Thailand 101

Last week, as I was skyping with my parents, my mom asked me to take more pictures of sites in Thailand because she said she wanted to "see what I see." I thought that was a great idea so when I remembered to take my camera with me, I would just take pictures of what I saw. Admittedly, I forget my camera almost all the time, so this is just the beginning of my photo series called, "See what I see." I also decided to throw in some facts/tips about Thailand for my family and friends so they get a picture of what I've been experiencing since I've been here.

1. This is where I live.

You see that second sliding glass door on the top left? That's my little room with a bathroom and a balcony. It's like a hotel room, but it's super cheap! Only 4000 baht a month plus 150 for water and 7/unit for electricity. They also provide a motorbike for me for 2500 baht a month, which is very cheap! So I pay about 7500 baht a month for this lovely place. They also do my laundry and clean my room every other week. The land lady here is so sweet and never misses an opportunity to test my Thai. I, in turn, never miss a chance to test her English. We have fun with it.

2. My school, Rakwittaya, is literally right down the road. I could walk there in less than 5 minutes, but I always take my motorbike because I'm lazy. Or if I want to go out to get some lunch then it's already there! The school is a private school and its very fancy compared to other Thailand schools. It even has a pool that I'm only allowed to use after school hours, just in case it gets REALLY hot. It's pronounced rak-witty-a. I teach all the English conversation classes for grades 4-6. A Thai teacher teaches them English grammar, which I'm kind of jealous about. From time to time, I throw a little grammar into my lessons.

3. The classrooms are extremely basic. There's no air conditioning, but it's ok because its in the shade! Plus there are two fans in every room. So luxurious! But since we're so close to the beach, (and by close I mean about 20km) we leave the doors and windows open and often get a nice, cool breeze. There are two doors in every classroom, one in the front and one in the back. This way, if there are so many students in the classroom and all their junk is piled everywhere, I can just go out the front door and go in the back door to get to the back of the classroom! One thing I don't like about them is the walls are so thin that when another class is screaming the times table chant in the next room, I have the pleasure of trying to speak above them. I think since being in Thailand, I've gotten much louder.

4. Schools in Thailand have period rotations, just like in the United States. Sometimes it's exhausting trying to remember which class is on which day at what time. Mondays and Tuesdays are the hardest because I only have one free period, and they're not before or after lunch, or at the end of the day so I can't leave early. Wednesdays are the best because my first two periods are free and so is my last period. Friday rocks because I only have three classes and I spend all my free time planning for the next week, so it works out perfectly!

5. The market rocks. Every afternoon around 5, I get on my bike and ride on the big main road to the 7/11 and get two things: Sprite and peanuts. I'll explain why later. Then I ride over to the market. The market is amazing. It's a big, well, here's a picture...

As you can see, it's just a giant metal plate covered area with a bunch of stands. They literally sell everything. Here's the layout. the front right is pretty much the main entrance, but you can go in wherever you want. If it were a giant square the bottom right would be food that is ready to eat. They have soups and buffets and fried chicken and fruits and vegetables and my favorite, noodles!! It can get a little smoky over there because people are constantly cooking, so it's always safe to follow your nose, unless it leads you to the bottom left. That's basically the vendor market. Where all the street vendors can buy stuff to cook. It's all raw meats and still alive fish and stuff like that. If you ever need to not feel hungry anymore, take a stroll down the raw meat aisle at the market, that'll do it!

6. The Sprite and peanuts are for my favorite dinner. I go straight to my noodle lady and she always has four things of noodles cooked with extra chili powder in a plastic bag waiting for me every day when I come in. The peanuts are to put in the noodles because I like extra and the sprite is because for some reason, it tastes amazing with those noodles! I eat that almost every night. The only nights I don't is when I can't find the noodle lady.

7. 7/11 is the lifeblood of Thailand. In bigger cities, they're literally on every street corner. In Phuket, there was one corner that had one, and then the corner across the street had one too. They're like Walgreen without the pharmacy. They have everything from toiletries and toilet paper to magazines and paper to food galore. You could eat exclusively from 7/11 and be totally fine. The alternative is called Family Mart and it's basically the same thing.

8. People are extremely kind. If you've read some of my previous posts, that will explain it all. One time I was standing in line at 7/11 and while I was trying to get money out of my wallet, i dropped my little brick phone and it exploded into all it's pieces on the floor. Before I could even bend down to pick up one of the pieces, the two people standing in line with me were standing next to me holding the rest of my phone piece.

9. TESCO! Tesco is like a mini-mall. There are little stores everywhere and of course Dunkin' Donuts and KFC and sometimes a Starbucks or McDonalds. The part of the mall that is Tesco is like the Thai version of Walmart, just not as extensive. They have bed spreads and curtains as well as food and electronics. They also have a big alcohol section which leads me to my next point...

10. Alcohol can NOT be sold between 2 and 5. This makes little sense to me, because that's when I am usually buying wine and stuff! The section is open for looking, but you can't buy it until after 5 or before 2. I will never understand that rule.

11. There are 5 main banks in Thailand. It's easy to remember which is yours because they all have a different color! My bank is the green bank because it has the best exchange rate on foreign currency. I guess that was only useful when I first got here, but hey, it got me to give them my business! There is the purple bank, which is Siam Commercial Bank. People with businesses bank there. There is also the yellow bank and the light blue bank, which are like my green bank. Then there's the dark blue bank, which is Bangkok Bank. That's the only bank that has does Western Union stuff.

12. We drive on the left side of the road and the right side of the car. I've only been here four months, but when I watch a movie with people driving in the States, I always get confused about which side of the car is the correct driving side. I still wonder if I go back, I won't screw up driving a car because I've gotten so used to how it is here.

Well, that's all I got for now! But here's some pictures of my classes doing this thing on Thursday afternoon where we made tea from different kinds of plants. I was privileged enough to be trusted with a tasting spoon, so I got to go around tasting everyone's tea, telling them if it was too sweet or sour. Over all, everything tasted good, and I had a great time being able to hang out with my students in a non classroom setting!