Thailand Adventure comes to America

Ryan Christian Thorleifson

2009-08-13T02:31:00.003+07:00

Here's the newest love of my life...I'd like to introduce to you....Ryan Christian Thorleifson!!!

He was born on August 8, 2009, weighing in at 6 lbs 8.10oz, which my brother promply replied that the .10 was VERY important! He is doing GREAT and is a quiet little dude. I think he might be overwhelmed by his older brother and sister. :)

Great Times with Super Great Friends

2009-04-28T16:18:00.004+07:00

Waiting at the airport with beers and triple shot iced lattes in hand.

There's their sign!

HERE COME THE PEEPS!!!!!

The taxi ride to the Dutch Crib.

Pascale and I made a chocolate brownie cake. Pascale decorated it with Bocce Balls! :)

At the Dutch Crib!

Natalie and Pascale at the pool.

Silly times poolside!

This weekend was a long-awaited weekend for me. My super duper over the top wonderful friends, Bobbie and Andrew came back to Bangkok for a weekend. Christo and Lieke and I met them at the airport at 1:30 in the morning, that is how excited we where. Okay, well, the IDEA was exciting, but on Friday night, I actually had to call Lieke to see if maybe I could get away with staying in my nice air conditioned house and sleeping instead of making the trek to the airport. She said no way and said to get my booty over to the airport, so I did. And I'm glad I did. I miss our fun times so much! We all spent the night at Christo and Lieke's pad and it was like one big giant reunion. We had a pool party on Saturday and then went out to dinner and dancing. It was just like old times. I actually can't believe I'm admitting this, but on Sunday, we played 8 hours of Guitar Hero because we kind of got obsessed with beating the levels. My friends fly from China and we spend our time inside playing the Wii. Well, it's more just the hanging out that we miss, right?!?! Right.

Then we went to the Korn to our good old stomping ground Hot Chillis. Yes I know I spelled it wrong, but that's the name of our place. We used to hang out there at least twice a week for the past two years, so it's kind of our second home, our Cheers bar if you will.

Yesterday we said goodbye to our friends, stuffed from hot and spicy Thai food and even hotter weather. It's exciting that international teaching bonds us together so much. I will miss them as they continue their adventure in China, but I know that when we get together again, we will pick up right where we left off. It's like they never even left Hot Chillis.

My top 10 exciting things that happened this weekend:
1. Bobbie and Andrew were actually here and no longer figments of my imagination.
2. We stayed at the Dutch Crib.
3. We had a pool party.
4. I had a reason to make my artichoke heart dip from the Hogley Family cookbook. :)
5. We danced the night away at Titanium's.
6. We got to eat lots of Thai food.
7. We laughed really hard at SNL youtube videos.
8. We beat the Wii at Guitar Hero.
9. The rains came finally!
10. I got to hang out with the old gang again!

More Pictures from Vietnam

2009-04-21T20:17:00.005+07:00

My favorite: Pho (pronounced "fuh"), Vietnamese noodle soup. It actually reminded me of home thanks to my Hawthorne gang! "member our lunches, ladies???

Crazy Hanoi traffic. It was so fascinating to watch.

FRIENDS!!!! New and Old! Annette, me and Hannah....

This is snake wine. It's supposed to be for medicinal purposes...but I think it might also be for "shock-the-tourists" factor as well.

What a "junk boat" looks like on Ha Long Bay.

I took this picture for Wyatt. I hope he likes it.

We rented motorbikes and toured around the island. So fun!

We took a super duper steep hike up the mountain in the rain. I only had flip flops so I didn't make it very far! It was super muddy and slippery.

Dusk on the Bay. So beautiful!

Annette and I on the top deck.

And then there was Ha Long Bay....

2009-04-21T19:32:00.002+07:00

So usually there is always some sort of misadventure on any trip I take. Usually these sorts of misadventures involves me either forgetting something, losing something, or having something stolen.... Well, nothing like that happened this time. This time....well....let's just say the two night boat trip looked WAY better in the pictures in the tour book. We were very excited to take our two day cruise around the UNESCO site with limestone cliffs in the South China Sea. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Well, I do have to admit, it was beautiful. But little did we know, that we were in for a boot-camp type experience.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, boot camp is a little extreme. And the scenery was absolutely phenomenal. But my advice to anyone who wants to take this trip, is really do your research first, and do a tour that is from a reputable source, not from your hotel.

We had a great time together. We played a lot of cards, read some books and generally enjoyed each other's company.

There were beautiful sunsets each night.

These little ladies in the boats would row up to our boat and sell us things off the side. We were allowed to bring food on the boat but not drinks. We still managed to smuggle a couple of cokes on board, though.

One of my highlights of my trip: My friend Annette from SPU and the boys and girls club visited me while I was in Vietnam. She was on a two week mission trip and extended her stay so we could hang out. I had such a great time with her! She is such a fun lady!

Vietnam!

2009-04-19T19:15:00.005+07:00

So I went on a 10 day excursion to Vietnam with some friends this past week. I really wanted to see Vietnam before I left, and Easter break was here, so I thought I would check out Hanoi with my friend Hannah. Then I found out that a bunch of other friends were planning on going where we were headed and it ended up being a party!

The first part of the trip was amazing. We went to Hanoi and then took a night train to Sapa, a little quiet northern town very close to the Chinese border.

This is the view from my hotel room, fireplace included. It was sooo amazing to have cooler weather and such views!

The food here was also amazing, we ate really well here and the wine was delicious as well.

We went shopping and were followed by many little Black Hmong Ladies saying "you buy from me? you say you buy from me? why you not buy from me?"

We took a hike out and around Cat Cat Village. It was such a reminder of how beautiful God's creation is and how much I long to be back in the mountains!

We saw some unusual sights...

Here are some more pictures I took along the way...

We mostly stayed near our hotel when we weren't trekking and played cards, relaxed, and enjoyed the scenery.

We stayed in Sapa for 5 days and then moved on to Ha Long Bay, where I met up with a friend from Seattle, Annette, who worked with me at the BB&GC...

My next post will be of our adventures in HaLong Bay.

Catching Up!

2009-04-08T09:38:00.000+07:00

Dear All,

Hello! I have been feeling a bit out of touch recently, so I thought I would send out a quick email to everyone giving a little update about life here in Thailand and how things are wrapping up for me here, preparing for my transition back home in July.

First of all, Happy Easter to everyone! I will have my Easter/Song Kran break starting this Thursday. I am heading to Vietnam, in the northern part of the country, near Hanoi and then we are taking a night train to the mountains in Sapa and then we will take an over night boat trip in Halong Bay. I am very excited, this is my last country to check off my list! Well..at least for now. :)

I am really enjoying my students this year, the kids are so quick to learn and easy to adapt to change. Their parents, on the other hand, are a bit of a different story, but I'm winning them over with my "Katie charm". Just kidding. But for the most part, they are okay. We are learning about storytelling and drama, two of my favorite things, I really love this unit of study.

I have a bit of a funny story to share about a couple of my students. I asked them where they were going for their break and two boys both said they were going to Switzerland. I asked the first boy which airline he was flying and he said "Thai Airlines." I asked the second boy the same question and he said "business". I chuckled to myself after that one....I'm 31 and STILL haven't flown business class.

These last couple of months I know will just fly by, and I'm really looking forward to having my last visitor come. Sara is coming to visit me the last week in June and I will get to take her around and show her everything I love about Thailand. I think it will be a very nice way for me to wrap up my time here.

Everyone has been asking me what my next steps are, and at this point I really don't know. I do know I am flying home on July 3, and will be over with Erik and Laura, well, mostly just Laura, as Erik is studying for his bar exam in July. So I am going to spend a lot of time with the kiddos, which I am VERY excited about! My "base camp" will be with my parents (THANKS MAMA AND DADDY!) But I don't actually know how much time I will actually BE there! Funny how things never change, huh?

I'm looking into doing a couple of different things next year, the first one being an opportunity to work at the Club again, where I worked in college. They are expanding their programs and will need another full time staff member, which sounds exciting to me! I'm also applying to anything that looks interesting on Craigslist, and that has been highly entertaining. Some of the job postings look great, and then when you read the fine print it's for something completely different.

Oh, and I just got back from Malaysia, near Burneo, where I did something extremely scary! I stood up in front of 45 of my teaching colleagues and talked to them for an hour about what I know about student led conferences. I got a lot of positive feedback, but needless to say I was terrified. Maybe some of you don't know this about me because I'm usually so outgoing and friendly, but public speaking is NOT my forte! I get the WORKS when I try to even THINK about doing that: shaking knees, sweating palms, fingers that don't do what I tell them to do...but it really actually went okay. Good thing my good friend Erin was there to co-present with me! But overall, it was a wonderful trip and the conference was great as well. I got to spend a lot of time with Pascale, which was great because usually I have to share her and I got her all to myself! :)

Love to you all,
Katie

Parsnips and Homesickness

2008-10-01T21:26:00.002+07:00

Today I drove my new ghetto car (future post, i PROMISE) to TOPS, the grocery store. While I was perusing the aisles, my mind wandered. I started thinking about my mom's birthday, which is October 1st, then I thought about I started thinking of October, which led me to think of Halloween, and then November, which got me thinking of Wyatt's birthday, and Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday of the year. It is not celebrated here, of course, because the Mayflower didn't land here, it landed at Plymouth Rock. As far as I know, there isn't one of those around here. :) Then, as I continued to think of our wonderful Thanksgiving, I thought about the special parsnips that Grammy would make just for me. She would grow them faithfully in the ground and then after the first frost, she would dig them up and we would have them fried up with butter, salt and pepper. I even grew some when I had my little community garden in Seattle. It's funny how little memories like that trigger such a response. But there I was, in the middle of the freezer section, when I looked down and saw a frozen bag of parsnips. And I did the only thing reasonable in this situation: I burst into tears. Right there in the middle of the frozen section. Then I looked around, and saw how ridiculous this might seem from an outsider's point of view and I started to laugh. So there I was, laughing AND crying in the middle of the frozen veggie section of the small grocery store. I'm sure anyone walking past thought I had just gotten out of the loony bin, but I didn't care. I bought those parsnips and they are now happily in my freezer whenever I need them again.

Coulda been worse.....

2008-09-08T20:01:00.002+07:00

So tonight I kinda had a little bit of a scare...

I was working on some things on the computer....okay not really. I was on Facebook. Because I am addicted to Facebook. Anyway, I kept smelling something burning. Not like a toast-in-the-toaster type of burning but like a plastic-wire-in-an-outlet type of burning. I looked all around and then after a couple of loud crackle and pops I realized that my outlet was shooting out sparks through my power cord strip that my computer was plugged into. I turned off the wall power and unplugged the cord, surprisingly nonchalant about it all...guess I've been in Thailand a little too long....

Everything is fine, but the cord is a little, well...toasted. I'm just thankful I was home. It could have been a LOT worse!

A List of my favorite things....

2008-09-07T20:18:00.004+07:00

So tonight at Sunday night Sushi dinner with my dear friend Diana, I decided that I needed to make a list. A list of all of my favorite things. Because I have been known to say "ohhh that's my favorite" on more than one occasion, I decided that I'd start an on-going list of my favorite things.

In no particular order:
1. Sushi on Sundays
2. Dancing
3. afternoon naps
4. Thunderstorms
5. Gerber Daisies
6. Elephants in the wild
7. Laughing until I cry
8. being Green
9. Mamma Mia
10. making cookies with Wyatt and Abby
11. My Mama's Kitchen
12. huckleberry picking
13. Floating the river
14. holding ANY baby
15. Tillamuck Pepperjack Cheese
16. fireworks
17. a good book
18. speaking in any accent
19. Guitar Hero
20. Rummy
21. Pinochle
22. Cribbage, especially when playing with a grandparent. :)
23. house parties
24. Friday afternoons
25. muppets
26. comfortable shoes

My dad reminded me of some more of my favorite things...thanks Daddy!!! (the best thing about lists is that you can keep on adding more!!!)

27. cartwheels in the backyard
28. camping
29. Ruby
30. Roadtrips
31. Feeding Giraffes
32. Sunflowers
33. Magic Mike (my portable karaoke machine)
34......

feel free to add your favorite things in the comments section. :)

Bike Tour around Bangkok

2008-08-24T21:12:00.004+07:00

I have two wonderful Dutch friends, Christo and Lieke. They are my favorite for a couple of reasons. But probably one of my favorite reasons is Christo's wonderful ways of finding new adventures for us...and boy they usually are adventures. I call him our OnStar because whatever we want to do, he can figure out how to get there or knows someone Dutch who knows someone..you get the picture. Well, yesterday Christo planned an adventure bike tour around Bangkok. Fourteen of us toured Bangkok on off road bicycles. We went through small villiages, slums, across rivers, through a park, small trails along the klong (small rivers that you DEFINITELY don't want to fall into). Overall it was a wonderful experience. Here are some totals:

Total people: 15 1/2
Youngest rider: Sasha, age 3
Total Hours riding: 5 hours 35 minutes
Total Kilometers: 25
Total boat rides: 2
Fish Fed: a zillion...I swear!
A day of fun: priceless :)

Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Christo and I are pretty excited!

