More Chinese New Year

Here is a picture of a little girl on her father's (I am assuming) shoulders in the foreground.  In the background, there is a play of sorts being mimed.  We could not understand what was being portrayed---something about an old man (with a huge smile!) and a sleeping dragon.  

When we came home to the apartment on Monday, we found a small bag of Oranges with this note attached:

"Dear Residents,

26 January, 2009 is the first auspicious day of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrated by Chinese around the world. 2009 is the year of "Ox" that characterizes a dependable, patient, methodical and calm, hardworking, materialistic as well as an ambitious character.

"At Oakwood Residence Sukhumvit 24, we like to take this opportunity to observe an auspicious traditions [sic] still followed by Chinese all around the world.  Please accept our gift of "four oranges" which symbolizes the gathering of great wealth.

"We wish you, your family and loved ones "Xin Nian Kuai Le, Gong xi Fa Cai" which means, "Happy and have a prosperous Lunar New Year!"  May wealth and health always come your way in the year of the Ox."

Chinese New Year, Chinatown, Bangkok

This is the year of the Ox according to the Chinese Calendar, and on Monday, I explored the celebrations in Chinatown with Chris's coworker, John, and his wife, Cyndi. We were walking in a sea of red-clothed, jubilant people for most of the day. Children were commonly dressed in red Chinese-style clothing and adults wore red shirts and dresses. The three of us kept looking around wishing we knew more about the festivities and the meanings behind the Dragon Dance and the Tiger Dance (I think that's what my friend who is Chinese back in the States told me). Dragons are good luck to the Chinese people. The touch that I most enjoyed regarding the dragons were the eyelids! It amazes me how our brains are hardwired for finding faces and emotion, and to see eyelids on these huge dancing dragons was pretty cool!

   There were so many people walking around the streets--and they were quite pushy at times!  I think the flag dance is dance of the tiger or lion.    

On two wheels in BKK

Well, we finally did it---with one of my Dad's friend's guidance!  Chris and I finally rode a Motorbike Taxi in Bangkok!  Wohooo!  Yes, it is quite possibly the most dangerous thing we could ever think to do thus far in our lives.  Oh, but man, it felt so dang good to be on two wheels again!  I sure miss having a motorcycle!  Just like growing up, though, you just don't think about the danger when you have the air blowing in your hair.  (Even if it is just in short spurts bobbing and weaving through traffic!) 

And a note on the word dangerous.  I got my motorcycle license when I was in high school.  Having grown up riding my dad's motorcycle (a sweet 1976 Honda 350--we have pictures of me as a toddler holding on to the handle bars), I asked him one day if he could teach me to ride.  Sure enough, he said yes, and shortly after, we bought a small 1988 Honda Rebel 250--- the perfect beginner's bike.  It was low enough to the ground that I could sit on it easily with both feet flat on the ground, and the engine was small enough so that there was NO WAY I could pop a wheelie no matter how much throttle I gave.  

Dad and I had this conversation one day when he was teaching me to ride.  He said, "Jennifer, now riding a motorcycle is the most dangerous thing you will ever do."  This was coming from a man who NEVER used the word "dangerous"---a Viet Nam veteran, sky diver, whitewater kayaker, skateboarder, surfer, skater, airplane pilot---so, I took note.  

"And so, you're teaching your only daughter how to do it?" I asked, a bit confused.

"Well, sure!  Because it is fun!"  

And with that same attitude, we hopped on the bikes today!  

End of story.  I was sad to sell my bike a few years back in an effort to pay for groceries in grad school---but the flipside is that it was too small anyway.  One day, I'll have a bigger bike.  I took Chris out on the bike (the one I grew up riding) when he came to NC for the first time.  I admit: it was pretty awesome to drive with my boyfriend hanging on to me! :) I think he enjoyed the motorbike ride today.  Now that we know how it is done, I expect we'll be riding more of them around town!  

