The Answers to the fruit game

Alright, I've left you waiting long enough; I'll give you the answers to the name that fruit and you can see how well you did...

1. The King of the Tropics: coconut. It has so many wonderful uses: a refreshing drink, a tasty snack, delicious milk (used in so many Thai dishes), a topic for desserts, and many uses around the house (such as bowls, utensils, decorations, and jewelry).

2. Dragonfruit: There are two varieties, one is white on the inside with tons of tiny black seeds, my favorite is the bright fuchsia inside. Tasty and juicy.

3. Rambutans: I first knew them as mamon chinos in Costa Rica, but apparently they are called rambutans. For those of you who watch veggie tales, I'm pretty sure that the dancing aliens in "Where's God when I'm scared" are rambutans. You crack them open to reveal a white, semi see-through inside.

4. I actually don't know the English name for this fruit. They are called "salat" in Thai. They are really sour!

5. Pomelo: the mother of all grapefruit. I don't know if I can ever go back to regular grapefruit again. Pomelos are huge, for one thing, but they're sweet and fun to eat. I will miss pomelo when we leave Thailand.

6. Longans are my new favorite fruit. They look like oversized, brown grapes, but you actually have to peel them individually. It's another white fruit, but they are sweet and tangy and they melt in your mouth. Yum!

7. Mangosteens are possibly the most exotic fruit here. Also white on the inside (what a surprise), they are so rich that you can eat them by themselves for dessert.

8. And last, but certainly not least, durian, the Thai national fruit. As Jack from small group says: "If you can get past the smell, texture, and flavor, it's not so bad." But the Thais love it, for some reason. It's funny that they would choose the durian as their national fruit, but they actually will not allow you to take it to school, on buses or in taxis, and in most public places....

There you go! There are many more, some of which we still haven't tried, but at least now you get a feel for what we see every time we walk out the door or go to the market.

Name that Fruit

Let's play a game of "Name that Tropical Fruit." Test your knowledge of all things random and see how many you can recognize... if any. If not, you can use the Internet and try to find the answers. I'll post them in a few days. Have fun!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Birthday Week

It's official: I'm 24 years old. And believe it or not, this was my very first birthday away from my family (except for my dear hubby, of course). Most people experience this in college or something, but I have been fortunate enough to always see my family on my birthday until now, so that was pretty sad for me, but thanks to John, we made it through. Since my actual birthday fell on a school night, we didn't really do much until this weekend.

On Saturday, after work, we got together with two couples and had a fondue party. Three of them are our co-workers, and one is the husband of a co-worker. Us three girls have been planning this for a while. Shooka (the other Kindergarten 2 teacher) and I are both lovers of everything French. In fact, I have started giving her private French lessons once a week after school. So we thought the idea of fondue was wonderful. Ruth and Ricky (the Christian couple from school) loved the idea as well. So, we had cheese fondue with potatoes, chicken, bread, broccoli and cauliflower, followed much later by chocolate fondue with tons of fruit and cookies. It was awesome!! Shooka is from Iran, and is married to a Thai man who worked in Iran for several years, so their house is beautifully decorated with Persian things; it was a fun night.

Shooka and her awesome Persian cat

Clockwise: Ruth, Shooka's husband, Shooka, and I hope you know who the two on the right are. Ricky was taking the picture.

Then today, we went to church in the morning, and then John took me into downtown Bangkok for a surprise date. After kind of a struggle following the GPS' directions on the motorbike, we arrived at our destination: Crepes and Co.! What a treat!!! It's a real creperie run by a Swiss-Bulgarian restauranteur, and it is totally authentic. It took me back to my childhood memories of crepes in Paris. John and I shared two savory crepes: Ham, Cheese, and Egg,

and Bacon, Mushrooms, and Gruyere.

They were incredible!! I don't even like mushrooms and I was savoring every bite. After a while, we got a dessert crepe as well: pears, chocolate ice cream, and pear sauce, followed by the best coffee we've had in Thailand. Thanks to my wonderful husband for such a thoughtful Birthday present!! :)

Oh, and here's a photo of my class. Keep in mind that half of my class (literally, I counted) was sick this week, so there were six kids absent this day.

And a cute picture of some of the boys.

The boy on the left is Ikkyu (try to pronounce that), he is a cute boy but already prone to peer pressure. Number 2 is Top: he's a trouble-maker, maybe you can tell from the picture. :) The third one is Kong: a great kid who is being trained to be the class leader. I call him "my little man" because he looks and acts like a grown-up already. And the one of the right is Film (pronounced Feem). I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but he is. Hands down. He was in uniform that day because he was sick and joined us half-way through the day.

