Settling In

Before leaving for Thailand, I had mentally prepped myself for being all alone in a rural town where I would not be able to converse with anyone in English.  I ensured I had enough books downloaded on my kindle (and also pirated all the Harry Potter audiobooks from the library) to fill my free time.  When I found out I’d be living in Chaiyaphum with two other people from my program (Brynne and Marina), part of me was a little disappointed that this would not be my “own” unique experience.  I would not have all the “struggles” of loneliness I had prepared myself for before I left.  However, after reflecting on it, I think I had things backwards.  I am an introvert and I thrive on being alone.  Very rarely do I feel lonely.  I enjoy sitting and reading books or binging on Netflix for hours and wandering around alone.  But I came to Thailand to grow, and I need to push myself to be more outgoing, to engage with others for knowledge and companionship and provide the same in return.  And not just with the 30 other western teachers that live here in Chaiyaphum, but with my Thai, Chinese, Filipino and Kenyan colleagues and neighbors as well.   I know that for everything I read and learn in books, I can learn twofold more by putting myself out there and interacting with new people of different cultures and backgrounds.  I am so beyond excited for that continued opportunity here in Chaiyaphum. 

My new apartment.  There is no kitchen, but I guess that is the perfect excuse to eat out every meal! 

Apartment pups! I will get to watch them grow up! -heart eyes-

We found a coffee shop in a tree house!

Chaiyaphum City Hall

Sunset photo taken from my 4th floor apartment

The lake near my apartment

Old temple ruins just outside of town

After exploring much of Chaiyaphum on foot for the first couple days, I decided that to truly embrace the Thailand experience, I’d need to get a motor bike.  Everyone drives a bike here and we actually felt less safe walking down the street (because there are no sidewalks anywhere) than we figured we’d would if we were driving a motorbike. For those of you who know me well, or have spent any time with me at all, you know my lack of coordination and ungracefulness is cause for some concern.  But I’ve channeled my inner Macklemore and have begun to gain confidence on the bike.  I’ve learned that there is a very fine line whilst driving between under-confidence, which leads to other drivers dominating you on the road, and over-confidence, which causes stupid mistakes. I am definitely still more cautious than other drivers, and will always remain cautious (I promise, Mom), but I am also having a lot of fun zooming around town. 

We're going to start a motorcycle gang called "Danny's Angels".  When we went to the shop to rent our bikes, we met Danny who graciously taught us how ride, helped us select our bikes and took us on a tour around town.  We found out later that he didn't even actually work at the shop, he just lived in the apartments above.  We then learned that he is a Filipino English teacher at another school, and he gave us the lowdown on all our new schools (each of us is teaching at a different school in town).  He also took us to the one Western Bar in town, "1 Bar" for trivia night where we met a lot of the other western teachers in town.  

My teaching experience thus far feels like I'm living in a dream.  There are multiple times a day where I feel like this can't actually be real life. For example, the other day was exercise day.  Of course, I don't know what occurs on exercise day since I am brand new. Turns out, nobody knows what happens on exercise day and nobody even knew it was exercise day until the day before.  I found out when the spunky Thai director of Foreign Languages, essentially my boss, pulled me (literally pulled me. She likes to affectionately, I think?, walk arm in arm with me) out of the teacher's lounge and told me she was taking me shopping for exercise clothes.  In the middle of the school day.  Luckily I didn't have classes until later in the afternoon.  Ostensibly exercise day was recently mandated by the Prime Minister for all teachers and students to work out together for an hour, which means all classes were cut short by ten minutes.  However when students already arrive 10-15 minutes late anyways because there are no passing periods here, meaning one class ends and the other is supposed to begin at the same time, exercise day basically meant no class.  When we were called down to the auditorium for our exercises (an hour earlier than we were originally told), the teachers spent the first 35 minutes of the hour of aerobics frantically taking photos while 3500 students sat quietly in rows watching mayhem ensue.  Thankfully, I don't consider myself type A, because if I did, my brain may have just exploded from the lack of efficiency.  Luckily, the chaos provided me entertainment, especially the exercises themselves, which largely resembled "The Carleton" dance** from Fresh Prince of Bel Air, prompting me to have Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual," stuck in my head for the rest of the day.  

