tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-311078162024-03-08T13:11:08.387-08:00Living in ThailandUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-69814663474491470932008-03-21T12:46:00.000-07:002008-03-21T13:06:21.960-07:00As you may have deduced, I am no longer living in Thailand. You may have come to the conclusion that I was kidnapped, lost in the jungle, or ended up in a Thai jail after a Brokedown Palace moment, but I assure you it was nothing that scandalous, glamorous, or exciting. I just simply came back to California. I spent a little more than a year in Thailand and I don't think I even had the opportunity to scratch the surface of my experiences there on this blog ,mainly because there was very little access to convenient, fast, and *quiet* internet. Luckily, I had my handy dandy camera to document many of my adventures and now that I have an internet connection that is faster than 8k I will upload them here for your viewing pleasure.<br /><br />The trip was overall a good experience. I got to see and do a lot of things that I never thought I would have the opportunity to do. Life was relatively uncomplicated and simple unlike life in the U.S. I'm not going to lie and say that it wasn't a challenge. Food, communication barriers, and home sickness did pose some problems but it was a learning experience that I would never give back. I learned some Thai, made some friends, and saw lots of really cool and interesting things. Here is just a small sampling of my time in Thailand. Enjoy!<br /><br /><div style="width: 480px; text-align: center;"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://w6.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/2bc1e0fd.pbw" height="360" width="480"></embed><a href="http://i6.photobucket.com/redirect/album?action=slideshow&landing=/slideshows&type=3" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/slideshows/btn.gif" style="border-width: 0pt; float: left;" /></a><a href="http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/?action=view&current=2bc1e0fd.pbw" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/slideshows/btn_viewallimages.gif" style="border-width: 0pt; float: left;" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-84086714432816668552007-07-18T21:40:00.000-07:002007-07-18T22:02:36.332-07:00<div align="left"><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#009900;">Buddhist Bling</span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;"></span></strong> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;"><a href="http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,4471,0,0,1,0">http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,4471,0,0,1,0</a></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;">This is an interesting article about the current trend of wearing Buddhist amulets. I got a kick out of it because I see them everywhere and they seem to be getting bigger and bigger. Sometimes they look so big you're convinced that they are wannabe Buddhist rappers. They are worn to provide luck and protection; I've read stories of people being magically unscathed by a gun shot because their amulet protected them. </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;">After reading this article I started realizing that Thai people (some, not all of course) are really superstitious. For example, just yesterday one of the students was cleaning the windows standing on the cabinets and fell out of the window. Our classes are on the fourth floor but luckily there was a ledge that she fell onto. Regardless, it was a very dangerous thing to do but Thais in general don't have the same ideas about child safety that we do in the States. There are some negatives and some positives for this. The positive side is that when a kid falls down they will pick themselves up without missing a beat. No crying. No whining. They just walk off the pain. I've seen some pretty gnarly falls as they run down the halls. But on the other hand, they put themselves at risk for much more serious injury, i.e. falling out of windows on the fourth floor. </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;">Later that day I heard that another child in the school broke his arm. Coincidence? Oh I think not. :) I then heard stories that the lady who cleans that school in the morning reported hearing voices of children playing at 5:30 a.m. Now, everyone is convinced that our school is haunted and they are going to have a monk come to the school to check it out (who cares if its a Catholic school?). </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#009900;">Let's just hope that the ghosts don't try to throw me out of windows before I leave Thailand.</span> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-76688155735674705592007-07-15T19:15:00.000-07:002007-07-15T19:45:03.827-07:00Happy Monday Everyone! I had quite a productive weekend. I finally got myself to a Thai Boxing match and I'm so glad that I did. Let's start from the beginning.<br /><br />As I think I've mentioned before, one of the things that had been stopping me from going to a boxing match was the price. If you are Thai it's not that expensive, only about 200 baht or $7 dollars. If you are a foreigner on the other hand the price goes all the way up to 1,500 baht or about $40. We were thinking since we live and work (and pay taxes) in Thailand we might be able to get in for the Thai price if we could appeal to the mercy of the ticket agents. Of course, I don't know what I was thinking. They just kind of laughed at us and the thought that we might ever be considered Thai so I sucked it up and paid the price for being a foreigner.<br /><br />The tickets we bought were for the second class seating as opposed to the ringside seating. There were a few reasons for this. A) It was cheaper by 100 baht which is not really much of a reason B) I had watched Thai boxing on TV and had seen how in between the matches they point the camera on the people (mostly foreigners) sitting in the front row which would make me terribly uncomfortable. C) I wanted to be in the back to see all the action of the match, including the gambling and antics of the local Thais. D) I didn't want to be sprayed by sweat and/or blood if the fight got too heated.<br /><br />All this said, I had no idea what we were in store for when we got to the second class seating. I was dismayed looking at the rickety old bleachers that had the lovely stench of piss and you know what and which looked as if they might collapse at any moment sending you into a pile of vermin. I momentarily regretted my decision but we sucked it up and found a seat where we could lean against the fencing. It probably wasn't too bad of a choice after all because we could get up and move around unlike those at the ringside and you had a more elevated view of the fight instead of having to look up and over someone else's head to see the fight.<br /><br />I was glad that I had watched the movie <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBeautiful-Boxer-Sorapong-Chatri%2Fdp%2FB0009WPMA2%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1184553678%26sr%3D8-1&tag=thedebtdefier-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Beautiful Boxer</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thedebtdefier-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> before going because I had a sense of the life that they fighters lead at their training camps and some of the history behind the sport. If you are interested in Thai boxing or Thai culture, I would definitely recommend the movie.<br /><br />Before the fighting begins the fighters go through some sort of ritualistic dance where they pray and pay respects to their coach and the other fighter. Interesting to watch the first couple of times but when you are watching 10 different matches it can get quite tedious to watch.<br /><br />The fight started with the youngest fighters, probably around 9 or 10 years old. My heart went out to those young boys who were kicking the crap out of each other. They were much feistier and less inhibited than the older fighters, making the fight more lively and exciting to watch but you really couldn't get over the guilt of watching children engage in this sort of activity. The older fighters weren't as quick to make a move, probably because they were more experienced and were planning their attacks more.<br /><br />The rules are that there are no rules (oh dear, that sounds so cliche now). Well, not as far as I could see. You could kick or hit anywhere but the preferred shots were knee kicks to the kidneys or a roundhouse kick to the face. Ouch! We could hear the smacks of the kicks all the way where we were (it's a fairly small stadium) and it didn't sound pleasant. The first match ended when the one boy fell to the floor and the other boy delivered a knee to the face resulting in a knock out. More than one fight ended with one fighter being carried away on a stretcher. It felt like watching a game of Street Fighter.<br /><br />I tried to take lots of picture but alas my camera is dying a slow and painful death and doesn't take great pictures anymore. I'll post some of the ones that I took as soon as I can manage the patience to uploading on my slow Internet connection.<br /><br />In the meantime, have a great week!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-51252452134989542952007-07-08T05:18:00.000-07:002007-07-08T05:48:26.597-07:00Oh the end of another weekend. Boo! I didn't manage to do any of the things that I wanted to do before I leave Thailand but I did manage to accomplish the following:<br /><br />1) Saw the new Transformers movie and was surprised that I was actually entertained for the first half. Bangkok has some awesome movie theaters; my favorite part is that you get to pick your seat when you buy your ticket so there is no rush to get into the theater so you get a good seat. We should really consider doing this in the States. But unfortunately, like in the States, there are about 20 minutes of previews and commercials...oh yeah and also a tribute to the King where everyone has to stand and watch pictures of his life while listening to same patriotic song. The annoying thing is that the commercials never change. They are still playing the same commercials that they were playing when I came to Thailand a year ago. And those were the same commercials that they were playing the year before that when my friend came. I don't know why we don't go later to the movie <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">cuz</span> we already have our seats. *Note to self. Go to theaters later.<br /><br />2) Went to the doctors. I love the doctors here. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Bumrungrad</span> Hospital is a great place for people watching too. It's like half mall/half hospital, fully equipped with a Starbucks and a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">McDonalds</span>. They are so cheap, I just want to go all the time. I'm not even sick but think of all the preventive stuff you might consider doing if it were easy to get appointments and dirt cheap. I haven't seen Sicko (the Michael Moore movie) but us Americans have to get our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">shiz</span> together when it comes to health care. There's just something wrong if I'm scared to go home because I won't have health insurance.