No more flood, but a whirlWIND of events in the Big Mango

So, you know that saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?"
Well, it's been a few of those weeks strung together. Yes, the floods have subsided here in Bangkok, but the sandbags remain, along with a bunch of really down folks. We are happy to be back at work and we appreciate having some consistency in our days and weeks, but with that comes stress and frustration.

On order and being shipped! Thanks, Mom & Dad!

With 3 weeks back at school, make up days in order, we are just going about our business at work and here in Bangkok. I think things are going well, and suddenly something happens to rattle the cage. But I figure I must keep plugging away and focus on what I am good at doing. The biggest setback comes on Thanksgiving when I 'lose' my iPhone, the one and only material thing I coveted so dearly, and its beautiful WI Badger case I treasured so much. Not even worth my time to explain that drama, but I was not going to be missing my Thanksgiving meal at the Roadhouse with the new ladies I have met through my new membership to the American Women's Club of Thailand. I was on my own Turkey Trot to the Emporium and Siam Paragon malls to find a new iPhone, but "Sorry, Madame. No have iPhone. No stock. FLOOD." Ugh... anyway, being the multi-tasker mission girl I am, I managed one, the very last iPhone in all of flooded Bangkok.

Turkey Trot in Bangkok? Mission: Must find new iPhone!

So I have had some gains through all the mess of life. Thanksgiving was a clear indicator of that. Meeting new friends is always great when you need normalcy and some motivation to keep fighting the fight. So, thank you Ruthie my dear, for wearing those terrible heels of mine  and thank you, Ms. Linda Brown, for stepping in and being the mom I needed on Thanksgiving night.

On the work front, there have been ups and downs. One up to give props to thy self: I recently submitted an article to TIE magazine (The International Educator) about some of my ePals initiatives working with classrooms of students abroad. That should be published in their February or April issue. Score on that. I finally got a chance to interview one candidate for a position that was approved months ago, and I have  list a mile long for him if hired. I think that will ease my work load a bit in terms of helping to get our school headed in the right direction with technology. Plans have turned to considering more education and possibly another Master's Degree to make ourselves more marketable in the International Teaching arena. There are decisions that will soon need to be made. But the prospect of the future and the possibilities are in place, so it makes sense to stick to looking up and ahead.

Bring on the German Christmas Markets (and Bier!)

And, plans are underway for another Tebo pad festive  party. Things are really stressful at work, but everyone's invited over for a relaxing night of Wii Pictionary on the UDraw Tablet, and for some holiday cheers.
But the biggest thing to stop and take time to look forward to...well, for a vacation, of course! Sorry, Thailand, you didn't make the cut this Christmas holiday season. Last year it was Napa and Sonoma, California for wine. This year, it is cooler temps and yes, wine! We are a bit beached out for a while, although Bali was on the list as well as Australia.
It's off to Germany and France for the holidays, possibly to Switzerland depending on how the travels go and how worn out we are. So bring on the Bier and Weissen in Germany and the Hofbrau House (yes, the original!) in Munich. Then, some long-awaited real Vino in France! Note to self: First, must by winter coat at JJ Market for cheap so not to freeze in Europe!
There are things to look forward to, and more work to be done as we get ready to coast in to the new year in less than a month.

X-mas in Paris!

So like I said before, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all, right? Sometimes it just takes a bunch of bad stuff to razzle you and then you have a few positives to make you second guess why you were razzled in the first place. Let the wind blow me to  Europe for a couple weeks and blow me and the cooler air back to Thailand to refocus energies and spirits on good things to come in 2012!

Looking forward to a toast to happiness in 2012!

