Way down south...

In less than 3 hours I will be on a bus headed out of Khon Kaen. For the next two weeks Koreana and I will be island hopping down south. We have vacation because the silk fair is in town, so we are getting out!

First we will take an overnight bus to Bangkok where we will catch a plane to Phuket. We will spend one night in Phuket before going to the east coast of Thailand, on the Gulf of Thailand. We are planning to go to Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. The photo is one I found on the internet from Koh Samui. We don't have definite plans on any of the islands, but we want to explore as much as possible. Koh Samui is known for its very inexpensive snorkeling and scuba diving, so we will definitely be taking advantage of that! We would also like to see Ang Thong Marine National Park. This park is made of 40 small islands and is where the movie The Beach was filmed.

We plan to hike, ride motorbikes, swim, read, explore and most likely, get lost. It is hard to plan much in advance because of the lack of information available on the internet. While we can find places to stay and things to do, it is hard to find schedules, prices and other important information. Mai pen rai!

These next two weeks will be interesting. I will try to keep you updated as often as possible and to not get too many freckles.

Talk to you soon with photos of my own!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day!

After an early morning skype with the entire family at the Thanksgiving table, I realized how thankful I am for skype. It's a silly materialistic thing to be thankful for, but I am really, really thankful for it! Oh, and I want to put magicJack on the list as well. These two technologies have kept me in touch with everyone at home, and I haven't once had to think twice. They are free. They almost always work perfectly. They are absolutely amazing!

Of course I am thankful for my family and my friends, but skype and magicJack, my two best friends lately, are going to the top of the list.

So happy Thanksgiving to everyone at home! Enjoy the food. Be happy it won't make you sick. And eat an extra piece of chocolate pecan pie for me!

Also, here is the photo that I wrote about a while ago. This is the retouched photo where the people made my nose narrower, fixed my hair and got rid of my freckles!

mmMmmm Pad Thai

We have had a lot of delicious food here, but my mouth still waters at the sound of pad Thai. There is a reason that pad Thai is the most well known Thai dish in the US... because it is amazing! Thankfully, Koreana loves Pad Thai just as much as I do. We would be happy to eat it every single day of the week. Don't worry, we won't let ourselves eat it that often, but we would like to! We decided to find the perfect pad Thai while in Khon Kaen. A few were good, but nothing spectacular. And then we found the one. It is a small place located in the night market up the street. It is run by a husband and wife, and the son runs food. They are very nice, they now know us, and they make amazing pad Thai. It has just the right amount of spice. It has just the right amount of sprouts and peanuts. Gosh, it sounds good, even for breakfast!

While on our quest for perfect pad Thai we came across an interesting way it can be made. The noodles are made the same way, but the egg is not mixed in. Instead, the egg is prepared in a thin, omelet- like shape, and wrapped around the noodles. We happened to have this style of pad Thai one time by accident, and we have not known how to order it since. On Monday we decided to ask our Thai friends exactly how we would ask for it. They told us it is called pad Thai ho kai. Yes! Score! Dinner would be fabulous!

Koreana and I went to the night market, but our favorite people weren't there! There booth was completely missing. Well, we would just have to practice our Thai at another booth. I walked up and asked for song pad Thai ho kai... and he understood me. It was too good to be true. There is no way that I put the correct falling emphasis on the syllables. But ten minutes later our food was in front of us, just the way we had asked for it. It was pretty darn good, too! It wasn't quite our favorite little family operation at the opposite end of the market, but it was good.

It was good until Koreana and I both got sick. We were really sick. And it was bad.

So, my apologies for the delay in blogging, but food poisoning put me a little behind schedule. And while pad Thai still sounds delicious, we have both decided to steer clear for a little while. Or at least until tomorrow.

PS- This is a photo of pad Thai ho kai. It is clearly all fancy restaurant-ed up, but it gives you the idea.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Bri!

I hope you have a wonderful day. I miss you tons!

Love, Meaghan

My City is Better Than Yours.

My city has a temple. I bet your city doesn't have a temple.

