Cooking with gas!

I'm starting to feel human again, getting over my cold and the crappy stuff that happened towards the end of my time in Rayong. So I decided to venture out and take a cooking course. It was a good decision.

There were five of us... a newlywed couple from Germany, a Canadian couple a year out of college and on their way to a year in New Zealand for a working holiday.... and you know, me... myself.... alone... khun deo. But really it was okay, the other couples were very friendly and we had fun chatting. It's kind of cool to be doing the travel bit after my year of working because when we get around to the whole "How long have you been in Thailand?" game, I always have the trump card.

And after a year of trying to fit into the Thai culture, it's fun to be a genuine tourist here. Since there are soooo many tourists here I have no problem whipping out my camera and snapping pictures of anything that's "weird."

For example, all kinds of random stuff at the market, where my cooking class started.



The instructor, "Miss Bitch" as her t-shirt proudly announced, told us a bit about the different Thai ingredients, then let us wander around while she did the actual shopping.






Back at the school we started on breakfast - for me Pad Thai. All the ingredients were set out for us, all we really had to do was mix this and that and do the stir-frying. It's definitely more for fun than for actually learning how to cook... but that was fine with me.





After Pad Thai came the appetizers, Spring Rolls for me, and Som Tam (papaya salad) for two of the other students.



Miss Bitch had quite an entertaining teaching technique: "Crush the garlic like your ex-lover", swirling the egg in the wok for the pad thai: "swirl the egg, swirl the egg, swirl your hips - sexy sexy sexy!" and admonishing the guys not to use the toilet after touching peppers to avoid getting chili willies "I cannot help you with that!" It was a routine, but it was still really funny.






Next I made Tom Yam Gung, a very popular sour coconut shrimp soup. It starts with coconut milk, lemon grass, chili paste, keffir lime leaves and... something else I've already forgotten. =( We only add the shrimp at the end, and don't stir because it makes it taste too fishy, according to Miss Bitch.





For the main course I learned to make both stir fried chicken with cashew nuts and yellow curry. Although she demonstrated making the curry paste from scratch with a mortar and pestle ("now treat it like your new lover - harder! faster! harder! faster!") she told us that even most Thai families buy their curry paste at the market...it's cheaper than buying the ingredients separately.






Both of these dishes were absolutely delicious, and I cannot wait to try them at home. After each dish we stopped and ate, and napped.... it was a LOT of food for one day.




And when we were more bloated than could possibly be imagined, we made dessert! I chose mango with sticky rice, which I think could be well adapted to peaches depending on your climate.






Yum!


I started feeling relatively comfortable with the wok, and we got a recipe book at the end, so in theory I should be able to make all these wonderful dishes at home.

You know, at that time in the undetermined future when I actually *have* a home again!





TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

Chillin' in Chiang Mai

Rather than book a bus trip to Chiang Mai in backpacker-ville, I took a cab up to the normal bus station and booked a spot on a first class (although not VIP) bus. I was once again surrounded by Thai people, and although it is a bit more difficult to figure out what exactly I'm supposed to be doing or where I'm going, I have discovered that being traveling like a middle class Thai person is infinitely better than traveling like a backpacker.


When I went to Ko Phangan they picked me up at my hotel, and the first thing the organizer did was to put a sticker on my shirt. Branded appropriately, we cattle are much easier to herd towards the bus which was parked on a side street a few blocks away. When I bought my ticket to Chiang Mai, the woman asked for... of all things, my name... which she wrote on a ticket along with my seat number and the number for the spot where my bus would be parked. She then sent me on my way.


On arriving at the bus to Ko Phangan, the organizers started shouting, in their most delightful manner "Get on the bus, get on the bus now." as we crammed ourselves and our luggage into whichever spaces were available and settled in for the duration. There were a few scratchy, plaid, polyester blankets thrown over the seats. For the bus to Chiang Mai a uniformed bus-attendant checked my ticket and directed me towards my seat. There was a fake velvety blanket and lace-edged satiny neck pillow placed neatly at my seat.


As the Ko Phangan bus departed those of us smart enough to stop off at 7/11 first brought out our bottled water & various snacks. Shortly after heading for Chiang Mai however, the bus attendant walked by first to hand out little white boxes containing various Thai muffins and cookies (not all of which were exactly delicious... but thoughtful nonetheless), and moments later returned with a tray of beverages, ice water or Coke.


The soundtrack for the Ko Phangan bus was what could only be described as poorly covered 80s lite-rock. While I was tempted to sing along with the soundtrack to the Karate Kid 2, hearing "Somewhere out There" was just bizarre. On the Chiang Mai bus the videos were playing Thai Karaoke videos. One in particular was a melancholy tune sung as a woman in traditional dress engaged in various aspects of silk production, spinning, and weaving. Ok... so we'll call the music a tie - although the videos were kind of interesting.


The pit-stops! The Ko Phangan bus let us off at a disgusting little tourist trap where we were charged double & triple for fried rice, bottled water and a few packaged snacks like oreos or potato chips. The bathrooms were among the worst I've seen, a western style toilet with no seat, and a bucket for flushing in a dirty little shack out back. Ugh. Nasty! The Chiang Mai bus stopped at a brightly lit rest stop that also served overpriced noodles - but at least it looked clean and well maintained. The bathroom was limited to squatty pottys, but again, it was in an actual building & looked like it had been cleaned earlier that day. There was also an extensive souvenir shop where I could have, had I wished to have, bought a bag dried squid or various other tasty Thai snacks (including potato chips, ice cream, gum etc... but I have to say, the Thais love their dried squid). Fortunately I'd thought ahead and had stocked up at 7/11 earlier in the day.


I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep on a bus, there's just not enough room to get comfortable. But the bus to Chiang Mai was significantly less rockity, and I didn't feel quite like I was going down a heavily potholed dirt road.


And on arrival the Ko Phangan bus abruptly stopped and the organizers started shouting at us again "Get off the bus, last stop, get off the bus please." rousing us from whatever slumber we might have been attempting to enjoy. The bus-attendant on the Chiang Mai bus however, turned on the lights and since I had my night-mask on, gently shook my foot to wake me and handed me a prepackaged baby wipe with which to freshen up before arrival. She came by again a few minutes later with a tray of coffee and/or water. I mistakenly took the coffee, but it was no problem as she returned a few minutes later to collect all our trash.


All in all, if I have to travel again, I will do my best to avoid the backpacker tour-bus. I think the 1st class was all of $5 more expensive than had I taken a back-packer bus, but being treated like an actual human being made it absolutely worth it.


In both cases, however I arrived at my destination far earlier than would actually be useful. The ferry to Ko Phangan didn't leave for a good three hours after we'd arrived at the transfer station. And the Chiang Mai bus got me to the guest house about 3 hours before it opened. Gah! So I spent my first morning in Chiang Mai camped out in the outdoor lobby of a guest house trying to sleep on a wooden couch. And as luck would have it, they didn't even have a room. Fortunately the guest house next door did.

My room, at a whopping 300 baht (~$9) a night has a nice sized (if somewhat... solid) bed and beautifully clean modern bathroom with a fully-flushing toilet and hot shower. So I've decided to stick around for a while here.

Chiang Mai is LOVELY by the way. It's nice to be someplace moderately familiar again. And compared to Rayong everything is shiny and new. The restaurants have English menus, the dogs don't look rabid, and I haven't seen a single rat. Seriously though, it's nice... there are some cute little shops featuring local artists, and a LOT of second hand book shops, not to mention all the cafes. I plan on taking a cooking course here... maybe tomorrow. First order of business though, is sleeping and trying to get over the rest of this cold. And, you know, eating western food. Gotta put a little more weight on before coming home or none of my winter clothes will fit me. ;)


TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

Ayutthaya

Yesterday I took a tour of the ancient city of Ayutthaya. There were a lot of ruins.