<br /><br />3) Went shopping at Platinum Mall. If you're in Bangkok and you want to find cheap clothes, you need to go to Platinum Mall by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Pratunam</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Soooo</span> cheap. Six floors of nothing but shoes, clothes, bags, accessories, and anything else you could wear. I probably spent about $100 and I could barely carry all of my bags.<br /><br />I was determined to make my way home by public transport instead of taking a taxi because I hate those taxi drivers and I was trying to save money. I recognized one of the bus numbers and was excited that it could be so easy so I asked if it was going in the right directions. Of course it couldn't be that easy and they said that I would have to cross the street to go the directions I wanted to go. So I cross the street and wait. And wait. And wait. I waited for a full 45 minutes, just knowing that as soon as I left the bus would come. Finally I gave up and decided I might as well make the trek to catch the boat.<br /><br />Canal travel is such an interesting way to travel Bangkok. You definitely get a more "exotic" view of the city as you see all the back alleys and tropical vegetation. The problem is that they smell like raw sewage and the boats can be terrifying to get into because you imagine yourself falling into the "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">klong</span>" which would probably kill you. If you've ever seen Roger Rabbit and remember that stuff that they used to kill the cartoons...I really can't remember what its called...I imagine that that is what is in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">klong</span>. If it touches you, you will dissolve. Scary stuff.<br /><br />Next week I'm going to take my camera around with me and try to catch some pictures of everyday life around here. Maybe I'll even get a shot of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">klong</span>!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-59396841202516407882007-06-24T01:00:00.000-07:002007-06-24T01:37:25.373-07:00Oh I know I know. What a bad blogger I've been. I haven't updated for a while but really there hasn't been much reason to blog because I haven't done anything terribly interesting. I've been working a lot doing tutoring (if you're a native English speaker you'll have to fight off the tutoring <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">possibilities</span>). I've even been working on Saturday (gasp in horror) so that means that I can't travel much.<br /><br />I'm at that point in my stay in Thailand where I am good and ready to go home. Things no longer seem interesting, more likely they just seem annoying. I'll never truly speak Thai; it is probably the most difficult language in the world to speak. I thought I had lucked out on a mild hot season but turns out it just came late. It's been unbearably hot so I don't even want to leave my room to go buy food or drop off my laundry. Just walking up the stairs (4 flights) and I'm covered in sweat. I've been fighting a cold for weeks now because my immune system is weakened by coming in and out of the A/C into the heat.<br /><br />I dream of being at home where food is just an air-conditioned drive away, laundry can be done in my own home and I can freely converse to anyone. Internet is super fast. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Netflix</span> will send movies to my home. And <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Tivo</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Tivo</span>. It's probably time for me to go home, before a taxi cab driver kills me by his wild driving without seat belts. God, I hate taxi cab drivers. <br /><br />I will miss the massages, the facials, and the cheap medical care. I've been going to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Bumrungrad</span> Hospital to take care of any and all medical problems I might have before I go home. It's supposed to be one of the top 10 hospitals in the world and it's so super cheap. The doctors are so <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">knowledgeable</span>, unlike the ones in the States who just look at you and scratch their heads when you tell them <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">theres</span> something wrong. The U.S. really needs to get its act together when it comes to medical care. <br /><br />There are still a few things I want to do before I go home, i.e.:<br /><br />1) visit a floating market<br /><br />This seems like a must to do before you leave Thailand. The problem is is that they are quite far from Bangkok and you can't take a bus directly there so you either have to take a taxi or get a group tour to go there. Plus, you have to wake up and go early which is the last thing you really want to do on your day off.<br /><br />2) visit the Tiger Temple<br /><br />At first, I didn't feel comfortable visiting the Tiger Temple because I thought the tigers were exploited by the temple to attract tourists and didn't want to contribute to that. But recently I saw a TV show where they really showed the care that they give the tigers and felt more comfortable about going there. You can walk with them and get up-close and personal with a real live kitty cat tiger.<br /><br />3) visit the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Erawan</span> Waterfalls<br /><br />I just want to swim under a waterfall! Wouldn't that be cool?<br /><br />4) Go to a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Muay</span> Thai boxing match<br /><br />I went to the stadium but was thrown off by the unequal prices; <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">farangs</span> pay 1,500 baht but Thais only pay 100 baht. Ugh! Whats that!? Still I want to do this! Maybe I can pass as a Thai? Yeah right!<br /><br />So my time in Thailand feels like its coming to an end but I'm far from doing everything I came here to do. I better get busy!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-24356578853456668022007-05-08T07:39:00.000-07:002007-05-27T01:29:36.413-07:00<blockquote></blockquote>Hooray! I finally got my Blogger to work! It all of a sudden started displaying in Thai and I couldn't even figure out how to log-in. Whew. It's amazing that I survive in this country. =)<br /><br />I just got back from Phuket a couple of days ago. Phuket was the area of Thailand most affected by the tsunami in 2004 but you would hardly know that anything happened there except for the fact that there are tsunami hazard zone signs and evacuation procedures posted everywhere. The area is filled with tourists, mainly German, Dutch, Australian and French. We stayed in Patong Beach just so we would be close to everything and I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. There were lots of bars filled with ugly old white guys looking for young Thai girls and some of them unknowingly hitting on katoeys (ladyboys). Everything was very expensive in Phuket which was one of it's major drawbacks. We had ordered a bottle of water in a restaurant and only later found out that it cost 50 baht, more than 7 times the price that it would cost at a convenience store. We learned to be very careful of asking how much things were before committing to anything.<br /><br />My favorite part about Phuket was going to the rainforest and visiting the Gibbon Rehabilitation Center there. Being an anthropology major in college and having done some research on gibbons I was very excited to see the gibbons in their somewhat natural habitat. They were very active and fun to watch. Unfortunately, the night before we had seen a guy on the street who had a gibbon and was charging tourists to take pictures with the animal. I wanted to call the police on him but my friend convinced me that I was being unreasonable. While we were at the center I mentioned this to the staff and they said that yes that was illegal in Thailand and I was able to report it to them. The next night we went back and I tried to get a picture of the guy. I felt so bad for that poor little cute gibbon. I hope that they are able to catch them. Anyways, while we were there we also went hiking to a nearby waterfall and it was very beautiful.<br /><br />The next day we signed up for a day tour of the Phi Phi islands. We visited the beach where they filmed the movie "The Beach" and I could only imagine that before they filmed the movie there it was very peaceful. Now it is full of tourists (including myself) and I felt like I was at Raging Waters or some water park than on a tropical island. I didn't even want to swim in the water because there were so many speed boats (think stinky gasoline) and people (think bathroom). We also went snorkeling but unfortunately all of the coral was dead and there was a lot of trash in the water. Very sad. I don't know if the coral died as a result of tourism or if it died after the tsunami but it was very unhealthy.<br /><br />Overall my advice to you would be to skip Phuket and visit some of Thailand's other beaches like Koh Tao or Koh Samet. They have everything that Phuket had, minus the vast hoards of tourists, trash, and high prices.<br /><br />Tomorrow I'm off on a teachers trip to Kanchanaburi. The school is putting us up so hopefully it will be nice and relaxing.<br /><br />Pictures slowly being posted on Flickr!<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/phuket3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" /></a><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/phuket2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" /></a><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/phuket1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-24969514649825007802007-04-16T21:33:00.000-07:002007-04-16T22:37:58.958-07:00Happy Songkran everyone! Thailand is just finishing it's celebration of the Thai New Year and it's back to work tomorrow for me. The New Year lasts for 3 days here and each day the streets are filled with people throwing water on passersby and dancing like maniacs.<br /><br />Of course I had to partake in the festivities and I had heard that the best place to be in Bangkok was at Khao San Road so I bought a giant water gun and headed over there on Saturday. It was pure chaos with tons of people filling the street so that you felt like cattle being herded to the slaughterhouse (o.k. maybe that's a bit dramatic). People were throwing ice cold water down my back and smearing plaster on my face; good times. I think they took special pleasure in attacking me because I was a farang (foreigner).<br /><br />I could only take so much of the crowds because I tend to get quite claustorphobic so we headed down one of the little streets to relax and have some coffee and lunch. This was more pleasant because we were able to do some people watching and squirt people with our water guns without being man-handled by a giant crowd.<br /><br />After spending most of the day in Khao San, the sun was going down and it was actually starting to feel quite cold so we went home, soaking wet and exhausted. It was a fun experience but probably something I would only want to do once. One more experience to cross off my lists of things to do in this lifetime!<br /><br />More pictures uploaded to Flickr!