Bye, Bye Thailand

Well....time sure did fly!  Grades turned in, paperwork done, meeting with boss man...check, check, check!  I am now sitting in my "dorm room" twiddling my thumbs and toes staring at 2 piles. The 1st pile is t-shirts, swimsuits, socks, undies, yoga pants. The second pile is soap, shampoo, bug spray, toothpaste, lotion, hand sanitizer, baby powder, a flashlight, batteries, Tylenol, sleeping medicine, hand washing detergent and other things I might need along the way.


I am excited, nervous, excited...I am about to embark on quite an adventure. I wonder how many times I will be asking my three favorite questions.

Where am I? How did I get here? What are we doing????

This morning my mom asked me to send her an itinerary of where we will be and when. I stuttered. You see I know what countries we will be in. City to city is kinda/sorta planned out...but nothing is set in stone because if we like a place we will stay longer, if we are not really feeling it we take the next bus, tuk tuk, boat, or train to the next city.


A real life backpacker. Rachel Ann Dietsch. Who would have ever thought.....


I am pretty excited for each and every leg of the trip.  We are starting off rustic, yet relaxing.  It might take 3 buses, a tuk tuk and a boat to get there.....but once we get to Don Det, LAOS also known as 4,000 islands we do nothing but lay in hammocks, trek, ride bikes around (no motors allowed) met the locals, read by the Mekong River and take boat rides on the river in search of this guy.......

This is the Irrawaddy River dolphin.....crossing my fingers to see a few of these guys!  The other "rustic" part of this portion of the trip....they only turn on electricity for 3 hours each night!!!! HAhahaha...oh boy. But I hear they have unbelievable banana pancakes!!!!!!!! River Dolphins...pancakes....who needs electricity!


We will then make our way North and make a few pit stops along the way to get visas for India and Vietnam in Vientiane (capital of Laos) , see some temples take in all we can! Then head further North to meet up with 3 more ladies in Vang Vieng where we will tube down the river, play on rope swings and maybe have some daytime drinking fun! I will be on the look out for water snakes.. the water is murky brown, so maybe they can just sneak by me so I don't have to have an over reaction.


We head out of LAOS on March 16th to Vietnam. By none other the a 24 hour bus. AH!!!!!!!!
Once we get there...if we ever get there.... we buy an open bus ticket so we get to pick the cities where we want to go explore. Then get on and off the bus when our "made on the spot" itinerary tells us too.  This will be great...if we love a city we stay as long as we want.....if we want out, we take the next bus outtta there! We have all done some research on cities so we have a good idea of some places we want to see.


April Fools day we head into Cambodia for a short and sweet adventure.  We have to be out of there April 5th so we can get into BKK, make it to immigration to get a single entry visa, then be at the airport to catch a flight to India.  Danielle, Brian and I are going in strong, holding hands and hoping not to shat our pants for the whole two weeks....I have a feeling we will be lucky if we make it out of there skid mark free.

April 8th we arrive in Kolkata where we will be for 2 days. There is lots to see and do...I am excited to go check out some of the places were Mother Teresa worked. I am sure it will be an eye opener and hard to see the poverty and sickness. This whole trip is probably going to turn my world upside down, but in a good way. 

We depart Kolkata for New Jalpaiguri, a major railway link to India's northeast.  By a night train...9 to 10 hours!!!(by then I am sure we will be used to long train/bus rides) Once we get there we get out of there!!!! We will be taking another long train ride.... 7 hours of swirling tracks on one of the last remaining "toy trains" in the world!  We will be surrounded by Indian's beautiful northern mountains...I promise to take lots of pictures!!!!! 

The three musketeers  then arrive in Darjeeling. We will be spending 2 days taking in some of the most chillaxed views on God's green earth.  Including all of the unique temples, churches, and monasteries. On Brian's list of "must-see sites" he has included the Himalayan Zoo Park, the Tibetan Refugee Center for some souvenirs, and some relaxed walks through the many gardens, pagodas, and mountainside paths.  