Lots and lots of ruins.

The tour guide spoke English... or rather, could recite his schpeil in English, but basically said the same thing at each site. This is for the worship of Buddha - there used to be a big building here, but it was destroyed in one of countless wars with Myanmar. It was not exactly riviting... but the ruins were kinda cool - especially when you imagined elephants ramming walls & knocking down pillars etc. Since that was how wars were fought at the time.

Halfway through the tour I discovered that the memory card in my camera was malfunctioning due to a virus it had contracted from my laptop*. So who knows if I'll ever get to post those pictures.... which is too bad because some of them were pretty cool.

Today I visited Vimanmek Palace, the largest teak mansion in the world, and a former residence of one of the kings of Thailand (Rama V - I think). It was quite regal and fancified... alas, no photos were allowed and the gift shop was woefully short on postcards. Suffice it to say I'm getting a proper dose of history & culture before heading down to Ko Phangan for some serious beach time.

TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce - I still have a bit of a cold, and a 16 hour bus/boat combo trip ahead of me.


* This is the story I got from the gal at the Kodak Shop - but who knows, I had to buy a new memory card anyway.

An inauspicious start

I got myself all checked out of my apartment yesterday, and made my way over to Ban Phe. I sold off the last few of my books, had some lunch then got my legs waxed.

WORST LEG WAXING EVER! It was cold wax - which is like a million times more painful than hot wax, and she did a shitty shitty job. Seriously, she missed patches here there and everywhere. Dude - what's the point of getting waxed if you're not actually going to remove all the hair? Gah. It's bad folks. I'm not sure what I can do at this point, but I think a re-waxing is in order. =/



I had intended to spend the day on Ko Samet, but I woke up with a cold. It was also raining, so I just had breakfast and when the rain let up a bit I went for a walk around to all the markets. Pretty low key. And now I'm hanging out enjoying Australian Network TV. Yay! The news just had a whole segment on how the Thai police academy has just accepted it's first group of female cadets. Wow! And I never would have known about it. So yeah... not the most exciting start to Rebel's Moderately Magical Mystery tour.... but at least I didn't have to teach kids today!!




TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

Rebel's Moderately Magical Mystery Tour

Ok... big deep breath, and exhale aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.





I didn't sleep well last night, too keyed up to sleep. When I did fall asleep, I had a fairly intense anxiety dream (of which I can remember nothing). But I woke up and stayed in bed a good long time. And it slowly began to occur to me that I didn't need to go to work today....and I don't need to go to work tomorrow. It's been a while since I've woken up knowing that I had two whole days with no obligations. Well, I did have an obligation to pack & get moved out by Friday. But then I thought "Why? Why am I creating more stress for myself?" All I really want to do today is hang out at Starbucks all morning, then maybe watch some DVDs while I slowly pack & repack my stuff. So I went downstairs and 'talked' to my landlady and told her I'd rather move out on Saturday. No problem! The sense of complete freedom is slowly but surely replacing the sense of anxiety. I think I'm going to be okay now.





And I've come up with the next step in my travel plans. There's a guest-house in Ban Phe that's part of the restaurant I like to go to on Sundays. It's cheap, familiar, there's a bookstore next to the restaurant, and there's a view of the ocean from their rooftop garden. This is the ideal spot for me to decompress for a bit before going into adventure mode. It'll also give me a chance to make sure I've packed everything that I need and nothing I don't. I'll be leaving the bulk of my stuff at the head teacher's place..... including my computer.





It was a tough call - I genuinely love my computer and I'm finally getting over feeling guilty about that. So I will bring it along to Ban Phe, spend some time organizing the photos I have accumulated and scouting out guest houses. But then I'll drop it back off with the rest of my stuff before I go to Bangkok and on to parts unknown.





Speaking of parts-unknown, I'm officially dubbing the next six weeks Rebel's Moderately Magical Mystery Tour. I'm going to take it easy. I'll plan each section step by step as opposed to trying to get it all sorted out in advance. This is radical people!!! But I will plan - I won't leave city #1 unless I have reservations for a place to stay at city #2.





You can count on me to spend copious amounts of time at various internet cafes, so I don't plan on going dark for any lenght of time... but pictures might be a bit scarce.





So that's that. I'm feeling a LOT better than I did last night. =) Still not sure how I'm going to cram appropriate clothing for a trip through three countries over the course of six weeks into a backpack and an overnight bag... but we'll see.



TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

Oishi!

Last night I went over to Jeb & Gum's place for dinner. The Japanese teacher (let's call her Wasabi- she has quite a spicy side) from Jeb's other school wanted to learn to cook, so she and I both hung out in the kitchen with Gum.



I'm not sure I actually learned how to cook anything. Mostly I did a lot of chopping of herbs. I tried to jot down some notes about how to cook everything but that was futile. For the Panang Curry my notes say "oil, prik-gang panang, fry chili paste, add coconut milk, thicken, add beef - cook, add coconut milk, add basil leaves - pork soup flavoring, brown sugar, salt-kem, ahjinimoto (a Japanese seasoning of some sort), brown sugar, mancoot leaves, sweet peppers"... I have a feeling that's not quite going to get the job done when I get home. =P


Gum was just doing what most cooks do in the kitchen. Throw in a bit of this and that, taste, a little more of this... there's no recipe, no measuring cups, she just knows how to do it. I'm more of a baker than a cook, but I'll do some experimenting when I get home.


I will say that I was AMAZED by her ability to make a Thai feast using a fairly modest amount of counter space and one electric wok. She even timed it out well, first chop all the ingredients, then cook the meat for the pork salad (moo yam) and let it cool before starting the curry. Mix together the ingredients for the omelet (kai jeaow) while the curry is cooking. Plate the curry & start the omelet, then mix together the salad. It took a few minutes to get everything on the table.. but it was well worth the wait.

The reason men come to Thailand.

We had a lot of fun, it was so hilarious... three girls with three different native languages all cooking together. Through the basic Thanglish being used, I learned the Thai words for "salty" "sweet" and "garbage" and was pleased that I could understand when Wasabi kept saying "I'm hungry, I want to eat!!!". My favorite expression of the evening (and new diet motto) was something Gum kept saying ... I'll never get it right but something like "Gin gadai, you die, gin mai di."- "Eat whatever, when you're dead - you can't eat." My second favorite expression of the evening was "Oishi" (Japanese for 'delicious') which we all exclaimed repeatedly.

kai jeaow goong

I had intended to get a nice picture of the table all set, but completely forgot in my eagerness to start chowing down. There were six of us (the boys, naturally, stayed upstairs drinking while the girls cooked) and the meal was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Oishi!

TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

The end is nigh...

According to a series of ones and zeros in various points of cyber space... I have a plane ticket home! Yup. The end is in sight.

I finish my teaching contract at the end of September. When trying to figure out exactly when to come home, the date November 12th popped into my mind and just kind of stuck. It gives me plenty of time to travel and still gets me home in time for Thanksgiving. I'm not gonna lie... I simply could not tolerate the thought of another Thanksgiving without stuffing, gravy & turkey. Seriously!

