Mister

Khun Moo is terrified of Chris.  I first thought something was a little funny the day I was telling her that Chris would be returning from our vacation early, so for a few days it would just be the two of them here together.  She got very nervous looking, took a deep breath and said,

"I prefer that he stay out there and not talk too much, and I stay in here and not talk too much either."


Well, OK, Chris would prefer that too, so no problem.  But then I started noticing that she ducks down and averts her eyes whenever she comes out to put something on the table by him.  And two nights ago when he walked into the kitchen and she happened to be in there, she squeaked and fled immediately.  And LAST night I got this text, from her in her room:

"HI KHUN CARRIE IF YOU STILL WANT TO HAVE FOOD. I CAN MAKE NOODLE SOUP FOR SUPPER. I CAN NOT COME TO SEE YOU. BECAUSE MR. WAS SITTING AT DINING ROOM."

So she wanted to ask me a question, but she couldn't because she would have had to walk past Chris working on his laptop at the table.

I mean, I know Chris is always screaming and throwing things and yelling and stuff, and there was that personality quiz that advised people to keep at least six feet away from him at all times, but really?

Candyfest 2013

Halloween is not a big deal in Thailand, but our apartment complex manages to celebrate it anyway.  Which means that last Saturday night we climbed up (and down) 39 flights of poorly-ventilated stairs, making this the sweatiest Halloween that I personally have ever experienced.  At two doors per landing, the kids got a pretty good haul, although because the place is so international it is funny to look at the variety of stuff that they got- all sorts of unrecognizable fish crackers, Danish gummies and Korean jello shots.

Here are a couple of blurry photos of the costume parade around the yard, Chris and I in costumes that lasted about 5 minutes, and Athena and Indy.

 Can you tell what we are?

a little bit of heaven

me - "so colin, what is your favorite part about halloween?"

colin - "dressing up and candy.  what is your favorite part?"

m- "watching you be so happy"

c- "do you think jesus will come to halloween?"

m- "um, nope.  i think he is busy."

c- "where does jesus live?"

m- "in heaven."

c- (gasps incredulously) "at sarahs!?"

m- (laughing) "what?!"

c- "where sarah lives- that's heaven!  that's awesome!"

I put this together/made in about a half hour

Don't you think Captain Kirk had airplanes on his shoes?

Thai bits

- We live in a place where the waterfall comes on each day at 0745.

- The other day I forgot to make the conversion in my head and only after I got home did I realize I'd just spent $10 for a box of Golden Grahams.

- One day I said to Chris, "That's a lovely bunch of coconuts."  And he thought I was kidding, because, you know, a lovely bunch of coconuts.  But I wasn't.

- Theo just asked me if he could trade his CTR ring for a Ninjago Lego set.  I'm not sure what to make of that, but I don't think it's good.

- Hopefully a man is coming today to drill holes in the concrete walls so I can hang pictures.  It costs 100 baht (3 dollars) per hole.

- We went on a jungle hike up the side of a mountain in a rainstorm and found this amazing cave with a little pagoda inside of it.  It was really beautiful, and the kids were really tough and covered with mud at the end.  Fun.

- Theo is a mosquito's personal brand of heroin.  The other day we watched a movie in a little room at the beach hotel and I stood over him the entire time with the  mosquito-zapper racquet clutched in my hands like a samurai warrior, making big sweeps over his head and killing two or three at a time.  It was extremely satisfying, in a mother bear sort of way.

- My computer is not electrically grounded, so the keyboard buzzes my hands when I type.  I have ordered a grounded transformer, but until it arrives I have wrapped the keyboard in saran wrap in a weak attempt at insulation.  I have typed this entire post with my feet off of the ground.

Kitty on My Cake and I Want to Touch It.

Brought to you by the 'Asians are a little crazy' category comes the 'Cat Cafe,'  a place a few streets over from us where you can order snacks and eat at little tables while you play with the restaurant's cats, which roam freely around the room.  Apparently if Thailand has a Health Department, they are occupied with bigger concerns, because this all seems very much on the up and up.  We did have to wash our hands, change out of our shoes, and wait in line for 20 min before being allowed into the restaurant, however.

Cat-themed hot chocolate.

No doubt about it- kittens are cute.

Theo fishing for cats.