My it has been awhile since I've written anything...So much has happened in the past 6 weeks! I will attempt to write in detail about my adventures up until this point..So I spent two weeks in Chiang Mai doing the TEFl certification and met the most amazing people in my program - I also have separation anxiety with some of them, but thankfully they are in Chiang Rai (about 30 minutes away from me) so I get to see them often :) The first week was spent in a classroom learning how to teach English to non-native English students. My was that intense! I taught in Peru, but Thailand is definitely more structured in their school systems (who knew?!) - So after a week of being in a classroom after years of not ever sitting in a desk (at least not as a student), it was quite an experience. The second week consisted of teaching in classrooms in schools in Chiang Mai. The first day was Kindergarten...AHHHHHHHH!!! I have worked with adults for years, working with children?! Oh boy, I was in for it. My friends and I scrambled trying to think of creative ways to keep their attention...needless to say I felt completely defeated after my first class with them. I knew I didn't last the entire time, the kids were just full of so much energy and I didn't know how to connect with them. So after feeling like an emo child after that (I'm a bit dramatic, in case you didn't already know that) we had to prepare for Day 2 of teaching. This was at a secondary ROTC type school. Age was 12-13 I believe. I had the most fun teaching these kids, definitely held their attention and they retained the information and produced marvelously (in my opinion) however I only received a B+. I was a bit bummed by that, so was determined to get better on my next go around. Day 3 consisted of teaching Thai teachers (adults) at a primary school - my topic was to tell the time. These adults could pick up the information quickly, but I was intimidated because they were older than me and I am a wimp (at times). I forgot when we started so when I ended I was informed I ended before I was supposed to...Needless to say I was not satisfied again, received a B+ on that lesson despite having a shorter lesson. So Day 4 I was determined to get a better grade. However this lecture was the hardest one for me to grasp, so I was super nervous. We were teaching Thai students in a vocational university (adults). And the head of the TEFL program was grading me and basically sat in my lecture the entire time. Talk about having the jitters...(and that is all I am going to say on that subject haha). So I do my lesson and during the production stage he makes a suggestion and I tense up and realize I made a small mistake and quickly corrected my directions. I thought "oh great, there goes my grade." Well, I got an A- on that one. Finally! Definitely comfortable talking in front of people now (yes people, I do get shy in front of crowds) - definitely felt the course beneficial. The last day we had a cultural awareness day and the head director gave a lecture on Thai culture and then we visited some temples and got blessed by a monk and then we all went out for lunch. Had our own private tour of the Chiang Rai museum - such an amazing place! That's when I found out my temple (year of the Dragon) was located in Chiang Mai. It's amazing how this trip has worked out. I picked Thailand a bit out of the blue, didn't know where Chiang Mai was in Thailand, and knew no one before deciding to move to this country. And everything has worked out somehow, it's truly an amazing adventure. Taking it one day at a time. Okay so after we finished the course, we celebrated by going out in the old city, danced the night away and listened to some good music at Loco Elvis (love some live guitar music). Well after some pool time and shopping in the city, people started to leave for their placements :( both a happy and sad time! My friend and I had to do a quick visa/border run to Vientianne (Laos) to the Thai embassy so we could re-enter on a non-immigrant B visa. WHAT A TRIP! We left Wednesday evening and had a 12 hour bus ride to the border. One of my superpowers is that I can sleep anywhere (sorry Jess!) so I slept most of the bus ride. We got separated after we entered the country, but found each other at the embassy. After waiting for five hours to get our paperwork reviewed (again sorry Jess! I slept for a couple hours sitting up...it's really a terrible/awesome superpower), we finally get our paperwork submitted. Then we got to wait in line at the bank to pay for the application fee! This trip was about 7,000baht after everything (~$215). We book a hostel near the river since that's apparently where everyone stays. After a tuk-tuk ride to the hostel we finally get to shower because we smell like roses after 17 hours of traveling...Finally clean we realize we are starving so we try to find some food, but end up going back to the hostel