And today, I forgot my phone at home, but since my apartment is only a 5 minute motorbike ride away, I was able to run back after my first class, which happened to be inexplicably missing about 15 students.  On my way back to school on the main highway, I couldn't get in the main gates because the road was blocked by what looked to be a big parade.  There was a grand marshal, the school marching band and, among 200 or so other students, the other half of my first period class.  And when I asked the director about it after finally making it back, she nonchalantly explained that it was a parade for the greatest Robot prize from the Thai Princess.  Naturally.  Essentially my town is like a Thai Stars Hallow where seemingly odd things are actually the norm.  So, I should fit in just fine...

** For those of you unfamiliar with Fresh Prince of Bel Air, imagine Todd Kurtz style dancing.

The Foreign Language teachers at the morning assembly on exercise day.  I am the only western girl English teacher at my school.  P'Amy, the director/my boss is on the far left.  The P' prefix is similar to Mrs. or Mr. in English and should be used when addressing all older figures in Thai society. 

After exercise day.  Who knows if this will become a weekly thing.  Regardless, a poster with the Prime Minster in a sweatsuit (behind) was made to commemorate the occasion.  I meant to get a closer snapshot of the poster but forgot.  I think he'd make a good meme.

P'Amy and me.  She had our new shirts custom printed.

P'Amy, me and a couple of Thai teachers I don't know.  P'Amy is the queen of photo bombing.  She also had me photo bomb another department's group picture. 

New Beginnings

You know those days that feel like you've lived for a whole week?  I've just experienced 5 of those days consecutively.  Basically almost a lifetime. In the span of 5 days, I have moved from the comfort of Chiang Mai to my new city of Chaiyaphum (with a brief stint in Bangkok), acquired a new apartment, started a new job and have met many new friends from all over the world.  

You can now officially call me Teacher Brynn.  I am a Matayon 2, 3 and 4 teacher (which is approximately grades 8, 9, and 10) for the Intensive English Program at Chaiyaphum Phakdee Chumpon School. I commute to school on my very own (rented) motorbike, which actually probably scares me more than my parents, and I have Thai, English, Kenyan, Irish, Chinese, Filipino and American colleagues. While I've already found myself nostalgic for Chiang Mai and the friendships I formed during my TESOL course, I believe I am very lucky in regards to the people, the agency and the school with whom I've been placed. 

Because I can't think of a sufficient transition into a new topic, I will resort to providing the rest of my updates through photos, yet again. 

These are a couple of my buddies from my TESOL course.  This is after we ravenously walked around the Old City in a large circle without realizing.  The "hangry" faces had subsided by the time this photo was taken

Apparently this is how you spell my name in Thai.  One of the high school aged students at the English Camp wrote it for me, so it could also mean all sorts of bad things.  

On Wednesday of last week, 4 other girls from my program and I flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to attend orientation for our agency, Media Kids.  None of us had any idea what to expect, however at that point, many other people in my TESOL program had already moved to their placements, and we had heard our fair share of horror stores.  One girl was attacked by rabid dogs while walking 2 miles home from the nearest Tesco after buying a pillow for her supposedly furnished apartment; another was left for homeless and had to crash (and still is crashing) with a friendly Polish teacher she met on the street; and two were asked by their brand new students (on separate and distinct occasions) if they were pregnant. Meanwhile, we were trying to figure out how to live up our last days of freedom while we were in Bangkok.  We were able to squeeze a temple, a boat ride and a delicious meal into our one afternoon in Bangkok before our short half day orientation.

Wat Pho in Bangkok

Sunset at Wat Pho

Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho.  This statue is huge, it takes up an entire corridor. I understand the desire to recline though, it must get painful sitting cross-legged all the time. 

Water Taxi Ride to Khao San Road

We were the last people of the group to be sent to our placements, so we sent a sad photo to the rest of the group because we missed them all!

As I mentioned above, I really lucked out when it came to my placement and my agency.  During our orientation with Media Kids, the other girls from my program and I were shocked at how organized, supportive and informative our agents were, especially given the hardships of our fellow classmates.  But again we were warned, like we had been countless times before, that here in Thailand things rarely go according to plan.  Part of our training involved learning about the "Kreng Jai" attitude of many Thais.  It is essentially a desire not to disrupt happiness or upset someone, even if doing so results in dishonesty or inefficiency.  Given that this is almost the exact opposite of western standards, we were told that "Kreng Jai" would probably be the source of many frustrations in our work.  We were also told about "Mai Pen Rai" and "Sabai Sabai," both of which are similar to "no worries" or "just relax." And while I'm sure most of us wish we could always embrace such a  demeanor, there are certainly less than optimal times to be so carefree.  However, I am learning that part of living in a new culture is attempting to adopt all that is before you, no matter how uncomfortable.  So even in the face of not knowing where I was going to sleep the night we moved to Chaiyaphum, or being told I would not know my schedule or what I'd be expected to teach until I arrived at school on the first day, I've tried my best to just "mai pen rai" my way through the days.

