Hua Hin

After debating over where to spend the 3-day weekend before starting to teach, myself and 5 others from OEG orientation decided to make our way to Hua Hin. It is an easy 3-hour (or more depending on what transportation) from Bangkok. We decided to rent a van from the train station since there were so many of us it made sense, but it cost about $15 when it could have cost much less on a bus…note for later. It was a fast and easy ride and dropped us off right by where we found a guesthouse to stay in for the weekend. The guesthouse was very quaint, and the upper floors where we stayed had little porches with benches. For 2 people it cost 250 Bhat a night ($5 per person!) There was a nice area to hang out in where we played cards with before hitting the town.

During the day we went to the beach, which was right across the street, swam (except the water was so warm it didn’t cool you down), drank coconut water and relaxed. The first night we met some guys from the Netherlands who were just finishing up their stay in Thailand. They had been to Hua Hin before and were staying at the same guesthouse. We went and explored the night market and had dinner (Me and Kai split this huge plate with a whole red snapper, 3 large prawns, muscles and clams for about $10). After dinner we thought we would check out a Muay Thai boxing match, but we didn’t all want to pay so we decided instead to do Karaoke. As we were walking on the street we passed by a food stand that was selling bugs. Kai asked my if I would try a grasshopper and I said “of course!” The man realized that we just wanted 2, not a whole bag, no thank you and gave then to us for free. When the rest of the group realized what we were doing some were excited, the others were disgusted. We bought a bag then and tried to make everyone try. To tell you the truth, I quite liked them! They were crunchy and had a nice smoky taste to them. This is not to say I’m going to substitute chips for them, but it’s worth a try.

                        [Diverting to food for a second (one of my favorite subjects), it is very hard sometimes to know what you are getting and even when you get it, what it is…. you may think that something that you thought was some kind of meat, is really congealed blood (vomit). The other day my coordinator and some teachers took me to a noodle place and ordered pork balls  (not actual balls I don’t think but they are everywhere and do not appetizing to me) so of course I was forced to try them. One thing I also tried was black eggs. They tasted like normal eggs but pretty funny looking. Apparently the black eggs are those that are died pink… I still don’t get how that happens. Oh Thailand you amaze me! Soon I will devote a whole post to food]

            Back to Hua hin. We found the Karaoke bar (the guys from the Netherlands had been there before) and started belting out American tunes. You should no that I NEVER participate in this activity back home, but this night I had a mike glued to my hand! Haha it was fun because we were the only people there J And none of us were really good singers (ahem Leo Marlow) so there was no pressure.

            Anyway the whole weekend was a tremendous success. It was sunny and warm all day, downpour for usually 1 hour form 5-6pm and then be nice again. The only trouble I ran into was coming home from Bangkok… I asked an information lady where to go to get a bus to Nakhon Pathom, and she told me I had to go to the Southern Bus Terminal. Weeeeell everything in Bankok is sooooo far away that I decided to take a taxi (really only way). All transportation is cheap, but comparatively taxis are very expensive. So I finally found a bus, waited for 20 minutes, got off at the last stop an hour later and I had not recognized any along the way. They made me get off and I had no idea where I was. Well, it would have been good to know that I am not in Nakhon Pathom really… not the city at least; I am just in the province. Yes, that makes a big difference. I was so desperate to get home (I still had my swimsuit on) that I showed a scooter taxi a map of where I live. He laughed, showed it to his fellow scooter buddies and said “you take bike??” Ummm, well since I thought I must not be THAT far I was like “yes, I take bike”. He was stoked.

                        HALF AN HOUR LATER I am still on the back of this damn scooter and nothing is looking familiar! There were signs pointing to Bangkok and I was worried he did not read my map right. He however was certain he knew where he was going. Well he did. Thank God. 200 B scooter ride, I hope I don’t make that mistake again. Funniest thing was that when I got off and paid he tried to talk to me and all I got was “very beautiful”. I thanked him again and drug my weary feet up to my room. I took one look at myself in the mirror and bust out laughing. I was super sunburned, had a wild fro from the beach and the crazy scooter ride, and my eyes were watering from all the dirt they had just been exposed to. Hey, if I looked pretty to him… well that’s just sad.

Going out to eat soon, but I will blog next about school and all my little Thai munchkins! Keep posted! 

Elephants!!!

