Excited, Excited, Scared, Excited, Nervous, Happy

Lots of emotions floating around these days....i can't believe my time here in Thailand is coming to a close. it's such a bittersweet feeling and i will miss everyone here so much. however, there are lots of things happening in my life that compell me to believe that moving back now is the right time.

the most important reason i want to move back is to spend more time with family. if you don't know, my grandmother has been sick with breast cancer and is going through radiation right now. i really want to spend time with her and help her to get feeling better so she'll be ready to party at our wedding in the states next year. oh yeah, we picked a date for that one...may 21st, 2011 so get ready for some mad festivities!!!

also, i'm feeling a bit bored, complacent at my job right now and i just don't have the feeling that i'm moving forward in my career. my teaching at yonok is fun and comfortable but i don't really feel that i'm pushing myself to be the best teacher i can be. i feel completely cut off from the academic world (which can be good) but am also excited to get back to interacting with other academics, learning about new teaching methods and theories, doing more professional development. i often worry about getting a job when i get back. it's such a scary situation we are jumping into with neither one of us having employment lined up. i'm also at a point where i'm thinking that i want to teach so that it has an impact. i hope i can work with underprivileged people, refugees, nontraditional students. i want to work with people who are excited to learn and understand the value of education.

i've been so overwhelmed the past few weeks when i start thinking about everything that needs to get done before we move back. luckily, i'm trying to accomplish a little bit everyday so that i won't feel super-stressed in may. i feel so blessed to have this time off work to be able to concentrate on it all. i still go into yonok everyday and have lunch with nadine. it's so wonderful to be able to spend time with her chatting everyday before we leave. she has been one of my best friends here and she and her husband are getting ready to have their first child. i'm so happy i get to be here through her pregnancy. unfortunately, we won't be here when the baby is born...it's due on may 15 and our wedding is on may 22 so we'll be getting ready in ubon. this has been a hard time for both of us....we both feel really disappointed that we'll miss each other's life-changing experiences but i think we're both trying to stay positive about it. plus, nadine and la are planning to move back to the states sometime in the near future so we'll be able to visit them in boston.

last weekend i hosted a baby shower for them. it was my first time but i think i pulled it off well considering that most of the thai women who attended had no idea what a baby shower was! also, our british friends didn't really know either which means it must be such an american thing to do. we played lots of games, opened gifts, ate tons and food and had a great time just talking all together. i think everyone loved having that woman time with each other. otto and la were there though they mostly hung out on the front porch. overall, it was a success and most importantly it was a wonderful time that the parents will be able to look back on.

hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather! new growth is all around us...

Summertime

Well summer is officially here...the temperatures are blazing into the upper 90's and possibly 100's already. i've finished all of my teaching and grading so i'm just checking in at school everyday and using my free time to help otto with his fiance visa, plan for the wedding and get ready for our move back to the states.

we sent otto's visa paperwork in mid-january and heard back from them by mid-february. we were given a case number and are currently preparing for the interview in bangkok. no date yet, but we should hear from them soon. i'm thinking it will all be over by the end of april.

wedding plans are going well. right now i'm working on decorations for the reception. my mom found some gorgeous colorful butterflies that we will hang from the ceiling and put in some of the flower arrangements. i found these lovely glass star-shaped jars that are filled with tinsel. they looked pretty magical so i snatched them up while i could. we've also decided that we are going to have a table with little bells on it and let everyone write a wish, prayer or words of wisdom on a bell and then hang it somewhere around the room. i'm looking for colorful round lanterns to hang up which goes with our "bubbles" theme. also, we are going to have wonderbubbles on the tables so people can play with those throughout the night.

i figured out my wedding hairstyle. i'm hoping for something a bit like a greek goddess do. my friend is going to help me make a gold headband/ribbon that wraps around my head twice. my mom asked her hairdresser to show her how to do my hair so she'll be able to do it on the wedding day. the hairdresser said she could just curl my hair around her finger and then pin the curls up...sounds a lot easier than going to a salon and i'm happy that we won't have to use a curling iron or cans of hairspray. it's going to be hot...so i don't want a hairstyle that will fall out in the heat. plus it's exciting that mom will be doing my hair, makes me feel a bit sentimental for the times when she'd do my hair when i was a little girl.

i haven't even started packing yet though i sometimes clean out a drawer or two here and there. we finished the wedding cards and they are in the mail so hopefully you'll be getting them soon!
that's about all for now...keep you posted as the wedding plans move along.

Wedding Dress!

Today was the big wedding dress shopping day. A few of us gals got together at the local coffee shop for breakfast and then walked around downtown Lampang looking for the perfect dress. I really wanted a Thai-style dress but wasn't sure if they would look good on my body. They seem to be made more for people with a slim figure, not for curvy bodies. The first place we went only had one dress I was interested in. It had some beautiful applique on it, but it looked too much like a prom dress. I knew I didn't want a white dress because I'm so pale already that I would look too washed-out. I thought something with a gold or pink tint would work better with my skin tone.

