living the thai life

Hello all!

So this is my first experience in the blog world and I always swore I'd never be a blogger. For some reason I associated blogging with publishing one's innermost thoughts and emotions for the world to read, which is so not my style, but I figure it's the easiest and best way to document my Thailand adventure.

Well, I just finished week three of my Bangkok stay, and can honestly say that I'm really enjoying my time here! It's been such a whirlwind since I graduated two days before I moved to Southeast Asia, and began orientation for teaching the day after I arrived - we didn't get much time to process this whole thing, but that was probably good. I've learned that sometimes you have to just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and jump into a new, life-changing adventure. That's what I feel like I've done!

There are fourteen of us teachers from Baylor (9 of which are at Chitralada, the school I'm teaching at). There are also four teachers from Sacramento, California who are teaching at Chitralada as well. We have great community among us so far, and I've made a couple of really great friends already. There are four of us girls that hang out all the time: Me, Tiller (my sorority sister), Lynn and Christy. We have such a great time just laughing and wandering around Bangkok.

I'm not really sure where to begin in explaining everything that's happened on this adventure so far, so I'll start with some highlights:

1. Meeting Members of the Royal Family and Chitralada Palace School:

So, I know you're all curious about the royal family and if I'll get to meet them and whatnot. Just to give some background information, the King and Queen are virtually deified in Thailand. You see pictures of them EVERYWHERE and it's incredibly impolite to talk about them in public. The King is actually the longest reigning monarch in the world, and unfortunately, he is no longer in great health, but I believe he can still get around to some degree. The school I teach at is called Chitralada Palace School, and it is the King's school. There is also a Queen's school in Bangkok, but I don't know anything about it. Chitralada is technically a public school, but it has a private school feel. The children that go there are pretty well off (or so I've been told), but their parents do not pay tuition, instead, the school runs on donations, which I believe are mostly given by the parents and families of those enrolled.

The Crowned Prince's son, Prince T. is currently enrolled in the kindergarten at Chitralada. He's four years old and is just adorable. The first time Tiller and I met him, we were told to curtsy. He goes to class like the other students, but he is constantly surrounded by his people, ie: guards, his photographer, and his doctors are always in the close vicinity. Tiller and I have had our pictures taken with him several times - eek! Tiller is teaching him English this semester, and there is a chance that I will be teaching him next semester. I heard that he studied English abroad, so I think he knows quite a bit already for someone his age.

Speaking of meeting members of the royal family, Tiller and I were caught majorly off-guard about a week and a half ago. We had heard that Prince T.'s mom (the Crowned Prince's wife) was dropping him off at school that morning, but we didn't know exactly what she looked like or when she'd be there - (he tends to arrive at different times each day). So we were just watching all of the kindergartners arrive and noticed that Prince T. had a bit larger than usual crowd surrounding him, so we figured someone important was around, then, before we knew it, his mom came over to us and introduced herself as "his mom" while pointing in the direction of her son. We were so nervous when we realized who she was and half-curtsied/ half-bowed as we said, "Sawadeeka," which is hello in Thai. She was so friendly, though, and it was an honor to meet her!

The third encounter with royalty so far was actually today. One of the King's daughters, the beloved Princess of Thailand, came to Chitralada in honor of the school's opening of the Chinese department. It was a huge deal and we were all told to buy suits for her appearance. She came at 2:00, and all of us teachers lined up to curtsy and smile as she passed by. Her entourage of cream colored Mercedes was HUGE...there were probably 20 cars in all! We actually shook hands with the Chinese ambassador (who was there in honor of the Chinese department celebration), and then curtsied as she passed by. We were only like 4 feet from her, it was so cool! She's known as the beloved Princess of Thailand because she chose to never marry, but instead, considers herself as married to Thailand and its people. Seeing her was such an honor because she is a highly revered woman.

It is such an honor to get to work at this school, and it's so fascinating to see such an intimate part of Thai culture firsthand. I don't know if I'll ever get to see the King or Queen, but I think there are huge celebrations for their birthdays, in which case, we'll probably get to see them pass by.

