CHRISTMAS SURPRISE!!

So Tim and My's original holiday plan was for him to spend Christmas down with my in the islands, and then I would go up to BKK for the New Year holiday.

Well, once Tim (FINALLY) started work, he wasn't given the time off for Christmas.

Since my school didn't have students that week, I arranged to leave Thursday night after school and take the overnight train to BKK. Tim had no idea I was planning this.

I got into Bangkok around 6am on Friday morning. I had to wait around for about an hour at the train station until I knew it was safe to head to Tim's apartment. Once there, the plan had been for him to leave his keys at his front desk for our friend Carter (she told him I wanted Carter to put a surprise in his room while he was at school). However, since Tim is well, Tim...he forgot to leave his keys. But luckily, this is Thailand. So I gave Tim's name and room number to the front desk, and they let me into his room. High Security!!

Once inside, I decorated Tim's apartment with Christmas Decor. I set up stockings, a tree (with presents), wreaths, wall decorations, and Santa hats. Then I showered and got prepared for the "big surprise".

The plan was for Tim to meet Carter for drinks after his work lunch, but instead of it being Carter, it would be ME! Well, at about noon I got a call from Carter:

Carter: "Are you still in Tim's apartment?"
Me: "Yeah, I am going to leave in a few"
Carter: "HE'S ON HIS WAY RIGHT NOW"
Me: "OH CRAP - OK, I'm leaving"

At which I ran up to the roof so I could see Tim enter/exit the building. I had decided that when he goes into the building, I would knock on his door and surprise him. Of course, that didn't happen. As he called me to say he loved his room, I saw him leave the building. So I had to run down 7 flights of stairs to catch him and surprise him. And yes, he was COMPLETELY surprised :) And lucky for me, I got to go to the lunch and meet his other teachers. Plus the lunch was a buffet at a very nice hotel. The food was AMAZING!! Salad bar, bar, dessert bar, hummus/cheese/bread bar, etc. I ate till I literally couldn't eat anymore.

Afterwards, we ran some errands around Bangkok and then settled at the pool for some drinks.

On Saturday we headed to the International Market to look for Egg Nog. Since there was none to be found, we settled on mixing rum with apple cider and adding cinnamon sticks. Tasty AND festive!!! Then we met up for dinner and drinks with some friends...and it turned into an all night party :)

When we woke up Sunday it was CHRISTMAS!!!! We played with the "snow" that Kat had sent us - and Tim got to open his presents. Then we spent some time at the pool before "Christmas Dinner".

We met up with the group from the night before at Lumpini Park, and had a pot luck picnic for Christmas Dinner. We had stuffed chicken, salad, soup, oranges, and even some Christmas Carols on the Ukulele!!

Then it was time to head home, pack, Skype with the families, and for me to head back to Surat Thani...but don't worry - I'll be back in BKK in a week for NYE!!!!

Merry Christmas!
Apes :)

It's Christmas Every DAY!

So for the last 2 weeks, I have been SPOILED! Am I mean SPOILED! It started off with a Christmas Card from my Godmother, then followed up with my annual Christmas Ornament from my Nana and Pa (Grandparents on my mom's side of the fam), and then topped with an email from my Mislan gradparents. But then...SUPER SPOILS!!

A package from Kat Kendall (Poole)!!!!

Let's get a little closer, can we?

CHEF BOYARDEE!!!

Flav Ice!! :)

And PRESENTS!!!

It also had plenty of other goodies, and I was one happy girl. JUST IN TIME FOR THE WEEKEND!!!

Then I was back in school on Monday, the first day of the week of "teacher work week". The students were gone, and us foreign teachers were hard at work (see pic below).


Then I was handed another package - Christmas Presents from Mom and Pops Dukes :) I was under STRICT rules not to open the presents. They were wrapped, so I had no choice but to leave them under my Christmas Tree (part of a "Christmas Decorations" package from my parents a few weeks back). So, until Christmas comes and I can skype with the fam, those presents are being poked and shook. Hope there are no valuables!

But not to be outdone, my GodFather sent smuggled through his lines of contacts a VERY valuable gift. WHITE WINE! That's right, a woman came to my school, dropped off a bag of not 1, not 2, not 3, but FOUR bottles of WHITE wine to my desk, and then she was gone. Godfather Joe definitely lives up to his name!!!

Then, finally - the end of the teacher work week - celebration time! We went to Pizza Hut for lunch (yes, they exist over here!) and had a filling lunch of Pizza, Breadsticks, Salad, Wings, etc. and then did our Secret Santa exchange. There were only 4 of us, and here's the results:

Meghan got from April: A bottle of whiskey, a drinking glass, and a beer can bank
April got from Meghan: A can of instant coffee with a coffee mug, travel toiletries (for my BKK trips) and chocolate
Angie got from Mel: A gorgeous handbag loaded with chocolate
Mel got from Angie: a coffee mug filled with chocolate, and towels (for after his mid-day football games)

This weekend is Christmas, and I get to open my parent's gifts and my gifts from Kat :)

Hope everyone else is having a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

It's a 365 day celebration...

That's right, Timmy and I have been an official couple for a FULL YEAR! This weekend it was time to celebrate!

Timmy got to my town Friday morning, and he met me at my school gate - and came bearing gifts. CUPCAKES!!! Wine too - but he could only give me the cupcakes at school.















After school we skipped over to the pier, and headed to Koh Samui. Once on the island we checked into the hotel (on a cliff) and grabbed some dinner and rested up before our big weekend.

Saturday morning we got up and grabbed some breakfast (free, compliments of our hotel) and then spent the morning at the pool. Then we headed out to grab lunch, and hit the beach.

After the beach, we headed to check out the infamous rock sculptures in Koh Samui. The Grandfather rock and Grandmother rock. Can you see what they form?

Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. BRAZILIAN STEAKHOUSE!! Yes, we found one in Thailand :) Tim had never been to one, so he was super excited. I had been to ones in the states, so I KNEW why I was excited. Once at the resturant we stuffed ourselves full of chicken, pork, duck, lamb, beef, shrimp, sausage, etc. While we ate, we saw the Brazilian Dancers put on a show. I'm pretty sure we stayed for like 2 hours eating and watching the shows.

Then we headed back to have some wine and cupcakes for dessert on our bungalow deck :)

Sunday we woke up with Mimosas on the porch, then headed out to do some healthy competing....SOCCER GOLF! That's right - soccer + golf. It's like miniature golf, but instead of golf balls there are soccer balls, and instead of clubs you use your feet! When we got there, we were we got to play the 18 holes all by ourselves! We were the only people there (thank you low season!!), and we got free sodas which we enjoyed after the 9Th hole. By that time I was in the lead....and was hoping I would take the win. Let's check out what happened on the last hole...

It looks like its in...

WOOO HOOO CELEBRATION!! Wait, lets see how Tim does...

Eh...it doesn't matter. I still beat him by 10 points. Afterwards, we took pix with our respective trophies, then explored the island on the way back to the hotel.

We decided for dinner to make use of the cliff side we were staying on, and we went to an Italian restaurant and got dinner to go: Pizza and loaded Bruschetta (and wine!). We took the food and drink down to the beach below our room and sat on the rocks while the sun went down. Once it got super dark, we headed back up to the pool area, and had some drinks night poolside.

Sunday we woke up to another hotel breakfast, and gloomy rainy weather :(
That's not a problem for us! We headed to Lamai Beach and got oil massages, then had some Thai soup for lunch before catching the ferry back to Surat Thani.

What a great one year...don't know how Tim will top that though :)

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

Christmas in a Box

Today at school I get a message - "There's a package for you from America in the security office" so I head over, and lo and behold - a package from Momma Dukes. What was in it?

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!!!!

Since I am in a Buddhist country, we don't get any vacation for Christmas. PLUS, there's no Christmas parades, big Christmas dinners, and etc. So my mom did the next best thing - sent a box of Christmas decorations to get me in the spirit!!


