One Night in Bangkok

Sometimes Life Just Gets in The Way

2009-12-18T09:51:00.000+07:00

Well it has been a couple weeks since my last update and I would like to apologize for not updating. Unfortunately sometimes you have other priorities then writing and other things require your productive attention rather than blogging, as sad as that is. The past few weeks have been full of interesting events, a Thai Styled Sports day full with Parade, a Week off Thai Island Hopping from Ko Samet, Pattaya and Ko Chang, 3 Hospital Visits, and few days of illness and bruised bones and way too much work on Grad Applications and Lesson Planning.

I am hoping to have some updates posted this weekend but I cannot faithfully spend hours working on my blog when I have other responsibilities, mainly grad applications that have deadlines and need my attention. So let this act as an excuse and an apology, until mid January, I will most likely not be updating too much.

As for the next few weeks, I will be spending Christmas and Christmas Eve (Working..grr) in Bangkok, and New Years Eve I am trying to go to Ko Panang for a world famous full moon party. Then for a few more weeks in Bangkok working like crazy to get my applications all done. I will update accordingly. Happy Holidays to those who celebrate them, and I hope you all think of me on these cold winter days back stateside as I am in tropical thailand.

Reactions - Part 4: Don't get caught in a Tsunami

2009-12-03T23:56:00.000+07:00

I am bringing back a series that I started before coming to Thailand - Entitled Reactions. These are based off the reactions that my beloved Friends and family had before my arrival.

My grandmother's reaction was one of my Favorites, "Oh Adam, make sure you don't end up in a Tsunami, you should try to get a high apartment just in case.”

Well, there are several things wrong with that statement. Much to her joy, I currently live on the 4th floor of my apartment building(about 1 km from the sea so that won't help much). But this is my great depression/world war II surviving grandmother who warned me about living in DC due to an inevitable nuclear attack against America. Five years later I can still say, no explosions yet. I have never been one to have fear rather rational or irrational about visiting or living in a location, but then again I am living in Thailand and not Afghanistan so this is not to boast.

The Indian Ocean Earthquake of 2004 was however a tragic natural disaster that effected millions of people and dozens of countries. The repercussions are still being felt in many nations across the world, and I know a few people that lost family and lovers in the tsunami. One of my fellow teachers lost his girlfriend in the Tsunami and I personally think it's one of the reason's he's a bit cracked out.

The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami was caused by an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunami along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing nearly 230,000 people in eleven countries, making it the third most deadly earthquake in recorded history. Tsunamis inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet) high and with a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand being the hardest hit.

Thailand itself actually had a relatively smaller casualty rate then the other top 4 countries, with an estimated 8,000 casualties. Still twice the damage of 9/11, but not nearly as devastating as Indonesia's causilties of over 160,000 people. It is a bit morbid but it is important to put this in scale, for a proves an important point. Several factors besides the location of the actual earthquake factored into the damage done. Mangroves, sand dunes and coral reefs all played a role in helping slow down the forces of a Tsunami off the coast and buffer the effects inland. The fact that Thailand has a much better record protecting these environments then Indonesia and India is an important factor to those coastal towns, and was seen in the much lower casualty rate. Granted the only populated area that was hit in Thailand was Phuket, but of an island where 300,000 people live and thousands more tourist reside only 5,000 people lost their lives, this could have been much worse. Most of the largest tourist beaches were destroyed and it wasn't until late 2005/ early 2006 after major investment most of the damage was repaired.

Thailand was actually one of the most fortunate countries of all that were effected. It benefited from it's own natural preservation efforts in giving some protection to coastal villages, most of the areas hardest hit were not heavily populated, and its financial resources aloud it to rebuild quite quickly. While it was business as usually in Phuket after only a year, many communities in other Asian nations are still devastated and may never recover.

One of the most important aspects to helping save lives in a potential crisis is an early warning system to give people enough time to evacuate to higher ground. No system in 2004 was in place for such a disaster, however in the beginning of December 2006, Thailand launched the first of 22 U.S.-made tsunami-detection buoys to be positioned around the Indian Ocean as part of a regional warning system against giant waves caused by earthquakes under the sea. The satellite-linked deep-sea buoy will float 1,000 km (620 miles) offshore, roughly midway between Thailand and Sri Lanka. Hopefully this will provide minutes to hours of warning time to notify populaces and evacuate them inland. But the last time an earthquake (before 2004) was recorded in the Indian ocean is about 700 years ago, and the 2004 one was only the fourth in the last 2,800 years, In other words, I don't think anyone has much to worry.

This system ofcourse is not in place in the Gulf of Thailand, where most of the Thai population (including myself) live off of, but my apartment on the 4th floor should come in handy if a something ever happens. And i'll remember the warning signs if I happen to be on a beach resort and I see receding water, I will "RUN for them there hills."

My Placement - Samut Sakhon Wittayalai School

2009-11-30T04:09:00.000+07:00

Well it has almost been a month of working at my new Job and I most certainly have some reflections to share.

First of all, My school is about a 15 minute walk or a 5 minute motorcycle taxi away from my apartment which is a wonderful commute. Samut Sakhon Wittayalai is the largest government school in this province and has about 3000 students and only about 180 teachers to cover them all. The age range is from 13 years old to 18 and are categorized into 6 levels; M.1 - M.6, with each level is according to age and academic skill. 1's being the youngest and lowest level with 6 being the highest and oldest. I have been tasked to teach conversation English classes (for M2's and M4's), having each individual class only once a week. But I have 24 separate classes a week of an average of 45 - 50 students in each class leaving me to individually teach over 1000 students each week. The school itself is quite large with about 8 buildings on a fairly large amount of real estate. The classrooms and offices all have air con (THANK GOD) and out of the 3 rooms I teach in, 2 have working microphones so my voice is not gone by the end of the week. The fellow teachers are very polite and nice, and overall have been helpful.

Now that you know the overall backstory, let's delve into what I am calling my 9 Amusing Anecdotes on the Thai Education system.

1. Assembly

Every Morning starts with the Obligatory Thai Assembly. For 25 minutes children all sit in front of a school and listen to a man drone on about something in Thai with a speech so boring the teachers are even passing out. This man is not just the principal or headmaster, but one of the senior teachers that basically runs through the rules of school and recites a bunch of fun Buddhist teachings about how; children who run will fall down and scrape there knees, to leave the stray dogs alone and a bunch of other crap that makes no sense even when translated. The worst part is this man someone talks in a monotone voice in a freaking tonal language, really? Come on. Then we have 5 minutes to stand for the raising of the flag and the singing of the National and school anthem and a good Buddhist prayer to the shrine. For the prayer, a woman recites the Buddhist mantra and sounding like her lips are sewn together with the pitch of a dying crow, why? Why not.

Let's Line up for Assembly, YAY

2. Different Uniforms or Infatuation with Neckerchiefs

As with all Thai Schools, SSW (Samut Sakhon Wittayalai) has a dress code and requires a uniform every day. Our school is a bit more liberal then most and has 4 different uniforms that you can wear on their own perspective days. My personal favorite is Tuesday which is Boy Scout/Army/Navy day. Boy scouts and Military service are somewhat (yet not essentially) mandatory for all Thai citizens and on Tuesday they get to show their short short wearing jamboree planning selves and have Scout activities all afternoon. Which means not only a half day for me but a day full of amusement. Because what screams Manly more then boy scouts? You got me.

Get Your Scout On

3. Schedule...What Schedule?

Well to be fair, the entire country is on Thai Time so why should a government school be any different. Truth be told though I think they actually designed their schedules to not work. The day is split into nine 50 minute periods, with no breaks. Specific periods are designated as Homeroom or Lunch, but with no break in between class time, students feel no pressure to be on time for class since, they will have to be late. How are they supposed to walk from Building 1 across campus to Building 8 in less then a minute. Yah not happening. So the good classes are usually 5 - 10 minutes late and the bad ones are 10-20 mins late.

Good News: I have less class time and even with my lateness I am always early. But you have to wonder, if they had just designed periods with breaks automatically, wouldn't that make things run so much smoother.

4. I'm sorry, you're an english teacher? Doesn't that require you to speak it?

Some of the English teachers do have an admirable hold of the language and can hold a grammatically correct conversation for extended periods of time. However about half of the Teachers can't speak English. Like at all. They use text books, pre-manufactured lesson plans and the lack of oversight to their advantage to actually stay employed, but have awful language skills. It does make me wonder what would posses you to try to teach a Language you don't speak. Like who wakes up one day and says, "You know I don't speak Swahili, and I've never been to a country that speaks Swahili but East Africa sounds like a cool place so I'm going to teach children Swahili.

Thai people, thats who.

