Happy Christmas Y'all!

Happy belated Christmas everybody! Sorry, I wasn't able to post earlier. This past week has been a big blur. On Monday I went to two job interviews and got an awesome new job in Bangkok. I'm super excited about it. I start on January 5th at New Sathorn International School as a Kindergarten 3 teacher. The school is just as nice or nicer than any Plano school, which is absolutely amazing. I couldn't believe all the resources they had and all the books! haha I will actually get to teach the way I would want to teach, instead of just throwing whatever little I have together and singing many songs about turtles. haha

Wednesday was Christmas Eve. We had our big Christmas show at Phoenix that day. The assistants had spent the past two weeks decorating and preparing the show, so the school was pretty decked out. It wasn't very Christmas-sy though. A lot of the colors that were hung up seemed to be pink and white and the backdrop to the stage was the Thai Flag with pink letters going across it saying "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year". Then, they cut out about 5 or 6 children of different nationalities and hung them up underneath. They did not represent America though. I was kindof offended, but then I realized they didn't represent Austrailia or Canada either, so only 2 out of the 6 English teachers were represented.

My kids had to wait a while before they got to perform, so I was stuck in a classroom with them for a few hours doing nothing. I walked in the room and was absolutely horrified by what I saw. My girls were wearing hot pink fluffy short skirts, black tights, and black halter tops with pink and black sequins. My boys were wearing silver shirts and pants with hot pink stars on them. The costumes had transformed my boys into little martians and my girls into showgirls. It was terrible. hahaha Their dance was to "Up on the Housetop", so it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The girls were wearing so much makeup that one little girl put her head on my lap and left an entire imprint of her face on my pant leg. I couldn't help but laugh at them. Luckily, they were not the most ridiculous looking kids in the bunch (but almost...), and they seemed to enjoy themselves.

Then that night people came in from Bangkok and we went out dancing! I was so excited to go dancing because Ben and I had been practicing all the new moves we had learned from the Kindergarten show. hahahaha It was definitely the weirdest Christmas Eve I've ever had. I was out until about 3 in the morning dancing at a club called Lucifers... it just doesn't seem right. We had fun though.

Christmas Day everybody woke up slowly and settled outside of LanguageCorps to hang out until dinner, which was actually around 3 that afternoon. Dinner was grrr-eat. We had turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes... all the usual stuff for a good Christmas dinner! I haven't had Western food in a REALLY long time and it was absolutely wonderful! I don't think my stomach was used to it though, because that night it felt all funny and I had to go get a couple buns to make it feel better. haha

Yesterday, Boxing Day (for all my English, Australian, Canadian friends), I packed up my stuff and took a taxi to Bangkok! I now need to find a place to live, pronto. Which hopefully, shouldn't be too hard. Tricia and I are going to live together and we are pumped! haha

I hope everybody had a great Christmas back home! I have definitely been thinking about y'all a lot lately and missing you! Merry Christmas!

The Real Post Office

I finally made it out to the real post office! Butt took me out there on Saturday morning! I'm an early bird, so we arrived a few minutes before the post office was even open and I was the third person in line. I came out with a much bigger package than I anticipated and I was worried we wouldn't be able to get back with it on the motorbike, but Butt surprised me with his balancing act skills by strategically placing it upfront with him. I have no idea how he drove with such ease. I made it back to Languagecorps and ran to my room where I tore open the package to find a bright pink new small camera, christmas pyjamas, cds my sister made me, socks, candy and cookies and cards. It was very exciting and festive!

The rest of the weekend was devoted to doing my usual things in Pattaya that I enjoy, because I decided it's my last weekend here. On Friday night I went and got a massage and wandered around. I attempted to go to bed early, but I managed to get sick over the week and was up all night coughing. Luckily I had gone to the pharmacy and gotten antibiotics and meds earlier that evening so I was prepared and am already better. The pharmacy trip was interesting because all I had to do was go in and ask for some antibiotics. They just gave them to me, no questions asked. Anyways, then Saturday I went to the weekend market where I went Christmas shopping for myself. haha I bought a fake coach side bag that I've wanted for a while. It was lots of fun. I got a pretty good deal on it too. Then today I went to Koh Larn with Ben (the new me, he took my job at Phoenix and at LanguageCorps) and with Elise and Tanya (teachers at Phoenix). It was a pretty good last weekend here.

I'm really excited for this week! Tomorrow I have two interviews in Bangkok! YaY! Everybody cross your fingers that one of them works out! Then Wednesday is my last day of work / Christmas Eve / and the the Phoenix Christmas Show! haha Then Thursday is Christmas! Then Friday, I think (if I'm packed and ready) I'm moving!

YaY!

Post Office Adventures

My mom has sent me an awesome Christmas package. It is so incredibly awesome that the Thai post office people have confiscated it and taxed it and taken it to the post office to make my life slightly more complicated. haha

(It's a new camera!!! Thanks mom! I really needed that!)

So, yesterday I hurried home from school forgetting about my stupid regime of getting some exercise and saving money by walking and instead took a baht bus home. Then I went up to my room, grabbed the magical slip of paper that will get me my Christmas package, and went down to meet my motorbike taxi friends at the corner. Sadly they told me that the post office was closed and to try again tomorrow. Um, okay. haha

Today I skipped going home and found a motorbike taxi right outside of the school. I told him that I needed to go to the post office. I even showed him the address of the post office written down in Thai. I asked him if he knew where it was and he said yes. He charged me A LOT of baht to go there. After a very long ride, he finally dropped me off at some random building that looked pretty official. I noticed that their were no motorbike taxis in sight and I asked him to stay and wait and then I would pay him to drive me home. He said that was great and he would wait. I then walked inside the building and asked a man where I should go to pick up a package and he looked at me like I was crazy.

This is when I realized I was not at the post office. hahaha

He was able to communicate to me that I was in the wrong place and that the post office normally closes at 4, but it should be open on Saturday. He was unable to tell me where I was though. haha I went outside to find my motorbike guy and found that he left me and then I panicked. I mean, I really panicked. There was pacing and heavy breathing involved. hahaha

After a few seconds of panicking, I calmed down and began to walk. I only had to walk a short distance before I found the Banglamung Police Station. I approached a nice looking police officer and asked him if he knew of where I could find a way home. I think he enjoyed practicing his English with me because soon I was in a police truck going into town. He dropped me off about 5 minutes later at a corner near a 7-Eleven and negotiated with a motorbike driver a very good price to get me home. I think it was a good price anyway, it was about 1/3 of what I paid to get there...

The day improved as soon as I got home. My motorbike friend, Butt (Yes, that is his name and that is how you spell it, haha), told me that he would take me to the real post office on Saturday. I got another package from my Grandma that had Christmas cookies in it! and I got a call for a job interview on Monday. It was very very exciting.

Hopefully I'll finally get that camera this weekend!

Ashley made me...

Remember those surveys that you used to fill out when you were in middle school? I still fill them out. haha

1. Where is your cell phone? floor
2. Your significant other? haha
3. Your hair? wet
4. Your mother? home
5. Your father?
6. Your favorite thing? hanging out with people. I know- I'm hard to please. hahaha
7. Your dream last night? tylenol pm
8. Your favorite drink? diet coke
9. Your dream/goal? love
10. The room you're in? languagecorps
11. Your fear? pattaya men
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? I don't even know where I want to be next year. haha
13. Where were you last night? Bangkok, drinking margs
14. What you're not? decisive
15. Muffins/donuts? muffins, blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? moving
17. Where you grew up? Texas
18. The last thing you did? buy grilled bananas
19. What are you wearing? tank top
20. Your TV? music channel
21. Your pet? zoey
22. Your computer? on
23. Your life? soap opera
24. Your mood? giggly
25. Missing someone? always
26. Favorite pastime? sleeping, haha
27. Something you're not wearing? pants, hahahaha
28. Favorite Store? target
29. Your summer? long :)
30. Your favorite color? green
31. When is the last time you laughed? when I said I wasn't wearing pants, hahahaha
32. Last time you cried? wednesday
33. Who will re-post this? i don't know
34. Four places I go over and over? 7-eleven, market, beach road, uhhhh back to the market, hahaha
35.Four people who e-mail me? mom, Ashley, Anna, languagecorps, It's hard to pick just four. I get a lot of emails. haha I love the emails. Keep 'em comin'. They really brighten up my days.
36. Four of my favorite foods? som tum, grilled bananas, buns, oreos
37. Four places I would like to be right now? Amazon, Greece, New Zealand, Vietnam
38. Four people I tag? meh- I don't really feel like it. hahaha

Highlights from the week-
*seeing my class' costumes for the Christmas show (details about them later, hahahaha)
*eating a taro pie from McDonald's
*seeing Twilight
*drinking margaritas at a jazz bar
*generally just relaxing in Bangkok

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

So, Koh Samet didn't happen. It's kindof a complicated story and not very interesting, so I'm not gonna share it. haha But I went there and it wasn't gonna work out and so I came back. haha All in one day.

