hi!

Vietnam visa: Check!!

Date for departure: April 9th!

Itinerary: Check!

Crazy lying foreign people: Check!

Happy in Thailand: Check!

ps. Erin, get with it.
pps. Rishard, I miss you!
ppps. Grammie, I tried to get a picture of the hummingbird today, and failed agian. I will keep trying!

xox

I reccomend walkin around naked in your living room

Don't worry- Just quoting Alannis ... isn't it ironic? I want to tell you the most ironic story that has every happened to me LOLLLL

Grammie: here's a message for you first!!! Me and Reffa have a mini hummingbird who visits our yard every single day- exactly like those ones that were in the magazine you showed me that time!! It's so tiny, I thought it was a big bug one day, but I looked closely and it is exactly like a hummingbird!! my current project is trying to capture a picture of the cute little thing for you to see it!!! maybe a video! :) love love love!! xoxoxoxox

as for work.... : :
reffa and I had this really important meeting to attend to at the school which we will both be working for come May right? So , we havne't really been working. just taking various vacations , and picking up random hours here and there to get us by on these months off. We didn't even know what the meeting was about, only that it was important and had a guest speaker from Bangkok coming. We thought, okay, maybe since we have to get up early we'll go to bed early for once! So we're just hanging out with Scott (a nightly thing now) and we're like okay night!!!
and we hop on our motorbike (yes, we can both easily fit on it), and drive home for the night, aruond 8:30 to relax and go to bed. When we get home, Scott calls and says, can you come back over? we have a problem.

So naturally we get back on the bike and scoot over to his house to see what's up. The lady who hires us to work for the school (the school doesn't hire us directly) is standing there with a 6 page thai document, and says "I need this done by tonight"
and we're like SHIT! She always does this... I'm sure we've mentioned her before? the lady who put our last official documents in the tree?? yeah that's her. so we have this last minute project to do , and I'm not sure if you've ever tried to translate thai to english before, but it's HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so it takes like hours and hours and hours. ughhhhh we knew we would be up late. so for three hours we translate .. and try to understand this pooor pooorrr half translation which was given to us. It's MORE difficult to translate thai if we're given a partial translation because we have to figure out what the hell it's trying to say?! ultimately it ended up being this 6 page official document which was to be properly written as a job description for foreign teachers teaching english. We weren't told what school it was for. we finally finish.. and the document is perfect. we head home at about 12:30am, and we have to get up early to go to this important meeting so we're kinda angry... but anyways we just suck it up and head home...


in the morning we get up (tired) and go to this 4 hour meeting at the school. the first thing we're given is a six page job description which we are instructed to read and understand because it's extremely important and we will be expected to sign our names acknowleging that we understand it's points and will abide by it....


LOLLLLL I wrote the damn thing!!! hahaha!!!!!

okay. anyways
we're going to visit our friends in phuket for 3 days tomorrow to solidify travel plans for april !!! :) yayy.
I miss home a lot :(

i love summer

we're home from all our big adventures.

samui was awesome- but we didn't get to party there since we were in charge of 21 children haha.

about the job dilemma thing, I am gonig to be working at reffa's school. on the koh samui trip they offered me a position as a science teacher, and possibly a swimming teacher (I might send an email asking for help on that one char/mag lol) I'm a good swimmer, but i've never actually taught it???

reffa has some exciting news, i'll let her post it. ET: tomrorow morning.

my thai guy has gone to bangkok and doesn't call. I think that means it's over? HAHA these people are so confusing.

we love having a motorbike.

i miss studying at school.

I want more pictures and updates from home.

I missed Lilly really bad yesterday.

The shop was out of coconuts this week. :(

cow

Update: The cow has gone and I smelled a BBQ the other night. I think we can draw the cow issue to a conclusive close. ew.

Update: Reffa and I have both accidentally had meat in our mouths this week because Thai people don't even differentiate between meat/non meat products, only delicious/non-delicious so when we ask if it has meat - they say no (because they know we are veg) and it actually does.

sorry for the bombardment of posts, but I've been meaning to tell you all these things and haven't had time. now I have 3 solid days in a stupid dirty boring place with access to a computer! hahaha.

on Monday we go to Koh Samui. I CAN'T WAIT.
in one month we go to Chaing Mai, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam for a super vacation with our super friends.

Update: I kinda have a Thai boyfriend? his name is Phi (pronounced PIE) he's really cute. I miss him right now though because he's in Bangkok for 4 weeks studying Law. Being a girlfriend in Thailand just means you have a friend who is a guy, who drives you places (in cool baby blue 1950's Volkswagons....)
hahaha
awesome.
xox

next term

Sorry, I forgot to answer some of our readers' FAQ in my ant and tree rants.
Right now we have two months of "real" school off, the same as students in Canada would have off for july and August. The term takes back in on May... 14th? around there anyways. I think Reffa is planning to go back to the same school with our friend Scott. I have no idea where I'm going. On paper, officially, I am supposedly going back to Tessiban 3- but the pros and cons... I keep weighing them and I think I will not go back there... ever.

