The Expat Life
2007-07-21 22:49:54
Inspired by Preya’s recent post on Dreaming of Hanoi…
A while back Alex and I were hunting through the web for the perfect quote to laser engrave on my new iPod Nano. Which, I might add, was quite a hassle because for some reason I can not think of my own favorite quote. I must have one, but I seem to be unable to recall what it is on my own (even now, weeks later, this continues to be somewhat of a problem). And, thus, Alex was forced to spend day and night scouring every lame quotes website available to find something that:
a) represents me (oddly, somehow easier for him than for me - what does that mean?)
b) is short enough to fit on back of the iPod
c) is not too serious
d) is easy to understand should anyone happen to pick up the iPod and glance at the back
In the end we settled on a Tolkien quote (well, the one line of the poem that would fit on the back of an iPod) that Alex’s dad read at our wedding (which can still work me up into tears if I think about it):
Read more: Expat
Photo Hunt: Tiny
2007-07-21 08:11:24
One of my favorite things to do with my fancy new camera is taking close-up shots of tiny things. Living things, inanimate things, growing things, basically anything as long as it’s tiny. I’m not sure I’ve mastered the art yet, but here are a few of my favorites:
A plant with teeny-tiny fresh raspberries (or strawberries - my mom and I were arguing about which kind of plant it is) growing in my parents driveway.
Some crazy mold or fungus on the wooden fence in our neighborhood. It makes tiny little branches like a miniature plant.
A pretty, tiny purple meadow flower growing amongst it’s miniature peers within the meadow in our neighborhood.
A tiny, spiky wild (and poisonous) cucumber along the tide pool trails on the coast in Oregon.
A large plant with tiny pink bell-shaped flowers we saw all over Oregon.
Tiny baby guppies swimming around a tide pool on the coast in Oregon.
Have you seen anything tiny lately?
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Photo Hunt: Creative
2007-07-28 04:53:09
The big day is finally here! Alex and I are off to Thailand this morning to begin our new life in Bangkok! Considering that our shipment of all our worldly possessions will not arrive for at least two more months I had to get really creative with the packing this year. Both Alex and I have all sorts of things we would not normally have for a summer vacation: suits, dress shoes, blankets, sheets, along with a professional wardrobe to last at least the first two months at school. Of course, all of this has to fit into our three duffel bags and one suit bag:
In addition to all our creative packing, we’re definitely going to have to be creative to entertain ourselves on our eighteen hour flight today…
How are you creative?
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Welcome to Thailand!
2007-07-31 05:33:30
After a surprisingly pleasant 16 hour direct flight from JFK, we are finally starting to settle in to our new home in Bangkok. So far everything has been incredibly smooth: from the excellent service on our Thai Airways flight to our beautiful new condo in Nichada Thani. Now if I could only sleep at night and be awake during the day, life would be pretty close to perfect…
Image: http://www.mercola.com/images/newsletter/2005/06/25/jet_lag.jpg
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, Thailand
Same same, but different
2007-08-06 05:29:18
After about a week of non-stop activities and getting settled into our new home, Alex and I are starting to feel quite comfortable here in Bangkok. Our neighborhood reminds us so much of our place in KL that it almost feels like we never left. As the locals would say, it’s “same same, but different
.”
The best part is that we have all the conveniences of an expat neighborhood (medical clinic, fancy grocery store, and all sorts of restaurants), but our compound is actually within a quiet Thai neighborhood (moo ban), which makes it even more special. We love stepping outside the gates and being among the locals in a more typical residential area. We will definitely be exploring our local moo ban as much as we can!
So far, the most obvious difference between KL and Bangkok is the language. Thai seems to encompass everything that scares me about learning a new language: the tones, the lack of spaces between words, and of course, the Thai alphabet. We were certainly spoiled
Before the roosters
2007-08-08 09:01:45
When we lived in Germany, my school day started at 9:10 am and ended at 3:15 pm. It took about an hour to get to and from school, so even though the work day was pretty short, it was still kind of a long day (I know, I know, nothing compared to the kinds of hours you work in the business world, but it was still long to me).
