December 2006

The Christmas Tree outside our building!

** updates are in blue text - last update Monday 25th December **

Friday 1st December

Decided to have our dinner outside (which is still a novelty!) - so I was putting the steaks on the traditional steaks on the barbie!... and came back in to quickly get some onions to fry up.... the one thing I've learned from over here, is not to cook a steak for too long..... 5 mins each side on a barbie....and to NEVER turn it more than once.... you slap it on...wait 5 mins....turn it once.....wait 5....and then rest and serve....and your steak is lovely and soft and a little pink in the centre.....perfect each time.....

Anyway, came in to get the onions ready, out with the lovely V-Slicer, and what did I do, but I forgot to use the finger guard,,,,,,slice, slice, slice, slice, ouch!! Off came the top millimetre or so of my finger and thumb! (well the thumb had a little part still holding on the skin, but I had to rescue the finger tip skin from in amongst the onions!)....lovely.... so there I was, blood oozing out my finger, trying to re-position the skin piece back on top, against the pressure of blood coming out - a bit like trying to put your finger over a running tap (but not quite as much pressure!). 20 mins or so later, and it had stopped bleeding and we went down to the local medical centre - time to try out our new Medicare cards!

Went in, and I think it may have been the sight of the blood that was still stuck all over both my hands, but they took me straight in (so if you ever want seen in a hurry, never clean up a cut before you turn up to the hospital - the messier the better ;-). And then in comes this doctor like Kenneth Williams, as camp as a row of pink tents, which took our mind of things, as we tried not to snigger in his presence. 4 needles worth of painful anaesthetic later, (which they stick directly into the wound just to make it hurt twice as bad as the cut in the first place), and I was ready to get some stitches - 6 in the index finger and 4 in the thumb. So I am slowly typing this (and trying to correct the many typos as i go along) with the good fingers that are left!

Monday 4th

Putting the lights on our Christmas tree tonight - its going to be nice to see Holly's face light up at the tree - its a magical time for kids, and its easy to see why, when they look up at a towering bright tree, full of sparkly lights, figurines, shiny baubles, and then lots of shiny presents underneath to open up and delve into - really looking forward to it (albeit in probably 40 degree heat if last year's stories are anything to go by - New Years day was 45 degrees last year - people were going to the cinema just to get cooled by air conditioning - stories of melted flip-flops on the tarmac etc.!)

Also, got a lot of mail from back home. Anniversary cards, new home cards, and a Scotland calendar from wee Molly our old neighbour. Also, got a lovely card from Lorna, which I will need to post a picture of, as its such a nice little keepsake.

Friday 8th

On the way to work, the buses were decked out in tinsel and "Seasons Greetings" banners, and one of the drivers had a stocking hanging up for a raffle to win a Xmas pudding! Its funny how you are in a big city, but there are some aspects which retain the smaller town & community feeling - like for example, the way all the schoolchildren who are on the bus in the morning, travelling into their schools in the city, wait until the bus is full (standing room only), and they all stand up and go down to the front, and let the adults take their seats. Every day, they all do it - regular as clockwork!

At night, I had to go back down to the medical centre to get my stitches taken out - I had to wait about 1.5 hours at least, as there was only 1 doctor working for most of the time, and there was another 15 or so people in front of me.

Sunday 10th

Up at 5:30am to go and pick up Sheryl's Dad, Bob, from the airport. It left Bangkok a bit late, so we didn't need to rush, which is just as well as we must have woken Holly up, so she needed a wee cuddle to go back to sleep.....zzzzzz. On the way back, I nearly burnt my face with my sunglasses as I had left them on the dashboard in the sun - so many things to get used to!

Did some pool maintenance today, ducking in and out of the baking hot sun.......topping up the pool with acid, putting the salt cel in more acid to clean the elements, dropping in a gel cube to gather any dust and keep the water sparkling clean - there is a lot more to this pool malarky than I bargained for.

and just to scare you, here is a pic of a Hunstman spider that was resting outside our kitchen window the other week!

Friday 22nd

Holly and I went out to see Santa in the street.....yes the street....there is a local man who goes round in a sleigh being towed behind a car, and he has a small army of kids / elves dress up in red t-shirts with buckets collecting money for charity....its all pretty well organised, with a lead man at the front with a walkie talkie, and a trail car with the same. Holly got a wee glow bracelet from Santa!...

Saturday 23rd

Spent today being Santas Little Helper, making up the toys and things for Holly so that they are all ready to play with on Xmas morning....the preparation you never knew happened when you were a wee kid !

Just came in from a quick BBQ at dusk..... couldn't think what to make for dinner, so cubed some chicken and with some onions and peppers made half dozen kebab skewers, and managed to make them in time for the sun setting and the chorus of crickets coming out....(which as soon as I can get the sound off of my mobile phone I'll put up here....)

Sunday 24th

Monday 25th

It was a real picture to see Holly's face light up when she came down for Xmas morning..... she had so many presents, we had nowhere to sit, as between the presents to each other, all the couches were full up !! Then it got even more magical when Sheryl's Dad came downstairs dressed up as Santa, complete with beard and sack of presents over his shoulder!

.....more updates to come I promise - just been pretty hectic and little time to update this :-( Here's a nice wee pic of Holly instead...