More Random Stuff

Caiah seems to be making up words a lot. He’ll be playing with a toy and he’ll say, “Look at this shippellep!” I think it has to do with hearing Thai all of the time and it being nonsensical to him. So I guess he’s making up his own language. It’s really cute.


Laundry is quite an ordeal here. We’re in this huge apartment complex; yet there are four small washing machines for the entire building. FOUR - that’s it. Plus you have to pay for it. One tiny dryer but it’s pointless because it’s expensive and so small. Everyone hangs their laundry to dry. I’m never spent so much time on laundry in my life. Not only does it take long to hang it all up, but you have to iron everything because it’s totally wrinkled and stiff. Even when we get a house we won’t have a dryer. Electricity is really really expensive (more than in the US) so it’s not worth it. Everyone has a house helper (called a Maaban). Not only is it helpful for people to have help with all of the little things that take longer to do here (like laundry) but you also give a much needed job to a local woman. Although I feel like I’m constantly doing laundry, I don’t mind it too much and I’m thankful that it’s temporary. I’m also thankful that I’ve been able to keep up…even though I feel like it’s never actually done. :-)


We decided we were ready for our first “Farang” meal here. Farang is the word the Thai use when they refer to a Westerner. We love Thai food, but we knew we couldn’t eat only Thai all of the time. So we ventured to one of two Mexican restaurants in the city. We were really impressed. It was good and I’ll be happy to eat there any time I get a “craving.”


There is a guy who lives 2 doors down who loves to open his door every time he smokes…which seems to be all of the time. I guess he opens the door so the smoke isn’t too strong in his apartment. So instead our hallway constantly stinks. I'm thankful that it doesn’t bother me as much I would would have though it would. Although some days I’m struggling to have a good attitude in our moderately disgusting apartment, I’m so enjoying living in such a different place than I ever have and ever thought I would. I won’t necessarily be sad to leave when we get our own place, but I’m so glad I’m having this experience.


Apart from the many many stray dogs all over the place, I’m surprised how little livestock we’ve seen around. I guess it’s because we’re in the middle of the city. Every once in a while we'll see the random cow or something, but on quite a few occasions we’ve seen someone with a huge elephant just walking down the street. They often have reflector lights hanging off of them which is pretty funny.


It’s been an adventure to try to figure out items at the grocery store when everything written on it is Thai. Sometimes there are pictures which help too. For example, there is laundry detergent which is just for hand washing, and some that is for both hand washing and machines. The only way we can tell is by these little pictures on it. Milk is hard to figure out too. Luckily, we’ve come to realize that whole milk always has a dark blue cap. This sweet milk is also really popular here and is right there with the regular milk and I’m always scared I’m going to accidentally get it and then Sora will never want regular milk again. J Yogurt has also been an adventure – we actually like the two brands they have here and it’s been fun to try the strange flavors. Yogurt milk is also very popular and Orin has really fallen in love with that.


Damien keeps commenting about how we seem to have found the only Asian country that uses more sugar than the US! Seriously, instead of salt and pepper at the table, there is a bowl of sugar. Everything is sweet. But, hey, I can’t say I mind too much! Probably not good for the kids though.


We’ve noticed that garbage cans are a rarity here. I can’t even count how many times we’ve been out and needed to throw something away and couldn’t find one. I know in Bangkok they’ve gotten rid of a lot because of the political unrest (and some garbage can bombs having gone off) so I’m wondering if it’s the same here.


Much to our surprise, the bread is amazing here! Damien loves the croissants you can get at the store (about $1 for 8 of them) and even though there are only about 3 options for bread, the 2 brands we’ve had so far are surprisingly yummy.


We think that next time we visit the US we’ll bring back napkins. Seriously, we’ve never seen such useless napkins in our life. They are the tiniest, thinnest things you’ve ever seen and you have to use about 5 in order for it to be useful. We just laugh every time we use one. However, we do love the fact that at restaurants every table has a dispenser of napkins so at least we can take out as many as we need.


Amidst the stress of a new place and all of the decisions we need to make and things that need to be done, we’re having lots of fun discovering all of the interesting, exciting, difficult, fun and just plain strange things about our new city.


When they call it “the rainy season” boy do they mean it. I think it’s rained pretty much every day since we’ve been here…at least for an hour or two. However, I am totally fine with the because it helps to cool things so much. The first week was pretty hot (although not even close to what it will be during the hot season) but now it’s starting to feel really nice outside. And it’s fun to see the local people go out in these huge coats at night when it’s like 75 degrees outside. J


It’s been such a blast to hear all of the funny things the kids have said since being here. It’s like all new material – so many new things to be confused about. There are a few people in CLI from different countries. A lady from Malaysia, one from Singapore, a guy from New Zealand. Orin and Micaiah's teachers are here for the month...just to take care of them…from York, England. Orin asked if England is in California (not sure why he thought that it would be specifically there). When we told him England was a different country he said, “But they speak English. How can it be a different country?” Obviously, he’s under the impression that every country has a totally different language (which would make sense since Thailand and Korea both do). I tried to convince him that “English” comes from “England” but I don’t think he bought it.