The travels and musings of a farang in Southeast Asia

Travel To Teach

2007-07-25T23:37:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to give those of you that are using this blog as a way to get to know the program better a hand. I had just created this blog as a way to keep in touch with friends and family. because I'm lazy and didn't want to be writing emails to everyone. I told Jessica she could use this blog, since I only had it for the trip, so I wanted to explain the organization.

For ease of use, there are links on the right hand side that correspond to months.

Essentially, I was in San Francisco in February for a job interview. Ignore this.

March I was in Nongkhai Thailand. I also spent a few days in Laos.

April I was in Nha Trang Vietnam, the last week I was traveling in Cambodia.

In May I was looking back on my trip and getting all nostalgic, annalytical and symbolic. You can skip this as well.

If you have any questions definately let me know!

The most important thing...

2007-05-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

While that last entry included many important pearls of wisdom, I forgot to include the most important one.

Life is supposed to be fun and enjoyable.

It's true, I've said it. It's not supposed to be stressful all the time. It's not supposed to be full of struggle. It's not supposed to be constantly looking forward. It's supposed to be enjoyed.

If you don't like what you are doing, change it. If you don't wanna do something, and the only reason you are doing it is to please someone else, Don't do it. If you are unhappy in a relationship, get out of it. Life is just too short.

Unless you are hurting others or yourself, do what you want. Enjoy what you do. Enjoy who you do. Enjoy who you are. If you don't like it, its up to YOU to change it.

lessons from the trip

2007-04-29T08:29:00.000-05:00

A few days before I left on my trip, I had a talk with my cousin David(from my dad's side). He was telling me how he loved to travel, and had done so many times in his life. He said while its great to learn about new cultures, and different areas of the world, the greatest part about traveling is the lessons you learn about yourself and about life as a whole. That thought stayed with me and a few weeks into the trip I decided to write down all the things that I had learned, both the silly, the inane, the poignant, and the important. Now that I am home, I figure I'll share this list with all of you. Then however, I am going to bid farewell to blogging, for a little while at least. I might do the occasional myspace blog, but I will not do a consistent blog again until I begin my move out to California. (which by the way, I have no idea when, where or how? I'm thinking ROADTRIP though if anyone is interested!!) I think I'll put my annalyticalness to sleep for a while, and enjoy my last few months on the east coast.

So here it goes. Oh and I'm putting them in italics simply for dramatic effect. Enjoy!

I've learned.....

that money cannot make you happy, and sometimes the poorest people in the most dire of situations are the happiest.
that anyone can be happy when everything is going well. The trick is to find a way to be content, to appreciate or simply accept the fact that not everything can go well all the time. If you can not be discouraged or destroyed when things don't go your way, you have probably mastered one of the hardest lessons in life.
that the more I learn, the more I realize how much there is for me to learn.
there are two sides to every story.
that fear is only useful to stop you from severely hurting yourself or others. Irrational fear is just that, irrational and unreasonable, and should be ignored.
how to not only tolerate but to actually appreciate a good local whisky with some coke.
that people are good at heart, with nearly the same hopes and dreams as everyone else. The most important one being happiness.
that the kindness of strangers will always astound me.
that expectations, especially high ones usually lesson the experience. Once you remove expectations, you will finally be able to enjoy yourself!
that some hammocks, a guitar, a little alcohol and some great people is one of the best ways to spend a Saturday night.
the more you let things happen on their own, the better they turn out.
the more, the merrier!
that I need to feel secure wherever I am before I can explore the area. Therefore I need to give myself time to acclimate. I cannot expect to be completely comfortable in a situation immediately.
that I might not get exactly what I want, but if I allow it to happen, I get exactly what I need.
that what happens to you is not as important as how you react to it. Bad things can happen but its still your decision to allow to bother you.
not to judge a book by its cover.
that if I think I need something but never get it, I really didn't want it in the first place, or I wanted it for the wrong reasons.
that I really trust fate, or the stars, or some omniscient presence.
that too often I allow my limitations and fears to hold me back.
that people who are in bad situations have the opportunity to change it, as long as they have the tools to do so. If they are continually in a bad situation, its because they hold a priority higher, that is forcing them to stay put. If they really wanted to escape, they would find a way.
that I am the only person who holds me back and the only person that can push me forward. Others can educate me, or encourage me, but I need to do it on my own.
that nothing is impossible.
that believing in someone is the greatest gift you can bestow upon another.
that I can be ready, and I mean dressed to the nines ready, in about 20 minutes if needbe.
to listen more and talk less. (no seriously!!!)
that I sometimes need to relinquish some control in a situation and allow others to take responsibility.
that anything can be carried on the back of a motorbike, such as other passengers(up to 5!), farm equipment, pig carcasses, 5 dozen dead chickens.
that people see only what they want to see.
that only you are responsible for your own happiness or misery, so outside forces should not be blamed
that I will avoid akwardness at all costs.
that activities are the best ice breakers in a new situation. Giving people their freedom in a new situation is usually detrimental to the experience.
never to underestimate the power of the surroundings and the environment on your mood and behavoir.
that I should drop the words 'shouldn't, couldn't and ought not' from my vocabulary. I 'should' only do things that I want or don't want to do as long as I am not hurting others, and drop the notion of what 'I think I should' be doing.
that I'm alot more of a hippie then my shiny preppy exterior would lead you to believe.
moderation is key
that when you are on your own, you are much more apt to put yourself out there, whether it be to meet new people or join a new activity.
that if you step inside another culture and keep an open mind you may realize there are many more similarities then differences.
that all cultures and all people want what's best for those they care about, and will do anything to protect them.
that smiling is contagious.

There it is, there's my list. So thanks David for the idea. I really did learn alot, and thanks to all of you who have been routinely reading my blog. I was really surprised at how many and how far removed my readers are. I hear all the time how people have been "following" my travels or "living vicariously through me", and I am really glad that you all enjoyed my writing and enjoyed my travels. Like I said, I'm going to a little hiatus from blogging for a while, but will be back to document my acclimation to west coast life. Thank you for your loyal readership and definately keep in touch!! (yeah, now that I'm not writing a blog you'll have to actually talk to me to see what's going on... :0))

and I'm home

2007-04-27T17:54:00.000-05:00

Approximately 36 hours in transit. From Cambodia, to Vietnam, then Singapore, to Germany and finally the U.S. I was in 5 countries in less then 2 days.

Although I have to say overall it wasn't a bad trip. Unlike the way there which was a 17 hour direct flight from NY to Bangkok, this was split up enough, that I didn't feel like I was trapped by any means. It also took longer to get to Germany(12 hours) then to get to NY(7 1/2 hours) so the worst was over by then.

I have been getting really sad the past few days. I've realized, after being here, that while I know history in general, mainly the highlights, I really am not up to date at all on what is going on in my own country or the rest of the world. I realize I spend so much time watching mindless TV, sitting around, etc, so I've decided to do more reading, especially newspapers and books of relative importance. I began this plight a few weeks into Thailand, reading the Freedom Writers diary. It's the book that is based on the movie. It is written as a series of anonymous entries. Each one made me cry(which meant I was crying every few pages). They kept referring to being in an undeclared turf war, dictated by the color of your skin and the origins of their countries. From stories of rape, and abuse, to stories of drive bys, and being unable to live up to their full potential, I was moved by each individual entry. Yet, even with all the bad hands of cards they were dealt in life, they overcame, thanks in part to the help of their teacher. Although, even though their teacher guided, they all brought themselves out, and made a positive out of a very negative situation.

Then I went to Cambodia, and bought another diary book, which followed different children's plight through the kyhmer Rouge regime. Each entry also made me cry. I have been a very emotional person lately. They were forcibly removed from their homes, separated from their families, completing manual labor for nearly 16 hours a day, with one meal(and that meal being water soup with a spoonful of rice), they were separated from their families, brainwashed into thinking their parents were the enemy, and they watched many people brutally murdered for simply being smart, or just being in the wrong place in the wrong time. Yet, nearly every story ended with the child coming to America (or in a few cases to Australia) and not only graduating highschool, but graduating college as well. They also saw human nature at its worst, and still did not let that stop them.

Finally, on the plane ride home, while watching alot(and I mean alot) of fluff movies, I also watched the movie Blood Diamond. It essentially followed the plight of one man who had found a big diamond, and everyone was trying to get their hands on it using all necessary means. As we watch this man forcibly recover the diamond, we see his family ripped away from him, his son brainwashed against him, and a tremendous three sided war, with the citizens, the "rebels" and the UN type "peace keepers". Everyone was out for themselves, and the AK-47, their weapon of choice. They showed villages being burned down and people being killed like it was a "harmless" video game, not peoples lives. I spent most of the movie crying.

The reason I write this, is because I am baffled at this. I am a history major, and an avid reader, who did not know of many of these atrocities, nor understand the specifics. Yeah, we learn that Hitler wanted Poland, and the rest of Europe "appeased him". I'm sure it was understood by some, that in order to take Poland, that many would have to die, but I guess I just never thought about it. I mean its history, it has already happened. But to read eye witness accounts, or to see the footage on the movie, and know this is a fairly accurate represntation of what occured less then 10 years ago, was pretty scary!!!

In my bubbled experience, known as Upstate NY, I know not one person with a gun. I think maybe my ex boyfriend's dad had a hunting rifle, but that's about the extent of it. In Freedom Writers, most of them came from broken homes, or homes that were never built in the first place(my way of saying, the parents were never married). Not only are my parents still together, but so are nearly all of my good friend's parents, as well as my parents' good friends. In my family, I know of only one couple that have been divorced. I have never known someone who died other then from "natural" causes, and even that number is fairly low. In my entire life I've been to one funeral, my grandfathers.

I have no remote understanding of having to watch my back all the time for fear of being hurt, beat or killed. I have no understanding of having to work for food, or not knowing where I am to sleep that night. I have no experience with violence whatsoever. Actually, just today, a man in a nearby(15 minute drive ish) shot his ex wife around 1 am, and then escaped. He was considered armed and dangerous. The school I went to highschool at, went on lockdown because they were afraid that the man could be coming to the school. That is how alien violence is to my little bubble of an area, that a murder that occured many miles away could be seen as potentially threatening because things like that never happen.

What I can't believe though, is that many of the people affected by the most averse conditions can still lead normal, healthy and fulfilling lives. I know I could be upset for days if someone is mean to me. I would get angry if I didn't get an A on a test. If my parents decided to go only to Florida for a vacation instead of the bahamas, I could be fuming for a while. How dare I? I mean these people have real problems, and are then able to overcome. I think that is incredible.

Being out of the country, and seeing my country and the world from a different perspective has been invaluable to me. Yeah, when I went to Australia, I saw some pretty things and had a few laughs, but it was nothing like this, where I was in a constant state of fun and entertainment, while giving back to the community and learning a whole lot about myself and the world around me. It's like for once, I could really see and understand things for what they really are. I was always a good student, but I never really cared about the knowledge, but the grade. I know it might be fairly late in coming, but I'm finally ready to really learn, no A+ needed. I think I'm going to start to read the paper more, I'm thinking about learning Spanish, I'd like to train to do like a 5k run for a good cause, and more then anything, I wanna be able to help and do what I can to aleviate the sufferings of others. I did not do anything to deserve the life I lead, it is merely the luck of the draw. I think its unfair that my birth gave me this entitled life, while other's birth gave them a life of terror and misfortune. I'd like to do what I can, to make things better for others. I think I need to learn more about them first though.

I do have one more blog coming concerning South East Asia, about the things that I learned, then I might put down the typewriter a while and enjoy my last few months in upstate NY before I make the big move. However, I am definately planning on blogging about my new job, I just can't see you all being that interested in the goings on of me in Upstate NY.

This is it...

2007-04-25T07:48:00.000-05:00

I am now sitting, or well standing at the Singapore airport. Since many international flights go through this airport, it has many "transit" amenities, such as free internet, free movies, and if I was here long enough, I could have even gotten a free city tour!!!

I have so far been on two flights, totaling less then 3 hours. I will soon embark on a 21 hour journey, including a stop over in Germany before I am officially on U.S. soil again. I do think its silly that my frist flight lasted less then 45 minutes, yet I needed to be at the airport 2 hours in advance. But I digress.

Last night, in hopes to prove to myself that I can do things on my own, I ventured off on a motorbike to one of the backpacker areas, in hopes to get my nails done and get some good grub. I did both. Upon eating, I met a little Cambodian boy, who earlier in the evening was mocking me as he watched me get my nails done through the glass. Before I knew it, he and I were sharing the same plate of food. (I offered, don't worry). It was one of those one of a kind moments, I will never forget. The same goes for the ride back to the hotel. The hotel, was about a 15 minute motorbike ride away. I am very big though with trying new things. While I had utilized tuk-tuk's quite a bit in Thailand, I had not used the cyclo(which essentially is a bike in back and one lougne seat in front), which is the Vietnamese and apparently cambodian transport of choice, and figured this was my last chance. So after we agreed on $1.50 we head off towards my hotel. After trying his hardest to speak English, and about 20 minutes later, he is sweating bullets and panting. He tells me I should take a motorbike, (although what I heard was Motorbike???). We found some motorbike drivers who would gladly take me to my final destination. As I got on the motorbike, unsure of if I am going to my hotel, or being passed off in a series of transports until my final destination in some type of female slave trade, the cyclo driver asks for his money(by using the universal money signal). I shook my head no. I was not in the desired destination, and I was terrified. He told me to go back on the cyclo, and we were off again. He started muttering alot, and getting really mad, and finally said $10. I said NO WAY. This went on for a few minutes, through a very dark side street. I was really getting nervous at this time. But at the same time, he is a driver in a city, and I showed him both the address of the hotel and the physical location of the hotel, and he didn't seem to have a problem with it when we were first discussing prices. Not only is it a famous hotel, but it is also the tallest building in the city. There should have been no way, that he was unsure of what he was getting himself into. Either way, we arrived at an intersection with more motorbike drivers, and after I refused to pay $10 for a full ride to the hotel, he put me on a motorbike and then asked for money again. I gave him half of what we had agreed on. Then the motorbike driver charged me $1. While I spent 25 cents more then I intended, I did have piece of mind that the motorbike would not decide to get tired, and give up mid way. I arrived safely at my destination, for a long needed sleep.

I think that was the only time in my entire 2 months stay in South East Asia, where I was moderately worried about my safety. There have been times where I was a little concerned, but this tops the list. Of course, this occured in a city, thus increasing my hatred for cities. (You might say, "but Lacy, you are moving to San Fransisco" and to that I will respond, "no I am actually moving to Berkeley, or another suburb, so I get the amenities of the city without living within its confines.") Also though, if that was the scariest, or most unsafe experience of my trip, I'd say that means it was a mighty successful, safe and happy trip overall. Don't ya think?

Ewwww...

2007-04-24T10:16:00.000-05:00

I just saw the most grotesque thing of my entire life. A man walked into a salon where I was getting my nails done, and asked for a massage. Then he asked if he could personally select the woman who would complete the massage for him. They women stood in a police style line up, and he simply pointed at the girl he felt best suited him. I have seen and heard some pretty crappy things occuring, but I think that tops it. How would you like to be chosen simply based on a 2 second glance, while standing there being compared to your coworkers. Gross.

So I am officially in the last day of my Cambodian travels and the last day of my South East Asian adventure. I am currently in Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. Thus, I was able to see a royal palace!!! As well as a proper museum or two. Although, one of the museums was about the Khmer Rouge.

In my hotel, which is also a 5 star, I met a middle aged Aussie(in our private club, only for VIP's...no lie). He is traveling around with his family, and as I was lonely I pulled up a chair and sat with them. After a few minutes, I realized that I did not want to share his company. I have met many people from both western and non western countries. They have all been very openminded, laid back and fun. This man, while appearing fun on the outside, was anything but. He kept telling me how the service was bad in the hotel. And yes for hundreds of dollars a night, the service could have been a little better. He kept saying how if he lived in this country he would simply educate himself and find a way out. He kept reverberating the idea that they were less then us. That they could not handle themselves and constantly needed western support. Yes, they do need western support if they want to be western. But they aren't western, they are eastern. Just because they are not put in our own image, does not mean they are not worthy or any less deserving of respect. He looked at this culture completely ethnocentrically, and criticized it because it wasn't akin to its own.

I never understood until this very moment why American's are encouraged to have liberal arts degrees. I finally understand why I was forced to take a non western class in college, plus 8 credits of Humanities. Although I have never had much practice with it until now, I am now able to look at different economic systems, and different political systems based on their merits and not merely the commonly held belief. I am forever grateful that I have the ability to look at others as unbaisedly as possible, and I wish others could do the same.

As my last officialy night in South East Asia, I am going to head out to the backpackers bars for some grub, and hopefully some good conversation. Unless I can find cheap internet in Singapore, the next time you will hear from me, I will be back in the western and northern hemisphere.

Pursat, the home of....

2007-04-23T04:26:00.000-05:00

...well I am still trying to figure that out I'm afraid. So far all I've really seen is the inside of my hotel room and a few choice places around town. Oh yeah, and the school. But first things first.

It took us about 6 hours to arrive in Pursat, including a lunch stop in Battambang. It's very hot here. Please remember that as you read the rest of this. It is also absolutely gorgeous. Not in a postcard perfect kinda way, but in an untapped potential kinda way.

I met my tour guide, who is a student and works for the NGO(Non-Governmental-Organization) The Cambodian Rural School Project, which is the middle man between the donors and the schools. After a quick tour around the town and dinner, I was sent to my room, around 8pm. Not cool.

Quick background for those of you not following the story from the beginning. I decided to go to South East Asia(specifically Thailand and Vietnam) to have a break from life, to volunteer, to give back etc. Then, since I am such a good geography teacher, I looked at a map and saw that Cambodia is right smack in the middle of those two countries. Cambodia is also the location of a school that my dad's cousins had created in their name to boost the education system. I told my uncle of my travels and he insisted I go visit. I expected him to suggest I visit, but I did not expect him to pay for the trip himself or to have me also visit Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh as well. So my uncle, with the help of his son and a Cambodian travel agency created a 5 day itenerary(full of English speaking drivers, personal tour guides and 5 star hotels), so I could experience Cambodian history, culture, and take a gander at the school. The school has relevance, because of Cambodian's recent history. The Khmer Rouge, led my Marxist inspired Pol Pot took control of the Cambodian government in 1975 and led the most brutal, vicious and successful genocide any country has ever seen. Not in scope, but in success, his tactics were even greater then Adolf Hitler. He was even more successful, because Vietnam was the only country aware of the brutality occuring. Unfortunately for the Cambodians, they were involved in their own dispute(the Vietnam War) and could not give them their full attention. The UN was detrimental to the situation, as it did not do its research properly and gave the Khmer Rouge a seat on the security council, which it retained until the mid 90s. The Khmer Rouge, in an effort to maintain power, ripped families apart, and insisted they all work in labor camps. They attempted to brainwash the children, and use them as spies against their "treasonous" parents and families. They even changed the meaning of the word family, to simply mean spouce. They destroyed the education system, using many of them as killing fields(think concentration camps). By the end of their vicious dicatorship, the entire country was home to one highschool and not a single University. So in an effort to help, in 2003, a school was erected in my families honor. Now on with the story...

I went downstairs around 9am to eat breakfast and we were off to the school. After traveling about 25 minutes, past the city, through the town, around the village and down a red dirt road, we finally arrived.

We were greeted by the principal. We were told that there was a school break, from April 5th-April 20th, but most of the students had not returned from break. There are about 250 students at the school. I saw around 30. They were with the school's sole English and Computer teacher. When I tried to converse with him, anything past how are you? he looked at me as if I had three heads. The classroom had a single computer in it, where one student was learning how to type properly. The rest of the students were following the directions of the teacher. When I arrived chaos ensued. Well, really it didn't, but class was essentially over for the afternoon. I was given a brief tour and history of the school. I was shown the old school house, which unlike this one made of cement, the old school house was made of wood(and termites are a big issue here). They have one solar panel giving them limited electricity, and have no running water. They have a "clinic"on property which as some nurses, but no doctors. This clinic serves the entire village. There is another school, a secondary school being built which is funded by a Japanese donor. I then was able to give out the school supplies that I had bought them. I bought enough notebooks, and pencils for each student to have one. I asked if there was anything more that I could do, especially with textbooks, but the guide insisted that was fine. The history teacher in me, thought I needed to give them something educational, so I also bought a globe. We took a few pictures, then the kids scurried off home for lunch. We left shortly after, as there was not much else to do.

I have spent most of the rest of the afternoon, except meal times in my room, because its the only place that has a strong enough fan(there is A/C, but I haven't felt the affects of it yet!) for me to cool down. While its not as hot as Thailand was, I had gotten used to the heat. I have been in A/C for the past 3 days, and before that was in Vietnam which was more then 10 degrees colder, with a breeze, so I simply cannot take the heat.

Now, I'm here. I've been talking alot with the tour guide and driver, and they keep mentioning(although not in a pity me way) how they are a "poor" country, a developing country. I see a myself in a small city/town, with all the benefits of "industrialization" and none of the drawbacks. They all have basic infrastructure, most own cell phones(most of them better then mine!!!), many have cars/motorbikes, most houses(especially in the center) have TV's, they have access to computers and internet, they all have shelter, clothing and food. I don't see this as a poor country. I really don't. They are not lacking in medical supplies(although their dental program could use a little work...) or government programs. Even in the country, they have everything that they need, and many luxuries as well. The only thing missing is some sky scrapers, big business and maybe some more air conditioning. They are made to believe that they are poor because they aren't swimming in money. But what does money bring? Money separates families, creates foes of friends, and fuels individualism. Here, 20 people ride on the same truck to get from one place to the other, and don't mind it at all. Everyone knows everyone's name and they all work together. They don't see each other comepting for jobs, for land, or for wealth, they are all in it together. I think we should be learning from them, not the other way around!

Yes, some may call me an idealist who romanticizes "primitive" cultures into idyllic places, but if I could live in a town like this, with all of my family and friends around(who speak my language fluently!!!!), without the desire for wealth and land, and could simply be happy now instead of ensuring a financially secure "later" I would do it in a heartbeat!! Although I would request airconditioning in the deal!

