Moht Yim (Smiling Ant)

Hilary, Noah and I had a fun and relaxing weekend. We got Thai massages Friday night. They are very intense and a little bit painful at first. As far as I can tell, the massage is based on the body meridians which are lines of circulation. The masseurs also use some kinds of accupressure and stretches that remind me a lot of yoga. After attending a mandatory meeting on Saturday morning (boo!) we went to the Healthy Boy vegetarian restaurant. It was delicious and very cheap. Also, the food had a more Indian taste so it was a nice reprieve from Thai food. Saturday night we met up with Hilary's friend Dave who is a teacher in Lampang. He took us to a nice restaurant and then we met up with some other foreigners at a little quiet place called the Au-Si Bar. After some drinks and conversation, we went down to Moht Yim which is the really happening club in Lampang. You have to pay a cover to get in, but you can bring your own drinks and there are live shows all night long. The best word to describe this place is a spectacle. There was this huge dragon head coming out of the wall and it awoke to signal that the show was starting. It's eyes lit up different colors and it's head swung back and forth. Then the band came out and started playing "Who Let the Dogs Out" and suddenly a bunch of dancers came on stage dressed as dalmations. They did these choreographed dog dances and rolled all over the stage. After that number, the MC came out. He is what the Thai call a "lady boy"...basically a drag queen and he does some jokes and sings some songs. Throughout the night various singers, dancers and performers filled the stage. It was really cool. Everybody in the building was dancing and singing along to their favorite songs. Some of the music was Thai pop and love ballads but there was also a Snoop Dogg song and some love songs in English. It was definitely an experience!

Some Lampang pictures

This is the nice little old guy who works as security at our building. He loves getting his picture taken! Also, there is a blurry picutre of the night market (more to come) and a picture of the clocktower which is located at the center of downtown Lampang. We only live about two blocks away from it. Also, Noah posing with the friendly guy.

Pictures from Chiang Mai

These are some pictures taken from our hotel room in Chiang Mai on the first day we arrived. There is also a picture of these amazing flowers that are everywhere here. I think they're called bocarelia. Whatever they are, they smell great!

An intimate experience with the wildlife....

Before I got off the phone with my mom last week, she asked me if we'd had any problems with bugs. I said, "Oh, not really." I had seen a couple of cockroaches but nothing traumatic had occured. I spoke too soon. This week alone, we have been plagued by a bevy of not only insects but other sorts of reptiles and winged mammals. The cockroaches here are huge and fast. Luckily Noah has been in charge of the capture and release project. We've also experienced quite a few geckos. These are not really dangerous since they don't bite. They also eat all the other insects so I don't mind if they're in my room. The only problem is that they make a lot of noise. Last night there were two in my room and I think they were mating! I was often awoken by the strange cackling/bleating of the geckos. Trust me, it's not a pleasant sound. Unfortunately, Hillary wins the award for having the scariest pests in her room. The second night she stayed at P.S. Apartments, she found a spider the size of her palm in her room. It looked like a tarantula. It might have been a Thai bird spider. Look up a picture of that on google if you get the chance. It's ridiculous! Once again, Noah was called in to capture and release. Props to him. Then last night, I heard a really loud scream from Hillary's room. There was a bat in her room! The bat was clearly dazed and flying around in a panic. Suddenly, it flew out into the hallway and we all ran for cover in our rooms. After awhile, we decided to come out and see if it had gone. Noah bat-proofed Hillary's room by swinging a broom around. After finding it to be secure, he started looking down the stairwell to see that it was clear. Once again, the bat flew up towards us and there was more screaming and scrambling for our rooms. Luckily, the boy who works at the apartment, caught the bat in a bag and released it. You better believe that we all had a hard time falling asleep last night. It's very strange but I feel pretty lucky that there are only geckos,ants and cockroaches in my room. Never thought I would say that!

Teaching

I finally got my teaching assignment. I will be teaching four classes which adds up to 17 hours a week. My youngest students are LVT1 so they are about 15-16 years old. The LVT3's will be 18-19 and IEP2's are 20-21. These are just different levels of intensive english classes. I will also be teaching a class about PR for students who are majoring in marketing. There's no book for this class so I will have to design it from units and exercises from various books. I think I'll probably learn a lot from this class since I barely know anything about public relations. So far the students have been really fun though rather chatty. Some of the other teachers warned me that Thai students are very playful and talkative. Unlike in the US, if a student is talking during class, it's not out of disrespect for the teacher. It's been weird getting used to this because things like being late and interrupting class aren't that big of a deal here. Of course, the first day all of this really upset me and I thought the students had no desire to learn English. Then I learned that this is just the way it is. It's really important also that teachers don't raise their voices because people rarely express anger in this country. This is not to say that people don't feel anger but they just don't share it with others. I can't wait to see what my classes are like next week. We stay pretty close to the book so there's not too much lesson planning involved. I'll try to find some fun activities to supplement the books of course.

