Day III- adapting

[william3rd]

We resolved telephone call issues yesterday. After talking to her mother and her friends, she ascertained that the cost of calling from Thailand to here is only 4 cents per minute so she has told her mom and friends that she will call and then hang up and they will call back. There are certain telephone cards for Thailand that we will get for her next weekend at the Thai market.

Or has decided that she doesnt want to shop at the Hawaii Market; she likes the local Albertsons and Stater brothers because they are very clean and smell good. The Hawaii Market is filthy and smells bad. I told her that if she thinks that the Hawaii Market is bad, wait until she gets to the Thailand Plaza Market.

Our roads are much worse than the roads in Udonthani. Our neighborhoods are much nicer and cleaner than Udonthani. Things have been better planned here and are laid out in straight lines.

The cleaning continues unabated. Good thing the trash collection is tomorrow as we are out of room. She will get to see Wal Mart today as we need some hangers.

[Ray]

Lesson for the newbies:

Don't even bother trying to clean the house because you will NEVER be able to meet an Asian Lady's standards.

Better to just leave the mess, let her come in and take charge, and help wherever you can. She will feel good that she cleaned up your filthy home and straightened out your disorganized life, and everything will be lovely thereafter.

Ray

[Bob_S]

Better to just leave the mess, let her come in and take charge, and help wherever you can. She will feel good that she cleaned up your filthy home and straightened out your disorganized life, and everything will be lovely thereafter.

Yeah, let her flex her nesting instinct to remake your house into her home.
And if she doesn't have a nesting instinct, you may have chosen badly.

[thekfc]

Lesson for the newbies:

Don't even bother trying to clean the house because you will NEVER be able to meet an Asian Lady's standards.

Better to just leave the mess, let her come in and take charge, and help wherever you can. She will feel good that she cleaned up your filthy home and straightened out your disorganized life, and everything will be lovely thereafter.

Ray

I was cleaning over the weekend, Ahya came online & she ask me how am I doing & I told her that I was tired because I was cleaning the apartment to prepared for her eventual coming.

Her reply to me  words to me were "leave the cleaning to me when I come, go out for the day and come back at night". I ask her why should I go out, I will help her clean. She then said to me "you will be in my way".   

To tell you the truth, no matter how much I  clean a section of the place, when I turn around it still doesn't look good.

I throw away 6 big bags of stuff yesterday.

[jm21-2]

Lesson for the newbies:

Don't even bother trying to clean the house because you will NEVER be able to meet an Asian Lady's standards.

Better to just leave the mess, let her come in and take charge, and help wherever you can. She will feel good that she cleaned up your filthy home and straightened out your disorganized life, and everything will be lovely thereafter.

Ray

That's an interesting subject. My mom gave me a good yelling at because "she's travelling from the other side of the world and your kitchen looks like that?!?"

I will probably clean up the worst of it a week or so before she gets here and eat off paper plates during the interim....it's pretty bad right now...and my trash can is very small. My fiance doesn't think it's necessary and doesn't think I can get it clean enough, but the kitchen in particular is really bad and needs some major help...

[thekfc]

The major stuff I have left to do is to paint the apartment - which I will do this coming weekend. I couldn't decide on colors but we both choose a color we liked. The living room & kitchen (currently brown) will be painted with the new Ralph Lauren Monticello Yellow paint color, the bathroom & bedroom are currently sky blue and will stay that way but they will be getting a fresh coat.

After the painting is dry, I will then give the kitchen & bathroom another "good" cleaning.

[jm21-2]

The project I really want to get done is to install a vented hood over the stove...Taiwanese have jet engine exhaust fans over their stove because they love to cook over high heat and it'll smoke up the whole house if I don't have a vented fan I think...also replacing the master bedroom carpet with wood flooring and finish off some painting...haul some junk the previous owner left to the junkyard...lots of stuff to do...I've got all the supplies but need to get the motivation going.

Should hear back this week about the NOA2 I hope, and that should spur me on.

[Jedironin]

Or... just wait 'till she gets here. Then you'll have LOTS of motivation!!  

 

[Ray]

Yeah, let her flex her nesting instinct to remake your house into her home.

Yep, and when she finishes the nest, you can hop in and fertilize her eggs... OOPS!

[z_k_g]

Yep, and when she finishes the nest, you can hop in and fertilize her eggs... OOPS!

Lordy!

Don't get Pig started Ray!!   

Zulu

[william3rd]

Yep, and when she finishes the nest, you can hop in and fertilize her eggs... OOPS!

Nope- only get to practice. No chillun coming to this relationship.

[william3rd]

She starts English classes on Monday. Found a school 5 blocks from us. She walked over there for her placement tests since I was in court that day.

This weekend We will go to Thailand Plaza so she can visit a Thai Market. I have a feeling that she will stick with Albertsons.

With the Internet, she can get to all her gossip pages that she surfed in Thailand. Invited some friends over to meet her this Saturday.

Over the next few days, I will introduce her to some Thai friends that I have.

[Bob_S]

Over the next few days, I will introduce her to some Thai friends that I have.

If you are looking for something to do, Saturday, Feb. 5th is the Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown.  It has morphed into a kind of pan-Asian parade.  Fun to go out and watch.
http://www.lagoldendragonparade.com/

And in Alhambra
http://www.chinesenewyearparade.net/

[william3rd]

Here are some major differences that I have noticed-typical for bachelors converting to a live in relationship

The bed is made every morning
The laundry is getting done long before we run out of clothes
THere is food in the refrigerator-other than string cheese, bread, milk and assorted condiments

A couple of other differences-

I am sleeping better-make any assumptions that you wish . I was not sleeping a full night without benadryl or melatonin. So-this is helpful for my health.
She cooks something (usually unidentifiable except by taste) mid-morning for a snack and wont eat after 6PM.
Our spice consumption has doubled. House Harkonnen will be pleased

[Bob_S]

The laundry is getting done long before we run out of clothes

I've been married 7½ years now and am still not used to that.  I go to where she hangs the clean laundry to air out before it goes in the closet and, hey, aren't those the pants I just put in the hamper last night?

