Sorry for not blogging as much

Wow, I realized I haven't posted for an entire week, so I thought I'd better write a little something to stay updated - I certainly don't want my blog to die!

On the 24th (last Sunday) I had a free workshop by the educational company I used to purchase my course material for the Real Estate licensing requirements. They put on a free workshop to help you pass the state exam in the hopes of using them again in the future for the further education requirements needed in the years to come to keep your license current. A good move, IMO, and good business practice.

The workshop was almost all day long at a hotel near the Oakland airport and I WALKED home because the time it ended was during Aidan's naptime and Golf had dropped me off in the morning. It was more than 5 miles to get home! I still like challenging myself like that and I should walk a long distance like that at least once a week, but I just don't get that chance - or I should say I don't make the opportunity to do it. I felt good when I got home, but a little bit stiff. My usual walks with Aidan are between 2.5 and 3 miles.

So the way I've been spending my days since summer vacation started is waking up by 5:45, studying between 6-7 AM, then studying during Aidan's 2 1/2 hour naps during the afternoon. I should be good to go by the 9th. This is why I haven't been blogging much - I've been studying!

I'm not putting much effort in finding work until after my exam. I've got one company with potential that I was wary of earlier, but with further investigating I learned that they are OK, so I will attempt a 2nd interview with them after the 9th. If I can get on with this company, then I'll go forward with finding a duplex. Golf just got another big job in too, so it's a relief to get extra funds in the bank because we all know how expensive moving is with the deposit required on the new place, current rent on our apartment, and rent for the new place. We also need to pay for some helpers to move our larger furniture into the moving truck and pay for the truck too. So many expenses! I'll be glad to get it all done and overwith.

Exam date is set!

Not a lot has been going on since I last posted. School is now out for the summer. I had one final big week of substitute teaching the week before final exams and last week were finals, so I never needed to go in to sub.

I've been actively looking for work in Sacramento, but have not gotten any bites yet. In the meantime, I've got a few more chapters left in my book, and then I have a workshop in Oakland to ensure a pass on the state real estate salesperson license exam. I signed up online today for my state exam and it's set for July 9 at 1 PM. Shortly after that, I hope we can start looking for a place to live in Sac.

Transition is not easy, but it is necessary for growth.

Job plans and a long term goal

I got my resume all spiffied up and looking great. My plan is to start sending it to companies by this Wednesday. I went to a presentation for one company referred to me last Friday but it ended up sounding more like a MLM company, although the premise of it is something I am quite enthusiastic about: Building your wealth so that you're financially free and stable by retirement age and NOT dependent upon the government. Social Security is simply going to bankrupt long before Generation Xers and later retire, so plan on having nothing from the government and do what you will today to prepare.

Anyway, I was disappointed that this company seemed more like Amway in the end, but the good news is that jobs in the real estate industry are in high demand, probably because of high competition. So I'm looking right now and the plan is to find a job, THEN a place to live so I don't have to commute. Since living in Bangkok where my school was always a short walk away, I got spoiled with having no commute. Even where I live now the school where I substitute teach most often is a short 10 minute drive away on surface streets. Never again -- esp. with the price of gas. I want to find a place to live that is close by my office and I also plan to sign up with that school disctrict to be a PT sub teacher until my earnings as a loan officer pick up.
Short term goal: to be moved back to Sacramento by July and start working at my new job.

Long term goal discussed with Golf: I hope to be able to visit Thailand within a year and a half. Aidan will be about 3 1/2 and hopefully more manageable. He's sure got the TERRIBLE two's and I can't imagine having to deal with him on a 19 hour flight to BKK. Ugh.

Ninja Warrior - Real Estate Agent

While at Mom and Dad's they introduced us to this Japanese game show called Ninja Warrior where contestants come from all walks of life. Obstacle courses challenge Olympic gold metalists! Stage one is where most of the weeding out of contestents is done and where it's funniest. They all dress up in their work uniforms, this guy being a real estate agent...

Ninja Warrior: Makoto Nagano

This is the only person to have made Total Victory through all the obstacle courses, out of 2,400 people over the years! At the time of this video, Makoto was 34 years old and a fisherman. He practiced all his moves on his boat.

This video doesn't have the subtitles, it's straight from Japan, but you don't need them.

Nagano should be a movie star, he's really handsome on top of being very ninja-like! Be amazed at his physical prowess...

Aidan's Birthday Pictures

May 22, 2007 Aidan's 2nd birthday!

