Hello Camera

Time for a short and sweet random picture blog post! Enjoy.

 

New complimentary slippers given by our landlord

 

Eggs sit on the shelves at the stores...not refrigerated



Sprayers replace toilet paper in Thailand. I never leave the house without my own

My cell phone the school bought for me (wahoo!) and Andy's orange cell.
EVERYONE in Bangkok has a cell phone. I was told that the high school students usually have 4 or 5 different kinds. It is so much easier to get a cell here, no stupid contracts! You just buy a cell (mine is a $9.00 phone and Andy's is just over $30.00-he claims that his is "so sweet"), get a $3.00 SIM card and buy some minutes (which are also cheap).

Andy swimming



Kitchen appliances come in awesome colours. The yellow elf toaster was here (note: the elf is not a sticker later added to the toaster...it came like that). We bought the mint green blender.



   

Success

First week of living in Bangkok=success! I am getting used to the idea of seeing such crazy and bizarre things that I am pretty sure nothing will phase me at the end of these two years of living here! I have not had the chance to take too many pictures yet, but eventually I will and will post them on here.



Dinner

I can already tell school is going to be very challenging, but I can honestly say I am very much looking forward to it. I am considered the “home room” teacher for grade 7, so this grade will be my focus. I will be teaching the grade 7s science, math, language arts and social studies. I will also be teaching math and language arts to the grade 8s. Physical Education will be a split class with both grade 7 and 8. I am definitely not thrilled about teaching Phys.Ed because it is an hour long outdoor class in the crazy heat! I am sure I will get used to the heat pretty fast though (that’s what they all say anyways). In the afternoons I will be teaching some “options” courses where students will be given many options as to which classes they want to take. For these classes I will be teaching Readers Theatre (which is where students will act out plays while reading from a script), and Digital Photography. Since the options classes have never been taught in the past, I was able to pick what I wanted to teach. The classes do follow a curriculum like all the other classes, but they are meant to be a lot more fun and less academic based.

Tomorrow morning is Student Orientation, where the parents and students are introduced to the entire staff. Apparently us teachers just have to sit there and smile while everyone stares at us during the dragged out introductions. Once orientation is done, we get a week off and start the first day of school on September 5^th. During this week off I will be spending many hours in my classroom planning the year.

Today a group of us (Andy and I, the grade 2 teacher with her husband and daughter, and another teacher), all went to a huge weekend market. We decided to be brave and take the public transit for the first time. We took a taxi and 2 sky trains to get to the place. We were all surprised at how easy the sky train was to take. All of the signs are in English, so there were no language barriers to deal with. The sky trains themselves looked quite new, and were equipped with air conditioners and TVs. They were also very clean. It cost us 40 Baht to get there on the sky train, which is just about $1.30 Canadian.

Getting change to buy tickets

The gang catching the sky train

The market takes up 35 acres of land. It has everything you could possibly imagine. For the 3 hours we were there we only saw a small portion of it. There is stall after stall of Thai goods. You could buy everything from silver cutlery to live animals. My goal for the day was to buy some dress clothes to wear to school (where the dress code for teachers is very formal…and highly enforced). I ended up finding some great skirts for about $3.90 each. Not too bad for work clothes. I also bought some other small things. It was a great place, definitely on our list of places to take guests who come visit!



Mom, Dad & Sibblings: this is the Thai version of your beloved taco-in-a-bag.
Chicken satay in peanut sauce with cucumbers, onions, and hot peppers. So delicious.

It is about 7:00 in the evening right now, and I am looking outside our office window. It has been dark for probably about an hour or more already. There are lots of bats that fly between the apartment buildings. Very cool to watch…from the inside. The weather has been beautiful during the days, reaching in the 30s for sure. Extremely humid though. For the past 4 nights it has been thundering, lightning and raining like crazy. Andy and I both love rainstorms, so we find it very nice and cozy in our apartment. I am going to make a cup of tea and read a book. What a great day.

Officially Ms. Melanie

Hi Everyone,

Well, it was a big day for me…first day of orientation!

As I briefly mentioned before, I am going to be teaching at a BC International School here in Bangkok. The school is pretty much brand new. This will only be the third year it has been open. The school is called “British Columbia International School Bangkok”, or BCISB for short. The school originally started as a high school, but by parent request, it also had grade one last year. So it was a very unique school with grade 1, and then 7 to 12. This year they decided to expand drastically. It will now be a grade 1 to 12 school. All of the students will graduate with a BC high school diploma, as well as a Thai diploma. All of the teachers are BC certified teachers (and all of whom seem fantastic so far).

