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I've been ignoring the blog lately because of Facebook. I find it easier to keep people posted there. Also, this is a private blog and most followers find it inconvenient to follow when they have to login.

Mike has been in the States for about a month and I will be so happy when he finally gets home. He started in Florida with a conference, then over to Ft. Campbell to talk with some of Adam's unit. He then spent a few days in DC before driving to New Hampshire. He intended to spend just a few days in NH, check on the folks and then head back to DC to fly back here. But, as luck would have it, he happened in on his folks when his father was at death's door! It wasn't a big thing like cancer, but it is something that required medical attention. So Mike got him in to see a doctor and run some tests. To make a long story short, he's better now and back home with a visiting nurse a couple times a week and an in-home caregiver a few hours every day durning the week.

Mike was supposed to come back for another work conference in Hua Hin last week but he couldn't make it because of his father's condition. I had alread bought tickets for me and the kids to join him, so we ended up going anyway. We had a great time and you can see some of the pictures on FB.

The kids are out of school this week and they have plans to spend time with their friends during the break. The seem to be doing very well in school. I had a talk with Micah this weekend about his college plans and what he needs to do to prepare for that. He only has about four and a half more years before graduation, which means he needs to start preparing for the PSATs next year and the SATs the following year. I told him there would be studying this summer and he better not give me any attitude about it.

I'm still plugging away on my masters degree. I would really love to finish it by the end of January but I may be biting off a little more than I can chew. I'm going to be a little sad when it's over because I really like doing the work and learning the details of my profession at a much deeper level.

That's it for now... I had trouble uploading pictures from the beach so just go check them out on FB.

Happy Birthday Mary!

Mary turned 8 years old Friday, August 14th. We took her out to dinner Friday night and let her pick out a build-a-bear and then we had a pool/pizza party for her on Saturday.

She is one happy little eight year old! She had been talking about this day since the day after her birthday last year and it was pretty much all she could talk about this week. She picked out a pink unicorn build-a-bear, two small skateboards and a leash so she could easily drag it around behind her.

She got some of those dinosaur eggs from her friend Abiha and somehow those have become the unicorn's babies. Some of the other gifts include games like Uno and Pictionary and some "chapter" books, which will come in handy for our evening study hall.

Final Days of Leisure

We’re off to Ban Kruit tomorrow morning for one last little holiday before I resume my illustrious IT career with the Department of State. I’ve been a Woman of Leisure, more or less, for over a year now. But it will be back to the daily grind on Monday.

The kids will get back to school the following Monday, August 10th. Micah and Mary are both interested in signing up for golf as an extracurricular activity this year. The school has a really good program through one of the local golf centers. They will be learning from an ex-PGA pro from the UK and they seem pretty excited about it.

My good friend Sheena Driscoll is moving into our apartment building this weekend. She will be working for Mike starting Monday and she has a 15 year old son! I can’t wait for her to get here!

A Lovely Day in Niagra Falls

One of the things we did while we were home this summer was venture off to Niagra Falls, which is about an hour and a half north of Jamestown, NY, where my parents live. We did the full tourist package... Under the Falls, Maid of the Mist, The Rapids, etc. I'm always amazed at the record of fools who do crazy stunts there, like going over the falls in a barrel, tightrope walking over, or swimming down the rapids. One woman took her dog with her in a barrel and could not be pulled from the whirlpool for 6 hours. She suffocated, of course, but her dog survived by sticking his snout in the only open air hole available... a Darwin Awards candidate if there ever was one back then.

What the...?!

We snapped this picture at the top of some ruins in the Ancient City... I took Lukas and Mary out there for the day. More interesting pictures in Picasa!

So... what do you think is going on here? Maybe she had a fight with her snake of a boyfriend and now she's settled down for a pint of creamy lizard? She may come to regret that... "Does this lizard make me look fat?"

Hillary Clinton Visit

My first posting in almost 2 months and it's about Hillary's visit to Thailand... I know, I know, but there's just so much to cover that I decided to write about the first thing I pulled out of the hat.

We got up bright and early Wednesday morning and headed over to the Conrad hotel for a meet-n-greet with Secratary of State Hillary Clinton. The boys looked so handsome in their business attire. We sat around for about two hours before she made her grand entrance. She loves babies and wanted pictures of her and the Embassy kids so Lukie and Micah got to sit on the stage the whole time. As you can see from the picasa pictures they were just thrilled :-) Btw, you can see all our pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/tinakuligowski.

The Community Liason Office (aka CLO) tried to entertain us with knock-knock and "why did the chicken cross the road" jokes while we waited, but that went over like a lead balloon. Once Hillary made her entrance she talked for about 10 minutes, took some picture with the kids and then walked down the greeting line and shook hands with as many of the Embassy staff who were able to crowd up to the tape line... unfortunately, I was not one of those people.