Warning sign found in the bathroom at the Bus Station.  There's apparently pretty gruesome consequences for standing on the toilet. 

Brynn, Brynne and Marina.  We were VIPs on the bus from Bangkok to Chaiyaphum.

How crazy is it that of the few Brynn(e)s in this world, two just happen to end up training together in Chiang Mai AND then get randomly placed in the same small town in the middle of Thailand.  It has been funny introducing ourselves to the Thai people, I'm sure they are falsely assuming that Brynn(e) is quite a common name in America, but maybe it will start catching on in Thailand now!  

The Road to the Land of Victory

How epic does that title sound? It makes it seem like I've gone on an arduous journey and have finally found myself in a state of glorious triumph.  And while I haven't arrived quite yet, I'm expected to be there in the next few days...

Allow me to explain a bit more: As I was sitting in TESOL class one day, one of the directors of my program asked me to step out to talk.  She sat me down and told me that in exactly one week, I'd be headed to Chaiyaphum Thailand to teach secondary education at a school of about 3,500 students.  So there it is, I'm off to the Land of Victory. Oh yea, did I mention Chaiyaphum means Land of Victory in Thai?  Every time I think about it, I picture myself doing the Rocky fist pump on the steps of a building resembling the Philadelphia Art Museum.  In reality, I'm betting the town itself will be a bit different, but who knows?  Only time will tell.

The road getting me to Chaiyaphum these last couple weeks has been filled with lots of TESOL training, lesson planning and English camps, with a couple of fun adventures in between.  A few other common themes: mango sticky rice, dogs (bet you couldn't guess that one), sweat, cooking, lanterns and cliff jumping!

I'm also reaching that point I had previously predicted, in which the physical process of writing a blog has become quite daunting.  I wrote those last couple paragraphs almost a week ago, telling myself I'd come back to it shortly. Alas, here I am again and I'm thinking I'll mostly just provide updates via pictures.  Because, at the risk of sounding banal, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Ok, after finishing my last post, I headed off to the famous Sunday night Chiang Mai Walking Street Market in the Old City.  It would be an understatement to call this place huge.  It is beyond massive.  I highly doubt many people have successfully completed the entire market in one night.  If they aren't fazed by the sheer size, the crowds that develop at around 7pm will surely put an end to their progress.  That night, I concluded it was the largest crowd I'd experienced in my whole life.. little did I know that record would be broken shortly thereafter, but more on that later.

I snacked on exactly one cricket at the market. It was pretty cute watching the little kids eat these things like candy but I assure you, the resemblances stops there

A favorite find at the market.  I have seen very few American shirts, so this one made me especially happy given it's not too far from my second home. 

The neatest thing about the market actually happened on our way out.  While trying to wade through the hoards of people, an announcement came over the loud speaker (all in Thai, of course). As we continued walking, one of the vendors handed us each a candle, and we began to understand that there was to be some sort of memorial for the king.  King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away just a week or so before I arrived and the whole country has been in mourning for the past month.  Government workers (me) will be expected to wear black for an entire year in honor of the king.  From all I've seen and heard, he was a much beloved king.  I know he absolutely loved dogs and that says a lot about a person in my book!  Anyways, as we were lighting our candles, all the lights turned off on the streets and the king's song began to play over the loud speaker.  While beautiful, the song is actually quite melancholy, adding to the emotion in the air.  Following the song, there was an extended moment of silence, during which I could hear muffled cries, mostly from the vendors and other Thais at the market.  It was truly a very moving experience.  

After the Sunday night market, our first week of TESOL classes commenced, so the week was filled with homework and lesson plans.  But on Saturday, we headed to a cute little artist community called Baan Kang Wat.  The pictures online made it look so adorable.  And I guess so do the pictures I took.  But I think I had forgotten that I am not all that great at art appreciation and didn't quite know what to do with myself except for eat ice cream.  Which I am very good at. 

