Up north in another country

Can this still be Thailand? The answer, undoubtedly, is yes. Chiang Mai however, is certainly a horse of a different color than the Southern life we have grown accustomed to. Gone are the sticky big cities and chaos, and instead there are symmetrical ponds and walkways and SO many food options I might even look forward to a meal! Chiang Mai is truly the gem of the North, and I am so happy to be spellbound by its charms!
So different from where we've been, where the weather is more ruthlessly hot, the people have more lingering eyes, and the surroundings are slightly less green and certainly more flat. It is like we have entered an entire different country, and yet, somehow this is STILL Thailand, but I am beginning to understand why their is a pride war between North and South, they could not be more different! The words and dialects differ, the food is different, and the North is so much CHEAPER, I am certainly ruined now!
It took far too long to arrive, TWO awful night buses and a sweaty, polluted day in Bangkok ( though we did treat ourselves to the new Sandra Bullock flick). But, upon arriving, things seemed to be in our favor. We walked along with no plans, and seemed to stumble on the most vibrant temples and adorable coffee shops. How nice to feel that putting pen to paper could be done in an atmosphere that is CONDUCIVE and not EXCLUSIVE to artistic creation! So, we sipped iced lattes and saw so many young monks in their bright orange robes walking beside foreigners with over sized backpacks and baggy, soaked through shirts. Oh, the joys of development!

Publish Post

After our 4 dollar Thai massages we found the sun was setting, and thus the biggest attraction of Chiang Mai (other than the Panda exhibit, which Thai people are OBSESSED with) was about to commence. So, we stocked up in Baht and trudged towards the Night Bazaar, something we had only heard about, and were thrilled to find a never-ending street canopied with shops selling the most beautiful artifacts, woodwork, souvenirs, and fabrics you have ever laid eyes on! So, naturally, we indulged ourselves......and my, were our appetites large! For over two hours we let sweat drip down our brows as we stared at the stalls, then each other, trying to let our logical, fiscal minds catch up with our ravenous impulse to buy buy buy!
The colors of the market, dangling white lights and villagers from the north dressed in native garments, silver headdresses selling woven bracelets and silver pieces, are enough to make you want to stay all night. After a weary day of walking and not sleeping we found our rhythm, and suddenly had vigor pulsating through our veins! Backpacks, dresses, wooden elephants, it all seemed so precious and necessary! Though people are pushy, there is a nice feeling in Chiang Mai, no shock factor. Thai people don't gawk at us; they are used to seeing pale, snowy skin. It is empowering somehow, to not be stared out so much, and it makes one feel so much more at home, like you can meet so many more Thai people and be on their level.
So, as you can probably deduce with your cunning intelligence, I have quit enjoyed Chiang Mai, and am disappointed the time allotted for its grandeur is so little, but there is just so much to SEE and DO in this vast country!!!!

Endless Endings

Yes, this is a juxtaposition of sorts, but it FEELS like our end here has been endless! We have now said goodbye to our students, after tears and an excessive amount of photos flashing peace signs, we are preparing our next journey. It seems we have been preparing to leave for almost a month, and now it is nearly upon us. This week will be filled with cramped muscles and dreaded pink books where I have to enter in ALL my 550 students' grades and marks for the semester. Needless to say, I will need an IV with a coffee drip straight to my cranium.
These last few weeks have been good though. One weekend we went to Bangkok with Beth, saw a ridiculous Will Farrell movie involving enlarged mosquitoes, and staying in a swanky skyscraper hotel and going to night markets. Last weekend an old friend of Christine's came to our beach with his buddy and we went motorbiking up north. We found, only in Thailand I swear, a temple that house hundreds of languor monkeys. So, after seeing them and peaking in some Buddha-filled caves, we headed on to find the most SENSATIONAL beaches in Thailand that seriously NO white people know about. In this idyllic fishing village, we watched a storm blow in as we soaked our feet in the lukewarm, shallow ocean waters, and it was like watching a giant paintbrush smear the colors of the skies downward. And the beaches we found had the finest sand that when you walked it made a screeching noise beneath your feet. We got there just in time to watch the sunset and roar off home on our motorbikes in the dark.
There are no words for the beauty this country possesses. There is something to discover at every corner, and the people are so wonderfully kind and simple in their happiness that you can't help but want to soak every bit of them up. I have loved living in the South, but am ready for my journey north in two weeks to the colder, mountainous portion of Thailand (formerly known as SIAM until the 1930's).
As things come to an end here, I find myself wondering if leaving this idyllic beach will be harder than I can imagine. Though at times I want to burrow in our room and not be stared at, perhaps I will miss feeling special and unique (as I am sure my pale skin will not be praised in the US). Where else will I eat piping hot noodle soup in blazing, humid weather and not think twice? Will I really only need ONE shower a day in the US, and not 3? Hard to imagine.........and yet, it is time to head back to reality. For Thailand, in many ways IS a reality, but is also a dreamland, and part of me wants to keep it like that in my precious, guarded box of my mind. So fragile and so incredibly challenging, I know I will return to this part of the world more than once more in the future. It is a home now, thanks to the kindness of the people and sway of the trees, and of course, I have to see my students again, if only to be called, "Teacher Kiss" once again!!!!

More soon when our travels begin, one week from today!!!

Burns and Buddies

Wow! So much has happened, so many people have come and now gone!

Our little stretch of sandy home has been extremely busy lately, what with Kyle, CJ, and Beth coming here. Our house was loaded up with foam pads, blow up beach mattresses, and far too many people for one bathroom.