Then, when we moved to Malaysia, my school day started at 8:00 am and ended at 3:30 pm. I only had a five minute walk door-to-door, so in the end my time spent “out” was pretty similar to Munich, but it was much more relaxing.
Now, here in Bangkok, my school day starts at 7:00 am and ends at 3:30 pm. Unfortunately, I’ve been coming home after 5 pm every day since I started. I can already tell that my day will end up being quite long since I have to wake up around 5:45 am to get in on time.
Ironically, I’ve been searching high and low for an alarm clock since I got here, but so far, no luck. The Thais just smile and laugh when I say I want a c
Photo Hunt: Row
2007-08-10 21:34:11
My new job here in Bangkok is working out of the elementary library, and lucky for me, the library was just completely renovated this summer. It looks amazing!
There are rows of colorful shelving:
rows of beautiful red accent chairs:
rows of rainbow colored carpeting on the new amphitheater:
and rows of cool hanging seats for the kids to read in:
Of course, we also need to finish shelving the rows and rows of books that are currently in storage until the space is complete!
What kinds of rows have you seen lately?
Technorati tags: Photo
Hunt
Maid in Thailand
2007-08-16 07:10:21
Warning: Serious gloating ahead…
As if we weren’t already living in the lap of luxury, with a free 2 bedroom (2 bath, 2 balcony) condo provided by the school which overlooks our pool and outdoor BBQ, free access to an awesome gym (if I ever get off my lazy butt long enough to use it) at the school, a beautiful neighborhood with all the conveniences of home within such an amazing city, and of course quick, easy and cheap access to some of the best beaches in the world.
But, of course, that’s just not enough. No, dear readers, superkimbo always wants a little bit more. So, we are just in the process of hiring a mae ban (maid) to cook, clean, grocery shop, and generally keep our house in order. We could have gone for full time, but, since this is the first time we’ve had a maid, we’re going to just have her come three days a week. I know, such sacrifice.
The best part is that this wonderful stress-free existence is only going to cost us around US$100/month.
Read more: Thailand
The Parking Lot
2007-08-20 04:37:49
Living here in southeast Asia for the last two years has taught me to relax, smile, and just go with the flow no matter what horrendously annoying and frustrating thing is bothering you, but there is one thing that is going to drive me absolutely bonkers about living in Bangkok:
This is what it’s like whenever you try to get anywhere here. Midnight on a Wednesday, one in the afternoon on a Monday.
All. The. Time.
And I don’t even live downtown! I’m out in the suburbs of Nonthaburi!
My teaching partner and I went on a school-related errand today to a Tesco-Lotus about 5 miles away from the school. Our errand took about 10 minutes. We left the school at 1:30 and returned at 2:30. You can do the math.
I suppose I am a bit spoiled. I grew up in a rural area, then I moved to Germany (the birthplace of efficient traffic systems), and KL is too small of a city to really work up some serious traffic like here in Bangkok. I guess I’m just going to have to work on my ca
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Settling in to Samakee Gardens
2007-08-19 02:23:34
Yesterday a group of new teachers headed out to the Thai Army Nursery about 5 minutes away from Nichada. They had a huge selection of beautiful plants and, of course, they deliver right to your living room. After about an hour of perusing the wide variety of plants, we had picked out quite a nice selection for ourselves. A few hours later, they were delivered and in place in our house. Now the house finally looks nice enough to share some pictures (full set here)!
Here is our living room:
dining room (from the living room):
little kitchen:
upstairs balcony:
view of upstairs from the balcony:
view of our pool from the balcony:
steps up to entry door, and down to the bedrooms (our first apartment with stairs!):
guest bedroom (still a work in progress) with second balcony:
main bedroom (also a work in progress):
When we finally receive our shipment in September it will start looking a little more like home. Right now all we have are our suitcases and the small welcome k
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Photo Hunt: Two
2007-08-17 08:38:18
Two is the number of weeks since we moved to Thailand - and we love it! Two also happens to be the number of times we’ve been downtown since we arrived (sad, I know, but we’ve been really busy). Ironically, two is also the number of times we had been to Thailand before we moved here. I had two interviews to get this job and two years is the minimum duration of my current teaching contract. We have two sets of friends that are planning to come visit us this year. And of course, there are two of us living in this two bedroom condo with two bathrooms and two balconies.
