Out with the Old!

I thought it was about time to show pictures of my apartment and to update everyone with what happened with that.

My first apartment, as I mentioned before...was the pits.  It seemed like all the broken furniture was put in there; my dresser drawer was broken and therefore unusable, one of my balcony doors wouldn't open, one of my headboard doors was busted, and my air con would never work quite right.  It also had an ant infestation (two actually, with different types of ants), which I think I took care of...but I never could get rid of the spiders. The walls were also dingy and unclean looking, with half of one of my walls not wallpapered.  The worst part though, and the only really unbearable thing about it, was the view. I looked right out onto our neighboring apartment block's wall.  This meant no natural sunlight, no view, no (quasi)-refreshing breeze.  I never did feel relaxed or comfortable in there.

Messy room!

 

The washroom and shower

The "view"

Well, I asked to be put on the wait list to move into a different apartment, and within the week I had a new apartment!  It took a while to get the key to move in as our university night courses started, but when I did I moved all my belongings into the new apartment that night. It was an easy move too, just across the hall, literally about 5 steps.

Well, things feel totally different.  I can relax in my new place; sip on tea, read, enjoy my natural sunlight and view... it also feels quite a bit larger, and things actually function properly!  I couldn't be happier with where I am now. 

Here are some pictures of my new, wonderful place:

The large entrance way, great for keeping shoes and purses.

Natural sunlight and a larger space.

Le View.

You'll notice that there is a truck parked near the bottom right of the last picture.  That is actually the fruit truck that comes by every morning.  It has a large speakerphone which the person driving (I am guessing) uses to let everyone know that he is comin' 'round.  Right after I took this picture I ran down the stairs of my apartment trying to catch him so I could have fruit for breakfast...but alas, I was too slow.

Fun Thailand...

Beautiful Thailand....

Team Building and Hua Hin

It's been a super busy first week here in Thailand.  Everyone agrees that it feels like we've been away for way longer than a week.

Last weekend we had our "key stage" team building.  "Key stage" refers to the age groups that you teach. The M1, 2, 3, and specialty area groups (like physical education and music) is the key stage that I fall into.  (P.s, M1, 2, and 3 are grades 7, 8, and 9).

Anyway, we went to Cha'an for team building.  We stayed at a very lovely Holiday Inn (at least, I think it was a Holiday Inn), and had a lot of very fun activities used to build moral and get acquainted with each other within the key stages, especially between the Thai teachers and the international teachers.  I told my group right off the bat that I can be very competitive, but I think it worked to our advantage because we ended up winning! 

On the black team, me, Martine, and Jen..... representing the orange team, Mary and Reanna......and I don't know where Shari is.  

One of the funner activities was one in which we needed to carry a cup full of water from one end of the room to the other without using our hands to hold onto the cup, which was attached to our heads via an elastic band.  It was really fun, and we all got quite wet (which is why we are wet in the picture above) but we all welcomed this in the hot, hot weather.  We also did a sort of fashion design contest.  I ended up being the model, so all I needed to do was stand there while they created the dress on me, and then strut my stuff on the catwalk.  We also rocked that one, if I may say so myself.

The next day we took off to Hua Hin.  This part of our weekend wasn't for team building, but it was to get together with the campus 1 and 2 people (my group is at campus 3, which is about a 2 hour drive to the other two campuses, so we don't get to see eachother a lot throughout the year.)  It was a lot of fun, especially since there was a beach in this town!  Highlights include riding a horse down the beach (and getting a super cheesy plate from it) and getting a massage with the other girls and our prof.  

Speaking of our professor, we started our first course this evening - Special Education. I think I am really going to enjoy this course.  It will be mostly discussion based so not a lot of stressful homework and tests, and the prof is very passionate about the subject.  Plus, I think I even concinved her that it would be a fabulous idea to have one or two discussion based classes in the pool!  Looking forward to that for sure!

Love you all!

Good Morning!

May 3rd

Can't stand the heat?   

Get rid of all that extra hair!

Being a hair model for your friend? Why not also be a playmate for the hairdresser's child!

This was the only photo I was able to snap of him because he was so shy.

Don't know his name because this playful but shy little guy wouldn't have any of my introduction, but Martine and I had a delightful time playing "dinosaur" with him as we waited for Jen to cut her hair.  We also taught him how to high five and fist bump with explosion.  
Rock on.


Speaking of heat, the locals are telling us that it hasn't been this hot in Bangkok for 30 years!  Sounds like Winnipeg and the warm winter everyone enjoyed.


Before going with Jen to get her hair cut we went for a short walk, and along with a bunch of soi dogs.....

We also happened across a very interesting game of what I can only dub hackyball.  If hacky sack and volleyball had a love child, this is what it would look like:

The rest of the week so far was spend in Cha'an and Hua Hin for our team building exercises (Flight of the Concords anyone), and relaxation, which I will write more about later.

Love you all!

Kelsey

Corn and Geckos

To Corn, or not to Corn.....

Yesterday Shari, Martine and I were at the mall picking up a few other needed items.  Among other mini-adventures, such as browsing the food court food market...

....and trying out a new fat-jiggler (circa 1950s)...

....we found out about a very strange ice cream topping.  Apparently, Thais think a good topping for a sundae is corn.  Corn.  Well of course one of us had to try it, and brave Martine bit the bullet.

I think she actually enjoyed it, but the weird mix of textures and tastes made my taste buds sad.

Later that evening we were all hungry but exhausted, so we thought we would order in.  Earlier on the trip we found out that almost every restaurant delivers, so we decided it would be interesting to have McDonald's delivered to our apartment block.  Now if only they also serve beer like in Germany, then we would be all set.

Today we decided to head over to Khao San road to see what the hype is about.  I have to say, I was unimpressed.  While there was a lot of stuff to buy and things to see, and I did have a great time, I just felt like it was a bit hyped up.  It reminded me of Wall Drug in South Dakota in that way.

After we got back we were incredibly hot, so we took a quick swim in the school's pool before heading off to dinner (the food here is as amazing as they say, by the way!).

When I got home I said hello to my little roommate, chilling out in our bathroom.  I think he likes how humid it is in there, along with the fact that in there he can eat like a king.

Love you all!