Nobody tells DJ Request what to play

Good evening. We now have internet at my place so that should make these posts a little more frequent/lesser quality. Let's start with Thursday. Oh Thursday's. Use to be so great. Along with Tuesday's but for a different reason. If for some reason you did not know this, we use to call Thursday's Sexy Thursday. Me, Kendra, Rachel and Marie would hangout on Thursday's and we (I) would plan amazing things for us to do. It was a great start to the weekend and something to look forward to. On Thursday, a big group of us went to a famous Nakhon attraction called Shadow puppets. Apparently you can go to the guy's house and look around.  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.234280819921595.78281.216476091702068&type=1

Friday was Thai Day at school. No teaching. Kids dressed up, ate food and went home early. Teachers stayed and were productive. Here are some pictures of that:

3 of my kids.

So apparently in Thailand the school has a draw and the winner gets a chicken. A CHICKEN! A little girl went home on Friday with a chicken. FYI, if I came home with a chicken, my mom would not be amused. My dad would see the cooking/eating value in the situation. (Side note: I've started telling ppl here this but when I was a kid my dad use to cook salmon in the DISHWASHER. Unbelievable.)



Friday after school got a massage with partner of a game that has yet to be named, picked up food for Mexican Night. Went over to Jake and Emma's for Mexican food, did not dance, then had people over here for a little Fiesta. A Thai lady may or may not have thrown a cup/glass at our gate, police may or may not have been there and there may or may not have been someone on our roof. 



Saturday went on a bit of a bike ride (by far the slowest driver of our group) (by far) (hear that mom??) (and I wear a helmet..and no Brigitte, mom didn't make me wear a helmet inside the house as a kid due to my mildly frequent hospital encounters) Went "tubing" down this "river". Only reason I did it was well 2 reasons: it looked sort of fun and Kait and Stu from Kait and Stu said they did it before and really liked it and they're Canadian. So we rent these super small tubes and tube down this river. Well. The water level was lower than before and these tubes are super small and the amount of rocks in the river makes you think of the movie "The Rock". Only mildly dangerous and proud of us for doing it. Mikey also did it, he might have had a bit of a harder time then the rest. These Thai girls were drinking on a rock on the water and watched us go down. I waited for the others to catch up and asked them if they spoke English. They shake their heads and laugh nervously. One girl says "I do not speak English" in a tone that suggest that MAYBE she does speak English. Very sneaky Thailand. Survived the trip home, took me 30 min to figure out what our password for the internet is and as soon as I did that, Abim, my roommate, says oh ya last year's password? Ah, perfect, should have just waited for your help sir. Just Skyped my brother, ate a hamburger and should be in a coma in about an hour.

And that's the kind of day its been.

 

HAPPPY HAPPPPPPY TIMES



In case you are unsure, I'm Canadian.



I don't think will be a long post but I want to put more things up so this is my attempt at that. Still a blog behind and a missing great weekend that just passed post but my house doesn't have internet yet and I find it hard to write my (insert opinion about quality of Bert's blog here) if there is any noise. So I'm at home, writing this and will hopefully post in the morning. Just got home from a shave, was starting to take a turn in a negative mood, had something to do with tiredness or hunger, more tiredness I think so getting a Thai shave usually turns things around just like I use to think if anything bad ever happens to me in my life, go to Vegas and it will turn it around. My new place is Bali. Never been, have little information and don't want any. If things don't go the way I plan for something or if something happens that is very negative I will go to Bali. Hopefully, I never have to go to Bali. Have a feeling I just might. I'm veering off track. So, Thai shaves are very cheap. Believe it costs me 40 baht, takes at least 20 min, the guy today was the best barber I've had. I have a place I go every week and this is the first time I see this guy. I love having a barber shop, and I have a launderer? When I'm older, or I guess now, I want to have my own butcher, accountant, lawyer, and dry cleaner.



