TEFL Training - 1st Week Review

I only have good things to say about the TEFL Training that I am doing here on Koh Samui. A taxi picks us up at out bungalow at 8:45 a.m., classes begin at 9:00, and training finishes at 3:00 p.m.. When we have Thai language courses, we have a short 30 minute break at 3:00 and Thai Language lessons begin at 3:30 and finish at 5:30 with a 15 minute break, sometime. There is plenty of free time to enjoy the Island and practice speaking Thai.

This training is very thorough and very intensive including english grammar, lesson planning, classroom organization, and many other aspects including how thai people pronounce English words and how to help them to say it correctly using different techniques.

Today was very hot here in Koh Samui, I believe it is close to 100 right now. I feel so much better in this type of weather and I am looking forward to having "Summer" everyday. You would think I would be laying in the sun on the beach, but it is quite the opposite. Especially in Chiang Mai, I do not go into the sun too much. Chiang Mai is very hot, even more hot than the islands and ironically 80% of people have pale skin.

So, I do not have so much to say about the TEFL training right now, besides, you would get bored with the details anyways.

Tomorrow I am taking a boat to the next Island, Koh Phangan, at 7:00 a.m. to pick up my other backpack that I left there with my friend and coming directly back to Koh Samui within the hour. When I arrive to Koh Samui I 'think' I am going to rent a motorbike and go to explore Koh Samui, I still haven't decided yet.

Views From the TEFL Training Site

I began my Teach English as a Foreign Language course here on the Island of Koh Samui 3 days ago. I was very nervous about the course and I had no idea what to expect.
I want to say firstly that I am excited to be on this Island and participating in this TEFL Training course. The surroundings really make the difference and this is a very special Island.

Really, I have not given myself the chance to explore too much around the Island, fearing many tourist traps and things like that. When the time is right, I will rent a motorbike for the weekend (฿200 a day), go everywhere and practice speaking Thai with the local people here while doing some networking. Koh Samui is very tourist oriented but it is also not difficult to find the Thai culture here. I believe now that the people of Thailand will never allow the Thai culture to get swallowed up into this tourist thing.
Sunday night (March 22) I could not sleep very well and I felt so nervous about the TEFL program. I realized that this was a normal reaction to something completely new and the feeling will subside as soon as I begin the course. This was true to the fullest extent. Teaching English as a Foreign Language will simply take practice, with trial and error and consulting the right people for guidance. My TEFL instructor, who is an amazing teacher and incredibly inspirational, used to live in London and sat behind a computer for a living. He now lives in Koh Samui Island and has a family here.

This TEFL class only consists of 5 students, including me. I feel very lucky to be in such an organized and small class. Today we began the Thai Language course and it was so much fun to learn from out native Thai speaker instructor; he is so much fun. I learned more in 2 hours, that I have tried to learn in 2 years. I realize now how important it is to continue studying spoken Thai language and how this will connect me closer with this wonderful country.
Three things, "Fun, fun, fun;" that's the only way that I can describe this TEFL course.

A Nice Quote

Wise men don't judge: they seek to understand. - Fingers Pointing Toward the Moon by Wei Wu Wei

24 Hours of Travel

My friend drove me to the train station yesterday after he arrived to Chiang Mai from Bangkok, doing business there. I woke up early and prepared everything, I only travelled with my 1 backpack.
We were running late and my train was due to leave at 2:50pm. We had lunch at a Thai BBQ street cafe, then I went into the coffee shop next door called "Wawee Coffee". They have designed this chain of Coffee shops in Chiang Mai really well, even better than Star bucks. I looked at my phone while inside waiting for my coffee and it said 2:40 pm. I didn't pay any attention to it because the train is always late anyways.
When I got into the car, he lectured me a little bit about being so slow and said that I am more Thai than him, that I am really slow for doing everything and at the same time not stressing about anything.

