The truth that has gotten me over the hump from "maybe I'll get used to this new life" daily survival to "I can do this" happy daily rhythm (made pretty by wordle.net). I know it is a God-thing because this week has been even more trying as we've all been out 7:30 - 7 Tuesday-Thursday and I've more than survived it well, whereas the last few weeks that have been tough for me we've only been out 6:45 - 2, and not even every day.

Bangkok transportation

How are we going to get around in Bangkok?
Our first trial was walking. Wider and better sidewalks made this attractive, and we did well with walking in Manila. But, housing within walking distance of the places we needed to get to was too expensive.

Ok. The sky train is clean, fast, convenient, fun... but where we found a place to live is a good 1/2 hour walk from the closest station. Our apartment complex has a free shuttle to that station. Once a day. At 6:45 am. Which leaves us with a 3/4 of an hour journey to get the girls to school via shuttle and walking. Not so nice when it is so early. And the return journey is walk-express bus-walk, taking about an hour, which really eats up time and energy. Sky train for church? Can do, but again, walk-bus-train takes more time than we'd like to spend in travel, and the cost is actually more than taxi for the four of us.

Taxis. Fairly cheap, easily found everywhere, a good option for most places for more than one person. Unless, of course, you happen to want to go somewhere between 7-9 am or 3-8pm. Then the traffic is barely moving, and a 10 min journey can take over an hour. If you can get a taxi to agree to take you at that time. So we use taxis for shopping trips and the like. It is a convenient mode of transport especially when you don't know where you are going... handing a paper with an address on it to a driver, or repeating a memorized address is a bit adventrous, but we do usually end up in the right place.

Motorbike taxis. Numerous, cheap, able to weave through the backed up car traffic, this is an attractive solution to city transportation - if you have nerves of steel. Even being fairly used to this mode of transport from our time in Phnom Penh, we are not keen to use it here where cars outnumber the motos, especially with our girls.

Local buses. There is a large network of routes and stops, fare types, and bus types that make this a decent choice - perhaps. But since all the information about it is in Thai, the system remains mostly a mystery to us for now. Also, travel time because of traffic is still an issue of course.

Tuktuks and songtaos. These two forms of transport are not readily available in our part of town. We can use tuktuks (a small moto driven wagon with one or two benches) for shopping trips when we can't fit things into a taxi, but there is only one songtao (a truck with a covered back with benches down the sides) that I've seen in action in our area and it's route is not useful to us.

So, after a month's experimenting and learning, we have settled on bikes as the fastest (!), most convenient mode of transportation for us as a family. It took us a while to find bike seats for Grace and Jasmin that we feel comfortable with, but now we are all set. Jasmin's seat is between the handlebars and seat of Mommy's bike on the crossbar, and Grace's sits behind Daddy's. We did a trial run to church on Sunday in the lighter traffic, and then took them to school and back by bike today. They are so happy to get up an hour later (so are Mommy and Daddy!) and chatter and sing all the way there and back. This actually cuts our travel time in half in the mornings and even more in the afternoons!
Each trip begins with "Keep us safe, O God, we come to you for safety" and then off we go. As the two main roads we will be using actually have bike lanes, it is not as bad as we first thought. Though we do have one major intersection to get across that is a little tense at times.

For now, biking feels like freedom to be able to get where we need to in more predictable time frames whenever we need to go. Perhaps we will think differently come April when the hot season is in full swing! Daddy will be using the Sky train to get to the office when he begins going in the Fall. For now he is working from home and learning Thai - as we all are. That's another story though.

Jasmin Joy is 4!

Last night she had a fever and we wondered if the much anticipated day would have to be postponed, but she pulled through. Whew!

We picked them up early from school and went out for the requested pizza (yeay she can eat bread without problems now!), and then on to the mall to visit Aree School of the Dance Arts where we enrolled her for ballet classes on Saturday mornings. She was so excited and pleased! She was kitted out with leotard, socks, and shoes (the skirt was too big for her), and wore them most of the day :o)

We are so proud of our Jasmin! Back in February when Grace lost her beloved Sticker Lambie, we bought a replacement teddy, and one for Jasmin too, on the condition that she wait for her birthday to get it. And she did so without complaint! And not just because she forgot about it, either. She talked about it with anticipation often. So receiving Unicornio today was a Big thing, right up there with the ballet.

Having had to wait for her new swim suit from Imma, and Unicornio since February, we didn't make her wait for the scooter that came to her when Grace got her 5 year old birthday bike.
As with Grace's birthday, the making (icing) of the cake was almost a bigger deal than the eating of it. We tried boldly to make flowers out of 6 little sponge cakes that Daddy found:

Jasmin was pretty proud of her handiwork :o)And the smallest request of the birthday girl: party hats. We had the hardest time finding some! There is a little party/balloon store at the end of our soi (side street), but every time we passed it for over a week it was closed. Then, just yesterday when we were walking home it was open! Jasmin's response? "For my birthday! Thank you God!" We went in, but everything was REALLY expensive (like nearly $10 for a packet of balloons!) so we only bought one party hat for Jasmin. She wanted to wear it, but yesterday her hairstyle didn't allow it :o)
Fun side note: She comes home from school often with a much different hairstyle than what Mommy gave her in the mornings. Her teachers must have fun, because it is different every time and quite fun! She was pretty tickled with these "tennis" (antennae) - and so were Mommy and Daddy.

Your Love Is Extravagant

Your love is extravagant
Your friendship, it is intimate
I feel I'm moving to the rhythm of Your grace
Your fragrance is intoxicating in the secret place
Cause Your love is extravagant

This is the song (by Darrell Evans) that has carried me through the transition time from Manila to Bangkok. Transition is always somewhat messy, and this time with older kids and a number of clashes with expectations and reality I was feeling a little bit of "what have we gotten ourselves into?" But as I was setting up in our new home one day that first week, God slipped this song quietly into my mind and heart and changed my perspective. And my thanks list grew in leaps and bounds...

cleaner air (blue sky! Can't taste or see it)
quieter (not constant traffic noise in our rooms)
pool, park(kinda), playground in our complex!
found a new place quickly
not starting totally from scratch
smaller but much nicer apartment for about the same price
birdsong in the mornings instead of car alarms and horns (even if it is mostly sparrows)
a new washer
free ride to school in the mornings
unexpected little helps from strangers
cooling wind
a water filter
fun pillows
so much green
safe biking space
a real park fairly close by
Grace thriving on the challenge of school in Thai
church connections already
no ants, cockroaches, mosquitoes in our apartment (yet?)
cheap yummy street food
cleaner city
clearer sidewalks
faster, cheaper internet
making our first meal in our own home
Kit Kat stash not bought by me
close shopping
kids rediscovering toys as they are unpacked
fantastic fun language school
huge lizards meandering across the park road
flowers
the smell of Jasmin flowers

So many love-gifts from God for us in this new place!