People often* ask me how I got the nickname Rebel. Well, gentle reader it's because of days like today:
I am NOT going to take a shower this morning!
That's right ladies and gentlemen. I've been taking 2-3 showers a day for I don't know how long and I'm done.** I am just not going to take a shower this morning. I've put on my shorts & tank*** top and I'm on my way.
FIGHT THE MAN!****
TAG: Code Bananas
* and by 'often' I mean 'never'
** I will probably take a shower as soon as I get home.
*** and swimsuit, as I'm headed to the beach right now.
**** I have no idea who 'the man' is.
Showing posts with label Code Banana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Code Banana. Show all posts
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Monday, December 1, 2008
Not quite paradise
but fairly awesome.
I decided to splurge and do the whole tourist thing on my day off. I took the ferry to Ko Samet (ko = island) and got a room at a resort. It was 700 baht... cheap if you're making $$ but it's about two hours of teaching for me.
I'm standing right outside my room, and look - there's the ocean!
It was overcast, and kind of cool - I was glad I'd brought my jacket. I spent the better part of the day just sitting in a lounge chair eating pineapple, drinking a frou frou drink and getting my nails done. It's just entirely too easy to spend money without leaving your chair. It was relaxing if not as warm as I would have liked. My view of the ocean was marred only by the nearly endless stream of old and/or overweight Europeans in bikinis and speedos. On the one hand, I applaud their body confidence, on the other hand... I'd almost rather see them naked than squished up in unflattering swimwear.
Eventually I got up and wandered around a bit along the main stretch of road from the pier to the resorts. Just a lot of guest houses, shops and restaurants. There was a pizza place that looked promising - I'll have to try it next time. The vibe was definitely 'dirty backpacker' rather than 'tropical paradise' and people were drinking as they walked down the street. And by "people" I am of course including myself. ;)
After my little bit of exploring, I showered, changed & pre-funked a bit more before going out to check out the nightlife.
I mostly hung out at the Ploy bar, then walked around the beach some more. The fire dancer show caught my attention though, so I came back. There were a few old Thai guys next to me watching the show and one or the other of us tried to communicate a bit.... it just wasn't happening. They shared their whiskey with me though... can't complain. Eventually I sat down at one of the tables and had dinner. At the next table there were a bunch of Fins and the son of a Liberian diplomat... or you know, a really good liar. ;) I chatted a bit with them... but didn't like join their group or anything. That's all a lot harder than it looks in the movies. But I made an attempt.
And for that attempt... I gave myself some props.
The next morning I got up pretty early and went for another walk around the beach. As soon as the restaurants opened, I went up and ordered a big ol' American breakfast. A few monks were already there getting their morning alms, and I got to hear them chant a bit before they left.
I ate my breakfast on the beach, under the watchful eyes of a hungry dog.
Unfortunately for poochy I've drawn a firm line on this issue - I refuse to feed the dogs that wander around begging.
At around 10am the clouds finally started to clear and it warmed up considerably. I'd planned to leave at around noon, so I only got a good hour or so of warm sunny beach time before I had to get ready to go. But I enjoyed it thouroughly.
I decided to splurge and do the whole tourist thing on my day off. I took the ferry to Ko Samet (ko = island) and got a room at a resort. It was 700 baht... cheap if you're making $$ but it's about two hours of teaching for me.
I'm standing right outside my room, and look - there's the ocean!
It was overcast, and kind of cool - I was glad I'd brought my jacket. I spent the better part of the day just sitting in a lounge chair eating pineapple, drinking a frou frou drink and getting my nails done. It's just entirely too easy to spend money without leaving your chair. It was relaxing if not as warm as I would have liked. My view of the ocean was marred only by the nearly endless stream of old and/or overweight Europeans in bikinis and speedos. On the one hand, I applaud their body confidence, on the other hand... I'd almost rather see them naked than squished up in unflattering swimwear.
Eventually I got up and wandered around a bit along the main stretch of road from the pier to the resorts. Just a lot of guest houses, shops and restaurants. There was a pizza place that looked promising - I'll have to try it next time. The vibe was definitely 'dirty backpacker' rather than 'tropical paradise' and people were drinking as they walked down the street. And by "people" I am of course including myself. ;)
After my little bit of exploring, I showered, changed & pre-funked a bit more before going out to check out the nightlife.
I mostly hung out at the Ploy bar, then walked around the beach some more. The fire dancer show caught my attention though, so I came back. There were a few old Thai guys next to me watching the show and one or the other of us tried to communicate a bit.... it just wasn't happening. They shared their whiskey with me though... can't complain. Eventually I sat down at one of the tables and had dinner. At the next table there were a bunch of Fins and the son of a Liberian diplomat... or you know, a really good liar. ;) I chatted a bit with them... but didn't like join their group or anything. That's all a lot harder than it looks in the movies. But I made an attempt.
And for that attempt... I gave myself some props.
The next morning I got up pretty early and went for another walk around the beach. As soon as the restaurants opened, I went up and ordered a big ol' American breakfast. A few monks were already there getting their morning alms, and I got to hear them chant a bit before they left.
I ate my breakfast on the beach, under the watchful eyes of a hungry dog.
Unfortunately for poochy I've drawn a firm line on this issue - I refuse to feed the dogs that wander around begging.At around 10am the clouds finally started to clear and it warmed up considerably. I'd planned to leave at around noon, so I only got a good hour or so of warm sunny beach time before I had to get ready to go. But I enjoyed it thouroughly.
Going to a resort while I'm living essentially in the same town was a weird experience. First off, it was strange to still be in Thailand but have most people speak English. I'm so used to struggling through transactions. I felt really lazy and weird just going up and ordering food etc. in English. It was flat out SURREAL to sit at the bar and watch English girls come up and rattle off their drink orders and/or flirt with the bartenders all in drunk-girl English (which is vastly different from the teacher-English I usually speak.... very-slowly-very-clearly-fewest-number-of words-possible) I just found myself laughing ... at them, at myself, I don't know.
I did not feel at all like I fit in with the European holiday-makers, but I didn't feel much like I fit in with the backpacker scene either. There were a couple of dirty dread-locked guys sitting at a table behind me smoking & exuding enui. Sooo not my thing. But I'm certainly not a local either. I've only been here three months and my language skills are quite pitiful. So it was just strange. The Liberian diplomat's son & the Finnish guys were students from Bangkok... I guess that's more my style.... semi-permanent, semi-local and in Thailand for some purpose other than partying on the beach.
All in all it was a good, if expensive, trip. Any time I get to spend the day at the beach is a good day. Again, it would have been more fun if I'd had a friend with me. I don't understand how other people can go into a situation like that and end up with travel buddies and further adventures. Maybe it just happens in books. I don't know.
The trip gets a Code Mango, but I had a fairly harsh reentry into reality when I got back. My schedule was all messed up and I had to teach a class that wasn't on my schedule and for which I was not even remotely prepared... oh and I was half an hour late because I didn't know about it. That's a serious buzz kill. Then my plans for New Years got thwarted, all the busses to Chiang Mai are full. And now the airport situation has gone from interesting to disturbing. I was talking to Rod & Tod and they didn't seem to think the airports would reopen any time soon. So despite all the awesomeness of Ko Samet, I'm hovering at Code Bananas and while I'm not checking for flights home, I did go check the Dept. of State's travel alert. I'm still safe, but no one knows how this whole thing is going to play out.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Stage two
Despite what you may have seen on the news (or not seen, as the case may be with US news), day to day life is continuing normally here in Rayong. Last week I saw a big group of people hanging out near the clock tower (next to the market where I eat dinner a lot). They were watching a big portable TV screen and someone I couldn't identify was giving a speech. I was mildly concerned, mostly because they were all crowded around where I usually get a motorbike taxi, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find a driver.... but I just wandered passed, crossed the street and got a ride with no problem. There was the random burst of applause, but they weren't blocking traffic or holding signs or anything, so I could hardly call it a 'protest' - I've seen larger & more animated crowds watching football matches.
The airport in Bangkok is closed though, and the three teachers who were supposed to fly out to Vietnam for a vacation are out of luck. They're out 3,000 baht for the visa, and one night of their hotel reservation cost. The tickets will be refunded, but it'll probably take a month to do so. Sucks to be them. It does make me a bit nervous to think that if I wanted to fly somewhere I couldn't. But it's not like the borders are closed, it's only a couple hour drive to Cambodia and as I've mentioned, I'm registered with the US consulate should the situation deteriorate.
