Last weekend I was invited to join the tourist guide students on their trip to Khanom, where they were going to act as guides for each other and the teacher chaperons. Khanom is a small beach town about an hour south of Surat Thani...I had never been before so I jumped at the chance to go with.

We started the trip on Saturday morning, surprisingly all of the students were early for the bus...and we wound up having to wait for the bus to show up! Sadly, we were stuck with the really old fan bus, who's doors had to be manually closed cause the batteries weren't charged...the nice air-con bus was busy or something.

On the trip our first stop was Khao-Wang-Thong Cave, the golden palace cave. One thing I love about caves in Thailand is that exploring them is more like spelunking. There are almost no paved trails and you often have to squeeze through areas or crouch down and crawl. On the other hand they tend to be up in a mountain so they can be hot and smelly. At the cave we had to wait for the guide to get back, only one group is allowed in the cave at a time, so we relaxed for about 30 minutes and drank coconut water, I don't really like it :(

AHHHHHH!

Mmmm....delicious!

Not gonna waste any of the coconut!

After our little snack we had to climb up the mountain to get up to the cave entrance, which was a window sized hole. Once we were in the cave we began an adventure where we had to squeeze through crevices and duck walk under low hanging rocks. There were some awesome cave formations, including a dinosaur which was my favorite.

Yay! Going to the cave! Hip-hip-hooray!

The view from the cave entrance

Crawling into the cave

Dino rock!

Is this really the exit?

After the cave we went to the beach and did some kayaking...even though the students are all scared of the sun (no one wants to be tan)! When we were finished at the beach we went to the guest house, where I shared a room with 3 of the students (Gift, Candy, and Mah/Andrew). We had a seafood Bar-B-Q for dinner and I ate a TON of shrimp :D

On Sunday, after getting some sleep...after I almost smacked Candy with my pillow for trying to leave the TV on all night, cause she likes listening to music when she sleeps. We had toast and seafood spaghetti for breakfast, I skipped the spaghetti cause it is SOOOOOOOOOO not breakfast food! Then we went on an adventure to search for the pink dolphins, which are Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins (Sousa chinensis). There are only about 150 of them left around Thailand and around 30 of them live in Khanom. We loaded into 5 long-tailed boats and began a race to the area where the dolphins are most often seen (our boat won :D ). The trip was a lot of fun and every time a dolphin was spotted the students would start squealing and pointing excitedly. We wound up seeing 3 or 4 of them.

The race is on!

Where are the dolphins!

There's one!
(I only got this picture because the dolphin just happened
to come out as my finger slipped and hit the shutter)

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Alright a lot of people have been telling me that they have been having problems posting comments, because Blogger/google are obnoxious.

Step 1: Write your comment (and include your name if you don't have an account)

Step 2: choose anonymous from the pull down menu (pictured below)



Step 3: Hit post comment and it should show up!

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So today I was walking into my apartment building when I saw a dragon!

(picture stolen from wikipedia)

Ok so it was actually a 2.5-3ft long Water Monitor and not nearly as awesome as a real dragon :( I wasn't really paying attention when I was walking into the building and when I saw it move out of the corner of my eye I jumped and then did a double take...before I could get my camera out he scurried under the building and splashed down in the pond that's formed down there...apparently our foundation doesn't exist!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll run across him again so I can take some pictures to add to my collection of Thai beasts!

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Last week the Language students put on a performance of three short plays (all in English!), which were really well done. I thought they were doing it for a class but I was told that they just did it for fun...and i hope they do it again.

The first play was called 'the accident' and it was all about finding a boyfriend. I learned from the play that the best way to find a boyfriend is to yank paper out of the printer and as you fly across the room you'll be caught by your true love. One of the 2 girls stays late and winds up meeting her boyfriend this way. Her friend started to get jealous because now she was being ignored for the new boyfriend. After a while the second girl decides to try the printer tactic...of course she wound up finding her own boyfriend (it's Thailand! Everyone finds their true love this way :P ).

Get caught by the 'handsome thief' aka future boyfriend

What happens when no one catches you
(the first time...he showed up the second time)

The second play was called 'A Perfectionist' and it was about a girl who insisted on having the perfect life and she wouldn't listen to other people. The poor girl got married to a gay guy...everyone else knew he was gay but she wouldn't listen since he came from a good family. At the end he finally tells her he's gay and that he only married her because he hates arrogant people like her. After the blow up her ex-school rival shows up and gives her a pep talk which leads to her wanting to work on being a better person.

