2 weeks here... A few things we've encountered

สวัสดี

According to google translate that is "Hello"

     We have made it through our first two weeks in Thailand and so far we are adjusting well.   Our first few days were spent waking up super early (3-4am) and going to bed super early (6pm) thanks to jet lag.   We are now on our usual sleeping schedule and spend our days hanging out at the house, at one of the pools, or at a mall.

    So, what are some of the things that we have encountered that we have found odd or different in our new country??
    How about cereal- Fruit Loops-  The outside of the box looks the same as it did in the US, but when we opened it and poured the first bowl this is what we found. 

Fruit loops-  Not the same color and looks like bugs have been in the bag eating holes through all the pieces.   Thankfully it tastes the same (or close enough) to what the kids are used to.

       The embassy provides a "hospitality or survival" kit that contained basic household items, linens, dishes, pots & pans, and some basic cleaning tools.   This is the broom that was provided.   I have never seen a broom so shiny and pretty.   Also never heard of a company that makes cleaning supplies called, "The Black Man."  Not really sure if that would go over as being politically correct in the states. 

 

While we are the subject of politically correct, I found this restaurant that delivers Mexican, American, Italian, and Thai food.  We have ordered from there a few times and the food is decent.  When looking at the menu, I noticed the logo, "support your local wetback."  Not sure if you would see an advertisement in the states with that specific wording.

   This picture was taken on the window of a Taxi Cab.   Interpret how you wish.  It could represent a number of things.  I have not spent much time in cabs, probably rode in more in the last two weeks then I have in my entire life, but I don't recall seeing this photo.  No wrestling, no fighting, no???  It is Bangkok after all :-)  

    This is our new "car."  This is how most residents in Nichada Thani get around.   There is even special "golf cart" parking reserved for us at the near by mall, Central Plaza (Chaengwattana).  

     This is our new favorite past time.   Driving remote control monster truck over 5 year old being held down by his older brother and dad.  

Wild Life-
   When driving above golf-cart home from the store, Justice X (the young one) and I saw one of these run across the road.  It was at least 12-18 inches from head to toe.  I would have stopped to take a photo but did not want to get hit by the drivers behind us.

Those things moving around in the water are fish.  Some are huge.   The kids like to feed them. I am pretty sure they would eat a  person if a person decide to swim in that particular lake.  

The lake in Nichada where the fish from above live.  

  
 That's enough for now.  I will have to kidnap Justice's (the big one's) phone to get some other strange photos off it.   Apparently there is a big Komodo dragon / water monitor (lizard) that hangs out at the Embassy complex.  He took some pictures of it.   

Our First Overseas PCS (permanent change of station)

****This was written a couple weeks ago and I tried to post, but only this part of it saved.  There was a lot more that I had written detailing the week before our move.  I refuse to go back and add any more info to it...  Moving forward, not backwards, but I wanted to at least get this out there***


When I last posted, we had just found out that we were moving to Bangkok, Thailand. Now, 5 months later we are days away from boarding a plane and heading to our new home. The last few weeks have probably...no, they HAVE been, the most stressful weeks of my life. Short version for now, but on May 30, my middle son Brosnan (6) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. He was immediately admitted to Yuma Regional Medical Center. Three days later after we were released from the hospital we went home to begin our new life of needles, insulin, glucose monitors, and finger pricks. I will elaborate on that whole story later. Right now lets focus on the move...

Our original scheduled departure date was June 15th, 17 days after B was diagnosed. There are several factors that go into allowing a service member and their family to move overseas. One major factor is the families health (physical, educational, mental, etc.). Every member of the family is screened through the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) to determine if there are any concerns that can not be adequately treated at the next duty station. We were approved a few months ago but with Brosnans new diagnosis we had to start over with him. The original response we received was basically, "sorry, you can't move to Thailand." Thankfully, my husband is not one to take no for an answer so we began doing our own research, making sure that there are pediatric endocrinologists and medicine available. After lots of emails and phone calls my husband had finally received a verbal yes from all the necessary parties, next step was to get all those parties to say yes to each other. So we proceeded as planned with the movers, keeping our fingers crossed that everything would come together.

