August 3, 2006

It is quite an adjustment being here. The college campus and the little town of Muak Lek nearby feel relatively comfortable, but I've had to go into Saraburi, which is a larger town, and the edges of Bangkok, which is a huge city, to do shopping, and I end up feeling overwhelmed and a little insane afterwards. Having the kids with us makes being in town much more comfortable because the people find them fascinating with their varied hair colors and light skin, and because they're children, they give us adults opportunities to interact with facial expressions, if not words.

The heat and humidity are a bit much for us Bend-ites. Needless to say, we're very grateful for our airconditioners, and we've been letting them run most of the day. Someday, perhaps, we'll cut back on our usage and be like the natives, but for now we're grateful for a break from the outside heat and moistness.

The markets do not carry any whole grains except long-grain brown rice, so I'm finding it difficult to figure out what to feed us. I'm sure we will eventually learn to like rice on a more regular basis, but I haven't even reached that point yet, and I like rice more than the rest of the family does. The pastor's wife, a Danish lady, has found good sources for whole wheat, wheat germ, rolled oats, cornmeal, flaxseed, kidney beans and a number of other whole grains and beans and seeds. Unfortunately, she's in Finland until the end of August because a daughter is expecting a baby soon. I'll be glad when she gets back and our shipment gets here so that I can more easily make bread! I did make up some dough yesterday with borrowed whole wheat flour and rolled oats and white flour I found at the market in Saraburi. After shaping the dough into pita-like shapes, I baked the little loaves up on my frying pan on the stove. The kids ate them up as quickly as I could get them cooked, and informed me that I could make that bread again!

We've been invited over to three faculty homes. One family is from Columbia, the second from Malaysia, and the third is from the US and Canada. It has been a treat to not have to figure out what to feed us and also to get to know some of our co-workers as well. The cafeteria is also available as an option, and we've eaten there as well. But compared to eating at home, it's more expensive, so we're trying to cut back. And when I eat there, I end up feeling hungry all day.

The local produce is good and very inexpensive. Tuesday night at the Tuesday market I bought two small watermelons (probably 4 or 5 pounds each) for 5 baht apiece. That's only about $0.25 for the two of them! I got a small bag (sandwich size) of fresh baby corn, a couple pounds of foot-long green beans, and a small bunch of green onions for 15 baht. The friends that took me to the market also introduced me to a family shop that makes fresh soymilk and another that makes thin, fried Indian bread which the kids really enjoyed.

We're hoping to get into Bangkok to find a computer for at home -- then, perhaps, we will be able to figure out how to email pictures so that they can "paint a thousand words" for me!