Its finally June!!

Well May flew by.  My poor blog only had two posts but that seems to be the way things are going.  Anyway, May was super busy.  But I can finally breathe and relax. I dont know how some people finish school and leave the country or move all on the last day of school.  Our last day was Thursday; its now Saturday and I finally feel like I can relax.  I am so glad I am not heading out of here until the 14th even though I wish at times it was earlier.  My mind can relax and I dont have to stress to get everything done at once!

Let's see, what is new in my world.  Moe and I saw two movies this week: Godzilla and X-Men.  It was fun.  Going to the movies is much cheaper here, only 300 baht which is about 10 dollars for both of us! (right that is still cheaper?)  I keep saying things to people about America and then realize I havent been there for 2 years, I could be completely out of the loop!  Oh well.

I have finished my second year of teaching and it was wonderful. But I will say I am glad to be done.  My class was great and I will miss them, but for now its nice to be rid of them ;) Next year I am staying in 4th grade and will be the Head of my Department! ha. I feel silly saying that because I only have 2 years experience, but the other 2 people who are staying dont want to do it, so I got elected. It will be interesting to have so many new people next year!

The last Monday of school we took the fourth graders to a minigolf place and they loved it, for the most part. It was quite hot, so that part wasnt cool.  Plus it was concrete and not grass, so that made it harder, but I didnt hear much complaining!  It was a bit stressful for us teachers though, but the kids loved it enough that we will probably do it again! Here is my favorite picture from the day:

A reason (that isnt completely a reason but a good excuse!) of why I didnt blog was because we didnt have internet for a few days.  Moe and I went out together on the motorbike and I snagged these few pictures of what was happening.  Bamboo ladders and tons of wire is the Thai way!





Another reason why I havent been blogging is because of the political turmoil and the rumors of shutting down social media and what not.  So heres the deal.  Thailand is in a coup.  It probably will be for the next few months to a year.  What does that mean for us.  Soldiers are more prominent in many places here in town and in the country.  Initially there were protests, even in Chiang Mai, and things happening in multiple areas.  It now seems like that is limited only to certain parts of Bangkok.  A curfew was in effect for the whole country from 10pm to 5am for a few weeks but now is only from 12am to 4am, excluding airport travel and other necessities.  Even this curfew has been taken off of tourist beach destinations like Phuket and Krabi, and many others.  It will probably stay in effect here because there were some protests in the beginning. We did lose Facebook for a whole hour but that most likely wont happen again and I doubt any bit of the internet will be censored.

Last week was the first time that I saw soldiers in town, though I will say I purposely avoided areas that would have had them earlier.  They were relaxing under tents and enjoying themselves.  Many tourists have taken pictures with them and they seem very friendly.  Today I went to the market and some of the soldiers were putting on a show, while other soldiers clapped and danced and took pictures in the audience.  It is definitely not a scary thing to see soldiers here in Chiang Mai.





Lastly, I will share this terrible picture of me at the market with sweat stained face, a mango shake, and "potato chips" (a potato thinly sliced and fried!), solely because they were delicious and you should be jealous you didnt have one!