The main event, the main reason for my being here in San Francisco, was to attend Ryan’s wedding.  Ryan is one of my closest high school friends and during school and uni we played a very important role in each other’s lives at critical times.

Ryan married Sabrina, a San Francisco native who, when I first met her a little more than a year ago, I knew would become Ryan’s wife.  They are that kind of perfect for each other.

Ryan asked me to be one of his groomsmen, along with another high school friend, Sam, and his college friend Gerry.  There are several high school friends and family members who read this blog, so I’m going to include a fair number of pictures.  For those of you who don’t know the parties involved I hope you enjoy them nonetheless.

Right: The ceremony took place in Sts. Peter and Paul Church, which faces Washington Square in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.  It was a gorgeous day with a gentle breeze, clear blue skies, and temperatures in the mid-20s.

Friday night we had done the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  It was an opportunity to meet a few of Ryan’s extended family members.  Through fate and circumstance, Ryan is the only person I know personally who had lost all his immediately family by age 28.  As such, it was especially meaningful to have some family members here including his auntie from Melbourne (who was dismayed to learn that I had been to Melbourne twice and had not called her) and cousins from Phoenix, Los Angeles and Toronto.

Saturday morning I joined Ryan and the other groomsmen at a hotel room near the airport to prepare.  This way, everyone was tuxed properly and accounted for, minimizing any nerve-wracking “where is he?” moments.  There I saw my new best friend, Gwynneth, whom I had met the previous evening at the rehearsal.  She is the precoscious four-year-old daughter of the best man.

Below from left: Gwynneth announces that she is a princess and that she loves the color white; Gwynneth and her parents at the church, struggling to keep her eyes open after I told her she blinked in the first attempt at the picture; Ryan and Gwynneth conspire before the service.

Since I was in the service, I didn’t get any photos of it.  But it was beautiful.  The bride and groom had prepared their own vows and had memorized them.  It turns out that the length pauses that came across as Sabrina’s near-crying-hold-back-the-tears moments were in fact her furious attempts to remember the correct order of her vows.  But it came across beautifully.

Immediately afterwards, the bridal party took four simple pictures in the church: one with the wedding party, one with all of Sabrina’s family members, one with all of Ryan’s family members, and then a group shot in which the entire audience crowded together in one half of the pews and the photographer (using a very wide angle lens) took a shot from the pulpit.

Above: Ryan and Sabrina pose with Sabrina’s family members.

After a small reception downstairs in the church where people had an opportunity for individual photos with the bride and groom, the wedding party piled into a limosine and we headed to Golden Gate park for picture-taking.  There were some very nice settings, including Shakespeare’s Garden located just behind the Academy of Sciences.

Below: Sabrina and Ryan posing in the park.

Not too surprisingly, things started to get a little silly on the limo ride from the park to the restaurant, below.  And we didn’t even have any champagne open.

The reception was at Zen Restaurant in Milbrae, where we had the entire restaurant shut down for our party of 240 guests.  The menu was extensive and the food very good – click on the picture to the right for more detail – and I was impressed with how Sabrina and Ryan made the very politically and morally astute decision not to serve shark fin soup in consideration of how inhumanely it is harvested.

An hour before the guests arrived we held the tea ceremony, a Chinese tradition in which the bride and groom serve tea to the elders in their family and the elders then give them lai see – the red envelopes with money inside.

One theme that continued for the evening and which I thought was handled very tastefully, was keeping the memory of Ryan’s parents alive.  They were mentioned a few times, including in a slide show of Ryan and Sabrina’s childhood pictures.  Also during both the service and the reception, Ryan’s auntie from Melbourne stood as a representative of his parents.

Above: Ryan and Sabrina serve tea to Sabrina’s grandmother.

The evening was packed with events.  In a break from the traditional structure where there are speeches, then everyone eats, then there is entertainment, the events were paced throughout the evening.  A little food, some speeches, a little more food, some entertainment, a little more food, then something else.

Left: One of the three dresses Sabrina wore at the reception.

Even before food was served, Ryan and Sabrina had their first dance (they had taken some classes so it turned out beautifully) and immediately at the conclusion of the dance, they broke into a second number from Grease!  Very nicely coreographed and apparantly a response from Sabrina’s brother’s wedding two weeks ago in which her brother and her mom had rehearsed a swing number without telling anyone but the DJ in advance.

