Hello Tuesday

hello happy friends. i've return to the coffee world cafe (which has no public bathroom. geez, we're dealing with coffee here, people) to post another quick blog after trying, unsuccessfully, to post my photos. it simply would not upload them to flickr. Maybe I can post a couple here on blogger....?

Whooops, I'll get rid of the all-lowercase. Forgot, solly. (sorry)

I've spent the past weekend and few days of this week mostly at the house where I'm fish-sitting. I met a Thai friend for a (HORRIBLE) man movie, Watchmen (NOT for children), lunch and shopping!! We spent eight hours at the mall. We had ramen in these MASSIVE bowls. It was fun. Photo is me with massive bowl of Tom Yum (veg) Ramen. Spicy!!

The rest of the time I've been at the house reading. I finished an awesome book called Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan. I highly recommend it, it's about Frank Lloyd Wright's love affair with a woman named Mamah (may-mah). Incredible ending. Almost unbelievable.
Now I'm reading The Secret History, but Donna Tartt. It's decent. A big gripping since it's about some friends who murder one of the friends in their "group". Almost finished with that one. Both are book club choices that I hadn't finished.

The people who rent the house I'm in have a lovely DVD collection and I've enjoyed some movies: Rachel Getting Married (thumbs middle), Seven Pounds (thumbs down), Lost in Translation (thumbs up), House Bunny (thumbs down), Madagascar 2 (thumbs up)... and more I can't really remember. ALSO, I've had the opportunity to watch a couple seasons of How I Met Your Mother and find it much like a car crash... horrible but hard not to watch. The people in that show are annoying, dramatic and my age. Puh-lease. BUT, Britney was in a couple episodes (insert Barb, Beth and Sarah D dancing to Britney) so I guess that makes it a little better? Yes I like her. Don't be a hater. She has issues like the rest of us. (lol)

THen, yesterday I watched two seasons of Entourage (yes, I stayed on the couch the entire day) and can finally understand why people like that show. It's like the TV version of US Weekly... entertaining but not my favorite. It seems like "everyone" does a cameo on that show. Amazing, really.

Last night I told myself I HAD to physically leave the house and check internet. I hadn't been back since last post. I did spend all of Saturday out, though, remember.

I'm very excited for summer school to begin and my friends to return to the city. A whole new set of cute little clueless Thai boys under my care for another year. Can't wait!!

Oh yea, here's something interesting. He he.

I saw this in the Bangkok Post. Stinks to be her today, I guess. Whoa.

I will post again soon.
Thank you for your messages and updates!! Lots of love. :)

Is this really real? (I still babble. Reader Beware.)

I've made it! I've arrived. And, as you might notice, decided to save you from the all lowercase and will use correct capitalization this time around. Or I'll try.

After many sad goodbyes I left Minnesota with my dear friend Barb on Friday, 20 February. (A little taste of how they show dates here... day first.) We enjoyed our flight from MSP (MN) to NRT (Tokyo) in our own row! One seat between us! Lucky for the both of us, Barb's flight attendant friend was working first class and he made many stops back to economy to say hello and see how we were doing. It was a really special treat, one of many on our journey from Home to Second Home (Thailand). After arriving in Tokyo (I love Japan... the airport at least), Barb exchanged some US$ for yen and we interneted for a brief time before sitting at the gate for our next flight from NRT (Tokyo, I love airport codes) to BKK (know this one?? Bangkok). I couldn't believe I was in Asia again! WHOA! It's still all some dream I'll wake up from, right? (It happened so fast... but I'm happily here now.)

We arrived to Bangkok very close to 1 am (their Sunday AM... your MN Sat. 12pm) and waited (already feeling the HEAT!) in the long line for immigration then gathered our (my) many bags (3 suitcases and two carryons... what? that's not normal?) and saw our way effortlessly 'through' customs and into the madness that is Thai drivers trying to rip us off. NOT THIS TIME, I said. We passed them by and went to the public taxi stand... to get nearly ripped off there. Welcome back to Thailand, farang! (farang = foreigners, pronounced fah-rong, or in thai accent fah-long, you'll learn.)

With some effort, we tried to bully the taxi driver into being HONEST and putting on the meter, which he did after I made a phone call to my American friend, Evelyn (the school librarian who is fluent in four languages, including Thai, thank goodness!) who explained where to go to get to her house and not to rip us off. The driver wanted extra money because of the "many bag" that we had. WhateV! Luckily sweet Evelyn got him on the same page as us and we were finally moving at the speed limit, maybe a little above. (anyone know if there actually is a speed limit in Thailand?)

We made it to Evelyn's house and she (and her maid) helped us and ALL my bags in and showed us the room we'd sleep in for the night, complete with air CON! (Unfortunately no one knew the AC didn't work, or didn't cool, it blew air. Hot Bangkok air. :) But OH were we grateful and not going to complain.) I had a shower and we tried to sleep. Jetlag. Boy, it's really something when you've traveled for 20+ hours. It really gets confusing after a point. They do you a favor and make the whole plane dark like night but this silly (old) DUDE must've had issues because he kept opening his window shade exposing the ENTIRE cabin to a bright beam of light. He woke me up more than once until I announced that he was causing the rest of us discomfort. Then he didn't really do that again until the lights were back on. Oh the Minnesotan passive aggressor in me. ICKO!! Sorry guy!

In the morning we (I) packed a smaller bag from the 3... no, 4 larger bags and we took off to meet my friend Angus (a colleague and close friend of mine. yes friend, thank you.) for a reunion and a coffee. It was great to catch up, briefly and we wandered the Old Neighborhood and I floated on cloud 9. I do really love Thailand. Barb and I giggled about the smells (you learn which places to just simply hold your breath) and scattered random dog poo... or stray disgusting dog... to step around. It all came back to us.

After meeting Angus and a quick internet check-in session, we collected our bags (her one and my one) and returned to the airport for our flight to PHUKET! (please people it is NOT an "F" sound, in any way. The Ph is a sort of soft, breathy P sound... Poo-ket.) Barb and I spent New Year's Eve of 2008 in Phuket and really enjoyed our stay, so planned to spend most of Barb's current visit there, on the BEACH!! Which is exactly what we did.

I don't want to dwell on the flight. Since planes keep going down here and there I was a very annoying nervous passenger. I tried to just ignore my thoughts and prayed. At take-off, in the middle, at several (20) minutes before landing. So yea, I don't want to dwell on it, but it was the worst landing I've ever experienced. I didn't think they were going to stop and I ALmost screamed. But pushed on the back of the seat in front of me instead. Mature, I know. My super cool, calm and collected flight attendant instructor friend informed that (thank GOODNESS!) that they had merely used the entire runway to stop. (Sorry Barb, I feel like I need to educate people, it was nothing to really be scared of, right?) ;) Nothing big. SO, I picked my heart up off the floor and stuffed it back down my throat and we got our stuff and found a taxi to our guesthouse (same one we stayed at before. we liked it! Sawasdee Guesthouse on Kata Beach.) We checked in and ... then the air con was on and I think we fell asleep and slept the entire night. OOOOooooooops! No dinner. With jetlag lingering... I slept like an anvil and poor Barb spent some quality time with her handheld Tetris game.

When a decent morning hour arrived (that night is a blur to me, maybe Barb could clear it up for me) we got ourselves together and ventured out for some breakfast. We ate across the street at the more resort-y part of the guesthouse (they're owned by the same company I think) and were in awe at the beauty of the place. (We ate breakfast there every morning.)

When we arrived at the guesthouse we had noticed that road construction that was present during our first visit was cleared, so we decided to walk that way (as we never had before) to see what we would discover. Nothing much to note there. Just hops, more hotel/resorts and a busy main street at the top of the hill that the street makes. We bought some necessities at a Big One Stop shop (something like that) and went back to prepare ourselves for the first day at Kata Beach. It is SO beautiful and wonderfully relaxing there. A slice of my own little heaven. (video and pictures will be posted once I upload them.)

We spent that day and the the next at the beach. When you arrive you choose a pair of beach chairs, pay the guy (who must own them??) 100 baht per chair (35 baht = $1) and stay there allllllll day. We read, we swam, we SHOPPED (!!) we chatted, we had some waters (wink) and reapplied our sunscreen at reasonable intervals. :-D
Skerrrrch. Back to the shopping. It is entirely possible to shop for things like mini-brooms to sweep your beach chair, musical instruments (do you like the flute, Dirk?), sunglasses, headbands, jewelry, and ... what we were most interested in: sundresses!!! You bargain for your price, your "la pri. sheep sheep for you. heppy hou" (last price. cheap cheap for you. happy hour.) and then it's yours. Right there, lazily sitting in your beach chair. My own little slice of heaven. We got the cutest dresses. (Photos posted soon.)

So, we spent our days that way and nights having food and checking out the local markets. Great shopping, Thailand.
On our second day we shopped around for a snorkeling tour to attend and signed ourselves up to go the next day. It was similar but different than the snorkeling tour we did the first visit. It was very fun, though the hour-long boat ride to the first island stop (Maya Bay... the beach from the movie The Beach, we visited it last time also) was very choppy and the boat slammed violently on each subsequent wave. We made it, though and the rest of the trip was nice. We snorkeled and saw the most beautiful amazing fish and sea life. The photos will be better descriptors of the tour. It was great fun.

Okay, long-winded. Barb and I spent the next and last day in Phuket at the beach, enjoying the perfect waters of Kata Beach. (By the way, these Thai beaches have the most INsane people watching. OMGoodness.) We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and raced to the airport. We made it back to Bangkok later that evening and enjoyed a nice sushi dinner and dancing out with Angus and Evelyn, for Barb's last night in Thailand. The next day Barb and I saw Wat Pho (with the massive Reclining Buddha which symbolizes Buddha's death) and shopped for more souvenirs. After too much heat and who knows what else, I became very ill, stomachache and headache, full force which reduced me to a pathetic puddle. Barb helped me move my Many Bags to my friend Richard's house where I have spent the remaining time I've spent in Bangkok since Barb left, later that night.

At this point I'm frustrated since I revised and added to this post, then posted it and the changes were not saved. BOO! So I will write more later.

goodbye bangkok, hello dubai

it's early, i'm all packed and things are in order. two medium suitcases, one roller carry-on and one backpack. i'm ready to hit the airport... in two hours. i wrote a list of things to do this morning, last minute, and did several of them last night in my effort to get some sleep. feeling lots of different emotions... sad, 'ready' to go, hopeful, excited to get home, excited to see dubai, anxious to get to the airport and check in... loads of feelings. it's early.

in the past month i've finished up school, traveled northern thailand and down through laos from north to south and back to bangkok, had an interview for an international school in bangkok for next year, hung out with friends, shopped (a little), visited a thai friend's family for songkran, said my goodbyes and now here i am. i'm ready to go. will i come back? definitely at some point. let's hope sooner than later.

i'm leaving with almost all great memories. the only thing i can think of that wasn't pleasant was being purse-snatched. the rest is all good times and glory. i learned a lot while i was here and continue to learn in the last hours before i leave. thai people are wonderful and thailand is a very unique place. it will be wonderful to see the united states with my new perspective. life is really all about perspective, isn't it? attitude, the way one approaches life and situations that arise and drift past. we are merely boats traveling on the waters of life. sometimes calm and peaceful, sometimes a bit wavy and fun, sometimes stormy and trecherous. it's how we control our boat that will get us through. it's early.

this past three days has been songkran festival (thai new year) and it has been NUTS! some friends and i had dinner out last night and were caught in the largest crowd of people throwing, spraying, chucking, shooting and dumping water or smearing a wet, powdery substance on each other. it was insane. it was like nothing i've ever seen before. i snapped a few photos from the skytrain station. what a sight.

i was invited by a friend from the gym to her family's house for songkran last weekend and it was fantastic! her family speaks little (no) english and i speak very limited bangkok thai. it was an interesting mix of nodding, gesturing, signing and sometimes giving up and just smiling. i had a great time learning about buddhist traditions and tasting lots of new thai food. the only western food i consumed last weekend was the food i brought as a gift. they are a very traditional thai family so i was able to watch and (sometimes) participate in some rituals.

my friend's family lives six hours straight north of bangkok, in petchabun province. it is a gorgeous area with mountains and farms all around. the farmers grow corn, tobacco and rice in cycles on their fields. corn and tobacco were just about finished with rice on it's way during the rainy season. we were able to visit a tobacco farmer and experience the drying process after the tobacco leaves have been shredded. it was fun and interesting. i can say i'm the LAST person i ever thought to be tending to some future person's smoking habit, but nonetheless it was fun.

each day we traveled by car into the very tops of some of the mountains to see sights and visit monuments. on our travels up the hill we passed a small hmong village and, later, their many cabbage plots on the mountainsides. the king sought to replace the poppy/opium fields with something better and cabbage is making them a fair amount of money. i can understand now why the hmong people in MN insist on farming, it's what they know and they know it well.

the final day at my friend's house was the first day of songkran festivities and we put on our brightly colored songkran shirts and geared up to douse people with water. we washed the cars, then put 'blessed' powerdy water all over the car, added the thai national (yellow) flowers to the front with string and then filled up a large barrel with water in the back of a caged truck and prepared for the worst. after spending the day sight-seeing in the mountains with cousins, aunts and uncles, we hopped in the truck and headed to town. there are either people driving around spraying water or people standing on the side of the road chucking water at the passers-by. we were nice, we had warm water. some people had ICE ice cold water. while it is really hot in thailand now, there is nothing like being smacked with icey cold water. we went around and around, re-filling the barrel twice (with a fire hose in the park) and having a great time. we were really cold by the time we actually made it back home. it was so much fun.

being that it's a small town well outside the city i was something of an oddity. people have no qualms about standing and staring at a white person. they love to use the english they know: "hello!" "where you come from?" "beautiful" (which comes out 'beauty-full') "i love you!" "what's your name?" ... it was fun but a bit strange. at one point my we were filling up the barrel and i was crouched down in the truck keeping warm and someone spotted me and a crowd surrounded the truck to 'see the farang! farang farang!' they were touching me and shouting english, then sprayed me (at close range) with the fire hose. ha ha. not full power... but close range! crazy thais!

we took an overnight bus back to bangkok and i've been packing and organizing ever since. it was a wonderful way to end my stay in thailand, with traditional thai people celebrating their new year. what a fabulous time i have had here!!!

it's time to get ready and run some last errands before i'm off to the airport. dubai, here i come!!!

can't wait to see everyone when i'm home on april 20th. thanks for supporting me through this adventure. i'm grateful for it all!

what a sad goodbye

i sit on the evening before my last official day of working for this school year. i've been doing my re-teaching. it's not that fun. i'm re-teaching some grade 3 and grade 5 boys that failed science and math. it's all over tomorrow! no more thai boys calling "mee beh, mee behhh" (miss beth, miss betttthhhh!) down the hall... no more giggling with the boys about this or that... no more ugly green uniform!!!

this past weekend i was invited along on a class trip that involved seven boys from my class and their families. it was my favorite experience in thailand so far. it was wonderful to get to know the parents better and spend time playing with the boys i love so much. they are so special!! so creative and smart. i spent some time chatting with my "protege" nuttawut on a boat ride back from the floating market. he was telling me all kinds of things and we decided to guess how much longer the boat trip would take. he guessed forty minutes and changed it to twenty, then finally stuck with "26 more minutes, miss beth. do you have a clock?" so we checked out the time, it was 9:05 pm. "p.m. miss beth. p.m. stands for post meridienem. a.m. stands for anti meridinium." in shock, i asked him to repeat this three more times. he was saying "meridian" wrong but WHOA... i didn't learn that until... well for sure not when i was in first grade. i asked him who taught him that and he mumbled something. i asked if it was his father and he kept saying "no." later i asked his father and he said "haha. he must have learned it from the computer games i buy him." while it is a very impressive story... it isn't abnormal. nuttawut is in love with everything english and comes up with obscure words to ask me about, which always catches me off guard. he has such a serious look on his face when he's curious and it makes me giggle with delight. i have stories like this for each boy. they are so special!! i will really miss them! the parents each asked me why i'm not staying at assumption. how COULD i?! if i can't have my boys again... not gunna do it. sadly, we had to split the classes evenly, so they will be sad to be separated. they're like brothers. awww, i'm so sad that i won't see them anymore!

the weekend was a blast! a family picked me up early saturday morning and we went to a province just west of bangkok, about an hours drive. we checked in (beautiful resort on a river) and waited for everyone to arrive. the boys were so excited to see each other and played like a school of fish, traveling together throughout the resort. it didn't matter what they were doing, just that they were together. they smiled the entire time. siblings were tagging along. it was beautiful, the purity of children that age.

