Where do I begin.. I haven’t written in so long its hard to sum it
all up..
Living in this village definitely has it's pro's and cons.. the pros
being that I have truly immersed myself into the Thai culture –
living here – with my new found Thai family is something that I
really do enjoy – I feel that I have a home away from home – Pi
Kop ( Pi means sister in Thai) is my mother here – and she loves it
when I tell her that – so much so that she has now decided I shall
never leave to my “old mother” as she refers to my real one at
home:) Age is a funny thing here in Thailand – they are happy to
ask anyone “How old are you?” and then precede to say,”So
old!!” They mean nothing by it, they have no idea that in the
Western world if you asked a fifty year old woman, who you don't
know, how old she is – literally right off the bat, “What is your
name?” “Lucy” How old are you? “ “Ummm..fifty..” “O!!
You old!!” would be considered rather rude..
Anyhoo.. Pi Oi is my cool aunti who takes me shopping and takes me out for spy wine coolers, tries to get me to dress more “sexy” and wants to go out for a ladies night as soon as possible:) Pi pap is my brother (she is actually a woman but our playful and naughty, arm wrestling, poking and prodding 'competitioning' relationship has me thinking she's my little brother.) Pi Ya is another aunti – not as close as Pi Oi but close non the less – she likes to braid my hair into a French plat but refuses to teach me how as then she wont be able to do it any more:) and brings me bags of fruit every Monday and she always tells Pi Pap to stop pestering me (pi pap really is a naughty lil shit) Pi Wad is my older sister – more controlled and very reserved – she tries to teach me the culture as best she can – yet she contradicts herself at every point. We've already argued about this, as sisters do – at the dinner table.. the whole family got involved and at one point I sat back and giggled.. I really do have a REAL Thai family. I am leaving out a few more relatives – there are about 20 of us.. but the point is there..
So a few weeks back I had a sensational week – I went with Pi Oi and Pi Rat (a very sweet lady – she is really timid and hardly talks to many people but her and I have become rather close – she even got me a care package after my motor bike accident – filled with all sorts of delicious (and some rather strange) goodies..:) Anyhoo.. we went out for dinner and did some shopping and had some Spy wine coolers - the closest thing I get to the real deal here:( and I got to drive!:) Driving a car in Thailand – oh how I missed it! It was such fun! And in true South African style, I drove a bakki.. but of coarse:P
For new years I had a few days off and my school gave me another one so I could have the full holiday with some friends – which was so cool of them! It's times like those that I wonder how I am ever going to bring myself to leave this school..but then there are other times when I am so desperate for a proper shower and to not get mud washed all over me, so desperate to go home and not have to spend the following hour killing scorpions, bees, snakes and spiders – and to be able to have proper internet so that I could at least watch some western programmes.. ah! To communicate.. sometimes I wonder.. perhaps I should finish my year here and then instead of going to teach in another Asian country (was thinking of Korea as I would make good money and I could travel for two months to South America – they would pay for my flights – both to and from home, and one return in my big holiday – anywhere I would choose..Argentina would be the place indeed:) But although these are all big pros.. Spain is where my heart has always longed to go.. I love the language – and would love to be able to be fluent in it – and I love the culture and wouldn't mind adopting it as my own – the food is something I could actually live on – and the place is cooler and I would definitely find a delicious man there and have some hot and special romance of sorts:) These things certainly cannot be found here in Thailand and I doubt Korea would be any different..
Anyway – time will tell..
For now I am living the village life and constantly looking at the positive aspects of it – and have found that my patience has grown immensely – although I do fear that if I'm patient for so long one day ill just snap and say,”Fuck it. Never fucking mind.” It can be incredibly frustrating not being able to communicate properly – especially for a person like me who loves to natter away for hours on end and now it takes me two hours to get a few short sentences across between us.. although I am teaching them a lot so they are getting better.. and my Thai has gotten rather good so I tend to use that much more than English here..and I always have my weekends when I can get away and go somewhere where I see English people, jump for joy,”Oh! Oh! Oh! Lets talk, talk, talk..” :)
Since living here in Bang kahn – I have gone to Krabi twice, Koh
Phangan twice, and Koh Tao once – and been into Thung Song for a
festive time with some English teachers too – so it's actually
rather good – I get the best of both worlds I guess..