I'm flying into San Francisco, and will spend some time with a friend there* before heading up to Oregon on the train. I will be spending Turkey day with a friend in Salem (I've spent this holiday with her family before and am confident that the appropriate trimmings will be provided). I'm not entirely sure how long I'll spend with her, but the general idea is to be back in Portland around the 1st of December.

At the moment I'm trying to plan out what I want to see & do before I get home. I know I'll be going back to Chiang Mai at some point. It will be awesome to go back to my old stomping grounds now that I actually have half a clue what's going on. And I know I want to spend a good long time on various beaches... but beyond that... no idea. Any suggestions?


TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce


*provided this friend actually still exists....cough cough... J!

Rayong

My mood has been on a steady upswing the past couple of days. While culture shock definitely played a part in my last grump-fest there were some physiological contributors as well. After getting back on my thyroid meds, rearranging my furniture and making an attempt at getting some level of exercise (ie - not immediately crashing on my bed as soon as I get home), I'm doing significantly better.


Today was an easy day, only one class from 1pm - 2:30. My five year old student. Private lessons with kids haven't been as horrible as I had anticipated. It is a bit like baby sitting, which isn't that much fun, and the 5 year old can't sit still for very long. But the books are okay. One of them comes with a CD of songs, chants & dialogue. Basically we sing and dance to two songs in the beginning, do a lesson that includes listening to and repeating what the CD says, do a craft or fill in some work book pages, play with the flash cards, do some actions (get on the bus, sit down, stand up, get off the bus), then it's snack time. In adult classes, when the staff brings coffee in I just keep teaching, but with the kids, I just let it be snack time. Then another game or work book page and it's time for the clean up song & goodbye song. As annoying as it is to have the clean up song stuck in my head "It's time to stop, clean up. It's time to stop, clean up. It's time to stop, clean up. Put our things away." the songs eat up a good 10-15 minutes of class time, which is just fine with me.


Having a later class allowed me to go to the B&B for a leisurely breakfast of a Thai omelet, rice & soup (it's like a chicken broth or similar with cilantro and some other herb type thing in it). And finishing early meant that after class I had some time to sit at the coffee shop reading through my guidebook and getting some ideas for my final tour.


The coffee shop owners were watching TV, a surreal, but highly entertaining, experience for me. At first I wasn't paying attention, but then I noticed that I kept hearing vaguely familiar songs that seemed strangely out of place. It turned out that the Thai soap opera they were watching was using songs stolen from the soundtracks of other movies. Some background music from Amelie for example, something from one of the Jane Austen adaptations (Emma, I think, but it was over before I could totally place it), and most bizarrely... the theme from The Simpsons Movie. While each piece seemed at least moderately appropriate to the scene in the drama, hearing such recognizable and disparate songs all thrown together like that - it was like someone had just selected a "soundtracks" playlist and set it to shuffle.


Next was a talent show for kids. Two different groups performed lip syncs to the Wonder Girls' song "Nobody", which...I'm not even sure has made it outside of Asia (the band is Korean) ... but it is HUGE here. At the end of one of the performances, the host interviewed the girls. One of the girls sang a bit of the song in Korean - impressing the host and audience alike. But then he asked her "Kow jai mai?" (... do you understand it?) to which she responded "Mai kow jai." (don't understand) and I cracked up.


It was such a treat to be finished with work while there was still daylight, so I had an early dinner then decided to walk to the park. Something I always mean to do, but never get around to. I'd been once or twice, but always at odd hours. This was the first time I'd come at prime-time. Apparently EVERYONE goes to the park after work. I have never seen a park so completely crowded with people before. There were tons of games going on - basketball, badminton, soccer, and even ta-kraw

Ta-kraw is like hackey-sack on steroids. The idea is to kick the ball into the net.

In one area of the park I saw some people practicing Ballroom dance - seriously, I think it might have been a waltz. In a nearby area a man was practicing a fan dance. Across the park in another corner there was a step-aerobics class going on. Surrounding the soccer field was a walking/jogging track and there was an absolute shit-load of people on it. I couldn't believe it... actual traffic, like you really have to watch before you step into the flow. I'm not much of an athlete, and I wasn't quite dressed for exercise - in a button down top & flip flops, a purse flung across my chest, but walking I can handle. I was having a good old time walking around, completely absorbed in people watching and delighting in the idea of all these people who stop off to exercise together between work and home. Until I looked down and noticed that somehow 3 of the 5 buttons on my shirt had come undone. LOVELY! Fortunately everyone on the walking track was going the same direction, so it's possible that not everyone in the park saw me flashing my pasty white stomach.

Having swiftly but casually redressed myself I continued walking. I was watching people jogging with their toy dogs, granddaughters copying their grandmother's stretches, couples chatting, when suddenly I heard the beloved sounds of my native language. Someone was talking about ice cream. And sure enough, demonstrating the small-town nature of Rayong, the person speaking was an English teacher who works part time at my school. I'd only chatted with Annie (a Filipino woman about my age) a couple of times, but she'd always been friendly. I joined her and her sister and we walked several more laps together.

As much as I enjoy my alone time, it is nice to run into a friendly face so casually. Even better, she started complaining about her phone service... she's always calling her family back home & she keeps running out of minutes. I asked her if she had an unlimited plan and she said she did... but that it kept getting used up after two weeks. I asked her if she had DTAC and yup! She's apparently got the same "unlimited" plan for phone calls that I have for the internet. It made me feel sooooo much better to hear that I wasn't the only one who had had problems with their concept of "unlimited". But I told her what I'd learned about how you need to have the money on your phone the day *before* it expires in order to continue the plan and suggested she call the call center to get sorted out. I cannot even express how much better I felt knowing that it wasn't just me being retarded about my phone.

So that was my day. And it was a good day. Now that I've sorted out when to go (& what not to wear) to the park... I'll be going again.


TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce.

a three hour tour

Last Tuesday was the beginning of Buddhist lent. This marks the three month period when most 20 year old men become monks. I have nothing insightful to say about that, I've been woefully negligent in exploring the religion here.


But it meant that I got the day off work. In addition, my classes were canceled on Monday so I got an unexpected three day weekend! A few other teachers and I decided to go to Ko Samet for some R&R. One thing that we all wanted to do was go on a mini-cruise around the island. For 400 baht ($11.50) you get to spend the day sitting in well worn deck chairs on a delightfully decrepit boat, do a little snorkeling, visit a fish farm, have lunch on the boat and basically just chill out. I'd been wanting to do this for a while, but didn't quite have the guts to go alone so I was really looking forward to it.

Our more or less sea-worthy vessel.

The first inkling that we had that it wouldn't quite be all we'd hoped for was when we were delayed for about an hour by a rainstorm. No problem, we sat in a cafe sipping on cha yen and watching the clouds roll in over the water. I really enjoy storm watching, I have to say. And the monsoon winds were refreshing in the 90F heat. There was no talk of canceling the trip due to bad weather... something I love about Thailand (and Oregon too for that matter) - you just go for it. And as soon as it dried up a bit we were on our way.

Not far from the pier was our first stop - the fish farm! Now I'm not sure if this is supposed to be some kind of aquarium, or if this is where the island's supply of seafood comes from or what. There were some ugly looking silvery big headed fish, a sea turtle, and an impressive leopard shark.

I failed to get a single decent photo of the fish - that you can see anything at all in this picture is a tribute to Microsoft Picture Editor. =P

Back on the boat we began our three hour tour. Well, the weather started getting rough, and our tiny ship was tossed. There was lightning in the distance and watching the dark clouds roll in against the lighter skies on the other side of the island was quite spectacular. With a mighty ba BOOM the rains started again. Between the waves we were crashing into and the rain blowing into the boat I decided it was not the best environment for my brand new camera. You'll have to take my word for it... it was something!

