Living in Bangkok

I've been staying pretty close to home these days. Roman leaves around 7:30am for work and I usually go out just a little after he does—it's the best time to walk, explore, or buy groceries, since the heat of the day hasn't really set in yet. Monitor lizard, crows Yesterday I took the metro to Chinatown and spent the morning wandering up and down the narrow alleys, looking at the fresh greens, the still-cold whole fish for sale, the dried squid, and the endless shops selling umbrellas and wigs and masks and plastic kitchenware. I picked up some P ortuguese egg tarts and Taiwanese sponge cakes from two different bakeries . W hen I got home, I found myself feeling a little low about the prospect of starting regular work. It seemed like kind of a ridiculous thing to feel down about, seeing as Roman just started his job but I don't start mine until June 1. If anything, I ought to be all the more aware of & grateful for my free time. But seeing Roman start th...

It looks like we got the place in Nana! Our agent—Plair—talked to the owners, and they agreed to drop the monthly rent to 17,000 baht, include free WiFi, do a deep cleaning of the place, and replace the funky old couch cushions! We're pretty thrilled. The process is going a little slowly since the owner is in the US and we're still figuring out the best way to pay our deposit but...we should be all set to move in May 30. In other news, Roman has started his job, and restaurants are slowly reopening! Eating inside ! Due to Covid, there won't be any students at Roman's school until at least June 1, but since his contract begins May 17, he still has to go in every day from 8am to 3:30pm to...lesson plan? Which mostly means sitting around and chatting with the other foreign teachers? It's silly that they're making him go into the school for that, but he's glad to be getting a paycheck. And they provide free lunch! I'm still figu...

Is anyone else a liiiiittle surprised I'm still updating this blog so frequently? I feel like once this second lockdown started, the blog has sort of been serving a similar purpose as it did during quarantine—it gives me something to do and a way to collect my thoughts. Also, I suppose all these events—struggles at Immigration, cooking adventures, the apartment search—are engaging enough to me (not to mention all those meals ). But I know it's not exactly the kind of thing a person would usually start a blog over. But I keep thinking I'll cut down to one or two blog entries a week and then it seems I still have so much to say ! I'm gonna report on the last few days in snippets, though... Visas : Friday morning we headed out to Immigration to get an extension on Roman's visa, and he had to pay an extra 1,000 baht for overstaying his visa by two days! Our visas were good through May 18, but the stamp we received on entry was through May 12, and t...

Wednesday was another hot day, so we left the house early to pick up some produce for the evening's dinner at the market off of Suan Phlu. Does anyone else feel I've done an inordinate amount of planning and shopping for a fairly simple meal for four people? A view of Soi Suan Phlu through the trees A neighbor's chow chow keeping an eye on us We picked up some lunch on the way home, and after doing a little cooking and a little packing and a little Facetiming, we sat down to eat—Roman got fried chicken and sticky rice, and I got stir-fried kale with crispy pork and a fried egg. In the afternoon, I got to cooking. I started by making a caramel sauce for the custards I made yesterday. As I mentioned, I didn't caramelize the brown sugar for long enough and I used artificial vanilla flavoring in the custards, and so they tasted a little flat and fakey to me. As a result , on my first try at the caramel sauce, I over-corrected for my mistake by caramelizing t...

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 ...