Anyway, the guy did a great job, basically shaved my forehead, my years, under my eyes and my (thick) beard. In a better world, I feel that people would get paid for what you thought the service they provided you with was worth. As this guy is doing this, I'm thinking this is worth way more than 40 baht, so I have him 100. Not saying this because I'm bragging about making it rain at a barber shop, I just think that if someone does something much greater than they charge, if you can spare the 50, 60 or whatever baht, dollar, pound, yen, then you should. Conversely, I feel that if you received service that was beyond what the price is, you should be able to pay less. I think most people wouldn't take advantage of that, some people would (D. Dupuis) I think people would try harder.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-brew/silicon-valley-billionaire-funding-creation-artificial-libertarian-islands-140840896.html





 I read this article about a island being built free from laws and other codes of conduct. Wonder if they have considered this. So next time someone surpasses your high/low expectations (btw...I like to keep mine low and set other people's low too, under promise, over deliver, works every time) at the very least tell them that you think they are great or did something really well. I've thought about this and told a few people this before that if you think of a compliment when you first see someone or are thinking about them, say it. Is it not for the greater good to tell someone you like their shoes, they you really like their pasta or you think they are vey insightful? Do it and let me know what you think. What I think is that you're great for reading my blog, keeping up to date with my life, making sure I'm still alive and telling me how much you enjoy following it.

Thank you.

Teacher Bert

Tuesday Parade!

Nothing unusual about this. Just your normal, run of the mill, Tuesday parade. Welcome. To. Thailand.

Texting. Oooold Lady Debbie would not approve of this.



I found this guy pretty suspicious



This obviously made the cut

Rioting. Thai style.

I found this very fun. I have seen a few smaller ones but this was by far the biggest.

Sidenote: When I got back to Nahkon on Sunday night, I came to the school, didn't have my key so wandered around and tried to use the bathroom, took a taxi bike home. What I didn't know what there just before I got there someone had stolen another teacher's bike ( Teacher Bliss). And I found out today they were trying to steal mine and would have ended up with it if I hadn't come back to the school at that exact time. So crazy and bold of them to try during the day. So glad mine didn't get stolen but not good that Bliss's bike got stolen. Just a timbit of information for the blog I'm behind on: we got robbed on that trip too but they didn't take any of my stuff that time either. Hmm.

Right now at a barber shop, just dropped off my laundry, about to get a shave, buy some prawns and paint for my prawn lesson tomorrow; very exciting.

So they parade ends at the stadium where they all get together and perform. So a bunch of people sell stuff and they have things for kids. Kids and 25 year old guys from Canada

Have a fun Tuesday.

Bertram Leonard Brandon the Third

Enjoys his life



Howwww romantic

Alllllllllright.

So.

I’m one blog behind so I will post from the weekend that just passed, let the anticipation rise a little bit then BAM second post later this week. I really haven’t been keeping up to date so from here for a few weeks I be posting more, even if they are less fun. More open and honest blogging, just like my personality. I’m an open book.

Left school on Friday, went to Khanom. About an hour bus ride away, or in beer terms, 2 beer and a podcast. They let (side note: I’m writing this while my “kids” are suppose to be swimming but 4 stayed behind, so give them Play-Do and tell them to make the letter J or the letter H and say big or small. So now every 18 seconds I hear “teacher” and they hold up there letter, was very cute but seriously cutting into my concentration. Onwards, as Rob would say) people drink anywhere here and I’m a fan of just casually having a beer or two. I like it. So the Friday night stayed at this place (insert picture)

(I wish. Rival blogger and sidekick stayed here, got to use the shower and all I can say is money does by happiness. Love showering.) I stayed here.

Untrue. Rival blogger stayed there Saturday night, I stayed here Friday night. Intended to sleep alone and go to bed early BUT a sneaky British chap named Nick from Nick & Nat smooth talked himself into my room. His bill is in the mail. Just a few of us at the start of the night and was really thinking about retreating to my room that has a blanket, don’t have one of those at home, but decided to be social and more people came and ended up going swimming. This is where things took a turn for greatness. I have never heard of this and have never experienced this but some of you probably have. I had never heard of phosphorescence.

