เกาะเสม็ด(Ko Samet)

This may be hard to believe but Kaily and I do have full time jobs as teachers, so don't be fooled when all you see is pictures of us traveling around Thailand ; ) Once again, Thailand had yet another holiday, and we couldn't let it go to waste. We decided to spend our long weekend at Ko Samet, an island on the eastern seasboard of Thailand.
We had an amazing weekend relaxing on the beach, touring the island, snorkeling, dancing as well as enjoying an evening show on the beach of some fire dancers.
With this being our last long weekend for awhile, we took in as much as we could and we returned back to Bangkok both sun burnt and happy.

First day of school is upon us

So if you haven't heard yet but Kaily and I are here in Thailand to teach for 10 months. This experience is of many firsts for Kaily and I. This is the first time that we have traveled to another country together. This is the first time that we are living in another country for more than 3-6 months. And this is the first time that we are teachers in a foreign country. It's a lot of firsts, but we are beyond excited to have this opportunity to speak into kids lives, and to inspire one another to learn. In Thailand we feel so honoured to be teachers, as it is a highly respected profession here. This past weekend as we were serving in a community by planting trees and helping build damns, we all sat with a monk afterwards to present the community with a food donation. The man spoke about the importance of teachers and how they are vessels of wisdom, and they point the next generation down the right path. I liked that. Rarely have I ever thought of teachers in such a way, and I want to start having that perspective because teachers do an incredible amount of work for the sake of empowering young people to learn.
So tomorrow the kids will come, and I hope these next ten months are just as much of a learning experience for me as it will be for these students.

Lertlah School Team Building

This weekend we had the opportunity as a faculty of Lertlah to come together and help out in the community. All 300+ of us got on buses and we went to a Monk community and helped plant trees as well as assisted in building a damn. Though the majority of people spoke Thai, it was pretty incredible that we were able to work together to help others. Unfortunately I did not snap any photos at this place, which I kind of regret. It was super hot and we were getting pretty dirty so I left my camera on the bus. Sorry folks.
BUT afterwards we got to go to Springfield Village resort near Hua Hin and we got to have dinner, do some karaoke, and dance together. We had an awesome time and it was great to get pumped up and realize that we get to work alongside some amazing people.