KLK: Klädkammare (clothes/storage closet)
K/F: Kylskåp/Frys (refrigerator/freezer)
G: Garderobe (coat closet)
Love,
D
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Cat vs. L
Dear D,
This photo was taken a while ago. That's the cat that is SO loud and sleeps on my porch every other day of the week. Now I have proof that he's trying to take over my porch. Notice he's on the chair further from my door.
Well, now he's moved to the near chair. I decided it was time to take action...
Creeping closer.
Poking with straw commences.
Cat begins yowling in pain.
JK.
He's yawning...
Still poking...
And he's back to sleep!??
Love,
L
This photo was taken a while ago. That's the cat that is SO loud and sleeps on my porch every other day of the week. Now I have proof that he's trying to take over my porch. Notice he's on the chair further from my door.
Well, now he's moved to the near chair. I decided it was time to take action...
Creeping closer.
Poking with straw commences.
Cat begins yowling in pain.
JK.
He's yawning...
Still poking...
And he's back to sleep!??Love,
L
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
15 days!
Dear D,
Gahhhh you're visiting soon! A towel and toothbrush await you. I was in Phuket this weekend and my new appliances purchased there are rocking my world. I can actually cook food now! And make toast!
I like that new weather tracker you stuck in the sidebar :) I definitely prefer where I am... it's September! Why is it already so cold in Stockholm?!
Off to market to buy fruit and cream puffs. mm.
love,
L
Gahhhh you're visiting soon! A towel and toothbrush await you. I was in Phuket this weekend and my new appliances purchased there are rocking my world. I can actually cook food now! And make toast!
I like that new weather tracker you stuck in the sidebar :) I definitely prefer where I am... it's September! Why is it already so cold in Stockholm?!
Off to market to buy fruit and cream puffs. mm.
love,
L
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Slow down for Kokopelli
Dear L,
This sign by the preschool beside my house always makes me chuckle.
Love,
D
This sign by the preschool beside my house always makes me chuckle.
"Slow down! Kokopelli and friends are all over the street and strung out on speed doing assorted activities!"
Love,
D
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Hello Kitty
Dear D,
We play with the kids after school most days. Usually it's puzzles, hopscotch, twister, soccer, etc. But lately we've been photocopying pages out of a Hello Kitty coloring book too and creating a coloring corner. I didn't expect the kids to be so excited about it though. It's like Pokemon cards to them and they all want at least one of each kind we bring out! Kids have even been lying and stealing from each other to get their hands on them!! When actual coloring happens though the results are pretty fun!
Love,
L
We play with the kids after school most days. Usually it's puzzles, hopscotch, twister, soccer, etc. But lately we've been photocopying pages out of a Hello Kitty coloring book too and creating a coloring corner. I didn't expect the kids to be so excited about it though. It's like Pokemon cards to them and they all want at least one of each kind we bring out! Kids have even been lying and stealing from each other to get their hands on them!! When actual coloring happens though the results are pretty fun!
Love,
L
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The Koh’s
Dear D,
One weekend last month I went to Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao with K, M, and L. We left on Thursday morning and spent a grueling day of travel by songthaew, bus and boat. The boat was crowded with orange/sunburned Westerners, some in nothing but a bra and shortshorts, sunbathing on the deck of the ferry. And I wondered why some Thais think Westerners are shameless. Just because your house has a really nice pool and I get to wear my bathing suit there doesn’t mean I should walk half-naked around the rest of your house right?
Anyway.
Our ferry sailed along, neatly outstripping a heavy-looking storm.
