Last night I went to the faculty New Years party which was a blast! Everyone was there and we all had hot pot which is this cool grill/bowl thing where you can grill food and make a soup at the same time. Hot pot is a blast because everyone can make whatever they want and you just eat food as it finishes cooking. I had a bunch of squid, shrimp, and some chicken with noodles. The kids had a blast having me try new foods since I can't say no to kids. Aear (pronounces ew-a) and Umporn (pronounced um-pon) were really happy that I liked this weird looking green jelly thing, it was green cubes that you put ice and syrup on before you eat it. They also thought it was funny that I broke the icecream scoop while getting them icecream...I swear the icecream broke the scoop the stuff was rock hard!

After P-Noy took the kids home I stuck around and moved over to the Vice President and LCB Deans table. That was a mistake! The Dean and VP broke out the bottles of thier awesome Australian wine which I had to have...and when that was gone they went and got a special bottle of french wine for me (since I don't like beer and can't stand Singha). So basically they got me drunk again...but not as drunk as last time! My keys went on thier table and not in the rice cooker! Before I left I got a couple PSU glasses and some canned fish.

Oh P-Noy also gave me a refidgerator on Tuesday so I have real food now!

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Well I've been here for a little over 2 months now. I'm having a great time and have made a bunch of new friends (even if they don't speak much English). This morning on my way into the office I was chased down by a couple of students who missed me. I think we're going to go out for dinner which is always fun. On Saturday I went to a dinner party where people I never met made sure to have crab because P-Noy (the woman I tutor for) told them it was my favorite. Everyone is so nice here and they're all trying to make sure I feel like I'm at home here.

On another note it's midterms! I don't technically have to be here today but I wanted internet so I came into the office. I have to proctor 2 tests this week one on Tuesday and another on Saturday. Luckily I get paid extra for Saturday so coming in for 3 hours isn't too bad.

Hearing about all the snow that's hit Virginia has made me glad I'm in fantastic 80 degree weather. I miss snow and the Christmas feeling that it brings but I don't miss the cold or wind. I'll post some pics of my Christmas tree later this week!

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Last weekend was the kings birthday...it was also Aear's birthday (one of the girls i tutor) and her parents 10th anniversary. I was invited to Aear's birthday which was fun. We had cake and tons of food! Everyone wanted to talk to me and ask questions about birthdays in America which are actually very similar to here.

Then we all lit candles for the king and they sang a song along with the people on the TV. After singing the song we placed the candles on the rail outside thier home so they could burn down on thier own.

I spent the rest of the weekend watching movies and making my stupid midterms...I officially hate making tests it's a pain in the ass!

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Last weekend I went down south to Hat Yai to visit my cousin Kelli at her campus. To get there I got to take a totally awesome mini-bus/van thing down every bumpy road we could find for 5 hours. After I got in at 10pm Kelli and I went out to a bar with some of her Thai friends. We had a good time especially when the band decided to sing "Achy Breaky Heart"!

On Saturday we slept in and then we went out to lunch at a buffet that had an amazing view of Hat Yai (the city is huge!). Then we walked around town and went shopping. I got a couple awesome Japanese flags for my apartment :) That night we took one of Kelli's Thai friends (Pam) to a rotating sushi bar which was a blast! We made a tasty shrimp and mushroom soup (we put in 4 different kinds of mushrooms) and ate a bunch of sushi. Then we went to another bar that played a lot of old english music.

On Sunday we went back into town to walk around before I had to head home. To get home I got to take another thrilling mini-bus ride for 5 hours. My trip to Hat Yai was a lot of fun! I was amazed at how big the city was and how much there was to do there compared to Surat.

I was also amazed at how close the city was to the school...we could walk if we really wanted to or grab a cheap tuk-tuk. In Surat you have to have a motorbike or pay a small fortune to get a tuk-tuk ride into town. Even though Hat Yai seems to be more convienient for getting around I don't think I would want to change. I still really like Surat and I love all the people I work with.

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As everyone knows last week was Thanksgiving in America. This year was the 6th Thanksgiving I wasn't at home for :( Sadly Thailand does not have a giant meal of Turkey and delicious mashed potatoes on the last Thursday of November. I really missed the potatoes so my dad sent me some...
However licking a computer screen doesn't taste as good as gorging yourself with a real Thanksgiving dinner :(

So I was reading the comments on my last post and Anonymous asked if there is a similar festival here. While I did some quick research there is no festival that involves gorging yourself on an awesome dinner but they do have a couple about spending time with family. The one that really seems to focus on family is Songkran festival (aka. the water festival). You're suppose to return to your home town and visit with your neighbors and family...however a major attraction of the festival is dousing people with water. I couldn't find any specific festival about giving thanks since this seems to be an important part of their daily lives.