Tessiban 3

pros: steady 30,000 baht a month, easy lesson planning, hardly any teaching, finish 2:30 every day. contract is finished soon so i have no commitments, visa is easy
cons: I hate it, no one speaks english, it's lonely, no A/C, have to deal with people from Udan Thani (wayyy up norht of thailand because my wages are being donated from them since my school is too poor to pay me).

I could work at a place called The Language

pros: monday-friday 8-4 good hours same as reffa, mattayom (high school- not elementary), teach a subject (not just random english things that i can think of), no contract
cons: it's paid hourly, high demand, difficult lesson plans, visa is hard

I could work at any of the private school mum pasa, mathus, etc

pros: work is way more fun at private schools, enjoyable, good pay! no contract
cons: the hours are exact opposite of Reffa's - evenings and weekends only. difficult visa

I could work at Thuanwhit (sp?) with Reffa and Scott

pros: I get to work with kids (15-20 instead of 30-50), my co workers are my friends, close to home, no contract, middle - upper class kids
cons: paid hourly, not guarenteed hours/money, have to deal with confusing/ time wasting situations, difficult and extensive lesson planning, visa difficult

Where would you work?!!??!!?!?!?!?! input please?!?!?!

right now I'm leaning towards either sucking it up and staying at the school from hell Tessiban becuase of ease and consistent income, OR , going to Thuanwhit with Reffa so that even if it's hard and i get less money, i'll still get the same as reffa and we can see each other more. I think those are the best two options.... I'll keep you posted? Maybe I just won't work. haha.

xo

Malaysia #2: Tourist or Teacher?

Okay!!!! first of all, I'm really jealous that we missed the Hawksley concert. but we listen to him every day!!! <3 <3

Second of all. We are currently in Malaysia (so if you've tried to call us that's why we haven't answered. There is no phone service here for some reason?). We are here for our second visa trip, which means... that it's been 6 months away from home ? yup. 6 months. wow! Here's a funny "thai-style" story for you!!!

My visa was going to be easy. I have a degree, and my company was supposed to get me a work permit which would allow me to easily stay in Thailand for a year. They left it to the last minute (OF COURSE) and so I was unable to go this easy route. I didn't mind so much though, because we already had a confusing and difficult route due to Reffa's non-degree. Whatever she does, I do as well, so I figured we might as well get our visa's the same way so that if there's a problem , we're in it together. Life seems to be more fun the hard way.

So, the lady who is capable of helping us aquire a new 3 month visa, her name is PL. She is in charge of many businesses, and she is a very busy lady. We both do a lot of work for her and earn her a lot of money (for the past 5 months) so she didn't mind when we asekd for her assistance. All she had to do was print off 6 pages from her computer with our names and then off we go.

She promised to give them to me by monday (the 9th of March). I was weary of this promise, since everything else she ever promises is late, cancelled, delayed or changed in some way for some reason -ALWAYS.

So I wasn't surprised on monday when I showed up to get the papers and no one was at the office and there were no papers and her phone conveniently wasn't connecting and her daughters' phones weren't working. UGH. This is why I told her I needed them on Monday- because I ACTUALLY needed them on Tuesday night. SO I showed up on Tuesday morning to see if they weere ready- I cornered her in her office when she thought I'd be teaching somewhere else. She looks at me sheepishly and says "ooh... please come back to the school tonight and I will have them for you.. I promise"

NOW I'M NERVOUS. I ACTUALLY need them on Tuesday night- and she promised they'd be there on Tuesday night. her promise means the exact opposite, that they actually probably won't be there on tuesday night!!!! ahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! we are going to get kicked out of Thailand and it's going to cost 2398095834 baht and we're not going to be allowed to teach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dammmnniittttt!!!!!!!!!!! - -- this is what's going through our minds.

So Tuesday night, we go to the language school as she asked, at the time she asked and not only is the door locked, but the large garage door is pulled down overtop of the whole building- meaning no one's going in or out for the remainder of the night. We sit and wait, and call every one of the 13 phone numbers which we have saved as her name in our Thai phones and only ONE is available. It's her eldest daughter. she says "helloooo yes my mother is market" (at the market) " she call to you in 5 minute" . so we wait. and we wait. and 30 minutes later we try the number (all all the other numbers) AGAIN. no one answers. we call over and over and over for an hour.

