Chiang Mai

Too bad thoughts don't write themselves. I think about what I'll write each week- during the week and then mostly never get around to writing. Last weekend was wonderful we had a 4 day weekend in liew of a buddhist holiday and flew up north to Chiang Mai. The jungle and mountain views were breath taking and the guest house we stayed in was wonderful! In the three days we were there we managed to see two night markets (one of them apparently one of the best in Thailand), pet baby tigers and adult ones too, went for a tour in a Song Tow (like an open back truck) up the mountain to a very old, very large temple. On Sunday we did a day tour (about $30) which included viewing of a ''orchid and butterfly farm''- the orchids were beautiful...the butterflies they say must be ''out of season'' although you'd think since it's a butterfly farm we would have spotted more than 3 butterflies.. oh well.... oh to Elephant riding--a highlight. During our trek my elephant was VERY stubborn but then at the end, spooked by a dog, the elephant started stampeding quickly in circles, stamping loudly, growling like a dog and making sounds that you'd think elephants would make- quite exciting after our boring ride. We hiked to a waterfall which we were all against at the beginning, as it was raining, and waterfalls are waterfalls right... but when we arrived, sooner than later, after a quick hike we were all happy to discover a beautiful waterfall, suitable for swimming and photographs :) Onto white water rafting-- more so the water then white or rafting...apparently we chose a bad time of year and company to try it out :( We ended our day bamboo rafting back to our waiting transportation home. Monday was spent flying through the jungle on Ziplines and absailing. We had an absolute blast-- managed not to freak out too much as we zoomed high above the ground (we were well equipped - even with knowledgable and fun guides). I thought often throughout the day about how worried my grandparents would be if they knew I was on a little cord going through the tree tops--though I'm sure they always knew I was a bit of a monkey.
Tuesday we spent 13.5 hours going home via train. I settled into my seat and quickly took advantage of the window seat- as it's occupant had not yet arrived. Then, we she did arrive I stealthaly stayed by the window so I could see out... well that worked until I pulled back the blinds and realized I was the only one on the train sitting beside a NON- airtight window.. the condensation stayed all day :( I did managed to snap a few photos inbetween reading a 376 page book start to finish all the way home... and let's just say THANK GOODNESS it was only a 3 day week at school :)

Next week is exams for the students, so I look forward to having some time to plan out next term a bit further and figure out what to do a bit differently so this term will run a little better :) When I woke up yesterday and remember that I'm actually still in university and getting SO much classroom experience I remembered not to worry too much about my teaching downfalls.

Next weekend I will spend with a Thai friend that works at the school I teach at.. she has invited me to go home with her:) .. and then the following weekend will be in Cambodia for another long weekend:) .... 74 sleeps until Shaun comes to visit!

Kanchanaburi Thailand.

Kanch...

Life here is such a roller coaster- One moment is absolutely thrilling and the next is down right scarey and the next you feel throwing up-- literally and just down right sick of things. What a cliche saying 'Life is like a roller coaster' . Mostly I've felt like it's been on the down part where you're afraid of going back up only to come back down again. But I refuse to let my last week (probably the second worst week of my life) and today--also not a great day interfere with what I love about here.

-The palm trees on the way to school
-Little fish outside of the library...
-Going to Kanchanaburi for the weekend AMAZING... we RODE elephants (in the river!), climbed a 7 tier Water fall which was absolutely amazing, it had rained the night before so the waters were pretty murky. What a climb- not for the faint hearted-- up and up we trekked, some in sandals, most in shoes and I in shoes and barefeet on the way down. The trail consisted of rocks and roots and puddles and lots of exercise! There were 8 of us girls that went away for the weekend. We ended up staying in a beautiful bed and breakfast and on Friday when we arrived we booked a tour (about $30) for Saturday. The tour included the 7 tier waterfall, a bamboo raft ride down the river, elephant ride, lunch, trip to see a cave used in WWII as a hospital, The Bridge over the River Kwai (Built by POW's during WWII) and we went on a train ride.

Sunday consisted of purchasing a book about an Irish Man who got wrongly accused and imprisoned for 10 years in a Thai prison- an amazing and scarey read.... Also 2 hours of massage, first a Thai foot massage-- amazing, so I returned for a back and shoulder massage- also good. Then a lie by the pool all after a hearty bacon and egg breakfast of course.

The weekend was MUCH needed and of course created many many memories, including hanging out at ''Tony Bar'' and singing/ dancing the night away under the straw roof on the dirt floor...to many English tunes. It was GREAT to meet new people and chat the night away (both Friday and Saturday) and solidfy friendships with the girls here that will last a lifetime.

The elephant ride was great- our elephant was lazzzzy and loved to eat..and our elephant guide wasn't much help keeping him on track- but it was fun..I'm looking forward to washing an elephant next time around.

Although my day today was once again frustrating I got to go on a nice long run, eat a great supper for 20 baht (about 75 cents), chat to Shaun and now finally update my blog a bit. The pictures don't do it justice but here are a couple to show just a bit about the weekend. Hope you're doing good...hey ZEKE! don't grow up too much without me- okay? And don't worry your aunty is just a little bit crazy.

