Katty's Travels

Last Weekend

2010-02-18T09:59:00.001-08:00

I have a lot of updating to do about New York city. I'm not quite sure where to begin, so I'll just start with a recap of last weekend, even though their are several other things to discuss.

Last weekend was a whirlwind. It started off Friday night with Anna and I heading down to the counterpart of a spot of ours in Dallas. We walked into this very classy place to have a glass of wine before meeting up with a friend for a late dinner of delicious Thai-ness. Then the three of us headed out to meet Azalea and Chris for some Mardi Gras celebration and then we headed out to dance the night away. A very very long, very very fun night.

Saturday morning we woke up late and went to get "brunch", which was really a late lunch. haha Brunch is huge here. I love it, very Sex and the City. Then we headed out to the MoMa, which was awesome, except it was abnormally (so I've heard) overly crowded, so I must make my way out there again to fully enjoy it. We managed to weave in and out of the people to see all the standard exhibits though. Then we walked around for a while and decided to stalk fashion week. As we neared Bryant Park, I ran into somebody who looked like he was on a mission. Anna and I both did a few double takes and were trying to figure out where we knew this guy from, we thought he was some important stylist or something. Then we longingly watched people in amazing shoes walk in and out of the tents and tried to think of ways we could get one of those important passes that lets you inside the tent. Then we needed more coffee and went home. haha

That night we made homemade pasta! It was so fun! While we were eating our pasta, we decided to watch the recorded Project Runway episode, and guess what? That guy I ran into was Jesus from Project Runway! I KNOW! I was so excited! I am basically famous now for being run into by a guy who got kicked off of Project Runway. hahaha

The next day was Valentine's Day! I love Valentine's Day! I don't know why. haha I just think it's a really cute holiday. For breakfast we picked up bagels like true New Yorkers. It was an amazing bagel, haha. We went bowling that morning in Jersey. I did absolutely horrendous the first game, but brought it back some on the second. It was lots of fun. Then we headed to Soho to look around at all the fancy schmancy stores and go to Uni Qlo, a Korean American Apparel. After wandering around there, we headed to get a cup of coffee to escape the cold. One of the cutest best coffee shops I have ever been in. Then we wandered through Little Italy and Chinatown. After lots of walking, we went in to a little Mexican restaurant and had a wonderful dinner and then headed back to Hoboken to meet up with friends and do some dancing!

Monday we decided to take it easy. We were planning on seeing a movie, but it was $12.50 for a 3 o'clock movie!! So expensive!! We ended up going to The Strand, an amazing bookstore. Four floors of shelves and shelves of books. You could find any book there. Best bookstore I've ever been too. Could probably have stayed for days. Then we just headed home and made egg rolls for dinner! haha They were delicious. haha

Anyways, that's only a few days out of a few weeks of being here... much much more to come!!

Boston Cream Pie

2010-02-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

I went to Boston last weekend for the first time! I was so incredibly excited to go see that city, it's been hyped up a lot over the past few years from several people, and it did not disappoint! Anna and I left early Saturday morning and got on the bus for a few hours. When we got there, it was freeeezing. That was my first reaction. My second reaction was- "why is my hat not in my purse?" Of course, forgot my hat. haha I know that this doesn't contribute much to Boston, but I have never in my entire life ever been in such cold weather. Not good when you were planning on walking around all day and then you forgot your hat. But oh well. I got over and it gave me a good excuse to buy something at the amazingly huge Urban Outfitters that Anna kept talking about.

After burritos, we began our walk on the Freedom Trail, which has a zillion colonial sites on it. We didn't manage to do the entire thing (it was very very cold), but we did manage to see Boston Common, the State House, a very cool church (it had little rooms for the pews, I had never seen that before, very very cute), Boston Massacre Site and more. I had never seen so many things related to Paul Revere before. Texas social studies curriculum didn't touch on that much. After some shopping around and a few too many starbucks stops, we met up with a friend who took us to the Green Dragon Tavern and hang out for a while.

The next day Anna and I got up and went to check out Northeastern University (just in case...) and then headed to Cambridge to wander around and check out Harvard. We were heading back to Boston Common to hang out for a while, but then we realized that we were both falling asleep on the train and it would probably benefit both of us to get on an early bus home. It had been a busy couple days before and we were exhausted! I loved Boston though and it was a great weekend!

Charleston and Columbia

2010-02-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

I spent a few days in South Carolina visiting my cousins last week (before the horrendous train ride). They live in Columbia, so most of my time was spent there just hanging out and then one day Marty and I took a trip to Charleston.

My first couple days in Columbia, everybody had to work, but that was just ine with me. I spent the days relaxing and half heartedly looking for jobs online. I spent a good deal of each day just walking around their neighborhood, which was really nice and I really like Carolina houses. haha I think they are adorable. The first night, Marty, Jeff, Melissa, Chad and I all got to meet up for dinner at this delicious pizza joint and the next night we went over to Melissa's and watched her cook. Marty pretty much had to guide her along, and it was something I imagine my sister and I doing one day. haha Melissa and Kristen seem like they would be very similar in the kitchen. But dinner turned out wonderfully and it was delicious.

The next day, Marty took off work and the two of us went on a mini road trip to Charleston. Charleston is what you would imagine a post civil war city on the water to be like. Very Southern, very cute. It kinda reminded me of New Orleans, without the Mardi Gras-ness, if that makes any sense at all. We got there and had lunch (crab cake sandwich, very fitting) and walked through the old market and looked at the crafts and things. I can't remember exactly, but I think it's a tribe that weaves these absolutely baskets. I should probably look it up. Anyways, they were everywhere. Then we took a carriage tour through the city and saw the biggest houses I have ever seen and learned about Charleston green (a color, that looks like black, and something to do with the civil war) and saw some of the biggest houses I have ever seen. After the carriage tour we wandered around King's St. and did some window shopping and stopped at a candy shop to buy a bunch of yummy pralines! Then we headed back to Columbia and met up with Jeff for dinner!

The next day, Marty and Melissa both had the day off and we met up for lunch at Groucho's, which I loved mostly because of it's atmosphere. It was all college kids, packed, and reminded me of sandwich places in Waco. Then they drove me through University of South Carolina campus and around town. I saw where both of them worked and where some people used to live during college. Then we went to a baby boutique to get Melissa's diaper bag. That night, everybody came over for bbq and to hang out and watch the X games! Then I packed and got ready for the train ride to DC and the rest is history. haha Anyways, South Carolina was very fun and it was so good to see my cousins!

Amtrak

2010-02-01T07:18:00.000-08:00

I've only had two experiences with Amtrak, both in the past week. My first trip was from Winter Park, Florida to Columbia, South Carolina. It went swimmingly. I boarded about 8 o'clock one night, read The Hobbit for an hour, fell asleep, and was woken up by the conductor at 4 the next morning when we arrived in Columbia. The only real problem with the ride was a very obnoxious passenger sitting a few rows ahead of me. But what are you t do about that? Really, not a big deal.

A few days ago, I had a reservation on a ride from Columbia to Washington DC. It was scheduled to leave at 4 in the morning and arrive in DC at 3 that afternoon, Saturday. Alright, the day before, Friday, I received an automated voice message saying that my train was cancelled. Seeing as I was leaving in 12 hours, I panicked and called Amtrak to talk to somebody and ask them when the next train was. I got online and called at the same time. Amtrak's website said that the train was still on time and scheduled. The guy that I talked to said that the phone message was a mistake and that the train was still coming. I was extremely relieved.

That night my cousins all came over and we had a little dinner party with bbq sandwiches and sangria and other yumminess. A wonderful time. By the time everybody had left it was close to midnight and we had to leave at 3:15. I still had to shower and pack, so I just decided to stay up all night and that way I cold sleep the entire train ride. My sweet cousin woke up in the middle of the night and drove me to the train station. It had started to rain and it looked like it might, maybe, possibly freeze. The train station was empty. I was greeted with a "Didn't anybody tell you that the train was cancelled? and a Why are you here?" The train had been cancelled. The guy I talked to on the phone was clueless.

We went back to her house, it's 4 in the morning on Saturday now. I called Amtrak. The Columbia station had been closed until further notice, maybe opening on Monday, they weren't sure. The next train and closest station was leaving out of Florence that morning at 11:30. Florence is an hour and half away. My cousin told me she'd drive me. I changed my reservation to that train and called Anna, who I was meeting in DC, to tell her I wouldn't be there until Saturday night...

I woke up at 9 to leave for Florence. The weather didn't look good. I called Amtrak to make sure my train was leaving that morning still because there was absolutely no way that I was going to drive all the way to Florence to only find out that I wasn't leaving. The website still said that the train was on time.

That train was cancelled. Luckily, I found out before we left the house.

The next train was leaving at 11:45 that night. I wouldn't make it to DC until 8 on Sunday morning. Anna was already in DC waiting for me on Saturday morning. It had snowed. A lot. It was beautiful, Anna said. She also said that the bus ride was a little scary coming from New York and nobody was out.

I went back to bed and was super lazy all day. It was really nice. I love a good lazy day. Finally saw Iron Man and The Hangover. Both good. Watched some of the X games. (Side note: I've never watched the X games before until this year. They are awesome. It is a good thing I've never watched them because I probably would've gone through a phase in my life where I thought that I would one day win gold in the snow mobile event, even though I've never even been near that much snow in my life before or even seen a snow mobile.)

That night, I showered and repacked and called Amtrak every hour to make sure the train was still leaving. My cousin and her husband drove me all the way to Florence at 9:30 that night. On the way, it started to snow. The trees in Florence were really pretty, but they were pretty because they were covered in ice. It did not look promising. We got to the station and it was pretty full of people. The train was on time and ready to go.

Welcome to the train ride from hell. Remember how I was supposed to get to Washington around 7:45 Sunday morning. Well around 1 in the morning, the train stops. In the middle of nowhere (okay, somewhere in North Carolina). It was stopped for 5 HOURS. Seriously. 5 hours of sitting there. In the middle of nowhere. In the middle of the night. There was no announcement made about what was going on and nobody was walking down the aisles informing anybody of anything. Most of the passengers were sleeping. I was in and out because my seat partner, a red hat association lady who was loud and proud (a very very sweet lady) for some reason was not tired at all and was not very happy. At about 5 in the morning, most of the passengers were beginning to wake up. We were finally told that we had been waiting for the South bound trains to come by first because the tracks switched from two lanes to one and it had taken them "longer than expected." Then apparently a switch was frozen and that had to be fixed and that took "a couple hours." Everybody looked outside and saw that we were in a foot of snow (to be quite honest, I'm not sure how much it was, but to me it looked like we were in the north pole and Santa's elves and polar bears should've been hanging out outside.) The train finally starts moving at 6 that morning.

We went along for a few more hours, very slowly. Then we started to gain some speed and everybody thought everything was going to be okay. Then all of a sudden we stopped. Quite suddenly. We waited a while. An announcement was made that a switch was frozen again. We were stuck for another hour and a half.

I should mention that this train was packed. Every seat was filled because we were the only train going north. All other trains had been delayed or cancelled the past several days, so everybody had been crammed on this one. People were not handling this situation very well. They had a right to be upset- most people had missed their next train or bus. I personally had missed my entire nice weekend in DC and left my best friend stranded by herself there. It kinda sucked. But there were only a few select people, including me, that chose to call and complain to somebody and then sleep through it. Most people fell into one of two categories- the people who took advantage of the free coffee or the people who took advantage of the bar car. It was very very bad mix. People began drinking either too much coffee or too much alcohol at 6 o'clock that morning. Everybody became very unfriendly, including the train conductors.

Anyways, I finally made it to DC at 2 that afternoon, a full 24 hours after I was supposed to arrive. I was extremely happy to be able to stand up, but to be quite honest I wasn't in a very touristy kindof mood. I only had about 3 hours to see DC. Anna and I went to get margaritas and on the way to the bus station we walked past the capital building.

Ya, we're gonna go back.

The Sunshine-y State

2010-01-26T11:32:00.000-08:00

Truly, the sunshine state. It was so beautiful in Florida the past few days! Sunshine-y the whole time, and super warm. I actually wasn't prepared for such nice weather. I had been stressing before leaving about needing socks and a coat and it turns out that I really should've brought a pair of shorts and flip flops for the past couple days. Visiting Ryan was lots of fun! We did an early morning 5k benefiting the unknown, some relaxing kayaking, and a couple art museums, including a roadtrip down to St. Pete to the Dali museum one day, which was very cool. It was fun meeting all Ryan's friends and seeing where he lived and grew up. It's weird to think that I got to know a few people so well over the past year in Thailand, but I don't know them at home! It was a great long weekend in Florida. Now, I'm in South Carolina visiting a couple cousins! They live in Columbia and I think we might take a day to go to Charleston! I'll update you later!

