A Day in the Life

There is no such thing as a typical work week here.  This is due to all of the holidays and shows that the Thai culture seems to value a tad bit more than academics.  These, along with other constant interruptions, force me to be incredibly flexible with my teaching time.  With zero planned disturbances this week, I decided to use today as a model of the most typical day I have had in a couple of weeks.

Things that happen every day:

-7 minute walk to school. I arrive at school between 7:30 and 7:45, unless I have gate duty.  Everyone has gate duty once every two weeks at 7:10 am.  There are usually four teachers, including myself, who have to stand at the gate of the school and greet the students (Thai and English teachers). For forty minutes straight I say, “Good morning,” “Good morning,” “Good morning,” “Good morning,” “Good morning,”  “Good morning...”  Picture this getting very repetitive after a short three minutes.

-Flag Ceremony.  With my Thai teacher, I line my students up around 7:50 to go to Flag.  All classes stand outside in the courtyard for the morning assembly.  The Thai students and teachers begin with the King’s Royal Anthem, which is extremely catchy and I have learned to really enjoy it.  Then they do their Thai chants.  There is lots of waiing and the Thai flag is raised.  I have no idea what they are saying, but my job is to stand there and make sure the kids are behaving, shirts are tucked in, and hair is looking nice.  Sometimes there are also announcements made.  Flag lasts anywhere from 5-20 minutes.

Volunteers doing cheer!

-Flag period.  When we get back from Flag, it is my time with my students every day until 8:30.  I use this time to practice our weekly cheer (which they get tested on for a conversation grade each Friday) or practice words of the week (spelling, reading, or phonics).  Our cheers are extra corny, but they are always reinforcing a concept.  This week we are practicing There is/There are, along with some phonics words and plurals.  These are all difficult concepts for the students and need constant reinforcement.  Cheers are done in partners and performed for me on Fridays.

In case you are interested, our amazing cheer this week, created by yours truly, is…

There is a snake!

The snake is long and green.

There is a skunk!

The skunk is white, black, and smelly.

There are snakes and skunks!

There are three snakes and four skunks.

Run! They are all in the woods!

(Our phonics words this week are smile, smell, smoke, stone, stop, stove, snake, snack, skate, skunk, swim, and Swiss)

Monday, January 20, 2014

I teach four periods on Mondays.  The glory in our periods is that I don’t ever have to think, Okay, period 3 is reading, period 4 is writing, period 6 is phonics, and period 7 is math.  Not ever going to happen.  I basically think of my periods as rolling.  One may roll into the next, which may roll into the next and that is normal.  In one period I may finish reading and move on to writing, or reading may take longer than a period.  This was slightly difficult to get used to at first, but I have made myself become flexible!  Like today for example..  I finished everything I had planned for Monday and grabbed some science for the last half hour of my last period.  I am free to do as I please when I teach and that is something I truly enjoy.

First thing on Monday is always spelling!  Each week I introduce six new words.  These words are taken from the Dolche sight words list and we are free to choose them as we wish as a team.  This week, some words are repeats because of constant errors we have seen in writing pieces.  Our spelling words this week are with, myself, their, your, because, and about.

Focus would live in a tree house!

Next, is reading.  I have a book called Very Easy Reading that I need to finish before the end of the school year, but I was behind because of midterms.  So, today I did units 12 and 13, and you bet my students gave me a hard time for it!  Very Easy Reading provides reading words, a short story, and comprehension questions.  Unit 12 is called Sally’s Room and the reading words are table, flower, purple, blanket, pretty, things, really, and soft.  Unit 13 is called Mike’s Bike and the reading words are wheel, bell, ride, bike, every day, hole, ringing, and fast.  Students are always assigned at least a page of homework out of VER and then we do a writing assignment, which I love.  

Ploy 2's house and bedroom

This week they were to:

1.  Think of what you would like your dream bedroom to be.  Describe it, design it, and draw it.

OR

2.  Think of what you would like your dream house to look like.  Describe it, design it, and draw it.

Ploy 2's writing piece

We incorportate the designing and drawing as part of the activity because we are a STEM school.  We are constantly trying to get students to think outside the box and be creative in their learning.  After showing these prompts, I Googled some examples of abstract/innovative houses and bedrooms to get their minds working.  Look at some of the amazing work I got!

Getting excited about the earth

Like I said earlier, I had a bit of extra time in my last period, so I decided to introduce Earth.  We are beginning to explore the solar system in more detail on Thursday, and I gave them an introduction today!  First, I showed them a short, intense video showing the natural beauty of earth along with some severe weather that can occur. That hooked them! The students did a KWL chart and then I flew through a quick introduction PowerPoint.  They are so excited for this topic which in return makes me excited to teach it!

