Back Home

I've been home for two and a half weeks. Everyone's been asking me the same question, “how does it feel to be home?” So far, it's not as weird as I thought it would be. I also think I prepared myself pretty well for the worst, so it doesn't seem that bad. It also helps that I was ready to come home, and that I was excited to be back in the States. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Thailand, and I LOVED teaching, and it was EXTREMELY difficult to say goodbye to my students, but I was also happy to come home. It also helped that I was traveling for five weeks before planting myself in the U.S. After 5 weeks of backpacking, I wanted my own bed and my own non-finicky hot shower.

Things I missed

-CLOTHES: I didn't realize how much fashion is an expression is of one's personality until it was taken away from me and I was forced to cover up my chest, underarms, and legs. In Thailand, I had the opportunity to wear flowy skirts and dresses that both covered up what needed to be covered up, yet still allowed me to breathe in 100 degree weather. Yet at the same time, I looked like I was going to go pick flowers in a field on the side of a mountain. Oh peasant skirts, I do not miss you one bit. It's been so refreshing to be in a country where I CAN FIT INTO THE CLOTHES! No more shopping at Big-C and buying the largest size possible!! I've been shopping up a storm over the last two weeks thanks to Black Friday shopping and pre-christmas sales. Although, I guess I should mention that part of all the shopping is because most of my old clothes (my pants) don't fit because of all the wonderful Thai eating weight I put on...oh well, it's a good excuse for new clothes!

-Diversity: it's SO refreshing to walk down the street and not be the only farang. I am not the only person of color in this city NOR the only person who is not a size zero. Although I'm still not used to this as I noticed today that I continue to stare at everyone on the street. Oops.

-Food: It's really nice to go to a restaurant, order off the menu, and get exactly what I ordered with no surprises.

-Tap water: Did you know that you can drink the water straight from your kitchen sink and all you have to do is let it run for like 30 seconds?! Two weeks after reentry and this is STILL mind-blowing to me.

-Walking. On sidewalks wider than one person's body width: so glorious. I really missed long strolls through the city.

-Fall: you are crisp, warm, and wonderful. And you allow me to bundle up in a cute, cozy sweater. Thanks.

-Boots: I've missed you SO MUCH!

-BAGELS: First I ate you toasted with butter. Then I ate you toasted with sausage, egg, and cheese. I never want to go another year without eating you ever again.

-Understanding everything that people say (although this is both a curse and virtue): yay, everyone around me is speaking English and I can respond rapidly and efficiently!

Things I did not miss:

-The freezing cold tundra of the Northeast: okay, to be fair, it's actually been REALLY warm so far. But still, it's a difficult change from 85 degrees everyday. I'm slowly coming to terms with this.

-the cost of living. WHY IS EVERYTHING SO DAMN EXPENSIVE?! Why doesn't food cost a dollar?! The other night I went out with my friends, and after thinking it over profusely, reluctantly spent spent 15 DOLLARS on a Long Island Iced Tea. 15 DOLLARS! Yes, even my friends realized that deserved a big WTF?!

-People being unnecessarily rude: why can't we all just jai yen yen and put on a nice big smile?

Laos and Bali

After 3 days of packaged tours in Vietnam, it was really nice to sit back and just relax in Laos. We had originally planned to do some kayaking, rafting, maybe some trekking and an overnight stay in a hilltribe village, but when we got to Laos we were just so tired from running around on tours that we didn't sign up for anything. Luang Prabang is a quiet town on the Mekong river surrounded by lush, green mountains. For a place that everyone raves about, I was surprised by how quiet it was. I thought it would be the Chiang Mai of Laos, packed to the brim with foreigners, little sois popping out everywhere. But no. In fact it wasn't crowded at all. There weren't foreigners walking around with their shirts off (in fact, there are signs everywhere in LP that forbid you to do this), there didn't seem to be many foreigners at all. The most I saw at one time was at the night bazaar, and even at the night market there weren't hoards of tourists that usually make it impossible to walk down the aisles and shop. Perhaps it's because we went in the off season? Whatever the reason, it was lovely. For four days, we woke up without alarms, enjoyed slow mornings at Joma (a cafe around the corner from our guesthouse), ate Lao sandwiches on fluffy French bread, and in the afternoons, explored LP while sweating profusely. It was really hot! We rented bicycles, went to a waterfall and hiked up to the top tier which had breathtaking views of the mountains, and went to a local swimming pool (the ONLY public swimming pool in LP) which provided an interesting glimpse of the backpacker scene in LP.

After LP it was off to Van Vieng for the infamous tubing. Well, Jamie and I wanted to go tubing, Mall did not. Unfortunately, she didn't get to do anything in VV as she got really sick from food poisoning. Why is the tubing in VV so infamous? Its because it's drunk tubing. You rent a tube and go down the river, but all along the river are makeshift bars with beer, whiskey buckets, BBQs, and a DJ. They even have water slides! Did I mention that each bar gives you a complimentary,I mean, obligatory whiskey shot?! Yes, you're pretty much forced to take the shot. The best part is the way they reel you into the bars. The bars are along the river, but there's a pretty strong current (at least at the beginning) pulling you down the river. So, to get you out of the water, they throw you an empty water battle attached to a long rope and pull you in. I had bruises just from this. While tubing was really fun, it is also pretty dangerous. One person a year drowns at this place and I'm surprised the number isn't higher. People get really drunk here and the current is pretty strong! Luckily, Jamie and I walked away with just a couple of battle scars (mostly from brushing up against the rocks trying to get out of the water). If you haven't guessed by now, VV is the Spring Break of Laos and the town completely runs on tourism. Yet, the only time VV seemed trashy was at night, after 6pm, when we'd be eating dinner and people were walking down the streets still soaking wet, still in their bathing suits, and drunk off their asses. It was really nice being there in the low season; I can't imgaine what it's like in the high season. I would imagine something similar to Cancun or Girls Gone Wild.

