A bus ride from...

Dalat--> Hoi An, Vietnam

April 7, 2010

We spent the morning sleeping in and wandering around Dalat before a van came and got us to head to our overnight bus to Hoi An. We should have known something was up when the van called twice saying it was going to be delayed in picking us up, but this is SE Asia and we've learned that getting frustrated over an hour or two just isn't worth it. Well it finally came for us and when we arrived there were passengers and there was a bus, but there were a ton of men under the bus still trying to fix it (this is 2 hrs after the announced leaving time.) So we stood around for a bit, then a bit more, then a bit more until it was dark--we considered leaving, but as we had no idea where we were (we weren't at a bus stop, but some random location outside the city), we just waited. At this point the people from the bus company directed us to someone's house across the street and motioned for us to go sit inside; as we had been standing for a long time and had no way of communicating we just shrugged our shoulders and went. It turned out to be pretty hilarious as everyone was staring at us like we were crazy for taking a bus in Vietnam, but we just smiled and ate the ramen noodles they made for all of us refugees.

At about the 5 hour mark someone came to get us and said we could board the bus. Hooray! We loaded up our things and got on and, to our great surprise, found that the sleeping bus actually meant that instead of chairs that reclined there were 3 rows of bunk beds! The 4 of us made our way to the rear and were further surprised to find a sprawling, 5-person bunk bed across the width of the back. We threw our things on the bed and hopped up, excited that we had so much room and were able to lie down on a bus for a change!

Well, we started getting restless as we waited for 1 more hour until the bus finally began moving. Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, the 12 hour bus ride was 6 hours late in leaving! I can't tell which was more irritating, the delay or the concert DVD that was blasting some strange blend of Vietnamese/Salsa music throughout the bus as captives we had no escape. It turned into quite the funny scene as Emily went up to the front of the bus, using sign language to signal that the music was too loud after we decided being in the front row at the concert wasn't too conducive to sleeping. He listened to her, but then this old lady, who we nicknamed bedelnut, (as she was chewing that nut that turns your teeth red like our host mom in the hill tribe) started complaining and the volume went back up again. Thankfully though, some other passengers were trying to get to sleep and the sound turned down again. We made a bathroom stop before sunrise (you know at least a few hours before anyone should wake up) and lo and behold we were right back on stage at the concert! Again a small battle of passengers vs. bedelnut got the volume turned off as we coasted through the rice paddies of Vietnam.

Suddenly I awoke gasping for breath. My hand shot up to the a/c vent above my head as I tasted the sweat beads dripping down my face. NO AIR. I took off my hoodie and waited for a minute praying it was a dream or some prank the bus driver was playing. Then Emily rolled over with hair glued to her forehead as though having just run a marathon and knew this was for real. I hopped down from my bunk and ran forward to the driver to plead with him to turn on the a/c. He motioned at it like he understood and I went back to wait for sweet relief. No dice. Emily went up and did the same thing. Again, no improvement. Meanwhile, I sat back watching a scene from a zombie movie unfold before my eyes as passenger after passenger shot up into the air searching for the a/c as though they had just been buried alive and we were watching their hands come up from beneath the ground.

Salvation finally appeared in the shape of a roadside restaurant where we sprinted off the bus and waited while the a/c was fixed. A honk of the horn and the revving of the engine let us know there was success and we spent the last part of the ride in the cool, watching poorly dubbed B-movies in Vietnamese. Hey, at least we got to stretch out our legs on the bunk beds!

4th of July as a Thai

Kalasin, Isaan, Thailand
July 3-4, 2010

Who says you can’t celebrate the 4th of July without being in America? Definitely not me! 7 of us from the city made the 7 hr night bus trek up to Isaan (the rural NE region of Thailand) to visit our friends who teach in Kalasin for in honor of the good ol’ US of A. It turned out to be a really great weekend full of food, friends and laughs and despite being exhausted after the overnight bus back to BKK (landing us in the city about 5am with school starting at 8) it was worth it.

We got in late Friday night and were taken to Reuven and Dena’s apartment building where we all found some space and got some much desired sleep. Saturday morning we woke up to a sunny day and went on a little tour of the town. Kalasin isn’t big by any means, but it isn’t small either. It’s definitely calmer and simpler than BKK and I really liked the atmosphere. Right by their apartment is a small lake that is bustling with picnickers and joggers and people out and about which is not something you really see by the industrial area I live in. After some coffee from a café by the water we all hopped into a songtaew for a trip out to the dam for a day in the sun.

