Dinner and view

Today the weather was unbelievable.  It was overcast and breezy.  It was the perfect temperature.  I have been loving the weather change here as well and quite glad that I am not experiencing side effects from Hurricane Sandy and the snow that Ohio saw today.  Anyway my point is it is beautiful.

Our view out our back porch is gorgeous..... right!?!?

  Something struck me the other day though.  I got closer and realized that I could see completely through the restaurant across from us.  I could see the trees on the other side of it.  I could see cars driving by.  Then I realized how common this was.  The building to the left is the same thing.  Granted that building is not in use any more but still.  Open.  Many restaurants here are open.  They have fans to keep people cool and create a breeze but still completely open.  That means birds, animals and anything can come and go as desired.  I dont know why I had not pondered on this before but all of a sudden I realized how foreign this was to me.

I know it is hard to see here.  But the red dots are the lights inside the restaurant.  You can sort of see the light coming in from the other side of the restaurant.  At night time I can see the people eating there and walking around!  Crazy stuff but it makes Thailand Thailand, and not America!

Speaking of eating and restaurants, Moe and I have been struggling to find the balance between eating out and cooking our own food.  Thai food is incredibly cheap.  Generally we can eat a Thai dinner for about 100 baht.  We can eat an American meal for about 300 baht at the high end.  It is definitely a big difference, the thing is though that neither is expensive for our standards here. BUT then again we can go to MK (Korean restaurant) or a fancy Thai place and spend about 200 baht.  The low one translates to roughly $3.50 and the high one to $10.   For two adults.... cheap!

Anyhoooo you might know all that already.  In order to keep things interesting, we have been trying to cook more at home.  Moe has figured out how to safely buy meat at the grocery store.  While they do have selections of prepackaged and priced meats they also have other areas of meat.  Chicken, fish, shrimp, and I'm sure other types comes in piles of meat in bins, baskets, or boxes.  People come up use their hands (I know gross!) or the utensils to choose what meat they want.  Then they take it to the meat guy who packages it up and prices it.  This way you know exactly what meat you are getting!  It is lovely and I think smart.

We have begun cooking American meals that we are accustomed to that make my heart happy.  We have had Chicken Alfredo, Spaghetti, Beefaroni (with pork), BBQ Chicken and mashed potatoes, Italian Chicken and other things.  Moe has learned to cook pork quite well as it is most cost efficient.  Beef is a rarity here, sadly.  Last night we made BBQ chicken on a grill thing that we bought.  It is electric but worked well.

Moe made sliced taters and onions and mushrooms.  

Moe thought this picture looked really cool and insisted I post it! The electric part was actually red but photographed purple!  

The final look of our meal! We also had corn.  Here normal corn is about 4 inches long but looks like an ear of corn.  It comes canned in some type of oil.  I personally enjoy it but Moe isnt a fan.  Probably because corn is my favorite but who knows.  Anyway, it was a good meal.  By no means one of our best meals but it was still good.  And it felt good to make our own food.  

Chico is doing great.  We are teaching him lots of tricks.  Moe has been researching all the time to figure out how to make him the best puppy ever.  I am very pleased with them both ;)

Oh Happy Day

Today was a wonderful day.  I started off the morning by sleeping in! I had homemade bread and bacon for breakfast. Moe and I went house hunting with a real estate agent and found 4 houses that we could see ourselves living in.  They each had different pros and very little cons.  Moe posted pictures on his facebook if interested in seeing all the options!  I continued the day with some light school work. We had a great dinner at a place down the street.  Then we got to skype with many loved ones that we miss so much! It was a great day!!

Now for our House Hunters International Knechtel family reveal....... We chose........ House Number

.....one!!!!!!!!!  (Yes I purposely wrote it out so you had to read it and not cheat by looking for the number!)

We put money down on it today. Monday we will send over copies of our passports to get the contract written up and then Monday evening we will sign the contract.  We love this house.  It is right on the Ping River. It has GORGEOUS views.  One of the best views I have seen of the city thus far was from the roof top view.  Yes our new house has steps that lead up the roof for a gorgeous view of the city and mountains!

not a great picture but mountains none the less

This is the view when you first walk in.  There is a couch and 2 chairs to the left.  The kitchen is huge and has a stove, oven, refrigerator, and cabinet space (all of these things are hard to come by!)

This is the patio off of the kitchen.  There is a patio area off of each floor! It is beautiful.  And yes the river is always this brown.  

This is one of the bedrooms.  The other is almost identical.  The third bedroom is bare and will soon become Moe's office. The first 2 bedrooms are on the second floor and the third is on the third floor!

This is the bathroom on the second floor.  It has two separate rooms, one for the shower and one for the toilet and sink! This is wonderful because most showers get the entire bathroom wet. Thankfully we will never have this problem!

