Yesterday was Sunday. It was not my day off. Though there are never really "days off" despite the fact that a work day doesn't necessarily mean I put in 8 hours...nor does it mean I won't put in 14 hours. The point is, Saturdays and Sundays are the days when I come to the centre to teach the apprentice monks English.

Teaching the monks is enjoyable, despite the fact that I inadvertently breach religous etiquette on a regular basis. Yesterday, for example, I came into class with a bag of rambutan. I was hungry so I was picking at it during class and when I'd ask questions to the students, I'd reward correct answers by throwing a piece of rambutan on their desks. And then I'd notice after I'd given out 5 pieces of rambutan that none of them were eating. And that's because in the afternoon, all monks have to fast. So basically the first 15 minutes of class was spent with my punishing and torturing my students for doing a good job. How much time have I spent in this country exactly?

After teaching and giving a tour of the centre, I came home to a big surprise. My house was empty. Everything was gone. My clothes, my computer, electronics, toiletries, everything. Everything was gone except the pieces of furniture that belong to the landlady. My two roommates, Carole and Dtii had said they were going to "start packing" when I left the house that morning. I didn't realize they were organizing the whole operation to pick up and go within the 5 hours I was gone.

And when I called them, it was a little disconcerting to hear that they had the running team help pack up the house and load everything into the pick up truck. It's not that I don't trust them. It's just a little weird to have your stuff sorted through when you're not expecting it. It's also awkward to have my students, most of whom live in abject poverty, wrap up the chords to my camera, my back-up drive, computer, i-pod and book downloader. Aside from my computer, I leave all of those things at home normally. Not because I'm afraid of them getting stolen, but because they're pretty flashy and they take away from being able to blend in.

Putting that aside, I'm very grateful for having that endeavor taken care of. And I'm very excited to be in this new house. When I have appropriate amount of time I need to post pictures of this place. It's bigger and cheaper than the old house and the three of us now share a courtyard to park our bikes.

And today, I coach my first tennis class. This is funny, because I've never actually been good at this sport, never mind sports in general. And having played it with the kids and staff here in the recent past, I know that I'm even worse than when I took lessons every day in Ste. Maxime. I've also been running every other morning with the track team, getting my tail whipped by the steep mountains of Mae Sai. This morning, we ran 12 kilometers! Knee replacement surgery to be scheduled before I turn 25.