Midterm

Tonight is the midterm exam for my MBA students which does bring us to our midpoint to our trip here in Thailand.  With respect to teaching, I have been pleasantly surprised with how well things have wentas my students have become more and more active each week.  I have just submitted the final grades for my executive MBA students, who took their final exam last Saturday, and I had 7 A’s, 4 A-’s, and 1 B+.  After averaging these results using the ABAC scoring criteria, it came out to a score of 3.85 out of a possible 4.0.  The reason I bring this statistic up is that on my grading sheet, there is a printed remark that says that the average should be between 3.20 and 3.60.  Oh well.  The students did very well in this class, so why should I give them a lower grade on account of matching that remark?  I was asked today by one of the secretaries if I was willing to teach the same class next semester (starting in September).  I informed her that I would only be here until the end of August and that the earliest I would be able to teach at ABAC again (if only the circumstances were right) would be next May.  On that note, I was asked by one of my MBA students last Thursday night during the class break if would be teaching the same course the next semester.  When I told her “no”, her friend that accompanied her seemed very upset as she had hoped to take the class with me this semester, but a problem with her registration this semester prevented her from doing so.  I don’t know if she was upset because she thought I was a good teacher or because she didn’t want to take the class with the other professor that teaches the same class.  One thing I do know is that I have been very popular this semester as now have almost 40 students in my Thursday night class - the last couple of additions switched to my class from the other professor that teaches the same class.  Although this will prove to be more work on my end, I have done nothing from discouraging my increasing class size.

With respect to travel, shopping, etc., we have not done as much as I thought we would have.  The more I think about this, though, as I now am free on Saturdays, I suspect that this will change for the second half of our time here.  We did go to Mae Sot for a day or so and I have taken many bus rides to/from Phitsanulok.  I spent a few days visiting different shopping malls in Bangkok and Phitsanlok with Jet, but only visited a night bazaar on one occasion, and that was in Phitsanlok.  This hardly counts as being ‘adventerous’.  Despite this disappointment, this weekend Jet’s sister will arrive in town and we are planning on going to Chiang Rai and Mae Sai (Burma border town in the very far north of Thailand) and next week is Jet’s cousin’s wedding in Bangkok.  While Jet’s sister will be in town for the next two weeks or so, I am sure there will be lots of opportunities for travel and shopping.

With respect to Jet and Ben, Jet has really enjoyed her time here in Thailand, though from time to time she does tell me that she misses living back home in Alabama and seeing the family in Milwaukee.  The biggest challenge for Jet has been to fight off boredom, which she has done by taking a few classes to learn how to play on an electronic keyboard and nearly daily attending Thai baking classes at a local school.  The Thai baking classes will surely pay huge dividends for me, but will also give Jet a lot of additional items to showcase during her Thai cooking classes.  Ben has been doing well and as Jet puts it, is becoming very “sassy”.  The biggest challenge for Ben has been the mosquitoes.  Every time I see him after a few days of being away in Bangkok, Ben always has a few new bites on his face, arms, legs, or feet.  The poor little guy just doesn’t know how to swat them away just yet.  This actually makes me wonder as I don’t see other Thai children with the same mosquito bites all over them.  Maybe they just know to swat them away.  Another thing difficult for me to do when we are traveling with Ben is to walk around without carrying him.  All Thai children just follow their parents around, either holding their hands or not, and feel perfectly comfortable having their very young children ride on their motorcycles with them.  It seems that every time I set Ben to walk, he wants to run off and do his own thing.  I just don’t feel comfortable with Ben running around as there are so many things that he can get into or places he shouldn’t go that I always just want to carry him around.  And as for Ben riding in a motorcycle?  No way.  Not on my watch.  In fact, I think Ben may be the only child in Thailand that rides in a car seat.  I am sure glad that we brought a car seat along with us as they are very expensive over here.  As for other new things, Ben is speaking more and more, half words in English (“dog”, “tractor truck”, “fish”) and half words in Thai (“nam” or “water”, “allay you” or “what’s this?”).  Ben also loves to watch the trucks come and go from Jet’s Mom’s house, he can now do things like bow to say “thank you” or greet an elder like a Thai, blow kisses goodbye, and put his arms up on command by either saying “number one!” or “touchdown!”  Ben also likes to show off his strength by picking up his large toys, boxes, and other large items and carrying them around.  Ben has also gotten much better at kicking a ball and, unfortunately, he also enjoys kicking a dog whenever they walk by – Jet said Ben saw her Mom do this once after the dog did something bad and he just picked it up.  I don’t know how much Ben weighs right now, but he always seems heavier and heavier each weekend I come back to see him.

