Christmas in Thailand

Christmas came and went in Koh Tao without me hardly noticing. I've always wondered what it would feel like to celebrate Christmas in a tropical place and well, it simply didn't feel like Christmas at all. Sure the beach and restaurants were littered with decorations and holiday cheer, but something was missing: maybe it was my family and friends who were many miles away, the constant sweat I had dripping down my face, the fact that everyone around me (except for the Brits) told me the day before (the 24th) was actually Christmas day, or the fact that I did not have a single present to open or traditional Christmas dinner to eat...whatever the reason, Christmas felt like just another day here in Koh Tao.
Don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful walk along the beach in the am, a delicious lunch at a local restaurant, hours of relaxation on the beach, a traditional Thai massage (who knew something could hurt so good) and a Christmas movie rented off iTunes to finish the evening...all in all I had a good "Christmas". I have however decided no one should be alone Christmas day, it's a bit depressing no matter where you are in the world.

I am very thankful for technology these days! I was able to talk/see many of my favorite people back home on their Christmas evening. It was so fun to see my nephew's excitement for his new toys, my cousin's family gathering and of course Kes' cute face. Where would I be without Skype?

Here are a few pictures of what Christmas looks like in Thailand...

My Christmas tree which by the way cost less than $3 (decorations and all):

Some of the KG class getting ready to preform the "12 Days of Christmas":

Christmas cheer on the beach:

I'm A Scuba Diver

After four days of reading, training, testing and diving I am officially a certified scuba diver.
I am so glad I decided to get my certification - it was a great experience and I cannot wait to explore more of the underwater world.
Not going to lie, at first I was a little freaked out, but once I got used to the fact I was breathing underwater and figured out how to "clear my mask" my nerves were calmed.
Our first day in the water consisted of learning all the technical things one needs to know if they ever run into problems underwater: running out of air, breathing off your buddy's air, flooding/clearing your mask, buoyancy control, emergency ascents, etc.
Once we covered the basics, the following two days we got to go on four fun dives.
The first two dives were to 12m and the following two were to 18m (this is the deepest one is allowed to go w/ the open water certification - which is what I have).
We saw blue spotted sting ray, clown fish aka Nemo, eels, angelfish, juvenile barracuda schools, various types of coral and sea anemone...some were even lucky (or unlucky enough) to run into 12 bull sharks.
The beauty underwater is incredible and I look forward to exploring more in future visits!

I've Officially Hit Rock Bottom

You know you've reached an all time low when you have nowhere to sleep b/c the sheets that are suppose to be on your bed are hanging outside to dry b/c you got sick on them at 4:30am.

Yes it is true, I crapped the bed. I wish I was kidding, but I am not. Honestly, I have never been so sick in my entire life. Why I am telling you this? I don't know. Maybe to make light of the situation or maybe because I am not right in my head right now and I will be embarrassed later when I reread this. All I know is, I was mortified and did not know what to do - so I called my sister bawling, naturally.

The past 48 hours I have been in bed (which now has clean sheets) with the worse fever, chills, aches and pains I have ever experienced in my 26 years of existence. And let me tell you, a high fever + 95 degree weather = one sweaty Sarah.

It all started Tuesday morning around 1:30am. I woke up sweating to death, but thought it was simply b/c I got a little too much sun on my weekend excursion. I cranked the fan and proceeded to go back to sleep. This lasted only momentarily as I was awoken by the urge to puke - what joy. Thankfully the puking never came, but other issues did. It was after many trips to the bathroom and the cleaning of my sheets that I realized I had reached rock bottom. I was using a towel as my bottom sheet, a dress Kes bought me in Mexico as a blanket, and had a bucket close by to use for either puking or the unmentionable if needed. I don't think it gets much worse than that! Thankfully I never needed to use the bucket.

I was becoming insanely dehydrated and knew I needed liquids; however, all I had in my fridge was peanut butter, an apple and some chocolates a student gave me for Christmas (which by the way are disgusting, Thais need a lesson on what good chocolate tastes like - that's beside the point though). Anyway, how does one go about getting liquid when they can't even make it 5 minutes without getting sick? Do I call a taxi? Do I try to pay the security guy downstairs to go get me something? Do I risk taking my bike on the 10 min RT ride? I decided to try the latter.

Off I set on my pedal bike to the nearest 7-11. I was in and out in a matter of seconds and ready to ride home as fast a possible. While unlocking my bike, a lovely Thai lady gave me a HUGE and I mean HUGE smile. Now I know I am in the "Land of Smiles", but this was one of those "oh goodie a foreigner, I can practice my English with them smile"...just what I needed right?

She asks: "Khun cheu a rai ka?". Great, she is speaking to me in Thai...I know what this means, but can't find the words in my brain to answer her, so I politely say "no speak Thai".
The dear little lady nods and smiles and I think to myself, "great, now I can get home".
Not so fast...she then starts speaking to me in English:
"What's your name", "Where are you from?", "Oh America, what state?"
She goes on and on and all I can think to myself is, "lady, I have less than 2 minutes before I get sick again so PLEASE, PLEASE let me go"!

After what feels like forever, I think she sensed my distance. I told her "I'm sorry, but I am sick and must get home".

To my surprise I made it home without any accidents and was now set - I had enough crackers and Gatorade to last me a few days.

After 48 straight hours in bed, I am happy to say some, but not all of the sickness is slowly going away. I still have the fever and aches with the random stomach pains, but I'll take those over the other issues I was dealing with.

I've decided being sick in a foreign country is anything but fun. Its the little things like drinkable tap water and another set of sheets you take for granted. Thankfully I have two awesome friends in my condo who are taking good care of me. I am greeted by a knock on my door every few hours to see how I am doing and drop little get well soon care packages. It's no homemade chicken noodle soup, but who's picky? I'm just happy I have people here who care enough about me to bring me electrolyte powders and crackers!

This is definitely not how I wanted to start my vacation, but I know it can only go up from here. Please send healing thoughts this way as I leave for Koh Tao in 3 days and MUST be 100% if I want to get my diving certification!

Here is a picture of my sad, sick little life: note the lack of sheets, the dress turned blanket, crackers, bucket and all the essentials to entertain me while on my death bed: computer, headphones and a book.

Ko(h) Samed/Samet...eh, whichever

This past weekend I got invited by a few others from my mooban to take a weekend trip to a nearby island called Koh Samet (still not sure if this is the correct way to spell it as I have seen it written four different ways).

