A Whole New World...

Sawadee kaaaaaa

As my new flat mates are dancing and singing to Disney songs on repeat, 'A Whole New World' makes me stop. I have to sit down. I need some water. I need a break.

The alcohol has gone to my head. I've been in a fish bowl world for the last 3 weeks. University has become my new world and Thailand is far behind. Think, Spongebob Squarepants, the episode where he goes into his brain and all his memories are stored in filing cabinets. Thailand is now a folder in a filing cabinet hidden underneath the millions of new names and faces and places I'm learning.

Thailand is more than a memory however. It is a different life. A different me. When I try to think of how my personality, my opinions, my whole viewpoint has been distorted and strangled and reshaped recently, it scares me. I do not know who I am anymore or what I am. Maybe this is the reason I'm studying Philosophy. Maybe I am just crazy.

I miss my Thai family. Audy and Tuttik are the without a doubt the most honest and caring people I have met. Austin, Orchid and Inter will grow up with such beautiful outlooks on life. They will learn how to love and care like no other. Audy and Tuttik are my role models and will forever be my surrogate parents.

I miss teaching. I miss 40 Thai 12 year olds shouting, "T-SHIRT" at me. I miss the looks on their faces as they finally complete a sentence. Then forget it a week later. I miss their smiles. I miss their hugs. I miss their enthusiasm. I wish I had the same enthusiasm for Plato. Maybe it's just Plato? When it starts to snow here up North, Toa will be on my mind shouting, "Teacher SNOWING!" Everyday. Every single day. No Toa, it doesn't snow in Thailand. Maybe I should send a postcard of the snow.

I miss my partners. Sally and Nicole became my sisters, my family, my life. When I sit in my room by myself I can't sleep. I miss their company. I crave constant attention now. I am currently sitting in the kitchen listening to my flat mates chat just for the noise. Silence scares me now.

I do not miss the heat. I do not miss the diet (Ok I miss green curry. I miss Nun's). I do not miss missing my family. I am glad to be home. I am loving University life and all of my new flat mates, but I do miss Thailand.

Kithung mak mak,

Taengmo

xx

#9 Novice Monks or Cheeky Monkeys?

We had been invited to help run an English Camp for Novice Monks in Nakhon Sawan weeks before and so when Friday the 31st finally arrived we were... extremely busy, exhausted and stressed.

The week prior we had just gotten home from our Thai family's after the weekend and whilst lying in bed, exhausted, we got a phone call. Thinking it was our host asking if we were still alive, I answered hesitantly. It was in fact Mr. Thor, a friend of our Thai dad's who speaks exceptional English, inviting us to help him in an English Camp the following day. "You mean tomorrow?! Uhhhh, yes sure of course. Yes we meet for lunch? Have meeting? You ask our school? Ok, Thank you. Bye." After sorting all the ins and outs, we had accepted and were being picked up that afternoon to spend the night in a hotel before an early morning the next day. 

This English Camp involved teaching 200 M1-M6 students English. Nicole, Sally and I joined Mr. Thor, an Australian named Adam, a previous PT Vol Dougie and a Thai woman who also speaks exceptional English. The morning was filled with very enthusiastic and energetic songs, actions, phrases. "Hello! Hi! Hi! Hello! Hello Hello Hello! Hi Hi Hi!" "Give me 1, Give me 2, Give me 3, Give me 4, Give me 5 - High Five!" The afternoon filled with different rotations of playing English speaking games, practising pronunciation and role plays. Come 3.30pm, we were thoroughly exhausted and yet still the day was not over. After what felt like a thousand photos with staff and students galore, the 7 of us drove back to Ubon to enjoy drinks and snacks at The Feeling - a pub, kind of. Getting to know other foreigners in the area and sharing experiences of teaching English is one of many pleasures. 