All-in-all, it has been a pretty good experience here in Thailand.  There are times when I think that 4 months is just too long and others when I really do enjoy myself here.  I have gotten by without being sick (knock on wood), without speaking much Thai at all, and without eating hardly any American food.  I have had some good times here and I have had some good learning experiences.  I have had some interesting stories to tell and some good pictures to share.  We’ll just have to wait and see what the next two months has in store for us.

Baby Watch

Every day both Jet and I are awaiting to hear some ‘good’ news on the baby front, only to find out that we have to wait some more.  We will still eagerly check the blog as often as we can to see if there are any new developments.  Hopefully someone will keep us posted if anything happens.

Just hanging around Phitsanulok for another day as I am planning to leave back to Bangkok tomorrow morning.  On Saturday my executive MBA students had their final exam and they ended up doing better than they did on the midterm exam, so I took that as a positive ending to the semester.  When I return back to Bangkok tomorrow, I will figure out the final grades.  My Thursday class has their midterm exam this week, so there is more grading to be done in the coming days.

On Sunday we visited Jet’s cousin’s (Aye) house for the ceremony to honor her mother.  It was a typical Buddhist ceremony with 10 monks attending followed by a lot of delicious food to eat.  Speaking of food, Jet’s Mom surprised me by having a pizza waiting for me when I arrived in Phitsanulok on Saturday night.  I felt bad because it cost about $12 for the pizza, which for the same price we could have all eaten at a very nice buffet.  After not having had ‘American’ food for so long, the pizza actually tasted quite nice as I ate almost the whole thing.  To my surprise, I weighed myself before going to bed and found that I weighed 172 pounds.  Whoa.  I don’t think I have been this ‘light’ since high school.  I guess playing all of that basketball has been a really good workout for me.  I was so hungry when I arrived in Phitsanulok, however, because the bus I traveled on did not hand out any food at the start of the trip – which has never happened before.  About halfway into the trip, the bus stopped for our break, but it was at a spot that we had never stopped at before.  It was only when I showed Jet my bus ticket (which happened to be printed out by a computer instead of ‘hand-written’ as usual) that she let me know that the bus I took was with a different company.  I guess with all of the unusual ‘differences’ I should have known, but the window that I bought the ticket from was the only one open for business.  Oh well, at least I arrived at the right place at the right time.

Yesterday, Jet’s Mom took us all to the biggest hospital in town again for her to sing Karaoke.  Once a month, Jet’s Mom is invited to sing a few songs (along with a few other people) in the middle of the hospital, which I suppose makes things a bit more bearable for those waiting around there.  There is so many people coming and going and waiting to be helped, it is like walking into a very large DMV building.  When Jet’s Mom sang, Ben walked up to her and wanted to be with her on the stage.  At that point a fairly large crowd of about 60 or 70 started to gather and watch.  Jet’s Mom sure does sing beautifully, though.

Not much else has happened during my time here.  We stopped at an all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet with another one of Jet’s cousin’s (Bali) as he was trying to impress the girl that works there.  I ended up having six bowls of ice cream and now don’t even want to think about eating another scoop.  We have also done the dance aerobics in the evening and have been playing cards at any moment that we have had any free time.  Just the usual around here.

Jet, Jet’s Mom, and Ben will be traveling to Bangkok on Thursday so that we can all be there to pick up Jet’s sister from the airport on Friday.  We are planning on leaving afterwards to go to Chiang Rai, unfortunately driving, for a few days.  I still don’t know if I will be giving a research presentation at Jet’s uncle’s university, so it will be a few anxious days coming up as I have to figure out what I would give a presentation on, throw together a few slides, and wait and see if I am needed or not.  Oh well, it should be a lot of fun up there with the ‘whole gang’ together.

Slow News Day

There has not been much happening with me the past few days, which is just fine as it has given me time to make progress on my research and make final preparations for my student’s final exam tomorrow.  There seems to be a bit of action going on around Bangkok, however, as protesters are marching onto the Government House in hopes of convincing the Thai prime minister to resign.  I don’t know much about the current political environment in Thailand, but this is about the fourth weekend in a row in which there have been organized weekend protests.  They have been all peaceful protests so far which have been a mix of speeches and concerts.  I hope it stays that way.

