adventures in windsurfing and goodbye Sarah!

Hello all!

I had a very pleasant weekend. ON Friday, I ducked out of work early to go windsurfing with Matt and my student Pierre. We went down tot he beach, where the instructor gave us a very informative speech in Thai. I understood absolutely none of his directions, so I decided to "wing it". Windsurfing is DIFFICULT! Basically the board is impossible to balance on, and the sail weighs about 50 pounds. So you have to pull it up while balancing. Needless to say, I fell in the water more than a few times, and the sail fell on my head more then a few times.
I finally go the hang of it, and was actually able to go pretty fast! The Thai instructor paddled on his surfboard alongside me shouting "yes yes good I like". It turned out to be so much fun, and easy once I got the hang of it!! At one point, Pierre, Matt and I decided to have a race. I started going way too fast, and went out a little too far. I breezed past the boys, and just kept going. Pierre shouted "Tami you are going all the way to Cambodia", and he was almost right. I started to get scared because I was miles down the beach, in deep water, and going too fast. I didn't know how to stop or turn around, so the instructor came up to me, and shouted something that sounded like "turn". I flung the sail around, and toppled into the water. The instructor traded me his surfboard, and took my board back in. I had to paddle all the way back against the current, and by the end my arms were mush. The next morning I woke up and couldn't move my muscles! Windsurfing was hard work, but worth it!
We returned to the school where we taught Pierre informative and useful lessons on "pick up lines". Explaining the term "pick up" was impossible! Pierre first said "pick up? you lift her off the ground?" I said "no, pick up means hitting on women". Pierre said, "you HIT women?". (clearly this went on for a while until we explained that the purpose was flirting, complete with loving hand gestures). Anyway, we taught him such great lines as "good thing I brought my library card, because I'm checking you out". It was hilarious to hear these with his suave french accent! Yes, we can now send Pierre back to France, confident in his English skills.
Friday night, we went to Shaam's for dinner, since Sarah is going back to Canada this week. We took a cab the 20 miles to his restaurant, and proceeded to order all of our favorite foods, and feast. I had not eaten there in a month or so, and the strange thing is that dishes which used to be way too spicy, now seemed mild. I guess I have become used to the lethal Thai peppers! Shaam still has the best Thai food I have ever had, spicy or not! He drove us back to the school, and said his goodbyes to Sarah.
The next morning, we headed over to Koh Samet to lay in the sun. The weather was beautiful, and we had a very relaxing weekend. We came back yesterday, and sent Sarah off. I am very sad that she is leaving, especially because now I really am the only girl (not to mention the boys have begun farting into the megaphone in our office). It was hard to say goodbye, but she is looking forward to going home, and I am happy for her.
In other news, we finally got our internet line to work well enough to teach online. Though we were one day too late, so now we cannot begin until January! Until then I will keep tutoring, and doing lesson plans...oy! The house hunt has been equally disappointing. Looks like I will be living at the TEFL school forever! I am going to try to change rooms to a nicer one with a lukewarm shower. Wish me luck!
I put up pictures of the "white person" competition, and also photos of our office...they are added to the album that I posted in my last entry (the kings birthday), so if you click on it, the new photos begin on page 3 of the album.
That's it for now! I am sad Christmas is coming up :( We are currently looking for a nice restaurant to at least have some semblance of a holiday dinner! I will keep you posted on the search!
Lot's of love!