Mom's .... Years-Old Today!

Mom's temporarily only one year behind Dad today, as if she is competing with him with the same verve with which she faces most things in life. Sorry, Mom, I had to put four dots in the Title above for the age blank, but only to create a big enough space, not because I am trying to say your age is in four digits.

Sister, Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Aunt, Great-Aunt, Great-Great Aunt, Valedictorian, Forward in the old Iowa girls' basket regime where three girls played only one half-court and the other three the other half-court (forgive me if my memory is defective and you were actually a Guard). Superwoman (related in a previous web blog), College student, Secretary, Sweet Adeline's Singer, Limousine Driver (station wagon that picks up three kids after school while bringing along a baby and toddler, to those readers less informed), clarinet player, smasher or baritone horns and teacher of a dumb 5-year-old who can't blow a bubble from bubble gum even after several lessons and couldn't learn to tie his shoes because his left-handed brain could not follow her right-handedness.

She's tough, but young at heart and doesn't ever look her age. I have just a few stories to tell, but the most interesting thing about them is that she told them to me, elsewise I would have never known that they happened. Because even her youngest children were getting old enough to not need much babysitting, Mom decided one year after I graduated to take some business classes at my alma mater, Graceland College. Mom told me later that when she spoke to one teacher and related her name he asked her, "Are you Randy's Sister?" Mom was especially pleased to tell me that one, but it was especially true. Many was the time that Mom and I went somewhere together only to find people tongue-tied about whether we were a couple or not and it was not because I looked especially mature. Or, there were the times I was asked if Mom was my Dad's young second wife when she had only the two youngest with her. But you can't look young on the outside if you're not young on the inside, I learned that lesson well and have used it to never grow up, sorry, Mom.

This one is actually about me, but says her first-born had the ability to make her proud. One time she went to the dentist in Chariton to pay a bill for some of her children's dental care and when she arrived she announced her name to the receptionist. A woman in the waiting room heard her say her name and asked her, "Are you Randy's Mom?" She answered yes and then the woman related, "He runs like the wind!" Mom was proud to tell me that story and I was proud to hear it.

This is the same woman who stormed into the offices of the Chariton Herald after a particular exploit by this same boy and ripped the editor up one side and down the other who was responsible to adding a letter to our four-letter last name, making it five letters and most incorrect. The body of the article had the name spelled correctly, but the sports headline was wrong because he and other people can not believe that our name is not a color. That newspaper never spelled our name wrong again.

So, Mom Happy Birthday, and don't worry, I have more stories I'll be thinking about for next year because they're better than pictures, don't you think, LOL. Yes, I jumped the gun, but I wanted to be first, but only by one hour, ok, so to those who might get confused, Mom's BD is the 28th.

Songkran means never having to say you are sorry! When you get someone wet!!!

We here in Thailand are lucky to have so many holidays, in fact we have three New Years'! The first is the Western New Year of January 1. The second is the Chinese New Year and since it is based on the moon, this year it was February 7. The third is the Thai New Year, designed to coincide with the hottest time of the year, the Thai Summer of February 15 to July 1, the hottest month of them all being April, so people might as well have fun since it is too hot to work and can cool down with splashing water as well.  These summer months do not coincide with northern temperate season of summer, mostly for one big reason, in July the monsoons from India come to Thailand and cool things down when they should actually be hotter yet, but instead act to otherwise moderate this tropical clime.

My previous photos from northern Thailand were taken during my Western New Years' holiday and these new photos are from my 10 day holiday which I will have completed tomorrow, having just today already returned to Bangkok. Yes, I have gained a considerable amount of weight and have no easy explanation for it, but am going to implement whatever measures are necessary, since I am huffing and puffing these days and am not even running to get out of breath. I had planned to run during this holiday, but I was simply too fat and it was too hot. They would have been BBQing me as my own road-kill if I had pursued my plan.

Thai city dwellers and especially teenagers have abused this holiday by getting out their mega water guns and even include buckets of ice-laden water in a water-throwing frenzy from speeding pickup trucks. I prefer the up-country (country outside of Bangkok) way of celebrating the holiday, which is what the water throwing frenzy was devilishly transformed from, of going to the house of your relative elders and village elders and participating in a water-pouring ceremony which is called in English "apologizing". This shows respect to the elders and creates a bond of consideration.

Last year in this same village I visited 10 houses and this year visited 7 houses, one of the elderly ladies from last year having passed away when I was in the village in December. My previous Songkrans had been spent, respectively, in Bangkok, Pattaya (3 times) and Hua Hin, but these had been participations in the wilder, modern Songkran and I like the up country one much more, although many of these photos show an area where the dam environs are opened up to the public, just once a year for this holiday, so there is wading and swimming and eating and music, but no skimpy bathing outfits.

Three Little Maids We Are From School.....The Mikado

Mina, Michiko, Their ESL Teacher and Sachiko. They don't really sing in the Mikado, but they laugh at my jokes as if it were to music and support Thailand, dancing while they shop for bags at Chatuchak Weekend Market. Just today they finished their 30 hour English course because Sachiko will be returning to Japan with her husband whose job will send him to back there after they have been in Thailand for 4 years and now they all three can speak English perfectly..........nah!!!! But they did improve a lot and learned a lot of new words and Mina wrote a nice email to me to go with these pictures.  They had a good time while learning and I had a good time and now they are my friends for life.

A Day Late...And 32.5 Bahts Short....

I fully intended to steal a march since I am a full twelve hours ahead of anyone who shares my DNA, but the Internet (does not deserve a capital letter!!) at my apartment was down for renovations (we don't have a clue what we are doing, but this thing called technology can help us get the Manchester United Scores in real time, not tape delay). So, here I am a day late and a baht short (for those Thai challenged, that is the name for money here) in wishing my sister Happy Birthday!!!!

But the advantage I did somehow gain was to use cute pictures (Dear Sister, time has not been kind to any of us!!!) she sent me a year ago of her offspring (hint, hint, you can send more!!!) And so, Happy 37th Birthday and I hope your presents were too big and your candles too few.

ESL is Heartbreaking Work.....

ESL (English as a Second Language) can be heartbreaking work. If you don't want to see the door hitting their backside as they head for the airport and America or England, don't teach them or encourage them by telling them they are smart and ambitious enough to do it. Instead, tell them that their background (from Isan) or their orthodox shyness or their Thailish (English as attempted to be spoken by Thai people) or their intelligence (only 4.0 GPA) is not good enough for the ol' USA or those stuck-up Oxford types.

Despite my best attempts to slow them down my speech betrayeth me and they learn and leave me anyway, SIGH! About 25 of my students are, even as we speak, infiltrating Western culture and poisoning it with their saccharin smiles and overly courteous ways. If you happen by the campuses of MIT or Stanford or Harvard, watch out, and more so if they ask you, "Where is the Taco Bell? Mr. Randy wanted me to take a picture of it and eat taco for him."