Whoda Thunk It?

That's right. I'm doing a double post today, but I sincerely believe this post is worthy. Today was the last day before New Years break and I stepped into my last class of the day only to discover that only 2 students out of 40 had shown up. Instead of leaving the class and going home, I decided to stay and talk to the students who were there. I had my laptop with me so I decided to show them pictures of places I have traveled to, and pictures of my friends and family. With about 20 minutes left in class, the 2 students just started laughing and looking behind me. I turn around and the entire rest of the class is standing there with a big sign that said "Happy New Year Teacher!!!" and then they started to sing a happy new year song to the tune of happy birthday. I was in total shock and couldn't believe that my students did this for me. They all started laughing and smiling, and I too had the biggest smile on my face, and I couldn't even control it. For the first time since I have been here teaching, I really felt like appreciated and that I had some sort of connection with my students. And for that brief moment, I had forgotten about all the troubles I had been through in the past with them and just focussed on the now. And the now was making me very, very happy. I spent the remainder of the class just casually talking with my students and showing them more pictures from home and they all seemed very interested, and I was just so happy that I didn't have to yell or be mean. I felt like I was just being myself in the classroom for the first time ever and I was enjoying the hell out of it. I left the class on a positive note, the year had ended well for me in school and gave me hope that these next 2 months are going to really be something special if I want them to be. And I really do want them to be. I know its a cliche, but I really think I learned a valuable lesson today... don't judge people too early, sometimes they will surprise you.

Ring in the New Year.... Where???

Tomorrow is New Years Eve and I'm still not sure where I am going to be. Most of my friends are down in Ko Phi Phi, ready to ring in the new year on a beach almost too beautiful to be on earth. Originally, I was going to go down there as well, but I never booked anything and before I knew it, it seemed too late. I figured I'd just save some money and stay in Bangkok and go down south when Josh and I are backpacking. But, things change and as you all know I am very easily persuaded. My friends talked me into coming down there with them, problem is, I can't seem to find a way to get down there. After unsuccessfully searching the internet for bus or train options to get to Phuket, I decided my best bet is to just go to the bus station in Bangkok and hope I can find a bus that has at least one seat available. It's a long, 12 hour bus ride down there, but at least it's overnight so hopefully I will get some sleep. If I don't go to Phi Phi for the new year, then I will just stay here in Bangkok with some other friends that will be here, and then I think I might go off on a solo adventure for the remainder of my long weekend. Not sure where I would like to go yet, but I'm packing for multiple situations so I'll be ready to go anywhere. Here's hoping I end up in a good place.... and those aren't hard to find here in Thailand.

On an unrelated note, Josh has been taking care of Elliot while my sisters are away on vacation. And he just posted this picture on his blog that I just couldn't resist posting here as well. It makes me very happy to know that 2 of my favorite living creatures are spending such a wonderful time together.

New Best Friends?

So, who knows where I will be this time tomorrow. I guess only time will tell... HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

So, You Think You Know Thailand?

This is something I have been meaning to do for a long time, but have yet to do it until now. Aside from blogging about my weekend as per usual, I would like to talk about the little cultural differences I have noticed here in Thailand.

Thai Time- Thai’s are always late for everything. I haven’t met a Thai person since I have been here that has been on time for anything. And I doubt that I ever will. I have waited for someone as little as 5 minutes, or as long as an hour. They do not call you to tell you that they will be late either. They just expect you to understand “Thai Time” and that when they say a certain time, it really doesn’t mean that at all. I am finally getting in this mode.

Mai Bpen Rai- The most used expression in Thailand. Essentially meaning, “No Worries.” Thai people will find a way to use this phrase in almost every single conversation they partake in. It’s used in restaurants, in school, in taxis. Every situation seems appropriate. It’s a good way to look at life, I suppose. It's optimistic and showcases Thailand's positive attitude.

OK- Another expression used frequently here. I swear, I must hear "OK" a hundred times a day. They are constantly saying it. I have even found myself saying it more often during conversations, even to other Americans.

Same, Same- And one more expression that you will frequently hear in Thailand. I'm not sure why they add that extra "same" on there when they could just as easily say one "same" to agree with you. But they do, and that's just the way it is here.

7-11- You never would have thought this before coming here, but there are 7-11's on every single corner on every single street here. I think I heard that there are somewhere near 6,000 7-11's in the whole country. It's a good thing though, if you ever need to charge up on junk food, cheap beer, or the most delicious tuna sandwiches you'll ever have (I'm not kidding, they have awesome tuna here).

