Samui

On October 12, 2016October 14, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Thailand, Travel, Uncategorized1 Comment

I got back to Bangkok in the evening. I don’t like my hotel. It smells like mildew. I was lucky enough to be able to cancel my future booking at this hotel, but not tonight. I only picked it because it was close to the airport. The next morning I flew to Samui. I’m looking forward to spending some time relaxing on the beach and some time with my friends from Singapore. My hotel in Samui is kind of disappointing too, but it’s clean enough and right on the beach so no need looking for a new place. Still, three hotels in a row, come on…..

I saw a dive shop near my hotel when the taxi brought me from the airport. We are near Tao and I’d heard they had the best diving in Thailand so maybe there can be good diving in Thailand. Samui and Tao are islands kind of near each other (1 hour by boat). Plus, the idea of being completely covered in water sounds like heaven right now. I went by the dive shop. They are going to Tao tomorrow – great! It was expensive. Why is this sport so expensive?

The diving was just as bad as in Krabi. It’s official, diving in Thailand is not good. I know a four dive sample selection is hardly scientific research, but it’s enough for me. Everything was covered in a light brown blanket of ook. I have no idea what the ook is, but it looks slimy and yucky. There were hardly any fish. The people I dove with were nice so that’s some consolation. And I was covered in water for a couple hours and that was wonderful. Two of the ladies that we dropped off after diving were staying at a fancy hotel. The guards wouldn’t even let us in until they had run a camera under the van to check for scary things. I bet the resort was $800 a night. It was definitely cost more per night than I made last month. The stark difference between that resort and mine was comical.

We went on an all island tour the next day. The tour itself was meh. But, we decided it would be Judy’s birthday and we would post pictures on facebook of her birthday day and see if any of her friends figured out that it wasn’t. It made for a day of laughing so hard your stomach hurt. It also provided for many fun photos especially after we got the pointy Vietnamese birthday hats. The tour took us to many Buddhas, of course. The tour highlight was grandmother and grandfather rock. Grandfather rock was plain to see, but we never figured out grandmother rock. Later, a post card showed us what we didn’t find. I’m including a picture of the post card because I had to see it so I think you should have it burned in your memory too. Really? Genitalia shaped rocks are a tourist attraction? “Come to Samui and see the big Buddha and genitalia rocks!” After lunch we saw a mummified monk. We decided he wasn’t real. Then when we read that he wasn’t actually mummified, but that his body just didn’t decompose after he died, so they put some sunglasses on him and stuck him in a glass box. Well that must be real then. There was a waterfall that was so far from a waterfall that I’m not even posting a picture of it. What Thailand tour would be complete without sad elephants being misused for tourism? I will not post pictures of them either. That evening we went out for “Judy’s Birthday” dinner and live music after.

The bay we were staying on was shallow. You could walk for hours and never see water deeper than your waist. So, I bought a raft and floated around for part of the day. That day was a close to relaxing and doing nothing as I know how to do. That evening we found a lovely restaurant with bean bag chairs on the beach and happy hour drinks. Two bars over was an acoustic guitar player with the most wonderful voice. After about two hours we got up and went to watch him. The last day was more floating until it was time to go to the airport. Two sweet ladies from the hotel took me to the airport in their pickup truck. The Samui airport is ridiculous. When you get there it’s like a posh outdoor mall. I don’t even remember going through security, but I’m sure it happened. When you get to the gate, its an open air pavilion with uncomfortable but trendy seating. There are cats everywhere, it’s sweltering hot, but they have free snacks. I sat in front of one of the portable air conditioners with my free popcorn and pineapple juice and tried to pretend I didn’t feel horrible. Then you get on small trams that look like you are a Florida theme park and they trams take you to the plane. Of course on the plane, it’s so cold I have to put on long pants and a hoodie with the hood up. I’ll take the cold over the hot though. I’m looking forward to the next 10 days. I’ve signed up for a fitness camp so I will just be eating healthy food and working out for 10 days.

