WipedOut

I feel like i've done so much from the last time i posted. It feels like i've been here so long, but it's gone by so fast... does that really even make sense? So today is tuesday, our last first practice of the week. I really dont want it to go away. i must challenge myself to stay in the present moment and not think about tomorrow or what is to come after this is all over. Now, to reflect on the past week. All i remember from the past week is being tired of the food and in need of a pick-me-up, so a group of us would walk to the closest 7/11 almost everyday. snacks. ice cream. really anything... Remember my first cute post that said the food was beautiful, great, tasty, delicious, all of these adjectives describing something positive? well they've somehow disappeared, but thats okay because we always have fun running back to our resort with our popsicle sticks getting dumped on by an unexpected and unavoidable rain. Im going to miss those 7/11 trips. Oh, especially the one time when their power was out, so they used tiny candles to follow us to the aisle of food where we wanted to go. Somehow when the lights are out and there is a singular flame   held by a short thai man  breathing down your neck shining on the food you become indecisive, almost nervous about your junk food choice. Such good times. Last week, we definitely advanced our practice and teachings with many variations and teaching more and more series of poses, even an entire sequence. If you think i was only sore after the first few practices, think again! Bry and Dice have a way of challenging us and always mixing it up. So Emily and i were especially sore and in need of a thai massage. Yes, we've already had like five since we've been here but it had been like almost a a week since our last! We went into Chaweng to try a traditional two hour thai massage at My Friend. Well, the 300 pound lady that thought it was a good idea to stand on my tiny bird legs was not my friend. No, im kidding, but she was pretty aggressive. Definitely a deep massage, sometimes she pushed so hard on my upper chest it closed my throat and i choked! But its fine, we both just laughed and she kept digging deeper. It was definitely good, but i plan on sticking with a one hour thai massage or maybe just a smaller masseuse. Fast forward to saturday night, in the search for internet we stumbled upon some yogis and joined in on their game of taboo. You know, the game where you have to describe a word without saying a certain descriptive words. Well, we all know its hard in english.. so try playing with two other teammates whose first language is definitely not english. We still won in my book.  Now sunday rolled by quickly with a morning practice and a quick 30 minute teaching practicum and then Bry and Dice surprised us with the rest of the day off! With plans to leave for Ko Phangan, Bruce, Emily, Catherine, Aisa and i were off to the island by 1:30 in the afternoon. Hopped on a 30 minute ferry ride to the intimate island and arrived at our paradise for the next day. We settled in our resort and private villa with a private beach side view. From the hour we had arrived, we knew this place was different. Bruce and I picked up a scooter for the day, much cheaper than any cab or truck ride we could find and this allowed us to explore the island while we the other girls were getting tatted up. That night, we explored the main stretch on Thong Sala side of the island. Better markets. Cleaner. Everything was simple, and just what it was supposed to be. So much less commercial than Samui. It was a nice break from the business of our island. We all met up for dinner at Milky Bay which served incredible dinner, drinks, and dessert. Bellies full and happy hearts we went back to our villa and had a special guest appearance by the world-renowned violinist Rashed Juma who too was in residence in of the four villas. He gave us an incredible performance with songs we knew and with a few of his own. It was perfect. We were all sitting inside the newly built yoga studio which had perfect acoustics so that the sound from the strings on the violin vibrated all over the room. Afterwards we all went our way and had a good night's rest. We woke up got on our motorbike, and met up for some German breakfast at Sweet Cafe. We shopped around a little bit more, but Bruce and I were over it so we left the girls and went driving around the island. No map. No plan of where we were headed, but we couldnt get too lost because we were on an island, right? Well we ended up in a rainforest, staring at a waterfall and apparently Ko Phangan National park? sweet! We kept riding, passing many signs, all in Thai of course, so we were further and further away from touristy areas, if there were any.. We wanted to drive along the coast so we kept going left assuming eventually we'd see water. Well what we found was better. One word. WIPEOUT. We almost wipedout stopping to check this place out. To all you who watch tv, remember when that show called wipeout aired? well that was Bruce and i for the next 3 hours. For 500 baht, we had the day to jump around on massively inflated obstacles like red balls, rings, and iceburgs. It was like my own jungle gym. Two English men cheerily greeted us explaining the rules blah blah but we didnt really know what they were saying, we just wanted to play. We signed some sort of waiver, yadda yadda and then we played! In retrospect, i guess i could have been severely injured, but Bruce ended up with a bruised shin and I a bruised knee so we're golden!  I got to trapeze and back flip into the water, climb floating monkey bars, jump onto wobbly logs, climb mountains, back flip off that,  jump frog over the red balls (that i never successfully got across) and then the blob! It was so much fun!! Bruce and i laughed so hard, and he was a total wussy which brought even more entertainment. I had to go first on every obstacle. The english men tried to convince me to time myself to see if i could beat the best time. Regretfully, i chose not to, because at the time i knew my competitive ego would've probably ruined the fun that i had already been having. But now, i know i could've totally smashed the time. Looks like i have to go back? Anyways, it was already 3 in the afternoon and we found ourselves back at that tattoo parlor, which was more like a zoo and everyone was finishing up with their tats. We ate a late lunch at A's coffee shop serving thai iced tea (all i ever need in life) and a cheese burger. We finished up with an ice cream and hopped back on the ferry for ko samui. None of us wanted to leave, and i think we all individually debated in our heads what would happen if we just stayed. But we returned, ready to do some yoga and teach. As soon as i got back, i couldn't help but go to the studio do a flow for myself and practice press handstands. I also had to give a private lesson teaching Surya A warm-up, Surya A, Surya B warm-up, Surya B, externals, external flow, neutrals, core, inversion clinic, backbends, supine twists, and finally the most beloved pose savasana. Definitely a challenge, and definitely a lot of nerves i had to get through. But your students are forgiving and understanding that this is the first time you may be speaking for an hour about asanas. It's incredible what we've learned.

Signing out to go do some more,
I cant get enough! Cant wait to share with you all.