<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/459916822_ad6ff98d3c_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/459817656_c493207d1e_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/459685589_071e22cf84_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/459916834_8e30dc4a07_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-37552006808713761942007-04-10T22:37:00.000-07:002007-04-10T22:51:46.087-07:00I made it back to Thailand after visiting home for about a month. It was so great to be home that it made the transition back to Thailand a bit difficult. I was worried about my reaction to coming home because it had been quite a while since I had been back but it was like never leaving.<br /><br />The flight was long and arduous, although not as terrible as my flight to Bangkok had been. I flew EVA Air which I highly recommend and luckily the plane was comfortable and they had on-demand movies and T.V. to keep you occupied during your flight, plus the food was edible so I had no complaints other than the fact that as soon as I fell asleep (I have a terrible time sleeping while traveling) the flight attendant woke me up to give me a towel. I mean really, was giving me a towel so important that it necessitated waking me up? I think not. So, I was very tired and emotional as a result because when I was going through customs and the customs agent asked me how I was, I nearly started crying. It had been so long since I had been asked that by a stranger and I thought "He cares, he really cares." Oh man, that makes me crack up. In Thailand, I feel it is very impersonal, which is probably because I am a foreigner so they assume I don't speak any Thai, but in general they are not quite as friendly as they are in the States. They laugh at Americans because we say "Thank you" so much. I never realized how much we do say "Thank you" and I know they think it's weird when I'm always saying thank you in Thai but I just can't help it.<br /><br />Driving back from the airport I felt a little dismayed because it all looked the same and I felt how boring it was. No people walking around, nothing new to see. It was pretty much the same as when I left it. In Bangkok there are always people around and it always feels crowded. In America there seemed to be a void that needed to be filled with clamorous activity: people pushing themselves through a crowd, motorcycles whizzing by, vendors selling things on the street.<br /><br />After a while I adjusted and felt quite comforted by the familiarity and also realized how extremely CONVENIENT it is to live in America. I still had my car so it was easy to go to the store to pick up the random odds and ends or to visit a friend. Driving seemed so orderly and relaxing compared to the insane traffic of Bangkok. At first I almost forgot that seat belts actually served a purpose and it felt unnatural to put it on because in taxis the backseat seatbelts are there but there is no buckle to put the seatbelt into so you can't really wear them. Crazy, right? I felt like life was so easy, so harmonious, almost idyllic. People all seemed sooo nice and there was a systematic order to things that I had craved so much in Thailand. We are always talking about the lack of "logic" in Thailand and I don't think we realize how anal retentive Americans are. Maybe its a little bit of the Puritan spirit left in us, I don't know, but I was glad to have efficiency in my life again.<br /><br />The one thing I didn't like about being back in America was how expensive and how easy it was to spend money in America. I would go out and easily spend $100 in one store without even realizing it and that horrified me. It would take me all weekend to spend $100 in Thailand! Even eating was expensive but I realized that the cost was proportionate to the amount of food you receive. It really is ridiculous the size of the portions a restaurant serves. Most of the time you probably shouldn't eat more than half of what is given to you so you end up either wasting food, sharing food (if you both want the same thing), or taking food home as left-overs which most of the time don't taste very good reheated. Why don't they serve half the amount of food for half the price? That would make a lot more sense.<br /><br />So I enjoyed my time immensely at home, being with friends and family and my cat. It was so nice that I didn't want to go back to Thailand but I didn't have a lot of choice. Going back was very hard; it was like starting over from square one. I hated the crowds. I hated the people and how unfriendly and rude they could be. I hated the inconvenience. I missed my friends and my family. I hated the lack of logic.<br /><br />But luckily, I got used to it again. I'm enjoying my time in Thailand again and things don't bother me like they did when I first came back. It's just a process of adapting to the cultural norms and luckily I feel that my personality is flexible enough to move between the two with only minor discomforts.<br /><br />This weekend is the Songkran Festival which is a big New Year's Celebration for Buddhists. We have a five day weekend (woo-hoo) so we are going to celebrate by going out and playing with water guns in the street and getting completely soaked. Most of the Thai's end up leaving Bangkok for the long weekend but I plan on staying in town, mainly because traveling seems like a hassle and prices go up so much during that weekend. Hopefully, I'll be able to take lots of pictures, that is, if my camera doesn't get drenched.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-24182808111907370792007-02-18T03:22:00.000-08:002007-02-18T03:43:41.706-08:00Only 10 more days until I return to the homeland. I got a great deal on my ticket, only about $150 more for a roundtrip ticket than I paid for my one way ticket to Thailand. I'm just coming home to visit for about a month and then returning to Thailand to teach again. I honestly love it in Thailand and could get used to living here. Everyone is always asking when I'm going to go home and I honestly don't have a good answer for that. I guess I'll just know when it's time to go home. I do miss my family, friends and of course my cat but I also don't want to deal with looking for a job or applying for grad school. Life in the U.S. just seems so much more stressful. Just the thought of not having health insurance when I go home is enough to make me not want to stay. And what about cheap massages? I don't know any place in the U.S. where you can get a good massage for under $10. <br /><br />In preparation for going home I've been shopping like crazy for gifts. It's fun to actually have the money to do this and to browse through the enormity of goods that are available in Bangkok for cheap. It makes me realize to that the quality of life in Thailand is actually probably a lot better than in the States. Even though I only make a little more than $1,000 every month, I have no bills and can live a pretty extravagant lifestyle off of $500 a month allowing me to save $500 which is better than most people in the States I would venture to say. It's not mind blowing or anything but if you factor in things like the fact that I don't have a commute then its not too shabby. <br /><br />And I think I might have finally straightened things out with the crazy nun. I think we have reached an understanding that if she just leaves me alone I'll do my job. But then again, you can't really predict what crazy people will do so we'll just have to wait and see. I love my kids and I'll have the same ones next year so I won't have to relearn how to manipulate the group dynamics to my advantage; I've already got them right where I want them (evil laugh). <br /><br />Unfortunately, I won't be able to be home in April to see Bjork but I will be able to eat some carne asada fries, sweet corn tamales, tofu mushroom burgers etc etc. Although strangely enough I'm starting to develop new food fetishes for Thailand, i.e. salad in a bag, chicken satee with spicy peanut sauce. Food in a bag isn't nearly as weird as I used to think it was. They even drink soda out of a plastic bag, just a plain old little plastic bag with handles and everything. Not strange to me anymore but strangely efficient. I am afraid of the reverse culture shock that I'll experience. For example, will I freak out at home clean everything is? Or how orderly? Most likely I'll freeze. I'll be wearing mittens and scarves while other Californians are wearing tank tops and flip flops. I don't know but we'll find out in 10 days!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1169529833290574092007-01-22T21:01:00.000-08:002007-01-22T21:23:53.303-08:00Hello again everyone! Well its about time for my monthly blog entry. I can't say I've been up to anything terribly exciting. After our travels in Chiang Mai we've been keeping it real in Bangkok, trying to save money so that I can maybe, maybe visit home in March. I would love to come home for a few weeks in March but now my whole plans are being spoiled by the announcement of the Coachella Festival lineup in April. Bjork, my favorite all time superstar, is going to be there, but alas Coachella isn't until April 26th. Sigh. I've been trying to figure out if I should teach summer school and I had all this drama trying to talk to Superior Sister (the Principal who also happens to be a crazy ((maybe??)) nun). She's supposed to let me know on Friday what will happen with summer school and the new school year but now I don't want to teach summer school (March-April) because that means I won't be able to go to Coachella. Sigh again. We'll see what happens but either way I'm going to try to come home so I can gain back all the weight I've lost and see all my friends and family.<br /><br />Life outside of school has been relatively boring (as boring as it can get in Thailand) but life at school has been loaded with drama. Another foreign teacher quit which makes it 5 foreign teachers in my department who have quit in the past 6 months. The nun drives everyone a little bit crazy and I know I should write down all of these stories A) because no one would believe me B) because it would make a great book. For example, one of the foreign teachers left early on Monday to go to the doctor but didn't tell the nun because he couldn't find her. She called him in the next day and proceeded to yell at him for 45 minutes because he left. He explained that his hand went numb and he couldn't feel anything in his arm and he was worried he might be having a heart attack. To this she responded, "Better that you fall over and collapse at school so that I can take care of you than for you to leave without asking permission." Yes, so basically its better for him to die of a heart attack than to leave without permission from her. Right. <br /><br />The cold weather lasted for all about 2 weeks and now it is back to being hotter than hot. The kind of hot where you start sweating as soon as you walk outside. The kind of hot where you feel it is necessary to take at least 3 showers a day. The kind of hot where you give up on looking half way decent because your hair will fro and make up will melt off in 3.5 minutes. I hear it actually snowed in Malibu and wish maybe some of that cold would come my way. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1167035843138190662006-12-25T00:08:00.000-08:002006-12-25T01:36:43.123-08:00Merry Christmas everyone! I am pretty exhausted because we just got back from an action packed weekend in Chiang Mai which is in the north of Thailand. We had a three day weekend for Christmas and Chiang Mai is pretty far so we took a night bus out from Bangkok on Friday night and took the bus back in on Sunday night.