Krabi is one of my favourite places in Thailand – I adore Krabi town – I could easily live in a place like that once I wanted to settle down one day – with a couple of kids and a couple of dogs..couple of cats and maybe a husband to put in the mix:) My friend Dylan lives there so it's always a huge bonus that I get to go and spend time with him! And Krabi is just.. Krabi!:)
Although there is always so much to explore and see in Thailand – I’ve travelled around a lot – in the beginning I got to mission around for a few months and saw some amazing places and after my course I did that again with some friends and now I hop around on the weekends – but there is still so much more to discover here.. when I went to Had Yuan I found a place that was ever better, and then go to Koh Tao and you like it even more, and so it goes on.. I cant wait to find more and more wondrous places in this country.. after all, I do have the time..:)
For New Years.. I missioned off to Surat Thani to catch the ferry to Koh Phangan, and as luck would have it – I missed the boat.. but.. right next to me was a man called Williz from USA/France who had missed the boat too.. so we booked our tickets on the night boat (takes just under six hours to Koh Phangan) and had a few hours to spare – so we sat by the peer and drank beers – chatted about the universe (just my kind of convo) and then went for a walk – stumbled across a temple – and I got blessed by a monk..lol.. and then went to eat and have some more beer – looking at the lights I realized I had never seen Surat Thani as any more than a gross pit stop – bleak and dirty.. yet I had seen one of the most beautiful temples I had seen in a while, was looking at twinkling lights over a river – listening to long tail boats wizz by.. it was rather beautiful..Anyway – the night boat is fantastic – you get your own bed and meet people from all over the world – with us we had a bunch of boisterous Israeli’s and so I practised my Hebrew and laughed while taking sips of the poisonous arak (an Israeli drink) I concocted a story that Williz and I were divorced and he had brought me the papers to sign.. The one Israeli dude was coming on a bit strong and so I wanted to let him know I wasn't available and this seemed to be the funniest option – and oh how it was indeed – and I did so well – my skills are improving:) Needless to say Williz and I did end up having a lil kiss or two that night – it's been a looooong time, so I'm certainly not complaining:) That boat journey was so spontaneous and really made me miss my initial adventures here in Thailand – where I just picked a place and went – met random people, and everything was just in the moment..
We arrived in Koh Phangan at five thirty in the morning and I said goodbye to one of the most interesting people..he is collecting art and such.. way to much information to explain right now but yeah.. one of the most interesting people I have met in a very long time – and not so bad on the eyes if I do say so myself;) Once in Had Rin I saw the after effects of the full moon party and woah! Was that a sight to behold! People honestly die there – it's not a nice sight to see in the morning I must say.. not very inviting.. So..I went to Had Yuan (it's off Koh Phangan – you get there by long tail boat.) and it's incredible.. I walked straight into the peace and love bar – and was offered coffee and breakfast and a joint on the side plate – sensational service indeed:)
I sat there for ages – chatting to the people – a couple of rasta
Thais and their foreign girlfriends.. one of the girls – from Spain
– has been living there with her Thai man – for eight months and
looks exactly like my sister – so weird.. cant wait to show the
both of them pictures of each other.
A few hours later – Tabitha came to collect me – not having slept yet:) She is actually the daughter of my dad's best friend (Both our dad's were in the Bang Bang Club together– and both died – two months or so apart.) Tabitha and I met once in Cape Town and now that we're both here decided to meet up for New Years. Anyway – we had a very relaxed day – to start – just set up our tent – Cole (Tabi's boyfriend has a seriously committed relationship going with this tent of his..haha..:) then we had a nap - I hadn’t really slept either;) Then I went off with Cole and Tabi's two mates, Reese and Tabo – to drink some shroomies at Eden – a magical place – chilled house music fills the space – as people dance and sway – giggle and chat – staring out into endless paradise.. magic. That evening we all went out for dinner and after a few drinks called it a night – five of us snuggled in the tent – and in Cole's words,”This tent is incredible. Look. Five of us in here. Wow.” :) That night there was a storm – it actually woke Tabi up and said she wondered if we'd be OK. I of coarse slept through.. and Cole of coarse was terribly chuffed that his tent had kept us so safe :)
The following day we went off to Koh Tao – and had a blast – I met a whole bunch of their mates who also teach English in Nakhon and are so lovely.. one gal called Suzanne is from Alabama and she is delightful – I hope to see her again soon! We missioned to a party called The Experience – four days of madness..and it was everything it had promised to be!
