so many spelling mistakes...:S
I'll fix them later. sorry

Ko Phi Phi- snorkelling

After Boxing Day we move on to a different beach called Ko Phi Phi. This was a very small island loaded with tourists. We saw people from all over the world speaking many different languages. Here the beach was much bigger and there were many places to go tourist shopping. Here spent most of our time enjoying the beach, sun and some fancy drinks. Our one day of adventure was spent on a beach touring near by islands. We took a long tail boat to an island with monkeys on it. We did two different snorkelling stops and saw some coral reef, tropical fish and even some sharks. Like the kind you don’t want to see when you’re in the water. Apparently they’re safe to swim with, but just the same I wanted to be out of the water after seeing one. Greg on the other hand chased one down to get a good look at it. We also visited Mai beach from the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio. On the way home we watch the sun set. It wasn’t as good as the Bay of Chaleur, but I didn’t tell them that.

Christmas on long beach

Christmas eve, Christmas day and boxing day our group really wanted to be away from the touristy areas, so we went to a small quiet beach not far outside of a town called Krabbi. Here Greg and I shared a little beach hut right next to the water. During these days we didn’t do much besides, swim, sunbath, and eat. It was very different than our other places because we had no access to internet and power was only on from 7pm till 6am. On Christmas morning we got up and all had breakfast together. We had exchanged names earlier on in the trip so we each had a gift to open. Christmas day was spent on our quiet beach and in the evening we went into town to skype with our family.

Thai food cooking course

For our last full day in Chiang Mai we decided to go to an organic farm, again, outside of the city. Here surrounded by empty fields and rural Thailand was a small piece of property filled with gardens and tiny cooking shacks. We were lead through the gardens as our guide, Max, explained what each plant was, how it smelt and what we could and could not find in Canada. We were given red aprons and sombreros to wear. Each of us cooked 4 different dishes throughout the day. Everyone had a chance to make curry from scratch, a soup, salad and a dessert. My dessert was mango with sticky rice, which sounds weird, but was amazing! I even compared it to the greatness of ice cream. It’ll be hard to make most of these dishes back in Canada, but we both loved everything we made, so we’re going to try.

Flight of the gibbons

Our third day in Thailand was spent zip lining through the jungles outside Chiang Mai. After travelling an hour outside of the city we found ourselves in thick forests up in the mountains. We spent hours traveling from one tree to the next, hundreds of feet above ground. It was hard jumping off a platform so high in the ground, hoping that one wire and one metal hook will safe you from plummeting to the ground. It was also a great rush! We did a lot of zip lining, walked a couple of suspended bridges and took a few leaps of some REALLY high platforms. Mom, you would have hated every second of it. We left with our adrenaline pumping. Afterwards we visited a huge waterfall and then were treated to a chicken curry meal (which most of us will say was the best curry we had in Thailand). It was a great day!

Chiang Mai

So yesterday we did our big trip to elephant orphanage. It started bright and early at 8am when we were picked up at our hostel and driven to the outskirts of the city. Along the way we learned a little bit more about what we would be doing for the day as well as stories of the elephants pasts. We had a quick orientation and were then taken to see our first elephants! We were able to touch them, pet them and kiss their trunks. Soon afterwards we gave them their first feeding, breakfast! It was small bananas and watermelons and pumpkins in a very large basket. We were told to hold out the fruit and the elephant would take it from us using their trunk. They were very hungry and ate a basket of fruit the size of a university load of laundry, each. If they didn't like food they would drop it until you gave them the fruit they wanted. Then we went to see the baby elephants. When they're younger they are much more rambunctious and can be dangerous at times, so we were told to keep our distance. Needless to say Greg still got head butted by one of them. After that we walked over to the river at the orphanage, grabbed some brushes and buckets and jumped into the water with them for their bath. It is quite interesting to see such large animals roll around freely in water like they are little kids. We threw water onto their backs and scrubbed their sides clean. This did seem quite rewarding until a few minutes later when they got out of the water and threw dirt on themselves. Dirt is an elephants sunscreen for the day. Then the elephants went to their favorite trees for a good scratch before they took off to roam in the open fields. We were given an amazing buffet style Thai meal in the meantime. After lunch we pretty much repeated the whole morning over again. We also had a small break where we learned a lot about the woman who started and owns the orphanage. We also learned many heart breaking stories about some of the elephants that were rescued and how most elephants are treated in the country. Elephants in the streets of thailand are used for begging. They can make their owners up to a months worth of income in one night. But to get them ready for the streets they go through torturous training and are forced to live in the city where they are traumatized by traffic, humans and could be killed easily by a car. We learned the stories of several elephants who were tortured and blinded by their owners, one who was used only as a breeding tool and suffered many broken bones and are now disformed, elephants who were rescued as babies because their mothers were killed, and one that stepped on a land mine. Most of the elephants are now recovering safely in this sanctuary, but there are still many others out in the streets being abused and traumatized. The orphanage makes money on tourists who come and volunteer as well as those who donate money to help purchase an elephant from the street to bring them there. All in all we learned a lot yesterday about elephants in Thailand and we experienced something I'm sure we will never forget. it was amazing!! Pictures to come soon.