The dam is basically this big lake where we were able to rent innertubes and lawn chairs (for a total of about $1) and just floated around all day. It was pretty awesome (minus the red gravel ‘beach’ we had to walk on) to hang out with friends in a way that is pretty similar to what we do at home, except where we were had a herd of water buffalo hanging out. For lunch we ordered mounds of fried chicken and sticky rice (a staple of the region) and I treated everyone to a banana leaf filled with fried crickets! They were actually pretty good unless you got some antennae or wings stuck in your teeth :) After all was said and done and eaten and floated we each paid around $4 or $5 total for the day including a very handsome tip to the amazing locals who waited on us…can’t do that in America!

We made our way back through the rice paddies and rested up for a bit before heading out to the birthday party of our friend’s co-worker/a ‘Welcome to Kalasin’ party for us. Arriving at the restaurant we were greeted by Jeannie, Reuven and Dena’s coordinator, who is quite possibly one of the nicest women I’ve ever met. She welcomed us with open arms and was so excited to have us—showed us our table, got us drinks, had food brought out, etc. I think we ate for 2 straight hours as more people kept showing up and dish after dish of pad thai, fish, cashew chicken, som tam, isaan sausage, etc. was put down in front of us! Dinner segued nicely into hours of karaoke singing with rousing renditions of songs by British, American, Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai people! A favorite was ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from Titanic in which we all sang together complete with a reenactment of Jack and Rose on the bow of the ship pretending they are flying J After karaoke we made our way to a club called MV to watch the football match and listen to the live band; it was amazing to have all these people there to meet us and make us feel welcomed in their home.

Sunday found us up and ready for the actual 4th holiday. We went to Pammy’s house (another of their school coordinators) where we were able to hang out and spend the afternoon grilling. Jeannie was there and brought each of the 7 of us who came to visit a beautiful, handmade blanket from her friends’ shop as a welcome present; can’t wait to go back! Reuven and I were in charge of the grill which was a small half barrel with chunks of wood on fire with a small, movable metal grate about 2 inches from the flames. It was the hottest thing I have ever experienced considering we were standing over the grill in the middle of the day in Thailand—not to mention our first batch of burgers were a little roasty due to the raging fire. It really felt like home being with a group of friends in the middle of summer grilling and then heading to the town pool for a cool off swim before getting on the frigid bus for the journey home. One of the coolest parts of the day was getting to show the teachers from other countries how we celebrate Independence Day back home (I think they had a great time, at least I know I did!)

Wai Kru Day

June 17th, 2053

June 17th (Happy Birthday Pete!) was a really cool day for us as we got to participate in Wai Kru Day (literally translated: Bow to the Teacher.) This was an all day affair (morning for the younger kids and afternoon for the older kids) in which students showed their respect to the teachers and honored us with a traditional ceremony. There was a line of chairs in front of the stage where the teachers sat and then the students lined up in rows on the floor. Row by row the students came up to the teachers on the floor and knelt before us as traditional Thai music was playing over the PA system. They then wai-ed (bowed) at our feet three times before handing us various types of amazing flowers. When we took the flowers we blessed the students/gave them words of luck and advice before they crawled backward and stood up. It may not seem like much, but I can’t really think of anything like this that goes on in the US. It was such a great experience to see how highly Thai culture looks on teachers and then to be a part of it was even better. I didn’t know some of the students, but when one of my kids got placed in front of me it was pretty awesome to see how shy yet how excited they were to be giving me the flowers they worked so hard to make.

A Dalat-ful trip

Dalat, Central Vietnamese Highlands
April 5-7

APRIL 5
We woke up refreshed and ready for the next leg of our journey: Mui Ne-->Dalat. A jam packed mini-van bus showed up and we were clearly more than thrilled when we were all cramped into the very last row. We met some nice Australian girls who kept us entertained as we were jostled around like pinballs for hours on the less than ideal mountain roads…at least the scenery was great!

Our bus pulled up to Binh Yen Hotel which turned out to be the one we were hoping to stay at and for $5 a person we got 2 huge rooms with some of the most comfortable beds I’ve slept on, free breakfast and an Incredible staff. We were pretty hungry so we wandered around the town for a bite to eat before making our way out to the cable car. Dalat is a really beautiful city in the green mountains of central Vietnam. It was probably the coldest place we’ve been in all of Asia and we even had to wear longsleeves and pants at night (what an amazing feeling!) It’s not too big, but is very well maintained and clean with a central lake and many gardens; the lake was actually a big empty pit as they are working to make it bigger, but a little imagination goes a long way! The cable car turned out to be a bust as we hiked our way through town to the top of a peak to find there was a storm a-brewin’ and it wasn’t safe to ride. Oh well, at least we saw the town (including the post office which is a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower—not sure why?).