<br /><br />Once we got into the bus station on Saturday morning we were picked up by the travel company we had booked a package tour with and they took us back to the guest house where we could freshen up and have breakfast. From there it was on to the snake farm where I witnessed a crazy 4 fingered man jump into the water with a giant python and kiss deadly cobras. Not sure how he managed to do that but the cobras looked pretty pissed off and he milked one of them for their venom in front of us...I couldn't help but feel sad for the animals, even if they were snakes. After that it was on to the orchid farm where there were more types of orchids than I even knew existed, big ones, little ones, purple, red, orange and white ones. Very beautiful.<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/IMG_2002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/Picture2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" /></a><br /><br />From there we were off to do some white water rafting. I was a little worried because it was freezing cold and they mentioned that the boats could flip over. The instructor did a good job of freaking us out too; he was like a drill sergeant calling out commands: forward! backward! over left! over right! get in!!! He convinced us that if we didn't respond to his commands at the blink of an eye we would all end up dead in the water. We had a few close calls, Susan almost fell in and then they tipped us over in calm water on purpose. The rapids were pretty gnarly; going through them backwards was probably the most exciting. We made it out alive but I did end up with some pretty nasty bruises to remember the trip by.<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/IMG_2017.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We were all pretty much exhausted and we drove up the windiest twistiest mountain road I've ever been on to go to Pai, a little hippy town in the mountains where our guest house was. It wasn't the nicest of accomodations but we were so tired and hadn't slept in about 2 days that it didn't matter. We had dinner at this outdoor restaurant called the "Unicorn House" and there were a bunch of farang hippies lying in hammocks and trippin out. Kind of what you would expect at a place called "Unicorn House".<br /><br />In the morning I thought I might die from hypothermia. I've been so used to the Bangkok 95 degree weather that being in the cold mountains was too much for me to handle. I actually missed being hot and sweaty...I guess we're never happy are we? First thing in the morning we went to a giant cave in the mountains. We had to take a bamboo raft into the cave and then we walked around. Didn't see any lives bats but we did see a dead one and supposedly there was a 3000 year old cave painting but I'm not sure if it was real or not because it wasn't protected at all and the guide went up and practically touched it to show it to us.<br /><br />More driving through the mountains on crazy windy roads and then we did some crazy off-roading in our jeep to visit a "hill tribe." Before we went our guide had us buy snacks for the children. I had some reservations about this kind of tourism because I felt weird just going to look at people like they were some sort of oddity but it was part of the tour so I thought I would just go with the flow. When we pulled up in our car the kids spotted us and came running. I was all prepared for the kids to be cute and nice but no all they were interested in was the snacks that we brought. At one point I was carrying a bag of cookies and three children came and attacked me to grab the whole bag. My instinct was to fight back but then I just gave up and ran. It was very awkward and the whole time we were there I wanted to get the hell out of there. They did have some cute baby pigs though.<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/Picture30.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" /></a><br /><br />More mountain roads, more driving and we ended up back in Pai for elephant riding in the river. The elephants were huge (of course, they're elephants right?) and there was no saddle. Riding elephants bare back...not so comfortable. They said we would go "swimming" we the elephants but basically once we got in the river they told the elephant to turn over sending us falling into the river. Haha. Funny. So we climb back on the elephant which was insanely difficult and then once we're back on he tells the elephant to dunk us again. Haha. We get back on. Dunk. We get back on. Dunk. We didn't learn out lesson but it was funny, until the elephant started pooping in the river where we were swimming. I just hope he didn't decide to pee too.<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/Picture38.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" /></a><br /><br />After that we pretty much were exhausted but still had a 10 hour bus ride back to Bangkok. I had so much fun that it made the long bus ride worth it. The north of Thailand is so beautiful and different than Bangkok. I would love to move to Chiang Mai but alas there aren't as many English teaching jobs up there and it might be time for me to head home soon.<br /><br />You can check out more of the photos here:<br /><br /><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/lpkitten">http://flickr.com/photos/lpkitten</a><br /><br />Miss you all!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1166266788440933682006-12-16T02:46:00.000-08:002006-12-16T02:59:48.456-08:00Heres a brief recap of this months happenins:<br /><br />Went to Koh Tao which is in island in the Gulf of Thailand. It was amazingly beautiful although it took nearly an entire day to travel there by bus and by boat from Bangkok. The water was clear blue green but the sand was not as nice as it was in Koh Samet but the island made up for this in the fact that there were tons of fish to see when you go snorkeling. We planned on going scuba diving but unfortunately we didn't have enough time to take the whole course (and I didn't feel like winging it when it could be potentially fatal) so we decided to go snorkeling instead. We saw tons of fish including clown fish (think Little Nemo), barracuda, angel fish and lots of other really colorful tropical looking fish. We hired a boat to take us to this place called the "Japanese Gardens" which is so called because the coral reefs supposedly look like a Japanese garden. The boat guy threw food in the water and all of a sudden I was surrounded by hundreds of fish that weren't scared to come right up to me. Another great thing about Koh Tao was the food. Lots of Westerners there so that means lots of Western food including yummy mexican and italian food.<br /><br />School has been going well now that the nun has decided to stop talking to the foreigners. This comes after another incident of them "forgetting" to pay us and the foreigners threatening to "forget" to come to work the next day and drama drama drama. I decided I really love teaching and want to go to grad school for education when I come home so that means working on grad school applications and GREs and all that good stuff which I'm not really looking forward to.<br /><br />Today I went to meditation classes at a temple here in Bangkok. It was quite an experience but different than I thought it was going to be. I'm glad I went because I want to learn more about Buddhism and get in touch with some sort of spirituality while I'm here. I'm just not sure if I'll go back to that same place again. After meditation classes I went to Wat Pho which had the huge golden reclining buddha statue. It was amazingly big and awe inspiring. I'll post up some pictures later.<br /><br />Sorry if my posts seem a little rambling. I'm usually typing them at the internet cafe which has so much noise I can't normally think straight. Imagine Thai girls chatting with their foreign boyfriends in this obnoxiously high pitched voice, Thai music blaring and video game noises and you'll get somewhat of an idea of what I'm listening to right now. Miss you all!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1164548707926160662006-11-26T05:20:00.000-08:002006-11-26T05:45:08.036-08:00We just got back from Ko Samet. It was so cool, the nicest place I've been in Thailand so far. The whole island is a national park so it doesn't have that touristy feeling that you get at some beach towns with the big hotel resorts. The one bad thing is that you have to pay an entrance fee to get on the island...only 40 baht for Thai people (or anyone who can pass as being Thai) which is about $1 and 400 baht for foreigners (anyone who is white). This is pretty standard for living in Thailand, "farangs" end up getting charged more because they can charge us more. We didn't have any hotel reservations so once we got off the boat we were kind of at a loss at where to stay. We decided to just get in a sung taew (basically a truck taxi that has benches in the back of the truck) and take a look at some of the other areas of the island. It felt like a jungle safari cruise because the roads weren't paved and we were bouncing around like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. None of the beaches looked quite right so we stayed on till the end of the route and luckily we ended up at a nice stretch of beach with some nice looking bungalows.<br /><br />The beaches were beautiful, with white sand and clear blue green water, just what you would imagine a tropical island would look like. In fact, the water was so clear that while we were swimming we found 1,100 baht in the water. First, I found a 100 baht bill laying at the bottom of the sand and thought that was funny but then I realized that there was probably more and when I found the 1,000 baht bill we couldn't believe our luck. We figured it was just a little birthday gift from the sea gods. :D<br /><br />Another great thing about the island was there were lots of friendly dogs and cats frolicking around the beach. It was such a nice change from the mean, tough animals of Bangkok. The cats would actually let you pet them and one of them even came and jumped up on my lap in the restaurant. I realized that when I die I want to come back as a cat on an island like Ko Samet with nothing to do but sleep and get fed by tourists. <br /><br />We hung out at the beach, got some dinner and then decided to go walk out on the beach. It was low tide so the beach looked totally different then it did during the day. While we were walking we noticed some funny looking balls in the sand and lots of other intriguing things but couldn't see what was causing them because it was so dark so we went and bought flashlights at the minimart and went exploring. We saw some crazy stuff. Turns out the little ball things were crab eggs. Thousands of little crabs laying millions of little eggs. We saw these piles of sand that look like little turds or brains or coiled up snaked. It took us a while to figure out that they were caused by these tubular worms deep inside the sand that was pooping out the sand. Sea cucumbers, puffer fish, shrimpy things...it was so entertaining!<br /><br />I'll try to upload the pictures tomorrow, the internet cafe I'm in now doesn't allow uploading files.