So my plan to relax and spend some time on-line researching potential jobs didn’t work out. But I did enjoy spending time with Judy, Andy and Ivan and laughing so hard my sides hurt.

20161009_200231 — Looks like a giant carrot farm

14516567_10153790085345689_4921030076694701170_n — Enter a caption

14568205_10153790120845689_752576006289661681_n — Where is Grandmother Rock?

14591876_10153790085260689_5281474207165994147_n — Enter a caption

14606477_10153790120895689_1399087476089378024_n — Enter a caption

14639654_10153790003580689_1062502109574031511_n — Enter a caption

14650555_10153790655380689_809403383802942505_n — Oh, I lied, this is the waterfall

20161010_105657 — Look! A Buddha and Stairs

20161010_105716 — A dragon with flowers on its tongue

20161010_123101 — Beware Bag Necklace Snatching

14680628_10153790655840689_1373870517257308958_n — Postcard

14517536_10157496325980176_341731716972536799_n — Judy’s “Birthday” dinner

20161012_094057 — Scrambled eggs with cheese

Kuala Lumpur

On October 7, 2016October 10, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Malaysia, Travel, Uncategorized2 Comments

I always had this idea that Malaysia was a third world country or at best, a second world country. Maybe parts of it are, but Kuala Lumpur surprised me. It’s cleaner and nicer than Thailand. The guesthouse I booked is not wonderful, but it is ok. I have always wanted to see what it would be like to travel abroad alone. After almost 2 months of it before, and now, I’ve decided it’s not wonderful either.

I’m excited to see the Patronas towers. They use to be the highest building in the world, but aren’t anymore. I had found a website with the top 10 rooftop bars in KL. I thought that sounded like a worthy goal to find all 10. I was going to do 3 the first night. The second one was difficult to find since google maps is useless once you lose the wifi signal. So I skipped the third one. The other nights I gave up altogether. Being sick and drinking very expensive drinks alone didn’t turn out to be as fun as it first sounded. I still think it’s a worthy goal and suggest someone else attempt it sometime. And I got to see a roof top that is a heli pad by day and bar by night – brilliant idea.

I either lost my jewelry or packed it in the bag that I left in Thailand. So, I found a cheap place in the mall and bought some new earrings. I also did some shopping for things I can’t get in Thailand such as face products without bleach in them and hair jell for curly hair.

The park near the Patronas towers is wonderful. I also went to the bird park and the butterfly park. I walked a lot and got lost a lot (I blame google maps). There’s a tourist bus that goes to all the tourist spots. You pay one price and can get on and off it any time all day. I never found it. I went to the top of the KL Tower – great views but not worth the price. I went to the top of the Petronas towers – very expensive, but for some reason a better experience than the KL Tower. I went to Batu Caves – a famous cave temple. It involved a lot of stairs. It was under construction/repair. It smelled like garbage and was a total waste of my time. I ate roti after and that almost made it better.

I slept late every day. I got a pedicure finally. I got to wake up at 5:30 every morning to hear the muslim call to prayer or whatever that was. I saw another movie. I got a body scrub and they got most of the Thailand off my skin. I ate either salads or Indian food. Halfway through the antibiotic and I feel much better.

Random notes:

Malaysian men are quite a bit more masculine than Thai men. People are rougher here too – not mean, but just have an edge to them.
In general, Asians who are traveling are rude. I got my table taken several times or got cut in line or people just bump into me and don’t acknowledge it.
There are a lot of Muslim here and the women are covered with long dresses or pants and head scarfs. They work and are very nice when you interact with them. But, I wonder what they think of me and other women like me. I’m dressed conservatively for me, but my hair and arms are showing. They don’t seem offended or jealous, but I still wonder. I saw one woman completely covered except her eyes. She was on the top of the KL Tower and they were taking pictures together. She had sunglasses on so her eyes were technically covered too. I wondered how your family ever knows that’s a picture of you when you can’t see anything but black fabric and sunglasses. She didn’t seem unhappy about it as best as I could tell. I wonder if there is a sense of safety being so covered. Do Muslim women get less sexual harassment? Do they feel safer walking around a big city than non Muslim women do?
There was one train I took that had a woman only train car.
Here’s a lot of photos:

