Teaching in Thailand! : November 2014

Australia!

AUSTRALIA

The students have a midterm break between the 2 semesters and it happens to be about a month long!!

My roommate Ashley and I had been talking about what we wanted to do over the break for quite some time. There are so many awesome places to visit in Thailand and even surrounding countries that are super easy and convenient to get to.

After a lot of talk and we decided that we should make the trip to Australia! Both of us have always wanted to check it out but it was something that we didn't really think we'd be able to do until we were older.

Ashley has some family friends (sisters) that are living in Melbourne now so we got in touch with them and starting planning! Everything worked out great with the timing and planning of the trip!

We flew out of Bangkok which obviously meant a trip to our ALL TIME Favorite Mexican restaurant (in Thailand)!

We spent 18 days in Australia and it was absolutely wonderful! We spent the first couple of days in Melbourne with our friend Kyla. She still had to work so Ashley and I spent our days walking around, checking out the city, and enjoying the weather (ok, we were actually FREEZING)!

About 5 days later, the three of us flew from Melbourne to Sydney, where we would rent a car/tent. We took a road trip up the coast and had an amazing time!!

This is the place that we rented our car from - Wicked Campers!

And here is a picture of our car....and TENT! :)

This picture is from the first day that we had the car, so our first time putting the tent up...oh and it was FREEZING where we were in the Blue Mountains... We found out it snowed a bit 3 days prior!! We were miserable setting up the tent!

(and the car door was already damaged...we had nothing to do with that!)

It was soooo cold in the Blue Mountains that we got there, set up the tent and bundled up inside with every piece of clothing we had...AND a few bottles of wine! :) That is what our first night of road tripping consisted of!! The next morning we woke up before 7 because we were so cold and miserable! We decided to pack up right away and keep driving north...where we were hoping for better weather!!

Our next stop was a small little town called Forster. We were there on a Tuesday and it was pretty quiet every where around town. We found a camper site and set up camp for the night and then went out and about to find something for dinner.

After Forster we decided that we wanted to drive the rest of the way to where we were headed (Byron Bay) because it was still a bit overcast and chilly.

And that's about all she wrote.... We planned on staying in Byron for only a couple of days and continue north just a little bit more...well, 5 nights later we were still hanging out in Byron Bay.

Byron Bay was amazing and beautiful. The town was really great! People were friendly, atmosphere was super beachy and chill, and lots of great food and fun!

We found a great site to set up camp so it worked out great that we just stayed there. We spent the days at the beach, listening to live music, enjoying happy hour specials, and meeting new people! We really enjoyed our time in Byron Bay!

Oh and there was a big surf festival taking place that weekend so there was a lot of extra stuff going on down by the beach!!

Surf festival on Saturday!

After leaving Byron Bay we had to head straight back to Sydney to return our car. We flew out of Sydney (back to Melbourne) on Tuesday and didn't leave Australia until Saturday. It was nice to have some time at Kyla's house to regroup before going back to Thailand.

Funny enough, our last dinner in Australia was Thai food!

My Thai friend Nim (who I practice yoga with) lived and studied in Melbourne for quite some time. Her uncle and her brother are still currently living in Melbourne and own a DELICIOUS Thai restaurant...and it is 100% legit Thai food! We went in for dinner and had a great experience...and great food! :) Definitely made me excited to come back to all of my favorite Thai dishes!

Pi Guy, owner of Nine Elephants

Unfortunately we started school the day after getting back into town! It was hard to get back into the swing of things but I will say, it was great to be home.

Australia was amazing and I can't wait until I'm able to go back someday!

I am always up for a FaceTime chat so don't hesitate to give me a shout! :)

Hopefully I'll have something exciting to post about soon! :)

Love Love Love

1 Year!

I was hoping I could post this post on October 12, but as always I procrastinated and here I am, over a month late!!

October 12th marked being in THAILAND for One Year!!

This still absolutely boggles my mind. The thought that I have lived abroad, in another country for a full year is just crazy to me!

I remember when I found out that I was moving to Thailand. It was such a foreign idea and I had so many mixed feelings about moving! I was sooo excited to leave Florida and come teach in a whole new world, but I was also nervous and sad at the same time! Not knowing what to expect and what the next year would hold was a bit scary. I also knew that I would miss my family, friends, and work family a ton!

The transition to Thailand was pretty smooth! I never noticed being homesick or regretting my decision to move out here! There were definitely times that I wished I could go to Taco Lu or Campeeche Bay for dinner but I soon realized that there is an amazing Mexican restaurant only 2 hours away in Bangkok!! :)

After being in Thailand for only 2 months I decided that I wanted to stay for another six months. (I moved here in October which is the second semester of school, so when my year was up I would be leaving the students in the middle of the year...)

I knew that I didn't want to leave the kids in the middle of the school year because I know how difficult the transition of new teachers is for them! So, I went ahead and committed to my school til the end of the school year in March 2015.

Now that I have hit the 1 year mark, the question that is on my mind is

"Where do I go from here? What do I do next?!"

Well with a lot of thought and consideration, I have already told my parents that I will not be coming home at the end of this contract! I want to spend another year here in Thailand!! :) It is a big decision but I know that it is what I want to do!

I am in the process of deciding where I will teach for the next school year. I love my town and am extremely happy with my school! But I think Thailand has so much to offer that I may move somewhere else to teach for the year!

The process is kind of at a stand still for now as I update my resume, reach out to different schools, and all of the fun paper work that comes with finding a new job, but I am excited and anxious to see where the next year in Thailand will take me!

I can't thank you all enough for the continued love and support you've shown me!!

Living in Thailand is amazing but it is not always easy... There are so many challenges that come with living in another country and teaching in a Thai school, but I have adapted well and am excited to continue learning!! :)

Sending lots of love back home!

-LD

Diminick's in Thailand!

As usual, this post is LONG LONG LONG over due!! It will probably contain a lot of rambling and nonsense but hey, it is what it is! :)

So my dad and my brother came to visit me in August!! My dad started planning this trip before I even moved out here! :) He was so excited to come visit me and see what all the hype was about!!!

Well, he LOVED it!! :) ....I think he may move out here! ;)

They spent a LONG 18 days here and it was amazing! They got right into the swing of things with learning about the Thai culture and language...heck I think they spoke more Thai in 4 days than I did when I first moved out here! Luckily with the timing of their trip I had a 4 day weekend from school so I took an extra couple of days off so I was able to travel around with them a bit (I think 9/10 days total)...

So, I'll just post pictures and throw in some comments here and there... Basically we started the trip in Bangkok when I picked them up from the airport...Went back to Saraburi (my town) and spent a few days there before leaving to go to the islands. We went to KRABI and AO-NANG - which was absolutely beautiful...and then we flew to CHIANG MAI and spent some time there. I LOVED Chiang Mai and am wanting to move there when I finish the school year...we will see how that works out! After Chiang Mai we came back to Saraburi because I unfortunately had to go back to work...and then the boys were on their own!! They had fun and went on a couple of day/over night trips!!