Greetings and Sawatdee

Ok we left off at 6:30am right? Well I ended up needing to relax a bit before sleeping so I went on the computer and ended up talking with my friend Roy for a while. After a lovely chat I went to bed around 7:30am.

I planned to sleep until 12:30pm but I had two wrong number phone calls, I forgot to turn on the fan before I crashed and then there was a knock at my door at noon and so I had a sweaty and disturbed sleep that ended a little early (ugh).

I had plans to meet Oh and Pun at Magic Years school (where they both work) so that we could plan the children's class lesson for the evening and cook some green curry.

The planning went well and the cooking was so much fun. They want to teach me a bunch of things and so I'll have a whole repertoire of Thai cooking skills when I return to Canada. I'm very excited. Next weekend Pun is going away for a month but I'll still have Oh teaching me and then when Pun gets back I have a few more lessons and then a practical test. Next week is cashew chicken or as I have leaned to call it: gai pat phet ma-moo-ang. The curry turned out really well and all were impressed that it wasn't too spicy for me (yay for me).

We went to children's classes and I think they went well thought it is a bit difficult because I don't speak the language and Oh and Pun pretty much taught the lesson while I sat back. I want to be involved but it's hard to figure out what to do when you don't know what is going on.

Once class was over we went back to my apartment to get dressed to go out. We all looked lovely and even though I was tired from my sleeplessness I forgot about being tired and off we went. Erfan joined us and we went to Khao San road to the club "Immortal". At first we just chilled and I watched some World Cup and sipped a coke but after a while the club started to pick up and we started dancing. I have never been a speaker dancer before but this time I was, granted the front half of the stage/dance area is speakers so it wasn't like I was just dancing on some speaker elevated above everyone.... just the people not on the stage/dance are.

We danced until the club closed. They close pretty early here which was sad though probably good since I haven't been having very much sleep lately. We went out for some fast food and then took a cab ride home. When I got home I grabbed a quick shower since I was awfully sweaty (when it's as hot as it is outside the inside of the dance club is really scorching).

This is a picture of Oh and Pun. Oh is in the left and Pun on the right. They're both so much fun and Pun is an awesome crazy dancer.

Party At The Airport

This morning we taught grade 7b and it didn't go great but it went ok. After class we have a really long break until leadership club. My parent's going away party was underway in St.Albert and so I phoned and was able to talk to my entire family which was nice, though a little hectic and it was getting later there and Etana was getting tired I think.

After talking on the phone I went to the market to pick up some fruit for Ben. Ben is a youth who is passing through Bangkok this evening on his way to Yasothon, since he has a 7 hour lay-over from 11pm to 6am I emailed him and told him I'd meet him at the airport and hang out all night. Since I would be staying up all night I slept on a class room floor for a good hour of our break and then went into leadership club. The activities that I had planned went really well and the students had a lot of fun. I really like leadership club, the students there seem to really like and respect me. My other classes have some students to like and respect me the tone of the whole class isn't like that and I often feel like they couldn't care less and have no troubles being rude to me. I did forget to mention yesterday thought that my grade 8b class apologized to me, I know that their home room teacher, Mark, put them up to it but it still felt nice to hear it (especially since they did it as individuals instead of parroting a sorry as a class).

In the evening I cancelled tutoring book one because I had to be up late and after dinner had another nap to prepare for staying up all night.

I got up around 9pm and got ready to go out and then headed to the airport around 10:45pm. Ben was easy to find and very chatty so we chilled on some couches, enjoyed some fruit and coffee, and talked about music, writing, friends etc... We sat on these couches with a sign that said "Can Not Sleep" made jokes about it all evening, it looks like the statement is craving some punctuation.

I got home from the "Airport Party" at 6:30am on Friday morning so that is where I'll leave off the blog for today. It's weird to know when to stop when writing when you stay up all night because it really just feels like one really long day.

Lately I know I have been all backed up on blogs. Even though some of my posts have been brief I have been really busy and have been having a bit of a rough time lately making it harder to concentrate on writing. I think I'm back in the groove now (lets hope) and when I finally get caught up it'll be easier to keep up to date with only one post per evening to write. I do ask that people excuse the messing up of tenses (and probably grammar and spelling as well) in the posts for the past week or two, since I'm writing days after the fact and I usually write on the current day I'm messing up tenses all over the place (or at least it feels that way).

Today's picture is another from Ta Prohm, check out the awesomeness of trees.

Good Bye Rae and Pat

On a whole today was a really crappy day. I, unfortunately, had a fight with Erfan and my classes didn't go all that great. In the evening I just stayed home and chilled out alone.

I have a middle of the night commitment on Thursday night and so will have a late night tonight and a nap tomorrow to prepare to stay up all night Thursday night/Friday morning.

These are houses that you pass on the way to the lake. I took this picture on my walk up the mountain.

Look At Me I'm a Transportation Pro

Today was a monumental day! I only teach one class on Tuesdays and it's in the morning so after school I went into Bangkok to pick up my ticket to Africa. The area of town where I had to pick up my ticket was way on the opposite end from Nonthaburi and it was an area I had never walked around before, but I found my way down there and didn't get lost. I did walk the long way around one of the block to get to my destination but that is really as lost as I got. I know that sounds pretty exciting already but the story doesn't end there, oh no it does not. Next I decided that I had a craving for Persian food and so I took the BTS from Riverside area transferred train lines and got to Sukumvit area via Nana station and walked straight to the Persian restaurant that I had visited with Shar and Ridvan a month ago again with out getting lost! I had a really wonderful filling lunch and then I took myself out for coffee and went home all the while in full confidence and not getting lost once! I think that that is worth celebration! I can find my way around Bangkok now without any troubles. Also, I picked up my ticket to Africa so I'm really really going now, September 29th, isn't that crazy!

The other thing that was fantastic about today was that it was the final day of taking malarone. Yay for me. Unfortunately, I learned that I'll need to take it again when I go to Laos unless I plan on only going to the capital... which I am not. Curses.

Taadaa! Aren't you proud of me and my transportation success? I sure am.

Also I failed to mention in my first update of today's post that it was also Rae's going away party. We had a lot of fun and ate a lot of food and then sang some songs. It was really a nice little party.

Lazy Monday

As usual I woke up early. I tried to get some work done such as updating the blog since I was severely behind. I received six more Evan cds in the mail (I failed to mention as well that three were waiting for me when I returned from Cambodia). Thank you Evan.

My plane ticket for traveling to Africa was supposed to be delivered to me but there were communication issues and so in the end the ticket never arrived. I emailed my travel agent and told her that I'd go to her office to pick it up personally since I had the afternoon off on Tuesday.

We only had one class on Monday and that was grade 9b. The class went well enough.

In the evening I relaxed and did some laundry since I was a little behind and watched a movie. I guess it was kind of a lazy Monday though at the time it didn't feel so lazy, maybe I did more but can't remember now.

Tuk-tuks are different everywhere but here is a picture of the typical (as far as I could tell) tuk-tuk in Cambodia. This was my tuk-tuk the first day I was in Angkor Wat.

A Long but Fun Sunday

I woke up early and prepared for the Assembly meeting at 9am. The meeting was ok, we ended around 10:30am. Afterwards I met up with Robbie and we hung out for a bit. Robbie had plans with some of his friends living in Bangkok and I had to meet up with Oh, Pun, Rae and Pat (Rae's husband) for an outing to the museum.

The museum is a place where you have to dress nicely so I changed out of my slobby clothing and into a skirt and ran off to meet up with my friends. Rae and Pat live close to my house so we went together and met Oh and Pun at Victory Monument. We grabbed some food and then went to the National Museum. We went into the first building and walked around, it was the Thai history building and I learned about archeology in Thailand and the history of Sukothai as well as Ayatthuya. There were some very interesting artifacts and a lot of interesting information (in English I might add, though the translations were sometimes funny) but there was too much information and I reached the point where I couldn't read any more before the end. It was a big building and we thought we saw a lot but when we opened the map we realized that we only saw one tiny section of a much larger picture. Rae and Pat had dinner plans so we went out to coffee instead of continuing on. After coffee they left for their dinner and Oh and Pun took me for some Thai food for dinner. The food was great and I even ate all of the spicy foods they ordered (and some of it was pretty roasty). We ate on Khao San but we didn't shop which was good since I'd already done that with Kara and the place just isn't really my scene for long hours. We decided to return to dance this coming Friday but that's different, I'm excited to go dancing!