Koreana and I decided to venture to the temple today after a wonderful sleep last night. We were both a little nervous about going to the temple, and we didn't hide it very well. As the silly Americans in Thailand, we can get away with most mistakes that we make. But we would prefer not to make the cultural mistakes. Going to the place of monks we knew there were plenty of opportunities for mistakes. Luckily for us, everything went well. We went to the temple, did everything correctly and took tons of photos. Well, we think we did everything correctly, and we are perfectly content with that. Below I have attached a video from the temple.

After our morning excursion we came back to the apartments with the intention of finishing our lesson plans. I got distracted. Instead, I worked on my snapfish photo book. And boy, that can be quite time consuming. I made very good progress and I hope to have it shipped home soon.

Tonight we went to the gym, had a great workout, and left to eat dinner on the way home. We were stopped by our friends at Games Toy. The funny thing about Games Toy, other than the name, are the owners, Apple and Naam. They constantly sit out front at a table drinking whiskey. Starting at around 3 pm everyday they are out there. We have heard through the grapevine that their rich daddy just bought them the store to keep them busy, and based on their work ethic, I believe it. We decided to stop and chat very briefly. Apple quickly jumped on his motorbike to go buy more whiskey for us. And Naam introduced us to the other people at the table. We met Please. And as she said, "My name is Please. Like pretty, pretty Please." Okay, easy enough. The buy sitting next to us said, "My name is Aid." Hmmm... we weren't sure if we had heard correctly. So he said, "My name s Aid. Like H- I- V." Hmmm... was he just spelling Hid? Or was he saying "h" at all. Wait. Wait. Aid? Like HIV. Oh. My. Word. That did not just happen. Koreana and I were both laughing hysterically. That was by far the best explanation of a name I have ever received. Aid, you win.

2 Free 1!

Ummm... excuse me? What exactly does that mean? 2 Free 1. Is it 2 for 1, or 2 free when you buy one? Or buy two get one free? Gosh, I really don't know. It's quite unfortunate that as a native English speaker I can't even understand the English signs here! Thai signs, of course I don't understand those. But English signs?! Throw me a bone! I found the sign outside of Starbucks at a bakery and I couldn't help but laugh. It may have been very funny, but I think it was a combination of being delirious, my throbbing headache and the ridiculousness of all signs in Thailand.

Today was nothing special. It started like most days, as I was woken up by a blaring parade just outside my apartment. There were drums, all sorts of musical instruments, music blaring out of the back of trucks and cheering people lining the streets. But since when do parades being before 10 am? This parade was in full force by 7 am! My head began hurting last night and I went to bed early to ensure a good night's sleep. Khon Kaen didn't allow it. I have no idea what the parade was even for, but apparently something was a big deal and far more important than my sleep.

I was up for the day. I skyped with Garvey and he tried to help me fix my iPod. Over the summer I put photos on my iPod for Jen after she lost her camera. It was the only way we could think to bring the photos from Marid to Saratoga. Months later, I have no idea how to take the photos off of my iPod. Garvey finally explained a way that we thought it could work. Twenty minutes later, everything was gone. All of my music- gone. All of my playlists- gone. Our plan was a failure. I spent years collecting that music from tons of people, and it was gone with one wrong click. My iPod is getting a fresh start, and my ears will probably be bored very soon.

After my mini iPod fiasco, Koreana and I headed to Starbucks for a day of work. I was still feeling a little sick, but I knew I needed to do work. We spent about 4 hours in Starbucks and it felt like a little piece of home... almost. I have spent countless hours in Starbucks doing work. But in Starbucks in the states there are usually not tens of little shoeless Thai children running laps, screaming and dragging toys behind them. Too bad I didn't have an iPod to listen to.

Regardless, I was able to finish lots and lots of work, and my head didn't explode. Walking out of the coffee shop, the sign pushed me over the edge. 2 Free 1! Oh my. I need a nap, I can't even handle the signs with Thainglish. And back to the apartment I came to watch the Ellen Show and Music and Lyrics. Boy, I love my 3 television channels.

