Buckets in Bangkok

    Warning: this post is going to be all over the place. Using your brain is hard when both jet lag and food poisoning are very real and don’t discriminate against any newcomer here. Orientation in Bangkok has come to a close and I am getting settled into bed on my second night in the province of Chanthaburi where I will be teaching. As I reflect back on the past week, it feels almost like a distant dream. Between the jet lag and the long days spent learning new information in a dimly lit and unnecessarily cold room, each day felt like 2 days by the time night came. Don’t get me wrong—orientation was great. I learned so much that I would not have if I had come here alone, and I made great friends. It was pretty easy for everyone to connect given the fact that we all just showed up to a foreign country alone with the shared goal of teaching. Plus the fact that we were staying in the same hotel and our days were planned out for us. The days were filled with classes about how to teach Thai, Thai language classes, functional classes about living here, and lots of food and coffee breaks (can never have enough coffee breaks). By the time night hit, we were on our own for dinner and even though we were all exhausted—most of us opted to go out and explore Bangkok. The hype is definitely true about the night scene, and sharing mojito buckets on Khao San Road definitely made for some fun-filled nights. Like the night 8 of us started a street-long dance party with 70+ people. Actually though, we did start it…I have progressive videos as proof. But the nights also made for some longer days (totally worth it). However, OEG planned out a boat dinner cruise in Bangkok and an overnight trip to Kanchananburi for us, so as far as exploring went we weren’t left completely on our own. The excursions were awesome, and even though the whole week was exhausting, that’s to be expected. Jet lag takes a few weeks to recover from, and inevitably learning how to teach English when you have never taught before while exploring a brand new city in one week is going to require a lot of energy.

Street wide dance party started by some OEG gals (plus little boy who was selling bracelets...gave him 20 baht for his solid dance moves)

When in Bangkok eat a scorpion, right?! Might not have been worth the stomachache...tasted like crunchy swamp water, but all about the experience

Dinner cruise on the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi

OEG trip to the Grand Palace, which was absolutely incredible. Instead, here's a picture of me posing with one of the temples because my hair already matched the statues without even trying...humidity is REAL here and it's not friends with my hair. Hair ties and braids are a girl's best friend 

     I feel incredibly blessed to be here and I am having the time of my life enjoying this beautiful country, but be warned if you plan on teaching here—you will get a little home sick. I wouldn’t say the culture shock has been a thing for me, but I do find myself thinking about home a lot. I always prided myself on being independent and adventurous, not being “the type” to miss home. However, it’s almost impossible when you are on the other side of the world not to miss your boyfriend, friends, family, and the comfort of home. I was shocked at how quickly it hit me. But it hits you hard once you are alone in your new house and realize that this is your new life for a while. And it hits you harder when that feeling comes and you can’t go to anyone about it because they’re all in bed due to the 11 hour time difference. But again, this is to be expected and is at the end of the day exactly what I signed up for. For each new discovery I made in my town today (one being the amazing coffee shop down the road), some small sacrifice was also made to get to where I am. There will definitely be some give and take, but that is the beauty of this journey!

New blog post to come about my experience thus far in Chanthaburi and advice about packing / preparation!

Sawatdee-kah!

Angela