Here are the links to my facebook albums-- much easier, it takes forever to load them to my blog for some reason :( I think they are just to big but I don't know how to change them. More stories to come soon about my first beach experience but I'm hitting the sack early tonight to get up early for my first class! EEEKKK!!!  xoxo

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=248272&id=696190911
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=248262&id=696190911

My new home!

Last night my coordinator picked me up at the hotel and it was so chaotic with everyone leaving it was hard to say goodbye. We are now all dispersed all over Thailand and it’s pretty crazy to think about. It tool almost 2 hours with the traffic to make it to Nakhon Pathom. Majuri and another man that works at the school took me out to a delicious meal and once again I stuffed myself with Ton Kha soup, seafood curry served in a coconut, crab, Japanese vegetables, rice and spring rolls. Then they drove me to the apartment where I will be staying the next 12 months. They call is the “mansion” but it is just dorm-style rooms with a common kitchen and laundry that I haven’t explored yet. The bathroom is small and the shower is just stuck out of the wall and goes into the toilet when you turn it on. I will be just fine with no hot water because it is extremely hot and I cannot figure out the air. I slept with the fan blowing on me last night and was still very sticky.

It is sinking in that this is all for real and my coordinator is picking me up soon to go to the store to buy black pants and some home appliances that I need still. She was so nice and got me a bottom sheet, pillow, an electric kettle, water, bread and some crackers and jam. I’m sure that I’ll be going to her for lots of things because her door is just 2 down from me.

Today Majuri and Runna (pronounced Lana) took me to the Big C shopping center for lunch and so I could pick up a few things like pants and shampoo. I got to drive around both the boy's school and the girl's school as well. With all the buildings this school feels more like it's own little town, it's HUGE! I organized my room and finally got my internet working. I would like to take a few days to visit an island before I start work, but we'll see how that works out!

Miss everyone please stay in contact! 

Orientation and more...

Our weeklong orientation in Bangkok through OEG was well worth the program fee. We had teacher training classes, Thai language classes, and then some panels on topics such as traveling, visas, etc.

Thom is our Thai language teacher (that’s her nickname), and the funniest Thai I have met so far. She is always laughing at us for our bad pronunciation, but at the same time praises us and tells us that we sound good. One of the funniest parts of the last lesson was when she talked about Thai translation of English. She showed us a picture of a translated menu that said something, something, something with “whore dust”. Well apparently “curry” can mean, “prostitute”, so “whore dust” quite literally would mean “curry powder”. Haha good to know!

10/19           

Yesterday after planning and presenting lesson plans in groups for our last project, we took a 3-hour bus ride west to Kanchanaburi. We stopped to see the bridge over the river Kwae that was built during WW2 (look it up it’s a good story) and then ate a wonderful meal at a restaurant jetting right over the river. It consisted of a variety of seafood dishes, my fave!

The hotel that we stayed at—let me rephrase that—our resort, was amazing (I think this word will be repeated constantly on this bog, sorry). It is in the middle of sprawling green lawns, palm trees, flowers, and multiple pools. The rooms has balconies and the restaurant was an open-air buffet style with a bar and karaoke room below. Since there was no other place to go (and why would anyone want to?), all 80 of us rushed to buy all the booze and beer we could get our hands on. We were told that the infamous pools were closed L, but everyone had a blast drinking, playing games, and visiting. After we got a buzz going, a few of us just couldn’t resist the calm, dark water of the pool and decided to break the rules. Well worth the risk! We enjoyed ourselves for at least a half an hour before I guard decided to finally ask us very kindly to put back on our clothes. This was probably good because wake up call was at 6:30 am.

On a side note, I’m not really sure if I’m still experiencing jet lag, but almost ever morning I wake up at 3 am ready to take on the day. It’s so annoying! Usually I pull out my kindle and read under the covers for a while until I force myself to sleep just a few more hours. In the stated it’s a challenge to get up at 9! I’ll keep you posted if my sleep schedule ever goes back to normal.

10/20

Today was the best day ever!!!!! We got to ride elephants and go bamboo rafting. The elephants were the most amazing (there it is again) experience that I had pictured, but when you’re actually on…. Wow, just mind-blowing. These animals are SO BIG and SO GENTLE! I got to ride right up on the neck with no help and our guide just walked along side and commanded her by talking to her. Just feeling that massive body beneath me and having her slap my legs with her enormous ears; I’ll never forget.

