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So hello my good people, I hope this latest folly into my life in Thailand finds you all well as we approach yet another Monday morning. I can finally empathise with all of your feelings to this once more as tomorrow is the fateful day I begin work in Princess Sulapong College, but more on that later.
So the last time I left you I was still finding my feet in Trang, and though I have certainly started to get my barings I dont think I will be fully settled until I get sorted in work. Problems with that mainly being that the school has been away on holiday for a number of weeks and thus I havent been able to meet anyone from there to discuss lesson plans and any other major issues I may have, I am going in blind tomorrow and theres no other way about it. I am hoping my blagging skills from my own school days are not too rusty...
With little else to do but explore and relax I have spent most of the week just meeting various people for the odd beer in the evenings until Wednesday, when my friend Pete returned for a few days on his way back up to Bangkok. He arrived pretty dishevelled around 9pm on Wednesday and we proceeded to reaquaint with each other in the time honoured fashion of buying some cheap Thai whisky and heading out into the night. Last time he had visited the City's one and only nightclub was shut due to electrical issues and I had promised him we would go if he returned, much to his excitement. So off we went top "Say Yes!", Trang's premier nightspot. I can assure you were it not for the fact it was the only available nightclub I would not be "Saying Yes", so to speak. It is a modern, cool place with an apparently classy demenour. (I later found out this is because it is wholly owned and run by the Thai mafia, and some very dodgy things have occurred there in the past involving firearms and head splatterings.) The music played ranges from a live Thai band, who actually arent too bad, to Asian trance and into some horrible Western classics such as Justin Bieber and the Black Eyed Peas. You get the picture. Thankfully you can take your own bottle of Whisky in and just pay for mixers which are poured for you by a personal waiter, so some perks are to be had. Pete, being the most unco-ordinated man when sober, converts to a walking disaster zone at times when intoxicated, and this night was no exception, crashing into all and sundry as he went I was pleased I did not know of the mafia connection at this point...
Anyway, having survived we opted for a quiet day on the Thursday and just watching the Liverpool game in my apartment. The only problem was it would mean a late night and we had somehow been drunkenly coaxed into visiting Sakda's (the camp chef I met early on my stay in Trang) mother and family in the mountains early the next day. I have no idea how or why, but we felt it rude to decline the invitation and so were to be picked up by Sakda at 6.30am. Sure enough the call came and off we went down some winding scenic routes and up into the heart of one of Trang's many mountains. There, we were met by a kindly toothless woman and a feast of mostly horrific looking food. Those who know me know I fear fish, and the sight of some deep fried fish heads being passed to me to eat at an ungodly hour nearly made me vom up my insides, but we politely refused what we could not truly manage and made the best with the rest before Sakda took us back into town.
Having largely escaped unscathed from that brush with Thai cuisine we decided to head to the beach for the afternoon to relax and that is largely what we did, very little indeed. I was tired and a minor snooze on the beach led to some sunburn but I was generally fine and we mooched back into Trang for the evening where we met up with Ross the Scottish teacher and a few of his Western teaching buddies. There were quite a few and it was good to get involved in the local Ferang scene. One fella, an American named Alex is particularly hilarious. He has an amazing way with words and his often narrow minded and deliberately faecious stories had me in stitches, a top bloke who I am sure I will see a lot more of.
Pete then left this morning after we spent last night quietly watching the footy with a few more whiskys and today I was feeling a bit ill so I havent done a lot myself other than pack my bag for school and have a shave. Nerves are beginning to kick in a bit now as it is going to be a big step up from when I was learning on the TEFL course but meeting a few of the teachers on Friday has helped a lot, many had good advice, and although a few had some horror stories looking at the IQ of one or two of them it was a case of "If they can do it, surely so can I", as there were quite a few simple folk amongst their brethren.
Still, I best get back to the room and prepared for a fairly early night by recent standards, the only other thing of note this week was my attempts at riding a motorbike were a complete and utter failure, I was fine on the straights but the turns proved much more tricky in the chaotic Trang traffic. I will have to rectify that or die trying I suppose as there is no other way to get around and motorbike taxis are proving expensive and equally dangerous as my white knuckles are testament to.
Take care of yourselves people. Miss you all a lot. And best wishes to everyone attending Luke Carragher's funeral tomorrow. I wish I could be there but I am thinking of you all. RIP mate. x
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