I joined a motor bike gang in the mountains of Pai...sooooo looks like I won't be coming home anytime soon. We got kids from Chicago, Holland and even some dude from Canada.

teacher you have pen in your hair

Walking home in between midterms I saw "my boys" AKA my Thursday afternoon class...the funny guys, I have told you about them before...

"Teacher....you skin is so pink"
"well yeah...thats the color of my skin! Jeeez"
"sooooo sexxxxyy"
"knock it off!"  (they think sexy mean cute....or pretty...I think.)
"teacher...ah hahahaha....(they are all laughing!) You have pen in your hair"
I reach up and sure enough I had stuck a pen in my bun on top of my head...I always do this..I find pen/pens up there all the time....I guess when I need my hands free thats where I figure I don't loose them.
"sure is!"

Then I hear clicking......they had their phone out taking pictures of just my hair and the pen in my hair...they thought it was crazy...strange...what good is a picture of my hair and a blue pen???

Midterm Break...but with 2 classes in the middle...only in Thailand I guess....

Proctor

Workout

Pack

Proctor

Bus to city

Pit stop for a snick-a-t -snack

Taxi to different bus station

12 hour night bus ride to Chiang Mai

Chill for 24 hours

4 hour bus ride uphill, curvy, swervy to Pai.

relax, explore, find something extraordinary

Back to Chiang Mai for a trek, maybe a cooking course and some markets 

Bus ride back to BKK home for class Friday and even Saturday

Sunday...movies, books and I am sure I will have something to write about

penciled in...

The wolfpack sat down the other night with maps, calenders, pencils, emails from friends, black tea ( it would have been wine but that costs an arm and leg out here...) and computers.  This is what our "summer vacation" looks like....outlined, some details, but more details to fall into place as the next couple months go by...

March 10th-16 LAOS
March 16th- April 1st VIETNAM
April 1st -8th CAMBODIA
April 8th-15th CHIANG MAI and other northern cities and villages of Thailand
April 15th-20th- HOMEBASE.....shower, eat, laundry, bloggity-blog, repack.......
April 20th-26th- PHUKET and other islands
April 27th-May 5th- BALI baby.
After Bali we are up in the air but we are working out details to make it to India and hangout there for a few weeks~

Holy Buckets. Did I ever think I would have a list of these countries, cities, islands on my TO DO list....to be honest. No. I always knew I wanted to travel and see the world but I thought it would be like on my honeymoon.....or on a10 day vacation with friends....(thats not a bad thing BTW)

I would not be experiencing any of this if it were not for my parents. Their love, support and confidence in me to move 1/2 way around the world is why I am here.....

When I told Amy, "Hey I got a job in Thailand.. Do I go...should I do it?!??! It is sooo far..." (I will not confirm or deny tears during this conversation.) "Rachel. Why wouldn't you!?".....My little sister pretty much told me to pull my big girl panties out of storage and put them on....and put them on fast cause you only got two weeks.....so I have to say a thank you famous...

Rach. I would go into her classroom, her apt, I would see all the things she has collected, the amazing photos she has taken on her world travels.  All I could say....is when and how am I ever going to be able to do this. She always said....your time will come...you will travel....and sure enough....it has come...its happening. Rach inspires me to take a step out of my comfort zone....do something that scares you(or in this case me) everyday....LIVE YOUR LIFE TO THE FULLEST...even if that sometimes means Monday Morning panic attacks over Starbucks!! or wearing long red wigggsss and running around town ah hahhaaha...I can not wait for next years Christmas photo shoot!!!
.........................................and thanks to her ladies and gentlemen....starting a blog......................................

Many other wonderful people helped me get to where I am at this moment....Jen, my emergency contact in Chicago approved. If she thought this was a good idea...and told me to scram in the most loving way possible....I knew I was not doing anything I could not tackle. She had just the most amazing home cooked comfort food dinner a girl could ask for.  She had red wine and all my fav SRS girls over. I miss you guys...but thanks for nudging me out the door.....

Sugy pants. Not only did she re-rent my APT but she helped me pack up, drink up and was there when I needed her.  The best part is I can harasses her daily on facebook and gchat...so even though I am sooo far I can still spill my guts and have the sugy time I need. It might not be a Sunday Funday.....but we have plenty of those to come...next ones in Thailand right.......right...!?!??!?! get your booty out here girrrrl

Thanks, thanks, love you all I just needed to give a loving shout out because yes, I get to travel and see this part of the world, but its because of who I have standing behind me.

xo Rach

I got one of the Frenchies!!

Happy midterm! This week I work 2 hours a day(the students gets 2 hours to complete midterm)....except 1 day I work 4 hours....I number the tests, check uniforms, id's, and keep my eyes peeled for the following,

1. Students using phones or even having phone on them
2. Students hiding notes in pencil cases, calculators, on legs under skirts, in pockets
3. Students looking at other kids tests

Pretty much any kind of cheating. They also all have to be there with the 1st 10 min of the test. If not they can't take the midterm, although if I am nice I let them take it but I have to submit it for review. You see students running though the court yard from 3-3:10 to make it to wherever their test room is....today I proctored a Microeconomic test. Everyone was on time and I did not have any cheaters or at least catch anyone.....