We finally arrived at the train station at about 3:10 pm; the train had not arrived yet. So he stayed with me for about an hour, I bought him ice cream and then he needed to go home and take a nap before telling me that the computer system has shut down and the train dispatchers are communicating the train passenger lists and other info by phone only, so this might take some time.
After waiting 3 and a half hours, the train finally came and then they started to clean it. By the time we finally got going, the train left 4 hours late. I passed the time eating fruit and buying food for the trip and talking to a Dutch girl about how her camera is bot working properly.

The train ride was mostly uneventful and the scenes in the morning time were refreshing, I did not sleep very much at all.


Finally we arrived in Bangkok at 8:30 am or so. I immediately hopped on the public bus #29 from the train station to Victory Monument, then caught my mini-bus to the airport to catch my flight to Surat Thani.
The flight was fine and only lasted an hour.

When I arrived at the Surat Thani airport, I bought a 'joint ticket' = Bus + Ferry to the Island of Koh Samui. The bus and ferry ride lasted a total of 4 hours and cost ฿350. Once I arrived on Koh Samui, I went to find a taxi to Lamai which took 30 minutes. I was on the opposite side of the island. Finally I arrived at my bungalow about 9pm. I was so tired, I was disoriented.
After I went out for a bite to eat and spent some time on the internet, I went to my house and watched some movies. At about 1:00 am, I went out for a walk down the beach and met this guy who was fishing. I asked him his name and we talked a bit. He said the resort bar where he works is open 24 hours, so went went back and we played pool with the other locals until 6 am. Even though I was tired, I needed to have some fun after the trip. Once I walked back to my house, I basically passed out in my bed and slept until 5pm today.

I miss Chiang Mai already...

A Quote Worth Reading

War can only be understood and put an end to if you and all those who are concerned very deeply with the survival of humankind, feel that you are utterly responsible for killing others. What will make you change? - J. Krishnamurti

Back to Island Life

So, on Friday I will be traveling back to the Island, except this time it will be Koh Samui Island instead of Koh Phangan. I have copied and paste my other post explaining my trip.

I will then take a train from Chiang Mai at 2:30 pm or so on March 20 and arrive in Bangkok at 5:30 or 6:00 am on Saturday March 21. After arriving in Bangkok I will mingle with the local folks, breakfast (noodles with vegetables, beef, and mushrooms along with strong coffee) and then at 9 am catch the MiniVan to the airport from Victory Monument in downtown Bangkok. I will then fly to Surat Thani at 11:45 am and arrive at 12:45 pm. Then I need to find a bus from the airport to the Pier to catch a ferry to the beautiful Island of Koh Samui and I will stay on Koh Samui Island from March 21 2009 - April 6 2009 at Lamai Beach.

A Brief History of Chiang Mai

Also spelled Chiengmai, largest city in northern Thailand and the third largest city in the nation after metropolitan Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima. It is located on the Ping River, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya River, near the centre of a fertile intermontane basin at an elevation of 1,100 feet (335 m). It serves as the religious, economic, cultural, educational, and transportation centre for both northern Thailand and part of neighbouring Myanmar (Burma). Once the capital of an independent kingdom, the city also has strong cultural ties with Laos.

The settlement, founded as a royal residence in 1292 and as a town in 1296, served as the capital of the Lanna Thai kingdom until 1558, when it fell to the Myanmar. In 1774 the Siamese king Taksin drove out the Myanmar; but Chiang Mai retained a degree of independence from Bangkok until the late 19th century.

In contrast to the normally densely populated Asian city, Chiang Mai has the appearance of a large village—orderly, clean, traditional, and almost sprawling. The older part of town, particularly the 18th-century walled settlement, is on the west bank of the river; it contains ruins of many 13th- and 14th-century temples. The modern east-bank portion is a more open area. Two bridges cross the broad Ping River. Chiang Mai is a flourishing tourist and resort centre. Phu Ping Palace, the summer home of the Thai royal family, is nearby.

The city is renowned as a centre of Thai handicrafts. Small villages nearby specialize in crafts such as silverwork, wood carving, and making pottery, umbrellas, and lacquerware. Traditional Thai silk is woven at San Kamphaeng to the east.

