I have heard the concept of living life where you only say yes. Just say yes to everything – say yes to life. I’ve tried this before, and of course, it isn’t literal – you don’t say yes to everything, but it’s the spirit of it. So, let’s try it again.
Sunday I went to the market and got food for the week. Monday after school I was going to wash the veggies and prep meals. I was also going to try to research going to China since I have to leave Thailand when my job is over. When my contract is over, my visa may be canceled. Then I have 24 hours to leave the country. After that, I can come back in on a 30 day tourist visa. I have wanted to visit China so this seems like a good time. Anyway, those were my intentions for Monday night.
Monday after school, Noi told me that the father of the lady that has the coffee shop died. She is the one that remembered from the first time, what I liked to drink and she is so nice. Noi asked if I wanted to go to the funeral. No, I just want to go home. I’m so exhausted. But, isn’t this exactly why I came here, to experience another culture? So, I decided from now until I leave, I’m just saying yes and trusting that all the other things that have to get done will get done somehow. First we went to a tiny shop in the neighborhood. Noi said it was a small shop, but it had everything. She needed envelopes and I badly needed a coca cola. This store was smaller than my bathroom, but it had food, snacks, a coca cola, a bunch of other things and envelopes. It did seem to have everything – kind of like a magician’s bag. We got two envelopes. You put money in the envelope and put your name on the outside to give to the family of the deceased.
When someone dies they do a funeral type service every night for 3 nights. This was the last night. They put a large event tent over the road in front of the family’s house. There was a very bright white light at the intersection with a rotating red light on top so people knew where to go or not to drive down that street. It was bright and blingy enough I thought maybe there was going to be a dance party after, but no. So basically everyone sits in plastic chairs in the street in the front of the house under a long tent. The family and monks are in the house or in the yard – not sure as we were in the street. There was a lot of chanting and then the monks and family walked out. We got to give her our envelopes as she came by and greeted us. She seemed so touched that I came and I thought she might cry as I handed her my envelope. Then they passed out food for the people that came to the funeral. I felt very calm and grounded during the funeral service even though it was extremely boring. I’m very glad I said yes to this and got to experience this part of Thai life, especially for a lady I think is wonderful and kind.
On the way home, Noi asked who would take care of me when I got old. In Thailand, it is the responsibility of the oldest child to take care of their parents once the child is an adult. She has told me on several occasions that she thought our government takes care of us when we are old. I think she’s starting to get it that our government doesn’t provide much for us – she thought the government took care of us when we were sick, out of work, old, etc. So, if our government doesn’t help and I don’t have children, who will take care of me? I said no one. That wasn’t a good enough answer for her. So, I told her I would move back to Thailand and live with her. This was the correct answer. She told me if I moved back to Thailand, I would not have to worry about anything. I would be taken care of. So, there, my retirement plan is secure. Check.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
This vine grew overnight and attached itself to my bikeSitting in the street at the funeralMy view for 20 minutes a the funeralFuneral beacon – so bright I can’t even get a picture of it
I always enjoy the market. Sunday morning has the biggest market in the village. It has rained a lot the last couple of days so the market was a mud pit. There was a whole section I just looked at and decided I couldn’t go in. I didn’t think I could make it out without casualties. Whatever was in there, I just didn’t need. I did get a Hello Kitty pancake which made me very happy – the little things….. I swept the house, defrosted the refrigerator (unplug it and open the door until all the ice melts), read a chapter and did some blogging. It almost feels like a normal day, the kind of weekend I envisioned I would be having here, not the constant lesson planning I’ve been having.
In the afternoon, Tip picked me up for a Sam Ngao road trip. She wanted to go to the Sam Ngao temple to drop off a donation for the monks. I had never been to this temple, but had driven past it quite a few times when someone took me to Ban Tak or Tak. It’s also the temple that comes up when you google Sam Ngao. After that we went to another temple. This one was on the Ping River and was in the jungle. You had to drive through farms on a dirt road for quite a while to get there. The buildings were much more simple without all the gaudy glittery colored ornament. I thought it was very beautiful. Lining the river was a long line of large Buddha statues. Tip said there were over 100 of them. I counted over 50 as we walked along, but they kept going off into the distance. Tip explained that there were jungle temples and city temples. The jungle temples were simpler with less buildings. I think I like the jungle temples better.
