Ya know almost every day I think to myself, "oh yeah, I want to write a blog about what just happened. Great idea, Nick. Smashing." And then Wednesday rolls around and LOST comes on, and I realize I have to write the LOST blog first! Then by the time I finish that, I have already forgotten about the blog about me living in a foreign and exotic land. Okay fine I'll admit it I am still WAY more interested about what is going on on the Island than I am about what is going on in Bangkok. Or the Islands that I will soon by visiting.
You can't blame me. The Islands in Thailand aren't magical and mysterious....at least not that I know of.......
So let's start with the Photo Shoot. A few weeks ago my boss Ploy told me to make sure I looked extra handsome for school tomorrow. I calmly replied, "Ploy, I always look handsome." She agreed, but said to make sure I was EXTRA handsome for tomorrow. A photographer was coming by to take pictures for the school's new brochure. Well I got to school that day, and like she said, the photographer took pictures of our department, and then Ploy said later they would need a few more photos with me. I said sure. Waited in the office for three hours (classes were canceled that day, how can you expect students to concentrate on showing up to class when something as exciting as a DIGITAL CAMERA comes into town?), and then decided that they didn't need me after all, and headed home. Only then I got a phone call from Ploy asking me to be in the school library for further pictures in half an hour (I had only learned our school had a library a few days prior to this.)
So I get to the library expecting other teachers from me department and whatnot there, ready to take pictures. No no. It's just some of my IEP students, and a bunch of other seemingly randomly selected students. Oh and ONE other teacher. Roger. The Brit. The only other white person at the school. We were the only two teachers present for the next three hours of photography that took place. Even though I find it hilarious, I am not surprised.
So for the next few hours we took picture after picture of us ridiculously point to things and having an expression like, "See! That means THAT!" While the students have similar, fake, shit-eating grins on their faces saying things like, "Ohhhh Teacher! I understand!" Ha. It was silly. But it was fun. It took longer than a normal school day would, but it was far less work. And it felt silly to all of a sudden be the center of attention just because I am white. Isn't it normally the exact opposite? But I mean, you can see how it is. It's a school that teaches English, it doesn't hurt to prove you have native English speakers teaching there. Like I said, it's not surprising, it's just silly.
I used the same book for every shot. It was a book about the history of popular American music, so whenever I am explaining something to the students, it's really something, "so Bob Dylan was the grooviest cat ever." I know. I teach because I care.
So now on to exciting venture number 2: My friend Dave and I went to a SHOOTING RANGE! I have never fired a gun before in my life. And now, I have. Boom. It really was a lot of fun. We shot a revolver, six shooter with a wheel (a 45 I believe), a 9mm, like a regular 'ol cop gun, and then we fired off some SHOTGUN SHELLS. Ha. It was awesome. My aim wasn't too bad either. Nothing spectacular, but I hit some stuff. It was really cool. I need to go again, just so I can get pictures of me holding a gun. Most important.
Number 3 on exciting things: I took a Thai Cooking class! My friend Dave's good friend Ning just opened up a little shop to teach different Thai dishes. We went on the first day of classes and learned how to cook quite a bit. First we learned how to make an actual curry paste. I was really excited to learn how to make curry, because before that I was never really sure what it was. Like, I had eaten curry before, but...what WAS it? It's just different asian herbs and spices and vegetables all ground up together with different chiles, and then mixed usually with coconut milk to give it a rich thick saucey flavor. It's quite delicious. And there are about 40 million different kinds of curries, depending on what chiles and spices you use. We learned how to make green curry.
After the curry we made some different vegetable and chicken dishes. One was called Chicken Sate, and that was quite delicious. It was chicken marinated in this one kind of curry powder sauce and then dipped in another kind of curry sauce. It was fantastic. I have wanted to take a cooking class since I've been here, so it's great that I actually know some people who are doing them.
So my travel plans have changed considerable since the last blog. I was being a bit unrealistic with the amount of places I wanted to see in such a small amount of time. As of now, I am leaving for Ko Pa Ngan (ko pan yang) on Sunday for two weeks. That is the Island with all the crazy fun beach parties. There's plenty of internet bars and places like that, so I will be on the internet still, and will be able to tell everyone about how much fun I'm having. The bus trip there is a doozy of one, and will take all night. That won't be fun, but the rest of it will. I'm going alone, but Ko Pa Ngan is kind of like Farang central in South Thailand. However, it's not as touristy and gimmicky as Koh Samui (a nearby Island). And I know a lot of people in Bangkok who have been there a million times and will help me figure some stuff out when I am there. It will be very exciting.
Next month I am going to go to (hopefully) Cambodia, and maybe even Chang Mai for part of Sonkran (the new years). I will hopefully be able to update this blog while I am in Ko Pa Ngan! Until next time!