Packing

2010-01-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

Hi! I'm going on a trip tomorrow! I'm very very excited for this adventure! The only problem is that I have to pack. I'm a horrible packer. I never know what to bring or what I'll want and blah blah blah. This time it's even worse because I'm leaving for an unknown amount of time and unknown events. (I mean, I have a general idea, I'm not just getting on any old random flight or anything), plus I'm taking trains and buses and planes and they all have different luggage guidelines and I'm just completely compluxed about what to do.

So to put off packing, I've been making snacks for my travels, cleaning, and spending most of my time making copies of my itinerary and decorating it with motivational stickers for my mom.

Next stop: Florida.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T11:30:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year from Texas!

That's right my friends, I am back in the states for 2010. A quick recap of the last few weeks:

My last week in Bangkok is a blur. I ran around the city doing last minute things and going to some favorite spots. There were lots of goodbye parties and Christmas celebrations and I ate a lot of exotic fruit for fear that I would never see it again. haha A few friends left a few days before me and the last two days were just weird. It was very very quiet and it made me do productive things like pack. Then I boarded a plane to Hong Kong where I met my dad for the weekend. It was lots of fun. We spent one night in Hong Kong and then headed to Macau for a couple days. I tried out the gambling thing and it was fun for a little bit, but I'm not sure if it's for me. The day I left to come home was full of transportation. haha I look back on it and realize how long of a day it was and then I get exhausted. We started the morning in Macau and left that afternoon, took a ferry to Hong Kong, a train ride to the airport, and then I boarded a plan at midnight. I would say that I've become a very good traveler. haha

I got home a few days before Christmas, which was wonderful. I've gotten to see all my homies, roommates, drill team friends, Anna, mom, sister, and cute cute Kaysen! Christmas time is def the best time to have a homecoming, because literally everybody is home. It was perfect.

I don't have a lot of plans right now. Short term for sure, but long term plans... not so much. I'll figure it out. Something will come along, I'm sure, right? haha I have all these ideas in my head but really, I have no idea.

Traveling around Thailand made me really want to travel around the US, soooooo I should be off on that adventure soon! I want to check out some cities that I might want to move to and just explore for a little bit! I'll keep you updated!

Family Trip! - Phuket

2009-12-12T03:10:00.000-08:00

After the first couple days in Khao Lak, we took a couple motorbikes to Phuket. Phuket was busy busy busy and I had a few speculations as we were driving in, but it proved to be a lot of fun. The beach is super busy and packed, but absolutely beautiful. There is definitely a reason why Phuket is one of the biggest tourist spots. The beach is filled with all sorts of water sports and we were ready to try something out. We opted for spending a good portion of the time playing on a big water playground with trampolines and water totters and rock climbing walls. Then we headed over to a quieter beach that Fern kept calling "the monkey beach" because it has a couple of gibbons there that hang out and play with a little pug. It was very very cute. That silly monkey was very patient with a lot of people. haha They had some swings on the beach that I relaxed on for a little while and then I took a very good nap. haha

That night we checked out the night life. It was crazy, a lot like Pattaya. First we went to a small bar where Ryan ended up playing with the band, then the boys played a game of pool while Fern and I chatted with the waitress and Fern told everybody she was from Malaysia, and then the best part of the night came when we ended up at this really weird club that reminded me of something that would be in space. Fern and I danced the night away with these stripey people. haha

The next day was time to head back to Khao Lak to grab the rest of our stuff and catch a bus to Bangkok. We got there just in time and had to rush to return the motorbikes and get our things. It was a rough bus ride back, but a great trip!

At the Hard Rock.

Patong Beach.

The Monkey Beach.

Ryan playing with the band.

Crazy space club.

The drive back to Khao Lak.

Waiting at the bus station. We almost didn't make it, but luckily seats cleared up!

Family Trip! - Khao Lak

2009-12-12T01:50:00.000-08:00

For one last hurrah, Fern, Ryan, James, and I headed down south for a few days! Ryan was already there, being scuba steve, so Fern and I took a bus down one night and the next day James met up with us. We stayed the first couple nights in Khao Lak mostly just hanging on the beach and sipping cocktails!

A very cute ferry to get across a sudden deep zone that parted the beach.

First day on the busy beach...

Scond day on the not so busy beach...

Happy Snapper!

We found a waterfall nearby as we were heading towards Phuket.

More to come on our family trip!

Last Day of Nursery

2009-12-11T02:36:00.001-08:00

For those of you who don't know, I've decided to come home and I'll be home in a little more than a week! Just in time for Christmas! It was my last day of work last Friday and it was bittersweet. I've learned a lot and I'm going to miss a lot of people there, especially my co-teacher, Aubrey, and all the TAs. We had a little going away party after school, complete with chai yen cake (Thai iced tea cake)! It was wonderful and I'm going to miss everybody!

(But I am very happy to be heading home!)

Ayutthayah

2009-12-02T06:06:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, I took a day trip to Ayuthayah, the old capital of Bangkok. It's a bunch of Wats (temples) now and there is a modern city connected.

Last day of work is Friday and I'll be home in just a few short weeks!

Chao Phraya River

2009-11-29T05:47:00.000-08:00

Due to an unfortunate event, a few of my fingers are broken and blogposts will be mostly pictures for the next few weeks...

My dad came to visit a couple weekends ago and we managed to do lots of sightseeing! We went up to the Banyan Tree for a view of Bangkok at night, took a tour of the river, saw the Grand Palace, and did some shopping at JJ market! I had never taken a full tour of the Chao Phraya River, so here are some pics!

Wat Arun and Pak Klong Dta Laad

2009-11-15T01:56:00.001-08:00

Sawasdee kaaaa! Alrighty, I don't have much to say, but I've got some pics. This weekend I went exploring and started off with Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) which is across the river from Grand Palace and Wat Po, so I got to take a boat there and then I went for a very long walk and ended up at the Flower Market, which was beautiful! And then, in true Kat fashion, I succeeded in getting very very lost and having to take a taxi back to the subway. haha

Wat Arun

Treachorous stairs at the Wat.

Tiny Thai dancers at the Wat!

Arriving at the Flower Market!

String together flowers.

Playing Dress Up

2009-11-05T21:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, I LOVE playing dress up. It is not uncommon for me to go home after school and try on ALL my clothes, turn up my music and dance around. In fact, it happens most days. haha So last weekend was so so much fun for me! It was Halloween and Loy Krathong! Two great holidays and excuses to look ridiculous! haha

Halloween was fun fun fun. I decided to go as Doraemon, the Japanese blue robotic cat with a magical pocket. Ya, I guess it's something that most early 20's girls would choose, but hey, how could you NOT want to dress up as a blue robotic cat?? haha It was awesome. I wore my costume to school on Friday, where I have to say, the nursery room was super cute and festive. Aubrey was Hello Kitty, Jim was a butterfly, and Chu was a peacock. Plus our class was cute too. haha All we did that day was take pictures eat candy.
Then the next day was Halloween! I suited up in my Doraemon outfit and set to go out. The boys and Fern and I went to a party hosted by someone from work and we met up with Aubrey and Parker and then we headed to Tapas. We had an amazing time! Thailand doesn't really get Halloween (they think it's all scary and mean), and the party was more Halloween festive than I had seen in all of Thailand, which was great!
Then Sunday I went with Jim and Aubrey to get my Thai dress for Loy Krathong!! Loy Krathong is a festival where people float little boats made of bamboo stalk, banana leaves, and flowers, with lit candles on them to "send their worries away". So anyways, on this day traditionally people where traditional Thai dress. So at school on Monday everybody wore their Thai outfits and we helped the kids make their krathongs and floated them in the pool! haha Then when I got home, I joined people outside to make my own krathong! I have to say, I'm very very proud of it! I made it all by myself! Then I went to go put on my Thai dress again, haha, and Chris, James, and I headed to subway and to meet Ryan and Fern at a park for a big Loy Krathong party and to float our boats! I had so much fun! haha We made sure we did it right and put a piece of our hair, nail, and some baht in our boats before we floated them away! I'm wishing for some really good luck! haha
It was lots of fun dressing up, but it was nice to put some normal clothes on on Tuesday...It had been since Thursday that I had a normal outfit. People were starting to think I was crazy. hahaha

The Krabi Events

2009-10-24T23:48:00.000-07:00

I'm stuck at the Krabi airport right now. A massive rainstorm. This also happened to me when I was leaving Bangkok to come to Krabi Wednesday night... but it was all worth it! Here is a schedule of events over the past few days!

Day 1: Left straight after school to hurry to the airport! I got there in plenty of time because the flight was delayed. I even saw a student, who I hid from. haha Anyways, finally got on the plane and the flight was smooth. Then I headed onto a shuttle to get to Ao Nang. I found a guesthouse and set out to explore Ao Nang and get some dinner.

Day 2: Got up early and set out to explore Ao Nang some more. I found the Krabi National Park center and saw a tsunami monument and walked along the beach. Then I made friends with a taxi driver and got a personal tour in a sidealong car around Ao Nang and to the Shell Cemetary. Then I headed back to the beach and got a longtail boat to Railay! The ultimate destination. I found myself a bungalow for a great deal in the middle of the jungle between the East and West sides of the beach. Then I headed out to West Railay for a lot of swimming and sleeping and tanning. That night, I followed the signs to Stone Bar. I was overly excited about the fact that a bar was named Stone Bar, Stoney is kindof a nickname I've acquired here, for reasons unbeknownst to anybody. Played lots of Connect 4 and even managed to win a couple games, which is kindof rare.

Day 3: Took a speedboat island hopping trip! I quickly became a favorite of the crew and lots of personal attention on the trip, which was lots of fun. haha Our first stop was Maya Bay, the film location of "The Beach". I have to say, I was very much not impressed. I saw more tacky people on this beach since I've lived in Pattaya. Then we headed to Lohsamah Bay, where we snorkeled! then we hopped back in the boat to go see Viking Cave and Pi Leh Bay. We stopped off at Phi Phi Don for an hour to wander about and have some lunch. Then we headed to Monkey Beach, where there were monkeys everywhere!! Then we headed to Hin Klarng, for open sea snorkeling, which was lots and lots of fun. Saw a lot of fish and coral, tiger fish. haha Our last stop was Bamboo Island, which was probably my favorite part of the day. We went snorkeling and swimming. I made a friend named Russ who was a tour guide with another company, and he got me a pineapple stem and helped me feed it to the fish and then he found me a hermit crab who came back with me to Railay. haha Then it was time to head back to Railay. That night I had dinner on the beach to watch the most amazing sunset I've ever seen! I took a zillion pictures, which will be up soon!

Day 4: The next day was all about exploring. I hiked all over. I took a good hike over to Ton Sai and tried to get into these other caves, but failed, haha, and then I went to see Diamond Cave, which was kindof like National Treasure. Then I rented a kayak and did some kayaking around to the different beaches and stuff. That afternoon was spent entirely laying out on the beach. I stayed there until the sun went down, just so I could be sure to see it again. haha That night I headed over to Railay East, and hung out for a while and got a good beach barbeque dinner.

Day 5: is today. This morning I woke up early, as usual, and headed over to Princess Cave. Over near Princess Cave and this treacherous looking pathway to a lagoon. Well, I was there, so I had to do it. The path was all clay and mud and I am so thankful for the ropes that somebody put there so you can hang on, cause it's quite steep. It was fun though and led me to a lagoon! Crazy. haha And then I showered and got myself American style banana pancakes, which are a little difficult to find in these nick of the woods. Usually if you ask for a banana pancake, you get a thai rotee, which are awesome, but more of a dessert, rather than pancakes. I was obviously very excited about this banana pancake. haha Then I got a long tail boat back to Ao Nang, a sangtheow to Krabi town, and another sangtheow to the airport. And now I'm here waiting...

Anyways, that was my trip! Pictures and better stories (hopefully) coming soon!!

My Very First Sweetest Day

2009-10-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

Sweetest Day- I'd never heard of it before. haha Aubrey told me about it and it's celebrated in the Northeast and it's basically a knockoff of Valentine's Day. Anywho, my first Sweetest Day was jam packed. Aubrey was my date all day. haha First we had an awesome buffet brunch at her apartment and then we headed to the mall. Emporium to be exact. And do you know what they had at the mall?? You'll never guess. They had a baby white tiger and an elephant and a lion and all sorts of animals that they brought from the Chiang Mai Night Safari. There was a zoo in the mall! haha Two of my favorite things, wild animals and shopping, all in one. haha

Then we headed to a different gigantic mall, Central World, where we looked for things for our awesome Halloween costumes, which will be revealed at a later date. haha I don't want to jinx it. I'm super excited about it though! haha We really wanted to see "Fame", but the times were all weird and so we ended up seeing "New York, I Love You." I have mixed feelings about it. It was made well but for some reason I had this melancholy feeling afterward, I'm not really sure why.

