Wang Gnai? Whats Up?

I have been a terrible blogger - but I have been so busy doing tons of different activities.  I hate to skimp on the details, but here's what's been going on since my last post.

- I spent a long weekend touring Siem Reap and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  The trip was incredible. One of the highlights?  Climbing to the top of a temple with Rita, Ben, and J at sunrise. We had the place to ourselves for the whole thing.  Please refer to Rita's blog for the whole story:  http://ritaafarrell.blogspot.com/2011/07/cambodia.html - and to Ben's for some great pictures: http://muskratgoestothailand.blogspot.com/2011/08/cambodia.html
- Many of my fellow volunteers helped lead an English Camp at Pla Pak Wit (where we had our orientation a year ago).  It was a blast!  It was also so much fun to bring an end to our time with giving back to the school that gave so much to our beginning. 
- I had my last few classes teaching at Kom Pawk.  It was bittersweet, and a lot of fun.  Some of my fifth and sixth graders can read English better than they can read Thai!
- End of Service conference with my group was productive and fun, as well as difficult good-byes
- Planning Orientation with the new field director, Haley, has been a blast.  A lot of work, a few stressful moments, but mostly a lot of fun.
- To reward ourselves (and to give ourselves an incentive to finish planning the sessions faster) we scored an awesome flight down to Phuket for a long weekend.  We headed straight to Koh Phi Phi (Thailand's posterchild and the location of filming for "The Beach") and had a few wonderful days of fun in the sun (and rain).  We made a number of good friends...and even brought a few back with us to NKP!
- I finally crossed the bridge to Laos.  I really only went for a visa run, and it was not a lot of fun, but now I have an extra stamp in my passport and the pretty Thai one too!

English Camp Activities!

Cambodia!

This is the temple we watched the sunrise from

Hard at work...or hard at cheating....

No smiles for Kru Malee

This is what happened to my leftover stickers at the end of the year...

Camera crazed kids...i miss those munchkins!

 

(This is a video of my 3rd graders playing a letter identification game during our last day together.  Watch what happens when "W" appears.  There's a famous Thai pop song entitled "Lovin' you too much" and they like to substitute the "W" in...every.time.)

Tonight I am off to Bangkok for the weekend to celebrate a number of milestones: my 24th birthday, my one year anniversary in Thailand, and to pick up the volunteers for the start of WorldTeach Thailand 2011-2012!