Happy New Year

Cartwheels on the Beach!

Hope everyone had a great New Years! Mine was amazing. You know how people always hype up New Years and then it never seems to be that great, well I am happy to report that mine was quite fun! I decided to stay in Khoa Lak for the celebrations and to hangout with my pals just a few days longer. My friend from back home, Jonathan, arrived in Khoa Lak on Saturday, so he was able to partake in the celebrations as well.

Look its proof that Jonathan is here! (we were hiking in Khao Lak National Park)

Here is a quick recap of my last week!Wednesday the 26th, was the 3rd anniversary of the Tsunami. As I have written already I meet a wonderful women, Dee, who is a tsunami survivor. She is such a strong and positive person, it is joy to be around her. I went with her to several ceremonies and we even ventured out into the sea to place a wreathe, in honor of her boyfriend, and his parents who were all killed in the Tsunami, on a large rock near the coast. There were many frogs on these rocks.... I don't like frogs and they were jumping all over, so its a miracle I didn't abort the mission of finding the perfect place for the wreathe. We also attended a candle light vigil lead by a group of monks. It was a beautiful procession down to the beach where candles were placed along the beach. We then also lit lanterns in honor of Tom, Carole, and Colin. This is a Thai tradition and is absolutely beautiful! At one of the larger ceremonies they let off 5,000 lanterns into the night sky! Really an amazing sight, one that leaves you with goose bumps.

Letting a lantern fly away

Candle Light Vigil on the Beach
My last few days were filled with lots of time with friends and playing. I meet some other great volunteers too! There is Rene, who is originally from South Africa, but has been living in Australia for the last 10 years or so. Then there is the adorable Marc, my lovely Spanish friend. He is on month 2 of a year of traveling. I am hoping to meet up with him at some point somewhere. Marc has the best accent, especially when saying words like 'sheet' and 'beach'!

Dee and I- one of my last nights in Khao Lak

One of my favorite drink combos... Singha and Sprite ( usually they bring you a glass)

Marc introduced us all to a Spanish New years tradition, one I think I will keep. The last 12 seconds of the year you have to put one grape in your mouth each second. Since all the grapes in Thailand have seeds, we all prepared ours and had them lined up and ready to go. Funny thing is we somehow missed the first 4 seconds of the countdown and were forced to just shove half the grapes in at once! It was hilarious!

Marc with 12 grapes in his mouth!

Me, Rene, Marc, and Dee... New Years Eve
I spent my last few days on the beach, visiting the Khoa Lak National Park and just having a pretty amazing time with some amazing people. Wish you all could have been there too! I Have been a bit sleep deprived the last week... there just really has been no time to sleep. On New Years Day, I flew up to Bangkok on about 3 hours of sleep and well there has been lots to see here, so sleeping hasn't made too high on the priority list.

Jonathan, Me and Marc on New Years

Bangkok is a big big, somewhat dirty city. It does have some charm though. I have discovered KhoaSan road and well pretty much love it. It is the backpackers haven in the city, so I fit right in. I have found that I like the smaller, little sister of Khaosan, called Rambutri Rd. I thought my hotel was going to be in this area... and well its not, its in Chinatown,(I feel like I am in Hong Kong again)

Jonathan arrived the morning after I did, so we have been sightseeing and walking around the city. Both Jonathan and I need feet massages after the miles and miles we have walked in the last few days.

Coconut milk out of the coconut is so much better!

Riding in a tuk tuk in Bangkok with Jonathan

Tomorrow morning ( 4:30 am to be precise) I head off to the airport to fly to Melbourne! I am getting pretty excited to see my pal, Amy and to be in a country where they speak English and don't just look at you like you have 2 heads. My Thai ( that is the 20 words I know) is getting better, but still I need to try harder as I am a visitor in their country!

Can't believe how fast time is flying by. The last two weeks are a big blur and I feel like my head is spinning. Thanks to everyone for all the Christmas emails ( EX2 folks... the card made my day!!!) calls, etc. I have not been great about responding, but know I think about you all often! While there are countless other stories I could tell.... I need to go pack, so you will just have to wait until I get home! Miss you all and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from Sunny Khoa Lak

Merry Christmas! I must say being in a warm climate for Christmas is quite strange! I know its Christmas, but it doesn't really feel like it. None the less its been a fun last week.

