Friday 27 January 2012

Indian Field Trip

Mikey got to go on a field trip to see Puss & Boots just before Christmas Break with his first grade class.  (I can't remember how or if it even fit into the curriculum!?) but that didn't strike me as all that unusual b/c Rachel's class went to the movies last year in the US to see Tangled and they spun it through their "Folklore" unit or something like that.

WELL!  Now it's Erica's turn for a class field trip!  I just got done reading the letter from the school with all of the details!  Her 3rd grade class is going CAMPING next week!!!  (While I'm getting 2 of my 4 wisdom teeth YANKED!  That's a whole other story for another time!) 

They will be travelling about 100 kms south of Bangalore to a wildlife sanctuary for "Leadership Camp."  I love how the letter references that the camp is "just about 3 hours normal driving time from the school."  Which translates, "You know what Indian traffic is like.  It could take us HOURS to get there."  I don't think there is such a thing as "normal" driving in India & mind you, the children ride the bus for approximately an hour every morning just to get to school as it is!!

From what I can tell the primary purpose of this trip is to foster independence and responsibility within these children as the school recognises that most of these children will never have spent the night away from home before.  They are going to be away for two days and one night!  Tenting it and NO PARENTS ALLOWED!  These teacher must be NUTS!!! ;0)  Hahaha!

I will highlight some of the disturbing, interesting and confusing items in the letter:

1.  All tents have "adjoining built up toilets with solar water heaters"....hmmmmm not quite sure what that means & since when does the toilet need to be heated!?  (I'm sure I've lost something in translation there!?)
2.  The girls are instructed to wear long sleeve shirts and pants in "dull colours" to prevent sunburn.  They were also sternly warned that they are not to wear "skirts or frocks".  I'm pretty sure neither I or my daughter have ever worn a "frock"!?!  Then again, for all I know...I might just be wearing one now!?
3.  Food.  The menu will be strictly vegetarian.  I completely get it.  There are too many people that don't eat meat for religious reasons here and I'm assuming it would be a dietary nightmare trying to accommodate all of the "I can't eat that" requests.  Hence - They are smart and going to keep it simple "ALL VEG!"  They also warned that if you are a picky eater you should bring along "dry snacks"
4.  In regards to communication, the teachers will have their "mobiles" if we need to call them but only in the case of an emergency should we be trying to contact our "ward".  I may have called my daughter a lot of things over the years...some of them nicer than others but I can assure you I have never referred to her as my "ward"!?!?!?!
5.  Dates.  How you say the month. - Day of the week etc....it's all different here.  In the US I would say, Today is Friday, January 27th.  In India you would say that today was Friday, 27th Jan.  Nope.  Not January.  JAN (as in the womans name!)  I know it's the abbreviation for JANuary - I just haven't ever heard people say the month in the abbreviated form!?  Soooooo!  For example sake,  Erica is departing on "2nd Feb" and yes, you say the date first then the month.
6.  The discussion of the weather is in Celsius not Fahrenheit.  I've gotten good enough at figuring out the conversion to know that it's gonna be chilly (by Indian standards) at night and warm during the day.  There is also potential for "drizzle/rain sometimes" so "carrying a wind cheater is advisable."  I'm quite certain I have NO IDEA what that is!?!?  I always thought you got in trouble during school for "cheating"!?  Hahaha!
7.  They were advised to pack as lightly as possible in a "small trolley bag"  (airport carry-on size!)
8.  Trekking/Sport Shoes  (In MN we would have called those "tennis shoes".  In Massachusetts we refer to them as your "sneakers".  What do YOU call them!?)
9.  It is also "compulsory" for them to bring a "water bottle, sun cap & torch".  Did they lose you on torch?!  That's the Indian word for a flashlight!
10.  I also thought it was very smart of them to ask if my child was a "sleep walker".  I would never have thought to ask that and that is a VERY good question!

