Vietnam Pictures!

Vietnam! We stayed in the north of Vietnam. These pics are from Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, and Sapa! Just one link this time!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2626276&id=1204812&l=0a1593cb0f

oh, and the disgusting drink is snake vodka. That's snake + birds+ scorpion + rice vodka = Snake Vodka (a medical tonic apparently)

ok, i swear ima write stuff again soon! I have a lot to catch up on... oh, and more pics coming soon!

with all my love,
jon

Thai South pictures

These pictures are from the south of Thailand! Ill prob include more as my camera was broken during some of the most beautiful parts... which I feel is appropriate. Again, there are already two albums!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2618560&id=1204812&l=1efc373f6c

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2619468&id=1204812&l=43fab74cdb

These pictures are from Phucket, Ko Phi Phi and Railay

cheers!

Angkor Wat

There are a lot of pics that spread over two albums!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2613446&id=1204812&l=f1c048f443

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2618555&id=1204812&l=3ea715269d

Ok this is Angkor Wat in Cambodia! It is where they filmed Tomb Raider. It was a movie (mom!). Most of the temples were built between 6 and 11 a.d. I am pretty sure....

Koh Samet pics (Valentines day weekend!)

tropical island valentines day. sweeeet.


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2597264&id=1204812&l=860d57538c

Cambodacious (pictures)

blog comming soon!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2594702&id=1204812&l=ccd0d9505d

2/14 rap

This is why I get paid the big bucks


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwLpPq_fWo0

Noise (photos)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2589599&id=1204812&l=6f9099a344