(Ps. crazy story-- today at school it was pretty frustrating and this morning I realized I have been bowing to how students seem to learn best-- more so a dictator direct teaching style.. but this afternoon-- I decided to try something new and played a wonderful round of spelling word bingo- this went over well except when the word Temper was drawn and I said it in a sentence-- raising my voice for effect and slapping a students ruler on the desk- Not only did the ruler shatter to pieces, but the Thai teacher raced to the door -she was marking in the hallway-- with a worried look on her face. I later assured her I was just crazy -- but at least the kids won't forget what temper means:) I guess maybe sometimes the 78 steps I have to take to get up to my classroom are worth the walk.

It takes a LONG time to upload photos onto a blog, so I think I'm going to try and look for a picture viewing alternative- Any ideas? Here is a little taste... Good thing we have pictures- I think we missed a lot of the beauty due to immense amounts of sweat and GIANT stairs to climb! :)

Dancing for the Band at Tony Bar---- Mai Bin Lae-- Mai Mai Bin Lae--Lindsay where are you?


DUe to Technical Frustrations- I will be figuring out a new place for pics- any ideaS?

New Friends-Old Friends

New Friends

Besides hanging around our little apartment area (minus the pool, it has a rip in the lining! BOOOOOOO!) I haven't gotten much past the outskirts of our neighborhood in the last little while. That was until last weekend.

Plans were made to go to the biggest market in the world Chattachuk (sp?) but we realized that it would be closed by the time we got there... but a Thai teacher from school was going to take us and had invited us out to a graduation party after. Long story short I ended up going to the party despite not going to the market- She said it was close. Well, after waiting a half hour in an airconditioned mini-van, travelling 45 minutes, getting out and taking a bus for another 20 minutes, getting off the bus and taking Motorcy's and then walkingn for 15 minutes, I figured something must have been lost in translation.. this was not ''Close'' to anywhere I had been, ever. When we arrived we got to a small apartment and I was wondering how we were all going to sit, never mind have a party- but soon we moved on and I realized we were only just picking up her friends. When getting to the complex we which was our destination we took the elevator up to fl 21. The doors opened to a dusty VERY dark construction site.. opps wrong floor.. fl 20 instead? The doors opened and it was more like a horror movie.. a dark gloomy vacant floor.

After much ado we got to the pub on floor 12... it turns out it was actually a roof top restaurant (not sure how as we got out on the 12th floor)..anyway.. it was a BEAUTIFUL view of the city.. it was a very fun night. We ate a whole fish... as well as mussels and shrimp, and squid and many SPICY dishes. (Since then I have experimented and figured out 1 of 2 things aggravates my mouth and creates small sores, either the spicy food or fish....) I will reintroduce spice this week and see what happens!

Anyway we had a lovely dinner before literally RUNNING indoors when it started POURING- like nothing I have ever seen before and before we left the restaurant our feet were in an inch and a half of water. It was a fun experience, not to mention the hilarity of me hanging out with a bunch of Thai's trying to learn Thai... and doing pretty miserable.

This weekend was nearly as eventful- after taking a taxi and numerous dead end stops.. and changing taxis once because ours ran out of gas, we got to a BEAUTIFUL dance club.. which didn't even charge cover- it was a very fun night of dancing.. though I didn't realize dancing with heels would result in some posterior soreness today-- guess I better get back exercising!

Besides that highlights this week included....
--> NOT seeing giant spiders.
--> Finding a new market
--> going for a LONG run.
--> Finding out about a day long bike trek I will take on my next free weekend.
--> booking a long weekend trip
--> Getting started writing my first set of exams (where I"m the teacher).. and being almost done.
--> walking in the sunshine.
--> eating delicious icecream.
--> eating sushi and a delicious meal for under 10$.
--> Cleaning my room.
--> There were a bunch more things that I was going to write but can't remember now.. like the pleasure of walking up 78 steps to get to my classes every day in the NON airconditioned hallways.
--> Getting our ''lovely'' new uniforms.. they fit wonderfully (except a little big).. but I don't understand why they'd make such uniforms out of THICK material!


Anyway- Let me know how you are :) ANy Questions?

AUNTY!

Guess what?! I'm an Aunty- To Zeke!
Sigh. I have been waiting for this for a long time and now that it's here I can't believe I am not there to observe him growing up for his first year, but soon enough- Only 8 more months!

The last couple of weeks has been pretty crazy. It seems to be a lot of work to organize my 4 classes, try to figure out curriculum outcomes I should be covering and try to figure out balance, our university classes and exercise in between.

My classes have been pretty trying, our students are pretty talkative and it doesn't seem to be natural for them to listen quietly for even instructions on how to play games, although, children are children anywhere in the world...so what can I expect?

Besides my early mornings and some late nights prepping and going to university classes, some highlights include:

-Canada Attire on Canada Day..and the students singing O Canada! (they went later that day and sang at the Canadian Embassy of Thailand!)
(if you're on facebook you can see some of the pics tagged of me-- looking goofy.).

-getting to go for a run= very hot but nice to exercise.

-finding a place that sells big cutouts to stick on your walls-- to spruce up my room a bit!

-Going out dancing!

-Hearing out, on Sunday am.. that I was an AUNTY!!!! :)

-Having great chances to talk to others on Skype! :)

-Sleeping in today- it's Saturday! WOO!!!

Hope you're all doing good...sorry there isn't too much exciting going on around here..