good news!

looks like i haven't updated since before we went to the farm.
well, the cooking classes were fantastic, fun, and absolutely scenic. they inspired sean and i to consider doing something similar in uganda. but, considering how bland the local foods are, we thought we could gather cooking knowledge from around the world, and do a sort of international cooking class. all veggies and herbs grown organic on the property.

neat thing, these guys used tobacco plants as pesticide... dried the leaves, soaked them for an hour, and sprayed the water on all the plants. the bugs don't like the bitter taste, and they leave the stuff alone. cool, huhn?

anyways, we got back into town at around 4:30 and checked into our hotel - lucy had two other guests coming and taking the spare room.
then: the night bazaar. we found shittons of ridiculously cool stuff. daytime markets and nighttime tourist market alike, this country has amazingly beautiful stuff kicking around. from furniture to spices, doodads to jewelery, stuffed animals to weapons... anything you could possibly need. so we found stuff to decorate our house with - really fucking neat stuff at that! and a few things for the fam. sean and i have been trying to find beads for aunti-jo for a LONG time, and didn't find anything interesting until now. and we didn't just find something, we found tons of beautiful beads. i know she's probably not reading this, but i'm really enjoying the keychain bead thing she gave me for christmas.

okay, i'm rambling,,,
long story short, sean and i are now on Koh Chang, a sprawling island in the Gulf of Thailand, after having spent twenty hours in some form of transport - bus to another bus, then shared taxi, ferry, then another shared taxi, and then 15 minutes of walking. well, we're on the island now, we scored the last room in one of the few places around that aren't entirely booked - it's high HIGH tourist season right now, and the place is scenic beyond description.
all i can say is wooden cottages and shared area, open to the sun and moon, on stilts on the shore.

we just got back from checking out the market, and walked quickly to get back here for sunset. we caught it, just in the nik of time.
and this is the time that sean chose, perfectly at that, to propose. sweetheart that he is :)
there couldn't have been a more ideal time. and that makes me the happiest.

january first, 2010, sean and i have simple stainless steel bands on our fingers, we've just watched the sun set over a beach, and we've got a few days of lounging around in this tropical paradise ahead of us. i don't think either of us could be happier