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1164195135353275982006-11-22T03:12:00.000-08:002006-11-22T03:32:15.403-08:00Last week we went to Kanchanaburi like I said we were going to. It was so beautiful and relaxing. We went to see the Bridge Over the River Kwai which was built by American POWs during World War II after they were captured by the Japanese. It was crazy to think that even Thailand was affected by World War II. We were able to walk across it and a couple of times I thought we were going to fall in. They had lots of floating restaurants on the river and we saw a few that looked like floating dance clubs, people dancing and partying in the middle of the afternoon. Alas, we didn't find any elephants but next time when we go there are great waterfalls to visit so we can look for the elephants when we are not so rushed.<br /><br />I've been trying to get healthier here. Everyday life provides a lot of exercise. For example, climbing stairs is a major part of my life. I teach and live on the 4th floor so everyday I probably climb up and down 4 flights of stairs about 20 times each day. I counted and there are 88 stairs going up to my classroom and a little less going up to my room. If I go up and down 20 times, thats about 1,760 stairs a day. My leg muscles are getting crazy but I really need to do more sustained aerobic activity. At the mall they have free aerobics classes outside that look really silly but I'm going tomorrow just to say that I've done it. I'm also trying to eat healthier because I don't feel like I'm getting a lot of nutrients from the food I was eating. Lots of rice, rice and more rice but not a lot of anything else. <br /><br />Next weekend I think we'll go to Ko Samet to get some beach action in. Its supposed to be beautiful and not far from Bangkok so I'll take lots of pictures to share with you all.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1163593102217623792006-11-15T04:04:00.000-08:002006-11-15T04:18:22.226-08:00hey everyone, long time no post. everythings good here in thailand. the weather is getting cooler, the nun is chilling out a bit (well for now), my students are acting like little angels and i've made some good friends here. two new american girls came to our school and they are all gung ho about travelling which has motivated me to get out and do more things instead of being so lazy. <br /><br />so last weekend we went to ayuthaya, which was the ancient capital of thailand. we made a day trip out of it and rented bikes to get around to all the temples. there were tons of temples, hundreds of them, but we only made it to three! the temples were so beautiful and getting around by bike was super cool because there weren't that many cars like in bangkok and there were real sidewalks. we saw elephants and horses walking around randomly (not something you see everyday in california). i posted the photos to the flickr account if you want to check them out. i have to figure out something with my flickr account though because i've ran out of space...so those might be the only two photos for now. <br /><br />next weekend we might go to visit the bridge on the river kwai. its not that far from bangkok and apparently you can bathe and ride elephants there which would be a fun experience. don't hold me to it though. i also want to try to take some language classes this weekend because i haven't been serious about studying thai with my book. i've learned basic thai phrases just by happenstance so if i make a real effort i might actually be able to understand whats going on around me.<br /><br />thats about it from me. keep those emails coming! its great to hear from people at home even if its just a quick hello. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1160991047787864462006-10-16T01:48:00.000-07:002006-10-16T02:30:48.226-07:00So the past couple of days I have had a major case of homesickness. If I could have I would have been on the first plane back to Los Angeles. But seeing as I have a deathly fear of flying and I'm too cheap to buy the ticket, I ended up just dreaming of being back in the "Land of the Free." Funny how I would never use that term in the States...but being out of your home country makes you so much more patriotic than you ever would be if you just stayed at home. <br /><br />I think my homesickness was brought on partially because the longest I've ever been away from home was 3 months and its almost been 3 months since I left for Thailand. But mostly I think it was brought on by the fact that I got a cold and I am a HUGE baby when I'm sick. I hate it. Not that everyone doesn't hate being sick but I don't seem to be able to handle it. Plus the electricity went out in my room (but the lights and A/C miraculously worked) so all the food in my refrigerator went bad, I couldn't use my computer, blow dryer, hot water heater (so no water for cooking), or toaster. Essentially, I was S.O.L. because I was too tired to walk anywhere in the heat and I had no way of cooking any of the food that didn't spoil in my refrigerator. Yeah, it was not a good weekend.<br /><br />Today was supposed to be a work day for the foreign teachers (the Thai teachers and foreign teachers have different vacations for some reason) but when we got there everything was locked up so there was no way for us to do any work. I was hoping that the lady that manages the apartment would be there today so she could help me with my electricity but I found out she was on vacation with the Thai teachers. BOOO. So I had to bust out some crazy Thai language skills to talk to some of the people that work maintenance at the school. Basically, I was saying "Light no have room" "Room light no have" or any combination of those words to try and convey my meaning. Its so frustrating because yeah, o.k. sorry I don't speak your language but can you not look at me like I'm a frickin idiot?? I'M TRYING PEOPLE! Generally, Thai people are very nice but sometimes you just can't ignore the feelings of disdain and hatred you know that they feel for you. Whatever.<br /><br />After getting my electricity back I felt almost human again. I decided to go to the mall to do some grocery shopping. While I was there I saw a dental clinic and decided to get a check up because its been too long since my last one. I also ended up going to the laser skin clinic to get some crazy lazer light treatment to lighten the appearance of my freckles. Thats the great thing about Thailand. Medical services are so cheap and available here. Everywhere you go you see dentists and dermatologists and you don't even need insurance because its so inexpensive. I'm fully going to take advantage of this while I'm here. <br /><br />Let me just say that Thai women are generally obsessed with two things when it comes to their appearance: their skin and their weight. Thai people (and Asians in general) or obsessed with white skin. They love it. So opposite of Westerners who are always trying to get the perfect tan. I guess you always want what you can't have, right? Every skin product has whitening agent in it. Facial wash with whitening. Body lotion with whitening. Whitening cream. Facial moisturizer with whitening. Body wash with whitening. Its good for me because I've always been whiter than white. Here I don't have to worry about being self conscious about it.<br /><br />But while I'm not really self conscious about my weight in the States I feel like a giant here. These women look anorexic, like they haven't eaten since 1985. I'm only 5'3" and about 115 pounds (o.k. I'm baring my soul to you all) and when I go shopping here I can't even get the biggest pair of jeans to go past my thighs. And forget shopping for a bra. I tried asking the sales clerk for help with my size and she looked around and said that they didn't have any bras that would fit me. Keep in mind, I wasn't shopping in a small boutique, I was in a frickin department store with hundreds of bras around. Surely, one of them has to fit me??? The problem is that the circumference (I dunno, waist band...chest band??) of the bra is so tiny that it looked like it wouldn't fit a 10 year old girl. <br /><br />As if that weren't enough to give me a complex, the people here are so blunt about talking about weight. One day two of the Thai teachers working in the library were talking in Thai and I could tell that they were talking about me and all of a sudden one of them so graciously translated for me. "She said you fat" as she made bulging cheeks and a gesture to her belly. I could barely eat for two days after that. <br /><br />Sigh. This is why I long for the United States. At least people will generally act like you expect them to and you know how to act with people. Here its always this fine line of worrying whether what you say or do is offending someone and then trying not to get offended at the things they say and do to you. There aren't these mysterious rules of conduct to follow and no mind trips of whether you should take something personally or not. But then again, its so fascinating to realize what our unconscious expectations are and thats really why we travel, right?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1160479903451241222006-10-10T04:28:00.000-07:002006-10-10T04:31:43.473-07:00<p>Sorry I've been so lazy about posting here. Bangkok has a lot of distractions! Everything has been fine since the coup. You would never even know that there was a coup; they moved out the tanks and selected a new interim prime minister. Oh and they also suspended the legislature, made politcal parties illegal and are censoring the media...soooo, well even if there was some unrest I would never know. The Thai people generally seemed to welcome the coup. The old Primie Minister was very unpopular and there were many assassination attempts against him before the coup so I get the feeling that Thailand is a safer and more stable place without him. Then again, Thai people are very shy about saying anything negative about their government. It's actually illegal to say anything bad about the King and the Thai mentality towards authority is totally different than the Western mentality. If an elder or someone with authority says they have to do something they will do it without asking questions, at least from what I have noticed. I'm sure there are a lot of ambiguities I don't see but my general impression is that Thai people value harmony and unity more than freedom of speech or democracy. We thought about going to take pictures with the tanks before they left but I always forgot my camera. I should really invest in a camera phone while I'm here! The worst thing that happened during the coup was that we got the day off of work and had to go to the movies instead of school. Terrible, huh? I started thinking they should have coups more often. </p><p><br />It has been raining here a lot lately. I love it when it rains because that means that its not that hot (80 degrees is chilly). Its not just normal rain though; its super monsoon rain. The sky opens up and buckets of water come pouring down and there is lightning and thunder that shakes you right to your bones. When it rains really hard the streets begin to look like canals and if you get stuck out in it you have to pull your pants up to your knees and practically swim to dry land, if you can find any. Luckily though the drainage system works really well here. One night it rained so hard that they had to close my street because there was about 3 or 4 feet of water. A couple of hours the water was completely gone and you would never even know that it had rained. </p><p><br />The students just had their midterm exams and we're on vacation now. Exams are a big deal here, way different in the states. I don't remember taking any sort of hardcore test until maybe I was in middle school. These students have 3 days of exams...keep in mind that some of them are as young as 7 years old. I almost lost my mind because people expected me to be psychic about a lot of things. My Thai partner teacher (who I just want to kill) would ask me "Have you turned in your exams yet?" Ummm....no? No one told me I had to turn in any sort of exam. I figured I would give them an exam if I wanted to. And they have this crazy grading system that I am supposed to magically know. Apparently during the first midterm, 20 points go to the accumulated marks (homework, seatwork and behavior) and 30 points go to the final exam. But that is only in the first semester, in the second semester 30 points go to the accumulated marks and 20 to the final exam. And that is only for some subjects. Other subjects are 25 total but are split with another class so its like 12.5 points for the exams and oh I don't know. Haven't these people heard of the 100 point scale? You know...makes things way easier.