2008 has been a good year to me. Many, many, many events and memories were made. Let me see if I can remember the most important things of this past year.... in a semi-particular order:
1) My heart was healed. This is a feat I never though possible. Having visited, for a long duration, what felt like the depths of despair and depression, 2008 saw an end of a broken heart, the healing of a shattered soul, and the optimistic outlook to the future. What have I learned from this experience? I will not give away my love freely. I am a smart, well-rounded, adventurous person that will not settle for anything less than the best. I would rather sit at home on a Friday and Saturday night with nothing but myself and the TV to keep me company rather than spend it with someone who does not appreciate me and value my feelings. I am the apple that one must reach high up for to be picked. As the months and years pass by, I am happy with being me and waiting for the right person to spend my life with.
2) I ran a freaking 1/2 marathon. Perhaps some may say, "Many do this.... and more!" But, my dear friend, do any of them loathe running as much as I? Nay, I say unto you! Nay! I think running the 1/2 was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done. I remember at mile ten tearing up and just wanting to cry. I have never felt the need for greater encouragement and wanting my mom so badly to cheer me on! Every stranger on the sidelines that cheered me on was my savior for that minute of pain as I passed them by. Kudos to all those who go out of their comfort zone and try something new. It builds you and strengthens you in ways you didn't think were feasible. I learned that I am capable of far more than I give myself credit for. But all rewards only come after hard work... in this case, hours and hours upon miles and miles of training and endurance. The outlook of me ever running a 1/2 marathon again: doubtful.
3) I went through the LDS Temple in May. My whole family was there. Seeing my whole family in the Celestial Room was a mental image I will always treasure. I am so thankful for a family that is all able to attend the temple, due to my parent's good example and upbringing. Since May, I was able to attend the temple once a week, with a few exceptions. By attending the temple weekly, I am able to remember that life is so much more than what I am able to see with my limited views - which consists mainly of my job! I know my Heavenly Father has a purpose for my life and I have to trust that through my obedience and faith, I will be blessed with the righteous desires of my heart.
4) I traveled to Khowang, Thailand all by my freakin' self!!! I learned more about myself and what I am capable of from 6 weeks in Thailand than I could have ever imagined. I bought tickets to travel to Thailand to teach English with only one desire in mind: Escape my life (see #1 of this list!). Little did I know how much this trip would do for me. What did I learn? The Lord watches over his children. Kindness is the best quality to posses, for it's extensions are never ending and reach all the corners of the earth. It's ok to be scared, but it's also ok to ask a stranger for help. Life is better enjoyed when spending time with family and friends, rather than sitting at work into the wee hours of the night preparing for another day of work. Life without adventure is no life for me!
5) Zena Cummard was born! Another beautiful addition to the Cummard clan.
6) I entered into my third year of teaching. My second year of teaching ended and I shed more tears than I would have thought for the children graduating to 6th grade. I grew to love them very much, individually and collectively. I learned a lot from these children. AND THEN the new batch of children came into my room. Even after 1/2 the year with them has already passed, I cannot say that I love them, or even like them for that matter. There are many days that I dread going to work. Prior to this year, I never once didn't look forward to going to work. I always knew my job would be hard, but I never dreaded it. AND THEN these children came into my classroom. They have tested me in ways that have nearly killed me. I wake up in the middle of the night wondering how to be a better teacher, how to have better management, how to be kinder, nicer, gentler..... AND THEN the next morning, over 1/2 the class forgets their homework.... and the next 8 hours are a blur of discipline mixed with frustration mixed with near loss of temper! I'm sure that come 2009, I'll be able to look back and tell you what I've learned.... but I'm not at that point yet! :)
7) Nicole Money Smith. She came into my life when I least expected it, but when I needed a friend the most. She taught me a lot about how life can be so simply enjoyed. We helped each other make friends in our ward. We read the Book of Mormon together and had some of the best spiritual talks I've ever had with another human being. Nikki never says an ill word about anyone and taught me that gossip is for idle spinsters! We served together, whether through ward visits, tryinig to activiate hometeachers, or dropping off brownies at random friend's houses. I will always treasure her friendship.
8) MARRIAGES! Sharon. Mekell. Nikki. My 3 best friends of what might be all time. I wish them a life full of happiness and joy. I'm glad they took the motto "2008 - Find a Mate" seriously!
9) RCR. He taught me that it's OK to allow myself to be friends with boys. Due to incident #1 (briefly described above) I was anti boy-friends. But I stand corrected. Not every guy is a "koosh". Just like when I so desperately needed a friend and the Lord placed Nikki in my life, the Lord knew when I needed another friend, and RCR was there. He also taught me that Cafe Rio is not ALL bad, if you know what to order. And their cheesy tortillas are to die for.
10) Many other friends -- too many to name. Bryn, Chelsa, Olivia, Kim, Mike, Florence -- just a few! To all my friends who have been patient with my lack of returning phone calls and text messages but still persist in being my friend anyway, THANKS! I love each of you in a unique, special way.
11) DVR. You are the best boyfriend I could ever ask for. You are always there when I need you and you never talk back. Thanks for all the great nights we have spent together. Here's looking to a bright 2009, DVR! I just wish I didn't have to pay so much for you each month!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Christmas Eve Mass
This past Christmas eve was one to remember.... let me see if I can explain it well enough for the reader to understand the predicament my parents and I found ourselves in...
We decided to go to a Christmas eve mass at a neighborhood church. We didn't get there early enough to get good seats, as much as my mom tried to fanagle her way into pews. But the Christian congregation would not have her pushy ways, even on christmas eve. So the usher showed us to some open seats that weren't taken yet..... They had a prime view of the pulpit, that's for sure! That's because we were sitting with the choir! Talk about awkward..... When the choir got up to sing, we didn't know if we should stand to sing with them, or just sit there and look like morons sitting with the choir! So we sat there.... up on stage for the whole congreation to see.
I think the best part of the evening was watching the choir/band. We obviously had a great view. There was a harmonica player who was about 70 years old or more. He was.... a decent harmonica player, except for the fact that he was on oxygen!!! Have you ever heard of anything so bizarre?? The great part was, even when he wasn't "playing" his harmonica, air would still escape, so periodically his harmonica would make beautiful sounds... when it wasn't supposed to!
Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus!
We decided to go to a Christmas eve mass at a neighborhood church. We didn't get there early enough to get good seats, as much as my mom tried to fanagle her way into pews. But the Christian congregation would not have her pushy ways, even on christmas eve. So the usher showed us to some open seats that weren't taken yet..... They had a prime view of the pulpit, that's for sure! That's because we were sitting with the choir! Talk about awkward..... When the choir got up to sing, we didn't know if we should stand to sing with them, or just sit there and look like morons sitting with the choir! So we sat there.... up on stage for the whole congreation to see.
I think the best part of the evening was watching the choir/band. We obviously had a great view. There was a harmonica player who was about 70 years old or more. He was.... a decent harmonica player, except for the fact that he was on oxygen!!! Have you ever heard of anything so bizarre?? The great part was, even when he wasn't "playing" his harmonica, air would still escape, so periodically his harmonica would make beautiful sounds... when it wasn't supposed to!
Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig
I am in Tokyo. I forgot how much I loved Japan. I got my 3 favorite items: Pocarti Sweat Water, chewy candy things, and this ice-cream waffle thing. Mmmmmmm.......
Well, Bangkok was fun, but it was a bit of a downer cuz my heart was sad. Oh and want to hear the WORST part?!?! I always say that God answers my prayers.... and 1/2 the time he answers them in a very "humorous" way.... and this time I was in NO mood for God's little jokes. So after the night I slept with the Monks, I did sightseeing of ancient Siam. Before I knew I was going to be sleeping with the monks, I was SO excited to have a proper shower and HOT water!!! Well, the temple had a bucket of cold water, mai pen rai. So here I was at a SWANKY hotel in Bangkok and I was sooooo excited to take my first hot shower in WEEKS!!! Well.... let me just say... it was hot. DAMN HOT!! Too hot to even put my hand in to touch. Now, I'm no moron.... I know how to adjust the water gages.... but that did not make a difference... it was only scalding hot water!!! "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" I just stood naked in the bathroom, VERY VERY depressed for about 5 minutes. (The thought did not occur to me to 'complain' to the hotel.... I'm so used to things going so un-planned and just learnign to deal with it.) So, I drew a bath.... and took a 3 hour nap. When I woke up 3 hours later, the water was the perfect (still hot) temperature for a bath. Still not hot shower though.... guess I have to wait until I get home!!
The day I left Bangkok (yesterday) I went on a tour of the Grand Palace and the temple adjacent to it. BEAUTIFUL. I probably took WAY too many pictures. But unfortunately it started POURING when we arrived at the Grand Palace part of the tour, so I only have about 4 pictures of that. So sad... but like I said, you live the unexpected life in Thailand.
At the hotel, all the tourists go and eat at the expensive Thai restaraunts. Not me! I walked to streets and ate from the vendors. "Gee Baht ka?" "Kop Koon ka." I ate WELL and for very cheap. That's just one of the MANY things I learned from my new friends.... how to eat from the vendors. I was quite proud of myself. Everyone kept saying "Oh, you speak Thai" and then would start rambling things off.... I said "No, no, just a little." and then I would sing them the only Thai song I know!! Good times....
Well, I shall be home in less than 24 hours. So sad. I was so excited to have my big american feast.... but now i'm not sure my stomach can handle what I ordered for my mom to make up!!! I'm so used to rice, noodles, meat, and veggies!!!
Oh yeah.... here in Tokyo, I have a 6 hour layover. So I am reading my book, minding my own business... when the Anti-Terrorist Police came up and gave me the 3rd degree in Japanese! I had no idea what they were saying, but it took about 10 minutes. THey took down all my passport information, too. I don't know why.... it kind of irritated me, to tell you the truth. I am reading the Kite Runner, so maybe that had something to do with it! (jokes, jokes).... but hopfeully I can get home and they didn't put a red flag on my passport!!!
Well, Bangkok was fun, but it was a bit of a downer cuz my heart was sad. Oh and want to hear the WORST part?!?! I always say that God answers my prayers.... and 1/2 the time he answers them in a very "humorous" way.... and this time I was in NO mood for God's little jokes. So after the night I slept with the Monks, I did sightseeing of ancient Siam. Before I knew I was going to be sleeping with the monks, I was SO excited to have a proper shower and HOT water!!! Well, the temple had a bucket of cold water, mai pen rai. So here I was at a SWANKY hotel in Bangkok and I was sooooo excited to take my first hot shower in WEEKS!!! Well.... let me just say... it was hot. DAMN HOT!! Too hot to even put my hand in to touch. Now, I'm no moron.... I know how to adjust the water gages.... but that did not make a difference... it was only scalding hot water!!! "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" I just stood naked in the bathroom, VERY VERY depressed for about 5 minutes. (The thought did not occur to me to 'complain' to the hotel.... I'm so used to things going so un-planned and just learnign to deal with it.) So, I drew a bath.... and took a 3 hour nap. When I woke up 3 hours later, the water was the perfect (still hot) temperature for a bath. Still not hot shower though.... guess I have to wait until I get home!!
The day I left Bangkok (yesterday) I went on a tour of the Grand Palace and the temple adjacent to it. BEAUTIFUL. I probably took WAY too many pictures. But unfortunately it started POURING when we arrived at the Grand Palace part of the tour, so I only have about 4 pictures of that. So sad... but like I said, you live the unexpected life in Thailand.
At the hotel, all the tourists go and eat at the expensive Thai restaraunts. Not me! I walked to streets and ate from the vendors. "Gee Baht ka?" "Kop Koon ka." I ate WELL and for very cheap. That's just one of the MANY things I learned from my new friends.... how to eat from the vendors. I was quite proud of myself. Everyone kept saying "Oh, you speak Thai" and then would start rambling things off.... I said "No, no, just a little." and then I would sing them the only Thai song I know!! Good times....
Well, I shall be home in less than 24 hours. So sad. I was so excited to have my big american feast.... but now i'm not sure my stomach can handle what I ordered for my mom to make up!!! I'm so used to rice, noodles, meat, and veggies!!!
Oh yeah.... here in Tokyo, I have a 6 hour layover. So I am reading my book, minding my own business... when the Anti-Terrorist Police came up and gave me the 3rd degree in Japanese! I had no idea what they were saying, but it took about 10 minutes. THey took down all my passport information, too. I don't know why.... it kind of irritated me, to tell you the truth. I am reading the Kite Runner, so maybe that had something to do with it! (jokes, jokes).... but hopfeully I can get home and they didn't put a red flag on my passport!!!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Goodnight Moon :(
This will be a fast post because I am now paying for the internet.... and I am CHEAP!!!
So I got a free ride to Bangkok with the people that were at Khowang. Saved me about 30 dollars. I was SOOOO sad to say goodbye to my friends. I cried. My heart is still crying. A lot. I think I fell in love...... :)
We were supposed to arrive into Bangkok at 9pm. We got here around midnight. Instead of sleeping at Asha Guesthouse, like I booked, I was invited by a monk to sleep at his temple. So I did. I slept with a monk! haha..... but literally.... I slept in the temple on a mat. I got 3 hours of sleep before I had to get a taxi and arrive at Asia Hotel.
Today I went on an adventure to see ancient ruins of Siam, the name of Thailand before the war with Burma. It was fun. My memory card got full so I do not have a lot of pictures. That is ok. My heart is in Khowang and Bangkok is now 2nd place - so not so many pictures is ok. I met lots of nice people. I like to make people laugh. I think the Thai people thought I was married to this older man because they kept putting me on his food ticket, etc. And he was nice enough to pay. I also rode around in a golf cart with this nice older couple at a site, and they were nice enough to pay, too. Basically, when you travel alone, I think people feel sorry for you and pay for stuff. I like it! :)
Tomorrow I go to the Grand Palace. I saw it today from the river boat cruise I was on, but tomorrow I go inside.
Right now I am going to go get a pedicure for $6. Why not? And don't worry.... if you are worried I will get a disease from the foot stuff ----- then you don't understand how worried I am that I may have worms. Foot disease = nothing compared to belly problems!! :) (just kidding mother, my stomach is fine.... for now!)
So I got a free ride to Bangkok with the people that were at Khowang. Saved me about 30 dollars. I was SOOOO sad to say goodbye to my friends. I cried. My heart is still crying. A lot. I think I fell in love...... :)
We were supposed to arrive into Bangkok at 9pm. We got here around midnight. Instead of sleeping at Asha Guesthouse, like I booked, I was invited by a monk to sleep at his temple. So I did. I slept with a monk! haha..... but literally.... I slept in the temple on a mat. I got 3 hours of sleep before I had to get a taxi and arrive at Asia Hotel.
Today I went on an adventure to see ancient ruins of Siam, the name of Thailand before the war with Burma. It was fun. My memory card got full so I do not have a lot of pictures. That is ok. My heart is in Khowang and Bangkok is now 2nd place - so not so many pictures is ok. I met lots of nice people. I like to make people laugh. I think the Thai people thought I was married to this older man because they kept putting me on his food ticket, etc. And he was nice enough to pay. I also rode around in a golf cart with this nice older couple at a site, and they were nice enough to pay, too. Basically, when you travel alone, I think people feel sorry for you and pay for stuff. I like it! :)
Tomorrow I go to the Grand Palace. I saw it today from the river boat cruise I was on, but tomorrow I go inside.
Right now I am going to go get a pedicure for $6. Why not? And don't worry.... if you are worried I will get a disease from the foot stuff ----- then you don't understand how worried I am that I may have worms. Foot disease = nothing compared to belly problems!! :) (just kidding mother, my stomach is fine.... for now!)
Saturday, July 5, 2008
The AFTER Party
Well - the ceremony/party has ended tonight.... and I'm back on the internet because P'Tuang is making me a CD of tons of pictures she's taken and Moon is making me a music CD of Thai music. "Doo Doo Doo Doo ter tam.... Tam mai tung tam kob chun dai."
