Weekend Pictures

 James Bond Island

 Muslim floating village, our lunch stop

 Reclining Buddha in Monkey Temple

 Chicken Island, though I think it looks more like a turkey. Our snorkel stop on Saturday

Tup Island, our dinner stop

00wet

It promptly started raining again as soon as we got to the hotel Saturday night. I hoped maybe the storm would blow through over night, but no such luck. We had had nice weather for three days, so we were due a big rain. But it wasn't raining as I set for my Bond tour, so I was hoping it wouldn't be that bad. It rained some on our way there, and at a gas station where we made a pit stop (the pier was 1.5 hr away), our guide if asked if everyone had their rain coats. A Spanish couple sitting in front of me asked, "Will it rain?" I looked out the window. "Yeah, probably, but not very much maybe." They looked at me wide-eyed, and then didn't buy raincoats. Maybe they thought that since we had the tour, it wasn't allowed to rain. I wish that had been the case. As soon as we got to the pier, the clouds unleashed. We waited for it to lighten up at least, but it was still raining when we clambered in the long tail boat. This was the most nervous I ever been on a boat, it really felt like it might be too rough for him to make it. And our guide had said it would take 20 min.
We were soaked, rain driving in to our faces and occasional waves spilling in over the sides (though as the water is so warm here, that actually felt welcome). But the view, what we could see of it through the rain in our eyes, was magnificent. Huge cliffs rose right out if the sea, some if them with intricate rock formations and caves. James Bond Island was one of these. There wasn't much to it, just a breathtaking view and an interesting cave, but it was still surreal to be where my picture was.
Next, we went ocean-canoeing. We didn't get to manage the inflatable kayaks (no idea why they called them canoes) ourselves because there were an army of "canoe drivers" there at the floating station to take us around a bay surrounded by caves, mangroves, and sea-mountains. My guide's name was Book, and he showed me a "walking fish" (a fish-looking thing with legs to climb in the mangroves) and took me through a cave and showed me different rock formations.
Next, we went to lunch at a Muslim village built right on the water next to a sea cliff. We had a lovely view as we ate a delicious Thai meal (chicken stir fry, I think they always eat some form of this). It had stopped raining, but we still had time to explore the village before we went back out. They obviously make their living off the tourists there, because it was difficult to see what else they could do. It wasn't very pleasant. All the buildings were so close you felt like you were in a dirty back alley packed with all the typical souvenirs.
As soon as we got back in the boat, it started pouring again, but at least we were going back. We next went to the Monkey Cave to see an enormous statue of a reclining Buddha inside a massive natural cave. It was mesmerizing, and also sad because there were several Buddhists there praying to or at the statue, hard to know which.
Our last stop was meant to be swimming at a waterfall, but the park was closed because of all the rain.
Besides, we all agreed we'd swam enough for one day.

