Our New Favorite Restaurant

As a Facebook status mentioned earlier, we have found a new delightful place right down the road from us.  It is Thai styled with Thai and some international foods.  It is good priced and the English is great! Always a bonus for me, though Moe uses his Thai as much as possible.

The first day I ordered fried omelette with shrimp over rice.  It was very very tasty.  The rice came shaped like a heart! The next time I ordered beef in oyster sauce over rice.  Again, very very delicious.  We got fried shrimp as an appetizer! mmm mmmm gooood!

Here are some pictures of the place:

Moe looking at the menu.  River in the background

Water feature, very pretty

View of restaurant. 

View of River - Or Corona commercial?

Pretty lights

Moe studying his dictionary - like he does at most restaurants :[

My food. Beef in oyster sauce with rice and our appetizer

In other news, Moe is teaching me how to ride the scooter.  I am terrified but it was quite fun.  I have had two lessons.  This is my first lesson.

We are also in the market for a bike of our own so please pray that goes smoothly and we find the perfect one!  Hope you are enjoying your holidays.  We are definitely enjoying ours.  We might go to the movies today or go shopping... or both!

Christmas Day festivities

Christmas Day started like many other days and I forsee many days to come.  I woke up and did some reading while Moe slept in.  I played with Chico and took some pictures of our Christmas tree.

Then, I put a bow on Chico and went to wake up "Daddy".  He wasn't too happy to say the least.

But Chico is very cute!!

We then skyped with Moe's family as they opened presents.  And this was captured which I love.  I wish we  would have and could have had the actual picture as well.  

After skyping with them, Moe went back to sleep and so did I..... I mean I watched Home Alone with Chico. 

We then went out to lunch at an western place.  I had French Toast, banana, and bacon.  Moe had ham and cheese sandwich with french fries.  Then we went shopping.  I got some new clothes. We got some treats for  Chico. Moe got something but I forget what! We came home and relaxed together, enjoying our care free day. 

For dinner, we made it fancy.  Moe made stir fry pork, potatoes, and onions.  We had corn and bread to go along. I set the table up nice as well.  Please ignore the giant piece of bread on my plate... I like my bread, what can a girl do?

Finally we ended the night by skyping with my family and watching them open gifts.  They got our package yesterday so it was quite perfect to get to watch them open it on Christmas day.  

Overall a very different but great day.  We are so blessed!

Christmas time in Thailand

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!!

Moe and I are officially on Christmas break and have been since Thursday!! We have two full weeks off, which is apparently more than some schools in America :))  We are going to enjoy every minute of it.

Christmas has taken over Chiang Mai, however I hear that Christmas day will not be the same.  People will still work.  Schools maybe have the day off but only one.  Grocery stores are blaring Christmas music and cashiers are wearing Santa hats (they have been since Thanksgiving!)  Gaudy gold signs and decorations are everywhere.  The mall has a GIANT tree that is literally 4 floors.  Huge.  Here is my attempt at the picture:

We bought a small tree of own for the house.  It has only a few decorations but it makes us happy!!  It is perfect.  

I tried to be a little crafty.  I put tape on cardstock.  Painted over it.  Glitterized it a little :)  Only sad thing is I havent hung it up anywhere!  Please, tell me you know what it says... Moe had no idea :(

At school we were a little crafty too!! Pinterest is beautiful and inspired us to do some crafts.  We made strings of lights with colored paper and string.  On the back we wrote adjectives about the person whose name was written on the lights.  Here is mine: 

Here are half of the kids ones hanging up in the class.  It was possibly more fun for me than for the kids...

We also made button ornaments.  The school provided the materials!  Mine is the one on the left.... I was going for a random look.  I was then showed up by a kid who made the one on the right... very Christmasy

Another teacher donated this tree to us, so we decorated it with our button wreaths.  Some girls made the snowflakes for me so I put them on the tree too!  

