Getting to Know the Neighborhood

Well, last night was our best night here thus far. I hope they get better and better. Adelaide was in bed at 8pm and then slept until 4:45. Not too bad. That’s nearly 9 hours. It really wasn’t too bad at all considering Rocky and I were up at 3:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep. Really, this is the worst jet lag we’ve ever had. Come on, blaming it on the kid is one thing but we couldn’t blame her for that.

We knew she wasn’t going to back to sleep for sure this morning. She woke up happily talking to herself so we got up with her and played with the flashlight ‘til the sun came up. Since we were all up so early we got dressed and headed out the door by 7 and took a long walk to figure out our neighborhood.

Our neighborhood, Horkarnka, is so different from our neighborhood when we lived here. There are similarities-- It is a very busy area with lots to do. It’s near a university, but there’s something about it I don’t like as much. Maybe it’s just the familiarity I miss, but some old friends of ours that have moved here as well agree with me. I think one thing that I don’t like is that the area is very confusing. There are tons of one way streets and dead ends; I feel like I’m stuck in a casino or something.

Anyway, our morning started with a trip to the 7-Eleven to get some drinks. Outside the 7-Eleven is the moo bing stand (the pork on a stick and sticky rice that I mentioned we had on our first day to Thailand). We picked that up and sat down on some stairs to eat it. Once again, Adelaide loved it.

Along our walk we found saw some interesting restaurants, a temple where people were bringing monks morning offerings, lots of people that wanted to see Adelaide, lots of dogs (once again, Adelaide’s dog radar was working well), and about a million 7-Elevens. I’m exaggerating but not by much. Seriously. I saw two about 50 feet apart. See the picture below. it's a bit hard to see but there is another 7-Eleven in the background.


The entire time we were walking around Rocky was wearing Adelaide in our nearly purchased Beco carrier. It was expensive but thanks to a sweet new friend we didn’t have to fork over all the cash on our own. I’ve got to say it’s already been worth it’s weight in gold especially for walks in our neighborhood. I love it. It is by far the most comfortable carrier I’ve tried and I’ve tried several—the Baby Bjorn, the Ergo, and several slings.

This morning the Beco served a purpose I never thought it would, not for my little curious girl. It served as her bed. She feel asleep about ¾ of the way along our walk and she stayed that way even though there were horns honking and people talking. She even slept through us getting into a taxi, driving over speed bumps, and then getting out and going inside the house. It’s crazy to see her so exhausted (and this was at 8:30am)!



After this we went to the pool across the street for a swim. It was a good time. Something we’ll probably do often. The pool also has a restaurant and a gym attached as well. As you try to envision this place and you think of something like Lifetime Fitness in Austin, I’ll tell you right now, you’re wrong. :)

The afternoon was spent preparing materials to orient the rest of the team to Thailand’s language, food, and culture. Hopefully we’ll have a time to do that soon. The guys have been super busy with preparing to go to the islands and teaching film.