"It's possible we might all fall in love in Darjeeling.  Very possible."  -Brian

Head back to New Jalapaiguri on a much quicker train than the Himalayan Railway and catch YET another train to Varanasi. The city of Shiva and the Hindhu heart of India, we'll walk along the holy Ganges seeing cremations, bathing, shitting, washing, and maybe even go for a quick dip/bath.  Although the city is incredibly dirty, it is considered a must-see to get a feel for the real India.  Stops could include the monkey temple, a hired river boat through the city, walks along the river ghats to see the huge Golden Temple. 

After Varanasi...what do you think we do..get on another...TRAIN to Agra to see the Taj Mahal!!!!!!!!!!! I mean....how cool!!!!  It is up in the air after that. We have some cities in mind but we have to see what we have time for before Brian sends off his two side kicks to Bali as he explores the southern half of the country solo. 

Bali, Bali, Bali. I will just post the link....here....http://www.vrbo.com/232066  This is where we will be staying. There will be anywhere from 6-8 of us in this house. I CAN NOT WAIT. Home cooked meals, wine night, game night, beach bumming, sleeping in, hiking up an active volcano at 2AM to watch the sunrise, private pool dips, A BATH, and a whole week in one place!!! Air out the backpack....find a laundry mat or something....throw away clothes that are just ruined from greasy, grimy, gopher guts....  

Danni and I rejoin up with our long lost ladies Erin and Emma.  Zach will fly in from somewhere I think maybe Bangkok? Brad comes in a kangaroo's pouch from Australia. Brads friends fly in from I don't know where...and we make a happy home for a week. Bring on Bali Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May 1st we dip down to Singapore then Malaysia then Southern Thai Islands. I will be honest. I have no clue what I will be doing or the cities I will be in. I plan on talking to other travelers...going with the flow? Maybe?  Some research on a rainy afternoon at an internet cafe, somewhere???? hahha!  I will be with Erin and Zach and maybe some others we pick up along the way...soo folks. That is all I got!!! I am ready. I think. I can't believe this is about to be real life. Pinch me!?

I have a cute little red notebook with white polka dots also known as my "Journal". I promise I will write down everything and post the good stuff when I stumble upon an internet cafe and give the blog some love. 

Mother dearest no worrying about me. I promise I will take care of myself, only drink bottled water and call and email when I can. I promise no new tattoos....well at least not on my face :)

Papa Bear the chastity belt is on and locked tight. I got them for all the girls....their dads can thank me later. I will be safe, watch my surroundings, and try my hardest for you not to have to bail me out of some jail over here. 

Talk to ya in Laos. 

xo

Rach

Super Junior from erin griffis on Vimeo.

Good Morning!!!

Well what another great day of proctoring I have ahead of me today!  Lets see how many blog posts I can come up with this morning/afternoon. The past two days I have been spoiled. Only proctored in the morning for 3 hours. Double duty today. 9AM-12PM then 1PM-4PM. Thats a total of 6 hours. 6 hours to be eagle eye A. Rachel, 6 hours to facebook, blog, email, g chat, read, finish up a few grade sheets...maybe a silent skype session (you know who you are)....

Last night we were bored silly. After my power nap, uh  3 1/2 hours....Emma, Erin and I did not know what to do with ourselves. So here is how we spent the evening feeling like freshmen at DePaul again to be quite honest. Running around the dorm rooms acting like anything but 24, 25 and 26 year old young ladies.
-facebook stocked
-watched Catfish. If you have not seen this documentary. SEE it. It is a mind blower.
-Learned the "Sorry Sorry" dance. After we practiced we ran down to Brains room, asked sweetly for 3 ties. We then dressed in collared shirts, ties, black pants....and yes. Video taped our rendition of Sorry, Sorry by Super Junior.  That will be up for your viewing as soon as the editing is complete.
- Dinner at the mall... while putting bets on if we would see the Russian gym boys. These are exchange students, from Russia, who are JACKED. I mean these 2 kids are huge. We saw them, of course, as we do every night getting their after gym snack. Got to get that protein boys!
- Looked at a website for what to do when you are bored.......-see who can hold the longest note, blink your eyes really fast then close them and see what kind of shapes and colors you see, try not to think about penguins.....we were desperate folks. stir crazy? cabin fever?
-We got an email saying we had to see Human Resourses ASAP in the morning about housing......so that was a good hour conversation guessing what they were trying to pull. We are pretty sure they are trying to kick us out of our 5th floor, double bed, 2 closet, balcony included room for a downgrade to the 3rd floor. Just when it was starting to feel like home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fast forward to this morning. I went down to the over priced cafe to get coffee and eggs, ham and toast. Well  I got a surprise this morning with my breakfast. Right next to the small salad topped with "salad cream" which is just mayo squirted on 2 leaves of lettuce. To the right of my egg was well....a hot dog. Cooked and just thrown on my plate like jimmy's sausage links.... it was just your average hot dog wiener. I moved it aside cursing myself for not bringing my camera everywhere I go. Soo I skipped the hot dog and the salad creamed leaves....downed my americano and off to proctoring I went.