Christmas is upon us.  Moe and I are very happy to be together. We are very happy for Skype. It has saved us and brought us closer to many people.  We are happy to be in Thailand for this holiday season.  May the holidays be just as good for you wherever you may find yourselves this year!

Honestly

For once I do not feel bad about not blogging. I didn't even want to blog today, but there is no point in hiding from you.  You all love me no matter what...right!?!?  So here is some honest blogging time! Which means keep the prayers coming!

We were warned before coming that there were different levels of living and traveling abroad.  First the exciting level.  Every new thing done or experienced is exciting and fun.  Every day is a new adventure. The exciting level lasted a long time for us and still has its moments.   I hope that we do not lose this level completely ever!!

Another level is feeling comfortable and settled where things become somewhat normal and you are adjusted.  We have definitely felt these days as well.  We come home and sit, just like we did in America.  We nap like we used to and do other things like normal people do.  There are most certainly areas that we are adjusted and settled.

Then the last area is the frustration level.  This where everything about the new land is frustrating and bothersome.  This is precisely where I was this week.  The goal is to move back into the adjusted and exciting levels this coming week and remainder of the time here.... here's to hoping right!

I'm not going to go into details of why everything was frustrating, but it was.  I cried almost daily.  I was frustrated with my class, my teachers, policies and procedures at school, food, the bugs, and so much more. Don't get me wrong, I love being here. I am enjoying it, but this week, I did not.

I have been missing home so much. Mainly because of the holiday seasons.  Being away from the norm is hard.  Plus, our friends here are either leaving during the holiday break or have family in town that they will be with.  I have been trying my hardest not to think about it, but when other things are down it is so much easier to be down about everything.

Well that is all I can say or I will start crying again.  But Moe has been great.  Today we went out to breakfast and talked the whole time about our goals and desires for being here and what not.  Then we walked through the junk market together enjoying the day.  We napped and played with Chico.  It has been a good day.  And things will get better, I am positive about that.

Please feel free to skype us this holiday season or send us an email to update us on your lives.  We want to know what is happening with you too!  Know we miss you greatly and hope you enjoy your holiday time together.

Loy Kratong

This Wednesday was the full moon of 12th month of Thai lunar calendar which means the celebration of Loy Kratong.  I am told it is not generally on a Wednesday and thus some interesting events happened.  Basically all week was a celebration.

Loy means floating and kratong describe the floats that are created.  Loy Kratong is known as the festival of lights. Which means fireworks, lanterns, candles, and all sorts of things happening all the time.

In Thai class all of the elementary students made kratongs.  I was very intrigued by this whole process and asked the Thai teachers if I could come along with the students.  They graciously accepted me! Kratongs are made out of natural resources such as banana stalk, banana leaves, flowers, and candles and/or incense.  I did not get the details of why things are they way they are but here is my kratong!  The leaves had a specific process but for the flowers and candles I could do what I wanted!  These kratongs are then supposed to be lit and placed in the river.  I did this outside off our deck area.  It was very cool! Kratongs filled the river for days!

Just realized some of my leaves are the wrong way.  The angles were all supposed to face the same direction.  

Every night after the Yee Peng Festival I blogged about last week, the khom loys have been filling the sky.  It has been beautiful to see.

Fireworks have also been going non-stop.  Our restaurant neighbor across the river has had quite the display of fireworks.  Here is a video of a section of fireworks.  I was standing on our roof when I shot this.  They were literally right across from me.  There were a few that literally exploded right above me! It was sooo cool.  The sound is loud so be careful but it is worth hearing for a few seconds to really feel there!

On Thursday we had a little party of our own.  Food and festivities.  The weather was not on our side so it was a shorter event than we had thought. But it was fun.  We watched a few fireworks and let off some of our own.  Here is one of the really cool ones that a friend brought over.  The base of this is a clay pot.

Bottom line. If you can ever visit Thailand, consider coming during this holiday.  It was by far one of the coolest things we have done here.  It was such a cultural experience that is so unique and exciting.  