I will be leaving for Phitsanulok again tomorrow after class finishes and I will use my time on the bus to grade the final exams.  Jet’s Mom ended up buying Ben a new crib yesterday for around $60, which was one of the more inexpensive ones, but Jet reported that Ben enjoyed having the additional space sleeping last night.  Jet’s sister Pookie will arrive in Bangkok one week from today and the plan is now for us all (Jet, Jet’s Mom, Ben, and I) to meet her at the airport and drive back to Phitsanulok together.  From there, to my chagrin, we will be driving to Chiang Rai for a few days for vacation.  I had really hoped to avoid driving there as it is a 6 hour drive through the northern mountains to get there.

I walked to the “Big C” today which is a part of the shopping mall nearby (about a 25 minute walk).  I was running short on some snacks to eat (I was very sad to have eaten my last bag of Combos this week) and was looking for a way to kill time while getting some exercise.  The Big C is just like a Wal-Mart back home.  This was an interesting store, however, as it was four stories high and to get from one floor to the next, you took your shopping cart up/down a flat escalator.  The escalator belt had some sort of grip to it that would hold your shopping cart in place and not roll away.  I was very tempted to buy some comfort food from home, but it was just too plain expensive for me to do so.  For example, a small jar (8 ounces) of Prego was around $3 while 8 ounce jars of peanut-butter and jelly were a little over $3 each.  For the price of a couple of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, I could eat very well for an entire week here in Thailand.  I guess I just don’t miss food from home that much yet.  One thing to point out is that bread of all types are considered a dessert here in Thailand.  This was something that I knew when I first knew Jet as she always didn’t want to eat a hamburger or a brat with a bun and also didn’t like eating sandwiches of any kind.  It is interesting to see the many different ways that they sell bread here, for example plain bread or soft rolls served either with a variety of pudding dipping sauces or with the pudding inside them.  They sell the sliced bread with or without the crust, toasted or not, with toppings (e.g., dried pork, sugar, etc.) or not, and warm (heated up) or cool.  The first (and only) time I had some bread here while in Thailand was on my last bus ride to Phitsanulok almost two weeks ago.  For each bus trip, they give each passenger a small ‘to-go’ lunch and a packed dessert.  The packed dessert was a packaged slice of “milk” bread.  I was pretty hungry so I tried it and thought it was quite good from the buttery, sugary taste and it wasn’t too soggy.  Yes, it is a slow news day if I am spending time talking about “milk” bread.

If the weather holds, I will likely play some more basketball tonight after church this evening.  I have played on six other occasions and overall my play has been a mixed bag.  A couple times I played very well, the other times, I played like I was up against Bryon 1-on-1.  The competition has also gotten much better from my first time playing here.  The majority of players are Thai, but a few of those Thai’s have grown up in the US.  There are also several players that have a lot of height, including one Dutch student (“Bob”) that is about 6′8″.  It’s always a challenge when I am lined up against him.  Another thing is that there are also a handful of ”gun” players that can shoot lights-out.  All of these different types of players do make for some pretty good action and a very good workout.  Since it has been about 3 weeks since I was last out running, I do look forward to playing as it is the one thing that is still keeping me in shape.

Royal Treat

I met up with Jet on Monday afternoon at the “Central” mall in Thailand at around 3:00pm.  We decided to see a movie right away as we couldn’t remember the last chance we had to see a movie together – but we know it was sometime before Ben was around.  Although it was not my choice, the “Sex In The City” movie was actually pretty good, although a bit too long (over two and a half hours).  It was also interesting how all nude scenes were blurred out of the movie as those types of things are censured in Thailand.  Afterwards, we did a little shopping, then got a bite to eat, then did a bit more shopping.  By 9:30pm, we were both spent and decided to call it a night so we headed back to Jet’s Mom’s condo in Bangkok which was pretty close by the mall. 

