Chronically Sleep Deprived

Less than 48 hours from now we'll be on our way back to the U.S. Not permanently, just for a quick vacation. My brother is getting married, and my parents are making a weeklong family reunion out of it. They've rented a house so we can all stay together, and most of us we'll be there all week. I'm so excited I can hardly wait. I'm not looking forward to the flights - the travel time is insane - but I'm excited to see all my family, and for them to see Trea and how much she's changed and grown. She's started to favor Thai over English the last few weeks. Her teachers constantly comment on how quickly she's learned it, and it's fun (but weird) to watch. John's been trying to count the number of words she knows in Thai, and it's somewhere around 150. We're really hoping she'll be able to maintain it after we leave here. John's Thai is also improving steadily. He'll kill me for posting this, but it's my blog and I'll d...

I know it's a little late for a Thanksgiving post, but I had to wait until we had finished all of our Thanksgiving celebrations this year. We celebrated Thanksgiving in an unusual but fun way. Thursday, our branch of the Mormon church had a Thanksgiving party. Not that any of the Thai members really know much about Thanksgiving, but it's an excuse for a party, so whatever. They asked John to briefly explain why we celebrate Thanksgiving. Five minutes before we left the house, John turned to me and said,"So, why do we celebrate Thanksgiving?" We stuck with the simple elementary-school kind of explanation. After he was done, one of the guys asked why we eat turkey, and John explained that there were wild turkeys where the Pilgrims lived. Then the guy says, "Why not elephants? You can feed a lot of people with an elephant." I'm sure the Pilgrims would have considered that, had there been any elephants roaming the future New England. We had a light dinner of...

It's been a long time since my last post, and I would feel guilty, but I have a great excuse: I've been sick as a dog for pretty much all of that time. The good news is, I'm only sick because I'm pregnant. And, since my first trimester is finally over, the so-called morning sickness (which lasts around the clock for lucky souls like me) is finally beginning to abate. Don't get me wrong, I'm THRILLED to be having another baby. Trea is so ready to have a little brother or sister, and we are ready (well, as ready as we'll ever be) to have a new baby. In many ways the timing is perfect. I just wasn't planning to become pregnant almost immediately after arriving in a developing country where I don't speak the language. While I expected to explore my new city, I didn't expect to become very familiar with a local private hospital - where I've stayed overnight on two different occasions while they pumped me full of fluids and vitamins. On the plus si...

My friend Julie, who is spending the summer in China, commented in a recent email that she hates it when people paint an overly rosy picture of foreign experiences. She was speaking of her own experiences, of course, but it got me thinking. I have been editing out some of the more colorful details of our lives here. I know it comes as a surprise that there are less than perfect days here, but it can't all be pad thai and mangoes. In the interest of full disclosure, this post will be an entirely upfront account of the past week. Hopefully this will prevent the real estate boom that would have been caused by all of you moving here to experience Thai fire drills. This week has been a, uh, shall we say, challenging one, to say the least. Monday afternoon I was in the 7-11 with Trea when she grabbed her arm and said "hot." She'd been bit or stung by something, and her arm was swelling. Her arm continued to swell for the next 30 minutes, until I jumped in a songtaew and too...

Last Saturday night we had the opportunity to attend a welcome party for new teachers (that would be us and two others). We had some great food (fish stomach soup, anyone?) and some even better karoake. It seems the tradition is for new teachers to sing a karoake number, but I weaseled out of it. I put the focus (and the pressure) on John by suggesting to Mai Yai, the school owner, that he sing in Thai. There's a group called Loso that's been around forever, they are kind of classic rock here, and we have one of their albums. So, Mai Yai got Joke, her daughter to help (little side note: Mai Yai is a nickname which means "big momma," and her kids are Joke, Jick, and Jack. Too funny.) They managed to find the song John knows the best. He totally rocked it. Not only did he have the best voice of all the men, the fact that he sang in Thai blew everyone away. To really get this, you have to understand how sacred karoake is here. I've heard it's like that all over A...