Diana and Pascale are READY!!!

Ridin' on the Street, yes, it's true...no helmets...not even a option...

a "slide" in one of the slums in Bangkok...as one of my friends pointed out, it would be just as fun in the rain...

On our longtail boat crossing the Chao Praya river...fun times!

This is along the klong, at times the path was about 4 feet AND a motorcycle or a person would be on the path coming the opposite direction...YIKES!

A ZILLION FULL fish...they get PLENTY of fish food

Pascale and I had a blast together...it's rare I get my dear friend all to myself...It was such a fun day with her!

Posing in front of some Chedi's...the place people bury their ancestor's ashes.

Back in Bangkok

2008-08-14T20:56:00.004+07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

I haven't written on my blog in over 3 months, and for that I do apologize. I will update the past three months soon, but I just wanted to post some pictures of my first two weeks back in Thailand. My friends Cecily and Miriam came back with me this year, and I have to say it really helped ease me back into the swing of things a lot more easily. We had a great time, traveling to Koh Samet, Chiang Mai and celebrating my birthday weekend in Bangkok. I had some firsts as well...I saw my first Muey Thai fight, which was quite fascinating, and I ate my first fried cricket...it was actually pretty good...Miriam compared it with a roasted pumpkin seed, which was a pretty accurate description.

I am back at school now, and am really enjoying my class so far (knock on wood)...I have 18 first graders and their names are very unique. I'll print them out on the next post so you can see them.

Here are some pictures of our recent adventures;

My birthday

2008-08-10T20:52:00.000+07:00

I had a birthday bash at the Major Bowl near the mall bangkapi. It was such a blast...what could be more fun than disco bowling with great music, black lights, and wonderful friends! I had to make it a theme, even though I think themes might be dying away this year, and it was crazy hat night. Cecily and Miriam and I dressed in our craziest hats, which I just happened to have lying around my apartment. Pascale made a wonderful chocolate bowling cake and all the kids were excited about eating the bowling pins off of it. I really had a blast and it was so great to have so many fun people celebrate my special day with me. Here are some pictures of my bowling birthday bash.

I CAN'T WAIT....

2008-05-28T08:43:00.002+07:00

to come home!

Sure, there is always the crazy end of the school year with parties, report cards, good bye books, year books to be signed, and major cleaning to do of all aspects of my life.

But all that said, I'm packing EARLY (this weekend!) so I can have time to spend with my friends here before they head all over the world next year. That is the one sad thing about international teaching and no one really mentions it: the fact that friends come and go more quickly in this line of work...

So...these are the reasons I'm excited about coming home...

#1: Wyatt and Abby (of course they are NUMBER ONE!)
#2: New babies are arriving: Baby Bacon Bit, Baby Nale Zarelli, Baby Reider, Baby Milo
#3: Mama's home cooked meals - YUM!
#4: Spending time with family and friends
#5: Playing cards with grandparents...get that cribbage board ready Grandpa! Double Skunk here it comes!
#6: Washington Mountains and the Puget Sound...ohhh I miss the mountains and the clean, breathable air! AHHH!
#7: Tillamuck CHEESE! YEEHAW!!!
#8: Taking a trip to PA
#9: Relaxing and being able to wear a hoodie again, hopefully by a campfire
#10: Three Buck Chuck Wine and Trader Joe's

HAPPY MAMA's DAY, MAMA!

2008-05-11T18:08:00.000+07:00

Dear Mom,

I'm sorry I can't be at home to make you breakfast in bed and snuggle under the blankets with you while figuring out what chick flick we are going to watch on TV.

You are the bestest Mama in the WHOLE WORLD and I love you very much.

This is a picture that I took in Koh Tao right after I got my diving certification.

I miss you and can't wait to see you in three weeks!

Love,
Katie

People and Places in Burma

2008-03-25T21:47:00.005+07:00

I just came back from Burma this past weekend. It was one of the most amazing opportunities that I have had since being here in Thailand. We only had four days there so we stayed in Yangon for a day and then decided to take another flight up to Bagan, a quaint little town full of over 4,000 pagodas, 2,000 of them have been fully restored. We were in Bagan for two days and then flew back to Yangon in time to fly back to Bangkok. It was a whirlwind trip, but it was completely amazing and I am excited to share what I saw with you.

Burma has been under an oppressive government and it's official name is Myanmar. The true leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, won the nobel peace prize, and is now imprisoned in her own country, leading a resistance from her captivity. For more information about the current politics of Burma, click here. The government does not allow any one who is a journalist into the country, and a wise traveler tries extremely hard to support the people of Burma instead of the government. The government will jail their own people for talking about the current government situation, so we could not ask anybody any questions about their life or their opinions about the current government situation. We tried our best to give our resources to the people, and shyed away from giving any sort of support to government sponsored hotels, restaurants, tours, etc. We always looked for ways to spend our money in support of the people..

Bagan was an amazing place,and my favorite part of the whole trip was hanging out and talking with the horse cart driver, Pyi Zone (Pee Yo Zo). He was very open to talking about the oppressive government and we had many wonderful conversations. I will post more later, but I'd like to get some pictures up for you to see. It was an amazing time and I would love to go back!
To see the rest of my photos please click here

It really was... THAT BIG!!!!!

2008-03-09T10:13:00.004+07:00

Everyone has a fishin' tale to tell. And everyone USUALLY exaggerates how big their fish REALLY is. But my tale might be a little different. We really DID catch fish THIS BIG! (hold out hands as far as you can!)

We went to a fishin' hole that is only about 20 minutes away from Summakorn. One of teachers at our school organized a Mekong Classic Fishin' Derby. There were a BUNCH of us that went, probably at least 30 people. Supposedly the biggest catfish lives in these waters. I wouldn't doubt it!

So we arrive, and we get escorted to our bungalow right on the water. It's an open aframe of a bungalow with some areas to sit and relax and we even had a TV as well. A guide was included...it's funny that he was called a guide, because we didn't GO anywhere, we just sat there and fished and drank beer all day. Our guide packed our bait on the lure, the bait he packed was about as big as a softball, and then he would cast the pole in for us. When we caught something, then we would reel it in, but sometimes the reeling would take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. There was a battle between the sexes in our bungalow, and while we were neck and neck with the guys all morning, we had 3 big ones get away, and they took the lead in the end. We ended up catching 15 fish all together, the boys caught 9 and the ladies caught 6.

Here are the pictures of my fishin' tale....seeing IS believing!!!!

This is our bungalow, it was a great place to just relax and fish the day away!

This is me, reelin' in a BIG ONE!

WHEW... I GOT IT!

Bobbie and Me with our beautiful Mekong Catfish

Andrew and Dan

The longest fish of the day was caught by Dan, even though a dispute is out whether it is the heaviest or not....(I still think mine wins in that category! :) )

Blowin off the dust....

2008-03-04T14:55:00.003+07:00

Dear Faithful Readers,

Hello! Yes I'm alive and I'm finally blowin' the dust off my blog. I moved and then was setting up internet and all that jazz, so I haven't been even remotely faithful at blogging my life as before. Please bear with me as I post some past events through the last couple of months. Here are some highlights really quickly. Pictures will come soon, I promise!

December
* Went to Chiang Mai on a volunteer trip with fellow friends and teachers. We got to hang out with a village of Hmong people and learn about their life in Thailand. We also had a little misadventure with an airplane flight and ended up taking a taxi 8 hours back to Bangkok. That's a blog story in itself!

*Cambodia - I went to Phnom Penh and Siam Reap for 5 days. I really enjoyed my time there, but it really made me think. The devistation of Phnom Penh and the genocide that happened 30 years ago is still very prevelent. More on that later...

* Christmas away from home - I wasn't sure I would be able to be away from home for Christmas, but I did it! Thank goodness for Vonage and Skype and Webcams! We opened up our presents via the webcam and Wyatt was excited to see his Aunt Katie on the computer. It was fun, but really hard as well. I am so blessed to also have Pascale and Kevin as my adopted family while I was here, and it was fun to be with their kids for Christmas as well.

*Visit with the Drapes - I had a blast playing hostess to my friends the Drapes. Chris, Chrissy, Matty and Andy. They are a super fun famliy that took a year off to travel around the world, and they just happened to stop in Bangkok. We toured around and saw some things I haven't even seen yet...Bangkok's Grand Palace, a boat tour of the Chao Praya river, The Ancient City, and even Bowling! We had a great time together, and it was fun to have some friends from Seattle to play tour guide to.

January

*School started and we had a trip to Koh Samet to ring in the new year.

*We took a trip to Bang Saphan, Jah's hometown. It was such a relaxing and fun time together!

February
* Moved to a new little apartment (my 3rd move so far...I think I'm staying here this time!)

*Started going to a gym near school. It's the nicest gym I've ever been in, it even has a sauna and a steam room in the bathroom. Gonna get healthy! whoop whoop!

*Went fishing Thai style and caught 15 fish in a giant stocked lake...pictures are coming shortly...

Ayutthaya and the Summer Palace

2008-02-20T11:10:00.000+07:00

Ayutthaya (pronounced eye you tee ah) was the second capital of Thailand before Bangkok. It is an ancient city full of ruins and beautiful architecture. Go here for more information if you are curious about Ayutthaya's history.

It is a beautiful area about an hour or so away from Bangkok. My really good friends Zak and Piedad were going up to show Zak's mom around and asked me if I wanted to come along too. We also stopped at the Summer Palace, and I really thought that was absolutely beautiful. I thought of my grandparents, especially Grammy and Grandma backeast would have especially loved this area. There were flowers all over, it was a cool yet sunny day, and the wind was refreshing and wonderful.

We had a great day. Here are some pictures of the Summer Palace and of Ayutthaya. The funniest part was taking a picture of a lady in 4 inch leopard stiletto heels walking around ancient ruins. Only in Asia would that happen. SOOO funny! Guess I forgot my stiletto ruins walking shoes at home....shoot! :)

One of the coolest cultural experiences I've had

2007-12-03T21:25:00.000+07:00

was being invited to my friends' father's Mecca party last weekend.

Dah and New are my massueses in the moo baan where i live. They happen to be Thai Muslim, which is not very common in the Land of Smiles, where 98% of the people are Buddhist. They not only invited me to their father's party on Sunday, but they invited me to come to spend the night with them on Saturday night before the party. I was a little bit apprehensive, but for the most part, just curious. I admit I know nothing of the Muslim religion, other than they worship Allah and they have some of the same Biblical characters thanks to Sarah and Hagar. I figure my life here is to experience things that I would never experience at home, experiences to stretch me and push me out of my comfort area....

I arrived on Saturday night with my camera and my backpack and immediately met her family. Her mother and father have had 9 children, spanning quite the age range, so there are many grandchildren and family members running around. I helped the women on the big, flat bamboo porch, sitting criss cross cutting massive amounts of vegetables for the various stews and curries for the next day. I chatted as much as I could in Thai, as no one really spoke English, but one of her uncles. I smoked a Hookah pipe, don't worry, it was just a flavored tobacco product, a sour apple flavor, but it's like a cigar, you just puff it but don't inhale...(hmmm i sound like a former president....) This is what a Hookah pipe looks like.

The men at this time were stoking up about 5 huge fires to put extremely large cast iron pots on to cook the various stews and curries. It smelled wonderful and it cooked all through the night.

Speaking of night, that night I slept in the "great room" with everyone else. Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and then it was New, Me Dah and her father. I still don't know where her mother was this whole time. But everyone just slept on the floor on huge rugs. I was actually quite comfortable and had a good night's sleep.

The next day we had a very fun time, we were the only white people there, and we ate very delicious food. I am proud to say I helped chop the carrots and onions for some different stews and the Massiman curry was the best Massiman curry I've ever had!

Here are some pictures from my adventure in Min Buri with Dah and New's wonderful family:

This is our little trek over the rice fields....my friend Heidi and her two kiddos Parker and Bella.

One final picture of Dah and New's guests from Moo Baan Summakorn. It was a wonderful day!

Break a Leg REALLY means good luck!

2007-11-10T10:59:00.000+07:00

Where's Miss Katie?????

So my school put on the most gradious production of the Wizard of Oz. The production was supposed to happen last May, but due to construction delays of our new Godbout Hall, the producers (yes, you heard me....producers) postponed it to this week in November.

My kids were just perfect for the role of the Munchkins, so all elementary school students were able to join who wanted to be a part of it. I had 7 munchkins from my class. There were four different performances for each school section, so each morning I would tell them to "Break a Leg!".....needless to say they were a bit confused until I told them that it really meant good luck. They did a fine job but hey, any little being that is about 3 feet tall wearing colorful clothes and singing is bound to be adorable, right? Here are some pictures from the show, and I'm uploading a video of the final song to show you as well.