After dinner I left Oh and Pun and went to meet Kara since it was her last day in Thailand and I wanted to say goodbye and thank her for the lovely visit. I hung out with Kara until about 10pm and then I took a taxi home so I could see Robbie because he was also leaving the next morning at 6am and I wanted to say goodbye to him in case I'm not still in Thailand when he returns.

I'd pretty much been out of my apartment since 9am and so I was pretty tired so as soon as I said good night to Robbie and Erfan I crashed out for the evening.

Today's picture is of some carvings at Angkor Wat.

Hollywood Sweet

I woke up early and finished writing my post cards. At the temples I bought 39 post cards and so had many communications to write, if I have your address you received a post card.

Robbie and I met up for lunch and decided to spend the afternoon together. We had Feast to go to at 4:30pm but had plenty of hang out time before we had to be there and since it was a rainy day out we decided to be chill and go to a movie. Going to a movie in Thailand is something else, or at least something way different in Canada.

We looked online and planned to watch Wolf Creek but when we arrived at the theatre we found that the web page was a liar and that movie was not an option. We picked the only other english movie that wasn't The Fast and the Furious 3 and with our time constraints. This movie was playing in the "Hollywood Sweet" (I thought it was "Hollywood Suite" but I was wrong). Not knowing what this theatre was we picked it, it was more expensive so I assumed it was swankier. I found that that doesn't even cover what this theatre is like. There isn't rush seating here and you pick your chairs before hand, we went to pick ours and it was one for two people. We then proceeded to find the theatre and found that it had it's own private mini bar and someone to escort us to our seat. Our seat was a reclining love seat! The guy even reclined our seat for us! We were served a wicker basket full of popcorn and a really syrupy drink with two straws. We had ended up in the "date" theatre and we were the only two there, it was hilarious. The topper though is the movie we were there to see.... Scary Movie 4. How romantic is that!? We had a good laugh over the whole situation, oye.

After our bad movie and funny theatre experience we went to the Feast which was followed by the bi-election for a new Assembly member as Rae is leaving. Erfan was elected to the Assembly.

We went to dinner after the election and then after that Robbie, Erfan and I went to 7-11 for treats and beverages. We all went back to my room to hang out, Erfan called it a night early and Robbie and I watched some football for a while.

Today's picture is another from the Bayon temple.

Yay Kara and Robbie

I got up early and after a lovely chat online with Mattea and Etana I left to meet Kara. Unfortunately, once I got to Victory Monument the 509 bus was not coming and so I had to suck it up and take a cab since I was already running late.

Being the ex-sbux employees that we are we met at the Starbucks on Kaoh San road. Kaoh San is really famous in the backpacking community but I'm glad this is the first time I've actually spent time there, there are more foreigners than Thais and it's not really a place I want to hang out too often. My Thai friends say it's good for dancing so I'll go back for that and occasional trips with them but on a whole I won't seek it out as the place to be. Kara and I did have a lovely coffee though and a good little walk around while we waited to pick the beautiful suit and coat she had made at the tailor. I bought some head bands and a skirt but on a whole I can get things cheaper at the other markets so I didn't bother shopping too much.

After Khao San Kara and I just went to her hotel since she was now carrying around her newly made clothing. It was nice to chat and visit and have lunch. Kara is a lot of fun and it was nice to relax for a bit and visit.

I had to leave Kara around 4pm because she needed to go try on her Piglet head and I needed to get back to Nonthaburi for children's classes. We didn't have actual classes because it was Rae's last weekend in town and since she was a teacher of children's class (I'm taking over her class actually) we had a going away party.

The party was lovely and Robbie came and it was nice to see him. My stomach decided to rebel right when the party started and so I wasn't able to stay long, curses. It did calm down later and Robbie came over for a visit before bed. It was a good but very long day.

This is one of the faces at the Bayon temple, they were all done by different artists. I love the faces.

Today May Be Boring but The Weekend Will Be Busy

The morning class went ok, my stomach still hadn't recovered and was a little ache-y but I made it through the day. On our break between classes I tried to help Erfan plan his activity for the leadership club since he had an idea in mind and I was still bubble headed from being away and not feeling great.

The attendance to the leadership club wasn't as great as usual, but we made it work and I think they enjoyed Erfan's activity.

In the evening I tutored Ruhi book one but only Pom attended and so we ended early.

My friend Robbie who was in town at the same time as Spud and Tabitha is returning to town tomorrow morning because he is going to be flying back to the UK on Monday and staying there for a few months. Since his arrival will be at 7am and I know he likes fruit for breakfast I took a trip out to Carrefour after Ruhi to buy him some breakfast food to welcome him back.

Then it was semi-early to bed as I had to get up early to meet Kara the next morning.

This picture was taken in Chong Kneas (the floating village).

Back to Everyday Life

When I woke up I did not want to go into school, I was still tired from my travels and though my stomach wasn't sick it was still sore. I did go anyway and the day went ok. I felt out of sorts because I hadn't planned any lessons and sort of just muddled through the day. Now of course I can't even remember if anything really happened that was out of the norm, I don't think so.

In the early evening I swung by the coffee shop to say hi to Tong and have a coffee. Both the conversation and the coffee were good, I'm glad that I'm starting to make friends with the local people who are close in age to myself.

My friend Kara was in town skating with Disney, she was Piglet. Kara and I have known each other for years, we went to high school together and she is also a former sbux employee. We made plans to hang out on Friday at 9:30am, very exciting.

It being Wednesday my Baha'i community gathered to study Ruhi book six. It was a good time, I'm really enjoying book six.

Today's picture is of the stairs to the top of Angkor Wat, I climbed those. I think I'll miss Cambodia a bit.

Returning to Thailand

Since I had had trouble sleeping the night before and was up late hurting my toes in the dark I slept through my alarm and woke to the sound of Taes knocking at my door because the cab was there to take us to the border. Whoops.

Taes and I were returning to Thailand on the same day as were the two Korean girls (who I never caught the name of) that we went to the lake with the day before. We all shared a cab which made it much cheaper however all of them wanted to sit in the back and I had no choice but to sit in the passenger seat... which you may remember is the death seat since the driver is on the right and they drive on the right. Yipes. I did up my seat belt as soon as I got in and the driver laughed at me (as did every other Cambodian who noticed me wearing it). They can laugh I wasn't going anywhere without my seat belt.

The drive was long and dusty as expected and the girls all fell asleep in the back. I couldn't sleep especially when the driver pulled out to pass someone and cars were coming towards us flashing their lights and he would whip back into our lane nearly grazing my side of the car on oncoming traffic. I mean I think this guy was a skilled driver, more skilled than my first driver but I don't dig that seat at all.

We arrived in Poipet and went through all of the border checked this time ending with us standing on Thailand soil holding our passports containing a one month stamp. I have to be gone again as of July 19th.

We immediately caught a tuk-tuk to the bus to Bangkok and hoped on the bus and left. When you cross the border from Cambodia to Thailand the wealth of Thailand is so aparent it really puts things in perspective going from Canada to Thailand and then to Cambodia and then back to Thailand. I certainly have a more concrete understanding of what poverty really is. We pulled into Bangkok around three in the afternoon. I said goodbye to Taes and the other girls, caught a taxi home, and I had a shower and rested. By this time the million mosquito bites that I aquired on my legs were really apparent and gross looking. I don't remember what I did with my time but I really just wasted away the rest of the day with out telling anyone besides my family that I had returned safe. I was pretty tired and my stomach still hadn't returned to normal (nor would it for a few days).

