Wednesday morning

Just a couple of pictures of this easy wednesday (which was also my sister's birthday, happy 18th birthday!)

Wednesday morning, even Orleon was having trouble waking up today 

And we're still in Thailand of course so it's nothing out of the ordinary for an elephant to show up at the gym, right? 

And since we're all a little tired of mama's rice and all, we decided to get some noodles for breakfast. So good.

Rainy Restday

Yesterday was a sunday again and sunday's always are a little different due to the fact that there's no training. The whole time schedule of a day gets mixed up. People sleep in, go get breakfast somewhere else or go on a small trip. So instead of the normal breakfast at 10.15 like during the week, Mama now just prepares something and puts it out for you to serve yourself. Normally it's just sitting out there in the kitchen somewhere and you have to get it yourself but yesterday I walked out to get breakfast and found a little fancy buffet. Seems like Sitmonchai is upgrading! It was still the average meal witch chicken, baked eggs and veggies but still. Good start of the day. A lazy day that is. The gym was really quiet (more than usual..). The boys went out to party the night before in Kanchanaburi so they weren't really around and there are not that many other people right now so I just spent most of my day studying my Thai and sleeping. Oh and I got a massage do try and fix my legs. Helped a bit but it's still shit. 

Now that we're in June the hot season changed into the rainy season. Which doesn't mean it's any less hot during the day. It only means that we have torrential downpour almost every afternoon. Tourists are bummed about it (rain doesn't give you a tan and if you go to Thailand you want/demand sun) but I'm actually pretty excited about it. The rain makes training in the afternoon just that much cooler and in the evening it cools off really nicely. I get to wear sweatpants almost every night and I sleep really well because of the rain (guess that's what living in Holland does to you). The Thai really don't like the rain though. If they have an appointment somewhere and it starts raining, they just don't go. It's an accepted excuse; 'oh it rained, no problem'. Wish we could say that in Holland! The Thai are also dead terrified of getting their hair wet. They don't care about getting wet, as long as the hair stays dry. I have no idea why that is but it's always fun to see them try to keep their head dry. Scroll down for some pictures!

Our fancy Sunday Morning Buffet

The rain is good for multiple things. It makes the temperature nice and cool, you get a free car wash and even a quick shower for the lazy ones. When it starts raining, immediatly, all the boys are summed to drive out the motorbikes to give them a good wash to make them nice and shiny again. And Ley (middle) and Jimme found these fancy hats somewhere around the gym. Very useful for keeping your head dry, as where Pan (right) just doesn't care and takes a shower. Deat is cleaning Pnae's motorbike, and yes, he has a plastig bag wrapped around his head. He was soaked when he was finished, but at least his hear was dry!

Kongfah made good use of the rain and even got the soap out for a big shower

Deat (right) and Jimme (left) cleaning Deat's motorbike

Moira wanted to try a hairstyle she saw online on my hair so I let her. Turned out pretty sweet! Even though we are living in a muay thai camp and turning into boys slowly, we are still girls! We still like to get pretty, wear make-up, paint our nails and do our hair every once in a while. It's not always easy being a girl in a muay thai camp where there's mainly guys but we're doing a pretty good job. And this hairdo looked really pretty. And my hair is getting so long. I actually like it like this, so no need for a haircut just yet..

No place like home

There comes a time in every journey that you wish the people you love the most would be right there with you. But then they're not. Feeling a little homesick today. Haven't really felt homesick since I went to Thailand but today, I don't know. Started my training again today for my fight on June 22th. As far as it looks for now I'll be fighting on Koh Samui. Back to Samui once again. So good to be able to fight there and see all my friends again. But training was pretty damn hard this morning. A lot of work has to be done. I hope I'll be ready in time. Need to keep my focus straight for the next two weeks.

For now, I just need to keep myself busy to help get my mind of things. My sewing skills come in handy once again, need to fix a pair of shorts for one of the trainers. No problemmmm! Take care!

Did a pretty good job if I may say so myself, without a sewing machine! One happy Thai got his shorts back.  Go me!

Nathon

Me, Maria, Camilla and Malin went shopping in Nathon yesterday. It's about a thirty minute motorbike drive from Chaweng so after training we hopped on our bikes and drove off. I recognized Nathon from when I was in Thailand with my parents and sister in 2009. It hasn't changed at all. I remembered everything. And everything was exactly the same. Even the shop where we had something to drink in 2009 was exactly the same. It was a really good day and we found some nice stuff for no money. It's low season right now and Nathon is really no place for tourists so it was also pretty relaxing to not be surrounded by too many falang for once. We have white skin and we are still falang but if you know a place as well as we do with Koh Samui you get tired of tourists that just come to the island for a short amount of time and just to party. It was good to go to a place without that many falang for once. Good day!

Vroeeeem here we go! Nathon bound.

