3...2....1....Thailand!

So here I am, less than 3 days from the adventure of a lifetime. Bags unpacked (although I have taken over my brother’s bedroom with all the things I’m planning to pack…), I’ve entered into stress mode. Lists that I add to whenever I remember yet another thing to do/buy cover every desk…including the one at the Park/Rec office where I’m stillllll working in an effort to keep myself busy and my mind off all the things I need to do. I’m so grateful to have this job though that’s kept me busy since the pools closed a month ago – I’d have gone crazy without somewhere to go every day. If it sounds silly to be working right up until I leave, trust me, it is. Stress levels are at a peak, and spending the days in the office thinking about packing instead of actually doing it is freaking me out, but I know that if I wasn’t working I’d finish everything today and not be able to sit still until departure.

Clothes and medications are all set (no thanks to the insurance company that I’ve called every single day for the last month to make sure I can get my malaria meds for the year – which I guess I can’t because they still haven’t come up with any answer). I got my visa in the mail – which was far less exciting that I thought it would be. Travelling to Greece, I got a really awesome visa in the Greek alphabet with cool pictures and stuff. The Thailand one was just a stamp and signature, but I guess it will get cooler when we apply for our work visas in country.

Speaking of work…I got my placement this morning. Because of the time difference, I usually get all my information in my inbox when I wake up in the morning. The field director has been sending us daily information about special things to remember to pack, where in the airport she’ll meet us, etc. Its been really exciting to start every day with even more information about this experience.

Back to the placement, I got just the name of my school last week, and tried, unsuccessfully, all day long to somehow translate it and google the town that I’ll be in. No such luck. (Transliterations make translations nearly impossible. Something will be in Thai, then its given to me in English spellings. Meaning that I have to try to transliterate it back (which I can’t because I don’t know Thai and electronic dictionaries think I’m trying to translate English nonsense words) and then translate the Thai into English. Sounds confusing. Its not. You just can’t. Right. Luckily, having had a similar experience with Greek, I didn’t waste too much time trying to do the impossible. ) So when I opened my email this morning to a note about my placement I was ecstatic.

I’ve built it up enough, are you ready to hear about it now? I will be teaching in a high school called Goot Chim Wit. (I think Goot Chim is the village I’ll be in). A teacher at the school has BUILT ME A HOUSE (she’ll get a big thank-you) where I’ll be living by myself overlooking… a lotus pond! Jesica, my field director, described it as very picturesque. There are no screens, so my house will come with some pets I think. The school I’ll be working at is fairly small with 130 students or so, and I’ll have a desk in a classroom as well as an air-conditioned office with wireless internet (Pictures! Blogs! Skype!). Don’t worry, I won’t be spoiled too much, toilets are still just holes in the floor ;)

I was surprised when I got the high school placement because most of the placements for the program are in elementary schools, and that is what my background is in. But after a lot of research, I learned that in Thailand, to be a high school teacher you must have a Bachelor’s degree in education (which I have, so it all makes sense) as opposed to just some coursework to teach elementary school.

So what does this week look like for me?
Monday – work
Tuesday – work
Wednesday – packing
Thursday – Depart! Boston – Dallas – LA (where I’ll meet the rest of the volunteers as well as a returned volunteer who will be leading our meeting
Friday – LA – Taiwan. I lose most of the day over the pacific – bye bye birthday :(
Saturday – Taiwan – Bangkok – van to Pla Pak in Nakhon Phanom (NKP from now on)



We’ll be having a few weeks of training and orientation in Pla Pak, where we’ll be learning Thai/Isan, teaching techniques, getting TEFL certified, taking cooking classes, and learning about the culture and area we’ll be living in for the year. We’ll also spend a few days at our placements (in my own house on a lotus pond!) to meet the teachers and be able to put some of our training in that context.

I probably won’t be posting again until at least a few days into orientation or longer depending on…well, lots of things (unless I get some really exciting information in the next few days), so I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support, donations, kind words, etc. that made this adventure possible. Thank You!