The actions of a Thai janitor twenty years ago sent into motion a series of events that weave a mystery bound in greed, violence and corruption worthy of a thriller novel. It also strained the diplomatic relations between two countries for more than twenty years now.
In 1989, a Thai janitor working at the royal palace in Saudi Arabia stole some jewelry. He shipped part of it back to Thailand and took the rest back with him when he returned to Thailand shortly thereafter. While the janitor knew that he was stealing valuable jewelry, he did not realize that he had stolen the 50 karat Blue Diamond, a family heirloom of the Saudi royal family.
When the Saudi's discovered the missing jewels and janitor, of course they petitioned the Thai government for help. Getting back the Blue Diamond was of prime importance. Of course the Thai government would be willing to help; over 200,000 Thai citizens worked in Saudi Arabia. These workers sent back money to help support their families, and in turn the Thai economy. The Saudi's were also a wealthy country who had investments in Thailand. So the complete and utter cooperation of the Thai government and police was assured, right? It appeared so at first, but quickly became apparent that not everyone was so willing to cooperate.
The jewel thief was found hiding in Thailand as were most of the jewels. He had sold some of the jewels, and had buried some of the others. One of the jewels not recovered was the Blue Diamond. To add insult to injury, shortly after receiving the returned jewels, the Saudis claimed that seventy percent of jewelry that was returned was faked. There were allegations that one of the missing pieces was seen on the arm of the wife of a high ranking Thai police officer at a party.
Obviously there was much speculation as to what happened to the jewelry. Anyone familiar at all with the Thai police force would hardly be shocked that many believed some of the jewelry may have been misappropriated a second time after it was recovered from the initial thief.
If the story ended there with the jewelry not recovered, it would be a decent mystery. What could anyone do with the Blue Diamond? I know its valuable, but I imagine it would be difficult to sell it without the Saudi's finding out about it. Its one thing for the Thai government or any other government for that matter to say "sorry we can't find it", while its quite another to know where it is and ignore Saudi Arabia's call for its return. I guess you could keep the diamond in your estate and maybe show it to only your most discrete and close friends. I'm not quite sure. For good or bad, the story doesn't end there.
In early 1990, four Saudis attached to the Saudi Embassy in Thailand were gunned down in an apparent assassination. A Saudi businessman related to the Saudi royal family also disappeared shortly after. The Saudi's believed that the murders and the disappearance were related to the jewelry theft. The Thai investigation of the jewelry theft and the murders went no where, despite pressure from Saudi Arabia. The Saudis closed their embassy in Thailand, and kicked out all of the Thai workers from its kingdom. They also refused to invest money in Thailand. The Saudis made it clear that normal relations depended on the Thais solving the murders and the recovery of the Blue Diamond.
Soon after the 1990 Saudi murders, the wife and son of a jeweler who had purchased some of the stolen jewelry when it first came to Thailand were found dead in an apparent car crash. An investigation soon revealed that they were in fact murdered and the car crash was staged. Several high ranking Thai police officers were charged with murdering the two. My understanding is that they had abducted the pair to use as leverage to force the jeweler to talk, and I think that they couldn't find him. Or instead, perhaps they were used to send a message to him to be quiet. I'm not sure. In any case, the police officers were convicted of murdering the two Thai citizens and sentenced to jail terms.
Here we are in 2010, and as of last week, there had been no arrests for the murder of the Saudis, the disappearance of the businessman or the jewelry theft. Apparently there were five high ranking police officers suspected, but they were never charged. Unlike most U.S. jurisdictions, which have not statute of limitations on murder charges, Thailand has a twenty year statute. On February 13, 2010, the statute will expire and after which no charges can be brought against anyone. The Saudis have sent an envoy to Thailand and are pushing to have an investigation completed in time to charge whomever is guilty. The Saudis said that they hoped that the investigation could be free from political pressure.
There was a break yesterday, as the five suspects were charged with the murders and later released on 500,000 baht bond. The Saudis were reportedly pleased with the charges, but indicated that full diplomatic ties would not be restored until progress had been made on the Blue Diamond and the missing businessman. Reportedly a new piece of evidence, a ring belonging to one of the slain embassy workers, was found. That is the explanation as to why they were able to proceed now and not before. One more skeptical than I might think that perhaps that explanation is a bit of a CYA to explain why nothing had been done for twenty years.
Its seems pretty clear that while these police wield some power and influence themselves, someone with more power had to be protecting them. This incident has cost Thailand an enormous amount of money. Today there are 10,000 Thai workers in Saudi Arabia, but that is only a fraction of the 200,000 that worked there in 1990. And while Saudi Arabia invests in Thailand's neighbors, Thailand is left out. At some point prior to these past few months, there had to have been pressure from inside the government to resolve this case. This isn't blowing off the murder of a vacationing expat and the theft of his $500 watch. This involves the murder of embassy personnel and the theft of a national heirloom.
It will be interesting to see what happens. While one defendant has already said that he will fight this in court, I would not be surprised if there were guilty pleas. Of course, it would be much more interesting if there were not.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Back to School
The kids went back to school today. Nalin was actually looking forward to going back, Aleena didn't really look forward to it, while Jacob could best be described as dreading it. Well, maybe dreading is too strong a word, but he certainly didn't want to go back.
The kids were pretty busy today. Jacob had soccer practice as well as practice for the Wizard of Oz play. Nalin started swimming lessons again, while Aleena had both soccer and swimming. I think they were a bit tired
It was also the end of Tim's vacation. She has only worked a few days that the kids were off. It was nice for her to get some "rest", and she has certainly earned some time away from work. Of course, its 9:00 p.m. tonight and she's still working, so she's already starting to make up for it.
I am glad that the kids are back so I can also settle back into my routine. Today I lifted for the first time in a few months. I also swam a kilometer and ran two miles. I wanted to run longer, but I did it during Aleena's soccer practice at the ISB track. I really don't like running on the track, even though it is a rubberized surface. There are just too many convenient places to stop. When I'm out running, if I stop, it might be a long walk home. My plan is to work out pretty hard for the next couple of months. Its not a New Year's resolution, more like a continuation of what I started about 14 months ago.
The weather has been really nice and cool here. By cool, I mean high in the upper 80's. The nice thing is that the humidity is not as high as normal, which makes it a lot more pleasant.
The kids were pretty busy today. Jacob had soccer practice as well as practice for the Wizard of Oz play. Nalin started swimming lessons again, while Aleena had both soccer and swimming. I think they were a bit tired
It was also the end of Tim's vacation. She has only worked a few days that the kids were off. It was nice for her to get some "rest", and she has certainly earned some time away from work. Of course, its 9:00 p.m. tonight and she's still working, so she's already starting to make up for it.