Siem Riep

2007-04-21T08:49:00.000-05:00

Today marked my first full day in Cambodia. Oh and if I wasn't paying for my internet I would post pictures. But time is money people!

I awoke to the smell of flowers, as there were some flowers sprinkled on my pillow. Yes, this hotel is so high class, they don't do mints, they do flowers. Craziness. It was about 830am, when I was dressed, but it was also when I was supposed to meet with my tour guide. Opps. So I found him and explained to him that I woke up late and had no breakfast, so he said "no problem" or "sure", one of the two sayings he used quite frequently, and next thing I know, I was seated at breakfast. I do not think I have had a formal breakfast in over 2 months. In thailand, I either ate toast with nutella, fruit on the street, or food at the school. In Vietnam I was incredibly lazy, would wake up around 10, for a 1030am class, and then just eat a big lunch. This was a white linen tablecloth, western style buffet breakfast. It was definately a sight for sore eyes. Where I'm normally used to rice, noodles, meat and vegetables, I saw pancakes, bacon, and even Hashbrowns. If only they had bagels and cream cheese it would have been absolutely perfect.

I was wisked off to Angkor Thom this morning with my driver and tour guide. I explored many temples, and learned much about Hinduism and buddhism. While they were interesting, the temples began to all look the same after a few hours. It was also incredibly hot and very aerobic! It was great having an individual tour guide, because he answered all my innane questions, without interupting others, he went at my pace(which is about the speed of a turtle) and he took all the pictures for me, so I'm actually in alot of them!!

Then I went to lunch. A buffet lunch. Ridiculous. So much food, but all very very good! While I have not been a huge fan of the food, I have grown accustom to it, but I had heard that Cambodian food is the most different, so I a very glad that I have more choices while here.

Then I was dropped off at the hotel, and given 2 hours to relax before Angkor Watt. I was finally able to enjoy this hotel to its fullest. After lounging around my room for a little I put on my bikini and headed to the pool, where I got a padded chair and all the sunlight I could want. I met a couple from Boston and a few guys on a "business trip" from Australia.

Angkor Watt was gorgeous. It was very beautiful. Although, since everyone I've spoken to while here told me of the grandeuor of this temple, it of course could not live up to the hype, but it was still great nonetheless.

Then I did it. I finally did it. After nearly 2 months of being so close, I finally RODE AN ELEPHANT!!! We had to go up a hill, and there was the elephant option, and even though it was $15, pretty steep, when a whole meal is under $3, it was well worth it!! I also bought some books to bring back to my future classroom.

I have just come back from a dinner show which also was a buffet.

Oh, I also wanted to take this opportunity to vent again about the Virginia Tech shootings. As I returned to my hotel room, there was a Cambodian magazine with the story on the front cover. Inside there were articles about 100s dying in Iraq, and wars all over Africa, but nope, 33 people dying in America makes top story. I am very certain that during the 3 years of the mass Cambodian genocide that it hardly made news let alone the headlines. I just don't understand?

Ok, finished for now, I am paying by the half hour.

Cambodia

2007-04-20T11:06:00.000-05:00

So I have arrived, figuratively and literally. Literally I am here. I have physically arrived in Siem Riep, the stepping stone to Angkor Watt. Figuratively I have arrived as well. I am currently staying in a 5 star hotel, in an (or the, I couldn't quite tell) executive suite. My walk-in closet in the hotel room, is bigger then my entire bedroom. The window overlooks a pond that is covered in beautiful lilly pads. I have arrived.

My uncle, upon hearing about my travels in South East Asia, figured that while I am here I should check out Cambodia, because his immediate family put enough money together to create a school in Pursat. So I am like a spy, or an emmisary. Either way, I'm living in style. I have never stayed in a hotel as nice as this even in America!! I can't believe I am able to do this! Tomorrow I sight-see at Angkor Watt for the day, and then I head off to the school. It should be incredible, and I have my Uncle to thank!

It was very sad to say goodbye to Nha Trang. When I arrived I had this high from Nongkhai. I had the most amazing time and could not imagine that anything else could measure up. Of course, with that attitude nothing could. So I took a deep breath, erased all expectations and wound up having a great time, so much so that I did not even want to leave!

I had a great last day. Jade, Ryan and I took some motorbikes out to the country side and trekked/hiked to Ba Ho Waterfalls. It was amazing. I really pushed myself to the limits with all the climbing but it was so worth it. It was absolutely beautiful, but in a very subtle way. I will post pictures when I don't have to pay per minute on the internet. I have never however, felt like I was taking my own life in my hands, as I did when riding on the back of Jade's bike. It's funny though, because all day I was waiting for me to hurt myself, to trip on a rock, to slip and cut my skin, or to get into a little motorbike accident. So after the 45 minute bike trip back, we pull up to Kim's bar, and getting off I burnt myself on the overheated exhaust pipe!! All that worrying about getting hurt on our journey and I get hurt in from of my virtual living room!!!

Then Kim, the bar owner had a farewell dinner for me. I ordered the T-Bone. I mean I just had to!! It wasn't bad at all! Then I went to hang out with these guys that I have been talking to alot lately. Two of them were from Ireland, and picture any Irish stereotype and at least one of them fits it. They were great! The other two were from England, although I didn't meet the second one until this night. I had met the rest of them a few days prior, and they informed me that there was a fourth, but he awoke midday on the beach with a sunburn, a massive hangover and empty pockets. Of course, when I finally do meet him, he tells me how he wants to be a teacher. I just didn't see it though. Jade finally came back from swimming and we joined the boys at the Sailing club. It was really great! For most of the night, one of them was always near by entertaining me, conversing with me or just saying hi. It was amazing. I was an especially big fan of the non-alcoholic(although that is in the eye of the beholder as well) English man, which has joined a list of many English men I have enjoyed being around while here. This makes me think more and more that England or at least Europe is where I want to be for a while.

But why don't I get through Cambodia first, before I start planning my next trip?

America....the land of the free?

2007-04-18T10:26:00.001-05:00

As children we are told how lucky we are. We are told how great our country is. We are told to appreciate all that our "forefathers" fought to preserve it. America sees it as its mission to spread the ideals of democracy, freedom, and liberty accross the globe. But at what cost?

Nearly every country I have spent time in is inundated with American media and entertainment. Understandably so in an English speaking country like Australia, but when I can sit in a bar in Vietnam and here at least one English word in each song, and be able to sing along to most of the songs, the American influence is very much understood. When I speak American "slang" to other westerners, or even non-westerners, I do not have to explain myself, they understand because they watch the same movies we do-those from Hollywood. I never feel in a completely foriegn place, because I can easily see or hear something that reminds me of home. Yet, is that a good thing?

America is a dichotomous culture, where on one hand we preach tolerance, diversity and acceptance of all cultures, yet govern ourselves by the will of the majority. We teach our children to be themselves by developing their own character and personalities, yet reward them most for conforming to very strict ideals(such as behavior and grading codes in school) and retaining the status quo. We tell our daughters that they are beautiful no matter what size, shape or color, but then glorify cookie cutter models, musicians and actresses. We tell our sons to respect women, but then allow them to watch music videos and movies where women are mere objects to be used and abused by the male gender. We are shown in school that everyone is equal and should be respected, and then throw them out into the real "dog eat dog" world. We are told that money and possessions do not make you happy, and then are put into a class system based solely on money and possessions. As children we are taught one thing and shown another.

While many other cultures are not our biggest fan, they look up to us nonetheless. Even in Vietnam, who does not allow any commercial international chain restaurants in its borders(except a KFC in Saigon, apparently), and whose country was completely devestated by a war of our making, they see more American culture then Vietnamese culture on any given day. They wouldn't admit it as such, I'm sure, but it seems that they are trying harder and harder to "modernize" in order to keep up with American and other western cultures. I understand that if they or other third world cultures "modernize" they prevent other cultures from seeing them as mere pawns in global politics, but in modernizing, they loose their culture and their identity, and join the melting pot of global culture. But is that right?

This stream of consciousness(which is probably very treasonous as well) has partly to do with the recent shootings at Virginia Tech, and partly to do with the book "Freedom Writers" that I haven't been able to put down since I began reading. While reading the news about the shootings, all I could think of was, that could have been at Geneseo, or at Binghamton, I could have been affected, I could have been shot, and so could my friends. I've heard of shootings in the past, but they have never quite affected me as this one had. These shootings, instead of being isolated incidents, are becoming an epidemic in American society. What are we doing wrong that is producing these tortured souls who feel that they need to kill others? The same thought process runs through my head as I read the diaries of the Freedom writers. Everytime I open the book to read it, I can feel my tearducts filling. Nearly each entry brings about issues of homelessness, abuse and homicide. Why? Maybe its my very suburban upbringing, but I cannot fathom why the senseless misery and murder needs to continue.

When I left on this trip most people thought that I was crazy. My mother is constantly worried about my safely and well being. People fear this place because its unfamiliar territory, and known for hostility. Yet they have no guns. My biggest worry is how to avoid the annoying motorbike drivers trying to offer me a ride to my destination. I feel comfortable walking around at all hours of the day and night. There might be poverty, according to an American ethnocentric mindset. But they are happy, and I'd go out on a limb and say more free then "the land of the free". Parents in these countries do not worry that their children will not come home at night, or won't survive through the day. I have not once heard of a murder or a kidnapping while traveling. It might not have complete American ammenities or infrastructure, but I'd say that its safer and a more fulfilling life. They don't constantly worry about insurance policies and 401K's. They aren't constantly preoccupied with the future, they live almost completely in the present.

As a teacher of English in a third world country, I feel as though I am doing a good service. But at the same time, I am also instilling the same values, morals and thought proccesses that perpetuate the American ideals; the good, the bad and the ugly. Don't get me wrong, I love being American. I love our country's rich and accessable history. I truly believe in the government, and think that it has good intentions, but I also think that America was created upon the ideals of reforming the ills of European monarchy and society, and has inadvertantly created a vast new set of ills that, due to the far reaching American media and entertainment, are quickly being disseminated around the world. It's no wonder that nearly every foriegner that I meet asks me if I own a gun, or know people who do. Because of Hollywood, they think all American's run around with guns shooting people. Incidents like this prove that stereotype right.

I should probably stop here. I know I have not really made any solid points, and have created more questions then opinions or solid statements, but I do have to re-enter the country next few and fear that my potentially treasonous writings could bar me from entering. Yet America has a saving grace. I asked an old friend of mine to edit a political theory paper of mine first semester freshman year. After reading, he blasted me for my blind patriotism and naitevity about American politics, and then began to preach near Anarchy to me. I asked him why he chose to stay in America, if he hated everything about it. Then he told me something I will never forget. He said "that's the beauty of living in this country. You can live here, hate everything about it, and then complain, lobby or find some other way to change it. It is constantly evolving and constantly accepting of its faults." This is why I'm proud to be an American. I hope this ideal, that my friend so fervently preached to me is not slowly eroding away.

I (points to self) teacher...English teacher

2007-04-17T09:10:00.000-05:00

When I first arrived, I felt uncomforable talking to the Vietnamese on the streets. I had heard, that all they wanted was your money and the second you refused them, they were completely unfriendly. Well, this was a little bit of an exaturation, but I could only work with the information that I had at the time. Now that I have been here a few weeks, when a Vietnamese talks to me, I talk back and treat him or her like a student. While most of them are trying to peddle products of some sort, they are also trying desperately hard to learn English, so if I have a few minutes to spare, I slow down my pace, and my speech and try my hardest to have a conversation with them. Once they hear, or see(because its mostly through pantimime that I speak to them) that I am an English teacher, I all of a sudden have an eager pupil wanting to meet me again to speak English. Since I am only here a few weeks, I have had to refuse, but a few of the long term volunteers have done this repeatedly and have made lots of local friends in the process. While some are jaded by the two faced-ness of the Vietnamese, I see that they on the whole very eager to learn, very smart but cunning and just trying to enjoy life as we all are.

So I have not spoken much about teaching, because while its my intent for being here, it only takes up an hour or two of my day, and I wind up doing many other things while I am here. Since I only have a few more days, I thought I'd fill you all in on what is going on in the teaching realm of my travels.

So Jade and I teach a group of teenagers. They are absolutely adorable. Full of personality, charm, charisma and general intelligence. Our expressed mission here is to work with these "street kids" in order to keep them away from pedophilia. While we don't see too much of that, that doesn't mean that these kids aren't deserving of our attention. They might not be propositioned on the street, but that does not mean that they aren't on the streets; selling postcards, cigarettes, food...whatever they can to make them and their families a living. Education is not compolsury here, and thus is private and expensive in terms of their meager earnings. For one student to go to school for a year, its about 3 million dong, or about $250. This might not sound like a lot, but you have to get out of the US dollar mindset.

One student of mine is around 15, he is a postcard seller. He begins his day at 930 when he has to walk his brother to Crazy Kim's bar for classes with Ryan and Naena. Then he attends his class with me and Jade at 1030. After class he hits the beach with his satchel of postcards, asking any tourist he can find if they want memorbilia of their trip to Nha Trang. If he sells three packets of postcards, for about 25, 000 Dong each, he's done pretty well. 75, 000 dong, while hardly enough to pay for two meals for my western appetite, could easily buy him, and his brother about three meals for the day. Although these meals consist of a bowl with rice or noodles, a few pieces of meat and some cucumber, for about 10, 000 Dong each. His mother sells Jewelry on the beach front and also has similar successes, making less then 100, 000 Dong. His father is a motorbike driver. Motorbike drivers essentially taxi a single person around the city. For example, today I hired a motorbike driver(with the help of the student I'm speaking of actually) to drive me about 3 miles away to the mud bath spa. He then waited almost two hours for me to come out and drove me back to my hotel. For two hours of his time and more then 5 miles of gas and wear/tear on his bike, I was charged 35, 000 Dong, which is enough for him to buy him and one other person a meal, basically, albeit a little nicer meal then I described early. So you can imagine spending 3 million dong on something that doesn't give them any income in return, does not seem to be the most logical choice. Therefore, while I do not necessarily see the whole child-sex tourism to be a huge presence, I still do see it as a worthwhile cause.

So in an effort to leave the students with a long lasting impact of our brief stay here, Ryan, Naena, Jade and I (although honestly, since I was gone this past weekend, they put alot more energy into it then I have, I'm just an eager supporter) have created a way for the students to gain more money and respect for themselves and their families. We are helping them create their own tour group, where groups or solo travelers pay the students to give them a tour around the city. Since it is not expressly affiliated with the bar(although we are using their name for reputability. Although its a good cause, I don't think I would "rent" a street kid for a day to do tours, without knowing there was something secure behind it, such as Crazy Kim's bar.) 100% of the proceeds go to the students, plus they get to practice their English and stay off the streets. We are working now on advertising, hats, and bringing them around to the sites so they can get as much information as possible. It's been great, because we get to hang out with them more and allow them to practice their English more. While in Thailand, I really liked my "students"(who as you remember were teachers), they were all the way in Udon, a 30 minute drive, and aside from the one field trip and a few emails, I never hung out with them outside of the school setting. These kids, who are the target age I like to work with have endeared themselves to me so much so, that I do not want to leave. I really want to see this through and see them succeed, and not leave them only a short time after I arrived. I guess I should have thought about that before I made the plans. I honestly didn't think that I would bond with them that much in such a short time. Most of them call me "crazy" because they didn't learn my name right away, but simply observed my teaching habits. For those of you who have seen me in the classroom, know that I am a little off my rocker while I teach. Then when they finally learned my name, they had trouble pronouncing it, and kept calling me Lazy instead. Since lazy and crazy rhyme it stuck. My favorite student, who's name is phuoc(and pronounced like a four letter word rhyming with duck) honestly refers to me as crazy and not as Lacy at all. It's funny.

Half the reason I wrote this is because I really haven't mentioned too much about it, and really do think that we are doing some good work and it is one of the reasons I absolutely love it here and am hating that I have to leave. The other reason is because two new volunteers just arrived this weekend, and they are already leaving because the kids aren't "street" enough. Which I think is complete bullshit. I guess they are art therapists who don't really like teaching english(then why are they in a program to teach English??) who are trying to tap into the kids psyches and reveal their deepest darkest secrets. When only stories of a few molestations and some hunger came out of this art therapy session, they decided that they wanted to go to an orphanage or other area where there are "real problems". In one way I can understand because they do think that they will have a bigger impact in a more higher needs population. I mean, I feel the same way about teaching in the innercity. But at the same time, they are here for one month, and have made a commitment for that month and two days later decide that the kids aren't "street" enough. I don't know about you, but no one in my family ever touched me inappropriately and I never went a day without food in my belly. These kids might not be dirty and bleeding, but they are still in definate need of the education that we provide, and it really insulted me that they said that. Especially since I am so bonded to these kids and want only the best for them. But I guess if they aren't wanting to work here, then they might as well leave now, before the kids suffer.

a title that never fits

2007-04-16T08:15:00.000-05:00

I stole that from Jovanna I think, or maybe Krystal? Either way, I have realized that I named my blog the lonlieness of a long distance traveler in haste. As I mentioned in the last blog I made friends everywhere I went the first few days of my "solo" trip, and I made even more friends the last few days.

So I decided to stay in Hue the next full day and went on a motorbike tour, run by the bar I was quickly becoming a regular at. When I arrived the next morning to begin the tour, there were 6 other people there. Two couples and two girls traveling together. Great I thought to myself, I have been meeting all these people and its come to an end, as often people who travel in pairs have no desire to talk to others. Well of course, leave it to me and my gregarious personality to make them all talk to me, even if they didn't want to!! One of the couples was from San Fransisco, which is great, because I now have a good contact there, when I move! The other couple was from Denmark and I wound up having lunch, a self guided city tour, dinner and drinks with them, and another German guy the rest of the day. We honestly talked, the four of us for like 8 hours straight! It was great! I also ran into Paul and his two sisters from the day before and made tentative plans to hang out, although they quickly got into a fight with the tourist agency, and I did not hold my breath for seeing them later on.

Oh yeah, the city tour was pretty great too! We saw some pagodas, the tomb of an old emperor(the city I was in served as the Vietnamese capitol for much of the 18th and 19th century!), how incense was made, impacts of the "American war", and some picturesque places. We also had a pretty bad experience, with the girl from San Fransisco. While on the motorbike, her and her driver swerved to avoid a crazy dog and wound up skidding on the ground. She got pretty scraped up, but I didn't think much of it. That was until she had like a mini seizure and blacked out for a few minutes. We saw them later on in the night though, and she was doing just fine! Its funny, because the entire time I was so worried that something horrible was going to happen, by allowing someone else to drive me around the city on a motorbike. Yet, after I saw the worst of what could happen, I realized it really wasn't that bad. I often allow that fear to stop me from doing most things, and while I do not wish to have my body scraped up, if it happens sometimes, and I get to enjoy my life more, I think I prefer the scrapes, to the fear.

Although the foursome wanted to go out longer, and wanted me to stay the next day, I knew I was tired, and wanted to head back to the hotel. When I told them I was taking the morning bus to Hoi An so I could explore that town, before taking the night bus back to Nha Trang, they were genuinly upset. They said they were going to hire a Vietnamese person, and paste a picture of my face on the Vietnamese, so they can feel like I'm still there. It was really sweet. Either way, I wanted to explore Hoi An, and so I did.

While Hoi An does not have the cultural/historical attributes, it does have one unique thing; its numerous tailor shops. Essentially each of the many stores in town have skeins and skeins of fabric (such as silks, cotton, suade, khaki etc.) and samples of clothes as well as books and books of styles. As I have mentioned, most clothes in South East Asia does not fit me, because the people in this entire side of the world is about half the size of a westerner, so when I had the opportunity, I took it. I have Nicole's wedding to go to as soon as I got back and thought it would be great to have an Asian style dress that fits me perfectly. Unfortnately, to get a proper fitting, you were supposed to stay in town for a few days, to go for fittings and ensure everything was ok. I was there for 5 hours, ordered 2 dresses, a tank top and a pair of pink silk sandels. The town, which is known most for its peaceful and laid back lifestyle, was the most stressful 5 hours I have had while in South East Asia. Somehow, as it always seems to though, it worked out, and I have some great new clothes, that might just need a little more work done on them by my mother.

The bus ride back to Nha trang, from 6:30pm until 7am was definately not the dream that the ride up was. I saw with a woman from the Czech Republic who wouldn't sit with this one girl because "she was too big", although I was certainly bigger then this girl was. She then decided to wear a wool blanket and turn the A/C off, and take up most of her seat and mine. She was not a big lady by any means, but she just really spread herself out. I had to repeatedly ask her to move over, so the handle was not making a permenant mark in my hip. It was dreadful.

Overall, I had an absolutely great time! I was really nervous about going alone, as I said, and I found that I was hardly ever alone! At the same time though, I had no expectations, and did not hold anything to high standards, and therefore enjoyed everything for what it was. Although I am still not a fan of the complete transient nature of traveling, I think I could see myself doing it through Europe for two months, as long as I have people to see every couple spots. It was great to do something that I was terrified to do, and not only "get through it" but I really enjoyed myself!!!

I can't believe my two months in South East Asia are almost coming to a close. I have had the time of my life here and don't know how I can say goodbye, but at the same time, I'm so happy to go home and do all the great things that I have planned. I feel like I have gained so much confidence and a new sense of life and fun here, and I can't wait to spread it to the rest of my life.

Knowing that I am leaving soon, I am devoting the rest of this week to touring around Nha trang to its fullest potential, including finally seeing a waterfall!!

Report from the trenches

2007-04-13T06:43:00.000-05:00

I have just returned from a lovely 12 hour tour of the Demilitarized zone. Although lovely is quite generous as is tour, I still learned and saw alot nonetheless. The tour guide unfortunately spoke really bad English and we spent more time sitting on the bus then sight seeing, but either way it was an eye opening experience.