We headed out at 9:30am on Tuesday morning for more shopping at the “MBK” mall in Bangkok and arrived just as many of the shops were opening.  This mall is a bit different than the “Central” mall, which is what I would consider more of a traditional type of shopping mall, as the “MBK” mall had both big and small shops littered all throughout either in physical storefronts or just set-up all over the floor of the mall.  There were a lot of good deals to be had, but the only purchases we made was for a new bed spread for around $20 and a handfull of new movies for around $10.  They have just about any movie you could want at these places to buy DVD’s and VCD’s as movies that were just released last weekend are available for purchase.  The quality of the movie is not at good as movies that have been out for a month, but if you want any movie, you can get it from about two dozen places in this one mall.  Scenes like this play out all over the city, however.

As it was getting closer to lunchtime, I asked Jet if she had called her cousin “Aye” (pronounced like the letter “A”) recently.  Aye was likely the cousin that Jet was closest too as they are about the same age and grew up together.  Aye was the reason that Jet came to Milwaukee to study as Aye was getting her Ph.D. at UW-Milwaukee.  I actually knew Aye before I knew Jet because we were both TA’s together and I was about to enter the Ph.D. program while Aye was just finishing up her Ph.D. in Finance.  Anyways, after a few years of teaching after graduating in Texas, two years ago Aye moved back to Thailand and is teaching Finance at the top school here in Bangkok.  Aye also got married this past December, and although we have kept in touch periodically by e-mail and phone over the past few years, Jet and I have not spent any time with her in person. 

I had asked Jet if she had contacted Aye back because after I called her last week to wish her a happy birthday, Aye mentioned that she will be going back to Phitsanulok (her home town too) this coming weekend for a ceremony to honor her mother (Jet’s Mom’s oldest sister) who passed away from cancer 8 years ago.  After a quick conversation with Aye, Jet said that she was driving in the same part of town and would stop by to see us.  We met up at around 12:00pm noon and shortly afterwards decided to go to an open market in a different part of town to continue shopping (Jet was looking for a dress to wear at her cousin’s wedding that will be in two weeks – July 5) mainly because many of Aye’s students shop at the “MBK” mall and she didn’t like to be seen by them.  After a few more hours of shopping, Aye invited us for dinner over at her house and meet her husband.  Now I had known that Aye’s husband was wealthy as he owned several successful businesses (primarly from building and selling large farming equipment, but now from buidling office buildings, among other businesses), but I was not prepared for what I saw at her house.  I had seen some very nice houses before in Thailand, but none could compare to this.  Aye’s house had 18 rooms and 4 full-time staff.  Aye’s husband also was a big collector of many items, from antique clocks and pianos to fine wines.  Aye took us to see his wine cellar which was as big as any liquor store you find in the US and pointed out one rack of wine (about 30 bottles) that was worth as much as a new BMW car.  While waiting for Aye’s husband to return from work, Aye showed us her DVD’s from her wedding.  They had their morning ceremony held in the same hotel in Bangkok where Aye said that Princess Diana and Prince Charles stayed in and the evening ceremony (the wedding reception) was held at their house, which her husband built a new three-floor extension (with elevator) for the occasion.  As remarkable as that was, a member of the Thai royal family (a Princess) was the honorary guest for their wedding (which Aye pointed out was unusual for a royal family member to visit a house for a wedding ceremony as the couple usually visit the royal family member instead) and the Princess even sang “Unchained Melody” (by the Righteous Brothers) to them for their dance.  How could you possibly top that? 

When Aye’s husband arrived home for dinner at around 4:30pm, he was very kind and showed us more of their wedding ceremony footage for a few minutes before dinner was ready.  And for dinner?  Frog legs and whole baked trout with a couple of other exotic dishes.  Under normal circumstances I would have avoided those dishes if at all possible, but in present company, I did not want to show any signs of disrespect.  Wouldn’t you know it, the food was actually quite good.  The saying is true, frog tastes just like chicken.  To wash it all down, Aye’s husband opened what appeared to be a very expensive bottle of champagne which tasted nothing like the bottles of bubbly that I have consumed from time to time on New Year’s Eve.  We needed to leave right after dinner as Jet’s ride back to Phitsanulok was leaving, so Aye’s husband’s personal driver took us away, dropping Jet at the meeting location where her ride was picking her up and me to ABAC.  Jet said later that Aye’s husband would invite us again back for dinner at his house the next time the Princess would be by to eat, supposing that she is a frequent guest at their house.  Holy smokes.  What else can I say about that? 

