Vegetarians, firecrackers, and beaches!

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Sawatdee Kah!!! (Hello!)

So I've been here for a solid week now! It's crazy to think that Thailand is my new home. We are a pretty solid routine with the course. We start at 8 am and end at about 3. We get an hour or so for lunch and two 15 minute breaks as well. The class is very helpful and I'm so glad I chose to go this route with getting my certificate. Our teacher goes through different kinds of lessons we could do with our students and runs through them a bunch with us until they are drilled into our minds. The people in the course with me are all wonderful people. It's really nice to know that everyone who would come to Thailand to take a course like this are all in the same mind set. We all want to experience a new culture and do that by immersing ourselves in. Everyone has very interesting stories to tell and everyone is excited for the opportunity to travel after. I'm still waiting to find out where I'll be in 3 weeks but others have already gotten their placements. I'm expecting to find out soon! I do know that I will definitely be around the greater Bangkok area. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Ayutthaya!!

Naiharn beach is the beach right across the street from our hotel and it's like having our own personal beach!! It's a really quiet beach for Phuket and the waves are very intense and fun! Most of our first days in class were filled with rain here in Thailand and we couldn't really enjoy our beach until Thursday. Until then we enjoyed getting to know the area around us. There are tons of restaurants and massage places around us to chose from. Just a bit of a walk down this road you get into a more populated area and there are even more restaurants to chose from, even a Mexican restaurant!

This first week there was a Vegetarian Festival in Phuket and it was beyond my imagination! I went twice. The first time, it was your normal food market feel. It was just this long street packed with food venders offering everything Vegetarian. They had yellow flags to show if it was Vegetarian or not. There were so many yummy options of foods to try that a girl and I split everything we got just so we could taste more. Everything was so cheep as well, for example, you could buy Phad Thai for 20 Baht (about 60 cents in America). The second time we came we heard there would be a parade and fireworks. Well, as I had found out in December with the fireworks in Bangkok for the King's birthday, these were no regular fireworks. It was just insane!!!! So we missed the morning part of the festival which is a shame because it really must have been a sight to see. If you google "vegetarian festival Phuket" you find images of men sticking swords and such through their cheeks, this is what we missed. It's just crazy to think they do this. In the evening people throw firecrackers of every size and amounts into the streets. So it felt like a battle field! It was so loud and there was a constant popping. Sometimes people from the opposite side of the street would throw too hard and the firecrackers would land at our feet!! It was so scary yet exciting! At one point I was trying to get a good picture and I actually got hit in the eye! Thank God nothing horrible happened. The streets were red with debris. Along the streets people would have alters with gifts. Once the actual parade happened there was a process of chariots and people were carrying them on their backs. As the chariots would pass by, people would throw fireworks at the chariots. The amount was insane and I seriously thought that it would catch on fire! These chariots would pause at every alter and the amount of fireworks thrown were blinding to the eye!! It was so loud that one of the girls I was with ripped apart a tampon and passed out pieces so we could all stick some cotton into our ears! Innovative thinking right there! I have a great video that I'll try to upload at one point so you can really see what this was all about. It's just something that is so hard to describe. I was not expecting anything like that! It was so intense. We left the festival on an adrenaline high because it felt so dangerous the entire time. It blew our minds away. I've never lived through anything like it.

There is a really fun reggae bar near us and that's where all the future teachers go to hang out. The walls are covered in beautiful murals painted in glow paint. Bob Marley is everywhere to be seen and there is a collection of a million random things on the walls. This place would fit well into the Austin scene. I felt right at home there. Some nights they have a live band playing covers and ska music. So fun! A great place to take away the stresses of earning a tesol certificate!

Saturday a bunch of us did this boat tour of Kho Phi Phi. It was just a taste of what I did while I was there in December. It was super rainy throughout the day too so that put a bit of a damper on things. We went to monkey beach (a beach full of monkeys!) and then snorkeled near it then had lunch on Kho Phi Phi. After that we were taken to Maya beach (where The Beach was filmed). Then we were taken to a island beach midway b/w Phuket and Kho Phi Phi where we could hang out for a bit. Even though it wasn't sunny I got sunburned! I'm glad I went b/c it was fun to experience it with all my new friends but I felt like they are missing out on the real Kho Phi Phi I learned to know in December b/c it was such a fast tour of spots around the island.

I'm having a wonderful time so far. Still waiting to find out my placement. Once I know that I'll know where I'll be living, I'll know my student's ages, and when I'll be done with the contract. I will definitely travel after and maybe I'll find another place to teach. I feel so blessed to be here right now.

Love and miss you all!

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Photos

Map of Phuket
I'm at Naiharn Beach which is at the southwestern tip! See if you can find it!

Durian
The stinky fruit of S.E Asia

Birds nest caves
these are very pricey dishes!

snorkels!
It was a rainy boat ride back!

Local gas station
You can also purchase bottles of gasoline

Comments

[marita]

du haettest Rita zum vegetarier Fest mitnehmen muessen lol.