So, Tricia and I were talking last night about Christmas and how she was hoping she was excused from it because she was in Thailand and all and I told her that I thought we probably were. haha I think because of that convo I woke up this morning kindof sad that it was December 7th and I hadn't gotten in the holiday spirit at all. I just realized today that I completely missed the Thanksgiving Day parade (which I ALWAYS watch) and I didn't get to make the stuffing (and if I do say so myself, I make THE BEST stuffing) and I didn't even notice. So I got a little sad that I wasn't going to get to watch White Christmas or The Santa Claus, make my peppermint bark or help frost cookies with my mom and sister, missing the annual Homie Christmas get together, roommate things, building gingerbread houses with Anna, haha, stuff like that.

To fix this problem, I went to the store and bought a Christmas tree! haha When I came home to put it up, I youtubed some Christmas music to listen too. haha It is 2 feet tall and has a Santa hat on top of it with candy canes all over it. I'm very excited about it! It tends to topple over sometimes cause it's a bit wobbly, but it's my Christmas tree!

The King's Birthday / Father's Day

Today is the King's Birthday / aka Father's Day, so we get the day off from work! Yay! I'm going to Koh Samet for the long weekend, yay! haha It's Father's Day because of the King's Birthday. Mother's Day happens in August when it's the Queen's Birthday. I am going to try to find something yellow to wear to be respectful, but I'm not sure if I have anything clean... oh dear. Yellow is the King's color, if you remember.

Yesterday was a very significant day. It started off by watching Kung Fu Panda at school, which was very exciting. If you haven't seen Kung Fu Panda, go watch it, cause it's awesome. I ditched my class and went in another room to watch it. haha All the classes were being herded in the rooms downstairs to get prepared for the monk ceremony. Monks had come to conduct a ceremony in honor of the King's birthday the next day. When it was time everybody went out to their parents and sat around on their knees and got ready to give offering to the monks. You are supposed to give the monks things to put in their silver/ gold buckets that they carry around. Things like food / medicince / water, things they can take back to the temple and distribute to the other monks. As a school, we managed to bring the monks two pick up trucks fu of monk supplies. I'm proud to say that I contributed a yellow buddha bucket that you can buy at the Big C. I am the one and only farang teacher who contributed.

At the Big C or Tesco Lotus (places like Walmart), they have whole aisles you can go to to that are labeled "Monk Supplies" and they have yellow buckets all lined up the aisle to buy. I proudly went the night before to buy one for the big day. haha Mine had a variety of things... some water, noodles, some sort of pills... hahaha

Anyways, the monks came around and received their offerings and did some chanting and then left. Then the kids all scurried to my room. I was very surprised that it didn't take longer and I had nothing planned for the day, so we made Father's Day cards, which worked all quite nicely.

Then at the end of the end day, something very very important happened. I quit my job. As of December 24 I will be unemployed. Happy Christmas to me. It's really quite a shame that I am leaving Phoenix because it is a great school and I love the people that I work with (with the one exception of Mark, hahaha) and the kids there, but I absolutely cannot live in Pattaya anymore and I am very very excited to move to Bangkok. It was very difficult telling Mei though. She's just so stinkin' nice! I hope that her and I will still be friends!

When I got home, it was Azalea's birthday, so the group and I sat around and made loads of guacomole and mojitos before going out to Walking Street. The guacomole tasted like a piece of heaven. hahaha I haven't had it SO long! haha Walking Street was fun, but not gonna lie, one of the things I was thinking when I was walking home "oh, I am so happy that I'm moving and won't get to do this much longer" hahahaha.

Alrighty, I'm going to go pack, get some grilled bananas (my new addiction...), and figure out how I'm getting to Koh Samet!

Oh, and I ate a grasshopper!

Wise Words from Dr. Seuss

"Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind."

Dr. Seuss just summed up my entire life with that statement. hahahahaha How great is that? hahahaha

I have had a very trying past couple of weeks. I am just very unhappy in Pattaya and one day it occurred to me that I could easily fix this by simply moving. Now the problem is is that I don't know if it's worth it. I tried making pro and con lists and blah blah blah, but I just have no idea. I'm tired of not having friends around to call or just hang out with or of not being able to walk down the street without being harassed. It's very frustrating. It is November 30th though, and December is a choppy month with a lot of traveling involved and then I only have to make it until the middle of March before I begin my great backpacking adventure- where I can make my "residence" Bangkok... If anybody has any thoughts or advice, I'd really appreciate it because I'm really terrible at making decisions.

I wasn't looking forward to this weekend very much because I had absolutely no plans and everybody was off doing other things, but it has been a very good weekend of rest for me. I have basically slept ALL weekend. haha For some really strange reason sleep slipped on my priority list and it got me all off and weird, but now I'm back to normal and I feel like myself again. hahahaha It's fabulous. I've missed me. hahaha Then in a rush of panic I realized yesterday that I had a three day weekend coming up and nothing to do, soooo... I decided to take a vacation! haha I'm planning to go to Koh Samet for the weekend. Hopefully it works out. It'll be my first real trip by myself, so we'll see how it goes. hahaha I'm a little bit nervous. hahaha It'll be great though, cause then when I get back I will only have two days of work and then it's Constitution Day- off from work, take the GRE in Bangkok on Thursday... and I figure I'll just stay in Bangkok for the rest of the week and forget about work on Friday. hahahaha Mai bpen rai. hahaha I should prolly see if I have a place to stay, but I'll worry about that later. haha

On a side note- I tried a new fruit the other day. hahaha It was a custard apple (noinaa). It looks like an artichoke and you peel the little nubs off and eat it and it's delicious, but full of seeds. I was pretty excited about trying it because I have been really curious about what it was for about a month or so now. I also tried durian- which was really gross and it stunk up my whole room. It was a huge disappointment, but at least now I can say I've had it. hahahaha

Same Same, but Different

So, in Southeast Asia a big phrase is same- same. You use it when something means the same. Like, watermelon same same dtangmo. haha Everybody says it, kids as young as 2 and adults who could be grandparents. Everybody knows "same-same." It probably sounds really silly to you, but it's become second nature to me, not only to hear it but to use it. haha

Anyways, my class has certain topics they have to learn each week and this week is animals. They are making these really cute animal books and they make a couple pages each day. Yesterday they were doing the mammal pages and they had to write down some of the animal names of the pictures shown. So I was helping them out and writing the words on the board and going through everything with them. I mean, it's quite a big task for a four year old to do. We did such a great job for dog, mouse, and rhinoceros, but I made a huge mistake when it came to cat. I asked them what the animal was and they said cat, so I said, "okay! cat- /k/ /a/ /t/; that's a k, a, t." Then I proceeded to write "kat" on the board.

Luckily I realized what I did as soon as I wrote it down, and I quickly corrected myself, but half of my students have now spelled "kat" in their book. I'm sure their parents will appreciate it. hahahaha

It also clicked in their little heads that I was Miss Kat and the animal was a cat. We have a lot of problems now because of this. They meow a lot now and yell "same-same" at me. They think it's great. I think it's obnoxious. hahahahaha

Other than this particular story, I have nothing super exciting or important to tell you. Not that that story was important. hahaha Last week was really strange because I stayed home Thursday and Friday from work because I was sick. Everybody is sick right now. I think it's the Thai flu or something. I did kinda wonder if Dengue Fever was going around, but I don't think it is. hahaha To make myself feel better I went shopping in Bangkok over the weekend. I love shopping here. I justify buying things by converting the money into dollars, but then later I realize that I only make so much baht... hahaha It's worth it though. haha

Get excited for Thanksgiving! I'm crossing my fingers for Mexican food that night! hahaha

Ponderings

Things I miss from home (besides obvious things like family and friends and pets, haha):

1.) My pillows. I NEED my pillows.

2.) Being able to turn on the tv and watch it aimlessly when I am too tired to do anything else.

