i bought "the sorrow of war" before i left thailand. it's a northern vietnamese's personal story on the war in vietnam. it's incredibly heartbreaking and humanizing and shows the bloody, gruesome, these-things-tear-your-soul-apart side of war. it was banned in vietnam when it first came out. i promised the book i would finish it before i got to 'nam (friday, oct. 1).
i'm on don det right now. i was only gonna stay here for two nights, but i have a hammock on my balcony over (literally over) the mekong river and that promise i made to my still-unfinished book...so i'm staying for three. i love trips in southeast asia.
this is one of the most phenomenal places i've ever been. i wanna bring all over you here and show you the hot chocolate-colored waters, the rice paddies so green leprechauns would be jealous, the irrawaddy dolphins, the quiet, unassuming buffalo, the adorable piglets, the adorable chicks, the adorable ducklings, the adorable combo of curious ducks and chickens. the sunsets and sunrises here are unreal. for the last two days i've been biking across don det and don khon, another island just a few kilometers down the way and across a bridge.
someday, when i'm rich, i'm taking you all on a trip here. all you need are a few tshirts, a couple pairs of shorts, and a few promises to some books.
26.9.10
four different kinds of transportation
if you're my friend on fbook (and you have the privilege of seeing my statuses...muahaha) then this'll look familiar: a car, a van, a BTS ride, a taxi, a bus, four hours of waiting, another bus, and a tuk tuk ride later, I'M IN LAOS, BABY!
cars, metros, buses, and tuk tuks, oh my! i left suphan yesterday around 5:30 pm and after all of the switching transportation and border crossing shenanigans, i got to pakse around noon. checked into my room--plain but perfect--took a shower, and pretty much immediately went to lunch. chicken laap, sticky rice, and beer laos. i was sitting in this corner restaurant in this quiet little town and i couldn't figure out how life could get much better.
then i did: i could be doing this on an island in si phan don. so i'm going there tomorrow :-D it's just two and a half hours away, plus a ferry ride. nbd. but then i'll be tehre for three, potentially four days of waking up early (i like the mornings, ok?), drinking coffee, riding bikes through rice paddies, taking naps on hammocks, eating bread/rice/CARBS I LOVE CARBS, and drinking beer laos. the beer isn't even particularly delicious, but it's just something about it that makes it so great...maybe it's cuz there are advertisements everywhere, maybe it's cuz i'm in a communist country right now and this is the beer of the land...uh oh. maybe i shouldn't be mentioning that in a post from a laos computer. 55. oops.
cars, metros, buses, and tuk tuks, oh my! i left suphan yesterday around 5:30 pm and after all of the switching transportation and border crossing shenanigans, i got to pakse around noon. checked into my room--plain but perfect--took a shower, and pretty much immediately went to lunch. chicken laap, sticky rice, and beer laos. i was sitting in this corner restaurant in this quiet little town and i couldn't figure out how life could get much better.
then i did: i could be doing this on an island in si phan don. so i'm going there tomorrow :-D it's just two and a half hours away, plus a ferry ride. nbd. but then i'll be tehre for three, potentially four days of waking up early (i like the mornings, ok?), drinking coffee, riding bikes through rice paddies, taking naps on hammocks, eating bread/rice/CARBS I LOVE CARBS, and drinking beer laos. the beer isn't even particularly delicious, but it's just something about it that makes it so great...maybe it's cuz there are advertisements everywhere, maybe it's cuz i'm in a communist country right now and this is the beer of the land...uh oh. maybe i shouldn't be mentioning that in a post from a laos computer. 55. oops.
23.9.10
this week
i'm thrilled to get to laos to have five days by myself in nature, rolling through coffee-bean-filled plateaus, seeing gorgeous waterfalls, peeping on some rare fresh water dolphins, reading "the sorrow of war," waking up early in the morning and just strolling around.
i'm way more upset than i expected to be to leave these kids. the unexpected gifts, the sincere sentiments from them, the personal song, the "when will you come back?"s are too much for little me.
i can't wait to get to hanoi. after that quiet nature time i'm gonna be pumped up to get in an INSANE city. shopping shopping shopping. (btw, shopping alone is one of my favorite hobbies.)
i can't believe i'll (probably) never see these kids again, and absolutely never again as a whole class...unless i come back feb 2012 to see them graduate. :)
explaining to my students why i'm leaving thailand has been difficult.
student: "ohh teacha, i miss you!" (side note: verb tenses are hard.)
me: "i'm gonna miss you too! i love you all. thailand's a beautiful place."
student: "when you come back to thailand?"
me: "umm...i dunno...not for a long time."
student: "aww! what do you do in america?"
me: "i don't have a job."
so you love us...you love thailand...you have a job here...why are you leaving again?
