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!

Home Sweet Home: Ayutthaya

I can't believe that I've lived in Ayutthaya for over 3 months now, and still haven't told you all about the city I now call home. So here we go!

Photo Credit: Alex Kozela

I live right in the heart of the ancient city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, formally known as Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. I literally live amongst ancient ruins in a city rich in history and culture. Above is a picture of my street in the morning. My apartment is located on the right (behind the trees) and you can see some of the ruins in the background.

Ayutthaya was founded in 1350 by King U Thong who went to Ayutthaya to escape a smallpox outbreak in Lopburi (remember the crazy monkey town?) and proclaimed it the capital of his Kingdom of Siam. Therefore, Ayutthaya is the former capital of Siam. If you didn't know, Thailand is formerly the Kingdom of Siam before it was recently renamed "Thailand" in 1949. It was estimated that in 1700 Ayutthaya had a population around 1 million people, making it the world's wealthiest and largest city at the time and the center of world trade because of its ideal location between China and India. It was also refereed to as "the most impressive city on Earth" by many. However, in 1767, the entire city was horribly destroyed by the invasion of the Burmese Amy, resulting in the collapse of the kingdom. It was the site of mass murder, rape, and enslavement of Siamese people. The Burmese Amy destroyed everything sacred and cut off the heads of most Buddha images (the absolute most disrespectful thing you can do in the Buddhist religion), stole the heads, and almost completely burnt the city to the ground.

 

Now, Ayutthaya is a modern city with billboards for shampoo placed literally right next to ancient archeological wonders and local tuk-tuks with internet advertisements on the side. The headless Buddhas and crumbling (but still beautiful) towers and temples give perfect evidence of the majesty of the civilization that was once here. 

The great cultural value of Ayutthaya's ruins were officially recognized recently in 1991 when it became an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Across the street from my apartment is this Ayutthaya Historical Park where remnants of temples, palaces, pagodas, and reliquary towers are scattered everywhere. One of the most famous temples in Ayutthaya, Wat Mahatat, is about a 2 minute walk from my front door. How cool and crazy is that!? Wat Mahatat is most photographed for the iconic Buddha face in the tree roots. One theory is that this is one of the Buddha heads the Burmese cut off that landed in this spot and the tree just grew around it. Thai people consider this Buddha image sacred and require you to sit or kneel if you want to take a picture with it.

I also live on an island. No, not the beautiful beach postcard perfect islands like in southern Thailand, but I really do live on an island. The city is completely surrounded by three different rivers which is why Ayutthaya is sometimes refereed to as "Venice of the East."  When talking with my friends, you'll hear us refer to things as "on the island" or "off the island" when describing the location of something. I live right near the Buddha in a tree imagine in the center of the map.

Even after living here for 3 months, I enjoy exploring Ayutthaya and still always find something new and cool from baby elephants, markets, to temples. This is definitely the perfect place to play tourist in your own city.

 

Wat Lokayasutharam (also known of the Reclining Buddha)

Traffic Jam

So who's ready to come visit? :) 

Kid Place

Everyone has their "go to" spots for a quick bite to eat. One of my go to spots is Kid Place Restaurant, a small restaurant about a 2 minute walk from my apartment with good food and cheap prices.

Okay, it's not actually called Kid Place, but it has no name so I gave it my own. Technically, the sign outside the restaurant reads "Thai Food Vegetarian Coffee&Tea" but obviously I'm not going to say to my friends, "Hey, wanna go to Thai Food Vegetarian Coffee&Tea tonight?'

Anyway, I want to share the story about how this restaurant got its nickname.

On my very first night living in Ayutthaya, I went to this restaurant with a few of my friends. We sat down at a table and an 8 year old boy came over and started to clear the dirty dishes and wipe down the table. Then a few minutes later, another tiny boy (probably 5 years old) brought the menus. Next, the 8 year old came over and took our drink order and brought us our drinks (Cokes, beers, and all). About five minutes later, ANOTHER different boy (probably around 10 years old)  wrote down our food order. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but at this point I was seriously thinking, "What kind of place is this? Why are there so many kids? Where are the adults? Do the kids do everything? And most importantly...are the kids cooking our food too?!"Sure enough, ten minutes later, the first boy brought out our food from the back. I was a little skeptical but the food looked and tasted just fine. When we finished, the boys cleared our plates, brought our check, and gave us our change. I literally ate an entire meal at a sit down restaurant and didn't see anyone above the age of 10. Can you only imagine?

After that experience, I deemed this nameless restaurant "Kid Place."

To calm your worries, when we were leaving the mom/cook came out from the back and waved us goodbye. We were quite relieved to know the boys weren't running the whole show - cooking and all.

I have to laugh because I remember when I worked in a restaurant it was a big deal when I turned 19 years old because I could legally serve alcohol in the state of Ohio and here an 8 year old brings out the beers like it's nothing.

As funny as this story sounds, this is actually quite the norm in Thailand. Many children are expected to help their parents with the family business whether it be food stand, restaurant, mini-mart, guest house, etc. I've noticed that oftentimes when Thai people see white people walk into their restaurant they'll immediately send their kids over to take the order. I think it's because (even though limited) the kids usually have better English skills than the parents.

One of my first weeks of school, I gave a small homework assignment to my students. The next class, only 2 of 50 students actually did their homework. Instead, they asked me, "Teacher play game? Play game? Play game?" I was really annoyed. Then, that night I saw some of my students working hard at the night market. For example, one of my students was at his mother's fruit stand and his job was to stand there all night and use a long toothpick to pick every single seed out of all the watermelon she sold.