Smiles- They don't call it the Land of Smiles for nothing! While my students might be the most annoying little brats I've ever come across, the rest of Thailand is not really like this. You can't help but smile at people as you walk down the street, and you will always get a smile in return. They smile in any kind of situation, good or bad. To agree, or disagree. I've run into a few rotten apples who don't fit this description, but on a whole, this country loves to show off their teeth.

Shoes- This should come as no surprise as it is common in many Asian countries, but when you enter someone's home or go into a Wat, you must remove your shoes as a sign of respect. Students at school must also take their shoes off in class, which often results in me trying to block out the smell of 40 dirty socks per class.

Animals- Back in the day, I'd get so excited whenever I saw an animal that I wasn't used to seeing on a day to day basis. Here though, I am used to having geckos in my room, in my bathroom, on my balcony, just everywhere all the time. I now know the noise that a gecko makes, and believe me, it's different than you would think. I am used to seeing 4-6 foot long Monitor Lizards every single day on my morning bike ride to school. They are like squirrels to me now. I'm used to seeing exotic looking birds, stray dogs, and cats with short, stumpy tails every single day. And oh yeah, I now have a passionate feeling of hatred for pigeons as they "coo" and wake me up much earlier than my 6:45 alarm does every morning. Many have set up shop on my balcony and poop on my clothes when I hang them out to dry. Which brings me to...

Laundry- Man, do I miss dryers. Everything is air-dried here. I should have expected this, but I never really thought about it before I left. It really makes you appreciate just how great dryers really are. Air-drying leaves your clothes feeling stiff and itchy, often times they are very wrinkled, and every time you do a load, they get stretched out more and more. Also, you can't really get rid of stains with the laundry here. You can make them smell nice with some kind of laundry powder, but try to get a grass stain or a food stain out of your nice khakis and I'm afraid you're all out of luck cause it ain't gonna happen.

Confusion- I can't tell you how many times I have been put into a situation where I have absolutely no clue what is going on. You get put in a room with a bunch of other Thai people and they are all speaking in Thai and probably talking about you, and you are just sitting there with a blank stare on your face. Or maybe this happens on the street when you try and communicate with someone by asking directions in broken Thai and they respond to you by speaking in Thai very fast. I'll usually just say "OK" and walk away. Pictures sometimes work, I often find myself drawing pictures of things, or maybe doing charades to act out what I am trying to say. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. When it does though, a great feeling of accomplishment pours over me.

The Stare- I have been here now for over 2 months, and I'm still not used to people staring at me wherever I go. More in my town than anywhere else, but you'd think after 2 months that they'd get used to seeing me everyday. You would think wrong. When I go to the food market every night for dinner, I can feel the eyes all on me, staring. I guess in time I will just learn to zone it out and not focus on it, but still, it's hard to try and order your pad thai when you know that behind you there are 20 eyes glaring to see what you are going to do next.

Food- I'm just gonna put this out there. The food in Thailand isn't as great as I thought it was going to be. Sure, I have had some unbelievably delicious dishes such as coconut milk curry with pineapple and shrimp, and I've had some real tasty pad thai, but on a whole I have been let down. The Thai food you get at home at places like Tara Thai or Thai Pavilion, is NOT Thai food. I mean, it is... but it's not. It's the Americanized version of Thai food, which I guess is what happens to lots of ethnic foods when they are brought to America. But the food here is spicy like whoa, very greasy, and almost everything is fried. I must have consumed about 1000 lbs of rice since I've been here, and if I never ate another single grain of rice ever again, I think I would be ok with that. However, that is obviously not going to happen, and I'm just going to have to start pretending that rice is something else, like Fruity Pebbles or peanut butter cups. Also, they LOVE fish sauce, my goodness do they love fish sauce.

Alright, well that's about all I can think of for right now. I'll try and post some more as time goes by and I think of more. In the meantime, I hope this will hold you all over and give you a little insight about what it's like living in Thailand.

I would also like to apologize for seriously lacking on my blog updates this month. I was gone for a long time at Ko Samet, and I haven't been to any cool places since then so I haven't had much to write about. I've also been quite sick the past few days, and I'm just starting to get better now. So there really hasn't been anything too exciting to post lately, which is why I thought now is the perfect time to tell you all a little about Thai Culture.

