going to ko samet 

10 hours or more!

My little bean is needing LOTS of rest. Let me start from the VEEERY beginning...
Last night Golf and I walked down to my bank to transfer a deposit to our landlord to pay the rent. (9,000 baht = $225 per month!) and of course the ATM was out of service. I HATE that bank and on Monday I am going to see about transferring a vast majority of my savings into my Bangkok Bank account. This one I have that sucks is the one the school uses to deposit our salaries, so I had no choice but to open an account with them.

So then we stop at this northeaster (Isaan-style) Thai food cafe where we order dinner. Golf always orders so much food. I used to eat only one entree with rice for dinner before we got married. Now between the both of us we eat 4!!! I try to make it so he eats more of it, but when it's sitting in front of my face, I pick at it even when I'm bursting full. I told him this later on as we waddled out of the cafe. I said I don't want to be fat, and I'm seriously worried and need his support. I mean Isaan food isn't particularily fattening, but too much food is too much food and I need to be moderate, especially now!

We get back home, groaning the whole walk back, and I take my shower. We planned to watch the Dodgeball DVD at about 7:30, since we both know I konk out at about 9 PM most nights. Well, it wasn't even 8 PM when I started nodding off on the couch. I couldn't believe it when Golf took me to bed at 8:00 and I actually fell fast asleep! I woke up this morning at 6, my usual time for getting up on a weekday. But I got 10 hours of sleep already, so I didn't try to go back to sleep. Instead, I went online. So that's it. Baby needs all my energy already! :)

Father's Day in Thailand

Today Father's Day was celebrated at school with a show this morning. It was very nice, but some part of the ceremony involved a long period of standing and I almost started feeling dizzy because I had just stood for awhile during the flag ceremony and prayers just beforehand, so I had to sneak a chair during that part. So the best news is that the 5th of December is the King's actualy birthdate, hence Father's Day. And since that falls on a Sunday, we get to have Monday off. So YEAH for a 3 day weekend! And that's not all. A week from today, Friday the 10th, is also another Holiday. National Day, I think.

So on Saturday Golf and I will meet a friend of his who will be returning to San Fancisco next week. We plan to go into a part of town where they will have it decorated for the King's birthday. They have it decorated all beautifully and lit up like you wouldn't believe. We'd like to go to get some photos, because this is our last December here in Thailand. (woo hoo!) and want to get some shots of that beautiful area.

Hormones going ballistic

Gee, I don't know if this belongs in my pregnancy journal or here.... my hormonal rages have finally caught up with me. I was feeling alright my first trimester, but this trimester -- probably for the last week and a half or so -- I am irritated, mostly here at work, but never at home or with my husband. My heart is NOT in my job anymore. I do still enjoy actual classroom time with my kids, but I do get irritated with them easier too. I don't scream and make them feel bad, but my patience is shorter. With admin and everything else though, I'm like a pressure cooker. I keep it all inside, cause I don't want to be a raging bitch. I feel all this raging hormone stuff but I keep it to myself. I miss my own country more because a source of a big part of this irritation is simply stuff that is the Thai way. And it's not BAD, it's just irritating for me right now. Who knows how I'd feel or what would irritate me if I was back home anyway.... I'm sure lotsa stuff! :) I guess this is why I spend so much time cloistered in my apartment, not wanting to go out much... because it is my sanctuary and my wonderful husband is a source of comfort.

Feelin' hot hot HOT!

Well, last week a typhoon blew in from the China Sea and cooled off Thailand real good, and it felt wonderful! However, the last few days have heated up again and it's getting weary. Here it is the first of December and we have no cooler weather. I really thought that this time of year would be easier on my pregnancy, but I am mistaken. I'd love to get out and powerwalk more, but it's just too hot, even at 6 PM. Bleh!

But last night we went out to a nice Japanese restaurant around the corner. The only frustrating part was that I was planning to take birthday boy out, but when I went to two ATMs to withdraw some cash, there were communication errors with both and I didn't have enough money in my wallet to pay for dinner. So Golf ended up paying for his lovely birthday dinner. I said I'd pay for my birthday dinner in return. :) He said, don't be silly! Anyway... it was still nice.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my dear, sweet husband's 37th birthday. So tonight I'm going to take him out to a nice dinner to a restaurant of his choice. Last weekend I bought him his birthday present, some really good quality earphones. He's so pleased! Happy Birthday Tii Rak!