Oh, and there were buffalo walking down the street. This is far better than cows walking down the street. Just so you know.
As we were driving out we passed Chatchai, which I had passed many times before and always wondered what it was. It has a lot of signs and a big entrance with sheep statues. Tip said it was a resort. On the way back we drove through. It’s a huge, quite, almost deserted resort with a sheep farm in the middle. I wonder how this stays in business in a very rural village in the middle of nowhere. It was very beautiful. If you are looking for a very nice and quiet place to get away, this is the place.
Now I’m at home avoiding doing research on what is next to do. Where am I going to go in October? What am I going to do after that? It’s a giant world out there and figuring this out seems like a daunting task.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
This one has some extra bling
Traditional Style Thai HouseTraditional Style Thai House
My lawyer demanded the car be sent back to Colorado because they were in breach of contract. They said they would send the car, but not pay for anything. So, now I have to pay to have my car sent back to Colorado, pay for insurance and make the payments. The car has not been sent back yet and I have no idea what condition it will be in. I have no idea how I will be able to afford the car payments. I’m not sure if we will sue the lease company or not. It probably depends on the mileage and condition of the vehicle. Tune in later.
On a good note, the house sale should close on August 16. There do not seem to be any big hurdles for that. Trying to organize getting my furniture moved into storage has been a hassle, but hopefully that goes smoothly too. Fingers crossed.
I’m still not sure what I’m doing after I leave here. I’m definitely going to travel for October and November, but unsure past then. I asked Dave, the guy I met on Tinder, if he wanted to / was able to travel. I figured I’d be traveling alone. If he says no, I’ll still be traveling alone. So, what’s to lose. He doesn’t know if he will be able to or not, but asked where I wanted to go. When I told him that the only plan I had so far was to be in Thailand for Loi Krathong, he asked why I was coming back to Thailand after going home. Huh? I never mentioned going home. I think maybe he hasn’t actually been paying much attention to my texts. Oh well. I am looking forward to Loi Krathong as it is the one thing I didn’t want to miss while I was here. So, if anyone out there wants to join me in November, let me know!
It was kind of a normal week except I was done with lesson planning on Saturday instead of Sunday! Whoa!
One of my M6 classes (12 grade) always wants me to sing or dance. They love music. So I brought in music related to the doctor since my lesson was on health. They went nuts and got up and started dancing. Then after the first song they wanted to play Doraemon songs. I knew Doraemon was a cartoon, but had no idea Doraemon also had electronic dance music too. Huh….Who knew? The other M6 class was a bit different. They sat on the edge of their seats watching the video that went with the song and had little interest in dancing. The first class was oblivious there was a video. So far most, if not all Thai music I have heard is horrible. It’s like bad walmart sappy love song lounge music. Doraemon throwing down the beats was a welcome change. When I told Noi about the M6 class loving to dance she said that was because that class had a lot of boy girls in it. I assumed this was like a very effeminate boy. It does seem that is true.
I’m still amazed by the restaurants here. It’s a wonder I’ve only gotten sick twice. Not one place I have eaten in since I got to Thailand would pass a health department inspection in the US. Yet, it all seems to be just fine. All of them in my area are outdoor kitchens. The number of chickens I saw running around kitchens this week alone was mind boggling. We went back to one of the places I wrote about before where there were so many chickens and flies. I’m now naming this food shop, House of Chicken. No food shops appear to have names and if they did, I couldn’t read the sign anyway, so House of Chicken it is. They were everywhere, pecking at a bag of food, playing in the sink of dirty dishes, pecking at the frying pan, running in the street. The kitchens are like camping kitchens. I feel like I’m just camping 24/7, but with a lot more chickens. Yet, no one seems to get sick, including myself so maybe we are just over paranoid in the US?