I'll keep everyone updated about the festivals as they happen! This weekend is the Kings Birthday. It'd also be really awesome if everyone would write their names at the end of their comments so I know who's asking questions :D

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Bangkok Day 1!

A random TV on a roof that played commercials
while you waited for the next train

Rachanadda Temple

Hallway in Rachanadda Temple

The view from the top of Rachanadda Temple

The Marble Buddha

Hand paintings on the walls of the temple

The Giant Swing

Bangkok Day 2!
The Marble Temple

Mom and I with a cool drum

Throne hall

Teak mansion

More cool hand paintings on the walls of Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Bangkok Day 3!The grand palace

Cool guardian thing

Emerald Buddha
(I had to take this on my tip-toes outside of the temple
with my camera zoomed all the way in)

Elephant!

A long boat
(the Thai people love to ride these things even though you always feel they're going to tip over)

Koh Tao!

Loy Krathong!

The Krathong

The group on the long boat!

Lighting the candle...or not (damn wind)

Me setting the Krothong free

The sky lantern
(it shot up to fast for me to get a pic of it in the air :( )

Krabi!

The hotel

The best restaurant on the island
(according to the sign)

The View!

Chicken Island :D

Me on the swing on Chicken Island

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Well last weekend I was suppose to go see Kelli in Hat Yai but the event the school was going to got canceled so I didn't get to go :( But I did get to go to the jungle with a bunch of people from the school. And since I went with a bunch of Thai people I of course misunderstood what we were doing. I was told we were going to the jungle on Saturday so of course silly me thought that ment it was a day trip. I was later informed...once we were in the jungle and at the camp site...that we were staying overnight. "Oh joy" I only brought the clothes I was wearing and my camera. I also wasn't told that the jungle is actually the lake that was formed from a damn so I also didn't take a swimsuit with me.

Of course I had a great time the others found clothes I could wear to go swimming in and we had an all around relaxing weekend at the floating cabins. They were all happy I brought my camera because they all wanted to play with it. I wound up with over 300 pictures taken by everyone who went.

Me and 2 of the students

My swimsuit!

The floating cabins

Dinner in the jungle!

The other's sleeping outside

The students trying to boat around
the lake (they kept going in circles)

Pictures of the lake/jungle

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I can't believe I've been here for a month already...time seems to be flying by! I still don't know much Thai but I've mastered broken English and drawing bad stick figures to explain things :P I'm loving teaching and Thailand! I've started tutoring a group of young girls (around 7-9 years old) who know more English than my students! One of the girls knows Thai, Chinese, and English at 9 years-old!

Last weekend I was invited to go to a ceremony to watch a couple guys become Buddhist monks. The night before the ceremony there was a big dinner party to celebrate and have fun. I wound up sitting at the same table as the VP of our campus, who's a really funny guy. I wound up getting drunk off the Australian wine that they had. The VP wouldn't listen when I told him no more after 4 glasses! I got home safe and sound and for some reason put my keys in my rice cooker before going to bed.

The next morning I had the JOY of waking up at 6:30 to get dressed to go the temple for the ceremony. The ceremony was very interesting even though I was super hung over and couldn't understand what they were saying. Afterward we had lunch at the temple where I couldn't eat much since the food was too spicy. I've decided if it looks like it's swimming in hot sauce it's bad! Luckily some of the people from the campus took pity on me and took me out to get non-spicy food afterward.

I'm having an amazing time so far and I can't wait for my next adventure!!!!!

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Last weekend I went to Krabi with the staff of my department and Kelli. We had an awesome time talking and shopping. Friday night we went to a bar called "Smile Bar" where they stock every table with a game of connect 4. While we were splitting a bucket of redbull and whiskey we started talking to a Malaysian couple. After awhile we got a deck of cards and after trying to think of a game everyone knew we started playing Go Fish. Sadly none of us could quite remember if you were suppose to make pairs or get all 4 cards. The next day Kelli and I woke up and decided to go out to one of the islands for the day. We wound up at an island called chicken island where we lounged on the beach and played in the water.