Laos is a beautiful country with only 4 million people. This is probably because the country is so mountainous. I was constantly blown away by the view. The bus ride from LP to VV was a trek: 6 hours on a winding road through the mountains. Although it was a beautiful view, it was nothing close to relaxing or even comfortable due to the millions of potholes in the road and praying that we wouldnt fall off the side of the mountain. And thankfully, in VV we stayed at a wonderful guesthouse off the main drag away from all the crazy backpackers. The backyard of our guesthouse looked out towards bright green rice fields and karsts jutting out from nowhere. Magnificent. 

Backyard at the guesthouse in VV

 

After saying goodbye to the beauty of Laos, it was off to Bali. But first we had to get to Bangkok, which was (and still is) flooded. Praying that we'd be able to make it to the airport and that our flight wouldn't be delayed,we had a journey to make. From our guesthouse in VV, we took a minibus to the bus station, took a 4 hour bus ride to Vientienne, got off the bus, then back on the same bus, got dropped off at some random guesthouse where a songtaew picked us up and took us to the train station, got on a mini train (10min ride) across the Laos-Thai border and then finally, FINALLY, got on our sleeper train to BKK. I didn't get a goodnight's sleep on the train because they kept the lights on and the air con was blasting. At 9:30am the next morning, we had arrived in Bangkok.Whew.

Oh yeah, and then we spent the night in the airport so we could catch our 6am flight to Bali. I'm not really complaining though. This was the first time our lives resembled anything close to the typical backpacker experience.

Bali. We arrived and it was hot and humid. Ugh. First we were off to Ubud (land of Elizabeth Gilbert and Eat, Pray, Love) to meet up with our friends Gina and Lana. Ubud is really pretty. It has a hippie vibe but in a modern, clean, and upscale way. Tons of boutique shops with clothes in beautiful patterns and prints (lots of paisley) and really nice jewelry stores. I wanted to buy everything! Lots of cute cafes, yoga shops, etc. with a holistic health vibe. I liked it. Like Gilbert said in EPL, Indonesians live on family compounds with most of their family living together. The guesthouses of Bali, which are called homestays, are inside these family compounds. After 4 days at Ubud we moved to Sanur a beach town (Ubud is 30 mins from the beach) to go snorkeling, and, to go the beach! We went snorkeling with an interesting man by the name of Monte, whih was awesome. After some difficulties in the beginning with my snorkeling gear, I had a great time. We went to see some manta rays, but none could be found. In the afternoon, after a delicious lunch on board our boat,we got to see lots of fishies swimmin around, ones in bright neon colors I have never seen before! I felt like I was in my very own Planet Earth series!

On Thursday, we were blessed to have a beautiful (and much-needed) sunny day. Jamie and I went off to the beach while Mal and Caitlin went to yoga. We were crying with happiness. Up until now, we hadn't had the best of luck with the weather. It had been humid, cloudy and/or rainy for the past 7 days! We didn't realize it would still be rainy season in Bali. Until Thursday we were disappointed in Bali. Yet maybe it was mother nature answering our prayers, but since then, it has been sunny every day! We are now in Candidasa (pronounced Chandi Dasa) and our resort has a pool and is right on the water. I could not be happier. This is what we had all been waiting for! For the past three days we've been living in eternal bliss. I never want to leave! 

Although, it will be nice to be back in America in 3 days.  :-D

Taybro and his harem! Enjoying our last few days in Bali

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The Big Trip (Part 1)

Cambodia: Siem Riep and Phnom Penh

I was pleasantly surprised by Cambodia. I had spoken to people who had traveled to Cambodia, and everyone had the same thing to say; outside of Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh, there isn't much else. I was also warned about the poverty and begging in Cambodia, and told to be careful; "it's not like Thailand" everyone said. Yet, just like in Thailand, I expected one thing, and the complete opposite happenedm. I loved Cambodia! 

Angkor Wat

We spent three days in Siem Riep, which is where Angkor Wat is. Angkor Wat is the largest religious strucutre in the world, and has been in continuous use since it was built in the 1100s. Angkor Wat is of course magnificent and the other temples are just as amazing. On Day 2 we biked around to three different temples in the area, and by the end of the day I thought my legs were going to fall off. Of course the gears on my bike were really tight so I had to bike twice as far to get anywhere. But whatever, my lazy ass needed the exercise. On Day 3 we got up early to experience Angkor Wat at dawn. Just beautiful.

In addtion to Angkor Wat, our guesthouse, and the city of Siemp Riep were both lovely. Siemp Reap is built up to accomodate all of the tourists who come to see Angkor Wat, and as a result, EVERYONE in the city speaks English! It was great to be able to communicate with others in an easy manner! Our guesthouse was also wonderful. They provided free tuk tuk service throughout town. The people running the guesthouse took such good care of us, we felt like part of their family!

After Angkor we headed to Phnom Penh, for the more educational part of our trip. In Phnom Penh we went to the S21 prison, which was a high school turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. We also went to the killing fields. Both were disturbing and upstting; upsetting because I didn't learn about the Cambodian Genocide in school, so it's unbelievable that this happened while the world turned a blind eye. Without giving too much boring history, Pol Pot was batshit crazy. He was a radical communist who, after going to school in France, wanted to create “collective farms” and a class struggle between capitalists and workers. He wanted to return Cambodia to an agrarian society. Yet these “collective farms” were forced labor farms and he created his agrarian society by forcing everyong to the countryside. On April 17, 1975, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh, and forced everyone out. They shut down schools, offices, religious sites, pagodas, and took people from their homes. Within four days, the city was empty. Pol Pot basically went on a killing spree, killing anyone who was an intellectual (lawyers, judges, professors) or thought to be a CIA or KGB spy. Wearing glasses was a sign of being an intellectual. He got rid of schools, a monetary system, and almost anything else that makes a society function. If you were not killed right away you were brought to S21 or another prison camp (or labor camp) were you were then tortured or worked to death. After being tortured for a while you were then sent to the killing fields. Out of the 20,000 people who were sent to S21, only 7 people survived. ONLY SEVEN!

