As life begins to become normal, or whatever my new normal will be here on the island my intention is to shift this blog from a diary of events, as it's been in the past, to more notes on the cultural exchanges between the Phukers and the Farang "foreigner". Already in my first week I've experienced a lifetime of events. I've been to two unbelievable beaches, two new islands, bungee jumped, eaten things I wouldn't have even kicked into a gutter at home and witnessed a mugging, don't worry it wasn't me and no one was hurt and I'll get to it later. For the past week we've gotten a lot of "oh here comes the tourists" looks which I'm hoping will fade as Phukers realize we aren't going anywhere as our purchases have gone away ... read more

After a hectic year of state side living, I've decided it's time for another adventure. This time though, a 2-week trip just wasn't going to cut it so I quit my job, moved out of my apartment, sold all of my belongings and headed to the airport with a one way ticket to Thailand where I have accepted a position as a Math Teacher on the Island of Phuket. My adventure begins at the departure terminal at Dulles Airport, where, upon arriving to the ticket counter I was told "there was no ticket under name." I told the man that there must be a mistake and he should check again, which he did and then said "oooooh JESSICA" and printed out my ticket. What he searched for before is beyond me.... The flights were relatively uninteresting, ... read more

Our last day full day had finally arrived, but we still had much to look forward to. Our first stop was a Jade Museum. Here we learned the history of Jade and more importantly how to tell fake Jade from real jade (the noise it makes when you hit two jade pieces together). We were then given time to walk around the store. Not very interested in buying Jade I took to looking at the intriquite carvings. A small Chinese woman found me and started following me around the store asking me questions. She started with the normal “Where are you from” to which I responded “United States”. She then asked me “What State?” a question I found oddly specific. I replied “Virginia”, which she then yelled “13 original colonies!!!!” This caught me off guard and ... read more

Today we woke up and headed to Old Shanghai. Apparently this was where all the Chinese lived when Shanghai was occupied by Europeans. The Chinatown of Chinese Shanghai if you will. This area was pretty cool. Very ornate and filled with super Chinese things, as one would expect. Walking around we found a store selling these round moon cake things that were really cool looking. We figured we'd be adventurous and try them. Once we ordered we didn't get the delicious looking cakes out of the window but a tiny shrink-wrapped one from behind the counter. Figuring the experience would still be worth it, we both simultaneously bit into it and simultaneous declared THIS IS THE WOOOOOORST. We soon found a trashcan to dump it in, and continued on our walk about. After Old Shanghai we ... read more

Today we woke up early and headed to the Lingering Gardens, a traditional Chinese Garden. Here we were able to walk through the stone paths through bonzai, lotus lillies and Chinese opera performers. Although the gardens were absolutely beautiful, I think they highlight of the tour was the small group of random Asians that started following me around. A woman and her husband, about 60 years old asked to pose with me in front of the pond. A few minutes later, a group of high schoolers crept up behind me, when I turned around they all shrieked and then asked if I would take pictures with them. I guess I must have been the first (approachable?) white person they've seen...unless their was some inside joke I was missing. At least they didn't call me Lady Gaga ... read more