Anyway, only after a short two hour taxi ride from Bangkok and about a 20 minute speed boat trip to the actual island, I planted my feet in my own personal paradise!

The white sandy beaches and crystal clear water surrounding the island was incredible! Of course I did not see this until the next morning as we arrived after dark, but it was well worth the wait. A-mazing!

The weekend was spent eating delicious food on beachfront properties, being barefoot, reading trashy magazines on the beach thanks to my awesome cousin Lisa, cooling off in the refreshing salt water, sunbathing, watching fire throwers and fireworks at night and dancing/singing to ridiculous songs played at nearby bars - my favorite by far was the more relaxed/chilled atmosphere of the reggae bar.

In less than 2 days I will have TWENTY DAYS off from school (seriously, why has it taken me so long to become a teacher?!?!). Since nearly everyone I know is headed home for the holidays, I have decided to go South to Koh Tao for 10 (+/-) days. I figure I'd rather be laying on a beach by myself then in Bangkok alone. I have 2 intentions for my beach holiday: 1. to get certified to scuba dive and 2. to get as tan as possible and make all of you at home completely jealous :)

It is my understanding the dive outfit I am staying at offers free wifi, so we should be able to Skype and whatnot over my Christmas break.

Now only if I can make it through the next 36 hours!

Love to you all!

I Made The Website

It's true - I'm such an amazing teacher they put me on the website.
I'm basically famous now ;)
Check it out:
www.ascot.ac.th
When you get to the homepage there are pictures cycling through on the top right hand corner- I am the 3rd or 4th one that comes up (reading to my kiddos in the library).
I'll sign autographs later.

Monkeys, Sunflowers, Oh My.

Last Sunday I spent the day watching monkeys eat loads of junk food in Lopburi and hid amongst the millions of sunflowers in Saraburi. Here is a little background information for those of you who care:

The provincial capital of Lopburi in Central Thailand is home to countless monkeys that have adapted to life in an urban environment. The monkeys have become such a part of the local culture that there is a festival held in their honor – the Lopburi Monkey Festival is located at the Prang Sam Yot temple.

The annual festival takes place on the last weekend in November and is a major attraction for locals and foreign visitors alike. Festivities include a monkey ‘tea party’ where macaques tuck into a spread of fruit, eggs, cucumbers and bananas all prepared in their honor. Last year the monkeys got through around 2,000 kilograms of food provided by locals who believe donating the food will bring them good fortune.

Here are a few pictures from the festival:




After the festival, we hit up the sunflower fields in Saraburi. The tulip fields back home have nothing on these fields, they are simply breathtaking! Each year from November - January full blooms of sunflowers enrich the Saraburi Province. This amazing beauty of millions of sunflowers and green hills under the clear blue sky attract many visitors during this time of year.

Here are a few pictures from my trip:

Thanksgiving - Thailand Style

It's obvious holidays are going to be different this year, but that doesn't mean I cannot try my hardest to make myself feel as much at home as possible during these times.

Thanksgiving was a bit different this year. Since I am the only American in my school, I did not even get wished a "Happy Thanksgiving" until very late in the evening. I also was not left in a turkey coma nor was I able to eat a cold turkey sandwich the next day. I did however manage to get a killer stomachache and this is why:

My new friend, Emily (from California) and I decided we would take a break from rice and noodles and attempt to make a proper American Thanksgiving dinner(without an oven I might add). We had all the fixings...well almost all the fixings. Actually, we just had those we could find at a local "farang" grocery store. We had instant garlic mashed potatoes from a bag, turkey flavored Stove Top stuffing from a box, fried chicken (it was the closest we could find to turkey) and a bottle of red wine. What more could a girl ask for? Surprisingly, everything turned out rather well given the circumstances. The only thing missing was homemade pumpkin pie. Since pie (or any normal tasting desserts) are hard to come by here, we decided it would be a good idea to ride our bikes to 7-11 and buy ungodly amounts of junk food. We had candy bars, cookies, sodas and much, much more. Needless to say, after the loads of unnecessary crap were consumed, we were left feeling full and sick to our stomachs.

Despite not having turkey or the Muppets Christmas Carol and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation to watch, my Thanksgiving night in Thailand was very enjoyable. I spent it with good company and ate food that reminded me, well somewhat reminded me, of home.

I have lots to be thankful for this year!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thai Water Aerobics...

Probably the best thing I have done thus far in my trip. Okay, maybe not the best, but definitely in the top 5!
Since moving to Thailand I swear I have packed on a small child in the stomach region (no this is not me announcing I'm pregnant, although I feel I look that way), it's just that all I do here is eat. I eat breakfast and shortly after I wonder what will be served for snack and lunch at school, then when biking home from school I wonder what I should buy off the street vendors for dinner: fried chicken and sticky rice, pad thai, pad see ew, etc etc. Here I thought I'd lose weight by moving overseas - WRONG! Unfortunately all of the rice, noodles and fried foods have had the opposite effect on me.
It was only after eating an insane amount of Halloween candy my sister sent me (bless her heart: I love and curse you by the way) I decided I needed to do something about my eating obsession. I was not about to cut out all the yummy food Thailand has to offer (it's just too dang good to do that) instead I decided to join a gym.
A few other co-workers and I now belong to a "youth facility" just blocks from our school. It's newly built and has a swimming pool, small workout room and various courts to play badminton/tennis on. All of this for 40 baht a year! Yes, you read that correctly, 40 baht a YEAR - that's less than $2 US dollars!! Are you kidding me? Back home I was spending (or should I say wasting) over $30 a month on a gym membership I NEVER used.
The only downfall to the place is that it's run by the Thai government therefore there are very strict rules: you cannot wear tank tops or shorts to workout in - not even capri pants. Your shoulders and ankles must be covered at all times - uh, did they forget that its nearly 90 degrees everyday w/ 100% humidity? Seriously, I have never sweat so much in my life after just 10 minutes on the elliptical even in an air conditioned room!
For those of you that know me, working out has never really been my thing. I try to pretend that I like it, but quite honestly I hate every second of it. I find the lamest excuses, however here I don't really have any: I don't have anyone to go home to, a tv to plop in front of or a dinner date to attend, so why not take an hour out of my rather boring evening to do something productive!
Since I absolutely hate treadmills (they hurt my knees) and I have some weird tingly sensation going on in my feet when I'm on the elliptical, I have decided to try out something new: WATER AEROBICS!
Today was my first class and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. Being one of the only "farangs" belonging to the facility, people already stare - little did I know what was in store for me this afternoon. I swear all eyes were on my friend Anna and I - the maids, security guards and front desk attendants came to watch us. Apparently, we were their entertainment for the day and it was hilarious. Honestly I don't know what hurts more - my stomach from laughing for an hour straight or my legs from the insane number of kicks we had to do! All I know is my teacher was ripped and if he looks that way from doing water aerobics, sign me up! There was a real sense of community within the ladies in the class and I cannot wait to go back, even if it means wearing a swim cap and full body suit ;)

PS If anyone has any workout tips I would love to hear them! I got so used to going to classes back home that I am lost as to where to start. There are bikes, treadmills, ellipticals, free weights and a few machines to use - let me know what I should be doing so I don't look pregnant anymore!