after everyone arrived, we piled into cars and went to a restaurant where our first boat tour would begin. we ate a wonderful thai lunch there and the kids played some more. after about an hour, we went to some docks and got our life jackets, then got into some very shallow boats, semi long tail style. i was in a boat with two families, to give you an idea. we traveled through a "city" of clam farms in the river, then some canals, passing eager monkeys, crabs and these frog/fish creatures that had fish back ends and frog front ends (very bizarre and new), they breathe above water. not too long after passing the monkeys we reached a mangrove where we could get out of the boat and walk through a very muddy bank. there were crabs crawling all around, over our feet, in and out of holes in the mud. it was GREAT! a little freaky, but whatever. the boys were squealing like little girls and most had to be carried to a log above the mud. haha. it was wonderful. some guides gave us some plants to stick in the mud and "plant" with our feet. awesome!

it was humorous to hear the ice cream man's music coming up the canal. . . we had a chuckle. sure enough, he showed up with ice cream in his boat. someone treated the guides to a treat. then we all got back into the boats, after cleaning off the mud, and were given some bananas to feed the monkeys on the way out of the canal we were in. i could tell, on the way in, that the monkeys recognized these tourist boats... the bananas were not a surprise. the monkeys are good catchers and some even got a little feisty.

once back in the river, we traveled the "streets" of the clam farms and went to the mangrove where the princess had planted some ... plants. then turned around and could play in this muddy area of the riverbank with a sled. so i pushed around some of the kids. it's hard work! but, definitely worth it to play in the mud. it was FABulous!

after that we went to a house above the water... where the farmers watch their clam plots at night. we hung out there and had some water, the boys played and played. then we went back to the resort to clean up.

that evening we took another boat to the floating night market in a city about 40 minutes ride from where we were. the floating market was wonderful. i hung out with the boys and their families and tried many new foods. (you see, i tend not to eat thai food because they consider vegetarian as people who still eat chicken and pork, so you're never certain that you're getting non-meat food. but with the parent's help, i was safe.) on the boat ride home, in the dark, we were "firefly sightseeing." it was a new thing for everyone but me. they stayed in certain trees along the riverbanks. it was so cool to share that discovery with these wonderful people. then the conversation (convo in "australianese") with nuttawut happened. it was all too delightful.

the next morning we gathered for an "american" breakfast (Not american) and then saw some sights (temples) around the area of the resort. the first temple was important for several reasons. first, there was a statue and some history about king thaksin. he was the king that fought back some land from the burmese. at this temple there was a building that was hidden in some tree growth. it was 400 years old and held a large golden buddha. the families paid their respects here. another major attraction at this temple was about 100 life sized figures of men posed in the major muay thai boxing poses. some had weapons and some didn't. these figures depicted the way that king thaksin's army fought back the land from burma. very bizarre at first, but very cool, of course.

the last temple we saw had a famous/important monk that had a shrine. in the glass case was a life sized wax figure of him sitting in a chair. behind the wax figure was another glass case with the lying-down semi mummified corpse of said monk. a father told me that he is important to buddhists because he's somewhat a miracle. he had not been embalmed, merely placed in the glass case and looked nearly the same as he did when he first died. he hadn't decayed at all. we had a group photo taken in front of this miraculous man. how fitting.

that about ended the sight-seeing. we went back to the resort and then met for lunch on the way back to bangkok. while at lunch a water monitor came out of a nearby stream. it was quite an attraction. the whole weekend was all too perfect. a great way to say goodbye to the boys. though not all the boys were there, it feels complete, happy, and good. there will be a place in my heart for each of the boys forever. i wish you could meet them. you would love them just as much. everyone who's met them sees what i see. they're GREAT! *tear* goodbye boys! i'll miss you!!!!

needless to say, i have loads of photos of this weekend, so log in to flickr and check them out.

this adventure is coming to a close soon. i have six more weeks that i'll spend traveling around thailand and possibly other countries. i'm going to cambodia this weekend with some german friends. so, it's not quite over yet. stay tuned.

miss you all, but see you soon!!! more blogs to come....

