Fantastic Friday: Long Weekend and a Short Holiday Week

Last weekend was another three day weekend (YAY Constitution Day!) but I decided to stick tight and stay in Khon Kaen since Christmas break is so close.  Three day weekends also means a short work week and we sure had a lot going on!  Along with getting my very first real haircut since I've been in Thailand (14 months with no haircut, other than the slight trim that Jess gave me months ago. This "professional" haircut consisted of me saying "nid noi" (very small) on repeat throughout the entire trim. I'd say I'm pleased with the outcome.), last weekend and this week was full of fun and good things!

 Last week, Emily noticed that Starbucks was having a "Christmas Party" at 2:30pm on Saturday afternoon.  We were so curious on what this party entailed so naturally we worked it into our schedules and arrived at 2:33pm to find free samples in the form of the holiday drinks and snacks!  It seemed that the employees were trying to get rid of the samples as fast as possible so they gave us more than one.  The "party" lasted about five minutes but I sure love free samples!

 After WEEKS of anticipation, I finally saw "Breaking Dawn Part 1" the new Twilight movie last weekend!! I snuck in some Reeces Pieces and after the previews and the Kings Anthem, the movie finally started and I could hardly contain myself, going to the movies is always a nice escape from Thailand life and I really enjoyed myself.  I am easily entertained and LOVED the movie, now I can't wait to be home for part 2 next year!

This week was full of gifts for Teacher Chelsea!  Little Aiko was so excited to present me with a bridal frog figurine that she picked out to give me.  Hmmm, wedding frog? Not sure the meaning behind this one, but thank you Aiko!

 Gunn came into school on Thursday with a wrapped box and was SO excited to give it to me when I arrived to school on Thursday.  A new plastic wallet/purse, thanks Gunn!

Dream lost her first tooth!

 Our school does its own version of Secret Santa but calls it "Special Buddy" for the New Years Party in January.  In November, all the staff members of Patanadek School, including all the teachers and staff at the Thai school resulting in about 100 people total, pick names out of a hat for who your buddy is and you have two months to "take care" of your buddy and send them special treats like candy, milk box, and special treats.  I've gotten my buddy a variety of drinks and snacks and give them to a Thai teacher to give them to another Thai teacher to give them to my buddy to insure my anonymity.  The "game" gets interesting with us farangs thrown into the mix because many Thai teachers are unsure on what snacks the English teachers like, so someone always ends up getting something interesting.  The identity of the buddies are revealed at the New Years Party in January where all the teachers get together for food, drinks, and some sort of entertainment provided by the teachers (probably karaoke) for a themed party to celebrate the new year and give you buddy one last large gift. This week, my buddy got me my favorite rice coconut egg wrapped in a banana leaf concoction! Hmmm, somehow my buddy knows me too well.

A month or two earlier than we did last year, but this week we took our KG 3 graduation photo! It was so fun to see my kids in their robes and it really reminded me that this was one of the big reasons I decided to extend my contract here, to see my kids graduate!  They've come SO far and I can't wait to hand them their diploma in only three short months!

 Today was Patanadek's Culture Fair day!  Elementary had prepared a show performance and food booths for the students, parents, and teachers to enjoy and learn about the countries of Laos, Vietnam, Russia, Singapore, England, and Spain.  Not only did Culture Fair mean that today was a teaching-free day for me (okay, thats probably one of the biggest reasons that I loved culture fair.. the only thing I did today was youtube Christmas cartoons for my kids to watch this afternoon), but my kids and I also got to run around school and enjoy buying and eating snacks from around the world!  Here is Yod with his "potato ham pizza" from Spain.

Oh hey, its Christmas at the Pullman!

I have the weekend to get myself together before I go on a two week island binge for Christmas and New Years! WAHOO!

Fun with Baby Fruit

Another reason I love Thailand.. bite sized baby fruit!  This all could be yours for the low cost of fifty cents! Baby sticky rice corn, baby sweet banana, baby Chinese orange.. nummy num!

