First lesson down

I survived my first teaching practice. I was doing vocabulary review and I grossly under estimated how much they would know, and how quickly they'd jump in with the answers. What I thought would take 20 min. took about 5. Lordy lordy lordy. So I had to teach off the cuff for 15 min. What I actually did, I don't think I did too badly at, it was just not enough... and towards the end I was really really scrambling. I met my aim for the lesson though, so I got an "at standard" for the lesson, and survive to teach another day.



After class the Canadian, the Brit, and the short Aussie went to the pub at the end of the block for a drink. I had lagged back with Joey & Sheila to go over some points for our next lesson, but met up with them. I was going to just go home and start working, but you know, rapport building is important too! I wasn't going to have a beer... until I saw them on the table and just had to indulge. I was going to limit myself to just one... but in Thailand they refill your drink before it's even half empty (talk about optimists!!!) so my drink got refilled before I knew what was happening. That was the big red warning flag though, I mean, the beer was actually good (not as good as Drop Top Amber, but you know, refreshing) so it could have been big trouble. I left before the waitress could give me another top-up and back to the mall cafeteria for dinner & lesson planning. I don't teach tomorrow so I have a *tiny* window to check in here.


I just wanted to say I completely adore the short Aussie. He was rhapsodizing about how much he loves his country and how he's so proud the green party got a majority in their senate (??), and when W. came to visit Australia, Bob Brown stood up and turned his back on him. Anyway he was adorable. He fairly glowed as he said "I love Australia from here" (top of his head) "to here." (bottom of his foot). Good guys... I can't wait for the course to be over so we can go out for a proper night of drinking & chatting.


Oh and the Brit was so funny - they were talking about rhyming slang and he wouldn't explain the dirty one to me (it was a slang word we don't use in the US ... so the rudeness of it was lost on me anyway). The short Aussie did though, and he said his favorite was "I like James Blundt." which just about made me spit my beer all over the table.



It's nice to be around boys. The office where I used to work used to run a little high on estrogen at times - so this is a nice change.


I might feel differently when the farting starts though. =P

Orientation

Just a quick note about my orientation today... then I have to go to bed and try to get a good night's sleep because I teach tomorrow!! I thought I'd be a bit brain rusted from having over two months downtime between work & class, but it's actually kind of nice to have something specific to do. And it was cool, as the tutors were presenting us with material as part of our orientation I was observing their teaching technique and noticing things that I'd never noticed before as a student. There's going to be a lot of meta-analysis going on in my little brain for the next month. Then when the tutor started explaining what we'd be teaching the next day things that I'd read about in "Learning Teaching" and "How to Teach English" started clicking. My sleepy little neurons were starting to spark to life again. I tend to forget how much I actually like being in class & learning new things. But while discussing lesson plans for tomorrow I asked "Can I ask a student to come write that on the board?" and the tutor (let's call him Mr. P.) replied "well, would you want to do that?" and I had to catch myself before saying "Sure!" and settled for an explanatory "I really liked school." =P

Ok, quick anecdote from Rebel's childhood, circa 5th grade or something. There was an assembly about drugs - "Just say no." and all that, and I can't even remember the analogy but the presenter said something like "deciding to take drugs is like taking a test...do any of you like to take tests?" And I fairly leaped out of my chair raising my hand. I realized too late I was the *only* kid standing up and also that I had entirely missed the point of her analogy. Even through college I would much prefer an exam to an essay... even if it was an essay test. With an essay I never knew if I was done or if I should do one more edit (anyone who reads this blog has probably picked up on the fact that I don't generally edit my posts - you're lucky if I remember to run the spell checker!), but with exams... I study what I can and there's a finite amount of time to regurgitate the material and if it's in my head it's there, if not it's not, but when the time's up the time's up and that's all there is to it.

However, being a good student doesn't necessarily lead to being a good teacher, and I've got some work to do there. A fair bit will be mental, understanding that I'm not supposed to know everything yet, taking feedback positively, and not getting myself too worked up the whole thing. I just need to pass... I don't need to be perfect... I just need to pass.

As for my classmates - it's an interesting bunch. I hit it off immediately with a couple from Australia we'll call Sheila & Joey. Sheila's the only other woman in the class. It's us and six boys, should be interesting! We started chatting about our experiences thus far and compared notes about songthaew prices and the food. When Joey said the one Thai phrase he knows I said "I think we had the same CD." and it turns out we did, I got up to lesson 5, he got up to 4. Sheila only made it through the first CD before she wanted to break her MP3 player. Seems I'm not the only one who was bothered by the "You are an American (or I guess on her version Australian) man speaking to a Thai woman." To which we both replied "But I'm NOT!"

Nationality breakdown - mostly Aussies - Sheila, Joey, and two others. One Brit., one Canadian, and one other American. I made it a point during one of our ice breaker games to mention my contempt for W. ... the other American did the same. For the most part the class seems pretty cool. Oh - and I was all dressed up because they'd stressed the whole dress code, but everyone else was in jeans & shorts & flip flops etc. Apparently they'd gotten the message that we only need to dress up when we're teaching... during the morning input session we can wear whatever we want, and then change at the school so we're not all sweaty & gross in our nice clothes. Oh well, it never hurts to look cute I guess. One guy showed up late to orientation, and also returned late from break, he didn't have a pen or paper or notebook or anything. At the end of the session we were all leaving talking about how much work we needed to do and the guy was like "I need a break." Sheila was like - "We get to sleep for 8 hours tonight, that'll be a good break!" We'll see how long he lasts.

I've read the handbook, organized my notebook, and practiced my lesson so I think I'm in pretty good shape. We'll see how the actual teaching goes tomorrow.

Now this should be an Olympic event...

Synchronized leg waxing that is. There’s also a team event… who knew?

Okay, anyone who doesn’t want to hear about the intimate details of my leg hair can stop reading now and move on… but this was my first professional leg waxing so I wanted to report on it for posterity. Like most American women I've had the whole wax-all-over-the-bathroom attempt at waxing, but I’ve never had more than my eyebrows waxed at a salon so I really didn’t know what to expect.

I do know that I hate shaving and, benefit of being solo, at different points in my life I’ve gone months and months and *months* without shaving my legs. I actually like the way my legs feel all furry, but this is Thailand, I’m supposed to be wearing a skirt & looking professional, so I figured I’d have to start shaving. I did just that about a month ago, shaved off all my luxurious leg hair and had smooth beautiful legs for exactly one day. The next day I had stubble, and the next day I tried to shave again, cut my legs all to pieces, had major irritation, and by day four I was developing ingrown hairs. LOVELY!

When I got here I noticed that there are salons EVERYWHERE and waxing (and every other service) is significantly cheaper than in the US – about $15 for a half-leg wax (we’re not even going to talk about what some women have subjected themselves to – I’m only willing to submit to torture from the knee down!). So I finally went today, and I swear I have never in my life had so many people pay so much attention to my legs.

First the proprietress of the shop comes up and I tell her I need to have my legs waxed, doing a little demo so she understands I only want from the knees down. She bends down and pats my legs down… nice and scruffy! OK!

So she brings me into the back room and another woman comes in and asks if I want hot wax or cold wax, and rubs my legs to confirm where I’m getting waxed. I’m not at all familiar with cold wax so I asked for hot. When I’ve had my eyebrows done it’s always a nice soothing warm feeling – just enough to lull you into a very false & very temporary sense of comfort followed by a brief but near blinding pain… dulling to a bit of a trob for a few minutes – then … pretty pretty eyebrows for a week. =) But then that girl leaves and two more girls come in. For a moment I was relieved because one of the girls was a bit chubby and I always feel more comfortable when with my kind. (she was still way thinner than I… but you know, better than the other girl who looked a swift wind would carry her off).