5. 15 Baht Buffet

Now for my favorite part of the day - Lunch. I don't know who's idea it was but Thai school lunches are awesome. You must first buy this 15 baht (50 cents) coupon to redeem for your food. Then you can select from about 20 some stalls and get a big plate of whatever you want. Squid Spicy Noodle Soup, Sure. Fried Chicken with Rice and Cucumber go ahead. Glass noodles, Egg, Chicken feet and fish balls, go for it. While some of the choices are a bit revolting for the unready westerners, it still freaking rocks. Then outside of the canteena they basically have an onsite 7/11 store, bottled water stall, hot dog stand, ice cream stand and other treats open all day and for dirt cheap. No wonder Thai kids (and know myself) are getting fatter by the day.

6. Ineffective Classroom Management Techniques: A though D

There is a lot to get in on this subject, so I will save more for a later post. However through the past month I have seen 4 major classroom management styles used by Thai Teachers; Shame, Yelling, Hitting and Ignore/Indifference. All of which basically have the same effect of not doing anything to help control the class. Granted behavior modification is more of an art form than anything else but the Traditional ways to control a classroom in Thailand go under the old assumption that the Khun Krew (Teacher) is a holy figure to be respected only less then Buddha, Monks and the King himself. In contemporary westernerized Thailand, that's just not true and Thai discipline needs to get with the program cause controlling 60 kids at once can be hard.

What I do with my bad kids is I make them stand up, come to the front of the class and make them stand with their nose to the blackboard for the rest of class. Primitive but works like a charm.

Class Control, that's right.

7. I mean we could have class, but we chould have Sports day instead.

Let's be frank, Class is boring. You know it, the Teacher's know it, the kids certainly know it. And really who needs some good olde fashioned edumacation anyway. Since Thailand is the Land of Smiles and not the Land of boredom, the Thai government schools all have a varied amount of days dedicated to different sporting events that impede upon class time. For instance, this upcoming weekend we have "Sports day" for 3 full days, and last week my afternoon classes just weren't nearly as important as watching a Muay Thai fight. And how could you blaime them?

If a boxing ring in the Middle of the School lot doesn't scream education I don't know what does.

Notice how they are all attentive and quiet, wish they would do that for class....

8. Calendar, I'm sorry we don't have a calendar we just all know what days we will have off.

Another fun part of working for a Government School is dealing with a Government School Bureaucracy. Can we have a F.U.N. for FUN! For instance the first week of school I kindly asked the main office ff I could have a schedule for the holidays, testing dates and etc. I was told at first "Calendar, we don't have a calendar". So I asked: "So how do teachers know when they have days off?" Response: "Oh, we just all know. " "Well could you write them down for me" "Oh, I don't remember them all...come back later this afternoon."

So I came back later that afternoon, which turned to tomorrow which turned to later that week, which turned to next week. Until I finally came in and asked for a Calendar or a List of days off. Response: "Oh a list of day's off? Yes we have that. It's in Thai but here you go."

..........FUN

9. Lesson Plans are due every Friday. Ok, but who do I hand them into? Oh I don't know that, they'll just come to you.

Lesson planning is the baine of any Teacher's existance. So much so that we spend hours finding new ways to teach the same old topics. There is this wierd stigma for Teachers in America that all should re-invent the wheel and create their own LP's even though there are professionals who have been doing this for decades. Well in Thailand, no such thing exists, Teachers have a full catalogue of lesson plans they can use from. However foreign Teachers may not, they have to make their own. Thanks. So our manufactured Lesson Plans are due every Friday. And by every Friday I do them, my head teacher asks me to hand them in and then still after a month has no idea who I should hand them into. After peddling my papers to every English teacher in the Department, no one has any idea who I need to hand them into. Well I'm keeping up my end of the bargain so I guess Mai Pen Rai (No Worries)

These are only some of the interesting reflections I have on being a Teacher in Thailand and more will certainly follow. But I do want to say regardless of the less pleasant and sometimes annoying things I can't control, about 75% of my classes are Ok to Good, and even though I do have hard days the good days more then make up for it.

Thanksgiving: Thai Style

2009-11-28T17:08:00.000+07:00

Well I am more then a few blog posts behind (but doesn't that always happen?) and more will be coming but the past week or so has been a little tough. It is always hard being away from Home during the Holidays, especially one as American and completely unknown outside of North America as Thanksgiving. So being away from home has put me in a bit of a slump in the pre-Turkey days where I had no motivation to complete a post.

However I do have many things to be thankful for, Besides my adoring Family, Wonderful friends back home and somewhat good health. I am also very thankful for my new Thai Family which collected itself from all edges of central Thailand to make it to a somewhat expensive but awe inspiring Thanksgiving Buffet here in Bangkok. At of all things a Cajun Restaurant called Bourbon St (If for whatever reason you find yourself in Bangkok for Thanksgiving, it comes Highly recommended just come early)

Thai Family breaking Bread at Thanksgiving.

However the past few days have been full of expat dinners, night out celebrating america and good old fashioned confused Thai people trying to keep up. Have you ever tried to explain Thanksgiving to a foreigner? Let me just say, explaining Pilgrims, Indians and the helping hand of Squanto, the only reaction I got was. "But you killed all the Indians right after you made dinner with them?" Yes, Yes we did. And isn't that the most american thing of all?

Thai Contact Info 3: The Great Fall

2009-11-24T22:17:00.000+07:00

In an event that happened this past weekend that will be known as The Great Fall, my cell phone was lost and I would like to repost my new one so that my fellow thai side contacts can have my number.

New Cell Phone Number: +66 - 0870175246

To make up for the fact that I am an idiot I, thought you all could see the view out my window as I post this update.

My Backyard - Industrial yet Serene

Samut Sakhon aka The Arm Pit of Thailand

2009-11-24T22:03:00.000+07:00

When I first found out my placement city, I had zero internet so I called one of my expat acquaintances in Thailand to ask him what he knew about the city of Samut Sakhon. He responded with a chuckle and the line "Samut Sahkon?? Hmm, that's the Arm Pit of Thailand - Literally and Figuratively. It's Like Jersey and if you look at a map its right in the pit of the nation."

Well that was the eaxct opposite of what I wanted to hear, so I did the first thing any Generation Y'er would do in my position. I immediately ran to the closest internet cafe and conducted a huge Google search to find out, where/what the Hell is Samut Sakhon!

(Does it look Arm Pitty to you?)

Well after some frustration and tribulations (Like for instance English Speakers spell Sakhon like Sahkon, Sakuhn and Sahkhon - all of which make it phonetically correct) i found out some fun facts about Samut Sahkon or S.S. as I like to call it.

(Samut Sakhon Capital Arc Way)

S.S. was for a period of time the main fishing port for Bangkok and still today acts as a important port city linking to Bangkok. Traffic specifically early in the morning is filled with trucks big and small packed up with crates and crates of newly caught fish every morning and is shipped up to the city. Even the roadway loops off the highway straight to the dock and loops right back up - leaving the impression the constructors of the highway really saw no reason why someone would drive to S.S. and stay.

(Just some of Fish and Seafood for Sale)

(I mean doesn't those look yummy... so why are the blue exactly?)

Besides the large Fishing Market, S.S. is also known for a market in a Railway track that recedes as the trains pass through daily. The Train itself goes straight from Samut Sahkon (or Mahachai as it was once called) and straight to Wong Wian Yai Railway station which is right next to the end of the skytrian. The train itself is very Thai, and passes through some nice country side which is a change from the Industrial view coming to S.S. from the highway. Unfortunately it is not nearly as quick as driving and taking a van to Victory Monument (Central Bangkok) takes about 25 minutes with no traffic and about 45 with.

(Now you see a Marketplace)

(And now you see a Train coming)

Overall the pictures I saw made it seem like a quaint town and I was mildly optimistic about S.S. as a place to live. I mean 30 mins from the center of bangkok and teaching in a coastal town by the sea, what could be bad about that?

(The 'Great' View from the Port)

And so far I have come to mildly appreciate the town. First of all door to door I'm only like a 30 min ride into the heart of the City, which is better then some of my friends who live in the city limits. Second, while the town itself is kinda dull, it is really cheap and has a huge market that I keep exploring and finding new things. I am also very close to my school (about a 10 min walk or 2 minute Motorcycle taxi ride) and my rent is relatively cheap for my nice accommodations. I also am near a gorgeous Wat and cute park where I sit to read and relax.

The Aforementioned Cute Park

The Aforementioned Gorgeous Wat

More of the Aforementioned Gorgeous Wat

But that is not to say their are not some drawbacks to the Pit. First and most importantly, the food.

