Updates

Sorry I have not blogged this week but I will give you a quick update... Monday (the kids got glasses at school)...it was really fun because 6 kids got glasses donated from a doctor to the school kids.. I am not explaining this well... the eye doctor came a couple weeks ago and tested all the kids' eyes and then made glasses for all of the kids that needed them... all donated...really cool). So they had a ceremony to give the glasses away. ( don't worry I will post pictures) Tuesday... we got ice cream at lunch for the kids it was fun. Wednesday... was movie day... we brought an American movie and candy for the kids... once again fun. Thursday..Burma.. white temple( extremely cool). Friday..nothing much to report. Saturday... learned about Buddhism from a monk...good Thai food..Thai message (AMAZING)... Thai movie (a little funny...a little weird)... night market ( great purchases)Sunday (today

The beauty of doing nothing much

This weekend we did nothing much... much like our week. On Saturday we went to the night market with our neighbor mom and we used the Internet. Then on Sunday we went to church, ate at an American restaurant (we have not had American food in a month)... so it was a treat... I had a burrito and MANGO CHEESECAKE... it was literally the best cheesecake I have ever had. It was so good. Normally in America I do not like mango but here it tastes so good.
Then we went to a market and home to eat dinner with our neighbors. These are my favorite kinds of weekends were you randomly ask your self...self what would I like to do now... read a book... oh OK let's do that. (In case you did not understand that last bit.. it was a conversation between me and myself)

Sick

Well I have this problem about me... if anyone is sick within 17 miles of me I will catch it. So one of the kids at school was sick and I caught it. So our week was pretty uneventful though extremely fun none the less. I love being sick from school. My neighbor mom is the so sweet she took care of me and bought me special surprises because I was sick... I totally ate it up. So we spent our days this week hanging out with MEE ( that ma in Thai)...it was really fun. Sam and I even got to paint some Thai umbrellas. Don't get me wrong I was actually sick... but we had fun as well with MEE.

We love the King!!!

This building is dedicated to the King and it is beyond beautiful.

Mural of the KING

Cool Cactus

This is a picture of a cactus at the Royal Flora garden. Our neighbors who took us here were very intrigued by the desert plants. I guess because it is not common to the tropical Thai climate. Our neighbors frequently laugh at us when we see something and get excited about it here in Thailand because it is so common to them. It was pretty fun seeing the tables turned and our friends get excited to see a bunch of cacti.

Soilless Plants are cool.

This is at the Royal gardens.

Flower Power

This is a beautiful flower we saw at the Royal gardens.

Dried Fish mmm?

This is a picture of a dried fish stand at the night market. They are very popular... I do not know why they smell terrible. It is dried fish and squid. Huge ones...that is squid.

Weekends go to fast!

The weekend is over already... don't get me wrong I love teaching it is just a little exhausting. This weekend our neighbor "Sister"( they are like our family) came home from college for the weekend. We were so excited to see her ans we got to hang out with her all day on Saturday. We went to the Royal Gardens which were so beautiful my favorite part was the building in the center. It was structured like a wat but was not considered a wat. The most incredible part of the building was the inside. The walls were painted black and then it had a mural all around the inside of different events of the kings life. The pictures of the king were in gold. It was so beautiful. The building lay at the foot of this lush green tropical mountain. It was the perfect backdrop.

Our week

This week has been pretty usual well I guess for Thailand standards. We taught English as usual and I got to teach 3 art classes. Teaching art is so much fun!!! Teaching English is really hard and frustrating. We have to explain things a million times and the kids misbehave.... they are just normal children and are really cute. I think it is just what comes with teaching English but with art it's just fun. The kids and I just sit around and play with clay and pretend with our clay figures. It is fun. Oh.... I almost forgot the highlight of the week. Two of our students came to our house to visit us. They brought their pet mouse and had Sam and I held it and played with it. Well... I am one of those people that trouble always seems to find and the mouse bit me... just a tiny nibble and then my finger swelled and began to burn and itch. I showed a teacher at our school the next day and she took me to the doctor. That is another interesting experience but I will spare you the details. Let's just say translating is difficult and hospitals look like big houses next to a cow pasture. No scrubs no office no disinfectant and the pharmacy is in the same building which is pretty cool. I got some medicine and the swelling should go down soon I hope. We only had to pay 2.50 (70 baht) for all the medicine ( it is real medicine the same you would get in the United States I have seen it before and in little pop out packets)... why is medicine so expensive in the United States?????? Sorry this is so long.

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We love comments and have not had any in a long time....

BANANA WAFFLES

This picture is of me and my favorite thing in the world BANANA WAFFLES.

The last picture was of our mom ( neighbor mom) and Satang( it is a coin in Thailand that is bronze and is only worth 50 cents which is like nothing.

Our LONG hike

We hiked a total of 30 Kilometers which is about 15 miles in 2 days...

Volcanic Rock

Here is another picture of the landscape in the mountains. Unbelievably beautiful. I still can not believe I was there.

AMAZING

This is how beautiful it was up there. It was one of those moments in my life where I kept telling myself you are really here this is you. Be in this moment.

Elephants

We rode elephants in the jungle it was pretty cool... but if you know me at all the whole time I was wondering if the elephant was ok. so my pictures kind of stink of this event because I was concerned. Our elephant's name ws moon and she was so cute. i love her.

Cute Children

The children are so cute in the village .. they sang for us before we went to bed.

Chock- A--Doodle- Doo

After we hiked all day Saturday we spent the night with a hill tribe from Burma. We slept in a hut. It was so cool and we were gently awakened by the sound of roosters crowing in the morning. In the hill tribe this little boy let me hold his pet rooster it was so nice and gentle. The boy was cleaning his beak and the rooster did not mind.

An amazing weekend !!!

This weekend we went hiking up to a hill tribe to stay the night with them. We rode elephants and did bamboo rafting. It was really fun. Here is a picture of how tan my feet got and the other foot is my professor's. He is the king of weird tans. Looks like I am catching up.

Barack Obama is the Democratic Presidential Nominee

I know that this has nothing to do with my trip to Thailand... well I guess it does a little. But I am so happy!!! I just found out about 5 minutes ago and it is the best news I have heard all week. Barack Obama is the democratic nominee. Yeah!!!

Weekends are fun!!

In Thailand every weekend is so crazy we are always so busy. During the week we just teach from 8-3:30 and go home and hang out with our neighbors. Teaching is really exhausting. But when the weekend comes we are go go go. On Friday we had one of our professors come watch and film one of our classes. I was so nervous but luckily they came late and missed the class. We ended up role playing with the class the same lesson for the camera. That day we were at school until 5!!!! because our ride home had a meeting so... Friday night was pretty uneventful Internet in Sangampeng and dinner with our neighbors. On Saturday we went to the Seik Temple and learned about their religion... It was very interesting.We even got to take the sacrament with them... then we went to Dio Sutep where we had BANANA WAFFLES.... WOW I love them. We went to a jade factory after that and then got pizza. I have not had American food in almost 2 weeks. The slippery pizza sliding down my throat was so refreshing. Then we went home. On Sunday we went to church. I have not talked about the church here in my blog but all I have to say is that it is amazing....