I hate to admit it

but I'm going to miss them...

Stack of birthday cards from 4 classes.

The Courtyard.

Confirmed

We booked our ticket home:

Tuesday, December 8th...

Get your party hats on

because two American girls

will be running through

the gates into your arms!

Just Keep Swimmin'

It's important to just keep going. Teaching, the heat, the language barrier, missing your family and friends and being a foreigner can just get you down sometimes. That's why I love the quote, "Just keep swimmin'" from the movie, 'Finding Nemo.' There's nothing else we can do but keep moving and try to keep in mind that something bright always comes out of something dark.

We had the day off on Wednesday due to the Queen's birthday/ Mother's Day in Thailand. We were lucky enough to hang out with the best teacher at our school, Jew. She invited us on a drive to see the village in which she grew up, meet her family and take a hike in the country. She treated us to so much awesome fruit and was a real trooper when we didn't really understand what she was trying to tell us. She was patient and kind and she is someone I will miss. A true treasure. Below are pictures from the past couple of weeks...

The view from 'The Chedi' hotel/bar/pool in Chiang Mai.

Georgie in front of the MASSIVE decorated stage for the Queen's birthday

(a.k.a. Mother's Day in Thailand)

I love the comment above.

On the wall in a coffee shop.

Drinking our imaginary tea at the tea house.

Pinky promising to stop eating.

On our way to see Harry Potter 6.

We have gotten cooler and cooler since we've been gone.

Oh no! We accidentally stumbled upon a buffet line at a bakery??? Worst combination ever!

Especially for the 3 of us who could not resist following suit!

LOOK OUT FOR THE FAT AMERICANS!!!

Jew's Doggie. I'm in love.

Jew and one of her many family member's we met that day.

Jew's gorgeous garden and guesthouse.

The guestroom Jew put us in to take a nap.

She gave us blankets to lay on the floor and treats that we devoured in 3 seconds.

It was hilarious.

We were hiking in the hills of Thailand,

riding in the car with Jew thinking that we were headed back to our place,

then she tells us we're going to her house to take a nap.

And after the nap we will walk through a couple wats and go eat dinner at a vegetarian restaurant.

We LOVE Jew.

Rice field workers in Jew's village.

How I feel after eating Thai food.

For those of you that don't know...

Buffalo was my first word.

Hey-Ya!

What the hell is she saying?

The head monk said we could ring

the gong so, why not?

Monks sweeping away the ants.

The aerobic's class that Jew attends when she has the energy after school.

They are watching a workout DVD in the back of a Wat.

In Jew's garden at her house.

Georgie and me getting pretty restless in the back of Jew's car.

This was our first and last break during our hour and a half hike!

Sweat drippin' down our backs, wearing these ridiculous hats,

not having a clue what the destination is

or how long it will take to get there and not one of us complained.

I feel pretty empowered traveling with these women.

At Jew's (on the far right) cousin's house.

I feel like a giant next to this 85 y/o woman filled with unimaginable knowledge about the world which I will never be able to hear about

because I do not speak her mother tongue.

Mynamar Rejects

This is what we looked at during our dinner.

It reminded me of home ;)

"Jew" showing us her extra large 10 pairs of underwear she got for, "cheap cheap."

Passengers in the van, minus the 3 English speakers.

Wow.

Stumbled upon when we were off-roading in the van after asking where the hell

we were going and no one would give an answer.

Long-Neck Hill Tribe?

Or just heads that are too heavy for our necks picture?

We used this random hotels bathroom and thought we should document the moment.

Girls just want to have fun!

In front of a temple! Completely normal.

What a sunset!!!!!!!

Can you believe this picture is real???

Totally unedited. Not enhanced. Untouched beauty.

Anyone need a bra?

No excuse for not getting the right size. Hee Hee

This just shows how far back one store went!

Chiang Rai has the biggest flea market I have ever seen.

Tons of stores back to back to back to back to back.

We were inches away from crossing the border...inches I tell ya!

In the back of the van...

Just remember that when you are meeting the Thai teachers at 5 a.m. at 7-11

it is not going to be a normal day. After a 3 and a half hour van ride to Chiang Rai we were shuffled from a school to "The Little Duck Hotel" back to school without a reason or word really exchanged between the group of Thai's to us English speakers. Here in this fabulous country we have learned to go with the flow and accept events as they are tossed to, or rather at us. For about an hour we sat in a meeting listening to everyone speaking Thai before our director just happened to mention to one of us that we arrived on the wrong day for the English Competition and we will instead be taking a tour of the school.

Around noon or so we got some lunch and hopped in the van for an unknown

(at least to us) destination. The ladies kept saying we were going shopping in Mynamar and we all laughed and laughed because they love to joke around with us. Long behold, everyone is taking out their passports and an immigration office is approaching in the distance. Kel, Georgie and I began to look at eachother with quizzical faces and thought this could go one of two ways: either we are really going to Mynamar or this is a long, thought out joke.

Yahooooooooooooooo, Mynamar it is! Or isn't...

30 baht for Thai people to cross over and 500 for foreigners.

We were left on the other side.

We are officially, Mynamar rejects.

Don't Let the Days Go By

"Let's look like we're not friends for fun..."

(this is how we amuse ourselves).

Our own little Factoria Blvd.!

This is the main drag in our town.

Salad-fixin's at the market!

This is the street we turn onto to get to our apartments!

This weekend was our friend Bridget's 24th birthday!

She came up from Takli, about an 11 hour train ride with no air-conditioning...talk about a trooper.

All the girls got together and we went out to a new dinner spot.

The portions at dinner were a wee bit small to say the least, so we decided to head back to our apartments and ate to our hearts content. Thailand has the best food.

All of the desserts, markets, fruits, etc. etc. are unbelievable!

We got this awesome homemade trail mix at our local bakery for 90 baht

and I mixed it in with my oatmeal...can't..even..describe..the..deliciousness.