7 Isles

Since it was my last weekend, I was determined to do as much as I could. I knew I wanted to do the "James Bond Tour," so called because it's the location of The Man with the Golden Gun, because the picture of the island had been my backdrop for my now useless computer for the past 6 months. But I wasn't sure what to do with my 2nd free day. Fortunately, some of the other volunteers solved the question for me. They decided to do the 7 island tour, which was basically the same one I had done but longer and with dinner. So we all went to Ao Nang for the weekend and found a hotel (we split the 1,000 Baht, around $33, bill) that was basic but pretty nice with the skinniest pool you ever saw and, miracle upon miracles, air con and hot water! We booked the 7 islands for Sat afternoon and I booked Bond for Sunday.
It was a perfect Sat, great day for the beach. That afternoon, we piled into the back of an actual truck (that was adventure #1 as some of the others had never ridden in the back of one) and went a couple of miles down the road to the pier. It was a bit choppy, a few times it felt like we were jumping out of the water, but our guide kept dropping down from his rooftop perch to tell us "okay okay!" Railay was our first stop, a resort island with a nice beach, followed by snorkeling at Chicken Island. We had already dropped off the two sisters (it was definitely a family tour, they were all either related or dating) at one of the islands to start cooking our dinner. The snorkeling was much better than the last time I did the tour, when we didn't even stop because it was too hard to see. This time I saw all manner of coral, multicolored fish, and sea urchins. Unfortunately, one of the girls in our boat didn't see one and stepped on it. There was nothing we could do for her, she had to wait till we got back to find a clinic, but she said it didn't feel too bad and didn't let it stop her from still having a good time. We stopped one more time for snorkeling at a different island, but it wasn't as good. Our guide had also pointed out a jelly fish before we stopped, so now I had two criturs to be paranoid about.
Our next two stops were for marvelous beaches with breathtaking views. We had our dinner, barbecue chicken with a bit of a kick, and watched the sunset at the second beach. It was fantastic.
After we piled in the boat after dinner, we thought we were done. But we had one last stop. At Railay, our guide got out a spot light and swiveled it around, asking, "You see jellyfish?" I thought maybe they glowed or something, we had heard of some kind of glowing deal in these waters before. When we didn't see any, he said, "okay, time for swimming. Who first?" We laughed. He was joking. Then he jumped in the water! And he was making fairy dust in the water, bright green magical dots appeared all around him! "Plankton! Come on! Come swim! Plankton glowing!" Three of our party jumped in. It was amazing to watch the light show. Then someone else jumped in with a snorkel and said he could see them. This was too much for me. I jumped in with a snorkel. Sure enough, you could see minuscule neon orbs, and the more you moved the more you saw. Then I heard someone swimming very fast next to me, obviously trying to get back to the boat. Something had bit her she said. We were all back in in a flash. She had been stung by a jellyfish. Guess we hadn't looked hard enough. Everyone felt terrible for her, but there's not much you can do for jellyfish stings except let them sting. So we rode back to the pier under the stars, and I for one felt extremely thankful for the day and no injuries.

Yesterday, my computer decided to die. I think Macs don't like traveling, my other computer died in Spain a few years ago. So I'll have to either go to an Internet cafe or borrow the laptop at the office, if it's available. Fortunately, I had mostly finished the last project I needed to do, editing the reading curriculum developed by Projects Abroad for the volunteers to use. This week, I'm helping out at a couple of different schools. The one I was at yesterday and today is bigger than the other one I was at, the classes usually have about 25-30 in them. This makes it difficult to keep their attention, not that it would ever be easy. They're a wild bunch, always running around the classroom, boxing with each other (mimicking the Thai boxing they see on tv I guess), and won't listen to directions. The only way to get them to do anything is to physically take them and show them what you want them to do, but as soon as you move on to the next kid, the first one's acting crazy again! Nuts! Even with three volunteers!
Tomorrow I'm going to a school where there's just one volunteer, a nineteen year old from London. She told me yesterday her 5th graders were so bad, she almost walked out. The teacher who's responsible for them just said, "yeah, they're awful, aren't they?"I have a meeting tomorrow with the supervisor for the school I'm at today, and I'm trying to think of a nice way of saying, "the kids aren't going to learn anything if your teachers can't help with management." Next week, we have a meeting with a bunch of teachers to present the new curriculum, and I'll have to make that point again. God grant me polite words.

Yesterday was my housemate Saranda's last day. She moved to Ao Nang, where there's a Projects Abroad camp for beach clean up. I'm going to try to visit her this weekend. For her last day, she wanted to have a manicure, ride a motortaxi, and eat in town. She wanted to get a massage too, but decided to wait till later. I had my first massage ever two days after my arrival in Thailand. It was an interesting experience. I had a full-body Thai traditional massage. The place was very peaceful and artistically decorated and the staff very friendly. They did some weird stuff though, like sitting behind me, holding my arms folded over my head and rocking me around to stretch out my back.
I had a pedicure with Saranda, my first ever (250 baht, around $7). I was a bit ashamed of my horrible feet, but she didn't say anything, so she must be used to traveler's ugly feet.
After our spa-treatment, Saranda said she wanted to ride around Krabi on the motorbike taxi. So we talked one if the drivers down to 170 baht (about $4) and he drove us all around town, showing us a couple of things we hadn't seen before. I think Saranda was hoping he'd go a bit faster, but since we didn't have helmets, we were all three squashed up, and I was wearing a skirt, I thought his speed was just fine.
Today if it doesn't rain, some of the other volunteers and I are going to the nearby Tiger temple, which has 1300 steps. Apparently this is a Buddhist tradition to help enhance the spiritual experience. Ha. Least it's not as hot today.