We started out our adventures with a trip to the ocean, carrying rum in one hand and coke in the other. Standing neck deep in the warm salty Thai waters, we were experiencing one of those unreal moments of perfection, that has been painted with a special color you can't ever quite describe to others. In the midst of that phenomenon, Christine let out a shriek that still makes me ill, and we all sprinted for the beach. When we got out, Christine had a large red welt on her upper thigh/butt. She was in tears, and we were all panicking at what creature had attacked her (and so close to us as well). After out favorite bar tender, Tong, came to the rescue and diagnosed it as a Jellyfish sting, he collected the local leaves of the beach and put them with vinegar, a poignant mixture that helped to reduce the swelling. After that incident, and a few torrential rain pours, we headed to the island of Koh Tao where we basked in the lazy ambiance of the small, undeveloped isle. We had one big day of snorkeling where we went FOUR times in a six hour period, and for the first time in my life, I saw a shark swim next to me. It was small, mind you, maybe only four or five feet long, but it still had a way of making you feel helpless and unbelievably vulnerable.
We also introduced our Chico clan to the wonders of Thai live music and clubbing. This I am afraid, can never fully be captured by the written world, and will remain one of those unique Asian mysteries that only once you have visited this bright place can you fully understand. I will say, however, that Thai songs have such a similar tune to one another that I can fully immitate almost every one (though of course me re-enactments are me saying Thai-like words that in actuality are out of tune gibberish).
On top of our island adventures, we found some amazing, bright, snake-stair cased Temples that make you feel dwarfed and insignificant in that intoxicating way that only grand Holy edifices can. Buddhism is never pompous though, on the contrary, the Monks are known for living simplistic lives, and they rely FULLY on their local communities to donate all their meals for them. They wander the burning asphalt roads like lanky orange flames. They are barefoot with a look of such peace that you want to hover around them on the off chance they may be mumbling some ancient secret that your lips could hope to mimic.
Another highlight recently, was the parade our school put on. Sriyapai, our school, is very well-known throughout the province and is especially famous for the opulence of its parades. This year, it seemed, was no different. Every kid was dressed up in elaborate outfits as we marched the streets of Chumphon for about 5km. Of course, the farangs were dripping, but we had big moist smiles none the less! I was a cowgirl (see Facebook for pics) and Christine was a baseball player (the theme of being "American" was of course obligatory). To see lines of children waiting for us to pass and screaming at our arrival was somewhat surreal, and only amplified by the fact that whole event ended in a stadium where the athletic events dominated the day.
It is strange though, because, upon writing these memories, I tend to forget how in the moment they are rather hard to digest. They are like eating an ice-cream cake from Baskin and Robbins, you love it, and eat it greedily at first, but after one slice the sugar starts to go to your head. Sometimes, you keep eating, because you want so badly to enjoy the treat, and to make the next piece as good as those first savory bites, but alas, you cannot, because there is a human limit for happiness. You can only be wide-eyed and whelmed for so long before you must emotionally hibernate. Needless to say, Christine and I are still learning how to process all these unique Thai moments, we are like a 98 Mac that tries to keep up with a 2009 model.
So, for now, we are not going hungry, emotionally or any other way.
More soon...........

Ride Sally ride!

Well, maybe not Sally (that one is for you Mom) but I sure did ride! Not a horse, as I sometimes do, but an elephant! It has been twelve years since I dared jump on the majestic animals, and the last one was at Marine World so it didn't really count.
My wondrous elephant trek began on the island of Koh Phangan. It is a lovely island where the beaches are long, white, and uncrowded. The tourists were much different on this island than the last Christine and I went to, where, as her Dad calls them, white men are with "rentals." I nearly wet myself when he belted out, "Most people rent cars on vacation, but in Thailand you can rent women!"
Ahhhhh so true Gary, so true. Christine's parents arrived over a week ago and we left for the island on a blistering day where the sun was high and strong and the ferry ride was long and bouncy. But, after a life-threatening and back-breaking tuk tuk ride to the northeast part of Phangan, we arrived to our rooms which were all glass windows facing the ocean. We explored the beach and the room and discovered many quaint beach side restaurants as well as outdoor (private) showers and no door on the bathrooms in the rooms. But, the views were incredible, and indeed there is something to be said about pulling up your blinds in the morning, with some ferocity mind you, to let the rippling aqua water pierce your sleepy eyes.
After two days of vegetating, we decided to do an organized trip and that was where we saw the blessed creatures that we got to ride (see photos on facebook for a visual play by play). There big brown eyes and sagging tough skin was all too familiar, but what I hadn't remembered was the hair the sprouted all over its monstrous body. And, of course, Christine and I got the rebellious one that continued to wander into the jungle and off the path, causing more than a few scrapes from nearby bamboo branches.
After our cowgirl riding we then spent the day on the beach and snorkeling in a small cove, where the fish were plentiful and the coral was bright. It is amazing how you can dip your face into the water and the world is silent. It constantly amazes me how beautiful our oceans are, and I am reminded how desperately we need to conserve them.
On Tuesday we found out school was cancelled that Thursday and Friday because of Swine Flu (I know I know, how wonderfully horrible) so we took the parents to another beach on the mainland by where we live and proceeded to swim in their hotel pool and frolic about in the cool water like children!
Now, we are preparing for our friends to visit; one from Orange County, one from Germany, and one coming from Espana, though ALL are Chico people, born and raised!
So, here comes the never-ending craziness that will ensue starting Thursday, and we are SO ready to have them here to remind us we DO have amazing people in our lives!
More later........ ;-)

Malaysia, you can have your Dengue!

