COVID-19 - Eleventh Update - They're tracking us

Our neighbourhood - so awesome.

So very Thai.

Here's what has happened since our last update:

June 10 - We enjoyed another bike ride, and we thought the park had been opened so we cycled through. It's actually still closed but we weren't apprehended. We did notice that all the fishing boats have been pulled out of the water. That makes it very official - the monsoon season has arrived. Fishing will now take place on the east side of the island.

June 11 - Our friend from Peony's opened this week, and this is the third day this week that we have ordered take-out from her. Such tasty Thai curries! And they deliver.

June 12 - A Thai friend from the north delivered our lunch today - laab moo. It's a spicy ground pork salad and ours even had chopped liver and entrails. We said "what the heck" and gave it a try and were pleasantly surprised. Our friend served it with "sticky rice" which added to the uniqueness of the meal for us.

June 15 - Thailand has entered Phase 4 of re-opening!  No more curfew. Restaurants can now serve alcohol. Bars are still closed. There is still a ban on most international travel, but there are some repatriation flights. The Thais are bringing a lot of their workers home from abroad, but they have to go directly into quarantine, and a number of expats are still leaving Thailand when they can find a flight - but not from Phuket airport. We ourselves are enjoying much more freedom. Today we went to a restaurant with friends. Yes, we wore masks, didn't hug, washed our hands often, and noticed how carefully the restaurant followed the new guidelines. The following photos are by Linda.

Bang Pae seafood restaurant view of Phang Nga Bay.

Otto, Darrel and Loretta, with Linda taking the photo.

June 16 - I posted the blog "When Terry Went Missing". The thoughtful comments on Facebook and through email have been very comforting. 

June 16 - The WHO has recognized the important work of the million-strong group of volunteers in Thailand who have helped keep the COVID situation in Thailand under control. We ourselves have experienced the helpfulness of the local volunteers. Amazing effort.

June 19 - We had a trip into Phuket Town to see a specialist at the International Hospital for some dental work for Darrel. The traffic was much quieter than normal which made the drive much more pleasant than usual. The subways that they have completed since we've been here do much to improve the traffic flow, but they were underutilized today. The scene at the hospital was very impressive - clean, quiet, COVID free (they treat COVID patients elsewhere). As always, the service was superb and the price very competitive. We understand why so many foreigners come here to be treated for a multitude of things.

It was a lovely day for a drive.

Not many people in the waiting room.
The chairs are "distanced".

First step - temperature taken and hands sanitized.

How to stand in the elevator. Unless you're a rebel.

June 20 - While we were enjoying our end-of-day moment on the roof-top last night, we heard an airplane! We haven't heard that sound for months. 

June 21 - A CBC article talks about "excess deaths" in Canada during COVID. Here's the article: click here. At least two provinces reported an unusually high number of deaths in the early weeks of the pandemic but they were not reported as COVID deaths. But were they actually COVID related? The most alarming fact coming out of this article is that most of our reporting of deaths in Canada is paper-based. A professor of epidemiology at the University of Toronto describes our data collection process as "archaic and decentralized". We are a rich country. Why can't we operate like one, especially in matters of life and death? The provinces have really dropped the ball on this one.

We saw an airplane taking off from the airport today. Such a change from "a-plane-every-six-minutes" days.

June 22 - We returned to the Dewa Bread and Butter Cafe to meet with a Thai friend. We used the new tracking system "Thai Chana" (Darrel just had to scan the QR code) to check in and out. They asked for our phone number which we happily provided so that we can be contacted if there is a COVID case near us. When we checked out, the tracking-system asked us four questions: Did the staff wear masks? (Yes, and face shields). Was there social distancing? (Yes, they have removed many tables and there are shields between each place along the bar). Was it clean? (Yes, spotless). Did they have hand sanitizer? (Yes, at the entrance. Plus they took our temperature). In the attached photo, we are not wearing masks. It is impossible to eat and drink when wearing masks. So we are careful about who we dine with. 

"Selfie" by Khun Kay.

The manager and our friend,
Khun Nitty.

The park is closed but they let me walk to the beach to get some photos.

