Last weekend I went on a trip to Pattalung to help run a Junior Tourist Guide English Camp. Before we left I wanted to read up on where we were going so I broke out my lonely planet (edition oldish cause I bought it at the used bookstore) to see what they had to say about Pattalung. The only problem was that once I got to the Southern Thailand section Pattalung didn't have it's own sub-section...they were just a place on the map that LP decided wasn't interesting enough to mention. I'm sure Surat would be given the same treatment if they weren't the most convenient way to get to Samui (and LP basically says you don't want to get stuck here on our few pages). Well after becoming highly disappointed in my handy-dandy guide book I shrugged my shoulders and packed an overnight bag.

For some god-forsaken reason they decided that we had to make the 3 hour trek to Pattalung on Saturday morning which ment we had to leave at 5am. I was not a happy camper when I was told that but I woke up at 4:30 got ready and then promptly passed out in Tor's car once we hit the road. Once we arrived in Pattalung we headed to Lampam Resort to start the camp. We spent all day Saturday teaching the students about being a good tourist guide, I taught them how to introduce themselves and give directions. We had a lot of fun...especially when they got to correct me because I screwed up the readings or couldn't find the 15th word on the WordFind (because it was freaking backward).

After we had dinner we had yet another session (I'm pretty sure 12 hours of teaching is a Thai thing) where the students wrote and practiced their groups tourist guide speech. I had to help them adapt their speeches from the examples they were given because they didn't realize that they couldn't copy word for word since most of it wasn't relevant to the group they would be leading. After this ridiculously long day I got to go crash in my bungalow which surprisingly I didn't have to share.

On Sunday we woke up at 7am for breakfast and then piled into the buses after it stopped pouring rain. We went to 6 different 'tourist attractions' around the town. We started at Lampam 'beach' which was basically across the road. It wasn't really a beach...more like a walkway on the edge of Songkhla Lake which was huge!

The next stop was the old/new palace which was an interesting example of old Thai architecture. For the homes of the provincial lord the palaces were pretty small. They were just a couple bedrooms, cooking area, and a few rooms that weren't described.

The third stop was Wat Wang (or the low temple, because it's in a valley). We didn't spend much time at the temple and we weren't able to go inside. But I did get the students to explain to me why the year on one of the signs was from the 'future' 2536 (AKA 1993).

Then we went to Wat Khu Ha Sawan (or the high temple, because it's on the mountain) which was the first royal temple in Pattalung. At first it looked like just a normal temple with a little more glitz but then we went into a cave behind the main temple. In the cave there were a bunch of Buddha statues including a large reclining Buddha (which the students called a sleeping Buddha) and a large sitting Buddha. Also in the cave were the initials of the royals who have visited the temple. The initials were carved into the walls and gold leafed. Honestly, this temple alone was definitely worth the trip down to Pattalung.

Our fifth stop was a small 'temple' in the middle of a roundabout. The Buddha was a gift to the province from the king.

Our last stop was a meditation retreat. We climbed up part of the mountain and got to see an awesome view of the city. Then Tor, Ying, and I were given gift baskets full of Pattalung treats before we headed back up to Surat.

While Pattalung city was not the most breathtaking city in Southern Thailand and the sites were not the most exciting...except for Wat Khu Ha Sawan. I am so glad I went on this trip since I never would have made it to Pattalung otherwise.

Pictures will be up soon.

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It's a good thing I took the medical test 2 weeks ago since I have just come down with the dreaded coughing disease...ok not really but I am sick. This week I caught a cold and it's made work an adventure!

On Monday I canceled most of my classes cause talking hurt and then went home to get an amazing 11 hours of sleep (after I found my NyQuil tablets).

Yesterday I only had one class but trying to prepare materials for other classes was next to impossible since my brain felt like it was crammed full of cotton balls.

Today I felt a lot better but my throat still hurts. My head has cleared up and I don't feel like the air is actually molasses. I hope my throat is better tomorrow cause it still feels like sand paper :(

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Alright so many of you probably don't know this...but every other Thursday in Surat Thani is Farang Quiz night at one of the bars in town. I go to quiz ever time (unless my bike is broken or it's raining cats and dogs). Quiz is a blast even though I usually don't know many of the answers. Topics usually include: music, movies, and random knowledge (geography, history, etc.). You play on a team of 4 people and it costs 50baht ($1.50) a person to play, winning team gets the cash. I am usually on a random team of people who just got there (so we always suck).