Educational facilities include the Northern Technical Institute (1957), the Maejo Institute of Agricultural Technology (1934), and Chiang Mai University (1964). Affiliated with the university are the Tribal Research Centre, the Lanna Thai Social Sciences Research Centre, the Regional Centre of Mineral Resources, the Industrial Economics Centre of Northern Thailand, the Anaemia and Malnutrition Research Centre, and the Multiple Cropping Project.

Chiang Mai is the terminus of the railway of 467 miles (752 km) from Bangkok and is also linked to southern Thailand by road and air. It has an international airport.

The temple complex of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is one of Thailand's most famous pilgrimage sites. The temple lies at an elevation of 3,520 feet (1,073 m) on the slopes of Mount Suthep, one of Thailand's highest peaks (5,528 feet [1,685 m]), just outside the city. The Doi Pui National Park occupies 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) around the mountain. King Kue-Na built the monastery of the complex in the 14th century; its spired pagoda is said to hold relics of the Buddha.
Chiang Mai.

APA: this entry in its entirety taken from the MAC Software: (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.

Map of Thailand and Surrounding Countries

Night Market in Chiang Mai and My Fortune Teller

Tonight I received an sms from my friend Andy, whom I met through my friend who I have been staying with, inviting me to go with him to the Night Market here in Chiang Mai. Andy is from England and does Human Rights work here in Chiang Mai.

He picked me up around 5pm on his motorbike and I hopped on the back, off we went to the Night Market.
There are many wonderful food stalls ranging from fresh fruit juice, barbeque, fried bugs, various kinds of thai food, arts, and crafts here at this market.

I will come back here often, as it is a great place to meet people as well, depending on your mood I guess. I can walk here very easily from my apartment, maybe it will take 20 minutes or so.

Andy decided to take me to the main temple where they have live traditional Thai music, many food stalls ranging from Japanese food to barbeque, and anything you can imagine really. There is too much variety for me to tell you everything. The food prices never really go above ฿35; that's less than $1. After we finished eating, we were on our way out of the temple when I noticed there were fortune tellers sitting at tables.

I immediately noticed there were 3 separate kinds of fortune tellers; a woman palm reader, on elderly man, and a tarot card reader. I had a feeling about the elderly man, so I asked Andy to help with translating from Thai to English. Andy speaks Thai almost fluently, I am inspired by him very much.
Andy agreed to help me with the translation and we were with the fortune teller for at least 1 hour. The fortune teller told me to come back anytime on Sundays, even gave me his cell phone number, to speak with him and to bring a Thai friend along so that he can translate for me, he has more things he wants to tell me and he needs a native speaker to help. He mostly works in the temples and I wish to keep everything about it private though, even down to how he did everything, in respect to him and his gift.
I am looking forward to living here in Chiang Mai.

Learning How to Eat at a Thai Street Cafe

I have made it a point to seek out how to eat my favorite food in the world, Thai Food, and have as close to an authentic experience as I can. My friend here in Chiang Mai has shown me the way to eat local Thai Food and how to do the order process when you go into these street cafe's; it can be a bit confusing when you first walk in.
The first thing I noticed is that the food portion size is half of what we get in America.
Who remembers me eating the hot peppers directly out of the jar when I was a kid and pouring A1 sauce all over my food, then getting in trouble for it? Well, guess what? I was born to eat Thai food and I still eat hot chilies, or a chili sauce of some kind with every meal, including many different kind of curries.

The chili sauces that they provide with the plate of jasmine rice and barbeque meat of your choice are great, usually along with a sprig of cilantro. Accompanying this plate of rice and meat is usually a bowl of soup of some kind, spicy of course.
As I am writing this blog, I realize I do not have many photos of me?! What the heck?! Ahhh! Well! You know I am here in Thailand and you know what I look like.
Joking!!

The main point about this entry is to observe everything around you and you might just find out that what you are looking for is right in front of you, take the time to look around a little more.