3.) Staying in on a Friday or Saturday night and not feeling like I HAVE to go do something at all times. I really like doing absolutely nothing with a few people. Just hanging out and laughing. Maybe putting in a movie with the intention of watching it but then ignoring it the whole time because you are laughing too much. haha

4.) Cooking. I love cooking. It really relaxes me. I could spend days in the kitchen chopping vegetables and mixing ingredients and be perfectly content.

5.) Target. Target is a great place. Nothing else is quite like it.

6.) I have met some awesome people here and made lots of great friends, but I miss having friends around who know me backwards / forwards / better than I know myself. It's been a little difficult for me to have a new group of friends every couple weeks. I've never really been one of those people with a ton of friends (those social butterflies), I just always had my good solid group. It was fabulous.

7.) I love walking around here cause there is constantly something to look at, but sometimes I just want to go for a relaxing walk like in a park or something. hahaha

8.) I really hate how the water tank keeps being emptied lately. At home, I never had to worry about such things. This isn't particulary a Thai cultural thing or epidemic, it's just a really unfortunate series of water tank events that seems to keep happening to me. It's a conspiracy. hahaha

9.) I'm really tired of answering the questions like "so you like living in Pattaya...???" Um, no. Newsflash- Pattaya as a whole is disgusting and I do not like it AT ALL. I am a classy girl and have found some classy things to do here. I go to the island, go to local markets, get massages, and the occassional movie. The main reason I chose to live here was because I was all by myself and I had no idea what to do and I needed to meet people. Those are in fact, good reasons.

Things here I love:

1.) I never have to drive. haha I can pretty much walk anywhere and I love walking. If I can't walk there or I'm too tired, I can take several different forms of public transportation. Both of these options are much better than every single person in the city having their own car. I'm concerned that I will completely forget how to drive by the time I get home.

2.) I love Thai food. American stuff kinda sucks. I can't even call it food anymore. hahaha I need to take some cooking classes so I can keep eating things I like even when I go home.

3.) 7-Eleven. 7-Eleven is fabulous. It has everything you need in a hurry (except for a bathroom). I pop in one about twice a day.

4.) The people are so incredibly low stress here. I love it. Nobody ever freaks out about anything. At home- everybody is always freaking about really stupid things. Mai bpen lai.

5.) Low stress people = low stress job. The teaching environment here is a completely different atmosphere. Education is just as important, but the teachers aren't running around like chickens with their heads cut off all the time.

6.) Fruit. It's an obsession. I'm really getting into the tropical fruits lately. A current favorite is salad ragahm. So good!

7.) It doesn't matter if I wake up late and don't have make up on with sleep lines across my face and am wearing my hideous track suit for school. People will still tell me that I'm sexy when I walk to school. hahahahaha What a confidence booster! hahahaha

8.) Generally I pay $1 to $2 on a meal. If I pay more than that, it is very expensive.

9.) Food stalls, clothing stalls- anything being sold on the street. It is just very convenient.

I really need to get some sleep. hahaha

Loy Krathong!

Borrowed from the wonderful wikipedia:

Loy Krathong is held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November.
"Loi" means "to float". "Krathong" is a raft about a handspan in diameter traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although modern-day versions use specially made bread 'flowers' and may use styrofoam), decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are often judged in contests. In addition, fireworks and beauty contests take place during the festival.

So that day at school, the EP department had a Loy Krathong party! It was so fun! We set up long tables in the downstairs of the school and Mei bought a ton of banana stalks and pins and some flowers, and the students brought in their own special flowers to build their boats. Most of the parents came to help, which was great, because I had no idea how to build the boats and so I was of no help to the students, but I got to learn! After all the kids built their boats, we had a contest of who built the best boat in each class. I thought it was funny that Jack won from my class, because he is all Austrailian, absolutely no Thai. haha But we had to choose two runners-up from my class- Natasha and Pete, because we just couldn't choose. They were all so good. Jasmine and Natasha even wore their traditional Thai clothes. They were so pretty. Natasha looked absolutely miserable. hahaha

Then that night, I went down to the market to see what was going on their for the festival. It was insane. I have never seen South Pattaya and Beach Road so packed before in my entire life, and that is saying something. haha People everywhere and cars and motorbikes everywhere. The roads were so backed up that the sidewalk has become another lane for the road. It's very dangerous to walk around. hahaha It was a lot of fun though. The temple across the street is holding a market to raise money for it. haha Boats are being sold at every stand and extra food stalls are popping up every 2 seconds. People are dressed in their traditional Thai clothes for the heck of it. Fireworks are randomly being set off. The beach was packed with people buying and floating their boats, making wishes. I'm wondering how long this is going to last. It's going to be really hard to get through the rest of the week after this. hahaha It already feels like the weekend.

That night at the market on Beach Road.

Yay Kindergarten 2! Miss Kat's class!

Jasmine and Natasha in their Thai dresses.

Building their boats at school!

Weekending in Bangkok

I got back from Bangkok last night at 10 pm and we had no water! Woke up this morning and still, no water! Got home from school this afternoon- no water! Do you see a trend? Do you think this is a problem?

That's a different story though.

This weekend was fun. It started off with going to see the best Elvis impersonator in all of Southeast Asia. I know it is because that's how it's advertised. haha It truly was amazing though. The rendition of "Wiwa Las Wegas" was fabulous and I will always remember it. He totally got into character and was feeling the groove.

Saturday, I took a car with James and Ryan to Bangkok while they moved into their new apartment. We got there early afternoon and we hung out for a while and waited for Kate and Lannie to come over. It was good to hear how everybody was doing in their new lives there. That night we went to Little Lebanon for dinner and had some amazing Middle Eastern food. Then we were off to Cheap Charlie's for a couple of drinks. On the way we stopped at this awesome little "Asian treasures" store, where I bought a couple of really funky humongous rings. We met up with Ryan's new girl- Fern, who was super sweet and nice. Then Ryan, Fern, James, and I headed over to Khoasan, the major backpackers area to go to a club for some dancing. This place was intense. The lights were insane and people had glow sticks and the techno was pumping. hahaha Anyways, we danced till 2 in the morning. hahaha

Candid me and James at Cheap Charlie's.

Me and Lannie and our new jewels. haha

The next day we were pretty tired, so we did a lot of hanging out. Took a dip in the pool with James and went paddle boating with Ryan before I had to get to the skytrain to take me to the bus station. I was pretty nervous about getting to the bus station and figuring out how to get back to Pattaya. I am really bad at the directions thing, but I must say, I am getting a little bit better. Just a little bit though. I found everything okay though, I just paid very close attention to all the metro stops and asked a lot of questions. hahaha

Anyways, back to the beginning of this blog and to where I am now. I have no water. It is really unfortunate. They aren't sure what is wrong. I tried to shower this morning using a small bottle of water. haha Don't worry, I showered at the kindergarten today. haha I might do that tomorrow again, just in case. Last week I had to deal with power outages and this week it's the water... talk about unfortunate.

Power

I'm definitely not feeling the power this week, in any sense. hahaha

The power in South Pattaya was out for 11 1/2 hours today. Lucky for me, I had a job to go to, that is just outside of South Pattya, so I didn't have to suffer the entire day without air conditioning, but I did have to come home to a pitch dark street. Plus my laundry didn't get done because of it and now my uniform isn't clean for tomorrow and I have nothing to wear. I don't know what to do about that, but oh well. I'm happy they got the electric going a few minutes ago though, because going to bed without a fan would not be a fun experience and I would be really grouchy tomorrow. haha

I'm not feeling the power in my classroom. hahaha My class is out of control this week. I have no idea why. It isn't a holiday or anything. I always got in trouble last year for being too much like a friend to my students and I think that might be happening again. I feel kinda weird saying this, but my kids love me way too much. hahahaha My little four year olds have also seemed to figure out that I enjoy coloring and playing with play-doh just as much as they do, and they have learned to take advantage of that. It's a problem. The Thai culture likes to see worksheets, even for four year olds. I've got to buckle down and get serious. hahaha

Not to mention my two year old class has 33 students in it now. Have you ever seen 33 2 year olds in one room before? It's really frightening. I'm having nightmares about it.

