A Day Off... Not!

Wednesday, January 30. The school was out of control. Students were buzzing about. Parents were carrying bags filled with presents. Another day of classes lost to partying.

Each of the students brought a present for the class raffle and lots of presents for Teacher Meaghan. The food was out of control. We literally did not have enough shelf space for everything. I lost my desk to the collection of snacks for the party. It was a day of chaos. I have have gotten pretty good at dealing with those days, if I do say so myself. I did my best to go with the flow. I partied when they said "sanook" and taught math whenever I could fit it in. The day went off without a problem, and I won hand lotion from The Face Shop in the raffle.

After school I hurried home to finish packing for our very brief New Year's trip. Koreana and I were heading down south again. A few of our friends from orientation were going to Koh Phi Phi for the weekend, and we decided to join the group. It was a long trip for only two nights, but we really wanted to see our friends. Most of them are within 2 hours of each other and often travel together on the weekends. Koreana and I are way too far removed from the crowd to join in any spontaneous travel, so this was our chance. We packed our very small carry on backpacks, and headed to the staff party.

We were told about the staff party on our very first day at Anuban Khon Kaen. All of the foreign teachers said we wouldn't believe it. It is definitely the best staff party ever. And as soon as we arrived, I could see what the buzz was about. There was a calf rotating over a fire, two Singha beer trucks, 3 tables filled with Spy wine coolers, and food everywhere. The staff lady boys were performing and the karaoke was in full swing by the time we arrived.

By the time the raffle began most staff members were well on their way to very good nights, and the beer was still flowing. The raffle was astonishing. There were at least 10 refrigerators, 5 hot water showers, 10 microwaves, 20 televisions, 40 fans, 40 hot water heaters, sheets, towels, blankets, and even gold! I was told I don't know where the funding comes from to buy these raffle items, so for now, I'm keeping it that way. It didn't take long for me to win a very large fan. Koreana won a DVD player, and we were pretty excited. We hid our presents up in our classrooms, and headed to the bus station. But wait! Before we left Teacher Lawan gave us very, very good news! She told us that class was cancelled on Monday. No school! This was great. It was a bummer that we hadn't planned our flights for the extra day, but we were excited regardless.

Our weekend in Phi Phi was wonderful. It was great to catch up with all of our friends. And what we thought would be a group of 7, turned into about 35 CIEE people from orientation. It was crazy, but just what we wanted. We enjoyed buckets on the beach under hundreds of fireworks at the stroke of midnight, and we were still able to go on a full day snorkeling trip the next morning. With our short time on the island, we had to fit it all in! The snorkeling was the best we have done in Thailand so far. While our trip was brief we were very grateful for the time away, and excited for our day off in Khon Kaen!

We returned to Khon Kaen Saturday evening. Sunday we hung out with our new friend Paul. He was happy to have us back in town, and very jealous of our Koh Phi Phi adventures. Paul's Thai friends are also in love with Koreana, so they were psyched when they heard we were back. We went to Paul's house Sunday night and played with his puppy and attempted to talk to his Thai friends. It was really fun, and a good reminder of how much we enjoy the friends we are making in Khon Kaen.

When Monday rolled around Koreana and I slept in. It was wonderful. We were planning to see Avatar in 3D with Paul later, so we took our time getting up and started. At around 1 pm I received a phone call from Teacher Lawan. I knew she was just calling to make sure we were back from our trip. Boy, was I wrong. "School open today." What?! At first I thought she was just mixing up the words "today" and "tomorrow." But, no. School really was open. Koreana and I were in town! We weren't doing anything and we missed school. It was ridiculous. Why did she wait to call me at 1 pm? And, then she asked me if I was coming in! How ridiculous. The students had early dismissal at 2:30, but she wanted me to come in because "it really hard for me alone." Well, sorry, but I am not coming in for one hour because it's hard for you. And, I have a movie to see!

So, Koreana, Paul and I went to Avatar. It was amazing and I highly recommend it. The 3D was a little hard on my eyes, but it was totally worth it. The three of us played hooky. Paul never even received a phone call to tell him we had school! Weird. Mai pen rai!