More Bang for our Buck.. Baht: Bangkok Edition

Last weekend was a three day weekend.. Happy 84th Birthday to King Bhumibol Adulydej!!  I decided to escape Khon Kaen life for three days and Emily and I ran away to Bangkok!  Here are some highlights and my favorite things of the weekend!

Of course I did a ton of googling before heading off to Bangkok this weekend, I LOVE the feeling of anticipation.  Indian food, Mexican food, Subway sandwich.. so many choices! But I was sold when I came across a review for Bangkok Bakery on CNN travel.  The first and only place in Bangkok (and in my opinion all of Thailand) that sells LEGIT New York style bagels! I LOVE bagels back home and I eat a lot of them and I didn't realize how much I'd miss a breakfast bagel after not having one for a year.  Emily and I stepped off the bus at 7am after an overnight ride from Khon Kaen, threw our bags down at the hostel, and made a stop at BKK Bakery.  We were both blown away with the assortment of bagels, cream cheese, and available sandwich options!  It took us some time to decide what we wanted our breakfast choice to be and I ultimately went with the cinnamon raisin bagel with blueberry cream cheese, I like it simple and sweet.  Our taste buds were left dancing, so much so that we went back a few days later to bring bagels back to Khon Kaen to hold us over until our Christmas break!  Emily is from New York so she has pretty high bagel standards and even she said they were amazing.  BKK Bakery is going to become a regular stop every time I go to BKK, I told the ladys that work there that I was a teacher in Khon Kaen, they asked me if I liked "som tam" or papaya salad as its a signature dish of the north east, and I'm hoping next time they remember me and give me a friendly discount.

 Soon after devouring our bagels, we rode the BTS to the Chatuchak Weekend Market for some Saturday shopping!  We got there pretty early since we had taken the overnight bus and we ended up spending ALL day there.  Chatuchuk is HUGE with rows and alleys filled with clothes, jewelry, home-decor, pets, furniture, toys, food, EVERYTHING and if you find something you want to get, you better get it right then and there because chances of being able to find the same stand once you leave to find a better deal for the same item is very slim. I've now become very confidant in my Thai bargaining skills so I went a little hog-wild on the shopping front.  I tried to focus on gifts for friends and family, but of course at the end of the day my backpack was more full of random things for myself.. did I really need to buy ANOTHER tie-dye tank top and dress? Not exactly but I bargained for them therefor had to buy them!  Its the third time I've been to the market so I had an idea ahead of time what to keep my eyes open for and still walked away with much more than I planned.  Of course shopping all day in the sun, heat, and humidity gets us hungry and my ultimate favorite snack at the market are these darn chocolate covered frozen bananas dipped in sprinkles or peanuts. I think I could eat one of these everyday for the rest of my life.  Of course I introduced Emily to its amazingness and now shes hooked as well.  We're already planning our next BKK trip just for the bagels and frozen market bananas. And I need to do some more shopping.

Khao San Rd.. I hate that I love it so much. A single street filled with street food, over priced drinks, clothes and trinkets you never need to buy, and backpackers from around the world.. whats not to love? It's almost like an Asia-fyed mini version of the Vegas strip but Khao San has lady boys yelling "MAAAAASSAGE" at you for 300 baht (10 dollars), pools with those little fish that eat dead skin of feet (often free when you buy a drink), is lined with tuk-tuk drivers, and no high classy dress code.  Our original plan was to see the new Twilight movie on our last night in BKK but we quickly ditched that idea for another night out on Khao San.  We were able to meet up with my friend Katie that lives near Bangkok, I met Katie through Jenna as they taught at the same school.  Katie, like me, came in October 2010 and extended to stay longer but she was originally only supposed to stay 5 months.. 14 months later shes still here!  We're two of the few left in BKK that came last October so it was awesome to see her to swap recent traveling stories and talk about our outlook on life in our towns now that we've veterans.  Emily and I spent both evenings running around Khao San club dancing, mingling with other travelers, and staying out until sunrise.

