It's been too long since I've written. We have been extremely busy. The biggest event that has happened in the past two weeks is that we finally moved into our house. Yay!! Of course, it's sort of laughable seeing that when we moved in, our house consisted of a dining room table, refrigerator, microwave, bed for us and two mattresses on the floor for the boys. Oh, and Sora in her pack-n-play. We're still trying desperately to get settled. Here are a few highlights:
1. Trying to find a couch here has been a nightmare. Since the average Thai man is 5'6" and the average woman 5'1" couches are not made to fit my 6'1" husband! They also like them very hard here. We finally found one that was somewhat "American" sized but although we were told we could order, "hard, medium, & soft" it seems like hard is really the only option. When they delivered the sofa it was like a rock. So, they have promised to have it remade and we'll see how soft it comes out this time. Thank goodness we have our dining room table or we'd be sitting on the floor.
2. We spent 2 weeks fixing all of the things around the house that the construction workers messed it. We had tile with grout all over it, we had scratches on the floors, trash everywhere, clumps of cement on the kitchen tile, leaking faucets, fans that were put up but not actually hooked up to the electricity, etc... Anyway, after a lot of cleaning on our part and hiring another handy man to fix all of these things, we're almost done with that. We just have one more bathroom with three things leaking (the sink, the toilet and the toilet sprayer). Damien is going to try to do that soon. I hope!
3. We're stilling trying to buy the things we need. Beds for the boys, wardrobes (I'm definitely sick of living out of our suitcases), book shelf, etc... But we've reached our max with our budget so we will probably wait on those things. I'm really thankful just be in here and I'm trying to feel comfortable even without all of the "little comforts" I might be used to.
4. I am LOVING that I get to walk Orin to school from our new house. We are able to walk through the Thai school that is between our house and CMIS and it only takes about 7 minutes to get there. I'm trying to take my time and let Orin walk at his own pace - my instinct is to walk as quick as possible but he likes to stroll. :-) I find that I get much less frustrated and we arrive at school much happier. So I'm really trying to make sure we leave on time so we don't have to rush.
5. Speaking of CMIS, I have been so happy with the Kindergarten so far. Wow, they do tons of great activities, there are 4 teachers for 26 kids, and I can tell the teachers know what they are doing. :-) They really cater to kids who are ahead and behind in certain areas - both of which Orin has really benefited from.
6. At the beginning of the semester the teachers did reading evaluations of each student. They used some fancy acronym for the test they used. Supposedly it's very accurate and really good for pinpointing where they kids are. Orin actually tested at a mid-year 3rd grade reading level! I knew that kid read well. The funny part is that his reading comprehension level was only at about the beginning of a 2nd grader. They assured me this was still very advanced for a Kindergartener but actually said that we should try to be giving him books on a 2nd grade level so he would actually comprehend what he reads. Makes sense.
7. It seems that as far advanced as Orin is at reading, his handwriting is that far behind! Ok, so I knew that most kids don't really learn to read in K. We only taught Orin because he kept begging us. But what they do focus on is handwriting. Who knew? Well, maybe I'm the only one who didn't know! Unfortunately they spent the first semester really focusing on it. Since Orin wasn't there (and I'm too bad of a mom to realize I needed to be working with him) his handwriting is NOT where it should be. So, they actually are having him to go to a special teacher 3x/week for him to work on it. So, like I said, he's benefiting from being in the highest reading group and benefiting from the specialized attention he's getting from being behind.
8. He's done pretty well going from never being away from home to being away all day! We did have some days of, "Do I really have to go?" and when Micaiah was sick recently Orin kept telling him to make him sick so he wouldn't have to go to school. I think the hardest part so far has been the other kids. He just doesn't understand that kids are mean. Every time we see a kid in his class he'll say, "She/He doesn't like me. We played one day but today he was mean to me." We're trying to tell him that kids do mean things but it doesn't mean they don't like him. I don't think he's getting it. His best friend seems to be a little girl "Molly" who is actually in 2nd grade but he sees during recess. All he keeps saying is, "What if Molly doesn't want to come to my birthday party!" (his birthday isn't until April!) We've also realized we can't do anything fun during the day. Orin is heartbroken if we do. One day we went to McDonald's and you would have thought we went to Disney World without him. We've tried going places once or twice, but my 4 year old can't seem to keep his mouth shut. So we've promised Orin we won't do anything "fun" without him.
9. I do have to admit that it's soooo hard to be paying for school. Since we always figured we'd be sending him to public school in the US, this isn't something that was on my radar. And although home-school could be possible in the future, it's really not an option right now while I'm trying to learn Thai. And although I would love extra time with Orin I know there is no way I could be giving him what he is getting right now at CMIS.
10. Our house definitely has more mosquitoes than the apartment. Micaiah has so many bites he looks like he has the chicken pox! I've actually be lathering him up with Mosquito repellent before he's gone to bed the last few nights and it seems to be helping.
11. We brought the kids to see their first movie here. Finally they had a animated movie in English! Most US live-action movies they show here are in English with Thai subtitles, but the animated ones are usually dubbed over (much more difficult to do that with live-action). We saw Megamind. There is really only one movie theater here. But it's newer and pretty nice. They have half-price on Wednesdays which is really nice. My favorite part is that when you buy your tickets you actually get a specific seat. So even if it's a really popular movie you can go early, buy your ticket, and then come back right when the movie starts and still have the seat you want! I have to say, next time we will NOT be going for the previews because they were completely inappropriate for a kids movie!
We saw "Megamind" which was the kids' first 3D movie. I think they enjoyed it, but I really don't get it. I'd take a regular old movie any day and not have to wear those glasses!
Sora was happy to stay quiet as long as I kept the snacks rolling in. This girl has a sweet-tooth! I don't think they were cleaning the glasses in between movies, so whoever got her glasses after her was in for a very sticky surprise! I didn't realize this until after we turned them in so next time I'll remember to bring wipes to at least attempt a cleaning. :-)
12. Chiang Mai just got it's first drive-thru! It's McDonald's so it's not that exciting. Especially since McDonald's is expensive here and we don't get it very often. Now, if it were Chick-Fil-A.... Actually, I think it's a little sad. As more and more Western culture comes in, I feel like they lose a little of their own culture.
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