Samet Redux

There are times when Thailand really ticks me off, and then there are times that really love it. Last weekend definately fell into the latter category. Something about being able to spend the weekend on a tropical beach will do that I suppose.

Becky and I ventured to samet last April when I had a long weekend from korea. This time was much different. Of course my favorite difference was that we were married this go around...so I didn't have to wear pants in the room. The other big difference was that instead of just the two of us, there were about 20 teachers there. That makes throwing the football and frisbee way more fun. Of course, the camera that I packed was out of battery and I forgot the charger. Let me appologize to those of you looking forward to seeing me in my speedo, sorry. Here are some pictures that other people took though.

Crazy beach dogs surrounded us at dinner one night. I thought there was about to be a fight until one of the fire throwers/breathers came over and broke it up. And yes, you did read that sentence correctly.

One more thing, because Becky was really proud of this. The first night we went out Becky and I were challenged to a dance off. I would have said that we were the underdogs, but this thing wasn't even close. I never even knew that I was capable of that level of domination. I guess that marriage has made Becky and I that much more powerful!!! I'll see if I can hunt down some pictures.

In other news, we will be heading back to re good 'ol USA in less than two weeks for Katie and Scott's wedding (Becky's sis). We are excited to see family, less excited to spend 45 hours on a plane in a five day period. Worth it though.

We are having some maid issues. Ok, I realize it's rediculous to even mention that, but, I'm gonna anyway. This is actually our second maid. Our first maid was a disaster! She basically just didn't clean.

Our house was prrrry dirry because no one had lived in it for a year. The first time she came she just becky was home. When I got home I was like "where is the maid?" becky was in our room because it's just weird laying on the couch while someone cleans your house. Well, becky thought that she was still here because she had only been there an hour. Turns out shed taken our laundry and was done for the day. I was ticked because our house was still filthy. On top of that, she asked becky for more money because she had to do extra work the first time.

Now I was really ticked. I don't mind paying for something, but I want it to be done. But, we thought we would give her one more chance.

When she next came a few days later, I came home from work and she was ironing our clothes. So far so good. As I am walking up though, one of our neighbors who speaks English tells me, "she wants you to pay 15 baht a shirt" (about 50 cents).

"OK, just hang ok a minute." I walk into the house and into the bathroom and it it still just dirty. We are talking obvious stuff here, like gekko poop on the ledges of stuff. I get the English speaking neighbor and was like, why is this still dirty. At this point another lady, yes there were three women there (plus a kid) all in my house. Anyway, this other lady starts cleaning and I start laughing and tell her, " it's not your job."

So now, we have a lady who is not only doing a terrible job, but appears to be outsourcing! And she wants to charge extra. So I payed her and fired her.

Our maid now is pretty good. She comes for like four hours. The only problem is that she comes while we are there and that she kinds sucks at laundry. For some reason our clothes smell like they have been left in the washer too long. This is a smell that as a bachelor I was quite familiar with, so I am ready for that to stop. We think it might be the rain though because she hangs them outside to dry (under our back porch). We are working on a solution.