At the end of every day, I post on Facebook.  No, not to my own personal Facebook (well maybe to my own Facebook too), but to my “Teacher Facebook” as we call it.  I have my own teacher account and this is how I do most of my communicating with parents.  I love everything about it.  This is a way for parents to keep up with what is going on in class, and a less intimidating way for them to interact with me if they are nervous to try and speak English in person.  I post on this Facebook every day, excluding weekends, even if there is really nothing to write.  I post homework here.  I post when materials are needed for class.  I post school updates, upcoming days off, and about school events.  I post pictures of activities we do throughout the week.  I post our weekly cheer and words of the week.  You name it, you see it on Facebook.  Three of my students got glasses within the past two weeks and you bet, I took a picture of all of my students who wear glasses and put it on there.  A student’s birthday?  Yup!  If nothing exciting happens, I will simply post Happy Wednesday!  Parents can message me at any time if they have questions or concerns, and they do.  I thought I would mind, but it is nice to interact with the parents.  For example, last week, one mom messaged me to say that her daughter was in the hospital, that is why she missed school for two days.  She quickly followed by telling me that Ploy would make sure to get all of the work done that she missed that weekend. What?!?  No way!  In this situation, I was happy she reached out so I could tell her that doing the homework was not nearly as important as Ploy resting and getting better.  She was extremely thankful that I gave her a break but, of course, Ploy came in on Monday with her work done.  Thai culture.

My Facebook update on Tuesday the 21st

What my desk looks like Tuesday mornings

When Tuesday comes around, there is a lot of grading to do in my free time, and the week continues pretty similarly, but with different subjects. We get to do STEM projects on Wednesdays or Thursdays, which normally revolves around our science subject.  This week students will be creating the earth's layers with clay. By the end of the term, students will show the phases of the moon with oreos (shout out to Block 26!) and they will create a whole solar system for their final exam.

I cannot believe that time is going by so quickly!  My last day at Anuban is officially on March 10th.  There is so much to do and so little time!

Oh the Places

It is getting to that time. The time where I have to begin thinking about the real world back in America. I thought I would have more time to focus on Thailand without worrying about the future but, the future is sneaking up on me very quickly.

I have less than two months left of school at Anubanchonburi.  I just had a hectic week of midterms, and finals will be here before I know it.  I am going to cherish every minute of teaching while I am here, since I don’t know if I will even find a teaching job for the next school year when I go home.

As I begin to prepare for the second half of my time in Thailand, so many thoughts are running through my head…

Before heading home:

          -Polish up my resume.

          -Apply for my literacy certification, because of course I put that off for a year after graduation.

          -Join Olas so that I can actually start looking for jobs.

          -Network. I am willing to take a job next year almost anywhere.  Inside the state of New York would be my first choice, Boston second, but teaching beggars really can’t be choosers.  If you are a teacher in America and I know you, watch out because I may just be sending you a message soon enough.

          -Find a summer job.  Back to the daycare?  Nanny?  Waitress?  Maybe I’ll find something new?!

After Anuban:

          -Plan travel in Asia.  As of right now, the last day of school is non-existent.  That’s just how things go in this country.  Our last day of school may be any day between the last week of February and March 14^th.  That is a difference of two weeks, so that could mean two more or two less weeks of traveling in Asia.  I am definitely going to Cambodia and Vietnam, but for how long, where to go, etc.  If I have an extra two weeks, that could mean checking out another country as well. Indonesia? Singapore? Malaysia?  Also, is it possible to have a mess-free travel experience?  Probably not, but I am going to try to plan buses, trains, ferries, and flights so that I can avoid the chaos as much as possible.

          -Save money.  Something I have never been good at, but something that has to be done.  The first two months of living in Thailand were filled with travel every free second I had.  It was amazing and I loved every second of it, but I am happy and satisfied with the places I have seen.  The next two months of living in Thailand will be filled with cheap day trips and a semi-boring/normal life in Chon Buri.

          -Luggage.  On the airplane to Thailand, I checked a large suitcase and a backpacking backpack. I carried on a normal-sized backpack.  There is no way that I could ever cart around all of these things during my Southeast Asian travels.  Bringing a suitcase while backpacking is travel suicide so, where will I leave my over-sized luggage while I’m backpacking for a month?