It had let up a bit when we made our first snorkeling/swimming stop. Several of us took a flying leap off the side of the boat to go for a swim. It was actually warmer in the water than it had been up on the boat. Naturally ... the rain started up again, but we thought- what's the point of getting out of the water? We were already as wet as we were going to get... so we just stayed bobbing in the waves and screaming into the pounding rain. It was really really really fun. If you've never gone swimming in the rain, I highly recommend it. Yeah yeah... lightning and all... but you only live once.

They called us back on board for lunch - chicken kebabs, fried rice and fresh fruit. Yummy! Poor Marie wasn't doing that well. Even when the rain stopped the winds and waves were pretty strong (for the gulf of Thailand anyway) and she ended up yakking over the side of the boat. Never a dull moment!

When we stopped for the second snorkeling opportunity of the day the weather was substantially better, but the water was so cloudy we couldn't see anything. In fact, I was right on top of a coral covered rock and didn't realize it until I turned around and there it was, two feet from my face - and still so blurry it wasn't worth looking at. So again we just swam around, and jumped off the side of the boat a few more times.

A member of the fearless crew.

All told it was a lot of fun, and very relaxing. I would like to go again when the weather is calmer so I could actually see some fish. But any day I can be out in the ocean is a good day for me.

Especially if that day finishes up with a few drinks at the bar. =)

TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

How many eyeballs have you eaten today?

After 10 months in Thailand I've finally developed a taste for Som Tam, spicy papaya salad. They make it with peanuts and can actually make for a nice light meal, not just a side dish. I had it for lunch yesterday on the beach, and today for dinner.

But what are those little orange things?

They're shrimp. Teeny tiny little shrimp. And what are the little black spots on the shrimp?

Eyeballs.

Yup... teeeeeeny tiny shrimp eyeballs.

I'm eating eyeballs.

It's possible I've been in Thailand too long.




TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

Saturdays

Oh man. Have I mentioned how much I hate Saturdays?



So a couple of weeks ago I had some parents come in to my class. I've had parents visit before but I'd had some advance warning and one of the Thai staff came in to translate as I chatted with them. This time - nothing. So I did the best I could, made some very general off the cuff remarks about the students and asked if they had any questions. One of them did so I answered them and that was that. Later that day I got a talking to by the Head Teacher (Nicole) - apparently one of the parents complained. Of course I have no clue what the actual complaint was having gone from the Thai parent to the Thai staff to Nicole to me. "Wasn't what he was expecting." was the best I got. Grrrrrrr! And I was informed that the parents are invited to come any time we finish a 30 hour course... and apparently I won't get any more forewarning than that.



No problem! I can roll with the punches. So last week my other class finished 30 hours so I knew that the parents would be invited today. I sat down and thought through what I would say to them, had a whole outline done about the grammar we'd covered in the previous course, and what would be covered in the next. I had specific suggestions for what the students could work on and even thought up a couple of generally-specific comments about the students - just BS to make the parents happy.



Today I was setting up the classroom and as my students came in I noticed they were alone "Are your parents coming today?" They looked at me like I was crazy. NOT A SINGLE PARENT SHOWED UP! Gaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!



But I shouldn't complain too much. The classes are actually doing much better than when I first started. Both the classes finally have books that are at more or less the appropriate level. The books are boring but solid, there's a little listening, a little grammar - plenty of busy work in the workbook, and the teachers book even has some ideas for projects. So rather than having to come up with 6 hours of material from scratch each Saturday, now I just have to think up one project or speaking activity or game per class to supplement the book. Which is really not all that bad.


Saturdays are still not my favorite day of the week, but I'm surviving. And in fact I've had a couple cute moments. I've got at least one brown-noser in each class and honestly it's refreshing. Everyone needs at least one sycophant in their life! First up is a portrait of teacher done by Pet #1:

Not sure why they think I have a boyfriend, or why he looks like a frog....they got my hair about right though!

And then today I was telling my students that I was learning to read Thai and wrote a word on the board. I thought I was writing "Giant" but in fact I wrote "Difficult" (both pronounced 'yak'). So Pet #2 wrote a few words on a worksheet. I tried sounding it out - I can read several consonants, but none of the vowels so it's kind of a guessing game. I got "k--kr-" from the first word and then skipped to the second and sounded out "suay!" / "Beautiful" so he told me "khun kru suay" basically "Ms. Teacher is beautiful." =)

So I will admit that it's not all bad. No... it could be a lot worse.

TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce.

I still hate kids though.

Nothing exciting happened today.

I tried to go to Ko Samet today to give snorkling another go. However the weather was not cooperating. It was suspiciously cloudy when Bunny and I left the apartment. We made it out to Ban Phe before the rain started... and it was quite a storm. So we hid out in Christie's Pub lingering over breakfast, writing postcards and reading. Not exactly what I'd planned, but altogether not a bad way to spend the morning.


The rain did stop, but the sun never fully emerged from the clouds. So we're hanging out in a little cafe...unfortunately for my weightloss hopes, we're starting to find all the cute little coffee shops and cafes hidden around town. It's actually Bunny & Bobby's last week. Their six month contract is up at the end of the month, then they'll be heading out on a three month backpacking tour through Asia & Europe. I'm a bit jealous....but mostly I'm going to miss them.


TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

Songkran Holiday: Koh Phi Phi

On our last morning in Phuket I discovered that in my adventuring the previous night I'd managed to break my glasses. It was just the arm, but it was snapped clean off. Fortunately there was a glasses shop not far from our hotel. I wandered in and, looking pathetic, asked if there was any way they could fix my glasses. Alas no. For those of you who are counting, that's two pairs down, and my last back up pair was sitting in my apartment in Rayong. Fortunately the shop was able to recreate my prescription from the lenses I had, and an hour or so later I had a brand new, sturdier, pair of glasses. Can I just say though... one should never be forced to pick out new glasses while hung over, or in my case, possibly still drunk. Ugh.

Me and my new glasses cruising around Phi Phi Ley

Eyewear crisis averted, we hopped on a ferry to Ko Phi Phi. I was still in a bit of a funk, but the ferry ride was the perfect antidote. There were plenty of seats inside the cabin, but I went out on deck sat down with my feet over the side and just enjoyed looking out over the water and feeling the sun & wind on my face. Every once in a while we'd hit a wave cross ways so I'd get a nice splash. Seeing the Phi Phi island growing closer was also really cool. I can't do justice to it with words... so here are some pictures.

Phi Phi Don

Long Beach - Phi Phi Don

Possibly Phi Phi Ley

We'd planned to go snorkeling while on Phi Phi, as it's supposed to have the best diving in Thailand. And once on the island you couldn't toss a speedo without hitting a dive shop or an advertisement for a snorkeling excursion. Back in HS I'd nearly gotten my Scuba certificate, but wasn't allowed to do the open water exercise due to my asthma. But the temptation to try again was overwhelming. And... as this is Thailand, little things like health restrictions don't really matter. So I signed up, and the next morning I was on the boat headed out for a discovery dive.

Sitting waiting for my discovery dive to begin.

The other first-time divers and I got a quick lesson on Scuba safety on the way out to the first dive sight. I was the only native English speaker in the group, so the instructor had quite a time making sure everyone understood all the important things. He had the patience of a saint and the calm demeanor you would want from someone you're about to trust with your life. As we got suited up and ready to go, he told me. "I think you're going to be my star student." Feeling nervous, all I could say was "We'll see."


