Sunflower Paradise & Monkey Mayhem

I love sunflowers.

They're my absolute favorite flower. It's probably because I have fond memories with sunflowers. When I was about 8 years old my grandparents planted sunflower seeds and gave me one of the small plants. My mom and I then planted it in our front yard; it became my own little special project. I remember it was so fun to watch the sunflower grow...and grow...and grow. We had no idea it would grow to be so tall! To be honest, we didn't seem to do anything special for it. I became quite popular on my street as every neighbor would comment on my sunflower nearly three times my height.

When I heard my Thai coworker Job talking about her recent trip the sunflower fields in a nearby province of Thailand, I knew I had to go. She warned me it wasn't a tourist destination and would be extremely difficult to get to without a car. I didn't care; I had to go. I read online that sunflowers are only in bloom for a short period of time with the month of December being the best time to visit. I had to go soon!

A friend of mine from Bangkok was visiting for the weekend so I managed to convince her to take a journey into the unknown land of sunflowers with me. I warned her it probably wouldn't be easy to find the fields, but luckily she was keen for an adventure.

We took the local train from Ayutthaya to the city of Lopburi and decided to figure it out from there. Lopburi is well-known in Thailand for its population of almost 1,000 wild monkeys that roam the town. However, after only 5 minutes in Lopburi, it was very clear to me that these wild monkeys don't just run around the town, they literally run this town. They roam the streets wreaking havoc wherever they go: swinging from electrical power lines, dodging traffic and moving cars, jumping on unsuspecting tourists with bags of food, stealing hats and sunglasses, chewing holes through banners, advertisements, and anything else they can get their greedy hands on. I actually saw a group of them running up a shop's awning and then sliding down, repeating the process over and over again like a bunch of kids. Basically, these wild monkeys live the monkey kingdom life of luxury in the middle of the city. I personally was not a big fan of these most-likely- disease-infested-crazy-monkeys and was terrified one would jump on me. They also move pretty darn quick. Unfortunately, the streets of Lopburi are completely covered in trash and wrappers because of all the food the monkeys are fed or steal from garbage bins and tourists.

Phtoto credit: Mathias Connelly

Photo credit: Mathias Connelly 

From my understanding, the monkey god, Hanuman, is revered in Lopburi, so instead of chasing the primates away treating them like nuisances, the local Thai people pretty much let them rule the place. They even provide food to eat and once a year there is a full banquet held just for the monkeys. Most are found hanging out around Phra Prang Sam Yot, also nicknamed The Monkey Temple. Included with your 50 baht entrance fee is a long bamboo stick as your means of self defense from the monkeys.

Photo credit: Mathias Connelly

I had about enough of the monkeys so it was time to find the sunflower fields. However, we had a small problem... Lopburi didn't really have any tuk-tuks or transporation available to get around like we assumed. We walked around for a while trying to figure out how we could possibly ask a local to explain how to get to the sunflower fields with our limited Thai vocabulary. Just as this was happening, we coincidentally ran into my Thai friend Ice and her boyfriend who also live in Ayutthaya on the street next to mine. They apparently had also decided to take a day trip to Lopburi that day. We explained the situation and Ice quickly started asking around to the locals and within about 3 minutes had arranged us a ride to the sunflower fields and back. Hallelujah!

The journey was about a 45 minute drive outside the city, but boy was it worth it. When we turned down the street, I was in complete aw. It was breathtaking! On both sides, as far as the eye could see was field after field after field of sunflowers that seemed to stretch on forever. A profusion of bright yellow flowers covered the field under a clear blue sky with a perfect backdrop of majestic mountains. It felt truly unreal.

I think I found paradise. Sunflower paradise.

The Big Scene at Big C

Imagine this scenario: You want to buy a tablecloth. Your shopping experience would probably look something like this. 

First, you walk into Walmart, head in the direction of the home-goods and find the correct aisle by reading the signs above each aisle. Then if you have any problems you might approach a friendly employee and say, 

"Excuse me. Where can I find a tablecloth?" 

"Aisle 8."

"Okay, thanks." 

So you walk to aisle 8, pick out your tablecloth and your on your merry way in a total of about 5 minutes. Easy, right? 

