When I was heading over to Thailand I remember having this idea of some calm serene country filled with beautiful buildings and cute kids in rough clothes on bikes, with the air filled with sweet smells of spice and incense. I thought of the people as being calm and logical people who live by all these buddhist parables and thought provoking statements that we see all over facebook. The reality, as always, was very different. I think its important to have a realistic view of the country you are planning to move over to before you go.
Don't get me wrong, its a really lovely country, but its more filled with the smell of food rotting in the relentless heat, the streets are more grimy than beautiful, and the buddhist religion in reality is not what we perceive it to be in the west. Its a religion based on money and questionable morals, the same as majority of religions in the present day.
Honestly though, all that you get used to. It becomes normal. What people going over have to get their heads around is that Thailand is not the West. I know that is an extremely 'duh' sentence, but so many people go over there not realising the weight that the statement brings. Things don't work over there like they do here. When deciding to work on another continent you have to be very open minded and flexible about the way people live, their laws, their professional conduct, and their attitude to society in general.
For an example, and this sounds harsh but its true; your school will most likely tell you to pass your students even if they never show up in your class. I know this sounds ridiculous to us, but in Thailand nobody is ever shamed or loses face. Everybody works as a community, and in your classroom there is very little room for personal failure. You simply have to put pass marks after every child's name. This is normal and you simply have to accept it.
Secondly, the school pretty much has the idea that you are their teacher 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your school will show up to your door at 7pm on a Saturday night without any warning telling you that you must attend a party where you sit, understand nothing, and look pretty simply because you are white and they want to show off their white teacher. They are fascinated with white people and white skin. It gets very creepy sometimes I have to say. There is very little point in saying 'no' to these 'invitations'. They don't take no for an answer. You are pretty much a show piece for your school as much as you are a teacher. Don't get me wrong, they will treat you very well, but they expect a lot more from you than Western employers do. The trick is to leave your town at weekends so you simply cannot go to another dinner.
Expect that in Bangkok and other big cities, you will be charged maybe two or three times more for things than locals are. They consider you a 'farang', which mean white person, and they see your race as a wealthy one and they will scam you. Trick is to bargain everything down with an incredibly low starting offer, and then accept that you will still be ripped off. They have no concept of racism, and they will talk about you in Thai in front of you, referring to you as 'farang', and there is no point in thinking 'racism', because the concept of racism is literally incomprehensible to them.
Expect everything to not work. Trains and buses can just randomly not leave with no real explanation. Your school will organise something and then cancel it 10 minutes before for no reason. They will also spring classes on you and just tell you to 'teach' with no notice. They will cancel your classes and not tell you. This is just the way things are done, and nobody else except you will be surprised or have a problem with it.
Oh and one pretty big thing. They do not do fighting at all. Arguments NEVER happen, If you shout at a Thai person, expect them to either stand dumbfounded like they have just seen you murder someone, or even just run away. Talking in a calm low voice, making everything sound cheery and light is the only way to do things. Even with your students. Shouting at them makes no sense to them and it will only make your classes a million times worse (more about discipline and teaching in tomorrow's post).
Also, and this is more for girls than guys, their perception of women is very different to the West. For me, they couldn't understand how I was 22 and single and not tied at home under my parents control until I was married. I could never show my shoulders, EVER (resulted in a serious farmer's tan), and I couldn't show my knees. Women, especially white women, should never be seen smoking, and drinking is extremely frowned upon, especially in small towns. If you are in Bangkok, it doesn't really matter, but where I was I couldn't even buy alcohol without all my colleagues knowing from gossip. I was set up numerous times with Thai men at work parties and dinners, and was shouted at, whooped at, and followed by random men in the streets because I was a young woman and white. You just have to be very aware of your surroundings, and never trust the men. Thai people are incredibly friendly and flawlessly helpful, but just always be aware that many men have a massive fascination with white women, so just always be on the alert, especially if you are travelling or wandering around alone.
Finally, as a warning to those of you who are fond of Christmas. There is NO Christmas in Thailand. I cannot stress this enough, because although many people know this coming over, they go in search of Christmas dinners and Christmas atmosphere and it results in massive disappointment. It doesn't exist in Thailand, and you have to realise that there is no Christmas for the time you are away. Yes, it will be the hardest time away, but again its all about attitude. For me, I realised that its one day. I talked to my family on skype, I made a nice dinner for myself and my housemates, many of my friends in different towns bought in different food to usual, and you have a little cry and maybe open a present that your parents sent you, and then you go teach your normal day and move on. You have to put it in context and be an adult about it. One Christmas is not worth missing out on your Thai experience.