House Harkonnen will be pleased

  Fan!  (As long as the Guild gets its supply.)

[Jedironin]

^ Hopefully all that Spice won't make your hair turn red or your eyes turn blue!  

I make my bed every morning just because my dog sleeps on it during the day... keeps the paw prints and fur off the sheets, at least.  haha

[thekfc]

THere is food in the refrigerator-other than string cheese, bread, milk and assorted condiments
 
She cooks something (usually unidentifiable except by taste) mid-morning for a snack and wont eat after 6PM.
Our spice consumption has doubled. House Harkonnen will be pleased

My refrigerator is always full ...half of which are different kinds of juices. 

My wife always ask me what did I eat today & I sometimes reply "leftovers". She always give me a strange look. I tried explaining to her that "we" do not cook everyday, we cook 3-4 times a week & eat leftovers every other day.
She already told me fresh food everyday. 

On a side note, I did some more shopping & have about 8 different kinds of rice (including Black Rice) in the apartment.

[z_k_g]

She starts English classes on Monday. Found a school 5 blocks from us. She walked over there for her placement tests since I was in court that day.

This weekend We will go to Thailand Plaza so she can visit a Thai Market. I have a feeling that she will stick with Albertsons.

With the Internet, she can get to all her gossip pages that she surfed in Thailand. Invited some friends over to meet her this Saturday.

Over the next few days, I will introduce her to some Thai friends that I have.

W3, nice location you live in!

Zulu

[whitey]

My wife always ask me what did I eat today & I sometimes reply "leftovers". She always give me a strange look. I tried explaining to her that "we" do not cook everyday, we cook 3-4 times a week & eat leftovers every other day.
She already told me fresh food everyday. 

Funny ... yeah, my wife doesn't understand that concept either ... nothing lasts in her house more than a day ... usually only a few hours.  There's nothing in the freezer except ice cubes and pop ...

They eat everything fresh and think the food goes bad if left for more than a few hours ...

[Capstone]

The project I really want to get done is to install a vented hood over the stove...Taiwanese have jet engine exhaust fans over their stove because they love to cook over high heat and it'll smoke up the whole house if I don't have a vented fan I think.

jm,

I just installed one of those 'jet engine' exhaust fans over my stove this past weekend and remembered that you had made this post saying that you wanted to do the same. With as much Chinese cooking as my wife and I do (and especially true now that her parents are visiting us and have been doing most of the cooking) we found it to be pretty much a necessity to install one.

I have to say that it is a great investment and really makes a difference - it keeps the smell and smoke out of the house very well. We went with a model from Taiwan with what seems to be super turbo exhaust fans - the fan blades themselves can be easily removed and placed in the dishwasher for easy cleaning. Our unit also has two oil/grease traps built in which really work well. I installed it myself without much trouble at all. The brand is Pacair and I ordered it directly from their website: www.pacairusa.com. I originally had one of those stock exhaust units which are common in most American homes but compared to this new one it really didn't do much at all.

[ignorante]

Funny ... yeah, my wife doesn't understand that concept either ... nothing lasts in her house more than a day ... usually only a few hours.  There's nothing in the freezer except ice cubes and pop ...

They eat everything fresh and think the food goes bad if left for more than a few hours ...

  LOL!  Due to eating a lot of protein (mostly chicken, about 2 pounds a day) for my weightlifting, I often cook a full day's meals a day ahead of time and put it into containers to take to work.

[jm21-2]

jm,

I just installed one of those 'jet engine' exhaust fans over my stove this past weekend and remembered that you had made this post saying that you wanted to do the same. With as much Chinese cooking as my wife and I do (and especially true now that her parents are visiting us and have been doing most of the cooking) we found it to be pretty much a necessity to install one.

I have to say that it is a great investment and really makes a difference - it keeps the smell and smoke out of the house very well. We went with a model from Taiwan with what seems to be super turbo exhaust fans - the fan blades themselves can be easily removed and placed in the dishwasher for easy cleaning. Our unit also has two oil/grease traps built in which really work well. I installed it myself without much trouble at all. The brand is Pacair and I ordered it directly from their website: www.pacairusa.com. I originally had one of those stock exhaust units which are common in most American homes but compared to this new one it really didn't do much at all.

Fortunately my parents just installed one a couple months ago so I can use some of the tools and extra bits and pieces they bought, so I'm in pretty good shape. They have a very high BTU propane stove and the range hood they got is powerful enough you can use one of those stovetop smokers indoors with no odor. Pretty impressive...mine is completely broken now so definitely need something. I'll look into the pacair models.

The ones I saw in Taiwan were just plain big. Maybe twice the size of the typical American one. The one at her mom's house sounded like a small plane....I think I can get by with something a bit smaller and quieter...my fiance does a lot more steaming and stewing than stir-frying so shouldn't be a problem to get something a little more on the light side. Hope she will learn her mom's fried rice recipe though...so good.

[william3rd]

I've been married 7½ years now and am still not used to that.  I go to where she hangs the clean laundry to air out before it goes in the closet and, hey, aren't those the pants I just put in the hamper last night?
  Fan!  (As long as the Guild gets its supply.)

CHOAM- the spice must flow!!!!