Well, maybe at home. One of the major challenges of living in Thailand is oftentimes extremely simple and easy situations like these are not easy, at all. In fact, they're kind of weird, awkward, and frustrating. When I tried to buy a table cloth, I unintentionally caused an hour long big scene at Big C. Let me explain...

Big C in Thailand is the equivalent of Walmart or Target in the US. It's a giant store filled with everything you might possibly need: clothes, electronics, home-goods, kitchenware, bedding, beauty products, food, and everything in between. After moving into my new apartment, I took a trip to Big C to pick up some things to get started. I was able to find almost everything on my own just by wandering around the store for about an hour. However, there was one thing left on my list: a table cloth.

Since I had no idea what the word for tablecloth was (first mistake), instead I approached an employee and asked in Thai, "Kor tod ka. Khun pood pa sang ang grid dai mai ka?" or "Excuse me, can you speak English?" They smiled, and responded "Mai dai krap!" which means "I can't!"

I smiled said, "mai pen rai" and began to walk away, trying to figure out my next plan of action. But the employee made a hand motion for me to stop and wait. He called over another employee and asked that employee if he spoke English to which he shook his head and also replied "mai dai krap!"or "I can't! Another employee was called over and asked the same question. This women responded "nid noy" which means "a little." So I asked her, "tablecloth?" Confused face. "Fabric for table?" Confused face.

They motioned me to stay while one employee ran over to another aisle and came back with three more employees from the electronics department. They all started picking things up off the shelves and talking to me in Thai to which I responded, "Chan pood Thai dai nid noy ka" which means "I only speak a little Thai." Yet, despite that statement they kept talking to me in Thai, probably hoping that I would understand something they said. They began picking up random things off the shelf and miming what they were holding, to which I THINK they were indicating that they wanted me to mime what I needed. How on earth do you mime a tablecloth? I tried, but they responded with blank stares.

One employee took my hand and started to walk me somewhere. We ended up in the bedding aisle. One women picked up a comforter/duvet and started to take it out of the bag. I said, "Mai ka, kob khun ka" which means "No thank you." Well, I guess she thought that meant I didn't want THAT specific comforter so she took out another one and started to take it out of the bag. Then all six employees quickly grabbed a piece of the comforter and they're all holding it up for me to see. Oh my gosh, this is not what I want. So I smiled and said "mai ow ka" which means "I don't want." They looked a little disappointed and confused as they folded it back up into the bag. I felt horrible. These poor people are trying so hard to help me. I tried to mime tablecloth again. One women pointed to the sheets. "Mai chai!" or "That's not right!" I quickly said before she even had the chance to take those out of the package. I gave it one last shot to mime tablecloth. Again, blank stares. I felt defeated.

They knew this wasn't working. So what did they do? They told me to stay while they ran and got MORE employees who conveniently also don't speak English. So at this point there are 14, yes, FOURTEEN employees gathered around me and we're playing some weird game of charades. This is out of control. I had no intention of causing a big scene, I just asked a simple question. I wanted to walk away a long time ago; I didn't need the tablecloth that bad. But now I'm thinking, gee, now that I have 14 people helping me I can't just leave without saying something.

I'm frantically trying to figure out how to politely get out of this situation. I actually considered buying the comforter even though I didn't want or need one. Then, a light bulb went off. I have a Thai-English dictionary on my iPhone! I pulled out my phone and typed in the word "tablecloth" and it immediately popped up in Thai script. I showed one employee my phone, he said the word aloud in Thai and the entire group (of 14 employees) unanimously shouted "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Seriously? Why didn't I think of the iPhone sooner?!?

Then the woman who told me she spoke a little English said to me with a big smile, "No have."

So essentially, it took me one hour to only discover that they don't have tablecloths.

This whole scenario is actually very typical. Thai people have extremely good intentions. They truly want to help you; they will go out of their way to help in anyway they can and they'll do it with a smile. However, I've noticed sometimes people will get involved even when they don't know the answer or really can't help at all. It could be worse. I challenge you to go to Walmart and find 14 employees (at once) who will bend over backwards to help you like these Thai people did for me.

I can't be upset that no one spoke English because I'm living in Thailand and it's my fault that I didn't know the Thai word for tablecloth to begin with. This story is a perfect example of an everyday challenge of living in Thailand that would otherwise be a simple task at home. However, I gladly welcome the challenges that living abroad brings. It sure keeps things interesting.