They have me lie down (“You sleep, okay?” was the instruction) and each take a leg and have their turn groping. First comes the wax oooh… nice & warm) then they simultaneously rip off 8 layers of my skin. Now… for those of you who saw The 40 Year Old Virgin… this is what I have to say. Yes the chest is a more sensitive area than the legs – but Steve Carrell is a big wuss. It hurts, but it’s nothing to scream about. And off they go, wax, pat down the strip (at times far more vigorously than I would have prefered), pull. There sychronization went off pretty quickly (low marks girls!) and soon I was trying to twist one leg one way and the other in the opposite direction all while trying to remain as dignified as possible given the situation.

The thing is… I’m guessing that my leg hair – while long enough to frighten small children, was not long enough to be getting waxed. It took a VERY long time and involved a LOT of wax and going over the same area much more than once. The chubby gal became significantly more vigorous in her patting down the wax strips and was fairly punching me at some point. I think she was still in training though because then ANOTHER woman comes in and joins in the fun – so now it’s a team event! At different points during the event the proprietress and the first girl also peak their heads in on me again. In addition to my leg hair being probably shorter than it should have been, they were having issues with the wax-roller thing and had to use the little wooden spatula type things to spread the wax. Oh lord… I started to get more than a little embarrassed that my leg hair required a group effort and it just took forever.

Finally, finally it was over… underneath all the fuzz I apparently still had some slightly ingrown hairs that they couldn’t get to (try as they might!), but I was at least smooth enough for a classroom setting. But now my legs are all red & I think I’m even working on a couple bruises from their "enthusiasm". Such is the price we pay for beauty right?

I think I’m going to go back to the Sasquash look, I’ll tell all the student’s its the new trend in America. =P

The Night Market

One of the ‘must see’ things in Chiang Mai that the guidebooks all talk about is the Night Market, so it was one of the things I had intended to do all along. But it gets dark around 7pm here, and after dinner I’ve been tired and haven’t felt like wandering around alone in the dark so I’ve talked myself out of going. But my class begins with an orientation tonight and for four weeks I don’t think I’ll have any spare time... so last night I figured “now or never.”

It helps that I’m in my new residence and I’ve sorted out the Songthaew / Tuk-tuk situation. I can’t believe I was chicken to hail a ride before. It is easier than easy. It heps that my residence is near a big mall and there’s always a line of tuk-tuks waiting for customers right there. And most of the places I want to go are touristy, so there are usually tuk-tuks there as well, if not waiting then driving around looking for an unsuspecting tourist to open a map so they can rush over to offer them a lift. Plus, it’s relatively cheep. Even the 100B emergency tuk-tuk ride I had to take was only $3. I probably won’t be so cavalier about spending money on transportation after a while… but it’s nice to know that I never have to worry about bus schedules or validating a Max ticket, or transfers. If I have cash I can get from where-ever I am to where-ever I want to be, with a bare minimum of waiting.

One of many corners - both sides of the street, every side street - were lined with vendors

So last night I basically crossed the street & walked half a block and caught a Songthaew to the night market. All I can say is WOW! It was way beyond anything I had expected. For one, I don’t know why but I thought it would be dark… I guess because it’s night time. But no, they had extremely bright lights everywhere, it was the most well-lit market ever. I’d also thought it would be just another scary fish-on-a-stick market, or a flea-market type thing. No, no, no. It was like Portland’s Saturday Market on steroids. First off… it’s at least 10 times bigger… if not more. I’m sure I didn’t see everything. I started out along the street, but then there was a building with shops in it, then out the other side of the building there were more shops and down the street there was a courtyard and then another building, then another street. At first I tried to keep track of where I was but then I just wandered around knowing that if there were tourists and a street – there’d be a songthaew to take me home when I was ready.

Beautifully carved statues - there were TONS

Ok… what kinds of booths were there? T-shirts with witty and/or obscene slogans, silk scarves, hand stitched table runners, jewelry, paintings, wood carvings, jade carvings, stone carvings, handmade paper crafts, shoes like sneakers & flip flops, hand made slippers & beaded shoes, purses, purses, purses, embroidered pillowcases, soda-can hats, dragons made out of coconut husk fibers (I’m guessing), woven baskets, blue jeans, hand woven cloth – table runners, shirts, skirts, baby clothes (oh the cutest baby clothes), wooden toys & puzzles, carved elephants, spirit houses, and on and on and on. There was a lot of repetition but just when I thought “ok-I think I’ve seen everything” there’d be something new in the next booth… then more of the same, then something new etc. Lots and lots of stuff.

The vendors are cheerfully aggressive. They smile and try to talk you over to their booth – my favorite thing is when the clothes vendors point to me and say “I have your size!” =/ Um… thanks. A lot of them say “Hello Madam” which I find funny. The other thing they say is “How many you want?” which also cracks me up. I’m pretty good at ignoring them and just walking by with a smile on my face. I really restrained myself and only spend about $5… but I could see myself doing serious damage over there when I finally have a job.

Then, of course there was the food – I didn’t spend too much time in the food area but I did have a mango shake that was the bomb dot com! Someone was roasting coffee beans, someone else had spices, lots of places to have dinner. In the food court there was also music. A woman was singing “I will Survive” which made me laugh, and in another booth there was a couple doing a puppet show where the puppets were doing a stylized thai dance. So much to see.

Huge pavilion with even more crafts (spot the Doctor Who reference ;) )

I haggled! I didn’t get any kind of great deal, but I haggled. I saw a little carved cat figurine and I thought it was adorable so I figured –let’s give it a go. “How much” she grabbed her big calculator (every shop keeper in Chiang Mai has a big calculator) and punched in 150 and showed it to me. I punched in 100 and smiled, she punched in 120 and I said “fine.” I’m so lame. I’m sure I over paid… but who knows by how much. But I did it! And on the ride home I asked the driver how much to take me back to the Mall – he said “60”… now I’d only paid 40B on the ride over, so I said “40?” and he said “50-ok” – “ok 50”. You’ve got to do all of this with a smile, it’s supposed to be fun haggling. Well, at least now I have a general idea of how it’s done. Once I figure out about how much something should cost, I can give a more realistic low ball number and go from there.

Ok – I need to go now, I’m bound and determined to get my legs waxed before I start class. It’s much cheaper here (half leg - $10), and I hate shaving. My orientation is this afternoon, then class starts tomorrow. I’m excited to actually get to meet people and have actual conversations in English (can you tell I’ve been desperate to talk to someone?). I really don’t know when I’ll be able to post again. So actually I’ve written a few other things up and post-dated them so my blog shouldn’t be completely quiet while I’m studying. Wish me luck!

The Pad Thai Experience + Don't forget your towel!

I didn't sleep well last night. I never did get sheets (I found some in the mall but they were expensive. Well, more expensive than I wanted them to be.)


Oh... and I should tell you all about last night too. I went out to get some dinner and I noticed that the whole area in front of the mall had turned into a mini night market. It was really cool - it was 90% Thai people (as opposed to most of the areas near my last guesthouse which were full of farangs (technically "foreigners" but in reality "white people"). Anyway there were all these Thai people shopping & eating, getting foot massages etc. There were four young men from the blind school playing music on the stairs. The food court was pretty spectacular... there's a lot of stuff-on-a-stick here, chicken-on-a-stick, sausage-on-a-stick, fish-on-a-stick, weird-round-object-I-don't-want-to-know-about-on-a-stick etc. But there was also a station for noodle soup and for lack of a better term a gyro place.