The perfect Sunset at Bang Niang Beach
On Saturday I spend the day at the beach with two of my volunteer friends. We were incredibly lazy and just sipped on watermelon shakes and I got incredibly roasted, so I ended my day with a oil massage! It was a great day!

On Sunday I had to do my Visa run to Myanmar ( formally Burma). This was an experience. You pay about 1,500 Baht, this is about $45. I left Khao Lak about 8 am, hopped on a minibus with some other visa runners, and drove 3 hours north to Ranong. Here you are taken into the immigration office, to depart Thailand. Then when you walk out of the office, some Thai man takes your passport, probably the worst feeling for an international traveler! You are then put back on the minibus, driven to the pier, put on a long tail boat and driven across the river to ( the name of the city escapes me at the moment, Myanmar). Once there you are hurried on the boat, by a whole lot of Burmese dudes, asking you questions and of course you have no idea what they are saying. You try to be polite, but don't want to be too polite and be misunderstand. Luckily there were too other English speakers with me, Tony from Manchester England, and a girl from Vancouver. Once off the boat, you wait in another line, to enter and then immediately exit the country. You are then put back on the boat driven back across the river/sea and taken back to Thai immigration office to re-enter the country! Then 3 hours back in the minibus! Good times. You are probably wondering why on earth I did that! Well as a tourist you are given 30 days to see the country and then you have to leave, or pay 1000 Baht a day you stay over. My stay is 38 days, so 8000 baht would just not be fun to pay! Proof I was in Myanmar
Sunday night myself and a few other volunteers, went to the orphanage with a box of Christmas presents. ( Yes I am aware many of them are Buddhist and Muslim) But we wanted to share our tradition with them and give them all something special, as they all deserve it! My pal Colette was the master mind behind the selecting the gifts, I donated to the funds and wrapped the presents. Presents included sewing kits for the girls, fishing rods for the boys, art kits, key boards, recorders, rubix cubes, a guitar, etch-o-sketch, and playdo for the little ones.

Hmmmm... What's in here???

When we arrived the first thing they all saw, ( kids have a special radar) was the giant box of presents! We were able to distract them for a good 1+hrs by playing with them. I turned into a 10 years old again and was running around, and rolling in the dirt. It was awesome! Not only was a dripping in sweat, but the sweat was attracting dirt, and awesome combo! I was sooo dirty by the end of the night.

Rolling around and getting pounced on by 4 year olds! Couldn't ask for more!

Me and Little Ben!

We ate delicious meal with the kids and then opened presents. Oh but before we did this, they all made a circle around us and joined hands and in their very best English, Thanked us for being there and for all the presents. It took all that was in me to not cry!

Once it was time for presents, they all sat quietly and we put on our Santa hats (literally) and started to hand out presents. They all waited until everyone had a present to rip the paper open and see what was inside. I cant describe to you the looks on their faces when they opened their gifts... all I can say was it took a lot to not let the tears that had welled up stream right down my face! Truly a priceless moment! One I will never forget!

Mess with his new Keyboard

Anything can happen on Christmas right? Even snow in Thailand!

After presents we had a dance party... honestly one of the best I had ever attended. (No offense friends, but dancing with kids is way better! No pressure to look cool.... lords knows I am a fool on the dance floor, but the kids loved it ( at least I think that what there laughter meant ;) It was a great scene the older ones dancing the younger ones decorating themselves in the wrapping paper, and playing in the box.

Soon it was time to go. About 10 of the kids came with the owner to drive us back to town. As some of you may know the 3 year anniversary of the Tsunami is tomorrow. Many, if not all of these children lost their parents and loved ones in the Tsunami. Driving into town where is all happened is hard for them. Many of them got really quiet and had sad looks on their faces as we drove into town. It was one of the hardest things to see. All you want to do is make them smile and all they need is unconditional love. Saying goodbye was hard that night, but tonight I will go back and spend my Christmas night with them! Cant wait to see them!

A waterfall in Khoa Sak National Park

Yesterday I went with two friends to Khao Sak National Park to be a tourist for the day. Boy did I feel like one at the end of the day, but it was worth it. We saw tons of stuff in one day which was great. The day started with Elephant trekking. I was a bit weary about how they treated the elephants at first, but then was pleasantly surprised! I was even able to sit on the elephants neck for some of the ride! This is a little scary when going down hill!