When 85 feels cool.

You know you live in Thailand when 85 degrees feels cool. I actually called it chilly this evening when it was 80. Weird. Just because I wasn't sweating profusely does not mean it is cool. Come on, Meaghan. Get it together. You're a New Yorker.

I may be a New Yorker, but I am becoming comfortable here. Thailand is my home at the moment, and it is really beginning to feel like it. I have favorite spots. I have a favorite place for pad thai, and a favorite fruit stand. I have a lunch spot and an iced coffee spot. The people at the photo place wave and say hello every time I walk by. I know the people at the gym, and they know me. I see familiar faces, and it is pretty cool.

Yes, I stand out a little. My hair is blonder than anything a Thai person could dream of. The lightest hair dye even offered in this country is dark brown! I don't always have my shoulders covered, and I have a visible tattoo. I also speak English, so that's a dead giveaway right there. I don't always wai perfectly and I am far from twig thin. Even Ronald McDonald knows how to wai! People stare at me, but they are getting to know me. They nod and they smile. They still stare, but at least they make the polite gesture.

It is a wonderful to feel comfortable, but life is still a challenge. Everyday I say hello, goodbye and thank you to everyone, but I constantly worry about my pronunciation. I wonder if I am wai-ing correctly, or if I should have wai-ed that woman that I just barely made eye contact with. It is stressful to order food, take a tuk tuk or buy anything. I constantly have to use hand gestures and props. Often, i just have to settle for what I am given.

Life isn't easy. It's pretty great, but it's tough. Now I need to do another Rosetta Stone lesson, I must learn the language.

A good day.

Today has been a good day. A really good day. It all started last night when Koreana and I began planning our upcoming trips. We began researching all of the amazing places throughout Thailand that we want to visit. We have a two week break at the beginning of December, and we must start planning. We also have a long weekend for the new year and we are deciding which island and full moon party will be best. Gosh, it's hard being me.After we planned a little, I was exhausted. I knew I would pass out the second my head hit the pillow, but I was wrong. Instead, I lay awake in bed. I whipped out my book, and finished it! I only had about a hundred pages left, but I finished it. There was a nice little spin at the end, and I really enjoyed it. By now I knew I had to sleep, and I did.I woke up this morning dreading a cold shower. Luckily, the city cooled off a little last night, and I wasn't dripping in sweat when I woke. I forced myself out of bed and got into the shower. And somehow, I had hot water! This is only the third time since I have been in my apartment that my hot water has worked. It was a miracle. Today was off to a good start.

Koreana made it out of the apartment on time and jumped on our favorite songthaew, the number 9, and made it to school bright and early. The coffee was good, the kids were good, and it wasn't hot. The morning was awesome. While at the parade

two of the older students approached my Thai teacher and had a short conversation before we were told to follow them. As we walked away Teacher Lawan said, "you be on TV evelyday." What?! Sure enough, we were on television. The school has televisions in every classroom and does morning announcements from the TV studio.

Koreana and I were told we had to introduce ourselves to the school. The show is not broadcast in the English Program, so we knew no one would understand us. We basically just rambled. We talked about our favorite colors, our families, whose dog is cooler and our favorite foods, including pork on a stick. Yeah, we said pork on a stick. And we said it more than once. We even licked our lips a few times. We stumbled out of the room laughing hysterically. Thank goodness no one could understand us, we sounded like fools.

Twenty minutes later, one of the Thai teachers approached me and asked me to teach her daughter English. Score!

My wonderful day continued as my tricky visa situation was fixed, as though it was nothing. When I entered Thailand, immigration didn't see my visa in my passport. I was automatically issued a 30 day tourist visa. I would need to leave the country tomorrow. Luckily, one of the Thai teachers took me to immigration in town and everything was fixed. I have until January 17 to have my work permit and visa solidified. Plenty of time.
And as though my day wasn't wonderful enough already, my kids were actually good! We had fun. They listened. I didn't have to scream. And, I wasn't dripping sweat all day. The temperature felt cool at 83! The photos today are from the photo shoot we had during snack break. As you can see, school is a bit of a shit show. (That was for you, Mom!)
On our way home from the gym this afternoon Koreana and I went for dinner. Oh. My. Goodness. It was absolutely delicious. We had pork on a stick from our favorite people, but we also had chicken and rice with a delicious chili sauce. Everything about it was amazing. And, we completely avoided fish balls- bonus!

