atlanta (Tucker) was, and though it has nothing much in the way of a yard, there is a little playground down the street (pictured later), that provides for play space. It's a diverse neighborhood, with houses and townhouses of different sizes; thus people from different socioeconomic backgrounds living in close proximity. We have really great neighbors and have felt very welcomed. The aforementioned soi dogs do steal shoes (thus the closed gate) and wake us sometimes in the middle of the night with their 2 am canine carousing that requires everyone to bark his or her head off in unison, but other than that, they're quite charming. There's one named "Tia", and now Asa refers to all dogs by this name.

We painted the kitchen, and were so happy to do so as this is the first room that hasn't been wallpapered and thus qualifies for paint. It looks quite red here, but truly it has more brown-orange tones. It was a pretty bold choice, but Asa was enjoying escaping in the store while we were perusing colors, making himself a prime candidate for toddler-snatching, so we quickly chose this one and called it a night. The kitchen is great. Not big, but very efficient. AND it has cabinets, which one cannot take for granted here in Thailand (many homes have very little in the way of cabinets). The ants have graciously allowed us to share their kitchen. If we leave any morsel out for an extended period, it's covered with ants when we return. But as long as we put things away and hide the sugar in the refrigerator, they're pretty easy to get along with.

I love the living room, mostly because of the cute kids who like to hang out here, dressed in strange outfits. Note the lovely pinkish/orange curtains behind them.

This is probably the most unique feature of this house. Between the living and dining areas (it's all one long room), there's this odd wall with these spaces cut out. Tim's ceramics fit perfectly here, convincing us that this is, in fact, a great house for us.

This is not our house, but it was worth documenting. This can graces the post outside the house 3 doors down. And it lights up at night! Hee, hee, hee.

This is the Roti man, who comes through every evening about 5:00 selling his delicious concoctions of fried dough with egg and sweetened condensed milk. (Colleen, these will always remind me of our night in Chiang Mai- chocolate roti and white maternity pants:) He makes them hot and to order. We have a number of other vendors that come through during the day, including the som tam lady (this is a very popular dish in Thailand; read a bit about it here), the fruit lady (she has a cart with fresh, cold fruit that she cuts up for you when you order it- watermelon, pineapple, guava or papaya), the tea/coffee man, and the ice cream man.

This is the neighborhood spirit house. Some of our neighbors have spirit houses in their yards, as well, and they're very common at both homes and businesses. For a good description of them, go here.

And this is our little playground, where lots of people gather in the evenings after the heat of the day has subsided. It's a great place to play and meet people, and we go most evenings...

Hope you enjoyed your tour. Y'all come see us!