Teacher Conference.

On Friday and Saturday, I attended a conference for English teachers again. For this one, I had been warned that many of the teachers had "not majored in English," and only taught English now because there is a need for it at their school. It seems that many teachers teach many things, Social Studies, Writing, Math, Science, even though the students go to different classes to learn all these different subjects (they don't just have the same teacher all day like they would in elementary schools in the U.S.). However, the English level of these teachers was appalling. They kept asking me to slow down, and a couple of the activities I tried to do with them simply didn't work, even when one of the organizers or my "boss" here, the curriculum developer for Projects Abroad, translated. At one point, I was trying to get them to work with a partner, but they were still just talking in groups at their tables, so I went over to a man and said, "Will you talk with just her, please?" And he said "Will you talk with just her, please." No joke.

But they seemed to still like it. Later the Projects Abroad people said they got some calls asking if I would come work in their schools for a semester, doing I don't know what. And they were all very nice to me. Some of them did speak fairly well, and fortunately there were enough of these scattered throughout that the material could be translated.

On Sunday, my pal and housemate Saranda went on a kayaking-elephant trekking adventure. They took us to an amazing natural canyon made from cliffs rising straight out of the sea. We also got to open sea, but it was only a few feet deep. At one point, they stopped so we could swim, but the sand underneath was so oily that it wasn't exactly enjoyable. The water is also excessively warm here, not at all refreshing if it's a hot day.

After we finished our kayaking (it took about 2 hours), they fed us lunch at a restaurant on the pier. The only other people with us was a cute Malaysian couple here on holiday. Apparently, Malaysians eat with their hands.

Then we piled in to a van with three girls from Singapore, an Engineer, a Psychology student, and a special Ed teacher. We thought we were going Elephant Treking, but instead we stopped at what appeared to be a rustic hotel. The guides led us to a natural pool, complete with mangroves, lilies, and a rope swing, and told us to "Swim! Cold spring! Very clean! Good swimming! You swim? Why you not swim?" We stared at them, then at the pool. "Are you sure it's clean?" we all asked. "Yes! Natural, very cold! That's why we bring you here! Hotel uses it! Good swimming!" Okaaayy. I dipped my feet in. It was slightly cool, not exactly what I'd call cold. I mentioned this. "Oh, yes, very cold! Very cold for us! Very clean and cold! You swim!" Good grief. I guess compared to the ocean it was cold. I still didn't like the looks of it, but the guides weren't going to leave until someone swam. So I jumped off the rope swing. It actually was nice, and it did start to feel cold after awhile. But Saranda and I were the only two who tried it. The Malaysians and Singaporeans just dipped their feet in.

To end the day, they took us to an Elephant, uh, farm? Ranch? I don't know what to call it, but they kept elephants and trained them there. Both Saranda and I were nervous about this part; we didn't want to take part in abusing the elephants. But it turned out to be not so bad. They looked like they had more room than they would in a zoo, and they only do one ride a day, if the trainer is to be believed. They seemed to treat them well. We rode around for about 30 min on the property behind the ranch and the guide told us about the elephants in broken English. We apparently got the good elephant, a 41-year-old named Nang (apparently, they live to be close to 100); the Malaysians' elephant kept stoping to eat. When we got back, we feed Nang some cucumbers, which she greedily ate, and then blew her nose on me (yes, elephant snot is slimy; at least it wasn't green). But it was a grand day, and I was glad to have Saranda to share it with me.