I'm not really concerned... but I am getting tired of it. I mean, for all that people hated Bush at least Americans respected his presidency enough not to stage a coup. Actually I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.... maybe we're just lazy. I don't know. I think I'm well and truly entering stage two of culture shock. I've been on and off cranky for a while now.
My schedule is all wonky. The off-campus classes I enjoyed are over and new classes are starting. I miss my driver. I hate my kid classes, and I hate the kid books.
My sink is leaking and I really don't feel like having another "horng naam whatever see-ah" adventure.
I want to go out and party more, but when people invite me, I never feel like it. Either I'm too tired or it's late and I don't know if I'll be able to get back home when I want to.
I'm disappointed in myself for *still* not having obtained access to a motorbike.
I finally know enough Thai to make mistakes (when you can only say 2 things... it's kinda hard to mess them up), so now I make mistakes all the time. The other day at the market, I just could not hear anything properly. People were telling me prices and I kept getting them wrong in my head - I *know* the numbers, my brain just refused to process the words properly. And after listening to my students and their horrible accents all day, I'm well aware that I must sound retarded every time I try to speak Thai. People correct me sometimes but honestly I can't hear the distinctions they're trying to make.
I'm still hanging onto remnants of my cold and I feel disgusting. It's considered rude & gross to blow your nose here. So I'm always running off to the bathroom or trying to hide my tissues. I got this menthol inhaler thing that works temporarily, but I feel lame shoving the thing up my nose several times each class session.
Oh... and Christmas is right around the corner, but it doesn't feel even remotely like it. I mean, it's starting to cool off at night here, and Tesco's has a whole Santa display up... but it's all a little surreal. A lot surreal actually.
And the worst thing is that I find myself complaining on a regular basis and I just don't want to be that kind of person. Some of the other teachers bitch and moan constantly and it's annoying. I really really really don't want to be like that... but WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH I'm cranky.
I think I know why though... it's been at least two weeks since I've been to the beach. I need some serious sun, sand, and surf. I'm heading to Ko Samet tomorrow, hopefully that will sort me out. We'll see.
For now the TAG stands at Code Bananas
The airport in Bangkok is closed though, and the three teachers who were supposed to fly out to Vietnam for a vacation are out of luck. They're out 3,000 baht for the visa, and one night of their hotel reservation cost. The tickets will be refunded, but it'll probably take a month to do so. Sucks to be them. It does make me a bit nervous to think that if I wanted to fly somewhere I couldn't. But it's not like the borders are closed, it's only a couple hour drive to Cambodia and as I've mentioned, I'm registered with the US consulate should the situation deteriorate.
I'm not really concerned... but I am getting tired of it. I mean, for all that people hated Bush at least Americans respected his presidency enough not to stage a coup. Actually I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.... maybe we're just lazy. I don't know. I think I'm well and truly entering stage two of culture shock. I've been on and off cranky for a while now.
My schedule is all wonky. The off-campus classes I enjoyed are over and new classes are starting. I miss my driver. I hate my kid classes, and I hate the kid books.
My sink is leaking and I really don't feel like having another "horng naam whatever see-ah" adventure.
I want to go out and party more, but when people invite me, I never feel like it. Either I'm too tired or it's late and I don't know if I'll be able to get back home when I want to.
I'm disappointed in myself for *still* not having obtained access to a motorbike.
I finally know enough Thai to make mistakes (when you can only say 2 things... it's kinda hard to mess them up), so now I make mistakes all the time. The other day at the market, I just could not hear anything properly. People were telling me prices and I kept getting them wrong in my head - I *know* the numbers, my brain just refused to process the words properly. And after listening to my students and their horrible accents all day, I'm well aware that I must sound retarded every time I try to speak Thai. People correct me sometimes but honestly I can't hear the distinctions they're trying to make.
I'm still hanging onto remnants of my cold and I feel disgusting. It's considered rude & gross to blow your nose here. So I'm always running off to the bathroom or trying to hide my tissues. I got this menthol inhaler thing that works temporarily, but I feel lame shoving the thing up my nose several times each class session.
Oh... and Christmas is right around the corner, but it doesn't feel even remotely like it. I mean, it's starting to cool off at night here, and Tesco's has a whole Santa display up... but it's all a little surreal. A lot surreal actually.
And the worst thing is that I find myself complaining on a regular basis and I just don't want to be that kind of person. Some of the other teachers bitch and moan constantly and it's annoying. I really really really don't want to be like that... but WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH I'm cranky.
I think I know why though... it's been at least two weeks since I've been to the beach. I need some serious sun, sand, and surf. I'm heading to Ko Samet tomorrow, hopefully that will sort me out. We'll see.
For now the TAG stands at Code Bananas
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Nibbling on the Big Mango
I finally made it to Bangkok yesterday, and arranged the entire trip myself! Last time someone went with me to buy the ticket and someone else arranged a motorbike taxi to take me to the station. Now that I know how to do that, I'll have to see where else I can take day trips to, it's exciting that my world is opening up bit by bit. However, Bangkok itself still hasn't impressed me much.
First stop was the mall(s) - there's a whole slew of them at Siam Center. I wanted to get a little spa treatment. I spent hours wandering around (well, and window shopping) and even asked a couple of people - I kept getting vague directions to go to MBK which I thought was a salon in one of the malls on the street. It wasn't until I'd given up and left the mall complex that I saw that MBK was yet *another* mall across the street. By that time I was sick of being in malls and on my way to do some sight seeing.
I visited Wat Trimitr, (which will get it's own post) and from there walked down towards the river. Along the way I stopped at a 7-11 to get some water. I was sitting out front getting my bearings when a tuk tuk driver came up and asked me where I was going. I told him "the Grand Palace" and he started trying to talk me out of it "It's Sunday - there's nothing to see there." Nearly getting scammed last time was still weighing heavily on my mind so I got up and walked away.
Eventually I made it to the docks and got on the ferry boat with about 400 other people, about half of whom were German tourists. One of the ferry boat workers kept screaming (in a most annoying tone) "Walk inside! Walk inside! Madam - walk inside please! Sir walk inside!" to get us to crowd towards the front of the boat so they could let more people on. I'm not exactly sure what I'd been expecting from the river-boat experience... but it wasn't that. The river is brown and dirty, the buildings along the side of the river not especially attractive. Until of course we got to the Grand Palace. You can see the tops of all the buildings over the white fortressy wall, and what I could see was really beautiful.
We disembarked directly into a little market where I spent entirely too much money on entirely too delicious deep fried foods. There were a few stalls with postcards and jewelry, and then as you get to the street vendors were lined up on either side of the sidewalk, usually with just a blanket on the ground and their wares. I wanted to buy some change purses, but the gal for that blanket was elsewhere.
By the time I got to the gate for the Grand Palace it was 3:40pm and unfortunately they stopped selling entry tickets at 3:30pm. I deeply regretted spending so long wandering fruitlessly through the malls. Oh well. Next time I know to make the Grand Palace my first stop. Sight seeing was not a total loss though. At Sanuam Luang park next to the Palace there was a huge memorial for Princess Galyani Vadhana. She passed away earlier this year, and they had a huge funeral procession for her last week. There were about 6 days of ceremonies, and the crematorium & memorials will be at the park for a month.
There were hundreds if not thousands of people paying their respects.I don't know much about the Princess, but have heard that she was a real patron of the arts having studied classical music and photography. She was also a linguist and spoke five different languages. In the pavilions around the crematorium there were a lot of paintings inspired by her and her life. It's clear that she was well loved by the Thai people.
Pretty flags in the wind
I don't know much about the cultural or religious significance to the different parts of the crematorium... but I know it was all really beautiful, very regal. Something we don't really have in the US!
No idea what it is, but looked very cool with the clouds behind it.
I think this is a god... or maybe just a guard.
Again, the crematorium against a beautiful sky.
I still haven't experienced any of Bangkok's night life, having only gone during the day... but I'm not sure that would improve my opinion of the city. Nevertheless, I can see myself going again - especially if I have someone to go with. Before heading home I stopped at a book store and stocked up on English language magazines which may have made the whole trip worthwhile.