I know all of this probably sounds very negative, but the way you take this all depends on your attitude going over there. Things are different, and one more Western person is not going to make any difference to the way these people live. They have lived this way for literally hundreds of years. Thai's are nothing if not fond of tradition. When working there, you have to take on the Thai way of living, and they live by one phrase; Mai Pen Rai. This simply means 'no worries'. They never ever get stressed, and you have to do the same with everything they throw at you. You wither take on this attitude or live with constant anger and slight insanity. I always say it to all the people who email me; If you want things to be like the west, stay in the west. So stay positive, take it all as it comes, and when stressed repeat 'Mai Pen Rai' about four hundred times while swigging from a bottle of Sangsom (thai rum).That always helps ;-)
Tips and Tricks Part Two; Taking on Thai Life
Thailand Tips and Tricks Part One; Before Jetting Off.
I have been getting a lot of emails lately from people who are signing up to be teachers in Thailand in the next coming months, or are already over there and are starting their jobs and are slightly terrified of their classes. I have decided to do a few blogs about simply the little things that I left out of my blogs while I was in Thailand; tips before you go, what to expect, daily life and customs, teaching tips. This one will deal with just the before you go section of things.
So one of the first question I get from people is about what to bring over there that may not be available when you get over. To be honest, a lot of the essentials are available over there, with slight brand variations obviously. But, there are some things you cannot get for love nor money for some unknown ridiculous reason. One is deodorant with antiperspirant. You can get it in the big shopping centres, but if you were like me and you lived in the Thai equivalent of Timbuktoo, it can be very hard to find. I brought over four massive cans of dove antiperspirant and they lasted me a long time. Trust me though, you use a lot over there, especially during dry season (end of October to May). Another thing you should bring is an extension plug. So handy when you only have one adaptor and you want to dry your hair while charging you phone. Also, and this one is for the girlies, for some reason its impossible to get tampons there. If you use them, bring heaps and get your mother to send you over more. Same for normal pads. The ones there are some old fashioned industrial sized things. Lots of 'Always', lots and lots. Also girlies, every product is laden with whitening cream over there, so if you have a moisturiser you like, bring it with you. For the boys, bring the razorheads you use if you are fussy. The brands are very different over there, or so I am told by the man friends. Oh and I was also told by contact lense users to make sure you bring lots of contact lenses and solution over with you. Its apparently very hard to find and the brands aren't reliable. Finally, if you are packing, home comforts are good. I brought a picture of my family, and an Irish teddy, and a box of tea bags. You cant get proper tea bags there at all unless you are in a very touristy place and are willing to pay a good bit for a cuppa.
The main don't with packing is don't overdo the size of the suitcase. Pack clothes to do you for a week or two, and shop when you get there. Nothing is worse than lugging a massive suitcase around if you travel (trust me, hostels have LOTS of stairs) and the clothes are so cheap and suited to the climate there. You could get a whole outfit for the cost of a t-shirt here. Save your money and your back, go backpack and leave the suitcase at home.
Another question I get is 'should I learn Thai before I go over?'. Simply put, Thai is incredibly difficult. I am pretty good at picking up languages, and yes I picked up more than some people I encountered working there, but it took a lot of work. Before you go I would say your best bet is to learn numbers up to 1000. Its not as hard as it sounds. Once you learn 1 to 20, its easy enough after that. They are structured like English numbers. Numbers are essential to everyday life as many things are sold in markets and have no price tags. Also learn simple phrases like how much, hello, thank you, my name is, yes, no and too expensive. When dealing with the students, learn the words for homework, do you understand, and how to recognise questions (questions have the word 'mai (my)' at the end of them)
Now for the slightly teary part; the airport. For me, this was the most difficult part of my entire experience. I dreaded it so much for the few weeks before I left. Expect your mother to cry, no matter how much of a toughie she is. The thing is, you have to be the tough one out of them all. Its so easy to get scared and turn around and just go home, because leaving is scary, I am not going to lie to you. But the trick is to be blunt and quick about it. Get to the gate, don't hang around thinking about it, say quick goodbyes to each of your family members, tell them you love them, and then grab your bag, put one foot in front of the other, and don't look back. All I remember was literally telling my feet to step one in front of the other, otherwise I would have stopped and gone home. When you get through the gate, wander or chat to someone if you are travelling together. Go get a drink. Whatever you do, do not sit and think and worry. You will end up texting your parents to tell them to turn around and take you home.
