CELTA SURVIVOR SEASON PREMIERE
i had been wondering for awhile whether i should really do this whole CELTA course thing after i signed up for it. i have heard how INTENSE it is, how it takes over your life for four weeks, how you are so engulfed in learning how to teach english that you forget another world exists outside grammar and lexicon. yeah, pretty frightening. well the terror began yesterday, and im still alive at the moment to share. so that's a good sign!
THE CAST
yesterday it was so fun walking into the classroom for orientation cuz it was full of such a variety of people. i am am the youngest, then the next oldest is like 25 i think. the oldest is probably in their late 50s. there are five Americans, two Irish, two Londoners, a Trinidad and Tobagoian, a middle easterner, and an Argentine. they are all so fun and such funny, unique characters who make me smile. it makes me feel like im on a reality TV show. like all these quirky people are placed together to struggle for 4 weeks to see who will survive. it's so exciting!
the first person i met and bonded with right away was a lady who grew up in Georgia! she is in her 50s-ish, and such a sweet, outgoing lady. she was so excited to meet another southerner! she taught home economics for 30 years, then she and her husband decided to move to china and work for a non-profit there and now they live in laos. she has taught english in both places. it seems like out of our class of 12 people that half of them have had at least a few years of experience teaching english, or teaching, and wanted to take the course to brush up. im trying not to let that intimidate me though cuz the tutors keep saying how they won't compare us. they are just seeing how we improve as an individual. nice to know, but it is hard to remember..
SHERRI'S INSULT SESSION
but the first thing we did was we had to write our name backwards on a name tag with three numbers that related to us. then we had to go around the room and meet people and figure out their names and what the numbers signified. i went up to this one guy who had 44 on his tag. first i guessed it to be his age, but then right away, i thought ooops, he doesnt look 44 at all. he was like, NOOO! then i said, hmm..is it your waist size? not knowing that is a really large waist size...and he was like NO! wow, you just keep the compliments coming dont you? it turns out it was his shoe size in thai. i was so embarassed though, and my face turned bright red.
then later i discovered he is my tutor!! one of the two tutors who will be grading us to see if we do well enough to pass the course. yeah, so i will have to work extra hard now, to get over telling my teacher he is old and fat. go sherri!
HAPPY LEARNERS MAKE HAPPY TEACHERS
so the people we will be teaching are so great. they are from laos, china, thailand and sri lanka. some of them are refugees, others just don't have the money to pay for a normal course. after a morning of learning about teaching methods, we had to do our first 15 minute lesson!
the students were so eager to participate and want to learn, so that helped things. yet, i didnt feel that i did very well. i was so nervous at first, but then i gained more confidence as the minutes went on. apparently i did really well drilling them, so thats cool. but i didnt feel like the class time flowed very smoothly. hopefully i can improve on that tomorrow during my 35 mintue lesson im teaching..ahhhh! i never realized how hard it is to be a teacher. i now have a new respect for you all wise teachers...please send along some advice soon.
RANDOM!?
so two days ago im standing in this photo store to get a passport size photo for my work visa. as im waiting for it to print out, i see this south asian tourist sitting at a chair speaking french while waiting for whoever he was with to finish printing their photos. i sort of saw that he was eyeing me. i didnt think much about it as i was flipping through some post cards. then i see him get up, meander to the security guard who was standing near me, and give him his camera. THEN he comes right next to me, puts his arm around me and gets the security guard to take a picture. then he smlles at me, and sits down.
so this random south asian man is forever going to have a picture with me in a photo store in bangkok. i have NO idea why he wanted a pic with me. had he never seen a girl with curly brown hair before? i was bewildered and wanted to laugh sooo hard after it happened, but i had to keep waiting and pretend like that happens all the time. wow...so weird! i just keep asking, why would he do such a thing??
im off to bed so i can be fresh for my next lesson...stay tuned..email me about how you are..i miss hearing from the home land..jesengel@gmail.com
Monday, August 6, 2007
Friday, August 3, 2007
whirlwind of thailand
few more of these pics...http://www.flickr.com/photos/55907373@N00/
UNC THAI TALK
soooo i am seeing the value of UNC more everyday-- it can give you friends all over the world. my awesome friend ja invited me to have dinner with her and the people she studied abroad at UNC with last semester. they were so welcoming and excited that im going to be here for year...i still cant believe that myself.
i had my first dinner in a nice thai restaurant called, good evening..heehee.. we ordered tons of different dishes and all picked off of them to mix with our rice, just like you do at a chinese place. i really like the thai omelet, shrimp in tamarind sauce, and red curry. so goood! it sort of freaked me out a little to see the fish they ordered look like they had just plucked it from the ocean and placed on the plate. but i tried some! im trying to try everything. i always feel bad if i dont like it though. im trying to be more honest about saying, hm...im not a big fan of that, instead of saying, yeah it's ok...and my friends reading my feelings on my face and saying, just say you dont like it sherri..heehee..
