Quickly approaching the finish line

Life is going well for us as we approach the end of this great expat adventure.  It’s very busy, but it’s also graced with fun times as a family and appreciation for what our current daily life yields.  We’re staying actively involved in all the activities here (see below) and getting out “and about” to see – and appreciate – our little time left. It comes as no surprise that what we’ll miss most is the amazing people we’ve come to love here…

I leave for Houston in about 2 weeks for a 5.5 week business trip, only to return for a week or so to help move the family after school is out.  Hard to believe this adventure is coming to an end.  Feels like yesterday we were anxious about moving to the opposite side of the world and wondering what this adventure would hold.  Now, as we quickly approach the end, we prepare to leave with precious memories of our time here…memories filled with both joy and sadness that comes with living abroad.  What we’ve learned while living amongst the Thais will be some of our most precious life lessons.

So here are some photos of daily life the last few weeks.  It’s hot, it’s beautiful, and it’s been a Thairrific Time!

Beautiful trees around Nichada

Son at a scholastic competition and daughter doing what she does best – creative play!

Family date night at “ISB’s Got Talent” (which was amazing).  A wedding procession we saw on our way to church.

Trying to stay cool in the HOT summer weather in Thailand (April and May are the hottest time here).

Watching the full lunar eclipse as a family on Easter weekend

My Sunday School class from across the world…some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met.  They have a passion for truth and doing what’s right.  At the dinner table, Easter/Passover dinner with the missionaries of our area!

One of my morning bike rides around Pakkret – exploring the streets and loving the sites, smells, and smiles of the people. This has become one of my favorite activities of late – getting out among the people, smiling and talking with them, and taking it all in.

Paperwork, Notaries, and more Paperwork

Back in the saddle, again...

Yes, back to filling out form upon form for relocation services. Glad we get access to the services!...could do without the 1980s approach to reading piles upon piles of polices, completing the same information on dozens of forms, hard signing many of those forms, and then faxing (yes, faxing) and sometimes emailing (woohoo!) to service providers. Like I said, glad we have the service providers to help us relocate, but surely we could step into the current century on data collection techniques...

So far, we're finding the paperwork on the relocation a bit more difficult than when we left the States because we're dealing with local service providers. The communication barrier we've come to know and love while living here is every bit as much a challenge as we prepare to leave. What would take 1 email or phone call in the States is taking several touch points to ensure things are communicated clearly and executed properly. It may sound a bit like exPat complaining if you haven't experienced it...but it can be exhausting.

I've been asking exPats who've returned to America if it's harder returning. Almost all of them have quickly said YES! That surprised us. We would have thought returning home would be easier. I guess time will tell if that plays out for us or not.

We're also kicking off building a house on the otherside of the world. We're excited to build a home, but also challenged to get it going from here. Part of the challenge was finding a lender who would close with us 12,000 miles away. We're blessed to have found one and that would accept notary services from the US Embassy in Bangkok! On the flip slide of the blessing: $50 per stamp notary charges. Yikes. I even appealed to our State Senator to see if there was some sort of reasonableness test the Embassy could apply so we wouldn't pay $1000 in notary charges for 30 mins of "work." No beans. "Policy is policy." Thank you Federal Government for confirming my long standing bias that my tax dollars really don't do much for me and that services are almost always better received in the private sector. If you can charge me again, you will. Oh well, thankful the process (albeit a rip-off) worked!

We have mixed emotions about returning "home." We would have liked to have stayed another year in Thailand - it was a lot of effort to relocate here and our just-shy-of-2-years stay feels a bit short. We LOVE the people, the food, the beauty of where we live, and adventures we find every day. We're also excited to return to family and friends back in America. We definitely will enjoy the easier access to food we're comfortable with and know is safe(r) to consume. Not to mention the reduced humidity and heat on a daily basis..yes, yes, even in Houston. :-)

At this point of the relocation, we're trying to make all the decisions on where to live in interim, work the complex choices and schedules of a new job, new home, new schools, transportation, etc. while still enjoying our last few months in Thailand. We have scheduled one more adventure trip to Cambodia in a few weeks and are all looking forward to that!

So here's to hoping that the next few weeks and months go smoothly and that our return home to America is everything we hope it will be!

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Return to Hua Hin

Since I was gone for 5.5 weeks on business, we decided to take advantage of some days off of school for the kids and spend a long weekend at Hua Hin.  A co-worker of mine graciously offered to let us stay at his amazing condo, so we planned a great 4 days.  The first day was cancelled as our oldest was sick, but we were able to fit a LOT in the remaining 3 days.  Having been to Hua Hin about 1.5 years ago as our first foray out of Bangkok, we were excited to head back and explore some new things.

