Oriental Orientation

Sawadee ka!!!!! greetings from the land of smiles, Thailand!

today was my first full day in Thailand.. and it sure was FULL! but before i go into what i did today, i should start from the beginning...

saying goodbye....

i feel like I've been saying goodbye forever.. slowly saying goodbye to friends and family members and slowly saying goodbye to american luxuries... normal toilets, mtv, starbucks, bacon... its been hard. but even harder than saying goodbye to starbucks, was saying goodbye to my parents, boyfriend, and best friend. my best friend of 10 years, sandra, had applied to CIEE with me and even got accepted to the program before i did (i never told you this but i was super jealous and bitter, but still very happy for you!) so when i got my acceptance to the program, i was ecstatic! however, due to some unfortunate circumstances, she couldn't join me. which meant i was going to be moving to the other side of the world completely alone. i was very sad :(   so saying goodbye was pretty tough. there were many tears and hugs but  between us going to different colleges for 5 years, and me being HORRIBLE with returning calls, we've managed to stay best friends for 10 years! I'm so thankful to have a friend like you sandra! i miss you lots and i have your picture with me!

and then there was the boyfriend... my Zachypooh.. the love of my life! saying goodbye to him felt like a train rolled over my heart! we have known each other for 8 years now. even in high school, when i hated his guts cause he was an obnoxious jock, i knew i would marry him (really, ask my friends, i said it!)! we have been together for almost a year.. and i JUST realized our 1 year anniversary is in a few weeks! i dreaded the day for a long time, and without giving away our private details and words we said to each other, i will say that it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. i love you muffin and miss you more than you know! 

my parents- i couldn't have done any of this without them! I'm so happy i got to spend the day in NYC with them the day before i left. it was a great day! however, once we got to Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay's restaurant which i had been talking about going to for weeks- i was so nervous about getting on the plane, i could barely get down one bite of my amazing looking $40 steak. so sad! the way to the airport was filled with more hugs and tears, and when it came time to say goodbye, i didn't want to let go. luckily, i saw a girl from my program there, so that gave me a reason to me strong and stop crying like a baby. and from that moment- i knew something life changing was about to happen! 

from then on we kept meeting more people in the program, and all of a sudden I'm sitting at a table with 8 other girls gabbing like I've known them for years! heres a funny story- it was late at night in the airport and everything seemed to be closing, so Kate and i went looking for somewhere we could buy a bottle of water. no luck anywhere. so one guy told us to go upstairs to the british airways lounge where maybe they had water.. well the very nice man at the desk told us to go on in and grab a bottle of water "oh and grab a snack too if you want" he said. so we walk in the lounge and its all these business guys, and it was really nice! we noticed there were snacks everywhere so we grabbed a soda and a bag of chips.. then noticed the bar. although very tempted to just take the bottle of vodka sitting there, we settled on taking a few beers for all the girls to share before getting on the LONG flight. it was awesome! the flight was not as bad as i thought. i sat right behind a girl who is sure to be one of my new bff's and the plane- I'm sorry, JUMBO AIRCRAFT, had tv's with lots of selections! 

airplane food- normally i picture a bag of peanuts and a small cup of sprite.. not this flight! i was served chicken with rice, salmon with cucumber and yogurt, bread, coffee and ice cream! this was at like 2 in the morning. sleep a few hours. wake up, next meal! scrambled eggs, fruit, bread and coffee. yum!

finally we land in Hong Kong. this airport is INSANE! the shopping is better than 5th avenue in NYC. theres a Tiffanys! and pretty much every other high end store you could think of. we all had a couple hours in the airport before our next flight, which is where i realized i wasn't on the flight with all my new friends :( i was on a separate one by myself. but i sat next to an awesome chinese girl and we talked the whole way! even on this smaller 3 hour flight, we got served amazing breakfast! so cool :)  ok so now, I'm walking off the plane, then it hits me... the heat. I'm still inside, but suddenly its hard to breathe! It was like walking into an oven. to make it worse, I'm all alone, and all the signs are in Thai! i figured out that i had to get in the long line and go through customs, which turned out to be pretty easy, but i stood there shaking the whole time i was waiting. it was very scary being alone and not sure if everything is going to be okay and not being sure of where to go. after finding my bags i found my group.. i had never been so relieved to run into people i barely knew before! 

we pile into a van and make our way through Bangkok to our hotel.. what an experience! driving is crazy- i don't care how awful you think the drivers in your city are- you haven't seen anything until you've been to Thailand. and I'm from south florida. enough said. after checking in and getting to know my roommate a little, we explored the outside road for a few minutes where i got totally ripped off on a bag of mango by a 10 yr old who mimicked me the entire time i was talking to him and where we also saw dead skinned chickens hanging by their necks.... sorry little birdies, but you're tasty! especially with all the spicy sauce! my first official meal in thailand- chicken with rice and cucumber, mango with fish sauce (effing gross!), and soup in a bag. yum! we were lame-o that night and were in bed asleep by 830. 