Monday Madness

It's now time for Monday Madness!

1. How did you choose a name for your blog? I thought that "A Little Peek Inside" is just that, a tiny little look into my life for those who wish to.
2. How many times have you changed the name of your blog? None, I like it!
3. How many blogs to you update regularly? One. This one.
4. How many times have you moved in your life? Maybe about 10 total, first three being before the age of 5, so I don't remember the move.
5. On a scale of 1-10, how stressful is moving (in your opinion)? 7, especially if your new home is on the other side of the planet!
6. When moving, do you/would you rent a moving van/truck? Most of the time yes. These two times I have moved to Thailand it's been the airplane that serves as my moving truck. My whole life packed up in a big suitcase, one box, a carryon luggage and laptop. It's gonna be worse moving BACK next year with a husband and baby. We'll have to cargo ship some stuff ahead of time.
7. Do you wear glasses? No, I've been extremely lucky and have good eyesight. (Knock wood)
8. What one question would you hope someone running a meme, would ask? What's one more thing during your lifetime you would like to learn how to do well? (For me it would be gourmet cooking.)

Sunday Brunch on Monday

Had a relaxing weekend and now that I have a few minutes this morning, I will do my Sunday Brunch.

"George Washington had a vision for this country. Was it three days ofuninterrupted shopping?" -Jeff Melvoin, Northern Exposure
1) Do you enjoy shopping at the mall? Yes. I like to go browsing at places I don't normally buy a lot of stuff, either.
2) What is your favorite mall food? In Thailand, I like any western food or I go to the cheap food court. In the States, it would be Fresh Choice salad bar!
3) What are your three favorite “mall” stores? In the USA: Pottery Barn (good thing, cause I worked there for two years!) Victoria's Secret, and Old Navy.
4) What is your favorite mall? Well, if you want to go for beauty, I like the San Francisco Shopping Center. In Thailand, they're all like 3-ring circuses, although Gaysorn Plaza is very she-she. It's a little too hospital-like though because it's all white.
5) Do you have one special person that you enjoy going to the mall withthe most? Well that would be my husband, of course!

Day after Loy Kratong

Last night was a fun night. The parents of one of my students invited me and Golf to their riverside weekend home (la!) for a Loy Kratong party and for their daughter's 8th birthday party. They also have a boy in first grade, so Kylie, my G1 Colleague, came with her husband and 2 year old daughter. It was lovely and so much fun. The dad is from Lebanon, and SOOO nice. He's been living in Thailand for 30 years, since he was 15 years old. His family came here and he and his brothers stayed on. He went to college here, and has a great career and of course, speaks fluent Thai. His brother owns this Lebanese restaurant in town and so the food that night was not only Thai, but Lebanese. Needless to say I didn't touch any Thai food. I ate hummus wiht pita, this gorgeous garlic paste, which had the same consistency of the hummus, pita bread, stuffed grape leaves, this pastry stuffed with spinach and this fried hushpuppy like ball stuffed with spiced meat and pine nuts. Oh it was heavenly! I also indulged in a glass of wine, which I paid dearly for this morning. Baby did not want that! So it won't happen again til after the birth. Sorry baby!

So their house is acutally more of a retreat like place. It's very small with only one bedroom, but very cute with a traditional old ceramic tile roof. They have a boardwalk that leads out to the river and there's a gazebo sitting area right on the water where we sat and ate and drank. Boats went by, firecrackers went off at the neighbors... and at nightfall we lit our kratongs, which are made out of flowers and shaped banana leaves all stuck around a round floater, usually made out of the cross section of a banana tree stump. I made one in Ayuthaya with my Thai friend, A, last year. There's incense and a candle you light before setting it in the water and you make a wish before floating it. It is a really nice tradition, and we all had a fantastic time.

We got back around 9:30 last night, but it may as well been 1:30 with how tired I was! Pregnancy really wears you out! So today we are taking it easy, just hanging around the house.

Happy Turkey Day!

Well, it's Thursday already here in Thailand and I'm sitting here at work, just another weekday in Thailand. Right now I'm listening to a Thanksgiving special on the internet radio, my favorite station out of San Francisco. It's the only dose of Thaksgiving I'm going to get this year besides the emails from friends and family. I plan to call my parents tomorrow very early in the morning, which will be late afternoon on Thanksgiving Day. <>
Next year we will be back in the States, will a cute little tax deduction to introduce our holiday rituals to. I'm looking forward to that. This is my last year being away.

