Whew! What a busy week. This is the first time since last weekend that I have had more than 5 minutes to sit here, and avoid doing any work related to school. I have a feeling that I will be eating, sleeping and breathing work for the next month. My “to do” list is never ending.
Well, my first ever week of teaching high school went pretty smoothly. I am finding it a bit of a challenge getting used to the long days. We have to be at school by 7:30am and stay until at least 4:30pm. It may not sound that long, but when you are teaching…it is. I am also trying to get used to teaching longer classes. When I taught kindergarten, anything beyond 20 minutes was really pushing the limits as per the attention span of the kids. Now, every class is 1 hour or even 2. However, I do find that I my kindergarten-focused teaching style is coming in handy. Many of the students at this school speak no more than 10 words in English. I have to talk very slllooowww, and use a lot of actions. Who knew that teaching kindergartens and grade 12s would be so similar?
My plan for this weekend is to try fit in some time to relax. I am thinking a Thai message is well overdue.
Are you all ready to learn some fun facts about Thailand? I know there are a few things that my family has been wondering/asking me about, so I figure I may as well share it with everyone…just to give you a little something to read about. Please do not quote me on any of this. We are slowly trying to figure things out ourselves.
Let’s start with the weather, shall we? Each part of Thailand has different seasons at different times. There are basically 3 main seasons in the Bangkok area: rainy, cool, and hot. Last time we were in Thailand, we were here during the rainy season which runs from about June to October. However, it only rained a couple times the entire two months we were here. November to February is considered the cool season (still hot for us compared to Canada). March to May is hot hot hot. For the past 3 weeks we have been here, it has been extremely humid and quite hot out during the day. It gets dark by 7pm, and has stormed (rain, thunder, lightning, high winds) almost every evening. The temperature has ranged from between about 25°C to 35°C (not including the crazy humidex which would have to bring the temperate well into the 40’s or 50’s every afternoon). We have quickly accepted the fact of life that everyone sweats here. There is no way to avoid it.
Food. Ah, the food. Thai food is quite amazing. Everything they use is fresh, and so flavourful. I have tried way more Thai dishes these past 3 weeks than the entire 2 months we were here last. The teachers at my school get a fancy buffet lunch every day. I really need to start taking pictures of it. Everything is so amazing. Thais eat lots of seafood, pork and chicken. They also love their hot peppers, eggs, and rice. Most dishes are stir-fried. Also, Thais do not use chopsticks, contrary to what many people think. They use forks and spoons which act as knives. I don’t think I even need elaborate much on how CHEAP the food is. An average supper for us costs around 5 bucks Canadian (including drinks and a tip). We have quickly learned that the majority of people eat out at restaurants because it is cheaper than buying groceries. Although we love cooking, we have decided to be budget-conscious, and eat out more often (crazy, hey).
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| Green curry |
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Our favourite restaurant down the road. They serve a bowl of fresh herbs with all meals.
So healthy. So good. |
Thai people love their King. There are pictures of him EVERYWHERE. It is actually a criminal offense to disrespect or make fun of the King in any way. You could easily get jail time. At the beginning of movies in movie theatres you have to stand in silence and watch a video montage of pictures of the King’s life.
Although many people are familiar with Thailand, there have been many others who have been asking us where we are living. We are living in the city of Bangkok which has approximately over 9 million people. The population easily doubles during the day, when people come to the city to work. We are living near the outskirts of the city, in an area that has been recently developed (in the last 4 years). It takes us about 15-20 minutes by taxi to get to the city centre.
Minor fact. There are thousands of stray dogs in Thailand. Most of them are very dirty and diseased looking. They often walk around in packs, and howl together at night. I think they are scary, and I do not like them one bit. I remember seeing hundreds of stray cats on the islands in Thailand. Haven't seen too many in the city.
I think most people think of Bangkok as this huge, dirty city with a bunch of crazies who live in it. Please do not let the movie, Hangover II, convince you that it is. Rather, I find this city to be like all cities (be it Vancouver, Saskatoon, or Regina). Each city has its rough areas, and its beautiful ones. Thailand is actually one of the leading cities in the world for recycling. They recycle EVERYTHING here. They also do it by handpicking everything out of the garbage at the dumps. There are no blue recycle bins to be found in this country. I still feel bad every time I put a plastic bottle in the garbage. I keep telling myself, “it WILL get recycled, it WILL get recycled, it WILL get recycled.”
The legal drinking age here is 18 years old. To get into a club, you have to be 20. However, it is rare for any place to ID you. You can buy alcohol in most stores including 7-11 and grocery stores. Even though they do not ID people to buy alcohol very often, they are very strict about the times it can be purchased. They don’t sell alcohol during mid-afternoon, and at certain times at night (something like after 2am). Yesterday, a couple of us teachers tried buying some wine coolers at 7-11 at 4:45pm, and they said we couldn’t until 5:00pm.
The legal driving age is 18. Only the driver and front seat passenger have to wear a seatbelt. Most backseats do not even have seatbelts. From what I have observed, the lines painted on the road means nothing. Everyone just drives wherever they want, swerving in and out of traffic. However, I do think people drive wayyyy better here than they do in Canada. They seem to know who is around them on the road at all times, and have the fastest reaction times ever.
There, I think that is enough information about Thailand in one night. COME VISIT!!