(note: because i miss my family and friends desperately. fear not, i'll see you all soon <3)
i'm way more upset than i expected to be to leave these kids. the unexpected gifts, the sincere sentiments from them, the personal song, the "when will you come back?"s are too much for little me.
i can't wait to get to hanoi. after that quiet nature time i'm gonna be pumped up to get in an INSANE city. shopping shopping shopping. (btw, shopping alone is one of my favorite hobbies.)
i can't believe i'll (probably) never see these kids again, and absolutely never again as a whole class...unless i come back feb 2012 to see them graduate. :)
explaining to my students why i'm leaving thailand has been difficult.
student: "ohh teacha, i miss you!" (side note: verb tenses are hard.)
me: "i'm gonna miss you too! i love you all. thailand's a beautiful place."
student: "when you come back to thailand?"
me: "umm...i dunno...not for a long time."
student: "aww! what do you do in america?"
me: "i don't have a job."
so you love us...you love thailand...you have a job here...why are you leaving again?
(note: because i miss my family and friends desperately. fear not, i'll see you all soon <3)
20.9.10
saying goodbye sucks
i have 5/5 for the last time tomorrow. my classes are like my children and i know i'm not supposed to pick favorites but...
5/5 is hands down my favorite. when i taught them last semester, i never had a co-teacher. they respected me and listened to me and treated me like i had something to say anyway, without being forced to. they've been really open and honest with me, and in return, i've been so with them. i've had some of my favorite conversations in the past year with these kids. they make me feel like i'm good at this not because i'm a foreigner, but because i'm nicki arnold.
oh god, that was easily one of the cheesiest things i've ever said. excuse me for being bizarrely emotional this week. it's a weird time in life.
post-class edit: i cried.
5/5 is hands down my favorite. when i taught them last semester, i never had a co-teacher. they respected me and listened to me and treated me like i had something to say anyway, without being forced to. they've been really open and honest with me, and in return, i've been so with them. i've had some of my favorite conversations in the past year with these kids. they make me feel like i'm good at this not because i'm a foreigner, but because i'm nicki arnold.
oh god, that was easily one of the cheesiest things i've ever said. excuse me for being bizarrely emotional this week. it's a weird time in life.
post-class edit: i cried.
19.9.10
a bts waterfall
i went to bangkok yesterday for no important reason, really. it's my last weekend in thailand and i wanted to do some shopping to make sure i got everything. (evidently i didn't cuz i managed to buy some stuff.) lauren, christie, and i went to the chatuchak weekend market, which is essentially all of the stuff that has ever been for sale in thailand in ONE AMAZINGLY HUGE MARKET.
it was overcast and the skies were yelling at us with huge thunderous shakes. it was threatening rain. as we were leaving--they to their friend's apt, me to the bts--the clouds finally let the trap door open and baaaaaaammmmmmm monsoon season came on in full force. fat drops of rain fell and i looked like i took a shower in my clothes. you could kind of see through my pants, which is wildly scandalous but what can ya do? i (and about a hundred other people) made it to the shelter of the bts. loads and loads of water fell off the trains. everyone was all giggly in the way that only sudden, intense rainfall can make a group of people.
i sat down next to the sweetest american couple on the train. they had midwest accents and we talked for about six stops. i love random conversations with strangers. this is one of the top 10 things i'm looking forward to in america/any country where i speak the same language as people.
my hair's a hot mess (it's all thin and i haven't had it cut since sarah trimmed it on koh chang in april) so i got it cut. the lady was really sweet, spoke excellent english, and didn't turn my hair into an asian hair style. she blow dried it and everything. i felt pretty and fancy for the first time in months.
i wandered the city for a while to soak in the insanity one last time and came home to join maddy, ally, ally's thai bf dton and, later, his brother dtam for some drinking and hilarious talking. yesterday ruled.
it was overcast and the skies were yelling at us with huge thunderous shakes. it was threatening rain. as we were leaving--they to their friend's apt, me to the bts--the clouds finally let the trap door open and baaaaaaammmmmmm monsoon season came on in full force. fat drops of rain fell and i looked like i took a shower in my clothes. you could kind of see through my pants, which is wildly scandalous but what can ya do? i (and about a hundred other people) made it to the shelter of the bts. loads and loads of water fell off the trains. everyone was all giggly in the way that only sudden, intense rainfall can make a group of people.