When I returned to the apartment I decided to call my mom before she left for work. While I talked her through the process of logging in, she and I were able to Skype. I saw her face while we talked! That is huge. It is one thing to be able to hear someone's voice, but I saw her expression as she laughed about Lazy Sunday and my teacher saying "runch." I was even able to take her on a brief tour of my apartment. I recorded a tour for everyone, and that is the video below.

Now, I am going to continue to procrastinate. I really need to make a few worksheets, but I think I will make a few more phone calls. If you are on Skype, my name is meaghandooley, let's chat!

PS- If you want to laugh, check out this video. It is on fail blog on youtube. Basically, there are all sorts of things where people simply fail. Dancing, playing wii, driving, you name it, people fail and post it. This one is especially funny, and the skateboarders just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Lazy Sunday

It is almost noon and I just got out of the shower. I only woke up about 20 minutes ago. Maybe I am adjusting to the noise and light in the morning, or maybe I was just exhausted. I was up until almost 3 chatting on the phone (having friends on the west coast is a challenge). The temperature isn't unbearable, only 90 at the moment, and my door is open so I can hear the birds chirping and the hum of the traffic. It's a wonderfully lazy Sunday.

I used to really hate Sundays. It always meant finishing homework and getting everything done before Monday morning. But I am enjoying my Sundays in Thailand. I like having the the day to prepare for lessons. I look forward to going back to school. I am excited to do my work.

As I write this, I am realizing how wonderful it is to feel this way. Not only it is awesome that I love my job, but it is amazing that I love my job after last week. Last week was really, really hard. My students are out of control. They have not had a consistent teacher all year long, and they are crazy. Last semester alone, my students had 4 different foreign teachers. The teacher's assistant that was around last semester has now left to study at university. The Thai teacher in the classroom is rarely in class and often has other teachers teach her lessons. The students think I will leave them, just like the rest of their teachers. But I have news for them. I'm not going anywhere. I may not have a voice from having to yell so much last week, but I am here to stay.

This is the first time, in a long time, that I have felt truly challenged. I want these students to succeed. If anything, I will teach them to behave. I am here all semester, and we will make it work. I already love them. I think Not is wonderful. Uefa is brilliant. Neung and Song (One and Two in Thai... they are twins) are a handful, but I will figure it out. Boss will learn to listen, and Earth will never cheat in my class again. I have a lot of students that need work, but today I will make my plan. By next Sunday I want to be even more excited to return to school.

I like my freckles.

I don't only like my freckles, I love them. I love that I get tons of freckles on my nose and even a few on my lips when I have been in the sun. While spending so much time outside I have definitely earned a few more freckles, and I'm loving it. But Thai people, like most eastern Asians, strongly dislike dark skin. Dark skin is viewed as lower class. Those who are dark skinned, historically, work outside as laborers. The higher class stayed inside and had porcelain, doll-like skin.

The shelves of grocery stores are filled with whitening face wash, whitening lotion and whitening masks and creams. White is what everyone wants. It is a little creepy. Tonight I even saw a package at 7-11 that said "Skin Whitener and Freckle Remover." It was on display at the very front of the store.