Which brings us to Friday, June 7th.
Last day of school for Justice, my mom was visiting from Washington state and we were preparing for a garage sale. Saturday morning we woke early and started selling.
Two days and a few hundred dollars later the garage sale was over. We loaded the car with remaining items and donated to the family readiness officer (FRO) to give to young Marines and their families. Sunday night was a mad dash to figure out and separate any and all items that we wanted the movers to take the next day in our express shipment.

We made it to Thailand!!

We made it to Bangkok!

Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, Thailand

My husband pretty much summed up the last few weeks via a facebook post during our travels.: 

"5 people, 15 checked bags, 11 carry ons, 5 medical and dental clearances and one re-cleared, 1 top secret clearance, 5 diplomatic passports, 5 regular passports, 5 diplomatic visas, 1 vehicle totaled, 1 vehicle traded in, 1 vehicle shipped overseas, 10 weeks with a rental car, 8 days in a hotel, 3 kids enrolled in the international school, 1 shipment of household goods to arrive in 30 days, 1 shipment of household goods to arrive in 90 days, 1 shipment of storage for the next 3 years, and 1 house in Thailand waiting for us. Just a 20 hour flight to go."

    We are finally here.  The stress of all of the above is behind us and we are now living a more relaxed life.  Still some stress exists  of trying to find our place in a brand new culture but it is fun and exciting.   Now we wait for our Express Shipment, Household goods, and our car to arrive. 

     The above picture was taken at about 11:30 pm Bangkok time which was 9:30 am, Yuma, Arizona time.  That equates to almost 30 hours after we left our hotel at MCAS Yuma. We are all pretty tired.  The excitement wore off pretty quick during the airplane rides.  Our flight from Yuma to LAX was about an hour long. 

Yuma International Airport, 6ish am June 22, 2013

When we boarded the plan everyone was happy and energetic!













       Shortly after we boarded the plane from Tokyo, Japan to Bangkok all of the boys (including the husband) were passed out.  Luckily it was not a full flight so they all had a little bit of room to stretch out.

Arcadian

Justice

Brosnan

 All-in-all, traveling went smooth.  The kids behaved themselves as much as expected considering the length of the flights, we arrived safely, no delays, and with all of our luggage waiting for us!   Our Sponsor, and Justice's co-worker, Captain Green, met us at the airport and helped coordinate a van to take us to our new home.

    Our house is in a community called Nichada Thani, rumored to be the nicest housing area in all of Thailand.   It is a gated community with several sub-divisions each with their own security guard.   I feel very comfortable living here as far as security is concerned.  Our house is the first on our street in Premier Place 2.  We live right next to the community pool (each sub-division has one, and there is also an olympic sized pool at the clubhouse about a mile away). There is a small playground directly behind our house.  
       The house itself is pretty big.  There are 3 living areas, 4 bedrooms, and 5 bathrooms.  The kids are all pretty excited to have their very own bathrooms!  There is not much of a yard, but there is a small patch of grass in the front.

Front Yard

Family Room (kids TV room)

Downstairs bathroom

Dining Room

Kitchen

Living room

Den Area

Ceiling in Living room

Looking down the stairs into living room

Justice's bedroom

Green outside Justice's window

Brosnan's Bathroom

Master bedroom

Master Closet

Master Bath

Master Bath

Looking down the street

Other direction / Security guard station

Front of House

Main Living room

    I think that is enough for now.   I will write again soon with how life has been since we arrived.

Big Changes are Coming!

Last week my husband sent me a text message that was by far the biggest news we have received since I found out I was pregnant with Justice almost 9 years ago. With it, came just as much uncertainty, worry, excitement, fear, and surprise. My husband received orders for his next Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to Bangkok, Thailand. Sometime in June we will be boarding a plane to go to our new home for the next 3 years.

The day I found out I was home from work with Little Justice as he was sick with a stomach bug. I called my mom, who I think was in just as much shock, called my older brother, then spent the majority of the day searching the Internet for any and all information I could find. It was probably pointless research as we knew nothing about anything, other than we were going to Bangkok and justice would be working at the US Embassy. There is no Military base so there is no specific information to search for. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, looking for something, anything, but having no idea what it was. Since that day bits of pieces of information have been trickling in and with every piece we find out, some questions are answered and others are formed. My wonderful husband tracked down his future co-workers and now I have been emailing one of their wives. I believe she will be my sanity saver now and when we arrive in June, and she has a kid that is the same age as Arcadian!

