Hello all,

I need to keep writing emails, I've been slacking on them
lately. I've sorta dug myself into a nice groove here and the weeks
just fly by. I wake up at 6:40 everyday, shave, shower, get dressed,
and head to work (need to be there by 7:30). On the way I usually
grab some deep fried bananas for breakfast, they're addicting.

I teach 5 classes a day, 6 on thursdays. My schedule is
different everyday, sometimes they're all in the morning or all in the
afternoon. I have two horrible classes that I loath going to
everyday. One is class 204 and is made up of 25% lady-boys who won't
shut up, put away their make up, or stop talking on their cell phones,
25% jocks that don't give a crap about English and know that they'll
pass anyway, 25% of the loudest girls of all time, and 25% of good
students that want to learn.

The Other is class 303. They are just the spawns of satan and know
that by slowly destroying my soul they'll earn a higher rank in the
kingdom of hell. Except for about 5 girls that want to learn English
and study hard.

Most of the other teachers carry a bamboo stick, light capital
punishment is fine in Thailand for unruly students, and these two
classes make me want to take up the practice, but I don't have the
heart to hit kids who might not understand why they're being punished,
due to the language barrier.

So I just try to embarrass them as much as possible by making them
feel stupid when they get 15% on tests and quizzes. I actually
freaked out on two boys two weeks ago because they were blatantly
disrespecting me, I dragged them outside and swore at them, but felt a
little silly afterwards because they didn't understand what I was
saying. They straightened up after that, for about 10 minutes.

After school I do muay thai kickboxing from 5 to 7, then grab some
dinner with my flat mates. Muay Thai is fun and is one of the only
things that makes Bangkok tolerable, without a little exercise I'd go
nuts in this city of cement and dog poo.

Bangkok is a good city, it's very easy to get around when there's no
traffic and the people are friendly, unlike most of the other SE Asian
cities. Lots of backpackers that come to tour SE Asia make Bangkok
their entry and exit point, simply because it's cheap and simple to
navigate. Unfortunately for someone living here, the bar scene grows
old and its lack of city parks can wear on you.

This weekend is Buddhist lent, and I get a four day weekend. Thais
begin fasts and give up things like drinking and smoking for 3 months,
until the next Buddhist holiday.
I'll be going to Phuket again to see some friends. The western shores
of Thailand have some of the best snorkeling and scuba diving in the
world, notably Ko Pii Pii, along with some amazing rock climbing in
Krabi. I hope to go to both of these places and have some adventures.

MY CAMERA IS BROKEN. Small problem, keeps me from sending more
pictures of course, but a new one is in the works.

Search For Beer:
There's a lot of Englishmen, Irishmen, and Dutch that I've met over
here and they laugh at me when I talk about beer. They don't
understand that Oregon is not part of America when it comes to beer
and have never tasted the fine microbrews of the NW. I've invited
them to visit me for the sole purpose of taking them on a beer tasting
tour thru Oregon.
The beers of Thailand just do not cut it and I could kill for a porter
or a stout. Luckily I found two German Brewhouses in Bangkok that
make a fine Dunkel and Hefeweizen. One of them is gigantic and we had
quite a lot of fun there, with dancing, sausages, and full litres of
beer.

Well my friends, family, and unmentionables, I hope to hear from all
of you soon and I'm sure you're doing well. Know that I'm being safe
and won't be spending too much time in a Thai prison anytime soon.
Send me pictures, emails, and a shout if you've got the time, my phone
number is (66) 0853988950.

Krup,
Stephen
A.K.A.
Sessions, Sven, Stesh, Seshy, 'the Beav', Stovo, Seshodamus