Me, May and Taes at the Korean restaurant on the second day.

Stupid Tummy: Quit Trying to Ruin My Day

I had a stomach ache during the previous evening which stayed with me for this entire day, ugh. I think that it was the malarone, since we were stuck in the rain and ate dinner late I didn't take the pill with a proper meal as I was supposed to. Boo for my poor tummy.

So this was my final full day in Cambodia and with my unfortunate stomach my energy was limited (I'd been bouncing off with energy, friendliness and excitement on the previous two days), very sad.

Our first stop was Thommanon, it was really nice and well preserved. As per usual in the mornings we were the only ones there, in this case it was also because it isn't one of the famous temples. I would have enjoyed it more if my stomach hadn't been such a grumbly and painful monster but I took some pictures and May rubbed my back for a bit which helped and I was able to trek on to the next site. We didn't visit Thommanon's twin temple Chau Say Tevoda because it is currently being restored and there is nothing you can really see through the scaffolding.

The second stop was Ta Keo. I really liked this temple, there are a lot of stairs to climb but I did it anyway. The temple is made of sand stone which gives it a really nice look, or I thought so, I could see how someone else would think it looks plain since it isn't adorned like the other temples. it is actually quite high once you reach the top and the view is nice. This temple wasn't finished but I've heard two different reasons as to why, I'll let you decide which you like best.

The first reason that I heard was that some soothsayer type of person said that the site was cursed and so the work was abandoned. The second reason is that the King Jayavarman V died and so the temple wasn't completed. May and Taes didn't climb to the top, I believe the stairs must have looked too daunting, which is too bad. Funny story, when I got to the top there was one person at the top, a boy, he came over and asked me for a kiss I laughed and left quickly. I didn't get too many pictures from the top.

Luckily the climb to the top of Ta Keo actually helped calm my stomach for a bit and so it wasn't too badly behaved when I was at our next destination, Ta Prohm. I had been waiting for Ta Prohm for days because of the giant trees that are taking over the temple. There are so many large tress who's roots, vines, and branches entangle the temple and jut out from the middle of the walk ways. It's really a phenomenal sight, the jungle reclaiming the temple. It's unfortunate in some ways that the temple has been used in the movies because its so busy and it's difficult to take a picture without having another tourist in your picture. Some of my pictures had to be hurriedly taken and so they didn't all turn out fantastic, boo. We trekked through the jungle to the North gate and took some pictures there but they had a monkey tied on a leash to a tree and they'd prod him to make him pose by the gate which really bothered me. I also got about a million mosquito bites and a few red ant bites in the jungle but oh well. I did like Ta Prohm a lot but it would have been nicer if there weren't so many people shuttling around, even if there were so many people and they were less rushy it would have been better. Ah well. it was still beautiful and reminds one of the power of nature.

The final stop of the morning was Prasat Kravan which is quite small and is another Hindu temple. My stomach wouldn't let me fully explore this place even though it was small, I suppose my stomach didn't like being ignored for the long length of time I spent at Ta Prohm. Taes was done walking for a while and so sat in the tuk-tuk, May and I took a quick spin around because of my tummy and then we headed back to the guest house.

Once at the guest house May gave me something for my stomach and I took a long nap while the girls got lunch. After a long sleep and an improvement in the state of my stomach we ventured out again.

We joined two other girls we had met who were also Korean and took a trip out to the country. We went to see the floating village of Chong Kneas which is inhabited by both Cambodians and Vietnamese residents. You take a car/van/bus ride out into the country and then a speed boat ride down the river into the lake, it's a very large lake that actually extends all the way to Phnom Penh. We toured around the village, saw an alligator farm, a floating school, and even a pig pen.... in the middle of a lake! Since it's the beginning of the rainy season people are moving their houses so that they won't flood.We were told they move their houses once every three months! Some of the houses don't float but are just on tall stilts. As it drew closer to dusk we returned to land and headed to Phnom Krom, which was to be the last Angkor temple I would see on this trip.

Phnom Krom is located on the top of a mountain. Well some call it a mountain some a large hill, it's only 137 meters (449feet) high, what does that make it? You start by climbing a set of cement stairs and then you walk a path that curves around the mountain until you're at the very top. I climbed it all in one go without stopping and so I was pleased especially since I'd been sick and my legs were starting to be tired from all of the temple climbing. When I reached the top I was greeted by a monk who let me take his picture and then I saw the temple, which is simple but nice. I stood facing the sun and looked down over the rice fields and it was beautiful. Monks started to chant in the distance and I watched the sun go down. It was very lovely and this time there was no rain and the clouds didn't block the sun. It was a nice end to my stay in Cambodia.

When we got back to Siem Reap the girls all went out to dinner but I ditched because I didn't think my stomach was trustworthy. I chilled, had a shower, and watched some tv movies. When May returned we visited for a bit and said good bye since I was leaving at six am the next day and she was planning on sleeping in because her flight to Vietnam wasn't until 1pm or so.

I couldn't sleep and went out to talk to the guest house staff. There were two power outages and during the second one I fell down a couple of stairs and hurt my toe. Boo. After that I said good night and went to bed.

I know that this is one of the typical Ta Prohm photo opportunities but this really is an amazing tree and I think that the picture turned out pretty well. So, yes, do excuse the cliche photo.

Banteay Day

May had wanted to try to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat this morning and I was going to join her but I was so tired and congested that I hit snooze on my alarm and passed out again. When I woke later I found out that she hadn't gone because it had been raining and so I didn't feel so bad about ditching.

We went out for coffee before setting out on our day's adventure at 7:30am. The first stop on our list was Banteay Srei which is a lovely little temple. Most of the temple is blocked off so you can't walk between the individual structures but what you can see is very interesting. The carvings are quite beautiful and I saw a big gecko type thing and a huge trail of ants, both of which made me happy (yes I took pictures which will be posted later). I especially liked the carvings at this temple though my pictures didn't all turn out as well as I would like (some did which again will be posted later). We took our time because we decided that we wouldn't bust it seeing so many things this day because the previous day had been so exhausting. There was a nice moat at this temple too and it had some lovely flowers.

Once we'd explored Banteay Srei we went to Banteay Samre. Banteay Samre is like a smaller version of Angkor Wat and is in very good condition. We climbed up and down it's steps (though it wasn't nearly as high as Angkor Wat) and walked on the ledge around the outer perimiter of the temple. This was the least busy temple that we'd been to so far and we were able to really just have it all to ourselves. We did run into some people when we went out the back of the temple to the stone walkway but even then we didn't see very many others.

Banteay Kdei was our next and the final Banteay temple we would see. This temple is in a noticeable state of ruin and is held together by support beams and ropes. There were many areas that you couldn't enter and also a beautiful over-grown tree which was taking over the back wall of the temple.

Unfortunately, we didn't stop at Sra Srang which is also called the pool of Ablutions. We were told there wasn't much to actually see and I think that the previous day had really spent some energy and so this day turned into a very slow paced day.

As May and Taes are both Korean they took me out for a Korean feast for lunch. I tried pretty much everything even the whole green chilies dipped in red chili sauce (I ate about five of them). I ate more types of kim-chi than I have ever seen in my life and the food was all very good (and spicy). We took our time over lunch and so it was already into the afternoon when we were done.

When lunch was over we went to the guest house to re-adjust our bags and then it was off to Angkor Wat. May hadn't yet seen Angkor Wat and since Taes and I had been there so early the previous day we decided it would be nice to see it again when we were fully awake. I am glad that I had seen it early in the morning because it was so busy in the afternoon! We walked around the outer galleries and then went to the centre where May and Taes decided to climb the steep stairs. I had done it the day before and decided that I didn't want to do it for a second time. I sat on a ledge of a wall giving me a good view of the stairs and just took in the atmosphere. That didn't last long because five monks (about my age) approached me and we started to talk. They were all very chatting and spoke so many languages (they tested my Spanish skills but those don't stretch very far). After we'd been talking for a while one told me that he wouldn't be a monk in a year and asked me if he could have my number and email! Now that is some pick-up line! In Cambodia I was hit on more than I had ever been hit on in my entire life, I couldn't believe it and by young and old, weird.

