Chapter 23: Thailand

I’m trying to post as often as possible…but I am finding it difficult with week wifi:(

Last night, I met and spoke with my new Thai directors and coordinators at the school I will be teaching at in Uthai Thani. Through my nidnoy (little) knowledge of Thai and their broken English, we managed to squeeze out a conversation. They are sweet and seem so grateful and happy to be meeting me and working with me.  After seeing a picture I had sent, they throught I was “sexy” and very pretty in person.  Yes, they used the word sexy.  Flattering I suppose haha.  Li came from China about 5 months ago to teach Chinese here.  Her English is probably the best of the three, but still very limited.  We’ve decided I will teach her English, they will teach us Thai, and she will teach me Chinese haha.  She’s my age and will be living next to me on campus.  She says she can cook.  Good enough for me since we all know the extent of my cooking skills.  The school is a boarding school and classes start this Monday.  Each day they hold a school wide assembly (about 800 students) and have prayers.  I was told that before prayers on Monday I will give a speech and introduce myself to the entire school.  Time to man up.  You may also be pleased to know that if you were in my album…you are famous.  I thought my pictures would be a good way to break the ice so they met all of you and think I have a beautiful family and set of friends.  Mr.Karoon also tried to hook me up with his single 21 year old son haha.  But don’t worry Dustin, I declined and showed them your picture.  I don’t think they took it personally.

Monday, we visited the Emerald Buddha Temple and Grand Palace and had lunch on the Chao Praya River, the largest river in Thailand.  The temple was gorgeous…gold, emerald, ruby, but many tourists.  The King moved and now lives up North, so it is used for banquets and Royal gatherings present day.  Still amazing and breath taking.

A few interesting facts I’ve learned since arrival…

The whiter you are, the better.   Buying a mobile phone is like buying a used car…there are hundreds to choose from and everyone is trying to bargain.  And yes, I am rocking to old school Nokia (0820685909)- i can receive for free so start dialing. Traveling 13 hours by bus is just another weekend trip. Everyday of the week has a color i.e. monday- yellow, since the King was born on a mon., tuesday- Pink…and so on.  I will have to sport these each day at school…makes getting dressed in the morning easier.  Popular Lays chips flavors consist of Seaweed and Thai Chilli.  You will get hurt on a motor bike.  You may get hurt on a tuk-tuk.  Lastly, I brought may too much and I think I may fluent in Thai by the time I leave (but dont hold me to that).

much love buddah buddah buddah

common thai saying to farangs: I speak English snake snake fish fish.

translation: I speak a little English.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 12:06 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.