Interlude - Jet Lag Lag

As of Friday, June 8th, 2007, the girls have been in the USA for 1 week. We are just about over jet lag ... and in fact, Su slept pretty late today ... getting up at about 730am or so. Gigg still is getting up early, and went to bed tonight at about 10:00 (which means she will be up early again tomorrow.) We still have a little work to do ... but we should be on normal schedules by the time we leave Buffalo.

On Wednesday (day 5) we had a relapse on jet lag ... because I felt sympathy for the gals ... and let them take very long naps the previous day ....much too long... which put them in a mode of waking up too early ... getting tired in the middle of the day, etc ... a never ending cycle if it is not disciplined. So .. we had a "come to Jesus" meeting the other day and I explained to the girls how important it was for them to break their biological sleep cycles and covert to our time. I also told them I would be very tough and mean (jai raai) and would not let them take long naps (like 4 hours). Gigg immediately vowed she would not take any more naps, because she doesn’t take any at home. Su was not prepared to commit to that, but she has not taken a nap since our discussion.

Gigg ... has become a real domesticated person, and seems to be very happy cleaning up the table and the dishes, emptying the trash, and to stay awake the other day, she took a wet mop and cleaned and rearranged and neatened up the back porch. She then went to a local park to write in her diary. Mike and Brenda were pleasantly surprised when they came home and saw their porch. At one point in thinking about this journey, I had thought that perhaps I would end up doing the laundry for all of us. After brief instructional washing machine demonstration, Gigg asked if she could do my laundry....and she is also doing the ironing. Su also is very diligent about cleaning up the table, doing dishes, etc.

We are trying to learn at least one new English word each day ... and are also focusing on pronunciation of words that are already in their vocabulary. Gigg, who speaks English the most fluently of the two gals, asks me why I can't understand her and she has to repeat things. Most of the time, I have this problem when words come "out of the blue" and there is no context to give me a clue, The problem usually is an emphasis on the wrong syllable of the words, and that sounds like an easy thing to change ... and it is ... when you only have to change the emphasis from one syllable to another. It becomes more complex when you have to change the way a word is said ... and the sounds required are not part of the normal Thai language. We have had some interesting sessions, usually while we are driving resulting in a lot of repetitions. One word that was hard to get right was boat. In the years of their formative education in English, the language is taught by a Thai teacher, so the Thai English accent is built into their speaking.

Trying to come up with a way to get people to say a word "correctly" can be challenging. The approach to "bowt" (boat)... was to try to get them to say "bowt”... but this only happened after many repetitions of”booooooowwwwt ..... T"

The fact that the girls have a great sense of humor makes our days much more enjoyable. We joke and kid about a lot of things, and there have been days when I have told Gigg there are two flights a day to BKK and have threatened to take her directly to the airport. The gals have a very strong interest in "white guys”....and in addition to finding one for themselves ... they also have requests from many of their friends (like 10 for Gigg and 6 for Su) to find them a "white guy" also. So... Su and Gigg have a big challenge. We joke a lot about their quest for a "white guy".

Su is very noble with her requirements for a "white guy". All they have to do is be sincere and love her (forever)... and one other minor thing is ... they have to be handsome. Gigg on the other hand has a different approach to finding her "white guy". Gigg has been asking about the price of automobiles since she got here. Her purpose is to determine the value of the various automobiles (she knows more cars by name and model on sight ... then I do), and now she has expanded her list of expensive cars by adding the Lincoln. (Based on her seeing a large limo with tinted windows that could contain rich guys). It seems that while looks, age and other qualities are a consideration ... another consideration is "economic value". When Gigg saw the marinas ... and understood that it not only costs a lot of money to buy a boat ... but also a lot to "park it and store it”.... she added a new question to her set of "casual white guy interview questions” ... and that was "do you have a boat?" ... but when I told her that some people might not understand what she was saying, we got into the "boooowwwwt" practice sessions. Today we added a fine tuning question, "Is your boat at the pier?" (since these rental prices are much higher). Gigg has also been inquiring about the earning potentials of various occupations. "Do Doctors earn a lot of money?" When we added lawyers in a category almost equal to doctors, Terry became a person of great interest ... since in his current educational quest and especially in his summer internship ... he probably has access to a lot of "available young lawyers". (In fact, there is a current plan that Sharon and Terry will take them out bar hopping on Friday night ... to meet up with some lawyers. Now ... so far, the girls have been "all talk" (to me, not the white guys) ...so we will see what happens with their Friday encounter.

But I digress ... let me get back to the daily activities ...