The desire to be pale and white didn't bother me as much as it fascinated me. It is very interesting to see the Thai teachers with whitening creams in the bottom of the desks, and the frequent commercials on TV and the skin whitening clinics. I am just a silly farang in Thailand, so I am stared at regardless of freckles. I found it all very interesting until I had my photo taken. I need about 172 copies of passport style photos in all different sizes for my work permit, visas, etc. I went to a photo place near my school and had my photo taken upstairs. The photographer fixed my hair and made sure my shirt was buttoned all the way to the top. I told the nice lady at the front desk that I would be back the next day for my photos. When I picked up the small plastic bag of photos I was shocked. It looked nothing like me. At all. The photo people had applied perma- lipstick to my lips, fixed my stray hairs, and erased my freckles. All of my color was gone. I looked like a doll. When I picked my chin off of the counter and looked back up, the three Thai people behind the counter just smiled with pride. The photo looks nothing like me and that is exactly why they were so happy.

When I gave my co- teacher the photos she was thrilled! She took out her camera and showed me photos of me that she had taken for the bulletin board. She looked at the pictures and said, "no good, no makeup." She then held up my fake photos and smiled and said, "very good, very good." Eww. Go use your whitening cream and give me back my freckles.

Stereotypes exist for a reason. Yes, Thai people love the doll look. I think it's weird, but I'll get over it. There is another stereotype, however, that is absolutely hilarious. The problem with "l" and "r." In Thai, and other eastern Asian languages, "l" and "r" sounds are basically interchangeable. Either sound can be used and the word is the same. This problem was first brought to my attention in the movie Team America. During the movie an Asian character sings the song "Lonely." But with interchangeable sounds, he is really singing about being ronery! There is one inappropriate line, but click here to see the clip.

My kids are constantly messing up the sounds. They love to put "r" in everything. Raugh. Kirogram. Ronger. You name a word with an "l" and they will switch it. The problem is, I have seen the movie, as well as the rest of the foreign teachers. We wander the halls singing "Ronery, I'm so ronery." Even when I am in the middle of class and I am have my students repeat me saying "ruler," I can't help but raugh hystericarry when they say, "rurer." And then of course they all ask, "Teacher Meaghan, what funny?"

It is one thing for the students to mess up, but it is everyone! Even my co-teacher, the head of the English Program, asks me every day, "you eat runch?" "Yes, Teacher Lawan, I eat runch."

My Life in Loud

Thailand is loud. My kids are loud, the cars are loud, the dogs and cats are loud, the music is loud. Life is loud.

Every morning the construction starts at around 5:30 am. There is sawing, and jackhammering, and yelling in Thai. Moments later, the roosters start. And the roosters must speak Thai as well, because they definitely do not say "cock a doodle doo." While walking to school the songthaews honk their horns to every person they pass. Once on the songthaew, someone is buzzing the buzzer every few hundred meters to get on and off. The motorbikes buzz by. Once at school I usually have about 5 minutes of quiet in the staff room, and the music begins. At 7:30 every morning the Thai music is blared over the speaker system throughout campus. The students begin to pour in. They scream. And they yell. Everyone is so loud! At 8 am we line up and walk to our morning ceremony. Over 3200 students and 300 teachers gather in the quad for the "morning parade." The students stand in lines and recite certain prayers, sayings, and sing. And boy, do they sing! They scream the national anthem, the king's song and the school's song. The principal then makes what feels like hours of announcements while we bake in the morning sun and the speakers make my ears ring. After the never ending announcements and daily award ceremonies, it is time for morning exercise. The entire school spends about 6 minutes doing some type of activity in lines. Some days it is aerobics, other days it is Thai dancing and other days it is some crazy aerobic, dancing, kickboxing combo. After that the school turns into a mad house for the rest of the day. Children sprint back to their rooms, yelling and stomping. There is no separation between the classroom time and play time, so school is controlled chaos. In my classroom, I'm still working on the controlled part of the controlled chaos, but I have faith that it'll happen.

After school the noise only grows. Almost every store front has music or a television blaring. Even the open night market is completely wired and everyone is watching their individual televisions on maximum volume to compete with their neighbors. By this time the advertising trucks have also begun to loop the city. They trucks drive around the city blasting Thai advertisements and playing Shakira "She Wolf" on repeat. A truck drives by my apartment every 20 minutes without fail.