Hope you enjoy it!

My friend Dennis played Farmer Joe and my friend Ryan played Dorothy's Uncle....(anyone? I can't remember his name....)

The cast did an amazing job, my favorite was the cowardly lion. He should be bound for Hollywood, or Broadway...

This is one of my former students, Zoe. She played a munchkin, but also there was a surpise part in the play and she was a "mini me" version of the Wicked Witch and went running across the stage. It was quite funny.

My Weekly Schedule

2007-11-10T08:59:00.000+07:00

My cousin Heidi just emailed me and asked me a good question, "what is my normal schedule like?" As I was writing back to her, I thought it might be interesting for my devoted readers. So, although "normal" is all relative, but here is what I usually do during the week.

5:30am - wake up
5:45 - call a taxi
6:00am - taxi shows up, car pool to school with Kelli, Natasha and Diana (A taxi costs 100 baht a day, which is 3 bucks)
6:30 - arrive at school, check in, check email, get ready for the day, etc.
7:10am - kiddos come, I usually have them 6 out of the 9 periods of the day. So that means I usually get about 2 hours each day devoted to prep and planning... :)

2:35 - school ends,

monday is thai class for me, and then I tutor for a little girl named Luk Glao. Their "driver" comes to pick me up....sooo high so! (short for high society, meaning upper class) :)
tuesday is swimming after school and tutoring for the same little girl.
wednesday is usually staff meetings and then tutoring for a different family with two kids.
thursday is thai class and walking with Pascale
friday is whatever i want it to be, usually involves a nap. :)

And then weekends, if I stay around Bangkok, I usually hang out by the pool, go to the market, and then go explore the town on Saturday night.

If I'm not around Bangkok, then I'm traveling or doing some other sort of adventurous activity. :)

If Vonage were a man....

2007-11-07T21:09:00.000+07:00

I'd marry it.

Seriously.

It's the BEST thing I've ever owned. Move over iPOD, colby jack cheddar cheese, reeses peanut butter cups and Yellowtail Merlot.

I have a new love...

my new Vonage plan.

I've had messages (in this order) from Andrea, Aunt Jo, Mom, Jen, Christy S, Mom, Christy VK, Miriam, Mom, Mom again "just because I can", JT, Dad, Mom and Mom again.

I think my mom loves my new love more than me. :)

Another great thing about Vonage is that it sends me a WAV file of the messages left. So if I am at school I can check my new messages, or listen to old ones if I need to. Cool, huh?

The Story About an Adventurous Woman and her Hero

2007-11-05T10:16:00.000+07:00

So, my friend Christy asked me what was on my foot in my previous blog entry. Funny Story. It starts like this.

One day, a very adventuresome woman jumped out of a wooden long tail boat and headed inland towards the beach for dinner, as one usually does on the peninsula of Railay Bay. Suddenly, she felt a huge pain in the heel of her foot. Unfortunately, she was in water up to her knees so she couldn't figure out what had bit her, pinched her or stabbed her. So she hopped on one foot all the while screaming to her dear friends Meika and Josh, "THERE'S SOMETHING ON MY FOOT!!! OHHHH GOSH!!!!! GET IT OUT!!!!"

The woman then noticed that what she thought was a pinch was actually a SHELL stuck in the side of her foot. I...um... I mean....ah um...the adventurous woman begged her friend Josh to pull it out, not knowing how long the shell actually was. Upon further inspection, right as Josh, the hero in this story, was about to take the shell off of her foot, out pops the head of a CRAB!!! There is a HERMIT CRAB attached to her foot! All of a sudden she starts laughing and shouts, "STOP! Don't PULL it OUT YET, TAKE A PICTURE!!!! TAKE A PICTURE!!!"

So the adventurous lady and her hero Josh, take pictures of the implanted hermit crab. Finally, the hero pulls the hermit crab out of the woman's foot and then they took more pictures.

They treaded carefully into the water that evening, but never again found a hermit crab attached to their heel....

Moral of the story: crab happens.

Watch out IRON CHEF!

2007-11-04T01:02:00.000+07:00

Here is a video of my adventures in Chiang Mai over my October break with Meika and Josh. We had so much fun, we learned how to cook the following things:

1. Spring Rolls
2. Som Tam (payaya salad, one of my favorite dishes)
3. Phad Thai (fried noodles with veggies and chicken)
4. Phad Kew Maw (called "Drunkard noodles" because the Thai people usually add a lot of spice....this is what I am cooking in the video)
5. Tom Kah Guy (coconut with chicken) This is one of my favorites
6. Panang Guy (Panang curry, usually a red curry, and chicken)
7. Gang Kee Wan (Green curry)
8. Chicken and Cashews (This is what Meika was cooking in the video, very delicious!)
9. Kaw Neao Met Muang (sticky rice with mango, my favorite dessert!)

I even got a cookbook, so don't worry, I'll definitely cook for you when I come home!!!!

I hope you enjoy the video...it's a tad bit long, but it's kinda funny...don't worry! We didn't have to call the fire department!

XO
Katie

Parrot Video

2007-11-03T12:12:00.000+07:00

I'm experimenting with video blogging. I hope you can get this. Let me know if you can see it. Just click on the title "Parrot Video" and check it out!

This was last year at Safari World, when I fed the giraffes.....

:)

KT

say wha????

2007-11-02T08:28:00.000+07:00

Can you understand this???? This is an email I recieved this morning. Just thought it was a little funny. XO KT

Dear all

Due to Submarine cable was cut some international portion. It may cause IIG traffic facing high latency with some destination in Asia. Also
We‚re experiencing international upstream via C&W (England) problem, due to local transmission in England fail, it may cause of high latency between Thai-Europe for several destinations.
This is a report from CAT (Thailand gateway) , so our internet in some destination will slow - slowest.

Regards.,
Tech Dept.

Trick or Treat.....x3

2007-11-01T22:08:00.000+07:00

I need to recap the whirlwind of a week. I have always enjoyed Halloween in Seattle. When I was growing up, we didn't have very many trick or treaters where we lived because it was so far out in the country. I loved going to my church's harvest parties and dressing up.

For some reason, Halloween ended up being a whole week long event. It's funny, because Thai people have just assimulated Halloween into their culture. They would not celebrate it if they had never met a farang (foreigner) who would explain this silly holiday of dressing up and begging for candy.

So, we dressed up at school on Wednesday, I was Viola Swamp from Miss Nelson is Missing. We paraded around the school, the admin building, the middle school section and the high school section, and then we headed over to the preschool houses. The kids had a great time. Their teacher was pretty tired by the time the parade was over and it was only second period! (we have nine periods a day!)

Then, about 30 little people came over to my house after school in a song tao (a big truck) to trick or treat. Kelli and I decorated the entrance of my house, and the kids all had a great time going around to teachers' homes to trick or treat.

That night my friends and I headed to a local pub downtown, appropriately named The Witch's Tavern. The music is always so fun, and of course the high light of that night was Bobbie and Andrew stealing the show by jumping on stage. i have crazy friends!

Then, Friday night we had a costume party in our moobaan. That was a lot of fun, we had some amazing costumes! We ended the night with some karaoke on my new karaoke machine....but I finally shut the party down when Andrew tried to sing Carolina for the 5th time.

Trick or Treat!

Deep Breath

2007-10-29T21:42:00.000+07:00

okay, I've finally had time to breathe. I'm just going to quickly recap my October because time just flew by, between report cards, conferences, my first guests! which involved playing tour guide (loved every minute of it!), Thai cooking school, elephant rides, beach combing, snorkeling, and relaxing pool side, I've just been swamped. I will write more later, but tomorrow is Lil' Katie's first birthday...

I can't believe how time flies!

And Halloween is Wednesday night, and about 35 little batmans, mermaids, fairies and other superheros are comin' a trick or treating to my house....

needless to say, I'm a little busy.

But it's all good.

Here are some pics. I PROMISE I'll write more soon! I need comments! Please respond!

XOXOXOOXOXOXOX Katie

Hard Rock Hotel

2007-09-24T12:15:00.000+07:00

So I haven't blogged in a while, and I am sorry faithful readers, I noticed a trend in my blogging. I think about once or twice a month is all you are gonna get.

don't cry. it will be okay.

This past weekend I had a blast. Amazing. Stupendous. and totally, completely OUT OF CONTROL fun times. We went to Pattaya, to the Hard Rock Hotel. One of two international hard rock hotels, the other one is in Bali.

More to come in the form of pictures, but here are the highlights:

**GIANT pool with different areas....one part was even sandy on the bottom and had faux rocks on the side. This pool even had a trampoline to bounce right into the water...poor Christo....I TOLD him not to do a swan dive off of it, but did he listen?!?!

** King's Club members (we paid a little extra to be members for the day....it was WORTH it!!!)

**Bocce Ball Poolside...

**Foam Dance Party

**Sauna and relaxing by the poolside

9/11 I remember

2007-09-11T17:21:00.000+07:00

I remember 9/11. It seems as though it was just yesterday. I was a bright eyed and bushy tailed teacher, still very wet behind the ears. It was my first day at Bryn Mawr, my second job, as my first teaching job had lasted only 4 days and was told I was needed at a different school. I remember getting up and turning on the TV to see the plane crashing into the first twin tower.

It felt surreal.

Time slowed down as I realized that I was not watching the Terminator or some Holleywood stunt. Then the next thing I thought of was my brother. As a Marine, he would be needed.

At that time, we didn't know much, but I just had a knot in my stomach as I knew the unexpected would change things. I feel at times, very selfish because I am happy he is home now. Safe.

I wish that all Army, Airforce, Navy and Marine families could feel the same.

A lot has changed since that day.

And a lot has not so much.

Pirate Weekend....AHHHOOOYYYYYY!!!!!

2007-09-03T17:30:00.000+07:00

So we had SUCH a GREAT time in Koh Samet this weekend....we took two 27 people Montri Buses down to the Rayong Pier and then two 30 person speed boats straight to the beach and hopped out like Gilligan's crew, straight onto the beach of Tub Tims. We had a wonderful dinner right on the beach. We danced the night away. But I do believe that my FAVORITE part was creating a treasure hunt for the kids that came with us. There were 10 kiddos, and Kelli helped me create notes and hide them in different places along the beach. The kids were running all over the place, like the Lord of the Flies. Everyone had a wonderful time, and I even got a tattoo!!! Well, don't worry Mama, it's not real....it will come off in about 2 weeks. :)

Bari and Katie's Taxi Adventure....

2007-08-28T09:40:00.000+07:00

Okay, so yesterday after Thai class, Bari and I rode home together in a taxi. We take taxis every day, sometimes even 3 or 4 times, so this was no big adventure. We told the taxi driver where we wanted to go in Thai and he understood us....

so we thought.

As Bari and I chatted on the usually 25 minute ride home, she told me about her new camera. So she showed me, and we got to talking, which is never very hard when we are together! Well, about 20 minutes into our ride, we finally look out the window, to see that we are quite passed where we need to be, and so we quickly tell the taxi driver to get in the next u-turn lane...as the traffic is stopped completely, Unfortunately, for some apparant reason, our u-turn is blocked off, so that means that we need to go another mile or so before we can get the next one. And there is a sign for no u-turns, so the taxi driver has to take us down and around another intersection until we can finally get to where we need to go to get home. We finally get to our right entrance, and he doesn't want to turn into the u-turn because there is a policeman there, so he ends up missing THAT u-turn, driving another mile out of the way, finally we u-turn, and turn into Summakorn. (BIG SIGH)

What should have been a 25 minute taxi ride took us about an hour when all was said and done.

Towards the end of the ride, I asked Bari for her camera. We were taking pictures of funny Thai things every 10 seconds to kill time while we were stuck in our Taxi Adventure. Here are some of the things we saw. Enjoy the fruits of our anguishing adventure. :)

A little Thai bling bling....flowers on the grill...whooop whoop!

The elusive policeman that the taxi driver successfully avoided.....

A photo of the taxi driver's dash...it's pretty typical to have gods and goddesses. This one is a Hindu god, but I'm not sure of the name....notice the mini yellow king shirt...always patriotic in Thailand!

TOPS is like a Safeway, you can find whatever you need there, pretty much.

Everyone Loves the King....that is our land marker to know that we are about to come to Summakorn

A bus with yellow-shirted people....notice the artwork on the bus...you don't find that on our greyhounds at home!

Little Tiger and Little Monkey

2007-08-22T18:43:00.000+07:00

Little Monkey is the black one, and Little Tiger is the black and white one.....

Just thought I'd post my kitties on the web after my last phone call with Wyatt. I told him I had two kitty cats and he started meaowing. So, without further ado, making their first blog appearance....Little Tiger and Little Monkey!!!!

it's raining...it's pouring....