This is a very fun and competitive family he’s married into!

The speeches were a big part of the evening, with Sam, Gerry and I each making a speech, all of which were very heart-felt and well received.  I quoted D.H. Lawrence: “May you have the courage of your tenderness” as a conclusion to my speech in which I told Sabrina that I had always known Ryan would marry her, but that I had not known her name until he first told me about her, and I did not recognize her face until he first introduced her to me.

Below: The bride’s ladies and the groom’s men.

As the evening continued, the momentum picked up.  Unlike most Chinese wedding banquets where as soon as the last course is served, all the old folks pack up, they instead got up and packed the dance floor!  Things continued all the way up to 11:00, the time agreed upon with the restaurant to shut things down.

Below: The painfully shy ring boy (is that what they call them?), also named Ryan, finally came out of his shell during the reception when Gwynneth took charge of him and dragged him onto the dance floor by the hand.

Ryan and Sabrina cut their beautiful cake mid-evening, a tasty way to top off the celebration.  I loved the flowers they chose, too – a very elegant yet stunning arrangement for the tables.  As Tawn always says, it is good to add some height to a room decoration.

Ryan and Tawn and I went to Vietnam together a year ago February, returning to Ryan’s hometown of Saigon for the first time since he fled in 1977.  That experience, as emotional as it was, re-cemented our connection from early high school.  It meant a great deal to me to be able to stand with Ryan on this important day.  I wish Tawn had been able to be with me, but I know Ryan and Sabrina felt his support even if he was not.

Friday morning I dropped Paul off at the airport.  He’s heading to Bangkok to visit his girlfriend, Aori, meaning I’ll have the place to myself for the next week.  (Party at Paul’s!)

Afterwards, I stopped by the AMC Metreon 15 theater, which used to be the Sony Leows Metreon until AMC bought the Sony Leows theatre chain.  The theatre is now run by several former colleagues and employees of mine and I particularly wanted to stop by and visit Joel, the union projectionist who taught me the craft of being a motion picture projectionist some 19 years ago when I first started working at a movie theatre.

Yes, my first job was as a movie theatre user at the AMC Sunnyvale 6, a cinema long since gone.  In my 15 years with AMC I did everything including being an usher, a projectionist, a manager, and finally was the senior and general manager of several theatres including what was the nation’s busiest (and is still regularly in the top 20), the AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara, CA.  I was also the opening general manager for the AMC Festival Walk 11 in Hong Kong.  Exciting, huh?

To this day, I’m always very interested in movie theatres and how they run.  When there’s a film problem at one of the cinemas in Khrungthep, I can barely resist the urge to offer to help fix it.

After lunch, Joel took me on a tour of the projection booth for their IMAX theatre, left.  I’ve never been inside an IMAX booth and it is quite impressive. 

The film is 70mm wide, versus the usual 35mm film, but the frames are arranged horizontally on the film (sprockets are on the top and bottom of the frame instead of the sides) meaning that the image resolution is significantly higher than on 35mm film. 

In the picture, Joel is holding a small roll of 35mm film next to the much larger IMAX film.  This particular print is the Harry Potter movie, which is being shown in 3D.  Because of that, it actually has two films, one projecting the left eye image and the other projecting the right eye image.  That’s a lot of film!

Below is a picture of the projectionists threading the film throughg the “brain” of the platter: the front of the film is in the center, is fed out through the brain to the projector.  It is then projected and feeds back onto another platter around a removable metal frame.  When the film is finished showing, it has essentially re-built itself onto another platter, and the metal frame can be taken out and the film threaded for the next showing, ending up on the platter it was on for the first showing.  Back and forth all day long.

The other thing amazing about the IMAX projector is the xenon bulb.  In a typical movie projector, the highly-fragile (and highly explosive) bulb is about 3500 watts.  The picture below shows a 7000w bulb used in some of the large auditoriums at Metreon along with a 15,000 watt bulb used in the IMAX projector.

That’s quite a bulb.

There’s a really good description about the entire platter and reel process used in movie projectors here.

This evening I have the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for Ryan and Sabrina’s wedding.  There’s a lot of back and forth this weekend: rehearsal in San Francisco, dinner in Burlingame, prepare for wedding in South San Francisco, wedding in San Francisco, pictures in Golden Gate Park, reception and banquet in San Mateo, Sunday brunch in Berkeley, afternoon show in San Francisco, dinner in San Jose.