Code Banana - I spent way too much money in Bangkok, I'm still sick, and one of the part time teachers quit so I need to take over his class - a private lesson with a 14 year old boy. I HATE kids! =(
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Bad hair - Thailand style
My hair's been getting quite long. I'm not sure how long it's been since I got it cut, but I swear it's grown a ton since I got here. I kinda like having longer hair, and the curl was looking really cute. But it was just too too much and I knew I needed to go in for a trim. I also knew better than to go in alone.
I asked one of the girls from the front office to go with me and she did. I said I just wanted to have my hair re-layered and just cut a little bit off - 'nit noy'. The other gals in the office kept saying "no no no- your hair is very beautiful." Thai women love their long straight hair. But I'm not a Thai woman, and I needed a trim. They tried to tell me to get my hair rebonded (I think it's like a perm only to make it straight not curly), but I wanted none of that. All I wanted was a trim & a relayering.
Ugh... I got that and more. I heard my friend say "nit-noy" (a little bit) and I showed the woman on my friend's head where I wanted her to start the layering. She started by blow-drying my hair, which I thought was odd because in the States they cut my hair wet. Whatever, she blew it dry... then she started slicing & dicing. It's always hard to know how much is coming off until it's too late to do anything about it. But about half-way through I knew it was going to be bad. Yes, she started about where I had asked her to, and she left it fairly long in the back... but she just took soooooo much hair out when she layered it.... it was unholy the amount of curls left littering the floor. And, to add insult to injury she flat-ironed my hair on top of all the blow drying.
It's just unnatural. I spent 20+ years coming to terms with the fact that I had curly hair, only to have it flattened down practically to my skull. I know it doesn't look so bad now, but as soon as I wash it and the curls come back, it's going to be horrid. Already, just with the humidity the shorter parts in front are curled up to my eyebrows, and I can't even pull it all back into a pony tail.
Just add water
So, a word to the wise, don't get your hair cut in a foreign country.... just don't.
TAG: Code Bananas
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Rebel gets cranky
I'm actually feeling a bit better today, I think the antibiotics are working. I ate relatively plain chicken and rice for lunch. It's weird actually. It was chicken fried in fish sauce... and it was quite tasty. I remember when I bought some fish sauce back in the states to try it out, I was completely repulsed by the smell and even the smallest taste. But I understand they put it in everything here. Fish sauce was, I think, the only seasoning on my chicken - it didn't taste fishy at all, mostly salty and I don't know... yummy. Maybe it's that they cook everything at such high temperatures, they get rid of the fish taste and all that remains is the salt. Who knows. In any event, it didn't cause me any problems.
I made it through my classes well enough. I had to give a surprise exam today. I felt really bad about it. Actually, the whole thing was a bit of a mess. I've only had this class two or three times and last week was canceled, I only got around to thinking about it again on Tuesday and when I saw that I was running out of room on the attendance card I asked the front office when the course would be over. They told me that today would be the last day and I had to give a test. You know... over material I hadn't even finished covering. =?
It's a two hour class, so I tried to plan a review hour that would essentially cover everything on the test. Yes, teaching to the test, it's horrible... but it gets worse. They were like "Can't we postpone the test - we didn't have a chance to study?" but I checked and for whatever reason we had to do the test today. Ugh.... let's just say - if they all end up with the score, I won't be surprised. First I let them use the book. Second I was only supposed to play the listening section twice but I played it three times... and then some of the students just started 'helping' each other by repeating the relevant sections (ie - the answers). Then there was a speaking task... I let them do it as a role play instead of having them each do it individually. And of course while I was out of the room listening to the speaking sections I'm fairly certain they were all 'helping' each other. Yeah... the scores will have no reflection whatsoever on what they've actually learned on the course. Well, I guess they'll reflect what the class has collectively learned on the course.
Mai bpen rai. I don't feel great about it, but I'm not sweating it too much. This is a business English class, and they all work together. So it's not like I'm sending them off to take the TOEFL unprepared or anything. They need to use English in their jobs and if they don't understand something - they can ask one of their coworkers. Also - in my limited experience, this class was placed at a lower level than it should have been. It's an Elementary class, but they are all far more fluent than my Pre-Intermediate class. So, we'll see. I'm going to make it a point to do some longer-term planning with the rest of my classes and find out when I need to give the tests for each of them.
My real gripe of the day is the new teachers who just arrived -two 22 year old Californian girls. Oh lordy! They're nice enough, and I'll probably hang out with them a bit... but man alive the one girl would.not.shut.up! I'm going to call them Bobby and Bunny just for the hell of it. Bunny is the mouth of the operation, I've barely gotten two words out of Bobby. I'll look straight at her and ask her a question like "So, Bobby how do you like Rayong." and Bunny will chime in with "Oh we love it!" Lordy lordy lordy. They just arrived a few days ago so they are about as green as green can be, all bright eyed and full of wonder about every little thing. I know I know I know... I was the same way. It's karmic justice, I'm sure.
I wouldn't have minded so much, but they were in the teachers room waiting around for their orientation and I was desperately trying to plan that test review session and only had an hour before my next class. It's incredibly hard to focus on countable and uncountable nouns with Bunny prattling on about how excited she is to go buy a big ol' bag of dried squid for the gals in the front office and how she's a vegetarian but she's totally going to buy the biggest bag they have and she can just see herself wandering all over Ban Phe with a bag of dried squid on her shoulder and OMG isn't that the funniest thing ever.
Did I mention they're going to be my new neighbors as well? The two Philippino girls just moved into a house so these gals will be moving into their room. Really, it'll be okay. They'll probably settle down after the first couple of weeks, and we'll all settle into a groove of some sort. I'm sure they'll have a ton of questions about teaching, and guess what - I'll be the expert! It's really funny actually. The addition of two new girls was all it took for me to feel instantly bonded to the other teachers. I feel like a total veteran looking at the new recruits... casting knowing glances at the other teachers as Bunny goes on and on about their adventures doing laundry and going shopping at Tescos.
I'm trying to at least give them the benefit of the doubt. We might end up getting along really well. On the other hand, I'm more than a little irritated that there are now three teachers from California at the school. I moved to Oregon because I did not mesh with California. And I really haven't been able to maintain many friendships with people I knew in CA because it's just a whole different planet down there... a whole different mentality. So of all the places in the English speaking world for the new teachers to be from... I just can't believe they're from the one place I really can't stand. I want the Aussies back... the Brit, the Canadian... heck - even the Texan. =/
I think the honeymoon phase of this whole experience is coming to an end. Real life is creeping in around every corner. I'm trying to let my inner voice guide me, you know, I want to head towards that which makes me happy, and away from that which makes me unhappy. But I know I can't expect every moment of my life to be pure bliss... I'm trying to figure out the balance. I have more to say on this... but I don't want to get into it right now.
TAG - Code Bananas
I made it through my classes well enough. I had to give a surprise exam today. I felt really bad about it. Actually, the whole thing was a bit of a mess. I've only had this class two or three times and last week was canceled, I only got around to thinking about it again on Tuesday and when I saw that I was running out of room on the attendance card I asked the front office when the course would be over. They told me that today would be the last day and I had to give a test. You know... over material I hadn't even finished covering. =?
It's a two hour class, so I tried to plan a review hour that would essentially cover everything on the test. Yes, teaching to the test, it's horrible... but it gets worse. They were like "Can't we postpone the test - we didn't have a chance to study?" but I checked and for whatever reason we had to do the test today. Ugh.... let's just say - if they all end up with the score, I won't be surprised. First I let them use the book. Second I was only supposed to play the listening section twice but I played it three times... and then some of the students just started 'helping' each other by repeating the relevant sections (ie - the answers). Then there was a speaking task... I let them do it as a role play instead of having them each do it individually. And of course while I was out of the room listening to the speaking sections I'm fairly certain they were all 'helping' each other. Yeah... the scores will have no reflection whatsoever on what they've actually learned on the course. Well, I guess they'll reflect what the class has collectively learned on the course.
Mai bpen rai. I don't feel great about it, but I'm not sweating it too much. This is a business English class, and they all work together. So it's not like I'm sending them off to take the TOEFL unprepared or anything. They need to use English in their jobs and if they don't understand something - they can ask one of their coworkers. Also - in my limited experience, this class was placed at a lower level than it should have been. It's an Elementary class, but they are all far more fluent than my Pre-Intermediate class. So, we'll see. I'm going to make it a point to do some longer-term planning with the rest of my classes and find out when I need to give the tests for each of them.