2. Adventures in Food:

So the food situation here is one of the most interesting parts of this cultural experience. The stereotype is true, they do in fact eat rice with EVERY meal. I don't eat it for breakfast like the locals do, but I do have it everyday with lunch, which is served at the school. Lunch usually consists of a couple of meat choices (oftentimes unidentifiable meat), a really spicy dish either in the form of a curry or a soup, sometimes a dish with veggies in it, and an extremely odd dessert. They serve a lot of chicken, fish and pork, but sometimes the meat dishes are a bit like mystery meat. It's not uncommon to see fish soup with all of the bones and parts thrown in, they also serve fish balls that look like gray, rubbery things a little smaller than ping pong balls. Some of it is really good though, like the curry dishes with rice, or sometimes we get an omelet to accompany white rice, which is surprisingly delightful.

The desserts are by far the most fascinating. The first day we ate at the school, the dessert was a big jug full of green, wiggly, squirmy, wormy looking things that you eat in a bowl with crushed ice and coconut milk on top. I actually kind of enjoyed it. They're really into gelatinous desserts that are oftentimes served in the form of balls with a shredded coconut coating. They also really like little squares of lightly flavored, firm gelatin with fruit in a sweet, clear syrup or coconut milk. My favorite dessert so far is a little reeses peanut butter cup-sized serving of sticky rice with a sweet, toffee-colored topping. I also really want to try sticky rice with sliced mango and coconut milk on top - that sounds really arroy (yummy in Thai).

There are also tons and tons of street food vendors throughout the city. They sell a lot of meat kabobs and sliced fruit, but I haven't really been brave enough to sample food from the street stands just yet. The city seems so dirty with all of the smog, and it's usually full of really unpleasant smells, so I haven't found the street vendor option to be all that appealing just yet. I'll be here for about a year, so I'm sure I'll be trying it all in due time :)

3. Weekend trip to the Island of Ko Samet:

Last weekend, we all went on our first mini-vacation to the island of Ko Samet. 18 of us went and it took about 3 hours to get there from Bangkok by van and speedboat. It was a beautiful beach with white sands and clear blue water. The girls and I stayed in a bungalow with two queen-sized beds about 20 paces from the water - it was phenomenal. We pretty much just relaxed the whole weekend, enjoyed good food, the sun (a little too much because most of us got sunburned), the warm water, and good company. Our friends Audrey and Stephen graduated from Baylor a couple of years ago and have been living and teaching English in Thailand for a shade over a year, and they helped us get to Ko Samet and figure out the van and speedboat system. It was such a nice and relaxing weekend away from the city that I would like to go back a few times if possible!

4. Learning to be a Kindergarten Teacher:

Each day that I've taught has been a huge learning experience for me. I never realized how complicated it'd be to teach English to 3-5 year-olds, some of whom don't speak a lick of English. It's definitely a challenge to keep 17 kids interested and attentive for about an hour, but they are all so precious and fun, that even if my lesson plan gets fudged a bit, they make me smile and laugh a lot. I was given a curriculum to follow for my 4 and 5 year-olds, but Tiller and I have to make up our own for the 3's. I've learned that teaching such young children requires an abundant amount of energy (or at least the appearance of it). It's like performing charades or doing an act on stage when I teach, but I'm up for the challenge, and am so excited to see my kiddos grow in their understanding of the English language.

I honestly never pictured myself as a teacher before this experience, but I see now how people grow to love it. It's really encouraging and sweet to see how excited the kids are to see Tiller and I each day - they all just scream, "Teachah Erin!" or "Teachah Ashley!" It's so cute.

Also, for a little extra money, we are allowed to tutor on the side, and I was recently asked by a Thai teacher if I could help her learn English. I said yes, of course, but I need to figure out how best to tutor an adult...am I qualified for this I wonder? lol.



Wow, I think that about covers a lot for now. I'd love to hear from you, and thanks for reading my blog!!