Living in Bangkok

On Friday I went swimming in our pool and it was amazing! They opened the pool on Wednesday and I planned to go swimming on Thursday, but that was the day I ended up working from home and didn't have time. So on Friday, after I finished working from home a bit ( grrr ) and before we went out for duck dinner with Sean and Emma (more on that later), I went down for a swim. And oh, hot and smoggy Bangkok looks so much nicer from a cool swimming pool! I also just can't believe we have a pool in our building ! I realize it's pretty standard for an apartment at our price point ($535/month for a 2-bedroom) but it's still pretty astonishing to me. Anyway, I'll stop because this might be getting annoying/coming off as too braggy. So, Roman and I have been looking for a nice crispy duck since we arrived in Bangkok. Even though duck is common here, especially in Chinatown, the skin is usually not served crispy at all. We figured if wanted to ensure crispy skin, we

Well, it's been a hell of a week. I started work for real this week—that is, as real as a teaching job can be when you don't see any kids. I also only went into school from 9am to 2pm every day, which, if you have to work, are pretty great hours. (Though I still felt braindead and unfocused when I got home, even after showering & meditating, blah blah blah. It reminded me why I prefer afternoon/evening work shifts—I'm much more likely to get creative projects or even boring personal admin stuff done before a work day than after ). The folks at my school are generally all very sweet and well-intentioned, but the communication and organization has been pretty lousy. I know that a part of this is due to Covid—they haven't had to implement projects like this before, so there is no standard format for how things should be done. But, still. I had very few assignments and they still took all week to work on...and they didn't even get complete

On Friday, I took the BTS to Silom to pick up some foodstuffs for the house. On the walk from the BTS station to Soi Silom, just around the corner from the Myanmar embassy, I saw a parked van offering photocopies, passport copies, and printing services: There was a guy in the van on a laptop: And an umbrella provided shade at the open back of the van, where a woman helped customers: I walked to Soi Prachum Market (the wet market we'd visited ages ago, when we took that cooking class), stopping to take a picture of the Indian temple, Sri Mahamariamman, that's across the street from the market. I wandered around the stalls searching (in vain, as always) for fresh pandan and fresh coconut milk (no luck on that front either). I eyed the starfruit and dragonfruit but didn't feel like carrying them the long walk to the Silom BTS, so I left empty-handed. I walked to a fancy bakery in Chong Nonsi to pick up a brioche with nutella frosting. When I met with Darren a

Life goes on in Bangkok... Black cat posing in the most picturesque spot I was supposed to go back to work this week (starting June 14) but apparently one of the cleaning people at the school got Covid, so they had us work from home. Except they never sent us any assignments, so I really just kind of had a paid holiday. Lucky me! The hot weather has also broken here as the rainy season begins. The skies are often dark but it hasn't rained all that much. But in general, at the hottest point of the day, the temperature might be 90F and “feel like 100F” and that is actually...a big improvement. So I am able to walk around quite a bit more, and don't feel like I have to either be home or in an air-conditioned mall between the hours of 10am and 5pm (being out at those hours during the hot season is unbearable partly because I still do things like walk from the BTS station to the house—and even take the longer route—whereas if I were smart like the Thais I'd

And...some photos from the weekend... Fancy meal along the river, with a view of Wat Arun: Pigeons in Ari: Eating a salted egg doughnut from Kinu: Roman checking out lights at Khlong Thom Market, aka The Flashlight Market: Eating duck at Khlong Thom Market: Chinatown cats: Chinatown street corner: Rows of vendors in Chinatown, all frying up guay tiew kua gai nai hong (rice noodles fried with chicken and egg or ก๋วยเตี๋ยวคั่วไก่นายฮ้ง): Chinatown elevator:

I went in to school on Monday, where I met all the Thai teachers who work in Pre-K and Kindergarten, then spent the rest of the day lesson planning. After that, I had the rest of the week off, to go to Immigration with Roman, buy a few more things for the house out at Chatuchak, wander around in Chinatown, take my phone in to the Apple store to get it repaired, and eat plenty of street food. Here are some photos I took! Roman eating pandan-filled mini pancakes: An iguana at the garden store: A little frog hopping around on Soi Sukhumvit 4 (our street) A view of Khlong Saen Saep: Larb moo with khao neow and raw vegetables & basil: I got this from a street cart in one of the only places nearby that has a strictly local/non-commercial vibe. This is the third time I've had larb from a cart or stall that doesn't specialize in Northern food and, unfortunately, has led me to conclude I should only get larb from an Isaan establishment. It was ok