Here I sit..looking over the final...English 1 Academic....this same final I will be grading in 24 hours. I have 2 of my students in the room with me and all the other ones are in the room next door. I am sending them good grammar vibes....

11 hours total of proctoring left
4 hours of grading the finals
3 shots to get in my left arm so I stay disease free
The next three months of traveling.....priceless

sorry teacher I had to poo poo

A lady walks around and watches our class for us while we take a bathroom break. Here is how exciting mine was.


This girl from my test room was coming out of the stall and I asked if she had any tissue and she said. "Sorry teacher....I had to poo poo"....then started explaining to me what she ate yesterday to make her have to take a poo poo during the final. I think she thought I was trying to bust her for cheating. Kids do that here. They go to the bathroom where they have hidden notes or they try to use their phones in the stall. I just needed some tissue...I don't want to use the ass water gun!!!!! Remember when they don't put toilet paper in the bathrooms here in Thailand!? 


So there is my only proctoring story for the day. Some of the other teachers have kids passed out....I mean kids, these are your FINALS! wake up!!!


Oh wait, I did do a little dance for A. Zach!  I tried to get him to smile cause he looked like he was going to kill someone as I was walking by his room. Instead of a smile I got a wink. Mission accomplished. Then I got embarrassed because 2 of the students were looking at me.....no dancing during finals A. Rachel!


"I was going up to this girl, thinking I was going to bust her for cheating. To find out, she was just passed out"
"I am seriously jealous of the kid sleeping through(and thus failing) his stats final....new low?"
"They must have heard about my reputation as a cold-blooded cheater hunter"
"riddle me this what do you do when a student is weeping?"
"No more drinking and proctoring"...."speaking of does anyone have a Leo I can borrow for the next hour and a half"

a little to much andale andale, arriba arriba

Well, here I sit. In finals. I am making sure none of these kiddies try to cheat on a STAT 2 test.  Last night was, well, delicious. Chicken, cheese, veggie quesadilla with a side of black beans and guacamole! I WAS IN HEAVEN. I had to pinch myself to make sure it was real life and not a dream. I don't think I said two words while there was food on my plate!!! We had live music.....I can not confirm or deny that I was on stage singing The Joker. We had some whiskey sodas and draft beer and just when I said ok, I have had my fill of Mexican food and I have had my fill of whiskey sodas....what does dear old Benji pull out of the bag?????????  The fixings for White Russians. LOW FAT White Russians at that.  It's like when you give a mouse a cookie...you give Rachel a White Russian....what does she want to do? Well I just wanted to call my dad! And say DAD!!!! I am having a White Russian in Thailand, where are you!? Sad to say, no one had their cell phones with international calling plans....and I lost my 2nd cell phone out here so I was left to have two White Russians, one for me and one for papa bear....thats like our thing. Night caps of STELLA, CAPTAINS, maybe a Car bomb or two and when we are at Shoes in Chicago...White Russians.

But now...my head hurts.....2 more hours then I get to go crawl back into bed and take a power nap, watch some movies and try to get motivated to go to the gym and work off the nacho cheese and beer....I totally forgot all about that thing called a swimsuit and that place called Bali....

Thinking about writing a cookbook...

The cookbook will mainly have recipes with cornflakes involved. Today is going to be one of those great Tuesdays. It started out with my new invention of strawberry yogurt, bananas, and topped with...none other then CORNFLAKES!!! I am listening to my new homemade with love and care CD from Rach while getting ready for a morning of proctoring a 3 hour final.  


