As I live and breathe (or try to anyway)

So.... my life... in Bangkok. Some would say it's as though I never left Toronto (or Montreal, or Vancouver... definitely Terrace) but.... life as a Bangkokian (I think I just made up a new word) is certianly not like life at home. This my school. One shot from the front and one from the back. It's quite tiny... lovely and quaint, with extensions being built asI write this. The Thai flag at the front is flying at full mass. I took this picture quite awhile ago. Currently Thailand is amid 100 days national mourning after the death of the King's sister, (Princess Galyani) so the flag flies at half mass until the beginning of April. There were 15 days of mandatory mourning at the beginning of January when we were only allowed to dress in black, grey and white. That has changed, but the country is still in mourning.

This is my oh so lovely classroom that doubles as the library. We probably have the worst organized library around... but there are books, and people are trying to add more books. What is a school, really, without any books?

So this is where I spend my days and some of the children who I spend my days with. Life just keeps on going and going. We have such a tiny school, but slowly it will grow. They are currently in the process of building a swimming pool, and then an "early years centre." They will also be building a secondary school onto our existing primary school. We currently go up to year 6, but those children have been promised a year 7 class next year. A new head teacher was appointed this week, so there will be more changes to come I am sure. And of course, it being an international school, there are frequent changes in students and teachers. They are currently working on the assumption that I will be around next year. I have yet to truly make that decision. The school is great and the children really are lovely even though there are days where you aren't sure if you are going to make it. Time will tell what I will do. There will be a position open to teach reception or year 1 next year ( Reception is about preschool age and year one is Kindergarten). I would enjoy either one of those - perhaps more than what I am doing now....

So... this is my life.... and I'm trying very hard not to make it my whole life... more to come...

ooh - and as a side note

I did promise Paul some pictures of my new flat. Funny - I am here everyday and never think to take pictures. I would go do it now... but it's pushing on midnight... and 6am comes much too early.... so I promise... to Paul and to anyone else who is inerested... photos of normal life in the near future.

For the brother

I write this in honour of Big Brother Dave's 28th birthday. Happy Birthday big brother. Really, there is no reason why this blog is in honour of you, other than to wish you a happy birthday and perhaps remind a few other people of the special day.

life is life. Bangkok is Bangkok... work is work.

Hectic as always. Who would have thought that getting a new passport in a foreign country could be so difficult. And who would have thought that the process of reinstating simple visa stamps would be so hard? It took ages. Not a process I hope to ever go through again. Then there was the case of the people in my old building "throwing out" half of my things. I put that in quotations marks, because really - they just stole it. They didn't throw out things that are clearly useful. I had a Thai friend come with me to try to sort things out, but they just lied to our faces. We threatened to contact the police... but this is Thailand and chances are they would do nothing... or be paid off by the building manager. So... one more thing to deal with.

Chinese New Year has come and gone, but the sights and sounds still continue apparently for a couple of weeks. Oddly enough, in the mall by my flat there is still a Christmas tree... confused by that, but I have learned not to question things in Thailand. Well, I haven't really... I think I still question numerous things everyday.

I chose this picture to include in my post, just so all of you living in freezing cold temperatures wouldn't feel so bad. This is a stormy weekend on an island - not enjoyable. No need to feel jealous.

The next trip is to Laos, in just under a week. Can't week, won't be the typical beach vacation.. should be quite exciting.

Sometimes the beach is just not fun

So, I have written numerous accounts of lovely weekends away at the beach... and they truly have been lovely... but last weekend was an exception to that.

We arrived on Koh Samet on Friday night... the evening was lovely... random details made it not so enjoyable, but the night itself was great.

Then we woke up Saturday morning to rain. And it rained ALL DAY! This is not rainy season... And this particular island is basically made for lying on the beach, swimming in the sea, and eating at outdoor restaurants. So that was a bummer. Saturday night it had cleared up.... but there was no sun to aid in my tan needs.

Sunday morning, although no rain... it was dreary... the water looked as if a storm was coming... and halfway through breakfast... the rain came again. So... it wasn't the weekend I had hoped for.

Ah well... it can't all be perfect - I can only dream. There is always next time.

Bangkok is fun too!

So... just to prove that there are good times to be had in Bangkok, as well as in lovely beach towns around Thailand... I thought I would fill you all in on a regular Bangkok weekend.