I am glad that the kids are back so I can also settle back into my routine. Today I lifted for the first time in a few months. I also swam a kilometer and ran two miles. I wanted to run longer, but I did it during Aleena's soccer practice at the ISB track. I really don't like running on the track, even though it is a rubberized surface. There are just too many convenient places to stop. When I'm out running, if I stop, it might be a long walk home. My plan is to work out pretty hard for the next couple of months. Its not a New Year's resolution, more like a continuation of what I started about 14 months ago.
The weather has been really nice and cool here. By cool, I mean high in the upper 80's. The nice thing is that the humidity is not as high as normal, which makes it a lot more pleasant.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Brian 09 - Part One
I'm going to break my 2009 up into parts. One of the reasons is that the photography and travel sections could be quite long.
One of the biggest changes for me in 2009 was that I continued my workout routine that I started late in 2008 and ended up losing 45 - 50 pounds. For a while I was working out five or six days a week, sometimes twice a day. I'd lift three days, and do some sort of cardio five or six days.
Early last year I added swimming to my routine. When I started, I could barely make one length of the Olympic length pool (50 meters). It had never really learned to swim freestyle properly, so when I was on the treadmill or stair master, I would watch the ISB swim team and their form. I am still pretty slow for a swimmer, but pretty quickly built my stamina up so that I could easily swim a kilometer. My swims would be longer except that I would sometimes get bored after a time. Still, its really nice to be able to swim year round here in Thailand.
Later in the year, my works outs haven't been as intense. I'm still generally working out 3 or 4 days a week, although now its a lot of running. I'm actually pretty happy to be running again. This is actually the first time in my life that I got into shape without running and I found that I missed it. I guess I felt that even though I had lost a lot of weight and built up some endurance, if I couldn't run 5k, then how good of shape was I really in? I'm not running particularly fast or very long. I'll usually run 5-7 kilometers and I'm pretty happy with that.
I haven't lifted since sometime in November and I've put on a few pounds. Monday school starts back up, so its a lot easier for me to get into my regular every day workout routine.
I would still like to lose quite a few pounds, but it is nice to buy clothes because the ones you have are too big, not because they are too small.
Also on the health front, I pretty much stopped drinking alcohol in 2009. Drinking was a double whammy when it comes to fitness. Not only do I have the calories from the alcohol, but if I drank too much, I'd be tired and not want to exercise the next day. After January 2nd, I think I drank twice during the year, and both times pretty small amounts. I'm not foresaking drinking forever, and in fact I very well might drink much more often this year.
This year I feel like I'm settling into being here. When I got here, I really underestimated how much of a change it would be to not only stop working but to move to a foreign country where I didn't speak the language. I don't speak Thai that much better than I did a year ago, although better than when I first got here. I know my way around better than I did last year at this time, although I'm certainly not an expert, even in the most loose and generous definition of the word. I just feel a lot more comfortable now.
One thing that has really helped is our maid/nanny Yaow. In the past, I haven't really felt comfortable around our domestic help. Part of it is that they didn't speak English very well, and part of it was that they really weren't experienced in Western households. Often when I was in the room with them, I just felt uncomfortable, which is not something you want in your own house. We hired Yaow when our previous nanny/maid, Boa left to return to Myanmar. I was actually a bit sad when Boa left because while she sometimes frustrated the heck out of me, she actually worked very hard and had been the best we'd had up to this point.
Yaow made me forget about Boa very quickly. Prior to working for us, Yaow had worked for another falang-Thai family in Nichada for about eight years. She speaks English pretty well, and is great with the kids. One of the issues with nannies is that they often give the kids whatever the kids want. They don't say no, in large part because they don't want the kids to complain to the parents about them. Yaow will tell them no. When she asks the girls to pick something up and they don't she will tell them that she's going to take it and keep it. They believe her, because they always hurry to comply. Yaow also helps a lot with the kids activities. I trust her to take Aleena to swimming lessons and she will call Aleena's friends to arrange play dates.
Tim and I are planning on going on a three day trip sometime in the spring to visit Angkor Wat. We feel very comfortable leaving the kids with Yaow for a few days. We are even going to try to bring her back to the U.S. when we visit this summer. That might be tough, but we'll see how it goes.
I was Jacob's cub scout den leader once again this year. I'm not really a big outdoor kind of guy, and frankly don't really like doing the scout leadership thing. Jacob likes me to be the den leader, and since he can be pretty excitable sometime, I figure its the best way for him to be a part of scouting. I think the kids are enjoying it. My Webelos I den has three kids who are very calm and easy to handle and three who are very energetic. I'm not sure that I could manage if all six were "energetic".
This year I also volunteered to be the assistant coach for Jacob's basketball team. Mark McDermitt was the coach; he did all the planning, ran the practices and coached the games. There is no doubt that he could have done it without me, but having me there helped with drills so he could split up the team. At first I really didn't want to volunteer, but I felt like I should. I often get that feeling, but usually suppress it, but this time I didn't. Actually, it wasn't too bad. There were a few times when we had a lot of practices and games in a week that I thought it was a bit too much, but for the most part it was a good experience.
Once again I worked a program for Tim to manage her customer data. This time we actually made some serious progress. I had loaded the data and one of her employees, Sine (who also models for me) was testing it. We were pretty close to rolling it out to the office when someone quit and Tim needed Sine to transition to that role temporarily. Hopefully we can get this thing into production this year. Every time I restart, I have to go back and try to remember what I did and why. Its tough when you don't code in a while you learn as you go.
I actually enjoyed going into the office this time though. I'd usually come in after I finished working out, maybe arriving at 10:30. Depending on the day, I might stay until 2:30 or as late as 5:00 p.m. I'd have lunch with Tim if she was available. If not, Sine and I would sometimes to to lunch. She and I became friends due to working together on the program and her modeling for me. Most people at my wife's office are respectful of me, but aren't comfortable because they don't speak English well (and my Thai is terrible) and I am married to the boss. Status is really important here. Part of the reason I liked to talk to Sine is that her English is pretty good, and she would joke around with me.
So it was nice to have something to do, but not have a hard deadline to get it done. It was also nice to get out of the house. I mean, I would leave the house every day, and often go outside Nichada, but this gave me a reason to go out.
One of the biggest changes for me in 2009 was that I continued my workout routine that I started late in 2008 and ended up losing 45 - 50 pounds. For a while I was working out five or six days a week, sometimes twice a day. I'd lift three days, and do some sort of cardio five or six days.