TOUR THE LAND
i then got to spend the night at ja's. it was my first time meeting a thai family. her mom is the cutest thing ever created, and sat on the couch smiling at me quietly the whole time. she speaks english, but apparently is very shy around farangs. her dad was sweet and chatted with me about how much thai's enjoy keeping their kids at home with them even when they have grown up. ja sort of half smiled at that comment. heehee..
the next day we had green curry with chicken and rice for breakfast. apparently in thailand they eat the same things for most meals. ja thought it was weird when she was in the states and had only toast for breakfast. its not enough to fill you up until noon, she said. i didnt mind the curry for bfast, it was really good, but i perfer my yogurt and granola..
ja was my tour guide the whole day, i was so blessed! she took me first to her university. we had to take the river boat there, which is a common form of public transport. we went on the tourist boat full of europeans. she said she takes sometimes if she is running late, so she was already telling me about every site before the tour guide with a muffled accented voice could try to talk about it.
her school, tamasat university, was our first stop. it was sweet cuz it was right next to the river. they had all these announcements painted on boards, like we had at UNC, and one of them was announcing stage play auditions. ja told me that she did a stage play a few semeters ago. i asked her if it took a lot of her time, and she said it did. i thought she would say because she had to practice her lines and such. but instead she said it was because she had to run all these laps everyday, do push-ups and sit-ups and get in really good shape. i was like, what? for a play? she said that it was important for them to get their energy up so that the audience sitting in the back could feel the same amount of energy coming from them as the people in the front. wow, i dont think we do that in the states do we? high-energy performance?
then we meandered to the grand palace! sadly, my camera ran out of battery, so i couldnt take any pics. but ja was generous enough to take lots of pics for me which she said she will send soon...it was sooooo HOT when we were there. so we tried to go quickly before the sun sapped us of all our energy.
the grand palace is where the king lives sometimes, and used to live all the time. so the first thing i thought, to be honest, was gaudy. there was gold everywhere and shiny gems plastered all over that. they also had a temple there where there were some young buddhist monks doing a ceremony so we couldnt go in. ja told me to stay away from them because they arent allowed to touch women. i kept wondering what would happen if i tripped and fell into one accidently. could be interesting.
then we went to another temple called wat po where they have the largest reclining buddha in thailand. it was sort of intimidating because it was so big and its half slanted eyes would just stare at you. then at the temple ja did her buddhist rituals of bowing, and i sat and watched. then when we were leaving she gave money for them to make renovations to the roof. she wrote her name on a roof tile and added it to the stack already there. she said they do that so in their next life they will live in a nice house.
then we shopped and shopped in the markets. ja helped me baragain with people for my things, or i guess she baragained for me really. im pretty bad at it. i even got a king shirt! its a yellow polo shirt with the king's emblem on it. everyone wears them on monday. so i wanted to be prepared. im excited to wear it..
6 BUCKS FOR A MASSAGE...
two days ago i got my first thai massage! thailand is famous for their massage skills, so i wanted to test it out. i was headed to a higher class place i found online, but then as i was walking to the skytrain i saw one right next to the station advertising massages for 200 baht, which is only 6 dollars. my friend Praew had told me earlier that was a good price to pay. so even though it didn't look very classy, i decided to go for it.
i was led to a room upstairs and given a huge button-up shirt to change into in this curtained off area with two mattresses on the ground. i put it on and was just standing there with only the shirt on feeling awkward. then the masseuse came up and she was like, "oh!" and grabbed these gigantic brown pants that were lying on the bed and gestured for me to put them on. i think they could have fit a sumo wrestler, but i felt better after i tied the drawstring and had them on.
my masseuse was a little lady who probably knew five complete sentences of English plus a few random words. the first part of the hour though all she did was try to speak in English to me. i would try to speak back and ask questions, but she would just respond in thai and look confused. so i kept laughing while she massaged cuz she didnt understand me, and i didnt understand her, but we kept trying to understand each other.
i had never had a real massage before, so i cant compare it to anything, but this one was pretty sweet. im not sure how the thai massage is really different, but it was weird cuz she was so small, but still could make me feel so relaxed. so it was a fun time, i think i might try out different places too. ja told me that people get addicted to massages though, so i shall have to watch myself...
tonight im going to a church service here in bangkok. i hope i dont get lost! im leaving an hour early just to make sure i find it. my sense of direction still hasnt improved over the past week. oh well, always makes things an adventure...