Evening found us relaxing in our chalet-like hotel watching English movies and finally venturing out for some Vietnamese dinner. The food in Vietnam wasn’t my favorite; it’s good, but doesn’t have the same big flavors. We made our way to this crazy place called 100 Roofs for ice cream. It’s this restaurant that makes you feel like you are inside of a giant tree trunk and has more levels/half levels/staircases/nooks/crannies, etc. than anywhere I’ve seen. It wasn’t the most amazing ice cream in the world, but it was definitely somewhere to experience!

APRIL 6
This was one of my favorite days during our summer break as we rented motorbikes and Phouc, an awesome worker at our hotel, took us on a tour through the mountains/countryside. Emily rode with Phouc, Josie and Mark were together, another guide drove around a woman we dubbed Frenchie (she was French and we couldn’t really pronounce her name) and I rode solo (by choice as I’ve not always had the best luck on motorized vehicles and was really only looking to be responsible for myself this time!)

Stop 1: We motored our way out of the city and up to a spot overlooking the mountains and the valley filled with vibrant green terraces and clear skies.

Stop 2: Flower farm. Here we spent some time wandering the endless rows of bright flowers, taking in the smells and even eating some of the plants. Frenchie, who turned out to be somewhat negative, was not impressed; she kept going on and on about l’chemicals (l’shhhemicaaals) and how ‘zey are destroying zee flowers and zee smells are zee same’ and that in ‘Paree we ‘ave zee zame problem and all over zee world too.’ Then she started going on about l’chemicals in food and how l’corporations are ruining it…etc. We had to laugh, because, although she was nice, she was just so French.

Stop 3: Coffee plantation. This was more of a stop on the side of the road, but it was really cool to see that they grow/harvest coffee in Vietnam. Phuoc showed us the different ages of the beans and said Vietnam is one of the top exporters of coffee in the world which was really interesting!

Stop 4: Rice wine distillery. Imagine rubbing alcohol mixed with gasoline and flavored with old rice and you get rice wine right out of the still. We spent some time watching the process in action and were lucky (or unlucky) enough to taste it right from the spigot (before it had been diluted/aged). GROSS—it felt like someone was taking fire and just holding it in your throat and then putting a skunk tail on your tongue. Needless to say, we didn’t buy any rice wine J It was cool though to see it up close, because it wasn’t in a factory or brewery it was literally these metal tubs with some pipes connected together in someone’s barn.

Stop 5: Silk farm. Ever wondered how silk is made? Well I can tell you! It starts with the little silk worms which eat an absurd amount of mulberry leaves and begin to spin a cocoon of white fishing line-esque string. Once the cocoon is spun to completion and the worms are dormant the cocoons are put into water where they are separated from their little creators (my guess is that if this doesn’t happen the worm turns into a moth and the silk is ruined.) After separating out the cocoons, they are unwound onto spools and then further spun until we get the thread that is used in clothing. This place is filled with trays and stacks and more trays of cocoons which they use to make silk during the low season for silk worms.

Stop 6: We ate lunch at a roadside ‘restaurant’ and all tried Pho, the national dish of Vietnam, which is basically a broth filled with noodles, some meat and a bunch freshly picked herbs. It’s a little bland and not really my favorite dish, but it was filling! After lunch we made our way to the Elephant waterfall for a bit of climbing and scenery-looking. At the bottom there was a place you could stand on the rocks where you were almost blown over by the combined force of the water and the wind howling through the crevices.

Stop 7: Mushroom farm. Yes, there is such a thing as a mushroom farm and it was kind of gross to see as many mushrooms as there were flowers earlier in the day. They grow them on this plastic punching-bag looking things filled with wood shaving and spores. The bags are slit in various spots and sprayed with water everyday and let to sit and grow. That’s a lot of fungi.

