WanderMama

I’m having a nice, normal-feeling day.  WanderGirl woke at what is becoming the normal time: 6 a.m.  (She goes to sleep around 6:30p.m.) Our neighbor seems to leave for work then and so she and I wake up.  The boys sleep on.

This morning, I put her in lightweight long sleeves and pants, to guard against early morning mosquitos, and went for a walk.  We passed orange-robed monks singing, literally, for their rice.  The local people come out of their houses and offer the barefoot monks, ranging in age from about 7 to 70, rice for their daily meal.

We walked on.  We found a nearby school with what looks like a playground made from plastic — not rusted metal.  There are no playgrounds or open spaces for kids to speak of, so this could be a find.  Not sure if it’s open to the public but we’ll find out.

After WanderGirl’s morning nap, we biked to Tesco (12 min) and enjoyed a Dunkin Dounuts Frappe while the kids climbed on those coin-op kid amusements that all malls have.  It was air conditioned.  It was lovely.  (C & J if you are reading…this may be our meet up place.  It’s about half-way I think:)

Now we are getting ready to head to the pool, once WanderBoy wakes up.  WPapa just bought pad thai, pad si yew, fried rice and two portions of white rice for $3.50.  Yum!

Life is good.

So I’ve been holding off on publishing pics of my family but here are a few:

At the pool in Bangkok:

WGirl in her bike seat (helmet not shown):

Our House in Mae Sot (bathroom and WGirls room not shown):

I’m so proud of these kids of mine.  They made it through a morning at a Thai nursery school.  WanderBoy was freaked out at first, WanderGirl was like bring it on.  When we went back to pick them up, after about 2.5 hours, they were both happy to see us but not screaming/crying/running away from the teachers.

We got these written reports on their progress and both seem to have done well.  Thank God they know some English — and WPapa is gung-ho on improving his Thai.  Here are some quotes from the reports:

WBoy: “Give block and the toy (to) his friend” and “don’t dance music, look at his friends learning play.”

WGirl: “Enjoy and happiness her friends” and “She like her music.”

This is a huge load off.  They will be together, in one place. Plenty of toys and songs and little people to be crazy with. WBoy from 9-4 and WGirl from 10:30 (post nap) to 4.  If all continues to go well.

Ahhhh…this is coming together.

We have bicycles.  In a word they are flamboyant.  We will never mistake our bikes for other peoples.  Mine, “the panther” (the manufacturers chose the clever name, not me)  is hot pink.  It has a comfy seat for WanderBoy in the back.  WanderPapa’s is candy apple red with the word “Sweet” written in large letters and plenty of swirly flowery design on every surface.  It has a seat for WanderGirl in front and WanderBoy in back.

I’m not going to lie to you, I was livid when I saw these bikes.  I might have said things like, “How could you choose that girly red flowery *%$# thing … what is wrong with you?”

After venting via email to my gals back at home, I calmed down enough for him to explain the good deal that he got and that these were the only bikes with the features we wanted.  Still…

We had fun riding to the pool.  Our new landlady drove by and tooted the horn of her SUV.  Kind of shaking her head. I said to WPapa, “She must be thinking what is with these weird farangs (foreigners)?”  I said, “We are like Peter Pan, we’ll never grow up.”  We still aren’t the cool kids, the bikes prove that, but we’re having fun.

But not without an adventure.  Natch.

Our flight to Mae Sot, on PB Air, was cancelled.  We learned this at 5:15 a.m. in the Bangkok airport.  The airline paid for us to fly on Bangkok Airways to Sukothai where a VIP van, complete with mirror-ed ceilings, leather seats and a big screen TV, awaited  us.  The ride to Mae Sot was 3 hours or so.  Not bad.  WanderGirl napped and WanderBoy watched Wall-E on the big screen with his happy parents.  A bit of a detour but “Mai pen rai”  (Thai for “No problem”).

We got the chance to use that expression upon our arrival when our landlady lost the key to our house.  ”Mai pen rai,” we said, “We’ll go to the pool and you can bring the key there.”  Soon it was 1pm little Wanderers were losing it and my patience was reaching the end.  And then somehow she found the key.  And we were inside and the kids were down for naps.  Ahhhhhhh.

So we’ve moved in, rented a motorcycle, bought fans/electric kettle/towels etc… (long list), and went without water for one day (“sometimes that happens”). All in all a great start.  We’ve found pad thai ($0.70) and other yummy local fare nearby.  We even found a brunchy buffet at a nearby hotel ($6.50 for all of us — a weekly slurge perhaps).

Onto childcare.  So we’re trying to land a Thai-speaking nanny.  No easy task in this city of Burmese/Karen.  I had no idea how little Thai is spoken here — at least in the main part of town.  We are in a more Thai part of town.  There is more money, and more Thai spoken.  Similarly to the US, the more affuluent population employs the poorer folks, who here are Burmese.  Which isn’t to say all Thais in Mae Sot are loaded.  Just  more so than the Burmese.

Our Thai-speaking nanny candidate did not show up this morning.  While we have many Burmese waiting in the wings,  WanderPapa in particular wants to hold out for the Thai-speaker.  He’d rather build on his Thai than learn Burmese.  I don’t blame him.  He will interact alot with Burmese but won’t be working with them like I will.  Therefore,  he can get by on Thai.  If  we can get a Thai speaker to babysit for us… Stay tuned.