It was so difficult to choose just a few photos because they're all so cute! That's a mother's dilemma always... I had to weed out the best out of hundreds and hundreds that are on our digital camera because it's time to send them out to print.

I made him a yellow cake with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting. I used a 60% cocoa Ghirardelli chocolate bar in this frosting. It turned out really good!




Aidan even knows how to blow out his own candle!

Of course his birthday cake tastes really good.

Then he got his favorite gift from Daddy - a noisy helicopter! At first he was leery of it, as you can see from the picture, but after a few minutes he LOVED it. Anything mechanical, this boy loves.


He also got a Thomas the Tank Engine blanket, Elmo sandals, 2 tank tops and a pair of shorts. His Aunt got him a Target gift card and I plan to get him some new shoes (already grown out of his old ones within a few months!) a booster chair since he now hates his high chair, and a training potty. If there is any money left, I will get him some more learning toys.

Happy Birthday Baby!

My little baby turned 2 years old yesterday! How time has flown by.
We were at my parents' house and they have such a slow connection, I thought I'd wait to blog about it today instead. Aidan has entered his terrible twos, though. I mean in the last week and a half or so, his attitude has gotten explosive and he gets very upset fairly often.

Here we go -- the full ride into toddler tantrums and Class-A fits. When we went on a nice day outing the day before his birthday, he squalled for nearly a solid hour. Looking back in retrospect, it was more because he was so tired from the day before due to no nap. How were we to know, though?

He's so smart and very interested in any type of mechanical device, engine, vehicle, boat or aircraft. If it has an engine he's into it. Show him a horse or a cow or a bird and he'll make the animal noise for it and then that's it. His daddy got him a battery-operated helicopter and he can't put it down!

Language-wise, Aidan isn't speaking a whole lot of real words yet, but he's trying to repeat words when you ask him to, whether it's in Thai or English. He understands both languages well and my goal is to enroll him in an elementary school that offers Chinese language classes too. There's no reason this boy can't be tri-lingual. He can repeat the (English) alphabet when I go through the letters one by one, but still has trouble with C, K, F, H, J, S, W, X and Z. One cute thing: when he repeats the letter Q, he touches his eyebrow, and eyebrow in Thai sounds like the letter Q. So cute!

I plan to get him some ABC books and maybe some shapes books and some GOOD crayons with a gift card my Aunt sent to him for his birthday. My goal is to teach him his alphabet, colors, shapes and numbers by this time next year. Let's see what I can do with him! I just finished a book called Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers--and How You Can Too and found it to be very interesting, despite a few negative reviews. For me and our family, a slightly watered down version of the concepts outlined in this book should be healthy for Aidan as he learns. I'm not going to be some academic dictator or a "helicopter parent" as it goes completely different than my and Golf's easy going personalities.

Anyway, Aidan's birthday photos are coming either tonight or tomorrow - or by the end of the week if I'm swamped since I have to substitute teach tomorrow.

Daddy's little boy

Aidan has really taken to his daddy the last week and a half or so. A big part of that is because Golf is a bit of a kid himself, so he LOOOVES to play with Aidan. They play all sorts of physical games together and Golf is much more animated than I am in his facial expressions, words and actions. I'm a lot more mellow - and Golf is opposite - he's very high energy.

Golf's also recruited his son in his love for Ultraman, especially the new Mobius. If you're unfamiliar with Ultraman (and my readers in Thailand certainly ARE familiar) Ultraman is a Japanese superhero. Golf grew up with the show and LOVES, to this day, Ultraman. He brought over many Thai dubbed older versions of the show and watches them with Aidan and Aidan loves it. Aidan has a couple of Japanese super hero tee-shirts from Ultraman, Masked Rider and Gundam. He got them before Aidan was born and that baby's just now beginning to fit them - talk about planning ahead! It's kind of cool that Aidan's the only kid on the playground with a cool Japanese superhero tee shirt on - I've always loved things that are not mass market normal, and it the USA, Ultraman is unique. Go to Thailand, he's everywhere!


So what I'm good at is reading books to Aidan and going on walks and taking him to the park, but it still doesn't feel very good when Aidan throws a tantrum when Daddy leaves the room and he's left with Mommy to entertain him. I know it's a phase and if anything Golf's getting back some good feelings he lost when Aidan was very small and ONLY wanted me and screamed and cried when Golf went anywhere near him. That was tough for Golf, so now I'm glad that this bond is growing very strong. I do love my guys.

Subbed for a class of beginning English learners

I substitute taught at the local high school for the first time last Thursday, Friday and today. I used to think that high school wouldn't be my thing, since I've only taught younger kids, but these last three days were fun!