I went to Tak with Noi one day after school. I went to the bank to find out why I can’t transfer money on line. The lady helped me register for on-line banking, but I don’t know she understood my concern and I don’t think it changed anything. I also went to the store to buy cheese and cereal – both things I can’t get in my village and can’t live without. I ran into the western teacher I had met in Chiang Rai. That was kind of funny. We stopped at a teacher’s credit union / co-op type thing after the store. There was a younger kid in there. I assumed his mom was one of the ladies working there. All the ladies encouraged him and cheered him on as he tried to speak English with me. He asked my name and where I was from, my favorite food, and a few other questions. Very cute.
Of course there were no classes Friday afternoon because it was National Thai Language Day so there were speeches, dances and other performances all afternoon. No one told me until about lunch time. Oh well, that’s just one less lesson plan I have to do for next week. There was a going away party for one of the teachers after school. I was told about this in the afternoon. I felt funny going since I didn’t even know who was leaving until she got up after dinner for all the speeches and photos. But, I didn’t want to offend anyone by not going and I was curious what a going away party would be like. It had lots of Thai music, spicy food, rice, sugary sweet sodas, whiskey, speeches, giving of gifts, lots of photos, lots of selfies, and karaoke. I managed to find some food that I could eat. I probably should have tried the whiskey, but I don’t really like whiskey. I tried the atomic fallout green soda. It was quite delicious. They love to take photos of gifting. So there is a overly posed photo of every gift she received being handed over by the giver. Still, as I sat there and looked around, I felt very strongly like I was a guest at someone’s family dinner. This is a family and they truly care about each other. I did get a not so good video of my next door neighbor, Q, singing karaoke. A lot of people asked if I did karaoke, but I don’t know any of the songs and I can’t read the words on the screen.
I left my motorbike at school because it was raining so hard when I left. So, I walked up to get it Saturday morning. The janitor, Q, and some of the other male teachers were sitting in front of the school office around the drink cooler obviously working on the left over whiskey. They wanted to know where I was going. “Teacher Rraine, where you go?” They also wanted to know where I was going in October. Then the janitor proceeded to say he loved me about 7 or 8 times. “Teacher Rraine, I love you.” I’m going to guess he thinks that means he likes me or he will miss seeing me when I leave, not that he actually loves me, but who knows. He barely speaks English so I’ll chalk it up to that, that and whiskey.
The coffee shop was closed so I texted the lady that makes salads and burgers to see if she was open because I know she has coffee and wifi. She was open so I spent most of the day there. The tables and chairs were very uncomfortable, but there’s more than sugar on the menu so I got an egg ham and cheese sandwich was was delicious. A lot of students came in while I was there. It was a nice change of pace. I did massage yesterday too. It was one of the most painful yet. When he worked on my shoulders I cried. I was glad this was near the end of the massage because it felt like there was so much crying and screaming wailing wanting to come up. I just don’t feel safe letting that volume of emotion out in that atmosphere. After he gave me his phone number. I think he was trying to tell me he would work on me at my home or his or come get me if it was raining. He was either trying to give me a safe place to work next time or he was hitting on me. I really have no idea. I went home after and tried to release some of emotions I’m holding in my shoulders, but nothing came up. How can that be? I know it’s there. Even as I write this, I can feel so much crying stuck in there, but I can’t reach it. Maybe tomorrow….
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
The best crispy pork is made hereThe Ping River from Crispy Pork RestaurantHouse of Chicken RestaurantHouse of Chicken RestaurantShe is cooking my lunch right now at House of ChickenChickenWhat? There’s a chicken behind me?This is a restaurant
There aren’t very many colorful cars in Thailand unless you count the taxis in Bangkok, the tuk tuks or the songtheaus. Most personal cars are white or some other neutral color. I wondered why for awhile now. I now have the answer. There is a god, the one with four heads, yea, that one. He is the god of creating and destroying. People pray to this god to be purified. White is the color of purification so people like the color white. So actually having a white car is in fashion. I have this on very good authority.
