Finally my mermaid dreams come true...almost.

Ko Tao
I have just returned from spending 20 days away from my site.  It started with a Teacher Training that lasted 4 days in Khon Kaen.  When that finished, I took an overnight bus to Bangkok and then a bus north to Chai Nat where I would spend the next 11 days with Peace Corps at Reconnect.  The first week was filled with language class and training sessions.  I chose to focus on learning my local dialect which has the name Essan, also spelled Issan or Esan, or Isan or E-ssan.  It's the name of the region I live in, the north east of Thailand.  Sometimes it is referred to as Lao language, though it is not exactly the Lao language that is spoken in Laos the country.  Issan language is very similar to Thai, though it is pronounced a little differently, and with some different vocabulary.  For example: Pineapple in Thai is sa pa rote.  In Issan it is Bag Nat.  In Thai "how are you" is Sabaii dii mai ka?  In Issan it is "Sabaii dii boh?"
It was great to be together with all 43 other volunteers.  That's right, if you were counting, we have lost 8 volunteers since we boarded the plane in San Francisco.  It seemed like most of us really appreciated each other much more having been away from one another for three months.  We had a lot of fun reconnecting.  At least I did.  I feel closer to my peers now,  than I ever did in the 10 weeks we were together in Si Prachan.  Speaking (typing) of Si Prachan, Bridgette and I went back to visit our family on our day off.  It was wonderful.  What a great family I was fortunate to live with.  My Yai (Grandmother) was so happy to see me.  She hugged my neck tightly when I left.  My family drove us back the 90 kilometers to our hotel and I saw some dewy eyes as they drove away.  The same as with the other volunteers, I felt really close with them after reconnecting.
Next, my co-teacher Dork-Or joined my in Chainat and we began the second counterpart conference.  I think it went really well.  It was nice to have people available to help us communicate anything we needed communicated.  Chai Nat was having a rowing boat race festival and we had a good time walking around the booths and watching some funny boat races.  The CC ended on Wednesday at noon and it was TIME TO GO!!!  I had decided that I would spend the long weekend going to Ko Tao and getting my PADI open water certification.
I had planned on October as my SCUBA certification month.  I am glad I did it when I did, because I did it with friends, and the weather in October is supposed to be terrible.  I also wanted to make sure I liked SCUBA before I spent a vacation planned around it.  Unfortunately, it was a perfect storm for crowding on the island.  For one, it is July, which means that western schools are on holiday.  Secondly, it is the full moon, which means thousands have flocked to next door Ko Pangnan for the monthly full moon party.  And, lastly, the full moon in July also means a big Buddhist holiday, which was Monday, and also Tuesday- Kao Pansa which is the beginning of Buddhist Lent and the "rainy season"  though it has been raining for two months.  For the rain retreat Thai monks are not allowed to travel.  Many lay people are ordained as monks for the three month period.  In Thailand, businesses will give you up to three months off to ordain as a monk.  This meant this was a four day weekend, so, many local vacationers were also on the island.  It meant it was CRAZY CROWDED>
I booked us two rooms to hold the group of four.  It was a dive center with rooms.  We were diving at the wonderful New Heaven Dive Center.  Buddha View was where we were staying.  The second day of our four day stay they asked us to move out because they "needed the rooms"  We had nowhere to go.  Stressful.  But, the wonderful people at New Heaven told us not to worry and that they would find us somewhere to stay while we were on the boat diving the next day.  Well, luckily as we were studying PADI, I saw many backpackers leaving their guest house and snagged us a cheaper, more awesome room right on the ocean on some rocks.  We slept with the sound of the ocean, instead of the sound of backpackers slamming doors.
The first day of SCUBA open water training was about physics, equipment, safety, etc.  and then we went into the water to practice.  The next day we did two dives, practicing more, and then swimming around the coral.  It was really beautiful.  The next day, our first dive was CRAZY!  The current was really powerful and a lot of stuff went wrong, it was really hard, but it was a great teachable moment.  Glad I had it.  The next dive was much calmer and nice.  Then, final test and I am open water certified.  Once I learned to relax and breathe slowly and deeply, I fell in love.  It took a little coping and mind control.  Self calming behavior.  It is certainly not a natural feeling.  But, it also is.  For me I have always wanted to be a mermaid and live underwater.  With a scuba tank I had a chance to experience that a little.  I caught the SCUBA bug.  Monday, I went snorkeling on nearby Ko Nang Yuan with my Moo Ban mate Molly.  It was nice.  There is a site called Japanese Gardens.  I picked up a lot of trash from the thousands of tourists who swim in the coral garden every day.  All of those years of diving for rings in the deep end came in handy so that I could dive for plastic bottles and snorkel and mask packaging.
As I write this I am on a bus heading to Bangkok full of non Thais (farangs)  I have enjoyed traveling around Thailand, but I don't love being a tourist.  I will add the photos as I get them. :)