The American war, as the Vietnamese call it essentially began as the French lost its hold on the country, in the mid 1950s(Dien Bien Phu). America who had been backing France realized it had to take matters into its own hands to prevent the domino effect. Fueled with Red scare fever, they split the country in two, on the 17th parallel, also a river, forming a 10km Demilitarized Zone. (shown in picture to right, this statue was on the Southern side) Once split, the Vietnamese had less then one year to decide who they had alliegence to, the Communist North or the American backed South. There was to be an election to reunite the country after that year, but that election never came. The American's used the split to garner support and get the support of the people of the South. The war waged on for nearly twenty years with neither side making many strides until Khe Son, which occured around the same time at the Tet Offensive, when the Western media finally realized that they were not winning the war, and public opinion essentially forced Nixon to abandon the war, giving American's their first military loss in their history(if you are really interested on my theories of the media's impact on the Vietnam war, I wrote my senior thesis on it and will email it to anyone interested.)

This is the American perspective, and very abbreviated. I was hoping to get the Vietnamese perspective, yet due to the unhelpful tour guide I was unable to hear the history, and only able to absorb the present and what was presented to me. So to dispell some myths....

Vietnam is not some dirty, horrible jungle. As I hope you see from the pictures, it is a great, vast mountinous area. (although even the pictures don't do it justice) It's topography definately aided the Vietnamese army, but it also greatly hurt the people. We visited a group of tunnels that the citizens of the town had dug in order to protect themselves from the invavions. Entire cities were built underground within the mountains. Yet unlike the amazing architecture of US bombshelters which were glorified in movies such as Blast from the Past, these tunnels were bareboned, small, dark and dingy. We walked through them, but don't let that smile fool you(I'm guilty of that cheesy American smile), it does not mean that it was a happy place to be. Each family was assigned a room, which was no bigger then a 4 door car. It was essentially made out of wet clay, constantly staining everyone's clothes. They had separate little alcoves for the toilet, for living areas and for hospitals. 17 babies were both in those tunnels. (for anyone curious, the people in the statue are fake, but definately scared the crap out of me when I first saw them!!) It was a horrible life. In the middle of the day, me and the 30 other Westerners I was with could hardly get through the tunnels without tripping and falling. The lighting was horrible, and I'm fairly certain it was alot worse 50 years ago. It was small both width wise and height wise(although do remember that Vietnamese are on the whole alot smaller then Westerners), and I had to duck repeatedly to get through. They warned the Claustrophobic that it could cause an attack. Imagine having no choice. Imagine being citizens of a country where other, more powerful coutries always seem to know whats better for you, and impose that opinion forcefully. Vietnam had been fighting for its own agency, for its own independence for over a century, first from China, then from France and finally from America. One of the people on the tour asked us, "well why didn't the citizens of this town move? Why did they have to go underground." First of all, why should they have to move? It's their country!!! Second of all, not having good communication, they would have had no idea how widespread the war was, and where it was safe to go. Especially with bombing raids so frequent you could set your watch by them. While the rest of the stuff we saw, such as part of the Ho Chi Minh trial(which supplied the North), army bases, and museums, this one site had the biggest impact on me. This would be similar to walking into a concentration camp in Eastern Europe and having them pretend to put the gas on, to show you the fear that the persecuted felt. I felt that fear. I couldn't stand to be in those tunnels for the 20 minutes I was down there, how could people have managed two decades?

I am really glad that I came here. This is exactly what I wanted to see on my travels. Thailand was great to understand the culture, and the present, but I was hoping Vietnam would show me some of the past. I was especially hoping to see a past not full of American propoganda(although I am sure I saw some Vietnamese biases, if only subtely). As a historian and future history teacher, it is important to see both sides of the story, and then ascertain the truest account you can based on the confirming evidence. Here, I see a country who wanted its freedom, and super powers who wanted to impose their own view instead. This was not a war concerning Vietnam whatsoever, it was a war of ideologies, in which neither side won. Yes, Vietnam might be communist, but from what I can see its just as Capitolistic as America. The market economy still exists, as does private property. The authories might be more overtly covert and their "progress" might not be as comples as our own, but other then that they are capitolist in all but word.

Overall this was a great experience and something that I have most been looking forward to since I booked the tickets to South East Asia. I wanted culture, and I have it coming out my ears, but now I have more history as well. Coming here, makes me realize how much I really would like to visit Europe and spend some time there to really get to understand the roots of American culture, as well as my roots, especially in Austria and Poland. I hope to soon. I also got to realize how great it is to travel on your own. As my previous blog stated, you are never really alone, even when you think you are. So maybe I was a bit hasty naming my blog. Oh well.

Although I haven't firmly made the decision, I think I am going to stay here another day and leave back to Hoi an the following morning, spend a few hours there and then take the night bus back to Nha Trang. I am debating whether or not to spend more time here, or spend more time in Hoi an. But our bus broke down about 2 miles away from my hotel, and I decided instead of waiting(I really had to pee!!) I just decided to walk it, and surprisingly I made it accurately(and unscathed!), and also got to really see the city, and I think I wanna do it justice and explore it for the whole of tomorrow instead of just the morning. Isn't it great that I get to make decisions like that?

Ok, this blog is long enough, but also one of the most important, I think. Peace out yo.

When you're alone, you're not alone, not really allllllone

2007-04-12T10:21:00.000-05:00

10 points to whoever can name the movie the title is from!!!

So I've been on the road a little over 24 hours and I have to say I am not only surviving, but I am really enjoying myself.

I waited at my hotel at 630pm for the bus, but found out that it did not arrive til past 730pm. I was almost ready to throw in the towel and ask for a refund, but I waited instead. I got a row on the bus to myself, but I was soon joined by a cute boy who's name I found out 16 hours later was named Paul. He immediately took out his book to begin reading, yet asked me a generic question or two. Next thing we know its nearly 1130pm and the whole bus is silent so we opted to stop talking and attempt to sleep. The bus stopped at 1am, and we all got out to pee and eat. Since I had ignored my friend's in Nha Trang suggestion to buy food before I left, I was very very hungry. After the stop, we talked on an off the rest of the morning. He was a 21 year old from Perth, who was a tradesman. He had been traveling for a few months, and his sisters wanted to join him and choose his time in Vietnam to do so. I am not sure what we spent so much time talking about, but we never seemed to run out of things to say.

We arrived in Hoi An at 6:30am. I knew there was a bus leaving to Hue at 8am and one at 2pm. Traveling wise I thought it better to go right to Hue, knowning that I could always come back to Hoi an. I bid farewell to my new friend as his sisters had already booked him a tour for the day(random: he said to me "cheers for the company"...silly Aussies). I found a travel agency and found a tour to take at My Son through the Cham ruins/ancient city. My tour left at 8am. The bus pulls up, and my new friend was in it, along with his sisters. He finally introduces himself as he introduces me to his sisters. One of his sisters was great! A teacher, really bubbly and friendly. The other one hardly spoke two words to me. I wound up hanging out with them most of the afternoon at My Son. My son was essentially an ancient village of Cham people(chinese Hindu's), that the Viet Cong used as a hiding place during the Vietnam war. Out of 68 temples on the grounds, only 20 of them remain intact. Everywhere you could see bombing craters and buildings in virtual ruin. I apologized on behalf of my country. I met another group of people also from Australia, but adults, because my new friends had moved quickly through the tour and I wanted to take my time. I met back up with the siblings but quickly bid them farewell again because I had to get back to the travel agency and they had a boat tour already booked, however I have this feeling that I will see him again tomorrow, as they are traveling up to Hue.

I board the bus at 230pm and after a stopover in Danang, we arrive around 530 about 1KM away from our destination, and we sit there for almost an hour as the busdriver and operators change a tire. I finally arrive around 615 to one of the main backpacker alleys, to a child asking me if I was staying for the night. I nod affirmatively and he takes me to his hotel. Since I had studied my Lonely Planet guide book, I knew this one was in there, and knew it was something I could trust. After showing me expensive rooms with internet in room and 3 beds, I got them to give me two single beds with TV, Air Con and private bathroom for $8 a night. Not bad at all.

I spend an hour or two relaxing as I have not had any sleep in over 24 hours and had pretty full days, but quickly realize that I need to eat dinner. I head to the first place opens, that winds up being the most reccommended bar in the city. I am quikcly joined by two danish brothers who are endlessly fascinated with the fact that I have never seen any "good movies". About two hours later I bid them farewell, promising to return tomorrow, as I have to get some sleep because I am exploring the DMZ at 6am tomorrow morning. Yet, I am now online.

I am really enjoying myself. I am amazed how easy it is to talk to people while traveling alone. I assumed I would constantly feel akward, or look like a social leper, but that is not the case. I had the option to travel with one of the volunteers to Saigon, but I chose instead to give it a go on my own, and to travel to places less well known, and more culturally and historically rich. I think I made a great choice. Even in Australia, when I traveled alone, I merely did it just to do it, but here, I am really enjoying myself. Its very exciting to always be meeting new people, and realize that I can do things on my own. I am hoping tomorrow, I will be rested enough to stay out fairly late and really get to see if I can "go out" on my own. I can't believe how much I have grown and tested myself here. Australia, Italy, France, even Disney was nothing compared to what I am learning and experiencing here. I am really on my own, and not only surviving but having the time of my life.

Oh and having free internet in the hotel definately helps.

Peace out, see ya on the flip side!

SCUBA DIVING!!!!!

2007-04-10T07:51:00.000-05:00

So I did it. I scuba dived. Scuba dove? What is the correct form? I'm not sure. And I teach this. Anyways. The story begins(and will be explained why later) the night before. Jade, my scuba partner, was laying on her bed. I could see her from the balcony from my room. While we are at the same hotel and on the same floor, we live in separate buildings. Yet our rooms are aligned and I can see right into her room. Creepy a little? Anyways. Naena and Ryan were there with her. I scream(at 1130pm) to try to get her attention. None of them can hear me. I try calling her, while staring at her room, her phone is busy. Finally, I grab some ginger that a student had given me, and get ready to chuck it at her room, in order to get her attention. Naena finally looks up and through Naena, Jade and I make plans to meet for breakfast and head out to be at the scuba place by 7am.

We were to meet at 6:15am. 6:30am, and no sign of Jade. I call her, her phone is off. I call out to her. No response. I grab the ginger and throw it at her window, but to no avail. Finally, I walk my lazy ass down my two sets of stairs, and up her two sets of stairs and knock on the door. She was asleep. She gets ready quick and we head to the place. We each have an egg bagette sandwich for 6000 VND(16000=$1USD). We get on the bus, which leads us to the boat. There are about 30 other people doing various things in the water from snorkeling, rescue courses and scuba training. There are 6 of us doing "discover dives", which essentially lets us scuba dive like we had our liscense with limited training. The only catch is that we have a "master diver" holding on to us at all times. They basically do everything for us, we just enjoy the ride.

We first meet the crew, but a very entertaining diver. We then split up into our groups. We learn basic dive concepts/vocabulary and the 5 handmotions for up, down, slow down, problem and equalize. The instructor had a very severe asian accent and I found it very difficult to understand him.

Jade and I opt to go in the second group. We lounge around on the boat for a while, taking massive amounts of pictures and talking with anyone that crosses our path.

It's finally our turn. Jade goes first, and I watch her put on her gear and plop in. Ever since Laos, I don't like the jumping in bit, so I opt not to. I make my "master diver" put on all my gear on after I am already in the water. There is a man who volunteers to take pictures for me as I make my ascent into the water. I now have so many pictures of me in the water, which is great. So the Master diver tells me to put my mask on and put my mouth over the thing-a-ma-jig that connects to the oxygen. Then I am to put my face in the water, glide me along and see how I do. After about 10 seconds, my face comes back up and I am gasping for air. I cannot handle the breathing. All I wanna do is get out. I try again. I keep just my face underwater for about a minute. Its still very hard. I feel like my lungs are going to collapse and I might actually die. She tells me I am doing a good job. I feel like I will never be able to do it. I try one more time. I notice it starts to get easier. She then tells me we have about 20 minutes left and we should give it a go. I agree. We make our descent, probably about 10 feet or so. I am only focused on my breathing. I don't see anything. She keeps picking up shells and giving them to me, or showing me other pretty things. All I can think about is my breathing. Then all of a sudden, I realize that I am not going to die. That I can breathe. Then I start to enjoy the scenery. I see fish of all colors shapes and sizes. I see some coral. I see schools of fish. I see their whole life and I love it. I realize that I have slowly gone up and I see the surface. I come up and rip my mask off. My master diver freaks out and does a bunch of things to my suit and then asks me what's wrong. I say nothing. Apparently I was not supposed to go up that quickly and that was the improper way to do so. Oh well. We come to find out that we actually took too long and the boat was waiting for us to leave.

We go to another dive site, and I decide to do the second dive site, along with Jade. Now that I was used to going underwater and having artificial breathe, I really got to enjoy myself. The coral was amazing. It was like an underwater city. It reminded me of shark tale, the animated movie. It was great, I absolutely loved it. We went about 30 feet underwater, I think. At first she was leading me around by the hand, but by the end, I was leading her, and getting to explore everything! She told me I was a natural. I'm very sure I am not. My ears really started to hurt the second time.

So as I am getting up for the second time, the head diver, who has been busting on me all day continues to bust on me. He told me that I should tell all my friends about the Diving company. Since this was our developed repoir, I tell him I have no friends. He says "figures". Then I tell him, that none of my friends but Jade were interested. He asks me if I am staying at the Dong Phoung hotel. I answer affirmatively, and look at him strangely. He asks me, "so did you meet your friend for breakfast?" I am very confused now. He informs me that he lives next door to me and heard our whole interbuilding conversation. What a small world!!!! The guy that is the head of our boat, lives in the room next door and has been for 10 months. So now we are in a little sound war, where we both try to make as much noise as possible to bother the other. Very entertaining.

I am definately glad that I went. It was a great experience and one that I will not soon forget!

After diving Jade and I headed to the beach for some rest and relaxation. I fell asleep, and next thing I know, Jade is giving an impromtu English lesson with some of the cigarette ladies. Then a bunch of teenage girls come, and I help them as well. Only with Jade would this happen!!

I am now off to Hoi An and Hue for some culture and history. I should be back by Sunday sometime. I will put all the scuba pics up on shutterfly as well as pics from the waterpark and long beach when I return!

quick acclimation

2007-04-09T08:17:00.000-05:00

It feels like I have been in Vietnam for a very long time. I cannot believe that less then 2 weeks ago I was in Thailand. For all my whining and complaining when I first get to a place, I actually acclimate pretty quickly.

Dong Phoung has become my new home, as Crazy kim's bar has become my new living room. Except for Jade, I think my favorite person here is the DJ, who's western name is Bad Boy. Yeah, that's a little akward, but he's really entertaining. He doesn't know English very well, but he knows all the slang. So its funny to talk to him. There is an Italian restaurant run by Vietnamese woman. She smiles and waves like we are good friends every time I go by. I take this as a compliment, that I really live here and am not merely a tourist, because she used to try to get me to sit down and eat at the restaurant.

The second you step foot in Nha Trang, you notice two things; the sparkling blue water and the Vietnamese women and children peddling everything from postcards and cigarettes, to food and books. You are told to ignore these people. They will pester you, or tell you that they have no money and they need money to eat. I have gotten to know alot of the students who are also the postcard sellers. Now that I know their personalities and realize how great they are its hard to ignore other kids peddling stuff on the streets. They are very friendly and playful. You can just bust on them, and kid around with them, since they know a fair amount of English, even the ones that don't come to class. I can't go down the street without knowing someone, which is nice. Many of those peddlers mentioned earlier have stopped bothering me because they recognize me as a semi-permanent resident and not a tourist.

I like that I have become a regular, a constant. I feel like I always need to make somewhere feel like home before I can like it. That is how it is here. There was no way I could love this place as much as I loved Thailand, because I had such high excpectations, there was no way for it to measure up. It is interesting and different, but in a good way. It's more relaxing. I am learning how to be more independent. I'm glad that I came.

When I first came here, I felt akin to the tourists, but I realize I am not. All they want to do is party, and sun bathe. I don't. I don't mind being social, but getting drunk every night has not nor has ever been my thing. I am surprised at how many people I am meeting, and how at ease I have gotten with the process. Not just the staff at Kim's, but I have been befriending others who pass through, and talking with anyone. I need to become more comfortable doing that I think. I have the fear of strangers in me, that has been drilled in since primary school. While I should be wary, I think my acute fear of the unknown is sometimes unnecessary and often crippling. I am slowly trying to get over this.

Yesterday we took the children to the water park. All 6 volunteers were supposed to come, only me and Jade went. We had a great time, minus me being incredibly burnt. We swam/played from 9-11am and then had lunch. After lunch, we played card games. We taught them our card games, and they played bullshit and spoons with us. They also tried to teach us their games. The only thing we see from these games is that they all have cards in their hands and they slam them down while saying something violent sounding, then everyone else starts slamming their cards down and then all of a sudden someone is the winner. We have videos of it, and I will post them soon. They, like the Thai children are so bosterous, and always having fun. It's great to see!

Today Jade and I took some bikes and went out to the Long Sun Pagoda, known most for its huge Buddha, and great panaramic views of the city. A monk talked to me. Since I worked with monks alot in Thailand I thought nothing of it, but apparently he is not even supposed to look me in the eye. He gave me a flower, and touched my hand while giving it to me. I've already corrupted monks in Thailand(I played footsie with one, and another told me "I'll see you in my dreams tonight"). Luckily Jews don't believe in Hell, or I think that is where I'd be headed.

Tomorrow Jade and I are going on a discover dive, with my favorite rainbow diver Craig. I am thinking about getting my scuba liscense, but I wanna try it out first. We'll see then. Wednesday night, I am heading out alone to go to Hue and Hoi An, which are both very historical/cultural. I am hoping to really enjoy the experience on my own, instead of just merely go through it, like I did when I traveled alone in Australia. We'll see I guess.

Bedtime now, so we can wake up early and DIVE!!!

Blackouts

2007-04-07T06:59:00.000-05:00

So I haven't posted much lately. This is mostly due to the semi regular power outages that occur throughout the city of Nha Trang. In the past two days, whenever I have had time to use the computer I have been unable. Since power outages are so regular here, it does not stop the flow of the town; the restaurants cook with charcoal, the people take out their candels, and business resumes as normal.

Things have been running along smoothly here. Jade and I went from teaching one class a day, to three classes a day(athough the other two are more laid back/less structured), so by Friday, we were tired of planning. We went into our main class with enough activities to last about 15 minutes(of an hour long class). Well Crazy Kim's school for street kids is a staple in Nha Trang and travelers/backpackers often make a stop in Nha Trang for the opportunity to volunteer and work with the students. Usually we have an extra hand or two in the classroom, but on Friday we had 6 extra hands in the classroom, giving us 8 adults and 16 students total. After we completed our innitial activity, we figured we would take advantage of the help and had each volunteer take a student or two and read with them. We were so lucky that they all came when we did, and it wound up working out really well!!!

After shopping and teaching some more, Jade and I decided it was time to paint the town red. We began at a bar a little off the beaten path. We were greeted with "hello teacher", as one of our adult students was the waitress. A few minutes later, we recieved another "hello teacher", as another of our students who had just gotten to work. Yeah, so we were served alcohol by our students. Weird, I'm aware. I taught Jade the card game Casino and we spent about 2 or 3 hours playing at the bar. Then we headed back to Kim's(the bar that we teach in) to pick up Trang, one of the girls that works at the bar. We ran into some of the volunteers from earlier that day in class(not travel to teach volunteers) and we brought them along with us to Why Not? Bar(where you dance around in Air Conditioning!!!). So essentially, we arrived at the bar as 5 people all from England and the American as well as the patrons of the bar covering most of Western Europe. I spent the rest of the night getting asked questions such as "are you ashamed of Bush?" and other political/social questions from a middle aged gay man from London, and questions such as "you didn't mind that guy bumping into you?" from a very drunk 20-something man with dreadlocks and a cast on his arm. All in all a very entertaining but random night.

Today, we(as in the travel to teach volunteers) decided to all get together and go somewhere. Destination: Long Beach, where you tube in the shallow water, lay on hammocks as the water flows underneath you, and pick your seafood as its swimming around in the tank and then watch them kill it and cook it. All in all it was a pretty great day. However, Shaun and Kat backed out last minute. So it was Naena the multilingual German, Jade the fun loving Brit, Trang the Vietnamese Lesbian, Ryan the bitter yet entertaining American, and me. It was not as sunny as I would have liked, but at least I got some pretty great pictures and a pretty fun time.

Oh, and I found out how to post videos and pictures, so check with the links at the right of the blog for some entertaining videos and my photo albums!!

the Jolly Pink Giant

2007-04-05T03:30:00.000-05:00

Whereas I wanted to write soo much stuff in Thailand, and had to restrict myself, here I don't really feel the need to write to much.

Oh to clear up any confusion, Jade is a girl. She's 19 from England. In my last blog, I simply meant that I had made a friend, not that I had met a boy.

So aside from the past two days because I have felt a little under the weather, I have had an Ok time.

In the life of Lacy...generally.

~I awake around 830am, and I shower.
~At 930am, I go to the Bakery, which is a restaurant two doors down from the hotel. Usually some of the other volunteers are there as well, and I eat with them.
~Jade and I teach at 1030am, for one hour at Crazy Kim's Bar. Then we plan for the next day.
~At noon, I spend sometime online, emailing, updating pictures and blogs etc.
~1230pm I go eat lunch, usually with Kat, at the other bakery near Kim's(where the bar/classroom is)
~After lunch, I go back change into my bikini and head to the beach. Usually I go with Ryan, Nana, and Jade.
~At the beach we just chill out in the water, read, or talk.
~We leave at about 4pm. A few days we have went shopping, at the market in the city, or just along the beach.
~Jade and I have been trying, athough fairly unsuccessfully to hit up the pool for laps. Since I am a girl though, I haven't been able to the past few days. If you catch my drift. This happens about 6pm
~Jade and I teach another class at 7pm for one hour.
~Then we find somewhere to eat.
~Showertime around 9pm, I usually wind up in my room for over an hour because some silly movie is on like Sleepover, or Mighty Ducks.
~Then its time to go out. We either start at Crazy Kim's and play pool, or cards or some other type of game. We have only been out hardcore one night. We went to a bar called Why Not? and it's airconditioned.
~Usually I'm in bed by midnight, after shmoozing, playing and relaxing.