Yes, I have resorted to confronting entire countries, especially ones that may or may not have given me Dengue Fever. But before we discuss that.....
Malaysia was a wonderful escape for Christine and I. We left on a sticky Saturday night from Chumpon and jetted south to Hat Yai, right on the Malay/Thai border. After very little sleep, we arrived at 4:30am, blurry-eyed and stumbled to the nearest travel agency to wait four hours for the bus to Penang. We were surprisingly upbeat though, as we struggled to eat coffee and runny fluorescent eggs, perhaps because we were so grateful to have escaped all the drama and ridiculousness our lives had been encompassed by. From blow-ups in the office between our never-ending male colleagues, to receiving wool traditional Thai outfits that they actually expect us to WEAR in this heat, we were ready to go to another country, and to an island at that :-)
After border control and a few nauseating hours in a hot bus, we found a bustling little island that looked like something of a relic. The buildings, though crumbling, were somehow highly enchanting. There were no sprawling beaches, but instead were pockets like Little India where Bollywood reigned King and the booming music and poignant colors put on a show throughout the night. It was like being in India, and was a cruel teaser at best. We had such amazing Indian food which we ate with our hands in the true native fashion, and with our full bellies we wandered back to our fabulous hotel where the a/c was blasting and Internet was included. Most foreigners admit that, at times, they need to indulge in something a little more like home, and for us, Penang was just that.
Thai culture is, indeed, very unique, exotic, and tantalizing, but I am a California girl that is spoiled in her ability to eat international cuisine and see different color skin, hair, and eyes. Penang, being an old British colony and part of the East India Company, is a perfect little melting pot.The Chinese dominate the island with both people and cuisine, but Indians sneak their potent curries in, and of course the Malaysian thick brown noodles and language is the slightly crooked backbone. It is a strange body makeup, and yet it functions so well, all as one!
Our two days there, though by definition were for VISA purposes only, were delightful. We saw so many Temples and Mosques and loved walking into fancy hotels like we were actually staying there. The water was lovely too, though not accessible, and we had one afternoon where we ventured down precarious wooden planks to the fishing boats and saw many floating homes. I have to say though, the architecture was my favorite. It was breathtaking and decrepit all at once. These amazing, almost Southern balconies leaping from columns on big white houses that have mold and weaving vines crawling all over. It was the perfect juxtaposition of old and new, as the skyscrapers and newest stark white hotel loomed above us with the thick Malaysian heat........oh what a trip we had!!!
But, I digress......

Teacher teacher!!!

This is what I am called, in class, by 50 new students every hour. They LOVE to yell TEACHER and even more so, they love pointing out my pale skin and curly hair. Never have I been stared at this much in my entire life. I mean, fair enough, Christine and I whizzing by on a motorbike is definitely a sight to see, but when you are one of 20 white people in a city, everything is amplified. But the students are so excited to learn, they want so desperately for me to give them a sticker or to write something on their paper that they are literally FALLING over me at my desk. Their entire school system is based on "perfection" so when I write GREAT! or something to that effect, they are downright giddy. Of course they are mocking me left and right, in Thai of course, but my skin is pretty strange looking (and shockingly this is the most tan I have ever been in my life). I am greeted by thousands of students a day, with big smiles and pointed fingers. 500 of the students are mine, and I really do adore them. They are so easy to make laugh, and though they scream and punch each other, they always let me get through the lesson and the gems in front make the ones in back a bit more tolerable. Our school is called Sriyapi and we have 3,500 kids who on some days where girl scout and boy scout outfits, or military and nursing ones.
The biggest downfall, is that there is no A/C so we are always sweating. However, each day gets a little cloudier and cooler so it is getting better. At the end of the day though, I get to race back to my ocean oasis called "The Cabana" by the Thais, and everything slips away with that perfect rhythm only the ocean can create. I take my shoes off and walk bare footed to the sand, and sink into the earth!!!
We just moved out of our old jungle abode and are now in a new and improved house that doesn't have two-foot long snakes or bed bugs like the last one. We really love it, and it even has a kitchen so we have been cooking Thai food in the evenings and watching wax drip from candles resting in beer bottles while we laugh at the crazy things our students did that day. We are all such teachers, boasting about favorite ones!!!!
So, as the rainy season approaches we all are taking a deep breath and exhaling the heat from our lungs so we can inhale the freshness of the falling water. We are going to try and embrace the rain and not let it hinder us in any way! I think ocean kayaking is on the itinerary for this weekend..........

More stories from the classroom soon ;-)