The Kids First Year in Bangkok

One of the things I wanted to document during our stay in Thailand is how well the kids have adjusted. I was told that the school they’re going to, NIST, is one of the healthiest learning environments of all the schools here. They have both had a very good school year. Micah finally got to go on his class trip to Chiang Dao and Mary class is having an end-of-year pool party next Wednesday. We are all excited about heading home once school lets out next week. So, here is a short video of Mary playing art teacher for her furry friends. She has been obsessed with Build-A-Bear ever since I got her one in April. She is constantly watching these goofy videos of other, build-a-bear obsessed, little girls on youtube. She’s been taking lots of similar videos of her and her “kids” hoping that I will post her videos on youtube as well. I will create a separate posting for Micah’s trip.

Adam Michael Kuligowski 1987 - 2009

We are suffering the loss of Mike's son, Adam, who died in Afghanastan on Monday, April 6th. I still find it hard to believe that Adam is gone. He was just here on leave in February. I keep looking at photos we took of him before he left. What a smart, good-looking and accomplished young man. I didn't get to spend much time with him, mainly because I was in Vietnam almost the whole time he was here, but I did spend one quiet moment with him before he left. I gave him this Buddha coin that I picked up at temple in Ban Kruit and I told him he was like my own personal Buddha, the way he’s always so peaceful and easy to be around. Even my kids acted a little different when they were around him. I told him to keep it as a reminder that I was always praying for him and thinking about him. I worried so much for his safety in Afghanistan since the Taliban looked like they were going to completely overrun the country before Adam’s tour was over. That was the first thought I had when I got that call. I wanted to turn on the TV to see if I could find out more about what was going on over there.

Mike, Stefan and I left for New Hampshire the next day. Unfortunately I had to come back before the funeral but Kalia, Mike's daughter, emailed me a detailed narration of it... here it is:

"The funeral was tough, especially Stefan and Dad's words...they are both really good speakers. The parts that stick out to me about Stefan's were his story about going to Boston, taking Adam for the first time, they were going to a movie...and Stefan got lost and frustrated and pulled over. Adam told him to pull out, take a left, a right and they were there...and Adam had never been there. Stefan's point was that Adam was always taking care of Stefan. He also talked about watching the extended edition of all the Lord of the Rings movies from 10pm-10am. Stefan said that Adam didn't know that Stefan had recorded them watching it. But he then said that Adam was Frodo, and he was Sam, and he would have carried the ring to Mordor for Frodo, if he only let him...I don't know if I have the analogy right...but it was really powerful.

My Dad's was even more moving...he started out with this story when we lost Adam at Disneyland when he was 7 or 8. And they were frantically running around trying to find him...and my dad turned to my mom and said, 'if anything happens to him, i'll die' and then he said "this past week something happened to Adam, and I didn't die...maybe it would've been easier if I did" ugh...heartbreaking. He also talked about going hiking in Utah with Adam, and how they camped out and caught a fish for dinner and watched the sunset...and how it was probably the best day of his life. He encouraged everyone to look for those golden moments. He also encouraged people to be kind cuz you never know what someone's going through...and to give service. He talked about the casualty officers and their service, along with the salesman at Macy's that helped them get suits, and he talked about how Micah shined his shoes before he left. He was just saying that little acts of service can mean so much. He also talked about how there's always going to be a hole in his life, and how yah, over time it'll get easier to deal with, but the hole will still be there.

Oh, and I just shared some of Adam's words from the essay we found. You read it right? I just read the part about how he thinks when he sees things like the Great Wall of China...and then about how change is eternal, but there are some constants we need to hold on to. I added that the constant in our lives is love-whether through family or friends and how we need to hold on to those. I hope over time we find more of Adam's writings, he is definitely a philosopher.

The military service at the cemetery was nice. They presented my mom and dad with separate flags and separate medals, so they each have the same things...which is nice cuz then there won't be any fighting over them or hard feelings. Oh, my uncle Stash fell...I made him sit on the folding chairs with the family..and then the General was trying to make his way to me to give me this pin thing...and Stash must've shifted his weight...and the chair sank into the ground...which was also at a slant...yeah, so he tumbled over...but then as the General was pinning my pin on me, he asked who that was and if he should get a pin. i told him it was my uncle and that he'd love a pin. He did. After the service I apologized, saying it was my fault cuz I made him sit there. He was all, "but I got a pin!" :)

Oh, on the ride over, from the church to the cemetery, we were in 2 limos. It wasn't a long ride to the cemetery, just a couple minutes, but along the road there were some people waving...one older guy was holding a flag and saluting...and then the cemetery was lined with the Patriot Guard...or whatever they're called, the bikers that come...they were lining the road, holding flags... Did Dad tell you about the wake and how 2 different biker gangs came in to pay their respects? I think they were both veteran groups. The first one was the Nam Knights, very nice people.