To make it extra fun, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is closed for the entire weekend for a construction project!

It is really nice to be back in San Francisco, yet this visit reconfirms the sentiment I’ve felt on previous visits: it is a nice place to visit, but it isn’t home.  I’ve been able to see a lot of friends over the first few days, have spent a fair amount of time driving (the way people drive here seems to be a good metaphor for American societal values as a whole – super agressive in a “race to the red light” sort of way, but really in their own little worlds and not paying attention at all), and have eaten moderate amounts of food that I miss.

Left: First stop on my arrival was Macy’s Union Sqare and a quick lunch at Boudin’s: clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl.  You can argue that there is better clam chowder elsewhere in the city, and maybe even better bread, but the two are a classic combination that really capture some of what’s great about San Francisco and Northern California’s culinary heritage.

Yesterday I met up with Fiona, a university class mate whose wedding Tawn and I attended several years ago, but with whom I had lost touch. 

Thanks to LinkedIn, we were able to reconnect and made plans for lunch.  Fiona and her husband have an adorable son, Dominic, and just gave birth to a second son, Zachary. 

Dominic has the best of both his parents’ looks and has the longest, waviest eyelashes.  I think you can just see them in the picture to the right. 

Dominic was a little shy at first, but soon warmed up after he saw the box of Thai desserts I had brought him to try. 

Fiona and I had fun catching up; it is amazing how people’s lives progress.  Since graduation, Fiona has been working in Human Resources for a high-tech compnay that actually is a customer of my company’s.  Little did I know!  

I’m glad that there are an  increasing number of technologies available to help us stay in touch – and reconnect – with  friends. 

Below, Dominic, Zachary and I pose for a picture after lunch at Willow Street Pizza in San Jose.

Well, I arrived in San Francisco in one piece.  The nine hours of layover in Seoul passed smoothly, spending much of it sleeping in the transit hotel.  I was going to take one of the transit tours to the nearby town of Incheon but the tour times didn’t coincide with when I was awake.  Oh, well.

Left: My plane out of Seoul.  The German-owned catering company did a passable job with the bii-bim-bap.

Sadly, I had a window seat on the Seoul-San Francisco flight that was the only row not to have a window!  So frustrating.  To top it off the man sitting on the aisle was mobility-impaired and so he indicated that I should just clamber over him to get out.  Not convenient at all.  I’ve changed my return flight to have an aisle seat in the center grouping of three seats (it is a 3x3x3 layout) so as to eliminate having to climb over anyone.

Once I arrived in SF, boy was I pleasantly surprised at the weather.  Perfectly blue skies, light breeze and 26 C.  Just gorgeous weather and it looks like it should continue for the next few days.  I spent my afternoon running a few errands and hanging out with my friends at the SF Int’l Asian American Film Festival. 

So many things to get done.  Most of Thursday was spent in the East Bay where the pleasant weather was reaching Khrungthep-like levels of heat although with significantly less humidity.  I stopped by the villa in San Ramon that my family will rent in October when attending my cousin’s wedding.  There will be 15 of us there, which will make for a full house. 

The good news is, it has quite the kitchen: two full stoves, two full ovens, two refrigerators, two dishwashers, two sinks, and all the supplies you would need.  I can’t wait to cook in it.!

Lunch this afternoon with a former colleague, Matt, and a colleague from even further back whom I thought was still living in South Carolina.  My, how times change when you don’t stay up on all this.

Tonight, dinner with my aunt and uncle.  They suggested we go out for Thai food.  I hope they were joking.

Greetings from the business center of the Incheon (Seoul) Airport transit hotel.  My flight from Khrungthep arrived this morning about 6:30 and my connecting flight to San Francisco isn’t until 4:30 this afternoon.  As I expected, sleeping on the 5-hour flight was not possible, especially since at check-in I discovered that the equipment had been downgraded to a less comfortable B767 from the usual B777.

After sleeping for two hours, I’m ready to get some food and then figure out if it is feasible for me to take the transit tour into the nearby city of Incheon.  We’ll see.  Anyone need me to pick up some kimchi on the way over?

