Coming at you live!

I’m finally settled. I think. I’m coming at you live from Lampang, Thailand. It’s a balmy 95 degrees, very sunny and humid, with the usual chance of rain. Oh, and there are geckos everywhere.

I’m sitting in my living room with the fan blasting at me trying to dry my sweat. I know that’s a super attractive image to picture. Trust me, it’s even better in real life. Not. Thankfully, we have air conditioners in our rooms, but I save that treat for when I sleep at night. The 3 bed/3 bath townhome that’s ours for the next year is actually very nice. The only thing I could complain about would be the geckos with which it turns out we share the place. I slept with eye mask and my light on last night just in case one of them tried to snuggle with me in the middle of the night. They make this creepy barking/chirping sound to announce their presence. It wakes me from a dead sleep which leads me to, ninja like, jump up on my bed while ripping my eye mask off and searching for the creepers. It makes it worse when I don’t find them, but still know they’re there. They say I’ll get used to this, but they don’t know how easily scared I get. I love nature, just not all the creepy crawlies that come with it. 

The journey to this point has been amazing for the most part. We were lucky enough to both get first class seats not only on the flight from Atlanta to Tokyo, but also from Tokyo to Bangkok. Any of you who’ve seen the movie Sex and the City 2 can appreciate the style in which we flew, for it was just that! We had seats that converted to beds, not to mention a vast collection of movies, shows, and music to choose from on our own personal flat screen TV. The best part was the never ending food and drink service. The kind of treatment we received on those flights will never be taken for granted. 

After traveling for what seemed like days (it was actually 30 hours total travel to make it to Lampang), we arrived at the tiny local airport. Dr. Nirund, the founder of Yonok University here in Lampang and director of Teach Thailand Corps, picked us up, and we were transported straight into teacher training. Nothing like hitting the ground running after not sleeping for 2 days. However, it was actually a help not to go to sleep in a way because it helped us to better adjust to the time change, which is exactly a 12 hour difference from Central time. We met the other teachers who have come from all different states (so far there are 13 of us, but I think there will be 2 others joining us later). We trained for a few hours, and then were treated to lunch at a local restaurant. I can’t tell you exactly what we ate except for the fact that it had chicken in it. I can tell you that it was exactly what I was hoping local Thai food would be like: a perfect blend of spices, vegetables, meat, noodles, and rice. I could go on all day about the delicious food. I’ll probably end up making an entire separate entry with details about it. 

Last night, we were taken to a farewell dinner (since some of the teachers will be traveling to other cities in Thailand to teach) where we were joined by teachers from all the schools at which each of us will be teaching. Two groups of students did special traditional Thai performances for us which was highly entertaining. Their culture is so fascinating and beautiful. All of the teachers were so welcoming and excited to meet us. They made us feel so at ease. 

Today, we took a trip to Big C, which is like a giant Thai version of Wal-Mart. I could’ve spent hours there, but since we had to be back for our language lessons, we had to make it a quick trip. We managed to come out with laundry baskets, toilet paper (which believe it or not, Thais do not use...yeah...), drinking water, adapters, and phones! I am making it a point to go back to this place and spend some quality time. There was so much to look at that I was almost overwhelmed. 

Things I’ve learned after a day and a half living in Thailand: 

1.Don’t rush to be on time. No one else is. And it’s ok!

2.Bring toilet paper with you everywhere you go. They don’t supply it. 

3.People will stare at you, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

4.Barking geckos. They’re always there whether you can see them or not. 

5.I’m going to be perpetually sticky due to constantly sweating.

6.There are no traffic rules. 

7.The language is so tonal. It would be so much easier put to music.

8.Everyone is generally happy. It’s contagious.