I could go on and on about the atrocities committed by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, but I won't. The basic line is that he killed anywhere from 1 to 3 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979, which is just horrific. Even worse, is that he was basically off the hook. His only punishment was house arrest.

Vietnam

After a somber two days in Phnom Penh, it was off to Vietnam! We spent two nights in Ho Chi Minh in the Southern part of Vietnam. HCM is a vibrant city with tons and TONS of motorbikes! Crossing the street in Vietnam is a bit scary, because there is so much traffic; you can only walk forward very slowly, and bikes and cars don't stop for you, they just slow down and whiz around you. In HCM, we went to the War Remnants Museum about the Vietnam War. It was very interesting to view the war from a non-American perpsective. Needless to say, this museum focused on the atrocities committed by the Americans during the War. I had a flashback to my American Studies 1960s class at Skidmore, because a lot of what we covered in that class on the War was seen throughout the museum.

Right now we are in Hanoi. It is SO nice and cool up here! Cambodia was SO HOT, but Hanoi is very similar to Chiang Rai. It's wonderful to be able to walk around and not be constantly sweating! In Hanoi I got to meet up with a friend from Skidmore. Jay just moved here three weeks ago, so we had a nice joint discovery walking tour of the city.

Today we got back from Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. Halong Bay is absolutely breath-taking with it's blue-green waters and limestone cliffs (3,000 islands) jutting out. It looks just like Pirates of the Caribbean! On Halong Bay we stayed in a traditional Vietnamese “junk” boat. We went swimming and kayaking, while on Cat Ba Island we went biking and to the beach. Both were great, but short-lived. I would love to go back some day because it was just so beautiful and incredible!

Halong Bay

Tomorrow we are off to Perfume Pagoda, which is a complex of Buddhist temples built into limestone mountains. It is similar to Halong Bay, but instead of being on the sea, it is on a river.

Soon we are off to Laos for a week followed by 10 days in Bali! Part 2 of this trip to come soon!

TWO WEEKS LEFT!

Anxiety just rushed through me, because I realized I only have TWO weeks left in Chiang Rai! This is absolutely crazy. Crazy and scary. And overwhelming. I hate leaving a place, and I hate saying goodbye. I especially hate saying goodbye to a change. It's extremely difficult to pack up your belongings (both physically and metaphorically), close the door behind you, and move on to a new chapter of your life. It's lt acknowledge that “time is up”, that you have to move on. It's even worse when you have to say goodbye to people and places you know you may never see again. I remember back in Denmark when I had to say goodbye to the children and staff at the Danish preschool I volunteered at; it was strange knowing I would never, ever, see those people again. And now that time has come again. There is so much symbolism in goodbyes: change, growth, moving forward, happiness, sadness, experience. As a result, my departure from Thailand is a mixed baggage of emotions. I am anxious to say goodbye to a place I have called home for the last year. I am extremely sad to say goodbye to some of my students. I wish I could stay just to continue to watch them grow as intellectuals and as individuals. I don't know when or if I will ever see them again. I desperately want to take them all home with me to New York, because I know they would fall in love with the city. It hurts knowing that I will be so far away from them. Thank goodness for Facebook and email! Yet I am somewhat at ease since I have post-Thailand plans in place. Knowing that I will be going to Turkey to be an au pair and English teacher makes leaving Thailand a lot easier. I'm not going into the unknown, I'm just moving on to do something else. And while I thought I would not be ready to leave Thailand after a year, I am. I'm so ready. I'm so ready to be at home for 7 weeks during the holiday season when everyone is happy, you can feel it all around you. There's a glow on everyone's faces and a warmth in the air. It truly is a magical time of year. I am ready to be with friends and family, although I know it will be an extremely difficult transition. However, I am glad I am leaving Thailand on a high note, when I am still in love with this country, and do not feel like I've been here too long. I know that I will always want to come back, and it's comforting to know that I have people here who will want me to come back.

So here's to the next two weeks of laughs and cries; of reflection, of being thankful, and hopefully leaving on a happy ending. It sure will be a bumpy ride!

It's About Time!

Today was our the English Department's goodbye party for Jessie and I. Although there are two weeks left in the semester (three weeks until I leave, almost four Jessie), P'Soy leaves on Monday for her America! Our goodbye party was held at the Rimkok hotel on the river, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch buffet. I was stuffed! All was wonderful until Jessie and I had to give our “thank you” speeches at the end of the meal; needless to say we both bawled our eyes out.

Yet what happened after lunch is the reason for this blog post: I FINALLY got to hang out with my teacher OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL HOURS! P'kop called me to see if I was free to go to her house and of course I said yes. She took me to her house where I met her husband, hung out in her “business” (she rents out small houses) and sat on the floor while we ate apples and guava. We then got our hair washed (in Thailand when you get your hair down they shampoo and condition it TWICE and give you a 20 minute head massage!) I also stayed and had dinner with her family. It was just a lovely afternoon, and it was so nice to catch up with P'kop and engage in girl talk. We never really have time in the office to have long talks, so it was really special to just sit on the floor of her house, snack on fruit, and chit chat.

