Weekend Fun

It's Sunday evening here and the weather has actually started to become noticeably better--not as much rain (maybe one solid rain session once a day only lasting for 20 minutes.) FINALLY we got some down time to relax, kayak, and go out this weekend! Thursday night we had a little party at our house with all the other volunteers to celebrate our first week teaching. It was really fun we just drank, talked, and listened to music until the wee hours of the morning. It's been really cool getting to know everyone here and hear their stories about why they came here or what they do back at home or what they've done in their life so far. Friday morning we had to wake up at the butt crack of dawn to do some EFR traininig (some CPR course) so now at least I'm certified but seriously that was one of the hardest things I've had to do here. After going to bed at about 4am the night before and waking up at 730 am for breakfast, when it was time to learn all this emergency respondent stuff I was passing out during the demonstration--probably wouldn't rely on me too much to save your life, sorry bout it! I've become addicted to coffe here, I knew it'd have to happen at some point in my life, but yeah it's the only thing that keeps me awake during the day. Me and Emma (the other American girl my age) walked to the grocery store after and stalked up on some American staples-pringles and gaterade. After that we treated ourselves to a Thai massage for only $5!! I'm a pansy when it comes to pressure on my back so although they didn't walk on my back they dug their knees into my back and legs and arms and flung me this way and that to crack my back. At the time it was quite painful but the next morning I woke up without any pain in my back, a huge change cause I usually wake up in so much pain from this damn bed. On our way out of the massage shop I saw five adoreable little girls jumping rope. They ran up to us and said "Hello, how are you?!" and then I asked if I could jump rope with them and they were soo happy and said "YES YES!" I hung out with them for a little and jumped around like a spaz making them laugh. Took it easy Friday night to get ready for kayaking in the morning.

Kayaking was AMAZING. It was about two and a half hours long and we went through all the mangroves I was writing about earlier and saw four different caves and even ended up in this circular lagoon that is surrounded by basically huge cliffs so you can't see out of it. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I'm actually sitting next to the instructor in the internet cafe right now-- he says "Hi" and "AWESOME", that's his favorite "American" word haha. He calls me Miss America--not sure if he realizes thats a beauty pagent and what not but hey, I'll take that compliment! But yeah so we kayaked for about two hours and the last thirty minutes the rain just came down so hard but it was so nice after being so hot in the sun that when it rained on us it was a nice little relief from the heat. When we made it back to the kayak shop, there was a table set for sixteen. This was, hands down, THE BEST meal I have had so far in Thailand. They just kept bringing more and more food out for all of us. I had fried rice, chicken in a cashew sauce, vegetables, shrimp tempura (tasted more like a funnel cake shrimp thing--delicious), sweet and sour FRIED BARACUDA--pretty unreal, and fruit. About five minutes after my third helping of each entree food coma hit and I pretty much had to roll myself into the seung tao (their form of a taxi but its basically a pick up truck that everyone sits in the back on two rows of benches.)

After kayaking a group of us wanted to go out to celebrate this girl's 29th birthday so we showered and set off for Krabi town (about a 40 minute drive from Ao Leuk.) We stayed at this place called the Smile Guesthouse--it was sooo lovely. The people that live there are sooo sweet! They gave us beer and we ended up chatting in the lobby area for about an hour and a half before heading out to the bars. The owners were this cute little thai couple with perfect english. And of course their dog, named Brad Pitt haha! So after chatting with them for a little and developing a little buzz we headed out to this bar called Old West bar. This bar was all bamboo style with a pool table and some classic American music constantly playing (like CCR, Rolling Stones, or even Kings of Leon.) Okay, apologize in advance to you mom and dad. Basically entering this bar was the last thing I remember clearly haha. They have these drinks called Buckets--you can get a whiskey bucket, vodka bucket, rum bucket, etc. Me and this girl Charlie split a vodka sprite concoction bucket and wow that stuff will put you on your rear. They busted out a jenga and half the people had no idea how to play it so it was pretty entertaining trying to play that game and drink the buckets. After that bar I wanted a midnight snack (of course) and headed to 7-11 with the other American girl, Emma. Got some potato chips then saw a live band playing at this bar across the street so we wandered over there. This band was awesome (as far as I can remember...) and they played songs like grateful dead, oasis, and guns n roses i think. There we met an english guy and an american guy who were teachers near by. The english guy had been here for ten years, was now married and had a little thai baby that was the craziest looking hybrid of Thai and English. The American guy had been here for a year and wasn't planning on leaving at anytime. I can definitely see why they haven't left yet. Everything is dirt cheap here, the people are warmer and nicer than anyone you have ever met and the location is beautiful. Of course the American guy was from Jersey and I called him out on being a Guido--especially after he got up and sang a HORRIBLE rendition of some Oasis song, i really felt embarassed for him. Him and his buddies tried to get me to go up and sing something but I was too into my chips to even attempt to sing. After that we met up with the group again at a bar across the street. It was probably 3am and the owners were still up drinking with us and even brought a little cake out for the birthday girl. That's how sweet they are here. They'd do anything and everything for you above the call of duty.

Now here I am tired, hungover still, with massive amounts of lesson planning to do for the week. Definitely gotta get started on that! But I really can't wait to get back to the classroom, I havent taught for four days and I'm already missing it and my students! WEIRD. Welp, miss you all hope everyone had a fun weekend! Look for postcards soon!

Oh, PS to SOPHIE DINKIN: found your twin in a bar last night--he had your Peace Love and Crabs tye dye t-shirt! Dont worry, got a picture of him just for you!

Picture Captions:
Pic 1: Gemma (English), Dan (English), and me drinking in the lobby of the smile guest house (check out my hippie hair growing---verrryy niiiice)

Pic 2: Vodka Bucket

Pic 3: Jump roping with my new friends haha

Pic 4: Cave shot kayaking