ok, NOW we have access to the information superhighway in our room

Back by popular demand, the blog.

Where to begin, where to begin. Since our last post a lot has happened. We moved into our new apartment on the 1st. We’re liking the location and the apartment itself, but we live on a busy road and some of the bars down the street play loud music until very late. But if we close our balcony door and use the air conditioner, we can’t hear anything. That sounds bad huh? It’s not bad. Kat didn’t even notice the music. I’ve always just been a really light sleeper. Anyway, it’s got a pretty good view of the largest mountain in Chiang Mai, called Doi Suthep. We are also thoroughly enjoying the pool, especially because it’s starting to get really hot.

We’ve started working. We were able to get jobs immediately following our TEFL certification. I’m working at EFL Language Center, which is the language school where we got our certification. I have two classes; one is a one-on-one class with a student named Sun who is preparing to take an English exam which will allow him to study at a university in Singapore, and the other class is with three 16-year-old students who are interested in learning English. Both classes are very fun and the students are very nice. Kat (yep, she goes by Kat now) is teaching at a language school right by our apartment called NES (‘New Zealand English Services’, not ‘Nintendo Entertainment System’ unfortunately). She teaches a class of ten university students. I think she likes it, but I guess the class layout and the materials they use are not very well thought through. But her students are also very nice and respectful. Today she’s taking them on a field trip to the mall where they will do a scavenger hunt. She’s also teaching a class at EFL that she likes. It’s a one-on-one with a little girl who is working on comprehension, so they just read kid’s books the whole time. Katharina really likes it :)

We rented a scooter (or as they say in Thai, ‘motosai’) and we’re really enjoying having some form of transportation. Driving is much, much, much (uh huh, much) different here. It’s complete and utter chaos. The smaller you are, the less right of way you are given. The only thing that has to yield to me is pedestrians, and sometimes that doesn’t even work. On the other hand, I have to yield to everything. But we’re wearing our helmets and trying to avoid the bigger cars and trucks. It can actually be kinda fun at times.

So the big thing that everyone in Thailand has been talking about for weeks now is the upcoming water festival, ‘Song Kran’. Everything, including schools and businesses, will be closed because everyone will be too busy spraying and dumping buckets of water on each other in the world’s largest water fight. Although Song Kran is celebrated everywhere in Thailand, it’s especially big in Chiang Mai because the entire city is surrounded by a moat filled with beautiful, moss and dead fish filled, green water. Easy access. We already have made plans with lots of friends to participate in the madness which lasts just under a week. My student Sun is going to get a pickup truck that we can load with buckets of water (and ice water) so we can drive around town getting people wet. It sounds insane. And from what I understand, everyone participates as well, no matter the age. They’ve been working hard for the last couple of weeks cleaning the moat water and installing pumps and hoses all along the moat. At first I was dreading this festival, but after talking with so many people who are so excited about it, I’m actually looking forward to it. It’s even bigger than Christmas here. Here's the wiki-link.

Last weekend we went on a little day trip to a city called Mae Wang. We went with some teachers and students at EFL, otherwise I wouldn’t have known about it. The big thing to do there is float down the river on a bamboo raft. It was so much fun! The rafts are probably twenty feet long, and they give you two long pieces of bamboo to steer, one person in the front and one in back. Hitting the shore and rocks is inevitable, but trying to avoid it is what made it so fun. The other big thing there is they have a small elephant camp where we rode elephants. I didn’t like it at all, but I guess I’m glad I did it. Now Katharina will finally stop trying to convince me to ride one. It had a seat on its back for two people, but when it went up or down a hill you had to hold on as tight as you could so you wouldn’t fall off. Ugh. But now it’s done and over with.

That’s about all I can think of right now. Katharina-bo-batharina is already excited to do the next blog which should be coming along here shortly. Thanks for the emails everyone, hope you're all well.