To Escape A Flood, Head Toward More Water

The flooding has gotten most of us down. Yes, I miss working. I think we all do in a way. Did I mention we are now off school until Nov. 14th? Crazy. I cannot wait to hear how we are going to make up all these days we have lost, even though I don't see any flooding anywhere here in the inner parts of Bangkok. But so it goes, right? So I roll with it. Heck, if I have to work until the end of June, may as well take advantage of time off now to travel and explore the best islands and beaches that Thailand has to offer. So that is exactly what we are doing.
Josh and I left to go to Koh Samet on Halloween. There was something strange about hanging on a beach on an island on Halloween... One thing for sure was scary, though. And that was Samet Ville 'Resort' and I use that word RESORT lightly. If you think that you want to be on a secluded beach on an island somewhere, away from other tourists, do yourself a favor and really think hard about that one and what kind of place you want to stay in. The lesson I learned: Don't go cheap. You can still be frugal, but do yourself a favor and check in with yourself about how much 'budget-friendly' thinking you can handle. I chose Samet Ville because I wanted a relatively cheap getaway. Well, ants, bugs, yucko food, blah. They could not understand why we were leaving so quickly the next morning to head up toward the popular Sai Kaew beach area. Well, maybe their idea of seclusion is living with bugs, but it isn't mine, nor Josh's! I think his tent does a better job than this room did for us. Cannot... The best part was writing up the review of the 'resort' on Agoda yesterday. Yikes. Just ask Josh about his donut onion rings. That tells it all!

Krabi But Not CRABBY-A Break Away From Waterworld

So how convenient we get a little over a week off from school when Bkk is declared a "Disaster Area" because of the flooding? I'll take it. We departed from Bkk on Thai Airways Royal Silk class and were definitely treated like royalty. I don't recall booking a first class or business class ticket, but mai pen rai (no worries). We arrived to the airport in Krabi shortly after 9 a.m. on Saturday with our driver holding up a sign with my name on it. It took roughly a half hour to hit paradise in Ao Nang Beach at our comfy resort, Phra Nang Inn.

View from Ao Nang Beach. A few long tail boats.

One of the first things I noticed as we ventured out were the Tsunami evacuation signs along the beach walkways of the Andaman Sea. This area was hit pretty badly in 2004. But one would never know with how clean and well-kept everything looks.
Since it was still pretty early, and we were waiting on our friends to arrive, we decided to book an elephant trekking tour nearby. I have never ridden an elephant before, but this was one of the most amazing adventures I have ever experienced. For under $25 I could ride an elephant in the tropical rainforest, take some great pictures of the lizards, monkeys, the landscape and then feed her gobs of pineapples AND watch her bathe with her mother afterward. Nice way to start a holiday I'd say!

Dexy's Midnight Runner

"Come on Eileen"...
Just kidding. But I am now officially a midnight runner by Bangkok standards. I helped raise money for 3 different charities by running in the 14th Annual Amari Watergate Charity Midnight Run to benefit children who have lost their parents to HIV. It was a little tough to see on the streets, but I did all right for myself I must say.
I was not expecting as many people as were there, but it was so much fun! I mean, how could you NOT want to run at midnight when you have those two on either side of you keeping you company?

I am guessing a nurse and doctor duo.

I had friends, my photographer husband and over 4,500 runners on hand to take to the streets with me. Because this is Thailand, I have no idea what people are chanting on the streets, so I crank up my iPod and just look down to make sure I don’t trip over a pothole on these unforsakingly terrible Bkk streets.
Fortunately, I was able to meet up with Vee Vee prior to the race. It was complete chaos, as I am learning races here are, and I had a hard time finding Josh when I left him to go get my big slashed with the marker. I still have no idea why they do that, but anyway… I am so glad Vee Vee told me about this race!

So I was in for it because my watch stopped when I was running, and there were no markers along the route to tell us how far we had run or how much longer to go. I suppose it is better that way. Then I am not always wondering just how out of shape I really am since moving here.

Just gotta get away, get me outta here!

No, I haven't gone back on my feelings of loving to live in the Big Mango. My husband was feeling, should I say, a bit cramped down by city life, so we decided to up and leave the city for a weekend. I was out last weekend at the Dusit Thani My Bar for yes, another ladies night, and I met wonderful Helen. I was explaining that I wanted to explore Thailand and help out Josh, so he didn't dislike this experience. She suggested we jump a bus to Kanchanaburi and stay at a wonderful little joint called Apples Retreat. I heeded her advice and proposed it to Josh later that evening.
So we packed our backpacks, like backpackers do, and we took a trip up to the Mo Chit bus station. Lesson #1 learned...wrong bus station. So we ended up on a mini bus that stops every 15 minutes to let someone off outside Bangkok en route to our destination. That was after we had to endure an hour in less than turtle-paced traffic on a Friday night, last night of the month, when everyone gets paid. So most everyone and their mother is leaving the city to visit friends and family in smaller provinces and towns.

