Bonfire Day

Yesterday was Bonfire Day for the UK. It’s when a Scottish (or Irish- I always get the 2 confused) man by the name of Guy Fox tried to bomb the British houses of parliament. He was caught before he was able to commit this crime and he was burned on a steak as a result. The English here have told me they celebrate this day with huge bonfires and fireworks all over.

Celebrating Bonfire Day at Khao Lak beach

TVCers celebrated here by having a bonfire on the beach last night along with a scarecrow replica of Guy Fox, which was later tossed onto the bonfire. Matt, a guy from Alaska, brought little candles to stick in the sand, which created beautiful circles of people forming one huge circle around the bonfire- very “hugge” (Danish term for a warm, relaxed, comfortable kind of atmosphere). We had 3 guitars and several guitarists/singers, which of course made my night. The music was amazingly unifying, especially when all 3 guitars were strumming the same songs (Wonderwall and Imagine ) and everyone was singing along. The Monty Python acts put on by the Brits were hilarious. A few people said that last night was the image they had pictured of being in Thailand before they arrived.

I am feeling much better, good enough to play soccer today!


An Old Friend

Soccer was fun. We had a few new players, Swedish Chris (so named because there are about 5 Chrises in town at the moment) split his big toe open, and I have plenty of bruises from being tripped by Eddy, a very good English player.

Playing soccer in Ban Niang

We all met at the Marlin Bar before 11p to play a fun Irish card game called S*!% Head and to watch the Manchester Untied v. Chelsea game. It was a great game. Man U won 1-0 with a beautiful goal with a cross over from Ronaldo and a perfect header from a difficult angle that went right over the goalie and a Chelsea defender.

Here’s a crazy random story…Two people from Mercy Foundation gave Jess and I a lift into Khao Lak for dinner earlier. We started the usual conversation…What volunteer work are you doing? Where are you from? Etc…Well, I didn’t see the guy in the passenger’s seat, but the driver said he was from California too. I asked what part and when he said Fresno and turned around, I was so surprised to see Seth Reid, a guy I haven’t seen for about 8 years. He used to go to Mt. Hermon family camp every summer the same week I went with my family. How random is that?!