Sunday, January 31, 2010

three weeks in

alrighty so here are the updates on my life in thailand...

the weeks are pretty busy hence the silence on my end lately. im getting used to teaching and have been having some really great days. there are also some not great days but im getting the hang of things as far as the teaching goes. there is a lot of paperwork involved as far as lesson plans and student evaluations go. i have been trying to get plans done for two weeks in advance but so far am just struggling to get a weeks worth done. may pen rai, (whatever, no worries in Thai) it gets done eventually.

ok enough with this work business.

last weekend (hilarys last weekend here) we went to a beach that is about an hour away. it is absolutely gorgeous, not touristy in the least, and completely chill. apparently the teachers go often so im looking forward to that. we swam in the crystal clear water, ate delicious food, and

r-e-l-a-x-e-d! as crazy as the weeks feel here the weekends are that much more wonderful. i dont have pictures of that beach yet due to the small detail of leaving my memory chip in my computer for the weekend. not to worry, there will be some eventually.

hilary left on monday, it was extremely sad. the realization of living in thailand for a year really hit home for the first time.i felt like this whole time i would be going home with her but when she left i was like oh woah, this is it, this is real! all of the other teachers miss her dearly (and hil, palmmy tells me everyday how much she misses you!)

so the week teaching without hil was sad and busy, but i survived!

this weekend was a bit more crazy. i went to a full moon party with some of the english teachers on an island thats about 5 hours away. so the weekend was pretty comical, we kept saying that it was something out of a movie. so we needed to catch a bus at 2:30 saturday afternoon, take the hour long bus ride to the ferry and take the 4ish hour ferry ride to the island. we go to the bus station at 2:25 only to find out that we werent actually at the right bus station, we walk quickly down the street asking people where to go and everyone is telling us to go further down. so we start running once we realize that were probably going to miss the bus, but we cant find it. we keep asking all of these people and they are all looking completely confused until a nice thai man about our age tells us to follow him, that hes going to the bus too. phew, fiasco diverted. we climb on the bus, which looks completey new and modern from the outside (similar to a greyhound), but the inside has these turquiouse lace curtains, marroonish red velvet seats and zero air conditioning. we take the last seats available and three other people climb on for standing room only. so the bus is packed to the brim, hot and stuffy, and wewere already dripping sweat from running up and down the street. i wanted to take a picture because i thought it was comical but thought second and resisited the urge. after we get to the bus ride we welcomed the sight of the huge ferry and greenish blue water. we sat on the roof of the ferry, drank beer, made friends with a french girl named morgan, relaxed, and watched a beautiful sunset. then it started raining. we rushed inside and tried to stay optimistic, hoping the rain would pass. it was a bit rocky, the lights kept flickering, like a scary movie of some sorts. we finally get to the island of Koh Phangan, dock, and we rush to exit but no one is actually getting off the boat. we go to 3 other exits and nothing. finally we see people getting off but they are climbing over the railing to do so. we had to climb over the railing and climb down this small sketchy ladder, it looked like we were smuggling people onto the island. we grab a tuk-tuk to the beach where the full moon party is taking place and as we drive through the town all of the lights are out and there are candles lighting the shops and restuarants. we realize that the power went out and therefore the ferry couldnt open the huge door to let everyone out. it all makes sense now. the town looked beautiful only lit up by candlelight and again i kept saying "omg im in thailand, this is beautiful, im so excitied", i wonder if it will ever get old?

the rain clears,we walk through the streets and see the most white people that ive ever seen in thailand. it was a little weird actually. we find the rest of the teachers that we were meeting they show us our room (by flashlight) and we grab dinner. i had a veggie burger with a huge bun, both of which i have not had yet in thailand but because its so touristy on the island, i could indulge. dinner was relatively normal except for a gentleman who was passed out at my feet and a whole group of guys watching an adam sandler movie like it was the most fascinating thing in the world (mouths open wide and all). after dinner we went down to the beach and got busy dancing! there were so many people on the beach and all of the barswere blasting music, there were fire jugglers and chaos everywhere. no actual pictures of the night due to the fear of losing my camera. but we danced all night and before we knew it the sun was coming up! we watched the sun come up, played in the sea and danced some more.a good time was had by all!

nikki and i made our way back to surat early, trying to get a head start on the long trip home, but we both felt equally ill. we somehow sat in the VIP section of the ferry that had reclining seats and air con...dont think we were supposed to but no one said anything to us andwe enjoyed ourselves. lnow were back in surat, home sweet home, where we can re-coop before the crazy week starts back up!

sorry so long and will hopefully write sooner next time!


the ferry ride views







woah look out rotated picture!



sunset

full moon party after the sunrise

typical.