Early last year I added swimming to my routine. When I started, I could barely make one length of the Olympic length pool (50 meters). It had never really learned to swim freestyle properly, so when I was on the treadmill or stair master, I would watch the ISB swim team and their form. I am still pretty slow for a swimmer, but pretty quickly built my stamina up so that I could easily swim a kilometer. My swims would be longer except that I would sometimes get bored after a time. Still, its really nice to be able to swim year round here in Thailand.
Later in the year, my works outs haven't been as intense. I'm still generally working out 3 or 4 days a week, although now its a lot of running. I'm actually pretty happy to be running again. This is actually the first time in my life that I got into shape without running and I found that I missed it. I guess I felt that even though I had lost a lot of weight and built up some endurance, if I couldn't run 5k, then how good of shape was I really in? I'm not running particularly fast or very long. I'll usually run 5-7 kilometers and I'm pretty happy with that.
I haven't lifted since sometime in November and I've put on a few pounds. Monday school starts back up, so its a lot easier for me to get into my regular every day workout routine.
I would still like to lose quite a few pounds, but it is nice to buy clothes because the ones you have are too big, not because they are too small.
Also on the health front, I pretty much stopped drinking alcohol in 2009. Drinking was a double whammy when it comes to fitness. Not only do I have the calories from the alcohol, but if I drank too much, I'd be tired and not want to exercise the next day. After January 2nd, I think I drank twice during the year, and both times pretty small amounts. I'm not foresaking drinking forever, and in fact I very well might drink much more often this year.
This year I feel like I'm settling into being here. When I got here, I really underestimated how much of a change it would be to not only stop working but to move to a foreign country where I didn't speak the language. I don't speak Thai that much better than I did a year ago, although better than when I first got here. I know my way around better than I did last year at this time, although I'm certainly not an expert, even in the most loose and generous definition of the word. I just feel a lot more comfortable now.
One thing that has really helped is our maid/nanny Yaow. In the past, I haven't really felt comfortable around our domestic help. Part of it is that they didn't speak English very well, and part of it was that they really weren't experienced in Western households. Often when I was in the room with them, I just felt uncomfortable, which is not something you want in your own house. We hired Yaow when our previous nanny/maid, Boa left to return to Myanmar. I was actually a bit sad when Boa left because while she sometimes frustrated the heck out of me, she actually worked very hard and had been the best we'd had up to this point.
Yaow made me forget about Boa very quickly. Prior to working for us, Yaow had worked for another falang-Thai family in Nichada for about eight years. She speaks English pretty well, and is great with the kids. One of the issues with nannies is that they often give the kids whatever the kids want. They don't say no, in large part because they don't want the kids to complain to the parents about them. Yaow will tell them no. When she asks the girls to pick something up and they don't she will tell them that she's going to take it and keep it. They believe her, because they always hurry to comply. Yaow also helps a lot with the kids activities. I trust her to take Aleena to swimming lessons and she will call Aleena's friends to arrange play dates.
Tim and I are planning on going on a three day trip sometime in the spring to visit Angkor Wat. We feel very comfortable leaving the kids with Yaow for a few days. We are even going to try to bring her back to the U.S. when we visit this summer. That might be tough, but we'll see how it goes.
I was Jacob's cub scout den leader once again this year. I'm not really a big outdoor kind of guy, and frankly don't really like doing the scout leadership thing. Jacob likes me to be the den leader, and since he can be pretty excitable sometime, I figure its the best way for him to be a part of scouting. I think the kids are enjoying it. My Webelos I den has three kids who are very calm and easy to handle and three who are very energetic. I'm not sure that I could manage if all six were "energetic".
This year I also volunteered to be the assistant coach for Jacob's basketball team. Mark McDermitt was the coach; he did all the planning, ran the practices and coached the games. There is no doubt that he could have done it without me, but having me there helped with drills so he could split up the team. At first I really didn't want to volunteer, but I felt like I should. I often get that feeling, but usually suppress it, but this time I didn't. Actually, it wasn't too bad. There were a few times when we had a lot of practices and games in a week that I thought it was a bit too much, but for the most part it was a good experience.
Once again I worked a program for Tim to manage her customer data. This time we actually made some serious progress. I had loaded the data and one of her employees, Sine (who also models for me) was testing it. We were pretty close to rolling it out to the office when someone quit and Tim needed Sine to transition to that role temporarily. Hopefully we can get this thing into production this year. Every time I restart, I have to go back and try to remember what I did and why. Its tough when you don't code in a while you learn as you go.
I actually enjoyed going into the office this time though. I'd usually come in after I finished working out, maybe arriving at 10:30. Depending on the day, I might stay until 2:30 or as late as 5:00 p.m. I'd have lunch with Tim if she was available. If not, Sine and I would sometimes to to lunch. She and I became friends due to working together on the program and her modeling for me. Most people at my wife's office are respectful of me, but aren't comfortable because they don't speak English well (and my Thai is terrible) and I am married to the boss. Status is really important here. Part of the reason I liked to talk to Sine is that her English is pretty good, and she would joke around with me.
So it was nice to have something to do, but not have a hard deadline to get it done. It was also nice to get out of the house. I mean, I would leave the house every day, and often go outside Nichada, but this gave me a reason to go out.
Nalin in '09
Nalin had a pretty good 2009. She's always liked school, and that certainly didn't change. Nalin absolutely loved her second grade teacher Ms. Pucci. Even though she is now in third grade, she still stops and sees Ms. Pucci on most days. She also liked her third grade teacher Ms. Cheesbro.
I think one of Nalin's favorite activities in third grade is the "chunk check cheer". Each Monday, Ms. Cheesbro gives the students a letter chunk, and they have to come up with at least fifty words that have that chunk of letters. For example, if the chunk was "ed", they would come up with words like red, bed, mended, etc. The kids are allowed to consult sources such as books, the Internet and parents to help make the list. Nalin and a boy in her class have been pretty competitive at it. I think the minimum number of words were forty. Nalin asked me for help, and I think on the first or second time she had over one hundred. The next week Dirk had 150. After that they kept leap frogging each other. One week it was close, each had over 300 words and Ms. Cheesbro had to count the words. The last time Nalin took in over 400 words. What I usually did was make her get 50-75 on her own, and then I would help her. She knew what a lot of the words meant, but some I had to explain to her, which was important, because if Ms. Cheesbro asked you what the word meant, and you didn't know, it didn't count.