Had a great time in BKK.. mission accomplished!

brownies and eggs.. getting creative on thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner was a SUCCESS! Such a success that in my opinion, Thanksgiving is allowed to be ALL my three good things for this week!

Before the toaster oven

On the Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving Thursday, Emily and I went over to Teacher Lei's house before the other Thanksgiving guests were to arrive to bake our concoction..  I was SO excited because I LOVE to bake!!  But because of the flooding in Bangkok, the shelves at the grocery store have been very bare leaving us needing to be very creative this Thanksgiving. I had done all sorts of research for amazing brownie bars.. oatmeal brownie bars, peanut butter brownies, turtle pecan caramel brownies, pumpkin cheesecake brownies, and I was devastated to find no peanut butter, no oatmeal, no pecans, no caramel, no pumpkin gunk.. I had to search and search multiple stores just to find brownie mix!  One thing we could find was peanut butter oreos and butter scotch ice cream topping.  After mixing the chunks of oreos in the batter and pouring it into the 8X8 pan with a layer of butterscotch in the middle, we realized we completely forgot to spray the pan! AHHH I usually NEVER make such a ridiculous mistake on such a simple task but I haven't baked in a year.  Besides the fact that the brownies should have been baked in a 13X9 (our pan we had was way too small for our batch) and we had to resort to baking them in a toaster oven, brownie mission was success!! I don't remember the last time I had homemade brownies so at least my tummy was very happy!

Last minute we decided to whip up some deviled eggs. Again, no normal mustard so we had to splurge on some expensive french balsamic mustard which turned out to be AMAZING. The eggs were DELICIOUS and a huge hit, the first dish to be completely devoured off the thanksgiving table! Hope I did mama proud.

We had the staple items, 2 turkeys, stuffing, three mac and cheeses, 2 mashed potatoes, pasta salad, carrots, broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce, gravy, apple pie, cookies.. the works! And three small tables seating all 18 people (teachers and some Thai family members) and being nearly the youngest in the group I naturally I sat myself at the "kids" table.  Most of us haven't had any food like this since last years Thanksgiving feast so everyone was in the Thanksgiving spirit.  Everything was so tasty and I was full for days.  Nothing beats mama's cooking but this Thai version of Thanksgiving definitely comes in second.

I have SO much to be thankful for and being away for not one but TWO Thanksgiving has helped me to truly appreciate the holiday season back home.  I already have plans to be home for Easter and I'm SO excited!

Other highlights from the week:  

• I must have blown everyone away with my awesome MC performance at Loi Krathong because I was asked to be MC for Father's Day activities at school!  The performance/games were this morning in celebration for the Kings birthday.. it wasn't nearly as exciting as MCing for Loi Krathong but yes, T. Chelsea was on the mic.

• Oh yeah, did I mention Thanksgiving dinner?!  

And wait a second.. its December?! 

Table one

Table two

Dessert table

My plate

Thanksgiving peeps

The only let down of the evening was how HORRIBLE this mangosteen wine was that Emily and I decided to experiment with.. learned our lesson, best wines are made from grapes. NOT mangosteen.

A Turkeyless Thai Thanksgiving Day

I always tend to miss home a little more around the holidays.  But now that I've been gone for so long, I tend to lose track of the seasons and holidays.  It seems that I am reminded what time of year it is and what holiday is around the corner not from the music at the mall, new clothing fashion marking a new season, or changes in the weather but from the facebook status updates of my friends.  Thanksgiving day came and went just like any other warm Thai school day and didn't give me much time to dwell on the fact that I was missing another holiday the second time around.  While chowing down on my Thanksgiving day dinner of fro-yo with oreos and a cup of hot chocolate, I did reflect on what I am thankful for.  Family and friends, obviously.  I always have a home to go home to.  I'm very thankful that the heavy flooding in Central Thailand hasn't extremely affected me (other than the food trucks can't make it to Khon Kaen therefore leaving the grocery shelves very bare and my staple items of oatmeal, soy milk, bread, and cereal are extremely hard to find.. but it definitely could be worse!).  I'm safe and overall healthy.   But most of all, I'm so grateful that I'm still on this crazy thai-rrific journey of teaching and living in Thailand!
 