Our guide went into the trees and picked leaves, which he sewed into hats for us and I bought a bag of small bananas for like 50 cents to feed to the elephants. After we dismounted, there was a show where 2 small elephants did tricks for us such as dace and play harmonicas, play basketball, pop balloons with darts, and hula-hoop with their trunks while crossing their legs. Then I got to take a picture with one and it gave me an elephant kiss!

The bamboo rafts were these large platforms that floated down the river. I spent most of the time swimming alongside the raft though because it was a beautiful sunny day (first one since we’ve been here) and I just couldn’t resist the water. Our guide was very young and sang almost the whole way that was guess what? AMAZING! Haha. When we got back to the hotel we had just one hour before lunch and check out so I went back to the pool. As many of you know, if there’s water, I’m there!

I am now on the bus back to Bangkok where my coordinator will pick me up, and I will finally be able to move into my apartment that will be my home for the next year. I can truly say that I was blown away by today and I know I’m in the right place here. I cannot wait to do and see more amazing things that Thailand has to offer. 

Grand Palace

Sa wat dee ka!

I made it safely to Thailand with all my bags YAY!  I think I'm already in love. The architecture, food, language and people and absolutely fascinating!

Lets start with the trip:

Each of my flights went off without a hitch and was on time to the minute, very impressive.  On my 13-hour flight from Chicago to Seoul I sat next to a very sweet lady from Viet Nam who would ask me to help her push her seat back each time. I watched three movies and probably slept for one hour. When I got off the plane I started to talk with a man who turned out to be from Cedar Rapids (small world) and was going to somewhere in Indonesia to get married.  I waited for him to have a cigarette in a smoking room and then he bought me a coffee and we chatted for a bit. He was raised Amish and had left when he was a teenager saying that it was more of a cult than anything. I would have never had pegged him for Amish, but people have a way of always surprising you.

By the Seoul airport is ridiculously awesome. They have everything from Burberry, Internet cafes, and Hermés to bars, sleeping booths, and said smoking rooms. The architecture is modern with the walls all of slanted glass. I didn’t really mind spending three hours there.

The next leg of the journey was six hours to Bangkok and a half hour taxi ride to the hotel. I sat next to the cutest Thai girl named Erng (I couldn’t pronounce it correct so she told me to call her “American” name). She has been studying in Washington DC for that last 4 years but is home visiting Bangkok for two weeks. She helped me with a few words and insisted on waiting for me to get my luggage at baggage claim and walk me to the taxi even though hers had come first. Have you ever hear that Thais are very nice people? It’s true.

After getting to the hotel around 1 am and waking up my roommate who later said she had taken a Benadryl a few hours before, reason for grogginess, I attempted to sleep with no luck. By that time I was just too excited and the pillow was too big. Lets just say the first day of orientation I think all the 80 teachers were struggling with jet lag. But we all made it through and are getting to know each other and having a great time.

Today we went to the Grand Palace, which is supposed to be the most beautiful temple in Thailand (and I can bet it’s true). We were split into groups for the tour and our guide Simon told us all about the history—fascinating. After that we had lunch at an amazing restaurant that must have specialized in seafood. Aroi ka! (delicious). Oh and last night my roommate and I were solo to for the search for dinner, which turned out to be no easy task. ALL the signs are in Thai. Not the Thai that we can sound out, but in that beautiful, impossible to read letters. We finally pointed at some fried rice and said “gai” which means chicken and had an actually very good meal. It was especially good because it cost $1. Then on the way back to the hotel I stopped and bought coconut water for 25 cents. FRESH COCONUT WATER is the BOMB! I’m going to live off it. And the girl thought I was very funny using my limited Thai when ordering, I’m glad to have made her night a little more entertaining.

We are now waiting to meet our school coordinators and have our welcome dinner, going to take a shower and wear something nice to make a good first impression!

1 Week Countdown

I am counting down the days until I will be trapped on a plane for what will feel like days heading towards a new adventure and new chapter of my life. I have received my Thai visa and it finally seems like everything is falling into place--except for packing. Yikes, the scariest task of all!


After being home for only 1 week, I already miss my friends in Iowa City. It's always sad to leave those people who make you happy, but this time it is particularly hard since I know I won't be moving back there after the year is up. I know some of you think I will get swallowed up in Thailand and stay longer, but we'll see!


Before I go I just wanted to start this journal so that I can stay connected to those I love by sharing my stories and pictures with all of you while I am living in the "land of smiles."