Land of Smiles

Greetings from Thailand!
The weather is absolutely amazing here, that is if you like sweating and heat so thick you can drink it like a fruit smoothie. A nice change though from the Baltic weather we've been surrounded by most of our trip. We arrived after a rather peculiar if not precarious start which included Bangkok being on International news with their riots over former PM Thakskin. According to the media, Bangkok was under siege, as was their airport, and we stood in Munich with our heads tilted up towards the big screen as we and forty others that realized that CNN was replaying a story filled with guns and mayhem in our destination city. Of course the Germans seemed unfazed, and to be honest after a big pint of beer things seemed less worrisome than earlier. We contemplated not getting on the plane, and were convinced we may have to teach in Vietnam instead, and then we arrived in tropical Bangkok with Buddha statues and open arms. Everything was fine, and my already wavering faith in the media has been dropped to an even more skeptical status.
Of course, we also landed during the Thai New Year which turned out to be an interesting if not moist event. We were soaked with buckets of water during this holiday which celebrates and remembers the dead. The Thai people go to these tall, pointed statues where they put the ashes of the dead and all around them build many identical sand castles. It is also a time where monks pray intensely to Buddha, and local people pour water over him (as they do to the people too). So, after two days of acclimating to the heat and time change in our "hot box" room (which was three feet by seven and had NO windows) Christine and I packed our bags and headed south to Suratthani for a job interview. While we awaited an answer from an employer we went to the island Koh Samui. What an adventure! The beaches were white and endless and the sky melted into the ocean in a nearly redundant view of perfection. The best part was that we had ocean side bungalows where, when the rain raged down on us like BB guns, we sat on our thatched porch and just listened. Never have I heard thunder make such a cacophony of noise in my life. It was like an orchestra above us somewhere in the pink and purple lightning, making even the waves seem silenced. The rain was more like a mist of needles than anything I had seen, and on multiple occasions I was the last person standing on the beach, letting myself be covered completely with warm rain.
Of course, there are always good stories about the beach, and our favorites are the bed bugs that ate us the first night, and the GIANT three inch long cockroach that took over our room the third. Though, I must say the most shocking surprise of all were the white men on the back of motorcycles with Thai women clinging behind. I must say, I was warned of this, but to SEE it over and over again caused me to, more than once, give some dirty stares to equally dirty male individuals.
In Suratthani Christine and I lived for the vibrant night market. At seven, as the sun went down, the many eclectic vendors popped up selling everything from mint milk to Dior eyeliner. We ate Pad Thai every night that was made by the most wonderful older Thai woman. She had such an effect on us! She mixed the noodles, sauce, and peanuts on a large wok about two feet in diameter and the heat evaporating from it was a wonderful scent of grease and sweet chilies. She grew to know us, and greeted us with a hearty smile that we eagerly returned one hundred fold as only Americans apparently know how. After turning down the job through the Suratthani office, we decided to take a leap of faith and head back to Bangkok to sign with the company called AYC Thailand who would place us in public schools in Chumphon (still in the south but three hours north of Suratthani).
The train ride was something I won't soon forget. We bought tickets three minutes beforehand and noticed a plethora of foreigners unusual for that part of Thailand. We bought the third class tickets which were about seven dollars, and watched as everyone else (the white others I mean) got onto the first and second cars. We were on the 16th. I still think we are perhaps the first white people EVER to have done this, and never have we been more stared at in our lives. Open mouths, large, deep brown eyes pierced us as we waddled down the rows covered in our two cumbersome packs. The blondie and red head then sat down and OH the faces of the Thai couple who had to be next to us! Clearly they feared being ostracized by being in our vicinity. But, we won them over in the end and they were truly the most beautiful young pregnant couple ever. They touched our lives with their sweetness and clear love for one another, and being on that train for twelve hours, 9pm to 9am, was something I would never trade. Half the people laid on the ground on newspapers, barely fitting under the metal seats, and yet it was like a community. Everyone was eventually sprawled, touching a stranger, and as the night air blew in they dropped into an easy sleep as Christine and I fidgeted with our long legs and pale skin. Finally, we decided to lie on the ground with nothing, and the couple next to us, after we dozed for about thirty minutes, ended up throwing a jacket over us (like we could ever be cold in Thailand) to comfort us. Bless them! I am continually fascinated with language, or the absence there of, and how I can speak not a word of Thai, and the couple not one word of English, and yet we truly became friends after that journey. I think they need to to see white people in the third class as much as we needed to see what the third class entailed and how Thai people travel their country. So, we learned from each other, through tilted smiles and many hand gestures, and somehow I could start to hear the rhythm of their young love, as they could sense the joy for life that lay within us. Somehow not using words made it so much better, and as we hopped of the train in Bangkok to a gloomy, humid day, they leaned out the window and gave us a hearty wave. I guess it may not seem like one of those things that should really impact someone, in fact it was uncomfortable, smelly, boring and strange, and yet these things are all what make the trip worth taking; THESE things are why we are where we are and are loving it! It is not always easy, but damn it, it makes one hell of a story. And of course, I do enjoy sharing a good story :-)
So, we are sitting in Bangkok, eating more iced coffees than is wise, and just recently signed our lives away to teach until the end of September. Our guesthouse has enough fans to make the air reminiscent of cool, and the colors, as usual, are poignant and uplifting, similar to the food!
That is all for now (my fingers are cramping and you MUST bee tired of my rambling.....)
Sawasdeeka!!!

Peregrino Status

Yes! I am officially a Peregrino, which means ¨Pilgrim¨in Spanish, and thus have a Pilgrim passport. I set out from Sahagun in northern Spain and proceeded to walk 170km, or about 95 miles, to the town of Ponferrada. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

The entire Camino de Santiago (the name of the walk) takes about six weeks, so we did very little. It goes from the southwest of France to Portugal and goes through hundreds of adorable small towns that enchant you with their friendly people and old crumbling porches. As Spain is, there are thousands of hidden treasures. Some of my favorites were finding Wisteria dangling from stone balconies, mountains that never ended and were coated in mist, and of course bocadillos (sandwiches) that were at least a foot long!

Every day we walked between 20 and 30km (12 to 18 miles) and took plenty of breaks in the long blades of early summer grass. We had cerveza every afternoon as a mid-day treat and were given free tapas which ranged from freshly baked bread to potato pies. The honking of cars became like a rhtymic breath by the end, seeing as we stuck out with our packs and grundgy clothes. Everyone cheered us on, and the phrase of the trek was, ¨Buen Camino¨ which we would yell out victoriously to all we passed. To whom the trek is for is unsure, which is the real beauty behind it. It is for those that are in amazing shape as well as those who struggle with injuries or clicking knees. It doesn´t matter because all that is expected of you is to keep your eyes wide open and let the scenery and the energy of the Pilgrimage soak into you.

We returned to Madrid last Friday evening and have had a wonderfully lazy weekend watching videos and cooking curry in Beth´s cozy apartment. We went to the park today for Easter and are going to celebrate the evening with more movies and some chocolate.

We are all packed and all that remains is for us to wake up in the morning and shlep our bags to the airport. However, I am happy to report we both have shed more than we have gained, and therefore have lighter packs. We now have seasonal clothes for warm weather, so goodbye frigid UK and enchanting Czech snowfall, we want to sweat and eat peanut curry!!!