Playing Catch Up

Okay, so I haven't updated my blog in about six weeks. Clearly, I suck at this. Honestly, I think it's because so many little things happen in my life at once that it seems both trivial and overwhelming to write about it all. In July, I traveled to Ubon Ratchatani for the Candle Festival as well as to visit our Far East Friends Gina and Ari. The Candle Festival was awesome. In honor of the rainy season and marking the beginning of Buddhist Lent, Thai people carve huge, elaborate candles from wax, turn them into floats, and parade them through the center of town before they are made as offerings at a temple. Such wonderful artwork and dedication! I'm glad I had the opportunity to witness such a unique holiday.

August brought lots of random days off from school (so much so that the first week of September was the first time I was seeing some of my classes in a MONTH). We had a long weekend for the Queens birthday so a bunch of Fulbrighters got together in Chiang Mai to celebrate the fabulous birthdays of Jamie Giles and Mallory Reed. In Chiang Mai I FINALLY got the chance to ride and spend the whole day with ELEPHANTS, and it was oh so glorious, a dream come true! I think elephants might be the best animals out there. The best was learning how to ride on a baby elephant and then getting massaged by him! Although climbing up on top of the adult elephant was terrifying and I actually thought I would fall to my death at first!

It is now September, which is my LAST MONTH OF TEACHING! More about my feelings on this later, I just wanted to get a quick blog with some pictures up to get up to speed.

Chinese temple in Chiang Rai

I'm constantly blown away by the natural beauty of Chiang Rai

ELEPHANTS!

nothin like an elephant kiss to get the day started!

On Being a Real Teacher

So far this semester has been a lot different than last semester. For starters, I really enjoy teaching now. I think this can be attributed to a more consistent schedule; I actually see my students every week because there are very few holidays or trips that cause class to be canceled. My new m4 students are great, absolutely adorable. They are SO nice to me, unlike 5/4 and sometimes 5/3. As m4 students they're in 10^th grade, so they are teenagers, but they're still young enough where they respect me as a teacher. They even say hello to me OUTSIDE OF CLASS! It’s a miracle. In class, they even say “teacher Leah” not just “teacher”. I just love it, and them; they are just SO sweet. Even the “bad” kids really aren't that bad, just a little loud and noisy, but they still listen to me (most days).

New this year is the structure of classes. I now have six m4 classes instead of four, which means less kids in a class. I also have two mahidom classes (AP class) and two EIS classes. So mahidom is now 4/1 and 4/2 with 24 kids in each, EIS is now 4/3 and 4/4 also with 24 kids in each, and 4/5, 4/6 are regular classes with 30 kids in each. It makes such a difference to have smaller class sizes; I feel like I know more of my students in each class.

This semester I feel like I'm actually accomplishing things with my students. At least with m4. For my mahidom classes there is A LOT I am supposed to cover in my 1 hour a week class. Covering all of the material is actually impossible and it is clear that the individuals who create the national syllabus are not actual teachers, because if they were they would know that teaching students how to write an essay takes more than just one 50-minute period.

So far this semester, I have taught my mahidom classes (4/1 and 4/2) how to summarize an article, how to write a 5-paragraph essay, and how to research and give a presentation on a global issue. Did I mention I've done all of this in the last 6 weeks? This is a drastic change from last semester when every other week my classes were canceled or we didn't have school. Last year I felt like my job was to put on a song and dance for my students; I didn't really know what I was doing, nor did I follow the syllabus because it was extremely difficult to stay on course when I was only guaranteed to see 4 out of 8 of my classes each week. Yet this semester is different. This semester I need to have my shit together; I have to walk into class knowing what's up and knowing the topic at hand. For my mahidom classes, the challenge has been being able to explain things in clear, simple language. This has been hard because I've been teaching them things that are so innate for me. How old was I when I first learned how to write a 5-paragraph essay and summarize an article? I was definitely younger than 15-16 years old. How do I explain something to them that I've had to do countless times before, and, furthermore, why are they just learning how to do this now, from a foreign teacher?

It's been an interesting experience teaching my students “real” stuff. I have had the chance to really reflect on my own educational upbringing. I've realized how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to go to a good high school and have teachers in elementary school and middle school who put great emphasis on writing. Knowing how to write an essay (or writing anything down in English for that matter) where one's ideas are written in an organized matter and flow in a logical way, is important in getting one's point across and writing a substantial argument. When things don't flow, it's difficult to understand what the writer is trying to say. At first I found this strange that my students didn't already know how to write an essay in English. I assumed the format would be the same in Thai as it is in English. Yet, in Thai, there are no punctuation marks, nor are there spaces between words. I think this is why my students don't already know how to write an essay in English; because they don't have the same structure in Thai, but not I'm not exactly sure.

What's been the most difficult aspect of this process is plagiarism. I didn't try hard enough to combat plagiarism when my student's were researching their topics for their projects. Plagiarism is a huge problem in Thailand. Students are constantly copying and pasting from the internet, and this includes college and grad school students. Students even plagiarize on their thesis! When I tell my students that such actions would get a person kicked out of college in the U.S., they're shocked, but of course it doesn't motivate them to do better. And yet reflecting back on this now, I realize, how could it? English is not their native language nor are they fluent, so how can I expect them to “translate” their research into their own words? However, at the same time, I know for a fact that when they do copy and paste, they use big words (because they're straight up copying) without knowing what they mean. I would love to teach them how to paraphrase, but right now that seems just a bit unrealistic. Instead, I'm just going to be happy with what I have accomplished.

My New Chinese Roommate

My new Chinese roommate's name is Leung, or Antony (pronounced “Anthony”). I call him Antony because Leung sounds too much like my own name; plus, he likes to go by Antony. If an alien could come down to Earth to observe human behaviors, it would be in the form of Antony. He even has a semi-alien/robotic voice, and he chooses his words very carefully when speaking in English so that he doesn't mess up. The way he maneuvers his body is alien-like as he somehow seems to not quite fit into his surroundings. I by all means do not view any of these characteristics as negative or annoying. In fact, these are the very traits that I love the most about Antony and what makes him so darn special. Every moment and conversation with him is a surprise and a fun experience. Most of the time I have to stifle my laughter. Sidenote: I just looked up a picture of E.T. and it's uncanny how much they look alike; he looks like a more human version of the alien(with hipster glasses). It's absolutely wonderful.