And one more thing. It is official, JOSH HAS BOOKED HIS FLIGHT TO THAILAND. That's right friends, the dynamic duo will be reunited come March 1st for a 2 month Southeast Asian Backpacking Adventure. Our goal is to hit up Thailand (obviously), India, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam with possibilities to explore other countries such as China and Indonesia. Who knows what kind of crazy adventures we are going to get ourselves into! This one is going to go down in the history books!

A Weekend in the City

Sorry for the late posting of my weekend, but I haven’t had much internet access this week. After school on Friday I took a van to Bangkok for my programs mid-semester holiday reunion. I figured it would be a good time to see some people I haven’t seen in a while and get a free dinner. After an engaging conversation with my taxi driver in Bangkok where we communicated the best we could despite our language barriers, I arrived at the restaurant where the reunion was. To my disappointment, there were only about 20 or so people that actually showed up, and most of them were people that I see almost every weekend anyway. At least I got a free dinner out of it. The ironic thing is, I paid for my transportation into the city from my school for a free dinner. So, I actually ended up paying more than I would have if I had just stayed at home. But I will take any chance I get to get out of my boring town, and Bangkok is always a good time.

After dinner, we went to our hostel and had an extreme altercation with the lady who runs it. There are too many ridiculous details to go into it all, but basically she accused all my friends and I of trespassing and stealing a room key, she started screaming at us, calling us “low level people” and telling us never to come back again. We never even did a single thing wrong. We showed up with our passports ready to check in and then all hell broke loose. At 5am, she came into our friends room shaking and screaming at them that they were trespassing and that she was going to call the police. We got the heck out of there the next day, even though we paid for another night, and we found a much better hostel down the road with an extremely nice owner from Georgia, who was such a relief after that nightmare of a lady.

That day we kind of took it easy. We were staying close to the largest shopping mall in Southeast Asia, which just happens to have an English movie theater. I was determined to see a movie, since I hadn’t seen one since I had been in Thailand. We decided to see Avatar in 3D, and I really like it. Afterwards, I went with one of my friends to do a little shopping and then headed back to the hostel to get ready for the night. We showered, changed, got ready, etc for the nights activities. And after a very nice dinner at a very Christmased out restaurant called Gullivers Travels, our night began.

Our first stop was the famous Bangkok Sky Bar on top of the Lebua State Tower. This place is amazing. Some 60 stories high up in the air, you can pretty much see every single rooftop in Bangkok. Everything is lit up, and you really get an idea of just how giant and wonderful this city is. Drinks were super expensive though, so I only had one. A whiskey coke, quite out of character for me. Next, it was off to some smaller, less expensive pubs back on the ground until we met up with the rest of our group. Everyone wanted to go to a club, so we ended up going to the most famous club in Bangkok, Bed. All the Thai celebrities and rich Americans come here, but I found it to be a bit overwhelming and not all that fun. Pretty cool atmosphere though. By the end of the night it was 3am, and I was tired. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped to get some pizza. And as great as it was, I really wished it was Jumbo Slice.

I didn't take this picture, but this is the view from Sky Bar

Ilan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

It's only 10:30 in the morning, and this has by far been the worst day of teaching so far. As great and amazing as last week was, this week has been basically a total nightmare. I don't know why the students are being even worse than usual this week, but they are and I am not happy about it. Today started off when I woke up and wasn't feeling too good, my stomach was a little upset and I had a bit of the shakes. I felt a little better after I showered and ate, but still not 100%. I rode my bike to school, and as soon as I locked it up I felt this unbelievably intense pain on my right elbow and I look down and see this GIANT black wasp stinging the living daylights out of me. I swatted it away but it just flew up and stung me above my right eyebrow. The pain was almost unbearable and I could feel my eye and elbow swelling up like crazy. I ran to the bathroom and put cold water on the stings but it was too late, they were already swollen and throbbing. I went to the nurses office and she gave me some medicine and put some cream on the stings and the swelling went down, and so did the pain, but it still really hurt. I walked into my first class feeling pretty awful, but hopeful the class would go well because I prepared a game of Bingo to play. It did not go well at all. The students didn't seem to care about the game, no one really played, and I just stood up there looking like an idiot. Then, to make things even worse, my coordinator Pat came in and asked me to talk about an incident that happened with a student yesterday in one of my classes. This student, who is the worst student I have in any of my classes, came in 20 minutes late, sat down and started talking. I asked him to stop repeatedly, but he just ignored me and continued to talk and disrupt the class. I told him that if he didn't stop talking, I would ask him to leave. At this point, he just got up and left the class. I guess he went home and told his parents that I "kicked him out" of the class, so they came in today to complain about me. So, I had to sit there and explain to Pat what really happened so she could explain to his parents. I am not in trouble with the school or anything, but it just sucks and I was really upset that it happened. This kid is a problem in all classes it seems, Pat told his parents that he has repeatedly been in trouble with other teachers, not just me. I still have 4 more classes to get through today, then I have to do private tutoring tonight. I cannot wait for this day to be over. Tomorrow I'm going to Bangkok for my programs mid-semester reunion and I can't wait to get out of here and see some familiar faces.

