Potpourri, Thai Style (It's a Little Spicy)

Post title credits go to my husband. :)

These are some shots from our daily lives....What we see, what we eat, the things we do, etc.

A park within walking distance of our house with a wall of Buddha statues. It is pretty and peaceful. My son didn't want me to take this picture because it didn't seem respectful to him.

Our first bill in Thailand! This is the bill for our internet - $20/month for fast cable connection. We've also since gotten the water bill ($3/month) and electricity bill (a little over $50/month). Yup, all of our bills here total less than $100/month. So off we went to 7-Eleven to pay these bills (What? Doesn't everyone pay their bills at 7-Eleven?).

The soi (street) right outside our neighborhood (Soi 164) has everything from restaurants to hardware stores to...a plastic surgery clinic (Medical tourism is a big industry in Thailand).

Lipton ice tea in Thai.

Ketchup.

The view to the street from one of our favorite restaurants, Mr. V and Family.

A delicious dish of stir-fried pork over rice, which cost less than $3.

Chicken noodle soup. Doesn't look very Thai, but tasted awesome and very Thai.

As a friend said, "There's a lot of 'Porn' here in Thailand." Yes, not only is it an industry, but also a person's name. The head nurse at the school is named Porntip. There are also other "Porns" at the school!

The Fish Place, we call it. A place that actually sells live fish. We may get some for the pond in our yard.

A great bakery, also on Soi 164.

Would you like a "smootie"?

All the beautiful, yummy cakes.

A slice of chocolate truffle cake. Wow!

My husband had one of the Thai teachers at school write up a card to instruct motorcycle (motorcy) taxi drivers to take us to the hospital in case of a medical emergency. The hospitals here are like hotels in the U.S., some being very high-end and with great service. Medical care here is excellent and cheap in general.

We also had a card written about my son's food allergies to show restaurant staff when we go out. It's worked very well so far! My husband laminated both cards to preserve them.

I think this is one of the first dishes I made here: seasoned ground pork with greens. It actually tasted pretty good! I've given up on following Thai recipes for now because it's so hard to figure out what the ingredients look like at the markets and stores, so we're just experimenting and making things up as we go.

Treats from a friend....On the left are cookies she made from scratch (she has an oven) and on the right are Thai pastry treats. Neither lasted through the day.

On Mother's Day, we went to lunch at an authentic, "off the grid" food stall. There were no farangs to be seen there and no one spoke any English there. This is the extent of the "restaurant," which served one dish - a noodle soup. There was one big pot with broth in it, and the smaller pots on the left had bean sprouts, basil, and other things to put in the noodle. The noodle was put into the broth for a few minutes, then served with bean sprouts and basil. Took about two minutes to cook and serve. We sat at a picnic table to eat.

The noodle soup. So simple, and yet one of the best I've ever tasted. It cost 20 to 30 baht (30 baht ~ $1). But because we are farangs, the guy charged us 40 baht (still cheap, but still)!

Add-ons for our noodle soup.

A soi cat lounging by my feet while I ate.

Thai treats from our landlady.

Noodle soup I "made."

I love the English translations on Asian food containers. This is on a box of crackers. Love that it even tells you what "brunch" means!

Our health insurance manual. I wonder if I could get a job editing these things. They sure need it!

Our first pizza delivery! Neapolitan pizza fresh out of an outdoor brick oven! [The Italian restaurants here are amazing and rival any that we have tried back in the U.S., even some of the three- or four-star ones! The food is amazing!]

One Month!

I can't believe we've been in Thailand for a month already, although in some ways it feels like it's been a lot longer. In the last month, we've mostly been having a great time, taking in everything and enjoying all the new experiences and life here. But I still get pangs of homesickness, especially on the weekends, when we would usually see our friends and be able to do lots of different things without having to drive too far. I also miss being in familiar surroundings with familiar faces, and having access to many more varieties of cuisines than we do here (I'm sure they exist; we just haven't found them yet).

