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

Orgasm in your Mouth....

These are NOT my words, but a friend of mine... and I will keep her identity safe... but in a local restaurant they also call it....
a wrap sensation!

So I see you thinking?? WHAT IS THAT??

Well....

I call it Miang Kam, which is a snack from Thailand that is super super delicious, you HAVE to try it!! It is SO GOOD!! It's a street food and every time I go to ChatuJak market, the biggest outdoor market in Bangkok I go to my favorite lady sitting on the side of the street and making these little parcels of pure HEAVEN!!



When I see this video, hear the Thai accent and see this delicious street food... I SO MISS THAILAND!!

So here the original recipe, it comes pretty close I must admit!! It is so YUMMY, try to make it and you will love it too!!

The only thing I can't find here are the betel leaves, so I used the bigger spinach leaves. The ones that are organic and a bit more crunchy. Very good as well.... the sauce is what makes the whole thing come together. A bit of an effort to make but WORTH it!!

From left to right: Red chillies, limes, ginger, shallots, peanuts and sauce in the middle. I left out the dried shrimp, since we had it during a book club meeting in the morning.

Miang Kam – Thai snack wrapped in betel leaf (or cha-phloo leaves or La Lop) or substitute with spinach leaves.

toasted coconut flakes
finely chopped bird eye chilies
finely chopped young ginger cubes
finely chopped shallots
finely cut lime cubes
toasted peanuts
toasted dried shrimp

Pile all the above ingredients on top of fresh betel leaves, drizzle over the sauce made from maltose and fish sauce and fold.

You will be AMAZED by the taste sensation!!

Pop them into your mouth and you'll find that they're so addictive that you can't stop!!

Ingredients Sauce
:

1 tablespoon shrimp paste, roasted until fragrant

2 oz fresh galangal, cut into slivers and roasted until fragrant (see note below)

1/4 cup grated coconut, roasted in a low-heat oven until lightly brown

4 oz small dried shrimps

2 oz shallots, peeled and coarsely cut

1.5 teaspoons fresh ginger, sliced

8 oz palm sugar (broken into small chunks)

2 tablespoons table sugar
salt for seasoning

Method: Sauce
:

In a mortar and pestle, pound together the shallots and galangal until fine (note about galangal: it's ok to use dried galangal as long as it's placed in a dish of lukewarm water for a few minutes to reconstitute).
Add roasted shrimp paste, ginger, coconut and dried shrimp, and continue pounding until smooth.
Remove the mixture and place in a pot with 1.5 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, add palm sugar and table sugar, then reduce heat and simmer, wait until reduced to 1 cup or a bit less.
Taste, and adjust by adding a bit of salt. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl.

The choice of what leaves to use is up to you. Some use lettuce or spinach leaves due to ready availability, but to get an authentic flavor you should use the fresh cha-phloo leaves.
These leaves are also known in English as Betel Leaves, or Piper Sermentosum.
In Vietnamese language, these leaves are labeled as La Lop.



Serving
:

Roast the coconut in a low-heat oven or dry roasting on stove until lightly brown. Spoon the roasted coconut into a serving plate.
In separate small bowls, arrange each filling ingredient listed above. With a fresh wrapping leaf in hand, fold it once across the bottom then sideways to form a pocket. Place about 1 teaspoon roasted coconut in the leaf together with a small amount of each filling to create a bite-sized quantity.

Spoon the sauce on top, pop in your mouth and enjoy!

PS: I am sure this blog title will get some attention... and I wonder how long it will take before it hits my most popular post! LOL
Mireille xx

~ Thai Songkran ~ สวัสดีปีใหม่ ~

From India to Thailand.. a virtual travel to the Land of the Smiles, since in Thailand they celebrate Thai New Year today, also called Songkran!

Below our beautiful Thai girls saying Happy New Year to you!! The traditional greeting is "สวัสดีปีใหม่" (sa-wat-dee pee mai), basically "Happy New Year".

Don't the girls look beautiful in their traditional Thai outfit? Jasmine in red, Juliet in green.


Songkran Festival is the traditional Thai New Year celebrated on April 13th. Families and friends gather to celebrate by visiting temples, sprinkling water on Buddha images in reverence, and sprinkling water on each other's hands as an act of wishing good luck.



