Thailand Letter
September 21, 1997
Bangkok, Thailand
I just realized I have not been dating my letters - that must be confusing!!!
It is early Sunday morning. I go to bed SO early and by 4 o'clock I have had enough sleep. We don't have a sofa or any really comfortable chairs so about 8 o'clock in the evening I go upstairs and turn on the air conditioning and lay down with good intentions of reading or preparing lessons but I ALWAYS fall asleep - maybe it's good we can't relax in a lazy-boy or sofa - Ha!!!
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL LETTERS THAT I RECEIVED YESTERDAY.
Claire - I loved your long and newsy letter. You "tell it how it is" and I just love that. Your children are doing GREAT - when a 16 year old will arrange for a chemistry tutor on his own that is a huge milestone. I'm proud of Michael and especially for his diligence in working at Smiths for such a long time - I think Fridays and Saturdays will give him enough working hours along with school. Bob - have you told him about sweeping the parking lot at MacDonald's in Little Rock? STICK TO YOUR GUNS ABOUT NOT BUYING HIM HIS OWN CAR!!! Katie - I can't believe your piano teacher's name is Ann Woolley - I'll bet you don't have any problems remembering her name. I'm glad you have a strict teacher - you will do much better and it will be worth it. Laura - a soldier in Clytie Adams' Nutcracker - THAT'S SUPER!!! I LOVE that and will miss it this year but please plan to be in it next year because I WILL BE HOME for it. Brett - I can just see you at "Ripleys" in San Francisco - you all surely do have many, many exciting experiences. You have seen "Phantom of the Opera" before, haven't you? I want to meet this Katie Cloward - she sounds like an ideal baby sitter along with being Mary Ann's Seminary Teacher. It was interesting to hear that they have taken Phen Phen (sp?) off the market - there were at least a dozen people in my Orem Ward who lost a lot of weight with that. Friday I wanted the teachers to use the word "more" in a sentence - one of them said, "Barbara weighs more than Virginia". The Thai people are very, very frank. I'm sorry Laura didn't get my birthday present - it wasn't anything special but I tried to do it right.
Bob - I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the pictures. The one of Michael and the ones of Brett and Katie at the cabin. It was SO fun to see them under the blue and white quilt - it made me feel so close to family and reality. I devoured them and it was SO good to see them eating breakfast by the window at the cabin and drinking "Dole" juice and some kind of cereal - we only see "Thai" things here. The Relief Society made that quilt for us in Little Rock - we needed to earn some money so they did it for us and we paid them. Brett - I'm happy you are taking tennis lessons - you have finished soccer by now. Did I tell you that when we went to the elephant show they had them trained to play soccer - big, clumsy elephants!!! You will be good at tennis like your Mother is.
Bob - thank you for the log-in (is that right?) numbers for the Deseret News and USA Today. We haven't been able to get them but will keep trying. We don't have "Netscape" but the computer tells us we can get news so I would think we could get World Wide Web. That "Ice Blocking" activity sounds mighty dangerous to me - sometimes the leaders in the Young Women and Young Men get carried away.
This computer thing has been SO interesting. We had an apology from the internet people here saying that on Tuesday, Sept. 16th the file system was full because millions of junk mail with fake headers had flooded the mail queue. I had two messages from Steve Frisby that didn't make it - they had his return address and some "gobbley goop". I'll try to write to him and see if it works. The message read - "Host unknown".
Roy - thank you for "keeping up with me" - I appreciate it so very much. You and Patrice are REAL homemakers - working to get your home in shape for Winter - that is a constant thing isn't it??? I'm glad Bob sent you pictures of the cabin - maybe when you come to Utah you will want to go visit there - I know that Timothy would love the fishing part!!! I'm SO glad the children are all involved in their activities and I hope SO much that Emily keeps up with her piano - she is a "natural". Isn't it great that Emily is familiar with the computer enough to access the web sites and find things for her American Girl and Baby Sitter's Club - she's so far ahead of me and 60 years younger - Ha!!!
Ron - I can just hear you say "Cheers" - Virginia and I LOVE that!!! I appreciate more than I can say, hearing about Timpview's Homecoming - I went to that last year and I remember hearing Susanna say that she was so happy she could come back this year and cheer with her "old" friends. What a fun, fun time in all your lives - don't keep so busy that you neglect attending things you can squeeze into your schedule - I KNOW you are SO good about that!!! I can't believe "snow in Scofield and on Timpanogos" - I am constantly hot, hot, hot but this is the cool season.
My Bishop - Bishop Patch - will be here this weekend. We are going to try to meet him on Thursday - he wants to take Virginia and I to dinner - I hope he will take us to MacDonald's - Ha!!! I want him to see where I live - the NuSkin man who is arranging it here said they would have a "driver" for us - they are way, way too nice to us.
I love you all so very, very much and I'm SO proud of you. BE CAREFUL. Grandma B
(written later that day)
Dearest Family,
Thank you SO much Jeannie for your letter - I was SO thrilled to find it on the computer this morning. I have worried about Sarah - I can't believe she could have 10 teeth removed at one time. I'm SO glad she is doing good. I'm thrilled also that Mary Ann is doing SO well on the violin - I know her Grandpa Mellor is smiling down on her because he didn't think she would stick with it - Ha!!! Ricky - WAY TO GO!!! I think it is good that you have failures as well as successes with your golf games - I know you realize that too. Barji - I would SO love to see the routines you are arranging for your D'Ettes (I don't think I spell that right - I spell it differently every time). Rick - I know your church talk went well. YOU ARE ALL SO VERY BUSY - I truly appreciate your taking time to write to me.
It started raining last night about 6:30 and I mean RAINING!!! It rained most of the night - it was fun to look out the windows and see the street all flooded. I went to bed before Virginia and when I came downstairs this morning she had taken two sections of the ceiling down and there was a bucket to catch the rain. There was water all over the floor next to the window. I will mop up the floor after I write this message. This townhouse is just barely "put together"!!!
I have to tell you something funny that happened at church yesterday. We always take off our shoes before going into church - don't ask me why because the floor is not that well preserved and there isn't any carpet anywhere. Anyway - when we left the church and I went to put on my shoes they didn't match - I had worn two black shoes but they were from different pairs. I ABOUT DIED!!! One of the young lady missionaries was standing by me and we laughed and laughed and she said, "If I had two pairs of shoes I would do the same thing". WOW - am I ever getting old - I'm just glad they were both the same color. Virginia fell down the steps coming from the highway overpass - her feet are long so she has to come down the steps sideways and she lost her balance. I screamed but the man coming up the other way just looked at her and went on his way. She wasn't hurt but her dress was all muddy.
When we went to this new school last week the teachers asked us how they could help us. I had just received that letter from Ellen Mae so I said, "Could you take us someplace where we could buy good jewelry". The principal is going to take us someplace this afternoon and then take us to dinner. I have no idea what I have myself in for. The "Baht" is devalued and the banks are getting very strict about the way they handle our money. They won't give us the money until our checks have cleared in the United States and then they charge us $30 per check. I won't buy anything unless I can charge it on my Visa and they are getting funny about that too. I will let you know what happens.
I love you all so very, very much. PLEASE BE SO VERY CAREFUL. Grandma B