Phuket Weekend. Kind of a big deal. Rescues, firethrowing..etc.

hi friends and family.
thanks for all the comments and emails. its really nice to hear how things are at home, or just from people. please keep them coming!
this week has been pretty interesting.
on wednesday, we starting teaching. as i mentioned, i team teach one class with one girl from the u of m and the other class i teach by myself. the kids are so so cute, but the language barrier is very difficult. these kids are just learning Thai, nevermind English. and short attention spans= lots of dancing. they're good at the chicken dance. its definitely challenging, but its fun. they're so cute. and the names...a friend's class has students named boss, jeffy, and guitar. i've got some named earth, oil, pore, peach...and timmy. heh. super high energy job.
this weekend was a long weekend in thailand, so a few of us girls from the u of m flew down to phuket for the weekend. we spent the first night in the city of phuket at a beach called Patong, it was really touristy, and we were tired enough when we got in to just get some pizza and sleep. again- the hotel had no air conn but fans, and was 4 bucks each for the night. pretty sweet. the next day we took this ferry to the island of Koh Phi Phi. Just off this island there is a place called Maya Bay- that's where the move "the beach" with the superbabe, super hunk, leo dicaprio was filmed. didn't get that far, but it was incredible. there aren't really words for it. you're riding on this ferry in crystal blue seas with these jutting cliffy islands and you're at the equator pretty much (i'm really enjoying the heat by the way---one odd thing- you're finger nails grow faster) anyway, you pull up into this harbour, and its just an island paradise. the beach is surrounded by these hilly cliffs, its white sand...palm trees. you're eating fresh fruit all the time- that might be one of my favorite things...it feels like paradise...and its soo cheap. we had a nice hotel room with air conn and our own bathroom and everything for 15 bucks a night. it was more expensive too, because Phuket is the "Paris" of Thailand. the tsunami did go through the area...Phuket is an entire province, not just a city, but it was eerie to see "tsunami evacuation route" signs, the regrowth of palm trees, and the differences in construction- attempts to rebuild. it was great though...evenings dancing on the beach...fire dancers and fire throwers, completely relaxing...meeting people from all over the world- Isreal, the UK, Canada, the States, Belgium, Austrailia...here are a few photos from the weekend... the first is a street (Bangla Road) at Patong, the next is one of the fire dancers in Koh Phi Phi, and the next are the beach and landscape of the island. amazing, i know.
love from thailand,
andrea