Oh My Buddha Pt 2

I'll be the first to admit my blogging has been less that adequate consistency wise. My utmost apologies. To get up to date I need you to travel back almost three weeks.....Time Warp!

November 18th - a day full of food. I took a cooking class with Josi and Larissa at the "Thai Farm." My menu: Yellow curry with chicken, tom yom soup with shrimp, chicken and cashew nut stir fry, pad thai, and mango with sticky rice. Wow was I full! Maybe if some of you are lucky, I'll cook a Thai meal (feast) upon my return. Most of the recipes are fairly basic and have similar ingredients. Just being in a kitchen again felt so nice after all these months of eating out, apart for breakfast.

November 23-27 - Thai Massage School. Yes, that's right. I am now certified in Thai massage. For five days, lead by our instructor Jane, Josie, Larissa and I learned over one hundred and ten different steps. Feet, Legs, Hands, Arms, Back, Neck, and Face. To do them all at once would take me probably around three hours! The hardest part was to not fall asleep in the studio. We spent just as much time being massaged (horizontal +and prone to sleeping) as we did massaging. I was surprised how much work it was. My thumbs were terribly sore, but it was pretty cool, unlike anything I'd ever done before, and I actually think I'd be able to do a lot of it back home. It's not like I'm ready to open up a business or anything, but I'm not terrible. However, I guess I'm not really that good either... but that's besides the point.

November 30 - Farewell Chiang Mai. It was truly an effort to get myself to leave this city that I lived in for almost six weeks. I felt so comfortable there and it really felt like a home. After a month and a half I had all my routines: I would go to a yoga class in this local gym a couple times a week, buy my dinners, fruit and veggies from the same women on the streets, and get afternoon coffee or fruit shakes (depending on the weather) from the same cafes. And all the people I lived with were wonderful. I did manage to pack up and move onto the next part of my trip, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

December 1-2 - Bangkok. It was the 12 hour overnight bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok for me. Fun! After being in the same house with nine other people being off on my own again, and in a massive, crazy city, was kind of daunting. I stayed right off of Khaosan Road, the main backpacker amoeba. It was a total scene. The street was filled with vendors and completely flooded with tourists. You could buy everything from overpriced pad thai to pirated movies to drivers licenses and diplomas.
My first day in Bangkok I visited Wat Po (the famous reclining Buddha) and the Grand Palace. To find each, I had to ask for directions, a few times from tuk tuk drivers. I counted the number of times that I was told a place was closed, that I could not enter because of my attire, or that I need to come back later - but meanwhile should take a ride around the city and visit some shops, all at a special discount of course!
On day two I took the bus to Siam Square to visit these three mega malls, MBK, Siam Discovery Center, and Sam Center. Amazingly I only bought a pair of much needed iPod speakers and case. The food court in MBK was outrageous, about the size of a football field, and you could find just about any type of food. Note to reader: pineapple, mango, and passion fruit makes for a great smoothie.

December 3- Today (phew, I finally caught up) Koh Tao!!!!!! Besides the transit, which of course was an awful 22 hours of buses, ferries, and waiting, Koh Tao is awesome. I am now a certified OPEN WATER DIVER. For three days I learned how to dive. And it was beyond awesome. From the early morning until dinner, I was in the course. The first day consisted of a morning of dive theory and an afternoon of practicing skills, with all the gear on, in the swimming pool. The first time I swam underwater breathing air from my tank was magical. And it only got better the next day in the ocean. We saw all sorts of creatures: a moray eel, a box fish, puffer fish, angel fish, sting rays, and trigger fish, just to name a few. Its a fantastic sensation - exhilarating, inspiring, and beautiful. I loved it so much that I've actually decided to go for my advanced open water certification in the next two days. I'll get to go down to 30 m (compared to the 18m that we did yesterday) and go on a night dive. While it seems kinda of silly to be doing all of this, because who knows when I'll get to dive again, I am just so enamored with diving that I cannot say no.

Oh My Buddha!

OH MY BUDDHA, I cannot believe how much time has passed without blogging, and now its time to play catch-up in a major way.