We made it safe and sound in Bangkok last night at 2am. We had a long three hour flight, or at least it seemed long because my seat wouldn't lend back and I wanted to sleep. I had to sleep sitting straight upright, I think I pulled something in my neck along the way, but the pain is gone now. In Thailand there is a bit of a time difference when it's 10pm in Bathurst it's 9am here. So take off an hour and change am to pm. We stayed last night at a little hostel called 'Take a nap'. I'm up early here now and decided I would use the free internet service. We had to fight with the cabbi last night about putting on his meter (he wanted to charge us a flat rate, but we didn't trust him). In the end we paid almost the same amount using the taxi meter as we would have with his offer. We had a good laugh about that. We leave again tonight from Bangkok to go to Chiang Mei for the next few days. Our elephant orphanage day is tomorrow and I'm REALLY REALLY excited about it. I promise to take lots of pictures. Speaking of pictures, Greg got me a new digital camera for Christmas! It's really nice, 10 megapixel, and can go UNDERWATER up to 3 meters!! So I can take it to the beach without worrying about it. Or leave it out in the rain at the beach lot. hahaha. Anywho we had a great small Christmas opening in our room and thank everyone for the parcels and packages that were sent. Hopefully finding internet will this easy throughout the whole trip and we can update you often.

The Christmas Season in China

For a country that doesn’t celebrate Christmas China does a very good job of being festive. Every big mall and store has been decorated for at least a month. You can find large Christmas trees at any large shopping location and English Christmas music is never far from it. Decorations can even be found around the corner at the local grocery store. Our school has been practicing for weeks for our upcoming Christmas concert. Every grade from Kindergarten to grade 12 performs a song. They’re encouraged not to choose a Christmas song, but rather something relating to winter or the season. I have been put in charge of the elementary grade’s drama play called “the giving tree”. Their director left early for Christmas vacation and put me in charge of the Christmas performance….I’m a bit worried. I can’t even remember the kids’ lines nor the dance moves to their song. It should be interesting. I have also been put in charge of the grade 6 homeroom temporarily which means this last week of school is going to BE CRAAAZY! Our school takes this concert very seriously. It’s a much different set up than at home. On Monday each class books a time in the theatre to take their class in and do a quick rehearsal. Then on Tuesday we do a quick run-through of the whole concert so that the tech. guy knows who needs microphones and when to turn on the music. On Wednesday the whole school watches the full concert during morning classes because this time it’s a dress rehearsal. This also happens because during the night of the actual concert, the auditorium is too small and can only hold the parents. So Wednesday morning is the only time the students get to watch the show. Wednesday night is when all the magic happens. As teachers we will be in our classrooms entertaining our students until it’s their time to perform and then for the time afterwards. I’m sure I’ll be pooped by the end of the night. This week also ends with a half day on Friday. I think Friday after school Greg and I am going to open our gifts and have a small fake Christmas. We’ve received four parcels so far and several Christmas cards. Thank to all those who sent us one!!! They definitely make me feel very happy inside and I can not freakin’ WAIT to open them.
Greg and I have also been attending some Christmas parties. We had a 4th floor party last week after we decorated the whole floor in Christmas decorations. Then last Monday we had our International school staff party, complete with Yankee gift exchange (I guess it’s not appropriate to call it a Chinese gift exchange when you’re in the country). The party was held at this delicious all you can eat Western BBQ restaurant close by and went really well. Then this past Sunday night our Canadian staff from both school held a Christmas potluck upstairs in our residence. A turkey, gravy and stuffing were all ordered from a local restaurant. There were mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes casserole, Kimbob (Korean sushi that I am in love with), broccoli salad, taco salad (made by us of course) and many other great dishes. We had cakes, cookies and homemade carrot cake for dessert. By the end of the evening my tummy felt just like it does on a Christmas afternoon in Janeville, except that I probably ate even more than usually because homemade Canadian food is so rare. My belly really hurt afterwards and I felt very much like a zombie. We ended the night singing Christmas carols off a laptop and watching ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas’.
Greg and I have also spent the last week running around getting ready for our big trip to Thailand. We’ve bought some swim suits, a large backpack, and a beach volley ball in preparation. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to start packing during the week because we leave on Friday evening THIS WEEK! We hope to bring the laptop with us so that we can update you on our adventure. Or at least journal about it and post it all when we come back so you have a great story to read. I will try and take a lot of photos, but my camera hasn’t been working well (tear :( ) so I’ll see what we can do. If this is for some reason our last post before Christmas, I do wish all our friends, family and random readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Below is a link to my art course websites. Just in case anyone wanted to see what I was up to at work and the skill these students have. Click on 'Artists of the Month' to be wowed!

http://210.21.225.84/issc/jessicachapman/MainPage.htm

Cold Front

If you haven’t heard yet it’s been usually cold here over the past week. Temperatures have dropped to a bone chilling 15 degrees. That may not sound cold to you Eskimos over in Canada, but we don’t live in igloos over here. I have had to pull out my pants, buy leggings, wear socks and even purchase sweaters. We even contemplated buying mitts and scarves. All of our air conditioners have been replaced with heaters and the students have been arriving at school with 3 to 4 layers of clothing worn underneath their jackets. The mice have also been appearing in our rooms looking for a warmer place to go about their mouse business. Thankfully our temperatures are getting closer to normal lately and the socks have been put away.

Greg’s Birthday

For those of you who didn’t know, Greg’s birthday has already flown by us. It was on a Thursday, which happened to be our Parent teacher night that was followed by a PT day. Thus no drinking occurred until Friday when we threw Greg a bowling birthday party…yes they bowl in China. We walked to a bowling alley not far from our place and did some big ball bowling. The balls, pins and alleys all look the same here in case you were wondering. We had great fun, even though most of us were pretty bad at it. The one main difference between bowling in Canada compared to China, is that here you can drink as you bowl. Thus your game gets sloppier as the night goes on. We of course went out afterwards for a drink and some boogying. For Greg’s birthday he received a brand new bike from his amazing girlfriend, a quart of Jack, a ping pong racket that was already his but had forgotten at a friends and a light to go on the back of his bike.