~~Masala Update~~

Should this be a regular thing now? Masala is roughly 10 months old now. I say "roughly" because we don't actually know, the shelter's best guess was that he was born around March/April. Thus we have decided that his birthday shall be April 1st, because he is a silly boy. We plan to give him his very own fish on that day, and apparently this is now what passes for excitement in our lives.

It seems we're always learning new things about him. He is still obsessed with bread, but beef is probably his new favorite thing. Beef isn't so common in Thailand, but recently I bought some to make chili. I browned it beforehand, so I made sure to save him a piece. He went ballistic. I have never seen him eat anything that fast. Actually the next day I was chopping up the beef I had frozen, and a small piece shot off the counter. Strangely enough, it landed on my foot. He saw it and made a dash for me, while I raised up my foot to keep him from eating raw meat. He stood on his hind legs to try and get high enough, and here I am dancing around the kitchen on one foot while he's trying to streeeeetch a little further and get that yummy snack. But I snatched it with my other hand, and then wanted to grab a tissue to wash off the meat juice. But he could still smell it, so he chased me all the way to the bathroom, desperately trying to lick my foot the whole way. So yeah. Dude likes beef, probably more than fish. I even gave him some roe from my sushi, and he didn't eat more than a bite or two. Maybe for his birthday I should give him a plain hamburger instead.

But aside from food, his behavior is coming along. He's quite polite about never using claws on people, even when playing. We're working on getting him better with play biting, and using his words instead -  thankfully that happens rarely now. His morning routine is really cute. He knows what time our alarm is set for, and I've caught him just waiting patiently near the bed. When the alarm finally does go off, he instantly jumps in bed with lots of "meow meow meow!" so we can get his cuddles. Also we've discovered that he likes to play tag. He'll just randomly sneak up on you, tap your ankle, and run away. You can do the same to him, though he has a funny way of coming after you - he'll go into stealth mode, stalk around corners, and sneak around until he's finally within striking distance. But instead of immediately tagging you back, he stops, and looks at your face as to say "You have lost, pathetic human. Beg for your life." THEN he taps your ankle and runs away again, and the game continues as long as you have patience, or he floofs on the floor.

 ~~End of Masala Update~~

Now to switch gears, Thailand still hums along, we even had an election a few days ago. I love how Thailand does their elections, because it's pretty much the same way they do their night markets - set up some tents, have some snacks, boom. Done. Seems that the Bhumjaithai party got the majority of votes, which is considered conservative. But for my American folks, conservative here does not mean Republican, GOP kind of conservative. Bhumjaithai supports more traditional values like the monarchy and family, and to that end they favor strong social welfare and public spending programs. Funny how, when there are 20+ parties, you get Coke Freestyle flavor combinations people in the USA didn't know existed. Which, by the way, how's it going over there guys? The latest season of "Trump 2" is pretty bonkers. I try to stay up on things because it's important, but the more I stay up on things the more glad I am that I don't live there anymore. Actually the other day I was teaching more Year 12 students about logical fallacies, and one that came up was the Straw Man fallacy. When I was planning my lesson, I realized that I am overwhelmed with examples from American politics, that I had to keep switching my brain to other topics. Seems everyone is just out to paint the other side in the most unflattering way possible, and that's just sad. Not that groups such as ICE needs any help to be painted in an unflattering light, but it seems any sort of nuance or empathy has just been smashed into pieces. It's a sad situation, and all I can do is sit here and hope the country finds its footing, and things change to being a more understanding and kind society.

But if you're interested in a move to Thailand, there is no shortage of positive things to keep you busy. Every weekend we're usually up to something, in large part because of Ella's efforts. She always has something in mind, especially on Saturdays. Be it some sort of floating market, park, or other interesting place, she's the go to person for knowing whats up in Bangkok. For example, we went to a concert celebrating a night market's 15 year anniversary. In typical Thai fashion, if there is a way to have fun with something, they'll find it. They had gogo dancers, a marching band, vintage cars, and a firework show that rivaled the city's New Year's celebration. It was a fun time, but I think I am too old for concerts, or more accurately, I don't think concerts have ever really been my thing. They are too loud, and this is not an old man thing, even when I was in my 20s I thought they were way too loud. I want to hear the music, but I also don't want it to be painful? Anyway, there were some good bands, even some that I recognize with my rudimentary knowledge of Thai music. But regardless of the concert, the real draw is to hang out at a good market, with good friends, and have a good time. Speaking of friends, we were lucky to have quite a few visitors for the holidays. I think we're up to 4 or 5 visitors now? Some were friends, some were friends of friends, and even parents of friends. The parents were just as awesome and he is, they even went out drinks and karaoke.

