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Thailand

/ snpschaffer / 2 Comments

It has been a few weeks since I’ve been able to write my blog which is a good and bad thing. Good because it means I’ve been too busy and having too much fun, and bad because it means that I have so so much to write in here. I want to get it all down so that I can look back one day for the memories. Oh well though! I’ll start with what I remember now.
Since my last post I moved to Thailand yayyyy! Finally I am here and I am absolutely loving it. Crossing the border is a story for the books! 9 of us piled into a van that we were told was nice and big and it turned out it was pretty much the opposite of that. We left Cambodia and drove the 4 hours to the border. We were told that once we crossed the border into Thailand there would be another (nice) van waiting to pick us up. The driver was supposed to be standing just across the border with a sign with our program name on it. NONE of that happened. We got to the border with all of our belongings in tow and waited in the what seemed like 100 degree weather for our driver to show up. Taking into account “Thai Time” we were patient knowing that the driver could be a little late. After an hour we got a little suspicious and started to go look. We found an old (near 70 years old) man smoking a joint behind a van and asked him if he was our driver. He vehemently denied it at first but it turns out that he was! He didn’t bother looking for us for the past hour, just hung out behind his van smoking. Thinking back on this now it really is hilarious but at the time it was horrible. He was not nice and did not want to drive us, but he did and he took us the 5 additional hours to our destination. I’m so glad we made it safely!

Currently I am living on Koh Samui which is one of the many beautiful islands of southern Thailand. I started off though in Pattaya which is a city about 12 hours drive north of here and that I where I completed my TESOL certification. I worked and went to school in Pattaya, I worked as a teacher at a private high school teaching students from ages 16-20 and I loved it! I really did not know what to expect from teaching and I’ve found that I really enjoy it. I am happy that I chose to do this and I do not regret my decision at all. On Friday last week I graduated and received my certification. We spent 144 hours in class learning how to teach English, learning Thai and Khmer culture, teaching English to students, and learning Thai. I’m so happy to have finished and I’m really proud of myself woo!! Now its time to pound the pavement and look for a job here in Koh Samui. It’s been a little difficult to get the job search rolling since there is so much to distract me here on this island but i’m sure i’ll get it done. Latrisha and I went out yesterday looking for jobs and had our first motorbike crash. It was inevitable with the way people drive here and all the sand and roads and such. The worst part about the crash is that the bike was rented and I have to go return it in an hour. So we shall see it I owe hundreds of dollars haha! I did get some bruises and scrapes and one big chunk of skin missing, but nothing too terrifying, I will live.

The Island of Koh Samui is really amazing its so beautiful and full of life. Anyone reading this should google search Koh Samui and check out all the beauty. We’ve been lucky enough to meet some really cool people here so far who have given us a lot of great advice on cheap places to live, cheap places to eat, good places to look for jobs, and good people to talk to. I’m excited to spend more time here and I’m hoping that i’ll find a job so fingers crossed everybody! Living in Pattaya I don’t think really gave me the greatest impression on Thailand because it was pretty dirty, busy, and full of “naughty” people. Pattaya is essentially the red light district of Thailand and for the most part we tried to stay away from that lifestyle but we did venture onto Walking Street. Walking street is their infamous street full clubs and bars that provide a certain sort of entertainment. It sounds a little scary and shady but we went we found that it was actually full of tourists jam packed in and was not scary at all. However I do not want to go back there and I’ve had my fill of Pattaya. The great thing about Pattaya and about everywhere I’ve been in Thailand is the people. This really is the land of smiles, everyone is so friendly. People will help you when you need it and are always will to give you advice. Also not sure this even needs to be said but I will say it anyway, the food is SO good. Yum yum yum yum. I loved Thai food before I came here and now I love it even more. Not only is it good but it is also dirt cheap if you can find the right places. We eat a lot of street food here which is the way to go for delicious and cheap. Most of the street food meals will be right around 40 or 50 baht which is less than two dollars. I’ve also been eating a lot of Indian food which is obviously my favorite and that is also way cheaper here. It’s fantastic!

We actually ate Indian food today for Latrishas birthday and we are heading out to the reggae club tonight. Today was such a great day we got 1 hour Thai oil massages on the beach for less than $6, floated around in the water on rafts all day, held the cutest monkey in the world, and got super tan. I think Latrisha had a great birthday so far. The best part about the whole day though was when we were floating in the water just being amazed at how great our lives are when we suddenly realized that we can live like this all the time for the foreseeable future. We actually can get massages on the beach and swim in the most beautiful water we’ve ever seen every single day if we want to. MIND BLOWING :). How often can you just think about your life and be completely content with what you’re doing? I always seemed to be wanting something more and waiting for the next best thing and I still am that way but I think I am slowly changing. I am trying more to be content with what is gong on in the moment. One of my main goals for coming to Thailand was to study Buddhism and also to adapt the Eastern lifestyle. Everyone is relaxed and friendly and not rushed. People are kind and considerate and share. I am hoping that if I spend enough time here I can have that Eastern mentality. I’m not saying that Western people are not that way but its just a completely different lifestyle. And to be honest it is hard to really describe this lifestyle, its something you have to experience.

