I love....Lamp.

The past few weeks have been super busy and pretty stressful with the semester coming to an end. The students took their finals last week which then had to be graded within 24-48 hours so any necessary re-sits could occur. The whole process of letting a student re-take a test until they pass is beyond me. I personally see no positive outcome with that system, but I have to suck up some of my educational beliefs while in Thailand because this is their system and I have no say in what is occurring. That said, it was a fairly busy week and my desk was constantly covered in heaps of tests. It looked like a disaster... and I needed to step away from the situation. So, I stepped really far away and headed to Koh Samet with Sarah and another co-worker, Alex. 

After about 6 hours of disgustingly hot and clustered van rides (a random Thai man accidently snuggled me on one leg of the trip), we made it to Ban Phe, the mainland beach with the needed ferry service to Koh Samet. We waited a bit at the pier and played with two adorable little puppies. They were only semi-clean but I am so deprived of puppy play that I just embraced the cuteness of the situation. And then, finally, we made it to the island where we were abruptly brought to a panic when we saw that a massive music festival was being set up for the weekend, and we had no place to stay. Luckily, we found a pretty cool spot, but we had to fork over more baht than expected since all of the cheaper rooms were full. But, I was okay with spending about $10 to sleep in a bungalow on the beach. Gotta love Thailand. 

We immediately took a stroll along the beach and then sat and devoured an amazingly delicious BBQ meal. I forgot how good beef and baked potatoes were. Mmmm. The rest of the night was super fun and spent at a place called 'Lamp.'  It was a random tiki-esque bar set-up on the beach with room for about 9 people to sit. The bartender looked like a baller, the music was bumpin' and we couldn't resist the simplicity of it so we settled in and ordered some drinks. As I sipped my mojito, I spotted the tiniest little black puppy resting in the sand and I died a little bit from the overwhelming cuteness of the baby mah  (dog). Obviouly, I immediately swept her up in my arms and barely let go for the next 3 hours. She was only 4 weeks old and it was true love. Later in the night, she dozed off in the connect 4 pieces on top of the 4 foot high counter. I literally turned my back for 2 minutes and when I looked back, she was gone! Apparently she rolled over in her slumber and off of the counter. Poor little pup. But don't worry- she was okay. 

Lamp Bar....awesome!

The next day was perfection. The three of us soaked in the sun with banana shakes by our side, a whole lot of swimming and floating in the tropical waters and playing a lot of frisbee. It felt amazing.... until later that afternoon when we all realized how burnt we were...whoops! But, we aloe vera-ed our bodies up (thanks to Alex's purchase who claims that sunburns make him very emotional - 555) and took on the night once again. The beach was bursting with activity and we were able to catch a fire show and a Muay Thai match, both of which were scary and exciting to watch. 

Srall lovin' life

Fire Show.

  

Stolen from Google. But you get the gist. 

The weekend was loads of fun and so needed after the frenzy of finals. The only downside? We had to miss the music festival because we had to come back to Suphan to teach on Sunday. ON A SUNDAY! Oy! And the festival looked incredible, especially since it included a performance by my favorite Thai band, 25 hours. Seriously- listen to this song, and feel bad for me. 

                                         Yin Dee Tee Mai Roo Jak

Welp, now its back to the grind, submitting final grades while the students take their Thai exams. I can't believe my first semester is already coming to an end!  

Sexy Elephants

I have been out of the game for a while now. For the past month I haven't ventured very far. I haven't made it much further than Bangkok and Kanchanaburi, both of which I have already frequently visited. But a couple weekends ago, I was pleasantly surprised when I bumped into some fellow teachers that I had not seen since the beginning months of our Thailand adventure. It was great catching up and as we discussed future plans, we realized that we had all planned on going to Khao Yai National Park the same weekend in February. So, obviously, we organized it together to make it one, big happy trek. 