Today was my last day at the first school. This was the school were Kru Pecht taught, who has been sort-of mentoring me. I didn't realize I was actually going to be teaching their at first, neither did Projects Abroad, so I never got a class schedule or anything. I was surprised to find that some of the classes were 2.5 hours long, but we still filled the time. The only day I had any trouble was with the 2nd graders, but I think that was because they didn't have a teacher for the 2.5 hours before me, so they were crazy. But we learned the sounds of the letters and made alphabet books and practiced spelling with letters we made and all kinds of things. The depressing thing I learned is that it's hard to play games with them, especially the younger ones. This sounds counter-intuitive, but the only instruction their used to is copying what the teacher says, so they have no idea how to play games with rules where they are out of their seats. It was easier with the older kids, but you could still tell they weren't used to doing it. But on the whole, they were very sweet and eager to learn. They would run up to me when I got there and say, "good morning, teacher!" over and over because that's all they know.
Tomorrow and Saturday, I have to present at another conference. This one seems a bit more low key, but there are still 100 teachers supposed to be there and many of them with even lower English levels. Hope they comprehend all the games I'm going to try with them!

On Monday, I took a longboat tour to the four islands nearby. They picked me up in front of the cafe I purchased the tickets at, a bit late, but pretty much "on time" by Thai standards. There were only two other people in the van with me from Krabi, but once we got to Ao Nang, the nearest beach, there were tons of other tourists. Many of them were Chinese, Indian, even Thai. I could have gone either by long tail boat or by speed boat. My initial choice was speed boat, because when the water gets rough I've seen the long tail boats struggling through the waves. The waves aren't anything like what we have because we're in the Adaman sea, which is sheltered by India, but they are enough to make it not look very fun in the rain. But the long tail boat was half the price (about $15 for pick up, boat ride, two beach stops, snorkeling, an "English speaking guide" and lunch). Of course the weather report here is always the same, 90% chance of rain, but that doesn't mean it won't be bright and sunny for most of the day. Sunday was gorgeous, and hot. Monday started out overcast, but I was hoping that it wouldn't rain until after I got back. 

Once we arrived in Ao Nang, they took us to a nearby state park where the boats were beached. We climbed aboard on a ladder, which was unexpected for many. Several people were not dressed for swimming, which didn't make sense at all, since it said very clearly that we would be swimming and snorkeling. Some Indian children were even wearing tennis shoes and socks, which were instantly soaked just getting in the boat. The lady at the cafe had given me a special sack made out of heavy plastic to keep all my things dry, which would have been amazing if my water bottle hadn't leaked all in it before I'd even left the island I'm staying on. But at least it kept things from getting soaked in ocean water. 

Our first stop was Railay beach. This is a very popular tourist spot and resort area. The beach was small, and a bit dirty, but still quite lovely. The water is turquoise green and the cliffs rise right out of it. There was a legend in this area about how the islands were formed. Apparently, there was a beautiful maiden (like all the stories start) who wouldn't give her hand to anyone. One day, a man tried to kidnap her, but another man came down and rescued her. She agreed to marry him in return (yep). But the other men were jealous, so on the day of the wedding, they fought with the groom. The fighting was so violent that a magical hermit came out to try to stop them. They wouldn't listen, so he turned all of them in to stone. The Bride became one island (Railay), the groom another, the envious men a third, and the dowry a fourth. There was a cave on Railay dedicated to this "Princess" that all the boatmen would leave offerings at. 

After Railay, we went to Poda island. This was just a national park, there didn't appear to be any hotels on it. The beach was bigger, but there were tourists everywhere. Still, the water was pleasant and you couldn't beat the view. We had lunch, rice and stir fried veggies with chicken, and got an hour or so to enjoy the area. 

Next, we stopped at Chicken Island. It has a name in Thai as well, but apparently that's the one that stuck. It looked more like a turkey to me. We tried to snorkel there, but the water was tough rough to see any fish. 

Finally, we went over to Tub Island. This one was actually two islands, connected by a narrow strip of land under about three feet of ocean. It was hard to swim much here because it was rough, but there was some fish around the island. 