For those of you that are curious, sawng means “two” in Thai, dua is “two” in Bahasa, zwei is “two” in German, and due is “two” in Italian (in case you couldn’t tell, I’m in the “counting” stage of learning Thai. Why is it that whenever you learn a new foriegn language all the other languages you’ve learned in the past seem to be
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My brain is full
2007-08-28 07:19:12
Have you ever gone through those times where you’re just experiencing and learning so much you don’t have room for anything else? There has been so much going on at my new school that by the time I come home I basically just pass out on the couch and then veg out for the rest of the evening (which, as you know, is not very long at all, since I now have to go to bed around sundown (7pm) in order to wake up in time for school the next morning). I can’t even get my own thoughts straight in my head because I seem to have so much swimming around in there… And then there’s the rare occasion when I have a brief swell in energy levels and decide to venture out around the city. Thus begins the fantastical world where superkimbo believes she can communicate accurately in Thai after no Thai lessons whatsoever…
Yesterday Alex and I decided to go see the 5pm showing of the Bourne Ultimatum (at around 4:50pm), so we scampered (not really, it was more like trudgi
When stubbing goes horribly wrong
2007-08-25 21:08:04
It’s been a rough week for superkimbo….
On Tuesday morning, at the wee hour of 5:45 am (which my body continues to resist each and every day) I attempted to climb into the tub to take a shower. Sadly, I misjudged the hight of the tub wall and slammed my toes into the terribly unforgiving porcelain. Assuming it was just a bad stubbing incident I took my shower and waited for the pain to go away.
And then I leaned forward to turn off the water, putting all of my weight on the foot that I had stubbed (a smooth move, if I do say so myself). And that’s when I realized: my stubbing of the toes had gone horribly wrong. I have broken a toe before, but I guess I just forgot how much it hurt. This was like some sort of stabbing, searing pain from my toe all the way up my leg. I almost fell down, it was that painful. It’s quite astonishing really, such a small toe causing so much pain.
Of course my loving husband came over at the sound of my howl of pain to reassure me th
Photo Hunt: Happy
2007-08-24 21:31:05
To be honest, it doesn’t take much to make me happy. Last night we went out with a group of teachers to a beautiful Thai restaurant called River Tree, right on the Chao Praya river:
We sat out on the patio over the river, enjoying our cocktails and then a fantastic Thai meal, while the setting sun turned the sky a stunning shade of pink.
Just being by the water, enjoy an excellent meal with new friends, was more than enough to make me quite happy.
What makes you happy?
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, Happy
Sweet, sour and salty
2007-08-30 06:57:09
Our wonderful mae baan has been cooking us tasty dinners three days a week for the last two weeks. What a treat to come home and have a delicious Thai meal waiting for us on the stove! And since my day starts at 5:45 in the morning, I’m usually ready for dinner at around 4:30 pm…
Yesterday one of the tasty Thai treats Khun Duang Lam left for us was green mango with sugar, salt, chili dip. Delicious! Like Sour Patch Kids - only real fruit! Try some prik kab kleua at your house - all you need is a green (sour) mango, and some salt and suger mixed with crushed chili for dipping. I promise you’ll love it!
Read more: Sweet
Photo Hunt: Paper
2007-09-21 21:37:24
As a technology teacher, I’m not too fond of paper. Here in the tropics paper molds very quickly, paper gets ripped and dirty, paper gets lost, paper can be hard to share given it’s physical (and not virtual, and therefore infinite) presence, when I use paper I have to actually handwrite (something that I have become increasingly worse at over the years), I could go on and on. I like things that are digital.
