Adios Amigos!

Its the moment I've been waiting five months for... summer break!! I'm leaving early tomorrow morning to take a bus into Bangkok, then another LONG bus ride to get down to the islands! I'll be down there until the beginning of April living island life, sippin banana smoothies and trying to escape the heat by lounging in the clear blue ocean.

Tentative Schedule: First stop, Koh Phangan! 14 of us girls are all staying at the same hostel for the weekend to celebrate the full moon (every full moon, thousands of backpackers/travelers come to Koh Phangan for a huge beach party, it should be like UCSB Halloween but Thai style and minus the Halloween costumes). Then to Ko Samui to celebrate Jess' 24th birthday! Then back to Ko Phi Phi, my most favorite place I've ever been to, and then to another island called Ko Lanta. Nothing is set in stone so I may pop over and check out some other places too.

After an island binge, I'll head back to Khon Kaen for a few days to clean myself up, do some laundry, and reconnect with the outside world (AKA update my blog and post pictures on facebook to make everyone I know jealous). Then to Laos with Jenna and some friends! Then to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand for Songkran, which is Thai New Years and is celebrated in a water fight style. Bali at the end of April for one week and that leaves me two weeks for another destination which is still undecided!

My friend Meredith sent me this link (thanks Mer!). I've made it my new goal to see all ten of these places! Four down, six to go!

http://www.touropia.com/top-attractions-in-thailand/

Happy Summer! :)

Schools Out For SUMMMER!

This past week was “Pride Day”.  We spent the last two weeks of school strictly practicing for Pride Day in order to impress parents and show off the skills of the students as well as present graduating diplomas to the KG 3 class, they are now in grade one!  The week before the big event, some of the Thai teachers took me to search for a princess dress to wear as I was to be in the show. After going to countless costume shops, we found only ONE dress that would fit my “farang” body. And it wasn’t flattering.. pink with ruffles.  Lets just say that I pray that none of my friends make me wear a bridesmaids dress this bad! 

Pride Day is the well-anticipated event of the year for the Kindergarten Program, all six KG classes do a dance performance and this years theme was Disney.  Dances varied from “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Mulan”, “The Lion King”, “Pinocchio”, and my class did “Aladin”.  Pride Day was held at the Khon Kaen Hotel and the friends and family of the students purchased tickets to the show in which they were able to enjoy the show as well as enjoy dinner.  The story line for Pride Day was a little princess couldn’t sleep, so the big sister princess read her stories that corresponded with the dance shows.  I was chosen to be the big sister princess and a half foreign girl, Carriad, in my KG 3 class was chosen to be the little sister.  Carriad is very mature for six years old and I had an awesome time practicing and performing the play with her.  I honestly talk to Carriad  as more of a friend than as a child, she is one of those smart and emotionally intelligent children that blow me away and I forget that she is six years old!  During practices, we chatted and giggled with one another and she was never afraid to ask me questions including “Teacher Chelsea have boyfriend in America??” She made the show so much more enjoyable for me!  The Thai teachers prerecorded our voice so we didn’t need to worry about memorizing our lines, only lip-syncing.  One of the Thai teachers did my hair “princess style”, which I thought was more of a cross between Little House on the Prairie and Sound of Music style.  I had to do a very quick costume change in between giving my graduating KG 3 class their diploma’s and the performance show but I was able to pull it off. Along with my crown, I put on my happy face and was a Storybook Princess for a couple hours, the parents and kids loved it! I’m not too sure I’ll have a career in Disney when I come home though. Maybe in a different dress. And hairstyle.

Finale song "Rainbow Connection"