Whacking Day

It is the first day for the last class that I will be teaching this summer, which is also the last class that I will be teaching at JSU.  I am a bit excited because I am looking forward to experiencing the cultural shock of teaching to US students again after only teaching to Thai students for the past few months.  The one big difference that I enjoyed when I returned to teach at JSU from Thailand last year was the roll-call for attendance.  In Thailand, everyone’s name is very long and very hard to pronounce, for example, Jet’s name is Jittima Siriwuttikarn, relatively easy to say compared to the names of some of the students I had.  I always dreaded the first day roll-call in Thailand because that is likely the only time that I sound like a child just learning to read.  Lucky for me, Thai students are quite forgiving, no matter how bad I screw their names up.  What a contrast it is to then read “American” names.

We have been back from Thailand for nearly 3 days now, and there has been lots of evidence to support how great our neighbors and friends are here in Alabama.  Dan (our Wisconsin neighbor) picked us up from the airport in Atlanta (a 1.5 hour drive each way) only to drop us off and leave directly with his family to Destin, Florida on the gulf coast (a 6 hour drive).  Our German neighbors invited us over for BBQ on Saturday for dinner, and Jet’s friend Amber and her family came over for lunch at our house, with a pan of lasagna in hand.  We invited our German neighbors over for lunch on Sunday for BBQ and were invited over to Amber’s as well as Donald and Linda’s house for dinner.  Since it was raining out at dinner time, we took up Donald and Linda’s offer.  All of this hospitality included about a dozen of our neighbors from around the subdivision that stopped by our house just to say “hi” once they heard that we were back home.  What a wonderful welcome!  And the Alabama weather had a nice welcome for us as well as it has been mostly sunny and in the mid 90’s since our return.  In addition, as I was preparing to leave for school this morning, the severe weather sirens blared out at 1:30am to warn about an approaching thunderstorm.  Welcome back indeed.

We are slowly but surely getting back to a “regular” sleeping pattern.  Ben had a rough night the other day as he fell asleep on our bed on Saturday night, and then I transferred him into his own bed.  It has been a few months since Ben has slept alone, so when he woke up at 12:30am Sunday morning, it must have been quite a shock for him.  Ben cried for about 15-20 minutes and we just could not calm him down.  I finally picked him up and walked him over to the guest bedroom to calm him down.  I then explained to him that because there was “no sunshine” outside, that he couldn’t go out and play and that all of his friends were sleeping.  I then told him that when the sunshine did appear, that we would be able to play.  Somehow reasoning with Ben worked, and he fell asleep for the rest of the night.  Of course I could not get back to sleep, so as soon as it started to get light outside (around 5:00am), I took a nice 5 mile run outside, my first since being back home.  What a difference it was running in Alabama then on the treadmill at the condo I stayed at in Bangkok.  The run was a struggle at times because I was hit hard by the “triple H”, that is, heat (it was already 75 degrees out), humidity (you felt wet and damp just standing outside), and hills (no hills on a flat treadmill).  The running is becoming more important to me now since I lost 10 pounds during my trip to Thailand last year while I gained 5 pounds during my trip this year.  Maybe I will do the National 5K championship in a couple of weeks.  We’ll see.

The last thing to comment over the weekend is that yesterday morning when I opened up our garage door, I noticed the long, green extension cord that I had stored away just to the left of me, which was placed on one of the white plastic “college dorm” crate shelves that we use as shelving.  The reason why I noticed the extension cord was because it appeared to be moving!  I wasn’t hallucinating, so I knew that there was a snake hiding out there.  About an hour later, after Jet, Ben, and I got our morning walk in, I had Donald come over to help me “remove” the snake.  I shook all of the shelves to flush the snake out, but saw nothing and almost figured that he left on his own.  Donald removed a small box on the bottom shelf to reveal the small (1.5 foot), black snake that was hiding from us.  After a couple of minutes of spraying wasp removal spray on him (which the snake didn’t like too much and made several lunges at Donald), Donald was able to toss him out of the garage with one amazing swoop of a long stick.  The snake sat there in our driveway and we couldn’t get him away, so while Donald got the snake’s attention, I slapped our shovel at the snake and felled him in that very first blow.  While I was about to take that swing, I had the “Whacking Day” song from the Simpson’s in my head, in particular, ”we’ll break their backs, gouge out their eyes, their evil hearts, we’ll pulverise”.  Upon inspection, Donald could not tell what kind of a snake it was, but supposed it to be a “rat killer” of sorts.  Just your average weekend in Alabama.