As the driver got closer and closer to ABAC, the traffic became progressively and progressively worse at it was about 6:30pm – the time when evening classes begin.  It actually took us nearly an hour to go the last few kilometers before reaching ABAC, which actually gave me a new appreciation for why it just might be acceptable for students to arrive a few minutes late in Thailand – the traffic!  I guess you never know until you walk a mile in the student’s shoes.  I can’t imagine trying to rush through that traffic every day after work just trying to make class on time (and hoping to find parking too!).  A new appreciation indeed.

With so much that has happened the past few days, it’s hard to focus on what’s ahead.  Jet has reported that Ben was just fine with Mom over the past day and that when he woke up this morning and saw her for the first time since being back home (Jet arrived back at home at around 10:30pm last night), he rushed to her and gave her a big hug.  Jet also said that Ben is much better at “bowing” to other people (which consists of slightly bowing his head and putting his hands together), which is a way to show your elders a sign of respect.  People love it when Ben does this for them.  Jet also said that Ben also asks “what’s that?” a lot (although he says it in Thai) to Jet’s Mom.  Is that the age when Ben will start to ask nothing but questions? 

I have my final exam for my executive MBA students on Saturday and then they give their final team presentations.  It’s hard to believe that our time here is almost half up.  Right after class, I will be headed by bus back to Phitsanulok for the weekend as Jet’s friend cancelled the weekend trip to the beach.  That actually works out well as now we will be able to attend the ceremony for Aye’s mother which will be held on Sunday morning and give us the chance to see Aye and her husband again.  Beyond this weekend, Jet’s sister (Pookie) will be arriving in Thailand for a couple of weeks on Friday next week and there is talk of traveling to the far north of Thailand (Chaing Rai) for some sightseeing and to see Jet’s uncle.  The week after (a week and a half from today) will be Jet’s cousin’s wedding.  So there are a few things that will be keeping us busy in the next few weeks and likely result in a few more stories to tell.

Happy Father’s Day

A few things happened over the past few days, but nothing too exciting, which might not be a bad thing.  On Friday evening (as well as last evening) I did a load of laundry and watched a movie (“Mr. Bean’s Holiday” on Friday, “The Reaping” on Sunday) while doing my ironing.  Just before I headed out to my class on Saturday morning (around 7:30am) it rained fairly hard for about a half hour.  I still had footy on my mind, but as I said in my previous posts, there were a lot of things that could keep me away.  My class did finish an hour early (at 3:00pm) so I had just about made up my mind to go until I walked outside; it was gloomy and cloudy with just a hint of a raindrop here and there.  That was enough to make me scrap my plans on playing Aussie Rules footy on Saturday as I didn’t want to spend the time (and money) all for naught.  Instead, I still put on my sneakers and a pair of shorts and played basketball at the courts right next to my building.  I figured that if it did rain, I was only a few steps away from shelter and there was not much of a chance for my evening to be ruined.  As it turned out, I ended up playing basketball for nearly 3 hours (until 8:30pm).  We did have some rain, but it was just sprinkles and was nothing that kept us from playing.  In retrospect, I wonder if I made a mistake in not trying to play some footy.  Oh well, what is done is done.

Yesterday morning I arrived at the business building on campus here at 8:30am for the welcome session to the incoming ABAC International Business Management (IBM) undergraduate students.  I was invited to give a 15 minute presentation, for which I prepared a few PowerPoint slides, to talk about JSU and the advantages of participating in a student exchange program.  The ceremony started at 9:00am, but I didn’t get a chance to speak until around 11:00am after all of the IBM faculty and the president of ABAC had a chance to speak.  By that time, they were running short on time, so my 15 minute presentation with slides became an informal 5 minute chat in front of the students (just over 100) highlighting the main benefits of participating in an exchange program and about JSU.  It must have went well as the chair of the IBM department, the person who invited me to the ceremony, immediately said quite excitedly as soon as I sat back down next to her that I was the “right person to give that speech”.  When the session broke for lunch at 12:00pm noon after an hour-long panel discussion with recent IBM graduates, I did have a few students approach me wanting to find out more information about JSU.  I left after that since I think the afternoon session involved games and team-building exercises, but all-in-all, I think it was a positive experience no matter that I only had a few minutes to speak.