One thing that is very certain so far in my travel plans is that I am leaving Asia for good on April 17^th and I am headed to London.  From the second Kristen told me she was moving to London, I knew it would be a pit stop on my way home.  Why wouldn’t I take advantage of visiting my best friend while she is living in Europe?!  She is more than willing to put me up in her flat for as long as I will stay, and I am planning on taking her up on that.  So far, I am staying in London for one month, but I have no intentions to book my flight home for a while, so you never know!  I think that one month in London is two weeks too long because of how expensive it is, but this is my last hoorah as I will never have this much time to take for a vacation again in my life.  Having a small debt when I get home is something I will quickly get over.  I’ll never change my mind.. The experience is worth more.

The weekend of April 17^th just so happens to be a 4-day weekend for Kristen, so we get to spend a quality Easter weekend together!!  Unfortunately, Kristen can’t take a month off of work to hang out with me, so for the rest of my time in London I will be re-exploring the familiar from my first visit in 2010, getting happily lost wandering the unknown, and visiting friends that I have made over the past several years who reside in London.  Em, Dana, and Al will be joining Kristen and I in London the first week of May.  I can’t even explain how excited I am for this great reunion.  I have been lucky enough to talk to these friends practically every day and I miss them always. They are my people (I have been watching too many Grey’s Anatomy reruns) and I can’t wait to be with them on the final leg of my journey abroad!

The Island of Fire

On Friday, we rushed out of school to catch a van to Bangkok. This has become simple and easy for us, as we often have to travel through Bangkok to get anywhere else. We took the sky train, transferred to the subway, and ended up at Hua Lamphong train station with an hour to spare, where we awaited/dreaded our overnight train. When I stepped onto car number 3, it was like I time-warped to the 60's and I was in a nightmare of a train that was transporting people to an insane asylum. Dingy lighting, broken windows, and over-crowded. The four of us were facing one another (luckily it was us and not strangers) but our seats were at a perfect 90 degree angle. Let's just say sleeping was a large issue.

We finally took off a half hour late and quickly realized that this may be our most miserable trip yet. It was a local train that went a s l o w 30 mph, it consistently stopped to let other trains go by, and also frequently stopped to let people on and off.

Scariest train on the planet.

We were supposed to get into the Chumphon station at 3:30 am, but arrived at 5:35 am. Our bus was supposed to leave at 5:30 to take us to our ferry. Thankfully in this case, Thai time is Thai time, late means on time, and our bus didn't even arrive until 7 am. By some crazy chance, we made it to our ferry.

The ferry was PACKED. The inside and the upper deck was full. We were so tired that we all sprawled out on the ground and used our backpacks as pillows. Unfortunately, the water was incredibly choppy. Everyone was getting soaked. Everyone was getting sick. A girl sitting near us came up from getting a drink and said in her great British accent, It's bloody carnage down there!! The ferry staff had barf bags readily available and everywhere you looked someone was using one. I thankfully have never been one to get sea sick and I was lucky that the feeling did not hit me on the two hour trip.

After traveling for 19 hours, the ferry docked at the beautiful island of Koh Tao. As the ferry was pulling into the pier, I could have pinched myself because of the view we were seeing. I almost kissed the workers from Simple Life who came to pick us up because we had finally made it. We were brought to the diving school and our rooms happened to be directly across the small street. We had a couple of hours until we could check into our rooms, so we grabbed some food and headed to the beach. Maybe my only complaint of the trip is that it was cloudy and hazy every day. I don't think I have seen clouds in the two months I have been in Thailand, but we got them in Koh Tao for 4 days straight. Perfect timing!

So, the main reason for choosing Koh Tao out of all of the islands in Thailand for this long weekend was for the scuba diving. This island is famous for its diving and we decided to sign up for a four day open water diving course. After doing hours and hours of research one day, we chose to dive with Simple Life Divers. Like many of the diving schools we found, Simple Life was 9,800 Baht, around $300. This included accommodation for four nights, our diving course, and our diving certification. Even though the other schools were mostly the same price, Simple life had amazing reviews so we went with our gut.

We met our instructor, Steve, the day we arrived and we got started by watching videos and doing worksheets. He kind of left us to it without explaining much, but he was very reassuring that you learn the most while you are in the water. The next day was more video and then we got practice time in the pool with all of our scuba gear. Vests, tanks, regulators, masks, and all.

