The Fourth Kind

This movie really bugged me to the bones. It took me awhile to believe the movie was true, until I finally did try to know if it was based on a true story. I read this from Wekipedia:

The Fourth Kind is a 2009 American mockumentary science fiction-thriller[2] directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, starring Milla Jovovich, Charlotte Milchard, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, and Mia McKenna-Bruce. The title is derived from the expansion of J. Allen Hynek’s classification of close encounters with aliens, in which the fourth kind denotes alien abductions.

The film purports to be based on actual events occurring in Nome, Alaska in 2000, in which psychologist Dr. Abigail Emily “Abbey” Tyler uses hypnosis to uncover memories from her patients of alien abduction, and finds evidence suggesting that she may have been abducted as well. The film has two components: dramatization, in which professional actors portray the individuals involved, and video footage purporting to show the actual victims undergoing hypnosis. (At some points in the film, the “actual” and dramatized footage is presented alongside each other in split-screen.) Throughout the film, Abbey is shown being interviewed on television during 2002, two years after the abductions occurred.The film was a box office success, earning US$47.46 million worldwide, from an estimated $10 million budget.

Oh man! and for a week I cannot sleep well after seeing the movie.

After Arriving in Thailand

Way To Improving My Thai

I learned Thai formally in a ” kaanrian” (learning center) four years ago. It was a five-month course which includes casual conversation, reading and writing. Our Thai teacher, Khruu (teacher) Rat is considered as Khruu Wrath.  Western people who studied the language hated her, Asian foreigners gets nervous if they are on their way to her classroom feeling unready for school. Anyway, the five tones,  44 basic consonants, 8 vowels and 6 dipthongs make the learning so complicated. My Thai has never been good until I am able to forget it and remember it again as I went back to Thailand. The meebaan (maid) in the guest house where I am working as an overseer cannot talk  in English but we work well together plus my Thai has improved a lot because she cannot speak English. I get laugh at every time I pronounce  a certain word with the tone incorrectly and use it  a sentence because it meant the other thing. One time she asked me if I wanted a suewa (picnic mat, in other tone it means sweater) but I answered her ” no thanks, I am not cold” (thinking she meant  suewa, the sweatshirt). I’ve been laughed at most of the time but they say keng maak (very good) I can speak Thai and I believe I’m on my way to improving my Thai.

Visa In Thailand

Four years ago, I worked as community health consultant in south Thailand. Getting our visa puts us into stressful situations since the foundation has to wait for the slow process of having the foundation registered under the Thai government. When I got back in the country last year, the visa situation has improved already and Thai embassy have been much softer with foreigners since the government economy suffered some serious setbacks during coups plus the flood in Bankok last year. Usually, they give us a month once we enter the country and have us go to embassies to get a three month extension (three month extension means two months to  be able to stay in the country). Since I work in the Hatyai, it is easy for us to take a van to Penang, Malaysia and get our extension there.  The Thai embassy in Penang requires foreigners to submit an application form which can be downloaded online, two copies of recent photos and a xerox copy of  the passport and the passport itself.

Happy New Year

We had fun with these gals during New Year!

E-Learning Helps Me

My three year old gets bored easily. She likes to look up cartoons in YouTube which I think is not so helpful for her, like Mr. Bean and The Pink Panther (she loves these characters). So I tried to search over if she could do e-learning when she’s not doing school with me. My friend recommended www.storylineonline which is really good for the kid’s listening skills.  Thea (my three year old daughter) liked the story Rainbow Fish. I also looked more if she could practice reading through e-learning and I found www.starfall.com which she liked it so much. www.elearningforkids.com is also our favorite. You could easily choose a certain activity level fit for the age of your child.

Eggy Bread In The Morning

I lighten up my kids’ morning by making a very easy-to-make breakfast for them. One of these is the eggy bread. I learned this from my sister Aisha, who also learned from her husband, Steven. Mine is  a little bit different from hers because I put  spreads with it so my Kids would love it more.

I will need: slice bread (all sides are cut), one fresh egg, 1/4 cup of milk, honey/hotcake syrup, Nutella, butter

Beat the eggs together with the milk and put the slice bread to absorb the liquid. Heat the pan under low fire and put some butter just enough to grease the pan. Put the bread and fry until golden brown. Put it in a plate and spread Nutella all over it. then put the syrup over. Slurp!

The Best Noodle Stop In Penang

Working as a  volunteer at South Thailand, I do my visa run in Penang which gives me and my family an opportunity to visit the place. Money is not much of a problem if we stay in Penang if you know where the best bargains are. Since we have to stay there for two nights, we needed a cheap place  and cheap food our Filipino mouths could swallow. Chulia Street offers so many guest houses that doesn’t hurt the pocket. We  usually stay at NJ Guest House and take the room with toilet and bath which costs only for 40RM, 400 in Thai Bhat (13-14 US dollars). Across Crystal Guesthouse a noodle cart comes every 6pm and serves it hot. Western people love to stop and eat and food bloggers stop to take pictures. Local people also have to stop to take home for dinner. You could enjoy a big bowl at only for 38 (a dollar) bhat but the noodle with soy sauce is  the best. Hmmmm… the best noodles I ever tasted…I guess not in the whole world (since I haven’t been around all the countries)…but the best noodle I ever tasted. I do look forward going back to Penang just for this noodle stop.

Thea’s 3rd Birthday Party

I just had my daughter’s 3rd birthday party last week. The preparation was a rush because of little time.  We had pinata, treasure hunting, and a raffle draw for the kids’ activities. Since Thea, my daughter, wanted a  Dora party, we had Dora and her two friends over her cake. We also have Dora on her posters, hats, plates, cups, balloons and even on her pinata pot. We had gifts for her and for the raffle draw,  each kid won a prize of toys, school supplies. wallets and accessories. Everyone was happy because  no one left empty handed. There were also older people enjoying the party with us. My brother made a mouth watering pork sinugba  (grilled pork) that went with pinakurat suka (famous vinegar dip in Mindanao)  and his wife prepared the super crispy and delicious fried chicken which the kids really loved.My daughter never stopped talking about her 3rd birthday party for months. Seeing her so happy made every effort worthwhile.

DFA

Our family plans to go settle in Thailand for a few years. We  are praying that my husband could find a job in an oil and gas company and continue his career as an engineer. We are also praying that we could fit in and help on a ministry in South Thailand.

We had a scheduled plan to go already but plans changed when we knew that the DFA changed their system on how long the passports could be released after processing.  They already have a fixed schedule for the passports to be released and it would take me almost two months to wait. Before, it would just take a week or two to process the passports. The long wait an be cvery inconvenient for people who have little time to prepare to go abroad.

Anyway, there’s nothing that we can do to change back their system but to wait and see what are other things that need to be done before we leave.