Preparing for stardom

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Sawasdee Kha!

Sorry it had taken me so long to get this next blog up! Life has been pretty busy for the last week.

Last week was our first week of class. The first two days we were taught by a Thai woman named Pat. Not only did she teach us some Thai but she also taught us about Thai culture and society. She was absolutely hilarious which made the classes really fun. Since she left we are learning about teaching, obviously. It has been really informative and I have learned a lot...so it hasn't been a complete waste! As for the title of this entry: teachers in Thailand are very well respected. We actually come in third of most respected people in Thailand 1. is Buddha/Buddhism, 2. The royal family, and 3. Teachers. So I am very much looking forward to having my 6 months of fame here. :D

On Saturday nearly the whole group went to Coral Island. It was quite an adventure to get there. We had to take a taxi to the pier and then take a little boat to the island. There were about 25 of us so it was quite the ordeal. The boat we took was exactly like the ones you see in the picture, it was pretty surreal. Once we got to the island, it was a whole lot of relaxing on the beach. The island is small and just absolutely beautiful. I wish I had pictures of the island but unbeknown to me, both batteries that I have for my camera were dead, which I didn't find out until we were at the pier.

While we were all sitting on the beach, someone yells "Komodo dragon!" We all turn around and sure enough there is a WILD komodo dragon just hanging out about 50ft away from us! The smart Americans we are, we all got up and started running towards it to get a better view. Luckily for us, it turned right around and sprinted back up the hill to hide. We also saw some Toucans with yellow beaks. Because we had such perfect weather, I think that might have been the most relaxing day I have ever had.

Sunday I was feeling pretty under the weather for our shopping trip to the "Big C" to get work clothes, so I was pretty unsuccessful at buying skirts and blouses to teach in next week. While at the Big C, I went to dinner with my friend and at about 6:00 all the waitresses stopped what they were doing and stood in lines throughout the restaurant and just started dancing! This was quite hilarious as their enthusiasm was lacking. I still am not quite sure what the whole thing was about, but I didn't care, it was very entertaining.

Monday I had to skip part of class because I was still feeling really bad. My back was hurting really bad and I was having very horribly abdominal cramping. Little did I know that about 4 other people had to miss class as well for feeling sick. So that night one of the coordinators from ATI took three of us, including me, to the doctor. Turns out I have a viral infection. 😞 I was so surprised at how efficient this government hospital was. We were all in and out of there within 45 min! The best part, was that the entire thing only cost me 500 baht, approx.. $15!!! That's less than my co-pay in the states. I am feeling a alot better today but the coordinator had to make another trip to the doctor since another 1/3 of our class was feeling sick today. Apparently ATI is the reason that this government hospital has a special foreigners section; because every session, at least half of the class needs to go to the doctor for some reason or another.

This weekend we are all planning on going to Kho Phi Phi Island (where "The Beach" was filmed) for the infamous Full Moon party. More details to come of that.

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Comments

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Fear Of Flying
Great post! Turbcast is a great app for fear of flying! I-Phone