Updates: Ages!

Gosh.. it has been ages since I blogged. I have finally joined Facebook though in the interim - I am still stumbling around in the dark, not really sure what I am doing, besides of course getting into contact with old friends which is loads of fun. I have been warned that it is addictive.. but so far, I'm not really into the time consuming links, games and activities... for now anyway. I have enough to do with my blog, dailymotion and poetry sites....

I have started a second job - teaching conversation and grammar to four high-so Thai ladies privately (royal connections). It is very well paid so I intend to put that money aside 'to buy a baby' :-) (IVF). It does disrupt my week a little as the lessons are on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and makes for less flexibility to go off on long weekends for a while.

Isla is coming back from her month's SouthEast Asian Tour on Saturday so I am really looking forward to spending some time doing girlie things with her in Bangkok - shopping and spa are definitely on the cards. Unfortunately though, our plan to go off to an island to do a diving course fell through due to my new job. SOB! Priorities I guess (this is the financial opportunity we had been waiting for - can't really turn it down).

For the rest, our social life is buzzing with weekly dinners with friends, the next one being a dinner party at our house for ten people on Saturday! Yikes.. better start planning the menu! A Beef Red Curry plus a Cajun Shrimp Stew with Jasmine Rice for maincourse and a Dark Chocolate Mousse with strawberries for dessert, I think. Hmm.. I will add the recipies here. Thankfully I have Friday off to cook all day.

Work is the same as ever. A new teacher.. yes, another male! (Female teachers seem to be non existant). I am planning another project to sink my teeth into. The University Entrance Exam papers have been written, tried and tested - so that chapter is now closed. The IELTS academic writing course we offer is becoming extremely popular among students in Bangkok and we are building a very good reputation. I have proposed that the course be revamped to accomodate the new numbers, recent exam changes and to make it more user friendly for our teachers who haven't been teaching this course to date (we have been using a lot of our own materials on an adhoc basis to meet the diverse needs of the students - the course is lacking in some areas). So.. it all depends on the budget allocated for the revamp - but I would love to do it.

We spent two days in Hua Hin Evason Hideaway resort last week - spent my time reading 600 pages (trashy beach novel) by the pool - joy! Strange, but after 26 days back I was already hanging for another holiday! Yeah.. I know..spoilt :-) Our next break will probably be in March when Mafalda and Paulo Nuno (Amandio's brother) come to visit for a month... Angkor Wat perhaps... but in the Bangkok Post yesterday it warned that the Hot summer would start two months earlier this year and temperatures are expected to be around 45degrees in March! oops! Not the best time to go inland really. We'll see.

Damn.. I just discovered that I cannot add more photos here, nor in Picasa until I buy more storage space from Google. That went fast!

Poetry: Incantation of Moon

Flame crystallised against black velvet
Silently illuminating the lacklustre
Veined with determination
Purity willed beyond the rim
Satiated by crators of soft lace

Seduced by a gravitational pull
Ebb and flow dance to your rhythm
Lulled by tracks of glistening silver
A celestial siren beckoning lovers
Weaving a magical interlude

Each changing facet reveals truth
A phoenix rising at one with fire
Peaceful rapture forever present
Confidant and keeper of dreams....
Radiating runes - my relentless moon




The moon here in Thailand will be full on Wednesday 6th marking the eve of the Chinese New Year.

Review: Lost in a Good Book

I have just finished reading Jasper Ffordes second book in the Thursday Next series. This is a review I found of the book. I liked this one even better than the first one - and boy was it fun being lost!

The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Jasper Fforde's magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of Jurisfiction—the police force inside books. She is apprenticed to the man-hating Miss Havisham from Dickens's Great Expectations, who grudgingly shows Thursday the ropes. And she gains just enough skill to get herself in a real mess entering the pages of Poe's “The Raven.” What she really wants is to get Landen back. But this latest mission is not without further complications. Along with jumping into the works of Kafka and Austen, and even Beatrix Potter's The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth.

Review: Jane Eyre Affair

I haven't read a book quite like this in a while! Despite being science fiction (which I generally don't like too much), the surreal world he creates and the way he writes makes it very believable and extremely witty.

Background: Great Britain circa 1985 - time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. Baconians are trying to convince the world that Francis Bacon really wrote Shakespeare, there are riots between the Surrealists and Impressionists, and thousands of men are named John Milton, an homage to the real Milton and a very confusing situation for the police. The country is close to being a police state. The Crimean War has dragged on for more than 130 years and Wales is self-governing. It is a place where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense.