If you were thinking that it's odd for me to be living with a boy in Thailand, you are absolutely correct. Men and women don't usually live together before marriage. In fact, it's common for both sexes to live at home until in their 30s. So when I found out (along with everyone else) 20 minutes before Antony's arrival that my new roommate would be a guy, I freaked out. The Thai in me was so worried because that's not really allowed. I instantly had visions of having to lock my bedroom door at night for fear of being raped. BUT, then I met him, and I instantly felt relief. There would be worries. Antony did not look like the type (nor is he, now that I know him) to be aggressive towards women. Thank goodness! Although that didn't stop the Thai teachers from gossiping about him and asking me inappropriate questions about our sleeping arrangements. “Do you sleep in the same room??!” Oh, they thought they were being so cute and funny.

In addition to Antony's wonderful robotic-like movements and his voracious eating habits (seriously, I have got to tell him that Thai people eat slowly and not a lot of food at once), he is obsessed with New York, America in general, and the best part about American pop culture: Glee and Beyonce. He also understands American body types and thinks that I'm perfect just the way I am! Also, due to his obsession with Beyonce (which I will help him indulge in), he is constantly comparing me to either Beyonce or Rihanna because of my brown skin and curves. Almost everyday he tells me I look like Beyonce, who doesn't love that?! Although, sometimes it's a bit much. For example, the other day I was walking with an umbrella and he said I looked just like Rihanna in her music video for “Umbrella”. Okay, yes we share the same skin color and body type, but I do not have a bright red wig, lots of tattoos, nor do I walk around in stilettos. So sometimes I think he pushes the envelope a little too much. But hey, it's still a wonderful compliment.

I also should mention that I have another new roommate, Molly. Molly is originally from Connecticut, now from Philly, and went to Barnard College in NYC. I've decided that she cannot claim herself as a New Yorker (yettt), BUT she can claim undying love for the city! Oh, she also has fabulous red hair and lots of freckles! It's been interesting to see the Thais' comments about her appearance because they are not used to seeing red hair. Some of the students have asked where she's originally from as she doesn't look American apparently. So yeah, Molly is great, and I'm having fun showing her around. Not much to write about her, she's a regular (but wonderful) American and native English speaker, so no funny stories there (at least not yet)!!

New semester (I definitely feel more confident as a teacher!), new floors in my house (pictures to come soon!), AND two new housemates! Life is great right now!!!

April Travels

Singapore and Malaysia

Why is Southeast Asia SO HOT???! This is probably the only complaint I have about traveling. I didn't think such a large quantity of sweat was even possible. There were actual moments when I thought my face was going to melt off. My body was not made for the heat.

Singapore was great for many reasons. Here are some of them (in no particular order)

1. THEY SPEAK ENGLISH. Yes, English is the official language of the country. It took some getting used to that EVERYONE could understand what I was saying! It was a bit refreshing to not have thoughts and ideas lost in translation.
2. It's a multicultural country: Singapore is 75% Chinese, 13% Malay, 8% Singaporean Indians and a hodgepodge of other ethnicities including Eurasians and Arabs. This was also refreshing after being in Thailand for so long. Although there are ethnic minorities in Thailand, I had forgotten what it was like to see people who look drastically different form one another.
3. A city and a country all in one: Yes, Singapore is the size of a city. Crazy, but also pretty cool.
4. LELE! I had the chance to meet up with my mom's friend Lele who lives in Singapore. Lele was a pediatric fellow at MSKCC where my mom works and she is such a wonderful woman. Lele and her husband Ming were extremely kind and gracious and took us out for some ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS local Singapore dishes and a drive around the city. It was truly a pleasure to have locals show us around, and since Ming is Singaporean we were able to pick his brain about all things Singapore. Ming took us to a restaurant on the water that apparently caters to tourists but there were lots of Singaporeans there. We had BBQ cod (soooo goood), crispy calamari, steamed scallops wrapped in rice noodles, stir-fried noodle (like Thai pad see ew, but with less “zing”), a Malaysian noodle (maybe char kway teow? It was delicious. The Chinese liked it so much that they adapted it!) Fried morning glory with shrimp paste, and the best for last, black pepper crab AND chili crab (a very popular Singapore dish!) which came with warm, fried sweet rolls that you use to scoop up all of the saucy goodness from the chili crab. We ate like royalty. Digging in deep with both hands,it was messy but SO delicious. One of the best meals I have had in a loonnng time!! It's been over a month and I still have dreams about that dinner.

After dinner, Lele and Ming took us around Singapore. We saw some hawker centers, the government subsidized housing developments, and the more suburban neighborhoods lined with compact-sized mcmansions and high-priced cars.

