"Sabye Sabye" Relaxed/ Doing fine

Last Thursday was Candaces birthday! Happy Birthday teacher Candy! Thailand doesn't really celebrate birthdays and its common for the birthday girl or boy to buy gifts for other people instead of receiving them. I bought her a beer anyways. We went on a road trip with our new motorbike down to the beach which is about an hour away. It felt like a real adventure. We camped in a tent and listened to a full Thai reggae band play till the wee hours of the night. They had a bass, guitar, tambourine, drums, and percussion all set up behind the bar right on the beach! Entertainment for all eight of us farangs and a small group of their friends. It rained the next day so we decided to head back to Surat Thani. I dropped off Candace at the bus station so that it would only be a miserable ride for one of us. I set out following the Brit brothers on their bikes with the rain stinging and the wind freezing. I arrived back at my home right when Candace was being dropped off by a Tuk Tuk. Perfect timing. My hands were wrinkled and numb and I was exhausted! It was a fun inexpensive trip that I'm sure we will do again soon. I really like going to Kohnam because it is close and we are literally the only people on the beach. The beach is deserted and full of beautiful shells. We even saw a herd of cows walking along the shore to drink rain water from a small boat right outside of our tent. Not to mention the people are extremely friendly and there is live music :)
This week my kids are much more comfortable with me. They hug me every five seconds. I get kisses on my hands and still the occasional pinches on the tush. I feed two or three of my kids during lunch because for some reason they can't feed themselves. I kiss their boo boo's and make them say sorry when they get in fights. They like to throw in the wai with the apology which I love and wish the West would adopt. They place their hands in prayer position and bow their head. I do this to the parents of my kids and my principle. And everybody I come in contact with in Thailand really. Its a sign of acknowledgment and respect and is contagious. I'm reading a book called Mornings in Jenin right now and it's about a Palestinian girl who studies in America after growing up in a refugee camp and becoming an orphan due to war. She thought the simple "Thank you" didn't express the right gratitude or appreciation for things.
My favorite dishes are green curry, and tom yum noodles (this reminds me of pad thai from back home with the peanuts but in a soup. It has tofu, fish balls, and some other questionable food items as well) Arroy Mak Mak! It's very delicious!
The rainy season has come but I appreciate the temperature drop that came with it. We are in the process of getting a water pump and internet which will make our lives much more comfortable. And we Americans are use to nothing but comfortable. I'm thankful for many things now that I have back home like a washer machine, shower, oven, kitchen sink, hot water etc.... Most of all I miss the warmth and comfort of my home and my parents faces.
Till next time.
Yours truly,
Sarah Jane   
xoxo 

Peace Love & MOTORBIKE!

Howdy ya’ll!

I have a new appreciation for teachers. My energy level is lower than ever. These kids ware me out and my bedtime has been consistently 9 o clock. I’ve started to wear my volleyball bikers under my work skirts because I have students who like to become more familiar with me than I’d like. It is quite funny I must admit but a little embarrassing to be teaching and not even notice that you have a child using your skirt as a tent. Even though I want to rip out my hair at times, I really am beginning to love the little boogers. There was a wasp in class today and the girls literally screamed at the top of their lungs and ran out into the hallway. I couldn’t just kill the thing, because that would be very unBuddhist of me and probably frighten the kids more than the wasp, so eventually we learned to share the classroom with it until the fan hit down to the ground and again with the screaming and running out of the classroom. They want so badly to communicate with me and it’s very entertaining to watch them try.

This past weekend, Candace and I went to the beach with our boss and three other female teachers. It was fun to have an all-girls day at the beach, playing the ukulele, singing Bob Marley and Jason Maraz, reading our books, and playing games like Uno and Yatzee. It was lovely.