Friday: 1. enjoy a lovely massage to take all of the week's worries away.

2. go out for dinner at a place called "The Witch's Tavern" and drown out our

sorrows from the week behind over some lovely Sangria.

3. on the way home, stop by a Japanese karaoke bar and sing Celine Dion (to honour Canada) and Spice Girls (to honour Britain) before being kicked out for not buying enough drinks.

4. play with a giant bouncy ball with the new security guard, who doesn't speak a word of English, who now clearly thinks the crowd in 7B are crazy.

Saturday: sleep in AT LAST!!!!! seems like that never happens. Go out for a traditional English breakfast at a local pub (no beer, no beef...) pick up a coffee from Starbucks and wander through a lovely Thai park. Take a nap, just because I can.... then go out for a manicure at the place next door. Get ready and go out for dinner among a row of vegetarian restaurants... so rarely do I have so many choices of what to eat. It was Australia Day and somehow we were named honourary Australians... so we joined in with them on the party.

Sunday: sleep in AGAIN (yay) and decide, for a reason I still don't understand, that going for a run would be a great idea. Then wander through the mall, do some food shopping and come home for an afternoon of movies and doing some minimal prep for school. All in all - a lovely weekend. Good times were had by all and minimal money was spent in order to save up for the next weekend away.

3 Weeks Back

So... it has been three weeks of school - three LONG weeks of school... but much to my enjoyment - I have already had one beach vacation, and another one planned for next weekend.

Last weekend, for my birthday, myself and three girlfriends flew to the south of Thailand, to a place called Krabi, for some lovely sunshine, beautiful water and whitesand beaches... and Krabi delivered.

Our hotel, not five star, but not too shabby, was a bit of a walk from the beach, but that was okay. We flew into Krabi right after school on Friday - and spent Friday night going to different bars around the beach. We played many rounds of Jenga... who knew Jenga was so much fun!

For the day of my birthday we went on a boat cruise of the Phi Phi Islands (pronounced pee pee). That is where the above picture was taken from. It was absolutely gorgeous. The boat cruise wasn't so much of a cruise - some rough waters, but we had fun.

I've got a new mission - and that is to learn to dive. We had an opportunity to go snorkelling... something I don't remember ever doing before, and it was a amazing.

We were swimming in this crystal clear water, you could see right down to the bottom, and there were fish swimming all around us. Truly amazing... so now I want to learn to dive to experience these things even more.

Anyway... the weekend was lovely - it came to an end much to quickly and I will definitely be returning to Krabi.

It's great living right in the city now. It was so mind-numbing having to take long taxi rides to get anywhere exciting. Even though the pollution is bad - I'm dealing.

That's it for now - until the next adventure. (trying very hard not to even THINK about school until Monday morning)

Back in Action

Well... I have been slacking on this blog business... but I'm back at it and hope to keep you all up to date in the future.

It was so nice to be home in Canada for Christmas... I believe the opening line to "Little Women" is "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," but I made the decision that Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a little snow, cold temperatures, homemade food, friends, and most of all - my family. I mean - it had been 4 months since a brother had sat on me, or tapped me numerous times on the forhead. You get to miss that stuff.

Anyway, I'm back... in a much more agreeable temperature... renewed and refreshed. I have a new apartment which is just lovely - and two great flatmates to go with it. I'm living right in the city now, which means a bit of a commute to work, but it all seems worth it. The new place is wonderful and I have even, for the first time since moving here, cooked for myself. It's a luxury I hadn't realized I missed so much.

I'm not one for making New Years Resolutions, but I have decided to destress myself this term. Not take on so much. Relax... enjoy life a little bit more. As much as the school would like to push me and push me - I am learning to say no. So many more important things than getting up and going to work. It's bizarre, but this more relaxed approach has made me much more organized and calm at school - go figure. Remind me of these words when I am pulling my hair out in the next few weeks.

This weekend - in honour of my 26th birthday - and just because we can... we're heading to the beach. I can taste the salt water already. This time we are going to the south of Thailand to a place called Krabi, and hopefully a day trip to Koh Phi Phi. Should be exciting... and my tan is fading. We can't have that.

Stay tuned... there is never a dull moment in this wonderful place... and I will keep you up to date.