What do Thai people do on holiday? I had seen pictures of the floating house boat type things and was hoping to get to do one. This wasn’t quite that in that the house boats didn’t go anywhere, but still, it was enough for me to feel like I could check it off my list. Noi picked me up in the morning at the hotel. I got to meet her sister, daughter, son, some brothers and some neices and nephews.
We went to a temple first. It was one of the most beautiful temples I’ve ever seen. It was a compound of temples. They were all wood with beautiful blue roofs. The dragon statues in front of the temples were the most ornate and fantasy like of any I have seen. It was such a big and beautiful place to be in the middle of nowhere. It was at least an hour or more outside of Chiang Mai.
Then we went to the lake. After we parked, a songtheaw picked us up and drove us to the top of the dam. There we loaded into two longtail boats. The boats took us about a minute upstream to a floatilla of floating houses. There were a bunch of tables, one of which was ours. We had lunch and then the kids had swim time. The kids and Rraine. I was the only adult interested in swimming. There was a floating trampoline. We didn’t spend the whole day here like I thought we would. That was good as I was over it after about an hour. Then Noi said there was a change of plan and we were going to go to another temple and get coffee because the adults didn’t swim and they were bored.
The first temple we went to had a ceremony going on so we got back in the cars and went to another temple. At the next temple, we all met in a room with the monk. They had brought offerings of florescent light bulbs, food and toiletries for the monks. There was some chanting and bowing and a lot of laughing.
Then off for coffee. The first place we went was in the middle of a farm and was closed. The second place we went was near a farm (or maybe there’s nothing but farms up here). The whole family got coffee, sat around for a little bit and then took off. Noi took me back to my hotel and said she’d pick me up in the morning.
It was so wonderful to get to meet her family and it was so nice of them to let me tag along on their holiday family outting. But for the most part, it was me just sitting around akwardly not understanding most of what was going on. As much fun as it was, that is exhausting so I was happy to have the evening to myself. I went to my favorite pizza place for dinner, read a little and now I’m done for the day! Who knows what time she’s picking me up tomorrow.
I got to the bus station in Chiang Mai and had a little trouble finding Andy. He said he was at the ticket desk for the van company. I couldn’t find the ticket desk. He said it was in the parking lot across from platform 12 so I went to platform 12 and looked across the parking lot. There was no van company, but I did see another bus station. Huh. Two bus stations next to each other. I’ve been there several times and never noticed there were two bus stations. We managed to exchange our tickets for an earlier van ride, grabbed lunch.
A few hours later we are in Pai. It’s up in the mountains and so beautiful. It reminds me of Colorado, not up close, but as you look off into the distance it looks similar. Makes me homesick. It’s a bit cooler too, not cool, but cooler, which is a nice relief. Our hotel was beautiful with farm land and mountain views in the back. We asked about tours and they told us to go into town. One of the reasons I booked at that hotel was because they had a tour desk. They also gave us a much smaller room than I paid for. But when I asked about that, they just said “sorry, all rooms full”. Then when I asked about a refund, of course, her English couldn’t handle that. We gave up and went into town and were able to book a tour of the area for the next day. We wandered around the walking street and a few other streets checking out street sales, had some dinner, and had a drink. We went in search of pie because I wanted a picture of having pie in Pai. No luck on the pie mission. But we did find a closed cake shop so the mission will continue tomorrow. I’d heard that Pai is popular with Thais because of a movie. I had heard the rest of the tourists are backpackers. From our short survey of the area I’m pretty sure that all the tourists except us are backpackers in their 20’s. And it appears there are more tourists than locals.
My hotel had breakfast included. I probably can stop looking for that as a bonus when I book a hotel. No hotel in Thailand is going to get American breakfast right. It was edible, but not good. I should just embrace the way the rest of the world eats breakfast and eat what looks like dinner, but I’m too conditioned and still can’t do it yet. Chicken and rice for breakfast isn’t what I want. Still, it was nice to not have to go walking in the rain looking for breakfast.
After breakfast I got a taxi to the border. The border is a bridge over the river with a large archway building at either end of the bridge – Thai Immigration on the east side and Myanmar immigration on the other side. So, technically, I could get my passport stamped as departing, walk across the street and get my passport stamped as arriving. But, I decided to spend the morning in Myanmar, see some temples, see a fence with lions on top of it, and have lunch.