and just order food there. I experience my first Beer Lao - beer is cheaper in Laos so I'm a fan. I think in baht now, not USD haha. While we are sitting there I hear someone mention southern California so my ears perk up. I ask where and she's from Orange County! Yay a Californian! We quickly make friends with a group and head to the night market with some fun people. I think we had Australia, England, Germany, France, USA, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a country, but needless to say, it was really fun hearing different languages and learning about everyone's adventures. So after the market since we couldn't find any food we settle on this place because the guy was super nice. After beer and lots of food, someone suggests some expensive Belgium bar (everything is in Kip in Laos so my brain just couldn't do any conversions after the second beer so I just went along with everyone). So we head on to the Belgium place and just have a really fun night full of laughter and good beer. We head back to the hostel in the early morning and Jess and I had to get up somewhat early so we could check out and find breakfast. Once we check out we realize we have some time to kill so we explore a Laos temple. I will be honest, we both weren't that interested in sight seeing so we went back to the hostel to play some pool. We didn't have to be at the embassy until 1pm so we made some friends with these two guys. We mainly made friends with them because one was drinking a beer and it was 10am and that cracked us up. So we met a Canadian and a German and we all played pool until it was time for us to leave. We hugged our friends and the hostel staff (they were so sweet!) and we lugged ourselves back to the dreaded embassy. A much faster process than the day before - woohoo! We had met some friends that were doing the border run too and I had heard nothing, but great things about Pai (one girl had been living there for 3 years and told me to come visit) and had a friend there at the time so decided why not - I had a week left before I had to be at my placement. A change of scenery was much needed. So after we get our approved visas (woohoo!!!) we had made friends with some girls who were on the same van back to Chiang Mai with us so we just traveled with them. Our bus left around 7PM that evening to get back to Chiang Mai. After the Thai embassy we took a tuk-tuk to the bus station which took us to the Laos border. Once we crossed that we had to cross the Thai border so I had lots of stamps on my passport after that quick border run! :) Jess and I walked to the van pick up place and got some food before we got on the 12 hour bus ride. I didn't sleep the entire way, but a good amount. We got in 2 hours before we were supposed to (Thai drivers are insane) so we just hung out at Eco resort to wait until breakfast was served and our friends woke up. All of my stuff was at my friend Lucy's place, but thankfully she has a vespa so she just picked me up at the resort and took me to the apartment. After a real shower we just chilled and watched a movie. I originally was going to see my roommate's new place, but it was pretty far out of the city and I didn't want to spend that much money so went to watch a football (soccer) game at the English Pub by the night bazaar. After some beers and two soccer games, we head to the irish pub to meet up with some other friends and at this point I was ready to fall asleep. There were some English guys sitting next to us and kept trying to talk football to us, but I just was ready for bed. I was going to get up early to catch an early bus to Pai since it's a 3.5 hour ride, wanted to get there early enough so I could enjoy the day. My alarm goes off and I peel myself off the couch and into the shower. I love the showers in Thailand - the whole bathroom is like a steam room. I never get tired of it. So after my amazing shower (sorry Lucy if your water bill was expensive in October!) I decide to pack because packing the night before just doesn't make sense to me apparently. So I basically just throw open my suitcases and put together what I think I will need. Keep in mind, I have never heard of Pai and knew nothing about what was going on. If I had opened my Lonely Planet book I would have known what I was in for, but that would be too logicial and since it's me, that just wasn't going to happen. So I throw together some sort of survival clothing kit and massive amounts of bug spray (I shower in deet, not as bad as the Amazon, but mosquitoes love me) some deoderant and just pray that I have everything I need. I hug Lucy and tell her I'll let her know when I'll be back, had no idea how long I was going to be there (smart traveler huh?) and head off towards the bus station. Somehow the universe wanted me to get to Pai because once on the main street I saw a red truck (cheap taxi) and for 20 baht I was taken to the bus