Wish us luck, as we are heading into Bangkok during a festival. We have a job interview lined up down south in Surrathani and if that doesn´t work out we will hop on a (very cheap) train to Chiang Mai up north. So bring on the Buddha´s and smiles of Thai locals, we are heading into the fabulously sweltering lands of SouthEast Asia!!!

Bohemia Bound

Oh it is so good to be back in Bohemia with Kafka and Kundera and Hrabel! I have missed Praha so much, but now I am back and it is COLD but lovely. I have met up with all my old Czech friends and am feeling so lucky to see everything and everyone with new eyes. I have walked across the Charles Bridge, gone to the Jewish Quarter, wandered in Mala Stratna beneath the Prague Castle and climbed Petrin Hill. The cafes smell just as lovely as ever and cappuccinos still warm my soul. I have just been taking it all in, as the snow covers this ancient city to when the sun beams down upon it making the colored buildings look like bright swipes of the brush on blank canvas. It is mesmorizing, and the Czech people! They are so welcoming to my fumbling Czech accent when I attempt to speak it, and they are so humble about their own Enlgish speaking. I feel so encouraged to say my entire limited knowlege of Czech to them!
I am realizing how much different two years has made in my traveling. This time around I am seaking out history and literature everywhere and literally am soaking myself in it. I just was not as interested before, or perhaps was too overwhelmed with schoolwork or social obligations to do more. I picked up a book by Vaclav Havel, the first Czech President after 89, and am so ennamored. The Czech people are heroic and have been through more hardship and oppression than I can ever fathom. Everything from the warm creamy Goulash with thick dumplings to the thousand year old buildings is contradicting the forecast and for that I am so grateful.
Christine loves the city too, though we have had some amazing side-trips as well. We have visited Czesky Krumlov, a small castle town, and Znojmo. Znojomo is a beauitful city right in the vineyards of the Czech Republic. We got to stay in above a cellar in the most adorable room and wander the cellar finidng delicious wine! I love California, but this wine was even better I think. We have also met some amazing people on this trip, some American girls that were kindred spirits as well as some very sweet Colombian and Chilean men who we salsa danced with. We are still waiting for our friend Sarah to arrive with Alexis and then our big last weekend will begin!
So, I will let myself devour the scenery and scribble away in my new journal as I try and digest the feast of beauty and creativity around me in this Bohemian Paradise, for in five days I will be back in Madrid and then on the Camino de Santiago up north for a while.
I will have a velky pivo, big beer, for you all!
Na Shledano!!!

P.S. Obama is in Praha and therefore the American Embassy is CLOSED and we can not get background checks........sweet.

Peninsulas and Rugby Players

Yes, you read correctly, rugby players. We met some of those specific athletes in a pub one night and danced the night away with them which was of course not entirely unpleasant! I was in Cork with Christine and her college friend Sarah who is studying in Grenada and we had a few drinks and decided to attack the adorable town of Cork! We had great fun there for three days and got a feel for the city center and University that was nearly too magical for words. Before Cork we attempted Dublin, which for anyone who wants to go just don´t. Yes, there is Trinity College and the Guiness Factory and all that jazz but seven Euro for a pint? Pain in me arse! We did manage to meet a group of guys out on a stag weekend (Bachelor party) and had some good memories there, one which ended in a very affectionate English lad for me ;-)
After Dublin and Cork we said goodbye to Sarah and Christine and I headed down to the Dingle Peninsula which is located on the Ring of Kerry. There we found ourselves in the outdoors and residing in a very cozy hostel that was nearly empty. Each evening the owner would light a fire and we read our books by the flames. We went on amazing hike that led us to a lake and over far too many barbed wire fences for sheep which, at moments, made me feel as though we were caged in so as to be hunted like The Most Dangerous Game. I am pleased to report that I suffered no injuries from the potruding wire but must admit my pride did suffer slightly when I ate in on a slipper rock while crossing a creek. As the Northern Irish would say, ¨SKUNDERED!¨ I realized that while I enjoy a fun night out and the overall ambiance of a noisy, smoky pub I really find greater joy from being in the vast outdoors and walking on grass and mud rather than cobblestone. So our souls were rejuvinated just in time to head back to Belfast and spend more time there.
As luck would have it Christine and I were taken in by an amazing older couple who own a RANCH outside the city and who insisted on taking us riding.....on the beach.....at sunset. Notice the dramatic pauses, they are intentional. I got to attempt riding English style and let me say, I much prefer the security of the Western saddle and the lovely, secure horn for the OH SHIT moments that often occur when riding such a fickle but loveable animal. I got to shovel horse poop too which to some may seem a punishment, but to those horse lovers out there you know how pleasant it is to even be around the distinctive aroma of them. I must say I would move to Ireland in an instant if I could be on such a secluded, magical ranch as the one we were delighted with. And we even were entertained with tales about the husband´s job, which was touring with Van Morrisson (he does all their sound). I always say that one does not really know a country until they see its more rural areas and frankly, that is where you find the Irish gems. The people are so stereotypical its painful as they stop to ask you how your day is while walking a shaggy canine. Old couples wander around waiting to give you a toothy grin and I for one have been completely enchanted with the whole green island, and have loved learning that there is a very big difference between the North and South, and yet really none at all. But hey, isn´t that always the way???