Some of the activities they will be participating in are:
1.  Longest Chain
2.  Human Loop
3.  Zip Line/River Crossing (Oh Dear God!  Children are going to DIE!) 
4.  Jummering Key Punch  (Really!?  Say what?!  I have NO IDEA what that means but somebody will probably DIE doing that as well!) ;0)
5. Passing the water, Marble Trouble & Balloon Train
6.  I'm pleased to see they will be doing some of the traditional camp-ish things like a "scavenger hunt" & the ever popular "campfire".  I wonder if I offered to lead "camp songs" if they'd let me come along?!  "NO PARENTS ALOUD!"  I'm thinkin' it's a "No!?"
7.    In true Indian style, dinner will be served at 8:30 pm.  Um.  Yah.  I would like to let them all know that my daughter will be snoring with her face in a bowl full of rice and dahl by that point.  Good Luck with THAT!!!

The letter ends with a medical form that needs to be filled out.  You know the typical questions....allergies....immunisations....motion sickness (note to self - send a barf bag with Erica b/c she ALWAYS gets sick on car rides).....medications....asthma....epileptic fits......bone or ligament problems....recent fractures.....OH GOOD GRIEF!!!

I told Erica that "Daddy and I would talk about it" and I think that may have unintentionally worked to my advantage because I was worried she'd be scared or nervous about going away to camp but because she detected that she "might not be going" in my voice - That just made her want to GO all the more!

Well, Daddy and I DID talk and she's GOING!  (She'll be thrilled!)  I already know she'll start her packing list immediately - Lucky for her I'm a "master packer" so she shouldn't have any trouble fitting it all into her "small trolley" :0) 

Wow!  I really can't believe my 8 year old is going on an OVERNIGHT sleep over in INDIA!!  If you told me this a year ago I never would have believed you!  In all honestly, Yes, it makes me nervous....I'm sure she will be fine (Actually, I KNOW she will.  She's in God's hands!) but my head will be swirling with a million questions to ask her the SECOND she walks in the front door.  I'm proud of her.  Ready to take on the challenge.  My big...INDEPENDENT girl! 

And prayers for those teachers too.  God Love Them!  They truly have to be some of the craziest....MOST WONDERFUL and patient people on the planet! 


Wednesday 25 January 2012

Thailand-Island Hopping!

We woke up in Thailand to a beautiful day and the previous night was puke-free so we are on the upward climb to health & ready for a great day exploring Thailand.

We met our tour guide for the day, also named Matt (insert the creepy dolls singing "It's a Small World Afterall") because although he's lived in Hawaii and now been in Thailand for over 10 years - where'd the boy come from....APPLE VALLEY, MINNESOTA!?  Aiiii-oooo!  The coolest cats on the PLANET come from Minnesota, doooon't ya knooooow!?!?

Minnesota Matt and his boating crew, consisting of the boat captain, himself and 3 additional deck hands along with a boat full of probably 15 people including our family - set off for an awesome day at sea!  MN Matt asked if anyone gets motion sickness and advised us that taking a "pill" now is the way to go b/c once you start to get sick - The pill will do you NO good.  With last nights events still fresh in my mind - There was no way that we weren't ALL taking that little yellow pill.  Something to combat nauseousness?!  We're in!!

Ocean Bound!  YEEHAW!!
Lovin' Their View at the FRONT of the boat!
Rachel finding her "Happy Place" in Daddy's arms b/c the big waves were making her really nervous.

Our first stop!


Amazingly gorgeous & warm water!

Getting ready to land on "The Beach"...no really!  As in the beach where they filmed "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio!

At "The Beach"
Pretty View

One Little Monkey Climbing Up the Tree

Ready to do some exploring
The Fab Four
Mushroom Island (Not really...I just named it that!)
The Fam
This is where we saw NEMO (actually several) swimming around in the anemones! 
One last shot of The Beach
Collecting children & clothes.  Time to board our boat.
Out to sea again
Lots of time, effort & money used to protect these bird nests as they bring in BIG $$! 

