Vegetarian Festival Day 1 (Jackie)

The nine day Vegetarian festival kicked off today in Thailand with Phuket at the heart of its world-renown revelries. My brother would love it because vegetables are nowhere to be found, abstinence from meat here simply means deep frying everything within reach (unless it happens to be a vegetable).  It also means watching Ma Song men pierce their flesh with various sharp objects in the hopes of transferring evil from individuals onto themselves and bringing good luck to the community.

Isaac and I drove to Phuket Town with the tank hovering on empty, aimlessly drifting through tiny streets where we’ve never been, following flapping yellow and red banners that had popped out overnight in astonishing sporific profusion. We stopped when we spotted the tiny fried dough balls in greasy paper cones that we like so much and almost immediately saw a flood of people in white carrying tall sticks wrapped in colorful fabric. We found one of the ornate Chinese temples draped in wafting clouds of incense and swarming with people but hovered hesitantly nearby, not wanting to interrupt the religious ceremonies and worship with our wide eyes and lack of knowledge about the religious facets of the festival. All we knew was that there would be abundant self- mutilation; we’d already noticed the men with deep scars around their mouths pushing through the crowds, evidence of annually pierced cheeks that never heal completely. Suddenly we realized once again how little we know about anything here. We buried our self- deprecations in deep fried food as rain began to pour, driving everyone from the streets under the tiny awnings of food stands where only your nose gets wet if you don’t mind getting close with strangers.

Isaac put on his space ranger rain gear and we made a dash (more like slow walk) through the crush of people until we found a large traditional monastery. It was painted in vivid colors and guarded by stone lions with bulging eyes and golden dragons doing headstands on the roof. Men with gold flakes spread across their faces pushed through the crowd, sending the small gold bits spiraling toward puddles to mingle with singed firecracker wrappers.

The stone courtyard past the entrance was slick with rain and rang with the excited giggling of young boys tossing firecrackers into a shrine and the sharp blasts from the misguided missiles exploding underfoot. Chanting from a loudspeaker was obscured by the gentle cracking of a long rope guided by priests removing the sins of locals. The sounds echoed and blurred together with the sound of rain pounding down and combined with the swaths of sweet smelling amber and sandalwood incense to create the sense of being alone and all-seeing while being jostled by unchecked shoulders blocking a clear view in any direction. The scraps of sound, scents, and sight somehow all drifted to form a complete picture out of small bits. It also helped that whenever the rain got too intense everyone except those already huddled under the priests flags crammed inside of the temple only to slowly emerge and reengage when the rain subsided. 

MORE PHOTOS HERE: https://picasaweb.google.com/101782615335640844329/VegitarianFestivalDay1?authkey=Gv1sRgCM_buNOL3_PH1wE

Dreamin' of that First Beautiful Paycheck (Jackie)

For the past month I’ve been scrapping by financially, living as cheaply as I possibly can and stretching the $1,200 I came with to the last baht.  With a lot of mental anguish and ague I’ve had to forgo doing a lot of the activities that I came to Thailand for (scuba, climbing, travel) and already had to turn down a lot of sweet adventures proposed by friends. I could always have thrown stuff on a credit card or pulled from my U.S. savings but I had everything so neatly paid off and squared away it hurt to think about. And now the wait is almost over!!! I get my first paycheck next week and while it’s a piddly amount by U.S standards, it rocks out here! So here is the list of all the things I’ve waited so ‘patiently’ to do (and by patiently I mean moaned and complained incessantly for the last 3 weeks):

(Fun fact: If you step on a coin to stop it from rolling away you can go to jail because you will have just stepped on the King Bhumibol Adulyadej's face!)