Cambodacious

Hey all,
We finished up our last post by talking about two weeks of nothing. Well, we finished up our two weeks of nothing with four days of Cambodaciousness. In Thailand, immigration policy is decided by the bi-weekly meetings of a highly secretive group of hooded soothsayers that draw policy decisions from the actions of a sacred squirrel named "freckles" that has been ceremoniously injected with PCP. Needless to say, the rules change often, seemingly erradically, and most people dont seem to have a clue as to what is actually correct at any given time. This was very evident when Marisa and I went to an immigration office in our district. My VISA was extended until February 28th (the last day of my work contract and thus the last day of my work permit) and Marisa was granted a piece of paper that seemed to extend her VISA (which was set to expire in 10 days) another ninety days. I was fully convinced that the little piece of paper was her golden ticket to 3 months in Thailand. She, being smarter than I, went to another VISA office on day nine after our visit to the first. There they told her that instead of getting deported the next day she could spend the same amount as a 90 VISA and get a 7 day extention (as per the rules as dictated by freckles). Marisa was also told that if she did what is known traditionally the more traditional "border run" (which is when you get on a bus, drive into Cambodia or Laos, use the restroom if you need to, then drive back into Thailand) she would only be granted another 7 days (so says freckles), BUT if she flew out of Thailand, and then flew back into Thailand, she would get a thirty-day VISA (all hail freckles in the complexity of his wisdom). While all of this was/is kinda lame and obstreperous, it did present us with a fantastic ultimatum. "Get Marisa deported and pay a lot of money" OR "take a sweet vacation!" As attractive an option as deportation was, Marisa and I talked it out and decided that a vacation would be better. So, Marisa did a lot of planning and searching and by 7:30 in the morning on saturday our plane was leaving BKK for Phnom Pehn, the capitol city of Cambodia.
Flying into Phnom Pehn was far different from flying into BKK. Actually, just traveling around in Cambodia was far different from Thailand. For one, when flying into the capitol I did not see any high rises, or even very many tall buildings at all. Granted, the airport is out of the capitol by 7 miles or so but even when we got into the city center there were no tall buildings. Another surprising thing was how dusty the roads were. There is a lot of construction going on right now in Cambodia and from what I could tell the sides of the road were proof. There was dirt everywhere. It didn't feel dirty (or at least dirtier than the streets in BKK) it just felt dusty. Also, everyone drives very slowly in cambodia. Especially the Tuk-Tuks. In BKK, you hop into a Tuk-Tuk and hold on. This is not the case in Campodia. This is nice for two reasons. One, its kinda peacefull. Two, traffic etiquite is more based on a policy of "I want to go there, so I will." Some really big intersections have lights or an officer. Other than that, cars just pull right out into a steady stream of cars and motos when they decide it's their turn to go. Its funny, somewhat surreal, and if the traffic traveled with any amount of speed it would be terrifying. But it doesn't so its not. Its just dusty and hot. After two hours of exploring central Phnom Pehn, Marisa and I were bussin it to Sihanoukville; a pretty cool beach town 4 or 5 hours out of Phnom Pehn. From what I can tell, Sihanoukville was once a really really rad place. It is still really cool, but as tourism has ramped up there, it is kinda becoming a town fully devoted to tourism. The beach is packed in with the type of bars and hostels and "full-moon" parties and "Tuesday's-are-80s-style-party-night-pubs" that young travelers can't help but throw money at. There are lots of people selling stuff and lots of little kids telling you to come have a drink in their restaurant. The beach itself is physically beautiful, its just that it kinda has that sloppy/"hung-over-but-rallying" feel to it. Marisa and I found a really nice bungalow at the edge of the beach (nice and quiet) and went to a "snake bar." A snake bar, is a restaurant that gets by with having terrible food and drinks by having really awesome snake/fish/bird/weird mammal/ and crocodile exhibits all around. I personally have no complaints about the place. The snakes were rad (there was even a snake underneath the glass of our table) and my beer was just dandy. Marisa's martini ended up being a vodka prune juice (the perfect drink for the aging wino!) The whole place was dark and really empty, which made it feel really creepy! There was a sign that said something to the effect of "if a crocodile approaches you its your own fault and you will die." Now, I was pretty sure this is not what they meant to say (language barrier), but it still made it all the more creepy. The next morning Marisa and I were on a long-tail boat on our way out to an island to spend the night. We were originally bound for "Bamboo Island" but we were warned as we were buying our tickets that it was small, kinda loud, and pretty polluted ("human pollution" wink wink gross gross). So, we changed our plans to go to Koh Ta Kiev. Our boat first stopped by Bamboo Island. It was beautiful (my opinion, not Marisa's). The beach we arrived at wrapped around a corner of the island. This means, when you stood at the edge, you had 270 degrees of clear, blue (probably polluted) water. To Marisa's credit, there were a lot of people packed into close proximity, there were a lot of half-finished (or half-destroyed) cement out-houses, and there were too many dead fish floating around. Still, I thought it was pretty. After half and hour or so our boat took us over to our island, Koh Ta Kiev. Koh Ta Kiev made Bamboo Island look like Bakersfield, California. The island was obviously big, but there was not a single road or motor vehichle on the island. Instead, there were five little bungalows (not five bungalow resorts.... 5 bungalows!) a pretty big dining hut, a living area for the people who worked the bungalows, a little house tucked away in a cove, and some Cambodian Navy guys camping about 300 yards up the beach from us. Thats it. Well, there was also a really dense jungle and the beach that stretched for at least 300 yards in both directions of our bungalow. The water was a bright blue and the sand was soft and white. Throughout the day, long tail boats would bring groups of Cambodian people out to the island to hang out for a few hours at a time, but even when they were there, the island just felt empty! It was awesome! Def the closest I have gotten to a deserted island. We took a long walk along the beach, did some snorkeling and went out on a Kayak. On the Kayak ride we saw what i think were Great Hornbills. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hornbill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Birds_of_Cambodia). They could have been the Wreathed Hornbill but I don't think they were. Either way, they were rad. After our kayak ride Marisa stepped on this type of shellfish that is covered in tiny sharp splinters. So she had about a hundred tiny sharp splinters in her foot. Nar-nar. She was tough though and got most of them out. To get her off of her feet for a little while we read on the nice big porch of the bungalow and watched as the sun set between two trees, right in front of us. It was epic. That night after dinner I finally lit the poi on fire! I have been practicing at least a little almost every night and was feeling pretty good about it. The rate at which I hit myself in the face/crotch has greatly decreased and I can actually do a few tricks. I had bought some gasoline and a lighter on the mainland and I was AMPED! Turns out, the poi are a lot scarier when they are on fire. Especially when you first light them... it is a lot of fire! I did some tricks with poi but felt I might as well take it somewhat easy my first time. Still, it was a lot of fun and now I am pretty hooked on poi.
The next morning Marisa and I went for another Kayak/snorkel, ate breakfast, and tearfully said our goodbyes to Koh Ta Kieve (just writing this makes me want to go back). On our way back to the mainland we had one hour at Bamboo Island, and a thirty minute snorkel stop at a huge plate-coral reef. For the afternoon we ran some errands and relaxed a bit on the beach in Sihanoukville and took an 8 p.m. buss back to Phnom Phen. We had the whole next day in Phenom Phen because our plane did not leave until 8 p.m.; so we went to some Cambodian Genocide memorials. They were narley (as Marisa wrote about with more elegance... obviously).