We arrived back in Muang Samsip on Wednesday morning after spending another night in a hotel in Ubon and then had to frantically pack for the following weekend in Nakhon and get organised for Dave, our PT Desk Officers visit on Thursday/Friday. Thursday night when Dave arrived we enjoyed our favourite local Isaan meal of fried chicken, sticky rice and som tam whilst we talked about the project. Friday Dave observed our lessons which according to him went very good, even though I'm still adamant it was far too rushed having missed the first 20 minutes due to a meeting. Friday evening then came where we boarded our bus to Chaiyaphum to meet the Phana Vols, Cammy and Kevin, for a good nights sleep - in a bus station. I hope you can sense my sarcasm there. Many mozzie bites later and crooked necks and backs we boarded The Tin Can. 

The Tin Can, capitalised on purpose, is what some Thai's would call a bus. I assure you however this was not a bus. This was a 5 hour journey sitting on metal floors in sweltering heat (hotter than it was outside?!) bumping at every turn and travelling at around 2mph. No joke. We were dying of heat stroke, dehydration (our water had pretty much evaporated away - OK maybe now I'm exaggerating) and to make matters worse, I had gotten a cut/bite which was happily oozing away with pus and my foot was swelling by the second. We arrived in Nakhon Sawan as piles of sweat, dirt, dust and in my case, pus with a foot the size of a football. 

Nakhon however made up for this God awful experience with it's beautiful sights! We arrived and went to the park to celebrate fellow volunteer's birthday, Hollie. We had a real life chocolate cake made by foreigners who own an oven in Nakhon and lots of Hollie's favourite snacks. One beautiful picnic later we went back to Beth and Ellie's apartment in Nakhon which is pure luxury! Tiled flooring? Actual beds? TWO western toilets?! I think I was about ready to die of shock. 

The following day we ran the English Camp for Novice Monks. The day started bright and early setting up the activities which ranged from an obstacle course to blindfolded monks being fed mouthfuls of chilli and trying to guess 'Spicy.' Nicole and I were in charge of Animals in which we painted whiskers on our faces and danced around as different animals for the day trying to get the monks to join in with our stupidity! After the camp we all dressed in traditional Chinese dresses and went to the closing parade for Chinese New Year Festival - Nakhon Sawan is the Chinese capital of Thailand meaning the parade was big and beautiful! 

And finally, after 3 days of visiting our friends and eating glorious sandwiches - yes actual bread - we boarded the bus home. We did not opt for The Tin Can option this time. We arrived back in Muang Sam Sip early Wednesday morning and whilst I would love to say we then fell into sensational deep sleeps for days on end... No, we went to school to teach the little rascals I call my students.

I guess there really is no sleep for the wicked - wickedly awesome and charitable giving up my precious time to teach English to monkeys. 

Zzz... lots of love from Thailand.

#8 Children's Day

Saturday the 11th was Children's Day in Thailand which I spent with my Thai Family in Ubon Ratchathani. My Thai family has a baby boy, 9 months old called Austin, a little girl, 6 years old called Orchid and a boy, 9 years old called Inter so as you can imagine, Children's day for them is a big deal. Children's Day is basically a Thai holiday where they celebrate their children and the big towns put on various functions for kids to enjoy, mostly for free!

Orchid and Inter enjoying the rides

First of all we went to Central Plaza which is one of the main shopping centres in Ubon. There were several little games for children to play to win free things like cinema tickets, sweets, juices and toys all around the centre. Orchid and Inter got so excited and played all the games and insisted we play them too. I think maybe because we're foreign (farang) they let us play even though we're clearly not children anymore - though some parents did give us strange looks as the 18/19 year olds playing these games meant for 12 year olds and younger... oh well.

An old Airforce plane

After this we went to the airforce which was putting on a special fair for Children's Day. There were rides for the kids, stalls selling things, airforce soldiers in uniform letting you take photos with them, an old plane you could explore and much more. Orchid and Inter got great joy out of the toy planes they bought and played with them for the rest of the day. Next we went to the zoo which had free entry because it was Children's Day. When driving our Thai mum once was saying how many laws in Thailand are like 10 years behind western laws, for example they recently introduced a law where they had to put their motorcycle lights on all the time. Well Thai zoo's are also a clear example of this; the cages the animals were kept in were so small, cramped and just in generally bad condition. Many of the animals looked sick as well with one parrot losing a lot of it's fur and a cow with a mutation - it had an extra leg hanging from it's back! It was also strange to see cats and rabbits in a zoo as in Britain we see those almost everyday. Needless the say, Inter and Orchid loved the whole day!