Last Thursday (the 16th) I got to be on Paul, Kelsey, and Joels' team, they had won the previous 2 quizzes. At the half-way point we were in the lead and pretty confident we were going to keep it. Then we got to the second half of the quiz...it was terrible! We did alright at the music portion, but we were clueless on most of the art questions and who said which quote. At the end of the quiz we were pretty sure we had fallen to second place if not further.

Surprisingly, we won the quiz by exactly 10 points! I finally won a quiz and took home 395 baht($13)...I think I'm about even now with my losses :)

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So I've been really bad about updating recently...and instead of talking about open week that happened 2 weeks ago...I'm going to talk about my medical "exam" today. So to stay here in Thailand legally I had to go to the doctor and get tested for 7 diseases: (List translated by Aom at the Dr.'s office...she didn't know what all of the diseases were but I like her explanations)

1. Mental illness/craziness
2. Skin disease (I think they ment leprosy)
3. Coughing disease (yeah this could be anything)
   
4. Big foot disease (I think this is supposed to be elephantiasis)
5. Drug addiction
6. Alcoholism
7. Stage 3 Syphilis

So this means I underwent a battery of psychological and physical exams right? Wrong I was at the doctors office for a grand total of 55 minutes. The only test they really did was draw blood and test for syphilis...to test for everything else they put me in a room with a doctor for 2 minutes where he listened to my heart and asked "where are you from, where do you work, and how long have you been in Thailand?". I'm assuming that was the addiction/craziness test...but who knows.

While the test was sub-par to say the least I am pretty confident that I'm not a crazy drug addict coughing big foot leper but I could be wrong. My big toe has been looking a little bigger than normal recently...hmmmm.

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Ok so I discovered this weekend that I needed to clean ASAP! How did I figure this out...easy I found a cockroach on my toothbrush Friday night. While the cockroach was disgusting luckily he was small (probably around 3/4 of an inch). But I did discover that while a cockroach can supposedly survive a nuclear explosion and live without is head...they cannot survive 3 sprays from my purple bathroom cleaner. This leads me to believe that my Magiclean bathroom spray is even more deadly than a nuclear bomb...which makes me slightly worried about using it as a cleaner (but it's cheap and has a flying superhero on the bottle).

Watch out cockroaches I'm armed and dangerous!

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Saturday night was a night of Booty shakin’, pelvic thrusts, yelling, screaming, and shimming by the students. But before you get the wrong idea I should say that all of them were dressed in track pants and T-shirts as they yelled and chanted while doing choreographed ‘dances’ in a contest that they call Boom. Now the students have been keeping me awake for the past week or so practicing, which includes beating on a drum to provide the music, and they would practice until about 11pm.

So when I found out that they were going to be having their contest this weekend I made sure to be there. During the performances almost every group did a high kicking version of the bunny hop, one group did part of Shikira’s Waka Waka (It’s time for Africa) dance, some fun drums, and a rendition of Shake Banana.

In-between the Boom Groups they also were doing a Mr./Mrs. PSU award show (aka snooze fest). This contest was only saved by the poorly executed martial arts (come on guys put some power into it) and a dancing robot. Everyone else sang really slow and boring Thai songs.

I left before the contest was really over because it was already 11pm and the LCB students (my major) had fished performing. The LCB kids did an awesome job they had a lot of enthusiasm and were nice and loud.

The Boom Circle!

Crazy drums!

Glitter patrol

The Bunny Hop...Thai Style!

Goofin' off

Makeup check!

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For the past 2 weeks I've been helping Noy with her Elementary school project. We go to a bunch of elementary schools to show them an English program Noy's been making. We also play a bunch of games with the students...one's a vocabulary game where I call out a word and they have to find the matching picture on a plate, and the other is an activity where they draw a picture of a house with different things in it. I really enjoy the second game because I'm trying to explain what to draw with motions and my very limited Thai...The kids in my group really seem to have fun too. We've gone to 3 schools do far and at the end of the activities the children all come up and want everyone's autograph which is adorable. We're going to 1 more school in 2 weeks and they're a really small school so it should be fun.

In other news! We've finished midterms! And my students still can't spell my name:(

I had to get my motorbike fixed recently because it kept dying when I would ride it...stupid thing wouldn't idle! I had to get something in the engine replaced so it cost me around 2000 baht!

Next week is Open Week so we don't have classes but we do have to spend Tuesday doing activities with kids from a bunch of different schools.

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