i sat down next to the sweetest american couple on the train. they had midwest accents and we talked for about six stops. i love random conversations with strangers. this is one of the top 10 things i'm looking forward to in america/any country where i speak the same language as people.
my hair's a hot mess (it's all thin and i haven't had it cut since sarah trimmed it on koh chang in april) so i got it cut. the lady was really sweet, spoke excellent english, and didn't turn my hair into an asian hair style. she blow dried it and everything. i felt pretty and fancy for the first time in months.
i wandered the city for a while to soak in the insanity one last time and came home to join maddy, ally, ally's thai bf dton and, later, his brother dtam for some drinking and hilarious talking. yesterday ruled.
18.9.10
on how life rules
i get really worried sometimes. are my grades fair? am i gonna have too much stuff to carry around on this big trip? what if all the guesthouses in pakse are full? what if i don't have enough clothes for egypt? what if this bug bite turns into a huge infection? what if i run out of money? (i think about that last one probably every day.)
but really, why worry so much? i'm going on this PHENOMENAL trip around the world. yes, there are gonna be hard parts and yes, i'm gonna be poor after. but what does it matter? if there were no hard parts, it wouldn't be traveling (and especially not budget traveling). there'll be hard nights spent in crappy hostels, there'll be a moment where i realize i'm gonna be poorer than i want to be at home, there'll be times when i want nothing more than to be in a clean bed.
but when i'm not having those times, i'm gonna be eating delicious food (see further: vietnamese pho, indian curry, egyptian falafels, swiss chocolate, french bread). i'm gonna be staring out a train looking over the swiss alps. i'm gonna be having some perfect walk through paris and in a city where country music is so out of place, sugarland will come on randomly on my ipod and i'm gonna be SO INSANELY HAPPY at that moment that everything--the money, the hardships, the planning, the hours on buses/trains/planes--will be forgotten.
:-D
but really, why worry so much? i'm going on this PHENOMENAL trip around the world. yes, there are gonna be hard parts and yes, i'm gonna be poor after. but what does it matter? if there were no hard parts, it wouldn't be traveling (and especially not budget traveling). there'll be hard nights spent in crappy hostels, there'll be a moment where i realize i'm gonna be poorer than i want to be at home, there'll be times when i want nothing more than to be in a clean bed.
but when i'm not having those times, i'm gonna be eating delicious food (see further: vietnamese pho, indian curry, egyptian falafels, swiss chocolate, french bread). i'm gonna be staring out a train looking over the swiss alps. i'm gonna be having some perfect walk through paris and in a city where country music is so out of place, sugarland will come on randomly on my ipod and i'm gonna be SO INSANELY HAPPY at that moment that everything--the money, the hardships, the planning, the hours on buses/trains/planes--will be forgotten.
:-D
16.9.10
i was being a drama queen
this not having a computer business hasn't acutally been that big of a deal so far. that night when kate left sucked, but since then i've actually been pretty effective. i finshed all of my grading on the last paper assignment my kids'll ever have to do, which means I'M FRIGGIN DONE GRADING THAI PAPERS FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRR!
also, the lovely and generous kristin has offered up her computer this weekend. she and tyler are headed to bali (lucky sobs) sans computer, so i'll babysit it. woot :-D
finals have been excellent this week, btw. i'm doing oral finals (ha ha, jokes about oral), where we just sit in a small group and talk about things: marriage, children, heros, the future, fears, etc. something funny:
me: "what are you most afraid of?"
girl: "umm..elephant...ummm" (the girl and her two friends put their arms to their faces and mimic trunks.)
me: "elephant trunks? you're afraid of elephant trunks?!"
girl: "yeah."
also, a lot of kids wanna make a lot of money and travel to korea to get plastic surgery :-(
also, the lovely and generous kristin has offered up her computer this weekend. she and tyler are headed to bali (lucky sobs) sans computer, so i'll babysit it. woot :-D
finals have been excellent this week, btw. i'm doing oral finals (ha ha, jokes about oral), where we just sit in a small group and talk about things: marriage, children, heros, the future, fears, etc. something funny:
me: "what are you most afraid of?"
girl: "umm..elephant...ummm" (the girl and her two friends put their arms to their faces and mimic trunks.)
me: "elephant trunks? you're afraid of elephant trunks?!"
girl: "yeah."
also, a lot of kids wanna make a lot of money and travel to korea to get plastic surgery :-(
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