Ms. Cheesbro saw me on the track one day and gave me a joking "thanks a lot for helping Nalin." She teases the kids that it is a big burden to check the words, which may encourage them. Its funny when I work with Nalin. She will be all gun-ho one minute, and then want to stop another. The way I introduce a lot of words is to use them in a sentence. For example, if "art" was the chunk, I might say, "Oh Nalin, did you have art today? Did you have orange juice, was it tart?" Sometimes it takes her a little while, but then she picks up on it. She'll often give me a daddy, I don't want to do it now, but then hurry and write down the words. You can tell sometimes that she is torn. When she wants to give up, I'll say something like "I bet Dirk is already on 400 right now." She'll say something like, "daddy, I know what you are doing, you are trying to encourage me," in a tone as if encouraging your kids was indeed a terrible thing.
Nalin is a very strong speller. I always did very well in school, but spelling was not my strong suit. I rely heavily on spell checks. My guess is that if she keeps it up, Nalin will be a better speller than I in a few years.
Nalin continued with the Blue Birds this year. That is the Thai equivalent of the Girl Scouts/Brownies. She is in the same troop from last year. The highlight for her was probably the Father/Daughter dance, where she got to dress up and go to a dance with me. Of course, once we got there, she only danced with me when she was supposed to during the contest. The rest of the time she was much too busy with her friends.
That's the thing about Nalin. She is very anxious to grow up. Jacob is adventurous, but he seems to like to be around his parents even when his friends are around. He always walks with us from the bike rack at school to Aleena's classroom. As soon as we get to school, Nalin is off on her own in search of her friends. I'm not sure how much we embarrass her yet, but its coming soon.
Another activity that kept Nalin busy through most of 2009 was her jazz dance class. In the late spring she did a great job with her dance recital. I think it was to the Madonna song of Operator, or something like that. She will often practice her dance moves in the house.
This past semester, Nalin has rally started to practice playing her recorder and is getting much better. While I hate to tell her to stop playing because I dont' want to discourage her interest, I do tell her that 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning is a bit too early. I think I told her that she had to wait until at least 8:30. I'm not sure how long her musical instrument interest will last, but she told us that she wants to take piano lessons this semester, and we plan to let her.
Together with Jacob, Nalin joined the elementary school choir this year. They had a recital before the Christmas break which was well performed.
After taking last season off, Nalin decided to play soccer again this year. She is doing a lot better than previously. Sometimes in the past she would just kind of watch the game, but now she is a lot more involved; going after the ball and being a bit more aggressive. Its nice to see her progress.
Nalin traveled with the family this year. She visited Singapore, Hong Kong (with Tim and her siblings), and a bunch of places in Thailand.
Nalin's best friend is still Caroline. They have been in class together since Caroline arrived late in the first half of first grade. Every year ISB shuffles the kids up and combined with the student turn over, there aren't a lot of kids that you are in the same classroom with for three straight years. Caroline may be here for one more year, I'm not sure, but it will be interesting if they end up in different classrooms. I imagine they will still remain good friends. Nalin is always asking for a play date with Caroline, which I am generally okay with, but also is always begging for sleep overs. The problem is that the day after the sleep over, Nalin is just a bear to deal with. She is an early riser, but when she doesn't go to bed early, she is just not a lot of fun to be around.
2010 will be an interesting year for Nalin. She is going to start swimming lessons again, as well as continue in the choir, dance and Blue Birds. She is looking forward to visiting the U.S. this summer and seeing her family and friends there. It should be fun.
I bought some Hannah Montana TV series DVDs a few months ago, and Nalin and Aleena both absolutely love the show. Jacob actually likes it as well. I'm sometimes in the room when its on, and its really not a bad show. Nalin and Aleena (and occassionally Jacob) will recite lines from the show, sometimes over and over.
I think one of Nalin's favorite activities in third grade is the "chunk check cheer". Each Monday, Ms. Cheesbro gives the students a letter chunk, and they have to come up with at least fifty words that have that chunk of letters. For example, if the chunk was "ed", they would come up with words like red, bed, mended, etc. The kids are allowed to consult sources such as books, the Internet and parents to help make the list. Nalin and a boy in her class have been pretty competitive at it. I think the minimum number of words were forty. Nalin asked me for help, and I think on the first or second time she had over one hundred. The next week Dirk had 150. After that they kept leap frogging each other. One week it was close, each had over 300 words and Ms. Cheesbro had to count the words. The last time Nalin took in over 400 words. What I usually did was make her get 50-75 on her own, and then I would help her. She knew what a lot of the words meant, but some I had to explain to her, which was important, because if Ms. Cheesbro asked you what the word meant, and you didn't know, it didn't count.
Ms. Cheesbro saw me on the track one day and gave me a joking "thanks a lot for helping Nalin." She teases the kids that it is a big burden to check the words, which may encourage them. Its funny when I work with Nalin. She will be all gun-ho one minute, and then want to stop another. The way I introduce a lot of words is to use them in a sentence. For example, if "art" was the chunk, I might say, "Oh Nalin, did you have art today? Did you have orange juice, was it tart?" Sometimes it takes her a little while, but then she picks up on it. She'll often give me a daddy, I don't want to do it now, but then hurry and write down the words. You can tell sometimes that she is torn. When she wants to give up, I'll say something like "I bet Dirk is already on 400 right now." She'll say something like, "daddy, I know what you are doing, you are trying to encourage me," in a tone as if encouraging your kids was indeed a terrible thing.
Nalin is a very strong speller. I always did very well in school, but spelling was not my strong suit. I rely heavily on spell checks. My guess is that if she keeps it up, Nalin will be a better speller than I in a few years.
Nalin continued with the Blue Birds this year. That is the Thai equivalent of the Girl Scouts/Brownies. She is in the same troop from last year. The highlight for her was probably the Father/Daughter dance, where she got to dress up and go to a dance with me. Of course, once we got there, she only danced with me when she was supposed to during the contest. The rest of the time she was much too busy with her friends.
That's the thing about Nalin. She is very anxious to grow up. Jacob is adventurous, but he seems to like to be around his parents even when his friends are around. He always walks with us from the bike rack at school to Aleena's classroom. As soon as we get to school, Nalin is off on her own in search of her friends. I'm not sure how much we embarrass her yet, but its coming soon.
Another activity that kept Nalin busy through most of 2009 was her jazz dance class. In the late spring she did a great job with her dance recital. I think it was to the Madonna song of Operator, or something like that. She will often practice her dance moves in the house.
This past semester, Nalin has rally started to practice playing her recorder and is getting much better. While I hate to tell her to stop playing because I dont' want to discourage her interest, I do tell her that 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning is a bit too early. I think I told her that she had to wait until at least 8:30. I'm not sure how long her musical instrument interest will last, but she told us that she wants to take piano lessons this semester, and we plan to let her.