The Package came with all of the following:
- Let it snow place mats
- Holly Wreath
- Candy Cane Garland hanging decor
- Santa decorative hand towel (FANCY!!)
- Santa Hanging decor
- Small knitted stocking
- Large Stocking (filled with Reese Cups AND Christmas earrings!!)
- Elf Hat
- Artificial Tree (not pictured)
- Ornaments for the tree
- Light up Angel (tree-topper)
- Light up Tree (tree-topper)
- AND GOODIES!!! Holiday M&M's and Double Stuff Oreos

Everything is already up in my apartment, ready for the Holidays. Well, except the tree. I am using that in class to demonstrate a lesson I'm teaching. But I'll have that home tomorrow and all set up soon after I get home :)

I've never had my place decorated so early after Thanksgiving, nor have I ever favored an Artificial tree. But this year I think I can be happy with it :p

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

Thai-giving

So with this being my first Thanksgiving out of the country, and it being my first in 3 years that I didn't host my annual Potluck Thanksgiving, I was excited that some of the other Farang in town wanted to have a Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday night.

On Wednesday night I headed to my favorite dinner market: Sam Pow Thong and got the ingredients for Grandma Mislan's layer salad; Carrots, Lettuce, Peas, Bacon, Onions, Mayo. That's right, deliciousness in a bowl!!

Thursday the bad news came...Thanksgiving was cancelled. Something about the rain. So I decided to make my salad and eat it on my own. Hey, it's not Thanksgiving without it! When I got home, UGH, the lettuce had frozen! So I just ended up eating the carrots with Ranch (via Shannon) and the bacon on its own.

I woke up about 2am Friday morning, and sat on my Skype watching my family scarf down on Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Bread, etc. How did I get even? I taught them how to say 'fart' in Thai. :)


So Friday was potential Thanksgiving #2. The Chinese teachers has invited us to a Thanksgiving dinner. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was determined to go anyways. So I hailed a Tuk Tuk and BOOM. He drops off the other passenger and then shows me 80baht. He was telling me he would take me to the address for 80baht. I said NO, 20baht (normal Farang price). He said no. I asked him to take me back to where he picked me up, and he said 20baht. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? YOU PICKED ME UP AND DROPPED ME DOWN THE STREET! So I got out and started walking. I called my fellow teacher, Angie, and told her the story. I told her I wouldn't be able to make it since it was apparently 80baht each way. She sent someone to pick me up, and I headed over with my new ride. But I was already upset about the whole ordeal.

BUT when I showed up, lo and behold...there it was: MASHED POTATOES, GRAVY, STUFFING, ROLLS, CORN (on the cob), GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE! No turkey though, but grilled chicken, which I was still happy with. Ah....I was a happppppy camper. And camping out was exactly what I was doing at that table. In between my football talk with an older Boston man, I ended up going through 2 plate fulls of food. After grace (yes, I said Grace 2 times in ONE day DAD!!) we all said what we were thankful for.

The table had a mix of Thai's, Chinese, American's, Englishmen, and a Filipino. Turns out, it was an English Christian group that put the dinner together, and the we had come as guests of the Chinese Teachers.

After the dinner, there was even dessert. CHOCOLATE CAKE. AND GOOD chocolate cake. MMM.

One of the Chinese teachers and I got into a talk about cooking, I was saying that I didn't have a kitchen, and she offered hers up. So it looks like I will be making dinner for some of them coming up soon. I am thinking Chili, because I know I can make that here. I also plan on a Mexican meal - but I have to wait for Baloo to send over the Flour Tortilla Shells from America...he said he was sending some months ago...so if anyone is reading this, please feel free to send some.

I am feeling Thanksgiving Fat, and Happy. I will sleep good tonight, and can wake up and go on a run since I finally have my running shoes back!!!

Sawasdee Kha, and Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Apes

Christmas Party? Sign me up!

So today started out (almost) like any other. I got up, got ready for school, then hailed a Tuk Tuk. Unlike all the other days though, instead of taking me to school - he took me 10 minutes THE OPPOSITE WAY across town. So fighting to get BACK to the correct way wasn't so fun. But I made it to school, with enough time to learn that our first class of the day was cancelled.

Since our classes were cancelled, our Assistant Head of the department (AHOD) decided to have a 'quick' meeting with the 3 of us foreign teachers. During the meeting we discussed many things. My focus was on the fact that our Week off for Christmas was gone, and the week we had off in February was changed to only 3 days. Yes, my morning was not going great.

Then we talked about incorporating Christmas into our lessons during the no-longer-Christmas-time-off week. The conversation ended with a decision to have an actual Christmas Party for the MLP students (about 120 students). The party will consist of Christmas performances (songs/dances/skits) performed by the students, lunch brought in, and Christmas presents. There might possibly be a tree to put the gifts under as well!! Well, The AHOD decided that there should be a director in charge of this party. Well kids, lo and behold...it looks like I'm planning a Christmas Party. WOO HOO! The best part, it's not a "Holiday Party" or "Winter Party" it's a straight up "CHRISTMAS PARTY". We can have Santa Claus's and presents, and carols. Oh what merry fun we will have!!!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

A weekend of Ice, Prizes, and Curry!

So this weekend was my first weekend alone in my town. A bunch of the Farang (foreigners) teachers were headed to Koh Samui but since I had just travelled to Malaysia, I stayed here to save some money.

Saturday morning I got up and skyped with some of my ADPi's back home. Lil B skyped me at the rehearsal dinner for Ashley Carey's wedding. In true Icing fashion, we iced her :) That's right, she got iced from THAILAND at her REHEARSAL DINNER! Good teamwork Lil B :) Once she was iced, her hubby-to-be Tony got a huge kick of it and came to say Hi. I've captured the moment below.
Yep. That's the now married Stegman's. CONGRATS GUYS!!!

After the "icing from around the world" I gave my apartment a good cleaning and then made plans with the few teachers left in town to meet them for drinks later.

A bar in town, Bali, was celebrating it's one year anniversary and had cheap drinks all night. And by cheap, I mean CHEAP. Usually at a bar, a big beer is a little less than 100baht. When you buy a big beer from 7-11 or another convenient store its maybe 50-60baht. Bali was selling big Singha (the 'pricier' beer) for 45baht. So I spent my night drinking Singha for CHEAP!! Plus, every 2 beers you ordered, you got a prize! Tigger (who gave me a ride) got a t-shirt, the girls we were with also got a t-shirt and a purse, and an older Australian we were with got a bottle opener, and a Heineken glass (he was drinking Heinekens). Since it was their anniversary, they were also giving out plastic ice buckets (perfect for a trash can!) so I picked up one of those for myself, and we wore them as hats.


After we left Bali, we decided to head to Siam Blue so we could dance. And dance we did! About 10 minutes after we got there, 4 of us were onstage having our own dance party which lasted for a while. Then we got a hookah and finished off our night with whiskey (yuck!).


Sunday night the Thai men around the corner cooked me a delicious dinner. They told me they were going to make me Massaman Curry because they know I love it and they did! It was a little spicy was it was still delicious. Along with Massaman, they also made Green Curry, and a spicy fish curry. When they had me try the fish curry they laughed when I said "Ahh, Pet Pet!!" which means spicy. After dinner they told me they were taking me to a birthday party tomorrow. So tomorrow, it's Thai birthday party time!!!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

Apes goes to Malaysia.

Whelp, it happened. I had to do my first VISA run. And since I am in the South of Thailand, the closest border was Malaysia. So on Sunday I packed up and headed out (alone) for a few days in a country I had never even had on my list to visit. I had many different emotions: excitement for a new adventure, irritation for having to have planned it in such short notice, worried since it wouldn't be as cheap as a trip to the market for dinner, eager for the experience of traveling alone.

So with my Chrome bag, and my many different emotions, I crossed the border to Malaysia. My first actual border crossing. It wasn't full of excitement as I thought it would be, but instead it was; stand in a line, get stamped, get back in the van, ride to customs, get out, xray my bag, then get back in the van. There was no "WELCOME TO MALAYSIA" dancers, or a complimentary "national drink". Just stamps in the passport.

Once in Malaysia, I stayed at the Banana Guest House - which of course, accompanied a reggae bar. Just like Thailand.

Since I got in during the evening on Sunday, I didn't do much before bed, except dropping off my VISA papers to get processed. The guesthouse had sold out of the fan-only cheap rooms, so I had to get a pricier AC room for the night. My room had no windows, so I had to make sure I didn't sleep past checkout.

