Going Domestic

this looks vaguely familiar

View from the hotel
Originally uploaded by goingdomestic

The trees, the freeways with orderly traffic, the condominiums in the skyline ... I felt like I was in Vancouver again (except that I'm not a student in poverty any more) or Sydney, but I was only a two-hour flight south of Bangkok when I took this photo from our hotel room. I was in Singapore.

I cannot believe that there is a first-world oasis a mere two-hour flight from where I live!!! We only went for the long weekend, but I reveled in the fresh air, the greenery, the calm traffic, the cleanliness of all public spaces, animal parks with well-treated and well-fed residents, and being able to communicate fluently with the population at large.

The only downside to Singapore that I found on my brief visit is that I'm getting used to dirt-cheap Thailand prices, and Singapore isn't exactly kind to the wallet ...

farewell, swedish furniture infatuation

Sunburst Coffee Table - not really kid-friendly
Originally uploaded by goingdomestic

Our furniture doesn't come from Ikea these days.

Before moving here, I had no idea how much furniture and home decor items were made in Thailand.  The really cool thing is that it all costs a lot less, not having to cross the ocean to land in the display window of expensive Calgary furniture stores! Needless to say, we're funneling the funds that we, as non-residents of Canada, can't use to contribute into our RRSPs into some new stuff for our home.

These are the latest - Chris really liked the drum table and the sunburst design on the coffee table. I did, too. I don't think that we'd ever see anything like those in Calgary, let alone be able to afford them!  I am a little sad about demoting my much-adored LEKSVIK coffee table with the basket cubbies, though.

part of life here

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm in a posting mood less and less these days. Crafting is pretty much a hobby of the past, my sewing machines sit around and get dusty, and I'm still struggling to bake my favourite treats in a foreign oven that I don't have the instruction manual for and ingredients that sometimes just don't exist in Thai grocery stores. Sometimes it's hard to be cheery and inspired. 

I'm kind of worried about getting into a funk again. It's hard to escape the feeling of goodbyes and endings here in the compound this month. My daughter's preschool is starting their year-end activities. Their art projects are being auctioned off to support a hill tribe school at the end of this week, final progress reports are being issued in a couple more weeks, and the last day of classes is in a month.  It sounds like at least half of her class won't returning to the same school next year.

My friends all have their airline tickets booked and talk about how they've started packing for their trips home at the beginning of June (school gets out earlier here than it does it Canada, I guess). Everyone is excitedly talking about seeing their friends and families again, shopping at familiar places (Cheerios at every grocery store, naturally), and catch the big summer movies when they first open.  I have to admit that it does sound like a nice break.

Two of my friends are leaving Thailand for good in June, and it feels really weird to have invitations for farewell dinners and parties sitting in my inbox.

When we moved here last July, I got to watch as our compound became a less lonely place to live. More families arrived for the first time, or returned, just about every week. I feel like I'll be spending next month seeing the opposite effect, saying goodbye to my friends on a weekly basis. Ugh. Part of life here, I guess.

my stash

Normally, when I hear other people refer to something as their "stash", I assume that they're either referring to their hoard of narcotics or their collection of yarn. If you happen to hear me use the term in conversation, though, I'll be talking about my collection of packaged foods from North America.

I felt like I won the lottery on Friday morning. I was walking past the last aisle before the check-outs in our community grocery store, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a vaguely familiar blue box! It was graham crackers - one of the products that I'd been searching for over the last six months! I didn't think twice about buying the last box! The crazy thing is that I was at the grocery store on Thursday at 1:30 pm, and the graham crackers weren't on the shelves. They managed to sell out by 9:00 am on Friday morning!

Anyway, between my pantry and the freezer compartment of my fridge, I think that I have a decent little stash of comfort foods.  Hopefully it will last until the end of the school year ...