Preparation and my 1st day of school! :)

Yesterday I had to buzz around and get things in order for my first day of school. My friends Raphael(France) and Oliver(Montreal, Quebec) escorted me around town. We had a blast trying to find a bike rental shop, passport photo store, and a money exchange. Luckily we found a cheap bike rental shop(30 Baht/$1 a day rental) first. We had fun exploring the city for hours by bicycle. The three of us nourished our tired bodies with a delicious lunch. Then we found a passport photo store, so I could get 9 photos taken. The majority of those photos were for my school, because they needed to attach them to my applications and turn them into immigration, but the rest of the photos are for the next stops on my agenda: Laos, Cambodia, and the Malaysian Borneo. I found a money exchange, so I could pay for my Thai Massage School in full: $7,000 Baht/$222 dollars.

After all my errands were completed, Raphael wanted to take us somewhere special: Wat Umong!
We biked the new unexplored section of Chiang Mai and up a gentle mountain in through the trees, and when we were almost at our destination Raphael's bike chain snapped! Luckily we were there, and we could figure out what to do later. We entered this dense enchanted forest, and on several hundred trees along a path were lovely Buddhist quotes that we enjoyed reading to one another as we giggled up to the wat(temple). The sight of this temple is unlike anything I have ever seen: The wat was in a mountain, and the entrances were a series of tunnels. AWESOME! We walked through these dark long tunnels illuminated by cracks of light through the top of the mountain. This wat was 600 years old! Down some of the corridors were Buddha statues with offerings from the monks and visitors. This place felt so sacred, and we couldn't stop smiling and conversing in excited whispers. None of us wanted to be disrespectful and speak above a whisper, even though there was no one else there...so we thought. One of the tunnels led us into an opening with a giant gold Buddha. A man was re-touching the gold paint, and his son was standing there patiently. As we tip-toed closer the boy welcomed us in perfect English, and told us about the wat. The wat used to be painted bright orange and gold with hand painted Thai and Burmese flowers along the inside of the tunnels, and use to be illuminated with candles in the indentations in the walls. Wow! I can imagine how beautiful that must have looked.
When we left a tuk tuk was parked under a tree, and offered to take Raphael and his broken bike to be returned at the shop. Oliver and I biked back to the Green Tulip, and waited for him. It started to rain on us, but we had the best time! :)
We all arrived at the guest house at once, and then we made our way to the famous Sunday market for some shopping and exploration. I ran into Claudios(the Swiss guy from Koh Tao). He pouted and then disappeared because I wasn't giving him enough attention. Good riddance. Oliver[:)], Raphael, and I got soaked walking through the rain, looking at books, shopping for fisherman pants, and buying beer to celebrate my first day of school and Raphael's last night in Chiang Mai.
Our night that preceded was lovely: Full of deep conversation and revelations.

School started today!!!
I woke up, did a little yoga, went down for a healthy breakfast, and ran into a nice older Swiss woman named Anne, who was also doing the course, so we biked to the Old Medicine hospital together.
Today's schedule began with 2 hrs. of lecture on massage and sen lines, followed by the rest of the day massaging. 9a.m.-4p.m. everyday until April 16th or so. Today we focused on feet, ankles, and legs only.
This is a very precise, knowledgeable, and ancient school. I feel as though I am receiving a wonderful education. :) What's also a compliment to my studies here is the prior experience I gained from The Lotus Palm School in Montreal. There I took a Prenatal Thai yoga massage workshop.
-I'm so pleased to be receiving massages everyday, and working on my skills with the supervision of such fantastic teachers.