Monday morning I woke up, and since I have been on an "India Kick" with reading Shantaram (I highly recommend) and watching "Outsourced" I decided the first stop for me was Little India (plus it was a few blocks from the guesthouse). Mostly, I just wanted Naan. So I stopped in a restaurant called Kareem Mustafa and had Indian rice with Chicken, and cauliflower vegetable, and naan. MMMM naan. That was the best part of the meal. It was ALL delicious, but the Naan is what did it for me. The dipping sauce for it was the best I had ever had and I couldn't stop eating it! I almost ordered a second one!

After lunch, I took the free shuttle around town to look at the different areas in Georgetown. That took about all afternoon, and then I decided to just relax for the rest of the evening. I knew I wanted to get up early and get to Penang Hill (a huge hill in town that you have to take a trolley for) but I knew I needed to be back in time to pick up my passport. So I sat outside and did some more reading of Shantaram, and then ended up meeting a guy from London who was headed to Thailand in about a week. We chatted about what I should see in Malaysia, and what he should see in Thailand, and then we both retired to our respective guesthouses.

Tuesday I woke up, and headed to the bakery restaurant for a BLT on a BAGEL!! AHHH A BAGEL!! Those still exist?? YES, and they do in Malaysia! Afterwards I figured my way around town using the town buses, and got to Penang Hill. The lookout point was GORGEOUS!!! You could see ALL of Georgetown - and the bring connecting Penang to the rest of Malaysia.

Hello Panoramic View on my new camera!!

I spent some time at the top of the hill just wandering and taking pictures, and it was GORGEOUS! After wards, I had to head back to grab my new Visa and then the road back to Thailand. Luckily I made it with enough time to pop over to the bakery to get actual fresh bread. Not sweet bread like Thailand has, but REAL bread! I bought a sesame seed bagel, a cinnamon roll, a loaf of focaccia(sp?) bread, and a loaf of '6 cereal' (aka 6 grain) bread. It all costs me about 9RM (Malaysia money) with was about 90 Baht (Thai money), and which is about $3.00 USD.

Once in the van back to Thailand, we passed through the border once again and we passed right as the Thai national anthem started playing. Aww, they were welcoming me back!! We didn't go through customs this time...maybe it was too late in the day?

Anyways, I had to stay in Hat Yai for the night, and then finish the rest of the trip to Surat Thani on Wednesday. I ended up getting back to my apartment around 2 or 3pm Wednesday. It was actually the first time I was in my apartment by myself since I moved in. Tim was with me for a while, then his stay overlapped with Bri's visit, and then her and I left on the same day. Today is my first night with no one in my apartment - its a strange feeling.

Anyways - I loved Malaysia, and would have liked to stay longer...maybe for a long weekend after a paycheck?? And travelling completely by myself wasn't that bad. I ended up making friends on the travels, and learned that I have to rely on myself to adventure out and find places to eat and things to do. Hopefully I will get the chance to do some more "self-discovery travel" in the future. And now I can add Malaysia to my list of countries I've been in - woo hoo, that makes 3 countries I've visited outside the states!!!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

Where will I live??

So now that I had a school to work in, and a town to explore, I needed a place to hold my stuff and set up some living space.

After DAYS of looking...I had no results. All the flood victims from BKK had come down south and rented rooms out. Before they came, all the students in our school had found apartments (YES, 12 year olds LIVING ALONE) since their parents live too far outside of town for daily trips (they are all wealthy). That leaves a very small (if any) selection to look into. Plus add the fact that I want AC and Hot Water (Crazy, I know!) and the pool gets even smaller.

LUCKILY...one day at school one of the teachers took me to look at an apartment (also full) and on the way back I pointed out what looked to be apartments. Turns out - THEY WERE!! And there would be a room available on Nov. 1st. So I paid my deposit, and celebrated with ice-cream.

Once move in day came (Tim moved all my stuff from the hotel room while I was at work), I settled in to my new AWESOME apartment. Here's what i have:

- Fully furnished
- Cleaning 1 time a week
- In room bathroom (WITH HOT WATER)
- Balcony (with a view of the sunset)
- TV (with MULTIPLE ENGLISH CHANNELS- including Law&Order and CSI marathons)
- Air Conditioning (with a remote)
- Fridge (bigger than a mini fridge - and has an actual freezer!)

I have tons of drawer space, and all the furniture looks new. This girl is quite pleased.

All I had to get was towels, sheets, and another pillow - I got all that plus hangers, bathmat, trash can, and padlock (for the door) for all less that $30USD!!

So now I have a place to live :)

If you want to mail me some love, send it to my school address (as it will go right to my desk):

Aj. April Mislan
MLP Program
Suratpittaya School
388 T.Talad
A. Muang
Surat Thani
Thailand
84000

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

Long time no blog...

Whew! So it's been a month, and what have I been up to?

First I started off the month with leaving Phibun....it was sad to leave the school, but I was excited for a new adventure = Teaching in the BIG CITY of Bangkok!!

After arriving in Bangkok and staying for a short day; dropping off luggage, meeting up with friends, etc. we set sail to Phuket (Southern Thailand).

We spent the first week of "vacation" WORKING!! AHH!! We went down to help train the new teachers coming into Thailand. We went to school with them and watched them "student teach" for a week. We did that in the mornings, and then in the afternoons we had plenty of time to relax and catch some sun. We spent a lot of time getting to know the new teachers - it was a group of single people! They described themselves as "a group of sorority girls from America" and they sure were! All were from different sororities, and they (along with the boys) LOVED to party. They were a wild bunch. Of course I loved it :)

Then we headed to Bangkok that weekend and got ready for some job interviews. Tim ended up getting an AWESOME job (same school a sorority sister - Paradee - when she lived in Bangkok) but I had no such luck. What luck I DID have though...getting sick! I ended up having to go to the hospital to get antibiotics. YUCK! Luckily my friend Claire was in Bangkok staying with a friend so she nursed me to health with movies and soup while Tim was running errands for his new school and getting his apartment booked.

Later that week we headed back down to Phuket to see a NEW group of teachers and watch them student teach. We had already met a few of them, so it was cool to see them again. This group was not as wild - but we got to know them better since we spent more time with them.

During that week, Shannon came in from the states to visit. That weekend we took her to the James Bond Island (from the movie the Man with the Golden Gun) with some of the new teachers. We spent the day (hungover) jumping off our tour boat into the water, swimming, exploring caves, taking pictures, and getting sun. It was an AWESOME day!

The next day we had planned to just veg out - but it turned out that I had an interview (ON A SUNDAY!) at a school about 4 hours away...in a town called Surat Thani. So we got up early on Sunday, took a bus over, interviewed, and then headed back. It was a long day...but good thing I went, since I got the job!!! When we got back to Phuket, Claire was there!!!! She had come over from a holiday in the islands and was going to stay with us for a few days.

We spent the beginning of that week observing the new teachers again, and in the afternoons we spent time on the beach, took Shannon elephant riding, visited the Big Buddha, and ate AWESOME dinners around the town. Claire ended up leaving during the week, but Shannon and her were able to spend some time together, so I am happy my girls from different worlds were able to get to know each other.

At the end of the week we headed over to Koh Phi Phi (with Nick) and the 4 of us stayed in a little bunglaow in between the 2 beaches. The first night we just wanted to take it easy and show Shannon the fire shows on the beach. The dinner conversation went "Man, we are so old. We all just want to go to bed. It's almost 10pm! Ok, well lets just go show Shannon the shows, and split a bucket so she can try one." Next thing you know, we are walking back from the bars and fire shows to our bungalow as the SUN WAS RISING!! Yes, 1 bucket (whiskey, soda, red bull) turned into multiple, and the night consisted of fire shows, group jump ropes, late night pool, etc. until the sun started coming up. Needless to say, we spent the next day in bed sleeping.

Once we left Koh Phi Phi we headed back to Bangkok (Nick stayed in the islands and we were going to meet up later) to get Tim settled in his apartment. Once he was settled we had dinner out, and the 3 of us had a drink at the restaurant/bar that was featured in the movie Hangover 2. The view was SPECTACULAR!!! The following day we headed to Khao San Road to meet up with some new teachers for lunch, and ran into Ashlee!! She was a teacher from OUR group, and we ended up watching the World Rugby Championship game...she's from New Zealand and we all know that her team (the All Blacks) WON!! WOOOO!! It was exciting to watch the game on such a western filled street - and to watch it with someone from the winning country!

