Photo Blog (Accompaniment for "Hua Hin to Bangkok to... Phrae?")

Imogen and Dannika eating thier Mac n Cheese burger and Chickpea Burgers in the mall!!!! HEART

We went out.  Not really recommended in our current state of mourning but, bars have got to stay open too.  This is me, Dom and Brittney. 

Me and Madeline.

Every weekend in Hua Hin there is a market called "Cicada." It is insane.  The booths are endless and the food is incredible.  This is basically a banana fritter fried donut thing with chocolate and sugar.  40 baht.  I'm convinced I'm gonna hit ideal weight in Thailand...

First day of camp, we had Prattom (elementary kiddos).  Everyone loves selfies in Thailand (didn't I already say that I belong here??) 

There is this weird peace sign / tongue thing that happens in most of the Prattom selfies.  I know it doesn't mean what it looks like it means but there is something still pretty hysterical about it.  The other day I saw a guy with a black shirt that had white writing that said, "Fuck Cancer." Well... that's one way to put it, but I was fairly sure he was repping the black harder than he was the message and it's the same with these kids.    

"D" is for... adorable!  I can't even spell when there are Kindies involved.  Part of me wishes I had these guys to play with every day... and then I remember...

Needless to say, they loved me.  This is not the face of a little girl who was forced to be in a picture with me, just so you know. 

Doh.

Thai babies- the sweetest, cutest little monsters in the world.   

Oh, they will remember D, E, and F if it's the last thing I teach them... which it is.

Back story.  This child is hugging me, I am merely returning the affection.  Before we set out to give our lessons, there was a daily assembly.  I noticed that there was a line of kindergarteners (noticeable by their blue and red uniforms) just sobbing after their parents had abandoned them.  I couldn't handle it, I went over to "talk" to them and give them high fives and hugs and try to convince them to stop breaking my heart.  This little boy was one of the ones I tried to comfort and when I came into his class to teach, he recognized me and ran over to latch onto me.  

Here were are again.  He can't let go of me and he's convinced all of the other little babies that I'm a huggable adult.

It's hard to see here, but this little girl reminded me of G.  There was just something about the way she spoke and smiled that made me think of my little couslet.

Here is a picture of me with the random, creepy tiger at the school in Hua Hin!

It's AH!!!!! After our buffet, we demanded that we get a picture with Ah.  At first, however, she misunderstood our pantomimes a little bit.  When we gestured photo taking with our phones, she laughed, nodded, and took our phones as if SHE would be the photographer.  I actually think she did it on purpose though because as soon as we better explained the situation, she and her daughter both tried to refuse us saying, "I shy!"  Not getting off THAT easy, missies! 

What photo edition post would be complete without a picture of me and a random street animal?  This little kitty was super soft and super loved.  It even had a collar.  It loves me back, I assure you.

Hua Hin to Bangkok to... Phrae?

Last week of TESOL training is decidedly the most stressful and jam-packed.  What do you need when you have assignments due every night, a giant final exam and 2 days of teaching for the first time?  For someone to just get it.

After a morning of 4 back to back kindergarten classes last Wednesday, I stumbled over to our favorite house-restaurant close to school and I got just what I needed.  I may have already mentioned that it is far more normal for people to eat out in Thailand than it is for them to cook a meal in their homes.  It is so commonplace that most restaurants (and there are dozens on each block) just look like the downstairs of someone's home.  "The Green Place" (our name for it) is one of those such establishments.  The owner, Ah, and her family have been nothing but wonderful to all of us furongs since the day we first bombarded them with all of our service at one time.  Some of us have gotten really close with Ah, even to the point of learning Thai with her and talking about our upcoming jobs.

Anyway, I think we were all feeling pretty beat and just overwhelmed when about 30-40 or us showed up, as usual, to eat at Ah's.  When we arrived, we were greeted with an entire table filled with already prepared food.  There was sticky rice and mangoes, bananas and lychee fruits, fried rice, egg rolls, cashew chicken, morning glory (a delicious vegetable meal), vegetable stir fry... and she and her husband and daughter were still going at their street kitchen.  She told us, "This is for you!  Because you're leaving tomorrow!  Thank you for coming to eat here."

She didn't charge us a cent.

Talk about a nice farewell.  The organization that we paid money to didn't even do that well!  