Our original plan was to go to another temple to see the sunset but the clouds moved in while Taes and May were atop the peak of Angkor Wat and shortly after they descended it started to pour. This wasn't just some rain storm it was the mother of all rainstorms a true rainy season drenching. Most (nearly all) of the foreigners ran into the temple for refuge, however, rain is my happy weather and so I gave my bag to May (since she was hiding from the rain) and splashed in the puddles and ran in the rain around Angkor Wat. Since all of the foreigners were in hiding many of the kids who peddled their wares at the temple entrance had nothing do do so they ran around and jumped in the puddles and dove off the walk way into the moat. The little boys took off their shirts and started to whip each other with their wet shirts, I ran around with them and splashed them and they splashed me. I had such a fantastic time and I got so wet. There were two older boys that were trying to get me to kiss them and when I did have to buy a rain coat to sit on so I wouldn't get the seat wet in the taxi one boy was trying to sell it to me for a dollar and a kiss, oye. I did finally talk him out of the kiss and was able to get the rain coat for just a dollar. They were at least funny.

We went home and I changed into dry clothing. By that time it was late because the rain storm had lasted a long time. We ate dinner in the guest house restaurant and then went to the convenience store for snacks. Taes went to set up a cab to take us back to Poipet on Tuesday morning as she had found two other girls to take it with us to reduce the cost. May and I sat in the upstairs lobby and had a good chat about our lives and religion. I really had a great time with May she's my lovely Korean older sister. When Taes got back we visited for a bit longer and then it was time for bed.

Today's picture is from Banteay Srei.

So Much to See

I woke up early and Taes and I met up at 5am with plans to be at Angkor Wat for Sunrise. Unfortunately, there was some confusion the day before when booking our tuk-tuk and it wasn't actually officially booked. We ended up getting to Angkor Wat as the sun was rising but not officially for sunrise.

Angkor Wat is really nice early in the morning (around 5:45am was when we arrived). There were other tourists but it wasn't too busy. We walked around the temple and climbed the steps steep steps to the center platform of the Wat. The steps are narrow and very steep and though it doesn't look high in the pictures it feels pretty high up when you reach the top. I was nervous about getting down again but after we had walked around the top looking at beautiful carvings, taking many pictures and relaxing I had calmed down enough that I was able to attempt the climb down. Nearly every inch of the inner galleries of Angkor Wat are covered in carvings, every pillar and wall seems to have something and the outer gallery is extremely detailed.

I bought a book and some post cards from the vendors while exiting the temple grounds. The vendors are something else, most of them are young children who will follow you trying to sell you things with unrelenting determination. I had wanted to buy the book since Lynne had shown me hers and though it doesn't have a ton on information it has many pictures which are beautiful.

After we left the temple we found our tuk-tuk driver and he took us into the Royal city of Angkor Thom and to the Bayon temple. Now this is a wonderful temple, I can see why it is so popular. There are giant smiling stone faces everywhere and I found that it gave the temple a comforting feeling. You couldn't look at any section of the temple without seeing at least five faces. The outer wall of the temple is covered in base relief carvings depicting battle scenes. While at Bayon Taes and I ran into a girl who was also staying at our guest house and we decided to travel together the next day, it ended up however that our travels together were to start immediately following our trip to Bayon as we had planed the same excursion for the rest of the day and it made sense to walk around together.

Our next stop was Baphuon and from there we walked to Phimeanakas, the Elephant Terrace, and the Terrace of the Leper King. There are all within the city of Angkor Thom and are quite close together. I took many pictures and will have something to post from each place we visited. The Baphuon stands at the centre of Angkor Thom and represents the mythical mountain, Meru. There isn't a lot to see of Phimeanakas as it was under restoration and we weren't able to climb it's steps or get too close. The Elephant terrace is a large walk way with many elephant carvings the highlight of which is the mythical three headed elephants on the main platform. The Terrace of the Leper King was interesting because of the statue at the top and the interesting walkway which had intricately carved walls portraying naga as well as other scenes.

Taes and I were very hungry by this point and so we took a break for lunch at one of the stalls where the cars and tuk-tuks park. I had a great lemon grass chicken and an ok mango shake (a little too runny without enough flavour).

After lunch we had regained enough energy to explore other temples and so our next stop was Preah Khan which is the temple of the Sacred Sword. This is a large temple with a lot of carvings, we took our time walking around as there was a lot to see.

Next was a visit to Preah Neak Pean. This was a public bath I believe, there are four smaller pools and one large pool, though non are filled with water any more. The area is quite small and it's a pretty quick walk around to see it, but there are a few Naga heads and a human head spout, horse head spout, elephant head spout, and a lion head spout. Taes was pretty tired after our trek around Preah Khan and so she lounged in the shade while May and I walked around and then May and I joined her for a little lounge on the side of one of the pools. It was so hot out I wish that the pools had been filled with water!

We weren't done our adventures for the day and went next to Ta Som. I liked Ta Som it was pretty crumbly but there was a huge tree growing at the back of the temple and it was beautiful. I love it when the lines between nature and civilization blur a little. I'll post a picture of the tree eventually.

Two more places to visit and our day of trekking from temple to temple finished. The second last stop was East Mebon which is a Hindu temple. There are large circular holes in the stones here and I read that they are probably there because they used to be covered in metal plates. There are elephants at the corners of one of the levels of the temple and I took pictures of them for Adina (my younger sister likes elephants). We climbed to the top and took in the view. It wasn't terribly high or steep but that was ok with us, we had one more temple to climb and didn't mind taking it easy. I started to notice at this temple that despite my sunscreen application I was still getting a little burnt. It would seem I can't go on vacation with out getting at least one burn, at least it wasn't as bad as the one I got at Ko Phi Phi.

The final stop for the day was the temple Pre Rup. This temple is a popular one for watching the sun set, you can see Mabon to the South West and Angkor Wat on the horizon to the North West. I read that this may have been an early royal crematorium as the name Pre Rup means "Turning the Body". We didn't end up seeing the sun set because at the last moment the clouds came in an covered the sun. I didn't mind not seeing the sunset, I made a friend named John who was from London and it was just nice to have a sit for a while.

We left Pre Rup before the light was gone since we couldn't see the sun properly set and went back to our guest house to clean up before dinner. Once we were all cleaned, changed and presentable we went out for dinner and a stroll. On our walk a little boy (who was really young, maybe 5 years old?) who was carrying his one year old sister on his hip and holding and empty bottle in his hand followed me crying and begging for money so that he could buy formula for his sister. It was awful, and I couldn't do anything for them. That was the hardest thing about Cambodia, the poverty is so obvious and wide spread and you feel powerless because you don't have enough to help everyone.

After our walk we arranged for a tour for Monday afternoon and then went back to our guest house and to bed. I couldn't sleep so I sat out front and wrote my journal and talked to the guest house staff. This didn't work out well for me. I was nice and friendly and they taught me some Khmer but then another guest joined us (some guy from Japan) and the night ended with first the Japanese guy trying to invite himself to my room and then when I got rid of him the guy at the front desk told me he loved me and I was the only woman for him (a statement he held on to and told me every day until my departure). Oye!

Today's picture is of the sunrise at Angkor Wat.

Hello Cambodia

I had planned to have a nap before my cab arrived to take me to Mo Chit bus station but I only managed to rest for an hour due to nerves. We called the cab in advance because it's safer for girls using cabs at night to call in advance so that they have it on record if anything happens. I was feeling all confident and told the driver where I was going in Thai and made some minor conversation. This however backfired when the driver thought I was fluent in Thai and started to chatter away to me, when he realized that I wasn't following he laughed and then I laughed and we had a good little drive.