The party tonight was INSANE! A bunch of people road a bus here from Bangkok. There were also quite a few people from VERY VERY VERY small villages ..... the town i'm staying at is small - but it's note remote. There were women (and men) that came up and just started touching me all over. And 'tried' to shake my hands. And then..... started kissing me all over the face!! I think it was intended to be on the lips, but I kept moving my head away because I was in such fright!! Talk about going from almost zero affection to OVER affection!! Sheeshe!! People were taking pictures of my like I was Britney Spears. It's all very overwhelming and in my head I think "Wow.... you have no idea that I'm the least special person EVER to be taking your photo with!" I met, took my picture with, and danced with some old man several times. He asked me out on a date. He had to have been at least 60. So sad that I am leaving tomorrow so that I cannot go out on a date with him.... I also met, took my picture with, and danced with another man several time. But this time it turned out to be for my benefit because he is the driver of the bus that drove here from Bangkok. So after a short conversation of broken English, I got myself a free bus ride to Bangkok!! There are three benefits: 1) the bus leaves 3 hours later than the original bus I was going to take, 2) it's free! I'm sure I will end up paying, because it's not fair for me to get a free ride (haha, literally) but I'll be saving tons of money, and 3) I get to see all my friends tomorrow morning because the bus leaves from shcool (where the ceremony is Sunday morning) and if I took the early bus they would all still be asleep. Here is the downside.... it's a "karaoke bus" (as almost ALL buses are here in Thailand) so I will have to endure/suffer 12 hours of Thai karaoke!!! It may not sound bad, but they play their music here SOO damn loud, I can't even think!!! Add on top of that drunk thai people trying to speak english with me (though I can't understand them, especially on top of the loud music).
I have two days in Bangkok to play around..... we shall see what the next blog of my adventures bring. My Thai friends are afraid I am going to either not make it to Bangkok safe and/or get myself lost. I said, "Well - I made it here alright by myself, didn't I?" But just so my mother knows, I have people here worried about me, too, and I have to call them when I make it to Bangkok safely. However, using a Thai payphone is like asking me to sing Thai Karaoke. I have NO idea how to use their phones. So if my family gets a call that I may have died in Bangkok - chances are it's only because I didn't know how to use the payphone to call and tell them I was safe! :)
Until next time....
The party tonight was INSANE! A bunch of people road a bus here from Bangkok. There were also quite a few people from VERY VERY VERY small villages ..... the town i'm staying at is small - but it's note remote. There were women (and men) that came up and just started touching me all over. And 'tried' to shake my hands. And then..... started kissing me all over the face!! I think it was intended to be on the lips, but I kept moving my head away because I was in such fright!! Talk about going from almost zero affection to OVER affection!! Sheeshe!! People were taking pictures of my like I was Britney Spears. It's all very overwhelming and in my head I think "Wow.... you have no idea that I'm the least special person EVER to be taking your photo with!" I met, took my picture with, and danced with some old man several times. He asked me out on a date. He had to have been at least 60. So sad that I am leaving tomorrow so that I cannot go out on a date with him.... I also met, took my picture with, and danced with another man several time. But this time it turned out to be for my benefit because he is the driver of the bus that drove here from Bangkok. So after a short conversation of broken English, I got myself a free bus ride to Bangkok!! There are three benefits: 1) the bus leaves 3 hours later than the original bus I was going to take, 2) it's free! I'm sure I will end up paying, because it's not fair for me to get a free ride (haha, literally) but I'll be saving tons of money, and 3) I get to see all my friends tomorrow morning because the bus leaves from shcool (where the ceremony is Sunday morning) and if I took the early bus they would all still be asleep. Here is the downside.... it's a "karaoke bus" (as almost ALL buses are here in Thailand) so I will have to endure/suffer 12 hours of Thai karaoke!!! It may not sound bad, but they play their music here SOO damn loud, I can't even think!!! Add on top of that drunk thai people trying to speak english with me (though I can't understand them, especially on top of the loud music).
I have two days in Bangkok to play around..... we shall see what the next blog of my adventures bring. My Thai friends are afraid I am going to either not make it to Bangkok safe and/or get myself lost. I said, "Well - I made it here alright by myself, didn't I?" But just so my mother knows, I have people here worried about me, too, and I have to call them when I make it to Bangkok safely. However, using a Thai payphone is like asking me to sing Thai Karaoke. I have NO idea how to use their phones. So if my family gets a call that I may have died in Bangkok - chances are it's only because I didn't know how to use the payphone to call and tell them I was safe! :)
Until next time....
มอแกน
Phew.... It took me about five minutes to type the title of this blog.... but that is my name in Thai!!
Today is my last full day in Khowang. To be honest, I am trying not to think about it. It makes my heart very sad. I will not go into (again) how much I love it here and how I do not want to come home. But those really are my feelings. I spent one night (while the dogs were howling) thinking about why i love it here so much. I wondered if it was the people and experiences I've had. I always say how simple life is here - but that is not entirely true. The people work here just as hard, if not more so, as we do. Food is not just a quick fix to fill the belly - it is a process of finding, preparing, eating, cleaning up. When I say that life is simple, it's because they are not running their children to every single YMCA program, and they're not constantly running errands. They spend time with their friends and family. I also think I have a bit of a jaded view of life being "simple" here because I honestly don't have a care in the world - except teaching English classes. No bills makes life a helluva lot nicer to enjoy!! And I'll say it one more time, just for the heck of it, but I would not mind moving here. Especially since Thai children are the most beautiful I've ever seen! I always ask parents if they mind if I stole their baby..... I've had no takers yet!!! And as persistant as I've been, Moon refuses to knock me up with a Thai baby of my own. (JUST KIDDING MOM!!!)... sort of! :)
This past week has been full of, you guessed it, parties!!! One night we spent at the Director's house.... eating! Thursday night was spent at our local hang out, the Korean BBQ joint....eating! Friday night, we went to Ubon (the big city an hour's drive by car - 2 hours by bus) to have dinner and go to the pub. This was the day of the 4th of july. The pub was country style. There were live bands and you drink and dance right at your table. Many drag queens. One band singer came out dressed as an adult baby - in a diaper and everything. Then he pulled out this HUGE plastic penis and started waving it around and dancing with it. Honestly (and this is not because of the language barrier) the people I was with did not know what it was! I had to shield my eyes cuz I was so embarrased!! I said "Why is he waving around a big penis?" "Huh? I don't know what that is!" Let me just say - it was a wild night! :)
Yesterday, the 4th of July, I was in yet another parade. It CRACKS me up that they put me as the LEADER of the parades. As if I know where the heck to LEAD the parade!!! I just march in a straight line until someone comes running up to me to tell me to turn right or left. This time it was a Sports Parade for some of the students that have been having a soccer competition. So I marched in front of the band as the "drum major" and had to march the silliest march ever. Of ALL the crazy things I have done here - this embarassed me more than anything. I don't know why - but I felt so silly and upsurd!! It was actually really HARD to march this particular way. I kept either swinging my hips like I was a belly dancer or I looked like a robot. All the students were laughing at me. Have I mentioned that there is a ceremony for something literally almost every day!?!? It's insane! If you've ever watched Gilmore Girls, and their town always has SOMETHING going on, that is like here. Except in Thailand!
Rascal Flats has a song where the lyrics say "When push comes to shove, you taste what you're made of." I feel like that describes my experiences here. I have found out a lot about myself and what I am capable of. In retrospect, traveling to Thailand completely alone with almost zero communication with the volunteer program is INSANE!! But I had zero nerves (except a few days before I left in AZ.... but that was because of a culmination of many things going on in my life). Basically the only time I'm afraid for my safety is when Moon drives the car a "bit" intoxicated. I still hate ANTS but I have learned probably one of the most valuable lessons of my life: every action you make has a consequence. For example: if you choose not to sweep your floor in the morning, your bed will have hundreds of ants in it that night. If you choose to sleep with the light on, then it will burn out and you will be without light for 2 days. If you choose to touch a tin roof in the middle of the day to see how hot it is, you WILL burn your hands!
I think one of the most rewarding experiences for me is finding out who I am through other people's eyes that have just barely gotten to know me. I have had the teachers tell me that I am the most spontaneous person they've ever known. They say that I bring out spontanaety in others - they see teachers doing things they would NEVER do if it weren't for my encouragement. I have a saying here "Teachers can do ANYTHING". (which I believe whole heartedly.) They LOVE this saying of mine and they can see that I put that saying into my actions. I have had many teachers tell me that when I first got here they thought I was a Tom Boy (err... thanks!?!??) but now they just see that I have a big personality and I like to share it with everyone. They have also told me that I have gotten sexier as the weeks have gone on. (LOL) I say to them that is only because they've gotten too used to looking at this beastly white face!! It still cracks me up every time someone says I'm sexy. I may be able to get used to eating crickets, but I cannot get used to being called sexy. This can happen multiple times in just one day. This is basically how a conversation goes with a Thai man: "Good evening. You are very beautiful." "Thank you." "You are very beautiful and sexy. You are sexy." "Thank you. You are very kind." "You are sexy. I love you. I love you." And that is the extent of most of the conversations I have with Thai men! lol. I'm a bit at a loss as to how I can possibly go back to the US and not have a single man tell me I'm sexy! What will I do with myself?!!? ;)
Tonight (Saturday) is my last night here before I go to Bangkok for 2 days. There is a ceremony (crap if I know why... we have ceremonies almost every day.... something about Monks and people from Bangkok). The ceremony will probably last an hour. Then the whiskey comes out and we'll party for about 4 more hours. I think my bus to Bangkok leaves tomorrow at 6am. I am going to party all night long. Tonight is my last night with my new friends. That makes my heart ache very much. Very much.
Today is my last full day in Khowang. To be honest, I am trying not to think about it. It makes my heart very sad. I will not go into (again) how much I love it here and how I do not want to come home. But those really are my feelings. I spent one night (while the dogs were howling) thinking about why i love it here so much. I wondered if it was the people and experiences I've had. I always say how simple life is here - but that is not entirely true. The people work here just as hard, if not more so, as we do. Food is not just a quick fix to fill the belly - it is a process of finding, preparing, eating, cleaning up. When I say that life is simple, it's because they are not running their children to every single YMCA program, and they're not constantly running errands. They spend time with their friends and family. I also think I have a bit of a jaded view of life being "simple" here because I honestly don't have a care in the world - except teaching English classes. No bills makes life a helluva lot nicer to enjoy!! And I'll say it one more time, just for the heck of it, but I would not mind moving here. Especially since Thai children are the most beautiful I've ever seen! I always ask parents if they mind if I stole their baby..... I've had no takers yet!!! And as persistant as I've been, Moon refuses to knock me up with a Thai baby of my own. (JUST KIDDING MOM!!!)... sort of! :)
This past week has been full of, you guessed it, parties!!! One night we spent at the Director's house.... eating! Thursday night was spent at our local hang out, the Korean BBQ joint....eating! Friday night, we went to Ubon (the big city an hour's drive by car - 2 hours by bus) to have dinner and go to the pub. This was the day of the 4th of july. The pub was country style. There were live bands and you drink and dance right at your table. Many drag queens. One band singer came out dressed as an adult baby - in a diaper and everything. Then he pulled out this HUGE plastic penis and started waving it around and dancing with it. Honestly (and this is not because of the language barrier) the people I was with did not know what it was! I had to shield my eyes cuz I was so embarrased!! I said "Why is he waving around a big penis?" "Huh? I don't know what that is!" Let me just say - it was a wild night! :)
Yesterday, the 4th of July, I was in yet another parade. It CRACKS me up that they put me as the LEADER of the parades. As if I know where the heck to LEAD the parade!!! I just march in a straight line until someone comes running up to me to tell me to turn right or left. This time it was a Sports Parade for some of the students that have been having a soccer competition. So I marched in front of the band as the "drum major" and had to march the silliest march ever. Of ALL the crazy things I have done here - this embarassed me more than anything. I don't know why - but I felt so silly and upsurd!! It was actually really HARD to march this particular way. I kept either swinging my hips like I was a belly dancer or I looked like a robot. All the students were laughing at me. Have I mentioned that there is a ceremony for something literally almost every day!?!? It's insane! If you've ever watched Gilmore Girls, and their town always has SOMETHING going on, that is like here. Except in Thailand!
Rascal Flats has a song where the lyrics say "When push comes to shove, you taste what you're made of." I feel like that describes my experiences here. I have found out a lot about myself and what I am capable of. In retrospect, traveling to Thailand completely alone with almost zero communication with the volunteer program is INSANE!! But I had zero nerves (except a few days before I left in AZ.... but that was because of a culmination of many things going on in my life). Basically the only time I'm afraid for my safety is when Moon drives the car a "bit" intoxicated. I still hate ANTS but I have learned probably one of the most valuable lessons of my life: every action you make has a consequence. For example: if you choose not to sweep your floor in the morning, your bed will have hundreds of ants in it that night. If you choose to sleep with the light on, then it will burn out and you will be without light for 2 days. If you choose to touch a tin roof in the middle of the day to see how hot it is, you WILL burn your hands!
I think one of the most rewarding experiences for me is finding out who I am through other people's eyes that have just barely gotten to know me. I have had the teachers tell me that I am the most spontaneous person they've ever known. They say that I bring out spontanaety in others - they see teachers doing things they would NEVER do if it weren't for my encouragement. I have a saying here "Teachers can do ANYTHING". (which I believe whole heartedly.) They LOVE this saying of mine and they can see that I put that saying into my actions. I have had many teachers tell me that when I first got here they thought I was a Tom Boy (err... thanks!?!??) but now they just see that I have a big personality and I like to share it with everyone. They have also told me that I have gotten sexier as the weeks have gone on. (LOL) I say to them that is only because they've gotten too used to looking at this beastly white face!! It still cracks me up every time someone says I'm sexy. I may be able to get used to eating crickets, but I cannot get used to being called sexy. This can happen multiple times in just one day. This is basically how a conversation goes with a Thai man: "Good evening. You are very beautiful." "Thank you." "You are very beautiful and sexy. You are sexy." "Thank you. You are very kind." "You are sexy. I love you. I love you." And that is the extent of most of the conversations I have with Thai men! lol. I'm a bit at a loss as to how I can possibly go back to the US and not have a single man tell me I'm sexy! What will I do with myself?!!? ;)
Tonight (Saturday) is my last night here before I go to Bangkok for 2 days. There is a ceremony (crap if I know why... we have ceremonies almost every day.... something about Monks and people from Bangkok). The ceremony will probably last an hour. Then the whiskey comes out and we'll party for about 4 more hours. I think my bus to Bangkok leaves tomorrow at 6am. I am going to party all night long. Tonight is my last night with my new friends. That makes my heart ache very much. Very much.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Neung, Song, Sam!
My Thai is coming along pretty good. I can ask/say things like "How much is that?" or "Do you have a girlfriend?" or "Speak louder please." or "Repeat after me." or "What is your name?" or "Have you been to Laos?" and I can count and I can sing one of the most popular songs in Thailand. The children cheer and cheer when I speak Thai to them.
I cannot believe that I only have a week left. I leave this small town on Sunday. I am so sad to say goodbye to all the people I have met. Despite how hard it has been living in a VERY different way than I am used to, this might be the happiest I have been in a long long time. I absolutely love it here. I have entertained the idea many times of moving to this small town, learning Thai, and teaching English at the school. It is so funny how my "priorities" have changed. I do not need fancy clothes, I do not need a luxurious car, not that I have one anyway, or designer bathroom/kitchen (that I want so badly) and many of the other things I "think" I need in AZ. I DO, however, need Filebertos, donuts, AND a dryer. My clothes, that I wash by hand, NEED TO BE SHRUNK!!! these poor shirts of mine are so stretched out. I cannot wait to stick them in the dryer so they can go back to normal size!