After elephant trekking we went to lunch and then on a canoe ride through the park. This was quite nice, because for the first time, I didn't have to paddle the canoe, I was getting chauffeured around. We saw some snakes and frogs and interesting birds from the boat. I wasn't able to catch the name because our guide spoke no English, but still it was nice to see.

Finally the tour finished with a visit to Monkey Temple. When you arrive you think oh sweet I get to feed monkey's! You walk a few feet in to this open area where there are tons of these little monkeys running around. Might I add their beige/brown coloring is great camouflage! I fed a few and then just wanted to take pictures. I got some alright shots. But I need to add that you should NEVER look a monkey in the eye. I did and almost got eaten for dinner! This little guy saw me and I guess was intimidated and started to run after me. I really wish I had it on video... you all would had peed your pants. Imagine me, getting chased by a tiny monkey! Might I add I was screaming too. Good times in Thailand!

Only a few more days here in Khoa Lak then its off to Phuket and Bangkok and finally next weekend to AUSTRALIA!!!!

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! I miss everyone, if you have snow where you are, go play in it for me!

observations from Thailand

So in the 3 weeks I have been in Thailand, I have seen lots. Somethings are tragic, other just plan bizarre, and of course there are the just simply hilarious moments. I have tried to write them down so I remember. So here is a sampling of Thailand through the eyes of me!

Feet
The Thai people view the head as the highest, best part of the body and consequently the feet are the lowest and well the grossest part of the body. This makes sense right, you walk on your feet, they are the lowest part of the body. So here is the part that is a little odd to me. Everywhere you go, everytime you step indoors, you take your shoes off. If the feet are so gross why are we exposing them to each other? Also, just a little news flash, the more you walk barefoot, the grosser your feet get! Just an observation.. I love to be barefoot ( my mom can tell you stories about when I was a little girl) and am happy to obey the custom, but just a little confused on the reasoning.

Massages

This could be one of the best parts about Thailand. You can not walk down a street without being asked if you want a message. The two most common types of massages are Thai, which combines a massage with yoga, and Oil, which is just a massage with oil. I have tired both several times and have a few pointers for when you embark on the world of massages.

-Get your massage on the beach... extra relaxing and its so much nicer to hear the waves rather then the hussle and bussle of the massage parlor.

-When getting a Thai Massage, make sure not to get the a large person to be your masseuse. I made this mistake and almost lost the ability to breathe! There are several maneuvers they do to help stretch you that involve... basically sitting on you. Well as you can imagine when I big girl sits on you, it makes it very hard to inflate your lungs! This same women... we'll call her Olga, also left a bruise on my elbow and legs from massaging too hard. (note- I bruise easily) While you don't want them to be super strong, you also don't want a masseuse that is just barely touching you... that annoying as well. I have yet to have the perfect massage!

The roads

Oh where do I begin? People are crazy drivers here! First of all they drive on the left side of the road, which after being in Hong Kong prior to arriving here, I am somewhat used too, but still its a bit strange. There are loads of motorbikes, as well as cars and trucks on the roads. I am not sure if its their chillness that they are just not paying attention or if when they hit the roads they get impatient, but man its nuts on the roadways! They pass on both sides of you!

The range of vehicles is also quite interesting! There are loads of motorbikes, so ancient with no mirrors, other with side carts which are small but somehow act as school buses at the beginning and end of the day. One of my first sights when I arrived in Phuket a few weeks back was a family of 5 all piled onto a motorbike! This is a sight I have grown used too! There are also the insane bus drivers that pass on the highways going 90 km on a blind turn! Its a miracle not more accidents occur!

With all this said you might think I am crazy to get on a motorized vehicle and get on the roads. Well let me assure you that I don't drive far and I am the slow poke on the side of the road. I think my top speed thus far as been 60km!

This is my handsome motorbike, I named him Henry!