The food of S.S. is not too good. I have struggled to find street food that are even Thai staples such as spring rolls or Pad Thai (Yes, I live in Thailand and can't find Pad Thai). There is an over abundance of fish and seafood and since I don't eat anything that didn't live on the land that does me no good. Besides the seafood they do have is kinda gross. They have this one very popular dish where they take squid, fish and shrimp bits, mix it with egg and make a seafood omelet. I am sure some of you find that appetizing, I do not.

Besides the Food, it is rude to say but some of the People are really awful. First let me say that most of the people I have met have been in true Thai fashion, very sweet and understanding of my Farang ways. But sometimes I find that being a Foreigner in a Town that has next to none (even though we are so close to Bangkok) is a bit hard.

The task of just walking down the street leads to stares, calls of hello, whats my name, you are beautiful, can I have your number..etc. At first it was understandable, and semi-flaterring but after a month, its gotten Old. I now recognize the same people that hassle me over and over and while it apparently doesn't get old for them to try to grab my ass and ask my phone number, it does for me. It was so bad the other day in the local mall, I almost got into an altercation with a woman when she groped me and asked for my number. I promptly told her to fuck off in Thai which caused a big scene. But i've been in Thailand long enough to know what is appropriate and what is not, and confirmed with some Thai Teachers today that this was not respectful. One of them wanted to come with me back to that mall to find her and tell her off themselves, which I thought was very sweet but completely unnecessary.

And the last thing, and this is a biggy. There is NO PLACE to do laundry. I mean none, zero, zilch, zapinsky, nadda, finito. Why? I have no idea, because apparently I live in the only city in Thailand where everyone has a washer. But there are two options I have found out from all of the people I have asked in Town. The first, buy a washer. Ok, that's not happening. The next, take your pants and shirts to the Steam Cleaners and do your undies and socks in the Sink. More like it, but also not gonna happen. So I schlep my stuff into the City every weekend and drop them off at a Laundry place.... lame but it works.

Overall I have come to tolerate S.S., and I am fortunate enough to be in a Cheap place in the outskirts of Bangkok. For many in my program, their placements were far worse. I think after my contract is over in March, I will either find a different place to stay and commute in from the city or more likely, find a new school in a more desirable location.

Loy Loy Krathong Part 2: A Mysictical Night in Amphawa

2009-11-24T20:22:00.000+07:00

Well the last time I left you with this segment I described the first part of Loy Krathong, Yi Peng. Well because the Thai's love celebrating holidays, here is the end festival of the Loy Krathong Festival.

Fate has somewhat played a role in my experiences here in Thailand so far. As it does with all life and travelling, but both of these Festivals have been extreme examples how a quick idea can turn into a wonderful experience. After my first day of Teaching my new co-patriot and I were casually instructed by the Teachers at our school that Amphawa was the place to be in the area to witness Loy Krathong. Amphawa is a small canal village about an hour and half away from Bangkok, that is famous for it's floating markets and for birthing Rama II, the second king of the Modern Thai State.

Night Floating Market through the Channels in Amphawa

The trek its self to Amphawa was an adventure on all it's own. Alli and I needed to take a motorcycle taxi to a bus, a bus to Samut Songkram, and another bus to Amphawa. The whole trip only really took an hour or so, but it was interesting for sure to travel thai style. Oh and in total it cost about 25 Baht or 75 cents.

When we arrived to Amphawa we found a large night market and a large canal system with the floating market going in full force. The food was delicious and there was lots of different type of seafood and strange squid and fish I have never seen before.

We were probably 2 of maybe 6 farang (foriegners) that we saw, so we were fortunate enough to have a Tour guide. The coordinator of our placement agency contracted to us from the American Tesol Institute, Pat, decided to come and guide us through Loy Krathong in her home town. Pat works for a teacher contractor company that organizes the Thai side of the American Tesol Institute's operations. Pat has been a tremendous help and if it wasn't for her and a few others at Innovative Solutions (her companies' name), I am sure I would be lost.

Pat was at the Festival with her mother and was nice enough to take Alli and I through Amphawa. We made our way through this large park that had festival performances, the King's residence all light up and a premier view of the river for the Loy krathong floats.

Alli, Pat, Pat's Mom and I at Loy Krathong

I wasn't expecting to have anything to compete with Yi-Peng, but this was definitely a contender. There were not many Lanna Sky laterns but thousands and thousands of water floats, with boats all lit up and sending off fireworks. We found out later that the Governor of the Provence was at the festival, so it was made extra spectacular just for him. Once again my camera does not do the best at night but I was able to get some choice photos.

Thousands of Floats in the River (Apologies for Poor Quality)

Alli and I with our floats

Floats away!

Overall it was another wonderful Experience and once again Pictures cannot fully depict the festival in it's glory. After the festival Alli and I tried to catch a Bus back to Samut Sahkon but for some reason the Bus that Pat had pointed out to us said he wasn't going to S.S. and after a long ordeal of waiting for transportation, Pat was nice enough to drive an hour out of her way in both directions to get us home.

Thai Contact Info 2: My New Home - Samut Sakhon

2009-11-18T18:12:00.001+07:00

Well All,

As some you you may know, I have received my Placement and I am currently Living and Teaching in the Outskirts of Bangkok (20-30 min van ride). The name of my town is Samut Sakhon and I am teaching at the Samut Sahkon Wittayalai School.

I have moved into my apartment (PA -Apartments) provided my my Employer and it is very nice even by Western Standards. For those that wish to know my address to send cards or gifts here is my apartment.

Apartment 405

English:
923/14 Ekkachai Rd

M. Mahachai, Samut Sahkon

Thailand 74000

Thai:

923/14 ถนนเอกชัย ตำบลมหาชัย

อำเภอเมือง

จังหวัดสมุทรสาคร

74000

I will be sure to update you all If/ When I end up moving.

Now I Know Why Thai's Cannot Tell Time

2009-11-18T17:57:00.000+07:00

There is an ever present Phrase that many westerners use to describe the Pace of Life that occurs here in this part of the Siam Kingdom. It is known as Thai time. Know, many cultures to the Italians, Spaniards, to the Southerners and to the DC Tourist walking up the escalator in the subway (STAND ON THE RIGHT- WE EVEN HAVE SIGNS) are slow to a East Coast Boy.

However Thai Time is something of a misnomer as Thai's are very hard working and do their jobs well, it just takes them forever to do it. For instance, I have been teaching at my School for 3 weeks, it was only today that I was given a student workbook so I could lesson plan. Why did it take them 3 weeks to go to the storage closet and get me a book - Thai Time.

Well I have found the elusive answer to this conundrum. Thai's cannot tell time because they can say each individual hour in 4 to 5 different ways. Yes that is right. It is actually very Thai, I mean to have a system so confusing to tell time you have to be late, it's quite a classy way to go.

First there is the Informal way to tell time. For the AM's they have an early half way and late half way.

Early AM's
1 AM. Dee Nong

2 AM. Dee Song

3 AM. Dee Sam
4 AM. Dee Si
5 AM. Dee Ha

Late AM's
6 AM. Hok Mong Chow (hok = six)
7 AM. Nong Mong Chow (Nong = one.. what?)
8 AM. Song Mong Chow (Song is two..)
9 AM. Sam Mong Chow
10 AM. Si Mong Chow
11 AM. Ha Mong Chow

12 - Noon - Thii Ang Wan

Early PM's
1 PM. Bai Nong Mong
2 PM. Bai Song Mong
3 PM. Bai Sam Mong
4 PM. Bai Si Mong (If it is Light out)

Mid PM's
4 PM. Si Mong Yen (If it is Dark out)
5 PM. Ha Mong Yen (Regardless of illumination)
6 PM. Hok Mong Yen

Late PM's
7 PM. Nong Thum
8 PM. Song Thum
9 PM. Sam Thum
10 PM. Si Thum
11 PM. Ha Thum

12 PM - Midnight - Hok Thum or Thiang Khuan

Confused? Yah, thats 7 endings to tell the time compared to the western 2 (4 if you include Noon and Midnight) and this is just one way to tell time.

There are four more. The Official/ Government way which works like military time. Say 1 - 24 and then Nalika ( Means Watch) so Nong Nalika - 2:00 or 2 am or Yi-Sip Nalika - 20:00 or 8 pm. WAY easier. Luckily everyone understands this way, so that is what I resort too.

However there are also 3 other ways to tell time. a Northern Way and Southern Way and a Northeastern way. God forbid the Central Bangkokian Way be used everywhere, cuase it's just so easy.

So if you ever wanted to know why Thai's take forever to do something, Its because you probably told them you wanted it by tomorrow at 3 am when you meant today at 5 pm.

Teaching HIV + Orphans and Monks; Just another day on the Job in Chiang Mai

2009-11-18T17:22:00.000+07:00

My last week of training in Chiang Mai was one full of lesson planning, teacher practices and saying good bye to my friends at the Program and in the city. For ATI's last week on the program, they had us conduct five 30 minute teacher practice classes, using the various lesson plans we had accumulated over the program. Each day had its own challenges, lessons and rewards.

