JUST CHECKING IN

It's been fairly quiet around here the past few days with nothing too major happening.  We took Gaow to Chaleomparkait Park in Phuket Town on Tuesday where we played badminton and skipped rocks across a pond.  We also drove over to Saphan Hin and collected shells along one of the rocky beaches.  He's stayed at Lek's and Jum's home yesterday and tonight which has given some peace and quiet to our house.  Since Nadia had a day off from work today (finally), she stayed here last night; Tim and her went to a party tonight so I'm home alone.  Doug stopped by for a brief visit but mostly I've been watching episodes of American Chopper, Conviction, and Battlestar Galactica.  I've also been catching up on quite a bit of reading over the past several days — finishing two books and making a serious dent on a third.

Other than trying to think of a new name for Tim's son, I've also spent a bit of time on the computer updating various inventory databases and checking out job listings at Ajarn.com.  We've also spent some time searching for a school to enroll Gaow in but that's proving to be a difficult process (more on this in a later entry).

Tomorrow, I need to book reservations for our impending trip to Bangkok — we've been given four VIP passes to the Eric Clapton concert on the 15th.  Tim and I had planned to take Nadia and Doug but neither can get away from work now.  I'll call my friend Mark E. in Thonburi and see if he'd like to attend, leaving us with one ticket to sell or give away (face value is 5000 baht each).  I'd like to fly up and take the bus back to Phuket (not only for the convenience but I've been dying to check out the new Suvarnabhumi Airport).  Tim is a bit apprehensive about going to the capital right now because of the recent bombings there but I'm trying to assure her that she can't live in fear that something might happen.

Which brings me to the current state-of-affairs.  Obviously, the rumors of a new coup occurring last night have proved to have been false but the government is taking extra security precautions (including putting troops in the airports and bus terminals) and warning of the likelihood of further attacks.  It's been reported that those behind the New Year's Eve bombings were "in uniform" although it remains unclear whether that means they were police or military.

A DAY AT THE BEACH, BADMINTON, ...AND NADIA!

Today was to have been Nadia's first day off since she returned from Kalasin over two weeks ago so Tim picked her up from work last night and she stayed here to get a jump on her holiday.  She's been working a brutal schedule usually on the clock up to 13 hours per day at no extra pay (her salary is a paultry 5000 baht — USD $139 — per month) and was looking forward to the break.  The three of us really miss spending time together and we had a lot planned for tonight (including a special trip to the new Jungceylon shopping center).  It wasn't meant to be as her boss called her early this morning asking her to come in at seven tonight.

We did make the most of the day, however, with a trip to the beach.  We chose Kata for a change; we used to come here late at night for picnics but never swam here.  It was nice but there were a fair number of people — mostly teenaged Scandinavians (a fair amount of the women were topless to the great amusement of Gaow).  Despite it being the middle of the day, it was rather cool and the water was downright cold once you swam beyond a certain point.  We left around three once the waves began getting too big.

Back home, Gaow and I played badminton in front of our home for an hour or so.  I'd bought the rackets and shuttle-cocks for Tim and myself back in May or June but we never ended up using them.  Gaow had a lot of fun seeing how far he could make me chase the birdy as he delighted in trying to hit it outside of our gate.




A package arrived today from my favorite return address in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, addressed to "Mrs. Saengwan Jochim".  My friends in Marillion had sent a Christmas present to Tim of two (very nice) shirts promoting their next album, Somewhere Else, due to be released on April 9th.  Thank you h, Steve, Mark, Pete, and Ian!  Here, Tim models one of the shirts on our side patio:



About the only way we can get Gaow to sit still is to put on a VCD or DVD.  His favorite is Ultraman — a really cheesy Japanese superhero program.  These VCD's run between 79 and 119 baht (USD $2.19-3.30) and each contain two 30-minute episodes.  They're worth their weight in gold for the quiet time they buy Tim and myself.  He's also been quiet during such movies as Toy Story (an excellent dubbing job with even the Randy Newman songs translated into Thai), Madagascar, and the excellent Thai animated film, Khan Kluay.



Gaow has completely fallen head over heels for his new "big sister", Nadia (as do virtually everyone who meet her truth be told).  It's hard to get him to actually pose for a photo, but he oblidged here since Nadia was involved: