December

Oops it's been awhile. First of all, there's a lot of stuff going on at home that's got me concerned and very sad. I'll skip the details here, but it would be lovely if you would keep my family in your thoughts for a while.

Lauren, Jenn, Heidi and I went to Koh Chang ("elephant island") a couple weeks ago to celebrate the King's bday in style. We spent plenty of time on the beach, kayaked to another tiny island, and hung out at a really cute restaurant right on the beach for at least 4 of our meals. We were also really excited to do some hiking on this island, but when we finished our hike to a huge waterfall in less than 20 minutes, we quickly remembered that people don't really like physical activity here. It turned out that was the longest hike we'd manage for awhile. The waterfall was beautiful, though, and Jenn and I took a dip in the cold pool at the bottom. It was a great, relaxing weekend.

Other than that I've just been hanging out in Hua Mak and Bangkok. We got ourselves into one of those tuk-tuk scams, but that turned out alright because we got to see parts of the city we wouldn't have otherwise. And we also finally made it to Wat Pho, which was absolutely amazing. I can't wait to go back and spend a full day appreciating that temple complex. I had a birthday, so I'm officially an old lady now. The girls gave me a beautiful pair of earrings and even a necklace that I had mentioned liking in Koh Chang. And I got a few cards and a package from home - actually received them ON my birthday, which was a great surprise. On Wednesday, when I had about 10 students just hanging out in my office waiting to take their midterm, they all stood around me and sang Happy Birthday in that fantastic way that my Thai students like singing English songs. (I wish I could explain their singing in words!)

Last night Lauren, Jenn and I stumbled upon an art show at a gallery near Siam and we all ended up buying some work. Jenn bought a beautiful sculpture that weights about a million pounds and will be tough to carry back to the US, but it's so worth it. Lauren and I bought paintings on small canvas swatches from an artist named Channon - so he and I liked that coincidence. He said the one I bought is from when he was stuck in Phuket with no money to return home. So he collected scrap materials, painted a few images and sold what he could as a way to get home. So now I have a cartoon-style Thai motorcycle scene to put on my wall forever and ever.

Lauren and I have bus tickets to Chiang Mai for Christmas. We'll leave on an overnight bus on xmas eve, do an elephant/bamboo raft/hill tribe/camping trek for 3 days, then return home to teach for 2 days before leaving again for Phuket. We're actually hoping not to stay in Phuket but instead find a boat to take us to the Similan Islands for more camping, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that will work out. Hopefully it will.

Teaching is going really well, by the way. I know I haven't written about it and I've gotten the question in a few emails. I'll get to that someday. But for now I'll just say that I really like it. The students are great and classes are really fun. My job is literally just to come up with games to get them to speak English and practice certain things. My favorite lesson so far was dividing the class into police and suspects, and having the police interrogate the suspects about their alibis while a bank robbery was taking place... that was a lesson in past tense speaking. Anyway, I'm enjoying the teaching even more than I expected to. So of course I'm happy about that.

Merry almost Christmas, everyone! And today is my niece and grandpa's birthday, so Happy Birthday, Jade & Grandpa.