islands, sea turtles, and murdering fish

Hi again everyone!

I had another amazing weekend in Thailand. Sometimes I have these surreal moments, where I just look around and have to say, “wow”. Scott calls them D.F.D’s (dear f*ckin’ diary). I mean yesterday, I was sailing in a boat off the coast of Thailand, to a tropical island, sitting on the ledge hanging my feet over the side of the boat. And no one was stopping me telling me I might fall in the water…yeah…dear f*cking diary is right.
Friday, we found out we had all passed the grammar and phonology exam to become teachers. This test was incredibly difficult, and the course instructor said that usually at least 2 people don’t pass, but our while group did. So a group of 7 of us, decide to go back over to Koh Samet for a relaxing weekend. We left early Saturday morning and decided to do a tour of the island. We signed up for a 6 hour tour that sailed around the island, included lunch, and let us snorkel, sail, fish, and see sea turtles. This cost us about $12 each, which is just unreal.
The way the tour began, was a little rocky. You know how I said I would never get on a motorcycle in Thailand again? Well I was wrong. The tour started with 2 of us each hopping on a motorbike behind a Thai driver, and offroading through bumpy dirt roads, then weaving in and out of sidewalks and crowded streets. Luckily, Courtney and I rode together, so I didn’t freak out too much, and the ride quickly brought us to the dock where we hopped on our tour boat.
It was a beautiful day, and sailing around Koh Samet was amazing. There were lounge chairs on the roof of the boat to sit and stare at the beauty. We got to see a lot of the uninhabited parts of the island, as well as snorkel with some tropical fish . The boat docked in some little inlets full of more fish that I have ever seen. There were tons of crabs, sea cucumbers and giant brightly colored clams on the bottom.
The fishing however, was a little more interesting. They stop the boat, and hand us each a water bottle with fishing line attached, and a hook with a weight on it. We fished drop line style, and surprisingly caught a lot of fish. The sad part was, once we caught the fish they popped them on a stick and immediately grilled them. I reluctantly tried the ‘fresh fish‘, but luckily they also had the option of pineapple and vegetable shish kabobs, tropical fruit, and fried rice, so I didn‘t feel like such a murderer.
The end of the trip included a visit to the islands fish farm, where we got to feed sharks, sea turtles, baby sea turtles, and all kinds of huge fish. The fish farm just had narrow, thin, planks of wood that you walk alongside the holding areas on. One false move, and you go careening into a pit of giant sharks…a little unnerving. I spent most of my time there staring at the beautiful sea turtles.
When we returned from the trip, we went back to the beach, and all got massages (who could resist…really). We had dinner the restaurant on the beach, where you sit on cushions in the sand. We watched a Thai “fire show” which had fire jugglers who also danced and did acrobatics. It was amazing! Afterwards, we found a place that sells “adult ice cream”, which is pretty much ice cream mixed with 5% booze (ahhh yes someone finally combined my 2 favorite things). I had ‘funky monkey’ which was made from kahlua and crème de banana…SO GOOD.
Later that night, some of us were sleeping in the bungalow we rented, when it started to monsoon. This is the largest and longest monsoon I have seen yet! It was so scary! Half of our group was still at the bar, and all of a sudden the bungalow door bursts open and Matt comes in to tell us that the whole island had flooded, lost power when lightning struck the main power source, and that lightning was still striking everywhere. The whole island was seriously pitch black, and the only time you could see was when lightning struck every 10 seconds…scary. We awoke the next morning to sunshine and fully restored power, which is unbelievable considering the state of things only hours before.
I am back safe in Ban Phe now. It is strange to think this is my last week here with the group. A few of the group members have been placed, (mostly in Bangkok so far), but I haven’t been placed yet, and should find out soon where I will be teaching! I actually start practice teaching the monks by myself this week. I have to teach four - 1 hour lessons all on my own…eek! I hope the monks go easy on me! Wish me luck.
I miss all of you, and love to hear from you, even if I don’t get time to respond to your comments! I will update again as soon as I have something interesting to write about…which should be no problem here!
p.s. I am eating a banana right now, and I have to say that the bananas here have about 10 times the flavor of bananas at home...they are mind blowing...and I will probably smuggle some back with me.