Revenge?

"Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were." - Cherie Carter-Scott


Was thinking about doing a post about this and seeing that I have more free time that I know what to do with, I thought I would just go for it. I've said this before and I think it's true. You probably shouldn't listen to me. I really don't know much or what I'm talking about and will probably change my mind on most of the things I think and say but this is what I think right now.


Topic: Forgiveness

Something somewhat recent happened that made me confused and somewhat betrayed on a few levels. (nothing super serious) After the fact and a week or two of being somewhat confused, wasn't sure what to do or think about it so I googled forgiveness. (I told this to someone and they said I shouldn't say things like that out loud. I guess I shouldn't write about them either) I wanted to understand a bit more about it, how to do it and if it is worth it or not. Apparently, the answer is: Yes. 


 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7 


What I got out of my minimal research on forgiveness is you are really doing it for yourself and not so much the other person. Being angry and resentful is detrimental to your physical and mental health. Studies show that people who forgive are happier and healthier than those who hold resentments.

"A longitudinal study showed that people who were generally more neurotic, angry and hostile in life were less likely to forgive another person even after a long time had passed. Specifically, these people were more likely to still avoid their transgressor and want to enact revenge upon them two and a half years after the transgression."


 I had never really thought too in depth about forgiveness but didn't think it would hurt you in such different areas of your life. I also read that "people who are taught how to forgive become less angry, feel less hurt, are more optimistic, become more forgiving in a variety of situations, and become more compassionate and self-confident. His studies show a reduction in experience of stress, physical manifestations of stress, and an increase in vitality."


As Confucious says, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."


However, forgiving doesn't mean forgetting, nor does it mean that you've given the message that what someone did was okay. 


I suppose the point I'm trying to make with what I have found out is that if someone has done something to harm or hurt you, consider forgiving them. I get that there are different levels of how much people may have harmed us but I think even starting to contemplate forgiveness might be a step in the right direction. It worked for me. Just consider it and let me know how it goes. 

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - Mahatma Gandhi









http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-intelligent-divorce/201110/can-you-forgive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgiveness

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/emotional-freedom/201109/the-power-forgiveness-even-911

Top 7 list

I've been reading a bunch of top 10 or top 17 lists lately and thought I would give it a shot.

Top 7 things I like about being back:

1-Not working and just hanging out.
2-Being around people you have a history with and love you.
3-Telling random people that I live in Thailand.
4-Street meat.
5-Sleeping in.
6-English movie theaters with massive red Fruitopia. 
7-Everything being much more convenient here.

Top 7  I don't like about being back:

1-Why is everything so expensive? My bhat is useless.
2-Weather in Thailand has spoiled me.
3-People just love honking and could use a minute or two to just calmer down a bit.
4-Why do homeless guys think it's okay to just start talking/yelling at you when you're talking to someone else? You lost your house, not your manners sir.
5-Need to bring your ID everywhere with you. I'm almost 26, please let me into your bar so I can waste more of my precious baht inside.
6-Having to shave my own face and wash my hair like a chump.
7-That somehow my brother beat me at basketball after not playing this whole year. I play once a week in Thailand. Going to have to sit on that loss for a year or two.

I was going to try and write a sentimental post about my feelings about being back but I'm not completely sure what I feel. Sort of feels like I never left but also feels like I have another amazing life to go back to in a country that is very, very far away. Being home is good but going back to being a teacher makes me happy. Read a good post about a guy who has been traveling for years about his thoughts on coming home. http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/am-i-just-a-stranger-in-strange-land-now/
Enjoy your Tuesday everyone! 

Canada!

According to my calendar, I have been back 25 days. Thoughts? I have a ton of free time and you might be able to guess whether or not I am being productive with all of this surplus time. (I am not) I find it hard to get motivated without some sort of structure or deadline. I love sleeping in so waking up early doesn't hold a lot of logic to me. Going out more than I should and not feeling 100% most mornings/afternoons probably doesn't help. Just read a blog post about work and people trying to work less/find a balance. Check it out: http://www.wanderingearl.com/theres-nothing-wrong-with-a-40-hour-workweek/


Highlights: Tremblant:

Hitting up Tremblant solo. Even though I forgot my winter jacket at home, it just does not occur to me to even think about jackets, 25 runs were open, pretty good conditions and not busy at all. Woke up just after 5, took 2 hours to get there and stayed until after 3. Wasn't sure I would like going solo but I really did. You can go on whatever run you want, take a break whenever you want and don't have to be super outgoing and friendly (that sounds very Scrooge-esk doesn't it?) and leave when you get tired. 
Didn't even realize this is the food I missed the most until I had it for breakfast at like 7am in TO. People look at you in 2 different ways. 1-Disgust. 

