Summer News

So I feel that I have been a bit of a slacker regarding this blog lately. After the family left, I had to start my semester at Yonok. I'm teaching 4 classes (2 sections of 101, a reading course and a linguistics course). Being the dork that i am, i absolutely LOVE the linguistics course because i never got the chance to study it in college. so i am teaching my students to read phonetically, learning about morphemes, syntax and language acquisition. we are almost at the midterm mark! in fact, this week is a short one because of the beginning of Buddhist Lent (Kao Phansa). our friend Michael just bought a big plot of land outside of town and is inviting everyone for a camp-out on Thursday. since it will be a full moon, we are calling it the Full Moon Party Lampang. we will have a campfire and hopefully some fire dancing as well as a healthy jam session. then the rest of the weekend we're going to a sleepy little town called Nan about 4 hours east of here.

we were supposed to go visit otto's family at the end of the month, but my work schedule was changed and now i don't have the free time. it's a shame because i was really looking forward to it but now i have more time to really concentrate on my Thai because they speak very little english. however, we are planning a trip to Cambodia in October with a couple of friends of ours (Becca and Rob). we've already bought out plane tickets (only $100!) and are planning to visit Phnom Phen, Siem Reap (Angor Wat), and maybe even the beach at Sihanoukville.

our little house is very cute and otto keeps making small improvements to it. his office is really nice and he's been getting steady work free-lancing. we are buying a washing machine and microwave from our friend Karen who is moving to China. these are luxury items for Thailand....now i have to take my laundry to the shop to get it cleaned. we are also adopting Karen's cat Sweetpea. i'm excited to have a cat here and she is definitely one of the friendliest cats i've known. my teaching at the anuban (pre-school) is always very rewarding. the kids really recognize me now and they run up to tell me all about their days. they are so brave and fearless when they speak english. what a difference from my college students who are so afraid to make a mistake! the yoga group is going strong about twice a week and we are always busy with dinner plans. hope everyone's summer is going well!