Onto my three good things/the highlights of my week

1. I have discovered yet another Thai dish that I'm obsessed with. I tend to get stuck on one dish, eat it so much that literally makes me sick, and not touch again for months. I'm going to make sure this doesn't happen with this tasty treat, its just too good to spoil and I'm only going to let myself have it once every two weeks or so.  Let me introduce you to Khao Niaow Sang Khaya.  Last Sunday, JJ's mom picked him up from special class at my apartment and handed me a little plastic bag with a folded up banana leaf inside.  "For teacher Chelsea. Bye Bye!"  I went up to my room, opened up the leaf, and my eyes were set on the most delicious Thai dessert I've ever had.  Inside the banana leaf was white sticky rice soaked in coconut milk/cream with an egg custard on top.  I devoured it in 5.7 seconds.  Later that week, I asked T. Nim what the dessert was called and the very next day, she brought one in for me.  I had wanted to have one for breakfast on Thanksgiving Day as my own mini Thanksgiving celebration and wondered the surrounding streets before school and was disappointed to have found just about every other rice dish/treat but this one.  I was able to have some khao niaow sang kaya for breakfast on Friday morning after I made a special request to another Thai teacher, one with white rice and one with black (or purple) rice!  The egg custard texture kind of weirds me out so I basically just love the rice, and eating out of a banana leaf is just so much fun.  New favorite thai dessert! Nummy num.

2. Being the American that I am, I couldn't let Thanksgiving come and go completely unmentioned to my wonderful students! In my Thursday special class, I had the kids color turkeys and tape them to straws as a craft.  On Friday in school, I showed the kids a power point I made in which I briefly explained the history behind Thanksgiving and what it means today.  I basically talked a minute about the Native Americans and Pilgrims becoming friends and sharing food (with the assistance of a picture of Disney's Pocahontas and John Smith), turkey and pumpkin pie (both don't exist in Thailand), and explained the concept of being thankful and grateful.  I went around the class and asked the students "What are you thankful for?". "Mommy and Daddy." "My doctor".  "My facebook".  Hmm, I dont know how I feel about the facebook answer but when my trouble-maker Batik raised his hand and proudly stated he was grateful for "My Teacher Chelsea", my heart melted.  The other children clearly saw my reaction and "my teacher Chelsea" became a common answer for the remaining kids.  Either they already know how to sweet talk a lady at age 5, or they really love me.  Either way, they sure made my day.

3. Last weekend, I popped my head into Starbucks hoping to find the American favorite Pumpkin Latte.  In my opinion, nothing says the holidays more than pumpkin and cinnamon!  Unfortunately I think Thailand doesn't feel as strongly about those flavors as I do.  But on my walk to school this morning, I saw this sign in front of Starbucks! I know I know, I'm pretty spoiled/lucky here.  I never would have guessed that while I was living in Thailand, I would walk by a Starbucks everyday.  I guess I can say that I've always lived within walking distance of the famous coffee chain!  The thing I love about Starbucks is they are all virtually the same.. same decor, same menu, same music playing.. it feels a little like home and a nice escape from Thailand reality when I need it. Now I don't go as often as you think (honestly I think I've been to Starbucks three times in Khon Kaen) but I know where I'll be spending my Saturday afternoon this weekend, its going to be tough deciding which holiday drink to treat myself with!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, AMERICA!!

PS. Don't worry, I'll be having a turkeyful Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday, post to come! :)

Interpretation of my hair with heat and humidity

Must be what my hair looks like after not cutting it for 13 months

11/11/11: Floating Krathongs and Sky Lanterns!

Another week has flown by!  This one went especially fast because there was a lot going on.. and many good things!