Last Videos In Thailand

Here is another quick post of the last batch of videos I took while in Thailand that I didn’t have the time (or opportunity) to post while over there.  While uploading these videos this morning, I was very shocked by how quickly it took.  A two-minute video took about 15-20 seconds to upload at JSU while over at ABAC (when I was able to successfully upload a video), a two-minute video would take about 15-20 minutes to upload.

The first video is one taken of a Thai fire station in Phitsanulok, Thailand.  I have taken pictures of this firehouse before in past visits to Thailand ( in fact, Dad likely has some pictures too from our visit back in 2003), but I thought a video could show a bit more than those still photos.  I had no idea what would be interesting to see from Kristin’s, Sandy’s, or Matt’s point-of-view, so I just tried to get a sense of what it was like to walk around the place without being too intrusive.  I don’t try to say too much in this video for fear of embarrassing myself (any further) with my lack of knowledge of the firefighting profession.  Jet said that these firefighters work a 24 on, 24 off work schedule and that the pay is not very good for this type of job in Thailand.

The next clips are of the places where you pick up groceries in Thailand, either at the supermarket or at an open market.  The first clip was taken at on open street market and I tried to give a sense of how busy they are.  The second clip was taken at a typical Thai grocery store, which I tried to show some of the things that you could buy there that would be different than in the US.  Grocery stores in Thailand are not that much different than those in the US, with the exception of some of the types of foods that you can buy.  In particular, you will see fresh foods (e.g., vegetables, fruits, meats, seafood, etc.) that are comparable in variety to what you can buy in an open street market.  Another difference is with the types (and quantities) of sauces, noodles, and rice available to buy.  There is nearly an entire wall for both vegetable oil and ramen noodles, which are obviously used quite often in meals in Thailand.

The next few clips show what I believe to be one of the more fascinating things I see when I visit Thailand.  At 8:00am every morning and 6:00pm every evening, the Thai National anthem is played on all TV and radio stations.  This first clip was taken during my walk through the open street market in Phitsanulok.  It was such an amazing contrast from how busy the market is to how quiet and still it become when the national anthem was broad-casted over the speakers at 8:00am.  My favorite part of this clip is how Ben tries to sing along with the anthem in the background.  The second clip of what some Thai TV stations show was taken on the last morning of our visit to Thailand.  I apologize if the sound is not too loud as I was flipping through some of the Thai TV stations during the anthem, but I didn’t want to wake Jet, her Mom, and Ben who were still asleep in the room next door.  Here is a great website that translates (both phonetically and in English) the Thai national anthem and also has an audio clip of the anthem.  The lyrics (translated in English) are actually quite interesting:

Thailand is the unity of Thai blood and body.
The whole country belongs to the Thai people, maintaining thus far for the Thai.
All Thais intend to unite together.
Thais love peace but do not fear to fight.
They will never let anyone threaten their independence.
They will sacrifice every drop of their blood to contribute to the nation, will serve their country with pride and prestige full of victory.
CHAI YO. [Cheers]

 The last batch of videos are some taken of Ben in our last week in Thailand.  The first video was also taken at the open street market and shows Ben donating food to some Thai monks, who in turn give Ben a blessing.   The next video shows Ben doing some sweeping (with a Thai broom) outside Jet’s Mom’s warehouse in Phitsanulok.  An airplane passes by overhead during this clip which Ben calls out for (”krueng bin” is “airplane” in Thai) and Ben also chases one of the dogs that stays at Jet’s Mom’s house.  The next video shows Ben riding on a motorcycle with Jet.  As I mentioned in previous posts, this was one of his favorite things to do in Thailand.  As I have also mentioned before, it is very common for children of all ages (some as young as newborns) to ride with parents and siblings (without helmets) on motorcycles in Thailand.  Just some of those instances where the differences between cultures in Thailand and America couldn’t be any further apart.  The last video is of Ben getting a haircut in Thailand last week.  It’s funny to watch Ben get his hair cut as he sits as still as a statue, but you can tell that he enjoys the experience.