It is funny how you get used to things. I am *almost* used to cold showers, but this morning, man oh man, it was COLD!!! I am used to bugs, especially the lizards. They are my friends because they eat the bugs. I HATE HATE HATE HATE ants. Mosquitos, I can deal with. Ants, my enemy. Although I miss my food, I am finding a lot of good things to eat. Mr. Moon is a DELICIOUS cook. I ate at another teacher's house this weekend and SHE was a delicious cook, too. And those are the people I make friends with. The good cooks! I eat ice cream every day at lunch. I get 3 scoops for about 20 cents. (Actually, I usually get 6 scoops for 40 cents..... it is my only luxury and I LOVE ice cream!) It is funny, cuz I always offer to buy people ice cream and they say "No no, it is way too hot to eat ice cream!" WHAT?!?! EXACTLY THE POINT!!
Almost every night I spend with P'Tuong, P'Pon, P'Tukta, and Mr. Moon. They are my "gang" of friends. All single. I call us "Mr. Moon's Woman". The night involves eating, and eating, and eating, and eating. And drinking a LOT. And talking a LOT. I so wish I could speak the language. It is so relaxing and such a nice way to spend the evening. No hustle and bustle of nonsense errands that MUST get done. I really hope I can bring a part of this back to my life in AZ. But I am afraid to come home just for that reason. Right when I get home I am afraid I am going to fall into my "old" normal habits and start working like mad and stressing out about nonsense stuff!
Everyone asks me why I do not have a boyfriend. All I say is "I don't know!" They find it amazing that I don't have a boyfriend. I feel like I have never had so much confidence boosting in my LIFE!! I thought my MOM was the only one that thought I was the best catch in the sea or ripest appple on the tree!! ;) I just say that I have been waiting to find Mr. Moon, which makes him blush terribly. I love embarassing him. It is one of my highlights of the trip. It is very "normal" for married men to say to me "You look very beautiful" (which is nice) OR, the one that makes me VERY uncomfortable, "You look very sexy." How the crap do you respond to that?? "Thank you, I know! This long skirt to my ankles and horribly stretched out shirt SCREAMS sexy!" I just don't think they know the 'real' definition of sexy. They are just being nice to me and using the limited english they know!
I leave Khowang (pronounced Cow Wang) on Sunday for Bangkok. I just made my plans in Bangkok for a few adventures. I will be home on Wednesday. I do not want to come home. I did not think I would feel like this! Very sad. Very sad. But ever so grateful for this wonderful experience.
Oh, have I mentioned that this trip has shown me how wonderful God is and how he answers every prayer I have!?!?! True, true. The other night I typed to my friend on facebook chat "Man, I would die for a brownie!". I have not seen a brownie this whole trip, but i was craving one sooo badly!! Literally twenty minutes later, P'ke comes in and says "I don't know what this is, but maybe you will like it." It was a BROWNIE!!!! I almost cried with gratitude. She also brought me a mayonaise sandwich, but I let that one go.......
I cannot believe that I only have a week left. I leave this small town on Sunday. I am so sad to say goodbye to all the people I have met. Despite how hard it has been living in a VERY different way than I am used to, this might be the happiest I have been in a long long time. I absolutely love it here. I have entertained the idea many times of moving to this small town, learning Thai, and teaching English at the school. It is so funny how my "priorities" have changed. I do not need fancy clothes, I do not need a luxurious car, not that I have one anyway, or designer bathroom/kitchen (that I want so badly) and many of the other things I "think" I need in AZ. I DO, however, need Filebertos, donuts, AND a dryer. My clothes, that I wash by hand, NEED TO BE SHRUNK!!! these poor shirts of mine are so stretched out. I cannot wait to stick them in the dryer so they can go back to normal size!
It is funny how you get used to things. I am *almost* used to cold showers, but this morning, man oh man, it was COLD!!! I am used to bugs, especially the lizards. They are my friends because they eat the bugs. I HATE HATE HATE HATE ants. Mosquitos, I can deal with. Ants, my enemy. Although I miss my food, I am finding a lot of good things to eat. Mr. Moon is a DELICIOUS cook. I ate at another teacher's house this weekend and SHE was a delicious cook, too. And those are the people I make friends with. The good cooks! I eat ice cream every day at lunch. I get 3 scoops for about 20 cents. (Actually, I usually get 6 scoops for 40 cents..... it is my only luxury and I LOVE ice cream!) It is funny, cuz I always offer to buy people ice cream and they say "No no, it is way too hot to eat ice cream!" WHAT?!?! EXACTLY THE POINT!!
Almost every night I spend with P'Tuong, P'Pon, P'Tukta, and Mr. Moon. They are my "gang" of friends. All single. I call us "Mr. Moon's Woman". The night involves eating, and eating, and eating, and eating. And drinking a LOT. And talking a LOT. I so wish I could speak the language. It is so relaxing and such a nice way to spend the evening. No hustle and bustle of nonsense errands that MUST get done. I really hope I can bring a part of this back to my life in AZ. But I am afraid to come home just for that reason. Right when I get home I am afraid I am going to fall into my "old" normal habits and start working like mad and stressing out about nonsense stuff!
Everyone asks me why I do not have a boyfriend. All I say is "I don't know!" They find it amazing that I don't have a boyfriend. I feel like I have never had so much confidence boosting in my LIFE!! I thought my MOM was the only one that thought I was the best catch in the sea or ripest appple on the tree!! ;) I just say that I have been waiting to find Mr. Moon, which makes him blush terribly. I love embarassing him. It is one of my highlights of the trip. It is very "normal" for married men to say to me "You look very beautiful" (which is nice) OR, the one that makes me VERY uncomfortable, "You look very sexy." How the crap do you respond to that?? "Thank you, I know! This long skirt to my ankles and horribly stretched out shirt SCREAMS sexy!" I just don't think they know the 'real' definition of sexy. They are just being nice to me and using the limited english they know!
I leave Khowang (pronounced Cow Wang) on Sunday for Bangkok. I just made my plans in Bangkok for a few adventures. I will be home on Wednesday. I do not want to come home. I did not think I would feel like this! Very sad. Very sad. But ever so grateful for this wonderful experience.
Oh, have I mentioned that this trip has shown me how wonderful God is and how he answers every prayer I have!?!?! True, true. The other night I typed to my friend on facebook chat "Man, I would die for a brownie!". I have not seen a brownie this whole trip, but i was craving one sooo badly!! Literally twenty minutes later, P'ke comes in and says "I don't know what this is, but maybe you will like it." It was a BROWNIE!!!! I almost cried with gratitude. She also brought me a mayonaise sandwich, but I let that one go.......
Monday, June 30, 2008
Link for Pictures
Here are a few photos from my facebook account! ENJOY!!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2325626&l=d7c9e&id=10041976
Dear Mother (and anyone else that is less than computer saavy):
If the link above does not 'work', just highlight it, copy it, and paste it into the Adress bar on the internet. Thank you for your time.
Love, Your Daughter
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2325626&l=d7c9e&id=10041976
Dear Mother (and anyone else that is less than computer saavy):
If the link above does not 'work', just highlight it, copy it, and paste it into the Adress bar on the internet. Thank you for your time.
Love, Your Daughter
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Barbie or Drag Queen?
This has been a busy weekend and it's only SATURDAY!!
Thursday was Poetry Day at school. Thursday night was the teacher PARTY!! And what a party it was. Right here on the school grounds. I love how this school is set up... it's like a little tiny city. MANY of the teachers live right here on the school grounds. So it is VERY normal to get VERY drunk and have students see you. (Very different from our school where we have to go MILES away to make sure no students or parents see our Happy Hour!) I have decided that I LOVE drunk Thais. It's amazing how much English they know and are willing to speak once they are drunk!! At our party there was LOTS of food and LOTS of karaoke. The music is SO loud that it is hard to even hear what their broken Enlglish, let alone understand what they are trying to say. I sang and danced and received a lot of flowers. I guess you give flowers to people when they are exceptionally good at something. I have NEVER asked people to give an encoure of my karaoke, but there is a first for everything! I sang a duet with Mr. Moon. "Oceans between us, day after day..... Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you." It got the audience howling! And of course the classics of Zombie and Titanic song!!
Friday was a day I will always remember! It was the day I was a Thai Princess... or something very fancy. The town was having a parade and the girl students about 16 years of age were doing traditional dancing. I got to hold the sign! So I was the leader of the parade. It took about 4 hours for all of us to get ready. First came the hair. It's a dang good thing I have a tough scalp or that could have been the most painful process of my life! They ratted it out pretty good and then made it all swoopy.... hard to explain. But I wore this big, HEAVY, gold crown thing on my head. And these gold bracelt things for my ears that made me look elf-ish. Then came the makeup. WOW was my face a sight! Imagine the pinkest of pink.... and take it one shade brighter and you have the color of my lipstick!! And my EYEBROWS!!! They took a RAZOR BLADE to them!!! "Mai Pen Rai!!!" So the end-half of my eyebrows are now quite bare. Nothing like a straight razor coming towards your eyes!!! My dress was BEAUTIFUL!!! It was red and gold. Lots of bracelets and arm bands. To say that I stood out was an understatement. I was like a big, tall, WHITE statue of liberty walking down the parade street. Without any intention of sounding arrogant or pompous, I had many people say that I looked very beautiful and sexy. (they love the word sexy, it cracks me up. even the students tell me i look sexy. i try to tell them that is not really appropriate, but hey - at least they're speaking english!) I think that from a good distance I did look pretty nice. I've never received so many compliments. Many people said I looked like a Thai Barbie Doll. Want to know my opinion? I looked like a freakin' drag queen!!!! My make up was CAKED on. Somehow it managed to withstand my gallons of sweat through the parade. My hair was HUGE! And since I was about a foot taller than everyone, I seriously resembled a drag queen. After the parade and I took the dress off, everyone said "Mo'gin, keep your make up on. It is so beautiful." "Oh thank you... but I think my skin is allergic." That is the only way I could get out of going the rest of the day looking like a drag queen! I even had to go to the beauty salon to have them shampoo my hair because there was so much hairspray in it. But i am FAR from complaining. The whole adventure was so much fun and I'll most likely never have an experience like that again. (Unless I marry Mr. Moon, I was reminded a million times.... only then could I dress up like this again!!!)
Today, Sunday and monday is the Rocket Festival. The rockets are HUGE. We went to the place where they launch them. HUNDREDS of people are there. Why? Not just to watch the rockets, but to gamble. It was like Soddom and Gammorah!!! And if I could speak Thai, I'da been gambling on those rockets too! Nothing like a fun Saturday activity!
It can get very frustrating not understanding the language and it is very difficult to even understand the english speakers. No one's english is that good. Often times I just nod my head in agreement and then get myself into some weird perdicament that I unknowingly agreed to. I can only recall two times where I was inwardly very pissed at not being able to understand because of the language barrier. Here in Thailand I am very relaxed and laid back (very opposite of my normal high strung self!) but not understanding broken English can take it's toll. And it's not the people I get angry with - it's just my lack of understanding. The Thai do NOT say the ends of words. So "exercise" will sound like "exerci" or students = student. There is a BIG difference between singular and plural! Like today when P'Tuong told me that everyone at the Rocket Festival was "camping". It took me about 5 minutes to realize that "Camping" was actually "Gambling".
Tomorrow I am going to church for the first time in 4 weeks! I am very excited. It is going to take almost 2 hours by bus to get there. It better be the best darn sacrament meeting ever!!! :) Oh - as a side note..... did you know that Monks can gamble and drink and smoke? News to me! And the Director of the school tried to give me the 1st discussion of becoming a Buddhist. He really wants me to study it and look more into the religion. He was telling me how Buddhists don't drink either. I said "That's funny because every Thai I know is Buddhist and every Thai I know drinks!" He said "Yes - it is something we are all working on." Fair enough. Last night at a party (we have a party every night) a little baby was given a wine cooler. Start 'em young! Another little girl pee'd her pants and the mom just took off the wet ones and put on different pants. No shower or cleaning of any kind. It's small things like that that really highlight how different the US is. I mean, I KNOW the US is very different from here ---- but it's only in little snippets like wet pants that you really realize it! Or at least I do!
I think I could get used to living here. (Except for missing bean burritos.) If i had a better grasp on the language I might actually consider it. I have had zero homesickness (sorry mom). I have made SO many wonderful friends. But ifI lived here, my house would have air conditioning in at least ONE room and HOT water. And I would allow myself to wear my shoes inside the house. And I would have a car, not a motorbike, as fun as those are to ride. Those are my luxuries, and TRUST ME when I say that they are luxuries in the area of Thailand I am living in!!!
Thursday was Poetry Day at school. Thursday night was the teacher PARTY!! And what a party it was. Right here on the school grounds. I love how this school is set up... it's like a little tiny city. MANY of the teachers live right here on the school grounds. So it is VERY normal to get VERY drunk and have students see you. (Very different from our school where we have to go MILES away to make sure no students or parents see our Happy Hour!) I have decided that I LOVE drunk Thais. It's amazing how much English they know and are willing to speak once they are drunk!! At our party there was LOTS of food and LOTS of karaoke. The music is SO loud that it is hard to even hear what their broken Enlglish, let alone understand what they are trying to say. I sang and danced and received a lot of flowers. I guess you give flowers to people when they are exceptionally good at something. I have NEVER asked people to give an encoure of my karaoke, but there is a first for everything! I sang a duet with Mr. Moon. "Oceans between us, day after day..... Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you." It got the audience howling! And of course the classics of Zombie and Titanic song!!
Friday was a day I will always remember! It was the day I was a Thai Princess... or something very fancy. The town was having a parade and the girl students about 16 years of age were doing traditional dancing. I got to hold the sign! So I was the leader of the parade. It took about 4 hours for all of us to get ready. First came the hair. It's a dang good thing I have a tough scalp or that could have been the most painful process of my life! They ratted it out pretty good and then made it all swoopy.... hard to explain. But I wore this big, HEAVY, gold crown thing on my head. And these gold bracelt things for my ears that made me look elf-ish. Then came the makeup. WOW was my face a sight! Imagine the pinkest of pink.... and take it one shade brighter and you have the color of my lipstick!! And my EYEBROWS!!! They took a RAZOR BLADE to them!!! "Mai Pen Rai!!!" So the end-half of my eyebrows are now quite bare. Nothing like a straight razor coming towards your eyes!!! My dress was BEAUTIFUL!!! It was red and gold. Lots of bracelets and arm bands. To say that I stood out was an understatement. I was like a big, tall, WHITE statue of liberty walking down the parade street. Without any intention of sounding arrogant or pompous, I had many people say that I looked very beautiful and sexy. (they love the word sexy, it cracks me up. even the students tell me i look sexy. i try to tell them that is not really appropriate, but hey - at least they're speaking english!) I think that from a good distance I did look pretty nice. I've never received so many compliments. Many people said I looked like a Thai Barbie Doll. Want to know my opinion? I looked like a freakin' drag queen!!!! My make up was CAKED on. Somehow it managed to withstand my gallons of sweat through the parade. My hair was HUGE! And since I was about a foot taller than everyone, I seriously resembled a drag queen. After the parade and I took the dress off, everyone said "Mo'gin, keep your make up on. It is so beautiful." "Oh thank you... but I think my skin is allergic." That is the only way I could get out of going the rest of the day looking like a drag queen! I even had to go to the beauty salon to have them shampoo my hair because there was so much hairspray in it. But i am FAR from complaining. The whole adventure was so much fun and I'll most likely never have an experience like that again. (Unless I marry Mr. Moon, I was reminded a million times.... only then could I dress up like this again!!!)
Today, Sunday and monday is the Rocket Festival. The rockets are HUGE. We went to the place where they launch them. HUNDREDS of people are there. Why? Not just to watch the rockets, but to gamble. It was like Soddom and Gammorah!!! And if I could speak Thai, I'da been gambling on those rockets too! Nothing like a fun Saturday activity!
