where i've been

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It's week four back at school now, and i've been neglecting not only my blog but my laundry (some still left from the school holiday), house cleaning, test grading, leg shaving, you name it. It's been a busy few weeks with a last minute return from vacationing in the south, the arrival of new teachers from the states, an unexpected international jaunt, and a hectic start to the new school semester.

It'll take a little while to update the blog so i'm going to play some catch up in my next few posts. For now, here's a brief recap of the last month...

- finished semester one without grocery shopping for the last two full weeks. this resulted in some strange, sometimes embarrassing meals...

..take, for example, the fried bread, apple,
boiled sweet potato-like stuff and jicama melange

- welcomed teacher ryan to life in Thailand

- visited fun, beachy Ko Tao alongside hordes of other young travelers, became connoisseurs of cheap Thai beer and finally got a little bit of diving in

view from the diveboat

- traveled further south still to quieter beaches of Ko Lanta

kan tiang beach

- spent a sleepless night on the misleadingly named "sleeper" train back to BKK

- saw the arrival of 5 more new American teachers here at SB

- started school with 130 new students added to my schedule (unbeknownst to me, of course, until stepped into the classroom on the first day)

- in one day decided to go to Laos, applied for Thai re-entry permit, taught a full day of classes, received said permit, packed a bag and boarded a bus bound for Laos

- went to Laos

in Laos

- returned to a daunting pile of notebooks and tests to grade, lesson plans to create, emails to respond to, laundry to wash, gecko feces to mop up in the living room, etc.

Stay tuned. more details to follow.
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