chinese new year

It's 11:17pm, so I've got less than 45 minutes to finish things up before the new year begins. I've tidied my classroom, I've tidied my house, I've framed some pictures, I've done 3 loads of laundry, and I've planned next week's lessons. Right: ready for the new year. Phet and I are sitting side by side on our laptops, on our matching desks (as Emma could tell you, the desks are actually vanity thingies with mirrors, so we are sitting looking at ourselves type, how cool), listening to LED ZEPPLIN. Nothing says Happy Chinese New Year like a little Physical Graffiti, huh?

So the visit with Claire and Trung and Hugo Gia was nice. It was a little tough at the outset because I had finally been brung down with illness just before they arrived. I think it was some offshoot of Ji's respiratory infection, and I had a wicked sore throat, headache, achiness, blah feeling, but no cough or sneezing or anything like that. So I was a little weary, but put up a pretty good show and got the house all cleaned up and prepared for them. Even bought extra flip flops! Ji and I went out to the airport to pick them (ie T & C, not the flip flops) up on the Saturday morning and had no trouble meeting up and happily catching up during our looong cab ride home.

Hugo Gia is A-DOR-A-BLE. He's got a super sweet little face, very red and cute lips, and he is built like a brick. I kid you not, he is a SOLID boy. He's not at all fat, but he's got sturdy legs and is not afraid of anything. I was pretty terrified on a frequent basis by his penchant for jumping off things like the bed, the stools, the couch, etc. He was also a climber, like Emma used to be. You name it, he climbed it. Last night we were out and he was toodling around a coffee shop -- I'd followed him for awhile, and then we sort of sat down, and Hugo Gia pulled on a shelf filled with OLD BRASS COFFEE CANISTERS and while the whole shelf wobbled in the end only one heavy canister fell down and (as Claire and Phet sprinted to Hugo Gia) conked H G on the head. Oi gioi oi.

In my own parenting news: today Ji went like, freaky. He has, I think, suddenly figured out that he can (try to) lie! Uh oh! This afternoon I was sitting with him doing some work while he did some writing and homework and so on, and we got out a big pack of crayons so that he could choose which colours he wanted. Anyways, then he worked some more, and I went to clean up in the kitchen, and I came back after awhile and showed him how to put away the crayons, which took a loooong time, of course. So he sat putting them away while I was doing the laundry, and then I came back and was like "JI, did you COLOUR on the TABLE?" Yes, of course he had and he admitted it, but then when I went to clean up the rest of the crayons a bunch were missing.

I asked Ji where they were, had he put them somewhere and he said yes, but then didn't seem to know where. I was worried they might be down the toilet or something, and looked ALL over for them. No luck. Ji looked under the couch, in the bathroom, etc. I was like, "What is going on Ji, did you put them somewhere??" We eventually found them in the craft box and it seems perhaps that he put them there to hide them because he was going to get in trouble, but it wasn't really clear because he seemed quite oblivious as to where they might be. Also, this evening he got in BIG TROUBLE because while we were having our nice new year's eve dinner, he was snuggling Phet and then nestled in and BIT him!!! It was really strange. I think he's going through early adolescence or something.

***

Ok, it is now Thursday at 4:54 pm. I got interrupted by Ji, who'd been bitten by a rotten mosquito about 6 times! We had to go on the Tet offensive to destroy the evil interloper. Then it was midnight and we burned some fake paper money for any gods that might have been looking down on us. Then we had to get Ji back to bed. Then it was the next day. Ah well, it's coming along now!

Back to Trung and Claire's visit...

We had an awesome time at SAFARI WORLD. Y'know, we'd always joked about African Lion Safari, but it turns out that that type of place is pretty cool. Mind you, we'd decided that we'd just go to the small downtown zoo, left the house, grabbed a cab and said, please take us to the Dusit Zoo, and the cabbie said (in Thai), oh no, it's too small, you should go to Safari world, it's only 20 minutes away. Claire had said the same thing, so Trung and I gave in rather than stick to our homebody type ways and we went to SAFARI WORLD. It's just about a half hour out in the 'burbs, and it was neat to go out of our usual area. Bangkok is pretty amazing -- there's always something interesting down the road.

At SAFARI WORLD we got tickets to both the safari and the water world and then went to check out when the bus would take us on the safari tour. It was leaving in 15 min, so we went to look around and saw a BABY TIGER that Claire later bottle-fed. We fortified ourselves with iced coffee and sliced fruits (yay, Thai fast food) and then got on the bus. It was great -- empty, huge windows, and a nice, slow driver. We got to see a whole herd of giraffes, some lackadaisical lions and tigers, a bunch of ibexes, loads of birds, a couple of cute-faced bears, displaying peacocks, rhinos, and SO MUCH MORE. I liked it alot, and the boys were thrilled and cackled and hooted and hollered throughout the ride.

After the safari, we had a super yummy lunch at the food area -- all decked out like a garden, with funky hanging fake flowers, and these super mist-dispensers to keep patrons cool. Then it was off to the water show - sort of a watered down (har har) marineworld, with a bunch of dolphins and a few tricky beluga whales. Apparently there are also polar bears and seals, but somehow we missed them. The real highlight of the water world, however, was this massive group of Indian tourists (maybe living in Bangkok, it wasn't clear)...the waterworld DJ spun some wicked Indian tunes prior to the show and EVERY GUY in the group got up and danced like crazy in the audience section. It was the best ever! Ji and Hugo Gia were, of course, suitably impressed.