Coffemate, Ice and Party

I kid you not, these are names of kids in my class.
Thais have extremely long names so many people have nicknames they go by. Apparently nicknames are also used to trick evil spirits. In the Buddhism religion, it is believed that if you go by your given name, evil spirits will find you and take you away...so giving your child (or yourself) a nickname confuses such evil spirits.
Some nicknames have similarities to given names, others make no sense at all!
Here are a few that just about killed me when reading them:
Coffeemate
Ice
Party
Pooh (yes like Winnie the Pooh)
Pan Pan
Noodle
Gigi
AI (pronounced "I")
The best part of all is people change their nickname whenever they want. One week they might be called "Minna, the next Tata".
It's all very confusing and hard to stay on top of your student's name!

1 down, 139 to go!

What is the countdown for you wonder...number of school days left until summer break, duh! Yes I am already counting down the days until summer vacation - isn't that what all teachers do? ;)

Today was my first day of "teaching", although I did anything but teach. Basically my day consisted of sitting around watching what other teachers did. I am still unclear of where I am going to end up, but for now they have me floating between the nursery and Kindergarten classes. From what I gathered today, this is what I will be doing until the end of the term December 16th - this however may very well change and wouldn't surprise me one bit if it does - nothing seems to surprise me anymore (except the gecko in my bed of course).

Even after just 9 hours of observing I am already noticing differences in the curriculum/school structure then what I grew up with. First of all, the age difference - kids start full day school at the age of TWO here! I couldn't believe it - they seem so tiny and young (probably b/c they are and most are still in diapers and cannot even speak Thai let alone English). The age/class structure is fascinating to me. The kids start in nursery at the age of 2, get moved to what they call kindergarten at 3/4, and then advance to "reception" at 5. From there they follow the 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade structure as we do in the States. Another huge thing I'm going to have to get used to is the British curriculum. I am the ONLY American teaching at the school and seriously need a key for what the other teachers are talking about. I find myself laughing at what they're saying to me b/c I don't understand it. I am going to have to train myself to start saying "zed" instead of "z", "toilet" instead of "bathroom", "bin" instead of "garbage" and spell things differently like "organise" as opposed to organize and "colour" instead of color! I know my dad was born in Britain, but I am not used to this and it is going to take some time to train myself!

All in all my first day was great - a little boring, but that's to be expected. These next few weeks are really to get to know the school and see how it runs.

By the way, I cannot tell you how stinking cute the kids are! Thai kids are absoultely beautiful - don't be suprised if I come home with a suitcase full of 'em :)

Anyway, I am very excited to be part of an International School and cannot wait to see where it takes me!

Home Sweet Home

After fourteen long hours spent blowing my nose and banging my head and knees on the upper sleeper bed of the night train, I made it to my final destination...BANGKOK!!!
Exhausted, unshowered and carrying far too much luggage, I made my way to my new school. Here I was told to wait for the landlord who was coming with my lease and keys to my new pad. It has been six long weeks of traveling, studying and job hunting and I was more than ready to get settled somewhere, anywhere really. I cannot tell you how excited I was to unpack my suitcase and have a place of my own to call home!
Thanks to the help of one of the teachers at Ascot I landed a great condo in the Summakorn Village in Eastern Bangkok (the same village my sister's friend Katie lived in when she taught in Thailand - how crazy is that?).
Walking into my condo all the nerves I had been fighting went out the door and I felt at ease. Unfortunately that only lasted a minute or two. I really began to look around and came to the conclusion that whoever was living here before me definitely had a different idea of cleanliness than myself. Seriously, had they ever used a mop or rag in their entire life? The floor was filthy, the closets and cupboards were moldy and the shower, eugh! The afternoon nap I was anticipating was put on hold and instead I walked to the nearest 7-11 where I bought out their entire cleaning supply section. I cleaned like I have never done before. Did I mention I found TWO dead cockroaches under the sink? GROSS! I much prefer my little gecko friend who was in my bed in Chiang Mai to these nasty critters! It was at this point I seriously started to rethink the downgrade I took in getting the cheaper condo oppose to the nicer one on the 6th floor - that one probably didn't smell of mold.
There's nothing bleach can't fix. After hours of sweating and cleaning, my place started to feel like home. There's something about getting rid of someone else's dirt and knowing from there on out whatever dirt or dust that may form is from you. Now all I need are pillows, a couch and a few other Sarah touches and the place will really feel like home!

With no sleep the night before and an afternoon spent working my butt off, I was more than ready to plop down and go to bed at 5pm. Instead I decide to accept the offer I got from a fellow teacher at Ascot and join in on girls night...I am so glad I did! I was picked up at 4:30 by 4 other Ascot teachers and we headed into downtown Bangkok for pedicures, foot massages and 50% off everything on the menu (women only) at a place called the Dubliner. I had a total blast! I can see myself fitting in great with my fellow co-workers!

I cannot describe the feeling I felt getting dropped off at my new place. I now had somewhere to call "home" - something I haven't had in over 2 months!

I absolutely LOVE the village I live in! There are numerous lakes in walking distance, tennis courts, street vendors, weekend markets and more! So far I have yet to see another foreigner, but know they are around and it will only be a matter of days until I run into them. I cannot wait to become a local here. Everything feels so right about my decision of working with Ascot and my new place.

Here are a few pictures of my place:

Halloween and Loy Krathong

This past weekend was jam packed as it was both Halloween and the kick off of the Loy Krathong festival. Here's a little of what I did:

Saturday night, Jim and his family (May and Jake) invited me to Jake's taekwondo Halloween party. This was the first ever and the kids were very excited! There were pirates, princesses, voodoo men and more! Many, if not all, have never dressed up for Halloween so it was very fun watching them run around in costume and light off fireworks (apparently to scare off all evil spirits that may be lurking around). Other than Jim, who has now been a resident here for 9 years, I was the only foreigner. I had a true Thai experience. We ate, drank, sang karaoke, lit lanterns and stayed out far past my bed time.