This post is becoming long like I knew it would so i’ll finish it up with another mind blowing story (my mind was blown at least). Last weekend Latrisha and I were in a town on the main land in Soutern Thailand called Don Sak. We mistakenly thought that it was a beach town across from Koh Samui and so we booked a hotel for a few nights and planned to job search in the area. The town was indeed directly across from Koh Samui but there were no beaches. Only rocks and trash that washed over from the Islands. This town was pretty desolate and there was almost nothing to do there. We were disappointed at first but decided we needed to make the most of it because we are in Thailand and we paid for the room. We ended up walking along the water and decided to stop at the ferry port just to sit and relax. Suddenly we saw something moving in the water and it turned out to be dolphins. YES DOLPHINS! There were about 6-8 Dophins swimming and catching fish right in front of us. I’m not even kidding when I say I almost cried. I have never seen a dolphin before and just by chance I got to watch dolphins in their natural habitat for over a hour. After the dolphins were scared away by boats we decided to head into “town”. We stopped at a shop to buy a bottle of water and I was tired so I sat down at the table just in front of the shop to rest and drink my water. The woman from the shop came out and sat at the table and was slicing some Mango and had a bowl of some dip. She offered it to us and then slowly more people from inside the shop joined and more and more food showed up. Next thing I know a few hours have passed and Latrisha and I have made friends with a family of about 10 Thai people. They fed us the entire time we sat there. We ate Mango dipped in Cupit, grilled bananas, pineapple, and some other random foods. The family then invited us to get dinner with them (more food, yes) and of course we agreed. First though they drove us to the local temple which had breath taking views and we spent some time there looking around. It was so amazing because I know they brought us there just so that we could have that experience even though they had clearly been there countless times. We then went and had a picknick next to the water and tried some of the best food I’ve had yet. We had probably about 15-20 dishes split between all of us. Everyone shared everything, and we had the best time. Just another great example of the Thai kindness and hospitality.
It turned out that staying in Don Sak was actually one of the best experience I’ve had yet in Thailand and I am so happy that we decided to make the most of it.

PEACE

Cambodia

/ snpschaffer / 3 Comments

To begin with I want to provide a short synopsis on what is going on and how it came to be. I am currently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and this weekend I will make my way first to a beach town called Sihanoukville and then to Pattaya, Thailand. Thailand has been a long awaited destination and the source of most of my dreams and aspirations for the better part of 2013. So how it came to be it seems easier if  put this in a list format.

  • Ever since my study abroad trip in 2011 I’ve been addicted to travel
  • Fast forward to April 2012, I graduate college and move to London, England a week later. Visa situation does not work out so after about 7 months I move home 😦
  • I then got a job at a mortgage lender and realized the American dream and the corporate world were not for me
  • I decided that I want to be a tour guide extraordinaire and started applying for a position that would launch to me to such heights. I found out that most good tour guide positions require an extensive amount of schooling and or teaching experience along with massive amounts of knowledge in the place or thing you are guiding. Most tour guides I came across were ex teachers or had PhDs (neither of which describe me).
  • My next logical conclusion was to become a teacher! What better and more fun way to become a teacher and fulfill my love for traveling than by teaching English abroad (in Thailand)!?!
  • I asked my dear friend Latrisha to join me and 8 months later here we are

Being in South East Asia has been dazzling so far. I’ve only been here for a week and a half and all of my 5 senses have experienced a plethora of new sensations. Everything looks different: foggy, colorful, dark, smiley, cute, hilarious, naked, dangerous, shocking. Everything smells different: fishy, delicious, cheap, rancid, raw, fresh, comforting. Everything sounds different: loud, foreign, peaceful, exciting, bouncy, over-worked, fast. Everything feels silky, slimy, hot & sticky, bumpy, rough, worked over. Everything tastes greasy, fishy, fresh, succulent, sour, unknown. Now obviously all of these adjectives do not describe one thing but hopefully anyone reading this understands the point I am trying to make. Phnom Penh is an interesting city. It is so busy and crowded and full of life. We are staying in a hotel here in a part of town that isn’t particularly nice but that is ok because we get a ride to and from school everyday. I am staying on the top floor of our hotel and my view out of the window is a nice big sewer. Sometimes I see children walking through it and picking trash out, and once unfortunately there was a kid washing some piece of clothing in it. Its amazing how different life can be just 7 floors up. 70% of the people in Cambodia live on less than $1 a day which sounds pretty amazing in my opinion. There is a large amount of poverty here but from what I can see the people are happy. For the most part people are smiling and friendly and they share everything with each other. Everyone looks out for one another from what I can see and I feel like there is a direct correlation there between the amount of money and resources available to people.

