The four weeks have flown since we arrived back in Bangers from Vietnam, and we have been really busy with school, sport, and special visitors! :)

Fletch came over for a week, and got the royal Bangkok treatment - complete with plenty of street food, Singhas, swims in our pool, soi dogs, spicy curries and schoolkids! We had such a fabulous week, and it was really special to be able to show him round my little corner of the world. Mr Fletch was a star in EP 5/3 on Monday morning, with the kids relishing the opportunity to gawk at a tall, red-head farang who could speak to them in English and Chinese. They were a bit shy at first but eventually warmed up to him...and he certainly made an impression. The kids are still asking about him, and his name even came up in a game of Scattegories, when the kids had to think of someone starting with `F` :) So cute :) Fletch stayed and watched my lesson, marvelling at the intricacies of the English language....and is now very knowledgeable on similies and metaphors ;)

It is lucky Fletch is coming back this way, because we were a bit slack and didn`t get out to see very much of the `touristy` parts of Bangkok...instead we enjoyed each others` company just hanging round my little neighbourhood. We had a very hot trip to Chatachuk weekend markets (possibly the sweatiest mass gathering of people anywhere on the planet), and Fletch got out to see a couple of temples during the day when I was at work. But otherwise, we have saved lots of things for the next trip!! :)

It was a pity Fletch missed it, but a week after he left Thailand celebrated a beautiful festival called `Loy Krathong`. Held on the full moon every November, the tradition of Loy Krathong involves releasing elaborate little banana-tree-trunk rafts (krathongs) decorated with banana leaves, candles, flowers and incense sticks onto the river and watching them float away. It symbolises the release of grudges and bad deeds from the previous year, in an act to cleanse the soul and start a fresh year with good luck :) We went down to Lumpini Park - a gigantic, green, leafy and beautiful park smack in the middle of Bangkok`s madness and mayhem - and joined the hordes of Thais and tourists floating their krathongs across the lake. It was such a beautiful sight - hundreds and hundreds of candles floating peacefully, with the bright city lights blinking in the background. A very profound, `Oh wow, I`m in Bangkok!` moment :) I floated my little krathong,  watched it until it melted in with the others in the middle of the lake, cleansed my soul, and made plenty of wishes for the New Year :)

It has also been a pretty active month for me - I joined Bangkok`s `California WOW` chain of gyms...which is as cheesy and try-hard American as it sounds, and in some ways more like a nightclub than a gym! The one I go to is massive -  5 floors worth of cardio equipment, weights, yoga rooms, 3 group exercise studios, and changerooms! And all topped off with constant pumping nightclub music, and in the case of one floor - strobe lights! Its pretty funny :) But the classes are really good, and thanks to my mate Clare from school (who is a bargaining guru) I got a pretty great deal on the membership!

On top of that, Kara and I were invited to play for the school teachers/parents basketball team in an ongoing competition for the next few months, hosted by our school. We had 2 games this weekend - one on Friday after school, and one yesterday afternoon...we had so much fun! It has been ages since I played basketball, and the free throws and layups were a bit rusty! There were plenty of nods, smlies, pointing, hand gestures, misunderstood instructions, wais after fouls, and high fives :) On Friday night, we played a Thai Airways team and smashed them 60-27. Yesterday, however, we played a team compiled of past Thailand national team players! Just quietly, I think they searched nationwide for the 8 tallest women in Thailand and put them altogether on the same team :) It was a really good, physical game...the Thai national team girls were really good (thanks, Captain Obvious) but our little team didn`t go too bad! We ended up losing 60-38, but it was a great game and we had stacks of sideline support...the two farangs drew in a bit of a crowd; I think Kara and I will have attained celebrity status by the time we rock up to school on Monday. :) Our next game is on the 10th January...better start practising my layups!!

School is cruising along very nicely - with such a short term, the boys are working very hard and there`s not too much time for fun and games. It is a bit hard on them, and us, but they are used to such high expectations. The next few weeks are jam-packed with camps, public holidays (Thais love a public holiday for any random reason), the odd excursion, and soon enough - exams! Then it is time for Fletch to come back over and have Christmas in Bangkokg, before we head to Phi Phi and Koh Lanta for New Years. Exciting stuff!!

The next few weeks promise to be very, very exciting...but you will all find out about that in the next entry!! Hope you are all safe and smiling!

Hasta la proxima! :)

xoxo