Tonights special event....end of the semester teacher party. But this is not any kind of party, it's a taco party. MY FIRST MEXICAN MEAL. Thats right all you can eat tacos, chips and salsa. 

!!!andale andale, arriba arriba!!!

Taking it out on my BLOGgggg

Alright. I am going to be honest here. I have been lacking in the blogging. I have really fallen in love with writing and telling stories and putting up pictures. I love thinking I am clever or I love when I sit here and get to write about the funny things that happened over the weekend, or the week, or the last hour.  I love when I put random things up that I know most people probably don't find funny/interesting/amusing....but thats only cause you were not actually there to see or here the things being said.( I mean that in a nice way) But that is me being selfish so when this year is over I have these posts to look back on and laugh about and remember what a great time I had over here.I do love it. But its hit me...what I like to call a funk. A funkuty funk. SO here is the feelings I have had this past week/weekend.

I have been feeling.... lonely,sad, on the brink of tears or if not in them, stressed, guilty, anxious, bummed.

I think about what has caused these feeling and here are some things I have linked them too
-I am so lucky to have skype. I get to see my mom or my dad or one if not more of my girlfriends on a daily basis if I want or need.  But this has also made me miss them even more sometimes.Even when I lived in Chicago I did not actually get to SEE mom and dad as much as I get to see them NOW when I am HALFWAY across the world.
-I miss being able to fly home and watch Luke play hockey
-I miss having a cell phone that works...or that I don't have to refill every other day with BHAT because it ran out. SO really I miss the family plan cause I was still on it and papa bear was fronting the bill. UH time to take on my own cell phone bill.. wah wah I know I sound like a little almost 25 year old brat that got to stay on the family plan....branching off that..... I was on the family plan so I could harass my mother at all hours. Which I did. Every morning I talked to her on the way to work, from work, when I was bored, when I had something exciting/useless/something to complain about/something to brag about.....if my phone was ringing or I was making a phone call most of them were to my mom/from my mom. So I miss being able to have someone to call just to tell pointless things to that happen everyday to someone that cares or at least will listen to me cause thats her mother duty.
-I miss my studio and all my clothes that I left behind that I SO could have used over here
-I miss my G6. however, I don't miss car insurance, parking tickets, digging it out of the snow, oil changes, trying to find a parking spot on my street, parking meters or traffic.
-I miss whole food salads
-I miss wine. I miss red wine. White wine. Wine, wine oh yea.....WINE
-I miss KASHI crackers/bars
-Going grocery shopping and being able to read the labels
-I hate all the pictures taken of me out here. The food has to much sodium, I have no clue what is in 1/2 the things I eat, my clothes don't fit right, my cheeks are getting puffy...because of this I go to the gym EVERY SINGLE DAY, I drink SO MUCH WATER I pee at least twice and hour, I stopped drinking beer, I only sip on vodka waters and sometimes whiskey/diet cokes if I have a drink
-I miss fresh veggies that are not DRENCHED in OIL or fried
-I miss unsalted ANYTHING. Everything has WAY to much sugar or WAY to much salt
-I miss my gym that did not just have skinny Asian boys( nothing against Asian men here.....I am just 5x the size of some of them) working out checking out their abs and hogging the weights and smelling like nasty BO. -Or having to wait for the one elliptical or one of the 3 treadmills from the 1800 to be free from one of the students in jean shorts and flats walking at 3.1 miles per hour with make-up and hair curled
-I miss draft beer
-My dreams are SO crazy out here I can not even get into them. I have never had dreams like I have dreams out here. They are so real and sometimes they throw off my day because I wonder what dreams really are, do they have meaning and if so what in the hell do they mean
-I miss WGN morning news. However, I do feel smarter from watching BBC World News and CNN everyday
-I want my pillows and down blankets from home
-I miss hot baths, coffee shops, starbucks, my big computer screen
-I am sick of not being able to communicate with people about SIMPLE things....i am trying my best to learn the language
-I am getting tired of throwing mini fits inside myself when my soup comes out with WHOLE PARTS of the CHICKEN inside of it...you know, bones, liver...sick, gross, I puke in my mouth...and when a friend says..."its not gross rachel it is just different." I want to scream even more.
-A big reason I left to come here is because I was sick of working ALL the time just to be able to live....pay bills, loans, eat, drink(only on Sunday Funday of course) but I realize I was spoiled. I had a pay check 2x a month, good insurance, English speaking doctors, cash in my pockets from my weekend bar jobs. I am learning to budget with my once a month pay check and no extra cash.....let me tell you LEARNING experiencey
-Grading convo classes and academic classes but not really knowing what to do because we can't get a real answer from anyone in the offices.....
-planning a 3 month vacation on a budget and knowing I will only have 1 back pack to live out of. I am excited yes. I am doing something not alot of people get to do but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggg its stressfull thinking about and booking and buying and planning and making sure everybody is happy......plane tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, how much money a visa costs for each county, how much lodging will cost, figuring out the places to see, making sure we have enough special pills for the 9-24 hour bus rides, do I have enough undies to last me, can I find the right detergent so I can wash my clothes in buckets and sinks, how and where to get my shots so I don't fall very ill in INDIA, there are lists and lists that I have made.