Here are the highlights:

1) Trekking trip #1.
From Mae Hong Son I went on a three day, two night trek into the jungle with three other volunteers, our guide Nok, and guide-in-training, Tom. Nok and Tom could work magic with a machete and bamboo. They fashioned a teapot, walking sticks, cups, and spoons out of this plentiful plant. Our first day we walked about 4 hours - on a slippery, muddy path infested with leeches -to a Karen Village that was about as authentic "rural Thai" as you can get. Pigs, chickens , and goats (with very loud bells) wandered around the land. It was a village of about 40 people and at night we wandered around hut-hopping. In one hut, there were 15 kids huddled around a single TV watching music videos. In the other two, groups of adults sat drinking rice wine and eating this drug called beetle nut. They wrap the nut (which turns red when chewed) into a large leaf and then eat it whole. Don't worry, I did not participate. But I could not decline a sip of rice wine. They were so offended when I said, "Mai ow ka" (no thank you), that I had to take a little. But when they saw I drank the rice wine they then filled my glass again. Marleen and I then had to discreetly pour it out between the floorboards to avoid drinking the rest of the strong, foul alcohol.
On the second day we ran out of water by noon and were still hours away from our destination, a village Nok had yet to visit.
"Nok, how far are we?"
"Yes, yes"
"Nok, how faaarrrr?"
"Ah 30 minutes."
One hour later, we were still not there. When we finally arrived we hit the local store and cleaned out their water supply.
The last day was nice and tame.
It was not the smoothest of trips, but the entire weekend we were deep in the fantastically beautiful jungle. Sometimes we were foraging our own path through dense bamboo, shuffeling along a foot wide path on the mountain's edge, and other times there were 360 degree views of the magnificent area.


2) Pai.
Pai is Thailand's Bohemia. It is a hippie-ville full of wanna-be (and some real) boho's that I visited over a weekend. So that makes for some great people watching. There are two main streets in Pai that I basically walked about 20 times in the two and a half days. Apart from the street walking, I took a yoga class, attended a meditation session led by an old friend of my Grandma's, and ate lots of delicious meals. My first non-Thai food was consumed in Pai - a falafel! We found such an amazing Thai restaurant for dinner that we went back and ate there again the second night as well. They made a Pad Thai dish with green papaya instead of noodles. Soooo good.
Instead of taking the bus back to Mae Hong Son, I rafted back. Lotte and I went on a rafting trip that just so happened to finish about ten minutes from MHS - quite convenient. It was an extremely fun water adventure. We were on a boat with two Israeli sisters that we sung song after song to pass the time with. Along the river we went by a nice waterfall and a hot spring where we coated our bodies in this sulfur-smelling mud.

3. Chiang Mai.
I arrived in Chiang Mai about three weeks ago and have become completely immersed into life here. Our dorm is in the South East corner of the old city, which is about 1 x 1 mile. That means most of the city is in walking distance. It has been so refreshing to be back in a city again. As much as I liked the all-Thai-ness of Nong Khai and Mae Hong Son, its great to be back in a more international place. I'm living here with six other volunteers: four Germans and two Dutch -four girls (18-19) and two guys (23 and 28),who just arrived this weekend. We're having a great time together.

4. More Mopeds.
I've gone on three motorbike excursions in the CM area. The first was a big loop through the mountains. The highlights of that trip were a national park with great waterfalls and Doi Suthep, the most famous temple near CM. The second excursion brought us to the south of CM. We saw Bo Sang, the umbrella making village. I completely fell in love with the umbrellas and almost bought a really big one on a whim, but was talked out of it on account of its inability to fit in my pack. Instead, I opted for a tiny blue one - not as all as impressive. From there we wanted to tour all the different craft villages: silk making, cotton weaving, wood carving....but we had lots and lots of trouble finding the workshops in the towns. We actually drove to three different places without finding what we came to see. The BIG adventure of the day was a flat tire that I got on this long stretch of road in the middle of nowhere. Lucky for us this middle of nowhere just so happened to have a mechanic! But low and behold in the last 20 minutes of the drive, the tire blew out again. I had to ride home on a flat in the middle of rush hour because there was no way I was going to get it fixed again. That little mishap resulted in us missing out on the wood carving in Ban Tawai because everything was already closed. Thus, trip #3 was back to Ban Tawai, where I purchased an Elephant Mirror! I know, I know...but its so cool that I couldn't pass it up. And its not too big, so I'll find a way to get it home.