Stray Animals

Lets just start this segment by saying Bob Parker would be truly appalled by the lack of spaying and neutering in Thailand! My first day here I was waiting at a school to be pick up with one of the other volunteers. Several dogs we just hanging around so being the animal lover that I am, I was oh aren't they cute, and began to pet them. Tim the other volunteer quickly informed me that these were all strays and I probably shouldn't touch them! A few moments later we turned around to see these dogs fighting over rolling in a dirty diaper! Man I have never wanted to wash my hands more! The dogs are everywhere, and they are not afraid of cars or motorbikes, so you have to be careful at night! Some will curl up to sleep right on the side of the road!
There are also stray cats, but they seem to be much less.


Trash

Oh trash.... its everywhere! I have already written about this, so I wont harp on it too much more! There is just trash everywhere despite trash cans all around! I was speaking with one of my Thai bosses who had a really good point. She said that back in the day, all food was wrapped in leaves and other natural substances that break down quickly. So people would just throw them on the ground when they were finished. Apparently the messages was not released that plastic takes decades to break down if not longer!

language

The Thai language is an incredibly hard one to learn. Not only do they have a completely different alphabet, but also MANY different tones. The same word can have two or three meanings because it if pronounced with different tones. For a native speaker of course this is easy, they just have the ear for it. Me on the other hand... I am lost! The kids have taught me many words. Usually when preparing a lesson I will look up the word in Thai so I can help them understand the definition. Most of the time I get a room full of kids laughing at me because I have pronounced it completely wrong! I usually laugh with them, because when they correct me, it sounds like, to me, what I have just said! I am just happy that I can make them smile!

Thai time

Going along with their chill lifestyle, well its not hard to imagine that they are not always on time to things. Everyone here just rolls at their own pace, which sometime is not the most efficient! The Swiss blood in me cringes at moments like these where people do things completely backwards and so slowly! I am drawing a blank on a good example.. I will be sure to add one when I think of one!

Strange animals on the side of the road/sidewalks

Oh I wish I could upload all the pictures I have of strange animals here! I generally see them at night when I am walking home and it is dark and all of a sudden I look down there is a huge frog, just hanging out... frogs freak me out! So you can only imagine how awesome my reaction is! I have also run into my fair share of strange spiders and cricket like things, all much bigger then in the US. The one critter I truly despise are cicadas! At home we have them every 17 years, here in Thailand... ALL THE TIME! You will be sitting eating dinner when all of a sudden you are dive bombed but one! And the noises they make, its different then at home, much more high pitched! Mom you would have a headache in a heart beat!

Some new pics from the last week! I have many more to add... hopefully soon!

On Tuesday we went to the orphanage to and taught them a Christmas lesson! They loved it! We made mini trees and decorated them. As you can see they wanted me to wear mine. The best part was I forgot I had the tree on and went out to dinner.. looked like a total fool!

I took a day trip to Phang Nga Bay, it was beautiful and super relaxing!

Only in Thailand... a goat in a boat!

This was the place we ate lunch on Phang Nga Bay, a little village on stilts!

15 Minutes of Fame!

Oh there are so many things to write about the last week. I am constantly thinking, 'oh I need to write about that, or oh I most definitely need to put that one in the blog' and then I sit down to write and without fail I forget! So I'll do my best to remember.By far the biggest event of this past week was ENGLISH CAMP! Myself and 3 other volunteers, Claire, Colette, and Tim, taught English for 2 days. We prepared 2 lessons each, which doesn't sound like much, but it took us a few days to work it all out. My two lessons were 'Greetings' and 'The Environment'. Both quite fun to teach! In true Sanna style, I prepared some lessons, but was not 100% sure how I would go about teaching them. I wasn't worried I would just wing it. What I find the most important when teaching is to have fun, then the kids will have fun... well that is only if they don't think you are nuts! Luckily these kids thought I was hilarious! Well that is what I am telling myself. I don't speak Thai, so who knows that they were saying, all I know is they were smiling and laughing. I had a great time teaching them words like; Happy, Sad, Hungry, Thirsty, Great, Good, Angry and the my personal favorite, HOT. I would just point to my dripping self and say HOT! They all got a good kick out of that!