Anyways, after the movie we had some lunch/dinner at the fanciest food court I've ever been it. Definitely not like a food court at home. On our way out we stopped at the Halloween section so I could get some face make up, because that night I was going on a zombie walk!
Aubrey and I parted ways and I rushed home to dress like I was dead. Zombie. It was awesome. haha Fortunately, I was able to put my ripped tights, lopsided skirt and ripped shirt to use. Then I teased my hair and rubbed gray, black, and white goo all over my face and squirted some fake blood on me. Chris, Matt, James, and I had a great time getting ready. We were a big hit just walking down the street. Everybody stared and laughed! haha The four of us met up with a bunch of other people and then we headed to the Bed Supperclub for Zombie night!

Zombies are the perfect way to end the Sweetest Day.

All in all...

2009-10-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

it's been a successful week. That sounds weird, but really, that's how I feel, successful. haha I've just kinda been in a rut or something ever since I got back. I think it's just that my job really stresses me out and it has been less than enjoyable. But early on this week I gave myself a pep talk and was like "Kat, get over it". haha So I've been trying to get out more and do some new things and it's been good.

The week started off with a bang with Ryan's birthday party on Sunday night, which was lots of fun. I got to hit up some favorite spots such as Mama's (the western restaurant right outside the apartment door, she made shish kebabs... I'd say it's my fave thing there) and then the ever popular Blue's Bar. I had to leave the night early because I had to get up early for work, but it was a very fun night.

Spirits were kept up all week with some "Mexican" food (my fajitas tasted a lot like teriyaki? haha And I believe there were ants on a plate... hahahaha) on Monday and then a movie at the Bangkok International Film Festival on Tuesday. I saw Dogtooth. I don't recommend it. haha It's a Greek film and it was extremely interesting, it definitely kept my attention, but I wouldn't say that I particularly enjoyed it. hahaha But I felt cool, just cause I can now say that I went to the Bangkok International Film Festival. haha

I slept A LOT on Wednesday and Thursday. I was very very very tired. All the typhoons and tsunamis in the air are giving me some killer headaches and making me very lethargic. But oh well, I slept it off and the air here is clearing.

Friday night I went out with Aubrey and met some new people at this super fancy expensive posh club called the Bed Supperclub. I walked in and immediately felt like Carrie in Sex and the City. haha I was so tempted to order a cosmo. haha There are all these beds everywhere that you sit on and everything is white, except for in the black room where everything is black. haha Go figure. It was very cool. And very fun.

The rest of the weekend I kept trying to do new things. haha I went to a park I hadn't been to before, Chatachuck Park, and then I got a massage at a new place. haha Both were great experiences and everything, but I actually think I preferred my usual park, Lumphini, and massage place. hahaha It was good though. I'm trying to branch out.

And you know what else I did? I studied. I've been really struggling with the studying. I think too much, and not about studying. haha About random things... like, the other day I was "studying" but really I was just wondering why the cat that had just walked by me was so fat (cats are always skeletal here). haha But today, I tried something new. I went to a mall. Yes, a mall. And I studied in the food court. And beleive it or not, I don't think I've ever been so focused before in my life. I got a lot done and now I'm very proud of myself. I'll think I'll go back tomorrow. haha

Banyan Tree

2009-09-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

I live about 5 minutes away from an extremely fancy pants hotel called the Banyan Tree. It's pretty well known for the rooftop bars and restaurants. I've been a few times before, mostly just for the view. I also go and wander around in the crowd and never order anything (I only stay for a little bit... and somebody always gets at least one drink) because it's super super expensive. But this month they had a special where you pay 500 baht and get all the drinks you want for an hour, so I've been twice. haha Anyways, the view is amazing and it reminds me of another reason why I love this city.

This week has been a big blur. I am absolutely positive I had swine flu. I have no idea how I got through the week. I missed a day of work, but when I was at work I was sleeping. Then I came home and slept. I probably should've gone to the doctor, but that required effort such as getting out of my bed, so I didn't. haha Things started to look up on Thursday and on Friday I felt like anything, so all is well. That's about all that is going on though! I think I'm going to call it an early night and get some more sleep! haha

Bangkok Family Portrait

2009-09-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

I tried to pick the best one... but there is something weird in each of them. haha I wouldn't expect anything less. :)

I had a really fun weekend. Friday night I went with Aubrey and her boyfriend, Parker, to Coyote, a restaurant nearby, and we got free teacher margaritas. Then they came over for a little bit and everybody hung out in my room.

Saturday was Ryan's birthday. I spent the day running errands, getting my nails done, and making Ryan a peanut butter chocolate pie. haha Then a bunch of people went out. I went to a few night life places that I've been wanting to go to but never did because I always just end up having a good time at home. haha It was fun. It was just a very silly weekend. I thought I'd share. haha

Back to work tomorrow. It's teddy bear week in nursery... I hope it goes well. I hope it keeps them calm. I hope they sleep at nap time. And most importantly, I hope I don't completely lose my mind. hahaha

Update!

2009-09-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

The reason I haven't really updated because this has been consuming my life...

YaY watercolor!

She loves her goggles.

My little space cadet.

Fergie!

Another reason why I need to adopt from Korea. So sweet.

In other news, I cut my hair and I went to a fish spa. haha That's all I can say that I've done in the past couple weeks. The fish spa was pretty cool. I walked down to the Night Market and went into the fish spa and stuck my feet in an aquarium and all these fish came up and bit my feet. Apparently it's good for you. haha I think it's supposed to exfoliate them or something, maybe help with circulation? haha I honestly didn't feel any difference afterwards, but it was a lot of fun. It tickled a lot. If you ever need a good laugh, you should go to a fish spa. haha

My Little Bunnies and Ducklings

2009-09-04T01:49:00.000-07:00

Hello! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I was home for a month which was wonderful. I saw so many people and got to do everything I wanted to, going to target, watching food network, baking thousands upon thousands of cookies, watching tv, sonic, hanging out and doing nothing with the besties, Waco. It was the best. It was great just seeing everybody!

When I got back things were a little hectic. My roommate left to go back to the US and things at work did not go very well. I didn't get back to Bangkok until Sunday night at 10 and then I had to be at work for the first day of school at 7 the next morning, plus really bad jetlag. I arrived at work and starting putting things away in my classroom and found out that I wasn't teaching K3 anymore... then they put me in the nursery classroom for a few days. They were unsure of what class I was teaching. Then the ESl teacher was gone, so I taught 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade ESL for a couple weeks. It was so frustrating. I came very close to telling them that I couldn't work there anymore. It's not like teaching ESL was bad ( I actually really enjoyed it and would've kept doing it if they needed me), but I didn't have a permanent class and I was doing Elementary and Kindergarten schedules and teacher duties. Nobody really knew what to do with me.

Anyways, starting last Monday, I have officially been a nursery classroom teacher. I can't lie, I was bummed. I'm not the best with babies and I love 5 and 6 year olds. However, I am working with Aubrey, another American around my age, and we have two wonderful TA's, Chu and Jim. They are a great group of people to be working with. Super positive and laid back. It's always happy. haha Aubrey had waited a little while to get a nursery schedule and routine going, so I could be a part of everything, which I appreciated so so much because I missed out on that last year too. So this week we've been organizing our kids and getting a curriculum and everything together. We've done a lot and have a lot of good ideas to keep working on and I'm actually getting excited about nursery kids! haha I never would've thought. haha
We have 15 (I think... haha) little ones, all around 2 years old. We divided them into groups, the bunnies and the ducklings so they'd be easier to manage. This week has been all about learning which group they are in. I made little construction paper bunnies with the bunnies and Aubrey made ducklings with the ducks. For show and tell they brought either a bunny or a duck to share with everyone. It's very very cute! haha
So anyways, I'm finally getting settled back in. It's a three day weekend. Thank goodness. Those 2 year olds wear me out. I'm very excited for the weekend. I want to head to the beach for a little while and then hang out and pool party it up on Monday. YaY for Friday! (Fridays have become an interest on facebook... hahaha)

I'm home!

2009-07-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm home!

I got home a couple days ago. The flight went pretty smoothly and I have managed to tackle jet lag pretty well. I left at about midnight on Friday night and managed to stay awake all night until I got to Korea, so I could sleep all the way from Korea to Dallas and be awake when I got here all day. I have no idea how I managed that, but it worked out pretty well. Lots of coffee I suppose.

It's a little bit weird being home, not around people or anything (that's all the same-same), but little things like using a dish washer, people wearing shoes inside houses, using a fork and knife to eat, the bed is so soft (and so wonderful), seeing squirrels run across the street instead of rats... stupid little things like that. I've also been taking advantage of eating a lot of berries, turkey, quacomole, steak, and salad (yum), but nothing seems to be spicy enough, no matter how many jalapenos are added. I think the thing I've noticed most is how I don't really need to walk anywhere. It's driving me nuts. haha My legs seriously need to stretch. (I'm about to go for a walk, no worries.) But it's kinda strange having to think about that when it comes naturally in Thailand because you walk everywhere.

Anyways, just wanted to give a quick update. My last couple days in Bangkok were lots and lots of fun. My friends, Nam and Fern, cooked a few of us a homemade Thai meal which was superb and there was lots of hanging out and being silly. It was great.

It's good to be home!

Koh Samet, Go to Samet!

2009-07-10T11:53:00.001-07:00

Last week I finally made it to Koh Samet! I've been meaning to make a weekend trip there since.... um, probably September. haha It just never happened. I always got too lazy, which is such a shame, because it was wonderful! Absolutely beautiful and relaxing and the perfect island getaway! There was a big Buddhist holiday (Buddhist Lent, I think) on Tuesday and Wednesday and a bunch of people from the building managed to make it to Koh Samet for whatever days they had off. Lots of us didn't have the same exact break, but they all managed to overlap a day or two, so it was a great time to go.

I left early Tuesday morning with Ryan, Fern, and Nam. We were planning on catching a minibus, but then Name said that he was going also and he could drive us down there in his car, which was really great and it saved us some time. We parked the car at Ban Phe and chartered a speed boat to take us to the island. It took us right up to Tubtim Beach, where we got ourselves a couple of bungalows and sat down for lunch on the beach. A few minutes later, Chris and James wandered our way and after lunch we set out for some hiking and exploring. The entire island is only about 7 km long (shaped like a skinny South America), full of bays that are diconnected by rockiness. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's the best I can do right now. So we hiked along the beach and the rockiness all day. It was great. We made little pit stops along the way to swing on tire swings, take a swim in the ocean, and get some coconut ice cream cones! Parts of the hike were kindof intense and after about 3 hours, I was exhausted. It was more mentally exhausting for me than physically, because I was constantly trying to figure out where it was the most stable and safe place to step. After our hike, we all took a quick nap and then met up for a seafood barbeque feast on the beach. It was so tasty! Oysters, fish, chicken shish kebabs, crabs, and all of it fresh! Then we headed out to lay on the sand and order a couple drinks! A perfect day!

The next morning I woke up and immediately put on my swim suit and went to lay out. I was out there for a little while before the rest of the crew came out and joined me for lunch. Then I went for a last swim. I just love the ocean. I thought I had to leave earlier, so I took a shower and packed up my stuff, but then found out that I could get a speed boat back to the main pier in a few hours for a pretty good price, so I had a couple of hours to spend lazing about. We went to a small beach next to ours, where I napped on a boulder and watched the rest play some frisbee and swim. Then I boarded a speed boat and got a bus back to Bangkok! It was a great couple of days!

Arriving at Tubtim! Me, Nam, and Fern!

Scampering about.

How in the world did we get so blessed?!

After a long day of hiking!

The end of a perfect day!

Lumphini Park and Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hello! Last week we went on a field trip to Lumphini Park, which is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment and a frequent visiting place for me! I go there a few times a week just to walk around and I love it. It's basically just a big park with lots of happenings and interesting people watching. There are a few big play areas, tennis courts, a pool, weight machines, tai chi, salsa dancing, aerobics, monitor lizards (aka loch ness monsters), canoeing, paddle boating... you name it and Lumphini Park has it! It was lots of fun going with the whole preschool, especially since I have now taught all the classes in preschool and every student knows me! I thought it deserved some pics!

Me and Koo Kai!

What a sweet little girl she is!

Hanging out with the TA's!

I love my K3 kids! I miss them!

I just really love this girl. haha She's so clever.

So cute!

Also, Happy 4th! We had big plans for the 4th, many of which did not happen because of getting overexcited the day before and being too tired on the actual 4th. haha But we had lots of fun and went to The Roadhouse and had barbeque! Beef tasted sooooo good. I seriously don't think I've had it since I've been here. Besides the burger from burger king. Roadhouse turned out to not just be a fabulous restaurant, but packed full of entertainment for us, such as shuffle board and darts and Wimbledon on the tv. Then afterwards, we went out for free margaritas at our fave mexican restaurant! YaY! Happy 4th!

Arriving for our American feast!

The biggest plate of food I have seen since coming to Asia. It was tasty.

YaY! Free margaritas!

Up!