The next day, which was our actual last day, she gripped my arm and with legitimate tears brimming in her eyes she said, "I love you.  Come back to visit."  I'm not ashamed to say that I broke down bawling.  Immediately.  It was like a switch was flipped and every emotion I'd ever suppressed in the last month fell on my head at once.  This stranger loved me and I although I had known her only a week or two and we'd only shared a few broken conversations in our non-native languages and about a million smiles and laughs, I loved her back.  How crazy is that?  Loving isn't that complicated after all.  She hugged me and we both laughed at how ridiculously sentimental we were being.  I tried to pull it together on the walk back to school but it definitely took me several blocks.

Teaching at camp was a lot of fun but it was very exhausting.  They told us it was not a fair representation of what we would be faced with at our placements because, for one, I won't even b teaching Prattom (grade school) or Aunubon (kindies), but more importantly because at camp we are the "substitute teachers" so the kids know that they can get away with a lot more with us one the one day that they see us.  I hope, that the fun part carries over though.

And when will I be able to tell you about my own students and my first "real" teaching experiences? you ask.  Well, as of 430 this morning I am "home" and I will go into school on Tuesday.  Tomorrow is Monday and we will head over just to check everything out.  We will even meet our first Thai teacher (this is a big deal because the Thai teachers are going to be our best friends and first points of contact here).  

There was a slight change in plans however.  Over 2 weeks ago, we were given our placement information.  This means, we were told where we were going, who else was going with us, what grade levels we would be teaching, and even a little bit about the accommodation options we could expect.  Needless to say, although I was pretty pumped about my placement, I'm glad I didn't waste a blog entry on elaborating on it to all of you great folks, since 2 days ago they told me I wouldn't go to the Northeast (Esan) after all.  It's up north for me in Phrae Providence, Thailand!  Which, to be honest, is the best that it could be.  I got off the bus this morning (after a 9 hour trip) and I wasn't sweating bullets.  I certainly wouldn't go as far as to say that I was cold (LORD knows, I'm not in Indiana), but maybe I would say that I wasn't melting.  The lady who came to get us asked me if I was cold, "Nao?" she asked and even though I'd never heard the word before, I could tell by the way she was pretending to shiver and rub her arms what she was trying to ask me.  I laughed and told her, "Mai nao!  Chan chawp!"

Let me back up a little first though.  We "graduated" from XploreAsia on Thursday, which could have meant that I did as well on the test as I thought I did... or it could have just meant that class participation and lesson planning were more heavily weighted than everything else combined and almost everyone passes anyway.  From there, we (6 or us from Blue group and 4 from other groups) literally went straight to Bangkok for yet another orientation with our new agents.  For those of you keeping track, that is the 3rd agent I have dealt with on my journey to the Thai classroom.  Greenheart -> XploreAsia -> now, Mediakids.  Maybe it was because my orientation with MediaKids was only a day and a half so I had no time to get grouchy with them (although changing my placement was a bit of a shock), maybe it was because they fed us, maybe it was because they paid for our transportation to Bangkok from Hua Hin, maybe it was because the staff is so outgoing and sweet, but whatever the reason, I feel like I've finally found my final fit as a MediaKid.  I feel very confident with the type of support I am going to receive with them.  Already, our consultant has set us up with everything and I think the rest will be smooth sailing.  Only time will tell if my gratitude is well-placed, but something tells me I'm in the right place.

While on the topic of "good feelings" let me just say that my first nine hours in Phrae have been wonderful.  There are 2 giant temples within walking distance and I found myself a nice little internet cafe to get some work done (I'm supposed to be making lesson plans instead of writing about my life haha).  However, I was starting to worry that me and the other XploreAsia alumna that I came with would be the only English speakers besides the kids we taught.  Everyone from the landlady who is very sweet and let me wash and dry my clothes for only 30 baht, to the shop owner who sold me a black skirt (only my second and that's all I can wear to school... oops), to the 7-Eleven attendants have only been able to rattle off a string of Thai at me.  When I smile and laugh they do too so it's ok, but I had a moment when I was curious whether I'd ever hold an entire conversation in English with anyone beside my other English teacher friend. 