How? Two weekends ago Jon and I went to Cambodia for the ostensible purpose of a
visa run. See if you run across the border via bus then you only get a
15 day extension; however, if you come by plane they give you 30 days.
So we flew to Phnom Pehn and then bussed out to Sihanoukville to get
some good lonely beach time in. On the way back from the beaches and
islands we had one more day left in Phnom Pehn and decided to go to the
Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng (the genocide museum and old prison
S-21). I really didn’t want to go. I have this fear that seeing the
aftermath of what people are capable of will change my world view in a
negative way. I know this is an extremely selfish and juvenile
perspective but I thought I’d own up to it. I am an eternal optimist
and I love to think that my hopeful and shiny outlook on the world is
unshakeable, but the truth is I was really afraid to understand the
horrible things that people had done to one another in Cambodia during
the time of Pol Pot. UnderPol Pot and his followers, Cambodians killed an estimated

1.7 million scholars, Vietnamese, children, rogue Communist party members, and
countless others. Wearing glasses during that time could have meant a
death sentence. At Tuol Sleng over 17,000 people were tortured and
killed only 7 made it out alive. The Cambodians call it a museum, but
truly Tuol Sleng is very much in tact from the torture racks outside to
the iron bed frames in different rooms people were chained to and then
slaughtered. There were photographs in each room of people bleeding,
unconscious and dead. The Khmer Rouge was rigorous about its torture
documentation and as a result we have the photos to reflect upon. There
are also the thousands of photographs of the prisoners of Tuol Sleng.
These are the infamous photographs of people who were documented as new
arrivals to the prison. The looks on the faces vary from resignation,
to terror, pure sadness and defiance.

I couldn’t help but think, “How can people do this to one another?” I
thought I would be terribly sad, and I was. More than sadness; however,
I felt anger. I was enraged actually. How can people be so stupid?
Ordinary people beat childrens’ heads in against the Killing tree.
Ordinary people lied about their neighbors and had them thrown into
prison. Given the fact that these slaughters are a definitive part of
our history, from Bosnia, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Sudan, China, Iraq,
countless others, is it something innate in humans? This tremendous
capacity to be brutal and so calculatingly cruel seems scarily
repeatable. How do things like this happen?

Things to learn and wonder about:

1. The psychology of genocide could possibly be one of the most

important fields of work in our time.

2. One woman’s face stood out to me above all the rest, and her look of
sheer defiance captured my heart and despite only being a picture, her
strength is forever imprinted in my mind.

3. It’s important to read and listen to the scholars of our time. They are
the advanced guard of society and that’s why they are always killed
first.

JON: One of the more interesting moments of the genocide museums

for me came at the very end of the second museum. Marisa and I had

just spent several hours in the killing fields and stalking from room to

room at tuol sleng where (in the last room we visited) they displayed the

torture devices the Khmer Rouge used to force confessions. Sure enough,

the first one in the room was a big water-boarding set-up. And behind it, a

picture of someone getting water-boarded. It is very easy to walk through a

place like Tuol Sleng and get all up on your high horse and think "WELL! if

MY government started doing this shit I wouldn't stand for it!" Well.... Our

government DID do that shit not too long ago (1492 to 2010 to be exact) and

I don't know about any of you but I haven't done anything past pissing and

moaning about it. Furthermore, in the eyes of the rest of the world, it is our

"democratically elected" government that is acting as extensions of our own hands.

And for that matter, the rest of the world is probably right until we actually start

doing more than pissing and moaning. I hope this isn't toooo preachy, but for

realsies; its easy to be passive when your genitals are not connected to a car battery.

That night we flew back into Thailand. Marisa got another 30 days on her visa and

mine was extended until May... two and a half months past the expiration date of my

work permit. Praise be to Freckles in the bounty of his wisdom and generosity.

and now you are still not caught up cause we went to Cambodia like 4 weeks ago haha.

