A New Beginning
A lot has happened since our last posts: new apartment, new jobs, new moped, new foods - and I wouldn't change a piece of it. The move to Min Buri hasn't been all sunshine and daisies, but it's been very entertaining change.Min Buri is one of the sub districts (suburbs) of Bangkok. According to the 2017 census, the population is about 141,750. It is officially the largest city I've ever lived in. The best way I can describe Min Buri is the suburb you drive through in order to get to the wealthier suburbs further out or to get into the city.
It's the Hopkins to Minnesota's St. Louis Park and Minneapolis.
Sorry, people of Hopkins.
But it's a perfectly fine place to live. The best part is the location. We're perfectly out of Bangkok proper that it isn't swarming with people. However, there is always something to do and it's only a 45-60 minute drive to get into the city. It's the perfect weekend adventure to go in, have a few drinks, get a pizza, and come back.
We'll start with the new list above and in order:
New Apartment
We made a post earlier, but our new apartment is still adorable. Somehow the floor is filthy all the time. Both Manders and I lose so much hair. Don't ever get pale floors. It's a disaster. I wish I had a Roomba constantly running in here. But that's the only downside to the apartment.
The biggest change in the apartment (other than price) is the constant attention to putting things where they belong. Living in a space this small means that everything needs a place and everything needs to be in that place or the whole apartment looks small and dirty. Due to this, both Amanda and I have gotten very good about putting things back immediately and doing the most WILD CHORE I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD LOVE: making the bed.
Yes, mother. You're reading this correctly. We make the bed every day. We got decorative pillows and a duvet - the whole place really looks top notch.
New Jobs
Amanda and I both started at new jobs. I've been there for three weeks and Amanda has been at hers for 5.Amanda teaches a 5th grade homeroom and 4th, 5th, and 6th grade Science, English, and Phonics at Sarasas Witaed Nimitmai school about 10km from our apartments. It takes about 20 minutes to drive to her school in the morning.
Two weeks after Amanda started at her job, I started at mine. I'm at an elementary school called Ek Burapa. It's less than 2km from our apartment, but including dropping Amanda off in the morning, my commute is a little over 35 minutes long.
As the semester is coming to a close, we're both wrapping up semesters with kids we're just meeting. I'm doing an international course (that the Thai teachers keep shortening to "inter-course" which just kills all of the English teachers) at EBS. It's a special (and very expensive) two week program where there are only English classes (no Thai language classes) and very small class sizes.
I currently have a class of 11 children.
The oldest one is three years and five months.
That's right.
I'm teaching babies.
They can't even do algebra.
Heck, some of them can't count on their fingers in English.
Yet, here I am teaching them. And their nicknames are glorious:
- See U
- Kao Kao
- Wachi
- Meechum
- IQ
- Ink
- Abby
- System
- Gainny
- Preme
- Owner
I'm fond of some of them. I'm not going to lie, I'm enjoying this age group. The days are long and I come home absolutely exhausted, but it's not emotionally taxing. The kids are genuinely sweet and the exhausting part is keeping up with them.
They.
Have.
So.
Much.
Energy.
Here for your daily dose of adorable are my tiny humans:
Perfect. Follows instructions to a fault. Flawless child.
Ink: Refuses to sit anywhere but my lap. Does not like to dance. Has remembered every English word I've taught so far in class.
Terrified of lions. Scrunches her face up adorably when she makes a joke.
Most outspoken English speaking boy in the class, but he only ever seems to say "teacher look".
Minor troublemaker and toy stealer but also a people pleaser. Very loud.
Very quiet. Cannot pronounce the hard "c" sound like in "cat". So he thinks his name is I-U.
The phrase "herding cats" was created to describe trying to get this girl anywhere to do anything.
He really likes to punch me in the butt, but he's so stinking cute that it's hard to be mad. I call him "Ling" because he's a little monkey.
Probably un-diagnosed autism. He has clear and concise grammar and speaking skills but will only speak when asked a direct question. He's picked up on all my sign language.
Definite toy stealer. Cannot sing but she can certainly scream all the words. She has the most involved mother of any of my kids and her mother's English is much better than hers. Also, her mom has pink hair. She seems pretty cool.
Literally looks like a Pinterest ad for children's fashion every day. Very cute. Loves to dance. Her grandmother drops her off every morning and I love both of them. I call her Babbing Gabbing Abbinggail because she talks all the time. System's mother thought this was hilarious.
New Moped
We got a fancy new bike. And I mean NEW bike. It's GLORIOUS. It's a red, Honda Click with hardly any kms on her!
She gets decent mileage, but she can go fast! I've gotten her up to 135km/hr on the highway because I'm renting the whole speedometer - not just part of it! Don't worry. We always wear our helmets and I don't drive nearly so fast when Amanda is on the back.
The bike has a small compartment under the seat that allows us to put a decent amount of shopping under us before taking off! An interesting thing about mopeds: you need to refill the tires about once a week. It's very obvious when the tires go below 25psi (they're supposed to be around 36psi). It's odd how much I don't miss driving a car - the only times I miss it is during the rain. Come rain or shine, this bike is definitely the most convenient way to avoid Bangkok traffic.
New Foods
This is probably my favorite part of living abroad: the food.Moving to a bigger city opened up a whole new world of food we didn't have access to in Nong Khai. Don't get me wrong, that food will forever hold some nostalgia. It is delicious and a very different cuisine than southern Thailand. Don't worry though, chicken feet curry is still alive and well in southern Thailand as well.
About seven kms up the road from us is a very large shopping complex called Fashion Island. It's somewhere known in Thailand for good shopping. It's like a mini Mall of America. However, the best part of it is a five story complex next door that is entirely food! You imagine it, it's there! Last weekend, we got Mexican! It was shockingly accurate!
We got a delightful plateful of tacos, quesadillas, and horchata!
Another fun discovery was thanks to our new friend, Olivia. She, and another girl, brought us to Soho Pizza where we got a New York style pizza!
NEW YORK STYLE PIZZA.
It was just as good as you'd imagine. We got the vegetarian (because I'm a big believer that the best pizza is made without meat). It was covered in mushrooms, garlic sauce, lemon zest, and mozzarella cheese! Amanda, like a champion, carried that pizza box (it was a full meter wide!) on the back of the motorbike the full 40 minutes home while I wove between traffic. It was so wide that when we passed between rows of cars, Amanda held the box over our heads and out of danger!
Anyway, Amanda is giving me a look that means it's time to go to bed and now I'm very hungry.
I'll tell you all about our local food markets another day.
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