On Sunday we had to leave but before my school headed back we went on a day trip to 4 of the islands to swim and snorkle. During one of our stops there was a large group of fish that we fed from the boat before we jumped in to swim. That was probably a mistake because as I was swimming and floating on the surface I began to be ATTACKED by the fish. The little fish decided I looked like food and kept trying to EAT ME! After I got out of the water and away from the phiranah want to be's I sat on the boat and talked to everyone. One of the teachers decided he wanted to try to catch a fish with his bare hands but it didn't work very well, so Collin and I thought up a better way. We caught a few fish by filling a bag with water and throwing rice at the opening and someone drug it throught the water. After we caught the fish a couple jumped out of the bag and we set the rest free.

Last night was Loy Kratong which is one of the festivals here. I started the night by meeting the two little girls I'll be teaching English to...even though at 8 and 9 they already know more english than some of my students. Then after we had dinner we went back to campus to watch the beauty pagent. I made the mistake of taking the seat I was offered up front and wound up being called up to give out some of the prizes including giving the sash to the girl dubbed "Most Popular". Then during one of the student performances I was drug up front to dance with the students. (Note to self: Don't sit up front again :P) The pagent was really fun and I'm glad I got to go. After one of the girls was sashed "Most Beautiful" a bunch of us piled into a car and went into town to go to the river. At the river we all got onto a long boat so we could set our Krathongs (lotus shaped rafts made of banana leaves) free. We couldn't get the candle on the Krathong to stay lit but that was alright it was still fun. While we were out on the long boat we also lit a Khom Fai (Sky lantern...kinda like a hot air balloon) and watched it fly away. According to the Thai people both of these are suppose to bring good luck.

I'm having a lot of fun in Thailand and I am really enjoying learning about thier culture :D

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I taught another class yesterday this time it was first year students. The students need to learn how to get to class on time! Yesterday I got to watch a couple of my students sprint across one of the commons to arrive almost 20 minutes late...grrrr! The class should be fun though some of them are really talkative. At the end of class the students asked me how old I was and I told them 23 and one of the blinked at me and asked..."43!?" I love how they don't always listen well even when they're the one who was asking questions.

Last night the new teachers were taken out to dinner by the VP of the campus which was awesome. We ate lots of good seafood and talked about all kinds of things. All the food was served family style so I got to try all kinds of things. We had a spicy seafood salad, shrimp puffs, a spicy seafood soup with rice, steamed fish, crab meat with curry, and a gross egg and kale thing. We were at the restaurant for almost 3.5 hours and had a lot of fun!

This afternoon I head to Krabi with the staff for a weekend of relaxing!

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I started teaching yesterday to a class of 26 students who know even less than me about import-export. I think the class went well and I hope my job applications class this evening goes just as well.

Mom left last night to start her amazing trek back to the other side of the world! I hope she was able to sleep this morning on her flight to Japan!

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Well mom and I have been busy since I last updated! After we left Bangkok we went to Surat Thani were I'm going to be working. We got in on Monday and a few of the people I work with took us out shopping to get things for my huge apartment (I think it's a little bigger than the one I had in Laramie). Then on Tuesday I went into the office and they gave me my class schedule and told me that I had 2 syllabuses to create by the time I left for the day. I found out I'm teaching English for Import-Export, English for Job Applications, and English Reading-Writing. Fortunately I got them done so mom and I could go to Koh Tao the next day.

On Wednesday we went to Koh Tao and got to ride on a bus and then 3 ferries! Once we got to the island we checked in and relaxed in our bungalow for a while. The next day we went diving at glorious 6am so we could go see bull sharks! During our dives we also got to see blue spotted sting rays, a baby harlequin sweet lips, sea horses, and a ton of sea cucumbers! Mom and I had a lot of fun even though the dive shop kept going back to the same sites and the vis wasn't the best.

Yesterday mom and I got back to Surat Thani and I start teaching tomorrow morning!

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Today was our final day in Bangkok :( When we woke up this morning Bangkok decided to reveal that there is a sky up there and not just gray clouds/smog. After this stunning revelation we decided to go so some more shopping!

Today we discovered that the malls here are all huge! One of the malls we went to today was seven stories tall and took up most of the block. It was basically a more organized version of the market from yesterday...minus the diseased puppies.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to busy Bangkok the city that has TV's everywhere...in the skytrain cars...on rooftops (so you can watch while waiting for the next train). We're off to Surat Thani to get me moved in!

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Skytrain life lesson:
It is ok to stop mid-proposal if you're offered Tempura!

