Happy Teachers' Day

Wednesday 16 January 2019
Happy Teacher's Day!

Today is Teacher's Day in Thailand.  It reminds me of  my younger years in school. I am lucky to have met and studied with several great teachers. Some are full of knowledge of the subjects they taught while others are talented at teaching, and that made my learning moments more joyful and unforgettable. Some are very kind and they took care of their students including me like their own children. These teachers may not realize that they had left a priceless touch imprinted on the souls of many of their students, one of whom is me.

During those years, my beloved teachers appeared in different characteristics. My kindergarten teacher Ms. Somjai who was already in her middle age looked very strict, but she was actually very kind with all the kids. She hardly let any little kids out of her sight.  Later in primary school, I always recall my meeting and studying with my English teacher Ms. Sooksri. I was a new comer in grade 6 at a new school which was much bigger than my previous one. I failed the first test in English class and that experience shook me to the core. I used to get much better grades at the old school. So, at lunch break, rather than going for lunch like other kids, I ran to see Ms. Sooksri and asked her how I could improve my English, so I would be able to catch up with the other students in the class.

Oh, let me explain about Ms. Sooksri a little. She was at least mid-50s and well known as a very strict teacher with whom most students dared not to talk, if not necessary. I heard her reputation from other kids in the class but that didn't stop me from running to her.

After pouring out my concern over my English study, despite that I was afraid of her too, I remembered that Ms.Sooksri looked straight at me and kindly smiled at me. She asked me if I didn't feel hungry. I told her food was not in my mind at the moment, for I worried  if I could be better in English like the others who studied with her  before. She said I could, but I had to work harder. I told her that I was ready to work harder but how I could understand better and fast since I was already in the mid-semester year. That moment she told that I could come to study with her at lunch time if I wanted. I said, "Yes, I will."  Later whenever I look back, I knew that this teacher gave me a great gift and new perception on learning languages.

Those are just only two in my long list of great teachers. I would like to hug them all and tell them I love them and how great they are.

Gigi

Air Pollution in Bangkok And How We Live with It

Tuesday, 15th January 2019

After New Year celebration, people are back to their routine lives; some continue working or studying , others simply killing the time with no goal. Living on this planet is just like that. 

I falls into the first category--I work, not because I have any big goal for myself but because I have four (always) hungry cats to feed and care. Each day is simple. I get up early at dawn (or earlier), have four bowls filled with cat food, boil water for my hot chocolate, and turn on an old TV set to check on news and whatever program they put on, while cleaning up and clearing whatever mess my four kids brought about over the night. While doing those activities, I usually get to my small balcony to catch morning breeze and a glimpse of sky and/or some clouds which change every day.  The sky becomes very bright blue with no cloud at all in winter, yet it can be very dark and no trace of bright blue dot--only utterly dark grey as if the world was dying. 

However, the vibrant mood of sky has gone over the past few days.  When looking at the balcony, I have seen mostly smog looming above and blocking my bright sunny blue sky. The air, although not very hot in the morning,  made me sneeze and slightly hurt my nostrils. My throat turned sore. According to the news, the air in  Bangkok has become harmful because of tiny particles exceeding the limit into the dangerous level. 

At first the Bangkok City and some other government organizations seemed  paying very little attention until the pollution information was spread virally through social media. Then more and more people posted their concern on the Internet so the City and those state agencies could no longer ignore and started responding by holding press conference to calm down the panic and announcing some measures to cope with the problem.

Yet , as many people can see, the measures they chose are just short -termed and merely better than doing nothing, since all hardly touch the causes of the problem. For example, water spraying in some areas, distributing 10,000 free masks to the public, while the Bangkok population is nearly 10 million, and advising wearing a high quality mask and not going out if not necessary.  One of those big heads even said that people should not be worried or panic, for the air is not that harmful. Yes, we can guess he spoke in air-conditioning room before hopping into his air-conditioning car heading home, most likely well equipped with more than one air-conditioners. 

Like many other Bangkokians, I would love to not going out and prevent myself from bad air but I couldn't. We have to carry on our lives--to study, to work, to do whatever business we have. The only thing we can do at the moment is self-protecting--getting a mask to wear, which seems hard because the masks run out and many stores sell them with much higher prices. Such a good-hearted society.

Besides that, we share and update information that are useful for others to protect themselves and their beloved ones, such as how to make a good mask with handy materials. Many people including I wish the government to take responsible for solving this long time problem swiftly and seriously by focusing on limiting the numbers of vehicles, factories, construction sites especially hi-end condominiums, apartments and luxurious shopping centers, as well as growing more trees and expanding more green areas around the city.  But, despite people have urged every government to consider their requests, none shows real interest and seems making worse. And maybe our wish will come  true when some of the authorities get suddenly sick and die from the air pollution. 