Conquering fears seems to be a recurring theme of mine in Thailand. Elephants, check. Zip lining, check. Now I can add scuba diving to that ever growing list. We were only in a pool with water up to my waste and I completely panicked the second I went under. Ever since I could swim my family always said I was a water rat. I am a great swimmer and have never been scared of water, but scuba diving is scary. We are used to swimming under water by holding our breathe and coming up for air when needed. In the pool, I was suddenly expected to breathe under water. What kind of concept is that?! Steve told us to stay knelt and try our hardest not to stand, but after about 30 seconds, I panicked and stood up until I could feel my lungs breathe like normal again. There were a million thoughts going through my head at once. I looked around, saw my friends under, probably also freaking out, but dealing with it so they could put the skills we learned from 5 hours of videos to use. I knew this was my moment of truth. Run and get the heck out of that pool, or suck it up, go back under, and try again. Another thing I've learned about myself being in Thailand is that even if every bone in my body is shaking with fright, I don't like to quit. So, go back under I did. I was breathing through the regulator as if I had just run a marathon, which isn't exactly ideal. Steve came to me, looked me in the eyes, signed to breathe slowly, and suddenly it got less scary. I was breathing normally and I didn't feel like my lungs were going to explode anymore. Besides the water becoming freezing from being in the pool until 6 pm, the whole session went so well, thanks to Steve and Jordan, our second instructor. They were both extremely patient with a group of five girls who knew absolutely nothing about scuba diving, and I would recommend them as instructors in a heartbeat!

On our third day, we set out on the long boat in the afternoon to get to Simple Life's diving boat. We nervously hung out for about 10 minutes until Steve basically said, Okay girls, you're on your own. Let me see you set up your gear. We set up our own tanks and vests ourselves, got into our wetsuits, and suddenly it was time to jump into the ocean. At this point the nerves were hitting me. We had all of this heavy gear on, I suddenly felt like I was going to vomit from nerves (or hangover), and we were about to go swimming at the ocean floor for 35 minutes. I jumped in and there was no turning back. Luckily our first dive was a fun dive at Buddha Rock, meaning Steve needed to see how we would do with the real deal. No skills to practice, just a swim. It was awesome. There were reef and colorful fish everywhere. I survived that one, so I knew I could get through the rest.

We had one more dive that day and two dives on our last day. White Rock was the second dive and one sight was called Junk Yard, which literally had junk dumped there. Exercise machines, a bench, and other random things are there to serve as an artificial reef. The last dive sight, called Hin Pee Wee, had a small shipwreck at the bottom. Even though not all dives had great visibility (conditions were very choppy on both days of diving), I saw things on the ocean floor that could never be the same as just seeing a picture of it. Some of the marine life that we stumbled upon were clown fish, parrot fish, damselfish, puffer fish, butterfly fish, moray eels, sea cucumbers, and coral reef was everywhere you turned. Everything about it was surreal.

Some of the dives had scary moments. In order to get the certification, we had to show that we could do all of the skills we learned in the ocean. As if it wasn't difficult enough in the pool, I was now on the ocean floor trying not to panic, all while I had to practice filling my mask up with water and then blowing it out at 10 meters deep. Lots of reasons to panic while scuba diving, but I just had to trust Steve and Jordan, and also be confident in myself. We always followed Steve, and Jordan always brought up the rear. She did a great job checking on us to make sure we were okay throughout each dive. Steve was so awesome and a great teacher but we were also happy to have an experienced female with us who really wanted our first diving experience to be great, not traumatizing. Go check out Simple Life Divers if you ever find yourself wanting to scuba dive in Thailand!

On Tuesday, we finished our last dive, went back and took the final test, and I am now a certified open water scuba diver! My certification is universal, so I can dive anywhere in the world, with or without an instructor. I almost didn't do the diving so that I could have beach time instead, but it would have been a big regret if I was only watching my friends from afar!

Our last night in Koh Tao was New Year's Eve, and I can't think of any place in Thailand that would have been better for it. We popped champagne (more importantly.. ANDRE!), celebrated receiving our certification with the Simple Life staff, watched the fire dancers fill the beach with their talent for the fourth night in a row, and enjoyed our last night on the island that I am dying to go back to already.

Our instructors, Steve and Jordan, in the middle

I hope that everyone had a happy and safe New Year's Eve! 2013 was a bumpy year for me. It had lots of ups and downs, but I can only assume that everyone's does. We talked this weekend about describing the year in one word, and I think my word to describe 2013 is challenging. The biggest challenge was facing, and dealing with, the fact that my best friend was diagnosed with brain cancer. This may have been the single most challenging thing of my life so far, let alone this year, but I am happy to say that Erica is doing SO WELL, and besides the chemo once a month, she is living life just as she always has been. Some other challenges were sorting through relationships with people I care about and deciding to put my life at home on hold to pack up and move across the world. Even though the year was a challenge, I am grateful for all of the amazing moments, like Dana and Mike's wedding, Mandy and CJ's wedding, meeting my Thai students and watching them learn and grow, a trip to Vegas, and getting to experience living in Southeast Asia. I have no idea what is to come in 2014, but I have a feeling that the word challenge will carry over again, especially after moving back home in the spring. There will be constant change, excitement, some anxiety, and happiness throughout this next year, but I can't wait to see where 2014 takes me!