The second place had a lot more options and I was able to fit into a few Thai dresses but they didn't look great. It's hard to know if you would like something when it doesn't fit properly. The sales assistants kept saying, "We can make it for you!" but I worried that after they went to all that trouble, I might not even like the dress. Finally the last shop of the day had a lot of nice dresses but the place was very unorganized. It was hard to see the stock. I picked out one dress the minute I walked it. It was perfect...had a bit of fairy magic to it, was a very light gold color and it looked simple and elegant. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get it over my hips :( I tried on a few more dresses and found a coupleThai-style ones that I really liked. Finally the shop woman showed me that she could open the first dress and I tried it on again. I felt really comfortable and beautiful the minute I tried it on. There was a problem with the straps being too short but she ended up unsewing them so i could see what it will look like after the alterations. I fell in love with it.

We started to talk about prices and to have the dress custom-made for me would cost about 15,000 baht. It probably doesn't seem like that much by American standards, but that's pretty expensive for here. We started talking about whether she could alter the dress off the rack. It turns out that she will be able to let it out a bit and pull it down so the dress won't look short on me. The dress will cost 4,000 baht including the cost of alterations and cleaning!!!! I couldn't pass it by so I made her a down payment and an appointment for a fitting on Feb. 6th. I figure that I might end up renting a Thai-style dress for the wedding ceremony here and wearing this dress for the reception and the wedding in the states. So I feel really happy and lucky that it was such an easy process. I can see how it can be so frustrating...especially when I was too big for everything. But I can't wait until everyone can see my dress on me!!!

Interesting Information about Lampang from the Municipality's Website

History

The founding myth of Lampang. Hariphunchai Period. Lampang was a major city in the Lanna kingdom. However, its historical prominence is largely overshadowed by Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai which were the traditional seats of government, and whose histories were well recorded in chronicles. Following decades of warfare with both the Ava burmese and Ayuddhya during the 17th-18th century, the region was in decline, severely depopulated, and subject to Burmese control. In the late 18th century, a famed marksman Nan Thipchang and a Lampang native, assassinated the local Burmese leader in the Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, and led an uprising which led to a roll back of Burmese rule over Lanna. Allied with Bangkok, the descendents of Nan Thip Chang, known as Chao Ched Ton (The Seven Princes), became the vassal rulers of the various Lanna cities until the annexation of Lanna into Siam (Thailand) proper under King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).

Economy

Lampang is famous for the production of ceramic goods and mining operations. A great deal of ball clay, china stone, and lignite are extracted from the surrounding mountains. There are more than 200 ceramic factories in and around Mueang Lampang. Most of ceramic factories are small to medium size operations mainly producing novelties (plant pots, dolls), tablewares, and building materials (tiles, railings), etc. The largest power plant in Thailand is located in Mae Mo district near the lignite mining area. The plant uses the abundant lignite as fuel. The largest concrete plant is also situated north of Mueang Lampang. This is also powered by the lignite. Limestone is another abundant mineral mined in Lampang. Agricultural products that are famous for this province are rice and pineapples. HistoricallyHistorically, logging was an important industry, since Lampang, together with nearby Phrae had a large stand of teak. Many elephants were employed to transport the logs to the river for transport to Bangkok, hence a founding of the 'Elephant School', the predecessor of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. Much of the old growth teak stands in Lampang had been thoroughly harvested.

Wedding Plans

Well things are looking pretty good after our trip to Ubon over New Years. We went to 3 hotels and found one we liked which was way too expensive. The other 2 were a bit shabby. On the way out of town, we passed another place and decided on a whim that we should check it out. It ended up being really lovely....full of gardens and it looks more traditional than the other hotels. Here's the website if anyone wants to check it out: http://www.ubonburihotel.com/
This hotel will give us the reception room for free as long as we pay for the food. They also let us order a keg of beer so we won't have to buy that outside. We really enjoyed the small bungalows/cottages that the hotel has on their grounds and they gave us a 300 baht discount on the rooms, so it ended up being very reasonable.

One of the reasons we decided on this place was that we had a lot of problems with the food situation at the other hotels. Otto's family will only eat Thai food and my family will only eat foreign food so we had to find a way to accommodate both diets. We tried to make our own buffet menus but it was going to be super pricey. Luckily, this hotel let us order a set menu for the Thai folks and a different menu for the international travelers. We will pay by the person. The international food is double the price of Thai food but it's still pretty cheap. The hotel will also provide the backdrop for the stage which will have our names and the date on it.

We also spent time trying to find a cake. It appears that Thai people don't usually have wedding cakes so we couldn't find any where in Ubon to make one. I had the idea that we should have an ice cream cake because they are so popular here and our wedding will be during hot season. So we went to Swensons and asked whether they make big cakes. Unfortunately, they do not, but we decided that we will just buy 3 different kinds of ice cream cakes. That way people can choose whatever flavor they like.

