i stayed at the hilton?! executive?!

hi family and friends. the last week and a little bit has been fairly- well, incredible. the photos that are of the kids and from school took place on thursday (the 19th) which was wai kru day. on this day, the kids have a ceremony where they wai (a gesture where they bow) all the krus (teachers). the picture is in the gym, and there are all of the thai kindergarten kids bowing- out of respect for the teachers. it was different, but something you for sure wouldn't see in canada. the little girl in the picture above it is one of my kids- her name is new-new. shes rock solid, and says the days of the week with the most enthusiasm you could have for "THURSDAY". and the blessing of all blessings came this friday through sunday. it was my friend megan's birthday - she is here with the U of M also, and her dad paid for us to stay at the millenium hilton downtown in the city. i am so grateful (thanks pauly if you read this). we went right after school on friday, and got there around 530, and you pull up off the street in your cab and are treated like royalty. my bag got to the room by some magical bellhop. we had a suite on the 18th floor that was an executive suite complete with a panoramic view of the city (that is ledge i'm sitting on in the photo in my hilton robe). we also had access to the executive lounge that had breakfast, afternoon tea, and appetizers and drinks, all for free. breakfast was one of my favorite parts of the weekend- waffles, nutella, fruit, toast (the german kind like we had in austria!) everything! this lounge was on the 31st floor which was the top of the building (that is where the two photos in the dark are taken). the pool/health club was on the 4th floor - it was called "the beach" and it had these private little alcoves with sand and umbrellas, and the pool carried out onto the roof, so you could tan but still be in water. on saturday night megan invited all of our friends here in bangkok to the hotel for a party in the room. it was neat, and we managed to surprise her by having the concierge deliver the DQ cakes that we got made. one of the cool things also was the "magic" button on the phone. they will and can make almost anything happen. this whole post probably sounds all over the place, but it was so nice to feel like i was on vacation. a lot of times, travelling can be kind of sketchy, and not too relaxing, but this weekend was the complete opposite - we even got the 2 warmest, sunniest days in a row in BKK in quite some time. anyway, i'll try to post more sooner than later. by the way, mary kate and ashley were there also
just kidding.