Hope someone brings me an apple, cucumber slices more likely (they LOVE cucumber here)

Just finished my first day as a K2 English Teacher, 3-4 year old's. Just observed today and same thing for tomorrow. From my "mansion" I can walk to work, have little food stands I can eat at in the morning and after school. Had an amazing egg with batter and sauce on it. Very good and a fruit drink for less than a dollar. Seems like as long as you can teach them fun songs, do some crafts, show up and have energy things should be ok. Other teachers are really good, ask them for help and they have answers. Very hot today. Should be fun, happy to go to work tomorrow, something I haven't been able to say for a while. And one of the things I hate most about working is making my lunch because I can't make it in the morning because I just can't function and I don't like thinking about work or want to do anything work related when I come home so that is normally a huge, daily complaint I have. BUT, here, they give all the teachers a free Thai buffet lunch. There are 2 campuses, so they bring us to the high school and get a pretty decent lunch. Then after our lunch is nap time but I'm pretty certain I'm not suppose to be napping, based on the look on the face of my boss when they woke me up...jk.

Another timbit of information is I got a tattoo the other day. Hurt so much, so whoever is out there lying about how much they hurt you should be ashamed of yourselves. I could have easily lied and be cool and kept the myth alive. But mine hurt, I got it in a painful place, near my ribs under my right arm, so that might be why. Not sure if I love it due to the amount of pain and money it cost but I hear that a lot of people feel that way, might get it changed a bit and touched up but I think it will be ok.

Went to the Full Moon party the other night. This is what I did, not me, but exactly what it is like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms4eAMeMajs

They also have slides that have fire near them and a mat at the bottom to catch you. So everyone went down it like normal humans but I went Hero Kendra style and went head first and slammed into a guy's knee. Got some scraps from that and fire but nothing too bad. People love dressing up, specifically girls, so there are people body painting everywhere, drinking buckets, random people asking you to buy weed and MDMA from them. Not as unsafe as people say, just don't be an idiot. Got a massage before going out, girl doing it answered her phone and the guy next to me answered his call, definitely different from home. Overall, I have really loved not working, seeing Thailand, sleeping in and doing whatever but I'm also happy to be living in an actual Thai town, teaching kids and still having Western people around me. There is a couple from Ottawa teaching at my school and people from Toronto and Boston. I have a 2-3 weeks off in October, planning on going to Australia/New Zealand. Get a week off for Christmas if anyone wants a Thai Christmas. Contract ends in April and wedding in May so that will all figure itself out. Just finished reading A Game of Thrones, now I need to order Clash of Kings and started watching the series on HBO, very much like the book for all those folks who can't read. Not sure why you're on my blog...but I guess you don't understand me either so I'd say something very rude here but my mom reads this so I'll say I'm a teacher, let me help you. 

Nakhon Si Thammarat

Good evening,
Haven't posted anything fun in a few days so I thought I would give everyone an update. The island has gotten busier in the last few days because of the Full Moon Party. Place nearby that has a pool party that the kids seem to think is fun and has cheap buckets so that is fun, good music and just watching people throw other people into the pool. Been watching random hockey games but didn't follow basketball playoffs because it isn't soccer and people here don't care unless its soccer. Complete luck I found this bar that allows us to watch hockey. Watching game 7 right now in Nakhon Si Thammarat because I visited a school yesterday and had an interview with a private school here. Toured the town, met the other teachers, saw some of the kids, had lunch and got offered the job. BAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. I'm now at K2 Kindergarten teacher at
Srithammarat Suksa School. Unreal. Applied on Sunday or Monday to a few schools. Found this school, by far the best package and great location in Southern Thailand, where I wanted to stay. Job posting said normally hire females but anyone can apply so I did. Wasn't that confident I would get it with no experience but they wanted a man in the school because all the other teachers are women. One of the girls is from Ottawa and a few other people from the GTA. This is all happened very fast. Now I need to go back to the island, go to a Full Moon party and make my way back to my new city on Sunday. Met up with some of the other teachers from the school last night and seem like real good teachers and fun people. Very daunting going into a new school, town and trying to be a great teacher. I have a ton to learn so the next few weeks should be interesting and challenging. Here is a link to where this city is http://maps.google.ca/maps/place?ftid=0x30530115a2a6568b:0x34e30843bc5f02f2&q=Nakhon+Si+Thammarat,+Thailand&hl=en&sll=8.015716,99.711914&sspn=18.201206,43.110352&ie=UTF8&ll=-89.156392,-20.863037&spn=0,0&z=7

