Monday, December 26, 2005
Alex and I (the big, tall white guys) with the group outside the restaurant. Yes, I am wearing a sweater. Hard to believe, but my Dakota blood has thinned a bit since I've come here it seems. Anything below 70 degrees seems a bit chilly. We're holding the large posterboards that they all signed for us... 
Postscript
I forgot to mention two very important things in the last posting. Number one, my parents will be here in exactly two weeks. That will be fun. I'm looking forward to showing them around immensely. Gonna start making a few reservations this week, as we are in the tourist high season here...
Secondly, today marks the one year anniversary of the tsunami, as I'm sure any of you not living in a cave on a deserted island know by now. There is a big memorial planned for today. It has been criticized, as the memorial is a very expensive event. Many are saying that the money for this memorial should go to rebuilding houses and lives rather than this big event. But it seems to be Thailand's way of saying to the world, "hey, we're back..." So it's rather interesting...
Received more loot from my students today. Got a tuk tuk made of Singha ( a local beer) cans, a stuffed cow autographed by the students who gave it to me, a comic book, a keychain that says "ABAC ENG II" (the course that I teach them) and "World's Greatest Teacher" (definitely not the case, but fun anyway,) on the other, and a piggy bank that is a ceramic cow wearing a football helmet (they know how much I love football.) It's been a fun few days. Yesterday was loads of fun, as we all had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was a full four course meal, and while it cost me about 750 Baht (about $19.25, very expensive by local standards,) it's not bad at all considering that included desert, wine, an appetizer, and an impressive bowl of pasta.
Thinking I may head to an Island for New Year's, as I have a four day weekend. I guess we'll see. Hail progress!
Secondly, today marks the one year anniversary of the tsunami, as I'm sure any of you not living in a cave on a deserted island know by now. There is a big memorial planned for today. It has been criticized, as the memorial is a very expensive event. Many are saying that the money for this memorial should go to rebuilding houses and lives rather than this big event. But it seems to be Thailand's way of saying to the world, "hey, we're back..." So it's rather interesting...
Received more loot from my students today. Got a tuk tuk made of Singha ( a local beer) cans, a stuffed cow autographed by the students who gave it to me, a comic book, a keychain that says "ABAC ENG II" (the course that I teach them) and "World's Greatest Teacher" (definitely not the case, but fun anyway,) on the other, and a piggy bank that is a ceramic cow wearing a football helmet (they know how much I love football.) It's been a fun few days. Yesterday was loads of fun, as we all had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was a full four course meal, and while it cost me about 750 Baht (about $19.25, very expensive by local standards,) it's not bad at all considering that included desert, wine, an appetizer, and an impressive bowl of pasta.
Thinking I may head to an Island for New Year's, as I have a four day weekend. I guess we'll see. Hail progress!
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Flip Flops on Christmas
As I sit here on this afternoon of Christmas Day, I'm wearing flip flops. Just thought I'd brag a bit to those of you back in the Northlands. Ha ha!
Things are okay here. Yesterday (Christmas Eve,) the University threw a big Christmas party. Free food, a large concert featuring some very popular Thai bands, and a carnival with games and the like. I won all sorts of stuff - a carton of soy milk, a copy of "Seventeen" magazine, a santa hat, several pens, a stuffed "Animal" the muppet drummer, and a couple of tubes of toothpaste. Then we went to a club known as Escudo, and that was about it. Plans are to go for a nice dinner today. All in all, it's pretty good. I was in Bangkok three years ago for Christmas, visiting my old Semester at Sea buddy, George, who was doing the same job back then that I'm doing now. We went to this club called "Narcissus," probably the most elite club in this city, full of local celebs living up their 15 minutes of fame. The plan is to go there on New Year's eve. Should be fun...
Interesting developments with Ms. Bee. Seems that her parents want to arrange a marriage for her. She wants no part of that, of course, and is rather angry that she is being pressed into such a thing. Stay tuned on that...
Last week, the kids in the converstation class took me and the other teacher out for dinner and drinks. It was a lot of fun - had some Heineken, some Karaoke, and they gave us a big thank you card. Gonna miss those kids, as that class is already finished. But I'm sure we'll see them around and about...
In the world of Sumo, one of my favorite sports, there has been an interesting development. One wrestler who goes by the name Kotooshu out of Bulgaria has become the first ever European promoted to the rank of Ozeki, the second highest rank in Sumo, behind Yokozuna, or Grand champion. Pretty interesting to see Sumo become an increasingly international sport, with the most dominant wrestler at this time (and for the past two years, really) being the Yokozuna named Asashoryu, out of Mongolia. He's so dominant that there hasn't been a second Yokozuna (there typically are two) since Musashimaru, a 500 lbs. + Samoan, retired about two years ago. Asashoryu one all six tournaments this year, a pretty rare feat of domination for a Sumo wrestler...
Happy Christmas. And hail progress!
Things are okay here. Yesterday (Christmas Eve,) the University threw a big Christmas party. Free food, a large concert featuring some very popular Thai bands, and a carnival with games and the like. I won all sorts of stuff - a carton of soy milk, a copy of "Seventeen" magazine, a santa hat, several pens, a stuffed "Animal" the muppet drummer, and a couple of tubes of toothpaste. Then we went to a club known as Escudo, and that was about it. Plans are to go for a nice dinner today. All in all, it's pretty good. I was in Bangkok three years ago for Christmas, visiting my old Semester at Sea buddy, George, who was doing the same job back then that I'm doing now. We went to this club called "Narcissus," probably the most elite club in this city, full of local celebs living up their 15 minutes of fame. The plan is to go there on New Year's eve. Should be fun...