It just is what it is in Thailand, folks!

So let me just start with this because I think this tells it all. Well, sort of. There are 1sts for everything. I never thought my dream come true would land on the streets of Nana, but TIT once again. I never cease to be amazed. Those of you who know me, know I don a VW tat on my left oblique, and when I happened upon this guy with his decked out VW bus as an open-air bar, and then got to fancy a pink lady for myself, I was blown out of this world. Heck, it made the walk home to Phrom Phong MUCH better Saturday night. And the drink prices were pretty good! They were comparable to Cheap Charlie's.
Just over $2 for a beer, just over $3 for a mixer.

That's the look of happiness when you happen upon a VW that is not only Mystery  Machine cool, but also serves up delightful CHEAP spirits.

And so on the walk on the way home, near Asok, Josh dares me to ask the homeless lady how much for her puppy that was leashed to her big toe. I didn't hesitate because it'd mean we could have a puppy, with all its diseases, no dog food at home, la la la... So I turned around, strutted back to her and asked her Tao Rai for the puppy, pointing down at it. I didn't really have the guts to touch it. I'd give it a thorough bath when we got home, if I walked away with it. Part of me was just daring her, daring myself and showing Josh I would be able to walk away with a dog out of this whole charade. Anyway, turns out she was asking 1500 THB, which really is not much if you consider dogs are expensive little buggers. This pup would have run me a million head aches for about $50. Not to mention worms, worms and more worms. I am sure the vet bills alone would cost more than us having our maid, right?
Where in the world would we let it out? We live on the 9th floor, and from what I see here, the hoodies just let the dogs urinate and defecate on the road. No worries, though, since we have a great homey who has his broom out at 6:30 a.m. to greet us SAWASDEE KUP every morning and in the afternoon when we jaunt home sluggishly from school. Regardless, we went home empty-handed until I hit the 7-Eleven for a midnight snack. Probably for the best, right?

It is what it is...Who thought I would come to think of rats as cute? Or, "Look at that flying cockroach?" <insert snide giggle>. Yeah, Josh says I can pick up my own roaches now. Um, no. Still deathly grossed out if they are in my home. That's why we have a maid, right? And they come to spray here at The TBI Tower for 'pest control' once a month.

An Almost "10" Day

So Sunday, September 18th started at 4:40 a.m.  Yes, by choice. For those of you who know me, you know I treasure my sleep and I use the weekends to catch up on such. However, places to go, people to see, yada yada  yada. I ran in the Bangkok Post Mini Marathon 10K race at CentralWorld this morning, 6 a.m.

Getting my game face on pre-race. Look, the sun's not even out yet!

I don't know who was more upset, Josh or myself, at the alarm buzzing. Of course, I could have listened to body signals to take care and get thy butt to bed earlier than I did, but so it goes. I apparently run better when I have deprived myself on sleep and ate McDonald's 10 minutes before the blow horn signals the start of chaos in downtown Bkk.

Pretty good start to the day, huh? Yeah, I think so! I again have to revert back to Ruthie's "TIT" This is Thailand to put things in to perspective. So I find my teaching colleague Brian at the start line, which gets pushed back and then he says to me, "Did you check in?" I'm like, "Um, I have my bib on. Does that count?" Apparently you have to find the magic marker lady so she can scribble black on your running bib. Then, the Thai guy tells us we have to rearrange where we are in the line up. So the 10K goes first, followed by the 5K. No real gun, just three gentlemen with their blowhorns. I felt like I was at the State Fair cattle herding event. Anyway, we start, I set my watch, iPod is blaring. I get to Nana area, am greeted with a bunch of drunks who apparently didn't have enough during normal hours. They had to stand on the street with their glasses and tumblers of martinis they've acquired from the stall vendors who literally mix up their concoctions right there alongside traffic. I had to pass on the mighty offer, although I take stake in the fact that I run better when I have had something in my system...from the night before, that is. Again, TIT...TIT...

Two screens to watch the big game!