That's a day in the life of me. Now that I have done it once, I will never do it again, don't worry. But in general, I spend mornings and evenings teaching and the middle of the day is spent lounging about. I guess my life isn't too tough!!

Oh random funny story. So there is this girl Nan, who is a favorite among the volunteers. She's 11. She goes to class and gets tutored. She is very bright. Yesterday, at the 7pm class, Nan's dad Don showed up and introduced himself to me. He recognized me instantly because he said Nan has been talking about me alot. Since the 7pm class is mainly conversation, I figured that would be a good conversation point, and asked him what she said about me.
"Oh, well, she says you are very fat(while holding his hands out like I am 400 pounds). Very happy too and very clear." He then sees the shocked look on my face, and was like, no offense. She really likes you alot.
Yeah, I'm aware I am not a supermodel by any means, but my weight complex has just increased tenfold unfortunately. Especially since none of the clothes here fit me because the Vietnamese are so small. I'm sure they think of me like the Jolly Pink Giant. Actually, that's exactly what they think of me. They've told me so. I'm a happy humonogous giant, who loves the color pink.

So it has been a very enlightening experience. I am glad to hear how many people are reading this and keeping up with me. I really appreciate it. Although this place is basically devoid of culture, I will write about the area a little more in upcoming entries. We are also planning on going away this weekend and next weekend, so I might have some more interesting things to say. I even might take pictures. In this whole week I have taken 6 pictures. For me, that's a travesty!!

Peace out!

patience Aigo patience

2007-04-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

So on Sunday i finaly decided that I needed to accept the fact that I would be fairly independent here. I figured that it was probably time I learned how to be comfy alone anyways.

So I decide to spend the day on the beach with a book and a towel. (I actually brought nothing else, since I heard of the massive theft that occurs on the beaches. I hid a few bills in the pages of the books though. Just to paint you the picture). So it started to get really windy and I thought it might be a good idea to head over to the pool instead. On the way I see Jade, one of the volunteers and we start talking. Next thing I know its three hours later and we are at an icecream shop with one of the vietnamese students. Jade and I also wound up hanging out all day yesterday as well; at the beach, out to meals and to exersize.

Although I was a little pathetic. I've been kinda complaining, although mostly too myself, that compared to Nongkhai, the people here hardly ever go out. This is especially disturbing because our classroom is in a bar!!! So during dinner Jade decides we should go out tonight, not late mind you but just out. So I go home and shower and then see National Treasure on TV, so I start watching. Next thing I know its almost an hour later and I'm ready for bed. So I force myself out and head out to Kimmy's bar. To no avail, unfortunately. After a pool game, jenga game and some weird domino's game, plus a shot, I am literally falling asleep so I head to bed.

Either way, its starting to get better, like of course it would. I just have such high expectations for myself and my surroundings. Once I drop those, I find that I do alot better. Once I am comfortable somewhere, I am great, and amazing, its just getting comfortable for me that is the problem. This is why I could never be a true backpacker. Most people when they experience culture shock, they love EVERYTHING about the place, then after a while hate it. Usually most backpackers don't stay long enough for it to hit a middle ground. I am the opposite. I immediately am critical of everything until I reach a comfort level with it. So if I truly backpacked, I would be hating my life every 3-5 days, and that would really suck.

While it is getting better, I think this site will be alot more difficult then Nongkhai. Nongkhai to me was just one big party, one big ball of fun, I suppose. Here, its going to be alot different and challenge me alot more. I need that though. I have been pampered and had everything given to me on a silver spoon for so long, that everytime I come up against something even remotely challenging, I run the other way instead of face it head on. I need to learn how to keep doing that, especially if I want to survive Oakland city schools. Not that anything I will face is to hard, but I have a habit, as I'm sure you are all aware of making a "mountain out of a mole hill." So for example, there are alot of girls here compared to boys, and while there were lots of girls in Nongkhai, there were enough boys to balance them out. Here that is not the case, and I need to be able to not feel so defensive around girl groups as I have in the past. I also need to get more comfortable doing things on my own, and not just waiting for others to give me something to do. This is my one time, probably, to be in Vietnam and I shouldn't waste it by needless worry. I'd also like to be more comfortable talking to people I don't know. I have been taught since the beginning of time to avoid strangers and to fear people I don't know. Well now, at 23, when I walk into a bar or other unstructured environment I do not even look at someone I don't know. I'm trying to change that, so that I can meet other people and see what they have to offer. We'll see how it goes.

Enough analyzation. Here are a few pictures that I have taken of the place I will call home for 3 weeks. Now that I have settled I will explain more about what I am doing in upcoming entries!

Thanks to all of your emails and messages. They mean alot! Will have more pics soon, including full photo albums!!!

I broke into my own room...

2007-04-01T01:06:00.000-05:00

There really is not much more to write then has already been written.

This morning, upon leaving my room I forgot to grab my key. SO for about 10 seconds I start completely flipping out, and then I realize that my window is still open. I realize how to open it further and stretch my arm in just enough to move the door knob and unlock it. If I could get in that easily, surely someone else could. That worries me. Yet I talked to the other volunteers and they said that its completely safe.

I spent yesterday afternoon at the beach. There were lots of other groups of tourists intersperced with Vietnamese. I read. Yet, every 20 minutes or so I was interupted by traveling vietnamese selling everything from gum and cigarettes, to food and sunglasses. I pretend not to understand their English, or just ignore them completely. The hardest to ignore though are the children peddling postcards. Picture the Newsies(ya know the movie, or history) from the 1920's. They put their lip out and in a whiney voice tell you how they have no food to eat for dinner and buying poscards will help them. At first I tried telling them I had no money, so they would point to my pocketbook, then I would tell them I had no DONG(the local currency) and they would say they'd accept US dollars. Then I realized that a curt No and ignoring them would be the best way to deal with it. But then they sit there with you while you ignore them, just to wait it out to see if you will finally give in. Its heartwrenching, but you are not supposed to give in. Giving them money, reinforces the bad behavior of badgering people on the streets(and on the beach front) instead of having them go to school, or find a trade. I know I sound heartless but on issues of handouts, I'm a conservative through and through. "Give a man a fish and you feed him for one day, teach him how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."

So yeah, things are starting to look up. I have to keep reminding myself that it took a few days before I fell in love with Nongkhai and it will probably be the same here.

All the volunteers got together yesterday for "tea" and one of them mentioned that this was the first time they'd all been together in weeks. That worries me. It seems that they spend most of the time doing things on their own. This has to do with the fact that they work opposite each other, so they are all on conflicting schedules.

I'm thinking of getting my Scuba liscense, for something interesting to do. If I do take the job in Cali, there are bound to be plenty of places on the coast to dive into.

So it looks like I'll have to get used to the solo thing. Luckily I brought lots of books with me. Plus I do have my Oakland stuff to do more research into. So now I should have plenty of time to do so. It's a shame that I'm not too good at really enjoying somewhere like this on my own, but maybe I'll learn?!?!

I'd really love to hear from you guys. I actually finally sent out a bunch of emails to people I have heard from recently and would love to hear from more. I'm definately the most homesick now and could really use some support!

Miss you all!!!

Nha Trang, Vietnam

2007-03-31T01:12:00.000-05:00

I have arrived. The city is gorgeous. The beach lines the entire area. There are bars and restaurants to cater to anything you are in the mood for. I got a little motor bike tour. It seems to be very easily navigable, even without any type of bike.

I am staying in a hotel. I have a two bed hotel room to myself.

There are 5 other volunteers here, two of them are leaving. It seems like a very different atmosphere from Nongkhai, and I am constantly starting sentences with, "well in Nongkhai..." I should probably stop that soon.

I really miss Nongkhai already! I'm getting very anxious that I had so much fun there, that I won't be able to enjoy Nha Trang as much. Sorta like what happened in Australia. I had so much fun in Disney that I had such high epectations for Australia, that it did not even remotely measure up. The volunteers seem all disconnected and I feel like I am going to be very lonely here most of the time. We'll see though, I haven't met everyone yet. Even Kimmy the coordinator said the volunteers on a whole are pretty boring. I want Surreal and Barnana back!!!

I had a great last few days in Nongkhai. Wednesday night we went to the famous Mut Mee's Guesthouse, the only real backpacker location in Nongkhai. The food was ridiculously overpriced(good thing Jennie paid for me) but the ambiance was amazing. We then went to Surreal, where I played pool and didn't too bad. I got the best shot ever in, where it took four balls to sink one in. I even won a baht against Sam(although I also lost 5 Baht, because we decided to "make the game interesting). We wound up being out until 1am ish.

They all made such a big deal about my last night and let me pick where to go and what to do and I felt that out of all the things I could do, I just wanted to be with them, so we went to Jessica(the coordinator's) boyfriends mexican restaurant and then Surreal-ed it. The new girls + eddie had all left earlier that day, so it was just the core we began with there, plus all the office people. It's amazing in such a short time how close I got to all of them!!! I played some pool and the girls had me sign their books(sorta like a yearbook). That took most of the night. Then the girls headed to bed and tearfully(ok, exaturation) said goodbye. It hadn't quite set in yet that I wouldn't see them again soon. Sam and Anke stayed up with me and we headed back around 2am. Sam decided he would get up at 730am so he could say goodbye to me, and I thought that was really sweet, especially since he is not a morning person. I really appreciated that. If him, Anke and Anne Ruth weren't leaving with me, I would have really considered staying in Thaialdn instead of heading off to Vietnam. I miss them soo much. Thank you guys for such a great experience!!!!

Ok enough sap. I have to do a few more things on the computer and then I think I am going to try to befriend some people. Thought that might be a good idea, since I am here for 3 weeks.

i'm not a backpacker

2007-03-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

I love to travel, I hate getting there, especially in South East Asia. Everything is so close but such a pain in the ass to get to.

Stuck in Ho Chi Minh City tonight. I have spent more in the past 2 hours then I have all last week.

Missin' my Nongkhai friends.

Hopefully the next time I write I will have just come from the beach!!!

Geeeeeranimoooooooo......SPLAT

2007-03-29T06:19:00.000-05:00

So Anke and I headed off to our day of water fun.

We first went to a cave where the tour guide told us some Laos folklore. Then we went to another cave to go tubing. One of the most scariest experiences of my life. We went in a tube with a flashlight on our heads and a battery pack on our necks. We were supposed to believe that there was nothing in the water and nothing in the cave. There actually wasn't. After paddling in the virtual dark for 200 Meters and we had to turn around, that I finally stopped holding my breath and trusted that something like the lochnessmonster was not going to come out from under me.

Then we had lunch. Right on the river. It was gorgeous. I have been waiting for four weeks to see a waterfall and this was soo much better then a waterfall!

Then we kayaked. 10 kilometers. I don't know how to convert it still, so don't ask. Half way through we stopped at an organic farm that our friend Bart worked at and we got to see some Laos travel to teach volunteers. Then we went to the jumping off point. It was pretty high up. You had to grab onto a swing as you jump and swing on the swing a few times and then fall into the water lightly. I apparently did not understand the "hold onto the swing" concept, and as soon as I left the platform, I let go of the swing as well and fell about 25 feet maybe into the water. Back first. My back has been purple ever since, and painful as hell. It immediately knocked the wind out of me, but of course I couldn't cry in front of other people so I held it in, and tried to encourage Anke to jump by putting on a happy face. She went and loved it. (the picture captures me about to hit the water, back first. I kept it big so you could see exactly what happened. I won't put pictures of my back up for fear that my mother will fly to South East Asia herself and retrieve me. Honestly I'm fine. Just a little scratch!!)

We still had to paddle 4 more kilometers to the end which was miserable. We decided to return to Nongkhai the next morning. We went out to dinner and were in bed by 10pm.

Viettiene which is the capitol is a dreadful city. Think Albany, minus the skyscrapers, add alot of dirt, keep the pointlessness, and you've got Viettiene. We wound up staying as little as possible there and were back in Nongkhai by dinner.

All in all, I was not a fan of Laos. Vang Vieng, where we did the water sports was cool. If I could have brought all my friends there to Spring Break there, it would have been amazing. There were so many people tubing down the river, going from one waterside bar to the next. It was very touristy. It was entertaining to be a backpacker for a few days. We volunteers consider ourselves much better then tourists because we really get to know the places we stay in, and we are giving back....haha. But yeah, I'm glad I went but I'm equally as glad to be back.

Instead of writing my last day away I am going to enjoy it by spending time with the others. I will write again I'm sure when I go to Vietnam. I am leaving tomorrow morning and should be there the next morning? Maybe? Alot of it is still up in the air. Oh South East Asia.

See ya on the flip side!

Vang Vieng

2007-03-26T21:17:00.000-05:00

It's getting better, much better.

We took the VIP bus, which cost $7USD and headed up to Vang Vieng. We were promised air, and there was. However, it was blowing hot air and not cold. That was fun. We stopped for a while and I talked to this guy who was Israeli. That was kinda cool. Then talking to more people on the bus I found out that almost everyone was either Israeli or Swede. So that was exciting.

They dropped us off at a guesthouse(convenient huh?) which had little isolated bungalows. Fine on a honeymoon, not on this trip though. They had another location, so we went there and got a 3 person room with private hot/cold shower and toilet for $4USD a night combined. Laos in general is alot cooler then Nongkhai, so although I wanted air, it didn't really seem like we even needed it.

After settling in we booked a kayaking trip, and headed out the find some dinner. The street we are one, which I assume is the backpacker's hot spot(since I hardly see any Laotian people), has guesthouses on top of guesthouses and restaurants on top of restaurants. We see this narrow little place that looks like someones living room, with a big screen TV, and tables japanese style, with short legs, yet they are pretty and colorful like a teenage girls room. The movie Just Married was starting, and while its not a classic, its one I never saw and we decided to stay. Then I notice that the table in front of us is speaking Hebrew, as is the table behind us, and there are Hebrew letters all over the wall. We stumbled upon a restaurant geared towards Israeli's. So that was really cool. When I'm homesick, and there are no American's around, Israeli's are the next best thing!!!

So now Anke and I are off to ride the rapids in a Kayak.

This city is gorgeous, albeit a little dirty, and my frustrations have all subsided. So now we have to decide if we want to stay here for 3 days or just two. Either way, I'm sure I'll be writing soon!!

Peace

Laos-in the beginning

2007-03-26T00:33:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's because I was in a bad mood already yesterday. Maybe it's because I had a nightmare last night. Maybe its because I have a potential life altering decision to make in the next few days. Maybe its because I am very inflexible.

Whatever the reasons, so far I am not enjoying myself.

We woke up around 7am, took showers, got a tuk-tuk(taxi ish thing) and headed for the border. We got a really good price on the tuk tuk, usually they try to scam farangs.

The border is about a 5 minute drive and everything went smoothly. Then we took a bus over the bridge and got our Laos visas. They were $36 USD. Oh yeah, everything is in Kip, the local currency, and USD, they accept either. 10, 000Kip=$1USD. Unfortunately, I just had Baht, and not that much of it. Then we took a tuk-tuk to Vietenne. The people here speak alot more English then in Thailand, which is nice. They also go out of their way to help you get places. Mostly because they want your money.

We went straight to the Vietnam embassy. My visa will be ready on Wednesday, which is good, because then we can go back on Wednesday and hang out with everyone again, before I leave on Friday.

After the embassy, we took another tuk-tuk, that tried to charge us 100 Baht to go to the bus station, we wound up paying 40Baht. It's ridiculous that they think we will pay that much.

So instead of bringing us to the bus station we requested, he brought us to the local bus station, so after realizing we were in the wrong place, we had to take another tuk-tuk to the right place. Yet instead of bringing us to the station, he just brought us to a travel agent. Which was a little more, but nothing too extreme. They also accept credit card almost everywhere which is great.

We leave for Vang Vieng at 130, where we will stay on a farm for two days and go kayaking/caving tomorrow, probably.

So we had some time before the bus left, so we went to the bank, where I got 960, 000 kip. I'm almost a millionare!!! Then we went for some lunch. We had egg sandwiches on a bagette for 7, 000kip(so 70cents basically). Its amazing to see all the French influnces here, as Laos was once a French colony. Alot of the food is French, and alot of the writing is in Laos, English and then French. I might try my hand at some French, see if I can do better then in English.

Then Anke had to make a phone call, so here we are.

Its just really frustrating to be somewhere that I have no clue about. I have no way to really communicate except for pidgeon English(although, like I said I might try the French). I feel ike I am getting ripped off right and left, and I dont' feel settled. Maybe it's my suburban upbringing, but I like to feel settled all the time. While I am definately settled in Nongkhai, coming here was a very extreme culture shock. There is western infrastructure. There are a lot of people in the same boat as me. Here its only anke and I and she speaks German. It's already starting to get better, so I'm hoping its just my inflexible nature rearing its ugly head, and my need to feel in control of what I'm doing.

Well at least I have a 3 hour airconditioned bus trip to get used to Laos, before Anke throws me out the window...haha.

Be careful what you wish for....

2007-03-25T09:42:00.000-05:00

So I have been here three weeks now and I absolutely love it. Everything seems to be going great. Yet, part of me is still unsettled and still a little unhappy. You all must think I'm a little manic depressive since my last entry was all about how much I love it here and that was less then 24 hours ago. Yeah, this might be a concern....

Just kidding. I think.

It seems like once I hope for something, like to have a great time, or to be in the middle of it all, if I get it, I'm even more unsettled then when I don't get it.

For example, we went out tonight to a river cruise on the Mekong, then out to dinner, and finally a stroll around the night market. A great night I'd say. There were 7 of us. Yet, everytime everyone started to stay in one place, all I wanted to do was walk away and be alone. Yet, as soon as I was alone, all I wanted to do was find everyone else and be with them. Then, if people try to hang out with me when I don't want them too, I actually get physical anxiety. Yet, if I feel them pulling away I get upset.

It doesn't make any sense and its so silly, but when I'm in one of those kinda moods that is how I feel. I think I'm just going through the otherside of the culture shock. Basically there are three stages; love, hate, and then compromise. I fell in love with this place and this experience and everything about it. For three whole weeks, (although it faltered a little at the beginning of last week) I was completely in love with everything. I loved that I had to bike everywhere, I loved the healthy food, I loved everyone on top of each other and around all the time, I loved the partying on the weekends, I loved the country, I loved...well tolerated the food.....I think you get the idea.

Now, I feel the opposite. Everyone wants to do everything together and all I want to do is be alone, even though at the beginning of my stay everyone did everything on their own and I craved togetherness. I can't stand the food, and after eating an asian dinner, ran over to the pizza place to grab a bite of something western. I can't stand how I can't communicate with anyone except the other volunteers. Even the volunteers are hard to communicate with, even the British speaking ones. I overheard three American girls talking earlier today and I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from going over and talking to them, just so I could have that American connection.

Maybe, I'm just feeling a little homesick, maybe the culture shock is going on the downswing, maybe I'm just having a bad day.

I am definately learning alot about myself and how I react to things on this trip. I have a weird notion that others can make me happy or sad, and that is not the case. When I depend on others to make me happy instead of myself, by hoping that something will happen, or hoping something will go right it doesn't give me the desired result. I'm still unhappy, or even worse mad or angry because whatever it was didn't meet my expectations.

The buddhists have it right. I've been learning about Buddhism alot. All the answers are from within(although what are the questions exactly??). They have no external force, from up high or on the earth that can help them, they can only help themselves. They are trying to achieve Nirvana, which we are taught means "the state of wanting nothing", but its a little different that that. You can still have, and still enjoy, but not want anything so bad that it hurts you or makes you angry that you don't have it. You can still have desires, but have them be something that would be nice to have, not something that you NEED.

I do have alot of desires, alot of expectations, alot of things that I think should happen. I think I need to stop that. That's where the suffering comes from. Not that I am going hungry, or wanting in any real way, but just the little struggles I go through are driven by an experience, a person or an idea not meeting the high bar I have set for it.

Luckily on this trip, I haven't set many expectations, and its been amazing. It rivals Disney in its bliss. (and I hope I come back as skinny as I did when I came back from Disney) I am nervous about Vietnam, because its going to be completely different, and I'm worried I'm already forming expectations, but we'll see.

Ok enough rambling. You probably won't hear from me again until Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the Laos trip. Yeah, we really have no set itenerary, we'll just see where the wind blows us I guess.

why I love Nongkhai

2007-03-25T01:17:00.000-05:00

Well, before I discuss why I love Nongkhai and Thailand, I want to tell you that not everything is perfect, obviously. However, my biggest frustrations I have found are internal, except communication. If I could change the fact that I don't speak Thai and the townspeople don't speak English, I would move here, I think. But when getting mail from the post office, requires a lot of pantimiming, lots of tears, two phone calls to the office, and a sweedish woman living in Thailand for 5 years to come rescue me, you know everything is not honky dory.

Ok, but now on to the good stuff.

I think my favorite part of Thailand, and specifically Travel-to-teach in Nongkhai, is the family that is created. The first few days I didn't really know anyone, because I was soo busy getting acclimated, when all the new people had been there for a few days already. Pretty soon though, I was already accepted into this little family. It's great, because people come and go, and yet the family still exists. For example, we were Thai dancing one night after the camp and we had all gotten some ice cream. I had gotten the chocolate chip one, and my friend Eddie had gotten this rum Rasin one. I asked him how it was, and without batting an eye, he put some icecream on the spoon and put it right into my mouth. I know that sounds funny to write it out in a blog, but its just a testament of how close we all are. If there is a water bottle around, you just drink it, because you know everyone would allow you to anyways. When you are in a hammock, someone is above you to push you. People share cigarettes, food, clothes etc. Everyone just takes care of everyone else. It's amazing.

Another example occured last night. Although in telling you the story I am going to basically explain the whole night. It's not necessary, but I just want to.