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hello, happy wednesday!

i'm writing during some major downtime at school. we are in our last week of the school year, exam week. there are many small projects here and there. i've done nearly all of them. this place is so organized, it's insane. like nothing else. very, very cool.

well, let's start with the "big" news. i was walking home with a friend around 10 pm on sunday night and two cowardly thai fellows drove by on a motorbike and snatched my purse out of my hand. the driver stopped, the guy got off the back of the bike (behind me), grabbed my purse and they zoomed off. i didn't even stand a chance. i, of course, ran behind them screaming at the top of my lungs, waking the entire neighborhood. they were long gone before two kind thai guys hopped on their own motorbike to chase down the criminals... but to no avail. it's gone. there wasn't much of value... cash ($30), money cards that can be replaced (which i cancelled immediately), cell phone (most annoying), lip gloss (a gift from student), a gift certificate worth 1500 baht (bummer), many business cards i wanted... and not much else to note. very, very luckily, i had emptied a lot of the other things i was carrying (ipod, camera, extra cash, some jewelry) that i would've really missed. i'm safe and life is moving forward.

school has been glorious, in the classroom. the staff room is a completely different, torturous story which i will spare you from. the boys have brought me so much joy on many levels. i wish i could have them all next year and years to come, but alas, i cannot. i'll move on to a new school, hopefully in bangkok, and new class. they have been so much fun and so adorable. some have taken to drawing steering wheels on paper and "driving" around school, they love cars. it's just too much. others are still into playfighting and running around like nutballs. all of them are speaking english enough to communicate most of their thoughts. they certainly know all that they've learned for school and they understand almost everything i say, if it's not complicated. they've also got classic american accents, thank you very much. none of this aussie mess, 'g'day mate.' pft. i'm very sad to say goodbye to them. i will see about seven or eight of them this coming weekend as the parents have organized a class trip for the families and have included me and the thai teacher. it will be great fun, i can't wait. on the itinerary i saw some "activities in the mud." need i say more? it's gonna be good.

my plan. boy oh boy. i'm still not locked into a set plan, but the general plan is to finish school next tuesday and then see cambodia that weekend. come back to see sister Katie off to america (and hopefully send some luggage home) then head out to vietnam for two weeks. after that, it's all a toss up. i'll get myself to some islands and beaches and chiang mai again... then plan to head home mid-april to see all of you!! i'm very excited to catch up with you all. i hope you are well! i will most likely be found in some sort of vehicle with cat in one arm and taco bell in the other. find it sick, i don't care, i have craved taco bell for an entire year. of course the cat will be loved beyond belief. she might even get sick of ME for a change. if you invite me over for dinner expect her to come along. just kidding. apparently she has 'taken' quite nicely to my parents and i "might not get her back." that is a direct quote from the least likely of my parents to say it. oops. i wasn't supposed to tell. tell who? all joking aside, my parents have made the cat more than comfortable, so she might just ignore me altogether. we'll see where her loyalties lie. haha.

in the past month i have been hanging out with many new friends. i took a trip back to koh samet (island i went to with my mom) with an aussie collegue and her german friends. it was a wonderful weekend away from the city. i've also recently made some israeli friends and enjoy spending time with them. they are really interesting and fiercely loyal. it's been so wonderful to see how people of other nationalities live and it can be tricky at times since we all tend to think the way we do things is "right" or automatic for everyone else. that has been a big lesson for me while away from home. i have enjoyed getting to know people from around the world and feel like i have many new places to visit.

my sister has been traveling all over SE asia. she started in bangkok, went north to chiang mai, then into laos, down to cambodia and back to bangkok. she's now down in southern thailand seeing the beautiful beaches and islands. she'll be around for another two weeks. i can tell that she has thoroughly enjoyed her trip. she is so happy. i love seeing such a big smile on her face. beautiful!! it's been wonderful having her close by and seeing her on the other side of the world. poor mom and dad are empty-nesters (but only temporarily as both katie and i will be home within the next two months). matt (my brother) is at sea on different missions with the navy, so none of us are even in the country! how funny. who would've ever thought such a thing? but why not?! we're lucky enough to have these experiences. it will, surely, be nice when the five of us are all back together. it's been a while!

as i finish this, it's pouring rain outside. the weather has been gloomy and rainy for about two weeks now. i guess bangkok has a second mild rainy season, according to someone's thai girlfriend. whatever, it's a nice break from the heat. it's been reasonably cool (80s) lately. i'm really going to miss the great weather. but, i'll be back home in time for spring and summer to apply for another job in thailand and come right back to bangkok. say a prayer and we'll see what i can score.

finally, a little request... i'll be looking for jobs when i get back (mid april), any jobs. i might also try to "rent" a car from someone instead of buying one straight away (i don't know how long i'm staying). if there is someone that you know who would be willing or able to provide either of these things, please let me know. i'd be so appreciative of any connections you might offer. thank you!!

lots of love, i'll sign off now. please keep in touch as i love hearing how things are going at home. i haven't forgotten a single one of you and very much look forward to seeing your beautiful face! smiles for everyone!!!!!