Skipping Christmas

Text from my sister this morning: Hi sissy! Jake and I are on a ferry, going to take a bus to Logan airport and sleep over there.  Our flight leaves at 6 am tomorrow morning.

Wait, what?! You’re leaving for Michigan.. already?? This is when the wake-up call came through and I actually had to pause, take a step back, and really think about what day it was.  Not one bone in my body could ever imagine that it is actually the 19^th of December and Christmas is a mere six days away.

Coming into this, I knew that I would be missing the holidays.  It was something I had to do if I wanted to take this opportunity to teach in Thailand.  I felt prepared to miss the holidays when I left, even though I knew it was probably killing my mom and dad to know that I wouldn’t be there on Christmas morning to open up presents and scarf down a breakfast made for kings.  My sister and Jake have decided to go to Michigan for Christmas, so that’s unfortunately a double whammy for mom and dad this year.  I’m banking on my extended family to get them through (load up my mom with mimosas and white zin!).

Thanksgiving came and went and I survived the holiday with the help of my new friends. I wasn’t very homesick for Thanksgiving and I’m glad for that, because I didn’t want to be homesick when I had only been here for one measly month.  There is a lot more time for that and I didn’t want Thanksgiving to be the breaking point.

After I received my first card from Em, I was so happy.  At the same time, it was my first feeling of Wow, this is the person I used to spend every moment with outside of work and now we are writing letters to one another.  It is a strange realization.  Those closest to me are now very distant, and it is not always easy to plan a Skype session, although I feel fortunate for iMessaging and whatsapp, which allows me to text when I have wifi without getting charged for it. 

When one card came, others slowly began arriving here and there.  I get my mail delivered to school to ensure that it actually gets to me safely.  Each time the secretary finds me, my eyes light up and I get a humungous smile on my face.  My students crowd around my desk to see what I get and I always show off my letters and postcards to them.

Last Friday, I had a field trip so I wasn’t at school (Let me add, the most horribly exhausting and sweaty field trip of my life. It was Friday the 13^th, jokes on me!).  When I got home, I had a message from Brittany saying that she had a letter AND a package for me. She knew that since it was Friday, I would have had to wait in anticipation if it just sat at school all weekend, so she was a very good person and took it home for me.  I was so much more excited for this package than I ever thought I would be, I think mainly because this was quite a large surprise, and I had no idea that anything was coming for me or who it would be from.  So, Brittany and Emily brought me my package and they were just as excited for me to open it and to find out what was inside.  If I only could have had a picture taken of us sitting on my bed smiling and staring at this enormous package, frantic about what the contents would be.  As soon as I saw the handwriting on the box, I knew immediately that it was from my parents.  Leave it to my mom to send me some cheering up on a day that had just stressed me out to the max.  Funny how things work that way!

As I fumbled to rip the tape off of the box I heard a bit of jingling, like Santa himself was in the box.  Of course my mom sent me Christmas decorations! It wouldn’t be a Christmas living away from home if I didn’t get these from my mom.  I should have known!  Tinsel, door/window hangings, and Santa hats!  I have zero decorations in my classroom and I have zero decorations in my house, so this was an amazing surprise.  I think I will be decking out my classroom in these gifts so that I can share my Christmas cheer with my students!  The decorations will be appreciated much more in my classroom, where all of my students and parents can see them, as opposed to being hung in my bedroom to be seen only by me.

When I was finished oogling over the Christmas decorations, I went back at the box to see what else was inside.  All that I saw was a layer of wrapping paper with a piece of paper on top that read, Don’t open till Christmas J.  Santa Clause came a bit early and it will take all that I have to wait another week until Christmas to open this, but it will be well worth it I’m sure.  My parents are extremely thoughtful and I am very thankful that I will have something to open on Christmas.  As much as I know that giving is better than receiving, receiving will be especially rewarding this year for me, just to make it feel like I am not totally skipping the holiday.