Sunday morning and it just sunk in that forty hours from now I’ll be boarding a plane to San Francisco, where I’m attending my friend Ryan’s wedding on Saturday.  There seems to be so much to do between now and then.

Friday was the final day volunteering as an English teacher at Bangkhonthiinai School.  Kobfa, Ken and I went down there joined by another friend who works with non-government organizations, Prawit.  Since Prawit served as our photographer, I don’t have a lot of photos to share yet and will post more of them as soon as he sends them to me.  Markus is still in Germany, so he was not able to make it.

It was Valentine’s Day all over as the students had all brought flowers, mostly roses and about half of them real and the other half artificial, to present to their three teachers.  There was a ceremony in which the students presented the flowers, at which point I handed to each student an envelope containing pictures I had taken of them over the last year.

This was wildly popular with the students, as each received between two and ten prints of themselves and their friends.  Imagine that something like pictures, which you and I probably take for granted, being such a treat for them.

Included in the envelopes was my contact information, and I later explained that if they wanted to practice their English, or if they had questions or problems about the language, that they were welcome to call or write.

So they were looking through their pictures and laughing about themselves and each other.  Ajarn Yai started with the speeches, punctuated by long pauses in which she struggled to regain her composure.  This change, along with her impending move to a new position as a master evaluator within the education department, is really affecting her.  There were some tears, mostly from the girls but also from a few boys.  Plaques were presented as were gifts.  In turn, I made a brief speech to thank Ajarn Yai and the teachers for their support and the students for the opportunity to teach them. 

After the ceremony we went to the classroom for a combined class.  Between games of bingo, I handed out cards to each of the students on which was written (in Thai), “If you would like to receive a postcard from the United States, fill out your name, family name, and address below.”  The information that I knew was consistent, such as postal code, province and amphoe, were pre-completed, but what a challenge it was for the youngest children to complete even their name and street address!

Tanawut wrote his name, working slowly but methodically through his last name, then stopped at the tii yuu (address) line.  He looked up at me with a pained expression on his face.  “What’s your address?” I asked him in Thai.  Kobfa walked over.  “Are you able to remember?”  He shook his head, no.  Jam mai dai.  Cannot remember.

Thankfully, one of the teachers was able to look up the information for the younger children and complete the cards, correcting mis-spelled surnames along the way.  Several students were able to remember their street names but not house numbers.  One helpfully wrote baan si daeng, the red house.

I also learned that Burmese don’t have last names.  One of my students, Somchai, is from Burma.  He holds the distinction of being the littlest of the students, with a big smile, round head and jug ears.  And he does not have a last name.  At first I asked whether he couldn’t remember it, but checking on the master student list I realized that he just doesn’t have a surname.  Sort of a Prince thing.  Somchai was also notable as being the only student who was able to remember the word “spoon” when I showed the group a picture of a spoon. 

The big event of the morning was the raffle.  Over the months and weeks, especially over the last few weeks, I had built a treasure chest of tchotskies: free hand fans from the film festival, note pads and pens from different events and clients of Tawn’s, a model Cathay Pacific airplane that Brian had received when flying them.  All sorts of stuff.  Children wrote their name on a card and we selected prizes and then drew names to learn the winner.  There were enough prizes that we went through all the names almost twice before having one big final drawing for the grand prize: a hot pink “Amazing Thailand” tote bag filled with a variety of goodies and school supplies.

As you might imagine, the raffle went over very well.  It was like Christmas in August.

For some reason, maybe the large number of people in the classroom, the day did not end in the orderly way it usually does, with students wai’ing their teachers and filing out of the room, often shaking hands.  Instead, they just drifted away in small groups.  Kobfa commented later how there was no satisfying conclusion to the class, no real good-bye.  I agree that something was missing.  We’ll be back for Ajarn Yai’s farewell ceremony on September 14th, though, so maybe that’s when we can get some closure.

After class the teachers went to an ocean-front seafood restaurant in Samut Songkhram famous for being the birthplace of Chang and Eng Bunker, perhaps the most famous “Siamese” twins.  The food was good, although excessive in quantity as is always the case when these teachers order.

When I returned home from school, I found this very nice email from my mother, who along with my sister is a teacher.