20161003_145331 — Their money is so pretty

20161004_152310 — Pandan and sugar drink

20161004_172330 20161004_172335 20161004_172349 20161004_172413 20161004_172931 20161004_173046 20161004_173200 20161004_173753 20161004_174402

20161005_165808 20161005_170416 20161005_170437 20161005_170453 20161006_181334

Whoa

On October 2, 2016October 9, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Malaysia, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The taxi pulls up to a forest of fake trees with lights in them. Omar, my taxi driver, pulls my suitcase out of the trunk and points to a series of sliding doors with lights and people everywhere. “Over there” he says as he bids me goodbye and I tell him I’ll call him in a day to arrange my pick up. There are signs everywhere and everything seems to be moving. I can’t read any of the signs even though they are in English. I can’t find a hotel check in desk. I’m not even sure where the hotel is. People keep bumping into me and I feel like I’m dragging the largest suitcase ever. I know it’s not the largest suitcase ever because I use to own that and left it in Thailand. Still….. I see 4 or 5 banks of electronic kiosks with 10 or more kiosks in each one. I walk up and see that it’s for hotel check in. So, I must be near the hotel. No matter what I do, it won’t let me check in. I try to get help. There are a bunch of people in uniforms standing around, but none of them will help me. Maybe I’m invisible. Maybe I’m not actually here. It does feel kind of disjointed like a dream. Finally a lady helps me. She points to a sign that says all pre-bookings need to register with a guest services clerk first. That sign wasn’t there a minute ago and what’s the point of point of self check in if you can’t do it yourself? She asks how many people – just me. Then a little later she asks if I need a second key. For who? It’s still just me. If I want a second key, I will need to give her a second passport. It’s still just me. What is going on? “Any special requests? Oh, too late, here’s your key”. Huh? I find tower 1 and go up to my floor. I step off the elevator and into a bad dream. Have you ever been so sick with a bad fever or woken up from too much anesthesia where your dreams are drug induced, creepy alternate realities where nothing is as it should be? I found the portal to this alternate reality. It’s at the First World Resort Hotel in Genting Highlands. In the air was soft electronic ambient music. There’s no real tune or beat, just horrible wandering sound that suggests that time no longer exists, you are the last human being on the planet and you no longer have arms or legs. The only windows are covered in purple film casting a creepy light everywhere. The striped carpet is covered in water stains as if the entire hotel was flooded last week. I could almost feel the water on my feet as I walked down the hall wondering what could have caused that much water damage. The halls go on forever and the music makes me feel like I’m in slow motion. Well, I no longer have arms or legs so maybe that’s why I’m moving in slow motion. Or maybe the halls are growing longer as I walk down them. Or maybe I’m actually underwater. Three years later I arrive at my room. It has twin beds, not a double and the tv doesn’t work. There’s no wifi. I might have walked backward through time to before there was wifi. That’s possible.

