Monday, "First" Days and Birthdays

Pat and I woke up early today to get over to the Kupsky's house in time to video Sai getting ready for school. I sent Pat into their house by herself because I wanted to get some "natural" video of Sai with her host family and so I didn't want to crowd their house with guests.

Sai seemed to be fitting into their routine very well. She ate breakfast and got ready for school with the other kids without a hitch. We followed the Kupsky's van to school and took some pictures and video of Sai in the classroom with her friends. They seemed a little excited to have someone taking pictures in their room, so I explained to them that in Thailand, Sai is a big movie star and we were there to take pictures for her fanclub. Sai did not dispute me! Hahah!

Sai seemed to be getting along great with her friends at school. She fit right in like she'd been a member of their gang for years. The girls chatted merrily until class started, and then I noticed that Sai did a very good job of listening to her teacher. She was so attentive and studious. So I'm not sure if we brought the right Sai to America. I didn't recognize her! Hahah!

We also took video of June and Gam in their classes too. We didn't get a chance to talk to them very much because we didn't want to disturb their class, but they seemed very happy too.

June seemed a little shocked to see us in the classroom, but again I noticed that she seemed to be fitting in well with her classmates. From what I've seen of June so far on this trip, she is really enjoying herself!

It took forever for me to get a picture of Gam smiling. I told her I wasn't going to leave until I got a good picture of her, but she just rolled her eyes at me. Hahah. Eventually, I managed to get a good picture of her, because she was busy talking with one of her classmates and forgot I was there, so she actually laughed a bit. Ah-Ha! I knew Gam couldn't hide that smile forever, haha!

Next we drove over to First German Lutheran School to check on Didi. She was in class when we arrived, so we took a few photos and waited to talk to her as she went to lunch. She seemed a little withdrawn and I noticed that she didn't talk with her "buddy" very much. This happens sometimes. I told her to keep trying to make friends at school and to keep giving her buddy a chance. Maybe she is shy too.

Personality differences and boredom are two of the challenges that students must overcome on these trips. Thai kids are used to a lot more structure and scheduling of their "free time", and so sometimes they don't know what to do with themselves when given actual freedom. I counseled Didi to remain productive and find ways to occupy herself in class if she didn't understand the material. It may also be possible that she and her buddy don't get along very well. That's OK too. I told her that she has to follow her buddy's class schedule, but if it turns out they are not a good match, she doesn't have to stay with her buddy at all times. She should try to make other friends at school too, so she can find someone with similar interests.

I also talked to Mr. Leckwee about Didi. He's her principal and her teacher. I found out that he didn't know Didi had prepared an "ice-breaker". She had done such a good job on her presentation at Divine Savior school during orientation week, that I thought presenting her ice-breaker at First German might help her to start talking with her classmates and perhaps make some new friends.

The good thing is that Didi has a great host family, so they will provide her with the support and advice she needs to adjust to a new school. We'll come back in a few weeks and see how she's doing!

After that, we drove down to Howard's Grove to visit Bangpan at St. Paul's Lutheran School. Bangpan was at lunch when we arrived and since it was a rainy day, the kids had to play in the gym after lunch. Bangpan told me she didn't like basketball, so she sat on the bleachers by herself with her phone. But then Hannah and her friends came over and invited Bangpan to play badminton with them. Pretty soon she was up playing and laughing with them. It was great to see that.

After that we drove over to my parents' house to take a nap before heading to Chilton for May and Jinny's birthday party.

We ate at Pennelopy's Pizza in Chilton. For some reason I was trying to pronounce it in a "Greek" way, so I was saying, "Pen-nay-LOW-pis" instead of "Pen-NEL-low-peas."  I think I've been in Thailand too long! I'm forgetting how to pronounce American names :-P.

May and Jinny seemed really happy to have a nice birthday party. Their host families really put a lot of effort into making their birthdays special. Even their cookie-cake had Thai lettering on it! It was really nice to see May and Jinny joking around with their host families in a very natural way. The Konen family also showed up to say "hi" to May, so she had two host families at her birthday party.  How sweet!

Kites on a Farm

At the end of the orientation week, we noticed that Japan was showing some signs of homesickness. So we decided to keep his computer and phone (and Dada's too, since she was staying with him), to give him the chance to assimilate with his host family without distractions.  We told Japan that we'd return the computer in a week if he showed signs of improving.

So Sunday afternoon we drove out to Kay Grady's family farm to return Japan's and Dada's phones & computers. Based on what we saw, it looks like we made the right decision. Both kids looked happy and active. They seemed to be getting along great with their host mom, and they really enjoyed life on the farm.

Japan and Dada took us on a tour of the farm. They showed us the cows, chickens, and cats. They also showed us their favorite spots to play and the equipment on the farm. It seemed like they were excited to show off their knowledge!

