Current mood:

chipper

another article and a vacation itinerary

the october edition of Citylife magazine is out, and along with it, part the second of "my love affair with a big hunk of red metal." if you want to check it out:  http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/2005/oct05/58_myloveaffair.php

in other news, it is the first of october and i am finished grading finals! eeek! well, not really... i mean, i have one more class of finals on monday, but it's my oral expression class so there will be no written exam-- just a partner conversation. yay for that! ...so, i feel like i'm done. i can't believe how fast it went...

so, the second semester begins on the 26th of october. what will i do with almost a month of vacation, you ask???  well, it's a rough life, i tell you:

OCT 6 - fly from chiang mai to bangkok with fellow ajarn heather, then part ways with her (she is going home after a year here-- will student teach in iowa city) and fly to london, then to shannon, ireland.

OCT 7 - arrival in shannon at 8 a.m.! meet my dear friend heather petsche in limerick and cry and hug and writhe around with joy at our reunion-- then bus north to galway to meet dear friend bree graczyk who is studying there for the semester. another crying, hugging and writhing with joy reunion.

OCT 10 - bree's birthday. pints. dancing on tables. the usual.

OCT 11 - train from galway to dublin. stop over in maynooth to take a look at my old stomping grounds (studied at the national university of ireland, maynooth, in fall of 2003). ferry from dublin to holyhead, wales. train from holyhead to bangor-- heather's old stomping grounds (fall 2003, studied abroad). meet up with tanner curl and ryan yao, fellow coe college-ites (?) who are studying in bangor this fall.

OCT 16 or 17 - ferry back to dublin, train back to galway.

OCT 18 - heather leaves. lots of crying and writhing around with sadness at the airport. OCT 20 - i leave. more crying and writhing around with sadness.

OCT 21 - arrival in bangkok. train north to chaing mai, then meet up with my thai friend, kati (ga-tee), who is going to take me to her home village in the north, which is about an hour from the border with laos. (!!!) lots of eating homemade thai food and getting stared at for being a farang.

OCT 24 - drive back to chaing mai.

OCT 25 - english department meeting! find out what classes i have.

OCT 26 - NEW SEMESTER BEGINS!