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
change of scene
MOVING ON UP
so i was able to flee the back alleyway life! i called the place where i will be living until decemeber, the evergreen, to see if i could move in sooner than august 9th, and they said i could. i called my director and told her that i had the chance to move in early, and she was just like, "ok." so it wasnt a big deal at all. well, the bigger ordeal was bringing all my bags down the four flights of stairs again, but the superwoman powers came back, and the mission was accomplished.
when i arrived at the front desk they told me i was going to have to pay extra since i moved in early. i expected this, and was like ok..but then it turns out they didnt have a one-bedroom available for me to stay in, only a two-bedroom. then on sunday when the one-bedroom opens i could switch to that so i wouldnt have to pay for a two-bedroom until august 9th. i had no other option at that point. i had my 200 pounds of luggage surrounding me, and the thought of lugging it all to a cheaper place for 9 days and then back here, all for the sake of saving money, sort of didint look like a bright and happy option.
so i settled for spending an extraordinary amount of money to stay in a gigantic apartment....but i LOVE it and feel like i have arrived at a thai resort. i have my own lil kitchen, a king size bed, two choices of bathrooms, one with a huge tub as well as a separate shower. i have a DVD player and a balcony with a view of bustling bangkok. no way! and there are no freaky noises at night! cant get any better..
there is also a workout room which i used this morning. yeah, i opted for not taking the sky train to lumpini park and lifting weights with the sweaty old men..while i worked out i looked out on the outdoor pool, which i might have to jump in later when it stops raining. WOW! i feel crazy blessed to be here.
plus i feel safe, which is probably one of the best factors. im on the 15th floor and you need a keycard to even get to that floor on the elevator. and i just noticed on TV that there is a channel to watch the front desk and see who comes in. how freaky! someone could be watching me whenever i come or go...or i can watch them. could be fun times.
TOURING THE HOME OF A THAI LOVER
jim thompson is a very popular guy here in thailand. i heard from some people before i came to thailand that i should tour his house. its pretty close to the evergreen, so i meandered there yesterday. as i was walking down the little road, this motor bike taxi man shouts, "oh, you are beautiful! where you from?" yeah, im sure he shouts that to every white girl he sees. but i was like, "north carolina!" he and his pals were like, oh, "tar heels!" then another one said, "carolina panthers!" i just laughed..i mean people should know about the tar heels, obviously, but the panthers?
when i got there i signed up for the english tour, there were like five different language tours. i thought, oh, there might be an american on this tour, cool. but whenever the lady would say in monotone english, "now you are free to look around the room," the fifteen other people around me would start chatting to the people they were with in all these different languages. so weird! i guess i was the only one who really knew JUST english. oh well, guess im just an ignorant american.
so what i learned from the lovely tour guide was that good ol' jim from delaware came to thailand during world war II. then after he was done with the army he decided he was so in love with thailand and that he had to return and live here forever. he was an architect and made his house by combing six traditional thai homes. the houses were found around thailand, and dismantled and reconstructed here. pretty crazy! so he is also famous cuz he was into thai silk, and helped bring them fame around the globe for it. he also had a sweet jungle garden around his house. BUT...then he dissappeared in 1967 and no one knows what happened to him...sort of creepy.
SLEEPY SHOPPING SHERRI
i got to hang out with ja again last night. it was so nice to be with a friend after not really hanging out with anyone but myself for two days. i get sort of boring after awhile. we went shopping together! i was half asleep the whole time though, jet lag wont let go of me. while i was waiting for her to arrive i was sitting on a bench and started to doze off. then i jerked myself awake as i started falling sideways. the security guards at the mall probably enjoyed watching that. anyways, tonight im going to get dinner with her and her friends, then i think i will spend the night at her place. we might go tour the grand palace tomorrow. what fun!