In recent years, the tradition of sprinkling water has been interpreted by youngsters as a great excuse for a water fight, and it is not uncommon to have buckets and containers of water thrown at you by teams of merry makers in the backs of trucks as you make your way down the street - particularly in major tourist areas like Bangkok and Pattaya.

Children of all ages, and sometimes even adults delight in equipping themselves with water guns and spraying anyone who comes in their path - no one is exempt! Remember this date when you are in Patong and leave your cameras and anything likely to suffer water damage behind in your hotel room, because you will get wet. That happens to us when we went to Thailand for our first look-see trip and we arrived in Pattaya on Songkran. Wow! What an introduction was that to the Land of the Smiles!!



Songkran has traditionally been celebrated as the New Year for many centuries, and is believed to have been adapted from the Indian Holi festival. It is now observed nationwide, even in the far south. However, the most famous Songkran celebrations are still in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where it continues for six days and even longer. It has also become a party for foreigners and an additional reason for many to visit Thailand for immersion in another culture.

Such a fun festival, I wish I could go to Thailand now... We have a Thai temple here close by and we went on Sunday to celebrate, but the only thing we came across where very drunk Caucasians and their Thai wives spraying everybody wet, even when you had a camera around your neck... so after checking the whole festival out we left after 10 minutes. Even the food was not that great.... too bad! Now we have to wait for the big Thai festival that is held in August every year here in SA.

Have a great day! Tell me what are you doing today, celebrating Songkran??
Mireille

The Fabulous world of twins

Funny how being a twin keeps people fascinated.... The other day I heard from a mother of a boy in JJ's class that she overheard a conversation of her son and a friend from the same class. They were comparing the girls on their latest Xmas card... Who was prettier?.. Who had the most beautiful smile, eyes, etc... ALWAYS the comparison!! Must be hard on the girls, because now they are noticing that more and more... even between themselves, the competition is starting... at age 8! What happens when they are 14, 18, then it will become a fierce competition, I better prepare myself for the battle :-)

This is the picture they were comparing the girls, Jezz on the left, JJ on the right.



People always ask me if they are totally opposite, is one the shy one, the outspoken one? And a comment I get a lot is: "But they don't look THAT much alike, I CAN see differences!"
Yes, and that is normal! Because twins are not CLONES!! They are still different people, they just happen to share 1 egg (if they are identical) and look a lot alike, but it doesn't mean there are NO differences.

I find the girls looked more alike when they were babies and toddlers, since their hair was not grown yet and I also had a hard time to keep them separate... so I checked for differences in their tiny bodies... Jezz had a birthmark underneath her belly button, so I would check into the diaper to make sure. Then I started to dress Jezz into pink and JJ into blue, to this day this is what happens. The girls are so used to having either pink/orange/red clothes or the other one blue/green/purple clothes that if I buy something and it is the same outfit but in a different color, without discussion they each choose their own set. It makes it easy for the teachers, even for me who knows the difference if I see one of them across the hallway, or outside in the yard I know if it is Jezz or JJ because of the color of the dress/shirt!

Here at 3 months of age... not easy to see who is who, but Jezz on the left, JJ on the right, just like the picture above!



Here at 1 year old, their hair is almost the same so hard to see, now JJ is on the left and Jezz on the right. Did you guess correct?



Here it is easier, at age 2,5 now the color coding was done most of the time, so guess who is JJ and who is Jezz??




With twins people always like to give their 'advice'. The one I hear a lot is: "I shouldn't dress them alike, it will hinder their personality."
Well, I don't believe that clothing can hinder any personality it is more a result of the way you feel. But be honest a 2-3-4-5-6 year old is mostly getting dressed by their moms so why not twins?
Yes, there is an occasional child who really only wants to choose themselves, but in general the mom chooses.

Picture yourself in my position, you see a beautiful dress/shirt/shoes in a shop, but people tell you you HAVE to dress them DIFFERENT. So who do I give that beautiful dress/shirt/shoes to? To JJ or Jezz, there is NO other dress/shirt/shoes that I find as equally beautiful, so I just go for the easy option.... the same dress/shirt/shoes in a different color! Voila... problem solved!