NOW- my first full day in Thailand!

woke up at 7 and was downstairs having breakfast with the group by 8. breakfast buffet looked more like dinner with the food selections. Thai's eat rice with everything and everything is spicy.. so everything looks like dinner! my first day of orientation was so inspiring! ***i hadn't even been here 24 hours but suddenly i knew i was home. it made all the tears seem kind of silly*** I'm already sad about the thought of leaving in a year :( we went over lots of info then had a coffee break. cups are served on a tray that is about a foot long, and on the other side of the tray is 2 tiny sweets. they <3 sweets here. then we were split into 3 groups where we had an intro to teaching course, then a coffee break. the sweets this time were shaped like hearts, and looked like jello with small black rice mixed in. it was better than it sounds. then came the crash course in Thai language.. uhhh.... this is gonna be tough. "sawadee ka!" how are you. "chen cheu lauren ka" my name is lauren. "prick" spicy. "gohok" liar. "sabaadi mai" how are you.... just a few off the top of my head. Thai is really difficult because there are  5 tones. which means the word "mai" (sounds like eye, with an M) can be said in 5 different ways, all with different meanings. there are also 44 consonants and 32 vowels, and the letters look like a 4 year old scribbled on paper!!! lucky for me, i pick up pretty quick on language, and thai people get very excited when you just try to speak their language so they are more than happy to help you (just like deaf people!) 

so where was i? 

okay- after language lesson, was yet ANOTHER coffee break! then time for Q&A with our CIEE bangkok liaison and a past participant. i was exhausted at this point but when i heard Steve (past participant) say he taught at a school in Chachoengsao, called Benchamaratrangsarit 1 school, i immediately perked up! thats my school! its a bigger city than i thought- 600K people! he said many people speak a little english. wonderful! and everything you need is in walking distance. i can't wait to get there! 

once orientation was done we were able to go check into our rooms (oh yeah we moved hotels this morning). i was so excited i had the same roommate! we hung out and relaxed for a bit then went back downstairs to explore a little. we ran into 2 other girls then the 4 of us went on a quest for some street food! we sat down at a table and tried to tell the woman what we wanted, and in the middle she just walked away. "okayyy...." we though. but then she came around the corner smiling with 2 other people she found who could help translate. seriously, everyone is so helpful and genuinely nice. they always want you to be safe and comfortable. they treat you how they want to be treated. plus they know we will be teachers, so they are extremely respectful. 

the few interactions I've had so far with Thais, makes me think of home in America. i wish my country could be more collective, and care more about their neighbor. Thai people don't help you because they think you will return the favor, they help you because they care about you even if they have never met you. people should stop being so selfish and greedy. there are better things in the world other than money and things... Zach- that doesn't mean im giving up my wish for that ring though! :) but seriously, its really nice to be treated so warm! when we were in the language course, Fiat (yes like the car) told us that  Thai people will always help you with the language and be happy you are even attempting it. i thought of how this situation would play out in America... living in south floida and looking like i could perhaps be spanish, people come up to me all the time speaking in spanish, not knowing english. my first reaction in my head is "ugh, if you're not going to learn english, get the F out". i automatically felt so gross about myself for thinking that way. so rude! ATTENTION AMERICANS:::::: WE ARE NOT THE ONLY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! i know, you're shocked, try to bear with me as i drop some knowledge on you- people think we are spoiled babies. i saw a billboard yesterday advertising a new neighborhood. the picture had a nice house on it,  one you might see in weston. nothing crazy, just nice. well the name of said neighborhood was "Privilege" and under it said "the American style of living". while every other living facility in Bangkok is a small apartment where they dry their clothes on a string on their porch while the kids play with a ball in the street barefoot. it made me feel really small, and very icky. but someone pointed out- we shouldn't feel ashamed, we should be grateful for the luxuries we have, and maybe i can help my fellow americans see the beauty in life and in the world... and not in THINGS. if i had a crystal ball, i think it would tell me that is the biggest lesson i will walk away with in a year. 

but i don't want to be a Debbie Downer! just want to share a little of my new perspective! 

its 1030 now, most of my friends are waking up in America, but I'm hittin the hay! another long day tomorrow!

i love you all (whoever was nice enough to read all the way through!) and i miss everyone so much! but i want everyone to know i am already having an AMAZING time and making AMAZING lifelong friends! i don't want anyone to worry about me- in fact, you should be jealous :)  

once again, thanks for reading :) more to come soon!

SAWADEE KA!!!!!