</p><p><br />I got my first hair cut here not long ago. It was amazing. Well the haircut was just o.k. He cut it shorter than I would have liked, but it was super cheap and they had these awesome chairs you sit in when they shampoo your hair. They reclined all the way back so you were so comfortable while they were doing their stuff. They probably washed and massaged my hair for about 30 minutes before they cut my hair. Thats the thing about Bangkok. It can be so much nicer than the U.S. in so many ways and in some ways the U.S. is way nicer than Thailand. For instance, the movie theaters have these huge cushy chairs that recline when you sit in them and you get movie magnets everytime you see a movie. I don't know why I get so excited about the magnets but I really fricken love it. But at the same time the air is so polluted and I seem to always have a hard time finding a nice restaurant with good food. Oh well, you can't have it all I suppose.<br /></p><p>Promise I'll try to be less lazy about posting here. Especially after I write about military coups and all that stuff. Oops. :) Sorry. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1158712812625120922006-09-19T17:19:00.000-07:002006-09-19T17:40:21.223-07:00So you know you're not in Kansas anymore when the government of the country you are living in is overthrown by a military coup. Holy cow! Haha. See I told you that you never know what to expect when you are living abroad.<br /><br />Last night, I got a call from my friend telling me to be careful because there were terrorists in Bangkok. Before I could ask her what happened the phone went dead and I couldn't call her back because the cell phones stopped working. She texted me back (yes, I've finally learned how to send text messages) saying that Thailand was in a state of emergency. I freaked out, thinking maybe she was just trying to mess with a poor Farangs head, ran to the television but there was nothing on but some crazy Thai writing and some patriotic song on every single station. I thought "Hmmm, this is not normal...but I can't read or speak Thai! Aaahhh!" So I ran to my friends room who has cable and we turn on CNN and low and behold there are tanks and military in the street of Bangkok.<br /><br />At that point I'm in utter panic mode. As an American I always took political stability for granted. Things like this just don't happen to me. I imagined having to leave the country, trying to get to the American embassy for them to save my ass, being shuttled back to America and my little Thai vacation being over. <br /><br />After about 20 minutes all of the news channels were cut off so we had no idea what was going on. There was thunder and lightning last night and everytime I saw a flash or heard the thunder I was convinced it was a bomb. :) Thankfully, the coup has been peaceful and no one was hurt and everyone seems to be calm about it. This morning they called us to tell us that there will be no class today so we are just going to stay at home waiting for more news of the situation and I'll probably be studying my Thai so I will be more prepared to understand what the heck is going on the next time there is a military coup! Ha!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1157774903850475432006-09-08T20:47:00.000-07:002006-09-17T01:09:15.786-07:00So its been almost 2 months since I've been in Thailand and I'm still trying new things all the time. I still have those moments of fascination where I stop and go "Wow, I'm in Thailand right now. Look at me! I'm walking around Bangkok! Weee." I know; its totally nerdy but what can I say? I love having those nerdy moments. Living in a foreign country makes you feel so alive; you can never really take things for granted. For example, the other night we were walking around late at night (don't worry Grandma, I'm always careful) and all of a sudden I had to stop and think "Is it really 3 a.m. right now? Why are there so many people walking around???" So crazy to me that in Bangkok it always feels like it could be a Saturday afternoon with people walking around everywhere, people eating and shopping in the middle of the night. Who knows when these people sleep.<br /><br />Another new experience for me the other night: Thai massage! It was like no other massage I've ever had. They work into every muscle on your body, pounding your muscles, pulling your body into crazy yoga poses. Very intense. Next time I think I might tell her just to skip my thighs; I mean really, who wants someone pounding on your inner thighs! I thought for sure I was going to be black and blue there. Overall though, it was a good massage. At one point, I swear to god, she was on top of me on all fours using her knees to massage my back and pulling my arms up into the air. Hardcore! And they are so cheap, not even $10 for a full one hour massage.<br /><br />I still get moments of panic when I realize I still have no idea how to speak Thai. I wish I could just download it into my brain and magically speak Thai fluently. I've been studying but its so hard for me to remember the words because I have no way to reference the words in my brain. French, Spanish, German, Italian, anything would be easier. At least with the Romance and Germanic languages some things are similar and you can sometimes recognize a Latin or Greek derivation that will make it easier to remember. Not with Thai, no no. And it makes it even more complicated that Thai is a tonal language so the way you say the word can totally change the meaning. For example, the words for near and far are the same word...but spoken with a different intonation. Frankly, it all sounds the same to me. Glai will be glai to me no matter what tone you say it in. 5 tones, long vowels, short vowels, a totally different alphabet with 40 consonants, 30 some odd vowels, tone marks, numbers...yes it makes my head hurt oh so much.<br />maai mai mai mai mai<br /><br />Yes, I just made a full sentence with one word. Oh you didn't understand? That would mean "New wood doesn't burn, does it?"<br /><br />I'll leave you all to ponder that. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1157253219329381492006-09-02T20:03:00.000-07:002013-08-12T18:42:59.606-07:00Woohoo! I finally got my first paycheck here in Thailand. It's the first money in years that I can spend without guilt because I don't have credit cards to pay off anymore. It's really hard to let go of the fear of spending money. I've been conditioned to think of every cent I spend and weigh out all the pros and cons of spending it before I spend it. And that's probably a good habit to be in so I don't get myself in debt again!<br />
<br />
The monthly salary day at our school is quite a carnival. The foreigners aren't eligible for direct deposit (the Thai teachers just got it this month) because the principal wants to pay us all directly so that we know exactly where are paycheck is coming from and are grateful for having a job there. Can you say "power trip?" We all have to wait until she calls us down to get paid which can be anytime during the day. Someone will come running up and you have to drop whatever you are doing and rush down to her office, even if you are in the middle of teaching a class. The first time she called us down she changed her mind and said she "wasn't in the mood," whatever that means, so we had to go back up and wait for her to call us again. They say 8 out of 10 times she won't be in the mood so apparently this is normal behavior for pay day. She called us back down about 2 hours later and you have to get in a line and wait until she calls out your number. When she calls your name you have to run in sign some things, wai (a sign of showing respect) and take the envelope with the money in it. Yes, I said an envelope full of money, not a check. We get paid all in cash! Its so crazy! 38,000 baht of pure hard cash (the largest bill is a 1,000). You take your envelope and count it in the office and then turn in the envelope after your done.<br />
<br />
Let me just point out that everyone is in the office together and everyone can see exactly how much everyone else gets paid because they put everyone's name and salary on a sheet of paper where you have to sign. Talk about awkward! The hierarchy of pay is pretty consistent but also pretty messed up. There are 3 different "types" of teachers at the school: foreigners, Thais and Phillipinos. The Thais get paid less than the Phillipinos and the Phillipinos get paid less than the foreigners. The foreigners get paid almost 5 times more than the Thai teachers for doing almost the same thing. The foreigners do teach more classes than the Thai teachers in general but I still can't help but feel guilty and embarrassed about it. But there is a lot to be said about supply and demand. The foreigners tend to have a lot more job security because it is much more difficult to replace them than it is the Thai teachers. I have heard that a Thai teacher was fired for eating outside of the cafeteria. ::Sigh:: I could go on and on about the inequality and injustices for hours.<br />
<br />
So I'm stuck with this big wad of cash and no bank to put it in. Before I left for Thailand I signed up with Citibank which supposedly has a branch in Bangkok but I haven't seen it yet. I have the address but we are so far away from anything that it would be a full days trip to find the bank. Plus, I found out later that in order to use the bank in Thailand I would have to sign up for a whole different account and then link my American account with my Thai account. If I'm going to go through that much trouble I would rather sign up with a Thai bank that actually has ATMs and branches near me. And readers from my debt blog might be interested to know that everytime you use your credit card or ATM with a foreign currency you are charged a conversion fee of 1-3%. The only credit card that doesn't charge is the Capital One card, which is the one credit card company I don't have an account with! In the meantime, I'm stuck leaving my money under my mattress. :)<br />
<br />
<br />
