July Chillin'

Adrian: Einstein flunked out of school, twice.

Paulie: Is that so?

Adrian: Yeah. Beethoven was deaf. Helen Keller was blind. I think Rocky’s got a good chance.

-        Rocky

The past few weeks have been fairly mellow as I have to start saving up for my travels after the term ends. Luckily I’ve had a few things to keep me busy.

1.            Figuring out my travel plans. Mom and Dad are coming to visit after I finish teaching! We’ll do some time in Thailand and then in Vietnam. After they leave I’m off to Indonesia, back to Thailand to grab my stuff, and then home! Needs some logistical work.

2.            Figuring out life after Thailand. I think I want to start teaching in America starting in fall 2015 but that leaves me a good deal of time to do something else. I want to go abroad somewhere again and hopefully teach. If not, I’ve heard of people being au pairs. This seems to be a female-dominated job market but I’m not deterred. I’ve started an online profile to hopefully become a “bropair.” We’ll see how this pans out.

3.            Figure out how to do a handstand. Handstands terrify me. I have no idea why. I think it’s the fear of falling over. Anyway my goal is to do a walking handstand before I leave. If all those crossfit guys can do it, so can I.

What’s up Doc?

I recently ran out of eye drops. This wasn’t a big deal at first. But I woke up one day and couldn’t open my eyes because of all the crust, so I figured I might need to get back on the wagon.

While most prescription medicine can be purchased over the counter, these drops are super special so you need to get them at a hospital. I had been to hospitals before but had always gone with someone who knew Thai. Since I’ve been here 9 months, I figured it was time to attempt this by myself.

Hospitals are essentially like large doctors’ offices, except with way more steps. You go to the front desk and tell them your problem. They then send you to a desk for that specific ailment. You wait in line. You explain your problem at the new desk. You wait again. Then you get some preliminary tests done. More waiting. Then you see the doctor. Another wait session and you get your medicine.

It’s a bit of gauntlet but it’s public and cheap (a doctor’s visit will typically cost $10 without any insurance). Some funny observations.

-        There were so many people in the hospital with loaves of bread. I don’t know if this is a common snack, or if they were selling them, or what. Maybe it’s go-to hospital food.

-        I had to get a vision test while I was there. It’s the one where you cover an eye and read letters off a line, like “ DHSUEJFK.” Since my eyes suck so much, I couldn’t see the line at all. The nurses thought this was very funny. The secondary test involved the nurse putting her hand in front of my face and asking how many fingers she had up. Naturally, being a near-sighted pro, I crushed the test.

-        The doctor was cool and said that they had the drops in stock. She asked how many I wanted. This blew my mind. Normally in the US prescriptions are doled out on a short term basis. Since Thai medicine is generally very cheap, I saw this as an opportunity to stock up. I enthusiastically asked for several boxes. The pharmacist told me this would be 8000 baht. I asked them if they made a mistake and meant 800 baht. Nope. What I would typically get in the States (with insurance) was doubled here. Dismayed, I ordered just enough to last me until I get home. You can’t have it all.

Wax on, wax off

The most recent buzz around the school is preparation for Sports Day. It’s really Sports “Days,” as it’s like a school Olympics that takes places over three days. Throughout the school you can see students practicing volleyball, basketball, banging drums, soccer, singing, dancing, martial arts, and texting.

With the honing of these skills being incredibly crucial to a successful sports day, almost half the classes are cancelled each day so that students can practice. Sports!

I was told I am on the yellow team, which I have to yet to find out what that actually entails. Hopefully I’ll find out at the opening ceremony, which is on the last day of activities. That wasn’t a typo; the opening ceremony is on the last day. Sports!

Mark

American Pais

The Big Lebowski: Are you employed, sir?

The Dude: Employed?

The Big Lebowski: You don’t go out looking for a job dressed like that? On a weekday?

The Dude: Is this a….what day is this?

The Big Lebowski: Well, I do work sir, so if you don’t mind…

The Dude: I do mind, the dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.

- The Big Lebowski

Last weekend there were national Buddhist holidays on Fridy and Monday. Some friends and I decided to travel to Pai, a small town way in the north of Thailand. One quirk was that there are no direct buses to Pai from Bangkok. The plan was to meet in Chiang Mai and go up from there.

As I was doing a quick run-through of valuables before I left, I realized I couldn’t find my passport.  After a half hour of tearing my room apart (the benefits of living in a small place, there’s only so many places you can look), I gave up. I peeked through my backpack one more time and there it was up top, hidden under my glasses case. The trip was off to a promising start.

Near where I live there’s a group of taxi drivers who line up on the side of the road. There’s a head honcho who runs the gang. You talk to him and he’ll bark out to the other drivers where you want to go. Most of the guys will shake their heads and keep smoking their cigarettes. But one guy always perks up, motions you to his cab, and you’re on your way.

When I got there at 6 PM they were all gone. I’ve never seen that before. Only very early in the morning or late at night is the place empty. There was also traffic backed up heading into Bangkok. I hadn’t seen this before either. With a family holiday the following day, most people were leaving work early and heading towards their hometowns. I may have misjudged the travel time on this one.

I luckily hailed a cab and spent an hour doing this scene from Office Space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfipAgNRDx0

We arrived at the bus station with 10 minutes till departure and I sprinted into the terminal. Like New Years, the bus station was in complete chaos. You could barely walk in the main lobby and the bus waiting areas were crammed with people. Buses were on the wrong platforms and there was a woman standing on a table yelling where the new buses were. I luckily found mine quickly, only to find it delayed a half hour. Whatever. Made it.

A short 10 hour sleep/bus ride later and I was in Chiang Mai. We decided to motorbike to Pai since the drive takes you through the lush mountains. Most of my friends know how to drive, so I hopped on the back and we began our 4-hour journey.