Thank you blog. I feel better. I am sure there are other things, but thats all for now.
everything will work out.
everything happens for a reason
I tend to over react
I hope I look at this post and laugh in 24 hours
I am about to travel Asia and see parts of the world I thought I would never see
I am lucky and happy and healthy
I have amazing friends over here that have gone through this, will go through it and without them I don't know what I would do
I have a roof over my head
I have parents who let me cry like a baby over skype then make sure I am OK and tell me everything I need and want to here
I have food to eat....even if it is cornflakes its ok.....because I love cornflakes
I have my pink blanket.

ANDDDD now ladies and gentleman proof of things over here that saved my last week and weekend.....

It's a purse....it's a bag....

 It's a piece of CLOTH tied up to look like a bag with pretty hair bows for decorations!!!! Inside this nifty little wrap job was two cartoon notebooks!!! THANKS KIDS! (present form some former students)

Remember me telling you about how I gathered all the things to make my favorite breakfast....well here is a visual. Oatmeal, bananas and cinnamon.. whoever wifes me up will be lucky to have me in the kitchen in the mornings.....

Tonight. I got a package. It changed my world, life, outlook on the day. Rachel sent me a Valentines day package with everything perfect. Beef Jerky, stickers, mixed CD, a scarf, a love note, lip gloss, tampons, a body scrubber thing for the shower, candies, starbucks instant coffee, green tea, peeps.....thank you thank you thank you. I cried and I laughed all at the same time. PERFECT RACH!!!!!!!!!!! you are just the bestest.

Alright. Sweet dreams for me.....nothing but happy thoughts this week. It takes to much energy not to be happy. Ready, set....positive attitude starting now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Real Life.

This story. Made me laugh out loud alllll the way in Thailand. While gchatting it up on this wonderful Tuesday Evening. True story. Funny story. I would like to share with you all.......and for my records.

“For my interesting  life…..

I threw my bff a party on Saturday, and I got so hammered I ended up with a hotdog suit on, dancing alone with a vacuum cleaner and a sequin cowboy hat. Then I had a cane and was scat dancing for some of the people there.

me= creeper

I need to learn how to dance like a normal person…without strange props. Boyfriend said it was interpretive dance, which is never a good thing!!

Then I grabbed a pizza cutter and cornered my girlfriends new bf, and told him if he hurt her I would gut him like a fish my man walked up and showed the guy his cancer scar, and implied that I did it to him with a pizza cutter too, and told him not to get on my bad side.”

When it rains it Pours. FOR REAL!

Every day it seems to get hotter. The air feels hotter. The sun feels hotter. WE have been spoiled with very nice warm sometimes hot weather.....heat wave is comin this way...and we are out of here!!!!

Last week of classes....and on one of my last Tuesdays of this semester I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed. I woke up early enough to get in a morning workout and just as I was getting back from the gym it started to sprinkle. THEN WHHOOSSSSHHHH DOWN POUR (I can expect more of these during rainy season) But WIND. RAIN PELLETS. THUNDER. NO ELECTRICITY. (good thing I choose the stairs or I would have been stuck in the elevator for an hour and a half.)  This was a rainstorm folks.  I hopped in the shower thinking it would let up, and the electricity would go back on so I could make my coffee.....but instead....I took a fast and freezing shower then stared out the window doing everything in my power not to crawl back into bed and have a rainy Tuesday movie/book morning.( Not trying to rub it in here, but I have kind of missed rainy dark days. Please don't kill me for saying that I know many of you are in the middle of winter. But there is something comforting/relaxing about a lazy rainy day that I have not had in quite sometime.)