To this day, I still don't own a tablecloth.

Photo Tour of My School

Hello everyone!

I realized that I've hardly told you anything about the school where I work/the place where I spend about 75% of my life. I want to give you a tour of my school - through photos. The campus is nothing like a typical American high school. It's made up of numerous different academic buildings so students (and teachers) have to walk outside between buildings to get to classes. There's also numerous tables, benches, and places for students to sit outside and hang out or do their homework (the beauty of year long warm weather). My very first impression of the school was that it reminded me of a small college campus. Then I remembered that there's only about 800 less students at this high school than at the college I went to, so I guess that makes sense.

Let's get started!

Outside entrance: Welcome to the entrance of Bang  Pa-In "Rachanukroh 1" School.

 

Inside entrance: Students walking in through the gate in the morning. 

Pond: This pond is one of my favorite spots on campus. The music building is behind the pond.

Parking Lot: Yes, this is actually the parking lot on campus. My students don't drive cars to school, but rather motorbikes.

Statue: The King that founded this school.   

Buddha: This is the school's Buddha where the students face to pray during morning assembly.

Field: Students lining up for morning assembly on the big field.

Outside: Some of my precious M1 girls finishing their homework before school.

...and the boys goofing off. Typical.

Hallway: Keeping with traditional Thai style living, students always take off their shoes before entering a classroom or office. Therefore, the hallway is always lined with many, many shoes.

Outside the classroom: The brown shoes are the boy's uniform, the black shoes are the girl's, and the white shoes are the girl's "casual" uniform shoes. I always wonder how they know which shoes are their own.

Inside the classroom: This is a pretty standard looking classroom that I teach in. Whiteboards, desks for 50 students, and open windows and fans - no air conditioning!

Office: This is the entrance to the Foreign Lanugage Department, or in other words, my office. 

Desk: This is my desk where I grade papers, write lesson plans, and sometimes sleep between classes.

7-Eleven: Finally, the last stop on the photo tour is at the 7-Eleven I frequent. It's located right outside the school and I'm usually found here a minimum of 1-2 times a day.

Bonus Question

These are some my favorite answers from the bonus question on the M1 quiz: What country is Teacher Kim from?

I love the daily entertainment that comes with teaching.

Fan Mail

Teacher Kim received her first piece of fan mail.

I found on my desk this picture one of my students drew of me. This melts my heart.

Happy Loy Krathong!

While I have to admit that my Thanksgiving holiday here in Thailand was extremely boring and uneventful, on the bright side, I have the perk of experiencing the excitement of Thai holidays. And if I've learned one thing after my first official Thai holiday, it's that Thai people LOVE holidays and love to go all out for them.

This past Wednesday was Loy Krathong, one of the biggest, most popular, and beautiful festivals in Thailand. Lucky for me, Ayutthaya, the city I live in, is said to be one of the top four spots to celebrate this holiday in Thailand.

Loy Krathong always falls on the full moon of the 12th month of the Thai lunar calendar, or usually in November. The festival is held to pay homage to the goddess of rivers and waterways, Mae Nam. This is the time when Thai people give thanks to the river for their use of water and ask forgiveness in the ensuing pollution. "Loy" literally translates to "float", while "Krathong" is the Thai word for the lottus, blossum-shaped tray made out of banana leaves. The main tradition associated with Loy Krathong is that people celebrate by floating elaborate krathongs decorated with flowers, candles, and incense on any waterway in Thailand. To be even more environmentally friendly, some krathongs are made out of bread or coconuts for the fish to eat. I even saw some people getting really creative and making krathongs out of Ritz crackers. Most Thai people make their own krathongs at home and bring them to the celebration but I bought mine at the festival from a vendor on the streetl. It felt like I was carrying around a heavy birthday cake though.

Photo credit: Erin Deren

From the moment I walked on to campus this day, I could just feel the holiday excitement in the air. Many of my M1 (12-13 year old) students ran up to me before school to show me their beautiful krathongs that they made. Some of them were truly impressive. It was fun to see how excited the kids were for this holiday. There's also a pond at my school where students constructed a gigantic krathong in the middle. It was awesome!