Happy New Year!!

this is the statement that most Thai people i encounter lately love to close with, "happy new year!" i also keep receiving New Year gifts from my students. it's fantastically different than home. though, they don't celebrate Christmas... so... our way is good, too. i like the "happy new year" touch a week after the actual date.

2008. it should prove to be a good year. 2007 was pretty spectacular so if 2008 is better, well i'm one lucky gal! i'm so grateful.

i'm writing to send out a quick update. i've been getting such kind, awesome emails for holiday cheer and haven't been quick to respond. my friends from home, Barb and Sarah D are visting me! they've taken a plane to see chiang mai while i work this week. i'm so happy they've gone to see such a great place! i wish i was there, too! so, if you're someone who emailed me and has been waiting... i'm sorry i've been playing hostess and it won't slow down any time soon. my sister, Kate, arrives tomorrow night! i'm so excited to finally show her some of asia!! i will, however, do my best to reply to all of your fantastic messages, just give me a day or two. THanks!

since Barb arrived just after Christmas, she and i spent New Year's on the island of phuket. it was AMAzing! we met anelda down there and enjoyed time at the beach the first day. the second day barb and i joined a guided snorkeling adventure and had a blast! i've never snorkeled before and i have to say it was a little intense for me. i'm not super coordinated yet and blush a little at the "heavy breather" i was the majority of the time. it was a bit of a panic to see SO many fish and creatures that you'd never notice from just normal swimming. we were in the middle of schools of small and mediums sized fish. i opted not to buy the underwater camera but will splurge next time i snorkel. it's amazingly beautiful.
we were able to snorkel at three different locations and made many stops. first we stopped on a small island near phuket and snorkeled in very shallow water. we didn't last long after i spotted a sea urchin (large black ball with MASSIVE spikes that will hurt you. HURT you.) just below our feet. that was the first time i gurgled sea water. what a gag-alicious experience that is. Blech! (i'm such a klutz.)
the second stop was in a deeper location and we really enjoyed diving down under the water and doing the whale-blow thing upon returning to the surface. i laugh at the thought of shooting that water behind us to land on... who knows who. ooops! BUT, it was also where i got a little cocky and ended up SWALLOWING an entire tube full of salty sea water (and i saw fish poop floating around everywhere). i still gag at the memory and it took a few minutes of spitting and gagging to recover. *shiver* that was the most memorable stop for snorkeling. it was deep enough to float on the surface and enjoy immense beauty. i had no idea!! (i didn't see it happen, but barb also swallowed and gagged on the water. i giggle at the thought of hearing her gagging behind me and saying "oof." ah ha ha.)
our lunch stop was on koh phi phi (phi phi island) which is where we had intended to spend new year's and couldn't get a place to stay. everything was overbooked or they raised the prices to ridiculous heights. peak season, who knew?? however, upon wandering after lunch (they made me special vegetarian dishes. how nice!) i realized that i much preffered phuket as it had more than the "scuba dude" atmosphere to offer. phi phi was gorgeous for views and amazing dark teal waters. WOW! i hope i never forget it.
after lunch, or maybe before?, we visited Monkey beach and saw the monkeys (gibbons) that live there and which you can feed. we laughed because this one fat one just sat on a log and people would sit next to it and take a picture. just like my cat does, it would look up at you and just look away. i wonder what on earth it was thinking. the other monkeys were playing with each other or eating the many gifts that tourists were chucking their way (how lame!). that was a short stop but very fun.
there might have been another stop that i'm forgetting but i will not forget the hour we were able to spend on Leonardo's "Beach" beach... it's called Ma Ya beach and it is stunning. white, powdery beach and unbelievable teal waters. i walked around (ever the celeb/movie obsessed) and searched for the evidence of a movie set. there was none, but there were really nice bathrooms and several trails. it was overcrowded with people from other tour boats, but still fun. i have to watch the movie again to recognize where i was. it was very beautiful. (we snorkeled there but there wasn't much to see other than a scary looking cave entrance underwater.)
an excellent and recommended adventure should you find yourself in phuket (which i hope you do). phuket and phi phi were severely hit by the tsunami however the only remaining evidence are the "tsunami evacuation route" signs. i can't imagine what that was like, though i tried. oye.