Back Safe And Sound

Just want to post a quick update – we are back in the US and are doing well.  The flight from Bangkok to Seoul seemed to be half-full, so there was plenty of room to relax and enjoy the 5 hour flight that left a little after midnight on Friday (in Thailand time).  Jet and Ben slept for most of the flight while I stayed up and watched the movie “17 again”, which to my surprise, I enjoyed.  We arrived on time in Seoul so we had a couple of hours to stretch out, or run around in Ben’s case, before the last long 13.5 hour flight home.  The flight from Seoul to Atlanta was mostly uneventful.  I watched several movies, my favorite being the Liam Neelson film “Taken”, which I found myself thinking many times, “Wow – that was so cool” to some line said or some scene.  There was a little more turbulence on this second flight than what I usually experienced on these flights, and there was a minute while passing over Iowa that was just dreadful as there were a series of rises and falls which gave you the sensation of weightlessness, but got lots of screams and shouts out from everyone.  That was not so pleasant.  Jet and Ben were able to sleep for the majority of the flight, and once again, Ben has proved to be a trooper when it comes to flying.  To my surprise, Ben only fell out of his chair onto the floor while sleeping once (he moves quite a bit when he sleeps and he did not like wearing the seat belt).  Ben actually enjoyed sleeping on the floor better than on the chair, but every time this happened, a flight attendant would tell us that this was not allowed and had to move Ben back to his chair.  I was able to get perhaps 1 hour total sleep on the whole trip home  that came from 3 short cat-naps.  In fact, since I awoke on Thursday at 4:00am (Thailand time) to start packing for our flight that night, that one hour of sleep has been the only sleep I have gotten.  That’s 48 hours awake to only 1 hour of sleep.  Sure I feel a bit tired, but am doing just fine and I am forcing myself to stay awake now so that I can recover from the jet-lag a little bit quicker.  Jet and Ben are both taking a nap right now, which is fine as those long flights can be quite exhausting.  The only other hick-up from the return home was in our arrival at the passport control in Atlanta.  We were some of the first from our flight to arrive there, and thus were at the beginning of the line.  After only the first handful of US citizen passengers were processed, there was a long wait until some potentially devastating news came out.  Apparently all of the computers were down and no one could be processed and sent on their way.  The immigration officers that were walking around relaying the news to us, commented that this problem had recently happened and people had to wait for over 3 hours to be sent on their way, and started handing out bottles of water.  Certainly not the news you wanted to hear after a long flight and being very anxious to get back home.  Fortunately for us, after about 30 minutes, they began to process only the US citizens waiting in line, and we were on our way.  Dan (our Wisconsin neighbor) was great once again in picking us up from the airport in Atlanta and bringing us back home, where we were greeted by Donald and Linda and a few other neighbors.  Our trip to Thailand was another great experience, perhaps one that we will enjoy again next year, but it does feel good to be back home.

I’m Touch

Only a few hours left in Bangkok before our flight home, so I’m taking some time while everyone is sleeping to write one last post for this trip.  The last week has been great spending the whole time with Ben and Jet’s Mom in Phitsanulok and now Bangkok.  We haven’t gone anywhere new these past days, just saying final good-byes to family and friends before our return to the US.  With every good-bye, you can just sense Jet’s Mom getting more and more attached to Ben (and vice versa), so I imagine saying good-bye to Jet’s Mom will be pretty difficult tonight as she sends us off at the airport.  As a result, I have been constantly asked by Jet’s Mom for her to keep Ben (for 1 extra month, for a few extra weeks, for anything) and then she personally bring Ben back to the US.  She even asks Ben whether he wants to stay in Thailand or go back to America, to which his answer always changes, which usually gives us all a brief laugh.  As attractive as this option might seem to be with how busy Jet and I will be once we return to the US, my only response has been an outright “no”.  And it is not just Jet’s Mom that is putting the pressure on for Ben to stay.  Other family and friends make it seem as it is the best thing for Ben to stay here in Thailand because he will continue to learn to speak Thai and Thai customs – much better than if he stayed in the US.  They also bring up that it is quite normal in Asian culture for parents to leave their children behind with family.  Although I can appreciate their arguments, the answer is still an unwavering “no”.  I just think of how much I have already missed with Ben this past month after only seeing him on weekends and I can’t imagine how much more I will miss out on if he stays behind for any length of time.