Finally, yes, you will think you are mad. It personally hit me on the plane to Abu Dhabi when I realised I couldnt turn the plane around, and I was physically sick with fear the whole way over. It is terrifying, you will think 'what the hell have I done', and you will want to give it all up. Don't. The feeling of madness subsides when you realise what you have arrived to. It will genuinely be life changing.
Tomorrow I will do a blog on what to expect from Thailand on a day to day basis.
Slán.
How I Missed Cheese Sandwiches; Surviving Coming Home
I am quite aware that my life at home now is no longer half as interesting as a week ago when I was half way across the other side of the world. But, none the less, I thought I should keep this blog updated as to my doings and what teachers/travelers should expect upon heading back to their real world. I must admit, I slotted back into it a lot faster than I expected, but still, there are little things that you notice that you paid no attention to before you left. As I know a lot of teachers read this, here are a few tips on how to adjust to coming home.
Obviously, when you arrive home from 37 degrees in Asia, the first thing you notice is the cold. Nothing can prepare you for that blast of cold air that seems to live in the tiny crevice between the plane door and the attaching walky thing ..... ye, bad English, I know. Anyway, Tip #1, try wear shoes that you can wear socks with. I arrived home to Dublin Airport at 7am in a pair of flip flops, a strap top and a pair of those baggy colourful Thai material trousers. Not good for the aul bones with the wind chill ... brrrrrr.
Tip #2. Expect to deal with emotional family. There is something about airports that bring out the tears in even the toughest of men, and trust me, the sight of your family after 17 hours on planes and no sleep will make you a little crazy. I personally felt that I was in some strange dream, as lack of sleep can't seem to make sense of all the familiar accents and smells and people. It's almost like you expect to hit an 'end call' button, find yourself looking at a skype screen and head back downstairs to finish cooking your rice.
Tip #3; The amazement of western food. Upon arriving home, try to control your hunger. Now, it doesnt matter how much airplane food you ate on the way over. When you arrive in and suddenly find yourself surrounded by all the western foods that you have been desperately dreaming of for the past 7 months, it is so tempting to stuff yourself with the whole lot. Your stomach, which is used to rice and veg, will not thank you. Try to hold a little self control ..... although the cheese usually wins .... you can't say no to the cheese.
Tip #4; Jet lag. You will not be able to avoid it so don't even try. The trick is to ride out the day until it comes to normal going to bed time. For me, this meant 43 hours with no sleep as I arrived home early morning, and by 9pm I was on the brink of insanity with my desire for my beautiful soft bed, but it helps you get back to a normal system. If you go to bed mid day you will find that by 10pm your body will think its some strange time of the morning and not want to sleep. Ride it though.
Tip#5; Reality. Finally, and most importantly, its important to understand that you are now a worthless unemployed emotional mess who will spend your days watching Jeremy Kyle and talking to your cat while the rest of your family go about their normal lives. Tough truth, but a truth none the less. The trick is not to care. You have just arrived back from hopefully the most incredible thing you have ever done, and guess what? Its ok to do nothing until you find yourself a job. Sleep, eat, sit, talk to the cat (I am sure she missed someone to watch Jeremy Kyle with) and don't overthink it. Give yourself at least a week or two to see everyone you want to see, chat to the family, get used to the food again, to the surroundings, and then think about how to become a productive human being and not some smelly tanned hungover post-student with a big bag. Hold on to that tan as long as possible, because you never know when you will get the chance to get one again.
Oh, and one last thing, print out pictures and stick them in your room. After a few days of the same world you left 7 months ago, its easy to forget what an absolutely incredible thing you did. Waking up to a reminder of the world beyond the garden gate will brighten any morning .... and have you unconsciously googling ozzie work visas, US Summer camp jobs, and inter-railing ....
Slán
The Beginning of Another Chapter
Sometimes in life there comes a point where you have to decide between two things you really want. You know you cannot have both, no matter how much you want both, and each have pros and cons that equal each other, but you know you have to chose one. I have been feeling like that about travelling for the last few weeks. I really love travelling and seeing places, but I have been away from home for 8 months, and I suddenly started to feel every day in those 8 months. I was missing home, and no matter how much you try to ignore that feeling, it never really leaves you alone.