Stefan's friends all stayed 'till after the wake, cuz they wanted to go out together to get something to eat. So did all my mom's relatives...so I combined the groups and got us over to this mom and pop's place on Broadway called C&K's. There were about 20 or so of us...and I guess the waitress had to be called back in to work. I guess when I called telling them we had a big group, she had just gone home cuz it was slow...but we changed all that. We had a nice dinner...and then my dad surprised us by paying for it, which no one expected at all. So everyone chipped in for the tip...the waitress got over $100."

The morning after we arrived in New Hampshire we went to breakfast and just outside the restaurant there were three newpaper machines, all with Adam's picture on the front page. After the funeral, there were some very nice articles covering the service with lots of good photos. Here are the links to news articles and pictures of Adam. The last link (NPR) is an interview that NPR did with Mike. You can listen to the interview or read about it from that link.:

http://www.derrynews.com/local/local_story_112132157.html

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Family+paints+vivid+life+picture+of+fallen+soldier&articleId=e8c90928-2991-4e6e-995f-3515dd24b132

http://www.nhpr.org/node/24312

Easter Egg Hunt

We took Mary to the Embassy this morning for an Easter egg hunt - another CLO sponsored event - She looked so cute in her pretty pink Sunday school dress. The kids were told they could find a maximum of 8 eggs. Mary took off immediately and found her eggs in about 2 minutes. Then we went inside and played games. Mary made me a nice necklace and the cafeteria put out a very nice spread for lunch.

Picture to the left...

Weekend in Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya is the original capital of Thailand. It's about an hour north of Bangkok and is completely surrounded by 3 rivers. That is one of the main reasons why it was chosen to be the capital... great defense! The Thais took a spanking or two from the Burmese back in the day. This trip was actually sponsored by the Community Liason Office so everything was planned from the moment we arrived until we left. We stayed at a lovely resort called the Garden River Home which sat right on the river bank.

After we settled in we were driven off to see the ancient ruins. It was incredibly hot but what a beautiful sight. You can see the pictures in the slideshow to the left. If you want a better view, click on the pictures and you will be taken to our Picasa web album where all of our Bangkok pictures are stored.

I could go on and on about Ayutthaya... The sunset dinner cruise, the Grand Palace tour, Catholic/Budda Monks, the princess who drowned because no one was suppose to touch royaly, etc. But, I'm pretty sure no one is actually going to read this so, I'll tell you what, I will send a box of tasty Thai treats to the first person to comment on this blog.

Ban Kruit Family Vacation

I was so happy to finally take the kids to Ban Kruit. Here is a video clip of our little trip. It was very quiet and relaxing. Since then, I have been working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week... Man-Oh-Man, I forgot how time consuming that is! Who came up with this 8 hour work day anyway? It takes a lot of work to keep a blog updated y'know... I still have a cute little video clip of Mary in her new playhouse. I guess that one will have to keep until next week.

I have two more weeks of DS classes to keep me busy during the day and I'm plugging along with the masters program. I just finished a course for securing wireless networks.

We took Micah out for his birthday this weekend. He will be 13 on the Wednesday. I paid to have his XBOX 360, uh... "upgraded" and he got a few games for his new and improved console. He's happy :-)

Vietnam

This is day four in Saigon and I am having a great time! I'm staying in a nice little hotel called The Ordinary Hotel. It's right across the street from the Sheraton in a very interesting and lively part of town. Good selection of restaraunts, spas and shopping... what more could I ask for?

The traffic is crazy but it's also kind of entertaining. There are 10 times more mopeds than cars and it's not unusual to see a family of 4 or 5 riding on a moped. I got a picture of one this morning... kind of blurry because I was on bike. What's entertaining about the traffic is that if you just wonder out into it (forget about waiting for it to clear... that'll never happen) then the reponsibility to avoid hitting you is on the other drivers! My bicycle driver cuts into these huge, oncoming lines of traffic and I'm thinking we're going to die some horrible death but everyone just wizzes by as we slowly make our way across the intersection. It only takes about 10 minutes to get to the Consulate but it's my favorite part of the day.

