So I had issues with my town. I didn’t like it. I felt really confined and stifled. I felt like I couldn’t relate to anyone here.

And then I went to Nakohn, my main city. I was invited there by my friend Mac to meet the other farangs (American and Canadian) and to go see a muay thai match – two things I enjoyed very much.

Then I realized that there are actually things to do here: restaurants, bars, clubs, nearby waterfalls, and elephants in the park.
Another great thing happened that night. I was introduced to Brent from Texas, who introduced me to muay thai trainers in Nakhon.

I haven’t trained in fighting in over a year and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I started hitting the punching bag. So nice. Muay thai is a different style than what I’m used to learning, so it will take some adjusting on my part, but it was nice to have that rush again. We were only there and hour and a half, and I’m ready to go back. I have some nice cuts on my leg this week, too.

I came back to my small town and began my secondary project, although now it’s like my 3rd secondary project. A few months ago I went to the high school to see if some of the students would be interested in starting a community project. I already teach 4 days a week and have several English clubs after school, so I didn’t want to do anymore English projects. 20 kids showed up the first day. I found out later that a teacher had told them that I was coming to teach French. Ummm… I kinda know how to count in 10 in French, but not much more than that.
The next week I had 5 students. But see, this is OK with me. I’d much rather have 5 students who are interested in community projects than 20 students waiting for me to speak French. I know which one I’m better suited for.
The girls finally settled on a reading project where they would collect donated books from the high school students and take them to the primary schools. Ahhh, but here’s the problem: Thai kids don’t have books to give away. Reading is not a big deal here (I know I’ve written about that already), so parents don’t really buy books. That part of the project wasn’t going to work. Instead, I went to Bangkok and bought several copies of several titles and now the girls have a program where they go into classrooms, read a book, play a game about the book, and do an art project about the book. The whole process takes an hour, so one period.
They went to their first school last week and it was a huge success. The 2nd /3rd graders were excited. The high school girls were fantastic. Everyone was happy with the way things went. I was extremely proud.

Over Valentine’s weekend I went back into Nakhon. Hung out a lot with Ashley (from Canada – I adore her!), went to an awesome waterfall (where I thought I was going to drown – Brent pulled me out of the water – really, I need to learn to swim), got a 4 dollar massage, found a place to get hamburgers, and had a nice group Valentine’s Day dinner. Ashley leaves to go home at the end of March, and I’ll probably be depressed. Muay thai might not even help.

What else is going on?
-I biked to a waterfall near my house – 54 km round trip. I felt kinda tough.

-Will get to spend about 2 weeks in Chiang Rai in April, and a week in May (school break) hanging out with Alec.

-Molly is coming in April for a week!

-The 4th and 6th grade classrooms at my big school got torn down and won’t be built again until next year. The open cafeteria has now been turned into 6 classrooms separated my partitions. I couldn’t believe it when I saw my co-teacher using a bullhorn to teach. Geez.

-Catherine has told me that I need to come to her site next month. Her school is having a fundraiser, and to sell tickets, they told people that an American “rockstar” is coming. Apparently she has already started putting my picture on the flyers. This may sound odd, but if you knew Catherine, this would be a normal thing for her to do. She wants me to sing karaoke songs all afternoon.

-I’m getting internet at my house next week so I can start using Skype during normal American “awake” hours.