#006 Thailand Update: You’re So Hot

I seem to have recovered quite well from the fiasco yesterday with the laptop. When I got into work, we did some minor surgery, only to discover the hard drive was indeed going bad. I took the spare drive and reloaded the operating system and Office XP. The rest of Livonia’s software for her accounting is en-route. I was also lucky enough to get all the files off the drive, so we didn’t lose anything except a few days of access to her programs. Yay! It’s not so bad after all. I also learned that it would have been a great idea to have two sources of power when working on two laptops. The battery in my wife’s laptop is rather old, and will hold a charge for about 3 minutes, which means it pretty much must always be on some form of power (bad battery, bad hard drive… what’s next?) I ran my laptop until it the battery was almost exhausted, and then switched the power over for a little more “juice.” Made for a long day.

The Average Work Day
Okay, so let me at least try to impress on each of you what the average day is turning into. I wake up at 4:30AM to check emails from Chandler and try to get a few things done before I leave. At 6:00AM, I grab a breakfast bar and head for the van. While in my two-hour van ride to the plant, I write to all of you. For all you that are still enjoying this newsletter, you should be thankful for this long, bumpy, painful ride I have to endure each day. Otherwise, you might get something like “yep, everything still good, hope you’re doing good as well.”

I arrive at the factory at 8:00AM, and try to get as much done as I can before noon. At noon, my friend Ekgachai and I head out to Chacherngsao (pronounced Cha-Chen-Sow) for lunch. We get back to office, work like mad, and leave the plant at 5:15PM.

I arrive home sometime around 7:00PM to eat dinner with my wife (kids are already fed). We download the details of our day, and then the kids go to bed. They actually went to bed at 7:45PM yesterday! Wow, wonder of wonders.

I got to bed at around 9:00PM, and prepare to do the whole thing all over again. I am finding that I am requiring much more sleep here than I ever did. I think all this extra activity is becoming exhausting. Leave at 6:00AM and home by 7:00PM, but only put in about 7.5 hours at the factory. Talk about a long short-day!

Desert
Yesterday, Ekgachai took me out to this outdoor restaurant for lunch. There are many of these in Chacherngsao, and this happened to be a nicer one. It had a little creek running next it filled with king-sized catfish (very big, very ugly). They have food that you can feed the catfish, so you watch them fight with each for the small amount of food you throw them. Reminds me of my kids at dinner. We sat down at the table, and I couldn’t help but notice all the ants walking around. There were some small black ants, and then some really small red and yellow ants. My initial reaction was to squash them all, but then I realized this was an exercise in futility, and just gave up. I would just have ants in my food. More protein, right?

After lunch, Ekgachai picked up some desert for the road. The desert consisted of some very small, round cakes, with a red dot in the center. Trying to be as adventurous as I could, I started to eat one. Hmm… a little dry, but otherwise not too bad. On the inside of the cake was a yellow/orange filling. This had a slightly different taste from the outside of the cake. It was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. So, I foolishly made the mistake of asking. “Egg,” was the reply. Ah, egg… which mean the inside was the yolk. Luckily for me, it wasn’t completely cooked, because we all know how awful a cooked egg would be (please note the heightened sarcasm). Now associating the taste with the actual food item, my gag reflex kicked in. I again return to the show Fear Factor, where contestants have to eat strange foods to win the contest. Here I am, now eating something that does not agree with me, and with no contest to win. Of course, I am not one to offend, so I continue to eat it, smiling about how good it tastes. Mmm… just like Mom used to make.

You’re So Hot
I’ll bet your wondering about that title, aren’t you? I get home from work, and my wife is excited to tell me about the kids day at school. It seems Esaiah was out playing soccer, when one of his friends brought over some girls to meet Esaiah. When they see Esaiah, they say “You’re So Hot.” Curious to know more, I call Esaiah over.

“So Esaiah, how was school today?” Note: wife is now laughing.

“Okay,” Esaiah says, nervously.

“I hear you played a little soccer?”

“Yeah,” Esaiah responds… nervousness increasing.

“Meet anyone new today?”

“What do you mean, Dad?”

“Did you meet any girls today?” Red begins to form from the neckline, flushing out across his face.
“Yeah.”

“What did they say to you?”

“That I’m hot.” As he says “hot,” it stumbles out of his mouth with a mixture of nervousness and laughter.

“Hmm… that’s interesting. And how did you respond.”

“I just stood there.”

I can see that the girls here are pretty forward. I was warned by Esaiah’s counselor that the girls like to know who all the new boys are. I can see why now. My kid is setup to go to a hotel this weekend with a bunch of teachers and kids. It’s a “get to know each other and learn about Thailand” trip. Should I be worried?

Tangent: Esaiah has a new friend named “Jaz.” Jaz is from Japan, and speaks, Japanese, Mandarin, English, and Thai. Not too bad for a thirteen year old, huh?

Green Gate Market
Livonia ventured out yesterday to explore something called Green Gate Market. Why is it called “Green Gate Market?” Because you get to it by going through a green gate (sounds logical). Apparently, green gate market has pretty much everything and anything you can imagine for sell. Fruits, vegetables, clothing, cooking utensils, DVD movies and software (completely legit… of course), everything. Livonia spent some time shopping there and was having a good time trying to communicate. Unfortunately, most of the shop owners only spoke Thai, so she had no idea how much they were charging for things. I guess she’ll have to brush up on her numbers.

In the middle of shopping, it decided to rain. Of course, rain in Thailand is REAL RAIN, so she was getting absolutely drenched. She hurried back home, looking like a wet cat. I wonder if they sell umbrellas at the Green Gate Market?

Today, my driver will return to the apartment after he drops me off. Now, Livonia won’t be caught in the rain. I’m asking her to pick me up a pillow for the van. If I’m going to be in a van for two hours, I might as well catch a little sleep on the ride home.

Until next time…