Oooh, Instagram!

So finally Mr John is over his "kiddie flu" and I am over the worst of it and definitely on the mend. Which is just as well really as Anne & Graham arrive for their visit today! They actually landed in Bangkok last night and although my head says that the most practical thing is to let them travel to Chan today after a good nights sleep, I still feel awful that I wasn't at the airport with flag and welcome banner in hand.

So, over the next few weeks you might want to check out the Mrs John Abroad Instagram feed which will have much more up to date information and current photos of our outings. You can get there easily by using the button on the top right of your screen. Best of all, you don't even need your own Instagram account to access it.
As, and when I'm able, I'll also update you here.

Hope you're all feeling fit and well

kiddie 'flu

Anyone who has children, or works with children will know what I'm talking about. Mr John has been really sick this week, going to school and coming straight home to bed. This is unheard of. Yes, he picked up some lovely germs from the cherubs and now has kindly passed them on to me! 

I'm still battling on because everyone knows girls are tougher than boys and I can't be sick because in 10 days Anne  & Graham arrive. It's come around so quickly and to say I'm excited is almost an understatement. 

Speaking of school try and keep up you won't believe the landscaping their doing. Having finished the second building, they are building a moat. Yes, that's right, a moat. I'm not sure how it's going to work and I'm very curious to see the end result. I'm thinking a moat and small children may not go together. 

Thai people in general can't swim though I could name some who would disprove this rule and what happens if a little one falls in? Actually, some children in Mr John's class aren't that big, what if they fall in? What about balls, books and other paraphernalia that children have in their hands? What about the mosquitoes?? And will it keep wandering adults out? I think perhaps the powers that be have not thought this through. But what do I know!

Even though I've not been feeling too great this week, I continue visiting my Torturer. It's been hard work but I did get a cheer from the girls the other day when I managed to get my feet over my head whilst laying on my back. They really are all so sweet.

Of course it's Valentine's Day tomorrow and we will be doing the usual - ignoring it. When I was single, I remember having an anti-Valentine evening with other single friends. We ate fajitas which meant using your hands and it extremely unromantic played board games and had heavy rock music playing. It was one of the best evenings. Mr John and I have been together nearly 12 years and we've never gone in for this blatant commercialism. To be quite honest, if he's only going to be "romantic" one day a year he isn't the man for me. It's the little things we do every day that keeps the romance alive. But if you're into that sort of thing.... Happy Valentine's Day!

We lost it...

Well, the weather is slowly starting to warm up. Not that we've really had anything like "cold" weather! Still, it's only to be expected and it's not got too bad yet. I have yet to close the limited facilities kitchen due to extreme weather, so Mr John is still a happy bunny.

We were invited to Mr Han's 48th birthday party on Saturday night at Hangout. He told us they like to have a big celebration every 12 years. We walked there so that we could both have a drink. Mr John nearly fell asleep in his beer half way through the evening, not because he'd drunk too much but because he'd got up at 3am to watch the England / Wales 6 nations rugby match. 

I hadn't realised or maybe just not thought about the food that would be there and I'd made burgers at home so we were both pretty full. You should have seen all the plates that ended up on the table, to which we could do very little justice but which was all very delicious. 

There was, what can only be described as, an "official" photographer. His name was Bird and he took quite a shine to Mr John, putting his arm around him for their selfie and giving his phone number. Mr John felt that I could have been more vocal / demonstrative about being his wife, but I was having too much fun watching proceedings to get that involved.

drink responsibly!

At the end of the evening Pii Kob organised for us to be dropped at home, which is just as well because I'd drunk a whole bottle of vodka! I really should know better at my age. OK, so when you look at the picture, you'll know it's not as "cool" as it sounds. And getting in at 2am does neither of us much good. I fear the days of getting in as the sun comes up might be well and truly over though never say never!! So whilst some might say, we've still got it, I think we've definitely lost it.

Sport mad

photo courtesy of Aljazeera

What a sporting weekend we've had. Did you watch any of the Asian Cup? Well I was glued because not only was Australia in the final, they won the tournament! It was great watching their matches and the time difference worked in our favour.

We also enjoyed watching the Australian Open. There were some matches that finished very late in the day in Melbourne, but lucky for us these finished around 8pm local time. You've got to love time differences. Add to that the Auckland Nines rugby league for the uninitiated and we barely moved from the couch all weekend. Dinners took a bit a planning so that I wasn't tied to my camping stove at a crucial time!

So as you may have already guessed we are grateful for the varying time zones across the world that enables us to watch a plethora love that word of sport. Next weekend may not be as successful. The Six Nations rugby union starts on Friday and Mr John is a huge fan. He's pretty miffed to say the least that the first match or England starts at 8pm in the UK. That makes it 3am local time and I believe he's currently debating whether he should have an early night and get up to watch it live. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but he's teaching some classes on Saturday one of which is on when they are showing a repeat of the game at a civilised hour!