Proctor Rachel mean biz-naS.

*frenchies.....what we call the "not to shabby to look at" French students.

Smart Cookie

Happy 2011
 how I brought in the New Year

Thursday night at my favorite place in Thailand.............

THE SIZZLER

All you can eat salad bar baby. Fresh Veggies, Fresh Fruit, Soup, Crackers, Jello, I mean we eat, and we eat. There were 6 of us. You would have thought none of us liked each other or knew each other. No one talked. We shoveled food. 

The Siz is located at the mall which has just about everything so we thought lets go to a movie after! Well look what we found first..............

La- Z-Boys.......so we skipped the movie. I went back to the APT I was borrowing for the weekend and watched some episodes of the mini series Pillars of the Earth. I recommend the book over the mini series...

Friday morning I went for a run around the Downtown ABAC campus track then got myself a banana and an iced coffee. Now when I order coffee here, I have to say no sugar. No milk. If I was smart I would stay in my room and prefect this in Thai but I keep forgetting to do this. So I say with a big smile on my face.... 

"sa-wat dee ka! No Sugar. No Milk. Black coffee. Iced.

 No sugar. No Milk. BLACK. khorb koon ka!"

They then shake their head at me because I don't want sugar. THEY LOVE SUGAR HERE!! I order fruit it it's served with a side of dipping sugar. I order veggies...yep, a side of sugar. 

After getting my iced coffee and fruit I headed to a little secret spot. Not so secret.....but we do have to sneak in.......

POOLSIDE! This is at a wonderful hotel down the road and it is where I get my tan on when I can't make it to an island.  So some of the ladies and I laid poolside to bronze of for the New Year.

Now at this time I really had no plans for what I was going to do this particular evening. Some people were paying big bucks to go to a club. Eh. Was not really feeling that...I went all out for Christmas brunch so I had to pump the breaks a little for NYE.

My friend Anna and I went to my 2nd favorite place in Thailand for dinner. The Fish Place. It is an outside restaurant, surrounded by street vendors.  We ordered a bottle of Sang Som, Som Tum (Spicy Papaya Salad) and a small White Fish. It is boiled and steamed in all these spices and is served on a heated dish shaped like the fish. It falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. Whoever makes it out to visit...we will be going there I promise. We also each get a side of sticky rice to cool off our mouth because the whole meal is pretty spicy....but soooo flippin good. 

I rang in the New Year with old friends and new friends at Brunswick. I seem to be spending many of the American Holidays at this Bar...Halloween...Thanksgiving....New Years....hmmmm its just a place where everybody knows your name!!!!!!!!  Which is nice to have a place like that out here :)

Saturday I woke up....feeling pretty good!  Called mom, dad, Amy, and Lukey to say HAPPY NEW YEAR FAMILY! It was nice to hear all of their voices. It sounded like they were so close...but oh, they are so far! Ha! Then I talked to some of my friends though my email and their phones. Now that was a tease.  Let me tell you. It was noon-thirty my time and 10:30 PM theirs. I really wanted ring in the new year again! Selfish, maybe....but it was so weird to think that they had not even had their count down yet.

The rest of the day I hung out, napped and watched some more Pillars of the Earth. (I will confess this weekend I watched the every episode.) I was such a good girl I saved my money and my liver all at once!!!  We had a BBQ late night. A burger on the grill...oh baby. Happy New Year to me!

(NOTICE THE GRILL. YES. We are sitting around it, and yes we are in an ally. So sanitary. Please stay away trolls.....) 

Sunday headed back to the pool to catch some rays, borrowed a new book (Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger author of Time Travelers Wife...which is one of my fave. books EVER.), cleaned up the borrowed APT/dormroom and headed back to the burbs. We watched Black Swan...holy crazy ballerina. 

Monday I did one of my mothers favorite activities. POWER WALKING. Danny and I power walked between 6-7 KM...sooo like 3/4 mile ish. We got nice and sweaty then hopped in a cab went to Tesco (pretty much a Walmart) I stocked up on a water heater, coffee, tea, almonds, popcorn, corn flakes, oatmeal and a coffee mug. 

So I titled this entry as smart cookie because....I saved some money this weekend, I got lots of rest and I am ready for a week of proctoring(making sure our sweet students don't cheat on their midterms) and grading. All in preparation for a vacation up north at the end of the week to Chiang Mai and Pai....whoa baby we got an adventure coming up HOT!!!!! whooop whooop. 

So therefore, I am a smart cookie. I am thinking homemade chocolate chip. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

I have already ate, sang, danced and counted down. You guys over in the US of A still got 55 minutes.  I was a good girl last night so I feel great!! Hope you all are having fun! Less then an hour for you guys....wish I was there to do it all over again!

 5...4....3....2....1.... HAPPPPPYYYY NEW YEAR

LOVE yours truly.

Rachybabe