January 24, 2010

Before coming to Thailand, I was feeling guilty about my amazing life (hehe). I thought that coming here would be my chance to be challenged and work hard to give back to the world without having everything handed to me. Working as an English teacher has certainly been a challenge, but this past weekend had me wondering yet again what I've done to be such an incredibly lucky person.

On Saturday a group of us visited the Tiger Temple.
"Wat Tham Seua (Tiger Cave Temple) 5 km from Krabi Town is a small temple built inside a long shallow limestone cave, surrounded by natural forest. The temple, one of the south's most famous meditation centres, takes its name from a stone formation nearby which resembles a tiger's claw. Today, about 250 monks and nuns live in the temple compound." (www.krabi-thailand.org/sight/index.php)

We climbed the infamous 1,237 steps to get to the top of the limestone mountain...each step being the size of my calves and the width of my foot. It was quite the experience holding onto the railing to pull myself up each "step". Luckily there are landings at each flight of about 50 stairs to take a quick breather every so often.

Once at the top, dripping in sweat and nearly out of breathe, I remember thinking that I had never felt so genuinely rewarded. A massive golden Buddha sits in the middle of a huge platform, along with a pagoda and several other beautiful Buddha statues. We had intentionally arrived at the temple extra early to avoid the intense heat and hundreds of tourists, so we were the only ones at the top. I stood there in amazement circling around the big Buddha and taking in the 360 view of Krabi, the surrounding areas, and the sea. It was the most perfect combination of spirituality and nature, and I loved that we had to work hard to have the chance to see it.

After making our way down (which was much harder than you'd think), we sat amongst all the scary looking monkies that live around the temple area. I had been anticipating my first encounter with wild monkies for months...maybe even years. My vision of cuddling with a cute little monkey did not quite match my experience with the dozens and dozens of crazy monkies jumping around at the Tiger Temple. They were everywhere, and they were vicious! They jump and swing around grabbing anything in sight...which unfortunately included my reusable water bottle! I stood up for a second to take a picture when this sneaky monkey jumps along and snatches it away from me. He was very infatuated with it, cuddling it, tossing it around, and eventually untwisting the cap, so I decided to let him keep it (ha ha). Thank god he didn't decide to go for my camera!

After returning from Krabi after some shopping and pizza (pizza had never tasted so good after being apart from one shred of cheese for two weeks), I didn't think my weekend could get any better. That's when I was informed that this woman named Bum was calling GVI trying to get a hold of Ella and I. We had met her at Pa Pui's house the weekend before. She is the sweetest woman, married to the chief of Ao Luk police department, and she loves practicing her English with us. GVI couldn't understand what message she was trying to relay to us, so Bum showed up out of nowhere looking for us. She told Kerry (one of the staff members here) that she wanted Kerry, Ella, and I to come sightseeing with her on Sunday. "Pallywat pick you up at half 6 in the morning. Wear bikini." And so we did....

We had previously met two photographers from Bangkok at Pa Pui's house, who are currently working on helping Pa Pui's family advertise their soon-to-be homestay and the areas surrounding Ao Luk to lure in tourists. So we went on this boat trip with Bum, two friends, and the photographers to model for the adverts. Since it was bikini modeling, they wanted very skinny models so I was saved from having to do sexy poses on rocks like my thin friends did. This all probably sounds very sketchy and weird, but the photographers and Bum are the most down to earth people and their main intention was to the capture the beauty of the area...keeping in mind the style of advertisements that generally appeal to tourists. We were taken out on a motorboat to the most peaceful limestone islands and beaches. Our main task was to kayak around beautiful islands while the photographer took shots from the boat. This was actually quite difficult because not only did we have to steer the kayaks at the right angles, but we were being shouted directions in Thai the entire time--very entertaining. Bum was feeding us exotic fruits all along the way, taking such good care of us. We went swimming, visited a beautiful white sand beach, and ended up at Mu Ko Hong, many Thais' very favorite island. The sand was white, soft, and doughy, and the water was sparkling clear. I swam in the water, fed gorgeous yellow fishies, ate a shrimp stirfry that appeared in front of me, and slept on the beach until we were the last people in sight (there were many tourists at first). We headed back home in peace, watching the sun hide behind the karsts and communicating as much as possible (which was very little considering the language barrier). When I thought our perfect day had come to an end, we arrived at an amazing seafood resaurant on the edge of the water, where we were treated to the freshest (and biggest) crabs, shrimps, calamari, and delicious flaky fishes.

the photographer

Mu Ko Hong

Ella, me, Kerry

Bum

Sak

My legs are still pulsing from Saturday and I am more sunburnt than I have ever been (not an exaggeration), but it's just my body's way of constantly reminding me of my incredible weekend.