Stop 8: Chicken Village. This place was a bit strange as you would think they would be known for their chicken farms or something, but in reality it is so-named because of the GIANT chicken statue in the town. One of the locals told us the story of the chicken and here it is: Long ago there were 2 tribes and a poor girl from one tribe wanted to marry a man from the other tribe. Now the Chicken village tribe is matriarchal (Ga Oh in their language) meaning the women are the heads of household, the men take their last names and they have to pay a dowry to their husband’s family as opposed to the traditions we know; as a result this poor girl didn’t have the money to give to her husband’s family. The man’s family said if she wanted to marry him she would have to find a chicken with nine spurs on its legs (which is apparently impossible as chickens only have 8?) and in her search for this illusive chicken, she died. Thus, a nine-spurred GIANT chicken statue has been erected in her honor. Now ‘Chicken Village’ makes sense!

Stop 9: Crazy House. No better words can be used to describe this ‘house’ created by a Vietnamese architect. It’s like Dr. Seuss meets Alice in Wonderland meets the Vietnamese highlands. The house is more of a complex with various themed rooms (tiger room, eagle room, bear room, etc) filled with wacky designs and statues scattered amidst a maze of winding staircases and kooky bridges all tied together by the natural design of a house built into the trees. It’s very odd yet very whimsical to have something of this design smack dab in the middle of Vietnam.

Mui (Ne) Bien!

Mui Ne, Vietnam

April 4, 2010

So Vietnam has this really awesome system of open bus with which you can book tickets to the main tourist destinations around the country the day before and just hop on and off at your destination whenever you are ready to move on. We hopped on one of these buses at 8pm and arrived in Mui Ne under the blanket of nighttime and crawled into bed at our hotel--which turned out to be a great place with a pool overlooking the sea and a pretty good restaurant.

We got up later that morning to a wonderful Easter morning sun. We decided to take it easy for a bit and relaxed by the pool; it was so hot though that we spent most of our time in the water :) That afternoon we hired a jeep to take us on a tour of Mui Ne and it's famous sites which turned out to be really awesome. The first stop was the Fairy stream which we are still unsure as to why it's named that, but I guess you could say it's sort of magical seeming. It's a very shallow stream that you walk through passing incredible landscapes until you reach a small waterfall. Looking down you see red sand maneuvering through your toes as its vibrant image passes under the sparkling waters. On your left are martian landscapes of contrasting bright whites and crimsons while a lush jungle shades your right. We went searching for the fairies in the rocks, but to no avail!

Next we drove to the fisherman's village, literally a sea of hundreds and hundreds of wooden fishing boats bobbing colorfully along the shores, on our way to the white sand dunes. The scenery was magnificent as we cruised along the coastline and then changed drastically to a beautiful red desert overlooking the water until we reached the dunes; it felt like we were in the Sahara with these sand giants looming in the distance. In all honestly it looked like that desktop wallpaper that used to come standard with Windows. Upon arrival we quickly bartered for two plastic sleds which we hauled with us on our trek to the top. While the sleds didn't exactly slide that gracefully (Emily and were covered head to toe in sand) the view was worth every grain! The sky was so blue that it looked like there was a perfect line where it met the dunes and we, being the preservationists that we are, decided to add to the beauty by writing Happy Easter in the sand.

After some more sledding attempts and running down the steep slopes we headed for sunset at the Red Dunes. I'm still not quite sure how there is so much white and so much red sand in Mui Ne, but it really is amazing. The sunset was pretty awesome over the dunes and on the drive home we got an even better show over the water. We decided to head out to Pogo for dinner which turned out to be a great decision; it's a restaurant owned by Brits and they put on an Easter egg hunt after dinner for the patrons which we dominated (I think together the 4 of us had 3 dozen eggs!) I wasn't feeling well that night--a little head cold coming on so I decided to nip it in the butt and headed back early while the others stayed to dance the night away.

Gooooooood Morning Vietnam!

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam

April 1-3, 2010

So after Dad and my adventure in Nepal we spent a couple days on Ko Si Chang (an island close to BKK) relaxing and unwinding. It was the perfect way to end our trip with Shu, our personal tuk tuk driver, carting us around as we soaked up some sun and swam in the crystal blue waters. I was/am so lucky to have had the trip I had with my dad and still am processing everything we did together, especially since he left the night of March 30th and I had to immediately repack and get ready for a 7am flight to Ho Chi Minh City the very next morning!