It is important to say that this house is potentially within walking distance of school. It is an easy drive to school that is for sure.  We will only have two easy left turns to make and then the right turn into school! It will be wonderful.  It is also centrally located to everything else that we could ever want or need.  In addition it is right down the street from the Principal and a few other school members that could help us if ever there was an issue.  So this is our house.  We will 'officially' move in on September 1st but were told that we could move our stuff in earlier if we wanted....and we do!  

Just a couple other updates.  Moe has been graciously waking up every morning to take me to school.  We leave about 630-645 in the morning to beat the crazy traffic.  He then comes and picks me up about 4ish to head home.  He has been wonderful.  

Back to my classroom.  I have been assessing the students this first week to figure out where they are academically. It looks like and I have been told that my students are on the low side of things. I am honestly quite exicted about this because I feel like I will have the chance to help them grow and achieve more than if they were already very smart and on top of things.  I am looking forward to this challenge.  It has been difficult though because I dont know what is normal and normal pacing for things.  This is definitely going to be an interesting year and a learning year for sure!

Air conditioning is something that is different here as well.  When things or places say they are air conditioned they really mean they have AN air conditioner.  For example, although my 'school' is air conditioned the hallways are open and the cafeteria is open and the bathrooms are open...sort of.  So really it is just the classrooms that have air.  I have realized that one of the things that makes me sad is that the bathrooms are not air conditioned.  They also are rarely ventilated well!  Cement walls with stall barriers that go to the ceiling!  Every time I use the bathroom I instantly start sweating. It is very sad.  Using the bathroom should not cause so much strife.  And the really sad thing is that this applies to school and home and public restrooms.  Which by the way, most 'public' restrooms require you to pay 5 baht to use.  By paying 5 baht you also receive a few squares of toilet paper to aid in your duties.  It is very unique ;) So bathrooms are not my favorite place here! 

Ok I think that is enough for one post.  I am getting tired after such a good day! I will end it by watching an episode of NCIS before bed.  Good thing the internet is here or we would be in big trouble! We watched So You Think You Can Dance today from Thursday.  We love that show and like that we can keep up with it!  Anyway, I am rambling.  Love you all. Night! 

OH yeah, one last thing. Moe has finally started up his own blog about his adventures.  Sometimes we might talk about the same stuff, like today and our new house! But that is because it is extra important!  Other times we will have different stuff.  So if you want to follow him too that would be lovely.  Here is his link: http://sunnydaysinthailand.blogspot.com/

7/25 and 7/26... Wednesday and Thursday

7/25 – Wednesday. House Hunting International – Knechtel Edition actually happened.  It was a craaaaaazy day.  We probably saw 10 houses in 1 day. It was unbelievable.  None of them were the perfect house for us but it definitely gave us a LOT to think about.  Moe has detailed pictures on his facebook.  I have tagged myself in them so you should be able to see them through my facebok as well. If not please let me know.

Anyway, I was quite overwhelmed after the day.  We saw so much and learned so much about our new home, Chiang Mai.  First I was challenged yet again to let go.  We were completely trusting two local Thai people who knew little English to take us around to these places and make sure that we did not get scammed.  They both work at CMIS and were super, super nice people so that always helps.  One of the ladies is an office worker and we bonded right away.  She was so cute and fun. 

We also learned that there is quite a variety when it comes to housing here and we saw it all! We saw average housing. We saw expensive housing with its own pool and top of the line everything! We saw a traditional Thai style house with open air rooms with everything made from wood. We saw dirty and grimy places as well as new and clean places.  It was interesting for sure.

the pool :)

Moe and I have been battling over a lot of things with housing so please pray for us.  We are trying to decide on a budget as things are so cheap here we are not real sure where to start.  The people we have talked to have different opinions on what is expensive and what is not, so it can be challenging to figure that out.  Plus, we are struggling to decide if we want a furnished or unfurnished place.  We do know that where we are is uncomfortable and not where we want to be. But that is about the only thing we know for sure!!

Getting a lesson

7/26 – Thursday.  Thursday was another learning day. We started the day by learning how to ride/use a motorbike.  Principal has graciously let us use his extra motorbike for a few days so we can get our bearings.  He explained how everything worked and the major functions. It might be important to note that neither Moe nor I had ever ridden or driven a motorbike.  We were both fairly worried about it, but I was definitely more worried. I had no intention of getting on or driving today.  Moe was ready though and itching to get out.  He got the hang of it quite quickly too.  We have a parking lot that goes 3/4ths the way around our building so Moe was practicing going around the building and 

in our parking lot

getting used to driving.  Then we decided he was ready to try some open roads.  We went to the side and back streets of our building where the school is and practiced there.  While he got the hang of the back roads, Principal took me on a quick tour so I experience motorbike driving and flow of traffic.  It was very scary at first. I was holding on tight through each acceleration and turn.  After a few minutes I realized that it was actually quite fun!  It was so much fun that I even released my grip and relaxed…except for a few scary moments J I did learn however that my goal as a passenger is to resemble a sack of potatoes in that I want to move as little as possible.  I definitely think I can handle this as the fear of God and everything else is quite imbedded in me after all the stories we have heard about driving here!

