Sparring, Festivals, and Crazy Swedes…

So, last Friday I went to the hospital to follow up on my staff infection.  The doctor gave me the OK to go back to training, so I was really stoked!   I am wearing a rashgaurd for about a week, just to be respectful of the other guys at camp. 

Since then, I have been training very hard, trying to get my flexibility and conditioning back to wear it was before my infection.  I have been sparring a lot and that seems to be helping drastically, especially with my striking.  The only problem is that there are many small injuries that you acquire, lots of soreness.  You constantly stub your toes or crack knees with people or take awkward kicks and punches, but it really helps a lot. 

Last week all of Phuket had a huge religious festival.  It was cool because the tradition is to get this little thing made from flowers, incense, candles and palm leaves and release it down a river or into the ocean.

This symbolizes releasing all your bad luck and misfortune and preparing for good things for the next year.  Two of my friends and I released ours at the temple in Phuket.  It felt really good because I feel like I have had some pretty bad luck for the past couple years (I’m definitely not saying good things haven’t happened to me).

I partied on saturday night with some guys from camp and some Swedes we met.  The Swedes were complete comedy, they reminded me of the guys from jackass. 

They loved to sing funny drinking songs and make classic faces.  We met another Swede named Amanda on our way to 7/11, she was also really cool. 

I found a new beach called Kata Noi.  It is much smaller then the other beaches I have seen and it actually has some waves.  I rented a bodyboard for 2 hours and had a blast, my nipples were raw though cause the thing was fiberglass and was covered in sandy wax.

On Friday, I was pulling money out of the ATM with my buddies and I left my card in the machine.  It was a total shocker when I realized I didn’t have it on Sunday!  I thought I had been robbed, but I couldn’t understand why they hadn’t taken my cash.  I thought about it and realized that I might of left it in the ATM. I was stressing so hard until I saw that my account hadn’t been used.  I went to the bank and let them know, but they couldn’t open the ATM until Monday.  Monday finally came and I went an got my card from the bank.  It worked out so well because I wouldn’t of been able to pull out cash for the rest of my trip.  It could’ve been the worst space case mistake ever, I consider myself very lucky. 

I can’t believe I only have 11 more days at camp.  It makes me want to train 3 times as hard, I need to learn the most I can.  I am really excited to have a burrito when I get home.  I am definitely looking forward to Chiang Mai and the north of Thailand in about 2 weeks!