Although I was not excited about the 5-6 hour trek to Khao Yai, which consisted of a van ride, a cab, a train ride and a car ride to the hostel, I was kept highly entertained during the majority of the trip....all courtesy of my white skin. From the moment we stepped onto the third class train with our standing room tickets, we were thrust into 3 hours of endless stares. The train employee kept bringing us further into the train until he had us sitting in the very rear of the train, surrounded by M6 boys and soldiers. Awesome. Within minutes, the schoolboys were handing us their practice service entry exams, asking for our help and then taking our pictures and staring at us with huge smiles. Sarah later noticed that our faces graced the backgrounds of their phones. That's not creepy at all. Needless to say, the train ride went by fairly quickly with all that was going on. 


The next morning, we woke up bright and early to begin our 12 hour day of hiking in the jungle. Anon, our guide, was a fiery little one. He was typical Thai tiny, but he was incredibly vivacious. Everything- and I mean everything- was 'sexy' to him. Us, our bug spray, our socks, the trees, the monkeys, anything and everything was 'sexxxxxy.' He was a great tour guide, and took us completely off of the trail, which I totally appreciated. After dousing ourselves in 100% deet, tightening our leech socks (yikes!), making a 7-11 pit-stop and channelling our inner sexiness, we began our journey. Anon told us that we may see red hornbills, snakes, gibbons, elephants and tigers, but only if we were very lucky. He was completely determined to see any and all of the animals, but I didn't really expect to see too much. 

Leech socks are so IN right now.

Leaf hat!

BAMFS 

As we trekked around, dodging branches, hopping over bamboo shoots, climbing rocks, and trudging through all sorts of greenery, we saw some cool trees (sandalwood, cinnamon) and could hear the animals in the distance. Anon belted out some really impressive gibbon calls, and it was really cool to hear them respond from way high up. But, despite their excitement, they were no where to be seen. At one point, we heard the red hornbill batting its wings, and we hurried along to find its location, which Anon was successfully able to do. We all stood in awe as we saw 2 hornbills flap their giant wings and disappear into the sky.   


We journeyed on, making our way back to the songtaew to grab some lunch, when Anon excitedly hushed us and pointed up in the trees.  Way above us we spotted a family of black gibbons and we strained our necks as we watched them for the next hour. They were so entertaining while they slapped each other, swung from tree to tree, lazily hung from a branch and then stared at us with their fuzzy little white faces. It was really cool, and we left the jungle very content with our sightings. But little did we know that things were about to go all Jurassic Park on us.

The man, the myth, the legend

Gibbon!

After lunch we headed to go see a waterfall that was featured in 'The Beach' and then hike up to swim in a more isolated waterfall a little further into the jungle. Before entering the park, a German couple warned us that they had just seen an elephant about 15 minutes prior. All day we had been warned about wild elephants and how we had to be quiet, and then run back to safety to avoid getting charged. Scary! Despite the warning of a wild elephant, Anon basically had us running in silence to catch a glimpse of it. We made it pretty far in when we heard the loud crackling of branches and the familiar sound of flapping ears. We all froze...excited but kind of nervous. We hid behind bushes, trees, whatever we could as we listened and watched the elephant come closer and closer. And this guy was huuuuge. Beautiful, but large with large tusks. I really had no desire to be charged by him. Our guide disappeared (with my camera) and got as close as he possibly could to steal a snapshot. As we saw the elephant come closer and closer, we kind of panicked. We had no guide and no idea how to get back to safety because we were no where near a path. Anon finally emerged and told us to run and so we nervously ran/fell down the hill to safety and to a gorgeous waterfall, which Anon proudly named "Sexy Elephant Waterfall' in celebration of our spotting. 

Pretty Waterfall

Wild Elephant!

Sexy Elephant Waterfall

Good times

After swimming, we realized we had to make our way back to the entry, and most likely past the elephant again. Oy. We silently walked through the jungle and saw no sign of our not so little friend. I let out a sigh of relief as I noticed the entry gate up ahead, but was quickly set aghast when Anon jumped a mile backwards in shock. I was sure the elephant was waiting for us, but, no, it wasn't an elephant this time- it was a King Cobra, an extremely poisonous snake. Seriously? C'mon! We backed up and waited until it slithered a little further up the path and then slipped on  by it. But only after Anon poked and prodded at it with a giant stick to secure a better photo. That guy was insane, but in the best way possible. 