Noise

Hey all,

So, I know its been a while since our last post...again... soooo..... uhh.... Sorry? Ok get over it. So At the end of the last post we talked about the floating markets and my racist school. The weekend after the floating markets Marisa and I were chaperons for my racist school on two 15 hour field trips. On Saturday we went down to Pattaya and went to a Tiger "Zoo," yet another floating market, an aquarium, and to the beach. If you have been reading my blog (Jon) for a little while you will no doubt remember that Pattaya is most likely my least favorite place in the world and this is my third time going there voluntarily in the past few months. Luckily, this trips was spent mostly away from the sleaze... unfortunately, we ran into a fair amount of scummy at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo. This place is well known for drugging and torturing its animals. If you are at all interested search "Sriracha Tiger Zoo Animal Rights" on google and see some of the complaints. The zoo is very adamant about the fact that they don't torture or drug their animals. And maybe they don't.... maybe the elephants brand themselves, and in a fit of happiness give themselves scars with the bullhooks. And maybe the zoo doesn't drug the its tigers... maybe it just takes them all to a Phish show and lets 'em eat whatever brownies they get their paws on. BUUUUT, seeing the handlers interact with the animals and knowing Pattaya (and quite frankly the general lack of concern for animal rights in Thailand) I'd be willin' to bet that those crocs had more roofies on board than a frat party! BOOYA! And yes, I'm looking at you Sigma Chi... When we first arrived at the zoo we first saw the giant pig nursing a bunch of baby tigers, and in the pen next to it a giant tiger surrounded by baby pigs. Which proved from the start that the zoo was committed to both increasing the number of (very confused) tigers in the world AND fighting the dreadful problem of swine-flu. From there Marisa and I fed a baby tiger. I feel now is a fair enough time to acknowledge that I can't just continue to support these evil institutions and then complain about them (yes again, this was my 3rd trip to Pattaya..). Well first, the school was going anyway and Marisa and I went for free. Second, I feel that on some level it is important to know what bad things are out there and what they look like so I can share it with others.... 3rd and most importantly WE FED A GOD DAMNED BABY TIGER!! It was awesome! It was pretty tiny for a tiger but waaay bigger and waay heavier than any housecat I have ever seen. Its paws were massive and its claws were really really sharp. It was young enough to be still eating out of a bottle but it was soo strong! We were only allowed to hold the little one for a minute or so but, it was rad.It was quite sad how roughly they handled him...or her, so we definitely felt bad afterwards. It also was a pretty upfront reminder of how amazing the life on this planet is and what a shame it is that we (people) are destroying literally everything that is cool and replacing it with plastic bags and smog. After the tiger I paid to have an elephant pick me up with its trunk. Again, same as above, I felt really bad about it but it was amazing. Elephants are really really strong. There are no bones in the trunk, its all muscle and a little tube to breath out of. It was really incredible, one second I was standing there, the next I was many feet in the air giggling like a school girl. And then it put me down and I just kinda stood there with the crazy realization that it could kill me without even blinking. Luckily for me, it didn't; it just stared at me with huge glazed eyes. I know elephants are smart, and im pretty sure that thing knew it was getting the shitty end of the stick. So yeah, more mixed emotions on the matter. I guess it's pretty selfish do participate in something you know is wrong.

Then we saw the scorpion enclosure. It is a dark little maze where black lights illuminate tons and tons of massive scorpions. Then there is the Scorpion Lady who spends her days covered in scorpions (and her nights guzzling anti-venom) just so people like me can take a picture. kind of a weird job.

Then we joined the students in watching a crocodile show. Where two people dragged a bunch of very stoned crocodiles around by their tails and did little tricks with them. They would open the crocodiles mouth and tap around inside it with a little stick (I imagine to lessen the "snap reflex") then they would do stupid things like lay on top of the croc, kiss the snout, put thier arm inside, put their head inside, run and slide up to the animal and stop with their head inside its mouth. Again, I was feeling mixed emotions... but slightly different. I knew that I did not want anyone to get hurt. Furthermore I knew I did not want myself, Marisa or any of my students to SEE anyone get hurt. And furthermore still, I knew that playing russian roullette with druggy crocodiles was most likely not these people's dream job..... buuuut by this point I kinda wanted to have the animal at least score a point for once. Not anything bad or anything... but yeah. I hope I don't sound like one of those PETA/Greenpeace/etc. people that are all about killing people to save animals.... especially because after the crocodile show we went to see the tiger show and I had the same feeling but stronger. Those tigers did not appear to be on drugs.... and one in particular appeared to not really like the slender man holding the whip. Luckily, (i guess) nothing bad happened during the show. I will concede that it was really amazing to watch the tigers do tricks. With ease they could leap over a huge gap through a fire-ring and land on a 4 square foot platform 8 feet up in the air. Again, we (people) need to stop ruining the world. Animals are way to freakin cool to let go extinct.
From the zoo we went to a floating market. This one was swanky. It was very clearly just for tourists, but it was still really cool. Instead of surrounding a river like more traditional floating markets, this one was just kinda built up on a big pond.... They could have just placed the market 100 yards in any direction and it would have been just a regular market, ha! Regardless of that, it was still sweet. There were lots of walk-ways and cool vendors. Marisa got some hand-made candy (it was cool, you could just sit there and watch this guy make amazingly detailed candy animals) and I got fried ice-cream. I don't know when they developed the technology to fry ice cream, but I really wish someone would have told me about this sooner. It's amazing.... and healthy (dairy has tons of protein and calcium, duh). At the floating market we saw this type of Thai boxing that is amazing. There was this big wooden pole suspended 5 or so feet above the water. Two young fighters sat on the pole and worked their way towards the middle. When they met the ref started the match and they started swingin. The object is to knock the other person into the water. Before long, they were fighting upside down suspended by their legs. It looked really fun (and yes they were wearing helmets, mom!). After the floating market we went to an aquarium which ofcourse was fantastic. From there we went to a beach for a while and headed home. The beach was fun because I was organizing races among the students and incentivizing the win with promises of ice cream. After the beach we started home. At this point Marisa and I were more than sick of the bus. Regular tour busses are very popular in Thailand. Unfortunately for Marisa, myself, and anyone who has any interest in retaining the ability to hear, party busses are more popular. The party bus, is a regular bus, with party lights (strobe, disco-ball, etc..) and a shitty but really loud sound system. Starting at 7 am (when we got on the bus) straight through to 10 pm (when we got home) the bus played one or two CDs on repeat. The CDs are these mixes that the bus companies buy where they take regular songs and add a never ending cow-bell and techno beat. Then, about every 15 seconds (really! no joke) the DJ's voice says something or other that invariably makes the students scream. Writing about this makes me feel like an old man complaining about "those damn kids and their loud music"... but i don't care. The music was actually way too loud and it never stopped... and the students never stopped dancing (which was actually really funny to watch. You can't be too mad at loud music when you see a whole bunch of kids geekin out to it). Needless to say, on sunday Marisa and I brought earplugs.
Sunday was a much more relaxed day. Our first stop on the trip was at this big temple-area on a hill. It was really beautifully landscaped. There were trees everywhere and tons of flowers! They have these flowers here called plumarias and they are awesome. This temple had a bunch of brick pathways that were really lush and shaded. This, combined with the fact that all of the students were too lazy to explore them, made these paths really cool and peaceful. Also, the bottom part of the hill is covered with really territorial little monkeys. It was sooooo funny to watch these monkeys chase around my students; you wouldn't believe the amount of shrieking and mortal fear a 15 pound monkey can throw into a group of Thai students, hilarious. From the temple we headed to the beach in Cha Am. This beach, while less tropical than other beaches I have seen here was still really fun. For one, there were actually little tiny swells here. Nothing compared to most of California, but barreling compared to anything else I have seen here. Marisa and I rented some inner-tubes, played with some students and went on a little bumper tube ride with some other teachers. That was definitely pretty fun. These guys with out-board motor jet-skis pull these inflatables that look like giant hot dogs. There were 5 of us on one and it was pretty fun. We fell off twice and one of the teachers lost a tooth.... but I am pretty sure it was a fake tooth (don't worry, he was back to normal by tuesday). For the rest of our day at the beach Marisa and I kinda snuck away and sat down at a little restaurant in peace. Then we loaded back on the bus and started our 3 hour trip home, pretty pleased that our ear-plugs were actually moderately effective against the same two CDs that were on repeat the day before. That is to say, we were pleased for about 6 blocks until the bus made a disconcerting pop-shutter-hiss noise and began micturating fluid all over the road. Apparently some thing big hit the radiator and the bus was broken. We were told that we would have to wait on the side of the road for 3 hours while another bus came from BKK. Fortunately another bus was there within an hour. UNfortunately, that bus had a more powerful sound system and a driver who saw nothing wrong with smoking cigarettes while driving a bus full of students. Other than a bit of traffic, we got home without incident and I was very tired on monday.

