I realize this blog has been a little lifeless for the past 6 months. It’s on my list of things to do every weekend. Really, every single weekend I write it down. And when was the last time it happened…September. The only other thing that has been on my to do list that long is “make a dentist appointment”. I’ll let you know when I get to that.
First things first, links to pictures, because we all know a picture is worth a thousand words.
So many things to catch up on. So I’ll start at the beginning and try to be brief. I’ll try a timeline.
Sept. 12-14
Beam and I went to Khorat to meet our friend Bow. If you remember, Bow, Beam and I all traveled to Cambodia together last March. It was soo great to see her! Bow has been living in Dubai and traveling around the world as a flight attendant for Emirates Airlines. Us three talked for hours and then somehow convinced Bow to come back to Khon Kaen with us. They ended up coming to school with me for a day and speaking English with all the kids. We had so much fun.
End of Sept.
My two week vacation took me to Turkey and Greece. It was bittersweet to leave on this trip. I was so excited to go there and see mom but when I came back Jordan and Joey would be back in the US. I was sad to see them go but know that they were very ready to get back home. I also had to say goodbye to our student teacher who was moving to a new school AND return my Mickey Mouse motorbike. It was a whirlwind.
And then I was on a flight to Istanbul and Mom and I met in the Istanbul airport. Right away we exposed ourselves to Turkey by insisting on taking public transportation to our hostel rather than a taxi. People were helpful if we asked and we were astounded by the beauty around our hostel. We were staying in the Old Town and for me it was amazing. This was my first time in Europe and to me it was like I had stepped into a movie. Old buildings, water, cobblestone streets. I loved it. Something we noticed right away was how COLD it was! This was a big part of Turkey as I didn’t have very many warm clothes and I also wasn’t prepared for the chill in the air. I absolutely fell in love with Turkey and here are some of the reasons and just other things we saw:
-the crowded markets reminded me of Asia
-the people were so friendly. We were asked to sit down for tea so many times. They really mean sit down for some tea and chat. They don’t care if we want to buy something or not, they just want to talk. We left Turkey with so many people’s emails and memories of good conversations.
-the food! Cheese, bread, pitas with French fries inside, Turkish delights, nuts and casseroles. You can buy bread the way you can buy meat on a stick in Thailand. That obviously was good for me. One more thing that deserves to be on its own, Baklava.
-Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkey). We went at the end of Ramazan and we got to experience the lines of people waiting for food at sunset. After Ramazan is Byrum (sp?) where everyone travels to see their family. We saw so many hellos and goodbyes at the bus stations.
-watching people work around the Sea of Marmara. Selling fish sandwiches and people with their fishing poles across the bridge leading from Old Istanbul to New Istanbul. Minus the man who told me I had beautiful teeth…so can I kiss you? Nice try but I said no without hesitating.
-the call to prayer didn’t wake me up in the early morning and was just peaceful to me.
-woman in long coats and hair covered in beautiful scarves.
-mom driving me crazy by wanting to get to know everyone. When I look back it’s a memory of spending at least an hour picking out some clay dishes but at the time (as she’ll surely tell you) I was less than happy. But she did get an amazing piece and had everyone sign their name on the back. It will be something to cherish forever, no thanks to me and my crabbiness!
-the beautiful and FREEZING Goreme in Cappadocia.
-seeing the hot air balloons fly over Cappadocia each morning.
-Hiking through the canyons in Cappadocia in near perfect weather and only the sounds of nature.
-Eating tost (grilled cheese) and watching people go about their daily lives. Men meeting for their afternoon tea. The women are said to gossip at the Turkish bath houses. Watching kids play with BB Guns and then having the boys offer us some Cheetos, and then continue playing.
-Turkish bath-we did it. The whole time I was thinking how excited I was to come back to Thailand and have a Thai massage. It was definitely not the cleanest I’ve ever felt.