You guys know how much I love the ocean. I spend as much time as I can at the beach, I'm a solid if not a particularly fast or graceful swimmer, and thanks to a couple years of taking water-aerobics I feel like I can tread water indefinitely. I am NOT afraid of the water. But once I had all the gear on me, and my glasses off (couldn't wear them under the mask) I felt, ironically, like a fish out of water. Nevertheless, I did the 'big step' off the end of the boat, put my regulator in my mouth and gave the all clear signal - textbook. The instructor told us all to swim out to a buoy not far from the boat... and honestly, by the time I got there I thought I was going to die.




Between the wetsuit, inflated vest, and tank I could barely move my arms. I could see less than squat through my now fogged up mask, and trying to breathe through the regulator felt like sucking air through a tiny straw. And once we all got to the buoy, the other new divers and I kept knocking into each other. I thought I was going to die. I tried desperately to calm down, but nice big deep breaths were impossible. The wetsuit and vest were like a vice grip around my not particularly strong lungs. I panicked. I remembered vaguely from my brief experience in high school that after the initial shock, breathing underwater felt really cool. But I could not catch my breath, thoughts of an underwater asthma attack terrified me, and knew there was no way I was going to get through this dive. The instructor joined us a moment later, and I immediately swam up to him and told him I was freaking out.




"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I can't breathe." I gasped.
"Yes, you can, you're on the surface." he replied.
"Honey... I'm freaking out."
"Ok... do you want to get back on the boat?" he asked. My brain locked up. I didn't really want to get back on the boat, I wanted to scuba dive. But I wasn't sure if I could calm down properly. I thought maybe if he gave us a few minutes to chill out on the surface first I might relax.... but I also knew that I'd lied about my asthma when I signed the release form, and had smoked a cigarette or two over the past few days. It wasn't a good combination. In all I only paused for about 10 seconds but it was enough.
"I'm putting you back on the boat." He stated firmly then turned and called the boat back. Honestly, I was glad he made the decision for me.




As we waited for the boat to come back, he asked if I wanted to try again one-on-one at lunch time. I gave a vague assent, then got back on the boat feeling like a total wash-out. Some star student! I hung out on the boat with the girlfriend of one of the divers. She was scared to even go swimming in the ocean, so she made me feel a least a little better.




It was less than an hour before the other divers started getting picked up and as I started talking to them, they were all very encouraging. They confirmed that yes, breathing at the surface was really difficult, but once at depth, it felt as normal as breathing on dry land. One gal in particular said that on her first dive, she freaked out a bit, but she was one-on-one with the instructor and he did a good job of calming her down. So I began to look forward to giving it another go. It was just uncomfortable on the surface I reasoned... I'd be fine once we got underwater.





At lunch time my instructor came up to me and asked if I wanted to give it another go. I told him I did. Unfortunately, however, he would be doing some life-saving drills and handed me off to a different instructor. Instructor #2 was more of a no-nonsense kind of guy. And while I'd been hoping for one-on-one attention (hand-holding), there were two other divers who'd been unable to complete their dive who were also giving it a second chance. I got suited up again, he fairly shoved me into the water and there I was... in the exact same panic scenario from before. Only this time I knew that Instructor #2 would not be interested in calming my fears or giving me a few minutes to relax. Less than a minute in the water and I knew it just wasn't going to happen. Back on the boat for me.



Yes, I felt like a complete failure. Working and hanging out with a bunch of cute 23 year olds has been fun, but it also makes me feel old and lame. Up till now I've been able to shake the feeling with a few drinks... but this was undeniable confirmation. I am old, out of shape and I have bad lungs, some things are not just an issue of mind over matter.




I spent the afternoon (while everyone else on the boat was on their second dive) snorkeling around the bay. I'd never actually been snorkeling before and it was amazing. It occurred to me that it might have been a good idea to try snorkeling before, literally, jumping off the deep end. Breathing through a snorkel was weird and at times I freaked out a bit. But I could just lift my head up and take a second to sort myself out before putting my face back in the water again. After a while I was able to breathe through the snorkel for what felt like 10 or 20 minutes at a stretch. It was amazing.




There were a ton of other boats in the area - at least three other snorkeling groups.





There were an incredible number of fish, and while I might not have been seeing them in all their glory (with my glasses back on the boat), I was impressed with what I did see. There were huge schools of yellow and blue striped fish - they'd swim right up to me, look at me and just kind of hang out there. I saw trumpet fish, eels, and all manner of tiny schools of fish. There were also bigger fish, black with neon green 'eyeliner', blue with pink cheeks, leopard spotted yellow fish, and I swear I saw one that looked plaid! In addition to the fish there were giant patches of coral, purple and green and brown. I saw huge purple & green anemones, and what can only be described as a giant purple coral vase. It was really amazing, and actually really relaxing. I could have stayed in the water looking at everything for hours. And as wonderful as snorkeling was, it only confirmed my desire to try scuba diving again.






Back on the boat I talked to a couple of the other divers a bit more and had my ideas confirmed. One said she'd gone snorkeling the day before, and admitted that there's no way she could have gone scuba diving if she hadn't done that first. And another said he'd had two days of pool instruction before diving in the ocean. So while I still felt like a grade-A wimp... I also felt like maybe I'd been a bit overly ambitious and underprepared.




Compared with this adventure the rest of the trip was a bit anti-climactic. Bunny, Bobby and I went on an afternoon cruise around the island. It was *very* touristy... but, well, we were tourists. We got to do a tiny bit of sea kayaking, and a bit more snorkeling. We also got to see the beach where they filmed "The Beach" - it was beautiful, but again, absolutely covered in tourists such as ourselves. The water was warm, nearly hot, and very shallow. All you could do really was lounge around in it, so that's what I did. Koh Phi Phi was every bit as beautiful as the pictures suggest... and fun in it's own way. That night we went out for a couple drinks and ended up talking with some Swedish boys. No proposals or mind-bending conversations... just silly fun.





Our last morning, Friday, was spent between the beach and the bookstore, soaking up the last bits of relaxation before our ferry/taxi/flight/taxi back to the daily-grind: 8 hours of classes starting at 9am on Saturday. And here it is one week later... 9am Saturday looming at the other end of this night's sleep. A week and three very long-winded posts and I'm still only beginning to sort out this whole experience. But here's what I think I know.




1. The protests/riots, and the potential for more in the future are a big black mark against my moving to Bangkok.


2. After splurging for a week and being surrounded by obnoxious tourists, I have a whole new appreciation for sleepy little Rayong, its 35 baht fried rice my blue collar students.


3. It was really good to see the Brit again, and that just reinforces how much I need good friends around me.


4. As much as I've changed, there are still some things in my core character that are just not going anywhere. I hate being kept waiting, and I just can't deal with ridiculous people who cannot take care of themselves.


5. I really wish I could be as friendly, outgoing and uninhibited sober as I am while drunk... because sometimes 'drunk and fun' dissolves into 'sloppy drunk' and that's not fun for anyone.


6. I really want to try scuba diving again, so I'm going to get serious about taking care of my lungs & looking into a serious course where I get a little more preparation before being dropped in the middle of the ocean.



7. I am so fucking glad I'm here.





TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

Songkran Holiday - It's pronounced Pooo-ket

The second leg of our Songkran holiday was a trip to Phuket. Bunny, Bobby and I stayed in quite a nice hotel near Patong beach. Big soft beds, dark curtains, clean bathroom - not a cockroach or gecko to be seen. It was a a bit of an upgrade from our apartments, and not especially expensive. Marie and LeBlond had lucked into a sweet flight/resort deal, and their hotel was on the other side of the island. This proved to be a bit of a logistical nightmare, and I wasted a fair amount of time and money with tuk-tuk and taxi rides back and forth across the island.

