New Adventures...: January 2016

Wow! So I have a lot to update everyone on...that is if people are still reading this crazy attempt of a blog of mine...So the last time I left you my brother was boarding his flight back to America...and now it's the 20th of January so...here is my feeble attempt to update you on complete chaos.

So basically once my brother left I was a bit emo and slowly getting back into the swing of things. I spent the weekend (18/12-20/12) somewhere...I honestly can't remember, so much has happened and have been traveling A LOT. I haven't spent a weekend in my own place since October 2015! So...That Monday (21/12) was the day 1 of Sports Day(s)! I was on Team Blue (holla!) and was told to make a costume for the parade...well my amazing friend/sister Emily helped me (okay so she did all of it, I just paid for the supplies) make a blue tutu out of plastic bags...complete with glitter...so much glitter! I bought a blue masquerade mask (covered in glitter) and found blue nail polish and leg warmers to complete my amazing outfit. And bought additional glitter because one cannot have enough glitter. Up bright and early (6am) on Monday (FML) we all get ready and I cannot wait to show off my tutu. I make a mess of my makeup (in the best way possible) and put on my mask and casually walk to the main entrance of the school...it took some time for the students and teachers to recognize me, but once they did oh my...so many squeals and pictures galore! They gave me a baton and showed me where I would be in the parade and we were off!

Me in all my glory

Now due to some technical difficulties, most of my photos didn't make it to the blog. A bit bummed by that, but oh well! life goes on! So Sports Day(s) went on for 3 very long and exhausting days and it ended with a teacher run relay. I had to run in pants and well no sports bra because it was impromptu. And barefoot because I was in flipflops. Oh so silly. Anyhow. Overall my team (obvs) took home the most medals and this is where I say that winning doesn't matter and we were all there for a good time, but reality is that we have won BOTH years I have been on the team and...#jk #notreally

So later that evening we (teachers) were responsible for decorating the auditorium for Christmas - we celebrated on the 24th with the 25th having a day off. So after we did our best and mustered up all our energy we made Christmas trees and a million balloons and turned our Buddhist auditorium into Santa. I slept soundly that night.

The morning of the 24th I woke up feeling like it was xmas morning because I knew I was going to see my students in little Santa hats all excited to see Santa. So here are some photos of the Christmas party (out of order, sorry!)

Myself with Jeffrey, Kru Tik (assistant director), Wynie, and Emily - we greeted the students and gave out candy at the entrance

this is what happens when you give your 8 year old student your iPhone

Anuwat and Kelly - I love them, even if Anuwat doesn't express it here

Me with my littles

My Mattyhom! M2 - Grade 8

Me after Xmas

So my boss invited the teachers over after the xmas party for dinner under the full moon. And beer flowed and I became fluent in Thai. Was quite fun and I didn't need to eat for a year afterwards

Typical - one day I'll learn to take a normal photo

Teacher Faye, Teacher Aor, and myself :)

Gift from Cartoon! (grade 3 student)

Selfie time

got a bit festive

So once that day ended we all slept soundly and I awoke to xmas morning to meet my friends at their school to see their students perform xmas songs. this is my life #teacherlife

And then later that day I was informed it was also our New Years party so...we hopped on motorbikes and headed to the hotel where our faculty was waiting and was seated and food was served and drinks were poured. Ah what a merry time in Thailand. My table was with the director and two assistant directors and the rest of the English teachers...aka best behavior

Happy New Years!

Teacher Opal! I loved this dance - all my friends/teachers did a Thai dance for everyone :) so beautiful!

Karaoke

karaoke

teachers mean business!

everything is a blur b/c no one stopped dancing for me to take a picture!

So finally was home around 6pm and crawled into bed for a nap because I was headed to Gemma's for our Christmas party with friends and munchies and drinks. So after a little snooze I biked on over and was greeted with xmas decorations and so much food. Seriously - gained about 200lbs #truestory

Thai teacher friends being festive

Gemma's parents sent the glasses - had to snap a pic

WE MADE GUACAMOLE!

AND IT WAS HEAVENLY

Alrighty so I went home around 10pm and crawled into bed to sleep for about 10 hours. I don't mess around with my sleep. So much has happened over the past two months (Indonesia, friends visiting, brother visiting, beach trips - not complaining, but I missed my own bed!). So my friend Becca (new teacher from America) and I went to Chiang Rai for the day on Saturday to get some Western food and have a nice tea/coffee in the sun before going back to our town to binge watch YouTube and sleep. I have caught up on chick flicks and sleep. Sunday was spent exploring Mae Chan on bicycles. I rode for about 2.5-3 hours Sunday afternoon and stumbled upon my future house :)

ta da!

#futureThaiPad no #padThai #555 (555 = hahaha = lol in Thai)

So had to snap some photos of "lessons" in the English workbooks that the Thai kids learn...needless to say I enjoy making up my own lessons, but you can get an idea of how absurd some of it is.

classroom fun - teaching my students to write out numbers

not tall enough!

when all else fails, find your own seat close to the board

oh yeah Emily got me an xmas gift :)

I HAVE A NEW ROOMMATE!