Their is one student who is definitely paying attention to me though, Plot. Oh man. If you remember, Plot is the baby (18 months now, I think) that I give "private English lessons" to after school. Plot's dad, Eric, and I were talking the other day and Eric went to pick him up and Plot started screaming his little head off and he ran straight to me and practically climbed up my leg to be held. Eric managed to laugh it off, but then Plot called me "mama" today in front of his Grandma. This is a HUGE problem. Grandma doesn't speak English, but I'm positive she knows what that means. I hope they don't fire me for this. It's really not my fault his parents are overacheivers and workaholics / successful business-people and he is confused by who his mom is.

WiFi, Barbeque, and Halloween

I got WiFi! haha It's such a wonderful thing to be able to check your email whenever you want and not feel bad about using one of the two internet connections. I can check my people.com, watch the music channel, and sit in the air conditioning all at one time! An unfathomable idea!

The reason we have WiFi is because my job starts in a couple weeks with the skyping and we need to be able to skype at all times. This week, Tim and I have started emailing people and answering their questions. I feel very official and sound much more knowledgable than I feel, but I suppose I actually do know this stuff, I just never say it so business-like. So, I've been busy with the skype training and the emailing and the languagecorping. haha I'm trying to get caught up on it today.

I'm a little behind because I've been trying to spend time with people before they all leave Pattaya. I really liked all the people that went to Laos and had such a great time with them and they are leaving this weekend to go off to their separate jobs and volunteer opportunities. A few of them are going to be in Bangkok though and I'm super excited for many weekend trips to visit!

On Thursday Phoenix Kindergarten had a barbeque for all the teachers after school. I thought it'd be like what I see on the streets everyday- chicken on a stick, hahaha, but it was a real thai barbeque and more like Chinese style hot pot. It was a lot of fun hanging out with all the Thai teachers and cooking our food together. It was the first time I got to hang out, not during school hours, with all the Thai teachers, and not just Mei, Kung, and Ooii. They are just all so nice! I can't even explain it! I just feel so welcome all the time.

Yesterday was Halloween and Thai people don't celebrate Halloween. Actually, nobody really celebrates Halloween except Americans. haha I keep asking other people, and everybody thinks it's kinda stupid. haha Anyways, it's kinda here in Pattaya because of the ex-pats. So, I went out for a "graduation dinner" for some of the people and then Ryan, James, and I split off and went down to Walking Street. I guess normal 20 year olds get really into Halloween, because they seemed really excited about it. They got all dressed up and decided to go as Pattaya Local Farangs. They got huge glasses to wear and tank tops that they stuffed to have a beer gut, fake tattoos... the works. It was hilarious! I laughed all night. It was such a nice change of laughing at the locals instead of being completely disgusted with them.

What an interesting place I live in.

October / Summer Holiday-ing

October is over and my mom just left and now I'm sad. haha I looked forward to October for a really long time and now it's over. Anyways, It's kinda frustrating.

Having my mom here was so fun though! We did lots of stuff and had an itinerary for each day that she was here. It stormed really bad each day, but we managed to do most everything on our "to do" list.

She got in really late on a Friday night so we spent the night in Bangkok and the next day we got up and explored the Chuckachuck (sp?) market, which is the biggest market in Thailand. Supposedly the whole thing is about the size of 7 football fields. We were supposed to go to the Royal Palace after that but it closed for Buddha Day. Mei told me that Buddha Day is a day at the end of rainy season where the head monk isn't allowed to leave the temple, but I'm still really confused.

When we got to Pattaya, my mom just basically wanted to see what I do everyday. We managed to sneak in a Thai massage and a foot massage into our "busy" schedule in just a few days, go to the Jim Thompson (the Thai silk guy) store a few times, and have a banana pancake about every other day. haha We went to the island (Koh Larn- Coral Island) one day, which was great to relax on the beach and swim. We also went out to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo where we saw a crocodile show, tiger show, and elephant show. We also tried crocodile satay! haha It tasted like chicken. haha

The best few days were when we went to Koh Chang (Elephant Island). We stayed on Klong Prao beach where it is quieter, but the first night we went down to White Sand beach to have dinner and wander around some shops. The next morning we went elephant trekking! Elephant trekking was really fun! My mom and I were the only white people in our group, so we got some special privelages- like, I got to climb on the elephants neck to sit! haha It was really fun! Then we laid out all day and went to Bang Bao Bay for dinner and shopping that night! The next morning we went to Klong Plu waterfall, which was beautiful, but kindof scary because it had been raining so much and the rocks were slippery!

On Sunday we went out to eat with Mei, Kung, and Ooii (the principal, vice-principal, and a teacher from school). Then they treated us to the Alcazar show, which was not good. hahahahaha But it was nice of them. Then mom got to come to work with me today which was fun because she got to see what I do! haha

Anyways, it's been a great couple of weeks! Now I've really gotta go figure out what to do tomorrow with my class! haha The copying never seems to get done here... haha

Laos; Jewel of the Mekong

For the two months of being overseas I could not believe that I was here and doing these things. I kept wondering how I got here and why I was here. It's a very strange feeling, but what is even stranger is when you get to the point where you are walking down the street after your morning walk along Beach Road and then stopping at a fruit cart to buy some guava and you think "what else could I possibly be doing right now?" and it becomes normal.

Last week I got to go to Laos with a group of people from Languagecorps and I fell back into the "wow, I can't believe I'm here" stage, which I'm really glad for. It's a fun stage to be in. haha Who would have ever thought that I would go to Laos?? hahaha

About 12-13 (I can't remember, and don't feel like counting, haha) of us took a night train to to the Laos- Thailand border. The night train was an experience in itself. The beds were just lined up along the hallway of the carts and everyone was kinda just together. haha I had the bed on top, which I had a hard time getting in and out of. haha At one point during the middle of the night I fell off my ladder and prayed that nobody saw, but of course Kate just happened to be looking my way at the time. hahaha We spent as much time as possible hanging out in the bar cart until we had to go to sleep and when we woke up we only had a couple more hours until we got to get off. Once we got off, we went through immigration and applied for visas and stuff. Then we took a bus to our first destination- Vientiane.

That first day in Vientiane, a few of wandered around a little bit to explore as soon as we got there. We visited at a really good time because it was the Boat Festival, so there was a lot of festivities and market activity going on. Some of us decided to ride a ferris wheel, and the ride ended up being 30 minutes long because they wouldn't let us off! haha Afterwards everybody went to a nice lunch on the Mekong River. That night we went out to a bar to hang out.

The next morning I got up early to explore on my own. Laos is absolutely and undescribably beautiful. It may be the only landlocked country in southeast Asia but it def has enough waterin it with the Mekong and Namsong. There is a lot of French influence, because it used to be colonized by France, so it feels really quaint and sweet. For breakfast we actually went to a French bakery. Unfortunately, that day we had more traveling to do, which involved a four hour van ride in a 12 seater van. It was extremely cramped and I got stuck in the very back with 3 other girls on a very windy road. Halfway through the ride I was moved because I was carsick. haha Anyways, we reached our destination- Vang Viene and that night we went out to check out the "night life". I'm not much of a night life girl, but the bars here were so fun, because they were all outside and it basically consisted of us hanging out in a bungalow swinging on hammocks next to the river all night while I sipped my mango shake. haha It was extremely fun and I felt like I was in a movie.

The next day was our big excursion of kayaking and caving down the Namsong. We all got in these two person kayaks and just kayaked all day. Along the way there were all these stops and sights to see. We stopped at the Elephant Cave, were a Buddha was and the rocks looked like elephant tusks. We stopped at an organic mulberry farm where I tried a mulberry mojito. We stopped at a place where you climbed a ladder about 40 feet in the air and took a zipline and let go to drop into the river. (I actually did it! I was so proud of myself! haha) And we stopped to swim through this really dark cave in the water. I honestly didn't enjoy that cave too much. haha The water was freezing and it was pitch black and it was really scary and I ran into a lot of rocks in the water leaving a lot of purple spots on me. haha It was cool at the end of that though, because when we got out there were a bunch of pomelo trees and a guy shimmied up the tree to shake the branches and we all grabbed a pomelo and ate them right off the tree. haha

That night we got to experience a festival where people buy boats made of banana leaves, bamboo, and flowers and they light candles on them and float them down the river. The farther the boats float, the more good fortune they bring you. Several of us bought them and took them to the river to float them. It was such an amazing thing to experience and an awesome sight to see when literally everybody in the city is floating their boats down the river.

The next day we woke up really early to drive back to Vientiene. When we got back to Vientiene, the city was crazy. The big Boat Races were that day and the streets were packed. We all kindof did our own thing that day and I went shopping. haha I bought an awesome handicraft Laos bag, which I absolutely love. Then that night we all met up for dinner and to go out again.

