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| Erin is in Thailand!!! |
Not much is going on in my world right now. Thailand has beautiful butterflies and nothing to dry your hands with after you wash them in the bathroom.
I have to run or else I will miss the last bus!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Photos
Here is the link to my photos. Right now, I cannot seem to make them turn the right directions. Sorry!
Not much is going on in my world right now. Thailand has beautiful butterflies and nothing to dry your hands with after you wash them in the bathroom.
I have to run or else I will miss the last bus!
Not much is going on in my world right now. Thailand has beautiful butterflies and nothing to dry your hands with after you wash them in the bathroom.
I have to run or else I will miss the last bus!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Saturday, August 25th. I'm on a bus to Bangkok again with a belly full of all my favorite Thai treats: fried rice, frozen coffee, and roti. We even had a send-off/standard-Saturday mall trip for ice cream, but I practiced self control and watched the crew eat the sundaes this time. The word ice cream in Thai is "I-deem" like ice cream with a weird Thai adaptation. Computer is "khom piew duh" with the accent on the third syllable. There are a lot of these sorts of words in Thai and they make me laugh because the emPHASis is truly on the wrong sylLABle. Usually, the last one. BrowNIE and cooKIE!
I just fell down the stairs while descending from the upper level of this bus in a desparate dash for the hong nam. The bathroom on the bus is best characterized as tolerable, yet avoidable, if possible. It's not the worst I have seen which was in a bus station in Malawi but that's another blog entry. Anyways, embarrassment takes on a whole new personality here. Thai people will do anything to "save face" and therefore no one even laughed at (or with) me after the fall; they just avoided eye contact while I awkwardly giggled and assessed the damages which, by the way, are fairly minor but a little painful. I hope the people on the bus at least laughed to themselves at my expense. I might be reading too far into this, but the fall has shaken me to the core. You see, lately, everything has been going my way. Almost scarily so. I'll silently or not so silently complain about something and POOF! Problem miraculously solved. I have been saying that when and if my luck does a 180, I am in huge trouble. I sure hope my little spill isn't a sign from God that the game is up.
This was an extremely busy week at school because I was trying to get grades finished, prepare my 103s for their midterm, and prepare for the week when I get back. I am scheduled to teach some extra classes this coming block. One should be easy because there is no curriculum and it's only on Monday mornings. It's sort of a summer camp for Vietnamese students. The other, though, is a course on how to give presentations for the Commitee for Social and Economic Development (of Thailand??). Consdering I happened to major in those two disciplines, I can see where one miiiight assume I am qualified to teach this course. Whoever "one" is has no idea that I can BARELY work PowerPoint and generating a graph from Excel may as well be rocket science. I kid, but it should be interesting. It's two hours every night for a week which is not what I am used to either. Normally, I am more a messenger of a predesigned and inflexible curriculum than a teacher. To make next week's matters more interesting, or annoying, the curriculum for my beginning speaking and writing classes completely neglects to account for midterms week. Rather, the syllabus pretends the students will be in school as normal, learning up a storm. In reality, my naksuksas will be taking tests and then flocking home to various destinations. Since a writing block is only 6 classes and a speaking block 8, that's a fairly significant portion and those classes will definately have to be rescheduled in our "free time.". You try coordinating a good time for extra classes with 40 college students who don't speak English.
Hopefully you guys are not getting bored with the entries. I did not intend on writing again until post-Koh Samui, but I darted out of my room in a whirlwind and I forgot a book...and deodorant, but that problem's been solved already. If those are the only two things, I'll be surprised and relieved. I do have my camera this time though!
August 1:
So, turns out my luck has not run out. Powerpoint 101 has been rescheduled for a few weeks from now, giving me ample time to prepare...and this past week has been wonderful. As I write this, I am half way between the pool and the ocean on a stunning beach on Koh Samui. I woke up early this morning to kiss Jessie and Alicia goodbye with my stinky moning breath, as Jessie said, and caught some more Zs before my last visit to the complimentary breakfast buffet.
Before Samui, Jessie, Alicia and I spent two days seeing the sights in Bangkok. Sunday, we went to Chatuchak market and I was able to use my Thai bargaining skills (which just so happen to have been the subject of last weeks tutoring lesson) to help Jessie acquire a beautiful wall hanging and Alicia score a really cool and equally large ring. We explored Khao San road, the backpackers' area, where I would have had us staying if the idea of me picking the sleeping arrangments didn't freak Jessie's and Alicia's parents out so much. But really, I was overjoyed at the digs that the Billings and Walkers chose. Monday, we went to Wat Pho to see the reclining Buddha, which is 46 meters long. We also saw Wat Arun, which is an amazing temple made of ornate pieces of porcelain which broke in transit from China. We visited Jim Thompson's house as well. Jim Thompson was an American who came to Southeast Asia during WWII. Though he was an architect, he was also a savvy businessman and he is credited with exposing Thai silk to Western fashion markets. After his mysterious disappearance in 1967, his house was turned into a musuem and houses beautiful art and furniture from all over Asia. Can you tell we took a tour? The rest of our time in Bangkok was spent eating in our hotel which was right on the river and had a great view or at other various eateries and navigating our way around the city on the skytrain or in taxis, half speaking English and half attempting Thai.
On Tuesday we came to Koh Samui which is an island in Southern Thailand. It is very developed and a little too toursity in some parts but you can imagine why. It's gorgeous. The island is popular with backpackers and offers a pretty happening night scene. Its also equally popular with families and honeymooners and the swanky resorts definately outnumber the hostels.