Another aspect that I LOVE about being back is starting random conversations with people (girls) about what they do, blah blah blah and just wait anxiously for them to ask me about my life. Game over. Really love talking to random people about it, nice to be a bit more interesting than I was when I left. I don't remember random girls coming and talking to me before I left, not sure if it is some sort of vibe I send out now but I find it way easier to have girls come up and talk to me and easy to maintain conversations now. Which I like more than I should mainly because in my town I don't really get to talk to new girls every day due to their above-average Thai language skills.

There are a few things I don't like but will leave that for another post, which will motivate me to be productive for at least 30 min at some point during this week. Leaving May 14th so if you haven't gotten your Bert time in, I will be gone in no time and my brother tells me not to be dramatic but probably won't be back for a while after this visit. Enjoy your almost completely ENGLISH speaking week EVERYONE!!


How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.
George Washington Carver

Maybe my favorite country song right now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxkQnAjGK4I

Similan Islands Dive Trip

Let's pretend this is about this time last month alright? Deal.
On Koh Phayam with Kait and Jake and is already on of my top 2 favorite islands in Thailand. Just finished up our Similan Dive trip with Stu and Kait. Let's start there. The Similan Islands are about a 4ish hour boat ride from Koh Lak. About $400 dollars for 3 days of diving and nights on this boat:



Went with Sea Dragon and no complaints at all. The highlight of the 9 dives was a Manta Ray similar to this:

Also saw a turtle and an octopus that looks nothing like they do in cartoons. 

There was also a night dive that was schedule that I was certainly planning on skipping due to the fact that it scares me but once they told us that phosphorescent were present I couldn't say no to of of my top 4 things in Thailand. Wasn't as scary as I imagined, pretty good visibility and saw a massive crab that is deceptively fast.  Living on a boat for 3 days while having someone cook you delicious food constantly isn't the worst way to spend your days. Having Stu and Kait there didn't hurt either. After the dive trip, basically just followed Kait around so she brought us to Koh Phayam. Unbelievable. This place and Koh Mook are my favorite places so far. Small island but big enough to rent a bike and explore for a day or two. Super cheap food and accommodations. This is the picture from our bungalow that costs about maybe $6 at home. 


Jake wasn't planning on going but the lure of the BK combo got to him.

So if you ever get the chance, go to Koh Phayam, stay on Aow Yai beach, basically paradise. 

I hope I don't forget my winter jacket when I go snowboarding in Tremblant next week.

"The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved that it will be." Marcel Pagnol

I'm a liar

WHAT IS UP? I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!! Very exciting. 
So I haven't posted in a while because I didn't want to post anything just in case a comment about going home came up and wanted my operation surprise visit to go well. And it did. I LOVE surprising people. That might be why I have been "lying" about when I am coming home since about January. A big reason I ended up staying in Nakhon for another year is because instead of doing summer school this April, I switched it and will be doing it next April and staying in Canada for 6 weeks. The only person I told was my mom due to the fact that she may or may not have had a stroke if I just showed up at her doorstep. The first group I surprised was my 2 cousins that I use to live with. Got my mom to park around the corner so they wouldn't be tipped off by my moms van, found the spare key and just walked upstairs. I definitely imagined that scenario a time or two while waiting to come home. Picked up my brother at the airport on Friday night when he was expecting my mom. I like that guy. Also a few random stakeouts at peoples houses which people just do not do anymore. 

Fun to be back, having people understand me, talking to girls at bars who understand what I'm saying. Turns out girls like guys with a tan and who teach kindergarten in a foreign land, who would have thought?? Going to try and go snowboarding at Tremblant tomorrow then off to TO for the weekend and Easter dinner with my sister. I have a blog post or two about what I've done since being done school, just need to upload pictures and remember what happened. Anyway, I'm back and have a bunch of free time so if you want to see your favorite Bert, let me know. 

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and soregretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.

Alexander Graham Bell

Johnny Langer

It is currently raining. I can't remember the last time it rained.

