already nostalgic...

i leave thailand very soon, and i am already nostalgic about my time here. there were a few long days at school, but my term here passed by all too quickly. i remember waking up with the chickens in chiang mai for teacher training, falling out of my hammock on koh pha-ngan the morning (um, mid-afternoon) after the full moon party, shuffling to assemble a dive bag on koh tao (trips #1 and #2), and, most frequently, matt knocking on my door for our daily walk to school, complete with a stops for water, coffee, and rice cakes, in that order. although i hate to admit it because i am decidedly NOT a morning person, mornings here have been my favorite times of the day. i love the way the world looks then. i love soi dee, my street, when the street vendors are just preparing their food...and the smell of the food...and the flowers we give to the monks on their morning walks...and my kids screaming, "teacher saaaaarrrrraaaaaaaaa!" at the top of their lungs until i smile and wave.

yes, nostalgia is already kicking in, but i am far from sad. on tuesday morning, i will be in bali to start my divemaster's! before i begin a very sandy part of my "sandy feet world travel," i thought i would share with you, dear readers, a few of my favorite moments from the past six and a half months.

1. most recently, i celebrated my 23rd birthday. i had a small outing along my canal (klong song, canal 2) in rangsit on friday night, the last day of school. on saturday afternoon, i said goodbye to my apartment, my gym, my weekly mani/pedi appointments with erin, and the rest of my little life there. sprouts was outside my building with her mom, who has a food cart there, waving as erin and i drove away. after a short ride downtown, the adventure began: eliza was waiting on me with a guns n' roses shirt of my very own. we dressed in our finest 80's (and early 90's) rocker attire and met up with the other teachers. it was a great night of big hair, tall heels, good music, and wonderful friends. it was a night, however, colored by our knowledge that we would all part ways afterwards--maybe never seeing some of the group again. after months of teaching, we were quite subdued compared to the group that used to party together back in chiang mai. nonetheless, it was the perfect way to leave things.

2. the weekend before new year's on koh samet and new year's eve with leslie and katherine. i love these two girls; we get into lots of trouble together, and i wouldn't have it any other way. i'll put up a few photos until i can write again...it's time for a massage (one of my last before bali!).