The next two weeks went by without much incident. My classes are starting to go better because I learned that if I am just a total cartoon in class, and try to get the students in as many learning-games as possible, I can trick them into learning and kinda avoid bad behavior! While this takes a lot more energy, it does make the classes go by faster for both me and the students. At night, Marisa and I generally work out in the park near our apartment, play some guitar, plan trips and veg out with some online TV. I also have been practicing poi a little bit and am hitting myself in the crotch less.... which is nice. The weekend after our field trips we stayed in BKK. Other than a little bar hopping with our friends we took it really easy. It was a much needed break. The next week was pretty silly. Many of my classes were cancelled to prepare for the "Academic Day" on Friday. Now, if you are one of those egg-heads who hears "Academic Day" and thinks of a day centered around learning, knowledge-centered-competitions, and other forms of nerd-ery then you are obviously not one of the directors at SBAC. Academic Day was a day where all classes were cancelled and all departments and clubs had to showcase themselves to prospective students that came from other schools. The day was one big commercial. It was silly.

By 7:30 the next morning Marisa and I were on a plane to Cambodia. Which we will write about in the next blog.

for now, you are almost all caught up on the comings and goings of Ashley Watson's Brother and Nadia and Sonja Liu's sister

peace out, girl scouts.

--Marisa and jon

you don't need a profile to view these pics

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2580987&id=1204812&l=e71cbc2953

Happiness

Hey all, To make things easier for those of you reading both my blog (Marisa) and MY blog (jon) we have decided to take on a teamwork approach... this also means that we individually will have to do less writing... which is nice. Today's blog is brought to you by both Jon and Marisa, the number 2 and the letter "L". i know, shit's gettin cheezy.