By bedtime, my upstairs neighbors start to get noisy. I can only imagine what is going on up there, because we all have the same exact setups. There is nothing that can be moved, yet it sounds like they are constantly moving furniture. The advertising trucks continue into the night, and the dogs begin to howl and fight.

It's a noisy place over here. Luckily, I invested in earplugs!

PS- There are a few imbedded links, so check them out!

Count your blessings

This phrase drove me crazy when I was younger. I hated being told by my dad to count by blessings. Yes, I was grateful to have a bike, but I really did want the girly pink bike with white tires. And, yes, I was happy to have clean clothing every day, but I really wanted the cool clothes from Limited Too!

Well, if I my dad hadn't taught me to count my blessings before, I sure learned tonight.

After a very long day at work, a great workout at the gym, and a few good hours with new friends, I came home to sleep. I checked my email and saw one from my dad that immediately caught my attention. My mom totaled the Passat last night. Everyone is fine. Everyone is perfectly fine. But wow, that really scared me. Driving home from western New York with Chip and a friend, she probably fell asleep at the wheel. Less than 12 miles from home, and she fell asleep. According to my dad, she hit the curb, blew her tires, hit a few mailboxes, and ended up on the opposite side of the road. The airbags deployed and my mom sprained her wrist.

My first long road trip was with Devin. We were driving to Colorado. "Don't be a hero." If my mom said it once, she said it a thousand times. She told us to never be a hero and try to make it to the next exit, but always pull over. I can't say that I haven't attempted to be a hero at least a few times, but her voice is always in the back of my head. Her voice is also in every single one of my friends' heads. I always use her line. "Don't be a hero!"

We have all blinked for longer than we should. Just be careful. Yes, my parents literally just paid off the Passat, but mai pen rai. I still have my mom and my brother and my brother's best friend. I'm counting my blessings.

The bracelet

Every day I make my list of things to do. Often I make more than one list. I have grocery lists, Christmas shopping lists, lesson plan lists, things to bring to school lists, things to bring home lists, people to call lists. You name it, and I have a list. I even put things on my lists that I have already accomplished, just to check them off. Blogging has been on my list for weeks.

I find blogging intimidating. I began blogging back in May before my travels around the world. It seemed that I wasn't blogging often enough, or my entries were too long, or too short, or there weren't photos, or I wrote something inappropriate. I wanted to make sure that everything I wrote was a story, or a great event that people would love to read. But, I have grown up since May. Yeah, right. But, I do think I have learned more about the blogging world. It isn't about the huge events or the hilarious stories, it's the little things. Or at least, that is what this blog will be for me.

I want to share my little stories. I don't want to worry about blogging or stress about writing the right thing. I just want to keep you updated. So, welcome!

My new blogging resolution hasn't been perfect yet. I already stressed over the title of the blog and the web address, but it is what it is.

Before I left for my travels this past summer my grandmother gave me a present. As I went to open it I said, "Grandma, you didn't have to do this." She replied, "I know. Open it." (For anyone that knows my grandmother, you can here her saying it!)  Well, okay then, I'll shut my mouth. I unwrapped the box and saw the Kohl's price tag, typically Grandma.  Inside there was a small silver bracelet engraved with, "Live Fully." The inside of the bracelet is engraved with "Be Brave. Be Bold. Be Wise. Be Happy." I immediately put it on and I have yet to take it off. At first, I didn't take it off because I didn't know where else to keep it while traveling. But it means something more to me now. I have told my grandma I haven't taken off the bracelet, and I love it, but I'm not sure she believes me. She has every right not to! I used to wear the jewelry she gave me only when I went to visit.  I would always rave about how beautiful it was, or how often I wore it.  I thought I was doing the right thing at the time.

The bracelet is always on my wrist, and it constantly reminds me to live fully. I know what that means to me, and now all of my three loyal readers will know as well, and that's what matters.  So here I am, being brave and blogging about my bracelet, but there is plenty more to come.  It may be exciting, it may be boring, and it may be inappropriate (sorry, Dad), but it's my bracelet.  My bracelet from Grandma.