well i leave in one week, wow. time flies so fast.
today was my last day of teaching :/ tomorrow we have school but no teaching, just songkran festivals all day. we are all wearing "traditional thai clothing" to school and are apparently going to get really soaked, because well thats part of what songkran is all about :) so tomorrow will be a big water fight with the kids and teachers- fun fun! and we are also doing some traditional ceremonial things too. there is a special drink that you drink during songkran- its like a plant juice. supposedly really healthy. they were making it today in the kitchen.
then after school tomorrow i get on the long 14 hour+ bus ride to southern thailand for songkran.
this last weekend i went to Hua Hin for a 10k race. it's called the Preserve Hua Hin Heavy Half-Marathon and Quarter Marathon. and yeah now i know why they have the "heavy" in there. there is a HUGE hill, like almost a mountain that you have to run down at the start (it is about a mile straight steep downhill on pavement- cars cannot drive up it) and then you have to finish the race right at the top of the hill, so you have to run UP it. so the whole race i was just trying to imagine how i would get up that hill. i was like flailing down the hill, my legs were out of control, it was so steep! i knew my legs were gonna hurt, and they really do. there are no hills around most of thailand so i have not been running any hills. the way up was hell too, i thought my legs were gonna fall off, it was so hard to keep them moving and not walk up the hill, but i made it!
i got 3rd place and was MUCH slower than the previous race, but this was the hilliest 10k i have ever seen or imagined. it was super hot out too. i got a trophy and 1,200 baht for getting 3rd place, so thats kinda fun. the trip was a lot of fun and we made lots of friends on the bus. i went with my thai friend Nig. we took a free bus there organized by the race from bangkok (a 4 hour drive). and then we ended up getting a free hotel room too. and then we got free lunch and breakfast. all in all the trip cost me like -25 dollars. i made money off of it, ha.
at the race i met some really cool and really good runners. there were people from all around the world, but i liked talking to the kenyans the most. a lot of the people there thought i was a professional runner and that i had just came to thailand for this race or something and that i had sponsors, and some were even telling me that they would be watching me on the olympics because they thought for sure i was on the team usa. they were surprised that i just taught english and ran for fun.
the rest of the weekend (monday was a holiday too) involved shopping, and hanging out with Nig and her sister. it was a good weekend.
my last week of thailand will be very interesting with songkran and the political craziness going on at the moment here.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
2 weeks left?! eeek!
okay wow. i need to catch up on my blog writing. let's see....
one weekend i went with a couple of my english teacher friends to play in an ultimate frisbee hat tournament. we played from 9am until 4pm basically non-stop in the heat of the day. the only breaks we had were a lunch break and then a break when it started storming. they were intense ultimate frisbee players and it was a good mix of people: thai and farang, teachers and travelers, pros and first-timers. i scored 3 goals and was proud of that, they were very good players and i felt very rusty with my frisbee skills. we had a lot of fun, but it was SO hot! i was very surprised to see so many thai women playing because you dont see a lot of thai women that will go outside and workout especially if the sun is out, and they were really good at ultimate frisbee also.
that sunday me and my friend lindsey took a thai cooking class and i learned to cook 10 different dishes including curries, soups, pad thai, desserts, som tam, etc. and i bought some spices/sauces and cookbooks so i can make some tasty food when i get back to the states.
this last weekend i took a "sick day" or a "mental health day" (i needed a break and hadnt taken a day off of work yet) so i started my weekend on friday morning, it was nice and much needed. i took the free buses to thammasat university area and was first in line for thai boxing, then i did some shopping around my old apartment area.
saturday i went to the huge chatuchak weekend market for the last time and bought some things. i went with my friend Nig and spent the whole day with her- she got really tired. apparently i have a lot of energy. we then went to thammasat and did thai boxing for my last time :( the coach gave me his address and gave me a big hug saying that he will miss me a lot. he's so much fun. then me and Nig and another thammasat thai boxer went on a journey to the Lumpini Thai Boxing stadium to see an evening thai boxing match. (it wasnt as exciting or intense as we had thought, its a long story though). then we went shopping at the nearby night market and also saw a thai heavy metal concert which was pretty fun to watch.
then sunday i went with Nig to Koh Kret, an island on the chao phraya river by my town. we basically just walked around and shopped, saw their cool pottery that they do on the island, and bought a bunch (heavy for in my luggage!) we also ate the island dish of fried flowers and plants... it was interesting and sweet. it was a really hot day. then we got back to our town and they were having the end of the month sunday market, which is HUGE! so i did more shopping and bought more stuff! i hope i have room in my luggage for it all!