I took a couple laps around the market, bought some towels (I swear, bringing my towel along was one of my smarter moves - I've used it a ton, thank you Douglas Adams!), then decided to eat something. The least scary thing was the gyros, I think it was chicken though, not lamb. He warmed up the pita/tortilla bread and piled on lettuce, cabbage, chicken and sauce. I don't know how to describe the sauce other than YUM! It was kinda like a cole-slaw type sauce but not less vinegary, more creamy/tangy with a tiny kick of some spice or other. Maybe the closest thing I can think of is the Baja sauce at Taco Bell - but more Thai tasting. It was very very very good, I kinda wish I'd gotten two (they were small) and I fully intend to get another one tonight if the market is there again.


After snacking it started to rain again so I went inside the mall. I looked at sheets but they were too expensive for me... like normal American prices $50 - $60 but it looks exorbitant in Baht - 1,500B - 2,000B. Actually, I think it was more than that.... but this was in a department store, like a Macy's... I really need to find the Target. In any case I didn't get any sheets, but I did get a notebook for my class and some batteries for my camera. Oh, but there was this band playing in the mall - VieTrio... a pop band playing a song that was a blend of classical (Beethoven maybe - the tune was really familiar) and techno-rap. I am so not kidding. It was actually really good, and the lead boy was super cute. In a boy-band kind of way. I had planned on going back out to the Night Bazaar but I was just too exhausted - the heat just kills me here.


Unfortunately, as I said at the beginning of this post, I didn't sleep that well. With no sheets or blankets it was just me & my towels... again - thank you Douglas Adams! I woke up at like 4 or 5am - all stuck to my plastic mattress... it was not pretty. After watching some TV, I peeled myself out of bed, showered, and decided to do some official sight seeing today. I like getting up early because you can see people praying or making offerings at their spirit houses. I haven't taken any pictures because I think it's rude to take a picture of someone praying... but it's a really cool thing to see. The Thais seem to be a very spiritual people.


I took a tuk-tuk to Wat Phra Singh and walked around. It was incredibly beautiful. People dressed in white were making trips back and forth between the temple and an outer statue of ... a very important Monk I'm not familiar with. Again, no pictures because people were praying, but inside the temple there was a really amazing golden Buddha with sunbeams radiating from his head to show his enlightenment.


From there I stopped and had a big American Breakfast at a guesthouse across the street. I love Thai food, and have made some attempts to eat like a local, but first thing in the morning all I want is eggs, toast & tea. After breakfast, I walked another half block to the next temple. Chiang Mai is sometimes called 'the city of a thousand temples' and it is, not to be sacrilegious but it's like Starbucks in the Northwest, you can stand on a corner and point to 3 within a 2 block radius. I did get a picture of Wat Pan Tao... or at least I think that's what this one is - you wouldn't know if I was making that up or not would you? ;)



Then I went to the Chiang Mai Arts & Cultural Center. This statue commemorates the three kings who got together and founded the city 'on a judiciously chosen site'. Yes, I should know exactly who these three kings are after visiting the center, but I didn't write them down.

It was a really nice history museum... but honestly I only went in because I had a hunch there'd be a bathroom in there... and there was, with a real toilet - totally worth the admission price. ;)


The first room was where they showed the little video - in Thai with relatively well translated English subtitles. Now, I love dorky little museums and I love watching the educational videos at the beginning - it does actually teach me something about whatever area I'm exploring be it the Hermitage or Multnomah Falls or whatever. But this was hands down the LONGEST educational video I've ever seen, I think it was a good half an hour long. The other rooms had little dioramas depicting the history of the city, the role of the city within the country, it's experience with foreigners as a major trade city, and archaeological information about the prehistory of the city. Each room, however had it's own video or audio guide and OMG the audio guides were worse than the video!


Upstairs they had full scale models of an old market and homes... which were weird because I walked into this room and it looks like there's a guy standing there, but it's just a model. Then there was yet another video about & artifacts from the different ethnic minorities among the hill tribes. That part was probably my favorite. I don't know how accurate this is, or if it's just propaganda, but the Thai really do try to respect & preserve the cultural differences of the different ethnic groups. They try to preserve more traditional & unique parts of their culture while at the same time embracing modern advancements & globalization. From what I've seen, they seem to be doing a good job.


At the end of the tour I was kind of thinking to myself "There should be a shop - I like a little shop." ala the Doctor. And there was a shop - I was very excited! There was even a woman weaving cloth and I got to see how she did the pattern. I'm not even going to try to describe the process, but it was very cool watching her and one of these days I am going to get a loom and start weaving! As you would expect though, intricately hand woven Thai silk is *not* cheap, and until I get a job I can't really buy any souvenirs.


After all that... sightseeing & museum video-watching I walked another half block and came across a Pad Thai stand! Yay! It was only 20B (less than $1) and there were some Thais sitting there so I figured it would be good. Here's the little restaurant - totally open air, but with several trees to the right to provide shade. The guy on the left is making my pad thai.

I had been told that Thai food in America is very similar to actual Thai food. I'm withholding judgment on that for the moment because at the restaurants in the touristy area yes - it's almost identical to what you see in a Thai restaurant back home - I've had yellow curry, chicken with cashews & lemon grass... but in the food courts & markets there's a whole different story. I saw fried bugs last night (HUGE bug btw). Anyway the guy came by with my pad thai and it did *not* look like pad thai. I should have taken a picture first... it looked like an omelet. Seriously, like a big ol' folded over omelet, that's all, no noodles just egg. You can kinda see what it looked like on the right side of the plate. The cabbage, bean sprouts & lime were on the little green plate.

But once I actually tucked into the omelet, all the noodles and chicken (?) poured out... add the sprouts & lime - YUMMERS! It was really good. There was a sauce on the table, probably soy sauce but with peppers in it... I avoided the peppers and added some sauce and it was very good. Not quite exactly what you get at home, not so peanut tasting, but very good.


From lunch I went to the Warorot Market. I was bound & determined to find sheets there. I did find one store on the way that sold sheets - but the set cost 650 Baht & I had hoped to find some for 500 baht. Because I also need to get pillows & a "blanket" of some kind (nothing warm, but I can't sleep without something over me, and I'm tired of using my towel). Anyway I hoped that I could find something cheaper at the market so I kept going.


There's a big wholesale area that was kind of interesting... lots and lots of cheap hair clips & kids jewelery, and also like housewares etc. There were a lot of clothing booths and just lots and lots of stuff.... it would take a few hours to go through it all. I'm going along looking at everything then I decide to cross the street to main market, when all of a sudden I got that very disturbing feeling, that stomach cramping gurgley feeling when you *know* there's going to be a problem.


Oh man - the street food finally got to me, and I didn't have a clue where the nearest public toilet was... let alone what kind of condition it would be in. I seriously thought I was going to pull a Charlotte if I tried to walk anywhere! So got to a relatively main street and hailed a tuk-tuk (by the way "hailing a tuk-tuk" basically means look at one and they will make a u-turn in traffic for you), one *very* white knuckled ride & 100 baht later I had made it safely back to my very own bathroom.


I've had a couple of pepto-bismo tablets, and I'm drinking some bottled water, so I don't feel so bad... but that was a seriously close call! And I *still* don't have sheets!! Oh well. That's what towels are for.

How about some nouns & verbs?

I found a link to Wordle on Indgo Mouse's website, but I was most displeased with the results! Apparently I say the words "just"and "really" a lot.

So how about this? I just... oops there I go again. ;) Today I moved into my new home for the next month - Huaykaew Residence. This means I get to go four whole weeks before packing again! Exciting! Also... I now have internet access in my room, so no more day old posts... I actually be able to compose online. =) Yay!

Check out the bedroom:

And here is the bathroom, kitchen & office. ;)

Same deal with the shower here, but at least the TP dispenser has a waterproof cover. Oh and if you thought the Smurf sheets were bad... you'll notice that here... no sheets at all! So I'll have some shopping to do this afternoon.