Their true identity can come out when they are teenagers and they won't let mom decide which clothes they need to wear, till then believe me it is a lot easier to buy the same clothes in just a different color or pattern! A mother's life is already hard enough especially when you have twins, shopping for 2 whole different outfits... with in mind the personality of the child... makes life too complicated!! And another handy side-effect is that you will find/recognize your children in a crowd a LOT EASIER when they wear the same outfits, because believe me twins get lost all the time when you are in a mall or at a play ground or park. One cruises off in the right direction and one runs off in the left direction if you just let them loose for 1 second!!

So that 'advice' that mostly comes from friendly people, but have no clue what it entails to have twins is not always the best!

Below Jezz decided she wanted to be different.. so she cut herself some bangs ;-) Well... we had to go to the salon to make it more even...



What are identical twins?

A general stereotype about identical twins is that they are clones. They act alike, look alike, and are expected to be "identical." However, the term identical twins actually refers to a type of twinning, and describes how they form, not what they look like.

The correct term for identical twinning is monozygotic. Monozygotic twins form from a single (mono) fertilized egg (zygote). The zygote splits into two parts after conception, resulting in the development of two individual embryos. Because the two embryos are the result of a single egg/sperm combination, they have the same genetic origins. They have the same DNA.

Dizygotic twins (often referred to as fraternal), are the result of two eggs fertilized by two separate sperm. Although most women only release a single egg in an ovulation cycle, sometimes multiples eggs are released. Dizygotic twins share about 50% of their genetic traits, the same as any other siblings born at different times.

Some interesting facts about identical twins:

The causes of monozygotic twinning are generally unknown and unidentified. No one really knows why an egg splits; technically it's a malfunction of the normal development process.
There's no hereditary trait that influences a predisposition to having identical twins. Identical twins do not run in families. Although there are families with a high incidence of identical twins, it is due to chance, coincidence or plain good luck.
Identical twins represent about a third of all twins. Dizygotic twins are twice as common as monozygotic.
Birth rate statistics for identical twinning have remained stable over the years, despite the overall increase in twins and multiples since the late 1980's. The odds of having identical twins is about 3 in 1,000, whereas the birthrate for all twins is about 32.2 in 1,000.
Identical twinning is not generally influenced by fertility-enhancing treatments like drugs or in vitro, although monozygotic twins have been produced in pregnancies that were the result of such treatments.
Birth rates for identical twins are consistent across populations; it is the same regardless of race, geography or maternal age.

We adopted Jasmine Isabel (Jezz) and Juliet Janelle (JJ) when they were 3 months old, while we were living in Thailand. Our world changed from one day to another! Having twins is busy... hard work! But what you don't realize is that it becomes so much easier later in life than having 2 siblings. After the first 2,5 - 3 years the girls realized that they have a sister and can play with each other! First they just play side by side, then it is hard work. But as soon as they become a team they don't need you as much anymore and there is ALWAYS a friend to play with. Even to this day I can compare the friendship, the bond, the strong feeling they have for each other is so different than just having a sibling.

Most kids this age want play dates, friends to hang out with, YES, my girls want that too, but not as frequent as the others, they are content and happy with each other, they don't necessarily need another friend to have a good time! That makes life so much easier. So having twins is such a blessing!! The support they find in each other weighs out much more than the competition that maybe will follow later! For now they are best friends, with such a strong bond - nobody can break! or come in between!

Another plus I find in having twins is that since we are an expat family and we move every 4-5 years, the girls ALWAYS have somebody to share their experiences with. A new school, a new house, a new country, that is OK, because her sister goes through the same, is in the same grade, so they can help each other with everything!! In their short lives they already lived in 3 continents, and 3 different countries (Thailand, USA, South Africa), but it doesn't rock their boat at all. They are fine with it, because they are together!!

Do you have twins or know any twins? And how is their bond, does it change when they are older? Do they start looking more different when they become older, because their personality is different? Do people compare, do they compare themselves with school work, friends, hobbies? Tell me your experiences! I like to know.

Greetings from South Africa,
Mireille

Being a global nomad....

Since living abroad already since I was 20 years old, I feel more like a world citizen than as a typical Dutch person. As a child I already knew that I wouldn't stay in Holland, it was just too small and cramped for me. So the first opportunity to go abroad for me was when I was 20. I moved to the USA for a one year au-pair agreement I made with a lovely family in Brielle, New Jersey. That trip gave me the travel bug for sure, if I didn't have it already....