Oh! I added a new entry into my pregnancy journal. It's the start of my second trimester today -- I'm officially at four months!

A/C is not working

I was just sitting here contemplating what to write in my blog today -- not a whole lot going on with work in full swing and no interesting things to report. Hmmm. Well, I guess I could tell you that our air conditioner is on the blitz -- it still burps out cold air, but it makes a real racket doing it, and that makes it impossible to use at night. Night before last, we had the fan on us and the bedroom window open, but the noise from the street, namely the loud motorcycles and barking dogs make it impossible. It's actually not that hot at night anymore. There's a typhoon coming in from China, and it's just cooled everything down here nicely. Thank God, I don't know how I would have handled it if it were both hot AND noisy! I was able to sleep after we shut the bedroom window, but kept the living room window open. Sorry it ain't so riveting today, maybe next time! Oh, and we should have it fixed within the week. It feels like an eternity!

Thai censorship

I just don't understand. In the movies that come to Thailand, mostly from the USA, the Thai government censors. You'll see a blur over a cigarette being sucked on, a breast, drinking alcohol and any kind of drug use. Alright, I accept that, in this country there is no freedom of expression in the arts. This is not the United States, afterall. However, last night I was watching the Thai news with Golf at 7:30 PM. We had just finished dinner and were still sitting at the table. Then it shows a bus that had crashed and run over a car. It showed the mangled car beneath and an arm and leg sticking out. It had close-ups. It had different angles. And I can't believe they show this kind of stuff on prime time news when children are awake! The scenes made me feel sick to my stomach. No wonder Thais seem to have much less a sense of value for life.

Sunday Brunch part 2

Yeah, I felt like answering both parts today because I also fly on airplanes!
"Flying may not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price." -Amelia Earhart
1) Do you enjoy flying by air? Yes, I like it very much, it's exciting! I don't like the really long hours in one position, so I try to get an aisle seat so I can get up and walk around easily.
2) Do you typically check a bag when you fly or carry on? Check a bag.
3) Has an airline ever lost your bag? Describe what happened and if you were compensated by the airline. No, knock on wood, I have always been very lucky.
4) Do you eat the airline food? Yes. It's alright! But then I'm not a picky eater either!
5) What do you do to pass the time when you fly? Watch the on-board movies or read magazines or books.

Sunday Brunch on Monday

I got my Sunday Brunch a little late, but hey, it's a BIG time difference, so I don't mind a bit!

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
1) How do you cook your turkey? (Stuffing, spices, cooking bag, etcetera) My mother always did the stuffed roasted turkey -- I always helped her too. Next year, when I'm back home for Thanksgiving, I want to talk her into trying the brining method, where you soak the turkey for 24 hours in this salty, spice infused brine before roasting. I've been told it's VERY delicious.
2) What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? Pumpkin cheesecake! Regular pumpkin pie is a close second and a close third is my mother's homemade apple pie.
3) What are you doing this year for Thanksgiving? Not a thing, since I live in Thailand.
:( I'm saving the feasting this year for Christmas.
4) Do you have any family traditions at Thanksgiving? No, not really. I always help mom in the kitchen at about 7 or 7:30 AM, we watch Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I go on a powerwalk with my sister BEFORE dinner. We eat dinner between 1 or 2, and then my dad watches football on TV while the rest of us nap. The evening is ususally card or board games.
5) What one dish does it just not feel like Thanksgiving without besides turkey? My mother's traditional homemade cornbread southern-style stuffing. We make the cornbread baked in an iron skillet the night before, then slice it into cubes the next morning for the stuffing. It is so delicious and I miss it!

So Happy it's Saturday

Yay, it's my favorite day of the week. Today we're meeting with my former colleague, Haviva, in town today for lunch at an Israeli restaurant that serves really great pita bread, hummus and babaganouch. I might get a schwerma, and I know Golf loves those too, so I think he'll get that too.

It will be an interesting visit, finding out all the goings-on at my former school. One thing she filled me in on is that my former employer is not letting anybody have a Christmas vacation. In the two years I worked there, we had one week off, with Christmas at the beginning of the holiday and New Year's Day at the end. Well, since Christmas is on a Saturday this time around, she's making people come into work M-F and I think they will get New Year's Day off, but that's it. And she thinks she can keep foreign teachers this way? None of the other schools are doing that, mine included. I'm SO glad I'm no longer employed there!