5. Thai Boxing.
In my first weekend in CM I went to a Thai Boxing match. Not too much to say about that except for that I saw a knock out! This guy went down hard. He took a foot kick to the neck and just collapsed. Out cold for a minute or two. There were also kids as young as maybe 12 fighting. That was a bit weird to see. And a band next to the ring played along to the ebb-and-flow of the fighting for more suspense. But I can't say I was on the edge of my seat.

6. Loy Krathong.
Loy Krathong was a three day festival I was lucky enough to experience in Chiang Mai, where the celebration is the biggest in the country. There were lanterns filling the sky, fireworks exploding every second, and candles floating down the river and moat. The fireworks had me completely on edge, as I felt like I was walking in a dangerous war zone. It was all quite a scene.


7. Trekking trip #2.
Similar to trip #1, but add 10 more people on the tour and forty others doing the same tour in the area. This trek should have been named the "Waterfall Tour." We saw 6 in the three days! There was a lot of swimming. Being a commercialized tourist trip, this trek included bamboo rafting and an elephant ride.

8. Teaching.
Ahaha teaching is always the last thing I write about.
As they say here in Thailand, "Same, same"....but different. Its similar to what I was doing in Nong Khai. We teach three hours every morning and work with grades k-6 depending on the day. I enjoy the 3-6th graders the most. I'm just not quite cut out to work with the younger kids. Their level of English is so low - nearly nonexistent that there is very little you can do with them besides the ABC's and numbers 1-10. And even with that, they seem to have absolutely no long-term memory and have trouble producing a "R" or a "9" if we were to call it out loud for them to write down.
The older grades are so much more rewarding because I feel that I am actually teaching them something. What a novelty....
I've also had to adjust to the "Thai" way of education. It is perfectly acceptable for a class to sit watching TV for a few hours without a teacher present, for kids to be playing outside while others in their class are working, and for complete mayhem to go on the moment the Thai teacher steps out of the room and the farangs come in. Very, very little is expected of these kids in terms of their education. There is no curriculum for English. We are told to "just do whatever we want." While some teachers would like this freedom, I just find its a reflection of their low standards. However frustrating, it is "the Thai way" and I have had to stop comparing it to our western educational standards because it only annoyed me.
With that aside, it is a great feeling to walk out of a class after teaching a bunch of 11 year olds, knowing that your lesson went well, the kids were engaged, and you just might have taught them something.

Opportunity for Poor Children

I do not know how it is possible that I have yet to write about the main reason I came to Mae Hong Son, but I will do my best to summarize these last three weeks of volunteering.

From the concrete road where I park my moped, it is about a seven minute walk to the OPC. The dirt path, marked by a modest blue sign, takes me along side an expansive rice patty field. (The grains of rice have just turned up this last week.) On my left there is a river, sometimes deep brown after a heavy rain and other times completely clear. Along the path there are several bamboo huts, a makeshift iron fence, and always plenty of wildlife - frogs, huge insects, and even once a snake. Two bamboo bridges announce my arrival at the OPC. I tread lightly while crossing, but the children always fly across completely unnerved.

October is winter vacation for the schools in Thailand. So, of the usual fifty children aged 8-15 that live here at the orphanage, only about fifteen remain. The others have returned home to whatever family they have - some Thai, most Burmese - meaning this is not exactly an orphanage in the traditional sense, as it was made out to be in my introductory materials.

"How can orphans be going home?" I initially asked Kam Chuen, the Burmese man that runs the OPC. At the time, he gave a rather brief answer. But over the weeks he told us the boys' stories and I began to understand that sometimes it is not only the children without parents or family who are orphans in this world of ours.