5th day charm

(Friday morning...23.1.2009)

I woke up at 6am this morning wide awake!  And, I felt great!  WOOHOOOO! 5th Day Charm.  One of my very close friends told me it takes 5 days to get over jetlag, and it looks like she is right! (Well, she should know...she's traveled quite a bit!)  I was awake well before Chris's alarm---which is the only alarm that has ever put a smile on my face first thing in the morning.  (I am a morning person and even Chris---who is definitely NOT a morning person---has a hard time withholding a smile.  Or, maybe it is my laughing at his alarm...)  But come on! How can you be grumpy with Joplin's "The Entertainer" playing in the background!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEmu9qxfgEk

There are bugs in our rice. 

We have two bags of rice that we bought on our first shopping trip here.  We bought a beautiful basmati and turmeric rice and a plain basmati rice pouch.  They've been sitting in our cupboard  for about 6 weeks.  And tonight, when I reached for them, I saw bugs walking their way up to the top of the bag.  I guess I stirred them.  Or they were coming to the light.  In any case, there are black 6 or so legged bugs with antennae crawling all over the rice.

So, do I just pick the bugs off and cook the rice, or do I throw the bags out?  That sounds awful wasteful, and Western.  Is there any harm in eating the rice?  I guess the part that kinda confuses me is: Those bugs came from eggs.  Are the eggs in the rice?  Is there any harm in eating them?  

I grew up with Dad's war stories from Viet Nam.  "We used to think the rice pudding had raisins in it until we saw the wings," he tells at any mention of rice.  He has avoided eating rice ever since.  (The flies in the rice pudding story is usually followed with: "And you know why we had to eat rice 3 meals a day?  Because the rice was not fit for American health standards for imports,  so the US Government fed the rice to the troops stationed over there.")  And he is going to be here for 3 weeks very soon.  At least we can find plenty of noodles!

I, on the other hand, love rice.  I love the sweet smell of basmati rice cooking, and I usually have rice at least a twice a week in the States.  Here, we've eaten a fair amount of rice.  My new favorite recipe (see below) is a brown rice dish.  

Hmmm, Why is the same woman talking on all the radio stations right now?  Too bad it is in Thai.  Part of me thinks it is important.  What in the world is going on? ? OH! I figured it out. There is one station that is speaking in English. "Thai Radio" presents the local and world news every day at the same time. Oh, it is sooo exciting to hear PRESIDENT Obama speak! Yay!!!!

Okay, here is the rice recipe that I love! 

From the book: Thai & South-East Asian Cooking & Far Eastern Classics, by Deh-Ta Hsiung, Becky Johnson and Sallie Morris.  Published by Hermes House, pg. 427.  (http://www.amazon.com/Thai-South-East-Asian-Food-Cooking/dp/0754814661/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232760505&sr=8-2)

Brown Rice with Lime and Lemon Grass

Ingredients:

2 limes

1 lemon grass stalk

225g/8oz/generous 1cup brown long grain rice

15ml/1tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2.5cm/1inch piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped

7.5ml/1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds

7.5ml/1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

750ml/1 1/4 pint/3cups vegetable stock

Optional to garnish (I haven't done this part):

60 ml/4tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro)

Spring onion (scallion) green, and toasted coconut strips to garnish

Lime wedges, to serve

1) Pare the limes, suing a cannelle knife (a zester) or fine grater, taking care to avoid cutting the bitter pith.  Set the rind aside.  Finely chop the lower portion of the lemon grass stalk and set it aside.

2) Rinse the rice in plenty of cold water until the water runs clear. Tip it into a sieve and drain thoroughly. 

3) Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion, ginger, coriander and cumin seeds, lemon grass and lime rind and cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes.

4) Add the rice to the pan and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute, then pour in the stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat to very low and cover the pan. Cook gently for 30 minutes, then check the rice.  If it is still crunchy, cover the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes more. Remove from the heat. 

