We arrived in Surin just this morning after taking the night train from Bangkok. The trains have sleeping compartments; top and bottom beds accompanied by clean sheets and a curtain for each bed to block out any light. I fell asleep quickly to the rocking lull of the train.
Accompanied by our Thai Starfish venture coordinator Gae, we arrived at 5:30 this morning and were taken by tuk tuk to our guest house. After a restful sleep I awoke and wondered around town a bit. Surin is very different from the busselling polluted craziness of Bangkok. The people here are very friendly and are not nice to you because they want you to buy something they sell. The smiles are are genuine but speak very little English!! I think we are the only farang (what Thais call foreigners) around for miles! I have learned a few Thai phrases which are coming in handy. Besides the basic ones like Hello, goodbye, please and thank you I have been picking up ones like 'Kor Tom Yum Gung Ped Ka' which means "I would like Tum Yum soup, spicy please!" and 'Kid car sia hi' which means "What's the damage?" I get a lot of smiles when I use this one - farang knows slang Thai when asking for the bill!
Today we toured the town which is pretty chill, has a good market, free gym facility (woo hoo I am there) and many places to eat all around 25 minutes walking distance from our guest house. I had to guess what I was having for breakfast this morning; it was quite humorous when I showed up to the Thai menu and I had to point at what I was having. I ended up with Chicken soup with noodles which I added a few teas spoons of chill flakes too; I am becoming quite addicted to spicy food because not only does it taste good but it cools you down because it is so hot here.
Tomorrow we start our fist day at school; there are 6 other English teacher whom are volunteering with Starfish. Tomorrow is introduction day and the ages we will teach range from age 13 to 18; about 280 students for two teachers. Don't ask me how I am going to entertain this many kids but I will have to manage. I am excited, nervous yet at the same time feeling happy about the challenge. Most of all I look forward to give it my best shot because I have everything to gain from this experience!
1 comment:
Hey there Falang!!
Good luck with the kids, I'm sure it's gonna be a great experience.
I've just moved in to my new place in Germany, I think I'm gonna like it :) It's probably nothing compared to Thailand's beaches and smiling people, but they have good beer here!
Take care and enjoy!
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