Swine 'em and Dine 'em

After our 5 day weekend and amazing trip to Pai we drug ourselves to work the following Monday, dreading the fact that we had a full week of school ahead. And what do we find when we get there? About half of our students wearing face masks because of the swine flu. The next day even more students wore them along with most of the teachers. Round about lunch time an announcement is made that they're closing school for three days for swine flu precaution!!! WHOOOHOOO!!! I mean. . .a little scary sure, but who doesn't like a few days off?


We used the time to just relax and enjoy our favorite things in Lampang. . .eating at the Riverside restaurant, having some wine out on the patio, biking around town, hanging at our favorite coffee shops "I Love Coffee" and "Wawee Coffee", getting massages, watching movies. . .


By the time Friday rolled around we were ready for some action. Our friend Alistair decided to throw a bday party for his girlfriend Tuk at our new townhouses. The whole gang of teachers that we hang out with came over along with a bunch of Tuk's friend's and family. We also invited a couple of our buddies from school, Doi and Bom (nicknames). Things started out a little slow. . .imagine awkward party small-talk among a random mix of people and then add in the broken English and broken Thai we were forced to resort to. Sometimes you just get to a point where the conversation has nowhere. else. to go. But once everyone had a few glasses of Sam Sung, Chang, or cheap Thai wine along with delicious Thai food that Tuk's friends made, we all ended up having a great time!

Dining 'em at the partaaaaaaaaay

Georgie and her travel buddy George.
Alistair and Tuk (the bday girl!)

How cute is that!

Mmm CAAAAAKE

Doi and Bom. Our buddies from school.

The crew. Finally free from our fishbowl office.

For the rest of the weekend J and I headed back to Chiang Mai to meet up with Pete's friend Cam and his wife Sarah from Seattle. When we caught up with them it felt like being right back at home. . .and that might have been because we met at a Starbucks. We chatted for about an hour then went to this amazing hotel called the Chedi. Nicest place I've seen in that past few months. Cam and Sarah's new friends from Holland met us there and we headed to the night market for some Phad Thai. We spent the rest of the night having a few drinks, sharing travel stories, and cracking eachother up! After J and I waved goodbye to Cam and Sarah zooming off in a tuk tuk we both said how happy we were that we could all meet up! It was another great 5 day weekend. . .once again, a full week of work sounds extremely daunting at this point.