The one person who has completely embraced life here is our little guy. He's game for trying and doing anything, has loved seeing and experiencing all kinds of new things, tries all the different foods, and now greets every Thai person he encounters in Thai! He has made several friends with other teachers' children and at school, and is loving school. Just the other day, another boy at school bought my son a snack during recess because I hadn't put any money on his I.D. card yet. I think it made him feel accepted. It was only in the past week that he has mentioned a few times that he misses his friends at home, but he doesn't dwell on it. He actually has matured quite a bit in the last month, carrying on conversations with adults and carrying himself with confidence. I have been amazed by his adaptability and enthusiasm, and am so proud of him for the way he's handled this upheaval in his life.

In general, the quality of our life here has been much better than it was in the U.S. The Thai people are really friendly, helpful, and nice, so it doesn't really feel like we're on our own here. The pace of life here also is much slower and more relaxed. The frenetic pace that was our life is no longer. Maybe part of it is that we are doing without some of the modern appliances and machinery that allowed us to do things faster, like a dishwasher or clothes dryer. But I am loving my simpler life.

And the fact that there are no disciplinary problems for teachers makes a huge difference in the amount of energy we have left at the end of the day. Work, while still tiring, is no longer draining.

So far, we are really loving life here. Even though it doesn't feel like home yet, the Thai people and the wonderful school community have really helped to make us feel not so far away from home and our friends and family. And it's such a beautiful country and fascinating culture. We look forward to learning more about it and exploring it.

Grocery Shopping, Thai Style. Sort of.

This morning, we decided to take advantage of the awesome weekend market, Sammakorn Weekend Market, near us and go on our first major grocery shopping trip in person. Up till now, I had been ordering groceries online because it's so convenient, but the things we want aren't always sold online.

We set out early on our scooter and rode out to Rhamkamhaeng Road, the busy street that connects all the soi (side streets), including the one that goes to our neighborhood. We parked on the side street outside our neighborhood a couple of blocks from Rhamkamhaeng, where we caught the local bus to the market. We got an air-conditioned bus, so it cost 11 baht (as opposed to 8 baht for a non-air-conditioned bus) for each adult, and my son rode for free.

One thing I discovered that made me happy was that I could hold onto the metal bars on the ceiling of the bus without standing on my toes! Here, I am no longer a shorty; I am actually average height!

As you can see, there are just rows and rows of vendors selling everything from clothes to shoes and handbags to food and drinks and plants.

We didn't get any today, but the fresh crab meat and shrimp are fairly inexpensive. If I remember correctly, 11 ounces of crab meat costs about $7.

Smoked fish.

There were at least three buckets of live turtles like these that people buy and release back into the khlong (canals) for religious purposes. The ironic thing is that the same turtles are then probably caught, bought, and released over and over again. The cycle just continues.

Live eels.

Seafood galore, including fresh crabs.

There's no rhyme or reason to the placement of these stalls. Here, a snack stall is right next to a jewelry stall.

This was one of three or four stalls selling toys. We tried to get something for my son and tried to bargain down the price, but the vendors wouldn't go low enough for us, so we ended up not buying anything. We have heard from many people that the toys made in Thailand are very cheaply made and break within days of purchase, so we didn't want to pay too much (which, really, is still cheap compared to American prices - $5 to $10....I guess we're getting spoiled).

After we had our fill of the market, we crossed the parking lot to the western market, called Villa Market.

Some of the prices are pretty high. For example, the steaks pictured here cost over $30 each.

The cheese section. We bought one block of mozarella for a little over $3 (which is still cheaper than the ones I saw online), and one block of parmesan for a little over $7.

We were delighted to see goldfish crackers! We hadn't had one in over a month! But they cost over $2 a bag, so what was once an everyday snack will now become a special treat.

Cheerios!! These boxes are smaller than the ones we are used to in the U.S., and they were at least $7 for one box!

One of my favorites. A small bag costs $4. Good, I guess, because that means I won't be buying or eating them!

So, to compare, we bought all kinds of veggies at the weekend market for about $7 total...

But spent over $90 on not a lot of stuff at the western market. These will probably last us a week at most. We used to be able to buy almost two weeks' worth of groceries at Trader Joe's for less than that!

