Baan Bang Jo

Yesterday we moved into our new house, oh I keep slipping on there, I mean houses!  We could not be more excited, it is actually on Baan Bang Jo road, so I still have a letter B somewhere in my address!  I really cannot believe that we live there and now waiting for the sky to fall down on me to balance things out.
I would say though I am now ultra jealous of Luis, as it is a beautiful day and it would be great to have a swim.
I should hold back pictures as the outside furniture arrives next week but I am too excited.  Plus, I am sure I will annoyingly post many more.

 The bathrooms are properly amazing.  I could not get a picture of the huge outside showers as it was dark (you also have the option of inside, but really what is the fun in that).

 Living room at our house.

 I love the sofas.

 Living room at the guest house.  And I have just noticed I forgot pictures of the master bedrooms, dang it.

Outside pic of the pool from house next door.
So needless today I have my entertaining hat on, with people coming tonight, tomorrow night and Saturday night.  Just thinking about Sunday Roast now!

Sunday Adventures

I love Sundays, always have.  They have changed over the years, from British Sunday Roasts, to super Sunday Bruton style, to super Sunday Basel style, bike rides in Quito and now exploring beaches in Thailand.  The one thing that is the constant is spending the day with people I love, friends, family, Lola and now especially Luis.
This Sunday was no exception, after a long week and before what will again be a long week the three of us took to the road to explore the Northern beaches.

They were lovely and perfect for Lola, empty she could run and run with no other dogs, people and as a bonus a few crabs.  But just like Barbados I am much more of a South Coast girl. Cannot wait to see where this Sunday takes us, of course we will be in our new house so we may never leave!

Trash Heros

This morning we joined a trash clean up on our local beach.  It was so good to get out and do something like this.  It was a lovely day, we met a few more people and got rid of six bags of trash on the beach.  It is so sad to see some of the beaches here, just covered in rubbish (especially if you are at one with no hotels, as they generally ensure their beaches are clean) and we learnt today that 90% of the trash does not come from Thailand.  It just makes me so mad so I was glad that we could do a little something to help and will continue to do so.

We will keep up with the beach cleaning, next stop Soy Dogs.

First Month Here

This weekend we have been here for a month, although I must say it feels like we have been here much longer.  And I am sure we will face some obstacles but right now I must confess I love it here.  The Thai people are ridiculously nice, the island is beautiful, the weather is perfect for us, and the kids at the school are amazing.  In fact, I just love the school, there is no doubt it is hard work but I am enjoying it loads so far.  The next coming weeks are pretty exciting too, we move next week, Jodi, Dylan and Riv come the week after and then more visitors at the end of the month.  We have enjoyed exploring, Luis is working on his Thai and Lola well she is just loving her almost daily beach trips.  Of course there are moments that we both miss our friends and family and feel ridiculously far away.  Thank goodness for technology, as it does make us feel so much close, but does not solve the time difference issue.  And hopefully all will visit us!

 Lola showing off

 Date night :)

 A break from Thai food

 Lola and me chilling after date night

This is 'Bake' like a starbucks, on campus.  This campus is ridiculous!

Real Thailand

I am so ridiculously busy at school, there is soon much more to do than my old job.  I am going to have to be a very hard worked here to keep my head above water!  But the kids are fantastic, they are so polite and hard working just great kids.  I will have loads more to comment when I have spent a little more time here.  I definitely see the disadvantages of this system now that I have seen a different perspectives.  Having so many different year groups to teach will sadly make my lessons less engaging just based on time.  Anyways, I will try my best and form a better opinion later in the semester.
My last Sunday before the kids arrived I organised a brunch for the new teachers.  It was not highly attended but was hugely successful.  It was such a beautiful post and what I think of as 'real Thailand', basically super gorgeous.  The beach and spot we ate at was amazing.  You could use all the services and the lunch was served for four hours at an amazing price of $13 (not sure what the pound is at these days but either way not a lot!).  It is definitely a place we will visit loads more!

The view was brilliant, the food even also.  Cannot wait for another sunny Sunday :)

Cape Sienna, Phuket

Last night the school hosted a dinner at a nearby resort for all the staff.  The location was beautiful, the views were just stunning.  The food was delicious too, I thought I might cave and have fish (oh yeah, I am trying to go full veggie) but there was so much else to eat that I did not even want it.  The risotto, which I believe is so difficult to get right was fantastic.  All day I have been thinking about it and mad that I did not get another serving!

It was nice to meet some more people and every day I am learning a little more about the job and Phuket.  

Today has been the one of the nicest day since we have gotten here, it is bright sunshine and when I tell you hot, it is hot.  I am not complaining of course, but I am sure some people definitely would.  And on this beautiful day I am actually at school preparing for Monday and the first day with kiddies (we did go to the beach this morning).

Luis all ready to represent South America!

Cape Sienna, Phuket

Last night the school hosted a dinner at a nearby resort for all the staff.  The location was beautiful, the views were just stunning.  The food was delicious too, I thought I might cave and have fish (oh yeah, I am trying to go full veggie) but there was so much else to eat that I did not even want it.  The risotto, which I believe is so difficult to get right was fantastic.  All day I have been thinking about it and mad that I did not get another serving!

It was nice to meet some more people and every day I am learning a little more about the job and Phuket.  

Today has been the one of the nicest day since we have gotten here, it is bright sunshine and when I tell you hot, it is hot.  I am not complaining of course, but I am sure some people definitely would.  And on this beautiful day I am actually at school preparing for Monday and the first day with kiddies (we did go to the beach this morning).

Luis is on the football field, every Saturday and Tuesday is staff football.  I have opted out, as lets be honest that would just be embarrassing.

