Learning the Language

Another lovely perk of being an educator at ISB (International School Bangkok) is that the school wants you to immerse yourself in the culture so they pay for you to attend 10 Thai language lessons. I take my lessons each Monday afternoon from 4:00 – 5:30 with four other new staff to ISB. Two are Canadians and two are Australians so you can imagine the ribbing I take.  Our teacher is Khun Narissa (Khun is the polite way to address a Thai person like Mr. or Mrs). We have a book with words to learn and dialogue to practice each session. Lately we have been working on our numbers. We have also learned how to direct taxi drivers.  I now know how to tell the drivers to turn left, turn right and go straight ahead.  Our group does tend to get a little off task like when we were taking about the word for like (chaup). We went from liking water to liking fruits to liking beer to liking our spouses, and even some movie stars. Probably the most useful phrase I have learned lately and have actually been able to use I learned when we were talking about the wording for “a little” – nit noi. Somehow that day our off-task discussion ended with learning “chuay bow bow nit noi mai?”  This can be translated to “Please lessen the pressure of the massage, okay?” And believe it or not, David and I actually were able to use it when were were in Sai Yok last weekend. I can’t wait to learn how to start bargaining with the vendors.

It's All About Friends!

One of the best things about making this big move from the states has been meeting new people from all around the world.  From the German friends we made while in Australia to our fellow "newbies" in Bangkok, we feel extremely fortunate to have made such wonderful new friends.

The wealth of experiences of our friends who are newbies like us in Thailand is immense.  We are part of the minority of families who do not have much previous experience educating overseas. People are coming from the states, Australia, Canada, South America, Africa, other parts of Asia, etc.  It makes for such rich conversations about the world in general.  

For those of you who know me from Kent School District, you will be happy to see this picture of Anthony Giles and part of his family, as well.  We actually see each other more here in Bangkok than we ever would have in Kent.  Anthony is having a blast with great kids and great opportunities.  I get to see Zach, his 2nd grade son, at the Elementary school.  Jackie, Anthony's wife, is pursuing her own interests.  And baby Cruz is ADORABLE!  Can't get my fill of that little one.  I won't give everything away about the Giles Family as I know Anthony is working at getting his blog up and running.

And we do not want to sound like we are not appreciative of our many friends and family elsewhere whom we have left behind but who have kept in touch with us.  We miss you all and you have no idea how exciting it is to log onto our e-mail or check our blog and have messages from home.  It's like Christmas!!!!!  Please keep those notes coming!  We love and miss you all.

Trying to Wash that Gray Right Out of My Hair!

My friend, Chrissy, who has helped me create this blog, encouraged me to do some posting on day-to-day life since arriving here.  Here is another post that fits into that category:


I've been lucky - hair lucky!  My sister, Sandy, has been doing my hair for about 2 decades now.  I am spoiled, what can I say.  As it got closer to us preparing for our big move, of course, my hair was on my mind.  I had thought about having her teach me how to color my hair myself and then purchase product to do it on my own.  But that could end up worse than other options. 

Before we left Australia, I got my hair colored since I knew I wouldn't have the language barrier there. By the middle of August, my roots were shouting out at me.  Oh, no!  Where to go. One Sunday afternoon, I ventured into a shop that had been recommended.  I had been warned that unless I wanted actual stripes I might want to forego the highlighting. A hair colorist came to me with hair swatches that were all different colors. We agreed on one that appeared close to my current hair color.  Then the process began.

