the return

Ai ai ai, almost three weeks and no updating. This is the result of traveling on two planes, in three cars, two trains, several buses, and hitting five cities, four homes, and one hotel while 8 1/2 months pregnant in that same three weeks. But it has been fun.

Our departure from Bangkok was relatively relaxed, all things considered. The last couple of weeks of school were very quiet. I marked exams, wrote report cards, and cleaned up my classroom. The end-of-year show focused on the Kindergarden graduation, so I didn't have to rehearse anything with my kids. I did, however, have to threaten to punch them soundly if they didn't sing louder during their one musical number - that tune that has the lines 'Can you imagine / A piece of the universe / More fit for princes and kings?' I told them all that I was throwing caution to the wind. I was leaving the school for good in mere days; what would the Principal do if I punched them? Fire me? I don't think they took the threat seriously, but they did sing louder.

We had a great end-of-year party for the grade 4s and 5s. The grade 4 TA came up with all kinds of crazy party games that had the kids going wild. There was tag-team run-'n-eat, partnered balloon stomping, and a giant potluck buffet. The kids all wanted more chicken nuggets, while us dumb teachers chowed down on the spicy stir fried fish, bamboo canes stuffed with sticky rice, shrimp, and fourteen kinds of fruit. On the last couple of days of school, I received a bunch of gifts for Ji and the to-be new baby. The school's manager (and Mum of one of my students) gave Ji a super awesome Superman shirt and funky hip hop pants and gave me about 8 teeny tiny wee suits for the baby. The school also very, very kindly put together a photo album and autograph book for Ji and I and held a party for me and the other departing teachers. So: a nice way to leave. Heh heh, not at all like that time back after I graduated and wrote a 'what the hell is wrong with this workplace' report when I left a job...

One pretty great and very unexpected event occurred before we left Bangkok, and that was that Trung came to visit us for 3 days. He hadn't known how quickly we were heading off and had thought he'd have plenty of time to see us later on, but when he found out just a week and a half before our departure that we were off to Canada and then India, he hopped on a flight to come to see us. Three cheers for Trung! Unfortunately, by the time he arrived, our household belongings consisted of a bowl, a mug, a plastic spoon, no blankets or sheets, and a very small number of pillowcaseless pillows. And to top it all off, the guest bed was piled high with all the stuff to go to Delhi. So....our dear friend made himself comfortable on the couch and made do with lots of take out food. Claire and Hugo Gia were in France on summer holiday, so he was a footloose and fancy free bachelor -- of course he ended up at Pantip "Soul Sucking Computer Madness" Plaza. He and Claire have opened up a kind of fun school in Hanoi offering after school classes to primary kids, and they've got a computer lab, so he picked up a gross of blinking multicoloured mice. Goovy. I stayed away from Pantip and retained my sanity.

On the Saturday of our departure we got up before the crack of dawn and all three of us went to the airport together despite the fact that Trung's flight didn't leave until after lunch. He figured he'd kick back a few coffees and go for a massage. Meanwhile, we hopped onto our lovely Thai airways flight to Tokyo. Mmmmarvelous. The plane was about 1/10 full, so we promptly went to the back and stretched out for naps on 4-seater sections. When we got to Narita, we zipped off our plane, got our boarding passes, grabbed some origami rice triangles, and boarded our Air Canada flight to Toronto. Now, I have to say, one of the worst things that you can feel compelled to do is to complain about an organization that a dear relative works for, and for whom said relative toils endlessly and tirelessly and cheerfully. But complain I must. We got on the flight and went to our assigned seats. The flight was very full, so I was extremely happy I had booked our bulkhead seats long in advance. I'd requested them when I'd telephoned in my booking to the Air Canada office in Bangkok THREE MONTHS earlier, I'd gotten assurances that we had them when I'd paid for the tickets ONE MONTH earlier, I'd been told by the ticketing agent in Tokyo just HALF AN HOUR earlier that we had bulkhead seats. And so of course you can imagine I was a mite surprised when it turned out that we had middle seats behind the bulkhead seats. There's me, 8 months pregnant, trapped without an exit behind a grumpy family, just waiting for them to put their seats down and render me into a pancake. I was MAD. I talked to one hostess who was of the bugger-all-help variety and was so mad that I walked away from her while she was still talking. We finally appealed to the In-Charge for help, and she managed things extremely wisely. Calmed me down. Told me what steps she was taking to improve my situation. Listened to my complaints. Encouraged me very politely to pass on my complaints when I arrived in Toronto. We took off without having settled things, but I felt much better after gently going through her settle-down steps. Luckily, she found two incredibly kind people who were willing to move their seats (one got another bulkhead, the other got a seat with an empty one beside her) and we got the best seats in the house. So, in the end, once more, the flight attendants manage to deal with an irate customer and make them happy. Good job, In-Charge.

When we arrived in Toronto I was a little fried, but thrilled to see Ji, Mum, Dad, and Phet's aunts waiting for us. Ji yapped away endlessly to me while the aunts searched for 40 minutes for their van. I was kind of hallucinating but happy nonetheless.

Since then, we've had a great time in Canada. We enjoyed a few days in Toronto and then headed up for the long weekend to the countryside. So fantastic to be in our very own house with our very own stuff, for our son to be able to catch his very own frogs, and for Phet to chill out in his very own shed. Tara, Anne, Paul, and Pheuy also joined us up in the country and were stellar guests (Pheuy drove us up 'n down, and Tara, Anne, and Paul brought up enough booze to last us through an unexpected nuclear winter). We succeeded in installing the ou, the Lao hanging cradle Phet and Ji had bought in Pakse, and felt 100% ready for the baby's arrival directly afterwards. Photos and story of the ou's purchase will come one day, but we are currently cursing Canon for once again not properly fixing our digital camera and leaving us pictureless for the past month. BOO CANON.

When we got back from Howdy-howdy-howdenvale, we sped off on the train to Ottawa so Phet could work for a week. Hanging off his coat-tails we enjoyed an awesome suite complete with not one but TWO tvs, TWO bathrooms, TWO giant beds, EIGHTEEN THOUSAND pillows, and a kitchenette. Awww, yeahhhh... Over the course of the week Ji and I went to the Kid's Museum and the Museum of Civilization, the Museum of Nature (where we smelled moose pee, cool!), the Mint (Ji being such a capitalist these days it seemed appropriate), and the Art Gallery. We walked for hours and hours and hours. Phet's Mom always told me that knocked up ladies ought to walk alot and it seemed to help when I was pregnant with Ji, so I've been doing me very bestest. It is deeeelightful to be back in a country where you can walk and not sweat buckets. It's even better to be in a country where you can walk, not sweat buckets, AND wear a sweater. There was only one day (and I am not exaggerating in the slightest) when I could do that in Bangkok over the past year, and even then the sweater was a bit of a stretch.

Before I head off (and fear not, the postings will be much more frequent now), my favourite line from Ji in the past couple of weeks:

"Mum, I farted."

"Ok, Ji, what do you say?"

"Peeeyuuuu!"

[Toronto-18-August-2006]