5) Stir in the fresh coriander, fluff the rice grains with a fork, cover the pan and leave to stand for 10 minutes.  Transfer to a warmed dish and garnish with spring onion green and toasted coconut strips, and serve with lime wedges. 

*I haven't done step 5 yet. And I tend to let the rice just sit until the other dish. Veggies of some sort accompany this well when seasoned with ginger, lime, and lemon grass.  This week, I used a matchstick-chopped carrot, onion, and bean sprout mixture that was stir-fried with the same ginger, lime, and lemon grass.  I probably threw some garlic in there, too.  Previously, we have used the same idea with green beans.

This is mild jetlag!

(from Tuesday morning...20.1.2009)

Wow, I made it to 5am this morning!  That is actually really good as far as jetlag goes.  Chris is still sleeping away---which is so good because waking up at 3am in a new place gets old after a few days!  I tried to stay awake as possible on Monday to get the best night's sleep possible that night, and so, waking up at 5am isn't half bad!

(Now, Thursday morning...22.1.2009)

Well, it is now Thursday morning and I have been awake since 5:15am or so each morning this week!  Is it jetlag now or is it something else?  Or "many things" else?  Hmmmm....last night, I crashed around 11:30, shortly after we finally finished dinner and cleaned the dishes.  The freight train of fatigue hit me suddenly--we didn't even eat dessert!  Chris finished looking up flight information for my Dad's trip (we're in the midst of planning that), and told me to just go to bed because I was falling asleep at the computer!  

And now, it is a little after 6am, and I've been wide awake since 5am!  While I'm at it, I'll share more stats: My head is stuffy and pounding, and my nose is running.  I feel pretty sick-like.  My goodness, this has not been a good few weeks in terms of how I feel!  If I could continue just a little while longer: 

My poor body has been adjusting to a lot (not to mention my mind and heart...I'm not much of a Cartesian, but I have yet to find the appropriate way to express mind-body-soul without separating the components of the whole being.  English fails me!  Historically, this is the root of "holistic" which comes from Wholism.   This was in response to the Reductionist philosophy.  Are we more than the sum of our parts?  Drat, why can I not think of those philosophers' names?  See, this is what I wanted to tell one of the doctors at school who hounded me for using the word "holistic" in talking about osteopathic medicine.  No, I am not just reciting "why I want to learn and practice osteopathic medicine" from a website, Dr. X.  I fully believe this, and I can give (at least I could!) give the historical basis for thought that created the Mind-Body division so prevalent in Western Medicine.  Ah, yes, another book on my reading list---actually two from the same author:  

Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain and Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain both by Antonio Damasio.  I found these books randomly in two of my favorite bookstores over the past few years, and I brought the latter to Bangkok in hopes of actually reading the whole thing!  (Note: I would Underline the book titles if I knew how to do that...the only text alterings I can find on this blog program are Bold and Italic.)

Really, (yes, this is another tangent!), I wish I could have had a more present mind when I took that Introduction to Cognitive Science back in college.  Organic Chemistry was consuming my brain, and most importantly at that time, my emotions and mental health (really, did I need to punch the sand-filled punching bag until my knuckles dripped with blood because of a stupid organic chemistry test?  Alas, those were the only coping skills I had at the time.  Fortunately, I have grown since then!)  

There is soooo much to learn, so much knowledge to gain!!  How lucky to be retired and have endless time to read and read and experience and read and experience...oh, but that requires the Will and Desire to do those things.  Ah, they say youth is wasted on the young.  I'm tempted to say that Retirement/Freedom is wasted on the old!  (Maybe I just am too envious of my father's free time and lack of "things to do".  He is just waiting, waiting, waiting for something or someone to come along and tell him what to do...I can understand to a certain point.  And that is the blog entry I want to finish right now: Life does not have a Syllabus or Script.  We must create it for ourselves!)