Plot: Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man in the World, steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, who then disappears from every volume of the novel ever printed! But that's just a prelude . . . Jane Eyre is next on his list. Thursday Next is a literary detective who handles security of original manuscripts, piracy and other crimes related to the literary world.

Some parts of the book are just hilarious. I laughed out loud while reading the incident where bookworms expel apostrophes, hyphens and em-dashes. Other post-modern satirical twists include the footnoter phone, an ubiquitous communication device in the BookWorld. A footnote number pops up in a dialogue, the visual equivalent of a cell phone beep, and the character receives a message via footnote at the bottom of the page - which is there on the page (literally:-)
All in all, the dizzying pace made me feel like I was web surfing through a huge library with Alice in Wonderland as my guide. Whacky, intelligent, and wonderful. Read it if you can. I am sure some of you would love it....

Updates: Larisa

I met friends of Felix yesterday, Larisa and her lovely daughter Vera. They were here to visit her sister who lives in Bangkok. After a lot of missed communication we managed to meet for drinks on Sukhumvit a few hours before they were to fly back to Europe. She was really nice to talk to, but most of all I loved hearing about how she knows Felix and their stories together - it brought me closer to my father despite the kilometres distancing us....

Updates: Ruby Ring

I just have to show off my new ruby ring! :-)

After firmly swearing that we wouldn't buy each other any Christmas presents this year (we had already bought our new computer before we left for Portugal), Amandio turned around and surprised me with a little red box under the Christmas tree with my name marked on it. Cunning little devil, we had killed some of our time waiting at the airports looking at jewellery cases and 'playing a game' of him guessing which rings I would choose. We had of course discussed rubies since the first day we arrived in Thailand when we were snapped up in a tourist trap and bundled to a jewellers. Sapphires and rubies are mined in Thailand (the mines are now exhausted) so naturally the prices are much cheaper here. During our time wandering aimlessly into jewellery shops we have been taught the 5 Cs of choosing gemstones... oh, lets see if I remember: Clarity, Cut, Colour, Carat - erm.. have to look up the fifth one -oh, there are only four! LOL

Well, this one, as far as budget goes naturally, is gorgeous (a little cloudy perhaps but invisible to the naked eye). Amandio did a great job in choosing, just how I like it - single stone, not too small, with either other surrounding stones or a double flank/side with a design, and a higher relief - portruding slightly. My style can vary between romantic old fashioned, neoclassical and extremely modern with those variables. Perfect!!

It must have been bought on a last minute whim (he hadn't taken one of my own rings to check size) and it was 5 sizes too small - so torture, I had to wait over a week to take it back to the jewellers here to get it enlarged! I finally got it back today and I am like a child - showing off my new shiny gift. Okay, okay.. enough said :-)

Updates: Happy New Year

So back in Thailand... well, in body anyway. After a fantastic New Year's Eve dinner (smoked salmon, lumpfish caviar, snails, pate, shrimp, cheeses, dark chocolate mousse and wine and champagne...mmmm) with siblings we left Portugal with heavy hearts and suitcases on 1st January. I didn't sleep a wink on the plane, crammed, a crying baby behind us, an annoying person who kept on switching on the light, and an energetic sleeper beside me and erm.. digesting. As a result, we are both suffering from serious jetlag, worse than ever and combined with a period and a cold makes for some discomfort and listless moods. Waking up after only one hours sleep, dreams that go nowhere, hunger pangs at odd hours.. urghh! I need a holiday!! LOL
Luckily, I only start back at work on Monday but poor Amandio had to brave it the following morning. Isla, who is enroute back to Scotland via South East Asia and an Indian tour after a year in Sydney, is coming to stay with us. I will also get to meet Zain, her now fiancee (CONGRATULATIONS!!! - proposed while skydiving - sounds very adventurous). I am so excited to catch up with her again - it has been TOO long. Julie, a great school and university friend also got engaged over the holidays. Congrats to you both too! Love must be in the air....
It was so lovely to see Sandra, Antonio and Alex and meet the newest addition to the family, Rafael. It was so warm and 'cosy' to be a part of the family for one day. Hugs :-)
I have unpacked all the goodies we brought back from Portugal and had fun putting them in their new homes, ie. books, photos, embroidered cloths and am slowly uploading the videos and sorting out photographs. I love that part - indulging in reminiscence. Happy New Year to all of you and wish you peace, love and happiness for 2008....

