A Quick Turn Around

So originally, I was supposed to go to a town and province of the same name: Chaiyaphum. Lonely planet describes Chaiyaphum as a place where "you're almost as likely to run into a tiger as a foreign tourist- and this is not a province known for tigers". So that's a comforting thought... NOT!

And then everything changed last minute.

In the last week of the course, I found out that my placement got cancelled and the Placement team at Xplore Asia was working tirelessly to find me a new placement. Great. After about 36 hours, I found out that I would now be placed in the deep south, in a province and town called Satun. Satun is mountainous and forested and is a small town, roughly 30,000 people and is described as a "sleepy" little place, where tourists stop by on their way to the islands or Malaysia (I am a stones throw away from the border). The islands in the Andaman Sea are part of a Marine National Park and are very popular for diving and snorkeling! The most famous ones are Ko Tarutao, Ko Adang, Ko Rawi, and Ko Lipe.

(It's that little red province down South and on the West coast)

Bangkok is 940 km north of Satun, and from where I ma in Hua Hin, it will take me 12 hours by bus to get there. I leave tonight at 9 pm to arrive in the morning to meet with my agent and start the search for housing! So wish me luck!

(Mueang Satun is my city and it's the red dot in the middle)

But anyways, about my school. I will be teaching in a very respectable and prominent Private school in Satun and will be working with Primary grade kiddos (ages 6-12). I think this will be a great fit and I am so excited for this move! It will be weird and hard at first (not to mention lonely) but I will make the best of it like I always do! I'm so excited to start my teaching journey!

In other news, I GRADUATED! We completed the 120 hour TESOL certification course and had a graduation ceremony on Thursday to receive our teaching certificates and say goodbye to our amazing teachers! My instructors, Justin and Jessica were amazing and super helpful throughout the course. I learned so much and feel more than prepared to deal with the rigors of teaching English in a Thai classroom.

Well, that's all for now! It's been a hectic week and it will be a busy next few days! Till next time!

And so it begins...

This was by far the longest and most draining week I have experienced in Thailand. We started on Sunday, so that we would have enough time to prepare and practice for the English camp we would be working at on Thursday and Friday. We started our TESOL instruction and learned about classroom management, teaching styles, TESOL theory and effective teaching methods.

Our instructors, Justin and Jessica, are phenomenal and have provided us with so much information and feedback about how we can be the best teachers and how to adapt in the classroom. Their lessons have been insightful, thorough, and nerve wracking! Not gonna lie, I’m freaking out about the fact that I will be teaching English and that feeling of distress has only grown. I was really nervous to begin with, but now that I will be finding out my placement as early as tomorrow… AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Photo Credit: James Levin

I could be placed anywhere in this country with a variety of accommodations, and hearing everyone’s stories has forced me not to have any preconceived notions of where and what I will get. Whoa.

But, I have been enjoying myself. I have had some amazing experiences, have made some great friends, and have learned so much about myself and what I want out of my life. I have already learned that this is not what I expected at all, and that it is dumb to go anywhere and do anything like this with a picturesque idea of hanging on the beach teaching perfect little Thai children English and having fabulous days everyday. The reality is that I will be in a school, god knows where, most likely with no aircon and sweating buckets while teaching little hellions how to say “happy” and “sad” and whatever other lessons I make up.

All I can say is that I am so beyond happy that I made the decision to take the TESOL course here in country so I was able to acclimate myself to not only the heat and humidity, but the rigors of teaching English when no one understands what you are saying.

Oh, and I went to this super beautiful cave called the Phraya Nakhon Cave. One of the kings of Thailand had a temple built underneath a naturally formed skylight and it is, in a word, enchanting. It was in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park (meaning “three hundred peaks”) and it was quite the hike to get to, but totally worth it! These kinds of experiences are why I came to Thailand, and the thrill of them is why I am glad I have stayed!

Stayed tuned for my placement update!

Good Morning America!

Well it's night for me, but morning for you all... I'm still working on this time difference thing!

