More Life in Chiang Mai

Ugh, seeing things like this is just sad. Why do we always have to try to be whatever we're not? In the US, tan skin is it. Tan = Beautiful. Growing up I got made fun of quite a bit because I was so white. Amazing how many nick names people can come up with. Even though we know that sun is bad for us, we still say things like, "People just look healthier when they are tan." Then you come to Asia and they have things like this. Body wash and cream to bleach you skin...because they want the skin that everyone in the US has. If only it were possible to be content being just the way God made us!

If you have to put silverware away, might as well look cute doing it!

Sora has really gotten into books lately. She wants to read constantly. So it's nice sometimes when I can just tell her to give it to Orin and he'll read it. :-)

One of the best purchases I've made in Thailand! Since all of my recipes are from the US and since we insist on measuring things in units that are different from most of the rest of the world I often have conversion problems. But the thing that was really getting to me was measuring butter! I get it in huge blocks because it's cheaper that way and also because it's not available in nice 1/2 cup sticks like at home. So every time a recipe called for 3 Tablespoons of butter or 1/4 cup so similar I'd have to let it soften and then smash it into a spoon or cup to measure it. And then it takes me 10 minutes to wash my cup well enough for it not to be greasy. I admit, not the biggest problem in the world, but man, this scale is so handy and it is totally worth the $7 I spent on it!

I found Sora like this recently. She had spread out her blanket on the floor and was just sitting and reading book. :-) Yes, not the most exciting thing in the world, but since 6 months ago she wanted nothing to do with books it's a big step for her!

Orin's last day of school. Every day many little vendors line up on the street outside of the gates and sell all sorts of goodies. So we celebrated the last day with a snowball - which takes him like 30 minutes to eat - the reason we don't get it any other day.

I can't remember if I already posted this but we had so much rain in May it seemed like we had street flooding at least once a week.

We went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 (which the boys loved but it made Sora and I practically fall asleep) and the boys begged me to take a picture of them with the Panda outside of the theater. I only had my phone so it's not great but they were so excited.

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Mini Golf (sort of?)

So we heard that there was the Mini Golf place in Chiang Mai and decided to check it out. We had also heard that it was "different" and this was definitely true. Wow, the strangest Mini Golf I've ever been to. We actually went to the place three times before we ended up being able to play. The first time it had rained the day before and there were puddles everywhere. The second time it started raining right when we got there. Needless to say, the boys were dying to go. And it did not disappoint. They played every hole and were totally into it. I thought for sure they'd lose interested half way through. Sora was bored after the second hole but did ok after a little breakdown.

We had never played before so the boys were so excited to have Damien show them.

This hole was ridiculous. Seriously, no one could do it.

Here is Sora not quite enjoying it. :-)

Another funny hole. The ground was cement so the ball do strange things.

Ok, the craziest one by far. It was like a driving range! I've NEVER seen one of these at a mini golf before. You can see the fence in the distance which is where the hole was.

I took this picture by the hole looking back where Orin was hitting the ball from.

Around hole 13 Orin got pale and felt really sick. After some water and sitting for about 5 minutes he was ready to get back to playing. So strange???

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Life in Chiang Mai

Just some more random things about life here.

I had to get some tax papers copied the other day. I had noticed a little shop on the road that did copies. This place was hoppin'! I don't think there are a lot of options for this kind of stuff. But I couldn't stop chuckling as I watched them use this very dirty, ancient copy machine, where the paper kept getting jammed and they had to bang on it and restart it multiple times! But they made my copies!

Every morning I walk Orin to school. The quickest route is to walk through the campus of a large Thai school. Orin doesn't really like it because he says everyone is always staring at him (which they are) but we have both gotten good at ignoring it. Like I said, it is a huge school and I am always amazed because every single girl has their hair in two braids. Every.single.one. It's very cute but I also wonder if it's actually part of their uniform or if it is just cultural - so cultural that everyone does it? Sorry about the bad picture. I took it with my phone from far away as I tried to make it look like I wasn't taking a picture. :-)

I know that the average Thai man is 5'6" and woman is 5'2" but I don't think these chairs would be comfortable for people of any height!

Just had to throw in a cute one of Sora! :-)

These are back from right before Songkran. We were in a local furniture shop and the owners and employees were outside throwing water on people. It was the kids first taste of Songkran and it's so fun how they just let the boys join in. :-)

Orin absolutely LOVES to help Micaiah when he's reading. When I say "help" I mean tell him the word if Micaiah stumbles for even a second. :-)

I love this one because they are both so excited when Micaiah got a word right. :-)

There are also sorts of fun, crazy food in the grocery store around here. But for some reason, Jelly Fish just stood out more than most. I seriously did not know people ate this!

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