It was Bass's last night. We all wanted to go out and celebrate, so we decided to go to Karaoke. You might think that Karaoke would be at a bar, with lots of people around. Yeah, not so. First of all its at a hotel. You tell the people at the hotel, that you'd like to "rent a Karaoke room", and then you wait in this air conditioned lobby for a while, with other groups waiting for a room. Finally, you are allowed into the room. It is a lot smaller then the lobby and literally has a few couches on one side and the karaoke equipment on the other. So we sat around and sang our hearts out to classic 80s songs, some pop music and we even tried a Thai song. It's rather entertaining though, because the lyrics are not exactly correct. They just kinda make up whatever they think the lyrics are. For example in the Spice girls song 2 become 1, "you can achieve it", became "you can A chive it", with A and chive being two separate words. Either way, it was great fun. I wound up with the microphone most of the time, which was pleasant for all I'm sure, since my throat has been sore for over a week. It was just another one of those amazing evenings.

Then we went to Barnana. Barnana, is one of the Thai disco's. They have a live band until 1am ish and then just a DJ until they close, which is whenever they feel like it. It's very dark and loud. You aren't really allowed to dance with each other, you instead stand around tables and everyone dances separately. It's a little weird. Especially because most people don't really dance well on their own and use dancing as an excuse to rub up on someone else. You also bring your own alcohol to Barnana. You buy soft drinks from the club, but you bring your own alcohol, so Sam and I split some Sam Song Whisky for 110Baht. It's traditional crappy Thai Whisky. With some coke though, you hardly taste it and it did the trick. So basically you stay there, dance around and dance some more. The music is too loud to have any meaningful conversations, so I have to say that I get pretty bored after a while. Either way, its great fun when we all go and enjoy ourselves and let loose. We go there, because my roommate Yvette is dating the lead singer of the band.

Ok, so now that the scene is set, I will bring you back to the premise of my blog. So a Thai guy that we would call a "lady-boy"( a transvestite, or someone who is extremely feminine) came over and started dancing with us, see picture to left. While this isn't completely out of the ordinary, as Thai people are very interested in our culture, it surprisingly does not happen as often as I would have expected. So he starts dancing with all of us, but then starts to put the moves on Sam a little, and of course the typical male freaks out a little. Well, a few minutes later he comes over to me and starts asking me questions. This was troublesome for many reasons that I have already explained; loud music, dark(so I can't even read lips) and he spoke pidgeon English. I have enough trouble understanding the English people speaking British English when I'm sober, so this was just impossible. Yet he would not give up. So he brings me over to the side. I still cannot hear him at all. Then he grabs my arm and takes me up to the stairs outside(which is also where the bathrooms are). My friends all look at me quizically and I knod that it is ok. Finally, we get to the bathrooms, and I can hear what he is saying, although I still can't understand. I see my friend Eddie and he comes right over to where we are talking and pretends not to know me, but is kinda making sure everything is ok. THe Thai boy asks me something about "what is important to me as a foriegner?" I didn't know what he meant really, or know how to answer so I called Eddie over, who knows a fair amount of Thai and had him interpret. Finally, we piece together, that he's telling us that we shouldn't leave our bags anywhere, because Thai people will take them. Oh, and he also tell's Eddie he is a homosexual. Phew, what an experience. So when I went back down to the club, everyone was so worried about me, and wondering what happened and making sure I was ok. It was so nice to know that they were all there for me.

I feel really included and loved here. When we left, a bunch of people went back to the other dorm, but since I had stayed there the previous night, and then been at the camp the week before, and spent most of the previous weekend at the other dorm, I felt that tonight I wanted to sleep in my own bed. Many of my friends were upset that I wasn't going to stay up and party on. I've never been known as the party girl, and not that i really am here, but people want me to be there, and people count on me as part of the group. It's a great feeling.

So tomorrow to Laos, so I will be incommunicato for a while. I also have to decide about Oakland by next week. I'm pretty sure I am accepting. Thoughts and comments appreciated!!

The rooster crows at midnight...

2007-03-23T13:37:00.000-05:00

Actually, the rooster crows at 5am, 530am, 6am and so on. No lie. Plus add the fact that you wake up just to take a thai shower and a thai crap, and it is not a pleasant morning.

I was in a village the past week so small, that the travel books do not even consider it worthy of mention. Me and 14 other volunteers headed to Nongolampoo for a homestay summer camp experience.

We stayed in different houses throughout the villages. I stayed with Anne Ruth, Anke and Sandra. I was so glad to be with them. After we got home every night from whatever we were doing, we'd sit around in our underwear(i kid you not!!---they are European) and have girly talks. It was great!!

Our responsibilities included spliting up into four groups of teachers and teaching the same topic four times for an hour each, with a break in between each class. We also had to lead group games and songs and the like, which was basically the stuff you would do at summer camps. Once I get my pictures and videos up I will provide a link for those. There is some great stuff.

Our responsibilities ceased after dinner(oh by the way they fed us all our meals!), around 6 pm. We lucked out that we had a great facilitator, Mongkut, who was also the principal. He was great fun, really entertaining and a great English speaker! He took pity on our circumstances and "was single" for the week, as many thai's often are when they here Westerners are in town, and took us all over town each night. The only problem was, we had one truck for the 15 of us. Well, we improvised, drove really slow and stuck us all in the one truck. It's so funny that we all thought it was so great and took all these pictures and was "roughing it" when this is the life of a Thai person. One of those grass is greener sort of things.

Two of the evenings, we spent with the locals. Every night, different parts of the village practice their Thai dancing for the San Kran festival coming up in April. Long story short, San Kran is the Thai new Year, that lasts for about 3 days and everyone throws water on everyone. Like a week long water fight. As Sam kept saying, it was a priveledge to be able to join them as they practiced their dancing. How many other tourists can boast that accomplishment? It was truly amazing!

I am more and more infinately amazed at how little verbal communication occurs between us and the Thais and yet how bonded we feel with them. Throughout most of the camp, the students began to write us little notes telling us how much they appreciate us. Although if the grammer in the notes is testament of our teaching, then we might not want to pat ourselves on the back so quickly. Either way, they really loved us being there. One student gave me the bracelet off of her wrist in gratitude. At the end of the camp they covered us in yellow and pink flowers, pictures, diplomas, and more notes.

Although it wasn't all work and no play. While we didn't really drink that much, we did find other ways to pass the time, such as...

It was a great experience and a lot of fun. Now, I have got one more week in Thailand, although I think Anke and I are going to Laos for a few days so I can get my Vietnam Visa, and then I fly over to Nha Trang, for some lazy relaxing in the sun!!

the trials and tribulations of teaching with others...

2007-03-23T10:32:00.000-05:00

First things first, I GOT THE OAKLAND JOB!!!! I'm not positive I want it, but I am pretty sure. Either way, just wanted to share. I'm sure I will disect later.

Oh, and next. I will write about my week once I situate my pictures and stuff but for now, I just need to write.

Before I left, I had a talk with my cousin David who told me that traveling is a way to get to know yourself better. This is definately the case this week.

15 of us went on this trip. 4 Native English speakers, 5 veteran(more then one week) teachers, and the rest newbies. We had to create 4 different groups to teach 4 simultaneous classes. We tried to split up the groups so that there would be no groups of all new teachers, and that we would spread out the natives and veterans.

I naturally lead the group. I can't help it, its just in my DNA I suppose. Yet, at the same time that I lead, I also hate making decisions. It's a weird dichotomy.

We spent most of the time teaching with 3-4 teachers and groups of 20-35 students. Yet, we also spent about an hour each day doing stuff with the whole group. This is where I lead the most. I will explain a song or game, simply because I am impatient and don't like standing around. I don't like the students to be idle, and well I like leading. I like being the one in charge. It was nice having everyone depending on me.

We also had daily meetings where we would discuss how the day went, both good and bad, and then plan for tomorrow. I kinda lead here too. I just do it naturally. I also had a good repore with the principal, who was our main facilitator, so he would usually come to me so I could discuss whatever was going on, with everyone. (He spoke very good english and was really funny).

Yet, I was still very frustrated and pushed to my limits alot. Like, I love to lead, but I had dissenting opinions, even though I encourage them. When someone disagrees with what I say, its like I feel like they disagree with me as a person. I get very angry and frustrated and retreat like a wounded puppy. I think that no one wants me to lead, so I back off. Yet then somehow I'm thrust to the lead position again.

I also got very frustrated teaching with 4 other people. The first day or two it was fine, because they basically sat back and let me take over. I was then able to assign parts to people, but still basically maintain control. As long as I was in control I was happy. Yet, as we loostened up the structures of the groups and other "leaders" were teaching with me, I felt very unsure of my role. I tried to back down and felt as though I was doing nothing. I tried to take charge and felt like I was taking over.

I know most of this doesn't make alot of sense, but well, this blog is for me just as much as it is for you. Either way, I am trying to deal with my perfectionist frustrations. It takes me alot to get angry, but it doesn't take me much to get frustrated.

It was nice though, whatever fight or issue I thought I was getting in with people, didn't seem to matter. I actually had some of the volunteers ask me to be in their group. People wanted me to lead, not just so that they could sit back, but I think because I was good at it. Yet, I still fit in. I wasn't the boss or anything.

It was a surreal experience. It defiantely taught me alot and at times really pushed me to my limits. The first two weeks were amazing. Some of the funnest in my life. This past week was also very fun, but even more valuable because I understood more about myself and hopefully grew as a person.

Ok, have to be social. Will write about my actual experience and put up pictures...well when I get around to it really.

It's good to be back.

best weekend ever.

2007-03-18T02:53:00.000-05:00

No lie, this was probably the most fun weekend I have ever had in my entire life. Nothing of note really, mostly inside jokes and things not worth to share, but it was amazing. In a 72 hour period I had about 6 hours of sleep. It was ridiculous!

Part of the weekend's existence was to say goodbye to a few of the volunteers. By Saturday, there was a whole where they used to be. It's amazing how quickly and strong those bonds can be.

I will tell you that I brought the concept and hand motion of the "shocker" to Nongkhai, and they are obsessed!!! Since everyone is from Western Europe, it will disseminate there within a few months. So if you start seeing it in European publications, now you know why. If you don't know what the shocker is consider yourself blessed. I will post pictures from the weekend when I return.

Oh right, I'm going to a summer camp this week with 15 other people, 8 new girls and my little group, but no Bass or Jeroen, but add Sam and Eddy!! Either way, it should be fun, but I wish everyone else was going. Today is my last day to see Jereon, and Johan and Charlotte already left :(. I'm going on and on about nothing now.

So I probably won't post much this week, but if there is a way, Lacy will find it!

The first rule of the roads; there are no rules.

2007-03-16T23:35:00.000-05:00

Getting around Nongkhai is about as crazy as bungee jumping. Everytime you get on the road you are taking your life in your hands. I think it would be similar to driving in Massachusetts with the "masswholes" who don't use blinkers and only look out for themselves. Or is that New Jersey? Either way, its rather treacherous.

Ok, first things first, they drive on the left side of the road. Apparently almost every country in the world except America drives on this side. Something to do with the side that you mount a horse on. This already handicapps my ability to get aruond over the volunteers from the other parts of the world.

Second, there aren't many cars on the road. I haven't done any counts or scientific experiments of any kind, but I would say that the majority of "motorists" chose motorbikes as their vechile of choice. They are erratic drivers. It's common practice to see two or three people on a motorbike. I once saw a man holding three small children including a baby, while driving a motorbike. This practice worries many of the travelers. Some motorbikers are forms of taxis. You can hop on and pay a set amount of money and get wherever you need to go. I've never done this save(except) on the back of the travel to teach directors bike and that was already scary enough.

Speaking of taxis, the main way to get around without a vechile is on a contraption called a tuk-tuk. A tuk-tuk is the closest thing they have to a taxi. A tuk-tuk is essentially a motor bike in the front and a truck bed in the back. Most of them are covered but not all. It putters and mutters and strains under the pressure. It's actually pretty smart though, since it is soo hot out, its a way to travel and be cool without airconditioning, like opening your window while on the highway. If any of you watch America's next top model when they were in Thailand with Joannie, and Danielle they had to use Tuk-Tuk's to get around alot. (*note, I do not watch the show, but was bored and saw a few episodes on the plane, only because they were on location in Thailand).

Sometimes enterprising Thai's use Tuk-tuk's as a way to sell food and bring the food to you. Think like the icecream man, but a little more primitive. They literally drive around on the roads with the other motorists and stop whenever someone flags them down, so that they can get a meal or snack or whatnot.

Third, Bikes are the next most frequent vehicle on the road. I have one. (By the way for those of you that are concerned, by bike turned up a few hours after I couldn't find it.) Most of the other volunteers do to. I'm convinced this alone will get me into very good shape. Even though bikes and motorbikes are so prevelant, they have no separate lanes for them, so they are on the same roadways as the cars. So if you know anything about physics, or have any common sense, you will think "well don't cars go so much faster then motorbikes and motorbikes go faster then bikes, how does that work". Yeah, it doesn't. Essentially who ever is slower has to yield to whoever is faster. SO when traffic is moving normally, cars trump bikes. However, if traffic is slow, bikes have the luxury of darting around whoever they want and can usually get somewhere faster then the cars. If the road is wide enough the bikes just stay to the extreme left and the cars can easily pass by. Yet, when someone parks on the side of the road, or stops or has to turn it is chaos. That also means that two people can't bike next to each other, which seems rude to me and doesn't allow bikers to converse with one another. Since I love to talk, I usually bike next to someone anyway, unless its very busy on the roads.

While most of the streets are paved, its not done very well, and most of the roads are a combination of rock and mortar(?) I guess. Either way, the bike does not absorb the road very well which makes for a rocky road.

The roads are also the market place. There are little food stands and other shops all over the roads. It's a place for social time and buying things!

On a personal note, when I first arrived in Nongkhai I was given a bike and immediately went off to this bar on the river with my roomate. I was lagging very far behind her and blamed it on my lack of shape and my lack of riding experience in the past 10 years or so. For the next few days, I kept having a similar problem. I was thinking that I just must be so out of shape that I had to work twice as hard to go half the speed as everyone else. A few days ago, another volunteer Jennie wanted to go to the bike shop and invited me along. I wasn't sure if I needed to, but I had noticed that my back wheel was a little flat. Yeah, that was an incredible understatement. After looking around for the bikeshop for half an hour, we finally got directions and found out it was right accross the street from the green dorm(where I live, but we left from the Meechai dorm which is about a 10 minute ride, so while we were misguided we weren't that misguided). I got my tires filled up. All of a sudden I was biking like a pro. It wasn't me at all, it was my bike. I can now bike with the rest of them. I can't believe that I immediately assumed it was something I lacked vs. a problem with the machinery. Typical.

In the city of Nongkhai, there are only 2 street lights that I have seen so far, and I haven't seen any stop signs, so basically its everyman for themselves, even at major intersections not connected to the highways. (Disclaimer-this might not be the case in all cities, and isn't the case on highways that connect one city/town to another. The highways are actually fairly sophisticated and have separate roads going the opposite ways with uturn options every mile or so.)

Finally, a bit about one way roads. There are certain roads that are one way, yet there are no signs. When you are at an intersection and staring at cars going the other way on both sides of the road, that is how you know its a one way street. Efficient huh?

Aright, I must go take my life in my hands and "cycle" off to my dorm.

Peace.

bedtime

2007-03-16T18:07:00.000-05:00

It's 6am. The sun has rose and the roosters are crowing.

Goodnight

Fieldtrip and other Thursday night fun

2007-03-16T00:26:00.000-05:00

After one day of teaching at CBAT, the teachers told us that they were going to take us on a field trip. With people's schedules, we decided to go, on Johan's second to last day. Destination: Ban Chieng.

So we go into school like normal that day(which means waking up before 7am), expecting this to be a few hour trip with some of the teachers, but in the typical Thai way, it is nothing like you expect. It was an interesting trip for me regardless though because I was the only girl, with four boys(Bart and Jereon from Holland, Johan from Sweden and Andy from the UK).

We arrive at CBAT and are told to hop onto the vechile shown here. It is essentially a tuk-tuk on a huge truck, but its what they would call a bus. If nothing else, Air Con isn't a problem because it can't get hot when you are going fast on the highway. Big enough to fit about 20 comfortably, so in the typical Thai way there was almost double that amount. People were sitting on the floor, singing and dancing. It was quite an experience. They of course treated us like royalty and had enough food and drinks to feed an army. About 5 of the teachers we teach every day went, and the rest were a mix of students and other teachers. They took more pictures then we did it seemed, since many Thai people hardly leave their provinces(counties).

We arrived first, about an hour and a half later, at a forest temple, where Buddha went to meditate, and was protected by the Naga, or the 7 headed snake. It supposidly lives somewhere in South East Asia and the mythology surrounding it is similar to the mythology of the Loch Ness Monster(or Nessy as she is apparently affectionately called in Europe. P.S. I mentioned the parallel's I witnessed between Naga and Nessy and almost got my head bitten off by the boys who were trying to convince me that Nessy is real.) The temple was really pretty and very peaceful. I did not like though, that they made us pray. I mean on one side its "when in rome, do like the romans", and it looks rude not to, but on the other hand, if I have no idea what I am doing and only going through the motions, I'm not sure if I see a point to it. If Buddha really is an all knowing, shouldn't he know how I feel without having to bend three times, wai and burn incense? Johan and I had an interesting conversation here, in which he explained much of the Buddhism philosophy. We also prayed for things we wanted, and if you could make sound on this thing(in picture) then it will come true. Mine had sound!

Then we went to Ban Chieng. Ban Chieng is one of the oldest known archaelogical sites in South East Asia, which has also made discoveries which have affected world known theories. I would not know what they were though, because we spent a half an hour watching a filmstrip about the site as a whole and had like 15 minutes to walk around the whole of the museum before it was lunch time. I understood they used pottery, tools, and jewelry. I was most looking forward to this part, but the museum wasn't that great and we had little time to really traverse it. We had lunch as like a buffet style, where you order a bunch of food on the tables and take what you want. Thai food is very spicy, way too spicy for my Macaroni and Cheese diet upbringing, and I always have to ensure that the food is Mai phet, or not spicy. They swore up and down that this papaya salad wasn't spicy, but when I put it in my life, it caught fire I swear! Also, I had to use the Thai toilet and had no toilet paper. I had to use the butt washer. It was gross. Just thought I'd share.

We then had some time to shop around and I bought a few things. They also bought the boys necklaces and me a bracelet. Since Johan and Jereon are leaving they also got them t-shirts I believe. We took a few pictures and then got back in the vechile. It was 3pm at this point and I thought we were heading back to Nongkhai, but no such luck.

We wind up on a wine tasting tour. But by tour I mean a house that had some wine at it. There were three different kinds of wine and they all had different uses, such as to lower blood pressure, or to increase circulation. We had about 2-3 glasses each. One of them, apparently was supposed to increase, um, well it had the same active ingredient that Viagara has, if you catch my drift. So we decide to buy a bottle of that for one of the other Volunteers who's birthday was that evening. We also had some as well.

We get back into the vechile on the way back and they tell us that they bought us two bottles of wine, one for the bus, and one for our party that night. Yes, that's right. We had one for the bus. An open air vechile with the thai and farang's alike doing shots of wine in the truck bed. What kind of crazy country is this you might ask? One that loves to have fun, I'd say! I then decided to share with the boys that this was a weird trip for me being the only girl, and that I felt like one of the guys and it was fun. They then told me that they had actually censored themselves because I was there, so I told them to pretend I'm not here. Guy bonding + wine = a very enlightening experience for Lacy. I learned much about the inner workings of the male mind. We spent alot of time trading pick up lines. My favorite: you break a piece of ice in front of the girl and then say "now that the ice is broken..."

We arrived back in Nongkhai around 5:30 and had to get some meat for Charlotte's birthday party. So Jennie, Bart and I headed to Tesco's(like the walmart all-in-one store) after watching some of Sin City. I try to take a nap after knowing its going to be a ridiculous night. Dinner, which was supposed to start at 630pm, begins around 830pm. We had a BBQ at the Green dorm and chilled out. It actually cost us more then triple the amount to buy food and cook it then it did to just go out to eat, even in a nice restaurant. Either way we hung out there until 1030pm or so, and then Sam, Johan, Johanna and I headed to Surreal, with plans to go to Banana, the local Discoteck(sp?). After drinking a bit and having a good time, Jennie, Bass and Jeroen join us and we continued to enjoy ourselves. I had one of the greatest nights ever. It was very fun, I won't bore you or scare you with the play by play, but know I had an amazing time. Before we knew it, it was 3am, and we never made it to the disco. I was in bed by 4am.

I awoke at 7am to teach. As I was leaving the rest of the people who did not have to teach today were finally going to bed. Johan, was pretty much still drunk in class. I could hardly concentrate or write on the board. They made us dance and sing. It was the funniest thing ever. Then they took us out to lunch, and fed us so much food. It's now 1pm, and I have not slept more then 3 hours in 36 hours with plans to play tennis at 3pm and go out all night again for Johan, Charlotte and Melanie's last night. Should be ridiculous. Maybe I'll actually get to go to the disco tonight?

i love my life

2007-03-13T19:44:00.000-05:00

I have been giving you all bits and pieces of my life, but I'd like to give you an idea of my daily schedule, so you can be oh so jealous.

Don't worry, I will not continue writing blogs about everytime I go to the bathroom(athough I do have some interesting stories) and eat a meal, but I thought I'd give you an idea of my schedule.

I wake up around 6:30am. That's kinda rough. I wake up, shower and eat breakfast. I bike over to the other dorm, called the Meechai dorm, which takes about 10 minutes. Then I spend about a half an hour on the computer blogging/checking email etc. Then Andy, Johan, Bart and I get picked up in an Air Conditioned car and get driven to CBAT UDON, which is the college of business administration and tourism in Udon Thani. Udon is like the closest big city to Nongkhai, it has an airport and is fairly central in the Issan region.

We teach(and by we, its really me teaching and the boys causing trouble. Although Johan is very helpful. I actually kinda like that they don't do much, because then I get to control the classroom but they still help me whenever I need it.) from 8:30-10am. Then we get driven home and I chill aroudn on the computer for a little while longer.