Okay, I have a few other entries I want to finish.  I think Chris is going to wake up in a few minutes.  I surely hope his day today goes better than yesterday!  He sounded so exhausted and gloomy yesterday---I think today will be better! :) 

It is now 6:57am...

the To-Do list

(From Wednesday, 21.1.2009)

Okay, it is Wednesday, and I have accomplished so little this week!  Granted, we arrived on Monday morning, but still---I feel wholly unaccomplished!  

So, for the rest of the week, I have specific goals and things I must do to feel, well, accomplished! Since there is no syllabus here, I must create one.  I imagine the process to be quite similar to that of a professor's when designing a course.  

1) Pick main topic of course, 

2) Break main topic into smaller pieces, 

3) Break smaller pieces into manageable parts for each time the class meets.  

4) Somewhere in the process, consider readings and assignments, then match up accordingly.  

See?  Simple process.  Maybe I have been in school way too long, but to be cut loose in a foreign city for a finite period of time---a time period that is longer than a vacation, but shorter than a school year---is creating some unease in my life.  There is so much to do!!  And I seem to find myself sitting in the apartment going: Okay, now GO!  Go DO SOMETHING!!  Have something to show for your time spent in Bangkok!  

The most difficult question for me to answer so far is "So, what do you do while Chris is at work?"  Well, I don't simply sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for my honey-dearest to come home!  (Though sometimes it feels that way!)  For someone who always feels like I am never doing enough, I think there must be some worth in me getting used to the discomfort of not absolutely HAVING to do anything.  There is no syllabus here!  What I get out of this experience is exactly what I put into it.  I could sit in the apartment or lounge on the deck and get a beautiful tan for the next 5 months.  Then what good would that do?  

There is so much I want to accomplish and experience while living here.  The first thing I think I need to do is find something I absolutely love about this place.  Honestly, I cannot understand why people keep insinuating that I am living in some sort of paradise!  Sure, there is warm weather here, but it is far from my vision of paradise.  We live in the CITY.  The smells in the street completely overwhelm the pedestrian.  Between the decaying trash and organic remains that are particularly putrid on trash days, the fishy aromas, the motorbike exhaust, and the food smells from the numerous cooking carts, this is hardly an olfactory delight!  I assume it is going to take me a while to get used to the smells again.

Then, the only green place I have found nearby is a park, the perimeter of which measures approximately 700-800 meters.  Oh wait, I think I have that wrong.  In any case, it is quite small, and while it provides some greenery to the gray tinge of the urban structures, my nose hardly finds it enough to provide fresh air!

So, my To-Do list for the week looks like this (in no particular order):

a) commit to attending an Iyengar yoga class.  yes, they do exist here! wohooo! Unfortunately, the prices are still American.  Hey, the guy is from the States, so go figure!  Justin is his name.  

b) Join the British Women's Group.  Or maybe I'll wait until the Newcomers Breakfast on Tuesday?  Oh, why wait!  Of the two groups I can join (between the American Women's Club and the British Women's club--Canada is considered part of Great Britain, kinda, in this situation), the BWC seems more established and has more activities beyond the pure socializing and communing with others going through similar experiences.  The BWC has a Welfare Team that volunteers in various places. For example, visiting and playing with children at Pakkred orphanage, helping with English lessons or using office skills at various organisations to support Thai staff. There is also Soi Cat and Dog Rescue.  So, it looks like I can do a number of things to contribute to society here!

c) Pick fun and yummy recipes to make for dinners (or to prep so Chris can make dinner!  He really enjoys cooking more than I do---I like it, but I have to be in the right frame of mind for it.  Heck, and I have to have the time to do it!) 

d) Sign up for the Foot Reflexology course at the Thai Massage school at the Wat Pho Temple: woohooo! I'm going to do it! 

