Hello everyone! Erika and I spent the morning exploring the meat and fish market that our city is famous for. If you google Mahachai, Thailand you get two things...the famous Mae Khlong Railway that passes through our town and the fish/meat market. People from Bangkok travel to our city just for the markets. Apparently the fish are the freshest in the area of Bangkok and the cheapest. On the weekend hoards of people fill the markets and purchase their goodies. A trip through these markets is pretty intense. What you see next you will never know!! Pigs head, intestense, heart, brain, feet, cut open fish, fish heads, etc. If you know me... then you know that I absolutley hate raw meat and any sort of fish!! This market in other words is a nightmare for me! ... read more

So if you didn't already know.. Thais love to party! That's great news for us. Life should be celebrated. In America we get 2 weeks to 3 weeks off for the holidays where we can celebrate with our families. Here in Thailand (for the most part) school continues and the school throws a huge celebration bash for the new year. We were told about a week before about the celebration and it meant NO CLASSES! That's always a good thing to know. The celebration was the Friday before New Years. The day of celebration started with a long assembly and then a food offering for the local monks. There were tables set up so that the monks could walk past and accept the food and offering blessings. After they finished the offerings the students rushed to ... read more

Merry Christmas!!! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and circle of friends. Even from thousands of miles away I don't feel alone. Thank you so much for always being there for me. I didn't know what to expect from my first Christmas away from loved ones. I thought I'd be sad and that the holidays would make me homesick. There were moments when I did get sad that I couldn't be at home with my parents, drinking hot chocolate, wrapping presents to put under the tree, seeing everyone open their gifts, and just plain being with everyone i care about. I had to remind myself that even though I'm not there in person I can be there in spirit. Hope you felt it! Christmas in Thailand is unique to say the least. ... read more

The weekend after the King's Birthday we had another three day weekend for constitution day. Us teachers are not complaining one bit! The Mahachai gang (Lauren, Ben, Mike, Erika, and I) decided to take a trip to a popular beach destination for Bangkokians, Hue Hin. It's only about a two hour drive from Bangkok. We were excited to have a beach weekend for the first time since leaving Phuket. Our hostel was right off the road that had a nightly night market, convenient right? There were tons of older tourist there and families. Along the night market were stalls for the typical souvenir: clothes, jewlery, knock off dvds/cds, etc. After settling in our hostel we headed out to explore the area. The main area of Hue Hin is pretty compact and you can walk around easily. ... read more

Well I am now in my fourth week teaching! I can't believe just how fast the time goes! It does not feel like a whole month has gone by that I have been teaching. Teaching in Thailand is such an adventure in itself! I teach two levels, M2 and M5. M2's are 13-14 year olds and M5's are 16-17 year olds. I teach high school in Thailand. When I embarked on this journey I never in a million years would have thought I was going to be a high school teacher! As I learn by experience day by day, I can't help but to think of all the teachers in my life and how we were with them in school. I have a whole new perspective and appreciation of teachers!! This is a difficult yet easy ... read more