Moving across the world...?? Don't be scared!

"You're going to Thailand?? In the jungle with monkeys?"
"Isn't it dangerous there?"
"Do you have a job lined up?"
"Have you ever been there?"
"Do you speak Thai?"
"Do you have a teaching degree?"
"How long will you be gone?"
"Do you like Thai food?"
"Isn't the weather way too hot?"





Hmmm.. I didn't have the answers to these questions (or the answer was no) but I decided to bypass all that and just GO! You learn as you go!

I ended up finding a job easily, buying a scooter, falling in love with the cuisine and the climate, learning some Thai, staying 18 months, and only got robbed once! And unexpectedly along the way, found the answers to a lot of life's questions.

 

The Philippines

           Since we had all seen the main Southeast Asian countries on the backpacker circuit, we decided on the Philippines for the rest of our trip.  Being slightly off the beaten path, and also being a bunch of islands, travel around there is not easy.  There is not as much tourism information because there are not so many tourists.  Where do you stay when HostelWorld and Lonely Planet don’t give you much??

Vietnam

First things first, I made the decision to start eating meat again right from the first meal we sat down for.  This was an excellent decision because the 5 of us often dined family style so we could try everything.  So much good food but I’ll get to that...
In HCMC the best site was the War Remnants Museum.  Opening in September of 1975 (!), the museum had planes, tanks, cannons, preserved prison cells, and more than 6 rooms and topics full of photos and information.

So the group was myself and my friends from Phuket, Helen, Summer, and Sid and my brother Ryan, who flew out from Boston for the trip.  We started in Ho Chi Minh City in the South.  Here we saw more motorbikes in one place than I have ever seen.  Phuket is not comparable since it is not a big city, something I forget until I’m in an actual big city.  The chaos of the bikes weaving through each other at intersections with what seems to be no logic or system, just honking, made me think there has to be tons of scrapes.  When I paid close attention I did actually see lots of bumper-car-action going on.  People were helpful enough here but it was strange to not be in Thailand anymore- the Land of Smiles.  Also we were back at square one with the language! 

We also did a little day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a system of tunnels used by Vietnamese guerillas as an excellent war strategy.  The tunnels are complex and well planned out with small air passages to the surface and exit points under the river surface.  The entry points and passages between rooms were teeny tiny and dark.  It is remarkable how those men navigated all of it.  The entry points are also camouflaged so hopping out of one and running to another during combat was a very crafty thing.  At the end of the tour we got to go through the tunnels which was shocking to say the least!  We couldn’t believe they even let us in there in the tiny stuffy passages, largely just feeling our way through the dark, apart from a couple tiny lights.  All of a sudden the tunnel would have a wall and you needed to climb up, we had to help each other through!  There were 3 we were allowed inside, getting trickier as they went.  More of the group opted out by the 3^rd.  We were really just in shock that they actually let us in there without a disclaimer of how claustrophobic they would be!

The Vietnam War is such a big and powerful part of Vietnam’s history that it dominates tourism activities.  It was a strange feeling to be an American in such a place and feel the guilt and eventually just embarrassment.  There is no actual grudge, no hostility towards today’s American tourists but it’s hard to walk with your head too high.  Also, there are few American tourists in Vietnam; we were often the only ones on the group tours we did so that feels a bit awkward. 

One of the must-sees in every guidebook for Vietnam is the water puppet show, which we did in HCMC. I’m pretty sure it is the same exact show throughout the country because every shop selling Vietnamese puppets had the same ones from our show.  Also, the same folklore stories kept showing up in other sites.  The puppeteers stand in waist deep water behind the scenery, sometimes opening it to let a puppet out.  The puppets can also enter the scene by just emerging from the water.  It was cute and unique and had nice Vietnamese music as well.

We enjoyed every meal we had, right from the beginning.  The always changing different spices of Phở, the fresh baguette sandwiches with “everything” on them from the street carts, the Vietnamese pancakes, the thin rice papered spring rolls, the lemongrass chicken, and the many delicious dishes that I can’t even describe or name the flavor.

We finished Ho Chi Minh City with happy hour drinks on the terrace at the Sheraton hotel with a lovely view of sunset.  We then hopped on the train and woke up in Nha Trang where we went to a secluded resort called Jungle Beach Resort.  The beach was gorgous but we had quite a bit of out-of-season downpour and were a little bored there.  The food was excellent, they fed all the guests together as a feast.  We had traditional Vietnamese flavors as well as guacamole and French fries sometimes!  We met other young travelers and enjoyed visiting with them over dinner and ping pong.  We also hiked to a nearby waterfall with the resort’s dogs showing us the way.  Right as the weather was clearing up after solid days of rain, it was time for us to move on, this time on an overnight bus to Hoi An.