On Monday, we were fortunate enough to go to a Mission, known as the Agabe Home. The Agabe Home is an orphanage and school that was established by Western missionaries for children that are HIV+ and children orphaned by HIV/ AIDS. The facility itself was on the outskirts of Chiang Mai and had a very beautiful and well funded compound. While I was very honored and excited to have this opportunity, I was still completely freaking out.

I unlike many of my friends at the program actually have experience dealing with children of many ages. In High School I was a Teacher's Aide and a camp counselor of various age groups for 3 years in a row, and I spent my freshmen year working in AmeriCorps teaching underprivileged students English and Math in the inner-city DC public school system. After all that, and my very natural temperament with Children (Some may laugh but I tell you kids love me - It's the big ears) I was still absolutely freaking out. I was the fourth person to go that morning and the first two teachers kind of bombed. We only had about 15 kids, but they were not listening, had very low English levels and were kind of a mess. However after some guidance from our wonderful Instructor, Sangeeta, we re-arranged the class setup and the person before me was a ROCKSTAR and calmed them all down. So I was able to bring in the reigns and had a fantastic class; the kids were attentive, responsive, controlled and they flew through the lesson. It was quite exhilarating and was a great first class. If only the rest of my week went by so smoothly.

On Tuesday we all loaded up in a song-tao (big red trucks) and headed off to a small government school. This day I was second to go and my co-patriot who was first was very ill so his class was over quickly and somewhat uneventfully. My class, didn't go much better. First I only had about 6 students, 2 boys 4 girls, none over the age of 9. My lesson plan was superheroes but it was a bit advanced for them to say, and after the first 5 mins of my class the only marker pen in the entire room broke, and it took another 5 mins to find one in the school - which led to failed attempt to play an impromptu game, FUN. Then halfway through my lesson a older woman and two babies just came into class, sat down and started participating and answering all the questions I wanted the kids to answer. I asked her to leave and she just sat there. Her phone kept ringing and in the Middle of class she started having a phone conversation. I'm sure it went something like this.

"Hey Gurlfriend, Yah I totes crashed this Farang (Foreigner's) English class... Yah he is tall and very white, but still he's asking all these funny questions about superman and batman, I sooooo knew the answer, These kids are big kwai (Water buffalo - meaning stupid). Yah anyways these two babies I’m watching are crying so I should prob go feed them or drop them on their head or something, LATTTA gurlfriend, chup chup (kiss, kiss)."

Needless to say, I bombed.

The last three days of the week we were assigned to teach at a monks school. Now I'm not sure about you but I think that's freaking awesome. On Wednesday when we arrived to the school, all the monks were taking a morning assembly in front of their school and the site of 300 monk children all praying in their orange robes was very intimidating. So off we went to teach. I still think that this was the most stereotypical Thai school I have seen yet. Shoes were to be removed from before entering classes, there were only fans and open windows (which worked better then you think - granted we were in the mountains) and very well behaved children. Although the kids were extremely well behaved and respectful there were a few problems with our class.

First and most importantly, some of the children and by some, I mean 19 out of 22 had no English skills. I mean zero. This was not true for some of the other classes but many of the Monks in then School we were teaching were from the hill tribes and did not even speak Thai that well. Meaning for many of the students, this was their third language and they were 13. Yah, Ok. Next I was doing a reading exercise. And my students couldn’t read English. I mean, at all. To be fair, it was not the easiest reading and some could recognize words, but besides the two older students in my class, no one had the language for the lesson plan. Lesson plans are the building blocks of any teaching experience. Even after a few weeks in the job I can tell you how they can make or break any class. But we were required by the program to make it work ala mode Tim Gunn, which was frustrating. Wednesday was by far the worst day so far, and after school I got a bit depressed. I had done so well where others hadn't and from Monday I had consistently gone downhill.

On Thursday I was blessed in changing rooms and kids, and with a Listening exercise which is much easier for low level learners. It went considerably better and I was able to go before Lunch, which any teacher can tell you makes a huge difference with concentration. Then for Friday we were able to do any lesson plan we wanted, I picked animals and colors and was a rock star. Finishing my program was both exhilarating and somewhat abrupt. I guess you can never learn enough before being a teacher and just have to do it. But my last week in Chiang Mai was very successful from a professional standpoint and most certainly helped me in my nerve in Teaching Children. I learned a lot of valuable lessons dealing with a large range of learners and students from all different types of teaching styles; Western, Thai, and Buddhist.

Monk School ... Ok, its just the Chiedi, but still I want that at My High School

Getting my Teach on with Monks

Playing Zoo - An Animal Musical Chairs Spin Off

Still to this day I get a little nervous before class, but it all melts away the first smile you see, the first light in the eyes of child who understands or learns something new, and that makes it all worth it.

For Additional Information on the Agabe Home, or to make a Donation please visit http://www.nikkisplace.org/ .

How Things Are Done in Thailand: Part 2

2009-11-10T19:28:00.000+07:00

This is How you make a Phone call in Thailand;
Ring...Ring...Ring

Oh, Hello!

This is how you wear sunglasses in Thailand

This is how you open a Beer in Thailand

(Yes that is in the Bathroom)

Once again I just thought you guys should know.

Ba ba bo bo sam rap Thailand!!!

2009-11-10T18:56:00.000+07:00

The following is a passage about life in Thailand was written by a buddy of mine through the ATI program, Rob Weaver. He is a typical cynical Englishman from London, so read it with a deep British accent and it makes it all the much better.

-----------------------------------------------------

Okay so here's what I have learnt about the Thais over the past few weeks - feel free to add more if you feel I've left anything out. I love the Thai people, but they really can be very strange sometimes........

1) Thais cannot tell the time - there are 4 systems for telling the time, some of which depend on which region you are in. Their inability is shown by their sense of timekeeping.

2) Thais cannot be flustered - the attitude of Mai Pen Rai means they never worry, leave everything to the last minute and infuriate Westerners.

3) Thais are possibly colour blind - the system for colours in Thailand is ridiculous, for example the word for purple (mu-muang) is the same as the word for mango. Why mangos aren't purple? Would you call an orange a blue?

4) Thais have no sense of rhythm - just try and get a class of Thai children to repeat a simple drum beat and you'll see what I mean.

5) Thais hate Thursdays - the word for Thursday is about 5 syllables longer than every other day - i think that it translates to "day that is shit and no where near as good as Friday"

6) Thais take pleasure in simple things - for example the I.T teacher at my school who loves Harry Potter. The only thing he wants in the world is a pair of Harry Potter glasses.

7) Thais are fascinated by blond hair - hence all the stairs I get from small children, old ladies and I.T teachers who love Harry Potter

8) Thais have never heard of the Nazi Party or Adolf Hitler - a man walked past me at a festival with the biggest Swastika on his tee-shirt that I have ever seen in my life and all my fellow teachers wondered why i looked like I had seen a ghost. When I tried to explain just why a man should never have a Swastika on his tee-shirt they shrugged their shoulders and said they didn't understand. Then they said Mai Pen Rai

9) All Thais support Liverpool - see a few months ago when the Thai national team played Liverpool and all the Thais in the crowd supported Liverpool.

10) Thai motorcyclists are fucking nuts!!! - in no other country in the world would you see a family of 4 plus shopping ride a motorcycle through a busy city at rush hour.

---------------------------------

Basically after all this who wouldn't be Ba ba bo bo sam rap Thailand! (Crazy for Thailand)

Motorbiking in Thailand: The Ascent to Doi Suthep

2009-11-10T17:55:00.000+07:00

On the last full weekend in Chiang Mai, ATI was gracious enough to give us one day off in between 6 straight 10 hour days and 5 days of Teaching Practice. My copatriots and I decided it would be a great idea to see one of Chiang Mai's most notable Wat's: Doi Suthep.

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep is about 15 km west of Chiang Mai on the Summit of Doi Suthep overlooking the city, most strikingly during the night when it's lighted golden chiedi (see below) is lit up and hovers over Chiang Mai like a ghostly balloon or light on top of a skyscraper you can just barely make out. The trek to Doi Suthep however requires you to go through a 30 - 40 min drive through a winding-steep forested drive. And who's brilliant idea was it to NOT take a 60 baht song-tao (Red Truck/Vans) but to take a motorbike? No sure, but in Hindsight I should have killed that person on site.

Of course if you need me to jump out of a plane, go cave spelunking or kill a massive cockroach. I'm your man. But there is no way in hell I was going to drive a motorbike in Thailand traffic. So my roommate was gracious enough to allow me to ride on the back of his motorbike as we made the ascent. Now picture us, both 20 somethings over 6'3 on a small dinky motorbike travelling through hairpin turns and blind corners. Funny, maybe, Terrifying, oh yah.

