Edelweiss

Boston to Chicago to Seoul to Bangkok... Check. 

After 3 flights and some short layovers, I had totally convinced myself that all of my baggage was never to be seen again. But, I have arrived safely with all of my luggage! Shocking! The cab ride from the airport was verrry interesting and involved cramming with 3 other girls and about 20 pieces of luggage. Let's just say it was incredibly sweaty and we were all numb by the time we got out....an hour later, when it should have been 15 minutes. The driver literally let out a sigh of relief when we arrived. The hotel is nice, but it continually plays the instrumentals of 'Edelweiss' and 'Puppy Love.' I mean, I love those songs, but when it is the only thing in your head for 5 days straight, you go a little crazy. 

About 20 of us arrived a full day early and allowed us to venture into Bangkok on Wednesday for some exploring. We wanted to take the Sky Train in and then frolic around. So, all 20 of us paraded down the streets toward the train. Funny story: We were given directions to the regular train and not the Sky Train, which meant 1. we all paraded single file down the HIGHWAY towards the train and 2. we ended up on a shabby little train with fans blowing and bugs crawling on us. Whoops! But, we made it into the city and took the incredibly nice and air-conditioned Sky Train back to the hotel. While in the city, a few of us grabbed lunch at a random vendor that we stumbled upon. We had no idea what was on the menu, so we just pointed to one of three pictures that happened to be on display. It was amazingly delicious but SPICY. My lips were on fire for about an hour afterwards. 

Orientation has been pretty overwhelming, but in such a good way. We are given so much information about teaching English and we even get some basic Thai lessons. It's a lot of information at once, but I think all of the notes will be extremely beneficial. The highlight so far has been meeting all of the participants. I struggled at home because it is very hard to find people who value traveling as much as I do. When I told people I was moving to Thailand, the most popular response was "Why?" It was like they could not fathom the idea. But here, everyone was just as crazy! It is so nice so be around like-minded people who share that passion. I've only known these people for 5 days, but I can definitely see some great friendships forming. Yea, I know...very corny. It has seriously been a blast getting to know everyone. We all keep commenting how similar it is to freshman orientation. Except...this is fun and not at all awkward.

Last night everyone met with the coordinators from the schools and finally got ALL of our questions answered. It was nerve-wracking, exciting and such a relief. Sarah and I were a little apprehensive when we realized that we were the only 2 of 6 teachers at our school with the label 'English Program.' I was convinced we would be teaching Math or Science, but what we found out is so much better. Basically, we get the students in the school of 2600 (!!!) that get pulled out of mainstream English classes for their exceptional skills. AKA we get the AP students of the school which means:

a. Unlike the other teachers who get 50+ students at once, we get no more than 25 students at a time.

b. their level of English is higher than the others, giving us a more exciting job of teaching real English skills. 

c. the students come to us in our AC room with their laptops, rather than us trekking across the school from class to class. holla!

I will be teaching 7th grade Fundamentals of English (vocab and pronunciation) and 8th grade Reading and Writing, as well as Fundamentals. It looks as though I'll only have 16 hours of teaching a week. I think I can handle that.

So all is incredibly well here and I am super, super excited about the coming year. CIEE/OEG, the people, the FOOD and the sights are all amazing and I feel so lucky to be here. Well...I have to go to orientation to pack in more info- yikes! Ill try to add upload more pictures when I get a chance.

   

Grand Palace