Hey, Mia - this post is for you!

The school has been hiring a lot of new staff and one arrived this week.  Robert Fielder is going to be the new Assistant Principal of the secondary school.  Mia, his wife, along with their two sons and baby girl won't be arriving for awhile.

I'm especially happy because Robert brought with him some cloudy, rainy weather.  Instead of temps around 111, today is an almost chilly 92.

Robert and I went shopping this morning.  He seems pleasantly surprised that there are more nice restaurants and shops than he expected.  He seems like a terrific guy and clearly is a family man.  I can't wait until they get here so I can meet them.  It will be especially cool, because it looks like I'll be teaching their youngest son next year.

We went to a grocery store, which also includes Angel Bakery.  I was excited to see the "restaurant" next door.  I'd never paid attention to it before, thinking it was just another tea shop, of which there are hundreds in town.  But the last time I was driving away from the store, I looked at the sign and it appeared that it was actually an Asian food court, with Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese and Myanmar food.

After shopping I went to check it out while Robert patiently waited.  In addition to the types of food already mentioned, they also have a tiny stall for CP Chicken, which is a Thai business which sells good fried and rotisserie chicken.

The sad news is that most of the stalls didn't have most of the food advertised.  But I got some traditional Myanmar noodle soup with a chicken/coconut broth ($.80) and 3 large Thai spring rolls ($1.50).  I'll definitely be going back.  The soup in particular was delicious.

We stopped at another bakery, BB Cakes, on our way back to school.  Robert was excited to see the large birthday cakes and is already planning to buy them for his boys and their classmates.  It seems that usually their birthdays happen when school isn't in session so he's excited for them to experience a "school" birthday.

It's nice to have someone new here.  Mia, I can't wait to meet you and show you Mandalay.  I'm working on filling in Robert on places in Mandalay and Bangkok that are family friendly and would be fun for the boys.  I've also warned him that I'll be showing you where to buy some beautiful silk clothes and great stuff for the baby.  Please know that Robert seems to be settling in well and getting to work, but clearly misses his family.

Spring rolls and soup.  $2.30 for everything.

Next time, I'll try the pho.

Say "yes!" to rotisserie chicken!

P.S.  The weird Tucson connection continues.  Three of us used to live there.  One teacher is going to retire there.  And Robert's mom lives in Tucson.  Weird!