2009-06-26T21:19:00.000-07:00

Summer school is in session. I am currently teaching the nursery class. I've found out that it is not my cup of tea, but I suppose it's a good learning experience. The reason I'm teaching the nursery class is because a couple of the teachers had to leave early and not enough of my K3 kids signed up for summer school so they decided to move me around. I'm only doing it for summer school. haha They are sweet little kids, but there is no way I could teach nursery for an entire year. haha

Anyways, summer school is kinda fun because we get to go on a field trip every week. Last Thursday we took the entire preschool, nursery through K3, to the movies to see Up!. I was pumped. I really wanted to see the movie. haha Probably more so than most of the kids.

Anyways, the movie ended up being just alright, but the theatre was awesome! haha We booked the "happiness" theatre which consisted of large beds complete with fluffy pillows and blankets in the back half and then in the front half of the theatre there were love seat sofas with leg rests and in the front row there were a bunch of fancy bean bag chairs. It was awesome! The coolest theatre I have ever seen. We all got to sit on the beds and we had more than enough room. I got to snuggle up with a couple of my cute 2 year olds and watch the movie. Then the ushers brought each of us a tray of assorted flavors (yes, flavors- caramel, cheddar cheese, barbeque, spicy, and butter) of popcorn and a soda.

The best movie experience ever.

Mr. Thailand

2009-06-19T04:46:00.000-07:00

Sawadee kaaaaa!

Last weekend, Tricia and I had a girl's night out and went to Khao San, the backpackers area. We were wandering around looking for these crazy hats when we came across Mr. Thailand and seeing as how I hadn't had my picture taken yet with him, I asked him to take a pic with me.

Mr. Thailand is this crazy dude that roams Khao San every night wearing these crazy flowered shirts and huge sunglasses and funny turban like hats. He's a little bit famous here.

So I got my picture taken with him and then Tricia started chatting in Thai with him and he decided to join us. He helped Tricia buy a tshirt and then he asked us where we were going and we explained that we just wanted to grab a drink or something at a bar cart. He told he knew of a cool place to go and he took us to a new place for us, The Roof. It was awesome. Rooftop, live hoppin music, and just a good atmosphere. Anyways, Mr. Thailand informed us that he was actually Mr. Khao San and hung out for probably an hour or so. It was very cool.

Fitne

2009-06-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

The story about my stomach-

A long time ago Tricia accidently bought a bottle of Bailey's. That sounds really silly and you probably think I'm lying, but it's true. One night last week, we decided to rent a movie and finally drink some Bailey's, but we didn't want to drink coffee because it would keep us up at night. We decided to head to 7-Eleven and we bought the only brand of tea they had that came in little individual packets. We bought green tea and chrysanthemum tea. It was called Fitne.

We came home and tried the two different flavors of tea with the Bailey's. It was delicious! We each had about 3 very large mugs of it.

Well, I went to bed pretty early, around 10:30. At midnight I woke up and had to run to the bathroom. Let me just skip this part and tell you that I didn't get any sleep that night and I REALLY did not feel well.

My alarm went off at 6 the next morning and I didn't think I was going to make it to work, but alas- I was sick last week and I knew that I was just going to have to figure something out. I went and woke Tricia up to see if she had any Immodium. I had no idea what was wrong with me and I was kindof relieved when Tricia informed me that she was having the same kind of trouble. I was also very disappointed to hear that no, she did not have any immodium to give me. Oh no...

The entire way to school I kept trying to think of why we would both be sick. I had no idea what it could be because we didn't eat any of the same food and what else could possibly make two people so sick? When I made my morning stop at 7-Eleven it occurred to me that the only thing we both had was the tea and Bailey's. I went to look at the packages of tea. In tiny writing, in plain English, on the back of the bag it says "Indication: laxative."

My jaw hit the floor. I had been drinking glasses upon glasses of laxatives mixed with alcohol. Worst idea ever.

The next FEW days (yes, multiple days) were spent drinking rehydration packets and eating yogurt. We found out that Fitne was a whole line of laxatives, from pills to coffee, teas, and ginger drinks. Fitne- the Thai way to lose weight. Absolutely disgusting.

As unfortunate as this event was, it has also provided us with multiple long laughing sessions!

Sua Suai

2009-06-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

Kissing tigers.

My new pet.

Our only group pic and I got whacked in the head by a very strong tiger tail.

TIGER TEMPLE! I love tigers.

I'm very distracted right now. This is guaranteed to be a very disorganized blog post. My stomach and I are on the outs, which should prolly be another blog post.

Last weekend Tricia, James, and I headed to Kanchanaburi to see some tigers at the Tiger Temple. Which was awesome! I've been wanting to go there since August and I finally got to! So the Tiger Temple is a working temple with a bunch of tigers roaming about. We hung out and pet some humongous tigers (one weighed over 400 lbs.) and played with the little ones for a very long time. The day was full of picture taking. We got to kiss tigers and hug tigers and give them ice and walk them around on leashes and watch them wrestle and do all sorts of cute things. They also had buffalo (kwaii- it took me a long time to think of the English word, hahaha), deer, cows, and peacocks roaming about. One of the baby kwaii became quite infatuated with Tricia and wouldn't leave her alone while the peacocks enjoyed terrorizing James.

We left early in the morning and took a long taxi ride to a far away bus station and then caught a bus that kept leaking dirty brown water everywhere. When we got there we grabbed some lunch and hired a private baht bus for the day. We took a long (45 minutes) and beautiful drive to the temple. When we got there, Tricia and I were forced to buy some awesome fishermen's pants because silly me thought it would be okay to wear shorts. I don't know why I thought that. It is never acceptable to wear shorts to a temple. I should know better, but the fishermen's pants are a great color and comfortable and whatever, it isn't like I'm never gonna wear them. We finally got into the temple and wandered to the canyon were the big cats were chillin'. We talked to a couple of the volunteers for a little while, while we waited to get out pictures taken. They were all just backpackers who thought it'd be cool to hang out with tigers for a month or so. So who knows, maybe one day I'll volunteer at the tiger temple. Then a lady came to get me and took me all around the big cats and took my picture with each of them. They were awesome and had really awesome big paws. Then the three of us wandered over to the babies, where their were only a few volunteers and a lot of tatted up monks. We spent most of the day there just hanging out and wandering around. We got to play with the babies more and interact with them, so it was a lot of fun! Then we had to journey back to the bus station. Our bus ride back was less then enjoyable. I'd say we stopped at least 33 times to drop people off in random places. We were starving by the time we got back, so we celebrated the end of the day with a pizza party and watching Little Mermaid (my fave classic disney!). It was great. All in all, a wonderful day!

Hand, Foot, and Mouth

2009-05-25T03:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. The past few weeks I really haven't been feeling well. At first I freaked out and thought maybe I had malaria. Then I got rational and realized that I was probably very anemic. I've been on a frantic search for foods high in iron and B12 and bought some mega vitamins, ironically named Stresstabs. haha I don't know, it made me laugh. hahaha Then last week...

My class was hit with Hand, foot, and mouth. I've had to deal with this before in the US at a daycare I worked at. We had to close for a week and do some super duper cleaning. In Thailand though, it's still a new thing and a very big deal. A very big deal for CHILDREN. haha So anyways, we found out a couple of the kids in my class had it and then we had to shut down the entire preschool for a day to clean and then the health people had to come in the next day to inspect. We thought we had gotten all of it. Then a couple days later, another student was found with it. This time it was a sibling of one of the students in my class that we thought didn't have it. So then the school just had to send home letters telling everyone that we had all been exposed and there isn't a lot we can do.

So normally this disease is for kids. Unfortunately for me, I catch everything. Everything. The past couple days I've been really achy and then I woke up this morning feeling absolutely horrible. Right after school I made my first trip to the hospital here and found out that I had a fever and every symptom of adult hand, foot, and mouth. Yay for me.

It's not so bad for adults. We don't even get a rash which is what the disease is named for. I just have a fever and a headache and am tired. I'm mostly just annoyed. haha

Chatuchak Market

2009-05-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

Chatuchak Market, aka JJ Market, is the biggest outdoor market in Southeast Asia. It's HUGE. I actually have a map of it that is impossible to decipher, although Tricia has tried a few times. haha The past two Saturday's I have been there and I went a long time ago with my mom when she was here. It's super easy to get to because it is right off the BTS (skytrian, monorail...) and you can find absolutely anything you ever want or need there, it just might take a little time because of it's size. It's all these little crammed shops under a tin roof and it's very claustrophobic-y and hot. Very very hot. haha It's so crowded because it is only open on Saturday and Sunday from 9 to 6. It's cool though and you can find some great deals. You can't really go to JJ without buying anything. That would be weird. haha

Last Saturday I went with Tricia and Thom. It was boiling outside and that's mostly what I remember about it. haha I found some awesome earrings though for only 10 baht each! That's 30 cents people! I ended up buying 6 pairs. Plus they had plums at the market that day. haha That sounds really silly, but I haven't even thought about plums in a very very long time so it was very strange seeing them. We wandered around for a while and saw a lot of different sections of the market, including the clothes, sunglasses, hats, bags, some furniture and lights, pets, food, plants, leather goods, pillows, knick knacks and such, etc. Anything you can think of. The pet section of the market is so sad. And so cute. haha You can buy dogs, cats, rabbits (and I'm pretty sure that there might be some miniflops in there!), mice, squirrels, etc etc. The dogs are usually pure breed. The pen with the golden retrievers and huskies always almost gets me to fork over some money and take one home. You just feel so bad for them, because it is really really hot in there. hahaha

Yesterday Tricia and her friend Christina from home went back and I tagged along. We didn't have as much time there, but I managed to find a great deal on some bags. haha We went on almost the same route as we did before. It wasn't as hot yesterday as the weekend before, but it was even more crowded and stuffy with people. It was hard to decide which way it is better.

It's been pretty low key here, which has been nice. I really need some rest. The month of April wore me out. I do have Tuesday and Friday off this week though and of course I'm gonna have to do something for that. I can't just waste my time here! Before I know it, I'll be home for the summer and I want to be able to say I did things! haha

Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew

2009-04-22T05:32:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Tricia and I ventured over to the Grand Palace. Way back when, we tried to go there but we couldn't find the door. That seems very silly, but the palace is guarded by extremely high white stone walls because back in the olden' days people would attack and jump over using elephants. This time we found the door.

I just read in my pamphlet that the walls are exactly 1900 meters tall, if that can give anybody a picture. It certainly doesn't help me because I still can't grasp how to think in the metric system. haha I am constantly trying to convert... That's besides the point. Here is a little bit of background info on the Grand Palace. It was established in 1782 to house the royal residence and a bunch of government offices AND the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is humongous. (218,000 square meters... the metric again). It used to be in Thonburi, which is on the other side of the Chao Phraya River, but then the awesome new king decided to move the capital to it's new location in Bangkok.

The Emerald Buddha is actually jade and was found in Chiang Rai (up north) in 1434. It was covered with plaster and for a little while everybody just thought "hey neato, another Buddha image", but then the plaster started flaking off and everybody saw that it was jade but nobody knew what jade was at the time and so everybody assumed it was made of emerald. That's a terrible run-on. Anyways, the legend of the Emerald Buddha began and the whole place is covered in these intricate amazing murals that tells the story of it. Also, the buddha has different gold costumes for the three Thai seasons. One for summer, rainy, and winter season. (Right now, it is dressed in the summer outfit.) Their is a big ceremony each time the season changes and the king comes to dress the Buddha.

So, basically- Tricia and I went to the Grand Palace. We took a tour. It was free and we were very excited about the fact that it was free. haha We played tourists for the day and had a great time doing it and then were very impressed with ourselves for not going shopping instead, especially since it is so incredibly hot and steamy outside. haha It was very cool. If you come to Bangkok, you should check it out.

The story of the Emerald Buddha written in old Thai script that is posted all over the temple.

The Emerald Buddha sitting high on a golden throne.

Wat Phra Kaew

Me and Trees in front of the Grand Palace

Even the bushes are shaped to match the temple and palace. Tricia is rockin' that rental skirt.

Lighting candles when we walked into the temple. I really have no idea what this means, but I'm guessing that it's being respectful.

Chiang Mai Cafes, Spas, and Boutiques...

2009-04-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

As promised, I'll fill you in on the rest of my stay in Chiang Mai.

After the last day of Songkran, some people went back to Bangkok for work and some of us headed to the famous Night Bazaar. The Night Bazaar (me + shopping + in a market) was fun and I found some cool handicraft, hilltribe stuff that you don't see a lot of in Bangkok, so that was pretty exciting. We only stayed for a little while because we were zonked out and it isn't like none of us had experienced huge crazy markets before. haha

The next couple of days I spent a lot of time by myself exploring the city. I got up both days and went for walks into the center of the city. Most of the city was still closed due to the Songkran holiday being extended because of the protests, but nobody was throwing water anymore. I think everyone was tired and it was a great excuse for people not to go to work and to sleep for a couple days. haha I did find some really cool shops though. I stopped in at one store and talked to the guy who owned it for a while. He made hilltribe clothing. More hilltribe clothing that I had ever seen and I sat and tried to reason with myself for a long time why I need one of everything in the store, but I settled on just a couple of hats. haha He has somebody run a shop in JJ Market in Bangkok, so he gave me his card in case I ever wanted anything else. It was just really fun to talk to him about Songkran and everything. I wandered around the city for a while and passed some Wats (temples) and then headed back to the area we were staying in.