OH! and i got to go to a thai grocery store. it was on the bottom floor of the fancy mall, called gourmet market. it was huge, and had everything. i love grocery stores, its so sweet to wander the aisles and look at all the different food. there was a good amount of american stuff, but what made me most excited was seeing that it even had tim-tams, my favorite cookie from new zealand! discovrering that assured me that i will be very happy here.
right now im watching the maid make my bed with fresh sheets. wow, i wonder if she is going to do this everyday i live at this place? fine with me...
some new pics... http://www.flickr.com/photos/55907373@N00/
so i was able to flee the back alleyway life! i called the place where i will be living until decemeber, the evergreen, to see if i could move in sooner than august 9th, and they said i could. i called my director and told her that i had the chance to move in early, and she was just like, "ok." so it wasnt a big deal at all. well, the bigger ordeal was bringing all my bags down the four flights of stairs again, but the superwoman powers came back, and the mission was accomplished.
when i arrived at the front desk they told me i was going to have to pay extra since i moved in early. i expected this, and was like ok..but then it turns out they didnt have a one-bedroom available for me to stay in, only a two-bedroom. then on sunday when the one-bedroom opens i could switch to that so i wouldnt have to pay for a two-bedroom until august 9th. i had no other option at that point. i had my 200 pounds of luggage surrounding me, and the thought of lugging it all to a cheaper place for 9 days and then back here, all for the sake of saving money, sort of didint look like a bright and happy option.
so i settled for spending an extraordinary amount of money to stay in a gigantic apartment....but i LOVE it and feel like i have arrived at a thai resort. i have my own lil kitchen, a king size bed, two choices of bathrooms, one with a huge tub as well as a separate shower. i have a DVD player and a balcony with a view of bustling bangkok. no way! and there are no freaky noises at night! cant get any better..
there is also a workout room which i used this morning. yeah, i opted for not taking the sky train to lumpini park and lifting weights with the sweaty old men..while i worked out i looked out on the outdoor pool, which i might have to jump in later when it stops raining. WOW! i feel crazy blessed to be here.
plus i feel safe, which is probably one of the best factors. im on the 15th floor and you need a keycard to even get to that floor on the elevator. and i just noticed on TV that there is a channel to watch the front desk and see who comes in. how freaky! someone could be watching me whenever i come or go...or i can watch them. could be fun times.
TOURING THE HOME OF A THAI LOVER
jim thompson is a very popular guy here in thailand. i heard from some people before i came to thailand that i should tour his house. its pretty close to the evergreen, so i meandered there yesterday. as i was walking down the little road, this motor bike taxi man shouts, "oh, you are beautiful! where you from?" yeah, im sure he shouts that to every white girl he sees. but i was like, "north carolina!" he and his pals were like, oh, "tar heels!" then another one said, "carolina panthers!" i just laughed..i mean people should know about the tar heels, obviously, but the panthers?
when i got there i signed up for the english tour, there were like five different language tours. i thought, oh, there might be an american on this tour, cool. but whenever the lady would say in monotone english, "now you are free to look around the room," the fifteen other people around me would start chatting to the people they were with in all these different languages. so weird! i guess i was the only one who really knew JUST english. oh well, guess im just an ignorant american.
so what i learned from the lovely tour guide was that good ol' jim from delaware came to thailand during world war II. then after he was done with the army he decided he was so in love with thailand and that he had to return and live here forever. he was an architect and made his house by combing six traditional thai homes. the houses were found around thailand, and dismantled and reconstructed here. pretty crazy! so he is also famous cuz he was into thai silk, and helped bring them fame around the globe for it. he also had a sweet jungle garden around his house. BUT...then he dissappeared in 1967 and no one knows what happened to him...sort of creepy.
SLEEPY SHOPPING SHERRI
i got to hang out with ja again last night. it was so nice to be with a friend after not really hanging out with anyone but myself for two days. i get sort of boring after awhile. we went shopping together! i was half asleep the whole time though, jet lag wont let go of me. while i was waiting for her to arrive i was sitting on a bench and started to doze off. then i jerked myself awake as i started falling sideways. the security guards at the mall probably enjoyed watching that. anyways, tonight im going to get dinner with her and her friends, then i think i will spend the night at her place. we might go tour the grand palace tomorrow. what fun!
OH! and i got to go to a thai grocery store. it was on the bottom floor of the fancy mall, called gourmet market. it was huge, and had everything. i love grocery stores, its so sweet to wander the aisles and look at all the different food. there was a good amount of american stuff, but what made me most excited was seeing that it even had tim-tams, my favorite cookie from new zealand! discovrering that assured me that i will be very happy here.
right now im watching the maid make my bed with fresh sheets. wow, i wonder if she is going to do this everyday i live at this place? fine with me...
some new pics... http://www.flickr.com/photos/55907373@N00/
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
no, i wil not be jet lagged...
hmm, so i have discovered that even though im trying in my mind to forget the fact that my body has jumped forward in time so that i can get over jet lag quicker, my scheme doesnt really work. my body wont listen to the lie, its not as gullible as i thought it was. as a result the past few days i have woken up at 4:30/5 am ready to go. i already have problems with not being able to sleep in normally, but thailand has taken me to a new level. hmm..so instead of lying in bed trying to force my brain off and my body to sleep, i have decided to give up the battle and blog instead.