Very Thai town will need to learn how to speak it at a minimum and hopefully read and maybe write. If anyone has any teaching advice I could use all the help I can get. Contract is up in April then will revaluate from there. I will be back in Canada for a short visit for sure in May for Matt's wedding. MARRIED?!! Told him not to butttt Des makes great cookies so I can let this one slide. Here name is great for chanting btw, ala Lisa Wilkie style. I'm very hungry and should pay more attention to the game, give an update before I start WORKING..so strange from being on vacation to a contributing member of society. Everyone have a great weekend, I'm betting the field that I do. Love the field bet. Embrace the Full Moon tonight.

Koh Phangan

Now on Koh Phangan, home to the Full Moon party that happens next week. As some of you may or may not know, I'm in love with the moon. I find it very romantic, how dinosaurs (my second love) have seen the moon, Hitler (not my 3rd love) saw the moon, people who don't speak English and have their own culture and live in the jungle know what the moon is, its the last thing some people see before they die, babies know what the moon is, 2 people can be looking at the moon at different places and makes the world seem smaller. The sun gets enough love, I'm more of a moon man. So there was a place in Ottawa called the Moon Room, wellll they had me at moon. It was nice in there. On another island I ate a place called  Moon Burger. Didn't stand a chance not eating at that place. And there is a Half Moon party soon so I'm trying not to get too excited about it but I love the moon and you dress up and put body glow on and dress all bring and loud. Should be a good time. Have a room for 300 baht a night till after the party so that is pretty cheap. Place I'm staying at now has a pool and it is actually cold so I love that. Maybe 10 min walk to the party. Googled this, looks pretty safe

Was really going to look for jobs today but I woke up around 10ish and I wanted to be up by 8 so I thought to myself, what happens if you don't do it today? And the answer was...…nothing. So I had French toast, read my book, found a new place to stay because the place I'm at fill up near Full Moon, had supper, watched Due Date and now updating this. Yesterday I watched Hangover Part 2. Some funny parts. Met Liam, guy from Koh Tao randomly so that make me feel a little less alone. A guy was wearing a Habs shirt and speaking French to his gf and I still didn't want to be friends with them. I don't mind being alone, I'd rather have friends everywhere put I'm somewhat picky...you wouldn't think so seeing some of my guy friends. Going to rent a scooter soon, only 100 baht for the day so I'm going to tour around and check out the island. Apparently it gets crazy here soon, 20 to 30 000 people for this party. No idea what is going on in NHL and NBA playoffs. They are about a week behind and I'm trying to randomly catch a game but they just love soccer and F1 here. So bizarre. Other than that, nothing crazy going on, just sleeping in, not going to work, swimming, reading and just letting the day take its own shape. Were up to 5 followers on the blog so things are getting pretty serious. Because I don't have anything too crazy on here or anything to take away I found this article interesting, Sort of what happens when you pack a bag and take off but I also want to keep it in mind when I come back. I'm not a hippie or high on drugs, I just think it's something we should keep in mind. http://www.vancouversun.com/Learning+love+life+with+less/4582162/story.html

Have a fun Monday morning at work everyone.

Football (soccer) golf!

 Last night was a good time. Went to Arc bar, found a little bar that had 50 baht vodka Redbulls, drank on the beach, guys would walk around with monkeys and lizards and people would take pictures with them, not a fan of that in any way. Went to the free booze bar again, brought 3 girls we met with us. Not hard to recruit friends with promises of free alcohol. Had 20 minutes to kill so one of the girls had the idea to go into a strip club for our free time. First and hopefully last time I'm in a Thai strip club. One of the guys loved it in there, some guys like it and some do not. So we had a drink there, ended back at Mango bar to end the night. Wanted Burger King so bad but had no money or money for a cab so I went back to our place with the 2 British girls, Claire and Lucy and luckily got out of paying for that one. Was suppose to Skype my mom at 7am but due to 3am arrivals home, that did not happen so that wasn't ideal. Don't even have an alarm so not sure how I was thinking I'd wake up and be awake. Got up, turned on my computer and hoped it would be 7, it was 11. Had lunch, went to play football golf. Basically it's mini putt but with a soccer ball and a bigger hole to kick the ball into.