After shopping, we took a taxi back to where our scooter was parked. The highlight of the trip for my son was that we got to ride in an SUV taxi for the first time ever.

We managed to get five bags of groceries (totaling probably 50 pounds or so) and the three of us on our scooter! The weight limit for our scooter is about 300 pounds, so we definitely exceeded that! Now we just have to add another 50 pounds next time and we will be just like the Thai people.

Fashion Island

Today, we made yet another trip to another mall to get some shoes for my husband (I tell ya - I have probably spent more time at the mall in the last two months than I did all year last year!). The mall is called Fashion Island and, like seemingly every other mall here, has stores that sell everything under the sun. If you are feeling a little under-stimulated, I'd suggest a trip to this mall. It's complete sensory overload: extremely loud music, frequent announcements over the loudspeakers, televisions, blinking neon signs. And, in case you're still feeling a little underwhelmed, there was a "food festival" there today, unbeknownst to us. Basically, they decided to put a large food market right smack in the middle of the mall.

But at least we had two good (i.e., uneventful and smooth) taxi rides today! The taxi driver who drove us to the mall looked like he was our age, but was actually in his 50s! Both taxi drivers spoke English quite well and gave us tips on where to take our son for fun. They were quite taken with him and were quite curious about him. The taxi driver who drove us home actually gave him a treat.

Here we are!

There was even a bowling alley with karaoke inside the mall!

Somehow, I doubt this is an authorized Apple store....

A bored store clerk curling her hair on the job.

Um....

The food court.

No losers allowed.

A prison play area for the kids while the parents shop.

We were honored to be able to visit the Best Public Toilet of 2008 while at the mall!

But seems like you're expected to clean the toilet seat there?

The "food festival."

 

The sausages looked good, but because they had been sitting out without refrigeration, we passed.

 

Combs and other things carved from the horns of buffalo?

I think this is a skin-lightening product. With extra snail serum. In case, you know, the ones with a regular amount of snail serum don't do it for you (what the heck is snail serum anyway?!).

Dessert? We didn't get a chance to try.

Not sure what Elvis has to do with a food market in Thailand, but there you have it.

On our way out, we passed a sushi buffet restaurant (definitely going back to try it out!). The customers sit along a long counter, and in the middle is a conveyor belt with dishes of food that go around. The customers just grab the dishes they want as they come along!

An ad for a new model of scooter in our taxi. Wonder what "new feeling" the scooter gives you....

Hi, I'm a Recovering Teacher

So I've been subbing the last three days for one of the high school special education teachers who is out sick. Looks like I'll be sticking around for a while longer -- maybe a week or two, if not more -- while he continues to recover from home.

The first three days have been great. The three of us get on the scooter in the morning and go to school together. I drop off our little guy at the elementary school, where he plays on the playground with other kids until school starts, and my husband and I go to our respective classrooms to start the day. I love the time we have together on the scooter, as short as it is, just feeling the wind and the crisp morning air, being together, and chatting about this or that. Sometimes we pass other teachers on their way to work. It's fun to see everyone zooming around.

And, after all these years, I had completely forgotten how awesome teachers, especially special education teachers, are to hang out with. They are some of the most down-to-earth, fun, and funny people I've ever met in all the years I've been working. Also kinda kooky. Like one of the teachers said: It was no accident that we all ended up in special education; there is a reason we were attracted to the field.

Then there are the students. So different from American students. These students are polite, sweet, and follow directions. When they are off-task, all a teacher has has to is remind them of what they should be doing, and they do it. No attitude, no muttering under their breath, no arguments. Also, because the teacher I'm filling in for is the case manager for the 12th graders (all eight of them), that's the group I'm working with, for the most part. They have been through three years of this already, so they know what to do and are very independent. Most of the students have been diagnosed with various learning disabilities, but I have one student who was diagnosed with Aspergers and shows signs of bipolar disorder and depression. Even so, he is a piece of cake to interact with compared to some of my students in the U.S.