One thing I love about this town is there are no McDonalds!!! The only US fast food chain that dared to set up shop was the Colonel himself... KFC! The Vietnamese have their own version of McDonald's called Pho' 24. You see one on just about every corner. Pho', pronounced FU (I always thought it was FO, like FE FI FO FUM, but it's more like FUM, without the M) Anyway, it's a bowl of noodles with meat and vegatables. The veggies come on a side dish so you can do it yourself. I had some the first night I was here and then every lunch this week. There's a Pho 24 right next to the Consulate where a lot of ConGen folks like to eat.

I am getting some very positive feedback on my Office 2007 training class. I've trained about 60 people so far. I know that some of these folks do not understand a word I'm saying but y'know what... they don't let that stand in their way. I think they really appreciate the training and they are taking full advantage of it while I'm here.

Okay, that's it for now. I'll post a few pictures that I took this morning on the way to work but I plan on getting some really good ones this weekend when I put on my tourist hat and roll through town with my bicycle driver/tour guide.

Dusit Zoo

Sunday we spent a few hours at the Dusit Zoo... What a FIND! This zoo was every bit as good as the National Zoo in Washington, DC. The minute we walked in there was a pen full of giraffes, zebras and ostriches.

Mary wanted to document her adventures so she put together a book and got right to work before we ever left the apartment. She started off pretty strong and then she passed the book to me and I kind of dropped the ball once we got out of the Nocturnal House. She was right on me though... we saw some goats and then moved on to the hippo pond. After that she said, "Now you need to write about the goats AND the hippos!" But, before she finished I was rushing off to see the bear cub standing on his hind legs. Micah was rushing me! He wanted me to get a good picture. Then Mary said, "Now we need to write about the goats, the hippos AND the bear!!" I said, "That's it - I'm giving you the book back and YOU can write about it." She was very persistent though and I think it put her in a bad mood.

Micah wanted to do three things at once (typical) so we caught a train that ran through the whole park in about 20 minutes but we didn't get a chance to really see anything that way. We were a little pressed for time but I think we'll try to get there a little earlier next time.

When we were ready to go we could NOT get a taxi to take us back to the BTS so we all crammed into a Tuk-Tuk which had no problem taking us to the sky train. I tried to get a picture of Mary eating this bag of dried seaweed. She loves that stuff! Anyway, here is a slideshow of our Sunday at the Zoo…

===I'm going to try to put together some food packages for you folks back home that will have some of the snacks that you would never find in the States, like dried seaweed. ===

Vacation Ending...

It looks like my days of leisure are quickly coming to an end :-( My Office 2007 training trip to Vietnam is eminent, and that's only the beginning. I will leave for Vietnam on February 8th and return either on the 18th or 19th. Then it's off to Ban Kruit with Mike and the kids for one final frolick at the beach before I start a month long run for the DS Training Center, teaching their IA courses here in Bangkok.

There has been an Embassy position that I've had my eye on for about 3 months now and it looks like they're finally going to advertise it next week.

And finally... I will start a masters program for information assurance (computer security) on Monday! It's seems like I've been waiting for this program to start ever since I arrived in Bangkok but, it's a new program that they are offering and I will be in the very first class along with about 8 other students. I am so ready, I already know what my capstone project (thesis) will be!

Actually, I've already started working again. I put in about 60 hours in the past few weeks updating one of the DS courses. The next week will be pretty busy also. I need to put together some kind of curriculum for the Office 2007 training.

I will miss my free time and the extra time with the kids, however, I have some money now and the perfect excuse to buy some new shoes!

Micah's New Hobby

Micah is big into movies and movie making now.  I think Stefan may have had something to do with that.  He made himself a stunt dummy and is trying to get his hands on all kinds of special effects products, like liquid latex and plaster of paris.  He wants to make an arm!

He watched a special on Bollywood films the other night.  Since then he's watch several of these Hindi films and has expressed an interest in a film school there.  I think Bollywood Horror would be a nice little niche for him :-)

Here is a video of him working on his "Man Barbie" as Mike calls it.  There are also some shots of our neighboorhood towards the end.  You can see how close the sky train is.

Christmas Video for Nellie

Nellie wanted to hear the kids' voices so I stripped the music from the Christmas video and here it is... Enjoy Mamma!

Micah Muay Thai Video

I'm so proud of my little boy.  I can't believe he is growing up so fast.  He said he didn't like the city anymore and he wanted to live in NY with his grandparents next year.  I got down on the ground and started crying and begging..."Please, please, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!"  Even though he is at that age where I just want to throw him off the balcony more often than usual, I could not bear the thought of him leaving me for any great length of time.

He's really into the Muay Thai boxing again so I went over a got a few clips of him working out.  (I'm sorry Nellie... they didn't really talk in this video so I put a Rocky sounding tune with it.)  I'll tell you about his new hobby in the next post!