Lantern Festival

Yesterday was the craziest day we have had yet.  I know I will not be able to explain it accurately but here is my attempt.

Chiang Mai and Thailand are known for the "kom loy" or lantern festival.  This weekend was the traditional religious event where thousands of people gather at a university to honor the Buddha and bring blessings on the new year.  (there is a good chance that some of this information is wrong :/ ) There is a whole religious service, chants, prayers, etc. before the releasing of the lanterns.

We knew some people were getting there very early, but we did not decide to even go until later in the afternoon. Five of us decided to ride together, so we did not end up leaving until about 530. It took us about an hour to get to the general area.  We sort of had no idea where we were going, so we just followed the cars in front of us. Eventually we got to a place where lots of people were walking and police was directing traffic and decided to park right there.  It was a perfect spot.  We were as close as possible!

We had a little bit of a hike ahead of us. It was quite dark so we were trying to hurry and not miss it!! Once to the location (an outside arena type thing) we had the joyous task of finding our friends who had saved us spots.  Thousands of people praying and meditating while five foreigners were trying to find their friends.  It took us a little while but we got it.  Then we waited for probably another 30 minutes.  Then the monks and presumably other religious leaders/people circled the group three times.  We were then instructed to light the ground lanterns, which looked like tiki torches! We were given directions for how to light the floating lanterns and told to wait until the signal.

The white ball is the stage where the monks were. The balls of light are the ground lanterns being lit. 

More people and lanterns going off before they were supposed to!

We lit our lantern, which was honestly harder than I thought.  These lanterns were about 4ft high and 2ft wide.  You had to light the center part and wait for the lantern to fill with the hot air.  It was HOT.  Fire everywhere. Staring at the lantern to make sure it was catching. People everywhere.  HOT! This picture shows how we had to light it. But the top part should have been opened up more...

Suddenly fire works went off directly over our heads and that was the signal to release.  We let ours go and watched as thousands of other lanterns were let off into the sky. It was gorgeous!!  Here are some pictures a friend took and then a video I took that does not have sound :(  

Here is the video:

It was an awesome thing to be part of. Truly amazing.

After we had let off quite a few, we decided it was time to go and tried to beat the rush of people.  We basically ran to the car - weaving in and out of people, motorcycles, and cars - passing as many as we could.  As we got to the car, we realized it was facing the wrong way.  But suddenly there was a break in the traffic.  We hopped in the car and quickly made a u-turn and got out of there.  We did not hit ANY traffic on the way back either.  It was nuts.  We were totally lucky.

BUT THEN..........

Again, we made great time to the condo where we met.  It looked like it was going to storm, crazy winds and dark clouds.  By the time we got out of the elevator it started pouring rain. Since it was so windy it was soaking us in the hallway.  Opening the door to the condo was difficult because they left the windows open and the draft of wind was pushing against the door.  We quickly realized the rain was coming in through the windows.

Then , we remembered the windows upstairs with TVs in front of them. Someone ran upstairs to check. She screamed and heard a loud crash. Moe went running after her and fell on the wet floors.  I followed and found the other room drenched as well.  Closing the windows upstairs was just as challenging as opening the door.  As soon as we got some towels to start drying things up the power went out.  It was unbelievable.  

As best we could we dried things up in the dark.  Thankfully nothing was damaged but a lot was wet.  Since the power was out the elevator was out.  We were stuck for about an hour. But it was beautiful.  We could watch the storm over the city.  We laughed a lot about how ridiculous things were.  We created memories :)

We were very lucky.  Had we been slowed down by people, had we hit traffic, had we stopped for a drink, had anything been different we could have been stuck in that elevator!!

It was truly a night we will never forget.  We are definitely blessed!

Thanksgiving Thailand/Brittany style

This Thanksgiving was crazy.  First, we had a half day of school which meant four periods... but I have both of my prep periods Thursday mornings. This meant that I only had TWO periods with my kiddos!! It was truly a blessing.