The bus station was interesting. I got to the station and it was around three in the morning and I went to the ticket window for tickets to Aranyaprathet which is the Thai town that is closest to the Cambodian border. The window wasn't open and so I did what all the other Thais did and put a bag (in this case a plastic back containing my shampoo and conditioner as I was told not to put anything valuable) in line to hold my spot and then sat to the side and waited for the window to open. I wrote a letter and then when the window openned claimed my place in line which was reserved by my shampoo and proceeded to buy my ticket. The bus ride was ok, uneventful, the only things that "happened" was we passed some elephants and an army guy checked our passports before we arrived at the border.

When I got into Aranyaprathet I met a nice Korean girl who had been on the bus with me and we shared a tuk-tuk to the border. We soon realized we were both going to Siem Reap and to Angkor Wat and so we went through passport control together. Passport control was surprizingly easy, it was just a series of check points which eventually ended with Taes (my new Korean friend) and I standing in Cambodia 1000 baht poorer, but with Cambodian visas in hand. We shared a cab from Poipet (the town the on the Cambodian side of the border) to Siem Reap and man was that an adventure in and of itself. Taes some how managed to sleep but I spend nearly the entire ride with my eyes peeled ready to brace for a crash. The thing about the drive from Poipet to Siem Reap is that the cars have the steering wheel on the right side of the car but they also drive on the right side of the road and so if you have the misfortune of being the passenger that has to sit on the left side of the car (opposed to being behind the driver) you feel a little like you're life may potentially on the line. The roads are very bumpy with huge pot holes and a mixture of poor pavement and gravel and though they technically drive on the right side of the road they really just pass opposing traffic like they drive on the right side but drive any where on the road when there is no one to coming. Yipes. The cab ride was nearly three and a half hours but I did finally make it into Siem Reap.

When we got to Siem Reap we were taken to a guest house called "Long Live guest house". It was ok, only five dollars a night. I was able to have a shower and a nap and then in the evening Taes and I had dinner together and decided to share a Tuk-Tuk to Angkor Wat the next morning with plans on meeting at five am so we could go for the sunrise.

Here is a picture of three sweet Cambodian children who were playing on the side of one of the roads. I think I took this one on Sunday but I thought I'd post it as my first official Cambodia picture because they were really sweet. Unfortunately, the picture is slighly blurry when enlarged.

Cambodia Here I Come!

Today I'm feeling emotionally better than I did yesterday. I did get some confirmation that I'm doing some good at school today which was nice. I am the supervising teacher for the leadership club (for the grade 7-9 students) and today four more students wanted to join my club because from the reports of their friends it sounded cool (yes!). So at least I know my leadership stuff. I was beginning to think that I wouldn't get through to any of them, but it would seem that some might be coming around if they're recommending it to their friends.

I went to the tailor to pick up my new clothings and they're beautiful! Everything fits me really well and looks sharp. I had two skirts and a blouse made and it only cost me about 45CAD, insane!

Tonight (technically early Friday morning) I'm leaving for Cambodia for a few days so I won't be blogging but I will do as I did for my trip to Ko Phi Phi and keep a journal while absent and update the blog upon my return. I think that everything is packed for Cambodia and so all I need to do now is have a nap before the cab comes to pick me up to take me to the Mo Chit bus terminal.

The picture is of Etana, Mattea and myself when I left Edmonton in March. I love the look on Etana's face, she's watching Mowgli (my parent's dog). This weekend I'll be taking a million pictures in Cambodia so there will be no shortage of new pictures when I return.

Bummed

Things happened today but I don't really feel like writing about specifics. I'm feeling a little bummed right now to tell the truth. I'll be ok and things will pass as usual. Maybe I'm feeling this way because I had that tooth problem, then illness, then people coming and going, and now I'm nervous about the border stuff when I go to Cambodia on Friday, I dunno. I am really looking forward to taking some personal time and getting away it's just the visa craziness and that makes me a little worried. I'm really excited about Angkor Wat.

I think that I'm also feeling a little crappy because Erfan and I aren't seeing eye to eye on school stuff, I'm a planner and he isn't. The classes he went to with me today were the good classes and so he didn't know what I was talking about regarding some of the classes being difficult. It should be easier with two people anyway, right? He went home early to rest because he's still trying to get his sleeping on track and I had grade 8b to teach alone. I still maintain that the grade 8b class is full of wonderful junior youth, but they're kind of like the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead, when they are good they are very very good and when they are bad they are horrid. Today was the latter and they terrorized me. It was very discouraging. It was also the class I most wanted a partner for because I know they can be hard to handle. I had prepared what I thought was a good lesson, the other grade 8 class seemed to do well enough with it. Ugh. At the end of class the classroom leader usually makes the class stand up, wai, and thank the teacher but today when the leader went to tell the class to stand I told him not to bother. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, but after a class like today's I didn't see the point. I felt that wouldn't have been sincere as they had been displaying a complete lack of respect for me and the lesson for the previous fifty minutes.

I hope that things change or I get some kind of positive feed back. I felt a little like I was failing at my classes and it didn't help to have someone come in and say "I don't know what you're talking about they're so well behaved".

Things have been a bit challenging lately. I know I won't get tests I can't handle, and I'll only become mentally and spiritually stronger through this, but man I wish things would just let up a bit or at least come one at a time. I am feeling especially alone these days and realized that I was feeling a bit bummed when I went out and returned with unhealthy eats (always a bad sign for me).

I don't want any one to be overly concerned, this too shall pass. I just thought I'd write what was happening with me, even if it's not all rainbows and sunshine.... well it's all sunshine all the time in Thailand but you know what I mean.

In good news, the highlight of my day was receiving Evan Cd number 5 today! Whoooow! I have been loving up the cds Ev has sent me, it's pretty exciting! Thank you Evan.

Thanks Terri for the Shoutbox post, another letter is in the mail, unless you've already received two, in which case I'll be writing more soon. I'm glad you enjoyed the letter.

Today's picture is from Wat Pho when I took myself out for my monthiversary.

Another Slow Day

Today was pretty slow, still trying to help Erfan to get acclimatized to the heat and to just being in Thailand. In the morning I did my own thing while he chilled in his room catching up on some rest. I talked to Mattea which I haven't done in a while, and I went out and got passport size pictures for my Cambodia visa and my next Thai visa since I'll be going into Cambodia this Friday. I'm a bit nervous about the border crossing and obtaining my Cambodia visa but hopefully with some common sense and some prayers I'll get through ok and unscathed. Lynne drew me a map and wrote instructions, but it sounds pretty crazy and I have to admit I'm a little nervous about this unknown adventure. I'll be ok though, it's just nerves, I'm always cautious. On a side note my passport size photos don't really look like I thought I looked, I mean they are me and look like me, but at the same time not really, strange.

In the afternoon Erfan and I went for lunch and then hung out in my room for a bit. He went to rest in the afternoon and a couple of the youth in my community came over and used my computer for a bit while I wrote letters. It was a pretty chill afternoon and I got some class planning done as well.

This evening we were supposed to go into Bangkok for dinner but instead we went over to Khanum's (another Baha'i who lives close to our community) for dinner. One of Khanum's sons is in town, he's very nice, and he gave us a ride home afterwards.

This evening I'm just making sure I have my outfit for tomorrow laid out so I can wake up as late as possible. I may write some more letters before bed or read, I don't really know at this point.

Thanks again to Evan for the cds I still have only 1-4 (apparently there are 11 now!), but they're wonderful and comforting, they make me smile every time I listen to them.

Today's picture was taken from the inside of a taxi, you can see the taxi driver in the rear view mirror as well as the flowers hanging from the mirror and some city lights through the window. I took this on a rushed drive to the southern bus station when Tabitha, Spud and I were on our way to Krabi.