Before we had to catch our train on the last day, we finally got a tour of Vientiene. We went to Victory Monument and Buddha Park which was lots of fun and cool. Buddha's everywhere. Then we went to Rick's house where Da made us lunch. Then we had to catch the train back.

Their was absolutely nothing bad about the week and now I keep thinking "wow, I can't believe I did that." hahaha

Fun in the Sun at Bangsaray

This weekend was lots of fun in the sun! haha I'm in a very strange mood right now. haha Forgive me. Well anyways, it is Tim's and Kate's birthday's this week, so some of us decided to go celebrate by going to Bangsaray to lay out in the sun. For those of you who don't know, Tim and Kate were both in the languagecorps class after mine and they just finished training a week ago. Kate is planning on going to Bangkok to teach in a couple weeks and Tim is looking for a job here. Tim is turning 44 and Kate is turning 24, Happy Birthday to them!

Anyways, we hired a songteow to take us to Bangsaray for the day. It was me, Tim, Tim's girlfriend- Khun, Kate, Michael, Michael's girlfriend- A, and Yawn. Bangsaray is a beach that is further away from all the touristy stuff and is more local and isolated, so it was really nice and quiet. We went out there, had lunch, laid out (yay for making American friends who will go out in the sun with me! haha) and went swimming. It was wonderful. Afterwards, we went to Tim's house that he is trying to sell to swim in the pool.

Me and Kate
(From left to right) Yawn, Kate, Me, Michael, A, and Khun

The day was wonderful and exhausting and it got me totally pumped up for the next few weeks! This week is the last week of term at school for the kdis before their two weeks of summer break or summer school starts, so this week at school should be lots of fun, because I planned a lot of games and art projects. hahaha Then we are leaving for Laos on either Friday or Saturday (which I'm SO EXCITED for) and then my mom comes (SO EXCITED for) and we are going to spend a night in Bangkok and go to Koh Chang and do lots of sightseeing in Pattaya!!!

Get excited for October.

The Big Biking Accident

I have made a reputation for myself here. It's called being accident prone. haha It's much like my reputation at home.

I rode my bike to school on Monday. It was a nice day for riding the bike, because it had rained the day before and the sun was coming out, so it wasn't unbearably hot and it was dry outside. I had just turned a corner from a back road onto a larger main road. The street goes slightly uphill, so I was giving it my all and pedaling really fast (plus I was running behind schedule and I was afraid that I was going to be late.) At that moment, my pedal decided to remove itself from my bike.

The pedal just fell off.

I flew through the air doing a somersault (which I'm hoping was graceful, because my fall certainly wasn't) and my bike also flew through the air behind me doing a somersault. I landed where your head meets your neck and fell with a thud on my back and my bike decided to land on top me.

Luckily, I had some adrenaline and I got up quickly before I was run over and a very nice Thai man got off his motorbike to help me hobble to the sidewalk and to fetch my pedal and other belongings from the middle of the road (how they got all the way to the middle of the road, I have no idea...)

The nice Thai man managed to tell me that I was badly hurt and that I could not ride my pedal-less bike. Unfortunately, I already knew these things and the information that he obviously worked very hard at finding the words for did not help me at all. hahaha

I called Mei and she sent Eric with the Kindergarten bus to pick me and my bike up. As I waited, I realized that I was bleeding quite a lot and it was quite possible that I might finally get to go to Bangkok- but that would be to go to the hospital. haha Eric picked me up and we drove to the school where 5 of the teachers left what they were doing to help me lay down and bandage me. haha I have cuts up and down both legs and my back, the skin of my right knee cap is no more, and I am black and blue all over. My leg was swollen for a couple days but is much better now. What concerns me most is the fact that I hit my head so hard and how three days later I'm still taking painkillers every few hours for it. I've talked to a few people about it and they think it is just whiplash and I really hope they are right, because I would rather not deal with anything more severe. haha My knee cap has managed to get infected but Mei had antibiotic cream, thank goodness. Basically, I'm a mess because of the damn bike.

Someone at the school fixed it. I don't know why. haha I'm not sure if I'll ever ride it again. I can't decide. Maybe I'll sell it.

I'll keep my pink helmet though. I love that.

7-Eleven

Hi. haha I've been having one of those weekends that I thought every average weekend here would be kinda like. It's nice when your expectations are met. Because it isn't like I've done anything too special or anything. Anyways, it's nice. haha

I don't know if you guys are aware, but 7-Eleven is an extremely big deal here. People are always popping in to 7-Eleven for something. I go at least once everyday. haha There is one every few meters. haha There are 96 in Pattaya to be exact. I read it in a brochure. You know how in western countries people stop off at starbucks on their way to work to grab a coffee? Well I stop my bike at 7-Eleven every morning to buy a diet coke. And every morning the same person rings up my diet coke and says to me "diet?" and looks at me like I'm insane, because -omg, my coke says light- and that is just not acceptable in Thailand, but I slap down my 14 baht, say kap koon ka and leave, eager to open my diet coke for energy to get me to school. It is, after all, quite a bike ride.

Anyways, I went to the market last night, the Khae Ha market, to wander around. After careful scrutiny and lots of market shopping, I've decided that this is definitely the best market in Pattaya and it's only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night and it requires me to get a taxi. While I was there I saw a pair of jean shorts with the 7-Eleven logo on the pockets and I thought it was hilarious and I really really wanted to buy them, but my money situation is also a little bit hilarious right now and therefore, I could not buy them. haha My first thought when seeing the shorts was "why would anybody want jean shorts with two giant 7-eleven logos on their butt?" and my second thought was "why would anybody not want those shorts? haha they are so funny!" haha

While I was at the market, I also decided to try to walk with the flow of traffic instead of zooming past everybody like I normally do here. Thai people walk at the speed of a snail. Do you know how slow a snail is? Other westerners who come here walk slightly faster, possibly the speed of a turtle. This is a very difficult thing for me to deal with seeing as I walk fast and I don't see any reason why anybody would walk any slower than me. Anyways, I tried to walk as slow as the other people and it was actually painful for me to move that slowly. I had to think way too hard of what to do with my legs when they weren't moving for such a long period of time. I have no idea how they do it. I know Thailand is all "stress free" and "slow pace of life" and stuff like that, but walking that slow stresses me out.

So my average weekend has included so far- dinner at a vientiane restaurant, walking street, a thai massage, khae ha market- I'm thinking I should probably go to the beach today to tie everything together.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

I suppose it is more like, crocodiles, elephants, and tigers, but oh well, that's close enough. Today Rick and Mike took me to Million Years Stone Park and the Chinese Temple here in Pattaya. I've been wanting to go do these things so it was lots of fun. I really liked Million Years Stone Park. I got to feed crocodile's using a long bamboo stick with a chunk of raw chicken meat on it and dangle it in front of their faces until they eventually snapped it. We also fed these HUGE fish that were extremely ugly and scary. haha Then we saw elephants and they picked me up! Plus I got my picture taken with a big tiger and feeding a baby tiger! I loved the baby tiger! I wish they would stay that size and then you could have them as pets. haha Then we wandered off to the Chinese temple which was very cool and had all sorts of buddhas and statues and things covering it. Pictures do this this much better than words, so here you go!

Thai Cinema

This weekend has been quite a cultural experience. I have been immersed in Thai-ness.

My first immersion was because I was sick. I already knew that Thais were very honest about how they felt about your appearance- but seriously, this was ridiculous. These are the types of things people kept saying to me: "Miss Kat, you look very very sick, dark circles under the eyes, very pale, we are very very worried about", "Miss Kat, please go home, really, please go home now, do you you need me to take you to the hospital?" "Kat! you go home! understand??" "Katherine-hey!- are you okay? you look REALLY tired!" The constant worrying and telling me that I looked like crap continued for a full week. Mei and Eric were convinced that I needed to be rushed to Bangkok for injections. The reason I looked tired, was because I was tired! I mean, I run around after 4 year olds all day! I mean, seriously, it was just a sinus infection. I didn't think I looked that bad...

Because of the sickness, I thought the weekend was doomed. haha But I was wrong! On Friday I headed out to the streets and bought a pirated copy of "Get Smart" and got some take out. It was a lovely night of vegging on my bed / couch. Saturday came and I wandered out to the Big C where I found several clothing stalls. I bought a new skirt which I am very excited to wear to work tomorrow! That night I had a great idea for the next day...

