we made it to 'nam!

Hello again! I'm still getting used to this blogging thing so i'm not sure out to upload images. The picture of the beach was taken during our kayak adventure on the island of koh kood. the next day i rented a motorbike, found a small waterfall, and ended up getting lost in the thai rainforest! it was scary for a few minutes, but i had a good adventure. we left koh kood (barely surviving the ferry ride through the storm of the century!) and got on a flight to bangkok, from bangkok we flew to ho chi minh city in vietnam. This city is completely different than thailand. in a city of 9 million people there are 6 million motorbikes swarming the streets. walking around is scary as hell. i think i circled the block that my guest house is on 4 or 5 times before i had the guts to cross the street! my mom is having a good time, she isn't happy with the place i'm supposed to stay when i'm in school (her exact words 'there's no way in hell i'm leaving you in this place alone!') so today we're going out in search of a new hotel, some professional teaching clothes, and who knows what else. the pictures of patti with the shrimp and me with thai flava flav were taken on koah san road, in bangkok (same with ronald doing a traditional thai wei).
Hopefully we won't get hit by any motorbikes while we explore. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures so everyone can get a good feeling for the vietnam insanity i'm experiencing. take care!

Island of Koh Kood

Sorry it's taken awhile for me to write. Patti and I left the secret garden in chiang mai in the middle of last week and took the night train to bangkok. it was my first time on an overnight train and i really had a good time. the 11hr trip finished in the bangkok train station at 7am (the dirtiest place on earth) and then caught a 3 hour bus to Tret. Our 3hrs quickly turned into 6 after we battled through a flat tire. The travel company left roughly 35 foreigners on the side of a thai highway in 95 degree weather with nothing to eat but hot noodle soup! they couldn't communicate well enough to tell us that they had to go somewhere else to fix the tire, so we were a little confused when they left us there, alone, and took off with all of our luggage. in the end everything was ok, we missed our ferry to koh kood so we spent the night at a small guest house in Tret. they told us that we would be provided with transportation to the pier and somehow we ended up crammed into the back of a pick up truck with 8 thai people, all of their luggage, and enough rice to feed half of asia. it was hilarious! to make it even more memorable, it rained for most of the 45 minute ride. later that day we made it to the island and it's extremely beautiful. the water is warm and crystal clear. we're 2 of 6 people staying at 'the beach natural resort', so it feels like we have the entire place to ourselves. yesterday we took a kayak to a secluded beach and spent the day snorkling and exploring. it's the most beautiful place i've ever seen. if you ever have the opportunity i highly recommend coming here. tuesday we're flying back to bangkok (we decided to fly and not risk another flat tire, i can't be late for school!) and then catching another flight to vietnam. i borrowed one of the staff's USB internet things and it's not the best, i promise i'll upload photos as soon as i'm around some real internet. i hope you are doing well!

back to the land of smiles

hello!! i finally made it back and i brought my mom along with me. so far this has been a big adventure. we landed in bangkok and took a cab straight to our hotel on khoa san road. apparently this is a tourist trap and we fell directly into it! we stayed at a place called 'buddys lodge', lonely planet stated that it was a nice hotel with doors that open directly to the freak show of khoa san road. i guess we should have been more prepared for all the craziness. the first person that befriended us was a shirtless 28 year old male, tripping on LSD, complaining about how hard it is to have three girlfriends! in our 2 nights that we stayed in the 'freak show' we managed to get henna tattoos of sea creatures, buy all sorts of jewelry/hammocks/clothes, see an asia cover band, and accumulate multiple hours of good people watching. by the end of it all i was ready to venture on to chiang mai. we arrived at the guest house called the secret garden earlier today and i already feel more calm and relaxed. i feel like this is more of the true thailand than the insanity of bangkok. later on today we're planning on biking to the umbrella village and then having a traditional northern thai dinner. it should be fun! i'll upload pictures on the next blog, right now i can't peel the camera away from patti, by now we probably have 143 pictures of the outdoor kitchen! the owner of the guest house just pulled up on a brand new scooter, a present for his daughters 16th birthday. i can't wait to see her face!

today was my last day of class, i find out next week if i get my certificate. there are problems at home, so i'm flying back tomorrow. hopefully i'll get to see you. i know that everyone needs a good hug in times like these.

the end of CELTA!!

