Club Leswane

Well hospital visit #4 on Monday went a little better than the last few.  I'm feeling a lot better but the fluid in my ears won't go away so I'm still on meds and the doctor now has me going local pharmacies to save money because I think she feels bad for me because I've spent a lot of money on visits and meds.  She prescribed a new one which I went to get yesterday and I went to four pharmacies trying to find it and no one had it.  Finally at pharmacy #4, the pharmacist spoke very good English said that as of December, it is banned in local pharmacies because the chemical make-up is too similar to ecstasy and when made incorrectly, can actually be ecstacy so it has to come directly from a doctor.  That's literally the first time since I've been here that I've heard about a law being enforced but I am very glad that it is.  But after looking it up, it seems as though she meant crystal meth instead of ecstacy but either way, I won't be taking that drug.  I am very surprised I haven't had a horrible allergic reaction or died already from all the different meds I've been taking.  I'm still on a no flying order so my ear drums don't burst, which stinks bc I have ten days off starting Friday and can't get off the island like I realllyyyy wanted to...


School - Got a new girl in class named Shia and another one coming in January.  We have our Christmas party on Friday so I'll be sure to post pictures from that.  It is actually incredible how ridiculously decorated the school is.  I laugh every day I walk in the front door because more and more pink and blue garland seems to appear overnight and today the jungle gyms had fake snow taped all over them.  I think I'm the only person in the whole school that has ever seen snow and everyone, including the teachers from Australia and South Africa, think it's so cool that I live somewhere where it snows and they can't wrap their head around it.


On another note, I finally am well enough to join a gym!  One of my fellow teachers took my yesterday and I joined for $32 a month and then decided I was too tired so I didn't even attempt to put on my sneakers and went home.  I haven't done one bit of exercise since my Boston Sports Club membership in Providence expired two months ago and I feel gross.  How I haven't gained more weight than I have, I have no idea.  I spend my days eating thai food and my kid's snacks and have a bag of M&M's every night after dinner because chocolate is a staple in my life.  Not the healthiest lifestyle I've got going on.  However, I did eat pad thai twice today so even though I was exhausted, I made myself go to the gym aka 'Club Leswane' on the way home from school. 

Now you probably hear "gym" and think of exercise classes, lots of machines, weights, mirrors, stretching mats, personal trainers, etc.  Not exactly how gyms work over here.  First of all, I have been searching for one since I got here and the closest one I could find is 25 minutes away from home and 45 minutes from school so I never would have gone - gyms are very few and very far between.  Then one of the teachers told me she went to one that is part of a hotel, could get me a discount and that it's the only gym around and not joking, I walked in and saw two people I know (the guys we rent our motorbikes from).  Seeing that I know about five people in Phuket other than the three I came with, that was kind of funny.  You definitely have to know about this place because it's literally down a dirt road, past a chicken farm and I never would have found it on my own.  It's kind of on my way home from school so I am going to try to make myself go a couple times a week.  There are two treadmills, two sit up bikes and two eliptical like things that are called "Natural Runners" and a lot of weights and some weight machines cramed in a tiny room.  Funny thing is that everything is Kilograms and Kilometers so I'm going to have to work on my conversions a bit and I laughed to myself when I realized that America is so not with the rest of the world on measurements.  But it is seems clean, the machines work and there are two yoga balls and a sauna and steam room that apparently get turned on once in a while that I can use if I want.  Another good thing is that with my gym membership, I get to swim in the pool at the resort and lounge on the chairs if I'm really lazy and don't feel like working out.

Basically, Club Leswane has everything a gym should have - air conditioning, (tiny) lockers, a shower, free drinking water, towels and exercise equipment - just in a very small space but I'm okay with that because being there today made me feel like there's something actually normal in my life here.  And the I drove home and had to stop for three stray cows to cross the road and remembered where I really am.  .