It’s a new year.  And winter in Bangkok might be over.  Yesterday morning it was so humid that, upon looking out my window I mistakenly thought I was still in San Francisco during the summer.  The building next door was partially obscured by the haze and the buildings on the horizon are just grey shadows. 

By seven-thirty everyone on the SkyTrain, including the locals, were wilted.  Thankfully, by mid-day the jet stream shifted and we started to get some of those nice cooling winds from Chiang Mai. 

This morning is a different story entirely: we must have had some rain last night as the horizon is very clear and the only clouds are a high, thin layer.  Buildings within a kilometer appear in vivid resolution.  The temperature isn’t too bad, either: 25 C / 77 F. 

Thai lessons resumed on Wednesday, the day after we returned home.  Module 2 is smaller at eight students than our previous class of thirteen, although the current batch of Module 1 is huge at 15 students.  It is nice to be in a smaller class and studying with people I now know better.  More time speaking Thai.

The only problem is that two of our students regularly get sidetracked into English-language conversations, comparing the merits of sake versus vodka, for example.  I think the khruu (teacher) is getting very frustrated with us.  At the same time, some of the students feel like we’re not getting enough attention from the teacher, including the students who are derailing us!

The first hour of class on Wednesday was a nightmare.  Despite some practising during our travels, my Thai was quite rusty and it took a full hour before my synapses were once again reconnected.  By Thursday, I had a momentary epiphany during which I realised that there were little bits of pieces that I was actually “getting”.  The khruu was asking me questions and I was understanding!

It helps that a Module 4 student let me borrow all of her handouts from Module 2 and make photocopies of them.  We are given a 2-3 page handout each day at the end of class, recapping what we learned.  By reviewing the notes before the start of class, I’m familiar with the vocabulary we’ll be learning and don’t waste any time sitting there stuck in a grey cloud of confusion.  I also come across as more knowledgable to my classmates!  Except for Yoichi, who spent two months previously studying Thai and hangs out almost exclusively with Thai friends – he continues to be at the head of the class.

Our trip to the United States was truly a whirlwind event.  We have decided that, future trips need to be more limited in scope so that they can be a relaxing holiday for us as well.

We flew Singapore Airlines in economy class, which was a pretty good experience overall.  It necessitated an extra stop en route, but this stop allowed us to visit Singapore and see Otto and Han.  As an added bonus, Stephanie was in town from Melbourne, so the five of us met up for lunch at a well-known Hainanese Chicken Rice shop.

Along the way, I discovered the Chroma setting on my digital camera, which yields some fantastically brililant colors.  Yellows and reds that are practically radioactive!

Picture 1: Stephanie, Chris and Tawn at Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice in Singapore.

We had only a bit more than five hours in Singapore, but that was enough time not only to enjoy lunch but to browse along Orchard Road, shop at Zara (tawn’s favourite store, supplanting the Louis Vuitton store), and stop for coffee twice.

After about eighteen more hours traveling from Singapore through Hong Kong, we arrived in San Francisco just around sunset on Christmas Eve.  Actually, we arrived almost an hour early, but customs was a mess and it took Tawn nearly an hour to clear.  We rented a fancy PT Cruiser – not my choice – and drove over to Newark for dinner with Dick and Sandy, my uncle and aunt. 

One of the best things about dinner with Dick and Sandy, aside from the joy of being with family, is the good wine.  We had one cabranet sauvignon (the name of which I failed to write down) that was absolutely delicious.  We also tried a bottle of the Thai syrah Tawn and I brought with us.  Decidely one-note and totally lacking in complexity.  But quaffable.

Picture 2: Christmas with the Tebows, Stolls, and Schultzs

Christmas morning we headed out to Kansas City, arriving in time to have dinner with the family at Jennifer’s.  Emily came out to the airport to meet us, and played shy for about the first twenty minutes.  By the time we reached the house, she had thrown shyness to the wind and grabbed Tawn’s hand and led him on a tour of the house, which they moved into this Summer.

On Tuesday evening, we gathered again for dinner, this time at my grandparent’s house.  Pat and Carl, my maternal aunt and uncle from Seattle, had arrived from Nashville where they were visiting my cousins Kari and Scott.  So we had another dinner.  The house, which is modest in size by warm in spirit, was very full. 

Picture 3: Emily’s special gift.

The highlight of the evening was a special gift that Grandpa had hand-made for Emily: three sets of framed letters that spelled out her name, the basic numbers, and alphabet.  Each letter was cut out of the frame like a puzzle piece so she could learn her letters and numbers.  Each piece, even duplicate letters, fit only into one specific place. 

The entire thing was hand-made, taking him several months of work at his brother-in-law’s wood working shop.  Without a doubt, it will be a treasure that Emily will pass down to her own children.

Tuesday for lunch we went to Lidia’s Kitchen, an Italian restaurant in the stockyards of Kansas City belonging to the grandmotherly host of the eponymous public television cooking show.  There we met Pat Goodfriend.  It was so nice to visit with Pat and to finally meet her friend Dean.  We look forward to spending more time with them when they visit in February.  Picture 4: Dean, Pat, Tawn and Chris at Lidia’s Kitchen in Kansas City.