Definition: phos·pho·res·cence
   [fos-fuh-res-uhns]  Show IPAnoun1.the property of being luminous at temperatures below incandescence, as from slow oxidation in the case of phosphorus or after exposure to light or other radiation
2.a luminous appearance resulting from this.
3.any luminous radiation emitted from a substance after the removal of the exciting agent.

Basically, when you go deeper into the water and you move your hand or leg, it glows. The more you move, the more little, tiny white/bluish spots you can see. People say it sort of like what you would see in Twilight when Edward is in the sun. Not that I would know anything about that. So that was extraordinary.

Next day, had a lovely little Thai breakfast with Nick from Nick & Nat. It was Thai food, friend chicken and rice. So great. Then went back to my room, wrote the now infamous “Prawn Song’. Teaching my kids about prawns this week and need a song so made up a song and started singing it to people. Sang it for group one, then was about to sing it to group two when Claire says “Is this the prawn song?’ Nobody forgets my singing, obviously inherited the skills of my Grammy nominated mother who has yet to win one but as we all know, Grammy's are all politics.

Mikey’s birthday party Saturday night so we had partied on the beach, went back into the Twilight water, played a game that I have no idea what it is called. Just in teams of two, keep track of scoring like in tennis, just throw a Frisbee at the other team, if they catch it they whip it back at you, if you miss and should have been able to catch it, 15-Love and goes till however many games. Very exciting and it was dark so made it a little harder and more dangerous.

 Oh and played beach volleyball during the day which was some good exercise and a great battle took place. Saturday night played a game where I’d ask a question and people would answer then other people started asking questions. Love that game. I really love asking questions then praising people if their question is great. And maybe sometimes I might voice my opinion if I don’t like your question or answer, but mainly positive. Best questions were Best piece of advice you would give the world if you died tomorrow? Who do you admire? And person you most like in Nakhon but would like to get to know better.

Sunday saw PINK DOLPHINS. Didn’t even know this existed and would like to see them closer up. I imagine they look exactly like this

 Van ride home, almost didn’t make it. Took 2 motorbike taxis and had to eat my spaghetti in 3 different places but we ended up making it. Overall great weekend. Perfect weather, fun people and very laid back location. That is all for now, have yourselves a fun Monday morning and will post sometime this week.

P.S. Did you know that all polar bears are left handed and that ants never sleep? 

New section of Bert's blog: Someone I currently miss right now. Not in a sad way but just a general miss.

Right, right now. I miss my mom. The other day Kait from Stew & Kait brought in the book Love You Forever and I read it to my class and really reminded me of my mom. Especially the parts of her creeping in and watching me sleep, she's obsessed with me. I'm a terrific son. Anyway. I like my mom a lot and glad she is coming in October and love how nice she is to me and how supportive she is and how much she loves just being around me. I think everyone should have someone in their corner no matter what, they are behind you good or bad, and I think I have more than one but my mom is great and I miss her.

It would appear I haven't made a posting in a few weeks so let's do this.

I now have a house and am in the process of moving today and tomorrow.
I bought a bike. Well they call them bikes here, more scooter back in Tim Horton's country. By the way I am going to miss apple cider an unhealthy amount this winter and snowboarding. This last week has been fun, now that I have a bike, way easier to get around town. Played basketball at a really nice International School in town. Tuesday we played ultimate frisbee. On Thursday me and some people went to the driving range. I have evidence of this fact:

Went a good 270 yards

Friday, went to a restaurant called Pizza Man. Had pizza! Then went to a new bar for a drink. Saturday, slept in, got a massage. Second time that when I get one either the person next to me is talking on their phone or last time the lady massaging me answered her phone during. Interesting. And highly professional. Then went to a sort of food festival/souvenir shop. THEN, I was with someone who has a rival blog to mine and I carry my helmet with me because well I love it and I put my key in my helmet. It was raining so just waiting for the rain to let up, put my helmet back on and rival blogger said was that your key that just fell?  Not only did it fall out of my helmet, it fell into a drain/possible sewer. So before I see it I just assume my key has fallen into a bottomless hole or has been been picked up by a Thai Teenager Mutant Ninja Turtle. Turns out wasn't that big of a drop but with the metal bars, I couldn't get my hands to get it. So people start trying to help and a little girl puts her tiinnny little hands into the "sewer" and picks it up no problem. Was so happy and not surprising in the least that that happened to me.

