BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR NID

Our friend Nid celebrated her birthday last night at Amazone on the road between Nai Harn and Kata.  Unfortunately, her husband — Ben — couldn't make it as he's working up in Surat Thani.  We also missed Shan (who probably got lost as a result of some confusion as to the party's location) and I did call Mark E. up in Bangkok so he could wish Nid a "happy birthday" (he returns to Phuket next week).

I had a good time getting caught up with Doug and met his new friend Christina who works at Kajonkiet School.  After such gatherings I'm usually a bit embarrassed at how much I talked; I do tend to blab away on all sorts of topics, making up for my rather severe lack of day-to-day opportunities to converse with other native English speakers.

I was very impressed with how well behaved Alexander was throughout the evening and I wondered if my friends didn't believe the "horror stories" I was telling him about his behavior at home.  At any rate, we had a fun evening...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOUR MAJESTY

Today is the 79th birthday of His Royal Highness Bhumibol Aduyladej (Rama IX).  The nationwide celebrations include plenty of fireworks and yellow shirts (for the 60th anniversary of his reign as King of Thailand).  All bars and nightclubs are closed and liquor sales prohibited.  Here in Phuket, we're in the midst of the week-long King's Cup Regatta.

December 5th is also regarded as Father's Day in Thailand (the King being the "father" of the nation).  This morning, Nadia gave me first ever Father's Day card; I was very touched (already I was a bit sad as she left this afternoon for a month or so stay with family up in Kalasin — near the Lao border— but the card cheered me right up!).

MY BIRTHDAY PARTY

My first birthday celebration in Thailand was quite the affair, particularly since I'd emphasized that I didn't want a party and that a low-key dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant would be perfect.  But Tim and Nadia secretly planned to give me what turned out to be my most memorable birthday ever!

In typical Thai fashion, the birthday celebrant buys all the food and beverages for their own party (one of the reasons I didn't really want a party) but Tim has become very budget-conscious and didn't end up spending a fortune.  (It helps that we can buy alcohol at a discount right now...).  I caught wind that she and Nadia were plotting something so I discreetly gave my wife some extra cash in the weekly food allowance.  Since we'd already put up our Christmas tree (I told her it was my tradition to trim the tree just before my birthday), they didn't have to do a whole lot of extra decorating — some balloons were inflated, furniture slightly rearranged, and our small dining table before a platform for gifts.

I spent some time Saturday afternoon making four mix CD's; I told Tim that I wanted to listen to some of my favorite songs on my birthday as I knew if I didn't have "control" of the stereo system it wouldn't be long before the Thai guests hijacked it with those really awful karaoke VCD's.  Most times when those are played, I'll quickly escape into my "office" as they all have begun to sound essentially alike to me.  I couldn't exactly hide on my birthday, however.  Most of the guests were fairly late arriving so I ended up playing two full discs before anyone even showed up (Doug was the first to get here).  When our various Thai friends began arriving they all congregated on our back stoop where the cooking had commenced so Doug and I were left alone in the living room.  For quite some time, it didn't feel like most of the partygoers even noticed the birthday boy but at least Doug and I got caught up on our various recent activities and trips.

Doug and I ate our dinner on the side patio — ably served by Nadia, Tim, and Jum.  Tim had found some decent beef somewhere and grilled steaks.  After we ate, I insisted that our Thai friends eat on the patio as well (they wanted the farangs to eat first), rather than sitting on the mat on our back stoop.  Opat had to leave early but soon others began arriving.  I kept asking Tim when could I begin opening gifts and it was always, "Wait another five minutes."  Ben and Nid finally arrived after nine and Tim insisted on feeding them before presents could be opened.  Just when I thought we were ready again, Franz and Pen got there so then they had to be fed.

By this time, the stereo had been infiltrated with the Thai karaoke and my farang friends were getting restless.  Our Thai friends had once again scattered to the rear of the house so I finally gathered everyone up and told Tim it was time for the presents.  It all sounds like I was way too over-anxious about the gifts but I felt that I was getting lost in the shuffle and I knew that the farangs at least didn't want to stick around until midnight just to watch someone open a bunch of boxes.  I was in a jovial mood throughout but some of the Thais, in particular, were getting a bit worse for the wear from the drink (not being known for moderation).