Bangkok streets during New Year holidays

Sunday, 30 December 2018

Bangkok ranks among the top of the world' s worst traffic cities. Many foreign tourists come to see for their experience that how heavy the traffic could be in the very capital of Thailand and they never get disappointed. Bangkok's streets are usually crowded with various kinds of vehicle from motorcycles to tuk-tuk or tricycle taxis and from cars to buses. Personal cars rule the streets mostly especially during rush hours and that worsens the already bad traffic. The worst areas are mostly in downtown, business areas, as well as the areas with campuses or schools nearby. While some tourists look at the long lines of motors struck on the roads in awe, most Bangkokians think the situation is awful, and it seems worse every day. 

Rajprasong at nigh on regular weekdays, one of the worst traffic areas
in Bangkok, but this intersection and nearby streets will be cleared off for countdown gathering

Yet, there are some moments that Bangkok streets could be paradise for pedestrians or drivers and one of the very rare occasions is in this period, the New Year holidays.

When the end of year 2018 is coming closer, hundreds of thousands of Bangkokians have cleared off their work and rushed out of the city. Some return to their hometown for their family reunions in other provinces, while others take their holidays to some tourist sites outside the capital or in overseas. Only some including I remain in Bangkok and enjoy this rare moment of less crowded metropolitan.  Traveling around in  the city could take much less time than normal. For example, I can take just 10 minutes from my place to Bangkok downtown Siam Square area while it would take me an hour or more on regular days.  Moreover, I can walk around and enjoy more quiet streets with less crowd.  But some may not like the quiet Bangkok, for they may have to rely on instant noodle or ready-to-eat food from convenient stores such as 7 eleven rather than get it freshly cooked from the food stalls usually available around the big city.

Despite its more empty streets,  Bangkok could be very crowded in certain locations that are set for the public celebrations especially public countdown at the midnight of the 31st December.  Those popular spots include Rajprasong intersection, Asiatique on the bank of the Chao Praya River and the latest one this year, IconSiam the newest megastore for shoppers. It is expected that hundreds of thousands of both Thais and foreigners would gather around those places to celebrate and witness the arriving of the new year 2019.  Drinking, dancing, laughing, screaming with joy are appearing for certain.  Surely, it must be fun if you don't think of no voice no energy left later that night.  It's good for experience at least once.  

To have Bangkok streets full of joys must be better than with cars and smog particularly during New Year time.  But since I  had it enough already, so my best countdown spot is likely in bed and with my cats snuggling around.   :)

Your time is important. So is others'time.

Thursday, December 27, 2018

We always think our time is mostly important and it's true. When we have an appointment with someone, as normal persons, we expect to meet that person at the time both sides agreed. And if something unexpected came up, causing us to be late, we would try our best to keep the other side informed as soon as possible.  If you agree with what I said, that could mean you not only think about your own interest but also you care enough about others. Be proud of yourself, you have decent mind and manner.
  
However, some people seem not understand such simple way of thinking and practicing. They get the first half of the idea--time is mostly important but only for their own part. They couldn't grasp the importance of others' time. So this kind of thick skulls are seen very often late or even not show up at the appointments, despite their own ones. Some might make an excuse, while others wouldn't care to make up one.  Some might care for giving an apology, but later  you would experience that their apologies come easily and mean nothing more than a slip of their tongue.

I sometimes have met this kind of people who care little about others although it's not what I ever wish for.  I have to put myself in control to cope with them professionally. Yet, I can't help letting them know that I am not pleased with their tardiness or disappearance especially with no reason, or irrational reasons.

Some seem learned and improved, but not a few seem hopeless for improvement. The latter carry on their self-center-ness, and even a tough-skin like me can do nothing but let it go. I just tell myself that for the sake of  my own mind and peace, let karma do its job to this kind of hopeless persons. 

What would you do if you were in my shoes? 

Happy Boxing Day 
Gigi  :)
  

Food for Life

It's almost 11 pm., yet sleeping is not in my mind; neither is writing something serious.  Maybe food is the easiest topic to talk about. Like most people, I love food. It answers my basic physical need and more. Food also brings joys, and sometimes is used as a means to flee from sadness.  Are you thinking of juicy sweet melon and chocolate like I am? Still, some kinds of food likely upset me and my stomach more if I take them. For example, raw meat or exotic meat like snake and crocodile meat. I would opt for plain water to fill up my empty stomach.
Here are some yummy Thai dishes I love.