Air Conditioning is Chilly

Today not much happened. I'm spending time with Erfan to help him adapt, but the heat was too much for him today and so we didn't really go any where. We went on a small walk around the neighbourhood where I took today's picture and then back to my air conditioned room (the air con is too cold for me now). I would have liked to do something outdoors today but I have to remember how much of a heat difference this is from most of North America, especially with the increased humidity and so I shouldn't push to be out doors.

We watched Tom Yum Goong and talked about what I've been doing at the school. It was really a very chill afternoon (figuratively and literally). We went to our separate rooms and had afternoon naps and then we met up with Jaya, a Baha'i in our community and the director for the foundation we represent when working at the school, for dinner.

This evening I took it easy and did some laundry and watched another movie.

The green stuff under the cement walk-way is water covered with duck weed, I don't know how deep the water is but it's quite smelly, it's too bad because the walk is visually very pretty.

Welcome To Thailand Erfan

Today I spent the morning doing research for my classes and talking to people online. I'm trying to find ways to make the classes fun and interesting for the students. Sometimes it's hard to get in touch with my students, I'm improving but I wish I was there already.

I think Erfan is a little overwhelmed and home sick right now. I'm sure he'll feel better when the jet lag passes and he starts to settle into life here. Today I took him to the supermarket (Carrefour) and to the pool for a swim. We played with some kids at the pool. The kids here are so interested in foreigners and just want to play with us. We did all these fun jumps into the pool and threw the kids around and it was really wonderful.

In the evening we went to the Sunday market bought some fruit, sticky rice, and some meat on a stick. After the market we just sat around and talked. I hope he settles in soon it's hard to see him feeling so nervous and home sick, I miss people at home but I never felt as freaked out as he says he is feeling.

Yesterday I forgot to mention that I went to Starbucks for the first time since I left Canada, it was good. It's kinda eerie how Starbucks is the same everywhere you go, I guess for some people it would be a comfort thing, but I thought it was kind of creepy in a way. At least my old store had more personality than the average 'Bucks.

Today's picture is of the King and Queen on their wedding day, I think the King is 18 years old or so (I don't know officially). This picture was in the exhibition at Impact.

Happy 60 years on the Throne King Bhumibol!

This morning Oceana left and Erfan arrived. Erfan seems like a really nice guy and I think we'll get along well.

In the afternoon I went swimming with some of the junior youth on my soi. We had a lot of fun splashing around and passing a ball around.

After the swimming party I met up with my friends OH and Phan and we went to the Impact exhibition hall to see the display about the King. It was amazing. The people who make interpretive centres in Canada should take a page out of the Thai display book. Mind out this must have cost bucket loads of money, but it was beautiful and Educational. I learned so much about the King! I would have learned more were I able to read Thai but at least I was there with Thai friends and they were able to translate for me and tell me about the way the people feel about the King. It's pretty amazing the way the citizens of Thailand adore their King, I couldn't give a toss about the British Queen even though she is sort of my Queen too. The display about the King went through his childhood, his education, the romance between him and Queen Sirikit, the conservation and economic development work he instigated as well as his art, photography, and his music (playing and composing). He has done a lot! The jazz he composed is very nice too. He is very smart and also designed a boat and a few machines as well as developed the express way in Bangkok and new farming methods in Thailand. The things the King has done for this county are wonderful and he has done them while maintaining a honest, respectful, fair and accepting policy and attitude. There was even a whole section about how the King encourages religious tolerance and it featured pictures of him a different religious ceremonies even though he himself is Buddhist. The section about his environmental conservation projects was also good and really beautifully set up. I really can see why this country loves the King so much, I have a lot of respect for him. It's really different for me as well because I have never seen a country love one person this much, his picture is on buildings and billboards and there are songs about him that make people cry because it's about what he's done for their country and they think it's so moving how much he has cared for his people. My friend Phan told me that he was like the country's father and they all loved him like a father. I swear no one in Canada has been that publicly loved, it's something else for sure. The King's art is also very interesting some are classic portraits and some very abstract but it's very sweet because 99% of them are of his wife and it really shows how much he adores her. The King is a very good leader and I think that this country has been very blessed with their Kings. I'm glad I could be in Thailand for this historical event, it has certainly been an education.

Here is a picture of a mural at the Impact, in two of the three pictures there he has his camera around his neck. I was told that he almost always has his camera, a map and a notepad and pencil with him so that he can remember what he sees for his next plan of development. His photographs are very interesting.

Thanks Mom and Dad

This morning I went to the tailor to pick up my stuff but it wasn't completely finished. I had a fitting for my skirt and I dropped off some new material for my another skirt that the tailor told me she thought would look good on me. It's a beautiful skirt. All of my things will be ready on Thursday the 15th of June.

I currently have a short term roommate named Oceana, she did the same volunteer work as I am doing now six months ago and is now just passing through Nonthaburi on her way home to the U.S. I don't teach on Fridays and today was a public holiday for the King's sixtieth anniversary on the throne so Oceana and I went out for the day. We did a bit of shopping and went out for a late lunch and then we came home.

This evening children's classes went well, the kids were being really funny and we all danced at the end of class.

After children's classes I went to grab a quick coffee across the street and ended up staying for an hour talking to Tong (the cute coffee guy) and his really sweet girlfriend and watching tennis with them. They're really fun to hang out with, I'm glad we're becoming friends... and they're close to my age.

Today i finally got the package my Mom and Dad sent me! Thank you Mom and Dad! I was so excited to receive it the books look interesting, the tampons and blister packs will be useful (as will the computer chord), and the blouse fits perfectly.

Tomorrow Oceana leaves and Erfan (my new partner in service at the school) arrives. I hope he and I get on well. It will be really nice to have a peer in the community, and one that will be sticking around for a longer period of time.

Happy FIFA to those of you who are football (err... soccer) fans out there! I hope that I get to watch some. Whooow!

Today's picture is of a sign at the royal palace in Bang Pa-In, just outside of Bangkok. The wording is kinda cute.

Wai Khru

This morning there was the teacher appreciation ceremony, wai khru. Wai is the what they do in respect in Thailand and khru means teacher. The ceremony is like nothing I've ever really seen before in a school. The teachers sat on the stage in the auditorium and student representatives from each class walked onto the stage bearing flowers. Each student would kneel and walk on their knees towards the teacher, present the flowers, and the wai in the "krab" position. After they wai they return to kneeling position and walk on their knees until they are a few feet away from the teachers and then they are allowed to rise to their feet and walk off the stage to their seat. They ran out of flowers and so the last row of teachers, of which I was a member, didn't get any. I did get some beautiful flowers in the end (see today's photo) one of the other teachers gave his to me because he said he has received the flowers in the past and I should get a chance to have some. It was very sweet and they are making my room smell beautiful! Over all I would say the ceremony was educational and the principle of an appreciation ceremony for teachers is excellent, but I wasn't as big a fan of the submissive/superior student-teacher relationship.

There was also a ceremony for the King at the school this morning because of his ceremony is on Monday. The ceremony was outdoors and I had to stand in the full song while three different songs were sung for the King. I have not sweat this much before, ever... it was truly gross and the third song went on for what seemed like a life time.

My class today (grade 7b) was ok but not fantastic. With the respect ceremony in the morning I was hoping that they'd maybe behave themselves, alas no.

I had a long break in the afternoon so I helped to decorate the math lab. I'll take a picture of our glorious math mural and post it sometime soon.

Today, being Thursday, I had leadership club in the afternoon. I think that we had a good class. Since the kids don't want to do any work and have no interest in doing service we have been just playing games. Today's activities were about changing our ways of thinking and we played games that made us "think outside the box". First we played a game with teams but where I didn't tell them it was a competition. Being in teams often makes people feel like they should be competing and so in the end we discussed why they didn't cooperate. They didn't even realize that that was an option and were surprised and I could tell they were thinking. I think this group may come around nicely.

This evening I tutored Ruhi book one again which went well. I'm learning more Thai and our discussions are getting very interesting and involved. Right now we are talking about prayer.