The overnight bus is something we tried never to speak of again, as it was the most uncomfortable excuse for a bed (a super reclined chair, feet in a compartment, practically overlapping your right or left neighbor, and bunked!) and as soon as the sun came up at 5am or so, the driver could not keep his hand off of that awful horn for more than 5 seconds.  And if you wanted to pee, forget about it because random people were sleeping on the aisle floors.  Needless to say, we didn’t do that again.

We spent a perfect day and a half in Hoi An, an old trading town famous for its character including French cafes and countless tailor shops.  Some tourists were so big on the tailored clothing, they were bringing their laptops in to show pictures and getting suits, clothes and shoes made for good prices and shipping big boxes home! None of us were into that but it’s a good idea for people who normally buy really expensive clothes.  We rented bikes and rode around town and just over the bridge on a little island, we stopped at a small place for some local food.  The main local dish is called Cao Lau, which is hearty fresh noodles, tons of fresh green herbs, meat, a sweetish sauce, and fried wonton pieces.  What a delicious mouthful it was!  Best food on the trip!  We had some more that night along with our cheapest-beer-of-our-lives session (20 cents for cup of draught).  When we asked for our bill they said ok how many did you have?  We said we thought you were keeping track!

The next morning, we made our artsy souvenir purchases and took an afternoon bus to Hue, the historic capital of Vietnam.  We spent the following day there exploring the old citadel where we put on traditional royal dress and took the best pictures ever.  We walked through a local market and just when we decided we would stop for a bit of food, we were sat down by some smart little ladies at one of those spots with short tables and mini stools in the middle of the market.  We knew we wanted to try the Bun Cha, the local Pho type soup, so we were glad when they just put a bowl of it in front us.  But then, she continued to bring each one of us each thing from her menu… It was all super delicious, especially the pork skewers, but she just kept bringing it!!  It’s a good thing we liked it so much because she ended up asking for $5USD each as well $1 more for the candy on ice drink she put in front of us, which was actually from the next cart over- tricky!  But even though it was expensive for Vietnam, that is still lots of food for a cheap price in American terms.

We woke up the next morning (overnight train) in the capital city of Hanoi.  Hanoi was nothing like HCMC.  A cute smallish feeling city, we saw most of it that day.  We went first to see Ho Chi Minh’s tomb, which houses his embalmed body and is only open for 3 hours each morning and often closes for more restoration and preservation work.  You must dress very modestly and walk in 2 straight lines, moving steadily around the 3 viewing angles of the body and then out the door.  No hands in your pockets, no arms crossed, no talking, and leave your camera and firearms in a bag outside (don’t worry you can collect them right after).  A very interesting site to see indeed, and for free!  At the same sight we saw Uncle Ho’s old houses around a small lake as well as his old cars.  There was also a Ho Chi Minh Museum and a famous One Pillar Pagoda.  Most of Hanoi was just small sights to see, 50 cents here or there to see a bridge or small museum. 

From Hanoi, we took a bus to Halong Bay for an overnight cruise.  Halong Bay is full of karst rock islands that seem to go on forever in every direction since you see no end throughout the cruise.  The weather in Hanoi was colder than we Phuket dwellers had experienced for a while and even colder in Halong Bay but Ryan and some other boat passengers jumped off the boat into the water.  We all ended up getting wet though because we went kayaking to a cave.  Interesting fact, there is a cave in Vietnam (not this one we visited) that can have 2 jumbo jets flying side by side in it!  After the cave we kayaked back to our boat in the dark which despite being freezing, gave us a chance to see the algae that glows beautiful colors when you touch it.  It looked especially cool hitting the water with the paddles.

Back in Hanoi, after saying goodbye to Sid and Ryan, the 3 girls continued on to Sapa.  Sapa was even colder since it is in the mountains but it was a worthwhile journey to be freezing for 2 days (it was low to mid 50s); we just put on all of our clothes and didn’t take any off until we were back in Hanoi.  Sapa has mountains of rice terraces and local tribes.  Our guide was a 17-year-old girl from a tribe.  She met us in Sapa town to take us trekking through the scenery and to see some tribes.  There was a constant drizzle or small mist of rain going on there and the hillsides were completely muddy.  We all rented rubber boots and were sometimes ankle deep in the mud!  There were women, from young girls to old ladies, who took our hands and somehow managed to stabilize themselves and us as we sloshed up and down the hillside and through the rice paddy.  Of course after they insisted we buy the jewelry and purses they were selling but most of us felt that was fair!  The mountains were big there, more impressive than I thought, with a mountain over 10,000 feet!  Our trekking group of about 15 stayed at a tribal home meant for homestay with lots of beds.  The locals made us delicious dinner and we tried their local rice wine, followed by huddling around some burning coals and chatting.  Those women spoke such good English and they mostly learn from spending time with tourists since they were young, not from school. 