It was a class of beginning English learners, most of them Chinese students. There was one Mongolian girl, two Korean, two or three (I can't remember) Japanese, three from Honduras and one Thai girl. I got to speak with the Thai student quite a bit (in Thai) and it also made some of the other students curious about learning some simple Thai phrases. I learned a little about her life: that she'd been in the US for about a year and she was living with her mom, Auntie and step-dad. I asked if her step-father was a farang and she said yes (fortunately most Thais don't mind nosy questions, so I asked away!) She had also said she was from the Issan area, and that tipped me off to ask if her step dad was farang, too. Her English was pretty good.

Actually, for beginners, these kids did pretty darn good. They'd easily be intermediate level in Thailand, but here they must speak English a lot more. Like my Thai student, since she was the only Thai she had to speak English with her Korean and Chinese friends - and likewise with them.

It was a pleasureable way to spend three days (and get paid too!)

Doh!

Golf and I had a meeting with a mortgage broker today, to talk about investing in real estate and planning for our future. I told her I was also studying to get my real estate broker's license and she said that I don't need my broker's license, just my salesperson's license! Oh my god, and here I've been studing EVERY DAY for the last 3 1/2 months!!! Luckily I chose the cheapest course material, which set me back just over $300 instead of the $400+ price tags I'd seen for the same course.

The salesperson's license is only one course and under $12o. I can take and pass the exam relatively easily, and heck, I can even apply for a brokering position as I'm getting my license. I may start job hunting the last week of May.

I officially know Thai better than French

At the park today I met a grandmother with her grandson and when I started chatting with her, she said she only spoke French (en franciais, bien sur!). I studied French for about 4 years in community college back in the late 80s and early 90s in addition to the two years required in high school. It was my dream to become fluent in another language, because in my opinion, that was the mark of a truly educated person. Trouble was, I never created an opportunity for myself to study abroad in an immersion program, and once my studies finished, I no longer practiced French.

Then I spend nearly 4 years in Thailand, and marry a Thai man and hear spoken Thai every day. Although Thai, in my opinion, is infinately more difficult to learn than one of the romance languages, I've been around it more intensely in recent years.

So I chatted with this grandmere francaise, and my brain kept getting French and Thai words mixed up, making it difficult to speak to her. It was amusing but frustrating and I tried to tell her what was going on. I'm glad I had an opportunity to speak French today, and even though I could not speak it very well, when she spoke to me, I understood 90% of what she said.

Another exam finished!

I completed my Real Estate Economics final exam yesterday and passed it! When I started that text, I was dreading it, thinking it was going to be excruciatingly boring, but in fact it was quite the opposite! Sometimes I couldn't wait to pick it up to continue my reading. I'm very pleased to know that a profession I've chosen to pursue is interesting to me, for it's a sign that I'm sure to do well. How I wish I was interested in business and economics 10 years ago, my career choices would be very different and if you had told me even 5 years ago that I'd find economics interesting, I'd have laughed! Funny how people change...

Now I've begun the law course and I've approached it with even more dread, but I want to get it done and who knows, I hope to be surprised with this text as well. I've scheduled myself to finish the day before Aidan's birthday on the 22nd.

Our Third Year & Sushi

On this date in 2004, Golf and I were married in Bangkok and then had our wedding reception at Reflections Restarurant near the Ari Skytrain Station. Below are some pictures from our wedding day! We loved the look of the restaurant, which is now more famous for its themed hotel rooms, which were under construction when we went there.

But today we celebrated with sushi from Safeway and a nice bottle of Robert Mondavi white wine. We don't have anybody to watch Aidan for the evening, so we stayed home, which is fine. We'll get to go out when he's older... Golf also bought me a lovely bouquet of flowers! I have the bestest husband and I'm such a lucky gal!

Some of the sushi we got was of the cooked variety so Aidan could try some. We got him some of the eel kind and some of the crab kind and HE LIKED IT! I'm so proud of my baby, eating sushi before he's even two. What a cosmopolitan kiddo! :)

Not much to blog about lately

Not much going on, yet the days are always so packed that the weeks just fly by. Aidan and I have our routine on the days I don't substitute teach (which I have the last few days).

