Misty Mountain High

Last week is over. It was a shitty, shitty week and this one is going to be as well. Our school is overloading us with work and I'm getting pretty upset/fed up. However, knowing me, I was very vocal about my opinion and basically told the school that I'm not going to take any more outside work. I really value my students at LCCT and they're the ones who are getting screwed over every time I'm whisked off to show my pretty little white face to a crowd of people I'll never see again. I'm trying to be accepting of cultural differences but I just can't be so exhausted and have no time to prepare lessons. Blah so that's my rant but I'm sure it will get better.

So in summary, last week and the current week: bad. Last weekend: perfect. We were invited to a birthday party out in the Mae Rim which is to the north of Chiang Mai and in the mountains. Laura (the professor and home owner) has this amazing house that is literally in the misty mountains. It's a new house but it was built in the old Lanna Thai style and almost all of the outside walls are glass doors so you have a constant view of the mountainside. Saturday was Laura's birthday party and many of her guests prepared songs or scenes from plays to perform. I met a lot of cool young people living in Chiang Mai and I can't wait to see them again. We danced a lot and ate some delicious food. (Hilary and I brought vegetarian som tum which is a spicy papaya salad). As the evening wore on, we were settled into some interesting
conversations when we heard some chanting coming out of the mountains. Apparently Laura lives really close to a temple and the monks were chanting to signify a death in the community. The chanting went on for hours and was still going when I went to sleep in Laura's living room.

Sunday morning we had an amazing breakfast and then went swimming in Laura's pool. We spent a lot of time in that pool in the misty mountains. Hilary kept saying, "I'm living the dream!" There were lots of fun water attachments and toys. It's so fun to see everyone become so childish the minute they enter the pool. It's like we're all given permission to just have fun and act silly. I can't believe how hard we were laughing and the stupid games we were making up and the sing-alongs we were having. It was a perfect afternoon followed by a nice couple of hours shopping in a store that imports international foods. Was it expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? Definitely. I got some good cheese, bread, tofu, wine (which is exhorbitant here) and yummy ginger candy. Hilary and I rode back to Lampang in the back of Nadine and La's truck and had a relaxing evening watching Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 5 which our friend John just brought back from China. Yay it was a lovely weekend. Unfortunately back to the grind. Oh well, I have lots more travelling and adventuring in the future. For now, work.