That was our last adventure in Vietnam so after one more meal of Pho and one more baguette sandwich, it was time to head for warm weather again—next stop, Philippines!

Leaving Thailand: last thoughts

          
          It is a strange feeling ending a chapter in your life.  I always get overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions- how much that life became the norm for me, the sadness of how I’ll never see certain people again, how I’ll never be that age again; the amazement of how much time has passed, the wisdom I’ve learned, the difference in me since I entered that chapter; and of course, aspirations and anxieties about the future.

Saying goodbye to my students was sad for me.  Most are too young to fully understand that they will never see me again and that I have a different life in a different part of the world.  And naturally I was more attached to certain students; some I had for all 3 semesters of my teaching and some were just more mature or advanced in their language skills and built special relationships with me.  When I started hugging those students on the last day of school I felt sad.  At the same time, I knew that my career as a teacher had definitely burned out, at least, with that age group, with that curriculum, with that school, and possibly with this continent.  The last couple of months were a big struggle for me in all those areas.  As I have expressed before, I feel that the curriculum presented for such young kids is very difficult to uphold as it is not age appropriate, thus making my job a struggle despite my enjoyment of being around kids.  At the same time, this situation and its challenges gave me an irreplaceable lesson, the exact kind I set out for.  I mean, why would I go across the world to teach at a school identical to one in America? 

Some students’ parents seemed a bit surprised that I was going home and I almost felt guilty… but I got what I came for and now it is time for me to move on… that’s understandable right?  Nothing personal towards Thailand but I didn’t see my entire future there!  There is still so much more of the world that I want to see and I’m really excited for when I do. 

Now that I am home, in what I find to be the most freezing April weather ever, I have to get used to not only the weather, but also driving on the right side of the road, people having a million electronics, people having such trendy clothes and hobbies, following traffic laws, expensive food, and the fact that things have changed and I am totally not with it.  My family said the thing that outsider-ed me the most was asking who is that guy with the crazy beard? on the Giants while they were watching the game.  When I was watching the news I said who is this guy they're calling governor isn't Arnold the governor? Apparently not anymore.  I keep forgetting that there are dryers and free tap water and I can't get enough of these comfortable beds and couches!  I guess every country has good features about it!!

Cute Students!

 

I can sing a rainbow!!

My Trip to Nepal

 Upon landing in Kathmandu, the first thing I needed to do was buy the visa on arrival. I thought it was so funny that they did not accept their own money, Nepalese Rupee, for the visa. They only accepted strong currencies like USD, GBP, Euro, AUSD, NZD, Yen, etc., certainly not Thai Baht though! Anyway, I had to get USD, which I found silly.

The next thing I noticed was how diverse the tourist population was. It really puts in perspective what a small amount of tourists are American; I came across only a small handful of Americans on this trip. I think I was under the false notion that Americans are somewhat ahead at everything but tourism is certainly not dominated by Americans. I also found it interesting that although Nepal lies between China and India, the Nepali people look mostly Indian, not Chinese. I assume this is because the Himalayas divide Nepal and China…

All About Bikram Yoga

         Have you ever felt like life was okay, but perhaps something is missing? And you may or may not be consciously aware of this feeling or have any clue what will satisfy it? I think passion is often that thing. To feel so passionate and to enjoy something or someone so much is crucial to human nature. This time around, I found yoga. This is not to say that one hobby will be enough to fulfill that feeling forever, but at this point in my life, yoga was what was missing.

I feel like now I know what religious people feel like, to really believe in the teachings of something so much; so much in fact that you want to share it with everyone so that they too can better their lives because you are sure it can. Though imposing your beliefs in extreme ways is not necessary, I think being a teacher of something you are passionate about is… well I cannot think of a more perfect job! To have genuine enthusiasm toward new students, truly enjoy watching them improve, and offer the best of your knowledge to them sounds very rewarding. Actually, I already have and feel all of these things for newcomers even as a fellow student! Anyway, when I finish up the school year and some traveling here in March and April, if all goes according to plan, I am going to head back to the states to become a certified Bikram Yoga teacher. Then I will venture back out into the world, national or international, to start teaching!