Together with Jacob, Nalin joined the elementary school choir this year. They had a recital before the Christmas break which was well performed.
After taking last season off, Nalin decided to play soccer again this year. She is doing a lot better than previously. Sometimes in the past she would just kind of watch the game, but now she is a lot more involved; going after the ball and being a bit more aggressive. Its nice to see her progress.
Nalin traveled with the family this year. She visited Singapore, Hong Kong (with Tim and her siblings), and a bunch of places in Thailand.
Nalin's best friend is still Caroline. They have been in class together since Caroline arrived late in the first half of first grade. Every year ISB shuffles the kids up and combined with the student turn over, there aren't a lot of kids that you are in the same classroom with for three straight years. Caroline may be here for one more year, I'm not sure, but it will be interesting if they end up in different classrooms. I imagine they will still remain good friends. Nalin is always asking for a play date with Caroline, which I am generally okay with, but also is always begging for sleep overs. The problem is that the day after the sleep over, Nalin is just a bear to deal with. She is an early riser, but when she doesn't go to bed early, she is just not a lot of fun to be around.
2010 will be an interesting year for Nalin. She is going to start swimming lessons again, as well as continue in the choir, dance and Blue Birds. She is looking forward to visiting the U.S. this summer and seeing her family and friends there. It should be fun.
I bought some Hannah Montana TV series DVDs a few months ago, and Nalin and Aleena both absolutely love the show. Jacob actually likes it as well. I'm sometimes in the room when its on, and its really not a bad show. Nalin and Aleena (and occassionally Jacob) will recite lines from the show, sometimes over and over.
Jacob in Jeopardy
Okay, he really wasn't in any danger. This was on one of the island stops in Similan. There was an option to walk up a trail to this large rock that was supposed to have a nice view.
The view was okay, but the walk/climb was not pleasant. I didn't have shoes, as I had stupidly put them in the bucket before getting on the boat so it was rough on the feet.
I managed a few decent photos up there. This was one that Jacob wanted to pose for, so I obliged him. He's actually really great about letting me take his photo, so I can't really complain when he asks me to take a shot or two of his choosing.
The view was okay, but the walk/climb was not pleasant. I didn't have shoes, as I had stupidly put them in the bucket before getting on the boat so it was rough on the feet.
I managed a few decent photos up there. This was one that Jacob wanted to pose for, so I obliged him. He's actually really great about letting me take his photo, so I can't really complain when he asks me to take a shot or two of his choosing.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Aleena Said..
Aleena is really at that age where she says some funny things. She was with Tim at the sea this past week and made the following observation. "Mommy the animals are really poor, aren't they. The are poorer than the poor people because they don't even have toys to play with." I thought it was cute.
Aleena also thought that she spotted a very small deer on the beach before one of our trips. It turned out to be a dog.
Tim really had fun snorkeling with Aleena. At first Aleena refused to do it, she said that it wouldn't be fun. The last time we went snorkeling, she hadn't been as comfortable in the water so she had a bad memory. Now she is actually a pretty good swimmer, so we were a little surprised. The guide on the Similan trip, a girl named Way, offered to take Aleena with her, and Aleena agreed. She told Aleena she would be her "tuk tuk" (a Thai taxi with three wheels). Aleena finally agreed, and had a great time. She ended up snorkeling with Tim after that and really loved it. It was nice to see her overcome her fear and reluctance to try something again.
Aleena also thought that she spotted a very small deer on the beach before one of our trips. It turned out to be a dog.
Tim really had fun snorkeling with Aleena. At first Aleena refused to do it, she said that it wouldn't be fun. The last time we went snorkeling, she hadn't been as comfortable in the water so she had a bad memory. Now she is actually a pretty good swimmer, so we were a little surprised. The guide on the Similan trip, a girl named Way, offered to take Aleena with her, and Aleena agreed. She told Aleena she would be her "tuk tuk" (a Thai taxi with three wheels). Aleena finally agreed, and had a great time. She ended up snorkeling with Tim after that and really loved it. It was nice to see her overcome her fear and reluctance to try something again.
Tim and Aleena at Nail Island
The rock in the background was made famous in a boat chase in a James Bond movie. I will post more of these photos later.
Recently I started using my flash when photographing people outdoors to provide "fill flash". I've know about the technique for a while, but only recently started doing it. It removes the shadows from faces, and I should have been doing it all along. Oh well, a step at a time.
Recently I started using my flash when photographing people outdoors to provide "fill flash". I've know about the technique for a while, but only recently started doing it. It removes the shadows from faces, and I should have been doing it all along. Oh well, a step at a time.
Phangnga Trip
We just got back from our five day trip to Phangnga in the south of Thailand. Its a pretty beautiful area, but the trip certainly had a few bumps.
We flew down on Monday. Because we couldn't get a rental car (they were all booked), Tim had an employee drive our car down for us. He then took a bus back to Bangkok. He returned today to get the car. Yeah, its nice to have inexpensive labor.
Monday was pretty relaxed; we hung out at the hotel pool and nearby beach. The Khaolak Orchid Beach Resort is a little way away from town, but it is a very nice place and the staff was very gracious.
On Tuesday we rented a boat and visited some of the islands around Phangna. We made four stops, including an island featured in a James Bond boat chase scene.
The island of Similan was our destination on Wednesday. You have to book a tour to visit these islands, as the government regulates the number of visitors. Well, maybe if you have your own yacht its possible visit on your own, I don't know.
We went with Medseye, a local tour group. Similan is an hour and a half speed boat ride from the mainland. The trip involved a couple of rounds of snorkeling and visiting some beaches.
Similan was nice. The speed boat trip back was not. The water was fairly calm, but I was sitting in the front of the boat and every wave we hit would lift me off my seat a little. On some of those I would slam back down and it hurt my back and neck. I was just wanting the trip over. Little did I know that I would have loved to have had a repeat performance the next day.
We also used Medseye on Thursday, this time to visit the island of Surin. Surin was supposed to have nicer snorkeling and coral reefs, while Similan's beaches were nicer. The Sarin boat left from a different pier, and we actually had a difficult time finding it. Tim stopped a few times to ask for directions. My GPS was only of limited help because we couldn't find the pier in it. That is a problem in Thailand; the lack of signs. Sometimes you'll actually have signs that tell the direction where you want to go, and then after you travel a few kilometers, there is a split with no sign to tell you where to go. Eventually we made it though.
We did our first snorkel at Surin without any issues. It was definitely a beautiful coral reef. Jacob and I saw a coral snake, and Jacob spotted a small shark when he was ten or so meters away, so I missed it.
