Hi, 2023!
I realize I didn’t make a single post for all of 2023. So, I’ll just give a quick overview of what’s happened in my life in this year, in no particular order.
I’m a dad now!
My daughter Grace was born 9 June 2023 here in Thailand and she’s been a huge blessing for both Ngai Pi and me. We are currently (at the time of writing) working to get her birth registered with the US Consulate General in Chiang Mai, so that way she can obtain US citizenship and a US passport. Because both I and Ngai Pi live here on passports, Grace does not automatically get Thai citizenship. Certain children who are born to non-citizens do automatically get citizenship, as long as their parents are deemed “stateless”.
I got my Thai motorcycle and car licenses!
After taking a written exam (the precursor to which was sitting in a room and watching instructional videos and videos of car crashes), passing with 48/50 (minimum 45 to pass), and then passing my driving exam, I got my motorcycle license for Thailand! It’s the first motorcycle license I’ve ever had!
The car license was at first tricky and then it got easier. The people at the BMV didn’t know what to make of my stupid Indiana license that just says “Operators License” instead of “Drivers License”, so they asked me to get an affidavit from my embassy. Well, the embassy doesn’t do affidavits for state documents, so that was a no-go. I thought I would just take the driving test, but it required parallel parking in very tight spaces, so I didn’t have much hope. On a last whim, I printed the information page from the Indiana BMV showing the design of the license. I went in and explained in my rudimentary Thai that I couldn’t provide an embassy letter and this was the best I could do. They surprisingly accepted it and after getting some other documents from immigration and a health certificate, I had my license in hand the next day!
I presented at another Linguistics conference!
It felt good to be back in my old Linguistics domain at SEALS. I presented on Object Marking with hoŋ in Sizang Chin and got some good feedback. The conference also provided me with good networking opportunities!