Over the month: We're not travelling (said everyone in the world), so we reallocated a chunk of our travel budget to our household budget.  Besides our recliners and our very smart TV, we also bought a new microwave/convection oven (the last one hadn't been working right since the lightning strike) and some new headphones (the last ones were not compatible with our new TV - not smart enough I guess). Speaking of not smart enough, it took us two days to figure out how to get both our new headphones to work at the same time with the TV. Bluetooth is a one-to-one technology, so we had to get a transceiver to split the Bluetooth signal. What we didn't realize was that the transceiver assumed our TV was not Bluetooth. And our not-so-smart TV assumed that the transceiver wanted to Bluetooth with it. It didn't, of course. Once we figured out this little complexity, we found out that if we turned the transceiver and headphones on before we turned the TV on, then they would talk together. When we turned the TV on, the three devices just ignored the TV's Bluetooth. Through a cable, the TV then sent its sound through the transceiver/splitter to our headphones via Bluetooth. Simple as that. (Groan). Our headphones are more comfortable than the last ones and we can walk anywhere within 120 feet - like to the new microwave to make popcorn - and can still pick up the signal without static. The things we need to do to entertain ourselves when we can't travel. 

Can We Speak Thai?

We get this question from time to time.  Before I tell you how we are doing, please let me first put forth our excuses:

1. Neither one of us is married to a Thai person.
2. Neither one of us works for a Thai company.
3. We do not have any Thai people in our employ, although part of our "aging in place" plan definitely includes the hiring of Thais to help us in many ways.
4. One of us has a hearing problem.
5. One of us has an attention span problem.
6. All our Thai friends like to practice their English when they are with us.

The good news is that every single day we see some progress. Our vocabulary continues to increase and our pronunciation is improving. We spend about a half-hour every morning learning from an internet-based Thai language program on our Smart TV, while drinking a cup of coffee, sitting in our comfortable recliners. Each lesson has a review portion so it is possible to gauge how we are doing. It is slow progress on a very long and difficult road, but we continue to move forward. 

Darrel gets the most practice because he goes out more. I don't like to join him on the motorbike. But even when we get out, it isn't always possible to practice what we have learned. Reasons: 

1. Many of the workers in our neighbourhood are not Thais - most are Burmese. 
2. There are different dialects in Thailand. We are learning Bangkok Thai, but we live in the south, which has a different dialect. To further complicate things, many of the Thais who live here are actually from the north, which again has a different dialect. While we can (painfully) make ourselves understood to the southerners and northerners, we have no hope in understanding them when they talk together.
3. Same as 6 above - Thais like to practice their English with us.
4. If we are making a major purchase or buying something from the drug store or having a medical or dental procedure, we don't want any communication problems. Most professionals here speak very good English, so why complicate things?

So can we speak Thai? The answer to the question is "yes - a little bit", and probably it will always be just a little bit. 

Or as we say to our Thai friends: ได้นิดหน่อย
  

Snippets from Friends:

We celebrated our 50th Anniversary on Saturday, June 13, exactly 50 years after our wedding on June 13, 1970.  Due to coronavirus, it was a small affair with only seven people.  However, we took photos and videos and shared with friends and family via Zoom. (Colorado)

 

 

I know 4 people who are recovering from COVID. None of them are physically or mentally the same as pre-COVID. One has crippling insomnia and PTSD, another has been in rehab for a month and has short term memory problems and persistent muscle weakness. COVID is NOT just a flu. (Arizona)

 

 

Here in Cape Town we are still in a worsening  corona situation. The curve is still going up steeply .Corona started late here and we are still quite far away from it flattening and going down. However the government is slackening the restrictions and slowly opening businesses as unemployment has become very high and poverty and hunger are increasing, especially in the townships where the risk of infections is very high, due to people living on top of each other, fully packed trains and overloaded minibus taxis. We are still under lock down and are not allowed to leave the house unless for essential shopping and, since recently, going to work and short walks in nature, always with mouth cap and distancing. We have been meeting our children and grandchildren every Sunday digitally via "ZOOM" where we can talk and see each other having breakfast on the computer screen. Substitute fun!

I have started to accept the fact that life will never quite be the same. We are still hoping to make it back to our Thai home, so fingers crossed. Hope to see you soon.  

 

 

That’s it for now. Take care, everyone. Loretta & Darrel.