Baby It's Cold Inside

I was obviously very aware that Christmas would be weird/sad/different/nonexistent here in Thailand. I knew there would be no Christmas tree lighting up my room, no snow glistening outside on the trees, no fireplace to plop down in front of while drinking my eighth cup of hot chocolate. I knew there would be no frantic trips to the mall, searching for that one last gift. There would be no Christmas movies on TV and no holiday shows to attend. There would not be countless hours of baking Christmas goodies. And worst of all, I knew there would be no Christmas morning. No stairs to run down to excitedly rip open presents with my family. No Dad dressed up as an Elf to greet me in the living room. No cinnamon rolls. No stockings. No Christmas nap. I knew I wouldn't be experiencing the beloved holiday the way I was used to. But what I didn't realize was that I would have the chance to share the joy of Christmas with children who have never experienced it. And even more, I didn't have any idea that I would be able to re-create Christmas with a group of friends who were just as eager to get in the Christmas spirit. Christmas week had its ups and downs emotionally, but the weekend itself unfolded beautifully, and I had myself a very, Merry Christmas. 
      
I was very determined to get in full Christmas spirit despite the climbing temperatures. I ignored the 90 degree heat and blasted Christmas tunes all day and all night. My amazing parents had sent me a package full of holiday decorations and some hot cocoa, which significantly impacted my Christmas state of mind. In full Nelf-mode, I decided it was time to show the students what Christmas was all about. And what better way to do that than to show them the greatest movie of all time.....Elf?!? And boy, oh, boy, was it a hit. The kids were literally falling out of their seats laughing. I was so happy to see them appreciate the movie as much as I do. Good thing, because I was giggling uncontrollably. But, what really got me was when one of the classes reached the end of the movie. When Jovie says, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear," and begins to sing 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town,' the entire class started to sing a long. I completely melted. I had been yearning for some Christmas cheer and they completely captured my heart. After class, while wandering the hallway, I could still hear some of them singing about Santa. I continued the week with more Christmas fun, which included candy canes and Reese's cups (both of which were insanely successful). They were so happy the entire week and it made me so proud that I was able to bring a little Christmas spirit to the schools of Suphan.


On Friday, our program did their best to get in the spirit by putting up some decorations, playing Christmas music and holding a Christmas lunch. The lunch was adorable and super sweet. They even served Western food. Nothing like prawn pizza and KFC for a Christmas meal. As different as it was, the day put me in a good mood and I was excited to celebrate Christmas Eve that night. Sarah and I blasted the AC, bundled up, put on lots of Christmas lights and watched White Christmas. We even got to Skype with Bobby back home! It felt weird to not be around lots of family, but I am very grateful that I had Srall to spend Christmas Eve with. We embraced it and had ourselves a grand ole time. 

Prosecco, M&Ms and Cheese. 

Hi Bobby!

In what still seems odd to me, Christmas morning was the most anti-climatic part of the weekend. I woke up and instead of running down the stairs, I had no choice but to linger in my room. Once again, I have an amazing family, and they had sent me some presents to open on Christmas morning. However, the morning felt a little lonely and I was eager to get to Bangkok to get the real Christmas fun going. For Christmas we decided to 'splurge' and spend the day and night in a really nice hotel. Luckily for us, 5 of our friends had the same idea and so we found a ridiculously awesome and giant executive suite for the 7 of us where we were able to relax and cook ourselves a Christmas feast. In the 30 hours or so we were there, we transformed the place into a Christmas wonderland. Lights and stockings were hung up, presents were put out, Santa hats were on and we even had some fake snow to sprinkle around the room. We spent the day cooking and baking IN AN OVEN (which doesn't exist in 98% of the kitchens). Christmas movies were on every TV while the air was filled with Christmas carols and the sweet scent of brownies. We sat down to a big meal, which was immediately followed by a food coma. We continued the night by playing games, Skyping our families back home, doing a gift swap, watching movies and having ourselves a merry time. I then spent the majority of the next day sprawled out in a cozy King size bed, with the blackout curtains shut and English movies on TV. I was one happy chica. 

Snow!

Yum!

Playing with our new toys

So although it wasn't my standard Christmas celebration, I was still lucky enough to spend the holidays surrounded by great food and even better people. And for that, I am very thankful. I hope everyone had an incredible Christmas and that Santa treated you well :)

Merry Christmas!