e) Put the "running narrative" that goes on in my head down on the computer or on paper in my journal.  Geeze!  I have essays building up in my head from this place (this place being Bangkok) and I feel that I need to get them out! :)  Now that I had my interview for med school, it feels that I am still thinking of things to say!  It is done!  I cannot go back and add or subtract or alter!  I've been running that thought process for years, and now, I have to redirect it.  Hmmmm, I feel like JD from Scrubs.  That is probably one reason I really like that show! :) 

f) Outline my thesis!

g) Pick the things I want to visit and see in Bangkok so I can start checking them off the list!  (Like the Jim Thompson House for Thai silk and the Forensics Museum...for more, see http://www.bangkok.com/attraction-funky-place/index.html#forensic-museum)  

Oh bother, do I really need to go on with this?  Do I need to make public my to-do list?  Really.  Actually, what should be on top of the list is probably to get over jetlag and start feeling healthy and well again.  My head is pounding and I feel rotten (still!) and maybe I just need to take a day off and lay out on the deck.  I mean, people keep telling me I'm in paradise and some great place.  Maybe the fumes of the city won't chase me to the roof.  There is greenery up there and I can look for GREEN Places in Bangkok!  I really need to get out more!  

When this old world starts getting me down, 

And people are just too much for me to face

I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
And there the world below can't bother me
Let me tell you now...

(Carole King and Gerry Goffin)

Back in BKK, Jan 2009

Well, here we are---back in Bangkok!  As I suspected, now that I am actually here, I am glad to be here.  (or perhaps it is simply being glad to know that we will be put in one place for a period of time!)  

The flight over to London was lovely, thanks to an unexpected upgrade to Business Class.  Then, the flight to Bangkok was not my favorite travel experience.  As Thai people are generally smaller than Americans, the seat space is remarkably small!  At 5' 4", I felt squished with the seating arrangement.  Another 4 inches on my femurs and my knees would have been crunched into the seat in front of me.  (Dad, you might want to consider flying a different airline---one for tall people!)  Chris, who is only a few inches taller than I am, had to stretch his leg into the aisle.  And good thing we know each other and actually want to travel together because the seats were very narrow, too!  

At first, we were not seated together, but thankfully, they were able to arrange our seats side-by-side.  They really pack the Economy Class together!!  I've had plenty of other unpleasant travel experiences (like taking the Amtrak from Florida to New York where our team had the annual was a Spring Break Rowing Training trip---which took over 24 hours in a stuffed Amtrak with crying babies), and this one wasn't awful.  However, after being in Business Class for our first trip, it was amazing to compare the difference in Economy Class for the long haul.  My legs were a bit twitchy, too, so that did not help matters!  It was hot and stuffy, too.  Oh, we were so spoiled with Business Class!  Thanks to the economy, everyone is downsizing and reducing costs.  In the grand scheme of things, the trip was small, and thankfully, we won't have to make it again for a few months!

How is it that Chris is still awake?!  He went to work today straight from the airport.  I tried to stay awake for most of the day but lost the battle this afternoon and slept for a little while.  A lot waits for tomorrow...

Okay, sleep calls.

Bye Callie!

from Chris: Callie turns our imminent departure into a pillow opportunity.

I came into the apartment on Saturday and saw that she was not in her usual spot on the end of the couch.  That meant one thing: She was on the bed!  And sure enough, she sat nestled on the clean sheets and amongst the clean clothes! 

Taking Off again

Greetings, greetings from the British Airways' lounge!  We're sitting here munching on our biscuits and sipping our tea---like good Brits would! :)  (The Canadian and American can blend well in certain societies!)  

Well, I must say that today---heck, this week!!!---was a whirlwind!  Somehow we managed to pretty much plan a wedding in a week!  Oh, I am getting so excited!!!  My interview for medical school (at PCOM) was on Tuesday morning, and that evening, I ordered my wedding dress!  Oh, I can't even share the tiniest snidbit with you, the Reader, because, well, I'm SOOO incredibly excited and Chris wants the biggest surprise possible...how am I ever going to contain my excitement??  I feel like a 1940's movie star in it!  Oh, I feel so beautiful and elegant!  Oh, here I get so excited again!  I have to be extra careful not to share too much because Chris has been VERY CLEAR that he does not want to know anything about it until the wedding day!  I'm about to pop with excitement!