1.  Plane ticket to Chiang Mai or Bangkok (I get a week paid vacation in a couple weeks!)

      2..Thai lessons (desperately need)

        3. Surf board rental (6 more weeks of good surf)

       4. Tennis racquet

       5. Dave’s birthday present! ( j/k…it’s already in the mail ;)

        6. Better motorbike helmet

       7. Buy and cook fresh seafood!

       8. Going out $$ (so I don’t have to buy that paint thinner-esque local whiskey or sip on 1 drink the whole night out)

        9. Movie night $$ (Wednesdays are ½ price at central festival and everyone goes)

      10. Watch a Muay Thai match (great matches and BBQ events at the end of every month at Tiger MT)

      11. Shoes/clothes/jewelry…everything’s super cute and cheap here and it’s been a nightmare trying to avoid buying ANYTHING! (I’ve done exceptionally well though ladies, done ya proud ;)

(One of my "splurges," partying it up with South African friends for the Rugby World Cup)

             12. Ah, and of course, resume getting hour long massages

OHHHHHHH, I cannot wait!!

Things that’ll take more than 1 paycheck/aren’t in season yet

       1. Plane ticket to Bali/ Malaysia

       2. Scuba diving (6 weeks til pristine ocean)

       3. Underwater casing for my camera

       4. Climbing in Krabi

A few notes about the general cost of things here: Plane tickets are $20-$70 to almost all destinations in Asia, heaping platefuls of spicy deliciousness are ~$2, I spend $3/month on my phone, ~ $20/month on gas for the motorbike, and $150 on rent…. So even after I blow the majority of my 1^st paycheck just cause I finally have expendable money I’ll still be able to start saving for an awesome multi-country, multi-month tour of Asia during my summer vacation! Yippee!!

Home is When the Tide is Out (Jackie)

Barefoot, I walked onto the coral studded sand the ocean had left behind in its nightly rush to escape the mountains and realized that I had found my home.

Every evening I walk into the tide pools the ocean leaves behind and search for pretty shells and unique creatures to examine, poke, and play with. Every night I crouch in the mostly dead coral and listen to the pops and cracks of creatures coming up for air, crabs clacking pinchers on rocks, and the general scuttling around that’s associated with marine life in the pools. I watch the sun set in spectacular ways from a 360 view, ankle deep in water, hearing the waves break in the distance. I turn slowly in corals and watch as golds and oranges and pinks radiate from the sun and shine over the dark mountains. I rotate a step further and am awestruck by the rippling orange and purple clouds silhouetting the gigantic marble Buddha statute that watches peacefully from the mountain top. Another few degrees and the sky is electric pink and baby blue as if some mischievous child had stuck cotton candy in the sky while no one was looking. Further still and the sky over the ocean begins to darken into deep shades of blue and purple. As the sun sets musical chants from the nearby mosque call people to worship and I stand lulled by the music in the endless expanse of sand and coral, feeling as if I am the only person in the world. Listening to the waves and distant music I gaze at the enormous Buddha and know suddenly that there is nowhere in the world I’d rather be. Nowhere where I feel as peaceful, content, and genuinely at home than in the ever changing yet invariably stunning tide pools.

I THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH FINALS FOREVER!!

Today was the first day if finals for the kids at KKJ. First day of finals for me means grading papers, submitting final grades, bagging up final exams, and then rotating back and forth between ‘invigilating’ final exams which can only be described as a fabulous means of torture, and doing whatever I want as long as I stay near campus. Invigilating consists of spending between 1-2.5 hrs watching kids sit in chairs and scribble frantically while we stand and stare at them. We are forbidden to do absolutely anything else. No phones, no books, no doodling paper, nothing. I felt terrible for the kids who had to take a 2.5hr math exam until I had to WATCH them take it. I’d much rather struggle through math problems than watch people do math problems any day, though I never thought I’d ever be in a situation where I'd admit i'd rather do math!  Anyway, since the time is pretty evenly divided I have lots of hours to do whatever I want so I’ve decided to dedicate the time to learning new things. Today I learned how to draw. I had no internet so I drew the only thing I found a pic of and listened to the only CD I have on my computer-Foo Fighters (I usually get all my music via grooveshark-internet based). Here is what I drew. I’m actually quite proud of it!

 I should also mention that the only writing utensil I had was a blue ink pen which makes shading really arduous for a non artsy person like me!!

