What a fabulous year it has been!

Today I have been reflecting on all that I have done this past year...what a memorable year it has been for me. I may even say that 2009 has been my best yet. A few of the memorable moments include...Scuba Diving off Koh Phi Phi, snorkeling around the most beautiful islands I have ever seen (Similian islands), Emmett and Liz coming to Thailand, traveling southeast Asia-especially Angkor Wat in Cambodia, climbing Mount Batur for the sunrise in Bali, Indonesia, and the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, rock-climbing in Krabi, seeing the Buddhist Monk walk down my street every morning doing his daily alms, Theresa in Thailand, Erawan waterfalls, being at Pra Nui's monk ceremony where I was told 'my heart is open', camping, rafting, and planting trees in Khao Yai National Park, a wonderful and perfect visit home, Koh Tao and Koh Naang Yuan, and most of all teaching kiddos English.
Not only do I feel I have grown so much as a person this year, I am in a different mind frame than before. I have found true happiness and joy in the little things and feel so lucky to be where I am at. I have also found that I smile constantly and appreciate those little things in life. I am in such a happy place and moving here was the best decision I have ever made. I am certainly not done growing and there are many things I wish to accomplish this upcoming year...such as 1. Climb a part of the great wall of China (oh yeah this is happening in April...who's with me??) 2. Get a school counseling job (oye resumes, applications, interviews...dear lord help me) 3. Complete a triathlon (looking at doing Chicago's tri in Aug.) and 4. Remain positive (its all a state of mind). I look forward to what the year 2010 brings for me...I hope its filled with lots of adventure, love, smiles and travel.

Sawdee Bee Mai!

Christmas classes!

This week I am only having two days of classes (YIPPIE!) so last week I told my students to prepare presentations about Christmas. I gave them A-LOT of flexibility on the presentations and pretty much told them they can do whatever they wanted as long as they 1. Spoke English and 2. It was Christmas related. WOW. My students rock! One group taught us how to make Christmas trees- which I later wore as earrings...haha. I swear my students probably think I am a nut case.

Some students sang Christmas songs, some talked about the history of Christmas, we also played some games...we played Christmas bingo, a Christmas picture memory game, and a Christmas trivia game...Can you name all 9 reindeers??? **Answer will be at the bottom of this post** One group of girls even got to class a half hour early (kicked me out as I was prepping for the next class) and locked the door...they hid 25 red pieces of paper around the classroom and each paper had a gift associated to it. The more papers you found the more gifts you received...AWESOME! How thoughtful.
And then one kid, Tae, went up to the front of the class and read a little speech. "I have this chocolate as a representative of a Christmas gift to the teacher. The reason I choose chocolate is because it represents the love and care from me to the person I give. It might not be anything very special or expensive but I am very sincere. Finally, I think Christmas presents do not matter about the price, but it matters about how sincere you are." Awe. What a nice kid. MMMM I love chocolate.
Also worth a mention is that there are several Christmas trees around campus and I took a picture of my favorite (now I am defiantly not a white Christmas tree person but this year apparently I am). One of the reasons it may be my favorite is because I added a personal Chicago touch to the tree...Can you see it?


Ha Ha yup its a Chicago Cubs Christmas Ornament!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

**The 9 reindeers are: dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen, comet, cupid, donner, blitzen, and rudolf**

Ko Tao

Beautiful! This is definitely one of the most gorgeous islands in Thailand and I didn't even explore all that much. I headed to Ko Tao (Turtle Island) for a 5 day vacation with me, myself, and I. I loved loved loved every minute of it. I did absolutely nothing and had the time of my life. I took an overnight bus to Chumporn and then a 1.5 hour ferry to the island. While on the ferry it was raining and I was bummed but upon arriving the sun was peaking through the clouds. I quickly disembarked the boat and headed for the hills. I bypassed all the "taxi drivers" and hiked it on foot. I had no idea where I was going so I couldn't really get lost. I walked around aimlessly for a good 30 minutes before finding a cute little place to call home for the next 5 days. I immediately changed into my beachwear and strolled along the beach with a smile on my face. I found a cozy spot and literally laid on the beach for the next 4-5 hours. It was perfect in every sense....I got to people watch, swim, listen to music, read my book...not all at once or in that order. Later in the day I found a seaside resort to have dinner and watch the glorious sunset. An FYI, if you don't already know this about me but I think sunsets over water is one of the most beautiful things on this earth. I love them.

After sundown there was a movie playing on the beach so I stuck around and watched. After the chick flick movie I headed to my room. Lame I know but I was worn out...a long day on the beach is really tiring. I was in bed by 10pm and miraculously I slept 12 hours ...until 10am the next day. WHAT? Wild. I can't remember the last time I slept 12 hours. Holy crap batman. Perhaps I needed it? WOW. At any rate, in the morning, I hightailed it to the beach for more hours and hours of doing nothing. Man, this is the life. I finally had to give in to my hunger pains and chose a cutesy Thai place for my meal and low and behold there was a TV on...and it was playing one of my all-time favorite movies growing up...WILDCATS with Goldie Hawn. Well you know I had to sit there for 2 hours and watch it. haha. The next day I forced myself not to be a slug on the beach and took a longtail boat over to the next set of islands, Koh Naang Yuan. I went to the top of one of the islands for a stunning view. I stayed up there longer than necessary just staring at this beautiful sight. I got lost in my thoughts. I mean how could you not with such a backdrop?
Finally I headed down and parked my behind --yup, you guessed it...on the beach! The next day I was determined to explore more of the island but when I woke up the sun was shining and I wanted nothing more than to swim in the ocean and lay on the beach and that is just what I did...with a smile on my face nonetheless. I'll explore the next time I go...which will be in early January- during midterms! YAY!