The first week, I got errands done around town, such as buying food, exchanging money and buying my cell phone, because we had Thai language classes at 330, so we had to stick around. Now that those classes are over, its a little less structured. For example, Monday Sandra, Bart and I went to a local pool at the hotel. It was 40Baht, which is a little more then a dollar, to recieve a towel and a spot poolside. After spending three lovely and lazy hours at the pool, I went back to the green dorm(about a 20 minute bike ride) to grab Anke and we headed to the water park to check out aerobics. It is led by a "ladyboy" who is a man but dresses and acts like a female(transvestite). It was an interesting experience, and something I am going to continue doing!!!

We then went back to shower and then about 10 of us met at the "danish bakery" for some Western food. The first time since we arrived, where I ate a cheeseburger!!! We had a great time!

Then we biked back to the Meechai dorm with some beers and hung out on the roof and talked for a few hours. Anke and I biked back to the green dorm around midnight.

Basically
8-10=teaching
10-7=relaxing, exersizing, spending money, reading, etc.
8=big dinner with at least half of the volunteers
9-11=party time(either at a bar, or on the balcony)
12=bedtime

Most of my days follow a similar pattern. Although some days instead of sitting by the pool, we chill out on the balcony in the hammocks and read or talk. It's so hot in the afternoon, that its not worth it to go out in the sun for too long. Yet, I have been here more then a week, and my first spot of color didn't occur until I went out at the pool. Now I am very burnt!

Some of the volunteers left to a camp for a few days, so since its more convenient to be at the Meechai dorm, I stole one of the girls beds for the week.

The only things that would make my life better: Airconditioning at the dorm(although we do have pretty affective fans), less mosquittos(or better bug protection), and maybe someone to snog every now and then(bonus points if you figure out what Snog means), and the ability to keep up with my TV shows on the internet!!

Other then that, life is great!

Peel banana

2007-03-12T11:02:00.000-05:00

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2014328346

I haven't yet gotten the video of me peeling my banana, because its on someone else's camera, but here is an example of this weekend. I hope you enjoy!!

In a conversation to Adrianna at 11:03pm 3/12

my worst thai nightmare just came true
i am so happy that i might have ibs, b/c that would mean that i hardly ever pooped lowering my chances of pooping in a thai toilet
but someone was in the western toilet room showering
so i had to poop in the thai toilet

Off to watch a movie and chill out on the roof with me amigas. Peace out! I will get you my video asap!

We'll all enjoy to be together. Oh English camp make me happy!

2007-03-11T19:52:00.000-05:00

I have just spent the past weekend having the time of my life. We went to a summer camp. There were 8 of us. Jennie and Karen from England, Bass and Joroen from Holland, Sandra from Austria, Anke from Germany and Johanna from Sweden(I stand corrected mom!). At 4pm we got ready to leave Nongkhai and in true thai time, they showed up around 5:30pm.

An hour later we arrived at the school and they showed us to our sleeping quarters. We were told we were going to be in tents. This was not the case. The girls room had 4 mattresses on the floor, and we had to improvise with two more. It was bare bones and rather ugly, but it was better then a tent. We only had 1 bathroom for the 6 of us. However, Johanna thought she saw a rat and spent every night patrolling thr room with a flashlight(or a torch to the British), so that was rather unpleasant. The boys room was like a palace, especially with only two of them. They had a balcony overlooking the school and had two bathrooms, one for each of them.

We were then whisked off to eat. We went to a Korean BBQ place. Essentially its a buffet, with raw meat, vegetables and noodles, and you bring it back to your table and cook it. Its weird though, b/c then you just kinda eat whatever you want, even stuff that other people brought back. Also, since the oven is like part of the table, it gets pretty hot underthere. When it's about 100 degrees fahrenheit, you kinda don't want to add any additional heat to that.

Then they informed us that we would need to put together a bunch of lesson plans to teach for the next day in four different areas; speaking, listening, reading and writing. This was tough for many reasons. The main two reasons is that most of us are very strong willed and the other reason is that we know different types of English and we fight over grammar, prononciation and spelling. So we put our heads together and came up with a smashing agenda. We split ourselves up, one native and one non-native speaker to each group and we taught the same lesson twice in the am and twice in the pm. I was with Bass and had listening and reading.

After planning, we went to the balcony and hit the bottle. Of tequilla. I only had 2 shots and was in bed by 10pm. I had a great night sleep. Nice hard mattress. I awoke at 730 and hopped over to the boys dorm to have a lovely thai shower. That's right folks, I showered with a bucket. I squealed alot, it was ice cold and I couldn't get all the shampoo out of my hair to save my life. I have no more to say on this subject. I'd rather not relive it anymore. ;-0.

The morning consisted of the whole group together. We started with like a little obstacle course, limboing, hopscotching and then patting us down with talcum powder(see pic on top). We sang song after song. We sang and danced with them. We figured that after tomorrow we will never have to see them again if we don't want to so we can make complete asses of ourselves. We did. Think the JCC but mostly in Thai. First we sang a few thai songs and then English songs like....(to the tune of, Oh when the saints come marching in)

"Oh English camp
Oh English camp
Oh English camp make me happy

We'll all enjoy to be together
Oh English camp make me happy."
Like the grammer? Thought so. Another song we sang, was the peel peel banana song. I have some lovely video footage of it and will share it with you all when I figure out how...

Then we taught. Bass and I worked very well together and the kids were great. They begin with the entire class standing up in front and robotically saying good morning teacher, how are you." Then you say, good or fine, how are you, and they repeat back "I'm fine thank you". Its cute but a little creepy. The activities went great. I won't bore you with them, but they were fantastic.

About every hour or two they fed us fruit, or bread or noodles. They had a constant supply of water for us. It was lovely. Minus this sweet desert. Ok it's black jello mixed with ice and gelly candies. Plus lots of sugar. Grooooooooossssssssss.

We met back as a group again and embarassed ourselves some more, then did another class, this time much longer. We had so much fun. Then we had some down time and me, sandra and jennie just laid in their bed doing anything to avoid the 100f heat.

Ok, so as I just mentioned, it was over 100f heat I beileve. At least around that. So they decided it would be a good idea to have a bon fire after dinner. Ok fine. Not ok however, to have us sing and dance around it for over 2 hours. Jennie thought the whole thing was proposterous(she's british, so she can use words like that). I have to say I agreed. I mean I had alot of fun but it was a little insane. We are already hot, lets add to it.

Then, they did the weirdest thing. They handed us Leo beer and strawberry wine coolers. What place of employment(or voluntary employment in this case) would do such a thing. Either way, that moved the evening along quite nicely. We moved ourselves up to the boy's "royal" balcony and spent the rest of the evening watching the stars, listening to music, talking, and maybe breaking a few glasses.

The next morning we ate breakfast and then we were off to a national park. They had us do 4 10 minute lessons(so each group saw us once). I worked with Sandra, and when a student got the answer right they got to be pulled up in a tree and ring a bell, by a pulley. Picture will explain what I mean. It was ridiculous but fun.

Then we laid around for the rest of the time. We watched the students zip line right into the water, which I would have done had the water resembled any blue or even green hue, but brown was just too dirty, even for me.

Speaking of dirty, I showered 4 times in the 48 hours I was there. Oh, and since I was so afraid to go "number 2" in the thai toilets that were there, I scared myself into not going the entire time. I think that is a disease. I probably should look into that.

We were told we'd be leaving back in nongkhai by 430. It was 2 oclock and we were at least 3 hours from home. Instead of heading back to the camp we went to this place called Erawan cave, which housed a beautiful temple in it. Only problem; it was 611 steps up. Let's talk about how fun that was, in 100f heat and me still horribly out of shape. But I got some great views.

Finally, we went back to Nongkhai and arrived around 8pm. Just a little later then promised. There's Thai time for you!

I touched a monk and did not catch fire

2007-03-11T00:09:00.000-05:00

As I have mentioned, I missed most of the introduction weekend including a class on thai culture. I did not know anything really, except for things that I had read. I didn't know how to get to the market, how to exchange money, how to make a phone call, or where to eat!! I even had trouble flushing the toilet, because no one had told me how to do it.(By the way, you don't flush the toilet, you just keep throwing water down the hole until it eventually goes down the drain.)

However, one thing that I heard constantly was that women cannot touch monks. They are not even allowed to hand them an item, such as a pen. I would have to lay the item on a "cloth" without actually touching the cloth, lift my hand up, back up a little and then they could grab the item. So I figured if they kept telling me this over and over again, I should listen.

Wednesday was my night to "monk-it". We do not formally teach the monks, but they want to speak with us conversationally, to beef up their skills. So whatever monk or even community member just wants a little practice speaking English, different volunteers go every night at 7pm to speak with them. On wednesday, Karen, Jerone(pronounced with a Y at the beginning, in case of course you are reading this out loud), and I went to the temple. Side note, there are temples everywhere. There are like three temples on the little side street we live on alone. Just to let you know that its not a special temple or anything, just the one that travel to teach has connections with. Anyways, so we sat down and began speaking with the monks. Some were very fluent, and just needed a little grammer practice, others could hardly speak, or were to shy to do so. As I was futzing with my feet under the table, since I always have to be futzing with something, I accidentally kicked the monk, in like a playing footsy sort of way(not in like a karate sort of way). Because everyone made such a big deal about women touching the monks, I thought I would get douced with holy water, or the monks would all run away screaming, or bhudda himself would come on earth and set me on fire. Of course none of these things occured. He kinda laughed it off and we went on with our conversation.

I was still skeptical though, I was still nervous about touching them. So when asked to explain where I lived compared to New York City (**if you EVER travel out of the country, and say you are from New York people will immediately think the city. It sounds cheesy but bring a map, and show them the distance, maybe even compare it to the distance between two cities in the country you are staying in, so they will see what an insult it is to assume that everyone who says New York means the city. Oh and "upstate New York" means nothing to people who don't live in a country that is split up into states. They think Upstate is another way of staying uptown and they still think you mean the city.), I took out my trusty map and tried to show them. Yet as I was opening the map, the monk kept trying to help me. I was so confused, so I let go, and let him do it. I would then try to show them where I lived and he would touch the map while I was. I was so self counscious that I eventually stopped touching the map all together. I at first thought, that its still a very patriarchial society that by him touching the map, I would have to stop touching it, as like a power hierarchy. It was exhausting.

Later on at dinner, as I am regailing the rest of the group on my potentionally spiritually damning experience, Jerone was like "I bet they just spread the rumor around, to make the western women annxious and nervous. They must have a tally chart just out of reach where they compete with who touches(and of course i mean non-sexually) the most women 'by accident'." Then he mimicks one monk talking to another, "I touched the new volunteer today, she almost went through the roof, I should get two tallies for that one."

Apparently monks in Thailand are not devout buddhists. It is sorta like joining the army or the ROTC in America. You might not be able to touch a woman the entire time you are a monk, but you will be able to go to school alot cheaper then a lay person. Similar to the ROTC idea where the army will pay for part of your school, if you train while you study and then give up a certain number of years once you graduate. Therefore, many of the monks are not too serious about the touching of women and other religious decrees. To them its more of a means to an end.

So in short, I'm not going to hell. I thought you would all be concerned!

oh, so you are curious about me huh?

2007-03-08T19:42:00.000-05:00

Really, I'm not sure if you are or not, but I realize I've been sharing with you alot of what I am experiencing instead of the typical how I feel about it. That is so not me, so I will now share some of my feelings with you.

When I first got here I was overwhelmed of course. I missed my flight, I was 2 days late to the introduction of the culture, and the teaching. I lost my luggage leaving me in Winter clothes without any means of washing myself for about 36 hours after I had arrived. Everyone seemed to already know everyone already and I was left out in the dark. I spent the first two days trying to acclimate myself, get money, buy food, buy a cell phone etc. Although, I did do something that was uncharacteristic of myself, I kept going out. Whenever someone asked me to go anywhere, I would go. Even though I felt crappy and all I wanted to do was sleep and wait for my luggage, or simply gain my bearings, I went anyway. Of course the first day or two I was still not comfortable, but I pushed through it.

I am a huge perfectionist. Well, a minimalist perfectionist. I expect to do the minimum expected, and everything will be perfect. For example, I expected to come here and be friends with everyone immediately and feel right at home and understand the culture without extra effort, and as always it felt short of my extremely high expectations, because I kept having to deal with one mini-drama like losing my luggage after another.

Yet, instead of getting angry or frustrated as is my typical nature, whenever things didn't go the exact way I expected them to I removed myself from the situation and spent a little time alone. For example, one of the coordinators, Jessica, went to help me buy a cell phone, but she doesn't speak much thai and the market owners speak little english. I got so frustrated, so I asked a thai coordinator that also spoke English. He said he was busy, and I got rather angry, because of course he should be free to do whatever I need him to at a moments notice(please read that sentence with extreme sarcasm). Yet, instead of whining or getting upset, I just went bymyself to the Walmart type store called tesco, which has many cell phone shops outside of it, and spent some time figuring out what I wanted in a phone and trying to piece together some Thai. After an hour of getting nowhere, I decided to go to the one pizza place there, so I could get some "Western" comfort food in me. Finally, I went back to the shops and bought a phone. It's a nice new phone and it cost 2240Baht which is around $60USD I believe. By the time I had gotten back I had calmed down and everyone was getting ready to go out. I wound up going out with everyone to dinner and then to Surreal, the bar the volunteers frequent and had a great time! I'm really learning how to take things as they come instead of expecting so much.

I also struggled at the beginning with the social aspect of the program. I kept seeing all the volunteers who had been there for weeks or months even get along very well with each other and my high expectations told me that I should be the same way. Yet of course, they have had alot of time to build these relationships and I have come in and expect to be immediately accepted.

For three reasons though, I had had some tough times integrating into the social scene. First, is the fact that everyone comes from different cultures. There is one other American, three people from England, one from Australia and everyone else is from other Western European countries who does not natively speak English. As Americans (or maybe just as me) I feel that to connect with people you have to constantly be talking. This is not the case in Germanic countries for instance. So when I was trying to get to know a girl from Germany I thought that we weren't getting along very well because we were both just laying on the hammocks and not really talking, but to them, that's a fine way to spend the day. They do not need to constantly be filling in the silence with meaningless chatter. They only speak when its necessary. That's not to say that they don't like to talk, but it doesn't seem rude to them to be silent for a while. I am starting to realize this more now. I've had the most social issues I think with the sweedes. The sweedish people by nature are very reserved and shy. Of course I see this as rude and stuck up though, because I am naturally friendly and outgoing. I don't mean to, but when I go out of my way to be nice and friendly and they are curt back, I assume that they don't like me or are snobby. That is just their way. They interact like that to people they are good friends with as well. They don't seem to get to excited or angry or any other emotion, they keep a calm, cool outward expression at all times. This seems true of most of the male Sweedes. The females are a little more friendly! The second thing I have working against me and my perfectionist high expectations is the nature of the program. There are new volunteers coming and old volunteers going every two weeks. For people who have been here for over a month even, they kinda get tired of getting to know new people that will just be leaving shortly after. Therefore they don't bother. I was nervous because I got assigned to teach with Andy from the UK and Johan from Sweeden and they were two of the guys who had been the least friendliest, and I thought they were really snobby at first. First of all Johan was from sweeden, so like i said before it was already tough and second of all they have both been here for over 2 months and they just don't see the point in meeting new people anymore. They are nice to me and friendly because I "won" them over with my infinate charms obviously, but they have not put in any effort really, to get to know the other new volunteers. The last reason, which has since been rectified, is that because my plane was delayed and was coming late anyawys, I arrived nearly 3 days after the other new volunteers arrived, so they all bonded and I did not. Also, out of the girls, two live together, and two others live together, and one girl in each room speaks german so it brought them all together. I room with a girl named Yvette, who has been there a while and already has her friends. Luckily though, we had this thai language class everyday this week that has sort of brought us all together.

WIthin two days or so, it all worked itself out. Except for lunch (which the other volunteers eat at their school, since they teach til 12, yet I teach til 10 and get no lunch), I have not eaten a meal alone. I always have someone to go places with and everyone always winds up in the same places at night. It's a really great atmosphere once you let yourself acclimate at the right time and not try to push it. Overall I'm really enjoying it and have found a great group of people to experience Nonghkhai with!!!

I still am trying to push people to travel on the weekends, because I am only here for a month, and cannot extend my stay if I want. While, I don't mind traveling alone in an English speaking country, its too hard to travel alone here, so I think we are going to go to another village next weekend and into Laos the weekend after. This weekend the new volunteers are all headed into the "jungle" for a summer camp, where we teach a little bit but spend most of the time playing with the kids. We will sleep in tents and not really shower. Should be a blast. Therefore you won't be hearing from me for a few days, but I do have a couple of posts I'm working on about the culture I am experiencing. I jsut wanted to give you all a little bit about how I'm feeling about it. Its surprising that I have had quite a few setbacks and it hasn't broken my spirit. And everything that has went wrong has been rectified(although I did notice that I might be missing one of my sneakers this morning, so that might not be too good...haha).

Thanks for all the comments and emails I have recieved. It's great to know you are all reading and enjoying my travels. I know I am. Will post pictures again soon!

Leaw jer gan. (farewell)

Thailand: The land of smiles

2007-03-07T22:46:00.000-05:00

So as you all know I am in Thailand for one month and then I am going to Vietnam for 3 weeks. Well, if you didn't know that, you do now.
In researching for this program, I wanted to find out some information from someone who had been to a location, or was currently at a location, but have no vested interest to push me to go. I found this kid on facebook who was in nha trang, and we have been corresponding on and off since January. Well I messaged him recently to tell him I'd arrived and he wrote back warning me of all the things to look out for. One of the main things he kept saying was that the Vietnamese do not really like foriegners. Coming from Thailand this didn't make any sense.

Then I realized, of course Vietnam wouldn't like westerners. Westerners have occupied, controlled or colonized Vietnams government for the past 200 or so years. Westerners caused a war which tore the country apart. It's a surprise that they even allow Westerners into the country to begin with.

Thailand on the other hand, is one of the few countries in the entire world that have never been controlled, or colonized by a foriegn power. Thailand, which used to be called Siam(think Anna and the King/The King and I) innitially took up much of the South East Asia Penninsula, although I think Vietnam has always been fairly separate. It has also been a monarchy, with the rulers of the country determined by birthright since the middle ages. However in the early 1900s the government changed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. In the 1940s, the French colonized Laos, which is to the North of Thailand(Nongkhai is actually a border town, and when I go near the river I can physically see Laos), yet the king of Thailand used its ties with Japan to fend off the French. However Japan then began to occupy thailand militarily and caused much destruction to the country, as it was slowly loosing its foothold in world war two. Either way, it was close, but was never politically controlled by another country, super power or even another ethnicity/race. Therefore, the Thai people have nothing to fear from westerners. **Pictured is current King who has ruled for over 60 years and is one of the longest ruling monarchs in the history of the world. You can see his picture nearly everywhere.

Thailand is called the land of smiles. Which is why I LOVE it, since I am always smiling. They also dislike confrontation, and use those smiles to avoid conflict with each other and with foriegners. Whenever you are frustrated in dealing with the language barrier or some other dispute, smiling will immediately difuse the situation as they see that you mean well. However, in certain urban areas where prostitution run rampid smiles are the key to their success. The smiles can sometimes be fake and its hard to determine what they are really thinking/feeling. Either way though I haven't had many problem so far, they all seem to be friendly and very welcoming. Yet, I am also in a small closeknit town.

As a whole Thailand's economy seems to work very efficiently. Thailand and Vietnam both devestated by the War dealth with rebuilding in different ways, Vietnam through communism, or command economy and Thailand through private enterprise, or capitalism and within a few short years Thaialnd vastly improved their economy and are now the strongest economy in the area. Vietnam however was struggling emmensely and finally decided in the 80s(I beleive) that the command economy was not working and they slowly incorporated private enterprise into their way of life, similar to what Mao did in the People's republic of China.

The only main issues with Thailand's economy is that it depends alot on "sexual tourism" or prostitution essentially. The country's economy makes alot of money by having the mere children and teenage girls(although the "patrons" are always told that the girl will be older then 18) solicit their "servies" to tourists at "dance clubs", bars and street corners. It's a joke(although I find it offcolor) then its very easy to have a "thai girlfriend" if you want one, you just need a few Baht. Prostitution came about before tourism was such a big part of the economy. The Thai people were a polygomous people until the 1930s when the King outlawed the practice in order to "westernize" the area. However, they apparently still needed that outlet and variety I suppose? That was when Prostitution first became as big as it was now. If you could legitimately marry as many people as you want(although usually it was just males of course) and have sex with many different women in a socially acceptable way, then prostitution is not a necessary institution. However, when that was taken away, it simly came out in another, more profitable and capitolistic reform. I realize I am sounding rather flippant about the issue, and I don't mean to be offensive, I am trying just to explain the rational behind it, moral or not.

The other issue with the economy, or rather the government is the corruption. For anyone who has seen Brokedown Palace, its a fairly realistic portrayal of how bad the corruption is. The higher up you are in politics the more corrupt you will be. Although, corruption does actually make the country safer in a way, because officials get paid off instead of violently taking down criminals. I know I'm not explaining it right, but its similar to the idea of legalizing marijuana. If you legalize marijuana and you can buy it at the store, instead of from a dealer, you take away the criminality from it and it won't be as violent or deadly. Either way, its an oxymoron, but the corruption does seem to make the country safer and more efficient to some extent. Living in Nongkhai though, its too small of a town for the corruption to really effect the way of life at all.

Ok enough of a history and civics lesson for today. I thought it would be nice for you all to understand the backgrounds of the countries I am in. If nothing else, its my blog and I'll blog what I want to. So there.

*Note-all of this information is stuff I've pieced together from things I've heard, seen and read. Please do not take this as completely accurate, I was just trying to give you an overall understanding of the country, but I could have some facts wrong.

ps-thanks for all the comments and feedback so far, its very appreciated. I will soon write more about my daily goings on, I am trying to lay the groundwork first.