Luis all ready to represent South America!

Bang Tao Beach

After a long day of meetings and workshops there is nothing better than heading down the road to our local beach, Bang Tao.  I love this beach, it is huge and empty.  We can have whole sections to ourselves, and Lola just loves it.  As it is the rainy season the water is rougher than Lola is use too, but she is definitely still keen to go in as much as she can.  I cannot wait till she sees the water really calm in November, I think we will never get her out.  We spent a lovely evening in the water and walking on this beautiful beach.

Pretty sure this is how we intend to spend most evenings and weekends.  We are all definitely hot climate people!

Settling in Update and Wedding Video!

This week the entire staff have been at work, so a chance to meet all the people that I will be working with.  It has definitely been a week of a lot of information and name learning.  I can say that this is definitely an excellent school.  The people are so happy, they appear super organised and structured and I love love the Head of the school.  There is a bit of worry and concern as the school is in the middle of a take over.  But the people who are potentially taking us over have promised no real change, but of course one never really knows.

Overall, so far so good, well better than good, I can see that we will be very happy here.  Of course, this takes time and it will be a while before we settle into a proper routine and find our way around.  I think once we move to our new house in two weeks we will feel more settled.  For now we are enjoying loads of yummy food, meeting some new people and the beach.

Lola has also got adjusted to the weather and our new home, although she is going to have readjust all over when we move again!

I have also been busy catching up on all the technology I have not learnt in the last ten years!  I made my first IMovie over the weekend.  Our wedding video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfZiCAIbjlY
Do not judge me it is my first one!

Patong Beach

Last night we went to Patong for a night out.  Our thinking is that right now it is probably the safest place in Thailand.  Loads of security and I think it is pretty unlikely there will be a follow up bombings there anytime soon.  Well let's hope there are no more follow up bombs anywhere anytime.  Obviously many other people felt the same way as it was packed out with people.  Patong is definitely a unique place, that is really the only way I can think to describe it.  It is a place that I will definitely not frequent, probably only when we have guests here that want to see it.  Bangla Road is packed out with bars, night clubs, people offering you ping pong shows and loads of other various things.  We also saw lots of other parts of Patong as we went from hostel to hostel to get one that would take Lola (a taxi there and back would have cost us at least $50, a hostel for the night $10), I think it is a place I could be fairly frustrated as the age gap of most of couples we saw at bars down the side streets made my skin crawl.  But that was not a surprise, I have been to Thailand before.
Having said all that we did have a great night.  We went out with our new friends Jackie and Brian.  Jackie is also new at the school and her boyfriend Brian is also a trailing partner.  We went to a few bars and then dancing for a bit.  I cannot wait for our next night out, hopefully in near by Bang Tao, as we drove through and looks more our vibe.

 Our new friends :)

Luis's first bucket, which has helped contribute to our very lazy watching TV Sunday.

Bombs in Phuket

Yesterday morning I woke up to a phone call from my Dad, we chatted for a bit and he mentioned he read there were a couple of bombings in the South of Thailand.  Although I had not seen the news yet I assured him that most of the past violence in Thailand has not been targeted at tourist areas so Phuket would be fine.  I got off the phone and checked the news to find that, possibly during our conversation, there had been certainly one but possibly two bombings in Patong (a popular tourist destination in Phuket), a short drive from us. In fact we spent some time on the beach there last weekend.   Thankfully, we are fine and actually I am not even sure of what the damage has been in Patong, and I am not sure we will find out any time soon, as we are sticking to our local quiet beaches for a bit.
These seem to be in response to the referendum that was held here last weekend.  The result has given the military quite a lot of power for the next few years.  Having been here only five minutes and knowing next to nothing about Thai history and politics I have no opinion on the result.  But I do know that I will not have much to say on Thai politics on here, I am not sure it is a wise move.

Our New Home

After a week in our current home I was beginning to get quite fond of it.  It is actually really lovely, I think just not ideal for a non-family.  We really wanted to be somewhere we could walk to local places and where Lola could go on long walks.  So a beautiful place, just not one hundred percent us.  
Our new house is definitely one hundred percent us!  We spect the last few days driving around looking for our hidden gem home.  Today we found it!  Off the main road, great location, closer to the beach, great place for Lola, still close to school, just a million times better.  Oh and did I say house, I meant houses, we have two two-bedroom villas, with a pool!  The owners decided it would market better as one villa (still the same price as the one we have now!).  So people when you visit you will have your own private house that is attached to ours.  We are pretty excited about it :)

We cannot wait to start entertaining, come on visitors book your flights.  Once you are here it is cheap as chips, wait till you read my upcoming food blog!  I am going have to be an exercise queen not to gain a million pounds. Super yummy!

First School Days

I have just finished my second day of school, not real school, orientation school. Basically learning about the school, the newbies and how to use a Mac (apparently I will be a convert in days).  The school is properly amazing, actually a bit scary, I have never seen anything like it.  The facilities are like none I have seen before, these are some lucky kids (not to mention I will now be their teacher!).
The newbies seem great, of course everyone is one their best behaviour and full of smiles.  I suspect I will get to know them better after our welcome party when they have a few glasses of wine in them.
Luis and Lola have been doing well, organising the house and learning new things about Phuket.  Of course, it will take us ages to get our head around things here.
Here are some pictures of my new school.  Pictures of the house to follow, it looks like we will be relocating soon so I may hold off on those for a bit.

It really is quite stunning, I have not even included the ridiculous sports facilities, swimming pools, gym, tennis courts, a dozen football fields oh and of course a golf course.  I am so nervous to teach!