Marisa: In order to arrive here, I officially went through the longest transit I have ever had in my life to get to one place. On Christmas, I was terribly ill (the works) and had to get on a bus to Quito from Puyo. This is a six hour bus ride from sea level altitude to almost 9200 feet above sea level, while sick this ride is less than comfortable especially since the bathroom on the bus was closed. I had to throw up into tiny bags as big as Ziploc sandwich bags. Dan was really nice and threw them out the door for me. That's a true friend. We arrived in Quito and stayed with Don Efren for the evening. The next day I was on a flight out to Quito to Guayaquil. From Guayquil I flew to Madrid. From Madrid I flew to London, from London to Bangkok. Quite the itinerary. From the depths of the Amazon Basin to Asia's Venice. Three continents, in about three days. Cooooooool. I arrived relatively on time and cannot describe how happy and relieved I felt to arrive into Jon's arms.

Jon: So my last post was a few hours before m-dawg landed. I got to enjoy many hours of Thai traffic on my way to the airport (almost as bad as what she described above) but then she was here! sweeeet! We went back to our apartment that night and were on a bus by 8 the next morning to Ko Chang. For all who forgot, Ko Chang is the 2nd biggest Island in Thailand. It is very near cambodia and is wicked sweet. haha. From what I gather, the island was unknown to most up until about ten years ago. Since then, tourism has boomed. Granted, Marisa and I were there over the busiest 5 days the island will see in a year, but i have no problem saying that there were lots of people there and not enough infrastructure to support them (but thats why you go to an island). For more info on Ko Chang please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko_Chang ... or don't, see if I care. The full day of travel to the island was smooth enough and soon after arriving we had rented a motor scooter and found our bungalow. That night we met up with a couple that was in my training cohort in Ban Phe. It was really nice to see them again. When TEFL international started screwing everyone over, these two just bounced to Ko Chang, and found jobs on their own. My friend Yvonne is a grammar school teacher and Jamie is training to be a SCUBA dive master. The next morning we started exploring Ko Chang, starting of course, on the beach. I gotta say, having Marisa here has made everything here even sweeter, from bus rides to tropical ass beaches, life is grand (as they say in WY). From the beach we ventured inward and took a nice little "jungle" stroll to a pretty rad little waterfall.

Marisa: The waterfall we went to was just as you would envision a jungle waterfall in Thailand to be. Beautiful. We changed into our swimsuits and dove into pools hollowed out in jet black rock.

Jon: We swam in the pool at the base and got right up underneath the falling water.Also, it was here that we started to notice that the island is well populated with these really cool spiders (head to tail, three inches, yellow and black stripes) which we later found out were poisonous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver). That evening we scooted on down the southern tip of the island to Bang Bao Bay (its just fun to say) where there is an entire little town built on a network of piers. Really rad. That night we met up with Jamie and Yvonne again because starting the next day, we were going to be watching their house and their awesome little kitten, Puss. Ok, passin the mic.

Marisa: We drove the moto over to Ivonne and Jamie’s and learned the ropes of their apartment/shop setup. It locks via a giant roll-up door that bolts into the ground. Coooool. The next morning we drove the east side of the island which is deserted compared to the west side. We arrived at the southern tip in about 40 mins via a drive past a beautiful pier that Jon dove off. We had a delicious lunch/dinner of prawns and pineapple at about 5:30 overlooking the islands south of Koh Chang.

Jon: After the dinner we continued exploring and ended up taking our little trooper moto down a busted dirt road to "Long beach." Aptly named, it is long, sandy and pretty vacant (despite the two little hostel set ups tucked in just behind the shore). While fun, the road itself was a little nerve racking because even though it was pretty empty the entire way, we saw two different motos spills, and the first one had a couple on it. luckily, nothing more than scrapes and bruises. Anyways, the road was well worth it because Long Beach provided a great spot to watch the sunset. Before it got too dark we moto-ed it back and were up and out again the next morning.