Green Isle to Spanish Sunshine

Hola amigas!
I have not written in a VERY long time, which I think is a good way of gadging my level of interest in where I am? Or, perhaps I was just lazy. I am currently in Madrid, Spain but don´t want to talk about that until I discuss Ireland.
I have been so very lucky to meet some wonderful people in Belfast, Northern Ireland, all of which are within Christine´s lovely community. They graciously took us in, fed us, and drove us all over. We also had Beth and Craig visit, which is when we decided to visit the Giant´s Causeway and northern coast. There are no words for the round stones that decorated the sea, they were mythical stepping stones that can only be found in that sacred spot and then right over the sea in Scotland. They say a giant built this causeway in order to cross over to his Scottish love! We had lovely sunny weather too, something I am realizing is very rare in Ireland!
Christine and I became immersed in her old community and had fun helping out with some projects and going to pubs and youth groups with all her friends.
Belfast is one of the most interesting cities I have ever been to in that it is segregated. Church and State are so intertwined that one forgets where one begins and the other ends. There is a peace wall down the middle that seperates the Protestants from the Catholics, and thus Belfast is torn between two religions. The important thing I learned is that it is not JUST about religion, but is more a question of their very identity. If you are Protestant, you are loyal to the Queen and thus view yourself as British. The Catholics of course consider themselves Irish. Christine and I mostly were around people that are working with the Belfast youth in attempt so bring together Protestant and Catholic kids and stop the rift that has so troubled their small but proud country.
More on Ireland in a bit....I am heading back to the apartment here in Madrid :-)

The hand that holds Sterling, holds Scotland

Oh how the Highlands rejuvenate the soul!!! There are no words for the landscape north of Edinburgh. Rolling hills (they claim are mountains) covered in snow and swirling streams of water. Sheep peacefully grazing and highland cows wandering aimlessly. Castles there are like Starbucks, they are on every corner and are a guaranteed high. You see one and you want to drink it one tip of the cup, letting its warmth sink down your throat! And yet it leaves you wanting more, and the next day you have a headache if your eyes can't find one. We were lucky enough to go to Loch Ness on a sunny, flawless day and thus were able to see every speck of beauty out our tour windows. As usual we were aware of how different we are, such as us running and jumping through the fields on our bus breaks while others walked around with heavy shoulders. For those of you who saw our pictures, you can tell we are ones who want to fully absorb it all, in every way we can!

After Loch Ness and the castle there we moved on to Inverness, where we went hiking on the Great Glenn Way and wandered the city. After that we took the train to Dundee where my friend Matt picked us up and let us stay at his lovely flat. The next day was the most magical of all, and the fullest too. We went to the infamous St. Andrews and experienced the posh golf course there. We walked along the beach on another perfect day, and marvelled at the old stone around us. After that we went to a small town up the coast called Creole, where Matt's darling parents live. We wandered the oceanfront with them and went to a warm pub for fish-n-chips, and of course looked at embarrassing photos of Matt as a baby :-) Then came my personal favorite, something I have DREAMED of doing for so so long! Can you guess? I have always wanted to see it snow on the beach, and not just flakes but snow that sticks. I couldn't imagine what it would feel like, that slick soft wetness of snow mixed with the grainy earthy sand. It was absolutely freezing but we didn't care, we danced and jumped and played and embraced this phenomenon. It truly was a magical day, and I was so glad I got to see more of Scotland than Edinburgh, for I know cities are not a proper portrayal of a country. Now I am in Belfast, and will report more when I slow down enough!

Murder in Glencoe

Does everyone know the story of the MacDonalds and the Campbells? The MacDonalds invited a neighboring clan, the Campbells, to a festive dinner party one cold, winter night at their dwelling in majestic Glencoe. Glencoe is surrounded by snow-laced peaks and bitter air, and when the Campbells arrived they were counting on this cold weather to act in their favor, and so came the tradgedy. The Campbells slaughtered the MacDonalds, using their hospitality and open doors against them to savagely betray their neighbors. The MacDonald women and children fled to a nearby cave that was meant for the most dire of circumstances, and the men stayed and battled. As their men were being slaughtered above the women and children hid in the cave, knowing they would need to stay there for many months. After the Campbells claimed victory they realized there were missing members of the clan, but decided to let those women and children fend for themselves in the freezing, barren land and perish in their own manner. So the rest of the MacDonalds stayed in the cave for one year, and as they finally peaked their heads out, realized their enemies were gone, but surely not far. The rest of the MacDonalds fled to Northern Ireland, where they stayed in a castle by the sea, where on a rare clear day they could see thier ravished homeland of Scotland only seventeen miles away.
This story sits so heavily with so many Scottish people that in 2002 they had a reconciliation with both clans where they forgave one another for the acts that occured hundreds of years ago. It is said that if your surname is Campbell, to this day, you will be treated differently in school.

Grad Parties, Nessie and Fire Alarms

So, we are DONE! Have our certificates in hand, backpacks on our shoulders, and smiles on our faces! Well, I should say we do NOW, last week was too many hugs goodbye and cleaning products. We had a big party at our apartment Thursday night then proceeded to drink until three. Of course we had school the next morning, and it being Europe and all, the program bought us champagne to toast our completion at noon. There was laughing crying and loving bickering throughout the weekend and we traded sleep for reminiscing and pints. Now we have moved out of our apartment, said goodbye to the lovely people in our CELTA program, and are wandering around the Scottish Highlands, My friend Becca flew in to Edinburgh from Wales on Saturday, and since then we have been busy with walking, drinking and touring. We stayed at a hostel Saturday night in Edinburgh where we had an EXCESSIVELY drunk Aussie pound on our door in a most frightening manner. After that we though the worst was over.......then he pulled the fire alarm. That's right, 4am and there are about fifty of us standing in the street in the freezing cold watching as a fire engine searches our hostel. To say the least, we didn't sleep well, but at least we got a nice anecdote out of it!