It can get very frustrating not understanding the language and it is very difficult to even understand the english speakers. No one's english is that good. Often times I just nod my head in agreement and then get myself into some weird perdicament that I unknowingly agreed to. I can only recall two times where I was inwardly very pissed at not being able to understand because of the language barrier. Here in Thailand I am very relaxed and laid back (very opposite of my normal high strung self!) but not understanding broken English can take it's toll. And it's not the people I get angry with - it's just my lack of understanding. The Thai do NOT say the ends of words. So "exercise" will sound like "exerci" or students = student. There is a BIG difference between singular and plural! Like today when P'Tuong told me that everyone at the Rocket Festival was "camping". It took me about 5 minutes to realize that "Camping" was actually "Gambling".
Tomorrow I am going to church for the first time in 4 weeks! I am very excited. It is going to take almost 2 hours by bus to get there. It better be the best darn sacrament meeting ever!!! :) Oh - as a side note..... did you know that Monks can gamble and drink and smoke? News to me! And the Director of the school tried to give me the 1st discussion of becoming a Buddhist. He really wants me to study it and look more into the religion. He was telling me how Buddhists don't drink either. I said "That's funny because every Thai I know is Buddhist and every Thai I know drinks!" He said "Yes - it is something we are all working on." Fair enough. Last night at a party (we have a party every night) a little baby was given a wine cooler. Start 'em young! Another little girl pee'd her pants and the mom just took off the wet ones and put on different pants. No shower or cleaning of any kind. It's small things like that that really highlight how different the US is. I mean, I KNOW the US is very different from here ---- but it's only in little snippets like wet pants that you really realize it! Or at least I do!
I think I could get used to living here. (Except for missing bean burritos.) If i had a better grasp on the language I might actually consider it. I have had zero homesickness (sorry mom). I have made SO many wonderful friends. But ifI lived here, my house would have air conditioning in at least ONE room and HOT water. And I would allow myself to wear my shoes inside the house. And I would have a car, not a motorbike, as fun as those are to ride. Those are my luxuries, and TRUST ME when I say that they are luxuries in the area of Thailand I am living in!!!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
101 Dalmations
In the movie 101 Dalmations, the farm animals all get together to decide how to tell each other that the puppies have been stolen. They come up with a plan to have one dog howl, the dog in the next village will howl, then the dog in the next village will howl, etc.
This is my life at night time. I have not seen 101 Dalmations since I was teeny tiny, but at night time, all I can think about is how I am living that movie. When one dog howls, you can bet for the next 5 minutes you are going to hear a lot of howling from one dog house to the next!
I read book entitled "Mai Pen Rai" before I left. It is Thai for "nevermind" or like "hakuna mata". SOOOOO TRUE! I think the most qualified statement for this adventure is "Expect the Unexpected". Yesterday morning I woke up to take a shower ---- and no running water. So I washed from the 'emergency' bucket of water. Plans here change in 10 seconds flat. I feel like this is the most unpredictible place I've ever been. I think a HUGE part of that has to do with the fact that I don't understand the language, so I am basically just along for the ride and my ride is basically driving in the dark.
So the school here is SO different from what I expected. It is very simple - yet much more 'established' then i expected. However there are some minor 'oddities' about the school. First is that there are tons and tons and tons of what I have decided to call "School Dogs". They just roam around the school - very mangy and scrowngy looking. No one is bothered by them, and from what I can tell, they don't bother anyone. Another very ODD factor is the homeless man that lives on campus. So I guess he's NOT homeless if he lives at the school. He walks around like he is continually intoxicated. Some students feed him. Some students whistle at him to get him away. He just staggers in and out and I think it is so bizzare. No one else seems to think so.
Every morning and every afternoon we have "ceremony" where the national anthem is played, prayers are said, and the flag is raised. I hear the national anthem at LEAST 3 times a day. I feel like I know it better than the US anthem. On Wednesday the students had a "seminar" (i love how they call everything a 'seminar'. It is never a meeting, or assembly like we say, it is always a 'seminar') on how to abide by Thailand laws. Thursday (today) is Poetry Day and we have spent the day doing karaoke (apparently a form of poetry), listening to the rock band sing, watching plays, and lots of kids dressed up as their favorite character from Thai poetry. It was SOOO funny. Tomorrow (Friday) we are having a parade/festival to ask the rains to come. That is when I dress up like a Thai princess and walk in the parade with the sign. So the point of this is ---- The children only had class on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Oh, and let me tell you about Thai drinks and sweets. SUGARRRRRRR!!!!!!!! "Would you like a cold drink?" "Sure!" UGH - it is basically one cup of sugar to one cup of water. NO JOKE!! You think Kool-Aid is sweet.... NO WAY!! And every sweet is either NOT sweet at ALL or just like their beverages.... OVERLY sugared!!! And it's always mixed with flour. Flour and sugar and coconut milk.
Today for lunch I got 3 scoops of ice cream. It cost me a total of less than 10 cents!!!!! HEAVEN!
This is my life at night time. I have not seen 101 Dalmations since I was teeny tiny, but at night time, all I can think about is how I am living that movie. When one dog howls, you can bet for the next 5 minutes you are going to hear a lot of howling from one dog house to the next!
I read book entitled "Mai Pen Rai" before I left. It is Thai for "nevermind" or like "hakuna mata". SOOOOO TRUE! I think the most qualified statement for this adventure is "Expect the Unexpected". Yesterday morning I woke up to take a shower ---- and no running water. So I washed from the 'emergency' bucket of water. Plans here change in 10 seconds flat. I feel like this is the most unpredictible place I've ever been. I think a HUGE part of that has to do with the fact that I don't understand the language, so I am basically just along for the ride and my ride is basically driving in the dark.
So the school here is SO different from what I expected. It is very simple - yet much more 'established' then i expected. However there are some minor 'oddities' about the school. First is that there are tons and tons and tons of what I have decided to call "School Dogs". They just roam around the school - very mangy and scrowngy looking. No one is bothered by them, and from what I can tell, they don't bother anyone. Another very ODD factor is the homeless man that lives on campus. So I guess he's NOT homeless if he lives at the school. He walks around like he is continually intoxicated. Some students feed him. Some students whistle at him to get him away. He just staggers in and out and I think it is so bizzare. No one else seems to think so.
Every morning and every afternoon we have "ceremony" where the national anthem is played, prayers are said, and the flag is raised. I hear the national anthem at LEAST 3 times a day. I feel like I know it better than the US anthem. On Wednesday the students had a "seminar" (i love how they call everything a 'seminar'. It is never a meeting, or assembly like we say, it is always a 'seminar') on how to abide by Thailand laws. Thursday (today) is Poetry Day and we have spent the day doing karaoke (apparently a form of poetry), listening to the rock band sing, watching plays, and lots of kids dressed up as their favorite character from Thai poetry. It was SOOO funny. Tomorrow (Friday) we are having a parade/festival to ask the rains to come. That is when I dress up like a Thai princess and walk in the parade with the sign. So the point of this is ---- The children only had class on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Oh, and let me tell you about Thai drinks and sweets. SUGARRRRRRR!!!!!!!! "Would you like a cold drink?" "Sure!" UGH - it is basically one cup of sugar to one cup of water. NO JOKE!! You think Kool-Aid is sweet.... NO WAY!! And every sweet is either NOT sweet at ALL or just like their beverages.... OVERLY sugared!!! And it's always mixed with flour. Flour and sugar and coconut milk.
Today for lunch I got 3 scoops of ice cream. It cost me a total of less than 10 cents!!!!! HEAVEN!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Crickets and Affection
one more thing....
I ate some crickets. Not bad... not bad at all! I asked if they ate cockroaches, too.... and I got an evil look. "Crickets are field insects. Cockroaches are disgusting creatures that live in the sewer." Obviously.
Yesterday was the first physical contact i've had since I've been here. P'Tuong brushed a bug off my back. I said "That's the first time someone's touched me!" I haven't seen anyone give any hugs here. It is funny how your body craves physical affections. Before Thailand I might have wanted a boyfriend/lover.... now just a nice hug or a pat on the shoulder is all i want.... is that asking too much!?!? ;)
I ate some crickets. Not bad... not bad at all! I asked if they ate cockroaches, too.... and I got an evil look. "Crickets are field insects. Cockroaches are disgusting creatures that live in the sewer." Obviously.
Yesterday was the first physical contact i've had since I've been here. P'Tuong brushed a bug off my back. I said "That's the first time someone's touched me!" I haven't seen anyone give any hugs here. It is funny how your body craves physical affections. Before Thailand I might have wanted a boyfriend/lover.... now just a nice hug or a pat on the shoulder is all i want.... is that asking too much!?!? ;)
singsong.... ZOMBIE!!!
"Zombie" by The Cranberries, is the MOST popular song here EVER! The students want me to sing it ALL the time. Along with "We wish you a merry christmas" and "jingle bells". I have to laugh when they shout to me "Merry Christmas!"
Well, my 2nd blog of this trip was entitled "Oh, MY FEET!!" and I explained how swollen my feet were. Well, today I woke up and experienced a miracle. A TRUE miracle. You know how elephants don't have knees or ankles and it's just one big thick post?? That's what my legs looked like. I began to think "Huh, maybe my legs/feet have always looked this way and I didn't realize it." And then I would try on my shoes and say, "NOPE!! They still don't fit!" I couldn't even get my feet into my shoes!!! But today.... today is the holiest of holy days!! NO MORE SWOLLEN FEET!!!! It's a freakin' miracle. I feel so sexy!! :) I have ankles again!!
This past weekend was one to remember.... On saturday I woke up pretty "sick" with an "upset belly" (that is the nice way of saying it). But no rest for the weary, or wicked, or sick.... I was off to Laos to extend my Visa. 3 buses later, i thought i was going to vomit. Then I got a migraine. Then I could BARELY hold my head up on my shoulders. It felt like I'd been beat up with a baseball bat. So here I was in Laos, a BEAUTIFUL country, and I was dizzy and had to sit down every 2 seconds. What a waste of a trip!! But my visa got extended, so i can make it back to the US --- mission accomplished.
On Sunday I got to meet my future mother and father in law - mr. moon's parents. We had a "party" at their house. Mr. Moon, who has been unable to look at me this whole trip, found his tongue whilst being drunk. After a bottle of brandy, he had to drive me and some friends home.... a thirty minute drive. Yup - nothing like a nice, cute, drunk thai man driving me home. My mom woulda had a heart attack! We sang karaoke ALL day and ALL night. SHOCKER --- they wanted me to sing "Zombie" .... and "my heart will go on" from Titianic..... and a bunch of other songs I've never heard of. They kept saying "How can a fahrang not know fahrang songs?" i don't know.... maybe because i was born in 1982 and these songs were popular in 1982!!! :) But it was a fun day. I wish they had the song on karaoke by the Pet Shop Boys called "You Only Tell Me You Love me When You're Drunk".... I woulda dedicated it to mr. Moon. I have started memorizing a song in Thai. Thursday is Poetry Day at school --- which means Karaoke, too! (They do karaoke with anything!). Mr. Moon is going to sing and I will be his chorus singer. All I have to memorize is "Doo doo doo doo ter tam. Tam mai tung tam cob chun dai." but it's not like it rolls off the tongue.... it means something like "How can you hurt my heart this way?" or something. It's a reggae song.... like the Thai version of Bob Marley.
There are ants running around on the computer screen and keyboard. *HUFF* :)
Well, my 2nd blog of this trip was entitled "Oh, MY FEET!!" and I explained how swollen my feet were. Well, today I woke up and experienced a miracle. A TRUE miracle. You know how elephants don't have knees or ankles and it's just one big thick post?? That's what my legs looked like. I began to think "Huh, maybe my legs/feet have always looked this way and I didn't realize it." And then I would try on my shoes and say, "NOPE!! They still don't fit!" I couldn't even get my feet into my shoes!!! But today.... today is the holiest of holy days!! NO MORE SWOLLEN FEET!!!! It's a freakin' miracle. I feel so sexy!! :) I have ankles again!!
This past weekend was one to remember.... On saturday I woke up pretty "sick" with an "upset belly" (that is the nice way of saying it). But no rest for the weary, or wicked, or sick.... I was off to Laos to extend my Visa. 3 buses later, i thought i was going to vomit. Then I got a migraine. Then I could BARELY hold my head up on my shoulders. It felt like I'd been beat up with a baseball bat. So here I was in Laos, a BEAUTIFUL country, and I was dizzy and had to sit down every 2 seconds. What a waste of a trip!! But my visa got extended, so i can make it back to the US --- mission accomplished.
On Sunday I got to meet my future mother and father in law - mr. moon's parents. We had a "party" at their house. Mr. Moon, who has been unable to look at me this whole trip, found his tongue whilst being drunk. After a bottle of brandy, he had to drive me and some friends home.... a thirty minute drive. Yup - nothing like a nice, cute, drunk thai man driving me home. My mom woulda had a heart attack! We sang karaoke ALL day and ALL night. SHOCKER --- they wanted me to sing "Zombie" .... and "my heart will go on" from Titianic..... and a bunch of other songs I've never heard of. They kept saying "How can a fahrang not know fahrang songs?" i don't know.... maybe because i was born in 1982 and these songs were popular in 1982!!! :) But it was a fun day. I wish they had the song on karaoke by the Pet Shop Boys called "You Only Tell Me You Love me When You're Drunk".... I woulda dedicated it to mr. Moon. I have started memorizing a song in Thai. Thursday is Poetry Day at school --- which means Karaoke, too! (They do karaoke with anything!). Mr. Moon is going to sing and I will be his chorus singer. All I have to memorize is "Doo doo doo doo ter tam. Tam mai tung tam cob chun dai." but it's not like it rolls off the tongue.... it means something like "How can you hurt my heart this way?" or something. It's a reggae song.... like the Thai version of Bob Marley.
There are ants running around on the computer screen and keyboard. *HUFF* :)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Mayonaise..... UGH!
I had a good joke go bad.... one of my more embarassing moments while I've been here. The other day when the Biology teacher asked me what my favorite organism was on mr. moon (which he meant what did i think was his best feature) he then asked me "Who is the best looking organism here at school?" to which I replied, as a JOKE, because I knew they wanted me to say mr. moon, I said "oh, the director." (like the principal) (who is an older man.) they all laughed and I said "joke, joke." and they all laughed some more. Well, someone told the director i thought he was so handsome!!! I guess he was very boastful about it ..... but I can't even look at him anymore. Sheeshe.
I miss, VERY MUCH, american food. So yesterday I said "Oh, I just wish I could have a sandwich... I miss sandwiches!" So.... I got a Thai version of a sandwich.... which was the following: a crepe, with mayonaise, egg, and raisins." It was no sandwich - but at least it was different than rice and noodles!! And then for dinner, I was invited to have papaya fruit salad. I was SO excited because the fruit here is delicious!! And it looked like a normal fruit salad, with whipped cream on top!! I took a mouthful, and it was more freakin' mayonaise!!! Fruit salad and mayonaise. I really thought I was going to vomit. And they put sugar in their mayonaise to make it sweet -- but it really doesn't make it that much better. But I guess if I had to choose between chicken feet or chicken blood or mayonaise + anything.... I'll go with the later!
Being serious for a minute - this is an experience of a lifetime, but it's also very HARD. Every day and every night is a COLD shower..... I have learned to wash one body part at a time - that makes it more BAREable. And I wake up to droppings of some sort all over the floor.... mouse? lizard? rat? I don't know! I also wake up to dead moths on the floor and mounds of ants eating them... which means mounds of ants I am constantly fighting from biting me! I have a constant tummy ache (not sure why.... worms??!?!? ;) and I really miss sandwiches!! I will KILL for a spicy italian from subway!!! MMMMMMM........ I wash clothes by hand! (my mom will be so proud!) Last night at midnight I had to go to the bathroom, which isn't an easy feat! It's like a small journey! You don't just walk down the hall and use the toilet. I have to untangle myself from the mosquito net, turn on the light, fight the bugs, try not to step on droppings, make my way down narrow stairs, try to find your shoes, walk through the jungle (lol), try to find the light switch, and use the squat toilet (which I like)..... May not sound hard - but it takes minutes.... and when you're having an "emergency", every SECOND counts!! It would be easy to complain - but what's the point? I LOVE being here and I have NOTHING to complain about! (except the mosquito/ant bites... I really do HATE those!) This is a great learning experience and I have met many wonderful people.
