I Ree Feek

If you speak Arabic, PLEASE don't be offended by this title.  There's a very good reason for it and I hope you'll stay tuned to enjoy.

Snapped a picture during the near death taxi ride.

I got back from Koh Chang last night and let me just tell you it was AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE, THE BEST THING EVER.  It was a rough journey getting there (taxi-midnight bus-taxi-ferry-taxi) but once we were on that white sandy beach and swimming in the ocean that felt like bath water I was in heaven, and I wasn't the only one.  The only Italian exchange student, Marigrazia, immediately went swimming in the ocean while we all ordered breakfast.  Out of nowhere (when we were all silent and out of it) Mariagrazia exclaimed in her thick Italian accent, "I love this place!"  It immediately became the theme of our trip.

Elephants!

Koh Chang from the ferry.

Lonely Beach @ 7:30 AM 

The beach was so superior to California beaches it's ridiculous.  I cannot wait to visit the southern islands (which are the more photographed) because this was such an amazing weekend trip.  We ate, drank, swam, and tanned for four days all for the price of about $150 USD (including travel expenses).  Yeah, Thailand is unbelievably cheap.

Khlong Phlu waterfall.

I did leave the beach a few times to sleep and visit a waterfall.  The Khlong Phlu waterfall is unbelievably gorgeous and you can swim in the spring it creates.   I stuck my head under both levels and just floated backwards as I left the downpour, looking at the amazing view.  I kept telling people I can't believe my friends are in Europe in the cold while I'm on a tropical island for pennies.  Honestly, the plane ticket to Thailand may be super expensive, but it's so cheap to stay here it's really worth the trip.

The spring.

Bungalow 25.  The best hostel I've ever seen.

This weekend was also an excellent opportunity to get to know the other students better.  Ironically enough, half the people here speak French.  When they get going I have no idea what's going on because I literally don't understand any of it.  Not even simple words, like "oui."  But I like the exposure.  During our first night in Koh Chang, I slept in a room with native speakers of three different languages: Spanish, Italian, and French.  That is the definition of exchange.  I can practice my Spanish with a girl from Barcelona, learn Italian (my favorite language), and improve my pronunciation of wines (which is really still not good).

Despite all the different languages, everyone gets along very well.  We're all adventurous, (relatively) go with the flow kind of people, and the Thai language barrier has caused all of us to become really close.  We all hang out with each other and almost all of us live in the same building which has made the experience even better.  I've fallen in love with Thailand, but I've also fallen in love with all of the people here.

Baby Koh Chang islands. 

In exchange for my language awareness lessons, I like to think I've also been helping the exchange students.  I realized this week how confusing the difference between shade and shadow is.  Almost all of the non-native speakers thought you would say let's go sit in the shadow, but you really say let's sit in the shade.  I explained, yes shade is technically a shadow but in English shadow is mainly used figuratively, like "I live in the shadow of my older sibling" or you use it to describe something cool about Peter Pan.  However, when you're in a thing's shadow you're in the shade.  I know all of you back home understand the difference but it's kind of interesting to realize how complex that vocabulary situation is.  And I've already lost a good portion of my English vocabulary because I have to simplify everything I say so that the other people here will understand me.

In my many language lessons this weekend I also learned swear words in other languages.  I obviously can't say the French ones, but a Canadian of Egyptian heritage taught me THE funniest swear word I've ever heard: I ree feek.  It means "f**k you" in Arabic, but directly translates to "my penis is inside you."  I don't think any swear word in any language can beat that.

Finally, I've learned that my mother went buck wild and gave my blog url to everyone she knows, so here's a nice disclaimer for all of you concerned authority figures back home: the drinking age here is 18 (in case you didn't know).

Cows on the beach! (at sunrise)

Cows on the beach at sunset.