Which led me to the cinema on Sunday! Going to the movies is actually very exciting in Thailand. When I first got here and heard people talking about it, I thought they were being stupid, I mean, it's the movies, it can't be that exciting or different from any other part of the world, right? Well, in Thailand, it is actually more different than you would think. Their are three different types of seats in the theatre with three different prices. Their is the normal seat, honeymoon seat, or the opera style seats. The theatre is set up more like a theatre for a play. You are assigned a seat with an aisle and number and everything. The seats are extremely comfortable. haha I got to the movies and chose the normal seat and was assigned seat F11. Then I went to get popcorn. They have different flavors of popcorn! haha The have regular popcorn, cheese flavored, and caramel corn! I was so excited about caramel corn! My mom used to help my sister and I make that from scratch when we were little. After the concessions you have to wait in the waiting area until they call your movie to go find your seats. haha So because I got there super early (unsure of how early to get to the very exciting Thai movie experience) I had to wait for a full 35 minutes before being able to sit down. This is because they don't let you in the theatre until the movie actually starts. haha After the previews, a short film about the king plays and everybody has to stand up while you watch it. If you don't... then well... I don't know.... It's a very bad idea not to stand for the king. hahahahaha Thai's respect the king deeply and I think you would prolly be kicked out of the theatre. hahaha

Anyways, that's why I went to the movies. Not for the actual movie, but for the stuff before the movie. hahahaha The ultimate Thai cinema experience.

Lizards

Monsoon season has arrived full swing. Unfortunately. (I despise rain.) I was talking to Jessica the other day at work. She's been here about 6 years and I was saying how I was surprised that it didn't rain as much as I thought it would and she was telling me how weird this rainy season has been... I totally jinxed myself.

It POURS everyday. This isn't just rain, this is a storm. A Texas style storm, with BIG thunder. hahaha Anyways, back to the title.

There are a lot of geckos and lizards in Thailand. I don't know what their proper name is, so we will refer to them by both. There is also a window in my bathroom that does not close. haha I suppose I should be bothered by this, but I never really thought about it before. It's just been partially open for the 4 weeks that I've lived here and a bug or lizard will occasionally wander it's way in. haha

My shower is Asian style. Meaning that when you walk into the bathroom their is a shower head on the wall and you shower in the bathroom without a stall and their is a drain on the floor in the middle of the bathroom. So you just shower, next to the toilet and next to the sink and everything...

For some reason, it seems very important that you have all this background information.

Anyways, to the point of this story. It is pouring right now and I decided to take a shower. I was in the shower and I looked up and there are 5 HUGE lizards on the wall! It totally freaked me out!! and I screamed!! hahaha I guess they were retreating from the rain. haha I just wasn't expecting a zoo in my bathroom! Especially while I was showering! Apparently these lizards did not get the memo that Thailand was a very conservative country (I don't think Pattaya got that memo either...).

Anyways, I'm over it now. haha The lizards are still hanging out in the bathroom and I'm making Thai flashcards about being sick. haha Because everybody is sick right now, including me and I feel like it will come in handy in the very near future. haha

It's a very good thing that I got a care package from mom today because some of that might have to be my dinner tonight! haha I don't think this storm is letting up anytime soon!

Krung Kat

I think Krung means teacher in Thai... if not, then I am very confused.

When I say I teach kindergarten, most people think 5 and 6 year olds. Wrong. Thai children start school at the age of 1... so begins the story of my job. haha

I teach the English Kindergarten 2 program in a traditional Thai school. My first day of "grown up" work was on Labor Day. I have 21 students in my class. My kindergarten students are 3 and 4 years old. Their parents chose to put them in the English program mostly because one of their parents is Thai and the other parent is a farang (foreigner). I teach them English, Math, Science, and General Knowledge. They also have a Thai class and Mandarin class. Many of them go home and speak another language, such as Russian or Hebrew or Cantonese. While a teacher comes in to teach them Thai or Mandarin, I go and teach English to the Thai program... My schedule changes everyday.

I am very confused.

I am convinced that they are all geniuses. haha How can they possibly speak at least 3 languages, most of them fluently?? Plus, they are ONLY 4!

Then I found out that they cannot count at all and now I now I am very concerned. Apparently none of their other teachers were concerned at all. It really bothers me. I have been on a chase around town trying to find math resources and nobody seems to understand why.

On Monday and Tuesday, my class was complete chaos, then I figured out that they thought they could take advantage of me because I was a farang... ha ha ha, I have quickly taught them that I do not put up with that kind of crap, like their previous two teachers. My assistant, her name is A (she is Thai and doesn't speak any English at all) thinks it is hilarious. haha Today was a much better day because of it and I have a feeling the kids and I will get along splendidly :)

The hardest part of my day is getting to school. The bike ride is a bit more difficult than I anticipated. Sukhavit is a very big and dangerous road. If you are from Waco- think Valley Mills. Now imagine riding your bike down it. It's terrifying. On Monday I crashed. I showed up to work with blood on my arms and legs and a huge hole in the knee of my pants. Tuesday I took a taxi. Wednesday was better because I found back roads. I think I just need to practice now.

I work with two other westerners. They are okay. One is Jessica, the other is Mark. They are both from the UK. Jessica is nice but likes to party a lot. Mark is extremely negative so I stay away from him. I don't actually know why he is here.

The kids leave at 2:30, but you are required to stay till 4, so a lot of teachers have extra jobs that you get paid for. I was asked to give private English lessons to the principal's son. He is 1 year and 3 months and his name is Plot. I think it is his hilarious that she wants me to teach him English. Basically I just sit around and play with him for an hour. I really like the principal and her husband. Mei and Eric. They are actually taking me to dinner tonight.

Anyways, that is my job. I like my kids a lot. I think it is a hard adjustment for them, having me be here. I am their third teacher this year and it is the middle of their school year for them. Luckily, I'll be here the longest out of the year, so they'll like me best! haha

I want to ride my bi-cy-cle! I want to ride my bike!

One week ago:

The usual setting about 8 o'clock at night- everyone sitting outside the guest house/ school / bar.
I walk up drinking a diet coke and people ask me to join and I sit down.

Rick: I've been trying to think of a way for you to get back and forth from school.

Me: Me too. I think I'd like I bicycle, with a basket.

Rick: hmmm...

Everyone else: Nah, just get a motorcycle. A bicycle will take forever.

Me: I don't know if you've noticed but I'm really klutzy and I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a very good driver.

Willy: Motorbikes are so much easier than cars!

Me: No. I'll crash.

Willy: Healthcare is great here.

Me: I don't care. I don't want to get hurt in the first place.

Willy: Listen, I got in a really bad accident and they fixed me up for only $53.

Me: The healthcare will not be able to send my mom here.

Willy: A bicycle will take forever and you'll get all sweaty.

Me: I'm in good shape and I walk fast. I'm pretty sure a bicycle won't be a big deal.

I got up and at the same time attempted to sip my diet coke and walk to the trash can. I tripped and fell flat on my face, ending with a cut on my leg and a bump on the head.

Rick: She's really klutzy and she walks really fast.

So, today... I bought a bicycle!!! I'm so excited! I finally mastered the use of a baht bus (taxi) and I took one to the Big C (something like a giant-humongous-extra-super-walmart) and got my bike. The entire time I was singing "I want to ride my bicycle!" haha It is blue. I made sure it had reflectors, and I bought a lock, and... a motorcycle helmet!!! haha It's pink! I couldn't find a regular bike helmet for the life of me and I asked about it to a girl who spoke very good English and she told me they only had motorbike helmets. I decided a motorcycle helmet probably provided more protection anyway. I really like it! I'll prolly keep it forever! haha Anyways, lucky for me they were having a sale, so I got a really good deal. I bought everything and took it outside and took all the bubble wrap off right away and rode it home! I was kinda nervous riding it home, because I've never actually ridden a bike on a busy road before and these roads are busier than at home, plus the added facts that it was beginning to rain and they drive on the opposite side here, but then I figured that nobody would hit a stupid farang (foreigner) and I was wearing my helmet.