On Wednesday morning, Tawn received his Christmas present, which was an overnight trip from Kansas City to Seattle to watch the group Pink Martini perform.  Jenn and I had watched them in Kansas City several months ago and they were fantastic.  Tawn really likes their music so I thought this would make a nice gift. 

We flew to Seattle without Tawn knowing any of the specifics of why we were flying there.  We checked in to the Hilton hotel and walked around on a brisk but glorious afternoon.  Macy’s department store was offering a special 11% discount for hotel guests, so we took advantage of their already 25%-off sale on Calvin Klein underwear to restock our underwear drawer.

For dinner we went to Dahlia Lounge, one to Tom Douglas’ four Seattle restaurants.  We have previously eaten at Palace Kitchen and enjoyed it so much, so when Chris and Kate Rogers recommended Dahlia Lounge, it sounded great.  Kate and I have worked together for six years and it was very exciting to meet them for dinner. 

Picture 5: Tawn, Chris, Kate, and Chris at Dahlia Lounge.  Where did the desserts go?

One highlight of dinner was the appearance of the chef, Tom Douglas, who stopped by the restaurant while we were deciding what to order.  He chatted with us for about ten minutes, particularly interested in Bangkok as he and his wife are considering going there for a holiday.  After making some recommendations, all of which were fabulous, he autographed some cookbooks that we had been considering buying (we ended up buying them of course!).

The show by Pink Martini was really fun.  Tawn was a bit tired, thanks to jet lag as well as a bottle of sparkling wine and a bottle of 1999 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel, so he rested his eyes during the first half of the show and just listened carefully to the music.  Pink Martini is well-described on their website as “Somewhere between a 1930s Cuban dance orchestra, a classical chamber music ensemble, a Brasilian marching street band and Japanese film noir is the 12-piece Pink Martini.” 

The 13-member group was complemented by an 8-piece local string ensemble and, sure enough, the show was bookended by performances by a local 20-member Brasilian drum corps.  Tawn was definately awake and alert when the drummers marched down the aisle from the back of the house to the stage!

Friday morning we headed back from Kansas City to San Francisco for an over-packed two nights.  Our first stop was lunch with the Roberts: Brad, Anne Marie, and Sydney.  It was clear that Sydney had been excitedly waiting for us all day as she had an agenda laid out for us:

Picture 6: The Roberts family and Tawn on a rainy San Francisco afternoon.

First we were going to play a board game about picking cherries, then we were going to read books, then she was going to dance for us. 

Sure enough, after a very nice and unexpected lunch of chicken enchiladas and a spinach and mango salad that Brad and Anne Marie threw together, we picked plastic cherries, took turns reading books, and then Sydney changed into her toe shoes and tutu and performed a spontaneous overview of all the moves she had learned in ballet class, accompanied by an exposition about the story of Jesus’ birth in which Jesus was recast as a little girl.  All this from a three-year-old who attends daycare at the Jewish Community Center!

We stopped by Dick and Sandy’s again to pick up some things we had left there and then proceeded to San Ramon, about 30 miles east of the bay, to the home of Bruce and Howie.  They graciously offered their guest room to us and Bruce plied us with two great home-cooked dinners while we were there.  With a brand-new $4400 oven and stove that just arrived on Friday, Bruce was ready to turn up the heat!

The rainy weekend simply wasn’t long enough to see everyone and do everything we want to do.  We’ve resolved in the future to spend more time in the San Francisco area as it feels like home to us.  We were fortunately to meet up with Samantha and Jimmy, Anita, and Brad his son Evan for pizza at North Beach Pizza in San Mateo.  Two hours provided a lot of catch-up time and I was sorry that I didn’t bring my camera.

Our return flight departed just after midnight on Sunday night – really Monday morning.  The flight back was good although less so than the flight out.  Our seats on the SFO-HKG-SIN legs were in a windowless row, and even though the long leg was an overnight one, not having a window made the space feel quite claustraphobic.  The service was friendly, though, and the food was good.

Picture 7: Chris is welcomed aboard an SQ flight by one of the legendary Singapore Girls.

When we arrived in Hong Kong there was just enough time to stop at the Singapore Airlines lounge and shower and change clothes.  Our transit time in Singapore was equally short, just long enough for Tawn to run to the other terminal and pick up some Bobby Brown facial cream.  We arrived back in Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon after a 30-minute delay caused by a faulty steering system that occurred just after we pulled off the runway, exhausted and glad to be home.

That evening I met up with Paul Thies for dinner, who was spending his last night in Bangkok before heading back to San Francisco.  Dinner was at Cabbages and Condoms, the Thai restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 12 that is operated by the nonprofit Population and Community Development Association that Tawn’s father runs.  It was nice to visit with Paul and I hope that he decides to finally try living in Thailand one of these days soon.