Then it was time to head to my town to get ME all settled. We got to the train station at 7:30pm and was ready to go on time. We didn't start moving until 11:00pm. UGH!! 3.5 HOUR DELAY!!! Why? Well, if you haven't been watching the news - Bangkok is flooded. And Sunday night was the beginning. We finally got going, and after a million hours we arrived in my town.

We got a room for the night - and explored a little before hitting the hay early - I had to work in the morning!!!

And that was the end of my vacation....more about my job/school/town, etc. in the next blog.

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes

PS - once my pictures are on my computer I will add them to this entry.

Phuket in October...

NOT the most gorgeous time. It has rained almost everyday - Yes, I FINALLY believe it rains in Thailand!!! It is cool here - cool enough that I had to buy a little windbreaker from Tesco!!

BUT - I would rather be in rainy Phuket then rainy anywhere else!!!

We have been observing the new teaching group for 3 days now....we are answering TONS of questions, and tonight we are showing some of the teachers what ISAN food is. Tim and I had stumbled upon an Isan restaurant the other night, and then today a few teachers were asking us about the food in their location (ISAN) because they had seen so many travel shows. So to ease their stomachs (literally) we are taking them to the Isan restaurant and showing them some regular ISAN dishes (Som tom) and also some dishes that are popular around Thailand that you CAN get in Isan areas (Gai Pad Med Ma Muang and Gai-Je-Sai). And of course we are showing them sticky rice - my FAV part about Isan food!!!

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

Goodbye, So Long...

Whelp...we left good ol' PhibunMungsahan. Man we had a sweet set-up there. Well, minus the 13 hour commute to Bangkok, or the 1.5 hour bus ride to get a burger. But it WAS an awesome little town. I will definitely miss our AMAZING teachers, and my favorite around-town restaurants and market women. I will NOT miss the hair salon.

But while I am busy missing the Isan area - I am living it up on the beaches of PHUKET!!!

After 2 days of overnight busses (a day stop in Bangkok to meet our FAB host Carter), we FINALLY made it to All Seasons Nai Harn at about 9am Sunday morning. We dropped our bags and grabbed some breakfast buffet! We ended up talking to a group of people by us - they were all getting ready to start the course on Monday, so we answered tons of questions, and told them we would be there to observe them in two weeks.

Then we spent the day getting re-acquainted with the town (thank you motorbike!!) and got our observation instructions for the week.

Then we hit the hay early because we were pooped from travelling and were excited to sleep in a bed (and not a bus) again!

.....and so observations have started. Everyone was nervous on their first day, but our groups did great. They only had 8 (yes, PAED) students to 'teach'. And man, were those little 7 year olds adorable!! Each day we will get a year older in students, so let's see how the wanna-be-teachers do!

For dinner Tim and I ended up at an Isan restaurant - and we were able to speak isan to the owner, and she loved it! It made me quite happy that I could use my sweet Isan skills :)

Ok, off to relax before bed - then another day of observing :)

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

A day of adventure

This morning started off like a regular morning...got up and went to school.

However, today was full of random-ness. Enough so, that I decided to fill a post about it!

Sitting in the teacher office before heading off to our classrooms to administer finals we hear a loud BOOM. I don't mean a small boom like we are used to hearing (it's fireworks season) but like a HUGE EARTH SHATTERING BOOM!! Even the Thai teachers squealed, and many of them thought it was a bomb! I looked at Tim and said "If we were in America the school would already be on lock down" but not here in Thailand. The windows were covered by smoke from the firework - some of the teachers thought the AC unit on the first floor had blown out. All I thought was "So this is what it would be like to teach in Surin" (Surin currently has fighting going on by its border, also one of the places we were asked to teach at).

Then we were off to our first exam. During the exams Tim, Mark (the Filipino teacher), and I were called to another building. The Mayor of Ubon Province was at our school and wanted to meet us. So we headed over to building 9 (where my students are) and waited to meet the Mayor. While we waited, we chatted with (mostly listened to) his staff members who tried to convince us NOT to move to Bangkok and to keep teaching in their province. Then the Mayor's right hand man gave me his phone number and said "when you want to go to Ubon, do not take the bus. Call me and I will send a car" Well, no complaints here!!! Luckily some other teachers (I was the only female sitting in this 'boys club') made comments about Tim and I being a couple. Whew!

When the mayor was done talking to a class of my students we went in to take pictures. I had already told my students last week that I was leaving, and when a few of them noticed I was taking pictures they smiled real big and started waving (mind you, they were getting their picture taken WITH THE MAYOR), some even poked their friends and pointed at me so they would see me too. Of course I loved it :)

(2 Thai teachers, me, Tim, the Mayor, Assistant Director, Mark, 3 women Thai teachers, our school director)

After we met the Mayor it was time to head back to Finals...or so I thought. My Finals Co-teacher walked with us back to the building we were giving exams in, then looked at me and said "Oh, someone is watching the students in our class. We shouldn't go back. But Tim and Mark must go to their classrooms. You and I can go to our classroom this afternoon." It was 10:30am, so I was free until 1:00pm. WOO HOO!!

During lunch Tim and I went to the BANGING fish curry place in front of the school. Afterwards we decided to get some ice-cream from our favorite ice-cream shop (owned by a lady boy). As we pulled up to her store, we realize there had been a scooter accident. So we get our ice-cream and become part of the bystanders as we watch the young boy (who seemed drunk) yell and the old woman (who kept trying to drive away). Eventually the cops came, and a barber came out of his shop to yell about the whole incident. Tim and I just stood there watching and eating our ice-cream. No one was hurt, but it was still quite eventful.

Once back at school one of the teachers, P.R., asked if Tim and I were free on Tuesday. Since it is teacher work week we said Yes. She said they had a surprise for us, but we would find out on Tuesday what it was. About 20 minutes later she yells to Mark (who is across the room) "Mark, on Tuesday at 11:00 we will have a party" and I respond "P.R. is it a surprise party?" and she realizes that 1) Me and Tim are in the room and 2) She is not speaking Thai so we understand her. This makes all of us crack up, and she said "April, do not listen. Cover your ears!" Hahah, that woman cracks me up!

That's our fun stories from today...hope you enjoyed!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

Teaching is OOVVVEERRRRR

So today was my last official teaching day at Phibunmungsahan School. I still have 2 weeks left at the school, but next week is Finals week, and the week after is teacher work week and students don't come to school....so today was my last day with my students.

I told my advanced students today I was leaving (it was my last time with them) and they were super sad! It def made me feel good that they are going to miss me. One student even said "See you next year?" and when I said "No" the rest of the class understand that I am actually not coming back. So then they bombarded me with hugs and took a million pictures - it was so cute.

(my advanced class - before I told them I was leaving)

I have been telling my classes as I teach them this week that I won't be back (since I see all but my advanced class only once a week) and today my VERY LAST class gave me gifts! One girl gave me a mini mouse charm for my phone, and one little boy gave me a necklace (Timmy - take note!).

It is exciting to be done with actual teaching for a while, but I will DEF miss my students. They all asked for my phone number, email, and facebook - but I told them no to all. Let's see if they end up finding me on Facebook :)

Tonight we are celebrating with dinner at Riverside Bar (the only bar in town) and a beer - wooo hoooo!! No drinking heavy, because we have an exciting "Fit and Fun" weekend planned - lots of old field day games and some exercise mixed in for Timmy and I to compete against each other...should be interesting :)

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

WOO REDSKINS!!

I am pretty sure you all have seen the video of Tim's and my's students singing "Hail to the Redskins" and have realized the awesomeness of the video.

Well our fan love DOESN'T STOP THERE!!!

For the first game of the season, Timmy and I did NOT want to miss out...so we made sure we were ready:

USA: 4:14pm EST game
Thailand: 3:15am
We set our alarms, and were up watching the whole thing.

USA: Free viewing on TV or at a bar
Thailand: 2 computers
1 for live streaming, and 1 for watching the TV through skype (thanks pops) in case the live streaming didn't work.


