Isaac and Jenni Marshall

This has been a crazy week so far, and yesterday was no exception! I was running late for school yesterday, and as we fought our way through thick and unforgiving traffic, it started raining! Well, by an Oregonian's standards it was a light sprinkle, but any form of precipitation is still strange weather for Dubai in May. The sky darkened and we even witnessed some great streaks of lighting race across the sky.
As we were slowing at a stop light on Al Safa road, we noticed a blur of movement between the moving cars. Once we had stopped, we realized it was a kitten on the road. He was terrified, and frantically raced from car to car. As the light turned green we watched him hop up on the tire, 2 vehicles ahead. The cars started moving and I couldn't look. I plastered my hands over my face, certain the kitten would be squished. When I peeked out, I saw the kitten hunkered in the center of the lane- 2 cars had passed over him! I couldn't stand it- I jumped onto the street, just as the tiny ball of fur zipped under the hood of our car. Drivers were honking, and I was flailing my arms to try and relay there was a problem. I raced around the nose of the car, just in time to see the kitten jumping up on the front driver's side tire. I dove as fast as I could, and just barely caught ahold of his tiny tail. You can imagine how thrilled this wild, already panicked kitten was, and as I pulled him out from under the car he turned into a fierce and spastic hissing, spitting, and clawing machine. I frantically searched for a safe place to put him, but I was in the middle standing along a dusty, barren median, dividing six lanes of traffic. The little guy got a few good swipes on my hand, but I held fast, and managed to scruff him, and save myself from further scratches, as I ran back around to the passenger side of the car. I jumped in, and we took off! The kitten, no more than 7 or 8 weeks old, buried his little head in the crook of my arm. It was immediately clear that this kitten was feral, and had probably never encountered a friendly human before. So, there we were, late for school, in the rain, now in the possession of a wild kitten! I called Kristen, and asked her to get a cardboard box ready for me. When we arrived at school, Isaac scoured the back of our car to find something to cover the kitten. Luckily for us, though she might not agree, Allison had left a bag of clothing in our car the previous weekend, and we found a green sweater. I wrapped the kitten up and raced through the hall to my classroom. The students were already seated, wide-eyed with anticipation, and Kristen was holding the box. In went the sweater-wrapped kitten! I placed a heavy binder on top of the box to keep the flap closed. After a quick trip to the nurse to clean up my hand, and running our ridiculous story by the principal to see if I could keep the kitten at the school for the day, I was ready to start teaching! I explained to the students the seriousness of the kitten's frail condition, and emphasized the importance of staying quiet around him, so that he wouldn't be frightened. There has never been a quieter day in my classroom! The kids whispered in low voices as they worked, so not to disturb our little visitor. Perhaps I've stumbled upon a brilliant teaching strategy? The Feral Kitten Silence Plan?!?!? It could work;)
That afternoon I got the number to Feline Friends, a local cat adoption agency and kennel- or so I thought! Turns out they have no kennels, and that all of their adoptable kitties live in foster care. Right now the foster homes are full- period! They offered to pay for the kitten's veterinary care if I would foster him. I swear, I honestly was not trying to keep this kitten, but I couldn't put him back out on the street after our dramatic rescue operation! So, the Marshall's are now foster parents to one of the scrappiest kittens in Dubai, or perhaps the world. He is living in the hall bathroom, and slowly learning we are not enemies. He still spits and puffs up when I enter the room, but as soon as I pick him up he relaxes and purrs. I washed his little crusty face with a warm washcloth last night and he turned into a purring and snuggling machine. What a motor that little guy has! He even rolled onto his back so I could pet his cute little belly. We have an appointment with the vet today to get him checked out and cleaned up. I'm thinking of calling him Al Safa- maybe just Safa, after the street with which he nearly became one...

About an hour after the rescue mission... not happy

Crusty kitty

Before clean up...

he's looking better now, still scrappy, but better!

April 3

The day we left for Thailand was Dress as Your Favorite Book Character Day at ASD. I borrowed a curly red wig from the drama department, covered my clothes in sea life stickers, and came to school as Miss Frizzle, from the Magic School Bus. As you know, sticker adhesive is not particularly effective when used on fabric, and by the end of the day, not one sticker remained on my clothing. Instead they could be found littered around the campus, plastered to the floors, skittering across the playground in the breeze, and clinging to the bottoms of shoes. I wasn't the only person guilty of a fashion faux pas... some over-zealous little reader convinced his parents (or maid, perhaps?) to allow him to come to school dressed as Captain Underpants... in ONLY underpants, boots, and a cape. What a hoot!
Our flight left in the early evening, so we went over to the Harts' place in Bur Dubai, to avoid Barsha traffic and relax a bit. The private taxi we ordered never showed, and we just barely caught a taxi-van... whew! Our flight to Bangkok was comfortable, and we slept soundly the whole way.