HIGHLIGHTS

Madame Cuc's 156 (Apr. 1-3): This hotel turned out to be a welcome escape from the sweltering heat of HCMC. For about $10 a night we were able to bask in the a/c and were also given breakfast and dinner each day...talk about getting the most Bang for your Baht! (well they use Dong in Vietnam, but same same). The staff was also extremely nice and helpful and was able to get us booked for some tours/transportation. BONUS

War Remnants Museum (Apr. 1): This mostly photo-based museum was extremely eye-opening. In all honesty I don't know a whole lot about the specifics of the Vietnam war (I feel like most of our history classes always ran out of time before we got there), but it was so interesting to see the other side's view of the American War as it is called. It's so rare that you have the chance to have both viewpoints as they say that history is usually written by the winner, but in the case of this war it just doesn't seem like anyone won anything. The photos of the affects of Agent Orange and decapitated bodies and bombs and pain and anger and life and death and moments of happiness were informative and well presented. They also had a replica of the prison camps where US soldiers were kept and I can honestly tell you I would have wished for anything but to be put in one of those places--they even had a guillotine that was used (seriously?!) and these small barbed wire boxes called tiger cages where 2-3 men would be forced to lie flat on the ground or risk getting cut up by the barbs. I really liked the exhibit on all of the anti-war campaigning from around the world--seriously posters and photos from the far ends of the Earth all asking for it to be stopped; it's amazing the parallels between then and now huh?

Motorbikes (Apr 1-3): HCMC has the most motorbikes in one place that I have ever seen and they were ruthless. You actually have to take your life into your own hands and Frogger your way across the streets to get anywhere. I actually got hit by one after 5 min of being out of the cab in the city--I'm so used to being in Thailand where they drive on the left side of the road, and then I come to Vietnam where the drive on the right and while looking the wrong way...SMACK!

Nina (Apr 1): My friend Nina, whom I met up with in BKK, was travelling with her family in Vietnam and we happened to overlap in HCMC. It was once again great to see her and have her meet Josie, Emily and Mark, the people I've been living/travelling with! It's so surreal to see part of your life from home half way across the world! We walked around a night market for a little bit and then sat down at a street restaurant and just soaked in the night atmosphere of this crazy city.

Cu Chi Tunnels (Apr. 2): This was probably one of my favorite things we did in Vietnam. We woke up late and missed a tour to these tunnels, which are a little ways outside of the city, so the 4 of us were able hire our own private car from the hotel that took us! This site is a 120 km series of tunnels that was used by the Viet Cong during the war to evade and/or attack US troops and were unbelievable. We started out with a guided tour that showed us life of the Viet Cong during the war and how, as the war went on, their houses and living quarters moved more and more underground until they were basically entirely submerged (ie their roofs were at ground level with storage and hospitals, etc. completely under the earth). Each house was connected to the tunnel system for an easy escape should a bomb raid or soldiers come; as you walked through the jungle you could see huge pits where bombs had exploded all over the place. There were 3 tunnel levels at various depths underground and each served a different purpose--to get air into the channels they would hollow out bamboo poles and bury them. To hide them they would stick them in big dirt mounds that looked like anthills: GENIUS! We were also shown some of the guerilla traps that were scattered throughout the jungle including trapdoor pits with meter long bamboo spikes waiting at the bottom. I cannot begin to fathom how terrifying it would have been to be dropped in the middle of this dense jungle without knowing the terrain and knowing that these people are scurrying beneath you unable to be detected. Talk about a mind trip!

For lunch we ate tapioca root dipped in salt, sugar and crushed peanuts as well as sticky rice--high in carbs to maintain weight and energy. In order to cook the Viet Cong would wake up early so that smoke from their fires would blend in with the morning fog; additionally they rigged a pipe system which lead the smoke to an exit point above ground a few meters from their homes so troops didn't know their exact location should they spot it. Another hiding trick they had were trap doors in the jungle that lead into the tunnels and/or underground spots they could shoot from. Our guide had us search for one of the trapdoors buried in the leaves (which was seriously impossible) and then we were able to climb inside. This hole did not look big enough for an infant, yet somehow we all fit. The best part of the day was the trek through a 30m segment of tunnels (which had been made slightly taller and wider to accomodate tourists--these people were TINY). I cannot imagine spending daylight hours trapped in a dark, cramped hole that was seriously the hottest and most humid place on Earth; not to mention it was littered with spiders and bats that were basically impossible to dodge in a place where you are hunched like Quasimodo half duck-walking, half crawling through the dirt. Needless to say I probably would have surrendered after half a day in one of those. Still, what an amazing experience!