hello! sorry (again) that i haven't written in awhile. today is the last monday of my course and i couldn't be more excited. i'm physically and mentally exausted, but i've had a great time. i'm really going to miss the 11 other people that did the course with me. a few of us are going to stay in the guest house andrew and i stayed at when we first got to thailand. it's going to be nice to relax and go swimming. i don't have a real visa yet so next week i have to take the train to bangkok (12 hours) and then fly to kuala lumpur. the thai embassy in malaysia is giving away free 2-3 month visas to boost the economy, so i got lucky. i'm not sure what i'm going to do in malaysia, but i'm sure it will be wonderful. i'll take lots of pictures. The picture on the left is of me and some of my students, they're awesome and i'm really going to miss them. i'm the youngest teacher at the school so i think most of the teenagers like me because i'm close to their age! i'll try and write again soon. lots of love

hello!

Sorry that i haven't written in awhile! last night we were able to break away from our school work and walk down to the local market (aka a bar on the side of the road). we had a great time! we sang karaoke (in thai, of course) and had a few drinks with the local people who live near our school. going to class, living, and eating every meal with the same 12 people is starting to feel like a reality show! alliances are being formed, people are playing sneaky tricks, and we've already found out who the back stabber is. it's hilarious. our teachers keep telling us that we're not going to be able to function without each other after our class is finished (i think i'll be just fine!). we only have 2 weeks left, but it feels like forever. If i can get some work done this afternoon i'm going to take a tuk tuk into hang dong (a suburb of chiang mai) and go to the local swimming pool, have dinner, and explore the local market. i hope everyone is doing well in the states! (by the way, it's 85 degrees and sunny!!)

i thought you might be interested in seeing some of my classmates. tomorrow i have to teach a lesson on traveling. i'm making my students create a trip through thailand for some of the guys i go to school with. they're quite a crew, i hope my kids get a good laugh out of this picture.

school

sorry that i haven't written in awhile. i started school last monday and it's just as intense as they said it would be. i have class everyday from 11:30 am till 5:30pm and then we teach from 6-8pm. it's lots of work, but it'll be worth it. the first picture is of my tv and desk in my room. even though i'm in the middle of the northern thai countryside they still feel like we need flat screen tv's in our rooms. last time i checked i couldn't speak thai, so it's of no use for me! i apologize for run on sentences, bad grammar, and things that don't make sense. i spend about 13 hours a day doing school work, so i kinda let my mind run wild when i don't have to follow rules. the second picture is of the outfit they make you wear when you get a massage. lovely isn't it? i'll write more later on. i appreciate all the encouraging emails!

The first picture is of our Australian friend Mick. He drinks too much. The second picture is of me at an umbrella production village. it's amazing how fast you can turn asian if you put your mind to it! The last was taken in the Bangkok airport around 4 am. I ordered roasted duck with noodles and i think i got fake duck with green ramen. it was delicious

getting there

hey everyone, i'm new to this blogging thing so hang in there with me. currently i'm delirious because my body still doesn't know what the hell is going on! I left jacksonville the morning of wednesday feb. 4th and flew to atlanta. from atlanta i flew straight to seoul, korea. it was about a 16 hours flight and i was seated across the isle from sean kingston! for those of you who have no idea who he is don't feel bad, i had no idea that the large dude sitting near me was famous. i think he got irritated with me when i didn't immediately recognize that he was the guy who sang the song 'beautiful girls'. needless to say, after our first encounter he didn't talk to me that much. after leaving korea i flew to bangkok to meet up with andrew. we planned on meeting at a specific hotel bar and when i arrived he was 4-5 beers deep in an intense conversation with a really drunk australian man staying at the hotel. after another few beers the aussie somehow convinced us to take showers in his room (we seriously weren't going to go with him, but he was very persistent and after traveling for so long a shower sounded nice). when we got to the room he immediately passed out and andrew and i got to spend our lovely bangkok layover in a 5 star hotel room (with a drunk man passed out on the bed!). we left him a nice note with an appa sticker and slipped out before he woke up.
our last flight was this morning from bangkok to chiang mai. right now we're staying at a beautiful guest house that belongs to a european man named peter. if you ever travel to chiang mai i HIGHLY recommend staying here. our room is really cheap and i'm writing this blog on the computer they provide next to the pool.
also, andrew and i stick out like sore thumbs, it's awesome