Chiang Mai Life

The end of the teaching semester and the transition into the month-long internship was such a whirlwind! Time is always such a weird thing---why do days seem so long and months seem to fly? I can’t believe that half of my time here is finished, and yet when I think back to my thought processes six months ago, I realized that I really already have changed.  I think in many ways my comfort bubble has expanded so much, if not popped completely.  On a daily basis I’m asked to do uncomfortable things and it’s just not a big deal anymore.  Wing an English camp for 200 kids who don’t speak English? No problem.  Give a speech in front of the whole school with no notice? Easy. Sing Whitney Houston karaoke in front of a party of hundreds of people? Just another day.

Sometimes I seriously ponder if I will be able to be a normal person when I go back to the States.  I have acquired so many quirks that I hardly notice until someone points them out from me.  I make strange noises, I don’t know how to talk to opposite sex, I can smell ants from across a room (and yet have no problem eating them), I expect any bottles I purchase to be accompanied by ten straws at least, 85° weather is freezing (where is that fleece I packed?), I expect to be told I’m beautiful at least a dozen times a day (or I know I really must look pretty damn bad) and I know not to eat breakfast because I will be given so many snacks when I get to work.  The other day when some of my students wanted to hear me speak Spanish, what first came out of my mouth was ‘kun hablas espanol dai mai ka?’, a horrendous mixture of Spanish and Thai.  It’s weird to think that is a place in this world where my character isn’t determined by whether I can eat spicy things or not.  ‘Siri gin pet dai nit noi’ (Siri can eat spicy a little…aka I’m only an okay person). This is a warning to all my family and friends as well, if I my go-to conversation starters are ‘Where are you going, what are you doing, have you eaten yet, are you always happy and is it delicious?” please just understand that I have been living in Thailand for a year and that it will just take sometime. Be patient with me!

Phanom Rung ruins in Buriram, Thailand

Okay, time for some life updates. 

I made my M6 classes make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for their last class before they graduated! Our vocab words were all the essentials: Peanut butter, jelly, bread, spoon, spread, cut, taste, sweet and eat.  I found out that ‘jelly’ is the same word in Thai and also that Thai kids love just as much as I do! I was nervous they would hate it, but to my delight everyone ate all of theirs! Ahh sweet cultural exchange at its finest! My job as a Fulbright is complete.

Besides finishing up classes and giving exams, I also managed to squeeze in time to go to Laos and Cambodia on weekend trips.  And yes, I know am crazy. One of my Fulbright friends summed it up well when she said that traveling to Laos or Cambodia is sort of less dramatic when you already live in SE Asia and it only takes an hour or two to cross over the border. So true! Definitely not the dramatic airplane landing that drops you into an exotic and foreign land.  More of like an ‘Ooo the bananas taste different here” or “Wow, why are there so many foreigners and why can everyone speak English?!” type of reaction.  That said, both trips were amazing and it was so fun to be a tourist again!

I went to Laos with a group of teachers who all speak Laos in addition to Thai and so it was quite an easy trip.  We saw three gorgeous waterfalls and the city of Paksé.  Laos was similar to Thailand, just less developed, more green and lush than Isaan and most of the women were wearing beautiful long traditional skirts.

Cambodia was great and I definitely want to make a return trip soon. I went to Siem Reap and its beautiful ancient Khmer ruins known as Angkor Wat.  The French had colonized the city in the past and so we also got to eat some delicious pastries. Boo to imperialism, but hurrah for croissants!

Angkor Wat temples were simply stunning.  They are these massive complexes of ruins, with dark crumbling stone, intricate engravings, airy passageways and in general reminded me of a real-life version of the popular Nickelodeon tv show ‘Legends of the Hidden Temple’, sans the creepy men in jungle attire waiting to attack us.  A typical child of 1990s observation, sorry I know.


 Currently I am in Chiang Mai doing an internship in the English Language Learning Department of the American Pacific International School (APIS) that I got through a friend Dan, who I worked with in Seattle.

APIS employs quite a mixed bunch of ppl---a bunch of Americans, Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Korean, Thai etc. so it's been another interesting cultural experience. The student population is about 40% Thai, and the rest is primarily Chinese, Korean and Japanese.  The campus is absolutely gorgeous, set up in the mountains outside of the city. Super lush, green and tropical and the campus is beautifully maintained.  Definitely a change from my humble government school---money definitely changes things.

My transportation to the international school is quite a relay---first I have a pleasant twenty minute walk past a gorgeous temple (Wat Suan Dok) and a street where all the Thais are giving alms to the monks.  The street I walk down is home to many coffee carts that serve fresh, hand-pressed coffee.  For the first time in my life, I am a 'regular' and the man at my favorite stand knows my drink of choice.  And then I picked up on motorbike by a British guy who is an ELL teacher at APIS. I am whisked out of the city and through the gorgeous tropical landscape to the bottom of the mountain where I am dropped off on the side of the road, to then picked up by Safari jeep by the ELL coordinator. 

Not a bad life! It's been such a refreshing change of pace and scenery until my upcoming month and a half of traveling.  First stop: Bali, Indonesia!