As the clock crept closer and closer to 9AM  Ajarns started trickling into my room. We were clueless. There was 5 of us in here. Looking at each other then at the rainstorm and wondering.
What we do now?
How do we get to class in this rain?
Is there electricity in the classrooms? How do we find out?
Do the students show up?
Who has an umbrella?
I have only seen umbrellas used on sunny days in this country (I shit you not. They use it to keep the sun from getting them dark or tan...Thai people HATE THE SUN.)

So we opted to not go to our 1st classes. Due to the fact there is a good chance we would all melt if we got wet and went down to "CDLT" the over priced dorm cafe for coffee and grading.

The rest of this day was spent on final interviews, more grading, going back and forth 2 times with 2 loads of laundry to find out 1/2 the machines were not working and the other 1/2 were taken(please remember the machines are over a block away), eating cornflakes, snacking on apples and cinnamon, trying to find cheap flights, researching websites and other travel blogs about LAOS, and waiting for When Harry Met Sally to start on STARS movie channel. Exciting day.

Oh and I got to talk to Brad on the tele all the way in Australia cause I was having an over reaction moment about possible villas we are trying to convince the crew to stay in when we are in Bali. 7 peeps with a car and driver, butler, private pool, kitchen, breakfast every morning, beachside...uh YES PLEASE.  I hear game nights, dance pre/game parties, loungin after a day in the sun or evening tearing it up...could IT BE any MORE PERFECT! Now if we can get everyone involved I will be payin less the 40 bucks a night. Crossing my fingers. I mean I saw in LAOS we can stay in places for like 5 bucks....call me Jane of the Jungle..as long as I got a palace waiting for me in Bali...then I can play Princess Jasmine.

Is it March 3rd YET!!!!!!??? I wannaaa travel!!!

Hot Date at the Mall tonight

!~Happy Valentines day!~

I did not even know today was the day of love until Danny reminded me this morning over a lovely skype message. It really creeped up this year.  Just when Danny and I were making plans to go get our favorite Thai dish over at "The Mall" aka campus food court for a romantical Valentines dinner, I got a skype call!

I had my morning Valentines day coffee with Mom, Dad, Aunt Kitty, Aunt Colleen, Uncle Tom.... some cousins popped in to say hello....Joe, Jack, Andrew..I frickin love my family!

Just the best Valentines morning I could ask for! I was drooling over their Capitan Cokes as well as the meal my mom had made for Sunday night dinner.....I was eating cornflakes and yogurt...one of my most popular morning meals...wishing I was home sweet home for dinner.

My students gave me a chocolate bar, some kind of pink bread with raisins in it, and heart stickers...oh how sweet, right?  I am giving the candy and pink bread away....I think this is called re-gifting..because this girl has got to her her booty all trim and toned for tubing/and rope swinging in LAOS, The Vietnam beaches, and beach bumming in Bali.....

Hope you all get some Valentines love from friends, family, and significant others!  I am sending my love to you from Thailand! xoxo

As the semester winds down

To end conversation classes I am holding interviews....here is how some of them have gone....

After I asked, Why do you think you should pass?  One girl started grabbing her neck and saying the words...mom, kill, will hang, must die, need to graduate in 4 years, money, expensive, mom, will, kill, hang.......sooo that was a little dramatic. I really felt like I was going to be the reason this poor girl was going to die at a young age because her mother planned on hanging her, so I quickly changed the subject. Her fate will be determined after I add up her class scores for the semester. 

My favorite so far was a girl who goes by Meen. I knew I was going to pass her. I just planned on asking her a few questions, Small talk really....cause she can actually hold an English conversation! So I started with....what have you done today?  It was about 11:36AM.

"Well I drank some wine. And Teacher you know Ice!? Oh my I have such a crush on him. He comes over and I help him with his English, oh teacher. he is so cute I hope he can be my boyfriend one day!"