I have come up for two rules with the bugs. Now, let me clarify, when I say bugs, I mean big bugs, like BIG spiders, cockroaches, scorpions, centipedes, etc. Rule 1) If I can see you, stay where you are! do NOT move from that spot, and we will both be ok. Rule 2) If I cannot see you, do NOT make yourself seen. That way I can live in my naiive fantasy of no bugs !!
Well - off to lunch! Rice? Noodles?! Mayonaise?!!?
I miss, VERY MUCH, american food. So yesterday I said "Oh, I just wish I could have a sandwich... I miss sandwiches!" So.... I got a Thai version of a sandwich.... which was the following: a crepe, with mayonaise, egg, and raisins." It was no sandwich - but at least it was different than rice and noodles!! And then for dinner, I was invited to have papaya fruit salad. I was SO excited because the fruit here is delicious!! And it looked like a normal fruit salad, with whipped cream on top!! I took a mouthful, and it was more freakin' mayonaise!!! Fruit salad and mayonaise. I really thought I was going to vomit. And they put sugar in their mayonaise to make it sweet -- but it really doesn't make it that much better. But I guess if I had to choose between chicken feet or chicken blood or mayonaise + anything.... I'll go with the later!
Being serious for a minute - this is an experience of a lifetime, but it's also very HARD. Every day and every night is a COLD shower..... I have learned to wash one body part at a time - that makes it more BAREable. And I wake up to droppings of some sort all over the floor.... mouse? lizard? rat? I don't know! I also wake up to dead moths on the floor and mounds of ants eating them... which means mounds of ants I am constantly fighting from biting me! I have a constant tummy ache (not sure why.... worms??!?!? ;) and I really miss sandwiches!! I will KILL for a spicy italian from subway!!! MMMMMMM........ I wash clothes by hand! (my mom will be so proud!) Last night at midnight I had to go to the bathroom, which isn't an easy feat! It's like a small journey! You don't just walk down the hall and use the toilet. I have to untangle myself from the mosquito net, turn on the light, fight the bugs, try not to step on droppings, make my way down narrow stairs, try to find your shoes, walk through the jungle (lol), try to find the light switch, and use the squat toilet (which I like)..... May not sound hard - but it takes minutes.... and when you're having an "emergency", every SECOND counts!! It would be easy to complain - but what's the point? I LOVE being here and I have NOTHING to complain about! (except the mosquito/ant bites... I really do HATE those!) This is a great learning experience and I have met many wonderful people.
I have come up for two rules with the bugs. Now, let me clarify, when I say bugs, I mean big bugs, like BIG spiders, cockroaches, scorpions, centipedes, etc. Rule 1) If I can see you, stay where you are! do NOT move from that spot, and we will both be ok. Rule 2) If I cannot see you, do NOT make yourself seen. That way I can live in my naiive fantasy of no bugs !!
Well - off to lunch! Rice? Noodles?! Mayonaise?!!?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Reason # 1354
This is another reason Thai's are overly honest:
"Mo'gin - you have squinty eyes. You look Chinese." errrrrr....... thanks??? I have people ask me all the time (in the US) if I have Asian blood in me. The answer is NO! I just have squinty eyes. :)
Yesterday had to be one of the best quotes of my trip thus far. P'Tuong made me go play Paytong (a sport) with Mr. Moon to get to know him better. Mr. Moon went away for awhile to get food, and the Biology teacher said "What organism is your favorite on Mr. Moon?" LOL... i knew exactly what he meant - but it was classic. (BTW - I'm not encouraging this whole Mr. Moon scenario, but apparently the Thai teacher's are planning our wedding for 3 weeks from now! Poor Mr. Moon can't even look at me!) After shool yesterday, one of the teacher's bought a new truck. So all the teachers celebrated with beer and whiskey... right there at school! I thought "wow - this would never happen at my shcool!" As kids were walking by, there were their teachers - getting drunk off whiskey!
Last night for dinner we went to the only restaraunt that's open past 6pm. It's so bizzare cuz everyone starts talking to me, just because I'm white. I had another Thai man tell me he loved me. I also found out he loved Helen when she was here! (Oh - Helen - if you read this, EVERYONE calls me Helen! They are so used to your name.... and I respond to them!!) And I met some policemen that invited me to their station. I think I'm going on a "ride-along" sometime this week. They kept asking me to join the force. I think it's because I'm a whole head and shoulders taller than everyone here so I look tough!
"Mo'gin - you have squinty eyes. You look Chinese." errrrrr....... thanks??? I have people ask me all the time (in the US) if I have Asian blood in me. The answer is NO! I just have squinty eyes. :)
Yesterday had to be one of the best quotes of my trip thus far. P'Tuong made me go play Paytong (a sport) with Mr. Moon to get to know him better. Mr. Moon went away for awhile to get food, and the Biology teacher said "What organism is your favorite on Mr. Moon?" LOL... i knew exactly what he meant - but it was classic. (BTW - I'm not encouraging this whole Mr. Moon scenario, but apparently the Thai teacher's are planning our wedding for 3 weeks from now! Poor Mr. Moon can't even look at me!) After shool yesterday, one of the teacher's bought a new truck. So all the teachers celebrated with beer and whiskey... right there at school! I thought "wow - this would never happen at my shcool!" As kids were walking by, there were their teachers - getting drunk off whiskey!
Last night for dinner we went to the only restaraunt that's open past 6pm. It's so bizzare cuz everyone starts talking to me, just because I'm white. I had another Thai man tell me he loved me. I also found out he loved Helen when she was here! (Oh - Helen - if you read this, EVERYONE calls me Helen! They are so used to your name.... and I respond to them!!) And I met some policemen that invited me to their station. I think I'm going on a "ride-along" sometime this week. They kept asking me to join the force. I think it's because I'm a whole head and shoulders taller than everyone here so I look tough!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Chicken Blood
Well there is one thing I can say for sure about the Thai ---- they do not have a problem telling you when you are wrong OR what they are thinking.
Example 1) "Mo'gin, you need to wear a slip." "I do wear a slip." "Well you need a better one."
Example 2) I folded my arms during the national anthem. Big NO NO. Hands stay at your side. I had MANY people tell me to fix this.
Example 3) I had my legs crossed at some Bank Ceremony. Again, a big NO NO. You must never cross your legs when officials are present. (Who the heck were the officials, I'll never know.... but now I'm afraid to cross my legs anywhere!) And I thought I was acting like a perfect lady! I actually had the concious thought "Wow - I am sitting here with my legs crossed and my hands crossed on my lap. I feel like a princess." and then i got repremanded!
Example 4) "All the teachers think you act like a boy." I'm still not sure what this means. I already have a self-image complex being at least a foot taller than everyone and what looks like 100 pounds more, too! No make-up, mosquito bites all over, frizzy hair, heat rash.... Now they are saying I act like a BOY! From what I gathered from P'Ke, it's because I am not afraid to show enthusiasm and try new things. Hopefully it's not because I'm a big grizzly, gruff, dirty, disgusting looking MAN!!
Example 5) "Mo'gin! Did you leave the fan on at my house?" "Yes, I'm so sorry." To which P'Tuong rushed home to turn the fan off. It was like a serious emergency and I can't figure out WHY! Maybe it would have caused a fire? Maybe the electric bill would be too much? I felt really bad about leaving the fan on.
Funny story..... last night I was eating noodles (again....) and there is always this stuff that looks like red tofu in a perfect square. I always try a little bit and think "Ugh, this tofu is disgusting!" Well, it turns out it's not tofu. It's CHICKEN BLOOD!!!! Sheeshe..... no wonder I didn't like tofu!! Now every time I eat something I ask if there's chicken blood in it!
The teachers are trying to set me up with the ONLY single teacher here. I guess I'm going to his town this weekend (sounds like a set up to me) and P'Tuong keeps saying I can meet my mother and father-in-law. Oh sheeshe..... Who knows.... maybe I'll get married here and never come home! (doubtful.... because I REALLY miss bean burritos!!!! {oh, and my family})
I moved into P'Tuong's house yesterday. I have the whole upstairs to myself. It's like an outside loft, is the best I can describe it. I basically live in a jungle/farm. Cows, chickens, dogs, fruit trees of all kinds. I sleep in a big pink mosquito net.... but I found out last night that mosquito nets don't conquer ANTS!! I woke up a bazillion times because I kept getting ant bites. :( It was a rough nite. HUGE storm and HUGE ant bites. Helen told me to listen for the gianormous lizards that live on the roof and make noises all night.... but I guess they don't come out in the rain. And I left my alarm clock at P'Ke's house and P'Toung said "Don't worry - the cows will wake you up." So be it!
Example 1) "Mo'gin, you need to wear a slip." "I do wear a slip." "Well you need a better one."
Example 2) I folded my arms during the national anthem. Big NO NO. Hands stay at your side. I had MANY people tell me to fix this.
Example 3) I had my legs crossed at some Bank Ceremony. Again, a big NO NO. You must never cross your legs when officials are present. (Who the heck were the officials, I'll never know.... but now I'm afraid to cross my legs anywhere!) And I thought I was acting like a perfect lady! I actually had the concious thought "Wow - I am sitting here with my legs crossed and my hands crossed on my lap. I feel like a princess." and then i got repremanded!
Example 4) "All the teachers think you act like a boy." I'm still not sure what this means. I already have a self-image complex being at least a foot taller than everyone and what looks like 100 pounds more, too! No make-up, mosquito bites all over, frizzy hair, heat rash.... Now they are saying I act like a BOY! From what I gathered from P'Ke, it's because I am not afraid to show enthusiasm and try new things. Hopefully it's not because I'm a big grizzly, gruff, dirty, disgusting looking MAN!!
Example 5) "Mo'gin! Did you leave the fan on at my house?" "Yes, I'm so sorry." To which P'Tuong rushed home to turn the fan off. It was like a serious emergency and I can't figure out WHY! Maybe it would have caused a fire? Maybe the electric bill would be too much? I felt really bad about leaving the fan on.
Funny story..... last night I was eating noodles (again....) and there is always this stuff that looks like red tofu in a perfect square. I always try a little bit and think "Ugh, this tofu is disgusting!" Well, it turns out it's not tofu. It's CHICKEN BLOOD!!!! Sheeshe..... no wonder I didn't like tofu!! Now every time I eat something I ask if there's chicken blood in it!
The teachers are trying to set me up with the ONLY single teacher here. I guess I'm going to his town this weekend (sounds like a set up to me) and P'Tuong keeps saying I can meet my mother and father-in-law. Oh sheeshe..... Who knows.... maybe I'll get married here and never come home! (doubtful.... because I REALLY miss bean burritos!!!! {oh, and my family})
I moved into P'Tuong's house yesterday. I have the whole upstairs to myself. It's like an outside loft, is the best I can describe it. I basically live in a jungle/farm. Cows, chickens, dogs, fruit trees of all kinds. I sleep in a big pink mosquito net.... but I found out last night that mosquito nets don't conquer ANTS!! I woke up a bazillion times because I kept getting ant bites. :( It was a rough nite. HUGE storm and HUGE ant bites. Helen told me to listen for the gianormous lizards that live on the roof and make noises all night.... but I guess they don't come out in the rain. And I left my alarm clock at P'Ke's house and P'Toung said "Don't worry - the cows will wake you up." So be it!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Lions and Tigers and Bears - OH MY!
More like "Monkeys and Elephants and Alligators - OH MY!"
Not a lot of time to write.... but today I went on a motor boat to tour all the beautiful islands around Phuket. I went to the beach where they filmed Leonardo Dicaprio's The Beach. They also have a James Bond Island where one of those movies were filmed.
So we had lots of opportunities to snorkel! I LOVED it. It is so amazing what goes on in the ocean. So I was snorkeling and enjoying myself. And this fish kept attacking me! A little smaller than the size of my hand.... He reminded me of Dorie from Finding Nemo because he just kept swimming into my goggles. Another fish kept biting my ankles.
And then... I was swimming around, minding my own business, and guess what I saw?!!? an ALLIGATOR!! What the heck?!?! It was over a yard long, swimming in the salt water. He swam right in front of my face. At that point, I thought "I'm outta here!!!!" And quickly got out of the water. I told a few people on the beach that I saw an alligator and they thought I was lying. Then one guy believed me. And everyone else freaked out, too. Some people said "Maybe you mistooke it for an eel." I said "Eels don't have 4 legs!" freak! Someone else said "Maybe it was a iguana - they live on this island. Maybe one was going for a swim." to which i said "No iguana I've ever seen has a big snout longer than my hand!"
Boy, what a day, what a day!!
By the way - I still hate mosquitos! I have about 8 bites around my panty line where a bug must have gotten stuck and tried to bite it's way out!
Not a lot of time to write.... but today I went on a motor boat to tour all the beautiful islands around Phuket. I went to the beach where they filmed Leonardo Dicaprio's The Beach. They also have a James Bond Island where one of those movies were filmed.
So we had lots of opportunities to snorkel! I LOVED it. It is so amazing what goes on in the ocean. So I was snorkeling and enjoying myself. And this fish kept attacking me! A little smaller than the size of my hand.... He reminded me of Dorie from Finding Nemo because he just kept swimming into my goggles. Another fish kept biting my ankles.
And then... I was swimming around, minding my own business, and guess what I saw?!!? an ALLIGATOR!! What the heck?!?! It was over a yard long, swimming in the salt water. He swam right in front of my face. At that point, I thought "I'm outta here!!!!" And quickly got out of the water. I told a few people on the beach that I saw an alligator and they thought I was lying. Then one guy believed me. And everyone else freaked out, too. Some people said "Maybe you mistooke it for an eel." I said "Eels don't have 4 legs!" freak! Someone else said "Maybe it was a iguana - they live on this island. Maybe one was going for a swim." to which i said "No iguana I've ever seen has a big snout longer than my hand!"
Boy, what a day, what a day!!
By the way - I still hate mosquitos! I have about 8 bites around my panty line where a bug must have gotten stuck and tried to bite it's way out!
Friday, June 13, 2008
West Virginia, Mountain Mama
I have heard that song about a zillion times while I've been here!!
Today was the best day of my life. Seriously! I do not say that lightly. It has also been the scariest!!
I woke up this morning and got picked up by a tourist van that picked up 7 more passangers: 2 from Malaysia and 5 from Singapore. They became my friends! Along with a couple from Belgim (spelling?), and random Thai pepole, these are the characters of my favorite day EVER!
**** Please take note that my body is SUPER sunburned..... that plays a role in today's adventures!
So we first went to a monkey cave and paid our respects to Buddha. There were tons of bats in the cave. Then I fed the monkeys (because the kind Malaysian people bought me monkey food!). Boy, did those monkey's attack once they saw you were holding bananas! So my morning started out with monkeys climbing up my body to get to the bananas in my hands! Needless to say, monkey claws on sunburned legs = NIGHTMARE! (but the pain gets worse... just wait!).... I got monkey bannna left overs smeared all over my clothes.
Then we went white water rafting!! I have never had so much fun in my life. I almost flew out of the boat a million times. I also have a wicked bruise on my feet where they were strapped into the raft. But it's hard for these little feet to hold down 150 pounds when the current is trying to throw me out of the boat! Not only was it an incredible white water ride, do to the wonderful rainy season, but it was POURING rain!! I have never witnessed anything so beautiful in all my life! The scenery was amazing!! As we were rafting along at a slow pace, at one point, the tour guide said something in Thai, which everyone on the boat understood but me. They were all looking up in the trees. So I look up in the trees. I just saw trees! And then my Malaysian friend said "King Cobra overhead!" HOLY CRAP. It's a good thing I didn't see the stupid thing, I woulda crapped my pants!
After the rafting, we ate a nice Thai lunch under a ramada. We had a visit from a centipede!! Measure from your elbow to your wrist and that's how big he was. He was climbing up in the rafters. I was so close and so amazed!! And then, can you believe it, they got a broom, swept him down, and smashed him to death. I said "WHY?!!?" They said "He is VERY VERY poisonious!!" YIKES!!! If I had known that, I would have hidden my face, not been amazed by the stupid thing!