While parts of it were undeniably beautiful, there wasn't a lot that Phuket had to offer that I couldn't find on Koh Samet for a lot less money and a lot less hassle. Phuket is much bigger of course, so there's just more... more bars, more restaurants, more beaches, more hotels, more markets, more drunken farang all over the place. Yours truly included, naturally. I haven't been to Koh Samui or Koh Chang yet... but I'm guessing they're both a good middle ground.

Bunny, Bobby and Marie enjoying the exculsive resort beach.

Rebel - tropical paradise edition

On our second night there, after a wild goose chase of trying to find a cool bar somewhere between our respective hotels, I decided to ditch everyone and go back to Patong Beach. I walked along the beach, watched people set off khom fai (lanterns) and just took in the sights. I walked up the main bar street and got myself a drink*. Between the markets and the bars and the people from all over the world walking around - there was a lot to see. Eventually though I just wanted to sit down and chat with someone. The bars are all pretty open, so there's not much of a distinction between the street and the bar. I saw a couple of English guys playing connect four so I went over and made a comment.


We started chatting and one of the guys asked how long I'd been in Thailand. Between the booze and the earlier transportation frustration and just an acute case of 'living in Thailand' something snapped**. I nearly burst into tears when I said "I've been in Thailand for eight months." The one guy replied, in a very calm and charming British way "Don't worry darling." and soon enough I was having another drink and playing connect four with them. No deep connection or insightful conversations... we just played and I felt a bit better. And when they left an older Swedish guy came by and I played with him for a while. It was nice.




Eventually I decided to call it a night and began wandering in the general direction of my hotel. Now, those of you who know me can testify - I have no sense of direction whatsoever. I knew we were on a side street off a minimally paved road***. But as I wandered down it, I just wasn't sure - I turned and walked a block in the other direction, but nothing looked very familiar there either. There were a bunch of Thai security guards outside a half-finished building and they asked where I was going. I told them the name of my hotel and they waved in the general direction I'd come from. I went to turn around, but they pulled up a chair and invited me to sit down for a minute. "Slowly slowly" they said, which I think is the direct translation for the Thai expression "wait". They were drinking beers and I figured - why the heck not.






We started chatting, 90% in Thai and it was really fun. It was amazing, really, how much we could communicate with a minimal amount of shared vocabulary. We talked about the situation in Bangkok. I told them what I saw: Color red (point to shirt), S-Soldier - muay Thai (Thai kickboxing). We talked about religion. He asked "You Christian?", I replied "Yes, you like Buddha?" We talked about family and relationships, I told him I didn't have a boyfriend or a lover, he told me he'd been alone for 10 years, but that he had two kids, a daughter and a son.







At some point I took out my camera and made him look at nearly every picture on my memory card, pointing out any and everything I knew the Thai word for. Showing him a picture of an elephant "Chang", a cat "Mao" and repeatedly "Puen chan" (my friend). After a couple hours my new friend told me I was a good woman with a good heart, mimed putting a ring on my finger and more or less proposed to me. It was sweet. It's all a bit silly in retrospect, and a very alcohol inspired interaction... but at the same time, it's exactly the kind of thing I want out of this trip. Just to sit and chat with people, to try to make some kind of connection, make some memories.







When I decided to make another attempt at going home, he offered to drive me. I got on the back of his motorbike and we drove all around town, far from where I knew my hotel was, and to a different hotel of the same name. I had him stop and ask for directions to my actual hotel, which he did. When we got there, it ended up being no more than a two blocks from where we'd been sitting and chatting. He asked for my phone number... but, no. Impossible. Some things are better left as crazy hazy memories.




* and by 'a drink' I mean a pint of vodka and a bottle of Pepsi.


** In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy there's a line about how, in a moment of crisis, every sentient being gives off a signal of exactly how far away they are from where they were born.... it kind of felt like that.


*** Much of Patong beach was damaged by the tsunami of 2004, I think it's 90% rebuilt... but there's still a lot of rebuilding going on.

Songkran Holiday - One Night In Bangkok

When Bunny, Bobby and I planned this trip back in January and February we didn't know the exact dates that our school would be closed (yes we asked... I don't want to talk about it), so we made our best guess and bought tickets to Phuket for Monday the 13th and home again on Friday the 17th. Then two weeks ago we learned that classes would be canceled for the weekend before as well. We decided to spend the extra days in Bangkok... and that proved to be a very interesting way start to the week.




They left on Friday, but I had class until 7pm so I came on Saturday. I took a van from Rayong and on the way in I noticed one spot on the opposite side of the freeway where a bunch of Red Shirts had stopped traffic. I think the police or the army were also there and it was unclear what exactly was happening as we drove by. The last time I was in Bangkok I'd also seen some protesters riding by in a pick-up truck waving flags and playing music. Thus far the protests had been non-violent and easily avoided... this did strike me as a bit more serious... but we kept on going. Eventually the mini-van dropped me off at Victory Monument and I hopped on the BTS sky train to meet up with my friends at Siam Square - the big mall complex with MBK & Paragon and just tons of shopping.




All thoughts of the protesters were driven away as we ate a little lunch then had the extreme pleasure of watching Slumdog Millionaire in English in a plush theater nearby. It was amazing. Not only is the movie incredible (I'm in love with lead actor), but the theater was old school elegance, a big crystal chandelier, carpeted floors, ushers etc. Quite a nice treat, for only about $6 US. Oh, and did I mention the movie was in ENGLISH!? Speaking English and having people understand us was so nice.




After the movie, we met up with LeBlond (who now works in Bangkok) and went to dinner. We had amazing (and expensive) Indian/Middle Eastern food, between the four of us we ate two plates of hummus and four orders of naan... it was wonderful. Then we wandered over to Soi Cowboy for drinks. Soi Cowboy is very much a tourist-oriented street... lots of strip clubs and bars, lots of noise and some weird street food. It was fun and interesting in it's own way... kinda like Las Vegas - you have to judge it on it's own merits in order to enjoy it. We were lured into one bar by a fun little band playing outside, but immediately created a log-jam in the doorway as we came face to face with full frontal bouncing nudity.

After that we made the decision to only go to bars that were open air - so we could see inside them. We found one on the end with pool tables and settled in there for a while. A few games later and we headed over to Soi 11 - another touristy area where Charlie Brown's (completely awesome) Mexican Restaurant is. I'm glad we did because we'd intended to go there the next day but then found out it would be closed =( we all grieved for a moment then went to the British pub next door - The Pickled Liver - and chilled out a bit watching football before going home.




On Sunday we spent the morning at the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American architect and import/exporter who came to Thailand and reinvigorated the silk industry. I'm still a bit unclear on what his deal was... but one thing he did was to take several traditional homes from different parts of Thailand and join them together to make one very big very nice house. He used traditional building methods to put it together and furnished it with a blend of European, Thai and other Asian furniture and artifacts. The effect is that of the "authentic" Thai house that every foreigner would love to have.




At some point he donated his house to his foundation so people could come take tours of his home and antiques... but then he went to Malaysia and disappeared. It's all very mysterious. In any case, visiting his home is a nice way to spend the morning looking at beautiful things. Oh... and the silks in the gift shop were gorgeous. Expensive, but gorgeous. But I decided not to buy anything there because we were going to spend the afternoon at Chatuchak Market.