2007-08-21T19:55:00.000+07:00

well.....I guess the rainy season is here. even if it is sunshiny today outside, my house has felt the wrath of a humongous rainstorm from last night.

i know where all the rain went that was flooding the streets. it seeped into my house, buckled the paint on my second floor, and made my kitchen a small swimming pool.

okay, i might be exaggerating....just a little. But I did walk into my kitchen only to find that my floor had about a 1/2 an inch of standing water on the tiles. My cats thought it was great, a giant water hole! I, on the other hand....have NO idea how that water got there, nor how to get it out....it's not like i can borrow my dad's shop vac and vacuum out this water. And what's worse is, it was only the FIRST flood. What's gonna happen the next time???

And then I went upstairs, and thought that my cats had found some white napkins and shredded them up. Upon further examination, I realized that the ceiling has water damage, and the paint is coming off in giant chunks, hence the white shredded look. deep breath.

Well, I guess I'm gonna have to get my crazy land lady over here so she can hire some one to come and fix it. ei yai yai.

i LOVE comments

2007-08-21T19:53:00.001+07:00

please post a comment, as i feel asl though i write for myself and two others...thanks Ryan and Miriam! :) just a thought....

on the other side of heaven

2007-08-21T03:01:00.000+07:00

it's 2:35am on tueday morning.

i just found out that one of my best friend's delivered her baby boy angel two weeks ago, and he has gone to heaven. it's times like these when i don't know what to say, and it makes living in thailand even more frustrating because i didn't know until TWO WEEKS later.....

they even had the funeral on my birthday. i think that is the worst part. while i was partying it up, one of my best friends was mourning the loss of her son. i don't have any more words to say. my heart is broken for her and her family.

sweet dreams little man. we will see you soon, as she says, on the other side of heaven. i can't wait to meet you.

godspeed

Honeymoon is over....

2007-08-15T19:57:00.000+07:00

Well, it didn't last long. My classroom honeymoon is over....but perhaps this year it never started.

I had forgotten how draining high maintenance students are. I have a little guy, Jack, whom I knew about, but I didn't realize that I would also have 4 other boys in my class equal to his busy-ness. Needless to say, I think it's going to be a long year. Oh well, I guess I've just got to remember that little 6 year olds are like that.

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Kami!!!

2007-08-15T18:36:00.000+07:00

My friend Kami is pretty funny. It's her birthday today. We go wayyyy back...I mean, since I'm 30 now and all, we've known each other for over half our lives. Oh dear, that makes me sound O-L-D!!!!

I love my Kami for these reasons: she's funny, likes my jokes, makes really super duper fantastic apple martinis, has a really funny boyfriend, is spontaneous, loves to dance, enjoys the Rat City Roller Girls and will tell me when I have a booger in my nose. Friends like her are few and far between.

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y K A M I !!!!!

Birthday Bashes

2007-08-15T18:03:00.000+07:00

Well, chalk another great time up, this time celebrating my big 3-0....I can't wait to see what this year holds. On Friday night, I had some people over to my house for a little chin dig. It was a blast. One of my friends brought her portable karaoke machine, all you do is plug it right into the TV. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! It was so much fun! We sang for hours. Pascale also made a wonderful chocolate cake for my birthday. Her icing is absolutely out of this world, and she made it especially thick for me because she knows I love it! Now, I'm not one for cakes, but there is just something about hers that I just love!

After Friday night, some of my friends went to Koh Samed for the weekend. So I headed down on the bus on Saturday to laze away the day and have some fun. Someone once told me, upon coming to Thailand, that Koh Samed is just a hop, skip and a jump away...quoting..."three hours, only three hours from door to door"....I guess that's only if you get a private taxi and a private boat to take you there. For some reason, I had blocked out just how long it takes a person to get to Koh Samed....but then again, nothing is easy in Thailand. So I call a Taxi to come to get me, ride a taxi to the bus station, where I have to wait for 45 minutes because I just missed the 11am bus, then get the VIP bus that is supposed to take us straight there, only to find out that it really isn't a VIP bus and it makes stops every 15 minutes or so....so needless to say, when I got to the pier and we had to wait another 30 minutes to get to the island, by this time it was about 6 hours of travel time, in the prime heat of the day, I was ready to just turn around. Finally we get on the boat, and it seems to go about 10 miles per hour, until finally we reach the land of Koh Samed.

I travel to my bungalow on a rickety song taow (or truck with benches in the back) and get to my home away from home, only to find out that someone thought it would be a good idea to build a bungalow over the free flowing ditch....that also just had to be a sewer from the smell of my bungalow. As I was brushing my teeth, I noticed that my feet were getting splashed...it seems that the sink didn't have a drain pipe, it just went right onto the floor and down a hole in the bathroom floor into the above named free flowing ditch......

Besides the 8 hour trek to the island that's only really 3 hours away and a bungalow that smelled rank, it really was a fun time with my friends. We played on the beach, ate wonderful food and the waves were so huge we even got some body surfing in.

Then the next night, we signed up for night fishing. I thought of adventures and pictured giant fish just wanting to be caught. They even said the fishing boat had karaoke....and that was definitely a selling point for me! First we rode the choppy waves to a spot for squid fishing, and then the fisherman taught us how to squid fish. You just drop the lure down all the way to the bottom, then pull up an arms length of rope, then just pull up, let it slack, pull up.....then let it slack...pull up....let it slack.....well...you get the picture. So finally, after 3 and a 1/2 hours of pulling and slacking, Andrew caught the first squid. It was really exciting and there was black ink squirting all over the place. But after about 4 hours with only a couple of squid we decided to head home. I guess the fisherman forgot to mention that it really wasn't the season for squid, nor did he mention that the water would be murky and so therefore hard to catch anything. Oh well, at least we caught a couple of squid for them to eat.

My 30th Birthday Party

2007-08-10T18:12:00.000+07:00

The YUMMY cake!

Here are the pictures from my 30th Birthday Bash. We had a GREAT time, that is for sure!!!

Class List...say wha????

2007-08-08T08:51:00.000+07:00

Okay, so yesterday I got my class list, and I thought I'd send it out because it's quite comical. I'm sitting at my computer laughing right now as I re-read the list of names. Oh, it's going to be a great year.

Granted, these are the students' nick names...but these names are what they are called, even when they are adults.

Miss Katie's Super Stars, as follows:

Milk
Brian
Internet (NOT kidding!!!)
Lilly
Fong
Sunny
Lily
Inn
Ani
Boom
Big
Pea
Jack
Nikil
Dew
Tini
Wow-Wow
Keen

I think for the first day of school I'll have them make up silly sentences with their names. "Wow-wow, there is a big pea inn my milk. Fong!"

Back in Bangkok

2007-08-08T08:39:00.000+07:00

I'm here. I'm home. I think.....

I have been back in Thailand a week now and have really enjoyed being back for the most part.

I say for the most part because I seem to "forget" about the things that are NOT so enjoyable about Bangkok. Take for instance, this morning. It's the rainy season. That's fine, I'm from Seattle....and it rains a lot. But add the fact that I am dependant upon a Thai taxi service to get to school on time in the mornings and sometimes, well....I think they think that the same rules don't apply when it's raining. Like they just don't show up, or they show up 45 minutes late.

Good thing school starts tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't rain.

The Happiest Place on Earth isn't Disneyland.....

2007-07-31T19:14:00.000+07:00

it's with my two favorite kiddos in the whole world that also just happen to be my niece and nephew....It's amazing how much love I have for two little beings....and they aren't even my children.....

I had SUCH a wonderful time with them, it is really hard to say goodbye as I head back to Thailand in a few days. I cried all the way from Spokane to Moses Lake, but now I think I'm all dried up, no more tears left. I don't know if I'm sad because I'm leaving or I'm sad because I know that the next time I come home I won't be able to spend as much time with them, and I'm always so worried that Wyatt won't remember who I am....but I know that I just have to hold tightly to the giggles and the laughter and the dancing around the living room, running through the sprinkler, making funny mouth noises just to hear Abby coo, and accidentally intentionally leaving the cookies in Wyatt's arms' reach so that he can "sneak" in the kitchen and steal a cookie, thinking Auntie Katie isn't looking....Erik and Laura are such wonderful parents, I honestly don't know how they do it....they have so much on their plate but they still find that balance for family. I hope someday I can do as good of a job as they do.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. I feel as though I have stored up enough of them to last for at least the time that I'm gone....only time will tell if that is true or not, but until then, phone calls and skype and photos and memories are better than any thing else....

well....

.....then again, Toad's Wild Ride comes in as a close second.....

lil' cookie monster in training.....

We watched the Deer Lake Parade on the Fourth. Wyatt loved the tractors, flags, and the frozen otter pops.

Happy Fourth of JULY!!! Wyatt's first boat ride with all his cousins!

Our little dream boat....what a cutie she is!!!

one of the many photo shoots!

Auntie Katie's little hippies....don't tell their daddy!!! :)

Christy and Steve

2007-07-21T18:43:00.000+07:00

My friends Christy and Steve got married this weekend. It was so much fun to be a part of their wedding, even if I had to invite myself to crash their wedding as their wedding photographer. :)

We had a lot of fun, and they were the most relaxed couple I have ever seen....even when the Shuttle Express showed up to take them to the reception, they just went right along with it.

They are heading to California soon, and I'm sad to see them go...but hopefully I can go and visit them in the near future. At least they will be in Santa Rosa....near the Napa Valley.

Here are some of my favorite shots from their wedding.

Steve's niece is very cute! She was a wonderful flower girl!

Christy's dress was beautiful, and I even learned how to steam iron at the hotel!

I love this photo, she just looks so excited, and I even caught Steve in the background.....I just LOVE photography!

This is a classic...Steve is threatening to send this one out as a Christmas card....only time will tell....

AWWWWW....aren't they cute?!?!?!?

Kanchanaburi

2007-05-20T20:20:00.000+07:00

This weekend, I had a great time in another province in Thailand, called Kanchanaburi (pronounced kahn-chan-ah-bur-ree). It is a very beautiful place, and home of the famous "Bridge over the River Kwai" movie, as well as the Hell Pass and Death Railway from World War II. I have been researching the history of some of the wars and problems that have happened in Southeast Asia, and the wars and the killing fields have had a most powerful effect on me. I have just finished reading "First They Killed My Father", an autobiography about the Pol Pot regeme in Cambodia. I wanted to see the Bridge because POW's from WWII were forced to build a transcontinental railway connecting North Vietnam to Burma through Thailand. Over 116,000 deaths were related to the railway construction.

Besides learning more about the history in and around Southeast Asia, we also explored some of the most beautiful areas I have seen in quite some time. We rented motorbike and rode to Erwan Falls, about 65 kilometers away but well worth the trip. They were the most beautiful waterfalls I have seen since I went to Madagascar. Crystal clear turquoise water pools...and after hiking around, it was just so relaxing to jump into the cool water. We also hired a long tail boat to take us up and down the River Kwai. We stayed at a little guesthouse, and our rooms were on a raft boat, with a little deck overlooking the river. It was such a fun trip!

The only thing that left something to be desired, was the van ride going up there....the van driver was the fastest driver we have ever experienced, I think he must have been practicing for the Indy 500....but many times we braced ourselves for the worst, and at the last minute he would swerve, or brake or pass people to avoid an accident. Next time, we will definitely take the good 'ol bus.....

OHHHH and 19, that's right...19!!!! days until I'm comin' home!!!! :)

TIME FLIES!

2007-05-12T10:20:00.000+07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

I know I haven't up-dated my blog in quite some time...here are the blogs that are coming very soon....this is just a previess....

1. Koh Chang (Elephant Island) trip with Kevin, Pascale, Etienne, Natalie and lil' Katie
2. Chang Mai for the Thai national holida, Song Kran....people get R-O-W-D-Y!!!!
3. Summakorn Party in the moobaan....gosh i these crazy people!
4. Going to Malaysia with Bari and Dennis
5. Party for Pascale's birthday...whoop whoop!
6. Party for Kelli's birthday....whoop whoop!

I LOVE you ALL and can't WAIT to see you!!!! I am coming home June 8th. A posting of Katie's tentative plan will be my next post.

2007-05-11T10:41:00.000+07:00

Friday Night was party night at my baan (baan means "house" in thai). We hunted down Taboo, ordered pizza along with dishes to share and let the good times roll! We had such a blast, Kelli is turning 50, no one can believe it....i wonder what her secret is....hmmmmm????