The road was pretty windy from Chiang Mai to Pai. So windy that there’s 762 curves on the way up there (This fact was in a lot of tourist stuff). Regardless, the drive was incredibly beautiful as we cruised through the mountains.

The ride was smooth until we were about 20 KM away from Pai and one of us ran out of gas. Luckily, the road was almost completely downhill from there. He was able to coast until he found a shop on the road that sold gas. We gassed up as it began to drizzle. Five minutes later the rain picked up and we were completely drenched. Being on a motorbike in the rain is not fun. The rain whips against you and it feels like you’re getting hit with little pebbles. But the ride was brief and we made it in one piece to the guesthouse.

The guesthouse was located just out of the downtown in a secluded field. It was a really rustic place- we shared small bungalows and had communal bathrooms. I loved it.

Beat from the ride up, we ordered food from the kitchen run by one of the owners. I think this was the best food I’ve in Thailand. Fantastic curries, chicken, and shakes. Well worth the damage to the wallet.

At night we ventured into downtown Pai. This place feels very different from anywhere else in Thailand since the town is filled with hippies. Not just white hippies, Thai hippies as well. Most of the residents had dreadlocks, beards, and Bob Marley shirts. The town itself is very catered toward tourists with of bars, restaurants, and shops with a hippie flavor. It seems to me that many foreigners came there, loved the atmosphere, and found a way to make a life in the mountains.

The night was very quiet and we soon realized why. Like all Buddhist holidays in Thailand, most businesses close early out of respect. Restaurants, bars, and shops aren’t allowed to sell alcohol either.

Or aren’t supposed to. We saw a place selling beer get shut down by the police. This was very interesting to us- we’d never really seen police in action before.

That night I slept the best I have in months. The rain pattered against the top of the bungalow and the perfect amount of heat made it through the mosquito netting around the bed. This is the ideal sleeping experience. After getting brunch in town (man I miss brunch) we headed to a local resort to check out their pool. We hung out there for most of the day and I got to go in my first hot spring. I thought it seemed like more of a really big hot tub, but whatever.

It’s not called the rainy season for nothing and we got caught in another downpour coming back. The owners were cracking up when we came back soaking again.

The next day we checked out Pai Canyon. It's a pretty cool canyon.

My other shoes were soaked from the previous day which explains why I look like an idiot wearing Sperries on a cliff.

And then it was time to head back! Our motorbike ride up was quaint and peaceful. A minibus whipping around 762 curves in half the time is not. On a funny note, the trunk was totally full when I got in the van. To fit my backpack in the driver decided to bungie-cord it to a chair. Resourceful guy.

It hasn’t really hit me yet that I have a little less than 3 months left in Thailand. I can't think of a 9-month span where I've consistently had so much fun- I'm hoping the last 3 keep up the trend!

Mark

P.S. For my family reading this, you may have picked up that the guesthouse I was at was like a Thai version of Chimney Corners. Here’s the similarities I found.

1. We stayed in small bungalows with no TV= Chimney Corners cottages.

2. There was a kitchen in the front patio that made awesome food=BDR.

3. The child of the owners would run around and hang out with the guests= the Rogers boys.

4. Friendly owners, very relaxing, and green hills everywhere= Chimney Corners.

Pretty weird but I'm not complaining! Missing everyone at the lake last week!

Departments of Mysteries

Elaine: [about Newman] Maybe he's an enigma, a mystery wrapped in a riddle.

Jerry: Yeah, he's a mystery wrapped in a twinkie.

- Seinfeld       

One of the things I've noticed about Thailand is that many people just accept the life around them. From a Western perspective, this drives people crazy. Look at MH 370. That was four months of front page headlines saying that they still knew nothing. The point is-most people have trouble accepting what they don't understand. But here, that's just part of life. Here are a few of the most known unknowns.

1.   Once or twice A Day for The last few weeks, The Power Will Go out in The entire school. This sucks. Apart from it disrupting the lesson (can't use the projector, computer, sound), the room gets insanely hot with no AC or fans. The kids look like they're about to pass out. This usually lasts anywhere from 10 minutes-1 hour. Apparently this has been happening for years but no one knows why it goes out. Mystery.

      2. Occasionally I'll have a few students come really late to class. By that I mean 10 minutes left in the period. I'll ask where they came from and I'll get, "Teacha! To be Number one friend!" They are referring to the elusive "To be Number One Friend Corner."

I have no idea what this place is. The windows are tinted so you can't see in. Students can't explain to me what they do there and teachers don't know what it is either. Frankly, I'm not totally sure I want to know. Mystery.

3.   Construction in Thailand is really funny. You can't go far without seeing half-finished buildings, elevated highways, and roads. What I've heard is that many of these projects begin construction before they receive enough funding to fully complete it. So they'll build something for a few months and then stop when the money runs out. Sometimes they pick up a few months later, sometimes never. The road on the way to school had the left side repaved in January and work just started the right side this week. Mystery.

     This weekend has two Buddhist holidays wrapped around it. Friday is Asana Bucha Day and Monday is Khao Pansa Day. I've gathered that this is sort of like the Buddhist version of Thanksgiving. People return to their hometowns to be with family and pay homage to Buddha. It also makes a four-day weekend, which is pretty sweet.

I'm going way up north to Pai, which is this hippy town in the mountains. Everyone says it's super "chill" so I'll be ready for that after the 15 hour bus ride it takes to get there. Melatonin baby.

Mark

PS Almost forgot, the Fourth of July was last week. Naturally no one knew about it except for another teacher from England. He asked me to explain why it was holiday. He's got a good sense of humor.