Money, Food & Roosters

     I know it’s bad when my sister points out that I haven’t updated my blog! So, here I am, updating.

     I spent most of my second day sleeping. Jet lag is real people. I did explore some the morning/afternoon on Monday. I walked around and just absorbed, I walked into shops with AC in order to get out of the heat (yes, it’s winter and 90 degrees here), and I went back to my temporary room to nap. Well, the nap turned into about a six hour sleep. I woke around 9:30pm and in an effort to get on schedule, I forced myself to sleep four more hours later that night.

     Tuesday was a little more interesting. My employer took me to set up a bank account, take a picture for my visa application, and get lunch.

Before

     My banks theme/main color is emerald green, which I find fitting. However, the whole time I was there, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Oz and the Emerald City. At least Dorothy understood what they were saying. It only helps spur me on to learn the language. Today is Wednesday, in Thai it’s pronounced Wan put - the wan sounds like the name Juan and the put sounds like a droplet of water dripping from a kitchen faucet.

Picture taking was not extraordinary, pretty much just your standard sit, smile, shoot scenario.

     Okay, lunch. I know that’s what you’re all really interested in, huh? Which, by the way, allow me to direct your attention to the right of the screen, where you will see a new poll I added to this here site. I’d like to make it a bit more interactive, so if you’re reading this, please feel free to contribute. So, we now return to our regularly scheduled programming—lunch. I had traditional Thai noodles with pork liver, loose pork, chicken, fish, bean sprouts, cilantro, and this seed that looked a bit like a cashew and a bit like a sunflower seed. There was more, but that’s what I could decipher. It came in a bag, much like a fish you buy at the pet store would. They close the bag with a rubber band, and let me tell you, they have it down to an art form. There was also a smaller bag that contained Thai jalapeños in vinegar—oh! So good! And finally, you could add sugar and ground chilli to it as well. I tried it all. I loved the jalapeños in vinegar, so I added all of that. I then, in baby steps, added the ground chilli, oh gawd was it good; it was so good I added more. The sugar tasted okay on it but it definitely was best spicy.  

 

After

     After lunch, and some surfing on the web, I took another nap for about an hour and a half. Then, around six-thirty, my employer picked me up from that house to bring me to the other house. 

    

This guy was hanging around outside while I was waiting for her.

  Traffic was sooooo bad. I can see where Bangkok gets its reputation as far as the roads are concerned. We had to detour a little bit because there is still a little bit of standing water on the normal route. Everything I saw was dry as a bone, though. Bangkok is big! I’ve only seen a little bit of it so far, but on the drive from one house to the other we took the highway and I must’ve seen 15 or more skyscrapers, at least 30 billboards, and more street vendors along the way than I can count. We arrived at the house just after eight and I got to meet the kids. Nadia is adorable. She was a bit shy at first but she is very curious and I think we’ll be fast friends. The twins, Nadine and Nathan, are too cute! They were born in July and at four months old they are holding their heads up nicely. I got ready for bed and by 9:30 I was out. Of course this means I woke up at 3:30 a.m. I tried to go back to sleep, I did! To no avail. So, I decided to post and then start my day.

     One thing—does everyone’s neighbor in Bangkok own a rooster? There was one at the other house, and now here too. I suppose that will help with the waking up, but I suspect that it may turn annoying quickly, lol. I do, on the other hand, love all the birds. It sounds like the bird house at the zoo in St. Louis, and I’ve always loved the morning birds chirping and singing.