Everything happens for a reason

Greetings from Khao Lak! It's been a hot and sunny 2 days in paradise. We were supposed to start our project yesterday, but Steve had fallen ill so we headed to the beach! We did a long walk, discovered many fun beach bars and massage huts and got some good color slash Lauren is living off of aloe since she got a nice sunburn from Trish doing a poor job putting sunscreen on her back. Thanks Trish! But the beach was heaven regardless! Our lunch consisted of ice cold Chang beers and nuts at the Freedom Bar (actually spelled "Freeom" on the sign) and ice cream, delish! Last night we discovered that Steve is actually quite ill and is shutting down Fun 4 Kids for the month of February. Lucky for us, the volunteer network is so close knit in KL that we were able to hook up with Volunteer Teacher Thailand and will be teaching in schools and orphanages for the next 3 weeks, we couldn't be happier! The kids are beyond joyous and the other volunteers are so lovely and fun to work with. This situation is turning out to be better than we had hoped, clearly everything happens for a reason!

Life in KL is beyond laid back and lovely. It is a quirky and quaint town with a nice slow pace. All of the locals couldn't be friendlier, our favorite so far is Lin the barman at Everyday Bar who makes us special shakes and understands that we split EVERYTHING so it all comes with 2 forks and 2 straws. Our diet is consisting of fruit shakes, banana pancakes, Chang beer and thai food (we'll order any dish under $3 and have gotten to try many new yummy foods!). Luckily, Lauren's iron stomach is holding strong and Trish has faired much better than she thought she would. Lauren is starting her dive certification class tomorrow and if all goes well, we will head to the Similan Islands this weekend for some world-class diving! We will update you on that next week. Can't wait to share many fun stories from the classroom, we are sure there will be many, these kids are clowns! More photos to come soon if the hex that has been placed on Lauren's camera connecting to the computer is lifted. We have some gems to share! Trish thinks it's all in Lauren's head, but we all know that technology and Lauren don't really mix. Fingers crossed it works out!

Hope all is well with all of you and that you are enjoying reading the blog as much as we enjoy writing it.

Time for cards and a small beer which we share, obviously.

xoxo
T & L