The Thai Commercial Everyone is Talking About

Have you seen this new commercial from Thailand? This short three minute commercial is getting rave reviews around here. Literally, everyone is talking about it. 

It's amazing. that a three minute add can be more moving than a full length movie. Bravo, TrueMove.

Stuff Thai People Love #5

#5 MAMA

MAMA (pronounced with an emphases on the second MA) is nothing but the Thai version of Ramon instant noodles, but Thai people seriously can't get enough of this stuff. The flavors of the seasoning packets are obviously geared towards typical Thai dishes, but aside from that it looks and tastes exactly the same to me. My personal favorite flavor of MAMA is Tom Yum Khung which is a very popular sour and spicy Thai soup dish.

MAMA is also probably one of the cheapest foods you can buy here, around 15 US cents a package. However, my friends tell me they think MAMA is more of a snack than a meal. There is literally an ENTIRE aisle of the grocery store and supermarkets dedicated to MAMA packages. What I find most funny is that many Thai people will often order MAMA when they go out to eat in a restaurant and they'll essentially receive the same instant noodles they could have made at home but with more oil. Image going to say, The Olive Garden, and ordering Ramon noodles.

Bon Appetit! 

Stuff Thai People Love #4

#4 Straws 

In Thailand, every time you purchase something which comes in liquid form, you will also receive a straw. It does not matter what the liquid is, or what the size or shape of the container is, you WILL receive a straw. In fact, 7-Eleven has about 10 different sized straws that coordinate with different bottles they sell. Each and every liquid item gets a straw. It's like an unwritten law here. Yes, even beer gets a straw.

The straw craze is one of the Thai-isms that I thought was extremely strange the first few months I lived here. I used to be very anti-straws. I remember one time I told the cashier (in Thai) that I didn't want a straw with my liter sized bottle of water and she looked at me like I had three heads.

However, I have to admit I've converted to the straws. In fact, in feels quite weird to me to NOT use a straw now. While Coley was visiting, she made an interesting observation that using a straw does appear much cuter than tilting your head back to drink out of the bottle. Is the cute factor the real reason behind the straw craze? Nobody knows.

Coley Does Thailand: Take 2

Once again, this post is quite late but better late than never, right?

As many of you know, my best friend Coley came to visit me back in June and stayed for the entire month. I can't even express how nice to was to have a piece of home with me at my home away from home. Coley is the same friend that I came to Thailand with the first time I visited back in 2011. Therefore, it was fun to experience Thailand with her again for a second time. However, this visit was much different than the last. Last time, we were backpacking and moving around to a different city every night. It was fun but also felt very rushed. This time it was much for relaxing since we were settled at my condo and had an entire month to explore, eat, and shop.

Anyway, here are some of the highlights from our time together.

Coley's pickup from the airport.

Coley takes a Thai cooking course. The instructor told her she was in charge of getting the chilis at the market because she's "red hot!"

Our sampling of Thai desserts. Some of them were tasty and others...well not so much.

A rainy afternoon at Wat Arun in Bangkok.

A visit to Bangkok's famous Skybar. You can actually see my apartment in this picture! If you've seen the movie The Hangover (Bangkok) you might recognize this place.

Night view of Bangkok from the top of Skybar.

Me, Coley, Mean, Pik, and Beam

Of course, what's a visit to Thailand without a few elephants?

Temple hopping in Ayutthaya

Coley's iPhone case purchase at the night market. Now is this cute or is this cute?

View from our hotel in Krabi, Thailand.

Alright, so who's coming to visit next? ;)

Totally Thai Moment

Back when I lived in Ayutthaya, my life was filled with plenty of weird sightings and experiences. The ones where I just chuckled to myself and thought “Yep...I’m in Thailand.” I like to call these "Totally Thai Moments."

For example, I’ve seen a grown woman casually ride open air public transportation with a GIGANTIC teddy bear bigger than her own body, motorbikes trying to balance 3 tanks of gasoline on the back (safe, right?), monks with weedwackers taking care of the landscaping at the temple, elephants following me while I’m running, and 7-Eleven employees escorting me up 6 flights of stairs to use their private employee bathroom because I told them in Thai that I had to pee REAL bad. And that's just to name a few.