Best. Week. Ever.

I don't even know where to begin on this one. So much has happened this past week. I would like everyone get comfortable and park it, because this is going to be a long one. I feel like I am going to have some trouble summarizing the past week on a whole so I'm just going to write things out as they come to me. Pardon the randomness, and if it doesn't make sense just keep reading, I'll try to get myself back on track. It all started 2 Fridays ago when we had to judge an English speaking and singing competition. Pretty boring stuff actually, sat around all day listening to Thai students talk about the effects of global warming and its impact on Thailand. Interesting topic, but every student said almost the exact same thing, and it got old real fast. Every now and then a student would come up who just froze and didn't know what to say so they just stood there awkwardly for 3 minutes, staring at the audience. The singing competition was not much better, but a little funnier. They love Celine Dion and that Titanic song of hers, I think I heard it about 20 times in the span of 3 hours. After our duties as judges were over, Jon and I ran back to our apartment real fast,

changed and hopped on a van to Bangkok. We got a really nice, new, and modern hotel room on the infamous Khaosan Road. It had a great view, if not a little noisy. We met up with some people from our program and enjoyed some drinks and pad thai until about 2am, when we realized we should probably go to bed since we had to be up in about 5 hours. And up we were, bright and early, I took a hot shower (the first I've had in who knows how long) and had a quick breakfast, and quickly got in a cab heading off to Si Racha, and then off to our final destination of Ko Si Chang. It took about an hour to get there, and then we took a ferry to the the island of Ko Si Chang. It felt so wonderful being on that ferry, surrounded by clean, blue water, finally on my way to a Thai island. Once we arrived on the island we met up with the rest of our friends who were already there and we immediately went to the beach. I got a floating tube and just went out into the water and lied there in the sun all day long. It wasn't a huge beach though, very different than other Thai islands, but it had sand, it had water, and that's all I needed to be happy. After being out all day, and staying to watch the sunset, we went back to our boathouses that overlooked the water and got ready for dinner. We ate at a famous restaurant on the island called Pan and Davids, and I had wine for the first time since I've been in Thailand. It was fantastic. I forgot how great a nice

glass of red wine compliments a dinner. Expensive, but totally worth it. I woke up really early the next day and watched the sunrise come up over the mountains and it was really something. The sun was radiating, and the colors in the sky were surreal. The day continued and was basically a repeat of the day prior, but we did do an island tour on a tuk-tuk. It took us around to various sights worth seeing on the island, and it was fun to see some parts of the island you normally wouldn't see. Ko Si Chang has the look of a European/Mediterranean beach town, not a Thai town. I swore, sometimes I felt like I was back in a small Portuguese fishing village. We stayed at the beach and watched the sunset again, and enjoyed another nice dinner at Pan and Davids that night. We ended up just hanging out on the boat house, talking for a while before we went to bed. The next morning Jon and I said our goodbyes to the group and left early. Even though everyone had to get back to school the next day, we still had a week off because of a school fair. So it was off to Ko Samet for us, the 2nd leg of our journey on the Thai islands.

Friends.

