life on ekkamai

Our day starts early. I get up at 5:40, do the dishes, make coffee and cocoa, eat breakfast, and then get the boys up. Ji drinks his cocoa, but we call it Milo. I used to buy him Milo until I realized that it is chock full o' palm oil. I explained to Ji that palm oil will clog his arteries but he maintains that he has special powers that make him impervious to the perils of trans-fatty acids. He refuses to stop drinking Milo and states outright that he hates cocoa. So, being a Mom and all, and capable of lying for the greater good now (as opposed to pre-motherhood lying, which was usually embarked upon for sneaky and underhanded reasons), I buy 100% palm oil-free cocoa, mix it up daily, and call it Milo.

Then we shower. Ji loves showering with Phet because Phet plays slippery baby with him. Slippery baby is a super game, in which the "baby" is lathered up with puffs of soap bubbles, picked up, and then dangerously allowed to slip down, down, down until saved by his rescuer. Ji can pretty much shower on his own and towel himeself off, but he's a lazy bugger about getting dressed. We still usually help him get his clothes on, but then he's on his own for teeth and hair brushing, getting his school bag ready, and putting on his shoes. Once we're all set, we head down our soi:

At the end of our soi is a wee stall, where a very kind and cheery couple sell all sorts of tasty treats. The stall lady greets Ji every morning with a big smile:

Ji's favourite thing to eat is the fried fish, but while it is fantastically delcious it's too bony and messy for school days. We make him wait until the weekend to enjoy it. Phet, of course, is a pork-aholic. Released from the confines of halal Malaysia, he has been able to indulge in all varieties of pork products. Red pork with noodles. Sour raw pork roll-ups. Curried pork. Pork-leg-n-egg. Pork rinds. Bacon. Sausages. And pork chops. Because pork chops taste goooood. Ji usually eats some sticky rice and grilled pork chop, but he also likes to buy grilled toast with butter and sugar from the happy toast man.

Laden with food, we carry on to catch our cab. We live at Soi 2, and our school is at Soi 14. In the mornings there are always plenty of taxis. It costs about a dollar for us to get school, and another couple of dollars for Phet to cross the city and get to his office. Here's our school. It's a bit of a cloudy day, so it looks a little dull, but the grounds are nice. Our classrooms are on the first floor, and the primary kids, the library, and the computer room are up on the second floor. There are immense teak trees in the playground, and right now the pink hibiscous are in raucous bloom. There are teeny tiny long-beaked yellow and black birds that flutter around the hibiscus. They're like hummingbirds, but maybe a little smaller. You can also just see the flag here in front of the school. We all stand out for the anthem at 7:20 am every day:

Although the anthem is at 7:20, the kindergarden kids don't start studying until 8:00. So usually I have three or four early-risers, and the rest come at 8:00 or a bit after that. I let Ji hang out in my classroom until our lessons officially start. Ji harasses all the big kids, but he also makes them laugh with his love of dress up and complete lack of inhibitions. Ji and I share the same lunchtime, so we eat together. On Fridays after lunch Ji gets to go swimming with his buddies. While I have lunch, my kids have Chinese class for an hour. Then they come to the canteen and I pass around food, squeeze out ketchup, dole out fruit, and try to encourage polite, casual conversation. Today at lunch I was taking photos of the kids. I took two or three before I turned to Student Z. He looked like he had rice on his chin. I thought that was kind of funny, so I laughed and took a picture:

Oops. He had barfed all down his shirt. BAD teacher. Once I realized my error I grabbed the nurse and managed to avoid the puke. Poor kid. What, with a teacher like me, who needs enemies?

I do try to pay attention to the kids, though, usually. Honest! I was just all befuddled with excitement because I was learning how to use the new camera.

After school, Ji and I usually walk home, but on Fridays I bring home all our swimming gear and a whack of books, so we took a cab today. At home we chilled out. Ji put on his super suit and we played good guy and bad guy. When Phet got home he went to work out, and then invented his own superhero. With a ragged towel clothes-pegged onto a tank top, and with a green silk tie wrapped around his head, Phet had become BEER LAO MAN.

We're currently chilling out. Beer Lao Man and Super Ji (aka Joe Diamond) are chowing down on order-in pizza and watching Elf. And outside on Ekkamai, it looks a little something like this:

[Bangkok-10-June-2005]