Hello, สวัสดี (Sa wa dii), Hola

At the end of last semester I had my older students fill out an "about me" paper, including all topics we had learned that semester. They were to then draw a picture of themselves in their favorite season - here are some of the results!

So as per usual my life is far from dull while living in NongHee. I arrived home on Saturday night, called Earm to tell her I made it back safe and was told that I would be picked up to go to school at 8:30am on Sunday to get my schedule ... SUNDAY?!?!!? I obliged, went to school, got my schedule and then escaped quickly to go into town since I had just gotten back from two months away. Monday I was also picked up at 8:30am to go to school, but this time to clean my classroom, which desperately needed it! As I entered campus I realized every student was there and sitting in their morning assembly rows listening to Sumet go on about something ... as I walked by I did however hear mention of my newly tanned skin and how beautiful I am ... awesome. There were also my excited waves and "hello teacher"s to be heard! adorable! Later in the morning I was invited to dinner with Earm and Sumet's family because it was their son's birthday. (he is my age) I obviously accept and am excited for a night out with them. I also knew the next day was a Buddhist holiday so I wouldn't be teaching and was excited to sleep in and have the day to myself ... WRONG! At about 8pm after a few beers I was informed that I would be getting picked up at 7am to 'make merit' ... it was also described to me that all of the 6th graders would be planting a tree ... or something along those lines ... ok, understandable. My ride arrives the next morning at 6:30am - not ready at all - and I run out the door. Since I was told I would be 'making merit' I dressed accordingly in a long skirt and a pink shirt (it was a Tuesday) and thought I had finally gotten this being clothed appropriately thing down - almost. Apparently this planting thing is serious business and not only were all of my sixth graders there but a bunch of the high school students as well ... and there were about 100 small plants in the back of a pick-up truck ready to go into the earth. The place where this all went down is literally in the woods and I had been back where it is only once and was then told thats not a safe place to be in, so I haven't been back. Now I know exactly whats there ... so here I am in my adorable sandals, skirt, pink shirt, and white cardigan gardening in the woods. And yes, I was off the path and planting things legit in the woods. I am sure there is a significant meaning to the planting with the specific holiday we were celebrating but it was not explained to me. I spent my time hands covered in dirt pretending to touch my students faces and basically annoying them, while trying to remember everyone's name!

Teaching itself has been fairly uneventful ... just getting back into the swing of things and getting acquainted with my students again ... I received many hugs and saw many excited smiling faces screaming my name from across the school yard and was even attacked by a class of first year high school students while riding my bike through campus, some were my students from last year but most were not! I almost fell off my bike trying to return the handshakes everyone wanted to give me! hahaha

I am being quite long- winded so I will stop for now!

4 months till I am back in America, exactly 1 year after I left!

Highlights of my two month journey throughout Thailand ... I have so many pictures from this trip I don't even know if I can make a memory book!

Fish Spa in Bangkok ... yes these fish are actually eating the dead skin off my feet ... and yes I totally made Fran and Jim take part in this hilarious spa treatment!!!


My first fast food since America!!! Obviously I picked Burger King over the multitude of choices in Bangkok!


I made it to the beach! Classic longtail photo


My elephant!!! well, the one that i rode on through the jungle


Temple Spotting!!! This one is in Mae Hong Son which is a grueling 7 hour van ride through 1,864 curves and Thai people throwing up from motion sickness the whole way - super fun!!!


The White Temple - construction on this temple began in 1997 and it is not actually all finished yet ... the artist is trying to bring modern art to Thailand and around the whole temple there are hilarious depictions of the devil in terms of modern day vices such as smoking and whiskey ... it is quite the experience!


Holding the Buddha at Sukothai historical park!


The sign at the bus station on the way to the waterfail ... gotta love Thais attempting to write signs in English!

At the waterfail ... which wasn't so much a fail after all


Fran and Jim came!!!! Here we are at a sky bar having a fancy cocktail while watching the sunset over Bangkok


One of my favorite temples ... its completely decorated with broken plates ... so very shabby chic and therefore me!


Hope you enjoyed this very brief overview of my travels ... if you are interested in seeing more pictures from a certain place or hearing more about a certain part of the travels you know I'll be happy to tell you all about it!

To all of my loyal readers (aka my family and friends) I am safely back in NongHee after two months of utter nonsense and frolicking around the amazing country of Thailand - If I didn't already love this country and my choice of coming here I sure do now! Thailand can offer literally everything you could ask for in a vacation - beach, mountain, city, history, and delicious food all while meeting to most friendly of all peoples on earth - Thais. I got to experience some pretty crazy things including, snorkeling, being attacked by leeches, biking around ancient ruins, being evacuated from a flood by the Thai military, sampling culinary treats from every region, clubbing, hiking in a cloud forest and on a sub-alpine meadow, visiting temples old and new including the most recently build Thai temple that is all white and full of off-hand modern art, laying around on the white sand beaches and playing in the crystal blue water, going to a mall and eating Coldstone creamery ice cream and an Auntie Anne's pretzel, shopping in markets of all sizes, going to a movie in English and having to stand at the beginning to sing the Thai national anthem, riding on an elephant through the jungle, and most importantly seeing Fran and Jim! I ended this crazy trip with them and it was two weeks that went by too fast!

