Teacher Laura: How do you spell... ugly?
Kindergarten Student: U-G-L-Y
Of course I had to laugh. And continue the rest of the cheer in my head (you ain't got no aliby... you ugly... you ugly... yeah, yeah, you ugly) So mature.
Oh man, where to start. So it has definitely been quite some time since my last posting, mainly because I’ve been off of school for a month (yeahhhh, baby – I just happened to look over and see Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me DVD on the floor so I thought I’d throw that one in for you). I’ll attempt a semi interesting synopsis starting from the beginning:
School: Ended rather quickly. Couldn’t have been happier to get out of there. It wasn’t that I was unhappy or anything but I was SO looking forward to my break and traveling and NOT having to teach everyday that the last week seemed to pass by like a peeping Tom at night. It was nice because I was extremely busy grading all of the midterms and filling out 100 kindergarten report cards (i.e. writing my name, signing my name, and giving 200 thai parents my thai telephone number… probably should have thought that one through a little bit before I agreed to it).
Week One: Immediately after class on Friday I jump on a bus to Kanchanaburi – literally jump - as it is driving by the opposite way as I’m in a tuk tuk (mini taxi) to the bus station. I have the driver whip a U-y and wave that damn bus down because I was NOT about to wait another hour for the next bus. Worked like a charm. I seem to keep coming back here… I wonder why?! It was my friend James’ birthday and there was quite a crew of us that all met here. You can fill in the blanks, as we have all celebrated many a birthday. High notes of this weekend were meeting the entire Austrailian Army crew that is training in Thailand and Southeast Asia. What a silly bunch of Aussies. Not to mention beautiful and all about the size of Vin Diesel in Fast and the Furious (speaking of… are they REALLY making a 5th?!). I stayed in Kanchanaburi until Tuesday and [because I had run into some other girls that took the same ATI course as me but a week earlier] headed off with 5 ladies to Koh Samet and Koh Chang, two islands south of Bangkok. It was so refreshing to be with a different group of people... especially ones that were RIGHT on my wave length in terms of sarcastic remarks, upbeat adventure style, and the occasional legit crazy (and awkward) party mode. Of course, any time you travel you will experience some extremely awkward moments, those that just make you want to bury yourself in the sand and pretend your existence never was. For example, after a delicious meal (of American proportions) at our guesthouse we were all rewarding ourselves after a long day of travel with a few beers. Rumor about a party on a different beach was going around and the thai man sitting next to us who was friends with some of the people that worked at the restaurant offered to drive us in his pickup. Not sketchy at all, especially not with 6 girls – quite the force to be reckoned with (and no, I’m not being sarcastic here, straight serious). Obviously I felt right at home jumping in the back of the pickup with a dress on, but that's just the farm girl in me. Anyway… we get to the bar... It’s ok. We throw back a few buckets and want to call it a night but how do you tell a thai man to drive 6 girls back home in his pickup? Fast forward a bit, one of the wolfpack got pretty drunk so that was a great excuse to get our bandwagon back in the direction it came from and get to bed. We get back, say our goodbyes, head to hang out for a few minutes and listen to some music, and a certain member of the wolfpack may or may not have had to fight off the “moves” of said thai driver. Sitting on our porch listening to music and eating the snacks we bought on our 7Eleven run, guess who strolls up with a bottle of whiskey in hand? Harldy awkward until we get yelled at by other guests because our music is too loud and then when we BLATANTLY express our desire to sleep, he decides to find a nice place to lay inside our bungalow on the floor. At the foot of the bed. I mean, c’mon. So yeah… he made his sneaky departure sometime in the wee morning hours because upon awakening he was nowhere to be found. We did manage to keep that bottle of whiskey though. Success.
Week Two: Headed back to Bangkok for a night and then to Suphanburi. I had a "retreat" with my school in Hua Hin, a beach-ish town in Eastern Thailand (I went here for a Jazz Festival if you recall). Basically, it was 80 thai teachers and myself checking out a school that the king claims should be replicated throughout the country. This means, all classes are filmed and shown for years on what is the equivalent of our "community access" channels. We observed a few classes and apparently they must not get many foreign visitors because it was like brittney spears fighting off the paparazzi after shaving her head when I walked in those classrooms. I think they were even a little shocked when I burst out laughing. Speaking of being a celebrity... a few days ago at the bus station (again, going to Kanchanaburi) there were a group of Coke sponsors taking pictures for an advertisement. They stroll up as I'm lazily sitting on a bench listening to my iPod and, without a word, hand me a bottle of Coca-Cola and a straw and begin taking pictures. Having been in a commercial or two myself (haha) I immediately pop that straw in the bottle, turn it so the logo is in perfect view of the camera lens and work my magic. I'll probably be on a bilboard somewhere in Thailand. No big deal. Duh duh buh buh juh juh. Back to Hua Hin... the rest of the 2 days there were great, got to spend some real "quality" time with my coworkers, which involved being forced to drink whiskey & water and racing on the beach for money (my apologies to the thai teacher that I gave a piggy back ride to during one race in which I fell flat on my face, tossing her about 5 feet in front of me). Oh, and thai people LOVE Karaoke. Especially sober, on a bus, at 3 pm. Next up: return to Suphanburi for my next adventure: CAMBODIA
I'm gonna break here and post this. I'll pick up at Cambodia asap. For now, I apologize for such lack of colorful writing and nonexistant pictures. A few tragedies have occurred in my life recently:
1. loss of a functioning camera
2. loss of a functioning iPod (travelling SUCKS without one)
3. I moved apartments, which took me nearly a month to complete
4. I got lice from what I can only assume to be one of my students (needless to say I was too stubborn to investigate WHY my head was so itchy in fear of being grossed out so I may have let it go on a bit longer than necessary - it was a fucking party on my head for a while there)
5. I got bit by a monkey (more on that, and my new found obsession with rabies, in the next blog)
6. Got food poisoning. As my first encounter with this misfortunate illness I assumed it was my rabies taking over my immune system on what was sure to be my last day of life.
7. Speaking of last days of life... I realized I'm NOT a huge fan of boats during wind storms when land is not easy to come by. What would YOUR last song be to listen to alive?
rockin you like a tsunami
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