More Jungle Book

The ISB ES Friday Jungle Book Friday performance was even better than the first night.  The kids seemed much less nervous, and even did some improvising.  During the show, Nalin improvised at one point by shaking her butt, which drew laughter.

Friday I sat in the fourth row, much closer than the night before.  I was snapping away photos to share with the families and students (Flickr Jungle Book Set).  Because the lighting isn't great, I was usually taking three at a time, and my camera would make a clack-clack-clack sound when I did.  Tim told me that one or two people would turn around when I did, looking a bit irritated.  Some friends two rows in front of us also heard it.  Sam told me that his first thought was "who is that?", and then he turned around, saw it was me and  thought "oh, it's okay, it's Brian."

On Saturday morning the kids celebrated their successful effort with a cast party.  This meant for quite a busy morning for Nalin, as she also had the Girl Scout's Thinking Day and a couple of softball games at the same time.  She skipped softball, and joined girl scouts after the cast party.

She really enjoyed the experience, although I think she is probably happy to have a bit of a break from it, as they practiced quite a bit in the last week or two.  Nalin was also happy that her teacher, Ms. Melhorn, did not give any homework this weekend in recognition that many of her students were in the performance.





A photo of the cake for the cast party on Saturday.

Jacob On the Mound

Today Jacob had his first chance to pitch his first inning in a baseball game. He struck out one, walked a few more than that, gave up some runs, and overall did a pretty decent job. Like a lot of the boys new to pitching, he still has to work on his control. The good thing is that even with most of his walks, he was getting two strikes on the batter as well.

What really surprised me was one of the first plays when there was a ground ball towards first.  It went foul, but Jacob ran over to help cover the base.  That's one of those things that I would not have been surprised if he forgot about during his first pitching outing.

I almost didn't go to the game today.  In the morning I was taking photos of the Girl Scout's Thinking Day, the Jungle Book Cast party and a few other games.  I went home for a late lunch and thought about staying home.  Instead I went to the game, and I'm glad that I did.
      

Nalin Softball

Aleena Playing Softball

Jungle Book Opening

Tonight was the opening night for the ISB ES production of the Jungle Book.  The effort that the kids and volunteers put into this was very evident by how well things went.  They all did a great job.

Nalin played the role of Coconut Tree number 3.  The coconut trees almost narrators for the story.  They were in every scene, had multiple speaking parts, and sang several songs together.  While we knew that she had a speaking part, she did not share the lines with us before the show, preferring to practice alone or with her friends.

Tim and I are very proud of Nalin's effort and performance.  I am sure that she and her cast mates will put on an equally good show for tomorrow night's final performance.  
 

Interesting Things in Bali

Some things I learned or experienced on my Bali trip:

• When I arrived at the hotel, I requested a non-smoking room.  I asked the clerk if one was available.  She smiled and said "of course we have them available.  If you want a smoking room, we put in an ashtray.  If you want a non-smoking, we don't."
• A woman offering sexual services approached me on the street as I was walking back to my hotel one night.  Instead of merely reciting some of the services that were available, she attempted to give me a preview and grabbed me by my crotch.  Although I was quite surprised, I was able to disengage myself and continue on my way.
• I sat down at a restaurant for breakfast one morning and saw a black iPhone 4 in a black case on my table.  It looked nearly identical to my phone; the only real difference was the screen protector was in worse shape than mine.  I help it up for the waitress to see and she gave it to a couple who I think had been sitting at the table before me.  The owner was very lucky that I saw it right when I sat down.  If I had seen it a few minutes later, I might have mistaken it for mine which I had left in my hotel room.  I guess they are also lucky I just wasn't dishonest and decided to keep it.
• The Bali people were pretty friendly.  I think just about every place I went they asked me what country that I was from. They seemed interested when I told them the USA, as they don't get as many Americans as they do Australians.  It makes sense as Australia is only about a four hour flight (parts of it anyway).
• People in Bali drive very similar to people in Thailand.  There is no way that I would drive a car there.  I ended up hiring a driver through the hotel.
• According to the people I spoke to, Indonesia does not have free public education.  You have to pay to go to school, even at the elementary and high school levels.  If your family cannot afford to pay, then you don't go to school.  
• Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country, but Bali has a large Hindu population.
• The people can be pretty aggressive in their sales pitch.  When I went and got a massage, other girls in the shop would come over and offer services such as manicure, peticure, exfoliation and others.  One even offered to wax my chest, but I think that she was joking. 
• The restaurant chain Flapjacks surprisingly had pancakes that were not very good, but waffles that were just delicious.
• A lot of guys on the street trying to sell "magic mushrooms".  While it is tempting to buy a mind altering mushroom from some guy on the street, I managed to resist the temptation.  Apparently it is not legal to sell the mushrooms, but like in many places, the authorities are often have an incentive to turn a blind eye.  
• Beware the sidewalks are often in pretty bad repair.  I found myself looking down quite a bit so that I didn't trip or turn an ankle.  
• It was very hot and humid during the day, but became much more pleasant at night.  I guess that is not surprising since it's so close to the equator.  