Disclaimer: The following post is all parental bragging. If that bothers, offends, or bores you, skip this post. So, Grandma Jeffery and Grandma Harbertson, (I thought I'd address you directly, since you're probably the only two people still reading), Trea is doing wonderfully. She has adapted with amazing speed. Already she is learning to wai (a Thai custom where you raise your hands, palms together, and bow slightly. You show more or less respect by how low you bow your head, how high you raise your hands, and how long you hold the wai . Thais wai when greeting/saying goodbye, before accepting a gift, and to apologize). Trea hasn't mastered "Sawatdee kaa" yet, which is the greeting phrase for a female speaker, but she wais and says "kaa." She'll also do it before accepting something, if prompted. She also says "aroi," which means delicious, and sometimes repeats random things John says to her in Thai. Mostly, though, she seems to think...

We had a fire drill at school today. It was not, however, remotely like the fire drills I had in school. First, it's a once-a-semester (sometimes once-a-year) event that has been planned for weeks, and everyone knew it. It's actually been rescheduled a couple of times because "it might rain." It's the rainy season in Thailand; there's a good chance on any given day that it's going to rain. Andy (one of the other farang teachers) suggested he just pull the fire alarm one day. There are two problems with this, it would seem: one, there's no fire alarm, and two, Teacher Jick (my boss) said, "if it's a surprise, the students will walk all over each other." Right, because we wouldn't want to spring a fire drill on anyone, would we? Anyhow, they finally decided to just do it. To add an element of excitement, the school had the gardener and some of the teachers set small fires throughout the grounds. Yes, you read that right. Real fires. Al...

John and I decided last week that we really needed to invest in cooking equipment. We did debate this, because with the abundance of cheap take-out, it's not necessary to cook. It will also almost always cost more to cook at home, especially since it will be farang food 90% of the time. But, much as I love not HAVING to cook/grocery shop/do dishes, there are times it's nice to be able to cook familiar foods. And not to brag, but I like my own cooking. So, off we went to find a stove. Yes, you read that right. A stove is not an automatic in Thailand; many people simply don't cook at all. There are some stoves here with ovens, but they're tricky to use. It's almost all gas heat, which make it difficult, I guess, to evenly and consistently heat an oven. Anyway, much as I would love to be able to bake, it seemed more logical to opt for the standard gas stove. The heat makes baking often sound extremely unappealing! We found a shop selling the stoves, and luckily the own...

I am finally in Thailand! The flight was borderline horrendous (we were delayed almost four hours leaving LA). A nearly seven hour layover is always a bad thing; an almost seven hour layover in the middle of the night is a worse thing; throw a toddler into the mix and you're just begging for punishment. But, we made it. Not without some tears and meltdowns and we probably annoyed other passengers on occasion, but oh well. By the time I was 13 hours into the flight I couldn't have cared less if I was annoying anyone else, I just wanted to make my child less distraught at being cooped up STILL. This whole move has been really rough for her. I mean, first we go to a wedding, where we traveled at least an hour a day for six days and lots of strangers talked to her and her sleep schedule was disrupted. Then we got to an entirely new country where she has incredible jetlag and new food and EVERYBODY touches her. It's like she's on display at a petting zoo. On the one hand it...

Less than 24 hours to go. In fact, in 24 hours, I will be on the plane bound for Thailand, about an hour and a half into the flight. Hopefully Chantrea will be asleep by then! These last few days have been crazy. Getting completely packed up and ready to go plus preparing to be a bridesmaid in a wedding and also basically being a single parent (although, I have an extremely supportive and helpful family, so it's not like I was really on my own). The wedding was beautiful, the bride was beautiful, everything went smoothly. The bride handed out iterneraries the night before the wedding, so if everything hadn't gone smoothly it would not have been due to lack of planning! It was a long day for little kids, though. The wedding was in Manti, Utah, the luncheon was in Mapleton (about an hour and fifteen minute drive) and the reception in Spanish Fork (near Mapleton). I have never been to a wedding that wasn't a bit of a marathon, though. It's such a big day. I'd love to b...