Anyways, here is my awesome bike, parked outside my apartment / the guest house / school / bar... I have no idea where I live. It's very confusing. haha

Exploring Pattaya

Over the weekend I decided to explore Pattaya. I have decided to stay here and teach Kindergarten and I needed to know whether or not I could live here. So Friday night the "ladies downstairs" (as they are often referred to as) decided to take me out on a girls night. We went to the famous Walking Street. Mostly famous for it's "lady-boys" (transvestites), discos, and bars. It was definitely an interesting experience being out in that environment with 4 Thai ladies. haha Walking Street kinda reminded me of New Orleans... except stranger in some ways. It's hard to describe. Anyways, it was fun. I had a good time, but it's something that I probably won't be doing too often. haha All of the girls took care of me and treated me like I was special or something, which was really nice. It made me feel welcome even though a lot of times I didn't understand what was going on. haha

With Raht, Kit, Da, and Reesa... the "ladies downstairs" at a disco.

Then on Saturday, we all stayed in and I went exploring. I found Pattaya beach and the strip where all the malls were. Not only does Pattaya have 2 malls, but it has 3 subways!! haha I got so excited. They don't have turkey though... I'll have to settle for chicken. Then Sunday we went to Koh Larn to go swimming. It's a little island that is about 20 minutes from here. We all hopped on various motorbikes and went to catch a ferry. The island doesn't have a dock, so you have to get off the ferry in the middle of the ocean and get on a very canoe. haha Transportation really fascinates me here. haha I can probably count the number of times I've been in a car. Every other time we go somewhere, it's in a strange new vehicle. haha Riding a motorcycle with three people on the back has become very comfortable to me. haha Anyways, the beach was pretty amazing. I'll probably be going there most weekends. It only cost $4 for the whole day. It was funny though, because nobody else wanted to swim. I swam all day. I found coral at the bottom of the ocean. Rick got in for a little while, and Rick's friend, Willy, did too. But nobody else wants to get any darker, so they stay fully clothed and under these huge tents.

My ultimate destination- Koh Larn and the cool big canoe that we hopped onto from the ferry in the middle of the ocean. haha

So far this week has been very busy with teaching, Thai class, and today I signed my contract. I only have 3 more lessons with my adult students and I am going to miss them. I am excited about my new job though. I am also going to be working part time for languagecorps, answering skype calls for potential languagecorp-ers who have questions. I think people should know what they are in for... I certainly had a lot of surprises when I got here. haha It'll be good though, cause I get free rent and a little bit of extra money. I'm hoping I'll be able to use it on more weekend trips and things.

Some of the ladies from my class! Kag, Manee, A, Toi, Fa, and Mhee.

Bugs, More Fruit, and Interviews

The past few days have been very interesting.

My class is absolutely wonderful. They are the most eager group of learners I have ever seen and they are very thankful for everything they learn. I usually see a few of them walking to class and they run to walk with me. They say "Teacher! You so beautiful! Hi, how are you?!" haha Some of them come to class bringing me things. These things are either fruit or juice boxes. haha For example, today I lugged home a bag of dragon fruit, a bag of bananas, a bag of mangoes, and 2 kiwi juice boxes. haha During the lesson we play lots and lots of games. We always play O X's (tic-tac-toe). They LOVE it! Sometimes we play memory, a lot of times we make up new sentences, a lot of times we play "interview", and today we sang "head, shoulders, knees, and toes". At the end of each class, they pray for me in Thai and we talk about what we did yesterday and what we are doing today. Then they usually sneak off to the fruit cart that rolls by our classroom and buy me more fruit... I have a lot of fruit in my room. hahahaha

Then I go to Thai class. I am loving Thai class. I have taken my fair share of foreign languages (German, ASL, Spanish...), but Thai has def been one of the better experiences. I think it's because I actually get to use it. I try to use it anyway. haha I think the Thai people appreciate it. I don't know. They smile a lot when I try to use, maybe they are just laughing at me. hahahaha Oh well! So far I can what is your name, my name is Katherine, How much is that shirt?, How much are these pants?, How much is this movie?, pineapple, orange, banana, coconut, watermelon, numbers, how are you?, thank you, where are you from?, I am from America...

Obviously, I've been shopping and eating fruit and randomly talking to strangers on the street. hahahaha

Last night I sat around with some of the ladies who work here and with Rick's wife. I was really excited that they asked me join them because I really thought that they didn't like me. Raht, she picked me up at the airport, doesn't exactly like everybody. So I was REALLY excited. haha It was really interesting. A lot of the time I had no idea what was going on because they were all speaking in Thai, but it was kinda nice being around girls for a change, even if they were all older than me. I feel like I've been around a lot of men lately. Anyways, Rick has told me that Thai girls constantly eat. It is true. They never stopped. haha We ate pumpkin seeds. We ran out. They went across the street to the convenience store to buy watermelon seeds. Then the bug cart came by. They bought bags and bags and bags of bugs. Cockroaches, maggots, crickets... plus frogs. All deep fried. They loved them. Apparently they are quite good. I politely declined and watched them eat. The cockroaches were huge. I had never seen a bigger bug. I was very happy that they were dead. They ate the whole thing

Today I had to give a one-to-one teaching lesson. I met with a girl who works at a restaurant a couple doors down from the school. Her name was Furn. She couldn't speak English at all. It was fun though. I taught her the English alphabet. While I was teaching, a lady named Eed asked me how I charged to teach English. I told her I'd get back to her. haha I couldn't believe somebody was already asking me for private lessons.

This is a very long post.

I am also interviewing for jobs. I had an interview today in Pattaya for a Kindergarten 2 class, 4 year olds. Going to the interview was quite an experience for me, seeing as how I suck at directions. I had to hop on the back of a motorbike and give Mr. Thai Man a map and some how make him understand where to go. I got the job and I have to decide by tomorrow. I also had a phone interview for a 10th and 11th grade class in Songklah, which is South of here. I got that job, but I told them that I wanted to come visit before I committed to anything. In order to go visit I would have to fly there. So, basically... I have to decide between the two places and if I want to go to Songklah I have to fly there and back by Tuesday. I am a HORRIBLE decision maker. On one hand, I love the little kids and teaching kindergarten, being near the languagecorps staff would be good, but being in Pattaya wasn't exactly the ideal for me. On the other hand, I've never taught 11th graders, especially 50 of them at one time, but Songklah is supposed to be much much calmer and quieter than Pattaya and prettier. It's rough.

I have about 12 hours to decide. Awesome. To contemplate this decision, I bought a coconut off the street. The lady cut it up for me. I took it to the beach and sat down to eat it with a toothpick. I cannot believe that this is my life.

Forgotten Things

Things that I have forgotten to mention:

1) People seem to forget that I am here because of a profession. I am a teacher. haha Anyways, I've taught a class for two days now. I really enjoy it. My class has about 10 people in it, all women aged from about 28 to 50. They love me! haha They really boost my self esteem. Anyways, the first day was kindof a disaster. I had no idea what to do because I had never watched anybody before and I had never been introduced or seen them or anything! But I didn't completely crash and burn... haha Then then second day went a lot better! I was so excited! They interviewed eachother about their names, where they were from, where they were born, and what their job was. Then I presented pictures of eat, wash, clean... action verbs. They acted out the pictures and guessed what the word was. Then they played tic-tac-toe, which they call X O's. They get really competitive here! I'm glad I had competitive roommates last year to teach me how to keep up! After class I stayed back a few minutes to talk to a few of the students. They are so friendly. I can't even begin to describe how nice they are here. You just don't find that kind of genuine niceness in the United States very often. I had a great time! I went straight home to work on my lesson for tomorrow!

2.) Pineapple! Fruit in general in absolutely amazing here! I love fruit and their is something magical about it here. haha In Thailand, I can buy it on the street at any time of the day. My favorite though, is when I buy it from teh carts that you can find wheeling by you on the street. I stop the cart and point to what I want (usually pineapple!) and they cut it up for me right there! It is so good! The pineapple is the best! I have also taken to gettingfresh pineapple juice in the restaurants. So good! Seriously, amazing!

3.) Sleep. Pattaya does not seem to sleep ever and therefore I do not sleep. I have never had very good sleeping patterns, but it has been very very bad here. When I got to southeast Asia about a month ago, I became a pretty good sleeper. I would go to bed like a normal person at night and usually sleep through it. I think it's because everybody wore me out. Now though, Pattaya keeps me awake at all hours. I am tired all the time. Tired and uncomfortable. My bed is very hard and I am always cold for some reason. Prolly cause I don't have sheets... haha I can solve this problem though. I had a very relaxing wonderful day today and I plan on sleeping allllll night long.

