Ok so I've officially had yesterday and today to settle into Thailand and I. Love. It. The plane rides were very long, but the Japanese airport was so neat it made it worthwhile. I picked up one of my favorite Hawaii treats while I was there too - yummy Mochi.
After 24 hours of flying, we finally made it to the Bangkok Airport. There was a lot more English at the airport than I expected, but I think that's only in tourist areas because there's nothing English in Phichit.
I got some money transferred over to the Thai currency, baht.The difference is roughly
฿30
to $1, I can't wait to go shopping! I don't even need a thrift shop to get cheap clothes, take that hipsters!
The school had a van pick us up from the airport to embark on the 4 hour drive out to our hotel in Phichit (we couldn't move in until the old teachers left). It looked like a white pedophile van from the outside, but the inside was like stepping into the Cash Cab van. There were pads on every surface, with sealed water cups and footrests inside, all of us teachers fell asleep almost as soon as we sat down; but we got distracted by the neon lights on almost every truck and car, and the fact that everyone drives on the left side of the road.
We stopped along the way for a bathroom break and I'm bummed I don't have a picture to show it, but the bathrooms were so gnarly, that is coming from my ethnocentric American mind of course. The toilet paper is outside of the stalls, since you throw it away rather than flushing here, so I had no idea to grab some before I went in. It was also a squatter toilet, which, if any of you are not familiar, here is a very nice squatter toilet in Japan:
The one I used had no flushing system, so next to it was a small built-up pool of water and a pot. After doing my business, I used the bidet instead of toilet paper and then scooped up some water from the pool with the pot to manually flush.
We also ran into a couple animals outside the bathroom. I say animals because I thought they were stray dogs, but after getting home and doing some googling my co-teachers have decided they were more probably dingos. So creepy! There are wild dogs everywhere in Thailand, I could probably count at least 15 on my 10 minute walk to the school. Very friendly during the day, but wild at night.
In the morning we shadowed the old
teachers that had already been teaching at the school for a semester.
The kids that I will be teaching are so stinking cute. Not only do they
all have the Gangam Style dance memorized, but they love singing Justin
Bieber and saying the rules. I'm teaching the older of the kindergarten
group which is ages 4-5. Did I mention they're SO cute?? Even though I
wasn't technically teaching today, they'd run up and hug me and say
"Teacher Paige look what I found!!" with the biggest toothy smiles.
At
night, the old Head Teacher took us biking around town and we got
drenched in the warmest tropical rainstorm. We got to see crocodiles and
eat delicious roti and check out some shops.
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| Koi Pond next to the school |
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| Koi |
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| Crocodile Park |
This place is absolute
paradise!! I get noodles for $1 and everything here is ridiculously
gorgeous here!
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| The Prime Minister. Pictures of her and also the King/Queen especially are everywhere. |
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| We have legit security at the school |
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| Small Temple outside the school |
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| Thai food is amazing |
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| Breakfast |
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| Dinner |
I absolutely love Thailand! Everyone here is welcoming and friendly, the school is great, the kids are great, and the whole atmosphere of Thailand is incredible. From the monk neighbors to the temples everywhere, it's so beautiful. I can't wait for the next 4 months.
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