USA: Redskins memorabilia
Thailand: Redskins memorabilia
I dressed in my jersey, and hung signs my students had made for the Redskins

USA: Wings and Ranch
Thailand: Wings and Ranch
We hoarded all the wings from the market, and marinated them in Chili Sauce. Then we dipped them in homemade ranch from dry ranch packets Beaz had sent me.

USA: BEER BEER BEER
Thailand: Beer
Small beer - also a light version (difficult to find)

So yes, we got as American as we could and watched Skins win their first game :)

Sawasdee Kha!!
Apes :)

Weekend Planning

Tim and I decided that we would take turns planning a weekend. The other person had to go along with the plans, with no complaints.....

First up - TIMMY!!

Tim planned an afternoon bar crawl on Saturday of his weekend. Since our town only has 1 "bar" he counted resturants and food carts that sold beer as a "bar" for this activity. He started the crawl off with a Thai version of bloody mary's and then we made a "hurricane roadie" for the walk (obv we weren't driving the scooter). We walked to the end of the main road, and made the corner food cart stand the first stop.


There we had spring rolls (a quick snack before we started) and got our first beer....and guess what - THERE WAS ANOTHER WHITE GUY!! Turns out his partner's family owns the spring roll stand, and they lived right down the street. He (his name is Gary, and his partner is Hong) invited us to his house, where his neighbor is also a foreigner. So we met the neighbor - David - and had a drink there. Then Gary gave us a few beers at his house. We agreed to meet up later for dinner at our last stop - the town bar.

So Timmy and I went on our way, back to the bar crawl. The next stop we came upon was a little store that ended up being owned by one of my student's families. Tim pulled out part of his supplies - Ping pong balls and plastic cups and we played a game of pong.


We got my student to play - and she made it on the second shot! Don't worry - we didn't let her drink!!! Then we headed to our next stop....

Another food cart - and Tim pulled out more suprises!! A game of flip cup, and bags of peanuts - like an AMERICAN BAR!!! I won flip cup (of course) and then we were off again...

We headed to a little spot almost in the center of town, where we drop our laundry, and pick up fruit from our favorite fruit stand. We grabbed a beer and drank it at a table in front of our laundry shop. There some of the locals decided they wanted to chat with us, and one of them ending up kissing Tim on the cheek - and left a lipstick mark that stayed the rest of the night! Then we got a call from Gary and Hong to join them at dinner - so we headed to the town bar (called Riverside).

At Riverside, we ordered dinner - and Saw came to meet us up. We ordered a bottle of whiskey (as if we needed it) and spent the night dancing around and I even got on stage with the Thai band - and they gave me a "Riverside" Polo!! Saw gave us a ride home...and we were QUICK to pass out.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Saw's house for the day. He drove us out to Khon Chian, where the Mekong River (from Laos) and the Moon River (from Thailand) meet and form the 2-colored river. Then we went to the Pha Daem national park.


The park is full of Cliffs which prehistoric paintings, caves, etc. One of the cliffs is the eastern most part of Thailand, and in the mornings people go to the cliff - there they will be the first people to see the sunrise of the day. We spent the day adventuring through the cliffs and paths - and took AMAZING pictures. Then we headed over to the Mushroom Rock Formations - part of them are 130 million years old, and the other parts are 150 million years old. They look like Humongous mushrooms!! We also saw the "Divide Rock" which is a HUGE rock (that is really the ground) that is split in two.

It was a VERY entertaining weekend - and Tim did a GREAT job with all the planning!!

Next up - APRIL!!

So for my weekend - I planned a weekend in Ubon Ratchatani. We got up on Saturday morning and made egg sandwiches and had coffee, then loaded onto the bus. It's about an hour and a half bus ride to the city, so once we arrived we checked into a hotel and met up with Gary and Hong (from the bar crawl) for lunch. Our hotel was the Nevada Inn - a hotel with an entertainment center attached: movies, shopping, restaurants, bar, etc.

For lunch we had decided to go to Wrong Way Cafe because we had heard about the amazing steak and burgers at the "western establishment". We showed up with our appetites and what do you know - IT WAS CLOSED!!! NOOOOOO. It's only open at night, so we decided to go ahead and get lunch somewhere else. We headed to Pizza & Co. where Tim and I split one of the specials: Medium pizza (loaded toppings), Spicy Bacon Spaghetti, Italian Cheese Roll, Wings, and a Bacon Salad - all for a measly $15USD total. WIIIIINNNNNIIINNNGGG!!!

After lunch, Gary and Hong headed back to Phibun, and Tim and I decided to take care of some errands and try to work up an appetite for Wrong Way later. We got plenty of new clothes and did tons of walking around. Then we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the evening.

After we were so fresh and so clean, we tuk-tuk'd (taxi) it to Wrong Way Cafe (IT WAS OPEN!!!) and ordered some drinks to wet our cocktail appetites. Then we played some pool,and then it was FINALLY TIME....CHEESEBURGER TIME!!!!

The burger was made on home-made sourdough bread, topped with cheese, bacon, and served with HUGE french fry wedges.

Then we continued our night with beers and pool. Once it was time to go home (closing time = 12pm) the bartendar gave us a ride home since we "were going her way".

Sunday we woke up and had the hotel buffet breakfast - then grabbed some coffee and a little more shopping before we headed back to Phibun.

My weekend originally had no shopping planned, but since the rain came (and stayed) and Timmy needed new clothes, it ended up being a shopping expedition!

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

Thai Redskins Fan

Just in time for the start of the 2011-2012 NFL season!!!
LET'S GO REDSKINS!!!
HTTR!!



These are both Timmy and mine's classes. My kids are the smaller ones (with the Redskins signs they made) and Timmy's are the older ones (not as "redskin-ed" out).

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!!!

Ok, it may already be September 3rd...but hey, better late then never, right??

This month marks so many things for me:
- (American) FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!
- 1 month left of Phibunmungsahan
- 1 month left until I have completed my FIRST SEMESTER OF TEACHING
- 1 month until I am laying once again on the Thai beaches :)

Since I only have a month left in this town, I will make sure the upcoming posts involve things that I have realized I haven't written about: a normal school day, my fellow teachers, the school itself, etc.

And on that note - I am off to start "Tim's weekend" (a weekend planned by him...starting with a "rainy bar 'bar' crawl)...but first, I'll leave you with a picture of what our sunsets on the water look like:


Have a great weekend - and an AWESOME SEPTEMBER!!

Sawasdee Kha!
- Apes :)

PS - don't forget to click on that little "become a follower" button on the left side of my page :)

Rainy Season

So I was told before moving to Thailand that RAINY SEASON WAS HORRIBLE!! I was told to "expect rain for hours and hours" and that "you will constantly be wet".

So when packing, I made sure to bring some crocs (gift from my Lucky 13 Roomster) and mentally prepared for months of rain on end.

Whelp, rainy season is here...so I've been told. Maybe it's different in other parts of Thailand, BUT over here in Phibun Mungsahan, rainy season is MAYBE a rain shower in the AM - lasting less than an hour, and then again at night, also lasting less than an hour. On average I have seen it rain about 30 minutes at a time.

Then there was the other night....

Thursday morning on the way to school Tim asked me if my room had gotten rained on. I of course replied, "Huh? My room is dry" Well according to him, his room got soaked, including his "teacher clothes" he had planned on wearing that day. As we got downstairs, we noticed that the first floor of the hotel was SOAKED...as in WATER EVERYWHERE. It had apparently flooded so bad that the staff had to move our motor scooter inside....but not soon enough!! The exhaust had flooded with water, so when we tried to turn it on to get to school, it wasn't really working. Luckily Tim was able to fix it by the afternoon so we didn't have to walk home from school (7 minutes of walking is just TORTUROUS!).

So that's our rainy season. We are equipped with ponchos, but have only used them 2 or 3 times. I don't even bring my umbrella with me anymore, as the rain never lasts more than 30 minutes.

Rainy season?? Try "twice a day sun shower".

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

NEW FOLLOWER ALERT!!

I just wanted to give a shout out to my newest blog follower - HEY MEL!! I've known this broad for years, and she is currently trekking her way from good 'ol VA to grad school in CALI!! From one coast to the other!

Hope the move is going great - and thanks for following :)

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

Random Thoughts While Sick in Bed...

