Thai Thanksgiving

I was a little sad to be missing Thanksgiving at home, so I decided to pamper myself on Thanksgiving day. After I finished my lesson planning, I went to get my first Thai massage. For 100 bat (3 dollars), I got an hour's worth of pummeling, stretching, and kneading. I was warned that Thai massages are a bit intense, but it seriously hurt! About half of the time it felt really good, but the other half was incredibly painful. Knees and elbows were used, and my body was contorted into positions that I didn't think were possible. I felt pretty good when it was done, though.

Some people were going downtown for a Western-style Thanksgiving dinner, but the rest of us went to get a more traditional Thai meal of soup in clay pots. All of the ingredients came on separate plates, and we added them one by one to let them cook. It was delicious. We even had a guitarist playing some great music in the background. It wasn't the Thanksgiving I'm used to, but it was a good substitute.

The political situation in Thailand has been a bit intense as of late, but we haven't been very affected by it. Traveling into Bangkok is a but challenging, but Richard and I may be able to get to Hua Hin without going through Bangkok. It will be interesting to see how the conflict works itself out. The government seems to be trying hard to avoid violence, but I think the police are starting to try to clear protesters from the airports today. Here's a more qualified source on the subject: BBC News Article

In other news, Richard and I finished our teaching practice and we're now completing a Thai culture course that we need to legally teach in Thailand. We spent most of today learning how to make toys and bamboo flowers. Not too strenuous. We finish the course tomorrow and then we have a week before we start teaching. Teaching! There's Richard at teaching practice. The kids at our second school were freakishly good. I saw Richard teaching twice and he did a really good job, so don't believe his horror stories. It will be sad to say bye to all the people we've spent the last three weeks with. We ended the course with some crazy karaoke, and then tomorrow, we all go our separate ways.