Enjoying Thai(ger)land!
As of today, it has been one year since we left home and everything we knew. One year since we started on an amazing journey that in all honesty, I could have never imagined for our lives.
One down. Three to go.
Category Archives: Becoming an expat
Update: Flying around the world
Update: 10:15 pm EST: We made it through Korea pretty easily. The only real hassle with all of this travel is the security check point at each airport. I don’t really understand it if I have been checked and cleared and only stay in the airport that has approved items why do we heave to be checked again. Don’t mind me I’m just a little cranky.
There are just some things you do not say on an airplane
One being terrorist. I know this seems obvious but since my son has started throwing tantrums I tell him (just like Harrison Ford in Air Force One) that I do not give into the demands of baby terrorists. So I call him my little terrorist when he is in one of his moods… Well that is a word I will not be using today.
Soggy Beginnings
To say that it has been a long, hard, exhausting week is an understatement. The third and final day of moving was easier. Grandma and Poppy Moon came to take Killian for the day so Chris and I could finish cleaning the house. It was a nice morning as we said goodbye to our home and said hello to our future.
Moving… Blah
Day 2 of moving and I am so over it. The first day was a little stressful, alright I lie it was SUPER stressful! The movers arrived and said “we have to take the air shipment today.” (Insert panic) “What?! Today?! We need this stuff!” So needless to say we thought that we would not have to pack the air shipment the first day so we were not prepared. Yesterday was a mad dash, with a super cranky toddler, to pack everything that we would want to take with us. Luckily they let us keep the crib one extra night but other than that we had to adjust and quick. The first day was madness. The only downside (but kinda nice) they packed my entire kitchen so we had to go out for dinner! Yay for no cooking, no messy clean up, and kids eat free at Moe’s Tuesdays! I did have to make it very clear to the movers to not take the TV but they wrapped up the couches, which explains the yard lounge chairs in the picture below.
My Awkward Situation of The Day
Just got off the phone with the structural engineer/inspector and this is how our conversation went.
Me: Hello this is Becky Horace.
Inspector: This is who?!
Me: Becky Horace.
Inspector: I’m sorry but I’m looking for a Betty Horace.
Me: Yea that’s what the other inspector said but they have my name wrong. It’s Becky.
Inspector: O ok. I have to come out and do the re-inspection.
Me: Ok what time will you be here?
Inspector: Are there still people in the house?
Me: Yea we live here still….
Inspector: You live there?!
Me: Yes?
Inspector: Wait I thought you were a realtor.
Me: Nope.
Inspector: O I remember you now. I would like to come out Monday morning.
Me: OK that should work it will be during my sons naptime but you don’t need us since you are under the house right?
Inspector: Nope. I remember you were a very large lady.
Me: Excuse me? (O NO YOU DIDN’T!)
Inspector: Yea you were really large.
Me: I think you are confused again.
Inspector: No you were pregnant and you just had a baby.
Me: I was pregnant about 2 years ago….
(insert panic in the inspectors voice)
Inspector: O no. O you aren’t a large lady. I just thought you were the pregnant homeowner. O you know men we can’t handle pregnant women. We don’t get off on that sort of thing.
Me: What?!
Inspector: You know they (pregnant women) make us uneasy.
Me: Ok….. Well (this is now too weird for me) we will see you Monday….
Inspector: Sounds good!
I can’t even make this stuff up.
I tell my best friend and this is her response: “ew…are you by yourself? He seems strange.”
Me: I’ll lock the doors…
“Git-R-Done!”
This is what comes to mind when I think about the last week. The mold remediation is complete and the results came back clean, the structural issues have been repaired, the value inventory was completed last night, Thai language classes have ended, and the Murano has been sold. The electrician checked the work Chris and Todd had done and he said everything was perfect (insert sigh of relief). I have sent in my volunteer application to work with the Mercy Center in Bangkok and have joined the expat mom group that has fun play dates all the time!
“It’s the end of the world as we know it but I feel FINE!”
You know that fantastic REM song that we all tried to learn the words to but fell short! This song keeps playing in my head as we are preparing for the end of the world… So I guess the Horace family is on the same page as the Mayans in predicting the end of the world on the 21st. 12/21/12 is the day we sell all of our belongings, our home, our cars, and pack everything else and place it in storage or in the few suitcases we are taking with us and leaving this world of Greenville and start our adventure into the great unknown. Funny how that worked out but no it wasn’t planned.
Going once. Going twice. SOLD!
Just a quick update on our progress of moving:
When we knew we were moving to Thailand and were explained the process of moving and selling our home, I prayed that God would help us sell our home but to please let us stay in our home as a family until the very last possible minute. Had we sold the house quickly and the new owners wanted us out, Chris would have moved into temporary housing and I would have moved back to Rock Hill. Neither of us wanted to be apart that long or have to make trips on the weekends to see each other. The house has been on the market for 2 months and last night at 9:30we spoke with our realtor and approved the counter offer on the house. At first I was very upset with the home selling process but then Chris reminded me, it’s just business. They aren’t trying to be insulting when they offer such a low figure for my home; our first home, where I brought my son the day after he was born, so many memories are simply priceless. I finally put my pride aside and agreed to the figures that were presented. After all it is just a house and we have the entire world at our finger tips, just waiting for us!
The movers/packers came to do a consultation last week to know how many boxes they would need. We settled on packing and moving out of Greenville December 18-21. At that time we will (if we have not already) sell our cars to Carmax, clean up the house, and move to Rock Hill for the holiday to spend as much time as we can with family and friends!
And finally to solidify the move even more, we have purchased our ONE WAY tickets to Bangkok. We will be leaving Charlotte Douglas International on January 2nd at 9:30 in the morning and landing in Bangkok at midnight on January 4th. We have no idea where we are going or what we are doing, all we know is that we have a hotel room as soon as we land and we hope that someone will come pick us up the next morning to take us to our temporary housing.
I believe that if we only ask God for help and guidance with hearts full of love, hope, and faith; He will give us exactly what we need.
Therefore I tell you. whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
Mark 11:24
First Day as CEO (or should I say CMO: Chief Mommy Officer)
I was a little nervous to start my day as CEO/CMO of Master Horace Enterprises, a local (soon to be) an international nonprofit group. Our day started at 5 am because Master Horace didn’t get the memo that we “fell” back an hour with Day Lights Savings Time. There was a lot of crying this morning since Master Horace was ready to be up and mommy was not. I eventually gave in and we started our day a little earlier than I had wanted. (Luckily, in Thailand they do not observe Day Light Savings Time so I won’t have to fight this battle for another 4 years). We ventured to the grocery store at 7 am, since we were up and dressed, why not right?! We made it back home in time for some playtime and then we had to get ready to go get my last vaccine for our impending journey. Killi went down for a nap without a fight and slept for 2.5 hours. So in the two and half hours of nap time I was able to put away clean dishes, wash dishes, 2 loads of laundry, pick up the entire house, make his lunch for when he wakes up, watch Dr. Phil, and write this blog! After his nap we went to the park and then to the ENT to schedule surgery for Killian to get tubes in his ears before we leave the country. At the very end of the day I was laying on the couch, my son came over to me, I gave him a kiss, he then went to play with a toy. He came back and gave me my first “real” slobbery baby kiss. I believe that was the best affirmation I could have received. That slobber running down my face was Killi’s way of saying “job well done mom”. I thank God that my first day has been a breeze. I know this is not the norm but it is nice that God and Killian gave me a break today! It actually makes me feel like I can do this whole stay at home mom thing!
From Palmetto Pride to Pad Thai 