Chatuchak was huge, hot and crowded. Portlanders can imagine the Saturday Market on steroids. Lots of arts and crafts, but also tons of t-shirts, jeans, touristy stuff, food, CDs and even pets. Lots and lots of pets... rabbits, dogs, birds, turtles, fish, and squirrels. Yes, squirrels. This was such a satisfying experience. Chatuchak is someplace I'd seen on Globe Treker when I was back at home still just dreaming of traveling. They did a think on shopping in Bangkok and they highlighted Paragon Mall and Chatuchak market... and now I've been to both places!





We wandered around for a good long while, got some decent pizza, stopped for drinks at a cool cafe and I bought a couple of silk scarves to tide me over. I swear I can't leave Bangkok without at least one scarf in hand. I've been a bit capricious about my purchases thus far, but I really think I need to start envisioning a plan for my future home and what kinds of things I'll actually want in it so I'll have a little more of a plan in mind when shopping.




For dinner we went in search of Mexican food. And here is where I express how much I love the internet. I LOVE THE INTERNET! We were disappointed about not being able to go to Charlie Browns and LeBlond failed dramatically in finding us an alternate. So I thought to myself... if only I knew someone in Bangkok who loved food and spoke English I could ask them. But I do! I phoned Cate from Cate's World Kitchen (an awesome mouth-watering blog btw) and she was able to give us directions to not one but two different Mexican restaurants near BTS stations. Yay! My first Ceasar Salad in months was so authentically American I wanted to cry. It was a beautiful thing. Thanks Cate! =)



Technically the big Songkran celebration didn't start until Sunday... but people were already in the streets splashing us with water. The first time it's kind of fun, but after a while it becomes a bit hard to maintain a good attitude about it. I quickly determined that the main problem was that I was defenseless... so I had to just smile and take it as I got splashed or sprayed.

In addition to splashing, people put clay on each other's faces to protect against evil spirits.

Fortunately, this is Thailand, so there were about a dozen stalls per block selling water guns and bottles of water. Once properly armed, I fully joined in the fun. Even though I got SOAKED I felt good because at least I could squirt people back a little.

We went to yet another seedy/touristy street and found an open bar to hang out in for a while. This was fun, it was near yet another street market so there was a lot to see. I'm finding that I need a lot of visual and mental stimulation these days. I think it's because I'm a bit starved for it in Rayong. There are just not a lot of interesting places to go here... and it's a small town so the chances of running into new people are pretty slim as well. Like right now I'm back at the coffee shop, and I'm looking over at the market where I eat ... watching the lady who said I looked like a fat Filipino set up her restaurant. Every once in a while people from the petroleum plant ride by wearing their uniforms. I may not know them personally... but it's all the same, very normal... no farang, no tourists, no chance of running into a random gardener from Sweden or anything like that. No excitement beyond what we can generate on our own after a great deal of whiskey consumption. The other teachers and I are literally the most exciting & exotic thing going on in this town. That is a very new and interesting sensation for me.





Now allow me to express again, how much I love the internet. I LOVE THE INTERNET! I've been keeping up with some of my friends from the CELTA course via Facebook. Usually it's just a one liner back and forth, but occasionally we'll exchange an email about what's going on. Having moved at a few critical times in my life, and having no concrete links back to the places where I grew up, I feel very sad when I get to know people but then they just slip away. I have no friends who've seen me from childhood onwards. So I LOVE that via the miracle of Facebook I can maintain at least some level of contact with people I've known different stages of my life. I like it a LOT. Anyway... some of you may remember the Brit, with whom I shared many beers and philosophical chats while on the course. Well, he's still living in Chiang Mai with his girlfriend and he posted that he would be in Bangkok the same time that I was. I was so excited you can't even imagine. We agreed to meet up on Monday before our respective flights home.




It was so wonderful to see him again. We met up for coffee, went to lunch, and just wandered around chatting. I just love him so much. We ended up talking a lot about the current political situation in Bangkok. We'd planned to meet up at Siam Paragon mall, but it was closed... and he showed me a picture from the newspaper - a bunch of Red Shirts climbing on an Army tank right outside Paragon. The day before while I was at Jim Thompson's house and Chatuchak Market the army had clashed with the red shirts right around the corner. He gave me a little insight about why this is all happening, but I don't feel comfortable going into it here. (Americans reading this - go hug the Bill of Rights for me, I miss it dearly.)




I still have enough money for an emergency ticket home, and he basically advised me - when XYZ happens, that's when the shit will hit the fan, and that'll be my cue to go home. I mean, Thailand has gone through a number of revolutions and coups in recent history and it's been surprisingly non-violent. So I still don't feel like it's unsafe for me to be here. But it was good to get the opinion of a Farang who's lived here for several years and actually pays attention to the news. We talked about a bunch of other things too. He told me I seemed a lot more confident than I had been even just a few months ago - which I know - but hearing it from someone else made me feel really good. It was soooo good to see him again.



All too soon it was time for us to head for our respective flights home. I met up with the girls at the hotel and we got a cab to the airport. Let me tell you, I have had some pretty ... special... taxi rides since coming to Thailand. As we drove around we realized that we hadn't really seen any cars on the streets all day - only taxis and tuk-tuks. Then it occurred to us that this wasn't necessarily because of Songkran... but that the police or the army had restricted access to the city.




As we drove down one street we could see smoke in the distance. That was unnerving to say the least. Further down the street we saw a whole crowd of people (normal citizens) standing around looking towards the smoke in the increasingly closer distance. They saw us and started waving at us to turn around and go back. So we did. And then we went down another street... and saw another crowd of people, this time a guy on a motorbike was driving up and down the street telling cars to turn around... he spoke with the taxi driver for a second... and of course we didn't have a clue what they were saying. I just held hands with Bobby in the back seat and tried not to freak out too much.




The next street the driver tried was fine and we were eventually on the freeway headed to the airport. I saw a LOT of police officers at the on ramps supporting the theory that they were limiting access to the city. We made it to the airport safe and sound (after having to call one of the girls at the office to have her explain to the driver *which* airport we wanted to go to). I called both my mom and sister and told them everything was fine, we were all fine, in another part of the city etc. etc. etc. But the fact was I was far closer to the action than I would have liked.




That night in the hotel in Phuket I got to watch a little BBC and saw footage of the Red Shirts and the Army having a stand off at Victory Monument. I had been right there the day before... there were pictures of the Red Shirts wandering all over the BTS station I'd been at etc. And the smoke we saw was more than likely from the bus the Red-Shirts had set on fire. I mean, honestly, I was never in any danger - but man I never want to be that close to another country's revolution again!




Two and a half days in Bangkok = enough excitement for a year. Next up Phuket! It's not pronounced how you think it is... but it probably should be. ;)


TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce... (extra spicy)

Songkran

Next week is the Songkran festival... I think it's the Thai New Year. From what I understand the tradition is to pour water over your elders/superiors as a sign of respect and in return they will bless you with good luck.

Naturally, this deeply religious holiday has evolved into the mother of all water fights, and you can't go anywhere without being doused head to toe with buckets of water. Most importantly though, I will be getting all of next week off of work! Bunny, Bobby, LeBlonde, Marie, and I will all be going to Phuket for a few days. Unfortunately, the school didn't actually give us the holiday schedule until a couple of weeks ago, so we'd only planned to go for the 5 days we knew we would have off... but actually have a full 7 days off. Which I guess I can view as a little bonus... except that we'll be spending those two extra days in Bangkok - which we can (and do) visit any time we feel like it, instead of in Phuket or Ko Pi Pi... some of the most beautiful places in Thailand. ANYWAY! All this means that I will be on vacation for the next week.