Dear Chris:

I know how you feel.  It seems to me that each experience we have is a part of our whole being.  We
are shaped by that experience; we influence how others are shaped in the sharing of the experience.  At the
least, which probably isn’t so small in the long run, you had an opportunity to learn Thai language much
more quickly than might otherwise have been.  …

As for the children, you will never know the impact you have had on their lives.  At the least, and this
could be the most in the long run, they have had a chance to be in the company of a farang who cares
about them as people.  That only helps lead to better understanding between cultures.  They have had more of
an impact on you that you might realize…struggling with how to teach them your native language while
having very little skills in their native language. Of course, as you’ve learned their language (the
greater learning, I’d say), you’ve been better able to communicate with them as well as others.

…

There is always a bittersweet feeling when moving from one path of our journey to another.  Letting go is
usually difficult, but I sense that you are ready to move on – to walk other paths, using the knowledge and
understanding that you’ve gleaned from this teaching experience.

Another thought in this regard is the number of people you’ve taken on this journey with you.  We would never
had been exposed to this part of Thailand or the people in this province without your involvement at
the school.  How important to see these children, like most children in the world, struggling with their
learning or embracing it with eagerness and enthusiasm.  Many of your friends have accompanied you
on your teaching days, not because they had to, but because they wanted to.  Think of the long-reaching
influences there.

Just a few thoughts from your Mother.  As usual I’m proud of the work you do and the caring and compassion
you show for those around you.  That you were willing to dedicate so much of yourself to this part of your
journey says worlds about who you are as a person.

Love,
Mom

How nice is that?

So it has come to an end.  For now…  but the teachers who will remain did mention to Kobfa that after Ajarn Yai leaves they might be interested in us still having some sort of involvement at the school, maybe going down there once a month or something.  It depends on the new Ajarn Yai and whether he or she is friendly to the idea of undocumented farangs teaching at the school. 

Stay tuned.

More pictures when they become available.

It is just after 5:00 am and I’ve woken up early for the last time.  At least, the last time with the purpose of driving to Bangkhonthiinai to teach.  That’s right; after a year it ends today.

Ajarn Yai has called me several times this week to finalize details for today – I’m still not sure what she has planned – and each time expresses how sad she is, how sad the teachers are, how sad the nakrian are.  What remains to be seen is how sad I’ll be.  I spent two hours yesterday sorting through the 500+ prints I had made of photos I’ve taken of the children.  Each child has an envelope with his or her name and picture printed on the front.  Inside each envelope are copies of the various pictures I’ve taken of them, some sort of a souvenir of this past year.

My feelings at the moment are a bit ambivalent: all things change, all things that come will go.  But maybe that’s just stoicism.  We’ll know in a few hours.

Yesterday their postcard arrived: “Greetings from Bruxelles where we’re spending a few days before all the family arrives.  The weather is uncharacteristically sunny and warm.  Love, Markus and Tam.”

Of all the same-sex couples I know as friends, Markus and Tam are the first to actually get married.  By “married” I don’t mean having a private commitment ceremony, as Tawn and I did, but actually having a legal ceremony recognized by the government.  It is a very exciting moment and we’re disappointed that we couldn’t be there for the ceremony.  However, Markus and Tam will hold a reception here in Thailand, so we will have the opportunity to wish them well then.

Right: Tam and Markus, dozing on my couch in anticipation of New Year’s Eve.

Germany’s version of gay marriage still isn’t perfect: while same-sex couples have the inheritance, tenant, and immigration rights of opposite-sex couples, they still lack the tax and welfare benefits as well as the ability to adopt that opposite-sex couples enjoy.

Still, in a world of countries that are offering no rights at all to their citizens who are in same-sex relationships (and those where being gay is illegal), it is a huge step forward.

So today is their big day.  Congratulations to them!  If you hear the faint peal of bells while you’re going about the day, carried across the distance by the August breeze, just know that that is the sound of change.

It seems that we have a new constitution.  In a nationwide referendum held Sunday, Thai voters have approved the draft charter – Thailand’s 18th in the 75 years since becoming a constitutional monarchy – which paves the way for general elections in December.

The Nation newspaper group reports a 56.7% yes vote (14.3 million people) versus 41.4% (10.3 million) against the draft.  Opponents of the new constitution have said they are very satisfied with the strong showing by their people, claiming that they achieved such high numbers despite government coercion and pressure to approve the draft charter. 

