On this day... #34

Nine years ago....


Can you see who is JJ and who is Jezz??

The girls were 9 months old, and I was living alone with the girls in this cute little house in a Thai village called Huay Yai in Chonburi. It had this beautiful lush garden, 2 bed/bath. We had moved out of our house on the golf course when Dirk's job finished in Thailand. He was already transfered to the USA for his new job. But the adoption paperwork was not done yet, so I moved to a furnished little house just around the corner of our house on Phoenix Golf course. It took us in total 13 months to adopt Jasmine and Juliet. 11 of those months Dirk was in the USA and coming over about every 2 months to get the paperwork done.

The girls and me had a quite time, just the 3 of us in that little house, I really enjoyed the peacefulness that surrounded me there. We did all sorts of things, the 3 of us. We discovered the surroundings, they learned to 'swim' in the pool we had. Smelled all the different flowers in our lovely garden, and walked around the neighborhood. Lot's of times I went shopping with them in the local mall and did our groceries in the supermarket. I took them everywhere!

Not easy with twins that young, but I wanted them to experience it all.

From that little house we lived in we had a view on Buddha Mountain. This was an area that the American army used as a practice area and they blew up one side of the mountain. So when they left they didn't want to leave the mountain half blown up, so they engraved with real gold a Buddha as a token of appreciation for the usage of this area. Now they build a winery around it, but that wasn't there when we used to live in Huay Yai.



It was a good time for me, not easy because the paperwork didn't really go as fast as we liked but the time I spend with the girls was great. I really felt happy to be a mother, and the sleepless nights I had didn't bother me at all. They only slept through the night ONE week before they turned 1. So at this point they woke up many many times a night.

At first I was sleeping in the other bedroom, but after a month or so I turned the Queen bed into a huge crib and we all 3 slept in there for the rest of the 10 months. I slept on my side of the bed and the girls would be sleeping on the other half with their feet pointing to me. Now when they woke up, I could just comfort them without having to go out of my bed, and it made my falling back to sleep a lot easier....

Now 9 years later and the girls still sleep in one bed, but at least mommy moved out... a long time ago ;-)

Enjoy your day,
Mireille xx

Meeting friends in Pattaya

Since we used to live near Pattaya, a beach resort in the Gulf of Thailand, we wanted to meet our friends who where still there. Since most of our friends are expats and like us moving every 4-5 years, most where gone, but a few we still met and that was so much fun!

Here in the lobby of our hotel, the Marriott we met Bruce & Judy, we had some drinks in the lobby, while we were hanging out at the pool before and still in our swimming clothes, Bruce & Judy were all dolled up to go after our meeting to a fancy dinner. It was great to see them!



We had a lovely dinner with our friends Lek, Min, and Kim and her lovely daughter Jana. Of course their husbands and children as well at this super duper restaurant close to my old house near big Buddha Mountain. We had a grand time!



Scott, Van, Dirk, Me, Lek, Kim and her twins Nathan & Jana.



And all the kids; Nathan, Patrick, Jana, JJ, Nathalie, Melanie and Jezz. Martin is missing ;-(



We met Namphet and her family most of the days we were in Pattaya, she is my lovely friend!! Here with her husband Anders and her cute daughter Andrea.



And all of us girls together.



And one more shot before we leave....



Me and Namphet at a seafood dinner in Ban Amphur.



And JJ and Jezz made some new 'friends' :-) lovely girls doing some promotion work in Royal Garden Plaza.



It is so great to see all our 'old' friends! The only one we missed was Avninder! I wanted to go to her new restaurant but we just had no time left. So next time we are in Pattaya we will come and visit you Av!

So many good memories came floating back by just seeing all these friends!

Thailand; land of great memories!
Mireille

Big Buddha Hill ~ Pattaya

We arranged it so that when we are in Pattaya our good friend Namphet and her family would also be there on vacation. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her. She used to work for us while we lived in Pattaya from 1999-2003, but we became such a good friends and now she feels like family! Thanks to Namphet we have our beautiful girls JJ & Jezz, since she is the one who connected us with the Bmother. So we are sharing lots of history together.

We decided to go and visit the girls Bmother on this day, but unfortunately she didn't live anymore at the house she used to and where the girls were born. Eventually we found her and met her again, but this I keep private and will not blog about. But in the meantime we had some time over and Namphet mentioned that she wanted to make Merritt at the Big Buddha and I thought it was a great idea, since she could show the girls how all the Buddhist rituals are done. We normally visit temples and show our respect but have not really any clue what it all means and how to do it properly. So this was a perfect opportunity to do so!!



First the girls went into this small temple on the food of the stairs where a monk is sitting inside and you make Merritt. The girls lighted some incense and candles and did their prayers. Namphet explained them everything along the way, and JJ and Jezz followed her example.