It was barely raining as I crossed the bridge and stood in the middle over no country. I noticed boats full with people on either side of the river so it doesn’t look like border patrol is very strict. Most people walk over the bridge like I did, but there were a few cars going over as well. Most of the traffic was large semi trucks delivering stuff back and forth, or small pickup trucks with more stuff than a semi. I had read that it was easy to get a taxi on either side. I had also read about a pagoda not far from the border and some more temples a little farther into Myawaddy. I got to Myanmar Immigration and they asked why I didn’t have a visa. I didn’t think I needed a visa. He asked how long I was staying. I said a few hours. For 500 baht ($14) I can go in for a few hours. They kept my passport. I didn’t mind paying 500 baht, but I didn’t like walking away from my passport. I didn’t see any taxis. I saw tons of people just standing around and there were a bunch of vans and motorbikes. Nothing identified any of them as taxis and I assume there is no such thing as an official taxi here. I think if you have some spare time and anything that slightly resembles a vehicle you are a taxi driver. I felt very out of place and quite uncomfortable. I almost just turned around there and ran back to Thailand. Basically Myanmar looked like a slightly dirtier version of Thailand with more men in skirts. Some people asked where I was going and I said I wanted to go see the pagoda. They quoted me some price in Burmese money, but I had no interest in changing money for the small amount of time I would be there. I asked if they would take baht and they said 400 baht. In Thailand it would cost 20 baht to go a few blocks and I knew one of the pagodas wasn’t that far away. So, I told them they were crazy and kept walking. I found the pagoda within 5 minutes. I wandered around and took some photos.
Then I walked back to the main street. At this point, I thought maybe I should just skip the original plan and go back to Thailand now. I didn’t feel like walking all over this dirty town in the rain. I didn’t see one place I would feel safe eating in so I wasn’t staying for lunch. Then I ran into a guy with a strange motorized cart like thing that wanted to be my taxi and tour guide. It was like a cross between a tractor, a motorbike, a backwards trailer, and a wheelbarrow. He said 3 wats (temples) 300 baht. That seemed a little high, but a much better deal than the last guy. Plus, it was this or go back and I really wanted to ride in the wheelbarrow death trap thing.
The first wat was the one I had just come from, go figure. I tried to explain that, but just ended up saying “Wat 2” until he got it and took off for wat 2. I had read about the crocodile wat on line, but it was still shocking to see a giant alligator with a temple on it’s back. There was a pavilion with 20-30 life sized dioramas of different Buddha stories. It was the definition of creepy. There was a huge gong in the middle of the pavilion. I could barely hold the mallet. Then there was a huge hall that we went in. There was a shrine at one end of the hall with all sorts of disco led lights behind a Buddha. I didn’t stay long. The temple on the alligator was closed.
At this point, it’s raining harder so I get my rain jacket out. And we go down dirt roads that this vehicle should not go down, but I don’t see how this adventure would be complete without bad roads. On to wat 3. I had read about this one too. It was called standing Buddha. There was a pagoda, a large hall and a very very large standing Buddha. The guy who was working at the temple (not a monk) wanted to show me everything in the temple underneath the towering Buddha and in the hall. He pointed out all the many statues made of marble and all the shiny gaudy things in the temple. The hall also had a shrine at one end with disco lights. There was an ornate gold thing with a magnifying glass in front of it that he was so excited to show me. Encased in glass encased in gold with some disco lights in the background was a piece of Buddha skin. You had to use the magnifying glass to see it. Scientifically, I don’t see how this is possible, but now I can say I saw Buddha’s skin. That’s it – what more could you possibly want to see in Myanmar? Buddha Skin – my adventure here is complete.