4 day week and 3 day weekend coming up so that's great. Started talking to people about top 5 things they like about living in Nakhon/Thailand. Here is mine:
1-Getting a weekly shave by a Thai barber. I think it costs 40 baht, so just over $1 Canadian. At home, they cost around $30 and I never had one. Now, I have stopped shaving and because I don't have a grizzly bear beard I can get away with shaving once a week. Love it.
2-Location/climate. Southern Thailand is the place to live. No winter, just a season with some rain drops and close to other islands and the other coast.
3-Teaching. My kids are very fun and cute and like going to work.
4-How we live in such a Thai town but there are so many teachers that you feel at home and so much stuff going on that you aren't bored and so many activities to develop your skills. Girls only like guys with great skills.
5-Unsure if I should post this on the interweb but honestly I like the attention of being the white minority in a town full of Thais. I like going into a mall and people saying Hi to me and asking me where I'm from, having groups of girls stare at me. I don't think I would date a Thai girl, nothing wrong with it at all, very good looking,  but even a western person like say C. Boudreau, no that's too obvious, Chad. B would be able to get a girlfriend here. I like it.

A few things.
People asked me who hates Mother Teresa and I didn't have this "evidence" before but i knew it existed so I don't agree with this but people love to hate anyone.
http://www.fitz-claridge.com/Articles/MotherTeresa.html

I follow a blog and his is way better, travels more and doesn't work. Makes his money in the stock market I believe so check his out and if you stop reading mine, I understand. After I looked posted this I read his post and it said that he is taking a little break from it to go home. Just browse through it, had some cool vlogs and thoughts post. Or don't.
http://stophavingaboringlife.com/

Finally in the next few days I will be writing a blog that in a perfect world would be how I want things to be in April. So, in April I will post this new blog I will write this week and see how close to reality I can make it. Get it? Good. Have a fun week,

Bert Brandon III

History of Nakhon:
City wall

The city chronicle already mentions a fortification when the town was refounded in 1278. Restorations were recorded at the time of King Ramesuan (14th century), as well as King Narai (1686). The latter one was supported by the French engineer M. de la Mare.
The walls spread 456 m from East to West, and 2238 m North to South, thus enclosing an area of about one square kilometer. The northern wall had only one gate, called Prathu Chai Nua or Prathu Chai Sak, also the southern wall had only one gate. To the east there were three gates, which connected the town with the sea. To the west were five gates. Today only the northern gate still exists, together with a short stretch of the northern city wall.

It is one of the most ancient cities of Thailand, previously Kingdom of Ligor, and contains many buildings and ruins of historical significance

Long time listener...first time caller.

So.
Last weekend was a fun weekend. 4 day weekends tend to agree with me.

Went to Koh Phangan island and stayed on Haad Yuan. Remember how I was saying how once things get too big they lose part of what made them original in the first place? Well, it appears I have been shown something on the verge of the Tipping Point of being too popular and well known. From people who have been going for the last 2 years apparently they have already started to see it change so it will be interesting to see how it develops in the next few years. So we partied on this island, in the jungle till my arch nemesis (the sun) came up. Very interesting and laid back vibe. A lot of dancing, done by other people, rained just the right amount around 3ish and was a great way to hangout with people from my school and town away from town and school. A part I liked was around 6-7ish in the morning, there is a yoga sanctuary near by so the yoga teachers come by and just dance for a bit before going to work to house/techno music. Spent most of Saturday doing something I can't 100% describe here but was something I will keep in the back of my mind for a while. Saturday night went to bed at 7pm and slept till 7am the next day so that was great. Sunday night was Full Moon party. Went for a drink before taking the boat over to Haad Rin and met up with a guy I met on Koh Tao who was with other Canadians and one girl was from Ottawa, really like meeting other Ottawa people. So many more people at this one, saw one huge jacked beast from 5 weeks ago, funny when you start re-seeing people. Don't some people work?