We make new friends accross the street, and eat with them (as is the Thai way..) and we tell them why we're waiting. they laugh- because misfortune is funny, not frustrating in this country (which sometimes makes it MORE frustrating..) . We decide ,after 2.5 long hours in a dark downtown street to head home and give up and perhaps we will have to just pay the extra 1000 baht for a late visa *SIGH* . we get home and use our friends' phone for one last attempt at contacting PL and they ANSWER (because we call from a different phone number grrrrrrr....) and she says "oh yes hello leefa and Jazy, I put already your papers in tha taree at my sakool" . HAHAHAHAHA me and reffa breka into a tired hysterical laughter. our important paperwork which determines our future in Thailand is IN A TREE DOWNTOWN SURAT THANI. in a tree.

our paperwork was in a tree.
so we go downtown to where she says, and sure enough, there's our immigration papers, addressed to reffa and Jessica, in a TREE. hahaha. this country... it kills me.

now we are in Malaysia. when we handed in our tree papers, the lady said one was missing. in one hour we find out whether or not we are allowed to work in Thailand for the next two months because our tree papers are faulty. UGGGHHHH. tomorrow, Reffa and I may officially be Thai tourists rather than teachers because the lady we work for is a flaky Thai BUFFALO. (when people are stupid, afriad, annoying etc etc you call them a buffalo- or KWAAIII in Thai.... ) . she's a BUFFALO.

verdict: Malaysia trip #2: tourist, or teacher?!

the ants go marching one by one, hurrahhh huraahhhh

I had already finished double checking my freshly cleaned cup, the kettle and my sealed breakfast oatmeal for ants before actually making it. I poured the antless powder into the antless cup, and then added antless water.

As I was staring off into space contemplating the simplicity of my life in Thailand, I was forced to dually scoop three ants out of my breakfast, which two minutes ago had been antless. I put the cup to my lips, still in a sleepy daze and wondered just how many of these little creatures I eat/drink on a daily basis. The thought is one which, a year ago might have discusted me. Now it is part of me. Ants are everywhere, even when they are not there. The good news is, if you spill something sweet on the floor it never gets the chance to harden and get sticky because the ants will swarm and literally lick it clean before it does.

I used to use a pesticide spray on the solid and organized line of ants that runs all the way from the back door through the bathroom up the wall into the kitchen and out the side window on a daily basis. Now I just watch them in amusement, they were there first. Besides they don't do us any harm, and our house MUST provide a wonderful shortcut for them or else why would they be there?

They are actually quite cute. some going in one direction, some going in the other. They go on the left side, just like the traffic here in Thailand. I wonder if the ants at home go on the right side when they pass?

Their teamwork is phenomenal. I saw one dead ant on the wall. It only took about 3 minutes in total for the ants to surround him (only some, while others carried on working) and carry him with them on their way. For a burial? For.. ? What? It's strange.

When they pass each other, they never do so without running into each other, pausing shortly and then going. They are COMMUNICATING?!

ants... are amazing. I love them.

this summer I'm gonna get us a motorbike.... HW

yup. we got our motorbike like i said before! we can drive it a little bit, but so far we only go to and from the market which includes only left turns (they drive on the left side of the street here...) and no intersections!!!

Today we went through our very first intersection though! It was scary, exciting and not that hard. As longa s we wear our helmets, drive slow, and keep a watch out we should be fine. It's going to help out on saving money and time a LOT when we don't have to get tuktuks everywhere, and maybe it'll relieve our poor friend Scott who drives us everywhere.. hehe

I'm FINISHED at Tessiban 3. If you recall, that is the school I've been working at full time for the past 4 months or so. It's been kinda lonely, easy, and fairly boring. Hot with no air conditioning, and the kids are poor so the quality of the school is not very good. Kids are hit all the time every day by teachers... their socks have holes in them. there's no computers, some kids don't have pencils etc. so it's kinda sad to see. It was a bit of a hard semester working there but definately a learning experience!!! Amazing how happy the children were day in and day out.. amazing.

I am so much happier now that I am not working there each day! I will miss a few of the kids (a few... ) but now I am doing private tutoring each day which is such a lovely change of pace. I work in an airconditioned space with kids who were brought up with a bit of experience in English and I can acutally talk to a little bit. I have many 18/19 year old students who are looking to do nothing but practice speaking as well so I go and chat with them about anything and everything and correct small errors ! It's really enjoyable just like talking to a younger sister (only not quite the same er. ) but it's fun!

foudn out the biggest news ever this week. CONGRATULATIONS MAGGIE omg. it's going to be so hard to stay away for another year with allt his stuff going on at home. I miss you all so very much (as does reffa of course)... but may/june 2010 will be here before we know it. right? *sigh*

as much as I miss home though, and as much as I want to see you all so badly... I want you to know how amazingly happy reffa and I are here together. The people.. climate.. food here. every day, literally we talk together about how amazing it is. we are saving money and travelling and meeting people and I Sware to god we learn crazy and weird things every single day! I love this country so .. sooo much. I hope that I bring some of the culture home with me in my personality, because thailand's personality is so beautiful.

okay I'm off now! but I love you all so much. Especially you mags.

miss you!!!!!! love always,
Jesse