BEST care package EVER: Back in August, I went on an online shopping spree and purchased new shorts, beach dresses, and a bikini or two for my mom to send me in my next package.. it may seem silly but wearing the same gross clothes for the past 12 months really got to me one day and I needed a little retail therapy.  I don't mind wearing my teaching clothes in Khon Kaen but I like to look a little more put together while traveling.  After my Malaysia travels, my mom had gathered enough supplies to fill up a large box and ship it as an early Christmas package. Also, I recently had mentioned to one of my best friends, Lauren Jesperson, during a skype chat that I wish I had an iPod touch to travel with, having a small toy that could connect to wireless internet would be really convenient to have, especially when it comes to using skype and searching for info while on the go.  It just so happened that Lauren and her amazing family had an extra one that they were thinking of selling, but they graciously gave it to me instead! I am SO appreciative and can't thank them enough (I owe the Jesperson's a HUGE batch of chocolate chip cookies when I come home)!  Traveling will be super easy and now I know I'll be able to give my family a call on Christmas no matter where I am (wireless is practically everywhere I've been!)  No more paying outrageous internet per minute prices on islands!  I'll still try to limit my internet use while I'm traveling but its so nice to know I have it to use whenever I need it!  After checking the package tracking site multiple times last week, it arrived on Sunday and I arrived to school on Monday to my beautiful package waiting for me in the office.  I couldn't contain myself and opened it while my kids had milk break, sealed it back up, then opened it a second time later in the day to get a better look at my goodies!  All my clothes I ordered, butternut squash soup, tortilla soup, candy corn, peanut butter m&ms, mac and cheese, a few magazines (including Kim Kardashian's wedding edition in People Magazine.. it couldn't even get here before she announced her divorce), NyQuil, dramamine, Dove raspberry chocolate, and my new iPod touch toy!  Thank you Mama and the Jespersons!!

 Loi Krathong: Loi Krathong is a festival celebrated across Thailand on the evening of the full moon of the 12^th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, which is usually in November.  Loi means “to float” and krathong refers to the lotus-shaped receptacle made from banana leaves and flowers with candles and incense that can float on water.  The act of floating away the krathong is symbolic go of all one’s grudges, anger and defilements so one can start life afresh on a better foot.  Some people  even cut their fingernails and hair and add them to their krathong as a symbol of letting go of the bad parts of one self.. I didn’t do that one.  Many Thai people believe that floating a raft will bring good luck, the festival does have history and meaning behind it but now-a-days it’s more of a fun tradition.

 Last year, Jess and I went to Khon Kaen University for a huge carnival to celebrate Loi Krathong.  We had to push through crowds and stand in long lines to do anything and the enormous amount of people had extremely overwhelmed me so I decided that this year I wanted to do something a little more low-key.  Emily and Sam (both new teachers in KK, Emily teaches at my school and Sam is at Anuban Khon Kaen) joined me to check out the scene at the local lake.  I had bought a few rice paper lanterns from T. Nim to light and send high into the sky so the girls and I made our way to the lake by following the trail of lit lanterns floating in the full-moon sky.  We found a good spot amongst the small groups of Thai families to light our lanterns , take some pictures, and throw them into the air and hope they float away.   Our last lantern lingered a bit and began smoking heavily but it floated out of our eyesight.  A lantern from a near-by group got caught in a tree and no one seemed to be concerned except for us, guess it happens alot.  We made a spectacle of ourselves and was being paparazzi-ed like crazy, silly farangs not knowing how lanterns work.  We walked around the lake and had dinner at the night market on the way home (best pad thai EVER).. an AMAZING Loi Krathong.

 

"I'm T. Chelsea and I'll be your MC for the evening!":Friday night was the big anticipated festival of the semester, Loi Krathong!  The school magically transforms into a carnival with game booths, prizes, food, dunk tank, astrojump.. everything a Thai carnival needs!  Including a stage and show.. and a farang MC on the microphone all night.. ME!  Yes thats right, I NEVER thought I would get up in front of a huge crowd on a microphone and help host such a large event, maybe it helped that its very possible not many people in the audience could understand my native language of English.  Or maybe I'm finally over my extreme fear of public speaking and stage-fright.  Maybe its a little of both.
  