After lunch, I experienced the scariest thing of my life. An Elephant Trek! Now this is what I have been looking forward to. I have seen pictures of elephants holding a nice couple on their BACK, seatbelted in. Well - since I was the odd man out, and not having a partner, guess where they had ME sit?!?! On the freakin' elephants NECK!!! That's right folks! The nice Malaysian couple got to be strapped in while yours truley rode on Flower's neck. Flower was 40 years old. Her hair is VERY coarse. So sitting on her neck, I felt her coarse hair pricking my hiney for the whole ride! My legs were dangling right behind her ears. Every 5 seconds, FLAP went her big ears..... right onto my sunburned legs!!! It hurt SOO bad. It reminded me of my mom swatting my hiney when I was young for being bad.... except she never would swat my hiney when i was sunburned!!! Flower's ears will gone done in the history book of being one of the most painful things EVER! Then Flower had to go down this VERY VERY VERY steep, muddy, slidey side of the mountain. HOLY CRAP that was scarier than any roller coaster I'd ever been on!! I was sitting on Flower's head thinking "God, what did I do to deserve to die by an 800000 ton elephant squashing me to death?!!?" Luckily, the ride ended happily.
After the Flower advenutre, we hiked to a beautiful waterfall. I did A huge cliff jump into the water. My mom would have wet her pants if she saw me do that! (As well as every thing else I've done today!) The only bad thing about my cliff diving was that now my left year is practically deaf from the pressure.... it hurts so bad I want to cry - no joke! The Singaporians said it will heal... in a few days. If it doesn't my brain is going to explode out of my ear when I get in that airplane!! :( I really want to call my mom cuz it hurts so bad.
Well folks - my dinner is getting cold.... today was one of the best days EVER, if not the BEST. I love this trip with all my heart and I'm so thankful I have this opportunity. And someday my RICH husband will pay off my credit card debt!! :)
Today was the best day of my life. Seriously! I do not say that lightly. It has also been the scariest!!
I woke up this morning and got picked up by a tourist van that picked up 7 more passangers: 2 from Malaysia and 5 from Singapore. They became my friends! Along with a couple from Belgim (spelling?), and random Thai pepole, these are the characters of my favorite day EVER!
**** Please take note that my body is SUPER sunburned..... that plays a role in today's adventures!
So we first went to a monkey cave and paid our respects to Buddha. There were tons of bats in the cave. Then I fed the monkeys (because the kind Malaysian people bought me monkey food!). Boy, did those monkey's attack once they saw you were holding bananas! So my morning started out with monkeys climbing up my body to get to the bananas in my hands! Needless to say, monkey claws on sunburned legs = NIGHTMARE! (but the pain gets worse... just wait!).... I got monkey bannna left overs smeared all over my clothes.
Then we went white water rafting!! I have never had so much fun in my life. I almost flew out of the boat a million times. I also have a wicked bruise on my feet where they were strapped into the raft. But it's hard for these little feet to hold down 150 pounds when the current is trying to throw me out of the boat! Not only was it an incredible white water ride, do to the wonderful rainy season, but it was POURING rain!! I have never witnessed anything so beautiful in all my life! The scenery was amazing!! As we were rafting along at a slow pace, at one point, the tour guide said something in Thai, which everyone on the boat understood but me. They were all looking up in the trees. So I look up in the trees. I just saw trees! And then my Malaysian friend said "King Cobra overhead!" HOLY CRAP. It's a good thing I didn't see the stupid thing, I woulda crapped my pants!
After the rafting, we ate a nice Thai lunch under a ramada. We had a visit from a centipede!! Measure from your elbow to your wrist and that's how big he was. He was climbing up in the rafters. I was so close and so amazed!! And then, can you believe it, they got a broom, swept him down, and smashed him to death. I said "WHY?!!?" They said "He is VERY VERY poisonious!!" YIKES!!! If I had known that, I would have hidden my face, not been amazed by the stupid thing!
After lunch, I experienced the scariest thing of my life. An Elephant Trek! Now this is what I have been looking forward to. I have seen pictures of elephants holding a nice couple on their BACK, seatbelted in. Well - since I was the odd man out, and not having a partner, guess where they had ME sit?!?! On the freakin' elephants NECK!!! That's right folks! The nice Malaysian couple got to be strapped in while yours truley rode on Flower's neck. Flower was 40 years old. Her hair is VERY coarse. So sitting on her neck, I felt her coarse hair pricking my hiney for the whole ride! My legs were dangling right behind her ears. Every 5 seconds, FLAP went her big ears..... right onto my sunburned legs!!! It hurt SOO bad. It reminded me of my mom swatting my hiney when I was young for being bad.... except she never would swat my hiney when i was sunburned!!! Flower's ears will gone done in the history book of being one of the most painful things EVER! Then Flower had to go down this VERY VERY VERY steep, muddy, slidey side of the mountain. HOLY CRAP that was scarier than any roller coaster I'd ever been on!! I was sitting on Flower's head thinking "God, what did I do to deserve to die by an 800000 ton elephant squashing me to death?!!?" Luckily, the ride ended happily.
After the Flower advenutre, we hiked to a beautiful waterfall. I did A huge cliff jump into the water. My mom would have wet her pants if she saw me do that! (As well as every thing else I've done today!) The only bad thing about my cliff diving was that now my left year is practically deaf from the pressure.... it hurts so bad I want to cry - no joke! The Singaporians said it will heal... in a few days. If it doesn't my brain is going to explode out of my ear when I get in that airplane!! :( I really want to call my mom cuz it hurts so bad.
Well folks - my dinner is getting cold.... today was one of the best days EVER, if not the BEST. I love this trip with all my heart and I'm so thankful I have this opportunity. And someday my RICH husband will pay off my credit card debt!! :)
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Sunburn!!!!!!!
Phuket, Thailand. BEAUTIFUL!!
I left Ubon Airport and said goodbye to Helen. I LOVE YOU HELEN!!! It was wonderful having another English speaker to talk to. We could both be in utter confusion together of what people were saying. Ubon Airport to Bangkok Airport. At Bangkok, I found a STARBUCKS. No, I did not have coffee, though that was the biggest temptation I've ever had!! I DID, however, have a crossaint with cheese and a banana chocolate chip muffin. HOORAY FOR BREAD!!!! That was the first bread I'd seen in a week. Being a teacher, I thought up a math problem for Thai Food. Here it is (I will give it to my students when I get back): There are two types of main dishes in Thailand: rice and noodles. There are three options you can put on your main dish: chicken, beef, or pork. How many food options do you have?" TRUST ME -- the answer is 6!!! Therefore, I was very excited to have a muffin!!
I arrive in Phuket around 10:30pm and found a nice young man and we decided to share a taxi to get to our hotels. My hotel was SUPER far away from his hotel. He was close to the airport, but my hotel was very far away. But he had to pay 700 baht (20 dollars) and I only had to pay 150 baht (7 dollars-ish). I don't know how they do their math here - but if it turns out in my benefit, I like it! He was from California. It was SOO weird to hear someone speak "correctly" :) I did not have to think when I was listening to him. I know that sounds weird, but for the past week, I've been listening to Thai accent or other "english world" accents. Hearing him speak "correct" English was like music to my ears. So the Thai people say that I speak "Hollywood English". That cracks me up.... I'm, like, SO totally Hollywood!
My hotel is BEAUTIFUL. A really nice resort. I got a smashing deal on it. I woke up at noon!! That makes up for the past 4 days I've awoken at 3:30am, i suppose. I took a shower and went off to the beach. I don't know how long i spent down there, a few hours maybe, but I came back with a sunburn!! WHAT?!?! Everyone know that I am so ANTI sunburn.... I always say "Any sunburn can be prevented!!" I think the crap sun tan lotion I bought was not very good! But it's not a bad burn.... I just loook like a redneck now! The beach here is AMAZING. The sand is like creamy goodness below your feet. The waves are HUGE! The water is WARM. I absolutely love it. Despite all the wonderfulness of it here, I miss my friends back in Cao-wang (the city I'm working at). This is a beautiful part of the world - but it's so commercial and touristy. If nothing else, being here as made me appreciate my experience 10 fold of being able to live in the "real" Thailand with the REAL pepole - not some tourist trap!
That being said - here is my schedule for the next two days: tomrorow = white water rafting, monkey island, and elephant trekking. Saturday = motor boating it to 3 different islands!
HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!
Email me! super_girl_74@yahoo.com
I left Ubon Airport and said goodbye to Helen. I LOVE YOU HELEN!!! It was wonderful having another English speaker to talk to. We could both be in utter confusion together of what people were saying. Ubon Airport to Bangkok Airport. At Bangkok, I found a STARBUCKS. No, I did not have coffee, though that was the biggest temptation I've ever had!! I DID, however, have a crossaint with cheese and a banana chocolate chip muffin. HOORAY FOR BREAD!!!! That was the first bread I'd seen in a week. Being a teacher, I thought up a math problem for Thai Food. Here it is (I will give it to my students when I get back): There are two types of main dishes in Thailand: rice and noodles. There are three options you can put on your main dish: chicken, beef, or pork. How many food options do you have?" TRUST ME -- the answer is 6!!! Therefore, I was very excited to have a muffin!!
I arrive in Phuket around 10:30pm and found a nice young man and we decided to share a taxi to get to our hotels. My hotel was SUPER far away from his hotel. He was close to the airport, but my hotel was very far away. But he had to pay 700 baht (20 dollars) and I only had to pay 150 baht (7 dollars-ish). I don't know how they do their math here - but if it turns out in my benefit, I like it! He was from California. It was SOO weird to hear someone speak "correctly" :) I did not have to think when I was listening to him. I know that sounds weird, but for the past week, I've been listening to Thai accent or other "english world" accents. Hearing him speak "correct" English was like music to my ears. So the Thai people say that I speak "Hollywood English". That cracks me up.... I'm, like, SO totally Hollywood!
My hotel is BEAUTIFUL. A really nice resort. I got a smashing deal on it. I woke up at noon!! That makes up for the past 4 days I've awoken at 3:30am, i suppose. I took a shower and went off to the beach. I don't know how long i spent down there, a few hours maybe, but I came back with a sunburn!! WHAT?!?! Everyone know that I am so ANTI sunburn.... I always say "Any sunburn can be prevented!!" I think the crap sun tan lotion I bought was not very good! But it's not a bad burn.... I just loook like a redneck now! The beach here is AMAZING. The sand is like creamy goodness below your feet. The waves are HUGE! The water is WARM. I absolutely love it. Despite all the wonderfulness of it here, I miss my friends back in Cao-wang (the city I'm working at). This is a beautiful part of the world - but it's so commercial and touristy. If nothing else, being here as made me appreciate my experience 10 fold of being able to live in the "real" Thailand with the REAL pepole - not some tourist trap!
That being said - here is my schedule for the next two days: tomrorow = white water rafting, monkey island, and elephant trekking. Saturday = motor boating it to 3 different islands!
HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!
Email me! super_girl_74@yahoo.com
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Good Morning, Teacher!
I have never been so tired in my entire life. As I explained in a previous post, I sleep about 20 feet from a very busy market. By 4am, when the sun is starting to rise, not only is the market loud and busy (which I can handle in my sleep), but music BLARES through these intercoms (which I cannot handle in my sleep). I swear to crap, last night was one of the worst nights ever for sleep. There was ZERO wind and I thought I was going to suffocate in a puddle of my own sweat. I was just saying prayers "God, I will do ANYTHING for ANYONE at ANYTIME if you will just let me fall asleep tonight!". About 3 hours later, the loud music starting playing. It's the loud music that you would hear on Borat, like the "Ahhyyyy, ayyye, ooo, kayyyyy" stuff. (I asked P'Ke what the song was about and she said it was about a wife who was dying and she wanted her husband to feed her something. He bought her all the fruit in the land but she wasn't satisfied. So then he had sex with her and she died happy. ---- my fault for asking.)
Teaching here in Thailand is very hard. I teach all different levels of high school students at various ranges of english skillz. Some of the classes, I walk away and think "Wow - that was fun. I don't know if the students learned anything, but they sure were happy." And other classes I walk away thinking "Wow - I suck as a teacher.... why the hell were there children climbing on chairs and desks?? No one listened to a word I said!" And it's not like you can yell at them, cuz I would just look like a big gorilla shouting nonsense words at them! But honestly and seriously - I don't think I can ever complain about my school again. For example: there is a paper shortage here. That does not mean the paper is rationed out equally, it means there is NONE. So we cannot make any copies right now. How the hell am I supposed to teach a lesson without the students having any handouts AND not understanding what I say? It is very difficult. But *most* of the children are all sweet hearts. Thai Culture Fact - they bow (I think it is called Wai) to everyone. Children do it to the teacher's, but the teacher's dont have to do it back because they would be Wai-ing forever all day. But it is so interesting the resepect you feel from students after you give them a piece of paper, or sticker, or pencil - and they "wai" you. Also - (and I thought this was only for the king or buddha) but if I am sitting down and students are walking by, they lower their head lower than mine until they pass me as a sign of respect. It really makes me feel weird - but I can understand the respect it gives to the teachers and elders. Sometimes kids are 15 minutes late to class.... as in, the WHOLE class is 15 minutes late. No one is phased by this, it's just the way of life.
There are a lot of, what they say in English, "Lady Boys" here at this school (and in Thailand in general). Very very very feminine culture, apparently. They wear makeup. MAKEUP!! Now, I could care less that these lady boy's wear makeup.... what I care about is HOW THE CRAP can they keep makeup on all day without it melting off in 3 minutes flat?!?! I need to know their secrets!
So let me explain how DIFFERENT Thai teachers are than American teachers! Yesterday, they worked all day. Now after work, I would maybe go to the bathroom, talk for a few minutes, then be back in my classroom working for a few hours before I felt like I needed to go home. Well, yesterday after school, the teachers walked downstairs and we sat around for awhile and watched the mosquitos buzz (at least I did... I swear, for every one mosquito you see, there are 300 hiding within a four foot radius... I did the math!!). Then they opened up brand new packages of sports t-shirts for their competition today...... They taught me how to play this game where you throw a tiny ball into the dirt, and then see who can get closest to the little ball by throwing big huge metal balls..... So we did that for awhile. Then we sat around and ate the most delicious fresh fruit. Then I wandered over to the volleyball court and played volleyball with some other teachers - all the while, some other teachers were playing basketball or soccer. MAN - what a life!! I really want to adopt this where I work! "Work stops at 3:30.... then we go out and play all afternoon!" I felt like a kid in a school yard again!!
Well - I had better wrap this puppy up.... I need to book a hotel for my fabulous vacation this weekend! Adieu!
Tomorrow I am flying from Ubon (a close town) to Bangkok, and then Bangkok to Phuket for a beach holiday for 4 days. Wednesday to Sunday. So once again I will be on my own for a few days and depend on the kindness of the people to show pity to a stupid tourist!
Teaching here in Thailand is very hard. I teach all different levels of high school students at various ranges of english skillz. Some of the classes, I walk away and think "Wow - that was fun. I don't know if the students learned anything, but they sure were happy." And other classes I walk away thinking "Wow - I suck as a teacher.... why the hell were there children climbing on chairs and desks?? No one listened to a word I said!" And it's not like you can yell at them, cuz I would just look like a big gorilla shouting nonsense words at them! But honestly and seriously - I don't think I can ever complain about my school again. For example: there is a paper shortage here. That does not mean the paper is rationed out equally, it means there is NONE. So we cannot make any copies right now. How the hell am I supposed to teach a lesson without the students having any handouts AND not understanding what I say? It is very difficult. But *most* of the children are all sweet hearts. Thai Culture Fact - they bow (I think it is called Wai) to everyone. Children do it to the teacher's, but the teacher's dont have to do it back because they would be Wai-ing forever all day. But it is so interesting the resepect you feel from students after you give them a piece of paper, or sticker, or pencil - and they "wai" you. Also - (and I thought this was only for the king or buddha) but if I am sitting down and students are walking by, they lower their head lower than mine until they pass me as a sign of respect. It really makes me feel weird - but I can understand the respect it gives to the teachers and elders. Sometimes kids are 15 minutes late to class.... as in, the WHOLE class is 15 minutes late. No one is phased by this, it's just the way of life.