That was until I walked into a place that said (in English) "Breakfast, Coffee, Café, Souvenirs & Gallery."  That's the place for me, I thought!  I walked in and started to make my way to the cashier when I heard a quiet, "Hello..." There, right before my eyes was a table filled with English teachers just like me!  Five Americans and a Canadian!  I was floored.  We chatted for a few minutes and then they headed out.  I even got invited to take a trip with a couple of them next weekend!  Part of my genuinely feels like I'm cheating a little.  I wanted to come to a rural place, right?  I wanted to try to do this on my own and not depend on anyone, right?  I wanted to force myself to learn Thai and get totally immersed in the Thai culture, right?  However, they aren't at my school and having English-speaking friends will not prevent me from also making Thai friends.  I'm just going to keep embarrassingly trying to speak Thai and waiing my butt off everywhere. 

Wearing White to a Wedding or Equally Upsetting Faux Pas in Thailand

Whether you are starting your first day of kindergarten or at a new job or a new life in a new country, there is always a chance you won't fit in.  Let's just be real here, you could go and you could, for no apparent fault of your own, be totally and completely shunned.  Maybe this could take the form of not getting shared crayons or your coworkers make their weekend plans all around your head while never actually turning to acknowledge that you might be sad and lonely and totally up for a drink.  Maybe you try to ask a random person on the street in your sunniest face and best Spanish where to find the closest laundromat and you are labeled a lazy fakester to your face.

The opposite can happen too, of course.  You could rule the school from day one; the other kids coloring you a rainbow paper- crown made with sparkles.  You could really fix the copier on the second day, amazing your entire office and ingratiating yourself to the whole floor.  Or, you could walk the streets in your best mourning gear (feeling pretty grouchy about wearing black in 106 degree heat) and your "hot and bothered scowl" (can I make HBS counterpart to RBF?) could come off as just the normal expression to wear as the member of an orphaned nation and you could get thumbs up and gestures to aforementioned clothes.

If reading between the lines isn't your strong suit, don't feel bad!  Let me put it this way- I am not doing too badly in Thailand.

Someone asked me this morning what my favorite part is, and although I wrote already about my top 8 "favorite" things at the time, I had a hard time answering at first.  My answer, in hindsight, was kind of lame.  I think I said something about how I've never experienced a culture like this.  Preconceived notions come with the traveling territory, but I guess my mental image of Thailand pre-Thailand just didn't come anywhere close to Thailand.

Like I said, lame answer.  But in some respects, it implies a bigger, more comprehensive response.  For example, I always try to be hyper-aware everywhere I go (literally from walking around in downtown Indianapolis to trekking through the jungles of Chiapas) making sure that I don't get stuck in any uncomfortable situation.  This hasn't changed here of course, but I feel less of a need to be on edge, and it's only been 3 weeks.

I'm fully aware that in a couple weeks we could be looking back at this post as the beginning of some serious troubles.  We could be saying, "WELL, Jesi.  Maybe you shouldn't have gotten so cocky, so early on and then you wouldn't have gotten in such and such jam."  Obviously I don't want that to happen, but what's more is I really doubt it will.  For one thing, feeling comfortable is not the same as lowering my guard which I don't plan on doing.  However, the ease with which I feel I can encounter and interact with Thai strangers on a day to day basis, plays a big part in my general outlook on the country and therefore my experience visiting.

Everyone smiles in Thailand.  Yes, we were told that being smiled at doesn't mean that you are necessarily being ceded to or that you're even in the right, but it's just so much more pleasant dealing with people who look happy to see you (whether they are or not).  This is a serious mind-control tactic, or it could be if Thais had a malicious bone in their bodies.

The other day, I was on a sawngtow and we were briefly stopped in traffic.  An elderly lady from the street halted her daily routine of setting up the exterior of her nail salon, to move towards the tall truck I was riding in with a smile on her face.  She waved her arms so frantically I worried that my bag had fallen off behind us, or my wardrobe had malfunctioned in some unflattering, and irresolvable way.  When she got within ear shot, however, all she yelled was, "Where you from?!"

My post title references seeing a woman today pop out in the crowd of her black and white dressed countryman wearing a red shirt.  I knew I was on my way to becoming a proper honorary Thai when I realized how offended I was by it.  At first I think I was just miffed that I was caught being the chump in "drab" clothes when I yards of red at home begging to be worn.  Then I realized, no.  We were told that red was the rudest color to wear and we were told why.  I wasn't only jealous of her brazen confidence to wear whatever she wanted despite everything going on around her, I was offended as a willing member of a community that frowned on that type of disregard for all this mourning business.  I'm becoming a collectivist after all.   Goodbye Individualistic America!

