Our First Full Day in Bangkok

I woke at 0330. I got out of bed at 0400 and turned on the tv. I pulled out the book and map on Bangkok and worked on a plan of attack. Here is what I started with:

Sunday:
Visit Palace
Chatuchak Weekend Market
Lumpini Park then Suan Lum Night Market
Get BK Magazine (free at restaurants)
Buy Metro magazine (at bookstore)

Monday:
Chinatown
Chao Phraya Express Boat Tour to Bang Pa

Tuesday:
Ask if anything will be open (holiday?)
Erawan Shrine/Temple (Thai dancing)
Wat Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha)
Wat Mahathat

As it turns out, it is nice to have plans, but it is even nicer to be flexible.
We went to the Grand Palace and visited the Emerald Buddha.
We went to the Chatuchak Market and we came back via the Skytrain.

At our hotel, we tested the swimming pool, but our thin Guam blood couldn't take the unheated water. So, we dressed and went to the Night Market. When we asked for taxi service, the concierge asked us if we wanted to eat at the Seafood Market restaurant. He would give us free transport if we ate our meal there. No, we said. We'll pass.

When we got to the Night Market, we decided we needed to shop on full bellies. Searching the signs for direction to the food court, a Thai dressed in a security uniform asked us if we needed help. When we explained our problem, he said he knew just the place and led us through a parking lot away from the Night Market to the Seafood Market restaurant! Accepting it as meant to be, we enjoyed a superb meal. We walked back to the Night Market but were only able to walk through a few stalls before Gregg said he couldn't carry a sleeping Drew for the rest of the market.

Traveling to Thailand

We arrived at the Guam airport at 0515 to leave for Thailand via Manila. At 0910 Manila time, we were sitting in the Sampaguita Lounge, passing a 6-hour layover. We initially investigated the possibility of exploring Manila, especially Mall of Asia, but six hours is a lot of time to sit in an airport, but not enough to safely travel to the mall and transit Immigrations. We did not realize how smart our decision was until Thai Airlines had to hold the plane for 30 people who were still stuck in Immigrations.

A good substitute for shopping was a full-body Thai massage....this is done with clothes on.

We made it to Thailand safely and our hotel. Unfortunately, the room they assigned to us had two double beds pushed together and promised to bring in another bed. Sleeping with Anna and Drew would have been okay, but I wasn't looking forward to sleeping in the crack. We requested a move to another room.

We were so tired by this time and it was only 1930. We went ahead and ordered room service so we would all sleep well. We had to keep waking Drew to chew his food.

Judo: The Second Tournament

Drew's second judo tournament was completely different from the first. I was worried that he wouldn't be in the 42 lbs and under group. If that happened, he would be competing at the bottom of the next heavier category instead of at the top of the lower category. It's been a long time since I pulled out the bathroom scale. Fortunately, ours reads heavy (well, I guess "reading heavy" might be upsetting for some people), but Drew was well within the limits. Consequently, he displayed text-book take-downs and scored full points within seconds of his matches---barely enough time to snap photos!

Drew was so proud of his medal---he wore it for the rest of the day and took it to school to show his teacher.

Here Drew poses with his fellow weight-class competitors:

The Orphans' Thanksgiving

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

We chose to celebrate Thanksgiving with our extended Guam family---this meant a potluck on Calvo's Beach.

We discovered how scrumptious fresh coconut is and the deliciousness of fresh palm.

Now Gregg has an excuse to go to Home Depot and buy a machete...

The Marianas Yacht Club 38th Annual Challenge Day

We received an invitation to attend the Marianas Yacht Club 38th Annual Challenge Day on Sunday, November 11th.

We were able to experience kayak racing, wind-surfing, and small boat racing (Optimist, Laser, Hobie Cat) with experienced sailors by our sides.


Challenge Day also hosted the Trans-Pacific Six-Pack Race. The water craft are designed and built by the individual racing teams, composed of material of their choice so long as no parts are from actual boats. In this instance, the boats were made of empty plastic barrels. They were also propelled without the use of engines (but could use rowing, kicking, swimming or anything else).

In addition, we watched GI Joe take on Ken in a heated mini-raft race!

The MYC membership is composed of colorful characters: we met Peter Melyan, who told us he taught an accredited course on cockfighting at UOG. He regaled us with his Army stories. We could see he was in poor health; we never expected to see his obituary a short time later.