         My studio here in Phuket was lucky enough to have Bikram visit us.  He taught a class!  I was starstruck, it was like everything out of his mouth had to be true.  He knew exactly how to help people when they thought they couldn't do something; he knew they could do it without hurting themselves and he was right.  He even called me out and had me try something I didn't know I could do!  He helped me try an advanced position where I was on my knees and bent around backwards and he then proceeded to stand on my hips, causing everyone to gasp.  I didn't even know what was happening.  Then his wife happen to stop by not long after him and teach a class!  How lucky we are at such a small studio!

        Bikram Yoga (aka hot yoga) is pretty different than other types of yoga. The room is over 105 degrees and 40-50% percent humidity also. Class is 90 minutes, and you do a series of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises that involve balance, strength, and stretching. Even though you don’t leave your mat, it gets your heart rate up so much, plus those 3 things are more necessary for your body than, say, cardio. I never did yoga before because it didn’t seem to be a worthwhile workout. I thought, yes balance is good, but it wastes an awful lot of time that could be spent just jogging and burning calories like a traditional workout. Sometimes I think Bikram yoga shouldn’t even be called yoga because it evokes the wrong image in peoples' minds. There are yoga classes out there that correspond with that image, you know, seated meditation, chanting, closing your eyes—none of which occur in a Bikram class. My feelings on Bikram yoga are not inclusive to those classes.

        This yoga is spiritual for me in a different way than people imagine yoga to be. We never just sit there and meditate but the balancing postures have so much to concentrate on that you really are in a meditation thinking about all the things you are trying to get your body to do while maintaining balance. Balance can be a very mental thing; some days you have it and some days you don’t, depending on external factors and whatnot. If you saw the way I have to stare at one thing while I maintain the balance and think about everything else, you would see that it is a kind of meditation. Also, the goal for the teacher is to talk the entire time, basically being your brain for you for 90 minutes.

        Bikram yoga is tough, especially if you aren’t flexible. The good news is that as long as you are doing the posture as best you can, accomplishing each step correctly before advancing yourself in the posture, you are gaining 100 percent of the same benefits! It is perfectly fine to sit or lay down on your mat if you feel dizzy or weak, just don’t leave the room! Bikram yoga is great for any kind of physical injury or even illness. People may think they can’t do it because of an injury but it is exactly what will cure it.

        Besides just being happier and having a hobby to work at, I feel healthier and have better posture. Plus I may have toned up a bit and lost some weight. I think about yoga during the day and look forward to going!

So there it is, I have been converted and now I am preaching the good word. Try it at least once!

Exciting Visit from Mom

It was difficult to predict if, after visiting, my mom would like the idea of me living here more or less.  I felt like I needed to protect her from seeing the crazy driving and the prostitutes and all the Thai craziness but just because those things are prevalent here, doesn’t mean a mom has to freak out.

Thai Kindergarten (a little rant)

         Now I myself am going to go on an expat rant!  (I know it’s hypocritical since I just talked about how obnoxious foreigners who complain are, but I generally keep a positive attitude, I just gotta let this rant out!)

         My biggest challenge in teaching here, which I may have mentioned before, is adhering to the methods used here for teaching such young children.  At home, kids go to kindergarten when they are 5 or 6, then to first grade.  Here, there is Pre-K, K1, K2, and K3, and then first grade.  So K3 is basically equivalent to “kindergarten” at home.  Kindergarten is when children are first faced with some studying of letters and sounds and handwriting.  By this time, children have already picked up on a lot of this knowledge and ability through other means, such as singing and playing.  Here, they don’t seem to think “playing” can be educational at all. SO, starting in Pre-K (which at home would be pre-pre-pre-k), they have kids tracing lines and are yelling at them for not tracing and coloring inside the lines.  This is what is difficult for me: not only forcing 2-4 year olds to sit in a desk for a lesson and a boring assignment, but also telling then its not good enough and making them do it again.  I neglected to be strict with my K1 students’ tracing and coloring for one semester and was informed that they were behind and I needed to take it up a notch.  It breaks my heart to be tough on them for something I personally don’t believe matters.