So when I moved back to Holland and I met Dirk (yes, we are 20 years together!) almost immediately after I told him I want to travel the world, so if he liked to keep dating me he better travel with me... and he did and since we have been living in 6 countries: Spain (Canary Islands ~ Tenerife & Lanzarote) Greece (Rhodes), USA (Eugene, Oregon) back to Holland for a few years, got married and moved to Thailand (Jomtien), USA (Ridgefield, Connecticut) and now in South Africa (Johannesburg).

So you can see not only 6 different countries, also 4 different continents... with different cultures, languages, food, religions, driving on different sides of the road, shopping labels and traffic signs not in your language, many many different aspects you have to adjust to each time you move. Get a new doctor, dentist, ob-gyn, new school, get used to new shops and leaving behind the brands of food you are used to, new hairdresser etc.. etc..

However we got good at these adjustments of cultural changes, but each move it takes time... and you need to be patient to give yourself that time to get used to, feel at home in your new home, your new neighborhood, new friends.

So below is a list I found on the internet that will help you make that transition to your new place and I will give you an example how we experienced it or feel about it.


Factors Important to Successful Intercultural Adjustments

Open Mindedness... The ability to keep one's opinions flexible and receptive to new stimuli seems to be important to intercultural adjustment. Especially the first time you move abroad you have to understand that not everybody does the things in the same way you are used to. But remember each country has their reasons why they do it a specific way, normally you will figure this out after a while, but keep an open mind!



Sense of Humor... A sense of humor is important because in another culture there are many things which lead one to weep, get angry, be annoyed, embarrassed, or discouraged. The ability to laugh off things will help guard against despair. Think to yourself about it in this way: Do I laugh about this in 6 months or cry?? Most of the time it is annoying at the moment, but later you can laugh about the incident.




Ability to Cope with Failure... The ability to tolerate failure is critical because everyone fails at something overseas. Persons who go overseas are often those who have been the most successful in their home environments and have rarely experienced failure, thus, may have never developed ways of coping with failure. This is so true, but you are leaving your comfort zone and chances that somethings go wrong is so much bigger than back at home, just realize that you are not the only one!



Communicativeness... The ability and willingness to communicate one's feelings and thoughts to others, verbally or non-verbally, has been suggested as an important skill for successful intercultural communicators. Yes, friends become like an extended family, since you don't have your mother, sister around, you need to learn to share more and deeper feelings with your friends, otherwise you go kooko! Why do you think I started a blog?? LOL




Flexibility and Adaptability... The ability to respond to or tolerate the ambiguity of new situations is very important to intercultural success. Keeping options open and judgmental behavior to a minimum describes an adaptable or flexible person. Do as the Romans do when in Rome... you have to adapt to your host country, life just becomes a lot easier!!




Curiosity... Curiosity is the demonstrated desire to know about other people, places, ideas, etc. This skill or personality trait is important for intercultural travelers because they need to learn many things in order to adapt to their new environment. Agree: you can't live your life like you did in your home country and not being interested in the people around you, that is the beauty of living in different places, to figure out and experience how other people live. But I see many expats around me that try to stay in their own bubble... they will never adjust and have a happy time!



Positive and Realistic Expectations... It has been shown frequently that there are strong correlations between positive expectations for an intercultural experience and successful adjustment overseas. Isn't that the attitude you have to have wherever you are? Even in your home country! Be positive and make the best of your life, wherever you are!!




Tolerance for Differences and Ambiguities... A sympathetic understanding for beliefs or practices differing from one's own is important to successful intercultural adjustment. That is a big one as a life lesson for my children, I love that in their short lives they already run into so many different cultures and customs. No school can give them that experience!



Positive Regard for Others... The ability to express warmth, empathy, respect, and positive regard for other persons has been suggested as an important component of effective intercultural relations. Again here, I find that is an important lesson in life regardless where you live!



A Strong Sense of Self... A clear, secure feeling about oneself results in individuals who are neither weak nor overbearing in their relations with others. Persons with a strong sense of themselves stand up for what they believe but do not cling to those beliefs regardless of new information, perspectives, or understandings which they may encounter. Indeed, you are sometimes a minority and if you have a low self esteem this experience by living abroad will not help, so be a leader and not a follower. Lead your own life! There will always be people who have a bigger house, bigger car, are more beautiful than you are. But it is not important what you have, it is important that you live in the moment and enjoy your circumstances. Make the most of it! It is a wonderful life!