We were not allowed to enter these caves.  We just looked at them from the boat.  MN Matt as well as wikipedia provided some really interesting facts about these nests.  They are made from the saliva of a little bird called a Swift (kind of like a Swallow).  The nests are harvested primarily for making a Chinese delicacy appropriately called, "Bird Nest Soup."  When the nests are dissolved in water they take on a jell-o type consistency that's used to make the soup.  Hong Kong & the USA are the largest importers of these nests.  The edible nests are some of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans!  In Hong Kong, a bowl of this soup will cost you anywhere from $30-$100 USD!  The nests themselves can fetch up to $50,000 USD a kilo!  (You can see why they go to great lengths to keep these birds happy and NESTING!) 

While we were on the boat we were all offered a small glass of bird nest juice!  I don't know that it's worth $50,000 a kilo but it wasn't bad.  A bit like a runny gelatin with some little chunky 'seedy' looking things floating in it!?  I think I would put it in the "No Big Whoop" category.

After the "Bird's Nest Caves" we headed over to a section of Phi Phi Don commonly referred to as Monkey Beach because there are tunz of monkeys that roam the beach hoping for their next tourist handout.  MN Matt warned us to hold onto cameras, sunglasses, hats (you name it) because the monkeys are known for coming and snatching things.  Especially sparkly shiny things (good thing I left all my lia sophia bling back at the hotel!  Hahaha)  His advice, "If they want something - Best to just let them have it!"  :/  The deck hands were passing out bananas to anyone in our group that wanted to feed the monkeys. 
Tourists feeding the monkeys
Yummy-Yummy!
He also mentioned that we would stop here prior to lunch because as they day goes on and more and more tourists have stopped on the island - The more spontaneous the monkeys become.  Why!?  Tourists not only feed the monkeys bananas but apparently some people think it's funny to feed the monkeys soda and beer and by the afternoon you might encounter a beach full of monkeys hopped up on caffeine and drunk as a skunk!  SO!  We were stopping by the beach nice and early in the day. 

Coke is It!!
MN Matt also warned us that the monkeys really don't like children so just keep an eye on them.  This part of the story gets a little foggy as the events that are about to unfold all happened SOOOOOO quickly.  So!  Rachel heeds MN Matt's warning about the monkeys not liking children and decides she will not be getting off the boat at all.  Fine.  Not a problem.  Toting no food and absolutely nothing sparkly to attract the curiosity of a beach full of "George's" - Erica, Michael, David and I exit the boat.  Matt is about 3 people behind me.  No sooner did David have his little feet on that beach than a monkey started to eyeball him. I swear it was like that monkey scanned our group of people, chose David as the "weakest link" and it was ON!!!  "Oh yeah?!  You lookin' at me?  You wanna go?  This is MY beach - You Little Brat.  I'll show you who's King of THIS Jungle!!" and BAMHEYYYY" trying to distract the monkey but not close enough to "really" do anything. 

Meanwhile cue the Superman theme song b/c like a hero swooping down from the sky - DADDY flew to the rescue!  He appeared out of nowhere (unfortunately no speedo or cape) BUT he did punt that monkey into next week and saved David from the bite of the century.  Now we are trying to shuffle David back on the boat to assess the "damage".  As we are asking him, "What hurts?  Where'd he get you?!"  Between sniffles he's saying something about his foot.... his head.  We determined that his head might have been hurting b/c Daddy  aka  Clark Kent might have accidentally kicked David while booting the monkey?!  Oops.  Sorry Buddy!  If you know David - You know he's one tough but banged up cookie.  It was basically impossible to determine what was a new cut/scratch from an old one. 

MN Matt assured us he didn't see anything on David that he thought resembled a monkey bite & so we all decided we would finish the island tour; however, Matt and I both were still very nervous about everything that just happened & we both agreed that the first thing we would do when we got back to shore was to call the International SOS for some medical advice.



Lunch Time

During the 2004 tsunami many of these buildings and businesses were destroyed.  Since then, they have done a lot of repairing and reconstruction.  We were able to anchor the boat and enjoy an amazing lunch.  The meal consisted of all sorts of "local" treats.  Our favourites were the coconut chicken soup & the fresh fish!  DELISH!  I'm pretty sure we broke the "30 minute" rule after eating because we were right back in the water swimming & snorkeling after lunch.



