Back Home

Well, as anyone who reads this already knows, I'm back from Thailand.

Saying goodbye to everyone in Thailand was weird. I didn't feel attached to many of the other teachers at my school. It's hard to cross the language barrier. The barrier kept me from making any deep, real friendships. Kept me from adequately saying goodbye, really. I didn't really get to express my thanks and gratitude to all the people there. I didn't get extremely attached to many people…maybe I'm a cold, heartless guy. But the language barrier is the chief culprit, I think. It takes me a long time to get attached to people, in general, and that's exacerbated by the fact that we can't communicate clearly.

During my time in Bangkok, those last 5 or 6 days in Thailand, I was already in go-home mode. I didn't really have any hopes or ambitions for the rest of my time. I was just in wait mode, trying to get through the days and hours until I'd board the plane. Admittedly, that's a terrible way to spend your time abroad. But, in any case, that's how I was.

The plane ride home was 24 hours.

Don't know when this will get posted, but as of the writing I have been in the States for 6 days.

My first meal was a Bacon Cheeseburger from TGIFriday's. I'm not particularly attached to Bacon Cheeseburgers or TGIFriday's, but that's how it worked out. So it goes.

Spent lots of money on my first full day back. Had to buy a new cell phone and some new clothes that fit my (according to the family) emaciated frame. Also bought a new pair of running shoes from a running specialty store, so they fit awesomely and feel great.

It feels great to be back home – better than I thought it would feel. I guess I didn't really understand how much I missed family and friends. I was afraid of the cold, thinking I'd be so accustomed to the heat that I'd be freezing all the time. But I love the cold. Makes the air smell great. Also creates situations in which flannel shirts are appropriate.

I think people can sense that I'm real happy about being home. I've been asked a few times if I'd do it all over again: I certainly would. Thailand was a great experience and I encourage anyone to go for it if that's what they want to do. My current excitement at being home should in no way belittle Thailand or insinuate that I had a terrible time. I didn't. I just like home.

Internet?

Hey everybody!

For some reason I am able to access my blog today. Most days the page doesn't pass the content filter the school has going on, so I can't update or even look at my blog page. So, I haven't posted anything in months.

Don't get your hopes up...this isn't going to be a real post: it's just one to explain my past, current, and (most likely) future lack of posting.

I think today is only 20 days from my return to the states. The time has flown by! Right now I'm in the middle of grading finals and giving grades. I didn't realize how daunting a task this would be, but I now have a little bit more respect for all of my past teachers who droned away grading huge stacks of tests multiple times every year.

Next week I'll be entering grades into a computer system. I'm not sure how difficult this actually is: I can't imagine it being more than punching a number and scrolling down, but the teachers are making a big deal of it. We'll see...

I head into Bangkok for Fulbright wrap-up meetings on the morning of the 11th. They're putting us up in the same dorms that we stayed in when we arrived. It's a cool way to cap off the whole experience, finishing where we started. Really, I'm just excited to eat food at a few of the shops near the dorms. Delicious. And then there's Lumpini Park, around a mile from the dorms, which I plan on running extensively in during those last few days in Thailand.

I look forward to getting home and seeing everyone! I feel like I've already got a lot of work to do when I get back: developing pictures; making albums and such; passing out gifts to everyone. By the way - if anyone has any specific requests for souveniers, please let me know. I can find most anything you'd like! Don't be shy.

I guess that's about all for now. Feel free to check facebook for new pictures. I put up new stuff when the internet cooperates!

My Daily Routine

Aunt Pam sent me an email asking what a normal day's like here in Thailand, so I figured I'd answer on here rather than just to her so that everyone knows how I do.

On weekdays, I wake up at 6:30, take a shower, eat some cereal, make some green tea, and walk to school. I arrive at about 7:30. At anywhere between 7:35 and 8:00 the students congregate in front of the flagpole, organized into classes. They sing the national anthem, address the Buddha statue, sing the alma mater, and then listen to any number of teachers give announcements.

Class begins at 8:40 everyday, according to the schedule, but I often don't see any students in my first period classes until 8:50 or 9:00, depending on how long the flagpole meeting was and if their homeroom teacher had things to tell them. I teach 21 periods throughout the week, with four of these periods being marathon, 2-period long elective classes.

Monday is my busiest day with 6 periods. Wednesday's the easiest with only 2.

I normally break for lunch when I have a free period, normally sometime between 10:30 and 12:00. If I wait around and get to the cafeteria after the students do, most of the food disappears and I have only 15 minutes or so to eat what little I can scrape together.

