I'm not kidding. I was walking down my street, headed toward the internet place to post this blog, when a lady pulled over on her bike and INSISTED I ride on the back (side-saddle!) while she peddled me down the street to where the moto-taxis are. Caused quite a stir (and lots of laughs) in the neighborhood. I was as scared as I was the first time on the motorbike taxi, because our balance was definitely precarious. Oh the irony . . . The first time people saw me they probably thought I was some short-lived neighborhood anomaly, but now that [View Full Entry]

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Our TEFL classes and our teaching practice were all held at a temple school, where young monks study all subjects, including the dharma (Buddhist teachings). This was a pretty special experience, and probably one of the best things about our TEFL training. The boys at this temple school are novice monks and they are all either orphaned or from poor families. It is normal for most (if not all) males in Thai society to spend some amount of time as a monk; I guess it is a right of passage. Even Thai kings follow this protocol. The boys at the school [View Full Entry]

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I am going back in time now to write retroactively about the beginning of this adventure. It all began in Ban Phe, which is on the coast on the Gulf of Thailand. Despite the fact that not that much time has elapsed since I arrived (about 2 months), it is already difficult to remember my first impressions and the “important things.” Bear with me. . . Ban Phe is the access port to a backpacker-haven of an island called Ko (or Koh, depending where you look) Samet, where we spent the first two weekends during our training. I came here under [View Full Entry]

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We were housed at “Condochain” in the outskirts of Ban Phe, right across from the beach. It looks really nice from the outside and did indeed have a very pretty pool, but the interior was pretty shabby. We were in double rooms and had A/C, flush western toilets, warm showers (sometimes, when we could figure out how to turn it on), and a mini-fridge. All-in-all not a bad deal. Courtney and I slept little and continued to bond over a shared love of show tunes (especially Rent, Wicked and Les Mis), peanut butter, and ice cream in bed. It was truly [View Full Entry]

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Well, it had to happen sometime, and it finally did. I got robbed. Robbed, but not mugged! Gotta look on the bright side--it happens to every traveler at some point, no matter how cautious and savvy. The only thing taken was my cell phone, so it was not the end of the world. And that cell phone was apparently just begging to be stolen, after it's narrow escape on Khaosan Road in Bangkok. Despite the violation of the sanctity of my purse, Kyle, Courtney, and I enjoyed another glorious weekend in Ko Chang. We had off school on Friday for the [View Full Entry]

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This past Sunday, the day after the Thanksgiving feast, I decided to check one of the local attractions off my list and went to visit the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo, which was very. . . interesting. You can pay to have your picture taken with a variety of creatures at this zoo--baby tigers, orangutans, small crocodiles, etc. I overheard an Australian guy saying to his friends, "We all know we came here for the cheesy photos, so let's get some and get out of here." At first I thought that maybe it would be a place I could try to get [View Full Entry]

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My two favorite classes are kindergarten math and 4th/5th grade science. The kindergarteners are just absolutely adorable and there are only 4 of them in that class, so I can give them my absolute attention. They pick up the language so quickly, it is fun to see. One day, I said to one of the little ones, “You GOT it! Good for you!” and he said, “Teacher, what is ‘you got it?’” I explained it to him and went on with the lesson. The next day and every day since, he says “I/he/she/you GOT it!” at every chance. Similarly, I am [View Full Entry]

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I arrived home the other day to find the bill for rent and utilities under my door. I thought that it would go directly to the school since they are supposed to cover my rent (and I am supposed to cover my utilities). Of course I was very curious about the price of this palace, but was still SHOCKED at how low the price was. The rent by itself, without utilities, is 2300 baht/month, which is about $72.00! Add on another $8.00 for utilities and you get the grand total of $80.00. Of course I realize that I am not using [View Full Entry]

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I can read! Well, a few words, anyway. It was a very exciting day for me (Sunday), when I realized I could read the words Sri Racha, Chonburi, elephant, and some others. Now I need to work on my vocabulary because it isn’t that helpful to be able to sound out all these words if I don’t know what they mean! I have been working on learning the Thai alphabet, a little bit each day for a few weeks now, well really since I arrived in Thailand, but more studiously since I got to Chonburi. I have the consonants pretty much [View Full Entry]

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I sometimes have trouble keeping things simple. When I decide I want to do something, especially cooking, I want to REALLY do it. If I decide I want to make a Thai meal, I want it to be at least a 4-course feast. Same with Nigerian food for book club. Then I end up spending way too long on the project and have to buy a million ingredients and it ends up being a little exhausting. But I like it. I like the exhaustion and I enjoy the effort. It’s all part of the challenge. Thanksgiving is my newest challenge. Because [View Full Entry]

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