April 4

We signed up for a group bus to transport us from the airport to the Shangri-La Hotel. We weren't certain what era the bus was from... based upon its psychadelic Hawaiian print interior, we guessed the 60's. Our perky guide, Pinky, attempted to teach us meaningful Thai phrases and delight us with interesting tid bits about local culture, but most of us were too groggy yet to enjoy her presentation. When we arrived at the Shangri-La, the lobby was packed with people trying to check in. We decided to walk down the street, to the Bossotel, to get lunch and wait for the crowds to die down. The pad thai was just what we needed to perk us up, and before returning to the hotel we wandered around the neighboring streets, and stopped in at a 7-11. That convenience store has really caught on in Thailand, and can be found on just about every street corner! Once we had checked into our long, elegant room, boasting sweeping views of Bangkok and the Chao Phraya river, we changed into our bathing suits and headed down to the pool for an afternoon of sun bathing and snoozing. That evening we went to dinner with Chip, and a couple of his former co-workers from Nepal. It was quite an adventure just finding the restaurant! Alan, one of Chip's friends, could see the restaurant on the other side of the river, but the Shangri-La's boats were only running dinner cruises at that time and could not take us across. They sent us out into the neighborhood to find another boat, which took us to another hotel, directly across the river from the Shangri-La. Even though we had finally set foot on the right side we still had plenty of adventurous wandering ahead of us. We made several wrong turns down winding alleyways, speckled with local cafeterias, shops, and wide-eyed Thais who were clearly not accustomed to seeing tourists in these areas. Eventually, we found ourselves at a beautiful riverside terrace restaurant, though not the one Alan had aimed at bringing us to, and we decided to have dinner. Several of the men were wearing shorts, but the restaurant staff provided them with stretchy black pants to cover their legs. Apparently black stretch pants are more appropriate than a little bare leg=). We sat at a long candle-lit table, under the golden glow of twinkle lights. It was an evening filled with delicious food, laughter, and great company.

View from our hotel room

April 5

We were up bright and early for the first day of the conference, and enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast on the terrace. The keynote speaker opened the conference with an entertaining presentation about how our brains learn, and how he brings thousands of brains into classrooms a year for students to examine! He had plenty of humorous stories for the crowd=). Next we eagerly set off for our first workshop, about incorporating art and community service into the classroom. Unfortunately, the presentation was not what we were expecting, so we slipped out a little early and took a breather before lunch. NESA provided the lunch, in several designated areas around the hotel. We scoped out a great river view spot, in these cute little Asian style boat houses, and enjoyed our pad thai, as we watched the ferries and tugboats glide past. While in line for food, I overheard three people in front of me trying to decide where to sit. I invited them to join us, and before too long realized that the two women were one of the main presenting teams at the conference. They are known as the Two Sisters, and have developed The Daily 5, a reading and writing program I plan to adopt in my classroom next year. We had a great time chatting with them about our travel experiences and plans, and ending up sitting in for their afternoon session, instead of returning to part 2 of the pointless art presentation. Isaac and I went to separate sessions afterwards. I attended a great hands-on math games workshop that happened to be run by a Namibian who is teaching in Qatar. After the presentation we began talking and I told him of our interest in Namibia, and he gave me his e-mail and asked me to write him once we got home so that he could provide me with contact information of his friends who currently teach in Namibia, as well as friends and family who live in the countries we will be visiting next summer! Making these perfect connections reinforce our belief that we are in the right place and on the right path for our lives! It's just so exciting! Though there were four sessions scheduled for the day, three turned out to be enough to "fry our brains" as Isaac put it, so we skipped out early, opting for hour long, 500 baht ($7) foot massages instead... heaven! After our glorious massages, we decided to wander around the neighborhood a little more. Twilight was fast approaching, I had my camera, and we caught a lot of great shots of everyday life going on around us. Our first stop was to 7-11, where we purchased a long lost treat, a Coca-cola Slurpee. Delish!!! We leisurely slurped, and snapped shots, as we wandered through narrow side streets. As we walked we were met by so many warm, smiling faces, and gracious greetings. We happened upon several young women with their babies, and when we stopped to say hi, one of the babies, just old enough to toddle, clasped her hands together and bowed to greet us! How adorable was that!?! We were totally in love with that curly-haired cutie and took several photos to remember her by. At this point, and in this little neighborhood of Bangkok, we began to fall in love with Thailand. It was almost hard to stop our exploring and return to the hotel, but we needed to get cleaned up for the welcome cocktail reception NESA was holding at the pool. As we walked out to the pool area, we were shocked to see an elephant! We stopped to have our picture taken with the gentle giant, before devouring all sorts of scrumptious hors d'ourves. After an hour or so of mingling, we headed off to the Patpong night market with the Harts. It was not the type of cultural/handicraft market we were expecting. It was filled mostly with t-shirts, DVD's, and cheap knock-offs. We bought a few t-shirts, and got seasons 1-3 of The Office for $22! The real downside to the evening, was that the market was surrounded by clubs that boasted stripping, sex shows, and prostitutes. So sad... We were hounded all night be people to visit the shows, "Take a free look!" It was truly heartbreaking, and we couldn't stay in the environment for too long. The farther we moved from the central section of the market, the fewer neon signs we encountered, and the outing became light hearted once more. We enjoyed perusing the stands, and found some hilarious t-shirts. Phrases written in English across clothing is popular, even though very little of it makes any sense to native English speakers. We capped off the evening with some scrumptious spring rolls, fried rice, and noodles at a little roadside stand.