Kaeng Liang (mixed vegetable and prawn soup)

Boiling Kaeng Liang

Khao Phad nhaem (Fried rice with egg, tomato and fermented minced pork)

Masman with pork and potato

A-chad taengkwa (Cucumber sweet and sour dip is good with Masman)

Kaeng Buad Fakthong (Pumpkin in sweet coconut milk)

Pad Kaprao Kai (Spicy stirfried chicken with Thai basil)

Khao Niew Piak Lamyai ( sweet sticky rice with longan)

Yam Makhuayao Prik Yuak Kungsod (Eggplant, pepper and prawn salad) 

Kaotom Taohukhai Kung (Boiled rice with egg tofu and prawn)

Fried pork marinated with garlic, cilantro and spring onion)

Stirfried pork liver with red onion, bell pepper and garlic

Those are some of the recent products from my kitchen. Now I guess it's time for  bed. 

Enjoy watching and have a good dream. 

Gigi.

Approaching is the end of Year 2018.

Hello and  ,very soon, Good bye 2018

I just realized that I haven't visited this blog of mine for almost a year!  How come? Several reasons came up: my busy work, my not-so-good health, my broken laptops, and my difficulties to get into my own blog. Yes, I am not kidding especially for the latter.  The problem is I forgot my email and password. I couldn't believe myself either, but too bad it happened. I was mad at myself for not being able to get here.   When I tried (not just one time) it seemed getting worse, for I got more headache. The best solution for me was simply turning away and going to do something else (which is proven not the best idea because eventually I still needed to come back and tried again, and failed again). 

This time I tried and failed again as ever. But it's December 2018 and I have been giving myself up too many times already.  I needed to fight for my own space, my blog, right?

The final fighting began 25 minutes ago after my three times failed in a row. I dug into my desk cabinet which is messy with lots of papers and notes as usual in order to find my old and fat notebook where I love jotting down whatever interested me. Actually, it is kind of a mixture of daily, multipurpose-notebook and script encoders.  Nope, it was not there.  I continued searching and bingo! It was amid a pile of books sitting next to the desk.  I remembered it right away since it has green cover with cat-bite-n-craw marks on the rim. It also has a tiny green ribbon for book marking too. I got it as a free gift from working on some project years ago.

I recalled that I took note of my emails and passwords there  although some of them were changed later.  Flipped through the pages and thank God, they're still there.  My scribble, yet readable.  So my fight came to an end and my wish came true this time in the last month of the year. I deserve happiness and pride ( Just by myself is all right ^^).  

I shall return again very soon before this year end and share with you some update. My cats are yelling at me for their dinner. Thank you for reading about my fighting till the end. You will not be disappointed for my next topic.

Happy December and Happy festive moments!
Gigi

One but Not the Same

One but Not the Same

Sitting and sweating profusely in front of an electric fan in a small room at midday  is not the best choice to help inspire myself to start my writing today. Yet, going out to sit in the park nearby could be worse for now the temperature here in Bangkok is 40 degrees Celsius more or less. Breeze may come and move some ready-to-fall tiny leaves but far from alleviating the suffocating hot air and striking sunlight. My inspiration might come at last except later than my faintness due to overheating and dehydrating.  So, I just carry on my mission, trying to get my mind be still enough and make it work out for one not-so-boring topic.  And it, eventually, arrives.
Have you ever experienced yourself on being mistaken by others while you had no ideas what made they misunderstand your words?  I am sure I would not be the only one who had such experience.  Let's see some, for example, Get a light.   This can lead you to get either a flashlight or a slap, for the worst scenario I mean. ^^ Another example is "Great".  If  you appreciatively talk to a host who offers you a cup of hot tea when you just escape from cold, rainy night outside, you is most likely to get a flash of welcoming smile back and more of nice tea. Under the same situation, you say it but with your ungrateful voice and probably annoying look, count yourself lucky if your first cup of tea is not taken back or served directly to your face.
According to the two examples, one word could send different messages that could be translated into different meanings.  They depend on situations, tones, expressions, among others.
Such confusions do not appear just in English, which is not my mother-tongue, but also in other languages including my Thai langue. Even a native speaker can often misunderstand and misinterpret the messages he or she receives too.
However, don't be so cautious that you dare not to use the words you prefer or are very picky on your word use. That could make you sound boring or fake rather than natural and unique. Just be aware and optimally careful that one can be but not always the same. ❤☺☺☺

Gigi
30/4/2017