After that night, I just didn't have the heart to give homework anymore.

Stuff Thai People Love #1

I decided to start a new series on my blog titled "Stuff Thai People Love." I have a large list to share and I hope to give you a little insight into the culture and the people in Thailand. Some of these Thai crazes I've come to love and appreciate while some of them I don't understand and I'm honestly not sure if I'll ever understand. These aren't meant to be stereotypes or sweeping generalizations about the culture, but rather my own personal observations from living here. Let me know what you think! 

#1. 7-Eleven

Known among Thai people as "Seven" you can't go anywhere in Thailand without seeing one of these. Just like Starbucks in America, 7-Elevens are literally everywhere in Thailand. In fact, one day I realized that there are actually six 7-Elevens within 10 minute walking distance of my apartment. According to an article I recently read, there are about 7,000 stores in Thailand, half of which are located in Bangkok. It's quite common to literally see two different 7-Eleven stores directly across the street from each other. "I'm standing in front of 7-Eleven" is probably the worst direction you could ever give someone to your location. One of my friends actually told me that her apartment is a 20 minute walk from the nearest 7-Eleven. "Wow, you must live in the middle of nowhere!" I responded. 

While the US has it's fair share of 7-Elevens, it's just not part of our culture like it is here. At home, I really only associate 7-Eleven with their infamous Slurpees, but aside from that, they're usually kinda shady and dirty and I almost always prefer to go somewhere else. In Thailand, I love going to "Seven." It's just part of my daily routine. I honestly don't think there's been a single day in Thailand in the past 4 months that I haven't set foot in one. 

The other funny thing I noticed is that people tend to become attached to a specific store, usually the one closest to where you live. I consider that I have two 7-Elevens, one near my apartment and one by school. I think we just become attached to the employees and know where everything is so we can zip in and out quickly. I found that even though I pass three different 7-Elevens on my walk home from work, I always wait until I get to "my" 7-Eleven to pop in.

Photo credit: Alex Kozela

They are also great because it's a 100% guaranteed air conditioned spot in Thailand (hard to come by), so sometimes I'll just walk into one and pretend to shop around for a minute while I cool down from the heat. Also, almost all of the stores carry the exact same products at the exact same prices (clearly marked), so you know what you can get there. When living in a culture where most prices are negotiable, sometimes its nice to not have to haggle. Also, 7-Eleven is truly a one-stop shop. I'm still amazed that in tiny little store you can find anything from pink duct tape, deodorant, birthday candles, ice cream, nail clippers, umbrellas, soy milk, warm ham and cheese sandwiches, pizza, Thai-English dictionaries, chicken fried rice, mini birthday cakes, diapers, bottles of whisky, toilet paper, to crispy seaweed snacks. AND you can get it all at 3:00 AM because they're open 24/7. What more could you possibly need? 

For Christmas, my group of teacher friends in Ayutthaya did a fun gift exchange. There were only two rules 1) 50 baht ($1.60) spending limit and 2) the theme was "As Thai as you can find."  I received was these lovely 7-Eleven earrings. I think my friend Alex did well considering the theme. The gift I gave will be explained in a future "Stuff Thai People Love" post. 

Remember how I said in an earlier post that "Seven"was a popular Thai nickname? Well, now you know why... 

DROP!

One of the perks of knowing so many other English teachers in Thailand is that aside from my own hysterical daily events, I get to hear everyone else's as well. We always have so much fun sharing our teaching adventures with each other. We actually refer to it as swapping our war stories.

This story in particular I wanted to share with all of you. It happened to my friend Laura who is teaching at a high school in Ayutthaya.

One day she was eating lunch in the cafeteria when four of her favorite tiny M1 students ran over to her. They are in her class that meets immediately after lunch. At first, she thought they were just being cute and trying to say hi but then she realized they were obviously trying to tell her something. They had panic of their faces, making large hand gestures, and blabbering a mile a minute in Thai. She stood there with a confused look on her face so the boys grabbed her hand and lead her out of the cafeteria, pointing to another building. They were jabbering in Thai back and forth trying to figure out how to explain to her. Finally, they came up with the word "drop!" and continuously shouted "DROP! DROP! DROP!" At this point, Laura was so confused. Is there like an egg drop going on...?

Then they switched words, grabbing her arms, and started yelling "Teacher! LIFT! LIFT! LIFT!" "Lift? Do I have to lift you up? Are you going to drop somewhere? Am I going to get in trouble? Are you tricking me?" she thought. Then she realized they were pointing to the elevator. Oh...okay, lift is the elevator...it's making a little more sense now. So she gets in the elevator with her four panic stricken students, still with no idea where she's going or what's going on (common here). Then, they finally run down the hallway and bring her to their classroom where she has class next period. And this is what she found...

Photo Credit: Laura Baulkeley

Apparently, a painter fell through the roof and into the classroom. At the time, there were students quickly sweeping up debris and stacking the desks.

It all made sense now.

Just like this story, I've learned that if no one else tells you what's going on then you can count on your students to at least try. One time, my students were trying to tell me that they would be 15 minutes late for my class because they had to move chairs for an event. But they told me this by continuously saying the word "CHAIR!" and miming actions of them moving chairs. I eventually figured it out.

Anyway, if you're wondering, the painter is okay and wasn't hurt. I can't even imagine if a man would have fallen through the ceiling WHILE she was teaching. Because everyone is safe and sound, the story of the painter causally falling through the roof of the school is just another one of these "only in Thailand" moments we encounter that just make everyday another adventure.

But seriously, only in Thailand...

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! :)

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.