i now have 1.5 more weeks of teaching left, its crazy how fast it went. but i feel a little burned out with it. luckily monday is a buddhist holiday, so no school. this weekend i will run a mini marathon in hua hin. it should be fun. the winner wins 3000 baht, which would be very nice to have.
then the rest of my time here is a holiday, songkran, thai new years, and i will be going to my friend Nig's hometown in southern thailand. it should be fun, and interesting for sure.
one weekend i went with a couple of my english teacher friends to play in an ultimate frisbee hat tournament. we played from 9am until 4pm basically non-stop in the heat of the day. the only breaks we had were a lunch break and then a break when it started storming. they were intense ultimate frisbee players and it was a good mix of people: thai and farang, teachers and travelers, pros and first-timers. i scored 3 goals and was proud of that, they were very good players and i felt very rusty with my frisbee skills. we had a lot of fun, but it was SO hot! i was very surprised to see so many thai women playing because you dont see a lot of thai women that will go outside and workout especially if the sun is out, and they were really good at ultimate frisbee also.
that sunday me and my friend lindsey took a thai cooking class and i learned to cook 10 different dishes including curries, soups, pad thai, desserts, som tam, etc. and i bought some spices/sauces and cookbooks so i can make some tasty food when i get back to the states.
this last weekend i took a "sick day" or a "mental health day" (i needed a break and hadnt taken a day off of work yet) so i started my weekend on friday morning, it was nice and much needed. i took the free buses to thammasat university area and was first in line for thai boxing, then i did some shopping around my old apartment area.
saturday i went to the huge chatuchak weekend market for the last time and bought some things. i went with my friend Nig and spent the whole day with her- she got really tired. apparently i have a lot of energy. we then went to thammasat and did thai boxing for my last time :( the coach gave me his address and gave me a big hug saying that he will miss me a lot. he's so much fun. then me and Nig and another thammasat thai boxer went on a journey to the Lumpini Thai Boxing stadium to see an evening thai boxing match. (it wasnt as exciting or intense as we had thought, its a long story though). then we went shopping at the nearby night market and also saw a thai heavy metal concert which was pretty fun to watch.
then sunday i went with Nig to Koh Kret, an island on the chao phraya river by my town. we basically just walked around and shopped, saw their cool pottery that they do on the island, and bought a bunch (heavy for in my luggage!) we also ate the island dish of fried flowers and plants... it was interesting and sweet. it was a really hot day. then we got back to our town and they were having the end of the month sunday market, which is HUGE! so i did more shopping and bought more stuff! i hope i have room in my luggage for it all!
i now have 1.5 more weeks of teaching left, its crazy how fast it went. but i feel a little burned out with it. luckily monday is a buddhist holiday, so no school. this weekend i will run a mini marathon in hua hin. it should be fun. the winner wins 3000 baht, which would be very nice to have.
then the rest of my time here is a holiday, songkran, thai new years, and i will be going to my friend Nig's hometown in southern thailand. it should be fun, and interesting for sure.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Okay it's been a while
Alright so it is now day 3 of Summer school here. I will make a short update of my travels these past two weeks while I was on break: brief synopsis:
1. I went to Cambodia by train and stayed the night in the Thai border town called Aranyaprathet and stayed in a very nice hotel, my favorite 200 baht spent on a hotel, that equals about 6 dollars. It had nice rooms, hot water, AND the best part: a resort style swimming pool: very big and had a slide and had plants surrounding it. I got off the hot long train ride and jumped in and swam for over an hour until I had to go eat some pad thai from the local market because I was starving. I then went first thing in the morning to the border to get my passport stamped and get my visa renewed- after 4 attempts at scamming me with visa stuff I made it across the border and got in a shared taxi with locals and went to the town called Battambang. I arrived in the afternoon and grabbed a hamburger (they have lots of beef in cambodia, which i miss. its still not the same as nebraskan beef though). then I hired a nice motorcycle driver who worked at the hotel to drive me around to some tourist spots of old Angkor temples and caves, and historical, infamous Khmer Rouge areas. I also saw the Bamboo trains that they use to get around on the rails when trains arent going by and we mingled with some friendly villagers and ate really good Khmer Food (all beef). It's like thai food only not as much chili, and beef instead of pork. it was a nice change. we were out all day on this tour i paid 10 dollars for, having my own driver i thought was worth it.