I also found the ECC Thai school where I'll be taking the CELTA course. Last night when I went out for dinner (absolutely awesome curry dish - OMG yum yum yummers!) I wandered around a new road and found an English Language bookstore... or more precisely an Expat bookstore, although the non-English section was just one shelf. Anyway, they had a copy of Nancy Chandler's Chiang Mai Map which someone had recommended to me but I, oddly enough, wasn't able to find in the US. It's available online but with shipping & all it would have been $10, buying it here was only 190 baht or um... a lot less than $10. I'm having issue with the money here - but more on that later. Her map lists lots of popular restaurants & shops so when I called the school I was able to ask which landmarks it was near. One tuk-tuk ride & 80 baht later (I know I'm sooo getting ripped off... I'll work on that) I was actually able to get to within a block of the school. I actually got out at a different English school and asked the receptionist, who *very* graciously pointed me down the block to her competitor. ;)


I met the director of the program and was delighted with her! She's British, mid to late 30s and all I can say is that she looked a lot like me... down to her sweater vest & decidedly frizzed out curly hair... which is always reassuring. I know we all say "don't judge a book by it's cover" and all that, but honestly when you meet someone you take in their appearance and even if subconsciously you judge them as 'similar to me' or 'not similar to me' and a whole host of reactions accompany that judgment. I'm just saying them out loud... or rather in type. I immediately felt comfortable in her presence and we had a nice little chat. She also told me that I should be taking a songthaw (red pick up truck) vs. a tuk-tuk ( 3 seater motor bike) for the ride from my residence to the school. The songthaws are 20 baht for the ride - significantly cheaper for essentially the same service. I'll still probably get overcharged, but on a lesser scale.


I walked home from the school... and there's a reason no actual Thai people actually walk places. It's hot and you get very sweaty very fast. I didn't mind so much because I was on my way home and with the map I could tell how far it was. It's only about a mile, mile & a half, but I won't be walking to & from class.


Ok... that's enough for right now. Just wanted to post something in real-time, which for me is Friday afternoon. Once my class starts I'm not sure how much time I'll have to blog. I'll try to check in as often as I can... but if I am online a lot - kick my butt because I should probably be studying or prepping a lesson!

Well *that* was an adventure.

Thursday August 14, 2008


I’ve been here a couple of days and I really haven’t done anything exciting. I’ve gone for a walk and made a couple of purchases. It’s just that doing those very basic things are completely different here. I haven’t even gotten into the state of the sidewalks here. They’re completely uneven… you’ll be going along the road on a nice sidewalk then suddenly it’s a motor big parking lot and you’ve got to go down into the street. Then up again (and the curbs are HIGH- helps with the monsoon flooding I guess), then there’ll be an even higher section, then back in the street and on like that. Oh, and precious few intersections (even extremely busy ones) have anything aproaching a crosswalk. Some will have a painted crosswalk area, but this has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not the traffic will stop for you. I’ve encountered only a handful of actual walk lights and when they turn green you get a count-down – 10 seconds to cross four lanes of traffic. OMG!!! And again, half the time a motor bike or tuk tuk tries run the yellow and just drive right into the crosswalk anyway. Now… few of you have ever actually walked anywhere with me, but I generally do not jay walk. I nearly always wait patiently for the light to change, and will even stop and wait when the red hand is blinking – not wanting to risk it. So this whole “wait for a break in traffic, then run for your life” thing is quite new to me. I’m still alive though… so that’s something!



Anyway… like I said I haven’t done anything yet that I haven’t done before, it’s just that doing them in Chiang Mai is a whole different thing. A whoooooole different thing! But today I did something I’d never done before – I rode in a tuk tuk and in a songthaw. That was my big goal for the day, take a tuk tuk out to where the school is and find a new place to stay. Well, 2 out of 3 went okay. I found a tuk tuk on the main road a block from my guest house. I got completely ripped off (as usual… I just don’t have the haggling gene… and still it was only $3) – but then I thought about all the times I waited for the #8 and waited and waited. I would have paid $3 for there to be a bus right there waiting to take me where I wanted to go. I showed the driver the address of the school that I’d printed out before I got here. It had the address in English and in Thai. I had found the road on a map, but couldn’t quite figure out the address but I hoped that a local would know where it was.



I was mistaken. I was soooooo mistaken! After a white knuckle (but pleasantly breezy) 10 minute ride, he dropped me off and waved in the direction of a building across the street. I thanked him and crossed the street (see above with the no crosswalk – this time I was lucky and there was a Thai woman crossing the same street - herd mentality baby, follow the lead sheep!). Only a few of the buildings in the area had addresses posted that I could actually read (fair enough – I don’t read Thai yet), but I wandered around trying to find it. This particular office-park type place was a bit sketchy. Only a few of the office spaces were filled. There were a bunch of Thai women sitting outside a shop so I asked them for help... you know just showed them the address on my piece of paper. They didn’t know where it was, but one of them had me follow her back into completely scary looking closed down bar, back through a back hallway (and yes I half started to think someone was going to murder me) and finally to an office where two nicely dressed women were sitting at their desks & watching the Olympics – mens gymnastics actually. Can’t blame them – I love those guys! ;) Neither of those women had any idea where the school was. So I wandered back outside and walked a few blocks in each direction trying to find an address. I found one a few numbers higher and one a few numbers lower – but nothing with the right number… nothing looked even remotely promising.



So I crossed the street again and saw a KFC, Sizzler and Starbucks sign. I got the sense that even if that building wasn’t what I was looking for – it couldn’t be all that bad. ;)



Kids… I found the mall! Like a *real* mall! Not some market with dried fish on a stick, not someone’s junk room / electronics store… a genuine, air conditioned, little shops with window displays… purses, shoes, stationary, TVs etc. There was even a food court and a grocery store in the basement. It was at that point I breathed a sigh of relief. I was really getting freaked out about the whole concept of ‘store’ here… and although I like outdoor markets as much (or more) than the next person, there was just something comforting about being someplace with actual cash registers. Still no Dr. Pepper… but the grocery store had liters of Coke and frozen food. I could handle this.



Oh but eeeeewwwwweeee – the chicken & shrimp. You know how in the grocery store they’ll have nice cuts of meat behind the counter, and you ask the person behind the counter for 2 steaks or a pound of shrimp and they put on their glove and put it in paper and wrap it all up and hand it to you. Yeah – that’s not how they do it here. There was just a little table with ice on it and a big-ol pile chicken thighs with some plastic bags and a set of tongs. But it was all out there in the open, like I could totally sneeze right on the whole pile. Or a kid could come up and stick they’re hand in pile of shrimp… and no one would ever know!! Ok. That was frightening. But on the other hand – all the produce was wrapped up in plastic wrap. Bizarre… I’m not going to think too much about it.



So yeah, I found the mall…there were some Monks looking at shoes – I’m not so freaked out anymore, I just try to give them a wide berth and call it good. They know the rules better than I do – l’ll just let them avoid me. And I found the toilets. There was a nice big sign “Men / Women / Toilets” – but when I got there… squat potties. No thank you. There’s adventurous… then there’s having pee on your socks for the rest of the day.