There are also reports that five people were arrested yesterday for tearing up their ballots, including 78-year-old Chan Khammuang (seated, right) in Angthong, who reported tore the ballot in two after becoming confused by voting instructions.

Voting Day in Thailand.  Today the Thai citizenry will vote whether or not to accept the draft constitution – which if approved will become Thailand’s 18th since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. 

News reports indicate that the new constitution will be approved by a healthy margin, amid accusations of vote-buying and other shenanigans by both the pro- and anti-constitution forces.

Proponents of the new constitution say that the charter will pave the way for general elections by year’s end and the installation of a civilian government early next year, hopefully providing a path back to peace and stability after two years of political insecurity.

Opponents say that a vote for the draft constitution is a vote legitimizing the coup leaders and their actions.  They advocate a return to the previous constitution.

Stay tuned to see how it all turns out.  And whether, regardless of how it turns out, anything really changes.

Bangkok is looking more and more like Singapore

As I look out the window from our 25th floor apartment, I can see that the construction cranes at the Millennium Residence condo complex on Sukhumvit 16-20 have been raised in the past week and that the first few floors are taking shape.  This four building development will literally tower over the Queen Sirkit Convention Centre and surrounding neighborhood, each building standing 51 to 53 stories.

Right: An artist’s rendering of the view of the new condo complex, as seen from my normal Sunday morning cycling venue, Queen Sirikit Centre.

The development will block my view of Phra Pradang, the open space in a bend in the Chao Phraya River that is about 10 km away.  As more and more high rise developments are approved here, more thought needs to be given to these “view corridors” – a concept that the city of Vancouver, British Columbia incorporated as a core part of its downtown development guidelines.

Since Tawn and I will move to our new condo in the next few months, the blocked view won’t be my concern much longer.  But preservation of view corridors and balanced development are my concerns as a (likely long term) resident of this city.

View corridor issues aside, I appreciate that there is a lot of infill development occurring here.  The suburbs and exurbs are growing rapidly, rice paddies and rambutan orchards being filled in to make American-style suburbs – little boxes, little boxes made of ticky-tacky. 

Most of the infill development, unfortunately, is high end and doesn’t help the middle and lower classes.  But by developing closer to existing transit stations, the demand for private vehicles is lowered.  In this congested city, that is a necessity.  So it is a little bit of a good news / bad news situation, like everything else in life.

Democrats Abroad

Thursday evening Ken and I went to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club to attend the annual meeting of Democrats Abroad Thailand.  It was interesting and boring at the same time.  As an annual meeting, all of the business aspects of the meeting (approving the previous meeting’s minutes, reviewing finances) were boring.  But there was a good open floor discussion of ideas to increase participation and to educate expats about voting rights.

Of the sixty or so participants, many were long term residents of Thailand.  Lots of people in the 12-15 year range with two women who had been here since the 1960s.  The longest term resident is a white-haired woman who arrived in 1961.  How I would love to have tea with her and hear about her life!  Another woman, who has been here since 1968, still hasn’t shed her New York accent.

The meeting had a bit too much of the “This year we’re going to throw the Republican bums out” rhetoric for my taste.  I don’t like it because it is a negative and defensive approach to politics and I think it isn’t healthy.  Tell me about the good things you think Democrats will do, tell me about the benefits of Democratic candidates, but don’t expect to win my support just by bashing Republicans as a whole.

And I say that as someone who, as the Christianists (fundamentalist Christians – rhymes with “Islamists”) have coopted the Republican party, has been more aligned with the Democratic positions. 

One aspect of Democrats Abroad that I do appreciate is their significant voter registration and education efforts.  Two guest speakers from the US embassy were there to talk about the embassy’s efforts to do voter outreach.  They explained that there is almost no other political organization of Americans present in Thailand and that Democrats Abroad have been very active in working with the embassy to educate ex-pats about their rights and duties when it comes to voting.

That is something I will gladly get more involved in, as I think that democracies are strongest when the citizenry is both active and informed.

And when there are no coups, of course.

Todd finally makes it to Bangkhonthiinai

Hailing from Dallas, Texas, Todd is one of the expats that has entered into my social circle.  For several months now, he’s expressed an interest in visiting the school at Bangkhonthiinai and seeing the work that we do there.  The problem is, Todd is decidedly a night owl.  The idea of being up at six in the morning to drive 100 km to the school just wasn’t inspiring him.