In preparation for the upcoming week of Final Exams and Final projects and camp, I went to the mall.  That seems like unrelated but one thing about this course is that there is a lot of teacher-preparation, which means spending a lot of money on school supplies.  We took public transportation and made it in a jiff and then, 2 hours after we got in, we left in the EXACT SAME sawngtow with the EXACT SAME driver (evident by the bumper sticker that read, "Gay").  It was bizarre, he must have taken the loop once or maybe even twice before he made his way back to us and there are probably hundreds of drivers on the route in a given day and the odds were pretty bad that we'd see the same one back to back.  Just a weird little moment of the day.

While on that sawngtow though, we ran into a British ex-pat who had been living in Thailand for 7 years.  His is a very common story; did international business for a number of years that led him to discover Thailand and retired and moved there and never left.  It makes you wonder though...

That's all for now.  Big exam next Monday- wish me luck!

Hua Hin, you're no match for Compass Girl (Taking suggestions for superhero name)

After a morning of lesson-giving practice, half of my group made our own way back from school to the hotel.  This was a significant moment because it meant that I am able to navigate through certain parts of Hua Hin.  Learning a new city is always a milestone that I doubt ever being able to reach, but somehow two weeks after arriving and I can do it!  It's a great feeling.

Even before we got to class this morning on our sawngtaw there was a moment when the driver made a wrong turn.

"Wait a minute..." I said snapping my head in the other direction.  "Weren't we supposed to go the other way?"

"The driver surely knows how to get to where we need to go."  Someone snapped, but sure enough, a little way down the road, we turned all of the way around and went the way I thought we had to go in the first place.

This is huge progress!  I can't stress enough how delightful it is to not feel like a lost sheep all the time, getting merely carted from place to place.  Apart from the deep satisfaction, there is also a economic element to knowing how to get around on your own.  Most everywhere you go in the whole world there exists for you the safety net of a taxi, or in this case a tuktuk (if you'll remember, this is what we hired to take us home from the Khao San market we went to in Bangkok).  When you are hopelessly, tearfully lost you can always flag one of these guys down and beg them to magically understand your English directions.  That's worst case scenario because if you're alone, or even if there are only a few of you, that option is not usually a cheap one.  When you can walk everywhere or you at least recognize landmarks, you're in such a safer, happier place.  I'm halfway there now in Hua Hin, mere weeks before I leave to go learn somewhere else!

The weekend before last, we went to the Phraya Nakhon Cave.  It was a super beautiful but surprisingly difficult hike.  We were up and down on the side of a mountain, with a beautiful view of the ocean when we got to the beach.  My first thought (and I immediately shared it with my group members) was, "That wasn't so bad!"  But, the thing about assuming is how you make yourself look and sure enough, no sooner had I spoken the words before we arrived to the last leg of the hike.  Let's just say our necks hurt from looking up.

View from the first leg of the journey overlooking the ocean.  Me and Tara.

It turns out the key to trudging along is stubbornly focusing on the step you are actively taking instead of giving in and peeking at what is to come.  Good metaphor for life you could say, but bottom line you gotta eat the whale one bite at a time.

When we arrived to the shrine in the cave I was so glad we did, and not just cause at this point I don't know how I'd produced so much sweat or how my legs could keep going after having been so sedentary for the weeks leading up to this.  When we got there the first thing that I thought this time was, "Well, that was worth it."  Just like before I didn't keep it to myself and everyone around me nodded in awed agreement.  It was one of the most beautiful but surprising placed I'd ever seen.  Imagine a giant cave with a sky light that made room for a perfect little microcosm to grow underneath.  I just usually think of the inside of caves as being cold and dark and, well, generally void of life.  This one was not.

Inside the cave!  Look at all that green. 

Me, Dominicque (my awesome opossum roommate), and Emily in front of the shrine.

There has been so much to do during the TESOL course we are taking.  Let me just say it's not just elephants and puppies since we finished orientation week.  We have written so many overnight lesson plans and next week we will have a chance to teach real lessons in front of real kids at the "camp."  I'm excited and just feel kind of ready to get started.  That being said, camp is supposed to be one of the most frightening reality checks of a the whole ESL Teaching Overseas experience and come the moment I will probably be singing a completely different tune.  Either way, I have about a week to prepare and I'm sure I'll have some crazy kid stories when I do.

