My First Weekend Getaway in Hua Hin!

The weekend started with 7 other teachers and myself getting into a van that was rented for the weekend. I thought Dao was coming with us, that was initially why I said yes because I knew she could speak English. Dao was no where in sight. As the van began to drive away from the school I was having thoughts of regret because none of the teachers could speak much English. The teachers were all having the best time, telling jokes (I think..), laughing, and taking pictures with each other and so many selfies. Occasionally one would yell teacher take a picture with me and they would all laugh. I felt like such an outsider, but I was determined to make the most of the weekend and try to connect with the teachers that I will be seeing 5 days a week for the rest of the year. Before we left they told us the drive should take around 3 hours. In Thailand when you are told 3 hours, you should expect 5 or more hours to get there. After the first hour we stopped at a 7-Eleven. 7-Eleven's are the Tim Hortons of Thailand, they are everywhere! I didn't know what we were stopping for, so I got out with everyone else. They grabbed breakfast.. I think. Most just grabbed a package of deli meatish type things... again I don't know. They kept telling me to grab something, but I had already eaten and it was still only 8:30 am. Then next we stopped at a Temple. Thank goodness I was wearing longer pants and a t-shirt because it is disrespectful to enter a temple if your knees or shoulders are showing. It was beautiful and I sat and observed them. One hour later we stopped again. Washroom break! Which was nice because I had to go so bad, but didn't know the procedures of washroom breaks on a road trip lol. Then 30 minutes we stopped again. I never knew when we were stopping, why we were stopping I always just got out and observed what everyone else was doing. This stop was for lunch and we went to a hole in the wall type restaurant. The menu was on the wall in big lettering in Thai. One of the Thai teachers, in broken English asked if I was hungry and at this point I was starving, so I said yes. I think she then asked me in Thai what I wanted. I said whatever your having is fine. I don't think anyone knew what I said. She then asked pork or beef. I shrugged and said pork. When the lady came to take our order she spoke some more English and asked pork or beef and then asked spicy or not (which is nice because I can handle spice... but the food here is SPICY!) I asked for a little spice. Not to sure what I just ordered, but hoped for the best. When it came out it was soup with noodles and pork. They have spoons and chop sticks on the table. The spoon is okay for the broth but it can't pick up the long skinny noodles and everyone else is using the chopsticks, so again I follow what everyone is doing. Now I thought my chopstick skills were good, I mean I can handle sushi with chopsticks like a pro... not so much with thin noodles. I couldn't do it and quickly became embarrassed. They noticed and try to help me, but I still couldn't get the hang of it. Finally, they yelled to the lady that took our order and she came over with a fork. I guess they keep a hidden supply of them for white people :) Then back on the bus we went. I instantly took some Imodium just incase, because I didn't know the next time we would have a bathroom break and I didn't want any problems. We drove for another 2 hours and kept taking U-turns and going up and down streets, I assumed we were lost. We stopped again and it looked like a bathroom break but everyone was grabbing their bags. Om told me swimming, so I assumed everyone was putting on their bathing suits and we were going to the beach. I grabbed my bathing suit (a bikini) and Om started saying, "no no no no". She then said, "Fine" as she touched my leggings and shirt I was wearing and motioned for me to get back in the van, so I did. Everyone got back in and it looked like they had just changed out of their jeans into shorts, so I thought maybe they were just getting hot. Well we did arrive at a beach and I was a little confused, but as we walked down the beach everyone was covered up. Shorts or pants were worn by everyone and t-shirts. I was the most scandalous in my tank top. Then some of the girls went running into the water. The water was so warm and everyone was splashing around. It was a lot of fun. Then like typical girls we took jumping pics in the water. It was the perfect afternoon. Not all beaches are like the one we visited, but it seemed to be in a protected area, so maybe it was in an area of significance, but the signs were in Thai and I did not know exactly the name of the beach we were on. Then we finally went to our pool villa. It was a cute little resort with a bigger pool in the main area, then each villa had its own small pool. It looked like a place that people rent out for a couple months at a time, because it came with a kitchen and BBQ, cooking supplies and such. There were only two rooms and two beds for the 8 of us. They shuffled me into a room with the two younger teachers who are also 23. We all went swimming in our little pool, showered and then went to the market. This market was huge and they bought way too much food to cook when we got back but I was excited to try it all! A lot of seafood which excited me, but if I didn't like seafood, then I would have been in trouble. They also stopped and got beer and whiskey for the night. This was the only time they had asked me for money during the whole trip. I gave them the equivalent of $10 in baht and they came back with two 26ers of whiskey and a whole bunch of beer. When we got back they started to cook and made some drinks. They drink their whiskey with a splash of coke and the rest soda water. It was really good. The beer Leo tasted like the standard Bud. We ate our fest on the floor crossed legged. My butt was numb and my ankles felt bruised, but this is how they sat all night. I couldn't believe how fast and much they drank! I was taking it easy because I wanted to be okay for the van ride home, but even if my drink got half way done and I put it down they would be topping it up. So I started holding on to my drink. We got into the music and the other 23 year old teacher got wasted and was singing Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber with me.  It was so much fun! She then got to drunk and the others put her to bed because she was falling over and started to cry. I thought it would be a good time to sleep too. I went up to the roof and they were all howling at the moon lol (it was Halloween and they were being werewolves from what I took from the conversation. I snuck down around 2 am to sleep. At 5 am I woken up to go swimming. I don't think the 5  of them went to bed or stopped drinking. And they continued to drink until 11 am when we had to get back on the van. They finished all the beer and both bottles of whiskey. I was impressed. The drive home was the same as the drive there. Took forever and the traffic was horrible so I took some gravel to help me sleep. We had to stop for more bathroom breaks for the few that were probably still drunk. We then stopped at at this place that seemed to be a heritage village that showed Thailand through the ages. It was cute with little shops and we ate lunch here. There was old telephones and liquor bottles. We walked around for a bit then continued our ride home. I don't think I have ever spent a weekend in so much silence, because I would just listen to their conversations that I didn't understand but laughed along. Even with the language barrier we sang, danced, drank, and ate amazing food. We were a bunch of girls away for the weekend who just wanted to have fun. And we did. They made me feel so welcomed and incorporated me in everything, even if I had no idea what was going on. They made me feel like family.