The best names you'll ever hear (Jackie)

Interesting fact about Thai culture: Last names are a relatively new requirement (early 1900’s) and the government dictated at that time that every family had to have a different sur name. Imagine only having one Smith family in America! This caused last names to become extravagant and many are actually translated phrases (One Who Does Good Work etc). Because the names (both first and last and multiple middle) are so complicated each Thai person also has a ‘play’ name that they use the majority of the time and even in official documents. Here is a class roster that I received today (official roster from the school records):

Bonnie

Book

Bow

Cha-Cha

Dinosaur

Joy

Junior

Kate

Milk

Mint

Nook

Notm

Oh

Pang

Peat

Pete 2

Ploy

Puenploy

Scene

Tiffy Win

I could not pronounce any of these names in class yesterday. I repeated them over and over and was corrected every time. I felt terrible! Then I got this roster and realized why I was getting them all wrong, I wasn’t expecting a tiny boy with chubby pink cheeks and dimples to be called Dragon, or a little girl with electric blue eye shadow to be named Book.  I laughed hard when I read the roster because none of their names are remotely close to what I was struggling to pronounce in class.* In my defense, in Thai the last syllables of words have a tendency to disappear so even though Milk spells his name M-I-L-K, he actually pronounces it Meel. Martin sounds more like Mard and so on.  It’s great fun to grade their papers though, every class roster brings a fresh fit of laughter.

Notable names from my other classes: French fries, Shampoo, Dragon, Diamond (boy), Dew, Pie, Pink, Pop, Shopper, Nip, Milk, Benz (lots of these), Pig.  The new schedule for next semester starts soon so more to come as the classes change!

Also, my favorite funny student answer on a test today (these are endless)

Q: Name one way in which acid rain can affect the environment

Acceptable answers: The acid can wash minerals like calcium out of the soil and the lack of these minerals hurts trees and other plants. At higher altitudes, acid in clouds weakens trees so much that many mountaintops that were once forested are now barren. Rivers and lakes become more acid, and this affects plants and fish in the water.

A: Make a fish dead

So true, so painfully true.  You may have missed the larger picture but you’re right, acid rain does tend to make a fish dead…somewhere in the world…eventually. but I think it’s worth a point, you cut straight to the chase and made me grin. Definitely worth a point.

All of my M2 and M3 students have left with their skinny red sticks and braided socks on week long Scout field trip, leaving the Mattayom floor exceptionally quiet for a change. Even though over half of my classes have been canceled, I am required to be here all day, every day, without anything extra to do. Today’s boredom was my fault, I should have brought my kindle instead of my laptop, the internet is just too slow here to get anything done. 

Leelawadee (Jackie)

All of my M2 and M3 students have left with their skinny red sticks and braided socks on week long Scout field trip, leaving the Mattayom floor exceptionally quiet for a change. Even though over half of my classes have been canceled, I am required to be here all day, every day, without anything extra to do. Today’s boredom was my fault, I should have brought my kindle instead of my laptop, the internet is just too slow here to get anything done.

On the bright side, all the extra time allows me to spend even more time in my newly found sanctuary, a café called Leelawadee. It’s a little oasis of a café next door to the school with wifi where I have already spent 10+ hrs this week slowly sipping on REAL coffee, bumming about, and reading during my ‘prep’ periods. There are water fountains, small koi ponds, and even the highway that runs a few yards away is veiled by a profusion of hanging vines and willow-esque trees . It’s quiet and peaceful unlike anywhere inside the school and is a great retreat from the regular chaos caused by 1,200 students.  I am already a regular there (like most Farang teachers) and almost exclusively order iced coffee, because nowhere else in Phuket have I found anything remotely close to what we call coffee in America. The stuff the street vendors will pour is made as follows: 3 seconds of pouring condensed milk into a small glass, a couple spoonful’s of sugar, a splash of nescaf, more sugar and more condensed milk. My jaw nearly dropped the first time a girl poured this for me on the street! Even the Thai iced tea we know and love at home is what they serve as ‘black tea’ here. There is no option of just hot water and leaf. This has resulted in an exceptionally funny and devastating conundrum because though all drinks here are made with an amount of sugar that would make even a 10 yr old cringe, there are no decent dessert options anywhere in Phuket! Just gelatin based treats that are not actually treats at all. 