Spending all of this additional time with Ben this past week really did illustrate how much Ben has changed from the first month in Thailand to the second month.  When we arrived, Ben rarely spoke Thai and insisted on speaking English even when being taught to say something in Thai.  There are still a few words that Ben will only say in English, but I have learned more Thai playing with and watching Ben these past few days than I have in the past few years.  Ben is able to speak many new words in Thai, most of which I don’t know, so I end up having him explain to me what he is trying to say.  These are usually pretty frustrating experiences for both of us, but Ben has been the best Thai teacher I have ever had.

Another big change is the way I am able to “get through” to Ben.  It seems for the past year, maybe even longer, that the only way to get Ben to do something was by command (e.g., eat, sleep, put something away, etc.).  There were several times over the past few days where my commands were simply ignored and even a time where I could not get Ben to go to sleep for his afternoon nap.  This was an incident that did not go unnoticed by Jet’s Mom as she tried despirately to leverage it against me, such as by saing “How could I take care of Ben if I can’t even get him to sleep …” or trying to make a bet that if I can’t get Ben to sleep (at some future time), that he stays in Thailand.  I never fell into those traps, but it didn’t even matter.  While Jet and her mother were out shopping yesterday, I was able to get Ben to sleep by explaining to him that he needed a rest, that he would feel better after sleeping, and that we could play again when he woke up.  For some crazy reason (at least to me), this strategy has been working.  Ben will just shake his head in agreement as if he completely understands me, and usually does not take much more coaxing after that.  Amazing.  Jet’s Mom has used a completely different approach to get Ben to sleep – saying that “Mau Mauw” (a big scary cat in Thai) will come get him if he doesn’t sleep.  Whatever is effective and gets the job done, I guess.

This also shows to me another big change in Ben – how much of an influence I am on him.  There were times before we arrived in Thailand when I commented on how Ben would “copy” me (e.g., the way I would lay down to sleep, things I would say, etc.), but now Ben is picking up all of my bad habits!  Chewing on finger nails, dancing fingers, getting on Jet’s last nerve, Ben seems to do it all.  My influence really shows when I explain to Ben “Daddy said …” (e.g., “Daddy said no hitting, right?”, “Daddy said be careful, right?”, “Daddy said pick up the toys, right?”) and Ben agrees to do (or stop doing) anyg I ask him to.  Amazing.

Yet another big change is how much more independent Ben has become.  Ben will constantly say “Ben time” (at least that is what it sounds like), which means in Thai that Ben wants to do something himself.  This might be putting his shoes on, walking up or down stairs, picking out his clothes to wear, or putting those clothes on.  Ben is so ready for potty training.  Ben still likes to “get away from it all” when he “drops a deuce” (e.g., hide under a table, go off to a corner), but when Ben has done this lately, he tells us that he is “working”.  Hmmmm … that is not the type of “working” I have been doing when I have had to leave him each week.  Something else that has been pretty funny has been Ben’s fascination of touching things or wanting to touch things – “I’m touch”.  Anytime we pass a water fountain, a statue of some sort (to an elephant, a fish, or some other animal – real or not), a “baby dinosaur” (what he calls the small, harmless lizards that can be found climbing the outside walls of buidlings all over Thailand) or anything different really, “I’m touch”.  We all just break out laughing in the car anytime we pass something (e.g., a train, a truck, a crane, bird) because we just wait to hear “I’m touch”.  Ben usually doesn’t disappoint us.