Jessie, Alicia and I may as well have been old ladies most days. We usually just lounged on the beach in front of our hotel which was tucked into a little cove, more private and removed from the rest of the bustling Chaweng Beach. We picked places to eat out of my Lonely Planet and we were never disappointed. One night, we saw a cabaret show put on by the ladyboys that Thailand is famous for. Yesterday, we took a boat to Ko Tao, another gorgeous island, which is less developed because its harder to get to. J and A snorkeled while I scuba dove. It was fantastic. Hands down the most amazing coral I have ever seen, great visibilty, warm water and I had a divemaster all to myself.
I was so sad to say bye to my pals, but all the R and R I have been getting is giving me a guilty conscience. I am excited to get back to Khon Kaen.
I just fell down the stairs while descending from the upper level of this bus in a desparate dash for the hong nam. The bathroom on the bus is best characterized as tolerable, yet avoidable, if possible. It's not the worst I have seen which was in a bus station in Malawi but that's another blog entry. Anyways, embarrassment takes on a whole new personality here. Thai people will do anything to "save face" and therefore no one even laughed at (or with) me after the fall; they just avoided eye contact while I awkwardly giggled and assessed the damages which, by the way, are fairly minor but a little painful. I hope the people on the bus at least laughed to themselves at my expense. I might be reading too far into this, but the fall has shaken me to the core. You see, lately, everything has been going my way. Almost scarily so. I'll silently or not so silently complain about something and POOF! Problem miraculously solved. I have been saying that when and if my luck does a 180, I am in huge trouble. I sure hope my little spill isn't a sign from God that the game is up.
This was an extremely busy week at school because I was trying to get grades finished, prepare my 103s for their midterm, and prepare for the week when I get back. I am scheduled to teach some extra classes this coming block. One should be easy because there is no curriculum and it's only on Monday mornings. It's sort of a summer camp for Vietnamese students. The other, though, is a course on how to give presentations for the Commitee for Social and Economic Development (of Thailand??). Consdering I happened to major in those two disciplines, I can see where one miiiight assume I am qualified to teach this course. Whoever "one" is has no idea that I can BARELY work PowerPoint and generating a graph from Excel may as well be rocket science. I kid, but it should be interesting. It's two hours every night for a week which is not what I am used to either. Normally, I am more a messenger of a predesigned and inflexible curriculum than a teacher. To make next week's matters more interesting, or annoying, the curriculum for my beginning speaking and writing classes completely neglects to account for midterms week. Rather, the syllabus pretends the students will be in school as normal, learning up a storm. In reality, my naksuksas will be taking tests and then flocking home to various destinations. Since a writing block is only 6 classes and a speaking block 8, that's a fairly significant portion and those classes will definately have to be rescheduled in our "free time.". You try coordinating a good time for extra classes with 40 college students who don't speak English.
Hopefully you guys are not getting bored with the entries. I did not intend on writing again until post-Koh Samui, but I darted out of my room in a whirlwind and I forgot a book...and deodorant, but that problem's been solved already. If those are the only two things, I'll be surprised and relieved. I do have my camera this time though!
August 1:
So, turns out my luck has not run out. Powerpoint 101 has been rescheduled for a few weeks from now, giving me ample time to prepare...and this past week has been wonderful. As I write this, I am half way between the pool and the ocean on a stunning beach on Koh Samui. I woke up early this morning to kiss Jessie and Alicia goodbye with my stinky moning breath, as Jessie said, and caught some more Zs before my last visit to the complimentary breakfast buffet.
Before Samui, Jessie, Alicia and I spent two days seeing the sights in Bangkok. Sunday, we went to Chatuchak market and I was able to use my Thai bargaining skills (which just so happen to have been the subject of last weeks tutoring lesson) to help Jessie acquire a beautiful wall hanging and Alicia score a really cool and equally large ring. We explored Khao San road, the backpackers' area, where I would have had us staying if the idea of me picking the sleeping arrangments didn't freak Jessie's and Alicia's parents out so much. But really, I was overjoyed at the digs that the Billings and Walkers chose. Monday, we went to Wat Pho to see the reclining Buddha, which is 46 meters long. We also saw Wat Arun, which is an amazing temple made of ornate pieces of porcelain which broke in transit from China. We visited Jim Thompson's house as well. Jim Thompson was an American who came to Southeast Asia during WWII. Though he was an architect, he was also a savvy businessman and he is credited with exposing Thai silk to Western fashion markets. After his mysterious disappearance in 1967, his house was turned into a musuem and houses beautiful art and furniture from all over Asia. Can you tell we took a tour? The rest of our time in Bangkok was spent eating in our hotel which was right on the river and had a great view or at other various eateries and navigating our way around the city on the skytrain or in taxis, half speaking English and half attempting Thai.
On Tuesday we came to Koh Samui which is an island in Southern Thailand. It is very developed and a little too toursity in some parts but you can imagine why. It's gorgeous. The island is popular with backpackers and offers a pretty happening night scene. Its also equally popular with families and honeymooners and the swanky resorts definately outnumber the hostels.
Jessie, Alicia and I may as well have been old ladies most days. We usually just lounged on the beach in front of our hotel which was tucked into a little cove, more private and removed from the rest of the bustling Chaweng Beach. We picked places to eat out of my Lonely Planet and we were never disappointed. One night, we saw a cabaret show put on by the ladyboys that Thailand is famous for. Yesterday, we took a boat to Ko Tao, another gorgeous island, which is less developed because its harder to get to. J and A snorkeled while I scuba dove. It was fantastic. Hands down the most amazing coral I have ever seen, great visibilty, warm water and I had a divemaster all to myself.
I was so sad to say bye to my pals, but all the R and R I have been getting is giving me a guilty conscience. I am excited to get back to Khon Kaen.
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