The cows deformed 5th leg.....

Next we drove to Phana to visit our Thai dad's family as they were having their annual 'funeral' type remembering, called to 'make merit,' of my Thai dad's brother who died in a car accident a couple years ago. This is a really nice way of remembering the dead, rather than wallowing in sadness they bring the family and friends together. Firstly some monks came and we all chanted and prayed together, and then the monks left and we all ate dinner together whilst they were sharing good memories.

Then we all drove home and after a long busy day we were so tired we fell asleep very early! Zzz...

Inter and Orchid with the Airforce Soldier

Cats in cages

Monkey's being monkeys

#7 Happy New Year!

We've had a cold couple of weeks here in Muang Samsip recently. I'm talking lows of 15 degrees, my God it was horrendous. I think that's a sign I've truly accommodated to Thai weather now, although I am still sweating it out whilst the students wear jumpers on most days. Through these past cold weeks we've had to shut all the shutters in our house, trying to keep out the cold winds - it may not be as cold as back home but it sure does feel it when the house is made to let out heat, not keep it in! We've been buried in 3 blankets, huddled in our beds and having to do jogs on the spot to bring up our body temperature before even bracing the cold showers! Even though we felt so cold and moaned a lot, Thai people must have suffered a lot worse for they were all wearing wooly hats, scarves, gloves and big coats to school (in the day it was not even that cold, more like a British Summer at 17-19 degrees) whilst we were still in lose t-shirts during the day. Maybe my British skin is just thicker... Saying all this however, Thai winter only lasted a few weeks and it's already back to sweltering degrees again - where they are still wearing thick jumpers.

Merry Christmas from M4/1

School continued over Christmas but luckily it was the end of term and instead of having to teach rowdy classes on Christmas Day, it was Sports Day! Ok, so Sports Day isn't quite like we have in the UK. Firstly, there were students everywhere doing practically nothing. They were all sitting around in groups just chilling, with the few events going on around. On Christmas Day we spent the morning slowly waking up and enjoying tea in bed. We had already sneakily opened our presents on Christmas Eve at Midnight for without any parents around we felt we could do what we wanted! As my parents are in Malaysia currently also enjoying the lack of christmas pressures, Sally and Nicole's parents were kind enough to send me presents also. I think... finally... maybe... just... I have enough chocolate. Around midday we went into school and got to cook some sticky rice with coconut with some students - yeah, like I said, Sports Day... And then the 3 of us went into Ubon to enjoy a typical over indulgent Christmas Day. We had 'The Pizza Company' pizza followed by 'McDonald's' chips followed by 'Swensen's' chocolate brownie and banana waffle sundae followed by 'Take a Break' coffee. I mean, it's not Christmas if you don't feel sick from too much food, right?

Christmas Cards made by M2/3 for me!