Like I said, I teach different amounts on different days, but when I have down time I plan for upcoming lessons, make props, study Thai, and catch up on emails and things online. I stay busy.

Afternoons are normally more laid back. And the students tend to be louder and more difficult to keep in line. Just have to go with the flow in these situations. The students have a variety of activities they are involved in throughout the week. Thursday is scout day, so most of the kids and teachers dress up in Boy scout uniforms and have lessons about how to tie knots or whatever.

I often bring running clothes over to the school with me and go for a jog around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. The kids get a kick out of this for some reason. I play ping pong and basketball in the afternoons too. Students were amazed by me dribbling through my legs and spinning the ball on my finger. Another thing you can do to draw attention as a farang (foreigner) is play guitar. I had to play "Country Roads" before the entire school on New Years. Good times. Made me miss home.

After running, I head home, take a quick shower and chill until Khun Yai brings me some dinner. If I happen to see her or Khun Dtaa on the way in, we have a word or two. The other day grandpa surprised me with an ostrich egg, which I'd never seen before. I have a picture I'll try to put up sometime. (By the way, I have a ton of pictures that haven't made it to Facebook yet).
I eat dinner by myself, usually putting on a DVD in the room if it's cold or getting dark out. If it's not either of those, I like to eat by the lake, watch the animals, etc.

That's pretty much the extent of my day. From there on I generally just watch a movie or read until I fall asleep. Usually sleep comes at about 9:30, but I've been staying up later lately for some reason.

The weekends is much the same, just without the teaching. Khun Yai brings me all the meals during the weekend, and I think she's caught on that I can barely stomach her dehydrated seafood rice porridge dish for breakfast. Now I consistently get fried eggs and a piece of toast, sometimes a cup of coffee. Before quite recently the director of the school wouldn't give me permission to go anywhere or do anything, so I was literally trapped in my room. I have begun sneaking out whenever I feel like it, and he either doesn't know or doesn't care. I've gone to the city a few times, explored a little bit. I met Paige, the other Fulbrighter in Chiangrai, last weekend and we had a good time.

So, long story short, I'm getting along. I'm enjoying myself, but I also miss everyone back home. Look forward to getting back in about two months!!

Sook San Wan Bpee Mai!!!

aka - Happy New Years!

First things first: I am not currently, nor was I ever, on fire. There was a club that caught on fire in Bangkok on New Year's Eve, but I was far from it. It really was a sad thing. I think over 60 people lost their lives in the fire, but no one in my Fulbright group was near the tragedy.

I bussed into Bangkok from Chiangrai on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. It's about an 11 hour ride, so the night bus is the way to go. And for the equivalent of about $25-30, you can't really beat it. Sleeping is a little sub-par, but I got enough sleep to last until 3:00 in the morning on New Years.

Chike, JR, and I stayed at the YWCA hotel, which is where Fulbright put us up for Thanksgiving. It's a nice place, and the three of us split a triple room, so we kept the price pretty low - about $50 a piece for the 3 nights. The hotel is centrally located in Bangkok, but somehow manages to be a 10-15 minute walk from the sky train, which is sometimes a hassle.

New Year's Eve the guys went out to dinner at Tony Roma's with Rawi - a Thai-American from UC Davis - and his uncle's family. I ate tons of steak and ribs. And I paid for it. My stomach has accustomed itself to Thai portions consisting of mainly rice, so all the American food was a challenge for the digestive system.

After dinner we basically milled around the countdown area at Central World plaza, which was the Thai equivalent of Times Square. The "ball drop" was less droppy than I expected. In fact, the ball was stationary, but it did, conveniently, have a big clock displayed on the side. There were tons of people in the plaza. I've got to say that this is the most people I've personally ever seen in one place. And it was close-quarters. I've also never been unintentionally groped so many times in my life. But, mild complaints aside, it was cool. My view of the ball was slighly obstructed by an ill-placed palm tree, but I'm fairly certain the New Year came without a hitch.

We quickly discovered that leaving the plaza was going to be a problem. An empty taxi simply didn't exist, and the skytrain was packed. We tried walking further from ground zero, but it didn't help. So we celebrated the first hours of the New Year at a street restaurant eating some spicy beef and sticky rice. We didn't find an empty cab until about 3:00am.

Thursday we got up late and headed over to the ritzy Paragon shopping mall area. I'm not sure if I've talked about Paragon on here before, but it's a wild place. They have crazy expensive shops there, sell Lambourginis and such. In one of the malls we found a Sizzler, which I'd never eaten before, but enjoyed thoroughly (except for Chike's blatant and unabashed snatching of JR's cheesy bread). Later on we spent a good amount of money in the bookstore and went bowling on the top floor of Paragon. We met the girls for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and, once again, I stuffed myself. It was delicious! A bar down the road had a pool table, so we rounded off a pretty full day with some billiards.

