woo-hooo!!! Check out the link to the Marriott Hotel Tom & I are staying at in Bangkok. We plan on spending the rest of the trip in $8 a night bungalows, etc... but Tom has racked up mega points with Marriott through business travel, so we're crashing at the Marriott when we first arrive... for free!

Today a strange man with a knife wandered into our school. It was ok, because he was actually one of the P.E. teachers (who IS actually a bit strange). We had a "stranger in the building" drill which then turned into a "dangerous stranger in the building" drill once the teachers "realized" that he had a knife. It was interesting, and apparently scared a couple of the students a little- even though we all knew about it in advance. As good a thing to practice here as anywhere, since Japan has suffered a handful of attacks on schools in recent years (most by outsiders, not students as in the States). We all safely exited the building from various exits and assembled on the ground outside (I would say field... except there's nothing but dirt). Then everyone was counted and after the pseudo-drill was finished a police officer from a neighboring town talked to the students about the drill and different situations. Everyone was very well behaved- there was no laughing, not even any talking as we exited the building... I was impressed, as usual.

This week the nights have been quite cold, so last night I even set up my kotatsu (you have to scroll down for the picture), a cool table that doesn't exist at home, but should! The top of the table isn't connected to the legs, so you can put a blanket underneath it. Then, the table plugs into a wall and has a heater underneath. When you turn it on, the heater heats (obviously) and everyone can sit with their legs underneath and be at least half warm. I've never seen a kotatsu that wasn't a low style Japanese table... so when you're imagining this, you have to imagine everyone sitting on the floor. Anyhow, I started increasing my daily intentional Japanese studies, so turning the kotatsu on was critical in order to keep focused. ;) Only a month until my test and I doubt I will study much in Thailand...