The AC is blasting, the Christmas tunes are on and the room is decorated with tacky decorations. Soon, I will be bundled up in my sweatshirt and sweatpants, devouring Christmas candy and sipping on hot chocolate with candy canes. Sarah and I will be spending our Christmas Eve in our "cold" rooms, watching as many Christmas movies as we can (Thanks Jay and Cathy for White Christmas!) No, it's not the way I have spent my Christmas Eve's of the past, but it's the way I am going to celebrate my Thai Christmas Eve. I miss everyone dearly back home and Christmas just won't be the same without those special traditions and the love of my family. But, in any case, IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!! So MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! I hope you all have an amazing weekend full of joy...and more importantly, full of lots of cookies. 


 LOVE LOVE LOVE, 
     Nelf :)

Merry Christmas from Bob!

I'm a dork! But a festive one!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

After traveling for the past several weekends in a row, Sarah and I thought it best to give our bodies a rest before our next couple of weekend trips. So, rather than planning a nice tropical beach vacation, or exploring the ancient temples of Thailand, we decided to take it easy in Suphan. And although our weekend was supposed to be relaxing, it was more like a roller coaster ride. Along the way, we saw the good, the bad and the very, very ugly. 


Let's start with the good, because no one really wants to start reading on a bad note. On Saturday morning, after an epic fail of a Skype date with some friends back home, we ventured into Bangkok to get some things done and to enjoy our day. (It really isn't easy staying entertained in The Soup for an entire weekend). The main purpose of the trip was to head back to Siam Paragon and to see a movie....in English! Siam has this ridiculous movie theatre and they offer a small selection of recently released English movies. Sarah and I, being huge movie-goers, thought this was the perfect way to spend our Saturday. And it was. We made our way to the enormous theatre, settled into our leather recliner seats and got sucked into The Social Network. It had been so long since I have seen a movie that the whole experience was all I could have hoped for. The movie was good, the seats were comfortable and the popcorn was fresh. I just love a good movie. The whole movie-going experience is pretty similar to back in the States except 1. You can pay for extra-premium seats, where you are essentially given a bed, pillows and a blanket while watching the movie. There was even a pretty extensive pillow menu! I will clearly be trying this out at some point. 2. There are assigned seats. I figured when most of the theatre was empty, I would probably have some space, but sure enough, we were surrounded on both sides despite the surplus of free seats in the theatre. 3. Before the movie begins, instead of the reminder to be quiet (Silence is Golden!), everyone rises and watches and sings along to a dedication to the King. It's adorable how much they respect their King. The movie was a success and I am already looking forward to my next excuse to go back.


On to the not so good parts of the weekend. The other main purpose of going to Bangkok was to go to the bus terminal and buy our tickets to Chiang Mai for the New Year. We have a 4 day weekend and really want to spend it in the best place on Earth. Apparently so does everyone else because counter after counter told us that they were sold out. It was a huge disappointment and our hearts were a little broken because we have been looking forward to this trip for a while now. We decided to not let it get to us until we looked at all possible solutions to getting there. Which brings us to the ugly part of this weekend. 


We recently discovered that Suphan has a train station and although not many trains pass through this gem of a town, they sell tickets for all stations. We figured why not give it a whirl and see if we could buy tickets from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. We knew it was down a random path, but we were also told it was a walkable distance from the main road. We hopped on the songthaew to the general area and then tried to find our way to the Rot Fai (train station). A motorbike offered us his services, but we kindly rejected, assuring him we would walk, even after he warned us that it was far. Off we went and soon the bustle of the town disappeared and we were walking along a dirt path with no people, buildings or cars in sight.  All we could see were the train tracks to our left and the rice paddies to our right. We joked around that we would probably die of exhaustion, never to be found on this deserted road, when we suddenly noticed an abandoned shack ahead with some wild, stray dogs lazing around. Once the dogs took notice of us, they angrily came sprinting, growling, and barking  towards us. We made the decision to freeze, and not to run, and just let them rip us apart. These dogs were pretty large and we had no chance of survival if they decided to eat us. As we froze and shook with fear, we could only hope that they would not start attacking. When we tried to backtrack, we were trapped by another group of dogs, just as angry, glaring at us and giving us no chance of escape. So, we stood there, trembling, with no way out. I have seriously never experienced fear like that before. Being surrounded by big, wild, hungry dogs with literally no escape had my life flashing before my eyes. We slowly inched our way forward and hoped that the dogs would back down...and eventually, they did. We hadn't yet recovered when another couple of dogs came running from yet another abandoned shack, but luckily, these ones weren't as hungry and went no further than the grass. To make matters worse, after that episode, we made it to the train station just for them to tell us Chiang Mai was a no-go. Lessons learned. 


