Banyan Tree

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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!