CENTRAL PARK BANGKOK STYLE
so yesterday i decided would be my chill out day since i had killed myself the day before wandering for hours around the tall malls. i got on the metro to go to lumpini park. i love parks and was thinking it might be sweet to run there, since lots of people go there to run i heard, but first i wanted to scope it out.
of course, nothing is as simple to find in bangkok as it so easily appears on the map. well, perhaps it might be simple for most people, but for directionally challenged sherri, its not so easy. so once i arrived at the right station, i kept walking back and forth on the same food stall/cheap clothes/cheap watches filled aveneue, not discovering lumpini park admist any of it. i think the vendors were getting used to me and didnt take much notice of me after awhile. i wasnt really in distress about it though, i wasnt in a rush and was discovering life on the bangkok streets, so it was all good.
anyways, i eventually found the park! it was not as naturey as i thought it would be, but what do you expect for a park in the middle of a city? there were wide asphalt running paths that super sweaty old men were gasping along on. there was also a lifting weights area, where you could just sit and gawk at more super sweaty old men lifting weights. i took a pic, i think that made them happy and feel all tough. how cute.
i found a sweet little bench next to the lake to spread out on and read my book. i sat there, while wataching the little swan paddle boats slowly drift by. then i peered over at one family in a boat near me and saw a reptile like head coming out of the water. i was like, aww...how sweet a cute turtle is coming out. but no...as i watched the head kept getting longer and skinnier and the body started to pop out and it was so freaky! im not sure what it was, some sort of lanky reptilian creature. it just sat for awhile on the edge of the lake, sticking its tongue out and looking formidable. i then told my thai friends about it later, and they said that the name of the creature is what you call someone if you dont like them and want to call them a bad name..i can see why.
BANGKOK IS LIKE...
as i wandered the busy streets, i was trying to think of other places i have been to that bagnkok might remind me of...i think it definitely has a mix of mexico city, because of all the vendors everywhere selling some appetizing, some not so appetizing food. then some of the alleyways remind me of kenya because there are native thais selling things out of their tiny shops. those parts sort of reminds me of the slums, but not quite as rundown. yet, it also feels a bit like a European city, with all the levels and levels in the fancy shopping malls. then everything gets thrown off with the exotic palm trees speckled all over the city, under the sky train lines that run above. go bangkok for being so unique!
SWITCHING IT UP
so i have decided the place where im staying now, the temporary place before my housing opens, is a bit too sketchy for me. i havent really felt comfortable here since the day i arrrived. i have to walk down this sketch alleyway to get here, while sometimes odd people stare at me. then i run in and lock the door. it was nice of my director to let me stay in the guest rooms above the non-profit's offices, but i think im going to tell her today that im going to try to move to a hotel. i was suggested to do that after i told my dad how i was a lil freaked out last night. so hopefully she will understand and not fire me or something. hehee...im going to see if i can move into my apartment early and pay extra or something. but i shall keep you updated...
AN OH THAILAND MOMENT
i was in this store and saw a shirt that says, "I like to dress up because it makes me feel happy and confident." it cracked me up! hmm..but it doesnt seem like the person wearing the shirt would be very dressed up though? so would they be happy and confident? oh thailand....
PICTURES!
so i have pics of that shirt and more! enjoy them...there arent many of me since im wandering by myself and dont want to look like a dork taking pictures of myself. but maybe i will do that today for fun.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55907373@N00/
CENTRAL PARK BANGKOK STYLE
so yesterday i decided would be my chill out day since i had killed myself the day before wandering for hours around the tall malls. i got on the metro to go to lumpini park. i love parks and was thinking it might be sweet to run there, since lots of people go there to run i heard, but first i wanted to scope it out.
of course, nothing is as simple to find in bangkok as it so easily appears on the map. well, perhaps it might be simple for most people, but for directionally challenged sherri, its not so easy. so once i arrived at the right station, i kept walking back and forth on the same food stall/cheap clothes/cheap watches filled aveneue, not discovering lumpini park admist any of it. i think the vendors were getting used to me and didnt take much notice of me after awhile. i wasnt really in distress about it though, i wasnt in a rush and was discovering life on the bangkok streets, so it was all good.
