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!