Living in Thailand |
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson |
Living in Thailand |
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson |
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I am going to keep this post short because I am super busy with preplanning, but lots of folks have been asking me about my new school. I am teaching 6th grade at Thai International School (TIS) in Pathum Thani, Thailand (you can follow the school on Facebook). Here’s the scoop…TIS is a small private school that opened in 2017. TIS has very nice facilities. There are two swimming pools, brand new tennis & basketball courts, a soccer field & track, a lake (with swans, ducks and peacocks), several 100 gallon aquariums, a pier & rice paddy, at least two chicken coops (tons of chickens), two bison, two cows, a frog habitat, and vegetable gardens….It’s really quite impressive. I am teaching four segments, each segment is 50 minutes and I have three segments of planning time each day. It’s an American curriculum (CCSS) with an emphasis on student-centered teaching. As such, I am currently learning a great deal about Phenomenon Based Learning. My fantastic colleagues include a Canadian teacher, an Irish teacher, a Scottish teacher, three US teachers (1 from OH, 2 from CO), three South African teachers, two Chinese teachers, and six Thai teachers. The owner of the school is a formally trained chef, who owns several restaurants. The school’s cook is also a restaurant chef (the food is amazing!) and teachers eat free. TIS has several teachers that have been here multiple years. School starts August 3rd and I can’t wait to meet my students! Todays Mission: Check out the largest open air market in Thailand, Chatuchak Weekend Market (aka JJ Market), and try Som Tam Thai (Central Thai-Style Green Papaya Salad). I was told that Chatuchak Weekend Market is a “must see”, and according to Wikipedia, it has more than 15,000 stalls and is divided into 27 sections. I was also told by two of my new coworkers, that Som Tam Thai is a dish I need to try. Side note: Since my last outing I have discovered the “ViaBus” app (shout out to an unnamed, surprisingly talkative, Buddhist monk I met at the mall this week) which is a real-time public transport bus tracking and navigation application that works with Bangkok Transit. Thanks to this app I may never get lost again! (Not likely, but one can dream.) So, I left my condo, by bus, around 10:30am and arrived at Chatuchak Weekend Market at 11:30am (spending a whopping 35 baht~$1 US). And, they’re not kidding… this is the mother of all flea markets. When I say you can find ANYTHING, it’s real…and it’s more than a bit overwhelming. Here are a few photos: By 12:30pm I found some Som Tam Thai, and officially declared this mission a success. Som Tam Thai is sweet, spicy, salty and sour all at the same time. Per Google, it is served all over Thailand and each region has a different version. Som means “sour taste” and Tum means “pounding with pestle”. I ordered mine “nit noy ped” (a little spicy) and it was very, very good. Yes, at Chatuchak Weekend Market you can buy anything: clothes, bags, essential oils, china, furniture, a massage, plants, great street food, and a hedgehog. Ah, yes…“the pet zone”. This is where things get a bit sketchy ethically, for me. If you enter the pet zone from the front, things look okay. The animals at the front have air con, look cared for, aren’t in over crowded cages, and have access to water. But as you work your way deeper into the pet zone, the animals get more exotic and the conditions become questionable. I saw kittens, puppies, chickens, a sloth, chinchillas, parrots, iguana (maybe bearded dragons?), hedgehogs, and many, many other exotic animals.
My first solo Thailand adventure: Get from my condo in Pak Kret to Wat Arun (in central Bangkok) via ferry (Chao Phraya River).
8:15am -Bus from Chaengwattana Central Plaza (the mall) to Pak Kret Pier (15 mins/8 baht/~25 cents) 8:45am -Despite what Google maps says, there is no ferry from Pak Kret to Wat Arun. In order to get to Wat Arun, one must take a taxi or a bus to Nonthaburi Pier. So noted. 9am -Taxi to Nonthaburi Pier (35 mins/181 baht/~$5 by the meter). 10am -Orange flag boat from Nonthaburi Pier to Wat Arun (45mins/16 baht/~50 cents) …I meant to take blue flag (tourist boat that stops at all tourist attractions) but glad I didn’t, that would’ve taken much longer. 10:45am -Arrive @ Wat Arun, also known as The Temple of Dawn. According to the interwebs, Wat Arun was built in memory of King Taksin, the 41st king and national hero of Thailand, and is known for its 79-meter-high (~260 feet) central prang. Arun (to my ear it is pronounced “aloon” by Thais) comes from a Hindu God "Aruna" which personified as the radiation of the rising sun. Anyway, it seems these days, the thing to do for the “twenty-somethings” at Wat Arun, is to purchase a traditional Thai costume from one of the nearby shops, and do a photo shoot with one of the many photographers. I regret not taking pictures of the photographers taking pictures. 1:30pm -Ferry left back to Nonthaburi pier. 2:30pm -Shopping at Nonthaburi market. I bought a couple shirts ($300 baht /~$10USD) and proceeded to get a bit lost. 4:30pm -Two buses back to Chaengwattana Central Plaza. On the way I bought dinner from a street vendor. The Thai lady in front of me bought something that looked good, so I copied her. I ate it when I got home. I am pretty sure it included chicken feet. For the record, chicken feet aren’t bad, but I’m not sure I’m gonna eat them again on purpose. Total steps: 14,310 (~7miles) What I learned: (1) When using cellular mobile data, google maps may or may not be accurate (it seems it can be off by a few thousand meters). To be successful, one must combine Google maps with context clues. I probably knew this at one point. (2) Buses here don’t necessarily display the numbers that Google maps gives you. Sometimes you just have to jump on and pray. (3) I will always help a lost foreigner, ALWAYS. (4) In Bangkok, when a bus or boat stop at your destination, YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY…and if you are the only one disembarking, the vehicle may not make a full stop. It’s really quite a thrill. (5) As much nervous energy as I had, at the end of the day, there is something invigorating about successfully finding your way around with completely inadequate language skills. |
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