Whoever thought that using two thin sticks to pick up thin noodles must have wanted to kill a lot of time over dinner. But, when in Thailand, one must do as the Thai's do, especially when the mention of a fork brings a confused look on the waiters face. This was the predicament facing me when ordering my first bowl of noodle soup last night. Myself and Patricia had ventured out beyond our mad tourist-filled road, and had found a little Thai ... you couldnt really call it a restaurant .... place with food would be more appropriate. After tackling the noodles, finding a little bar with a very good guitarist, a few Chang Thai beers and a good chat, we both found ourselves doing the best thing we have done since we came to Thailand. Thai massages. These are INCREDIBLE. Our mini ones involved a half an hour of lying on the most comfortable deck chair I have ever encountered, and a lovely little Thai lady massaging our feet and legs with lavender oil. So relaxing! Will definitely be going for more. Thats the key to the carefree attitude of the Thai's, getting your feet rubbed. Valium can kiss my newly cultured ass.
Bangkok Day Three; Chopsticks and Taxis
Bangkok Day Two; A Good Deed
I have started now to become adjusted to the madness of the city, and once one does acclimatise to the chaos, one finds that there is a lot of little things to see. The people here and the way they live their life are very interesting. Everywhere you go you see shrivelled up old Thai men and women, skin like leather, who have clearly spent their life walking this city. They sit everywhere and anywhere, but never doing anything, just sitting watching the world go by. Sometimes they have little symbols of their Buddha who they do good deeds during the day for. I encountered one of these good deeds today which solidified for me the Thai's as being good natured people.
Myself and a fellow TEFLer James (whose blog you can find here; http://amobleyinasia.wordpress.com/) were taking a stroll through the city and we came across a vast green area with temples surrounding it. We were taking pictures and discussing whether to visit one of these temples when a Thai woman approached us. She was telling us not to walk on the green area as it is marshy and dangerous. This moved on to her giving us advice about where to go to see the best of Thai culture, and she gave us directions to a river where a boat will bring us to see all the temples for a lot cheaper than us just walking into them. She was so nice, and gave a good 10 minutes of her time to us, making sure we knew the reasonable price of the tuk tuk to the river so they don't overcharge us, and drawing out directions and the name in Thai and English for us to give to the driver. This woman did not need to do this, nor did she need to struggle to tell us in English, not draw things for us. She did this because this is what they believe; that good deeds are important for both those who do the deed, and those who receive the deed.
A fellow TEFLer told me later that she attended a Buddhist birthday party yesterday. This party is not like Irish parties, where copious amounts of drink are consumed and the semi-sober party members are entertained at the expense of the one who couldnt hold the last vodka. No. This party involved meditations to Buddha, and then a gesture which I think is nicer than any material present. The attendees at the party all line up and touch the birthday boy/girl. By doing this, they mean to pass any good kharma they have earned from their good deeds lately into the birthday boy/girl. They literally intend to give them goodness for their birthday. In a country where money is scarce for most, good deeds are important to the Thai people, and to give them to another person is, in my opinion, perfect.
Til tomorrow,
Sawatdeekha.
Bangkok Day One; Culture Shock
Bangkok can only really be described in one word .... insane.
Now, how that word is interpreted is really up to you. If you don't mind at least 6 life threatening near misses in every taxi journey, or inexplicable smells coming from each street corner, or little Thai men shouting 'whats the craic' at you to try and get you into their Tuk-Tuks (the bottle-white skin must give me away), or crowds so big and busy that you cant keep your thoughts near you let alone your friends, then Bangkok is the place for you. If you don't like those things, or cant put up with them at least, dont come to Bangkok. Simple.
Its quite a shock when you arrive I have to say. You can do all the googling you want on the city before you come, but nothing can prepare an amateur traveller for the wall of humidity that hits you when you walk out of the air conditioned airport. We arrived at 9pm and we took a few minutes to get our breath. The air is wet and clammy, and even moving your head from side to side as you look for a taxi can result in a wave of heat and sweat. According to the locals though, this is cold .... I hate to think what awaits me in Surin next week ....
After arriving at the hotel last night, and following a slight bit of confusion and panic over the reservation or non reservation of my room, I settled down to a well needed sleep after 36 hours of no sleep, only to find that my room is located over a bar. A bar with really loud music. Not fun. Luckily bars seem to close at about half 2 here, or at least the music goes down, so I had a nice lie in til 11. We then made our way to the MBK shopping centre. This place is massive! 5 floors of shopping, with everything you want from gadgets to massages to clothes to home wears. It took us a good 4 hours to get around it, and we didnt see it all. Stuff here is mad cheap too. I got three skirts for about 20 euro, a lovely purse for 4 euro, even the taxis are cheap with a 20 minute drive costing only 5 euro between the three of us. The food is equally as cheap, with a take away thai meal costing between 1-2 euro. Although we havent been brave enough to try anything authentically thai yet with our stomachs still recovering from the long sleepless flight yesterday. Coffee, fruit and a subway is all we have been able to manage so far.
Plans for tonight? A few drinks on our road; the tourist-mad Khao San Road. With a night full of dodging men shouting 'ping pong' at you (google it, I just cant explain it) and sussing out the local beer, no doubt there will be more to tell tomorrow. Til then, sa-wat-dee-kha :-)
Is That Snow I See?
