Diary of a Farang

Live/Learn :: Thailand ::Travel/Teach

a brief history (and a bit of future)

2003-August 2010: Mentally plan on entering Peace Corps at a time TBD.

August 2010: Meet Mr. Brendan Connolly upon his return from a year of teaching in China. Decide I want to teach in China and begin doing some research.

November-December 2011: Decide (for some now unknown reasons) that one year is too long to be away from home, living and traveling in a new country. Discover CIEE 6 months in China program. Simultaneously discover CIEE teach in Thailand program.

Early January 2011: Continue to debate China vs. Thailand. China pros: more useful language, more foreign place, friends who have lived there. China cons: weird food, winter, no facebook, communism. Thailand pros: beautiful everything, warm weather, friends who have been there, great food. Thailand cons: relatively useless language, touristy country.

Mid January 2011: Watch “An Idiot Abroad: China”. See people eating chicken fetuses, people hocking loogies everywhere, bathrooms with no doors, lots of smog. Decide I want to go to Thailand.

Early February 2011: Begin application and tell friends to apply. Sarah tells Saleem.

Mid February 2011: Application submitted. Admitted shortly thereafter.

March-October 2011: Thrift store shop for teaching clothes like it’s my job. Buy and read novels/guidebooks about Thailand. Attempt to begin learning language. Stalk former/current teachers at my school (hey chelsea!). Find subletter/foster father for Milo (hey jeff!). Drink as much craft beer as possible. Consume as many pumpkin products as possible. Plan “last meal”. Buy tickets/pack/freak out.

October 20, 2011: Fly to Thailand. Attend orientation. Meet awesome people and decide this is the best decision I’ve ever made.

November 1, 2011: First day of school!

November 2, 2011- Present: Teach the cutest kids and travel nonstop. Eat well for cheap. That’s a pretty sufficient summary.

Today, February 27, 2012: Well, today I realized it has been about one year since I applied to come to Thailand, and now I have less than 2 weeks left here. This Friday will be my kindergarteners’ last day of school, which means I will probably get some presents and cry. Next week is what I am dubbing finals and fun week with P2; final on Monday, movies and painting the rest of the week. My last day of school is next Friday, March 9th, and I can’t fathom how time has gone by so fast. It seems not that long ago that I was in a constant haze of Thailand planning (and stressing). An adventure that consumed by thoughts for an entire year is coming to an end.

Thankfully, there is a second chapter. The travel chapter! Here’s the plan:

March 10-19: India! Northern India to be exact.

March 19-28: Nepal!

March 29: Long layover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

March 29- April 6: Laos!

April 6-14:Vietnam!

April 14-17: Cambodia!

April 17-24: Indonesia! Bali and the Gili Islands.

April 25: Fly home…

While I am super excited to travel and go home to see friends/family/cats/beer/burritos, I am not at all looking forward to leaving Thailand. This seems like an obvious statement. I mean, who comes to Thailand and wants to leave, ever? But really, coming to Thailand is arguably the best decision I have ever made. Danielle and I were talking a few days ago about our ideal jobs/life scenario and without thinking I said “teaching abroad”. It’s a weird feeling to realize that you are literally living your dream. What else could I ask for (except for friends/family/cats/beer/burritos)?

So, in conclusion, I would like to thank Brendan for having taught abroad and telling me about it. I’d also like to thank Carl Pilkington’s fabulous tv show for helping me realize Brendan was crazy for going to China and I should go to Thailand.

Food!

You ask, “What do you eat???” I answer! During the week, everything is pretty much same same, with a few variations. While the Thai restaurants at home are not as Americanized as I expected, all Thai food is not available everywhere. For example, curry is nearly impossible to find in my town (except for my new exception..). Also, a lot of foods are available but aren’t cooked to order and contain way more meat than I could possibly sort out. Weekends are our usual time to go wild and eat “expensive” western style food, if our travel destination permits. Here’s an typical week:

Breakfast: Coconut or mango yogurt (35cents), an apple/orange(30cents?), iced coffee(my splurge- $1.10). This is the only meal I “prepare” myself. Since we don’t have kitchens, cooking is impossible. Yogurt and fruit are about all I keep in my mini fridge. 7/11 is the go to spot for breakfast, snacks or a disappointing dinner. Coffee lady is my best friend.

