The Adjustment Bureau: Thailand Edition

We never made it to the park for our picnic as we planned. Instead, The Adjustment Bureau got a hold of us and changed our plans.

If you haven't seen the movie, check it out. The movie examines this question as summed up on IMDB, "Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? A man glimpses the future Fate has planned for him and realizes ... he is up against the agents of Fate itself - the men of The Adjustment Bureau."

While we don't believe in Fate, we do believe the Father has a plan for our lives, including a plan for each moment of every day. At times we don't understand the point of all the adjustments (things not going as we'd planned), and at other times, we see the point immediately. Today was a little of both.



So this morning as we headed out of our apartment for the planned picnic in the park, we simply couldn't leave.

1. Corbin wouldn't eat breakfast so he wandered around outside with M'Lynn.
2. Kanyon and I met M'Lynn and Corbin outside to leave, but when we did, I realized I forgot to bring the laundry downstairs and returned to the apartment to retrieve it.
3. I returned to the apartment with Corbin to give M'Lynn a break from the screaming monster child and to give Corbin a talkin' to.
4. When we returned and met Kanyon and M'Lynn outside, Kanyon declared he needed to go to the bathroom immediately.
5. I returned with Kanyon to the apartment to take care of his business before we returned outside to M'Lynn and Corbin.
6. We got inside a taxi to the grocery store to buy supplies for our picnic. The taxi picked up additional passengers and headed to their destination first, away from the grocery store but right by our laundry place. We got out to do our laundry first.
7. While we picked up/dropped off our laundry we saw some friends also in town for meetings. We chatted for a while and loaned them 300 baht to pay for their haircuts. (Was this the Father's plan all along?)
8. When we finally made it to the grocery store we bought snacks but no sandwiches for the picnic. Corbin screamed constantly so he and M'Lynn waited outside.
9. We settled for a "picnic" at an outside bakery/restaurant.
10. And now, we are all taking long naps. (Or maybe this the Father's plan all along?)

Maybe we'll go to the park tomorrow.

Can we see the sea creatures now?

So you always wanted to visit Thailand but never had the chance. Well, here's your chance! Follow us around as we share what's been keeping us busy since we arrived in Chiang Mai. It's almost a photo essay, if you can really call it that. The real photo essay is here.



Umbrella Festival
Outside Chiang Mai a small village (really it seems like we were still in Chiang Mai) hosts an umbrella festival. This year was the 29th annual. We saw all kinds of umbrellas, floats, and even a factory where they assemble umbrellas. Quite a colorful outing.



Swimming School
Each afternoon, Kanyon suits up and heads off to the local pool for his class. He's taught by a Thai instructor one-on-one for about 30-40 minutes or until his lips are blue and he's too cold to continue, whichever comes first. He's currently taking small steps overcoming his fear of getting water splashed in his face.



Chiang Mai Zoo
It's really cool. Check it out. So many animals. Kids love the place! At least they loved most of it. Corbin's afraid of the elephants, but Kanyon fed elephants large and small.



Chaing Mai Aquarium
"Can we see the sea creatures now?" Kanyon asked after about 10 minutes walking around the zoo because right in the middle of the zoo is an aquarium. And it's air conditioned which is a big plus for hot afternoons. Here there's plenty of "sea creatures" and an underwater tunnel to see "black tip reef sharks" and other creatures.



Bike rentals
Tired of paying for the rides in Song taos or tuktuks, then it's time for a bike. They even come with kids seats! Remember one detail "STAY TO THE LEFT!!!" In Thailand cars drive on the left (like England). It was fun to experience the freedom of riding around. 24 hours later, we were a little sore and glad to be a back seat driver again.



Meetings
While there aren't any pictures to prove it, we've met with our supervisor here and with our company's state-side staff to go over all the details.

Upcoming Events

• Waterfall excursion to see the best of natural Thailand.
• Leadership Summit - meetings for Team Leaders and other leaders throughout Asia. It's a time of intensive training and organizational vision casting.
• Annual Thailand Conference - more meetings, training, corporate worship, and other cool things. We look forward to this time every year.
• Parents and siblings are coming to visit just after the conference! With them we'll visit Thailand and Cambodia. We're so excited.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

"When we get to Thailand, I want to go to swimming school."