Som Sak - 11
He is quiet and sweet, a total perfectionist at arts and crafts, and has a soft, beautiful smile.
Som Sak has a mother and a father. They live here in Mae Hong Son only five minutes away from their son, but he did not visit them during the holiday at all. They are homeless. Som Sak's father is an alcoholic who made him beg for money along the lake. He was beaten when he returned home empty handed.

Poot and Cain - 10 and 7, brothers.
The first day I met Poot he engaged me in a wrestling match and attempted to get my hands behind my back. We could spend hours playing chase around a single picnic table. He is a big fan of his Power Rangers t-shirt. Poot just returned from two days at home. He came home with his little brother, who the neighbors reported was not attending school and often went hungry. The first day Cain came to the OPC we went on a field trip to a local Watt, spent an hour at the swimming pool, and drank soft drinks. The boy probably though he landed in heaven.

Tee La Pon - 9
This boy constantly strikes a Power Ranger pose. He likes to play pretend kung-fu and really admires Spiderman.
I had the opportunity to meet Tee La Pon's mother on the day we were bringing him home for a few days. Apparently, he had cried that morning when told he would be leaving the OPC for two nights. He asked to only go for one day, and later, not to spend the night at all. It was clear why. Tee La Pon's mother came stumbling up to her empty hut, clearly drunk, wreaking of rice wine, and quite possibly insane. He did not even stay for five minutes.

Sa Zing - 11
I absolutely love this child.
Sa Zing and his brother Sa Hon (15) are orphans in the traditional sense. Their mother died of AIDs a few years ago. Sa Zing has HIV and, subsequently, a constant runny nose.

Um Mong - 11
Training to be a Thai Boxer. Not actually...but should be. We played boxing, not always in a "pretend" way either, nearly every day. He likes to say, "Chicken!" while pointing at the ceiling. I fell for it a few too many times than I'd like to admit and received many pokes under my under the chin. While aggressive, Um Mong was also the most affectionate of the boys, generous with his hugs.


These are the boys I have spend my last three weeks with. I can't even say "teaching," for our English lessons were sparse. (It was there holiday after all!) Mostly it was just playing. Badminton. Coloring. Tag. Kung-Fu. Football. Painting. Made up games. Language was never a barrier with them. We always had something to do, some small, simple way to pass our time.

Now that I am leaving tomorrow, I see how much this small group of boys has taught me about living. They have made a home for their self at the OPC, under terrible circumstances they have become a family. It is all smiles, always a happy face. They have their haven, their Opportunity here at the OPC. They walk along the rice field and the river, cross their bamboo bridge, and have a world where all is well.

Warning: I Drive a Motorbike

Mae Hong Son is a bit too hilly and a bit too spread out for me to ride a bicycle. Thus, as my title explains, I drive a moped. This is a first for me, but I am absolutely in love with this mode of transportation now that I've somewhat mastered it. Yesterday put my new found skills to the test in an all day excursion (by moped of course) into the mountains of the area.

For about an hour and a half we (we being myself, four other volunteers, and four Thai that we practice English with) journeyed through rice patties and jungle up winding, steep roads to the Chinese town of Mae Aw on the Thai-Burmese boarder. (Wow that was a lot of prepositions.) All the buildings in Mae Aw are made from straw and mud, and are situated surrounding a gorgeous lake. Large tubs in the front of shops display candied fruits, nuts, and teas. We were ushered into one such store and given a "Free" tea tasting. The Ginseng was excellent!

From Mae Aw we headed back down a bit and turned up another road that brought us to "Little Switzerland." You shall understand as I explain. As we rode up the mountain, the scenery suddenly changed from dense, twisting jungle to vertical, spaced out pine trees! It was quite a bizarre feeling to know that I was in Thailand, but sat by a river in a forest of pine trees that very well could have been somewhere in the Sierra's, or Switzerland.

After all that accelerating up mountains, it was time for a gas fill up. At a tiny rode side "gas station," the gas was suctioned down a clear tube from a glass container that had markings along the side for measurement. I'd never seen anything like it. But I digress.....

Last on the tour for the day was a phenomenal waterfall. Because it is the end of the rainy season however, we could not get too close. From there we headed back to the town of Mae Hong Son for some much needed refreshments.