At one such hair pin turn overlooking a 500 some foot cliff my roommate decided to pass a van through a blind corner. At that same time another van had been coming from the otherside of the road, leaving no room for us. For a split second I actually thought the two cars were going to mush us together before our motorbike was flung over the cliff landing us on page 5 of the Bangkok Post of some poor foreigners who thought they could drive in Thailand. But miraculousness we made it through to see Doi Suthep.

The Golden Chiedi of Doi Suthep (Pronounced Jhi-eh-di)

Ringing the Bells for good luck

Overlooking Chiang Mai

After almost being run over I had a complete hissy fit and forced my roommate to be a bit more careful. The rest of the ride was no less stressful or horrifying by my part, but we did make it to Doi Suthep in one piece. (Which is better then one of the girls on our trip who drove into a ditch). It was a good day trip and we saw some stupendous views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

Going 50 m.p.h. through windy roads with no seatbelt has never been my idea of fun. However after the entire experience I am glad for it. For one, it has given me a great comfort riding on motorbike taxis in bangkok, which really are the best way to get around short distances. 10 baht (About 30 US cents) can get you a 2 minute drive to a destination that would have been a 15-20 min walk.

Loy Loy Krathong Part 1: Yi Peng

2009-11-09T23:42:00.001+07:00

On my last full weekend in Chiang Mai, I had the pleasure of seeing one of Thailand's most famous spectacles and one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in quite some time. (It's even on the cover of the Lonely Planet Guide for Thailand.)

The festival of Loy Krathong is one of the most popular holidays in Thailand. It is held annually on the 12th full moon according to the Thai Lunar Calendar and is a festival to pay homage to the goddess of rivers and waterways, Mae Nam. Loy literally translates to "float", while Kratong is the Thai word for a sort of tray made out of banana leaves. Loy Kratong is celebrated by floating elaborate kratongs decorated with flowers, candles and incense on just about any waterway in the kingdom.

There is actually a folklore romantic story behind the festival which origins of the festival in 13th century Sukhothai. According to the story, Nang Nopamas, a royal consort of King Ramkhamhaeng (the founder of Sukhothai), made the first kratong as an offering to Mae Nam. She set it afloat on one of the canals of the palace so that it would drift past her lover the king. The king was delighted with the creation, and thus was the origins of the saying that if two lovers set a kratong adrift and it stays afloat until out of sight, their love will last forever.

Thee nearly week-long Loy Kratong celebrations held in Chaing Mai are said to be by far the most interesting and eventful. Loy Kratong in Chiang Mai has the added feature of a parallel festival called Yi Peng. Yi Peng is celebrated by launching hot air balloons made of rice paper into the night sky. The night sky is literally filled with thousands of these bright lights shining like a moving river of stars. It all culminates on the First Night of the Loy Krathong Week, where the greater Chiang Mai hunker down to Mae Jo, a Buddhist Temple behind Maejo University (Chiang Mai University) and has a spectacular event of thousands of these Lanna sky lanterns floating off at the same time.

Having the luck and pleasure of being in Chiang Mai for Yi Peng was truly mystical. My camera is not one for night pictures but I was able to capture some pictures.

Yi Peng Lanna Laterns in the Sky

Helping Some Thais with there Yi Peng

Can you see the thousands of lanterns in the sky behind me? Baller

An attempted Video to show the lanterns ascending to the Heavens.

Overall Yi Peng was one the most wonderful experiences I have had so far in Thailand. Pictures and videos really don't do it justice. To see hundreds of sky lanterns fly thousands of feet into the air only to fall back to the ground as sheepish ghost shells of their former glory, creating a heavenly circle of life in the sky is something one truly must see for themselves. I am blessed to have been so fortunate.

One Night in Bangkok Begins

2009-10-29T20:26:00.000+07:00

So all, as some of you may know I have recieved my placement and I will be moving this weekend. I will be placed in a suburb or bangkok, in a coastal "town" called Samut Sakhon, Bangkok, Thailand at the Samut Sakhon Wittayalai School. I have not been told anything else about the school or what my position is but I am assuming

It is a 50 minute train ride outside the city , and like a 30-40 minute drive outside of the city in low traffic, which is never so probably double that.

My training is coming to an end as I write, tomorrow is my last Teaching Practice at a local school for monks, and on Saturday I move to Bangkok to apartment shop, and I start teaching School on Monday. I will most likely not be able to post too much in the first couple weeks so If you see a dry spell it is because I'm doing the whole moving, starting a new job thing. I most certainly will have many more updates about my adventures in Chiang Mai and my first days Teaching.

Yood Phood: My initial observations of Thai

2009-10-29T18:01:00.002+07:00

Let me preface that the following rantings are in no way supposed to be offensive to the amazing Thai culture. But the Thai language to an outside can not only be intimidating but sometimes quite hysterical.

After a first bastion of Thai Language classes I have come away with a few key phrases and some wonderful observations. So I present to you my 5

1. (Nong)

The Thai Alphabet is ridiculous. It has 44 consonants, 15 vowels which combine into 28 vowel sounds and 5 tones. See below for confusion

Thai Alpabet

WHHAAAAAA??????

2. (Song)

As in a song... singing... tones... tonal language?

Five Tones: What does mai, mai, mai, mai, mai mean ? "New wood doesn't burn, does it?" Obviously..silly westerner, I can hear the difference in the sentence no problem.

To be fair, tonal languages have a bad rap from Westerners mainly from our inept ears. However after several sessions of straining to hear the difference, one can. The Low, Middle, High, Rising and Falling Tones all have their own length and style to them and it does make for some funny mistakes if you mess up.

Another example of this is Khao which has 5 meanings: Fish, News, Rice, White and Conjunction word that has no meaning. It can most certainly be confusing for foreigners.

But you can also make the mistakes and it's ok. For instance when I was in class, I made such an error when I asked for a "Condom on my Penis", instead of "Spicy Soup with Egg"...opps.

3. (Sam)

Besides the intimidating alphabet and tonal range Thai is very easy; seriously.

The grammatical makeup of the language is very simplistic and is essentially the opposite of English. So instead of saying "Where is the bathroom?" you would translate it and say "Bathroom is where?" (Hong nam yu ti nay) With Hong nam meaning bathroom, yu meaning is and ti ray meaning where. It is a fairly typical structure and is only like english when you are taking about people, like I love you is Phom (I) rak (love) khun (you).

The other extremely simplistic thing about thai is conjugations and tenses. It really only had future and present tenses. Past is indicated in a present tense verb but by a descriptor indicating time such as yesterday (Phrung ni). Conjugations are as simple as adding words before a verb. SO NO CONJUGATIONS!! The bane of my existence as a romance language learner and speaker. For Instance, go is (pay) but going is (kam lang ja pay) with the (kam lang ja) being the -ing at the end. It works like this for most verbs and its fantastic.

4. (Si)

Si is yes in several romance langauges but in Thai it means 4. And is the perfect number to explain my fourth impression of Thai - No.

No, yes no, not or un is one of the best things. For all negatives aparently the Thai forefathers were too tired t come up with different words for things like good or bad, right or wrong. So, they decided to just have good, and no good, right and not right. Makes it much simpilar and if you don't want, like, need or etc something you just put Mai in front of it.

Mai Krup Khun Krap - No thanks
Mai Pet - Not Spicy
Mai Di Krap - Not good

5. (Ha)

Funny Words (As in Ha-Ha-Ha...Ok I'll stop) that are not supposed to be funny: examples below.

Ting Tang - Crazy
Ba ba bo bo - Really crazy
Muu - Pork (Cows moo silly thai people)
Bang - Some .. therefore Bangkok means.....

Overall I really have enjoyed my Thai classes so far and I am finding the language a little less hard then I thought it would be. There certainly are some strange things in this language but so far I am picking up basic sentences which is great.

So I leave you with my favorite thai phrase for the classroom: Yood Phood - or Stop Talking.

Thai Limerick: Ode to LadyBoys

2009-10-23T21:00:00.000+07:00

Although most days at the American TESOL Institute are fun, this afternoon's lesson was specifically fun. Our Instructor demonstrated a new writing exercise we can do with our students and this is the by-product, a Limerick I have titled, "Ode to lady boys"

This is dedicated to my co-patriots Shane, Tom S and Melissa.

There once was a Lady boy from a Town named Copper,

Who danced all night dressed like Cyndi Lauper,

But she found a nice man,

Who promised her Beach life with sand,

So she showed him a good time with the SHOWSTOPPER.

Demonstrated Below.

How Things Are Done in Thailand - Part 1

2009-10-23T20:50:00.000+07:00

This is how I get to work in Thailand.