Our attempt at a relaxing weekend was kind of a failure, but I just need to put it behind me and hope to get into the Christmas spirit despite the lack of...well, Christmas, here. Hope everyone else is in full Christmas mode and embracing all of the joys of the season :) 

A Colorful Reminder

Since arriving in Thailand, I have been living this extreme life where I have been thrown into a culture where I don't speak the language, my diet has drastically changed, and I am a secondary school teacher. Beyond that, I get to live my dream life by traveling every weekend and going on adventure after adventure, while meeting insanely cool people. And somehow, through all the novelty and excitement, I was struck with a sense of normalcy this week. After coming back from yet another beautiful exploration of Kanchanaburi this past weekend (Sai Yok Noi Waterfalls are gorgeous!), I did the weekly walk from the bus stop to my apartment, came home to my room to blast the AC, hoped no bugs had overtaken my belongings and then grabbed another delightful Thai meal for dinner. As Monday rolled around, I jumped into my daily routine, taught my classes, swam in the hotel pool across the way, and then entertained myself for the remainder of the evening. I have finally fallen into a routine and even with its little quirks, it is normal. This is my new normal. And then Sport's Day happened at school and I realized "normal" will no longer be a relevant term in my vocabulary while living in Thailand. 

Sport's Day is a very common day among Thai schools, but it varies by school. Sa-Nguan Ying partakes in two Sport's Day throughout the year and I just experienced my first. We were told last week that all of the students would be running a mini-marathon to kick off the event, and then spend the remainder of the day partaking in various events, such as dance, jumprope and tennis competitions. At first, I was flabbergasted. A mini-marathon?!?  The kids will never be able to run that! It is way too hot and they are not the most athletic bunch I have ever seen. And a mini-marathon? Yikes! I later found out that mini-marathon meant 3k. But still...it's reeeaaally hot here. Each grade level was assigned a different color and so I attempted to support both my M1 (Red) and M2 (Pink) students by wearing a magenta shirt to blend with both teams. The day started off the only way our school knows how- with a ridiculously long assembly where the kids line up in perfectly straight lines and listen to multiple speeches. When the director of the school is escorted to the stage, everyone wais and watches as his speech is handed to him on a golden platter. I wish I was lying. Afterwards, he signaled the beginning of the race by hitting a gong, and hoards of children proceeded to make their way down the streets of Suphanburi. I would guess that 98% of the students walked the race, while some put in a little bit of effort. The American teachers put everyone to shame by coming in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. I, on the other hand, decided to be more 'Thai' and walk my way down the main highway. Safe route, right? Despite the lack of running, Srall and I still encountered many students struggling on the side of the street, some even throwing up. After zigzagging our way around wooden plank bridges, mopeds, and struggling children, we crossed the finish line and spent the rest of the day watching the various competitions. However, most of the day was dedicated to the children lazing around in every nook and cranny of the school, eating all sorts of fried goodies, winning raffles (a bike, a GIANT teddy bear or a fan) and just being silly. 

All in all, the day was anything but normal. And I'm really happy for that. It was nice to have a little reminder that I am living a life that is far from the ordinary.

Sai Yok Noi

Sai Yok Noi...Life Moment

Time to line up!

I have really cute students

Obviously what to expect at a race

Simple Joys

         It's only appropriate that I find myself smiling so much in The Land of Smiles. So much about my life here leaves me with a grin plastered on my face. Some of the smiles are due to pure joy, and some are a result of laughing off the absurd. It is the small details of living in Thailand that really bring about this happiness. Of course the weekend excursions and the beach vacations make me smile...a lot...but, it's more the little things in life where I find myself a victim of this smiling epidemic. From the moment I walk to school in the morning, with dozens of unknown children enthusiastically waving at me or some of the more over-zealous ones shouting "I love you!" and forming a heart with their hands, I can't help but be completely exuberant. As I walk down the hallway towards the office, my students come running towards me yelling "Kruuu Neeelllll!!!!" in their adorable Thai accents. Others simply flash a smile and say "Shake hand" and lend out their arm. I find myself laughing out loud so often during class. Things as little as a mispronunciation to them pressing me for my opinions on Gun-The Star 6 send me over the edge. Other smiles come from a sense of achievement. When I hear the "ohhhhhh" coming from my students, I know I got across to them. I swear I must be beaming when they let out a long cheer of excitement after I announce the oncoming activity. Every Friday I have the children fill in missing words from a song as it plays overhead, and I can't help but giggle when I see them attempting to quietly sing along. My heart melts when I read the emails they send to their American pen-pals in Hull. How could I not smile when I read about how excited they are to have a friend in a different country? These students sure know how to brighten my day.