So those were the major sights we set out to see, and as fantastic as they were, the real highlight for me was the scenery, the backdrop of this breath taking place. During the drive I had to constantly remind myself to stay focused on the road, for all I really wanted to do was try to take in everything around me. In fact the real danger probably was not my novice moped driving skills, but all the beautiful sights to be seen.

It was such great fun though - zooming up and down these mountains. Mom and Dad, sorry to say, but the inner Dare Devil emerged full force.

I should also mention that I am now a real fan of rice patties. They are absolutely awesome. First, they have a really great sent that I now can spot from afar. Second is their vibrant green color that perfectly contrasts the darker forest green of the hills behind them. And last in my obsession are the wooden huts that usually accompany rice patties, their straw roofs barely peaking out of the fields that look ready to engulf them.

OK, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away, but take away message is that rice patties not only feed a staggering proportion of the world's population. They do it with style.

Mae Hong Son or Bust

I would like to give you all a schedule of my time in transit from Nong Khai to Mae Hong Son:

3:00-3:150pm Tuk tuk to the NK bus station
3:40-5:00pm Bus from NK to Udon Thani
5:00- 7:30pm Misadventures in Udon Thani (details to follow)
8:00pm -8:00am Bus from UT to Chiang Mai
9:00am-5:00pm Bus from CM to MHS (details to follow)

That, my friends, was a 26 hour journey.

Alright now for the details I'm sure you are all dying to hear:

5:00- 7:30pm Misadventures in Udon Thani
I traveled the first leg of the trip with two fellow volunteers who were headed to Chiang Mai, Kristy and Mark. We arrived in Udon Thani with two and a half hours to kill before our 12 hour bus ride and figured that we would go into town, grab some dinner and then head back to the bus station. So we checked out Mark's Lonely Planet to find a place to eat and were exuberantly greeted by a tuk tuk driver as soon as he saw we were looking to go into town.
" We want to go to ____Hotel," we said, knowing that the hotel would be an easy point of reference for the driver.
"Hotel gone," he replied, also motioning with his hands. "____ Hotel! 250 Batt/night! I take you there."
"No, no! Not sleep. Only to eat." more hand motions
"Hotel Gone!"
"We only want to eat next door."
"Gone!"
We had a group pow-wow. Kristy explained that tuk tuk drivers commonly held commissions with local hotels when they bring in guests. The "hotel closed" move was one of the oldest tricks in the book.
"Just take us here," we said pointing to the map.
So we hopped onto the tuk tuk (three large travel backpacks and three cramped people in all) and off we went into Udon Thani. During the 10 minute drive we continuously questioned whether or not the driver was taking us to our so-called "closed" hotel or his hotel recommendation.
He stopped the tuk tuk on a fairly empty street and pointed. "See. Closed!"
There we stood, completely dumbstruck, staring at a gaping whole between two buildings.
"Hotel," he said motioning to one of the spaces. "Restaurant," motioning to the other.
Apparently Mark's Lonely Planet was a bit out dated....
Speechless and rather embarrassed, we disembarked and attempted to find another place to eat. But our search only lead us to another tuk tuk driver who we asked to take us to the Tesco Lotus we had seen while driving in.
I'm still not quite sure what the lesson from that story should because the one time you don't believe a tuk tuk driver he turns out to be telling the truth. The next time you do that, you know you'll just be falling for one of their moves.

9:00am-5:00pm Bus from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son
As the time suggests, it was quite a long ride. Eight hours to be exact.
If you have ever taken the road to Hana on Maui, you can begin to understand what this road was like. So imagine the Hana Hy and multiply it by four. Then imagine that you are traveling at an average of 20 km/hour on a bus that sounds like its about to break down at any second.
While gruelingly long, it was probably one of the most beautiful stretches of road I have ever traveled on. The entire way had 360 views of dense, lush, green jungle. We also passed through some towns that I would definitely like to go back and spend some time visiting.
Lesson to this story: take the mini van, not the local bus, when traveling though northern Thailand for hours at a time.

Naga Fire Ball Festival

As many of you know, I was extremely excited to go watch this "Fire Ball" phenomenon that happens in northern Thailand on the Mekong River. It occurs once every year on the evening of the last full moon in October. From what I had heard, round balls of "fire" come up from the river and rise into the sky. According to the local legends, there is a Naga, a big green snake, that lives in the Mekong and protects the cities along the river. It is this Naga that send off these fire balls.

However, for those of us that don't believe in local folklore, I received a semi-logical explanation from a westerner who attested the fire balls to the tides and lunar calender. He explained that they are probably bubbles of methane gas that rise from the bottom of the river continuously throughout the year, but that they can only be seen at certain times when the tide is just right.

So, with the hopes of seeing this wonder, we set out on a crowded hour bus ride to the town of Phonphisai . I would like to say that every person in northern Thailand showed up for the festival, for that is what it seemed like to me, however this would be far too big a hyperbole. But boy was it crowded! So crowded in fact that we left the main viewing area and went to sit about 3 km down river in a less cramped area. We bought a straw mat, settled down in what basically was a marshy, grassy piece of land, and tried to get comfortable along the sloped river side.

There we stayed for a good hour and a half without seeing any fireballs. Feeling quite defeated after all the effort it took to get to Phonphisai, we decided around 9:30 to go get some dinner and then headed home.

Only the next morning would I learn that in the time that we were changing locations, from the crowded main streets to the secluded marsh, some of the other volunteers actually saw some fire balls. I did hear from Nong Khai locals though that this was a rather weak showing of fire balls and that perhaps I would have better luck coming next year.

What I should have been seeing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm64JhA_EZc

Birthday Card from the Monks

Happy Birthday to Carly

We wish you success with your life and have a big happy family.
If you want anything may the Buddha help you.
If you have a boyfriend we wish he is smart man.
If you have children we wish your children are famous people in the world.

From
All of Student

He-llo Te-cha! How Aaaarrre You?

Every morning when I walk into the classroom, I am greeted by 15 smiling Thai kids who stand up and say, "He-llo Te-cha! How Aaaarrre You?"
"I'm fine thank you. Are are you?" I reply.
"FINE!" They shout back.

Teaching is unbelievably challenging. I work at two schools (Mon, Wed, Fri and Tues, Thurs). At one school, the kids are little monkeys, jumping around, hitting each other, making (and throwing) paper airplanes and refusing to quiet down. One child hoisted himself up onto a windowsill and threatened to jump. Of course I completely freaked out and he erupted into a fit of laughter. Another boy pulled out a lighter with the largest flame I have ever seen. We confiscated it, but by the end of class he was still asking, "te-cha, te-cha please!" while making a lighter motion as if to think that he could actually get it back from us.

The contrast to the other school is startling, where the kids behave like utter angels and do their work without making a fuss.

My favorite part of the day continues to be my time spent teaching the monks. Every evening from 6-7:30 we ride our bikes down to their wat and have an English lesson. They are all between the ages of 18 and 25 and some of them are actually quite good at English. This makes for some extremely funny times. Even the ones who can hardly speak manage to crack jokes with the limited vocabulary they know. They just keep me laughing hilariously throughout the class.

Last week my lesson was based on the Beatles "I Saw her Standing There." I brought in my Ipod and another volunteer's speakers and we listened to song a few times. The second time through they had to identify a few words and the third time we went through line by line writing the lyrics on the board. From there we asked them questions like "What is the Song about?" and "Do you like it? Why or why not?" It was so great! But apparently monks are not supposed to sing or dance - something I did not know going into the lesson, for I had hoped to get them all singing along by the end. However, that didn't stop a few of the monks from getting into it a little bit.

Then at the end of class, I let them pick out music to play off my Ipod. The request was AKON of all things. Let me put an image in your minds: monks singing along to "I want to make love right na na na. Wish we never broke up right na na na."
They are also big fans of Lincon Park.

Farang!

In Thai, farang means "foreigner." Where ever I go, I constantly hear people using the word in their conversations, with little regard to the fact that I AM STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO THEM HEARING THEM TALK ABOUT ME!!! True, I don't know exactly what they are saying, but I can only guess its got something to do with my funny clothes and hat or bizarre mannerisms.

White people here are a total spectacle for the Thais. I've been asked to take a picture with people on multiple occasions and some will just come up to me and shake my hand. When I ride my bike through the town, I am continuously being called out to. "He-llo you! He-llo!"

I was sitting along the Mekong at this beautiful spot writing in my journal and there was this group of school children eating a picknick lunch nearby. They started creeping up around me, trying to read over my shoulder, but would then run away giggling. I decided to engage them and began asking their names. I had about 15 kids surrounding me and I really wanted to take their picture, so i made a camera motion to their teacher as if to ask "is it okay if i take THEIR picture." However, she took this to mean, "Can you take OUR picture all together." The teacher gets up and the kids start gathering around me. The adults around them are laughing their heads off thinking its the best thing they've seen in their lives. Kids are flocking over to be in the picture and then the adults too decide they want to be in this farang's picture. So I've got about 4 adults in the picture as well! Then other people in the area absolutely needed to have their picture with me too. Mothers posed their children. Groups of women, giggling like the school children, flashed peace signs around me for the camera. One, two, three, Cheese!

Aerobics

I went to an aerobics class!!! Every week day there is a huge communal aerobics class in the main park at 6pm. 100+ Thai women showed up. It was truly the most intense workout i have ever been to. They play this hilarious Thai music - that hardly has a beat - and the moves are so ridiculously fast. The first 15 minutes are spent "warming up," and before you know it your jumping around while waving your arms in the air while spinning in circles while trying not to laugh. It was a crazy experience, but I am so glad that I did it would really like to go back when I have another free night.
On an interesting side note, in Thailand, there is a color for every day of the week (monday yellow, tuesday pink, ect...) and if you wear the color, the royal family is supposed to live longer. The relation this has to my aerobics story is that you've got about 75 of the 100 women wearing blue. I though there was some sort of a special aerobics uniform before I figured out this reason for their matching. It was truly something to behold.

Wats, Wats Everywhere

Ok, so last Saturday I had quite the wat sightseeing adventure. I spent the morning reading my Lets Go guide book and spent some time with my head buried in a map plotting out my journey. (I've got a bike as my mode of transport!) First, I rode about 15 minutes to the Indo-china market. While I was not in the least big tempted to purchase a roasted duck, plastic toy gun, or paper umbrella, I was able to get the feel the bustle of Asian markets. From there I rode around visiting a handful of wats (there are more per capita in nongkhai than anywhere in thailand). Its basically impossible to be biking for more than 7 min before seeing one. I then rode about 20 more minutes along the Mekong River to a place where a special chedi receded into the river. However, it can only be seen during the dry season....
On my ride home, I stopped to pick up some delicious pineapple, (I have mostly just been buying my food off of the street), ate it at a great park, went home, made myself a pb+j, and slept for 2 hours straight. It is HOT, HOT, HOT here and all that touring can really do you in.

Arriving in Thailand

Hey Everyone!

I am happy to report that I have made it to Thailand. The journey took about 24 hours to arrive in Bangkok, where I then spent the night and took a short, one hour flight to Udon Thani the next morning. From the airport I was driven to Nong Khai, the town that I will be living through the begining of October. It was a whirlwind journey, but everything went very smoothly.

I still have not gotten over the fact that I actually am here in Thailand. After so much preparation and time leading up to this trip, its crazy to finally be across the world.

After four nights of being in Nong Khai, I still have not fully adjusted to the time change, although it has been steadily getting better. However, I have been getting a lot of reading in, seeing that there's little else to do at 5:30 in the morning..

The Travel to Teach dorm that I am living in currently has three other volunteers. There is Kristy from Australia, Koen from Amsterdam, and Amanda from England. I am by far the youngest volunteer, which is a bit hard, but they have all been really nice and welcoming.

I just cannot believe that I am here. You will probably see me write this over and over again because, truly, it is terribly hard to get over - a bit shocking actually. That's not to say I am not thrilled to be in Thailand. I am.

Let the adventures begin!