Having "Me" Time

It's my second day after evacuation and I feel somewhat lost in limbo.  I do not know what lies ahead.  I miss my home and I miss normal day life.  Forced evacuations are no fun even if you get to go out of town. Your mind is always wondering about what next.  What happens next?  No answer.  Now the dilemma is deciding when would be the appropriate time to go back?  If I go back too early, I may have to end up evacuating again.  If I wait, I do not know how long the wait will have to be. Will it be one week, two weeks or more? I need to go back to go on with my life.  Now nothing can be planned and there is no timeframe. I realize now how important it is to have certain basic certainty in one's life.  A safe home, clean tap water, electricity and a safe environment in which to live.  Most importantly though is to be surrounded by family and loved ones.  What good is having all the world's goods...

An eerie silence has befallen Bangkok once again.  It's as if the whole city is holding it's breath.  Breathe too loudly and you just might trip over.  Last time this happened was last year during the political unrest.  Only this time,  the eerie silence is spread much further out.  Not only inner Bangkok but now the suburbs too are subject to this eerie silence. Cars are not wanted now.  They are all parked on bridges, expressways, parking lots and anywhere that is above ground level.  It's too expensive to just let them drown in water.  With car taxes over two hundred percent, most cannot afford to lose the only car they have.  I cannot.  I'm still paying the monthly installments.  Even the taxi companies are saving their cars and few now roam the streets.  It's difficult to go anywhere.  Walking becomes the mode of transport. While walking, I sometimes wonder if I am living in a deserted town lik...

For over a week, Bangkok has been in a state of panic.  Everyone is packing up their houses, sealing doors and windows with silicone, buying sand from other provinces, finding ways to block their pipes and other points of weakness where water may enter.  Plastic bags large enough to seal entire cars are in hot demand and sold out in a matter of hours.  Plastic gallons for filling up both tap water and drinking water are snatched up like this season's "must haves."  In supermarkets, many shelves are empty.  Only imported mineral water remains and bread are out of stock.  Eggs vanish the minute they are restocked.  Now in order to ensure fairness, supplies have to be limited. Two packs per household. We stock up on water and drinking water, yet I wonder if we will really stay once the water arrives. The biggest problem seems to be getting elders to evacuate.  We love our homes, but we must also cherish our lives.  Being isolated in an island ...

Tonight, I temporarily stop listening to news regarding flooding. It's too depressing and it's making me stressed.  I know not when the water will come and at what level.  Whatever happens, happens.  Let it be.  Let's instead talk about a lighter topic today and continue on with the fourth myth.  The myth that in order to get calcium and have strong bones, you have to consume a lot of dairy products. This is a common myth.  When we think about having strong healthy bones, we immediately think of dairy.  We think of milk, cheese, and yogurt (high in calcium and vitamin D), but forget other sources of vitamins such as dark leafy greens.  Vitamin K and Magnesium are also important for healthy bones according to nuitritionist Andy Bellati.  Vitamin K can be found in dark leafy greens  such as collard greens, mustard greens, kale, and bok choy, while Magnesium can be found in almonds, cashews, oatmeal and potatoes.  It's wonderf...

It's official, Bangkok will flood.  Bangkok Post this morning tells us to "Brace" ourselves for it.   This evening some of my relatives have evacuated and others are looking after their houses.  Colleagues rush home to safeguard their homes against water while others wait in anticipation of the coming flood.  We get real time updatest through facebook and twitter.  I feel like I'm in a war where I know not about the enemy.  I feel blind.  The enemy is large and furious, yet we are like mice running around looking for a way to survive. Experts say that the flood will last over a month. Everyone is worried we will run out of clean water and food.  The supermarket by my house has run out of local water, eggs and bread.  It's been like this for over a week now.  The only water on the shelves are imported Evians and Perrier that cost more than double our average drinking water. Even then, they are finally being snatched up....

For once I do not want to hear the sound of raindrops on my window pane.  Rather than relax and remind me of childhood days, it now makes me restless, fearing the flood situation will worsen.  The flood situation in Thailand is not getting any better and in fact seems to be worsening day by day.  Over three hundred lives have been lost, industrial parks inundated, and hundreds of thousands of people misplaced.  Homes are rendered inhabitable and roads unusable.  The outskirts of Bangkok are flooding and each morning, Bangkokians awaken to hear more news of ever closer floods. Nature is strong and powerful.  It will be hard to withstand her.  I personally believe Bangkok will inundated.  It's just a matter of time.  We have a massive body of water towards the north of Bangkok heading out to sea and only a miracle can part the water into two to save Bangkok.  We need Moses to do that. Sandbags and man m...

Yes, the flood waters are moving closer to Bangkok.  Everyone is getting a little nervous, me included.  When it rains, I can't help but wonder if that will mean one more line of defense has broken and that soon the waters will rush into the inner city area.  Let's pray that there be no more casualties.  When stressed I tend to eat more than I should.  It's like my brain decides that eating helps relieve stress.  However, it only helps short term for it ends up making me feel worried about having eaten too much.   I end up looking for healthy foods to eat, which brings me to the third myth.  The myth that low fat foods are always good for you. I'm sorry to have to be the one to break the news to you, but low fat foods are NOT always good for you. It is important to always read the food labels when you buy food.  Sometimes, the food is indeed low in fat, but extremely high in sodium (salt) and sugars whic...