5. They have their sh** together! So, Singapore is known for having a lot of rules. To outsiders this may seem very big brother-esque, but it's really not that bad. Yes, you can't litter ($1000 fine), no smoking ($1000 fine), no eating or drinking on the train ($500 fine), vandalism will get you jailed and caned, while possession of drugs (over 20grams) will get you the death sentence. Okay, so yeah, these rules may seem a little harsh, but they're not really that different from other nations' judicial systems. Nor are there policemen roaming the streets waiting for you to do something wrong. I asked Ming if he felt like Singapore's government acts like Big Brother, and he said no. Instead, he felt like such rules were in place to help the country run efficiently. Although he did disagree with some of the government's policies. For example, the government regulates the ratio of races that can live in each housing development block (the housing developments also favor married couples and leave gay and lesbian couples, and I”m assuming non-married or single people as well, to tough it out on their own in the open real-estate market). Okay, so that's a little crazy. But Singapore must be doing something right because they're one of the wealthiest countries in the world and they are constantly upgrading, improving, and reinventing themselves (just take a look at their harborfront with it's multitude of skyscrapers). Their MRT (train system) is clean, fast and extremely efficient, and they know how to use space. Each housing development is like it's own mini-city, set up with a supermarket, a hawker center (think lots of food carts but all inside in a concentrated area because Singapore decided that street food carts were ugly), and a bus station. Singapore is set up with little cluster of neighborhoods, yet there is still room for parks and recreation activities as well as parking! Basically, the country knows how to maximize it's space and it's continually building and growing!
6. Little India: now on to describe the greatest Indian food I have EVER eaten. There is a large Indian community in Singapore, so I imagine that the food I had was pretty authentic. I say this because in each Indian restaurant we ate in, we (Jamie, Mallory and I )were the ONLY foreigners. Everyone else was Indian. This meant that our often cute Indian waiters were extremely nice to us (perhaps a bit flirtatious) and were always willing to help us order the right stuff off of the menu. Here we go:
   Set meal #1: flat bread with dahl, yogurt sauce and curry. DELICIOUS. The guys kept coming over to us to see if we wanted anything else. It felt good to be a girl.

Lunch at Zim Zam: had Murtabak (a chicken and a beef one). The guy next to us ordered a deer one and couldn't finish it so gave us his leftovers. It was DELICIOUS! Murtabak is basically a stuffed naan and in addition to the meet inside there is also egg. My favorite was the chicken because of the wonderful sauce it was marinated in. Jamie and I both had mutton masala while Mall had a veggie one. The murtabak came with fish head curry that you used for dipping. This curry is popular in Singapore, although ours did not have the actually fish head.

Sakunthalas for dinner, banana leaf meal: THIS MEAL CHANGED MY LIFE. It is custom in Southeast Asia to both cook and eat food in banana leaves because it is believed that the food (specifically the rice) releases a chemical in the leaf that aids in digestion. I had the chicken masala set meal: rice, chicken masala (DELICIOUS), three little veggie dishes, curry, soup, dahl, and a chickpea thing. We ate with our hands. SO GOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDD

I'm not sure I can ever eat Indian food again for fear it will not be as delicious as in Little India, Singapore.

7) I love Singapore.

Malaysia:

Malaysia was a lot of fun. I chose Malaysia because I wanted to go to the beach in April and I thought it would be cool to go to a random country. I mean, I've never thought about Malaysia before. I knew nothing about the country, and I thought, when would I be able to go there again? We spent a couple of days in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, then headed to the island of Penang. Unfortunately, Jamie G couldn't come with us to Penang because Fred (who is awesome) was coming to visit, so Mall and I met up with Lana and Gina G.

Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Day 1: We started the day off with a visit to the National Mosque. I'm too lazy to post pics here but on my facebook if you see me wearing a purple hooded gown, that's me at the mosque. The official religion of Malaysia is Islam, so it makes sense that they have a national mosque. It's modern, mostly white and silver with hints of gold, and the prayer room is quite large. It can hold thousands of congregants (is that the right word to use here? I can't remember exactly how many, I want to say 10,000 but I'm not sure if that's correct. Anyway, its a large number). A wonderful volunteer talked to us about Islam and was very helpful. After a break from lunch (where I was sweating while eating; seriously, why is SE Asia so damn hot?!) we headed over to Merdeca square. After what seemed like a thousand jumping pictures (can never get it right on the first try) we sought out relief from the blazing sun (I'm telling you, it was AT LEAST 100 degrees out) in the national textile museum. A walk around Chinatown where we stumbled upon a Hindu temple and we were ready to head back to the hostel for some relaxation. Some of us (i.e. me and Mall, Jamie you are such a trooper!) felt like we were going to pass out from the heat. After taking a cab back to the hostel we passed out for 2.5 hours. I felt like all the energy had been drained from my body. I tried to wake up many times but couldn't. It was physically impossible. My muscles were dead. My whole body was limp. Damn you heat! We ate dinner at a local restaurant and walked around to admire the city lights.

Our second day in KL was spent waiting to go up to the skybridge (I think it hindsight I would've rather payed a little extra to go all the way to the top) of the Petronas towers (the twin towers of KL). Our afternoon was spent at the Batu caves (caves with a Hindu temple inside).

The rest ff our time was spent in Penang. I loved our guesthouse in Georgetown, it was so chic! Georgetown is a cool area because it is a World Heritage Site and thus still has all the remnants from its days as a British colonial port.

We spent the next four days rewarding ourselves with a stay at the Hydro hotel on Miami Beach and a short ride away from Batu Ferinngi. This was a REAL HOTEL and our room was HUGE. We had our own balcony, a queen size bed, our own bathroom, and a TV with English channels! Our hotel also had a pool. But the best part was our breakfast buffet (which was included in the price of the room, btw). Get ready for this: an omelet station(!!), mini-croissants and danishes (!!), a selection of bread, cereals, juice, REAL COFFEE, a variety of breakfast meats (Halal of course), and Malaysian breakfast dishes. It was like I had died and gone to heaven. SO. GOOD. Honestly, no other hotel can live up to the amazingness of the Hydro's breakfast buffet.

Our days were filled with exploring Georgetown (we got Malaysian kidnapped by a wonderful lady who took us to the jetties (houses on stilts over the water), bought us Malaysian desserts and treats, spent some time at the pool and the beach, and did some hiking at a national park (okay, I didn't go hiking but my friends did. I spent that day at the beach. Don't judge me).

Malaysia was great. I had some trouble with the food because of the anchovy paste they put in a lot of their dishes, but I was still able to find some delicious things to eat.

