Four Days in Toulouse

My friend Dave met me at the train station in Toulouse, and after dropping my bags at his place, we went into town for some delicious food: burgers, lol. Dave is also, well..not a very good cook, so I was in charge of most of the meals. I think I did alright.

Perhaps you heard about the madman loose in Toulouse on the news? I was there right while they were chasing him, and they caught him the second day I was there. So that, along with the rainy depressing weather, kept us inside for most of the week. He had lots of friends who came to visit, and I enjoyed talking with the ones I already knew, and getting to know the new ones.
Did I mention Dave's a professional poker player? True story. But...he can't shuffle a deck of cards. XD

We did finally get a chance Thursday evening to take the bike out for a ride around town, and then got up bright and early for a three and a half hour ride through the countryside. It was gorgeous weather that day, and I decided to risk my life to get a few pictures to share with ya'll.



I had arranged to stay with Dave in Toulouse for the remainder of my stay in France, but spent most of the few days I was there moping around and chatting with Flo late in the evenings. He missed me as much, if not more, than I missed him, and wanted me to go with him to Paris for the weekend like we had originally planned two months ago. I was hesitant to go, as I wasn't sure if it would be a good trip or an utter disaster, but I knew if I didn't go, I would always wish I had. So I agreed to take the train back to Narbonne Friday afternoon to catch the train with him to Paris.

Stay tuned...

Two Days in Narbonne

I had two flights to the south of France, one from Leeds to Paris, and one from Paris to Montpellier. The only problem was that they weren't on the same itinerary, meaning I'd have to retrieve my bag at baggage claim then re-check in and go back through security before catching my second flight, with only a 75 minute layover. And when my first flight was delayed 45 minutes...I panicked. I sweat bullets the entire flight to Paris, pushed my way through passport control, grabbed my bag off the belt, rushed down to the train(because I had to change terminals, OF COURSE), and RAN to my check in counter. I reached it with one minute to spare(before check in closed), and the nice guy behind the counter told me not to worry because I'd made it, and that I could relax because my flight was delayed 15 minutes. Sigh..travel isn't travel without stress.
Flo was waiting right outside baggage claim to see me, and I was glad to see him. We argued all the way home in the car, but once we were home and I'd gotten the shower I desperately needed, he made pizza and we had a decent evening. He also had a gift for me:

Very sweet of him.

I slept in while he was at work the next morning, and when he came home at lunch(he'd taken the afternoon off), we decided to go to the beach to relax for the afternoon. It was pretty windy, but we stuck it out for about an hour until it got to be too much.

We had planned to go out for dinner, but Flo insisted that he wasn't feeling well and couldn't go. I got upset, we argued, and I went to sulk in the bedroom. He went and cooked me dinner, I came out to eat it...and we cuddled on the couch and watched The Artist(which was really good, by the way - watch it if you haven't).
I packed up my things in the morning(Tues) and he took me to the train station. He had to get to work and couldn't wait with me for my train, but we hugged goodbye said we'd keep in touch.

to be continued...

York, UK

We're busy starting summer school now, but just before that I had my trip to Europe! So let's start with the first place I went: York, England. My friend Zachary is studying abroad at Calvary Chapel Bible College there, and I told him I'd visit him. So off I went.

I left Suvarnabhumi airport at 8pm on March 15th, with my first transfer in Mumbai, India. I've never flown through India before, and it was a pain. They have to spray some weird disinfectant in the plane before we land, and I had to hold my hands over my eyes so my contacts wouldn't get infected with it. Then once in the airport you have to go through security (understandable), and the women have a separate line because we have to all be frisked behind a partition after the metal detector (whether it beeped or not), and that took forever. Otherwise, though, my flights were relatively uneventful. Everything left on time, all my layovers were long enough to get through the airport stress-free, and one flight even arrived at its destination early. From Mumbai I flew to Brussels, Belgium, where it was FREEZING, and we boarded a tiny little 20-row airplane for our 1 hour flight to Leeds, UK.


Arrived in Leeds, took bus 757 to the train station, got my ticket to York and hopped on the train for the 45 minute ride. Followed the directions I had to my couchsurfing host's house, and spent the afternoon getting to know him(Alex) and his roommate, Ben. Met up with Zachary for dinner at the college, met some of his friends, and then we took a walk through the city and along the river.


Returned home to Alex and Ben's for a late evening of cocktails and Scrabble shenanigans, lol.

Saturday was St. Patrick's Day, and after a late breakfast Ben and Alex took me on a walking tour of York. We stopped in town for a milkshake(well, I had a milkshake, they had beer and water) while it rained for a bit, and stopped at a small shop to buy some delicious cheeses for later. Mmmm.



Ben wanted to watch rugby, but I wanted to walk the wall, so Ben went home while Alex and I spent a couple hours walking the wall the surrounds the old city centre(he thought it would be funny to try to push me off at one point), then went on the "Wheel of York" - a big ferris wheel of sorts that tells about the history of York.



Came back home and watched the rest of the England/Ireland Rugby match(which was quite entertaining since Alex is English and Ben is Irish), and if you happened to catch the game yourself, you know that England won.

