The Boys

Last month my friend Graham came to visit me (and Cambodia and Korea). He also brought along two friends: Chris, from California, and Lucas, also from California, but currently teaching in Korea. Thailand was the last stop on their trip, and they arrived conveniently(for me) on Teacher's Day, so I was off and able to pick them up at the airport with no trouble. 

In the cab from the airport

They wandered the city the next day, then were off to Pattaya and Koh Chang on Friday for a week. Picked them up the following Saturday...

Another taxi home

...and headed to Ayutthaya with Annika on Sunday! 

On the bus to Ayutthaya!

Sleepy boys

The ONE Wat we visited haha

FACE

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Me and Annika

In our tuk-tuk for the day

Floating Market

Me and Chris in the boat :)

Sunday night the boys stayed out in the city, and then went out of town again for the week. They were back on Thursday night (after dropping Lucas off at the airport for his flight back to Korea). Friday morning they slept while I worked, and in the afternoon we hit MBK for some quick shopping, Coyote's for Mexican food, Soi 38 for mangoes and sticky rice, and one of the sky bars for some (pricey) drinks (but a great view of the city). 

Waiting for the BTS

Mangoes!  You can't eat the pit, Graham! lol

At the sky bar with my $12 glass of wine

They were a lot of fun :D

Saturday was their last day, so I took them to Koh Kret to see the pottery villages. 

Getting coffee..and taking awkward pictures

The view across the river

Graham thought my snack was....odd-looking

I was really sad when they had to leave for the airport that night, but it was so nice to have spent the time with them that I did. Thanks for coming! Visit again soon, boys! :D

Saying goodbye

Year of the Snake

As most of you know, last weekend was Chinese New Year! I bought a Chinese dress two years ago in Chinatown, and wasn't going to let another year go by without wearing it. So I grabbed my Chinese friend Zhen and we planned for an evening of dumpling making, calligraphy writing, festival watching, red packet distributing, and gift giving evening of fun. Our first location had fallen through, but Pastor Stewart and Laura offered their home/kitchen to us, so we gathered our group there. Zhen, Joey, Bosco and I got there a little early to start getting ready, as the dough had to have time to rise before we could start the dumplings. As our other attendees began trickling in, we got the TV set to the Chinese festival in Beijing, cleared the table, and finished mixing up the stuffings for the dumplings. It was an intricate process, this dumpling-making, and a little harder than it looked, but we managed to make more than we could eat that night. 

Joey starting the dough

The boys getting the dough ready

Zhen..delegating..and on the phone with his mom :)

Glaister, Rachel, and Pastor Stewart

Abbey and Annika

Abbey sniffing the ingredients 

Joey sectioning the dough

Me..trying to help

Getting the dumplings started!

We had quite an assembly line going 

And flour EVERYWHERE haha

Boiling the dumplings

Me and Zhen

Me helping again :)

Enjoying the delicious "fruits" of our labor

MMMMMMMMMMMMM

We put (cleaned) baht in two of the dumplings - if you get one in your dumpling, you will have good luck! I got one! :D

Watching the festival on TV, live from China

Calligraphy!

"You have to hold the brush like THIS, straight up"

The "master" at work

Abbey had a little...trouble..with her characters hahaha

Chicken

Fighting

Good Luck

Helping Jake with his calligraphy

Zhen telling us about the "Chinese balls" - apparently they work the same way as bouquets and garters at weddings lol

The cool stuff I got to take home - Chinese ball, red packet, dumpling  rolling stick,  calligraphy brushes, and miniature theatre masks

Me and the Chinese

Zhen(Chinese), Me, Rachel(American), Annika(Australian), Abbey(American), Stewart and Laura(American), Glaister(Jamaican), Joey and Bosco(Chinese)

¿Hablas español?

I made a friend last Sunday night on the bus home from church, a Spanish girl named Bel. Turns out she lives in my apt complex, so we talked the whole way home. She's been in Thailand for 5 months, and is teaching kindergarteners English in Pathum Thani. She invited me to join her last Friday night at the monthly Bangkok Spanish club meeting since it was going to be her first time going, and because "your Spanish is so good!"

Haha. UM. I don't remember saying that. BUT..I was sure I could survive one night of a little espanol, and since I know what it's like to be a female traveling/living alone in a foreign country with few friends, I thought this would be a good way to get to know her some more and provide us both with a fun Friday night out in good company. So I agreed.

Me and Bel

The "meeting" actually consisted of dinner at Zaks on Soi 11, followed by salsa dancing on the second floor of the restaurant which we were allowed to enjoy at a discount for our Club de Espanol membership.

Some of the others at our table

As it turns out, although not really to my surprise if I'm being completely honest, I *slightly* over-estimated my ability to hold my own in a room full of Spanish speakers. While living here I've grown accustomed to using Thai in all language-barrier situations, but trying to maintain a few of those key phrases on stand-by for when it came time to order food and speak to the restaurant staff while also trying to forget everything I learned about French pronunciation so's not to pronounce words like "de" and "tres" with the wrong accent and desperately pushing my brain to work overtime to dig up the basics of my "first" language's grammar rules and conjugations...GAH!...I thought my head was going to explode. Granted, some of them spoke English, but for the most part I was barely hanging on for dear life on the edge of complete Spanish inadequacy, while they all enjoyed their dinner and rapidly chattered away. Nevertheless, I managed to make a few new friends and eventually scamper upstairs to dance the night away (where body language was the only "language" I had to worry about).

Next time..I think I'll practice with my friend a bit before we go.  ;)

Ideal Family Party 2013

Okay so I'm behind again.

Last month Ideal had its annual party, and we all vanned it into Bangkok to meet at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Phra Ram 9 for all the fun. The food was pretty good, the desserts were..fun, and then there were prizes and Karaoke!

The van ride :D

Jacque, Jojo and little Yuri

The hall

Teacher J was the first to have fun

Soon after, I joined lol

My dessert plate

Paper dance!

The MCs doing their thing

I won a toaster oven!

Learn Thai!

I heart SNL.


So funny. But so sadly accurate.