My real gripe of the day is the new teachers who just arrived -two 22 year old Californian girls. Oh lordy! They're nice enough, and I'll probably hang out with them a bit... but man alive the one girl would.not.shut.up! I'm going to call them Bobby and Bunny just for the hell of it. Bunny is the mouth of the operation, I've barely gotten two words out of Bobby. I'll look straight at her and ask her a question like "So, Bobby how do you like Rayong." and Bunny will chime in with "Oh we love it!" Lordy lordy lordy. They just arrived a few days ago so they are about as green as green can be, all bright eyed and full of wonder about every little thing. I know I know I know... I was the same way. It's karmic justice, I'm sure.
I wouldn't have minded so much, but they were in the teachers room waiting around for their orientation and I was desperately trying to plan that test review session and only had an hour before my next class. It's incredibly hard to focus on countable and uncountable nouns with Bunny prattling on about how excited she is to go buy a big ol' bag of dried squid for the gals in the front office and how she's a vegetarian but she's totally going to buy the biggest bag they have and she can just see herself wandering all over Ban Phe with a bag of dried squid on her shoulder and OMG isn't that the funniest thing ever.
Did I mention they're going to be my new neighbors as well? The two Philippino girls just moved into a house so these gals will be moving into their room. Really, it'll be okay. They'll probably settle down after the first couple of weeks, and we'll all settle into a groove of some sort. I'm sure they'll have a ton of questions about teaching, and guess what - I'll be the expert! It's really funny actually. The addition of two new girls was all it took for me to feel instantly bonded to the other teachers. I feel like a total veteran looking at the new recruits... casting knowing glances at the other teachers as Bunny goes on and on about their adventures doing laundry and going shopping at Tescos.
I'm trying to at least give them the benefit of the doubt. We might end up getting along really well. On the other hand, I'm more than a little irritated that there are now three teachers from California at the school. I moved to Oregon because I did not mesh with California. And I really haven't been able to maintain many friendships with people I knew in CA because it's just a whole different planet down there... a whole different mentality. So of all the places in the English speaking world for the new teachers to be from... I just can't believe they're from the one place I really can't stand. I want the Aussies back... the Brit, the Canadian... heck - even the Texan. =/
I think the honeymoon phase of this whole experience is coming to an end. Real life is creeping in around every corner. I'm trying to let my inner voice guide me, you know, I want to head towards that which makes me happy, and away from that which makes me unhappy. But I know I can't expect every moment of my life to be pure bliss... I'm trying to figure out the balance. I have more to say on this... but I don't want to get into it right now.
TAG - Code Bananas
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Traveler's curse
Whatever intestinal bug I've picked up has gone from annoying to a bit frightening. My general philosophy has been to let these problems run their course as it were... but it was getting pretty bad so I took some immodium yesterday. I think that was a bad idea, within the hour I started getting stomach cramps and feeling over-heated and flushed. I had to leave class once to go to the bathroom but then I ended up canceling it in the middle because I just couldn't keep pretending I was okay.
I had gotten some antibiotics from the travel clinic back in OR and thus far haven't needed them, but I decided to take them. It's a three day course, so hopefully by this weekend I'll be better. The thing that's frightening is that I've finally put two and two together and figured out that it was the raw crab on the som tam bpoo that must have made me sick. I didn' tmake the connection at first because I didn't get sick that night - it wasn't until a good 18 hours later. And now that I've told people that I think I'm sick from eating raw crab - they're telling me all kinds of horror stories about intestinal parasites and lung infections. =/
I'm trying not to freak out. I'll give the antibiotics a couple of days to work, but if I'm not better by Friday I'll have the girls in the office point me to a doctor.
The irony is that I did actually go to the doctor yesterday. I needed a 'medical examination' for my work permit. I went in to see the doctor and he asked me where I was from. I told him "America." He had me put out my hands, then turn them over. He asked me to stand up and sit down - which I did. Finally he asked "Do you have any health problems." to which I replied "No, I feel good!" and I was pronounced healthy enough to work.
TAG - Code Bananas.
I had gotten some antibiotics from the travel clinic back in OR and thus far haven't needed them, but I decided to take them. It's a three day course, so hopefully by this weekend I'll be better. The thing that's frightening is that I've finally put two and two together and figured out that it was the raw crab on the som tam bpoo that must have made me sick. I didn' tmake the connection at first because I didn't get sick that night - it wasn't until a good 18 hours later. And now that I've told people that I think I'm sick from eating raw crab - they're telling me all kinds of horror stories about intestinal parasites and lung infections. =/
I'm trying not to freak out. I'll give the antibiotics a couple of days to work, but if I'm not better by Friday I'll have the girls in the office point me to a doctor.
The irony is that I did actually go to the doctor yesterday. I needed a 'medical examination' for my work permit. I went in to see the doctor and he asked me where I was from. I told him "America." He had me put out my hands, then turn them over. He asked me to stand up and sit down - which I did. Finally he asked "Do you have any health problems." to which I replied "No, I feel good!" and I was pronounced healthy enough to work.
TAG - Code Bananas.
Friday, October 3, 2008
The Big Mango
Well, I'm back from Bangkok, lighter in the purse but richer in experience I guess.
The office manager at my school - Big, had set up an appointment for me with Mr. P from the Bangkok branch to help me get my visa extended & converted, and to apply for my work permit. I was supposed to meet him at immigration at 10am. There had been some debate in the office about what time I needed to leave. Big had suggested 5am, but one of the other teachers was insistent that I didn't have to leave until around 6:30am. When Pink took me to the bus station I split the difference and got a ticket for 5:55am* . Pink also arranged for a motorcycle taxi to pick me up at my apartment at 5:30am... so it was a pretty early day for me.
The bus took longer than the other teacher had said, and I was starting to get nervous about being late for my appointment, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it so I tried to stay calm. I had directions regarding how to get from the bus station to the immigration office, which turned out to be a bit easier than I thought. I basically got off the bus and looked around until I found the stairs up to the sky train, got a ticket, found the right train and off I went. I almost got off on the wrong stop, but sorted myself out. Then I had to change trains to a different line. Once off the sky train I just had to hire a taxi. There were a lot of 'taxi-meter' car taxis around, but looking at the traffic I decided to go with a motorbike taxi again. I have to say, that's got to be my favorite form of transportation thus far. Seeing Thailand from the back of a motorbike is pretty fun. Motorbikes don't really get stuck in traffic, they just zip around the other cars... and since I'm not driving I don't have to pay too much attention to traffic and can shut my eyes when it gets scary.
My initial impressions of Bangkok were pretty good. The sky train reminded me a LOT of San Francisco.** You know, on a certain level, all big cities feel the same. It's a mix of the shiny, new expensive shops & high-rise buildings, and then the dirty, grimy, smelly, street level stuff. Overall though, it seemed nicer than either Chiang Mai or Rayong. There were plenty of English signs (which made the whole transit thing pretty easy) and I saw a fair number of other farangs. It occurred to me that I do have a bit of a city girl in me and that I might not mind living in Bangkok at some point.
I managed to make it to the Immigration office by 5 'till, but didn't immediately see anyone that appeared to be looking for me. I called Mr. P and he said he'd be there in 5 minutes. I thought maybe he was stuck in traffic, but it turned out he was already there helping a couple other teachers. That's his whole job, running teachers through the bureaucracy. I made sure to be really nice to him & let him know how much I appreciated it!! I can't even tell you how grateful I was. Between Big & Mr. P all I had to do was stand there and look pretty. I mean, I'd had to bring my passport, my original degree, passport photos and 4,000 baht... but they did all the paperwork. He took me through one line, got us a number, went to the table, pasted my picture onto the correct form and said "sign here, sign here, sign here" etc. Then sat me down in the waiting room handed me my stuff and showed me where to see which number was up...then hung back. So I sat and waited until my number came up - went to the window and handed in my stuff. The woman wanted my phone number, which I don't have memorized, so I started digging in my purse for it. By the time I had it out of my bag - Mr. P was at my shoulder making sure there wasn't a problem. The immigration lady gave me another number and Mr. P showed me where to see when that number would come up.