See ya on the flip side!

pictures pictures

2007-03-07T00:53:00.000-05:00

I know, I'm going a little blog crazy, but I'm sure it will calm down soon. It's around 1pm here, and between the hours of 12pm-3pm, its not a great idea to be outside since the sun is sooo strong. The two dorms for volunteers are about a 10 minute bike ride apart, and of course the internet is at the other dorm. In the mornings I have to bike here in order to get picked up from my teaching placement, so if I stay here after teaching past noon, I am kinda stuck here for a while.

Anyways, I finally got around to uploading some pictures, so I thought I'd share them with you. Here are a few.

The image at the top left is me drinking water out of a bag, so it could be cold water. Classy huh?

The image on the top right is at the rememberance day for people who died in the war.

This image on the left is my room, or well my half of the room. I sleep on the floor and often with a mosquitto net around it. I will get pictures of the room now that I have fully moved in and whatnot. It's not exactly the most comfortable room, but for some reason sleeping so close to the ground makes it cooler. Plus, we have a fan that keeps us pretty cool at night.

To the right is our porch. We have Thai language lessons out there in the afternoons, and its a nice way to relax/read/catch up etc.

On the left next, is a picture of a bunch of us out to eat during the festival. Around the table starting from the male, is eddy (from Perth, WA, AUS), Anke(from Germany), Johanna(from Sweeden) and

The next picture on the right is the classroom and the students I am working with. They are soo great. Today we even had some male teachers join the class.

Lastly, I wanted to give you a brief look at the markets and the breadth of products sold there. You can honestly buy EVERYTHING you could ever want at the markets. Even underwear!!!I hope you all enjoy! Miss you all!!

teaching the teachers

2007-03-06T19:49:00.000-05:00

Since I am a full time teacher, trained at a University, I was thinking I might get abused, and put in the worst school, not that the schools are that bad. Either way, the exact opposite occurred--I'm living the life.

I work in a school called CBAT(college of business administration and tourism), its about 30 minute drive away(in an airconditioned car!!!). I work with two other guy volunteers, Johann(from Sweeden) and Andy(from the UK). They have both taught in Thailand before and Johann has specifically taught at this school, so that was very comforting. But this time, we aren't working with kids, we are working with teachers.

The three of us teach about 20 or so teachers, who teach English, computers, tourism and accounting at the college. They are also all female. Since they are on summer break, they are able to have the time to take this class. It will last all month.

Johann kinda took over yesterday which was great. He knew exactly what to do. I mean I know what I need to do in the classroom, but giving out stickers and assigning a seating chart is not something you do with students who are between the ages of 24 and 60.

We did introductions, had them write out their names, subjects taught, ages, interests, hobbies and favorites like movies, food, drinks etc. Although, the 2 guys spelled favorite with a u, the word color apparently has a u in it also. While they struggled with the grammer part (like instead of saying "I teach computers, they would said I'm teach computers), overall they had a good mastery of basic English. It was cute, when we did our examples, we just said "Hi my name is Lacy....., they said "Hello, allow me to introduce myself, my name is..." It was soo cute and very proper sounding.

Then we set up prompts and had them ask each other questions about their families while we monitored and corrected. They have the biggest issues with past vs. present tense, because they don't have that in Thai language.

Speaking of, while we are teaching English, we also spend the first week learning Thai. It's really tough. It is a "tonal" language, and the accent on a word can change the meaning completely. For example, if you say the word Kao in different ways, it could mean anything from rice, to knee(as in the body part), to a funky smell. It's very difficult for me to try to speak the language, although I am starting to realize how easy it is to understand it. I mean, I hate when people can't understand me, or don't listen to me when we are both speaking the same language, so its really difficult for me to try to speak and have the other person not understand/comprehend. It's very frustrating.

Back from the tangent, the students we have though are so sweet. Today they brought us Thai coffee, which was actually really good, and some water. They also want to take us on a field trip next week to Ban Chang.

As this is an English class, they were joking around and telling us that if any of them were to speak thai during the class, we are suppose to charge them 5 baht. So as a joke, whenever someone speaks thai the rest of the class says "5 baht, 5 baht". The thai like to repeat things.

All in all, the teaching is going very well. Like I said, I really lucked out! I heard a few horror stories about behavior management in some of the other classrooms, but the only thing I really need to worry about is them talking while we are. They are also very sweet and seem to have a great time doing whatever. We laugh and joke around more then anything in class!

By the way, I didn't realize it, but my blog before wouldn't allow "anonymous people" or people without blogs to post, but I have changed that, so I encourage you to write comments, questions, critiques, etc.

peace

Thai time and other culture differences

2007-03-05T19:43:00.000-05:00

I'm waiting to go to my teaching placement now. We were told to meet at the other dorm at 7:30am and its now 7:50 am. They call it "thai time". It's sorta like Jew time, so I understand. We'll be lucky to leave before 8:30 i think.

I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the vastly different ideals/customs etc that I have been experiencing in Thailand!

Before entering any house, some stores, offices etc., you must take off your shoes. I think it has a religious reasoning behind it, but I'm not really sure what that reason is.

Bikes are everywhere. Except mine of course. I can't find mine anywhere. Not good. But people bike everywhere. By the end of this trip I will be so fit.

There are hardly any stores here, but there are five different markets, plus street vendors all over the place. When I say markets, I mean mile long markets, not just a few stalls. You can get everything you want at these markets from a pair of cotton pants(which I got for 60THB, which is less then $2USD) to a remote control, and pots/pans to electronics. Also, as expressed above the prices are really cheap.

We can't drink the water from the tap, we need to buy bottles, yet the ice by law has to be servable. I think the most expensive water I have had is like 10THB (which is like30 cents maybe). They also have water for us at the dorms. I decided to bike around at like noon yesterday for a few hours without water. Big mistake. Within minutes I had a humongous headache.

I know this isn't true of everyone's experience, but to me it seems like every day is a celebration in Thailand. At least in Nongkhai. Yesterday marked the beginning of a two week celebration remembering and honoring those who lost their lives in any wars fought by thailand. While they aren't in many world wide conflicts, there have always been tensions between Thailand and Burma. The border is a disputed area and they have lost many soldiers to the cause. In addition to the two week celebration, it is also the "summer" recess, and the chinese new Year. So either way there are and will be many celebrations throughout my stay.

The toilets. Actually the bathrooms as a whole are a whole new experience. In my dorm we have two bathrooms. The bottom floor has a thai toilet. Basically some porcellin on the floor, with a hole in it. It does however, have a "western" shower, which is a shower head coming out of the wall, not actually in a shower, but just kinda randomlly on the wall. The water pressure is so weak, it takes me like 5 minutes to get the shampoo out of my hair. The floor is dirty, because the entire bathroom is essentially the shower, since there are no walls to contain it. It's great fun. Upstairs, is a thai shower, which is basically two basins. One has standing water and the other is empty. You literally splash yourself with the standing water until you are clean. The toilet however is a "western" toilet. Although, it doesn't flush, so the only thing western about it, is that you can sit on the toilet instead of squat. To "flush" the toilet, you use the same standing water as the shower, and using a bowl you keep putting water down the toilet, until you don't see what you put down there. Oh, and you can't put toilet paper down the toilet, there is a garbage for that. I really hope i don't have to take that garbage out! I've lucked out though and only had to use a thai toilet once, and only to pee. I'm sure you appreciated that graphic depiction.

Monks are everywhere. They wear orange robes and have shaved heads. There are two temples down the street from me. Women cannot touch monks. It is forbidden by Buddhist custom/law. If I had to hand a monk something I would have to put it on a cloth that he wasn't touching. A little crazy, but ok.

It is overall very safe here, aside from a pickpocket or some other petty/non-violent crime. I'm also in a city that is a border town between Thailand and Laos. If it wasn't, there would be hardly anyone in the town I think. I do see some westerners, or farang(but the "r" is pronounced like an "L") but not many, aside from the other volunteers. The only "gangs" I need to worry about, are the gangs of unruly dogs that roam the streets and terrorize the bikers. Think Lady and the Tramp, or Oliver and Company. The dogs just sit outside on the road, and at night get aggressive.

I'm sure there is much more culture differences, but I haven't even been here 48 hours yet!

Special Cases Unit: Destination Udon Thani

2007-03-05T02:22:00.000-05:00

I'm in Nongkhai. It's hot. The toilets don't flush. I have no luggage.

Saturday morning I awoke around 6:30am. Remember, my new flight isn't until noon. I take a body shower, but don't have any shampoo to wash my hair(since I wasn't planning on being there still). We leave by 7am, there is no traffic and we arrive around 8am. The company doesn't even open until 8:30am. I say bye to my mom and "fake" Aunt Marcy who saw me into the security check point. Or so we thought. So I go down towards the shops, thinking the security check point was soon. In every other airport I've ever been to, there are shops in the terminals. Nope, not the one time that I need it. I am cleared and at the gate by 9am, with two shops in the entire terminal. I make a friend. She was kinda obnocious, but it was someone to talk to.

The plane ride was fine. I sat next to a Thai 20-something guy, and while I never tried to speak directly with him, I think he actually might have known English. They fed us twice, plus a snack. I couldn't really fall asleep, I was just a little too cramped. For an 18 hour flight, being cramped is not pleasant. I did have the screen where we could choose what we wanted to do/watch. I watched Man of the Year, an Officer and a Gentleman(can someone please explain to me the title, I don't get it), some Grey's Anatomy episodes, some America's Next Top Model(Note: I am completely against this show and I think its horrible, but they were in Thailand and I was trying to learn as much as I could about the culture) and I also started but got bored with Chocolat and a Thai documentary. I also played a game which taught me the Thai language, so I learned the numbers, days of the week and some important phrases.

So I'm supposed to arrive at 5pm local time Sunday night in Bangkok. We arrive around 5:20pm. My next flight is at 6:30pm. As I leave the plane there are a bunch of Thai Airways people holding up signs, I thought it was weird, until I saw my own name. The woman told me that I was a "special case" because my flight was soo soon and she was going to try to expedite my process and help me as much as she could. That involved helping me through immigration, cutsoms, and getting my luggage, except we didn't. When you fly internationally and then fly domestically, you can't check your luggage all the way through because you physically have to take it through customs. So we are waiting at the baggage check. 6:00pm rolls around, no luggage, 6:10 luggage starts coming. By 6:20 we realized that if we wait for my luggage we will miss my plane. She promises me that she will look for my luggage and get it back to me asap.

Next plane is 55 minutes long and we get a meal. Mind you, I was on a plane from NYC to San Jose, CA and didn't get much more then crackers and pretzels. I take a "limosine" (a pick up truck) to Nongkhai from Udon Thani(where I flew in). I luck out that another man in the car with me is from texas but his girlfriend(who I'm pretty sure was a GREAT deal younger then him) was fluent in both and helped me communicate with the driver.

I finally arrive and am greeted by Rick who couldn't be happier to see me. He's the program coordinator. He shows me around the dorm and tells me that since I missed all of the orientations, that I will have private orientations within the next few days. Monday, luckily is a holiday, the start of a two week celebration commemorating all the slain and survived soldiers of Thailand. Luckily, I say, because I have an extra day to acclimate myself before I begin teaching.

I meet my roomate Yvette. She's really nice. She invites me out to a bar with a bunch of the other volunteers. Against my typical nature, and without my creature comforts of cleanliness and new clothes I decide to go. I am by they way wearing Brown "teachery" pants, a rayon tank top and a knit polo shirt. Not exactly the outfit to be wearing in 70 degree heat, let alone near 90. I meet everyone and have an OK time. I ate some Green Curry with "zero spice". It was still a little spicey to me, but it was mighty tasty. I also have a margharita. The entire meal costs me less then $5 USD. It was 150THB(Thailand Baht). It's about 35THB to $1 USD.

I go to sleep around midnight I think, and when I wake its still dark outside. After about an hour of trying unsuccessfully to force myself to sleep, I get up and read all the materials that were given to me, including the entire teaching manual, and every tourist book I could get my hands on about Thai culture, customs and the Nongkhai province.

At around 8am, one of my housemates tells me that some of the volunteers are going to a ceremony and I go, figuring I have nothing else to do. The ceremony is great, lots of Thai dancing and costumes. I have pictures. I'll post them at some point.

Then, I meet with Rick again and he tries to get me some THB. In my hurry to get on the plane, I never got a chance to get any Thai currency. Opps. Yeah, so this ceremony is a public holiday meaning banks are closed, and my ATM card doesn't "have enough data".

I go to the Travel to Teach office. Meet the people I've been corresponding with. They are all very friendly. I go on a tour of the town with Gabby, an Intern from Sweeden, although she's from Panama originally. Her story is interesting.

I am now waiting for Rick to come back so we can finally get my luggage and I can get a cell phone. I will explain more about my living conditions in upcoming blogs.

Peace out.

juuuuuuust kidding

2007-03-02T14:07:00.000-05:00

Contrary to my belief, leaving four hours before your scheduled flight out of John F. Kennedy airport is not enough time to make your flight(when you are about 45 minutes away).

My father decided we should leave by 7, I thought that ridiculous. My Aunt Marcy seconded that, I thought 8 would be fine. It wasn't.

From one highway to the next, it was bumper to bumper traffic. By 9:15 we were still in Westchester, my dad decided all hope was lost. At 10am, he decides to pull off the highway because he has to go to the bathroom. On the way back onto the highway, we get pulled over by the cops. Apparently he went through a red light. It was a blessing in disguise. Instead of even giving my dad a warning, he tells my dad all of the highways into the city that are closed, and gives us what he thinks would be the best way to go.

After a few streets the cop is still behind us, and we have already misunderstood his directions. So I run out of the car at a red light and ask the cop for clarification. Two lights later, we get pulled over again. This time, so that he could tell us that the Bronx river parkway, the route he suggested, was actually a river(as in, it flooded), and was closed. At this point I have called my airline and found out that the same exact flight exists tomorrow. I change my reservation, and we call it a day.

Unfortunately, we are still stuck in incredibly bad weather, with flooding on all sides of us. I decide, mostly out of hunger, that it might be a good idea to find a diner, get something to eat, sit down for a while, regroup and wait out the traffic. It's genius.

So, about an hour later, we are ready to head back on the road. 15 minutes later, my dad wanted to call my mom. I thought he had the phone, he thought I had the phone. Classic sitcom plot. We turn around and go back to the diner to retrieve the phone. Now, we are on our way. Half an hour behind, but not broken.

So dad knows all of the highways to take, but gets lost about 3 miles away. He stops for gas and directions, but then decides to ignore them. A few weeks ago, Julie and I, after an exhilirating trip to the Museum of Sex down in the city stayed up at my Aunt Marcy's, and I very vividly remembered that one of the roads right near her house was called Goebel. I mean honestly, how can you forget a road with that name. Anyways, so we pass this road, and I tell him to turn on it. He thinks I am crazy, but follows anways. After about .4 of a mile on that road he gets nervous and sees a cop pulling over someone else. My father decides to pull up behind the cop and ask him for directions. At this point we are within two streets of the house, and baring some luck that the cop is from the neighborhood, there is no way that the cop would know exactly where to go, but anyways. We finally see the old route 304 that was the next direction after Goebel, and eventually find our way.

I don't know why, but I saw complete humor in this whole series of events. Unless another natural disaster occurs I am still going to Thailand, just a day late, so it will work out in the end. One thing I learned from my GA job last year, is that as long as it finishes well, sometimes it doesn't matter how it got started. It's not worth all of the worry, anxiety and aggrevation. It will all work out in the end. Knock on wood.

So it looks like I'm in Rockland county another night and I won't be in Thailand for another day. This time my Aunt Marcy and mother are driving me.

Just a day in the life I suppose...

Thailand

2007-03-02T07:50:00.000-05:00

.....and I'm off

Layover

2007-02-27T10:26:00.000-05:00

Well folks. It looks like my trip is not over. Stuck in Cinncinnati..will explain later.

I spent yesterday at another highschool in the Oakland school system. It was definately the toughest one. I could just feel the tension in the neighborhood surrounding the school. As I pulled onto the street three "thug-like" guys locked eyes with me (while still in my car) and gave me this hard cold evil stare. I park, and start walking to the school, but I see them from accross the street and they make some gesture with their hands towards me. I'm not sure if it was like a sexual "come here baby" kinda gesture, or aa agressive "who do you think you are coming into our neighborhood, you white girl" kinda gesture. Either way, I didn't want to find out, so I quickly slipped inside the school.

The school itself was really safe. I observed a few teachers and all but one, the one black teacher seemed to have full control of the classroom. One of the good teachers had her students working on essays on computers, while the other one had them working on a community mapping project. He was cute. But I digress.

I got to see the other side of Oakland. It was a little bit scarier. Like, I said the school was safe, but I could feel the tension outside. Maybe because I felt targetted, or maybe because I have a sense for that kind of stuff. Either way, I'm glad I got to see that. It will really help in making my decision.

I also got an interview from Charleston South Carolina, for a similar program. Everyone that I mention this to tells me how great and pretty of a city Charleston is. I guess I'll have to look into it some more.

I leave the school and head to the rental car place. After stopping twice to try to find food(but parking was so outrageous-at 25 cents for 5 minutes) I went to where the rental car place was. I was late to the train that was to take me to San Jose, but a conductor, seeing me frazzled and panicky tells me that the train i missed stopped at every stop, whereas the one leaving now was an express. There would be a stop where our train would pass the train I needed to be on, so I could get off and wait for that train to catch up. Anyways, it worked and I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

The first flight was terrible. 9:15-10:15. I've been having sinus issues for quite a while, but it was never more then a mere annoyance. Somehow, my sinuses, when up in the air, did not hurt my head or nose as much as it did my teeth/jaw. OHMYGOSH it felt like I had multiple cavities in each teeth. I know I'm not the best at oral hygiene, but I do not think I have any dental problems. The next flight, 11:45-6:50(but it was only three hours long due to time zones) was even worse. I was in perpetual pain the entire time. Once I landed in Cinn., it hurt even to touch my face. So when the opportunity knocked I struck while the Iron was hot. Yep, two cliches in one sentence.

Over the announcements, they tell us that the Albany flight is booked, but that they are offering a $400 travel voucher for anyone who would take a later flight. I come to find out that later flight means taking a flight to Hartford, Conn. and then having a taxi take me to Albany. Either way, it made sense to take it, so I could give my sinuses a rest, and time for medicine to kick in. Plus, $400 for sitting in an airport for 6 hours, that sounds like a good use of my time!!! I ask if its possible if I can get put up in a hotel room for the afternoon. I know it sounds silly, but I wanted a bed to rest in, since I took a red eye flight and only got 3 hours of sleep if that. I also know that they will do almost anything to get you to give up your seat. Well, instead of a hotel, I get access to the "Delta elite club" which is basically like a cruise ship, minus the seasickness and paying for alcoholic drinks. I could get trashed right now and not have to pay a dime, but no I am online...hmm I really need to reevaluate my priorities. I also got some food vouchers, so I think I'm going to take myself to Outback Steakhouse. Should be a good time.

I spoke with my Cousin David yesterday. He's my father's cousin. He is very into traveling and upon hearing that I'm going to South East Asia, and to the school that he helped finance, he has arranged for me to go to the school(in Cambodia) and do a little touring. I am soooo excited!!! Just in talking to him, I got excited about the trip. He has always been a traveler, and wants to encourage it in both me and my brother. Its good that someone in the family wants to encourage that! Anyways, I was really glad to talk to him about traveling and culture and stuff. If nothing else, its the first time we have ever spoken as adults, so that was fun as well. I also have been speaking alot with my Great Uncle Burt, who is David's father, because he is also pivitol in my arrangements in Cambodia. I can't wait!! I am so grateful to both of them for all their help and support!!!

Ok, off to eat, or drink, or just lounge around in this "elite club". I'll probably write again though, since I want to get my money's worth.

Layering is Key

2007-02-26T11:04:00.000-05:00

So if I learned nothing else on this trip, its that layering is necessary. I thought, "oh I'm going to cali, I won't need a jacket." WRONG! I spent the majority of the day outside, so I was equipped: one tank top, one shirt, 3 sweaters and finally my sweatshirt. But, I was warm.

I walked around Fisherman's wharf first. I'd felt I had seen too much of "local" San Fran and I really wanted to be immersed in tourism. Well, that lasted about 15 minutes. Highlights include buying a necklace, buying a huge icecream I did not finish and getting a free bowl of chili on the street. Then I made my way to the cable car, for $5 a ride. I took the car down to China Town. There was supposed to be some festival down there, but I couldn't find it. Instead I meandered in and out of the streets with no direction or goal. I was starting to get aggitated. I had plans that night to watch the Oscars, and I was nervous about them. Yes, I have been very social this trip, but none of it had long term effects, except for this one. Like, I said, I don't make good first impressions, so I was worried. This could be people I might wanna hang out with in the future. Finally, I call and she is all excited to hear from me and we make the plans. I feel a little more at ease. Someone had told me to check out Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill, so I leave Chinatown, which I couldn't stand for its sameness and fakeness. On my way, I decide to grab something to eat at a deli, and wound up on the phone with my brother most of the time. Next thing I know I'm in a bookstore called City Lights. 2 hours later I leave. I had found the travel section and decided to do some research on my upcoming trip.

Part of me doesn't like traveling, because I feel like I have to do everything all at once, that if I don't I'll be missing out. I think that's why I was soo agitated in Chinatown. I also worry what others wanna do before my own wants, so when I was with myself I was completely aimless. I know sitting in the basement of a bookstore researching travel doesn't sound like a great way to spend time in San Fran for most people it worked for me. I finally felt at ease again.

I then went up to Coit tower, which was quite a hike and got to see the pretty views. I then walked down the other way. OHMYGOSH, the houses/apartments there were amazing. I would def live in one of those if the price is right. They were all so unique and interesting, full of character!! I walked all the way down to the water, and followed the water around. Looking at a tourist map, I realized I almost forgot to go see the sealions!!!! My favorite animal!!! So I started at pier 27 and worked my way to 39, which is basically like a Disney World pier. Honestly, picture Downtown Disney and you basically understand what Pier 39 is like. So after I shopped some shops and saw the sealions, I made my way back towards the hostel. Its interesting, instead of following the pier, I went up a street, and all of a sudden I wasn't a tourist anymore. It's amazing what the difference of one street will do.