Okay, I've been told that "wedding talk" is only interesting to those who loved their wedding and to those who are planning one.  So, if this gets a bit boring, I won't be offended if you retire your reading of this until a more appetizing topic!

Then again, now that I mentioned appetizing topic, I can hint at our interesting week of finding a caterer, a photographer, and a place.  Yes, in that order!  We found a caterer (who is quite lovely) first through the first site we thought we were going to choose for our wedding.  Sadly, when we went to check it out, we discovered that the wine was most disappointing!  Not knowing what to do, we went ahead and met with the caterer (Soup to Nuts) and asked if she catered other sites.  She showed us a couple of them after we met with her----I think we hit it off almost instantly!  She was very helpful and offered to help with more than just the food.  She gets her food from local sources when she can, and we were very excited to see her Vegetarian Menu, too!  I will not have pasta and veggies for my wedding!!  She (her name is Linda) also gets her bread from one of our favorite restaurants--Le Bus!  The only snag is that she doesn't have the proper insurance for the location we want.  We hope she will be able to work that out next week.  Oh, she is soooo nice---and I forgot to mention that she went to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in Poughkeepsie.  Of course I know that place!  I rowed past  it many mornings when I rowed for Vassar!  

I am also incredibly excited about our photographer for we seem to have a lot in common.  He used to live on Sumac Street in Roxborough down the street from my first apartment in Philadelphia.  He also is heavy into mountain-biking.  The thing that sold me the most on him is that he got very excited when I said I wanted to get a picture of me up in a tree while wearing my wedding dress!  Sounds like he is a perfect fit!  He is the one who told us about The Highlands.  

So, then we checked out The Highlands.  We met Sophia, the event planner there, and she is absolutely adorable!  She is very motherly and offered kind as well as constructive advice.  If our caterer can get the right insurance, we are going to be set!  Oh, I get so excited! :) 

Believe me: I am shocking myself at my level of excitement about all of this!  Then again, even Chris was dancing and skipping around the grounds of  The Highlands! :)  

Well, now we are about to head to our gate.  Goodness, what a few weeks it has been!  I truly am sad to be leaving Philadelphia.  Callie, our cat, didn't even touch her dinner this evening.  I think she could tell we were leaving again.  Oh, I'm going to tear up just thinking about her!!  Plus, we were running around like crazy packing and getting everything ready to leave.  We did not get to clean as much as we had wanted to, and we're sad about that.  It must have sounded so funny to be below us while we were running around.  I was in such a hurry to wash the dishes and put things away that I spilled the entire Brita pitcher of water!  Yes, Ben Franklin, Haste Makes Waste!  I will miss everyone in Philadelphia and our life there.  

So, I have to keep looking forward to what awaits us in Thailand.  I never took myself to being an excited bride! :) 

Well, we are off to our Gate!  Next stop: London!  Then, Bangkok!  

One more day!

Oh, thankfully, we have one more day in Philadelphia! We changed our flight to leave here around 10pm on Saturday evening. We passed up a full day in London for an extra day here to get ourselves together. One week to plan a wedding (find a place, a date, a photographer, and a caterer) is not a lot of time!! We were in love with this one place (Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, visit: http://www.bhwp.org/about/offer.htm) BUT, they do not allow wine, and that is unacceptable! :) We love wine! So, today, we're trying to find a new place.

Chris is now on the phone with the Verizon people working on getting his Blackberry Storm set up. Apparently, as they keep telling him, the first round of this product was unreliable. I've never seen him sooooo unhappy with a piece of technology!!

three hours later:

Wow, Chris is on the phone AGAIN with some tech-support person to get his Blackberry to work.  He is sooo upset!  And it takes A LOT for him to get upset---especially with Technology.  Poor guy!  