Loy Krathong offers a unique occasion to celebrate. It's the perfect time for people to make a wish and ask for good luck as you place your krathong in the water and push it away. Thais look to the future as they essentially "float away" bad things and misfortune through their floral offerings in the water. The lyrics of the Loy Krathong song include, "As we push away, we pray we can see a better day."

Myth has it that if your krathong floats far away into the distance until out of sight without the candle blowing out, then you will have good luck for the coming year. Some of the Thai teachers at my school told me that it's common to put clippings of your hair and fingernails in your krathong to represent getting rid of bad parts of yourself. As it turned out, I got out of work early this day and was planning to get my haircut anyway, so I asked the hairdresser to keep my dead end hair clippings to add to my krathong. At home, that would probably be a super weird request, but here the lady thought it was fantastic! I was also told it's common to put a few small coins in your krathong as a small offering but to not be surprised if I saw young boys swimming in the river collecting all the coins for themselves. Sure enough, the river boys were there.

While the lantern festival is famous up north in Chiang Mai, there was still a few places to buy lanterns to release in Ayutthaya. A few of my friends bought and released lanterns into the sky. I preferred to stay away from the fire and took pictures instead. It was such a cool sight to see so many lanterns in the sky, but I was a little nervous their lantern was going to hit a tree...

Aside from tons of food and drink stands, some of the traditional festivities include music concerts, fireworks, beauty competitions, krathong making contests, and cultural performances. There was also an entire carnival with shops, games, rides, and of course gigantic stuffed animals as prizes. The warm weather and large amounts of fireworks going off all night kind of reminded me of the 4th of July.

I absolutely loved this holiday! I hope I get the chance to celebrate a few more Loy Krathongs in my lifetime. My only complaint? Loy Krathong isn't an official public holiday and despite the late night festivities, we didn't have off work the next day...

Exercise with Elephants

I found this big guy following me on my run one evening.

Only in Thailand...

What's in a Nickname?

You might not know this about me, but growing up, I had a nickname. Kimmy. As a kid, I think a nickname is appropriate because you're little and it's cute. However, like most American nicknames, that pretty much died out by about 8th grade. Now, the only people who still occasionally call me by my nickname are people I've known my entire life and it still feels a little strange. I don't really consider Kim to be a nickname but rather just a shortened version of my longer name Kimberly.

Like most people, Thais have a first name and last name, nothing special about that. But what's unusual is that they very rarely use their official names. If you ask any Thai person their real name, you'll immediately understand why everyone goes by a nickname (or in Thai, their chue len which translates to play name). The reason is quite simple: Thai names are generally very long, complicated, and difficult to pronounce (especially for me) so instead, everyone, and I mean everyone has a nickname. And in my English classes, we only go by nicknames. I love them.

Before you judge, know that just like your own name, all Thai nicknames are carefully selected and have a meaning or a reason behind them. I've learned most Thai people get their nicknames shortly after birth as infants, given to them by their parents and used for the rest of their lives. I also know a few Thai people who have two different nicknames. One that their parents call them and one that their friends call them. However, it's much more common to just have one.

Sometimes the nickname resembles something about their personality when they were a baby (for example, "Lek" means small in Thai), sometimes it is a shortened version of their Thai name (for example, if your first name is Jiraporn then your nickname is probably Porn), sometimes it's a Thai word (for example, "Prik" meaning chili, "Poo" meaning crab, or "Moo" meaning pork), but most commonly it's just a seemingly random English word that was in some way meaningful to the parents. I've also heard that these English word nicknames are becoming the more trendy names.

After looking through my class rosters, I composed a list of some of the most common nicknames as well as my favorites. I divided them into some noticeable categories.

Food: Donut, Cake, Cream, Caramel, Oat, Jam, Noodle, Pancake, Fork, Yam, Olive, Cookies, Pear, Apple, Cucumber, Moo (Thai for pork), Nut, and Mint. I actually remember Gwyneth Palthrow got a lot of crap for naming her daughter Apple. If she comes to Thailand, she'll fit right in!

Drinks: Beer, Pepsi, Nam (Thai for water), Milk, Fanta, Pop, Ice, Goon (my Aussie friends will appreciate this one).