She was cracking me up. Ice is a boy in our class...love connection in A.Rachel's class!  whoo hooo

A sweet moment

It was one of those moments. A moment after the 4th or 5th drink. You look around and you realize how much you love where you are. You love the people you are with. You stop hating the ladies that come up to you every 5 seconds and try to sell you stuff and you finally say. "Yeah! Let buy something! Lets get friendship bracelets!!"
2/5/2010 K. Road Mike, Danny, and the Babys.

"I saw. Just a tail and 1 eyeball"

So remember the post/video when I was trying to be the next Animal Planet host? I was holding a little flying squirrel ....well I got some bad news today. The family dog ate it.  My student, Guy, was not happy about it when I asked him how our little class pet was. He said he came down from sleeping and saw one eyeball and a tail.  Then he explained to me how he cried, but only a little.

At least we are not in the bathroom....

This pretty little portrait was taken two weekends ago before we went out to dinner.  There are a few things I would like to point out in this picture.

-Our Thai Diet Cokes....tastes just like the ones in Chicago. But I am my fathers daughter and I miss fountain Diet Coke, but beggars can't be choosers....

-The Chicago flag flying high in one of our neighbors room...just making some pre-dinner drinks feel like we are right at home

-The famous Thai girl pose.  This is how they take pictures. On their Blackberrys, Iphones, computers, cameras..if it has a lens this is how they pose.  I will try to get you some authentic photos. I think I have said this before, but they are usually in the bathroom between or usually during class, taking these photos with friends and sometimes of just themselves....ha!

Kinda there but not....

I woke up after a night on the town and got to have my Sunday morning coffee with Jac, Sug, Ashley, and Julie. I showed them my new  banana clip hair do while they drank wine. IT WAS SOOOO great to see them and made me wish I was having wine and board game night to gear up for Superbowl Sunday Funday! 

They got a kick out of my new fashion....we had some good laughs, I miss them dearly but what a great way to start the day!

I think I was looking pretty good after a night on the town....a night that included draft Guinness, beer towers, friendship bracelets, live music sing-alongs, New Zealanders, fangs, felt shoes and to top it off a footlong Subway sandwich...oh and a real funny practical joke that had me asking the Cab driver "how far" in thai.....but really it was make up thai that jerk face aka bribaby told me was real thai....ha.ha.ha. It is hard to find people you can really trust out here...just another reason I need to start practicing Thai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy February!

Life feels kinda normal here. I feel like I am getting into a routine...still loving it. Happy. Have tons of things to look forward to.  Some updates from the week........

1. I gave my students an outside reading about the internet and then I had to quiz them on it and did not let them use the book. I made the questions very easy...so after some kids sat there for 20 min I said just hand it in, it is not worth many points if you don't know the answer now you will not know it in 20 min... especially if you did not read. One students writes..."teacher, before I start writing. I should tell you I did not have time finish book, sorry. (blah blah some BS she made up about what she learned about the book, which was not right...then ends it like...) I also just wanted to let you know I like how you changed your hair color. it is very pretty. :) :) :)


2. Thursday night we went to China Town...In Bangkok for the Chinese New Year. So long year of the Tiger and hello year of the Rabbit. We took a van, a taxi, the BTS (rail system) and a Tuk Tuk just to get there. NEVER AGAIN. SO MANY PEOPLE. You could not even enjoy the different things food/clothes/trinkets being sold because you could not move on the streets. It was fun for a bout 5 minutes...way to crowded. My students told me not to go...they said it would be to crowded and full of old people and nothing to do. Boy or boy were they right. We were there for about an hour got some soup then splurged on a Taxi home........

4. Watched Idiot Abroad the segment on India. Please find a way to watch this...www.letmewatchthis.com......or movie store(do those still exist?) Then I want you to picture me in that country for 17 days. It got me very excited and a tad bit nervous!

5.My Friday class brought in banana bread muffins....and it really hit the spot on a Friday afternoon when we were all feeling a little sleepy

6. Every Friday I have been getting picked up by vans to bring me to DT campus....today...just a car was waiting. I am not sure why they did not think of this sooner......the guy gave me a funny look when I hopped shotgun. Hey, I understand sitting in a back of a van. But when you're giving me a ride in a car(not like a towncar...I bet it was this guys personal car, he was just dressed in the van drivers uniform) you better believe I am sitting shotty. So after giving me a funny look he smiled and put on the international radio station.  We tried talking but we could not understand each other...so we laughed then made angry noises when we saw the BKK traffic that was up ahead....thats universal....the UHHH TRAFFFIICCC noise.

