Sick

The late nights have finally caught up with me. I've been sick for about 3 days now. I haven't missed school but I did miss the mtg. After the letter that was read a few weeks ago I didn't want to take the chance of getting anyone else sick. But with school, the kids are usually snottier than me. Plus it's really not that much work. It's a 3-minute walk to get there and the kids mostly play. I did keep my distance with them but didn't feel like I should miss the last few days of the term.

Have I mentioned I'm going back to K2 in January? One of the K2 teachers quit and the school is desperate to fill the position, desperate enough to ask me to leave my Nursery class to take the position. It means a raise which is nice so I can save money. I'll go back to working til 2pm but it's only for 6 months so the money I'm able to save will be worth it!

I think I do enjoy teaching K2 a bit more. It's so cool to teach children how to read! And they have such funny things to say. I'm sure I'll enjoy the next 6 months.

Gardening in the City

Last week at a nearby park there was a Green Fair. You could buy anything organic from a t-shirt (organic cotton) to coffee (I stocked up). I also decided to try out gardening. There were vegetable plants and herbs for 20 baht each. So I bought sweet basil, parsley, kale, water chestnut, lettuce and a tomato plant. I also bought a few other plants to fill in the spaces of my newly painted patio. Here's a few photos. Any advice on gardening? My only experience is when I lived with G & S on Marietta Run Rd. I LOVED eating vegetables I'd just picked! Hopefully I'll have the same experience here.

More Face Lifting

I picked up W & N from the airport around midnight. I was on a roll of late nights. The first thing W wanted to do was get Som Tum from a street vendor and get a massage. Amazingly enough you can get both at 1am on Soi 22.

The next day we had a great time relaxing and catching up. It's so great to have friends visit!!!!!

Just before W & N headed south to Phuket, they painted some of my apartment. In my living room they painted one wall a soft yellow. It looks really great with a painting I have with lots of bright colors. I was able to help with the next project of painting the patio walls a bright yellow. They're not quite 6 ft tall so it wasn't too big of a job, but what a difference! It looks amazing! We moved some plants around and I feel like I have a whole other room. N posted the before and after shots on her blog. Check it out.

I bought the train tickets for Chiang Mai today. We leave next Saturday. I'm so excited to be cold up in the mountains!!!

The Fun Has Begun!!

It began Sunday when a South African couple who is a friend of a friend of a friend stayed with me. They just left for the beach this morning. They are awesome! I've only known a few people from South Africa so it was neat to hear about what it was like. They also had spent 10 years in Namibia. They are now involved in the sign-language work in George, South Africa. I'm sleep deprived from all the great conversations. Of course it was totally worth it. I'll need to get a good night sleep tonight because tomorrow I'll be picking up W & N from the airport around midnight. I'll be bouncing off the walls with excitement anyways.

Then Sunday K joins us for a night. She's here from southern Thailand for a wedding. She'll head back Monday, W & N head to Phuket Tuesday for a week. The fun continues on the 19th when we head to Chiang Mai!

Winter is here!

Finally...the cold season! My favorite time of year. It was 70F one morning, love it! It's much more pleasant to run and I don't sweat as much in general. It also means drier weather. During the rainy season my back patio (made of concrete) is always damp and grows mold and a bit of moss in some spots. The dampness also means lots of mosquitoes. I've spent some time this week cleaning things up a bit and making it more inviting. I always enjoy sitting outside to read in the morning but haven't done that in months.

It's funny how Thais react to the cooler weather. Everyone has a sweater and scarf on. Most of them don't have hot water for showers, that would be unpleasant. I must admit that I've been wearing long sleeves and a scarf. Ironically most places keep the AC on same as usual which makes things even cooler than outside. The sky train is especially frigid. So my scarf stays with me for the day. In a few weeks I'm heading up to Chiang Mai where it's even colder!!!!

Checking Back In

I checked out for a bit...just got consumed with things going on. It's always a busy time at school with the end of the term coming up. Today was also Sports Day at school. Four years ago we had a Sports Day during summer school. It was such a hit that the school implemented it into the regular school year. I volunteered to organize it and have been in charge each year since then. I enjoy doing it. The teachers run an event for the teams. The teacher assistants take the teams around to the different events and the parents follow along cheering on their kids. Everyone gets really into it. The TAs will put face paint on the kids and bring along drums and tambourines to help with cheering. Some parents even made signs and pom poms. Everyone had a great time.

In three weeks is the Christmas Concert. I rack my brain every year to choose a song that's not about Christmas but relates to snow. I've done every song about snowmen and snow flakes. It's even harder with nursery (2 years old) because they can't really perform. The important thing for them is their costume, they have to look cute and no one will care that they can't perform. So this year I chose a song that doesn't have any words. It's just music and the kids will shake bells. BUT I'm having really cute costumes made. They'll wear a white t-shirt, silver vest and different colored pants. The costume is what will make this years performance.

Face Lift

Not literally, of course. Although I sure live in the right place if I wanted one. Just thought the blog could use a new look.

I was completely lazy in October. Well, maybe just consumed with lots going on. I attended 3 conventions during the month. The final one was the most fun because it was the least amount of work. It was the English DC with all the English speaking expats living in and around Thailand. So there was lots of hanging out...so much so that I think I was on a social buzz. It took me several days to come down, so much fun!!

Now it's back to normal and I'm going to focus on running. Depending on how training goes this month, I might sign up for the 10k rather than the half marathon. We'll see. If you have a good run please share it!!