        All this bookwork makes for a lot of marking (yes, we have to take a red pen and correct every little wrong slant in every letter) which leaves the teacher no time to engage in play with the students.  Without close monitoring and planning of playtime, it isn’t educational.  A bucket of broken mixed up toys is dumped on the ground and the kids go nuts.  I have put a lot of effort into keeping the toys sorted and only offering one bunch at a time, so that the students see how the toys are to be used correctly, something that is not clear when they are mixed up.  I worked at a Montessori school at home where preschoolers play with one set of toys at a time and are asked to clean it up before moving on.  Broken toys are not acceptable as there is nothing to learn from a toy that can’t fulfill its own purpose.  “Kindergarten” here is a Montessori preschool teacher’s nightmare. 

        Anyway, the kids here, even in a private school setting, are either doing work, which they may or may not understand, or going wild, practically unmonitored, while playing with pointless toys.  They have no scheduled daily recess, only 1 PE class per week.  If the whole class finishes their work in a lesson, the teacher can take the kids to the playground (also containing an excess of broken toys) for a few minutes.  On top of that exhausting day, some kindergartners stay for the extra English lesson from 3:30-4:30 and some even stay for an extra Thai lesson from 4:30-5:15. We try to make class as fun as we have time for.  We try to use crafts and clay etc, and the students also attend two Song and Drama classes per week, one Art class, and one Computer class.  The kindergarten teachers stay busy during that time doing the marking, planning, and escorting.

        I hate that I find myself so upset when 20 three year olds aren’t sitting still in their desks or doing their endless pages of tracing. These kids don’t know what they’re missing and still manage to come to school with huge smiles on their faces.  They are so precious and so smart. I could rant about these methods all day (as I mentioned that some expats do) but the truth is, I love my students and at the end of the day, that’s why I have stayed.  I didn’t come here to teach Montessori school.  I came for the learning experience of teaching not in America and for the opportunity to interact with children of a different culture.  I have found all of these things here and wouldn’t trade my time here for any job at home.  That said, I could not do this job forever, but it is nice to explore. 

Expat Culture

          I left home one year ago and can really say that my feelings on living in Thailand have come full circle. I have loved and hated many of the same things here at one point or another.

Wake Up Call

            About a month ago, I had a big realization about my job and Thai culture.  It’s interesting because I wrote my senior thesis about how people who spend a long time abroad go through all these phases of challenges, resentment, attachment and revelations but at that point, I had not spent more than 10 weeks in a foreign country and had yet to experience what that meant. 

A Paid Holiday and a New Class

My school year ended in March, followed by a 4 week summer course in which I got new, very young students, most who would later be in my class for the year. My holiday started with saying goodbye to my awesome roommate because she was headed home to Canada- crazy how everyone is always coming and going around here. Then I headed out with some teachers to Chiang Mai up north for the Thai New Year celebration, Songkran.

Songkran is a celebration of new beginnings and a fresh start and falls at the end of the hot dry season. The Thais pour flower water on Buddha statues in honor of this which turned into throwing water on each other, which turned into the world’s biggest water fight. Up until about 70 years ago, their calendar year changed over during this time in April but they have since correlated their Buddhist calendar year to change over on January 1 instead, though the festivities remain at the traditional time in April. Since the celebration originated in Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai is the where the biggest festivities take place. It was such an amazing event to be a part of and the Thais are very willing to let everyone share in there celebration.

Since the holiday is nationwide, most of the teachers I know from Phuket and Bangkok were there, yet remarkably when I looked around, the majority of the crowds were Thai. Chiang Mai is a perfect city for this particular event because the main area is the old city, about 2 square kilometers surrounded by a moat. The streets around the moat become a sort of parade of trucks and tuk-tuks full of people with water guns and buckets of water to throw at everyone on the sidewalks. The people on the sidewalks have water guns and buckets attached to a string, which they throw into the moat to fetch water to throw, a skill that is quickly acquired after joining the festivities. There are radio station booths with hoses and people selling giant blocks of ice on the sidewalks for the people in the trucks to buy. In the trucks there are garbage cans full of water as a refill for their other tools, so they put the ice in there. Since the novelty of getting anyone wet is lost, since everyone is soaked, you gotta get em with ice water to really shock them.

This fight takes mercy on no one, old and young people alike, and even the cops are getting soaked. The water from the moat isn’t exactly clean, nor do recreational activities normally take place in it but during this week, loads of people are swimming. Thais are known to swim fully clothed at the beach, not so much as a conservative thing, its just the norm, so during this traditional festival it is best to cover up a bit and not wear see through clothes. The official celebration is 3 days but in Chiang Mai it starts a couple days early. We spent a week there, mostly just joining in the festivities since there was no hope of arriving anywhere dry. Transportation is tuk-tuks and people loved to walk right up to the passengers and drench them.