So, speaking of Christmas, a number of us foreign teachers will be around on Christmas day, since the last day of work is that Friday, Christmas Eve. We would really like to go out on the town and find a really nice restaurant that serves all the traditional Christmas fare and I'd really be into finding a British pub or restaurant to sample what the British eat every year. Mmmmm what wonderful comfort food! Golf is a great sport and is enthusiastic about joining us. Maybe if I'm around one of the pubs around there, and I will be today, I will pop in and ask about it. I'm willing to splurge a little for this little taste of home.

OK, one last thing, about the tastes of home: My colleage the other day, made homemade goulash and she gave me a bunch of it to take home. It tastes alot like beef stew and that's something I had been craving. Ohhh it was heavenly! I thought it was just SO nice of her to share. So to repay her kindness, I'm going to pick up some of my favorite breads for her at this fantastic bakery I go to just about every weekend. Then I'll make some of my salsa fresca and thow in a bag of tortillia chips. I told her I don't have a real kitchen and so I can't cook, but this is what I can do for an exchange. She then told me she was going to make lasagne over the weekend and might bring me some on Monday! Oh this preggo gal just can't say no! :)

With all this food talk: I'm now officially trying to be more attentive of how MUCH food I put into my mouth. I'm concerned about gaining too much weight. I eat nutritiously, but I eat too much, I think. I've gained a little too much in my first trimester, not a lot, just a little. But I want to have better control of my habits. I need to drink a big glass of water before my meals and most of all, SLOW DOWN while I eat. I feel just horrible when I'm all puffed out and bloated after dinner, and I get thirsty after all that, which makes me feel even worse in the end. So I'm trying to work on smaller meals (Golf is being more conscious about not gorging on his meals too) and just have a snack in between. I really only need just over 300 additional calories, according to the What to Expect When You're Expecting book, and I know I'm eating more than that. Writing this out feels better and makes me feel more committed to trying harder. No worries! I will NOT be starving my baby! I'm just going to eat more efficiently, as the book says. Don't eat excess food, just make sure what you do eat is very nutritionally sound.

I have less than one week before I enter my second trimester!!!!! :) :)

New Duran Duran CD

I'm in such a good mood after getting all those beautiful maternity clothes. Golf is washing them today for me while I'm at work and tomorrow I'm going to get to wear something else besides one of my two dresses to work! I'm so excited!!!

I also got Duran Duran's latest album, Astronaut. For any of you who don't know, they were my favorite band for many years when I was in junior high and high school. I just about worshipped these guys. Recently all five original members reunited and have just released their new album together. I remember that all their albums after Seven and the Ragged Tiger had been disappointing, with the exception of Simon, Nick and Roger's band Arcadia, and the album was called, So Red the Rose. That was really good. All other Duran albums without all five members were not all that great. So I had high hopes for their new release and the first song, Reach Up for the Sunrise is very good. The rest of the songs all sort of blended into each other but I have only heard this CD one time, last night. I guess I cannot expect that they will sound as they did in the 80s. They are different people now after 20 years. I am a different person after 20 years too. Technology and trends have changed; synthesizers are more high tech and saxophones (remember Raphael DeJesus?) are not used as often in pop. I'm sure I'll get to love this CD the more I listen to it.

My incredible sister

I want to go on public record and thank my sister, Alise, for her generosity. She has rescued this pregnant gal in the midst of a country where no clothes fit me when I'm not pregnant and any maternity clothes are hideous looking or hideously expensive. She bought me an entire maternity wardrobe of really cute, stylish clothes! It was far more than I expected, she really went all out and her sense of taste has always been very current and stylish. I am incredibly lucky to be blessed with such a supportive and loving family and my little baby will surely benefit from this. Thank you so much, ALISE!!

First prenatal class last night

Golf and I had a very nice first prenatal class at the hospital last night. Rather than post it twice, why dontcha go and read it on my pregnancy journal. :)

Going to the hospital

Don't worry, there's no trouble! In about 15 minutes, Golf and I will be leaving for the hospital for the first in a series of three classes offered to expecting couples. Tonight we're supposed to tour the hospital and, um, I kinda forgot the rest it said in the brochure. I will write about it tomorrow and also add it to my pregnancy journal. :)

Pictures, as promised!

Here we go! Photos of last night's date. Enjoy them below. Notice my new maternity dress, I think the tailor did a pretty good job. Now it's time to do my yoga!