Friday was the last day of term and for our New Years Holiday we had booked to go to Koh Samui - 7 girls, 7 nights, 7 ghastly hangovers... Friday evening we got the overnight bus to Bangkok which was the coldest night I have ever experienced in my life. I think even if you spent the night covered in snow, it would be warmer. Ok, Thai logic; they get extremely cold in 17degrees that they wear wooly hats and big coats, yet they put the air con on on overnight buses down to 15 degrees and only give you a measly little blanket. Yeah, makes total sense. In Bangkok we spent the day in a shopping center enjoying a Nando's type meal at a place called 'Piri Piri' whilst waiting for our next night bus/ferry to Koh Samui. Ok, travellers tip... make sure taxi drivers actually look at maps you give them when asking them to take you places. Oh and insist on putting the metre on, one taxi driver just out right refused so we got out and got into another because no, we are not stupid tourists who will pay extortionate amounts Mr Rude Taxi Driver. So 20 minutes before checkout closes to get our bus, we realise we've been taken to the wrong bus station so 5 of us, with our big bags, jump into yet another taxi, all sitting on top of one another, shouting 'Laow Laow Laow' (faster faster) to get to the right bus station which oh so conveniently is in the middle of Khao San Road - not so easy to get too! So after a freezing cold night bus, running through crowds of people, carrying our big rucksacks, feeling the pressure of getting to the station on time, another long night bus and then a very very rocky catamaran ferry journey - we made it! Koh Samui was a whole world away from the remote and rural world of Muang Samsip with tourists galore and western food at every turn. It was a nice change. We enjoyed being able to soak up the rays on the beach and meet new tourists and other travellers whilst not having to worry about getting up early for work or lesson plans. For New Years Eve we went to our first Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan. The NYE Countdown Party is the biggest beach party in the entire world with 65,000 people enjoying the countdown together. I have no words to explain it, all I can say is, you need to experience a Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan once in your lifetime for it is the most insane, surreal, intense, craziest experience.

Monday we arrived back to Muang Samip and after just over a week away it feels nice to be 'home.' Currently I'm at school in the English Office waiting for my next class to start. We have just enjoyed another lunch where a group of students bring/cook us lunch and we eat it together whilst they attempt to speak English. Mostly this consists of them shyly eating whilst we ask them questions, but occasionally you get a confident student who gets a small conversation going. It's now been 4 months here in Thailand and so I'm a Quarter of the way through this year and it wouldn't be fair to say it's all been easy, but it's definitely worth it. Knowing it's only another couple of months until I get to see my parents in my holidays is helping the homesickness go away but words cannot describe how much I miss my best friends, my home, my bed, my parent's cooking and my one true love - my cat, Lizzy. Despite all this, these past 4 months have been a real adventure and I'm only excited for the next 8 months and anything and everything that could happen.

Dinner with our Thai Family

One major thank you to all my friends and family back home for the love and support through emails, letters and parcels. Lots of Love, Amy xoxo

#6 "Good Morning Teacher"

Walking into a room with 30-40 16 year olds staring at you, smiling and then all standing up and saying in unison, "Good Morning Teacher, how are you?" was extremely daunting at first. Now, it's second nature. I love all my classes from the cheeky boy in M2/3 nicknamed Toa who without a doubt tells me it's snowing everyday in Thailand to the stars in M4/1 who actually understand when I ask them, "What is your favourite sport?" and manage to reply, in unison, "My favourite sport is..." Even in a class of high capability their English can vary drastically; one student managed a 59/60 in my test whereas one scraped a 4/60. I'm not going to pretend this isn't frustrating, thinking this student clearly didn't try, until I hand him back his test and he looks completely disheartened and then proceeds to try really hard in the lesson with his friends helping him. It's easy to forget that learning a language is a difficult task, my level of German still only goes as far as knowing 1-99 (I've just forgotten what 100 is...)

There are still those mornings where the alarm goes off at 7am and you know your first lesson isn't until 10 but there's an assembly (which is all in Thai) that you're expected to attend and you can't help but moan and groan and pull the covers over your head for another half hour and then have to rush getting ready and miss breakfast just to make it in time. There are still those moments where you're sitting in the English office surrounded by mountains of books to mark and a class in 10 minutes to teach that you know are the 'naughty class' and will test you to the max. Still I manage to make it to assembly where the Thai national anthem is becoming a really catchy tune that sticks in my head all day and to that class where the cheeky boy in the back has to be told to stand up for the whole lesson so he finally listens. It's not all exotic fruits, mouthwatering thai food
and angelic students, but it's definitely all worth it.