I'm nearly all better from my cold and I just have a little cough left, yay.

Thank you Auntie Cie for the shoutbox post, it's lovely to hear from you. I am feeling better thanks.

Hopefully Tomorrow Will Be Better

Today was a very long day at school made all the longer by the fact that my voice still isn't yet fully functional and talking was exhausting. Non of my classes were really fantastic and the students were so disrespectful today it was really trying. I tried really hard to give the students something fun to do but it just didn't pan out and I went home at the end of the day feeling really dejected.

In happy news another Evan cd arrived bringing my Evan cd count to four! I'm so thrilled to listen to them all, whoo! Also, Wednesday is my day of long breaks and so I wrote seven letters which was the most relaxing part of my day.

Regrettably, this will be another short post due to my extreme fatigue. I have to be up and at the school by 7:30am tomorrow because there is an appreciation ceremony for the teachers where the students present the teachers with flowers I think. They asked me today to be in the ceremony even though I'm a part time teacher, and after the day I had today a little appreciation from the students would feel good. I he said I'd be there. I'll write about it tomorrow.

As I'm sure you can tell this isn't a picture from Thailand. I realized that I didn't post very many (only one?) pictures from when I was in Frankfurt. This was a cool church, it was in a very busy square (the same square all of my Frankfurt postcards showed).

Voicelessness

I woke up this morning and went about getting myself ready for work. Usual stuff. I still don't feel fantastic, but it's better than on the weekend. I went down stairs to walk to the bus stop and as usually passed the motorcycle taxi guys who said "sawatdee-krap" to me and so I went to reply with my "sawatdee-ca" and when I opened my mouth... just a little squeak came out. If you haven't get I've lost my voice... stupid illness.

Quick story about the motorcycle taxi guys. In Thailand, there are many ways to get around and one is by hiring a motorcycle taxi. The motorcycle taxis hang out in little groups every few blocks and operate as cooperatives. There is one group spread out along my soi and they have one smaller group right in front of my building and another bigger one in front of the 7-11 just as you turn off my soi on to the main road (Chaengwattana). The motorcycle taxi drivers are mostly male and the ones on my soi have taken to playing a game with me. I think the object of the game is to see who will get me on their bike first. One guy has even learned to yell "I love you" in english while taping his hand on his heart. Some, including the heart-tapper, have started to offer me 'free' rides on their bikes. I will never ride on their bikes. I think that they're just joking around in good fun,but free is rarely ever really free and I don't want to give any of them a reason to expect something. If I really need to take a motorcycle taxi I'll take one driven by a woman. Their behavior is really quite funny. I walk by and say "mai chai" (which means no) a couple of times to their offers and they laugh and say something in Thai or "I love you" and I just continue to walk by. On the milder mornings they just give me big smiles and say "Sawatdee-krap", but today was an "I love you" day. Oh well. Some guy sitting in the flat bed of a truck blew me a kiss today as he drove by, I guess with all my sickness and voicelessness I must have looked ok. Weird.

Anyway back to my day. When I got to school and for the rest of the day I had little to no voice. Teaching my class was difficult due to the fact that I couldn't really speak and my students (who don't all speak great english couldn't understand my raspy voice. I ended up having them work in pairs, which I think worked out ok. At least all my students were quiet and well enough behaved (except for the fact that they made fun of me and my voicelessness). I hope tomorrow goes as well, my voice hurts a bit and I have three classes to teach.

In the afternoon I rested for a bit and then went to get some new and exciting stationary. Lynne was with me and had her own shopping agenda as well so we looked for her stuff, went by Suan Lum and picked up my fisherman's pants and the silk she wanted to buy and then came home. We got home later than I wanted to but I guess it couldn't be prevented. Now I'll just get ready my stuff for tomorrow and then go to bed early.

Did you all enjoy the math puzzle yesterday? I'm still pleased that I did it. Don't tell me it took you no time at all, humour me (as my Mom always said) and tell me it took you all day long...

Lastly, thank you to Evan who sent me some cds in the mail! Three arrived today I was so excited to get them. Unfortunately, I haven't yet managed to listen to them because I have a roommate for tonight and I don't want to be disruptive. My current roommate is just passing through Nonthaburi on her way to Yasothon, she takes the bus tomorrow night. But three cd's from Evan! I'm really excited! Yay. If you don't know who Evan is check out Clover's blog (Clover is his daughter).

Today's picture is once again from Wat Phra Kaeo... sorry I'm running out of new photos and since I'm sick I'm not even making the effort to get out and get new ones. Anyway, Wat Phra Kaeo: This is the side of the Wat that holds the emerald Buddha. Look at the picture in big to see the detail, it looses something shrunk down.

DEW+WHO=DIME

Last night I had a coughing fit through most of the night and got very little sleep. I thought that this coughing fit would make me feel really crappy today but surprisingly enough I felt a bit better, but tired. I guess the coughing was cleansing, though it did leave my throat rather raw and consequently my voice has an unpleasant rasp to it, boo.

I tried to sleep in as late as possible so that I could go to school feeling some what rested. It wouldn't say my efforts were terribly successful. I woke up feeling really gross and sweaty, in the way that you're sweaty when you're sick, and even after a cool shower I didn't feel totally refreshed. The temperature outside was hot but it wasn't muggy, which was nice. The heat here is less bearable on the days with high humidity. I think it was about 36-37 degrees (Celsius) today but it was a dryer heat and that made lovely. It's a cool 30 outside right now, down right chilly! Hehehe I just thought I'd throw that in, though the joke will be one me when I freezy my tuckus off returning to Edmonton in November. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler than today, it's predicted to be at 34 degrees, but I best not rub it in too much because I've probably already earned myself the coldest November in Alberta history with all of my joking around. Anyway, it may rain here tomorrow which will mean we may have the sticky humidity back. Eck.

My class today wasn't great due to my illness. I had wanted to plan some good activities for my classes, but since I spent the weekend sleeping I didn't spend it planning out awesome classes. I tried to teach the lesson in an interactive way but the students didn't want to listen, were acting a bit rude, and on top of that my voice was too weak from the coughing making it so that I couldn't be properly heard. Oye! I didn't feel great about how this class went which does suck a bit extra since I won't see them for three weeks now. The class next week is cancelled due to the King's celebration, the class after that I'll be in Cambodia and someone will cover me, so I won't see them until the class after that one! I guess that gives me time to really plan out a rockin' good class.

Eden, the woman with whom I taught summer school, works in the math lab and gave me a math puzzle today. I have to preface the presentation of the puzzle with information concerning my mathematical prowess. There is no prowess. I am in the mathematically challenged category, shocking I know, but none the less true. I do like puzzles though, so I gave it a go. I want to say now that I did solve it and I'll post my answer after the story of today's picture at the end of this entry. So if you want to solve this on your own and check if I'm right then don't scroll down too quickly or it'll be spoiled for you. Also, if you finish the problem in 0.0000001 seconds humor me and tell me it took you a minute because then I won't feel too bad about the fact that I took it home to work on it. I will show Eden my good work tomorrow. Hey, at least I solved it correctly (I think).
Ready for the problem? No? Oh well, here it is any way in all it's glory, yes glory:

DEW + WHO = DIME
The numbers you can use for the equation are: 0 9 1 3 6 4 2

The rest of my day? Not much really happened. I phoned the National Baha'i Centre of Canada in Toronto to tell them how I was doing in Thailand, and I had a lovely chat with Marjorie. I've also worked on my lesson for tomorrow , worked out the math problem, and am writing my blog (obviously). Tonight is pretty low key all in all, and I am still sick so it'll be an early to bed kinda night.

Oh, also in exciting news: I confirmed my ticket to Africa as well as my ticket back to Canada, as of today! I'll see my parents in Africa September 30th and I'll see you Canadians again in November.