Ok – so the school wasn’t in the mall, and I really hadn’t expected it to be. I wandered back outside and found an internet café (I’m LOVING the internet cafes!) dorked around checking my email and enjoying the air conditioning for a while. I checked the Ajarn website for teachers in Thailand and someone had recommended a place to stay for the month, so I jotted down that info. As I left I asked the clerk if he knew where the school was. I showed him the paper and he communicated that he wasn’t familiar with the school but it was around here somewhere. Then a woman came up and started speaking to me in English, she didn’t know where it was either, but they called it up online and got the phone number, and kinda oriented me… the place I was in was #12… I was looking for #15… it was just down the road that way, here’s a pay phone you can call them there, it’s only 1 baht, do you have baht, etc. She was super helpful. And when I left I said “thank you” in thai and she said “Good bye, have a nice day, God Bless You.” LOL… I’m guessing she learned her Thai from a Christian school. I walked down the block towards where #15 and it just wasn’t there – I asked a few more people… no one knew where it was.



Finally I called. But it was a busy street, a less than clear pay-phone, and the woman on the other end had a bit of an accent. It took a long time to get the basics out… I was right across from the Orchid Hotel… by the 7/11 (and immediately realized how retarded that was… 7/11 stores are about as common here as they are in the US) she managed to tell me that I needed to get a car, and I needed to go towards the mountain. Which was good – because I could see the mountain so I knew which direction to go in. But if she gave me a cross street I didn’t understand her. I just started walking.



Now… I realize she told me to get a car… but I also remember emailing the director of the program and asking how far from town it was – she said it was 3km… which is about a mile & a half right? I figured I was already at least half a mile from town if not more, and it couldn’t really kill me to walk a flat mile. I’d walked at least a three or four miles wandering around the city yesterday. But it was HOT and HUMID. Just being outside I was sweating… but after a few blocks I was dripping. I don’t think I’ve ever sweat that much in my life… it was disgusting. Seriously – I was a sweaty gross pig – forget pit spots, I’m sure my entire back was wet and the neckline of my top was getting wetter and wetter. NASTY sweaty. I thought a couple of times about trying to get a tuk tuk or songthew, but I didn’t see any just stopped anywhere, and I’m not at all sure what the protocol is about waving one down. So I walked quite a distance before I finally saw one (across the street – of course!!!!!!) I showed him my paper… and again, he didn’t really know where it was, but I figured once we got down the road a bit I’d see a sign. NOPE!!!



We made it quite a ways out of the city – I’m sure we went more than a mile… past the university, past a couple of other office type complexes, but I didn’t see anything even close. We got to the zoo – looking increasingly less businessy… and finally he pulled over and asked a few guys sitting there. They went back and forth – everyone looked at my paper… no one knew where the school was. At this point I was sweaty & tired and after all that walking I was really starting to think I might pass out. I’d stopped to get bottled water along the way (at another 7/11) but I knew I wasn’t up for much more wandering around. So I took out my *other* piece of paper that showed where my guest house was, and after a bit of deliberation we headed back to town again.



Only… I really needed to find lodging so when I saw the Residence complex that had been recommended to me I had him pull over and let me off. I wandered into the office and arranged for my lodging. It was rather humiliating – I was *really* sweaty. I’d tried to dress nicely in one of my work shirts and had my hair down, but seriously – I could not have been less attractive if I’d tried. And all the girls in the (air conditioned) office looked all cute. I got that all sorted out. Basically $300 for the month including a deposit I’ll get back when I leave. The bathroom has that funky shower next to the toilet thing again… but I’ll just deal. The room has TV, a fridge, internet access, air conditioning, and it’s close to the mall – it’s plain as all get out, but I’ll survive. Now provided I can actually find the school someday… I’m set.



So I went back out to the main road and caught another songthaw. I showed him my paper with directions back to the city… and he looked at it for a minute and waved me in. Now, I don’t want to be all prejudiced or anything… but based on my experience today I’m willing to say Thais have pretty poor map reading skills!!! Both of my papers had the address in Thai on them… so it’s not like I was trying to get them to understand something in English. This guy had NO CLUE where he was going and basically took me on a scenic tour of the city. At one point I thought we were close to something familiar… but he kept on going. And then he stopped and asked a tuk tuk driver for directions… and still proceeded to get lost. Finally he stopped the car and came around back to look at my map again. I really just needed to get to the corner of two main roads… it should not have been that complicated. Finally we got close and I banged on the window to stop… and again I’m sure I was over charged. I didn’t care, I was “home”.



I picked up 6 liters of water on my way down the soi (lane) and have already downed one of them. I don’t want to make myself sick drinking them too fast, but I fully intend to drink at least 3 of them tonight. I actually don’t feel that bad now… you know, in my underwear & tank top in front of the fan again. =P Classy, I’m telling you!


I didn't take too many pictures while on my quest to find the school... but when I got home we had our regularly scheduled rain storm. This wasn't even the worst of it, by the time I found my camera it was lightening up.... then of course my batteries died so... here's 6 seconds of the monsoon from my guest house.

Tourist In Formation

Wednesday -

Took a walk around Chiang Mai…successfully circumnavigated the city. It started out just muggy and got progressively wetter over the two hours I was out & about.

First I walked along Si Phum and aquired both sun screen (70 SPF) and an adapter for my laptop. Yay!!! The NE corner seemed to have a number of banks & ATMS, then along the Northern road there were a lot of electronics type stores… but you know they look like someone’s garage. The tuk tuk drivers kept honking at me to see if I wanted a ride. It had started drizzling by this point, but I’m no stranger to rain so I kept walking.

When I turned the corner to Arak street – along the western wall there were suddenly all kinds of pet supply stores. And again, most of them looked like it was just someone’s garage – all open in front, just your basic shelves & tables. Oh, and everything’s kind of dark. No major lighting. I’m guessing this is because it’s HOT here and it’s just nicer if everything’s in the shade. But it does make it a bit hard to see what’s in each shop until you actually get inside and your eyes adjust. And in my case, until my transition lenses clear up. At this point I was pretty wet. It was still just misting – but you know you walk in the mist long enough and you’ll get pretty wet. I was feeling pretty comfortable though because it was warm and the rain felt cooling. But when I came across the craft store I didn’t want to go inside – it was too high-end looking (glass front, closed door, lights on). I didn’t want to get the floor all muddy. It looked like there was a lot of cool stuff in there, yarn in one corner, embroidery threads on the other side, and in a separate little sewing room there were tables a manequen wearing a trendy little skirt and a quilt on the wall. I’ll have to check this place out a little more when & if it ever gets nicer out.

(see the splashes in the water - RAIN! )

Along the southern wall – Bamrung Buri Road, it started raining in earnest. I was looking and feeling a bit like a drowned rat. It was starting to be not so refreshing. There was a park along this road… I couldn’t quite tell if there was an admission fee or anything, so I just peaked in as I went past. There was a man doing Tai Chi (something I would like to try while I’m here) and an orchid festival. I remember my taxi driver saying something about a flower festival but I couldn’t really tell what she was referring to. So it was nice to actually have some idea of what that was all about.

There was a big old shoe store that made me happy. I didn’t actually buy anything, but there were flip-flop type shoes for pretty cheap, and I might go get a pair later. My red Keens are probably ruined - they got so dang wet. I’m glad I brought a pair of flip flops, even though they’re not fantastic for walking they won’t get destroyed in all this rain.

Half way down the street there was also monk supply store. Apparently when your son/grandson/brother/whatever decides to do his term as a monk, the family buys him some supplies. An alms bowl, some food, candles, insense, and whatever else he might need. It’s all wrapped up in gold paper. Oh – I had my first monk encounter today and it was all kinds of scary. I’ve read over and over that monks are not allowed to have contact with women and it’s inapropriate for a woman to touch a monk etc. And I remember reading somewhere that it’s most polite to like walk on the other side of the street to avoid running into a monk. I’m not sure how strictly foreigners are supposed to abide by these rules… and there were no other Thai people around so I didn’t really know what to do. The monk (he actually looked about 14) was exiting the Wat and getting a tuk tuk. I basically just stopped on the other side of the drive way and waited until he got into the tuk tuk before continuing. I’m sure it would have been fine if I’d just walked past him and not bumped into him… but those guide books had me completely freaked out! I mean, I’m sure I’ve committed at least a dozen faux pas already… but I do want to at least try to be polite.