It was 11.13am, and I was standing on a corner of another noisy traffic filled street in Ho Chi Minh last Thursday. I had been looking for the War Remnants Museum for about 2 hours, and every map said a different place, and every local (well the ones that would help) pointed me in a wrong direction and laughed as I set off. My head hurt from all the pointless beeping of traffic, I nearly lost my life crossing the road at least three times, and I couldnt get a decent bit of Vietnamese food if my life depended on it. Suddenly, standing there, I was done. I had hit the point of no return, and the result was in fact return. I went back to my hostel, got in touch with my travel agency in Dublin, and changed my flight home from the 6th of June to ..... well ... today. I am writing this from a completely overpriced restaurant in Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. I arrived here on a flight from Ho Chi Minh yesterday.
Now those of you who read this blog pretty regularly are probably thinking 'why go home. Travelling is amazing'. You are right. Travelling is amazing. But family and home is also amazing, and sometimes you want that more than to see a temple or sit on a beach or visit a museum. Sometimes you have feel you have been away so long that all you want is to give your sister a hug. So, I am doing what I want more, and I am going home.
My time in SE Asia, particularly Thailand, has been without a doubt the greatest time of my life. I have learnt so much about myself, and about other cultures and ways of living.I have the most amazing memories, and I have seen the most incredible things. I will return to Asia. I know that without a doubt, as there is sooooo much more I want to do that my budget and my homesickness just couldn't handle this time around.
I intend to continue writing on this blog, as I have many more TEFL experiences and travelling planned, and I hope you will continue to enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy writing it.,
This is not the end. Its only the beginning of another chapter.
Go raibh míle maith agat.
Slán.
Change of Plan; Visiting the Lighthouse Orphanage, Phnom Penh
Intent on being a true tourist, I set out the day before yesterday to explore the royal palace and a temple or two in Phnom Penh. As usual in Asia, things didnt go as planned.
I arrived just outside the royal palace to find it closed for the next hour and 45 minutes for lunch (who needs two hours for lunch??) and I also was shocked to discover that all tourist places in the area were the same. Standing at the side of the road clutching my map of the city and looking completely lost, a tuk tuk driver sees an opportunity and comes over. He offers to take me for a tour of the city where he will explain all the historical buildings and show me all aspects of the city outside of the tourist areas. Intrigued but slightly cautious, I got on. Driving on, I was thinking about how much damage I would do to myself if, in case of kidnapping, I needed to throw myself from a moving tuk tuk (which doesnt actually move that fast), and whether I would bring or leave the slightly bulky handbag. Truly though, I had no need to worry. The driver was lovely and showed me parliament buildings and the street of embassies and then went on to show me the slums of the city and the local market areas where absolutely no tourists were about.
As we were driving along, I commented on his great level on English, and he told me that he teaches English on a Friday and Saturday to children in an orphanage in the city. He talked about them for a while, and about how he himself was a orphan and he was taught English in his orphanage with his siblings. He asked me whether I would like to visit the orphanage and see how it all works. I knew myself that the hope was that I would volunteer my services as an English teacher. I was a little wary at first, as I suppose being western you have these images of Asian orphanages as dreary awful places. I was threatened oe or twice as a kid with being put in an orphanage if I was really bold, and from simply watching 'Annie' my idea of orphanages was not a pleasant one.
Still, I figured life should be seen from all angles as much as possible, and what's the point in ignoring the reality of a city just because of my high western ideals. So, off I went. I knew that a donation would be expected, but when I asked the driver he said that a donation of a bag of rice would be a good idea as the 89 children in the orphanage can eat 50 kilos of rice a day over their three meals. Armed with my bag of rice, I arrived. I am glad to say it was nothing like what I expected. The buildings could do with some extensions, but they have a good playground donated by the Israeli Embassy, and a few good sized classrooms and a music room. They have a large dining area, and a vegetable patch (that is unfortunately a little sparse in vegetables) The bedrooms were pretty cramped I have to say, but the children overall were really friendly and full of smiles.
The man who showed me around told me about how the orphanage is run on donations and volunteers. They get no help from the government, but are in need of new rooms for sleeping, and some money to get some seeds for planting and clothes for the children. They cater for children between the ages of 5 and 18, and teach them two subjects; English and IT. He says these are the best subjects for the children to get jobs from after leaving the orphanage at 18. He explained about how some get scholarships and some manage to find jobs, but I saw myself that things do not look too hopeful for the children as they enter the adult world. Its easy to notice the drug problems in Cambodia, with I myself getting approached three times with offers of every drug going for about 10 dollars a bag. Apparently its a popular western pastime here.It wouldn't take much to push children into this sort of life.