It's nice to be on the back of a motorbike. You just get to sit and watch. The views on the way to Nathon are amazing. It's hard taking pictures while sitting on a motorbike going 60 km/h but take my word for it; the view was stunning. Made me appreciate my time in Asia even more than I already did.

Nathon

Dozens of small shops, all selling the same stuff. You see it everywhere. That's Thailand.

Taking a break from shopping and enjoying a nice watermelon shake. God I love watermelon so much.

To my sister: this is the shop where you bought your muay thai shorts four years ago..

To my mom/dad; recognize this place?! :D

Getting some new accesories for my Buddha chain

Day Eight

Three songs dedicated to three persons

Niggas in Paris - Jay-Z ft. Kanye West
Dedicated to Ingo, you got me started on this one!

Party Up In Here - DMX
Dedicated to all my Samui friends. Two words; Green Mango.

Pretty Girl Rock - Keri Hilson
Dedicated to my lovely sister. Pretty girls rock!

AMSTERDAM & UNIVERSITY

 This saturday me and my sister had to go to Amsterdam to visit an introduction day at the University of Amsterdam. Eventhough I love travelling, there is no escaping University. So next fall I will start studying. Only problem is that I don't have a clue yet what to study. For seven years I said I would go to Lawschool to become a kickass-lawyer but after getting back from Asia I lost all motivation for that study so I withdrew my application (jup, I already applied before I left to make sure I'd get in) and I had to start all over again thinking about what I would like to do with the rest of my life. This gave me headaches and I thought I'd never find something. Until I read about the study: Cultural and Social Antropology. Everything fell into place. I could still travel, mean something to a lot of people in the world and in general it's something that I just love to know more about. Reading stuff online is not everything so yesterday I got to take some classes and talk with some students that were already in their 3th or 4th year of this study. The study sounded just as good in real life as it did online so I guess I finally found something I want to do! It feels like a weight just dropped of my shoulders. My parents couldn't believe it at first when I told them I wanted to study 'Antropology' because this study always comes along as old-fashioned and boring. But it has changed so much compared to thirty years ago. Nowadays it's a really interesting study and I can't wait to start. Guess my plans to conquer the world are starting to get shape. Watch out. Oh and did I mention how much I love Amsterdam? I freaking love Amsterdam.

Back to school, it felt weird to be sitting in a classroom again and to have to listen to a teacher telling me things. This is going to be fun next year..

Temperatures were freezing yesterday and it rained almost all day but that didn't keep me and my sister from having a great day. Wednesday we get to go to Amsterdam again, sweet! 

Nothing finishes a cold and rainy day better than a cup of hot chocolate and some newly purchased books. 

I guess I finally found my study, my future got a little bit brighter yesterday. Exiting times are ahead. Brazil in January, Thailand by the end of March and University in September. Big decision-making in progress and I'm just happy things are falling into place bit by bit. Okay, thanks for reading and take care! More posts will come soon! :)

Early Bird

Got up early this morning to drive my sister to the train station because she had an introduction day at one of the possible universities she might be attending next year. The temperatures keep reminding me of the fact that winter is getting extremely close. I really don't like this time of the year. I like either a hot summer or a really cold winter with snow and ice. Not this wet-cold-inbetween stuff. Can't wait for the temperatures to finally drop below zero. 

It was also really foggy this morning. I love what fog does to the world, it makes it so mysterious. Feels like you are one of the only persons on this world, just because you can't see the rest. Call me crazy but that's how I feel haha. I can really enjoy getting up early some days. I don't like getting up tó early, but wake up just around 7.30am and go for a little stroll can do me so well. The little things in life I guess.

They See Me Rollin', They Hatin'

 If, for some reason, my career doesn't work out in my future life I can always consider becoming a cab-driver. This Tuesday I got to drive my entire family around. First off I had to drive my mom to the hospital for minor surgery, then had to take my dad to another city, drive home to pick up my sister to take her to yet another place, wait there for over an hour, drive myself and my sister back to the hospital to pick up my mom and last but not least training in the evening. I drove about 200km this day and for Holland, that's quite a big amount. I didn't mind though because I freaking love driving.

One thing that I really don't like when driving is getting stuck behind one of these on a small road with no option of taking over. We were stuck behind this truck for about 15 minutes. I guess that's what happends when you live in a bit of a farmer's country. We tried to make the best of it of course, cranked up the radio and let the good times rollll. Haha no just kidding. Well, we were 'rolling'.. Haha okay, enough. 

When we arrived to the hospital we had to bring a wheelchair to pick up my mom because she isn't allowed to walk for a couple of days. I work at the hospital as well so I know my ways. We tried to behave, as much as possible. But yeah, haha you probably already figured that thát is something that isn't going to work with me and my sister. She ended up driving me around like a crazy person and we had a blast. Don't know if the nurses were all that happy with us, but at least my mom could hear us coming from the other side of the building. All was good and well and I had a great day. So maybe yet another future career prospect, we'll see!