Peaceful Coup and other oximorons

Well, Wednesday's turn of events went like this:
4:45am...woke up unusually early to find that my Thai friend Ja had texted me saying that school was closed due to a protest on a street downtown. Then got another message from her saying that school was closed and teachers were supposed to come to school if possible.

4:50 am. I try to no avail to turn on the TV and find that CNN and BBC have been completely censored. The Thai broadcasts have all been shut down and no TV feeds were allowed to broadcast. This is the first time I have no longer experienced my rights that I take for granted as an American and I realize something major might be taking place.

5:00am. Call teacher friends and tell them what I know from Ja. I then call my mom and dad and leave messages to let them know that I am okay. I also call Erik and Laura and left a message.

5:20am get ready for school, friends are calling.....Kelli tells me we can get a ride with Irene to school. I pack my computer and a change of clothes and a tooth brush. Always be prepared...learned that in cub scouts....heehee!

6:00am ride to school with Kelli and Irene

6:30am check in with friends that have arrived at school.....send out an email to friends and family....wait in my classroom for instructions.....play games with Faiza and hang out....grab some money from the atm

9:00am staff meeting and information given....

10:30am....head home and eat at Joys and talk politics secretly.....

So that is the way the day started. After we had lunch at Joys I came home and took a nap and then went to Pascale's to see her kids and hang out for a bit, and then I went to my friend Nat's house and Ja cooked dinner and we sang karaoke. It was great fun. The next morning I tried to rally some people together to go and see the tanks. I went with my friends Bari and Bill. We saw four tanks and some soldiers but nothing super major.

our thai chef Joy and other ramblings

Khun Joy is fast becoming one of my favorite people. He lives in my moo baan about 5 minutes away by my little moped. He has been a chef for the Four Seasons in Canada and all over the world. He considers himself more American than Thai and it is very interesting to converse with him about his persectives on the world. He just has a little restaurant right outside his housew with a huge chef kitchen outside too. He makes anything you want to order....menu ranges from Chili Fried Rice to steak and potatoes to grilled salmon and tonight we had amazing pork and grilled veggies with a spinach salad. SOOOO good!!! for 3 bucks each! wow!

I am learning Thai, today I went to Thai class and said "mrs. dog" instead of "grandmother". Thai is complicated, but very musical and I'm trying really hard to have an ear for it. Today we learned how to order in restaurants. I can speak like a two year old. I know my numbers and can say yes, hello, thank you and good bye and hello. I also am learning taxi thai so the taxi drivers can understand where they need to go. And every week I learn something new about Thai. Did you know that it is rude to point at a person in Thai? don't know why it just is.....and also writing names in red pens is taboo because they write the names of the dead in red pen. Just some random thoughts about Thailand.

Also....today is Wyatt's 10 month birthday! I miss my famliy very much this week, as I was able to talk with them for quite some time this weekend. Wyatt is doing really well. He is crawling all over the place and I even heard him laugh and giggle multiple times. For those of you that don't know, I'm going to be an aunty again soon! Erik and Laura are going to have another babe sometime around the end of March or April. They will know more this weekend. I am SOOOO excited!!!!! But I am also very saddened because I really did know what sacrifices I was making to come here, but when the times come when those sacrifices happen my heart is very heavy. I want to experience life in all places aand at all times and it is very hard for me to do this. I just hope that my babies (Wyatt and the new little one) know just how much I love them even when I am all the way around the world.

XO XO XO for now!

Thai Floods

Okay so I officially experienced the "rainy season" last night. My friends and I went out dancing last night and I took a taxi home after it was thunder and lightening downtown. As we approached the main road for our village (called a moo baan), the water was soooo deep that it was reaching the doors of the taxi. I was really worried that this non-English speaking taxi driver would just kick me out and make me walk the flooded mile home. I had never seen anything like it. Standing water all through the roads. The cars crept along like it was snowing. Finally I got home, but the flooding, rain and thunder continued through the night. And I am very saddened becausue I did not get to take any pictures of it. But then this morning, all the roads were clear. LIke there was absolutely NO reason whatsoever to just continue on....

okay getting in the swing of things....

Dear patient friends and family,

I am finally getting in the swing of things and will post regularly. I realize i can just post my thoughts and add my pictures later. There have been some technical difficulties here as my photos tend to be pretty large files and I am using dial up at my condo. So here is a quick up date and my photos will come soon....i promise!!!!



This past weekend I went to an island about 3 hours south of here called Ko Samed. It is a WONDERFUL place. Like Hawaii but not. As the Thai people say, "Same Same but different" heehee....glorious white sandy beaches, water soooo crystal clear it's turquise blue, and every thing is very very cheap. Our room that we stayed in was very nice, typical hotel/resort type room for about 35 bucks a night. It was very close to the beach.

Let's see...some other highlights this month:

I started school and have 16 students all reading at a dra level 6 or above. Most are at an 18 to 22 (that's second grade level for all those non educators out there)! It blew my socks off!

I also started Thai classes every Tuesday and Thursday. I am learning that I taught myself sooo many things wrong. I have to reteach myself the pronounciation. Think I will get it soon enough, but it's pretty tricky!

I have been exploring Bangkok every weekend, found a wonderful place for thai and indian food downtown as well as started dancing every Wednesday night at a little Brazialian place. The dance is called Zook, and it's a Brazilian dance kind of like the salsa, but different.

I am exploring all over the place and hope I can be the best tour guide ever when ya'll come on over and visit me!!!!

Oh, and if you haven't heard of skype yet....it's FANTASTIC!!!! I have it at school now so I can skype to you guys during your day! Go to skype.com and download it!

Oh, kids are back!

Love,
Katie