I’m now soaked and hungry and done with this adventure. I just want to go back to Thailand. I’m not even going to try to mime lion topped fence. I already gave up on lunch. But no, there’s a 4th wat that I don’t want to see, but I have to. It’s another pagoda and there’s a giraffe and other animal statues. Now it’s 400 baht. After that I get him to take me back to the border. He pulls up to the border and starts saying something that I think is some explanation of why I should pay him more. I paid him 400 baht and walked off as he was still talking. It was no issue getting my passport back or getting back into Thailand. Whew. I got a taxi back to my hotel for 50 baht and my hotel is a 20 minute ride away. Myanmar is a country that is trying to get back on it’s feet after such a long road of war, government corruption, poverty and other horrors. It has a desperate feeling and it appears it has a ways to go.
I went back to the café I took the cooking class at in February. I remember the food being so good and the tea garden being cozy and comfortable. I walked in and caught the eye of a very cute very young man who was working at the table next to mine. We chatted off and on during my lunch. I learned that Isaac had worked in Phuket for a while and now was wandering around Thailand. I did some engineering work. After a couple hours I left. I wanted to go find an art studio I had read about on line. Art studio and Thailand – the two words don’t seem to go together. I haven’t seen any art, much less a studio where you could work or take classes. They have pottery, batik, and drawing. I went looking for a taxi as it was a 30 minute walk. Near the market, I found a few motorbike taxi stands. I asked the first one and he didn’t know where it was, refused to look at a map and then refused to talk to me. So I went to the next stand, but they wouldn’t talk to me at all since they saw that the first guy wouldn’t take me. Once again, I wonder where the “Thai people are the nicest people in the world” concept comes from. Well, a 30 minute walk won’t kill me and might do me some good. So, google maps and I set off to the Puzzle Box Art Center. A couple minutes later a very large motorcycle / dirt bike pulls up in front of me with a smiling Isaac on it asking if I wanted a ride. The bike was so tall, I barely got on it. Now, I’m not a girl that has a thing for men on motorcycles – I couldn’t care less, but I have to say, this bike was awesome and I very much enjoyed my ride to the Puzzle Box. Far better than a typical Thai motorbike taxi driven by an old man.
The Puzzle Box was a neat little art studio. If I ever get back to Mae Sot, I will definitely sign up for a class. I asked about the possibility of working there in the future. They don’t have enough money to hire anyone, but if I could do training for their staff, it might be possible, but then it would only be a short term thing. They also gave me the name of an art company in Chiang Mai that they may partner with in the future for funding reasons. It’s a long shot, but maybe I could work there for a month or two in the future. I miss creating very much.
I set off back for the hotel. I didn’t see one taxi on the 40 minute walk back. I kept expecting to see Isaac drive up, but he didn’t. The walk was more than I expected. Normally, a 40 minute walk would be nothing, but since I haven’t been exercising lately, I was tired out by the time I got to the hotel. A massage and dinner and I was done. I got to watch HBO at the hotel. I haven’t seen a movie in forever – that was actually a wonderful way to end the day.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Thai Border ControlThai Customs and ImmigrationWalking on the bridge from Thailand to MyanmarNotice boats on either side of the riverMyawaddy MyanmarI don’t think anyone in Myanmar can afford designer water – what is designer water?Myanmar Border Control
So, I found out I need to make two mid term exams. When am I going to do that? Ugh. I’m exhausted and working on lesson plans all the time as it is now.
A friend of mine is traveling in Asia and is in Chiang Mai this weekend so I went up to hang out with her there. Friday after my last class, Noi took me up to the highway and dropped me off. I’ve never left late in the day before, but was told it should not be a problem getting a bus. I got to where the lady who sells bus tickets usually sits and see her stuff there, but not her. Noi had called ahead and said I could get on a 3:00 bus, maybe sooner. A small amount of questioning set in as I wondered if this would work. I had to remind myself that it always does. A little later and the lady rides up on her scooter and says “Teacher Chiang Mai”. She makes a phone call and before I can pay her she motions me and this other guy to hurry. All three of us run across the highway to the median. We pay her there while we wait for the bus. Not sure why we had to rush as the bus didn’t come for another 20 minutes, but standing on the median of a highway is as good a place to wait for a bus as any place, I guess. I decided that would be the name of my book, “Standing on the median waiting for a bus”. It was a long bus ride, but I got most of one exam written.