Today has been simply amazing (though we were zombies through most of it). We caught the 8am tour to Loch Ness and the Ulquart Castle sitting on it. We had the perfect weather, sunny skies! It was frigid, but the pictures look lovely. We saw snow on the jagged mountains and got up close to Highland cows, all while trying not to throw up on the bus. We loved the castle, even more so because it is nearly ruins now. It is like a giant come over and stepped on a child's Lego's.....but somehow it manages to be breathtaking in all its crumbling. We have a nice hostel tonight and are so excited to go to bed early. Tomorrow we want to wander around Inverness and do some hiking to lift our souls! But at this point they are already on the rise, for it is finally sinking in that we are on vacation! No more twelve hour days and grammatical torture, just writing in coffee shops and loitering around lovely forgotten buildings. What can be better? Right now, it seems like nothing could be.......

So this is what the end feels like....

Yeah, that's right, we have FOUR more days of classes! I have two more lessons to teach (one on the present perfect tense and one on reading) and then I am done! Christine and I will be qualified to teach English internationally, and we actually feel prepared enough to do it! I am so glad I didn't know just how difficult this program would be, but now that I have been through it I am proud to say I did. I have never had so much information crammed into my head in a one month period! I analyze language like its my job....oh wait, it is!
We went out to the pub last night with our students and the other trainees, and once again drank heartily and bonded. We are having a CELTA graduation party at our flat next week on our last night and plan on decorating and going out in a big way. There are definitely some people in our program who are more fun than others, but overall we have no bad seeds. And of course, most of them have lovely accents. The funny thing is they mimic US all the time, what a role-reversal huh?
This week I moved down to the elementary class and I am enjoying it immensely. It is not nearly as stressful, seeing as the course material isn't as difficult, so I can contain the flock of butterflies procreating in my stomach. I feel as though the elementary level students are more rewarding for me as a teacher because you can HEAR them getting better every day! The intermediate are already great speakers, you are just fine-tuning their grammar. I have also been observing 'real' teachers in the mornings, and I have gotten to stay with the same class of all Saudi Arabian students. They are EXTREME elementary level students and I find that the teacher has such a more relaxed and flexible schedule. I really enjoy the Saudi students too, perhaps I will have to go there??? They are a bit on the flirty/inappropriate side however, but I guess that means they will listen to me more?
Now Christine and I are planning our post-Edinburgh adventures, something that seemed infinitely far away just last week. I have booked hostels for Inverness and Christine has our ferry tickets to Belfast. I am buying our tickets to Prague tomorrow, as well as our Madrid ones. We think that, from about mid-March on, we will stay in Spain for a while and work under the table. Beth and her lovely two sisters will be there and there is an unbelievable demand for English teachers. Apparently our CELTA certificate that we're receiving (like the TEFL but more competitive) will give us higher pay and first shot at the good jobs. Financially, we can't afford to not work for very long, especially with so much travelling ahead. I of course am excited to be forced to practice my Spanish all the time, so Spain will be a good hub for us. We do want to leave Europe though, in time, but perhaps not until summer. Our hearts still are pointed towards Southeast Asia, but perhaps mine has never left South America.....I mean, who could say no to living in Buenos Aires for seven months? Certainly not me.
So, we are trying to enjoy our last full weekend in Edinburgh, though our looming fourth and final assignment awaits as well as our lesson plans for next week (which are for the first time totally created by us with no help from our tutors). We will be sad to leave this place and will miss seeing the mythical castle that sits on the sharp, craggy rocks above us, but then again, the castle in Prague will make a fine replacement :-)

Pub Night Bonding

We are finally settling in and getting used to the British way of life and their.....um....directness? And we are half done so we are so excited that it is downhill from here. But of course, as we are getting closer to the end we find ourselves becoming more and more attached to the lovely people all around us. Our students, which we have become quite close with through our student/teacher pub nights, have become dear to our hearts and we are sad at the idea of leaving them. It feels so good to be around people from all over the world. Just speaking with them, learning from them, is such a blessing. We have a couple from Venezuela that we particularly love, and they have told us we must come visit them. I of course am not adverse to the idea and hope to one day take them up on their offer!

Today is our first beautiful satruday, and we are going to shop at some thrift stores and walk in the Royal Gardens just to feel the sun hit our shoulders! Who knew one could feel so down and isolated without seeing the sun? We do have loads of work to do, but we have decided we refuse to do any work while its light out, so after 4pm our fun will be over. We are meeting a friend of Christine's, who lives in Edinburgh, tomorrow. We are very much looking forward to seeing him (meeting him in my case). We also hope to see some of our students this weekend for maybe a coffee or some traditional spanish comida!

O.K., one short anecodote that I can't pass up:
We were using the internet at a pub when the ManU v. Chelsea football match came on. So, of course, we watched and met some nice guys who we became friends with. Earlier in the day I had boldly decided to wear a plaid top that, though I was hesitant, seemed like it was appropriate upon my glance in the mirror. At the pub and older and belligerent older man came up DEMANDING to know what my tartan clan was. As you can imagine, I looked at him with wide, confused eyes filled with panic. The British guys did not know what to do either. Christine told the man we were American but he was insistant upon my answering his question. After hounding me and hovering dangerously close to my face for several minutes, the waitress finally came over and told him to leave us alone. I was mortified as he left, and will from now on NEVER dare to wear plaid in Scotland. Thank goodness I have a "good strong Scottish last name" to carry me, because apparantly my dressing habits are highly offensive! What can I say? Only in Scotland!