Sunday morning came way too soon, but I was excited for what was ahead. Jim and his family invited me along to sight see around the Chiang Mai area. We visited Doi Suthep which is a temple on top of a mountain. Here we lit candles and incense for good luck, found out what my Buddha was (the laying down Buddha) and received an ancient Chinese prophecy. We then hiked to a waterfall which was incredible in itself, went to a hot spring where you could buy eggs to boil and eat (no joke - very cool!), ate countless delicious meals and headed back into town for the Loy Krathong parade and for the Sunday night market in my neighborhood. I have never seen so much food or people in my life!



The following night I met up with a friend from back home and visited nearby temples that were decorated in colorful lanterns and lights for the festival. We walked to the river where people were lighting/letting go of krathongs (little boats made of banana leaves) and lanterns. The night's clear sky was filled with millions of lit lanterns floating in the air and it was truly breathtaking. Pictures do not give it justice.

For those interested, Google "Loy Krathong" for further details on this festival.

Over all it was an amazing weekend and I cannot thank Jim and May enough for the kindness they showered upon me. They made my week in Chiang Mai one I will never forget! I cannot wait to visit them again in either December or April :)

I GOT A JOB!!!

Never did I think I would call Bangkok home, but in less than one week I will be!

Yesterday I accepted the job offer I received from Ascot International School. The school is located in the eastern suburbs of Bangkok - thankfully away from all the hustle and bustle of this HUGE city.

Last week while passing through Bangkok on my way north I stopped into the school for a quick interview. I nearly canceled last minute, but boy am I glad I didn't! Everything went really well despite the fact I started crying in the interview. I was not crying because I was telling an emotional story about my love for children, but instead tears were pouring down my face as this was my first day with pink eye and they were uncontrollable. It was ridiculous, but may have been what landed me the job! Who knew pink eye would be a blessing in disguise?

It was comforting to know I had the job if I wanted it, but I still wanted to see what may lie ahead in the Chiang Mai area. Like I mentioned in my last entry, I fell in love with many schools in the northern region, but unfortunately none of them were hiring as school started a week or two ago. After countless hours stressing about finding a job here, I decided I'd be dumb to pass up the offer in Bangkok.

Ascot has a real sense of community about it which I love. Looking over the school calendar I noticed events like book week, international fun day, sports day, charity bake sale...seriously, how could I go wrong? These are some of my favorite things!

The school itself looks very put together. It is located in a really nice residential area with gated houses all around - pretty sure only rich Thai and international kids may go here, not sure if that's true or not. The school is run by a British woman who instantly made me feel at home, she was very welcoming!

As for details about what I will be doing...essentially I will be signing two contracts. The first one is from November 9th - December 16th where I will be working with preschoolers. After Christmas break (December 17th - January 5th) I will start my position as the head Kindergarten teacher! My second contract will be from January 6th - July 9th. At first I wasn't keen about working with the preschoolers, but lets be honest they are probably the cutest things I have ever seen (aside from my nephews of course) and this will give me an idea of how the school is run before diving in head first to teach.

I almost forgot to mention I will be making more than double of what I would be making if I stayed in the Chiang Mai area - definitely a perk, but I'm not here for the money. Not gonna lie it is nice to know I won't need to worry about financial issues while in a foreign country - plus I should have a little extra money to go on amazing beach trips to the south or to see my cousins in Australia - life is rough!

I cannot tell you how excited I am to get settled! Over the past month I have stayed in 5 different locations and I have yet to unpack my suitcase. I am excited to get my own place and make it my home away from home.

Another thing I forgot to mention - after accepting the job at Ascot, about 4 hours later I got a job offer in Chiang Mai. What are the odds? I feel I made the right decision though - Bangkok here I come!

Now that I have a job lined up I can relax and enjoy the rest of my time in Chiang Mai. A huge festival kicks off this weekend called Loy Krathong which I am very excited about! It also happens to be Halloween so I have a very busy weekend ahead of me! Time for a little fun before work starts up.

For those who are interested check out Ascot's website: http://www.ascot.ac.th/
Take a look at the school calendar to see my breaks so you can start planning your trip to visit me :)

And The Adventure Continues

Sorry this has taken me so long to post, but here is an update of the past few days/week.

Saturday morning Travis, Ben, Leah and I made our way out of Pattaya and into Bangkok.
I was more than ready to leave the sick, nasty, overweight, white "farangs" behind and start my adventure north! I must admit I was very sad to leave my luxurious room at The Greenvale though. Little did I know how much I would miss it once I got to Bangkok.
Since none of us have jobs and have been out of the states for over a month, our budgets are at an all time low, therefore we had to find the cheapest place possible.
And that we did...for just under $4 each a night we definitely got what we paid(or didn't pay for). A tiny room w/ a double bed (no sheets or blankets in sight), no a/c, a bathroom w/o a toilet seat(not to mention no handle to flush - you have to take a bowl and pour water into the toilet to push everything down) and something somewhat resembling a shower. I almost forgot to mention we happened to be on the street known as "backpackers row" which basically is an all night block party that even ear plugs could not block out the loud music. Needless to say this weekend was yet another adventure to add to my story!
A few days in Bangkok left me eager to continue north to the peaceful Chiang Mai area (hopefully soon to be where I call home).

I started this program a month ago with 25 other people which broke into a group of 9 in Pattaya, then split into a group of 4 in Bangkok and finally down to 2 heading north (Leah and myself).
We boarded the night train to Chiang Mai Monday evening. This was by far the best way I have traveled yet! Although the train was over an hour late departing we had a very peaceful ride. I am so glad we spent the extra few dollars for a sleeper - we each had a seat that converted to a bed and with the help of some Tylenol PM I had a very relaxing, much needed sleep.

Unfortunately, while in Bangkok I came down with pink eye - great timing huh (right before I set out to go job hunting and interviewing - awesome!). Being sick in a foreign country is anything but fun. All I wanted was my mom and she was half way across the world :( Thankfully with some antibiotics this is slowly going away. I no longer look like I was hit by a truck with popped blood vessels in both eyes. Seriously, I was unrecognizable - my friends told me I looked miserable and boy did I feel it.