The kids had gotten kites for Easter, and since it was a windy day, it seemed like a good time to try them out. So Kay took the kids outside and told them to get their kites. Japan, of course, quickly assembled his kite because he likes to do things for himself, and he didn't want to give the adults a chance to help him, haha!

At first the kids ran around dragging their kites behind them. It was pretty funny. Japan was yelling at Dada to stay away from him so her kite wouldn't get tangled up with his, but she kept following him around anyway. It was very funny.

We didn't think they would ever get the kites into the air, but eventually they did! In fact, they got the kites to go all the way to the end of the string! Japan had a very active "technique" that involved lots of pulling, tugging, and running around, while Dada just sat there, very still. However, in spite of their different styles, both kids got their kites to fly very, very high.

It was clear that both kids were very happy and seemed to be adjusting to life in America quite well in spite of their young age. Their parents should be very proud of them for being so strong and mature!


Oh, and by the way......

.... this is my wife...... sigh..... every day I cry a little bit on the inside.... :-P

Hahah!

Movie night

So after seeing Pokpong and Gene at the museum yesterday, we went out to my parents' house to use the internet and relax a bit. My brother, Bob, stopped by with his son, Bryce. We chatted for a bit and then Pat, Petch, and I went up to the church for "movie night".

The church's youth group sponsored a movie night in the basement of the church. Jinny's host mom is the coordinator for the youth group at church, so she handed out flyers for the movie night at roller skating last Tuesday. They were only expecting a few kids from the church to show up because this was the first time they had a movie night, but since she gave the flyers to the Thai kids, a lot of them showed up. It seemed like there were more Thai kids than Americans! 

Sai was staying overnight with Jinny, and Pokpong was getting picked up by the Stiers, so Gene was there too. June was also staying overnight with Didi, so we saw Didi again for the second time that day. Didi's host sisters came well-prepared with pillows and stuffed animals.

The church provided popcorn and soda, but my wife brought her own popcorn anyway because she's special.  We watched the movie "Courageous" about four police officers. It was pretty good. I think I saw Patty crying a few times ;-).

Cold Sub Saturday

Well, I'm finally getting back into the grove of updating my blog. Hahah!

No, I wasn't kidnapped by aliens, but I have been busy (of course, if you ask Patty, she'll say I've been busy goofing off! Haha!). We've been getting the wedding plans sorted out this week and I've been planning for the baseball trip and running lots of errands. Thank goodness the car we rented has unlimited miles because I've been doing a lot of driving!

I'm going to go back and update the blog entries for the last few days, so be sure to scroll down this page later this week to see older blog entries that I will upload. But for now, I will just talk about today's activities.

I woke up early this morning, but I didn't go for a run. Normally I run about 3K to 5K every morning, but last night I decided to take a day off. It was a good thing too, because it was VERY cold this morning.

Unfortunately, Patty abused me this morning because she's a big meanie! I tried to run away, but I cut my foot on the corner of the bed! It hurt a lot and I almost died.  So I took a photo of my injury in case I decide to call the police and put Patty in jail. It's pretty gruesome, so if you have a weak stomach, don't look at it. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to walk again!

Shocking, I know!

After breakfast, we went to Jenn's Java in Manitowoc because they have internet. We were chilling in the corner when Patty looked up and saw Didi with her host family!  Didi looked very happy and comfortable. She seemed like she fit right in with their family. She was playing the game "Apples to Apples" with her host sisters, and her interaction with them was very natural and warm. Just like real sisters!

Afterwards, we took Pat's brother (Petch) to meet the Larson family at the Manitowoc Maritime Museum. Patpong had stayed overnight with the Larsons and he was still with them when they came to the museum. It's Gene's birthday, so I think they just wanted him out of the house for a few hours to do something special with him later. :).

We took a tour of the submarine first. It was VERY cold on the deck. Brrrrr! However, Patty wasn't cold at all because she had a nice warm hat on. She refused to share it with her poor, bald husband. What a meanie!!

Lucky for her, she looks really cute in that hat, so I forgive her :).

The tour was pretty interesting, but I'm not sure if the boys enjoyed it. Luckily it didn't take too long, and then we could get back to the nice warm museum!

The Maritime museum has a really cool water-play room for kids. Kids can play with boats and pipes in big tanks full of running water. You can change the currents, raise and lower boats in canal locks, and blow sailboats with a wind machine. Unfortunately, kids can only enter the room if they have an adult with them, but we were lucky to have Mr. Serious-Gene with us. So he supervised while the kids played, hahah! :-D

Tonight we will head up to the church to watch a movie with Jinny and her host family.

That's all for now!

Magic in Manitowoc

Update coming soon...

Chicago, new little brother

Update coming soon...

All is well

Update coming soon...