Someday Life in Thailand will Calm down. Right???

     

         I know, I know... It has been awhile since I posted. Sorry. It has been an exciting and exhausting month. All three of my kids are now in school full time.  I thought this would mean extra sleep and relaxation time. I was WAY wrong at least so far.  The first week was a staggered start for the kids.  On Justices first day, Brosnan had a meet and greet in his class, the second day Brosnan started and Arcadian and a meet and great. By Thursday they were all in school from 7am - 2pm! Celebration time right? Wrong. I felt like I was in school those first 2-3 weeks. There were meetings galore, PTO, new parent orientation, medical, and of course several trips to Nurse's office with Brosnan during testing time, helping monitor lunch, and then helping with Insulin calculations and doses after lunch.  I needed to make sure that Everyone involved was comfortable, competent and knowledgeable regarding his daily care.  The nursing staff and teachers have all been wonderful and after a week I slowly started to wean myself out of he picture and hand over full control to the staff.  There have been several learning situations for all of us but we are now a month into it and everyone seems to be on the same page and getting into a routine. Enough about that.

         Soccer started the second to last week of August and Cub scouts has started as well.  Soccer is currently M, Wed, Thurs, and Saturday.  3 kids, 3 different teams. Each and everyone is miserably hot and sweaty.  I feel bad for the kids.  Heck, I feel bad for myself when I am sitting watching them play.  Sports is good for kids right?  Even if they complain about it?  Justice (the husband) says that they complain about it because they play to many video games.   He is probably right. It's okay though another month of soccer and it will be over...wait...then Baseball starts.  It is never ending.

         WE FINALLY got our UAB (unaccompanied baggage shipment).  The one that was supposed to be here within 30 days of our arrival.  It was a little late, showed up just shy of 3 months after our arrival.  The kids were in heaven for about an hour as they played with their toys, then went back to video games... I am not exactly sure what we were thinking when we packed.  My most useful items in the shipment was my desktop monitor, keyboard, and misc. desk items, and of course my Keurig Coffee maker.   Even with the odd items that we put in the 30 day shipment, it is very nice to see more of 'home' around the house.  Our 90 day shipment should be delivered within the next week or two and our car should follow shortly thereafter.

SNAKE FARM

Even though we are super busy with the kids and day to day life, we have found some time to do some site seeing.  A few weeks ago we went to Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute's Snake Farm.   The snake farm had lots of snakes. Many of which I hope to never see anywhere but in the cages that we saw them.  Almost all of them are native to Thailand. The snake farm does venom extraction that is used to make anti-venom for hospitals in the community.  

   

Brosnan and Arcadian looking at the snake cage 

King Cobra- Can you imagine seeing this in your yard????

The snake handler's brought out various snakes to show the audience.  This snake was NOT in a cage, but on the floor in front of the crowd.  It is a big snake that looked very vicious.  I hope that this snake never crosses our path!

COFFEE In Thailand

  Thankfully the Thai's enjoy a cup of java as much as I do.  Especially, a nice iced coffee in this hot humid weather.   A friend of mine introduced me to this man. He is a mobile coffee man. For 18 baht (a mere $0.60) this guy will make a fresh cup of really bad for you coffee. Some whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, fresh brewed hot coffee, and a touch of Thai happiness, poured over ice into a cup (or small plastic bag).  It was sweet, ice cold, and delicious.   He travels around the local streets outside of Nichada.  I have seen him a few times, always in a different spot.  I am happy I was introduced to him early on in my Thailand adventure and hope to see him many times!

    I will leave you all with a beautiful sunset I caught out one of the bedroom windows.  The photo on my iPhone does not do the colors justice.  It was absolutely breath taking and I have not seen one quite this lovely since this night.

One Month Down!

   We have been living in Bangkok for 1 month now and things are going quite well.  Justice has been in Quantico, Virginia for almost two weeks now for training on how to do his new job.  The boys and I have been hanging out at the house, swimming, and spending time with new friends.  Our express shipment (supposed to arrive within 30 days) has finally arrived in Bangkok, but has about another 3 weeks supposedly before it clears customs and will end up at our house.  Our household goods shipment (HHG) is ...well somewhere between here and Yuma, Arizona.  We have only the  items that we packed in our luggage and brought on the plane with us.  Thankfully we brought a television and the Xbox.  The kids have been playing WAY to many video games, but they have read most of the books we brought and their workbooks only hold their attention for so long.   They will be going into withdrawals in a few weeks when school starts!  I have been reading some books, surfing the web, and playing the horribly addictive game CandyCrush.  I love to hate that stupid game.  I am getting bored, but not really motivated enough to go downtown with the kids and do any sightseeing.  I need to do more research to find things that would really interest them.  I wish we had either of our shipments so at least I could be unpacking or something!

     We did go downtown last Sunday and went to see the kids movie "Turbo" and then out to dinner. We went with two of my husbands co-workers wives and their kids.   There were 8 kids in all.  We looked more like a daycare walking the streets then some friends out for an evening. We saw some more Thailand wildlife as we passed two GIANT RATS wandering the streets of Bangkok.   This was the second outing with these new friends and it felt very good to have some adult conversations with some friendly, down to earth women.  I am looking forward to future adventures with them!

     My goal lately has been trying to find domestic help.  Apparently everyone has a Nanny and/or maid.  It is ridiculously cheap (12,000-15,000 baht = $400-$500 USD)  to have full-time help either live at your house or live-out and work 6 days / week.   I read today that Thailand's minimum wage is like 300 baht / day which is roughly $10. USD.   So apparently a maid in our area is doing pretty well for themselves.   I have interviewed around 8 prospective workers now.  We have been going back and forth on whether we want full-time/ part-time, live in- or live out.  All have their positive and negatives.   I have interviewed Thais, Burmese, and Filipinos.  There are a few possibilities but I am just so undecided on exactly what I want.  I was thinking a live out would be sufficient, but then I started looking at the children's extra-curricular activities (3 kids, 3 different soccer teams, 3 different practice days/times, cub scouts and anything else they decide to get involved with), and then I started thinking about doing all of that alone because Justice is traveling or not home from work yet.... I started getting tired just thinking about it.   I went back to the idea that a live-in that has more flexibility and ability to help with making sure all the kids are where they need to be and have someone there to watch them.  So I don't know....  Still contemplating all of that I guess.    It is kind of crazy though,  people just call or ring my doorbell saying they heard I was looking for help.
 
       Other dilemma's relating to hired help is making sure that someone understands Brosnan and his diabetes.  I want/need someone that I can trust with him so that Justice and I can go out and enjoy some of Thailand's night life without worrying about the lives of the kids we left at home.  Thankfully, the Embassy's medical clinic has said that they will 'train' our help and explain to them what to watch for and how to care for him.  I want to find one reliable person to watch the kids whenever we need them to, so that I don't have to have multiple people responsible for controlling his diabetes.
   
        And then there is the culture aspect.  There is a Burmese girl (actually from Nepal), that I like and she was excited about there being smaller kids in the house, but she doesn't speak much Thai.  The way I view it is if we are going to have someone in our house all day long and caring for our children, I would like to also be able to get the cultural aspect from it.  I want someone that can cook us Thai food, help us understand Thai, and be able to communicate with other Thais when necessary.    Then there is still the part of me that thinks about how long I went with doing everything by myself. I don't need help.  I would much rather take the money and put it towards paying off bills...but when in Rome....   As my husband pointed out, I likely won't have the option to have help like this again. And I don't like to clean and this house is big....  and the idea of not having to cook if I don't want to....

   Anyways, that is what is going on right now.   I am to lazy to post any new pictures so next time I promise I will!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
-JP