After 6 incredible weeks of climbing volcanoes, eating strange and oftentimes delicious foods, sleeping in sometimes awesome and sometimes creepy guesthouses, hostels, hotels and bungalows, hitching rides via monorail, bemo, microlet and boat (not all at once), tarsier-chasing, leech-spying, jungle-trekking, and swimming to our hearts' content in crystal clear waters, we flew back into BKK on April 29th. I for one was initially pretty bummed and felt that I could have easily spent a year in the grubby backpacking lifestyle, funds permitting. In Malaysia and Indonesia we were able to eat and get around with only minor setbacks as their language is in roman letters and completely phonetic! We (mostly passively) learned about as much Bahasa as we know Thai and it was actually possible to speak and be understood on the first try -- amazing. Coming back to Thailand almost seemed like coming back home, but without the convenience of being able to do or get anything with ease. The writing is still psychedelic scribble (I am going to work on learning the alphabet this semester), and even though you practice and repeat a word exactly like a Thai native pronounces it, you're still saying it wrong and your efforts will only be met with blank stares followed by giggles (cute at first... then it gets annoying).
On a more positive note, Brandon and I were able to see just how far we have come in adjusting to living in Thailand since we first landed in October of 2011 when we attended a Thai culture course set up by our agency to welcome the new teachers for the coming semester. Around 65+ teachers and company staff congregated in Rayong and for 5 days we attended culture lectures in the lobby of our hotel. Everyone took a pre-test on the afternoon of the first day (I ended up with the highest score of 40/60!) and throughout the week we got the do's and don't's (which we mostly already knew), and the basics of Thai history, religion, language, educational system, economic system, food, dance etc. I really wish I had been able to attend this course before our first semester!
Brandon, Laura (a new PSC teacher that had already taught in Lopburi), and I were asked to do a Question and Answer session for all the new teachers and I was surprised at how much helpful advice we were able to give everyone. After months of feeling like a fish out of water, I realized that I was rather in the know and not as unaccustomed as I had considered myself to be. Many people came up to thank us afterwards, and it was quite a rewarding experience.
Sugar celebrated a somewhat uneventful, however pleasant, 27th birthday on the 4th day of the course. We went swimming and got pizza.
That's the general overview, here are the pictures!
05.06.2012
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| New PSC teacher Kate from England! |
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| Official birthday boy at midnight! |
05.07.2012 Happy birthday, Brandon!
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| Cam's action shot |
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| Hello. Yes, this is Toddler. |
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| Kate made Brandon a rad Star Trek themed card with a band-aid on it |
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| This half-Thai, half-Italian little girl is the daughter of the restaurant owners and would show us her toys and hang out with us. So cute! |
05.08.2012
Left Rayong a little late and had to make a one night pit stop in Bangkok before getting back to Nakhon Pathom. The only picture-worthy sight:
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