Mornings after breakfast is the powerwalk and playtime at the park. We get back by noon.
Lunchtime at noon.
Playtime after that.
Between 2 and 2:30 he goes down for his nap.
Time for me to study my real estate texts!
I do indulge in Oprah at 4 PM while also making a wake up snack for Aidan - I know once I start working I won't get to watch anymore.
5 PM make dinner
Play and watch the news til 7:30
7:30 naked baby time and/or bath time
7:45 jammie time
8 milk time
8:30 bed time
after 8:30 I study more or if a special show is on I'll watch it. I don't watch much TV at night cause nothing's on
This schedule does not take into account the various chores I need to do such as folding laundry, grocery shopping, washing dishes or cleaning the apartment. I ususally do cleaning and laundry when Aidan's napping and catch up on my studies at night. Grocery shopping I do with him in the morning instead of going to the park. On weekends we like to go with Golf to the flea market in the morning! We're going to go tomorrow.

Cultural Similarities

We just got back from spending the weekend in Sacramento visiting my sister and bro-in-law. Golf mainly wanted to check out the flea markets there to put his mind to rest when we move that he'll have some good sources for eBay sales.

The main place we went to was Denio's market. If you look at the first photo on the far right when the page loads, you'll see what looks like a smaller American version of Chatuchak market in Bangkok. The permanent flea markets we've been to, such as Denio's and one at the Coliseum in Oakland remind Golf and me of the markets in Thailand. The stuff they sell, like cheap clothing - tables of socks, bras, jeans, shirts - toiletries, bedding is the same. The mannequins here though have bigger booties for the Hispanic population. :) Here there are many used tools and car stereo accessories. Popular Hispanic snacks are sold and there are also food vendors selling tacos and tamales. We like getting this sweet bread when we go to share with Aidan. At Denios, there's even a big pet section, just like at Chatuchak too! The flea markets draw in many Asian and Hispanic vendors and buyers, and I think that has a big influence on what is sold and the whole vibe of the place.

In the permanent flea market set ups, there is a big section for fresh produce and when you walk inside and it's just like walking into a Thai market. Only difference is that fresh meat is not sold because of health regulations. I love, love, love shopping at these flea markets for so many of my needs including food. It's such a good deal and I love being amongst a mix of different cultures and the vendor personalities that Golf runs across is amusing: They are their own bosses, so they can be as rude or as nice as they want to be and you get a wide range of personalities to deal with. Most are rather eccentric too. I guess you would be by nature if you make a living at the flea market.

So in our observances, we've noticed how similar Hispanic culture is to Thai in how we've seen the kinds of things offered for sale. Tables full of music CDs, cell phones and accessories, DVDs, used books, cheap clothing, shoes. The bedding looks almost the same and Hispanics seem to also like the big overstuffed furniture, the same sorts of home decor from clocks to rugs. I'm telling ya, you walk through any of these markets here and it's the same stuff in Thailand, only a different language. Same Same but Different as they say in Thailand. And sometimes I'll see a Mexican teenager standing on a street corner with a bucket of flowers to sell to motorists. In Thailand you'll see them selling newspapers or jasmine garlands for the rearview mirror. It's uncanny how similar it all is and here they are half a world away. Makes me feel wonderful about how similar we human beings are.

We DID get to go!!!

My wish came true and our family did get to go to the Thai temple yesterday for the Songkran festival. As I mentioned before, we had planned to go on Saturday but got rained out and Golf wanted to go the flea market on Sunday morning.

Well, we got an early start yesterday and we finished at the market just before 11 AM and decided to go for it and made the 1/2 hour drive to the temple. As predicted, it was packed with people who also didn't come on Saturday.

As Golf parked the car a mile away and take the shuttle, Aidan and I went onto the grounds and watched traditional Thai dancing. Unfortunately by the time Golf arrived, they had finished. That was at noon and since there was no more dancing, the only thing left to do for most people was line up for the food and the queue was SOOOO long. We decided to make merit in the temple instead, so we went inside and Aidan was such a good boy as we lit incense and made our wishes. The monks were chanting blessings and flicking the holy water with the grass brushes over the packed hall of laypeople who were also there giving prayers and offerings. I felt so good involving Aidan in these rituals. We're establishing these traditions within him right now.

We decided to line up for food, it went quickly and they do it just like in Thailand: You buy tokens - one token per dollar (in Thailand you actually get tickets of different denominations, one, five or ten baht). You then exchange the token for the food for whatever it costs. At the end of your meal, you exchange the remainder of your tokens for your money back.

An old acquaintance of ours was there as we were waiting and we went to their table. The couple was a Thai lady named Bok and her American husband. We met them in Bangkok when Bok was 5 months pregnant with her first baby and Golf and I had been newly married for about a month. Bok now had 2 children, and it was neat seeing her first born daughter who was going on 2 1/2. Her little one was a cutie pie too, a year younger than Aidan.