The school itself is massive. I saw the inside of it today for the first time. It was built to house 700 students. Currently we will have about 130 students enrolled this year, meaning there is tons of extra space. The school is 4 stories high, and has everything you could imagine in it. The elementary students even have their own ball pit room, just like at McDonald’s (a much cleaner room of course). Just behind the school on the same property is another school. It is a Thai high school called Tharnpanya. It has over 1200 students enrolled. One of the wings of our school is rented out by their school for some Thai classes.

Front of school (picture taken from school website)

Over the summer the parking lot in front of the school was turned into gigantic tennis courts

BCISB is a technology-based school. The school has virtually an unlimited budget, so they can afford to get all kinds of high-tech gadgets. Each high school student gets their own ePad, which is basically a small touchscreen computer. Most of the classrooms have a SMART Board; an interactive whiteboard .....the list goes on. Oh yeah, teachers don’t even get keys to the building. Rather, we have to use the fingerprint scanner to get in and out.

The school also encourages field trips. Last year, 53 field trips were organized! This is something I am definitely looking forward to. Not only will I be teaching the students, but they will be teaching me a lot about their country.

As you could probably guess, BCISB is a private school with a high tuition fee. I don’t know the exact cost of tuition yet, but I am sure the majority of Thai individuals could not afford to send their kids there. Although I am used to teaching at private schools, this one seems to be in a league of its own. I will be sure to keep you updated with all the new happenings at the school.

My brain feels a bit jam-packed with all the information I learned today…so I think I have no choice but to end my entry here. Time to catch some zzzZZZzzZZZzZZs.

Time Travelling

Hello from Thailand! Or, as the Thais would say, “Sawatdee”!

Well, after 5 airports and 4 planes, Andy and I finally made it to Bangkok! Travelling here was fortunately very uneventful. We flew from Regina to Calgary, Calgary to Vancouver, Vancouver to Beijing (China) and then from Beijing to Bangkok. In total we flew for about 19 hours. So after a good day and a half of travelling, we arrived at the Bangkok International Airport just before midnight on Friday, August 19^th. After getting our Visas stamped and claiming our bags, we met up with 2 Thai staff members from my school who were waiting at the airport for me. As it turns out, we were on the same flight from Vancouver as the grade 2 teacher at the school I will be working at. She came with her daughter and husband. So after we all introduced ourselves to one another, we were taken to our apartment complex where many of the teachers live. We did a quick stop at the school to pick up the keys. We did not go into the school, but did see it from the window of the van we took. It looks very nice! From the school it was about a 5 minute drive to our apartment.


First ever meal in China!

Fast forward to the next morning (Saturday).

After a 5 hour jet-lagged sleep, we woke up and unpacked our bags. Even though I was exhausted and could have slept for another 12 hours (Thailand is 11 hours ahead), I was pretty excited and couldn’t.

Our apartment complex is called Metro Park Sathorn. It was built in 3 different phases. We live on the 7^th floor (out of 8 floors) in building E of “Phase 1” which was built in 2008.

I have never seen an apartment complex with such high security. Once you first enter the property off the highway, you have to go through security gate #1.

Main security gate, highlighting a picture of their Queen

Once inside, you drive past the 7-11 (they are everywhere!) and through to security gate #2 which takes you into Phase 1. There are about 4 guards that sit at this gate.

7-11

Security gate for our "Phase"

Then, you have to swipe a key card and punch in a code to get into our building, and then again to get into our apartment. I feel like royalty or something with all the security. I didn’t even mention the security guards patrolling the pools, or the video cameras at every corner. I have a feeling the security is so high around here because of all the foreigners who live here are over-cautious and paying good money…and not necessarily because the area is unsafe to live in.

Walkway to our apartment building


Our apartment building

 

We are paying just over $400 CAD a month for our fully-furnished two bedroom apartment here at Metro Park, which is quite expensive compared to what Thais would pay but cheap for us. Our place is just under 650 square feet, so not too big…but definitely big enough for us.

Our living room

There is an air conditioner in the kitchen and in both bedrooms. The kitchen is complete with a full sized fridge (a luxury here) and washing machine (another luxury). We have a stove top to cook on, but no oven. Ovens are quite rare in Thailand. There is a small balcony off the kitchen.

Washing machine

Our bedroom has lots of storage and a great view of the gorgeous pool (1 of 3 pools in the complex).

