Living for the weekends

So it's currently Monday morning and I have no scheduled classes so I'm sat in the English office desperately by the fan. I'm really struggling with the heat today (and my EP2 class just came to take my fan away as apparently their aircon has broken. I have never felt this hurt by children before I miss my fan) My mentor Pink informed me on Friday that I'm supposed to be writing a 15 minute play about a prince and princess.

Thai boxing and humidity hair

Oh and it's meant to be funny. Hahahaha me? Funny? I think she has overestimated my abilities so I thought I'd update my blog instead.

On Friday night we got home from school to find out that Mr Smith was taking Flo and myself to Thai boxing in Patong in the south of the island. Admittedly, I didn't know anything at all about Thai boxing but it sounded fun and when in Thailand, right? So we headed down to the south with Mr Smith, Mr PE-Teacher-Who-We've-Been-Told-His-Name-Before-But-We-Can't-Remember-And-It's-Too-Late-To-Ask-Again-Now, and some random guy who was a friend of Mr Smith's from the Thai army who, not going to lie, seemed pretty sleazy. Patong beach was somewhere we'd never been before but it's the resort which features on Sun Sex and Suspicious Parents. We only saw it at night so I guess it might be different in the day but as far as I could tell it was pretty tacky. The whole resort reminded me of Khao San Road in Bangkok, but that had seemed pretty fun and I liked it- Patong seemed all a bit seedy but I guess we were only outside for a few

Let's get ready to rumbleeeeeeeee

minutes so it's hard to judge. It probably didn't help that coming out we saw some poor Thai girl stood in a bra (clearly a hooker) talking to the ugliest, fattest, western man on a scooter. All the men in the car with us proceeded to heckle her in Thai out the window which wasn't uncomfortable at all...

Anyway the place the Thai boxing took place in was pretty cool. There was a massive western looking bar at the front and then through a corridor was where there was a full on boxing ring. Luckily, the teachers we were with are referees for the matches so we got in for free, saving 2000 Baht (around £40) which you cannot complain about! The actual fighting was really cool- before each fight the boxers perform a traditional Thai dance which gives you an indication of what kind of fighter they apparently are. It was really good to watch and I found myself getting really into it! Not going to lie, there were weird

Living on holiday is pretty cool

bits as well. For example the warm up acts included children who looked about 6 or 7. They were adorable but it was very odd to see them kicking the shit out of each other when the bell rang. One particular fight, where the boxers seemed to be about 16/17, the pair looked really bored and almost exhausted so didn't throw many kicks/punches and just seemed to be walking circles around each other and then one punch and the guy was old stone cold on the floor. But I guess that's what you sign up for and the overall thing was really really fun. After grabbing street food (Note to self: don't ask for chicken noodle soup there again they WILL put a chickens foot in it) we made it home.

Even though I guess it's not the most taxing thing in the world being a teacher at a technical college and I haven't found myself particularly stressed, it was the best feeling in the world to book a room down at the

Thai massage life

beach for a weekend and to be able to chill by the beach. Our room we booked was right on the beach- the garden of our apartment was the ocean. And it had air-con! And duvets! And a flushing toilet! Loving life! All for the price of 400 baht each (£8) for one night. I love Thailand! After laying in the Thai sunshine next to the sea for a while (and burning through my factor 50 suncream. You can take the girl out of England...) we decided that was too stressful and opted for a Thai

No such thing as too many cocktails

massage. I'd heard that these were pretty rough and had low expectations but my god I would pay the equivalent of £6 every day for one. It was wonderful. So our weekend consisted of food and cocktails and sitting on the beach. It would have been nice if the bars were open for longer. It's a small resort here and low season so there aren't too many tourists around so I guess that's why the majority of the bars shut at around 9pm but it means we have less competition for prime spots on the beach so swings and roundabouts.

England got nothing on this

But, after almost a month in Thailand I finally found toast! The Thais are clearly not big bread eaters, and admittedly it was an incredibly touristy cafe, and yes a coffee and 2 slices of toast were the equivalent of around £5, but I HAD TOAST. No one quite understands my excitement at eating something that wasn't
rice.

All in all it's been a fabulous weekend, and after 3 weeks teaching it's definitely what I needed. We're also incredibly lucky we've been placed in a place of thailand which is cycling distance from one of the most beautiful beaches. Not a bad way to spend 9 weeks, in hindsight.