My afternoon started with school ending early for the event and me going off to my hair appointment and costume fitting.  After seeing seven different students in and out of the shop, the man fussed, teased, and sprayed my hair for about twenty minutes then twisted and pinned my now acquired lion mane into a Thai beauty style.  My hair has never been so big and I wasn't sure if it was really supposed to look that way, but once I was pinned into my costume everyone in the shop said I was "Soi Mak".  One of my student's moms said that even though my makeup wasn't on yet, I was so beautiful and looked like an angel.  Yep, guess he got the hair right.

I arrived at school, finished getting ready, and snapped some pics before it was time to get on stage.  T. Run teaches at the Thai school and was my co-MC, he's often MC for various school events because he's great on the microphone (good at filling up empty air and can think of things to talk about on the spot while making the show fun and entertaining) and a really fun and friendly guy.  We had just enough time to go over our script one final time and work out some kinks and it was our time to hit the stage and welcome the audience! I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be and I actually had a blast on the microphone!  I did need to practice pronouncing some Thai names I would be announcing and I was a little concerned about butchering them, but overall I think I did okay!

Hearts because they love T Chelsea

Whats a carnival without some sort of contest?  The big event of a Loi Krathong festival is a "Noppamas Beauty Contest".  According to legend, Nang Noppamas was a consort of the Sukothai King 700 years ago and had been the first to float a krathong.  The beauty contest is tradition and the festival isn't complete without it, it reminds me of a little Miss America contest minus the talent and bikini portions.  Two students from each class in Kindergarten and one student from each grade in elementary is chosen to compete in the contest, which T. Run and I MCed for.  The students introduce themselves on stage and do a beautiful walk and wai in their amazing Thai costumes and only four winners are crowned by the judges.  One of the four winners is awarded "Most Popular" and wins that title by collecting the most balloons.. before the winners are announced, the audience has an opportunity to purchase balloons from a nearby booth and give them to the contestant they think should win, whoever has the most balloons in ten minutes is awarded "Most Popular".  My two absolute favorite students, Mon and Aiko, competed in the Noppamas Beauty Contest (two of twenty contestants) and Aiko won for the Kindergarten girls! I was overjoyed when we announced her name and I'm SO proud of her! Her mom is so nice and was already telling me how much they'll miss me after I leave in March, I took some family pictures with Aiko's family as well.  Along with the beauty contest, we had a home-made krathong contest and three dance performances, one of which my girls danced to a Thai song called "Sapalot" (translation: pineapple).

Blending right in

At one point during the show, T. Run and T. Tu handled the contest and I was able to scope out the booths and games as well as get in a few pictures with students and other teachers.  Every Thai teacher, parent, and multiple students I came across announced in awe "T. Chelsea, SO beautiful!"  Parent's of students that weren't even mine wanted me in a photo with their child or entire family.  I was paparazzi-ed like crazy and was being complemented every minute.  While on stage, I heard my student Jack Jack scream "T. Chelsea, HI!! T. Chelsea BEEAUTIFUL!"  Thai teachers pulling me to take a picture while saying "Teacher, soi mak" was a regular occurrence for the evening and I didn't mind it. It was fun being such a hot-shot celebrity with a microphone for the evening.

Being MC with T. Run was a blast and this year's Loi Krathong was SO much fun! I'm so honored that my school asked me to be the MC and be the face for this fun celebration this year. YAY Loi Krathong!!

Cutie patootie baby AJ

Thai looking farang teachers

 Me and my Thai Teacher!

Farangs X 7 and Halloween!

I can hardly believe that its already the month of NOVEMBER!  It snuck up on me this year, Halloween popped up out of no where and then I blinked and it was November. I get all turned around with the months here, for my entire life November is the beginning of the holiday season and even though we don't get too many leaves changing color in Southern California to mark the start of fall, I always feel its presence when mom puts up the Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations up around the house, holiday tunes start being played on the radio and in the shopping malls, and I start to need to bundle up by wearing my only few pairs of jeans/pants and jackets.  In Thailand, November feels exactly the same as it has the past 9 months minus a little dryer now that monsoon season has come to an end.  It cools down a bit in December hitting maybe low – mid 60s/70s in the morning and the children show up to school wearing a beanie, scarf, and winter coat and even though I too get a little chilly, it still doesn’t feel like winter and it feels like the holidays are still months away. I guess that’s Thailand “Cold Season” for you!