5 Quid and Loads of Curry

So, we are officially ONE FOURTH of the way through! Instead of celebrating though, we find ourselves dreading week two. I wish I could say the weather is helping, but between the ferocious winds and hail it is making things even more bleak. But, Christine and I are saving each other because we seem to be able to laugh at it all, and of course day dream a lot. There are some great things about living here, like the curry! It is like our Mexican food in the states, it is everywhere and very inexpensive. We also get to walk by the Royal Gardens and the castle every time we walk to school which can't help but lift our spirits. What can I say, we are both romantics! And of course the accents are lovely, though we have found our American one seems detrimental in our studies. We often have moments where are jaws are dangling open, as though they have been detached, because we can't understand what our Scottish friends our saying. Two of our guy friends in the program actually held their pinky fingers out and up while drinking a BEER! I have done this too, I will admit, but not since my toddler days when I was mimicking the British in some inaccurate, snobby accent. I didn't think actual BLOKES did this on a regular basis.
Friday was very fun, seeing as I finished my lesson by four and we got to go to the pub with our students and other classmates. I must admit that I spoke some spanish with my Spanish students, at which point someone in my program (who I will keep anonymous) told me I was not ALLOWED to speak to my students in any language but ENGLISH! Oh the audacity! Clearly I ignored him, and ended up explaining several confusing english phrasal verbs to my students by explaining it more clearly in spanish (which is quite impressive because my spanish is absolute shite). Needless to say, there are some people in our program who are a little more *focused* on the program then we are, to put it gently. Perhaps it is the American way to want to have fun along the way, because we seem to be the only ones who are determined to not let this program digest us too quickly.
Yesterday we refused to think about school, and so forced ourselves to embrace the day. After a good sleep we found a gym down the stree that was massive, and Christine was able to swim laps while I pottered about on the bike and elliptical. It was an amazingly bright and cheery facility, providing quite a juxtaposition to the rest of the city!

But enough rambling, we are happy clams, I promise :-)

Are we in Russia?

Yes, that is how it feels here at times. It is absolutely frigid outside when we leave our warm nest in the morning. The cold may stem from the complete lack of sunlight. It doesn't get light out until 8:30am and the sun sets between 4 and 4:30. How does that make one feel? Well, a little depressed to say the least. The good news is that Christine and I hardly have time to notice it, what with our 40 minute lessons we have every other day that is piled on top of even more assignements. We escape our school around 6 only to return home to looming stacks of work. But, we still enjoy the actions and we really do adore our students. Why is it that everything they say in broken english is so ADORABLE?

We are learning so much here, about grammar and structure and teaching, but the truth is our minds are still focused on our great adventures to come. We have decided we are going to Inverness and Loch Ness for a couple of days in the first week of February. We plan to do some hiking and then make our way down to Dundee, where my friend lives. After visiting with him we will cross over into Northern Ireland and begin our Belfast tour. Christine of course has infinite contacts there and surely will show us a good time. After that, it is nothing but travel and leisure around Ireland, soaking up all its Celtic magic! As for after that.....we don't know, and we kind of like it that way ;-)

So, wish us luck as our first week comes to an end. We are almost a fourth of the way through, thank goodness! We are looking forward to Friday, when we get to go to the pub with our classmates and students :-) It is the small pleasures here in Scotland!!

Hope everyone is well and toasty.

Cheers,
Kristen

Scotland Hospitality

Hello everyone!
Where to begin? I am officially in the land of rough accents and bitter cold weather, and yet somehow everything seems to be so cozy and peaceful here. People relax and wander around without a care in the world, and though they aren't particularly vivacious, they have lovely hearts that are modestly swelling all the time.

My school is lovely and looks more like a house than anything else. We meet our teacher and found out that our program has two other Americans, a Spanish girl, and the rest are British. There are only twelve, so we should all know one another quite well by the end.

I wish I could say that my American travel companions and I are above mimicking the Scottish, but alas, we seem to delve into a twirling of the tongue at every sentence and are spatting retched accents all the time. No one seems to mind too much, I am sure they are used to it by now.

New Year's was something I shall never forget! It really was too amazing for words, but I shall try! It was magical, with Beth, Sonja, Christine, Ellen, and Heather and the whole Old Town of Scotland lit up like the most grandiose fair I have ever seen! Lights every where, and men in kilts!!! We had beers in our bellies and mittens and scarves and were surrounded by a modest 200,000 others and fair rides. We went on one terrifying one that I still am shaking at. We met so many people from all over the world, including two very handsome Scottish men clad in kilts. We even had our own singing group as we belted out "Shook Me All Night Long." Oh my, my heart is still fluttering at that evening; it was truly an even that will stay with me my entire life.

Matt, Nat, and Karolina (Peru friends/volunteers) are all coming tomorrow and I can't wait. We will somehow manage to fit them on the floor of our apartment and keep them as toasty as we can. I am sure we will not be home much, seeing as they love pubs as much as we do. Our small group also is going on a tour this weekend to Loch Ness. It will be so fun to reminisce about our Peruvian adventures and what everyone has been up to. It is nice that Matt is Scottish because he can be our translator ;-)

The bad news.......our apartment was a scam but we were so lucky to find one in a day. It is more expensive, 700 pounds for 5 weeks, and its a one-bedroom. We do love it, and though we feel a little violated about the scam, we are happy now and have gotten the WORST day over with (please let it have been the worst). That night when we got here was absolute hell, no other word for it. On top of finding we had no place to live and had come during the busiest time of the year for Edinburgh we were still struggling physically from a miserable flight. We had NO lights the whole ten hours, along with no television and music. It would not have been that bad if the whole plans had banned together and laughed it off, but it was only five rows. How lucky are we? And we got a whopping 25 pounds off our next Virgin Atlantic flight. How very sweet of them. So, I was a little upset at being robbed of my coveted reading time, but little did I know what lay ahead!

But now we can laugh and be at peace in our new place with lovely landlords. We are now enjoying our neighborhood, and have found that food here is vey cheap indeed, including Indian! I am at an enchanting coffee shop about fifty feet from our flat where everything is carved by hand, even the high-backed chairs. It is called Black Medicine and I know it will be my new corner to nestle in (especially since our flat has no internet). We begin school Monday, and Christine and I are excited to delve into scholastic life once again.

I hope everyone had a magical New Year, and that 2009 brings you all the blessing and dreams you deserve.

Cheers!