Sunday August 12

Let me start by saying that yes, today (Sunday) was actually my birthday! For those of you that don’t know, my birthday is a national holiday in Thailand. Not so much because of me, but because I share a birthday with the queen. This means I will never have to work on my birthday…perfect! Now, because we have Monday off, I assumed Monday was my birthday. So when my mom called me via facetime this morning to wish me a happy birthday, I simply laughed and made fun of her for getting her times/hours mixed up… we are 12 hours apart you know! But she was pretty persistent, and after a few minutes (I actually had to pull my calendar out) I realized she was right! It was my birthday! Well now I needed to celebrate. So I decided to go shopping! I wish I could say I went for pleasure, but really it was because I needed a calendar. With school starting, it was driving me crazy not having one. Anyone who knows me, knows that organization is not my strong point. Getting a smart phone was the best thing I ever did for myself because I could enter meetings and due dates in the calendar and they would ring at me so I wouldn’t forget. I could post it note things to remember and make a to do list that I could check off, all on one device! I am so dependent on my smart phone, that I’m having trouble surviving without it. In fact, it is causing me quite a bit of anxiety, so I went to a department store and bought myself a calendar today. On the way out, a painting caught my eye! It was two elephants in a field with a sunset in the background. It was so pretty and with my newfound love of elephants, I thought it was the perfect birthday present so I bought it. It goes quite nicely with the bright orange tables in my apartment. Then I stopped off for a cheap massage. It was turning into a nice birthday.

Obviously, celebrating your birthday after only living somewhere for a few weeks can be a bit depressing, not to mention when it’s your 31^st! So, I set myself up for disappointment, but was pleasantly surprised. Some of the new teachers decided to go out with me to celebrate, and we made plans to go to Moon Bar, which is listed as one of the top roof bars it he world! But they weren’t kidding about this rainy season stuff, so we relocated to Mexican food instead. I figured since I wasn’t in Texas, it was the next best thing. Good thing my friends are from Australia, Georgia, and Ireland so they didn’t know the difference. =) As we were chomping our chips and salsa and sipping our margs, a big group of boys sat down across the patio. After a few pitchers of margaritas they decided to befriend us, telling us they were here from Spain for a bachelor party. A few pictures and shared drinks later, they were all wearing sombreros singing me “Feliz Cumpleanos” not once, not twice, but three times!

Not a bad way to celebrate the night! A few fancy bars (we ended up at one roof top after the rain stopped) and not so fancy bars later, we called it a night! Thank you to my new friends for making my night a success =)