The area of Chiang Mai that we were in was a little bit farther away and was filled with cafes and boutiques. I loved it. In a very strange way, it kinda sortof reminded me of Waco, except it was kinda upscale and posh. haha I definitely indulged in a few amazing sandwiches instead of getting my faves from the street and bought some very cool things. haha I was even persuaded to get a facial / manicure / and pedicure. I saw a spa ad that was giving promotions out about cleaning up after Songkran... and that was enough to get me there. haha I felt much cleaner and healthier afterwards. haha

I took an overnight bus back to Bangkok and got in very early the next day and slept for a few hours. Then I had to spend the day doing laundry and organizing my life. I'm glad I got everything together because the next day, Tricia and I ventured to the Grand Palace... more about that later. I'm back at work today and it feels very strange to be here. haha I had a wonderful couple of weeks!

Team SONGKRUNK

2009-04-18T00:46:00.001-07:00

YaY Songkran! haha Songkran is quite possibly the best holiday ever. It's the Thai New Year that lasts three days long. The first day is a celebration for the last day of the year, the second day is a transition day, and the last day is a celebration for the first day of the new year, which is Thailand is 2552. People splash water on another for cleanliness and I think something to do with bringing in the rainy season. Nowadays though, it's basically a reason for everybody to throw buckets of water at anybody and anything.

To celebrate Songkran, a bunch of languagecorps peoples (I think 18 of us from all over Thailand and Vietnam...) got together and went to Chiang Mai. Our celebration started a couple days beforehand when everybody met in Bangkok at me, Tricia's, Ryan's, and James'. We made team t-shirts by painting them with the Thai flag colors (red, white, and blue) and then went out that night to Khaosan (backpacker's area). The next day we slept in and had a pool party complete with pizza before making our way to the train station to catch our overnight bus.

The train station was a mess because all the trains had been cancelled because of the protests. Speaking of the protests (which are over now), nobody worry because I certainly wasn't worrying and wasn't effected in any way. Luckily for us, we procrastinated a little bit and got stuck with bus tickets instead of train tickets and were still able to travel. Yay. We arrived in Chiang Mai about 7 o'clock the next morning and were all extremely tired. The hostel that we stayed at was a converted house and nobody was up yet, so we all took short naps outside until we were able to check in.

When we got settled in, the manager of the hostel, Noom, took us to his village in the back of a pick up truck. On the way there we splashed people on the road and on the side of the street. When we got there, we watched them make a Thai dessert that I had never heard of before called karame. It was brown sugar, cashews, and sticky rice roll things all put together in a giant wok. It didn't look all that appetizing, but it was delicious. We were given free food (pig's blood... I tried it- it was okay, but it freaked me out being pig's blood and all and couldn't actually get myself a bowl... haha), Thai whiskey that they brewed themselves, and the dessert. Noom sat and explained some about Songkran and the protestors. Most of our group got distracted and ended up water fighting with each other and local village children. We headed back and went to Mike's, a restaurant with burgers and chili- something that you can't find in Bangkok. Most of the group ate there for most of their meals. haha

The next day was all about the water fighting. In the morning, Noom provided a Chang (a Thai beer) happy hour. Then we were off to a foam party at a mall near the moat that surrounds the center of the city... none of us made it to the foam party. We walked there and we were having way to much fun dancing in the streets and splashing people to go to a foam party. The streets were packed with people having a good time and were lined with stalls selling buckets of ice water, water guns, water blasting rods, and beer. I was actually dunked into a trash can full of water and had a bag of ice poured down my back. Then our group hijacked a trucked. We saw an empty truck and thought it would be a good idea to all get in the back of it to throw more water at people. The driver was a great sport and thought it was hilarious that a group of farangs would do such a thing. He helped us retrive barrels of nasty moat water into the back of the truck, passed out a box of KFC, and passsed around a bottle of whiskey. The boys in our group kept jumping back into the nasty moat water to fill up our barrels. The moat was absolutely disgusting (Thom actually found leeches on him afterwards...) and needless to say, most of us are recovering from injuries and illnesses, (I got pinkeye... AGAIN) but I don't think any of us have ever had more fun! haha

The next day, we were all very very tired. Most of us went and found some curry for lunch and then either watched or participated in sitting outside of Mike's (the staff loved us) splashing water on passerbys. To demonstrate that this holiday is for everyone- the cutest Thai family was across the street from us doing the same thing. The youngest looked like she was about 3 or 4 years old. We were pretty calm and subdued that day, but nobody could go anywhere without getting wet and laughing about it.

Most people either left that night or early the next morning, but I hung around for a couple days afterward to recover and see a little bit of the city. I'm gonna have to blog about that later though, because right now I need to go buy a new phone and possibly new camera. They both drowned in all the fun. More about Chiang Mai later!

Rum Puree

2009-04-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

Hello friends. I just got back from a massage. I bought this package deal down the street a few weeks ago where I got ten massages. I go get one once a week now. It's wonderful. I get all stretched out and stuff.

I went and took a Thai dance class last Sunday. I scoped out a studio where they gave classes a long time ago and I decided to take a trial class. I emailed them beforehand and told them that I was an English teacher here and was wondering if I would be able to take the class. I was worried that everybody else would have been taking the class for a while and it would be all Thai people and maybe it would be disrespectful for me to be there... haha. So they emailed me back and told me that it would be fine and that I should come.

I got to the class and the class consists of me, a Thai college girl, and the receptionist. The teacher is this cute older Thai lady that doesn't speak any English at all. I showed up a little bit earlier so I could register and pay and the receptionist was very confused on why I was not joining the ballet class that started at that time. haha I tried to explain to her that I was just very interested in learning about Thai dance a little bit and I wanted to try it out. Apparently it was not an everyday occurrence for them to have a white girl show up for it.

The teacher motioned for me to follow along and stretch my arms like the other student and then all of a sudden she started playing music and the other girl started dancing. I had no idea what to do. I just followed along the best I could. The teacher joined in and told me to watch her. We ended up doing 6 traditional Thai dances. Their was no warm up or explanation. The only thing I could really understand from the teacher was qua and sii, which means right and left. The receptionist was able to tell me that one of the dances was from Issean and another one was a northern tribal dance. I actually thought those two were the most fun to do because they were a little bit faster pace and kinda funky. The whole time I was there I was worried that I was just being a nuisance and bothering them, but then somebody came in and started taking pictures of me in the class. I usually don't like having my picture taken here (it makes me feel like an alien), but this time it acutlaly made me feel more welcome. haha At the end of the class the teacher kept wanting to know if I was coming back and seemed really excited that I had come. The receptionist told me that I should join. I told them I'd think about it. It would definitely be fun.

I don't really know how to explain Thai dance. It is mostly a lot of bending your hands in very unnatural ways and having your head follow them. haha Anyways, here is a link to the studio's website where you can watch one of the classes on a video.

http://www.rumpuree.com/dsp_dance.cfm?danceid=20

Dusit Zoo and Ahaan Thai

2009-04-04T03:51:00.000-07:00

K3 went on a field trip! haha We went to the Dusit Zoo last Thursday. The kids were so excited! It's pretty much your average zoo, but it was a lot of fun. We hit some highlights like the big cats, snakes (for some strange unknown reason this was most of the kid's favorite), monkeys, birds, and lots and lots of turtle. The turtles were met by many rounds of "Tiny Turtle". It was great.

Malaysian Bear. I tried very hard to teach them all sic 'em... they didn't get it. By I thoroughly enjoyed doing sic 'em bears by myself several times. haha

Malinee, Manolia, and I in front of some anteloupe. Peace- Asian style.

Aly, Vanessa, Callum, Pavlos, and Vincent waiting to see the snakes. Boys will be boys.

Meena and Aly playing with bubbles. Don't ask me how they all acquired bubbles at the zoo.

YaY! Look guys- it's a WHITE tiger! haha My favorite kind of tiger. haha

In other exciting news- today was my first day of Songkran break! I'm pumped. I think I've typed that about Songkran several times and I always mean it. haha Today I took a Thai cooking class, which I was very very excited for and it definitely lived up to my high expectations. I have been planning on taking this class for weeks and weeks now and I finally did it. I only signed up for one, but I think I'm going to do a couple more, so that way I can get a Thai cooking certificate.

There were 11 people in my class and they were all traveling around. I was the only American and the rest were French, British, Taiwanese, Canadian, and Chinese. It was a good mix of people. Our instructor's name was Nusi (pronounced like nosy). He made the group laugh quite a lot, not because he was funny but just because of who he was. He was gay Thai guy who hated Americans and just acted annoyed by everybody, but not in a bad way. haha He turned out to be very nice.

As soon as we all got there we headed to the market to buy all of our ingredients. It was cool to actually buy things from the market that weren't cooked already. I mean- we bought EVERYTHING there, all the herbs, chicken, shrimp, eggs... everything. To be quite honest- I would normally be very spectacle about doing such things, but apparently it's actually okay. Who would've thought. Then we came back and had to wash and prepare everything. I was fine washing all the vegetables and herbs, but then the job of preparing the shrimp came to me and I quickly had to get over the grossness of ripping of the shrimps heads and peeling of their legs and deveining them. Then we made our own coconut milk. Which was probably my favorite part of the day. It's so simple and fun. All you do is take ground up coconut- add water- moosh it around with your hands- squeeze out of the juice and discard the solid parts. It was crazy fun playing with the food. haha We had to use the coconut milk in all of our dishes, except pad thai. We ended up making tom yum goong (I must say- I made a smashing tom yum), pad thai goong, green curry paste, chicken green curry, laab gai, and rubies with coconut milk. Rubies with coconut milk is a dessert that are these little jelly things in coconut milk- but today I found out that the jelly things are actually water chestnuts and tapioca pudding! I couldn't believe it. It was just very cool to learn about how all the food I eat here is made.

All of us at the end of the day.

Pounding green curry paste in the mortar. My arms will probably be sore tomorrow. haha

Nusi- adding green curry paste into my geng keawa gai. Chicken green curry.

Just Life

2009-03-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

I'm watching one of my students play a bartending game. It's a crowd favorite among my class. I ask them to NOT play it at least 3 times every time we go into the computer lab. I seem to be the only teacher who does not think that it is an acceptable game for 5 and 6 year olds. If I were home, I would assume that they would not understand the purpose of the game, but I'm in Thailand and things are different here and I just am confused. haha Anyways, it bothers me that the website isn't blocked.

That is besides the point though. Their is not a lot going on. Just normal everyday things, which is great. Going to work and hanging out. I did a lot of shopping over the weekend and watched some movies. I get a lot of emails from people telling me that "their lives just aren't as interesting... blah blah blah" haha. But basically it's the same as everybody elses. haha Don't get wrong- I still wake up every morning in disbelief that I live in Thailand, but it isn't like I'm on vacation and at the beach or elephant trekking everyday. haha

But...

I have a week and half left of work and then I'm on a two week vacation for Easter / Songkran. I'm pumped. There are so many things that I want to do, that I change my plans every few hours. At the moment I'm thinking of hitting up Koh Samet (an island) for a few days, get in a few Thai cooking classes (I want a certificate, haha), seeing some Muy Thai, and the big trip to Chiang Mai for Songkran (plus maybe some rafting there... hopefully)!!! Like I said, I'm pumped.
I guess things aren't completely normal. haha But really, most days I go to work and come home and hang out. haha I just have more opportunities than most at my age to do things like go to an island for a few days and participate in a nation wide water fight.

Also, I bought a mango today for less than 50 cents. Can you imagine buying a mango for that cheap in the states?? I love mangoes. Not the easiest things to cut though...