The work environment is wonderful. The high school has a great principal who is very positive and open, and the special education coordinator is a no-nonsense, but supportive, administrator. They leave you to do your job and trust you to do it right, but are helpful and supportive when you need it. It reminds me a lot of when I was teaching in the U.S. I had the best department chair possible. The management from my last job really have a lot to learn when it comes to creating a positive, supportive work environment. But having been in that position for almost five years, I had forgotten that constantly being worried, over-worked, stressed, and tense at work is really not normal! It's so nice not to feel a knot in your stomach when you see your boss coming your way.

And thanks to the special education coordinator, I am also now an expert user of all that Google has to offer. The school uses Google for everything, including to communicate with students and give them  materials for classes. So now I have my own website on Google that I share with my students and that I will use to teach!

Part of my job is to go into various classes to support the content teachers and the 12th-graders with special needs in those classes. I also have one class in which I help these students with their content classes and teach them various skills, such as organizational and study skills. Two of the classes that I support are an IB English class and an IB math class. Both teachers are from the U.K. and have lovely, lilting accents that I can listen to all day. I love the IB English class, where the students are studying Macbeth. I didn't appreciate Shakespeare as much during my own high school years, so I love having this opportunity to learn and study it along with the students.

Another class that I plug into is a 10th-grade basic algebra class. I was told that, even though it's "just" a 10th-grade class, the material is still pretty difficult because these kids are mostly from Asian countries and have really good math skills. Uh, I don't think so. First of all, everything they are learning now, I learned in eighth grade. And the math skills of some of these students is appalling. I am really surprised and disappointed. One girl's math skills are seriously worse than my six-year-old's! She cannot add or subtract numbers less than 10 without using a calculator! Those over 10, forget it! And she gets very confused when doing anything with positive and negative numbers. Now, to be fair, she may have a math learning disability (because she's a 10th-grader, I am not her case manager, so I don't have her information or know her history). But still! When a 15-year-old thinks that "-1-2" equals -1, something is seriously wrong.

And the teacher for this class, while very nice and seemingly knowledgeable, is not very good at teaching the material and getting it across to the students. It may be that when I had algebra in eighth grade, I had the best math teacher anyone could have, so that I have higher-than-usual standards for teaching this subject, but I already had a list of criticisms for the way this teacher teaches after only being in class with him once. There are too many to list, but one thing that drives me crazy is his pacing of the class. It is way off. And instead of going over each problem with the entire class, he just goes to each student individually to check their work. I think working with each student individually is great, but I also think that there should be a class-wide lesson to explain and reinforce.

Just yesterday, after an entire week of classes, he finally realized that some of the students still have trouble with the rules of adding/subtracting/multiplying positive and negative numbers. So he decided to review these rules. "Great!" I thought. But instead of explaining and then practicing, what does he do? He puts problems on the board and has the students work on them. No explanation, no review, nada! The girl with the bad math skills was utterly confused. So I sat down with her and explained the rules. She wrote them down, and we went through each problem using the rules, and she got it! She was so proud of herself. Minutes later, I saw the teacher do the exact same thing with another student. I just rolled my eyes and thought to myself, "I could do this job so much better."

So that's the class where the control freak/teacher inside of me comes out. I just want to take over and do it the way it should be done. But since I'm just in there to "support" and I'm "just" a sub, I really don't want to overstep and piss off the teacher too much. I'm also bored out of my mind in this class since the teacher usually just covers one concept each class, which lasts for 70 minutes, and gives the students an average of only five problems to work on. After that, everyone just kind of hangs out! WTF?!

Tonight, after three days of working hard (or hardly working), we prettied ourselves up for a soiree the school held for the staff at a hotel downtown. Good food, fun people, and a chance to dress up. Some people were dressed to the nines, with beautiful cocktail dresses and fancy shoes. *Many* Caucasian men with younger Thai wives. Hmmm. Part of the reason I cannot stand being mistaken for Thai and being lumped with "those women." Nevertheless, it was a nice way to start the weekend and a much-needed break.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is a big holiday in Thailand. It is the Queen's birthday, also known as Mother's Day. Most shops are closed and everyone has the day off. Our landlady came by with treats for us and our neighbors in the back are throwing this big party with very entertaining karaoke.