Mom of 3rd Culture Kids

I can’t help but smile at ourselves for being so naive with the Free iPad offer that a restaurant in this city has offered. You see a couple of months ago, we dined in this Japanese restuarant and they gave us a card with 24 empty slots. The front of the card says something like Free Ipad ( in Thai). So, we asked one of the waitresses and she explained to us that for every 500Baht worth of purchase ( or meal) would entitle us 1 sticker. And if we fill the card with stickers ( all 24), we are entitled for a Free iPad 2.

So,Hubby and I got excited and started to calculate how much we need to spend in food to get the free iPad. We thought that since we have guests regularly coming over, it is indeed achievable to fill card with stickers before the due date Dec. 31. Yes, we  have wondered how in the world the owner could be giving Free iPads for their customers. I suspected that it must be a China made iPad ( the imitation one) but nevertheless, I’m still keen on getting it. While Hubby suspects he should have a contact where he gets to buy it from the source just like how we would like to find the latest laptops at the source.

So, whenever there are special occasions, like birthdays, Anniversaries or farewell dinners, we would always go to this restaurant to get our stickers. One time we  even let our friends use our card as they dined in the restaurant just so we could get additional stickers. We managed to get half of the card filled with stickers. And boy were we excited! But we had one problem, in case we get our card filled up, we won’t be here in December to ‘claim’ our iPad. So, Hubby talked to the owner and asked him a few details about the contest…. and then, the truth was revealed….

It is true that the card must be filled with stickers to be entitled for a fee iPad, BUT… the person with the most stickers win! Which means, after our 1st card is filled up, we have to get another card to fill it up.. and if we have the highest number of stickers.. then we will be the winners.. He also mentioned that some people are now filling up their 3rd card. Opppsss….

So, there goes our free iPad … and there goes our patronage for this Japanese restaurant…

I’m not sure whether we misunderstood the waitress when she explained the mechanics of the promotion during the first time we asked or the rules have changed in the process.. but anyways, this is part of living in a country not entirely our own, there will be a lot of misinformation and miscommunication… Bye bye free iPad…

My daughter has always liked Silvermist. I think she even liked Silvermist better than Tinkerbell. For her birthday last year, she had a Tinkerbell birthday party as her Granny gave her a Tinkerbell dress. We found out that character costumes are really much cheaper in the Philippines compared here in Thailand. I’m sure they will also have a wide variety of discount medical uniforms there.

Anyways, jut last week, my mom gave my daughter another dress and this time it’s a Silvermist dress. Oh, she was so happy when she saw the dress and couldn’t wait for a special occasion to wear it.

I’m so glad that my kids have finally come to a stage where they play more and fight less. What a relief!.. My 7 year old and almost 4 year old are mostly seen sitting together and playing together. And they call each other, ‘Bestfriends!”. I never thought this would happen a few months ago. They were like fighting for almost everything. Whenever my son wakes up, his first words will usually be , ” Ate ( big sister), can you please play with me?”

Now, I have more quiet times as they peacefully play together. )