School has begun...almost

‘Ello! I found myself a great clan (even if it was only temporary) consisting of 2 Canadians, a girl from Switzerland, and a British girl. A few nights ago we went out with a few others for a night of Bowling!! Noom had offered a free nights stay to anyone who could beat him. I came surprisingly close to doing so but in the end, he pulled an upset and beat me by 1 pin! Damn!! But I did win myself a t-shirt! Hey, I’ll take it! Clothes are good! J All in all, bowling was a blast! They had the black lights on and Noom made sure we were all ready by giving us ‘war paint’ (chalk for your hands…glows under the black lights. Thus, doubles as face war paint quite well!) and booze and away we went. The first 2 rounds were all business. The 3rd round was judged on creativity! So, If you see the pictures on shutterfly, you’ll understand why we are floating through the air! The most popular was pushing the ball with your hands and giving a final push while flying forward. We also spun ourselves in circles, went backwards, kicked and walked it down the lane. And Esther bowled it across 3 lanes. Impressive. What was MOST impressive was the fact that the Thai’s are so laid back that they just laughed along with us…instead of kicking us out! All the while, there was English rap music blasting…and we were trying to figure out if the rest of the people there knew the words! I don’t think they did! After that, everyone was pumped up so Noom drove us (I did mention that he’s a fabulous taxi driver, right?) to a bar/club…we were the only Western faces in there and we got lots of smiles and looks. We stuck around long enough for the band to come on…which I THINK was a punk-rock cover band. Punk-rock by the clothes, actions and overall beat of the songs…and cover band b/c everyone was singing along. But it was all in Thai…so what do I know? They were quite good though….even though I didn’t understand a damn word! The next day I took a Thai cooking class (along with 2 others from the clan) and made (and ate) heaps of food! Chicken in coconut milk soup, cashew chicken stir fry, red curry, pad thai, spring rolls and our chef/teacher showed us how to make jasmine rice (perfectly), sticky rice, sticky rice with mango, and papaya salad. I was stuffed to say the least! Before we started cooking, we got a market tour and were taught a bit about different herbs, veggies, etc…which was actually quite helpful. We got to play with fire…which was cool…cooler that I still have my eyebrows! Not sure how the big bro did that for so long! It was hot, hot, hot! Got a thai massage yesterday at the women’s correctional facility! Awesome!! Haha…I was a little uneasy going to the correctional facility but it came well recommended. It was fabulous! And if I think it was only 6 bucks, it was SUPER fabulous!! We had a big hostel night out last night. Went to a place called The Riverside which had 2 awesome bands—both of which had male and female singers (who sung in English) so they had lots of variety! It was jammed packed with locals and appeared to have great food. I ventured away from Thai and ordered a pizza….note to self: when in Thailand, don’t order pizza! It wasn’t horrible…but it was no Sal’s! After dinner (and lots of drinking for everyone else) we ALL piled into a pick-up truck taxi…there were about 20 of us….piled in…with 3 of us hanging off the back of the truck (there is a small stool/rack thingie)…I was playing the role of “don’t let the drunk girl in front of you fall into the street”…good times! Jim was taking us to sing karaoke. I had an image in my head…you know, bar scene….people on stage singing. Nope. Turns out that in Thailand, karaoke means renting out a room with a tv and 2 mics….and singing your heart out with your friends/group. Well…this particular room was made for MAYBE 6-7 people….small, small! Again…20 something of us….singing at the top of our lungs! The room was shaking! I was the first one back to the hostel and it was past 2am….lets just say the house was very quiet when I woke up this morning!

Sooo….I’m now at Nugent Waterside where my course is taking place. There are 8 of us total…4 of which are couples….lots of places represented (Canada, aussie, england, iran, whales)…but none of whom I’ve quite connected with to be honest. I’m sure we’ll get to know each other a bit better…but so far, I don’t get a warm fuzzy feeling from any of them! Not that it matters…just sayin’! So, the place is kind of great. It’s far from anything….and I’m already having an issue b/c apparently we start TEACHING on Tuesday…yeah, I TOTALLY missed that fine print! Really thought we would have some time before getting in front of a class! The “issue’ is that I didn’t really bring any teaching clothes with me…I was planning to go shopping once I was settled and knew more about this place….so now I have very little time to find clothes…and not many places to find them! I’ll prolly make due with what I have (we have to teach bare foot so shoes aren’t an issue….score!) until this weekend. Aside from that, the rooms are much better then I expected. Roomy, modern, clean…big bed, great bathroom/shower…and a western toilet (as opposed to a squatting toilet!)….it’s nicer/bigger then my college dorm room…and I’m in there alone…so I think If I managed (and loved it) at Rice, I think I can manage here! Getting a bit nervous about the start of things tomorrow…and even more nervous that I actually have to teach on Tuesday…but not much I can do about it! Sooo, Gonna do a bit of research and get settled in until dinner. Class everyday is from 11:30-8pm. I have a phone in my room…but it’s touch and go. As is Internet. Depending on the intensity of things, I may or may not be in regular contact for the next month! But seems like we should have weekend pretty well free.

You can give my phone a whirl…keeping in mind that it may or may not work…and if it does, I will only be in my room before 11:30am and after 9pm during the week…and sometimes not even then! But, if you managed to catch me, I’d be delighted J The number is +66 (0) 53 441503 (which will apparently put you through to some kind of answering machine/service…and then you dial my room number) 116

Wish me luck…I’m off to attempt bonding with my classmates!