I got to the hotel in Chiang Mai and went out to eat with CJ. It was great to see a friendly face and have good company and conversation. She had been traveling in Myanmar and was still quite in shock over the poverty and living conditions she saw there. She says she is going to write an article about it later. I’ll post a link to it when she does.
The next day, after breakfast, we went up to Doi Suthep which is a temple and large shiny gold thing on a mountain. As is typical with temples, there were a lot of steps, some dragons, a lot of shiny gold things, and a bunch of people. It was definitely one of the prettier temples I’ve seen. I enjoyed it. We came back down and did lunch and wandered around Chiang Mai the rest of the day and evening. CJ tried the fish pedicure where you put your feet in a fish tank and the fish eat the dead skin off your feet. I’ve seen this a lot, but I’m still not sold that this is something I want to try. I opted for a body scrub since I never feel like I can get clean here. After dinner we went to the night market. I bought a funny eye mask at the night market.
Sunday was breakfast with CJ and then we parted ways. It was real nice to spend that time with her. I went shopping for cheese and cereal, which I can’t get here. Then off to the bus station to make my way home. I finished my exams on the way home.
Today I learned that I need to ask 40 questions on each exam, not 20. That would have been useful information before. So, I spent all my free time today working on exams again. I’m still not done.
CJ noted how calm she thought I was so, I guess some of the changes I’ve made are becoming permanent if other people can see it. Now, I need to find time from all the lesson planning to start exercising again. I haven’t felt well lately and I’ve lost so much weight. It’s time to get back in shape so I can feel better. I don’t feel sick, but I get fuzzy brain easily, I feel weak and I feel tired a lot.
Not too much happened on Monday. School all day, came home exhausted which makes it hard to do anything. Grade worksheets and get ready for the next day’s classes and then it’s 10pm. How does that happen?
Tuesdays are my busiest teaching day. I only had one hour free all day and it consisted of being told by several teachers that I needed to move into my new office. Then I had to go home and get my printer since it wasn’t working and one of the teachers was going to try to fix it. She was able to fix it! At the market I bought some doughnuts. I’d seen them every time I went to the market, but since they aren’t my favorite type of sweet, I never bought them. But, today I wanted cake. The cake seller only had chocolate, but directly across were the doughnuts so I decided to try them. I went up to the gardens by the dam to read and eat doughnuts. There was a lady there in her workout clothes doing stretches. I felt kind of bad eating doughnuts while she was exercising, but not bad enough that I was going to not eat them. And, of course, as you might guess, one of the doughnuts had a hot dog in it. Because…..Thailand.
Today, more of the same – school – tired – lesson plans – tired. I was very light headed today. I think my body doesn’t like the lice shampoo, or I’m fighting off the flu someone else had a week ago, or something is shifting in my nervous system or I have a strange unknown illness. I feel like I did after giving blood. Yea, my head started itching again so I did the lice shampoo again. I tried a different shampoo, but it didn’t seem to help so I went back the one I had done in March. I did this on Monday and haven’t felt quite right since.
The guy living in my home wants to buy it. He offered $35,000 less than it was on sale for last summer. I had another realtor do a price evaluation for me this week. He came back with the same number the renter offered. So, it doesn’t make sense to put it on the market and risk it not selling and go through the stress of waiting. So, I’m going to sell it to the renter. I now need to coordinate getting my furniture out. I’m waiting on the sale documents and what ever comes up if he has someone do a house inspection. Hopefully, it’s not too bad. It feels so overwhelming to try to do all this from here. But it also feels good knowing it’s going to sell. I love that house, but I am ready for it to not be mine.
I’m posting a couple of pictures from Teacher Day last week. This week, some of my lessons were on body parts and I had them draw monsters and then tell me what body parts their monsters had. I’m also posting some of my favorite monsters. Each monster was drawn by 4 different students so that is why some look disjointed. There are certain body parts I didn’t teach, but they ended up on some of the monsters anyway. I even got my monk class to draw monsters (and put post-its on themselves test body part knowledge.
Rraine Drops 