More Malaysia

Boy and Girl Scouts has once again taken over class time, so I will post more about my trip to Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia.  I realized there were a lot of photos I didn't post, so let's see 'em.

Sky buckets we took to the tackiest hotel in the world, I mean the biggest hotel in the world. 6, 118ish rooms.

Here it is in all of its tackiness.

And tacky on the inside too.  Casinos, McDonald's, and roller coasters.  And American pop culture.

Looking away from the hotel towards the beautiful, chilly mountains.

A model.  I think they included all of the buildings to make the 6,000 rooms.  See the sky buckets coming down the mountain.

A really good public school in Malaysia.  

Word of the week, English!!!  All of the students are bilingual in English and BM, and some other languages too.

Principal of the school.

Achieving excellence if you ask me.

I think this bridge is gorgeous.  Putrajaya is the seat of the government, but the capital is Kuala Lampur?  This is in Putrajaya

Petronas tower in Kuala Lampur Malaysia.  Not the tallest or biggest anymore.

The bottom of the Petronas towers is a mall where you can spend your oil money.  I think that is a petroleum molecule up at the top floor.

Singapore and Malaysia

Shanghaied to Singapore.  Over the weekend I was swash buckled into a trip to Malaysia and Singapore.  I am not complaining too loudly.  “They” say that you can find out a lot about a relationship by going on a trip together.  Well, me and 34 Thais went on vacation together and I decided we are not soul mates.  “Let’s just be friends”.  Mostly it was a strengthening exercise in patience and keeping cool.

Everything in Bangkok sweats.  This is Don Muang Airport  at 4:20 am.

Melaka is a neat town in Malaysia.  This is where my group of 34 Thai friends left me to find them about a mile down the road.  I asked them how long we would be here, but Thai people don't usually like to give out details like that.  So, I had fun wondering what to do without a phone, without a number to call, and without any idea where our hotel was that night.  Thankfully, it all worked out, I found our bus, again a mile down the road, and we all lived happily, ever after.

In Melaka, and all over Malaysia and Singapore you find these tricshaws.  They compete for customers with crazy decorations and sound systems, and harassment.

Melaka has an arch as you come into town with three towers.  The three towers represent Chinese, Islam, and Indian settlers that populated the town.  Europeans are seen in the architecture everywhere else, like the Dutch church in the previous picture.

Malaysia is 62% Muslim.  Many bathrooms had showers, so that people could shower before prayer, 5 times a day.

This waterwheel was used to create a current so that large ships could get into the port.  This is where I first started to get a feeling of "old seaport" from Malaysia, and then again from Singapore.  I learned: this is a mariner society.  I could just start to imagine hundred to hundreds of years ago, the pirates, and the adventurers, and sea captains, and naval vessels that sailed these waters.  The next photo is a beach in Singapore at sunset.  The sand is imported from Malaysia, but you can see the ships all around.  Singapore is a mix of English, Indian, Malaysian, Chinese, and many many others.  It was the most diverse place I have ever seen.  Similar to New York City.  Singapore is the second largest container port in the world.