The second day we drove the 1.5 hours to the school, where the 4 different schools meet and we began day 2. I really didn't have too much planned other then to teach them some environmental words and most importantly that littering is gross! What ended up happening was I simply taught them about 20 different words, then laid the pictures down on this stage and had them match the words to the pictures. I felt like I was facilitating again back at Hemlock. I was having more fun acting like a goon, dancing and jumping around and profusely sweating, and they were learning! How great is that! I realized that words like Arctic, and Mountains, and Prairie are really hard for Thai people to say. My trick was repetition. I also realized that these kids like most kids, love to yell. So we would start low and in the end we would all be screaming ARC-TIC, mimicking a sneeze! They loved it!The teachers also loved my animation as well! I received several compliments, great ego boost!

The teachers really wanted us to do some singing with the kids so we all racked our brains to remember some songs to sing with them. We ofcourse wanted to do the Hookie Pookie. But I was quickly corrected by my 3 co-volunteers, that in the British Isles it is called the Hookie cokie! What the... um ok! Well it was 3 against 1 so the hookie cokie it was! Slightly different so I had them lead it! We also did some head shoulders knees and toes, and old McDonalds farm.

This is a photo of all 50 students participating in the Hookie 'Cokie'

When the 2 days were over, the kids officially loved us! I truly felt like a celebrity, we were swarmed by the students for autographs and pictures!
The camp commenced with an awards ceremony where we were presented with a lobster! We all almost died laughing when they unveiled it. But we were respectful and held the laughter in!

When we returned on Friday after 2 LONG days of teaching we all decided we needed to have a good night out! So... we did! Going out in Khoa Lak is pretty easy, as everything is quite close, and all the bars are cheap! It was a great night! Colette and I at Songs Bar

Other big news to report, I am officially a Motor bike driver! At first I was quite slow, well 2 days of driving and I am good to go! Yesterday I drove up to White Sand beach! Super beautiful! I also drove up to the next town for dinner in a house! I haven't been in a house in.... well since I left D.C. So that was really nice! My friend Claire lives there with a manager of one of the nice resorts. We ate a delicious dinner and just chilled out... just what I needed after our crazy night, the night before!

This is one of the dogs at Claire house... her name is boom boom! So cute!

Today we all piled on our motorbikes and drove to a waterfall, Lampi Waterfall. It was beautiful, and nice to take a dip in fresh water! No salt in your eyes!

There is much more I want to write so I will try and get on here again tomorrow to add some more, but now I must run..dinner is calling!

It can get cloudy in Paradise

Paradise... what more can you ask for, a pineapple shake and a beautiful view!

Well its been about a week has it? Well I have to report that Thailand is just as beautiful as last week, just as hot, if not hotter, and it does rain in the dry season, contrary to what I thought!

I have not been volunteering much this last week because there have been several holidays and schools have been closed. Last Wednesday as I reported was the King's Birthday and everything was closed. And today is some other holiday, I am sad to say I am not sure what we are celebrating!

I discovered that it is much quicker to get to town by walking along the beach! This picture was taken along the way.

Last Thursday I was supposed to go work with the construction volunteers for the day. So I awoke early and walked the 2 km's to the 7 Eleven where I was told to meet them. Well 30 mins later, I figured out I had been forgotten. I hate to say this is an all to common theme with the volunteer center. It is not the most organized place. A bit frustrating to all the volunteers that came to Thailand and wanted to help, wanted their time to be spent doing good, not waiting at 7 elevens! A few hours later I got a call from another volunteer who also had been left. He was going to rent a motorbike and drive to the orphanage where the construction was happening, would I want a ride. I said sure, so we were on our way. 45 mins on a motorbike... its a long time. My butt was most definitely asleep upon arrival at the orphanage! Once there, we realized there really was no need for us to be there; there was hardly enough work for the 4 volunteers that were already there. So decided to find something that needed my help. What I found was that there was LOTS and LOTS of trash all over the property, so I took a trash bag and started collecting. After about 25 mins I had walked the entirety of the orphanage and collected a full trash bag of anything from chip bags, to oil containers to soup cans. it was pretty gross. The whole time I was wondering why don't they just throw their trash away in bags? Well I guess the children have not been taught this; its really quite sad. You notice that is doesn't get any better outside of the orphanage, the streets here are strewn with garbage! After picking up trash, I filled in a pot-hole with gravel and then helped pour some concrete, with that the day was over!