Then they represented some money and a basket full of necessities for the monks. The monk took a special interest in the girls since he wondered why they didn't speak any Thai. Namphet explained and he really liked the fact that we tried to educated JJ and Jezz as much as possible. He did a prayer for everybody in the room.



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Then Namphet & the girls filled some sort of tea cups with water, asked the monk to bless them and the water.



And watered the holy tree outside the temple with the blessed water. Now the girls and the holy tree were blessed!



We purchased a little cage with 9 birds inside (9-for good luck) to let them free on the top of the hill. One for the girls and one for Namphet. She needs her own good luck :-) The stairs leading up to the Big Buddha Monument are guarded by two dragons. Their purpose to stop any bad spirits following you up.





Here we go... up the stairs. It was a very hot day and those stairs were killing us!



Namphet let her birds free, and then when it was JJ and Jezz's turn a little stray temple cat sneaked up on them and snatched one of the birds before it could fly away! We were shocked and didn't know what to say... Having 8 birds let to freedom gives you that bad luck, or just a little less luck?? At least the cat got LUCKY!! ....OOPSY!!



On the top of the stairs is another small temple where you can make Merritt for your own Buddha depending on the day you are born. So that's what JJ & Jezz did, for Saturdays Buddha. I forgot what Namphet's Buddha was.



Look at Jezz, praying real hard! I guess she had a wish that she wanted to fulfill real bad :-)



Putting some gold leafs on the statues of the monks, for more good luck!



And last but not least, shaking the wooden sticks. These are long flat strips of wood numbered 1 - 28 placed in a circular container, shake up and down until one jumps out. When you have the number read the charts on the wall, this will be your destiny.



Jezz is on a mission to have all the good luck in the world, look at how she shakes so vigorously! This girl is too funny!



Dependant on the day which you were born you have your own guardian Buddha.

Mondays Buddha - will bring you peace.
Tuesdays Buddha - will give you peaceful sleep.
Wednesdays Buddha - means you are a giving person.
Thursdays Buddha - allows you peace of mind to meditate.
Fridays Buddha - will give you happiness.
Saturdays Buddha - will ensure your protection from the elements.
Sundays Buddha - will search for the needy and care for them.

Dirk and me just watched the whole ceremony, filmed and took pictures and were grateful that Namphet could educate JJ and Jezz about the principals of Buddhism and what to do when you like to make Merritt in a Thai Temple. Such a great experience and such a special day for us in many ways!

Khap Khun Kha Namphet!! We LOVE you!
Mireille

Next stop: Pattaya

We stayed 4 days in the center of Pattaya at the Marriott hotel resort which has a shopping & entertaining centre next door called Royal Garden plaza. Very convenient we thought, since everything is close by. But we forgot that we still had to drive to most places we wanted to see and now every time we go out, we are stuck in a traffic jam! Pfew.. Pattaya is so much more busy than when we used to live here 7 years ago!

But still we had tons of fun! The pool was beautiful and fun, although you can't see that on JJ and Jezz's face :-)



Ripley's Believe it or Not was there, and the girls loved it!! The museum with all the weird facts, and the scary guys...



The frozen statue was intriguing to the girls..



And our first night dinner at Benihana the Japanese steak house, which the girls had been before and LOVED. At Benihana the food is choreographed by the expertise of the chefs who entertain you with great panache as they prepare your meal at the cooking station in front of you. Highly skilled in the art of “Eatertainment” each personal chef performs as they cook marinated tender steaks, and arrangement of seafood such as Japanese Scallops and Tiger Prawns together with fresh vegetable selection. All in traditional Japanese style on a hibachi table (an American-style term for "teppan-yaki" cooking. Teppan meaning “steel grill” and yaki meaning “broiled”).







The first day was short, since we had to fly from Samui to Bangkok and then drive to Pattaya, about 1,5 hours. So taking it easy on the first day!

But there were many more fun things we did, so wait for more!
Mireille

Songkran ~ Thailand New Year's festival

We moved to Thailand in April 1999. We didn't have a house yet and my 40ft container with furniture hadn't arrived either, so the company put us in an hotel on Beach road in Pattaya where I would lay in the sun while Dirk was working. I would be searching for houses or condo's during the day, but that was all I had to do the first days. I didn't have a car yet, I didn't know the language, I didn't know anybody, and for sure I had no clue about the local customs.

So when we would go out at night that first week to eat dinner we had no clue what was going to happen to us... We thought: "Wow, it is really busy here on the streets!" And then the water throwing started!! We were surprised and soaked by the end of the evening. Hundreds of people on open trucks throwing water to tourists who had no clue, that is of course the most fun!! People who have no clue... like us!! This was our first introduction to the wonderful land of the Smiles!

This was also the last time I moved to a country without preparing and researching!!

But let me tell you a bit about how to celebrate Songkran in Thailand.