Glitter

As expected, glitter spilled everywhere in my luggage. Noah pointed out that there is a trail of glitter leading from my room. The stuff is on everything! Trust me, it's not the first time it's happened! Incidentally, I met a really nice Thai girl named Joy last night and she told me that there's not a Thai word for glitter. We'll have to work on that...

P.S. Apartment

P.S. Apartment is where Noah, Hillary and I are staying. It's basically like a hotel but more long-term. It's owned by a really nice family and about three generations of that family live in the apartment. It's nice and safe because there's always somebody working at the desk on the ground floor. We've only met about three other people living here which seems strange. The room is nice..it's a big bedroom with a bed, tv (with a surprising amount of current shows in English), a fridge, a bathroom equipped with a western toilet and a hot water heater/shower and a little outdoor balcony. It's all a pretty nice affair. It's centrally located in town so we can walk almost everywhere. One of the Thai teachers told me that Thai people don't really like to walk around so they use motorbikes for everything. She told me I could purchase one, but I'm a bit wary of driving here...the traffic laws are seriously lax. P.S. is right by the Ansiwat Night Market and not far from the Wang River which runs through town. There are also three or four nice temples in town and of course the baby elephant school just outside of town. All in all, it's a very sweet place and I really couldn't have asked for more. They even do our laundry for us! Now that's service.

Quick Lesson in Thai

So these are some key phrases. Keep in mind that women always end their sentence with the word "ka" while men end their sentence with the word "krup." I'm not going to bother with the tones here because it's just too hard to explain.

Hello= Sawat dee ka/krup.
Thank you= Khap koon ka/krup.
Where is the bathroom? = Hong nahm yu ti-nai?
Beautiful= Soooo-ay
To eat something= Tahn
How much is this? = Nee tao a-rai?
What is this? =Nee a a-rai?
I don't understand= Mai kao-jai.

And the last phrase is probably the most common phrase which really symoblizes the attitude of the Thai people. The phrase is "mai pen rai" and it has a million meanings but generally, it's taken to mean "don't worry about it," "it's no problem," "whatever" or "forget about it." People constantly use this phrase to basically tell each other to chill out and don't get so worried about things. It's really nice that things are so laid-back here!

Night Market Mayhem

So the other night Noah and I walked out of our apartments and bumped right into the Antsawin night market. This is an outdoor street market that happens every night since it's too hot during the afternoon. Strings of lights illuminate the rows and rows of vendors selling all sorts of fresh food, clothes, shoes, accesories. The smells are very overwhelming. Our dinner consisted of blueberry and chocolate Thai crepes, fresh pineapple on a stick, Indian roti with condensed millk, corn-on-the-cob and bubble tea. And we didn't get sick at all! As we were exploring, there was a sudden downpour. The market pretty much broke out into hysteria as the vendors hurried to close up shop. Of course, we hadn't brought an umbrella and we were slightly lost so we ended up running through the rain, singing and laughing. The Thais must have thought we were crazy but it was such an exhiliarating experience. I felt like I was in a movie.

WTF?! Coping with B.O. and plastic airport chairs

Recently, I've spent a total of 25 hours in airports and 26 hours on airplanes. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're completely masochistic or enjoy having no control over your own destiny whatsoever. I want to start a support group for recovering travellers. We could petition for comfortable couches (gasp!) in airports rather than metal benches and plastic boothes taken straight outta the 70s. We could demand cheaper food and fewer delays. Ultimately, we could find the cure for jetlag cause the Airbourne is just not cutting it. Though most of the journey has been beyond hellacious i have to give a shout out to the people at China Air. If you must fly across an ocean, i beseech you to take this airline. Did you know they have interactive in-flight trivia now on planes? I also used this device to help me practice speaking Thai. Maybe i'm a dork but I thought the whole thing was cool. In fact, I was just as charmed by the gadgets as the 8-year old boy sitting in front of me. I especially felt cool when I helped him figure out how to use the controller. China air hooks you up with warm towels, slippers, free booze and awesome food. So now the adventure actually begins. More from chiang mai to come