Though I am really excited about traveling for the next two and a half months (first with Stephanie and Kari in Thailand, then on to Laos and Vietnam), it is totally bittersweet to leave the school. It is even sadder in this case because I will probably never see these children again. Even though I may come back to Thailand again in the future, it is unlikely that I would find myself in Chonburi. Highly unlikely at any rate, though I never like to say that anything is impossible. The end of the term came so quickly for me, although the [View Full Entry]

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As I finish up this blog entry, I have just a couple of days of school left, though I have been working on these reflections throughout the term. Before I came back to Thailand to teach, as I think I may have mentioned before, I envisioned myself teaching in some quaint little village up in the north of Thailand- one that just had one school like the hill tribe village school Fiona and I saw on our trek out of Pai. TEFL made it sound as though that might be a possibility. I sort of wanted a Peace Corps-esque experience, due [View Full Entry]

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There are two concepts/phrases that always come up in books and articles about Thai culture. They are “jai yen” (in Thai: ใจเย็น) and “mai pen rai.” “Jai yen” literally means “cool heart,” even though the Lonely Planet Phrasebook translates it as “Easy, tiger”. (Don't believe everything you read in LP, though it is the backpacker’s bible!) Contrary to meaning you should be cold-hearted in the western way of thinking, it means you should try to stay calm when faced with difficulties small a [View Full Entry]

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Last week, I was horrified and pretty sheepish when I realized that I was handing out the obscene little sticker pictured here to my students. Oops! Who knows how many of them I handed out before realizing that that little cartoon man had his pants pulled down?! I bought a few sheets of stickers at the school supply store to revitalize my sticker offerings, which were getting a little stale. On the same busy-looking sheet of stickers as this offender were other cartoon heroes like Doraemon and Futureman, but I don’t know who this half-naked joker is or why he slipped [View Full Entry]

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I wondered if Valentine's Day would actually be celebrated in Thailand, but I quickly found out that many of the hallmarks of American Valentine's Day have made their way over here-- giving chocolates and red roses, cards, and heart-shaped everythings seem to be standard procedure. Tami, Courtney, and I conspired several weeks ago to have a girls' weekend in Chonburi, and it was a perfect way to spend the 'holiday' weekend. On Thursday evening I noticed that a couple of the usual street stands near my apartment had turned into all-out V-day extravaganzas of red and pink heart-shaped pill [View Full Entry]

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I walked home from school yesterday feeling lighter, with the proverbial bounce in my step. It was finally sorted out that I will be finished teaching on Friday, February 27, which is exactly 2 weeks from now. I can’t believe it. I’m not looking forward to telling the kids that I am leaving or to leaving them at all, but I am practically bursting with excitement that my time of living in Chonburi is almost over. Kari and Steph will be arriving in Bangkok from Boulder in just under 2 weeks. I can still remember when they bought their tickets—way back [View Full Entry]

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One of the most charming things about Kanchanaburi, in my opinion, is that many of the budget guesthouses have rooms that are actually floating on tethered rafts on the river. Courtney and I headed to this pretty little town on the Kwai River, 2-3 hours (depending on the speed of your bus) west of Bangkok for the 3-day weekend. We met up in Bangkok at the eastern bus station and then made our way across the river to the southern bus station in Thonburi. By the time we made it to K-buri, it was pretty late. We called around to the [View Full Entry]

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On Sunday we headed to Erawan National Park, which is a good daytrip from Kanchanaburi to see the 7-tiered waterfall. We took a bus there from Kanchanaburi no problem and it was well worth the trip. Each level of the waterfall was different from the last and beautiful in its own way. The water was that sort of turquoise-blue color that I think is caused by calcium (don't ask the science teacher!) There were tons of Thai families, particularly around the lower levels, eating picnics, playing in the water, and relaxing. National parks in Thailand and other government-controlled tourist [View Full Entry]

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I have joined street aerobics twice now. It appears that it happens at least every weekday (not sure about weekends) from 6 - 7 PM. The charge is 5 baht per person, which is about 15 cents. At first I wondered why bother even charging at all, but then I realized that with probably over 50 people there, those 5 little baht can sure add up to a nice little wage for an hour of work. The first time the routine was easy enough to follow. I only got lost just about as much as I would at home in a [View Full Entry]

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I think that life in Chonburi may have just gotten better!! I discovered a night market not too far from my apartment when I was passing by in songthaew on the way back from Bang Saen on Saturday. Besides crepes, grilled corn, and the usual standard stands (i.e. fish and meats in a variety of different ways), there were also several smoothie stands, different flavors of popcorn, and a stand with delicious-looking homemade popsicles. I had been meaning to try to the black bean popsicle for some time and so I did tonight and found it to be different but delightful. [View Full Entry]

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