Pandas and Polar Bears

2009-03-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of teaching computer. I have to say- I got pretty darn lucky when I got to teach computer. It's a lot of fun. I usually join the kids in playing mario. haha

So I have nothing to really post about, but I thought I'd tell you about my class because I'm finally reaching the point here where I'm not the new teacher and everything is comfortable for me and the kids and we've got a routine. It took a while because the other K3 teacher has been here all year (plus a couple years) and they were so used to her. I teach K3- which is the equivalent to American kindergarten. Their are two K3 teachers, me and Sharon, and we divide the class and the subjects in half, so normally I only teach about 11 kids at a time. Except maybe computer and swimming. It's great. Each half of the class has a name, the Pandas and the Polar Bears. How these names came about, I have no idea, but it's pretty cute. All the kids are very proud of whether or not they are a Panda or Polar Bear. haha

My class has all sorts of nationalities in it. Thai, English, Austrailian, Singaporean (?, haha), Malaysian, Chinese, Greek, Korean, Russian, Japanese. It's nuts. I'm learning about a lot of different cultures. I have 3 kids that stand out the most. The first is Vladimir. If you guessed that he was the Russian, you are absolutely correct. haha He came a few weeks ago and did not know a word of English or Thai. Not even a yes or no. He's picked up English so fast. It's amazing. He's like a sponge. Another standout would be Callum. He makes me laugh because his parents are Austrailian, but he was born in England and has lived here since he was 2 or 3, so he tells people that he is Thai. The other day at lunch I overheard him talking to a Chinese student and got very confused because I couldn't understand a word that he was saying. I thought maybe he just had food in his mouth or something or was just being silly, so I asked him if he was speaking English. He just looked at me like I was stupid and said "no, Thai". Oh well, of course. haha Why wouldn't I assume that a English student and Chinese student were speaking Thai at an English/ International school?? The next major standout would be Pavlos. He is, of course, Greek. He stand out because he speaks the most random languages. haha He speaks Greek, French, and Madagascan. He learned English at school a few months ago and doesn't speak any Thai. Madagascan... can you believe it? haha

I always feel like I have a lot of boys in my class, but really the boys are just extremely loud. They all fight with each other all the time about anything, everything, and nothing. They are continually talking or punching or throwing something. Don't get me wrong, they are extremely sweet kids, but they have a lot of energy. They also do everything very fast and everything is a race. It's kindof obnoxious. I always need to plan extra things for the boys to do. The girls, however, are the exact opposite. Always quiet and always trying to help me. Plus, they are very very slow at everything. The last to finish their work, last to finish eating, last brushing their teeth. I am constantly trying to find more time for them to finish everything. haha

I should probably get back to teaching computer. haha Sharon is absent today, so I think we'll be playing lots of games this afternoon, possibly watching Kung Fu Panda for recess because it's raining, but that's okay. We're all Kung Fu Panda lovers here. haha

Being Blonde

2009-03-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Before I begin- I should explain. My hair is somewhat of a circus attraction here. It is very blonde on top and has this silly ability to 'fro out of control (especially in this weather). It is very rare to see a natually blonde curly headed girl walking around. Even in Bangkok.

I finally got my haircut. It needed it. Badly. Not saying that I hadn't gotten any haircuts at all since I've been here, I've had one, but it was quite a while ago. Anyways, I've been extremely tired and sick lately, so I decided to make things easy on myself and walk down to the nearest high society salon and pay way more baht than I should. haha I thought it would be the less stressful. It was worth it though.

The place I went to was completely empty of customers except for a guy who was about done. I walked in and proceeded to get my hair washed. I had two different people wash my hair. One did shampoo, the other did conditioner. And no, I am not kidding. I should also mention that each one did at least a 5 minute head massage. haha

Then a separate girl came to strategically wrap up my hair in a towel.

I was taken to the haircutting chair. A different girl came to cut my hair. I told her I wanted a trim. haha Nothing special. She nodded like it was the most important direction anybody has ever given her. She proceded to comb my hair. She combed my hair for a very VERY long time. She kept parting it and re-parting it. She examined the different colors and layers of my hair by clipping it up in layers.

She FINALLY cut my hair.

Then the combing began again.

I was about to ask her if she was finished because I was very tired and needed a nap, when...

Three other girls walked over, each carrying a blow dryer. I recognized them from the towel wrapping and hair washing. I had three different blow dryers pointing at my head and three different round brushes trying to flatten the frizz at the same time. It was a surreal experience. I felt like the lion on Wizard of Oz when they all curl his mane.

I was finally finished. It was a good haircut. Not great- but good. I got a head massage at the same time though and I needed one, so I was pleased. I paid and left a tip. I have no idea who the tip went to because their were so many different stylists. I walked out the door and looked at my watch. I had been there for a solid 2 hours. That's quite a long haircut when you are the only customer, you didn't have a to wait at all, and all you really wanted was a trim.

Hua Hin

2009-03-01T22:45:00.001-08:00

My shoes broke today. This is the third pair that have broken in the past couple weeks. They literally fall apart when I'm wearing them. I think they are melting or something... I don't know. I'm pretty sure that this pair can be salvaged. I'll try to get them fixed at the market. It'll be an experience.

I took a weekend getaway to Hua Hin on Friday and Saturday! We woke up Friday morning and headed to Victory Monument to catch a minibus for the equivalent of $6. Good deal for a 2 1/2 hour trip to the beach. Once we got there we found ourselves a cheap little guest house that was right on a dock. It was so nice falling asleep with just a fan and listening to the waves. We had a nice dinner on one of the dock restaurants, so we had a great view of the ocean. Then we wandered around the Hua Hin night market looking for the famous Hua Hin dessert... which ended up being a banana pancake. Apparently the writer for Lonely Planet didn't travel around the rest of Thailand??... maybe. I don't know. haha When we were walking through the market we saw a bunch of cameras and a crowd of people. After they passed by us we realized that it was the Prime Minister of Thailand! Ya, it was pretty exciting. haha It explained why we had never seen so much security in Thailand before until we got to Hua Hin. haha Then we decided to go get pedicures! It's the first pedicure I've gotten in Thailand and I needed one desperately. Feet here are pretty disgusting. You walk around barefoot everywhere and Bangkok air is the opposite of clean and pure. It literally settles on every surface imaginable and then you walk on it and your feet pick it up. Anyways, after the pedicure, my feet look about 22 (that's for you Ashley... haha) times better!

The next morning we slept in really late. It was great. Then we went and found out how we were supposed to get home, because we weren't really sure, found some lunch, and headed to the beach! As we were laying out our towels, I kept laughing at the ponies. haha Their were ponies and horses on the beach for riding. I think ponies are funny looking. haha They are midget horses. haha I personally would much rather have a horse. Anyways, it occurred to me that I really wanted to ride one. haha Tricia offered to watch my stuff and I grabbed myself a beautiful palamino to trot down the beach with. I felt really cool. haha

The rest of the day was spent being lazy and sleeping on the beach. I got a lot of sleep this weekend. I love sleeping. Before we headed back to the bus station, we stopped at the night market again for the some food. We found a new dessert here, which we both LOVED. haha Tricia told me that it was made of mulchi (sp??) which is flour made out of ground rice. They pan fry that and then cut it up and toss it in sugar, salt, and sesame seeds. Very exciting culinary experience. I also ended up buying a dress. I just can't help myself. The dress is Thailandy though, with changs (elephants) all over it, so I figured it was a justified buy.

All in all- great weekend. I would definitely go back to chill and getaway. It's a sizeable town, but it had a small town feel, beautiful white beach, and clean water! Lots of fun!

Rest and Relaxation

2009-02-25T19:05:00.000-08:00

I have been extremely relaxed these past few days. Mostly thanks to the fact that we are housing a couple of girls who are getting certified in Thai massage. It's amazing. I am completely willing to be their guinea pig and let them practice on me. haha In the past few days I have gotten 4 massages. Combination of Thai and foot... It's truly wonderful.

In other news, I have obtained a new level of klutziness. I tumbled down a whole flight of stairs yesterday on my way to work. haha It was not the best wake up call at 6:30 in the morning. I hadn't even had my coffee or diet coke yet. haha I had ice on me all day yesterday and I am surprisingly okay today. Just a few bumps and bruises. I can't seem to walk without tripping anymore. haha

I got a wonderful surprise Monday afternoon. School was cancelled on Friday because the apartment building that we are connected to is turning off the electricity. YaY! So Tricia and and I are going to head to Hua Hin this weekend! Hua Hin is a common Thai weekend getaway / beach resort. I plan on sleeping a lot and getting a tan on the beach!

Jim Thompson and Khaosan

2009-02-21T18:31:00.000-08:00

This weekend was midterm break at school. Yaaaaaaay. haha I had Thursday and Friday off, so it was a wonderfully long 4 day weekend. I was impressed with myself for actually getting up and doing things instead of just sitting around in my nice cool air conditioned apartment. Once you get into a routine here, you forget that you live in a really cool city and it's nice to go out and do "touristy" things to remind you of that.

Thursday I got up and went exploring around Siam. Siam is where a lot of shopping is. haha Expensive shopping though, so I'm usually not over there. I hadn't really gotten to explore it much before, so it was a lot of fun. I actually went down to a huge food court they have to look at all the Thai food. haha I like food and cooking, so it's really interesting for me to go and look at all the snacks like dried fish, durian chips, Thai rice crackers, and sugar coated cashew nuts. Then that night I actually got to go to Blue's Bar. Apparently, it's "our place" and we "go there way too often", but I always seem to miss these times when we "go there way too often" because I work early in the mornings. I've actually only been there twice now. haha Anyways, it was fun.

Friday, Kate, Tricia and I met up at Coyote, a mexican restaurant, where we had a great mexican buffet before heading out to the Jim Thompson House and Museum. Jim Thompson was an American architecht who found himself in Thailand after seving in World War II. He started a Thai silk company, which is quite a big deal here. He also built this amazingly beautiful traditional Thai house. The house is pretty interesting because in architectural aspects it is Thai, but he furnished it with things from all over the world like Belgium crystal chandeliers and Chinese porcelain. I was pretty excited about going here because my mom became a little bit obsessed with the Jim Thompson outlet in Pattaya. haha I wanted to look at the real store here in Bangkok, but apparently it isn't at the house- it's actually pretty close to where I live, so I will definitely have to check it out sometime.

The outside of the house...

Jim Thompson Thai silk...

The antique room inside...

After the three of us finished up there, we headed to Khaosan to walk around and hang out. Khaosan is the backpackers district in Bangkok. The first time I ever came to Bangkok I hung out there during the day, but honestly I had no idea where I was because I wasn't familiar with anthing yet. haha The only other times I have been there are at night when we are too busy dancing to really look around, so it was good to go during the day and check out the shopping and things. The street is just packed with shopping stands and food stands. There were so many things I wanted to buy, but couldn't, which is prolly a good thing. haha It's cute though. Lots and lots of crazy backpackers, haha.

That night we went bowling! I love bowling and I hadn't been since I was in Cambodia, so it was great fun. Bowling must def be an American thing because all the balls were weighed in pounds and the shoes were in American sizes. The shoes were prolly one of the best parts of this bowling experience, because mine were actually too big! haha I've had such a difficult time with shoes and my rabbit feet... hahaha Anyways, it was wonderful.

I'm gonna go try to learn some Thai! All my friends are better at it then me, hahaha. I really need to catch up, especially since I've been here the longest! haha

Ew

2009-02-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

I just stepped outside to go find myself lunch. As I was coming up the elevator I was marveling at how extremely hot it was outside and how atrocious my hair looked (frizz ball central), so I decided to look up the weather.

It is 93 degrees outside, feels like 101, and the humidity is at 50%. Well, that explains it.

I am now very concerned for March and April when it is the "hot" season. My hair is just, not gonna be cute. hahaha Praise the Lord for Tricia's new hair straightener.

In other news- I have a 4 day weekend! YaY! I'm planning on playing Bangkok tourist and hit up the main sights like the floating market, Grand Palace, Jim Thompson museum, shopping on Khao San... The list goes on and on. I'm very excited. I need to make a plan. :)

Wonder Girls

2009-02-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

I'm sick. I literally did nothing over the weekend. Meaning I laid in my bed and watched the first season of Gossip Girl and this video... it's the hottest thing in Asia right now. It's quite catchy. I think I need to learn the dance. haha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx6xGNQ1_Zs&feature=PlayList&p=85717FC40AC3EDF8&index=0&playnext=1

Enjoy!

Updates

2009-02-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

I feel like a lot of small things have happened in the past couple weeks that at first, I don't really feel the need to post about it but then I look back and I realize that nobody has any idea of what is going on. hahaha Plus, my internet sucks and it gets very frustrating when you write out a long post to have it not be posted or lost because your internet just ups and decides that it doesn't want to work at a random point in time.

So, here are some random things:

1.) I went to Cambodia a couple weekends ago. I had no idea that I was supposed to go on a visa run (because HELLO THAILAND, I HAVE A YEAR LONG VISA), but apparently that doesn't matter. You have to leave the country every 90 days. I booked a spot on a bus to Cambodia on a Saturday, but then missed my bus because of lack of sleep. haha Then I booked another spot for Sunday. I woke up at 4 in the morning, took a taxi to the departure point, in front of a 7-Eleven of course, and the bus left at 5 that morning. We drove to the Cambodia border. I had to pay a ridiculous fine because I stayed in Thailand 19 days too days. Then I sat around in a casino for a few hours people watching and then we headed back. I was back in Bangkok by 3 that afternoon and back in my room by 4.

