Apartment Pics

Here are a few pics of our apartment.

This is the living room. We are very fortunate that our apartment is on the corner of the building so we have tons of windows.


And here is the kitchen (notice there is not an oven, the refrigerator only stands to my chest and the stove is a two-burner hotplate) :)

This is our bedroom. Once you add about 4 inches of foam to the mattress it's not bad to sleep on. Asians like hard beds.

And here is little Chloe's room. The mat on the floor is the Thai alphabet. We are able to hire a lady to watch Chloe one day/week and she is teaching Chloe how to speak Thai (she is also teaching me Thai, how to shop at the market and get a good price and how to live like a Thai- we are very glad to have her)

We are also fortunate to have a wonderful balcony on which is a washer and dryer. This is also where I hang out our clothes to dry because the electricity for the dryer is too expensive to use much.

There's a water buffalo on my highway

One day last week Jeff, Chloe and I were driving home from the office on the "Super Highway."

The superhighway is more like a large boulevard with four lanes and a concrete divider than an actual "super highway." There are shops along the street and stop lights in the middle but it will get you from point a to point b in a relatively short amount of time.

Anyways, as we were driving along, traffic began to stop ahead and split down the middle. This is a little odd as it is the "super highway." As we got closer to the ruckous we notice a large animal making his way through traffic. About this same time we realize that this large animal looks angry.

Not wanting to offend the water buffalo walking down the superhighway, we too quickly move out of his way. By the time I got the camera out he was too far away to get a picture.

Being the analytical person that I am, I begin to think "there's a lesson as well as a funny story in all this."

I realized that being here in this new city with all these new people in a new job with a new house and new rules and a new language- these are all water buffaloes on my super highway. Just when I think I'm picking up speed and getting along just fine, another water buffalo comes walking in my way. The funny thing about water buffaloes is that even though you don't think they belong on your highway, there isn't much you are going to do to move THEM out of the way. YOU have to move around them.

The other funny thing about water buffaloes is that they will probably never realize all the inconvenience they caused you nor will they really care. All I can do is laugh and try to become quicker on the draw with the camera

Week in Review

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. We haven't had a lot of news here.

Chloe and I went to a wet market today. A wet market is just like you see in the movies with really narrow streets, lots of people and tables upon tables of fruits, vegetables, fresh meat and fish in tubs. It stunk really bad but was a neat experience. Up until today, everywhere we have been the people have spoken a bit of English. This wet market was definitely not a place where they are used to foreigners. It was great!

Last weekend, we drove up to the tallest point in the country. It was cold, foggy and rainy. It was great!

We have seen lots of funny things that we wish we had our camera to show you. We saw a songthaew* full of monks, four girls on one motor scooter and a Thai Elvis impersonater. It was great!

That about wraps up the week.

*Songthaew (song-touw): Thai version of a city bus. A small red pick-up truck with a tall camper shell, no tailgate and an opening at the rear. There are two benches stretching across the bed of the truck for people to sit. They don't have a specific route, you just ask the driver where he is going and if he's going your direction you get in- if not, you wait for another one to come by until you find one that will take you in the general direction you need to go. They're not so great.

On long runs, fair rides and new friends

It’s kind of funny, the things that I miss the most are not the things that I expected to miss. About this time in the states, I would be looking forward to cooler weather and the fair. Jeff and I would ride “The Zipper” until we were sick, eat a funnel cake, walk around and try not to stare at all the weirdos that always seem to be at the fair. Then we would take a stroll through the buildings to admire the new cars, cows and pigs. One year we saw the Budweiser Clydesdales. Evenings are always the best time to be at the fair because of all the lights.

I miss waking up at 5:30am on Saturday mornings to run with some of the best people I have ever met. There is nothing like the feeling of the last ¼ mile of 12 or 14-mile run. The best was running when it was below 40 degrees.

The ironic thing is that when our time here is finished whether it be in 2 years or 20, I will miss all the memories that we are currently making. I will miss the mountains and the food. I probably won’t miss the traffic or the heat. But I will miss the people.

Thai people are welcoming and warm. They are quiet and shy on the outside. But warm and spirited on the inside. Their city is divided young and old. The young “western” ways have stretched a shadowy finger into everyday life but the old lifestyle still holds a firm grasp on many of the young. They are enthralled by my white baby and she loves them and they love her in return. Yes, I will miss the people most of all.

More Fun

The great thing about living here is that there are tons of cool places to visit for super cheap. Last Saturday, we visited the waterfalls and the Queen's Botanical Gardens.

Here are some pics.

I don't know why this pic is crooked and I don't know how to fix it. :)

p.s. I'm going to cook beef tonight- this should be interesting.

p.p.s we are going to visit the tallest mountain in the country this weekend. More pics to come.

p.p.p.s I tried to post a video of the traffic here but was unsuccesful. I'll get some pics and post later.