On Friday I was to begin my PADI open water certification course. I was really excited. The theory portion was cake, I sailed through the videos and was able to set up all of my equipment. Underwater skills, completely different story! I freaked out! I don't freak out often, but the underwater skills, gave me a panic! I was so disappointed. Luckily my instructor Pino, is awesome! He told me this was normal and not to be discouraged. He wanted me to still come out to the Similians to dive over the weekend. After sleeping on that idea, I decided I was not going to give up! I was going to give this another try!

Me and Pino, my dive Instructor

So yesterday I went out on the boat bright and early. The 1 1/2 hr ride was a bit nerving. I really didn't know how I was going to react to the water. Well I am happy to report, that I rocked! I was able to clear my mask, and practice some other skills and never once felt panicked or freaked out. We saw some super cool fish and coral as well. I saw 2 octopus( would that be octupi?) several trumpet fish, some really neat looking bright blue star fish and tons more. It is like swimming in a fish tank! So I am going to try the pool skills once more.

Jeremy, Anna, Pino, Me, Mel and Miriam on the Angel 1

Mel and I on the boat

Me on the boat

I have become quite good friends with the two dive master interns, Mel and Anna. They spend a few days a week on the boat and the others days back here in town, so we are able to hangout a bit. Yesterday on the way back to Tablamu, the port where all dive boats leave, Mel and I decided to sit at the very front of the speed boat. I think its the best seat in the house. You can see everything before anyone else can. We even saw a whale!! not sure what kind, but it was definitely a big one, judging by its backside!

About half way back, the skies started to turn dark, and for the first time in Thailand I felt a raindrop. I thought to myself no problem, its the dry season, I will be fine up here at the front of the boat with no cover! Well I was ok for the next few minutes until the heavens opened. At normal speeds this is ok, but when raindrops are being pelted at you going 60/70 miles an hour, it kinda hurts! Felt a bit like when you are skiing and they have the snow cannons on. Not only was it raining ( and as Jim Harmon says, when it rains you get wet!) it was also getting a bit cold. So Mel threw a somewhat dry towel at me to cover myself with. This helped a bit but really for the first time in Thailand I was cold!

After 2 hours on the speed boat we made it back! Not only was I a bit sunburned but also windburned, a really stunning combo!

Today I took a little walk to the one of the Tsunami 'monuments' the picture below is of a Navy boat, that was in Khao Lak 3 years ago to guard the King's son who was visiting here. The Tsunami pushed the boat 2.5 km inland!

I had to do some rearranging of plans for the remainder of my trip. Sadly I have to announce I am going to have to give New Zealand a rain check. I have decided that this solo traveling thing is ok, but I would much rather have my pals along for the ride! So I am going to save some money and go anther time. This means I will head straight to Switzerland from Australia. I am really excited about spending some quality time with the fam! With this said I will be home a few weeks early, at the end of Feb.

My Christmas plans are a bit in the air. My friend Emily was not able to get a flight here, so I will most likely stay here, spending some time in Phuket and a few days in Bangkok, before heading off to Australia.

Thanks to everyone who has been emailing and commenting on the blog. As I have said before I love getting mail. Traveling alone, has its pros and cons. I certainly have my lonely moments, where I want to jump into a time machine and be at home with all my friends and family. But I have also realized this is an amazing experience that I am very lucky to be having. I will be home before I know it, sitting at a desk wishing I was back on the beach in Thailand reading a book! So heres to taking one day at a time!

Hope everyone is well and not too cold, I am getting enough sun for the entire DC area, can you feel the warm vibes I am sending?

Have a great week,

Until next time....

Sweating in Thailand!

This is my Bungalow.. cute eh!?!

This is view from the boat on the way back from the Similian Islands

Can't believe I have been here almost one week! Time is really flying and its because I have been so busy. Today is my first day off, were I have no plans other then to lay on the beach and read a book. Today is the King's 80th birthday, so the schools are closed which means no work for me! I am really enjoying my time here, and have made some great friends. It is HOT here, as I sit here writing to you, I am dripping in sweat ( good visual I know!) As many of you know I am a sweater, so here in Thailand it is only magnified! Once the sun goes down, it does cool off quite nicely.