On the way back, we went right through a rainstorm. It was rough, but not as bad as I had thought it would be. The worst part was going in to the rain, having it sting your face with no shelter. We were all soaked. But it was worth it. 

     On Friday, I went to the school by myself for the first time. I understood that I was going to be meeting with Kru Pecht, the English teacher there. I had gone the day before to meet her and observe one of the other volunteers teach a class. Thursday was teacher appreciation day, so the schedule was quite out of wack. But even so, they still waited for all the students to arrive before they started the ceremony. Some of them were very late, so all the children waited more or less patiently on the cement ground while the teachers wandered around or sat in chairs. When the ceremony was over, we went back to class. It seemed much more informal than in the States, with students even occasionally coming in and out. But they paid attention and seemed interested in the lesson.

    When I arrived the next day, They were all lined up on the soccer field. First we sang the national anthem, then some students came forward and said something, I had to introduce myself (and the English teacher promptly quizzed them on where I was from, how old I was, ect), then they had to run around the soccer field a couple of times. After that, they assembled under the school on the pavement for mediation. This lasted quite a while, and I was surprised at how well they all did—even the preschoolers stayed relatively quiet and still.

    This was not the case later on. I was shown upstairs and told to teach a class of first graders. !!!!!!!!!!!!! No lesson plan, okeeeeaaay. Alphabet! They knew the song, but not really the letters. So we practiced spelling words with vowels and played a couple of games I improvised. Not too shabby, but still.

    Then I was shown in to a room filled with different ages, looked like a class of kindergarteners with their older siblings helping. I was told to help them with their worksheets. A couple times I tried to start a lesson, but very few listened to me, I guess this was not supposed to be class time. This was a pretty crazy two hours, with kids running in and out, sometimes doing their work, but mostly goofing off. I found out later that two teachers had a meeting that morning, so no one was left to watch their classes. The school is very open, so the other teachers could keep tabs on the children, but they were left to entertain themselves, except for me.

    Then we had lunch. They get an hour for lunch here, which is amazing. The students get their food cafeteria-style and then have to wash up themselves. Wouldn’t that be the day. The teachers eat together, and they were very nice about sharing the things they brought in addition to the meal. Some of the fruits were even grown in their gardens.

After the bus picked me and the other volunteers up, we went back to the office. I needed to do some work, but, unfortunately, the power was out in the office. So Saranda, a Swiss volunteer staying in the same house as me, and I went in to town and did some school shopping and to a coffee shop to use their internet.

    When we were finished, we decided to attempt to get to the beach. This proved more difficult than we thought. We imagined we could just approach one of the many trucks with covered benches in the back and ask if they were going to Ao Nang, but we were redirected to a bus stop. After we finally found it, we managed to get on the right bus and find the beach. The area around the beach was much more touristy, with hotels and restaurants and junk shops. The beach itself was fairly small, but still with great views. It wasn’t the most enjoyable experience though because it was so windy and because I still had my insanely-heavy back-pack to carry around. All in all, I was ready to go home in time for the last boat.

     On Saturday and Sunday, I attended a conference for teachers. The first presenter was from a neighboring university who was lecturing on inductive language teaching. At first I was very excited because she was presenting in English. But then she and I realized that the Thai teachers couldn’t understand her. She then used a mixture of Thai and English. When I talked to her at lunch, she was shocked that I was going to just be presenting in English without a translator. One of the workers from Projects Abroad was with me on Saturday, which was very nice because he introduced me and told me what was going on. But Sunday was his day off, so I would be on my own.

