My mom is coming!!!!

COUNTDOWN CLOCKS

Mothers Day

Monday marked the Queen of Thailand's birthday and the entire country celebrated Mother's Day as a national holiday, which meant another long weekend for us! But before we took off to the Gulf of Thailand, we first were asked to participate in a day of sports at school. At first we were all kind of taken back when the principle came into the teachers room and asked us all if we would be able to stay at work until 5pm on Friday - normally we get off at noon on Fridays so this was asking a lot!! We slowly began to realize how seriously the teachers were taking this and several of us agreed to change our plans and stay at work an additional 5 hours!

It turned out to be an awesome day – all the families came and in the morning we had a ceremony with lots of music performances. Then they provided an amazing lunch for everyone, Khanom Jeen (a local favorite dish served with white noodles and a variety of coconut, curry, paprika and other sauces), deep fried noodles, tons of fruit, sticky rice with bananas, fried bananas, fried donuts, and ice cream! After lunch it was time for the games to begin! 

We had been practicing at school everyday for almost two weeks with the other Thai teachers and the match was a good one – it would be Teachers VS Parents! Clearly, this is why they had been taking it so seriously, and we were instructed under no uncertain terms that we MUST win. The stakes were high, and the trophy was higher... quite literally, it was the largest trophy I have ever seen! It was 4 tiers and at least 5 feet tall!!!!!

Kru Nok holding the winning trophy!

After hilarious performances from the cheerleader squads made up of parents & teachers in ridiculous costumes it was time to get down to the real competitions!

our manager, Patrick, with one of the teacher cheerleaders!

First up, the traditional Thai game of Chairball. One team member stands on top of a chair at each end of the court and there is one guard at each basket. If you have the ball you must pass, you cannot move more than one foot. And if you are on defense you can only go for the ball, no contact. Otherwise anything goes! It was a blast to play and we proudly took the win!

Second, was a few rounds of Tug-Of-War. We played best of 3 and there were men & women teams of no more than 700 kilos. The men teachers didn't pull it off, but I was the only farang to join the women teachers team and we won, but not without a fight! The kids got to get in on this one and play a few rounds as well!

Finally, the last match of the day was football and after a close game the teachers pulled out another win!!

can you spot the two farang in the back row?! 

Another great experience that made me so grateful for the school I am at and the people I have met here. It was a great day of bonding and friendly competition, getting to know more of the parents and even the Thai teachers that I work with - plus a good time to get to have fun with my kids outside of the classroom!

Saturday the real holiday began though as we headed off to the sandbar island aka Ko Pha Ngan – 18 out of the 20 teachers that I work with all went together to celebrate Haley's 23^rd birthday! I had to come later so I took the ferry over from Donsak Pier and met up with the rest of the group at Hacienda Backpackers Resort on Baan Tai beach.

Saturday night we went out for a night of epic proportions, that started with a taxi ride with 13 of us in the back of a pick up truck heading to Haad Rin. 

At FUBAR we met up with another group of about 20 teachers from Suratthani who were also on the island for a long weekend ~ the morning came quickly and we enjoyed watching a surreal sunrise from an empty cove looking out to the Gulf of Thailand.

We thoroughly enjoyed the variety and quality of farang food on the island, from margaritas and burritos, to real Italian food, and even Guinness draft beer!!! And although there was a definitely the strong tourist vibe on the island, I still found the locals to be extremely friendly – especially if they realized I was a teacher I felt like people were amazingly generous! I met one guy who ended up being a taxi driver who took me in his pickup truck on the most awesome ride through the forest and over a mountain, another shop owner who was overly kind and kept thanking me for coming to Thailand and calling me “my teacher,” and even at the Irish pub we went to just before leaving, they gave us a free taxi over to the pier, and after dropping us off they realized someone in our group had left an iPod charging there so they drove back to find us and give it back! Turns out it was MINE, and right as I was realizing that part of the charger was still at the restaurant another guy showed up on his motorbike with the other piece and wouldn't even take a tip or anything from me!!!!

The island itself was unbelievably beautiful and with 14 beaches in total there is so much to do there I feel like there will be a number of trips back there to explore! From yoga retreats, to cooking classes, waterfalls, snorkeling, zip lining, jewelry classes, and crystal shops there was no way to see it all in just a few days!!  

Day Trip To Chaiya!

A few weeks back I agreed to take on a few extra hours each week tutoring a university lecturer who is preparing to move to England to complete her PhD. What I didn't realize was that not only would I end up really enjoying our lessons, I also have found myself an awesome new friend! I have enjoyed getting to know Pat and this week at our usual lesson we got to talking about museums and other attractions in Suratthani, she generously offered to take me to Chaiya to see the famous Suan Mokkh Buddhist monastery as well as a few other stops along the way!!

First, after a drive through her campus at Rajchapat University, we stopped at a nearby museum which ended up being closed because they were preparing for a performance. However, we weren't turned away as I expected, instead they ushered us in and started giving me music lessons and showing me all of the traditional Thai instruments that they play!! I was in awe of their openness and hospitality, they told me to come back anytime if I wanted to learn more!

Next, we were off to Chaiya – a province of Suratthani just North of our amphoe (district) that is known for their forest temple (Suan Mokkh) as well as their salted eggs! Suan Mokkh was founded by a revolutionary buddhist in the 1930s who was responsible for changing the face of Buddhism as it is known today, he was pointedly against materialism and commercialism and insisted on finding a place deep within nature to found his monastery. The name literally refers to the “untying of sorrow” and today there are still many monks who live at the monastery and they hold daily meditations that anyone can join. There is also an international meditation center across the street that hosts 10-day meditation retreats in English; however, at the original temple anyone can come and stay for meditation for as long as they would like – all by donation.

About 4 km up the road from Suan Mokkh we stopped at a temple, or Wat, called Wat Phraborommathatchaiyaratchaworawihan. Here we enjoyed the many seated Buddhas and the Sri Wichai style architecture.

Finally, we headed to the water – Laem Poh was a really nice park located right on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Perfect ending for a great day of exploring and learning about Surat, Thai culture, and Buddhism!