three weeks in

alrighty so here are the updates on my life in thailand...

the weeks are pretty busy hence the silence on my end lately. im getting used to teaching and have been having some really great days. there are also some not great days but im getting the hang of things as far as the teaching goes. there is a lot of paperwork involved as far as lesson plans and student evaluations go. i have been trying to get plans done for two weeks in advance but so far am just struggling to get a weeks worth done. may pen rai, (whatever, no worries in Thai) it gets done eventually.

ok enough with this work business.

last weekend (hilarys last weekend here) we went to a beach that is about an hour away. it is absolutely gorgeous, not touristy in the least, and completely chill. apparently the teachers go often so im looking forward to that. we swam in the crystal clear water, ate delicious food, and

r-e-l-a-x-e-d! as crazy as the weeks feel here the weekends are that much more wonderful. i dont have pictures of that beach yet due to the small detail of leaving my memory chip in my computer for the weekend. not to worry, there will be some eventually.

hilary left on monday, it was extremely sad. the realization of living in thailand for a year really hit home for the first time.i felt like this whole time i would be going home with her but when she left i was like oh woah, this is it, this is real! all of the other teachers miss her dearly (and hil, palmmy tells me everyday how much she misses you!)

so the week teaching without hil was sad and busy, but i survived!

this weekend was a bit more crazy. i went to a full moon party with some of the english teachers on an island thats about 5 hours away. so the weekend was pretty comical, we kept saying that it was something out of a movie. so we needed to catch a bus at 2:30 saturday afternoon, take the hour long bus ride to the ferry and take the 4ish hour ferry ride to the island. we go to the bus station at 2:25 only to find out that we werent actually at the right bus station, we walk quickly down the street asking people where to go and everyone is telling us to go further down. so we start running once we realize that were probably going to miss the bus, but we cant find it. we keep asking all of these people and they are all looking completely confused until a nice thai man about our age tells us to follow him, that hes going to the bus too. phew, fiasco diverted. we climb on the bus, which looks completey new and modern from the outside (similar to a greyhound), but the inside has these turquiouse lace curtains, marroonish red velvet seats and zero air conditioning. we take the last seats available and three other people climb on for standing room only. so the bus is packed to the brim, hot and stuffy, and wewere already dripping sweat from running up and down the street. i wanted to take a picture because i thought it was comical but thought second and resisited the urge. after we get to the bus ride we welcomed the sight of the huge ferry and greenish blue water. we sat on the roof of the ferry, drank beer, made friends with a french girl named morgan, relaxed, and watched a beautiful sunset. then it started raining. we rushed inside and tried to stay optimistic, hoping the rain would pass. it was a bit rocky, the lights kept flickering, like a scary movie of some sorts. we finally get to the island of Koh Phangan, dock, and we rush to exit but no one is actually getting off the boat. we go to 3 other exits and nothing. finally we see people getting off but they are climbing over the railing to do so. we had to climb over the railing and climb down this small sketchy ladder, it looked like we were smuggling people onto the island. we grab a tuk-tuk to the beach where the full moon party is taking place and as we drive through the town all of the lights are out and there are candles lighting the shops and restuarants. we realize that the power went out and therefore the ferry couldnt open the huge door to let everyone out. it all makes sense now. the town looked beautiful only lit up by candlelight and again i kept saying "omg im in thailand, this is beautiful, im so excitied", i wonder if it will ever get old?

the rain clears,we walk through the streets and see the most white people that ive ever seen in thailand. it was a little weird actually. we find the rest of the teachers that we were meeting they show us our room (by flashlight) and we grab dinner. i had a veggie burger with a huge bun, both of which i have not had yet in thailand but because its so touristy on the island, i could indulge. dinner was relatively normal except for a gentleman who was passed out at my feet and a whole group of guys watching an adam sandler movie like it was the most fascinating thing in the world (mouths open wide and all). after dinner we went down to the beach and got busy dancing! there were so many people on the beach and all of the barswere blasting music, there were fire jugglers and chaos everywhere. no actual pictures of the night due to the fear of losing my camera. but we danced all night and before we knew it the sun was coming up! we watched the sun come up, played in the sea and danced some more.a good time was had by all!

nikki and i made our way back to surat early, trying to get a head start on the long trip home, but we both felt equally ill. we somehow sat in the VIP section of the ferry that had reclining seats and air con...dont think we were supposed to but no one said anything to us andwe enjoyed ourselves. lnow were back in surat, home sweet home, where we can re-coop before the crazy week starts back up!

sorry so long and will hopefully write sooner next time!

the ferry ride views

woah look out rotated picture!

sunset

full moon party after the sunrise

typical.