By the time we made it to Koh Pha Ngan, the sun was down, it was raining and the last ferry to Koh Tao had left hours ago. We walked about Thong Sala’s night market and surrounding area in mounting frustration when we realized we couldn’t get a songthaew or taxi to the bungalows our guidebook recommended for less than 100 baht per person. Finally we voted on renting two motorbikes for the night since those were only about 150 baht per bike per 24 hours. Great deal, right? We chortled to ourselves as we drove down the island’s main road at the idea of all those poor tourists who don’t know how to ride motorbikes and were out there blowing money on taxi rides around the island. Then we turned a corner and were suddenly faced with the most aggressively and stubbornly steep hill I have ever seen in a road. And it went on and on. M and I were on one bike and in 2nd gear, which was apparently not low enough, because halfway up the hill, despite our encouragements, the motorbike refused to chug upwards any longer and began to roll backwards down the steepest road in all of the world and into oncoming traffic. “Get off the bike!” hollered M and I did. Luckily the traffic seemed used to this type of thing happening on the monster hill and drove around us without mishap. We wrestled the bike over to the side of the road and found ourselves right in front of the bungalows we were trying to find in the darkness. The bungalows turned out to be closed and two in our party nearly got attacked by the guard dogs. We tried the place next door and that’s how we found Thong Yang. The place looked pretty good at night and our bungalow was 20 feet from the water, which I couldn't really see, but I could hear the gentle lapping of water and see the lights of Koh Samui right across the water.
The next morning we realized just how beautiful the place we stumbled upon was. The air was cool, the water shallow and still and an ethereal fog hung around our little camp of solitude.
The four of us split up for the day: K and M wanted to check out Hat Rin, L and I wanted to find some hiking/waterfalls. According to the free tourist map, the roads near the waterfalls were paved, but we quickly found out that was straight up wrong. With L as my passenger, we spent several death-defying hours steering the motorbike up and down treacherously rutted dirt roads set at unbelievable angles. By the end my right wrist was aching from gunning the bike up mountains and my right ankle was stiff from keeping the brake all the way down even as the bike continued to careen and jolt. I lost count of blind curves and hills during the drive, but I became quite good at laying in on the horn when approaching one. At one point we stopped for directions to the nearest waterfall and heard, “keep going, long drive, up down up down, shrooms, beer?”
We found the waterfalls, but they were dry:
I was sort of upset about risking my life for an anticlimactic pile of dry rocks. We kept driving east across the island and managed to make it to the eastern shore. The beach we found there however was well worth the drive.
We did some jumping off this rock face into the ocean. Fun!
And climbed up to a restaurant in the sky for a view of the ocean…
…and the mountains we had to cross to get there.
Another death-defying bike ride back into town and a lemongrass sauna at a local wat rounded out the day.
The next day we were back on another ferry, this time to Koh Tao. The lovely family running Thong Yang recommended a resort run by family friends called Tao Thong. Now aware of how dangerous the driving on the islands was, we bypassed any rental and had the resort pick us up. Tao Thong was amazing. I instantly wanted to be able to come back with everyone from home.
I stayed with M and our bungalow faced the ocean. I finally went snorkeling for the first time! I stayed in the water for hours following the colorful tropical fish. I saw a pale pink anemone and a bright white one, each with its own set of protective clown fish. It was so amazingly beautiful, I never wanted to get out.
…And then I had to leave the next morning. The weather was perfect for a 4 hour-long boat ride though. Even so, it was hard to say goodbye at the pier.
Here we are, baking, at the front of the boat...
Back on land, we took a funky bus back to Surat. It reminded me of the buses in India, except this one had a caged bird pet in it.
We ended up stranded in Surat for the night and after ruling out the backpacker hostel nestled between brothels, found The One, an upscale hotel with a mainly Thai clientele. A friendly bunch of retired Thai women befriended me and M, so we spent the night singing karaoke with them. And then this man insisted on serenading us for song after song after song.
That about sums it up. It was a fantastic trip.
Here’s this last little gem, spotted on the window of a minibus.
Yes to sexy,
L
One weekend last month I went to Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao with K, M, and L. We left on Thursday morning and spent a grueling day of travel by songthaew, bus and boat. The boat was crowded with orange/sunburned Westerners, some in nothing but a bra and shortshorts, sunbathing on the deck of the ferry. And I wondered why some Thais think Westerners are shameless. Just because your house has a really nice pool and I get to wear my bathing suit there doesn’t mean I should walk half-naked around the rest of your house right?