I did find a little school for WBoy.  For the whopping sum of $40 he can go to school M-F 8-4:30.  We think that we’ll send him from 9-12 and then have him come home for rest/naps.  Then the whole family can hang in the afternoon at the pool or in town, once I get home from ‘work’.

Whew…lots going on…

OK so it’s not really Bangkok because I can’t muster the strength to drag my tired kids into town.  But this hotel is a great intro to Thailand for the kids.  I’ve written about this airport Best Western before but now I’ll comment from the perspective of kid-suitability.  The best two kid-friendly features are the pool, which has a shallow, walled-off area perfect for little ones.   The second is the staff:  they love to smile, hug and kiss my kids.  This is good because they are going to be getting alot of attention from Thai/Burmese people and this is a contained introduction.

WanderBoy can say “Sawadikah” and knows how to wy.  He does neither when I want him to naturally but it’s cute when he agrees to.

Another nice kid-friendly aspect, is the huge Tesco grocery store a 60 baht taxi ride away.  There are cheap restaurants around and all the diapers, clothes and milk etc.. that you could ever need.  A slice of middle-class Thailand just 5 minutes away.

So I rolled into town on the overnight bus from Mae Sot.  It took about 8 hours.  It was very comfortable and I slept some.

Arrived to a rainy Bangkok, hopped in an overpriced taxi and by 5 a.m. was at Kho San Rd.  This is the main backpacker area and the center of expat hedonism.  It’s always fairly gross  but more forgivable when you have a beer buzz and are scoring deals at the market in the evening. At dawn its raining and garbage litters the street.  Hookers continue to ply their wears in the half-light.  Drunken, flabby Caucasians stagger down the street whooping and laughing.  Gross.

I found refuge, as I did in Moscow, at McDonalds.  I didn’t want to eat but I did a little.  Chatted with an Argentine woman travelling alone.  We bitched about the decadence and the weather.

Doesn’t seem like the rain is stopping soon.  I’ll grab some used paperbacks, a few pairs of pants for yoga, and a $2 pedi.  Then its off to the hotel.  No Reclining Buddah for me…been there.  Don’t get me wrong I like Bangkok but my advice: skip the 5 a.m. show on Kho San.  It’s not for the sober.

This week I have learned that chair yoga is to the West, what seated yoga is to the East. What I mean is that Burmese people young and old, sick and healthy can easily sit in ‘Easy Pose’ (Cross-legged) for an hour. Just as we can sit in a chair easily for an hour. We live in chairs, they on the floor.

Because so many of the people in my ‘class’ are sick or have broken limbs or are in pain, I have stopped teaching standing poses. I am using as many seated poses as I can think of — and there are many. I am modifying standing poses, just using the arms and above all minimizing the movement from laying to seated. The students respond by continuing to participate — even the very ill and those in pain.

I still think they participate because I am entertainment. That is fine. I feel like my major role is to give them attention. Some of them have told me that they feel better.

Yesterday I had to laugh on my way to the ‘Patient House’, the chicken coop structure I described before. I was shooing geese out of my way and stepping in some nasty water from a recent rain shower. I decided then that I need to buy some Crocs or something to protect my feet from whatever is living in the water/grass around the house. I will take pictures soon so that you can see what I am talking about.

So I have taught 5 classes so far.  Three to the trauma counsellors and 2 to patients.  I have my third patient class this afternoon.  At this point I am only teaching two classes M-F and will add more next week.

The trauma counsellors class is pretty straightforward: 8-9 adults in a clean, well-ventilated room (I still sweat through my clothes…actually I sweat through them on the 5 min bike ride).  We do a gentle one-hour series based on breath and gentle movement.  They seem to like it.  Only a few of the counsellors speak English well enough to understand me…but the stronger English speakers translate into Burmese.  I have learned to say “Breathe” and “Breathing” in Burmese.

In the afternoon I teach the patients.  These are clinic patients, both those with physical and mental ailments.  We practice where they live and frankly it’s a bit bleak.  The structure is like a long chicken coop but big and open.  The first day, I taught about 15 men, women and children — and a monk.  There were double that number of spectators.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  I definitely did.

Yesterday, it was a bit sadder.  In the patient house, a different one this time, the people seemed sicker or maybe I just noticed more.  There was also a guy there whose face and body had been ravaged by acid, which someone randomly threw on him.  I found the class to be a bit sadder but the students who participated seemed to like it.  I think that they are happy for the attention.

In general, I am missing  the happy-go-lucky attitude that I so loved in Nong Khai.  The Burmese and Karen people are trapped here, they are illegal and thus are constantly shaken down by Thai police. 

I am determined to enjoy it here — and I know I will.  We will create our own life and rituals.  I will enjoy the work and contribute as much as I can.  But taking it too seriously, taking on too much sadness will be a disaster.

First off my guesthouse Ban Thai is very accommodating for kids.  Though mine are not here at the moment, there is a woman staying in one of the bungalows that has a 3 year old.  The staff is nice, bike rentals are ok price and its a great place to meet people.  Kids welcomed.

I heard from one expat that she is starting a baby-5 year old group.  That should be fun.  Babysitting is cheap and seems somwhat easy to find but I am waiting till WanderPapa and kids arrive to make any choices.  I also saw a daycare near our house… the house looks nice but need more info.

It doesn’t seem like there is tons to do with kids per se, hence my decision to move to a place with a pool nearby and plenty of room at home to run around.  Thai kids are either in school or at the shops with their parents it seems.  No parks etc…  But I’m sure we’ll find things as we get better acquainted.