Happy 1 Year to Me :)

Current Mood: Giddy
Current Temp: 33
Current Song: I know - Shift K3Y

Friday was my one year anniversary here in Thailand! What a crazy wild and beautiful year it has been. I don't even know where to begin!

Taken September 24th 2014 at SFO :)

Now fast forward to September 2015, whoa! I realized I haven't put much photos up lately, part of that is due to my stolen iPhone (Chiang Mai, you and your backpackers suck sometimes!) so alas without some photos. I actually transferred all of my photos onto my Google Drive right before I left for Chiang Mai so I didn't lose any photos, but still. Whatever, joke's on the backpacker - it has a broken screen oye. Oh well, everything happens for a reason, no?! So I really have been living a life offline, which has been quite nice actually. My days are filled with playing with the students with a side of teaching ;) I've been inhaling Thai food lately, my friends and I can't seem to stop eating, not huge amounts, just always going to get a bite of something (noodles, soup, rice, curry, ice cream, chips, fruit, smoothies...) Not exactly a bad life! So some updates. School has been INSANE this past month, part of the reason I haven't blogged much. My down time is spent sleeping. How much is too much sleep? I should research this because my naps are becoming a necessary thing for me now. My friends can tell if I've napped or not after class. Seriously, such a wimp. Okay well the school opened a school bank at the office and so of course that means a huge ceremony and a million photos taken. This was taken at the entrance and the party favor was a little "piggy" bank - I picked an elephant because it's Thailand and I now have this little handsome fella sitting on my desk and I put my baht coins in there. I will have to crack it open once I live Thailand (if I ever leave). This is my poor attempt at being an adult - 401 K - a savings account...

My friends and I chowed on some Som Tam Thai (papaya salad) and two of us opted for Prathom (3 peppers) and Emily got Mattyhom (8 peppers) and well we called this our "emotional dinner" because we were all in tears by the end. Why we do this to ourselves I just don't know...it's just soooooooooooo good.

This is my P...means little sister in Thai. She's the little sister of one of my Thai friends. We drove to Mae Sai for this delicious "steak" and I ate my first mystery meat-meat ball...won't do that again, but I survived haha. Love Thailand!

So I have an American friend that lives in my little town and we meet up for dinner and binge watch American shows for hours and eat crackers and candy and sip soda water. He works for an international company here in Thailand and has been out here for 2 years. He's also been 6 years sober and works as a counselor at an institute here in my little town. Honestly he is just amazing, his stories amaze and terrify me, but he is the happiest person I have ever met. It's been really great getting to escape Thailand be a lazy American in A/C. Unrelated, just after I posted my previous blog about the lack of rainfall - a HUGE thunder and lightning storm roll in, it was seriously insane. I posted that blog at lunch and I was teaching on the 3rd floor and it just went dark and windy and then the lightning started striking down across the street! However, my friend was also watching the storm and he got hit by a small bolt!!! Note to self: never complain about the weather again in Thailand, poor guy. Thankfully he's okay, just a bit shaken up...Okay so...anyhow, one night we caught this beautiful sunset and left us speechless. This temple is the one temple in my little town by the night market, where food carts are open from 4PM till around 2AM...every day. It's the best thing. So here are some Mae Chan skies and why I love where I live...

And here is a selfie when I was killing time in the office and trying to survive the heat. I have been avoiding photos since my parents visit, trying to steer clear of technology a bit but hey...selfies can be fun :)

This was taken at Gemma's Gym - our nickname for Gemma's place. This is where we get together to do yoga and aerobics and we will soon be starting a bicycle club once the temperatures start to drop. Biking in 34+ weather = one hot sweaty mess. And I wanted to see if I could still do some inversions so had Gemma snap this pic for me. I love my Thai fashion skills. Clearly I don't own a full length mirror - I wonder if I would pay more attention to my clothes when I'm not all dolled up for school haha. 

Ah okay so I mentioned my friend from Canada was going to be visiting Thailand...well everyone meet Natalie! We lived together in Cusco back in 2012. Ya'll can click on the link if you want to see my terrible attempt of my Peru blog haha. I still can't bring myself to read what stupid things I wrote about. Lots of photos though. Anyhow, she was a volunteer in construction and she helped build an orphanage and actually went back a year later and saw the finished product. Well she passed her med lab exams and finished uni and sort of decided to buy a one way ticket to Paris and has been traveling ever since May. She messaged me about Thailand and she flew straight to Chiang Rai and we reunited in the city and she ended up staying in my little town for about 6 days. We had such a good time together. Ate a lot of Thai food, smoothies, she met my students and my director offered her a job haha. We biked to the hot springs and boiled quail eggs in the water and ate som tam (papaya salad). Honestly it was just a perfect visit. Was really great to see her and catch up on her life. I love how small this world is! Was sad to see her go, but it's been great knowing that we'll meet up again in some other country :)

September

What a crazy busy time it has been the past couple of months. Three weeks of my parents visiting, two weeks in California, and passport trips to Chiang Mai the past couple of weeks! I finally have my new passport equipped with a terrible picture so won't be displaying that on here haha. Just need to transfer my visas to my new pasaport then all is good...until I go to extend my work visa for another year! Still set on Oz, but thinking of waiting another term and live in Vietnam next May. Will decide after the holiday...maybe :) Bali is booked and doing The Color Run in Bangkok on Halloween! Then home the next day and first day of school begins the next day...Hopefully all the paint is off of me by then...

Okay so the puppy is much better, awareness to her conditions helped a lot and she is treated a lot better. So I can sleep better :)

Been reading A LOT. Been nice to escape for a bit through my books. Back to running and yoga daily with my girlfriends and feel so much better overall. Everyone at school is ready for holiday...three weeks left! Not too much to update on this week...Can't believe I have been here almost a year! My housemate in Peru is visiting me next week and then we have a huge retirement parry in the city for four of our teachers and the following weekend will be correcting exams and then freedom!

Still waiting for some heavy rain! This California girl wants full on rain! It rains for twenty minutes and then clears up. Still in the 30s, but at night it is getting colder...winter is approaching! :(

Here's a silly yoga picture - silly times in Mae Chan with friends :)

Until next time!