I make the three-year journey back to the hotel lobby or rain forest or whatever it is. They told me that it doesn’t matter what I booked ahead of time, the rooms are all first come first serve. I can come back later and see if a room with a queen bed became available, but there’s no wifi in tower one and for some reason unknown to me, there’s no chance in hell I will get a room in tower 2 or 3. There’s 4 hotels, 4 or 5 casinos, an indoor theme park, shops, restaurants and an arcade all interconnected so let’s go explore and hopefully find some food on the way. My experience so far had left me very disoriented and I notice that there are signs and some of the words are in English, but I can’t read them. All I see is trees with lights in them. I find an elevator and go up. When I exit I am “outdoors” in a market. A whale floats by above me. It reminds me of main street Disney with the overdone perfect shops, fake bakery smells, lights everywhere and people everywhere. This is the slightly lower budget Asian casino version mimicking an open air market. A reindeer sled with two kids in it flies by. The statue of liberty is riding a Harley. I see the casino entrance, but don’t go in. That might be too much. There are restaurants on the other side of the river, but I can’t get to them. Guess that’s not where I want to eat tonight. I find a movie theatre, a haunted house, tons of stores and Ripley’s believe it or not. It’s 4 or 5 stories of this fake outdoors. An escalator goes up, but there’s no escalator down. There are dead ends and a lot of “how do I get over there?”. I find an escalator that goes to the next hotel/casino. Maybe they will have food I want. It turns out to be 6 or 7 escalators some of them so steep that I had to hold onto the railing because I felt like I would fall over. It drops me off at an arcade. FUCK. It’s so loud, lights everywhere, and so many small humans. I have now lost all ability to function. I stood there like a deer in the headlights. I don’t even remember walking, but then I was at the other side of the arcade and looking at an Italian restaurant. I couldn’t read the menu, but by looking at the place, I figured I couldn’t afford it anyway. More walking, more dead ends, more casinos, more hotel, more Chinese people, more food consisting of something and rice. So hungry. So don’t want rice. And about 2 minutes before total melt down – burger and a ginger beer. Yay! Not sure how I found it, but I felt human again after I ate it. I think going from rural Thailand to this in one day, I might have overestimated my adaptation skills. I know people that get easily overwhelmed by too much stimulus. I think this might be how they feel. But, knowing that it’s just over stimulus, I never panicked or actually freaked out. I kind of enjoyed most of it even though it was frustrating when I got hungry.

After dinner, foot massage. Here that involves a steam tub for your feet and legs. At first it was nice, then it tried to peel my skin off. Not a fan. Then back through the arcade. Arcades are just casinos for kids, practice for later. I went into one of the casinos. I didn’t understand any of the table games and I don’t care for slot machines. I found some game rules and descriptions and took them to one of the river side bars I couldn’t get to before. I had a drink and read about the games. The drink did me in so I will play games tomorrow. I was able to get my room changed to one with a queen sized bed. Still no wifi. I think they named the hotel wrong. Instead of First World Resort, I think it should be called Better than Third World Resort. My new room is still in the time warp tower 1 so I still had to swim with no arms and legs to it.

20161002_155612 — Entrance to rain forest

20161002_170125 — A whale with children in it

20161002_193726 — Don’t like foot steam bath

To Kuala Lumpur

On October 2, 2016October 8, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Thailand, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I stayed in this cool hotel in Chiang Mai. I booked it because it was right next to the airport, had a coffee shop and was made of shipping containers. I have a friend that owns a company that makes houses out of shipping containers so I was excited to see a hotel with this concept. It was a great concept. But in effort to make the place look cool, they kept the restaurant open to the hotel section. If I opened the door from my room, I was looking directly at tables in the restaurant. Even with the door closed, it sounded like I was sitting in the restaurant. It was a very popular restraint and every table was full all night long. So, going to sleep early so I could get up early and well rested for my flight was not happening. Then they didn’t have a shuttle and were not willing to call a taxi for me so I had to walk 3 blocks to the nearest road to get a taxi. The coffee shop wasn’t open in the morning. The hot water didn’t work. Great idea, poor execution. They should have just had a kick ass restaurant and skipped the hotel part.

The Chiang Mai airport is so easy. No lines. My bag was overweight and they didn’t say anything. Security did take my deodorant though. Getting there wasn’t easy. I was literally next to the airport (could see the runway) and had to walk 3 blocks in the other direction to get a taxi. Then the taxi went 15 minutes in the wrong direction to drop someone else off. I swear it took 25 minutes to get back to the airport.

