All Thai’d Up

Well, it’s over. I finished my first semester as an English teacher. The last day for us farang was Thursday, but I got sick early Thursday morning so I didn’t even get to enjoy the last day and craziness of it all, unfortunately.  Luckily I was feeling better by that afternoon so I could still go to the English Department dinner.  Besides, Ms Amporn said she’d come drag me out of bed for it no matter how I was feeling.

After the dinner, we went to Bo’s house for a last night there.  When she dropped me at home, she started crying.  Being a girl, well, it made me start crying, too.  Goodbye are not easy so Lenny and I decided just to say see you later and share a quick hug.

I got up at 7am this morning to put the final random bits in my backpack and get on the road.  I mentally noted everything and everyone in Pakthongchai that I came to rely on: my pedicure/massage place, the friendly post office folk, the ultimate trifecta of vendors – somtom, tom yum kung, and fresh orange smoothies, the Fresh Mart, the doctor who cures my mosquito bites, etc., etc., etc.  I will miss this place – and definitely the people. The town definitely became my home for the five or so months I was there, and I think it’ll be weird not coming back.

I got into Korat at 9:40am and was on a 10am bus to Chiang Khan.

I am here now. It’s beautiful.  The town sits on the Mekong River dividing Thailand and Lao, but you can’t officially cross into Lao so it’s a quiet spot.  I got into my guesthouse around 5:30pm in time for a glorious sunset.  Because this part of the Mekong runs west to east, I get sunset and sunrise on the same deck!

I don’t know that I’ll be making posts too often.  Island life starts next week and something about floating in the warm blue waters makes me ignore everything else.  (I’m absolutely okay with this.) So, from February 29 to March 29 I’m on the road.  Monday I’ll be in Bangkok for immigration, then I’m heading to Ko Tao in the Gulf of Thailand to meet some friends.  Finally I’m off to Angkor Wat in Cambodia for a quick few days before flying to Madrid to meet Rob.  We’re doing Madrid, Seville for Semana Santa, and then the Algarves.

Thanks to all my faithful readers – I’ve enjoyed writing this so much.  I want to keep writing when I get home, we’ll see what shape that takes, but keep checking back.  I will definitely have some words to say about re-entering American life.  Take care, keep traveling, cheers!

Well, school is almost over and the weather has been decidedly spring-like (to Marylanders): cool in the mornings, but sunny and warm in the afternoon, perfect for an evening stroll to market and a bit of coconut ice cream. Anywho, we all know that this kind of weather breeds romanticism.  Take, for instance, the Thai teacher who has a crush on me.  Romantic, right?  OK, maybe not, but catching one of my favorite students making out with his 12-year-old girlfriend in the band room sure is.

But seriously, Tuesday evening my friends Tik and Ing got married.  Tik is Bo’s cousin and also a teacher in the computer department at school.  The wedding was pretty and simple, but a ton of people came out and the food was delicious.  Lenny, Giselle and I ate like we never tasted it all before.  Oh, right…

Ing and Tik with some teachers.

This cute girl kept running past me and touching my arm.

Me and Tuk.

Crazy teachers.  The one on the left really is crazy, I think, and the one on the right is old and weird.  P-Goy, in the middle, is awesome!

Foodie falang!

Three of my ladyboys from Mathayom 6…MMa in the middle is awesome.

Just one of my M6s drinking some whiskey… (Arai-waa?)

THAT’s a wedding pose.

From the looks and sounds of the internet and SMSs, it appears that Pakthongchai Prachaniramit School is the only school in all of Thailand that hasn’t finished yet.  For instance, Mike posted great pictures of his last day of teaching.  I also got an SMS from Doug during the middle of my 3/9 class (who I call the “creepy class” thanks to a handful of students who stare at me and hold my hands and weird stuff).  Doug says:

ALL (expletive) DONE! SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!

It’s not that I’m sick of teaching, I’m just a bit ready to get out of the town and the students are dwindling but somehow still being louder and more obnoxious than ever.  The problem is that having just graduated from university last year, I can totally relate to the last-few-days-of-school hysteria and I don’t want to be at school anymoooooore!

Wait, I guess it is that I’m sick of teaching…Only six more days of reporting to school to go, come on February 29!

In honor of the mid-February slump, here’s a fairy tale.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl with curly brown hair and blue eyes teaching in a faraway land. Everyone told her she was young, and compared to all the teachers in their 40s and 50s, she was. There was a particular young gentleman who taught Social Studies at the same school as her. Kieng was no Prince, but he was kind, shy, and spoke decent English and he always attended the teacher talks that the beautiful girl held with her Thai teacher friend.

One night the girl was talking a walk to get dinner and stumbled upon Kieng and his friends eating noodles. He asked the girl to join him, and in this culture it is rude to turn someone down for no reason: one must always save face. So she saved Kieng’s face and joined them. She had a good time with the friends who spoke little English as she used her very broken Thai. Kieng asked the beautiful girl her age and whether she was lonely or had a boyfriend. After learning that she was very young and had a boyfriend, he said he was 39. The beautiful girl was very surprised because she thought he might only be thirty. In this strange land, the natives often look younger than they are. And Kieng was.

Soon the friends decided to go to karaoke; they insisted the beautiful girl come along, so they pulled her onto their chariot (er, motorbike) and rode off. Sitting with the three men and the other four karaoke girls, the beautiful girl felt very out of place. The friends continued to be friendly, and Kieng continued asking questions about the girl’s home.

Eventually they left and Kieng took the beautiful girl home. When she descended from the chariot, Kieng told her he loved her and he wanted to be with her forever. While she did not love him back, she thought he was a nice guy. She said she was sorry and she told him to have a good night. He was sad. As soon as the girl got inside her home, the sky opened up and began pouring.

The beautiful girl hoped Kieng understood, but he had her phone number and within the next few days, he started calling her. Every day he made sure to call at least six times; every day the beautiful girl did not answer. Her friend remembered that Kieng was probably married- he had been just four months ago, and divorces in this land are uncommon and rather un-fairly-tale-like. The beautiful girl’s beautiful consultant encouraged her to keep ignoring the phone calls and by no means share this story with any other teachers – they are the town gossipers.

One weekend, Kieng was out of town so the phone calls to the beautiful girl stopped. The next week in the lunch room, the beautiful girl was sick and feeling less than beautiful, but Kieng asked whether she had received his calls. She thought about lying, but decided it best to be honest: she told him that it was not a good idea for them to talk. He finally understood, and even though she felt really badly, the beautiful girl knew she had made the right decision.

After that, Kieng only sent the beautiful girl friendly emails and one text message on Valentine’s Day. The beautiful girl lived happily ever after, and she can only hope Kieng will, too.

Thailand doesn’t like Kodak – it takes forever to upload pictures to it.  So check out http://picasaweb.google.com/cnkidd for my pictures!