A Month In Thailand: Official Business

After one and a half days in Thailand, I now know a grand total of FIVE words/small phrases in Thai.

1. Sawasdee ka = hello (for females)
2. Kop khun ka = thank you  
3. Hong nam = toilet
4. Lor mak mak = very handsome
5. Shui jin jin = very beautiful

Three of these are potentially useful. The other two... well you never know. Clearly, I am very prepared to spend an entire month in Thailand. 

All kidding aside, it's been a pretty exciting start to my overseas volunteering experience so far. The people are great and the food (at least what we've had so far) is amazing. Calling it now but I'm coming back to Australia five kilos heavier and there will be

Today's Adventures:

1. Casually hung out with the Governor of Ubon Ratchathani Province

Who's kind of like the Premier of a state (if we were to come up with an Australian equivalent). He gave us an official welcome which was attended by some dignatories and all the representatives from the schools we'd be teaching at (principals and teachers). 

Speaking of schools, I found out my school allocation yesterday. Two-thousand and four hundred students. 2,400. Two-four-zero-zero. That's how many students are at the Ubon Wittiya Khom school in Thailand. Bro. That's practically a small Australian town. 

The important people gave their speeches, we each introduced ourselves and then there were many photos and exchanging of gifts. No really, from the amount of photos being taken, you would've thought we were exotic panda bears in an African zoo. It was nice though. Everyone was so welcoming and I got to meet briefly with the teachers from Ubon Wittiya who gave us each a little welcome gift.

One of the teachers told me that although the school is big, many of the students don't know any English at all. This is because unlike smaller schools in the area which are sometimes attended by students from more privileged families, Ubon Wittiya is the recipient of many rural kids who get sent to the city for their education. So in other words, it's kind of like the Cabramatta High of Ubon, Thailand...

Moved to a hotel for a fancy luncheon with the school and program representatives. 

2. The Forest Temple

On the suggestion of the Governor, we went to visit one of Ubon's forest temples. Today was actually the last day in some sort of memorial event for the monk Ajahn Chah and pilgrims from all corners of Thailand had come to pay their respects (hence the prevalence of white clothing). Traditionally, you're supposed to walk three times around the temple but we only got time to do one round due to time constraints. It was quite a soothing experience though.

Fruit vendor selling guava, sour mango and some other interesting fruits. 

3. Visited Central Plaza and saw an army of Snoopys

We went shopping afterwards for necessities. Thailand seems to be stuck in a perpetual festive state. A lot of Christmas trees and lights are still up, even a month after the holiday ended.

We came back at about 5 pm, played spoons for an hour, went to dinner, had a brief...briefing and then spent the rest of the night playing the most frustrating memory game ever with a whole bunch of people from different rooms. I will bring this back with me and torture you all with it because it is a strangely frustrating yet entertaining Frankensteined version of taboo and charades.

Previous posts:

• Arrival in Thailand

Arrival in Thailand

I wish I had some exciting anecdotes or jaw-droppingly gorgeous scenery shots to show off in my very first ATYAP (Australian Thai Youth Ambassador Program) post but seeing as how we practically spent the whole day on the plane, the best you're gonna get out of me is a shot of our hotel for the next four weeks:

Yeah, I mean we spent the whole day flying from Sydney to Bangkok and then Bangkok to Ubon, with a bit of time between flights to muck around at the airports. We got to Ubon at around 6 pm Thailand time where we were immediately driven to the hotel and assigned rooms with a buddy. I'm rooming with good ol' Maria and I think I've got about two whole days before I completely drive her up the wall and make her want to stab me in my sleep.

We had dinner at a nearby restaurant before "retiring" for the night. And by retiring, I mean running from room to room to hang out with people and then going out for impromptu 7/11 runs at 10 pm. I'm feeling a bit jetlagged and gross so I'm just gonna stop here. It's been a nice start to the trip though - everyone's awesome and we've got some exciting things planned in the next few weeks.

Peace out peeps, sawasdee ka! :)

Chee-POAT-lay

Okay I lied. This will be my last post before Thailand. Sorry! I just really love this photo that I took on my friend, Bonnie's, 21st birthday cruise, And knowing me, if I didn't post it now, I probably never will. It would've remained there in the depths of my phone's memory, like an overdue banana shoved to the back of your fridge, never to be enjoyed or savoured by a human being worthy of its glory.

Yeah, no, I don't know what I'm talking about either. This post is an unfortunate by-product of sleep deprivation, procrastination and endless repeats of nostalgic noughties hits on my phone. I told myself the moment I woke up today that I would get right into printing out the required travel documents and organising things to bring but it's currently 2 pm and all I've managed to do is download a bunch of Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake onto my phone. Cynthia, girl, get yo shit together.

In other news, I went shopping the other day and bought three packs of those miniature clip-on koala toys from Dollar King to give to my potential students in Thailand. I got about 36 of them but now I'm wondering if I should've gotten more. Wouldn't it be horrible if I underestimated and a couple of kids had to miss out? Maybe I could get more at the airport.

What else?

I'm really digging Tove Lo's new single.

Hey, I just realised that the banner images for my latest five posts contain some element of water.

Chipotle is pronounced Chee-POAT-lay. I didn't know that. I've been making an utter embarrassment of myself these last few years. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE CORRECT ME YOU GUYS ARE TERRIBLE FRIENDS.

I still have sand and various bits of unknown materials in my hair from yesterday's swim.

I should shower.

In fact I'm going to go do that now instead of wasting your time.

And then I will pack.

No really, I will.

Au Revoir, mes petits choux :)

P.S. Here are some extra photos from yesterday. Happy Birthday again Bonnie!

Is it pronounced "cat-ah-me-ran" or "cat-eh-MA-ren"? Someone answer me to save me from future humiliating situations. 

(Photo credit: Fatima)

Photos From Last Week + The Thing With Thailand

I recently deleted ALL the photos off my phone in the hopes that it would stop the horrendous lag that has plagued my Samsung S III since last year. It didn't work. In fact, I feel as if the phone has retaliated by running even slower (I didn't even know that was possible). Anyway, seeing as how I'm running off to Thailand in about two days, there's nothing I can do but put up with it. 

It's not like you need a phone to travel or anything. 

Hiking at Wentworth Falls

(Photo credit: Phoenix)

The last time I went for an honest-to-God hike or trek through the Australian wilderness, I was barely a teen and the whole venture had ended in ticks, leeches tears and angry parents. Actually, come to think of it, I'm sure that since then I must've gone for at least some bush walks, but either they weren't memorable enough or I've been doing some serious memory suppression. Anyway, it's a bit disappointing that it's taken me this long to get back into hiking but as far as redemptive adventures go, I guess I couldn't have asked for a better one.