Scooter skid-out episode (gnarly images inside) August 30, 2010

** WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES **

hi guys,

As some of you have heard, I laid my bike down on Saturday night after trying to avoid (but still hitting) a dog on a straight away in my neighborhood at night. The dog ran right out in front of my bike at the last second and there wasnt much I could do…. this is a common occurrence in Thailand and 2 out of 3 dogs out here and a limp or missing limb to prove it, lol!

Anyway, so I kinda took the dogs legs out from under him and my bike and I went skidding along the crappy cheese grater pavement. I wish it was on film because as I was skidding, I literally said “Are you serious?!” as I did so, lol. Dogs around me were going crazy because of what just happened so I immediately popped up all adrenalined out and looked around to make sure I wasnt about to be attacked. Then I hobbled over to my bike, which was no longer running, and struggled to prop it back up. The sting of my injuries was starting to set in as I attempted to restart my bike. The first try I just got a very rocky sounding sputter, then I took out the key, put it back in, and tried again. This time it made the proper sound and after a little convincing it finally started. I thanked the stars, as I was far enough away that walking/crawling home didnt seem like a doable task. As I rode, I accessed the damage to my bike and to myself. My bike was decently scraped all down the side, had tweaked handle bars and brakes, and a broken front fender- and aside from dirt filled fan and muffler, the damage was pretty much cosmetic. As for me, I cursed as I looked down and felt my flop flop start to pool with blood and the sting that came along with it. My left hand, both knees, and right foot I could see were all pretty messed up, and I felt a big sting all along the outside of my right arm that I wouldnt be able to see until I found a mirror later.

At that time, I had some friends over at my house and was hosting a lil BBQ. We’d run out of refreshments and I was just taking a quick loop of the neighborhood to see if any of the local house-turned-convenience-stores were open. So as I rode back only minutes later to a bunch of (mostly drunk) friends, I didnt want everyone to freak out. Nothing was broken, and the only part that concerned me was my foot as the road rash looked deep and a bit…. hamburger esk. So I pulled up, and before even attempting to get off my bike I told everyone that nothing was broken, and to not trip out. Naturally people kinda did- “oh my god! Look at your hand! Look at your arm! Oh my god YOUR FOOT!!”

I was very lucky to have only gotten the injuries that I did, and even more lucky to have picked a time when my momma is out here stayin with me. With an entourage of good people, i was pretty much carried upstairs and into the bathtub. Cleaning out the wounds and sterilizing them was NOT fun. Mom, Torek, and Adam were particularly helpful- thank you guys!

Ok so pics 🙂

here’s just an hour or less after the fall…….

there here’s at the hospital the next day…….

(thanks for the photography skillz adam)

And then here’s today:

it hurts like a bia but the doctor put me on some pretty strong morphine…. not strong enough for the throbbing pain of trying to stand upright tho… all the blood rushing to my foot is ridiculous. And the only bit that concerns me is the lack of feeling in the area between my big toe and the hole in my foot

But, at least I’m in good hands- mother is nursing me back to health and making sure I’m well taken care of. Everyones been very nice and supportive out here, always offering a helping hand- thank you all.

The directors of my school stopped y today too to see how I’m doing and to tell me to please not feel any pressure about getting back to school. They told me to focus on feeling better, relaxing, and healing up properly… such good men 🙂

Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know what happened and to say I’m aight.

Love you guys,

jetski

new pics! Kanchanaburi weekend getaway August 16, 2010

hey all,

So I took advantage of last weeks extended weekend and took a lil journey over to Kanchanaburi- a beautiful province a few hours from home that is famous for its caves, waterfalls, and the legendary Death Railway.

In a nutshell, back in the forties during the world war, Japan had taken over Thailand and basically wanted a dependable form of land transport between Burma and Thailand, and on foot thru the mountains wasnt cutting it. They had hella POWs on lockdown in Thailand, so they sent a grip of them over there to build this railroad to connect the 2 countries. The Japanese said they’d have medical clinics set up, sufficient housing, food, they’ve have transport to their camps, etc….. FAIL. None of that went down- they had to walk over 300k to their camps, makeshift shelter with what the carried and stuff layin around, and the only medical they had was what they’d brought with them. So naturally, as they forced them thru absurd  labor, barely enough food to survive, and no legit medical attention, they died all the time. The common cold could kill them easy in the conditions they were in- let alone all the crazy tropical diseases their body had never encountered before. (BTW, i went to the museum while I was there- can you tell? lol)

Anyway, they whole thing was hella tragic, the big steel bridge was the hardest part (and was the prime target as the allies bombed it/them time and time again), and the Britts got shafted more than any of the other westerners out there.

So the bridge was cool- walked across it a bunch and snapped some shots. Also went to this rad Temple that was inside a cave at the top of a big dragon staircase. Tight.

I went there with a couchsurfer I met up with in Bangkok. He was chill most of the time….