Interesting developments with Ms. Bee. Seems that her parents want to arrange a marriage for her. She wants no part of that, of course, and is rather angry that she is being pressed into such a thing. Stay tuned on that...
Last week, the kids in the converstation class took me and the other teacher out for dinner and drinks. It was a lot of fun - had some Heineken, some Karaoke, and they gave us a big thank you card. Gonna miss those kids, as that class is already finished. But I'm sure we'll see them around and about...
In the world of Sumo, one of my favorite sports, there has been an interesting development. One wrestler who goes by the name Kotooshu out of Bulgaria has become the first ever European promoted to the rank of Ozeki, the second highest rank in Sumo, behind Yokozuna, or Grand champion. Pretty interesting to see Sumo become an increasingly international sport, with the most dominant wrestler at this time (and for the past two years, really) being the Yokozuna named Asashoryu, out of Mongolia. He's so dominant that there hasn't been a second Yokozuna (there typically are two) since Musashimaru, a 500 lbs. + Samoan, retired about two years ago. Asashoryu one all six tournaments this year, a pretty rare feat of domination for a Sumo wrestler...
Happy Christmas. And hail progress!
Thursday, December 08, 2005
XMas in Siam
So Christmas is in the air here, or more appropriately, Xmas. This year will mark my second Christmas that I've spent in Thailand - I was here for the 2002 edition as well, when I was living in Japan. Came down for the long holiday then. Of course, since this is a predominately Buddhist country (with Muslims being the largest religious minority), all Christmas celebration is of a purely secular nature (other than a few isolated places, like the Roman Catholic university I work at). So what is Chrismas like in Bangkok? Well, it's very festive. You hear annoying popped-out covers of songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph" everywhere you go, and all of the hookers are wearing Santa hats. Of course, as many of you know, I am not a fan of this holiday - if I had my druthers, I'd be in someplace like Iran or Saudi Arabia for the month of December, where there is no semblance of Christmas whatsoever. The Marxist in me cannot tolerate the ridiculous consumerist pressure that goes with this holiday. Bah Humbug!
That being said, it is better here than it was in Japan, although only marginally. In Japan, "Last Christmas" by Wham, the 1980's pop outfit that gave George Michael his start, seemed to be the only Christmas song one could hear anywhere. My girlfriend during that time told me that "Last Christmas" was the first English song she ever learned. If I didn't have a shaven head right now, I'd be ripping out my hair just thinking about it...
In other news, the King (see the last post) gave his annual birthday speech this past Sunday. Much like other constitutional monarchies such as England or Japan, the King of Thailand officially has no political power and is purely the head of State. However, unlike in other countries, the King here has real moral gravitas, and his extolling or denoucing of something will likely alter the course of future events. In an earlier post I spoke of the cigarette packages here in Thailand (see below). This is a direct result the King's birthday speech from last year, when he urged the Thai people to quit smoking.
In this year's speech, the King said that he welcomed constructive criticism. This doesn't seem like that big of a deal at first glance, but it is a not so subtle message to Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's prime minister with a very large head (see the picture.) Mr. Thaksin, who is in his second term as P.M., has many similarities to GW Bush. They supposedly ran together when they went to Yale back in the 1970's, both are very very wealthy (Thaksin is Thailand's richest man,) and both of them often blame the media for their own shortcomings and have real issues with criticism or admission of their own mistakes. Thaksin has even sued a few reporters for slander, which is ridiculous. The whole event shows yet again that in Thai politics, the King is by far the most sensible and wise man in the whole system, even though he's officially above politics and not really in the system.
May progress be hailed!
That being said, it is better here than it was in Japan, although only marginally. In Japan, "Last Christmas" by Wham, the 1980's pop outfit that gave George Michael his start, seemed to be the only Christmas song one could hear anywhere. My girlfriend during that time told me that "Last Christmas" was the first English song she ever learned. If I didn't have a shaven head right now, I'd be ripping out my hair just thinking about it...
In other news, the King (see the last post) gave his annual birthday speech this past Sunday. Much like other constitutional monarchies such as England or Japan, the King of Thailand officially has no political power and is purely the head of State. However, unlike in other countries, the King here has real moral gravitas, and his extolling or denoucing of something will likely alter the course of future events. In an earlier post I spoke of the cigarette packages here in Thailand (see below). This is a direct result the King's birthday speech from last year, when he urged the Thai people to quit smoking.
In this year's speech, the King said that he welcomed constructive criticism. This doesn't seem like that big of a deal at first glance, but it is a not so subtle message to Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's prime minister with a very large head (see the picture.) Mr. Thaksin, who is in his second term as P.M., has many similarities to GW Bush. They supposedly ran together when they went to Yale back in the 1970's, both are very very wealthy (Thaksin is Thailand's richest man,) and both of them often blame the media for their own shortcomings and have real issues with criticism or admission of their own mistakes. Thaksin has even sued a few reporters for slander, which is ridiculous. The whole event shows yet again that in Thai politics, the King is by far the most sensible and wise man in the whole system, even though he's officially above politics and not really in the system.
May progress be hailed!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej - the King of Thailand. He's currently (and has been for some time) the longest reigning monarch in the world, having been on the throne of Thailand since 1946. They love him here - his picture, along with that of HM Queen Sirikit, seems to be in every home and shop within the Kingdom of Thailand. On Monday, it's his 78th birthday, so I don't have to work, which is nice. Much like the Queen's birthday is celebrated as Mother's Day here, so is the King's celebrated as Father's Day. So, love ya pops!
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