Last week of the semester!

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!! :)

Fantastic Friday: Bugs and Hugs

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".

HAPPY FRIDAY! :)

Welcome to "Fantastic Fridays"!

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!

•  These kids are always making my day

TGIF!

Countdown until October break: 14 days!!

Thai Animal Sounds

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!

Weekends On-The-Go!

This semester has less holidays and long weekends than the last one, so I try to make the most of my time off! I now tutor six of seven days a week (not Friday because I have gate duty at school) so I never have a full day off. I do enjoy being busy though, and the extra cash is always nice.  I have had three long weekends though, so here is the gist of them!

In June, two of my good friends from UCSB, Casey and Emily, backpacked Thailand for six weeks! I played hooky for a day and was able to meet them in Bangkok their first day in the country, and we zipped off to an island that I went to back in December called Ko Samet. We were able to meet up with our other UCSBer BC, and Jenna was there the same weekend as well! Gauchos took over the island!!!

Five Gauchos!

Ko Samet!

Later in Casey and Emu’s Thai journey, they were able to get off the tourist trail and experience real Isan with me in Khon Kaen! They just so happened to be here for the 4^th of July (which also happened to be the same weekend as Thailand’s elections, meaning bars, restaurants, and clubs were closed for the entire weekend as well as a ban on the selling of alcohol). It was SO amazing to have them here and I didn’t realize how much I missed my friends and home. They reminded me that I have SO much to look forward to and SO much to come home to. THANKS CASEY AND EMU!

Chocolate covered banana at the Chatuchak!

Buddhist Lent: Bangkok! For our four day weekend in July, Jess and I spent a day in Kanchanburi to see the famous Seven Falls (seven tiered waterfalls), then spent three days in Bangkok.  Bangkok mostly consisted of being a lot of farang food (Mexican, Hardrock Café, Subway.. anything good we could get our hands on). But we also went to Bangkok’s famous Chatuchak Market, one of the worlds biggest street markets.  Every Saturday, this huge arena/parking lot thing is filled with thousands of people, food stalls, vendors, and huts selling everything from art to animals to purses to clothes to incense to watches.. EVERYTHING and its seriously HUGE! Anything you could ever imagine is at this market. We spent a few hours strolling around and Jess bought numerous souvenirs to bring home in October and I bought a purse to use in the real world.  We visited the Jim Thompson house, a museum in Bangkok. It is a complex of various old Thai structures that the American businessman Jim Thompson collected in from all parts of Thailand in the 1950s and 60s. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand.  Then of course, we spent our last night in Bangkok wrecking havoc on Khao San Rd., the backpacker hub of Bangkok. Overall, it was a great weekend get-away.

Waterfalls in Kanchanburi

Queen’s Birthday/Mothers Day: Three day weekend in Chiang Mai! I love love LOVE Chiang Mai and haven’t been back since Songkran in April.  Jess and I took the 12 hour bus ride and arrived in Chiang Mai bright and early on Friday morning. The first thing we did was go up to Doi Suthep, a temple up high on a mountain that over looks the entire city of Chiang Mai.  After, we went to the farang used book stores (I picked up the next three True Blood books.. YEEES!), ate some AMAZING food (Mexican and farang), and did a full day Thai cooking course.  We spent all Saturday out on the farm where we cooked a seven course Thai meal.. EACH!  Each participant made their own appetizer, stir fry, noodle, curry paste and curry dish, soup, dessert. I made papaya salad, fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, massaman curry, som tam, and mango with sticky rice.  All pretty tasty and now I can make Thai food back home (hopefully)!  I spent Sunday strolling the famous Sunday Night Bazaar with Jenna, Katie, and Bradley, two girls that teach at the same school as Jenna! I’m so glad that we were all able to meet up and spend parts of the weekend together.  The night bazaar was AMAZING, I’ll definitely be going back to Chiang Mai to buy all my gifts and souvenirs here!  More handmade items and crafts, much nicer than Bangkok. Now that I know how easy it is to get to Chiang Mai, I expect to be going back a time or two more while I’m in Thailand.  Jess and I were very tired for school on Monday (and an hour late since our bus arrived back to Khon Kaen Monday morning), but our Thai teachers held down the fort until we arrived.

Doi Suthep

Out on the farm!

Making Papaya Salad

I love long weekends :) and thank GOODNESS there are like ten next semester!

Things That No Longer Phase Me

I’ve been in Thailand for over ten months now, and I’ve come to realize there are a number of things that made my jaw drop when I first arrived that no longer have that effect.

Motorbikes

What I used to think of as a dangerous toy, is now a way of life. With multiple functions!

• A means of transporting a family of 1,2,3,4,5,6...the possibilities are endless! Two grown adults, a teenager, a newborn, and the dog on the same bike! And not a single one of them wearing a helmet. Who needs a car seat or seatbelt when you have.. nothing. Mom is often driving the motorbike with one hand and holding the baby with the other. Or Dad driving with the toddler standing between his legs.

• Thai people are very comfortable on motorbikes, so comfortable in fact that the people sitting on the back multitask. As well as hanging on for the ride, they can eat a bowl of rice, text, read, or do homework, all at the same time (helmet free of course).

• Wearing a skirt? You better side saddle it!

• Interested in having a mobile restaurant? Of course! Just hook on a grill and drive around town looking for hungry customers. Easy as hook and ride!

• Need to move anything? Heavy bag of rice? Furniture? Buckets of vegetable? Its as easy as 1,2,3.. load it on the motorbike!