Even Google Dons Black

The Thai king gained his fame by saving Thailand from communism in the 70s and then personally visiting poor villages all over the country in order to figure out how best to provide aid, be it hospital or school building or simply boosting their economies.  He was known for his curious spirit and open-mindedness.  Mere days after we learned all about him, getting lesson after lesson on his demigod-like status to the Thai people, he died and we got the biggest, most meaningful lesson of all. Everything changed overnight.  Everyone wears black now and cries at the drop of a hat.  We also wear black and will have to do so "for the foreseeable future."

Let me just clarify something that may not be completely apparent to everyone.  Thailand is hot.  I've been to East Africa and I can still say with full certainty that I have never been somewhere as hot as Thailand.  So wearing black is like falling through the cracks of the oven you already live in and curling up atop the hot coals.  I've never sweated so much.  I've never drank so much water just to pee so little.  When the fan is twisting away from me to keep the air circulating in the room, it suddenly and mercilessly becomes harder to breathe.  I feel dizzy and my head hurts.  Then the air comes back towards me and I am rewarded a slight moment of relief only to be thrown back in the torture of heat.

I wish the King hadn't died.  I wish he was still alive, but not just because I feel like Morticia, not because we had to go shopping for black clothes yesterday and while they weren't hard to find (every mannequin for miles had on her best mourning garb) the prices were jacked through the roof.  I genuinely liked the Thailand that the king created and the good spirits everyone had when he was alive.  It hasn't been long enough to see the real change in the world, I just know that this is a loss felt by everyone, and we furungs are not immune.  Yes, we are apart of something incredibly unique and culturally meaningful, but we never got to experience the "real Thailand" that existed for the past 70 years.  If the king was everyone's father, living without him from now on is going to be a real struggle and interesting challenge for everyone.

The night after he died, there was a large gathering in front of the royal palace in Hua Hin.  There, hundreds if not thousands of people gathered to show their respects.  As soon as we approached the growing conglomeration, we were handed yellow candles (there was even symbolism in the color) and soon enough all of us were holding bare, lit sticks, subjecting our fingers carelessly to molten wax.  The mere act of sharing fire around the group with strangers, friends, and family alike made for a successful bonding experience, but what really tightened the knot was the singing.  When it became clear that everyone had a lit candle, the speakers crackled to life and a beautiful Thai melody commenced, to which everyone joined in somberly.  I was a little stunned by the unity of it all and if that wasn't enough to make me a little teary, the break down of everyone around me surely was.  I've only known for about a month that this man existed and yet it took so littler for me to be moved by how his people loved and respected him.

Afterwards, we all blobbed to the front under a shrine with a giant poster of the king to leave our candles.  One of the bleary-eyed ladies who was standing next to us, sweetly corralled us forwards, nodding politely and saying in amazing English, "Now we move forward..."  I hope she appreciated our presence, acknowledging our attempt to conform and show our own respects.  Whether she did or not, she made me feel welcome and not so out of place.  Her words stick with me now, while at the time I just took them at face value.  "We move forward."  Yes, yes we do.

During one of my classes I was a good little student and decided to draw the king instead of pay attention... sometimes I just gotta be artistically stimulated.

Photos

These pictures belonged with the previous post but my internet had been so bad recently that I figured if I didn't send it without the pics than I would never get it sent at all.  Hope this works

An example of the kind of food you see in the markets in Thailand. 

BLUE GROUP in a sawng taw!  HEART!

Although it took me a full two years to find sweet corn in Mexico, I got this stuff after only a week in Thailand.  LOVE IT.

Just me in the market.  We did an excursion where we had to purchase a grocery list using just the Thai that we had learned in the classroom.  It was definitely a challenge but everyone was really sweet to us.

Seriously my favorite dish in Thailand.  It's a green papaya salad or Som tam and it can be spicy as can be when it wants to be.

At the XploreAsia office there are 2 dogs!  Gotta love the couple of clean canines.   

Here's me cooking.

Me and awesome roommate, Dominicque.   

The giant buddha and me. 

My buddy from rescue paws.

Muay Thai is a super fun way to let out all the aggression you may feel from hours in the classroom all day.

The following are some awesome pictures of me at the elephant sanctuary...  