On the eve of Songkran Day, i.e. on the 12Th April, the people clean their house and burn all the refuse. This is a Spring Cleaning Day done as a duty in the belief that anything bad belonging to the old year will be unlucky to the owner if left and carried on to the coming New Year. It is something like a Public Health Cleaning Day but backed by traditional belief has proved more effective to emotional people than prosaic reason.



Early on the first day of Songkran, the 13Th April, the people both young and old in their new clothing go to the Wat or monastery belonging to their village or district to offer food to the monks there. A long table is erected in the compound of the Wat where monk's alms bowls stand in a row on either side of the table. Into the alms bowls the gathering people put boiled rice and into the covers of the alms bowls, food, fruits and sweetmeats. Such a performance can be seen at Wats outside Bangkok on Songkran Day. While the monks partake of their feast, music sometimes is played to celebrate the occasion.

In the afternoon of the same day there is bathing ceremony of the Buddha images and also of the abbot of the Wat. After this begins the well-known "water throwing feast". The bathing of images is done as ritualistic ceremony, but it is no other than a New Year's purification. Younger people will also on this day or the succeeding days go to pay their respect to and ask blessings from their elders and respected persons. They will pour scented water into the palms of the old people and present them with a towel and other bathing requisites. In the old days it was an actual bathing where the young people helped the old people to take a bath and to change their old clothing and put on the new clothes which the young people presented them as an act of respect to the aged on the occasion of the New Year.



Another duty to be done during the Songkran Festival is a religious service called Bangsakun performed in sacred memory to the dead. When a person died and was cremated, the ashes and charred bones of common people were buried at the root of a sacred fig-tree in a Wat. Such trees are to be found in the grounds of almost every Wat. It is a symbol of the Lord Buddha's enlightenment for under such a tree did Buddha sit in meditation and receive his enlightenment. If a person is able to erect a Pra Chedi or pagoda in the Wat the ashes and bones are then deposited in it. In later times a portion of the bones was sometimes kept in the house in a receptacle. On Songkran Day a religious service in sacred memory to the dead may be officiated by a monk or monks at the place where the ashes and the bones have been deposited, or as in some localities the people bring their dead bones to a village wat in company with others where a joint memorial service is performed. In some parts of the country the guardian spirits of the village and town receive also their annual offerings on Songkran Days. Obviously there are reminiscences or traces of ancestor and animistic worship in by-gone days.



So for people in Thailand, today cleaning day, tomorrow the fun begins: water throwing!! I am glad I am not a tourist in Thailand who has no clue!! LOL

If you celebrate Songkran ~ Have a wonderful celebration!
I just love all the Thai festivals!! Wish I could be there, since now I am prepared ;-)

Mireille

Finally back into a routine...

I used to excercise quite a bit before the girls were born and I was living in Thailand. Together with my friend Lara we would go to the gym and with my neighbor Ginster I would bike around Phoenix Golf course and take a swim afterwards. Then the girls came into our lives and we moved to the US. Suddenly I had no time anymore. No maid who helps out in the house, 2 young babies...so my excercise routine kind off vanished... It is all about priorities, but I had too many excuses. Too cold, too hot, children only 2,5 hours at school....blah dee blah ;-)

Now, I don't have any excuses anymore! The girls are full-time in school and I have a full-time maid. So I signed up at a gym yesterday, it is a franchise and called Curves, a women only gym. Supposingly the fastest growing franchise at the moment, with gyms all over the world. Since I need a low threshold to go to a gym, I have a hard time motivating myself, I opted for this program. It is short and effective, burning 500 calories in just half an hour! Wow, that sounds good.
So I went yesterday and today and I like it!! They advice to come in 3x a week for just 30 minutes and your curves will become less curvy ;-) I like that! You do this excercise routine, the machines are set up in a circle, and each 30 seconds you switch to another station. Alternating mats and machines, on the mats you do cardio and on the machines you work on strenght. It really is fast and good...at least that is what I am thinking now ;-)

But I am not done here, it is nice and all but I feel I need to opt for another thing, something that I wanted to do already for a long time, and that is Yoga. There is a Bikram Yoga here in the neighborhood that I like to try out. with Bikram yoga you work on a series of 26 poses performed in a room heated from around 90-100 degrees Farenheit/40C and get ready to sweat. This will leave you, astonishingly, renewed with energy and well... sweaty. So that is my next excercise routine I am planning to check out next week. I will keep you posted on my results!
Hopefully I will be in shape in no time again...I have a lot to work on ;-)
I also read mixed reviews about the Bikram yoga, so I am curious how I will feel about.....being in a room with lots of sweaty people, since it is so hot in there. But it makes your body also more flexible and less prone to injuries. I am very curious. You will hear from me ;-)

Enjoy your weekend!
Ciao, Mireille