This is how I pet a Kitty in Thailand.

This is how I take a Shower in Thailand.

Just thought you guys should know.

My Pai (Pie) Adventure

2009-10-23T20:39:00.000+07:00

This Past weekend I had a brief weekend in between training to go sightseeing so me and 15 of my closest friends from the program decided to take an over night trip to the Northern Hill Tribe Town of Pai (Pronounced Pie).

First let me preface that this trip was somewhat spontaneous and was organized at a subsidized price by far one of the most wonderful Thais I have met so far, Julie Jolie. She owns a local Guesthosue in Chiang Mai, Called The Lanna Guest House. She is a Grade A person, shes fun, interesting, speaks really good English, and totally has the Hookup for anything you would want. She has friends and connections all over and within 5 minutes of meeting her I was on her phone with a local Chiang Mai-an who had the connections for the best bars and clubs in the area.

Julie Jolie and Me.

She also acts as a Tour Guide on the side, so we were fortunate enough to have her organize our overnight trip to Pia.

Starting way to early on a Saturday we all jumped in a Van to head up north. Along the way we saw an elephant farm. Farm is really a strange term for it, but essentially its where tourist go to see, pet, play with and ride elephants. These Elephant farms are popping up all over Thailand, and the intention behind them is actually not as maniacal as you may think. With the rapid industrialization of Thailand, the work-horse of the Land of Smiles has become automobiles and the use of these trained elephants has become almost obsolete. After logging was outlawed in Thailand in the 1970's, the use of these elephants have become severely lessoned. These elephants are raised from infants usually by a father - son team of trainers and are required by law to be let in the wild after the age of 61 and most live till around the 80 year mark. So one of the alternatives to having this symbiotic relationship of Man and Elephant come to an end due to Modernization is use them in these Tourist Venues.

Chang (Elephant in Thai) and Me

An Elephant Drawing a Freaking Elephant - Amazing

So after some good trunk groping, a sports and art show (YES ELEPHANTS DRAW ART!) and some Elephant riding we were on our way to a Tiger Farm. Now remember all that good reputation for Elephant Farms, Tiger Farms are the opposite. To be fair the one we went too seemed legit, clean, well maintained and behaved tigers, but these places have a reputation for doping tigers and keeping them in unsanitary conditions. Regardless who could give up the chance to spoon tigers?

Rawwwr.

So after some good tiger petting we were off to swimming in a Waterfall which is always good time. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard and the waterfall was pretty misty so I wasn't able to get too many pictures.

Waterfall

But after a relaxing swim we drove through the windy hills and eventually ended up in Pai. Pai is a "small" hill tribe town in the Northern Mae Hong Son Province (about 5-10 km from Myanmar), but in recent years it has turned into Hippy Resort Town extraordinare. It was really clean, developed and western which was kinda disappointing but it did have a fun hippy, artsy scene. It has a lot of great bars and restaurants in close proximity to each other which is also a rarity in Thailand and is most certainly worth a stop. After a night out with Julie and her Pai friends, I took my first night time scooter ride (Scary) and it was off to bed.

Overview of Pai

(Northern Thailand with Myanmar in the Background)

The next morning after getting some fantastic coffee from a cool Finnish-Thai Hippy joint, we set off to a local Wat to offer Merit to the Spirits so that we would be protected in our future adventures. I have never been in a Buddhist blessing ceremony but it was really cool. Although you have to sit in the most uncomfortable position kneeling on hardwood floors for 20-30 minutes so that was awful. Also our Monk keep having his cell phone go off? And he was totally ignoring someone calling him like 5 times in a row. A Spirit Emergency? Who knows but he acted as if there was nothing blaring in the background and I appreciated it. Mai Pen Rai - Thai for no worries or that's life.

Merit Ceremony

The last stop on the trip before heading home was a rafting cave spelunking expedition. Yes, thats right. Imagine going cave spelunking on a river through huge caverns with Thousand year old coffins and painting from 2,300 years ago and you get the general idea. Again, photos, not the best but I tried.

Coffin Cave (Tham Lot)

After another 4 Hours of windy roads we were finally home. Julie was a fabulous Tour Guide and I had a blast. Definitely a great way to spend my first weekend in Thailand.

Chiang Mai: I have arrived

2009-10-15T22:55:00.001+07:00

Well, my first week of training is almost complete and I have been in Thailand for almost a week.

Summary in short: I am having a fantastic time.

It may just be the Honeymoon period but I am really enjoying both my Training and my new found friends. Some of these people are really great and I'm getting a long really well.

The American TESOL Institute currently has three different training locations for TESOL certification in Thailand. They offer the special program where they Train and Place you in schools in three distinct locations. Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai. I choose Chiang Mai, which the the second largest city in Thailand. It is known for its cheaper cost of living cost, relatively cooler winters (not exactly true - its still 90 degrees in mid Oct) and its new age, artist community. Honestly, I signed up for Phuket first what would be better then Training on the beach? But in hindsight I am really glad I am in Chiang Mai. Training has been very intense sometimes 10 some hours every day for about 3 weeks, not leaving a terrible amount of time for free time. But Chiang Mai has a very friendly populace, remains fairly un-touristy, and is really cheap. It would have been a crime to be on the beach and not be able to go every day because your in class till 6:30 pm.

I'll update more on training and such later but I have homework and this weekend a large group of us are heading to a Mountain Town Pie, which has a famed eco-tourism and supposedly a fabulous Hill tribe market. An on the way were going to ride elephants, play with tigers, hopefully go rafting through a cave system and generally have a great thai time.

Becuase Even Tokyo needs a Statue of Liberty

2009-10-15T21:58:00.002+07:00

My old college Roomie I stayed with in Japan sent me some excellent photos today and one I think it just very bizarre. Apparently the Japanese in 2000 felt the need to commemorate the "Year of the French" with a Statue of Liberty and placing it in Odieba with a great bay view of Tokyo.

The Lady of Liberty and Me.

And Why not? I mean nothing screams French pride like an exact replica of the Statue of Liberty.

Reactions - Part 3: Have a contingency plan for the incoming Civil war

2009-10-15T21:24:00.004+07:00

Before my departure from the States I had dinner with an Ex of mine to catch up on our lives and to say goodbye. He still is one of the kindest people I know, and has been very gracious in offering both his advice with his own extensive travel adventures in the area and putting me in touch with contacts still living in

Thailand

. As our dinner came to an end we were walking home, and when farewells were said; he stated an interesting tidbit of advice.

“Promise me you’ll have a contingency Plan for when there is a Civil War”

UM, my contingency plan is that I am 6’4 and white, I do not think even impassioned rebels will see the need to kill me as I cannot vote or be any threat to there empowerment, It's not like I will ever be seen as a Local, but Ok.

However this reaction acts as a great segway into the discussion over the political situation in

Thailand

and the realities of a civil war erupting.

Modern Thai Political Climate is a bit temoutulous at best. It is in essence a newer republic democracy in comparison to the Western powers and therefore has the same political issues of other newer democracies such as India, Costa Rica and Argentina to name a few. However it does have the advantage of being the sole South-East Asian nation to not fall under colonial rule. In 1932 a "democratic revolution" instated the constitutional monarchy and lead to the same current legislative, executive and judicial makeup which has lasted till today. The largest stabilizing force and what is seen in Thailand is the main reason why the country has had sustained rapid growth for the past few decades is the Monarchy. The King is highly respected and in the color coded politics of Thailand the "Yellow Shirts" support him. Regardless of which political leader has had power or what strife the nation has been in the Monarchy has not been broken.

But that is not to say that everything has been politically cheery in the Land of Smiles. For the first three quarters of last century military leaders have ruled the nation and political freedom, freedom of speech and basic human rights have been strongly compromised. The most contemporary troubles started a decade ago. In 1998 a telecommunications billionaire formed his own political party Thai Rak Thai (TRT - Thai Love Thai), and ascended to the political spotlight and won an almost absolute majority in the 2001 election. (To all my Itali-philes any similarities with Berlusconi, keep reading) He promised to help recover Business and to work on countryside development. Labelled a populist he was very popular, leading to a very stable government under his rule and a easy re-election in 2005. Although he had much support from the grassroots he came with growing criticisms. His "war on drugs" led to extremely harsh laws on illegal substances when compared to western nations and thousands of deaths and "harshly punished" crimes for possession. Separatist Muslim movements in the Southern Provinces led Thaskin to declare Martial Law and crack down on political dissidence leading to over 3,000 deaths on both sides in the past few years.