Day one Sex-Ed (Jackie)

I got my teaching schedule today! The head of the science department is being incredibly nice and giving me mostly honors classes and British Curriculum classes that are specially designed for kids with advanced English skills. But what do I have to do in return for this exceptional schedule? DRUM ROLL PLEASE....In return I also have to teach the dept heads senior sex ed class of 16-17 year olds. Yippee! Every teachers dream I’m sure. Did I mention that this will also be the first class I’ll ever teach? Unbelievable. Gotta admit that never in my life did I ever imagine that someday I’d be teaching ‘Dangers of Sexual Behavior’ to a class full of teenagers in a culture where I know absolutely nothing about sexual behaviors, norms, taboo’s, customs, etc. The only saving grace is that since it’ll be my first day teaching I’ll have to introduce myself to the students. Perhaps in a very lengthy fashion. Perhaps with lots of time for questions about myself. Perhaps it’ll be fun! ahahahahaha.

Anyway, aside from that I’ll be teaching biology, chemistry, and physics at all high school levels. I’ve spent the last 2 days shadowing various science teachers and while initially I was worried about being horribly unprepared, I think that even without any teaching experience I’ll be fine. Most of the teachers seem more focused on seeming cool to the students or getting through the material as fast as possible rather than actually trying to educate them or make the subject remotely interesting. Granted it’s the end of the term, the days are 9 hrs long, and there are 2,200 kids all taking lunch and recess breaks at different times so the decibel level in the school is deafening at all times. Some of the teachers I followed though didn’t even make it into the class until the last 10 minutes of the lesson while other classes were lucky if the teacher got past the lesson title. One class just involved the teacher talking about her various pets instead of covering basic chemistry. Another teacher just laughed when a kid pelted her with paper while she was writing on the board. When she asked why the girl threw paper at her another kid threw a wadded up paper ball at her and she laughed again and went back to her lesson. The entire class gasped, giggled, and when nothing happened, the class exploded in a paper fight and utter disorder, paper balls flying everywhere. Very unimpressive. I was surprised to find myself much more irritated with the teachers than with the students. It seems as if I’ll have to be a bit more of a disciplinarian in the beginning than I would like,  just to regain control of a class that apparently has had no rules and is never told to behave or be respectful. I don’t think it’ll be hard though. I’ve met some of the kids and they seem great, just pushing their boundaries because they can. I think the culture here has ensured that respectful behavior is deeply ingrained in every child  and reverting back to better behavior with a little guidance should be easy.  Fingers crossed.

House Hunting (Jackie)

     The quest for a cheap, beach side, internet accessible, furnished, 1-2 bedroom house close to KKJ begins! As you can see our criteria is fairly extensive but essentially not too difficult for such a touristy area, except that we want all of these amenities for less than we paid for our house on Mitchell street ($250 each). We looked at a bunch of internet ads and google mapped the distance from various cities in Phuket to the school I’ll be teaching at.  Rawai, Nai Han, Karon, Kata, Chalong, and Patong are all located on the ocean and within a few miles of the school. The island is only 30 k wide and 10k long but as we quickly found, there are only 2 major roads so even though Mueang (where my school is) and Patong are 9 miles from each other, in order to get from one to another you have to drive to Rawai at the southern tip of Phuket and bounce all the way back up, making the drive up to 37 minutes. Troubling. Also, the eastern ocean is unswimmable.