What will make or break the Christmas feeling for me on the 25^th is what it feels like to be working on the most wonderful holiday.  Christmas is only an observance in Thailand, not a national holiday, so my coworkers and I will have a regular day at work.  I am not sure I have come to terms with this yet.  Even though I have had many Christmases where my dad was working, and it happens to many people, it just doesn’t seem fair!  In my 25 years, I have always had school or work off, and had plenty of time to spend with my family, but this Christmas will be the weirdest yet.  I have high hopes that my friends and I will make it a holiday worth celebrating, and why wouldn’t we since we will all be trying to make the best out of what we have to work with.  I plan on doing Christmas activities with my students all week long.  They may have to be math, science, or English related, but I am determined to dedicate next week to Christmas and I think my students will be on the same page. We also have a Christmas Show on the 23rd, which should be absolute mayhem, and a classroom New Year's party on the 27th. Let's hope these events help me feel like I am not skipping Christmas.

Silver lining: Amelia, Brittany, Emily, and I will be headed to Koh Tao to do our open water scuba diving certification course on the 27^th and we get time off for New Year’s, so at least we get a long 5 day weekend.  It still would be better to have Christmas off, but I’ll take a trip to a beautiful island as a late Christmas present to myself! Check out where we will be diving and staying at http://www.simplelifedivers.com/!

We skip Christmas, save the money, and go splash in the Caribbean for ten days.

                           -Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham

For The Love Of Food

I have been doing really well trying not to miss things from home too much yet. I figure, I still have over 4 months left abroad, so what's the point in dwelling over what I can't have? Well, Chiang Mai has finally made me start thinking of foods that I would give a lot to have. It seems to be the most simple foods that I miss. It was actually a relief to get away from the foods that I ate so often at home, but now, I can't seem to stop thinking about them!

Foods I miss: 

Mexican (Bombers specifically)

Buffalo chicken anything

Cheese (hard to come buy, VERY expensive at grocery store)

Hummus

Wheat thins

Pickles

Avocado
Wine

Mom's ziti and chicken parm

Coffee-mate creamer

Never thought I would miss this "dinner" so much.

I went to Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong three weeks ago. While I was there, we figured out that the city caters to tourists and Westerners, and had many hidden gems for foodies. We stumbled upon Nice Kitchen that weekend, where I had an amazing carrot, cinnamon, and cashew pancake, and vowed to go back again. We kept eating great food in Chiang Mai, so I began researching restaurants before we went again this past weekend. I was getting so excited for these restaurants that I started planning what to eat and when to eat it throughout the weekend. I absolutely love the Thai food I eat all week, but it is nice to have something else to look forward to!

Food I ate this weekend:

Mexican: margaritas, chicken burrito, chips and salsa at El Diablos. The salsa may be the best I have ever had.

Fried chicken sandwich with CHEESE AND TABASCO SAUCE, french fries, onion rings, side salad, and a large Heineken at U.N. Irish Pub.

Plain bagel with grilled chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and avocado at Bagel House Cafe. I even brought a bagel home with me!

Cinnamon french toast with fruit salad (EXTREMELY FRESH banana, papaya, watermelon, pineapple, clementine, and dragon fruit) at Nice Kitchen. Had this meal twice and devoured it both times.

Chocolate pancake with banana. Cannot remember the name of the cafe, but if the pancake wasn't good, I wouldn't be talking about it.

                                      
                         El Diablos                                                                                        Nice Kitchen

I am happy to travel with the people I do because we plan the food we are going to eat just as much as the activities. I have never looked forward to anything like I looked forward to riding elephants but at the same time, I knew that I would be eating bagels this weekend and I had been smiling about that for a week! We talked about bagels at least four times a day leading up to THE day.I am thankful to have made friends who, like me, looked forward to eating just as much as I do.

Good thing we did as much physical activity as we did eating because we were constantly eating! I had a serious breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day on this trip and I am sad that I'll no longer have that variety available to me anymore! But, even as we talked about going back to Chon Buri and the Thai food we constantly consume at home, there is always something to look forward to. Said my skinny-minnie friend Brittany: "My stomach hurts but I really want to eat the chocolate cookies we get on the bus." Then when feeling better on the bus, "I'm definitely going to eat both meals we get tonight." Case in point. Food is important so we eat it, especially when it's free.

Elephant Days

I found my one true love this weekend. He is large and big-boned, has thinning hair on the top of his head, has two long sharp teeth, goes to the bathroom A LOT, and he's Asian. I am luckily not referring to a man, but the elephant I got to have for a day.

