Tennis, anyone?

Last night I went to the Bangkok Open to watch a couple games of tennis. Unfortunately, Andy Roddick withdrew from the tournament, so the first game wasn't very exciting and his opponent handily beat the alternate standing in for Mandy Moore's ex-beau. The second game was much more exciting: Tommy Haas (Germany) vs. Vincent Spadea (USA). The crowd definitely favored Haas, who won 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. This was my first experience watching pro tennis!

Today was another first- my first experience in a Thai classroom. Our group of ten English teachers taught the seventh graders about Thanksgiving and Kwanzaa (as seen in the picture above). This brief experience made me even more excited to head to my school and start teaching my own class with my own students at the end of October! This weekend, I will experience a homestay on Friday and Saturday night. I think my Thai host mom teaches English, so hopefully, she will share some teaching tips! By the way, here's a glimpse of what is in store for me (from a contact at the school where I'll teach):

The only thing I'd like to warn you is our students are very weak in English. Most of them lack self disciplines while many others are quite ignorance. I don't mean to frighten you, but to warn you so that you can prepare to face these "monsters".

And a few pictures from last weekend:

A Weekend Tourist

After orientation ended on Friday, the weekend of sightseeing began! I couldn't believe that I had been in Thailand a week without seeing much more than my dorm and its surrounding sois (streets), Chulalongkorn University (Chula, for short), and the JJ or Chatachuk Market. So, everyone went out to dinner at a hole in the wall place where we were the only white faces around. I was having a great time until (at the end of the meal) I caught a glimpse of the dishwashing facilities... large rubber trash cans overflowing with murky water, bits of food, and our dishes. Ew. On the positive side, I am still alive.

After the death-defying dining came to a close, we piled into cabs- literally five of us on top of each other to save a bit of cab fare. An international friend from our dorm, Daisuke, directed us to the clubbing section of town. I felt horribly under-dressed and over-clothed (probably a new word, but hopefully it gets the message across). Apparently, I am more fashion-challenged than in the US. It's official. Anyway, we went to a super-swanky club called Route 66 and danced the night away... until we (not me exactly, but part of our group) sort of got kicked out, but that's a different story.

Saturday involved taking the BTS skytrain down to a bridge where we hopped on a water taxi and headed to the Grand Palace area.

• First stop: Wat Pho, home of the giant Reclining Buddha. Impressive, but the entire wat (aka temple) compound was either under renovation or in need of better upkeep. I'll post some pictures when I have a chance.
• Second stop: street hawkers for fresh pineapple, fried bananas, and vanilla ice cream with sticky rice and coconut milk. YUM.
• Third stop: Wat Phra Kaew, home of the Emerald Buddha inside the Grand Palace complex. Everything was colorful and shiny and gold... lots of gold. I got a kick out of the Emerald Buddha's three seasonal costumes- hot, rainy, and cold. It's like the King plays dress up three times a year. Okay, technically, it's the Crown Prince who changes the Buddha's headdress these days (someone else changes the rest of the costume) because nobody wants to risk the 80-year-old-longest-reigning-living-ruler's life on a climb up to the top of the ornate, three-tiered platform on which the jade Buddha meditates.
• Fourth stop: a couple palace museums.
• Fifth stop: Wat Aruna, the Temple of the Dawn. My favorite wat so far! The wat's exterior is concrete covered in broken pieces of china, giving it a colorful, trashy-chic look. I climbed the steeeeeep stairs up the wat's facade and indulged in amazing views of Bangkok while little bells on the surrounding spires tinkled around me. Ahhhh...

After the long day of sightseeing, I had (yes, had) to treat myself to a Thai massage. Because my feet were so sore, I plunked down my 159 baht ($5 ish) for an hour-long, amazing, relaxing, sole-soothing rub down. I can't wait to try a full-body massage soon. :)

Finally, today I went to the Evangelical Church of Bangkok with a couple female Fulbrighter friends. I miss my Lutheran churches in Coeur d'Alene and Houston. The three of us went to the Vimanmek Mansion after church; a jaunt I really enjoyed despite my exhaustion. Speaking of exhaustion, I'm off to rest up for another week of orientation, Thai language classes, and lesson planning 101!

Some Background Info

2007-2008 Thaliand ETAs:

For those who don't know, I suppose I should explain why I am not in medical school anymore. I received a phone call from the Fulbright office 3 weeks into med school informing me that a spot had opened up for me (I was an alternate). After a very stressful weekend of thoughtful deliberation, I decided to accept the scholarship and go on leave of absence until next July when I'll start all over again.

Until October 20, mail can be sent to the TUSEF office:

Rebecca Thilo, ETA

Thailand-U.S. educational Foundation

Thai Wah Tower 1, 3rd Floor

21/5 South Sathorn Road

Bangkok 10120

Thailand

My school assignment (October 22, 2007 - March 2008):

Patarayarn Wittaya School

Location- Nakorn Chaisri District, Nakorn Pathom Province)

The school's website (in Thai)- www.py.ac.th

The Thailand adventure begins!

Sawatdee Ka from Thailand! Unfortunately, I have just exhausted nearly all of my Thai language vocab in the first sentence, but I hope to be a bit more proficient by the end of this next six months.

I left Houston on Thursday, September 13, 2007, and arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, around midnight on Friday (making Saturday my first real day in Thailand). I have moved in what little belongings I brought with me. I think I should have brought more clothes because I am much too big for even their XL size. I feel like such a sumo. I spent about $10 on two unflattering polo shirts that will get me through some of the dress requirements to come. Even though they would not be formal by US standards, they bear the King's seal, which makes them acceptable when accompanied by a skirt and close-toed shoes. Perhaps I need to try harder looking for sizes that fit. In themeantime, I find myself looking for fat Thai women so I can ask themwhere they shop...

I am also taking in Thai sight and smells. Though, in my opinion,they're not entirely appetizing- from pollution to stray dogs. Rats scurry around the streets at night, which nearly scares the pee out of me. Yikes stripes. I have yet to encouter a true Thai toilet. I should probably invest in a sugical mask since I'll be in Bangkok for 5 weeks, and the pollution at street-level is intense. I've been to a HUGE weekend market, out to eat,the university (Chula, for short), and to the Peninsula for Ross's (afellow ETA) birthday. I spent an entire page in my journal describing the delicious desserts- from dragon fruit to pineapple rum shots tocreme brulee and more! Though the dinner buffet was 1500 baht (~$50US), I sprang for just desserts, which was all-you-can eat for only300 baht (~$10 US). Everyone else bought a dinner meal a la carte, sonow I am known as the dessert girl. Ugh. I think this was really a one-time dietary splurge. Otherwise, I have been sticking to fried rice and soups, and (yes, mom) bottled water.

I've made friends with my roommate McCaila. She's from Vermont (the state of my dreams) and has said I can come visit her... I am SO excited. :) Also, three architecture students from the University of Idaho are in my dorm and studying at Chula for the semester. Two are from Portland, and one is from South Dakota, but seeing one girl's Idaho shirt made me positively giddy.

I am going to try to figure out this blog thing more. Perhaps I'll even post pictures sometime. I miss my family and friends and wish I had more internet/phone time to keep in touch with people personally. If you'd like to shoot me an email, I'd love it: bthilo@gmail.com.

Until next time... Becky