So I took the afternoon off from school (no worries, I only have 1 class on Wednesdays and it's in the morning) to rest in bed and get better. Last night I had a fever and an achy body. Timmy is doing his best to take care of me; getting me meds, soup, juice, etc.

While I'm on my sicky bed, I figured now was the perfect time to put out some thoughts that aren't enough to make a full post, so here it is:

- Do I really only have 1 follower?? While Ashley is pretty awesome and all, I am sure she is lonely in my "follower group" How can YOU fix that? Easy!! If you are reading this on FB, scroll to the bottom of the post and click "See original post" then on the left hand side of my site, click "become a follower" and there ya go!! Ashley can have some friends to throw a "follower party" with. If you're NOT reading this on FB (cuz Jeffro), then just click on the "become a follower" on the left side of the screen.

- Teaching in Thailand isn't really teaching...it's more like having a butt load of Assistants. For example, It is rare that I carry anything to class. If I am seen carrying anything, there will no doubt be a student to rush over, take my things, and put them at whatever destination I am heading. The other day in class, while grading papers I had a student fanning me the whole entire time. I mean, REALLY?? It can't really get much more awesome than that. Oh, and I can't forget the daily affirmations of how beautiful and lovely I am.

- NEVER go to restaurant to order anything besides an omelet or fried rice if it's your first time. Apparently Thai's (or Isaan people) think that is all Farang (foreigners) eat. After your 3rd or 4th time, you can order other food and actually GET WHAT YOU ORDER!

- No one cares if you are late to class, or even show up at all. As long as you sign the "sign in sheet" that your class has. For example - we had a long meeting one morning, and it cut halfway into first period. After wards, the teachers weren't in any rush to get to their class. Another example - during "Science Day" or "Language Day" or any other themed day, there are concerts on campus all day. The teachers say "sign the sheet, then send your students to the concert". No problem there!

- Follow-up is non existent here. An example (one of many) - we were given a log-in for a website to record our students grades. Once logged in, it has your class list and from there you can input grades. My log-in worked, but my classes listed were wrong. They said they'd get back to me....that was over a month ago.

- Farangs are awesome (with the exception of in Bangkok), but blonds are even better. Example - during English camp last weekend, we had our blond friend Chris come and help out. We never saw him after the first 10 minutes, as the students had hold of him and wouldn't leave him alone...I'm sure it helps that he looks like Ron Weasley.

- Surprisingly, Thai mail takes about the same time as US mail! Who would've thought it wouldn't be slower than molasses?!?!

- Massaman Curry is the #1 most delicious food in the world. You can even buy it in a can! But you canNOT find it anywhere in our town.

- Eating rice every day doesn't get old!! You can eat it plain, sticky, and even sticky with coconut milk. Anyway you choose - it's still tasty!

- On the local cable stations (the 2 English-ish ones), it doesn't matter what part of a movie you are at, it will at some point be switched to Thai. I have watched the opening of Salt 2 times, gotten to where she is in NY, and then it switches to Thai. I have never seen the beginning of Adjustment Bureau - but I can recite the end f the movie by heart.

- If you get a Thai cell phone, and you hear the text message alert, don't bother checking it. 99% of the time it's Spam. If some one wants to talk to you, they actually call you because it's cheaper.

Ok - time to roll back over and sleep off my sickyness.

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

English Camp 2011

As part of our teaching, we have to participate in our school's International Camp (English Camp). This is a weekend event where our school takes select students to another part of Thailand for a few days of fun.

(English Camp 2011)

We had about 80 or so students registered for English Camp (out of 3000 students that our school hosts). I was lucky to have about 10 of them come from my advanced English class, so I knew them by name (or nickname rather). There were the 3 boys; Man, Alek, and O-P. And there were the girls; Army, Garfild, Poppy, Poopey, Chompue, and Ing. All 80 students and the teachers were divided between 2 buses and shipped off to Chonburi to spend a few days at the Open Zoo.

(As you can see, we were on board the "mermaid fairy" bus. The other was Finding Nemo.)

Once on the bus (a kind of double decker), the students sat on the top level, and the teachers sat in the small lounge below. Everyone sang Karaoke (the upstairs mic and downstairs mic went through the whole bus, so we could hear the students, and they could hear us). It was fun....but once midnight came - it was getting out of hand. Once the students finally went to sleep, they only lasted a few hours before they were up again at 6am with more Karaoke. No sleep for us!

Once at the zoo we met up with Chris and Meredith (from our ATI training group) who came to help us out. We grabbed breakfast and got settled in our rooms with showers and clean clothes. Then it was camp time!!

Camp started with some Ice-breakers. I am not sure how exactly the students "warmed up to camp" but us teachers had to dance in front of them. Of course I blew everyone out of the water with my "white boy" dance.

Then it was already lunch time!

After lunch it was time for group activities. Meredith and I had a "Acting Scavenger Hunt" for the kids who came through our rotation. In partners, they had to use clues to figure out the correct animal, and then take a picture of their partner acting out the animal. The animals were Zebra, Giraffe, Rhino, and Springbok (google it). Needless to say, they definitely had funny pictures. Then, for the groups that finished with a bunch of time left over, we did an animal version of Simon Says.

(Giraffes - with their long necks)

After about 2 groups, it was snack time.

Then after about 2 more groups it was dinnertime.

Apparently English Camp = Eating Camp.

Dinner was a buffet dinner, and the most coveted item was CHICKEN WINGS!! We kept going back for more and more and more. Needless to say, we were STUFFED full of chicken!! MMM.

Then it was time for the NIGHT SAFARI!!! We took the Trams around the zoo to the Cat Area and made it in time for the show. We saw Hyenas, Lions, Tigers, etc. Even Tigers swimming!!


Then we played with some animals, finished the night safari, and headed back to turn in for the night.

The next morning, after breakfast (and catching the score of the Skins game - WOOO!!!) it was time for free time with the animals. Mere, Tim, and I explored the zoo, where we fed long beans to Giraffes, grass to Rhinos, and long beans to Deer. We could get right up to the animals and pet and feed them! Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to make it out of the "African Savannah" so we have already decided to go back!

After the zoo, it was BEACH TIME!! We bused down to the beach, where the teachers were treated to endless seafood (crab legs, breaded shrimp, bbq fish, baby crabs, oysters, and more). While we ate - the students played in the water. How relaxing for both groups :)

After the beach, we said Goodbye to Meredith and Chris, and made our trek home...getting in at 5am Sunday morning.

WHEW, What a weekend!!!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes

Sunday Brunch

So I've been missing Brunch something horrible lately. So Tim and I decided to have our own Western Brunch on Sunday. We bought the fixings for a GREAT brunch, and Sunday morning we got it ready!

We had a mimosa bar - Spy gold cocktail + Tangerine Juice = a better Mimosa than I've had in the states!
We also had a french toast bar that had a vast array of toppings: Nutella, Pecans, Bananas, Confectionary Sugar, Honey
I made a fruit salad, and Timmy made the bacon. I also had grabbed some "donut puffs" from the local bakery.

After it was set up, we played dress up where I did my hair and put on my "Sunday Best" and Tim did the same - even wearing his new White loafers.

We lit the candles, poured the mimosas, and BRUNCHED. We brunched until our hearts were content....ahhh the little things.

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

Productive Saturday

This morning Timmy headed into the city (Ubon) and I stayed in town. Mostly I wanted to sleep in and he wanted to go into town early, but I also had some errands of my own to run.

I woke up at a late 10:00am (ahhhhh, sleeping in!!) and watched the last half of The Adjustment Bureau (in english!!!). Then I geared myself up for a late morning run. I only ran about 15 minutes (with the last 10 being in rain) but then came back to my room and did the P90x Ab workout. So it wasn't too bad of a workout.

After wards, I treated myself to a mini self-mani/pedi and a steaming hot sauna-shower. Then it was errand time.

I headed to the market and collected all I needed. For a total of less than $20USD I got the following:

- new wallet
- necklace
- 2 pairs of sandals
- a pair of white loafers for Tim (he had already tried them on, but I knew he wouldn't buy them on his own)
- new dressy shirt (with a belt)
- shot glass that doubles as a measuring cup
- lunch (with a drink from my coffee shop)
- 2 champagne flutes (we are planning on big brunch for 2 tomorrow)

Needless to say - shopping in Thailand is pretty awesome. Back in the states you would have spent $20USD on just the lunch and coffee.