It's not a "Hello" without a Wai

Sa wat dee ka!

Sa bai dee mai ka?

Sa bai dee ka, kob kuhn ka.

Guess who's got parent's with three thumbs and is learning Thai?  THIS GIRL!  We've now had 2 Thai lessons and I am LOVING it.  Our teacher came out on the first day and said, "Rule number one; Thai is easy! What's rule number one?"  Well, apparently everyone has thus far been yanking my chain.  Thai isn't some scary Asian language whose tones and alphabet make it impossible to conquer, oh no!  Thai is easy.

Ok, so Thai isn't really THAT easy, but I can certainly see why learning English from Thai would be insane.  Thai is similar to Kiswahili in that there are no conjugations.  Neither is there differentiation between singulars and plurals.  There isn't even a word that means "the."  So all of those things really do contribute to making it straight forward in a lot of ways.  I think the thing that makes it "easy" is that our teacher, Pear, is amazing (we literally laugh the whole time and the class flies by) and we are totally immersed in a Thai-speaking world.  Basically, if we care to, we can pick this up pretty fast.

Besides the language, because that's just a given with me, here are some things I like so far about THAILAND.

1. It’s a matriarchal society.  Or at least, this is what we have been told.  On Tuesday we had an awesome “Culture and History” lesson with Mike, the founder and director of XploreAsia.  He has been living in, working in, and experiencing Thailand in some way or another for the past 17 years.  He has his PhD in Thai Politics (I think, but certainly in something “Thai”) and is married to Paang, the co-director/founder of the organization who is, herself, Thai.  I guess, we kind of have seen already first hand the power of the matriarch a little in “Mom” who is the team’s collective mother, but really Paang’s mother.  She is around at all times giving hugs and teaching cooking lessons and whenever she appears, we cheer like mad.  

2. The royal family.  Also at the lesson that day, we learned about something called “Lése-majesté” which is a law against saying anything bad about the current monarchy.  Even without the pressure of social media and the publication of this blog I have to wonder aloud, who would WANT to say anything bad about the royal family?   The king is super beloved here and it’s not hard to get on the bandwagon.  Bhumibol Adulyadej is the oldest reigning monarch in the world (he'll be 90 next year) and I think that he is also the longest reigning one at that (70 years), having been sworn in as King when his older brother died.  That’s cool enough.  But what makes this guy stand out is his beautiful humanness while simultaneously being appreciated and honored at a god-like level.  He is a jazz musician who is passionate about music and those who make it.  He studied in the States before he was made King and he fell in love with the daughter of the Thai ambassador to France, whom he then married and has been with ever since.  He is certainly a monarch to get behind, and while freedom of speech, I’m learning, is, interestingly, a mere privilege that we have in the states, it’s not allowed everywhere.  That being said, you would never suspect any level of censorship in “the land of smiles.”  Everyone is very easy-going, friendly, and happy.  

3. The food.  There.  I said it.  There is really nothing like Thai food.  Sure, most of you have probably tried pad thai in your lives and it might even be your default order when you go to a Thai restaurant.  Needless to say, I also love pad thai and I was prepared to eat nothing but for the next few months on the off chance that I didn’t like anything else.  That, as it turns out, will not be necessary.  Basically, even white rice is super flavorful here.  I’ve learned the word for “vegetarian” so sometimes I will just walk up to a restaurant and say, “ao aa-haan jeh ped” which means, “I want spicy, vegetarian food” and I get something new and exciting that I’ve never even seen before overtime.  The spicy levels are just about right too, and its a different kind of spice than Mexico whose salsa would go down ok but then leave me running to the bathroom all through the night.  I equate the Thai peppers to wasabi somehow in that it burns your mouth and runs your nose while you eat it but then you get over it pretty quickly; it’s not a pain that lingers.  Furthermore, some people find that when a food is spicy, you can’t taste anything else, but somehow the spice here just amplifies the flavor.  Every bite here is such cause for celebration it makes me wonder why the "eat" part of "Eat, Pray, Love" was done in Italy.

4.  Thai COOKING.  This is a separate thing because I now have learned how to cook Thai food as well as eat it.  It's interesting but we were told that most people in Thailand go out to eat for every meal since it's so cheap.  It's rare, they say, to get an apartment with a kitchen.  That's actually a little disappointing, especially since now I know how to cook pad thai and papaya salad like a boss, but maybe when I get to my placement I'll find a little place close to home and I'll prefer it this way.