Despite the trails I have faced the past few days, I am LOVING Chiang Mai! Leah and I got in around noon and instantly felt at home. It feels like a tropical Seattle with a mix of Bellingham - my dream place really. Being exhausted after a 14 hour train ride we made our way to our guesthouse and took a cold shower (yay!). Chiang Mai is much cooler than the other places I have been, it feels good to not walk outside and have a stream of sweat run down my face. We got settled in our room and decided we would start the job search the following day (Wednesday). I got a call from a friend of a friend back home who offered to take Leah and I out to dinner - we went to a place called Dukes and it was seriously the BEST dinner I have ever had - nachos, Chicago style pizza, carrot cake, and apple pie - my mouth is watering just reminiscing about it. Jim, a local here now for 8 years and his wife May (who is Thai) are the most amazing people EVER! Jim has taken me under his wing and I cannot thank him enough. He calls me every day/night to check in on me and give me updates/contacts of potential jobs in the area. It's very comforting to have someone here looking after me!

Job hunting has been anything but fun or successful. When I signed up w/ Bridge TEFL/LanguageCorps I was told when I completed my course I would be at the start of the best time for schools to be hiring teachers - definitely not the case. I was also told I would have help with job placement...again false information, it's been all up to me. I've decided this is actually the worse time to be looking for a job as schools started up LAST week and all the teaching positions have been filled. I have been to some amazing schools and been told "if you were here a month ago, with your qualifications and bubbly personality, we would have hired you on the spot" - great...if only I actually did my program in August (which by the way I was going to but was specifically told to wait a month by Bridge TEFL/LanguageCorps). I have not given up, but I am definitely having second thoughts on where to go and what to do. Why can't I just be here on vacation like everyone else ;) I'm putting myself out there again today, we'll see what happens!

The Past 30 Days

I can hardly believe I have been out of the States for a month! Sometimes it feels as though I left only yesterday and other times it feels like I have been gone for an eternity!

Looking back on the past 30 days I have already learned so much about traveling, teaching and myself. I can only imagine what else is in store as my journey continues.

In just a few short hours I will be "graduating" from the LanguageCorps TEFL program. The course was a total of 144 hours with the addition of 20 hours of Thai cultural and language training, as well as 20 hours of observed teaching. Overall, the program was okay. I'll admit it was nothing like I anticipated and found myself frustrated many times, but it is what it is and I'm almost done - yay!

I'm proud to admit I've come a long way from my first week of classes. In the beginning I was scared to stand in front of my peers to read aloud a dialogue - that seems so simple now! These past two weeks I have been making lesson plans and creating silly games/crafts/songs to teach to my cute little kindergartners. The first day of teaching went anything but smooth; however by the end of the week I had it down. I looked forward to going to Renu Kindergarten everyday as the children's faces lit up when I walked into the room - it was a great feeling! I grew to love the kids there and I am going to miss them dearly.

With the ending of the program comes a lot of new changes and challenges. I no longer have a group to rely on and be part of nor do I have a set schedule - it's all up to me now. Quite frankly I hate change - I don't do well with it and it freaks me out. This is one thing I am really working hard to conquer - I am slowly making process, but find that every time I get comfortable somewhere it's time to pack up and move on. I will learn to adapt to this lifestyle at some point right?

Now that I have completed the training and hold a TEFL certificate, I have been told I will have no problem finding a job (apparently the guaranteed job placement I thought came with my Bridge TEFL program does not exist - awesome). I have spent hours looking on websites, calling around and searching classifieds trying to find a teaching job. There seem to be a lot in Bangkok, but really I'd like to settle in the Chiang Mai area, so I am not giving up just yet.

Tomorrow morning myself and a few others are headed to Bangkok for the weekend to do a little exploring. From there I, as well as my friend Leah, will be catching a night train Sunday evening to Chiang Mai in hopes of finding a place to live and work. Come Monday afternoon/Tuesday morning I will be going on a mad hunt to find a school that will hire me. Technically this is one of the best times for hiring, so I hope its a cinch...we'll see.

I have no idea what the next few days/weeks will be like, but I am hoping for the best. Stay tuned to find out if (or should I say where) I end up landing a job!

PS Here are a few pictures of the school I have been working at - to see more check out my facebook account.

Thai Language and Cultural Learning

As part of my program with LanguageCorps, I am participating in 20 hours of Thai language and cultural training. After playing teacher at Renu Kindergarten, it is my turn to be the student. My Thai class is taught by a local lady named Jam and takes place Monday - Friday from 2:30 - 4:30.

In the beginning I felt completely overwhelmed! However, Jam’s quiet demeanor and ability to laugh at/with us, quickly helped calm me down. Our teacher presents the material in a simple layout with lots of pictures which helps me comprehend what she was saying. So far we have focused on greetings (gaan tak taai), numbers (jamnuan), things at the market (dta laad), and things in a restaurant (raan aah haan).

The language itself is much different than my native language. The pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and written script are all significantly different than English, with a few exceptions of course. Thai is a tonal language and you must really be careful with how you say a word – someone might think they are saying “my name is”, but instead are saying “pee”. I’ve never had to speak a tonal language before and I find it to be very difficult.

To see Thai written fascinates me. I truly believe the writing to be an art, it is simply beautiful. Although I am not even close to being able to read it, I still love looking at it. Maybe someday I will be able to translate a word or two (baby steps right?).

I am slowly, I repeat slowly, learning to speak and understand Thai. So far I can ask/say simple conversational pieces such as, Hello/Goodbye - "Sa wad dee ka (krup for males)", Thank you - "Khop kun ka", What's your name - "Khun cheu a rai ka?", How much does this cost - "Tao rai ka?". I can also count 0-100, though I am very slow and usually have to start at one to remember anything that comes after.

Another focus of the class is to teach proper body language and mannerisms. Many of the things we do at home are seen as rude here. For example, one does not cross their legs in Thailand because when you do so your foot (which is seen as the lowest part of the body both physically and spiritually) is pointing either at someone or something. It is especially bad to point your foot at a Buddha or to have your foot come anywhere near money (on all pieces of money is a printed picture of the king). This is going to be a hard one for me - when a bill or coin falls to the ground out of habit I step on it to keep it from rolling/blowing away - this is seen as highly disrespectful because of the picture of the king and someone can be deported from the country if caught doing so.
The head on the other hand is the highest and most sacred part of the body and therefore should not be touched (even things associated with the head: a pillow, a water bottle, etc) should never be stepped on or put on the ground.

There are several other simple mannerisms we have learned such as don't have food hanging from your spoon when going to take a bite (the spoon is the main utensil here, rarely do I use a fork other then to push food onto my spoon); if someone asks you to go out to dinner - they pay, do not offer to take the bill (same goes for you, if you ask someone to dinner know you are expected to pay) - I am sure there are many other mannerisms I am forgetting, but at the moment my brain is fried!