        The smiling extends beyond the school and the everyday encounters in The Soup still bring about delight. Sarah and I have made a habit of going to get a Thai Iced Coffee from a small little stand across the street from school. The woman speaks no English and we are most likely her only customers of the day, but every time we walk over to 'Navy Coffee', Pon excitedly greets us with a 'Sawatdee, ka' and all is good. Every night, as we go to and from dinner, we still get treated like celebrities. Hearing mopeds whiz by with people yelling "Hellllooooo," "Yooooo," or "Beaaauuuutiful" never gets old. Watching as people stop in their tracks, stare and talk about the "farang" gets me every time. The sheer generosity of Thai people is unreal and I can't help but smile in awe as every person we pass asks "Bai nai?" (where are you going?) because they literally just want to help out the foreigners. Tuk-tuks make me giddy. I'm overflowing with happiness as I climb aboard tuk-tuks of all shapes and sizes. After our big Tesco (Target-esque) trips, I am beyond impressed with our ability to fit Sarah and I plus about 10 bags into the limited space. I'm sure I have a grin from ear to ear as I cling on to my bags for dear life, hoping that neither myself or my goods will fall out along the way. 


     Even the things that once caused stress, or disgust, have now become humorous. My epic battles with the bugs in my room grossed me out to no end, but now I cackle in delight as I draw a barricade with special bug-repellant chalk around the ants, stopping them from getting into my food, my toothbrush, my bed, etc. The standoff in the hallway with the cockroach the size of my face is 1. terrifying 2. laughable when strategizing ways to avoid upsetting it. After a long day of sweating, I finally nestle into my rock solid bed, only to be awakened by the all-too-familiar squeak of the gecko lurking on my wall somewhere. It's one of those things I have to laugh off and hope I don't wake up spooning a lizard.  The whole language barrier thing has started to stir up laughter. What was once a source of major stress and anxiety has become a source of entertainment. As I butcher their language with my Thai-glish, Thais just respond with pure amusement and talk back in Thai, which then leads to a game of charades. Being presented with all sorts of mysterious foods used to be a little freaky, but now, all I can do is say 'Mai Pen Rai' and just go for it. Sometimes, Sarah and I will just look at each other and laugh when told what we are about to eat.  My dependency on 7-11 seems pitiful, but, despite its lack of Slurpees, it's a necessity. As I pop yet another Cookies N' Cream nugget into my mouth, I just thank heavens for its existence. 


Life in Thailand is just a series of smiles. Be it excitement, pride, silliness, confusion or even disbelief, I am always flashing a smile. I'm going to go ahead and whip out the corniest line ever and say that by the end of the year my cheeks are going to hurt so much from smiling! Yup, I did it...just embrace it. 


And just because I don't want to leave you with an image of my smiling face, I'll leave you with the sweetest of them all...

Why Is This Happening to Us??

     Sadly, Beach Club Asia Edition came to an end and it is now back to reality in The Soup. Snapping back into routine is even harder when coming back from a tropical vacation with your favorite people. Oy. But I can't complain too much because I went on a tropical vacation with my favorite people....in December. The Studio 911 reunion was a glorious one from the moment we met Seyf at the airport. Immediately, we resumed our normal habits, such as destroying a bag of PB M&Ms, playing with Bob, having life chats and listening to Glee music.  Seyf was able to experience good ole Suphanburi for a brief period and even came to school with us on Friday. The kids immediately clung to her, and then proceeded to tickle her. Weird. It was really fun to have her in class and to have her experience what it's like to be a teacher in Thailand. We were also able to give her a mini- taste of our daily lives by hitting up our favorite lunch and coffee spots before we departed on our adventure.