Amelia's birthday is December 11th, and in Thailand why not ride an elephant for your birthday?! After researching elephant conservatories for a few weeks, we finally decided on Thai Elephant Home. We wanted to be able to ride bare-back at a place that we knew did not abuse the elephants. I guess you can never truly know that for sure, but from the reviews we read, this place had everything we were looking for, even though it was a bit pricey compared to what we're used to spending. I splurge for elephants.

When we arrived, our fears of what we would actually walk into we're immediately put to rest. We had a briefing from a bubbly Thai man with good English. He gave us the history of the elephant home, told us about the elephants, taught us commands to use, and also explained the stick with a hook that the mahouts, or elephant trainers, would be carrying around. The stick is used for tapping the elephants to guide when they are going astray (which mine often did), and their skin is so thick that it is basically itching a scratch for them. The hook is only used in extreme measures, like if the elephants are fighting, if they are putting someone in danger, or when teaching them not to eat plastic or garbage (we have to teach dogs not to eat our furniture somehow too!). I have heard horror stories of how elephants are treated at some zoos and sanctuaries, and the fact that the guide brought up the hook without anyone asking gave me reassurance that they were being honest with us. Also, the elephants were in perfect shape. No holes in their ears and no gashes on their bodies. It was a great sign and we all felt like we chose a place that genuinely cares for and respects the elephants.

We were given a beautiful change of clothes to wear over our bathing suits (can you hear how sarcastic I'm being?) and off we were to practice getting on and off the elephant. Not so easy and extremely terrifying but, if the 7 year old girl behind me could do it, so could I. When we were done practicing, we got assigned an elephant.

The mahouts must have seen it in my eyes. Terror. I think to mess with me, they gave me the elephant wanderer. The one who was always turning left or right or up or down to look for food. Elephants are vegetarians, so 9 year old Won (pronounced Juan) literally stopped every 30 seconds to try and eat something.

Now, you might be thinking that I was so silly being scared of riding an elephant. I rode one at the Catskill Game Farm when I was about 4 and I was probably fearless then, sitting on the elephant in a basket with the comfort of my sister sitting next to me, but this is no Catskill Game Farm elephant. This is a huge, wild, Asian elephant that I rode with nothing but Won's head, ears, and a rope behind me to hold onto. I have a fear of falling down. My friends can all attest to this weird fear of mine.. Slipping on ice/snow/water and falling, falling backwards on an escalator, falling from climbing/being on a tall surface (another fear I came face to face with while zip lining this weekend), and now I can add falling off of an elephant down the jungle mountain to that list that goes on and on. One thing I know about myself and accept about myself is that I am a chicken, but I always follow through, and this day was no different.

As petrified as I was while my mind was trying to figure out how to balance on this gigantic animal, I had to talk myself down from the fear so that I could enjoy one of the reasons that I came to Thailand in the first place. How could I possibly get through this without falling down the steep mountain to my death?!

I had my own elephant trainer with me the whole day. My mahout walked beside me all morning and all afternoon. He shouted commands at Won when his trunk began to wander to to the nearest tree. He knew I was a chicken. I even flapped my wings at him and said I'm a chicken bawk bawk so he was well aware. Without my mahout, I may have had an anxiety attack.

The balance thing was really stressing me out. If I had a seatbelt, I wouldn't have had one single issue, but who uses seatbelts in Thailand?! So, I had my cheerleaders in front of me talking me through it. My friends were cheering me on, taking millions of pictures (since I couldn't even take one hand off for more than 2 minutes to do so), and told me where it was more comfortable to put my feet. That was a lifesaver. I assumed just hanging my feet made the most sense for my safety, but turns out legs bent behind the ears was the place to be. Once I figured that out, it was smooth sailing. Won was even so nice and smart as to give my legs a boost back up with his ears if they began slipping down.

Amelia and Shelby were directly in front of me and were riding the elephants so effortlessly, like they had been doing it for years. They were my motivation to really take it all in, enjoy myself, and stop worrying so much. I even got myself to take my hands off Won's head for 30 seconds so my mahout could take this picture of me. So glad I did, this picture is worth a thousand words.

Look Ma, no hands!

In the morning, I rode my elephant for about 2 hours straight. I saw amazing views of the jungle and village below. I got to see elephants in their natural environment. They are smart, friendly, curious, and hungry. These enormous creatures were going up and down very narrow paths, along a steep drop of the mountain, all with their four gigantic feet. How they figured that out is beyond me!

We had lunch provided for us, which was a humungous portion of amazing pad Thai, and we gave the banana leaf it came in and any leftovers to one of the elephants.  Then we got big ole elephant kisses! That was just awesome.