For other adventures, I just put "museum" into Google Maps, and oh boy there are a lot of places I had never heard of before. Some were a bit so-so, or one room kind of places, but actually some were really interesting. For example, The Thai National Bank Museum isn't something that is probably on most people's radar, but it was interesting seeing the old notes and printing machines. Plus they have, I think, the most beautiful library in the city overlooking the river. Nearby, there is also the Bang Lamphu Museum - oddly enough, it's where those printing machines used to be. After it was turned into a district office, and now it's kind of a hybrid museum exploring money and the local district. There's also the Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall, which we have been to before, many years ago. But they have another section, maybe new, that explores Thai life - complete with a "It's a Small World" style boat ride, which is just so Thailand. We also went to the Royal Thai Air Force Museum, which I had been to once, even before I met Ella. It has a lot of older planes, with the newest probably being an F-16. But it's still interesting, and I like that they let you climb in some of them. Oh and to round out the list, we went to DiB Bangkok. An odd place full of experimental, contemporary type art. They had an exhibit where you were invited to hit a wall with a metal baseball bat. Yes really. I assumed the wall was stone.

It was not!

Turns out it was hollow metal, which you can imagine creates quite a sound. Anyway, I feel I've talked a lot and even left a few places out. But I think I'll end with some photos, plus a video of me hitting the wall and being quite shocked at the ruckus.

Thai Railway Museum

Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall

DiB Contemporary Art Museum

Chulalongkorn Natural History Museum

Thai National Bank Library

Thai Air Force Museum. Smooth flying!

Bang Lamphu Museum

 

I'm sure you only clicked because you want to hear about Masala. I asked him if he wanted to be at the start of the blog, and he said "meeeeow", so let's not waste your time.

Masala is doing well. Actually it's kind of amazing how much his personality has changed since we first got him. He used to be extremely shy. At the pet shelter, he was often hiding somewhere, and when we brought him home, it took about 2 weeks for us to see him regularly. That's definitely not an issue any longer. He is comfortable in his domain, usually never leaving our side when we're home. When we go to sleep, he usually finds one of us to lean against. He's actually quite polite, all things considered. While sometimes he will get up during the night to use the toilet or eat (don't we all), he usually stays quiet. He's got a good sense of when our phone alarm is about to go off, and will usually sit patiently for it to wake us up first. Then he'll rub his face on you and demand pets. Otherwise, "petting time" is whenever one of us gets home. He will usually walk up to us, and just plop on the floor at our feet. Or just randomly, he'll come over and rub his head against you. He's very much a head/face/neck kind of guy. He's sort of okay with his back being rubbed, but he will remind you with a meow that is not his preferred spot. The belly, like on most cats, is a no-go. However, recently I've learned that if you start at the neck and slowly work your way down, you can get to the belly without him noticing - perhaps the result of the "one orange brain cell". Oh, and if you try to pet him during non-petting time, he will likely just walk away, or you will be on the receiving end of a no-claw slap. Not petting time is usually "leave me alone" time, or "play" time, and play time is all about chasing things. A ball is fine, but he's recently taken to the "jingly things on a stick" line of toys. He loves it when he can chase them around for a while, but then they suddenly stop moving. He goes into "hunting mode" by walking a half circle around it, arching his back, and gradually sneaking up to pounce.

Something I really appreciate about him is that he is pretty chill with being picked up. I know most cats don't like that, but he doesn't seem to mind that much. He usually folds himself into a C-shape with his arms and legs out, and you can just hold him with one arm underneath while petting him the other. One day I carried him around for about 30 minutes showing him random apartment things. He especially liked the freezer, reaching out to touch the bag of frozen veggies, then looking at his paw. And speaking of food, out of curiosity we give him a little bite of people food sometimes. We had to learn a lot about what cats can and cannot eat, and they're honestly pretty much okay with everything. Most of the off-limits things like chocolate and caffeine are pretty well known, but for us the big sticking point is no garlic/onions. Turns out that's in just about everything, so he doesn't get to try things as often as he'd like. As far as his preferences, he will kind of nibble at veggies, but overall, not a big fan. He will sniff fruit, but I've never seen him eat any. He'll lap up a bit of milk, but usually just once or twice. Of course he loves fish, but oddly enough he's not too keen on chicken - he'll eat it, but only after a lot of sniffing/contemplation. The big winner though, is bread. He LOVES bread, of any form. Even plain white rice he is ALL about. I don't know what his deal is, but apparently the fastest way to his heart is carbs. If I ever gave him a breaded fish stick, he would probably explode with happiness. Overall, he's just food curious. Whatever you're eating he also wants to sniff and/or try, and he'll leave you alone after he had a chance to sample it. For example, one day I was drinking plain soda water, which he was very curious about. I put some in a little dish for him, and he was jumping around it, dipping his paw in it, and just being very confused by this bouncy water. Cute~ 