Then almost at the end of that street there was a covered market! It was a far cry from a Fred Meyer, but it was pretty awesome in it’s own right. There were plenty of food vendors… you know something will smell really good then half way down the aisle something will smell really really bad. I think I’ve figured it out though – fish sauce. Everything smells very vaguely of fish sauce – even my shower. I wasn’t really hungry because I’d had a big breakfast (and I am soooo going back there again tomorrow – it was yummers)… but there were tastey looking sweet treats there along with all the fish related products. Towards the back there were more convenience type stores – with just a lot of stuff. One had mostly clothes, one had like toiletries, and another had bags and just you know stuff. I started looking for an umbrella but didn’t see one. But just as I got to this other stall a Thai woman was asking the shop keeper something and the shop keeper brought out a box and opened it revealing a bunch of umbrellas. Success!! It was funny because I just pointed and was like “Oh!” and the shop keeper smiled at me. I know they just smile because that’s the culture but plenty of the shop keepers don’t smile and I think this one was a “You poor pathetic soaking wet farang.” I asked “how much” and a woman behind me said “85 baht” – I’m guessing the gal holding the box of umbrellas didn’t speak any English. Again, I didn’t try to bargain with her… just bought it. As I handed over the money the woman with the umbrellas said very clearly “Thank You.” And I replied with what I hope was a passable Thai thank you - “Kohp kuhn ka”. That’s about as much Thai as I’ve used today, thank you and “Sawadee ka” to the internet lady.

Amazingly, I’ve gotten by just fine with English. I mean, I break it down to the basics… “Sun screen?”, “How much?” Etc. I really wish I knew a little more Thai, but I’ll just focus on using my hellos & thank yous more for now.

Anyway I was glad to have the umbrella, but it didn’t really help all that much. They’re not kidding when they call it Monsoon season – it was just pouring down buckets. And the wind would just whip the rain towards me as I walked. There are a lot of umbrellas and awnings, but that just means it pours down rivers in the gaps between them. So even with the umbrella as I made it up that last road Moon Muang by the eastern wall again, I was really just eager to get home.

Now I’ve managed to plug in my laptop using the adapter, and am relaxing, writing up this post. Thanks to the fan in my room - I’ve dried off considerably laying on the bed in my underwear. Yes, it’s all very glamorous this world traveling! Don’t you wish you were here? LOL. But the rain sounds like it’s stopped, or at least tapered off considerably, and I’m hungry so I might make brave another trip outside for lunch.

I wrote the above yesterday and am only now uploading it at the internet cafe.. so here are a few more pictures:

My guesthouse - CM Blue House... it's all kinds of blue. There's a nice shaded garden cafe... but so far it hasn't appeared to be open. I guess I could go out there and just read for a while... but between the rain and the humidity, all I want to do is sit inside in front of the fan.

Here is my "shower" - when on the hook it sprays almost directly onto the toilet. Unfortunately, I need it to be up when I'm washing my hair. The upside is, when I got home from my walk and my feet were filthy, I just sprayed them off without having to take a full-on shower. I guess you could do that in a bathtub too though. OK - there is no advantage, and I don't really understand this whole set up. Oh, and I identified the smell this morning, it's not so much fishy (that's everything else), the water is more sulfur smelling. Lovely! I'm going to find a new guest house today (Thursday)

re: the title... I really really REALLY appreciate all the English signs around here, I would be completely lost without them... but some of them are just a tiny bit off. TOURIST IN FORMATION is one... the other one was BOSS CARRENT, at first I thought it was just some guy's name, and couldn't figure out what the store was... but then I realized it was by the MOTOR BIKE FOR RENT shops...so obvioulsy it's where you rent cars, the carrent. ;)

Suddenly from Seattle & that wasn't okra.

Ok - lots and lots to say about my first explorations but no way to put it all in one post.

Yesterday was the Queen's Birthday, which my taxi driver informed me is also called Mother's Day. She said that everyone takes their mom out to dinner, buys her flowers etc. Same same as here. ;) But she also said that first thing in the morning she went and prayed for her mom, for her to have a long long life. I thought that was really sweet.

So after I posted last night - by the way, it's 9:30am Wednesday here right now... but I think it's something like 7:30pm Tuesday Pacific Time. Anyway after I posted last night I went back to my room and rested for a bit, I think I took *another* shower. The water smells weird... I don't know if it's the plumbing or the water, but it's a bit disconcerting. I rested for a bit and realized it was entirely too early for me to go to bed so I decided to make another trip outside. It's so funny, I'm such a complete chicken - I would like walk down to the end of my street then turn around and make sure I could get back to my hotel, walk down the other end of the street - find the hotel again, walk 3/4 the way around a block then back-tracked to make sure I knew where I was. It's not all me being directionally challenged - it's hard to find the street signs and the streets aren't exactly laid out in a grid.

I made it out to the major road and walked along the moat of the city for a while (passing all kinds of markets and shops and a few street vendors). I found the east city gate. I heard music and saw people heading in that direction - I'm such a sheep, I automatically follow the herd! It turns out that there was a big celebration for the Queen/Mother's day. I was rather under dressed wearing cargo-esque pants and a tank top. Several women were all dressed up in silk suits - you know with the fancy woven borders on their skirts. Most of the other Thais were wearing jeans and light blue polo shirts. Apparently the Queen's favorite color is blue so that's what you do. Fortunately I was also in blue! People were buying flowers from a vendor along the side and bringing them up on this huge stage with big pictures of the Queen and presumably the royal family or something like that. It was very cool. I, of course, had no idea what the guy on stage was saying... and I think it probably was just the beginning of the ceremony. I didn't stick around.

I wandered around and found a little market where I bought a new journal - I didn't even attempt to haggle, I'll have to work up to that later. I also got food from a street vendor. He was making chicken (maybe chicken - it's best not to ask) kabobs on a little grill. It was really good, there was pineapple on the end and was basted in this really yummy sweet & tangy sauce. The thing is... for some retarded reason I thought the green thing was okra. Yeah... because the Thai are known for using okra in their kabobs. No - it was a jalepeno! Fortunately it wasn't a habenaro or anything so it was just really hot and didn't absolutely kill me. Whooo hooo! I'll be more careful about inspecting my food next time. Oh, and it really did taste like chicken whatever it was. The guy asked me where I was from and I told him Oregon - which of course they don't know... so I said "Seattle" and he nodded "oh Seattle!" That's what I told someone on the plane too. I said I was from Portland... near Seattle and he nodded "Seattle - on the west coast!" So that's how I'm answering that question from now on. It's just small talk, but it's funny how quickly I'm willing to deny my beloved town. =P

I didn't make it out to the Night Market... mostly I was concerned that I wouldn't make it home before it got dark. I'm not very afraid of crime...although it's probably never wise for a woman to walk home alone at night. Mostly I was concerned that I wouldn't recognize my street. It was all cloudy and rainy - I was soaked but it felt pretty good. I don't have a reliable time-keeping device (my cell phone can't connect to a network here, and I don't have a watch) so I have no idea what time it was, but it was probably no later than 6pm when I went home. I read a bit and then went to bed after it got dark. I woke up a couple of times but didn't get out of bed until the sun was up.

