[5/15/10 10:32:44 AM] Nicki Arnold: so i'm reading about the protests in the ny times
[5/15/10 10:32:45 AM] Nicki Arnold: and listen to what some of the protesters are doing
[5/15/10 10:32:48 AM] Nicki Arnold: "Some prepared to fling plastic bags filled with pungent fish sauce and hot chilies at soldiers. "
[5/15/10 10:32:51 AM] Nicki Arnold: FISH SAUCE BOMBS
[5/15/10 10:33:18 AM] Madeline Armstrong: WHAT! hahaha
[5/15/10 10:33:23 AM] Madeline Armstrong: thailand
[5/15/10 10:33:24 AM] Madeline Armstrong: that's insane
[5/15/10 10:33:32 AM] Nicki Arnold: 555
[5/15/10 10:33:35 AM] Nicki Arnold: of course
also, maddy and i regularly talk to each other on skype when we're 20 feet away from each other in our rooms.
14.5.10
back to school
first day back to school. no teaching today, but everyone was around in the office...i dunno, i think we were supposed to clean our desks and i guess the kids were cleaning the classrooms. it was like a warm up day. this is a brilliant idea, because the kids are clearly not in school mode yet.
students look excitedly at me and wave.
me: "hi! how are you?"
students: (scared, confused faces turn to smiles and nods)
no english. maddy and i ran into some of the girls we went to phuket with and we were like, "when's the last time you spoke english?" "two months ago!" they said. like it wasn't obvious.
anyway, so it was a warm up day today. we got our schedules in the morning and maddy and i felt like high schoolers ourselves. we studied up and compared. i think i have the suckier schedule this quarter (FOUR 8:30 am classes. blasted early class), but it's only fair cuz maddy's was def worse last quarter. we were all giddy walking into school this morning and walking past the hordes of students waiting to go to morning assembly. the first time we did this walk last semester, i was nervous and intimidated. this time, i felt like jumping up and down and going, "STUDENTS! we're back! aren't you thrilled?! I AM!" alright, maybe less cheesy and enthusiastic, but i was feeling somewhere along those lines.
it's like i forgot how much i actually really love this job. these kids rule.
kanchana came in, so we chatted with her for a bit.
"kanchana, do we have to teach today?"
"yes...no...i'm not ready, i'm not teaching today...up to you."
555. working in thailand. maddy and i looked at each other and decided we totally weren't either. i was really settling into the warm up idea.
sooooo we cleaned our desks and we were just hanging out, catching up with all the teachers, when noon goes, "nicki, you have a visitor. you want her to come up?" um...ok. i don't really understand who my visitor could be....
......OH WAIT. pause for a minute. when i was on the song tau through town the other day, this woman from amway sat down next to me and tried to talk to me for 10 minutes. she didn't know any english and my thai doesn't really extend beyond "i'm a teacher at sa-nguan ying," so we were sort of at a loss. but cuz it was a thai interaction, we were laughing a lot and being nice and having fun. she was like "thursday night...6:30...sa-nguan ying..." plus some thai words and i was like ummmm ok, thursday night at 6:30, i'll meet you in front of school, yeah, sure, here's my phone number. thursday night rolled around and i completely forgot about it. i figured it didn't matter--i had no idea what she wanted to meet for, anyway, so who gives a crap.
then she called me this morning--friday morning--and i could only tell it was her cuz she said like two english words and mostly unintelligible thai and "sa-nguan ying." i apologized to her and told her in thai that i forgot about last night, and sorry, ok bye!
what if this crazy woman from amway is my visitor?! so they said that she was coming up, but when she hadn't come up after 15 minutes or so maddy and i was like "we're hungry, let's go eat."
we come back from lunch and coffee about an hour later, and THERE SHE IS. the crazy amway woman who speaks a different language is sitting there at the desk behind mine. she started speaking and i looked at maddy desperately and i was like "oh my goddddd do you understand what's going on?" maddy tried to ask what she was doing...did she wanna do tutoring? learning? finally maddy was like "does she wanna sell you something?" yessss, that's what she wants. "ohhhh mai ow, kaaa." i don't want what you're selling.
"no sell. no sell. good produc!"
finally suriya came over to help translate the situation. "she wants to tell you about a product," suriya deduced. "i don't care about the product," i said. eventually the woman got the point, packed up her stuff, and left the office.
she came to my place of work to try to sell my amway beauty products. who does that? HONESTLY.
welcome back to work.
students look excitedly at me and wave.
me: "hi! how are you?"
students: (scared, confused faces turn to smiles and nods)
no english. maddy and i ran into some of the girls we went to phuket with and we were like, "when's the last time you spoke english?" "two months ago!" they said. like it wasn't obvious.
anyway, so it was a warm up day today. we got our schedules in the morning and maddy and i felt like high schoolers ourselves. we studied up and compared. i think i have the suckier schedule this quarter (FOUR 8:30 am classes. blasted early class), but it's only fair cuz maddy's was def worse last quarter. we were all giddy walking into school this morning and walking past the hordes of students waiting to go to morning assembly. the first time we did this walk last semester, i was nervous and intimidated. this time, i felt like jumping up and down and going, "STUDENTS! we're back! aren't you thrilled?! I AM!" alright, maybe less cheesy and enthusiastic, but i was feeling somewhere along those lines.
it's like i forgot how much i actually really love this job. these kids rule.
kanchana came in, so we chatted with her for a bit.
