Jacqui and a Big Crab

It is pretty lucky for Pan Bistro that my veggie blog has not taken off yet and that Phuket has it's fair share of meat eaters as it is definitely not a veggie friendly place.  Not often do I have chips for dinner, well never ever actually, but I did last night...
However, the food did not really matter as we were there to celebrate Jacqui's birthday and it was all about the chat.

What a group of lovely looking ladies.

 My initial snobby self felt like a restaurant with a large plastic crab in front might not be for me, and I was right.  In future I will continue to avoid places with big plastic structures in front, well maybe if it was a piece of broccoli or something but defo not a crab.

Happy happy birthday to one special lady.  Not just a great friend but she is on environmental mission to save the world, we definitely need more like her!

Mia, Vegan and Ireland

I have had the best few days I have had in a very long time.  The Muay Thai has just been so great, therapeutic, great exercise and also I have met some new people.  Then I was super excited to see Barbados elect Mia Motley the first women Prime Minister there.  She was actually very big in education when I lived there and so happy that someone passionate about education will be taking the helm.  And last night we had Vegan Club which turned out to be one of those great evenings, where I genuinely had such a nice time.  This morning I was a little deflated to see Liverpool lose to Real Madrid but then read about Ireland repealing their abortion laws in a landslide victory.  I have been watching and reading all the pre referendum stuff and just felt it was so important for women not just in Ireland but all over that things changed there.  The only people who should be in charge of a women's body is that women, no politician or church should dictate what one can and cannot do with it.  I just feel so pleased and the hopes that the world can be a better place for my niece, God-daughters, students and well all females.

 I just love when someone else wants to be sous chef, well done Nat for helping Luis.

 Vegan club, with a couple of people we were trying to bring into our gang!  

 I just love these kiddies

 Love these ladies

 Let the games begin

And of course we have to end the night with a little dancing!  

Muay Thai

I am trying to get back into my forty list (well now moved to 41 list), I have picked up my ukulele a few times trying to remember my chords, I did a little tennis and now have started something new from the list, Muay Thai.  To be fair Sara has been asking me to join her for about a year now and just never made it.  But this week I started going with her and I have to say it is great fun.  Lots of exercise but also extremely social, I can see it is a great way to meet new people.  I am shocking and it is slightly unnerving as everyone is amazing but I shall stick with it!

 The gym

 Sara who is amazing!

 The poor trainers that are trying to help me.

I am determined to stick this out, I need to think of my Muay Thai name now... Anarchist Amanda, Grizzly Garwood, Laughable Leslie..

Sailing Sunday

I was very lucky on Sunday to be a last minute replacement on a day out on a boat won by a new lady at school that I do not know very well.  Jacqui's other half decided to have a lads weekend in Bangkok, and she kindly asked if I would like to replace him.  It was a lovely boat and we had a nice day sailing to Phangan Bay and back.  We were so lucky with the weather as Saturday was pouring rain.

The only thing I may have changed is the music, I guess I associate catamarans with Calypso, I was definitely missing the Calypso. Soon though!!

Class of 2018

I have mentioned them once or twice on here, my wonderful diploma classes.  For the past two years I have been lucky enough to teach these students, and just love them all.  Last night I invited them all to dinner at one of my favourite Mexicans.  Just over half could come, as it is a hard time of year with their graduation tomorrow but it was the only date we could do it.  I just had the best time with them!  They are a special group and I miss teaching all of them.

                   
This is me reading the poem that I wrote for them, I think I have a back up career as card writer...

               You walked in my room and I tried to look mean,

I could see on your faces you weren’t very keen,

I promised you that you would love maths,

I imagine most of you wanted to laugh,

But I knew something you did not know,

I knew you were brilliant from the minute go,

We worked hard on logic, functions and stats,

But what I really enjoyed was our little chats,

I loved keeping up on the young people trends,

And all the gossip about  you and your friends,

You have been my favourite class ever,

And not just because you are super clever,

I am so proud of all of you for who you are,

Please stay in touch even if far,

Work hard, play harder and always be kind,

Keep happy and healthy both body and mind,

The next years are your time to shine,

And let’s meet again for a glass of wine!

I am so excited for all of them, they have so much a head of them and they will do so much.   It really was one of the best nights I have had in ages.

Coach Luke

I haven't post too much about Coach Luke the gentlemen living in our second house.  He has been working here far longer than us, at least five or six years, he runs the primary school swim program and is one of those genuinely lovely human beings.  We don't see nearly as much of him as we should, everyone busy doing something (well not me so much, but everyone else), so it was very nice he asked us to join him for dinner last night.  We have become creatures of habit always going to the same places so it was nice to try something new.

 The Black Cat, I took this picture to re-start my veggie blog (trying to kick start a load of things, failing but trying) but then forgot to take pictures of any of the food.  So next time.

 Coach Luke and Luis

The people living at Casa Luchanda (although have to get Luke's name in there somewhere).  We also had a visitor from a very long poisonous snake yesterday, whom I hope does not intend on moving in.

My Little Patong and Little Lola

Yesterday we had a wonderful day chilling out by the pool with Lizzie, her kids and Sara.  What a lovely day and evening we had.  A little swimming, a little Indian and a whole lot of dancing.  In fact I reckon we had our own little dance club going on and I would challenge any club in Patong that the dancing here was better.  Lizzie's kids are just great dancers, their own little free stylers and it is a joy to dance with them.

We had such a lovely evening and felt so happy this morning reflecting on it.  This happiness was a little short lived as I then saw Lola's right eye, which looked like an infected mess.  I thought this would be easy enough to cure with some drops but seems I was wrong.  I am so hoping we are not going down the same road as we did Jan-March and this problem is easily solved.  We are still not entirely sure what it is, but the eye seems to be only a reaction to a larger underlying problem.  So back on the drugs and hopefully back on the road to recovery.

I also bought her a new thunder jacket that she was thrilled about.  She is so darn cute, even in this head bucket thing.

SOS Village

I think tragedy leads to some big self reflection, well or should I say it leads me to self reflection, I should not speak for others.  I have wondered what the whole point is, what my path will be now if different from the one I imagined and what sort of positive impact I am having on the world, if any.  All wonderfully positive thoughts, that I deep down know are a direct result of the loss I am feeling and it will get better.  At the same time some self reflection is not a bad thing and maybe I do need to look at a few things in my life.  One of the things that has always bugged me about International teaching is that I am not really impacting the children that I really wanted too.  However, from my last post I am happy that I seemed to be remembered fondly at the very least by one student!
Well yesterday I had my first day with the SOS Village children, a very local orphanage.   Well I say local as this one is close in proximity to the school but there are SOS Villages all over the world.  I think they are a great organisation, started over 50 years ago by a man travelling in South America who was shocked and saddened about the amount of street children he saw.  He wanted to create a different type of place for children with family that are unable to care for them, and he has done an amazing job.  The children are placed in a house, with a house mother (who is pretty much a saint and makes this her life and family) and a handful of other children.  This becomes their family and they stay there until they leave school.  It is a lovely place with about ten different houses.  I will be with the young children once a week with some of our students just to do crafts and play and eat together.  It is not much but I loved my first day and just fell in love with these kids.  

They had so much fun, but I am not sure nearly as much as I did.  I am very excited to get more and more involved with this organisation.