Anyway, a cake was brought out decorated with candles (which surprised me immensely as birthday cakes are not exactly a tradition in Thailand and very difficult to find) as a precursor to the gift opening.  The lights were off, the candles were lit, and just as I was about to blow out the candles my cell phone rang.  I answered it to discover my nephew, Spencer, singing "Happy Birthday" which was the definite highlight of the evening for me.  Unfortunately, I couldn't hear him very well at all and an attempt at conversation went nowhere.  Brief greetings with my sister and brother-in-law weren't much better and my guests were becoming restless again so I had to make the call shorter than I wanted.  Lek relit the candles so I could have a "take two" at blowing them out and then odd-shaped slices were passed around.  It was a very strange-tasting cake; Doug joked that it was probably "spicy prawn" as we've seen both potato chips and ice cream in this flavor.

Finally, the gifts...  What can I say?  I received some very nice and thoughtful things.  I knew my guests would be bored watching me open presents from friends/relatives in America that they didn't know so I glossed over those and concentrated on the ones given my attendees.  It was nice to see the thought they all put into getting me something I might enjoy when none of them have known me for very long.  And in most cases, they really "hit the nail on the head."  For example, Ben brought me a pizza (we'd been talking about how difficult it is to get a good pizza here on Phuket).  Jum gave me a tin of butter cookies (she'd gone shopping with Tim and I months ago when I'd mentioned how much I liked those type of cookies).  My neighbor Franz bought me a Morris Mini shirt (it's well known among my friends that these are my favorite cars — I'm always pointing them out when I spot them here).  Other gifts included various teacher resource books (which will come in very handy!) and a few novels, even some Western music DVD's (including some Eric Clapton to help me "educate" Tim before his Bangkok concert next month).

After the gifts were opened, I pretty much turned over the floor to my wife and the ladies happily spent the next couple of hours singing karaoke while the men retired to the side patio so we could continue talking (with the glass doors closed, of course!).

All in all, it was very nice party.  I don't recall the last time I actually had a "real" birthday party (probably back when I was ten or something) and it was a nice chance of pace from my usual "tradition" of lounging on a sofa watching television and having a pizza delivered.  It was a bit strange at times (I felt it was more a party for Tim rather than for myself — but I'm definitely okay with that) but "this is Thailand" as everyone says when something doesn't seem quite "right."  Next up:  Nadia's birthday and we'll probably host something for Christmas as well (New Year's will be on a beach somewhere, I hope)...

The Photos:

Lek lurks behind me as I pose next to the gift table.

The birthday boy and his lovely wife.

(L to R:) Tim, Nadia, Jum, and Opat enjoy their dinner on our side patio.

Enjoying a calm moment on my birthday.

My first Thai birthday cake.  Spicy prawn flavor...Yum!

My nephew back in Kansas is singing me "Happy Birthday" via my cell phone as my guests wait for me to blow the candles out on the cake (for the second time!).

A second try and blowing out candles.  Good thing I'm full of hot air!

(L to R:) Pen, Franz, Ben, and Doug enjoying the very interesting taste of the cake.

Tim did a great job of passing me each gift in turn.

Tim and I trying to figure out what the heck it was that Nadia gave me.  (Still can't figure it out, nor describe it — it is unusual, however...)

Morris Mini shirt from my Dutch neighbor.

The highlight of the party for Nid, Pen, and Tim was being able to sing Thai karaoke without any grumbling from your's truly.

REMEMBERING DOUG

As I wake this morning of my 41st birthday — the first I will celebrate as a married man and living in Thailand — I want to write a bit about my cousin, Doug Jablonski, who passed away a year ago today from cancer.  I'm not very good at these types of memorials, so bear with me.