"kanchana, do we have to teach today?"
"yes...no...i'm not ready, i'm not teaching today...up to you."
555. working in thailand. maddy and i looked at each other and decided we totally weren't either. i was really settling into the warm up idea.
sooooo we cleaned our desks and we were just hanging out, catching up with all the teachers, when noon goes, "nicki, you have a visitor. you want her to come up?" um...ok. i don't really understand who my visitor could be....
......OH WAIT. pause for a minute. when i was on the song tau through town the other day, this woman from amway sat down next to me and tried to talk to me for 10 minutes. she didn't know any english and my thai doesn't really extend beyond "i'm a teacher at sa-nguan ying," so we were sort of at a loss. but cuz it was a thai interaction, we were laughing a lot and being nice and having fun. she was like "thursday night...6:30...sa-nguan ying..." plus some thai words and i was like ummmm ok, thursday night at 6:30, i'll meet you in front of school, yeah, sure, here's my phone number. thursday night rolled around and i completely forgot about it. i figured it didn't matter--i had no idea what she wanted to meet for, anyway, so who gives a crap.
then she called me this morning--friday morning--and i could only tell it was her cuz she said like two english words and mostly unintelligible thai and "sa-nguan ying." i apologized to her and told her in thai that i forgot about last night, and sorry, ok bye!
what if this crazy woman from amway is my visitor?! so they said that she was coming up, but when she hadn't come up after 15 minutes or so maddy and i was like "we're hungry, let's go eat."
we come back from lunch and coffee about an hour later, and THERE SHE IS. the crazy amway woman who speaks a different language is sitting there at the desk behind mine. she started speaking and i looked at maddy desperately and i was like "oh my goddddd do you understand what's going on?" maddy tried to ask what she was doing...did she wanna do tutoring? learning? finally maddy was like "does she wanna sell you something?" yessss, that's what she wants. "ohhhh mai ow, kaaa." i don't want what you're selling.
"no sell. no sell. good produc!"
finally suriya came over to help translate the situation. "she wants to tell you about a product," suriya deduced. "i don't care about the product," i said. eventually the woman got the point, packed up her stuff, and left the office.
she came to my place of work to try to sell my amway beauty products. who does that? HONESTLY.
welcome back to work.
12.5.10
april was supposed to be the hottest month
that's what everyone said--the internet, the teachers in the office, people who have read lonely planet, everyone. "get out of thailand in april," thai people warned us.
rocking, so april was indeed pretty friggin hot and now it's may, but IT'S STILL SO HOT. there's a story in the bangkok post today about how it's almost a heat wave and there's a nearly fatal threat of exhaustion throughout the country.
"Health officials fear there will be heat stroke fatalities if the high temperatures continue for several more days."
"Department records showed the maximum temperature in Bangkok hit 39.7C on Monday, three degrees above the hottest day on April 27 when the temperature reached 36.7C."
"'The extremely hot weather will stay for another few days,' Mr Maytee said."
another few days. awesome.
rocking, so april was indeed pretty friggin hot and now it's may, but IT'S STILL SO HOT. there's a story in the bangkok post today about how it's almost a heat wave and there's a nearly fatal threat of exhaustion throughout the country.
"Health officials fear there will be heat stroke fatalities if the high temperatures continue for several more days."
"Department records showed the maximum temperature in Bangkok hit 39.7C on Monday, three degrees above the hottest day on April 27 when the temperature reached 36.7C."
"'The extremely hot weather will stay for another few days,' Mr Maytee said."
another few days. awesome.
11.5.10
you're tan now
i went down the street today to drop off my laundry and get some coffee, so of course i had to walk by the place on the left. the two women were sweet as always...the young one who makes the food asked me easy things in thai (was it fun? beautiful? where did you go?) but the old lady said some mostly unintelligible things so i just smiled and nodded. efei and sisi were inside eating some grub, so i popped in to catch up to them. one of efei's first comments to me was that i looked skinnier in my face. of course that woman would make a remark on my weight right off the bat. nobody thinks more about bodies than efei. the old woman pointed to my skin and must've made some comment about how i was tanner.
then i went to ban ya's to catch up and get some coffee (first coffee since before i checked into the hospital! worapoj told me i couldn't have caffeine/alcohol for five days after i checked out. psh, communist). first thing she said was how i was tanner now.
ohhh suphan people, it's good to be back in your very observant company.
then i went to ban ya's to catch up and get some coffee (first coffee since before i checked into the hospital! worapoj told me i couldn't have caffeine/alcohol for five days after i checked out. psh, communist). first thing she said was how i was tanner now.