anyways, i eventually found the park! it was not as naturey as i thought it would be, but what do you expect for a park in the middle of a city? there were wide asphalt running paths that super sweaty old men were gasping along on. there was also a lifting weights area, where you could just sit and gawk at more super sweaty old men lifting weights. i took a pic, i think that made them happy and feel all tough. how cute.
i found a sweet little bench next to the lake to spread out on and read my book. i sat there, while wataching the little swan paddle boats slowly drift by. then i peered over at one family in a boat near me and saw a reptile like head coming out of the water. i was like, aww...how sweet a cute turtle is coming out. but no...as i watched the head kept getting longer and skinnier and the body started to pop out and it was so freaky! im not sure what it was, some sort of lanky reptilian creature. it just sat for awhile on the edge of the lake, sticking its tongue out and looking formidable. i then told my thai friends about it later, and they said that the name of the creature is what you call someone if you dont like them and want to call them a bad name..i can see why.
BANGKOK IS LIKE...
as i wandered the busy streets, i was trying to think of other places i have been to that bagnkok might remind me of...i think it definitely has a mix of mexico city, because of all the vendors everywhere selling some appetizing, some not so appetizing food. then some of the alleyways remind me of kenya because there are native thais selling things out of their tiny shops. those parts sort of reminds me of the slums, but not quite as rundown. yet, it also feels a bit like a European city, with all the levels and levels in the fancy shopping malls. then everything gets thrown off with the exotic palm trees speckled all over the city, under the sky train lines that run above. go bangkok for being so unique!
SWITCHING IT UP
so i have decided the place where im staying now, the temporary place before my housing opens, is a bit too sketchy for me. i havent really felt comfortable here since the day i arrrived. i have to walk down this sketch alleyway to get here, while sometimes odd people stare at me. then i run in and lock the door. it was nice of my director to let me stay in the guest rooms above the non-profit's offices, but i think im going to tell her today that im going to try to move to a hotel. i was suggested to do that after i told my dad how i was a lil freaked out last night. so hopefully she will understand and not fire me or something. hehee...im going to see if i can move into my apartment early and pay extra or something. but i shall keep you updated...
AN OH THAILAND MOMENT
i was in this store and saw a shirt that says, "I like to dress up because it makes me feel happy and confident." it cracked me up! hmm..but it doesnt seem like the person wearing the shirt would be very dressed up though? so would they be happy and confident? oh thailand....
PICTURES!
so i have pics of that shirt and more! enjoy them...there arent many of me since im wandering by myself and dont want to look like a dork taking pictures of myself. but maybe i will do that today for fun.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55907373@N00/
the first tastes of thai life..
SPICY OR SPICY OR SPICY?
this morning had my first street vendor food! i decided to chose my vendor by picking the first one i saw with someone standing in line cuz the line must mean they are good..so when i went to the worthy vendor i pointed at the dishes, and i asked what meat it was. she was like, "pig, or chicken." then i pointed at the chicken stuff, and she was like, "spicy!" i was like, "what isn't as spicy?" then she pointed at each dish, "spicy, spicy, spicy, spicy." haha..so i decided to do it the thai way and asked for the chicken. she was like "are you sure you want it??" i said "yes, but only a little bit..."
so after my first two bites my lips felt numb and like they were on fire and about to fall off all at the same time. but at least it had good flavor! so my first thai breakfast consisted of a small container of rice, a wee bit of chicken veggie hottness and a fried egg. all for under a dollar! woosh! im eager for the day i will be able to eat without my lips falling off..
then i wandered some more and found a coffee shop! its called mau's coffee beans. it had a cool modern feel to it. i asked for a cappuccino and thought i could just get it to go, but she directed me to sit down. so i sat and waited and listened/watched some sort of thai american idol superstar singing easy listening songs. she then brought it over in this funky cup and saucer with a wee spoon. but first she laid out a placemat, and a folded napkin. then she also gave me my very own container
full of sugar packets. the cappuccino was pretty good, almost met my standards. i even got a little creme puff on the saucer to eat after my drink. go thailand!
SHOP INTO CULTURE SHOCKNESS
so my director, ja, is super cool. she is 27 and we have a lot in common. she was sweet enough to take me to buy a cell phone and show me the malls. but then she had to leave to meet someone, so i was left, gaping up at the seven story malls alone.
at first i was a little overwhelmed, but then i got my bearings, and enjoyed myself. i loved the independent feeling of going wherever and just wandering with no goal in mind but to explore. i felt thai culture zooming at me full steam though. i couldn't absorb it all at once, so it was making my mind boggle. there were so many different stores, and different people coming at me. its ok though, cuz i got a cool shirt and even got to barter for it. hmm..but she didnt accept my offer of 180 baht. so my bartering skills need to be worked on...