I got to have a mud bath all while giving an elephant one as well. We got a free facial! We were encouraged to get all muddy, and then give the elephant a mud and dirt bath. After walking for two hours in the Thai jungle heat, these big guys deserved it. You could tell how much she loved the wet mud, and it was fun for us too! Still nice and dirty, we hopped (more gracefully now after doing it a few times) back onto our elephants to walk for about another hour. Our next destination was the river and my mahout and I gave Won a bath! Won was just like a dog, plunging under water for as long as he could hold his breath, just soaking it all up. Looking around, every single person was smiling and laughing. We were playing with our elephants. I really appreciated them at this moment, and I'd like to think that they were appreciating us as well for washing them clean and letting them take a nice break after working so hard all day. After the river, it took another 20 minutes to walk back to the sanctuary, and then I had to say goodbye to my elephant. It was around 3 pm. I spent a whole entire day with my own elephant and I will never forget it.

This was a once in a lifetime experience. I say this about a lot of the things that I do in Thailand, but unless I come across an inheritance I don't yet know about, I may never even make it to Asia again. I have adored elephants since I was a little girl. I used to collect anything elephant but eventually grew out of that phase and got rid of my collection. I've grown back into that phase again and may become a crazy elephant lady. I now have an elephant collection of bracelets, scarves, necklaces, Thai pants, a hanging rope of colorful elephants (props Erica Wordon), and I was THIS close to spending way too much money on an original painting of an elephant's behind this weekend. I actually may regret not buying that later in life, but for now, I had to think realistically about my financial situation and how much more debt I would be in at home if I went for the splurge. Maybe I'll take up painting in the future and just make my own.

I'm pretty sure nothing will top this experience and I'm okay with that. I conquered a fear and lived out a dream all in one day, and this memory will last forever.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one-hundred percent!
        -Dr. Seuss

Other weekend highlights:

 

                    Jungle hike                                                    Sunrise at Doi Suthep                                                            Zip lining

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving is the second holiday that I have missed. The first was Halloween, but I don't love Halloween so I didn't care to miss it. Thanksgiving on the other hand, I LOVE. Thursday was a bit difficult but here is how I got through it..

Firsts things first. When you're teaching on a holiday in a foreign country, you bring your culture to your students! Amelia made an awesome powerpoint with the basic history of Thanksgiving, the foods we eat, and what we do on that day (aka eat food, nap, and pretend to watch football). Then I talked to them about being thankful and I made them do a typical handprint turkey where they wrote what they were thankful for. Some turkeys became rainbows and some were made into Angry Birds, but I was so happy to be able to share our customs with my students.

Thanksgiving this year also happened to fall on my grandmother's birthday, so I videotaped my students singing to her, and they said a little message at the end. Like the Thanksgiving message I put up on Facebook, it was by far the cutest thing ever. A few periods after we videotaped, my Thai teacher gave me a pad of stationary and she wrote on it, "Happy birthday T Laura, From T Ae." As much as I tried explaining that it was not my birthday but my grandmother's, it was lost in translation and became my birthday for the day. One of the most awkward encounters ever, but presents are always much appreciated.

With much anticipation all day, we finally headed to Pooky and Erik's for Thanksgiving dinner (no I do not know Pooky or Erik, but they were amazing and cooked for us at their restaurant). A whole turkey. Mashed potatoes. Stuffing. Carrots and snow peas. Bread and butter. Apple pie. Blueberry pie. Pumpkin pie. I think it was the first time I have actually been full in Thailand. If only there had been a couch to lay on immediately after! It was a delicious meal and it really did make the holiday seem as real as it possibly could. I was surrounded by new friends that I have made over the past month and we made the best out of the holiday!

Gravy and everything!

This past year has really been one of ups and downs, but even when times have been tough, there is always something to be thankful for. There are a million things that I could list right now, but I'll leave it at this:
        I am thankful for the opportunity that I have in Thailand. Although I don't love every minute, I am always happy to have a teaching job.
        I am thankful for my students who make being here well-worth it.
        I am thankful for my coworkers who are always in the same boat as me.
        I am thankful that I haven't gotten hit by a motorbike (yet).
        I am thankful that I haven't gotten malaria, even if I think I have the symptoms once a week.
        I am thankful that my time difference between America allows me to talk to my family and friends plenty every day.
        I am thankful for being safe. I was in Bangkok this past weekend when tensions were at a high. Some voilent protests occured and I am happy to have steared clear, even though this meant missing out on lots of sight seeing.

Next year, I hope to be thankful that this experience led me to a job that I love in the Sates!