It took about an hour to get to Rayong, which is 100k south of Ko Si Chang. And we quickly got onto a ferry that would take us to Ko Samet. Ko Samet is more of what you would expect from a Thai island, although it is still different than the islands in the south. It has bigger beaches with sand so fine you feel like you are stepping on air, water so clear you can still see your feet underwater 30 feet out into the water. We spent most of the first day hanging on the beach, I did a lot of reading and finished Shutter Island, which might be my new favorite book. For dinner, I splurged and had my first pizza in Thailand AND a Panang Curry and it tasted real darn good. A quick stroll on the beach at dusk and a few drinks later, it was time for bed. We crashed early and got a good nights sleep. After all, we had a whole day of nothing to do the next day. The next 2 days were almost the exact same thing so I won't bore you with the details as I realize this entry is already really long and I'm barely halfway through my week. To sum it up, we found a nicer, smaller and more secluded beach further down the island that we spent

all our time on. It had a great restaurant and a raft out in the water that I spent most of my time on. Jon left Wednesday afternoon to go to Chiang Mai, but I stayed the rest of the week, because more friends were coming the next day. I met some really cool people while I was on my own though. They were from Belgium and they all had interesting stories about places they had been and where they wanted to go next. We went to watch the sunset on the other side of the island on these cliffs, and it was really nice because there were no other people around. We parted ways later in the night and I walked around and took pictures for a while before I went to bed. I had so much trouble falling asleep that night though because my hotel was right next to a club and it was blasting music and thumping bass until 4am. My bed was actually vibrating from the bass and I really thought I was going to kill someone. Eventually I fell asleep. My friends came at around 3 the next day and it was good to see them because they are all really fun people and I knew we were going to

have an awesome time together. It was a different group than my friends from Ko Si Chang, but just as fun. Basically to wrap up the next 4 days, we spent loads of time on the beach down the island with the raft. Went on an ill-fated squid fishing trip that might have just been the most hilarious/bad idea we have ever had, and really made us question our own judgement. We ate lots of good food, we watched fire shows, something Ko Samet is famous for, and we partied every night. We went to this place called Silver Sand twice, which was a dance club right on the beach. The nights were young and so were we, so we danced the nights away till 4am. We danced on tables, danced on chairs, and occasionally the floor. Everything lights up at Ko Samet at night and the whole beach looks like a world of neon. Every bar is blasting techno

music, has a fire show out front and everyone is either dancing, smoking hookah or drinking. It is a place of sensory overload if I have ever seen one, and I loved every single moment I was there. I believe that it has taken over from Albufeira as my new favorite place in the world and I really cannot wait to go back there again. I had such an amazing time with my friends this past week, doing nothing on the beach, watching the sunsets on the cliffs, going out dancing, getting very tan and just plain old hanging out. It made me realize that I have made some lifelong friends already in the short 2 months I've been here. I feel like I have known all of them forever. It was really sad when I had to leave yesterday, and as I watched the island get further and further away as I took the ferry back to the mainland, I couldn't help but think of Ko Samet's slogan..."Heaven on Earth." Yeah, that sounds about right.

Sarah and Lauren throwing rocks off the cliffs at sunset on Ko Samet

Work in Progress

In my spare time, I've been playing around on Photoshop, trying to think of new screen printing ideas for when I get back home. I thought I'd get back to my space routes on this one, with the help of a mannequin, of course. Art friends, critique? This is a very rough design right now and I'm open to suggestions!

Life Plans

I've made a decision. I am not staying at this same school next semester. I honestly do not think I will be able to take another 5 months of screaming, misbehaving kids. BUT, I am at least partially open to switching schools. I have talked with a few other people from my program at other schools and asking what their situations are like. For the most part, it seems that their kids are more behaved than mine are. I have a couple of requirements before I make a decision on whether or not I would like to stay. First, I NEED to have younger kids, at primary level or lower. That way, if they are bad, at least its fun and I can just give them a coloring book and they will be glued to their seats. Second, I would like to be in the Bangkok area. I need a city life. Having nothing to do here during the weekdays is starting to really take a toll on me. I just have nothing to do once I get home from school and end up sitting around for a good 8 or 9 hours. And finally, I need to be placed at a school with other teachers. I cannot be on my own. I only seem my roommate for about 2 hours at the end of the day, because he teaches university and his classes go later. More than anything, I just need some basic human interaction with other English speakers. However, even if i find another school that suits these needs, I am not necessarily going to stay. This is where I would like all of you guys to pitch in. Please leave a comment and let me know what you personally think is the right decision for me to do. Stay in Thailand or come home to America? I realize most of you don't really know my situation or what it's like here, but I'm just asking a basic question on what you think you would do, or what you think would be best for me. I've got lots of thinking to do, and I need some advice from my friends. I need to make this decision very soon, so help me out! What should I do???

***UPDATE***

I reread this post and it comes off like I am absolutely miserable here. This is not true! I really love Thailand and I'm having a great time here, I'm just not crazy about the teaching part of it. I just wanted to make that clear, carry on.