On the way home we had the misfortune to get picked up by (as Ji put it) a taxi that dated back to when the dinosaurs were around. All our heads touched the roof, it was so small. Various bits of the car were absent or in the process of falling off (ie, door handles, window handles, molding, etc). I was surprised when the driver stopped for gas cause I figured that he'd been peddalling a la Fred Flinstone. Niiiiice to get into a Jurassic car when you've been walking in 36 degree weather with a 2 year old and a 3 year old for four hours. Ahhhh, so little air con! I swear, I felt grosser when we got out than when we got in... Still, it made my shower feel ridiculously great.

With Trung and Claire we also did some shopping -- took Claire to the Tesco for kiddie clothes before New Year's and we got Ji and H G those matching rooster suits. Very apropos for two cocky boys. Trung headed off to the evil Pantip Plaza, home to every computer shiller in Bangkok, and cursed by wives everywhere. Claire was taken too, and lucky H G, but fortunately I escaped with Ji to school. They came back with stuff like a wee mp3 player for Claire, some unknown stuff for Trung, and a kiddie mouse for H G. Ji later got a basketball mouse when Phet and Trung went back to Pantip later in the week. I think that computer shopping for men is like shoe shopping for ladies. Like, the partner just keeps thinking FOR GOD'S SAKE JUST BUY THE DAMN THINGS AND LET'S GO, but oh no, the shopper must fondle every item in every store and talk to every salesperson before making a decision. Good lord.

School before new year's was busy but not bad. My kids were practicing their songs lots, and our workload was pretty low key. Also, with all the kerfuffle around the immigration business, I ended up having Emma back to help me out, and also with another Thai teacher who I quite like named Nan in the class, so what with 3 teachers and 12 kids we kept things pretty cool. My guys were doing some neato nature stuff - we went and picked up leaves and then they made crafts and boats with them, and then we were also doing prep for new year's.

The big show was on Friday, and Ji wore his new suit and I wore my fancy hanoi shirt from Emma so we looked great if I do say so myself. The school looked awesome -- all kinds of decorations everywhere, even hanging from the school yard trees! There were tents and a stage set up and all the lion dancers were getting ready while we fixed the girls' hair and got them gussied up and the boys ran wild. The show went very well. It was pretty damn hot, but the kids managed just fine. Ji was NUTS, though. First, he picked his nose in the audience. Then, when his class went up on stage, he kept trying to touch the mic (which they'd let him do in a dress rehearsal, dumb them), then when he couldn't touch the mic he got mad and kicked a column decorating the stage (!!!), and then he sang and danced a little, but the whole time he did so he kind of wandered around in his own personal haze while the others stayed in strict military formation.

Oh dear.

So, it's all on video, I intend to show you all when we are back in town, or if I can copy it onto video. You will kill yourselves laughing GARAWNTEED.

My kids were all PERFECTLY well behaved and delightful -- they are cheery performers and really got into things. After the show we chowed down on free food, and Claire and Trung brought H G to see the lion dancing - which was spectacular. Then H G went to terrify us by climbing on the big kids' playground and freaking out when we wouldn't let him climb over the giant rope contraption 7 feet off the ground, wah wah.

That night we went out to eat at Thong Lor (1 subway stop away). I'd seen a tasty looking collection of street sellers (ok, food looked tasty, not the sellers) and we tried a yummy mix of pork-leg-n-egg and chicken-rice. However, it was right on Sukhumvit and the smog from the traffic was gross, so next time it'll be take out. Then we tried to grab a cab to the airport, but it took ages as it was Friday night. Finally we found a guy who'd take us, and we all went out to greet Phet. Trickily, we all hid when P exited, and then jumped out just as his face was falling and he seemed to be thinking no one had come to get him. Heh heh, what fun!

The rest of the visit with T & C was nice -- I felt better (went to see the doctor finally who basically said I looked like I was just about recovered from whatever I'd had) which was great. Claire and I went to the weekend market and I picked up some great wooden picture frames, a beautiful wooden tray, and a wooden kleenex dispenser with my FIRST PAYCHECK, whoo hoo. For dinner we met up with C's friends from Hanoi, Celine and Manu, and we went for nice Japanese food that Ji devoured.

I think on Sunday we went to see the HILARIOUS Kung Fu Hustle. Ji, Phet, Trung and I practically fell out of our chairs we laughed so hard. See it if you can!!

On Monday we headed over to Chinatown with other friends, T's boss from Hanoi and his wife, a nice Finnish couple. It was super as it was 2 nights before new year's and the streets were HOPPING. We had a monster seafood dinner at our favourite place, and then walked around and discovered a stupendous market on one side soi. It was amazing, just incredible. Shop after shop of roasted chicken, duck, pork, fresh fish for new year's, incense-seller, table after table of puffy new year's cakes, shops filled with people sitting and making fish balls out of huge buckets of fish paste, sparkly gift shops, tea pot shops, dried fruit shops, everything. Lucky money packet shops! Somehow, despite the 1 metre wide laneway, Trung managed to press through with H G in the stroller - a herculean success that I applaud with great admiration.

Tuesday we said goodbye to the Nguyen family and then rested up a bit, and then went out for the aforementioned biting-incident dinner. Yesterday was pretty low key...in the morning we treated ourselves to tooth cleaning at the hospital and then had falafel and kebab for lunch. After Ji's nap we went over to our neighbour's for a birthday party!! Yes, we are getting to know our neighbours!! Hurrah. It's so much better than Villa Putri. The family across from us is from Bangalore, and very nice. They have a daughter named Anegka who turned 6, and a wee baby son. The party was all ladies and babies, so Phet left and went out for noodles, but Ji had a great time hanging out and playing with all the kids. In the evening we watched Wimbledon on vcd, and that was about it. Today was grocery shopping, dropping by school, and farewells to Phet, and calls to the aunts to wish them happy new year. [Bangkok-10-February-2005]