Temporary Downtime

With graduation complete and final exams taken at the end of this week (if that sounds backwards, that's because it is) Keeks and Mac find themselves perched on the cusp of three glorious weeks of holiday. At present, Keeks is quite enraptured by Aron Ralston's book, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" and Mac is overjoyed that her contacts came in the mail this morning. She can see! As of Friday, they have exhausted Bangkok Post's crossword puzzles, target word puzzles, and scrabblegrams, and the dazzling duo (with the addition of Mac's amie française, Marion) will board a plane bound for the beaches of Phuket. Four glorious days of sun, sand, and volleyball (the alliteration doesn't work, but one cannot omit volleyball!) and then the trio heads to Bangkok for some sightseeing and shopping. Why stop there? Keeks will fly to Singapore on the 9th, with Mac joining her on the 10th after bidding au revoir to Marion, who must return to France and its drabby weather--insert sympathy here. Ten days in Singapore followed by a week in Ko Samet is sure to leave Keeks and Mac ready to take on their biggest adventure yet--English Camp with thirty Prathom 2 (ages 6-7) students.
The point of this drivel? If you've read "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" (or have had Keeks quote from it several times a day) you'd know the importance of informing your loved ones of upcoming travel plans. As an added bonus, you can set the wheels in your head a-turning as you try to imagine the stories these girls will post upon their return. Until then!

Birthday Celebration Part Deux

Last weekend marked our friend Christopher’s “21st” birthday celebration, although according to him it was a “celebration of life”, and he paid us not to mention his real age. Say was fortunate enough to find some time off from saving the world to come up to Thailand for the weekend, and joined in the festivities.
Things started with a tour of Chris and Niddy’s new pad, a cute little abode outside of Pattaya city with two bedrooms and a toilet seat that rivals Momma B’s. We also met their newest family member, Bazil, a very small dog. Pictures would be appropriate here, but the mid-morning cocktails took precedence.
We checked into our familiar accommodations at DayNight2 and did some afternoon shopping. We really wanted to find a princess tiara for the Madame, but settled on devil horns instead. We met Chris at the Hopf Brewery, where we were told he’d be waiting outside but, he might “blend in with the tourists.” This was a logical statement, only if you assume that all tourists will be wearing fuchsia sequins with matching hair and shades. Right Christopher, we almost walked right past you.

After a yard of hefeweizen, we headed to Tequila Reef’s Mexican establishment for dinner and then killed some time on Walking Street. This was easier said than done, as the interests in our party varied between dancing girls, dancing boys and a screening of the movie “The Patriot.” In the end, everyone was pleased and then we went to the karaoke pub.

Dogs Allowed

ACS hosted a dinner party to thank its staff for their hard work during the King’s National Competition. During the course of a month or so, examiners came to our school for refreshments and envelopes of money, and left feeling that our school was pretty great. We aren’t sure of the results, which probably means that we didn’t win but, whether or not we are the best school in the country, in our hearts, ACS is number one.
The day of the dinner feast, hosted at a seafood restaurant in Sattahip, our activities were as follows: wake up; private tennis lesson at the school courts (Mac wore her new lavender tennis skirt, it’s fabulous!); lunch; two-hour massage in Pattaya; make ourselves beautiful (hardly a chore); dinner.
Upon leaving our apartment, we noticed an admiring third party, apart from the truckloads full of workers passing through and saying, “Hello! I love you!” Mojit, one of the dogs owned by our landlord, had decided to tag along for the evening. Earlier in the week, he had tried to follow us to the Health Park for the nightly exercise regimen but turned back at the corner once traffic became heavy. This time, however, he was on a mission and stayed close at our heels (sometimes getting under them and tripping us down the street.) We figured he would turn back at the landfill… at the speed bump… and the school gate. Nope. When we showed up on campus, everyone greeted our new friend with, “Oh! So cute. Dog you?” We teasingly asked if he could “bai dooay”, go with us, and someone important said, “Sure.” Even so, we left him off the bus until the same important person came to the window, pointing at the dog and motioning him into the bus. We brought him into the coach and he settled on his very own seat, right under the air-con nozzle.
Halfway to there (the trip was about an hour, one-way), we wondered what we were going to do with him. When we reached the restaurant, our only option was to take him off the bus. Surely someone would tell us what to do with him before we made it into the restaurant. Nope. Even the brother director, whose family owns the dog, saw Keeks carrying him and only nodded in passing. Before we knew it, and against our better judgment, Mojit was in the restaurant and being greeted by the wait staff and owners. Nobody had a problem with our dog running around the restaurant for the entire night, peering in at the fish in their tanks and laying out on the cool tile floor when he got tired. We quickly dropped our Western ideas about dining etiquette and were able to enjoy his presence like everyone else.

Since Mojit isn't so keen on having his picture taken (and we never have our camera on us to capture his afternoon napping position in the middle of the busy intersection), we've decided to post some pictures of a boy feeding a baby elephant in Chonburi this past weekend. Enjoy!