I then mingled with some foreigners at a small australian owned bar/restaurant and gave them tips on thailand (their next stop). i had a Cambodian style beer as well, called Angkor. it was pretty good. I shared a taxi to the border with some of these foreigners the next morning and then hopped on a train back to bangkok.
2. the next day I went on the trip to Ko Kret with the other teachers from my school. it was VERY nice. we stayed in a very nice resort-supposedly the best on the island. we ate TONS of good food- the owner of the school paid for everything. we swam, we rode on a boat around the whole island snorkeling in the cool areas and looking at the coral and the fish. we ate at a restaurant that was in the middle of the water held up by stilts- we had to get to the restaurant by a wooden boat on a zip line type device. we ate lots of fresh seafood.
it was a lot of fun to mingle with the teachers because we are normally so busy during the day and dont get to talk. it also forced me to use my thai since i was the only foreigner on the whole trip.
3. then i spent most of the week at thammasat university thai boxing every day and hanging out in the old area i used to live. it takes about 4 hours out of my day to go to thammasat by bus from my town, but it'd worth it for the thai boxing with friends at the school.
4. then i got really sick, i had an eye problem- went to the doctor and he said i had conjunctivitis- basically pink eye i think, so i had some medicine for that. at the same time i had a stomach problem going on and after a few un-fun days of staying inside my room really sick, i went to the doctor and he said i have a infection in my intestines so i had to take 5 different medicines he prescribed. then i got a cold after that.
5. once i finally got better i went to Hua Hin with one of my Thai friends and we stayed a night there and swam a lot in the sea. just relaxed.
6. then this last weekend i went with the rest of the Thammasat Thai Boxing Team to Ayutthaya where there was an International Thai Boxing Festival/Gathering/Conference deal. And there were tons of people there from all countries who were thai boxers. there were big fights on monday and tuesday but we only went for the first day which was sunday. we participated in traditional ceremonies that honored our coaches and the ancient sport of thai boxing. we also ate a LOT of traditional thai food- tasty. and saw exhibitions of traditional thai bamboo tattoos in the making, and how they made the swords, etc. we all had to dress in the same attire, thai boxing outfits, they are fun.
now it is summer school, which is more fun and more relaxed than normal school days, so that is nice. i have control over what i teach them and what we do in class, so we have fun and play games and do outdoor activities. its been raining a lot lately though. but i have a soccer club and we meet once a week. it is fun, but hard to keep their little attention spans occupied!
1. I went to Cambodia by train and stayed the night in the Thai border town called Aranyaprathet and stayed in a very nice hotel, my favorite 200 baht spent on a hotel, that equals about 6 dollars. It had nice rooms, hot water, AND the best part: a resort style swimming pool: very big and had a slide and had plants surrounding it. I got off the hot long train ride and jumped in and swam for over an hour until I had to go eat some pad thai from the local market because I was starving. I then went first thing in the morning to the border to get my passport stamped and get my visa renewed- after 4 attempts at scamming me with visa stuff I made it across the border and got in a shared taxi with locals and went to the town called Battambang. I arrived in the afternoon and grabbed a hamburger (they have lots of beef in cambodia, which i miss. its still not the same as nebraskan beef though). then I hired a nice motorcycle driver who worked at the hotel to drive me around to some tourist spots of old Angkor temples and caves, and historical, infamous Khmer Rouge areas. I also saw the Bamboo trains that they use to get around on the rails when trains arent going by and we mingled with some friendly villagers and ate really good Khmer Food (all beef). It's like thai food only not as much chili, and beef instead of pork. it was a nice change. we were out all day on this tour i paid 10 dollars for, having my own driver i thought was worth it.
I then mingled with some foreigners at a small australian owned bar/restaurant and gave them tips on thailand (their next stop). i had a Cambodian style beer as well, called Angkor. it was pretty good. I shared a taxi to the border with some of these foreigners the next morning and then hopped on a train back to bangkok.
2. the next day I went on the trip to Ko Kret with the other teachers from my school. it was VERY nice. we stayed in a very nice resort-supposedly the best on the island. we ate TONS of good food- the owner of the school paid for everything. we swam, we rode on a boat around the whole island snorkeling in the cool areas and looking at the coral and the fish. we ate at a restaurant that was in the middle of the water held up by stilts- we had to get to the restaurant by a wooden boat on a zip line type device. we ate lots of fresh seafood.
it was a lot of fun to mingle with the teachers because we are normally so busy during the day and dont get to talk. it also forced me to use my thai since i was the only foreigner on the whole trip.