-finding out that Turkish men are interested in white women! Turkey may be (on a lesser scale) for women what Thailand is for foreign men. Coming from Thailand this is a jackpot! Mom seemed to be slightly interested in me marrying this one Turkish man because his family owned a carpet shop-that means she could have at least one of the beautiful carpets we saw.
-staying up incredibly late chatting with people in Goreme and Maramaris
-seeing the lake country and Egirdir. It reminded me of MN, but with mountains.
-any problem was never a big problem as there was always someone watching out for us and ready to help. Almost everyone was helpful and overly nice.
And then we sadly boarded a boat to Greece. Of course we were excited to go to Greece but we were not ready to leave Turkey. We were regretting our mindset of “let’s just go to Turkey and Greece, they’re so close!”. On the map it was a good idea, in reality it was not. But, oh well. We were going to the Greek Islands! Our first impression was: TOURISTS! So many on Rhodes. So so many. I think we started talking about when we could leave this island as soon as we got off the catamaran. But things improved vastly from that first impression.
Greece highlights:
-walking around the Rhodes Old Town which was constructed within an old fortress. It was amazing and would have been better if we were the only ones there. How could there be so many people…and in the low season!?
-getting used to the bathrooms. I was used to no shower curtain but I was not used to holding the shower head yourself. I’m still not an expert as the water all over the bathroom floor can attest to.
-the ferry strike! As if we needed excitement like that on our trip! Well, we got it. We really wanted to see Santorini and so we had to be even more creative about how to get there since some of the major ferries were not running. As frustrating as it was it did turn out to be a good thing.
-the special catamaran from Rhodes to Crete. Look at a map right now. Now think about a catamaran. It was special because usually a big ship does this route but the ship was on strike. It was either take the catamaran or not see Santorini. We did it. Luckily neither of us became sick but I think almost every other person on board did. Catamarans do not belong on the open water. We watch a film in Greek just so we’d have something to stare at.
-Crete was lovely and we wished we had more time there. Our favorite place was the little known Sitia where are catamaran docked. Window shopping after dark. Eating gyros and pizza.
-Santorini was where we finally rested! We spent a few days there in an apartment away from people and near horses. It was too cold for the beach as the wind had really picked up. We walked around. We went to the touristy areas and saw the caldera which really is beautiful. There is something serene about the cliffs having white houses built up them. Like in Rhodes though, so many tourists and so much shopping.
-The last stop and the end of the trip in Athens. I never thought I’d care to see any of the Greek ruins but I am so happy we did. It was incredible and spectacular. I still stop and take a breath when I think of what we saw. The Parthenon at sunset. The streets all around were filled with cafes and we sat at one until we were too cold and tired.
And then we were at the airport and on our separate flights. I was ready to get back to Thailand. I missed it. I missed teaching and my kids and was excited to get back to it. It was a great vacation and I’m so happy we got the opportunity to take it. I may find myself back in Turkey next year…only time will tell.
Middle of October
Beam and her sister were staying at my house while I was gone so when I came home I had instant roommates. There was always something going on and it made me feel like I was in college again. Except that I started teaching again. This semester by schedule is a lot different. I don’t teach as many hours so I have more time to plan, grade, and think! I teach 15 hours this semester. I am mostly with the Whales class and now teaching them homeroom, theme, math and science and phonics. It’s been really nice to have one class and not be constantly changing classrooms and changing kids. I think it’s better for the kids too. Even though it was sad for the Dolphins to have a new teacher and to see myself be replaced as their teacher, it’s much better for everyone. An English girl, Naomi, teaches in the Dolphins class now. I’ve become much closer with the Whales than I was before and I teach them much better now (I think!).
My new roommate, James arrived a couple weeks after I started teaching again. I knew I wasn’t PiA anymore when they all traveled for 5 weeks and I got 2 weeks!! It’s worth it but I’m still jealous of the travel time.
Beam moved in right down the street so when she isn’t working in some faraway destination like Khorat and Pattaya we get to hang out a lot.