2.) One of my good friends here, Lannie, went home to America last weekend. I will miss her very much, but we had a great time hanging out last weekend to celebrate her return home. We took a river boat cruise down the Bangkok river (Chao Phraya... I think haha) for dinner that night. There was a Thai band there playing Thai pop music and I had the BEST time dancing to them. I really need to buy a cd of the latest hits here. It's amazing.

3.) We also celebrated Friday night by going to a rooftop bar. It was about 56 floors up. I hated the elevator ride, haha. It was pretty fancy, even a dress code. If you didn't meet the dress code they would give you things to wear for it. hahaha Luckily, I didn't have any problems. haha It was a pretty good view even through the smogginess. haha

4.) Tricia and I shop a lot. haha I love shopping and we have a lot of fun together, but this is not good with my present economic situation (Cambodia took all my money...) My two fave spots to go are the Suam Phlu (Lumpini Night Bazaar) and Platinum Fashion Mall. Suam Phlu is a "high scale" outdoor market and Platinum is kinda like an indoor market with tons and tons and clothes and accessories. It's an amazing and dangerous place. haha

Alrighty, I need to get back to work! It's time for me to teach creative art. haha Today we are doing an art project and making elephants out of paper hearts! haha Valentine's Day... Thailand... Elephants... makes perfect sense!

Year of the Ox

2009-02-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

I am totally slacking on the blog, so I'm gonna try to fix that.

Last week was the start of Chinese New Year and this year is Year of the Ox. Chinese New Year is a pretty big deal here because most Thai's are actually Thai-Chinese. Most school's have the first three days of it off and all the employees were pretty upset that we didn't, but I'm glad we didn't because that meant we got to celebrate with kids and holidays with kids are really fun and I got to learn a lot about it.

Chinese New Year is 15 days long, but (from what I've experienced anyways) the most celebrated days are the first 3 days. Most people prepare for the new year, the day before it begins by making food that symbolizes different things like prosperity and happiness and cleaning. The cleaning symbolizes clearing away the bad luck and making room for good luck. I guess you aren't supposed to clean during the first week of the new year because you will wipe away your luck for the year.

So last week at school, we talked about all these things with the kids and a couple of Chinese parents came in to read some Chinese stories. We also made dragon masks with them and paper lanterns together on Monday and Tuesday, because on Wednesday the preschool department had a parade. It was so cute! Everybody came to school in their Chinese costumes and before snack they paraded outside to Chinese music. The head of the department made a giant dragon head for people to wear and have kids walk underneath. They were precious. Then we came inside and served dim sum and mandarin oranges to all the kids. All day long, the kids were bouncing off the walls and playing with their lanterns and putting together puzzles of an ox. haha We got nothing accomplished! haha

For our parade, some of the teachers wore Chinese outfits too. Note took me down to Chinatown on Monday after school and helped me find a dress. Chinatown was hopping. They had a huge parade going on and fireworks and the streets were all closed down and their were people everywhere. It was nuts. Chinatown is usually crazy and busy, but it was at least 3 times that last week. It was great fun!

Doraemon

2009-01-24T20:40:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons Tricia and I make such good roommates is because we are both obsessed with 7-Eleven and the recent promotion that they are doing. haha 7-Eleven has this thing going where every 40 baht you spend you get a silver Doraemon sticker which equals 1 baht and they have special items that they change every so often that is worth a gold Doraemon sticker, which is 3 baht. They give you these little passbooks that we keep our stickers in. Now, we can either redeem these stickers for cash OR we can work to get the special prizes that they offer. All the prizes are Doraemon themed. The best prizes are the terry cloth trash can, clock, bowl set, and pop up chair.

Tricia and I rock at getting stickers. haha We are the best. Neither of us can go to 7-Eleven anymore without spending 40 baht. I get this guilty feeling every time I go in there without getting a sticker. We are also very lucky with the gold stickers this month because the special items include diet coke, yogurt, and pork buns- some of our favorite things that we must have every day. haha Basically, I've been drinking a disgusting amount of diet coke in order to get stickers. hahaha

Well a very exciting thing happened last weekend- we were able to redeem our stickers in order to get the bowl set! haha We had to wait a few days in order to go pick them up, but they are now sitting proudly in our kitchen. Now we are working to get the clock, and I think we are going to be able to get it very soon!

As a side note- Doraemon is very popular here. I always see Doraemon pajamas and slippers being sold on the street and my students talk about it all the time. They actually watched it on the van ride to Bang Saen, but I wasn't able to see it. I decided that I should probably see it since I now own the bowl set, so I went and rented the Doraemon movie last night to watch. haha Unfortunately, it's in Thai, but it's still pretty cute and at least I get to practice my Thai a bit. :)

Bang Saen, Wat Po, and China Town

2009-01-18T00:20:00.001-08:00

It has been a very busy week! On Thursday I went with my new class on a field trip to Bang Saen, which is a beach about 1 1/2 hours from here, very close to Pattaya. We took two mini buses and the whole class and Sharon, Note, Bo, and I piled in. When we got there, we went to the aquarium first, which was a lot of fun. The kids loved it! They were so excited that they couldn't even calm down enough to look at everything. They just kept racing through. We had to pull them back several times in order for them to see everything. I saw the most humongous, scariest looking lobster ever, seahorses, cool fish, sharks... the works. Then we headed to the beach so that the kids could play in the sand for a little while. Sharon had a science experiment kit that they played with where you can look at all the tiny particles in the sand. They loved it. On the way back the driver took us to a curvy road which was covered in monkeys! It was the best part of the day (if you ask me)! I probably saw about 100 monkeys just hanging out on this road. They were adorable! My new class in front of the aquarium at Bang Saen! They're cute kids!

Last week, Lannie, Tricia, and I realized we hadn't done a lot of "touristy" things since we had been here. So yesterday we took a river boat taxi ride to the Grand Palace. We ended up not gonig to the Grand Palace because we actually couldn't figure out how to get in. hahaha It was kindof frustrating because we were right next to it and could see it, but the wall was blocking it and we just couldn't find the door... hahahaha We ended up going to Wat Po, which has the gold relaxing Buddha. The temple was beautiful. The thing about a lot of temples is that they are so bright and colorful, and everything is incredibly intricate. It was lots of fun. Apparently Wat Po is where Thai massage began, which I found very interesting. haha It's pretty much the only thing I learned about it. haha

Tricia, Lannie, and I on our way to Wat Po!

Wat Po (for some reason, I couldn't turn the pictures vertical...)

More of Wat Po (turn your heads...hahaha)

Roommate pic in front of the Relaxing Buddha

After touring Wat Po, the three of us headed to China Town. I had been to China Town before, but I went the week before the New Year and everything was absolutely dead. Yesterday it was incredibly crowded. It was hard to get around because their were so many people and vendors and cars. China Town is basically markets. We did some shopping and bought some jewelry. Then we found a Chinese restaurant to go to for dinner, which was fabulous. It had been a while since I had had Chinese food. All in all, a good week! Now I'm off to learn some Thai!

Cool Season

2009-01-14T03:45:00.000-08:00

It's been cool season for a while now, a month or so- I don't know. It's been really nice until about a week ago. Most people say it's "beautiful" outside, the weather is "great", it's "too nice" outside to be at work, blahblahblah. I am freezing! haha I'm very upset with Thailand. It's really letting me down. haha It gets down to almost 60 in the mornings and then the high is in the high 70's- maybe if I'm lucky it'll reach 80. I know that doesn't sound cold to y'all, but I love hot weather and I don't have any clothes for cold weather or a heater. Apparently this is very very unusual and it has never been like this before. Hopefully it'll be back to 85 soon.

Other than that, there isn't anything too exciting to update on. I'm really enjoying my life here in Bangkok. My job is fun, but there are a lot more politics then there was at Phoenix, but I just stay out of all that. It's funny what things people get upset about, isn't it? haha I think some of the teachers at work just need to calm down about a few things. They're all very nice though. I get along with the TA's the best. They're so great. Note, Bo, and I just sit back and have a good time and do our jobs. We work really well together. Bo has started taking me home from school and Note can't wait to hang out on the weekends. We are taking our class to the aquarium tomorrow for a field trip and it should be a lot of fun! I'm really excited! haha

Move In

2009-01-06T01:39:00.000-08:00

A wonderful thing just happened to me- I was given a bed.

Yesterday was a great day. It was my first day of work at my new job. I work at New Sathorn International School (NSIS) now as one of the Kindergarten 3 teachers. There are two K3 teachers and 21 K3 students. The students travel in-between the two of us, so I only teach 10 or 11 of them at a time. I teach math, computer, and reading centers and Sharon is in charge of Social Studies / Science and Language Arts. It's great. Less preparation and less kids to work with, equals less work. Sharon is an older lady who met her Thai husband in America and moved to Thailand for him about 15 years ago. It's kindof a backwards story. She's really nice.

Not only do I only teach half the students at a time and half the subjects, I still get an assistant. Her name is Note. She's awesome. She's 23 and super stylish and laid back. I can tell we're going to be good friends. We've already arranged it so our lunches overlap. She's Thai but speaks English really really well. It's very impressive. Sharon also has an assistant and her name is Bo. She's extremely helpful. She's been there a long time and knows what she is doing.

My kids are super sweet. They're all sorts of nationalities, except American. I think I have 5 pure Thai's, and then most of the rest are all half Thai and something else- like Greek, French, English, Malaysian, Phillipino, or Japanese. All of their parents are really involved in the school and I already have a few of them who have volunteered to help me every week with reading centers. They're great.

When I got home from work I took a nap. I was exhausted. Afterall, I got up at 5 o'clock that morning. Then, to my excitement, Tricia and I were able to go put down our deposit for our apartment and move in!! We were thrilled to have keys to our own apartment finally!

Moving was incredibly easy. We only had to roll our suitcases down the hall. We are living in the same complex, same floor even, as Ryan and James coincidentally. It'll be a lot of fun to have people around all the time. Our apartment is nice. We each have our own room, bathroom, and balcony. There is a pool and gym on the second floor and laundry machines conveniently across the street. It's good. We are both very excited.

So excited that all of us went out to celebrate for Mexican food last night! It was so incredibly delicious and well deserved! Then we came back and watched Dreamgirls, one of my faves! What a great day!

Having a Happy New Year in Koh Pha-Ngan

2009-01-03T22:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everybody!

I am currently living on Ryan and James' dog mat in their living room and don't have internet on my computer, so I apologize for not updating sooner! Hopefully... most likely... (cross your fingers), Tricia and I will be able to move in our new place (which is down the hall, haha) tomorrow! YaY!

New Year's a big deal here, a much bigger deal than Christmas. Everybody gets time off and goes on vacation. Bangkok is kindof quiet right now because most people don't go back to work until tomorrow. They actually call it the Happy New Year instead of just the new year. It's cute. haha

Neither Ryan or Tricia had to work, so the three of us decided to take a little vacation to Koh Tao. We took a night bus the night of the 29th to the pier down south. It was an incredibly long bus ride. We left around 6 that evening and got to the ferry around 7 the next morning. Then we had to take a two hour ferry ride. Actually the ferry ride was supposed to be about 4 hours, but we got impatient and re-routed our trip to Koh Pha-Ngan. hahaha It was a good decision. We'll just have to go to Koh Tao some other time.

Anyways, we finally got to the island around lunch and we called a bungalow place to stay for a couple nights. I was so excited to stay in a bungalow! haha It was great. It ended up being a much nicer bungalow than Tricia and I imagined it to be. We had two beds, a fan, and shower (with bathtub and shower curtain!). We were without hot water and air con, but you really don't need those things here. After we checked in, we went and rented a couple of motorbikes to get around with. Tricia and Ryan each drove one and I was very impressed with them, because the roads were really windy and steep. Points to them. haha

We decided to relax for the rest of the day. That night we went down to Haad Rin and watched them set up for the New Year's Eve party. The beach was beautiful and sky was totally clear. There were so many stars! I had never seen so many stars in the sky before. It was amazing. Plus the sand on the beach was so soft! It felt like we were walking on pillows.

It rained all day on New Year's Eve. haha It was still really nice though. We hung out a lot at the little restaurant where our bungalow was and played jenga and card games. We slept a lot to prepare for a long night ahead of us. We managed to take a long walk on the beach during a break in the storm. It was good.

That night was the New Year's Eve party at Haad Rin. This party was insane. There are about 20,000 people on the beach drinking and dancing and having a good time. People paint themselves with black light paint and drink buckets of whiskey and coke. It's crazy. I myself made sure I got some pink whiskers painted on my face. hahaha We danced and watched the fire show and had a great time bringing in the New Year.

Then we had to journey back the next day. It was not a fun journey. haha The ferry ride took 6 hours on a rocky sea. I was sea sick the whole time and had to sit outside while I got sprayed by the waves. The wave were so rocky that they had to cut the engine a few times so the ferry wouldn't flip. By the time we got off the boat, I was covered in salt. hahaha Then we got to the bus station only to find out that we were scammed and didn't have bus tickets even though we paid for them. Everything was fixed though when we found the government bus which turned out to be a much nicer bus ride than the one through the travel agent.