January 21, 2010

Here I am, sitting at my lovely next door neighbors' "house". It's the cell phone shop/a wonderful family's home. I am half indoors, half outdoors, I can't even explain. My "house" is on the other side of the wall. The family is laughing and drinking beer next to me. I came to ask them what time the internet cafe stays open until, and they offered me beer, peanuts, and their computer to use.....A perfect example of how truly generous the Thai people are. I just said "sawatdee ka" (hello) to a guest that just arrived and they are giggling...Who knows what they say about me :) They are playing English music, probably because I am here. Today was the first day that I began to feel genuinely comfortable in Ao Luk. Up until now I have had a slight sense of fear walking around the town, which I think is probably a good thing. I came here not understanding the culture but being told by everyone at GVI that Ao Luk is extremely safe, but I needed to figure it out for myself. Today I decided that I need to find a way to exercise here. It seemed nearly impossible considering the cracked sidewalks (and when I say cracked, I mean you are nearly rock-hopping as you walk down the street). I walked down to the community center area late this afternoon and jogged around the field while all the Thai guys were playing soccer. It felt so good to exercise and feel comfortable in my surroundings. I remembered that I heard something about an aerobics class in the open market in the evenings, so I walked over and ended up joining in with all of the Thai women who nearly dragged me into the group to join them. There I was, attempting these INSANE foot stepping and arm motion routines in a group of about 30 Thai women. The steps were ridiculously confusing but I sort of got the hang of it, and was laughing at myself the whole time. As I walked home, nearly every person I passed waved hello and smiled at me. They do this every day, but this was the first time that I felt it to be genuine. I recognized the same families and dogs and cats that I walk by every day, and they recognized me. Now I realize that when people in cars honk as they pass by me, it is not creepy or intrusive but simply their way of saying hello! I also now realize that the dogs and cats do in fact have owners, and that they are not out to get me. They look scary and disease-infested to me because I am so used to seeing spoiled pets, but really they are happy little pets that hang out outside their owners' shops and homes.

.... 1 hour later.
After getting off the neighbor's computer, he told me to join the party. "Baa" poured me beer and had me sit with all of his friends while he danced around. It was very special to sit with this group of about ten Thai people where I was clearly the center of attention. Communication was obviously very minimal, but it was so much fun to hang out and attempt to converse with these lovely people....while Thai techno music was blasting in the background.

January 20, 2010

Pa Pui's brother in law, "Mr. Satay" (the name of his restaurant), came to pick us up today to go bikeriding. The five of us (the 5 other girls teaching children and I) hopped in the back of his rickety red pick up truck (literally in the back part of the truck....that's how it works in Thailand). I sat on a bamboo bench with my knees up, facing the side of the street, holding onto the metal poles/rails?, letting the breeze touch my face (yes, there is plenty of "breeze" here!). "They" led us biking through a palm tree forest/plantation on a bumpy dirt path, which was very difficult/entertaining. They did give us helmets though! We arrived at this unreal place that I will attempt to explain. We walked over a little bamboo bridge into a secret little area that was essentially a square pond. Underneath the water is sand, and when you make noise or clap the sand and water bubble up and get bigger. When you are quiet, the sand and water are still. It's like the earth responds when you speak to it. And when you put your hand in the sand holes, it vibrates strongly and bubbles against your skin. They showed us this place as if it was nothing special, and had no explanation for the phenomenon. I got the impression that we were the first foreigners to ever see that particular patch of Thailand. We then followed our crew to the most gorgeous cave that had a massive golden Buddha statue. One of the Thai men shined his flashlight down a dark tunnel in the cave to show us the HUNDREDS of bats flapping around and sqealing! Straight out of a horror film.......After biking back to Pa Pui's we were immediately served refreshing honeydew juice followed by another amazing meal of different authentic Thai dishes that I can't pronounce. It's crazy how they treat us like princesses yet act like it's effortless. "Mai pen rai"....means don't worry, no problem...the way of life here :)

