It was only a matter of time

(Blog relates to last week but is written in the present)

I'm Irish and from a family that "likes their few pints" so it was only a matter of time before I would have to teach with a hangover. That was today.

I went to Coco's to say hi to Tanya(PODy) and Kelly(PODy) and meet up with a French Parisenne called Carl(tourist). The beer was too gassy for me so I made the fatal mistake of having JD. I love drinking whiskey, it gives me a warm content feeling but also tends to retard my decision making. I won't be teaching till 12:30 tomorrow so why not go to Haad Rin (of full moon party fame), I already had my lessons plan done. What's the worst that could happen! I danced like there was no-one watching and we talked and sang till 2ish. I had moved onto water at this stage but the legs where a bit jellyfishish on the way home.

This morning I slept through my alarm so woke a hour late and had to rush to get breakfast. It was one of those morning when you find your mobile phone in the fridge and half a doner kebab in your shoe. I cursed Jack Daniels and his beguiling brew.

I got to school and was only ten minutes late and told the Headmaster I had an upset stomach...I neglected to mention why! He was more interested in rolling his cigarette. He had no clue whether I need to teach next Wednesday or not. The schools in general are not good at communication. But I can't talk...I spelt 'cloud' as 'could' and confused Green with Red and nearly fell over when I was doing actions for aeroplane...I think I closed my eyes and suffered an attack of vertigo. The kids had a great laugh and scoffed all my chewing gum before I left. I didn't mind; it said mint flavour but they tasted of whiskey.

So that was Class 2...Class 1 next. On Monday they where an absolute nightmare. The lads were actually running full tilt into the wall, bouncing back then doing it again. They ignored all attempts at discipline. My poor mind was trying to prepare mentally but all that it produced were swear words.

On my journey to Class 1 I met a friend. Little Pen from nursery. She is the headmasters daughter. Today she decided she was going to be teachers assistant. She cleaned the board and held up the pictures or did the actions when I elicited. My mind did wander at times and at one stage half the class disappeared to get water for over 5 minutes. Little Pen got bored during this time so took my juggling balls and went out into the yard. The last half of the class was utter chaos. 3 of the girls insisted on drawing fruit and point blank refused to stand up and do actions. The lads started a water fight and it took another 5 mintes to calm them down and clean up. Eventually the class ended. I was soaked in sweat and feeling dizzy but did have a quick game of marbles with the class 2 lads before I left.

I got my head shaved yesterday (picture to follow). Well actually Anne, the Canadian PODy, shaved it and enjoyed doing it far to much! Pookey let us use her salon (same place I got my hair cut by "best haircut Lady in Thailand"). We had a tradition in College to go boozing after a haircut. I'm very traditional at heart.

This is my current travel plan:
26 July Krabi/Phi Phi
31 July Surat Thani - Buddhist retreat
13 Aug Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai
23 Aug Loas
7 Sept Vietnam
19 Sept Bangkok...or extend and go to Cambodia
21 Sept Fly home (maybe!)
M.

Never you mind. A guy got to sometimes. John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men)