Mom's Visit

My mom's visit was great and could not have come at a better time (6 months into my grant and the halfway mark of my time here!) I liked having the opportunity to stay in some nice hotels instead of crappy hostels and to have someone pay for me!!! :-) It was the longest we've gone without seeing each other. It was fun to show her parts of Thailand that have become home to me. And of course it didn't hurt that she brought goodies from America; not only food (like Trader Joe's mac 'n cheese, yum!) but clothes! I was reminded of what cotton feels like before it has been through a Thai washing machine AKA “the shredder”. My mom's visit was also a reminder of how important it is for me to have these experiences now, in my twenties versus when I'm older. Not that one cannot travel over the age of 30, but at the age of 23 I'm willing to put up with a lot more crap than I would be at the age of 61. It's just a different kind of travel. Overall it was so so wonderful have her here and I wish she could have stayed longer.

Mom's visit was followed by a week of Fulbright meetings in BKK where we shared our ups and downs, pros and cons, and everything else about teaching. After BKK Jamie, Caitlin, and I headed to Ko Chang for a couple more days of rest and relaxation before we had to depart back to our provinces. April was great. I got to spend time with a lot of lovely people. My only complaint is the damn heat.

Week 2 of my internship, week 3 in Chiang Mai

So my boss is actually a nice person.  I’ve decided that we just started off on the wrong foot.  I’m finding her roundabout way of talking rather funny and she loves to sit and talk to me, so it’s all good.  Even though this internship is still rather pointless because it’s such an awkward amount of time, at least I don’t dislike her as much or feel uncomfortable coming into the office. 

Exploring Chiang Mai has been fabulous.  There seems to be an endless amount of delicious food in this city and the girls and I are having a grand time eating them all.  Some of my favorites:

·         Vegetable and tofu Kaow Soi at Dada Café: DELICIOUSSSSSSS. Kaow Soi is a northern Thai dish and apparently Chiang Mai has it’s own variety.  Rich, creamy, coconut-peanut curry, with egg noodles, pickled vegetables usually, some ginger and fried crunchy egg noodles on top. SOO GOOOOD! This one has tons of fresh veggies in it (broccoli, cawliflower and carrots!) and good tofu.

·         Banana soymilk shake at Satva Café.  Well, basically everything there (which is across the street from our guesthouse) is delish.  The veggie fried rice made with brown rice (the red-purple good kind too) and huge chunks of veggies is sooo good. So is there vegetable and cheese omelet which comes with whole wheat bread YuuMMM!!!

·         LOVE MEAL AT DIABLOS (me and Mall): HUGE veggie quesadilla (such robust flavors!!) packed with beans, roasted corn, peppers and TONS OF CHEESE!! Plus FREE CHIPS AND SALSA! (unlimited, which is unheard of in Thailand!)

·         Salsa Kitchen: another great Mexican restaurant in CM. There is tons of Mexican food in CM. Light, fresh, less emphasis on the cheese like at Diablos, but still delish and good (also cheap) margaritas. I’ve had their veggie chimichanga (the tortilla was fried like a samosa!)a s well as their pork enchiladas. I love that their dishes come with a salad and salad dressing that is NOT salad crème for once! (salad crème is sooo grosss).  Great food + a litre of margaritas for 10 dollars? Love itttttttt

·         Lunch buffet at Khun Churn: vegetarian restaurant that is UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS! Every thai dish ever created just without the meat.  I think my favorite was the pumpkin curry, it had just the right amount of spice.

·         Smoothie Blues and Bake and Bite: a farang’s paradise. Western comfort food (especially breakfast food) done right.  Most important thing: THEY HAVE BAGELS!!!!!!!!!

On a side note, the other day Mall and I got an herbal steam bath with a scrub (SO relaxing and the herbs smelled like matzo ball soup!!!!) and a massage.  So luxurious.  It should be a crime how cheap everything in Thailand is.  I wouldn’t be able to do half of this stuff back in the states. 

Can I stay in Chiang Mai forever?????  Just kidding…well, sort of… :-)

Chiang Mai livin and Thai people

So I’m living it up in Chiang Mai right now.  We are staying at the Ban Kang Rao guesthouse in the Chang Puak district of Chiang Mai. We are still in the city, but outside of the city wall where all the crazy tourists thrive.  Each room in this wonderful guesthouse is decorated according to a different flower. Gina and I have the “Chinese rose” room, which is green.  I guess the Chinese rose is green?  Aside from the abundance of mosquitoes in our room (we should get a cintronella candle or something) our room, as well as the guesthouse is fab fab fab: air con, western TV channels(!!), comfortable beds with down blankets, wi-fi, a balcony, and an aesthetically pleasing bathroom.  I feel like I’ve become a bathroom connoisseur since living in Thailand. It’s surprising how long of a conversation one can have just on the topic of bathrooms.  Our guesthouse has a cozy lobby/outdoor area made up of teakwood tables and chairs, as well as a wonderful rooftop patio where we have wine nights, play cards, and admire the beautiful skyline of Chiang Mai.