As you might have imagined, plans have changed again.  Jet will be leaving this morning from Phitsanulok to spend a day or two with me in Bangkok to do some shopping and perhaps catch a movie.  After that, she is planning to return to her hometown and again return to Bangkok on Friday to spend a few days with her friends.  The plan then is that on Sunday morning, both Jet and I will travel together (perhaps also with some of Jet’s friends) to Phitsanulok where I will stay for a few days.  Sounds complicated, but these plans have not changed too much in the last 24 hours, so that makes them about as firm as any plans that we have set since we have been in Thailand.  We’ll see what happens.  Ben will stay with Jet’s Mom back in Phitsanulok the entire time, and although I am a little nervous, I am more comfortable about it as this is the second time we have tried something like this.  Jet has told me that Ben is becoming more and more wild in the past few days.  He will like to scream, make noises, and get into trouble any way he can.  Jet likes to compare Ben now to the way Josh used to be when he was around that age.  Almost every sentence that she speaks about Ben lately ends with, “just like Josh used to do”.  Josh may be getting a bad rap.  Needless to say, maybe this break from Ben will be a welcomed and relaxing break for Jet.

Footy In Thailand?

Not too much excitement these past few days as I have simply hunkered down and have been preparing for classes as well as doing some research.  I met up with Sup on Wednesday night and we walked to the mall so that he could do some clothes shopping.  This lasted for a couple hours and without much fanfare, I walked back to my room afterwards and went back to work.  The last few days it has rained hard for about a half hour mid-day, which has been nice since it hasn’t rained in the evenings.  Not that is has done me much good since I have been indoors since Tuesday, but it is nice to know that if I had wanted to go outside and walk around in the evening, I could have done this without fear of getting wet.

After sending out multiple e-mails to the Thailand Aussie Rules football team, located here in Bangkok (the Thailand Tigers), I finally got a response e-mail this morning.  Actually, it was more of a newsletter stating that they had a practice scheduled for 4:30pm tomorrow, an intra-club match next weekend, and a match against Hong Kong in Pattaya, Thailand at the end of next month.  I think playing Aussie Rules in Thailand would be fun and I am hoping to make it to the practice tomorrow, but there are a few things going against that.  First of all, I have class scheduled until 4:00pm tomorrow.  The last two weeks my students have wanted to skip the lunch break so that class could end early, so the timing may just work out.  The practice field is located about 20 minutes from ABAC (checking Google Maps), so it is reasonably close and shouldn’t cost too much to travel by taxi (perhaps 150 baht or $4-$5).  Of course the weather, particularly if it is raining, would dictate my interest in playing, but I would have to play in tennis shoes as I did not bring cleats with me.  Finally, I think the team is comprised almost entirely of Aussies living here in Thailand.  Could I really compete against them?  Oh well.  Hopefully things work out tomorrow and I have an interesting story to tell.

On Sunday I have been invited to give a brief (15 minute) presentation about JSU and the possibility of student exchanges at the new undergraduate business student orientation held here at the ABAC Hua Mak campus.  This is something that I was offered to do in the meeting that I had on Wednesday morning with one of the chairs of the undergraduate business school and I agreed.  I really don’t know what to expect or what the students will want to hear, so I think I will try to keep it simple and learn from the experience.  Wish me luck!

Wisconsin In The News

It sure must have been some weather that happened in Wisconsin for me to turn on CNN International yesterday and see a man with a “Wisconsin” t-shirt on during a segment on the flooding.  Wow, lake Delton gone dry completely.  I went “tubing” my first (and only) time on Lake Delton probably about 10 years ago now.  Just amazing.  Glad to hear that everyone fared OK from the rains and flooding.  Not like the last time there was flooding about 8 years ago or so and Kristin’s basement flooded.  I hope the water recedes soon though as Janette says, mosquitos are sure to follow.  Maybe I should bring back a few of the mosquito zappers that work so well here in Thailand.

I have been pretty busy catching up with all of the work I need to do the past day since I have been back in Bangkok and I was able to get my meeting in with one of the chairs from the undergraduate business school this morning to discuss partnerships between JSU and ABAC.  This afternoon I will be meeting up with Sup to spend a few hours working on our research paper together and later tonight going to the mall as Sup said he needs new clothes because he is “fat” and the clothes he has now are too tight and uncomfortable.  I also spoke with Jet earlier and it now appears that she will be staying in Phitsanulok for the weekend instead of coming to Bangkok as a few of her old friends will be back in town and she is looking forward to spending time with them.  When I spoke to Jet on phone, she was in the middle of getting a massage.  This might actually be the first massage that she has gotten here while in Thailand, which is another one of those things that she would typically get a lot of if Jet were only visiting for a few weeks.  A massage for two hours only costs about $5, so it is a real treat that I am surprised she has not done more often since arriving here.