Leisure activities: Golf, Game, Ball, Cartoon, Art, Film, Ping Pong, Music, Guitar, Bowling, Book

Transportation: Benz (as in Mercedes Benz), Boat, Bus

Animals: Bird, Deer, Pet, Bee, Kitten, Poo (Thai for crab),

Body: Arm, Eye, Palm, Bum, Mind

Technology: Nokia (like the phone), Amp

Colors: Blue, Champoo (Thai for pink)

Months: May, June (or Joon)

Adjectives: New, Smart, Nice, Best

Numbers: Nine, Seven (my Seinfeld fanatic friends with appreciate this one).

Days of the week: Sunday

Sounds: Bim, Bam, Boom (lol)

Terms of Endearment: Babe, Love, Hun

Verbs: Spin, Stop, Get, Play

Letters: M, F, O, A

Others: Porn, Pee, Ew, Nun, Boss, King, Kid, It, Oak, Tip, Top, Tap, Sai (sand in Thai), Aunty, Dream, Note, Stamp, Oil, Oak, First, Joker, Pun, Fern, Fook, Bank, Earth, Gift, Gun, Jerk, Bell, Bow, Yo, YoYa, Ink.

But my all-time favorite nickname... Name!

Now, keep in mind that I have over 600 students with these types of nicknames. It's difficult. But I'm actively trying to learn them and the students always light up when they see I've remembered their name.

"Good morning, Donut!"
"How are you today, Ping Pong and Pancake?"
"Very good job, Jerk!"
"Gun, can you share your dictionary with Love?"
"Book, where's your notebook?"

Common things that come out of my mouth everyday. 

I know, I know, some these sound absolutely ridiculous (to a Western ear), but these are 100% honestly my students names. I can't make this stuff up. Here's some of my class rosters as proof!

And as random and unique as they may sound, after comparing with English teachers at other schools, these are all just the norm. I remember we all came back from school the first day thinking that our students had the most unique names to only find out that everyone else had students with the exact same ones. In one class, I have 5 boys named Oat and 3 girls named Pop. It reminds me how I use to have 5 boys named Matt and 3 girls named Ashley in my class in elementary school. 

However, we can sit here all day and laugh over how some Thai nicknames (like Porn, Prik, and Poo) translate into English, but you have to understand that it also works the other way around. For example, the name Jim translates to Thai as a slang word for a female body part (if you know what I mean...). I'm sure there's Thai's sitting around wondering what parents in America were possibly thinking naming their poor son Jim. 

This isn't one of my own students, but there's a boy at my school in M4 named (excuse my language) Fuck Fang. I'm serious. He's known around school as being a computer whiz, so he's constantly in our office fixing our computer. Our printer breaks quite often, so "Damn it! Where's Fuck Fang?" is a common question heard around the office. 

Also, sometimes the way that parents tell their kids to spell their nickname isn't exactly how we would probably spell it. I have a student who wrote on his name tag "Gay." "How do you say your nickname?" I asked. "Guy" he responded. Ohhhhh. Good thing I asked. Also, sometimes even though the student's nicknames are a seemingly easier version of their name, I still can't pronounce them correctly and the kids get quite the kick out of watching me try. For example, there's a common nickname "Toey" which I just cannot for the life of me pronounce correctly.

However, sometimes these nicknames come up in daily interactions that are secretly funny to only me. For example, yesterday, I randomly called on two students to come to the front of the class to perform their role play dialogue. "Okay, Poo and Pee can you please stand up." Once I realized what I had said, I just stopped and politely chuckled to myself. Sometimes, Jeff and I take the same train home as one of his students, Best. Every time we see him, Jeff makes it a special point to tell me, "That kid Best is seriously the best." I also have a student named Boss and whenever he asks for something, I secretly want to respond, "You got it, Boss."

There is no shortage of whimsical Thai nicknames. I find these nicknames to be so fun and endearing, and just one more reason to smile here everyday. Maybe I should have a Thai nickname. Any suggestions?

Celebrity Status

Sometimes when I’m at work, I forget if I’m a teacher or a celebrity.

If you know me well, you know that I’m not one to ask for attention (I actually dislike attention) but I’m definitely getting it here in Thailand. Being a minority, I obviously expected a few odd stares here and there but I never would have imagined the enormous amount of attention I would attract, everywhere I go – especially at school.