Here is why.

It all started Tuesday when I was getting ready for bed, late.  I put on my pajamas that were laying on  my bed.  I took out my contacts and brushed my teeth.  I was getting ready to put Chico in his cage like every other day.  But I felt something crawling down my leg.  It was a tiny ant.  I then felt them on other parts of me.  I quickly took off my clothes, started screaming for Moe.  I looked at our bed and there were ants IN our bed!!!!! Some of them had gotten into my clothing.  I literally had Ants in my Pants!!!!!!  I was so so so so so frustrated. I stripped the bed and checked for them on the mattress but did not find much.  I jumped in the shower because I still felt like they were crawling all over me.  Moe cleaned them off the floor and sprayed the hole where they were coming from.

After showering, I realized I had not idea where our other sheets were. (one of the beautiful things about having a housekeeper is they can put things wherever they want and you have no idea!) I checked every place that I knew where to look.  I was tired. I was frustrated. I was grumpy. very grumpy.  Moe decided he wanted to check the foot of our bed.  Let me try to explain this to you: Our bed is made of teak wood and hand carved at the foot with trees and plants and what not.  It is beautiful.  It looks like there is a drawer in the center and if you pull just right you can open it.  Moe thought that maybe the sides were then doors like other bed we have that clearly has drawers and doors and handles to open such things. Our bed had no signs of this.  I was certain that he was crazy.  After struggling with it for a few minutes he got out the screwdriver for leverage.  Shortly after that he opened it and viola! There were our sheets! I could not believe that our housekeeper had found the door, opened it, and put our sheets in there. BUT I was so thankful that Moe did not give up finding the sheets.  I on the other hand was ready to sleep on the couch for the night :(

Wow this is getting long. I will speed it up.  Tuesday after school I realized I had giant bug bites on my legs.  My classroom at school has terrible mosquitoes. (I truly do not know if the bug bites are from the ants or the mosquitoes.) I had/have 10 bug bites from mid calf down on just one leg.  By Wednesday they were very irritated.  By Wednesday night two of them had formed pus bubbles. Bubbles on my legs that are yellow that are hard, not oozing.  (sorry for the description!) I slept terribly.  I was in great pain.

Thursday was miserable. Literally.  It was painful to walk. It was painful to sit. I wanted to chop off my lower leg! I went to the nurse at school and she recommended that I go to a skin doctor.  She gave me directions and what not but I wasn't convinced.  Then I showed other teachers to get other opinions.  Everyone that I showed said they had never seen it before so I was starting to get worried.  Finally as school ended I realized I needed to get them checked out.

Two friends took me to the hospital around the corner from school.  Someone called to make sure that the right doctor was there and for how long.  When we got there I registered and sat. I got my blood pressure and basic "are you allergic to anything, are you taking anything" questions done in the waiting room.  I then moved down the hall to chairs in front of the doctors office.  Shortly thereafter he called me in.  I sat down, he looked at my bites, asked me about them and said you are allergic. Provided me with cream and an antihistamine.  He gave me directions and we left his room.  I walked around the corner to the cashier and paid 604 baht, about 20 dollars.  I walked ten steps to the next window and picked up my prescriptions.  Then we walked out the door.  The entire trip - arrival, check in, visitation, payment, drugs - took 45 minutes.  It was beautiful.

Later that night we had Thanksgiving at a teacher friend's house. It was potluck style where they provided the turkey and drinks and what not and everyone else brought a side.  We had mashed potatoes, broiled potatoes, creamed corn, green bean casserole, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie, apple pie, ice cream and I think that wraps it up.  It was delicious.  The wonderful thing was there was so much food we got to take some for leftovers!!

Overall it was a memorable day so that is what I tried to focus on.  If you are curious.... Here are some pictures of my legs.

You can see how swollen my ankle is :(  The white stuff is the cream the doctor gave me.

This is the monster one on the back of my calf. It is the size of my finger.