Living in Bangkok

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...

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...