#007 Thailand Update: A Little Piece of Home

My confidence in this update is growing, as now I am getting requests from people to be added to it. Of course, this will only increase the chances that I keep updating this on a consistent basis because now I have several individuals to hold me accountable. If you are reading this for the first time, it is because I was told to add you, or I decided to add you on my own. If you want to know what everyone else had already read, let me know, and I’ll forward you the first six letters. For all who have been reading, notice that now I am numbering these. It is becoming easier for me to track. Wow! This is almost becoming an official newsletter! For those that care about things like this, 81 people are now receiving this update.

A Little Piece of Home
My office shipment arrived yesterday. It felt like Christmas. I unpacked my boxes and setup my office with all the things I had in the US. Now I have a nice monitor to look at instead of my laptop screen, my wireless headphones (which I can’t use yet because I don’t have a power converter), my docking station for my PDA, docking station for my phone, wireless keyboard, and wireless mouse. For those that don’t know, I’m a bit of a techie geek. I like gadgets, and now all my gadgets are here. Yay! Also in the shipment were pictures of my wife and kids, so now I can look at them all day long, especially considering that I don’t get to see them much during the week. Last night, I left work an hour late (6pm) and it resulted in me getting home after 8pm. Whoa! Can’t do that everyday.

Our home shipment has still not arrived yet. Apparently, a lot of paperwork is required to make this happen. The Traffic (shipping/receiving) people need my passport so they can work with customs, but I left it at home. I bring it in the next day. Now they need my work permit. Having never seen an actual work permit, I default them to someone else. Turns out, I don’t actually have a work permit, so I have HR in my office trying to get information to process a work permit. To process it, they need my passport, which Traffic has, along with other items. I give them everything I think they need, collect my passport from Traffic and forward to them, and hope for the best. About an hour later, I’m talking to my boss about the project, and he asks about my shipment.

“Nope, haven’t got it yet. I’m waiting for a work permit.”

“You don’t need a work permit.”

“According to Traffic, I need one to process my stuff through Customs.”

“You don’t need a work permit.”

Mathew (my boss) asks a couple questions, and as it turns out, I don’t need a work permit.

Moving on…

Now that we determine a work permit is not required, we can move forward with processing my things (which were due to arrive last Monday).

Later in the day, I receive a call from John Oatley’s assistant, stating that they need help understanding some of the items on the shipment. I come down and look at the things in question.

“Yes Khun Roger. What is a Zebco 404 spin reel?”

“It’s a fishing reel.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s the part of a fishing pole that houses all the fishing line.”

“You mean the round thing?”

“Sure.”

We did this for all the items that they didn’t understand. Tat, the lady working with me, was curious why I put so much detail in the shipping invoice. More detail complicates things because it has to all be translated into Thai, with an explanation of its use. So why all the detail? If anything is damaged or missing, I need this information for insurance purposes. What I am learning is more detail means an accurate shipment that will take longer to get to you. Customs has to account for every single item on the shipment. One of the items was Misc. food items that Livonia picked up from Lee Lee’s market. I was asked to explain that one. Any ideas? If I ever do this again, I’ll just put on the Invoice “Roger’s House-Complete Set.” It should process quicker that way.

On this shipment is a bunch of food items. The ones I’m most interested in seeing are the chocolate items. They have been sitting in a hot, humid, customs warehouse since August 14. I can only imagine what they will look like when I get them.

Thar She Blows!
My shipment finally arrives right? So I’m unpacking everything, and I’m anxious to get everything connected and turned on. Before plugging anything in, I check the requirements to ensure it can handle the different power. Luckily for me, most everything was 110-230V and 50/60Hz compatible, meaning it will work in the US or in Thailand. And then I got to my printer. I examine the back of the printer, and find no label that identifies the power requirements. So I look at the plug. It says it supports 250V. Hmm… should work right? So, I plug it in. I close my eyes and turn it on. voila! Works! Good deal. I leave that and unpack the rest of the items.