The bathroom has a toilet (obviously) and a shower. The shower comes with its own water heater, which is the only source for hot water in our apartment.

  

The spare bedroom is what we like to call our “office”. It also has a ton of storage.

Once we unpacked our bags and settled in a bit, we took a taxi to downtown Bangkok. We went to a huge store called Tesco Lotus. Apparently Tesco is a European chain that is similar to Walmart. We spent about 3 and a half hours walking up and down every isle in that store. We bought everything we needed to make our apartment our comfortable home for the next 2 years! Our purchases included food to stock our fridge and cupboards, cleaning supplies, some pots and pans (to add to the collection of what was already provided), and office supplies. It was stimulus overload when we were in Tesco! Hundreds of people everywhere (it was a Saturday afternoon), funky smells in each isle, and packed shelves with mysterious Thai goods. Surprisingly laundry detergent was the hardest thing to buy because of the lack of pictures on the packages. We were trying to guess what bleach, laundry detergent, softeners and stain removers were…not so easy when you can’t read the package! It will be interesting to see how our laundry turns out after the first load! Food was not as difficult to buy as I thought. There were lots of similar products we have in Canada. Most of the shelf labels were printed with English subtitles, which was very helpful. However, reading the ingredients on the products themselves was not an easy task. Some products had vague ingredients written in English, but most did not. The section of the store that sold meat and fish was the most interesting and somewhat scary! Meats are sold basically the same way produce is sold…you fill up a plastic bag with whatever you want from large bins that sit out in the open (slightly refrigerated). We bought some chicken breast, bacon and prawns.

Breakfast!

It is now Sunday, and time to relax! Since we have everything we need to live comfortably, we can spend some time enjoying the place. Today’s mission is to hook up internet and test out the swimming pool :)

Goodbye Land of the Living Skies

Helloooo Land of Smiles! Well, almost...

Andy and I are currently packing our bags as we get ready to head to the other side of the world...to Thailand! All year I have been telling people that I am going to set up a photo blog to keep everyone updated with our adventure. After many months of putting it off, I have finally brought myself to create the blog. So, here it is! To be honest, I am not sure how much time I will have to update it between working and laying on beaches, but I will give it my best shot. I am not one to journal, so my hope is to upload lots of pictures to keep you posted (you can click on the pictures to make them bigger).  

As most of you know, Andy and I will be spending the next two years living in Bangkok, Thailand which is also known as "The Land of Smiles". We are half flying by the seat of our pants. I have been fortunate enough to land a job teaching at an International School, while Andy will be spending a few months looking for a job to teach English. Although I am speaking on behalf of Andy, I think it is safe to say that we both feel extremely blessed to be able to spend the next couple years of our lives living in Thailand. I can already tell that the year is going to bring many wonderful adventures, full of ups and downs (hopefully not too many downs).

It has been 3 years since our last visit to Thailand. In the summer of 2008, Andy and I spent two months traveling around Thailand. We left for the trip thinking we were going to visit several countries in Southeast Asia. However, Thailand captivated us for the entire two months we were gone. We could not bring ourselves to leave the country. We loved everything about it.. from the scenery, to the food, and to the people. It is such a comfortable place to visit. We knew we would be back one day. Little did we know it was to live :)


Krabi, Thailand 2008

 


Bangkok, Thailand 2008





It has been a whirlwind summer so far. We packed up and said goodbye to our dear friends in Vancouver, BC and headed back home to Saskatchewan (the one and only "Land of the Living Skies"). We have basically been spending our summer living out of a suitcase. We have been doing trips all over the province visiting family and friends. Whenever we aren't on the road, we spend our time going back and forth between Yorkton and Good Spirit Lake. Seeing as much family and friends as possible this summer has been our goal. Sadly, due to time contraints we were not able visit everyone for as long as we would have liked to. In order to solve this problem for us, you must ALL come visit us in Thailand!!


Goodbye Vancouver :(


Hello Good Spirit Lake!



One of many marshmallows consumed this summer 




Eastend, SK




Nephews! Edward and Jack




Last family gathering of the summer

Since we will not have a home phone in Thailand, Andy and I are hoping to communicate with everyone through emails (lots and lots of them) and Skype. Please keep us updated on all the happenings in your lives. Hopefully your emails will not make us too homesick though!

Love you all <3
~ Melanie

P.S. I will not be sending out emails every time I update this thing, so please check back every now and then for updates!