the holiday weekend

it was a busy holiday weekend, let me tell you. ok, so i am exaggerating a bit, but i still did some interesting things.

on saturday, i had a pizza lunch with two other teachers, took a nap, and then we went into bangkok. matthew was looking for presents for people (he leaves at approximately the same time i do, but he's been here for 5 years) so we went to some "handicrafts mall" that had the same stuff you see at a market, but in an air conditioned, uncrowded environment. and some of the things i've seen at markets look better than some of the stuff there, so i think i'll take my chances with the market in the future. then we went to see the simpson's movie, which had funny parts but wasn't fantastic. there was a part where rod/todd flanders ask if buddha will be in heaven with jesus, and flanders yells NO! that made me cringe a little because i don't know if the humor translates in the thai subtitles. there was also a sign with a billboard written in korean. after it was over, mr. kim told us that it said, "i will teach you a texan accent" and wanted to know what texan accent was and why it was funny. the funny part was that only someone who knows korean could tell what it said, and why would a korean know a texan accent? i don't think mr. kim really go it. he also thought arnold schwartzenegar might be offended by them making fun of him. hahaha! then we had dinner at a sushi place and i was not impressed. that was the end of saturday.

i had told yan, a chinese teacher, that i would go with her on sunday morning to some ceremony for the queen's birthday. we were supposed to leave at 7:30. i didn't get out of bed until almost 9. then i saw she had left me a note that they were leaving at 8:30 instead. oh well. i'm glad i missed it, in the end, because yan told me it was a mostly a person or a monk talking (in thai) about the queen and you stand up and sit down and kneel and stand up and curtsy, etc.

but later that day i went to the grand palace and the temple of the emerald buddha. i think these are must-see tourist places. i would have enjoyed it more in different company, that is all i will say. the buildings were impressive, extremely elaborate carvings and enamel-work and paintings. i have seen pictures of the emerald buddha and, i have to say, i was not that impressed. i had imagined it to be much larger, so i was a little let down when we finally got there! it is maybe 3 feet tall, on top of a 30 foot tall pillar deal. so its hard to see it because you can't get even get very close to the pillar, and you aren't allowed to take pictures either, and there are a million sweaty people also trying to see it. and it was past my lunch time, so maybe i was a little grumpy.

today i walked over to a huge buddha park near our school, called buddhamonthon or puttamonthon or puta mon thon or however you feel like spelling it. there is a really tall buddha statue there and the park is gigantic and peaceful. well, maybe buddha statues don't like me, beacuse after i walked all the way over there and finally found this buddha statue (its hard to see past trees, and i'm illiterate) it was almostly completely covered up. they must be resurfacing or cleaning or something, but i could see a sliver of face through the netting. another disappointment. i did see a bunch of turtles, a new bird, some small lizards, and 2 monitor lizards, so it wasn't a total waste of a walk. then i went back to school, had lunch, talked to tim for a bit, took a nap and then got a 2 hour thai massage. that was awesome. it was like a yoga workout, but the lady did it all for me. she stretched muscles i didn't know could be stretched. she used this spearmint/menthol lotion on my arms and legs, so i felt like a peppermint stick when i left. it was sort of like icy hot, it was cool and first and then got hot. the only bad part was that i have a bruise on my foot and it was super painful when she massaged it. oh well, it was worth it. especially since i have thai boxing lessons tomorrow!! well, maybe i should have had the massage after boxing, but at least i'm all limber now.

pictures later, i'm feeling lazy.