Anyway.
Our ferry sailed along, neatly outstripping a heavy-looking storm.
By the time we made it to Koh Pha Ngan, the sun was down, it was raining and the last ferry to Koh Tao had left hours ago. We walked about Thong Sala’s night market and surrounding area in mounting frustration when we realized we couldn’t get a songthaew or taxi to the bungalows our guidebook recommended for less than 100 baht per person. Finally we voted on renting two motorbikes for the night since those were only about 150 baht per bike per 24 hours. Great deal, right? We chortled to ourselves as we drove down the island’s main road at the idea of all those poor tourists who don’t know how to ride motorbikes and were out there blowing money on taxi rides around the island. Then we turned a corner and were suddenly faced with the most aggressively and stubbornly steep hill I have ever seen in a road. And it went on and on. M and I were on one bike and in 2nd gear, which was apparently not low enough, because halfway up the hill, despite our encouragements, the motorbike refused to chug upwards any longer and began to roll backwards down the steepest road in all of the world and into oncoming traffic. “Get off the bike!” hollered M and I did. Luckily the traffic seemed used to this type of thing happening on the monster hill and drove around us without mishap. We wrestled the bike over to the side of the road and found ourselves right in front of the bungalows we were trying to find in the darkness. The bungalows turned out to be closed and two in our party nearly got attacked by the guard dogs. We tried the place next door and that’s how we found Thong Yang. The place looked pretty good at night and our bungalow was 20 feet from the water, which I couldn't really see, but I could hear the gentle lapping of water and see the lights of Koh Samui right across the water.
The next morning we realized just how beautiful the place we stumbled upon was. The air was cool, the water shallow and still and an ethereal fog hung around our little camp of solitude.
The four of us split up for the day: K and M wanted to check out Hat Rin, L and I wanted to find some hiking/waterfalls. According to the free tourist map, the roads near the waterfalls were paved, but we quickly found out that was straight up wrong. With L as my passenger, we spent several death-defying hours steering the motorbike up and down treacherously rutted dirt roads set at unbelievable angles. By the end my right wrist was aching from gunning the bike up mountains and my right ankle was stiff from keeping the brake all the way down even as the bike continued to careen and jolt. I lost count of blind curves and hills during the drive, but I became quite good at laying in on the horn when approaching one. At one point we stopped for directions to the nearest waterfall and heard, “keep going, long drive, up down up down, shrooms, beer?”
We found the waterfalls, but they were dry:
I was sort of upset about risking my life for an anticlimactic pile of dry rocks. We kept driving east across the island and managed to make it to the eastern shore. The beach we found there however was well worth the drive.
We did some jumping off this rock face into the ocean. Fun!
And climbed up to a restaurant in the sky for a view of the ocean…
…and the mountains we had to cross to get there.
Another death-defying bike ride back into town and a lemongrass sauna at a local wat rounded out the day.
The next day we were back on another ferry, this time to Koh Tao. The lovely family running Thong Yang recommended a resort run by family friends called Tao Thong. Now aware of how dangerous the driving on the islands was, we bypassed any rental and had the resort pick us up. Tao Thong was amazing. I instantly wanted to be able to come back with everyone from home.
I stayed with M and our bungalow faced the ocean. I finally went snorkeling for the first time! I stayed in the water for hours following the colorful tropical fish. I saw a pale pink anemone and a bright white one, each with its own set of protective clown fish. It was so amazingly beautiful, I never wanted to get out.
…And then I had to leave the next morning. The weather was perfect for a 4 hour-long boat ride though. Even so, it was hard to say goodbye at the pier.
Here we are, baking, at the front of the boat...
Back on land, we took a funky bus back to Surat. It reminded me of the buses in India, except this one had a caged bird pet in it.
