Hello again everybody,

This week has been such a crazy week, I can barely remeber what happend at the beginning!

Sunday was the night of the half moon party, which is similar to the full moon party but in the jungle instead of on the beach. We weren't quite sure what to expect and went armed with cans of insect repellent and a torch. We went there with a big group of people, including the danish couple we met a couple of nights before and also a couple of girls who went to royal hospital school in Ipswich. The place where the party was looked amazing (there really was no need for a torch!) and we got painted up in day glo paint before heading in. I purposely didn't take much money with me so that I wouldn't get too drunk (an 8:00 start at school the next day with a hangover wasn't very appealing) but one of the other girls, Roxy, did get very drunk, which was actually very funny. Luckily we all made it up in time the next morning to go and teach the children.

Teaching has been going really well, although it sometimes feels like you have to struggle for ideas on what to teach them, as you have no real syllabus to follow and no clear idea what they've already been taught already. One of our lesson plans was blown completely out of the water when we went to teach them time and realised they had learnt it all already, but only by saying 6:30 or 12:45. When we started saying 'half past' and 'quater to' they got very confused. But then we played what's the time mr wolf and they loved it, so it was all ok in the end.

We've been eating lunch at the school quite a lot, since the children actually pick vegetables out of the garden in order to feed Mustansar (my teaching partner), as he is Muslim and so can't eat non-halal meat. Lunchtimes at the school are usually quite eventful. Pretty much everytime we eat with the teachers, I am told to try something very spicy and then have to eat half the fruit on the table in order to cool my mouth down! On Thursday, we ate pumpkin with coconut milk, which was surprisingly nice. That lunchtime, there was also a bit of a fight between two of the boys in the canteen and the teacher who looks after us just sat there laughing, pointing over and saying to us 'look, Thai boxing!'. Then another teacher stood up and went and smacked them both round the head. So it's just a little but different from school back home! The children even got me up playing football (after they asked the headteacher how to ask me to play) but I didn't actually get that they were playing a piggy in the middle game at first. When I kicked the ball and it got intercepted, all the girls were looking very confused and talking amongst eachother. Then one ran off to the headteacher again, came back and then physically took my hand and placed me in the middle. They must have thought I was very silly and I don't think my football skills did anything to convince them otherwise.

Thursday was a bit of a crazy night. We went up to a place called the Amsterdam bar for dinner, as we'd been told the sunsets from up there were amazing. The taxi was only able to take us half way up, as the pathway gets so steep, but it was worth the climb as the food was lovely and the views were stunning. We then tried to go to somewhere else called the jam bar, but the taxi driver clearly had no idea where he was going, so after he'd tried to drop us off at 3 different other bars we decided to get out and get a different taxi home. After that we, went for a bit of kareoke at a place near our resort. We were the only people in there apart from the family that ran it and the only 2 drinks you could choose from were beer or water. And all of the songs were in Thai. It was pretty funny though and the Thai lady working there begged us to let her sing with us. Walking home, we decided to stop off at one the bars along the way, which was actually a 'ladybar' (mostly ladyboys working there...). It was a very fun night, but I was very glad we don't have to work Fridays! Instead I went to get my haircut. 150 baht (about 3 pounds) for a wash cut and blow dry, with a 20 or so minute head, neck and shoulder massage thrown in for good measure! I was very pleased they understood 'just a little bit' as well!

Yesterday, we went to a group of little islands called Angthon which are a protected national marine park. First stop was snorkelling, which was amazing, as there were just so many fish. We saw a huge, colourful parrot fish and lots and lots of other fish. After an hour or so we got back on the boat and were taken to another of the islands to do some 2 person kayaking. The sand was so soft and gorgeous and the water was so so clear. After we'd worked up a bit of an appetite, they gave us a buffet lunch and then took us on the final island. Here, there was a viewpoint high up in the hills, and you had to climb some pretty steep step ladder type things to get up there. I was conviced I was going to loose my flip flops through the gaps between the stairs. Once we got there though, the view was fantastic and there was also a big lagoon. The speedboat ride home was something of an event as well. We were sitting at the front of the boat and it started to rain quite hard, which meant it was quite painful travelling into the rain at such high speeds and that waves were really bumpy. It was good to make it back onto dry land!

It's been raining really hard all day today also. But it is still really hot :P