Week 1 is in the Books!

Ok, so I messed around and let too long go by without an update, so now I've got quite a bit to report. So lets not waste any time with pleasantries and dive right in.

After our short and scary run in with the motor bikes, we spent a few days visiting schools and doing interviews so that all of us could be placed at schools. I've been selected to teach at Wattana Wittaya Academy for girls. For the first few weeks I'll be shadoing several teachers around the school to "get me sea legs" so to speak, but when I finally get my own classes I will be teaching an Intensive English Course to students in Pratom 4 (Elementary Grade 4) and regular converstational English to students in Pratom 6 (Elem. Grade 6) The grades are a little different here, so just go with me. If you want a detailed explanation hit up wikipedia or something.

The mentality toward new teachers here is very interesting. It's very much a sink or swim situation. On the first day we were to be shadowing, I was asked to stay back at the office to fill in for a teacher that had called out sick on a private lesson with a 6 yr old boy....needless to say I was pretty nervous going into it, but once we got going we were ok. Kaboon (his name though it sounds a lot like a cleaning product somebody yells at you in the states) knew a lot more English than I expected him to, and did surprisingly well considering he had a 2 hr lesson. Whoever thought scheduling a private lesson for 2 hrs with a 6 yr old was a good idea has never taught a 2 hr lesson to a 6 yr old. The lesson went off without a hitch except for at about 20 minutes in Kaboon looked at me and said "TeeeCha, Toy-li" to which I responded "no Kaboon we'll play with toys later, right now can you tell me what letter snake starts with?" His urgent reply "TEECHA, TOILET!!" After which he went tearing up the stairs into the women's bathroom, forgetting to close the door which solicited quite the laugh from all the ladies in the office as I tried to keep up with him up the stairs and pull the door shut just as he was beginning to...well, you know.

After that slightly stressful engagement, we had a four day weekend because of a Bhuddist holiday, so we went to Pattaya, which is south east of Bangkok, on the coast. We saw an elephant show (which was pretty freaking awesome). These elephants did all sorts of things: played soccer, rode bikes (not the motorized kind), played darts, painted, and a lot of other stuff i can't remember right now. After that we went to the beach for an hour or so, then came back to Bangkok to enjoy the rest of our long weekend.

Oh, here's a fun story. They told us before we arrived that when we got here it would be in the middle of the rainy season, which was odd because for the first few days we were here, we didnt see a drop of rain. Until. One day we were walking back from the office (we walk places here...despite the having to put your life on the line to do so). So, we're walking back and the bottom falls out. We're talking rain drops the size of house pets). We were all wearing our professional attire and I couldn't run because I had just slipped my shoes back on (we take them off when we go into the office) and I didn't take the time to re-tie them. So needless to say, we got drenched. It was terrible.

As promised, this time I've got a few pictures. These are of my apartment, of which you'll all be super jealous!


This is my bed. The sheets were picked out by some of the thai women who work in the office...they have CareBears on them. Also, notice no blankets to cover with...you don't need them when it's a million degrees outside.


This is my little (very) vanity/desk situation, and my wardrobe where all of my teacher clothes are.

And last but not least.


This is my toilet! You'll notice it is western in style (thank God). Look closely though, and you'll see what appears to be what one would use to wash dishes in the sink off to the left of the picture...lets just say that one isn't for dishes.

Mai Pen Rai!!

Day 1

Ok, so I don't have a lot of time to post right now. More to come later, just a quick story.

Today, our guides came to pick us up from our apartment building to go to the office. We were all dressed in professional atire, as requested...and were expecting the same van we'd used to come home from the airport. Then a fleet of six motorbikes come around the corner...you know what comes next.

I crammed my American size ass on the back of a tiny little bike, held on to my briefcase with my left hand and death gripped the driver's shoulder with my right as we flew down the road at close to 45 mph...did I have a helmet? no.

Here's to already pushing Mai Pen Rai to the limit.

Hopefully I have pictures with the next post!

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...Be Back in 10 Months!

So I think its only proper for a travel blog to have at least one posting before the actual trip itself starts to give some insight as to the writer and what he hopes for in the coming trip. So here goes...

On the off chance that someone who doesn't know me already finds this blog: Firstly, I'm sorry if its not funny...I'm trying! Second, a bit about myself. I recently graduated from college with a BA, I majored in Political Science. After four years of an AMAZING college experience I have NO idea what I want to do now. So naturally, I've decided to go teach English in a country that I've never been to, that speaks a language I can't, having never taught a day in my life. Sounds fun, right? (That reminds me, you should know two things before you read any more: 1. I'm a little ADD sometimes so if you are expecting logical flow or a well organized masterpiece then stop reading now...you won't like this. 2. I have the punctuation skills of a remedial high schooler. I get it. I won't need you to critique it, just get past it. If, you, cant', stop; reading, now> This blog is really gonna, piss, you off (sometimes I'm going to punctuate sentences (or fragments) incorrectly just to keep you guessing at how remedial remedial really is.)

I am not the kind of person that one would expect to embark on this kind of experience. I enjoy being in an environment where I'm comfortable. I like knowing everyone around me and being able to make them laugh (with me or at me, it doesn't matter). I have lots of friends but they are all truly my friends. I can open up to them and they (hopefully) feel like they can open up to me. I love these people and it is a little ridiculous to even begin to imagine being away from them for 10 months. But that is exactly why I'm going on this trip. To find out who I am, separate of all of that. It's really not as existential as it sounds...I promise.

This trip is organized through at new program at the school I've just graduated from so it has been all the things you would expect of a new program. Details have been (and still are) sparce, but the excitement is definately there. I'm traveling with 5 other recent grads from my school and honestly, I shit you not, we know little more than what plane to get on, and that once we get to Thailand we will be teaching at some school, maybe together, maybe not. Which is where the title of this blog comes in.

"Mai Pen Rai" is a very popular Thai phrase that from what I've learned really sums up Thai culture. It means "nothing really matters that much", "nothing is that important", "Hakuna Matata" or "chill the fuck out." Which is interesting because things REALLY DO matter that much to me, things ARE that important to me. When I said "SEMI" high strung under the title, it was really just to make myself feel better. So Mai Pen Rai will be a huge challenge for me. But hopefully an interesting one to read about for you.

Wow...all that and I wasn't even sure I wanted to post before I left. Hopefully future posts will be shorter. I leave Monday July 19th 2010. After that, my goal is to post weekly...we'll just have to see how that goes. Follow the blog if ya want, I hope you enjoy reading it almost as much as I enjoy my trip and hopefully my struggles provide you some comic relief.

Until next time,
Mai Pen Rai!