Wedding Rings

Why should the wedding ring be worn on the fourth finger?

There is a beautiful and convincing explanation given by the Chinese Legend...

Thumb represents your Parents
Second (Index) finger represents your Siblings
Middle finger represents your-Self
Fourth (Ring) finger represents your Life Partner
& the Last (Little) finger represents your children

Firstly, open your palms (face to face), bend the middle fingers and hold them together - back to back
Secondly, open and hold the remaining three fingers and the thumb - tip to tip

Now, try to separate your thumbs (representing the parents)..., they will open, because your parents are not destined to live with you lifelong, and have to leave you sooner or later.
Please join your thumbs as before and separate your Index fingers (representing siblings), they will also open, because your brothers and sisters will have their own families and will have to lead their own separate lives.

Now join the Index fingers and separate your Little fingers (representing your children),they will open too, because the children also will get married and settle down on their own some day.

Finally, join your Little fingers, and try to separate your Ring fingers (representing your spouse).
You will be surprised to see that you just CANNOT...

ISN'T THIS A LOVELY THEORY? At least it makes for a nice 'useless bit of information' party piece :-)

Merry Christmas

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1819617729
Check out the link.

Hope you are all having a lovely festive season with loved ones....we are in Portugal still getting rounder by the spoonful :-) We had a glorious Christmas with loads of food, presents, port wine (which by the way is our port wine that we made for our wedding and is turning out to be a real vintage!)
I got loads of 'coffee table' books on Portugal as requested, a lovely dress and the biggest surprise from Amandio - he's crazy! (in a good sense :-) - a pretty big ruby ring! Gosh, I was pretty gobsmacked and touched... a beautiful single red ruby with three small diamonds on each side (bought in Thailand) but unfortunately it is too small... so I hope that we can exchange it for a bigger one when we get back.
We are slowly coming to terms with the fact that our month holiday is coming to an end. The saddest part is that we don't know when the next time will be. Usually there is always something planned (weddings, Christmas, summer hols). This time we don't know if the stork will prevent travel in the future, if Amandio can get holidays etc. We are spending New Years in Lisbon and I am looking forward to seeing Sandra and finally get to meet her new son Rafael. We are then off to Thailand on the 1st.
The next mark in my calendar is a visit from Isla who is making her way (slowly - one month tour in South East Asia and another three weeks with her mother touring India) back to Scotland from Sydney. Hopefully there will be a few more trips to resorts with Amandio's work on the horizon. I wouldn't mind some more sun and beach after a month in the cold (relative of course :-)
Happy New Year.

Updates: Portugal

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RINUS!

Gosh time is flying. I haven't really been writing much but I have been keeping a sort of video diary on Dailymotion.
Here I am in Portugal busy going through the Christmas motions with family. The weather is glorious; crystal blue skies with pure fresh air. I find it really chilly and am suffering from an incessant cold that I just can't shake off. On the plus side, the opportunity to wear winter clothes is delightful, mixing and matching Thai summerish clothes with forgotten treasures I had boxed away. My favourite has got to be a black knitted dress with my tan suede knee high boots....it feels so good to be able to wear layers and accessorise with scarves, hats, belts etc. LOL! This may sound a little crazy, but those of you who know what it is like to be limited to summer clothes (which of course I love too, especially dresses and skirts) for a few years, can probably empathise.
Besides looking forward to wearing new outfits every morning, my days are filled with walks with Amandio and Lord (plus any of our nephews if they are around), relaxing, reading, eating, cooking, chatting, roaming around the streets and shops in Tomar.
We went to Lisbon for two days. Once again, I am in awe of the city. I LOVE IT.... and miss the familiarity, the coziness .... this feeling lives strongly within me, never to be forgotten. Home :-) I dreamt of returning one day and buying a house in Campo do Ourique. Beautiful. After wandering around my old haunts and filming what delights my eyes, I spent hours putting together a film (to be uploaded onto DM tomorrow) which I think really captures the magic, the sloppy juxtaposition of old and new, the essence of Ulysses' seven headed serpeant.
My parents are coming next week which I am really looking forward to. Lovely long days are stretching ahead of me here. Happy and relaxing :-)