    Somehow we snagged the VIP section of the VIP bus and had a decently comfortable 12 hour overnight bus ride South. My only complaint- the movie choice. There is this band of comedians who put on these horrendously disturbing shows that are apparently very appealing to the Thai people because they are plastered on billboards and played on multiple public bus rides. The three of us tried to avoid watching it, but it was like a car wreck and I found myself unable to look away. Luckily, after the movie, the lights went out and the seats reclined back and off I went to la-la land. Hours later, in the middle of the night, we awoke to Thai techno blasting over the radio and the lights blinding us. All Seyf could say was "Why is this happening to us???" But, despite the poor media choices, we made it to Phuket bright and early on Saturday morning.

   The entire weekend was perfect. Relaxing on the beach, exploring the town, eating lots of fruit and ice cream, eating incredible Thai food, wandering the markets and just being around one another was a recipe for happiness. We stumbled upon a gem of a hostel and took complete advantage of it. The shower was INCREDIBLE. And the movie channel was stellar. One night we got completely sucked into a movie after climbing into bed and my life is forever changed. It's a good one! We also treated ourselves to massages after a long day at the beach. I opted out of the Thai massage because I didn't know how to communicate that I was bionic...so I went with the traditional oil massage, and, boy oh boy, do I feel an addiction coming on. It was a whopping $6 but I think I'll be treating myself to plenty of those in the next 10 months. 

    We also spent a day island hopping the Phi Phi Islands and I cannot think of a more stunningly beautiful environment. All of the sights- the turquoise water, the sparkling sand, the surrounding cliffs and caves- were all so breathtaking. I was giddy at the chance to go snorkeling and I forgot how much I really enjoy it. Even Monkey Beach, despite the ferocious monkeys, was pretty. The weekend was perfection and after our BLM breakfast on the beach, the goodbye at the airport was really hard. It had been so long since we had time to just the three of us and it felt so great to have Seyf back in our lives, even if only for a few days. She went onward to Cambodia before finishing up her semester in Singapore and heading back to the States. I hate thinking that I won't see her for a year, so I am just going to convince myself that she will move to Thailand after getting her degree in May. It will happen, right?

Bob was really happy for Beach Club to reunite

Grody

Studio 911

I have been going a little crazy at work the past few days because ALL of my students went to Scout camp. I got a lot of lesson planning done, but I was still bored out of my mind. When the students came back yesterday afternoon, I basically attacked them and told them to never leave me again. I assumed Scout camp would be all fun and games, but they all came back completely exhausted and sore. I don't know what went on, but they were super tired in class this morning. 


Today is an exciting day because 1. I actually had class and 2. SEYF COMES! For those of you who don't know, Seyf is a friend from home. She was the third member of Sarah and I's Southie apartment (Studio 911) and we get to reunite tonight. She has been studying in Singapore this past semester for her Master's, and as her semester comes to an end, she is getting last minute traveling in. So, what better way to end a semester abroad than by meeting up with your BFFs and going to Phuket? Yea, that's right...Phuket. It's December, it's the holiday season and I get to spend an extended weekend on one of the most beautiful tropical beaches in the world. Holllla! I'll try to remind myself of the Christmas season by sipping on yet another Peppermint Mocha, but instead of looking outside at the snow, I'll see this: 

 

Bob is a little flustered, because she wants to show off her bikini body, but at the same time, she is beaming with Christmas pride. What's a sheep to do?

Yes, I realize for those unaware of Bob's existence, I sound like a freak. Just let it happen. 

Also- as I was neglecting work and writing this, I was (pleasantly) interrupted by a staff member offering me some Rot Sai Mai, a Muslim dessert made in Ayutthaya. I had meant to try it when I was there a few weeks ago, but was too full off of coconut ice cream to do so. First you have to assemble it by filling a green tortilla-looking thing with what looks like hair. The 'hair' is actually sugar cane that has been spun and woven. You then roll it up and enjoy. It had a very sweet taste and the 'hair' tasted like a mix of cotton candy and straw. Mmmm! The whole Thai dessert thing still baffles me. They are deprived of delicious treats like brownies and cookies, and instead, enjoy things like tarot (or root), bean paste and anything and everything in coconut milk or sweetened condensed milk. BUT they make up for it with sticky rice. Mmm....sticky rice. 

Anyways- enjoy your weekends! I know I'll enjoy my Studio 911 reunion on the beach :)