Well, we're heading to dinner with our friends.  It is crazy to think we leave for Thailand on Saturday evening!  Hopefully we can find a place and a caterer tomorrow!!!

Protests against the US in Thailand

So, it looks like we are missing more fun that is happening in Thailand---Man, we miss all the fun!  I just received this email from the US Embassy. Of course Chris did not get it since Canada does not support Israel, and there's no need to protest: 

January 12, 2009

This warden message alerts U.S. Citizens traveling to and residing in
Thailand that tomorrow, January 13, 2009, at approximately 9:00am, a
large gathering of demonstrators protesting Israeli and U.S. policies
related to the ongoing situation in Gaza is expected to march from
Lumpini Park to the U.S. Embassy on Wireless Road. The demonstration is
expected to conclude at approximately noon.

When the demonstrators arrive outside the front entrances to the Embassy
compounds, the Embassy may be forced to close to visitors. This means
that there is a possibility that American Citizen Services may be closed
for part or all of the morning hours, even to those who already have an
appointment. We will continue to have public hours in the afternoon
from 1:00pm to 2:00pm. We will endeavor to help all people who arrive
by 2:00pm. We ask Americans to exercise caution if you are going to be
in this vicinity or in the area of any demonstrations.

We wish to remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to
be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into
violence. American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of
demonstrations and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any
demonstrations.

For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling
abroad should regularly monitor the Department's Bureau of Consular
Affairs Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov, where the current
Worldwide Caution, Travel Alerts, Travel Warnings, and
health-information resources can be found. Up-to-date information on
security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the
U.S. and Canada or, for callers in other areas by calling a regular toll
line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to
8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal
holidays).

American citizens traveling or residing in Thailand are encouraged to
register with the Department of State or the U.S. Embassy. The Embassy
is located at 95 Wireless Road in Bangkok. The American Citizen
Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy can be reached by calling
66-2-205-4049 and by e-mail at ACSBKK@State.gov. The after hours
emergency telephone number is 66-2-205-4000.

Welcome home, Chris!

Yay! I picked up Chris this morning at the airport.  He flew from Bangkok to LA and then to Philadelphia.  In one week, we fly back to Bangkok--though we will be going through London.   So, it could be said that we will have flown around the world---even though that is not technically right (with the circular globe).  It is still fun to think that! :) 

Now, to shower and then drive up to Rose Bank Winery in a few hours.  Yay!  It is good to have him home! :) 

Winter

from the hills of Hillsboro, West Virginia. Home of the Gesundheit! Institute...

I feel as though I am experiencing winter for the first time---and am loving it!  Bare trees display a beauty that I've never seen and fully appreciated before.  Instead of seeing them naked and stripped of their leafy goodness, I see strong, wooded structures extending their earthly fibers against the vast sky.  

Before, I saw the bareness of winter as lacking---lacking leaves, lacking color, 

lacking snow.  We did not get enough snow for my tastes in North Carolina, and we don't get enough snow in Philadelphia.  So, I grew to long for and crave white winters.  The way snow transforms a landscape at times adding softness to edges and at other times, especially after a HUGE snowfall, adding ridges and ledges where there were none before energizes my imagination.  THAT is winter to me.  Even when the snow becomes dirty and mixes with salt and mud and ice, I am thankful for snowfall.  Winter without snow is boring, brown, empty, lacking, and well, pointless.  

Then something happened in West Virginia---I do not know how long this new appreciation will last---and I saw bare trees as actually offering something to the experience of winter.  It probably helped that the hills around the Gesundheit! Institute are in a deciduous forest so there are no evergreens.  The hills also have clear ridges on top of which stand huge, bare trees that have clear demarkations between each other against the blue or gray sky.  Winter is just as legitimate as the other seasons!

I was in West Virginia for 8 days, and in that time, it grew cold, snowed a few inches, warmed up and rained, and then all the snow was washed away by the time I left.