We ended up stranded in Surat for the night and after ruling out the backpacker hostel nestled between brothels, found The One, an upscale hotel with a mainly Thai clientele. A friendly bunch of retired Thai women befriended me and M, so we spent the night singing karaoke with them. And then this man insisted on serenading us for song after song after song.
That about sums it up. It was a fantastic trip.
Here’s this last little gem, spotted on the window of a minibus.
Yes to sexy,
L
JK, I don't actually hate it...
Dear D,
Surprise, surprise, the gecko incident wasn't the end of the world, although it felt like it at the time. Since then the rowdy little punks in that class have apologized to me (of their own accord) and requested that "teacher lisa happy." [sigh] FINE.
Next week there's no class Wednesday through Friday because many of the teachers are going to another city to go to a "big party." I can't get a better explanation than that haha
Love,
L
Surprise, surprise, the gecko incident wasn't the end of the world, although it felt like it at the time. Since then the rowdy little punks in that class have apologized to me (of their own accord) and requested that "teacher lisa happy." [sigh] FINE.
Next week there's no class Wednesday through Friday because many of the teachers are going to another city to go to a "big party." I can't get a better explanation than that haha
Love,
L
Monday, September 6, 2010
Maybe I'm Not Cut Out For This Job
Dear D,
I just had hands down my worst class here so far. It was with one of my craziest classes to begin with (the 8th graders), and my Thai co-teacher was 30 minutes late to class so I just went for it and started teaching what I had prepared. I had some games and what I thought might be fun. The students didn't really like any of it and instead thought it would be more fun to run in and out of the classroom, hit each other and stand on their chairs. This actually isn't quite out of the ordinary for them, so I persevered and tried to get their attention. Then one boy walked into class and started waving around the body of a mutilated dead gecko and I told him sharply to take it outside and dispose of it. He headed for the door I went back to teaching. Apparently he hadn't gotten rid of it because the next time I turned my head he and some other boys had started throwing the small carcass at their female classmates. I asked (closer to a yell) that the gecko be taken away again. When I continued seeing its poor limp body flung into girls' hair I completely snapped. All of a sudden I was screaming and grabbing the boy with the gecko and pushing him towards the door. The co-teacher finally came running in at the sounds of my rage and then started apologizing over and over while at the same time admonishing the students in Thai. She made the last boy who had the gecko and who I screamed at apologize to me in English and made him kneel in front of me. That made me feel like shit.
D, I can't be a teacher. I hate this.
I just had hands down my worst class here so far. It was with one of my craziest classes to begin with (the 8th graders), and my Thai co-teacher was 30 minutes late to class so I just went for it and started teaching what I had prepared. I had some games and what I thought might be fun. The students didn't really like any of it and instead thought it would be more fun to run in and out of the classroom, hit each other and stand on their chairs. This actually isn't quite out of the ordinary for them, so I persevered and tried to get their attention. Then one boy walked into class and started waving around the body of a mutilated dead gecko and I told him sharply to take it outside and dispose of it. He headed for the door I went back to teaching. Apparently he hadn't gotten rid of it because the next time I turned my head he and some other boys had started throwing the small carcass at their female classmates. I asked (closer to a yell) that the gecko be taken away again. When I continued seeing its poor limp body flung into girls' hair I completely snapped. All of a sudden I was screaming and grabbing the boy with the gecko and pushing him towards the door. The co-teacher finally came running in at the sounds of my rage and then started apologizing over and over while at the same time admonishing the students in Thai. She made the last boy who had the gecko and who I screamed at apologize to me in English and made him kneel in front of me. That made me feel like shit.
D, I can't be a teacher. I hate this.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
My life through b&w and pastel filters
Dear L,
This is from Swedish GANT designer Michael Bastian's Lacrosse Collection. I thought you might enjoy it.
Love,
D
This is from Swedish GANT designer Michael Bastian's Lacrosse Collection. I thought you might enjoy it.
I've never showered with my helmet on before.
Love,
D
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