The Beginning, Hua Hin

The first free weekend that I had I went to a beach a few hours outside of Bangkok, Hua Hin. There were a group of nine people who went. We just left straight from school and took a taxi from school to the bus station. I usually do not like to travel in large groups but we were having a beach weekend so its easy to have a large number of people.

I was told Hua Hin is a great place to go to get away for the weekend that does not require much time to get too. Once we got there, we got a room in a hostel that many of the teachers from Lertah stay at when they go there. We put our stuff in the rooms and headed out for dinner.

I had not even been in Thailand very long and I was already going to dinner at Indian but so many people swore by it so I agreed. And, it was delicious! Afterward we were beat from the week so we all just decided to go back to the hostel to chill out!

There were four of us staying in a room together. We turned on the light and were just talking when one of the girls saw little bugs crawling on the beds. She immediately said that they were bed bugs and we needed to change rooms! I did not even think bed bugs were real, I just thought it was part of the bedtime riddle. So, we waited a little longer and they starting coming out in masses. It was quite gross.

We went downstairs and tried to tell the guy at the desk. They went to the room to check on it and sure enough he agreed that there were bugs. We got placed into another room and the same thing happened. So, we decided that we were going to go to another hostel. Easier said then done.

The guy tried to make us pay for the night even though we had not even been there an hour and there were bedbugs. He kept yelling at us in Thai thinking would we understand it, and obviously we didn't. Long story short, they kicked us out of the hostel and told us we were never allowed back.

So at 1AM we were back on the street looking for a place to stay. Luckily we found another place that was still open and quite cheap. We were so happy to go to bed. Well, we did not have bed bugs in this room but, there was a gigantic bug crawling on the fan. It was about the size of my index finger, Katie and I were afraid to get close to it so went back downstairs to ask the guy to help us out. He brought up a broom type thing as his mode of attack.

We he saw the bug he had a bit of a frightened look on his face. In Thailand, they do not believe in killing anything, not even bugs. So, he was trying to get the bug to crawl onto his feather broom and bring it outside. Well, the bug had a different idea of the situation. It flew at the guy and all three of us went running out of the room!

On attempt number two, the bug was caught and Katie and I finally made it to bed.

We slept in on Saturday and then headed to breakfast and the beach. They had great markets that lined the streets, everything in Thailand is so cheap! There were also food carts everywhere. You can not walk two feet in Thailand without seeing a food seller on the street. Some delicacies that were there were grasshoppers, larva, waterbugs, scorpions, and cockroaches. I was not able to stomach that yet.

We were greeted by horses on the beach as well as a million other vendors selling anything from corn, eggs, peanuts to blankets and clothes. I was not lying on the beach for more then thirty minutes before I was offered a Thai Massage, one hour for $4. How could I turn down a Thai massage on the beach for an hour so so cheap. It was fantastic! We spent the rest of the day in the sun and water, so enjoyable.



That night everyone went out to dinner again and then went to a cabaret show! In Thailand they are not afraid or ashamed to express their sexuality. There a quite a bit of gays as well as transvestites. It was free admission into the show and then you had to pay for drinks. It was absolutely hysterical. Some of the men honestly looked like women that it was just amazing.

Finally, on Sunday we woke up early again to get another massage before we had to leave. This massage was at a spa so the price went up to about $11 for an hour and it was out of this world.

So, that was my first weekend out in Thailand and I am loving it!

*Hope everyone is good!

Delayed start

So, it has taken me quite sometime to begin writing this blog. However, I have never kept any sort of journal so the fact it is being done is exciting, better late then never as they say.

So, I will just start off by saying that this country is amazing! It is no lie when people say that this is "the land of smiles." The people in this country are absolutely amazing. Everyone is so kind and will go out of there way to do whatever they can do to help you.