We'd been telling Kanyon this for weeks as we prepared for Thailand and on the first day we went. He enjoyed learning how to kick but since the water was quite cold (it is the middle of winter) the swim lesson was short. Add to the fact that Kanyon doesn't like water in his face and it's going to be a while before he actually learns to swim.



"We only have to wear one clothes."

Yes, Chiang Mai is nice and warm. The kids noticed immediately that they get to wear sandals outside and only one layer of clothing. We try to go outside often. Walking, riding in tuktuks (motorcycle taxis), songtaos (red pickup truck taxis), playing in the park, or swimming (again).

This is a calm season in our overseas life so we enjoy it to the max. We're allowed time to reflect and evaluate the semester while being refreshed in the warm Thailand sun.

Plus, we get to be around so many people that we only get to see a few times a year.

Please remember us and our friends here in Chiang Mai.

• We're all adjusting to new foods and climate.
• Some friends will soon begin intensive graduate school classes.
• And others are making important decisions about their future plans.

More photos from the first few days are posted here.

Sawatdeekhrap Thailand!

It's so far to get here (19 hours travel time and still counting). But we are safely in Thailand.

Let's see...we had a 1.5 hour flight to Dalian, where we got off the plane while it was cleaned, picked up some more passengers, and continued. Then a 3.5 hour flight to Guangzhou. Note to self, there is no food once you pass security in Guangzhou. We regretted passing up McDonald's once we got inside to wait for our flight. Instead we settled for the cheapest bowl of pork noodle soup (78 RMB) and split it between the four of us. Then the third flight of the day 2.5 hours to Bangkok (after about an hour delay waiting on the plane for the cargo to be loaded). And now, we're resting in our hotel room until we get taken back to the airport to continue the journey to Chiang Mai. We should be in Chiang Mai by this evening settling into our apartment.

Anti radiation aprons

Grace wears an apron to work. No she's not a chef or a housemaid, she's an office worker. And the apron is not a traditional apron, it's an anti-electromagnetic radiation apron. Every time we see one of these aprons, we know one thing for sure, someone is pregnant.

As we talk with our friends about the aprons, they are completely surprised to learn that M'Lynn didn't wear one with either pregnancy. Scandalous!

Anti-electromagnetic radiation jumpers are just as necessary for a modern Chinese pregnancy as folic acid supplements. This is despite any scientific evidence proving that electromagnetic radiation harms fetuses -- some Chinese families simply believe that it does.¹

Our friends are even more surprised to learn we've never heard of the aprons until we came to China and that no one in America wears the things. The aprons have been in the news recently and caused quite the uproar when the "safety" of the aprons was called into question. Apparently they block only 90% of the radiation instead of the advertised 99.999%. Chinese parents-to-be are uber concerned with doing what's best for their child (as really any parent-to-be should be) and as the aprons are found out to be less than advertised, many Chinese mothers may begin to rethink their use of anti radiation maternity aprons.

In the end, it may not be science that destroys China’s anti-electromagnetic radiation maternity-wear industry, but rather the public's realization that expectant mothers in the West don’t wear the stuff. China often measures itself against the West to judge its own progress, which is why the Dec. 28 Beijing Evening News segment titled, “Foreign Women Have Never Heard of Anti-Radiation Clothing,” had a strong impact on other leading newspapers and websites.

Featured in the segment was a Chinese mother who lives in Switzerland -- a country idealized in China as a place of precision, good sense and cleanliness. She told reporters that when she asked her Swiss gynecologist where she could purchase an anti-radiation suit in Switzerland, “...the doctor was at a loss to answer because he had never heard of such a thing." He told her, "The amount of radiation thrown off by a computer is less than what is thrown off by the sun’s rays."

It’s a simple and true point that a television news magazine, or a government agency, shouldn't have to make.¹

You can read more about the anti-radiation maternity-wear industry in this article by Adam Minter and if you find yourself concerned enough, we'll bring an apron home for you.
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¹ "China's Mothers Rethink Anti-Radiation Clothing: Adam Minter" by Adam Minter. Posted on Bloomberg on December 31, 2011.