     We hired a taxi for $30 to drive us all around the island, stopping at every rental sign we saw to quickly dial the 10 digit number and enquire about cost and amenities to people with varied grasps of English. Our driver, Crom, became essential as he decided to take over and question people in rapid Thai and demand cheaper costs for us! We each called dozens of people and visited about a dozen places, each time our standards rising and dropping depending on the place. We fell in love with a two story house in the middle of nowhere accessible only by steep dirt roads that was new, inexpensive, impeccably clean, and comfortable with beautiful wood floors and a spectacular balcony with a view of the ocean over the jungle. The problem: no internet. We can’t live in a place without internet because of Isaac’s job. Oh well we shrugged, there will be plenty of others just like it. And there were. But each had its own problem; unfurnished, expensive, too big, too far from the ocean, horrendous landlords etc. We even checked out a house next door to an elephant colony where a baby elephant gave me kisses on the cheek after grabbing bananas with its agile trunk from Isaacs and my hands. After 6hrs we were exhausted, disappointed, and without a plan. We were already well outside of the area we wanted and beginning to rapidly strip variables out of the equation. It was pouring rain by this time and we decided to head home and peruse a few houses on the way. Feeling keenly disappointed and aware of the possibilities of imminent and unsolvable issues that would require a massive overhaul of our original standards, our driver spotted a sign in Thai advertising a house. Jaded, we shrugged and agreed to see it. It turned out to be a huge teal house that was architecturally stylized to appear distinctly Thai. In the rain we walked up the stairs and into the house. Though obviously very old it had a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and the clincher, a great balcony with a pristine ocean view and a big backyard with coconut trees and a swinging bench. It also has great neighbors who’ve we’ve already met, is within our price range, and is a 20 min moto ride from the school.

     Right before signing the lease we switched again. We found one last ad for another house, cheaper in the same area and while it lacks an ocean view, it is a gorgeous house 2 mins walk from beach with lots of windows, a front yard courtyard surrounded by tropical trees and flowers and is extremely comfortable. It also screams horror movie set. The flora enclose the house almost completely and in the rain the orange tiled courtyard becomes slick and the heavy engraved wooden door turns dark. In fact, you can’t really see the house at all unless you are directly in front of it and peek through the decorated iron gate. I should also mention that like an ad in Craigslist, it’s all about how you spin it. While the beach is almost visible from the house, it turns into 300 yrds of mudflats at low tide and you have to walk by a massively overgrown Muslim graveyard to get to it.  It’s also next to a gurgling prawn farm and seems to be completely isolated even though it is surrounded by buildings. All that aside, to us it’s a hidden mecca that is only a couple of minutes from the main road with terrific landlords and is only $150 each a month!

Maak Namm (Jackie Post)

     The quest for a cheap, beach side, internet accessible, furnished, 1-2 bedroom house close to KKJ begins! As you can see our criteria is fairly extensive but essentially not too difficult for such a touristy area, except that we want all of these amenities for less than we paid for our house on Mitchell street ($250 each). We looked at a bunch of internet ads and google mapped the distance from various cities in Phuket to the school I’ll be teaching at.  Rawai, Nai Han, Karon, Kata, Chalong, and Patong are all located on the ocean and within a few miles of the school. The island is only 30 k wide and 10k long but as we quickly found, there are only 2 major roads so even though Mueang (where my school is) and Patong are 9 miles from each other, in order to get from one to another you have to drive to Rawai at the southern tip of Phuket and bounce all the way back up, making the drive up to 37 minutes. Troubling. Also, the eastern ocean is unswimmable.

     We hired a taxi for $30 to drive us all around the island, stopping at every rental sign we saw to quickly dial the 10 digit number and enquire about cost and amenities to people with varied grasps of English. Our driver, Crom, became essential as he decided to take over and question people in rapid Thai and demand cheaper costs for us! We each called dozens of people and visited about a dozen places, each time our standards rising and dropping depending on the place. We fell in love with a two story house in the middle of nowhere accessible only by steep dirt roads that was new, inexpensive, impeccably clean, and comfortable with beautiful wood floors and a spectacular balcony with a view of the ocean over the jungle. The problem: no internet. We can’t live in a place without internet because of Isaac’s job. Oh well we shrugged, there will be plenty of others just like it. And there were. But each had its own problem; unfurnished, expensive, too big, too far from the ocean, horrendous landlords etc. We even checked out a house next door to an elephant colony where a baby elephant gave me kisses on the cheek after grabbing bananas with its agile trunk from Isaacs and my hands. After 6hrs we were exhausted, disappointed, and without a plan. We were already well outside of the area we wanted and beginning to rapidly strip variables out of the equation. It was pouring rain by this time and we decided to head home and peruse a few houses on the way. Feeling keenly disappointed and aware of the possibilities of imminent and unsolvable issues that would require a massive overhaul of our original standards, our driver spotted a sign in Thai advertising a house. Jaded, we shrugged and agreed to see it. It turned out to be a huge teal house that was architecturally stylized to appear distinctly Thai. In the rain we walked up the stairs and into the house. Though obviously very old it had a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and the clincher, a great balcony with a pristine ocean view and a big backyard with coconut trees and a swinging bench. It also has great neighbors who’ve we’ve already met, is within our price range, and is a 20 min moto ride from the school.

