Conversation with a Filipino Maid

I had to run to the post office yesterday. As I got into the elevator
a Filipino maid came in from the floor below. This is our exchange:

Me: How are you
Her: Oh, not so good
Me: Oh really? Sorry to hear that
Her: The family, they are so mean to me. I cry every night
Me: Sorry
Her: Chinese families are so hard to work for. White families are much
more kind. The Chinese women are mean
Me: I understand
Her: I miss my family
Me: Where are you from?
Her: The Philippines. I have kids there. Do you have kids?
Me: Yes, I do
Her: Where are they?
Me: They are here
Her: Who takes care of them?
Me: I do. (she is now looking at me with a different look - something
has clicked)
Her: Are you married to a white man?
Me: Yes
Her: Oh good, white man better. Do you need a maid?
Me: No, thanks. We are going back to the US in a couple of months
Her: For good?
Me: Yes. Sorry, there's the post office I have to run over there. Bye

It was a very weird conversation. At first she thought I was the maid
because I was out doing "errands" and then she finally figured out that
I was actually American. Funny thing, I am about 6 inches taller than
the average maid, and don't really look Filipino all that much. I do,
though, dress like them (t-shirt, shorts/jeans, and flip flops).

OMG!

One of Jonathan's friends posted this. 
HKG MTR.  This man might be a little to drunk to realize he is on the MTR.   He DID mange to take his small peeper out to make sure he didn't get any pee on his pants. 

Winner?

So true!

20 Things to Share with your High School and Middle School Student

Funny little ditty forwarded from an Aha! Subscriber and friend….(Thanks for sharing EJ!)

1. Yes, your freshman year counts towards your GPA for college entrance. Screw it up and you'll work for crap wages your whole life.

2. No means NO. In every possible circumstance.

3. Join every sport, every club, every after school activity no matter what the cost. It's cheaper than bail.

4. Repeat after me: I am never in that much of a hurry…I am never in that much of a hurry. Now say that every time you get behind the wheel. It will save your life and that of your best friend in the seat next to you.

5. Don't smoke pot. It ruins your short term memory. (Did I already say that?)

6. Don't ever get a credit card and go into debt. Ever. You earn it or you live without it.

7. If I yell at you, it's because I love you. And also, because you pissed me off. To avoid the latter, stop being an idiot.

8. Make a vivid picture inside your head of every great moment of your childhood. You'll need those to get through adulthood.

9. Make snow angels as often as possible.

10. Stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves.

11. Be always benevolent. Yes, that's a word. Look it up.

12. Call me for a ride even if you are so drunk you barely know my number. I'll probably be mad for a while but I'll respect you for calling and I won't kill you. Riding with someone who is drinking will.

13. Be a leader, not a follower. Unless you are doing stupid things, then follow the kid with the highest GPA.

14. Love your siblings, even when you don't like them. Some day you will be trying to get them to take care of me in my old age. If they are mad at you, you are stuck with me.

15. I've been there, done that on more things than you can imagine. I'm not stupid and I know what you are doing. I was once you (times ten).

16. Work hard at everything you do. Anything worth doing is worth doing your best.

17. Cover it. (Enough said.)

18. When I tell you to clean your room, do not point at my messy room and raise your eyebrows. I'm trying to raise you to be better than me.

19. Learn to type; to budget; and to pray. All are very important.

20. Never be sedentary. Someday soon you will no longer be able to move like that. Enjoy it.

Cambodia hotel

This is what we found when you tried to get on wifi.

I think I spit out my coffee when I saw this. How do you really feel?

Hua Hun

The hotel- beach side.

HuaHin

The girls in the pool

Thailand

Jonathan's favorite reading spot in Hua Hin

Thailand

Hannah covered up (like her father) doing a bit of reading by the pool - "TheHelp" - creatively known as historical fiction in our home school house!