The highlight of our week though is definitely our new purchase of a motorbike! That’s right, we are zooming through the streets of Surat going where we please and in style. At the moment I’m driving it but eventually Candace will have to learn also. It’s a semiautomatic and pretty difficult to ride. I have to switch gears and do a million things at once but practice makes perfect. My mother is aging much faster now that we are riding a motorbike lol but no worries mommy, slow and steady wins the race and better safe than sorry are my mottos on the busy LEFT-sided streets of Thailand.

I’m off to do a private lesson and will try to ignore my tummy telling me it wants a big juicy cheese burger from Whataburger.

Till next time,

Sarah & Candace
xoxo 

Week Two! Beautiful!

I'm getting behind on this blog. I anticipated writing more but we don't have Internet at our home yet and they have us working pretty hard when we are at school. We ended up taking a hike through the jungle after deciding to stay another night in Krabi/Railay Beach. Candace strolled through the greenery like it was her backyard, I was a little more hesitant... I felt like I was in the avatar movie waiting for who knows what to pop out at me. luckily we had made a friend who acted as our guide and treated us like princesses. We called him A. He rented kayaks for us and we ventured out into the sea for an adventure. On our return the tide had gone so low we had to walk on the coral reef carrying the kayaks back to the shore. I then realized that the bottom of my feet were probably softer than his hands. I felt like little mermaid learning to walk for the first time. A put me back in the kayak and dragged it most the way while Candace had to carry hers hehe. At Tonsai Beach we chilled at A's friends bar where reggae was being played and people were blowing fire under the full moon. We learned that nature was in charge that night because the tide went so high we had no way of getting back. We attempted the walk through the jungle, but honestly I was about to poo my pants so we decided to crash on the beach till morning when the tide went down. No worries, the mosquitoes kept us company. It was definitely a memorable trip and we made our first Thai friends. 

The first week of teaching was tough to say the least. The kids are really wild and "no" seems to be their favorite english word.  It will be a challenge to get our classroom management down and teaching such a low level of English without knowing any Thai takes the patience of a saint. They are genuinely good kids though. I look forward to the day where both the kids understand me and I them. 

This weekend we went to Koh Tao and enjoyed another beautiful beach. There was a big group of teachers from our school that went, some Irish, some British, some Canadian, and then us Amarikans. We rented kayaks again and explored the beaches around the island. We ate like queens and soaked up plenty sun. I was very into the book I was reading (Moses Man on the Mountain by Zora Hurston) and so the hammock was where I spent most of my time. We went snorkeling which was by far one of the coolest things we've done so far in Thailand. The colorful exotic fish swimming around you make you feel like your flying in a dream. We star gazed in the evening and I swear to you it looked like a sky of a different planet. I didn't recognize it and I've never seen so many stars in my life. Not to mention there was a meteor shower :)

We took the night boat to get back, just as we did to get there. We posted up in a small space in the front of the boat close to the captain quarters where he kept his litter boxes for his cats. We star gazed and drank with some French Canadian girls. The wind in our hair and the world in our hands.

Till next time, with love,

Sarah & Candace

Xoxo

SA WAD DEE KA! Hello!

Week one

So many things have happened since we've arrived! I will give  u a little taste but will be brief.  This past week Candace and I observed our classes and have pretty much fallen in love with each and every one of our students. They have so much personality and will hopefully be better behaved after we have them for awhile. I have 25 six year olds and Candace five year olds. The principal showed a video clip the other day of a monkey giving birth and eating its placenta... I keep forgetting to take off my shoes before going into the school and the children have a weird obsession with my booty. They love to play fight and not listen to teacher Sarah. Candace is having a similar experience in her classroom as well. We have high hopes that we will be successful and are excited about our job. Wednesday was Monk day and at one point a monk went around to give blessings by dipping a branch of leaves in holy water and splashing it on the crowd (similar to blessings in Catholic church) but when he came to me, he smacked me right on the head with it! Maybe he thought I needed a little extra, whatever the case, it made me laugh on the inside.