Three months in and my Thai life feels so natural I can't even imagine going home now. England is and will always be my home but the layering of coats and scarves and thick tights and boots and gloves just doesn't sound appealing right now. I'm getting used to the 32 degree heat and when it does drop to as low at 21 degrees I have to pull on my jumper and huddle in my covers at night. We now have our favourite classes and our favourite places to eat Kow Man Gai or Pappreowan Gai and our favourite places to buy cheap iced coffees or the expensive place for chocolate frappes if we're having a bad day. We've even got our weekends full, staying at our favourite Thai family's house, helping the mother with her weekend English tutoring and playing with the 6 year old girl beautifully named Orchid and her older brother and even the 8 month old baby no longer cries at the sight of me. He even likes to play with us - those of you who know how much babies dislike me will understand how shocking this is! 

Our house is slowly feeling more like a home. We've finally acquired a kettle and now have tea in the evenings or a hot chocolate if we're feeling gluttonous with squares of my cadbury's chocolate mum sent in the post. We also have a working wok so we can fry eggs and onion and other vegetables we find in the market and a fridge full of fruit (okay not full but we have bananas!) We have our weekday evening routines of cleaning, napping, going to the gym and sometimes settling down with a film. Although we're still desperately struggling with all the hand washing, I currently have about 4 clean items of clothing... but today is a day off work because it's the King of Thailand's birthday so I have plenty of time to catch up on my washing and finally time to write this blog which is well overdue.

I miss you all back home and I try not to even think of Lizzy because the thought of her all lonely in the rescue home in Southend is heartbreaking, but I cannot imagine not being in Thailand right now and going home feels like an alien idea which is so far in the future. With the Christmas period looming and Thailand being so depressingly un-christmassy it is a struggle but the thought of spending New Years on a beach in Koh Samui compared to in a crowded expensive club or pub back home reminds me how lucky I am to be here right now and there are many more Christmas's to come in my life where I can moan about the endless adverts and christmas music playing in every store. 

One quarter on my Thai life complete, this year is going far too quickly for my liking and I have no doubt in saying I will see you all before I know it. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - think of me lying on a beach in Koh Samui whilst you huddle by your fires with your thick christmas socks ;)

At Loi Krathong Festival: Sally, Me, Nicole, Kevin, Cammy

Staff party anyone?

At an English Camp in Phana

First night out in Ubon at U Bar

#5 Chiang Mai was cray cray

Chiang Mai was possibly the best 3 weeks of my life so far. The time just seems to have gone by as one massive blur of fresh fruit smoothies, phut lens (jokes) and chin chin law’s (reallllllly?) with our adorable Thai teacher and crazy nights out in ‘Zooooeeeeeeeey baaaaaar.’ 

Nicole, Cissy, Cammy, Kevin, Cissy, Tom, Jelle and I all arrived looking and feeling not so great after an 18 hour over night bus journey from Ubon Ratchathani to Chiang Mai - the bus itself was not so bad, we had real reclining seats and free biscuits and crisps! We all bundled into the first Song Thaew we saw and after pointing at this one map we had between the 7 of us, we finally got to our guest house where the other 12 volunteers already were. Reuniting with the other volunteers, after a difficult first month in Thailand, was probably the best part about the trip. We immediately (by immediately I mean after showers and fresh clothes) went out to explore Chiang Mai and get some fooooooooood! The food in Chiang Mai was the best - real Thai food, not Isaan Thai food and being able to order Thai food with menu's translated into English was a treat too. Next adventure: Chiang Mai Markets! It was a sunday which meant the Sunday Evening market was out in full swing with hundreds and thousands of bags, clothes, trinkets - you name it, they had it - to discover. It's safe to say Chiang Mai ate a lot of my money... oops. That first night all 19 of us decided to hit the tourist night life and discovered zoeeeeeeeeey bar and the reggae bar full of tourists with travelling stories and Thai university students eyeing up some 'farang' (foreigners). That first night was one of many messy nights to follow during the 3 weeks we had in Chiang Mai.

Our class with Ajaan Joy!

