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