What a long strange trip it's been....

And it's finally winding to a close.  My apartment reopened a couple days ago.  I leave Koh Tao tomorrow morning, stay in Chumphon until tuesday when I can make my visa run, then it's back to Nakhon Pathom.  School will reopen on the 20th.

I'm not gonna take off my travel bling, though.  They can take my freedom, but they can never take my turquoise and gypsy bells.  :P

I hear this song three times every night

And I still love it!  My friend and I used to sing it every time.  Feel good song of the year for two expat girls from the US.

Newest Update

School will be closed until December 13th.  I had some fun in Chumphon, visiting the beach, running around with my friends Chris and his girlfriend from BKK, Daisy.  But Daisy had to go back to Bangkok, and Chris is running off to Hong Kong.  Luckily I'm back on Koh Tao with my friends there.  The weather is a little dreary, but it's still a lot of fun.  Monday is the King's birthday/Father's day, I'm hoping for some sort of celebration.  Loy Kratong was so great, seeing all the Thai people on the island coming out and watching (no kidding) beauty contests.  I'm kind of curious what happens here on Christmas.

This flooding has come full circle for me.  It started great, then started to stretch too long, now it's great again.  I love Thailand.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

We even had one here, Thailand style.  The turkey was actually chicken and it was fried up by nice Muslim women in front of 7-11, but we all felt it the same.

That's Joey, Chelsea, Hannah, Jennica, Chris and Daisy.  Add in Claire, and you've got the Thanksgiving crew of Chumphon.  I hope you guys at home have a good one as well!

The official word

Not until December 6th, at the earliest.

Chump-on it! Chump-on it!

The reason I haven't updated about the flooding or my school situation is because I don't know anything about it yet.  I spoke to a woman at my apartment last wednesday about coming home, and she told me it wasn't possible right now.  Neither the school, nor my agency have been in contact with me, and I've tried to call both twice.

The school's official reopen date was yesterday, though the woman at my apartment said that wasn't possible, either.  I'm just milling around Chumphon right now, but it is boring as hell.  I knew it would be, but I had to leave the island for money reasons.  It just got too expensive there for me to stay, and I couldn't pick up any extra cash on the side, like I'd hoped.

On the up side, my friend in Bangkok (who still isn't able to go back to her apartment, but is staying with a friend) let me know that the stores have beer again.  This is good news.  If the beer factories in Bangkok are working again, that means the floods are receding from some areas.

Oh to heck with it.  I'm gonna go to the beach and relax.  When they want me to start work again, they'll call.

Bonus Full Moon Party Photo

Photo courtesy of a friend, Greg.  I met Greg on Koh Tao awhile back.  We bonded over both having escaped Kentucky.  His job is to travel Southeast Asia and blog about it on About.com.  Needless to say, I am deeply jealous of Greg's job.

 That's Greg, pretending to use the sleeping area on the beach.  I would like to add that the painted lightning bolt over his eye was my idea.  Painting his fingernails was his.