ohhh suphan people, it's good to be back in your very observant company.
things i would say to roommates
aka dumb things i'd say just to say.
i wanna do toastmasters again. i really miss it. i know i couldn't recreate the exact experience i had at school and it'd probably be an awkward let down, but i wanna try. the main bangkok club meets monday nights, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. the sucky part about that is that the last van to suphan leaves at 8:30 pm or something like that. too early for me to finish up the meeting and catch it back. so i could go to the meeting at just leave at 8 pm...but i don't wanna be one of those early leavers. it's always like they're not REALLY part of the club. and what if someone's giving a really good speech or i'm really clicking with some people there and i wanna hang out after? i can't stay in bangkok overnight...oooh or maybe i could. maybe i could just catch the early van back to suphan on tuesday morning...
OR here's my even more brilliant/idiotic idea. what if i rented a car? let me tell you how much i miss driving: A LOT. i know, i know, the traffic's insane here, i'd probably get in a thousand accidents, they drive on the left, it's so stupid, blah blah blah. but how fun would it be to have a car? we could just flit around central thailand on the weekends, dash out to kanchanaburi/ayutthaya/insert a place in thailand without worrying about a bus. that would be neat.
oh wow. renting a car is expensive. budget tells me it's about 1,000 baht/day for the cheapest one. man, i don't make that much money in a month. *sigh* looks like car rental is OUT.
man, living alone is boring. the only advantage is that i get to listen to country music all the time.
i wanna do toastmasters again. i really miss it. i know i couldn't recreate the exact experience i had at school and it'd probably be an awkward let down, but i wanna try. the main bangkok club meets monday nights, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. the sucky part about that is that the last van to suphan leaves at 8:30 pm or something like that. too early for me to finish up the meeting and catch it back. so i could go to the meeting at just leave at 8 pm...but i don't wanna be one of those early leavers. it's always like they're not REALLY part of the club. and what if someone's giving a really good speech or i'm really clicking with some people there and i wanna hang out after? i can't stay in bangkok overnight...oooh or maybe i could. maybe i could just catch the early van back to suphan on tuesday morning...
OR here's my even more brilliant/idiotic idea. what if i rented a car? let me tell you how much i miss driving: A LOT. i know, i know, the traffic's insane here, i'd probably get in a thousand accidents, they drive on the left, it's so stupid, blah blah blah. but how fun would it be to have a car? we could just flit around central thailand on the weekends, dash out to kanchanaburi/ayutthaya/insert a place in thailand without worrying about a bus. that would be neat.
oh wow. renting a car is expensive. budget tells me it's about 1,000 baht/day for the cheapest one. man, i don't make that much money in a month. *sigh* looks like car rental is OUT.
man, living alone is boring. the only advantage is that i get to listen to country music all the time.
9.5.10
suphannnnnnnn!
i'm back! wandering around the internet, listening to a mix bri bri just made for me, and loving life.
i just watched a keyt news video on floatopia this year. iv is the most magical city ever. i keep traveling all around the world but still have yet to find a place i've felt prouder to call home.
i'm all unpacked now and when i zipped up my backpack, i felt this big rush of sadness. this trip--this insane, two-and-a-half-month summer break from school--is what i'd been looking forward to all last semester, for months. as soon as the excitement of thailand had settled around me, i got pumped for this vacation.
and now it's over. i don't even have the excitement of thailand to distract me this semester. i mean, it's not like i'm not thrilled by this country still or whatever. it's just about settling into a routine this semester. and i've said i'm excited for said settling, but now that i'm here, sitting on my bed, doing the exact same thing i'm gonna be doing for the next five months...well, i don't know. it's just so dull sometimes. i immediately want it all back...long, insufferable bus rides, hot nights in fan-only rooms, heavy backpacks, bartering for crap, foreign beer, deet, lonely planet planning, daily massages, fruit+yogurt+muesli...
meh. it'll probably just take a few days to shake this feeling.
i just watched a keyt news video on floatopia this year. iv is the most magical city ever. i keep traveling all around the world but still have yet to find a place i've felt prouder to call home.
i'm all unpacked now and when i zipped up my backpack, i felt this big rush of sadness. this trip--this insane, two-and-a-half-month summer break from school--is what i'd been looking forward to all last semester, for months. as soon as the excitement of thailand had settled around me, i got pumped for this vacation.
and now it's over. i don't even have the excitement of thailand to distract me this semester. i mean, it's not like i'm not thrilled by this country still or whatever. it's just about settling into a routine this semester. and i've said i'm excited for said settling, but now that i'm here, sitting on my bed, doing the exact same thing i'm gonna be doing for the next five months...well, i don't know. it's just so dull sometimes. i immediately want it all back...long, insufferable bus rides, hot nights in fan-only rooms, heavy backpacks, bartering for crap, foreign beer, deet, lonely planet planning, daily massages, fruit+yogurt+muesli...
meh. it'll probably just take a few days to shake this feeling.
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