The Kingdom of Cambodia

Due to a very unpleasant mistake on the part of our old school, we had visa issues and had to quickly leave the country this week. We flew to Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Tuesday afternoon, and flew back to Bangkok on Wednesday. It was a very expensive day off, that's for sure, and sadly we had to foot the bill (Thanks a lot, Saint Francis School), but it was nice to get away for a night (and cool to get the Cambodia stamp in our Passports.)

After a half-day of work on Tuesday, we got to the airport, boarded the plane, and after an hour, we landed in Cambodia. We booked a random hotel on expedia, which turned out to be really nice. Right off the bat, we were amazed at how well everyone speaks English in Phnom Penh. Although it is a poorer, less developed country than Thailand, the amount of people who speak at least passable English is much higher. People were very helpful and kind, and we really enjoyed our night there. Our hotel happened to be connected with a French restaurant, so on Tuesday night, we had a wonderful French dinner on the roof: French onion soup, red snapper and crepe Suzette. Yum! We loved how much quieter and darker this city was compared to Bangkok.

The next morning, we slept in (a novelty now that we work six days a week and go to church on the seventh), and went for a nice walk around the neighborhood. Our hotel was in what appeared to be the Korean district of town, so we naturally stopped in for a Korean lunch, made by real Koreans. Nikki would be very proud of us for using our three Korean phrases: Anyeonghaseyo, Kamsa hamnida, and Mashisoyo (Hello, Thank you, and It's delicious). I could even read a couple of items from the menu thanks to my self-taught Korean alphabet lesson back in May 2010.

We also found an awesome, very Portland-ish style coffee shop to chill for a couple of hours. I got a spiced Indian tea, and John got a coffee brewed with beans from Lao.

We enjoyed walking through the city. There are a ton of parks, and a lot less pollution than we are used to in Bangkok.

Prayer Request: Please pray for John. Over the past weeks, he has had three random, non-connected foot injuries. Today, while playing football with some teachers from school, he completely ripped off his big toe nail, and he's in a lot of pain. Don't worry, I won't post pictures, but if you could pray for a quick recovery, that would be great!

Our New Friends

Here are the pictures that I promised in the last post... Since last year, we didn't post very many pictures of our friends (granted, we didn't have that many, except for our small group and a few people at school), so this year, we have resolved to do better and so far, I think we have succeeded.

First things first, here is a picture of our small group. We have been with them for almost the whole time we've been here, and they have truly been a lifeline. We thank God for sending them to us! A couple of guys are missing in this pic.

Next, we have our friends Ruth and Ricky. They are a Christian couple at our new school; Ruth is from the US, but grew up all over the place, like me, and Ricky is from the Philippines. We had them over for dinner and introduced Ricky to his first ever fajitas (which he loved, BTW).

Here is Alan, the Spanish boy we tutor.

And here are three of our co-workers. We had them over for dinner the weekend before last, and had a fun time and some great conversation. The one on the right, Tiffany, then went with us last Sunday to our church and to a food exhibition in the neighborhood where we used to live. Oh yeah, and here's the motorcycle.

PS: I love how this post makes us look like social people which, uncharacteristically, we have been recently...

New Blessings in a New School Year

After six weeks in our new apartment, we are still without Internet, so I'm going to stop putting off writing this post and just do it! Sorry for the delay! :)

We are three weeks into the new school year at Kasintorn St. Peter School. John is loving third grade. He has a wonderful Thai teacher to help him with classroom control, and his kids are really great. After his struggle with his fifth graders last year, he is so glad for this pleasant teaching experience. There is a great support system among the teachers at our new school, so he is becoming friends with our coworkers and they like to bounce ideas around. It's so refreshing to work in a creative environment this year. I am still plugging away with my Preschoolers. I really love the kids and the K2 teacher from the other class, but the system is frustrating and stressful. The poor kids have to complete worksheets and workbooks all day long, and don't have time built in their schedule for play or for conversation. I am doing the best that I can, but I would appreciate your prayers.

We have met some wonderful people through the school, and are really enjoying having people over for dinner and getting to know them better. We have become friends with a great Christian couple, and they invited us to their church last Sunday. They are connected with a small Thai church. They have a Thai service and an English service separately, but they meet in between for lunch together. We felt very much at home and will definitely go again. We have also started attending a Bible study at a Philipina teacher's house. There are four people (plus us), three of which are our colleagues. That group already has been a big encouragement to us. We are so grateful for these people God has brought into our lives.

