Khao Yai National Park

Welcome to the Jungle! Lions, Tigers, and Bears OH MY! Jenn, Kate, Shannon, and I headed off to Khao Yai National Park for yet another quick getaway. Khao Yai is the 2nd largest National Park in Thailand. It is the oldest park in Thailand and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We booked two tours with the guesthouse we stayed at and both were awesome. The first was 'the bat tour'. On our way to the cave our guides found an interesting little snake and spotted an owl. When we arrived at the bat cave, we climbed down to see the bats in their natural habitat (sleeping and pooping). After exploring for a while we ventured out and at dusk we traveled near an open field to see a million bats fly out. They were flying out for feeding time (mmmm yummy). Ha Ha. For ten minutes there was a steady stream of bats flying out of the cave and into the forest to find food. Remarkable!

Day Two: Hiking in the Jungle. We started our trip with the first of many sightings of the hornbill tropical bird.
Throughout our hike we saw various animals...hornbills, gibbons (small apes), deer, and even a bearcat. We hiked in the jungle for about 4 or 5 hours. We were hoping for a sighting of elephants but we were not one of the lucky ones. After our hike we headed to Haew Suwat Waterfall (best known from the movie The Beach).
You absolutely have to look at the pictures below to see the beauty of this park. There are some great pictures of various animals. Not to mention a very funny picture of a monkey picking through a trash can.



P.S. I have been SMOKE-FREE for 6 months now!!!

Last day of classes!!!

It is over! My first semester as a teacher has been completed! This semester went by so fast. I can hardly believe it is really done. I finished the six week intensive course with the seniors Monday night (we went out to celebrate) and I said goodbye to my freshman students yesterday. I had mixed emotions while saying goodbye to them, it was sad but fun.

So being the awesome teacher that I am, I typed out a little note to all my students. It was a short and sweet little message about how much improvment I've seen, how proud I am of them, I will miss them, to keep in touch, etc... It was well recieved. Not only my little note, but I gave all my students little cheap notebooks. I told them that they had to use these notebooks for English writing purposes only and they all loved that idea.

In one of my classes a student gave me a gift. He gave me a wooden boat.Cool, I thought and thanked him. It was not until later in the day when one of the office staff told me what giving a boat as a present to a teacher means. Apparently in the Thai culture when you get a boat from a student it means you are highly respected by them. It symbolizes getting students from one side to another safely. If there are waves or danger, the teacher steers the boat back on the right direction. What one side to another means literally is getting students from one level in their education and teaching them and giving the knowledge to move up a level. AWESOME! So cool!

Dusit Zoo

The other day I ventured out in the heat for a day at the zoo. The zoo was like any other, with the exception of ostriches and zebras in the same pen and the elephants being held back by a little metal fence. All the animals at the zoo were adorable. I was particularly fond of the various types of monkeys. The picture below is of two monkeys sleeping.

Baiyoke Tower and Lumpini Park

Wednesday night a few of us finally made our way to Baiyoke Tower. Baiyoke Tower is the country's tallest building. We were able to see the night sky of Bangkok from the 84th floor -outdoor observation deck. It was pretty sweet.

And yesterday, Jenn and I took a cheap Khlong (canal) boat to the NANA stop to go get some yummy Kabobs. We got off at the wrong stop and had to walk a bit out of our way but that was okay...its not like its 90 degrees and humid or anything! GOOD LORD ITS HOT! After our middle eastern cuisine we continued our walking crusade and headed south to Lumpini Park. Lumpini Park is nestled in the middle of the city. Once you walk in the gates you forget your are in Bangkok. So peaceful and serene.

After lounging in the park for a bit we decided to walk to Siam Paragon (one of the malls) but about 1/3 of the way into our walk, and two bottles of water later, we decided to jump on an air conditioned train and enjoy some cool air. When we got to the mall we are immediately surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of people. Insane. Jenn was looking for something specific so we were in and out of there as soon as possible. From the mall we found our way to another Khlong stop and took the boat back home.

Macha Bucha Day

Monday the ninth was Macha Bucha Day. It is one of the most important Buddhist celebrations. It falls on the full moon day of the third lunar month. Macha Bucha is a Buddhist holy day and marks a point in history when 1,250 followers gathered to see the Buddha, apparently totally spontaneously.

So in honor of this holiday I made my way back to Koh Samet (shocking). But before I get into that...lets back track as I have not written in a while.

Last week Monday (2nd), Sam from the International office found us another free wine night. This time we had to dress up in our fancy black dresses and black trousers for the guys. Drinking on a Monday night is always fun and never a good idea! HA. From free wine to dancing the night away at a packed club (seriously packed on a Monday night- Thai's love to party). Then having to get up early for a day of teaching. Good times!

Thursday we had meetings with Dr. Supa about our next semester teaching assignments. I tell you meetings with her are never good. You would think that next semester would be similar to this one, right??? That I could use my lesson plans for next semester, right???? One would think! So our department (Center for English Development) is now officially merging with the English Department...what does that mean??? Well we don't exactly know...ha ha ha...But I am not qualified to teach grammar, prepositions, adverbs, adjectives, past continuous tense, subject pronouns...etc. I am not an English Teacher, I just play one in Thailand...I believe that I am actually getting stupider being here...is that possible??? Whatever. Yes, I may have gotten riled up but nothing that a few cocktails couldn't take care of...so some of us ended up partying on Khoa San Road at this Reggae and Ska bar (Brick House) until the weeeeeee hours of Friday morning. Now how I miraculously set my alarm and woke up early Friday morning to travel to Koh Samet is still a wonder to me.

Which brings me to my glorious weekend island vacation. Friday I traveled solo to the island and chilled on the beach and in all honesty passed out by 10pm. Saturday however Lauren, Shannon and their friend Becky made their way to the island, as well as some of the other teachers. We ended up sunning it up on the beach, getting massages, and playing card games before dancing the night away at the gay club at the end of the beach. Sunday we went snorkeling and went back to our Cambodia bar that we fell in love with. And let me tell you - we only went once -back in November but as we walked up the beach one of the bar tenders remembered us and he got sooo excited to see Lauren that he ran up to hug her. It was precious! Monday we soaked up our last bit of rays before heading back to Bangkok.

Today (Tuesday) I had a busy busy day with teaching and student meetings. This is my last week with my senior students (6 weeks sure has flown by) and they are starting to take the BIG COT TEST!!! So, lets see if cramming English down their throats for the last 6 weeks did any good. AAAAH. I am so nervous for them.

Next week is finals and my last class for my freshman students...then a few proctoring exams for the university ... and finally my 2 month VACATION!!! WOOT WOOT!!!