Malaysia

2007-04-29T18:39:00.000+07:00

Bari, Dennis and I went to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia over the weekend. We had a great time! We stayed in a hotel in the heart of Chinatown, and it was a little dive, but comfortable, clean and cheap....about 20 bucks a night. During the day, we went to Bucha Cave, a little ways past the city. It is a Hindu temple, and there were over 212 stairs leading up to the cave. I have to admit, I do not know much about the HIndu religion, but I DID learn that the two main gods can be both a man and a woman...go figure. We also visited the Muslim Mosk in the city, after walking around for quite some time looking for it. We even got to dress up in a hajab and gown while we visited the mosk...it was very interested to say the least. The mosk was beautiful, and we also went to an Islam Art Museum and that was pretty informative for me. I learned a lot about both of these religions this weekend. After we did that, my favorite part was having dinner at the KL Tower, on the 45th floor. It was kind of like the Space Needle, the restaurant revolved to see the whole city at night. It was beautiful! Then on Sunday, we walked around the city and got to go in the sky bridge on the two tallest towers in Malaysia, and I think in Asia in general. I am not a big fan of heights at all, so it was a tad bit scary for me! But I am glad I did it, for sure!

Song Kran

2007-04-13T20:10:00.000+07:00

The water festival called Song Kran is a wonderful Thai New Year celebration, lasting about 4 days. Chang Mai is one place where people come to celebrate big time. I was able to visit my friend Hosannah, as she works up there, and we had a great time with the 4 day waterfight. We went all around Chang Mai, donned our cowgirl hats and waterguns and started "playing water" as Thai people say....Chang Mai is a very quiet town, and I really enjoyed hanging out there.

Elephant Nature Park

2007-04-11T18:58:00.000+07:00

I had an amazing experience at the Elephant Nature Park near Chang Mai. I went up to Chang Mai to visit my friend from Seattle, Hosannah, and really wanted to go see some elephants, as the elephant is a very lucky symbol in Thailand. This park is special because it is dedicated to help abused and hurt working elephants. This park has 32 elephants, 45 dogs and 18 cats. It was a very special time. We were able to feed the elephants, and go to the river and bathe them. They are a very caring animal, and there is even two elephants that became best friends upon arrival. One is blind, and she calls out to the other one when she is not sure where she is or if she needs help. The other elephant is never far away from her, and they have been this way for about 5 years. The blind elephant became blind after their trainer wanted her to move, so he poked her in the eyes with a stick that had a nail on the end of it whenever she would be out of line. It was such a wonderful experience, and I really want to go back to volunteer for a week.

Abby Jane Thorleifson

2007-04-06T20:43:00.000+07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

I am soooo excited to introduce you to the newest member of our family....Abby Jane Thorleifson. She was born on April 5, 2007. She was 7 pounds, 4 ounces and 21 inches long. She is such a cutie, and I can't wait to meet her! Mama and baby are fine, and Erik reported that Wyatt has already tried to poke her in the eye. Gosh I miss my cuties!!!!

2007-03-26T21:38:00.001+07:00

I went to Safari World and was able to do things I would NEVER get away with in an American Zoo....sure, animal rights activists, stay away, but if you have ever wanted to pet an animal, feed a giraffe, or give a bottle to a tiger, or have an orangutan wrap it's arms around you and give a cheesy grin to the camera, then Safari World is for you!!! We also saw dolphins and beluga whales, the first ever that I have seen! They were beautiful animals and so graceful in the water. We also say a "muay thai" oragutans acting as WWF fighters for the crowd. They were pretty fun, but there would be picketers and activists outside the zoo for sure if that type of activity had gone on in the states. I will add more pictures soon, but this was my FAVORITE part of that day!!! I got to walk up a loft type cabana area and actually FEED GIRAFFES!!!!! It was AWESOME!!!!!!

2007-03-12T21:09:00.000+07:00

My friends Kashmira and Iven....so glad they are here in Thailand! We had a great time together, hanging in my "baan" (house), then heading over to Suan Krua for some lunch. Kashmira hadn't been on a bike in 9 years...thought I'd capture the history in the making!!! I have started hanging out with their YWAM ministry on Tuesday nights. They work at Ramkhamhaeng University in Bang Na, working as YWAM interns right now. There is a wonderful night of yummy Thai food, Thai conversations (usually the YWAM workers and I are the only Farang, and GREAT worship!!! Most is in Thai, but I'm learning!!! They plan to stay here for quite some time. If you would like more information about my friends, please visit their website: http://ivenandkashmira.info/

2007-03-10T20:46:00.000+07:00

This is a view on the BTS, the SkyTrain that runs through Bangkok. We THINK BTS stands for Bangkok Transporation System, but it could also be Being Tightly Squished......

2007-03-09T21:03:00.000+07:00

Vocabulary: By Tee Ow.....means "going out". Friends live it up with live music in downtown Bangkok. I have so much fun with these peeps, but I sure do miss my Seattle peeps too!!!!

2007-03-05T20:56:00.000+07:00

We went to a Spanish Restaurant called Topas. It had the BEST lemon dessert I have EVER eaten!!!! Friends, I'm tellin ya....when you visit me in Bangkok, we are gonna head over to Topas!!!

2007-03-03T20:16:00.000+07:00

My "second family" here in Thailand..Kelli and Hans and their children came to visit them...Brett and his girlfriend Rachel, and Kristen. We had a great time together!

Super Special Day!

2007-02-20T20:34:00.000+07:00

Today I had a very special surprise. I was teaching, just starting our day with the students all on the rug....and in walks our school mainainance man with a beautiful bouquet of red roses. I read the card, and couldn't hold it together. I started to cry, and the kiddos were wondering what was wrong with me. I told them it was happy tears. And then Pascale came in and I started to cry again. My brother and sister-in-law are super amazing people. It completely made my day. The pictures say it all. :D

WARNING: Graphic contents, not for the faint of stomach.....The crazy "baba babo ding dong" soi dogs

2007-02-15T20:51:00.000+07:00

Well, this week, I got my "injury" story from my time in Thailand....I have an injury story from each major place I've lived....the nail in my foot at Uncle's house.....the deep cut on my leg from hunting down the perfect Christmas tree...the snake bite and boil in Madagascar....I have just come to realize that every adventure comes with a price....it's just part of the life... :)

My little side street has some neighbor dogs that are pretty mean. I can't ever tell if their bark is worse than their bite, but I have had three times where they have gotten out of their fenced cage and scared me so badly I have screamed bloody murder. Well, one late night, I was riding home on my bicycle and the dogs all started chasing after me. I screamed bloody murder once again, and swirved over to the side by the cement curb. Well, my foot got caught in the way between my pedal and the cement curb...and let's just say my foot lost. I was in so much pain, I was shaken up pretty badly. My middle three toes on my right foot were pretty scraped up and really nasty looking. I came inside and put rubbing alcohol and iodine on them and left them over night. It was quite painful. The next morning, they were so swollen I could hardly get out of bed. I couldn't put my toes down, my foot had swelled so much. I took off of work and went to see the doctor....the doctor was NOT very gentle and pushed and pulled my toes like they weren't in serious pain. I screamed at him and told him in Thai that it hurt really badly, but he paid no heed and just kept right on at it. He gave me some medicine to cut back the swelling and some antibiodics because the streets here are not very clean. He also gave me some pain medication, but it wasn't that effective, so I went back to good 'ol ibiprofen. I was so disappointed because I was looking forward to the trip to the mountians this weekend with all of my friends, but I made the decision not to go, because it would probably not be great for an open wound...hiking, dirt, and open water....probably not the best combination. Needless to say, my foot is getting much better each and every day. But it was very painful in the beginning. Here are some pictures.....Please, if your name happens to be Christy Schwenky.....proceed with caution....it is VERY gross!!!! :)

Life Update

2007-02-13T07:00:00.000+07:00

Things are going well here, I'm settling in to my new townhouse and having fun in the moobaan. Tonight I have Thai with a very fun, very strict Thai teacher....heehee...she also happens to be my roommate, and I was just joking about the strictness. :) We are going on a trip to the rainforest this upcoming weekend, as we have Monday off because of Chinese New Year. I swear it is spring because the flowers are blooming and the trees are blossoming. Ja says they don't have spring, but I think so....

Yesterday was Natalie's 2nd birthday. I went over to the Thomas household and we had a very tasty dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce with cheese!!!! Yum!!!! Also, Pascale made cupcakes and they were delicious! I gave Natalie a little blue traditional thai dress. I painted her toes and then Etienne painted my fingers....lol not my nails, my whole tips of my fingers. It was great fun!

I'm still not sure where I am going for spring break. I'll keep ya posted! :)

Where to go for April Break?

2007-02-02T09:55:00.000+07:00

Okay, readers, now is your time to speak up!!!! I'm taking a poll because I don't know where I want to go for April Break....some people are "trekking in Nepal", others are going to Bali, and I really want to also go to Laos and travel up the river on a fishing boat...OR I could visit Hosie and Marci in Chang Mai. So please, give me your thoughts. AND you are NOT allowed to say they all sound good....you HAVE to pick one!!!!

Time Flies!!!!

2007-02-02T09:47:00.000+07:00

Wow! It's been a whirlwind of the last month, and I can't believe it's already February! Happy Groundhog's Day and I always remember it's Bret Cain's birthday today too....my head is full of random knowledge. (Bret Cain was my middle school youth pastor). I have had a hard time adjusting back to Bangkok life, but great friends have helped, as well as a trip to one of my favorite beaches....Ko Samed. I also have a big change....I'm moving to a townhouse!!!! It's pretty fun and I get a super cool roommate, too! Ja is movin in today, and I moved all my stuff yesterday. It's crazy, considering the last time I moved (in June) it took multiple car loads and two (or was it three?) truck loads to bring all of my things home. Yesterday, it took me an hour and a half to move 3 boxes and two suitcases. I love the simple life! It's pretty cool to not feel so bound by material possessions AND to know that I can flee the country if I have to, with all of my life in 3 boxes and two suitcases. Pictures will come of this new amazing townhouse....it's already a blast because we have super cool neighbors, Bobbie and Andrew, and our friends Bill and Kristin and Bari and Dennis can shout out their windows from the condos at us. I'm trying to fung suey this place, to make it feel peaceful and cozy. I think I'm going to go to the market tomorrow to see what I can find....

The Cousins

2007-01-18T15:08:00.000+07:00

Over Christmas, we had a great time hanging out with the cousins. Lucy and Crosby had never met little Wyatt, aka Chunk-o, as well as Betsy and Bucky, Britta's husband. We were ALMOST all together again, just missing Heidi. Here are some great, yet silly pictures of the whole fam damily. SOOOO glad to be together!!!!

Mama's Kitchen

2007-01-18T14:58:00.000+07:00

So finally after 31 years of non-dishwasher ownership, my Mama is a proud owner of the quietest, most beautifully white dishwasher around. She wouldn't tell me what the kitchen was like, and told me that her walls were painted white....as every other wall in our house is white....except for my bedroom (lavendar) and the t.v. room that Dad and I attacked one summer.....As I walked into the kitchen for the first time, I was AMAZED!!!!!! IT was GORGOUS!!!!!! Like somethiing out of Country Living Magazine....AND ...the BEST PART (besides the dishwasher, lazy susan, and the GIANT FRIDGE) is........SHE PAINTED IT YELLOW!!!!!!! I'm SOOO Happy!!!! Congrats on your kitchen, Mama! You deserve it!

Christmas Pictures

2007-01-18T13:13:00.000+07:00

Here are some pictures of Family at Christmas. Hope you enjoy!

What to do when everything about Bangkok Annoys You.....

2007-01-18T11:20:00.000+07:00

1. Cry
2. Call home and cry, hoping Mom will just say, "ohhhh, just come on home, we'll take good care of you"....instead she says "ohhh you'll be fine in a couple of days....."
3. Talk really fast in English so taxi driver's can't understand you
4. Eat bread, cheese, and everything NON Thai
5. Get a manicure and a pedicure for $5, and remember that I can't do that in the States.
6. Hang out with my wonderful, amazing Korndoggs and laugh a lot.
7. Look at Wyatt's picture and wonder what he's doing right at that moment.....and plot how to get the "long distance favorite aunty award...."
8. Rack up the phone bills and call home every day
9. Ride my bike around the moo baan and shout crazy things in English, to no one or no body, just the soi dogs.....
10. Remember that I am loved, both near and far.......

Christmas in the good 'ol US of A

2007-01-18T09:37:00.001+07:00

So I have been soooo busy re-adjusting to life in Bangkok, it really has been the hardest part of my journey so far. I miss home terribly and I really don't think that two weeks is long enough to get to see everyone I want to see and spend good time with all my family and friends. I have had some major highs and some extreme valleys this last month. My "Grandma Backeast" passed away a week before Christmas, after a long fight with Alzheimer's, and my heart broke that I could not be there for my mom and my grandpa. It made coming home even more special, as I really took time to be with the people I love. I had such a wonderful time at home with Mom and Dad, Erik and Laura and little baby Wyatt....he's really not such a baby any more. His favorite word was "es" meaning "yes". What a cutie! We had so much fun taking naps together! I had such a whirlwind trip, but it sure was great to see all of you!!!! I'm sorry, I feel like I'm rambling....here were some of the highlights and events from the month of December:

December 13th - Lil' Katie came home from the hospital. She is now at about 2.5 kilos (about 5 pounds) and doing really well.