The last few days have been absolutely hectic as I've just started teaching, but now that all is settled today I get to relax and enjoy a few moments of peaceful writing.  It is indeed good for the mind and soul.  Today I write about a myth that is so common that I am sure many of you who cook have heard it before: adding salt to water changes the boiling point and lets you cook food faster.  I've heard this on cooking shows, read it in cooking books and yes I have to admit this is something I have believed in pretty much of my life until I read about it on Lifehacker. Suddenly, I am forced to question my belief regarding boiling water and cooking.  Are there other things I am mistakenly believing in? Apparently, the article says that to really affect the boiling point of water you would have to add an extremely large quantity of salt, so much that it would most likely render your food inedible.  Even then, it would only af...

In our lives, sometimes we hear things, we read things and we live by it thinking it's right.  Sometimes it turns out it is just a myth.  So tonight, I'm going to start a little series about some common food myths. The first myth being that one should never use wooden cutting board for meat because they are full of bacteria. It is commonly believed that the sharp knife cutting into the board causes little scratches, through which later juices from meat settle into.  They become a breeding grown for bacteria that cannot be easily washed away.  As a result, wooden cutting boards become a 'no no.'  Plastic cutting boards are better.  Now some even say they are made with anti-microbial technology that ensures it remains bacteria free. Sadly, it's all just a myth.  It doesn't matter what kind of cutting board you use, wooden or plastic, it does not reduce the number of bacteria, according to University of California: Davis, Dean O. Cliver, Ph.D of the U...

Tonight many Bangkokians are afraid of the flood.  Every night it has been raining. Panic is somewhat in the air and in the supermarkets many shelves of water and instand noodles are empty.  (I think it's also because the warehouses are flooded and food cannot be brought in to restock.)  Outside my main road, the banks and other businesses have walls of sand.  Some smaller mom and pop stores have had cement barriers created.  This is the sentiment now in Bangkok.   I, myself, am skeptical that it will flood to such an extent that I will be camped out, but still I could not help myself stocking buying a little water and canned food just in case.  ( Hey, it's better safe than never!) My choice of canned food?  Baked Beans. Yes, after looking at the shelves, I decided that it would be perhaps the most practical and simplest food to have in times of safety. It's also what I eat regularly so I don't have to worry about it expiring be...

The past two days the hot topic on everyone's lips has been "Steve Jobs has died."  It's strange that I should find out about this on my iPhone, a few minutes after waking up.  When talking to others the first reaction is a little 'gasp.'  Everyone knows him. Even those who are not Apple fans.  He's dead and millions worldwide mourn his death.  Millions who have not seen nor spoken to him in person, yet we all hold a part of him in our lives.  We use his inventions to contact those dearest to us and as research even suggests, what we feel for our smart phones may not be merely addiction, but in fact 'love.' Yes, we have grown to 'love' our iPhones, iPads, iPods, Macs and many things Apple related. For me, the iPhone has become so much of life that it is the last thing I look at before I go to bed at night, and it is the first thing I wake up to in the morning.  It is my alarm clock, my organizer, my camera, my newspaper, and my source o...

It's raining cats and dogs again tonight.  The street in front of my house is flooded. It's nothing compared to elsewhere in the country where houses are flooded up to the second story.  Residents have no where left to sleep but on the roof.   Workers were stranded in a factory after flash floods closed their exit.  Villagers trying to help others themselves drown.  Dogs and cats are eaten by crocodiles.  With no bathrooms, the waters are starting to stink and rot. Those were the headline news this morning.  It is depressing to wake up to such news. 237 people are now dead. 3 are missing. 28 provinces hit by floods. Somehow the thought of deforestation jumps to mind.  Environmental factors have never been much of an issue in Thailand.  It has always been an issue to a few group of select people.  Others looked on and went on with their life. The environmentalists protested on. In a d...

Many people think health comes along when you have another "half" another "soul" to be by your side. Some say "love" will make you lose weight, be healthy.  There is some truth to it, but I think that is somewhat oversimplified.  You do not need to have "someone" to get healthy.  The only reason you should get healthy and lose weight is because you dearly want to yourself.  Because you love yourself and you think that you are worthy of the attention.  Once you have found that love for yourself, then love for another comes more easily. Health is a great cure for the soul. It rejunevates, energizes and gives you strength you previously didn't know you had.  You can somehow run those few kilometers and walk up flights of stairs without feeling tired. Walks that were once unappealing, now seem like a little walk in the garden.  The hot weather becomes less annoying, and the chair more comfortable. Yes, even just sitting on chairs becomes a...

It's been two days since my good friend's birthday and believe me the words have just been flowing in and out of my mind in an endless stream that ebbs and flows.  There are so many things I want to say, so many things I want to write, yet having only 24 hours in a day, I could not quite fit everything in without fear of making myself collapse from exhaustion.  So here I am to write a birthday ode to a lovely friend who just celebrated her birthday two days ago.  You know who you are. You are always in my mind.  This is for you. I hope you like it. Good friends who are always there are few in number.  Good friends who've you known for over 20 years are even rarer.  Yes, can you believe it, I've known you for over 20 years. I've known you since my primary school days.  Time though isn't everything.  What's more important, is that throughout the roughly two decades we've known each other, you have remained the same sweet and gentle ...