Lunch: Until I discovered the vegetarian spots, I had vegetable fried rice or white rice with mixed vegetables EVERY DAY. If I was feeling adventurous and able to get over my phobia, I would get a fried egg on top. Every once and a while I would get somtam (spicy papaya salad). Now it’s usually white rice with some combination of curry/mixed veggies/tofu. Or noodle soup! (all about 80cents)

Dinner: Usually the night market because it is the best thing ever and the #1 thing America needs. So much variety (of Asian food..) and pretty cheap. Dinner tonight: coconut/pineapple/lime smoothie (45cents), 2 spring rolls (30cents) and an indescribable rice ball thing with onions and thai basil ($1). Danielle and I made the executive decision to split an oreo “milkshake” too (30cents/each).

1 day grand total: $4.65. Beat that rachel ray.

**note: free snacks from students NOT included, nor limited to the following: weird/delicious cookies, weird/delicious fruit, weird/delicious birthday cakes, weird/usually not delicious gelatinous things. Also not included: occasional ice cream cones from the cell phone store, goldfish (when in season at the big c store), cracker-cookie hybrids from the coffee shop.**

Other night market favorites include sushi, pad thai, veggie soup, bite sized sweet potatoes, mango and sticky rice, fried tofu squares with bean paste, ramen, fruit…


There’s also a noodle house down the street. It’s exactly like the kind you see on travel shows with the dude making and stretching and twisting and throwing around looong noodlies. They know us well and have adapted to our weird food requests, like our favorite spicy tomato saucy dish, minus pork, plus tofu and mushrooms, over noodles instead of rice. It’s a totally Asian version of spaghetti arrabbiata.

mailing address!

so i just discovered how awesome it is to receive mail! thanks mom! for everyone else, here is my mailing address. fyi- it takes anywhere from 2-4 weeks for things to arrive!

Jill Lingenfelter

Anubanchonburi School, English Program

Wachiprakarn Rd.   T. Banglaplasoi

A. Muang Chonburi

Chonburi Province 20000

THAILAND

i learned to drive a motorbike!! it was easy thanks to my instructor/videographer :)

next up: learn to drive a stick shift car!

Koh Chang

I went to Koh Chang 2 different weekends; once with Danielle and once with Jack, Alyssa and James.

Koh Chang is the second largest island in Thailand and is very close to the Cambodian border. It takes many modes of transportation and 6-9 hours to get to from Chonburi, but it’s totally worth it. The island has beautiful beaches around the perimeter (duh) and jungles and mountains in the middle. Both times I went I stayed on Lonely Beach, aka the backpacker beach. It has a lot of good restaurants, loungey bars and full moon-esque beach parties. Highlights!

  • Playing with roadside elephants. Danielle and I more or less refused to go on an elephant trek because generally they are not the most animal friendly activities, but we were happy to stop, pet, take photos and feed the elephants waiting to be put to work. It’s been a long time since I’ve been up close to an elephant and I almost forgot how prehistoric they look and how huge they are! Unless of course it was the baby elephant we fed bananas and giggled with for an hour (yes, he giggled with us). Only 2 years old and still a cute little guy who really made our day.

  • Going to the BiLan spa. Thanks to lonely planet, Danielle and I discovered the BEST spa ever! Over 3 hours of herbal sauna, massage, facials, hair treatment and body scrubs for the lovely price of $20. I’ve never experienced anything so wonderful and relaxing!

  • Mini hike to a waterfall. Danielle and I really wanted to hike around the island, but beach party induced sleep got the best of us, so we took the easy route to a popular waterfall. It was definitely a nice break from the beach, but also a huge nature tease.

  • Kayaking to a “private” beach. James, Jack, Alyssa and I were also all prepared to go for a nice hike, but were foiled by the sheer size of the island and lack of roads going just about anywhere you would want to go. So instead we rented 2 person kayaks and paddled out to a tiny island just off the coast of koh chang. Little did we know we would find a mini paradise! There was a small beach with only 1 other kayak couple on it, mangroves, fallen trees perfect for sitting over the water and little paths through trees and up a “mountain” to a beautiful, rocky overlook. We swung on vines like tarzan, swam in clear blue waters, and kayaked through beautiful little coves at sunset. Perfect!