• My morning tutoring job on Sundays picks me up at my house. I was shocked when I saw that Mom was picking me up on her motorbike for our first session, with no helmet for teacher! I still get a little nervous, but now, I look forward to sitting on the back of the bike every week and its normal. (Don’t worry Mom, it’s a very short ride and she drives extra careful with Teacher Chelsea on the back. Uh oh, I guess I should prepare for a lecture on this one).

Thanks Google!

Again, Google.

This is a little extreme, but I wouldn't doubt it!

Honking

Cars, songtells, motorbikes, and tuk-tuks are always honking their horns. The horn has a very different meaning here than in America. Back home, you lay on the horn in frustration and anger to say “YOU *&%$#!*&!!!!” In Thailand, they use the horn to say a friendly “Hey! I’m here on your right.” Or “hey, need a ride?” While standing out on the street, I hear constant waves of honking horns and I’ve gotten very used to it.

Your name is whaaaat?

Punch. Dream. Gun. Premier. Title. Fifa. Kungfu. Radar. Monkey. Boss. Words I picked out of a hat? Nope, names of my students! Other kids at my school include G-Force, Disney, Tomcruise (one word), Pot, Pretty, … Bizarre celebrity baby names no longer seem so far-fetched.

Bugs

Pre-Thailand, if a fly or ant had been on my dinner plate, I would have pitched the meal and would have rather been hungry than to eat it. In Thailand, bugs are unavoidable and I’m constantly being bitten my mosquitoes if I don’t wear repellent and have even gotten a few ant bites. So a fly on my rice is the least of my worries. I shoo it away and continue eating. Normal.

Photo Flash: Pictures

Every once in a while (more so while traveling), someone will ask to have their picture taken with us, and I have gotten very used to this happening. Whats weirder though is when they take candid pictures of us out and about. At least give me some warning so I can give you my good side! I always wondered what they did with these pictures.. show them to their friends saying “Ha, look at these farangs!” maybe? Recently, the founder of my school informed Jess and I that she came across our picture on the internet, someone had snapped a candid photo of us while in a public bus/mini van on the way to see some waterfalls in Kanchanburi last month and posted the picture on their blog. Strange? Yes. The fact that my head boss came across it on some random Thai blog.. even stranger. So strange in fact that I should have expected it.

80-20 rule of understanding

I’ve been here for over ten months, and I still only understand about 20% of what is going on around me, being left clueless for the other 80. I am pick of the gist of a conversation, but for the most part, I’m pretty much in the dark about whats being said. Along with me not understand much of what’s going on, the 80-20 rule may also at times apply to my students. So we have a mutual understanding of not understanding.

Feelin hot hot HOT

Its hot and humid, ALL THE TIME! Rainy season, cold season, hot season, it all feels the same to me, hot, hotter, and even hotter. I wont bring home any of the clothes I’ve been wearing here and my hair is unmanageable. I’ve come to accept the fact that while I’m in Thailand, I’m always sweating and my hair always going to be more of a mad-scientist style.

L = N

T. Chelsea: “Dream, what did you do this weekend?

Dream: “I go to CentrAN!”

It used to drive me crazy, but now I even call Central Plaza mall “Centran”. I’m not exactly sure why, but Thai people often pronounce the “L” as the “N” sound. My student Title spells his name T-I-T-L-E but it is pronounced “Titan”, which is a cooler name anyways. Pineapple is pineappun. The girl I tutor on Monday in fifth grade spells her name Gal Gal but we call her Gun Gun.

Magical White Powder

I often arrive to school in the morning and instantly greeted by a dozen or so white-powdered-faced children.  Did they get in a fight with a sack of flour? Nope, baby powder to absorb the moisture and beat the heat! I've even grown accustom to this trick and often splash a little of the magic white powder on myself while running out the door to stay fresh.

Ice in Beer
I'm still not a fan of this one.  But its hot. It makes sense. Cool your beverage down with some cubes of ice. Better that than warm.


Yeeep, this is my Thai life. 

Thai Food and Bieber

Tonight, my Thai friend invited Jess and I to dinner at her house.  She prepared an amazing Thai dinner for us, massaman curry (because she knows I love that curry dish), a tofu and pine nut dish, spicy pork, and a pork stew.  Pat is a teacher at the university and invited seven of her students to join us so Jess and I could meet some Thai students our age.  One of the girls spoke excellent English because she lived in New York for three months earlier this year through a work study program at Khon Kaen University.  Even with the little Thai that I know and the little English the other girls knew, we were able to relate on a few key topics.

• Harry Potter.  Jess asked if they liked it, and they were so excited and told us they saw the movie already.  Personally, I’m not too into Harry Potter, so I asked them if they liked “Twilight” (I LOVE Twilight) and the girl next to me looked me in the eyes and said “You like werewolf or vampire?” “OOOH, werewolf!!”  They are vampire fans, of course. Because of the pale skin and everything.

• The girls asked what state Jess and I were from. When I tell them I’m from California, the girl next to me breaks out in “California Girls”.  Katy Perry is constantly giving me an instant reputation and standard to live up to.

• The Biebster.. Justin Bieber. They love him!  “Eeenie Meenie Miney Mo, what does that mean?” I had a fun time explaining the Justin Bieber’s lyrics of “Eenie Meenie“ and how it’s a children’s game in America, but the meaning of it in the song.

• Boys. Apparently they think Korean men are more attractive than Thai men, because they supposedly get a lot of plastic surgery to be better looking.  They also think Captain America is VERY handsome.

We continued dinner with some more pop culture, Taylor Swift, and other celebrity gossip.  Note: If you’re not sure what to talk about with a young Thai adult, bring up either a. Justin Bieber. Or b. Any other celebrity/pop hit song, I guarantee they know more about them than you do!