Oct. 25
Today was a big day. The October PiA arrived and began staying at James and my house and one of our foreign teachers was married to a Thai man today. A van of us from Patanadek drove to Ubon for the wedding reception. It was a crazy Thai experience because it took nearly 4 hours to drive there, we stayed for about 2-3 hours and then drove home. I guess I’m used to bringing down the house when there’s a big gathering but we left before karaoke had even really gotten going. Out of our control though. The day was also big because it marked the first time I have been sick in Thailand. Whoa. It came as quite a surprise and I was finally thankful to have that jug of Pepto-Bismol. That pink liquid is heaven in bad times.
I feel like this should go down as one of those “One time in Thailand…” One time in Thailand I lived with three boys. I think that that is a feat. Even if one of them was only for 2 nights, another one for a week and the other one I am still living with. I guess in the Eco-House I lived with three boys but I try to erase that from my memory. The three boys in Thailand were much better than the three in Iowa.
Oct. 31 Happy Halloween!
We had a big Halloween celebration at Patanadek. I dressed up as some sort of alien. Naomi was a pirate. Almost all of the kids were a ghost, but not just any old white sheet ghost. A beautiful ghost. A Princess ghost. A ________ ghost. It means you can wear whatever you want, put some dark circles around your eyes and maybe some blood and you’re golden. That wasn’t the end of my celebration of Halloween. A bunch of us foreigners went to a club to dance the night away. Which we did. And 5 hours later Naomi and I had to wake up for a 12 hour work day because it was the Kg.3 Scout Camp!
Nov. 1-Scout Camp
It was a rainy day where the kids spent all day doing different kinds of activities. From what I saw it wasn’t much like Girl and Boy Scouts we have in the states-they didn’t seem to be learning much about the environment and how to survive in it. They participated in lots of things: puzzles, reading a map, solving problems, doing races, riding a zip line, and learning how to line up. T. Nooch was in charge of the Scout Camp and so I helped her oversee everything. We rode on our bicycles to check in with each station and to make sure everything was going alright. Everything went well and we adjusted to the rain. That night, before sleeping over at school, the kids put on a show. Most of their parents came back to school for the show and then left when it was over. I’m sure you can imagine a handful of crying kids and some kids who went home once their parents came. But most of the continued on with the sleepover and said they had a lot of fun. I got to play a special role in the night performance. Every year it is a tradition to have people light the fire. This year there was no fire because of the rain but we used long fluorescent lights and made them look like a fire with paper. The tradition is to have the Zulu people come to light the fire. No one knows who they are or where they come from. As long as you don’t tell my kids you can know the secret, this year…it was Naomi, Mary, T. Jack and I. We wore leopard print costumes, put powder on our faces and made our hair like cave men and women. We ran out and around the fire making noises and trying to be scary. Jack had an aerosol can and matches so most of my time was watching him to make sure he didn’t accidentally light me on fire. Everyone is safe and Zulus will be back next year.
November 4
ELECTION DAY! I was so excited. I am still excited and hope that serious changes will occur. I had told myself that if McCain was elected I wouldn’t be going back to the US anytime soon, now at least that’s a possibility. Where was I when Obama became the President-elect? At Patanadek School in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Filling out evaluations when Alcyn messaged me saying McCain was giving his concession speech.
Nov. 12 Loy Gratong
This is the day where we say thank you to the water that we’ve mistreated all year long. We had a half day at school because that night our school hosts a big carnival for the holiday. Everyone dressed up in traditional Thai outfits. I was a little under-dressed as I think most of the Thai women prepared their hair and make-up for hours. It was quite a site to see. The whole night was a photo shoot that didn’t stop after the kids and their families went home.
The government
I’ll try to explain what’s been happening here but keep in mind I don’t really know either.