The kids favourite thing we did was JUMPING OFF THE BOAT!  They would have stayed and done this ALL day but when you've got other people on the tour with you - Well, you've got to keep everyone happy not just The Fab Four!

How ridiculous is the SEA WATER?!  Doesn't it look like a swimming pool?! It's soooo blue!!!

Swimming back to the boat so they can JUMP
off AGAIN!!
Time to snorkel!

Matt, Michael & the girls got to go snorkeling
 in one of these caves!
David got tired of snorkeling so he was feeding the fish!

At one of our earlier snorkeling stops we discovered that monkeys aren't the only ones that like bananas..The fish did too!  If you held a banana in your hand while you were snorkeling the fish would literally come and eat it from your hand!  It felt soooo crazy!  David didn't like that too much and his little legs got tired of swimming and snorkeling so he LOVED feeding the fish the bananas from the side of the boat.



There are beautiful rock formations EVERYWHERE!

Camel Rock!! 
 (Do you see it?!  It really does look like a camel!)
David fell asleep on the boat trip back.

Can't say that I blamed him for being tired!  Within the last 24 hours he probably puked no less than a dozen times, was attacked by a monkey, swam with the fishies, won the Cannonball Competition and by the end of the day - He was "cuttin' logs" as my Grandpa used to say!


When we got back to shore they had arranged for a minibus to drive us to where we would get a taxi back to our hotel.  We drove in the little bus down the pier and we all had one thing on our minds - BATHROOM BREAK!  After an hour long bumpy boat ride all of our bladders were beggin' for mercy!  In my haste to exit the bus I somehow managed to miss ALL of the steps and as I fell, I slid down the steps on my DERRIERE!  YOUCH!!!  I don't know which hurt more my posterior or my pride?!  As I collected myself and brushed off my booty....we all made a beeline for the bathroom!  Come to find out upon entry of the lavatory facilities - if we hadn't been with MN Matt and crew - The public restroom facility would have charged us if we wanted toilet paper.  Apparently, that was part of our tour fees and so not only did we get to relieve ourselves but we got FREE toilet paper too!  :0)  "WOOT-WOOT!  I got free toilet tissue in the LOO!  How about you!?!?!" 


Meanwhile, back at the hotel pool while the kids were splashing around - Matt started making phone calls regarding the monkey encounter earlier in the day.  Long story short, we felt the most sound and logical advice came from our pediatrician back in the US.  We were quite certain we could rule out any form of a bite from the monkey but the doctor's bigger concern was whether Matt or David might have been scratched in the tussle.  With tourists constantly feeding the monkeys on the beach the pediatrician was concerned about whether the monkey would have had saliva on his hands?  (Which of course we wouldn't be able to determine for sure?!)  If the saliva is passed onto a human through a cut or a scratch - You could get rabies!  Once we learned that there was no harm in Matt and David getting the immunizations we decided we wouldn't sit around waiting to see if either one of them started foaming at the mouth and so!  Matt and David started and completed 2 in a series of 5 shots while we were in Thailand.  (They just finished the final shot this week here in Bangalore!  CRAZINESS!)  

If I was in Massachusetts right now - I'd be wearing boots and a scarf!  I'm totally okay with a SWIMSUIT instead...for this year anyway!
This man was getting a Thai-Massage next to the pool...
We couldn't help but laugh at the old man that decided to get out his camera and photograph the man getting the massage!

Suction Power...Fascinating!  Isn't it Mikey!?

Survival of the Fittest

Rachel enjoying a more "adult" moment hanging by the pool reading instead of splashing around with her siblings.  (MY BABY!  She's getting so big!)

 Jack Frost is nipping at my TOES instead of
my NOSE this year! 

Before leaving for Phuket I decided to get a few snowflakes & a snowman painted on my toes since I knew there wouldn't be any REAL snow flying!  I was feelin' festive with or without the flakes :0)

That concludes our first FULL day in Phuket!  Never a dull moment - More fun to come!  xoxox  Love to All!