City Life: One of the best parts about HCMC was the constant pulse of the city--any time of day or night there were people buzzing around. Our first afternoon we made our way back from the museum and stopped in a nice park to watch people doing aerobics (there were pockets of old men and women with boom boxes dancing spastically so we had to stop!). Within one minute of sitting on a bench we were surrounded by Vietnamese people: one woman telling us we needed manicures and pedicures for cheap, one guy just asking for money and another who tried desperately to give our shoes a nice scrub down! It was pretty hysterical and they were very well-intentioned so we ended up spending some time talking with them, which is one of my favorite things to do: talk to the locals.

Mekong Delta Tour (Apr 3): So this may or may not have been one of the most touristy things I've ever done, but it turned out to be really fun; and for $9 roundtrip, plus boat trips, plus lunch how can you go wrong? We got up early and took a bus for a couple hours to the Mekong Delta, an area in the South of Vietnam where the Mekong River fans out and meets the sea. It's a lush area with a lot of agriculture and is more of how you imagine Vietnam looking than the bustling city. When we arrived at the river we hopped on a boat for a tour past some of the famous islands in the delta and ended up on Unicorn Island. Here we visited a honey farm where they make the Queen's honey (I was left holding one of those honeycombs with bees crawling over it like you see at the State Fair and was contemplating dropping it and running as the bees were getting dangerously close to my fingertips, but thankfully a guide came and grabbed it from me finally.) Along with the honey we tried some of the plantation's rice wine and banana wine which were NOT good; they tasted more or less like rubbing alcohol and felt like fire. Next we stopped for some fresh fruit and tea and for a traditional Vietnamese dance/music show.After our fruit we hopped in this small, flat canoe-like boats and little women in the cone hats paddled us through the mangrove canals on the island--cool. Then our boat took us to a coconut candy making factory where we saw how they take the raw cocounuts and roll it all out and turn it into sweet treats which we did our fair share of sampling! For lunch we went to a small village on the shore called Ban Tre where we had a traditional lunch and spent the afternoon biking through the back roads and lazing around in hammocks. Sometimes it pays to be a tourist!

After the tour we made it back to Madame Cuc's in time to get on our 8pm bus to our next destination: Mui Ne.

Sabai Dee Mak Mak

End of May-Early June

I've gotten a little behind on my posting lately and I guess I'm going to attribute this lack of literary endeavor the fact that life is so very good right now. I'm not sure what it is, but this semester has been really awesome thus far. My classes, despite the fact that I have more of them than last semester, are going well and I'm having a lot of fun with my students, the other teachers, friends and Thailand.

It's insane to think that I am in my 4th week of teaching in semester 2 and that my mom left a month ago. Time is flying by and I'm learning to let it, but in the process I'm learning to soak up every minute. My kids are doing well and I'm having fun being able to teach English this semester--it allows for a lot more freedom in terms of activities and classwork. My little ones (1st-3rd) have been amazing and although some of them are not always the best behaved it's hard to stay very mad at them for long :) We usually spend some of class reading aloud, then we learn a new question and answer and then usually have an activity related to that for the last part of class; right now we are working on colors and are making a sweet book with pictures and the names of all the colors. My older kids are fun as well because I am able to talk fairly candidly with most of them and, as I had them last semester, I know them all pretty well. We usually do some bookwork or a worksheet and then finish up with a game or something fun. I'm learning the importance of balancing class with work/fun so as not to have a bunch of antsy/bored kids. I will have to say though, that swimming is my favorite. It's a blast trucking through the water with a trail of 20+ little kids screaming after you trying to jump on you and be the first to get teacher and with my older kids I'm able to have some sweet races.

In terms of travels we've kept pretty close to home. We went to our favorite island, Koh Samed, a few weekends ago which was the first reunion of all my friends from the program after the big summer holiday. It was blast per usual with great food and some quality beach time. There aren't as many people as there were last semester, but it's been fun getting to know some new people who are just starting the program as well as keeping in touch with those who stayed for 1 more. Other than that we went into BKK last weekend for a night on the town and then went wakeboarding/kneeboarding with my Thai friend. He goes to this lake about 5 min from my village which was amazing as we had no idea it existed. As most people don't have speedboats in Thailand this lake has an overhead cable rig with attached ski rope handles which you grab onto and pulls you around as though you were behind a boat. It's like a little oasis with a boardwalk and places to hang out and be by the water; guess I won't be missing MN summer as much as I thought! It's also nice because we will be able to head there after school somedays and hopefully improve our skills--right now I'd say I'm pretty poor :)

So yea I guess all in all I'm sabai dee mak mak (very very good) and have really adjusted to my new home. It's been an easier transition this semester and I hope that it continues to go as well as it has been.