Around campus and its outskirts, I get the total VIP treatment. I get to cut in line anywhere: coffee shops, food stands, 711, the line for the motorcycle taxi or tuk-tuk. I don’t even ask for it but I’m sure not complaining (I mean, sometimes the slurpee line at lunch is like 100 kids long!)

When I walk down a crowded hallway or stairwell, it’s like the sea parts for me to walk through. If not, everyone is tapping or yelling at their friends to move out of the way for me. I don’t even have to say a word. Sometimes, I’ll walk into a room and everyone will just start cheering. I actually secretly love when that happens. Students (both girls and boys) will kindly offer to carry my purse, coffee, books, bag, papers, etc. One day I was going to refill my water bottle and a student ran up, grabbed the bottle from my hands, shouted “No Teacher!” and filled it up for me. Today, I bought a coffee at the stand on the street right outside school and a student ran ahead and carried it up to my office and nicely placed it on my desk for me. What treatment! Now if only I can figure out how to make them be quiet during my class…

Walking around campus, there’s basically a constant never ending stream of “Hello! Hello Teacher Kim! Teacher! Good morning teacher! Hello teacher! Teacher, hello! Good afternoon teacher! See you tomorrow teacher! Bye Teacher!" from nearly every single student I pass. It’s like I’m in a parade or something, just waving, smiling, and saying hello to everyone I pass. There are 2,000 students at my school so I don’t even want to know how many times I say the word hello in a day. I do feel bad that I can’t yet respond with their names. However, to be fair, I have over 600 students with some pretty odd names (more on that topic later).

I’ve also been told that I’m beautiful more times in the past month than I’ve ever been told in the entire span of my life. “Teacher, you are so beautiful!” from the students with good English, “Teacher! Beautiful!” from those with mediocre English, and “Khun suay mak!” (Thai for "You are very beautiful") from the younger ones. Even the Thai teachers, school nurse, librarian, front office workers, security officer, and copy machine lady make similar comments as the students. Sometimes multiple times a day. Yesterday, I actually found out from one of my students that the four cashiers who work the morning shift at 711 apparently nicknamed me “Phu Ying Suay” which translates to “The Beautiful Woman” and said they are sad on the days when I don’t come in. I had no idea the simple act of walking into 711 and buying a water bottle could make or break someone’s day. Living and working in Thailand is certainly an ego booster to say the least.

I'm learning that the concept of "beauty" in Thailand is interestingly very, very different than in the US. I find it to be an extremely interesting aspect of Thai culture that I'm quickly learning more about everyday. However, I have much to say about this topic so it will be a future blog post on it's own.

Finally, what's a celebrity without paparazzi? Yep, I've got that too. One day, a student politely came up to me after class and asked if she could take a picture with me so she could show her mom her new English teacher. That's kinda cute; what's the harm in this, I thought? Horrible decision. I've learned that it doesn't matter where in the world you are, but a high school is a high school and word spreads fast. Now that I'm thinking about it, it probably got posted on Facebook. But now everyone wants a picture with Teacher Kim. What's next? Autographs?

I'm really starting to wonder if maybe I accidentally and unknowingly said I was famous or something on that first day of school when I introduced myself in Thai to the whole school. 

The First Day of School

The first day of school always stirs up emotions, usually a good mix of feeling really excited and really nervous at the same time (with a little splash of dread). I've had over 20 "first days of school" in my lifetime, yet this was my first one on the other side, as a teacher. But the feelings apparently don't change; I was still really excited and really nervous.

Anytime you start a new job, you always go in the first day a little bit clueless. However, I went to school the first day knowing literally close to nothing. Things I knew: the name of the school, that I would teach English, and I would teach grades M1, M5, and M6 (although I had to look up online what that meant), and... I think that's about it. All the other details were unknown. I had no idea what my schedule was, what buildings or rooms my classes were in (or how to get to them), where my desk was (do I even get a desk?), or even what I was expected to teach this semester or let alone, on the first day. I also only had the most vague idea of how to actually get to this school 15km away from my apartment.