 Sunday, however, came packed with fun activities.  First up was an amazing cooking class.  We learned how to make fried spring rolls, pad thai, green curry and steamed pumpkin cake.  I'm drooling as I write this, in case you were wondering.  Our instructor also took us to a local market, and while markets are somewhat ubiquitous throughout the city, I had yet to learn what the majority of exotic fruits and veggies at the markets actually were. She took us to each vendor and told us about each one of food items we had been seeing and eating in our all our thai dishes.  The weirdest was the ear mushroom, which looks and feels like an actual ear. We also finally tried the dreaded durian and to my surprise, it actually was not that bad.  Granted, it definitely wouldn't make it on my list of top foods tried in Thailand, but it ranks above the congealed pig's blood I had later in the week. 

Our fabulous instructor, A.

Family meal

So proud of my creation

After our cooking class, we ventured to the Grand Canyon of Chiang Mai.  I didn't take any pictures of it but it's basicallt a filled in rock quarry with cliff diving and swimming.  Not quite as grand as our Grand Canyon, but it was a fun and relaxing afternoon nonetheless. 

Monday was the Loy Krathong and Yi Ping Festival, one of the biggest holidays in Thailand and the festivities in Chiang Mai are said to be the largest in the country.  Essentially, this festival was the reason I, as well as many of my classmates, chose to go to the Chiang Mai course in November.  I'm sure many of you have seen pictures of the lanterns being let off into the sky.  The photos are absolutely breathtaking.  But I think the image so many of us had in our minds was shattered by the absolute insanity of the crowds.  When we were trying to make our way to the bridge where the lantern floating was to happen, there were points where we could not move because there were so many people.  The roads were also still open, so not only were we battling people, we were also trying to dodge cars, motorbikes and huge tour buses.  I began to think that the whole effort was not worth it and almost turned around.  When we finally did make it across the bridge, however, I was immediately in awe of the beauty surrounding me.  We found a beautiful spot along the river to watch the lanterns light up the sky and the krathongs float down the river, and it all felt especially peaceful after enduring the crazy crowds.  In class the next day, we all had a bit of a debrief about the evening, and I loved the way one of my classmates summarized the festival experience.  She said that while it was awful wading through the crowds, dripping in sweat and trying to avoid being lit on fire by those people that lack important things like intelligence, the night was a metaphor for life.  When we have to labor and toil to arrive at a place we are striving toward, we often appreciate the end result all the more. And those moments sitting down by the river, watching the lanterns and the krathongs float on their way, will definitely stay in my memory forever. 

The festivities began at Wat Pan Tao in Old City

The dreaded bridge.. people would actually light their lanterns and let them off underneath the trees.  -face palm-

This adorable little girl was so excited to let her lantern go.  I saw her as soon as we made it off the bridge and it made me feel so much better. 

On Wednesday, we headed up to a small town outside of Chiang Rai called Padeat for a two day English Camp.  On the way, we stopped at Wat Rong Khun, The White Temple.  It was stunning and like nothing I'd ever seen before.  They also had really yummy mango sticky rice. 

The school where we had English camp was quite rural, and we were told that many people in the town had never seen westerners.  This was made quite evident when I went to the 7-Eleven and a little boy with his parents pointed up at me and exclaimed rather loudly, and in a tone reminiscent of those aliens from Toy Story, "Farang."  Farang is basically the equivalent of gringo and is used to describe westerners, however no one in our group has figured out if it has any sort of negative connotation.  Nevertheless, the parents initially had that look of embarrassment only a three year old can elicit, but I've learned that in Thailand, any situation can be smoothed over with a smile, so after flashing them an understanding grin, we all shared a laugh. 

View from the school

View out of our hotel room in Padeat

In my classroom for the camp.  We all got a kick out of it, especially given The Queen's recent proposition to recolonize the US. 

School Doggo #1.  Meet Tong Tong.  He is four months old and a big floof. 

For English Camp, we were split into groups of 5 and each had to prepare a one hour lesson plan to deliver to a group of secondary students (grades 7-12).  I was assigned Matayon 5 (grade 11) and prepared a lesson plan about pop culture. All went pretty smoothly which made me a bit confident for when I am in charge of my own classroom.  The most shocking thing to me was the student's reaction to us.  They treated us like movie stars and some even cried when we had to leave.  It was an exhausting couple of days but it definitely got me excited to actually begin what I came here to do!