Sweetie he's gay

You'll be alright

The final play was called 'True Love' which was about a girl finding her true love. The play started with a boy and a girl riding their bikes and eventually running into each other. They wind up falling in love and he proposes. The girl turns him down because she's dying from cancer and only has 6 months to live...bum bum bum! But of course he says he doesn't care and he stays with her through the 6 months. She dies...and then suddenly he's gone and she falls off the couch because it was only a dream! Then she realizes that she has homework and classes to do!!!

The happy picnic which leads to a proposal

Don't be sad! It's just a dream!!!

The stage hands watching the performances

Group shot! Good job everyone!!!

Then this past Saturday I worked at an English Camp for tons of insane 10 year-olds. I thought I was going to go crazy! The kids didn't know a whole lot of English and they were really high strung. We wound up playing a lot of games that had nothing to do with the topic (Saying Hello and Goodbye). The kids enjoyed the 'Hokey-Pokey' and 'If you're happy and you know it'.

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So today I have discovered yet again that I have terrible luck when it comes to driving my motorbike and rain. Note to self: Don't ride when it's cloudy and/or sprinkling. The second you do, and either get most of the way to your destination or set your mind on going somewhere, the sky is going to open and completely drench you!

Yes it was sprinkling when I left for the market (which is 10 minutes away) I figured the downpour was over but I was very mistaken. I barely got halfway off campus before the sky open up and drenched me :(

At the market the sweet woman who makes my weekly chai yen (iced milk tea...super sweet and delicious) laughed when she saw me and then pantomimed umbrella. Then I tried to explain with words and motions that I can't ride my motorbike with an umbrella, like a Thai person, because it's a 'motorcy' and I need 2 hands. She seemed to understand...I think.

Even being soaking wet I still enjoy walking around the market and buying my fresh veggies for the week. I love that I can buy a ton of stuff (tomatoes, onions, broccoli, dish soap, a bushel of fruit, a super sweet dessert, and dinner) for right around $6.

Today I did learn though that for my dinner I should always wait for the Muslim girl who normally sells me my yellow rice with chicken. She always gives me fresh hot rice (usually with some extra thrown in for free) and will hand pick a piece of chicken for me. Unlike the other girl who just gives me one of the boxes that been sitting out on display.

And now for some pictures!

The view this morning from my living room

Construction on campus...
this will eventually be a recreation center

The bag of sweet 'hair' I had for dessert

You put it on little green pancake things and then...

Roll it up like a taco!
Note: I have no idea what this snack is called in Thai

Rambutan one of my favorite Thai fruits

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So last week was midterms which ment my job consisted of sitting in a room watching the students take their tests while trying not to fall asleep. During the week a dog tried to chase me down on my bike and I experienced an Arctic adventure while watching Harry Potter at the theater.

On Sunday, night on my way home from a friends house a dog decided that he wanted to try taking my leg off as I speed down a street. Clearly driving on the other side of the road was an invasion of his territory. Hearing the dog suddenly start barking at me startled me and I quickly lost my attacker by hitting the gas. This is the second time a dog has decided it want to try to follow or attack me in Thailand...last time I had food on me and the dog just wanted to follow me. I am definitely not a fan of the street dogs here and I doubt that will ever change.

On Monday, I went back into town to go see Harry Potter since the theater had it in English. I remembered all the warning I had been given about Coliseum being an icebox so I brought a hoodie with me. Well icebox is an understatement it was like going to the arctic! Even with the hoodie I was freezing! I don't know why the Thai people are so obssesed with cranking the AC up so every room is like walking into a snowdrift while outside it's boiling hot. The movie was good and next time I'll make sure to bring a warmer hoodie :)

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While talking on the phone with mom last night we started talking about her and Valerie's 'Summer Bucket List', which made me decide that I should make a list of all the things I want to still do here in Thailand during the next 9 months. I also decided to post the list here (on the left side of the screen) and will update it as I do something or think of something new.

I'm also open to any suggestions about things I should make sure I do before I leave. You can post suggestions here :)

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