"Chang" in Thai means elephant. Ko Chang is was named "elephant island" because it supposedly looks like an elephant on a map.... supposedly. The people on the island have really taken to the whole elephant thing and so there are tons of "Elephant Jungle Tours" throughout the island. They are "amazing adventures" into "the heart of the jungle" while "riding a vast and magnificent beast." Which is true... kinda. More true is that the navy actually owns the heart of Ko Chang's jungle and they have full liberty to shoot on-site. So "heart" was a bit of an exaggeration but it still was a ton of fun. Marisa and I sat on this bench that was strapped to an elephant and this wee little dude sat on the elephants neck with his feet underneath the elephants ears and his hands grasping his bull hook. The bull hook is pretty much the epitome of why I in general try to avoid the elephant stuff here. Anywhere you go, you can most likely buy sugar-cane off some dude and feed the elephant he is walking around. Invariably, there is a man sitting on the elephant's neck with a 3 foot stick with a sharp metal hook on the end. And, just like on our elephant tour, when the elephant starts to do it's own thing, it receives a forceful bonk on the skull with the business end of the hook (and you get an idea that just maybe the animal responds because the hook has done worse before). So elephant hooks are bad..... buuuut I had never ridden an elephant before (moral flexibility). Despite the hook the ride was definitely awesome. Both Marisa and I got to sit on the elephant's neck and snap some shots. We also went swimming with the elephants, which was great fun. Before getting in the water the elephants stand next to a big platform (which is how they get the stupid tourists on and off the elephants) and they took off the bench. Then our wee-guide-man, marisa, and I got onto the elephant and we, along with the three other elephants on the tour, sauntered into the water. The stupid tourists all laughed with glee upon entering the water. The elephants expressed their sheer enjoyment by all pooping in unison. Elephant poop is big; and it floats. For the first several minutes the tourists (myself especially) were just so happy to be in a river while riding an elephant that no one really took notice of the poop... well Marisa did.... and maybe other people did too..... but I didn't.... I was giggling like an idiot! Then, I looked to the left and saw this very nice man with this very adorable little daughter and his face was coated in panic as he was trying frantically to paddle away the monster nugget that was threatening to rush him the next time the elephant dipped down. And it was funny. So funny. Then I looked to the right and saw that the other elephant would dip down, then bend its trunk backwards and shoot shit-water all over the tourists. and that was REALLY FUNNY! Then I realized that our elephant, the most devious of them all, was bucking us. It would dip down, then rise-up tall and when it came back down it would fall hard to the right, trying to knock us off... and landing me right in a rather unclean patch of water. Since I was the farthest back on the elephant (where they tend to be rather wide) I would slide around the most.... and so was dunked the most times into the water. Even though I knew that it was gross.... I couldn't stop laughing. It was so much fun! I just had to focus to laugh with a closed mouth... cause I didn't the first time the elephant dunked me and no amount of listerene can make you feel clean after that .... So after the elephant ride we showered with bleach. ha, okay not bleach. but with water... lots of water. That evening we got some drinks on a nearby beach, had a lovely dinner and were up and out again the next morning. That night Jamie and Yvonne were coming back that day so we tidied their house up, said goodbye (tearfully) to the cat and headed back to long beach to spend our last night. Spending our last night on Ko Chang way out there was a great idea! It was beautiful and peaceful. The next morning we were making our way out on the busted dirt road by 7 and were about 20 minutes away from where we rented the scooter when we heard a pop and the tail went squishy. In retrospect I should have noticed that the tires were old and worn and thought twice about doing some minor off-roading. Either way, I had to leave Marisa and our stuff at a restaurant and find a moto shop. Other than that, smooth sailing on the way home.

Marisa: On Monday, I had an interview with Siam Business Administration College, the school that Jon teaches at. All in all it was an eight-hour process, which involved me wearing a pantsuit, which in Bangkok is a ridiculous thing to do. It is so hot. So I filled out an application and took two English tests (both of which had some terrible grammatical mistakes). Following that I had a mock teaching presentation. There were two interviewers, a man and woman. Here is where it gets really interesting. I asked if it was ok to ask my interviewers for participation, they said no, and that they would just like me to teach. Ok, so I gave my little spiel and at the end, the woman interviewer told me that I did not involve students enough. WTF? She further grilled me on student participation, and I got the very distinct impression that she did not like me. How the hell am I supposed to answer a question properly if the interviewer asks something unintelligible? So, I find out after my interview that this woman is known affectionately as the Dragon Lady and otherwise as something not polite to repeat. Good grief. On the plus side, the male interviewer is Jon’s immediate supervisor, and a really super nice guy. Now, to up the ridiculousness. I was told that I was to have my next interview with the director. Only this guy is really busy with stuff, but he doesn’t have a set schedule. What? Yeah, ok. I’m over that. Let’s raise the ridiculous barometer with this BS. Repeatedly, other teachers told me that I needed to lower my salary request. I asked for the same amount as Jon. Turns out, as the director told Jon in a little aside, that because I look Thai I will not get the same wages. Auuuuugh. Racist. So so racist. I can do this job. Bah. I’m trying to look at it that looking white is part of the job requisite and I don’t have that particular asset. Sometime this week I will have my interview with the director and we’ll see how that goes…Wish me luck. I’ve been trying to decide if I should show just how American I am with some rebelliousness and audacity coupled with a take-no-prisoners attitude. I don’t think it would translate too well.