Alas, we are not quite at the all-digital world I dream of. So, for now, my only acceptable form of paper is books:
And we have a lot of books. Already, in just a few weeks here in Bangkok, we have accumulated piles of books (although many of them did come with us from the US this summer). I’m a pretty fast reader and I’ve developed a liking for non-fiction, which is why you’ll see so many business/technology titles in my photo for this week. Unfortunately I tend to buy so many books that I never have time to finish them all. Currently on my list are
Read more: Photo
DeLUXX Weekend Downtown
2007-09-10 07:24:22
Alex and I spent this past weekend relaxing in minimalist luxury at my favorite little boutique hotel, Luxx, in downtown Bangkok (pictures here). Last week was so crazy that I just felt like I had to get away for a few days. Plus we had to head down to the immigration office for my re-entry permit to Thailand just a little too early Saturday morning, so it really was the most practical idea for the weekend (she rationalizes).
We stayed at this same hotel back in January when we came to Bangkok to interview for my current job. We loved how small the place is (only 13 rooms) and the sleek, minimalist style of the rooms, so this time we sprung for a suite! The best part is that they serve breakfast in bed every day! Even though I love a good buffet, it’s pretty hard to beat breakfast in bed when you’re looking for some serious relaxing.
Another cool feature of the rooms is the huge wooden bathtub with rain showers. The tubs are so big that you can relax in comfort for hours, a
Read more: Weekend
, Downtown
Shanghai, Here I Come!
2007-09-06 05:24:30
Life has been so busy over the last few weeks that I’ve barely had time to breathe, let along blog (although the two are just about equal in importance, right?). But, I am excited to report that I will be traveling to Shanghai
next weekend for the Learning 2.0 Conference!
Unfortunately that also happens to be our second 3-day weekend this year, so I’m missing my chance to hang out at a beautiful Thai beach in favor of smoggy Shanghai, but it’s all for the sake of learning (ehem, and a free trip to Shanghai).
Thankfully my Chinese visa came in today because this weekend I have to go downtown to the Thai Immigration office and request (read: pay for) a re-entry permit into Thailand. It seems that our work permits won’t be done for another few weeks so the handy single entry visa I waited anxiously all summer for has become somewhat useless.
Either way, I get to go to China next weekend! And, while I’m in China, I get to hang out with my wonderful friend Susa
Photo Hunt: Dirty
2007-08-31 19:50:45
After living in Germany for five years, one thing that has always bothered me about living in southeast Asia is how dirty things can be. Not everything, not all the time, but generally speaking, the average KL or Bangkok street is a heck of a lot dirtier than the average street in Munich.
Unfortunately, these countries do not have the same kind of government infrastructure as many European countries do (we even had little mini street sweepers to do the sidewalks and bike lanes in Munich), nor do they have the extensive financial resources to make recycling and garbage pickup a priority (we had recycling containers for glass that included separate bins for white, green, brown, clear, and blue glass on every street corner). Plus, the education piece is still missing - many people in this region of the world (especially in rural areas) do not understand how open sewage and garbage affects the heath of people and the health of the planet.
However, this doesn’t mean that they don&rs
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Shanghai Rocks
2007-09-24 08:05:18
Ok, I have to admit that I had some serious pre-conceived notions about China: stoic, staid, old fashioned, closed, communist, cut-off. Boy, was I wrong. Plain and simple, Shanghai
rocks!
Growing up outside New York City, I always compare new cities to Manhattan: skyline, culture, pace, freedom, energy. For the most part, very few cities have ever lived up to my NY expectations. Berlin is pretty cool, London has super energy, Paris is full of culture, and I will always love Rome. I haven’t been there yet, but I have a feeling Hong Kong and Tokyo are both pretty exciting. But, in all my traveling, I had really only been to four cities that even come close to the feeling I get when I walk around New York.
Now I get to make that five, because truly, Shanghai blew my mind.
First of all, the skyline is just fabulous:
And the city is just pulsing with energy:
Every area of the city has it’s own unique culture, from the refined French Concession, to the grand feeling on the Bun
Read more: Rocks
Photo Hunt: Smelly
2007-10-12 06:32:28
Let’s just be brutally honest here: there’s quite a lot that can be deemed “smelly” here in Bangkok, actually all over southeast Asia. Most of the time, like my friend Sabine, I just try to turn off my sense of smell, but sometimes it truly is unavoidable.
