Life is Peachy

Oh goodness, where do I even BEGIN! What a crazy crazy few weeks it's been. I just finished my travels and am now in Chiang Mai. Last weekend was spent on an island called Koh Pang-Gnan where they have what's called the "full-moon" party, which is a massive alcohol fest, basically. You get a bucket, which is a bucket about the size of a small sand-bucket (that's what it IS actually), and they fill it with ice, an entire bottle (the mid-sized kind) of alcohol... your choice, you can have Thai whiskey, vodka, tequila... you name it, soda of your choice (if they have it) and/or redbull... and you drink it. SO, basically, it becomes about 20,000 SMASHED people-- most of them attempting to have sex with anything that walks (don't worry, I wasn't one of them...) haha. It was a good time, I drank too much, but now I'm sobering up and starting to feel better (it's almost thursday...) As much fun as I had, I was glad to leave and get a proper shower! mmm.
As I said, I am now in Chiang Mai, and I will start teaching, officially on monday. I have to be in at 7am tomorrow... a lovely little Thai woman offered to show me around the school and everything, which was really nice of her. And then at 8:30 I have to meet with some guy named Norman. I was supposed to meet with the dean of the English department today, but I showed up and he was in Bangkok, which was nice. haha. So, this wonderful woman took me under her wing, and has said she will take care of me and make sure I'm okay. She's lovely. Her name is (you ready for this?) Hu Thai Won. I just kind'a stared at her the first time she said it.. haha. But she's so nice. She's 53 and has 2 sons, 25 & 26 and... I'm glad she was there.
I'm staying at a guest house in Chiang Mai, near the mote which is pretty central. I'm in an almost completely Thai area, which is great cause I'll get to work on my Thai-- which has improved SO much in the past 8 weeks! YAY! The owner's are wonderful and I'm really excited to hang out with them...
Chiang Mai is still the best place on earth, but I don't like being alone. I've been here for 3 full days... alone. I traveled all day Sunday and Monday alone, and I'm just bored and in desperate need of company, but it will come. I was going to put pictures on here, but my computer won't let me... so, again... pictures to come. haha.
Remember, my birthday is in 1.5 weeks! I'll be 22... what the CRAP!

I won't hesitate...

This picture was taken on the last night of the course, a bunch of us went out and had an ABSOLUTE BLAST... and now...

I finished my certification, and after that had 3 weeks to travel (which I am not on week 2 of) so, for the past week.5 I've been bustling about on islands, seeing the most amazing places ever and hanging out with people that I'm growing to love a great deal. Most days I wake up and can't believe how stinkin' lucky I am to have these experiences... seriously.

So, I'm sure most of you know that I'm a HUGE fan of Jason Mraz... my friends and I have had this obsession with the song called "I'm yours" for about 2.5 years and it reminds me of sooo many things and people and moments. This last week I traveled to Phi Phi island with a group of people from my course and one of the bars that we went to played the song "I'm yours" and NOW my entire group is in LOVE with it. It's funny how such random amazing songs can follow you into so many different experiences. So cool. After a few days on Phi Phi we headed to Krabi, where my friend David and I went Kayaking through mangroves. A Monkey sat ON MY LEG (scariest thing ever). The mangroves were beautiful though, I was in awe the entire time.

After Krabi we headed to a very very remote island called Ko Jum, which was AMAZING. Absolutely beautiful. I rode a motorcycle on the BEACH at sunset (yes, I DROVE it. BAM!) and.. seriously, one of the best things ever. I don't have any pictures of this uploaded yet, but we'll get there. Now we're back in Krabi, and planning on heading to some island to go on this 3 day canoeing thing, but we'll see where the wind takes us. Initially I was traveling with 2 other people, Lisa and David, but now Lisa has buggered off, and I won't see her for awhile, so David and I met up with a group of 4 girls... oh, and we picked up a canadian guy on Phi Phi that's tagging along with us too. So, we've got a pretty solid group, which is nice.

I'm still having a rough time with homesickness... I find that the LESS I get online, the less homesick I get. So, I'm trying to keep my internet time to a minimum, but I thought that I should put an update on here. I miss you all a lot. PLEASE take care, and be in touch.

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