Just a Thought

Realizing now that the train is the most economical way to travel, I have begun to embrace the fact that traveling by train is a unique experience in Thailand and can make travel a little more interesting while helping to spend money wisely by not being in a hurry.
Sure, I could have avoided that ฿200 service fee by going directly to the train station, but I want to support local Thai businesses here.

Water Distribution on Koh Phangan

This is a visual example of how they distribute water around Koh Phangan.

Sources tell me that there are also water pipes stretching all the way from the neighboring Island of Koh Samui, underwater, to Koh Phangan.

There is a lot of construction going on around the area where I took these photos, so maybe it is just being used for the construction site, I am not sure exactly.

Eventually these pipes will become buried under the sand with the help of the tides.

Burns, Scrapes, Bites, Blisters, and Bruises

So, I was initiated back to nature during my time on Koh Phangan (February 11 - March 3 2009) and I realized how important it is to get connected with nature in order for me to be completely balanced.
Arriving to Chiang Mai, I realized that I had burns, scrapes, blisters, and bruises from staying on the island. I laughed when I realized I also lost my cell phone, awesome running shoes I bought in Korea, a $40.00 waterproof flashlight, the Best Thai Phrasebook in the world (which I found again at a bookstore in Chiang Mai), and a pair of fingernail clippers. Let's be thankful I still have my head (as the locals say!).

I have a return flight today, Friday March 13 2009, to return to Bangkok. I have decided to forget the return ticket (only 800 baht) and stay at my friend's studio apartment here in Chiang Mai until March 20, as he will be in Bangkok for 1 week beginning Saturday March 14th and returning on March 20.
I will then take a train from Chiang Mai at 2:30 pm or so on March 20 and arrive in Bangkok at 5:30 or 6:00 am on Saturday March 21. After arriving in Bangkok I will mingle with the local folks, breakfast (noodles with vegetables, beef, and mushrooms along with strong coffee) and then at 9 am catch the MiniVan to the airport from Victory Monument in downtown Bangkok. I will then fly to Surat Thani at 11:45 am and arrive at 12:45 pm. Then I need to find a bus from the airport to the Pier to catch a ferry to the beautiful Island of Koh Samui and I will stay on Koh Samui Island from March 21 2009 - April 6 2009 at Lamai Beach.

What Life Was Like in Koh Phangan

Busy doing nothing...The cat's name is Rocket, and his name tells a lot about him. he jumps out of coconut trees at you, attacks your legs from under the tables, and shoots around the resort like a rocket. He used to sleep with me in my bungalow sometimes too. I miss Rocket!

Swimming Pool at My Apartment

Who can tell me how boring this photo is? Anybody?

Learning to Spend Money Wisely, Thinking in Thai Baht

I noticed right away, here in Chiang Mai, it is cheaper than anywhere I have been so far. Since I arrived 1 week ago, I have not had to take a taxi anywhere. On Koh Phangan Island, I had to take taxis everywhere and it was a minimum of ฿50-100 to go anywhere. To rent a motorbike, it is between ฿150-200 a day. This price does not include petrol or any unseen repair costs that might incur during use of the motorbike. On Koh Phangan, I learned to walk a lot which made me loose about 4.5 pounds, or about 2 kilograms. To be honest, I prefer walking anywhere and everywhere, but once I begin working I will probably need to have a motorbike, but hopefully I will be able to walk to work. A new motorbike costs around ฿45,000 baht; very reasonable I think. But I would need to have my Thai friend buy it for me if I decide to invest in one, because I am not a Thai citizen and I cannot buy a car, house, etc. I could always resell it later if I need to.

Learning to budget my money here and thinking in Thai Baht is the real way to save money. In the beginning, for some reason, I was always converting the prices into US$. Even though it always appeared cheap to me, when I arrived in Chiang Mai and saw the prices here, what I spent in Koh Phangan looked all too expensive. So I have begun to think in Thai Baht now, and it has helped me in my shopping and everything.
Generally speaking, I do not need a lot of comfort things here. I did not live that way in Cambridge, and I do not feel I need it here in Thailand either. I know I talk a lot about money, but it is crucial to share this information because it means you either sink or swim trying to live in a foreign country depending on your needs and desires.