I have to admit that since I’ve moved to Bangkok life has been quite normal for me (well…relatively speaking). While it’s quite nice to have a pretty normal lifestyle, sometimes I do kind of miss those weird and wacky Thai moments that remind me why I love Thailand so much.

However, last week I had an unexpected Totally Thai Moment. I was walking along the Skywalk, which is like an elevated footpath above the street for easy access to public transportation and other places such as shopping malls. Often times, vendors will set up a large blanket on the ground, display and sell items on the busy walkway such as t-shirts, wallets, scarves, shoes, etc. Selling on the Skywalk is not legal in Bangkok and comes with a hefty fine if you're caught. But as with many illegal things in Thailand, this doesn't seem to stop people from doing them. 

So anyway, I was walking along the Skywalk which was lined on both sides with many vendors. I spotted a guy selling women's v-neck t-shirts. I recognized that he was selling the same shirt that I already owned. I really like that shirt so I decided I would buy another in a different color. I chose my color, we negotiated the price, I payed the money, he handed me a (plastic) bag with my new shirt, and at the exact moment that he's reaching into his pocket for my change...

I suddenly hear the female scarf vendor next to him cry out, "ADFSKJHJHFSHEUEFNJH@$*&!!" Actually, I have no idea what she shouted but I'm assuming it was something along the lines of, "POLICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

My t-shirt guy quickly said to me, "pop nueng, pom ja glap" which means, "wait a moment, I will return." Then, right in front of my eyes, I witnessed every single vendor on the Skywalk scramble for their belongings and run for their lives. They all obviously had a system to this madness because I watched my t-shirt guy grab the four corners of his blanket, pick it up in one quick movement, stuff it and all the t-shirts which were neatly displayed on it into a big duffle bag, then he literally BOOKED it out of there. I swear, he did this in a flat 8 seconds. These vendors were scurrying away like a bunch of teenagers who just broke their neighbor's window. The Skywalk went from small market to normal walking path in the blink of an eye. 

I watched my t-shirt guy run quite far and hide his duffle bag behind a pillar so it was out of site. He only owed me 20 baht (about 70 cents) change so I wasn't going to be too upset if he never came back, considering the situation. However, I waited around for a few minutes watching the situation unfold. About 20 seconds later, a guy dressed in a police uniform came walking down the Skywalk with his eyes scanning like a hawk and tickets in hand. I waited around for another minute and sure enough my trusty t-shirt guy returned with my 20 baht change and a big smile. 

Only in Thailand. 

Stuff Thai People Love #3

#3. Ya Dom 

To be honest, I'm not even sure what I would call these in English, but in Thai they're called Ya Dom which literally translates to smelling medicine.

Thailand is endowed with plenty of unusual sites (to a foreigner) such as movable stalls selling edible pig's body parts and intestines, thousands of motorbikes on the road, deep fried insects, and even elephants and monkeys strolling the streets. And with these strange sites also comes...well....strange smells. So how does a local cope? Two words: Ya Dom.

Ya Dom is a stick-type inhaler that is used to clear nasal congestion and help with nausea, fatigue, or dizziness caused by smells. It's made from menthol, camphor, and eucalyptus oil as base ingredients. It works by stimulating nerve endings which allow for improved blood flow which therefore counters conditions such as nausea, figure, and dizziness. To use it, you simply open the cap, stick it up your nose, and sniff.

Ya Dom is used by millions of people in Thailand; in fact, it's hard to find a Thai person who doesn't carry one of these babies with them 24/7. But not only do they carry them, they use them. Often. Despite the current Ya Dom craze in Thailand, its use actually reflects the Thai age-old habit of using aromatic herbal remedies.

So if your're curious - go ahead and give Ya Dom a try next time you're in Thailand. They're only about 15 baht (50 cents) and are conveniently sold at each and every (yep, you guessed it) 7-Eleven in Thailand.

Stuff Thai People Love #2

#2. Plastic Bags

I have never seen such a bewildering profusion of plastic bags in my life. They appear to be an integral part of Thai culture. I'm honestly not sure if life would continue to function if they were abolished here.  In America, I feel like it's becoming quite socially unacceptable to ask for a plastic bag at some stores instead of bringing your own reusable bag. Here, they will give you as many plastic bags as your little heart desires.