Thailand has been such a whirlwind learning experience for me thus far, and it can only continue! After my 26 hours of travel, I finally arrived in Bangkok- the capital city and the largest city in Thailand. I was overwhelmed! There was so much happening and so many sights, smells, sounds, and people EVERYWHERE! (For those of you that know my Pamplona story, Bangkok might have it beat!)

While in Bangkok we (some girls who were on my flight from Tokyo to Bangkok) had heard about some cool river boat tours so thought that would be an awesome way to see the city! So we hopped on a Tuk Tuk thinking we were going to the main river boat hub... not so. 1. We got ripped off by the drivers and paid WAY too much and 2. they took us to their buddies on a weird little boat who in turn ripped us off by not doing the tour we all thought we signed up for and paid too much for! Whatever. So the tour was nice, it was cool to see the city by boat, the water was icky brown, blah blah blah. We get off at a market, look around and then go find Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This was the highlight of Bangkok for me! Is was so cool and the Buddha itself is like 40 meters long and 15 meters high! HUGE! and the Wat (Temple) was gorgeous! Leaving was another story. We thought we were getting a good deal from this van driver, but we shoved 8 girls into a taxi van! We were shoved in so tight, I didn't think the door was gonna stay closed! I've never been so cramped in my life! We literally fell out when we opened the doors!

Day 2 in Bangkok was a failure. We never found what we were looking for and ended up giving up after a couple of false directions and went back to hang out in the hotel pool. That night we had our Xplore Asia orientation meeting, met the group of people we would be with for the next month, and lickity split hopped on a bus to Hua Hin the next morning!

Hua Hin is GREAT! I like it here so much better than Bangkok! It's much more relaxed, it's a smaller city, and the beach is here, so that's cool! Our first week was jam packed full of excursions and introductions to TESOL theory and Thai language and culture.

We went to a Muay Thai gym (Thai martial arts/ boxing) and learned the basics with some very experienced and fun instructors. We went to a pineapple farm and got to see them growing and ate some freshly picked goods. Visited an elephant sanctuary! I about died from joy! These creatures are so amazing and they were all so loving! There was this baby girl elephant named Song Kran who was born April 13, 2008 (We share a birthday!) who would play soccer and hug you! Ah it was just too cute! Then we went to a Temple and were blessed by a Monk who also dabbles in magic and other religions. Finally, we visited Xplore Asia's non-profit, Rescue Paws. This group focuses on combating the stray dog population in Hua Hin and get these dogs back to good health and snip the boys so that they stop producing litters of dogs doomed for the same fate. If you're interested (which you should be!) Go to their Facebook page and check the out! the link is below:

https://www.facebook.com/RescuePawsThailand

The Thai Language and culture lessons are great! "Thai language is easy!" as our instructor Pear loves to point out! And what do you know?! Thai is easy! Kinda... There is one verb tense- present, so that's real nice after learning Spanish which has about a thousand various tenses, so this is a nice change! The only problem is that Thai is a tonal language, so say the word "maa" wrong and you could be talking about riding a HORSE on the beach, or a DOG on the beach! Fun stuff huh? But slowly I'm getting it! I can do simple greetings, counting, and a few other simple phrases. I'm sure that once I'm placed in a Thai town where it is very possible I'm the only Westerner, I'll pick it up much faster!

Yeah so placement is starting to amp up! We had our initial meeting already to discuss what we want, are hoping for, or expect, and have our second meeting this week, where we could already have some job offers! Scary stuff! I decided to chuck any preferences I had and just go with whatever they gave me. It all works out in the end right? Doesn't help the fact that I'm shitting my pants a bit about this whole process! But I think I'll become more comfortable with the idea that I'm actually going to be teaching English in Thailand... Taking the TESOL course here was the smartest decision because we get real world application and practice before being thrown to the wolves.

So long post. End. I had a crazy first week here in Thailand and cannot wait to see what the rest of my time in Hua Hin brings!