Luckily, one of my friends from the TESOL course, Jeff from Kansas City, was also placed as a teacher at the same school as me. Therefore, it was nice to have someone to go through this adventure with. We woke up super early today so there was no risk of getting to school late on our first day of work. Now, my commute to school is literally a hysterical story in itself. I'll post an entire separate blog on this soon. However, one leg of our commute is taking the local train. It was honestly miraculous that we even managed to get on the right train this day (can't say it's never happened...) because the announcements are only made in Thai. Our boss told us once we got on the train, we should get off at the first stop. So the train stopes, we got up, kinda looked around confused if this is the right stop and asked a few people around us "Bang Pa-In?", then Jeff got off the train and I stayed on the step of the train still a little unsure, and this women ran over to us yelling, "No! Not Bang-Pa In!" But at this point, Jeff was off the train and it started moving. We just looked at each other. Shit. Jeff was off the train. I was on the train. What the hell do we do now? Then one of the train workers figured out what happened and threw up the red flag for the train to stop. Then I had the pleasure of watching Jeff literally run after the train to get back on. I just stood in the vestibule of the train quietly laughing to myself. It's only the first day.

So eventually, we managed to get to school and show up at morning assembly with big smiles, ready to greet our new co-workers and students. The director of the school walked up to Jeff and I and informed us that we had to give a short speech in front of the entire faculty and student body (about 2000 students)....in 5 minutes. Luckily, Jeff and I had actually been previously given a heads up by another teacher that this exact situation would play out exactly as it did. On the way to school, we practiced what we would say in our supposed last minute speeches so we just smiled at each other and thought "No problem, we've got this in the bag." But if I've learned one thing, there's always a curveball in Thailand.  One of the Thai teachers came back and said, "Okay, are you ready? You're on in 1 minute. Short speech okay? Oh yeah, and you really should try to say it in Thai." Okay! Wait...what? IN THAI!?!? If I knew I would have to give a speech in Thai in front of 2000+ Thai people, then I would have been practicing everyday for the past month!

There was no time to think. We were being pushed toward the line for the microphone. I was frantically racking my brain trying to remember anything and everything I knew how to say in Thai. Ummm...banana? Mango? Where is the toilet? Can I have an iced coffee please? I don't eat meat? Ah! I can't say any of these things!

Right before the director handed me the microphone he made some joke (in Thai) to which the entire student body started hysterically laughing. I just awkwardly smiled. I THINK the joke was something along the lines of "This is the new English teacher, Teacher Kim. She is even more beautiful than I am, right?" Then I was handed the microphone.

"Hello sawadeeka. Chan chue Teacher Kim. Chan mak jak America. Yin dee tee dai roo jak ka. Kob khun ka."

That's what I said. They said short speech, right? If I managed to say things in the correct Thai tones, then I said "Hello. My name is Teacher Kim. I'm from America. It's nice to meet you. Thank you."

Considering the circumstances, I think I did alright.

Then we found out that because of extended homeroom, all classes before lunch were cancelled. Mai pen rai. This is the kinda mai pen rai I can get use to :)

During this time, I was given my schedule for the semester, got a mini-tour around campus, was shown around the Foreign Language Department office, given a desk, and met all of my co-workers. Everything was running surprisingly smoother than I imagined and everyone was extremely friendly and welcoming to us.

I felt a little bit like a freshman in high school wandering around with my schedule trying to find the right classrooms and buildings. But I quickly found that the students were always more than willing to help me. They would grab my schedule and pull or point me in the direction I needed to be.

Another aspect about teaching in Thailand that I had been warned about was the lack of communication. I heard that sometimes things were changed and we would always be the last to find out. Well, I went to one of my classes, introduced myself, started playing a game with the students and about 15 minutes in, a Thai teacher ran in and said, "Teacher! Wrong class!" Wrong class? But my schedule says Room 417...this is Room 417. "Sorry, Teacher! Room changed. 418." Apparently, I just taught for 15 minutes to students who don't even take English class from a foreign teacher. What I find funny is that none of the kids said anything. So then, I had to just awkwardly leave mid-game. The kids seemed kinda disappointed haha. Next class period, I walked in and all the students just immediatly started yelling, "MATH!!!!!! MATH!!!!!! AH!!!!! MATH!!!!!!!" Math? Why are 50 kids screaming math at me? Again, the schedule was changed. They have math now, and I come back to teach them next period. Mai pen rai.

This is just how Thailand is. You can't take things too seriously here and need to be able to just laugh at everything. When leaving work, I said to Jeff, "If the rest of my teaching career goes anything like today then this is going to be the funniest year of my life."