I love Chiang Mai because the local people here are very friendly, willing to help out, and I can walk almost anywhere I need to.

I have not been in Thailand long enough to know what my daily life will be like and it will take time to fall into any kind of routine. Surprisingly, I have not experienced one tourist activity here in Chiang Mai. People ask me, "Did you take the Elephant Trek?" etc. I am guessing this is because I will be here a long time, so why rush it? I am very excited to be here in Thailand and I have high respect for the people and culture here. I am so proud of their accomplishments.

Beautiful Chiang Mai, Rich Culture and History

How old is this wall? Anyone?

Chiang Mai pollution, can you see the mountains?

PLEASE SEND SOME RAIN TO BEAUTIFUL CHIANG MAI!

My Bungalow on Koh Phangan

Sitting on the Rooftop in Koh Phangan

Koh Samui from Ao Hin Lor Koh Phangan

Chiang Mai

I arrived in Chiang Mai on Wednesday after the 12 hour train ride from Surat Thani, 12 hours of hanging out in Bangkok, and 1 hour flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I also met a friend while I was in bangkok and we had a great time together, he also took me to the airport. He showed me a cheaper way to get to the airport. We had a great time teasing each other and laughing most of the time.

People here in Chiang Mai are very friendly. I feel very good here and have decided this is where I will live and work. I plan to rent a studio apartment in the downtown area for around ฿4000 a month, which is around $110.00 a month. I could get something cheaper, but this place is where my best friend here lives. The security at this apartment complex is the best. There are security guards everywhere including 1 police officer I believe, security gates, swimming pool, and laundry included.
Chiang Mai is a small city like Cambridge, but only with a lot more history. The energy here is really good for me. It is very hot during the day, but I really thrive on that. The pollution is a bit bad here right now because they have not had any rain for a long time and there have been a lot of forest fires here as well. But soon that will change; rainy season begins in 2 months.
Everything is very cheap here also, contrary to what many people believe. For example: in the south part of Thailand (mostly the Islands) the hourly rate for an Internet cafe is ฿60 per hour, here in Chiang Mai it is ฿20; calculate $1.00=฿36

Bangkok is a nice city really, I felt good there, but it is just too big for me. On March 20 I will take an overnight train to Bangkok from Chiang Mai which cost ฿561 one way, and then I bought a one way ticket to fly to Surat Thani airport on the morning of March 21 for ฿1200 one way. After arriving to Surat Thani airport I will take a bus to the pier to catch a boat to Koh Samui Island. My TEFL program has moved the TEFL Teachers training site to Koh Samui and I am so happy about this. I am looking forward to staying on a new Island for 3 weeks! I can't wait! The accomidation will be better on Koh Samui Island, and frankly I am tired of the party scene that Koh Phangan has. Koh Phangan is an incredibly beautiful Island with mountains and the Local people are really wonderful, but it is also too expensive for me.
I will have more photos to add to this post soon.
I have been busy with my friend here,
but soon I will have more time to dedicate my time to photographing Chiang Mai.

FireLimbo

A few nights ago I went out with a couple from England. We walked down the beach to the next town Haad Rin. We finally found a nice cafe on the beach. After we finished at the cafe, we walked next door to a beach bar called Cactus. There were some kids walking around with flower necklaces and they would come to you and play a game of tic tac toe in the sand, if you lost, you pay 20 baht and take a necklace. I played many tic tac toe games throughout the night, but after paying them 100 baht and only winning 2 times, I quit.
Then began the fire limbo game. They had a limbo pole and it was on fire, so we played that game for at least an hour, maybe 3 or 4 different guys. It was so much fun too, the Thai guys were really good at it; they practice everyday anyhow.
By the end of the night (5am), someone had stolen my shoes I bought in Korea and I was ready to go, even though it was extremely lively on that main beach at that time in the morning. I ended up walking home down the beach in someone else's sandals a girl gave me at the beach bar. I am thinking to make a T-Shirt, "Has Anybody Seen my Shoes?"

Thai Geko