About 3 minutes later, I hear a weird sound originating from the printer. I look over in time to see smoke emanating from all over. I quickly unplug it, and watch as the smoke begins to billow above my cubicle wall. Well, this is only slightly embarrassing. I decide to open up the printer and assess the damage. I open the printer cover and the smell of burnt components is becoming more obvious. With the top cover flipped open, I can’t help but notice a label I hadn’t seen before. On the label is information on power requirements. Oh, well lookie there! 110-125V! How nice. Thanks HP. It makes very good sense to put the label for power requirements hidden inside the printer, rather than right next to the plug you are about to connect. I check all my other electronic gadgets for their label locations. Yep, right next to the power plug. What an outstanding concept! Of course, I only say this because I was stupid enough (impatient enough) to plug in the cable without fully understanding the consequences. Now, the printer I have been waiting so long for will be delayed again. Note to self: next time, take the time to know for sure before you plug anything else in.

Lucky for me, I’m a quick study. I check my wireless headphones, and they say 110V and 60Hz. Noted. Cannot work in Thailand. This morning, I’ve packed a power converter in my bag. I’ll make sure and get that plugged in first. Of course, I’m going to be biting my nails as I plug it in for the first time. Is it really gonna work. We’ll see.

I also have a power converter for my printer. My printer requires 250Watts of power, and my converter is rated to 1600 Watts. I should be fine, right? Should I be worried that the back of the converter states “FOR SHORT TIME USE ONLY?”

I’m worried.

“Sleep” on the way home
Do you remember how I told you that Livonia was going to pick me up a pillow for me to have on the ride home? Well she did, and now I was so excited to use and get some sleep. Of course, now I was so happy to have a pillow that I couldn’t sleep. Great. Now I’m all wound up. Well, let me just rearrange things here in the van so I can make it more conducive to sleeping. I slide the back seat forward and fold it back so it’s laying completely flat. It’s as close to a bed as I’m gonna get. I lay down on my makeshift bed and notice the seat belt is digging in my side. I shift the other direction, and now it’s digging in my hands. A little more rearranging and I get in a position where I may be able to sleep. Then my driver hits the brakes and I slide off my seat.

Did I mention the seats are leather? Leather seats do not hold a body in place very well, but in fact serve as a veritable moving “Slip N Slide.” Plus, traffic is stop and go, or to better describe it “Slam on your brakes and force the van lurch forward (STOP), and then put the pedal to the metal as you take off at break-neck speed (GO).” In this environment, sleep is not really an option, and I sadly realize this. Not one to give up, I continue to lay down in the hope that during one of the times I slide around I will crack my head open on some exposed piece of the van, thereby knocking me unconscious and allow me to get some sleep. Sadly, I had no such luck. I endured this rolling around for the next two hours and fifteen minutes. I finally arrived back at the apartment, shaken up and a little nauseous, but still anxious to see my family. When I get inside, my kids were already asleep. I left before they woke up, and I returned to find them in bed. Can’t be doing that everyday. Luckily my wife was still up, so we got to enjoy each other’s company for a couple of hours before drifting off.

Family Update
So how are the kids doing today? Actually, I’m not sure, since I didn’t get a chance to talk to them. Livonia reports that Christian and Esaiah are getting on each other’s nerves, but they did that in the US (nothing new). Livonia is doing well. She went shopping with Nathan and held her own, and even cooked spare ribs and a chicken curry for dinner. Both were very good, but anyone who has had Livonia’s cooking knows that’s a rhetorical statement.

Things are still good, regardless of what you read in these updates. I tell you all the mishaps because it’s easy for me to poke fun at my environment. In truth, I really do enjoy it here. The culture is great, the people are absolutely awesome, and I enjoy the challenges of my work environment. My family appears to be enjoying it as well, but the verdict is still out. Today is Friday, so tomorrow we get to go out and do something as a family (sans Esaiah, who will be out with his classmates all weekend). The best part about the family outing is I will finally have MORE PICTURES. I hope you understand the difficulty in taking pictures when my actual free time each day is limited. However, that won’t stop me from writing. I welcome the challenge of writing a complete sentence in a bumpy moving vehicle. Bring it on!

Until next time…