Tuesday 10 January 2012

Good-Bye Singapore - Hello Phuket!


Pretty in Plaid!
"Good-Marnin' Good-Marnin" my family always says.  (No special reason - We just say and do some wierd stuff!)  Anyhow!  Well, today is the day we leave Singapore and head to Phuket Thailand.  Unintentionally, when I had laid out the kids outfits for the morning (marnin') - There was a sea of plaid.  Erica quickly made the observation that she was the ONLY child without plaid shorts and PROMPTLY dug through her suitcase to find something to make her look more like one of "The Fam."  Well, as it goes, we had to "check out" of our hotel a few hours before we actually needed to be at the airport. 

Good-Bye Goodwood Park Hotel

Hmmm...now what shall we do!?  We staged our bags at the hotel and then set off on foot to determine how we wanted to spend our time.

As we walked, we hit the jackpot and found candy canes for Daddy.  No Cheez-Its for Mommy though.  Drat.  Guess I will have to wait and get those when I get home to the US.  (Blessed Day that shall be!)   As we walked, nature called.  (That happens a lot when you've got four kids that never seem to synchronise their bladders to the same elimination schedule!)

It never ceases to crack me up when you find "signs" in the public bathrooms.  Sometimes they are lovely "pictorials" on how to use the "closet"  (see my post from October entitled Toilet Etiquette) other times just a simple note gets the point across.

   Well put.

They've seen the other two Chipmunk movies and were psyched when we told them we had enough time to see Chip-Wrecked!


After heeding the advice written here...

They all jumped in line to take their turn to pose with Alvin, Simone (you'll get that joke it you've seen the movie!) and Theodore. (I think David might be assaulting Alvin...or maybe he's just giving him the Bird!? Hahaha)
The Movie Theatre was into the theme of things, aye?!
TIME TO SHOP!!


Thank You.  I plan to!
Really!?  I Mean...Really!

Maybe they should've posted a sign for this woman that said, "Belts Sold Here"  or how about "Don't Do Crack!"  My poor children had to have their eyes bleached after being eye witnesses to this woman and her thong-tha-thong-thong-thong.  I MEAN REALLY!!!  (But aren't you so proud of me that I walked by her like a champ and got a picture!?  Head facing west.  Arm extended to the east.  Apply steady pressure to the little silver button.  With a click and a flash & the use of my super zoomie lense....I got my photo!)  Instead of being all secret agent I should have just yelled out,  "Hey You!  Yeah, You!  The one with your Keester hanging out - Can ya get your Happy Hiney to say Cheeeeese for me?!"

Break Time
Lunch Time
Merry Christmas!!
It's the little things that mean sooo much!  DD we miss you so!
David's Tree!
From the moment we arrived in Singapore - David was in love with this tree.  Love at first sight.  Whenever we would go whizzing by it in a taxi he would ask, "Please can we take a picture of that tree?!"  SO!  When you've got plenty of time to kill waiting for your flight to depart - You go find that tree by Golly and get him his picture!

Wouldn't ya know it - It rained every afternoon while we were in Singapore.  Not for a long time but when I say it rained...well, that's the understatement of the YEAR (and the Year was almost over...so that's a BIG statement!)  It was a POURING, SOAKING, DRENCHING rain and wouldn't you know that when we were about a two minute walk away from the hotel to collect our suitcases and head to the airport...YEP!  You guessed it - The Heaven's opened and the buckets came rushing down!  Now what?!  There's no way you can make a dash for it even though you can see the hotel right in front of you!  Matt ran into a 7-11 and purchased a big green, orange and white umbrella that said 7-11 all over it!  (Sa-Weet!  Always wanted one of those puppies!) and proceeded to give each and everyone of the kids a piggy back ride up the hill to the hotel.  By the time it was my turn - I opted for no piggy back ride (that mighta just killed the ole boy!) and so I happily hoofed it next to him but that umbrella was showing signs of fatigue now as the rain was starting to seep through the material as well.  The kids were shocked to see I didn't melt in the rain (wicked witch thing, ya know?!)  We went to the bathroom and used the hand dryers to try to dry off our duds a little bit and then we hopped into the taxi and off to the airport we went. 
The kids were all delighted to find these "free" foot massagers in the airport.  Well, as you can see only having two massagers and four children was creating a problem.  Matt and I rose to the occasion and you will witness firsthand some of the BEST parenting on the block.  Yeah.  No.  We sat idly by and acted like maybe we were kinda-sorta-maybe gonna get involved but in all honesty - We just let the chips fall where they may and let the children take matters into their own hands. 
FANTASTIC FOOTAGE!