5.  Buddhism.  We have now been to see several Buddhist Temples and every time we pop inside one I'm overcome with a nice sense of calm.  Maybe it's taking your shoes at the door or the happy, orange-clad monks, but whatever it is, I love being on the "in" and in the "know." The other day we took a meditation class from a real live Buddhist monk, that made me want to meditate on the reg.  While he was telling us all about his day-to-day life and how he came to the monkhood... his phone rang.  I don't know what I expected, it's not like "Buddhism" isn't synonymous with "Amish" but somehow I really didn't think monks would be able to have phones, especially since they beg for food every morning for their one and only meal of the day because they aren't allowed to handle money.

6.  The puppies.  Anywhere I go, this is gonna be a big one.  The other day we went to Rescue Paws, which is a blossoming organization dedicated to sterilizing and vaccinating the stray dog populations of Hua Hin.  They also do adoptions out to Canada and the states, hoping to find better lives for the dogs that they care for and rehabilitate.   

7.  Muay Thai.  This species of boxing is the national sport of Thailand and man is it tough!  Fun as can be, but really difficult.  We got a lesson the other day and I think it is certainly something that I want to look into when I get my placement.  It might be fun to take some private lessons and get in boxing shape.    

8.  The elephants.  It's no secret or joke that elephants all over the globe are disappearing like mad.  Well, I say "disappearing" as if we don't know where they are going when in reality the problem is very clear.  Once again, we are confronted by the obscene greed of the human race.  The ivory trade is still a huge concern for the well-being of all elephants and we really should do everything possible to discourage it at every turn.  Now with my short little PSA out of the way, I want to say that we went to Hutsadin Elephant Sanctuary to meet and feed their 8 beautiful elephants.  The sanctuary will find Elephants who are mistreated or used for the tourist trade (brutally tortured until they are broken for rides) and buy them off their owners so they can be rehabilitated in the sanctuary.  They don't have a lot of space for the elephants but at least they give them care, protection and all the pineapples they could want.  My teammates and I got the unique and special chance to hand feed some of the elephants.  I was even brave enough to put a piece of bread directly into an elephant's mouth.  

Tomorrow we will get to check out an awesome cave temple!  More to come. 

Locked in a Toilet in Bangkok

Ok, so in the spirit of full honesty that didn’t really happen to me.  Nor did it happen to the person who gave me the blog title idea, but I got your attention, didn’t I?

First two full days in Thailand- complete!

Let me just put it out there, it has all been pretty jam packed.  I definitely feel like I got a fairly comprehensive crash course on Thai culture, and… South African culture weirdly enough.  I include the latter because the group of teachers-to-be that I have found myself with are about 81% South African.  It’s been such a blast trying to pick up the lingo and slow down their fast speech in my head; I’m sure they know that sometimes I just smile and nod along to keep the conversation moving.

You'll notice from my Tokyo blog post that it took me quite a while to actually arrive in Bangkok.  The lovely Jill took on the chore of taking me to Chicago (in all honesty we had an amazing time chatting and listening to Hamilton the whole way up) and our journey began at 530am.  Needless to say, we got to the airport with plenty of time for my 1100am flight but although we joked that we could have woken up a lot earlier, both of us were just relieved that we slipped into the city right before the bad traffic began.  Leaving even a half hour or an hour later would have put us at least 2 hours behind.  

I think she's ready

My flight to Tokyo was 12 hours.  I lucked out by not getting a neighbor, and also getting an aisle seat in the middle chunk of seats, meaning no one had to hop over me to get to the bathroom at any point.  There was a guy three seats down from me (there were 4 spots in the section) who must have (MUST HAVE) purchased 75% of the seats in the row, because as soon as we sat down he skipped over the seat directly next to him to shove his bags under the seat next to ME, therefore claiming all seats and discouraging me from spreading out at all.  I can only explain such assholery away by saying that he sadly bought the two extra tickets for his wife and mother-in-law, but was left a day before for a 23-year-old underwear model with a trust fund and he put his stuff under the seat that would have been his mother-in-law's so that he could pretend for a minute that he was merely saving her seat while they wandered in late.  Either that, or he's just the biggest jerk to travel.

