4 month reflection

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It is now four months since I first touched down in Thailand. So much has happened yet it feels like only yesterday when I was stepping into the hot humidity of Bangkok. It has been an incredible few months. Starting up with a cockroach infested house, eating strange foods/animals and teaching classes bigger than those I learnt in.

Then, just after settling in, we journeyed with everyone to Chaing Mai for some of the best weeks of my life. We struggled through Thai classes till weekends of jungle trekking, white-water rafting, and bungy jumping to name but a few. Nights out were a hazy, Hong Thong blur of winding and grinding before making the 5am pilgrimage to McDonalds. Evenings of walking through wandering markets, swimming in a monsoon and getting face to face with tigers is something I will never forget. Yet what made Chaing Mai so special was doing all these things with the friends I have made who are like family to me.

Back home, between the endless hunt for visa’s and work permits round Isaan and Bangkok, the teaching picked up as students grew in confidence. Who knew shouting competitions and stickers could be so effective? Ubon nights had their own drunken charm in Ubar and Mixclub, but the clearest was the best. The sight of a hundred lanterns crossing a moonlit sky is truly spectacular.

Advent flew by in a mix of Christmas card making and countless days off for exams and running round with giggling monks. Thanks to Pra Yang, I won 2,000 baht on the Thai lottery last weekend, and thanks to impulsive buying I spent it on cheese. I still have over a kilo of cheeder in the fridge!

Last weekend, dressed in santa hats, we drank to Vicky’s 18^th in Ubon, including taking tequila body shots off Bens belly bar at the Bua hotel. We ate incredible meals of Pizza at Spago and, this morning, a full English in Peppers Bakery. Yet, tasty as these things were, my favourite part was simply cotching with Claire to a good film and letting time drift by in our own Airconditioned cocoon.

And now it is two days till Christmas. A lot has happened but none of it could have been made possible is it weren’t for the support I have received from family, friends and charities. Thank you for giving me all this that I owe to you and, from the searing heat of North-east Thailand, I wish you a very merry Christmas.

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