Gosh, so much to talk about but I'm running out of internet time. More to come later!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1156472879629715792006-08-24T19:01:00.000-07:002006-08-24T19:27:59.643-07:00I'm playing hookie from school today. The whole school is celebrating "Sports Day" which is really more like "Sports Week" or even better "Let's Go Outside and Sweat in the Sun Day." All week they have been practicing for the events so I've spent much more time than I would have liked standing around in the sun, deprived of any air conditioning. Yesterday, we stayed outside all day in 100 degree heat just sitting around, trying to be entertained and sweating so much that by the end of the day I felt as though I had an exoskeleton. They lock up all the classrooms so no one can find relief in the air conditioning and lock the gates so no one can escape. Thats why today I'm rebelling and hiding out in my room with the A/C cranking.<br /><br />Last weekend we went to the Chatachuk weekend market. It is the biggest market in Bangkok and I think all of southeast Asia. It was very tempting to spend money and I can't wait to go there once we get our paychecks. They had everything you can think of (except for a foam pad for my rock hard mattress) and everything was pretty cheap, especially if you can haggle with the vendors. Clothes, art work, animals, handicrafts, books. It was great! We got giant watermelon smoothies which are my new food addiction and tried not to die from the heat.<br /><br />Afterwards, we went to Sukhimvit Road which is where most of the foreigners stay and went out to dinner at Cabbages and Condoms. It was a really nice restaurant, clean and air conditioned with good food and menus in English. Even more interesting, the restaurants is run by a sex education NGO and instead of giving out after dinner mints they hand out condoms to promote safe sex and even decorate the restaurant with condoms. Goodness knows they need lots of safe sex education with all of the rampant sex tourism and prostitution.<br /><br />This weekend I'm going to keep a low profile because money is especially tight. We might try to go to Lumphini Park early to catch the tai-chi-ers but that would mean getting up at 5 or 6 to catch the bus to get there early. If we do, I'll try and take lots of pictures!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1155906568906142562006-08-18T05:35:00.000-07:002006-08-18T06:09:28.976-07:00Life is feeling more normal. I'm no longer phased when I see women holding babies on the back of a motorcycle or "lady-men" working at the pharmacy. I realize that your perceptions of things are very relative and easily changed. For example, when we first got here I was shocked to think of our neighborhood as being the "rich" part of town but now I walk around and think "yeah, this is pretty nice" and masses of yellow shirts don't seem abnormal. <br /><br />One thing I might not get used to is the Thai logic. Have I mentioned earlier that logic is not a strong suit for Thai people? Of course this is a generality. I'm sure there are lots of logical Thai people out there but I'm having a hard time finding them. <br /><br />Example 1: Highways are built so that if you want to merge onto another freeway you have to go 5 miles the wrong way to turn around to get to the freeway you want to get to. <br /><br />Example 2: They looked at me like I was crazy that I cared that there were three different teaching schedules all contradicting each other.<br /><br />Example 3: They want me to teach computers and they want me to use their books but they are all in Thai. They know I don't speak Thai but somehow that is not a problem?<br /><br />Example 4: This is the doozy. The Ministry of Education has been giving me a hard time about my diploma. At first they thought it was a forgery so they wanted me to give them a piece of paper from the University saying that I really graduated. I tried to explain to them that the piece of paper from the University stating that I graduated was the diploma so why would I get a piece of paper to say that my piece of paper was legit. If I could forge a diploma with a seal and watermark how hard would it be for me to forge a piece of paper printed out from the computer?<br /><br />Then all of a sudden they didn't care about the validity of my diploma. Instead they were saying that the University didn't exist. Apparently, their list said that the school was called "THE University of California" and my diploma read "University of California." They claimed because the word "the" wasn't on there that the University didn't exist. Sigh. So far 2 weeks I've had the crazy nun on my back claiming that I had to do something to prove that I really graduated and that my University really exists. <br /><br />Today, we went with the document lady to the Ministry of Education to try to straighten things out. All of a sudden they didn't care about the "the" but they were concerned with my middle name. Now, they claimed that the diploma really wasn't mine because the diploma only had the middle initial and my passport had my full last name. They didn't understand the concept of a middle name and what an initial was so we had to go to the American embassy so I could sign an affidavit stating that the names were the same and pay $30 to have it notarized. Can you feel me rolling my eyes? I was so frustrated and pissed off at the sheer stupidity and arbitrariness of their requests. $30 might not seem like a lot in American dollars but it is a heck of a lot of money in Thailand especially when it was spent for no real purpose except to satisfy someone's momentary whim. <br /><br />I have been trying so hard to not spend money because I don't want to fall back into the trap of spending money that I don't have or spending my money before I earn it. I've been broke since paying off my credit cards and won't get paid until the end of the month. I've been scrimping and saving wherever possible so it just felt so devastating to have to spend money on something so ridiculous. People just don't understand why its such a big deal. They say "don't worry, I'll lend you the money" without realizing that I don't want to owe anyone anything. I don't want to get my first paycheck and have it already spent. When I get paid I want it to be rightfully mine, without anyone else having claims on it whether it be a friend who lent me money or a credit card company. So I guess it'll be more scrimping and saving until the end of the month.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1155529813324747412006-08-13T20:57:00.000-07:002006-08-18T05:00:38.846-07:00I've never been more excited for a holiday weekend in my life. This weekend was Mother's Day in Thailand which is a big deal because it is the Queen's birthday. They LOVE their royal family here. If you thought Americans were patriotic, you haven't seen anything! When I first got here I tripped out because everyone was wearing yellow shirts. There were whole stores that sold practically nothing but yellow shirts. You see, yellow is the color of the royal family and on certain days everyone is supposed to wear yellow shirts in support of the King. They even gave me a yellow shirt to wear every Monday which is great because I hate the ugly uniforms I have to wear the rest of the week.<br /><br />So since this was a three day weekend we decided to do a little travelling. We were in desperate need for a beach holiday so we decided to go to Pattaya which is the closest beach to Bangkok. It was supposedly only a 2 hour bus ride to get to Pattaya but it took us 9 hours to get there! That is Thailand for you. Someone told me that there isn't a word for logic in Thai and I believe it! We had to get to the bus terminal so we looked at my bus map and got to the bus stop where it said the bus would come. We waited for 30 minutes for the bus to come but it never did. We saw the same bus coming literally 4 in a row at the same exact time. What a waste. After a while I decided to ask someone and this lady was nice enough to ask other people in Thai how we could get there. She told us to follow this guy because he was going to the same place and then told us to get on this bus because it would go the same way. We got on the bus and we asked them if they were going to "Ekamai" and they said no, no. Crap! But then they told us to stay on because we could take it to someplace us that would get us to Pattaya. So we listened to them and miraculously we got to the bus station.<br /><br />It's funny how Thai people give directions. Obviously there is a language barrier but they are so vague. Example, Susan was asking one of the Thai teachers at the school what bus we should take to get to the Northern bus terminal. She told her it was called Ekamai but somewhere along the line the misunderstanding was that Ekamai was a completely different bus station than the Northern bus terminal so when we were asking other people for directions we weren't asking for the right thing. Luckily, even though we didn't understand them and they don't really understand us, the Thai people are so nice that they just figuratively push you in the general direction you need to go and it always works out. It was a miracle we made it there! On the way back we found out that there was a bus that went from our main street directly to the bus station and that saved us about 2 hours getting home. I wish someone would have told us that in the first place!<br /><br />It was all worth it though because Pattaya was really beautiful. A lot of people don't like Pattaya because there is a big sex industry there and a lot of old white men with young Thai girls but it's not as bad as I expected it to be. We went further south of the central area where more families go for vacation and we really liked it. Compared to Bangkok this was paradise. You could see the sky. The streets and sidewalks were paved so you weren't always tripping over uneven concrete. It was relatively clean and there was food to eat! Yes, food! We ate like we might never eat again. It was expensive for Thai standards but reasonable if you think in American dollars. The water was clear and green and warm. They have beach chairs and beach umbrellas you can lay in and order drinks. Unfortunately, they didn't have margaritas but a nice cold beer hits the spot. And they have people go around selling food and other things which can be annoying at times but is nice when you want it.<br /><br />I realized Thailand is not all that bad. It's just Bangkok. I would love to move out of Bangkok and live by the beach. Pattaya was the perfect blend of Western and Eastern influences and it didn't have the dirty, smelly, choking feeling of Bangkok. On more of our time off we plan to go to some of the other beaches to check them out. There are probably even nicer beaches to explore and maybe relocate to. After the weekend I feel totally re-energized and ready to stay in Thailand.<br /><br />Oh, and I'll be posting a few more pictures at Flickr if you want to check them out.<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/8-11-06002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1154867893193446982006-08-06T04:55:00.000-07:002006-08-06T05:38:13.296-07:00Awww thanks everyone! I can't tell you how happy it made me to receive so many supportive emails. I guess my last post really freaked some people out. It sounds terrible and in some ways it is terrible but in time I'll have everything figured out and living in Thailand will be a piece of cake. Being in a new place with a new language and new customs can be very overwhelming and frustrating. Little things like eating and buying a pair of shoes consumes so much effort that you feel exhausted by the end of the day. Everyday will make it a little easier as I become used to what to expect and learn my way around.