CANT ESCAPE UNC...EVER
then the best part of my day, was when i met up with my friend ja, who studied abroad last semester at UNC. i had just sent her off in may at the airport in raleigh, and then a few months later i get to catch up with her at a mcdonalds in bangkok. how crazy!
so we chatted merrily for awhile, and she helped me with my thai. i had been asking everyone all day how to say thank you, and no one really helped me. they just repeated the phrase to me with a blank stare. then i would try to say it back and a bunch of goobeldy gook would come out. but then ja slowly went over with me each tone, and i sort of got it. its hard cuz i feel like i sound like a man when i use some tones cuz they are really low. then i feel like i sound like im whining when i use the other tones. then other times i sound monotone. it feels so unnatural. but im sure i will get used to it.
its so nice to have friends here and to be meeting new people. but i didnt feel super alone even when i wasnt with them because i know God is with me. its pretty sweet..
this morning had my first street vendor food! i decided to chose my vendor by picking the first one i saw with someone standing in line cuz the line must mean they are good..so when i went to the worthy vendor i pointed at the dishes, and i asked what meat it was. she was like, "pig, or chicken." then i pointed at the chicken stuff, and she was like, "spicy!" i was like, "what isn't as spicy?" then she pointed at each dish, "spicy, spicy, spicy, spicy." haha..so i decided to do it the thai way and asked for the chicken. she was like "are you sure you want it??" i said "yes, but only a little bit..."
so after my first two bites my lips felt numb and like they were on fire and about to fall off all at the same time. but at least it had good flavor! so my first thai breakfast consisted of a small container of rice, a wee bit of chicken veggie hottness and a fried egg. all for under a dollar! woosh! im eager for the day i will be able to eat without my lips falling off..
then i wandered some more and found a coffee shop! its called mau's coffee beans. it had a cool modern feel to it. i asked for a cappuccino and thought i could just get it to go, but she directed me to sit down. so i sat and waited and listened/watched some sort of thai american idol superstar singing easy listening songs. she then brought it over in this funky cup and saucer with a wee spoon. but first she laid out a placemat, and a folded napkin. then she also gave me my very own container
full of sugar packets. the cappuccino was pretty good, almost met my standards. i even got a little creme puff on the saucer to eat after my drink. go thailand!
SHOP INTO CULTURE SHOCKNESS
so my director, ja, is super cool. she is 27 and we have a lot in common. she was sweet enough to take me to buy a cell phone and show me the malls. but then she had to leave to meet someone, so i was left, gaping up at the seven story malls alone.
at first i was a little overwhelmed, but then i got my bearings, and enjoyed myself. i loved the independent feeling of going wherever and just wandering with no goal in mind but to explore. i felt thai culture zooming at me full steam though. i couldn't absorb it all at once, so it was making my mind boggle. there were so many different stores, and different people coming at me. its ok though, cuz i got a cool shirt and even got to barter for it. hmm..but she didnt accept my offer of 180 baht. so my bartering skills need to be worked on...
CANT ESCAPE UNC...EVER
then the best part of my day, was when i met up with my friend ja, who studied abroad last semester at UNC. i had just sent her off in may at the airport in raleigh, and then a few months later i get to catch up with her at a mcdonalds in bangkok. how crazy!
so we chatted merrily for awhile, and she helped me with my thai. i had been asking everyone all day how to say thank you, and no one really helped me. they just repeated the phrase to me with a blank stare. then i would try to say it back and a bunch of goobeldy gook would come out. but then ja slowly went over with me each tone, and i sort of got it. its hard cuz i feel like i sound like a man when i use some tones cuz they are really low. then i feel like i sound like im whining when i use the other tones. then other times i sound monotone. it feels so unnatural. but im sure i will get used to it.
its so nice to have friends here and to be meeting new people. but i didnt feel super alone even when i wasnt with them because i know God is with me. its pretty sweet..
Sunday, July 29, 2007
whoa, where am i?
i really need to sleep i have decided. i have only slept for an hour here and there the past two days so i guess it might be good to do some of that. ahhh! but im in bangkok!
here are the headlines:
I FINISHED BOOK SEVEN OF HARRY POTTER!
NOTHING BAD HAPPENED, NO DELAYS, OR LUGGAGE LOST?! CRAZY!