Temples

Visiting a temple in Bali.The sarong is required to enter, at least if you are wearing shorts.

TV & Glee

I mentioned it on Facebook a while back, but when we arrived back in Thailand after our trip home to the U.S., I brought another XBox 360 with me.  While I wanted to play some games on it, the more compelling reason was to use it as a media center in my bedroom.

In addition to watching videos that I have on my computer, I also wanted to take advantage of the Neftflix and Hulu Plus apps.  The issue is that they are not licensed to show those videos outside the U.S.  In order to watch them, I had to set up a VPN for the XBox.  Despite the videos that showed how easy it is to setup, I had a few difficulties along the way.  It probably didn't help that I was doing it a day or two after I got back; when I hadn't slept well and was jet lagged.

The good thing is that I did get it to work, and that the family also loves it. Tim and the girls absolutely love Glee.  Some of it's a little above their heads (Nalin and Aleena, not Tim) and sometimes a bit racey, but they love the signing.

It's also easy for Tim to watch her favorite shows like Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, as they are available on Hulu Plus the day after they air in the U.S.  Of course, there is also plenty for me to watch as well, including the entire five seasons of the British comedy Shameless.

I showed Tim how to reconnect the PC to the VPN in case there was a problem when I was not home.  Of course when I was in Bali, a problem occurred that was not easily solved.  I tried to do some basic support over text messaging, but it just wasn't working.  I fixed it when I got home.  I'm not sure why, but for some reason something when wrong with the Internet Connection Sharing that I use to allow the XBox to use the VPN.

Aleena

Aleena is once again busy this semester with dance, gymnastics, girl scouts and baseball.  Tuesday and Thursdays are pretty long days for her, as she has several activities on those days.

Currently Nalin and Aleena share a bedroom.  We are going to move Aleena into her own bedroom soon in order to give Nalin her own space and to help Aleena become more independent.  She seems okay with the idea, but we'll see how she reacts when we implement the plan.

Last week she helped raise about $70 to rebuild a library for a Thai school that was impacted by the recent floods.  That definitely exceeded her stated goal of 80 baht (about $2).  They are going to deliver the money as part of a field trip next week.  With any lucky, I'll be able to tag along and take some photos.

All About the Boy

Jacob has really embraced the Boy Scouts.  He has been on almost every campout since he joined, and has managed to make the rank of Second Class.  I think that we are going to send him to some Boy Scout summer camp this year, but I'm not sure where.

Jacob went camping with the Boy Scouts in the first weekend of February.  He got back on Sunday afternoon, and then on Wednesday went on the ISB Middle School campout. He had a great time on both.  Tim said that she heard that some parents and kids were crying at the separation, but Jacob is definitely okay spending time away.

Baseball is also in full swing.  Generally he has two games a week; either one on Friday and one on Saturday, or a double header on Saturday.

Tim also signed Jacob up for two days a week of boot camp with our friend Jack.   Apparently there will be some competition in March and April between Jacob and Tim with a dinner at stake.

Nalin Update

Tomorrow and Friday night Nalin will play the part of coconut tree number three in the ISB ES production of the Jungle Book.  She and her fellow cast members have been working very hard rehearsing their roles. Nalin is very excited because the trees are a speaking part, and she has several lines.