Flying into Kuala Lumpur, the ocean was an unnatural green, not the pretty pale tropical green it should be. It looked like radioactive waste. In places it wasn’t green, it was brown like a Colorado river in flood. I had originally planned to scuba dive, but then scrapped that plan when I realized all the scuba places were a 4-8 hour drive away from Kuala Lumpur. Now I know why they are so far away. Still between the weird water and the acres and acres of palm farms, it was a beautiful strange new world to land in. The highway is big and clean and at first glance everything seems to be much cleaner than Thailand. I bought a SIM card in the airport so my phone will work here. It seemed to be working, but on further inspection (in the cab, not in the store) it’s not. Yay technology. We drove past the city on the way to Genting Highlands. It’s a huge city. Genting Highlands is a tacky looking ridiculous casino at the top of a mountain. I found it when I was looking for jobs in Asia. I thought it would be a hoot to check it out and if I like it, maybe I’ll try my hand at dealing cards again. The road to Genting Highlands is very steep, steeper than most places in Colorado. The entire top of the mountain is covered in casino, hotel complex, and mist. Just driving through it is a maze of tunnels, high rise buildings and construction. If I had been driving, I’d still be driving in circles lost.

20161001_174845 20161001_174942

20161002_153251 — Genting Highlands on top of yonder mountain

20161002_1549220

20161002_155339

Homeless

On October 1, 2016October 6, 2016 By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Last night there was apocalyptic thunder. It shook the whole house. The electricity went out twice. I remember storms like this in Florida, but have never seen (heard) storms like this in Colorado. I was so dizzy and feverish that I just hoped that the storm didn’t take down the house because I would be unable to move to safety.

I got up this morning and finished packing and cleaning. Then I sat and waited for an hour for Noi. She took me to the post office to mail a couple boxes and then to the highway to catch a bus. I’m now homeless. It should feel like a huge relief, fear, excitement, sadness or something, but it just feels empty. All my belongings fit into 4 bags or were mailed back to Colorado. I’m setting off on a travel adventure and I’m not excited about it. I feel lonely, but not sad lonely, just alone. And there seems to be no point in anything. Why travel? Why go home? Oh, I have no home to go to, just a storage shed full of stuff and a car I can’t afford. Should I sell everything I own and wander? Should I build a new home in Colorado or somewhere else? Where? I was restless and uncomfortable when I did have a home and I’m restless and uncomfortable without one. So, home or no home is not the answer. I wanted to get lost – I’m lost. So, I guess I’ll just wander and be lost or empty or full or alone or not and see what I see and see what happens next.

line_p20160930_164337312

Unemployed

On September 30, 2016October 5, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Teaching, Thailand, Uncategorized1 Comment

This morning was goodbye time. At morning assembly, they said goodbye to me in front of the whole school. The director gave a speech and Pat translated. He talked about how he could see my strong intention and kindness that I brought to the students every day. Kru Pat gave a speech and I gave a speech. Some of the teachers gave me gifts including Kru Pit who told me good luck and be happy in Thai and then hugged me. Two of my students gave speeches too. Of course, I was crying. So many people told me not to cry. It makes them so uncomfortable when someone shows emotion. Noi even asked me if I felt relief after releasing all my bad feelings. What bad feelings? Crying isn’t bad. It’s an emotion, it’s a natural part of being human. Everything exists at once, it’s not bad and then good. But, how do you explain that who believes in black and white so strongly?

Then everyone went into the meeting hall where they had ceremonies to say goodbye to the teacher who is retiring. There was a picture slide show, speeches, gifts, photos, singing, students prostrating, and more photos. One of the gifts at each going away I’ve seen is a fan. I wonder if a fan is the most popular gift. I’m glad I didn’t get a fan. I wouldn’t be able to take it with me. I love the singing and think it is a wonderful way to show gratitude, but I’m not too fond of the prostration. Why does this bother as a sign of respect, but singing doesn’t? (I had video of the singing, but wifi doesn’t want me to upload them right now). After all this each class came up on stage and took a photo with the teacher. When M1 was up there I remember thinking they looked so young (11 and 12 year olds). It struck me that here was a man saying goodbye to his old life, an old life as a teacher ending standing next to so much youth, lives that had barely begun.