Thailand

>
> Thailand
>
> It is Chinese New Year - year of the Dragon. If you know our family, you know that this is a big year for us.
>
> (We are actually a family of Dragons, with a few animals sprinkled in between. Hannah, my mom, Uncle, cousin's husband and myself are all Dragons. We are expecting another Dragon cousin this year too! )
>
> Because of the holiday, we decided to travel. It was only 3 weeks after the Cambodia trip, but it was 5 straight days off without having to take pto time for Jonathan.
>
> We started the time in Bangkok and decided that that we were going to get a tour. Where should we go? What can we do in Thailand that we can't do any where else? Well, let's go to the Tiger temple and then see some Elephants in the afternoon. Sounds good right? Right!
>
> We woke up around 415, to make sure we met the guide at 5am. In the car for 2.5 hours to the "Bridge over the river Kwai". Take some pictures, get some coffee and get back in the van to make it in time to give food to the Monks before heading to the tigers.
>
> We barely make it in time to give the Monks our offering to them. The Monks don't make money, so they don't buy food. They are given food as an offering from the people of the community. It really is a pretty amazing thing.
>
> After the offering, we head to the temple, grab a bottle of milk and find the closest baby tiger. The one that we got was about 1 month old. He was a cryer too! The girls feed him, I try to hold him and he cries the whole time. I put him down and he finally calms down.
>
> We get some pictures of Gabby holding the small one. Hannah was a different story. Hannah is a bit shyer than Gab and has to take things a lot slower. So, as we hand her the tiger, he claws her or bites her and she freaks out and starts tearing up. We have learned to just take it from her, remind her that she may regret not doing this, and then just give her time to get it together.
>
> As the monks were having breakfast, they asked us if we wanted to eat. But because we asked the hotel to make us "take away" breakfast, we ate in the car and just wanted to stay with the different tigers. We found a 2 month old that wanted to chew everything! During the Monk's chants, she tried to chew my camera strap, then went to my pants, my socks then finally my fingers.
>
> While taking pictures of Gabby petting a bigger tiger - probably around 4 months, it's neighbor decided my butt was too big and tried to take a nibble. Jonathan saw it start to happen, and just kind of laughed.
>
> After breakfast, we got to pick what tiger we wanted to walk. Hannah - small baby; Gabby - big one (around 1 year). The rules were, the tiger actually walks you and you don't pull it and you stay behind the shoulders. For Hannah and myself, this wasn't a problem. In fact, we ended up carrying our babies. Gabby, got a little close to the front and the tiger took it's rather large paw, swiped up her knee and put it in her mouth. Oops. Gabby decided she was done walking her then.
>
> After the walk, we got to bathe, feed them chicken and play with them. The really beautiful part was when we were put in an enclosed fence area and got to watch the tigers play with each other in the water. They were so big and so powerful, it was amazing!
>
> We stopped for a nice Thai lunch and then it was off to see some elephants.
>
> We rode them down to the river ... and let me tell you that staying on an elephant going down stairs, bare back is NOT an easy thing to do. I thought I was going to fall off for sure! We got to ride two, Miss Universe and Fu Moon.
>
> Fu Moon was the star of the show. She is the one who's trunk we sat on and who is in most of the pictures. She has been with her "trainer" for over 10 years. Our guide Lily told us that she only listens to him. When he has to go back home to Burma, they actually have to beg her to do the things that he only has to tell her once to do. She misses him, and I'm sure he misses her too!
>
> Elephants are really amazing animals. They are so smart, so big and really pretty graceful.
>
> The next day we took a bike tour around Bangkok. We tried to get a taxi to a specific spot, but the driver really didn't know where he was going. Jonathan had him just drop is off and we ended up walking - at a brisk pace - to the place to be there by 9am.
>
> Something happened and they didn't have enough helmets for everyone. The other couple who was taking the tour with us had them, Jonathan and Gabby had them and Hannah and I didn't. I was told, "oh you don't need them". Oh really, do you wear one? Yes? Then I guess I do need one. I told JC that if we make the girls wear them in our neighborhood, then they have to wear them through Bangkok! The owner actually went home and got his wife's helmet for me and someone came in selling their bike and two helmets. Score! We are now in business.
>
> 4 hour tour on bikes when you haven't been on one in 2 years is really long. We all did really well. We got to see a lot of back ally's and streets, that was pretty cool!
>
> After the tour, we get a taxi back to the hotel, check out, then another taxi to the train station to try catch the 2:45 train to Hua Hin. We were told they were sold out of 2nd and 3rd class seats and they only had 1st class which was $US 100 for all fourmof us. We could wait until 3:10 and it would only cost us $USD30 to sit on "wood benches" . Jonathan told me to stop being cheap and just pay the damn money. He was right. It was nice to have two compartments and couches to sit on. We were also able to order a dinner and have it brought to our car rather than going to the dining car. It was a really nice 4 hour tour of Thailand from Bangkok to Hua Hin.
>
> Hua Hin
>
> It has been pretty relaxing. Most people go to Phuket, Koh Phi Phi or many of the other beaches of southern Thailand. We didn't want to spend more time traveling and tried to stay close. It is really pretty nice here. We do see that we really are pretty young tourists for this area. This town seems to be catering to the older European traveler. No big deal ... that means that the girls are in the pool by themselves and we don't have to hear loud music when we are winding down at night.
>
>
>
>