Cobra in the leaves. YIKES!

Obviously a good idea 

The rest of the weekend was not as adventurous, but it was still great. We swam in natural springs, we lounged, and we saw a really cool temple where we got to practice meditation with a very well-known, well- traveled monk. All in all- a great weekend with a great group of girls. It felt amazing to get back in the traveling game, which is good, because the next 2.5 months are jam-packed with all sorts of adventures. I don't hate it. 

Mythbusters: Thailand... Part One

As I prepared to leave my old life in pursuit of my new Thai life, I was told a lot of things. Although I had no real expectations of my forthcoming year, other people apparently had big hopes for me. Between learning Thai, becoming 'Thai skinny', and falling in love, I had a lot laid out in front of me.  So, with about a third of the way in, and no sign of any of these proving true in my journey, I would like to welcome you to part one of what I would like to call- Mythbusters: Thailand Edition. 

One of the more common things I had heard about my future life was that I would return to the States fluent in Thai. I would be able to show off my impeccable skills at all of the Thai restaurants I liked to frequent. Sadly, I have no idea where else I would be able to utilize my killer skills, but I would find a way. Everyone said that I would definitely pick up the language after living here for a year. How could I not? And seriously- how could I not? I live in a town where 99.99999% of the people speak only Thai. The only other people that speak English are our students (and that's debatable), a handful of co-workers, the other farang, and a few random locals that we meet here and there. But, the majority of people speak Thai without an ounce of English. And that's my problem. I am living in their country. So, really, the assumption that I would pick up the language isn't that unbelievable. But try listening to Thai for a few minutes and you'll see why I am struggling to just 'pick it up.

In the beginning, Thai terrified me. When I went to the local street vendors, I put my head down in shame as I butchered their language. I panicked as they continually asked for my order. I ate a whole lot of 'kao gai' which isn't even a real thing. All I was saying was 'rice chicken.' Luckily, they found my farang-ness amusing and made something delicious. Even as I gained confidence in my small vocabulary, I still made a fool of myself. Ordering 'kao phat gai' (fried rice with chicken) could have been a number of things. It's the tones... those dang tones. The Thai language has 5 tones and and at first, they all sounded the same to me. Now, I can hear them, but I haven't even come close to mastering them in my own speech.  'Kao' is one of those special words that has multiple meanings, depending on the tone. AKA I could have been ordering 'fried fishy chicken' or 'fried news chicken.' You would think that in the context of ordering food it would make sense to the vendor...but I was met all too often with a very confused gaze. Yikes. 
                                           

Months have gone by and I have definitely made a lot of progress in my Thai. Between working with my students, mingling with Thais and asking fellow teachers for help, I have picked up a lot of words. I tried to compile a list of all of the words I knew, and to my surprise, I had written down a couple hundred Thai words/phrases. And my diet has gone far beyond simply rice and chicken. My food-ventures have become much more exciting, as I can communicate more detailed orders. However, I am so far off from understanding what is going on around me. For every 15 words spoken to me, I can maybe understand one or two. I may know a decent amount of words, but when I try to communicate them to the students, they usually laugh at my abysmal Thai accent. And then there's the sentence structure. It is still beyond me. Something as simple as 'What is your name?' ("Khun chue arai, ka?') is literally translated as 'You name what?" There are no articles and the adjectives come after the noun and it's all very confusing. 

I am getting much more aggressive in my attempt to learn the language by asking a million plus one questions to those few coworkers or friends that speak Thai and English. Sarah and I bought a book this weekend in Bangkok, which we plan to practice with daily. We plan on spending a lot of time at coffee shops and 'restaurants' in hopes that the Thais will assist our learning. But learning the language is going to take a lot of time, dedication and guidance. There is literally no chance of just 'picking it up.' I have high hopes of advancing my skills, but only because I am determined, not because it will just come to me. 

So, I can confidently say that Myth #1 has been busted. Sorry, suckers. 

Thai alphabet

Wish me luck!