In grocery stores in Thailand, plastic bags are used in pretty standard fashion, as a means for you to carry your purchased goods home. However, the main difference I found is with the street vendors and convenience stores. For example, if you buy a single packet of gum or a single juice box at 7-Eleven, I 100% guarantee they will put it in a bag. The street vendors really take the plastic bag love affair to a new level. For example, if I want a mango they will cut it up for me, then dump the pieces into a bag which is then inserted into another plastic bag with a handle. They also throw in a tiny prepackaged bag of sugar/spice to dip it in. My trick is try to get away before they bag the bag containing my bag of fruit and bag of sugar. Even your morning coffee is placed in a plastic cup and then in a plastic bag. Even the salad I often buy for dinner at the night market consists of a salad in a bag with a smaller bag of salad dressing which is then placed inside another bag with a handle. Again, a bag inside a bag inside a bag. Same scenario if you buy say...curry. You'll walk away with a bag of curry and a bag of rice placed inside a bag with a handle.

I have to admit, one of my favorite plastic bag trends in Thailand is the pop in a bag. They open up a bag, dump in a mountain of ice, followed by a bottle of pop. I know this seems very strange, but I urge you not to judge until you give the "bag-o-pop"a try.

Since I usually do recycle and try be environmentally friendly, witnessing this love for the plastic bag in Thailand is hard to watch. I feel a certain amount of ethical responsibility combined with a bit of social awkwardness about it. While I try to refuse the bag (or at least the last bag with the handle), I haven't done as good of a job as I should, mostly because I'm trying to do as the locals do and don't want to stand out/look like even more of a freak than I already am here. 

Thai-Style Graduation

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend my Thai friends' Commencement (or graduation) from Silpakorn University in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. This was a fun experience that allowed me to reflect back to my own graduation day. It's hard to believe - but just a little over a year ago, I was the one graduating. To be honest, I don't think that "post grad life" has been as bad or as scary as everyone made it out to be. In fact, I've really enjoyed it so far! 

Attending a Commencement in Thailand was extremely interesting for me because it's so different than in America. One of the main differences is that in America, the only people who actually come to your graduation are your close friends and family. Because let's be honest, who actually wants to sit through a 4 hour ceremony listening to strangers' names being called? 

However, in Thailand, graduates pretty much invite anyone and everyone they know to the commencement. Why? Because no one goes to the actual ceremony, not even your parents! The only people who are allowed in the hall for the graduation ceremony are the graduates and a few particular professors. Therefore, if you're invited to a graduation, that basically means you're invited to come, make an appearance, say hi, bring gifts/flowers/chocolate/teddy bears/etc, take pictures with your friends, then leave. Pretty easy! 

These are two of my close friends that I met through work. Pik (on the left) and Mean (on the right), both graduating from the Faculty of Arts. Pik majored in English and minored in German and Mean majored in German and minored in English (funny, right?). 

This is another close friend, Lukpla, who I met through a mutual friend from college. Lukpla studied the Faculty of Pharmacy which was a 6 year program and now lives and works in Bangkok.

Another major difference is that in America, your graduation ceremony is usually about a week or two after you finish your classes for the semester. However, in Thailand, the commencement is usually months after you finish. For example, my friends finished classes at the end of February and their commencement was in July. Because this is the norm in Thailand, you can still apply and get jobs without having your actual diploma in hand yet.

As you can probably tell from the pictures, the graduates have to wear a very strict uniform in order to attend the commencement ceremony. For girls this includes: knee-length formal blue pencil skirts with a brown university belt, stockings, special matching black heels, and a white button-up uniform blouse with a university pin. Then, of course, the black gown and faculty hood over this. My friends all expressed disappointed that they didn't get to wear the caps like we do in America. They said they wanted to throw them in the air, like they've seen in the movies. Also, all girls must have black hair (if it's not, then you have to die it) and is must be tied back. For boys, you can't have any facial hair. If you don't want to follow these rules, then you can't attend the ceremony. It's literally laughable to me to think about the utter outrage that would ensue at Elmhurst College if we were given these same rules for our graduation ceremony. I can already image what the hateful Facebook updates would look like. I would estimate less than 20% of people would come to the ceremony.

