And it just goes on…

Wow my first full week in Hua Hin, Thailand may be over….but the work sure isn't. I've seen and experienced so much already, and we've only just begun our TESOL orientation.

My first week consisted of the following:

Going to a Buddhist temple and learning about the practices. Then getting blessed for good luck and receiving bracelets by the monk! I mean SERIOUSLY who else has an opportunity like that??
Rescue Paws is an organization that helps out the street dogs (or soi dogs) in Thailand. We visited their home base and got to see what the volunteers really have to endure to try and contain the overwhelming dog population. Dogs are literally EVERYWHERE. And I mean everywhere. However, these dogs know and live the streets so well that the only way to help them is give them vaccines and neuter them. All of them were absolutley lovable though, and Rescue Paws is a fantastic organization.
MUAY THAI. That shit is serious. I think everyone in the group felt pretty weak in comparison to these guys who fuck shit up with their bare hands.
We went to an artist village which I loved. Really great, and got to draw some intricate mandala designs which I enjoy anyways!
Pineapple Farm was followed by visiting the elephant sanctuary. All of the elephants were rescues, and have seen some shit. Elephants can live to be pretty old and one of them was around for WWII. This was one of my favorite things that we did in the week (next to visiting and meditating in the temple). Took so many pictures with the elephants it’s unreal.
Throughout the week we had culture and Thai lessons, and both of those have come in handy already. Thais are very liberal EXCEPT when it comes to their core beliefs. So knowing the do’s don’ts are pretty key. I think the 2 main rules here are smile and bow down to the muthafuckin king and queen lol. They absolutly LOVELOVELOVE their royal family. They are posted are everywhere. Highways. Storefronts. Schools. You name it, there’s a picture of the royal family somewhere. Pretty cool because you know an entire country has undying love for one thing, but also pretty strange too.
Lastly was the beach bbq. And wow was that much needed. The entire program was there (which is like 120 teachers), and it was fantastic branching out a little more thanks to all that thai alcohol. Which sidenote is super expensive. Like 120 baht for one drink…I spent a lot of money that night. From the bbq my friend and I decided to completely break out of our shells and go with a different colored team to the surrounding bars. That was such a good experience because I needed to prove to myself that branching out and meeting people is fun, and not intimidating. Everyone is in the same boat here and it’s really comforting knowing that. Downside of that night, I got wasted and had to wake up the next morning for class. That was some shit.

And today we presented our first lesson plans for the summer camp that’s starting this Thursday. I was a little nervous, but it’s a group of us and it wasn’t as bad as I thought!

Hopefully I’ll know where I’ll be placed for school next week…

Oh one thing I’m really trying to work on for myself this week is to stop comparing myself to the other people in the group. This is MY experience, and I will experience exactly how I want to. Go with flow and just do you, are things I really need to keep in my mind! I’m truly hoping that I’m going to look back on this post 6 months from now when this over and feel like I have accomplished that.

Future me,

If you just read that and things haven’t changed yet….GO START NOW!