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. First off, I think I have managed to change the settings on my blog so anyone can comment, not just those with blogs. I wondered why some of my readers (or those who claim to be reading) were not commenting; I know you people, and you usually have a lot to say! I've quit my job in preparation for my move. I still have an amazingly long list of last minute things to do, not the least of which is figure out how to pack my personal possessions and those of my daughter in such a way that I can access everything easily during our trip (and hopefully not exceed the weight limit on our baggage allowance). We're going to a wedding immediately before the trip to Asia, so we have a lot of stuff and a lot of time between leaving here and arriving on the other end. I'm so excited to see John though. In case any of you are considering a separation from your spouse longer than a couple of days, it's not a good idea. Phone calls are ju...

Modern technology is fabulous. John's been in Thailand three days, and already he's emailed me pictures of our new place. I'm kind of upstaging him by posting them here (he hasn't had a chance to put them on his blog yet) but most of the people who read his, don't read mine, and vice versa. I don't have a lot of experience with posting pictures, so they'll probably be all messed up. Oh well. There's two of our room, one of the stairs, one of the downstairs area, and one of the outside of the houses opposite us. I'm assuming ours looks the same. There's air con in both bedrooms, and two bathrooms with hot water (yeah!). Chantrea's room isn't quite as nice - no built in closets, just a very utilitarian metal wardrobe - but she won't notice. It has two twin beds and one of them has siderails. Perfect for a toddler. And then we have an extra bed, in case anyone happens to be in the neighborhood!

I dropped my husband off at National Airport in D.C. this morning, and I won't see him for 6 1/2 weeks. That is a LONG time. And can I just say, D.C. is still intimidating to me, even after living 45 minutes away from it for most of my life? It's just not a city I really love. I found a flight tracker on the web and I've been following John's flight. He's currently 33,000 feet over Mongolia, about 3 hours from landing in Bangkok. He took a flight from D.C. to JFK this morning, then had a five hour layover before taking off at noon. He's on a direct flight from JFK to Bangkok, going over the North Pole. Pretty cool, huh? Thai Airways had their direct flights on sale so we both booked nonstop flights. The other times I've flown to/from Thailand, I've had to stop in Korea or Taiwan. Taiwan's the far better stopping place, just because it's a more direct route and shaves a couple of hours off your total travel time. But when you're talking about ...

The countdown to John's departure has officially begun. Ten days left. We sold the car today. I wanted to so it before he left. We posted it on craigslist.org yesterday, got a call this morning, lady came to see it this afternoon. She liked it, so she and her boyfriend will be by tomorrow to pick it up. We got $1900 for it - that's pretty good for a 1994 Honda Accord with 245,000+ miles on it. Then again, it's a dang good car. Still runs well, minor cosmetic damage. Sweet deal for her and for us. But every little thing brings us that much closer. John's parents are coming into town to spend John's next-to-last weekend with us. I still need to get my passport back from having my name changed, then Chantrea and I need visas. My checklist of things that have to happen before we go is getting shorter almost daily! On the restaurant front . . .nothing too exciting lately. In case you have ever wondered if the servers make fun of people who mispronounce names of menu item...

My friend Zimm did one of these on his blog, so I figured I'd do one too - but not the same one. They're kind of fun. 1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:30am - I get up when my baby gets up. Luckily she slept in this morning. 2. Diamonds or pearls? Don't really wear jewelry unless it has sentimental value, which is about two pieces. 3. What was the last movie you saw? John rented Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I was impressed at how well they condensed a huge book into a movie. The book is still better, but I was impressed at how well they did. As for the theatre, I haven't seen a movie in the theatre since before Chantrea was born - and she's 17 months old. 4. What is your favorite TV show? Amazing Race. Gives me all sorts of ideas about places I want to go someday. 5. What did you have for breakfast? Skipped it - we went to an Orioles game last night (which they won, 4-2) and overindulged in peanuts and hotdogs. 6. What is your middle name? Lee 7. W...

I found out last night that I passed my final exam for my senior course (which I've been working on for forever, via Independent Study). I am officially DONE with school. I graduate at the end of the month. I can't put into words how good it feels to finally be done, to know that I actually followed through. And also to know that I'm now at least eligible for the many jobs that require a college degree, and that should I want to pursue a master's degree at some point, I'm done with the BA. That's awesome. My final exam score was not stellar, but having worked in test development for two years, I can tell you there were some major assessment issues with that test anyway. It never would have passed one of my reviews. So it couldn't be that great a measure of my knowledge, anyhow. On a less exciting note, Chantrea has to have another test tomorrow for her vesicoureterel reflux. She has to have an IV in for 30 minutes, then wait two hours, then another 30 minute...