December 15th - Christmas performance....talk about a SHABANG!!!! It was in our performance hall, and I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it! What a production!

Also that night was the All Staff Christmas party. I witnessed the headmaster of our school learning traditional Thai dance. That was pretty funny! We went to a very nice hotel and had a wonderful buffet, we even got some drink tickets! After the party we went salsa dancing, and I stopped to buy some fake crocs (those crazy plastic shoes that look really funny) on the street for $2 because my feet hurt! We danced the night away! So much fun....

We had a couple of other Christmas Parties during that time as well, and report cards were due, classroom Christmas party was on Thursday, December 21. I arranged for my friend Zak to come in as Santa and all the kids were sooo funny! Christmas is celebrated here, but most students don't know the other traditions around Christmas "Miss Katie, What's a stocking?" and few really understand that Christians celebrate it as Jesus' birthday.

December 19th - Had a Chang Noi, Channukah, Kwanza, Everything party at the pool. It was great!
December 20th - Went to the Witch's Tavern and danced until way too late. Very fun!
December 21st - I packed, got a massage and a manicure and pedicure and then hung out with friends. We played Bocci Ball around our moobaan streets and then headed to Hot Chili's, a restaurant, for some drinks and fun.
December 22nd - Left Bangkok at 6am, got to Seattle at 6:50am. Was a very nice flight, not too crowded, I ended up sleeping most of the way.

My Christmas break, I spent as much time as I could just being with my family and friends. I have truly come to realize just how special and amazing being at home is, I miss it! Even if I did have to dress in 20 layers and still be chilled to the bone!

After my whirlwind trip home, I had a very late flight, and got in on Monday morning, with four hours until I had to teach that morning. I was sooo wiped out. I am still trying to cut the jeg lag. The funniest part was that I was super hungry around 9am every day, as that was dinner time in Washington. So everyone else would just have their morning coffee at milkbreak, and I'd order a full meal of phad thai or something and chow down....at 9 in the morning! Funny.

Stay posted.....more to come......like "what to do when everything annoys you" and "the day i almost died" and "Teacher's Day in Thailand" and "Sports Day"

The Day I almost Died….the Comedy

2007-01-16T12:52:00.000+07:00

I swear that I could be the next Bridget Jones....things like this really don't happen to "normal" people......

This is how it all began.......I had gotten home pretty late on Saturday night, rather, early morning on Sunday and slept for a bit. Then I woke up and called home and talked to Grammy, Grandpa, Mom, Laura, Wyatt and Dad. By the time I was done it was about 1pm and I was tired. So I decided to take a nap. I didn't have a cell phone because I left my Thai cell phone in the States somewhere, and I didn't unplug my phone cord from the computer when I went to sleep. Little did I know that my friends were trying to track me down. They were worried because we had all gotten home late the night before, and no one actually came back WITH me, Bobbie and Andrew passed me on their motorcycle, but everyone was worried that something had happened to me between the little jaunt between the main street and my condo.

So, during the day, Pascale and the kids came to the condo pool and knocked on my door. As there was no answer, they just went and played in the pool.

Also….during the same time…..Ja came over to give me an extra cell phone that she had, and she ran into Bari who was just coming over to say hey to me. Once they all realized they couldn’t get ahold of me, they started calling around to other people asking others if they have seen me.

After trying my phone every once in a while, and ringing the doorbell, they decided that I might have gone out somewhere, and they wrote me a note….

Then they came back a little while later and saw the note still there and decided to bang on the door. They got the maintainance man to bring up a hammer and they started hammering down my door, to no avail….

During this whole time, I was just sleeping peacefully in my bed, every once in a while dreaming that there was some major construction going on above me, not realizing that my friends were trying to beat down my door with a hammer.

Finally, it was getting late, around 8pm, and Ja had tried to track down my maid to get the spare keys. Pascale had to call my vice principal, Suzie, because my maid is also her maid and Suzie had Malle’s number. So know Suzie knew that I was missing in action. Suzie then called my principal, Jeannie……and they were both on their way to the condo. I’m still oblivious at this point…..So Malle brought the keys but they had ruined the bottom door knob so the keys didn’t work anyway. Meanwhile they had called a locksmith and the locksmith showed up right when Jeannie and Suzie did. Once the door was unlocked and opened just a ways, my metal door bolt was locked from the inside, they realized that I had been inside. My friends said they had a moment of panic because that meant that I WAS inside….Jeannie and Suzie made everyone stay outside while they went inside.

So I am laying in bed, half naked, with just my underwear on…..and I hear someone coming into my bedroom. I was in a VERY deep sleep and I wake up to my PRINCIPAL and VICE PRINCIPAL asking me if I’m okay…..I ask them what is going on and get worried that something happened to Pascale or lil’ Katie or something…..but they tell me that I have a whole load of friends outside that were worried about me when they didn’t hear from me all day.

I reassure them that I am fine, as I cover myself up, I tell them that I was just really tired, and didn’t realize how long I had slept.

They wanted to send everyone away, but there was absolutely no way that I wanted that. I apologized for making them worry and sent them on their way…..

I walked out to the living room, and there was Pascale and Lil’ Katie, Ja, Bari, and Bobbie and Andrew. Pascale told me that about half of the school knew about it, as she had called around wondering if I was with other people…..I couldn’t believe it….

I invited my friends in and they stayed for a while….I was feeling sooooo loved…..and soooo horrible that I made them worry so much. Now I know for sure that I am well cared for and loved here.

I can’t believe things like this happen to me. I am sooo thankful for these new friends of mine. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!

Grammy

2007-01-13T18:21:00.000+07:00

My Grammy just recently made me the best brownies I think I've ever had. She just cut out the recipe from a magazine because she read that the person who made them grew up in Thailand, and that all the ingrediants are available here. So the day before I left, I went over to say good bye, and she had a whole tin of these yummy coconut brownies just waiting for me, along with cow pies, which are pretty much yummy chocolate melted with anything else you want to add to them. I thought that was so very sweet of her to do for me. Then a couple of days later, I called home and I found out that Grammy was in the hospital because of a stroke. I was already having such a hard time re-adjusting, and now I couldn't be home to visit her or anything. I was sooo sad. Sometimes it's just okay to just be sad. So I was. I called her and talked to her on the phone. She sounded a little different, but just as fiesty as ever. People are saying that she is recovering very quickly, but it's hard to not be there right now. So I prayed and I called home and talked to my family. And I talked to my friends here too. And I handed out those brownies and told everyone about my amazing Grammy. They all think she's pretty sweet too.

Lil' Katie Comin Home today!

2006-12-13T13:37:00.000+07:00

Today is a wonderful day! I just found out that Lil' Katie is coming home today!!!! Pascale and Kevin are soooo excited!!! And so am I!!!! Yippeeeeee!!!!!

Let the Little Children Come....

2006-12-13T13:31:00.000+07:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures. These little kiddos have captured my heart and I just might take some home with me!

TAK Hilltribe Village Adventure

2006-12-13T12:48:00.000+07:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit a hilltribe village this past weekend. Our school has a partnership with a village mission center in Tak, in the Northwestern part of Thailand, near the Burmese border. Forty-five teachers and staff travelled a long distance by double decker bus to this rural area. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. These little children were so well behaved and cheerful. We stayed at a center where the children stay so they can go to school. They see their parents every once in a while. We had a very busy weekend playing with the children, planting seeds in their garden, and generally pouring out love. We didn't even speak the same language as all of my hard work of learning Thai did not pay off because they speak a tribal language called Karin. But it was a wonderful experience and the joy on the children's faces when they opened their gifts we brought from our children at the school really brought me to tears. The children took us on a tour of the village and we got to meet some of the people and they welcomed us into their homes. The people in this village did not have much, and most of them are self-sustaining through gardening and growing rice. We went to one family's home that had one room made of bamboo, risen on stilts and under the house was the barn for the pigs and whatever else they own. After the tour, we came back to the center and did some recreational activities with the kids. After dinner, the children dressed up for us and performed on Saturday night. It was so much fun. The next day we had a tearful goodbye as they all waved to us. I know I will go back.

Phew.....where do I begin?!?!?!

2006-12-13T10:44:00.000+07:00

To my Dear Friends and Family,

I am so sorry to keep you waiting as I up-date my blog. I have had some computer problems this last month, as it seems that I have maxed out my iphoto with all of my pictures....anyway, The month of November brought many exciting things, and the first two weeks in December have been truly amazing. I am so blessed to have celebrated Wyatt's One Year Old birthday in November, and happened to call while he was opening his presents. I was so worried that I would be heart broken over not being there, but as I called and was able to hear him playing with the hand carved wooden frog I sent him, I felt joyful to experience his birthday with him, even at a distance. I CAN NOT wait to come home and scoop him up and play with him!!!! Erik told me the other day that he is almost 3 feet tall, and I can hardly even imagine that! Also in November, I experienced my first trip to the hospital. The hospital is also where the doctor's clinics are, and I had been having stomach issues for quite some time, but it wasn't until I had a high fever that I decided I might need to get it checked out. So I was nervous, as the last time I went to the "doctor" in a developing country I had a boil lanced without any anesthetic and it was the worst pain in my life...but I was pleasantly surprised at the hospital. It was very clean and nice, and I was in and out of there in 30 minutes. The doctor listened to my stomach and told me that my stomach was bubbling. I had a stomach and intestinal infection. He put me on antibiotics that lasted 3 days, and they made me more sick than my original condition. I got a little better after that, but I still have some stomach issues from time to time....as my friend JT calls it, I've got "Bombay Belly" or rather "Bangkok Belly"....guess it just comes with the territory!

Camping in Thailand

2006-12-02T10:56:00.000+07:00

I went camping with my friends to the largest national park in Thailand, Kaeng Krachan National Park (for more info go to: http://www.dnp.go.th/parkreserve/asp/style1/default.asp?npid=113&lg=2) . Let me just say, I had a BLAST!!!! But compared to camping in the Northwest, it is definitely Thai style. We stopped along the way to buy kanom, or snacks, and we had a wonderful trip up. I went with my friends Ja, Joei, Ju and Pat. I even bought a brand new tent for the occasion as well as a self-inflatable air mattress that has come in handy many times over so far. It was a wonderful experience, and I would definitely do it again. We drove into the camp and even convinced the guards to the National Park that we were Thai....enough Thai that we didn't have to pay the farang (foreigner) price to get into the National Park, we were able to pay the Thai price. That is always exciting!!!! Once we arrived at our camp site I had to laugh....in typical Thai community style, there was a field and people just plopped their tents down wherever they wanted, some just a couple of feet away from each other. We had a wonderful day relaxing and I brought the fixin's for s'mores because my Thai friends hadn't had s'mores American style before....we roasted our marshmellows over candle light, as bon fires are prohibited. But those were the best s'mores I've had in a long time! We watched the full moon and the stars and I counted about 10 meteors falling in the sky that night. The next morning I decided to go up the mountain in a Song Tao, or a truck that has benches along the wheel wells to sit on. We went 4 wheelin' in this Song Tao, and it was very fun. I saw many wonderful birds and even saw some monkeys. There were huge plants as well. I don't remember the name of them, but I called them elephant ear plants. When I got to the top of the mountain, it was such a majestic sight, but it made me miss home. As beautiful as these mountains are, I do have to admit that nothing really compares to the Cacades on a cool, crisp day. We got to see the "Sea of Fog" and took a tour of the King's Cabin, according to the Song Tao driver, the King stayed in this cabin. I didn't believe him at first, but Ja told me that the King was a very down to earth man and had probably really stayed there. I found that pretty interesting. Overall, it was a fantastic trip! I really had a great time and I hope to go back sometime soon!

2006-11-06T14:56:00.000+07:00

On Thursday, Pascale and I decided to rent a jeep for the day to explore the island. We were soooo excited!!!!! It was so much fun to drive, finally! It was my first time in 3 months to drive, and boy did it feel good! We explored both sides of Ko Lanta, and stopped at a little restaurant up on the hill for some sodas. We found a little fishing village and had lunch sitting on the pier, watching little long tailed boat ferries putter past. I just can not believe how beautiful Thailand is, and yet how absolutely poor and underdeveloped areas can be. Some areas around Ko Lanta were hit by the Tsunami two years ago, and some things are being rebuilt. It was definitely interesting to see. We also went exploring to other resorts in the area and jumped in a pool at another resort, only to find out that that resort is not open yet....the manager came out and said we should probably get out....the complete Thai way to do things. A suggestion rather than an order, to save face. It was fun while we were there, we didn't know that we could not just jump in, there were people who used our pool that were not from our resort, so we thought it was okay. We also went into town with the jeep and did a little shopping and then picked up Kevin from his Scuba Diving. It was a very fun day!