The monkey shown in my photo is in a garden at Wat Phra Kaeo. What I found interesting about him is that there is a little monkey hanging off his right arm (or maybe he is pulling on his arm) near his elbow, there is another little one crouching behind/beside him, on his left side, and then there is a bigger one back to back with him. He looks simple from far away, just crouching in the garden, but he seems to have a lot going on.

My answer to the math puzzle:

139 + 924 = 1063
D = 1, E = 3, W = 9, H = 2, O = 4, I = 0, M = 6

*Also don't be afraid of using the shoutbox it doesn't hurt and its your chance to give an opinion since I'm here typing away to you nearly every day

SSSiiiiiiiccckkk Part 2

Today I spent another morning resting in my apartment. I'm still feeling really nasty and I have developed a gross cough... ewww.

Today we also had the Feast and it was hosted by Rae, who will be leaving our community at the end of this month. It was a lovely feast, she had decorated and had a very coordinated program, it was very beautiful.

This evening I'm not feeling so hot and though I do only have one class tomorrow I am packing it in early so that I can try to recover. Sorry for the short post, things weren't all that interesting today anyway.

I think my Auntie Lisa took this picture of my Dad and Etana at the family coordinated going away party, I got the picture off of the "Bujold" web page. I'm feeling sick and nothing makes me happier than a smiling Daddy and a cute little Punkin'!

SSSSiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccccckkkk

Today I woke up feeling gross so I went back to bed and slept in. When I got up I worked out my flight to South Africa and so now I'm all set to visit my parents for the month of October! Yay! My only sadness is missing Halloween because I sure do love dressing up in costume.

I rested again until I had to go and meet up with Rae and the junior youths because we're starting a Junior Youth group on Saturday afternoons and today was day one. For the first few times we're going to just hang out and go swimming so that we can get everyone used to getting together. I didn't swim today because I felt like crap and my eyes were all watery and my nose and stuffy.

After my short afternoon outing I returned home and had a three hour nap and then went out to get myself some soup and spring rolls (the soup from the 7-11freezer and the spring rolls from a kiosk outside). I also got myself a couple of bottles of my favorite tea, I'm sad that they don't sell them in Canada. (if you click on the link the pictures of the bottles can be enlarged the one I drink is the pinky-red one and it's green tea pomegranate).

Now it's off to bed again, I want to be well soon.

Today's picture is of Spud feeding a monkey pineapple, I took it at Monkey Beach in Ko Phi Phi. I posted it today because I'd rather be there than feeling all sick here. Ugh.

Trip to the Tailor

This morning I woke up with a scratchy throat and a headache and over the day it got worse and so now I'm feeling a little bit like road kill. That being said I'm going to try to keep today's story brief even though a lot happened today.

In the mid morning I went with Lynne and Kung (a woman who worked with Lynne at Magic Years) to the tailor, which is an easy bus trip down Chaengwattana from my home. I went to get a blouse made (I had bought material a few weeks ago) and a couple of skirts made out of the Thai silk that I had bought at Impact a month ago. I had wanted to also get one of my skirt's hems fixed but when I put the skirt on to show her how it needed fixing I realized that I had lost weight and my skirt didn't fit me any more! I knew I was thinning out but I didn't realize that I wouldn't fit some of my clothing any more. This woman who is making my new clothing showed me some of her original work and she is really an artist. She is going to make me a few other shirts in one of the really neat styles she showed me today and since she doesn't really fancy dresses I may get her to make me up something really beautiful. I was surprised to hear that to make up my new blouse and one skirt it would be less than 1000 baht and so I'm definitely going to get a few other things made.

We went back to our building for a bit and I had a nap while Kung picked up her son from school (he had only had a half day of school today).

After about an hour of good solid sleeping they woke me up and we decided to go to Bangkok. We went to Nonthaburi Thani, took the water taxi to China town, and walked through to reach the Indian section of Bangkok. The Indian section was wonderful and I bought some cloth there for another skirt to be made and I had also bought some Chinese silk (in a shop on the border of India town and China town) to be used for either a skirt or a dress (depending on how much she needs for a dress).

We went out for some lovely Indian food for dinner and then I rushed back to Nonthaburi to help with the Friday night children's classes. We drew pictures showing kindness and played a game, my picture was of a dog and a cat sharing the same water dish and being friends.

Right now I have a bit of a fever and I'm really tired. The plan is to go to bed early today, sleep in tomorrow, and then... who knows.

I know I have been posting many flower pictures lately but since I live in the city it's hard to find pretty pictures of nature and the flowers are easier to find since people keep them in pots all over the place. The flowers and plants here are so beautiful and I wish I had more to show everyone in Canada but there is so much concrete around and I don't always want city pictures.

Waiting Day

My first class today was grade 7b. The class was ok, but they wasted a lot of time being rowdy and we didn't even really get a chance to get into the proper lesson.

After class I had to get down to the dentist's office and get my filling checked. Good news all looks good! When he had checked the filling he cleaned my teeth and then I made the arduous trek back to School. There is currently an exhibit/tribute about/to the King going on at Impact (which you may remember is in Muang Thong very near my school) and so many people are going to see it. So many in fact that the ride to work takes an extra half hour and the sawng-thaew is packed. I'll see if I can take a picture of a packed sawng-thaew because it really is amazing how they fit 25+ people on one of these vehicles, it is also uncomfortable and extremely sweaty.

This year is the anniversary of 60 years on the throne for King Bhumibol, and as I've mentioned before everyone really loves the King and so there is a big to-do going on because the anniversary date is the week after next. I thought he was the second longest reigning monarch but it would seem his is first.

I got back to school and waited for the leadership club to begin. I only have the morning class on Thursday and then I have to wait until 3:10pm for the leadership club to begin. So I waited and waited, and chatted with people, wrote a nice long letter, and checked my email in the computer lab. When it was 3:05pm I went up to wait for my kids. We meet in the 9a class room. It was empty when I arrived so I sat down and listened to some music and proceeded to wait some more. I waited, checked the time, and waited until I became a little discouraged. I checked my schedule a few hundred times to make sure I was in the right place, but I had been right and this is where I was supposed to be, but my students were 25 minutes late. Then I began to worry that they had ditched leadership club permanently, which was confusing because I thought we had so much fun the last time. This possibility made me even more than a little discouraged. I went to the other rooms to see if my kids had in fact ditched me and joined other clubs, but their rooms were empty too. This made me wonder what was going on so I went downstairs to enquire after the whereabouts of the 7, 8 and 9 students. I was told that they had gone to Impact to see the exhibit about the King, and why didn't I go with them? I wanted to growl and be annoyed because I had waited around all day for this club that no one told me was cancelled, but instead I said "Oh I wasn't aware, that's ok" and I calmly went home. I'm learning to accept that you just aren't always informed about what's going on. I mean how long did it take for the school to get me my proper schedule? I got it yesterday, by the way, which was nearly three weeks into school. As the Thais say "mai pen rai" which means "it doesn't matter". I just have to learn to be patient and gracious. It is difficult, but I think I'm improving and am learning to at least check the expression of my frustrations.

This evening I tutored my Ruhi book one group. Everyone showed and I think we're doing well and I'm starting to make relationships with the people who are coming. I'm tutoring a group that studies in Thai and don't always know what they are saying, but that is something I'm ok with now because we've improved our translating methods and I have a couple people translating Thai to English for me and English to Thai for the participants so that I can guide conversation in a tutoring capacity. The other plus is that we're teaching each other some new words and I'm picking up a bit more Thai.

Oh here is something I'm proud of: Today I wanted to get a Taro filled bun but the brand I wanted to buy didn't have english on the packaging and I managed to recognize the words in Thai! I wouldn't say that I 'read' Thai but I did recognize and that is pretty awesome, reading may be on the horizon.

I'm a bit tired tonight and my throat.... well it isn't sore but it does feel tired, so it's an early bed time for me because I don't want to get sick.

Today's picture is a painting on the wall of one of the temples at Wat Phra Kaeo.

Green Curry and Dancing