Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!!! I can't believe it's already December - wow! It certainly doesn't feel like Christmas...it's still 80 degrees here in Bangkok, although the humidity has dropped significantly and we've had some beautiful weather for the past couple of weeks. I'm preparing for a 3-day weekend on the beaches of Ko Chang due to the King's Birthday on Monday. It's a big woop-to-do around here. They have a lot of respect for the King because of his programs, mainly tied to education and medicine. He was born on a Monday, which is a yellow day according to Thai custom, so we're all wearing yellow shirts today. It was a nice excuse to be able to wear jeans to school, which is always a bonus.

Things have been pretty busy around here. As a few of you heard, my roommate Leah moved back to Ohio last month. International teaching isn't for everyone and it wasn't for her. So, I hit the streets looking for a new apartment to rent, as I couldn't afford our three-bedroom by myself and I didn't really want to take in a new roommate. It worked out really well. I moved into a building just a couple of Skytrain stops down Sukhumvit Road, right where the school bus picks us up and drops us off everyday so it's nice and convenient. Tanya, a fourth-grade teacher at TCIS, lives in my building with her husband, Eli, so we walk to the bus stop every morning. The building manager speaks excellent English and the place is dirt cheap! I pay about $125 per month which includes utilities!! I was paying $425 and that wasn't including utils, so I'm able to save a lot more, which means more traveling! I'll send you pictures shortly, so you can take a look.

I have a new renter in my condo in Minneapolis, Ryan. He answered my Craigslist listing back in September, so I had no stress when my previous renter, John, moved out in mid-November. It was very funny when John responded to an email from me asking how his move went.

All is well! It was nice meeting your mom and seeing your dad again. She was such a whirlwind - I chatted for abut a minute with your father, then looked over and she had half the dishes out of the cabinets already.

I laughed hysterically when I read that because I can totally picture my mom doing that! She's the best, never letting the grass grow under her feet, that's for sure!

In addition to the apartment search, I've been Christmas shopping and planning trips. A friend (and my dive instructor) I met in Saipan, but who is originally from Rochester, MN, currently living in Key West (got that??) is arriving today and will be trapsing around SE Asia for a few months. It'll be fun to have my second visitor in Bangkok. I'm also planning my Christmas trip to India. I'll be flying into Calcutta with a six other teachers, but from there'll we'll split into two groups, as traveling in a group of 7 would be no fun. We all plan to go to Varanasi, which is a well-known religious site on the Ganges River (I'll let you know if we see any dead bodies float by, as it's customary to dump human and animal bodies into the river...sounds like a nice vacation spot, right??) and it's supposed to be an amazing experience. From there, we'll head to Agra, the city where the Taj Mahal is...I'm very excited to see the Taj Mahal! And from there, maybe to Jaipur or some other city in Rajasthan (northwestern India). I've heard that India is a life-changing place to visit and I'm anticipating that it'll be the most challenging place I've ever traveled through due to the extreme difference in culture there, but that's also why I'm so excited to check it out! I'm sure I'll learn a lot through my experiences there...we'll see!

I wish you all the happiest holidays!!!!!!!! I'll be thinking about all of you. My plan is to come home for a month this summer, most likely around July 5 to August 5. I'm thinking about flying into Beijing and hopping on the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Moscow or St. Petersburg and then traveling through Norway and Sweden before flying into Minneapolis. I'll keep you all posted, but I'm hoping to see you this summer!

Love and miss you,
Shelly xoxoxo