The colorist arrived back at the chair with a bowl of color that looked like chocolate pudding.  Hmm! Seemed a little dark, but what do I know.  She started applying the color and then asked if I wanted my eyebrows colored.  I remembered when Sandy did this for me.  "Sure," I said and so she applied the color to my brows.  By the time she finished applying the goop to my hair, my eyebrows started to burn.  Where was the colorist now?  Reading a magazine in the corner.  I started visualizing myself looking like Groucho Marx.  Still the colorist was reading her magazine.  My hair was beginning to turn very dark. Finally she came over and wiped the color off of my brows.  Were they really going to be that dark?  OMG!  Next we went to rinse the color off of my hair. We went into a room that resembled an operating room.  I needed to climb up onto this bed with florescent lights in the ceiling.  I was seriously expecting the anesthesiologist to appear at any moment.  After my hair was rinsed, the woman asked if I wanted my hair shampooed.  Uh - yeah!  Four shampoos and a lovely head massage later, I was asked if I wanted cream rinse.  Uh - yeah!  Three more applications and another head massage.  I was walked back to my chair and the towel was removed.  Seriously?  This was supposed to be a match to my color before?  Luckily, I had an open mind and had expected that most likely my hair would not look the same, AND IT DIDN'T!  I am now a dark auburn haired woman with dark auburn brows (but I look much better than Groucho Marx).  When I received the bill I found that here, they charge you separately for the color, the brows, the shampoo, the rinse and the blow dry. Luckily my husband said he didn't mind having a "new" auburn wife for a change.  

First Impressions - Our New Home and Community

We were all anxious and excited to see where our new digs were going to be.  Troy, who would become our new friend, coaching colleague, tour guide, spiritual leader and answerer of all bizarre and, let's face it, stupid questions, picked us up at our Bangkok hotel and delivered us to our new home.  I have to say that I almost cried when we arrived.  This was to be the beginning of a new chapter of our lives.  And ready or not, we were here!

We have a lovely apartment on the third floor of teacher housing.  When you enter, you climb about 10 steps to get to the main level where you find the living and dining rooms, the kitchen and a sliding glass door that leads out to the verandah.  Another short flight of steps takes you to the two guest bedrooms (plenty of room for lots of visitors - hint, hint) and a bathroom.  Of course, we have chosen the top floor, another short flight of steps, to be the master bedroom.  This could also be considered the "hottest" floor of the apartment - you can read anything into this that you want to.

We are living in a gated community called Nichada Thani (ni'chitu to'nee).  About 80% of the staff live within Nichada.  There is a lake in the center of the community with a bike path and road surrounding it with several off-shoots of housing developments.  But of course, the school, International School of Bangkok, is the focal point.  Within a block of the school, you can find a little market, a smoothie shop, a dry cleaner, spa, a restaurant, and, believe it or not, a Starbucks (unfortunately they don't have Chai Latte's in Thailand - sniff, sniff).  Right outside the gate, you enter a different world - the Thailand we see in books, movies and on the internet!  There are carts everywhere selling fresh fruit, bbq meats, cold beverages, roti (our new favorite dessert - think nutella and banana pancacke) etc.  People are living in hut-like homes.  There are tons of motor bikes, bicycles, tuk-tuks and taxis (see David's post regarding Indiana Jones Ride).  We are still working at grasping all of the new and different road rules.  If you are a pedestrian, you better run for your life.  It is the hustle and bustle of life right outside of the gates that is truly fascinating.

Food, Food and More Food

We knew we liked Thai food, but had no idea what it would be like to be able to eat Thai every day if we wanted to.  Da cooks dinner for us each Monday/Wednesday/Friday.  She has been cooking yummy curries, soups and salads and supplying us with fresh fruits each day that she comes (see photo from left: pomelo, papaya, jack fruit, dragon fruit, watermelon).  We have been enjoying Dragon fruit, mango, papaya, bananas, rambutans, doku, watermelon, pomelo and pineapple just to name a few.  Da buys our fruits and veggies at the local market.  Quite often she brings home from the market things that we have never seen before - "Try Madam!"  She brought home a couple of desserts yesterday that were wrapped in banana leaves.  One was gelatinous with coconut in the center.  I really like that one. Another was sweet sticky rice with banana in the center.  The Thai definitely know how to make their desserts. 

When Da isn't cooking for us, we can cook ourselves (heaven forbid) or go outside the gates of the community and eat for 20 baht or 30B each (33B = $1.00). Everywhere, you can find carts with food being prepared.  And of course, David likes to try it all.  Today we were at Chattachuk, a HUGE market downtown (20 acres of over 20,000 stalls of whatever you can imagine and a few things you can't image), and David saw something someone was eating and asked where he could get some.  We ended up finding and eating at the same place.  We had some sort of curry with potatoes and chicken, some type of sweet sausage, and some spicy fried up pork and sweet spicy tofu.  Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you that you need to tell the Thai people how spicy you want your food.  Ped means medium spicy.  Of course, this is in Thai terms which could mean very spicy to you.  Ped maak means very spicy which means you might as well just peel off your tongue when you're done eating until you get used to it.  Then mais ped means no spice.  This could mean little spice or no spice depending on the person you are speaking to.