We are currently taking our four day weekend trip in Krabi, Thailand and are staying at the most beautiful resort I have ever seen Surrounded by jungle and beautiful beaches for 30 bucks a night. This is definitely the life. We drink fresh ground coffee and tea made by our new dreaded Thai friends that chill and listen to reggae all day and run a rock climbing business and bar. There is a cave here full of penis carvings which totally through me off but then remembered that from the sea the cliffs jetting up from the beach resemble an obvious penis shape. Sailors give offerings of incense for good luck and fertility but it has nothing to do with Buddhism or any other religion. The tourists really get a kick out of it, including myself since I literally ran to get Candace who was soaking up sun rays on the beach. The food has been consistently amazing and we are happy to be so blessed. 

We are venturing to another near by beach today and have plans to climb a steep cliff to set eyes on a lagoon. 

We love and miss you all! Till next time, or as the sign reads at our bungalow resort, "Have A Good....."

Sarah & Candace

Xoxo

Day 2

Oh where to begin….

Our living situation is much more ancient than we ever expected. Pouring buckets of water on our heads rather than having a proper shower and not having running water during the day because the pressure being so low due to the community we live in. It isn’t so terrible we want to come home and I keep telling myself we will adjust and learn this new way of living. We don’t have any transportation as of yet, but Tuk-Tuks (taxis) are really cheap and kind of fun. Yesterday we went to the store and had to get stuff to furnish our house and it felt like an adventure in itself just to get our bags back to our house and try to tell the Tuk-Tuk where we live. Two boys we’ve met from England, brothers actually who teach at our school, picked us up on their motorbikes to take us to a café so that we could skype and get a hold of our parents. It was so lovely to see their faces and thank goodness for technology these days. Eventually, we will get internet and are still pushing for a pump to get better water pressure. We both agree that the highlight of our day was riding the motorbikes which I personally have never done before. I sat sideways due to my skirt and placed one foot on top of the other on the one pedal while holding tightly as we zoomed through the busy streets of Surat Thani. It was a blast to say the least!

Till next time…
We love you!

Sarah & Candace    

Arriving in Thailand!

Day 1

We are here, deserted without internet, TV, phones, friends, or family. I have one photograph that I brought with me of my parents which ironically had Candace’s grandmother’s funeral prayer card stuck to the back. A nice surprise since she didn’t bring any family pictures with her. The walls are very bear so feel free to send your face so we don’t forget it! (I’ll post our address ;)) The flight was interesting to say the least. My highlight was coffee in the lap on the way to Bangkok and having to change my clothes on the plane. Candace’s was having three seats to herself on a 13 hour flight. Thank you Mrs. Lee for the ambein by the way. I highly recommend this to anyone who is traveling for thirty-four hours.

Things got real when we finally landed in the smallest airport either of us has ever seen. It only had one gate and was surrounded by jungle for as far as the eye can see. As we waited outside to be picked up, we quickly realized that 8 bags between the both of us gave away that we were American, but like everything else, we just laughed it off.

We know now why there are 12,000 traffic accidents every year in Thailand. I’m even told that I can acquire my Thai license by weaving in and out of cones and doing a U turn at the end of the course. There are families of four fitting on one motor bike, with small children standing on the seat in order to fit. It’s scary to think, but we want to buy a motor bike!

Candace and I are sharing a house together for those that do not know. It’s very thai and very cute. We love it. They have provided us with 2 fans but we felt that was not enough and went to go buy more because after ten minutes Candace stripped down to her underwear.

We have our books, Bibles, and Joel Osteen’s daily readings. We decided to share a room and turn the other into a closet. We can’t drink the water, and we both feel a little woozy already, but it could be from our travels.

We have plans tonight to hang with the other teachers. Right now we are off to go find something similar to American food, preferably something processed and preserved.

Ciao!

Lots of love,

Sarah & Candace

ADDRESS: 153/35, Soi 5, Phatum Phon Road, Wat Po, Makam-Tia, Ampur Muang, Suratthani, Thailand