Diving was amazing! It was great to get out and be in and around the water. I saw some amazing creature under the sea. It was like swimming in a giant fish tank. My first dive was in a fairly shallow area. This was good for the first dive.. EVER. It's a strange sensation being able to breath under water. For my second dive we went into real open water and this was a little nerving at first. You plop into the water and it was choppy! I was trying to get all my gear together, meanwhile I am getting tossed around in the water with a huge oxygen tank on my back! Once under the water and I had to remind myself to breath, and then it was all ok! I again saw some cool fish, even an Eel! When it was all over I was hooked! I signed up for my open water dive course yesterday and am very excited!

Off shore of the Similians

On the boat, the Angel 2

The culture here, is like none I have ever experienced. It is very chill, rushing doesn't exist. I went to the post office yesterday, which is about 20 mins away by truck. There was a line about 8 people deep, with one guy behind the counter, and two others, just doing their normal work. No one was upset that those two other guys were not helping... in America, this would not fly, but here in Thailand, it was cool. My friend Collette and I had a blast in the post office, trying to order 42 stamps. First they brought us stamps that were worth 42 cents, then we were, thanks to my Thai phrase book, able to correct the mistake. The post office man loved us for trying to speak Thai. ( He also got a kick out of our horrible pronunciation!) Bottom line we walked out of the post office with our 42 stamps and the post man wanting us to come back to teach him English!

I have been teaching English almost everyday. While sometime frustrating, because there is no common language, it is overall an incredibly rewarding experience. There have been several days where we as volunteers, walk away thinking we got more out of the day then the kids. This week we are teaching 'creatures of the sea'. The Thai have a very hard time with 'TH" "SH", "CH" and "PH" so teaching them about FISH, and BEACH is quite hard. Often times they mispronounce the word beach and you can only guess what is sounds like. We as volunteers have to work hard not to laugh. Something else I have learned here, is that the kids are LOUD! When they repeat after you, they must think they need to scream it back at you, so there have been many moments this week, when I have had a group of 8-10 kids screaming "BARRACUDA" or "PRAWN" or "JELLY FISH" at me! So funny!

Some of my kids and their beautiful pictures of "At the Sea"

The other night I went to Scuba Bar, which is where on my of my co-workers works a few nights a week. I was feeling a bit lonely at the end of the bar, reading my Thai phrase book. I ordered a beer and was just hanging out when this super cute little Indian girl came and befriended me. It turns out she was the daughter of the shop keeper next door. Soon she had gone to get her books and the next thing I knew she was plopped down ON the bar, reading her English alphabet book to me. I guess I can't escape the teacher role! It was quite fun and gave me a good laugh. Well if I wasn't going to meet some people my age, at least I was making friends!

My friend I met at the bar... Isn't she cute!

Last night was one of the highlights of the trip thus far. Myself and 3 other volunteers, drove about 30 mins south to one of the local orphanages to play with the kids. Words can not describe how eye-opening, amazing and rewarding this experience was. These children are all tsunami orphans. To paint a picture of what the "orphanage" looks like, it is set just off the main road Hwy 4. There are 2 small buildings, one serving as the girls room and the other the boys. There rooms are small, maybe 10X10 if that. The floor is one large mattress, perhaps two small ones. All the children sleep together on these mattress. They each have a small bath house, which was built by TVC, (we are going to paint murals on the bath houses tomorrow). The whole area was very dusty. They had few toys or 'things' to play with, but to these children this is normal, this is life. When we first arrived I had a moment where I had to step away because I was so shocked at how these children lived, but then soon realized that they are happy! They all truly cherish the time we give to them. By the end of the night I had made many friends! I allowed them to use my camera, which was a big hit, and they took some wonderful shots! I also learned some new dance moves from one of the boys, Mess. When it was time to go I had all the children hanging on to me! I assured them all I would be back next week, if not before to spend more time. What an absolutely AMAZING experience!

Mess, Me and Poo ( yes that is a common name here!)

Mess and I dancing!

Me and Poo

When I am not teaching, I am hanging out with the friends I have made here. The other volunteers are great, and we have a great time together. I have also become friends with two of the interns from the dive center where I will get my PADI certification. The town of Khoa Lak is quite nice with lots of places to eat and shop. Where I am staying, Bang Niang, is about 5 minutes north ( its kinda like the outer banks). Bang Niang is nice, a bit more quiet and I really like it. I think I will stay here for the remainder of my time here. I will be heading south to meet up with my friend Emily for Christmas and New Years. I am so excited to have someone I know with me for the holidays!