Cambodia

> Cambodia
>
> We flew from HKG to Bangkok then onto Siem Reap. One of the things that I have noticed about flying in Asia:
> 1. Flight attendants are super nice. They always have a smile and don't look like they hate their jobs
> 2. They always serve food on the flights. They may not give you a choice, but it always nice to have something.
>
> We have gotten used to filling out immigration and customs forms for all the countries we visit. Most countries take it seriously; not Cambodia. Jonathan was the first one to get to the counter followed by Hannah, Gabby and then myself. I handed the man our passports with our forms filled out and he waived me through. I told the girls to step forward and stand in front of Jonathan. The man waived me through again (not having looked at the passports yet) so I stood in front of Jonathan. Now, he was just telling me to GO. Oh ... ummm, OK. So the girls and I went to the restroom and just stood there until Jonathan met us there with our passports. Having been through immigration a few times, we were expecting the man to look at you, the passport, you again, check the visa, check the visa of all the countries you have been to then look you over again, stamp and you are good to go. This, obviously, was NOT how they did it in Siem Reap. As for customs, you through your forms in a box, and if you had anything to declare, it was your day, because there wasn't anyone to declare anything to.
>
> We had read on tripadvisor.com (one of our favorite travel sites) that we should get a tour guide. So, after reading a bit more, we emailed a man named Tong to get a 3 day tour of the temples. This was such a great idea! There were tuk tuk's everywhere and you could take them to the site and back to the hotel, but it was hot, sticky and very dusty.
>
> Tong was great, as he told us where we were going, what it was all about and then showed us all the "hidden" areas too.
>
> We hit up all the main temples and then some. We ate some great food and still found time to lounge at the pool.
>
> One of the things we got was a large carving of a Buddha head from Artists D'Angkor. It is a large stone piece that will look awesome in the house and always remind us of this great trip.
>
> The girls, my little bargainers, did a little shopping too. The got "Ray Ban" sunglasses for $USD 5 each. Then, they were both insistent on getting a pair of pants that their friends had gotten from there. They are basically, MC Hammer pants. That's right, MC Hammer ... To Legit to quit ... pants. Jonathan told the girls that he used to have a pair of pants like that, but he wore his with black shiny shoes, not flip flops. (His pair also didn't have pictures of elephants on them).
>
> Just like many of the women in my family, I can talk to anyone, any where. I have learned to curb this a bit, since it sometimes embarrasses Jonathan and the girls. I started talking to a family that was traveling around SE Asia for the two week holiday period. They were from New Hampshire and he was a DR that went to Emory. Small world! After chatting with them for a couple of hours, we got on the plane to go to Siem Reap, and didn't think we'd see them again. We were wrong!
>
> We actually got held up in Siem Reap and ended up spending New Years Eve in Bangkok. As we stood in line, waiting for our hotel reservations, we bumped in them again (5 days later) and had a very nice sushi NYE dinner with them. It was great hearing about all their experiences. They were Asian "virgins" and it is always fun to hear people share the same crazy experiences as you, just in a different country. This family had two boys, one 18 and they other one 15. The girls were able to talk to the boys about living in HK, exploring Asia and traveling in general. Their mom actually said, that she was really impressed with the girls. She didn't think that they would have anything to talk aobut, and that the girls could hold a real conversation, it was a great compliment to our parenting. I passed that to Jonathan and the girls. I couldn't have been more proud of them.
>
> Oh, it doesn't end there. When we were told that we were going to miss our connection in BKK, I asked them if they booked us on a flight to HKG the next morning. "Yes of course! Your flight for four is at 10am". Perfect!
>
> We wake up early, have breakfast and then take the shuttle to the airport. We get there, go to the check in counter (it's 7:35am) and I am told that our flight was actually at 8 am and we missed it. (***many of you that read this can only imagine my reaction. Did I fly off the handle? Nope, I pretty much kept it together, because, really what was I going to do? All I could do is be nice and hope that they had 4 seats on the 10 am flight!) They did find us some seats, as a bonus, they were even together!
>
> This trip was one of the ones that we wouldn't probably have taken from the US. Yes, it is one of the UNESCO world heritage site, but it still would have cost an arm and a leg to get there, and then to deal with jet lag as a topper, I'm sure we would have talked ourselves out of it. But, living in HK, I am so incredibly glad we did it. It was really an amazing experience!
>
>
>

Rant

Why is it so hard to send a card or an email?

***This is your warning. I am not going to be nice during this blurb.
I will probably offend people. I am not going to apologize. I am not
going to say, "No offense, but" nor will I put, "Just saying". I am
just putting it all out there.*****

I know that everyone is busy, but really? It is really hard to slap
some postage on a card and send a Christmas/Thank You/Thinking about
you card to people that are out of the country? I made sure that I had
enough forward thinking to make cards, ship them to HK, and then send
them back to the US once addressed. Even if you don't send a card ...
a shout out email is rather nice.

I am aware that communication is a NOT a one way street. I tried hard
when we first got here. I sent cards. I sent birthday gifts from
here. I sent gifts that were ordered from US sites to people in the
US. The girls have even thought of friends while we were out on our
trips to let them know that they are still in our thoughts. Nothing.
No response. Nada.

This has really gotten me thinking:
1. Do I really want to go back to ATL?

2. What have other expats gone through?

3. What friends do I want to stay in contact with?

4. What family members do I want to stay in contact with?

After this Christmas, I am pretty sure that I am eliminating some people
from our lives. Is that too judgmental? If someone wants to ask me why
... I really don't have a problem telling them, "you ignored my family
for two years after we tried to communicate with you." Or, "My kids
sent special gifts that they got for their friends and no one had the
thought to send them a Thank you or a short email. (Adults must not
remember how giddy a kid can be when they get mail.)

Lesson to the kids:
1. Try to keep your friendships close to your heart. Friendships are a
two way street. If you feel like it is going in one direction, it might
be time to find a different street.

2. Family is important. But just because they have the same blood as
you, doesn't mean that you have to stay in contact with them or like
them. People talk about how much they miss you, but many times, actions
speak louder than words!

Tuk Tuk info:

These seats are reserved for mummies and a bunch of other people.