David bracing himself for a Brotherly Beat-Down!

We all boarded the plane without a hitch but before we even took off - Things took a turn for the worse! :/  Matt, Michael and David were seated together.  The aisle separated us and then me, Rachel & Erica sat together.  David made some comment about not feeling well and without really even giving it a second thought (Kinda like giving out the token band-aid just to pacify a whiner) I opened up a motion-sickness bag and handed it across the aisle to him.  Next thing I know, he's doing the pre-puke-cough.  Hack Hack YACKKKKK!  Oh Gosh!  Luckily, he was a very quiet puker - I slapped Matt on the arm and gave the assertive directional head nod to indicate LOOK DOWN AT DAVID and as I am holding his puke bag I mouth to Matt..."HE'S PUKING!!!"  Matt looks at me in disbelief and says, "Oh my word!   How'd he get a puke bag!"  (Just call me Magical Momma!)  Truly.  It was an act of God b/c I honestly have no legit reason why I passed him that bag.  Thank You Jesus for allowing me to listen to that soft sweet voice in my head that said, "Give the Boy a Barf Bag!"

Not to bog you down into too many of the details - I don't want anybody to find themselves dry heaving as you are reading this!  Haha!  I would say he proceeded to puke no less than another 5 times while on our flight to Phuket.  We had one REAL close call where he told me he wanted to go to the bathroom.  I walked to the back of the plane with him and of course we are greeted by the red OCCUPIED light.  "Oh, Please People!  This kid is going to toss his salad again!"  He's moaning and flops down on the floor.  I'm thinking, "This is it.  Here he goes, again."  Luckily, he made it into the bathroom but within seconds I could here him crying.  I pried open the door and through sobs he managed to tell me, "I pooped my pants!"  "It's okay Son.  It happens to the best of us" ;0) Then I had the delightful feat of trying to wedge my ginormous hide into that wee-little bathroom along with David.  It was a moment I shant soon forget!  He was doing 180's (comin' out both ends)!  One minute he's hugging the bowl the next he's King on the Throne of this little closet! ;0)  My Poor Baby!  When we were finally able to leave the bathroom and made our way back to our seats - Matt looked at me with ghostly eyes and said, "WHAT HAPPENED?!"  To which I replied, "Do you really want to know?!"  "I know it's not good b/c you were back there WAY too long!"  I flatly replied...."We had to leave his underwear behind."  "Ooh!  THAT bad, huh?!"  Yup!  THAT BAD!  Thank God it wasn't a "commando" day or then we really would have been in trouble!

He spent his moments sleeping, then puking, then sleeping, then watching t.v., then puking....It was NUTS!
As we departed the plane Matt and I were snatching up barf bags from the empty rows we passed.  All six of us stopped in the taxi hallway outside of the aircraft to let the other passengers go by while David dry heaved and then hurled into his bag....again!  THANK GOD we grabbed extras bags
 on our way out!
 Late Night Arrival In Phuket
We managed to figure out transportation and switch some of our Singapore $$ into Thai baht & then we were off to the hotel.  David sat on my lap and hurled ONE MORE time into one of those
fabulous-life-saving-airline-bags & then slept the remainder of the 45 minute drive to our hotel. 
Gone-Zo on one of the sofas in the hotel lobby.
I am happy to report that we whisked Little Barf Boy into the shower upon check-in and tucked him snuggly into the extra bed in our room and never heard another peep out of him & most importantly, that was the END of his puking!  PHEW and WELCOME TO PHUKET!