Pros and cons!

Pros: kids are fine, Farmor Eva is here another week, great wind, had good windsurfing earlier this week, we all went diving/snorkling Wednesday on a daytrip to wonderful isles Koh Rok. A nice doctor has grounded me today, informing Henrik that I should not do a thing just lying down with full service (no I didn’t bribe the doc) – and right now Dave is keeping me company, playing Minecraft on the computer next to me! The others are chilling, having after-school in the pool!

Cons: Dave is occupying the computer so I have to write this at low speed on the iPad, reason for my lying-low is an infected legwound the nearby SIAM clinic took care of yesterday and now they were not happy with the progress and told me to rest and be still and it’s boooring and I know there’s wind out there today and I must avoid aqactivities for days and days…

Another Con (artist): I know what you’re thinking, we’re travelling weird places and surely some street vendor… But no, someone back in Good’Ol’Sweden has managed to make a bunch of (expensive) taxitrips using one earlier lost and already maculated credit card, after we left! A good thing it was easy to prove it wasn’t us (not even being in the country :) and should be no prob getting reimbursed. But a bit scary anyway. Am glad I spotted that when logging in to the bank today.

More Pros? Eva made pancakes yesterday, and today she&Henrik found some chicken for dinner! Since I’m not in restaurant mode I really
      appreci-ate that!
           (pun intended)
And I got some great books to read, not to mention all emails n’stuff I should handle… zzz… and puttin up some more pics on da blog… coming soon to a Posterous Space Near You!

Thanks for reading and be well!

cheers
/sia

Peter’s favorite pool activity is…

Bungee-style jumping!

… and clambering back up again.

Over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And then over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Apor

Ånej en flicka binder fast min Pappa! 
Men apan knyter upp Pappa.

Apor kan göra massa saker, typ som att cykla, eller typ som att bära blommor, och kasta boll i en korg, och knyta upp knutar och massa andra saker.

-David

Om Thailand

Vi har typ badat i poolen nästan 60 gånger.

Och Farmor ska komma till Thailand snart.

– Jenny (Henrik skriver)

 

 

elefantblågen

vi mata elefantena

vi red på elefantena

pappa åk david åk peter red på elefantena

jenny

Coding is fun – especially in this environment

Me & my colleague Tomas adding some much-needed features to formstore (the simple course registration system we use at Crisp). As coaches we don’t do much coding anymore, so coding feels more like hobby than work. Especially in this environment :o)

 

 

Recommended restaurant: Memory

Great food, friendly cheerful staff, beautiful seaside view, great background music! Will definitely go there again, and so should you if you ever get to Koh Lanta! You can’t forget the restaurant’s name because it is… Memory!

School at Koh Lanta

We wake up around 7-ish in the morning and have breakfast. Dave and Jenny and Emma start school at 9:00. The first few days Sophia and I kept falling into the micromanagement trap (“go brush your teeth”… “go put on suntan lotion”…. “hurry up we have to leave soon”… etc). Then we created a graphical checklist (see below) which made life a lot easier. Now we just ask “How done are you?”. They stare at the checklist and say something like “I’m 5 out of 7, I just have to get my backpack and put my flip flops on”. We also got a big clock to help them see if they are on schedule. Less nagging, less stress. 

Around 8:45 we all get into our cute little tuk-tuk (rented for 7000 baht per month) and zip off to school. It’s not far, and the traffic is a bit erratic, so we cruise along at a nice leisurely 20-30 km/h, the kids usually singing “Iiiiit’s a smaaaaall world aaaaafter aaallll …” to the amusement of pedestrians that we pass. 

The school (“Lille Svenska Skolan”) is basically a handful of bungalows leased from a resort. Very intimate.

Here’s the “sala”, or central gathering space. 

Every Monday morning and Friday afternoon all kids & teachers & most parents gather for information. We end each meeting by singing the Thai national anthem while raising the flag. Feels very funny hearing a bunch of Swedish kids singing in Thai :o)

Here is Dave’s classroom, housed in an air-conditioned bungalow. His 2nd grade class is only 3 kids! I think a few more will join soon. 

Once per week the classes gather on the beach for games and physical exercises. Pretty nice open-air gymnasium! A tad hot though :o)

Afterwards they get hosed down by the teachers.

All in all the kids seem to be enjoying themselves in this school environment, so different from home.

One of the teachers commented that “this is like school the way it is meant to be! Focusing entirely on the kids’ personal development, and not being caught up in a bunch of rules and bureaucracy!”. 

 

Awesome thunderstorm shaking up the house!

Sounds like artillery is crashing down around the house, a truly humbling experience! If we weren’t so chicken we’d go the porch and try to get some lightning photos! Amazing that the kids are still asleep.

Pineapple vs Pineapple

We had no idea different types of pineapples had such different taste!

Most of us (actually everyone except Sia) liked the left one best. Sweeter and punchier taste. The other one tasted pretty bland.

To get the right type when shopping (uh, I mean the left type) look for more oblong than round shape, brighter color, and jagged leaves.