Krabi Adventures Part Song (2)

2006-11-06T09:44:00.000+07:00

So on Tuesday, Pascale and I took the kids snorkeling. It was such a wonderful day, and we took a very fun and fast speed boat out on the water, after picking up about 40 people from around the island. We snorkeled two different places before lunch, then stopped at Ko BoBo for lunch. Ko BoBo is a deserted island and it was something we would have seen in Survivior! I can not get over how white the sand was and how crystal clear that water was. Absolutely AMAZING!!!!! Our friends Bobbi and Andrew happened to be on the same boat as us, so it was fun to hang out and snorkel around with them. Etienne and Natalie were pretty adventurous at first, but Natalie got scared whenever Pascale would go down to look around in the water, so we tried to trade off a little bit. I saw so many amazing fish, some clown fish, like Nemo, tons of angel fish....some little black fish with neon fins....it was very exciting. I took an underwater camera, so hopefully I will be able to get those developed soon. After lunch we snorkeled one more place and then went home. It started to rain a little bit as we were going home, but that didn't really matter because we were already wet! Oh, and on the way out on the boat, I am pretty sure that I saw some dolphins....their fins were arching in the water, but I wasn't quick enough to take any pictures....I have never seen a dolphin before....hopefully someday I'll see one close up!

The next day, Wednesday, we hung around the resort, and played in the beach, and then the pool and and then the beach....ahhhh such is life!

Krabi Adventures Part Nung (one in Thai)

2006-11-02T13:22:00.000+07:00

So I decided that each day I would talk about one part of the trip, because I could seriously write a novel about all of the adventures that we have had the past week, before we came home to our little surprise package named 'lil Katie....if you don't know what I'm talking about, read my past blogs.....

So....on to Ko Lanta....you know the saying, "just getting there is half the battle"?!?!?? Well....sooooo true!!!!! I flew from the new airport in Bangkok, only took 20 minutes from my Moo Baan, which is very exciting compared to the hour that it would usually take me. The flight was uneventful, there were no assigned seats and both the front and the back doors of the plane were opened so it took less time to board than other flights I've been on. Once I landed in Krabi, I had a driver waiting for me from the hotel with a little sign with my name on it....that cracked me up! It was a two hour car ride with two different ferries to finally reach my destination of Ko Lanta Yi or the Big Island of Lanta. When I was checked in and shown to my little bungalow just a few feet away from the beach, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was absolute paradise. Pascale met me and we had dessert and I had a drink while we listened to the waves crashing on the beach around us. The next day we played on the beach in the morning then we rode into town on a little motorcycle taxi, that has a little side car bench, easily fitting 6-8 Thai people or, in our case, 2 farangs and a stroller with two kids. We explored around the little town a bit, had lunch and I bought a hammock for my little bungalow's porch....ohhhh I was in HEAVEN!!!!! Ko Lanta is a wonderful place to visit!!!!

Huge Miracles come in Tiny Packages

2006-11-02T12:52:00.000+07:00

So I just realized that all my plans to update my blog for the month of October are somewhat on hold. Kathryn, whom I like to refer to secretly as lil' Katie :), is such a wonderful bundle of joy and such a true sign of God's miraculous wonders. Her personality shines through as she proudly breathes on her own and she squirms as her little toes are tickled. She is such a precious gift. When I saw her the second day, she was all wrapped up and strapped down because she was trying to take her tubes out and was trying to breathe on her own. The third day, they let her breathe on her own, and she didn't even need an incubator or anything! Pascale is doing so much better too....up and moving around and she is able to have more than just three nasty egg whites....yuck! Pascale told me that 'lil Katie dropped a little bit of weight, but she is able to drink Pascale's milk, so that is a very very good sign. (A side note: As this takes presidence over our trip to Krabi and Ko Lanta, I haven't had time to update anything as far as our trip went....I will get some pictures up as soon as possible!)

Big Miracles come in small packages

2006-10-31T10:43:00.000+07:00

So yesterday was the worst day of my life and I was just a bystander......My friend Pascale was admitted to the hospital on Sunday morning after her routine pre natal exam showed she had high blood pressure. The next day they said that the baby might not make it if the baby remained inside Pascale so the doctors ordered an emergancy c-section for that afternoon. Pascale was only 31 weeks along, so needless to say, I was not very focused on my first graders nor on anything else during the day for that matter. I was waiting to hear if everything was okay, praying hard all day long. Finally, Kevin called me and said that they were doing as fine as could be....they had a baby girl, Kathryn Noelle....born only 970 grams which is just under 2 pounds. I still am not sure how long she is, first Kevin told me 8 inches, then it was about 11....so I'm not sure, but that's still so small. Kevin and Pascale are two of the most amazing people I have met here and I am so amazed at how they are doing in all of this. I am so thankful for such wonderful hospitals and facitilities in Bangkok, it is seriously like the Hilton Hospital where Pascale is recovering. Hopefully I will get to see the little one today. I'm bagging the Trick or Treating because I want to see this little one so desperately and help Pascale in any way I can.

My Class

2006-10-10T15:14:00.000+07:00

My students are F A N T A S T I C!!!!! I am VERY blessed!

"our" new oven

2006-10-10T14:26:00.000+07:00

Friday night I went over to Pascale's because there is a new addition in their family. Yes, she is pregnant, but that is not the new addition I am talking about. "We" are the proud owner of a brand new wonderful OVEN!!!! I say "we" because every time I talk about Pascale's oven, I unknowingly use the words "we" and "our"....I didn't realize how the simple and wonderful addition of a friend's oven would completely combat homesickness. But it is WONDERFUL!!!! We created the most wonderful gooey and chocolately brownies on Friday night. Just a little bit of heaven! Here are some pictures of my wonderful friends, the Thomas's. Kevin and Pascale are such great friends, and their little mini me's are super fun too! Etienne and Natalie help me when I need my Wyatt fix.

Flooding in the KORN!!!!

2006-10-10T13:56:00.000+07:00

Well, every day my friend Kelli states that the rainy season is over. And every day the rains keep on comin'. Yesterday after school was the worst flooding I've seen it so far, and the rainy season was officially over on Saturday. We were soaked just trying to hail a taxi from our school's main street. We had to try three different taxis before one would even attempt to head in our Moo Baan (village, like a suburb) called Summakorn because it was rumored that flooding was very bad there, and taxi drivers do not like driving in the rain here. It would be equivilant to driving in 3 feet of snow in Seattle. Some people try to avoid it and others seek it out. When we finally got to the Korn, our nickname for the village, sure enough it was flooded! We thought for a minute that we would just hang out in the bar until the rain stopped, but we really had no idea how long that would be, and so we decided to brave the waters and try to find a way home. The taxi stopped to let us out and it was all the way up the door! We jumped out into the flooding waters, and in some parts, it was up to my calfs. I was rapidly praying that this would NOT be the time to see a new critter or two floating along in the water and hurriedly jumped up onto the side walk with my dear friend Kelli....same friend who has been saying the rainy season is over for the past two months. We were able to jump onto a Songtao, which is a covered truck/bus type thing. The songtao driver agreed to take us home, so I was able to see out the back into our flooded village. It was very interesting, the flooding in places. Here are some pictures of that night, and the morning after as I rode my bike in the early morning darkness to pick up a taxi on the main road.

Cockroaches and Hair Clips

2006-10-06T10:27:00.000+07:00

This morning I tumbled out of bed, groggy and fumbling around in the dark. I am blind as a bat in the morning until I put my contacts in, and as I plopped my feet on the ground, I felt something cool and smooth and round scurry under my foot. I jumped back up on my bed, and tried to peer down to see what I might have felt. Fearing the worst, I thought it was a cockroach! I started laughing at myself because I leaped off the bed and ran into the other room to get my contacts. After coming back in the room, turning the lights on and peering down by the side of the bed, I realize the cool and smooth and round thing that gave me a start was only a hair clip. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and started getting ready for work.

Amidst the Busy-ness

2006-10-03T07:12:00.000+07:00

Today in a matter of 30 minutes I have riden my bike to the Pak Soi (main street), jumped in a taxi towards school, checked in, scheduled two parent conferences for next week, checked about 15 emails and just looked out the window to realize that the rain has stopped after three solid days and the sun shines gloriously down upon me. I am so thankful for small moments like this, when I take a deeper look into myself and smile. I love the rain, but just as more, the sun lifts my spirits and I said a prayer of thanksgiving this morning for God's beautiful and wonderful creation here in Thailand. I am so blessed!

Peaceful Coup and other oximorons

2006-09-25T21:35:00.000+07:00

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

2006-09-12T21:14:00.000+07:00

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

2006-09-07T21:55:00.000+07:00

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....

2006-09-05T10:04:00.000+07:00

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

Pickin' up the Pace....

2006-08-08T06:37:00.000+07:00

So this week was intensely busy....I have had many adventures and seen many sights in Thailand this week. School orientation is a mixture of fun and meetings, but I have met some amazing people and really look forward to spending lots of time with them. I can not think of all that has happened in the past week, i really must keep up with my journaling or it will all be lost in my brain somewhere. Friday night there was an all staff welcome party at a restaurant downtown. It was extremely nice and the food was excellent. The displays of desserts was out of control! There was also great music and I danced with a little girl named Zoe, who i found out later is going to be one of my first graders. Then we went to this club called Route 66. I was amazed!!!! It was sooo elegant and fun, I could not help but gawk. The women's restroom had about four different rooms it it, and there was a lounge with marble floors and two men seranading the women as they walk in....something we would NEVER see in the states!!!! And there were a couple of different rooms for different types of dancing. One room was a live Thai cover band and the other was hip hop or top 40 stuff.

Saturday I went on a tour downtown with a bunch of new folks and a thai teacher named Coco. We took a water taxi to downtown and then walked all around. We saw a major buddist shrine where lots of people stop during the day to pay homage to budda. It was a very interesting thing to see. And then we also went to lunch at a very nice mall. The food courts in the mall are very nice and have everything you could possibly want. I feel a little like I've stepped out of thailand and into a mall in new york, or california....it actually feels like I'm cheating somehow....it's hard to explain....but I don't plan on eating there very often.

Then we went to see the Jim Thompson house. He was an American and retired CIA agent that became a famous exporter of Thai silk and then mysteriously disappeared. He was never seen or heard of again. A very famous mystery, although I had never heard of it. But he was also an arcitect and had his Thai house built using different houses from around Thailand, he moved them to his land in Bangkok and then created a wonderful space of gardens and houses to make his home. His gardens were beautiful as was his artwork that he had collected.

On Sunday I went to the huge market downtown, on a hunt for sheets and bedding. It is very expensive to buy sheets and bedding here and have found only the top sheet and pillows in the mall to be about 1700 baht, which is about $40. So I went to this market. Oh boy...it had EVERYTHING a girl could possibly want!!!! I am definitely going back!!!! The guidebooks say that this market is 20 acres. Bartering is common, although I was a little disappointed in it....I thought I could really go lower but they would just wave their hand and smile like sorry, not gonna do it....towards the end I was able to take them down like 10 or 15 baht, but it wasn't anything substantial. We walked around everywhere, and I was not sure if i was going to find sheets and bedding or not. Then finally we turned into a little alleyway.....that's all they really are, are little alleyways filled with booths....and viola!!!!! sheets and bedding!!!! I ended up getting BOTH my sheets and my bedding for 1400 baht, which was $35...a LOT cheaper! So now I have a cute bed and it's comfy too. Yeah!

Well, I am at school now, I can't believe that school starts tomorrow. I am SO excited to meet all of my students. Oh boy!!!! Yesterday I started to panic, the general teacher stress started to set in....worries like ohhh no....i don't have matching baskets for their things....i'm not ready, not planned, what am I going to DO with them?!? But this morning it is amazing how a great night's sleep really changes my outlook. I am getting ready. I can't WAIT to meet this kiddos! AND I have a great team in first grade to help me along the way.

I am excited for this week. School starting, my birthday, and my friend Karen is coming out on Friday. My very first visitor!!!! Fun times for this lady!

Sunday July 30, 2006

2006-07-30T13:18:00.000+07:00

So I can not believe that another week has flown by!!! The highlights of this week are plenty: working in my classroom, moving into my adorable apartment, meeting my principal Jeannie downtown for dinner and my first thai massage…..OHHHHHHH YEAH BABY!!!! Talking Thai to the cab driver to get me home….successfully!!!! (with only one turn around….heehee) And going to the Sumagon Village market to buy things for my apartment.