I had breakfast at a place close to my guest house... here's the thing... everything is like right there on my block - in less than 30 yards I had breakfast and am now in the internet cafe. I wimped out and had a very western breakfast - scrambled eggs, roll with jam, fresh fruit & tea. It was soooooo good though. I think they put coconut milk in the scrambled eggs. The cafe itself was charming - all the buildings are kinda small store-fronts, but the entire front of the building is open to the breeze so everything feels really open. Plus it's really green & lush here... the tropics you know. It's just different. No opening doors, no sequestering yourself from what's going on out in the street (some guys are doing repair work right outside the internet cafe) there's not really an *in* the store *outside* the store differentiation.

Ok - enough reflecting on what I'm doing... time to actually do some stuff. I need to get an adapter for my laptop and some sunscreen. Wish me luck!

I'm alive... and in Thailand!

Ok - I still have very little clue how this whole thing happened. But I'm here & I'm alive so that's something.

I've spent what seems like an eternity in airports and on planes. I landed in Taipei at around 5am local time (no clue what time it was for me) I had a 4 hour layover, no local currency, no brain power to handle the situation. They made me throw out my water bottle at security (you know that bottled water - serious cause for threat level orange!) so I actually drank some tap water, then had a hypochondriacal panic attack thinking I was going to be puking on the plane. Anyway - I didn't puke, but I had about 4 hours alone with my thoughts. The main thought being "You know, this might have been a bit too dramatic of a statement to make about how much I disliked my last job. I probably coulda just gone on a cruise." But I'm here now... and hoping a good night sleep will improve my opinion of everything. If not, you might be seeing me back in Portland sooner than anticipated!

My guest house room is big and clean and bare...bed, wardrobe, desk - that's it. The bathroom is probably twice the size of J.'s in San Francisco, but it doesn't really have a shower - just like a shower nozzel between the toilet & the sink - and there's a drain in the middle of the floor. That's the kind of thing that sounds all charming and adventurous... but it's really just weird. But I took a shower, and I'm glad I packed my own towel. There was one on the rack and it seemed clean... but there's just something reassuring about *knowing* when your towel was last cleaned.

I've walked around the block, found a market with fruits, veggies and a wide assortment of things I couldn't begin to describe. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting here... but it's really ... um... different. Someone was putting up a building - it wasn't like a construction crew, just some guy... it was a complete mix of bamboo tied with rope & concrete. Like, I think this is going to be a real building, like a store or something. Bizarre!

Speaking of stores - there are all these mom & pop shops, mostly specialized - just stationary, just food, just whatever... you don't even know how bad I want to see a Fred Meyer around the next corner. I didn't bring any sunscreen (clearly would have been a threat level burgundy or something) tooth paste, shampoo or anything like that. I've found Head & Shoulders and Colgate, but if I don't find some SPF soon, I'm going to be in trouble.


It's all cloudy & muggy & everything's a bit dirty. All I want to do is go back to my room shower again and go to bed... and that's exactly what I'm going to do! Here's hoping tomorrow is brighter both in weather & experience.

The luggage crisis

So it's a good thing and a bad thing that I decided to come to San Francisco (Well, technically Oakland, although we did go to SF, and Berkeley today).

The good part is that it's like a nice segue between leaving Portland and moving to a foreign country. I got to test out my whole luggage situation for example. I had thought I could get everything in my pink luggage set, one large suit case, one medium, a carry on and my laptop case. But it just wasn't working... so I ended using a big suitcase I had in college rather than the medium pink one. The problem was that my old suitcase wasn't really a rolling one... well, it was the kind that would roll if I had a strap to pull it with... but I forgot to bring the strap. And it was hella heavy! OMG heavy! HEA-VY !! I managed to take my suitcases one at a time up the stairs to the cab that took me to the airport, but all together I couldn't quite make it across the street into the terminal without taking a break. I did eventually get it all to the ticket counter... but once we landed the two of us struggled quite a bit to get all of it onto the BART and then from the BART 3 blocks to her apartment. This was clearly NOT going to work in Thailand.


The first step was to pare down the stuff I was bringing. We weighed my suitcases and each big suitcase was close to 40lbs. Now, I'm reasonably strong, but 80lbs plus my carry ons was just too much. I managed to get each down closer to 30-35lbs. But I knew that still wasn't going to cut it, so we went down to Ross today and I bought another rolling suitcase. It's all still really heavy... but hopefully it'll be manageable now. Plus J. is giving me a backpack that I can use instead of my laptop case. The laptop wasn't really heavy, but it hung from my shoulder in a not at all steady way so if I leaned over it would you know lean over then I'd have to readjust everthing again. A backpack's going to be a lot easier to deal with. So all of that is the good part of coming to the bay area. It's a good testing ground for the big trip.


The bad part... if you can even call it bad is that I LOVE it here, and now I don't want to go to Thailand, I just want to move here. =P I'm sure most of that has to do with the fact that I'm hanging out with J again and we crack each other up. But it's also because I used to live in California and there are parts of it that just feel so familiar - like the smell of eucalyptus trees and the warm brown hills. The bay area is such a great place. J. lives in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, and it's so awesome. She's just a few blocks from the BART and a really fun shopping street. There's a mix of independent bookstores, restaurants, recycled clothes boutiques and fancy chi-chi shops. We had awesome burgers at this place where they made their own mayonnaise the other day. I love mayonnaise, and I wish more restaurants would serve it with their burgers... so this was a real treat, there was regular mayonnaise, chipotle, and aoli... soooo much awesome. Beyond the mayonnaise, the BART is all kinds of comfy, the seats are like little couches. And there are just so many little neighborhoods with different personalities. We went to a very hip bar in Berkeley and sat outside in the courtyard drinking pomegranate cider & listening to a really good DJ. Then we came back to Rockridge and hung out at a pub - Ben & Nicks.

But really, I am ready to get to Thailand already... I'm finally starting to get impatient. I've been wanting to do this for a while, now that I've made the break from my old job & my old life & my old city... I'm ready for my new life to start in my new city with my new job.

Safely in SF + I heart Craigslist

I made it to San Francisco and am now thoroughly enjoying spending time with J. I didn't realize how much I missed her until we started chatting on the BART and I remembered how we would sometimes end up on the same bus going home from work and we'd gossip & laugh the whole way home. Anyway, I know you're all itchin' to hear about Thailand...and I'll let you know as soon as I get there, but first I have to say -God bless Craigslist!

The whole process of selling/giving away all of my belongings was a learning experience. Shoulda, woulda, coulda… started posting non-essential furniture sooner, done a little better job of contacting people who responded, and importantly woulda, shoulda, coulda timed my postings better… right before the weekend for example. In any case, I did okay… I got just enough money selling my furniture, books (God bless Powells) & CDs (God bless Music Millenium too while we’re at it) that I was able to coast for through unemployement without dipping too much into my savings.

Pardon me while I brag about myself for a minute but I’m really impressed with the fact that I had saved up enough money to pull this whole thing off. I was able to go a full two months without working, paid for the plane ticket, the CELTA course, a new wardrobe, and my none too cheap vacinations & malaria meds. – all on top of my normal expenses. My mom did help me out with a couple hundred dollars when she was here, but really aside from Birthday money, that’s the only financial support I’ve gotten from my parents since mom helped me settle into my first apartment.

Anyway… back to Craigslist. I was feeling bad because less than 24 hours before checking out of my apartment I still had a couch, entertainment center, and desk to deal with. Also all of my cleaning products (mostly full bottles of everything since I’m vastly more enthusiastic about buying cleaning supplies than I am about actually using them), all of my house plants and some other misc. stuff were still laying around. I knew there was nothing else I could do (Goodwill around here doesn’t do pick-ups) and had resigned myself to just throwing everything away. The amount of waste involved was kinda stressing me out. But finally FINALLY someone that I’d been in contact regarding my couch actually showed up! There was a grandpa, mom & teen or 20 something daughter and a BIG TRUCK! They looked at the couch and decided to take it. And then I said “I’ve got other stuff too” and when they saw my desk they were like “It’s perfect” so that went too. They even tried to take the entertainment center, but it just wouldn’t fit. Oh well, at least we got it out of the apartment – which somehow makes me feel a bit better.

