Markets, Massages, and Monkeys, oh my!

Hi!

I hope all is well with you all!

We have just had a fantastic weekend! Jill, Kristin, Lisa, and I went away to Hua Hin, a 2 hour bus ride away. It has a wonderful beach - Kristin and I went for a 3 hour walk along it, and got caught in two major downpours! We saw a bunch of jelly fish washed up along the shore, a starfish, and lots of crabs! I had my first massage ever! It was an hour long Thai massage for $8 cdn. I didn't know I had so many muscles! It was really neat - she used different parts of HER body to massage mine: her forearms, elbows, and even feet! Wow! On Sunday, Kristin, Jill, and I went up to 'Monkey Mountain', a place where monkeys run free - EVERYWHERE! It was really cool. I paid 50 baht (less than $2 cdn), to feed the monkeys . . . . I don't know who was more entertaining: me or the monkeys! I was expecting one banana or something, but I got an entire basket full of bananas, corn, and peanuts! The monkeys were crazy!!! A few jumped on my head, shoulders, and legs.

Today is Monday, and at the school it is 'yellow shirt day'. This is a day where students and staff wear a yellow shirt with the King's crest on it. You can see these shirts everywhere in Thailand; many locals wear the shirt all week. The kindergarten section of the school is closed all week because there has been an outbreak of "foot and mouth" disease . . . . and I thought the worst of my worries in Canadian schools was lice and pink eye! Yikes. Last Friday, I subbed in Kindergarten; the kids were so cute, but it is difficult because they know so little english - I had to be really animated - I felt like a cartoon!

We're planning to go away again this coming weekend - hopefully with Ilda and Louis . . . . can't wait to see them!

Stay well and keep me posted with things!