While Bangkok was burning, they put me on a beach

On Monday morning (May 17th), I was awoken to the sound of Whitney (my friend and fellow teacher at Yothin) knocking on my door with some pretty amazing news. We were going to an Island, and it was going to be free! Our host organization didn't think it was safe in the city with the protests going on, despite the fact that all of the teachers placed in Bangkok were far away from the main areas of action. So to be "500% safe" we were moved out of the city to the Island paradise of Koh Lahn, just off of Pattaya.

In my last entry, Kelly said I talked too much, so I'll try and be brief. NOT a lot of tourists go to Koh Lahn, except for the Russians (who like to take pictures of themselves posing in the surf... so funny to watch) and our hotel was very local... no one spoke English very well. Even as we left this morning it took Dan 30 minutes to try and explain "no meat" in the fried rice. Our meals were payed for also, but we had a choice of 6 entrees for breakfast lunch and dinner. This was great, but after 5 days the novelty wears off a bit. The idea of eating more mama noodles and boiled rice soup makes me a little sick to my stomach. Between the 7 teachers in Bangkok, we had 4 beach houses that also housed gecko lizards and marching ants at all hours of the day. We also had no flush toilets (you just have to dump more water in from a bucket to make things go down) and lots of mosquitoes. Being from Minnesota I feel confident in saying I know how to handle mosquitos, but these are a totally different breed. They are quick and they bite hard- even through bug spray, and I don't have malaria pills... this makes me just a little nervous. All this being said, it was an amazing week and I am now sporting a nice tan and only a little sunburn.

I'll quick explain the pics: The one in the back of the truck was how we got into town to buy things and briefly check email at night. The boat we ACTUALLY went fishing on, and its a genuine Thai fishing boat. Our guy was catching fish without bait, it was crazy. The picture of the building "COMPTALAE" is where we stayed, that specifically was the restaurant outside that looked over the ocean. The other pictures are by or near our beach. Its pretty amazing stuff.

I'm even more nervous to start on Monday but I'm SO excited! Tomorrow I am going to figure out my lesson plans for the week. My syllabus says I am supposed to give a pop quiz on the 1st day, but I think thats just mean.