On the advice of a friend I had gathered up all my cleaning supplies and had them all in a big plastic bin outside my apartment. I was going to stick a ‘free’ sign on it and bring it to the laundry room, but I asked if they wanted cleaning supplies and the mom said “sure” and took them as well. And as we walked past all my houseplants she asked if I was getting rid of them as well. She took all the plants and even the empty pots… the daughter at this point was positively *dying* of embarrasment “Oh mom!” because the mom was going on about how flower pots are expensive, and houseplants get expensive. It was hillarious, I sooo remember reacting like that to my mom. But I was thrilled that they were effectively just cleaning out my apartment for me. Less waste for the landfill, less work for my landlord, less guilt for me – win win win. Plus you know – I hope I’m racking up some good karma for when I need to furnish my next apartment. After this whole experience, I’m just about ready to vow never to buy another piece of furniture again! At the very least I’m going to give free-cycle & craigslist a go before ever walking into a furniture store.

In short… I have no idea what I would have done without Craigslist – it’s just about the best things to ever happen on the internet.

Going Dark for real this time... sorta ;)

I'm about to turn in my cable modem... which is sure to involve another fabulous tale of trying to get errands done on TriMet. After that I have a few (dozen) loads of trash to take out - picking up all those odds and ends around the apartment. I have a friend coming over at 5 to pick up Betty (and give her a good home), then another friend coming over to pick up my crafty stuff to store.

After that I'll be trying to pack, unpack & repack until everything that's left will fit in my suitcases. I've reconciled myself to the fact that I'll be paying extra baggage fees... but I still need to be able to lift it all.

I've still got a couch, desk & entertainment center to deal with - although a few people have been calling about the couch so think good Craigslist thoughts for me!!!

Flight to San Francisco tomorrow morning, flight to Thailand on Monday (1am!!!) then I'll be in Thailand by Tuesday. Think happy "planes to stay in the air until slowly gliding into the appropriate airport at the appropriate time" thoughts for me too. =) I'll try to post something as soon as I can.

Where your treasure lies, there lies your heart also.

You're probably getting sick of hearing about how overwhelmed I am about moving... but well, it's either navel gazing or more stories from Trimet. Today - navel gazing.

I've made a bit (not nearly enough) of progress deciding what to do with all my stuff. It has been really difficult. I'm trying to be all zen about it... it's just stuff, it's just stuff, it's just stuff. But I'm blessed and cursed with a pretty good memory and if you haven't noticed I lean heavily towards the nostalgic & sentimental. So there's the book I got for my birthday (two days after my birthday because that was the year everyone forgot), the Jasper Johns flag poster my roommate got after 9/11 and that hung in our living room effectively the entire time we lived together, the big pink bread bowl I bought in celebration of moving into my very first apartment, the sweater I wore on my very first date (a red oversized men's sweater - went almost down to my knees - white leggings underneath - slouchy red socks with white Keds and I was pretty smokin' ;) ), etc. etc. etc. It doesn't matter if I actually like the item, or even if the memory associated with it is particularly good. I just have an emotional attachment to a LOT of stuff.

I haven't totally decided if that's a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand it means I don't generally own stuff for no reason, something is either functional or meaningful to me in some way. But on the other hand, this connection to objects is probably not very healthy. I mean... a lot of people name their cars... I've named my car (Babette), my computer (Sophia), my sewing machine (Fraulein Peggy) & my mixer (Peggy D'oh ... Betty). I'm sure it says something about deep inner workings of my psyche... I just don't think I want to know what.


I have effectively two days before I leave (to go to San Francisco for the weekend before leaving the country entirely)... and I've still got quite a few loose ends to tie up. I still have a couch for one, and a few other misc. pieces of furniture. I'm going through a lot of "woulda shoulda coulda"s right now because I was trying to balance "keeping my apartment livable as long as possible" with "getting rid of things in a timely fashion" and erred on the side of waiting too long to start posting things to craigslist. I've had to deal with more than a few flakes and am now trying to *give* stuff away and am still getting flakes! Oh well... live & learn.

But progress... however limited... has been made.

June & Now


Closet before & After



While I've hardly gotten rid of *everything* I've pared down at least 75% of my belongings. It's astounding. Just the sheer volume of stuff I had (my sister regularly shames me by telling me she only has two pairs of shoes... and one pair of jeans etc. She also doesn't work (for pay - she's a mom, I know that's work) so she doesn't exactly need a work wardrobe. Whereas I've only managed to get down to 6 pairs of shoes for this trip (dressy black, dressy brown, casual black, casual brown, sandals and my red keens... I'm not going *anywhere* without my red Keens!) but that took some doing. It's not even that I'm extravagant... I just like variety. There are days when I have a very strong reaction to what I put on - I'll grab a blue sweater and then decide - no no no... can't wear that today, have to wear the brown one. Same with the shoes... I just have to have a couple fun pairs around in case I'm feeling rebellious. ;)

But all the fun shoes are gone now. The sparkley red ones I wore on New Years Eve, the blue converse that remind me of Doctor Who, the steel toed Doc Martins that were a bit to tight but felt kick-ass nonetheless, the black mules that showed off my infrequent pedicures, the saddle shoes that reminded me of cheerleading when I was little, the completely impractical high heeled black strappy party shoes, the brown canvas slip ons with the pink trim, and even the chunky brown 'interview' heels (the last pair of heels that I regularly wore to work after they caused me to twist my ankle and fall halfway down a flight of stairs - skinning my knee - during my first week at OHSU, and afterwards I saw my then coworker now friend and she was really sympathetic about it) - all lounging under appreciated on a shelf in a Goodwill store somewhere.

I don't really know where I'm going with this post. I guess, you know they say it's supposed to be liberating to get rid of all your stuff... to get rid of the emotional baggage that goes along with it. But that really hasn't been the case for me. I kind of feel like if I get rid of the stuff, I'm going to lose the memory. How do you decide which memories are really worth preserving?

Um... Just kidding. ;)

So Comcast went ahead and dutifully canceled my internet access yesterday as I had asked them to. I lasted about 20 minutes. Then I started freaking out. I was all irritated about something and I couldn't even figure out why. I started swearing at things and was genuinely mad for, I think, the first time since I quit my job. Huh... so that's what withdrawal is like. =P Honestly, I felt like a Borg removed from the collective.

I spent much of the day on the phone with Comcast begging them to reactivate my internet connection. They were able to bring it back today.... aaaaaahhhhhhhh. I feel better now. You might get a couple more posts from me before I head out. And I'll be looking for an internet cafe shortly after I land in Thailand.

Still slowly getting rid of all my stuff. I sold my TV and my bed today... which is ostensibly good because I really do need to be getting rid of stuff. But you know - now I have to sleep on the floor. =(

Thank you to all of you who have been leaving such encouraging comments - I really appreciate it. I mostly keep this blog for myself, as a kind of journal with pictures, but it's nice to get feedback now and then, makes it feel a bit more like a conversation & less like talking into the endless vacuum of cyberspace.


And thank you to the Portland folks who came to the picnic today - I had a great time and will miss all of you while I'm away.

Going Dark

In preparation for my move, I've canceled my Comcast service, so I will have only occasional internet connection between August 1st and sometime in late September when I hope to be settled in a new home in THAILAND! I will of course continue to check in as often as I can...but I don't anticipate having much free time to post while I'm actually taking the CELTA course. So whenever you think of it - send nice "everything's going to be fine" thoughts my way.