As far as Thailand travels, we've done a bit here and there. For example, it was Constitution Day, and a Rama IX Park had a big night market with live music, food, etc.. Actually the music was really good, kind of big band jazz sort of thing. It was better than most music I've heard at bars where you have to pay a cover charge to get in, and just goes to show Thailand is amazing at A) being artsy, and B) finding an excuse to throw a party. Ella and I ate and walked around for a few hours, just taking in the vibe and consuming a weeks worth of calories. While we were walking, I was thinking - why don't more places do this? There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of outdoor markets in Bangkok alone, many being a normal part of the community. You can get food and drink there for cheaper than a restaurant, because it's just a dude in a tent. For a special occasion like this you had plenty of vendors, selling stuff at pretty steep discounts. I feel in the US these kind of festivals sell things for more money than in a shop, which just seems weird to me.

In further flung travels, our Bangkok family took a day to trip to the beach. Bang Saen Beach is the closest beach to Bangkok, and is alright, but has a ways to go to match the beaches an hour or so further south in Jomtien and beyond - and those don't hold a candle to some of the islands. It's more of a "let's hang out near the ocean and enjoy the vibe" sort of place than an actual swimming destination. Though some people were swimming, we dipped our feet, had some food, had some drinks, and just chatted. We took the train to get there, which has a stop just outside our building. Overall it was about 2 hours, but whew the train ticket was expensive - at 20 baht ($0.60) a person, we'll need to save that for a special occasion.

In other news, I have a new job. But this was after ~2 months of "not working", which was surprisingly much more busy than actually working. It seemed that every day there was something to do with the apartment, errands for Ella and I, or the cat. Actually one day we went to take him to the vet, and he was not so happy about going in the carrier. It was a soft carrier with a mesh netting, and after we finally got him in... he just clawed the heck out of it and slipped out. So, very fortunate he didn't decide to display that superpower when he was on the street or something. Now we have upgraded to a proper hard plastic and metal carrier, so if he breaks out of that one, there is nothing us or even Superman can do to stop him. We eventually did get him to the vet, a process he was very not pleased with. He's actually fine with the vet, but wow he hates car rides. He just lets out constant sad meows the whole time. Thankfully he's all caught up on his shots now, so this is the last time he will need to go there unless for something unfortunate.

Oh wait, I was talking about work. The position with Ella's school didn't materialize, as it unfortunately would start after my visa expired. Instead an agency that I worked with 10ish years ago in Thailand had an opening, so I'm back with them. I'm back to teaching in a pretty low overhead sort of role, not unlike some of my first teaching gigs. Overall it's quite a whiplash from my previous gig of, you know, trying to set up and run an entire school. I'm divided between two different schools doing Computer Science and English. It's very low stress, so I'm not complaining, because this is the kind of Thai life that I remember. Now with a proper residency visa secured, I'm breathing easy in terms of my status. Just in terms of perspective, I went from accepting the job to having a visa in about 2 weeks. Portugal was... 8 months? And we still couldn't get it all done. So. Maybe they should rethink that process if they want people to come.

I'll end with something a bit less serious. An old coworker of mine messaged me out of the blue one day, and asked if I wanted to come with him to a Dragon Ball exhibition - because the tickets are buy one get one, and his girlfriend is like, "No way". While I certainly was a fan as a teenager, I've been out of the Dragon Ball scene for 20+ years. But even though I knew nothing about the new series, the exhibit was actually really interesting. Mostly just a lot of statues you could pose next to, they had a few AR activities like doing a Kamehameha to collect the Dragon balls - and if you got all of them, you could get a free poster. The whole thing is completely silly, and something that would only work in Thailand.