Like after it rains, and the air is so heavy you can’t believe it just rained (isn’t rain supposed to clear the air?), and you step outside of your mostly smell-free condo only to be immersed in the horrific scents wafting up from the much-too-close-to-the-surface gutter.
Or when you’re strolling down a cute little soi (small street) and you stumble across the garbage disposal area for the neighborhood (and by “garbage disposal area” I mean the place where everyone just dumps their trash and waits for the poor souls that have to clean it up).
Or maybe when you’re hanging out down in Chinatown and the mostly cleaned, but definitely deader-than-dead carcasses of whatever th
Read more: Photo
, Smelly
Superkimbo Turns 30
2007-10-12 06:15:10
Normally I love my birthday. It’s that one special day a year that all about me (secretly, I believe every day of the year should be all about me, but that’s the day that I can proudly proclaim is “officially” all about me). However, this year was a little bit depressing…
Apparently, given the fact that I was born in 1977, I am now 30 years old. I’m not really sure where the time went, or how it could be physically possible that I’ve already lived 30 whole years, but I guess it’s true. I’m 30. Thirty. Yikes! I guess now it’s time to “grow up” and start “acting my age.” Considering, I still feel like I’m 21, that’s going to be harder than it sounds…
Anyway, thanks to my lovely new friends here in Bangkok, and my wonderful husband, I had a tasty birthday dinner at a surprisingly good Italian restaurant called Limoncello:
My favorite part was the delicious dessert tray, which didn&rsqu
Taipei: 101
2007-10-28 06:31:49
Not too many people travel to Taiwan for vacation. In fact, I have to admit that I didn’t have any real interest in ever going to Taiwan until a whole group of our friends from KL moved to Taipei
this year. But last weekend, I had the opportunity to discover that, clearly, we were all wrong. Taipei is an exciting, trendy, vibrant city with tons to do, a strong cultural connection, and a real cosmopolitan energy.
Last weekend Alex and I had the pleasure of spending four days in Taipei thanks to our very hospitable friends, Darby and David, who let us stay in their palace of an apartment in Tianmu. We had such a great time hanging out with them and playing with their brilliant 15 month old daughter, Elliette. We also got to visit with our friends Mel and Dave who used to life in KL, which was an excellent surprise!
As soon as we arrived in Taipei we headed out to visit David at work (at Taipei American School), which is in the Tianmu district of the city. Just on that short ride to
It doesn’t get any better than this…
2007-10-30 05:46:13
Really. Even I’m amazed.
Today I had a fantastic massage.
In my house.
For about US$10 (plus my generous tip).
Oh, and I only had to call about five minutes before I wanted my massage - no appointment needed!
I thought I was in paradise when we hired our wonderful maid, Lam Duang, back in August, but now I know I am&hellip
;. And I can’t believe it took me this long to get my first massage at home! Everyone else has been talking about it for months. I think I’m going to have to make it a weekly ritual now…
It may sound strange, but I really am impressed and amazed at how well the Thai people understand foreigners. I am very used to moving to a new country and having to adapt to the local way of life. I haven’t been living in Bangkok long, but I am constantly surprised at how must the locals seem to know about me (and by “me” I mean Americans in general). I’ve never lived in a place where my needs were so carefully observed and so thoughtf
Read more: better
Bangkok from Above
2007-11-04 03:57:12
Last week one of our new friends here in Bangkok
turned 30 and we celebrated in style at the highest open-air bar in Asia, Vertigo at the Banyan Tree. Talk about an amazing view! Check these out:
Look at how tiny the city looks compared to the people on the observation deck! We were on the 61st floor of the building. You can take the elevator up 59 floors and then you walk up the final two yourself.
