Happy Monkey Day!

This morning, Richard informed me that it is monkey day today. So happy monkey day! Speaking of monkeys, Richard and I saw a bunch yesterday. We took a songtow to Kao Takiab, and there are monkeys who live at the Wat there. Kao Takiab is a mountain that juts right out into the gulf, and there is a beach right next to it, so after climbing a mountain and seeing some monkeys, we played frisbee on the beach. Living in a place with both mountains and beaches is pretty exciting.

Richard and I have both been at our schools for a week, and things are going pretty well so far. I haven't really had to teach yet, but I start for real tomorrow. Richard had to teach on his first day, with no time for lesson planning. But it seems like it's gone pretty well. We're both realizing that classroom management with kids who know practically no English is going to be challenging, but we'll do our best. I'll write more about my school after I've been teaching a little longer.

Now that we're not staying downtown, Richard and I are starting to really like Hua Hin. The weather has been beautiful, the beach is gorgeous, and the sea food is plentiful, delicious, and relatively inexpensive. Our coordinator here treated us to this meal last week. Mmmm.

And here's me on the beach at Kao Takiab:

Kids with a dog on the beach:

An elephant, just walking down the road:

And the principal of my school, with a dog in a car:

There was a random dog show at my school on Friday. My school is really close to the palace where the royal family stays when they're not in Bangkok. Apparently the dogs who performed were the grandchildren of the King's favorite dog. It was pretty entertaining.

So that's it for now. I hope everyone has a great monkey day!