     Right before signing the lease we switched again. We found one last ad for another house, cheaper in the same area and while it lacks an ocean view, it is a gorgeous house 2 mins walk from beach with lots of windows, a front yard courtyard surrounded by tropical trees and flowers and is extremely comfortable. It also screams horror movie set. The flora enclose the house almost completely and in the rain the orange tiled courtyard becomes slick and the heavy engraved wooden door turns dark. In fact, you can’t really see the house at all unless you are directly in front of it and peek through the decorated iron gate. I should also mention that like an ad in Craigslist, it’s all about how you spin it. While the beach is almost visible from the house, it turns into 300 yrds of mudflats at low tide and you have to walk by a massively overgrown Muslim graveyard to get to it.  It’s also next to a gurgling prawn farm and seems to be completely isolated even though it is surrounded by buildings. All that aside, to us it’s a hidden mecca that is only a couple of minutes from the main road with terrific landlords and is only $150 each a month!

Almost there . . . and almost on time! (Jackie's Post)

Whew! We haven’t even reached Phuket and already our plans have taken some unexpected and potentially disastrous turns.  The description of Isaac and me as ‘seasoned travelers’ seems significantly misguided as we went to the wrong gate and missed our flight to Seoul despite having a 4 hour layover between flights. After some pleading, United Airlines set us up with a free room at the Hilton and free food while we dealt with the disaster of trying to find an alternative flight to Phuket as soon as possible and with as little of extra cost as conceivable.  After spending what seemed like hours on the phone with Vayama and Asiana airlines learning that all flights were booked and extremely expensive Isaac and I came up with what seemed like the best case scenario: repurchasing tickets for $500-600 each and leaving on the 26^th – 5 days after we were supposed to arrive.  This would mean I would not show up to sign my teaching contract as expected, we’d lose the deposit on the hostel we’d booked for the first week, we’d each be out about a quarter of our trip savings, and we’d be stuck in Chicago for 5 days. This was our BEST case scenario (and we’re very optimistic people)! The worst case was leaving on the 26^th and paying an excess of $1000 each.  We decided to try our luck with standby the next morning even though we were strongly discouraged due to the filled flight but we were pretty much out of options and getting desperate.  We also woke up to a $111 phone bill from the Hilton which I had to spend my much needed sleeping time dealing with. I cannot believe how many people I have argued with this trip already! I feel like I am always at the front counter complaining and explaining problems. Ick! And I hate confrontations of any and every kind. However, I will mention that everyone I dealt with was wonderful and did fix all issues in the end.

On a much sweeter note, after waiting standby for a couple of hours this morning learning card tricks and surrounded by our tightly packed and rather unwieldy luggage, we were hustled on to a flight to Seoul along with a woman and her 2 little girls who had missed the same flight the previous day as well as 2 other people within minutes of the plane taking off. We even had Asiana airline attendants come find us in the security line and rush us to the front of the line.  To make the entire unbelievable situation even better, not only was the flight free of cost, a woman volunteered to exchange seats so that Isaac and I could sit together! We were absolutely stunned to be handed our passports and boarding passes at the desk and even with both clutched in my hand I could not relax at all until we were in the air, and even then all I could do was sit there and wonder about our good luck and contemplate how this disastrous situation had somehow resolved itself quickly and without question and surpassed the outcome of even our most hopeful scenarios.  After 39 hours of travel we are now waiting for our (delayed) 6 hour flight to Phuket and an hour taxi ride to our hostel. Almost there… and almost on time! Cannot wait to crash out on this plane…