Our first day was mostly driving (4 hours with traffic), swimming in the amazing pool, playing at the beach, and, of course, night market fun!  We love the Rotee and fun handcrafts of the markets.

Our youngest was pretty excited that a cup holder had the same logo as his soccer shirt!

The next day we drove about 1.5 hours south to the national forest (Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park) and had a BLAST.  Last time, we went to a cave with a temple in it.  This time, we tried a different cave (Sai Cave) and weren’t disappointed.  The hike up was steep, but the cave was well worth it!  Big bats, huge formations, and creepy crawlies all over the floor (our daughter wasn’t too thrilled about the latter).

Let me also add parenthetically how annoyed I get that I have to pay 10 times as much as Thais to enter a National Park.  I brought my work permit, showed them I pay annual Thai taxes, and my passport resident visa, but the answer was simply “No. You’re white.”  Super lame. 

Lunch before the hike. 

View about half way up.

The entrance to the cave…pretty steep!

Half of the cave was dark, the other half had some light.  We rented some flash lights at the base…

BEAUTIFUL formations!

Here are the insects crawling EVERYWHERE.  And here are some pretty large bats inside the blackest part of the cave.

After the cave, we drove South about 30 minutes and decided to check out a hike to Khao Dang View Point.  Sure glad we did – what an AMAZING view!  Our kids are great hikers and didn’t complain at all about the 100 degrees or the SUPER STEEP trail.  Definitely recommend this hike if you’re heading to Hua Hin!

Steep lava rock we had to hike up

Amazing panoramas from the top:

On the drive out of the park, we even got to see a family of monkeys!

What an awesome day…

That night, my daughter and I laid out by the pool and looked at the stars while listening to the ocean.  She treated me to her British accent while asking all about the stars, universe, and nature.  What a great trip!

Great Date Nights, Baking, ERs, and Collapsing Ceilings!

One of the perks of living in Nichada Thani is the proximity of the school complex.  Not just that kids can easily ride their bikes safely to school, but that there is almost always something going on that’s fun to do, watch, or participate in.

Most recently, Candace and I attended an AMAZING music celebration from international schools all around South East Asia.  I’ve been exposed to a lot of great musicians during my time in college and high school, and I don’t feel shy in saying these musicians were every bit as good, if not better.  Wow. 

Our kids have taken up baking since we moved to Thailand.  From pancakes to cookies to cakes, the kids love to bake.  Our daughter recently made a from-scratch cake all by herself to give to her Primary teacher for her birthday.

Our oldest went to the ER twice in a 24 hour period because of severe stomach pains.  We were worried it might be an appendicitis, but turned out to be dehydration and complications that come from that.  Poor kiddo.  Let’s hope he drinks more going forward…

On the same day our oldest went to the ER and we cancelled our first day of our vacation to Hua Hin (more on that in the next post), a pipe broke in our ceiling in our master bath and there was water going everywhere.  In typical Thai fashion, it only took 1 hour for the local maintenance crew to show up after our urgent call, only to look at it and then promptly leave because it was lunch time (didn’t shut off the water, put a bucket under it, etc.).  Nice.  Candace and I spent the time mopping, putting buckets under the drips, and trying to keep the water from getting EVERYWHERE while also escalating to our landlord to get someone over to help out.  One of the many texts landed home, because not too long after that, about 6 men showed up to “help.”  Fun.  In retrospect, we are thankful our oldest had his stomach problems and caused us to cancel the first day of our vacation, who knows how awful the damage from the water leak would have been if we’d been gone for 4 days!

Another Adventure…Preparing to Return Home

I just returned from a 5.5 week business trip to the States for various meetings and training.  It was a great trip, but it’s REALLY good to be back with the family.  Candace and I took the opportunity of being back in Texas to select a builder and get our new home started.  It was a TON of work, but glad we were able to do it.  The highlight of the business trip was some leadership training I ran for a team of international employees.  Here are a few photos from the event in Houston and Washington DC:

Marking driveway boundaries on our lot.

So now Candace and I are back in the throws of filling out paperwork, selling things, and getting ready to shut down our life here and start a new one back in Houston.  We’re excited to be heading “home,” but also sad to leave the amazing people we’ve grown to love in Thailand.  The next few months will be full of a few more adventures, craziness, and fun, but – as we set out to do at the start – we’re determined to enjoy the ride.