We were able to see some temples including the beautiful Doi Suthep on top of a big hill, though the view was a bit obstructed by haze from the annual fires meant to cleanse the hillsides. We also visited a tiger zoo where we were able to pet some trained, not drugged, tigers, including some newborns.

 

When Songkran was over, a few of us took a 3 day trek in the mountains. Always hearing that the North was mountainous, it was a bit of shock to actually see the mountains as they weren’t anything like the Sierras and they were scorching hot! The first day we drove up into the mountains (in a tuk-tuk!) and stopped along the way to ride elephants. We got to see a clumsy newborn elephant! We hiked for a couple hours that afternoon with our trekking guide, a guy from one of the nearby hill tribes who spoke good English and had answers to all our questions. As we neared the hill-tribe village where we would be spending the night, we stopped to bathe in the river so as to arrive clean and fresh.

The tribe spoke their own language so any Thai that we knew unfortunately didn’t help us to communicate with them. We mostly just smiled and thanked them profusely. They cooked us a delicious dinner with delicious vegetarian dishes. After the meal our guide took us to visit with some locals in their house. The houses consisted of two huts, one for sleeping and one for cooking, though some family members slept in the kitchen huts. They gave us tea and we asked all the questions we could think of, communicating through our guide. There was an older couple we directed most of our questions to and they were absolutely brilliant. We asked how old they were and they told us to guess and then they also tried to guess our ages. The wife said she wished she could talk to us and if she could, she would have us all laughing. She actually ended up saying some things that when translated to us made everyone laugh, which just goes to show that humor can be shared among people with such different backgrounds. When they asked where we were all from, one person asked, “Which country do you like the best?!” and she said something along the lines of “we are all part of the same country.” This exchange was so interesting to me because I feel like it is very characteristic for a Westerner to ask who is the best and for the villager to respond that way.

The next day we hiked six hours in the heat, arriving at our next “camp” in time to bathe in the river before it got dark. Our guide and some villagers made us dinner. The villagers have houses scattered throughout the hillsides so there always seemed to be some people nearby. When we woke up they were tying together bamboo rafts for us. The river was very low since it was the end of dry season but we still attempted to raft on it. The guides had to keep dragging us over rocks that we got stopped on and sometimes we just got off the raft and helped carry it along. On the drive back to Chiang Mai, we stopped at a gorgeous waterfall for a nice swim which finished off the awesome trip. Oh and apparently awesome is a very American thing to say, haha.

slow boat on Mekong River

We headed to Laos the following day on the famous slow boat journey on the Mekong River. The long wooden boat isn’t by any means comfortable but the scenery is beautiful and makes for a nice alternative to a 20 hour van ride on bumpy windy roads. The boat travels one day, stops in a small Lao town where everyone gets hostels for the night, then travels a second day, arriving in Luang Prabang by dinner.

The feeling of Laos was very different than Thailand. It is a very poor communist country. One thing that we all noticed was that the locals were always littering! A Lao woman on the boat kept tossing all her garbage into the river, even splashing us sometimes! Lao towns are small, mostly on the Mekong or Namsong river, and have a French influence leftover from the French rule which ended over 50 years ago. This really just meant that there were lots of bakeries, a few Lao people who can speak French, and every restaurant and food stand has baguettes. In Luang Prabang, we enjoyed eating traditional Lao food (similar to Thai food), cruising around town on bicycles, a very good night market where we all bought some artwork, and a hike and swim around an amazing waterfall that was so blue it looked fake.

Our next stop was Vang Vieng, which so recently became a cool place for young backpackers, there isn’t even much about it in Lonely Planet! The scenery is gorgeous because not only is there a river, the town is also surrounded by giant limestone Karst mountains. Tourism has sprouted recently in Vang Vieng because they designated a stretch of the river for floating in tubes and lined the river with bars. The bars have lots of rope swings and entertainment; people really don’t spend that much time tubing. In fact, you can just go hang out at the bar all day swimming and playing and not even rent a tube. We were in Vang Vieng a week so we went to the river 3 times. 

 

 We also rented bicycles and rode to some caves, went to a lagoon, and stayed up late at outdoor bonfire bars meeting people from around the world, and even someone whose father grew up on the same street as me. We also kept seeing our friends from Phuket in all these towns and after the slow boat ride, we realized we were on the same track as several backpackers because we kept seeing all the same groups several times a day in every town. Laos was beautiful and extremely fun but there certainly was a seperation of Lao people and backpackers, as opposed to Thailand where the locals make friends with foreigners.