     For my presentation, I was supposed to talk about how to plan a lesson using the new book they just received. Unfortunately, they gave me the wrong book, so I had to change my presentation. At least the new book was easier, but I still wasn’t sure how much the 150 teachers were going to understand. I would have to just speak slowly and hope for the best. When I arrived Sunday morning, Kru Pecht, the teacher who I’m working under at the school, told me to start with a song. I didn’t know any songs, so we did Rocky Top. They thought I was funny. Then we launched in to the presentation. I tried to include several interactive games, which sort of worked. Occasionally, I had one of the teachers translate for me, and that helped. I wasn’t sure how much they were getting, but at the end everyone said I did well, just to talk slower. Huh. I thought I was. If I’d talk any slower, I’d sound like a caveman. Oh well, I did what I could. They did seem to like the lesson plan, so maybe next week I can do more with that.

     Tomorrow, I’m going on a long-boat island ride! Hope it’s nice weather!

Finally, I was able to visit the schools today! It was a perfect day to begin because it was teacher appreciation day. They go all out for this, with a ceremony and presentation of beautiful flower arrangements for the teachers. The school I was at today was very well organized and the students seemed willing and anxious to learn. Tomorrow, I am going to the same school to observe the Thai teacher teach a lesson in English (today I got to help one of the volunteers). Then on Saturday and Sunday, I'm attending a conference for teachers in Krabi. There will probably be around 200 teachers there. The first day, everything will be in Thai. The second day, I have to give a 3 hour workshop on how to use their new textbook! Please pray!!

 The "assembly room" below the school building

 The Buddhist shrine and the teacher seating

 Presenting the flowers and bowing to the shrine and teachers

Krabi in the rain

Exploring . . .

     Today, I didn't have to be at the office until 1:30, so I decided to explore. Didn't have much luck with that. First, I thought I'd explore the island, Kho Klang, where I'm staying. It's a small Muslim community, very few shops. It's mostly a bunch of houses and some farm land and pastures for what I guess were water buffalo. Though, they weren't exactly in a pasture. They were just roaming around and ended up in a soccer field. One got it's horns stuck in a goal. I was looking for the part of the island May had shown me yesterday, where I could do my laundry and buy a few groceries. Must have been a turn I missed, for while I saw lots of houses and gardens and goats and cats and people who either smiled and tried to talk to me in English or looked at me like I was an alien (which I am), I never found that shop. Oh well, I've since found out I can probably do it at the house I'm staying at.

     Then I decided I'd explore Krabi. In order to get there, I have to take a long boat, which costs about two dollars. They recognize me at the docks now, and I have one particular older man who always helps me either find a boat or take me himself. If there are other people on the boat with me, I only have to pay about 50 cents. Once I got in to town, I thought I'd find the Buddhist temple. I walked in the direction I thought was the temple, but it turned out to be the road to the beach. I got really lost, I mean, I did lots of prayer walking (which usually went something like this: God, please bless that school and all the teachers and students. Help them be able to find You in their studies. And God, it's really hot. Where am I? Can you please help me get back where I should be?) I was never worried, but I did start to get a few funny looks. I was obviously pretty far from where most of the tourists were wont to travel. Finally, I took a happy turn and ended up at a coffee shop I had been before. While it wasn't exactly what I had been expecting, I did get to see more where the ordinary people lived. May told me she actually lives in a hotel because the regular apartments are so expensive here. She has to eat out all the time, which is hard for her because she likes to cook. I certainly didn't see many houses or apartments or anything. Mostly just shops and workshops.

My lunch today, after I found my way back to the touristy area. This lovely arrangement cost me about $5.