Anyway, we had a great time learning that.  It surprisingly did not take long either.  After that I took a nap. I was tired! Then we had lunch and I began a few teacher things….it’s getting so close! We made plans with the principal and his wife to go furniture shop (just so we could get an idea of prices…don’t worry!) and then have dinner at their house.  We were longing for a home cooked meal! Furniture shopping was quite revealing. Again there are lots of options. Rattan furniture is very popular here but surprisingly expensive.  We saw cheap sets of furniture as well as mattresses that could get us by. We then went to expensive furniture places. It was crazy how expensive some things were, like office chairs were like 300 dollars and a leather sofa for $9000dollars….crazy. It was fun to see all of the different styles and what was available though.  Most of the furniture is expensive for Thailand but somewhat reasonable compared to America.  There were things that Principal said were expensive but when comparing to American prices were still cheap. So again we have a lot to learn about pricing and what is what here!

lots of wonderful furniture

And finally dinner: it was WONDERFUL! It wasn’t really home cooked but it was so nice to sit a table at a house and relax.  We had what was basically rotisserie chicken, sticky rice, breaded pork chop, some noodle thing that was spicy, and something else I cant remember.  It was all finger food which is something Moe and I have to get used to. Eating with our hands is not something we enjoy. For dessert we had home made chocolate chip cookies that were to die for! Best thing we have had since being here. J Moe also had some coconut ice cream which I think he enjoyed.

We also went to the grocery but nothing important to share there. We got crackers, chips, Gatorade and few apples. Nothing fancy, but in case you want to know every detail.  We love sharing and are having a wonderful time.  We are ready to be settled and explore more easily and comfortably!  

Monday and Tuesday 23rd & 24th

7/23 – Monday. We thought we were going to make a lot more progress Monday than we actually did.   We went over to Deyla’s house.  We had a wonderful lunch of Pork on a stick (really good!!), sticky rice (which you eat with your hands, I had no idea.), chicken and mushrooms with Italian seasoning on a bun, and some carrots.  Altogether a WONDERFUL meal. I was very impressed.  I guess I need to back track a little. Once we arrived they realized they did not have all the ingredients for lunch. So Moe got to take his first motorbike trip. While out he saw lots of interesting things… specifically a 2 pigs heads sitting on top of the counter while the butcher was chopping up the body.  It was quite the experience for him and he is very sad he did not have his camera.  ((Matt Austin he thought of you the whole day!! Not sure if you even read this though))

After lunch we relaxed at their house and talked about all sorts of things. It was quite nice to be comfortable in someone else’s home. Hopefully we will have more of those experiences soon.  We took a walk around their moo ban (neighborhood) looking for houses that were for rent and took a couple pictures of places that were available. 

Then we called Principal and asked him to help us call places and find a few more options.  He picked us up and took us to the grocery store which has a bulletin board of available rentals.  We also went to Airport Plaza to see about getting my phone hooked up to Thai times but that is a story for a later date!  Airport Plaza is the huge mall in Chiang Mai.  It has 5 floors and is wicked nice.  But apparently another mall is coming soon (Thai time soon so who really knows when) that is supposed to be even nicer. We had dinner at the food court. I had fried chicken over rice and Moe had something… he wasn’t sure what! It had veggies and rice and chicken I think. We also tried some chicken on a stick with peanut sauce and pork egg rolls. Both of which were very good. The mall was huge. It was very interesting to see. I hope to go sometime and actually shop, even though we were told that most of the stuff you can get cheaper elsewhere.  

the top two floors of the mall

7/24 - Tuesday.  It is raining. A lot. Apparently it is supposed to be like this for a few days now. I am very very thankful that our first couple days were not like this. I guess I am going to have to get used to the rain!

Today we had a list of places to potentially rent that we wanted to call and find out more information about.  We had NOOOO idea how to move forward on this as we know nothing of the language and the city. The school was so helpful though and using us as guinea pigs to figure out how to prepare for the other newbies coming soon. The principal met us at the school and talked to the office people.  They ended up taking our list and made phone calls for us today. They said that tomorrow they will take us around in their van to all of the viewings that they will have set up!! It is unreal how nice they are and happy to help us.  Hopefully I will be able to be equally as nice and learn their names!

We then got to see my classroom as well as some other classrooms which we did not get to do the first time around. Throughout the tour we met lots of other employees which all greeted us with a smile and warm welcome!

My classroom is lovely.  Here are some pictures.  There were some bean bags in the room that they told me were being taken away but if I wanted some they could get me some! I jumped at it; I even got to pick my colors. I also was asked if I wanted a teacher stool and jumped at that as well.  I did later have to fill out a form for the stool. Who knows why or what that means but I will soon find out I'm sure.