Hello! It has been awhile since I have blogged. Thank you everyone for the well wishes for our engagement. I enjoy calling Andy my fiancé :)
After a four day weekend, I went back to work for one day and then took a three day field trip with some of my students! It was a very nice week.
My students had no idea what wakeboarding was, so, I figured they may as well experience it firsthand. With some help from a coworker, we found a lake 3 hours out of the city that offers lessons. The students (7 of them) ended up having an awesome time. They are quite used to living a luxurious life in Bangkok, so it was nice to see them getting out in a more 'naturesque' environment for a change.
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| The students checking out the place when we first arrived. They freaked out when they found out it didn't have air conditioning, wi-fi, electricity during the day, and that they had to use mosquito nets (things I chose not to tell them before we got there). |
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| A view of the place from the water. |
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My sanctuary for two nights. The gap between the walls and the ceiling (not visible in this photo) made it a welcoming home for several creatures throughout my stay (lizards, gigantic spiders, winged things, HUGE toads, etc.)
The students slept 3 to a bed in their rooms because they were too scared to sleep alone. (They had fun though, I swear). |
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| The lake. |
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| A family from England runs the place. This little naked boy liked knowing what people were up to at all times. |
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I am not stereotyping when I say this, the majority of Thai people do not swim. They avoid water (including the ocean) because they don't want their skin to get dark. I am proud of my students, they can all swim!
Notice their swimming attire. Basically fully clothed. |
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| First step: learn how to wakeboard holding onto the training boom. |
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| Second step: try using the handle. |
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| Third step: try it behind the boat. It took them three days, but they all got to this step. Yay! |
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| Waiting for supper. |
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| I may have had more fun than the students. |
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| The fishing village next door. |
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| For some reason this dog was obsessed with this kid from the second we got out there. I have no idea how he did it without dying, but this dog swam to the middle of the lake to visit him when he was trying to wakeboard. How did he know it was him trying? I was amazed. |
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| The cook had to come out to yell at him and lead him back to shore. |
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| View from my room. |
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| One breakfast option. |
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| Jack fruit. |
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| Ms. Melanie showing the kids what waterskiing is. They also were completely clueless about it. |
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| Still waving. No wipeouts thank goodness. |
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| Wakeboarding. |
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| One of the bigger boats they had. We all loaded in it and went bodyboarding. |
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| students + teacher |
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| Bodyboarding. |
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| We went to a couple markets. The students ate their weight in sweets. |
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A successful trip! No one was sent home on a stretcher. Whew.
The instructor is the guy on the right. |
