Have you missed us? (UPDATED with pictures!)

We miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giant "reclining" Buddah. Click Picture for More!

Sorry for the long hiatus on updating our blog. I guess it was for a number of reasons. First off, we have been very busy. We have also been on a roller coaster ride, and we figured that after our last few "honest" blogs, any more info on the tough stuff here would just start getting annoying to read (plus we want to remember and focus on the good stuff!) So, we hit a low point a couple weeks ago, but since then things have just gotten better. Our program talked about the "honeymoon" period being over, and the reality of being kinda stuck in a small town, working a normal Thai job, kicking in. That is exactly what happened to us. We know that this is an experience of a lifetime, and that we will never have another chance like this, and that living in any foreign culture has its good and bad points. We know that we will appreciate things we took for granted more than ever, and we will give big slopping kisses to all our friends in a few shorts months. But I want to give them big sloppy kisses NOW! We love actually teaching the kids, but the politics of the school are mysterious and often uncomfortable for us, and while we have gotten to see a ton, traveling anywhere from our small rural town is difficult. So, in a nutshell, our lemonade was becoming overwhelmingly sour, until we magically wished it sweet. And now it is.

The largest "Chedi" in the world which we saw on our way to the wedding. 

The Bride and Groom, both fellow teachers. 

So, what have we actually been doing lately? We attended our first Thai wedding, which was amazing to see! We spent the night before the wedding eating with the bride and groom (we felt so honored!) and sleeping with the bride's family in a big room on a mat on the floor. We really were treated like members of the family and are so appreciative to have been included in such a sacred ceremony! We were woken up at 5:00 am by a bunch of excitedly giggling grandmas who were making masses of food for the wedding, and we slipped on our nice clothes and headed downstairs where 9 monks started chanting at 6:00 am. We sat in prayer position, and I managed to only scrape off one painful scab from snorkeling the week before. To stop the gushing blood, I had the privilege of  rocking one of my favorite styles when I was a 5 year-old: one sock on, one sock off. All the old ladies thought it was so hilarious until I showed the blood spot on the sock, which is when they practically insisted I go to the hospital and stopped laughing at my expense.

Natalie in the long line of people passing by the monks and
"making merit", or giving a donation, in this case rice
and some other little goodies. We each passed through the
line a couple times. By the end they all had enough food for
at least a week!

One sock on, one sock off...

But I digress, the bride, Nok, looking absolutely stunning, despite the fact that she had gotten only a couple hours sleep the night before. The groom looked very handsome as well. Both were wearing traditional Thai costumes, and we enjoyed being a part of all the Thai wedding traditions. We were in a parade with the groom where he presented the bride with tons of food and sweets, and we were shuffled all around between pouring water over the bride and groom's hands with a shell, having breakfast, taking pictures, and carrying different things to different locations. After 5 hours of various Thai rituals, we headed off to the reception hall and enjoyed a marvelous lunch and performances by Thai artists, and a song by the groom himself! We felt so lucky to experience such a wonderful part of Thai culture. Congratulations to Marvin and Nok and thank you for letting us be a part of your special day!

One of the wedding gifts

After the wedding we headed to a famous floating market. It was busy, but very cool to see some of the traditional old women selling wares from their boats. It was a long but memorable day.




The next day was also long and memorable, as we went on our Visa Adventure! We successfully got our work permit, but we unfortunately have to be out of the country by March 30th. We are supposed to work until March 31st, so I am still not sure how that exit date was decided upon, but it was. So much for our flight up to Northern Thailand on March 31st! It was a long day of driving around, we were both relieved when it was over.

At the visa office we finally got our job description - now we know what to do!

Laying low with our almost completely healed kitty.

That week we did the 8:00-4:00 thing, and appreciated a week and weekend in Dan Chang, laying low. We watched movies, were cat people, I exercised, we hung out with friends, etc. Our amazing friends James and Tagan came back after months of traveling, so it was great to see them! We also went to this big festival where Thailand defeated the Burmese, and saw an amazing show complete with hundreds of actors, elephants, and horses. I also have been studying for GRE's, and am working on an experiment with aquatic invertebrates from the river behind our house. I have spent several evenings collecting bugs (I finally found a suitable net to catch them with!) and identifying them. There was one moment when I was sitting in my room with our two adopted cats arguing, and I had a head lamp on my head and was asking Graham to look up words such as operculum, when I was like "Who am I?" Graham and I (and the ladies who work at camping house) all got a good laugh out of my dorkiness. I am hoping that it will get me a coveted spot in a doctoral lab at UC Berkeley. But you know, we have been working on different things. Graham has also already been looking for jobs when we return and we have been reading a lot. It's been fun :)

This Buddah is 15 meters tall and
 46 long and covered in real gold.
Crazy!

We were awkwardly making sideways glances
trying to access if it was alright to take pictures
and a nice guy ended up seeing this and ordering
us - give me your camera, turn around, smile,
turn back around...

This last weekend was an amazing one in Bangkok. We finally got to do the full tourist thing and saw a ton! We stayed in a really nice hostel that Graham found, and it had the most amazing veggie burgers and sangria! I was in Heaven! Graham made it so easy to get there (we only had a short walk!) which was a nice change from the usual chaos that Bangkok brings. Friday night we walked along a cool street with tons of cool bars and funky restaurants with outdoor seating, one that reminded us of a street you would see in Berkeley or Oakland. We made our way to a gorgeous park right on the river, with a beautiful view of Bangkok, and layed down to watch a French romance movie. Graham upped the ante even on the outdoor French movie in a beautiful park in an exotic foreign country, and ran to get us some fancy desserts and wine to enjoy during the movie. It was a warm peaceful night, and we cuddled under the moist sky while we were watching the movie-it was a wonderful experience.

Lost in the endless Wats!

The next day, after a huge breakfast, we headed out to see a couple wats, one housed a massive reclining Buddha, and another was made of tile and was just so beautiful. We explored all day and it was just a great weekend!

Getting ready for the year of the rabbit. Gotta love that Thailand has decided to celebrate New Years on our calendar, the Chinese calendar, and their own!

Yet another weekend is about to start, so I'd better run!

Love to you all!

Natalie