After the first snorkel, we stopped as planned on the island for some photos and lunch. We were supposed to leave at 1:00 p.m., but at 1:30 the guide announced that winds had come in and the sea was rougher than expected. This was not obvious to us on the island, as the land protected the water.
Finally they decided to try to take us to an area to snorkel while we waited. Unfortunately, the water was a bit too rough, so we visited a village of the Moken, "sea gypsies".
After an hour or so they announced that we would try to go back to the mainland. The guide (her name was Chair), said that if it was too rough, we could vote on whether to go back to the island and spend the night or try to make it back to the mainland.
When she said this, I was shaking my head. I tried to explain to her that she and/or the captain of the boat were the ones responsible for making a decision on whether it was safe to continue. Neither me nor my fellow passengers had the experience. She kind of blew me off in the Thai way where they pretend to agree with you to get you to leave them alone. Tim was in the front of the boat at this point, and I in the back so I couldn't get her help.
The sea was fairly rough, but for me, the ride was a lot easier than the day before. I raised out of my seat a little, but didn't feel slammed down into it. After forty-five minutes the guide asked us if we wanted to go on or back. The captain told her it would take four hours to make it to the mainland. I still wanted to go on, but as soon as one or two people said to go back, she seized on it and said we'd turn around.
I was livid; not because we turned around, but because she called for a vote. If it was too dangerous to go, then she should announced that we were turning back, no matter how much we wanted to go on. If ten people had said to go on, how could she have said okay if she knew it was too dangerous. Was she going to put her life and everyone else's in the hands of people who really didn't understand how serious (or not) the situation was. I am willing to wager that few if any of the passengers had spent enough time on a speedboat to know if the sea was just a little rough, or if we were in real danger.
So we turned around to the island. Unfortunately, all the rooms were booked in advance, so we had to sleep in tents. We didn't have dry clothes with us (except Nalin and Aleena), as we didn't imagine that we would need them. According to the guide, she had never had to do this before, and had been doing the Surin tours for many years.
Tim had a little money, so she bought some tee-shirts and Thai style pants. The co-op restaurant that we had lunch at provided us dinner. There wasn't much to do, and to make matters worse, there was a light drizzle. We got into our tents around 7:00 p.m. and stayed there for the night.
I was in a really bad mood about the whole thing, and didn't sleep well at all. Perhaps I got three hours of sleep. I didn't like the decision initially, but I really didn't like how it was made. If they had just stood up and said "its not safe, we are turning back", I might not have liked going back, but I would have respected them. I had and have no respect for the guide. If I ever walk on a boat and see her in charge again, I will turn around and walk away. I don't care if I lose a deposit or even the entire fee (although I'd try to get it back), I have no confidence in her judgement at all.
The question the next morning was whether to go back to the mainland right away, or snorkel one more time first. That would take about an hour of additional time. Some people were insisting we snorkel, as they had already paid for this trip and felt like they weren't getting their moneys worth. Others wanted to skip it because they were trying to get on a boat to Similan that morning. Tim wanted to snorkel, but I wanted to go back as I didn't want to spend one more minute than necessary around the tour people.
I found out later that a few people were able to leave with a different tour the night before. One had a medical condition and the others had a flight they would miss. The other tour boat came out of a different pier, and apparently the trip back was rough, but not as bad as our attempt had been. I'm not sure why our boat didn't go to their pier and pick us up with buses, but by the time I found out it was moot.
The guide was explaining that we would vote so no one could complain about the decision. That is complete and utter nonsense. I can certainly complain that I want to go back, as I never signed up to spend the night and get back whenever the heck the rest of the people decided I could. I actually went up to the guide and told her how I thought how she handled it was very poor and explained why. Some other American tried to explain what I meant. Finally Tim told her.
The guide said she did it because their were kids on board. It was bullshit. She asked for a vote because people were pressuring her to go home and she didn't want to upset someone. Utterly unacceptable. She later said it was because of kids. I think she said that because she thought it would shield her from criticism. Do you get the impression how much I really despise Chair?
So fate intervened on my behalf and no vote was taken. One of the people who worked on the island overheard the snorkel debate and said if you go snorkeling, you'll spend the night here again. He was looking at the color of the sky and said there would only be an hour or so window open today, and if we missed it we'd have to wait again. At that point, Chair pulled her head out of her butt a few inches and decided we'd go straight back.
We arrived back at the pier at 9:30 or so. By the time we made it back to our hotel at 10:15, we figured we would miss the breakfast buffet which ended at 10:00. Tim explained what happened, and the staff kept it open another thirty minutes after we arrived. It was really nice.
We left a few hours later, making it to the airport only forty minutes before our flight. The flight was nice. We didn't have a block of seats right next to each other, but everyone was on the aisle in close proximity. It worked out well though. I'll post more photos here and there will be even more on flickr.
We flew down on Monday. Because we couldn't get a rental car (they were all booked), Tim had an employee drive our car down for us. He then took a bus back to Bangkok. He returned today to get the car. Yeah, its nice to have inexpensive labor.
Monday was pretty relaxed; we hung out at the hotel pool and nearby beach. The Khaolak Orchid Beach Resort is a little way away from town, but it is a very nice place and the staff was very gracious.
On Tuesday we rented a boat and visited some of the islands around Phangna. We made four stops, including an island featured in a James Bond boat chase scene.
The island of Similan was our destination on Wednesday. You have to book a tour to visit these islands, as the government regulates the number of visitors. Well, maybe if you have your own yacht its possible visit on your own, I don't know.
We went with Medseye, a local tour group. Similan is an hour and a half speed boat ride from the mainland. The trip involved a couple of rounds of snorkeling and visiting some beaches.
Similan was nice. The speed boat trip back was not. The water was fairly calm, but I was sitting in the front of the boat and every wave we hit would lift me off my seat a little. On some of those I would slam back down and it hurt my back and neck. I was just wanting the trip over. Little did I know that I would have loved to have had a repeat performance the next day.
We also used Medseye on Thursday, this time to visit the island of Surin. Surin was supposed to have nicer snorkeling and coral reefs, while Similan's beaches were nicer. The Sarin boat left from a different pier, and we actually had a difficult time finding it. Tim stopped a few times to ask for directions. My GPS was only of limited help because we couldn't find the pier in it. That is a problem in Thailand; the lack of signs. Sometimes you'll actually have signs that tell the direction where you want to go, and then after you travel a few kilometers, there is a split with no sign to tell you where to go. Eventually we made it though.
We did our first snorkel at Surin without any issues. It was definitely a beautiful coral reef. Jacob and I saw a coral snake, and Jacob spotted a small shark when he was ten or so meters away, so I missed it.
