"We aren't in Kansas anymore Toto"

So much has happened since we last posted. It sure has been an exciting week! I really enjoyed seeing Nicolina and Sophie again! I always hoped to see some of my friends from New Zealand again, who knew it would be so soon!  Andrew so nicely summed up our last few days. So off I rant about other things…

Each day seriously feels like a week due to the fact that I feel uncomfortable at least five times a day. I feel uncomfortable when we get dropped off on a random corner and have to ask directions in rudimentary Thai to get to our hotel.  Or when a random old lady stares at me without stopping for who knows what reason. Or when a different random old lady yells at us in a fast spoken foreign language for walking by her on the street(?). Or when I go to use the toilet and get chased away by cock roaches. Or when I am covered in sweat due to the heat and humidity. Or when we wander the streets for an hour starving because no-where looks clean enough to eat. Or when we wander dark run down streets looking for a bar Lonely Planet said farongs (foreigners) go to. Or when I’m trying to find something in a store and can’t explain due to the language barrier. Or when I am just walking down a street and get a lot of stares because I’m the only white person in a five-mile radius (other than Andrew). Knowing what it feels like to be the minority in looks and language is a valuable lesson that I hope everyone gets to experience some day.

Even though I am often uncomfortable, I know in those moments I am growing all the more. And there are moments when I feel so happy and so welcome that out-weigh the uncomfortable moments. Like not being able to stop staring out the window at beautiful nature followed by towns, followed by beauty, for hundreds of miles. Like when a little girl giggles to her mom when I say hi to her in Thai. Like when ten shop employees come to help me find what I’m looking for and it turns into a whirl of laughter and “mai reus”. Like when a cute old man gives us the same big smile and hello each of the five times we pass him. Like when I step back and realize I’m in a beautiful foreign country. I am on yet another adventure.

I can already tell I will learn so much from Thailand, it’s so different to the United States. Anywhere I look, I see the unfamiliar. Be it the food markets with a mix of fresh veggies and foul smelling raw meat hanging. Or the people riding by on scooters with no helmets. Or seeing too many old run down buildings and homes. Or the unorganized shops. Or the so-called nice restaurants with plastic chairs. Or the garbage on the streets and beaches. Or the uneven streets and sidewalks. Or the tangled mess of electric wires (sometimes chilling on the wet ground ek). Or the monks walking down the street with shaved heads and orange robes. Or the ornate temples with huge Buddha statues.  Thailand is awesomely different!

Many people ask why we choose to come to Thailand. Here’s the answer. We had a year to travel and the map of the world. We discussed many options and incidentally all of them had Thailand in them.  A common idea was to travel in Thailand for a month then go to live in South America to teach and learn Spanish. But the more we researched, the more we saw that Asia had the best options for teaching English. So after talking to our friends who had been to, taught in, or lived in Asia, we decided Thailand is actually the place for us. The people are friendly, the natural beauty is amazing, the culture is different to ours, the jobs are in high demand and decent paying, it’s not expensive to live, eat, get around or shop. Basically Thailand had it all, except Spanish. So here we are in this awesome country attempting to speak the tonal language completely unfamiliar to us.

We choose to come to Thailand in September because with research we found out that most schools have a break in the month of October and many schools are hiring around that time. So that gave us a little over a month to travel around, find a job, and get settled.  We looked and applied for jobs on-line while we were home in California but most of what I read said it’s best to be there in person. I mean who wants to hire someone three months in advance who may or may not end up showing up.  But out of pure chance Andrew tried applying for a Science teaching job through a job website and was hired right away (of course, he’s so smart)!  We think things happen for a reason because Nakhon seems like a great place to be settled for the year. It’s a very Thai town, so we are truly experiencing the culture. It’s near the beaches and awesome islands. And the town hopefully has an awesome job awaiting me as well!  I am working on finding a job to use my teaching skills and come back to California fit and ready for any teaching job!  Well off to job search and explore my new home! By the end of October I’ll be employed but not sure where yet! :-) 

Like I keep saying to Andrew when we experience any of the crazy "or"s I mentioned, "We aren't in Kansas anymore Toto!"

--Jenny