My Friday was spent at a place called the Ancient City. It's a place where they reconstruct sites from around Thailand in one plot of land. Depending on what mood you're in as you enter, I would say your opinion of the place could range anywhere between "lame" and "awesome". For us it was awesome because we rented Golf carts and we got a little rowdy with them. That's all I'll say... Then we went the the world's largest crocodile farm. I didn't enjoy this as much as I should have because I was dog tired from the cart exploits, but I had a good time.

I left for Chiang Rai again on Saturday evening. During the day, Chike and I wasted time wandering around the mall areas. I bought a pair of tennis shoes that wouldn't cut my feet open and kept myself from spending more money on books, which I consider an acheivement. I couldn't get a VIP bus ticket for the ride back home. While the 1st class ticket was cheaper, it also earned me a smaller seat beside a father and his crying young daughter. I found it easy to remain stoic during it all, though, probably because I spent my time in Bangkok like a pampered American.

New Year's was fun, in short, a good break from teaching.

I'm writing this now at a time when I'm normally teaching. For some reason over half of the school's students are having an assembly, so my schedule is shortened by two classes today! There are rumors from the Chinese teachers that tomorrow I'll be heading to another school to watch an Academic Competition. Again, just rumors, but enough to get me excited. It's not that I'm looking to get out of teaching. Just that I'm looking for a little excitement. The messed up schedule actually means that most of my classes are way behind, which is a big bummer. But, this is Thailand.

Approaching the Half-way Point

Hello everyone at home!!

I'm getting pretty close to being half-way through my stay in Thailand. The official day is next Wednesday 17th, but who's counting? Just writing now to give you an update on what's going on.

I've just about finished my graduate school applications, with plenty of help from Holly and a deposit into my bank account from Dad. I applied to five schools this year: the University of Washington, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt University, Boston College, and the University of South Carolina. U.Washington is my top choice, but I also got accepted and Vandy and BC last year, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. The U. of Wisconsin is one of the top three sociology programs in the country, so it is my long shot school. University of SC is my safety school, but if I had to go there it wouldn't be so bad being close to the beach. If I get in anywhere I'll be starting next fall, and I should be hearing back from these schools at about the time I get back from Thailand. So I'll no sooner get home than have to start thinking about leaving again.

About teaching. I really like teaching, and I think if I am able to go to grad school and become a professor I will like my job. It will probably be cool to teach when the students would actually understand what I'm saying, too. I don't think that I've taught a full 5-day week since I've been here, though. There is always some holiday or celebration or Olympic-type sporting activity that the whole school's involved in. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind having days off. But keeping track of which lessons I've taught to which classes is getting difficult. Sometime either today or tomorrow I'm supposed to have a teacher from Bangkok, associated with Fulbright, come and observe my teaching to make sure I'm doing a decent job. I'm nervous about that, but I plan on being awesome.

Now some shout-outs.

Grandma: I realize you miss me and all that (and I miss you, too), but there's no reason to go getting sick or anything that would put you near a hospital just to try and get me to come home! Just kidding… I'm really glad you're okay. Also, I tried the phone card you sent, but I think it will only work in the US.
Holly: Thanks for getting all of my school stuff together. You're the best.
Dad: Thanks for the money. Tell Alex "hi" for me. And sometime you gotta stop working a million hours a week. If you ever do let me know and we'll try to skype.
Mom: Good to hear about the new pets. Sounds like the house is turning into a zoo! Looking forward to Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner when I get back.
Patrick: You're a computer wizard. Thanks for the DVD player download. It helps out a ton. Sorry that Tech didn't work out and that you have to put up with Marshall again. Do good on finals this semester, though. It will work out in the long run.
Pam: Thanks for the updates. It's good to know what's going on and be in the loop, especially when anyone gets admitted to the hospital.

Thanksgiving and Other Stuff

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote. I've been pretty busy, but that's really no excuse.

So, last week was Thanksgiving, and Fulbright paid to fly us all from our various provinces to Bangkok for dinner. Paige, the other ETA in Chiang Rai, and I made it to Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok just a few hours before the protestors ended up taking the place over. The other major airport, Suvarnabhumi, had already been shut down. I want everyone to know that I was never in any danger. The protestors that took over were giving the other foreigners stranded in the airports sandwiches and stuff. The worst thing that could have happened is I would have to stay in Bangkok and eat a sandwich - nothing near as bad as what the US news stations are surely reporting. Thais are extremely peaceful people and most people are appalled that the situation has gotten this bad. I read on Tuesday that the Prime Minister, with whom the protestors are so unhappy, stepped down. While I'm not totally sure what happens in the government now, I'm sure that things will cool down a bit.