In the short amount of time I have been here I have already taken a lot away from these lessons. One thing I know for sure is that Thai is a hard language to learn! I look forward to doing my best to attempt to learn it while being in this amazing country.

I'm FINALLY here!

5 different modes of transportation and 14 hours later, I FINALLY arrived in THAILAND!!!
Since my arrival, I've been crazy busy, so busy, it has taken me over a week to find more than 3 spare minutes to sit down and write a blog entry (sorry).

Lets see here...a week ago myself and 8 other LanguageCorps students branched off from the group of 26 and headed to Pattaya where our last two weeks of training would take place.
We were picked up bright and early from the Okay Guesthouse Friday morning by a tuk tuk, then were brought to a large snazzy bus. After we crossed the boarder into Thailand, we were then transported to a smaller van ... just when we got comfortable in that ride, we were again transferred to a teensy weensy little van which did not even fit all of our luggage (we had it stacked below our feet, on our laps and in front of our faces - needless to say this was the worse leg of our trip as it was 5 hours long). Just when we thought they couldn't transfer us another time, they did - we were dropped off at a "bus station" and put on a baht bus (this is Thailand's main taxi service in the area) which eventually took us to our destination.

After 14 loooonnng hours of traveling I was more than ready for a shower and a nice place to lay my head. All 9 of us could not stay in the same hotel and were divided amongst 3 different ones. Myself and 2 others (Cammie and Mylinh) were taken to the Greenvale Hotel and my mouth nearly dropped when I walked into my room. It was a gigantic step up from my last accommodations! I have a huge bed (with actual sheets-yay!), nice furniture, a large bathroom where I do not need to sit/stand on the toilet to shower, and a flat screen TV - no complaints from this girl, that's for sure!

I slept the best I had since my departure from the States. Sadly, this was not the case for some of my fellow classmates. A few people really got the shaft and its not fair because they paid the same amount of money to the program as myself and the others did. One guy didn't even have a place to stay for the first two nights so he slept on a couch and another girl is staying in a room that is anything but satisfactory (she has no light, her bed and pillow smell of mildew and her AC broke). Atleast for those staying in the not so amazing accommodations, they have something to look forward to: an upgrade. However, myself and the others staying here are most likely going to have to take a downgrade. We'll wait and see I guess.

After a hot shower and a good nights sleep, myself and a few others decided to explore the area the next day. We walked along the beach, went through markets, shopping malls, and ate authentic Thai food - yum yum! The following day (Sunday) our group went for an outing to Koh Larn - a beach about 45 minutes away by boat from where we're staying. White sandy beaches and gorgeous blue/green water - ahhh, this is the life! We enjoyed a delicious lunch then spent the afternoon basking in the sun. I cannot imagine how much hotter it's going to be here in a few months, I was sweating bad enough then and it's only the rainy season. Speaking of rain, it hit us hard while we were out there!! One minute it was beautiful, then out of no where a horrific thunder/lightning/rain storm hit us. We all ran for cover and waited it out for TWO HOURS! Seriously, I've never seen anything like it. It was incredibly loud (and close!) and flooded the area within seconds. I'd post a video, but I just looked at it and the video doesn't give it justice.

Upon safely retuning home, we all retired to our rooms as we had a big day ahead of us. Now that we have completed our 1st two weeks of training, we are moving into the teaching part. My friend Cammie and I were assigned to Renu Kindergarten where we would be teaching both the students and the teachers. At first we were very intimidated to be teaching the teachers, however after our first day we found out we were not teaching the them grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary expansion etc. Instead, we were simply teaching them songs (If you're happy and you know it clap your hands; the ants go marching; head, shoulders, knees and toes and other various kid songs) for them to then teach to the students so the kids can go home and sing them to their parents.

Week 3 is over and done with and I'm left exhausted. Teaching kindergarten is a lot more work then I thought it would be...it doesn't help that the school I'm at has very little resources (those that are there I'm not sure if I can use b/c I cannot understand the Thai teachers - they speak very minimal English). Although I have spent countless hours preparing lesson plans, hand making tracing paper, cutting out shapes, binding story books etc I can honestly say I am happy where I'm at, doing what I'm doing.

It's finally starting to sink in that I'm not just here for vacation - schools start up again in November and I need a job ASAP! Wish me luck!

I'm An Auntie Again!!!

I received news today my nephew Kaden Andrew Schwenke was born at 12:43pm October 7th weighing in at 7 lbs 11 ounces, 20 inches long.

It breaks my heart I am half way across the world, but am so excited to watch my newest little man grow via facebook and Skype. Isn't technology amazing?

Congradulations Troy, Christy and Kyle. I am so excited for you guys!

Traditional Massage

After a long day of class, my friend Ben and I decided we'd go for a traditional massage...sounds relaxing right? WRONG! It was anything but relaxing. Not sure how to explain it, but I'll try.

From the get go we knew we were in for it. We tried explaining to the Khmer ladies we wanted the 60 minute traditional massage (whatever that meant) and preferred to be in the same room. Not sure if they didn't understand what we were asking or if it was not customary to have a guy and girl in the same room, but after lots gesturing and trying to explain ourselves, we were finally led to this super sketch room with two nasty looking mats on the floor. They asked us to change into these pajama like pants and oversized t-shirts. Ben went to another room to change and came back where I was awkwardly sitting on my massage "table" waiting for directions. I wasn't sure if I was suppose to take off my bra or not, but Ben told me probably since they'll be massaging my back. I did so and there we sat waiting for this amazing experience to begin.

The ladies came in and told us to lay down. We did so and immediately had the case of the giggles. Seriously, we couldn't stop laughing. These poor ladies probably thought we were nuts! Let me tell you, they don't mess around. They started with one leg and moved up and down the entire body. At one point my lady placed her hands over my hips/pelvic bone area and was face to face with me applying a crazy amount of pressure - I knew what was coming next for Ben and burst out laughing.

We were both finally able to stop laughing, but knew if we opened our eyes and looked at one another we'd lose it again.

We had our feet, legs, hands, back, butt, arms, head and neck massaged. It would have been relaxing, but it was so intense we couldn't really enjoy it. They massaged with their hands, elbows, knees and feet, it was crazy. When massaging my head/neck/face area all I kept thinking was what in the world am I going to look like after this - my hair gel to make my hair curly must have been rubbed out by now and they kept going over my eyebrows which we all know aren't fully there and I felt for sure they would have been rubbed completely off. Oh geez, what an experience.