After all the pictures most students and teachers had left. I noticed the M6/1 class standing in a circle patiently waiting for all the pictures to be done. They brought the retiring teacher into the center of the circle and sang to him. It was beautiful to watch. Before they had started they had asked me to wait and not leave the meeting hall yet. After they were done with him, they brought me into the center of the circle. Someone said they had to sing in English and they didn’t know what to sing so they sang the alphabet song. It was hysterical. Then they tried to sing “See you again”, but didn’t get past the first chorus. They finished with a Thai song. It was very touching and my favorite memory of the day. I didn’t get any photos or video of it. If they surface later, I’ll post them.

I wanted to buy one of the school shirts. There was one dark green one left and I was holding it up to see if it would fit. Kru Chelon came in and saw me. She had me try it on and then was so excited because she wanted to get me something, but didn’t know what so she bought the shirt for me. So sweet!

Random thought of the day: Why don’t they make belts in different sizes? Every girl has a belt that is way too big for her. So the tail of the belt wraps all the way around to her back or over to the other side. Since this is annoying, they hold the belt in place with a binder clip.

I didn’t do much the rest of the day which was good because I’m still sick and just feel horrible. Noi was supposed to come get the bags I’m leaving with her after school. She decided not to take them and we went to dinner instead. I felt so horrible that I barely made it through dinner, but I had no food at home so I didn’t really have much choice. At some point she said she thought Americans were frank and went on about how this was a bad thing. This is one part of Thai culture I just don’t agree with. I’d rather someone be honest with me than lie to me just because lying is “nicer”. This conversation, along with one about me being a liar because I say “I don’t know”, did me in. I’m too sick to deal with this right now.

20160930_083838 20160930_085140

20160930_095909

20160930_1146200

20160930_120127 — Trying on my new shirt

20160930_140737 20160930_140749 line_p20160930_164244662

line_p20160930_164244714 — Thompien, the Director and Pat

line_p20160930_164244751 line_p20160930_164244773 line_p20160930_164244777 line_p20160930_164337301 line_p20160930_181028813 line_p20160930_181028846

School Farm

On September 28, 2016 By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I stopped by the school farm today. The lime trees are budding and most of the dragon fruit has been planted. I’m not sure any vegetables have been planted, but it makes for a great ghostly kind of picture. The banana trees are looking sad, but I think they will bounce back if someone waters them. My kitten buddy is waiting for me almost every day. He’s so cute and then he tries to destroy my screens. Too bad he didn’t show up when I first moved here. I might have took him in. Oh, and 2 days to go.

$%#&^(&( Trail

On September 28, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Teaching, Thailand, Uncategorized2 Comments

This weekend I didn’t have much to do. I packed. I cleaned. I rode my motorbike up to the top of the dam again. There’s a shrine up there I haven’t seen before so I walked up the steps to see it. There’s a shrine near the bottom of the dam too that I had never been to. I rode my motorbike up this ridiculous hill. I didn’t make it the whole way and had to push the bike the rest of the way. I barely made it. Then behind the shrine, I saw trails. What? They looked like mountain bike trails from the race not too long ago. This whole freaking time I could have gone hiking? My friend Gerry had asked why I didn’t go out into nature to process since I don’t have privacy at home. I told him there were no hiking trails and most everything is thick dense jungle that has monsters hiding in it. Then this trail appears. Damn it, too late.

Sunday I napped. I never nap. Monday I woke up feeling like death. My head is stuffed up and I can’t stop coughing. Oh, that’s why I napped. Noi took me to the hospital. The doctor said I have a cold or the flu. They gave me medicine and sent me on my way. I’m not convinced I don’t have a sinus infection. I slept most of the rest of the day Monday and half of Tuesday. I started feeling better today, but now I feel horrible again. I’m not surprised. I’ve been trying to hold it together and get a lot done in a short period of time. I’m stressed. I’m going back to bed.

20160924_142317 — This is what most of where I live looks like – No hiking here

20160924_133556 — What? A trail? Too late.