There was a lot of waiting involved, and it was just so odd to be there in this big waiting room with all these other people from around the world. You know how when you go to the DMV and there's someone there who doesn't speak the language, and you hear the guy at the window trying to explain it over and over and you're irritated because your number won't be up until they sort that guy out. Well, it was like that - except I was one of the poor morons who didn't have a clue what was going on. Thank Buddha for Mr. P. My number came up again, pick up my papers, and off to another room to get another number and to wait some more.
My tourist visa was extended, but apparently they weren't able to convert it from a tourist visa to the Non-B immigrant visa right then. They'll be able to do it on the 15th. This was the part that made me nervous, both the woman behind the counter and Mr. P explained to me that I just couldn't leave the country for the next two weeks, which shouldn't be a problem. But then Mr. P said he needed to keep my visa with him so that he could get it stamped on the 15th. Otherwise I'd have to come back. He had a whole folder of passports from the other teachers, and since this is his job I said ok. I just made sure to get a copy of the new visa, to go with the copy of my passport that I keep in my purse.
This is just another example of one of those things I never would have been okay with back in the states. I'm operating so far outside my comfort zone on a daily basis here...it's insane. I think that's why I spend every free moment online. It's the one constant I can hold onto from my old life, my touchstone.
So after going through immigration I decided that I should stick around and actually see something of Bangkok while I was there. I hadn't actually planned on visiting Bangkok so I didn't have anything particular in mind, but I'd grabbed my Lonely Planet guide and kinda flipped through it while waiting. The number one don't-miss sight they recommended was the Golden Palace. I figured out I could take the sky-train to the river and take a river boat up to the palace, then from there I'd figure out a way to come back. But by the time I got back to the Siam sky-train transfer station it had started raining. Hanging out in a boat in the rain didn't sound like too much fun. On the other hand, Siam Station was right next to a huge-ass mall. =)
I spent a good couple of hours wandering around the shops, there was an English language bookstore and a lot of super chi-chi shops I couldn't even afford to look into. But I spent some quality time in the food court. I actually settled on Burger-King... and I'm trying not to feel ashamed. Then I had passion fruit sorbet for dessert and it was gooooood! I looked through my book a bit more and figured out there was a way to take a bus to the Grand Palace, I just had to get back onto the sky-train and go to the other end of the line. One of the gals in the office had suggested I get an all-day pass for the sky train, and I did look for one but didn't see it. In retrospect I should have looked harder because I was on and off that thing all day and I'm sure I spent more than a full-day pass would have cost. I ended up spending a ton of money (and time!) on transportation today. Next time I'll have a better plan. A *much* better plan.
It was still raining when I got off the sky-train and I was getting a bit frustrated because there were all these little shops but no one was selling an umbrella. And of course there are huge puddles everywhere and my feet are getting all clammy and gross. Meanwhile, it's still HOT out, so I was just not loving life. Eventually I found a lady selling umbrellas (the second one I've bought in Thailand =/ ) and while I was there I asked her to point me towards the right bus for where I wanted to go (there was no transit map *anywhere*). She couldn't help me but she pointed to two gals standing nearby handing out flyers for KFC. The girls had these felt chicken hats on. It was a bit hilarious. But one had a mobile phone with something or other v-tech and called someone who spoke English, handed the phone to me - I told her where I wanted to go then handed the phone back to the chicken-girls. They all understood then, and got me pointed in the right direction.
But then, more waiting. Finally find the right bus, but have no idea how much it cost, so just stick out my hand full of change and let the fare checker take however much it is. I tried my best to follow along with the map in my guidebook, but it was really hard to see the street signs. I did my best though and when we got to a big temple I got off and tried to orient myself to the map in the guidebook. I figured I could walk where I wanted to go. The universe had something else in mind.
This guy walks up to me and starts talking to me in English. Where am I from, how long have I been in Thailand... the same questions I've been asked by every single Thai person I've met here. Then he starts looking at my map and telling me I should see x-y & z. I tell him I really just want to see the Grand Palace, but he tells me it's closed. He says I can go see this other famous Buddha statue that's on my map and there's this other "Lucky" Buddha that I should see too. And I ask him where it is and can I walk to it. And he's like - you can take a tuk-tuk, there's a special discount today because the government is handing out cards for free gas or something. As I've mentioned about 500 times, I never know what's going on here, so I didn't really think about it. I was going to just hang out at the temple and take a few pictures before hopping in a tuk-tuk, but he was like "There's a ceremony going on right now, so the temple is closed to tourists." And I do know there's the whole vegetarian thing going on. So I end up getting into a tuk tuk that's conveniently parked right there on the street.
The tuk-tuk driver gives me the same discounted price and confirms Mr. Friendly's story about the gas card thing. So I get in and we start going. As soon as we turn off the main road I start thinking "This is a scam. I've totally been scammed." but at the same time I'm thinking "Why am I so mistrusting? I've done about a million scary weird things in Thailand and it always turns out okay." I look up and the tuk-tuk has a proper license, and a picture of the guy with his name and everything on the wall. Everything looks legit. Eventually we do end up at the temple of the "lucky Buddha" and there's actually a monk there, and a guy with a badge, so I think "Ok - this is what he said it was." And the guy with the badge is chatting with me - he has a cousin in Portland. So as we're chatting I'm like "Is there really a discount on tuk-tuks today?" and he's like "Yeah, because of the discounted gas cards." and I'm like "Oh, good because I wasn't sure if he was being honest." "oh, yeah yeah" and he tells me the same story as the first guy. So I get back to the tuk tuk but as soon as I get in he's like "I need you to help me get my discounted gas card. I just need you to look at this shop...." at which point all the red flags start waving and I'm like "No...I can't help you. Nope, nope nope." and get out of the tuk tuk, and he's like "why not?" but I just paid the 'discounted' fare and started walking away.
The Unlucky Buddha
I totally got scammed. I got out of it before the real scam started. There would have been a store - gem store, antique store, whatever. And I wouldn't have gotten out of there without paying $. But it really upset me that I fell for it. I'd even read about the gem-store scam in my guidebook and still didn't pick up on it until I was in it. I felt really really really stupid....bad stupid.... like that could have been really dangerous stupid. And if you're paying attention you'll have noticed - I HAD MY UMBRELLA WITH ME!!! =(
So I just walked away, I didn't have a clue where I was. I mean... NO CLUE, the map in my guidebook was 'general' at best, and I couldn't follow where he'd driven me anyway. I just headed for a street where I saw a lot of traffic. Then I stood there like a retard for like 10 minutes trying to at least figure out what intersection I was at. I couldn't find the street name anywhere. It took me a while to figure out what to do, I didn't know where I was, but I also didn't know where to go. I'd been on a motorcycle taxi, two sky-train lines and an 40 minute bus ride between the Immigration building and the temple where I'd gotten scammed. I didn't know what I was closest too. Eventually I found a motorcycle taxi and told him to take me to the sky-train. He asked which stop. I couldn't even tell him. He mentioned Siam Station and I was like "sure" - that's where the mall was, and I knew I could get back to my bus to Rayong from there. It was 100B - way more than any other trip I'd taken today - but screw it, I just wanted to be back on familiar ground. And we were a LONG way from Siam Station.
Once we got to the mall, I felt a bit better. I mean, I felt like crap, totally stupid, and upset at getting scammed, and upset that my first excursion into Bangkok involved a full day of waiting around, eating at Burger King and spending several hundred baht just trying to get around. I didn't get to see anything cool, and nearly got screwed out of whatever money I'd had on me. A pretty shitty way to spend the day all in all.
And now I'm think - I wonder what's happened with my passport? I mean, how stupid was that? Even if it does get back to me, has my info been copied & sold off to who knows whom? I hate feeling like this. I want to be able to trust people here.... I *need* to be able to trust people here, because I really can't function all on my own. I don't want to have my guard up all the time. I don't want to live like that.
I'm putting today's TAG at Bananas.... but if I've just had my passport stolen, we're upgrading to Durian.
* The word for 'five' in Thai is 'ha' so instead of typing LOL in txt, they type 555
** The single smartest thing I before going to Thailand was to visit J in San Francisco. Not only did we have a good time, but she helped me sort out my luggage, gave me the backpack that I use every single day here, and she taught me how to ride the BART - which has the same set up as the Bangkok Sky Train (and a bunch of other systems I'm sure). It's a lot easier to deal with forgetting to take my card out of the slot & slamming into the turnstile when it's just a friend laughing, and not a bunch of strangers getting irritated that you're holding up the line.