When Ben had finished sulking, he and Alex cooked a delicious dinner of chicken, pasta and peppers for us, and although I wanted to help, all I was allowed to do was grate the cheese...and then they kicked me out of the kitchen when I was eating the cheese I had grated, lol.
We went out for drinks after dinner for St Patty's Day, and I got to meet their adorable friend Ronan and his awesome leather jacket, haha. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures that night :(. We devoured our cheese from that afternoon when we got home, and it was delicious!
Sunday was Mother's Day in England, so Alex had to leave in the morning to catch a train to Manchester to visit his mother, so Ronan walked me to church to meet up with Zach for Sunday service. We walked through the Minster Gardens, past the Minster itself(which is like the Notre Dame Cathedral, only not), and then we parted ways.




After church Zach walked me back to Alex's to get my things and head to the train station. Zach and Ben, who was up by then, walked with me to the train station and made sure I caught my train on time. I bid them both farewell, and urged Ben to bring Alex and Ronan to all visit me in Thailand sometime.




*Stay tuned to hear about my time in France with Flo.

Rest in peace, Aunt Toni

You were definitely one of my favorite relatives, and I'm really going to miss our talks. You could get me to admit anything, and then laugh and tell me that it wasn't important because you'd done worse at my age. You had a quick wit and that same sarcastic sense of humor that I have. You never let us get away with anything, but still spoiled us as good relatives ought to. You'll always be in our hearts and memories, and I'll miss you dearly. If you see Uncle Loren, tell him I said hello.

I wish the best for you...

How long can we wait here
To say goodbye?
The words, once they're spoken
Are words that we can't take

Back to where we were
Before things got in the way
Life gets so confusing
When you know what you're losing

You
Me
Why can't we see that there's
More to love than we'll ever know
Sometimes you're closer when you're
Letting go
I wish the best for you
I wish the best for you

We'll both regret the hurting
That we will do
You'll learn to forget me
And I'll try
I'll try to forget...

You
Me
Why can't we see that there's
More to love than we'll ever know
Sometimes you're closer when you're
Letting go
I wish the best for you
I wish the best

If you ever need a place that you can run to
I'll be here, I'll be here

You
Me
Why can't we see that there's
More to love than we'll ever know
Sometimes you're closer when you're
Letting go
I wish the best for you
I wish the best for you

"I Wish The Best For You"
Emerson Hart

As Another Year Comes To A Close..

I say goodbye to all my lovely..and not so lovely..students. I thought I made their final exams quite challenging, and the number of retests confirmed it.



I'm very proud of the students who busted their bums to get those excellent scores in my class. I'll miss lots of them, but I'm glad this year is finally done.

5/2
L to R: Captain, Porsch, Funk, Joy, and Oei
Far right: Eve - Most Improved



5/3
R to L: Bell, Mew 2, AC, Mew 1, Pat
Far left: Tan and Mind(R)- Most Improved



5/4
L to R: JJ, Gring, Bell, Ploy, Fact
Far right: Ohm - Most Improved



5/5
Back row, R to L: Mobile, Bing, Baifern
Front row, R to L: Tonkla, Diamond, Ice(Most Improved)



5/6
L to R: Jeep, Oak, Benz, Ant(Most Improved), Pim, Mangpor



5/7
R to L: Chan, Mink, Tangmo, Jane, Fah
Far left: Chompoo - Most Improved

Dear Jane..

"I know I've been a super awesome boyfriend, and have been nothing but sweet and caring for the last six months, but I don't want to wait for you anymore. I don't want to see you next month, and I'm going to ignore you for a week to help reality set in. I know it sucks to have all our hopes and plans vanish overnight, but I don't have the patience to wait and discuss this like respectable adults in March. I'm sorry, but I'm doing this for me."

Flo



That's not exactly what it said, but it's what I got out of it. And by "it" I mean the email attachment I received Monday morning from him. And by received I mean, I woke up still miserable after being feverish and sick all weekend to email my boss that I couldn't come in to work, and found it in my inbox. And by found, I mean I spent 4 hours typing every. single. french. word. into my translator because the document was 'read-only,' and I couldn't copy and paste it; it was like rubbing salt in the wound.

And Flo, if you read this and think you wanna bitch about how I'm "posting your business for the world to see," maybe you should have thought of that before you threw all tact out the window and attached a Dear Jane letter to an email instead of looking me in the eye and saying it like a man.

You're a coward. It hurts me to say it, but it's true. I always knew there was a chance this would happen, and maybe that's why I'm not as distraught as I might have been, but I really thought this would happen(if it did) between May and October when I would have 5 months of no vacation. You were really a wonderful guy, and I'm sorry that now all my friends will only think of you as the douchebag who broke my heart instead of the sweet, genuine person that I know you to be.

I WILL be taking my trip to Europe next month, and I WILL enjoy myself. Just not with you, apparently. I miss you, and you have really hurt me, but I'll be damned if I let you ruin my vacation. Someday soon you'll regret what you've done, and you'll wish you'd kept me close. You thought you missed me before? Just you wait.