We were treated like kings in Bangkok by the Fulbright program and all of our hosts throughout the weekend. Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by a Fulbright board member, Anne Casper, and her husband. While it doesn't compare with my normal home-cooked meal, the food was great! The spread included turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and pie. I ate a healthy amount of everything but the pie. People managed to finish that off before I even got a chance at it.

Our weekend also included a trip to a Thai cultural center in Bangkok. I learned a little there about traditional Thai arts and recreational practices, which culminated in a show with dancing, fight choreography, and a rousing chorus of "It's a small world."

It was fun getting to hang out with everyone again in Bangkok! I spent a good bit of money over the weekend at the awesome bookstore in Paragon and at various restaurants in the city. Upon arriving back in Chiang Rai (after an 11 hour bus ride through the night) Khun Yai (grandma) handed me the bill for my food so far and it was only 1,300 Baht!! Basically, that's $37 for 5 weeks of dinners, weekend meals, and dress pant washings. In an attempt to be polite and hide my excitement, I told Khun Yai that she must have made a mistake and charged me too little. She explained that she was like my grandma, and I like her child, and that she was taking good care of me. So that made me feel good - in an emotional and financial way...

I feel really taken care of here. It's nice to know that people at home are thinking of me, though all of the worrying isn't necessary. I have great faith in the Fulbright program, that they'd get us shipped out of here quickly if anything crazy went down, but also I have faith in the Thai people in general, that there's little chance of me being in any trouble here.

Week Two in Chiang Rai

Hey everybody!

It's been two weeks in Chiang Rai, so far, and I think I'm finally starting to get settled in. It takes quite a while to get adjusted – longer than I ever thought it would. There are some days that I just get in a bad mood for no reason at all, but all that's finally starting to pass.

I'm not picking up much Thai. There's not much of an opportunity, to tell the truth. Most people at the school speak to me in English. My Thai is pretty bad to begin with, so there's only so far I can go communicating in Thai. I have to say, though, that I can listen and understand Thai far better than I can remember my vocabulary and actually construct sentences myself.

I can't remember if I've already written about this, but my house is pretty great. I have a Western toilet, so no squatting for me. The shower has a water heater, so I don't freeze at all. I am really hooked up, as far as meals and things go, as Khun Yai (my new grandma/landlady) makes me great dinners during the week and all three meals over the weekends. I'm not sure how much this service costs, yet, but it's nice to have. I don't have internet at the house, but the school has a decent connection. If you've been wondering why I'm never on Skype or online, that's why. I teach while everyone back home is asleep, so I don’t have much of a chance to talk. If anyone is interested in talking, I normally have a chance at what would be 5:00am at home. Let me know if you want to try! The worst thing so far about the house is this really annoying peacock that lives on the grounds with me. The bird's favorite spot to perch is on top of my roof or on the banister of my porch. I didn't know this before, but peacocks make god-awful sounds, and this particular peacock makes this sound all night long! When it's on the roof, it sounds like it's sitting in bed with me – so loud!!

I got to eat a really fancy dinner last Friday with the Fulbright Board in Thailand. Luckily for me, they decided to have their board meeting in Chiang Rai this year, so some of them stopped by my school to watch me teach. I went to their really ritzy hotel later on, met Paige, and stuffed myself with tons of food. They had potatoes, which are apparently hard to come by in Thailand, so I went to town. I also made a pretty good dent in the dessert bar – they had a chocolate fountain! Couldn't help myself.

This weekend has been a lazy one for me. Saturday my host teacher came to pick me up at 4:00 for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I have to say that authentic, closer to the source Chinese food is way better than what we have in the US. We also got to walk along a street market that's only open on Saturdays. They had tons of stuff, and while we looked for a traditional Thai shirt for me to wear on the upcoming holiday of Loi Khratong, we never found one big enough. (I'll write about Loi Khratong a little later.) One sweet older teacher from my school, Ajarn Wanpen (Mrs. "Fullmoon"), sells her paintings at this street market, and she was really excited to see me there! She's convinced that I would help her sell more paintings if I sat with her on Saturdays. I'm sure it would be a good time, so maybe before my time's up I'll go back.

I've been trying to use my Sunday to catch up on things – writing in my journal, writing lessons and blog posts, jotting down a few postcard messages to send home. Somehow studying Thai is always the last thing I get to. Seems like that should be a higher priority, doesn't it….