Mook (her "English" name) and me

They LOVED selfies.  

School Doggo #2.  There were actually 3 tiny puppies running around the school the whole time we were there.  Look at that face though.

On the second day of camp, I taught a group of my students the Cha Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle.  I may have even actually tricked them into thinking I was a good dancer. 

I think the highlight of my time here thus far was this past weekend.  I finally got to meet, feed, play with and bathe the most amazing creatures on earth... the Elephants!!  It was truly a magical experience and my cheeks started to hurt by the end of the day because I was smiling so much! They are so smart and sweet and gentle, I wish I could take one home with me.  Maybe I should start a dog/elephant sanctuary when I get back home...  We also had an amazing experience with the company that took us.  The Elephant Jungle Sanctuary's mission is to combat the mistreatment of elephants.  They acquire elephants to try to keep them out of the hands of those that will abuse them for monetary gains, and are trying to change the landscape of Elephant-involved tourism in Thailand.  They showed us such a wonderful time and I am so grateful to them for exposing me to these gentle giants!

They loved bananas.  They'd either grab them from you with their trunk, or you could say "Bon Bon" and they would open their mouths and you could drop the banana in. Some of the baby's were a bit picky and would not eat the green bananas (notice the ones on the ground).  

Elephant Selfie

Baby Elephant

Mama Elephant

Elephants love corn... who knew?

These next few photos are the progression of an elephant about to give me a kiss.  Despite being so kind and gentle, a part of me was still a bit frightened at the prospect.

Giving them their baths.  They LOVED the mud! And they loved spraying us with the mud.

So the elephants would sometimes get really excited in the water.  And look like they were about to charge.  That face is totally warranted. 

That baby elephant is trying to steal a treat out of its siblings mouth. I like his style.  Also note their little haircuts!
- heart eyes-

Today we finished up our last TESOL class at Chiang Mai Univeristy and all of us will be heading out to new homes in the next few days.  It has been such a wonderful couple of weeks in Chiang Mai, learning about Thai culture and getting to know some amazing new people.  But I am so excited for my next move.  I can't wait to get to my town and start establishing a new routine, getting to know all the best food stands, finding a "green curry guy" and a "pad see ew lady," and of course, meeting all my wonderful (hopefully) new students.  Chaiyaphum sounds like it will be a full immersion into Thai lifestyle and culture, with only a handful of other western teachers, and I am really looking forward to that experience.  And while I'm still sad to leave Chiang Mai, I know one thing for sure, I will be back one day.  This place is something special and I hope you all have the chance to experience it at some point!

My favorite Chiang Mai University Doggo.  She is blind in one eye but is so sweet.  She always gives you a little wag when you walk up to say hello.  I will miss her wags when I leave. 

The lake on CMU campus where we had our graduation ceremony today. 

Yes, this is a pile of freshly folded laundry.  Freshly folded by the sweetest lady in the world.  We all call her our Thai Grandma and she has a laundry facility right across the street from our hotel.  She always greets each of us with a warm smile.  Today she hugged me when I picked up my laundry for the last time and said, "I will miss you."  I sure hope I find someone half as wonderful as she is in my next town. 

 Food I've eaten:

• Did you hear me casually mention above that I ate congealed pig's blood.  Here, let me tell you again: I ATE CONGEALED PIG'S BLOOD.  My favorite part was surprisingly (wink wink) not the taste but one of my classmates reaction to it.  We had it for lunch at the English Camp and while we were driving back later that night, I asked her if she knew what the purplish cube in her soup was. Before she could answer, I told her and she freaked out and yelled "I thought it was a purple potato!"  It has become one of my new favorite quotes.
• Nothing tops congealed pig's blood, so I'll leave it at that for this post.

Book(s) I'm reading:

• I finished The Sociopath Next Door, and now I basically think everyone could be a sociopath.  Trust no one!  ;) But really, it was a pretty interesting book and has actually come up quite a lot in conversations.
• I recently started The Art of Racing in the Rain and its written from a DOG's perspective AND set in Seattle, so of course I'm loving it.  But I'm predicting that something bad happens to said dog, so I'm pretty sure I will hate it eventually. But who knows. 

Thanks for stopping by and catch ya'll next time (if there is a next time....)