20160924_133422 — I’m not good enough to ride all the way up this

20160924_133441 20160924_133459

20160924_140757

20160924_141126 — A Buddha, elephants, zebras and chickens

20160924_141134 20160924_141142 20160924_141154

20160924_140057 — Karaoke house boats going out for the night

20160924_141201 20160924_141216 20160924_140948

Magic String

On September 24, 2016September 24, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Teaching, Thailand, Uncategorized1 Comment

Yesterday was all it was promised to be. There were around 300 teachers from the Sam Ngao area for the retirement ceremony. There were 11 teachers retiring. I must have looked lost because a teacher from Tak decided to take me under her wing and take care of me. Her name was Kru O. She spoke very good English. She showed me where to sign in and get my goodie bag. Then we went and sat up in the second row. She had heard of me. Some of my advanced 7^th graders use to be her students. She asked me a ton of questions. When she found out I was leaving, she seemed shocked that I would want to leave. I told her I wanted to live in a bigger city. She now has a new job for me in Tak. It would be at a small school – class size of 10 students instead of 30 or 40. And that’s how you get a new job. Not real sure I want that job or want to live in Tak, but I’ll throw it on the back burner in case. Kru O reminds me of Noi, She’s tiny, so full of energy and quite forceful. She scares me a little.

A lot of the teachers were dressed in matching school shirts. Some of the teachers were dressed to the nines in silk dresses, silk suits, silk, satin or lace shirts or traditional Thai dress. I saw some of the most beautiful silk I’ve ever seen, vibrant colors that you couldn’t look away from.

The day started off with someone talking over the microphone, but no one listening. Then they lit the candles on the Buddha altar. The monks came in. The altar like things were actually chairs for four of the monks to sit in. The rest of the monks sat on the stage. The retirees sat in a circle around the arch. There was chanting. Kru O explained that the ceremony to ask for a happy life. Then at some point we took the string hanging down and wrapped it around our heads. The retirees did the same. The string started wrapped around the Buddha statue then went to the arch. From the arch it went out to the retirees and the four monks. Then the string went out to everyone else. This must be some powerful string. There was more chanting with each of the monks reading something different. After a long time, we took the string off our heads and one of the monks walked around with the reeds in his hand using them to throw holy water on everyone. I got video of only the tail end of this. Then there were offerings of food and other things given to the monks. Then speeches. Then the giving of gifts. Each retiree got a pretty wrapped package and a glass box with what looked like a statue of the King in it. After all that, it was time for lunch. I tried one of the things that looked not to spicy. Wrong – it was spicy. They had the dessert of jelly things in coconut milk with ice on top. That just didn’t cut it. I snuck home for some steamed veggies.

I came back to find most people had gone home and they were cleaning up the mess in the meeting hall. I helped a little, but it was mostly students doing the work and teachers directing so there wasn’t much I could do. I spent the afternoon grading tests.

I went to Tip’s for dinner. She made tom yum which is one of my favorites, but I can rarely eat it because it’s usually too spicy. It always smells so good and breaks my heart that I can’t eat it. Fai doesn’t like spicy either so she made it with no peppers! After dinner I played crosswords again with Ging and her husband. Ging won again!

I got home around 9:00 to find the gate closed and locked. It’s been closed before, but never locked. How do I get home? I texted Q, Noi and Pat. Pat got back to me and told me she texted Ton and he’d let me in. He came up to let me in. Apparently everyone that lives at school has a key to the gate except me. Wtf?

Today I started cleaning the house. Yuck. I usually don’t mind cleaning, but the amount of cobwebs was gross. It took 3 hours and I still have to clean half my bedroom and the bathroom. I’m just hoping there is no bug apocalypse or some other natural disaster in the next week that will make me have to re-clean. Now my challenges for the week are to get laundry to dry without smelling bad and get everything packed into two suitcases. Go!

20160923_084906

New House Critter

On September 15, 2016September 18, 2016 By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I have a new house critter. Well, he wants to be a house critter, but I won’t let him in. An adorable kitten. I’d love to have a house kitten, but he probably has fleas. He has a salty disposition and just sits outside my door or window and demands that he has the right to come in. He has already ruined one of my screens trying to get in. I tried to feed him, but he just wants in the house. He is adorable.