Very fun and different. Never heard of it before. Doesn't matter who won because I'm not that into winning or being competitive, I just like the spirit of the game and being outside. Had a steak sandwich for lunch, really embracing the Thai culture, I know. Got a head and shoulders massage today for 200 baht. Wasn't the worst part of my day in any way. Started pouring rain so I download a bunch of podcasts, get my suits tomorrow and go to koh phangan Saturday am. That is where they have the full moon parties, not till the 16th I think. Going to look for jobs on the island and go from there. A few things. 1-On the show Lost, the island was huge and they had no main strip in the middle of the island, no internet and no cell phones. I find it HIGHLY unlikely that they would run into each other as frequent as they do on that show. On Koh Tao, it was a small island and everyone is on the main strip and some people I'd never see again. While there are many things about Lost that are unrealistic and this probably shouldn't be the one I take issue with because there was a polar bear on the island, it just isn't realistic. 2-When I was on  the boat to Koh Samui and I was seeing other parts of Koh Tao, I thought it was fun seeing parts of the island you've never seen and thought about how crazy it must have been for people hundreds of years ago would get onto a ship and just go for it, hope you hit a continent nobody you know has ever heard of and actually find something. How happy you would be and how great everyone would you think you are especially seeing how most boats never came back. Being an explorer back then is hard to comprehend now I think. There is a tv in my room and few English channels so I'm very up to date with what Fox News has to say. I learned a new British term that I love. Instead of saying Chad Boudreau can't pick up girls, ever.... a British person would say Chad never pulls. I really like it, too bad for Chad but good for my vocabulary. I want to see The Hangover: Part 2 and the new X-Men movie. That is all for now.

Koh Samui

Alright. Have a few things to say. 1-Bought suits yesterday. 3 tailored suits, 6 custom shirts and 3 mass produced ties for under 500. 2-Found a little night market that only happens on Tuesday's, buying mojitos for basically nothing. 3-Bought a polo shirt for almost nothing 4-Went to my first ever IceBar. From North Bay so didn't  really phase me too much but definitely cool to see. Wouldn't want to spend a whole night there.

5-With girls from London still and they thought they knew 2 guys were Canadian because one had a backwards had on so we bet a drink that they were/weren't. Anyway, turns out they weren't but turns out to be a great icebreaker because they want to know what they thought and is a real conversation starter. So I went up to 3 more groups because they thought they were from the UK....all 3 groups were. Just by the way they dressed they said they knew. Like all the countries in the world and they went 3 out 4. Not bad. So the last group I went to said they were leaving to go to a bar that serves free drinks from 12-1. Doesn't even make sense. So we walked over there and you go to the bartender, ordered vodka redbull and he gives it to you for free. No signs or people advertising it, just free drinks for an hour, no strings attached. Still can't believe it. So then one of the guys we met says have you been to the bathroom yet? I said no, and he got super excited and says you HAVE to go to the bathroom here. Now I have a pretty good bathroom story already so I thought I doubt  whatever is going to happen to me in there will beat the time Matt and I were in Vegas and you go in and there is a man there and he says "Welcome to the bathroom" Super nice guy and nice bathroom so I tell Matt you have to go in there. Comes back and tells me that while he was washing his hands the guy took a lint roller to his back without asking and started to clean his jacket. After Matt says thanks, the guys says " No, thank YOU for coming". So back in real time Tland, I'm using the urinal and a guy puts a damp cloth on my neck, assuming it helps the flow, which it did...then I go to wash my hands, because I do that every time, and 3 guys are there waiting. One guys picks me up, turns me to my left, cracks my entire left side of my back, turns me to my right, back cracks again. Lets me go, another guy just goes for my neck, cracks it to the left then immediately to the right. I love cracking anything that will crack as some people might know, my dad got me addicted to the feeling so I appreciated a great crack more than most. Touches my ears and something cracked, either his fingers or my ears but it felt great. Then picks me up again, cracks my back again by pulling me towards him  then lets me go. They ninja chiropractic you out of nowhere. Unbelievable. Just sort of walked out of the bathroom feeling amazed and the other guys just laugh being like ya it doesn't even make sense. So that was my bathroom experience. Went to the beach today, went back to get fitted for my shirts, jacket and pants. Going to Ark bar tonight in a few minutes. No complaints.