In a widely spread out family, I considered Doug to be the favorite of my cousins — he married the oldest daughter (Terri) of my mom's brother's wife.  They lived in New Jersey and Doug was a big fan of Bruce Springsteen, as was I.  In fact, Doug had seen Springsteen perform many times in the small bars of the Jersey Shore in the early to mid-1970's before he became well-known on a national basis.  He hadn't been to a show since those early days and, in December 2003, when I secured extremely hard-to-obtain tickets to one of Bruce's special Christmas gigs in Asbury Park I just knew I had to treat Doug to the concert.  We drove up from Absecon in the south early in the day; there had been a huge blizzard a couple of days before (the Saturday night show had been postponed to Monday and Sunday night — the one we had tickets for — had almost received the same fate).  Doug knew some of the "historic" sites like where the marker was at the corner of E Street and 10th Avenue and we checked out the boardwalk, taking photos of Madam Marie's and having a drink at The Stone Pony (Doug urged me to climb onstage to pose for a photo).  Once we got inside Convention Hall and stood admidst the crowd before the doors of the auditorium itself were opened, I pointed out Bruce's black SUV parked opposite of us and then we could see various band members and special guests (including Jon Bon Jovi) making their ways to the entrance.  We secured spots on the floor, about 30 feet back from center stage.  The show itself was fantastic but this isn't really the place to write about that.  It was probably the greatest concert I've ever attended (and I've seen Bruce live a number of times); it was also the last weekend I saw Doug alive.

A year ago, I was en route to London for another concert (Marillion) when I received word that Doug had passed away.  As soon as I'd collected my luggage at Gatwick I was sitting in an internet cafe booking flights so I could attend the funerals back in New Jersey.  There were three in total, including a small service at his local church and a much, much larger full police funeral in a school auditorium.

Doug was an officer with the New Jersey State Troopers (as was his wife Terri) for many years.  Among his accomplishments there were stints as Master-At-Arms, Business Manager for the State Troopers NCO Association, he assisted in post-9/11 recovery operations at the World Trade Center site, and he worked several Presidential security details.  He was well-liked in his community and active in the church.  A bit more information can be found on the Web here and here.

I think of Doug quite often but last night I happened to be watching the official DVD of Springsteen Live In New York City which includes a brief clip of "Blood Brothers".  Already an emotional song (and even more so as performed as the last tune of the last show of the very long tour, the only time it was played live in 1999/2000), watching it this particular time brought back a flood of emotions and memories about Doug.  I will always remember Doug's passing on my birthday and honor him with a prayer on this day.  I do miss you Doug, my cousin, my friend...

CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS

When I moved to Thailand I really didn't expect there to be much in the way of a Christmas celebration.  Afterall, it's a predomoniately Buddhist country and even the Muslims outnumber the Christians.  I do remember some cursory decorations along Bangla Road when I was here last year (the odd tree in front of a shop) but most of the shiny banners advertised "Happy New Year" as this is the big holiday.  Businesses and schools operate as normal on December 25th.

A couple of weeks ago, we went on a search for proper Christmas wrapping paper and greeting cards so I could send gifts to my family back in the States.  The paper we found was fairly generic and limited.  Although we did find a (very) few Christmas-specific cards, these were fairly generic as well offering no sign of a Thai origin.  The majority of cards in the shops are for the New Year with inscriptions along the lines of "May great prosperity and happiness be yours throughout the year and forever".  Best of all, these displayed images of what I consider very Thai-oriented.  Here's a sample of the cards I bought:





While we were in Bangkok last week, I was pleased to see many Christmas decorations scattered around the city.  Many of the major roads (at least in the shopping districts) had some sort of decorations as did a couple of the megamalls we wandered into.  We even stumbled across the self-proclaimed "Biggest Christmas Tree in Southeast Asia" at Central Festival.  Some photos:





Just a couple of days ago we were shopping at Phuket's Big C and suddenly it really felt like Christmas with several styles of artificial trees, plenty of decorations, stockings, Santa hats, etc.  (Tim had knitted one of the latter for me a week or so ago; it looks like a big red sock with a white toe — she did add a multicolored tassel on the end, however).

Anyway, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here — minus the snow, of course (the only White Christmas on Phuket will be from beach sand).  I've even already sent a (very big) box full of presents back to my family in Kansas (which cost a small fortune in shipping charges but DEFINITELY worth every baht!).  I'm planning to buy a tree and some decorations today so we can decorate in time for whatever "surprise party" Tim and Nadia have brewing for my birthday tomorrow...