Just four days in the Midwest and I’ve already become a suburbanite, driving my sister to and from school where she teaches in the mornings and picking up my niece in the afternoon from day care and taking her to tap dance practice.  Dance practice was a hoot.  The eighty-something year old teacher is a dance nazi, not allowing parents (or other guests) to peek in the window as it will distract the young dancers.  If you are caught peeking, a blind is closed on the window.

Emily looks pretty cute in her leotard, tights and tap shoes.

As part of my continued efforts to counter the negative publicity that George Bush and the neoconservatives are giving the United States around the globe, I’ve been sending postcards to my students from San Francisco (last month) and now Kansas City.  This is a major operation since it involves forty-plus students and writing messages in both Thai and English.  More English for the older children, less for the younger ones.  I spent several hours this morning at a local coffee shop writing a few dozen of the cards.

The messages I write are varied for each student, so that they aren’t all receiving exactly the same thing.  They include innocuous messages like:

Kansas City is in a rural part of the country.  There are a lot of farmers.  They grow corn and wheat.  They do not grow rice because there isn’t enough water.

People in Kansas City are very nice and are curious about visitors from other countries.  Although many of them have never traveled outside the country, they like to learn about other people’s countries and cultures.

There are no canals in Kansas City at all, but there are two big rivers.  One is called the Kansas River and the other is called the Missouri River.  They are both as wide as the Mae Khlong River [a river near Bangkhonthiinai] but much longer.

Hopefully, this sparks their curiosity about the United States and instill a sense that Americans are generally good people.  This, until we end up invading Thailand in order to bring democracy to Southeast Asia. 

This afternoon I had lunch at a Middle Eastern Restaurant called “Holy Land Restaurant”.  It was quite tasty although I have no doubt that just like the Thai food, Chinese food, Mexican food, etc. that it was very watered down for the local clientele. 

Left: Before the put on these cheesy grins, my parents looked more like a version of American Gothic.

Afterwards, we stopped at a Halal market located next door and browsed the interesting ingredients.  Large medjool dates for $5 a pound!

Tomorrow the whole lot of us (grandparents, parents, nieces, sister and borther-in-law) fly to San Francisco to attend Alex’s wedding.  This will be a lot of fun for us.