The office manager at my school - Big, had set up an appointment for me with Mr. P from the Bangkok branch to help me get my visa extended & converted, and to apply for my work permit. I was supposed to meet him at immigration at 10am. There had been some debate in the office about what time I needed to leave. Big had suggested 5am, but one of the other teachers was insistent that I didn't have to leave until around 6:30am. When Pink took me to the bus station I split the difference and got a ticket for 5:55am* . Pink also arranged for a motorcycle taxi to pick me up at my apartment at 5:30am... so it was a pretty early day for me.
The bus took longer than the other teacher had said, and I was starting to get nervous about being late for my appointment, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it so I tried to stay calm. I had directions regarding how to get from the bus station to the immigration office, which turned out to be a bit easier than I thought. I basically got off the bus and looked around until I found the stairs up to the sky train, got a ticket, found the right train and off I went. I almost got off on the wrong stop, but sorted myself out. Then I had to change trains to a different line. Once off the sky train I just had to hire a taxi. There were a lot of 'taxi-meter' car taxis around, but looking at the traffic I decided to go with a motorbike taxi again. I have to say, that's got to be my favorite form of transportation thus far. Seeing Thailand from the back of a motorbike is pretty fun. Motorbikes don't really get stuck in traffic, they just zip around the other cars... and since I'm not driving I don't have to pay too much attention to traffic and can shut my eyes when it gets scary.
My initial impressions of Bangkok were pretty good. The sky train reminded me a LOT of San Francisco.** You know, on a certain level, all big cities feel the same. It's a mix of the shiny, new expensive shops & high-rise buildings, and then the dirty, grimy, smelly, street level stuff. Overall though, it seemed nicer than either Chiang Mai or Rayong. There were plenty of English signs (which made the whole transit thing pretty easy) and I saw a fair number of other farangs. It occurred to me that I do have a bit of a city girl in me and that I might not mind living in Bangkok at some point.
I managed to make it to the Immigration office by 5 'till, but didn't immediately see anyone that appeared to be looking for me. I called Mr. P and he said he'd be there in 5 minutes. I thought maybe he was stuck in traffic, but it turned out he was already there helping a couple other teachers. That's his whole job, running teachers through the bureaucracy. I made sure to be really nice to him & let him know how much I appreciated it!! I can't even tell you how grateful I was. Between Big & Mr. P all I had to do was stand there and look pretty. I mean, I'd had to bring my passport, my original degree, passport photos and 4,000 baht... but they did all the paperwork. He took me through one line, got us a number, went to the table, pasted my picture onto the correct form and said "sign here, sign here, sign here" etc. Then sat me down in the waiting room handed me my stuff and showed me where to see which number was up...then hung back. So I sat and waited until my number came up - went to the window and handed in my stuff. The woman wanted my phone number, which I don't have memorized, so I started digging in my purse for it. By the time I had it out of my bag - Mr. P was at my shoulder making sure there wasn't a problem. The immigration lady gave me another number and Mr. P showed me where to see when that number would come up.
There was a lot of waiting involved, and it was just so odd to be there in this big waiting room with all these other people from around the world. You know how when you go to the DMV and there's someone there who doesn't speak the language, and you hear the guy at the window trying to explain it over and over and you're irritated because your number won't be up until they sort that guy out. Well, it was like that - except I was one of the poor morons who didn't have a clue what was going on. Thank Buddha for Mr. P. My number came up again, pick up my papers, and off to another room to get another number and to wait some more.
My tourist visa was extended, but apparently they weren't able to convert it from a tourist visa to the Non-B immigrant visa right then. They'll be able to do it on the 15th. This was the part that made me nervous, both the woman behind the counter and Mr. P explained to me that I just couldn't leave the country for the next two weeks, which shouldn't be a problem. But then Mr. P said he needed to keep my visa with him so that he could get it stamped on the 15th. Otherwise I'd have to come back. He had a whole folder of passports from the other teachers, and since this is his job I said ok. I just made sure to get a copy of the new visa, to go with the copy of my passport that I keep in my purse.
This is just another example of one of those things I never would have been okay with back in the states. I'm operating so far outside my comfort zone on a daily basis here...it's insane. I think that's why I spend every free moment online. It's the one constant I can hold onto from my old life, my touchstone.
So after going through immigration I decided that I should stick around and actually see something of Bangkok while I was there. I hadn't actually planned on visiting Bangkok so I didn't have anything particular in mind, but I'd grabbed my Lonely Planet guide and kinda flipped through it while waiting. The number one don't-miss sight they recommended was the Golden Palace. I figured out I could take the sky-train to the river and take a river boat up to the palace, then from there I'd figure out a way to come back. But by the time I got back to the Siam sky-train transfer station it had started raining. Hanging out in a boat in the rain didn't sound like too much fun. On the other hand, Siam Station was right next to a huge-ass mall. =)
I spent a good couple of hours wandering around the shops, there was an English language bookstore and a lot of super chi-chi shops I couldn't even afford to look into. But I spent some quality time in the food court. I actually settled on Burger-King... and I'm trying not to feel ashamed. Then I had passion fruit sorbet for dessert and it was gooooood! I looked through my book a bit more and figured out there was a way to take a bus to the Grand Palace, I just had to get back onto the sky-train and go to the other end of the line. One of the gals in the office had suggested I get an all-day pass for the sky train, and I did look for one but didn't see it. In retrospect I should have looked harder because I was on and off that thing all day and I'm sure I spent more than a full-day pass would have cost. I ended up spending a ton of money (and time!) on transportation today. Next time I'll have a better plan. A *much* better plan.
It was still raining when I got off the sky-train and I was getting a bit frustrated because there were all these little shops but no one was selling an umbrella. And of course there are huge puddles everywhere and my feet are getting all clammy and gross. Meanwhile, it's still HOT out, so I was just not loving life. Eventually I found a lady selling umbrellas (the second one I've bought in Thailand =/ ) and while I was there I asked her to point me towards the right bus for where I wanted to go (there was no transit map *anywhere*). She couldn't help me but she pointed to two gals standing nearby handing out flyers for KFC. The girls had these felt chicken hats on. It was a bit hilarious. But one had a mobile phone with something or other v-tech and called someone who spoke English, handed the phone to me - I told her where I wanted to go then handed the phone back to the chicken-girls. They all understood then, and got me pointed in the right direction.
But then, more waiting. Finally find the right bus, but have no idea how much it cost, so just stick out my hand full of change and let the fare checker take however much it is. I tried my best to follow along with the map in my guidebook, but it was really hard to see the street signs. I did my best though and when we got to a big temple I got off and tried to orient myself to the map in the guidebook. I figured I could walk where I wanted to go. The universe had something else in mind.
This guy walks up to me and starts talking to me in English. Where am I from, how long have I been in Thailand... the same questions I've been asked by every single Thai person I've met here. Then he starts looking at my map and telling me I should see x-y & z. I tell him I really just want to see the Grand Palace, but he tells me it's closed. He says I can go see this other famous Buddha statue that's on my map and there's this other "Lucky" Buddha that I should see too. And I ask him where it is and can I walk to it. And he's like - you can take a tuk-tuk, there's a special discount today because the government is handing out cards for free gas or something. As I've mentioned about 500 times, I never know what's going on here, so I didn't really think about it. I was going to just hang out at the temple and take a few pictures before hopping in a tuk-tuk, but he was like "There's a ceremony going on right now, so the temple is closed to tourists." And I do know there's the whole vegetarian thing going on. So I end up getting into a tuk tuk that's conveniently parked right there on the street.
The tuk-tuk driver gives me the same discounted price and confirms Mr. Friendly's story about the gas card thing. So I get in and we start going. As soon as we turn off the main road I start thinking "This is a scam. I've totally been scammed." but at the same time I'm thinking "Why am I so mistrusting? I've done about a million scary weird things in Thailand and it always turns out okay." I look up and the tuk-tuk has a proper license, and a picture of the guy with his name and everything on the wall. Everything looks legit. Eventually we do end up at the temple of the "lucky Buddha" and there's actually a monk there, and a guy with a badge, so I think "Ok - this is what he said it was." And the guy with the badge is chatting with me - he has a cousin in Portland. So as we're chatting I'm like "Is there really a discount on tuk-tuks today?" and he's like "Yeah, because of the discounted gas cards." and I'm like "Oh, good because I wasn't sure if he was being honest." "oh, yeah yeah" and he tells me the same story as the first guy. So I get back to the tuk tuk but as soon as I get in he's like "I need you to help me get my discounted gas card. I just need you to look at this shop...." at which point all the red flags start waving and I'm like "No...I can't help you. Nope, nope nope." and get out of the tuk tuk, and he's like "why not?" but I just paid the 'discounted' fare and started walking away.