I slept pretty much the whole time in the airport in Tokyo, after giving up plans to cross off an item on my bucket list (eat sushi in Japan) since I didn't want to deal with converting dollars to yen, having no idea what the exchange rate was, nor how much sushi would cost there.   

My next flight was 6 hours and put me in Bangkok at 11pm.  My instructions from there were to go through customs, collect my bags and go to departure gate 3.  Then I was to wait for a driver who would have my name on a card along with "XploreAsia."  If no one showed up after 25 minutes, I was to call a Thai number to contact the driver.  This was obviously something I really hoped wouldn't happen since 1. I couldn't make calls from my American phone in Thailand, 2. I didn't have any change for the pay phone, 3. the pay phone didn't actually have an amount written on it so I had no idea how much change I would need anyway, and 4. I wasn't entirely sure if the person answering the phone would speak English and I certainly hadn't practiced enough Thai language on the flights.  Remember how my trip was kind of an emotional mess at this point?  Well, I waited 45 minutes before deciding that I needed to make the call or take a taxi.  

At this point, I had no energy to be nervous or upset or angry.  I just had to get it done.  So I went to a 7 Eleven (those are EVERYWHERE here) to get change that I could use in the payphone and then I kind of stood in front of it with my change looking lost before someone else's driver, who had been waiting as long as I had, took pity on me and came over to gently pluck a 5 coin from my palm and stick it in the machine.  When he dialed the number for me and it didn't work, he offered to let me use his iPhone to make the calls.  This was my first impression of Thai people.  Although this message  will literally never get to him and I know it, I want to thank that driver for saving my world in that moment.  It made me feel so grateful and positive.  And soon after my ride appeared and took me to the hotel.  I arrived by 2am.    

The next morning (Saturday) I started off the day with a free breakfast in the hotel and a swim on the roof, yes, there was a roof pool at our hotel in Bangkok.  As soon as we were floating in the chlorine with our chins resting firmly on the deck overlooking the city, we spotted some pretty incredible temple-looking structures in the distance.  We had already decided to venture out into the world but the stuff we saw on the roof really helped direct our afternoon outing.

We didn't actually make it to THIS temple, but it's what got us moving in that direction.

We spent the day eating Thai street food, pausing for some iced tea, and finally slipping into our first Thai temple!  You have to be respectful when in the Buddhist temple, being sure to cover most of your body and remove your shoes at the entrance.  It was a very spiritual experience to see all of the different religious traditions that were upheld.  It was like a living museum, each room hosting a different ritual. 

I will have to look up what the ash on the forehead means (it's not the same as Ash Wednesday, folks!) but I was just super pleased to have been welcomed and included as a foreigner.  I merely had to walk past the monks giving out the forehead art and I got one too!

This is from the outside since there were supposedly no photos allowed inside (I say "supposedly" because I have found pics online of inside...)

Me and the ladies! When an American, Canadian and 4 South Africans walk into a temple... Selfie cred to Imogen. 

Our group got a bit separated right before lunch and there was a storm rolling in, so half of us made our way back to the hotel (which I was proud to be able to confidently lead us back to) and ate lunch in the lobby (they charged way too much but the alternatives were going out in the monsoon or starving).  

At night we went to the ultra famous Khao San Road Market!  How do I describe this experience?  Well, for one thing, it is at night, every night and it is a street that gets closed off for vendors and bars and night clubs.  Basically, we came to learn that anything goes on Khao San; everything from general drinking, dancing and merriment (clothes on or off), to scorpion and tarantula consumption and taser and laughing gas abuse.  What's more, you can bring your kids to the show!

Normally, excessive and insane partying is really not my speed, but there was a way to be on the sidelines and just observe and I actually had a very nice time.  When we were getting home however, there was a little confusion with our tuk-tuk (open air, amusement park-looking taxis) drivers who thought we wanted to go to a strip joint (I guess "hotel" and "ping-pong show" sound similar in Thai?) but we made it there safe and sound.  

Today we spent the morning arriving at Hua Hin!  The place where we will be doing our month of training.  We all got up in over 10 giant party vans that eventually took us to the mall to exchange money and shop.  

I did not buy these but I kind of wish that I had so I could have tried them.

We have another busy day tomorrow.  It will be quite a hectic few weeks!

Last look-

What adventure would be complete without the kitties and the puppies???? This is Tigger.  We will be back for him in Bangkok as soon as possible!