4.) Aerobics. My first few days in Pattaya I would get very annoyed every day at 6 o'clock when loud music could be heard outside my window when an aerobics class started. Then I found out that the class was free. I can now be found outside on the street doing aerobics everyday from 6 to 7 with all the Thai people. hahahaha

5.) Markets are a wonderful thing. I love bargain shopping. I love shopping. It cures all.

6.) Thai massage. Thai massage is a lot of stretching. I got one today for a total of $6. It was a full hour long. Afterwards I spent 15 minutes talking to 4 of the massage therapists outside the shop about where I was from, where they were from, etc. It was lots of fun.

I'm sure there are other things... but like I said, I am sleep deprived and I am going to sleep alllll night long tonight. Plus, that aerobics class really wore me out. hahahaha

Bungalow 405

I have finally lived my dream of going to a resort by myself. I just came back from the most wonderful and blissful weekend of my entire life in Koh Chang, translated "Elephant Island". Rick and Indy (two of my teachers), and I and traveled to Koh Chang on Friday morning by car and ferry. I had absolutely no idea what I was in for for the weekend. I have decided that it is best to just not ask questions and come prepared for anything. To my extremely pleasant surprise we pulled up to a resort. :) I have never been a happier girl. Not only were we at a resort, but I had an entire room to myself! Complete with western toilet, toilet paper, pillow, CLEAN sheets, shower, and bath tub! I was in heaven!

That afternoon, Indy and I walked along the white sandy beaches just enjoying the sunshine. We found these amazing swings that are tied to the huge palm trees, so we literally got to swing over the ocean! It was so fun! Then the three of us went to dinner on the beach. I ordered fish. They waiter came out with a whole fish, eyes included. haha Apparently I didn't eat most of the nutritious parts of the fish, ie: eyes, cheeks, guts, things they don't serve in America, but the fish was fabulous. haha The next day I spent by myself. I went running on the beach in the morning and pretended I was cool enough to do that even though I'm not. haha Then I spent the entire day going from the ocean to the pool and back again. It was absolutely amazing. I kept thinking I was going to go get a massage, but then I'd go look at the ocean again and I couldn't tear myself away from it. Thailand must be the most beautiful place on the planet. That night we went out for an early dinner to the this seaside area place... haha All these restaurants and shops that sit on docks on the water. It was fun. I finally got to try papaya salad. I had it with crab. Rick and Indy thought I was crazy for ordering it because it's really spicy. I kept insisting that I liked spicy food. I don't think they thought I could handle it. I loved it. Then Indy and I went swinging again, we love the swings. This morning we got up to go to the waterfall. It was amazing. We hiked up through this jungle area and at the end of the hike was the waterfall and I went swimming in it. Rick and Indy weren't there yet (they were kinda slow... ) and I asked a Thai family to take my picture for me in front of the waterfall. Then they all wanted to take a picture with me. I'm prolly gonna find about 20 different pictures of me with different Thai people on the internet now. hahaha

Now I'm back in Pattaya writing a lesson plan. I am student teaching my first class tomorrow. Apparently I will be student teaching them for the next two weeks. I've never been to observe a class or met them or anything, so it works very differently than it does at home. I am teaching adult beginners and they are learning about object pronouns. It should be fun. We are playing a lot of games. I think we'll start off with 20 questions, cause I need to get to know them and their jobs and stuff. Anyways, it should be interesting. I should go figure out how to make some game cards and stuff... hmmm... I don't have any materials...

My mission tomorrow: buy a pillow.

Leaving The Villa

I am now in Pattaya, Thailand. In a few hours, I will somehow be making my way to Koh Chang, which is Thailand's second largest island and can be trasnslated into "Elephant Island." My last couple days in Cambodia were lots of fun. My last night was crazy. We were planning on going to the infamous Koffee Korner for dinner and happy hour before meeting everybody at the Mekong River to catch the boat ride. Well, all of a sudden the sky opened up and monsooned all over the place. We were going to wait it out, but us at the villa were hungry. We practically swam to Koffee Korner. I don't think I have ever been that dirty before in my entire life. The rain kept coming down as we were trying to get there and all I kept thinking about were the two dead rats that I saw that morning on the street when I was walking, not to mention the piles and piles of garbage that are usually on the street. All the Cambodian kids were on the street playing in the rain because it was prolly the cleanest the have ever been. hahaha We made it to Koffee Korner sopping wet and had dinner and then headed back out into the rain to get back to the villa where Dara was picking us up. Then we went out to the riverside to meet everybody. Lucky for us the rain had stopped by the time we had gotten on the boat. We floated the Mekong for a couple hours just talking and hanging out. By the time we got off everybody wanted to go a bar. I was tired, I went to the bar anyway and watched everybody be stupid. It was entertaining. hahahaha They had connect 4 there which is such a genius idea. America should really remember that. Anyways, I had to leave in the middle of class yesterday to catch my flight back to Pattaya. I'm really going to miss all my villa roommates. Hopefully I'll get to see some of them in Vietnam sometime this year. I am staying at the school here, which is nice because it has internet and I can hook my computer up to it! YaY! haha So I can finally put up some pics!

Eating lunch at the OKAY! guest house is lots of fun every day!

Coffee in a bag! Genius idea-until the bag breaks...

The best mode of transportation= tuk tuk!

Check out my awesome pants! The whole group in front of Cambodia's Royal Palace!

My lovely room on the porch.

Tomb Raider

Climbing all over the remains of a temple with Genessa!
Before dinner with Amy, Genessa, and Greta!

In front of Angkor Wat with Greta!

Tomb Raider!

Everybody!

Me and Amy in front of a HUGE hollow tree!

Hi! It feels like a lot has happened since I've last updated. I have already finished my first week of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) training and I've traveled to Phnom Phen and Siem Reap! Last Friday was a fun day because we only had a half day of class and we were tired from a long week of extremely tedious presentations, but during class I had to face my absolute worst fear... singing... in front of people... by myself... with no accompaniment whatsoever. hahaha I found myself sing to the tune of "row, row, row your boat" with my dialogue about going to the movies in front of 11 other people. It was pretty terrifying, but I didn't do too terrible. :) After class, 11 of us piled into a minivan to begin our journey to Siem Reap for our excursion to Angkor Wat.

Our drive to Angkor Wat was not fun. 11 tired people piled into a van with luggage for a 6 hour ride never is. Add in the terrifying lurching stops for the cows that randomly cross the highway and the bus that is suddenly coming at you from the wrong direction and it makes it about 5 times worse, and about 10 times more interesting. It was fun to see the countryside though and to see different parts of Cambodia.

We were staying at the Green Village Guest House. I roomed with Amy. Our rooms were alright. haha They were what I expected anyways. The first night we hung out at the bar downstairs where the owners made us food. Some people went out on the town for a crazy night, but I opted for sleep. Khmer people are extremely accomodating and friendly. The next morning we woke up early to go to the temples! We had a crazy tour guide who spoke English, but honestly I couldn't understand barely two words that he said. He had a funny habit of spelling things and really enjoyed the sexual ennuendos that were carved on the temples. Let's just say he was a character. We went to three temples; Banyon, "Old Barahm" (Tomb Raider), and the massive Angkor Wat. They were absolutely amazing. I liked Old Barahm the best because it was more "jungle encrusted" than the rest. Angkor Wat was absolutely HUMONGOUS. At the end of the day we climbed a mountain to see the sunset at the top.

The next morning, Greta and I got up and walked around the city. Siem Reap is interesting. A big tourist attraction. It doesn't seem to fit together because it has designer stores everywhere and then next door is the slums. Then we went out to the last temple, where they're weren't very many tourists at all. It was in complete ruins, so we got to climb all over it. It was so much fun. I wish I hadn't had been so tired, because I think I would've liked to climb around a bit more. :)

Now we are back in Phnom Phen for the week. I have three more class days here and Thursday night I fly back to Pattaya, Thailand. Then, I think I am going to Laos for the weekend to go white water rafting... I'm not quite sure though... You definitely learn to be flexible and go with the flow with Languagecorps. hahaha I'm excited to move on, but I'm going to miss everybody I've met here too. I'm hoping that we will all keep in touch. It's going to be a fun week. Today we went to the Central Market, which is the other major market (besides the Russian Market) that we haven't check out yet. I bought a "Lacoste" shirt for $3. I was pretty excited. On Wednesday we are going to rent a boat and have it take us down the Mekong River. It's going to be a busy week and somehow I've got to make time for class and writing my resume too!