Our 60 minute massage turned out to only be a 30 minute - maybe this was a blessing in disguise. We got redressed and headed downstairs to pay. Since it was 1/2 the time, we only paid 4 dollars (so cheap!). All I had was a $10 bill which they refused to take b/c it had the slightest tear in it (this is something we are always running into - they believe the money is damaged and not worth anything when there is any visible rip or tear in it). I quickly ran back to my hostel in the pouring down rain to grab four crisp, clean bills.

The massage was yet again another interesting experience to add to the trip. Lets just say I hope they're better in Thailand!!!

Weekend Trip To Siem Reap

Can you find the hidden faces?

Feeding the elephant - this one is for you Kyle :)

Language Corp 2009 (minus a few)

After our first week of classes were completed, it was time for a little fun and exploring as a group. All 26 of us (plus some teachers and guides) hopped on a bus and headed to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I was so happy to get out of the city and into the country! We were told the bus ride would be around 6 hours long - give or take depending on how many herds of cows we ran into…seriously!?! We never ran into big herds of cows, but we did come face to face with stray dogs, naked children playing in the road, floods and head on cars, busses, trucks and tuk tuks. I can’t begin to explain the rules of the road here. I felt like we were playing chicken with every car we passed. By the end of the trip I could no longer look forward b/c it freaked me out too much. Although they have double lined “highways”, the yellow line means nothing. To get around someone, you simply honk and pray the car coming at you in the other direction either slows down or moves to the shoulder so you don’t have a collision.

Along the way, we stopped at a few “rest areas”. One thing I am mastering is the squat. Cambodians do not have sit down toilets, so my thighs are getting a great work out. Another thing Cambodians do not have is toilet paper. They have what we have started calling “bum guns”. These guns look like the squirty thing on the back of your sink at home, but here they are in every bathroom stall, located next to the toilet. Sorry Southeast Asia, but I will not be using these while I am here. I will stock up on TP instead.
At these rest stops were various types of food and bugs to eat. The weirdest/grossest ones I’ve seen so far were fried snake on a stick and huge fried tarantulas. I stuck to what I knew…an imitation of Pringles.

After our forever long bus ride, we finally arrived at our hotel in Siem Reap. Here we had roommates and I got to room with my friend Leah. Little did we know the fun we would be having in our very own rooms (explanation to come later in this post). Once we got settled, we branched off to find real food, no more fried buggies for this girl. A group of 8 of us decided to take our chances and head down the street, away from the hotel and rest of the group. There was one minor problem…the streets were flooded. We’re not just talking ankle deep water, try knee deep. A few had sandals, others tennis shoes - do we wear them and get them soaking wet and risk them not drying in this humidity thus causing them to smell like vomit or do we take them off and carry them? Since I already have one pair of shoes smelling like sewer, I decided to go barefoot. Smart choice? I don’t know. All I know is, I NEVER thought I’d walk barefoot in knee high water in a foreign country. We didn’t just walk a block or two either, it was probably atleast a mile or so. Every step I secretly prayed I was not stepping on broken glass, needles, dog crap, etc. It was rather entertaining. We finally made it to a place called Temple Bar where all 8 of us ordered pizza - very American and so good! I needed a break from noodles for a meal.

We finished dinner and trekked back to our hotel. My feet were nasty and my legs itched so a good hot shower was in order…easy enough right? Wrong…I somehow managed to flood the bathroom. Don’t worry though, remember those bum guns I told you about? Well the water from those need to go somewhere, so luckily the overflow from my shower simply drained down the bum gun drains. After Leah and I both managed to flood the bathroom, we went to bed where we were greeted with a few other surprises: the smell of sweaty gym socks on our pillows that felt like mountain ranges when you laid down on them and gritty sand in the sheets - ahhh the life of a traveler! It’s great isn’t it?

The next day we spent 8 hours exploring various temples around Siem Reap. Honestly, I don’t think I can put their beauty into words. Some of the temples we visited were: Bayon Temple, Tomb Raider (by far my favorite) and Angkor Wat. All were simply breathtaking. As soon as facebook allows me to upload pictures I will!

Overall the weekend was great! I am so glad I was able to see another part of Cambodia. This country is beautiful and wish I had more time outside exploring than in the classroom learning…isn’t that always the case?

PS Congrats to Jessie, Kelsey, Leah and Courtney (and soon my sister!) for becoming mommies! I cannot wait to meet your little ones!!!

xoxo

One Week Down, Three More To Go

I cannot believe I have been here for over a week already. - time has really flown by! Not sure if its b/c I’m in class all day or the fact we’re kept busy with homework and activities non stop. Every night I am left exhausted, so tired I haven’t even the energy to update my blog (lack of internet poses as a problem as well) - I promise to make a better attempt at updating - hence my double entry today.

Well…I am officially a student again. We are in class from 9am - 5:30pm Monday - Friday.
Thankfully there are many breaks and we are divided into two groups to help manage time - this is the biggest class Language Corps has ever taught (thank you economic crisis). Basically my day consists of breakfast, note taking, warmers/role playing/dialogues, lunch, classroom presentations, more note taking, dinner, homework and bed - it makes for a long day. Not sure how these youngings manage to go out every night (they must be use to this lifestyle as most of them are fresh out of college). They probably think I am the lamest 26 year old there is, but I am okay with it J

Classes, although long and sometimes rather boring, have been informative and I believe they are truly helping me gain a better idea of what it will be like to teach English as a foreign language. After our first full day of class we were told we would be presenting our own warmers and dialogues to our classmates the following day. For those of you who know me and remember my most embarrassing moment, you know speaking in front of people is one of my biggest fears (aside from clowns of course). To my surprise, this task was fairly easy for me - yay! Now that I have presented 4 or 5 times, its no big deal anymore. Just wait until my interview or first day of teaching though - yikes!

Unfortunately classes don’t end with note taking and presentations. There are tests…go figure. I may dislike speaking in front of people, but I HATE, I repeat, HATE taking tests even more. I don’t know what it is, but even when it’s an open book test, I freak out and feel as though I know nothing! We had two tests this past Friday. I talked to my teacher and told him about my insanely crazy test anxiety and he assured me “I’d be fine, it’s really easy” (great, now if I don‘t pass, I‘m REALLY stupid), “plus there’s no time limit” (except there was b/c the bus left for Siem Reap - our weekend destination, at 1pm). The first test was easy (I got a 98%) and the other…well, not so sure about that one. Honestly, I think I failed. I don’t find out until I’m in Thailand, so I have to wait out this anxiety even longer - ugh! If I did fail, I get another chance to pass, if I don’t pass that one, then I’m screwed. The pressure is on.