But I am very sure that Jet’s Mom will really miss Ben.  For the first month, Ben didn’t want anything to do with “Yai” (Grandma in Thai), now when you ask Ben “Ruk Kai” (who do you love the most?), he will usually say “Ruk Yai” (love Grandma).  It really is true that Ben has learned a lot more Thai and Thai customs being around her.  They sing songs together in Thai, Ben loves eating Thai fruits and vegetables, and Ben has become so much better at giving a “wai” or bowing down to others and to monks.  Of course this comes with the bad habits in Thailand as well, one of the primary ones is Ben’s number one favorite thing to do, take a ride on a motorcycle or “buckle” as he calls it (I think he means bicycle).  In fact, perhaps the most emotional good-bye that we have had so far was when Ben said good-bye to one of the workers (”Won”) at Jet’s Mom’s business in Phitsanulok.  We had finished packing and were in the car ready to leave when Ben threw a fit – he just had to have one last ride on the “buckle” with Won.  So that is just what he did and you were never sure of excitement than you were watching Ben riding around for those last few minutes in Phitsanulok.  Although this was a joy to watch Ben having so much fun, I can’t bear to think of how often this must have happened when I was away in Bangkok.  Perhaps it is best not knowing.

Well, that is all from Thailand.  This has been another wonderful experience for us all and I look forward to the next time that we will be back, whenever that will be.  Right now, however, we are looking forward to being back in the US.  I have another handful of videos to post on YouTube from this past week in Thailand, but those might have to wait until I am back at JSU over the weekend before I can share them with you.  Let’s hope we have an enjoyable (and uneventful) flight back home.

A Shot In The Arm

Jet and I stopped this morning (Friday) by the ABAC Hua Mak campus (where I taught last year) to pick up our final exams. Every time I have stopped by there this summer I have run into a good friend from my time spent there last year. This is somewhat unusual because there are thousands of students on campus at any time, of which I probably only know a handful, and the campus is pretty large. This visit was no exception as we bumped into Father Bipin – he calls these run-in’s “God-incidents” instead of coincidences. Father Bipin was on his way to getting a swine-flu shot, which just happened to be administered today only. Given the exceptional situation that we ran into him, I figured it was fate that we should join him. So Jet and I got swine-flu shots for about $8 a piece. Seeing the news about possible swine-flu projections in England this morning as it continues to spread was another factor in my eagerness to get the shot done. Funny that our arrival here in Thailand was marked by the swine-flu (its beginning) and is now marking our departure.

Last night we visited Jet’s cousin “Da” in Bangkok, which is the cousin we attended the wedding of last year at about the same time. We had a good time there and really liked their house, which they spent 5.5 million baht (about $157,000) on purchasing and remodeling. I only bring this up because the kitchen and bathrooms were remodeled to be very similar to the kind you would find back in the US – very rare in Thailand. Da’s husband Terry is from England, so we had a good chat about his time living in Thailand for nearly the past year.

Once we finish grading, we will be off to Phitsanulok for the next few days. Our plan is still to return to Bangkok on Tuesday to finish packing and getting all other last minute things completed before we head back home. Six more days!

Final Class

Just finished up my last class in Thailand for this semester, so besides grading the final exam and submitting final grades, things are just about wrapping up around here. I am looking forward more and more to going back home, but we are still able to enjoy ourselves these final days in Thailand. We ate at the Sizzler again last night, and while walking around the mall, I finally took some video of some of the major American fast food chains that are here in Thailand. Although you may not be able to make out the menus of the restaurants in the videos, you can get a sense of how similar they are, though there may be a few items on the menu that are different (e.g., “spicy” chicken, fish sticks, etc.). I have also added a few pictures to the “June Pictures” photos that I posted earlier (e.g., Ronald McDonald, “Jeffrey” from ToysRus) as well photos from getting my visa extended yesterday – now featured in the last post.

Jet and I are just making final plans for our last days in Bangkok, such as when to pack all of our stuff up and bring it over to Jet’s Mother’s condo and when we should stop by the MBK shopping mall one last time to pick up a few last minute odds and ends. The plan is to leave for Phitsanulok Friday evening and return back to Bangkok either on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I am not sure how often I will have access to the Internet, but I will try to add at least one more post before we return.