Below are some of the pictures that we had taken of Ben on Monday while at a photo studio in Phitsanulok.  Jet’s Mom “spiked” his hair before coming to the studio and I actually liked it like that, but Jet prefers his hair down, so you get a few pictures of Ben’s hair both ways.  The studio is run by one of Jet’s relatives and gave us a great deal for the pictures plus the CD with the pictures (around $10).  This is the same relatives that took our wedding photos and we were one of their first clients back in 2003.  The studio has not changed much since then, but they offer a lot of neat new services (e.g., professional movies and photo albums) that would have been wonderful to have for our wedding.  Jet has mentioned that she might like to have some pictures of us taken by her relatives from around Phitsanulok put into one of those photo albums for an anniversary gift (our Thai wedding anniversary is on June 29).  We’ll just see about that.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Well, it’s my last full day in Phitsanulok until who knows when.  Perhaps a week?  Perhaps two weeks?  Last night after the dance aerobics we headed out to the Phitsanulok bizarre for the first time since I have been in Thailand.  This is another one of those things that if I was only here for a couple of weeks that we would have been to at least 5 times already.  I guess that is the approach we have been taking, which is, why rush doing all of the traveling and sightseeing and whatever else tourists do.  Pretty soon, however, there will only be a few weeks left so I am sure there might be a big last minute rush to get all sorts of shopping and traveling done the way we are heading.  We didn’t buy anything special last night, though we did walk around for about an hour.  Jet’s aunt that accompanied us bought me a hotdog-waffle-on-a-stick to snack on.  You’d be amazed at all of the stuff that they put into and mix with waffle batter in Thailand.  It’s like Thai people love waffles, but feel that they must ‘double the pleasure’ by combining it with something else, e.g., chocolate, corn, hotdogs, etc.  In fact, for as many of these types of stands that are around that make these waffles, I have never seen anyone eat just the plain waffle.

Jet is off learning how to make a ‘coconut pie’ this morning.  She asked me if she should skip class today since I am still in town and I said “no way”.  I just hope the recipe is a good one.  It should be because all of the new things that Jet ends up bringing back from her baking/cooking classes are just unbelievably good tasting.  She had a few pineapple-filled cookies left-over for me to try when I got into town on Saturday night that were delicious and last week she made some fabulous dim-sum – steamed buns with curry inside.  Dim sum, yum yum.  Ben has been eating good while I have been here, so that is another good sign.  I don’t really notice Ben changing or getting any bigger, but since I see him almost every week, I am sure the changes that do happen I just don’t notice.  Jet and I took Ben for some 17 month old pictures at a studio yesterday and we will be stopping back later today to pick-and-choose the best ones from the bunch.  We will be getting a CD with the pictures on them as well, so once I get my hands on them, I will share them with you.  There should be some good ones.  Speaking of Ben, Jet’s Mom was giving him a shower this morning by simply turning on the shower and handing Ben the nozzle to do with it as he likes.  Ben really enjoys spraying himself and anyone else in the room with him, which is fine because all Thai bathrooms are designed the same way with tile floors and a drain; remember, it is common for Thai people to just scoop water from a bucket and pour it on themselves to bathe.  Well, the water for the shower was just a little too warm for Ben’s liking (the water doesn’t get “hot” in Thailand – so there is no worry for that), so what Ben started doing was blowing on the shower nozzle saying “Fook-eye”.  It made us all laugh since that is what Ben does to cool down food that is too hot to eat.  It seems every day lately something interesting happens with Ben in the shower.