The main things…
The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) wants the government ousted. They have been protesting since for a few months and had taken over the government house in Bangkok. This was all known but hadn’t really affected anything. All of a sudden the PAD decides to start their “final battle”. They storm the domestic and international airports in Bangkok and take them over. They want the current Prime Minister to resign and won’t leave until he does. The airports ended up being closed for a week. Luckily, a court ruled that the PM’s party participated in electoral fraud and so the PM had to step down. This had nothing to do with the PAD taking over the airport. This is very brief and you can read more here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1243059.stm
What did it mean for me? Life itself was completely normal but I did know it was something big when Thai people started mentioning it. Thais do not talk about politics so to even hear something about it means it’s big. Everyone kept saying it’ll never last another day, it’ll never go on like this. But it kept going on with little change. Tourists were stranded in Thailand. Thais were stranded abroad. The economy was hit hard since imports/exports were halted. It hurt the economy of neighboring countries as well because Bangkok is the closest international hub for Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. People were scared of Thailand and I read on a website that Thailand was the 6th most dangerous country to be in. The US said tourist should not come here unless it’s essential. PiA put Thailand on its travel ban list. And here we were just going about our days like normal. Because for us nothing did happen.
It was awful for Thailand though. No matter what the PAD wanted I think they would not want to do this to their country. Tourism is expected to drop-I’ve read 40%! People working in tourism are expected to be laid off (think of all the English majors that just graduated and found jobs, and the ones that will be graduating in Feb.). I hope that people continue to come to Thailand as it is not an unsafe place and most people have no involvement in the protests. But I admit that even when I was reading the news articles in the UK and US it seemed scary. The Thai news did not make it seem scary. I don’t know which ones were more accurate.
The biggest part of all this for me is….two friends from Drake were coming to visit me and they couldn’t come. I was more than disappointed. I was angry with it all. I was really looking forward to sharing my life with them and then, something they had been planning for months disappeared in a matter of days. It was completely unfair to everyone in Thailand but this hit home for me. Right now we should be traveling together! I try to tell myself there’ll be another time but I’m still angry. Life goes on in Thailand though. There hasn’t been a word about the protests since they ended.
Dec. 4-7
Naomi, Alison and I headed to Khao Yai National Park for the long weekend (King’s Birthday/Father’s Day). We had a fantastic time but not for the reasons I expected. I was excited to hike and be in nature for a few days. We only spent one day at the park because there were SOOO many Thai people there. I knew it was a vacation destination but it was like Bangkok at a National Park. Insane! We made a friend who drove us around the park one day. It was beautiful and I hope to go back sometime when it’s over its capacity. We decided not to do a organized tour because we figured all the animals would be hiding. But next time I hope to see the elephants, barking deer, macaw, other birds I don’t know, and the elusive tiger (so unlikely though).
The three of us just had fun doing whatever. We tried and failed to find a farm (too bad we couldn’t have just flown to Wisconsin and visited the Bergmann’s!). We went shopping at a bonafide outlet mall! The prices were cheaper than at a mall but still expensive for our salaries. The highlight was eating soft serve yogurt with mangoes and strawberries in it. We tried and failed to go to a winery (my third and final phone conversation with the people at the winery me: how do we get there? Winery people: blah blah turn right blah blah me: we have no car. Can we take bus? Winery people: Huh? No car. No way to come. sorry) I’d say our proudest moment was crossing Mitraphab (the 4 lane freeway leading from BKK to Nong Khai) by foot. We did it. I still don’t know how. I finally got a reason to cheer for a European football team-Naomi is from Liverpool so we cheered for them.
All in all, great travel buddies and a place I want to go back to.
And that’s that. Not brief at all. I have no idea how long I’ve been typing but it’s entirely too long. This should be my lesson to keep up with my blog more often. It’s dark outside and I’m hungry. Tonight I’m headed to the lake downtown to watch some break dancing, BMXing and anything else that is going on there. The best and sometimes most annoying part of KK is I never know what’s going to happen. Cheers to that.