I’ve gotten all resettled into my Khon Kaen routine, school, gym, tutoring after school and on the weekends.  Christmas is right around the corner which means my three weeks vacation is coming up quick! I’m saving/making as much money as possible so I can blow it all away during that travel time. But there have been some exciting things going on this week! Which brings me to my… Three Good Things of the Week!

1. News Flash: Khon Kaens population of farang girls has just TRIPLED! A huge group of girls have just arrived to the KK after being placed here by CIEE, the same program I came though.  4 are at another school in Khon Kaen and 1 is taking Jess' class at my school!  We all live in the same apartment building, four of us on the same floor. Its SO strange to have so many other western girls in my age range here, I've gotten very used to having my school/tutoring life as my Khon Kaen life and my traveling time as my fun life, and now I feel like my Khon Kaen life can be a fun life too!  Our group is rather large and us seven girls ventured to the night market last weekend.  I'm sure we get starred at more than ever before, but I feel like I personally am being less watched when I'm in the middle of a large group and its a good feeling.  I'm still the only blonde though!  Its really fun to have new girls to hangout with and I'm excited to see what adventures we have in store!

2. Monday was Halloween and KGE (Kindergarten English, my department) has a party with games, prizes, and a costume contest every year.  Last year, Halloween was one of my first days in Khon Kaen so I didn’t dress up as I had no idea what to wear and didn’t want the other teachers to get a strange impression of me if I showed up in the wrong type of costume.  This year, I did a little planning and took a hard look in my closet, I didn’t want to spend any money but wanted to participate in the festivities.  Luckily I had ordered a yellow dress to wear out on the town when I’m traveling and my mom had stuck in the last care package. I paired it with black leggings and a black sweater and BAM, I’m a bumble bee!  I found some black tape at the supply store next to 7/11 and made antennas out of a straw and black paper making my costume extremely easy to put together and virtually free!  The kids LOVED that Teacher Chelsea was Teacher Bee the day and the games like trick or treating, zombie tag, pin the face on the witch, and bobbing for apples was a success.  A little different than our traditional Halloween celebrations in the States and VERY different than the infamous UCSB Halloween, but it was still a great time.  Most popular costume this year: batman and dead people!

Loi Krathong 2010

3. On Wednesday, Teacher Nim took the new teacher Emily and I to "Rose Wedding" to shop for Thai costumes to wear for Loi Krathong.  For those who have been loyal readers to my blog for twelve months now, you'll remember how last year I wore a pink traditional Thai costume and looked more like a blonde barbie trying hard to be Thai.  Well, I must have left quite the impression because this year I was asked to be the MC for the event this year!  In the past, I was that girl in class that would rather write a 20 page essay than get in front of the class to give a presentation, I've actually been in situations where I have fainted in front of an audience.  In college, I was so nervous to meet potential roommates for the following school year that I fainted leaving them questioning if I was an addict of some sort.  Fortunately for me, the fainting episode was my only downfall and they liked the rest of my interview (and their other options were SO bad), that they still picked me and some of those girls are my best friends now!  I've overcome this extreme fear of public speaking and I'm not the slightest bit nervous.  I'm really looking forward to Loi Krathong (I guess it helps that many people in the audience may not understand what the heck I'm saying!), its going to be a fun evening with carnival games, dance performances, and a Thai beauty contest to award who will be little Mr. and Mrs. Loi Krathong for 2011.  I will be in my rented Thai costume with my hair professionally done, on stage, and probably have thousands of photos taken of me, celebrity for a day!  Finding a costume was a lot easier than other Thai costume searches I had in the past and I'm happy with what we found.  Pictures and details on the event will be posted next week! :)

How many batmans can you fit in one picture?

KG 3B!