Sa Wat De Ka everyone!
So, here I am in Thailand and in the town of Si Saket (I would have updated earlier but I had no internet connection). Let me tell you. Clem and I are the only white people in this town and it is taking a lotto get used to all the stares especially as I am quite pale yet Clem is so tanned so I get a lot more stares at my legs! :p
It is very hot here, and I am not exaggerating! Britain’s hottest day is not as hot as Si Saket's coldest day so there is a lot to get used to! :p
Right now we are living with a host family for the next 10 days am they are very nice. The only problem is that neither myself or Clem speak Thai and the host family does not really speak English either so it can get confusing at times but we press on and work it out. Next door though lives (Ori) who is an English teacher at the college as well and speaks English so she has been taking us out and showing us the ropes of the place. Unfortunately she leaves for Bangkok in a month but hopefully Clem and I will be sorted out by then and know what to do around the place :) With us otherwise are two Chinese volunteers who are teaching Chinese at the college and who we have become quite good friends with. In the teaching staff we have got to know our Host Boom quite well and Eem who have also taken us under their wing for now until we know the area more. :) There is also a volunteer from the Philippines who used to be at the same college as Aydan (Returned volunteer at training who taught us some Thai) and she told us that she knew him as well!
Both myself and Clem have now spent a few days at the college to get used to it and we have been relaxing in the office! We had to get up at 6.45 am which may not seem that bad but when you only get to sleep at about 12 midnight due to nerves and your still suffering jet lag still, 6 hours sleep is not what we need! During our first day we helped out in a couple of classes buy reading out some English for the class to repeat and then the teachers allowed the students to ask questions. Two which came up in every single class were “How old are you?” and “Do you have a boyfriend?” To save myself some trouble I said yes to the boyfriend question due to the fact that I didn't want to capture too much of an interest with the Thai boys while I am here!! :p Also, at 12 noon each day, the college has an activity and on Monday they had a whole college assembly which seemed fine until both me and Clem were asked to go up on stage in front of about 4000 students and a number of teachers and introduce ourselves in Thai! :s I had to say Sa Wat De Ka (hello) Chann Chuu Namchar (my name and then I said my Thai name). I could then say “Hello, my names Rachael and I am teaching in Thailand for 1 year and I am happy to be here”. Both my self and Clem had to say this each but she had to add in her Thai name. Thankfully it went fine as there was no forgetting words, fainting or tripping up or down steps, so all in all, a success! :) (My Thai name 'Namchar' means the drink Tea as I cant live without it :p).
Basically, you can see that in just 5 days a lot has happened to just two people and it is a lot to take in and get used to as unlike the Western world, all we have are squat toilets and bucket showers! Well I have survived 5 whole days in Thailand, I'm sure I can keep on going for a whole year! :D This whole year is going to one of my most treasured memories and experiences and I cant wait to see what happens through out the year!