Monday morning resulted in minor hangovers we had to suffer through as we had our first Thai language lesson and met our teachers for the course. Ajaan Joy was the cutest and funniest teacher we could have wished for; she had perfect English so we could chat in English as well as attempting Thai. Over the 3 weeks she became more like a friend as our class of me, Nicole, Cissy, Cammy, Kevin, Sally, Ocean, Annaliese and Hollie shared an array of inside jokes with her. The other class apparently had intense lessons whilst ours were more informal chats, "Sa bai dee mai ka?" She'd ask us every morning and we'd reply with whoever was off ill that day as being "mai sa bai." Apart from the first and last day, I think there was one person off 'ill' (hungover) every day - hashtag best class ever? A less intense class was definitely preferred though and I definitely feel like I've learnt a lot, and a lot about Thai culture as well. 

The weekdays in Chiang Mai were mainly filled with our morning fresh fruit smoothies from the smoothie guy across the road from the language course, "smoothie glooeye gap saparot gap ma muang ka?" (banana, pineapple and mango smoothie please?), our chillaxed lessons with Joy and lunches at Nun's. Nun is the owner of a very small, cute little restaurant near to the language course who became our dear friend as we went their almost every day. He is the owner, waiter and chef and always chatted to us about our time in Chiang Mai and made the most delicious food and large portions and was sooo cheap. He even started giving us free water because we became such regulars! Massaman curry became a dear favourite, along side pad thai and chicken with cashew nuts - I must learn how to make all of these for uni next year. The nights were mostly filled with Zoeeeeeey bar, the rooftop bar (before we learned it had a sign outside banning Thai people from entering!), reggae bar and 3am drunken 7/11 runs for the blue crisps! 

Adoring the baby tiger!

The weekends were an entirely different story however. The first weekend Nicole, Annaliese, Beth, Sally, Hollie, Ellie and I all went to watch Sally, Hollie and Ellie bungee jump Saturday morning. I am far too scared of heights to even consider such a thing, even though it did look so thrilling that afterwards I wished I'd had the guts to do it myself. (I still definitely do not though.) After such a thrill, we were then taken by our tour guide for the day to Tiger Kingdom where we got to play with baby tigers, small tigers and big adult tigers! The babies were adorable whereas the adults were kinda scary but it was incredible. Before I had always thought these tigers were drugged and treated horrendously, but they weren't drugged, the only sad part was how they were held captive but I suppose it's the best of a bad situation for them. After a thrilling and busy day we were taken back to our guest house where we got ready for another night out at the rooftop bar and you guessed it - zoeeeeeeeeey bar! We did go to zoey's so often that we learnt their soundtrack off by heart, but it was still such fun. The following Sunday was, ahem, a day in bed feeling the toll of the night before. I don't think we even surfaced until at least 2pm. 

Feeling fearless!

Feeling fresh Sunday morning!

The second weekend was even more intense than the first, but an experience 100% worth having. Nicole, Cammy, Kevin, Sally, Annaliese, Hollie, Beth, Ellie and I had all booked into a 2 day Jungle trek. Saturday early morning we were picked up by a tour guide we grew to love over the weekend and picked up two Argentinian doctors who we shared the weekend with and driven out to the mountains. We we given some not so nice fried rice and then started our 5 hour trek in the heat up and down some mountain to get to a hill tribe village where we stayed the night. This was... an experience. The trek was definitely one of those, 'I'm glad I did it but I would not like to go back in time and do it all over again,' moments. After 5 hours of intense hill climbing and jungle trekking we eventually arrived at a ermm... few huts in the middle of the jungle. We slept on roll mats under mosquito nets in one big hut and had a bonfire that night with our tour guide who made us some curry and rice for dinner. It was a real bonding moment for the group - including the 2 Argentinians who enjoyed our humour. Sunday morning we awoke stiff and grouchy at 7am and were given a random western meal of (slightly stale) bread and cold scrambled eggs before a half hour trek to the main road where we picked up by a song thaew and taken to see the elephants!!!!! We then proceeded to ride some elephants, zip wire across a river, bathe a baby elephant, bamboo raft down the river, visit a long neck tribe and white water raft. All in one day, you ask? Yes, I did say it was intense! After arriving home at 5ish that evening, saying goodbye to our trusty tour guide and having longggggg hot showers we then decided to visit the previously discovered Irish Pub to have well deserved English food! Bean and lentil burger with onion rings, chips and side salad? Yes pleeeeease. We also could not say goodbye to our Argentinian friends just yet and so planned to meet them in Zoey's that evening to continue the seemingly never ending, exhausting yet insanely fun and slightly surreal weekend. 

