October Break in Phuket

Two months after starting school,  we had a week long holiday known as the October break.   Shortly after arriving and getting our lives in order, Lisa started investigating potential holiday destinations in South-East Asia and we decided to spend our first vacation in Phuket, Thailand.  We had heard a number of things about Phuket through the media, none of which were terribly complimentary.  First of all, it's an area that has some notoriety for the child sex trade and it's also the unofficial meeting place of the transgender crowd.  On top of that, it is an area that was devastated by the horrible tsunami that struck the area during Christmas 2004.  However, after talking to a number of people from Singapore who strongly suggested it as a holiday destination, we decided to take a chance and give Phuket a try.  We are happy to report that we were not disappointed with our choice.

We chose to stay at the Le Meridien Hotel and Resort on the west coast of Phuket, just outside the city of Patong.   Our hotel room had a view of the pool and looked out on the beach and the crashing waves of the  Andaman Sea.

We spent the first several days exploring everything the hotel had to offer.  We tried scuba diving in the hotel pool, did some climbing on the rock climbing wall,  practiced archery, shot some hoops on the basketball court and worked on our golf game at the driving range and practice facilities.  When we were in a less active mood we lazed poolside or relaxed down on the beautiful sandy beach.

The food the hotel had to offer was excellent.  We started each day at the buffet breakfast which was served poolside in an open air restaurant.   We typically didn't eat much for lunch, but would return to the same venue in the evening to eat one of theme based dinners that was always accompanied by a live entertainment show that we always enjoyed.

After spending some time admiring the waves from afar, we finally ventured into the surf and had a great time body surfing on the waves, which were an ideal size to give you a bit of a thrill without worrying whether you would be injured or sucked out by the undertow.  After a day or two of body surfing, Haylee rented a Boogie board which only added to the excitement.  We spent countless hours splashing around in the surf enjoying the beautiful, sunny weather and riding the waves.  It was great to feel like a kid again or in Haylee's case, to be one.

We next set our sites on some adventure outside the resort and decided to go on an elephant trek. We weren't really sure what to expect, but had a great  two hour jungle trek with Haylee and Lisa riding on one elephant and myself on another.  Speaking of elephants, I failed to mention that we were visited daily at the hotel by a baby elephant named Lucky who was led by his keeper through the hotel lobby and around the pool.  Haylee really looked forward to seeing Lucky each day and would always to stop to get a kiss on the cheek.  Yuck !

The city of Patong was only five minutes from our hotel, but we had avoided it through the trip thus far due to a bit of nervous apprehension on our part about what we might encounter there, particularly with Haylee being with us.  If you recall me mentioning before, the area is renowned for transsexuals and  Patong is where they go to party.  But after talking to a number of guests who allayed our concerns, we decided to go there for dinner one night.  To put it mildly, the place is a bit of a circus and there is the occasional freak show, but on the whole it was a lot of fun.  Most of the bars have some transgender types who are trying to encourage you to drink at their establishment and on occasion we would see the odd 'lady-boy' dancing on top of a table.  Trying to explain what a 'lady-boy' was to Haylee was an interesting conversation to say the least, but one that she handled remarkably well, although every once in a while she would still puzzle about why a lady-boy had facial hair.

Seemed like every place was selling t-shirts or knock-off handbags and watches, or wanted you to buy a suit or give you a massage.  If they weren't trying to sell you something, they were offering to take you some where in their Tuk Tuks, which are a form of taxi.  This feeling was so pervasive that one of the more popular t-shirts for sale said, "I don't want a massage,  I don't want to buy a suit and I don't need an F***'in Tuk Tuk!"

But as crazy as this place was, we absolutely loved it and spent most of our evenings there for the rest of the trip.  Lisa and Haylee discovered that you could go to an esthetician for a facial for a very cheap price and they would go almost daily.  In fact, I actually went once myself.

We also found that the restaurants in Patong were a lot cheaper than at the hotel and we enjoyed some really good meals at a great price.  The downside?  I actually got food poisoning at Subway one night and spent the next day in bed :(

We also really enjoyed riding in the Tuk Tuks. They were dirt cheap and pretty cool to ride in.  They tend to be a little different everywhere you go, but the ones in Phuket were like a pimped out version of an old Ford Econoline van.

Our week in Phuket came and went pretty quickly but we made the best of our time there and had some great experiences.  The weather was great and the sunsets were incredible. And as the sun set on this trip we talked about coming back for more.

School Life

After arriving in Singapore, adjusting to the heat and finding a place to live, it was now time to focus our attention on why we came here in the first place, work.  Or in Haylee's case, school.   During the first two weeks we were here, we lived in a hotel in downtown Singapore and completed some training related to operational procedures and expectations of the job.  It was now time to hit the ground running.

The Canadian International School where we teach is a school of 750 students from grades 4-12.  We are currently located at a temporary campus while the new campus is being built.  The school is essentially two schools in one with a middle school wing, where Lisa is teaching grade 5 and Haylee is a student in grade 5 and the high school wing, where I am teaching grades 9-12.

One of the fundamental differences for Haylee was the fact that she would now be wearing a uniform.  And while most kids wouldn't be terribly excited about the prospect, Haylee was positively elated!  It certainly made life easy for us, as we didn't have to think about what Haylee is going to where to school each day.

We have a number of options in terms of how we get to school each day, none of which involve driving a car.  There's simply not a need to own a car as the transit system in Singapore is incredible.  So, each day, we travel to school by either bus, bicycle or taxi, depending on what type of mood we're in and what the weather's like.   Travelling to school by bike, we drive along a bike path through and sometimes we see some interesting things along the way........like monitor lizards!

Our current school is a beautiful indoor/outdoor campus that has a real tropical feel to it.   The classrooms are all air conditioned but the hallways are actually outdoors.  The school has a number of facilities including a track, a large gymnasium and performing arts stage.   There's also a full cafeteria so the students have the option of either bringing a lunch or purchasing food from the canteen.  The school day is quite similar to Canada with a start time of 8:50 a.m. and a dismissal time of 3:30 p.m.  After school the students have the option of participating in ECAs (extra-curriculars) that the teachers run that include everything from art lessons (Lisa offered this) to golf (which I offered at a nearby driving range) to knitting to dance (which Haylee participated in).

Just like any other school, there were all kinds of different themed days that we participated in, the biggest of which were the United Nations Day and Carnival.  Carnival gave students a chance to participate in a lot of fun games, like soak the teacher.  On UN Day, there was a parade of nations where students wore clothing that was representative of their culture/nationality.   It was a  pretty incredible experience as the student body is made up of students from all over the world.   There are students from Canada, the United States, Korea, China, France, Germany, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Indonesia and Australia, to name but a few.

Haylee participated in a lot of different extra-curriculars including being a member of the school swim team and participating in track and field.  She won medals in swimming and was very successful in track and field as well.  Her relay team finished in 3rd place, she finished 2nd in shot put and discuss and she finished 1st in javelin.  Well done, Haylee!

And as nice as our campus was this year, next year we will be moving into a new campus that is only 10  minutes from our condo.  We'll be able to walk to school next year and are quite excited about everything that the new campus will have to offer.  So here's to a great year and looking forward to next year in the new digs.