In 2006 a series of lawsuits were issued against Thaskin due to tax evasion, which led to a popular anti-Thaskin movement demanding snap elections to prove he still had the faith of the Thai people. The reasoning is complex but ongoing insurgency in the Deep South, a territorial conflict with Cambodia, the global economic crisis, rising oil prices, and extreme political polarization led to a Bloodless coup, leading to a year long Military Junta rule in Thailand. In 2007 both supporters of the Military and King in Yellow shirts, and Thaskin and his new political party (PPP) in red shirts took to the streets in protest. Mainly non-violent they did succeed in occupying government building for months, leading one political party, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to have a sit in on the two main bangkok airports for a week causing billions of lost revenue to the tourism venues. After all this political strife new elections were called, and a PAD sponsored politician Abhisit Vejjajiva, became Prime Minister and is still that today. Althought the other factions such as the pro-Thaskin red shirters are creating civil unrest, Vejjajiva has done an admirable job of trying to address the global economic crisis in thialand and "reharmonize" the nation.

Honestly I doubt that I am in any great danger. It seems from a historically context that political unrest is just another part of the Thai experience and that it rarely turns into anything violent. But, this is usually credited to the Monarch who is currently entering his last years and has an unpopular heir to the throne. The King was recently ill and in the Hospital and but according to the Bangkok Post is in good health and heading home today.

If worse comes to worse I think the plan is get to the closest US Embassy and let them evacuate me. And if that fails I’ll cross the border to

Myanmar

(

Burma

) .…cause let’s be frank, no one in

Thailand

wants to open that can of worms.

Thai Contact Info

2009-10-13T11:33:00.002+07:00

Here everybody. Well I have started my training in Chiang Mai and I will be sure to write an update soon on my adventures. But first to all my Friends and Family out there who wish to keep in contact with me, you may do so with the following information.

Email: ajeckstein@gmail.com

Skype: ajeckstein

Thai Phone Number: +66 -848061997

I am trying my best to check the Internet every day but some days are more free then others, but I will be sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Once I am done with training I will update you on my future address.

Japan: Land of the Future

2009-10-11T18:28:00.002+07:00

I sit here in the Land of the Rising Sun after a hectic 6 days feeling that it was clearly not enough. First a huge shootout to my college roommate Matthew and his fantastic family, The Iretons. They were absolutely fantastic host, going above and beyond the rules of hospitality and showed me some of the good life in Tokyo. For the first few days Matthew and myself explored the city of Tokyo, hitting up some of the bigger sights in Tokyo. My first night I hit the ground running clubbing in Rippongi (or the Big R as I call it). Followed by a much needed 12 hour sleep where we went out checking out Yogogi Park (The central Park of Tokyo), Megu Shrine (A old Shinto Shrine), and then walked along Harajuku seeing all the crazy cosplay and Harajuku Girls. After which we zipped over to Shibuya and took some classic photos at the "Lost in Translation" crossing and ventured into the Area's Pachinko district and Fashion stores. On a side note, Tokyioan fashion is absolutely fabulous. They really accept anything and everything and they offer fashion forward and fun clothes cheaply. It's fantastic.

Megu Shrine

Harajuku Girls/Boys

Pachinko!!!

Tokyo Imperial Palace

"Lost in Harajuka"

My second full day in Tokyo Matthew and I checked out the 5th ave like area of Ginza and headed over to the Royal Palace. I was disappointed because there really wasn't much to see, but what historically buildings do you expect from a city Fire-Bombed to rubble during WWII? After our day of walking around some more of the business district we met up with Matthew's Dad at a fancy hotel sky bar and went out for some traditional Japanese fixings.

The Next day I headed to Kyoto for a few days. I was supposed to hit up Nara which is a smaller village nearby but due to Typhoon weather I decided to stay in Kyoto and see more of the sights. Kyoto most certainly has some great older temples and shrines and aptly claims the title of the historical and cultural center of Japan. However it is a strange city. Much of the town has fallen to western style development of concrete square buildings and at first I was extremely underwhelmed by the city. But after exploring the Shogun's residence, walking around the Geisha District of Gion after dark, seeing some of the more holy shrines and temples, venturing into an absolutely stunning graveyard with a gorgeous temple and seeing a reconstructed replica of the emperor's palace.....Kyoto had won me over.

Kyoto Tower

The Girls and I at Gion, the Geisha District

Awesome Kyoto Graveyard

Entry Gate of Kyoto Imperial Palace

After my Kyoto adventure, it was back on the Bullet Train to Tokyo (Which is nice but a bit expensive). With only a couple days left in Tokyo the next day I of course slept in till Noon (oops) and headed off to the Sony Building in Ginza. The Sony building had 4 -5 floors of really fun tech toys to play with. My favorite were the musical steps that lead to an improv of do-ray-me by Matthew. Youtube worthy stuff. Actually all of Tokyo from the architecture to the technology feels like the future. The city is clean, the Metro has over 5 separate systems of competing privately owned systems leading to over 40 different metro lines to choose from. And everyone seems to work in such Harmony that should be unheard of for a metropolitan area of over 35 million people. After our stint in the Sony building we heading to the Poop shaped building (Don't ask) and the Akasuka Temple, The Electrical city of Akihabara, off to The Yeshin Tower to see the night skyline and out in Shibuya to a fantastically sketchy yet cheap Karaoke bar. For all those out there, you have not lived till you have sang in a Japanese Karaoke bar, priceless. The next day I was frantically packing, getting some paper work together for Thailand and off to Odieba for some farewell vistas of the Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow bridge and before my flight.

Asahi Poop Building

Akasuka Temple

Karaoke!!!

Adam and the Y's reunited!! (Yoko and Yuho)

Odieba View of Tokyo

Overall a few things really surprised me about Japan. First the warmth and hospitality was a great surprise. After a brief visit to Korea last year I was expecting a rude and cold society to outsiders (due to the historical context of the culture), but I was pleasantly incorrect. The next wonderful discovery was how every one, specifically in Tokyo is really cool and relaxed. In both America and Europe there is a stereotype of the awkward and picture crazy asian. After personally living with Matthew for 2 years I can say that he does not break that stereotype. But I was pleasantly surprised to find people much more relaxed, even at Touristy Sections, it seemed the Japanesse were not nearly as picture touristy crazy snapping photos of everything as I expected. And lastly I was surprised at the lack on English skills both in People and the signs. Japan is a highly industrialized country of which no other language group can decipher it's characters with ease (including Koreans and Chinese), but the English signs especially in the Metro systems were extremely lacking and left me with some frustrating times when trying to get me around the country by myself.

In all I really enjoyed Japan. I found it to be a bit expensive but the people were nice, the fashion was cheap and fun, their is no judgment based on people's appearance and I certainly have not seen enough of the World's largest city. But for now, On to Thailand: the Lamb of the East, the Tiger Kingdom and the Land of Smiles; Here I come.

Reactions - Part 2: Don't Get Kidnapped

2009-10-04T09:08:00.000+07:00

This reaction was given to me in email form and to say they least I cannot re-create its wonderful literary account nearly as well as my friend has, so read for yourself below.

-------------------------

So my friend/ex-roommate Lizzie is visiting this week, and she had a rather harrowing story about why her friend hadn't visited her as expected last month. It was because his brother was kidnapped. And the story went a little something like this:

"So he went to teach orphans to read or some shit, and they told them all ahead of time that if you get kidnapped and you're a girl, it's for sex trade. If you get kidnapped and you're a guy, it's for organ harvesting. So either way, try to escape. Except that almost no one escapes and the people that do have these really gruesome stories like a couple where one made it and one didn't and now the one that survived knows what happened to the other one. So he's on this really nice island, right, that's like all hotels and resorts and tourists and white people and he's walking to this bar when he gets fuckin' CHLOROFORMED and he wakes up in a BODY BAG in the back of a truck driving down this road near the coast. He manages to get like halfway out of the body bag - still drugged to shit and not really aware of what's going on - and then THROWS himself out of the truck, tumbles down the embankment, gets the rest of the way out of the body bag, DIVES INTO THE SEA, and just fuckin' swims for his life. So eventually he comes to in the middle of the ocean, realizes fully what's going on, and manages to swim back to shore - 'cause he's in really awesome shape, which is probably why they targeted him, healthy organs and all - and find a hospital or police station or whatever. And now he can't sleep and might have PTSD and shit."

This was in

Thailand

So uh, be careful, okay? And maybe keep a pocket knife on you at all times?

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What can I say…. I’ll do my best to not be a 6’4 skinny white man in

Thailand

. Maybe if I tell them I’m Jewish that will change things? Probably Not.

Asia here I come

2009-10-04T08:54:00.001+07:00

Well the time has finally arrived. After a frustrating last few days packing and dealing with Visa woes in the States I have started the first leg of my journey and have arrived in

Japan

. There is nothing really to describe the insanity and energy that is Tokyo, except that I feel as if I have traveled into the future. Everything to cell phones to transit to architecture is so high-tech it boggles the mind. The one thing I can’t imagine is how so many millions of people (30 – 45 million in the greater region) are able to co-exist with relative harmony, how they get to one place to another with such ease, in such a confusing place and do so effortlessly.

