Koh Samet and beginning of the week...
Trip Start
Jul 31, 2008
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Trip End
Jul 31, 2010
Koh Samet, Thailand
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
We went to our bungalow. I shared a room with Sarah and her boyfriend, Josh. We had a room with a bathroom, a king bed, and a double bed. It was nothing special, but it was $18 a night split between the three of us so couldn't complain too much! Another couple was staying at the same bungalows as us.
Silver Sand Beach
Their room was a little cheaper since it had one bed, but was the same per person in the end. We met back for dinner. I had sukiyaki, which I thought was a noodle stir-fry with vegetables and meet (it was the last time I had it), but this time it was a soup type meal with glass noodles and seafood- shrimp and squid. It had a bite to it, but was still excellent. I'm starting to like things a little spicier. It's gradual, but the food is really good nonetheless. After dinner, despite being exhausted from the first week here, we went out to a bar called Ploy. They have a live band and it was nice to hang out with some of the other teachers. We eventually made it to bed, much later than I wanted, but I felt I needed to be a little social.Saturday, Miss Sarah decided to get up fairly early, so we all did. It was about 9am when we headed down to Silver Sands for breakfast. Not the only restaurant, but a good one -pretty cheap and on the beach. I had French toast and a huge platter of fresh pineapple. Then we walked down a bit to find the beach where we were meeting the others. We were at the beach all day- sleeping, reading, jumping in the water every now and then, playing Frisbee, and just relaxing. We ate lunch at a restaurant right there. I had a delicious vegetable stir-fry and chicken with white rice, I guess that made up for the night before. After lunch we went about 25 feet to back to our stuff and relaxed some more
Silver Sand again
. There are all sorts of people walking around selling sarongs, blankets, fruit, bbq, and massages. I indulged in a massage. They spread out a huge sheet on the beach and you get your massage right there. It was a little awkward at first, but then you get lost in listening to the crashing of the waves and realize that no one else cares. It was definitely worth the $10 I spent! I had a full body massage and she spent a lot of time on my neck and upper shoulders, which is where I hold most of my stress. It was a great way to end the afternoon on the beach. We headed back to the bungalow to shower up and get ready for dinner.We went to Jep's for dinner. We were sitting right on the beach, but it started to sprinkle so we moved up under the overhang. Not nearly as nice, but it worked. We all got BBQ skewers, which had chicken, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, and pineapple. We also got half a baked potato and half an ear of corn that was also BBQ'd. The service wasn't that great, but food was great. From there we headed to a bar to hang out. I played some pool with the guys we were with for awhile. I was again very tired and just relaxed from my massage. I could have gone to bed after dinner, but again wanted to be at least a little social.
Sunday I woke up and Sarah was already on the beach
Where we spent ALL day Saturday
. I got ready, found Amber, Harrison, and Simon at Silver Sands so I joined them for breakfast. I had French toast again, but this time with a platter of fresh watermelon. Again, very delicious. After breakfast, I headed to the beach. We had a few hours to hang out before the speedboat came to pick us up. The sun was very hot, but luckily, the water was refreshing. It was warm, but still better than baking in the sun. When the speedboat showed up, we hopped on, found our van and headed back up to Thana City. We got home early enough to have a few hours at home to get ready for our one day of school, which was nice.Monday at school went well. I'm still trying to figure out my students and already want to change how I'm doing things in the classroom. I suppose that is a good thing though. I don't feel like I'm spending enough one- on- one time with the students and not feeling like I using my time the best with them. Part of that is still trying to get the classroom organized and I keep thinking of things I want to add to the walls so the students are constantly seeing them.
Monday night our principal hosted a little get together at Cindy's (one of the other teachers) house. Cindy has a magnificent house on a golf course. She's lived here for about 12 years and her husband is Thai
Find the gecko on the tomato!
. It was a very nice evening. Cindy always has a huge American Thanksgiving at her house that she hosts and invites both campuses. I volunteered to make pumpkin pies as long as I can use someone's oven. (minor detail eh?) It's a nice event to look forward too.We had Tuesday off for the Queen's Birthday and Thailand's Mother's Day. I slept in until 8am YAY! :-D Hey I'm used to being up a little after 5 so that's good! I went to the gym in the morning (abs already hurt- writing this Tuesday night). Came back to my quiet apartment and got the rest of my lesson planning done for the week and most for next week. In the afternoon, Jessica, Valerie and I went to Central Bangna to see a new movie that came out. It was based on a book that the Princess wrote. It was quite good. It was in Thai with English subtitles. The movie theatres here are very nice, but they show about 30 minutes of previews before hand, then they play the King's song and everyone stands, then the movie starts. The movie was about a group of college students who go to a village in northern Thailand and help them repair their school. One of the girls wants to go back to the village when she is done with school to be their teacher. Her mother is a huge business woman who builds multi million baht condos on land where schools used to be. They get into a car accident and the daughter dies. The mother finds her daughters journal, which she took everyone where with her
Leaving the Island
. She reads about the village and the school, which her daughter had so much passion for and decided to go and help. The mom has a major change of heart on things with some interesting twists in the mists. Overall, it was good. Made us teachers realize that while we are complaining about only having bits and pieces of our teacher manuals and whatnot, there are schools and children who have nothing. They are using the dirt and their farm animals to learn math and basic lessons. After the movie, we grabbed some dinner and some groceries. It was a very nice afternoon. I'm again getting tired and about to turn in for the evening. It's back to getting up early and spending time with my four little ones (the other student got taken off my roster, so looks like it'll just be four for awhile).
There are only a few pictures of Koh Samet. One of the other girls has the people pictures, but these were the two beaches we hung out at.