My classroom: I have been busy setting things up and praying for the little kiddos that will fill the seats soon. I am so excited to meet them and start building relationships with them. I have finished creating my calendar wall and my word wall. Have about a zillion other projects I would like to do. I am putting up pictures of “BEFORE” Miss Katie got her hands on her classroom and I’ll take pictures of the progress as well. Oh, yeah…and my first day there, I got a very friendly welcome from a very unexpected class pet. See if you can figure it out in the picture. I tried to catch it, but it was way too quick for me. It’s a cute little bugger. Don’t exactly know where it got to…. perhaps it will welcome me again when I least expect it.

My Apartment:
I moved into my apartment on Thursday and I absolutely love it. The rent is 13,000 baht which is $325 a month. I have a king size bed, a whole extra room that Khun Sak calls “the stuff” room…..other foreigners have started a small pile in the corner of things to take home and it just grows and grows…..ummmmm…….

I have a view of the village, but there is not much else around, no mountains or anything. But I like it well enough. And at night it is very peaceful. There is a Muslim Mosk nearby so the first night here I heard the prayer echoing over the loud speaker at 4:30 in the morning…was rethinking my decision to move here….but now I just put the fan on and I don’t even hear it at all. I have big plans for the patio…make sort of like an Asian garden with palms and plants and little rocks. I also have two little window boxes outside of my bedroom, so I’d like to put plants there too.

There is an American and her husband moving in kitty corner to me pretty soon. And my thai neighbor next door is very nice but speaks no English, so our smiles tell our stories for right now. Until I can learn Thai. Khan Sak, I guess you could call him the apartment broker, has been exceptionally helpful to me in getting set up. He even took me around the moo baan, or village, and showed me where to get everything I could possibly want….thai massage, phad thai, toilet paper, etc etc.

Friday night fun
I went downtown to Suhkumvit, a very nice and posh place to meet my principal Jeannie for dinner. We went to the Emporium, a very ritzy mall that has everything you could possibly imagine and more!!! After our meal in the mall…..that was my first non-thai meal…I had Indian….with curry and flan, we headed down the street to get thai foot massages. Let me tell you, I am a changed woman! Never again will I go without these special treats! For 200 baht, or $6 I can get an hour massage. And after I was done I felt soooo much better. Amazing. That is definitely going to be a weekly affair! After our Thai massages, I went back to Jeannie’s place to see what her apartment looks like. It is absolutely amazingly beautiful! About 4 times the size of my place and she had bought everything in China before she moved to Thailand. Absolutely stunning. She is trying to talk me into moving near Suhkumvit when my lease is up. I’m not sure if I want to live in the big city. But it’s awfully tempting….

Yesterday I went to the market and was so busy bartering I didn’t take one photo. Not one. But as soon as I stepped out of the air conditioned Taxi, the sights and sounds overwhelmed me. I started to walk through the little square block in which hundreds of booths were set up. The front part is all food. Such a vast variety of food. The smells almost made me go blind, they were so intense. Fish, all types, fried, or fresh, people munching on little bags of fried minnows like they were candy, I saw pig legs, and live frogs in baskets waiting to be taken home and eaten. In one booth there layer upon layer of fried duck. Like the whole duck was just stuck in the vat and then pulled out. Very interesting. Then next to them there would be fresh fruits. Ahhh sooo wonderful and delicious. My new favorite fruit is like a giant kiwi….although right now I do not remember the name. There was also people selling all types of fried food and thai food. Ohhh those smells were wonderful. I bought some Saku, my new favorite thai food which is bean paste wrapped in steamed rice and steamed until it forms a gel-like ball, and a strawberry slushie. Cost for lunch: $1.10. After walking past all the booths, I came to a table with a variety of gadgets and household items. I tried to speak Thai with them and they were more than happy to oblige me after I asked them to say the numbers in Thai. They really enjoyed it and we all laughed and had a good time. I think they were surprised that I was trying to learn Thai. I bought some dish rags, soap and other kitchen type stuff from them and they threw in extra things for me. It was very kind of them. Thai people are so willing to please and make everyone happy. They are very very charming. Then I went to a little dish booth and saw some dishes I really enjoyed, and I talked the woman down to 500 baht for 4 plates and 4 bowls. That’s $12.50 for some dishes….not bad. I also looked at bedding, but didn’t find anything that really caught my eye. It was getting pretty hot, so I decided to head on home and jump in the pool.

Thailand Express Lanes

2006-07-30T13:13:00.000+07:00

Saturday July 21, 2006

The “express lanes” in Thailand. We were driving back from the apartment search and there were 4 orange cones on our side of the 4 lane highway, kind of picture the Viaduct in Seattle with two lanes of traffic going both ways. They had blocked off one of our lanes for incoming traffic, with orange cones just a few hundred yards apart. It was 5:30. Rush hour traffic. And that was the solution. All of the cars facing us were crawling, but we were speeding by. It just seemed like a genius idea. Why does the flow of traffic need two lanes? Give one up for the slow flow. I think I will write to Mayor Greg Nickels. I think I have Seattle’s traffic problem solved…just learn from the Thai way. It works.

Pics of some of the People I Love

2006-07-21T09:11:00.000+07:00

Here are some pictures I've taken recently....just wanted to add some to the blog.

Beautiful and Exotic Bangkok

2006-07-21T08:00:00.000+07:00

Well....I finally made it!!!! The flight from Tokyo to Bangkok was pretty uneventful...the plane was not full at all and I was sitting in the window seat on the side with no one next to me...YES!!! But I wanted to lay down all the way, perhaps I was a bit greedy too....there was a greedy seat man who would not share the 4 seats in the middle....makes me chuckle thinking about him. When he saw me look his way, eyeing the seats next to him, he proceeded to sprawl all the way out, marking his territory. I ponder human nature's need to put one's need before anothers. But in that statement, was I not about to do the same thing?

There were thunderstorms across Asia the night I flew into Bangkok. I tried so hard to take world class photos of this amazing sight, but I really didn't do it justice. They lit up the whole sky in a brilliant purple hue. It was really amazingly breathtaking. God's creation will never cease to amaze me.

I got into Bangkok at around 11:30pm and then the school arranged a driver to come and pick me up. I was so excited to finally get to bed. The hotel I am staying at is decently nice, it is right across the street from a huge shopping mall. My school was very thoughtful, they had chocolates and tourguide information waiting for me in my hotel room. I felt very welcomed.

Yesterday I went to the school to check it out and get my stuff unloaded into my classroom. A very nice intern from the school picked me up and drove me there. Along the way I took pictures, as it was my first real time to see the sights of Bangkok. These photos are from just the drive to the school. Thailand is such a mixture of fancy and poor, elaborate and simple. I am looking forward to delving into this culture.

My classroom is beautiful. It has windows on two sides, is next to the office and the cantina (cafeteria), and is HUGE!!! I had left my camera in the car so I have not photographed it yet. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!! It's even bigger than my classroom in Seattle, and I thought that was pretty adequate. And I just about fell over when I saw the teacher supply room. It's an actual ROOM....not a closet that was cleaned up and turned into supplies. And they don't just have construction paper and crayons. All kinds of colored tag board, markers, gitter glue, pens, ohhhhh I am in HEAVEN!!!!!

Ramblings at the Toyko Airport

2006-07-21T07:20:00.000+07:00

July 19, 2006

I couldn'’t believe how awesome it was to fly on northwest!!!! Maybe I am a simple girl, but I didn't even open my bag once!!! Okay wait a minute....I opened my bag twice....once for grandpa's pumpkin woopie pies and once for my book the Divinci Code....but I didn't read much because they have new technology now on the airbuss 330 and we each had our own on demand. I don't even have that at my house let alone programming in the seat in front of me. I got to watch movie after movie and it made the time fly by. But they didn'’t ONLY have an applethra of movies, they had music, a couple of video games, comedy shows and flight information right at my fingertips. Well.....guess I was impressed.

So I'm sitting in the Japan International Airport and I wish I had someone to talk with. Haven't really had a true conversation for about 10 hours now. Japan reminds me of Seattle. We landed and the ground was wet with rain that had just fallen. And the sky is a lovely shade of grey. Something I am surely going to miss in Bangkok.

There was a little boy on the airplane that could have been Wyatt's older brother. It was pretty strange how much he looked like my little man. Perhaps he really didn't and I'm projecting Wyatt on every baby boy I see..... or perhaps there really are people'’s twins in the world..... He had to be maybe two......but soooo cute.

And as I walked down the airport I noticed that there were potted plants on the sides of the automatic walkways......they are peonies and money trees, two plants that remind me of Sara.

It's now 2 am seattle time and it's 6pm Tokyo time. It's a perfect way to fly because once I get to Bangkok it will be time for bed and I'’ll get up fresh as a daisy......right? hummmmm guess only time will tell.

Lesley Quacks

2006-07-21T07:13:00.000+07:00

Lesley Quacks

Oh how I love love love my Lesley peeps!!!! This weekend of my last Lesley class has really been wonderful. I love all of my dear dear friends and will take away so many fun memories, some of which I am going to try to recall here. But Sunday was a roller coaster of emotions….thanks to Jackie, Jeana and Alesha….sheesh. I really thought I could hold it together. But as I looked around the room that day I didn’t realize just how much I would miss every single person in my class. And then the surprise Thai lunch was soooo wonderful….no one has ever pulled off a surprise on me before!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!! And the duck hat is fantastic. I was trying to explain the value of the duck to my family when I went home on Sunday but I just don’t think they got the true value of what being a duck means.

Things I love to remember about Lesley:
Dinners out, duck skits, storytelling, watching Fiona grow in ursula’s belly and being a part of that process, tissues…lots and lots of tissues….and free therapy. As well as Vivian’s class where we got to go on our first field trip as a group, Red Robin....YUMMMM, ladies taking Leah on her first, um....field trip....., pasties, fremont market, storytelling with tissues tissues and more tissues....god i love you guys!!!!!

Yeah for FRIENDS!!!!

2006-06-12T07:20:00.000+07:00

I'm just looking through pics that I have taken and decided to put some up for all to see....I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Countdown begins!!!!!

2006-06-12T06:49:00.000+07:00

Well....there is sooo much to do!!!! It seems that every single time I turn around there is one more thing added to my list of things to do......I have started saying good bye to friends and family that I won't see again before I leave, and it's starting to get harder as the days go on. I have started sorting things this weekend, and am a little overwhelmed by the fact that I have soooo much crap in my life, I feel like just dumping everything out and never bothering to look at it again. Until I find my favorite Beach Boys cassette tape from 6th grade, or my letters from my girls in college....some things are just meant to be saved and treasured....

This week I went to Portland to visit Meika and we had a great time out on the town. It was great fun to see all of my friends and her family. And then Erika came out from Montana so we had a wonderful time of shopping....I know that linen capris will be my friend in Thailand!

Well...I officially have 37 days until I leave. That is not a long time. I am filled with excitement and joy at this new journey as well as some uncertainity of what this new journey entails. or maybe that uncertainty stems from applying for my visa this week....hoping that it will come in time.....

Until next blog....sawatdeeka!

4 months and counting....

2006-03-27T13:19:00.000+07:00

So I can't believe how time flies when you are having fun...or just plain incredibly busy! I even took Friday off to get things done but didn't even get started on half of my assignments. YIKES! But some good news....I got an email from my new principal, Jeannie, and she sent it to all of the new elementary school employees. It looks as though there are about 8 new teachers at the elementary level. That's really going to be fun. I haven't emailed them yet, but I will.

Also, I think I might have my first visitor in August! Yippeee!!!! I saw Karen at church today and she said she might stop out that way after a mission trip to Indonesia this summer. I told her to come on by! Wouldn't that be fun!?!

My mom wants me to put my stuff in storage. It's a great concept, but I feel as though stuff is just that: stuff. Do I really want to be burdened with things when I get home? Sure it would be nice to keep, but what if I end up doing this for a while? I just don't know....

Cowgirls, Inc

2006-02-24T05:20:00.000+07:00

I love Cowgirls, Inc. Sure the ladies dancing on the bar are a little cliche' but good times roll with hot music and fun dance steps. When I finally got the Tush Push down, there really isn't a better feeling! Did you know that there are saddles at the bar you can practice riding? Well, we definitely practiced! YeeHAWWW!!!! Let the good times roll!

Mid-Winter Break

2006-02-23T23:09:00.000+07:00

Ah, the joys of teaching! I am so happy that I have this "mid-winter break". So called in the education world, no one else has ever really heard of this phenomenon. I have just gotten back from Boston then turned right around and headed to Deer Park to see my favorite person in all of the world, my little Wyatt Thomas, who is only 3 months old but is brilliant enough to send his favorite Aunt Katie a valentine. I am finally home and in the middle of laundry, dishes and general housekeeping. I am entertaining a friend in about an hour and a half and my place looks like hurricane Katrina hit it about 5 times. So what do I do? I start another blog. I have a dozen lists made, what to bring to Thailand, what to sell, timelines for things, etc. But I suppose it will all work out. It always does.