I say this with the most owe and respect, as I am a city boy myself. However NYC is a grid, Tokyo is a tangled web and twice the size. It probably would help if I could read Japanese, but I cannot say that I do not feel nearly as lost in Bangkok or other Metropolitan levitations regardless of language. Have I finally met my match? Nope. But thanks to my fantastic Host, my old college Roommate Matthew, my confusion has been anything but a concern. Updates will follow.

A Love Letter to the Thai Embassy

2009-10-04T08:51:00.001+07:00

First of all may I say thank you. Not to you, NY Consulate with your convoluted procedures and lack of acknowledgement of my efforts. But to you my dear DC Thai Embassy for making me complete. Before I met you, I was just an illegal immigrant to an Asian Country….but you, you made me Whole again. How can I thank you for doing the little things in life; for answering phone calls, responding to emails, doing your tasks in a timely fashion, and for not sending back my Passport two weeks late and with no Visa or explanation as to why. Your New York City sister was not so kind to me.

My dear DC Thai Embassy you explained so clearly I was a fool for trying to apply for a one year visa without getting to know you. That I should start with a three month and gain an extension once I have cuddled with you by the Fire, our bodies intertwined. Beloved DC Thai Embassy, I will miss you on my Asian Adventures but please do not cry. For one day we will surely be reunited, for if I should need to come back to your motherland, you will be my first stop.

Always Yours,

Adam

Reactions - Part 1: Don't end up on "Locked Up Abroad"

2009-10-04T08:48:00.000+07:00

Once I decided that I was going, the most interesting parts for myself through this whole process has been the various reactions I received from family, friends and acquaintances about my decision.

To those who know me well, it was barely a shock, as in "Oh duh, of course you would do that, when do you leave?" But some of the more classic reactions now act as my inspiration.

The first of such reactions I will divulge is that of my former Boss. His reaction I think is the most classic. "

Thailand...

Really?...Well, don't end up on 'Locked up Abroad'."

Basically don’t get arrested. Thanks, I’ll try.

I had never heard of the show till he mentioned it on my last day, and I was intrigued. The National Geographic Channel runs this British original docu-drama which tells stories about Westerner's that are unfortunate enough to get caught by local police or gangs in under-developed countries. Good Stuff. Of course I am now hooked on it, and my favorite episode is that of the story of Sandra. A girl who taught English in Thailand for 2 years and with no money, tried smuggling heroin into

Japan

to pay for her plane fair home.

Sandra's Story - Thailand

Obviously in the retelling of the story she almost gets away with it but she is caught right at the point of no return, and ends up in one of Thailand’s most infamous prison’s, Klong Prem Central Prison, for a number of years. She eventually gets pardoned by the Royal Family but it is an interesting story.

After further research it has been found that there are thousand’s of Expat’s that are locked up or detained abroad for illicit issues ranging from robbery to smuggling to human trafficking. It is an unfortunate reality that westerners have been interfering in Asian affairs for hundreds of years which continues today’s in many western Expat’s relations. Even though today there are no more colonial powers (That actually depends on your definition of Colonialism and the rise of Neo-colonialism or control over a countries economy versus the physical land but that is a different story altogether) Western populations still have a significant impact on the area both in progressive and harmful ways.

Obviously I have no plans on smuggling narcotics, but it begs the question. If I do get stuck abroad will I be able to get back? Will I be forced to an inevitable decline into the underbelly of South-East Asian society just so I can have enough cash to get back home? I highly doubt it but you never know, stay tuned.

Teaching in Asia

2009-09-05T02:37:00.001+07:00

As a precursor to my teaching experience I have decided to write a bit about the TEFL business on the Asian Continent.

Unlike trying to Teach English in Europe, Asia is one of the easiest and most well paid regions to work in as a North American. Korea, Japan and China have the most well payed positions while many nations such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines have varying degrees of placement types and compensation but still offer a large amount of positions. The only real qualifications you need to participate in many of these programs is to be a Native English Speaker with a Bachelor's degree from an accredited university. You will also need a certificate of the 'gold standard' of a 120 Credit Hour TEFL or TESOL certificate before you can get into the Classroom. There are a variety of different programs, some of which can be done online, but the better schools require 'hands on' class experience. Since I have a year of Americorp experience I am sure I could have gotten away with an online course but after doing some research I have received mixed feedback and thought it would be best to go for the full class.

Once you have received certification it is only a matter of applying to positions and starting to work. If you are curios for whatever reason of joining the profession please do some independent research but the following links are a great place to start.

TEFL Career Center: http://www.tefl.com/career_centre/start.html
Teach Abroad: http://www.teachabroad.com/teach-article.cfm
Yahoo TESOL Help Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TESLJOB/ (Join the group and email whatever question you might have)
Transitions Abroad: http://www.transitionsabroad.com/
Dave's ESL Cafe: http://www.daveseslcafe.com/ (Great Job Forum)

After doing some research I decided to work through the American TESOL Institute. The wonderful thing about my specific program is that they guarantee my placement with a school after I complete my TESOL certification course. Which means I won't be unemployed for 2 months after receiving my certification (which according to the blogosphere happens enough to be a concern). Once I am done with my 120 Hours of training I will hopefully know my assignment and have a week or so to move, settle, and get ready for school. My accommodations are taken care by my employer and I receive a monthly stipend which is essentially what I was taking home in the states after rent.

There are many different programs and thousands of TEFL teachers abroad happily helping children across the world. I am optimistic that this will be a fantastic opportunity to help children learn a valuable skill while living in a foreign land that few other professions could allow.

Teach in Thailand - Why Not?

2009-09-03T10:54:00.021+07:00

I can still recall the first thought I had when I learned I would be coming to Thailand. " I'm finally doing something with my life".

Honestly it wasn't a hard for me to make the decision to move, yet for those that do not know me I feel like I should explain. Since I had finished my undergraduate degree a year ago last May, I had been feeling a bit lost. I had not felt like my true self, had not acted or thought like I had for the past 22 years. Under-qualified to find a Job in my field, due to my lack of an unpaid internship experience photo copying and mailing documents; I took an Office Supervisor position with the George Washington University. But do not get me wrong, I was very thankful to have had this position and I most certainly learned a lot during my tenure. Overall I had a job, lived in a wonderful city and had fantastic friends. Yet in the end I felt bored and dead-ended, as if I was not moving forward with my life, standing still as others raced ahead. It was a strange transitional period in my life.

To be honest I had never been extremely attracted to Asia as a destination. I was much more fascinated by Europe and the Middle East in my studies. However last year I travelled throughout the country for about 2-3 weeks for my cousin's wedding and I was hooked. As cliche as it is I fell in love with the beautiful landscape, the fantastic climate, the vibrancy of Bangkok and the warmness, hospitality and quirkiness of its people. If 2 years ago someone had said that I would someday live in that country, I would have been highly skeptical. However after doing some research about my options I found that if I were given a chance to go, this would be a fantastic opportunity. It could be the change that I so desperately craved.

And change is what I got. I applied to a program through the American TESOL Institute to Teach Abroad in Thailand and after going through the application process I was accepted. (For all those curios you should check it out) In July of 09, I made the decision to do the program and since then I have been getting ready for my departure. Leaving my job, moving cities, applying for a Thai Visa, etc. My life to say the least has been a bit hectic.

To chronicle my adventures once Asia side, I have created this website as a go to for all Adam related information. I played with the idea of calling this blog "Bang-kok Teaching Adventures" but I thought that was a bit racy. So I took inspiration from my current theme song, "One Night in Bangkok". No, not the 1984 Murray Hill classic but VinylShakerz 2005 Remix. Please sample it below, its quite catchy.

One Night in Bangkok (Dance Remix)

So as I record my journeys, thoughts and opinions keep in touch and let me know what is happening on your side of the world.

Schedule:

I am hoping to have regular Internet access but as with all things in life I have no idea, here is the general schedule for the next year; I will update accordingly.

Sept 2nd - Oct 2nd : Currently home in Upstate NY (NYC 11-13th , Cleveland 26-28th)
Oct 2nd: Visiting Japan for a Week - Seeing my college roommate Matthew and Japan Crew
Oct 10th: Arrive in Chang Mai, Thailand for 21 consecutive days of training
Early November: School Placement (Samut Sahkon, Bangkok, Thailand)
Mid March: Two/Three Week break travelling to India
March - May: (If do not continue)Travelling around Asia-Pacific (Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand)
Mid-May: Cousin's wedding in Cleveland, OH

End-May/June: Back Home.