Friday, January 22, 2010

woah two posts in two days, look out

the view from my bed

my sheets, love them!

some of my high school students



dont let their angelic faces fool you, they are crazy :)

thai english is beautiful

claire, myself, jon, and brandon at GM

claire and hils going away dinner, brain tumor??

are these shrimp??

the mathus crew

nikki and some of the kindy teachers

Anita and Anaz, beautiful

this little guy has been showing up at the kindy recently

my balcony


our steet


hil and i after our 3 tier market shopping experience


some pictures for your enjoyment...words later

my first purchase in thailand... colored pencils and a notebook
as well as some money which is called baht
 
the bungalows at the dam

Nam and Faa

some of the thai girls that work at mathus


bungalows

my first day of school. on my way. in a tuk tuk.
with hilary
the outside of the kindy
the hallway at the kindy

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

my first week

well a week ago i was in snow and now im wearing a skirt and a tank top and sweating. ive gotten used to the weather for the most part but my hands still wont stop sweating. i feel like a nervous 6th grader! i have to say that i love thailand as much as i thought i would, at least thus far. it has only been a week but i have kept myself busy for sure. getting settled into the big house where i will live for the next year, eating many new dishes at the best places in town to eat vegetarian fare, meeting the teachers, and (most exciting as of yet) staying in floating bungalows in the rainforest!

i finally arrived on thursday, met most of the teachers and got settled in. friday was spent awake only 5 hours,
sleeping the rest. saturday i awoke refreshed and we (the teachers and thai staff) left for the Rajjaprabha Dam.  It is situated in a national park in the middle of the rainforest. It was a two hour drive, then an hour long boat ride to the bungalows. This place is amazing, I kept reminding myself that in fact this was my real life, not a dream! The mountains were huge, the sky huge, and water huge! The most amazing shades of blue and green I have ever seen. The bungalows were a row of twenty one room huts made of bamboo and palm leaves with two mattresses in each. you could see the water through the slits of the wood in the flooring. the bathrooms were a quick walk along the wooden walk-way to the closest piece of land. we ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the main patio part with the rest of the campers. it was a weekend of swimming, kayaking, exploring, and fun!













more to come once i figure out how to rotate pictures!

On my way...

hi everyone!

im on my layover in seoul right now killing some time, waiting for kyle to visit so we can go adventure in korea!

next stop is bangkok, thailand where i will spend the night, then off to surat thani where ill be living for the next year, sooo crazy to say that!

my first flight was the longest of the three, 14 hours, but surprisingly comfortable. I sat next to a young asian man who didnt say one thing to me and i slept for the most of the ride. i got two meals which came on these super cute red and white trays and all of the food was in these little square bowls. i drank coffee out of the cutest little red mug. after i woke up, i watched butch kassidy and the sundance kid one of my faves!

i feel like I have been saying goodbye to everyone for the past month so when it came down to actually saying bye to people for the last time, it was so surreal. we all will just have to be dilligent and keep each other posted...looks like im doing pretty good so far :) ha.
i will post pictures to document soon, i promise!

love you all!
-----------------------------------------------

part deux...

i met up with kyle, we took the subway into part of the city and i saw the sights...


seoul, south korea
more seoul
kyle eating his favorite snack
stopped for a quick bite

we had nice afternoon and a good deal of culture shock set in as we walked around, dont worry though- I loved it!  we said our goodbyes back at the airport and i made my way to bangkok.  the flight seemed abnormally longer than the 6 hours but i sat next to a very attractive man who claimed he was a hungarian model.  thanks to my family instilling a great deal of fear in me about all sorts of strangers, i did not believe a word he said but casually chatted him up about living in bangkok.  when we finally arrived at the airport, i made my way to customs and the warm stuffy air hit me while i stood in line waiting to get my passport stamped.  i got a ride to the hotel and finally slept in a bed! miraculous!

i am on my way to suratthani, the town I will be living in for the next year! i can hardly believe its finally here!