So we were able to get a five-week job as English teachers at a 5-star, beachside resort called Zeavola. The resort is on Koh Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee), a small beautiful island not far off of Krabi's coast. This island's claim to fame is that is was used to film part of the movie "The Beach," with Leonardo Decaprio. Once you arrive at the islands main pier in Tonsai bay, our resort is only accessible by boat, or by a 90 minute walk. There are no cars here. This place has white sand, clear water, coral and fish, and it is where we work. Unfortunately, the western side of the island was hit by the tsunami a few years ago, and suffered many casualties. We work on the eastern side of the island and can get to the western side after a ten minute walk. (Luckily, our bedroom is on the top of a hill.)

We have six different classes that are separated by position and level. We teach three classes a day that are each two hours long, and work from 1-8 pm, six days per week with Sundays off. It is a difficult schedule but the job includes many perks. Aside from a salary, we stay and eat for free. We climb about 160 steps to our room (staff accommodations are on a steep hill), which is large, and includes a T.V., AC, bathroom, and an incredible view of the beach. We also get many animal visitors daily because the room is in the middle of a dense forest on a hillside. We get visits from small geckos, centipedes, beetles, and the other day I found a pretty big lizard in my clothes!

We get to have gourmet Thai and European food less than fifty yards from the beautiful beach everyday. There is also a staff canteen that we have tried a few times. The canteen has authentic Thai food that will burn your lips and tongue off because it can be so spicy. The staff is as amazing as the resort. Everyone is incredibly kind and pretty funny. There are many staff members that are our age, but look much younger. Thai people usually have one syllable nicknames that have nothing to do with their real names. Staff names can often be tough to remember with names like Nit, Nok, Nook, Nat, Nui, Nuay, Pin, Soy, Chai, and Donut. Sometimes our pronunciation of names gets quite a chuckle.

The staff is very welcoming and easy to get along with. Classes are usually fun because they love to laugh and joke. It is very much a community feeling here, especially because many of the staff has now become boyfriend and girlfriend, or husband and wife, or similarly have become exes. An interesting note about the staff/Thailand in general is that it is pretty common to find homosexual and transgender people who are a welcome part of the community. Although some staff say that the gay men still have to hide who they are (as opposed to the men who are now women), the people are very accepting and I would argue more progressive in thought than most of the U.S. in this regard. When teaching English at times it can be challenging to not offend anyone by assuming they are male or female. For example, some of our beginner classes received lessons on pronouns and we didn't want to single some people out as "he" or "she." In fact, when we played charades (men vs. women) the staff wanted them to play for both teams. Ultimately, they chose to only play for the women.

We have gone out with the staff twice now to the only two places available for staff to party. Gypsy Village is a "slum" that has a bar/market about 5 minutes away from Zeavola. It is called Gypsy Village because the people who live and work there sleep outside or on a longtail boat. We stayed out until 4 am drinking Thai whiskey with our students in the food and beverage classes (The food and beverage students tend to be big drinkers).

We also met up with staff at a place called ChongQ. We had been hearing about this place for days before Khun Bow (the pastry chef) showed us what it actually was. Khun is how people are politely addressed, almost like Mr. and Ms. It is a clearing between the rocks along the western coast of the island. There is a cement pier that extends into the water. The water on this side of the island produces big waves and it is here, that many people died from the tsunami in 2004. This is where the staff hosts most of their birthday parties. On a Monday night we went to celebrate Khun Wit and Khun Phrom's birthdays (two of our students). Everyone was sitting in two big circles on mats (no shoes allowed on the mats), singing songs, eating many types of food (Joey ate pork tongue), and drinking coke and whiskey.

The last few pictures we posted were from our short trip to the nearby islands of Bamboo and Mosquito. An American couple, John and Lori, was gracious enough to let us tag along with them on a longtail boat to go snorkeling. We went to a few snorkeling spots and docked at a nice beach. Luckily the day was beautiful because rains come and go like strange food cravings. The day was as good as it gets because of the snorkeling and because of the easygoing and fun-loving company of John and Lori - thanks guys!

Fun facts from Thailand and Koh Phi Phi:

In Thailand, Bianca was born in 2525 because Buddha was born 543 years before Christ.

It is disrespectful to touch the top of the head of someone older than you (kids are OK).

Thai whiskey is not American whiskey.

Like in Japan, no shoes are allowed indoors. We teach barefoot.

Snake in Thai is "ngoo." You are not allowed to say "snake" because of the guests. There are many poisonous snakes on the island and in the sea here!

Thai people LOVE karaoke. As in, some of our students do it 4 times a week.

More to come from paradise…