We also found a place for the women in my family to rent Thai-style clothes. This shop is huge and filled with so many interesting dresses and outfits. I ended up trying some on and taking pictures so that people can see the different styles and colors. We let them know that we will be coming the week before the wedding so that they can prepare any farang-sized clothes they have. We also found a place to rent a van for everyone since the trip to Otto's village is a bit far and we won't have transportation for 10 people.

Finally, we found the perfect place for the rehearsal dinner. It's a restaurant we had never noticed before in downtown Ubon called Risotto's. It has traditional Italian food. Otto and I had lunch there and it was really tasty. It's a little restaurant so we spoke to them about renting out the place for an evening. I think everyone will really enjoy the food there.

Next up: wedding dress shopping!

Life Changes

Soooo this is my first post in a long time. The trip home was amazing. We were able to spend a lot of time with family and see friends in Chicago, Normal and St. Louis. We had a great time at Amy and Josh's wedding and a phenomenal trip to the Smoky Mountains with mom, dad, aunt pat and uncle don. We had such a great time that we were convinced to plan for our move home. The best part of the trip was our engagement which happened in a cabin atop a mountain in North Carolina. It was such a wonderful night and we were so happy to be able to share it with family. We were able to announce it to most of our family members in person before we came back to Thailand.

Things here are moving pretty quickly. We are busily planning our Thai wedding, arranging for Otto's fiance visa, and organizing everything for the move home as well as looking for jobs. We have set the wedding date as May 22nd and we're so excited that my family will be able to join the ceremony here. We are going on a trip to southern Laos just before the wedding. We are planning to do a traditional Thai ceremony in Otto's village and then have a reception at a hotel in Ubon. After that, we will have a week or so to travel to Koh Chang with the family. We will hopefully be able to move back right after the wedding. We haven't really started planning for our wedding in the states, but we know that we want to have an outdoor ceremony with camping and a festival-type feeling.

We are going to Otto's hometown over new years to get some of the wedding planning done. We are going to check out hotels, photographers, look for a cake and a place for the family to rent Thai-style clothes for the ceremony. I haven't started dress shopping yet, but plan to do so after the New Years holiday. So it's a very exciting time for us and I'm looking forward to all of the changes in our near future. We want our friends and family to know that they are welcome to the Thai wedding but of course we understand that traveling so far is a big financial burden. We will hopefully have the opportunity to see everyone at our wedding in the states! Hope you are all having a magical holiday season.

On our way home!

So the countdown is beginning. We will be leaving for america in two and a half weeks! i can't believe it's already happening. Otto and I have been so busy trying to prepare for the trip back. I've been doing lots of shopping for gifts for everyone and Otto had a suit made at a local tailor (for about $70....gotta love Thai prices!). I keep trying to tell Otto what it's going to be like and prepare him for culture shock and jet lag, but i guess those are things you just have to experience on your own. I keep giving him little bits of information such as "We can drink the tap water in America" to which he gets pretty astounded. I know they are just little things, but they can be huge coming from a different place. He says he's excited but doesn't even know what he's excited for! He keeps having dreams about our trip. I just know it's going to be a great one and I can't wait to be there to help Amy with her wedding preparations. I will actually get to go to her next fitting so i'm very excited about that.

What's been going on here? Well in my classes, my students have been working really hard. Their final exams are in two weeks. My speaking and listening class just gave a performance of folk tales from around the world. It was amazing! The students took stories that were written in narrative and changed them into scripts which they then acted out. The final performance was last Thursday, and while I can't say it went perfectly, I can say that I was really proud of them. I will be sure to post pictures on my photobucket soon. In my writing class, we finished our unit on poetry. I've been really surprised by how gifted some of the students are at poetry writing. I think they really valued the opportunity to express themselves freely and i can't wait to read their final portfolios. We are finishing up a unit on short stories so i'm eager to read their final drafts.

I've been going to chiang mai every other weekend. Unfortunately Otto had to give his car back to his friend (who is the actual owner) so now we are left to the mercy of the public bus system. We each still have motorbikes but they are definitely less convenient. Been doing lots of yoga in chiang mai and really enjoying the sense of community from all the yoga studios. We even had a kirtan with people from all the yoga studios together chanting. It was a beautiful night!

This past week I've been quite sick. Thursday night i had a fever and chills, body aches and a friend of mine ended up taking me to the hospital (it doesn't mean it was that serious...just that my insurance is through a hospital and people here don't have private doctors as in the states). it turned out that i have an infection in my lymph nodes and sinuses. the past couple days have been terrible....i've been pretty uncomfortable but i'm starting to come around. Luckily i still have sunday to finish my recovery before it's back to school. all my friends have really helped me out. people have brought me movies to watch, books to read and soup. so i'm very grateful to have them in my life. Otto couldn't come to Lampang this weekend as his office went on a field trip to Phrae and Nan to study the local architecture. two weeks apart seems like a long time to me! anyways, we'll have lots of time together when we go home. can't wait to see everyone and please send me an email if there's anything particular you want me to bring back from Thailand. much love!