El Pato y Tam Tam

So I taught 28/12-29/12 and was really hard to get my kids to focus, however they ended up just having parties so didn't really have to do too many lessons and on Tuesday this was my Mattyhom's New Years party. They all congregated in the auditorium and got to wear "freestyle" aka whatever they wanted (school appropriate of course) and brought a gift with them that they had to register and then it was placed on the tables.

presents galore

not enough black hair!

one of my lovebugs

PRESENTS

NOT ENOUGH - notice they write their "9" as "g" been trying to break the habit, but no dice

my students

M3 girls (grade 9)

M3 boys (grade 9)

punks

excited to register

good to go!

serious business this is

M3 girls <3 (grade 9)

My M2 student being silly before her dance (grade 8)

M1 (grade 7)

My student wearing the girls uniform and putting on makeup #standard

think they're in a relationship - they change boyfriends/girlfriends every week, I can never keep up nor do I try - I just laugh and roll my eyes and tell them they are silly

excited to say hi

they love their costumes!

some of my mattyhom

culinary students

My P4 (grade 4) boys sneaking a peek

M3 boys being cute - #don'tbelievewhatyousee

why I love Thailand #allthefood

Teacher Wimala (wife of the Director) and Teacher Emily (my friend/teacher/SISTER)

Okay so...now it's 30/12 and it's time for me to catch my flight to BANGKOK to reunite with one of my all time favorite friends EVER! Lauren :) She is on a SE Asia tour with her family and we decided that we should definitely celebrate New Years in Bangkok. In a condo on the 15th floor that has a view like this:

Now I will just summarize this perfect New Years. Upon her meeting me in the lobby we were nonstop squealing and giggling and talking the entire 46 hours I was in Bangkok with her. Standard in my opinion. The first evening/night we went out to Terminal 21 and had a delicious dinner with my friend Ally (who is a teacher that lives there, but used to live in my town). We enjoyed amazing food and drinks and then we went to W District to have some mojitos and then we called it a night. Here is our one photo we have from that night:

happy to be reunited!

Now New Years Eve DAY we got up early to explore the grand palace and see the big reclining Buddha. Emphasis on the BIG. I haven't done much touristy stuff since being in Thailand so we decided to explore together. Here are some snaps of our day:

Oh snap what's up Buddha

My camera taking skills fail

praying to the Buddha

and we're off!

my boyfriend

after all day out we decided we needed to explore the pool and take a nap

ah - so these are all over Thailand and I love them. And I scared Lauren with this in 7-11.

selfie time

standard

Buddha prayers

selfie with Buddha

LAUREN BROUGHT ME TAPATIO (100 OF THESE BAD BOYS) LOOK AT THAT SMILE!

Road beers in a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok #11AM

2,000 baht for a taxi ride? we say OH HELLLLLLZ NO

So we went back and swam a bit and napped and then started to get ready to head out on the town...Here are some snippets :)

Outfit - sorry mom!

selfie shame

#notPG

Us after the countdown!!

So happy to be together

Our new friends from Singapore

not enough selfies!

Us when the ball dropped and fireworks went off like crazy!

Well so we got home around 6am (we're 27, what do you want from us) and went to sleep. We skyped our parents and wished them happy new years as it was still 2015 in America (get with the times peeps). And I headed to the bus station that afternoon to catch a minivan to Rayong to meet my friend on the beach for the rest of the weekend. Was so sad saying so long to my friend, but happy she made it out this way. I love sharing Thailand with people from home, they get why Thailand is now my home and no plans on moving back :) (sorry mom)

So I made it to Rayong and met my friend Katie and we both agreed that dinner needed to happen and then bed. PERFECT. Was asleep by 9pm and we got up early to catch a ferry to Koh Samet and by mid morning this was my view:

Then we decided to be a baller and rent a speedboat for a few hours to snorkel and explore about the island #mylifesuckssometimes

HELLO 2016

my friends being silly - yes I'm on the boat b/c I get cold easily

The 3 amigos - met Tovar on the minivan to the beach, he's from Hungary and lives in Bangkok and is a dive instructor. Which means we had our own tour guide under water. He showed us some cool marine life that we would have never seen. And you can see all our photo fails.

Once we were back at our beach we went to get some dinner and caught this beautiful sunset. Complete with yoga photos and photobombs. Enjoy :)

Now we were exhausted from the day so we called it an early night and crawled into bed and I watched Hunger Games on TV and it was in English! Crazy - can't remember the last time I used a TV haha. So then we were up bright and early and we parted ways and I headed back to Bangkok to catch my flight to Chiang Rai. Enjoyed a nice lunch and ran into my friend Sasha (teacher in my town) and we headed back to our little town together.

And THAT was my New Years...

Can you see why I haven't updated in awhile? I'm only on the 3rd of January as of now...

Speeding things up...

4/1-8/1 - Teaching begins again! Here are some photos my students not paying attention, but they're so cute it's hard to stay mad at them for long. So I snapped some shops of work happening.

This photo is for my brother - Elliott mumbles a bit (sorry bro) so when he introduced himself to my class they called him "alien" which to them is "UFO" so that's what they know him as. That and b/c of his beard "santa." So every Tuesday (when I see this class) the boys always ask where he is. I told them to smile and they all said "ALIEN!" in the photo. Quite adorable