And so, we managed to survive the first day with only minimal embarrassment and a lot of laughs. But the stories just keep getting better, you'll see.

Work Has Begun, but Not Before a Little Fun: Week 2

Once I drank some electrolytes and mustered up enough energy to pack my bag, I bought a ticket for the very next ferry that left Phi Phi.

Second stop: Ao Nang

One of the best things about these travels was that I had complete flexibility. I knew I had to be in Ayutthaya on a certain date and had a general idea of how I would eventually get there; but, aside from that I was able to stay and leave places as I pleased. I originally intended to only stay in Ao Nang for a few nights but I ended up staying for the entire week. After way too much time spent on crazy Phi Phi, arriving in Ao Nang was seriously a breath of fresh air. The hostel I was staying at (which I randomly selected from the internet) turned out to be one of the cleanest, nicest hostels I've ever stayed at. And trust me, I've been in hundreds. The owners were also extremely nice and helpful. As it also turned out, I met seven other travelers here (from Sweden, UK, Spain, and New Zealand) who coincidentally also decided to stay for the week as well. We all instantly became friends and spent the entire week going on different adventures together. While I thought I would finally spend some time relaxing by myself, it turned out to be quite the opposite.

Some of the highlights from the week:

1. One of my friends from my course visited Ao Nang the week before and recommended a temple in nearby Krabi. Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Sua) is literally located on the top of a mountain 1,237 steps up. My friend actually told me, "it was the most physically difficult thing I've ever done in my life...but it was worth it." After I heard that, I knew I had to go. 1,237 steps didn't sound THAT bad. I mean, I think I've done that many on the stair-master at the gym, it can't be that bad...

Well, what they don't tell you is that these things they call "steps" are some of the steepest ones you could ever imagine. I swear some of them were half the size of my legs. They also were extremely uneven, all different heights, tilted, and sometimes didn't have railings. Plus, once you add Thailand's heat and humidity, it was a rough journey. Luckily, there were landings along the way to stop and catch your breath. However, every landing was loaded with people sitting on the ground, panting, and nearly passed out. I also passed quite a few people walking down who would just look at us, shake their heads, and say, "Pwsh, good luck!" Real encouraging right? 

I was a sweaty mess, but I made it to the top. It was quite an accomplishment and the view of Krabi was incredible! I like things like this when there's at least a reward at the end of it all. I also loved just sitting at the top and watching everyone else as they made finally made it up. It usually involved some type of cheer, high 5, or dumping water all over themselves. I think some people wanted to cry they were so happy they made it.

2. My buddy Dan and I rented a kayak for the day and went exploring until we found this beach. Talk about an arm workout!

3. We took a day trip to nearby Railay Beach, famous for its high limestone cliffs, incredible beaches, and rock climbing.

Photo credit: Carlos Vera

4. I literally rock climbed with the Carlos, Andreas, and Felix to find this this view point on Railay Beach.

5. Okay, this was hands down the funniest thing I had seen in a while. While on Pranong Cave Beach, this pack of wild monkeys comes out of nowhere and completely ambushed these poor tourist's bags while they were swimming in the ocean. I had heard horror stories about this happening but never actually witnessed it before. Well, these monkeys were obviously very hungry. They would literally unzip backpacks, open purses, bite through plastic bottles, steal food, and then run into a tree and quickly eat it. Now I understand why they have to post signs about not feeding the monkeys. I think the funniest part was that everyone (including myself) was just standing around laughing and taking pictures of this happing instead of actually shoo-ing the monkeys away.

Photo Credit: Carlos Vera

6. After raving about his past experience in Vietnam, Andreas insisted I go with him to a Thai barber shop for an ear wax cleaning. The woman used these chopstick-like tools and managed to pull out quite a lot of gunk (gross!). I'm still convinced I can hear better now. The experience was kinda weird. I kinda liked it.

7.  Monkeys, monkeys, monkeys. I think monkeys must have been a common theme of this week. Monkeys on the beach, monkeys on the street, monkeys eating chicken wings out of garbage cans. All very normal sitings in Thailand.

Photo Credit: Carlos Vera

Photo credit: Carlos Vera

Okay, that's enough monkey business for one post. Next stop, Ayutthaya: my new home!