The Unlucky BuddhaI totally got scammed. I got out of it before the real scam started. There would have been a store - gem store, antique store, whatever. And I wouldn't have gotten out of there without paying $. But it really upset me that I fell for it. I'd even read about the gem-store scam in my guidebook and still didn't pick up on it until I was in it. I felt really really really stupid....bad stupid.... like that could have been really dangerous stupid. And if you're paying attention you'll have noticed - I HAD MY UMBRELLA WITH ME!!! =(
So I just walked away, I didn't have a clue where I was. I mean... NO CLUE, the map in my guidebook was 'general' at best, and I couldn't follow where he'd driven me anyway. I just headed for a street where I saw a lot of traffic. Then I stood there like a retard for like 10 minutes trying to at least figure out what intersection I was at. I couldn't find the street name anywhere. It took me a while to figure out what to do, I didn't know where I was, but I also didn't know where to go. I'd been on a motorcycle taxi, two sky-train lines and an 40 minute bus ride between the Immigration building and the temple where I'd gotten scammed. I didn't know what I was closest too. Eventually I found a motorcycle taxi and told him to take me to the sky-train. He asked which stop. I couldn't even tell him. He mentioned Siam Station and I was like "sure" - that's where the mall was, and I knew I could get back to my bus to Rayong from there. It was 100B - way more than any other trip I'd taken today - but screw it, I just wanted to be back on familiar ground. And we were a LONG way from Siam Station.
Once we got to the mall, I felt a bit better. I mean, I felt like crap, totally stupid, and upset at getting scammed, and upset that my first excursion into Bangkok involved a full day of waiting around, eating at Burger King and spending several hundred baht just trying to get around. I didn't get to see anything cool, and nearly got screwed out of whatever money I'd had on me. A pretty shitty way to spend the day all in all.
And now I'm think - I wonder what's happened with my passport? I mean, how stupid was that? Even if it does get back to me, has my info been copied & sold off to who knows whom? I hate feeling like this. I want to be able to trust people here.... I *need* to be able to trust people here, because I really can't function all on my own. I don't want to have my guard up all the time. I don't want to live like that.
I'm putting today's TAG at Bananas.... but if I've just had my passport stolen, we're upgrading to Durian.
* The word for 'five' in Thai is 'ha' so instead of typing LOL in txt, they type 555
** The single smartest thing I before going to Thailand was to visit J in San Francisco. Not only did we have a good time, but she helped me sort out my luggage, gave me the backpack that I use every single day here, and she taught me how to ride the BART - which has the same set up as the Bangkok Sky Train (and a bunch of other systems I'm sure). It's a lot easier to deal with forgetting to take my card out of the slot & slamming into the turnstile when it's just a friend laughing, and not a bunch of strangers getting irritated that you're holding up the line.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Smooth Talking 101
TAG - Mango with a side of fried Bananas.
Another interesting day... but mostly good. I had a morning class from 10-noon that was pretty quiet. I'd had them twice before though, so I felt comfortable going in. Then I had two new Business English classes in the evening, 4:30-6pm & 6:30 - 8:30pm (unfortunately the first one is off campus, half an hour away - you do the math!)
I'm going to Bangkok tomorrow to get my work permit & extend my visa, so today at lunch Pink took me to get the bus ticket. I hopped on the back of her motorbike and off we went. After that she took me to a Chinese temple for lunch. There's a vegetarian festival in Thailand every year in October. I don't totally understand why - it's related to Buddhism, but as we walked past the temple, Pink didn't wai (a sign of respect) or stop at the alter or anything... she just took me down to the big hall where the food was. It was somewhat communal, dishes, chopsticks and rice in the center of the room... then they bring four prepared dishes to your table. One was a spinach & tofu dish (delicious!!), a carrot & jicama broth based soup, Chinese bamboo and mushrooms, and some other thing that was brown and spicy. The food was really good, and Pink was surprised that I could use chopsticks. Score one for the farang girl! =) when we got up to go I asked how much it was, and she said it was free. So, I guess it was like a church supper kind of thing.
On the way back though, she went over a rock and got a flat tire. I felt really bad, because I'm not exactly a skinny little asian girl, and in addition to my fat farang butt, I carry with me about 20+lbs of books in my backpack. I kinda felt like it was my fault. But of course Pink didn't say anything, and it only cost 40B to fix, so it wasn't a huge crisis. It did mean, however, that it took us an extra half hour to get back to school. I had about 2 hours to plan for my two evening classes. I did it though, not the best lessons in the world - but I wasn't going to be going into the classroom blind. Or so I thought!
The card for my off campus class said they'd been assigned two different things for homework, so I had planned to start by reviewing them. OF COURSE they didn't do it. So I had them do one of the activities in class and it threw me off a bit. Not too bad, but I went over by about 5 minutes. No problem, except that I was 30 minutes away from my 6:30 class...and there was traffic.
No problem... no problem, the Thai people are pretty laid back, so when I got into class all my students were there, no one seemed upset. Almost all my students work at the local Petroleum processing plant, the electric company, or a manufacturing plant. Most are literally blue-colar workers, wearing uniforms with their names on them. I started by introducing myself and said they could ask any questions they wanted - a dangerous gambit - but they're an elementary class... how bad could it be? Oh lordy. So they start by asking where I come from, am I married, why did I choose Thailand, what did I study at University, etc. Their English is actually really fluent... not perfectly accurate, but they communicated well. And then, one of the guys asks me - "Why are you so beautiful?" =O The guys laughed and I said "Because my mother is very beautiful." And the other guys were like "You look lovely." and I was like "Where did you learn this stuff?"
When I started to take attendance it became clear that I had the wrong info card for the class.... and had prepared the entirely wrong lesson. =( Roll with the punches, roll with the punches. I scrapped the book and decided to just talk to them. I had them start by introducing themselves. But I could soon tell that half the class was completely checked out - so I told them to ask each other questions. The first question to pop up? "How many girlfriends do you have?" LOL. Eventually the guys told me that hey all knew each other really well, so I had them introduce each other...and things just went out of control from there. I mean, with one guy they said he played football (soccer) really well, but there was a lot of "He has many many girlfriends." "He really likes beautiful women." and with one of them it was "He's a smooth talker." and they all started immitating him on the phone to women "You look so lovely." "Hello beautiful..." "oh baby, I love you so much." and I just bust up. I completely disolved into giggles. And then of course they'd laugh at me, and I'd start laughing again. All through class I'd look at the guy and just start giggling again. Not the most professional start to this class.
Eventually I had them crack open the book, and we very loosely followed a couple of the activities. Mostly we had a roundtable discussion about Starbucks' business plan, and the pros & cons of mega-marts like Carrefour & Walmart. More of a business discussion than any kind of grammar lesson... but I'll call it a 'freer practice fluency exercise' and call it good. Next week I will at least know what to plan for. I told them I'd make them work really hard.... but I really don't think they believed me.
So overall today was good. But I'm a little freaked out about tomorrow. I don't know what to expect from Bangkok - I've heard that it's hot & dirty & crowded... not my favorite things. Plus there's the whole travel time and switching trains and waiting for who knows how long in the immigration office. None of it sounds fun. But I've also heard there's a giant mall where I can get any kind of western food that I want. So I might just camp out there for an hour or two being farang-girl eating any kind of cheese type food I can get my hands on, and that's as much 'sight seeing' as I have planned.
I don't know, sometimes I feel like the worst tourist, I really haven't explored as much of Thailand as one might expect for having been here for over a month. I barely know any Thai, and really haven't been all that adventurous with regards to eating new foods or talking to new people. I'm experiencing a lot of new things for me, but I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what kinds of experiences one *can* have here. But then I think... do I really want to be a tourist? Or do I want to experience life in another culture? Because I feel like I'm doing that - as authentically as I can.