Tourists by sculptures of crabs . . . in Krabi.
     This afternoon, I met with the placement coordinator about what I'll be working on. Tomorrow and Friday, I'll be in a school. I have been warned that they conduct their classes quite differently here. The maximum class size is 45 students! I think most classes around here are smaller, in fact one teacher I met today said she only had 16 in her class. But still. Some of the volunteers told me that there is no discipline in the classes, that the teachers can barely speak English, and that the kids are pretty wild. Apparently, the only classroom management they use is hitting the kids. Not sure how I'll handle that.
This weekend, I'll be attending a workshop for teachers at a local hotel. It should be an experience, because most of it will be in Thai. Apparently I'M the only one presenting in English. On Sunday, I have to prepare a 3 hour workshop for the teachers using their textbook. Yikes! I'm studying the text now, and it shouldn't be too bad, but please pray! There could be as many as 250 people there! And many don't speak English that well!
    I have another workshop to do the following weekend, but we don't know much about it yet. Probably will have to present again though. Next week, I'll be in the schools and working on adding to the curriculum that Projects Abroad has developed. My last week here I should be helping to implement it, possibly even teaching.
     I am very glad to get the details of my placement, it sounds like it will be a great deal of work, but I hope enjoyable. I'm a bit disappointed that I won't be able to travel with the other volunteers on the weekend. I'll have two days off a week still though, so I might try to book a tour with a hotel on my own. There are lots of other foreign tourists here, so maybe I'll make a friend. One of the other volunteers mentioned traveling my last weekend here, and thankfully I'm off that weekend, so I should be able to go. Exciting times. As long as I don't get lost.

1. First meal
2. View over Krabi
3. Bedroom
4. My Krabi
5. May, my guide on boat from my village.

Long intro to Thailand

     I arrived in Bangkok at 7:30 am, and my next plane didn’t leave until 2 pm, so my first experience with Thailand was a prolonged stay at the airport. That was alright with me, I was so glad to just be one plane ride away from my final destination, and in my final country! The airport in Bangkok was very pleasant, quite different from the one in Qatar. While I have no complaints with the airline, the flight attendants were polite and the food was fair for planes, the airport had an oppressive air. It was brand new, and gorgeous. But it felt empty. There was a train shuttle that wasn’t finished yet I suppose, for it sat eerily empty. We were scuttled along through massive hallways with marble or granite (I can’t tell the difference) pillars and impossibly high ceilings, hardly seeing anyone else except airport ushers. Then we came to a kind of crossroads, which looked like a main plaza in a mall, with high-end shops and escalators. In the center was a humungous teddy bear, probably a couple of stories high, underneath what looked like a gargantuan salon-hair-dryer. No explanation.

     Bangkok was much more welcoming. There were high windows so you could see out on the airport and the surrounding environs (you couldn’t see Bangkok proper from there) and pleasant little shops and cafes on the lower floors. I had my first taste of Thai food here, first two meals here. The first was at a little coffee shop, modeled after Starbucks (they had one of those two, filled with tourists. I tried “Thai iced tea with milk” and some sweet bread with an even sweeter dipping sauce. I thought maybe it was sweet for the tourists, but it seemed excessive even by American standards. Later, I spotted a sort of plaza with a garden in it, so I went to walk through it. It had well tended tropical plants with some kind of shrine, Buddhist I think, in the center. To the side, there were model golden long boats. Protruding at random intervals were poles least a story high with golden birds of some kind at the top.      

     To one side of this garden was a little cafeteria. I went in, thinking I could get more authentic food here. It looked like the place were the airport workers commonly ate. I had no clue what to do, and they didn’t speak much English, but finally they made me to understand I was supposed to buy coupons and then pick out what I wanted from the array of choices and pay with the coupons. I played the dumb tourist and got them to give me what I guess they thought I would like the best, chicken with bean sprouts and some kind of fried thing. I thought it was a dumpling, but it turned out to be a boiled egg. Then I tried some iced coffee, and that was when I realized that the sweet wasn’t for the tourists.

     When I finally arrived in Krabi, I was greeted by the Projects Abroad employee, May. She took me to the office in the back of a truck that had been covered and had benches in it, apparently the “bus” of the area. This one was owned by Projects abroad and would come pick me and any other volunteers up everyday to take us to our school. I was surprised by how un-touristy the town looked, I didn’t see any shops or hotels that looked like they catered just to tourists. At the office, she introduced me to two other Projects Abroad workers, one of which would be helping me get ready to work in the schools. After picking up some documents, we headed to meet my host family.