after the snorkeling (on new year's eve day) we met up with anelda to celebrate on the busy street and have dinner. it WAS INSANE! i have to say that my safety was compromised many times. illegal fireworks (the big ones) were sold to send off from the beach ... for anyone who would buy them and people could buy these long lines of cracker-things. and they were stupid enough to set them off in the MIDDLE of a very crowded street. silly string and foam spray were some people's idea of entertainment and we were innocently sprayed several times. i ended up in a foul mood for a while after i was giddy to light and send off a beautiful glowing lantern and almost had my head burned off by IDIOT australians who found it very hilarious. jerks! i dropped to my knees and saved thine head of hair. grrrrrr. the mood was over for me after that. although the night was still fun and we met lots of new people.

the next day we returned to BKK and i had to get back to work (on the 2nd - teachers don't always have so much time off). barb was able to see a little bit of bkk on her own and i enjoyed seeing my boys again. they are so adorable!! (barb even said so. i made her come to school to meet them.) Sarah D. arrived last Friday and we spent the weekend in Hua Hin, the beach town just south of Bangkok. it was super fun and relaxing. i love having my friends here!!!! can't wait to have the sis here, too!

that brings us to now, today. monday night. it's been a wonderful few weeks for the holidays. i'll never forget it, though missed all the traditions and food from home. i missed my family and friends. holidays are meant to be with the ones you love.
quickly, christmas was fun and action packed. Anelda, Luke (passing through to India again) and I went to brunch buffet (mmmm), ice skating (melty ice but FUU-UN!) and a movie. (Golden Compass. i liked it. it's a fantasy story with lots of details. i'm not sure what people are complaining about. it's also a the first in a trilogy, which many don't know.) it was a long, full day and we enjoyed it all. i was glad to have friends to spend it with and many things to do. luke gifted me a "Bad Cat" book and we laughed over the pictures and sayings for days. Thanks Lucas!

i hope this finds you well and with many of your own great holiday memories! i love seeing your photos, thanks for sending them! i plan to be home around April/May-ish. (for at least a visit... i choose not to go back to my school for a second year but hope to find another school to try another year in Thailand... we'll see, maybe.) i look forward to being home very very much! MEOWSERS, momma's coming hoooome... soon (put your party hat away for another few months). (i will miss Thailand/Asia which is why i hope to return for a second year. it's a wonderful, wonderful place.)

have a great day! i miss you!!

so it wasn't such a "quick" update. i'm known for my non-short short stories. the details are important! haha

happy holidays!!

"We can always be happier; no person experiences perfect bliss at all times and has nothing more to which he can aspire. Therefore, rather than asking myself whether I am happy or not, a more helpful question is, 'How can I become happier?' This question acknowledges the nature of happiness and the fact that its pursuit is an ongoing process best represented by an infinite continuum, not by a finite point. I am happier today than I was five years ago, and I hope to be happier five years from now than I am today.

Rather than feeling despondent because we have not yet reached the point of perfect happiness, rather than squandering our energies trying to gauge how happy we are, we need to recognize that happiness is an unlimited resource and then focus on ways in which we can attain more of it. Becoming happier is a lifelong pursuit."

-Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D. HAPPIER (my latest "fun" reading selection)

life has been very kind to me, if i really consider it. what have i truly got to complain about? i am so grateful for all of you in my life. i learn from you constantly. i appreciate all that you have done and will do for me and allow me to do for you. i feel very blessed this holiday, even being so far away. i don't forget how great i really have it.

what an impactful year for me and many around me. stay warm and safe, those of you with the snowswirls going on outside. (and before christmas this year. i'm astonished!)

i will update the blog from the last post until this one. until then, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I love you and miss you tremendously! if you see my cat, by chance, squeeze, cuddle, shove, twirl, dance, and chat with her. she will eat it all up.

thailand is gaining degrees... slowly but surely the air con is wistling back into action. can't wait for barb, sarah d. and katie to get here!!! yippy!!