7. My amigo Brad booked his ticket to Bali to join the ladies on the beach for snorkel and possible scuba adventures. Oh and most importantly Erin's birthday! She gets to spend her b-day in Bali.....I better start planning for August so I can be somewhere sweeeeet too

8. I am acting like a hermit again because the week has worn me out so I am being what some people would call antisocial and hiding in my room on a Friday night with my book and the STAR MOVIE channel.  To my defense I just want as much $$ as possible for summer break, I can not stand being hungover here, nothing that exciting as happening downtown tonight, I have to keep my daily date with the treadmill since my student told me I was fat( I am trying to keep in mind if you are over 100 lbs here as a girl you are considered large...what a little shit) and since I am being a good girl tonight I will treat myself to a night on the town tomorrow night...maybe some night markets....

Soooo with that said....Happy Year of the Rabbit..have a wonderful weekend

Rachybabe

Squirrely Behavior

Why I am becoming a hermit and not having playtime now TWO weekends in a row....

- Got to save that BHAT for what will be an EPIC 3 month journey.  Planning adventures means storing BHAT like squirrels store nuts for winter. I have to keep in mind....

-all the different visas to get into different countries (need a visa for Laos, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, maybe Malaysia, and re-entry's into the land of smiles)

-a trip the hospital to get shots so I don't die from who knows whats out there lurking in bugs, food, or whatever else I come in contact with

-Airplane tickets (I am doing  GREAT job of finding deals...props to me.), boats, planes, trains and the much anticipated 24 hour BUS ride from LAOS to VIETNAM 

-places to sleep so I don't have to sleep under a bridge, in a gutter, or a park bench cause I run out of mula

-Oh yeah and I guess I will have to feed myself.....

The ticket from BKK to INDIA has been paid for and confirmed. I have to sit down with my travel companions Danny and Brian and I will keep you posted on the where abouts we will be.....we are staying North I know that much. I AM GOING TO INDIA....I keep saying that...but I don't believe it yet.

Friday we went out to a delish dinner with some peeps that hung out in Bang Na. Made my own Chinese Herbal soup...I felt healthy but not full so I then proceeded to eat popcorn and peanuts 20 minutes later....

Saturday was spent buying our tickets to INDIA, getting a tan poolside at our favorite hotel rooftop, stuffing our faces at THE SIZZLER, investing in a light weight/fast dry/colorful travel towel, breaking down and buying a new frickin cell phone from the early 90's, working on my 6 pack at the gym, watching a depressing movie(The Road), diving into my new book Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, then sleeping until late Sunday afternoon....

Since Saturday was sooooo hectic :)  I spent most of Sunday sleeping and reading. When I started getting dorm room fever Danny and I thought...lets go on a little Sunday afternoon adventure. We took a 15 min taxiiiiii ride to a little hood where we hit up a market. Apples, bananas, and a salad for a whopping 75 BHAT...thats less then $3.00 people.  We got excited when we saw a pizza stand but then saw it was topped with full sized hot dogs and mystery cream sauce..so we tried not making faces, smiled and kept walking. 

This crazy weekend called for one last event.....the one and only Thai Massage. We went pro this time and got a 2 hour rub/stretch down. I got walked on, crawled on, slung over knees, stretched and twisted like a pretzel, elbows, feet, hands and knees were all used somehow on some part of my body to get out knots and loosen me up. Whoever makes the trip over here I will take you here and personally treat you.....300 BHAT...

Oh and the best news of the weekend...RACHEL is coming to VISIT ME IN JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!! My 1st confirmed visitor.  Flight booked...let the brainstorming for The Rachels to take on Thailand begin. Rach when you get off the plane I will take us right to the 2 hour massage place and get you all rereaxed...before I put you on a bus to some island. Yet to be decided but we will sip some cold ones, get a tan, maybe go for a dive and eat some biggity bomb food!!!!