     I’m staying on an island right across from the town, entirely populated by Muslims. You get to it by taking a little long boat across the bay. The pilot sang as he motored us across and didn’t complain about hauling my big old suitcase across. It is very quiet, only a few little shops and a Mosque and a couple of restaurants. There are no roads, just something like a wide sidewalk that people ride their motorcycles on. The houses are all unique: some of them are entirely raised on flats, some of them are grounded with tile floors and large front porches, some a mixture of both. There are many different colors with lots of flowers planted around. They are fairly well spaced apart and some have landscaping around them. The house I’m staying at has a mixture of raised and tiled floors. There is a large shaded porch with a tile fish pound out front, then a lower floor where I and the other volunteer sleep, then a raised kitchen and family quarters. I have my own room and bathroom. The bathroom is quite unlike anything else I’ve ever experience. No hole for a toilet, I’m very glad to say, but you flush by pouring water down the toilet. There is no separate shower, the little room is tiled and off to the side is a shower head you can take off the wall to use. Only cold water, but that’s just fine because it’s so humid and sticky here. Very clean and not at all unpleasant. I have a double bed which is very comfortable and a bookshelf and wardrobe.

     The family is very welcoming. The mother cooks for us and she showed me how to wash dishes and the like. She even lets me play with her adorable baby. She also has three other children, two of them grown, and one older elementary school girl. The father works in town and probably speaks the best English.

     Last night, the girl taught me a card game to help me stay awake, something kind of like war, and she taught me to count to three in Thai (Nun, Song, Sam, I think) and thank you. I got to meet the other volunteer staying there, Trevor, an undergrad from the states. He arrived on Thursday but has already had the chance to go on a jungle tour and to visit a beach. He filled me in on the way the project will work.

     Today, May is taking me around town and getting me settled. I got up early with Trevor to have breakfast and get used to the schedule. I’m not experiencing jet lag too badly, yet. We had a delicious breakfast of some kind of fried eggs with a sweet dough and a kind of fried bread. I also had a cup of coffee, sweet of course.

Meds

     Apparently, travel medication is not exactly easy to come by these days. First, I had to go to my general  practitioner. She recommended Malaria tablets, Hep A, and a tetanus booster. The Malaria was fairly easy to come by, she just called in a prescription for me (pictured above). My insurance even paid for it.   What they didn't tell me was that the insurance would only let me fill 30 at a time. So after some confusion, I finally got all I needed. A bit confused how they expect me to keep it at 70 F, as my apt isn't even that cool in the summer. I use the windows until it starts scraping 90 F. 

     Next up were the shots. After checking the CDC, I also saw that I should probably get a Typhoid shot. I called my local Health dept, but they said I'd better go some place else. Very nice, just not helpful. After calling around, it turned out that the Little Clinic in Kroger was my best choice. So after a couple of mis-tries (lines too long, out of the shot I needed, ect) I finally got my Tetanus, Hep A, and even Whooping cough done (came with one of them, can't remember which). But the Hep A was kind of just an exercise in finger crossing, since it requires two doses, six months apart. As I didn't find out for sure I was going till late Feb, that wasn't really an option. I'll get the second dose when I get back. 

     With just one medication to go, I thought I was going to have to drive to the Farragut Little Clinic to get the Typhoid. Apparently I misunderstood, they could prescribe the pill form with the live virus for me. Wish I had known this before, I could've got it the first time or even asked my PA to prescribe it. Now, I was faced with finding a pharmacy that would actually fill it within the week. I took it to the Walgreens near me and they looked at me, and looked at their computer screens, and looked anything but hopeful. "Come back tomorrow," they said. I did. "Come back again, tomorrow." I was running out of tomorrows. Finally, the third tomorrow, they had it. I took it home and read the label: "Take every other day for 4 days one hour before eating." I could do that tomorrow. I left it in my 85 F apt over night, and then took it in the morning. But after I opened up the package, took out the bottle, and, confusedly, took a box out of the bottle, I read "keep refrigerated." Really? They couldn't put that on the outer bag??? It also read, "take 1 hr before eating or 2-3 hrs after." Good gravy. 

    To top it all, I left it at the apt. Guess I'll be going back tomorrow. At least I left it in the fridge.