Living in Bangkok

Things have been pretty quiet around here...Roman started working from home this week, so we've both been busy doing lesson planning and Roman has also been teaching online (my classes start Monday).  I've been making most of our meals at home, and we've mainly stayed around Nana, other than a trip to Din Daeng to pick up Roman's laptop from work (and, it turned out, to pick up coconut shakes and interesting fruit).  Here are a few photos from the last week... Special Friday morning breakfast of fresh doughnuts and coffee Buddha statue in Din Daeng Stencil in Din Daeng Dragonfruit and snake fruit (salak) At the one cart by the house that still serves meals at their outside tables Take out lunch--I had gai lan with oyster sauce and spicy green beans with pork, and Roman had fried chicken larb Caught in the rain

Well, one of the news sources I read was wrong, and the lockdown (which the Bangkok government is very pointedly not calling a lockdown) won't go into effect until Monday (tomorrow). Which means we got to have one last weekend out in the world! On Saturday, we went to the Emporium mall and Roman picked up a fancy short-sleeved dress shirt as an early birthday present to himself. We bought a couple bao buns at the mall and took them to the nearby Benchasiri Park. We sat on a bench and ate our bao and drank sodas until it started pouring rain, when we took cover and watched the local pigeons. We tried to wait for a break in the rain to hop back on the BTS, but we were not very successful at staying dry. In the afternoon, I met Emma at a temple near Chinatown, and we went wandering all around the back alleys. I asked her questions about all the food items that have been a mystery to me, she pointed out tiny hidden places to get Bhutanese and Burmese food, and we talked a...

Well, things are about to change around here...again.  On Friday afternoon, the government announced that a two-week lockdown, similar to the one they had in April 2020, will start tomorrow (Saturday) . In Bangkok and other "red zones," people are being asked to stay home, except to buy groceries and other essentials, or to visit the doctor/get the Covid vaccine. There will be a nightly curfew from 9pm to 4am. Travel between provinces is forbidden, and public transportation and groceries stores will be open for fewer hours. Whatever pools and parks and beauty parlors are currently open will close. I never thought this would happen, but the malls will close . I understand it —the number of Covid cases and deaths just keep going up and up and up here and there aren't enough vaccines available and they need to do something . But, you know, it sucks too. We just seem to be chasing the Corona virus wherever it goes! I keep reminding myself what I've tried to remem...

We had some excitement on Saturday night, though not really the kind you hope for...I went into the kitchen around 9:00pm to get some water and heard the sound of raining...coming from the inside corner of the kitchen. Water was streaming down through the cupboards above the oven, pooling on the stove and the counters, and collecting on the floor.  We immediately contacted our building manager, who called the building maintenance folks. Before we heard back from them, there was a knock on the door—our neighbor two floors below us had come up—first to the 14 th floor and then, when no one answered his knock, to us on the 15 th floor, trying to figure out the source of the leak, which was also spilling into his kitchen. Within about twenty minutes, they had stopped the leak—apparently it had started on the 22 nd floor. We spent a while getting our kitchen in order, taking out drawers and emptying them into the sink, washing silverware, and mopping up the floor. ...

How about an update on the week?  Bangkok pigeons Work was much less aggravating this week than last. All us foreign Kindergarten teachers finished our worksheets and videos by the end of the day Tuesday, and we spent all day Wednesday cutting out pictures of animals for the kids' worksheet packets. Then the school told us we could "work from home" Thursday and Friday, which really meant we got those two days off! And I got a paycheck on June 30 for the first time in many months, which means I can finally stop chipping (hacking?) away at my savings. I also took a trip to Immigration on Tuesday morning, to start the process of getting my Non-Immigrant Visa (once I get that, I can then start the process of getting my work permit). I went with Ms. Rundon from TCS, per usual, and everything seemed to go as planned...and at the end of the visit, they told us we have to return to Immigration in two weeks to get the actual documents we need. Again, per usual. My school als...