I missed massage class on christmas day!

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I skipped massage school today. We were supposed to be learning about massaging abdominals and legs today but I needed a day off to rest my body. When I signed up for the course I didn't realise thai massage was half way between martial arts and very difficult yoga postures. It's really interesting, its a whole new field of knowledge and I'd love to carry on learning more about it in the future. Its quite difficult to take it in all at once. There are just two of us in the class Katarina (from Germany) and me. The teacher shows the technique on one of us and the other watches and vice versa. Then Katarina and I perform the massage on each other. It's fair to say we don't really get on too well and have completely different pain levels but this way we are learning more. Both her and the teacher apply a lot more pressure to the muscles than I do, I feel they apply too much as some parts of the massage remind me of the throbbing pain I get when I get an injection done.

I am surprised at how these small dainty thai women suddenly can transform into massage monsters and whip you up into all kinds of postures, where do they get the strength to apply so much pressure? Thank goodness I'm fairly flexible. Tomorrow I have an exam on the cautionary parts of the body (to avoid) and all the names of the muscles. I need to pass it with 70%.

I decided to treat myself to a thai massage today as a recipient not a giver. The giver was a lot more gentle than they are in my class and I explained to her that I was also learning. This massage was my only Christmas present today. However, it was a very nice present, and I also found a new dish I really enjoy - Pad Thai and found a Thai coffee for 20 baht, that;s a bargain. I walked for an hour trying to buy an international phone card to call my family in England but I didn't find one so I was a bit disappointed about that. I've put up a string across my room and attached my xmas cards that I was given back in England, and gifts people have given me here (including a statue of a Chinese sun god which gives me hope.)

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