Two Weeks Too Long....

... I am so sorry!  I cannot believe it has been two whole weeks since the last time that I posted anything!  Both a lot and nothing much at all has happened over the past two weeks.  Last week was a full work week and I felt like I just ran around like a crazy person the whole time.  We had this Monday off, however, because it was Father's Day on Sunday.  It is Father's Day on December 5th because it is the King's birthday, so it is a pretty big deal.  I had to work at Super English on Monday night, but almost everyone had Monday off of work.  A bunch of us (Janet, John, Mitch, Brian, Tristan, Anneliese and I) went to Koh Samui to explore and to visit V and Victoria.  We left on Saturday morning; first we took a bus to the ferry at Don Sak, about an hour or so outside of town.  Then we took the approx. 2 hour ferry ride to Koh Samui.  When we first got to Koh Samui it was pretty nice out, but soon enough it started to rain.  On Saturday we didn't do much of anything during the day, just relaxed and hung out.  On Saturday night we went out for V's birthday... he has the same birthday as the King!  In Thailand this means that pretty much his entire life he has been in the same situation as my brother, whose birthday is on Christmas; it's kind of awesome because everyone is already celebrating but at the same time it kind of sucks because everyone is celebrating someone else's birthday.
                  First we went to a Mexican restaurant called Gringo's in Chaweng.  Chaweng is the really super touristy area of Koh Samui and I was really surprised by it for the most part.  I had thought that Phuket was kind of the crazy spot and Koh Samui was more of a "real Thailand" type of a place, but not in Chaweng.  There were a million white tourists, and most of them were not the sorts you'd ever want to hang out with.  There were also plenty of Thai prostitutes and lady boys galore.  We saw a bit of a lady boy cabaret show and it was quite entertaining.  Anyway, eating at Gringo's was a nice treat; I got to have chips and salsa, steak fajitas, and margaritas.  These are three things that I love dearly but could never get in Surat.  They weren't the best ever, but they were the best I've had in Thailand!  Then that night we went out to a few bars and clubs; it was interesting to see but not really my scene.  A lot of disgusting dancing between old ugly fat white guys and sexy young Thai girls who were clearly in it for the Baht.
                        Sunday was, in my opinion, a much more enjoyable day.  When we woke up we went back to Chaweng... we originally planned to go to the beach for the entire day but it was really cloudy and rainy.  Instead we went shopping... which was great.  There is some awesome shopping to be done in Chaweng, although the constant bartering gets old really fast. I bought myself this super rad Kanye West tee shirt and a whole bunch of Christmas presents for family at home.  I had a Mediterranean-esque sandwich on a real baguette for lunch and it was amazing.  I also had Starbucks twice and loved every minute of it... I don't care if that makes me an American monster, it was delicious.  Then we did go to the beach anyway.  It was yucky out but it wasn't cold so we went swimming in the ocean for a long while.  It rained while we were in the water and it was pretty cool to look around and see the rain drops hitting the ocean waves.  It may not have been completely ideal, but it was December 5th and I was in the ocean so I was pretty happy.  Then John, Anneliese, and I built (or more accurately tried to build) a snowman out of sand... a sandman.  I think it came out pretty great but some other people thought it just looked like a traffic cone with a face.  So we had a pretty great day in Chaweng.
                   Dinner on Sunday night was a real treat... we had Indian food!  And it was good.  It was good by any standards, not just because we were in Thailand.  It was delicious; I have been daydreaming about it ever since.  I ate a lot of food, but I figured it might be one of the very few times in the next ten months that I will have the opportunity to eat Indian food so I might as well take full advantage.  On our walk to the Indian restaurant it poured... I mean poured.  When we got there I was soaking wet.  I finally dried off by the end of dinner, but then it was time to leave for the movies.  We decided to go see the new Harry Potter movie because in Samui they actually show movies in English.  On the way to the theater I got soaked once again, and then froze for the entirety of the movie, being that I was then in extreme air conditioning.  It was miserable and so was the movie... not worth it at all.  I didn't like Harry Potter before and that movie certainly didn't change my mind at all.  On Monday we left Samui and came back to Surat.
                               Since then I have had a pretty easy week.  Normally at this time on a Friday I would be working at Noonoy... but today is yet another holiday; Constitution Day.  I, of course, still have to teach at Super English tonight, but for those teachers who do not they had a three day work week this week.  A lot of people went to "the dam" this morning or on the night boat last night to Koh Phangan.  I don't mind though, I spent almost 5,000 Baht, almost an entire week's salary, yesterday on mailing Christmas presents to the United States.  I couldn't really then afford to also go away this weekend.  This means that I will have a pretty quiet weekend and I will try to catch up on some work.  Two weeks from today I will be taking a plane to Bangkok to meet my father and my brother!  I cannot believe it's already that close, I am so excited!  Anyway, I did not take too many pictures in Samui because the weather was so bad so I didn't want to carry around my huge, really expensive camera and risk getting it wet or damaged.  Below are some pictures from Brian..... enjoy!  I hope you are all doing well and it's not too cold in the States!  Yesterday and today have been gorgeous days... not a cloud in the sky, a light breeze, and probably about 80 degrees; perfect!  Much love!

This is a photo of the crazy ass power lines in Samui!  Scary, right?!....

Tristan and V on the beach in Chaweng...

Janet, Victoria, and I in the water...

Anneliese and I sculpting our amazing sand snowman...

Starbucks (with snowflakes on the cups!) and shopping... aaaah America.

Haaaaaa.  I love this picture.  Mitch and I at the Indian food restaurant, not sure what the faces are all about.

John fully prepared to ride his motorbike in the crazy crazy rain.

Anneliese and I clearly none too happy waiting for a tuk tuk in the rain...