I decided to do two separate posts, one for my rant about work (see previous post) and one for updates about our family and my own random musings. My husband has accepted a job offer in Khon Kaen, Thailand ( www.khonkaen.com ). They've also offered me a job, part-time or full-time, whatever I want, plus free daycare for our daughter. And they are paying our housing and utilities. We'll never get rich in Thailand, but it will be a great experience. Also, I received my grades on the last three papers of my undergraduate college career, and they were all very good. I was a little worried that I'd forgotten how to write, being out of school for so long, but apparently I can either still write or the professor just didn't care. I have a final exam to take and then I will officially be done with my degree! Yeah! There were a lot of times I almost didn't finish, but now I'm so glad I did. It means a lot more to me now that I have had to struggle for it. And my husband ...

I've decided that every restaurant needs to have a Customer Education Week. It might be helpful if everyone were on the same page when it comes to expectations. Maybe I'm just saying this because I've worked four days in a row, and people tend to get on my nerves more when I work a lot of hours, but still. . . if we laid a few ground rules it might make life easier for everyone. A few suggestions to improve your future dining experiences: 1. Don't expect a server to be able to give stuff away. What makes a customer think that I can substitute lobster bisque for a salad at no charge? A guest asked me this on Friday, and when I informed him that there would be a charge, he said "I'm sure you can work some magic there." Actually, I'm a server, not a magician, and since this soup has to be ordered from the kitchen I can't get it without ordering it through the computer and charging the guest. Even if I could get it, I would be risking problems with my ...

Had a very a interesting Saturday double. Luckily, the Hermans didn't come in (they did the Saturday before, and I did a less than stellar job as their server, so maybe they gave up on me). The day was going fine, nothing awful and nothing spectacular, when I was seated a family of six people. They proceed to order a bottle of wine, a beer, and two sodas. Then they each ordered an appetizer. This is very quickly racking them up a large check, at least by the standards of the "Crimson Crustacean" where I work. Then, the father decides he doesn't like the wine, so he orders another bottle, this time a Pino Grigio (the first was a white zinfadel). He was super picky about the way I opened the wine, poured the wine, etc. Maybe this is a bad attitude but, you know, it's a two-star restaurant, and these are $18 bottles of wine - I didn't break the cork, I didn't make a loud pop when I opened it, and I didn't spill it. What more do you want from me? Long stor...

I worked a double today, which means I arrived at work shortly before noon and left the restaurant well after midnight. But, I made decent money so that makes it worth it, I guess. This couple came in today, I'll call them the Hermans. The Hermans come in every Saturday afternoon. They have a favorite server and always request her. Unfortunately, she was fired last week. So today they request me. I've waited on them once before and I remembered several of their preferences. What I didn't realize was that the $5 tip on a $30 check last time was not, in fact, indicative of their ability to figure 15%. Today they tipped $5 on $50. There are an amazing number of people in this world who still think that $5 is a decent tip, regardless of what the check amount is. Grrr. They had better not start requesting me, or I may become the worst server in the history of the world for one hour every Saturday. Other than that, it was a fairly normal day. Usually Saturdays are great fodder fo...

I've wanted a blog for a long time, but couldn't think of a name and never seemed to have the time to start. I've finally decided on a name that wasn't too lame or too limited to circumstances - I didn't want anything that incorporated my current occupation or location since they are bound to change soon. But sleep deprivation, that seems to be a constant theme in my life. Maybe it's because I seem need a lot of sleep, or maybe I just don't sleep soundly, or maybe I'm just a chronic worrier. Or some combination thereof. I've already taken my generic Tylenol pm so I'm just waiting for it to kick in. I could seriously get addicted to that stuff, but I only take it when I've had a particularly stressful night at work or when I have to work the next day and don't think I'll be able to sleep. Since my sleep schedule is all out of whack, I don't feel tired and I have to work a double tomorrow (Sat), I need a decent night's sleep ton...