David loves to buy food off the carts.  When he goes downtown on his own, he always stops at the toast cart.  He was walking by one day and the lady said, "Only 6 baht."  He said, "I'll try anything for 6 baht."  Now his travels downtown always include a stop at the BBQ toast cart.

Later at the market, we walked down an aisle/alley and people were getting bowls of shaved ice where some sweetened liquid (we think coconut milk and honey) was poured on it and then you could add something from the 30ish bowls of different items to end up making some slushy, refreshing snack (see the tall guy checking it out?).  Of the 30 bowls, I could only identify the contents of one - lychee.  There was a bowl of black gelatinous clumps, slimy green things that looked like worms and what we think are the bubbles in bubble tea. And of course, David didn't want to put anything on the ice that we already knew what it was.  We still don't know exactly what we ate or how to even ask someone about it again (because the sign was in Thai), but it was yummy.


Another thing to know about the Thai and their eating habits is that they eat six or seven times a day.  That is why there are so many carts everywhere all the time.  You can't go a block without seeing ten carts.  If there is one cart, there is another cart nearby.  And if that isn't enough, there are carts that drive through the neighborhoods (baans) trying to sell their food by speaking through a loudspeaker system.  If you go out and eat family style, the polite thing to do is to put small quantities on your plate, never heaping servings.  The Thai eat with large spoons, using their forks to push the food onto their spoons.  I've rarely seen a knife.


We look forward to the many more "culinary" adventures we will have in Thailand.

Disney's Indiana Jones Ride, Bangkok Style!

(Written by David)  Death, I’m sure, was imminent?  We weaved through traffic only for everything to come to a screeching halt EXCEPT for my scooter taxi guy who sped up.  Yes, sped up.  Bus, taxi and car, side by side, completely covered the two lanes.  How are we going to fit?  I have no idea.  Does he know that I’m a farang (foreigner) and twice his size in heighth and width?  As the distance narrows and we get closer and closer to death, nobody moves - that is, except that people come out of the blue and fill the spaces between the three vehicles on the two lane road.  3, 2, 1 – CRASH!  Oh, yeah, forgot about the sidewalk.  Off we go to the next hurdle.

Let me back up…  Pretty sure I would never write on this blog, but after my first scooter taxi ride, my life changed.  These scooter drivers sit in our little moo baan (neighborhood) waiting for people who need a taxi.  When you come out of the gate, you can see them about a block away. That day, I waved one down and he drove straight to me.  Typically, the scooter drivers go get a taxi and you pay them 20 baht ($.60) for this service.  I’m thinking, “Where is my taxi?”  He’s thinking, “Get on!” 

Anybody needing to ride a rollercoaster, just come to Pakkret.  No helmet, no safety harness, no fluorescent vest, no signing of waivers, etc.  I did, however, put on my sunnies, just to be safe.  Let’s just say that mom would not approve.  He, however, tightened his helmet strap.

Neighborhood streets?  Fine, except for the speed bumps, stray dogs, etc.  First main street – traffic is stopped.  No problem.  We use the coming lane to get to the front of the line to turn right.  The light turns green.  No need for a green arrow, we just turn right in front of 20 scooters coming straight at us.  No problem.  They slow down.  Those making a u-turn do not.  But we slip between the gap of two of the cars.  Open road, three lanes, lots of options. 

Next left is congested, but we are following all of the other scooters, so it seems safe.  I finally like red lights.  The traffic stops, we keep going and nobody is trying to hit us.  Open road until cars stop.  No problem.  We swerve around the bus, except there is a car in the lane.  No problem.  Squeeze between the car and bus.  PROBLEM!  Bus door opens, letting school kids out, from the MIDDLE lane.  Don’t think this would pass in America.  We cruise by just as the last kid steps off of the bus and we are both safe – NEVER a question!  All of the other near misses seemed trivial.  This could be a new Disney ride.