The First Day in Bangkok

I imagined something totally different. Not the Bangkok of "Hangover II" exactly, but something more like New York City if it were inhabited by southeast Asians. I thought we would arrive at the airport and be attacked by a dozen crazy taxi drivers trying to give us "the special tour" or something like that. I thought we would be pushed around and lost in an overwhelming city.

Silly me.

We were met by friends before even getting to baggage claim, and a charming and well-dressed expediter whisked us through the rest and helped us reclaim our puppydog, Myles. We settled into our temporary housing at 2am, yet we were stress-free.

The next morning we decided to venture out and get a feeling for the city, or at least the part of the city around us. I can tell you my assumptions and fears have been debunked. This city is amazing. The people speak softer. No one hollers or harangues you. They walk slower. And while everyone is courteous and respectful of your personal space, there are no rigid rules (stay to the right!) just a relaxed way of life. If you stand in one spot with a look of doubt on your face for longer than a second or two, someone will stop and try to help you. If it turns out you don't need help, they might chat with you anyways.

You are expected to barter over the difference of a dollar for your cab fare. But not angrily. Just for fun. And absolutely every exchange of conversation is injected with a subtle sense of humor. To not do so is considered rude. But of course, when you find everyone smiling at you or your children and greeting one another pleasantly, I can't imagine having a bad day. Unless I just don't go out at all.

But what would be the fun in that?

Ready To Launch

So here we are.

Its time to say goodbye.

The good times we've had.

The great friends we've made.

The things we have learned. Oh, the things we have learned!

I wish you all well, and hope we meet again! You are always welcome in our home, wherever we are. But now its time to pack up and go. Our adventures take us to amazing Bangkok, and next time you see me on here, I'm going to have so much to share! Stay tuned...Ciao ciao ciao!!!

If You Ask Me

You might think I took easily to the foreign service life. That moving from city to city is as easy as changing my haircolor. You may think I enjoy it 100%. Because that is what I always tell you.

What you need to know is that in most things I am a terrible liar, but in faking self-assurance I am very very good.

I am afraid people will say I have regrets, or that I am wavering about our decision to be in the foreign service, if I am honest about my fears. Its a conclusion easily jumped to. Especially if you don't know, as I do, what wonders are awaiting us on the other side. So I totally understand.

So if you ask me how I feel about packing up everything and moving to Bangkok next week, I would tell you I am excited. That there is nothing to be stressed about-this is the 'land of smiles' after all, and you can find anything you need there. But I am going to be honest right here, for all the world, friends or not, to see. I am scared as hell.


If you ask me how I feel about moving away from all the friends we have made here, I would tell you how much I am looking forward to making new friends. That I love getting to know people. That is 100% true. But I'm leaving quite a bit out.  I worry about getting to know a whole new group of people. I worry that I won't find my niche at all. I'm worried that 'shy Heather' will come back in a vengeance, and my rotten people skills will sabotage me. And that it is very daunting to face a whole new community and start all over again from square one.

If you ask me how I think the kids are going to handle it, I would tell you they are going to have a blast. That they will be too busy to get nervous, or homesick, or sad. That's a bit of a fib. Since we have to move TWO times in the next month, it's going to be hard on them. They will have a shaky routine, if any at all. They're going to act out. Backstep. And yes, they are going to get homesick. But from now on, its going to be a lot for us all to handle, so we shall not speak of it publicly again.


So now you know.

Theodore Roosevelt Island

Yesterday, after saying goodbye to more family, we were in desperate need of a distraction so we ventured over to Roosevelt Island. Part memorial, part nature preserve, its a bit of an oddity, just steps away from Key Bridge and practically bumping into busy Georgetown. On one side, two paddle boarders were enjoying the calm waters. On the other, traffic, sirens, and tourists.

After we crossed a bridge onto the island, we let the boys loose to run and explore. The sun was out, the air was cool, and all the normal people were at work. It felt like we had the place almost to ourselves.


The monument was beautiful. And was absolutely surreal, given that it was in the middle of this wooded park/island, and the reflecting pools that encircled it were totally dry.

Kind of spooky, but I liked it.


Myles was thrilled to be with us too. Very vigilant throughout our hike, yet he still didn't notice the deer we walked by.

The kids were hard to hush on the swamp path, as they loved racing down the raised trail. But we spotted herons, turtles, spectacular dragonflies and butterflies.

These trees were a bit shocking, and made me a bit sad. I know its just sweet and sentimental, but these two trees were carved up pretty badly.

Colonial Williamsburg

 

Oh how lovely. So serene, wait something is wrong here. This isn't us.

That's more like it.

A few weeks ago, we squeezed in a visit with some of my dear family. One of the drawbacks of becoming global nomads is the possibility of never crossing paths with people you love. ever again. Well, that just isn't going to happen if I have any say. So when the weekend is open, we grab the opportunity, hop in the car, and drive.

On the way back, we stopped by Colonial Williamsburg, a GREAT place. I love living history, and back in Plymouth, MA you can bet we had lots of it. So this was right up my alley. The kids? Not so much. They loved the cannons and such, but little P kept whining to take the shuttle and Nate was overtired. So what did we do?

You know you would too.

 

And for a few seconds, we enjoyed this.

Food food food...where is the food.

 I want to take the shuttle bus back to our carrrrrrrr!

 

And these guys just came moseying along. O. Keh.

And I must say sorry for the lackluster blogging, but we are just hanging in limbo. The hon is getting ready to test, the plane tickets are ready, the packout is scheduled. If all goes well, we leave very very soon. But I'm holding my breath. And the anticipation is killing us-we are sooooo ready to go!