Before my graduation, we had a 1 hour "rehearsal" the night before where we met in the chapel and got  in our seating order and that was about it. However, in Thailand, you have THREE full day (7 hour) rehearsals before the real graduation day. And these are like full dress rehearsals in outfits, makeup, and everything. On the last (real) commencement day, the graduates are actually handed their diploma by a member of the Royal Family. In this year's case, one the King's daughter's (the Princess) will hand the diplomas. Therefore, that is the main reason why everything must be absolutely perfect and everyone must look and act respectable. To be able to meet a member of the Royal Family is a pretty big deal and not every Thai person can say that they've done so.

It was a neat experience to be able to attend (by attend - I mean take pictures?) a Thai commencement ceremony. More cool updates coming soon :)

Cha-cha-ch-changes

Hello everyone!

I know, I know, this post is long overdue. Like 4 months overdue.Whoops....sorry. In the past few months, there's been a lot of changes with my move and job change to Bangkok and my life couldn't be any more different than my old life in Ayutthaya. Many people have expressed interest so I wanted to break it down and explain everything in detail.

School

Before, I taught at a Thai government (or public) high school. Now, I teach at an English language school. Language schools are very different than traditional schools. The best way to think of an English Language School is to not really think of a school. Yes, we are a school, but not in the traditional sense. We're actually located inside a mall. Instead, think of it as an extracurricular activity. For example, when I was in high school, I would go play baseball or attend rehearsals for plays after school. Instead, these students go and study English after school or work.

At my old school, I was assigned to teach specific grade levels and specific classes of students. Now, everyone is technically my student and anyone can sign up for a class with me. Because the teachers are from various countries and have different accents, the students enjoy the variety.

Dress Code

At my old school, I was required to dress very conservatively with my knees and shoulders always covered. I was also required to wear a black skirt, as pants were not allowed. And on Fridays, I had to wear an obnoxious, blue Hawaiian print shirt to work, the "uniform" shirt for all teachers. However, at my new school, I was told that the dress code was "trendy." I'll never forget, on my first day of work, the Director of HR said to me, "short skirts are definitely okay!" I'm not sure if I'll ever have a future employer says those words to me. Needless to say, I spent the first few weeks in Bangkok trying to acquire a new, trendy wardrobe.

Facilities

Once again - 180 degree turn. At my old school, my office and nearly all of the classrooms were not air conditioned (let me remind you it's an average of 90 degrees F everyday in Thailand). Also, I had to walk outside to different buildings for each class. I'm not gonna lie, by the end of the day, I was sweaty and gross. Also, my office only had 1 computer to share among about 15 teachers and the internet and printer were both broken approximately 75% of the time. Therefore, it was very difficult to work and plan lessons without a computer, printer, or internet. My first day of work I was give ONE white board marker and told to make it last for the entire semester. In the classrooms, there were no computers, projectors, smart-boards, speakers, etc. Essentially, it was up to my whiteboard marker and I to entertain 50 students for 50 minutes.

At my new school, we have everything. Air conditioning, plenty of computers, printers, working internet, and unlimited white board markers! The classrooms and facilities at my school are really quite nice.

Students

As you probably know, I absolutely adored my students from my old school. However, the job was difficult because their language level was very low. My class was just a required class that they "had" to show up to because it was required by the government. Even though they usually couldn't understand what I said, and had little to no motivation to learn English, they were still ridiculously sweet and kind. Likewise, I also adore my new students but they're quite different. I would say that my best student from my old school would probably test into the lowest level at my new school.

I think the main difference between the students is the motivation factor. Even if I can clearly tell they don't really want to learn English, they understand that they NEED to learn English for their futures and careers, which makes a world of a difference. In addition, the students (or their parents) pay A LOT of money for them to study here. So as with anything, when your money is involved there's more incentive to get something out of it.

Also, since most of my students grew up in Bangkok, they have more exposure to foreigners and foreign teachers. I'm not really like a novelty to them. While I will admit that I do kinda miss being told a minimum of 50 times a day that I'm beautiful, I feel like the students at my new school treat me like a normal person instead of a celebrity. They ask me about my personal life, invite me to eat dinner with them, and help me with any problems that arise (i.e. reading my electric bill). In fact, they don't even call me "Teacher Kim" but just "Kim." It's not out of disrespect, but the environment at the language school is much more relaxed.