Aside from our guesthouse, we’ve been exploring Chiang Mai on foot.  This is a nice change from our village lifestyles where it is frowned upon to walk anywhere.  This past weekend we went to the Chiang Mai zoo.  Not only was the zoo much more humane than I though it would be, but it was literally in the mountains and there was quite a lot of hiking up hills.  Our eating exploration began the day we got here, and thanks to Mall’s internship (she’s writing restaurant reviews for a Wellness website) we have been exploring new restaurants.  Because of the high population of tourists and expats here, there are tons and tons of really good western restaurants.  These restaurants are really good quality, with an abundance of vegetarian places and even organic restaurants and markets.  I’ve been surprised by how much I crave vegetables and vegetarian food here.  This is because the food at my school and Thai food in general (at least in my opinion and my experience) does not really combine meat and vegetables together in proportion.  Vegetables usually come separately as an individual dish.  While when eating with a group of Thai people this is not a problem, at school there is never enough vegetables at the meal.  It’s either spinach/some other Thai leafy green vegetable or just cucumbers.  That’s usually it. Just one vegetable with the meal.  I’m starting to order more vegetables in my meals (because when you’re eating alone it’s kind of ridiculous to order one meat or noodle dish PLUS a side order of vegetables),but sometimes Thai people give you strange looks or just flat out say no when you try to “change” a dish.  For example, one time at the night bazaar I ordered stir-fried pork with garlic, but this dish is just white rice with pork, and I wanted vegetables with it as well. So I said sai pahk(with vegetables) and the cook said no.  Literally, he said no.  He also mumbled something in Thai, which I took as he didn’t understand why I wanted to add stuff to the dish.  He ended up giving me just mixed vegetables with the rice, which was good, but wasn’t what I wanted.  However, another time I was with Caitlin and we ordered pad see ew sai pad pahk gruum (pad see ew with mixed vegetables) and we said dai mai ka? (can you?) and the cook said yes and made us what we wanted (pad see ew doesn’t usually come with many vegetables).  So it’s always a gamble as to whether or not the cook will acknowledge your request.

Thai people

Now on to the reason why I am here in Chiang Mai.  Yesterday was my first day at my internship and my first interaction with a stereotypical Thai person. 

I arrived at the office at 9:30am and was greeted by a small, older Thai lady.  By  small I mean I am a couple of inches taller than her and  twice her size in width so you can imagine how tiny this lady is.  My boss is the founder of the NGO which works with, and supports, children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.  Affected would mean that the parent(s) has the virus but the child does not and  the child has or will eventually  lose their parent(s) to the disease.   After introductions, she sat me down and went through 69 powerpoint slides about HIV/AIDS in Thailand, the creation of her NGO, her work in Thailand and with children, the various awards she has received both nationally and internationally, and the difficulty in generating money to keep the organization alive and running.  It was all very interesting, but also rather funny.  In orientation we were told that Thai people do not speak or have conversations like Americans do.  Americans are straightforward and blunt.  When we speak we get to the point. Quickly.  When someone is telling a long-winded story, we get annoyed, distracted, and stop listening.   Thai people are the exact opposite.  They supposedly only speak in a long-winded, roundabout way.  I hadn’t had this experience with Thai people until yesterday.   In the 2.5hours it took her to get through all 69 slides, she would start with facts or a story, then sidetrack with a tangent that was somewhat related, then sidetrack with another tangent that was even less related to original point, then go back to her original point she was trying to explain, and so on and so on.   While everything she was said was interesting and relevant to her work in some way, her tangents occurred so often that it was difficult to follow everything she was saying, and I often found myself zoning out.  Oops.

I thought we were getting along famously until the afternoon when she came back from her radio show and said something that just really upset me.  She spent the next 5-10 minutes talking to me about what my diet should be and how much I should exercise in order to lose weight while stealing glances at my chest as if she couldn’t possibly understand how they could be so big.  This is hands down, the one thing that really bothers me about Thai people.  They say anything and everything that is on their minds and they do not think it’s rude at all. Especially weight. They think it’s funny that many Americans are overweight and they love to make comments about it.  They have no concept of different body types and how genetics plays a role, and their perspective on what it means to be healthy or healthy eating is very different from my perspective (not that I am right) or an American perspective.  Aside from all of that, the hardest part is how BLUNT they are about their perspective on health and they don’t realize how hurtful their words are. It’s hard not take it personally when a Thai person makes a comment about my weight, and it takes all of my strength to smile, laugh, and make a joke out of it.  At school, only one of my teachers makes comments about my weight.  While it bothers me, she doesn’t make these comments often, and she’s crazy to begin with, so it’s easy for me to brush it off. But something about yesterday just really bothered me.   Maybe it was the fact that she told me I should walk to and from work in the morning and afternoons to get my exercise.  Mind you, I live in the same district as my internship, but I am on the other side of the big highway.   It seems like a somewhat far but perhaps walkable distance, yet at 4:30 in the afternoon when its 95 degrees outside and I don’t really know where I’m going, there’s not one part of me that wants to walk home. Also, there are lots of stray dogs here, and we have a mutual dislike for each other, so I’m not really in the mood to be barked out/bitten. Granted my boss is a doctor (an immunologist) so I’m sure she feels that it’s her duty to give me healthy living tips, but Thai people do not walk ANYWHERE.  I mean it. They motorcy, bike, or drive EVERYWHERE. You think I’m exaggerating?  The teachers who live on school grounds DRIVE to work even though it is less than a five minute walk.

When I proceeded to tell my boss that I would take a songtaew home because I would be going to the pool anyway (this also bothered me, because I felt like I had to defend my reasons and actions), she then informed me that I should walk in the pool for two hours, because that’s how she lost weight.   It was extremely upsetting, and I left that afternoon feeling defeated and like a huge fatass.   I didn’t make a comment about my size or weight.  I didn’t ask her for tips on exercise or losing weight. Yet somehow she felt the need to “help me out”.  I responded to her remarks by saying that I like to eat, which made her laugh and tell me that if that’s true than I’ll stay the same weight (but only if I do walking and two hours of water aerobics).   So a big F.U. (sorry, but I had to) to my boss on that one.   For making me feel like shit about my body, for making me stand in front of the mirror when I got home examining my fat, and for making me cry.  I love my curves, I love my boobs, I love that my butt has enough padding for two people, and while I’m heavier than I would like to be right now, this is my eat, pray love moment!!!  I’m eating my way through Thailand with my friends and loving every moment of it.  No regrets (although less rice and more noodles would be nice).  So there. :-D