Learning Thai

Here are some random updates and anecdotes...Some of these don't warrant their own entry, but maybe when I put them all together they'll amount to something.

Most exciting: Candice had another appointment with her doctor today. Everything continues to look good and the doctor said she'd be ready to induce Candice next Friday. We're ready! From what we've observed, inducing and C-sections are pretty common here. One reason is that because of the strong belief in auspicious days and times, people are more concerned about exactly when their baby is born. The packet that Candice got from the hospital included the following disclaimer: "The Hospital reserves the right not to allow the patient to fix the auspicious birth time during 9 pm until 7 am."

Acculturated girl: On Sunday I took the girls to the library. Afterwards I gave them what I thought would be an easy choice between eating duck guaytiaw (noodle soup) our normal post-library meal, or Burger King (a rare treat). Claire immediately went for the burgers and fries, but Eliza insisted that she would rather have duck guaytiaw. When we ended up at Burger King, Claire tried to get Eliza to acknowledge that the cheeseburger was better than duck guaytiaw, but Eliza would only go so far as to say that "they're both good." And while Claire gobbled her portion down, I had to continually remind Eliza to eat. Their food preferences are one clear way of distinguishing how different their memories of America are.

Teaching kindergarteners: I'm continuing to teach at Claire's school one day a week. I never look forward to it, but once I have the lesson prepared and actually get started teaching, it often ends up being at least a little bit of fun. I'm always intrigued by what causes the classes (especially those that are all boys) to break out into chaos. It could be as simple as something falling off the board or me pulling a stuffed animal out of a bag. Today I made the mistake of asking them how a tiger runs (I was teaching about adjectives and wanted them to answer "fast.") Instead I suddenly had 30 boys all stomping their feet, loudly growling, and pawing the air with their hands.

That's not what they wanted to say: As I mentioned in a previous entry, finding English mistakes around here is an easy sport. But once again, I could not resist sharing this one from the instruction manual for a baby walker we were given: "Please read the instruction before you use the product, and it will tell you how to use the products in order to damage the product and injure your baby."

New bird #2: Last week I bought another lovebird to keep Luuk Geaw (my birthday present) company. The new bird spent exactly three days climbing and marching determinedly around the cage looking for the exit. On the third day, he apparently figured out how to open a door and flew away. So I bought another new bird and wired the doors shut. Here is the new couple (we have no idea what the gender of either one is).

-Tom