Passport Control

Jet and I took a trip to the nearest Thai Immigration Bureau office this morning (Tuesday) to take care of my visa, which is set to expire on Friday (July 3). Remember that I would not have had to worry about a visa extension if I hadn’t crossed into Burma as my original visa was good through July, but once I crossed the border, I was only given a 15-day pass. When we arrived, we stopped at a photo store just outside to get some passport-type photos that were needed with my visa extension application. When Jet explained to the store owner that we needed passport photos, the older (60’s) Chinese man commented to Jet how much he thought I looked like Tom Cruise. Jet could not stop laughing. We almost made it the whole trip without any mention of Tom Cruise, and what made Jet laugh so much was because it was an older Chinese man that brought him up. Oh well. After a 20 minute wait for the photos, we walked into the Immigration office, which was not unlike the DMV’s that I had spent so much time waiting in Wisconsin and Alabama. We waited a minute or two in the “information” counter line to get the right application, filled it out, then waited another minute or two in the “information” counter line so that we could get a ticket and were told to wait until our number came up at the right counter. It was only a few minutes before my number came up and we turned in my application and fee of 1900 baht (about $54). To our surprise, I was only allowed a single 7-day extension to my visa and would then have to pay a 500 baht fee (about $14) for each day I stayed beyond that. As luck would have it, an addtional 7 days extended the expiration date of my visa to July 10, which is the day that we fly back to the US. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for the offical to “process” my passport, but we were all done in about an hour or so. Hopefully we don’t have any more passport problems. Keep your fingers crossed!

I have my last class tomorrow (Wednesday), which will simply be student presentations. Although our final exams are on Friday, Jet and I are planning to have someone proctor the exams for us, then pick them up later that day. We then plan to grade the exams and submit final grades to complete our time teaching in Thailand. We will then either leave that night or Saturday morning for Phitsanulok to spend the last few days in Thailand with Jet’s family before returning to Bangkok for our flight back home. We are looking forward to getting back, though we really have enjoyed our time in Thailand this summer.

Surprise Visit

Since Jet took cooking classes in Bangkok this weekend instead of traveling to Phitsanulok to be with Ben, Jet’s Mom surprised us by driving down to Bangkok with Ben to spend a few days with us. They arrived on Saturday evening, after I had finished doing work at ABAC and Jet had finished her cooking classes, and we spent some time at Jet’s Mom’s condo and at the MBK shopping mall. Kristin mentioned in a previous comment that Sam liked seeing videos of Ben. Well, I took a few more videos of Ben over the weekend to share! The first one is when Ben first arrived at Jet’s Mom’s condo and of him singing, dancing, bouncing, and doing everything else that makes him quite a handful! The second video are a couple of short clips taken at the MBK shopping mall. The first part is of my favorite dessert in Thailand – it is a clump of marshmellow cream wrapped in a wafer. There are other variations you can get (with dried pork, raisins, etc.), but my favorite is just the cream and the wafer. The price for this treat? 10 baht (about a quarter). The last video is one taken on Sunday morning when there were people washing the road. I am rarely around the condo that I am staying at in Bangkok on Sunday mornings, but every time I see people scrubbing the road, I always just shake my head in disbelief.

Jet had the great idea on Sunday to travel to Bangkok’s “Dream World”, which is an amusement park similar to six flags, and was a place that I had never been before. Ben had a great time on some of the rides (well, all except one), seeing the elephants (but not getting too close to them), and running around (until we had to catch him before he got into trouble). Just to follow-up on the ride that Ben didn’t like, there was a “crazy bus” ride that circled up and down, and after a couple of cycles, Jet shouted out to the ride operator to stop the ride because Ben was about to lose it. The ride operator was kind and did stop the ride to let Jet and Ben off. Over and over throughout the day, Ben would always answer that he had so much fun. When we were in the car leaving, Ben said that his favorite ride was the one where he got to paddle in a canoe. What a lot of fun that trip turned out to be … and the only ride I went on was the sky-glide! I split the vidoes I took for this trip into two; the first video covers the first rides Ben went on and did, the second video covers the rest of the rides and a trip to a friend’s house of Jet’s mother. It was raining out by then, so Ben went playing with a Thai boy in some of the collecting rain water – the way Thai boys play in the rain. Speaking of rain, after mentioning that it had been dry for the past two weeks, these past few days we have had some big downpours and storms come through. The storms last for about an hour or so, but we have had about 6 since Saturday night. Jet’s Mom stayed in Bangkok until after lunch today (Monday), so we had breakfast together, Ben came to see all of our students and the administrators, and we all enjoyed lunch together. What a great time it was seeing Ben this weekend. Today is Jet and my “official” Thai anniversary (remember, we were married in the Milwaukee courthouse in April first), so I could not think of any better way to celebrate 6 years together than having Ben around.