The smiles are everywhere

Mmmm... enjoying my first Slurpee in years!

This little girl won our hearts!

We ran into this spunky character several times throughout the evening

April 6

Apparently our brains were shifting more and more into vacation mode. The next morning we decided to sleep in, and woke up just in time to attend a 10:15 a.m. workshop. Afterwards, we decided that we had absorbed enough information during our morning session, so we skipped out on the rest of the day's events. We walked down to the Bossotel for lunch, and then enjoyed relaxing hour-long foot massages (seriously the best $7 ever spent!). Full and refreshed, we met up with Jen, Ashley, and Allison, and headed to the Chatuchak weekend market, via the sky train. The sprawling market boasts more than 15,000 shops and is spread out over 35 square acres- it was a sight to behold! The narrow alleyways that snaked throughout the stalls were packed with people. The deeper we wandered into this labyrinth of goods, the more congested and stifling it became. Every once in a while we'd take a turn that would drop us out onto a street, away from the hot and stale air. We used these instances to try and cool down, and take a few deep breaths before plowing back into the maze of shops. We used our time at the market to fine tune our bartering skills and practice the two Thai phrases we had learned- sa-wat-dee (hello) and korp kun (thank you). The vendors were tickled by our weak attempts to communicate, and were very willing to negotiate. We walked away with a few bags of goodies, including a humorous carving of a long-tail boat, carrying paddling elephants. After several hours of shopping, we were sweaty and tired. We rode the sky train back to the hotel, where we cleaned up for a night on the town. Chip suggested we first visit Vertigo, a rooftop bar some 60+ stories up, overlooking Bangkok. We enjoyed a few drinks and some tasty munchies (some type of wasabi flavored nut) and gazed upon the haze-covered city. Unfortunately, between the smog and waning daylight, our cityscape viewing was brief, but once the sun set, a cool breeze rose up, and all of the city lights winked and twinkled around us. After about an hour at Vertigo, we headed for a very unique restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. The restaurant aims to promote better family planning, and raises money to assist with various community development project. Their motto was displayed proudly around the facility, and even on the menus- Our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy. This eccentric, but festive restaurant was literally bathing in twinkly lights. Several buildings formed a semi-circle around an outdoor eating area. Besides the bright glowing lights hanging everywhere, the courtyard was decorated with various manekins wearing outfits entirely fashioned from birth control pill packaging and condoms (There was even a Santa Claus!). It was so hard not to giggle as you passed by this inventive ornamentation. We opted to eat indoors, where the decor was a bit more subdued. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and great conversation.

Isaac was fascinated by the mask on this manekin

Cute little street performer... he and his older brother switched off playing a wooden wind instrument

When greeting others, you clasp your head and bow

At Vertigo

Kathy and Mom joined us for our adventurous evening

His entire costume was made of birth control packages... and the tree has lots of rubber decorations

Tom Yung Goong soup... Mmmm!!!

April 7

By our last day in Bangkok we had completed our transition into vacation mode. We blew off all of the workshops and lectures and decided to shop and explore the city. After sleeping in, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on the terrace with Ashley. Then we met up with Mom and explored some of the shops near our hotel. While in an antique jewelry store, a beautiful shell and silver necklace from Tibet convinced me that I needed to take it home=). On the walk back to the hotel we ran into Jen, Ashley, Chip, and the Harts. We decided to share one more meal at the Bossotel. Then we set off to explore the city with Ashley and Allison. We boarded a water taxi on the Chao Phraya River, and within a few windblown minutes, had arrived at the Wat Pho temple, where the famous and enormous Reclining Buddha resides. The weather was especially hot and humid, and we were sticky within moments of stepping off the boat. After a short walk through the pungent dockyard (an aromatic cocktail of dried fish and sewage- gag!) we arrived at the temple grounds. The amount of detail that went into decorating each building, statue, and spire was overwhelming! We wandered around the grounds for some time, examining buildings and the many Buddhas housed inside. The Reclining Buddha was absolutely massive, and nearly filled its temple. Tilting our heads way back, we admired the towering golden structure. It was stunning! The gold screw-shaped tufts of hair were nearly brushing the ceiling, and the long, lounging body left only enough room for a thin, encompassing walkway. Many Thais left monetary offerings in metal bowls along the walkway. They dropped one coin in each bowl, creating little pings that rang throughout the silent temple. After viewing the Buddha, we continued to explore the grounds, but the intense heat began getting the better of us. So, back we went through the stinky dockyard, this time attempting to hold our breaths, and across the river we traveled to the Wat Arun temple. At the entrance of the temple we realized we would have to pay a fee to visit, and by this point we were all hot and exhausted, so we snapped a few pictures from outside the gate, and rode the boat back to the hotel. Later that night we cleaned up for the NESA gala dinner. The buffet was nice, and the event was low key. We enjoyed visiting with Mom, and couldn't believe that our 2 1/2 week visit with her had passed by so quickly. We ended the night with a little dancing, and some hilarious "prom photos." When we made it back to our room we packed up and hit the sack, so we'd be ready for our early flight to Phuket.