Randomly saw 2 girls from my school and met the girl who left my class before I got it so really fun talking to her about my students, the school and Thailand and we both went to Brock so that was a highlight of the night. Stayed up all night again, I hardly ever do it and doing it twice in a weekend doesn't really agree with Bert. Forgot my camera again, so devastating for blogging material but I hadn't posted some from my last ones so wherever they end up here is from last time and this is probably the last time I go.

Final thoughts, if you are looking for a book to read, read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Probably the best and most unbelievable book I've ever read. If you want to get into a show but not sure what, watch Friday Night Lights or if you have for some reason not gotten into Modern Family, do that. That is everything, have a fun weekend, Jess have a great wedding and everyone going have an unreal time.

Maybe my favorite website with ways to improve your life satisfaction.
http://www.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/top-10-proven-ways-to-improve-life-satisfaction_10.html

Got quite involved on the weekend (as British people would say)

I will give an update on the weekend either in this post or the next but I feel like I have some thoughts I'd like to put to computer screen and see what come out so this might not be 1000% Thailand related so if that's what you would like maybe stop now.

Here we go. This isn't due to anything that has happened recently and have thought this before but I feel like people should embrace people not liking them. I don't believe people should go out of their way for people to dislike them but I feel like being great, starting change or making a difference will automatically make people not like and I think that's a good thing. Nobody likes everyone, that is apparent. But the greater you are, the more people hate so I feel like I'd almost want to get to the point of people having a severe hate to you. Name someone great who people don't have a bit of hate for. It's everywhere. People hate Obama for trying to fix something that is basically impossible to fix, people hate Lebron James well for a few reasons, people hate Mother Theresa. So the next time someone hates on you I think you should view it as being on  the right path and unless you are just reckless and doing things intentionally to hurt people, the more people that dislike you means you are probably on to something. I mean, look how many people hate Bieber and he is obviously evoking great, great change.....

Second.

Like Loyd Christmas says "I hate goodbyes". I think it is very sad and is almost like someone dying. Now with Facebook and Skype it is easier but I think we should keep track of who we say goodbye to and how it affects us during and after. I feel like it its easy to say goodbye and you hardly think of that person, it might say something about that relationship. It might not, depending on the type of person you are but if when you stop being around people and it really bothers you, you should listen. We should also be monitoring our dreams of other people. For example, I hardly dream about the people I feel like I care about a lot in my life. I rarely dream about my mom, not sure if I've ever dreamt about my brother and so on. I'm more likely to dream about the person who drove in a taxi or my doctor than someone I see day to day. And the most common place for my dream is my old house on Brent Court that I spent most of my life growing up in, which makes sense. But, I dream about one person consistently for the past few years and if baffles me. I sort of still talk to this person, don't regret the way things are really but it is probably the most consistent dream I have and feel like people should pay attention to that and at the very least notice it, at the most do something about it.

Finally, this weekend is the first time I have ever really felt old. I was talking to another teacher about what kind of music we listened to while house/dance/sort of techno music was playing and we both sort of agreed that we weren't into this but how my little cousin Alex loves this type of music...and I always thought she was wrong for liking it and how she wasn't cool (which she is) then we started talking about how this is what the "kids" are listening to these days and how I'm out of the loop. It hit me like an orange juice truck. There is a generation of people younger than me that like different things and think things I like are lame. One second I thought I was pretty up to date on things, the next I'm some old guy who needs to be told that I'm not N'Sync (k I know that isn't cool). Now I think I get how  people who are sent to prison feel after being in jail from the time they are 20 and get out at 60.  The world really must have changed drastically and the only thing they know is within those walls. I get I'm being dramatic but honestly think how it must feel to be out of it for 30 plus years then try to get back in the game, try to make friends, dress, pick up girls, anything. I definitely get fearing leaving prison and wanting to go back. 

Well that's enough, that's a mild glimpse into what Bert thinks about sometimes. Sorry if it disappointed you but hopefully it made you hate me just a little bit.

Bert Brandon III

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCWdCKPtnYE&feature=related