I FOUND JA, EVEN THOUGH I WAS A LOST AND CONFUSED SAD LOOKING AMERICAN GIRL FOR AT LEAST HALF AND HOUR
sorry those headlines arent really proper journalistic style at all. im too tired to care though. ja was super sweet and went in a taxi with me to where im staying now. im all by myself in some guest rooms that the foundation im working for has. i just heard all these loud noisesm and it sounds like water is pouring from somewhere right over my head. hmm, so other than feeling a lil freaked out about the random flood sounds, im great! i just bought a lychee drink from the 7/11 and had my first cashier look at me like i was a new exhibit at the freak show. many more of those to come im sure...
i love you all. now i shall hopefully sleep. please keep me updated...
here are the headlines:
I FINISHED BOOK SEVEN OF HARRY POTTER!
NOTHING BAD HAPPENED, NO DELAYS, OR LUGGAGE LOST?! CRAZY!
I FOUND JA, EVEN THOUGH I WAS A LOST AND CONFUSED SAD LOOKING AMERICAN GIRL FOR AT LEAST HALF AND HOUR
sorry those headlines arent really proper journalistic style at all. im too tired to care though. ja was super sweet and went in a taxi with me to where im staying now. im all by myself in some guest rooms that the foundation im working for has. i just heard all these loud noisesm and it sounds like water is pouring from somewhere right over my head. hmm, so other than feeling a lil freaked out about the random flood sounds, im great! i just bought a lychee drink from the 7/11 and had my first cashier look at me like i was a new exhibit at the freak show. many more of those to come im sure...
i love you all. now i shall hopefully sleep. please keep me updated...
Friday, July 27, 2007
random rants from an exhausted excited sherri
i was just sitting on the front porch with my friend, watching my last summer thunderstorm in waxhaw. the sky kept shocking us, flashing from bluish black to an eerie luminescent blue. the thrill you can get from those storms is so sweet. mainly because you don’t know when the thunder will roar next or how bright and big the next bolt will be. as im in a contemplative mood tonight, it made me think of my trip tomorrow. how its totally not in my control really, all that is ahead of me. yet that’s the adventure of it, if i knew everything that was next, how lame and boring that would be...
yeah, so im leaving in a few hours. i cant wait for the flight. mainly becauase i shall finally delve into the final harry potter book. it has been sitting on my shelf tempting me the past week, and now i will finally allow myself to read it. i hope the 26-hour travel day--charlotte to dulles to tokyo to bangkok-- is long enough to finish it. if not, maybe i will have some convenient delays to give me more time. who cares about going to thailand, i just want to see if harry survives...
so my director, who i will be working for in september, is awesome enough to say that she will pick me up at the airport. even though i have seen her pic, i hope she doesn’t blend in with all the other thais running about in BKK. oh well, it will be an adventure finding her. i hope she has a sign with my name on it-- i have always wanted that.
im going to be a little sappy and say that this summer i have really come to realize how blessed i am when it comes to having amazing family and friends. as i have traveled around, seeing those who are important to me, and getting phone calls and emails from those who are important, but i couldnt see..i cant believe i have such people surrounding me, and I really don’t deserve it. its hard to leave such cool people, but thankfully technology makes the world tiny and keep us close.
ahhhh! im off and away...i shall try to blog as soon as i get some wireless in bangkok to say im alive.
here i go...
yeah, so im leaving in a few hours. i cant wait for the flight. mainly becauase i shall finally delve into the final harry potter book. it has been sitting on my shelf tempting me the past week, and now i will finally allow myself to read it. i hope the 26-hour travel day--charlotte to dulles to tokyo to bangkok-- is long enough to finish it. if not, maybe i will have some convenient delays to give me more time. who cares about going to thailand, i just want to see if harry survives...
so my director, who i will be working for in september, is awesome enough to say that she will pick me up at the airport. even though i have seen her pic, i hope she doesn’t blend in with all the other thais running about in BKK. oh well, it will be an adventure finding her. i hope she has a sign with my name on it-- i have always wanted that.
im going to be a little sappy and say that this summer i have really come to realize how blessed i am when it comes to having amazing family and friends. as i have traveled around, seeing those who are important to me, and getting phone calls and emails from those who are important, but i couldnt see..i cant believe i have such people surrounding me, and I really don’t deserve it. its hard to leave such cool people, but thankfully technology makes the world tiny and keep us close.
ahhhh! im off and away...i shall try to blog as soon as i get some wireless in bangkok to say im alive.
here i go...
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