We also met another foreign teacher from the states while we were on the bridge making jokes- she teaches in Bangkok and was hella cool, so we invited her to ride family style (3+ people on 1 scooter) with us to the cool cave temple. When we finally got to the lookout  at the top, we watched the rain come across the surrounding land like a wave, pass over us for about 15 minutes of mayhem, then return to calm. It was a rad view for sure 🙂

Anyway, here are the pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sicahafan/sets/72157624611229495/

Unfortunately, I dont have time to do like I normally do and embed the pics into the story- I’m pickin my momma up at the airport tomorrow and I gots some last minute things to take care of prior. Plus, the momma dog that had baby puppies a few weeks ago in the office next to us went missing today…. I feed her a big bowl of lunch scraps everyday, but today, the bowl has been sitting there since morning. Unless she miraculously shows up in the next 20 minutes, I’ll be taking the 3 puppies home in a box. They barely have their eyes open and cant walk yet- I’m NOT letting them starve as it’s looking more and more like their momma may have been hit by a car or likewise 😦

Aight yall, miss you, love you, keep being you!

-jetski

Weekend in Koh Samet: pics! July 28, 2010

Hey family people,

I had a fun 4 day weekend adventure as it was a special Thai holiday over here.

My friend Adam (the new drama/music teacher out here) and I were going to go to the island of Koh Samui down in southern thailand, but after catching a train to Bangkok to make the connection, we discovered that everything was completely sold out as this week is going to be the Full Moon Party down on the islands.

So instead, we spend a night at Koa San Road (backpackers hub strip) and drank and had fun there.

alot of people, alot of drinking….. but at least the backpackers are conscious of separating their recycling as they litter 🙂

So the next morning, we cruised to the bus station to catch a bus and ferry to the island of Koh Samet instead- much closer to home.

We rented ATVs to go offroading and check out the viewpoints on the far side of the island…. the spots on our faces are from smashing thru muddy puddles, not chicken-pocks 😉

We both ran out of gas, then Adam got a flat, and then I finally snapped the drive chain on mine trying to rage up some gnarly hill so we both had to go back on his ATV. We dropped off the keys and pointed the rental company in the direction of their busted vehicle, lol. Best $9 ever

On the boat over, we met these really awesome people who were musicians who lived relatively close to us. They welcomed us into their gang and partied hardy with us. Great food, whiskey, fire, music, face paint and hookah were involved.

After watching the fire dancing, then of course we did flaming limbo and jumped thru the flaming hoop- just a regular night on the beach in Koh Samet. They gave away a free shot every time you went thru, so needless to say, we did it many times.

It was good times.  We met cool new friends and animals, including mini frogs

and a huge foot long gecko-zilla in our bungalow (this ones for you papa)

Even tho it rained a good amount, we still had a rad time. Lookin forward to going back again!

you can see the whole collection here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sicahafan/sets/72157624600206104/

Yeah, I’ll make a lil vid but I dont have a lot of footy cuz my camera jammed at the beginning of the trip and also cuz I’m workin on a school video project that needs my full attention right now :p But when I make it, you’ll know where to go to see it!

Love you guys, life is beautiful 🙂

-jetski

just a few pics…. July 9, 2010

not a huge update, just wanted to share a few pics with those that arent on Facebook.

First off, I TAUGHT MY STUDENTS HOW TO KNIT!!! I teach 3rd and 4th grade Art class, and they complained and moaned about it being too hard for the first few classes, but now they’ve got it down!! I’m very proud of them 🙂

Next are from a trip the Director of the school took us on. These were some really rad temples…..

cool hat, huh?

the next are just some randoms of me out with my girlfriends out here. The first is at a Thai Boxing match where I watched men, women, and 8 year old kids get knocked out. What a country!  😀

love you guys,

-jetski

Jetski on a jetski! Oh, and skype :D April 9, 2009

So the oher day I was out jetskiing- it was fuuuuuun. We went all up and dow our big wide slow river and the jetskis (wave runners) were reeeeally fast.

At one point we all wanted to go out at once- it was me, seth (other american teacher), fai (govners daughter), and toh (govners son). Toh and I were on one and led the others a couple miles down the river before seeing a dam type thing in front of us and flippin a bitch. The others zoomed ahead of us, so they didnt hear us yell as we lost ability to control our steering and ended up coasting into a wall, haha. We bailed out and flipped the jetski as we laughed.

Toh’s english isn’t too good, so I tried to ask and figure out what happened as we turned it back rightside-up. He wasn’t sure why, but it was clear that the handlebars were no longer deturmining the direction of the jetski, lol. After a short investigation we discovered the rutter’s controlling arm snapped. Damnit. We waited for rescue for a while, and then gave up and decided to try to ride without steering ability. I came up with the genius idea to hang onto the back and BE the rutter…. which kind hurt, kinda tickled, and totally cracked me up. It wasn’t long before my arms startin gettin real sore and we had to find another way. I then realized I could sit on the very back of the jetski on the ground part, and kinda wrap my legs around the sides of it, and reach back and grab the plastic jet tube and control it’s direction from there.

So I did the steering, Toh did the throttle, and we made it back eventually!

It was a good adventure followed by a good skate session 🙂

He’s getting a halfpipe put in his backyard tomorrow, so I’m STOKED!

Aw, and summer school started again, so that means I’ve got 24 new lil kindergarteners under my wing. They dont speak a WORD of english…. hopefully I can change that, haha :p

OH! And most importantly, I HAVE A NEW LOCAL USA NUMBER:

 805-426 -9259

If you call it, it’ll charge you exactly the same as calling someone in Ventura, and I’ve got voicemail too if I’m not around. So hit me up!