Here Or There

We live in a city that is 13 degrees north of the Equator.  In San Diego, we were on Latitude 33.  Seems we keep creeping south.  We’re looking at maybe getting closer to the Equator as well.  Near the 1 degree north area.

We love the tropical and jungle of it.  The rains, when they come, are awe inspiring and need to be seen in person to truly be believed.  The thing of it is, we’ve not really truly gotten a typhoon yet, just monsoon season.  If and when we leave and head to S Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, or other SEA countries, we will certainly have to have those things more on our radar.  A cool quirk of Thailand and BKK is the positioning of the landmass and Bay of Thailand.  It’s not impossible for a typhoon to get into BKK, just highly improbable.   Moving from here, however, will not afford us those geographical quirks and the wet season will become a whole new thing.  

The one constant is the hot.  The heat.  The unforgiving and unrelenting sun.  That is something else you won’t know until you’ve experienced it.  I’m not trying to make us seem better than you, we understand we are not, but you don’t know hot and humid.  You may think you do, but any time any of you want to come out in April and May and visit, we’d be happy to have you.

Be warned however, that the weeks will look like this… Or worse.

On top of that, it’s bright and sunny.  The breeze is hot.  Humidity is usually above 60%, usually nearer 70% or higher.  The other day, it was 36 degrees (96F for those playing along) with 82% humidity, the UV Index was (according to the weather app on my phone) at 12 EXTREME and the felt like told me it was 45.5 (114F for those at home) and it was only 11:00h and the day was only going to get hotter.

You need to feel that to know.  You need to experience it.  Because until you do, you can only empathize.  Not that empathy is bad, but the, “Yeah, it’s been in the 100s in CA before,” or “Well, that one time in WI it was 100 and humid.”  It’s beyond that.  Because it’s relentless, daily, constant, and even at night when it gets near 27 degrees (80ish F) it’s still humid with a hot breeze blowing up from the Equator at us.  

It’s an experience, but one we wouldn’t trade.

As we talk (J and myself that is) about next year and following, we are starting to look around the globe and ask of expat and international teachers other places and area that might fit what we seek, we’ve gotten 100s of suggestions from local and online communities.  Northern Japan and Southern Argentina or Chile have been mentioned and recommended, but we look and there is snow.  That gives us more pause than the heat.  

Who knows, though.  Maybe we will end up in Norway next and have a cold weather climate to deal with for the bulk of the year.  I doubt it, but you can never say never.  For now we take the hot and do the best we can, keeping hydrated and finding the shade when we can.  

Songkran and the rains will be here soon.  The weather will turn soon, offering some relief and cooler days and nights.  Right now, this is the hot part.  This is the bad.  But, even in that bad, we find ways to tolerate and work around, we take cabs instead of walking, we leave tasks for evening when at least we can work or walk out of the sun.  

Besides, end of the day, we can always just head up to the roof and have a swim.  Maybe that’s just a silver lining, or maybe it’s just what it is and part of our lives.  Either way, we smile, love, and laugh every day.  We wish you the same.

Let’s go, Kiddo… It may be hot, but we can swim, chill, or find other things to do that are cool.  Our next adventure will be this summer and that will be fun as well.  From there, who knows, but as a whole family we will go.  We love you and are excited to celebrate Songkran and your 6th birthday.  Hugs Kiddo, even sandwich hugs!