good-bye to El and Liz... sniff

 I have to say that one of my highlights from this week was during the kids' class when El accidentally threw a pink sock right at my face! We were doing a lesson on clothing, and El, Liz and I did a silly fashion show where we put on all sorts of clothes (over our clothes, of course) and then, when she was taking off a sock and trying to throw it in the bag, she missed and hit my face. 

   

I don't have any new pics to post yet, but I will soon. I've taken some, but it's been a busy week and I didn't have the chance to upload photos from last night before leaving for Bangkok (which was very early this morning!). Now I'm sitting in the Quinleys' living room, relaxing and updating my blog! It's been a whirlwind week, and I am glad that I didn't have a lot of classes this term, otherwise this week would've been even crazier. It was El and Liz's last week in Khao Lak, so we tried to fit in as much as possible! Last Sunday after church, we went to Lampi Waterfall again and hiked up quite far until we found a very nice pool to swim in. We also found a natural rock slide, which Amnuey tried out first! 

  Then I had a test to write for my Lower Intermediate class and I had advertising to do for our new class term, since I knew I'd be gone all of the upcoming week. We always take a week break after a term to give us time for advertising. So I went out a couple days and passed out fliers at hotels and shops and made some good contacts with ppl who are interested in learning German. 

  I did a lot of baking this week too, because El and I had an end-of-term party for the intermediates on Wed.; I made banana muffins for that. Then it was Paul's birthday on Thursday, so I baked him a carrot cake. And for the party on Friday (El & Liz going away, end-of-term, + Paul's bday all together) I made banana chocolate chip cookies and banana bread. 

   On Thursday while I was at Bangsak Beach with a friend, I saw the YWAM team that will be coming in June to help us teach and do a few other things at Step Ahead! They're in a town about 20 minutes away doing construction work right now. They went to a DTS in Switzerland, and their outreach is in Thailand. Fortunately, there is one German speaker on the team, who I hope will be able to help me w/ my German class! There's also a Swedish guy, so I'm hoping he'll be willing to do a 4-week intro course in Swedish. In the evening, we went out to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner for Paul's birthday and then had carrot cake for dessert.

  On Friday there were party preparations to be made, and lots more fliers to be passed out for classes. It rained heavily in the afternoon/ early evening, so we were worried that students wouldn't show up, but then it stopped! And we had about 35 ppl total, which was great. Lots of students. We played knights, horsemen, cavaliers (a hilarious game; if you haven't played it, ask someone to tell you about it). And I was really happy to see Mouy there, one of my dear students who comes over to cook and bake w/ me sometimes, but hadn't been able to attend class this term b/c her kids were off school. She said she'll be returning to study at Step Ahead in the next term. After everyone had left, El, Liz, Benz and I blasted some music and had a dance party. It was so funny. But I went to bed late and got up this morning to leave at 6.30 for an early flight. I'm gonna miss those girls so much. But it wasn't actually good-bye yet, b/c the two of them plus Benz are coming up to BKK on Monday, and then we'll hang out together on Tues./ Wed.- go see the Grand Palace, Siam Square, and visit the YWAM base and Ban Jai Dio (a student ministry house). Things will be different when I return to Step Ahead and the girls aren't there! I'll miss them so much. But we're supposed to be getting an American girl pretty soon and maybe a few others in the summer as well. It's hard when things are always changing, though; ppl always coming and leaving.

    

Massive waves & a fish that followed El home

the fish that El "caught" in her hair. Much smaller than my fingernail.

Teaching the kids at church

For the past week, the waves have been absolutely massive! Earlier in the week, they were fun to just jump up with (they'd lift you about 3 feet off the ground). But yesterday and today, the whole ocean was just churning with crazy waves! Usually there will just be basically one wave that breaks on shore all along the length of the beach, but now they're breaking in many spots and going in different directions, too. I've never seen it so stirred up in the 7 months that I've been here! Yesterday El, Paul, Liz and I went to the beach in the late afternoon (as we usually do, to avoid the hottest part of the day), and all of them went in for quite a while to get battered about by the waves. I never ended up going in very far, b/c as soon as one came, it would knock me down and carry me along w/ it. Even when I tried to dive under them, they would still sweep me away! The whole shape of the beach has changed, too. Since the tide has been up so high, it has carved out some sand dunes and little hills and drop-off points, whereas it's usually just sandy (loose sand) and fairly flat. Pretty interesting. I've been told that the wind blows in the opposite direction during the low season, and that's what causes the waves to be so big, while the ocean is normally very calm during the high season. And it's definitely the low season (more about that in a minute!). When El got home tonight, as she was taking a shower, a tiny fish fell out of her hair! Apparently he'd gotten tangled up and couldn't get free, and then he went for a ride to Step Ahead. Unfortunately, he didn't survive the journey. I tried to take a picture, but it's so small that you can barely see it. 

 Low season: I realized that the low season has really started when, on Thursday morning, Liz and I ventured to Khao Lak (a 1/2 hour walk) in hopes of having a nice breakfast at Stempfer Cafe, a lovely German bakery/ cafe.... only to find that it was closed- until OCTOBER! I was pretty sad. I'd been looking forward to a nice European breakfast and a strong coffee (and buying some bread to take home). Even the small German bakery right down the road from us is closed, but I'm not sure if they'll be closed for the whole low season.  Lots of shops and restaurants are closing around here for the next 5-6 months. It's becoming a ghost town! But I expect we'll still have plenty of students in the low season; Paul said they did last year. 

  I'm going through a phase where I'm kinda tired of Thai food. It seems like we eat the same stuff over and over (which we probably do at home too, but it's just different to eat the same foreign food over and over... not sure why). I was especially annoyed w/ Thai food when I got food poisoning 2 weeks ago- from a noodle shop where I had lunch- and threw up literally the whole night (I haven't thrown up in years; I have to be REALLY sick to actually throw up).  I'm seriously thinking I need to learn how to make my own bread. I think I've had enough rice to last me a lifetime. But it's ok; I'll pass through this phase if I persevere. Also, my plan is to search out bagels and cream cheese when I'm in Bangkok... something I haven't eaten in 7 MONTHS! And I'll probably make a few trips to Starbucks as well. 

  

  On a happier note, my friend Pia told me that I can now read and write Thai at first-grade level! So I'm now about as smart as a 7-year-old Thai kid.