Happy Christmas everyone!
No, I havent lost my mind, or acquired a time machine. It is Christmas Day in the Dalton household! With my imminent departure from the continent tomorrow, the Mother has decided that Christmas Day will not be missed and we are all celebrating today instead. As we speak the turkey is roasting in the oven, the wine is mulling on the hob, Bing is crooning in the corner, and the kitchen smells of spiced cinnamon from the Yankee Candle on the island. Even the sunset is on our side and has decided to put on a breathtaking display of colour. Its perfection.
As tomorrow approaches, the expected nerves and desperate blubbering and panic have not arrived. Instead, its more an atmosphere of calm and relaxation mixed with excitement and anticipation. Not to mention the OCD-related joy of looking at a perfectly packed suitcase. Nothing beats that really ;-). When it comes to walking through the departure gates it may be a different atmosphere .... I hate airports on good days ... but I suppose its just another hurdle to overcome, another experience to learn from, like the numerous I have learnt from so far in my hop across the globe.
So tomorrow I leave on a jet plane, dont know when I'll be back again. Next time I write, I will be in Bangkok Thailand.
A Sunny New Path
Ok, I know its been a while, but honestly there is nothing interesting to write about when your life consists of folding jeans 9 hours a day. But, there have been improvements which I feel must be pointed out before my blogging continues over the next coming months.
Well, I graduated university in the last number of weeks ago with my lovely 2.1. Was the most fantastic day with the family, and the weather was incredible for a change. The family also organised a helicopter ride over the city and surrounding areas after the morning ceremony, and then I was whisked off for cocktails before dinner in the Shelbourne. Overall, one of the best days of my life!
Since then I have thrown myself into my plans for my short term future. I have discovered that to do a masters or postgraduate would be a waste of my money and time as the country is on its knees and there is simply no jobs to be had. If you were Stephen Hawking you couldn't get a job as you would either be overqualified for the menial jobs, or there would be no funding for your chosen career based on your education. Plus, as a grant is something that I am not entitled to, and a part time job in a shop only gives you a limited income, there is no way I could afford furthering my education. So, in true Celtic Tiger child fashion, I have decided to leave my home and everything I know and move abroad to work. I have secured myself a job as an English teacher with a reasonable income and future prospects in a growing economy, and I leave Saturday week. Where is this country of opportunity you ask? Thailand.
??
Yes you read right, Thailand. I know the response; wow.... Thailand! Are you going alone?? ....Answer; Yes. .... Completely alone? .... Answer; pretty much yes. I am hired by a company but I know nobody over there, although I will be with one other English speaker in my school. ..... Are you crazy? .... Answer; depends on your definition of crazy. If you mean heading 13000 kms away from everything and everyone I know to live in rural Thailand where nobody speaks a word of English and I speak no Thai is crazy then yes I am crazy. Its fun on this side of the street you know :-)
So I have the visa done, the flights done, the accommodation done, the insurance still has to be done but one thing at a time. Its been bloody stressful I have to say. Dont do this unless you are prepared to lose sleep over it. But the thought of a whole new adventure is exciting and terrifying and wonderful all at the same time. I will hopefully be blogging as I go along, I hope to have internet connection where I am going .... hopefully ... anyway I will try my best to keep this updated. For now, here is a taster of what is to come.
The world is ahead peeps, its all ahead.
Exam Procrastination by means of Battery Hen
I am sure you are looking at that title and saying 'yes she really has lost it this time', but when placed in the position where its a choice between reading a fourth essay on Adorno's culture industry and googling battery hens, hens win every time.
So to start, I will explain the situation. As I have the unfortunate pleasure of being in NUIM, I have exams after Christmas (hence the lack of new blog entries). I must admit, what I am studying is relatively interesting, but there are only so many hours a day you can read for. So I took a break (a two hour one) and generally messed about on the internet. I went onto the RTE news website to see how the rest of the world was doing without having exams, and there was this little video on the side about battery hens which were rescued from being culled in a poultry farm somewhere in the country. They were going to be culled because their cages didnt meet EU standards. They were looking for people who could adopt these hens .... 600 of them ....
So, what did I do when faced with the sad faces of these poor shaggy hens? I rang the mother. After a bit of persuading, she has given in, and is adopting 6 of the poor creatures to give them a better life on the Dalton farm. Roy will be thrilled with the new additions.
On a side note from the last blog, the dying cat in the kitchen is still .... well ... dying. But the mother has a cold at the moment so she cant smell her so other than the fact that she looks pretty rotten, she is fine. Still eating, drinking, taking over the rocking chair on a regular basis, and still driving the other little man insane.
In regards to the other little man, his broken leg wasn't actually broken, merely sprained, and after a trip to the vets and an unplanned chopping off of his male bitsies, he realised that faking being in severe amounts of pain leads to dire consequences and suddenly had a miraculous recovery. My dad keeps telling him that if he moans again they will chop something else off .... cruel .....
The New Year resolution which I made secretly to myself to go to the college gym is going extremely well. I went to penneys yesterday and bought a lovely pair of Spongebob Squarepants tracksuit bottoms, and I have looked up healthy eating and exercising. I havent actually gone to the gym yet, but that is just a minor setback ..... I refuse to face reality in relation to the subject until after exams.
Happy new year everyone!
Honey, I've Drugged The Cat