Celebrity

With Aunt Sue mentioning that she might be included in another PSA (thanks for commenting!) and the news of Michael Jackson that has dominated the news online today, I got to thinking about celebrities here in Thailand, which is something that I have not talked much about so far. Sure, I did mention about my current student who is a singer in a Thai boy band, but there are fashion shows that happen almost weekly outside in front of the shopping mall, there are celebrity sightings that happen almost weekly (Jet points them out to me) as they do press conferences here in the shopping mall. The funniest one was just on Tuesday, we passed a Thai actress giving an interview to a handful of news cameras in front of the elevators we take to get to ABAC every morning. It was funny for two reasons, 1) it was in a cramped hallway literally in front of our elevators – Jet and I had to squeeze past the actress and the news media people (and got in some of the video shots I am sure) to get on the elevator, and 2) the actresses nickname (all Thai’s have one) is Pancake. We will occasionally walk by or see video likely being taken for one of the TV mini-series/soap operas that show every night on local TV in Thailand. And just yesterday, Jet and I were walking to the MBK to do some shopping when we walked passed what appeared to be an Indian film crew shooting a music video. You just never know what you will pass on the streets or see in the area I am currently living and working around. Back to Michael Jackson (sorry for including you and him in the same sentence, Aunt Sue!), it was amazing to wake up at 6:00am and it being all over CNN, BBC, and FoxNews only a few hours (or even minutes, I guess) after he was pronounced dead. I heard some reporters comment about “what the world will think when they wake up tomorrow”. I found that pretty funny since I was likely finding out the news before most Americans – and I am halfway across the world! Besides, does the world ever sleep any more?

Just An Update

Nothing too exciting to report in this post, so I will just give an update on things. The weather has been unusually dry for the past week (no rain) and it was actually quite plesant walking to the mall today as there was a slight breeze to cool down the mostly sunny skies. We stopped to have some “Ka Mong Guy” for breakfast, which is boiled chicken over rice (one of my favorite dishes), and on the way, we passed what seemed to be dozens of new food vendors that we had never seen before frying, cooking, and selling all sorts of treats and dishes. Maybe it is a good thing that we do not go out for breakfast too often as I am sure that I would eat much more than I currently do. Speaking of eating, Sup stopped by yesterday after class to talk about research, teaching, and everything else. Afterwards, Jet, Sup, and I travelled to the 6th floor of the mall to eat at Sizzler for dinner. We got the all-you-can-eat soup and salad buffet that came with the meal we ordered (chicken, fries, sausages, fish, etc.), which for the 3 of us cost $17 (600 baht). It is much more expensive than what we could buy out on the street, but the food was good and we had a lot to talk about, so the money was well spent in my opinion.

We are now nearing the end of the semester as I have class tomorrow (Friday), Monday, student presentations on Wednesday, and the final exam next Friday. I am actually glad that our time is almost ending – not because I don’t like it here, but because I am anxious to get back to JSU (I was fortunate to get a class to teach right after I return) and for the upcoming move back to Wisconsin. There are quite a few things on the plate right now. Jet cancelled her class for tomorrow and had it rescheduled for today because she originally planned on returning home to Phitsanulok for the weekend to watch Ben. Jet’s Mom was planning on attending a conference in Chiang Mai, but in the last few days has changed her mind. With this new information, Jet is taking full advantage of the day off tomorrow by staying in Bangkok for the weekend and registering for Thai cooking classes on Friday and Saturday. The classes are quite expensive (around $370 or 13,000 baht), but Jet has said that these are going to be very extensive classes and she should learn a lot. After nearing her first semester of teaching in nearly 7 years, she deserves a chance to enjoy herself. Her classes appear to be going quite well as she is bringing in her second brand manager guest speaker today (from Reuters). The previous guest speaker was from Tipco, a popular juice manufacturer in Thailand.

So that is all for now. We are thinking of going to MBK tonight for some shopping. While Jet will be taking Thai cooking classes the next two days, I will be making final preparations for my upcoming class at JSU. Needless to say, things will continue to be busy for us.