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 :)