Halloween and Birthdays

Well, I was going to go as a Goth Fairy (http://www.divadestruction.com/newbandpics3.html --my inspiration), but when the needle on my sewing machine broke and I was already 20 minutes late to the party, I gave up and went as myself (sometimes that’s scary enough). I will go as the Goth Fairy next year. I have the lace lace-up gloves, the fairy wings, and the black eyeliner. The black skirt with the black lace overlay is mounded in a corner.

I did my Physical Readiness Test on 1 November, so I couldn’t really stay out late. Despite going to bed early, I still woke up almost every hour (and sometimes more frequently). You would think by now I would have sufficient faith in myself to do fine on the PRT, but the day before, I had Dr J, my favorite DO, re-align my SI joint (it was like having a toothache in my hip) and rotate the T4-L1 vertebra that was causing me right bicep pain. I think I was afraid everything was going to fall apart. A little PMS didn’t help. In case you're wondering, I scored an Outstanding Medium. I maxed the sit-ups and the push-ups; I just need to do more interval training to get my run time down.

My next big project is trying to update my CV/resume so I can moonlight as a nurse practitioner at the local express care clinic. It’s not that I have that much extra time; it’s that I need the practical experience and the clinical hours if the Navy isn’t going to give it to me.

We just celebrated Drew’s 7th birthday (my, how time flies) which consisted of a birthday cake and juice boxes at school, a visit to Planet Hollywood with complimentary cake, candle, and song for dinner, and a trip to the NEX to spend his 7 birthday dollars. He sang, “It’s the best day ever…” from the SpongeBob Movie, so I guess we did okay.

Anna has been leaving notes around the house (and on the computer), “I want a pink laptop.” I suppose it’s a good thing to be focused. Dell sells them, by the way.

I’m the mom with the thankless task of being Cookie Chair this year. We started the Cookie Kick-off yesterday with a tasting session then a visit to the PIC waterpark. Anna is very excited. Drew and Gregg will do something manly, I think, or maybe they’ll just stay home and play video games. Wait, that’s manly. Well, they actually took Drew's best friend, Cole, with them to Tarza (note that the prices on the web link are for tourists). But they were still at home playing video games when Anna and I finally made it through the front door.

I skipped judo on Friday. I get stressed when I don't do my obligations because I feel as though it may become a slippery slope---I'll find more excuses the next time to avoid going somewhere or doing something. For the past few sessions, I’ve been the only student and I’ve had to wrestle the sensei’s 10 year old son. That’s not really all that bad; he is a blue belt, I do get one-on-one correction, and I learn highly individualized moves with lots of time for drilling. However, it’s a lot more fun to throw Dr Karen around because she’s a no-holds-barred-type person and I’ve gotten choked really good on a couple of occasions (not to mention some tremendous bruises on my knees and chin and rug burn on my elbows). It's just that I’ve had a low-grade headache that hasn't gone away since the PRT. I have to admit it’s nice to be unscheduled.

Drew's First Judo Tournament

Well, Drew had his first Judo tournament and in true Guam fashion, the weekend started off packed. I had already paid for us to run the Strides for the Cure 5K at 0600 and was slated to attend the Cookie Master training at 0900 at the Girl Scout Center so Anna's troop could get the paperwork to start selling cookies. That was the same time as Drew's judo tournament and Sensei was convinced that Drew would make a good showing.

I ran through all sorts of scenarios: get a babysitter to watch Anna and Drew while I ran the 5K (yeah, right---a teenager showing up at 0515?); take Anna and Drew with me and have them wait while I run the 5K (to save Drew's energy for the tournament); or forgo the 5K. I ended up doing the latter because I didn't want to interfere with anyone's sleep even though I got up when the alarm went off at 0450 and dressed in my running gear and considered running around the neighborhood.

I sent an email to Nicole and stated I would attend the Thursday evening training instead. So that was taken care of.

Now all I had to do was keep two bickering kids from ruining the morning.

There were a lot of tears at this tournament; boys tend to be really vested in the outcomes of their endeavors. Drew wasn't. I don't know what happened to his competitive edge, but he was eliminated in the first round. I asked him about this and he said, "I thought this was just a practice warm-up."

Oh, well. There will be more tournaments where he can demonstrate his expertise.