Tuesday, May 11

The apartment search continues, and my journey to get a work visa begins...kinda.

On Monday, we checked out an apartment in a high rise near Phrom Phong, a fairly central location with decent access to both of our schools. The apartment itself was a little small, but cute, with amazing views of the city. It had a plug-in stove (a rarity!) and a balcony big enough for a little table, but the second bedroom had no windows and there was really no separate space for the kitchen. It also had two huge swimming pools. One of the building's floors was open on all sides and, in addition to a covered pool, had little shaded seating areas and an almost 360 degree view of all of Bangkok.

We also saw an apartment near the Asok BTS, which is very central, with access to both BTS and MRT, though it feels pretty corporate—not a lot of neighborhood vibes. The apartment was lovely, though—it had an amazing view of the park below, pretty wood floors, and a lot of storage space. But it was the most expensive place we've seen (20,000 baht/month) and only had one bedroom. Which I think could be manageable, but after staying in our shabby mansion in Sathorn, we've really come to appreciate having some separation of space.

Anyway, we've been talking to yet another agent, who is going to show us a few more condos later this week. And hopefully by then we'll be armed with enough information to make a decision.

After we left the second apartment, we picked up a couple little crepes from a cart, then wandered down a narrow alley to find somewhere to eat them. The alley had once housed a couple bars, a pool hall, and a tailor shop, but it was all shuttered and empty, except for a woman bathing her kid in a little plastic tub. We took a seat in front of a deserted building and ate our crepes.

We've been watching a lot of The Great British Baking Show and we've been dreaming of doughnuts, so on our way back home, we stopped at Terminal 21 and finished our lunch with a couple of doughnuts.

Dinner on Monday was pad thai with crispy pork from our new favorite spot on Suan Phlu.

On Tuesday morning, I took a cab to my school to get started on my immigration paperwork. Except that my visa expires on May 18, and I don't start work until June 1, so first I had to get a regular visa extension. I wasn't sure what to expect at the school—would they just hand me my paperwork and tell me to call a cab? But instead they loaded a small group of us into an air-conditioned van, and drove us out to the immigration office.

The process didn't seem terribly straightforward (is government bureaucracy ever?). And a couple annoying issues came up—in spite of what I'd read online, my new visa was not issued based on the end date of my last visa. Instead, it was issued immediately, so I paid 1900 baht for a month-long visa that I only really need for 3 weeks.

But the more annoying thing is that it turns out I will need a document signed by the US Embassy in Thailand, verifying the legitimacy of my college diploma. Which is annoying because I went out of my way to get all those documents in the US—my diploma was notarized by the university, and then the California Secretary of State provided an Apostille. The document that Immigration wants from the US Embassy is pretty insignificant in comparison—it's an affidavit where I swear that I really did get a BA from Occidental College, and then a notary from the US embassy signs it, under some language about how the US embassy does not guarantee the contents of my own sworn statement and assumes no responsibility for the truth or falsity of the stated information.

So, it's kind of a bullshit form? But it's the one they require because BUREAUCRACY I guess?

Most annoyingly, when I went to the US Embassy in Thailand's website when I got home, I discovered that their next available appointment is on June 24. June 24!

So I am going to have to go into Immigration again to pay another 1,900 baht and get the 60-day Covid visa extension (and I have to go before the end of May, because I guess the government has only promised to continue the Covid Visa extension through May).

The good news is that I can go to the school on May 25 to join another small group going to Immigration. That is a blessing, really. I am grateful the school provides so much help in navigating this process. It also means I can hopefully be some help to Roman when it's his turn.

Still, by the time we left Immigration I was feeling kind of done. My head hurt, I was hungry, and I was irritated by the lack of clarity/sense in this whole process.

When I got back to the school, they said I would be meeting with the kindergarten, but I could go to the canteen to have lunch first. I didn't know what that meant exactly, but I was pretty happy they were feeding me!

The canteen (cuter word than cafeteria, I think) was large and airy and mostly empty, except for a small group of adults huddled around the tables in front. There was a stack of prepared containers of food, filled with rice, fried pork, and stir-fried pork with vegetables I couldn't identity. They had fish sauce with chilies on the side you could mix in.

It was actually pretty good—better than I expected. Meanwhile, back in Sathorn, Roman had fried chicken skins with sticky rice and lots of fish sauce.

After lunch, I headed back to the office, and they took me down to the Kindergarten area. I knew the kids weren't around, so who would I be meeting? The other teachers? It turned out I was meeting the head of the Kindergarten—I'd met her at my interview, but didn't recognize her at first behind the mask. She added me to their Line group (the messenger app everyone uses for everything here) and asked me to make a welcome video, wearing my TCS polo shirt, for the Kindergarten teachers and parents. She also showed me the welcome videos made by the three other Kindergarten NES (Native English Speaker) teachers.

After I left the school, I took a songthaew to BTS, then took the Sukhumvit BTS to the Siam BTS to the Sala Daeng stop in Silom, where I went to the grocery store for the last few non-produce items I need for tomorrow's dinner. For a moment, I couldn't find anything resembling pork shoulder and I didn't see any tortillas and I wanted to despair (I think this is what spending a morning at Immigration can do—and mine was an uneventful morning). But I asked for help locating the tortillas (which they had! made from flour and corn!) and I bought some pork collar, because it looked close enough to pork shoulder. This has turned out to be an expensive dinner party.

On the way home, I saw some fancy mini doughnuts at the Sala Daeng BTS station, and picked up a couple for me & Roman. Once I'd showered (it's hot again here) and taken some headache pills, we sat down and shared our doughnuts. And then Roman pulled out his hidden package of the little glazed doughnut holes he bought for us on Rama IV Road! It was a delightful, serendipitous treat extravaganza.

Then I put on my TCS polo shirt and made and submitted my welcome video.

So silly

In the afternoon, I drank some newly fermented mango kombucha and made the caramel custards for tomorrow. I didn't caramelize the sugar for long enough (turns out it's really hard to tell when brown sugar is caramelized and not burnt) and I used the vanilla flavoring I bought at the baking store and when I sampled what I made, it tasted a little like...artificially flavored puddings. Dang it!

We headed out for dinner later than usual (all those doughnuts might have dampened our hunger) and headed out toward Rama IV Road as the sun was setting and the lizards were starting to come out.

We picked up some stir-fries—Roman got pad krapow moo, and I got pickled bamboo shoots with pork. We took everything home to eat dinner at our table for one of the last times before we move house.