After the first snorkel, we stopped as planned on the island for some photos and lunch. We were supposed to leave at 1:00 p.m., but at 1:30 the guide announced that winds had come in and the sea was rougher than expected. This was not obvious to us on the island, as the land protected the water.
Finally they decided to try to take us to an area to snorkel while we waited. Unfortunately, the water was a bit too rough, so we visited a village of the Moken, "sea gypsies".
After an hour or so they announced that we would try to go back to the mainland. The guide (her name was Chair), said that if it was too rough, we could vote on whether to go back to the island and spend the night or try to make it back to the mainland.
When she said this, I was shaking my head. I tried to explain to her that she and/or the captain of the boat were the ones responsible for making a decision on whether it was safe to continue. Neither me nor my fellow passengers had the experience. She kind of blew me off in the Thai way where they pretend to agree with you to get you to leave them alone. Tim was in the front of the boat at this point, and I in the back so I couldn't get her help.
The sea was fairly rough, but for me, the ride was a lot easier than the day before. I raised out of my seat a little, but didn't feel slammed down into it. After forty-five minutes the guide asked us if we wanted to go on or back. The captain told her it would take four hours to make it to the mainland. I still wanted to go on, but as soon as one or two people said to go back, she seized on it and said we'd turn around.
I was livid; not because we turned around, but because she called for a vote. If it was too dangerous to go, then she should announced that we were turning back, no matter how much we wanted to go on. If ten people had said to go on, how could she have said okay if she knew it was too dangerous. Was she going to put her life and everyone else's in the hands of people who really didn't understand how serious (or not) the situation was. I am willing to wager that few if any of the passengers had spent enough time on a speedboat to know if the sea was just a little rough, or if we were in real danger.
So we turned around to the island. Unfortunately, all the rooms were booked in advance, so we had to sleep in tents. We didn't have dry clothes with us (except Nalin and Aleena), as we didn't imagine that we would need them. According to the guide, she had never had to do this before, and had been doing the Surin tours for many years.
Tim had a little money, so she bought some tee-shirts and Thai style pants. The co-op restaurant that we had lunch at provided us dinner. There wasn't much to do, and to make matters worse, there was a light drizzle. We got into our tents around 7:00 p.m. and stayed there for the night.
I was in a really bad mood about the whole thing, and didn't sleep well at all. Perhaps I got three hours of sleep. I didn't like the decision initially, but I really didn't like how it was made. If they had just stood up and said "its not safe, we are turning back", I might not have liked going back, but I would have respected them. I had and have no respect for the guide. If I ever walk on a boat and see her in charge again, I will turn around and walk away. I don't care if I lose a deposit or even the entire fee (although I'd try to get it back), I have no confidence in her judgement at all.
The question the next morning was whether to go back to the mainland right away, or snorkel one more time first. That would take about an hour of additional time. Some people were insisting we snorkel, as they had already paid for this trip and felt like they weren't getting their moneys worth. Others wanted to skip it because they were trying to get on a boat to Similan that morning. Tim wanted to snorkel, but I wanted to go back as I didn't want to spend one more minute than necessary around the tour people.
I found out later that a few people were able to leave with a different tour the night before. One had a medical condition and the others had a flight they would miss. The other tour boat came out of a different pier, and apparently the trip back was rough, but not as bad as our attempt had been. I'm not sure why our boat didn't go to their pier and pick us up with buses, but by the time I found out it was moot.
The guide was explaining that we would vote so no one could complain about the decision. That is complete and utter nonsense. I can certainly complain that I want to go back, as I never signed up to spend the night and get back whenever the heck the rest of the people decided I could. I actually went up to the guide and told her how I thought how she handled it was very poor and explained why. Some other American tried to explain what I meant. Finally Tim told her.
The guide said she did it because their were kids on board. It was bullshit. She asked for a vote because people were pressuring her to go home and she didn't want to upset someone. Utterly unacceptable. She later said it was because of kids. I think she said that because she thought it would shield her from criticism. Do you get the impression how much I really despise Chair?
So fate intervened on my behalf and no vote was taken. One of the people who worked on the island overheard the snorkel debate and said if you go snorkeling, you'll spend the night here again. He was looking at the color of the sky and said there would only be an hour or so window open today, and if we missed it we'd have to wait again. At that point, Chair pulled her head out of her butt a few inches and decided we'd go straight back.
We arrived back at the pier at 9:30 or so. By the time we made it back to our hotel at 10:15, we figured we would miss the breakfast buffet which ended at 10:00. Tim explained what happened, and the staff kept it open another thirty minutes after we arrived. It was really nice.
We left a few hours later, making it to the airport only forty minutes before our flight. The flight was nice. We didn't have a block of seats right next to each other, but everyone was on the aisle in close proximity. It worked out well though. I'll post more photos here and there will be even more on flickr.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Tim in Lop Buri
Tim had never been to Lop Buri, so she found a Thai guide book and planned a quick day trip. We were only there five or six hours, but it was a fun trip.
Lop Buri
Today we took a day trip to Lop Buri, a province about 150 kilometers North-East of Bangkok. One of Lop Buri's claim to fame is that there are a large number of monkeys (actually they are macaques) in the city and around temple Prang Sam Yot.
The macaques are everywhere around the temple. They are hanging on nearby power lines as well as all over the temple and other buildings. The macaques are fairly aggressive, as one of them came and snatched up a water bottle from Tim's back pocket.
In addition to Prang Sam Yot, we also visited another temple, a museum that was the former palace of one of Thailand's past kings, and a nearby dam. The dam was crowded, but pretty uninspiring. The museum was pretty cool and housed some artifacts seven or eight hundred years old.
The traffic on the way home was terrible,as a lot of Thais seem to have started to return to Bangkok from the long holiday weekend. Overall it was a nice day.
The macaques are everywhere around the temple. They are hanging on nearby power lines as well as all over the temple and other buildings. The macaques are fairly aggressive, as one of them came and snatched up a water bottle from Tim's back pocket.
In addition to Prang Sam Yot, we also visited another temple, a museum that was the former palace of one of Thailand's past kings, and a nearby dam. The dam was crowded, but pretty uninspiring. The museum was pretty cool and housed some artifacts seven or eight hundred years old.
The traffic on the way home was terrible,as a lot of Thais seem to have started to return to Bangkok from the long holiday weekend. Overall it was a nice day.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Little School on the Hill
At the end of our Kanchanaburi trip, we stopped at a school run by a nun for orphans and disadvantaged kids. One of the things that Tim has always wanted to do is to help some of the less fortunate people here in Thailand. She's started doing that by helping out some schools.