At my new school, about 70% of the students are from Chulalongkorn University which is conveniently located directly across the street from my school. Chulalongkorn (aka"Chula") is ranked the top university and is basically like Thailand's equivalent of Harvard. The other 30% of my students are comprised of university students from other various universities, Bangkok high school students, and working professionals. The youngest student at my school is 14 and the oldest student is 88. I have many students that are doctors, lawyers, Thai Airways international pilots, engineers, businessmen/women, etc.  I would say that I'm pretty lucky because my students are some of the cream of the crop.

Schedule

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I am not a a morning person. For my old job, I had to wake up around 5:30 AM because I was required to be at work at 7:30 AM for morning assembly and also had to allot time for the dreaded commute. I was usually so tired from the day and commute that I'd fall asleep by 10:00 PM. I remember in college, I used to make fun of people who went to bed at 10:00 PM. How times have changed.

Now, since I work at a language school, the school is open at times that accommodate to people's school, university, and work schedules. Therefore, I usually work from 12:00 noon - 9:00 PM and occasionally the shift from 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM. That means, I can stay up late and have the entire morning to do whatever my heart desires (sleep in, workout, run errands, etc). Let's just say the new schedule is much for fitting for my lifestyle. The only slight downside is that I usually work on the weekends. I always have two consecutive days off a week that rotate by month. While I occasionally miss out of things happening with my friends who are off on Saturdays and Sundays, it hasn't been that bad so far. In fact, going places in Bangkok during the weekday is much nicer than going on the weekend when its ridiculous crowded.

Commute

By now, I'm sure you've already read or heard about my dreaded commute to my old job. It was long, sweaty, and unreliable. Average time was about 1.5 hours each way. It was probably the one thing I disliked the absolute most about my old situation.

My new commute....total opposite. Although it somehow still involves 3 - 4 different modes of transport, it's short, minimally sweaty, and reliable. I'll write a more detailed post soon about my new commute. I'm really lucky to live near the BTS and take it to work. The BTS is the SkyTrain in Bangkok, similar to the El in Chicago. From my apartment door to the door of my office is exactly 25 minutes. I can also shave off about 5 minutes if I walk on escalators (I think there's like 10 escalators?!). You can ask any Bangkok local - that's a pretty impressive commute time for a city nicknamed "traffic jam city."

What I teach

Just like my old job - I still teach English, I still teach 5 classes a day, and I'm still at school for about 9 hours a day. However, what I teach couldn't be any more different. At my old job, on the first day of the semester I was given a vague list of topics to teach the students such as "conversation in many situations," "Asia holidays," and "apology and concern." I was told by the head of the English department, "Up to you!" and interrupted them as I chose. Since I had no book to teach from, I would create my own basic lessons. For example, different phrases you can say to apologize (excuse me, sorry, please forgive me, pardon me, etc).

On the other hand, at my new job I mainly teach English grammar, sometimes quite advanced grammar. In fact, I'll be honest...I didn't really know much about English grammar before starting this job. However, I quickly learned that Thai students don't learn English the same way that we do. Sure, we all learn grammar in school but when you're a native speaker a lot of it just comes natural and what "sounds right" to you, not the formulas for constructing positive, negative, and question sentences in all 12 tense and of course the irregular forms as well.

On my very first day at my new job, a student came up to me and politely asked me to explain the difference between Verb 1 and Verb 2 and the difference between Present Perfect Continuous and Present Perfect Perfect tense. I had no idea! In that moment, I experienced a minor internal freak out. I'm the teacher and I think the students know more about English than I do! After that, I had to kick myself in the butt and quickly re-learn English grammar and how to simply explain it to students. Now, I finally feel confident teaching any lesson on it. I will admit that the first few months were busy and tough because of the large learning curve.

Class Size

This is a huuuuuuge difference. Class size at my old school was between 40-52 students per class. At my new school there are 3 different types of classes. Type 1 has a maximum of 8 students. Type 2 has a maximum of 4 students. And Type 3 (Activities) have a maximum of 20 students. At my old school, I spent about 50% of the class time saying, "Listen please," "Quiet!" and "Don't talk!" However, at my new job there is absolutely no classroom management involved. The students show up for class, only speak English with each other, and politely listen and respond.

So there you have it. So many differences between jobs, right?. I'm quite happy with my change and really enjoying my new job. I'll write again soon!