A Five Dolla' Makeover

If you follow me on Pinterest, you probably know what a window-shopping addict I am when it comes to clothes. I luuuurv clothing, but most kinds of shopping I hate. Can't stand malls, megastores, and department stores. I swear, clerks run away from me in department stores, I do not know why.


What I DO love is unique clothing, things not everyone can afford (of course), and things I make myself. So when I saw distressed denim cutoffs with lace here and here I went gaga for them. So I grabbed a pair of jeans in my closet that are inexplicably too large all of a sudden (how did that happen??) and about five dollars worth of wedding trim from the local fabric store.

First, I carefully marked how short I wanted these cutoffs to be-no sense wasting a good pair of jeans by cutting them distastefully short! Then, snip snip.

I washed the jeans to get the edges frayed nicely. Then arranged the lace the way I liked it and the outer left and right, and pinned it into place.

It took a while, but with some white thread I handstitched around the lace to ensure it stayed in place. All those loopyloos, but the more it progressed the more I loved these, so I finished it in an hour.

Finished, and I absolutely love them. Just in time to move to Thailand too!

Hellos and Goodbyes

So, now we come to one of the challenges of becoming a foreign service family. Teaching your children how to say goodbye and move on. Nate is far too young to understand but Philip is not. He's old enough to make friends and form attachments, and over time he has found a rare few that he calls his best friends.

This wouldn't be so bittersweet for all of us, except he has been befriended by some very extraordinary kids. Like his buddy Alex. Alex and his family came to DC to see the sights and get the boys together again, and seeing them together filled me with one of those rare moments of regret. When we lived in Plymouth, we happened to fall into the perfect niche, where our kids went to preschool with REALLY. GOOD. kids and their parents were all really good folks. Had we stayed, I could say with 99% surety our boys would have had a wonderful childhood. And 99% sure these boys are going to grow into promising young men. And they still will, but little Philip will be somewhere else and it is sad. 

At times like this, I worry about the future and worry about the decision we have made. And then I take a deep breath and rely on faith. Its harder diving into the deep unknown when you have children to be concerned for. But if you have faith, you can be strong. And when you are strong, your kids feel that strength too. And so the goodbyes are heartbreaking, like this one. But watching little Philip dry his tears and move forward made me proud too.

We had a blast last weekend too-we were grateful the Kelsey's came all the way down to DC to visit. It was beautiful weather for sightseeing, so we hit some of the monuments and took the kids to the National Zoo.

They were hilarious to watch, playing wild tigers on the lawn in front of the White House..

They explored the reptile building at the zoo, and hunted for pandas.

We witnessed what happens when two boys try to kiss and say goodbye.

Six Year Blogiversary

Yup, its been six years since this. The first blog post.

I had to take a moment to take it all in. In case you haven't noticed, we like change. And change...well, there's been a lot of it in the last six years. We've added two boys to the family, lost a dear dog, gained a dear dog, changed jobs, states.

And I suppose as I have changed, my blog has changed too. From a knitblog to a babyblog and now a soon-to-be expat slash foreign service blog. Thank you for hanging in there through it all with me. I promise things are about to get pretty exciting. Like tigers, elephants, what the hell have I done? exciting. Yeah, that kind of exciting.

Because in two weeks my sweetheart tests in Thai. And if he passes, we leave in June. I feel like Rhino, the hampster from the movie "Bolt" jumping up and down crying "LET IT BEGIN!! LET IT BEEGIN!"

Let me leave you with this parting shot, wherein the boys have discovered the finest way to fly. Lucky dog.

The Button

Whenever we go downtown we like to stop by the beautiful White House. (Parking nearby is convenient and free on sundays, after all.) Philip, in particular, likes to weave his way through the visitors to this strange little button.

Nothing ever happens, but we joke that someday the gate might just swing open.

Last weekend we stopped by the Ronald Reagan building for the International Children's Festival. Unfortunately, Thailand was not represented, but there were a lot of fun activities. We tried things out at Fiji, Egypt and Japan to name a few.

Crumbs was right around the corner, so we could not resist.

Maryland Sheep and Wool 2012

I said I was going to behave before we headed over to Maryland Sheep and Wool, but this might have been my last fiber festival for a veddy veddy long time. So, that's my excuse and I think its a pretty good one. The real reason I came back with all this loot was that I could NOT resist the cheerfully bright and scrunchy soft skeins; alpaca/cashmere at Flying Goat Farm and superwash merino from Roclan's. Those turned out to be my kryptonite.

We also spent a lot more time at the festival (Arta, my mother Blogless Sharon, and myself) than we expected. The quality of the vendors, the ideas, the inspiration, and the beautiful sheep were amazing!

We discovered a few new and rare breeds of sheep.

Listened to bluegrass music.

Knitted while waiting in line for lamb lunches.

Drooled over gorgeous bundles of batts.

And drooled some more.

I took these pictures for inspiration, to throw in my project wish-list.

Amanda, starting out Little Bird Fibers, was handing out free mini-batts over in the large barn. What a cute idea! I promised myself I would check her out at littlebirdfibers.etsy just on pure principle.

Melissa Jean's booth was stunning, with all those gorgeous buttons. After elbowing my way through all the admirers I picked up an adorable beaded bracelet kit. After I try it out for myself, I think it might be a useful skill with all those nieces I have!

Good thing my boys weren't here. We did all the things I tell them not to do-touching things, pulling and stretching the items for sale, and at times stamping our feet in frustration. I'm pretty sure more than once I even whined "I waaaaaaaaant.' Bad bad behavior.

Ain't nothing wrong with a little yarnstache.

Happy

If you're happy and you know it, wave your hands.

Grandma is coming to visit!