With the clock running out on the teaching – this coming Friday will be our last day – Todd put on a brave face and was up before the sun to join Ken and I on our trip to school.

Right: The students take turns introducing themselves to Todd.  “Hello, my name is ______.  I am a student/boy/girl.  Nice to meet you.”

Todd says he had a really good experience and may even join us again next week.

I found out over lunch that Ajarn Yai had already informed the students that the English lessons would be concluding the next week, instructing them to remain polite and respectful to their farang teachers in the meantime.  It was hard to tell if they really were aware of the impending end; nothing was different in their demeanor although their wais seemed a little more sincere.

Tune in next weekend to see how the final day played out.  Ajarn Yai has something up her sleeve, I know, and I’ve compiled a treasure trove of items to raffle off for the children.  This week I’m going to print up copies of all the pictures I have of students and will give each one an envelope containing prints of their pictures.

I’m also going to let anyone who wants to, fill out a card with their address and I’ll send them a post card from the United States.  That should be a nice souvenir for them.

Saturday errands

Tawn and I got a lot accomplished Saturday by starting early and just pushing through to get everything done.  I like Saturdays which work out like that because I can then enjoy a Sunday free of “to-do” items.  While running errands, I saw some interesting things:

The first was on the back side of the Conrad Hotel / All Seasons Place complex on Wireless (Whittayu) Road.  As we were cutting through the parking lot from Soi Ruamradee to Whittayu, I noticed that a security guard and some maintenance workers were painting statues of elephants and zebras from the property’s spirit house, below.

Maybe they selected the most artistically gifted staff members for this task?  In either case, they seemed a bit amused that I wanted to take pictures of them, but readily agreed.  I wonder whether there was any debate about color choices?

The second thing was this truck (below) over-loaded with clay planters, unloading at the nursery on Ekkamai.  We stopped there to get some professional advice about one of our flowering plants that has looked quite sickly as of late.  Not enough water and fertilizer, we were told.  While there, I saw this delivery truck and was amazed that it arrived with its load intact and unbroken!

 It just doesn’t seem very stable or well-packed, does it?

Condo remodel update

Finally, we stopped by Raintree Villa to see this week’s progress.  Tiling in the bathroom is moving along nicely and the plumber has started work on the new sink faucet location: the tap will come out of the wall instead of the counter.

A large portion of the ash wood floor has been laid, using a herringbone pattern with – I’m not sure of the technical term – edges that are cut at a 45-degree angle so they meet flush with each-other instead of 90-degree edges that overlap. 

The pattern looks nice although I was a little shocked: I thought the rows would be laid length-wise in the room rather than width-wise.  I guess there isn’t much to be done about that now!

One thing I like about the herringbone pattern is that it reminds me very much of apartments in Paris.  When we have the darker honey color stain on it, it will look very beautiful.

One thing that made me a bit grumpy is the quality of the work: looking closely I can see that the pieces have not been cut consistently so the seams do not come together in a straight line.  I’m not sure if this is a reasonable expectation or not, but Tawn is going to follow up with Khun Guang, our contractor, and let him know that we don’t find this acceptable. 

If he says that it is just the reality of a herringbone pattern floor, then we’ll live with it.  Otherwise, they’re going to be pulling up some boards and relaying them.

Left: Look at the seams in the upper half of the picture – they do not line up as I think they are supposed to.

Of course, it is not a floating floor but is glued down.  So anything they pull up will be damaged and, thus, unusable.  I hope we don’t have to buy additional wood.

Saturday afternoon we also stopped by the showroom for SMEG appliances.  Of the different brands available here in Thailand, it seems only SMEG sells a 4-top induction hob that is all induction.  Electrolux and Siemens sell hobs with 2-2 or 3-1 arrangements of induction and standard ceramic burners.

I have read a lot about the benefits of induction but neither Tawn nor I had ever seen induction in use.  The lady at the showroom used a demonstration stove to boil some water for us.  She filled a small saucepan with about a half-litre of water and put it on the stove.  She set the stove to level nine (the highest level) and not thirty seconds later the water was already steaming and close to boiling.  But then she lifted the pan and put her hand on the glass: it was cool to the touch!  This is great technology!  I can’t wait to start cooking with it.