Thanksgiving 2010

At long last, the holiday season has arrived!  This Thanksgiving, I didn’t really have much to be thankful for other than the usual—family, friends, a home, my health, work, and the never ending experiences (good and bad) in my so called life.  This year, I am back in Georgia with my mother as we roll into the holidays.  We spent some time with a couple of my friends, eating and enjoying being in each other’s company.  My tribute to the Thanksgiving meal was a couple of homemade pumpkin pies.  We ate and were merry ‘til the wee hours of the night.

On Friday morning, or as many others so commonly know it as Black Friday, I was up before the sun and headed on over to the mall to do some shopping.  I know some of you probably think that this is crazy, while others of you could relate.  Why did I choose the mall instead of some other stores like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or Target you ask?  I chose it because of its one-stop shop appeal as well as for the fact that I’m more of a clothes and apparel kind of gal.  And so at the mall is where I shopped ‘til I dropped (a couple bottles of Bath & Body Works antibacterial soap while trying desperately to scratch my itchy nose with hands full of shopping bags) from 6 a.m. until sometime well after 10 a.m.  I did all this by myself.  No partner in crime, nor friend in tow—not even just someone I could’ve dragged with me just for the use of standing in line (and boy, were the lines long)!

Take, for example, the line at GAP.  There was a 50% off everything sale that lasted only until 10 a.m.  I’m not much of a GAP person, but I went there on behalf of my beloved sister.  I wanted to get her a pair of jeans because I know that she loves the jeans there, especially if it’s a good deal.  Unable to reach her, I considered buying some sleepwear and a scarf.  That was, until I saw the outrageous line that went from the cashier counter to the front of the store and snaked around the massive store.  Going through the line would’ve taken me at least an hour until I finally reached the register; time that I didn’t want to waste and so I therefore put the merchandise back and walked out of the store.  Like I had said, I’m not much of a GAP person anyway.

After my shopping spree, I went home to take a little nap before running some errands and heading into work for a little while.  Upon it being slow at work, I left early to meet with a couple of good friends from high school, whom I have not seen in over a year.  We caught up on life over some drinks.  My holiday is turning out to be off to a good start.  :o)

Gotta Love Thenglish!

What happens when you visit a country where English is not the first language but they still find a way to incorporate it in everyday life to appease the majority of the world's population and where English is quickly becoming the universal language?  You get many variations (and misuses) of the language.  Most people in the United States are familiar with the term Spanglish, which stands for the blend of Spanish and English.  And, being that I am Thai-Chinese and have spent a good part of my life in Thailand; I often wonder, what would be the term used if we blended Thai and English?  I believe that the consensus has pretty much settled on Thenglish (pronounced Ting-lish).  I must say that Thais sure have a unique way in saying what they want to say.  And, as I often like to smile and say about many things concerning Thailand and all things Thai, "Only in Thailand".  See for yourself as to what exactly I mean.

In the first picture, you have a new restaurant that is just opening up and is aiming for self promotion.  It claims to have a chef who has received his training from the prestigious Gordonbleu.  I'm sorry, but, where is that exactly?  I don't know about the rest of you, but I've only ever heard of the school for the culinary arts, Le Cordon Bleu.  You can  pretty much bet that I won't be dining there any time soon (or ever)!

In the second picture, you have your typical building directory.  However, at this place, instead of the bold star being the indicator of your present location in the building, it is asking you Are you here?  Needless to say, I was so tempted to pull out a sharpie and answer with an I dunno..Am I here?  Instead, I chose what any other normal person would do in these circumstances, I took a picture of it for the purpose of sharing.

Lastly, I was meeting with some friends at a local (and very chill) bar somewhere off the infamous Sukhumvit Rd.  Since I was the first to arrive, I decided to take pleasure in perusing the menu to get an idea of what I might like to order later and pleasure was exactly what I found.  Actually, it was more like amusement.  Aside from the so many mixers the place had to offer, I noticed that this place offered something uniquely different--something known as a cockage charge.  What in the world could that possibly be?  It sounds rather lethal.  And I can't help but wonder, does it come with a side of Happy Ending?  :o)

It's a wonder that with all the native English speakers found throughout Thailand that Thais do not think to entreat them for their assistance in spelling and grammar.

These are just a few examples of countless more spotted all over the wonderful Land of Smiles.  If you'd like to see more, I will try my best to continue searching for and sharing them.  Or perhaps you should visit Thailand where you can see them for yourself.  ;o)

A Trip Down Memory Lane :o)

Earlier this week I had the privilege of taking a few days off (finally!) and going on a mini-holiday.  I decided to go to Baltimore to visit with some old friends that I haven't seen in a very long time (ranging from 5-20 years..no joke)!  The friend whom I haven't seen in about 20 years (actually, my sister's friend) and I have recently gotten back in contact with one another thanks to the wonderful social network known as Facebook. Even though it was for a matter of a few days, it was an eventful trip (in the sense of meeting up with everyone I had wanted to see and just hanging out) and very fulfilling.  Let's recap the events of the trip, shall we?

I took a flight to Baltimore first thing Sunday morning and arrived just in time to meet with friends for a Dim Sum lunch.  Fortunately, I was able to get (almost) every single one of my friends together for this occassion.  Out of the four that came (Mati, Daniel, TJ, and KC), only two of them knew each other (cousins) and because each of them mean so much to me, it was high time that they all got to meet one another.  :o)

After lunch, I spent the rest of the afternoon into the evening hanging with two friends (Mati and Pailin) from my childhood (they are brother and sister, respectively).  We visited with the parents and with Pailin and her family.  Pailin is all grown up and now has kids of her own; two very adorable little girls with a boy on the way!  Being that it was Halloween, I got to see the kiddies dressed up in their costumes going door to door in the crazy cold weather.  Then it was time for Mati and I to get ready to head out ourselves.  We went to a local bar in Towson and met up with the friends we saw at lunch along with my friend, Matt from 20 years ago.  The bar happened to be next door to where I used to work back in college!  There were some very good costumes that night.  (See for yourself below.)

Monday was just a laid back day.  Rather uneventful, but lovely nonetheless.  I spent the day with Mati, Pailin, and their family.  It was really a joy to see them for being with them was sort of like being home.  I had spent so many days of my childhood playing over at their house and even though they have both moved out, they all still live in the same neighborhood.

Tuesday Mati (who pretty much was my chauffeur) and I met up with my friends, TJ and KC (cousins) and their wives for lunch at this extraordinary Lebanese place downtown.  After that, we all just spent the afternoon hanging around by the harbor.  Tuesday night, Mati and I met up with Daniel and Matt for dinner at a cool Korean dive in Ellicott City.  Before I knew it, it was time to pack my bag and get ready to head home in the morning.  Sigh......

It was such a great trip and I would like to thank everyone that helped to make it special.  Thank you to each of you who have sacrificed your time (this includes you, Daniel) to see to it that I made the most of my few days off.  I have always said, and will say again, I am very lucky to have such awesome friends!!!