Another point that I find is really important but not on this list.... Before we moved to Thailand we had a culture shock course and the teacher told us that the key to success is to learn/speak the language of your host country. We did that; of all the countries we lived in we either spoke the language or learned it, and it does make a difference!

Well... if you ever move to another country or even move states or across your own country, there are a lot of valid points in here that count for you as well.

Have you ever moved far away and find that you ran into these points??
Tell me about your moves and experiences!

Have a Super Sunday!
Mireille

2010 in pictures!

I got this idea from Wendy, a friend of mine from Connecticut, she writes a blog as well. And she is a funny writer, so check out her blog here. Thank You Wendy for the idea!

Here comes our year in pictures, although these are many pictures, it is not even half of the activities we have done... there were still so many more moments which I could have shared, but it just gets too much for 1 blog posting....

JANUARY

The year 2010 started off with a BANG! My Bday is on the 31st and we had a WILD party!! With me dancing on the table, but I will not show you that picture...

Here the beginning of the evening, just the girls.



Then more towards the end of the evening, Dirk getting wild with the girls :-)



FEBRUARY

It's summer, so the girls are all the time in the pool.



Valentine's trip to the bush, we could bike here and just run into giraffes, kudus, ostriches... so much fun!







MARCH

Another trip: Mountains & Beaches









While we were lounging at the pool at a nearby restaurant, some friends joined us!! A new for us.. zebra's hanging out with us!



APRIL



The girls are 8!



Queen's Day celebration at the Ambassadors house in Pretoria.



A real wild Cheetah visiting school! His name is Byron



Cleaning cars for Byron the Cheetah, a good cause, so other children can also visit the wildlife center.



MAY

A camping trip for JJ & Jezz's Bday, with 11 girls sleeping over in the bush - so exciting!!







World Cup in South Africa, but also at school. Each class is another country and they play against each other!





JUNE

SA was in the ban of the World Cup Football, Dirk enjoyed 11 games AND the final! He had a blast, while we were soaking up the sun on Koh Samui.



6 weeks on Koh Samui, just me and the girls, while Dirk is enjoying all the football games in SA!



My father also stayed with us for a while.







JULY

The last 2,5 weeks Dirk joins us and we travel to Pattaya, Bangkok and Hua Hin. Here with Namphet our good friend!



AUGUST

A lot of our friends meet for a BBQ/Braai at the Lion & Rhino park to have some fun at a Sunday afternoon.



A big ugly bird joined us...



SEPTEMBER

A camping trip in Limpopo with 3 other families, we just LOVE the BUSH!!





14 years married!



OCTOBER

A school trip for the moms to Pretoria to see the blooming Jacarandas.



JJ and Jezz finally learned how to bike!



Mid-term break ~ A week to 3 of the 7 Emirates: Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Abu Dhabi, what a mysterious world!



Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, can hold up to 40.000 worshippers at one time! One of the largest mosques in the world.



Aquaventure waterpark in Dubai, the girls could have stayed there for the whole week :-)



NOVEMBER

Dirk, Luciano and Candice celebrated their Bday with a great party AND a Belly Dancer!



Our annual trip to the coast of Durban during the Thanksgiving break, this year we went to Zimbali.





The annual Parade of Nations at AISJ ~ the girls in their national dress.



Went to the wedding of our friends Lionel & Olimpia. A fun fest!



DECEMBER

A month later their first child was born, a handsome boy Gabriel!



Xmas eve: dinner by the pool.





While the adults are enjoying the 5-course meal the girls are unwrapping gifts in between bites.



Fire crackers for the kids at the New Year's Bash. We celebrated with 33 kids and adults, a fun fest again!



And a dip in the hot tub for the younger girls! FUN, FUN, FUN!



So many great moments, so many things to be thankful of, such a fun year! I am looking forward to 2011, already a lot of trips planned, Bdays to celebrate and other fun activities to look forward to. Can't wait to share them with you!

I hope your year will be fun filled, adventurous, and full of happy moments!
Mireille