station (winning!). I find the correct bus station for Pai and find that the bus was going to leave in 15 minutes - winning! I get situated in the front seat since I knew it was a nasty road and I am a wimp and get car sick super easily. Well turns out there is only one other woman on the bus and she got off about 20 mintues into the trip. So it was just me and the Thai driver. He didn't know much English, but he was oh so sweet. Despite having 30 heart attacks on the road (the road to Pai has over 700 turns!), he pointed out wildlife to me and showed me some awesome lookout points. We learned each other's name, but I already forgot because I am terrible at Thai names :( *sorry universe, I'm getting better I promise* so after 3 hours, we arrived in what I think is Pai. Oh my, what a crazy little town. First off, BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't stop smiling once I saw the valley. I still can't get over how green Thailand is. Living in San Diego makes you appreciate nature and green. Desert on the beach is awesome for ocean playtime, but to actually breathe clean air and smell earth, Thailand is my favorite. My friends picks me up at the bus station and head to the hostel. I was warned to not expect luxury and man, that was an understatement! However it was really fun. A bit like camping surrounded by good people. Went to the waterfall with people at the hostel and hung out on some rocks. Ate delicious food and just had a great time in Pai. Rode/crashed my first vespa haha. Got the hang of it though. Had the bungalow for 3 nights, but ended up staying 5. Typical Pai. So after meeting lots of good people, eating delicious food (actually had Mexican food!), and lots of laughs - met up with my friend and we headed back to Chiang Mai that Friday night (I got there Sunday morning). Once back it was refreshing to be back to civilization. Pai is fun and all, but a flushing toilet is nice to have and not having to fight off spiders the size of your hand (sorry Jasmine!) - we book this cheap hostel because it was somewhat late and we were exhausted. Her and I were both super lame/tired that night so we just explored the night bazaar and went to bed early. I was a bit emo because I knew my traveling was coming to an end and work was about to begin and well, every now and then it's okay to be a little down! However my friends cheered me up in a group text and had me in tears laughing so hard. I was so happy to be reunited with the girls the next day for the lantern festival! So we get up and check out the next day - do laundry, go shopping, eat, check into her hostel and wait around for our friends to arrive for the lantern festival. We had about 7-8 of us in all. Oh man what a last night in Chiang Mai. It was perfect! Once they started arriving, the chatter never ended and the giggles never ended. We're all piled into my friend's room and we grab some beers and get ready for the festival. Originally the hostel was going to charge us 400 baht/ea and we said NO THANK YOU. So we found our own way - 120 each! THANK YOU! So we get there and we start to see some lanterns and we are in awe. It was beautiful! Once we finally got into the festival we were surrounded by vendors and people and lanterns galore! We all get a lantern and go by the river to light them off. All of ours, but one got stuck in a tree...but they all made it! The struggle is real in my life, but the universe is always rooting for you :) Just makes you realize, life happens for you! After all the lanterns went off, oh man...what a daze. I felt like I was in a movie. It was truly magical. Words cannot explain what we all saw and felt that evening. It was a gift that will stay in my heart :) So we all pile into a red truck to take us back to the city and decide we need to get some road beers since it was going to take a couple hours. Traffic galore! Jeff was sitting at the back and ended up running into two of his friends (I met them all in Pai) and so we just chatted with them while we were in traffic (they were on vespas) and we agreed to all meet back at the hostel before we go out. I wanted my last night in Chiang Mai to be with good friends and some fun dancing. So once we all got back to the room we grab some beers and just talk about what we experienced - what an experience! Well since it was around midnight we decide to head out and see what Chiang Mai has to offer. We end up at Zoe's and just have a really fun time together. It was our last night together as a group and we made the most of it! Danced until the wee hours of the morning and then my friend Hannah and I headed back to my roommate's new house just outside of Chiang Rai. We have girls night and chat about everything and get ready for bed. I had to get up early to get all of my stuff at Lucy's so I could head to Chiang Rai later that day (my bus was at 2:45pm). I was sad to say good-bye to my roommate, but told