Nearly 12 months ago, I boarded a plane at LAX bound for Bangkok.When we stepped foot off the plane onto Thai soil, I looked at Jenna and said “well, there’s not turning back now!”A year later, I never guessed that I would still be here! Both Jenna and Jess are sticking to the original plan and making their way back home to America in October.I sometimes second guess myself if I’m making the right decision to stay, but I know in my heart of hearts that I am. I know next semester may be more of a struggle since my best friends in Thailand, especially Jess, will be home in America but second semester is full of many breaks and long weekends, giving me lots of travel opportunities. And the past year just FLEW by, five more months is a piece of cake.. hopefully. :)
Three good things
Not my fruit lady but it looks exactly like this!
Every day at lunch, Jess and I walk out the main road to 7/11 where our fruit stand lady is posted.For 30 cents, I can buy a large chunk of pineapple, papaya, cantaloupe, guava, and watermelon!I’ve realized that the fruit isn’t as spectacular during the rainy season (now) as it was a few months ago, but this week its been pretty tasty! I tend to go through phases, where I LOVE pineapple and get it every day. Now I’m in my watermelon phase, SO delicious! I can make my very own fruit salad for a dollar!
Along with OCOP this week, we had an end of the semester party today! My Friday of teaching today was SUPER easy, we played on the playground instead of morning calendar, ate snacks instead of teaching theme, and watched up instead of math or science. If only my days were like this everyday!
In a few hours, I will be boarding my bus from Khon Kaen to Bangkok! Then around noon tomorrow, I should be on my way to Singapore! Fiona and I have plans to meet at the airport as her flight arrives only 30 minutes after mine. We have our hostel booked and a vague plan for Malaysia. I’m SO excited to see her and SO excited to start two weeks of traveling! I'm still not finished packing and cleaning up my messy room so I better get to it!
I’ll be sure to share my adventures when I return mid October! Singapore and Malaysia, here I come!
PS Farewell to Jess and Jenna!!! I can't wait to see you both when I come home!! (I'm already making an East Coast trip plan and spending time with Jess and visiting Amish country is on the top of the list!)
A little early for a "Fantastic Friday" but this is a busy week with a lot going on!
It took us eleven months, but Jess and I finally made it to the Khon Kaen city temple! Last weekend was our last weekend together, so we figured it was now or never! We walked an hour, climbed many flights of stairs, and made it to the top of the nine tier temple overlooking Khon Kaen! It was really fun to check out a new part of Khon Kaen that we've never explored before, we felt like we were traveling! Jess and I have talked about going to the temple for months now, so we both felt very accomplished that we actually made it there.
On Saturday night, some of the foreign teachers got together to have a sandwich party to hangout with Jess before she leaves Thailand. The sandwiches were DELICIOUS and one of the teachers even made a bean dip with cheese! Another teacher put together a homemade apple pie! It was the most delicious farang meal I've had in months! I LOVE CHEESE!
Today at school, we had "OCOP", or "One Class, One Product". Each class in the Kindergarten created a product to sell at the arts and crafts fair! I spent all week coaching two of my kids, Lemon and August, a sales pitch in English to present our product, the "fancy ruler". Not only did OCOP mean I had to teach less today (wahoo!), it was fun to see the kids proud of themselves for the crafts they created and enjoy shopping at the other booths. Lemon and August ROCKED their lines, they marched up on stage and were the only students that didn't need a teacher up with them feeding them lines, and they both spoke very loud and clear into the microphone! I'm so proud! We sold out of our product very quickly and made a profit of 500 baht! We'll spend the money on snacks for the end of the semester party on Friday.
This week seems a bit longer than normal, but thats because I'm counting down the days until my trip.. 3 days!! :)
Finally, the end of the week and another "Fantastic Friday"!
On Monday after I tutored at Central Plaza, I went to the ground floor to do a little grocery shopping for the week. As I walked by the small arcade in front of "Tops", the grocery store", I heard a small voice squeal "TEACHER CHELSEA!!" I then see little Lyching, the smallest child (by far) in my class barreling into my legs to give me a mighty hug. Most of my kids that I run into out of school are usually very shy and avoid saying "Hello Teacher Chelsea" like they are avoiding the plague. Or maybe they think the same thing that I did when I was a child, my mom reminded me how I was shocked as a kid when i ran into a teacher at the grocery store or Blockbuster, "teachers arn't real people.. they sleep at school, right?!" Well, little Lyching made my day and talked all week about how she saw Teacher Chelsea at Centran. She's one of my favs.
On Sunday afternoon, Tan's mom drops him off at my apartment where we have an hour and a half of special class. I typically have some worksheets and games prepared to practice his conversational English. If we have time, I'll end the last 15 minutes or so with a fun video that we can talk about, like "Planet Earth"! Recently, Tan has been getting caught up with some of the "naughty" boys in the first grade at school.. it just so happens that this group of naughty boys were the very same boys that were in my KG 3 class last semester, they knew how to push my buttons! But Tan always behaves very well in Special Class with me, and I actually look forward to our time together on Sundays. He's a jokester and seriously cracks me up!
Looking thrilled
"Chelsea, you know what we have to do before we leave Thailand, right?" Jess asked me. *long pause* "Uh oh, What?" "EAT BUGS AT THE NIGHT MARKET!".
I desperately tried to chicken out but after Jess and I had some pad thai at the night market last weekend, she purchased a small bag or grasshoppers for us to try. Its true, she leaves Thailand in just about a week and our experience wouldn't be complete without willingly eating a bug or two, an ant or fly in our soup doesn't count. Armed with our camera to take video to prove we did it, we each ate a grasshopper. I have to say, it was crunchy and tasted similar to a potato chip, minus this had legs and antennas. Not as bad as I thought, but i wouldn't do it again. Not too intimidating in the picture, but considering how picky I am, this was huge for me! Jess and I can now leave Thailand prepared to be on an episode of "Fear Factor".
In order to encourage myself into a weekly blogging routine, I decide to start“Fantastic Fridays!” where I’ll share with you some of the good things that happened to me throughout my week. My inspiration? While I was the TA for the Wellness (ED 191 W) class at UCSB, which focused on being balanced, positive, and proactive as well as other life skills that enhance well-being, we often referred to the article Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions.The authors focus on three psychological interventions that increase individual happiness and decrease depressive symptoms.
Which brings me to, the “three good things in life” journal!As instructed in the study, I have been trying to keep a three good things journal for months and months, and finally I’ve been sticking to it!Every night before I go to bed, I write down three good things that happened to me each day and a brief explanation/ cause of each.Awesome things are happening to me all the time, everyday, even in between the bad and stressful things that happen.It’s easy to ruminate on the things that didn’t go well (got my blood taken at the hospital today due to new work permit regulations.. I HATE needles!Kids were running amok, Thai people staring/glaring on our morning ride to school); we are usually much more unpracticed at remembering the good things and savoring them.So I’m changing that about myself!The study shows that keeping a gratitude journal can increase happiness, and also shows that people who kept the journals felt better about their lives and are more optimistic as well as make progress towards important personal goals.With that said, why not keep a three good things journal!And why not share some of my weekly highlights in Thailand with you!
Interested in the other two interventions?
Writing a gratitude letter/gratitude visit: write a letter to express gratitude to someone who has done something important and wonderful for you, yet who you have not been able to properly thank.Then, deliver the letter personally and spend time with the person talking about what your wrote.
Using Signature Strengths: Take the test on VIA Signature Strengths to identify your signature strengths.Using your top strength in a new and different way every day for a week has shown may make people lastingly happier.
Okay okay, on to the good things!
Last weekend, a group of kids performed in competition at the small mall next to my apartment, Saturday was the tug-of-war and Sunday was the cheerleading competition! I was able to run over there and see my kids wave their pom poms to Madonas “Like a Virgin” and the popular club song “Boom Shake Drop” by Pitbull. They did amazingly and it honestly brought tears to my eyes, I was SO proud of them! They ended up getting third place overall and won 3000 baht (almost 100 dollars). Watch the video and see for yourself what my five year olds can do after skipping class every afternoon for a week to practice.
When I first arrived in Thailand, I had a really hard time with the food. I was very stubborn and Jess basically had to order food for me and force feed me. Well, that is definitely not the case anymore because I’ve discovered what I like! I’ve been trying to cook in my room more often and have attempted to cut out meat from my diet, so I now cook tofu! I also try to not use dairy, so I use soy milk!The meat and milk here really weird me out.BUT here is one of my favorite dishes, Som Tam!It’s a Thai spicy salad made from unripened papaya, tomato, lime, peanuts, fish sauce, and plum sugar. This is one of my favorite Thai dishes, I get it every Monday after tutoring at the mall and Jess and I learned how to make it at our Chiang Mai cooking course. My som tam this week was especially delicious!Free of dried crustaceans and no spicy pepper, just the way I like it.
Fiona and I in our IV days!
In about two weeks, I have two weeks off of school and I have had a solo trip through Malaysia and Singapore planned. I was really looking forward to traveling completely solo for a few weeks for the first time (expecting a mini "Eat, Pray, Love" adventure, yada yada), but I just got word that I have a friend joining me!Another one of my Gaucho friends, Fiona, is spending some time in Australia traveling and visiting family before she starts grad school in January.Her Aussie roadtrip ends just about the time that my semester break starts, so the timing is perfect!She’s going to fly from Australia and meet me in Singapore, then fly back with me to Thailand after Malaysia where we will meet up with another Gaucho friend for a few days!Fiona is so awesome and I know she’ll be the perfect travel buddy.I’m MUCH more excited for this trip now, traveling solo is cool but traveling with a friend is even more fun!(Mom is also really relived that I wouldn’t be running around Malaysia solo for two weeks anymore.If it had been the original plan, I bet she’d be sitting at the computer white-knuckled for two weeks!) Its Fiona’s first time traveling SE Asia and I expect us to have an amazing adventure!
During Special Class last week, I read the kids the book "Old MacDonald". They always get a kick out of how the "farang" animals make different sounds than they do in Thailand. Example, frog in America says "ribbit ribbit" and in Thailand says "awp awp". Heres a short video of my kids making the Thai animal sounds!