Fun with the elephants!

Group shot!

I think it's safe to say that Chiang Mai was indeed an experience, an adventure and a lifelong memory. Our last night out in Zoeeeeeeeeeeey bar with our Project Trust Rep, Lucie, definitely ended the 3 weeks on a high! Saying goodbye to the other volunteers was difficult as there has been friendships made and cemented for life here, but coming home (to Muang Sam Sip) with Sally as Nicole and I's new partner is just the cherry on the cake! I am already not looking forward to returning home to coldy and rainy England as I enjoy (and sometimes still moan about) the 30 degree heat here. 

Love and hugs from sunny Thailand as I relax in my no longer cockroach infested home with my partners and lifelong friends, Sally and Nicole.

Just chilling on our elephant trek!

#4 "I love youuu, I love youuu, I love youuuuuuuuu"

It's been a while, I know. The last couple of weeks have been a blur to be honest. With school still on holiday we had plenty of free time to explore and decided to visit Sally and Ocean at Kutchum. This meant travelling almost 4 hours, taking 3 different buses/song thaews and costing all of £3... Travel is so cheap it's ridiculous. We then got to see their project and meet their hosts which was so fun. Also... we tried the long awaited and desired strawberry fanta and vodka. It was lush. Visiting other volunteers has been getting us through these few weeks where school has been on holiday and we haven't met many locals yet.

School then started and we were thrown into our first lesson with 2 minutes warning. We were leaving for Chiang Mai 3 days later so we weren't given our own classes, just filling in for other teachers so we got to teach as a 3. We ended up asking 16 year old to say 'My name is' because we were completely at a loss for what to do but that was fine. They like colouring too and they're so talented so we get them to draw a lot. Thai classrooms are so different from English ones, the students all start off well behaved saying in unison "Good morning teacher, how are you today?" but then they sit down and start talking over you... It's very stereotypical the girls are well behaved and listen and the boys well... don't. At all. They try to take advantage over our lack of Thai a lot but on the whole they end up doing the work. Well they do the work when we stand next to them and point and say work 50 times... it'll get better I hope.

Mr Subdirector wanted a photo!

The next night we had our welcoming ceremony with all the teachers. We were really intrigued about this but it turned out to be one of the best nights! Firstly, we sat down whilst teachers came up to us with string and tied to our wrists saying, "for good luck," "Thai tradition," "you so beautiful," "i love youuuuuu!" Then we had some food, and then we stood on the stage with several other new student teachers and whilst Mr. Director spoke in Thai, a lot. There were several photos taken. There are always several photos taken. We were given some presents and there were more photos. We were then told to come off the stage.. and then back on the stage. Then there were more photos. Then there was more Thai speaking........ we weren't sure what was going on. To be honest, we never are sure. But then the real fun began, we were asked to go dance and because all the other teachers were drinking (we're not allowed too) they were full on dancing... like 3 teachers at the front whilst everyone else were sat at their tables eating and drinking. We just went with it and copied their dance moves (they were so stereotypical 16 year old dance moves). Mr Subdirector is our new favourite person. His dancing was so funny and then he wanted so many photos with us and was so drunk and so happy. He came up to us at several times and just said "I love you, I love you, I love you, do you love me tooooo?" I think it's safe to say we have all fallen in love with Mr. Subdirector! Later that night we just heard outside our house "I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU" hahaha. What. A. Man.

Dancing with the teachers!

There is still so much more to write but this post is getting long so I'll write another post soon with the rest ! I'll be more punctual with my blog posts when I get my own laptop back.... whenever in the world that will be. #prayforappley

Smile everyone!