her I would see her soon. We have such a great friendship, she is an amazing person and so happy she is my friend (despite the struggle she puts me through haha). I finally make my last trek to Lucy's apartment and grab all of my stuff (I don't pack light apparently, but in my defense I came here to live, not just travel around). A tuk-tuk driver took pity on me and called his friend to have him pick me up and take me to the bus station. He knew where California was and we became instant friends. He called me his California friend and gloated about it. Adorable. Happy one of my last moments in Chiang Mai was with a happy Thai tuk-tuk driver :) So once at the bus station - Jum finds me somehow and watches my stuff while I go get some food before leaving the city. I was a little down about leaving Chiang Mai - I had been there four weeks and felt it was my home. But knew if I stayed, it wasn't the same - my friends had gone off to their placements and I wasn't traveling so didn't want to hang out with backpackers - knew it was time for me to set off onto my adventure. Once on the bus, they were playing some 90s love/pop songs and well, if you know anything about me, you know that I can cry at almost any given moment. It's rather annoying, but my friends still love me so I guess it's okay. So I cried a little on the bus and then laughed at myself. I wasn't crying out of sadness, just crying because I have such a blessed life and couldn't believe all the good that was happening to me. I have always been really hard on myself, never thought myself deserving of happiness let alone a trip like this. Through my yoga practice I have developed and continue to fall in love with myself and to live in the moment and be thankful for everyone that has come into my life because it had brought me to this very exact moment. I know some of my friends roll their eyes when I talk like this, but that's okay :) It's my journey. So after I stopped being such a sap I fell asleep and awoke up in Chiang Rai. I was going to be staying at my friend Emma's place and was so excited to see her because it had been two weeks and so much had happened so we had a lot to catch up on (our separation anxiety is terrible, I'm not exaggerating). So once I get to her place we just chat nonstop (typical girls) and then we meet up with Kate and Alice (who are also in GVI and staying in the apartment complex) we head to the market to get some food and shop a little. Around 7PM it dawned on me that I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. After shopping we finally went home around 8pm and wanted an early bedtime because we all had to be up early to meet our school directors. Emma and I stay up super late laughing about our times at the resort and I told her all about Pai and the last night out in Chiang Mai and the lantern festival. Once we realize it's super late we try to go to sleep. I can't sleep because I had so much running through my head and was nervous about meting the school director tomorrow. Finally I end up falling asleep and we both struggle to wake up to our alarm clocks. I somehow managed to get my luggage in the tuk-tuk to take me to meet my school. Kru Tik calls me and I finally meet her! She's adorable! Such a sweet woman. She speaks some English, actually quite well, and she had a million questions for me. The first asking me if I have a skirt because I was wearing dress pants haha. Once on the way to the school I tell her about California and my time in Thailand thus far and she tells me about the school and what I will be teaching and whatnot. We arrive at the school and I meet some of the adminstration and then I meet the school director and my, what a man! Very calm and reserved, but highly respected. They took me out to lunch and took a million pictures (see previous blog) and stuffed me with food. I then get taken to my room which well, I dont' know what I was expecting to be honest. I am making it work though. I won't elaborate too much on it until I decide if I'm going to stay or find a roommate to rent a house with (2 bedroom house - 3500baht so 1750/mo ~$60). Okay so enough on that...I buy some things for the room and head back to Chiang Rai to shop there since Mae Chan is a bit pricey because it's a small town. BTW Mae Chan is adorable! Ah I'm in love already. This past week has been insane for me. I stayed in Chiang Rai two nights and commuted back to Mae Chan (it's only 22km away). Finally stay my first night in my little room last week and start to explore my town. It's small, that's something I already knew, but was excited for. I love the city and all, but I don't want to live in a city, plus I have friends in the city, can always visit on weekends if I really need a city fix. So the first couple nights I discover a street market so yay! I love Thai food still so I was a happy camper. Kept running into a white male around the town (seriously, the