In addition to her thespian endeavors, Nalin is playing softball this year.  She wasn't too thrilled about my signing her up, but I think that she is having fun.  Due to the smaller number of softball players, all the Elementary School girls play in same league, so each team is made up of girls from grade one through five.

Now one would think that this would be nice because Nalin and Aleena could be on the same team, thereby reducing the number of games that I attend each week.  That would be wishful thinking.  I spoke with Nalin about this, and she was adamant that she and Aleena not be on the same team, so I honored her wishes and asked them to be separated.  Just about every other pair of sisters play on the same team.  The one thing that bothers me more is that Nalin somehow ended up on a team with some of her friends and a bunch of Aleena's friends.  Aleena, meanwhile, ended up on a team where she is not close with anyone.  Karma was definitely not at work in this instance.

A Bird in Bali

Okay, some of the bird photos turned out decently.
 

Bali

My eight days in Bali were pretty relaxing.  I did some snorkeling, went to the zoo, the bird park, some temples and some terraced rice fields.  I also spent a fair bit of time reading and sleeping in late.  It rained pretty hard when I was at the zoo; the raincoat that I had brought did me little good as it was sitting in my hotel room.  

I did not take the opportunity to eat much Indonesian food, instead I ate quite a bit of Italian.  Surprisingly enough, Bali actually has a Chi-Chi's restaurant.  I walked by it a few days before I finally decided to stop in.  When I was younger, Chi-Chi's was probably my favorite restaurant.  At the time I thought their hot salsa was very spicy and that sweet and sour chicken was genuine Chinese food.  I've learned a bit since then.

So the day before I left, I finally broke down and stopped at Chi-Chi's.  A bit of a disappointment.  They did not serve free chip's and salsa, the nachos consisted of 8 chips with chili and cheese on them, and the chimichanga was perhaps a third the size of the ones served in the U.S.

I took some photos in Bali, but I'm not sure that I like any of them enough to share.  I did enjoy taking photos at the bird park.  During the show I tried to take some photos of birds flying with mixed results.  The birds of prey were really not easy to capture in flight.  I guess I need to practice with my new lens. I also enjoyed taking photos at the temple of the sea (forget the actual name) although I am a bit disappointed in how they turned out. If I like any of them enough, perhaps I'll post them here or on Facebook.

On the way home, I decided to splurge and pay for an upgrade to business class.  It was actually nice to have the extra leg room.  The food was decidedly better than that served in coach (I had some dory and salmon), but I did not partake in the wine or champagne.  

Overall it was a nice trip.  I think I am going to try to take some shorter trips by myself more frequently to take photos.  I need to find someplace a little less hot and humid though.  

Visa Run

Yesterday I got back from an eight day trip to Bali.  The trip was a case of making the best of a problem with my visa.

When I booked our trip to the U.S., I booked our return date one day after the expiration date of my visa.  Upon our return, I received a thirty day visa to enter the country.  My plan was to go and get my one year visa near the end of the thirty days.  

Tim and I went to the immigration office with about a week left on my visa.  The officer looked at our paperwork, and informed us of some new requirements.  One requirement was that we had to have a photo of Tim and I together in our house.  We already had photos of Tim and I, and photos of the house, but we had to go back home and take photos of the two of us in the house.

We hurried home, gathered all the required documents and made it back to the office before lunch.  The officer looked at the stamps in my passport and told Tim that we couldn't apply for the spousal visa at this time.  I would have to apply for a ninety day visa and only then could I get the one year visa.  The catch is that I couldn't apply for the ninety day visa because I needed at least fifteen days left on the thirty day visa to do so.  They said that they needed at least fifteen days left in order to process the ninety day application.   This meant that I had to leave the country and get another thirty days upon re-entry.  I would then have the required time to apply for a visa.

My first thought was to do a one day visa run to Laos.  There are companies that specialize in taking you to a nearby country so that you could leave Thailand and re-enter with a new thirty day visa.  Instead of spending the day in a van and visiting Laos, I decided to make the best of the situation and take a little holiday.  After considering a lot of places, including Hong Kong, Europe and Australia, I finally settled on eight days in Bali.

Long Absence

Yeah, so once again I have neglected my blog.