I am back into my normal schedule now of full-time work and yoga which feels great. My new class seems so young! They learn very quickly though. These multi-lingual kids never cease to amaze me. My students are mostly half Thai but their backgrounds also include Italian, German, Japanese, Indian, Swedish, and British. Two and a half is a crazy age but I already love them. I’m still very attached to my students from last term though and cannot believe how big and grown up they seem now. Luckily almost all of them still go to the school so I can still hug them and wave to them and tell them how big they’re getting! The first week, a few of them were even begging to come back to Pre-K with Teacher Andy!

Routine

I left California 5 months ago and have been at my job here a little over 3 months. That is longer than I have been away from home before and the longest I have had a full time job since I have been a student my whole life and therefore could only work full time in the summers. Before I left home, I wasn’t sure how much I would like it here but I knew I wanted to at least give this living abroad thing a try; so, I told people I would probably be gone 7 months (1 month TEFL training and one semester teaching). Now, I would be so sad to leave in just a couple months because time is going by so quickly and happily. I’m not sure how long I want to stay but since I love it more everyday… well, we’ll see!

I'm A Real Teacher!

Well I have been at my school for almost 4 weeks now, being the lead teacher for 3

Phuket Living

Since I haven’t moved locations, I want to really write about ways of life here, what I am adapting to, and who Thai people are.

The Infamous Job Search

Wow a lot has happened in the last two weeks! We finished up our program in Pattaya, Thailand, got our TESOL certificates and got the heck out of there!

            Not to say that Pattaya is the only place in SE Asia with gross old white men walking around with young Thai girls but… well, we weren’t sad to leave it! About half of our group of 9 went straight to Bangkok. Myself and two other girls stayed with one of their friends in Bangkok. He had just been in a huge motorbike accident and had nasty scrapes all over and was walking with a limp; also, when we got there he had no water or electricity. Luckily it came back on that night; our classmates who went to Vietnam taught a couple of their practice classes by candlelight!

So this guy and his roommate both had these tattoos done with bamboo by monks at a temple not far from Bangkok. The girls had been looking forward to doing this too so we woke up early the next morning and ventured out for this magical temple. It was a beautiful temple and known for giving these tattoos yet we were the only foreigners there (awesome!). I got an oil tattoo just for the experience. You don’t pick what you want or where you want it, it is up to the monk. Somehow though, you trust anything they do. So I got a scroll done on the back of my shoulder. He put gold on it and said some Buddhist prayers and then it was up to me what to give to him. I gave him 100 baht which is about 3 dollars and what everyone else gives. 

We walked around to the different monks in different rooms and buildings, all of whom had groups of Thai people sitting around them to get tattoos. It was fun to explore the temple which seemed like an active monastery. It was some sort of holiday and they had a he free meal so we partook in that too! And everyone washed their own dish in a giant tub! The girls finally chose a monk to do their tattoos. They both got a 9 column temple on the top center of their backs. This is usually the tattoo the monk will give if you don’t have any yet, after that the monks really just surprise you. We checked out Khaosan Road in Bangkok that night which is the backpacker district and very touristy.

I headed out of Bangkok the next evening, figuring I would be back sometime to see the rest of the sights. I had a job offer about 8 hours south of Bangkok so I took an overnight train down to Suratthani. The small town was on a river about an hour from the beach, the school was nice, and they provided accommodations for teachers but I wasn’t feelin it so I kept going south. I had a job offer in another small town called Phang Nga Town where they also showed me around town and the school. Phang Nga had gorgeous mountains and cliffs surrounding it and is close to a lagoon area where you can kayak in caves but still an hour from the beach and only 8 foreigners in the whole town. So I kept moving south!

Next I got here to Phuket and met back up with a classmate. Phuket (pronounced poo-ket) is a big island only separated from the rest of Thailand by a short bridge but an island nonetheless. There are a few towns on it so choosing where to stay and then getting to the schools to turn in applications was a bit difficult. The West coast of Phuket was hit by a big tsunami in 2004 but has recovered quickly and become even more touristy than before. The main tourist town on the West coast is expensive and taxis are more expensive here but getting a place in one of the other gorgeous towns and getting your own moto is completely affordable. Teaching salaries here are about 30,000 baht per month and rent is 4-8,000 baht per month. The way I see it I’m living on a tropical island so when I’m not working I’m already right where I want to be! The first few days we were here there were about 3,000 US Marines here so a lot of bars and clubs had banners welcoming them and needless to say, there were “jarheads” walking around everywhere. I actually talked to a couple who were stationed in San Diego.