There are a lot of, what they say in English, "Lady Boys" here at this school (and in Thailand in general). Very very very feminine culture, apparently. They wear makeup. MAKEUP!! Now, I could care less that these lady boy's wear makeup.... what I care about is HOW THE CRAP can they keep makeup on all day without it melting off in 3 minutes flat?!?! I need to know their secrets!
So let me explain how DIFFERENT Thai teachers are than American teachers! Yesterday, they worked all day. Now after work, I would maybe go to the bathroom, talk for a few minutes, then be back in my classroom working for a few hours before I felt like I needed to go home. Well, yesterday after school, the teachers walked downstairs and we sat around for awhile and watched the mosquitos buzz (at least I did... I swear, for every one mosquito you see, there are 300 hiding within a four foot radius... I did the math!!). Then they opened up brand new packages of sports t-shirts for their competition today...... They taught me how to play this game where you throw a tiny ball into the dirt, and then see who can get closest to the little ball by throwing big huge metal balls..... So we did that for awhile. Then we sat around and ate the most delicious fresh fruit. Then I wandered over to the volleyball court and played volleyball with some other teachers - all the while, some other teachers were playing basketball or soccer. MAN - what a life!! I really want to adopt this where I work! "Work stops at 3:30.... then we go out and play all afternoon!" I felt like a kid in a school yard again!!
Well - I had better wrap this puppy up.... I need to book a hotel for my fabulous vacation this weekend! Adieu!
Tomorrow I am flying from Ubon (a close town) to Bangkok, and then Bangkok to Phuket for a beach holiday for 4 days. Wednesday to Sunday. So once again I will be on my own for a few days and depend on the kindness of the people to show pity to a stupid tourist!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
More Ovaltine, Please!
So many things to talk about, so little time! I will just talk about some fun times.
*** FYI - I NEVER mean to be disrepesctful to any Thai culture when I am writing about silly events.... I LOVE the people here and their culture.... These funny stories could just as easily happen in the US!
So P'Ke (that is Kim) took me to her parents house where I will be staying for the next few days. Right across the street is a big, busy, smelly, market. It is literally less than a stone's throw from my bedroom window. At the market I saw crickets, flys, pig heads, etc.... all to eat! We went to a corner to get some dinner where a very large Thai man approached me, excited to shake hands with a Farang (white person). Let me just say that this man, the way he looked, smelled, looked at me, etc, is what nightmares are made from!!! He was very nice to me, but also very drunk (and I think high). To show his kindness towards me, he bought me 16 little birds eggs to eat and green rice with coconut. Now - anyone that knows me even just a little bit knows that the way to my heart is one of three things: bean burrito with extra cheese, cheese pizza, and/or ice cream. NOT bird eggs or green rice!! But it's the thought that counts, nonetheless!
P'Ke and I went to Ubon to meet up with P'Tuong and Helen (the British volunteer). Man, this past weekend was a blast. They say "You can sleep when you die" (which goes against everything I believe in!!) but for my stay in Thailand, I will adopt this theory! One night we were in the park just enjoying the night air and P'Tuong saw another Farang running the track. After his 2nd or 3rd lap, she started jogging with him and asked where he was from (finland). After his 4th or 5th lap, and us still staring at his great legs, he came over to talk to us. I invited him to dinner...... Korean BBQ! The best place I've ever been. Hands down, would be closed in 2 seconds flat in the US. Raw meat everywhere, touching it with the same thing you eat with.... you grill it at your table. Also at this restaraunt was my first experience with a squat toilet. I must say - I really might prefer it to the Westernized toilet!! You don't have to touch your skin to anything!! However, that night I had to bathe using just a bucket of water and bowl to wash the soap away..... not the cleanest I've ever been after having showered - but it got the first layer of dirt off (i hope!). We got to go shopping and I bought tons of presents for the people I love. If you are reading this, you probably got a present!! :)
Funny thing P'Ke said today..... I flat ironed my hair (for the first time since I've been here) because I had to give a speech for the school today. I wanted to look nice. P'Ke said "Your hair is not big and frizzy today.... you usually look like the Lion King after his bath!" Thanks for the honesty!! It is true - my hair is huge and frightful, so don't be afraid when you see pictures. I am basically just wearing ponytails cuz the hair is unmanageable!
On my second day here, I prayed that I could find some Mormon missionaries so that I could go to church while i'm here. Low and behold, a few days later, P'Ke and I were driving around and guess who i saw?!?! Two Mormon Missionaries!! I got so excited she thought they were my friends from home! They told me where church was. But I will be gone for 2 sundays so I will have to wait to go to church.
Last night, P'Ke made coffee for the group.... she knows that I don't drink coffee (which is forgein to her). So when she brought out the coffee's she said to me "Mo'gin, I have surprise for you!" OVALTINE!!! Best damn ovaltine i've ever had.... also the first time i've ever had it - but it was right up there next to a hot cup of coffee!!
Right, well I best be off and prepare a lesson for my class this afternoon. They get to learn about the wild animal kingdom in Arizona!!!
Feel free to email me: super_girl_74@yahoo.com
I'd love to hear from people. I have access to internet every day because they have it at the school. I can't promise I'll write back - but I'd love to hear any updates! :)
*** FYI - I NEVER mean to be disrepesctful to any Thai culture when I am writing about silly events.... I LOVE the people here and their culture.... These funny stories could just as easily happen in the US!
So P'Ke (that is Kim) took me to her parents house where I will be staying for the next few days. Right across the street is a big, busy, smelly, market. It is literally less than a stone's throw from my bedroom window. At the market I saw crickets, flys, pig heads, etc.... all to eat! We went to a corner to get some dinner where a very large Thai man approached me, excited to shake hands with a Farang (white person). Let me just say that this man, the way he looked, smelled, looked at me, etc, is what nightmares are made from!!! He was very nice to me, but also very drunk (and I think high). To show his kindness towards me, he bought me 16 little birds eggs to eat and green rice with coconut. Now - anyone that knows me even just a little bit knows that the way to my heart is one of three things: bean burrito with extra cheese, cheese pizza, and/or ice cream. NOT bird eggs or green rice!! But it's the thought that counts, nonetheless!
P'Ke and I went to Ubon to meet up with P'Tuong and Helen (the British volunteer). Man, this past weekend was a blast. They say "You can sleep when you die" (which goes against everything I believe in!!) but for my stay in Thailand, I will adopt this theory! One night we were in the park just enjoying the night air and P'Tuong saw another Farang running the track. After his 2nd or 3rd lap, she started jogging with him and asked where he was from (finland). After his 4th or 5th lap, and us still staring at his great legs, he came over to talk to us. I invited him to dinner...... Korean BBQ! The best place I've ever been. Hands down, would be closed in 2 seconds flat in the US. Raw meat everywhere, touching it with the same thing you eat with.... you grill it at your table. Also at this restaraunt was my first experience with a squat toilet. I must say - I really might prefer it to the Westernized toilet!! You don't have to touch your skin to anything!! However, that night I had to bathe using just a bucket of water and bowl to wash the soap away..... not the cleanest I've ever been after having showered - but it got the first layer of dirt off (i hope!). We got to go shopping and I bought tons of presents for the people I love. If you are reading this, you probably got a present!! :)
Funny thing P'Ke said today..... I flat ironed my hair (for the first time since I've been here) because I had to give a speech for the school today. I wanted to look nice. P'Ke said "Your hair is not big and frizzy today.... you usually look like the Lion King after his bath!" Thanks for the honesty!! It is true - my hair is huge and frightful, so don't be afraid when you see pictures. I am basically just wearing ponytails cuz the hair is unmanageable!
On my second day here, I prayed that I could find some Mormon missionaries so that I could go to church while i'm here. Low and behold, a few days later, P'Ke and I were driving around and guess who i saw?!?! Two Mormon Missionaries!! I got so excited she thought they were my friends from home! They told me where church was. But I will be gone for 2 sundays so I will have to wait to go to church.
Last night, P'Ke made coffee for the group.... she knows that I don't drink coffee (which is forgein to her). So when she brought out the coffee's she said to me "Mo'gin, I have surprise for you!" OVALTINE!!! Best damn ovaltine i've ever had.... also the first time i've ever had it - but it was right up there next to a hot cup of coffee!!
Right, well I best be off and prepare a lesson for my class this afternoon. They get to learn about the wild animal kingdom in Arizona!!!
Feel free to email me: super_girl_74@yahoo.com
I'd love to hear from people. I have access to internet every day because they have it at the school. I can't promise I'll write back - but I'd love to hear any updates! :)
Friday, June 6, 2008
Oh, My FEET!!
My feet are swollen more than a 9 month pregnant lady.... and I have mosquito bites all over them.... and I'm loving every minute of it!
So, after I left Bangkok, I took a 5 hour bus ride. I got off at what i "thought" was the right stop.... and after 20 minutes of sitting alone in a bus station, I had my doubts that I was in the right place! But eventually, a nice Thai man came and picked me up and drove me back to his house. He is about in his 60's and we had a nice chat for a few hours. Well, actually, it was him trying to speak english to me and I was just saying things like "oh really? uh -uh.... okay!" On the way home from the bus station, he said "Are you hungry?" I said "YES!" and he pulled the car over to the side of the rode and got me Pad Thai (delicious)! Two hours later his wife made a very nice dinner.... but my belly was so full I couldn't eat any of it. Except the fruit - man, the fruit here is great! Also - they put a plate of dessert in front of me. I am NEVER one to deny dessert.... so I took a bit of what looked like rice, browned on top with cinnamon or something..... boy, was i wrong! It was sweet fish. I choked it down the best I could. Their daughter took me to an outside market, kinda like the Swapmeet. I was so hot and humid, I felt like I was going to pass out. But it got worse.... you know that gross smell at the state fair?? Imagine that times 8 million, times asian food scents you've never smelled before, times dehydration (which i was). I felt so sicky...... Luckily, we got home, I took a shower, and went to bed.
I woke up this morning at 4am to get on ANOTHER bus to take me to where the school/homestay is. This bus was very nice. I even got to watch a Thai movie... basically about a fat girl, who got lyposuction and became a beautiful singer. Funny how I didn't understand a word of it, but understood the whole plot. Anyway, I was sitting on the bus thinking, "Man, I am kind of lonely. I miss my family and friends. I haven't really spoken to anyone in 3 days. I wonder if this trip was the right decision......" AND THEN......
I met the Thai version of Kim and Florence!!! Man, these two teachers that picked me up at the bus station are the exact same as these ladies I work with!! Don't ask me their Thai names, I just call them (in my head) Kim and Florence. They are about the same height, too!! :) Kim and Florence both teach English at the school I will be teaching at. I will live with Kim for 6 days and then spend the rest of my time with Florence. We stopped off at the side of the road again (literally) and got lunch. Kim was stressed out because she had to get back to school for her Radio Club and kept checking her watch (just like the REAL kim would do!). And Florence kept having the driver pull over to the side of the road to get more food for me to try! Within 5 minutes, they found out that I don't drink. SHOCK ran over Florence and Kim (just like in real life!!). I really felt like I had made instant best friends with these women. Maybe it's the similarities between my real kim and florence, or maybe it's beacuse they were just super friendly. I think teachers can connect with teachers - even around the world! They were SOO excited to find out that I'm a teacher back home. They put a lot of trust and faith in me instantly. yikes! There is a girl from England here at the school right now teaching in the same program as me, but she leaves next week. She is very nice, but the English teachers said "Maybe you can teach her how to teach." (not likely!... not cuz she's unteachable, but because I have no idea what I'm doing either!) We drove directly to the school. Kim lives about 50 yards from the school (again, the similiarities are astounding!) and I dropped my stuff off at her house. Then we went to the school. I was introduced to about a thousand people that I have no idea their names. One lady was SOO nice and so happy --- and even more so when she found out that I can play volleyball. They already recruited me. That is how I became friends with people. She said "Mo'gin plays volleyball. She will be the blocker. We start next week." CHEERS errupted from all the other teachers. Really, quite funny. Also, everyone asks how old I am. I say "25" and they say "i am 25. so we can be friends." Oh, also - Florence is single -- -and she already wants to find me a Thai husband. She said "I will trade you 5 Thai men for 5 Fahrang's (white men)" (to which I thought - lady, if I had 5 white guys, I would hoard them for myself!!)
People love looking at my photos. They love the pictures of my sister-in-law Carol because she has black hair and darker skin, just like them. They LOVE her!! They think it's wonderful that I have someone "not white" in the family. Cracks me up. Oh, and when they see pictures of my brother, Zac, they say "Oh, he is fat!". Also cracks me up!!
So in the two hours I have been here, the teachers are already trying to set me up with the computer teacher and the physics teacher. Sheeshe! Just like back at home. OHHH and I met a english teacher that reminds me of Mr. Wittreich!! He was wearing a very bright, pink Hawaiian shirt.... and it just screamed Mr. Wittreich!!
I met with the Director (principal) and he really likes to talk. I felt like it was a job interview, but he asked odd questions like "How would you feel having a black man as your president" and "What is the education system like in the USA?". Then he said "Just talk to me. Tell me anything." To which I must have looked really confused, so I just started talking to him about my family, etc. He just likes to practice his English.
Well, to sum it up... I had my doubts for the past few days that this was a very irrational decision I made when I wasn't in the best frame of mind last year in October; however, once I came to the shcool and met the teachers, I feel like I'm at a home away from home.... except I hardly understand anyone! The children are so shy, but I just ask them if they have a boyfriend or girlfriend and they start cracking up and just start talking to me.
Except for the mosquitos and humidity, this place is GREAT!!!
So, after I left Bangkok, I took a 5 hour bus ride. I got off at what i "thought" was the right stop.... and after 20 minutes of sitting alone in a bus station, I had my doubts that I was in the right place! But eventually, a nice Thai man came and picked me up and drove me back to his house. He is about in his 60's and we had a nice chat for a few hours. Well, actually, it was him trying to speak english to me and I was just saying things like "oh really? uh -uh.... okay!" On the way home from the bus station, he said "Are you hungry?" I said "YES!" and he pulled the car over to the side of the rode and got me Pad Thai (delicious)! Two hours later his wife made a very nice dinner.... but my belly was so full I couldn't eat any of it. Except the fruit - man, the fruit here is great! Also - they put a plate of dessert in front of me. I am NEVER one to deny dessert.... so I took a bit of what looked like rice, browned on top with cinnamon or something..... boy, was i wrong! It was sweet fish. I choked it down the best I could. Their daughter took me to an outside market, kinda like the Swapmeet. I was so hot and humid, I felt like I was going to pass out. But it got worse.... you know that gross smell at the state fair?? Imagine that times 8 million, times asian food scents you've never smelled before, times dehydration (which i was). I felt so sicky...... Luckily, we got home, I took a shower, and went to bed.
I woke up this morning at 4am to get on ANOTHER bus to take me to where the school/homestay is. This bus was very nice. I even got to watch a Thai movie... basically about a fat girl, who got lyposuction and became a beautiful singer. Funny how I didn't understand a word of it, but understood the whole plot. Anyway, I was sitting on the bus thinking, "Man, I am kind of lonely. I miss my family and friends. I haven't really spoken to anyone in 3 days. I wonder if this trip was the right decision......" AND THEN......