Speaking of not being a tourist, many times throughout my trip I have been asked questions like a local, such as "where is the safeway", "is it ok to park here" and comments like "oh you guys must be used to this weather". So that was entertaining.

After being a half an hour late I finally get to Amanda's apartment to watch the Oscars. I didn't realize that it was going to be such an affair. There were about 10 girls there, all gorgeous and perfectly composed. Luckily, I had paired down to 2 layers before I arrived, so I didn't look like a hobo(yes, hobo). Alot of them were dating roomates, and others were friends from college. Everyone had wine glasses. There was cheese and crackers, apple slices, brownies and cupcakes. I only feel bad that I didn't bring anything. I didn't seem to have too much in common with these women, but you know me, that won't stop me. I did have fun, which was good. It was nice to hang out with a bunch of girls and stuff. It was also nice to have a sense of normalcy here. Everywhere I've gone so far has either been for professional reasons, or tourism, so it was nice to have a purely social call.

Today, I am heading to the school that my interviewer is principal at. It's supposed to be one of the worst. We'll see how it goes I guess. Once I mentioned my interest she seemed very impressed. I don't think she would try to get someone to visit a school after an interview, if the candidate didn't have a good shot at getting the job, so we'll see.

I need to get going, my time is almost up, literally on the computer and in San Fransisco. I am flying back tonight, but don't arrive in Albany until 11am ish on Tuesday, where I get to work at the JCC, hang out with my brother and throw myself a going away party Wed night. So if you are around, let me know! Then I leave for Thailand on Friday, so I probably wont' post again till then.

Bye!!

Interview Day

2007-02-25T12:21:00.000-05:00

So after freaking out about what I want to do with my hair, yes this is what I was most worried about-I decide to take Julies advice and buy a clip. Voila-I looked as perfect as I was going to look.

I arrive 10 minutes before they told us to, in order to be early, and so did about half the candidates so we got to talk alot. They all seemed really nice and really driven. I didn't hear of anyone else in the Social Studies speciality though. I met a girl named Amanda who was from Penn. upon talking, she tells me that she used to visit Albany alot, b/c her boyfriend lived in a little town north of it called Clifton Park. We are instantly friends. She later invites me over to her place for the Oscars. Instead of looking for a job and then moving she did the opposite. I also met a lesbian. This is kinda a big deal, because as much as I hate this about myself I do tend to be very homophobic. We were in the same interview group and she told me after the fact, and it didn't change my opnion of her whatsoever. Maybe I'm growing up!

The interview began with a teacher explaining her experiences. Then we were split up into smaller groups. In total there were 12 candidates, so each group was about 3 or 4, mine was 4. Our first task was to pretend we are a group of teachers who are having a behavior management problem and how we together will solve it. I thought I did pretty well with that! I'm always good in groups. The next task was a similar scenerio, but academic issues, and we had to write our solutions instead of talk them out. Finally, we were scheduled for interviews and simply waited around.

The interview which I was very nervous about was almost all scenerios or situations. They didn't even ask me my biggest strengths and weaknesses!!!! It lasted about 1/2 an hour. I'm not sure how well I did at that, because I tend to be very long winded and overexplain myself, and I couldn't gague whether that was an endearing quality or a deal breaker. I guess time will tell.

After that I went around to check out some different areas I could live in if I got the job. While it's jumping the gun a little, I probably wont' have the chance to be here again, if I get the job without the need of immediate housing. I checked out a few appartment complexes and except for the lofts(which are the COOLEST THINGS EVER), they are essentially the same, so I decided that my new tactic should be checking out the vibe of the different areas. I found about 5 or 6 different areas, that I can easily find on craigslist to look into.

Heading back to San Fran, I was soo emotionally exhausted. Julie called and told me she is planning a trip to NJ for a friend we used to work with and wants me to come. A few hours later, my brother tells me he wants me to go with him to Florida at the end of May. Plus I am also planning on going to Israel sometime this year. Plus the whole Thailand, Vietnam thing. And if I get this job I will be moving cross country. This is a big year for me I guess.

If I do get this job, there is this thing called the GAP Israel trip, which stands for graduates and professionals. 22-26. There is one specifically for the San Fran area. I think it would be great to go on that trip with Jewish people I will be living amoungst, as a way to acclimate myself and make some friends.

At the hostel, I ate some dinner and then ran into my English friend and we FINALLY watched Grey's Anatomy. It was rather intense. I was in bed by 10pm.

I realized many things yesterday. I really don't mind being alone and traveling alone and even eating alone at restaurants. I like the idea that I don't have to have a constant need to please others. I like that I can do whatever I want. I also realized though, that I don't wanna be alone all the time though. I like how my English friend has been there every night to talk to. It was like having a roomate(try like 7 roomates, but still). I think if I move anywhere, I will try to get a roomate. I further realized, that I am very friendly. I mean I always knew I was, but literally everyone I talk to becomes my instant best friend. I really do have a talent I think. That, or people in this area are just very friendly. My last realization, is that I really need to take care of myself. I was so exhausted yesterday because I kept pushing myself and forcing myself to keep doing, without much rest. I need to give myself time to breathe, cope and rest. I am not invincible.

Aright, I have to make a few phone calls and then head to a Chinese street fair in China Town. Yipee.

One day til Interview

2007-02-24T00:08:00.000-05:00

The Euphoric bubble burst a little bit today. If nothing else, I was so high, the only way to go was down. Now, I feel like I have a realistic understanding of the situation. My biggest worries were personal safety and if it was worth it. It was definately safe from what I saw, and it might be difficult but it does seem possible. All I needed to see was the possiblity.

I went to one of the middle school and observed a teacher I've been speaking to on the phone about her experiences. She seemed to really struggle with behavior management, especially in one of her later classes. However, I did pick up on many different schemes she used to keep them on task, which for the most part seemed very effective. I also was able to observe a class taught by an older Black woman, a 30 something white man who grew up in Oakland, and then a young white female who is teaching through Teach for America. They all had different ways of dealing with the students and different successes. I was brought back into reality by seeing the classes in this middle school. Yet, it didn't seem impossible, and that's all I needed to see.

Right as I left school a minor earthquake occured which shook me a little bit. San Fransisco is not exactly the most physically stable region and feeling one while I was here for less then a week was a little unerving, but oh well.

After school I traveled to Berkely. If I do get the job, this is where I would look into living. It's a little bohemian area where everyone seems to be between twenty two and thirty five. I got a mani, a pedi and a facial. I figure I should treat myself before this interview. The less stress I'm under the better. After all the pampering I took myself to a chinese restaurant before heading back to the Wharf.

I am incredibly nervous about this interview. I am not someone who makes good first impressions. Most people upon meeting me, don't quite know what to do with me. It's not until the 4th meeting I'd say, that I make that "good" impression. I also know I tend to be unintentionally very negative and judgemental. Although I don't mean it the way it comes out, it doesn't matter. So I really need to monitor how the words come out of my mouth even more then the words themselves. I've been polling various people to ask them what they think my strengths and weaknesses are and I've been trying to answer generic interview questions in preparation. Hopefully it goes well. As Adrianna said, once I'm committed to something, I see it through to the end. I'm committed to teaching here and potentially living out here for the next couple of years at least.

So here goes nothing.

and I'm in love...

2007-02-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

I wanted to make sure to post this after I observed at the highschool and before I went to the middle school. In case for some reason my opinions changed, I wanted to at least have a record of my euphoric opinions at the highschool.

So after I blogged yesterday, I went to grab my car. The hostel said that there would be free parking, but they didn't mention that the lot would be a few blocks away. I'm not sure that would sit well on the advertising perhaps. Oh, and I had already showered and was dressed, and it was pooring rain. So I bartered with the front desk guy for an umbrella and headed down. Then I got some breakfast and sat with the English girl. I really should learn her name.

Then, I was off. After getting lost probably twice, I made it to Oakland Tech, parked at the Burger King accross the street and ventured inside. I was impressed already by the magnitute of the school. It reminded me of the school in 10 things I hate about you, although obviously not that grand. It looked like a capitol building or something. So, I walk in and head to the main office when a gruff female voice asks me "what's my business here". I apologize for walking past her and sign in. I tell her that I'm going to see Mr. F but I'm not quite sure where the room is. A female student overhears me, welcomes me to the school and says "hold on, I'll go find out where the room is and walk you up myself." I'm even more impressed. So as the two of us walk up, we spoke. She explained to me that alot of the Oakland highschools have different specialties. Obviously this one was technology, but there were others for engineering, education and some others. I'm not a detail person. I assume she is a senior and ask her, she says she's a junior. I ask her hesitatingly if she has any plans. She says, she is graduating and wants to be a pediatrician. I'm incredibly impressed at this point. Not many juniors in general, let alone juniors in this type of population know what they wanna do when they grow up. So as we are walking, there are a group of guys talking and whatnot, and one is telling some story and a few really bad sware words come out of his mouth. I look at him, half smirking and half incredulous but keep walking, as I hear him say "I am soo sorry, I did not mean to disrespect you like that." At Shen, if I would have caught students saying words like that, they would have either ignored me, or apologized only to avoid punishment. This student apologized knowing I had no authority to punish. I'm floored.

So I walk in, late, to Mr. F's room and sit down. Of course I'm the center of attention as some of the students are already trying to "hook me up" with the teacher, who is young and white. Oh, by the way, in the entire 5 classes I observed not a single student was white. Most were black, a few hispanic and the rest some type of Asian decent. Anyways, so the class is moving sort of slow. Mr. F tells me there are supposed to be nearly 30 kids in this class and I see about 16. It's world history, 10th grade, but some of them are repeaters. The period is 57 minutes long and about 30 minutes in the fire alarm rings. Instead of going outside(it was cold and wet) we stayed inside, knowing it was just a drill. We re-enter the class. 5 minutes later the alarm goes off again. 1 of the students begin to head to the door, while two of them shout out "we know its fake, why don't we just get through this stuff instead." If there is a word beyond floored to describe myself, please insert here. I was amazed, if nothing else.

2nd period was smaller and also 10th grade. They were so quiet it was ridiculous. 3rd period was 11th graders. Mr. F told me there was a marked difference between the two grades. He said the first visible difference is that most of the students show up. In 10th grade they can't drop out legally, so they just don't go to class. The 11th graders were present and active. I mean they weren't nerdy about it, but when asked for opinions or participation of any kind, at least 5 or 6 of the students give it freely. They really respected Mr. F, and me. Every class that Mr. F introduced me too, waved at me and was all excited to see me. There are 10th and 11th graders by the way, not 1st graders. 4th period was HUGE, nearly 30 students. They fought(with words) the teacher on a few concepts, but did so in such an elequent and educated manner. He said this class was being really good today.

After 4th period the whole school has lunch. I would think that it would be a recipie for disaster, but it works. There are many local eating places nearby, and it seems that the lunch crowd coming from the school sustains them. After buying some pizza, I go back to Mr. F's room where he has about 10 some odd students hanging out, eating and enjoying themselves. Walking by the other classrooms in the hallway I found the same thing happening. These kids really seem to care about school and like their teachers.

5th period he had off and we chatted for a while, until a student came in, who had gotten kicked out of his class, and came into Mr. F's room just to talk. He was telling us about all the jobs he had, and that because his "auntie" works at the movie theatre, he has been able to move up to assistant manager. He also had fun shoes on.

6th period, it seemed about 5 students showed up to. They were similar to 2nd period in their lack luster, but they got through the material and were participatory when necessary.

Overall, I was extremely impressed. On a whole the students have a passion. They seem to want to learn. Mr. F did tell me that many of the students are not passing, and he has done things like lesson homework loads and whatnot, to try to keep them afloat. What I saw though, was kids who are overall respectful, and kids who care. They all seemed to get along with each other, and they all seemed to get along with the security guards posted around the school, and the teachers. Many of the students seemed to have like "work study jobs" in college, working at the desk, helping out with attendence. My two biggest fears about working in this population; safety/violence and no respect for others was not true in this setting. Mr. F told me that this school was one of the better ones, and that "Oakland High" was not as high performing as this school. Honestly, I don't need straight A students to wanna teach there, I want students who want to learn but don't have the proper resources, and who have respect for others.

After school I came back to the hostel to change and then walked around the wharf area for a while. I ate at a Mexican restaurant bymyself. That was an interesting experience. I came back, got hit on by an old guy, did some reading and then ran into my English friend again. We spent the rest of the evening together talking, drinking tea(i'm sick, I had tea twice today), and we tried to watch the episode of grey's anatomy from last night on her laptop but alas it hadn't been posted yet. So we are going to try tonight.

Ok, breakfast time and then off to see the middle school.

Love it

2007-02-22T21:55:00.001-05:00

First day of observing in the highschool and I feel in love. Will write more later.

Arrival in San Francisco

2007-02-22T09:39:00.000-05:00

It's 6am on Thursday morning here and I finally have a few minutes to update on my fantastic adventure.

It began at 4am Wednesday Morning (EST) (after not going to bed until midnight because someone kinda forgot to rework her portfolio in December like she was supposed to...). I left my house to bring my car to Long Term parking. I parked in about two feet of snow, but hey I saved myself the 8 more dollars it would have been to park it in the parking structure. Man, I'm cheap.

The plane has 36 seats on it. I am not lying about this. It was one of those Connectors, just down to Kennedy airport. I slept. Our plane arrived literally in the gate of the other plane I was to take. I board this plane. I am in the last possible row, next to a really cute guy. He's from Canada(what's with me and Canadians), although I'm not sure if I would really consider Niagara Falls Canada. I come to find out he has a bachelors and masters in Poli Sci and Econ. I'm a fan. We talked for the beginning of the trip and he was really nice. On a five hour plane they gave us no meal, which was wicked cheap, so he snuck two more of the "snack" packages they give us. Also, I am very excited because they have those personal screens, where you can choose whatever you want to watch. Yeah, except now, you must pay for everything except for live Television. RIDIC!!! I was not too happy about this. My Canadian friend bought a game though, and after he got bored with it, let me play for a while, so that was nice as well. I think he might be on the same plane I am on in return as well. Something to look forward to.

After grabbing some lunch, I board my final plane from L.A. to San Jose. It has 30 seats on it. I sleep. I finally arrive, and then the fun begins. I am supposed to find a shuttle bus to take me to the Santa Clara Train Station, buy a ticket, take it to the 22nd Street stop, call the rental car place, wait for them to pick me up and drive me to my rental car. This hassle was the difference between spending $300 for a car, and spending $135. Well worth it, in my point of view. It all went smoothly. The train took over an hour though, which after more then 7 hours on planes started to get a little old. Oh, and I sat in the senior citizens section. I'm a jerk.

So I finally get to the rental car place. It's called Rent-a-Wreck. They aren't kidding. I get a Kia Sephia, 2001, with a monumental dent in the trunk, scratches all over, the brake light thing in the back smashed, and one of the fenders dent as well. I don't know cars, so you'll have to bear with me and my terminology. While I am cheap, there was actually thought behind this rental car. Since I am traveling to Inner City Oakland for the next three days, I thought it better to drive in something "worn in", then like a brand new Chrysler Seabring. So I pay my money and begin my carride to the hostel.

I really need to learn how to pay attention to detail. Instead of hearing the exact directions that the rental car gave me, I saw the smile and ease that he told me it, and assumed "oh this will be easy". Yeah, it would have been if I would have LISTENED to his DAMN directions. Luckily I'm pretty good with maps, and he gave me one of those too. After about an hour (est. trip time should have been 15 minutes maybe), I finally find my hostel. Yes, I said hostel. I know most of you think that hostels are stupid, or unsafe, or unclean, and it could have been possible, it wasn't in this case. $100 for 5 nights is not a bad deal. Plus, since I'm alone, I have plenty of people to talk to who are also alone. I made friends with someone from Peru and England yesterday. It's also nice because they have a little cafe inside the hostel, because its not an on the street hostel, its literally on the wharf, and places to eat are a decent walk away, and I got ravioli alfredo with salad for $5. Not bad, I say. So after speaking to Patrick, the teacher I'm supposed to be observing tomorrow I head to sleep(around 9pm).

It's always interesting to me to see all the different people that work and sleep at the hostel. I always wonder their stories, and usually bluntly ask them about that. It's just my style. I find it so interesting to see what people do who aren't from upstate NY, who aren't in a rush to grow up or a rush to get married or in a rush to settle down. One girl I spoke to spend the last year living in Canada and is now slowly traveling her way back home. I wish I could do something like that. I mean I guess I am a little, but not to the extent that most other countries youth do. Oh well.

I awake around 5:30am, even though my alarm was set for 6. I go to take a shower. I must have forgotten the whole communal aspect to Hosteling, and brought no sandels with me. Now, I am constantly worried I will have sometype of disease. Not cool. After observing I am asking someone where I can buy some sandels to shower in. I'm sure I'll need some for Thailand/Vietnam as well.

So now, I'm wasting time until breakfast is served. I'd really like to walk along the wharf or explore the city a little, but first of all I'm busy and second of all its supposed to be raining.

I'm a little nervous about checking out this school. I had a dream that I already went and the school was completely to my liking. I hope that its the same in real life.

I also, got an interview at another program I applied to for teaching in California Charter Schools, but they want me to interview in LA this weekend or San Fran next month. Neither of which I can do, obv. So I'm gonna call them, and see if I can work out interviewing here, since I will be here until Monday, and I do have access to a car. We'll see though.

7am. Time for bfast. Peace out, yo.

It's Official

2007-01-29T19:32:00.000-05:00

While this blog's inception was due to my upcoming trip to South East Asia, before I leave I am spending 5 days alone in San Francisco. Therefore, I felt that this trip is a good place to start my story of the long distance traveler.

I have been interested in teaching in the inner city for a long time now, however violence and administrative backing have always been the two issues of contention. I found this program called the Oakland City Teaching Corps. I like this program because it takes away the major issues that I worry about with teaching in the innercity. First, they are attempting to rectify the tremendous academic lag by creating whats called the small school movement. They are taking a school that innitially had 600 students in a graduating class for example, and splitting it into three and housing them in three completely different buildings. I have been speaking to a few of the teachers already teaching in Oakland and they said its been incredibly effective in cutting down the violence. This works because a smaller number of teachers are seeing a smaller number of students and even within a few weeks, are getting to know all the students in the school. Therefore it is harder for a student to "get away with something". Second, the fact that the teaching corp program is in existence means that they want to change what they are doing and try to make a difference. Administrative backup in a program like this does not seem to be a big problem.

So I decided to apply. Two weeks later I recieved an email saying that I got the interview. It's a group and individual interview, where I'm flying out there to participate in at the end of February. I somehow found plane tickets for $169, I'm staying in a hostel for about $100 and I'm "renting a wreck" for about $135. How amazing is a trip for 5 days to the bay area from Albany around $400. I spoke with one of the teachers who were there, and while she has mixed feelings and says "its the hardest job she has ever had to do", she is planning on returning next year and seems to enjoy it. She constantly described the experience as exciting. She like me is a little white girl born in the suburbs with a silver spoon in her mouth, but wanted to do something different. That's exactly how I feel. I probably could get a job at Shen or in one of the surrounding areas if I really wanted to, but I really wanna try this. I really wanna see if I can make a difference.

So in about 3 weeks I head off to California on my own to check out my potential future.

Oh, and if Oakland doesn't work out, I'm looking into the UK, as they have a current shortage of teachers, or North/South Carolina. Either way, I'm ready for whatever comes next!!

Another blog?

2007-01-23T22:59:00.000-05:00

As I embark on yet another travel, I opted to jump on the blogspot train. This way more people(including family friends and relatives) can access it and comment, and it gives me something new to focus on!

I am traveling to South East Asia to be a volunteer English teacher. March 3rd I will go to Nongkhai, Thailand for four weeks. March 31st, I will then travel to Nha Trang. Finally(and tentatively), I will spend about 5 days in Camobida. With the exception of Cambodia, I am going on my trip through Travel-to-Teach. More about the details in later blogs.

The title of my blog is not sad, but a play on the book The Lonlieness of a Long Distance Runner, as I assume most of you put together without me having to spell it out for you. I just wanted to reinforce that it is not meant to mean that I am a refugee or friendless. I am choosing to fly solo(literally) to South East Asia for a few months for many reasons. First, I love to travel and learn about new cultures and traditions. I think its interesting that we(as groups) squabble over enthnicities, races, religions, property etc. yet, when you live among a culture you find that the core to every person, place or culture is very similar, if only everyone would take the time to discover it. However, if I were to travel with someone else, I would not be able to fully experience the native culture, as I would be constantly thrust into the culture I share with that person. Second, I would like to strengthen my content knowledge. While its not terribly strong to begin with, I do have a good handle on "westernized cultures" such as the U.S., Europe, and Australia. I do not have a strong understanding of the rest of the world, so I would like to change that. What better way to learn about a culture then to live within it? While this is an exciting endeavor for me, I'm sure most of my friends save some Social Studies folk would care to look at a trip to a "paradise" location quite like me. Third, I have been working towards a goal my entire life, to finish school. After high school came college, and then right onto grad school. While I did make the most of my time I still never did anything just for me. Well, this is for me. I also do not have any relationship, house, or further education tying me anywhere, so this is the ideal time to go. While I liked being in a relationship, I often felt trapped, especially knowing my boyfriend was not interested in traveling. I promised myself that if we ever broke up I would travel as much as I can, so when I enter a new relationship, I can feel like I did what I wanted and went where I wanted. Fourth, and finally, although I hate to admit it, most things I do are out of convenience or to stifle anxiety/fear. Yes, I went bymyself to Disney, but that was to avoid a terrible living situation. Yes, I studied abroad in Australia but I went with my bestfriend by my side. I have done things that others would say took courage, but if you looked at my reasonings for going, I fear that it wasn't as couragous as it seemed. Going to South East Asia for a few months scares the crap out of me, it really does. Yet, I need to overcome that anxiety, and face it head on. I do wanna go. I'm excited to go. I am enjoying doing research. I really am looking forward to going to a tropical location, with a purpose, and not having to worry about making plans, and doing work I don't want to. I can do what I want, when I want it. I'm looking forward to the solace and the lonlieness of my travels.