Well here we are in Thailand!. We made it through quarantine which was as good as could be expected and yet seemed to last forever. Now that we have been out for a bit more than a month we can look back and see what a busy month it has been.

The hotel for our quarantine was nice and we were well taken care of. The kids were constantly tortured by the view of the beautiful pool that we were not allowed to use. I’m not sure they ever really understood why they couldn’t use it but other people could. After our fifteen days of quarantine, which included temp checks twice a day and two Covid tests, we were free! We stayed in the same hotel one additional night so the kids could use the pool and then we switched to another hotel closer to our colleagues, but still in Bangkok.

We spent the next week in Bangkok working on Dustin’s work permit and setting up a Thai bank account. It was nice spending some time with our colleagues and exploring the city. Next, we headed up to Lopburi where we will spend the next year in Language learning. We were so excited to have our own space and to be able to settle in and make it our home. We had a week of “soft” quarantine in our new home before our orientation began. We were allowed to go out one at a time for food or other essentials. We had a week of orientation and then on April 23, we had our first day of learning Thai. 

Part of orientation was getting new bikes. The kids had so much fun picking out new bikes. We are getting used to riding around town as a family. We ride to the Learning center everyday. We go to class Tuesday through Saturday and have Sunday and Monday off. Covid has been on the rise here lately so there are some restrictions and masks are mandatory, but mostly we aren’t affected. The kids are enjoying their class and the older two are learning some Thai as well. They have a new friend (Anna), from the Netherlands, who is in class with them which has been fun. 

We are slowly getting oriented here. Going to the grocery store is different, doing laundry is different, getting around town is different, life is different here. But we are embracing the differences and doing our best to adapt.