I am now back in my village and PROMISE to update some pictures this week - I have about 650 to sort through and pull out the good ones for you! I also begin teaching this week so I am sure I will have some interesting stories for my last 3 1/2 months here in Nong Hee!

So on most days when Sumet and Earm drive me home from school we stop at the market. Lately some very interesting foods have been added to the stock of produce and meats sold. We have ant eggs, crickets, frogs, lizards, and water buffalo skin. When I asked Sumet what the lizards were called - not caring if I got a Thai word or English, he responds (while hysterically laughing) "baby dinosaur!" - thanks - a lot. Also, his new favorite thing to do is pick up or point to one of these nasty foods, ask me if I eat it in America, and then tell me its good to eat while you drink beers - hint much, Sumet?!

Last Tuesday life was as per usual until we pulled onto the campus where I live. Recently some high school girls have moved into a house on campus to begin training for Muay Thai (Thai Boxing). I've seen them practicing, obviously interested in what they were doing and wanting to join in but really didn't think much of it. But on this day, Sumet sees them and asks if I want to learn "Thai Boxing", my obvious response is, "Yes, of course!" - He slams on the breaks, jumps out of the car all while saying he will go talk to the teacher who trains the girls who happens to live in the house on campus we were in front of! Sumet then brings the Ajan (word which means teacher) (whose name I cannot remember to save my life) over to the car to introduce me and I get formally invited (through my open car door, while still in my seatbelt) to the man who says I can practice with them any time I want, starting today! hahaha ok - wow. I wasn't really feeling it that day so after my run on Wednesday I walked over to where they were practicing, had a very confusing conversation with the Ajan, in which all I understood was, 'next time' and walked home to stretch and cool down. As i'm about to get into the shower two girls come running up to our door screaming AJJJAAAAANNNNN!!!!! Apparently 'next time' meant in a little while - so I grabbed my sneakers and headed over to start learning Thai Boxing. Now this experience is very monkey see monkey do since the people I'm working with know next to no English and well my Thai skills are improving but not in this context. All that really gets said is numbers, left, right, kick, and the teacher surprisingly knew the names 'uppercut' and 'hook'. My first lesson was only about 20 minutes long and consisted of the teacher demonstrating different combinations of punches and me copying him. He then had to go to the market with his wife so I was told to practice. I did for a short while then threw in the towel for the night.

Thursday as I was coming back from my bike ride the girls saw me and beckoned me over to the practice area. On this particular day there was a teacher meeting so I soon learned that much like the US practice is not as strenuous on the days the coach is absent. Through much giggling on both my part and the 5 muay thai girls, I was handed a jump rope, taught to properly 'jump rope' and taught some new 'practice routines'. There was a guy practicing with them on this day and the teacher in charge of Muay Thai had to go to a meeting so this guy ended up teaching me - which was HILARIOUS! He was like a legit muay thai boxer and he would demonstrate a punch punch kick or knee routine and I would have to repeat. And well if you know me it is even more clear how hilarious it is that I am boxing in the first place!

Overall, it was an awesome experience and I hope that next semester I can spend more time with them and learning Muay Thai!

So I just realized this post never actually made it onto my blog ... Last semester I had some fun activities for my students involving making shapes with pipe cleaners and labeling their classmate's body parts ... here are the pictures!

We recently had a long weekend due to a Buddhist Holiday (Macha Bucha), obviously myself and my fellow volunteers would take advantage of this opportunity to travel! I chose to go to Mukdahan with Amanda, Heather, Jackie, Kaitlin and Sarah, even though i have already been there. It's close (only about two hours away), my thai dad (Sumet) offered to drive us, and they have a huge IndoChin Market (aka SHOPPING). Why would I go anywhere else? On Friday, everyone came to my house to sleepover so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to buy the floor mat I've had my eye on for months! So Friday morning I rode my bike to the store in town that sells them and managed to communicate and understand the entire sale only in Thai - not one word of English was spoken on my part or the woman at the shop! SCORE! and she even attached it to the back of my bike Thai-style so I could get it home.


On Saturday morning Sumet picked us up bright and early to drive to Mukdahan - now, Thai people do not simply drive to their destination, the stop at almost anywhere that could be considered a sight, which can make car travel extremely long! Luckily Sumet only wanted to stop at three places and we made it quick! The first was point in the Mekong where there a small rapids and rocks you can walk out onto, up to the edge of the water.

It was quite beautiful and had restaurants along the coast that consisted of tables in small huts.
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576385507861785810" />
We then stopped at a Christian Church, that is actually a memorial for 7 Thai martyrs. It was very interesting to see a very anglican Church in Thailand, especially the outdoor confessional!



We then made one more stop at the base of the friendship bridge with Laos so people could get some pictures that I already had. We then found a hotel, did a bunch of shopping, ate some som tam, got a Thai massage, had a relaxing dinner at a restaurant called Wine Wild Why? (they did in fact have wine) and then sat by the river with ice cream and beers. The next morning we took the most ghetto tin bus (with rotating fans) back to Nakhon Phanom. It was a quick weekend but fun, relaxing and got be very ready for my travels that are coming SO soon!