This weekend I will start my PADI course and will spend 2 days on a live aboard boat. I will be sure to give you a full update when I get back!

Good bye Hong Kong, Hello Thailand

How fast time is flying! I have been in Khao Lak for two days now, and I am quickly learning to love the culture. People here are so nice and friendly and it is very much a chill pace of life. Their driving though it another story! Cars and motor bikes pass on both sides and they drive on the opposite side of the road! I am just glad I am not behind the wheel.

Before I continue with Thailand talk, I want to share my last few days in HK. They were a blast! (other then the food poisoning I got... that sucked!) My last night there, Emily and I met up with Bruce and Greg and some South African pilot friends of theirs. We went to Rat Alley for dinner... Sounds lovely I know, but the food was great.

Dinner at Rat Alley (Me, Emily, Bruce, and Greg)

After dinner we headed to the horses races which was right down my alley! We were able to catch the last three. We placed bets on 2 races and one of our horses placed second... thanks to Emily and mine good choice!

Back in the Saddle again!

Once we finished at the races, I got a second wind and we all decided we needed to go out, after all it was my last night in HK. It was Emily and myself and the 4 guys and ladies night which meant free drinks for the ladies ofcourse... recipe for disaster! I was well behaved all night, honestly! Emily soon needed to head for bed as she had to work early and well the rest of us had nothing important to do the next day, so we rallied on! Needless to say it was a great last night! Big Thanks to all my friends in HK, you guys are awesome and I hope to see you all very soon!!!

Out for the night! Brett, Emily, Bruce, Me and Nigel

Greg and I
Since in Thailand I have been working everyday.. well the two days I have been here. I arrived late Thursday night and basically went straight to bed, as I was exhausted from the night before. On Friday, I woke up and was a bit clueless on how to get around, but the hotel owners wife, Mook, took pity on me! She is Thai and her husband Swiss. She speaks Thai and German, so our most common language is German. So it has been fun brushing up on my German skills. Khao Lak is a big resort area for Swiss and Germans, so I feel I am speaking as much Thai as I am German.
Mook drove me to the Tsunami Volunteer Center (TVC) were I started my first day. I had a quick orientation and was introduced to some other education volunteers. There are lots of couples here, so I am the one solo flyer. Simon, a Scot and Laura and American are one set, the other are Tim and Cholete ( who I have not yet met, as she has been sick). The four of us have been the teaching team the last two days. Yesterday Tim and I went to teach one lesson at a near by school. We taught about European countries. Quite fun!

Last night Simon, Laura and I had a quick beer and then headed home as we were all exhausted from a long day and we knew that today would be a long one too! Today we got up early and drove 1.5 hours NE to an orphanage. I was a bit nervous having no idea what to expect and really no lesson planned. I was to teach time and numbers, but I was not sure of there ability level. When we arrived we were greeted by about 20 kids ranging from ages of 6 months to 20 years old. All beautiful and smiling! There were a few that were getting over the Chicken pox, so I was glad that I had already had them, otherwise I might have been in trouble!

Kids hard at work making fortune tellers. We had them make these to practice colors, numbers, shapes and simples sentences that they had learned during the day.

We taught 4 30 min lessons, It reminded me of our EE days back at Hemlock! I was smiling and laughing the whole day. The kids were really bright and knew lots about numbers! I was very impressed! At the end of the day Simon, Laura, Tim and I took them all outside, which was quite hot. We got them all in a circle and did the hookie Pookie! This was hilarious! Then I lead them all in Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. This got some laughs too! All in all is was an amazing day!

This is Tim! He was teaching them about directions.

Tonight I am heading out into Khoa Lak Town to visit one of the girls that works at TVC, who also works at a local bar. This should be a good time. But I cant stay out late, because tomorrow I have a very early morning to go diving!!! I am sooooo excited and I am sure I will have lots to report on my day! I will also add more pictures next time... this computer takes it sweet time to upload!

I miss you all tons and wish I could share this amazing experience with all of you! I hope everyone is well and thanks again for all the emails and comments, they all make me smile!