Get Back, Honkey Cat

I’m back in Phitsanulok again this weekend to keep Jet and Ben busy while Jet’s Mom is away running one of the election sites today.  It was pretty strange coming in last night and going out to eat (of course), but that so many of regular places were we usually visit were not open to eat because of the election the next day.  What’s up with that?  I guess people needed the extra rest for the election.  There are no big plans for the few days that I will be here, just a chance to spend some extra time with Jet and Ben before the next week and the heaps of work that I face ahead of me.  One thing I can say is that with a lot of work to do, time will surely go by quickly.  I usually check the Milwaukee (jsonline.com) and Alabama (annistonstar.com) news every day to see what I am missing back at home.  I’m glad to see that the threat of severe storms has seemingly left Alabama but I see now that Milwaukee seems to be getting hit hard every few days.  Hope everyone is faring well there.  I have not been out running for just over a week now as I have only spent two full days in Bangkok in the past nine days, the majority of time that I have been in Bangkok I have spent preparing for my classes, and I have not brought my running spirit with me to Phitsanulok.  I know, just a lot of excuses.  On Friday night I did play basketball again for a little more than an hour, so I guess that could count as a good workout.  With all of the running and sweating that I did, I am sure it was as good as any run that I do in the morning.

Ben still has a slight runny nose, which we are pretty sure that it is due to some new teeth coming in.  Ben is back sleeping at home right now with Jet’s cousin watching over him so both Jet and I are using the computer at the e-Library to check our e-mail and use the Internet.  Jet is searching online for a new ‘pack-and-play’ style crib for Ben as it appears he is just too big for the crib he has now.  I don’t think he should get another crib because he would likely only use it for the next two and a half months that we will be here and they are very expensive (over $200).  With a pack-and-play, it would be both reasonably priced (around $60) and portable so that we can take it along with us on trips as well as move it around the house, if needed.  At what age does Ben grow out of sleeping in a crib anyways?  He actually seems to sleep just fine on a mattress on the floor.  We can’t leave him on a regular bed as he moves around just too much in his sleep and could easily fall off and it makes me queasy leaving him sleep on a mattress on the floor alone because when he wakes up, he can easily get into things that he likely should not be getting into.  Jet has also told me that when she gave Ben a bath that he left a “floater” in the pool.  That has happened twice in the past week.  The funny thing that Jet has reported to me is that Ben has gotten freaked out/scared by the “visitor” in the pool.  One day in the future I am sure Ben will regret me telling you this story.

Simply Amazing

I set out for ABAC’s undergraduate campus (Bang Na) this morning at around 10:30am.  I stopped by the human resources office to pick up my ‘coupons’ for a free ride to and from the campus, but was told once I arrived that I didn’t need any coupon as all I had to tell them was that I was a lecturer or ‘adjarn’ at ABAC.  I took the short walk to the front of the campus where about a dozen coach buses were waiting.  I walked to the first bus in the queue, or the one closest to ABAC’s entrance, and told them I was an ‘adjarn’ and that got me a seat on the bus for free.  The bus was air conditioned and very similar to the coach buses that I took from my trips between Bangkok and Phitsanulok, so it was a comfortable ride.  I am glad that I brought my iPod along with me as it was around a 45 minute ride to the Bang Na campus, and what a sight it was.  It literally is a campus all alone by itself seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  As impressive as the campus was from afar inside the bus as we approached and when we arrived at the campus, it was simply amazing how spectacular the campus was up close and on the ground walking.  The architecture was stunning and equally impressive was its grandeur and beauty.  Although I did not have a camera with me, I was able to find a short video clip and some pictures online of the campus, but they truly cannot give you the awe I felt walking around.  The ‘center of learning’ tower, which currently houses the business school, is 30 stories high and the view from the top is just wonderful.  Across the street from the tower is a building under construction which I believe will be the new business school as it is listed as such on a campus map I saw while walking around.  There was just so much to see and the campus is only around 5 years old.  Unfortunately, I neglected to call my friend in advance to give me a tour of the campus so by the time I had reached Bang Na, he had already finished teaching his class and had other plans for the day.  I took about an hour or so to just walk around but I likely could have taken all day to just take in the sights.  Sup had told me last week that although he had never been to the Bang Na campus, he had heard that the campus itself had become a tourist attraction.  I could easily see why and, in fact, while walking around there were a handful of people just taking pictures of the buildings and even one group taking wedding photos for the bride and groom.

Not much else to report on at this time.  One thing that I did find out is that although I can access the Internet and download files on my new computer, for some reason I cannot post things (e.g., posts on this blog, send e-mails, enter information online for my courses, etc.).  That is a bit frustrating as I am now at the computer lab in the business building doing my work, which is something that really hope to avoid.  Hopefully I am able to figure out what the problem is, but I just might be too busy with other things to spend time solving this problem in the near term.