Uncle Jimmy

Ever since I was little, my family here has called me Jimmy. Surprisingly, I enjoy this nickname, and now with 2 nephews, I'm now known as Uncle Jimmy. Its a blast spending time with Wei En and Wei Min.

While hanging out with Wei En, I've determined that I'm not going to buy any toys for my future children, but rather just give them empty bottles, cardboard boxes, and egg cartons to play with. Look at him, he's happy as a clam with my empty green tea bottle!

The last time I saw Wei Min was 2 years ago and now he's 10 years old, and riding horses! He's a great older brother to Wei En. My cousin was telling me that he buys little toys for Wei En and shares everything with him.

While at the club, I went to use the restroom and looked up and saw a sign that I think all females would appreciate in bathrooms that are shared with the opposite gender.

Thai National Anthem

This morning, I decided that I would go for a run at Lumpini Park which is a few blocks away from where my aunt and uncle live. The circuit is about 2.5 kilometers and I was about half way around, listening to my "sweat music" playlist on my Ipod Mini, when I heard some whistles and everyone around me halted. I assumed that the people near me were part of some running group that would run for a few minutes, stop for a minute and then continue. However, as I kept running, I noticed that everyone in the park was standing still looking off in the same direction.

I was unsure of what to do, but I definitely felt out of place as I was the only one still moving, weaving in and out of stationary runners/walkers, so I stopped and removed my earphones. I heard some instrumental music in the distance and noticed that it was emanating from where everyone was staring. As soon as it was over, everyone continued on with what they had been doing.

I came home and recounted to my aunt and cousin about what had happened. They proceeded to tell me that twice a day, at 8am and 6pm, they play the national anthem all over and that I should stop and pay respect or else the police would come and ticket me! Thank goodness I ceased running because there were police officers stationed throughout the park.

So this link (http://www.learningthai.com/songs/anthem.html) is to the lyrics of the Thai National Anthem, just in case you are here and need to sing along. I am going to commit this to memory so that when I'm running or in public I can show my pride for Thailand!

Let the eating festival begin...

For the past few months, I have been anticipating eating Thai food. Besides looking forward to spending time with family, I have been salivating with the thoughts of stuffing my face with delicious Thai dishes. Finally the wait is over, I got to spend the day with my family AND start chowing on various curries, noodle dishes, and so on.

Today for lunch, my aunt Nancy, cousin Suparb, and my nephew, Wai En who is almost 1 year old went to a restaurant called S&P and had several tasty dishes:

Crispy Fish

Papaya Salad

Crispy noodles (light, sweet, and oh so good)

My youngest nephew, Wei En (which means the "highest grace"), will be celebrating his 1st birthday soon, on August 18th, so I'm happy that I will be around to celebrate. He was born 2 months prematurely, but now is healthy as a horse. He's very adorable and likes to eat his shoelace.

Bangkok

My fabulous Aunt Nancy and cousin Peng met me at the newly built Suvarnabhumi Airport . From JFK to Hong Kong was about 17 hours and then another 2 hours to Bangkok. It was wonderful because on both legs of the trip, I had twofers! Two seats for the price of one!

(I have this same shirt!)

To pass the time, I watched several movies and tv shows. They showed Shrek III and Fracture, which were decent, and then I saw Disturbia, which nearly gave me a series of mini-heart attacks. Its a thriller starring hot new sensation Shia LaBeouf (whose in the upcoming new Indian Jones movie). He's under house arrest, and due to his boredom, starts spying on his neighbors. He begins to suspect that his next door neighbor is up to no good and that's when I began almost crapping my pants. There's a plethora of suspenseful/thrilling scenes. I had to look away or change the channel because I'm a wuss, but I enjoyed the movie. Plus, the Asian character in the movie is wearing a shirt that I own!!! Its a yellow polo with a dragon on the front and says Dragon Rojo on the back.

Anyhoo, the flights overall were not horrible, just lots of sitting around and eating. During the flight they had "late night" snacks, which was "CUP O NOODLES!" This is a blast from the past. Growing up, I had my fair share of dehydrated vegetables with ramen noodles in a styrofoam cup. Its a simple and very unhealthy snack, but kind of tasty.

Hello Kitty

17 hours after taking off from JFK, I'm sitting at Gate 33 in Hong Kong waiting for my flight to Bangkok, Thailand, when I came across this article in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/world/asia/07cnd-thai.html?ex=1344225600&en=e14ce1770344a664&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink


Who knew that Hello Kitty's role in our lives would drastically diverge from cute stationary to demeaning "macho" police officers in Thailand? Basically, Thai police officers are being punished for infractions, such as being tardy or littering, by wearing a hot pink arm band with the iconic Hello Kitty with 2 hearts. This punishment is "expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor. Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It’s not something macho police officers want covering their biceps.”

Seriously, is this really a punishment? I, for one, would love to wear one of these in public. In fact, I wish I had one growing up. It would have made life much easier, eh?

Apparently, this tactic is working, one of the proponents noticed that many officers are frightened. Well, I'm glad to hear that Hello Kitty is expanding her role from enticing young gals and certain lads to challenging the masculinity of police officers.

I will definitely be on the look out for any littering officers during the next 2 weeks and report them to the Hello Kitty Brigade.

My bags are packed...

Two thumbs up! I can't believe the day is finally here (Tuesday that is). I'm flying out of JFK tomorrow for Bangkok, Thailand. I'm staying with my Aunt and Uncle there and taking a 2 week crash course in Mandarin. That should be amusing. Besides having language lessons on "how I feel today and what's the weather like outside", I'm pretty psyched to hang out with my nephew and the rest of my family there.

Its kind of daunting to be going away for a year. I guess a year is not that long, but still, I can't even speak Chinese. Nevertheless, I'm excited for lies ahead.

On another note, I have been relishing in the garden that my mom has cultivated this year and its spectacular. Over the past few years, she has toiled on her hands and knees to produce glorious beauties such as these:

\