Singapore is a very green city, and they keep trying to be more green.  Here is a city park.  these cool "trees" are towers you can climb up to see over the city, and it is also a botanical garden with a raised walkway.  Beautiful, but I didn't have time to go and explore because we had to go visit another mall or something.

This was a really cheesy light, laser, water show.  Thai people loved it, but I took the time to read on my kindle.  It was about a guy trying to wake up a village with his magical song.  Basically a bad, short, Disney water show.  Singapore had a lot of tall buildings.  this is the financial district where they sleep during the day, and work when the USA is awake.  They are exactly 12 hours ahead of the USA right now with Daylight Savings Time.

Very interesting hotel with three towers, and a swimming pool balanced on top.  This is in Singapore.

The famous, for tourist created Merlion of Singapore.  It was hilarious watching the people try to get shots of him spitting in their mouth.  Hundreds a day.  I passed on that one.

We were lucky to have such beautiful weather, because this week, people can't even leave their houses because of the pollution from slash and burn farming in nearby Sumatra, Indonesia.

This is a view of the Singapore Opera house.  It looks like a durian.

A beautiful Chinese temple in China town in Singapore had a great museum on the fourth floor, and a great garden on the fifth floor.  Monks chanting and playing music in the main sanctuary.  Definitely worth visiting.

Singapore had a great art cafe/ art class/ studio/ gallery.

Habitat for Humanity Singapore.  What what!

 Why not have a river with boats in the bottom of a mall?

I was in Malaysia for Father's Day, with no phone connection, but I was able to proudly show my Thai friends what reminded me of my father most, by pointing to the work belt.  I love you Dad:)

Notice the date: Day/ Month/ Year

The big tomato put his foot down and said, "Ketchup" to the little tomato

 This is a catch up blog of some photos I have taken.  A photo journal of sorts.  Here is a family on the train in Bangkok.  Notice how many hand held devices they have.  This is very common in Thailand.  Children and adults spend an exorbitant amount of time playing bejeweled, and watching television.  At least they do it "together".

 Here is my bedroom window with boxes to transport expensive fighting cocks.  This is around 5am.

 Here is a typical meat counter at your nearest market.  Definitely not Publix.  Notice the choice cut of pigs head and the cow leg hanging.  You probably can't, and don't want, to see how many flies there are on all of these cuts of meat.  And yes, we are buying some pork to cook for lunch.

Here are my new friends Toni and April.  They are both from the USA and love to walk and eat healthy foods.  We had a lot in common.  They are also educators like me.  We took a long walk along the Klongs in Bangkok.  A klong is like a waterway.  They have these sidewalks going along them making them nice trails to get around on.  Motorcycles use them also, so watch out that you both don't end up in the polluted water.

My Dennis: Bam.  Sweet girl who lives next door.  She is 10 and loves her dog- Nam Wan- juice.  She talks and talks to me, and I understand 1/1000, but that does not stop her.  She does not get frustrated at all.

 Beautiful tree that grows all over Thailand.  The flowers turn from bright red to yellow slowly. It is called a Flame Tree.  Khon Kaen Wat in background.  Temple with nine stories that you can climb.  Background to my blog.

 Working with my principals wife.  We don't have anything like this in the United States, but it is an offering of sorts.  I don't know much about it.

Favorite past time of Thai people: EATING!!  This is early in the morning on the last day of the monk ordination.

The monk ordination shuts down traffic down this street.  My house is on the left with the sign for the monk ordination hanging on the wall.

 Here are my buddies chopping green papaya to make som tom (spicy papaya salad).  I helped peel papayas for a few hours.

Here is the view from my hotel room over the hotel.

Delicious.  Coconut ice cream served in a coconut with coconut meat and an unidentified fruit.

Rainbow from my hotel room.

sunset over Isan.  Essan is known for it's spectacular clouds.  No joke.

here is the new monk.  He's done with his monk service.  Everyone in the village gives a pillow.