Tag: Xploreasia

Happy New Year

On By rrainefioreIn Thailand, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today we had more language and culture lessons.  We also had a sharing session where we were asked to write down why we were here.  Not, the canned polite response, but the real one – were we looking for something, running from something, what have we gone through to get here, what were we hoping to learn or how did we want to grow, etc.  I thought it was a very brave and real way to look at the situation.  I think it’s a huge part of what needs to be dealt with to learn and grow.  We also talked about the various emotions that may come up while adjusting to our new lives and various ways to deal with that.  I’m sure the importance of the exercises was lost on many.

I’m very impressed with this company.  One of the quotes I’ve seen several times through them is “You may not get the experience you want, but you will get the experience you need”.  I feel they have done a good job of stressing the importance of releasing expectations, embracing the new culture and going with the flow.  It’s almost ATP meets teaching English.  I am impressed.

Tonight was New Year’s Eve.  They planned a beach bbq.  I thought this might be kind of hokey and I kind of felt bad that the whole staff had to hang out with us on NYE, but it was awesome.  The beach was beautiful, the food was great.  A truck drove up and started playing music.  They don’t wait until midnight to set off fireworks so they were going off all night.  There were more fireworks at midnight, though.  People were sending off the floating lanterns too.  It was a beautiful way to celebrate the end of the year and the start of my new life in Thailand.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

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Elephants

On By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today they took us to a pineapple farm.  The pineapple is delicious here.  Xploreasia bought some of the pineapple that was no longer fit for humans to take to the Hutsadin elephant foundation to donate for the elephants.  I love the way Xploreaisa is giving back to the community in unique ways.  Then they took us to see the elephants.  They rescue elephants.  In order to pay for their costs, they sell rides or walks with the elephants and they have an elephant show.  It’s not ideal to have to “sell” them out to tourists, but it’s the only way they can afford to feed and care for them.  We got to feed them.  We also had Thai language class and had a talk about what it’s like to work with agents and schools.  We may have agents that represent us and help us with the teaching contract, accommodations, payroll, etc or we may work directly with the school.  Each situation will be different.  It may be fairly organized and structured or it may be the complete opposite.  The range of things we may encounter covers just about everything.  After that we went to the Thai market which I wrote about in my other blog from today.

After the market, I went out to a small shopping center with my house mates.  I really like my house mates.  There are 5 of us in this house.  We all get along and I feel like I have some of the more mature people in the class as my house mates.  There are 27 of us in class and I am the oldest by probably 20 years.  It feels odd at times for me.  The difference in age can go from hardly noticeable to staggering in a split second.  It’s difficult to quite put my finger on what it is.  I could say it’s maturity or a lack of it, but that’s not really it.  It’s more like an energy or frequency difference.  There is a more frantic energy to them as a whole which feels loud and awkward.  This tends to be more noticeable during the more social times and is hardly there during learning times.   There are quite a few that I can tell are going to be amazing teachers and are going to embrace the experience with an open heart and great courage.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

Finally, I’m Excited

On By rrainefioreIn ThailandLeave a comment

One of the most frequent questions I received from people before I left Colorado was “Are you excited”?  No.  I rarely, if ever, was excited.  The enormity of what I’m doing was too much.  What am I doing?  Who’s decision was this?  Oh crap, it was mine.  All along, I’ve known I would be fine, but if I can’t imagine myself living in Thailand, I couldn’t find the excitement.  Plus, there was so much to do to get ready that it was hard to see past the to-do list.  Tonight they took us to a Thai market, not one foreigners go to, but one where Thais go.  It was hot and crowded and there was so much food.  I had no idea what 95% of the food was.  We broke up into small groups and each group had someone from Xploreasia with them to help us with what everything was.  And we tried to order food in without using English.  I loved it and I was so excited to try so many things.  I can see myself going out in the evening and wandering around, finding my dinner, and just sitting on the side of the road people watching.  This is the first time this has felt real in a way where I can see myself living here.  It feels good.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

 

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Rescue Paws

On By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today we went to a local temple and learned a lot about Buddhist temples.  It was right on the ocean and was very unique.  It had a beautiful view of Hua Hin off in the distance.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

 

After the temple we went to Rescue Paws.  There are lot of stray dogs in Thailand.  The Thai people often feed them, but don’t take them in as pets and don’t take care of them when they are sick.  And they don’t get spayed or neutered so there are so many.  Rescue Paws feeds a lot of dogs, spays or neuters dogs and returns them to their packs.  They also help sick dogs and try to adopt dogs to Canada that aren’t part of a pack.   We toured their kennels and surgery room and got to meet some of the dogs. If you want to learn more about the organization or help support them, here is their website. https://web.facebook.com/RescuePawsThailand/

 

Then we had Thai language lessons and a Thai politics class.  Then they took us to a Muay Thai class.  It was a lot like kickboxing.  They showed us basic punching and kicking moves.  It looked like almost everyone loved it.  I decided it was meh.

 

 

Minor Scam

On By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Well, today was much much better than yesterday.  I got to the hotel around 1:00am, slept until 6:00am when my body decided it was time to get up.  Later in the morning I met up with 6 of the other teachers in my program and we headed out check out parts of Bangkok.  We went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market which boasts to be one of the world’s largest markets.  It was pretty big, hot and crowded.  But there was coconut ice cream so I was a happy little kid.

We wanted to go to the Grand Palace after and couldn’t figure how to get from the train station to the Grand Palace.  A couple of tuk tuk drivers showed us where it was on the map, but it was closed due to a holiday.  They suggested we do a boat tour instead and see a different temple.  Apparently this is a common scam where someone will tell you where you want to go is closed and then take your to their friend’s place to spend your money instead.  Still, the tuk tuk ride was fun.  The boat ride was fun and interesting, but longer than I would have liked.  It’s very interesting how some people live in big houses and next door is a tiny shack that looks like it might fall into the water at any moment.  And then next door to that is a glittering temple.  The temples are amazing, ornate and beautiful, even the smaller ones.  We ended up another Temple, Wat Pho, that has the largest reclining Buddha statue.  It was so large, I couldn’t get a picture of the whole statue.  There were many temples all within the grounds of Wat Pho, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to explore a lot.  Then we got into way overly priced tuk tuks to go back to the hotel.

We had a meeting with Xploreasia that evening to introduce everyone and get the general info on tomorrow and the weeks ahead.  By the time we were done with the meeting, I was ready for bed, but needed to eat.  Most of us went to a night market for dinner.  The food was great.  Then I went to bed early.

Overall, it was a great day and I feel so much better about my choice to move abroad.  I’ve always known it’s going to be great, but the fear of the unknown has been very big lately.  The fear has retreated quite a bit today!  Yay!

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

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