So since being here we have been in school to become English teachers. Before I came here everyone kept asking me ” how are you going to teach English to people when you don’t speak the language they speak?” I did not know how to answer that question 2 weeks ago, but I am proud to say that I do now! I am not going to go into detail here in this blog because there is a lot involved. What I will say though is shout out to all teachers! I had NO idea how much work goes into being a teacher and I respect them a lot more than I ever did before. We start our student teaching in Thailand on Tuesday and I am so excited! I can’t wait to start teaching. I am aiming towards teaching English to high school kids and above. We have had to observe classes with elementary aged kids and it took me all of 10 minutes to decide I absolutely do not want to teach that age. I’ll update after I get some experience next week. After we finish our student teaching in 2 weeks we move to which ever city we’d like to settle in and then our language school helps us find jobs. Latrisha and I are aiming towards living on one of the islands near Phuket. Thailand has so many islands though so we have not made a real decision yet.

I mentioned previously that we get tuk-tuk rides to and from school each day. A tuk-tuk is a carriage and attached to a moped. It can comfortably fit about 5 people in it. Almost everyone in this city gets around by a moto (moped). There are thousands and thousands of mopeds crowding the streets at all times. In America we would probably put about 2 people on a moped max to go a short distance right? In Cambodia people put as many people and as much stuff as they can on their motos. Things I’ve seen on motos: entire 5 person families, two men and two gutted full grown pigs, naked babies with no helmets, boxes stacked 10 ft in the air, a few people and about 10 dead chickens, a moto carrying a 15 ft trailer with people and tools riding in it. The list goes on and on. It really is quite a site to see.

There is a street here called street 51 which is a place where a lot of tourists hang out. It is full of bars and restaurants, and a lot of white faces. Last night Latrisha and I wanted to get some happy hour specials after class so we decided to head down street 51. We sat down in this mall sort of area with many different bars. As we sat there and had a few beers and some food we noticed that this particular area was full of prostitutes and old western men. If you know anything about SE Asia, you know that sex is a big industry here. So with that being said, seeing these prostitutes with the old western men was not really surprising. It is just not something we are used to seeing so openly. As we sat there we noticed a couple across from us with an older British man and a younger Korean woman. They were looking at us very strange and we’d noticed it a few times but did not think much of it. A little bit later the man walked up to us with his wife and asked if she could sit with us and talk. He said ” this is my wife Jay, is it alright if she sits and talks with you for a little bit, she doesn’t have any friends. She was sitting with a group of girls over there before but maybe she can sit with you girls now.” I knew that something was off about this situation but I did not know what exactly. We let Jay sit with us and we spoke to her for about 5 minutes. She looked very scared and nervous and kept saying how stressed she was about her new job. We were so confused but after a few minutes we kind of concluded that she was working as a prostitute. Her husband was clearly facilitating this and he thought that we might show her the “business.” As one can probably imagine, I was not happy about any part of this situation. I decided to ask her husband exactly what was going on. He said to me “Well this is my wife’s first night on her new job and she just needs some help. We are looking for safe places to go.” I asked him what business exactly does he think we are going to help her with and he looked at me and said “she is in the ‘hospitality’ business,” and then winked. We made it clear that he had made a huge mistake thinking that we knew anything about this and politely made our exit.
I walked away just feeling scared horrible. I felt awful for Jay knowing that her husband was doing that, and I just couldn’t shake the feeling of disgust. I have been thinking about this situation and this woman all day and it really upset me but I’ve finally come to terms with it. People around the world live different lifestyles and I cannot be the person to judge someone for doing things that I would not. I feel bad for Jay and I at the time I felt hatred towards her husband but I realize now that it is the way of the world. All I can do is hope for the best for people.

There is OH so much to say about this journey so far but my attention span is only so long right now. However, I do not want to end this post with a story about prostitution so i’ll share my experiences from this past weekend. Our class took a trip (8 hour bus ride, but that is a whole other story) to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We went to visit Angkor Wat which is the biggest temple in Cambodia. I am so happy and so fortunate to gone to this temple. I can safely say that up to this point in my life it is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. It was built in the early 12th century and still stands today despite war and ruin. The walls are covered with intricate carvings that tell a story of the Cambodia and SE Asia’s history. I cannot fathom how humans constructed this temple at that time in history. I urge anyone who is not familiar with Angkor Wat to at least look up a photo of it to see the beauty. The photo below is me standing in front of Angkor Wat and its not a very good photo but it gives you just a bit of an idea.

And with that, this post is over. I have to get some sleep so I can get up bright and early to learn how to teach. Goodnight everyone!

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