Okay so let me attempt to figure out what I've been doing with my time...My friend got engaged and so my friends and I went to the engagement party back in January. We clean up quite nice! The engagement party was beautiful and we sang a lot of karaoke (shocking) and then we decided that we needed to dance so we went next door after to the Thai club and danced our little hearts away till the wee hours of the morning.
Teacher Becca, Teacher Gemma, Teacher Dao, and Teacher Sasha <3
Ampy (bride) and Joe (groom) with us :) #weateallthefood #noshame
Now...I don't know if you are aware of cold weather, yes I heard there was some blizzard on the East coast (like they get EVERY YEAR yet people still decide to live there - that's crazy). Well Mae Chan (and the rest of Northern Thailand) experienced our first bit of cold weather. Now it's been in the 30s (80s) and then Sunday happened and the sun decided to run away and blast us with cold weather. This resulted in me wearing everything I own and sleep with a million blankets. I actually wore more layers here than I did when I was living in the Andes (Peru) in their winter...It dropped to 8 degrees and I honestly though I would never feel warm again. And then on Tuesday it decided to RAIN to make matters worse. I couldn't remember what it felt like to be happy and warm again. I purposely dehydrated myself on Tuesday because I didn't want to go to the bathroom (sorry mom) because the toilet seat felt like an icicle. I don't do well in cold weather. I also had to go to Mae Sai that day to do my 90 day visa check in and the bus ride was freezing and smelly, but I had no feeling, I couldn't feel. anything.
What I wore for 2 days...
My attire was a black pair of leggings under my black pants under my purple Peruvian pants. I wore 2 pairs of socks as well. Tank top, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, Patagonia jacket, and a liner. As well as two scarves, a hat, and some mittens. I also slept in this because I couldn't get warm. There's no central heating in Thailand (cars don't even have heaters) and it was even colder inside buildings than it was outside. I couldn't escape this horror and I was miserable. I got to my friends and I just stood against the wall and she asked what was wrong and I just said I couldn't feel anything and wanted this feeling to go away. So needless to say, I made the right choice in NOT moving to Australia during their winter. There's no way I would last.
Wednesday the sun came out in the afternoon and I put on shorts and a t-shirt and a light jacket and went for a bike ride and couldn't stop smiling! Once the sun set the cold reappeared, but at least I got some sunshine and was disgustingly happy and annoyed my friends. Teacher Emily said I was like a flower that blossomed because of the sun.
Truth.
So just wanted to let you guys know that I did in fact brave the cold for 3 days and the temperature finally returned to the high 20s/low 30s and my smile is back in check. Thank you for your concern #thailife
On Thursday there was a birthday for our friend Goy - she's a Thai teacher that does yoga with us and drinks whiskey and beer on the weekend haha. Good times! Gemma hosted the little shindig and we made our own pizzas and feasted. I barely made it home from all the food. Fun fact: woke up the next morning and still wasn't hungry #success
Birthday Dinner #allthepizza
My bed is getting a bit crowded...
This popped up on my FB - CANNOT BELIEVE MY KBELL IS 6! <3
Teacher Dao clothes (leggings not pictured)
Ah okay so the last weekend of January was the TedX conference! My friend and I bought our tickets awhile ago and for good reason, the even sold out! This was sooooooooooooooooooooo amazing and awesome and everything in between. over 1,000 people were here - lots of teachers and expats from around the area. The theme was "Dare to..." and it was about entrepreneurs that have started their own businesses or non profits around the world. Had both Thai and English speakers. There were lots of fun activities/booths setup as well AND FREE MASSSAGES. So you can imagine how I spent my afternoon when the Thai speakers were talking. And there was also...YOGA! So I took two little yoga sessions and soaked up the massages. It was a perfect day and the food was amazing. Worth every baht :)
aroi mak mak
heaven <3
all the desserts
:)
Being silly
all smiles :)My friend in Chiang Mai also opened up a new hostel and loved the artwork on the walls :)
Okay so February arrived on Monday and Teacher Dao had to go back to teaching :)
I turned around and they had done this - had to snap a shot. so cute
P4 student work
I decided to teach cursive this week for my older students...wanted them to learn to sign their name. Some loved it, some hated it. I decided to write out every name on a nametag...it was fun for the first hour...however it took me two days to write them out. My poor hand...but it was oh so worth it. The students loved it and even danced around with it when I surprised them in class with it. So cute. They kept them in their little button pockets in their uniform and kept taking it out to stare at it then put it back. Oh children...I love them oh so much
Oh and I also got a new tutoring gig that pays super well so yay for having more money for traveling and getting to make a new friend. She's a 19 year old girl who has applied for a student visa in England (her step father is English) and will leave in September so until then...she gets me! We meet for 2 hours and we have an actual legit English book to work from. It's been great helping her learn more of the grammatical structures of our insanely hard language. We meet at Mae Chan Coffee and I can't get enough of the green teas...so good :)
So my days are now spent riding 30km in the morning before class, teaching about 4 hours), lesson prep and then tutoring till 5PM. Then I either take another bike ride or I'm starving and inhale dinner. Evenings are spent reading, coloring, or listening to podcasts. I actually finished yet another book (3 in 2016 thus far!) so on the prowl for a new one...
My home <3
so cute
selfie in my fav restaurant
Suki nam gai - one of my favs. chicken noodle veggie soup and soda water :)