As I walked around the market alone I heard a lot of people saying how beautiful I was (in Thai) and it definitely helped my ego after the hair-massacre from earlier this week.

Tomorrow Tim and I decided to have a western brunch. We have a huge spread of ingredients and great recipes to try...let's hope it turns out tasty :)

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

Thailand hosts the #1 most delicious food in the WORLD!!

Well looky here...my favorite Thai food is also the WORLD'S favorite food. Check out the article (US is on there too!)

50 Most Delicious Foods in the World!

NEVER GET A HAIRCUT IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY

Why you may ask? Let me tell you...

Tonight I decided it was time to cut my hair. It had already grown majorly long...see look (at me, not the horse):
My hair is SUPER LONG. Obviously that means it's super hot....and even hotter in Thailand. So i tend to wear my hair up. Like ALL the time. So there's no real point in having long hair if you never wear it down, right? Well that's exactly what I thought. So it was time to bite the bullet and get my haircut.

Ok, now if you know me (which you should, or why else would you be reading this) you know my hairstyle is pretty simple. I cut it a little above my shoulders, and that's it. Nothing else. NOTHING ELSE. No layers, no thinning, NOTHING but a cut.

So I went to the hair salon after work. I showed her the length I wanted my hair. I said HERE. And pointed. And pointed. And pointed. She repeatedly asked if I wanted it "this short" or "this short" and repeatedly I said "Here" and showed her the length. I even showed her "NO" and "NO" to the lengths I DIDN'T want. Finally she puts her hand the length of how I want it and I agree. So we now know how short/long I want my hair. Let's get started.

First, she ties it in a pony tail and chops off the ponytail. Ok, that will make things easier in the long run. Then she puts the scissors away. WHAT?!?! She then THINS my hair until it is the length that is COMPLETELY SHORTER than I what we had motioned. Then she moves onto my bangs....that took um, like, 6 months to FINALLY grow out. And she thins then...to shortness. WTF?!!?!? Then she acts like she's done cutting, and I have to show her that both sides are different lengths. She says "Yes, cut, cut" and then blow dries my hair (not sure why she pulled out a blow dryer - she didn't wet my hair to begin with) and then straightens it. OBV both sides are still NOT EVEN. She finally cuts them to the same length...

How short you ask? Well since I'm OBV not putting up a heinous picture of me, put your forefinger to the bottom of your earlobe. Got down to the middle knuckle, and that's the length of my hair. Now add the image of thinning hair. Do you see it? Yes, it's me.

Don't worry - I didn't spend a fortune on the haircut. A normal meal at a restaurant here is 30baht. A pizza in the city (a rare treat) is 200 baht. Oh don't worry, my haircut was 150baht. Yes, my haircut was the cost of 5 meals, or almost a whole pizza.

They say a bad haircut lasts 2 weeks....how long does a horrible one last?

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes

Hot Dog Crawl

Since there is only one bar here we can’t really do a bar crawl…so what shall we do instead? A HOT DOG CRAWL!! Hot dogs are sold ALL over town, so we decided to pick up some buns (Thai’s eat hot dogs on a stick) and some mustard, and start ‘crawling’. We stopped at each hot dog/sausage stand, purchased a dog, dressed it up with a bun and mustard, and tried it out. We definitely were getting stares, but that was fine by us! They were delicious, and it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. We ended up trying 5 different hot dogs, with the first one being the most tasty. What was even better was that with all 5 hot dogs, the total cost was only around $1USD! Cheapest crawl I’ve ever been on!!

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes

Welcome Party

What is the first thing on your mind after you take your last midterm? PARTY TIME, right? Well, nothing is different here in Thailand. Midterm week ended with a “welcome party” for the new teachers (that’s ME!). A welcome party in the middle of the semester? I’ll TAKE IT! We were given a 9 course meal, unlimited beer (Leo Beer – the good kind), and then were presented to the rest of the teachers. We were given gifts, and I was picked to give a speech on behalf of the new foreign teachers.
After we ate, drank, took pictures, and danced (I danced with the school director), it was time to move the party to….THE BAR! Yup – a group of us went to the town bar and kept on drinking and dancing. We met some town cops, the owners of the bar, and other townsfolk. Then the power went out and we had to hang out by candlelight. The only candles they had were birthday candles! So they put birthday candles on each table, it was quite the sight! Once the power came back on there was enough time for the band to play one more song before it was closing time.

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

Midterms

Oh midterms. How I hated you as a student. But as a teacher – I LOVE YOU!! It was midterm week here at our school, so there was NO teaching to be done! We had to sit in a class and administer tests to students for 3 out of the 4 days (it was a 4 day week) until lunch. Then the day was pretty much over. A 4 day work week, with 3 days being half days, and the 4th being a free day? I wish midterm week was every week.
BUT THEN….it’s grading time. 650+ midterms to grade, not so much fun. BUT it was def worth having a week off from teaching :)

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

Bangkok Birthdays and Hua Hin Holidays

This past weekend was a Buddhist Holiday, so the whole country got a 4 day weekend! WOO HOO!! Our town has a candle festival that weekend – they spend the whole month before preparing for it. Unfortunately, for us, we would have to miss out on that. We had decided to use this 4 day holiday as a time to meet up with our fellow teachers from our Phuket course, and spend the long weekend back in civilization.

Friday morning we headed into Bangkok on the earliest flight, and landed in BKK around 10am. After our multiple transfers on the various Thai public transportation services, we run into Claire and Bri! We head to the hotel, chattering up with gossip and stories the whole way. Once at the hotel – it is POOL TIME! We order food via room service, and have some cocktails. Then Brooke joins us, and we have to keep to Claire’s tight schedule – so we head into the Siam area to go shopping. Tim and I needed to go to a branch of our bank, and the girls wanted to do some shopping for the evening festivities. Tim and I were also meeting an old friend (Brian) of mine from high school, and his fiancé. After we caught up with Brian for a minute – and realizing we weren’t able to sit down for a drink anywhere (thanks Buddha for your no-drinking on a holiday rule) we had to separate to start our part of the evening.

Brooke had purchased tickets to see the last Harry Potter movie in 3D for Bri and Claire for their birthdays, and Timmy and I were invited to join then. So we met the girls at the theatre, and enjoyed the movie thoroughly. 3D was DEF the way to see it (granted, I have only seen the first 2 HP movies anyways.

After the movie, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner! Bri had found a GREAT Italian restaurant in the NANA area of Sukhumvit, and made reservation for 10 of us. So after a few drinks at the hotel, showers, and etc. we were off! Once at the restaurant, the ladies served us the wine they had brought for the occasion, and we caught up with our fellow teachers who had joined us. We hadn’t seen some of the group since Phuket, so it was GREAT to have a chance to see how everyone was liking their jobs and areas. After a DELICIOUS dinner of pasta, wine, cake, etc it was time for the next stop on the birthday train…

KARAOKE! We headed over to a Karaoke bar that Claire had found and reserved a room for. By reserve a room, I mean – there are about 20 private rooms, all with different themes that you rent out to have your own personal karaoke party. We were in the “Dream Girls” room, and it was full of sparkle, glitter, and comfy lounge chairs. It also came with a stage, and a balcony. Since it was a Buddhist holiday, we weren’t supposed to be able to order alcohol – but since it was obvious we were Farangs, and it was a double birthday, they made an exception for us. So for the next few hours we all took turns karaoke-ing for each other and catching up. We even got a “Harry Potter” drink – which consisted of 4 martinis – all turned into a waterfall with fire and sparkles – completely full of Harry Potter magic. The best part? They tasted like marshmallows from a campfire!

Some of the other room themes were “Jailhouse” and had old fashioned ball and chains, and a fake jail cell; “The Shower Room” with a shower curtain around the stage; “Campfire” which had a fake fire pit in the middle of the room; and so on.

After we got our fill of karaoke songs, it was time for the after party! Some of the ladies headed back to their hotel – while the rest of us headed over to the house of a friend of the birthday girls – his name is Adam. He lived about 2 blocks from the karaoke bar. Once at his place we tried to play rock band but it didn’t work – so instead Timmy ended up finding a guitar and putting on a mini concert for the ladies. Once we were pretty sure we drank all of Adam’s alcohol, it was time to head back to our hotel and hit the hay – it was only the first night!!