3. then i spent most of the week at thammasat university thai boxing every day and hanging out in the old area i used to live. it takes about 4 hours out of my day to go to thammasat by bus from my town, but it'd worth it for the thai boxing with friends at the school.
4. then i got really sick, i had an eye problem- went to the doctor and he said i had conjunctivitis- basically pink eye i think, so i had some medicine for that. at the same time i had a stomach problem going on and after a few un-fun days of staying inside my room really sick, i went to the doctor and he said i have a infection in my intestines so i had to take 5 different medicines he prescribed. then i got a cold after that.
5. once i finally got better i went to Hua Hin with one of my Thai friends and we stayed a night there and swam a lot in the sea. just relaxed.
6. then this last weekend i went with the rest of the Thammasat Thai Boxing Team to Ayutthaya where there was an International Thai Boxing Festival/Gathering/Conference deal. And there were tons of people there from all countries who were thai boxers. there were big fights on monday and tuesday but we only went for the first day which was sunday. we participated in traditional ceremonies that honored our coaches and the ancient sport of thai boxing. we also ate a LOT of traditional thai food- tasty. and saw exhibitions of traditional thai bamboo tattoos in the making, and how they made the swords, etc. we all had to dress in the same attire, thai boxing outfits, they are fun.
now it is summer school, which is more fun and more relaxed than normal school days, so that is nice. i have control over what i teach them and what we do in class, so we have fun and play games and do outdoor activities. its been raining a lot lately though. but i have a soccer club and we meet once a week. it is fun, but hard to keep their little attention spans occupied!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
cambodia soon
update: thursday morning i am leaving for cambodia because i have to go do a visa run so that i can stay in thailand for sixty more days. i will bus it from bangkok to aranyaprathet, and then cross the border to cambodia in the town called Poi Pet. then i think i will travel to Battambang and stay a few nights there and then go to Koh Samed island with the school teachers and boss on sunday.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
if you dont have facebook, here are public links to my photo albums from thailand:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025605&id=165401361&l=ccac1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024618&id=165401361&l=5bb76
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024104&id=165401361&l=392e1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023658&id=165401361&l=383af
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024618&id=165401361&l=5bb76
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024104&id=165401361&l=392e1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023658&id=165401361&l=383af
Coming soon
Well nothing new around here really. Just hanging out at school during the day and trying to pass the time by- reading and using the internet, and learning thai (mostly practicing writing) and spanish (online). (I've been finished with all of my work for the semester but i still have to physically be at the school for the next week).
Then on next thursday or friday i have to go to cambodia to do a visa run- probably take the train. go there and come back right away, because i will be by myself and have already traveled for a week there to the hot spots.
then on sunday our head of school is taking us teachers to Ko Samet island to stay at a resort for a couple days (someone she knows owns it). so we are meeting at the school sunday morning and someone is driving a van there full of us i think. that should be fun. and i was looking up the beach and area we will be staying and it says
"One of the only beaches on Ko Samet's west coast, Ao Phrao is a scenic bay with a sweeping shallow beach. It's also the most luxurious beach on Ko Samet, with just three top-end resorts."
It's supposed to be an exclusive beach with a great view of the sunset. i love islands. im excited for this. we will all actually get to mingle for a chance, because throughout the school days we are all so busy-mostly the thai teachers chasing kids around.
this weekend: going to a movie, thai boxing, playing frisbee and doing some shopping maybe at Chatuchak.
Then on next thursday or friday i have to go to cambodia to do a visa run- probably take the train. go there and come back right away, because i will be by myself and have already traveled for a week there to the hot spots.
then on sunday our head of school is taking us teachers to Ko Samet island to stay at a resort for a couple days (someone she knows owns it). so we are meeting at the school sunday morning and someone is driving a van there full of us i think. that should be fun. and i was looking up the beach and area we will be staying and it says
"One of the only beaches on Ko Samet's west coast, Ao Phrao is a scenic bay with a sweeping shallow beach. It's also the most luxurious beach on Ko Samet, with just three top-end resorts."
It's supposed to be an exclusive beach with a great view of the sunset. i love islands. im excited for this. we will all actually get to mingle for a chance, because throughout the school days we are all so busy-mostly the thai teachers chasing kids around.
this weekend: going to a movie, thai boxing, playing frisbee and doing some shopping maybe at Chatuchak.
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