Go Ree Go!: Sa-was-dee ka!

I'm alive and well! I'm loving it here already. This too will be a longer post but also has pictures! (Maybe I should post more often so they aren't so long..) To catch you all up, I arrived Wednesday morning and Tammy and I kept busy trying to keep me awake. Thursday, Tammy and I went to school. I met my new principal (I went to shake her hand and she hugged me! That sets the stage for a great year ahead) and received keys to my classroom, the office/resource room, and the school gate. She then took us on a mini tour of the school and to my classroom (2A! Third floor.. good to know I will be getting my exercise there if I don't have time to hit the gym). My classroom wasn't used last year so it became a dumping ground for unwanted items. So Friday and Saturday morning were spent in my room, attempting to sort through what I need/want and what needs to be moved/trashed. My work is cut out for me! As soon as I'm done setting up, I'll post the before and after pictures of it :) It is shaping up nicely.

Amongst all that, we've made several trips to Big C (the Target-ish/Walmart/Department store here) to make some bare necessity purchases as well as a Thai cell phone. I'm loving all the thai food we've been eating, although tonight Tammy and I made fajitas and boy was that some comfort food.

Then, yesterday was busy! We went to the street market to buy some fabric to put on the bulletin boards in my classroom as well as fabric for an idea I have to get my students reading (I'm so excited about that one that I'm going to keep it a secret until I can unveil it for you :) ). The markets are always fun to wander in and through, taking in all the sights of all sorts of different people, smells of the food carts as the food is pounded, fried, and steamed; sounds of different languages bargaining, and touching the different fabrics and wares hanging throughout the corridors. In the afternoon, I visited Tammy's church with her and saw a few familiar faces. My principal was there as well as the family that Veronica and I worked with last summer while we were here.

Then, today was my first official day of work. This week is new teacher orientation; so I met my fellow new Elementary teachers as well as the new high school staff and several higher ups such as the Superintendent of the school among other administrators. It was fun to have us all together, talking and learning about our new workplace, city and culture. The Thai Government requires non-Thai teachers to take 20 hours of Thai culture classes to be able to apply for a Thai Teaching License, which I would need if I planned to stay for longer than 2 years. Today's module was an introduction to Thai customs and etiquette, which is very important if I plan to have any contact with Thai people. The Thai people are very polite and respectful, and have many customs of showing respect. I learned a great deal today of what to do and not to do when in public and while interacting with Thais. I'm sure I will fumble along as I attempt to put what I've learned into practice.

After work, I was feeling overwhelmed by my classroom, so Tammy picked me up and we went out scootering! She rode hers and I borrowed one from one of her teammates. SO FUN! We putted around her moo-baan (neighborhood) then drove the route to GIS and my new house, which is pretty much straight down the main road about 15 minutes. After that, we headed back up the main road to the main hub of the city and putted around the old city moat, in traffic I might add! It was great to get used to riding the scooter here while being able to follow Tammy, who knew what and where she was going. Driving here is interesting. Scooters mostly stay to the far left side of the road (Thais drive on the left hand side of the road, like the English) but weave around cars pulling out into the road or slower scooters and bicycles. I once read that traffic here ebbs and flows like the waves, and I agree. If there is a scooter or cyclist on the side of the road going slower or a song-taow (taxi-ish truck with two rows of seats hence the name song (two) taow (row).. I'm learning a lot more Thai), everyone in the other lanes just goes around them. So often there are people driving in both lanes. Its a pretty relaxed feeling and looks loosy-goosy, but anything could happen at any time, so when driving, especially a scooter, you have to be very careful and watchful for other cars and motorbikes. Much like the market, driving a scooter really feels like it puts you in the middle of experiencing everything. You can smell the food carts' cooking just before being consumed by the cloud of exhaust emitted from the song-taow or truck in front of you. You can bob and weave with the rest of the flow of traffic and its relaxing in an odd sort of way. Often times, I wanted to jump off my motorbike and take pictures of the gorgeously decorated wats (Buddist temples) or interesting looking old, teak Thai buildings. By far the funniest thing I saw was a pick up truck stuffed to the brim with fat pigs! We pulled up to a stop light and I look over, and there are probably 6-8 giant pigs squished into the bed of this little toyota truck plus two Thai men sitting on the edge. Piggy snouts were protruding out all the sides! You don't see that in the States!

Overall, other than jet lag (I can't seem to sleep in past 3am or 5am if I'm lucky) I am doing great, God is good and I'm loving life here! Thank you for your prayers and continued support!!

I promised pictures!

My Cell phone takes me back.

This is in the local mall.

Asian signs crack me up :)

This is a restaurant called the Imaginary Jungle. Super fun atmosphere and all the plants and waterfalls are real! very cool place to eat and explore.

A family who is friends with the Fords are here for some R and R from their mission placement so they lent me their youngest daughter to help in my room for a bit. My little friend is testing the markers to see which are good still :) Thankful she was there to help!

Pictures from the Thai Market (as seen on instagram) :)

Tammy making fajitas for dinner tonight! So excited to eat Mexican food for a change

These are some old pictures of where we scootered today. No pictures were taken while scootering :) Aren't you glad I stayed focused on the road?! Some of you know how difficult it was for me NOT to take any pictures.

This is the old wall inside the moat that surrounds the section of the old city,