Tabo and I had a really great time together – party animals alike and all – and set off for the experience on the first night.. it would be impossible to sit here and describe the events chronologically and this blog post is already an essay and a half.. :)
So lets just say that I met the most wonderful people from all over the world – I have some contact details and intend to keep that contact going! One particular cat – Hendrick from Germany – was a sure favourite – funny and sweet, crazy and chatty – we had one hell of a ride together – two motorbike accidents (but were ok) The first one was pretty funny actually – I decided I could definitely ride the bike (I've never tried before) – up the steepest hill you could ever imagine.. and in my state.. lets just say I was on another planet where fairies and goblins come out to play in magical swirls of moving shapes and sparkling sizes..:P In any event, we are fine – and I'm now at home – healing so beautifully – I am rather surprised – all sobered up before my boat left I began to worry about what might happen – would my feet fall off? Or my left leg? The sparkles had left and reality wasn’t so pretty.. but as it turns out my body is the same machine it was in South Africa – it heals incredibly fast and just gets on with it – inside and out. People fret about infections in Thailand because of the dirty environment I guess but - (I don’t want to jinx it since I'm still recovering..but I'm doing just fine.) Nicol was there with Tyler – Nicol is my bestie and so I naturally had a lovely time with her on the first night – I don’t remember much but many sources confirmed my happiness the following day..:) “Hello! Meggie, how are you!? Had such fun with you last night!” “Hello meggie – wow you were on top form yesterday!” “Hello Meggie – you like the mud ey?” “Hello Meggie! Can I see the pics you took of us last night?”
That's when I realized Tabo had my camera – needless to say he disappeared – but thankfully the camera is safe and sound – but he took sooo many pics on his adventure that the battery ran out – I must say I was a tad bleak that I couldn’t take pics for the rest of the time there – as so many adventures happened – but no worries – at least the camera was safe and that certainly wouldn't have been the case had I had it.. My camera nearly wound up in Taiwan! Luckily I stopped that and it was given to Tabi and she now has it in Nakhon – so unfortunately I wont be able to post any pics or even see them for myself – for about a month now:( But it'll be a laugh when I do:)
Needless to say I missed the ferry home and had to take the night boat that evening – but I wasn't exactly complaining since it meant I got to spend another lovely day in Koh Tao – lazing around on a hammock with my new German friendlies, eating lunch and recovering nicely from the extreme adventures we had had together.. and since I was on the night boat at last minute I couldn't get a bed but had to sleep outside, on the front of the boat – but as the Thais' so often say, “Mai pen Rai.” (No worries.) I met another Spainiard chap who proceeded to tell me all sorts of stories about his home, the beautiful Barcelona.. and it dawned on me.. I've just got to get into that place – The Universe keeps putting people in my path to tell me so:)
Needless to say I arrived safely in Thung Song and spent a night at Pelin's..watching “Friends” and “The actors studio” eating our faveorite side street fried chicken and drinking Chang.. :)
I had my Friday back at school and spent the weekend relaxing at home – cleaning my cottage and nesting – preparing for my first full week ahead in ages. Although I was sitting outside on the Friday evening and was told by one of the teachers that I should not sit there alone. “But I always do.” “In the week all teachers are here with you. Weekends everyone go away.” “And..” “So you must go inside and not be outside in night time.” (Six pm is hardly what I call night time) In any event she continued to tell me (in broken English and very strange mime..that there is a gang of young men that walk around and inject women in the village, and then.. well.. I don't need to continue the sentence for you to understand what they do with them.. She then told me that they know that I am here as I am the only farang in the village and they would love to have me..my God. Naturally I was shocked and rather upset.. I have always felt so safe here – so isolated and crime was the last of my worries – and I love being outside in the evenings..and it's the only place I can get proper (ish) internet..and the evenings are the only times that I can do that in peace without thirty kids hanging over my shoulder laughing and chatting about what I am doing – asking questions and shouting out,”Hello!!” - as that is really the only thing they know. It can be frustrating to say the least so that news was a bit of a blow. I am now in my home, locked up and safe – teachers have returned this evening – it is a Sunday, so all is well..In any event, I usually leave after school on a Friday and return on a Sunday evening for school the following day, so it's hardly something to be concerned with.
I should be getting to bed.. I have to be up bright and early and ready to take on the little ones – I have Kinder-garden tomorrow and boy do they have a lot of energy! My first full week ahead and I have Dylan's birthday this weekend – so I'm off to Krabi again – smiles for miles :) Next week I have to get to Malaysia for my Visa – and I want to get my camera from Tabitha so I have to get to Nakhon – and why not? Apparently amazing temples and such and of coarse wondrous company to go with it:) and I need to sort out my other visa's..for India and Indonesia..and now that I think of it I still have to do my other TEFL course before I leave in March..oh wow – there seems like there is so much to do and so little time – it's 2013..!! How did that happen? I remember moving in here two months ago and the end of the year seemed so far away.. and now my birthday in Feb is around the corner and before I know it March will be here and I will be on a camel with my sister in India.. sheesh..deep breath..one week at a time..:)
Lots of love and light! I'll post piccies as soon as I can get to Nakhon and get my camera from Tabitha!
Xoxo
Mushi (I found out from Hendrick that this means Vagina in German.)
nice.