I woke up Monday with a wicked cold. I went home early. Noi was so nice and went out to buy me soup and medicine. Everyone is very concerned that I have medicine.

If I wasn’t giving final exams next week, I would have skipped Tuesday altogether, but I didn’t think it was fair to give them exams without a exam review class. It was the longest day ever.

Wednesday still sick. Now everyone is asking me if I need to go to the doctor. What is a doctor going to do about a cold? “Do you have medicine”? So, I just kept saying I had medicine. I will go to the hospital if I’m still sick after a week. Colds usually last a week for me.

Wednesday Pat told me I had to sign a resignation letter. They also made me sign a copy of each page of my passport. Awhile ago I had asked Pat about when the school would cancel my work permit and she said they wouldn’t. I’m pretty sure everything I signed cancels my work permit and I have 24 hours to leave the country. I was trying to explain to her that this is what we talked about before and this means I have to leave as soon as the work permit is canceled. I need to know when that date is. She almost had a melt down. ‘They have to report correctly and cannot lie. Thai people don’t lie. Thai people are nice. What do I expect her to do?’ She got all defensive and tried to pick a fight with me in the office. wtf, Pat? I just want to know the date my permit is being canceled so I can plan accordingly. She is completely invested in having me believe that Thai people are nice civilized people as if her whole identity depends on it. What on earth did I do or other Americans before me do to make her think that Americans are such horrible creatures and that we think Thais are? And what gave her the idea that I was expecting her to do some illegal reporting? Relax.

So, what is this requirement that you have 24 hours to leave the country after your work permit is over. I have to work a full day on Friday and be out of the country on Saturday. “Thank you for your service in teaching our children, the future of our country. Now get out and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out”.

I just felt like dying, but I had to go do laundry after school. I have to pack. I have to finish my last lesson plans and now I have to figure out where to go for 4 days the day after I finish teaching. I saw a guy limp down the street with no shoes and clothes that were so dirty they looked like they had never been washed. He was muttering to himself as he walked. Ok, no matter how horrible I feel, my life is probably 2,000 times better than this guy’s. Perspective.

Sidenote, Thai washing machines are confusing. You put the clothes in, the soap in and then the coins in. There are 20 buttons on the machine, but you don’t push any of them. Then it flashes 3 or 4 different numbers, the last one I think is the total time the washing will take. And then it does it’s thing. I don’t think there are any dryers in the entire country. This is the second washing in a row for half this load since if it rains, my clothes don’t dry fast enough and then they smell musty and I have to wash them again. I miss dryers.

It’s been raining a lot. After about 2 days of rain when it stopped, the sky was so full of dragon flies. It was kind of like lemon yellow butterfly season, but dragon flies. I’ve never seen so many at one time. It’s mesmerizing.

Today after lunch, Noi and I went to get coffee. I’m not allowed to get cold coffee because cold drinks are bad for a cold. I always thought the idea that you should drink warm liquids when you are sick was just an old wives tale. I looked it up. They did research and found that people that drank warm liquids got better faster. Ok, hot coffee will do. While I was waiting for my coffee, Noi went behind the counter and cut up some limes and made some concoction for me. She told me to sip it and it would help my cough. It was the juice from about 5 limes and a pound of salt. This is one of the most painful experiences I’ve ever had. It burned my throat and my stomach. I got instant heartburn, felt weak and dizzy and an instant headache. Yep – cold symptoms gone, replaced with heart attach symptoms instead. Did it help the cough? Maybe. She told me I should drink this at home every day. Will I ever drink this again? No.

20160912_130435 20160913_141259 20160915_170036

	eaglegenuinec87d1476… on Going Home
	delicately4f6d967f14 on Going Home
	delicately4f6d967f14 on Icebergs
	delicately4f6d967f14 on ATV Tour
	eaglegenuinec87d1476… on Kluane

Rraine Drops

Tag: Travel