Another interesting day... but mostly good. I had a morning class from 10-noon that was pretty quiet. I'd had them twice before though, so I felt comfortable going in. Then I had two new Business English classes in the evening, 4:30-6pm & 6:30 - 8:30pm (unfortunately the first one is off campus, half an hour away - you do the math!)
I'm going to Bangkok tomorrow to get my work permit & extend my visa, so today at lunch Pink took me to get the bus ticket. I hopped on the back of her motorbike and off we went. After that she took me to a Chinese temple for lunch. There's a vegetarian festival in Thailand every year in October. I don't totally understand why - it's related to Buddhism, but as we walked past the temple, Pink didn't wai (a sign of respect) or stop at the alter or anything... she just took me down to the big hall where the food was. It was somewhat communal, dishes, chopsticks and rice in the center of the room... then they bring four prepared dishes to your table. One was a spinach & tofu dish (delicious!!), a carrot & jicama broth based soup, Chinese bamboo and mushrooms, and some other thing that was brown and spicy. The food was really good, and Pink was surprised that I could use chopsticks. Score one for the farang girl! =) when we got up to go I asked how much it was, and she said it was free. So, I guess it was like a church supper kind of thing.
On the way back though, she went over a rock and got a flat tire. I felt really bad, because I'm not exactly a skinny little asian girl, and in addition to my fat farang butt, I carry with me about 20+lbs of books in my backpack. I kinda felt like it was my fault. But of course Pink didn't say anything, and it only cost 40B to fix, so it wasn't a huge crisis. It did mean, however, that it took us an extra half hour to get back to school. I had about 2 hours to plan for my two evening classes. I did it though, not the best lessons in the world - but I wasn't going to be going into the classroom blind. Or so I thought!
The card for my off campus class said they'd been assigned two different things for homework, so I had planned to start by reviewing them. OF COURSE they didn't do it. So I had them do one of the activities in class and it threw me off a bit. Not too bad, but I went over by about 5 minutes. No problem, except that I was 30 minutes away from my 6:30 class...and there was traffic.
No problem... no problem, the Thai people are pretty laid back, so when I got into class all my students were there, no one seemed upset. Almost all my students work at the local Petroleum processing plant, the electric company, or a manufacturing plant. Most are literally blue-colar workers, wearing uniforms with their names on them. I started by introducing myself and said they could ask any questions they wanted - a dangerous gambit - but they're an elementary class... how bad could it be? Oh lordy. So they start by asking where I come from, am I married, why did I choose Thailand, what did I study at University, etc. Their English is actually really fluent... not perfectly accurate, but they communicated well. And then, one of the guys asks me - "Why are you so beautiful?" =O The guys laughed and I said "Because my mother is very beautiful." And the other guys were like "You look lovely." and I was like "Where did you learn this stuff?"
When I started to take attendance it became clear that I had the wrong info card for the class.... and had prepared the entirely wrong lesson. =( Roll with the punches, roll with the punches. I scrapped the book and decided to just talk to them. I had them start by introducing themselves. But I could soon tell that half the class was completely checked out - so I told them to ask each other questions. The first question to pop up? "How many girlfriends do you have?" LOL. Eventually the guys told me that hey all knew each other really well, so I had them introduce each other...and things just went out of control from there. I mean, with one guy they said he played football (soccer) really well, but there was a lot of "He has many many girlfriends." "He really likes beautiful women." and with one of them it was "He's a smooth talker." and they all started immitating him on the phone to women "You look so lovely." "Hello beautiful..." "oh baby, I love you so much." and I just bust up. I completely disolved into giggles. And then of course they'd laugh at me, and I'd start laughing again. All through class I'd look at the guy and just start giggling again. Not the most professional start to this class.
Eventually I had them crack open the book, and we very loosely followed a couple of the activities. Mostly we had a roundtable discussion about Starbucks' business plan, and the pros & cons of mega-marts like Carrefour & Walmart. More of a business discussion than any kind of grammar lesson... but I'll call it a 'freer practice fluency exercise' and call it good. Next week I will at least know what to plan for. I told them I'd make them work really hard.... but I really don't think they believed me.
So overall today was good. But I'm a little freaked out about tomorrow. I don't know what to expect from Bangkok - I've heard that it's hot & dirty & crowded... not my favorite things. Plus there's the whole travel time and switching trains and waiting for who knows how long in the immigration office. None of it sounds fun. But I've also heard there's a giant mall where I can get any kind of western food that I want. So I might just camp out there for an hour or two being farang-girl eating any kind of cheese type food I can get my hands on, and that's as much 'sight seeing' as I have planned.
I don't know, sometimes I feel like the worst tourist, I really haven't explored as much of Thailand as one might expect for having been here for over a month. I barely know any Thai, and really haven't been all that adventurous with regards to eating new foods or talking to new people. I'm experiencing a lot of new things for me, but I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what kinds of experiences one *can* have here. But then I think... do I really want to be a tourist? Or do I want to experience life in another culture? Because I feel like I'm doing that - as authentically as I can.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
50 first dates
Except not with Adam Sandler. =(
I've been teaching for a week and I've had 6 different classes. Each one feels like a blind date. I do my best to get ready, but I never know what I'm getting into. I get just a few notes from the previous teacher about what they covered in the last session, and I have to figure out where to go from there. I never know how much English they'll know, I never know how old they'll be, how many men vs. women (although, so far all of my students - with the exception of two girls and two boys in the Supertots class - have been men). Since I'm the new teacher, I've been doing a lot of substitute teaching for teachers who've left or who went on a visa run or whatever. And I'm never quite sure what I'm supposed to be doing, and I have no idea if I'll ever see those students again. I'm holding on to the thread of hope that once I get my real schedule for October I'll start feeling more comfortable with my classes, and I'll have some idea of how to pace my lessons. But who knows?
Yesterday I was feeling pretty good because I had one class scheduled for tonight - with students I'd already taught once. I planned out a lesson and had intended to spend the day at the beach. But as I was getting dinner last night I got a call. The American teacher, Mr. J had gotten into a motorcycle accident and they needed me to cover his class. Actually they wanted me to cover two of his classes... but I knew that was too much for me, so I agreed to take one, from 3-5pm. But there went my trip to the beach. =( Also, Mr. J hadn't listed what page numbers they'd covered in the previous lesson, so again, I'm clueless about what to cover. I think I'll just do some review, then skip ahead to the next module.
I hate being a crappy teacher. I really want to feel like I'm actually teaching something... but it hasn't happened yet. =( So, again I'm sitting here just a ball of anxiety with no clue what's going to happen in class tonight. And I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in October when I start teaching full time. I only had 16 hours of teaching this week, I'll have 25 when I go full time. Why am I doing this again???
TAG - Bananas
I've been teaching for a week and I've had 6 different classes. Each one feels like a blind date. I do my best to get ready, but I never know what I'm getting into. I get just a few notes from the previous teacher about what they covered in the last session, and I have to figure out where to go from there. I never know how much English they'll know, I never know how old they'll be, how many men vs. women (although, so far all of my students - with the exception of two girls and two boys in the Supertots class - have been men). Since I'm the new teacher, I've been doing a lot of substitute teaching for teachers who've left or who went on a visa run or whatever. And I'm never quite sure what I'm supposed to be doing, and I have no idea if I'll ever see those students again. I'm holding on to the thread of hope that once I get my real schedule for October I'll start feeling more comfortable with my classes, and I'll have some idea of how to pace my lessons. But who knows?
Yesterday I was feeling pretty good because I had one class scheduled for tonight - with students I'd already taught once. I planned out a lesson and had intended to spend the day at the beach. But as I was getting dinner last night I got a call. The American teacher, Mr. J had gotten into a motorcycle accident and they needed me to cover his class. Actually they wanted me to cover two of his classes... but I knew that was too much for me, so I agreed to take one, from 3-5pm. But there went my trip to the beach. =( Also, Mr. J hadn't listed what page numbers they'd covered in the previous lesson, so again, I'm clueless about what to cover. I think I'll just do some review, then skip ahead to the next module.
I hate being a crappy teacher. I really want to feel like I'm actually teaching something... but it hasn't happened yet. =( So, again I'm sitting here just a ball of anxiety with no clue what's going to happen in class tonight. And I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in October when I start teaching full time. I only had 16 hours of teaching this week, I'll have 25 when I go full time. Why am I doing this again???
TAG - Bananas
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