Another incredible blessing has come through the form of one of John's students, Alan. If some of you are thinking the name sounds Hispanic, you are right. His Mom is Spanish and his Dad is Thai. We got together with his folks and him last Sunday and spoke rapid Spanish for four blissful hours. They have a cute Castillian accent and are wonderful people. Even the Dad speaks Spanish. What a random, awesome blessing for us!! We miss speaking Spanish, but more than that, we miss being able to communicate with people! We are slowly building up our Thai vocabulary, but still, our Thai is limited to taxis, markets, and food. Honestly, once you've said "hello, how are you, I would like one phad thai with chicken and lime, how much is it, thanks" you don't feel like a life-long friendship is forming, especially when you know that the next time, you will only be able to say the same thing again.

On another note, another exciting thing for us is our motorbike. We "bought" it from a friend who was moving back to the US, and we have saved a ton of money on transportation already. Plus, it's just a lot of fun. Maybe more for me than for John, since he has to deal with driving in traffic, and I just have to sit on the back holding our stuff and enjoying the ride. But seriously, we love it! For the boys reading this blog, I better say that it's a Honda Wave, 110cc, I guess they don't sell them in the US, but this sort of scooter is the minivan of Asia. We have actually seen up to five people, a dog, and a bunch of groceries on these things. For the girls, I can mention that it's a cute red color.

Last weekend, we made a trip we never would have without the bike. We went 50 km away to a place called Nakhon Pathom. It claims to be the oldest city in Thailand, and according to our Lonely Planet guidebook, the chedi at the temple is the tallest Buddhist monument in the world, rising to an impressive 127 meters.

That's enough for today, I think. I still haven't brought you up to date, but that gives you something to read, and I'll post more later, including some pictures. We love you guys and hope you're doing well. Stay in touch!

A Month in Thailand: A Random Assortment of Events in the Sullivan Family

Sorry for the delay in posting. We have been without Internet for a month, and are still trying to get it installed at our new apartment... It's just part of living in Thailand. But although we haven't written, we've sure been busy. Here's what we've been up to:

We successfully moved to a new area of Bangkok. We were sad to leave Muang Thong, but we really like our new area: Bang Yai. We have been living in our new apartment for 3 weeks now, at The Square, and it's a beautiful upgrade. It has a nice living room, a separate bedroom,

and (drumroll please) a KITCHEN!!!

We bought ourselves a little toaster oven, and have been having so much fun. Quiche for dinner tonight. We have shops nearby, and a movie theatre literally 100 steps from us. Here's a view of our street.

Yes, it is a lot more urban than last year.

Since John is sick of hearing me sing Kindergarten songs in the evenings, we decided to get some alternate entertainment. What did we get? 2 dwarf rabbits! We named them Yai

and Lek,

literally "Big" and "Little." They are so much fun!

For the past two weeks, while poor John has been sitting at home bored out of his mind, I have been teaching Summer School at our new school: Kasintorn St. Peter School. After two crazy weeks, I now consider myself a real Kindergarten teacher. Actually, I teach K2, which is the equivalent of second year Preschool in the US. Let me show you the difference in size of my students from last year and this year...

I am in charge of 28 four-year old students. I teach English, Math, Science, Art, Cooking, Singing and Games, and many other things. I am in the classroom with them all day, so I help take them to the bathroom, eat lunch, take naps, and everything else. I have two Thai teachers in the room with me most of the time, and I'm so glad to have them to help me, as the students are quite a handful, and they speak virtually no English. It has been fun thinking of all the songs and games that I used to play when I was little and/or when I was teaching Sunday School. I've forgotten so many! I would love any comments with suggestions of games, songs, or activities.

I am collecting some great stories. For example: The first week, we took the students on a field trip to the Bangkok planetarium and science museum. I was solely in charge of 8 little kids who spoke very little English, who look exactly like all the other hundreds of kids in the place and are all wearing the same uniform!! When we got to the planetarium, there were only 5 seats left, so I fit my 8 kids into 4 seats and sat myself at the end where I could keep an eye on them.

As soon as the lights went out, one girl started shrieking and crying and trying to run out the door. So I took her on my lap and tried to get her to calm down. It was an hour-long show, so two boys got bored and kept getting out of their seats. So I added another one of my lap. Half way in, another girl burst into terrified tears; while still holding the two children in my lap, I stood up, trying not to be too obnoxious in the front row, and walked over to pick her up too. Needless to say, I thought the hour would never end!! We finally got back to the van all in one piece, only to have to clean up the worst nose bleed I've ever seen!! Yikes!!

On a different note, we've enjoyed exploring a new area. Here we are in colorful India town in Bangkok with a couple of teachers from Kasintorn.

And, just for fun, some pictures of our new fruit market near our house. Piles of coconut,

mountains of Durian (The Thai national fruit: smells exactly like rotting garbage. Yum!),

and everything else imaginable...