I left feeling not depressed or sad, but I did feel lucky and privileged. I ended up not seeing the Royal Palace in the end as I spent the following day pretty sick from a bout of dehydration (all my own fault I know). Being sick in any way in this heat is a killer, let alone being sick because of the heat. So I have now arrived in Ho Ci Minh city in south Vietnam, but I will leave all that madness for another blog.
Sawatdiikha.
ps. If anyone wants to know any more about the orphanage I visited, the name is Lighthouse Orphanage in Phnom Penh.
Phnom Penh; Pot and Potatoes
Being in Thailand for so long, I had become used to the views, the language, the food and the overall culture. I suppose you could say that I got a bit bored of it all. It lost its magic. By the time I was travelling after my teaching, I continued to feel a sense of boredom. Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing Thailand and I had a lot of fun, but the WOW factor was gone. I had forgotten that feeling of discovery. That feeling that you have experienced something new and alive.
I arrived in Cambodia expecting the WOW factor from Angkor Wat, and I did get that, but I came to Phnom Penh for one thing, and that was my visa to Vietnam. My plan was to see a bit of the city, but I suppose you could say I didnt really plan on enjoying it too much. Again, as with Chiang Rai, I was proven wrong. This city just has the greatest charm to it. It suffers great poverty, that is clear, and there does seem to be a bit of a problem with drugs in places, but I cant help but love the place. Just off the main roads with its mad traffic and noisy horns are little narrow streets filled with nice houses, offices, coffee shops and little businesses, all who keep their land full of green trees and bushes. Its such a contrast to the brown scorched earth of the poor village areas outside the city.
Yes you get slightly harassed by tuk tuk drivers, and the food is a good bit more expensive than other less populated areas of Cambodia, but the drivers are friendly and understand the word no, and the food is delicious no matter where you go.
But this city wasn't always a bustling centre of coffee cafe's and brilliant food. This city has suffered greatly. Today myself and a fellow traveller rented a scooter and took off to visit the infamous Killing Fields just outside the city. To make it short and quite brutally simple,in the 1970s a man named Pol Pot had an image of a 'pure' Cambodian society, so he took his brutal army of men and slaughtered a quarter of the population who didn't fit his image of a simple agricultural society. This involved anyone who was highly educated, who could speak a different language, any city dwellers who didnt know anything about farming, and anyone who didnt agree with him. His army of killers; The Khmer Rouge, took the thousands of people to many locations around Cambodia, bludgeoned and hacked them to death in the most horrible ways imaginable , and buried them in mass graves. How this was left out of my history degree I will never know. But I went today to see one of these places. I have to say, it was a very peaceful place for the atrocities that occurred there. I didnt take any pictures. I for some reason lost my appetite to capture everything around me. I don't think a picture would do this place justice anyway. Its one of those places where you have to feel it. Its the knowledge of what happened here thats harrowing more than the place itself. It does contain a massive memorial which holds the skulls of hundreds of dead who were never identified, and that is shocking. Also it holds examples of the clothes which were discovered with the people, and the childrens' clothes really make reality the horror and complete inhumane actions that people are capable of. What is worse is that Pol Pot was never punished for this actions, and lived in wealth and comfort until his dying day in 1998. It is a hard thing to visit, but I think it is appropriate, respectful, and I think it is important for people to know about these things.
Following this, we tottered back to reality and dodged our way through Phnom Penh's slightly scary traffic and found a nice Irish pub. We settled down to an early dinner of western goodiness; I myself choosing a cottage pie filled with lovely and highly missed mashed potato. The simple things that make us backpackers happy. We managed to make it back to the hostel before the heavens opened to let a thunder storm through. It seems that the rains are coming a few weeks earlier than expected. I thought that I could partly avoid the rainy season by finishing my travelling in June, but it doesnt look like nature likes my plan.
Tomorrow, a walk around the city to visit the Royal Palace, a silver pagoda (kind of like a temple) and a museum or two. There will be more pictures next time. I felt a little shaky taking pictures from the back of a scooter driven by an over enthusiastic Brit.
Sawatdiikha.
The Amazement of Angkor Wat
After spending a day lounging in the hostel and wandering around Siem Reap city, I started out early on Thursday morning with my tuk tuk driver to discover the Wonder of the World that is the Angkor Wat temple complex. At his advice, we decided to leave the actual Angkor Wat temple until last, and took off to a few of the smaller ones to begin with. I have to say, with the help of a guide book borrowed from the hostel, its not hard to be wowed by these amazing structures.