It was nice catching up with them and meeting their friends, who are also very casual acquaintances of Golf's - his former boss, Benjawan, who authored the Thai language learning books, knows all these folks. The exposure to the Thai language was very good for Aidan and he made hearts melt as he waied "Sawatdee" to everyone. What a great day!

Once we got home, I took my final exam for real estate appraisal and passed that too. Two books down, six more to go. I'm beginning the real estate economics book today, and believe it or not, it looks quite interesting.

A disappointing day

Today and tomorrow the Thais here in America celebrate Songkran, the Thai New Year. We were SOOOO looking forward to going to the Thai Temple in Fremont to make merit, see the dancing, listen to music and eat delicious food. It's so important for us to expose Aidan to his Thai side as often as we can.

However, today it was POURING down rain and tomorrow Golf wants to get to the flea market since the last two weeks have been replaced with a traveling carnival. Well, if we see that the carnival is there again, then we'll head on down to Fremont because it's supposed to be nicer tomorrow.

Now in Thailand, I'd huddle inside my apartment all day long because the water festival there is serious sanook (or fun). Not. You'll be drenched the moment you step out your door. Farangs (white foreigners) are especially targets. Look for some pictures and a description from this blog here.

So Sawatdii Pii Mai (Happy New Year!)

Money or Stress

I made a choice yesterday. A choice that I had mulled over for nearly a day and came to the conclusion that a particular job I took was not worth the stress it involved and therefore not worth the money.

Thursday before last, I took a substitute job that payed more than triple what I make a day in my current school district. This job payed more because the teachers were on strike over their contracts. I needed the money and went in, never being near a picketing protest in my whole life. Needless to say, they pay you more because the experience was very unpleasant.

The strike went on the next day but I was already teaching at another school in my present district. I had heard on the news that the teachers on strike that day even accosted a sub. Umm... I thought these were educated "upstanding" members of society, not factory workers... My opinion of the whole union process went down the tubes. In this freemarket society, there is such demand for good teachers and if they aren't getting the benefits or salary they want, get out! Go to a non-unionized school. If enough of them leave it would certainly shake things up and change would happen in their favor.

The negotiations were supposed to go on over spring break, which ends tomorrow, and I was called on Thursday to come in again on Monday. I had said yes, but after thinking it over and talking with Golf, I decided not to. I don't want my already tarnished opinion to get any worse, nor do I want to put myself into a potentially dangerous position, so I called back yesterday and said I couldn't do it. I'm disappointed in not getting such good pay, but the price is too high in this case.

I believe in surrouding myself in positive energy, and not knowingly entering hostile environments.

Dodging raccoons

Well I did it. I woke up this morning at 4:45 AM and went on my very brisk power walk. I think I will walk this route, which is 3.2 miles or so, for the next week before taking on a longer route. Or I might just stick with this one since it took me 20 minutes longer to complete than I expected.

I discovered I LOVE early mornings! No wonder spiritual scholars such as monks wake up every day very early. It's SOOO quiet and very peaceful. The birds are just starting to chirp at about 5 AM, but still quite dark. As a matter a fact, I was barreling down the sidewalk and a huge raccoon walked out from behind a tree. We both startled each other!

My goal is to do this every other morning. Wish me luck!

ALSO - Happy Birthday to my sister Alise. Love ya!

Trying out a new exercise routine

I've had the last 10 pounds clinging to my butt for nearly a year now and I'm tired of it. Tomorrow I'm going to start a new strategy.

Fitness experts say that to get rid of the last few pounds, you need to amp up your aerobic workout, and while I walk with Aidan briskly nearly every day, it's just not intense enough. I'm going to go on my real powerwalk tomorrow morning. While I already wake up at 5:30 AM every day to do my meditation and have some alone computer time, I now need to wake up at 4:45 AM 4 days a week to get my meditation in and my 3 1/2 mile powerwalk. I think I can get it done in about 40 minutes.

So tomorrow I'll wake up that early and see how long it takes me from the time I start to the time I get back. This time has to take into account my meditation and changing my clothes. I should hopefully be back by 6:30, which is the time Aidan has been waking up lately. The earlier he wakes up, the earlier I have to wake up.

I need to get into this habit now because once I begin working outside the home, the early early morning will be my only time to get in my exercise.

On the yoga front, my back is still not 100% well yet, so I'm not going to attempt yoga until possibly this coming Friday, when I will go back to that class. I will also notify the instructor of my injury and we can modify poses. It's been almost a month since I hurt myself and I don't ever want to sprain my back again!!!