Green Tupperware

Things are going well here - we have now had Moon for a week and a half and in typical Thai style it is a huge learning experience. She was supposed to start last Monday at 2pm but there was a slight communication breakdown and she arrived at 8.30am - i had no food in the house, no cleaning stuff....nothing.... and i was going out at 9. (I think she was a bit shocked - she kept opening cupboards in the kitchen then looking at me strangely). I managed to communicate to her that our stuff had not arrived yet and was on it's way in a boat (using a very stylish combination of miming and drawing - I am telling you ..... after living in this country i am going to be a champion at both Pictionary and Give us a Clue - You have been warned). Anyway, we went shopping when i got back and i discovered that Thais not only love Tupperware but Tupperware in numerous pastel shades and if it has cartoon characters on it that's even better (I managed to steer her away from a green set with what i can only describe as a cat drawn by someone who was either on drugs or blind!! - Can you imagine any kind of food looking appetizing in green Tupperware?? I rest my case!!)

Food shopping has been a little adventure as well. Thais don't push their shopping trolleys round the aisles and put their shopping in them - Oh No - they abandon their trolleys in the most bloody awkward places then carry the shopping in their arms back to it (No i have not worked out why they do this so don't ask me!!). I couldn't get used to it at all so when Moon wondered off i followed behind her with the trolley - the first time i did it she turned round and got a fright (She didn't expect me and the trolley to be there) after that she took it off me, left it somewhere awkward and then wondered off again. AAARRRRGGGG!!!!
She then put food in the trolley which i just looked at and thought 'what the hell is that???' It was helpfully labeled "Small Green".....Yes, i can see that it is small and green (The label was incredibly helpful at pointing this out) but a small green what exactly??? When i asked Moon she said something in Thai and then said 'You eat' so i shrugged and said OK - she is cooking with it tonight so i will keep you posted......

I'm in shape. Round is a shape!!
She has also put me on a diet - after telling me i have a beautiful face but not a beautiful body!! (I am trying not to get a complex!!). She is buying low fat everything and every time i eat fruit she pats me on the stomach and smiles. (She is lovely.....honest). We bought paint for her room last week and then on Friday the two of us painted it - i don't think i have ever been so hot in my life (Yes...you guessed it....bright red face and bad hair.....i was looking lovely) but it was worth it to see the look on her face at the end. She stood back, looked at the room, beamed from ear to ear then gave me a huge hug. (She even arrived on her day off to give me a huge basket full of flowers that she had arranged as a way of saying thank you).

Things with Chris's project are going well too - although i think he is also finding the way Thais do things a bit bizarre. Apparently in meetings they have a habit of just getting up and walking out, going off on complete tangents and talking to each other in Thai then announcing that they don't understand but without saying what it is they don't actually understand. This is a very funny country.

I have been keeping busy (Moon is teaching me Thai and I am teaching her English - she now says some words with a beautiful Scottish accent which is have to say sounds really funny :-)). I have joined the BWG (I thought i might look better just writing the initials but i suppose i have to tell you that it stands for British Women's Group - don't laugh) I am using it as a way to meet new people coming into the country. I have joined a community choir and am singing at the British Chamber of Commerce's Last night of the Proms (I have just found out that i need to sing the King's anthem in Thai) and i am doing some voluntary work for the Museum of Bangkok. I went to a lecture there about the history of Buddhism and it was delivered by a female Monk (There are only 6 in the world) apparently she used to be a lecturer on women's studies at the university and had three sons before she decided to become a Monk. She now runs her own temple just outside Bangkok and is causing a fair amount of controversy. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1814195.stm

Anyway, i have rambled on enough