Today mom and I went to the crazy insane Chatuchak Weekend Market! They sell basically everything you could want from silverware to clothes to pets. Mom wouldn't let me buy a puppy:( They were ADORABLE and had a sign that said not to touch their mouths cause your hand would get infected...who wouldn't want those puppies!? On a happier note we did find a lot of awesome stuff in the madhouse. The market was huge and full of little stalls that were often overflowing with stuff. Mom and I did get turned around a few times but we were able to find our way out even once the rows began to look identical.

Tomorrow is our last day in Bangkok :(

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More life lessons from SkyTrain's commercials:
1. Jello cups make girls dance and boys play mariachi music.
2. If you throw a Pepsi in front of a Pepsi truck you'll start a Pepsi party!

Today mom and I finished our tour of Bangkok's temples by visiting the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha. To get there we were going to take the ferry but got on the wrong boat so we joined a tour for a little bit. Unfortunately the tour guide was hard to understand so all I got out of it was that a boat ride across the river costs 3 Baht. Mom and I had a great time walking around the Palace grounds. The Emerald Buddha was cool since it's dark green and made out of Jade.

Then we decided to head downtown and do some shopping! We started at some street market and quickly got lost (damn dead ends). After we worked our way back out of the mess we decided to try the fashion mall across the street...little did we know that it was 5 stories crammed full of little shops.

All day we've been hiding out from the periodic downpours. We just made it back to the hotel before it let loose again!

Tomorrow we're going to go to the weekend market and do some more shopping!

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Today was another awesome day! I learned a few things today:

1. The Tuk-Tuk drivers are all smoking crack...but you can always walk away.
2. If you wear the proper eyeglasses you'll get super powers! (Thank you SkyTrain commercials)
3. We all need to bathe in Curex antibacterial stuff because it wards off Swine Flu (Again thank you SkyTrain Ads!)

Today mom and I went sightseeing again. We started our day at Phra Karn Fortress where we walked around. Then we headed to the Wat Benchamabophit (Marble Temple) which had a large gold leaf Buddha and a lot of amazing architecture.

After spending almost an hour at the Marble Temple we went to the Vimanmek Royal Mansion where the old king use to live. We spent most of our time taking a tour of the mansion which is built out of teakwood. We learned a lot about the history of the Thai monarchy especially King Rama V and his wives.

We finished our day by visiting Wat Pho where the reclining Buddha is housed. The Buddha is huge and is almost as big as the building it's housed in. We area around it was also really interesting with a couple other Buddha's and some really intricate spires. We've learned that the Thai's love flowers and bright colors!

After we finished looking around we walked to the water ferry. During our ride we learned that I'm not always the best at reading maps, since we got off five stops early (oops). Luckily we quickly figured this out (after confusing around 5 street vendors) and got on to the second to last ferry of the night!

Tomorrow we're going to go to The Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha...then who knows!

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Today mom and I had a fantastic time in Bangkok. We started our day lounging in the hotel as we worked up the energy to go out and do something. After waking up we hopped on the skytrain and then jumped onto the metro to go to Chinatown were we saw Wat Trimitr which has a solid gold Buddha.

Then as we were walking around a man stopped to help us figure out where we are and he suggested that we go to a couple other Wats since today was a Buddist holiday and there were no entrance fees for the day. So we flagged down a Tuk-Tuk and went to see the Marble Buddha which was the first Buddha statue in Bangkok. While we were there the Tuk-Tuk driver also showed us Ratchanadda Temple where we climbed to the top of the temple and to get a view of Bangkok. When we were on our way to the Marble Palace we noticed that the entrance was blocked off by police so we moved on to the Thai Exportation Center and looked at Jewelry. To finish the day our driver took us to a restaurant where mom got some kind of Chinese soup and I got a noodle stir fry that looked like intestines.

Mom and I had a great time and had a personal tour guide for 4 hours and it only cost 100 Baht ($3). Now it's bedtime so we can be well rested for another amazing day in Thailand!

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Whoo hoo! Mom and I made it to Thailand last night (Tuesday Oct. 13th) around 11:30pm. We had a fantastic 23ish hour flight which felt like forever! Silly mom wouldn't spring for the first class 'pods' we spent our time in lame economy with no foot space. Fortunatly they had some awesome movies so we spent our time watching 'The proposal', 'Night at the museum 2', and 'The Hangover'...Mom may have watched some others but I fell asleep for a while. Now for some pictures from our adventure:

Mom and I at the start of our journey!


Flying over Alaska!


Arriving in Tokyo!

Mom and I this morning! Aren't we attractive :D

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