January 19, 2010

On Saturday we went kayaking in the Andaman Sea. Just about fifteen minutes from where I am staying. Guess we're not really inland after all.... It was incredible, relaxing, beautiful in every way. We went into 3 caves, one of which we had to lye down in our kayaks in order to fit through under a tree. We walked into one cave with 3,000 year old cave paintings...

kayaking in Bor Thor

I got my first EVER professional massage! The lady that everyone goes to is named Noi and she charges 150 baht for one hour...which is $5. Yes, five dollars for the most amazing massages. She is only a five minutes walk away too. I've been told that her Thai massage is really painful, so I got an oil massage to start off. I loved every second of it. It literally felt like she freed me of every bit of tension my body has accumulated over my 21 years of living. Also, she massaged my dozens of huge, painful mosquito bites that are clustered around my ankles and feet. I was worried that it would make them worse, but Noi said "tomorrow, they go away", and sure enough I never felt an itch afterwards. They are nearly gone now. I felt so rejuvinated and liberated walking home from my massage. When I returned, I was told my my housemates that we were being picked up in five minutes to go to one of the English teacher's house for dinner. I got in this car with my buddies and after driving for about 15 minutes, thought to myself, 'where the hell am I going, and who are these people?' After a minute of serious fear, we arrived at the most beautiful soon-to-be resort. Pa Pui's family made me feel right at home. They took care of us as if we were royalty, and invited us back to go bike riding later today. I'm still slightly confused, but from what I understand, Pa Pui and her family live in one of the houses in this community (which is named after her father), and other extended family live in some of the other houses. They are in the process of turning the place into a "homestay" aka a resort for travelers to stay. It used to be a palm tree plantation owned by Pa Pui's ancestors, and her parents were buried there. It's amazing how connected the families are. All of the other teachers I work with are somehow related to Pa Pui. Family means everything to the Thais. Outside of every shop and home there is a miniature temple for the family members who have passed away, and they put a plate of food out next to it every day.

January 15, 2010

On Friday we went to teach at a rural school about fifteen minutes up into the green mountainy area of Ao Luk (that's the best explanation I can give..). The Thai English teacher (ha) was the sweetest, smiliest person...so generous, bringing us drinks and hugging us nonstop. She came up to us during one of our lessons with her same cheerful look on her face saying something to the effect of "student grandfather, he die, on street there, we go, you come, we eat, we pray". Ella and I looked at each other completely confused. She was too excited and happy to have said that someone died. "He died?!" "Yes, yes, he die (big smile)". Apprently Thais smile and attempt to express happiness during what we would consider hard times. Anyway, the three of us followed the principle of the school to this wake for this dead Thai man whom we had never met. Dozens of blue plastic tables set up in literally the middle of nowhere. Sad looking families. Weird sights like a 3 year old boy carrying a huge chair three times the size of him. Flies everywhere. People throwing rocks at a gross looking dog. Ella and I attempted to act like this wasn't the strangest place we had ever been taken to. The four of us sat down and were served bowl after bowl of different versions of pork. I don't like eating pork in the first place so this was quite the experience. I can definitely say that this was the spiciest food I have ever eaten. When the last dish came, I said "dog?" to Ella, half joking, half serious because this meat looked very disturbing. I asked the principle what it was and she said "pork" so I took a bite. Then she said "pork liver, pork lung, pork heart." YUM! After we finished eating, we followed the lady to the area where the dead body was. At this point I was feeling uncomfortable and rude for just showing up to this funeral for a man I had no association with. The principle went up to the sacred area and did some sort of ritual. She then gestured for me to do the same. I looked around, had no idea what to do, and proceeded to kneel down and bow and light a stick of incense for the man whose photo was next to me.

some of the beautiful students at Tham Phet (the rural school)

