KOH TAO

Somewhere to settle when I retire Adam and Aidi off-roading
Ronan givin' her the wellie
Little bit of flooding

FRESH FOOD

Fish at the market Traditional Isaan lunch with old friends
Fresh greens

BANGKOK

Pet, sitting on a bike

Fish
Taxi ride
Impatience versus patience; waiting for my luggage

ON THE ROAD

Excited to be getting on the roadCheapest plane around
Bad Bollywood Movies
Airport Zen

MERRY CHRISTMAS

My favourite holiday is near upon us and this year I like it even more because I'm too far away to buy anyone presents. I'll be missing out on the family cheer this year, as well as the Northern Irish tradition of getting stupidly drunk and brawling in the streets on Christmas Eve. But I'm sure I can make my own fun. I'll be seeing little brother Ronan and lying on a hot beach somewhere in Southeast Asia, so I can't really complain. Hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year. Remember to be extra nice to everyone and drive carefully.

I'll be blogging again in a month.

MY VIEW

The view from my living room window. The view from my bathroom window.

YERKA

Jacek Yerka
I don't know who you are
But I love your pictures

9

Damien Rice has a new album

It's called 9

It's great

If you haven't got it, get it

FREE TIME

My test is over and done with. It was never important, but it did stress me out and put me under pressure. My Japanese is still crap, but I feel great for 'trying' to study so much. I've never appreciated free time as much until this week. From now until January I'm doing nothing but fun things (oh, and work of course). My desk is now entirely devoted to snowboard magazines, novels and dirty cups (and there might a dirty sock there too, but it's not mine so I'm not touching it). Having free time again feels great. Going to hot springs after work, or out for a meal before watching a DVD are now guilt-free pleasures and, as I just said, it feels great. I guess it's kind of like being hungry for a while and then really appreciating some food when you finally get it. But in this case the hunger is the studying and the food is the books. Or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, it's a nice philosphy. Feel free to quote me on that.

BARREL OF MONKEYS

I'm at the Elementary School today. I'd four classes in a row, which is one more than usual. Kinderdarten, Grade 2, Special Needs and Grade 1. Plus lunchtime was spent in the grade 1 classroom. So as you can imagine I'm absolutely knackered. These kids never cease to exhaust me. The highlight of the day is usually when a handful of first-graders decide what a great idea it would be two dive at me and then hook there arms around my ankles, thus forcing me to drag a chain of them as I walk back to the staffroom. This is always hilarious for the first minute or two, even for me. But as the energy is sapped out of me, and a couple of the more extreme six-year-olds actually try to climb up me, it gets exhausting.

I've seen it done to other teachers, but only once or twice, and they seem to be able to get the kids off somehow. I guess this is an advantange of being a native speaker. The kids know when your being serious and when you're joking. But with me, I'm like 'Alright little monkeys, get off!', and they all think it's a big joke and an even longer human chain forms. But if I'm honest I probably bring most of the exhaustion on myself. I always insist on starting these younger classes with 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes', and I always make sure that I'm the fastest in class. Plus playing Duck, Duck, Goose always kills me because the kids pick me over and over again becuase I run like a girl and it's funny to them (kids can be so cruel).

I ain't complaining though, I could be back in Belfast working for the binmen again and that's not a lot of fun.