Obon holiday Vacation (part 1)

This last week I was lucky enough to be able to go on a 11 day trip to Thailand for Obon holiday because my wife and I had the week off of work. We spent the first two nights in the city of Bangkok at a guest house, located in the middle of a bunch of machine shops, with wild dogs running all around.






My first feeling about Bangkok was that it was polluted and a little smelly but, after spending some time in the city we were able to see that there were many beautiful temples and very nice people to meet. Also, we ate street food everyday and it was so delicious, not to mention cheap! For two people to eat three meals, the cost was about 900 yen! The shopping was also pretty cheap but every price had to be negotiated, which became tiresome after awhile. We stayed on the island of Phuket for the next four nights then came back to Bangkok for our last two.

Good times

Before coming to Japan, I was a little nervous about the idea of teaching English in Japan. Now that I am here and doing it, I am finding that it is the best and most fun job that I have ever had. In America, I was not very excited about the jobs that I had to work at because I felt like I was doing the same thing everyday. Now that I am teaching, I am learning just as much as I am teaching and my students all are so amazing. For example, I meet each week with a student and talk about surfing, past stories and life. Last week I got to meet with a student for the first time and was very happy to be able to share stories and help another great person. Having a job that is so enjoyable is making my whole Japan experience even more amazing!

Beach!

Recently we had an opportunity to go to camping on the beach with a few of our guest house members in Ibaraki. This was my first time to visit the beach in Japan and I found that it is almost just like the beaches back at home in Oregon. Beautiful.

The biggest difference is that the water is a lot warmer in Japan. Many of the shells and rocks in Japan can be found in Oregon too. My favorite is a round, flat shell with a star shape on the top. I forget the name in Japanese, but in Oregon we call them sand dollars, meaning beach money.

We had a great time swimming in the ocean and laying on the beach, but I didn't listen to my wife and did not put on sun block. Also, I fell asleep in the sun for almost an hour and ended up getting the worst sunburn of my life. Itai! At least it made a good tan