The locals’ morning commute here is very interesting. There is a frame of about exactly half an hour where there is traffic. Pick up trucks will go by jam packed with people in the back going to the same jobsite, maybe fishing on the river or working in a lumberyard. Then if you think those are a sight to see, wait till you see the giant trucks go by with at least 100 people standing like sardines in the back, all dressed alike in what looks like scrubs. These people are going to construction sites of resorts. Talk about a carpool!

There was a celebration on Monday night all over Thailand called Loi Krathong which takes place at the local river, lake or ocean. I went down to the beach with some Argentinean travelers and we watched all the lanterns in hot air balloon-like forms get launched in the air, causing it to look like an array of Christmas lights in the sky as well as the candles on tiny banana leaf boats float off on the ocean. Most holidays seem to be similar to this! They would be nothing without exact replication of the traditions. I thought to myself how a holiday involving launching things into the sky and water would not go over well at home due to pollution and was surprised the next day to see people combing the waters, picking up the many lanterns that had fallen out of the sky. I hadn’t realized that they wouldn’t go far. Also on the beach at night are men pulling big nets out of the water and setting them on the beach while they pick the crabs out of them. I was jogging by one night when they did this and saw a bunch of small fish flopping around too; it was kind of funny.

I have been in Internet café’s a lot doing the job search since I left my first job. There are always Thai girls in there video chatting with creepy old white men. Its really sad because they will be talking about their families and struggles in extremely broken English and I think the guys just send them money. There are many bi-racial families here, 99.9% being a Thai wife and a white husband. It’s interesting because Thai children are very disciplined and many can be put in a classroom but when they are raised even half differently, they are little rascals!

           About my first job, I worked for 3 days at a small preschool. One English teacher started the same day as me and the other one had been there 2 months and had put in her 2 weeks. The other new girl lasted 2 days and then she got yelled at for one thing or another that we were never instructed on. They were also training a new Thai secretary starting Monday and she only lasted 2 days. The class I had was 4-6 year olds and had 5 teachers in the last 6 weeks. When I showed up my first day they were like here is the breakdown of the classes you teach and right then was English phonetics… And then later there were 30 minutes designated for recognizing colors and 30 minutes for tracing shapes and so forth with a repeating weekly schedule. First of all I don’t think kids should be sitting at desks all day until they are 5-6 and this class was the highest of 3 preschool classes. I believe they need more recess and independent work and just general exposure to the language. They need to learn respect and responsibility through something like Montessori curriculum which is age appropriate! Most of them spoke English except for a new boy from Korea and a new girl from Switzerland. The students and the Thai teachers mostly ignored them saying they can’t do it. The Swiss girl took a special liking to me because I took the time to help her and make sure she understood instead of ignoring her like the Thai teachers did. When these kids are without an English teacher they are only exposed to the poor English spoken by all the Thai “nannies.” Some of them didn’t even recognize their names and certain words said correctly. And they had already been taught the wrong words to some English songs. One teacher before me had taught them some form of a sign language alphabet that was definitely not American Sign Language so I didn’t know what to do with that… And after talking to the other English teacher there I found out that the couple who ran the place had lied to me about a few things, yelled at staff on a regular basis and he was possibly an alcoholic and wasn’t allowed back in his home country which is either Holland or USA, depending on who you believe. I would create a lesson but the Thai teacher in my room would just say no you need to do this now, even though I had good plans! She would say this kid can’t do that, this kid can’t work alone, this kid can’t work in partners, and so on. Like things were the way they were permanently. I had to spend an hour a day in the nursery where the kids ran around like wild and yelled and hit and were hit my teachers. I was expected to have a lesson plan in this room too… The Thai nannies would make fun of kids, let a few of the older ones box (since one was actually taking boxing lessons), hit them, and say inappropriate things to them that they will certainly repeat. I realized maybe I should have thought more about how I would react in a child care situation that would contradict my beliefs. The other English teacher at the school said that this place was atypical around here since she has been in Thailand about a year. Apparently the nannies were illiterate in Thai too. Anyway, job interview on Monday for older kids so until then… well.. I live at the beach !

Oh and it has now been 6 weeks that I have been a vegetarian. I might be tempted to eat meat at home but the thing is I'm really not here. I even found an Indian restaurant with a massive vegetarian menu and had an amazing meal; its incredible what you can make without meat. Oh and also haven't worn pants or sleeves or blow dryed my hair in 6 weeks haha.

Beginning of Thailand

We started our journey from Cambodia to Thailand on a large bus.

One Week in

I called this blog best decision ever because I feel like I already know this to be true.