January 12, 2010

Yesterday was really hectic. Ella, Narelle, and I taught 2 first grade classes and one fourth grade class. It was fine but we were really stressed out by the time we got to the fourth grade class. The children are adorable though. They treat us like we're famous. Dozens of kids reaching out to shake hands with us, children waving from across the school screaming "HELLOO HELLOO HELLOO!!!", and after class they all want our autographs (no joke!). It's hysterical. It is interesting to see the difference between the different schools we're working at. At the primary school the teachers often leave their classrooms, so we show up to a room full of students with no adult in the room. The kids are really bright though...they try really hard to speak English, and I cannot believe their perfect handwriting and amazing ability to draw. I'm actually in shock about how smart and talented those kids are compared to the first graders back home. Education is taken very seriously and the Thai teachers are very strict. They literally smack the kids or hit them with canes or rulers when they misbehave. OH--the national park! Literally five minutes down the road their is a gorgeous park full of beautiful waterfalls and natural swimming pools. It is the perfect peaceful getaway.

Than Bok Khorani National Park

me, Ella, and Narelle being swarmed by some of our lovely first graders :)


one of the CRAZY fourth grade classes...haha

January 10, 2010

I'm so busy! I think I'll be loving it once I get the hang of things. Today Jill basically taught us how to teach the kiddies English with games and activities. It is all common sense...there is no magic answer like I was expecting. But to my surprise, we are not supposed to speak any Thai at all to the children. We simply use exaggerated gestures and few words. The other volunteers are mostly in their twenties and really great people. Ella, Narelle and I jointly teach our first lessons tomorrow --eek!

January 9, 2010

Today was my first day in Ao Luk (pronounced Ow Look) and I already feel at home. This is precisely the change I needed. It is so nice to be away from the need for material items and concern about physical appearance. Here, everyone looks the way they look and they have what they have. GVI explained that their purpose of coming to Ao Luk was/is to help them maintain their beautiful sense of community while simultaneously developing the area to help them become more financially stable (through teaching the community how to speak English). The locals really respect and appreciate us for being here to help. Teachers are supposedly respected on a higher level than policemen, but the English teachers themselves can hardly speak English...

the GVI house

street view

I made it!

After two 10 hour flights and spending the night taking naps on the floor of the Bangkok airport, I am finally in Krabi. It was a long, enjoyable journey and I surprisingly made it without any troubles. The Canadian girl (Lee), the English girls (Emma and Ella) and I met up in the Bangkok airport and have been walking around little Krabi town together. We have already made ourselves known as the confused roaming foreigners. The four of us get along extremely well... they are all wonderful and we feel like long time friends already. I can't imagine being here on my own, where no one speaks fluent English and every person turns their head as we walk by. The area of town that we are in is full of little shops and people riding motorbikes in sandals without helmets...sort of how I imagined it to be. There is a river in back of the hotel with some beautiful scenery, but the town itself is much less...civilized...then I had expected. Our deluxe hotel room has a mirror that you can't see yourself in and ceilings caving down above our beds...but there is air conditioning!! My hair is dripping in sweat and is as frizzy as can be, and I'm ready for my second shower of the day. Sticky sticky sticky. All the clothes I brought with me are seeming thicker by the minute.
Can't wait to head to Ao Luk tomorrow and meet the rest of the volunteers!

p.s. I'm working on getting a phone, but have yet to find a legit phone shop...

where am i going?

THAILAND. I've said the word what seems like billions of times, but in 3 days these images in my head of this foreign place will come alive.

I'll be living and working in a Muslim community called Ao Luk in the Krabi province of Southern Thailand. I'm joining a volunteer organization--Global Vision International (GVI)--of which I've heard wonderful things, to teach English to little kiddos!

Some contact info for ya...

email: lindseykoro@gmail.com
Mailing address:
c/o Jill Walker, Lindsey Koro
PO Box #7
Ao Luk, Krabi 81110
Thailand
Physical address (delivery of larger items by courier):
Lindsey Koro
253 M. 2
Ao Luk, Krabi 81110
Thailand

I'll post my cell phone number once I get my Thai SIM card. Thailand is 15 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.

Time to put on my best smile, take a deep breath, and put my stable little life on hold :)
Later Americans, and sawatdee ka Thais!