This was one of those times when I really wished I had a tripod. Thankfully there was a nice little balcony railing for me to rest my camera on, but still not quite as good as a tripod…
I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the beautiful decor of the bar - it was almost like being at a wedding - beautiful white, silk table clothes (at least I think they were silk) and chair covers, fresh flowers and candles every where, and three levels of balconies - all entirely outside. Not only was the view spectacular, but the air was nice and fresh, with a great evening breez
PhotHunt: Classic
2007-11-02 20:00:10
Ah, the classic “sea view” photo. This is one of my all time favorites. It was taken during our trip to Boracay in the Philippines this past April. This was the view from our balcony. The trip, of course, was spectacular, and this picture really captures the essence of the island:
the classic palm trees blowing in the wind,
the classic outrigger canoe in the background,
the classic tourist lounging on a float,
the classic crystal clear water,
the classic thatched roof of our hotel in the corner,
the classic fluffy white clouds in the blue sky,
And there’s one other thing I wish you could see, but you can infer it from the color of the water,
the classic pure, soft white sand.
Now you know why Boracay is the classic travelers paradise! What’s your idea of a classic vacation?
Read more: Classic
PhotoHunt: Flexible
2007-11-09 22:22:38
Among the interesting creatures that quietly co-habitate with us here in our condo in Bangkok (just like in Malaysia), is the flexible (and sticky) gecko.
Usually, at night, we can see them climbing up (the outside of) our glass patio doors. As they work their way across the doors, they bend and twist from head to tail, more flexible in their little, sticky toes than Alex and I combined. They’re pretty much unstoppable with their little, flexible bodies - even the comparably huge door jam (pictured above) is no obstacle for them!
Our flexible friends find their way into our apartment via the aircon ducts (we have one that lives inside one of our air conditioners), and I’m guessing some small gaps underneath the doors. They wriggle across our ceiling to go from one part of the house to another, and they love to spend time lounging on our kitchen counters, in the dark, while we’re asleep (which often leads to quite a surprise when we wake up in the morning).
Sadly,
Read more: Flexible
Splurging in Singapore
2007-12-07 18:18:16
A few weeks ago, Alex and I headed down to Singapore
so that I could present at the Teach IT conference at Singapore American School. We were lucky that the conference coincided with a long weekend here at ISB, so we could spend some extra time with our wonderful friends Susan and Kent, who teach at SAS.
Things have been totally hectic here in the superkimbo household ever since we moved to Bangkok, so somehow, when I was booking our trip to one of the most expensive cities in the world, I got distracted and ended up reserving us a room at the Grand Hyatt on Scotts Road. No discount, no special deal, just the normal “rack rate.” I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking when I booked those rooms - I just know I was totally frazzled and busy with other things and didn’t want to worry about finding a hotel anymore, and before you know it, I had entered my credit card details and reserved the room. The very, very, very expensive room.
Now, I do have to adm
PhotoHunt: Long
2007-12-07 17:36:30
One of my favorite things about living in Bangkok is the bustling pace of life on the Chao Praya River. We live close to Nonthaburi Pier, and occasionally take the river taxi down to the city center. I love seeing the temples from the water and the sophisticated skyline approaching in the distance.One of the best ways to get from one side of the river to the other is the ever-present long-tail boat:
All along the river, at any given time of day or night, these boats are racing up and down and back and forth, their long-tails churning up the water as they speed by. There’s nothing better than exploring the hidden canals of Bangkok, than by a colorful long-tail boat!
A Framer’s Dozen
2007-12-19 23:36:07
I just found another thing to love about Thailand:
Last week we took our rather large pile of pictures, paintings, temple rubbings, batiks, etc that we’ve been intending to frame for the last three years to a framer just outside of our neighborhood.
We spent about an hour picking out the frames, the silks to use as background, and the various shadow-box styles we wanted. And then we watched as the owner spent about 20 minutes totaling up our 3 pages of charges on her enormous calculator. As we waited we discussed our bargaining approach and I mentally tallied the items I could pull from the order to try to bring the price down or to use as a bargaining chip.
And then she told us.
All 16 pieces - some huge, some small; some with silk; some 3 dimensional; some in a “glass sandwich” - for B18,000 or US$600.
Given the fact that I was expecting an extra zero on the end of that price, I just kind of stood there in silence for a minute. Then we bargained her down to B16,000
Read more: Dozen
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