Yeah, John and I were in Thailand when the tsunamis hit the day after Christmas. Thankfully, we weren’t in Phuket yet: our flight was slated to fly into Phuket that evening, and when we arrived at the ticket counter the agent didn’t even say a thing. We hadn’t heard news of the event all day. Coincidentally, an American behind us asked us if we were crazy, because only journalists and aid workers were traveling there. Then we pieced together the crowds huddled around the tv screen in the airport (but we couldn’t understand the scale of anything since the news was in Thai). We decided to cancel our flight and stay in Bangkok.

So I guess you could say we missed it by a day. We were really lucky. The rest of our time in Bangkok was pretty low-key. I couldn’t stop watching the BBC (even though it rarely had new information). When we forced ourselves to turn off the tv, we just walked around the city. Just weren’t really in the mood for museums and stuff. But we enjoyed walking around in the sunshine (90+ degrees) and eating fantastic international foods (why can’t they get it right in Shanghai?).

John and I gave blood for the first time. The Thai Red Cross was doing a blood drive for the tsunami victims. I was fine at first, but the longer we waited, the more nervous I got. I’m not a fan of needles drawing my blood (shots I can do). I started eyeing the operation through the windows and I noticed this one nurse was so unsure of herself. She would tie up the arm and then nervously move the cotton gauge above the piercing spot, then below, then above, then below before finally sticking in the needle. As I got closer in the queue, I kept hoping not to get her. Just my luck, I got her. Fortunately, she had practiced on enough people before me and it went fine. John, on the other hand, was doing fine until they took out the needle. Then, he almost fainted. They lifted his legs. He was fine after.

So if you haven’t already donated, here’s your chance. There are plenty of NGO’s to choose from.

We returned to Shanghai New Year’s eve. It had snowed and iced for the first time in six years. The road conditions set off a bunch of car accidents and we didn’t get home until late. By the time the dogs were delivered, we were exhausted. Went to bed before ringing in the new year. Oh well.