So anyways, now I'm just hanging out until we can move tomorrow and I start my job! Happy New Year!

Happy Christmas Y'all!

2008-12-26T21:16:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-21T05:16:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-18T04:49:00.000-08:00

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...

2008-12-13T23:43:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-07T00:05:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-04T15:11:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-29T19:22:00.000-08:00

"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

2008-11-25T04:26:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-16T07:52:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-11-12T06:49:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-10T04:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T05:12:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-01T02:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-05T05:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T03:51:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-21T05:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-10T05:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-04T04:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-30T01:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-11T05:52:00.001-07:00

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!

Tuk Tuks and Fisherman's Pants

2008-08-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've been here for weeks, but it's really only been a few days. Right now I'm in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. I arrived in Thailand last Friday, but I'm not going to tell you about that because I was less than happy that day. On Saturday, somebody picked me up and I went to the bus station with a guy named Paul. Paul has some time off work and decided to go through the TESOL training in order to travel a bit. Paul and I took a bus to Bangkok and hopped back onto a plane which took us to Cambodia. When we got to Cambodia, Trea picked us up, along with Amy. Amy is from the UK and has a year left of uni, but decided to do this over summer break. Anyways, a tuk tuk picked us up to take us to our airport. A tuk tuk is not what I was expecting. haha A tuk tuk is a moped with a cart attached to it that should be meant for about 4 people to ride in max, but in Southeast Asia, they cram about 7 or 8 people in them. So, their were 4 people, 4 suitcases, and 4 backpacks in this tuk tuk. It would have been a fun ride, but then Amy's suitcase fell out of the tuk tuk, we ran over it and it went down the street. She had to jump out in front of hundreds of motorbikes and go catch it. haha It was kindof scary. Then, later 2 motorbikes ran into our tuk tuk!! haha I was worried about them, but nobody stopped or seemed to care that we had just been in an accident. Since then I've had several rides in tuk tuks and they've all gone rather smoothly. haha

Their are 11 of us in Cambodia for two weeks and 7 of us live in the same villa. My room is upstairs and on the porch. Everybody else seems to think I got the bad deal, but I love it. I have a screen door and then a glass door and then a curtain, so everything is nice and open and I feel like I'm outside. Everybody is completely different here too, but it's been a lot of fun getting to know them. We all come from completely different backgrounds; different ages, professions, homes, traveling experience. It's interesting to hear how we all ended up here.

Over the weekend we took a tour of Phnom Pehn. We went on tours of the Royal Palace and of a temple that I keep forgetting the name of... I should ask somebody. haha Anyways, we're all kindof being left in the dark about a lot of things while we are here. It has definitely been a learning experience. One of the things nobody prepared us on was that their is a dress code at the Royal Palace. Several of us were out of dress code, including me. I was wearing shorts that day. Well, they made me rent these fisherman's pants which were a bit too big. Our very nice tuk tuk driver, Daria, had to help me hitch them up and tie them in a strange way so that they looked even stranger than normal. Needless to say, it was absolutely hilarious. haha We all looked so funny. I'm actually glad nobody told me about the dress code, because it made for some really good pictures.

Today was our first class day and it felt really good to be in class. I genuinely enjoyed it. It made me realize how much I really was not ready to graduate. I like learning. Teaching English is going to be really fun too. I get to apply some of the things I already know, but it's completely different also. A completely different student and subject area. You have to present the information in a different view. Ít'll be nice to do something different.

The rest of the week is full of class and hanging out at night! Then we are off to Angkor Wat this weekend, which I've been looking forward to the most about Cambodia!!

Voyager

2008-07-31T03:53:00.000-07:00

(Before I say anything about anything, I just would like to tell everybody that all my links to do with blogging are in Chinese right now making it extremely difficult to post this. If anybody has any idea how to fix this and make the links at the top English, that would be very helpful for the future. haha)

I'm in China! The past week has reminded me a lot of Voyager, which is pretty dorky. Voyager is reading program (a reading program that I don't like very much, haha) that Parkdale used last year. I told you that it was very dorky. haha But anyways, in Voyager they read all these stories throughout the whole year where the characters ride rivers throughout the world and travel. Seeing as how I've rafted on a river and traveled to a different part of the world this week, it makes sense that I have felt like I am part of Voyager. haha

I got here Friday night and then Saturday morning my dad and I went with some people from his work on a day rafting trip. It was a long Chinese day. haha We woke up early, got on a bus, took a long ride and stopped to go for a hike up a mountain. On the way up the mountain we stopped and walked into a temple. I had never been into a temple before so it was interesting. They were setting off fireworks to scare away evil spirits and they had large bottles full of alcohol to give to the gods. It was interesting. After the hike, we ate lunch. It was Chinese. That's all I can say about it. haha Chinese food isn't like Pei Wei... haha You just have to be very careful of what you eat, if you find a good place, then it is great. This place was outside under a tent and they prepared the food on the concrete that I had just walked on... Then we got back on the bus and took a long drive to the river. Rafting was a lot of fun. We had to suit up in helmets and life jackets. My dad and I were in a raft by ourselves and we went down 7 little waterfalls. My dad fell out of the boat on the first fall and I thought he had drowned. For a minute there, it was very scary, but then we got back in the boat. The boat completely flipped over on the last fall and two guys had to jump in fish us both out of the water. It wasn't as scary that time. I think it's because I didn't have to watch it. haha

My dad had to work a couple days at the beginning of the week, which was good with me. I was tired. haha Sleep means a lot to me. haha So, I spent my time doing a lot of walking around and exploring a little bit, reading "Twilight" (which I finished and I really enjoyed, but I still like Harry Potter much better, haha), and studying some Thai phrases (which I'm not very good at.)

On Wednesday, my dad and I went to a place called Window of the World. It's basically an amusement park of miniature landmarks from all over the world. My dad and I joked that they had to build it because it's really hard for the Chinese to get a visa and they prolly can't go see the real places, but it was really cool. It was fun going around to see the places we've been, want to go, and the best part was seeing a couple places that I am going to this week, like Angkor Wat and the Grand Palace! It got me really excited! The prettiest landmark they had was Niagara Falls though, plus it was in the shade. haha It's really hot and humid here. haha Then that night we went to eat a Chinese cuisine called hot pot. So good! If you ever get the chance to try it, def do. It kinda reminded me of fondue, with a Chinese flair, and spicier. It was amazing.

Today we went to a place called Honeylake. It really wasn't what we would think of as a lake. It wasn't quite what we expected, but we wandered around town and took a good walk and had lunch. It had a pretty walking path and park and it was nice to just walk and kinda relax. I am getting to ready to go tomorrow to Bangkok tomorrow and Saturday I am off to Cambodia! I should probably go finish getting packed!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2008-07-23T22:44:00.000-07:00

I am leaving in 5 hours and I am up painting my toes. I seriously doubt that the Chinese, Thais, and Cambodians (?) will care whether or not my toes are pristinely painted, but I will be severely self conscience of them. I didn't really hit me that I would be gone for an entire year until about an hour ago. hahaha I was on the phone with McKenzie and something in my head went "oh crap..." hahahaha. Or maybe it was when about 15 minutes before that Kristen gave me a really sweet card and it made me start to tear up for the first time. This is very unlike me. I'm usually a crier. hahaha Maybe something is wrong with me. haha I usually go up to my room and cry by myself and hide from people. I haven't been doing that. I'm been unusually fine.

I have gotten to see all my wonderful friends this week though. It has been great. Last weekend all the roommates were together and I had a great time. I would love to go back to Waco and live with them again. Life would be perfect. hahaha I've been to dinner with Leaza and Erika which was hilarious and wonderful, had the perfect turkey sandwich from subway with Anna (haha), sat around and did nothing with Ashley :), and have been to sonic happy hour 6 days in a row to get my diet strawberry limeade. Fabulous. And to top it all off, I went and got ice cream with the mom and sister tonight and it tasted like absolute heaven. Life has been good.

I don't know if all of you know this, but back in April I planted a seed. haha I bought a seed and pot from Target in the dollar section and named him Emilio. Well, he blossomed this week!! He is a sunflower! And I'm really excited that he blosssomed before I left! I'm a proud parent! haha

The next time I post, I'll be in China! I'm excited to read "Twilight" on the plane tomorrow. I feel like that is good quality plane-reading material. haha I'll let you know how it is!

10 days!!

2008-07-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

I leave in 10 days! It is very very strange!

Last weekend was very eventful. I took the GRE on Friday, which was a very long day. It was a half hour drive to the site and then I had to wait another hour and a half (sitting on the floor, I might add) to go back and take the test. I had a lot of concentration issues while trying to take it. Anna once told me in high school that I had the attention span of a squirrel and she is right. Nothing has changed. haha But it is over and I am glad.

Then on Saturday we had my going away party! I was very nervous that nobody would come, but people came! haha All the roommates and homies (minus Lucy, who was missed very much) and Anna were there! Plus some neighbors and good family friends! We thought it was very amusing that all the people over the age of 35 seemed to know how to "party" better than we did. I had a fabulous time hanging out with everybody.

I'm glad that I didn't actually have to say bye to anybody that night, but now all of that is starting. It's weird and I do not like it. Tonight mom, Kristen, and I are going to dinner without Kaysen because we wanted to do that before I left, tomorrow Ashley and Leaz and I are having a sleepover :) and Wednesday Kristen and I are going out together. Then on Saturday, all the roommates will be together the last time before I leave. I don't like having to plan these things and know that I won't see all these people for a year. I'm very attached to them and I don't do so well with change. haha :)

I will leave everybody with a friendly reminder to get Skype... hahaha

Holy Shrimp!

2008-07-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

My "Things to do before July 3" checklist is complete! I love checking things off lists. It makes me feel like I have accomplished something. Now I'm just busy packing! Today, Mom and I went to Target to get a year's supply of toiletries and medicine. I think I'm pretty much ready. It is kindof more stressful once you are ready than when you aren't. When you aren't prepared for things, you can kindof ignore it and just be excited. When you are prepared, it is the only thing you can think about. You are excited, nervous, antsy, scared, and happy all at the same time. I opened up my suitcases last night and laid out the clothes that I will need and picked out the few pairs of shoes that I am taking. I am only taking 5 pairs of shoes for an entire year. That seems crazy. I'm also only taking one zip-up sweatshirt. That's lunacy, if you ask me. I know it is hot there year-round, but I wear a sweatshirt most days of the week... no matter the weather.

Several people have asked me about the size of group that I am going with and I haven't been able to answer the question. Naturally, I have been very curious about it. I keep having dreams about it and all the dreams end up with me in an awkward situation. In one of the dreams, I am the only single person who isn't married and there with their husband. In another dream, I am the only girl in a pack full of guys. I finally decided to just email and ask my languagecorps correspondent, Linda. Well, Linda emailed me today and guess what? I am the only one starting the program in Thailand on August 2. No kidding. I never imagined it to be that way.

I know I told them when I applied that I was really excited about being independent, but I think being the only person there is little TOO independent for me. Luckily, I already dug out my Harry Potter coloring book and crayons to take with me. haha Linda assured me that in Cambodia there will be about 12 of us for that week. (The others are going to teach in Cambodia, Vietnam, and China.) She also said that their may be a few people who signed up directly with the university. She told me that this was very unusual and that usually they have 8-10 people going at a time. She also told me that I would get a lot of personal attention...

My biggest fear about going to Thailand was that I wasn't going to have any friends. People told me not to worry about it. I bet they won't say that anymore.

Only one month to go!

2008-06-26T03:47:00.000-07:00

I'm truly terrible at technology. My only hope is that God will provide me with a husband who will be patient enough with me to teach me about it. haha

I woke up this morning at 3:22 with the sudden realization that is was the 25th of June and that in exactly one month I would be waking up in Asia for the first morning for an entire year. That is the only explanation of why I would want to figure out how to blog in the middle of the night. haha I pretty much have all the "big" stuff done with for my preparation to leave though. I have my visa ready for China, I sent my passport off yesterday to get my visa for Thailand and Cambodia, and I have my plane tickets ready. I am worried that my background check won't work out in time though. The first time I found out that I didn't have fingerprints it was amusing, now it is downright obnoxious. The FBI hates me. I don't know what to do when they send back my fingerprints and ask for more. I mean... they're the same... they aren't going to turn out any different. But I am not a fingerprint expert, so I suppose I should let them do their job.

Besides getting everything ready to go for the next year, I've been spending my summer studying for the GRE. I wake up every morning and go to Starbucks. I'm terrible at studying. I think I really like the idea of studying though. I wonder more about whether or not I look smart while drinking my passion tea than anything else while I'm there. Hopefully some of the information is seeping into my brain. This other guy is always there too and I think he really is studying. hahaha He looks extremely serious and I wonder how he can be so serious.

Speaking of studying, I should probably go and do that now...