The Kids

I am often asked how the kids are doing. Well, here you go – the good, bad and the ugly.   Overall, I think the kids are doing well. One fabulous thing is that the kids have all been healthy!  Perhaps it was pessimistic of me, but I admit to thinking they would probably get sick in the first month or two. I am very glad they haven’t been. Jet lag was pretty brutal for the first few days (shushing kids in a hotel is not my idea of fun), but then they got into a good day/night routine and have been sleeping well since.

They do miss their friends and their usual summer routine. The other day my oldest said to me, “Mom, I don’t mean to complain, but this summer is kind of lame.”  When you’re 11 and you love your friends, it’s hard to be without them! We moved away only 3 days after school let out, and he didn’t get the summer to play with friends, go to Scout Camp, organize Summer Club, etc. like he always has. We did get to go visit grandparents for 2 weeks, so that was definitely the highlight for him. He has been able to use our MagicJack phone to call friends and the internet to play the online version of Minecraft. So maybe all is not lost… 

There aren’t many kids in the hotel, or what we’ve seen of the city so far. We see a few at the pool or breakfast, but never the same ones. We met a family with 4 boys at church, so we played with them most every day while they were  here for a week. They just moved to Nichada where we will be going, so we will see them again soon.  And of course, the kids can play well together with each other when they so choose.  

They were excited when our air shipment arrived (about a week after we did). We were allowed 6 large boxes of stuff, some of which contained contigency items should our container not arrive before we needed to move in to the house. Each child was reunited with some favorite toys and books. It was like Christmas morning! Dad got his desktop and printer and Mom got some familiar kitchen items. Side note in defense of the boy pictured here – the Barbie is not his…

Since we will be in this hotel for a little over a month, we wanted to make it feel as much like home as possible. We brought some family photos and a couple other small decorations/pictures. We were finally able to unpack the clothes into the closets. The books and toys have a place to go, in a bin and/or behind closed doors. I rearranged the kitchen to make more available counter space. Ahhh…  And after just saying there was space to keep things put away, you can ignore the mess in that photo

 

We brought a lot of books, which may seem like overkill. But with a couple hardcore readers, I must say it has been awesome having all of them handy.  I know “stuff” is not the solve-all but familiarity goes a long way at the moment. We even went to an English-language used book store down the road and they each got a new one.

 

The kids are not as adventurous or anxious to get to know their new surroundings as I thought they would be, though. Really – we moved half way around the world and you don’t want to go explore a new country? I suppose it will take time for them to adjust, and they’ve been through a lot of change the last couple months. Perhaps they are simply hanging on to anything familiar – which in this case is the known quantity called the hotel room. :) It is like pulling teeth to get them geared up to go anywhere. More on our outings later…. Once we get there they usually admit how fun and cool it is, so I suppose that’s good. If only they’d just remember that Mom and Dad are always right!

The kids know how to say “Sawatdiika” or “Sawatdiikrap” – which is a greeting or a farewell, as well as “Kop Khun Ka/Krap ,” which is thank you. It’s especially adorable to hear the 4 year old say it, and everyone here thinks so too. They all want to see his blue eyes. Here’s a picture of those crazy-long eyelashes that go with them.

They are excited about their new school, which they got to tour a couple weeks ago. We will switch from being Kohrville Coyotes to being ISB Panthers. For some reason they think it’s funny to go from a dog to a cat. The admissions office gave them each a small stuffed black panther to keep. The school looks great, and I am hopeful it will be as awesome as everyone says it is.

We’ve had a lot of family togetherness time, which is great in a lot of ways. It’s hard to remember that when they’re at each others’ throats and my energy is spent. But I think it’s natural in situations like this that the kids get along really well some times and fight other times. I hope in the long run, they will have fond memories of this time and that we will grow closer together.