So, what do I know? I know that we leave in June. I know that we will more than likely be living in a gated community known as Nichada. The boys will go to an international school called International School of Bangkok that is located within the community. Also within that community is a Starbucks :) I know that we have a lot of preparing to do. We are limited in what we can bring with us. Lots of organizing the house into sell, storage, ship, and trash piles! I know we have a lot of paperwork to complete (medical, dental, school, passports, etc). I also know that this is going to be an amazing experience for my family.

-JP

Feeling good about what I HAVE accomplished

         As a therapist it is often my job to help clients make changes in their lives.  Sometimes what needs to be changed is obvious, sometimes it takes a while to discover exactly what the difficulties are.   Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite, I know what changes I strive for in my life, yet I cannot seem to take the leap and make the commitment to change.  I can plan all day long how to make the change but when it comes to execution of those plans I always seem to fall short, lose motivation, get side tracked, and eventually give up.  Thankfully, I seem to get back on track at some point which is better than giving up for ever.   
       Relapse is a part of recovery.   We don't look down upon an addict that has a relapse, we use it as a learning experience.  What happen, what went wrong, what can we better prepare for next time, what did you learn?   As a therapist, we hope that the tools that we teach our client's make those relapses less frequent and last for a shorter duration each time.    I am not an addict, but I can equate some of the things I teach my client's to everyday life.   When you have a plan and then you get thrown off course,  think about what pushed you off of your path.  Is it something you had control over?  What change can you make to prevent it from happening again?  Have a big picture in mind, but break into little pieces that are manageable.  Celebrate the small steps.  Feel good about what you have accomplished, instead of feeling bad about what you didn't do.
      Organization is big on my list for the year and with a 3 day weekend I felt as though I should have accomplished much more than I did.   I did a little cleaning of my desk yesterday, listed a few things on ebay & craigslist, and talked the husband into going through 3 years worth of children's school work with me,  but I still don't feel like I accomplished anything great.  Actually, I am pretty sure I made a bigger mess then before I did anything! Right now, at 10:30 am on the last day of the weekend, I know that I still have time to do more.  So that's what I am going to do.   I am making a commitment continue with the small steps.  Tonight when I go to sleep I will not think about what I didn't do, but I will feel good about what I did do. 

On a sidenote,  here is a picture of my number 1 priority(s), my family.   Everything that I strive to do better I do for myself and them. 
-JP

   
      

Winter Break is finally OVER!

   The school district that our children are in provide them with one very long three week winter vacation.   For my children that started early with each of them spending some time with the Flu.  Tomorrow, they all go back to school.   I have enjoyed spending extra time with the kids and they have been pretty good but it is time for them to go spend some time with their teacher and friends.  This will also be the first full work week for Justice in 3 weeks and extra hours for me counseling.  The end of the holiday season is finally here.  
        My main New Years Resolution is to become more organized (I am pretty sure I have had this resolution for several years in a row) and to continue to get in shape (pretty sure this has been on the list for awhile too)!    Justice and I are trying to get on the same page with organizing the house.  I fear it may be difficult at times as he is much more into having "things" then I am.    When I picture calm, I think of a house with next to nothing in it, and/or everything in its place, in its proper room, no piles of anything, no toys that no-one plays with, just the basics.
       For those that have seen my house, you will know that it is quite the opposite.  I know that with three kids and a husband my "dream" home is probably just a dream, but I know that it can be more calm and relaxing then what it is.  With the everyday craziness that we experience (mornings, afterschool, sporting activities for 3 kids, cub scouts, dinner, kids homework, my work, grocery shopping, Justice working,  etc.)  I want me and my family to feel relaxed in our home.  I want to be able to play with my kids and not be thinking about all the other stuff that I need to get done.  I want to sit down at the end of the day and just relax without seeing a table filled with clutter, paper, and toys.   I know that with some hard work, lots of time, and a Garage sale life can be a little less complicated.

What's your New Years Resolution!?!

Welcome to 2013

         Everyone knows that January is all about resolutions, making changes, getting organized, and setting goals.  I plan on being just like everyone else this year with setting goals.  Not sure exactly what those are yet but I plan to have a good idea in the next few days.   I know that getting organized and updating this blog is on my list!   
        Most that read this will have received Christmas cards with a brief synopsis of what happen in 2012 so no need to rehash that here.   Today is about moving forward and making 2013 the best it can be!     HAPPY NEW YEAR!

-JP