Jon: First, I don't know anyone who affectionately calls that lady "dragon lady," from what I can tell of this woman she is unfamiliar with the idea of affection. Now, I feel that it is only fair to say that racism is everywhere. Look at the racial breakdown of health, criminal justice, and education in the United States and tell me that we aren't a racist country. However, I do not know if I have ever seen such blatant racism as I have in this past two weeks. It is now thursday of Marisa's second week of trying to get a job at my school. Everyday I go and talk to a woman in the office and everyday she gives some excuse as to why the director (Dr. Shit-for-brains) can't meet with Marisa. Homeboy is in meetings all day. How can an organization with this many meetings be so unorganized? Any who, in the "aside" that Marisa mentioned above, Dr. SFB talked to me like I was the stupid one because i couldn't see how obvious his logic was. "Her skin is not like yours, and her hair! its not like yours!" Now, if you are reading this then you, as well as anyone who has ever met both Marisa and I, must know that Marisa is definitely more qualified than me to teach english. Everyone has strengths, but mine do not include spelling, grammar, punctuality, and a firm grasp of the English language. I'm ok with that. What I am not ok with is how the school is handling this situation; and worse, I don't know what to do. I do need a job (for the paying of the rent) and I technically need to keep this job if I want my teaching certification. But how can I continue to work for an organization that would treat my significant other this way? How can I work for a blatantly racist organization (Dr. SFB is definitely not the only one who believes what he believes)? And honestly, I am mad at these people for screwing over their students by not taking advantage of such a good opportunity to help their students. The tests that this school hands to students are filled with attempts at english that end up being gibberish. Even the lesson plans, from which teachers are supposed to enlighten students (supposedly), are garbled messes of english words. I hate watching people shoot themselves in the feet. I hate it more then people shoot OTHER people in the feet. As the school is conducting a slow down with Marisa's interview (in the hopes that she will just give up and go away, thus saving everyone face) I have begun to conduct my own slow down. I am doing much less work at school and putting much more effort into sneaking out on-time. Strangely enough, this has started to make my classes go smoother and smoother. This week, all of my difficult classes went really smoothly. Some even went great! (then again, most were cancelled for no apparent reason).

Maybe the worst thing about all these little "set-backs" is that I am afraid that I am not learning from them as much as I could. And I mean this in regards to culture. I recognize that things here are different and that I am in no place to put value judgments on anything, but I AM putting value judgments on EVERYTHING! I came abroad to expand my horizons and I am afraid i am just becoming racist! Today for example, my first period of class was cancelled for an all teacher meeting in which the director of the school told all the teachers that it was bad that some of the students were potentially going to fail (some = most) and that the teachers need to go back and change the grades and boost them up. A fellow teacher of mine showed me her grade book. There were several students who had nothing but zeros because they never even came to class.... but, she has to give them passing numbers now. Then I taught for one hour and my next class was cancelled and I was done for the day. And all day I keep thinking "wow, how Thai is that.." THATS NOT GOOD! So, my new goal is to learn and try to not simply critique and move on.... except for the racists.... i god damned hate racists.

Ok in all this rabble-rousing both Marisa and I skipped over last weekend... which was raaaad!!!!! We went a little bit south and west of Bangkok to two floating markets.

Marisa: The first floating market we went to was a Thai tourist oriented market and it was amazing and fabulous. It's called Amphawa and it's a lovely little town situated on a canal that is an offshoot of the Mae Klong river. The water was clean, and we stayed in one of the town's homestays. Amphawa is known for it's homestays, families run the little hostels and they have porches that back right up to the canal. The porches are decorated with traditional Thai cushions and little tables with candles, and hammocks. The vendors in the market paddle their tiny wooden boats (which are very tippy) up and down the canal. There is a pad thai , freshly grilled clams and prawns, a traditional Thai salad served warm with rice gluten, mango with coconut sticky rice, thai iced coffee, thai omelettes and tons of other delicious treats! Each boat has a different speciality and you can just wave them over and order what you want! My kind of living. Jon and I were the only tourists who rented one of these typically vendor boats and paddled around. Ok, technically Jon paddled, but he wanted to so I didn't protest. Jon tried mangosteen for the first time, which by far is one of my favorite fruits if only for it's perfectly fruity taste but it's also really fun to eat. We also ate Meang Kam, which is like my most favorite thing ever!!!!! The Meang Kam guy first starts with a betel leaf which he folds like a little cup (about the size of a cough syrup cup) and into it he puts a little dried coconut, a piece of ginger, a piece of onion, a little sliver of lime, some really hot chili, a sprig of cilantro, a bit of peanut and a dollop of his homemade fish sauce. Then you pop the whole thing which is now wrapped up like a little green pyramid about the size of a wonton into your mouth and WHOA. So much flavor. Yay. At night, we took a firefly tour by longtail boat, which was so beautiful. It was Jon's first time seeing fireflies as well. Haha, I think they may have underwhelmed. But the boat ride was beautiful and we got to sit at the very front which was cool. The next morning we headed to the very famous Damnoen Saduak floating market and it was a zoo! We got a lot of photographs of sunburnt tourists and their boat drivers jockeying for position among the vendors.

Things to Learn and Wonder About:

1. How do people in Thailand actually get things done?

2. I need to find out what these red bell-shaped fruits are.

3. UCSF may have found a cure for Chagas. Thanks Gabe!! (This last note is unrelated to Jon's blog, but to mine :) )