I met the Thai version of Kim and Florence!!! Man, these two teachers that picked me up at the bus station are the exact same as these ladies I work with!! Don't ask me their Thai names, I just call them (in my head) Kim and Florence. They are about the same height, too!! :) Kim and Florence both teach English at the school I will be teaching at. I will live with Kim for 6 days and then spend the rest of my time with Florence. We stopped off at the side of the road again (literally) and got lunch. Kim was stressed out because she had to get back to school for her Radio Club and kept checking her watch (just like the REAL kim would do!). And Florence kept having the driver pull over to the side of the road to get more food for me to try! Within 5 minutes, they found out that I don't drink. SHOCK ran over Florence and Kim (just like in real life!!). I really felt like I had made instant best friends with these women. Maybe it's the similarities between my real kim and florence, or maybe it's beacuse they were just super friendly. I think teachers can connect with teachers - even around the world! They were SOO excited to find out that I'm a teacher back home. They put a lot of trust and faith in me instantly. yikes! There is a girl from England here at the school right now teaching in the same program as me, but she leaves next week. She is very nice, but the English teachers said "Maybe you can teach her how to teach." (not likely!... not cuz she's unteachable, but because I have no idea what I'm doing either!) We drove directly to the school. Kim lives about 50 yards from the school (again, the similiarities are astounding!) and I dropped my stuff off at her house. Then we went to the school. I was introduced to about a thousand people that I have no idea their names. One lady was SOO nice and so happy --- and even more so when she found out that I can play volleyball. They already recruited me. That is how I became friends with people. She said "Mo'gin plays volleyball. She will be the blocker. We start next week." CHEERS errupted from all the other teachers. Really, quite funny. Also, everyone asks how old I am. I say "25" and they say "i am 25. so we can be friends." Oh, also - Florence is single -- -and she already wants to find me a Thai husband. She said "I will trade you 5 Thai men for 5 Fahrang's (white men)" (to which I thought - lady, if I had 5 white guys, I would hoard them for myself!!)
People love looking at my photos. They love the pictures of my sister-in-law Carol because she has black hair and darker skin, just like them. They LOVE her!! They think it's wonderful that I have someone "not white" in the family. Cracks me up. Oh, and when they see pictures of my brother, Zac, they say "Oh, he is fat!". Also cracks me up!!
So in the two hours I have been here, the teachers are already trying to set me up with the computer teacher and the physics teacher. Sheeshe! Just like back at home. OHHH and I met a english teacher that reminds me of Mr. Wittreich!! He was wearing a very bright, pink Hawaiian shirt.... and it just screamed Mr. Wittreich!!
I met with the Director (principal) and he really likes to talk. I felt like it was a job interview, but he asked odd questions like "How would you feel having a black man as your president" and "What is the education system like in the USA?". Then he said "Just talk to me. Tell me anything." To which I must have looked really confused, so I just started talking to him about my family, etc. He just likes to practice his English.
Well, to sum it up... I had my doubts for the past few days that this was a very irrational decision I made when I wasn't in the best frame of mind last year in October; however, once I came to the shcool and met the teachers, I feel like I'm at a home away from home.... except I hardly understand anyone! The children are so shy, but I just ask them if they have a boyfriend or girlfriend and they start cracking up and just start talking to me.
Except for the mosquitos and humidity, this place is GREAT!!!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
I'm ALIVE!!
So it's around 9:30 in the morning and I've finally had food for the first time in 24 hours. Now that I am fueld - it's time to get down to business.
I think the most commical part of my trip thus far was taking off in LAX. I was flying China Airlines and they have a camera on the outside of the airplane so you can watch yourself take off and land (something my mom would have DIED if she watched). It's kinda like you're on the front part of a ship watching the waves, but instead you're watching the runway. So it was kinda interesting to watch. And then i noticed all these cool little LA forest creatures running around. "Oh how cute - look at those cute little bunnies...." I commented to the girl next to me. Well, let's just say that God had a plan for those cute little bunnies, for they are no longer with us. I had a front row view of watching our aiplane barrel down the runway and send those bunnies off to heaven!
I had the BEST place in the plane - ya know, the one with ALLL the leg room. I said a HUGE prayer of gratitude, for it made the flight so much more bareable. I read, slept a little, dreamt that the Bishop showed me all his tattoos (??), the usual!
I flew into Taiwan and the airport was super nice and super clean! Hardly anyone there, actually. So I thought it would be fun to take "Engrish" pictures (www.engrish.com); however, my camera would be overloaded with all the Enlighs mistakes made. So I sat in Taiwan and read.
When we landed in Thailand, the first thing I noticed was how freakin' beautiful their airport is! It's like that one building in Australia, that opera house, but an airport! And the inside is like walking through a museum. They have gorgeous pictures everywhere. And big statues. I made it through customs (phew) and got my money exchanged. AND THEN..... I found a taxi. Now, throughout this whole time, I have had ZERO nerves or anxiety, which was forgein for me, since I am the queen of anxiety! But when I got in that taxi cab, I thought I was going to die. I've driven in many a taxi's that have been very dangerous But NOTHING compared to this adventure. I thought it would be fun to take scenic pictures.... haha... NOPE! I was holding on for dear life. Now, this is not to say that Thai drivers ini general were bad.... just my driver.... I am curious to know how fast 140kph is, cuz that's what we were cruising at, while everyone else was at least half that speed. It is scary to watch 3, yes THREE, cars merge into your CAR (not lane) at once.... HEART ATTACK!
But I arrived at Asha Guesthouse (a cute little hotel) perfectly sound. My bedroom is a room. I finally found the potty room.... Then I fell asleep. I awoke to a knock on my door and the lady from Volunthai met me downstairs and gave me directions on how to get to the bus station the following morning. After her visit, i fell back asleep until this morning. I slept a good, long time. I hadn't eatten anything in 24 hours, so I was shakey and sicky. But I got my money's worth of my two dollars all you can eat breakfast!! This guest house is too cute! Nice little swimming pool, outside eating area, and otuside internet area (where i am now). I am sweating to death, and nice and sticky, but I'm trying not to think about it. There are squirrels (or something of the sort) that climb on the electircal wires up in the sky. Weird. And I only showered with two lizards this morning! It's funny how fast you can transform... like at home, i would DIE if I had to shower with one of those gross albino lizards... but here, i was like "alright, only two!! today is my day!" I feel kinda like Snow White, inviting all the little creatures to come into my home (or shower) for a stay!
Although I have a professional job, and have bought a house, etc etc.... I think flying to Thailand ALL BY MYSELF and getting to my destination safely is one of the most "adult" things I've ever done in my life. I woke up this morning thinking, "Wow, if I can do THIS, I can do ANYTHING!" And then I realized that I slept all night with the lights on cuz I was too scared to turn them off! :) So much for being grown up!
Today is another big adventure traveling day.... I have to find a taxi (YIKES!) to take me to the bus depot. From there I travel 6 hours to a family's house who will apparently give me a crash course on Thai culture. I sleep there for the night and then tomorrowI will be off to wherever I am staying for the next 4 weeks.
I love you all! It is funny - cuz I am a little bit lonely -- and I really didn't consider that to happen. I guess it's just so bizarre to be out on your own and have no cell phone or text messaging to tell your friends any funny stories (like how your airplane killed a family of rabbits!).
Until next time..... when I find internet!!
PS - please don't judge my spelling, grammar, or punctuation... I am typing on a Thai keyboard and I'm lucky to be pressing the right keys!!! :)
I think the most commical part of my trip thus far was taking off in LAX. I was flying China Airlines and they have a camera on the outside of the airplane so you can watch yourself take off and land (something my mom would have DIED if she watched). It's kinda like you're on the front part of a ship watching the waves, but instead you're watching the runway. So it was kinda interesting to watch. And then i noticed all these cool little LA forest creatures running around. "Oh how cute - look at those cute little bunnies...." I commented to the girl next to me. Well, let's just say that God had a plan for those cute little bunnies, for they are no longer with us. I had a front row view of watching our aiplane barrel down the runway and send those bunnies off to heaven!
I had the BEST place in the plane - ya know, the one with ALLL the leg room. I said a HUGE prayer of gratitude, for it made the flight so much more bareable. I read, slept a little, dreamt that the Bishop showed me all his tattoos (??), the usual!
I flew into Taiwan and the airport was super nice and super clean! Hardly anyone there, actually. So I thought it would be fun to take "Engrish" pictures (www.engrish.com); however, my camera would be overloaded with all the Enlighs mistakes made. So I sat in Taiwan and read.
When we landed in Thailand, the first thing I noticed was how freakin' beautiful their airport is! It's like that one building in Australia, that opera house, but an airport! And the inside is like walking through a museum. They have gorgeous pictures everywhere. And big statues. I made it through customs (phew) and got my money exchanged. AND THEN..... I found a taxi. Now, throughout this whole time, I have had ZERO nerves or anxiety, which was forgein for me, since I am the queen of anxiety! But when I got in that taxi cab, I thought I was going to die. I've driven in many a taxi's that have been very dangerous But NOTHING compared to this adventure. I thought it would be fun to take scenic pictures.... haha... NOPE! I was holding on for dear life. Now, this is not to say that Thai drivers ini general were bad.... just my driver.... I am curious to know how fast 140kph is, cuz that's what we were cruising at, while everyone else was at least half that speed. It is scary to watch 3, yes THREE, cars merge into your CAR (not lane) at once.... HEART ATTACK!
But I arrived at Asha Guesthouse (a cute little hotel) perfectly sound. My bedroom is a room. I finally found the potty room.... Then I fell asleep. I awoke to a knock on my door and the lady from Volunthai met me downstairs and gave me directions on how to get to the bus station the following morning. After her visit, i fell back asleep until this morning. I slept a good, long time. I hadn't eatten anything in 24 hours, so I was shakey and sicky. But I got my money's worth of my two dollars all you can eat breakfast!! This guest house is too cute! Nice little swimming pool, outside eating area, and otuside internet area (where i am now). I am sweating to death, and nice and sticky, but I'm trying not to think about it. There are squirrels (or something of the sort) that climb on the electircal wires up in the sky. Weird. And I only showered with two lizards this morning! It's funny how fast you can transform... like at home, i would DIE if I had to shower with one of those gross albino lizards... but here, i was like "alright, only two!! today is my day!" I feel kinda like Snow White, inviting all the little creatures to come into my home (or shower) for a stay!
Although I have a professional job, and have bought a house, etc etc.... I think flying to Thailand ALL BY MYSELF and getting to my destination safely is one of the most "adult" things I've ever done in my life. I woke up this morning thinking, "Wow, if I can do THIS, I can do ANYTHING!" And then I realized that I slept all night with the lights on cuz I was too scared to turn them off! :) So much for being grown up!
Today is another big adventure traveling day.... I have to find a taxi (YIKES!) to take me to the bus depot. From there I travel 6 hours to a family's house who will apparently give me a crash course on Thai culture. I sleep there for the night and then tomorrowI will be off to wherever I am staying for the next 4 weeks.
I love you all! It is funny - cuz I am a little bit lonely -- and I really didn't consider that to happen. I guess it's just so bizarre to be out on your own and have no cell phone or text messaging to tell your friends any funny stories (like how your airplane killed a family of rabbits!).
Until next time..... when I find internet!!
PS - please don't judge my spelling, grammar, or punctuation... I am typing on a Thai keyboard and I'm lucky to be pressing the right keys!!! :)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Creepiest Thing Ever
I saw the creepiest thing ever last night.....
I got out of my car, minding my own business.... and then what did i hear? super loud, super beautiful opera music.... a woman's voice belting some opera song. and then the weird part.... she was riding her bicycle!!
may not sound bizarre.... but it really threw me for a loop.
basically, if the wicked witch of the west sang in an opera, that's what it would have looked/sounded like.
I got out of my car, minding my own business.... and then what did i hear? super loud, super beautiful opera music.... a woman's voice belting some opera song. and then the weird part.... she was riding her bicycle!!
may not sound bizarre.... but it really threw me for a loop.
basically, if the wicked witch of the west sang in an opera, that's what it would have looked/sounded like.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
First Week Back From Spring Break
So, as I went back to school this week, I felt really refreshed and chipper. And then the kids came....
The first day back I wore a really cute skirt and top. I spent FOREVER doing my hair (I'm trying to teach myself how to round brush my hair - a skill that takes time and muscles!), I wore cute shoes, despite the pain, and I even wore make-up! I felt like a real, grown-up woman..... And even before the second bell rang, a student said, "Wow Miss Cummard... You look like a real colonial woman today." Now - I could have taken this one of two ways. 1.) I could have thought, "Sheeshe, I put all this work into looking good, and I'm already insulted!" OR I could have thought 2.) "Wow, I'm the best teacher ever... I've enabled my students to decipher what colonial clothing looks like (which IS 5th grade curriculum)!"
Next day rolls around.... I wear a hideous jean skirt, an OVERLY humungous baseball t-shirt with American Idol peeling off the front, no make-up and hair is barely brushed. I felt like an orphan. I even dropped my macaroni on the ground at lunch. It was a rough day. The kids made zero comments.
Following day was the school wide spirit day - Hawaiin Day. I was ready to dress up in my Hawaiin best. I wore tan shorts, a great Hawaiian shirt, and spent FOREVER putting gel in my hair to make it look all beach-like and laid back. I looked fantastic. Again, before the second bell, I had an innumerable amount of comments - ranging from "Wow, your hair looks like straw today" to "Did you even brush your hair?" to "What happened to you? It looks like you had a nightmare and rolled out of bed and came right to school." I guess 5th graders can't grasp the concept of "beach hair".... whatever that may be!
So, the moral of the lesson is.... No matter how great you may think you look, children will always be honest. And no matter how disheveled and torn up you may feel, kids won't make any comments at all. Therefore, to be a teacher, you must have great self-confidence.... or else it can all be torn away before 8:10am!
The first day back I wore a really cute skirt and top. I spent FOREVER doing my hair (I'm trying to teach myself how to round brush my hair - a skill that takes time and muscles!), I wore cute shoes, despite the pain, and I even wore make-up! I felt like a real, grown-up woman..... And even before the second bell rang, a student said, "Wow Miss Cummard... You look like a real colonial woman today." Now - I could have taken this one of two ways. 1.) I could have thought, "Sheeshe, I put all this work into looking good, and I'm already insulted!" OR I could have thought 2.) "Wow, I'm the best teacher ever... I've enabled my students to decipher what colonial clothing looks like (which IS 5th grade curriculum)!"
Next day rolls around.... I wear a hideous jean skirt, an OVERLY humungous baseball t-shirt with American Idol peeling off the front, no make-up and hair is barely brushed. I felt like an orphan. I even dropped my macaroni on the ground at lunch. It was a rough day. The kids made zero comments.
Following day was the school wide spirit day - Hawaiin Day. I was ready to dress up in my Hawaiin best. I wore tan shorts, a great Hawaiian shirt, and spent FOREVER putting gel in my hair to make it look all beach-like and laid back. I looked fantastic. Again, before the second bell, I had an innumerable amount of comments - ranging from "Wow, your hair looks like straw today" to "Did you even brush your hair?" to "What happened to you? It looks like you had a nightmare and rolled out of bed and came right to school." I guess 5th graders can't grasp the concept of "beach hair".... whatever that may be!
So, the moral of the lesson is.... No matter how great you may think you look, children will always be honest. And no matter how disheveled and torn up you may feel, kids won't make any comments at all. Therefore, to be a teacher, you must have great self-confidence.... or else it can all be torn away before 8:10am!
Allergies vs. Heat
I am torn. Very torn. This thought has been obsessing in my mind for days now. I have horrible allergies, as do a lot of Arizonians. Itching, swelling of eyes, nose bleeds - the works! Medicine helps, but there's no cure. Allergies wear my body out and make me tired and cranky. However, the only way to rid myself of this horrible tragedy is to bring on the arizona hell, known as summer. Sweat where you don't usually sweat, make up pouring off, sunburns, outrageous electric bill for running your AC, etc.So what is worse?? Allergies or Arizona heat???
I Finally Broke!
I always swore I'd never have a blog. I thought it was weird that people would write about themselves and share it online. What happened to personal journals?!?! Well - I have a personal journal... but I also have a LOT of fun stories that I like to share. So enjoy this blog - I hope you find it comical and entertaining.
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