You know me, and you know I'll be popping into internet cafes at every opportunity... but if I don't, I'm probably okay.

But before I go... I require some assistance.... flip-flop assistance! I never would have thought that I'd have a whole flip-flop wardrobe, none-the-less a flip-flop wardrobe crisis. Which ones should I bring to Phuket?

Bling-less but practical

Mini-bling, but not so much waterproof
Bling-o-riffic... possibly waterproof, but also ... you know, gaudy as hell.

I'm packing light, so I only want to bring one. What do you think?

Oh, and in case you've seen anything on the news, the yellow shirted protesters of a few months ago have been replaced with red shirted protesters who are trying to oust the PM who the yellow shirts like. I really don't give a geckos behind who's in power... but this is getting to be a bit annoying. I'm safe and these protesters have vowed not to close the airport. But then, they'd also vowed not to interfere with the ASEAN conference... and today they broke through the police barricade. So.... well, so far so good... I don't feel like I'm in any danger and I'll be avoiding the Bloods & Crypts as well as I can while in Bangkok. Wish me luck!

TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

Coffee Shop and Fon Tok

The other day I had the morning free and lugged my computer over to the coffee shop. I had a nice time sitting, writing up my post about the weekend, and drinking entirely too much cha yen (Thai iced tea). Then, it started, the winds picked up, there was an unholy crack of thunder and BOOM the rain started.








I realize it's not all that spectacular if you live in real thunderstorm territory... but I still find it impressive that so much rain can come down so quickly.


Oh, and the area across the street from the coffee shop is the big food court area where I eat dinner most of the time... just a bunch of food stalls, although I generally alternate between two. Then as I pan right, you'll see the mini-vans that go to Bangkok. And a blue songthaew (modified pick up truck) goes by too. So it's just a little taste of Thailand in the rain.

paradigm shift

So, I'm experiencing a bit of a paradigm shift here. Being abroad is just such a unique experience. First off, you're already out of your comfort zone. You can't really understand the language or the culture, so everything you do is automatically out of the ordinary - either for where you're from or where you are. You can never quite get it exactly right... so you're winging it most of the time. Plus if your intention is to leave at some point, the things you do here just don't seem to matter as much. The consequences don't seem quite as real. Like, I regularly ride on the back of a motorbike with no helmet, and on more than one occasion the smell of whiskey has wafted back to me from the driver's breath. I cross 8 lanes of crazy traffic every day. It's all just normal here. Sometimes Bunny, Bobby and I have to remind ourselves that "if you die in Thailand you die in real life."


Overall, I'm feeling a lot more experimental, a lot less black & white. I'm rethinking a lot of things. I'm intentionally doing things I never thought I'd do, just to see what will happen. I can't quite express how radical of a departure this is from my usual way of thinking. It's not necessarily easy... like my brain still has the same initial reactions... and I definitely have all the same fears and insecurities. But it's like, that's the American part of my brain, and the Thailand part of my brain is like "mai bpen lai."


I don't know... too much navel gazing these days.

TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce.

whiskey

Last night we went out for LeBlonde's last day in Rayong... he got a job in Bangkok and will be leaving today. Really though, it's just another excuse to go out drinking. I mean, there's not much else to do in Rayong.

Bunny brought both scrabble and boggle on our pub crawl. It was fairly hilarious.

Jeb and I just played pool with LeBlonde & Donny. I actually sunk three balls and we won!

At one point LeBlonde and Bunny disappeared. I thought maybe they were having a cigarette. I went outside and looked around, but there were a lot of people and I couldn't quite see everyone. So in my drunken broken Thai I asked a man sitting near the door "farang poo chai yu tee nai?" which translates to something close to "foreigner man where?" he calmly replied "I have not seen your friend." with absolutely perfect pronunciation. D'oh!

I sat down and chatted with him for a bit, turns out that he worked in Florida for a while, and is getting his degree in tourism. It was just hilarious to randomly run into this guy who speaks better English than 90% of my students.

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There was a lot of whiskey involved and at least three venues, so it's all a little fuzzy. But at one point we were in a private room of a more restauranty type club with a house band. I went out to listen to the music and got serenaded by the singer... then Le Blonde came out and we danced like all over the club for the entertainment of all. Thais are generally much more reserved... hell I'm generally much more reserved than that. But last night, I let a bit of the devil in.

TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce

Have you ever....?

My intensive class is going reasonably well. On the up side, it turned out I only need to teach the first three units... not five. That makes a big difference. And three hours with adults just flies by. I swear with the kids, I'm checking my watch and digging deep for activities, but with these adults I can barely get through the material I usually do in a 2 hour class. It's not that they're slow per se, but they ask a LOT of questions. I've noticed the same thing in my new Intermediate level class. In the lower levels that I usually teach, I guess they don't have the language confidence to ask me why we say this or that.


One error I've been noticing more and more is "I ever go to Bangkok." "I ever go to the movies." Weird. The first couple times I heard it I thought the students were trying to say "I never go..." which is something we teach in the starter class. But no... I've been hearing the misuse of the word 'ever' in more and more contexts and finally called a student on it. We were going through adverbs of frequency -never, occasionally, sometimes, usually, always- and had the students give me sentences. When "I ever go to Bangkok" came up I corrected him and told him he could say "I went to Bangkok. I've been to Bangkok. I occasionally go to Bangkok." etc. But not "I ever go to Bangkok."


Then I went to the board and illustrated that we use the word "ever" in questions only (I'm sure there's an exception) and most often with present perfect: "Have you ever been to Bangkok?" but never in the short answers "Yes, I have." / "No, I haven't." or in the positive form of the sentence "I have been to Bangkok." or in the negative forms of the sentence "I haven't been to Bangkok." / "I've never been to Bangkok." Most of the students were diligently copying down notes, like this was actually helpful information for them. But one student kept throwing examples at me.


Student: "Can I say 'I ever been to Bangkok'?"
Me: "No."
Student: "Can I say 'I ever had...'?"
Me: "No." pointing up at the board where I've clearly shown that we only use 'ever' in the question form.
Student: "Can I say 'I ever do...'?"
Me: "No!"
Student: "But, I hear people say it a lot."
Me: "Me too! And it's not correct!"


Ugh. I can appreciate that he's trying to work out the rule for himself. But this particular student seems far more interested in testing me, and showing off how much English he thinks he knows, than in actually learning. And it's tough because there are six other students in the class who are willing to trust that I speak English well enough to be an authority on the subject. I don't like leaving them to watch me go back and forth with the other student. I haven't yet figured out how to do it.


I feel like this tangent, although it took a fair amount of time, was worth it to the student's overall understanding of English. But I've got to be careful... they've only got two weeks of class... then they're going to Singapore. I want to focus as much on things that will actually help them. Not, like the other tangent where the student wanted to know if it was okay to say "10 grand" instead of "10 thousand" and "why? why? why?" Arg!!!! Just fucking say "ten thousand" because that's what the book says and you're not in a fucking gangster movie!!!!


I ever need a drink.







TAG: Code Sweet Chili Sauce




*In the middle of this post I started to write "It's like the first time they'd ever heard of it." FUCK. I never think of the exceptions until like a day later. =/ Now I'm debating whether or not I should teach them "The first time I ever..." or if that would just confuse them and get them back to saying "I ever go to the market." etc.

Curse you English Language and your endless exceptions!!!