Happy Christmas Y'all!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Real Post Office

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

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

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

YaY!

Post Office Adventures

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hopefully I'll finally get that camera this weekend!

Ashley made me...

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

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

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

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

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

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

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

The King's Birthday / Father's Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh, and I ate a grasshopper!