The school was a couple of hours outside Kanchanaburi. To get to it, we had to drive up a moderately steep unpaved road. Tim's SUV doesn't have four wheel drive, but it was able to make it up. If the road had been wet, however, I don't think that we would have made it up.
The school educates about one hundred students, about seventy of whom live on site. The school teaches the children to speak, read and write Thai, as they speak a tribal language. They educate up to the third grade level, but some students are as old as twelve because they started their education late.
There are a few solar panels that power the electric pump used to bring water up the hill for the school and the kids to use. They don't have running water, however, and have no other electricity, so there are no fans and certainly no AC to provide relief from the heat.
The nun in charge told Tim that one of the big concerns is food, as they don't have a lot of money to feed the children. The kids had few toys and their clothes were often dirty and worn. One of the things that the kids wanted were croc-style shoes, but not because they were fashionable or trendy. They wanted them because their flip-flops would often fall up when going up and down the hill that separated the school and their dorm.
Despite their impoverishment, the kids smiled and laughed a lot. I took some photographs of them while I was there, and they seemed to enjoy looking at the pictures on my camera’s LCD display. I want to have some of them printed when we go back to give to the kids. When I took the photographs, I would start to count to three in Thai, but stop at two and pretend that I couldn’t remember the word for three. The kids would yell it out for me. By the end I would say “neung, som” and they would yell “sahm” before I could even pretend to have forgotten.
Tim spoke with the nun for some time and found out what they needed. Our plan is to return in March. In addition to the money that Tim and I are giving, we hope to raise some more money to help out. Yeah, I’ll probably be reaching out to people at some point.
A visit like this really puts a lot of things in perspective. Yes, things in the U.S. are tougher for many people than they were a few years ago, but there is no comparison to the poverty here. The opportunities for education and to better yourself are much scarcer here. Schools like the one we visited may help give these kids some kind of chance for a better life.
When we were leaving, Jacob told me something to the effect of “dad, I know how lucky I am. I won’t ever say life is unfair again.” I know he’ll forget it from time to time as we often do, but it made me proud and happy that he learned that lesson.
The school was a couple of hours outside Kanchanaburi. To get to it, we had to drive up a moderately steep unpaved road. Tim's SUV doesn't have four wheel drive, but it was able to make it up. If the road had been wet, however, I don't think that we would have made it up.
The school educates about one hundred students, about seventy of whom live on site. The school teaches the children to speak, read and write Thai, as they speak a tribal language. They educate up to the third grade level, but some students are as old as twelve because they started their education late.
There are a few solar panels that power the electric pump used to bring water up the hill for the school and the kids to use. They don't have running water, however, and have no other electricity, so there are no fans and certainly no AC to provide relief from the heat.
The nun in charge told Tim that one of the big concerns is food, as they don't have a lot of money to feed the children. The kids had few toys and their clothes were often dirty and worn. One of the things that the kids wanted were croc-style shoes, but not because they were fashionable or trendy. They wanted them because their flip-flops would often fall up when going up and down the hill that separated the school and their dorm.
Despite their impoverishment, the kids smiled and laughed a lot. I took some photographs of them while I was there, and they seemed to enjoy looking at the pictures on my camera’s LCD display. I want to have some of them printed when we go back to give to the kids. When I took the photographs, I would start to count to three in Thai, but stop at two and pretend that I couldn’t remember the word for three. The kids would yell it out for me. By the end I would say “neung, som” and they would yell “sahm” before I could even pretend to have forgotten.
Tim spoke with the nun for some time and found out what they needed. Our plan is to return in March. In addition to the money that Tim and I are giving, we hope to raise some more money to help out. Yeah, I’ll probably be reaching out to people at some point.
A visit like this really puts a lot of things in perspective. Yes, things in the U.S. are tougher for many people than they were a few years ago, but there is no comparison to the poverty here. The opportunities for education and to better yourself are much scarcer here. Schools like the one we visited may help give these kids some kind of chance for a better life.
When we were leaving, Jacob told me something to the effect of “dad, I know how lucky I am. I won’t ever say life is unfair again.” I know he’ll forget it from time to time as we often do, but it made me proud and happy that he learned that lesson.
2009 For Tim
A lot of Tim's year can be summed up in one word: work. She generally works a lot of hours each week. She will usually leave the house by 8:00 – 8:30 a.m. On the early days she might get home by 7:00 or 7:30, while on the late ones she might work until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. She also works Saturdays, but those are generally of the 9-5 variety.
Tim was on TV and radio here in Thailand a few times during the course of the year promoting her business. Incidentally, her bus terminal served as a location in several movies and music videos. A few weeks ago, she was watching a Thai movie and said "Hey Brian, that's my station." Sure enough, it was.
While running her own business does consume a large amount of her time, it does have its benefits. She is able to take time off when she wants or needs to. So when the kids are off work or have a special event from school, she is often available. And while her late schedule usually precludes the entire family from having dinner together regularly, we have breakfast together every school day, and Tim and I bike with the kids to school.
If there is one thing my dear wife loves in addition to her family is to travel. We took a family vacation to Singapore during the kid's spring break. Tim had to visit the states this summer for immigration purposes, and while there got to visit the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Antelope Canyon. Yeah, a lot of canyons.
When I returned to the states in October, Tim took the kids to Hong Kong. We had originally planned on going to Japan for ten days, but we had to postpone because Tim needed to be here for a few days for business.
One of the things that Tim really wants to do while we are here is to see Thailand. There is still quite a bit of the country that she hasn't seen. She has basically lived in the U.S. since she was fifteen, so this time here has been a great opportunity. I know I am missing some places, but she visited Phucket, Kanchanaburi, Chiang Mai, and Ayutthaya this past year. The trip to Kanchanaburi was one of Tim's favorite in Thailand because she sat down and planned it out herself.
Phucket provided some excitement of the frightening kind as Tim and Jacob were caught in some sort of cross current when swimming in the ocean. For a time she felt like she and Jacob were getting drug out to sea. Fortunately, she was able to get them both to safety.
Tim's struggle with the iPhone has continues. At the end of last year, she (with the help of Aleena) broke her iPhone. This year she managed to ruin another one and Aleena also played a role. Tim was at the beach with Aleena and had the iPhone in one of the cases that strap to your arm for jogging. She forgot that she was wearing it and Tim, Aleena and the iPhone went swimming for the better part of thirty minutes. The iPhone didn't recover.
Tim started jogging again this year. Four or five mornings a week she will get up at 5:30 a.m. and go out and run. She goes that early so she can be back in time to bike with the kids to school and because the weather can get pretty hot and muggy when the sun comes up. And by "can get", I really mean "usually is".
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