It is six whole months since I last posted here.

Since then I have been blogging with Dave about our adventures in Thailand. That blog is about our life here and all the dramas and challenges we’ve faced, along with what’s happening work-wise. But I’ve been missing this blog and the space it gives me to be me -  not the Thailand version of me, who has to smile all the time despite feeling way out of my comfort zone (in terms of language, culture, and just spending so much time with other people) and worries about making huge cross-cultural mistakes every waking minute, but ordinary English me who likes scrapbooking and cake-making and growing vegetables and recycling and fairtrade and the English language and being silly. I’ve not been able to let that version out much recently, apart from a few blissful scrapbooking sessions and a visit to a ThaiCraft fair trade fair in Bangkok. I’m hoping that will change in the weeks to come. I am planning on reinvigorating my crafting/baking/green-things mojo, starting with this blog.

So. To mark the change of scene, here’s what’s going on today. (You might like to compare it to this version from October 2008.)

Outside my window… I can see very little – the view is blocked by the leaves of the mango tree in our front yard. (Is yard the right word? It’s tiled, so you can’t call it a garden. Any suggestions? Yard seems the most appropriate. I wonder if the Thais have a name for it.)

I am thinking… about going out for pizza tonight. After three days away in a very Thai environment with very ‘interesting’ Thai food I am craving Western something-or-other. 

I am thankful for… having a clean house and our own bed to return to. Definitely appreciating a cockroach-free bathroom. 

From the kitchen… not much today. I had a dragonfruit for brunch. We don’t cook as much here as the food from the stall at the end of our road is so good and cheap. I am considering going veggie for a few weeks, and pondering doing a raw food trial. We recently read The Hallelujah Diet and while it sounds a bit extreme, the testimonials about the healing properties and general increase in well-being are too good not to try it. Still at the thinking/researching stage on that one.

I am wearing… a red t-shirt and blue jeans. No shoes, obviously, as I’m in a house in Thailand and shoes are Not Done. 

I am creating… the ‘my life now’ scrapbook page inspired by Stacy Julian’s project (see my creation from last year here). I haven’t taken all the pictures for this year’s update yet, but hope to do that this week.

I am going… to a birthday party (bowling and ice cream) tomorrow afternoon.

I am reading… 1 Chronicles and struggling a bit with the application/relevance.

I am hoping… the parcel of scrapbooking stash I ordered last weekend will be waiting for me in the office on Monday. (It’s a bit more secure to have parcels sent there.)

I am hearing… one of the mobile food vendors’ tunes playing through a loudhailer-type arrangement. Lots of them come up the soi each day, selling vegetables, ice creams, Thai sweets, all manner of edibles. I’ve only ever bought eggs from one of them.

Around the house… the washing machine is on with the third load from camp. Dave has just bought a new bike. There’s some paperwork from home to attend to (tax forms, electricity accounts to get refunded, etc). I want to clean and paint the walls. It still doesn’t feel very ours.

One of my favourite things… in Thailand is going to the cinema. We go so much more here because it is affordable (ranging from about £2.00 for a normal seat to £7.00 for a posh seat at the IMAX). Any film we like the look of, we go and see. In the UK, we went once or twice a year, and it cost about £8.00 each. Here, I am totally up for a couple of hours of escapism every week or two.

A few plans for the rest of the week… work, sorting out the hundreds of photos from Rainbow Camp, a public holiday on Friday, our wedding anniversary on Sunday (25th). Don’t know what we’re doing for that yet.

A picture to share…

This is where I am sitting at the moment. It doesn’t feel quite like home yet, but I’m working on it.