This is what has been happening:
Had our end of term show on Tuesday. Parents came in to watch the kids sing songs, answer questions and eat pancakes with maple syrup. They now have the rest of March, April and don't come back to school until May 10th. Some students have summer camp in April which I will be at. I was not happy to say goodbye to my kids. If someone said "I will give you a thousand baht to cry right now" I for sure could have. 
I see my kids so much and have watched them go from  very little English to at least understanding most things and be able to respond back. Knowing that I can come back and visit them when they are in K3 makes me feel a little better but definitely a sad day. I feel that the feeling might not be mutual because when I say "Will you guys be sad when you go to K3 and Teacher Bert is not your teacher" and they respond by saying "happy" makes me think they might not miss me that much. Here is a picture or two from that day and a few very cute kids I like to play with in K1 in the afternoon before going home:

We went caving the other day. So, I'm mildly claustrophobic and being deep inside a cave where if you turned off your headlight, you cannot see your hand in front of your face, was a bit of a challenge for me. You walk down like 25ish stairs, hop down some rocks, get into chest high waters, then walk for a bit in and out of water, sound of running water everywhere. We saw a snake, a spider? and definitely some bats:

It was really fun and glad I did it but is somewhat dangerous and you need to bring a few people, a dry bag, some water and possibly and IPad. Oh, if you ever wanted to torture someone, put them in this cave all alone, no chance they get out. On second thought, don't put anyone in that cave, that's just mean.

The other weekend, we went to the Krung Ching waterfall, about an hour outside of our city. Second biggest waterfall in Thailand. Went up Saturday morning, stayed at this campish sort of thing, had 2 big rooms that we all stayed in. Hiked to the waterfall, 4 kms, to this:

 

So you can swim through the waterfall and hang out between the rocks and water. I would not have done this solo but everyone else did it survived so I thought I would think it was fun. It was intense. Once you swim under this massive amount of water falling from the sky, you get into the spot in between and it is super loud, water getting into your eyes and mildly claustrophobic again. So instead of going back the same way I came in, I went for the fastest way out that in hindsight might have been more dangerous because the water pushes you down stream towards some rocks. Didn't get hurt, glad I did it but you really need to be careful around strong currents and glad I was forced to learn how to swim as a very cute toddler. 

Had a campfire after, stayed up till 2, woke up at 5 to go here:

Also had dinner with Pooh-Pooh, Pee-Pee and Zear. And their family. So cute:

Has been a solid few weeks, now just cleaning up my class, getting ready for a few weeks off, summer camp then home April 28th. Inquire within about having fun with Teacher Bert. Make your Thursday sexy, enjoy your weekend!

Oh and last weekish I bought a new external hard drive, they are SO fun. We had a hard drive exchange party where everyone swapped what they had, music, movies and TV shows. I didn't really contribute, only took, sort of like my life, but was a great time. People everywhere should be having these types of parties, getting different things to watch is very addicting and somewhat social. Also, had a great dating idea. People should be able to look through like 5 or 10 different hard drives and pick one they like the most, and go on a date with that person. I think looking at someones hard drive can tell a lot about that person. These are the things I have been thinking about lately. Good day. 

Who doesn't like a field trip?

Hey. 
Something I found interesting and different from home happened a few days ago so I thought I would write a quick post about it and some pictures then let you get on with your day. Like at home, they have school field trips here. So 2 K2 classes from the English program then other Thai program students walked to Thalad park where they had a "haunted house", a sort of rope obstacle course, boxes with a mystery item in it and a mystery juice station. Before going on this trip I was told this is scare the ******** out of the kids day and most of them just end up in tears. The first part the kids had to put there hands in a box, not knowing what is inside, keep your hand in there for 5 seconds then go on to the next box. I didn't put my hand in it because it terrified me but was told there was a frog for sure, maybe a rabbit and not sure about the third box. Didn't care enough to risk my beautiful hand in a Thai mystery box. Some kids liked it, some kids didn't and some hated it.

The only thing I didn't like about it was that if you were hesitant about putting your hand inside the box, the teacher grabbed your hand and kept your hand in the box until you felt what was inside. I get that it might be a Thai culture thing and the teachers went through the same thing when they were young, I just think kids should have the option of refusing to do it. Which one of my kids did because she started crying 2 minutes before she got to the front of the line so I guess there are ways around it. I thought this rope part was pretty fun and I may or may not have tried it with the kids:

Then they tried some mystery juices which is also pretty fun:

97% sure that isn't blood. 

Then they enter this haunted house thing.

It was explained to me that while the kids might be scared now, it is just a part of getting older and they will laugh and it later with their parents. 

Went to a waterfall on Saturday with Jake and Emma, very fun and relaxing. Enjoy just driving, listening to a podcast and going somewhere different. Going to miss Jake and Emma when they go to Hong Kong, they are good people. 

Enjoy Family Day everyone!! Well I guess not everyone, only people in Ontario who have the day off, and only if you have a family. I don't want anyone to enjoy Monday except Ontario families, nobody else. Got it?

"Strangers in a new culture see only what they know."
-Unknown

Read this: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1133825--swedish-man-survives-two-months-in-snowbound-car?bn=1