<br /><br />Yesterday was hard for me. It started out o.k. We went to the mall by our house to go to an ATM and to get a new watch battery fixed. Getting the watched fixed was no problem; the guy at the watch shop was super nice and it only cost $2. We went to the ATM and I couldn't get any money out. I thought maybe it was just that bank so I went to another one and it still didn't work. We were on our way to downtown to do some sight-seeing so I figured there would be more ATMs that accepted international bank cards so I decided just to wait.<br /><br />We took a river taxi into downtown because we heard that it was more direct and faster because there was no traffic. It may have been faster but it smelled terrible! They should call them sewer taxis. The water kept splashing on me and I thought I might die. It was an interesting experience and a new perspective (thats what I tell myself to be positive). Once we got off the boat we thought we would try to take a tuk tuk (mini taxis) to Jim Thompson's house. We found some tuk tuk drivers standing around and we asked him how much it would cost to get there. We were expecting something around 40 baht (about $1) but they looked at us and said 150 baht (about $5) which doesn't seem like a lot in American standards but is outrageous in Thailand. Keep in mind that you can buy a fancy dinner for 2 for 200 baht and an air conditioned car taxi ride would cost about 60 baht for the same distance. This was my first experience with someone obviously trying to rip me off in Thailand after two weeks with people being generally honest and helpful.<br /><br />It didn't look that far on the map so we decided to just walk there. Boy was that a mistake! We ended up walking through a really crowded touristy area with people running into you and trying to sell you stuff while you are surrounded by funky smells and the heat from the street vendors cooking making it feel like it is 100 degrees outside with 100% humidity. By the time we made it to Jim Thompson's house I looked like I had been hit by a bus, dragged for miles and left to soak in a puddle of my own sweat. We ran for the gift store and just sat there enjoying the air conditioning. <br /><br />Jim Thompson's house was really nice. He was an American architect who moved to Thailand after World War II and built his house with a blend of traditional Thai architecture and art with Western style. His gardens were amazing with beautiful orchids and lotus flowers and ponds with koi and a giant sting ray and some crazy meat eating fish. It felt like we were in a little tranquil oasis in the middle of a bustling, sweltering city. I never wanted to leave. You can check out the pictures by clicking on the link to the right that says "My Photos on Flickr".<br /><br />Afterwards we went to the MBK marketplace which is a huge mall that is supposedly really cheap. I tried to use 3 or 4 different ATMs there and none of them were working. I was so tired and so frustrated at that point that I just wanted to cry. People were everywhere like bugs. I get really claustorphobic in crowds and I just couldn't deal with it. All the weeks frustrations were coming down on me and I was scared because I had no idea why I couldn't access my money. Finally, in a moment of clarity I realized that I was trying to use my credit card and not my ATM card to get money out the bank. You can imagine how stupid I felt and also how relieved I was when it finally worked. Normally, when something like that doesn't work you stop and try to think of all the reasons why it won't work. I just assumed it was because I was in a foreign country and didn't even stop to think "Hmmm, maybe I'm just using the wrong card." Duh!<br /><br />After a long day yesterday I was really glad to be home. Home is really a relative term. Just two weeks ago I was longing to be at home in California and yesterday I was longing to be at home in Bang Kapi. I really appreciate our little area now because everyone is so nice here and I know how to get around in this general area. <br /><br />Instead of just moping around today I felt motivated to do some things to make me feel more comfortable here. I found a bus map so we can plan our sight-seeing trips better so we don't have to walk for miles in the heat. We went to a real grocery store and bought real food to eat for dinner so I'm not eating cookies and potato chips for sustenance. I got a reading lamp so I don't have to read by the green flourescent light in my room. I bought comfortable shoes to wear to work so I'm not dying climbing the 4 flights of stairs. And I think next week I'll finally be able to start studying the language so I can say more than "Hello" and "thank you." <br /><br />Don't worry about me. I'm strong. After all, if I can pay off all that debt in 2 years, I can do anything!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31107816.post-1154605738232937632006-08-03T04:13:00.000-07:002006-08-04T10:11:11.560-07:00Warning! This post is going to be very negative. I had no illusions before I left that everything was going to be rosy 100% of the time. No matter where you go there are always things that are different and that frustrate you. So don't think that I'll be coming home anytime soon; I just need to vent about these adjusting pains.<br /><br />Where do I start? The teacher's "condo" (or prison if you wish) makes the Motel 6 look like a 5 star resort. My bed is literally made of straw. When I wake up I feel like I have bruises on my body. I think I am getting used to it because I am sleeping through the night now but it was quite a change for me because my last bed was probably the most comfortable bed on earth. The floor is white tile, not exactly something that makes you feel like you are at home. I live on the fourth floor and there is no elevator. Incidentally, my classroom is on the 4th floor as well so soon I will have legs the size of tree trunks. Thankfully, I have a western style toilet but the shower is open so that every time you take a shower the entire bathroom gets wet. There is no water pressure either in the sink or the shower so things like taking showers and washing dishes take an inordinate amount of time. It took me about a week to figure out how to use the hot water heater. I was almost getting used to cold showers everyday. And let's not forget about the glow in the dark Jesus that hangs on wall right above my bed. I mentioned before that the internet is ridiculously slow but not only that but it takes about 30 tries before you can even get an outside line. Apparently, we can't receive calls from the outside either.<br /><br />Now let's talk about the school. Everything "looks" really nice unless you look closely. Remember how I said that I was amazed at all the resources they have available to them. Well, the library is full of out of date books. The books they wanted me to use for the computer classes were from 1998 and were about working with DOS and floppy disks...and they were all in Thai. They know I don't speak Thai but they seemed to think that was a mere technicality. The computers are working on Windows 98 or 2000. Paper is like gold here. In America we piss through paper like it is nothing. Here, I asked the students to take out a piece of paper and they looked at me like I was mad. If I want to print something out I have to walk from the faculty room where the computer is and go down to the library on the other side of the hall and sign out a piece of paper. Can't we meet somewhere in the middle where we don't waste paper but it is there when we need it.<br /><br />You know all those horror stories you hear about Catholic schools and the nuns that run them? I can imagine that they are all true! I have nothing against Catholics, just crazy nuns. The head of the English department is a nun and everyone hates her. I didn't understand why at first but now that I am here and she feels that she has her teeth in me she feels she can talk to me like I am a child. They treat all the teachers like children here. We have to scan our thumbs when we arrive in the morning and when we leave in the evening! I thought that only happened in James Bond movies! All of the teachers are supposed to wear uniforms that are provided to them by the school. The Sister had me try them on in her office over my clothes. I told her which ones I thought fit well and she looked at me and said "You don't like the ones that fit?" I stared at her a moment and said "No, those ones are too small." She mumbled something like "well o.k. if you don't like the ones that fit, I'll have them clean these ones." Later when she gave me the uniforms and I put them on in the morning before class I realized she had given me the smaller ones and I could barely breathe! I was so pissed that when I saw her I told her I couldn't wear them and I needed the other ones. That's when the devil in her came out! Everyone says just to smile and nod and then do whatever you want. I try to think of her as just an interesting character that I will laugh about in years to come.<br /><br />I thought that the students would be sooo well behaved because they seemed to have so much respect for their teachers. That's all a show. As soon as they are in the classroom they turn into little monsters that won't listen to a word that you say. O.k. I take that back but they can be evil when they want to be. I think I finally got through to them today but that was only after 3 days of having to act like a drill sergeant. Some teachers have to conduct class yelling at the top of their voice. I refuse to do that and I don't think I'll have to but I'll have to get real creative with discipline and reward techniques to keep them in line.<br /><br />I was hoping when I came here that I would lose weight because I would be more active and I would be eating healthier. At first this was working because I wasn't eating at all. We have no kitchen in our rooms. They do give us a water heater, a refrigerator, a toaster and a rice cooker but I honestly don't know what to cook with all that besides rice, toast and ramen noodles. And the main road is so far away that I usually can't muster the effort to get there and then once I'm there they only have gross looking food (hello, coffee tea and german sausages!). But then I started getting desperate and was eating Lay's potato chips and cookies for dinner because it was the only thing that is available. Sigh. Either we need to move closer to the city or I need to get creative with a rice cooker pronto!<br /><br />It sounds terrible, doesn't it? Yes and no. Like I said, it's always hard when you are in a new place. It's not all bad. The people here are really nice. Normally, if you are lost or need help people don't have time for you but here they really go out of their way to make sure that you are o.k. No one has tried to rip us off and they're really patient with us when we try to communicate in broken Thai or sign language. After a while, I know I'll figure it out and I'll love it here!<br /><br />Mmm, straw beds and dirty walls...my favorite!<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img style="WIDTH: 390px; HEIGHT: 788px" height="1022" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/July29038.jpg" width="390" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Glow in the dark Jesus, looking over me.<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/jesus003.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Thank goodness for Western toilets but would a shower curtain be asking for too much?<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/lpkitten/July29040.jpg" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5