The next morning we all got up and headed over to Victory Monument, where we were meeting our air conditioned van to take us to Hua Hin. We load into the van (there are about 6 of us – Bri, Claire, Brooke, Timmy, Nick, Me) and arrive in Hua Hin (a beach town) a few hours later.

Once in Hua Hin, we take motorcycle taxis to the hotel – at which we all stayed in a PARTY HOUSE!! It was a 2 story suite – so we all had a bed! We hit up the pool which was RIGHT ON THE BEACH. Yes, a beachside pool. The luxury of a pool, with the ambiance of the beach. So we all ordered food poolside, and some drinks. After we figured the nights plans out we headed back to the hotel to get ready. We decided to keep it a low key night and just party in the house. We had a small pizza party for us, then invited the rest of our teacher friends (who stayed at a different hotel) over for drinks and fun. We played drinking games, hung out, and even took a trip to the pool. The night was full of pool pix, beach pix, and good times. Once the group dispersed to their respective hotels, Timmy, Brooke, Oli, and I stayed up until about 3am talking. Oli lives in Bangkok with Adam (from Karaoke on Friday) and they both had come to Hua Hin during the pizza party.

Sunday it was a FULL POOL DAY! Everyone woke up and was at the pool by 1030am. We spent all day sunning, reading, swimming, playing Frisbee, and some of the group even went exploring. Nick, Sean, and Kate joined us later in the afternoon (just in time for buy one get one free wine happy hour) and we all played even more. Timmy and I went horseback riding on the beach at sunset (super cheesy romantic, of course) and the group had a whole photo shoot on the beach. After the others headed back to their hotel, the rest of us got ready and headed to the night market. This was the most gorgeous market I have ever seen. Paved paths, green grass, white fences all around. There was even a food court area with sushi, sticky rice, Korean BBQ, kabobs, ice cream, etc. Of course I got the Kabobs! After eating, we all walked around checking out the shops, the break dancers, and eventually stopped at the outdoor bar. We all had a drink, then started the quick walk back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel, it was another night of just relaxing with some cocktails until we all eventually passed out.

Monday morning we all woke up knowing we had to head back to our respective towns. Noone was all too happy about that. But we spent about an hour or so at the pool for one last time, then packed up and headed back to Bangkok. Once in Bangkok, Tim and I finally satisfied our Mexican food craving at Sunrise Tacos. They had a salsa bar, and we tried almost each of the 10 different kinds of salsa. Then we finally said our goodbyes and we started our trek back to Phibun Mangsahan….MRT to the airport express, airport express to airport, plane to Ubon Ratchatani, then a car ride from Ubon to Phibun Mangsahan.

Needless to say, after a great LONG weekend my body drifted to sleep pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes

Payday = Bruscetta + Wine!

So Friday was payday. We could NOT be more excited. We have not had a single paycheck since we were back in the states. So it was time to CELEBRATE!!

How do you celebrate in a foreign country, in a tiny town with no celebratory places? You make Bruschetta and drink wine - DUH!!!

Saturday morning Tim and I headed to the market to get fresh ingredients for a “Bruschetta off”. That consisted of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and basil. Then we headed to Tesco (the local grocery store) for the other ingredients (bread, and our own “secret ingredients”). We also got a box of wine.

We headed home and after relaxing, we both got to work in our respective “kitchens” aka, tables with tablecloths. Once our Bruschetta was ready, we poured some wine and decided on a winner.

My Bruschetta: I went with more of a Caprese style. I had tomatoes, onions, basil, sweet basil, garlic, garlic salt, and olive oil. I spruced up my bread with some garlic salt, and put a slice of Mozzarella cheese (secret ingredient) on the bread before topping with Bruschetta.

Tim’s bruschetta: He went with more of a sweet flavor. He had sugar in his, and his secret ingredient was MANGOS! They grow fresh here so it was a smart idea.

Since Tim did NOT agree mine was the winner, we plated both of ours and took it downstairs to D-Up (the coffee shop woman). She and her friend both declared my Bruschetta as the winner!!!! Tim was a sore loser.

So we headed back upstairs, put a large dent in both the bruschetta and wine, and watched movies online for the rest of the night.

Oh - since Tim lost, he had to treat me to a meal (I picked lunch the next day at the water reservoir - Thai BBQ, sticky rice, AND a soda!!!)

Ahh…to be getting a regular paycheck again (and to win food contests without a kitchen!)

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes

I lost my students!!

Tuesday morning I noticed the bells were off…at first just by a few minutes, then later they were WAY off. I mentioned someone to Tim about it, and he said he also had noticed it.We just figured it would be fixed at some point.

So off I went to class, and my students weren’t in their room! I asked a man walking past and he said they had moved to room 401 (currently I was at room 301). So I headed to building 4, and I asked a woman where the classroom was. She called to a student and had him lead the way. Apparently he wasn’t sure where the room was either, and we trekked all over the campus looking for it. We finally found the room (about 30 minutes later) and it was all locked up. So I headed back to the foreign language office. Once inside, I asked “Where are all my students??” the teachers laughed and said they were at lunch….didn’t I know about the class time change? I didn’t so they filled me in. The classes are now 5 minutes longer. So I had been letting my class go 5 minutes early all morning, and when it was time to go to my afternoon class, they were still in lunch! At least I found them!!!

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes

Just keep swimming...

Whelp…we FOUND IT!! IT = a place to swim!!!!

Saturday morning we got up, took the motorbike around town and got new helmets. Timmy got a flashy black and red helmet with space goggles, and I got a pink one with a white stripe, and a tinted visor. We were ready for the road!

After we stopped at the grocery store for snacks to take with…we headed out towards the Laos border to the water reservoir. It was about a 30-45 minute drive on the bike, but it was worth it!

We pull up to the reservoir and we see rows and rows of huts ON THE WATER! A woman greeted us, and took us to the huts. There she put down a mat for us, and we ordered lunch. We sat in our hut and relaxed over lunch. Then we jumped in! Well, hopped in…the water was up to our knees. We rented tubes for 30 baht, and floated around for an hour or so. Then we took them further out until we couldn’t touch the bottom. Then we raced back to our hut (I won of course). After wards, we took out towels to the “land” and sunbathed till we were ready to hop back in the water. Ahhh….sun on my skin, a dip in the water when I got hot…life is G.R.A.N.D! (Going Really Amazingly No Doubt). Then we headed back later in the evening.

Once back in the evening (after a stop to get gas, at which Timmy couldn’t figure out how to open the gas tank HAHAH) we decided to finally watch Hangover 2. We had to wait for it to download – and it took a while, so we have about 30 min left still to watch. However, it is a GREAT representation of Bangkok – HOT, Dirty, bags of drink, and Singha/Leo beer everywhere. And yes, it really does cost $6 USD to get stitched up.

Sunday morning we were invited to a fellow teachers house (PR). She is hilarious and very sweet to Tim and I. She has actually started calling me Apes on occasion!! We drove over to her place and she gave us a bunch of gifts!!! She gave us cookies, crackers, Rambuttin (a type of funny looking fruit), sweet bread, and even coffee for Tim. We stayed for a little over an hour and then we headed back. I downloaded and watched The Beach (with Leonardo Dicaprio) since I had just finished the book, then we tried out a new restaurant for dinner….

A new restaurant just opened up RIGHT beside our hotel. As in, we walk out of our hotel, and into the restaurant. I ordered soup (by name) and Tim asked for Pad Thai (they didn’t have)…and they brought us out both Fried Rice with Chicken. Ok, now let me tell you. Soup is called “Thom” and fried rice is called “Kao Pad Gai”. It sounds NOTHING alike. So why did I end up with fried rice? I’ve decided that when someone sees a farang in this town (that haven’t already met us) they assume that we want fried rice, and therefore no matter what we ask for – that’s what they bring us. So we will try the restaurant one more time…and if I end up with fried rice, we won’t be going back.

Whelp, that’s it of our awesome weekend….I’ll write again soon (and more often) now that I have internet in my room!!!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes