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. 

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!

Culture Shock Goes Both Ways

Student: Teacher! Guess what? I just got back from studying in America for 3 weeks.
Me: Wow! Did you like it?
Student: Yes, I did. But not everything. For example, the food was sooooooooooo bland. Ugh, disgusting.
Me: Yes, most food isn't spicy like in Thailand.
Student: I experienced culture shock, I think. It was really hard for me. No offense, but some things you do in America are just so strange; I can't even wrap my head around it.
Me: Okay, interesting. Can you share with the group what you think the biggest culture was for you?
Student: *Thinks for a moment*
Yeah. You guys flush toilet paper down the toilet. Why!?!?? I just don't understand. That's so weird....


Different strokes for different folks.

The Visa Run

While living and working abroad has it's perks, one thing I quickly realized you take for granted is the ability to live and work in your home country, hassle free. Figuring out visa and work permit business in order to legally live and work in Thailand has been a challenge. Not to mention the constant visits to the immigration office and labor office to request to change my visa, extend my visa, report myself every 90 days, extend visa again, apply for work permit, extend work permit, etc, etc, etc....

Well of course, as soon as I FINALLY had my work visa (called Non-Immigrant B) and my work permit sorted out, I changed jobs. Since your work permit is only specifically attached to your place of employment, I would have to get a new visa for my new job and start the process all over again from scratch. Ugh.

The absolute only place you can apply for a visa is at a Royal Thai Embassy. However, as you may or may not know, there are no embassies located IN a particular country. For example, there are no U.S. Embassy's in the United Stated of America and no Royal Thai Embassies located in Thailand. But there is a U.S. Embassy in Thailand and Royal Thai Embassies in the U.S. Make sense?

Therefore, my only option to obtain a new visa was to physically leave Thailand and apply at a Royal Thai Embassy in another country. This is what is refereed to as the infamous Visa Run. Almost every expat knows the term and has done it at least once. To be honest, I'm surprised I got lucky and haven't needed to do it before now.

There are technically two different types of visa runs. The second type, I would consider the "easy" visa run where no visit to an embassy is necessary. All you have to do is physically cross a boarder to leave the country, even if it's only for 1 minute. For example, this process could look like this:
1. Stamp out of Thailand
2. Cross the boarder
3. Stamp into Cambodia
4. Turn around
5. Stamp out of Cambodia
6. Cross the boarder
7. Stamp into Thailand.
Done.

However, this type of visa run isn't very common when living in Thailand because when you enter Thailand by land (i.e. not airplane) you're only granted a 15 day transit visa. 

Anyway, back to my visa run. I highly considered flying somewhere, but since I only had 5 days to both move from Ayutthaya to Bangkok AND do a visa run, I opted to go by land. Technically, the Thai Embassy in Cambodia is the closest in distance to Bangkok, but I was warned by numerous different people that it was risky to go to Cambodia as they deny many applications with no reason. So then, Laos it was.

I could have bought an overnight train ticket to Laos for a bit cheaper, but with the chaos of moving, visa run, and starting a new job all in the same week, I decided to pay a little extra for convenience and went with a visa run company/agency. For this, you pay one set price that includes transportation by mini-van, 1 night in a hotel, meals, and all visa application and processing fees. Basically, you're only actually IN Laos for about 24 hours total while you're waiting for your visa to process, then you turn around and go back to Bangkok.

I won't bore you with all the details of the visa run. Despite the name, the visa run did not actually involve any running. In fact, quite the opposite. Just a lot of queuing up in long lines, standing around, and waiting. If anything, now I'm "running" quite low on passport pages...

The most interesting aspect of the visa run was the other people on the journey. I really had no idea how common these visa runs were until I showed up at the meeting spot and saw 60 other people, which they divided into 6 different mini-vans.

My van had quite the interesting crew of expats: 2 other teachers like myself, 2 models, 4 businessmen, 2 guys with Thai girlfriends/wives, and a movie star (seriously!). After discussing this with my new coworkers, it actually sounds like that is the pretty standard mix of people for a visa run from Bangkok. But the craziest thing was that the guy sitting next to me in the van turned out to be best friend's with my future boss of my new job. Bangkok, a city of 11 million people and I'm sitting next to my boss's best friend on a Visa Run to Laos? Small world.

So anyway, I'm back in Bangkok and started my new job about 2 weeks ago. I have SO much to update you on but have been busy getting settled in Bangkok and the learning curve of my new job. More updates soon, I promise!

Hope all is well for you!

Big News!

I have an announcement to make!

As this term of school came to a close, it was time for me to make a decision about my future life in Thailand. My current job contract was only for one school term, but renewable. Before leaving, I came with the intention of staying and teaching for 1 year. I always told people that my plan was, "If I like my school, I'll stay for a second term and if I don't like my school, I'll find another job on my own."

Well the decision wasn't easy by any means (you can ask my parents and friends how much they listened to me contemplate this decision). Despite the fact that I truly do like my school and LOVE my students, I actually decided not stay at my school for another term. It was time for some change.

So the big news is that:

A) I have a new job! And I start this week! I'll still be an English teacher, but working at a private English language school instead of a government school.

and...

B) I'm staying in Thailand but moving to: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Buriom Udomratchaniewet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.

I'm not joking, that's really where I'm moving.

With 163 letters, it's the longest place name in the world! It translates to "The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, the abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.

Do you know yet what city? Okay, that's just the official name. Thai people always just shorten it to "Krung Thep" or City of Angels. But you might be more familiar with just Bangkok, Thailand.

It's always been my dream to live and work in the heart of a big city and now is my time. Bangkok is a city of 11 million people and I can't wait to be one of them.

With a new job, new city, and new (awesome) apartment, I'm sure you can expect many more updates in the near future. I anticipate that my new job is going to be MUCH different than my current job, but I will be sure explain further in future posts.

And so, the Thailand adventure continues. I'm looking forward to sharing this new chapter with you all!

Bangkok Taxi Talk

Me: Sabai dee mai ka? (How are you?)
Bangkok Taxi Driver: Mai sabai krap. (Not good.)
Me: Tam mai? (Why?)
Bangkok Taxi Driver: (In perfect English) No money, no hunny, no funny.


Lol.

Merry (Belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!

I'd like to wish you a very (belated) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Thailand!

This was my first holiday away from home, but it sure was a memorable one. To be honest, it didn't really "feel" much like Christmas this year. After giving it some thought, I pinpointed it to two main reasons.

First, I feel like the weather in Thailand is always giving me a false sense of the time of year. Growing up in the US, it's obvious that I associate Christmas with snow, cold weather, hot chocolate, sitting by the fire, baking Christmas cookies, ice skating, building snowmen, etc. However, Christmas here was quite the opposite...hot. The thought of drinking hot chocolate or sitting by a fire was really the last thing on my mind. The entire month of December was around 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit everyday and yes, this is actually considered "winter" here in Thailand. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the warm weather after experiencing many brutal Chicago winters; nonetheless, cold weather and Christmas just go together in my mind and that won't ever change.

Second, it's hard to remember Christmas is around the corner when you aren't constantly being reminded about it. In the US, basically everywhere you go in the month of December (and usually November too) there are signs of Christmas everywhere. For example, Christmas songs on repeat on the radio, almost every single commercial and advertisement on TV,  booklets of sales and coupons in the newspaper, decorations at the store, special Christmas themed drinks at Starbucks, Christmas movies playing on TV, Christmas trees lit up in every house on the block, Christmas office parties at work, Santa at the mall, and simply everyone talking about Christmas plans and gifts. Well, imagine taking ALL of that away and that's what December in Thailand was like. Bangkok as a more westernized city had some decorations but aside from some colored tinsel I saw at a store, there were very few signs of Christmas where I live.

Because about 95% of Thai people are Buddhist, Christmas is not really celebrated here. In fact, only .05% of the population identifies as Christian. However, any Thai person will probably tell you that they love Christmas. I personally think that's because Thai people just like to have fun celebrations regardless of what event it is. Also, Christmas is a normal working day so everyone (including myself) works on December 25th since it's not a Thai national holiday. At first, I thought it would be quite odd to have a normal teaching day on Christmas. However, the Thai teachers explained that classes were canceled for the day and asked the foreign teachers to help plan a Christmas assembly for the morning.

Working with the other teachers in the Foreign Language Department, we started the morning by saying and spelling out "Merry Christmas" in English, Chinese, and Japanese (the three foreign languages our school offers). 

My co-worker Chris, from Scotland, used one of his M3 classes and directed a nativity play to help the students understand the meaning and reason behind Christmas.

I was responsible for teaching the entire school a Christmas song and having everyone sing together.  I opted to use "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" because it is a fairly recognizable song and the lyrics are pretty simple. I'm definitely not the greatest singer, so I was not about to sing alone in front of 2000+ people. Therefore, I involved the students and asked my M 5/2 class to be Christmas carolers and teach the other students during the assembly. This is a great class and they were excited to help. I spent an entire class period teaching them the lyrics, assigning specific spots to stand, practicing, and trying to explain what figgy pudding is (does anyone actually eat that!?).  While I had confidence in these students, I was still a little nervous that 50 teenagers would all remember to show up when the time came. However, when I arrived, the entire class was in the exact meeting spot, already lined up and sitting in their assigned spots. I love these kids :)

After a successful "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" I had a quick costume change for my next assignment. I was under the impression that I would make an appearance as Mrs. Claus, but I quickly learned that in Thailand everyone apparently refers to a female version of Santa as "Santy." So I was "Santy" and my co-worker Howard, from California, was Santa and we were driven into school on a tuk-tuk (as our sleigh) lead by nine adorable M4 students as our reindeer. I know what you're probably thinking, but we couldn't find any reindeer antlers, so the devil horns just had to make do, okay? The students seemed to really enjoy this skit, especially the candy we delivered!

The next few hours of the day were allotted for students to play organized games like pin the tail on Rudolph and musical chairs. I enjoyed just walking around and chatting with the students. And of course, what would be a celebration in Thailand without a Thai pop concert? Yep, the day ended with a concert in the gymnasium where the students jumped around dancing and smiling as teenagers do.

Overall, it was interesting to experience Christmas from a culture that doesn't really celebrate it.  New Years, on the other hand, was a pretty big deal in Thailand. We were given News Years Eve and New Years Day off school and almost all of the restaurants and shops were closed. Also, everyone exchanges gifts like we would for Christmas. I enjoyed how festive New Years was here and walked around saying "Sawadee Pi Mai Ka" (Happy New Year in Thai) to almost everyone I passed which was always greeted with a big smile.

I asked my students and Thai teachers where the best place was to go for New Years Eve and most told me Central World in Bangkok. From the sound of it, it seemed like it would be a Thai version of Times Square in New York City where tons of people gather for a big countdown at midnight. I actually went to see the ball drop in Times Square two years ago, and aside from the crowds, this wasn't very similar at all. In New York City, I was freezing and had to stand outside for 10 hours. In Bangkok, I was hot and sweaty and just showed up at 10:30 PM and got a pretty good view of the stage. Therefore, there was definitely much less hype leading up to midnight, but it was still fun and there were many famous (so I'm told) Thai pop singers performing. Again, like I said, Thai pop concerts and celebrations just go hand in hand in Thailand. 

The big question I was wondering all night was whether the countdown at midnight would be said in Thai or in English. I was almost positive it would be in Thai and I even practiced in my head counting from 10 to 0 in Thai. However, I was surprised that the countdown was actually in English! The fireworks at midnight were also probably better than any 4th of July fireworks I've ever seen in my life. My other observations of the night were that the whole kissing at midnight thing isn't a tradition here and I didn't see one piece of confetti.

I'm looking forward to see what 2013 in Thailand brings.

Sawadee pi mai ka! :)

The 411

Hi everyone! Thanks for your interest in following along on my journey.  Since I’ve received a lot of questions, I wanted to write a post with some general information about what I’m doing and where I’m headed.

I’m on my way to Thailand to live and work as an English teacher for a year. I’m not sure why, but there seems to be a lot of confusion about this. So just to clarify, I’ll be teaching in Thailand. Not Taiwan (wrong Asian country), not Tanzania (wrong continent), or any other place that starts with a T you might have it confused with. When I first arrive, I’ll be living on the island of Phuket (pronounced Poo-ket) for three weeks while I take a 120 hour TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course and earn my TESOL certification. You might be more familiar with the term TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) but the terms are basically interchangeable. However, since the word "foreign" is considered politically incorrect by some, TESOL is becoming more widely used. 

As you can see from the picture, Thailand is right in the heart of Southeast Asia. I personally think it is somewhat of an oddly shaped country.

Unfortunately, I have not received my exact placement yet so I do not know what school I’ll be working at or what age I’ll be teaching. However, I should be receiving this information in the next few weeks and will keep you posted. I do know that I will mostly likely be living near Bangkok and will have my own apartment. The month of October is a break from school so I will officially begin working in November at the start of their second semester. 

However, just to confuse you even more...I am currently writing you from Taiwan. After stopping in LA for a few days to visit my friends Coley and Erik, I made another stopover in Taipei, Taiwan to visit my friend Alan who lives here. If you're not familiar, Taiwan is an island country officially named the Republic of China (R.O.C) but more commonly called Taiwan. In the picture, you can see it is the green island off the east coast of China. It is a very interesting country and I can’t wait to write more about my experience here this week. Finally, I’ll be heading to my final destination (Thailand) this weekend. 

Please feel free to leave comments and questions on any of my posts or contact me directly through the contact page. Don't be shy; I’d love to hear from you!