only one in this small town) and just kept laughing at like the fifth time because it was obvious we kept running into each other, but never made an effort to say hi. However I also look somewhat Asian apparently so he didn't know what I was. Apparently South Americans - let alone Peruvians - travel to SE Asia haha. So I was going to head to the city on Saturday night, but plans fell through so I opted to stay in my town and just have a walk around. It was almost dark so I decided it was time for a beer somewhere. After a stroll, I settled on a place that was showing a football (soccer) game and had a beer. Well apparently I just scream FARANG (foreigner) haha. A Thai man befriended me and his name is A and told me he had some English friends and left the table to call his friend and I go back to my beer and football. Just laughing to myself about the whole situation. So when I glance over at his table low and behold it's the guy I kept running into. However he didn't come over to say hi to me and he ends up leaving. Oh well, I thought, and went back to my beer. A comes back and says his friend had to run home real quick then was coming back. So he invites me to his table and we have some beers and chat and then his friend comes back. Joe from London and he has been in Mae Chan for a year and a half. He had two other friends at the school he was teaching at and told me they wanted to meet me so I was excited to meet more people. Gemma and Ally are from England and Gemma has been here two years and Ally since June. A then invites us to a Thai birthday party and since I have no plans I agree so we all head over to his friend's place. Just hopped on the back of a vespa and rode off into the night - my life...full of vespa rides with people I just meet. Sorry mom! So we are just hanging outside talking about our adventures and drink some beer. Kids are playing all over and food is being cooked. Thai's eat so much food, I don't know how they stay so tiny! I'm trying to figure it out...Okay well it was late so I get a ride home because I was going to try and go to the city to see my friend before she left. Well I ended up sleeping in and opted for lunch with my friend and exporing a new pool. School started the next day and I was super nervous about lesson planning and meeting al the kids. I knew I was teaching kindergarten and primary 1 IEC (Intensive English Course) and then two conversational English classes. Total of 17 classes/week and a million hours of lesson planning and course outlines. Perks of a government school: lots of holidays - downside - SO MUCH PAPERWORK. So after having a leisure Sunday I head home and felt a little relieved. Was so happy I made some new friends in my little town. I try to review some material and just decide sleep would be better. Well didn't sleep much so when I woke up at 6:30am I wanted to be back in San Diego and not in this strange place in a country I didn't know the language. Once I realize I was in Thailand I got ready for school. Thai people are all about their appearance. I get all dressed up, but I still rarely wear makeup. Most of the time I forget I have it on and end up rubbing my face and it's not cute. Well Jeffrey and I head to school together and we sign in and then get breakfast. Yay rice soup - my favorite :) I have butterflies in my stomach, but just try to breathe and relax. Much easier said than done. My first class is kindergarten. AH SO MUCH FUN. I was so nervous, but we had so much fun. Topic was Animals and acted out animals and scared the children and we danced and the works. Ended up loving the class. They are adorable. I will have to put some pictures up soon. My primary year 1 classes are interesting, they are responsive and retain the information, but they are still 6/7 years old and have a lot of energy. so we sing/dance to calm them down a bit. the conversational English classes are my hardest ones because it's a general class, not IEC so it's chaos. However the hugs afterwards make it all worth it. So now I am lesson planning a lot and will be drawing up the course outline this weekend once I'm back from chiang Rai. I'm in dire needs of my girlfriends so should be a fun getaway. Speaking of which, I should get back to working on my worksheets/lesson plans...
So that has been my six weeks in a nutshell...I will do better at uploading pictures and descriptions and my new life here in Thailand. If you read that whole thing, I'm so sorry. Main point: I love Thailand and loving this adventure. I am happy and nervous/excited/scared for what happens next, but staying in the moment and treasuring all the special moments in my life since embarking on this journey. I love my family and friends and miss them dearly...Just come visit me in Thailand :)
I live a blessed life and have everything to be grateful for.
Love and light,
Cailin
(Teacher Dao)
Dao = Star :)
No comments:
Post a Comment