Thailand is also a country of more pride then I have ever experienced. It is such a great feeling to live amongst people with such pride in their country. The king, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, just had his anniversary this year to mark his 60th year on the throne. He is the world's longest serving monarch. The people in this country have nothing but good things to say about the king. They speak of him as though he is a type of god. In the Thai culture, each day of the week is assigned a color. Whatever day you are born on is your color. The king is born on a Monday, which is yellow. So every Monday in Thailand just about every citizen wears the color yellow to show respect to the king. It is quite amazing. And, everyday at 8AM and 6PM they play the kings song and if you are in public and hear the song everyone will freeze until it is over. The same is true in movie theatres. I went to go see a movie and before the movie begins everyone will stand up and pay respect to the king. Here is a link to find out what your color and Buddha is if you are interested. http://www.usmta.com/Thai-Birthday.htm

So that is a little bit about the culture that I find to be interesting. For the first time in my life I began getting everything together for the move about two weeks in advance. I had one large backpack that I was calling my carry on and two very large suitcases. One of which was filled with school supplies that I was bringing with me for the school. I was told that resources were limited so I filled up. I got to the counter to check in and she told me one of my bags was overweight and I have to empty about 7 pounds into my already stuffed backpack that I was trying to call my carry-on. So, I said my goodbyes to mom and dad and was on my way to Thailand! I got passed security and was on my way with a 60 pound pack on my back. I boarded the plane and was off to San Fran. When I got onto the plane I was able to sleep quite well arriving in San Fran around 1AM. I had an few hour layover and was then off to Taipei, Taiwan. I met a Thai women in the airport waiting in line to check in. Although never of us could speak the same language we still somehow managed to click. She was really sweet and we did alot of talking through charades. I was able to take a bit of a nap before leaving for Taiwan.

The flight was thirteen hours long with a two year old boy that did not sleep much at all sitting next to me. Somehow I managed to get some sleep but not too much. Everything seemed like a dream and I still was not convinced I was going to be ending up in Bangkok.

Once I got to Taipei I was basically boarding for Thailand. I looked at my ticket and thought wow my number is very low. And, sure enough I somehow got put into first class. The flight was only four hours but it was a fantastic ride!

And then I successfully arrived in THAILAND on October 27, 2006 after 30 hours of travel time!!!!! When I got here I was so tired, excited, nervous, anxious and beyond curious. There were so many unanswered questions but it was all part of the journey that I was so eagerly awaiting. I was so worried I was not going to be arriving at a school and no one would be there to pick me up. I was immediately proven wrong. I got off the plane, luckily got all my bags, and was greeted by three Lertlah school staff. I piled all my stuff into the van and we were then on our way to my new home! I did not have much idea of where or what I would be living in. I passed some ify places on the way to our street and was not sure what to think, but I was ready for anything. When I walked into my room I was shocked. It was equipped with a fridge, TV with two English movie channels, air con and a large bed. So, basically its a huge room with a bathroom. Most apartments in Thailand do not have kitchens in them because it is more expensive to cook then to go out to eat. Anyway, I was more then pleased and happy to call it my new home! The rest of the day was spent just unpacking, settling in an catching my breath. There are ten other teachers that live on the same floor as me. When I arrived many of the teachers were gone on their two week October holiday.

I quickly became friends with the girl, Katie, who had arrived the day before me. So we began to explore our neighborhood. I live in a completely Thai area, which is so great! Before Lertlah came which has not even been a year the people around here had never seen a white person! So it was interesting to have people stare at you as though you were famous or something!

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up on sleep and getting my room in some sort of order. Monday I went to the school, Lertlah and was shown around and given a brief introduction to how things work, what kids I was going to be teaching, etc. The school in amazing. The facilities are incredible. There is a large gymnasium, an Olympic size pool, two large playgrounds, a "ball room" for the younger kids to play in, cafeteria, great library, and a massive school. There are about 1500 students in the school and it is only in its second semester of its first year.

Tuesday I went to the school again to have more information told to me, and then it was GO time. Mind you, I have had no teaching experience with the age I was working with and I was scared to death. How was I going to teach, what was I going to teach and so many other things that went on behind the scenes such as marking and planning and so much to deal with all at once and with only a two day prep, but I was ready for the challenge, sort of.

And, challenge it most definitely was and is! In the Thai culture it is not considered rude to talk while others are talking or even while authority is talking or TEACHING! So, I would try to teach and the children, all thirty of them would be chatting away. I stunned. So that was extremely hard to get used to and I decided I was not going to get used to it. So, on day one I began teaching them respect and not to talk while others are talking. It is a very hard concept for the students to grasp but they are getting so much better.

There are two other teachers who teach the same material that I do. So it is great because the three of us can brainstorm and come up with ideas together. At this point, I am starting to feel so much more comfortable with teaching, my kids and the curriculum. The students are so cute and really great. We have to be at school by 8Am and do not finish until 4:30Pm, so it lends for a long, tiring but fun day!