This week in class we are learning about classroom management, early childhood development, lesson planning and teaching with songs and dance - should be a good week.

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY KYLE!!!

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Kyle. Happy birthday to you!!!!

Happy birthday little man. You are getting to be such a big boy. I cannot believe three years have gone by since I held your little 8lb body in my arms when you were just minutes old.

Have you named the fish I gave you for your birthday yet? What else did you get?

Well, know you are one of my favorites and I miss you SO much!!!

LOVE YOU!!!

Safe and Sound

After 20 hours in the air I finally made it to Cambodia! The past few days have been a complete whirlwind! Everything went well, minus few minor hiccups along the way: the agent in Seatac couldn't find my reservation, when she did, she told me my plane was leaving in NINE minutes - thankfully she was wrong and I had just over 1.5 to sit by myself (phoneless) feeling like a complete freak as tears poured down my face at the airport - people probably thought I was nuts, isn't going on vacation suppose to be fun? Not when you just said goodbye to everyone you're closest to knowing you wont see them for a long, long time.
My first layover was in LA where I met 2 others in my program, it was comforting to know there were two people on my international flight that I "knew""! After our 13.5 hour flight to Taipei, we were exhausted and got a little lost in the airport, but atleast we had eachother!
The last leg of the flight (Taipei to Phnom Penh) went really well and met up with many others in our program. Everyone seems really nice!
Language Corps seemed really organized when I was on the other side of the world, but that has completely changed. The 7 of us waited at the airport for pick up not knowing what the heck we just got ourselves into. We were greated by a lady we couldn't understand and were escourted into 2 small tuk tuks. With our bags piled high and on our laps were rode in these tiny motorcycle like things weaving through traffic like we owned the road - thats one thing I will NOT be doing here is driving - I swear there are no rules of the road other than honk and pray you don''t get hit - it's insane! We couldn't help but laugh - whether from exhaustion or realizing we look like complete fools it was rather entertaining!
Turns out the house we were suppose to stay in was too full (this is the biggest group of students they have ever done at one time) so there are about 16-20 of us bunked out at a hostel...not something I thought I'd do just yet in my trip. Let me tell you...I was not prepared for this - my room mimics a tiny jail cell - no windows or anything, thankfully I have ac and a bathroom/shower to myself. The shower is literally is a spout that shoots off the wall - you close the door and basically have to sit/stand on the toilet to wash your hair. What in the world have I gotten myself into I ask numerous times yesterday.
I keep telling myself its all part of the adventure.
Upon arriving to my new pad for the next 2 weeks, I knew I couldn't take a nap - if I did I would not be able to get up, so instead myself and 7 others threw ourselves right into it.
First things first we went to the market to get t.p. don't want to be missing that when the curse of introducing new food hits you at 2:30am. Next we visited a museum and the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (aka the killing fields). Sadly, I didn't know much about what happened here and was not mentally prepared for what I was about to see. Both places reflect the most barbarious and cruel crimes committed by the Untra Communist Khmer Rouge Regime from 1975-1979. It broke my heart to see over 8,000 human skills of all sizes (babies to elderly), cracked and with holes in them from the unspeakable crimes that were committed to over 2 million innocent civilians. Its crazy to think this happened only a few decades ago.
After seeing all the bones and clothes still immersing from ground after a rainy day all I wanted to do was cry - it was sickening.
A few hours spent completely depressed, we were all ready to go "home".
I dont know what my expectations were of Phnom Penh, thruthfully I didn't really have any, but the poverty here was not what I expected. Driving through town reminds me so much of my Africa trip. Lets just say I am glad I am only here for two weeks.
On a plus side, things are insanely cheap - I am at an Internet cafe that only cost .25-.75 cents an hour and last night I had the most amazing chicken curry in coconut sauce for $2.50.
Well, my time is up and I am sweating to death so I better get going. Off to breakfast, I think I might have banana pancakes :)
I miss you all SO much already!

Goodbye America, Hello Southeast Asia!

Well my bags (or should I say bag) is packed and in less than 9 hours I will be boarding my one way ticket to Southeast Asia - I can't tell if I am excited, nervous, anxious or all of the above.
For the past 3 years I have thought about teaching overseas and now I am actually doing it!

I arrive in Cambodia at 9:50am Saturday morning and will spend the following 2 weeks there with others training to teach all over Southeast Asia. Once I complete those few weeks in Cambodia I am headed to Pattaya, Thailand for an additional 2 weeks of training. I have no idea what this will be like, but I am excited to find out!

This past month has been great - I've been able to visit friends I haven't seen in a while and spend quality time with my family. I apologize to those I did not get to say goodbye to prior to my departure. I will miss you all SO much! Please keep me updated on your lives via email, blogs, facebook, and Skype!

Here goes nothing!!!

Let The Packing Begin!

You might ask, where does one even start when trying to pack up their life and fit a years worth of stuff into one (possibly two) little suitcase(s)?

Thanks to some great tips from my sister's good friend who taught and lived in Thailand for the past 3 years, I learned to start with the essentials.

So...as you can see in the picture above, that is exactly what I've done.

I've got enough of my favorite face wash to last me a year; "Weather Works 365" shampoo/conditioner/frizz control cream to hopefully help tame my soon to be not straightened everyday hair (tear); rain boots (flash floods+no taxis+open sewer system = yuck); sheets; make-up; earplugs; sunscreen; 2 huge Costco sized boxes of tampons (apparently they don't sell these there!); bug spray; Advil, travel towel (I'm told regular towels don't dry b/c of the humidity and instead just get moldy - yummy); and lastly, everything I need for stomach issues: Imodium AD, Pepto Bismol, Tums (I'm prepared for you Bangkok Belly - bring it!).

Okay, that was easy. Now comes the hard part: clothes and shoes. How am I ever going to decide what to bring, better yet, how in the world I'm going to fit it all?

Any tips or suggestions on what else to bring or how to fit my life into a suitcase would be greatly appreciated!

It's official, I'm a blogger now. Blah.

As if Facebook, Myspace and Twitter don't waste enough of people's time, I've created yet another internet distraction to help you procrastinate from doing whatever it is you should be doing.

After protesting becoming a blogger for years, I've finally caved in and joined - I figure this will be the easiest way to keep people up to date on my travels and adventures while in Thailand.

Happy reading!