Hello! Thank YOU (whoever you may be) so much for clicking on the link to come and share with my experience here in Thailand! I have a LOT to update on!

Let's travel back to mid October when I touched down in this great country, that's the last time I posted right? I will post more often to keep these a little shorter! :)

So come with me, on my journey of leaving America for the first time….

Arriving to Bangkok, Thailand:
     Upon landing in Bangkok, the nerves started to set in…I couldn't figure out how to fill out my immigration card! I am here for…employment!? What did I agree to?! I have never been to a foreign country before so naturally I agreed that my first time would be to work a full time job, of course. After I set that straight with myself, I got to the next part. Since I was a non-immigrant traveler I had to write my home address. MY HOME address. Oh yea, that's right. My first trip to another country (halfway around the world) and I don't even know where I am staying! Hopefully the name of the school that I am not sure how to pronounce will work for this one. Next question: employment. Teacher? Oh yea! I decided that with my BS degree that I was going to teach High School Biology.
     I finally made it through the long lines to the officials at the front. Terrified, I handed the nice Thai man my virgin passport and was so excited to say "Sawatdee, kha" like I had learned from my iPhone app, but my mind went completely blank and I awkwardly stood there. He sat there in his official uniform and all I could think of is that he would start to question me and I would have no idea how to answer his questions and that I would be deported. If you have ever traveled internationally you have probably figured out that he didn't ask me any questions, he stamped my passport in about 3 seconds and put it back through the window to me. Whelp, that was easy!
     Next I was off to exchange my $300 USD for some Thai baht. I got to the window and handed the lady 300 USD and she bowed to me. OH YEA! I had forgotten all about wai'ing to people! Cool! I got my colorful bills (that looked like monopoly money) and we were off...

Orientation:
     After arriving to the hotel, we had to check in. There were two orientations going on at the same time so we had to walk over to the other hotel to get our materials and name tags. Walking out on the street, pretending not to be effected by the strong smells, roaming dogs, street meat everywhere, 4 people per motor bike and four 7-11s within 100 yards of each other I started to walk to the other hotel. Culture shock, you will not get the best of me. As I was walking to the other hotel, who do I run into other than Mark Lenz. Within minutes of getting to our hotel in Bangkok I see one of my former ASP staffers who had also been accepted to the same program. Unbelievable!
     Training was a lot of fun, we had a couple sessions in Thai language and teacher training which entailed what teaching Thai kids may be like, a couple fun games to play with them and a couple challenges the kids have when learning English.
    During the last part of training we went on a little field trip to Kanchanaburi which was absolutely amazing. When Kyle and I got to our room we walked out on our balcony to see an unbelievable view of the mountains. The next day we went got to ride elephants and go bamboo rafting, it was SO much fun.
    OEG (overseas exchange group) training reminded me so much of ASP training. All of the applicants were together in each of our sessions and we got to know each other and form friendships throughout the week. We all knew where we were headed afterwards and what some of our challenges would be. Throughout the week we friended each other on Facebook to stay in touch when we get to our Provinces and to make sure to be in contact about when we can visit each other.
    After returning from Kanchanaburi each OEG teacher got to meet the coordinator from their school. Kyle, Sara, Monique and I found a teacher from our school, it was too far for our coordinator to travel to meet us. The teacher took us to the bus station so we could catch our 13 hour bus ride to Chiang Rai. We said bye to all of our friends wishing them luck in their new schools, promising to keep in touch and that we would visit.

Heading to Chiang Rai!
    After being dropped off at the bus station we began the long journey to the north. Contrary to what I had been thinking, the bus ride was actually very pleasant. We were given pillows and blankets when we got on. Then we were giving little snacks and treats, then some water, then a juice box, then some coffee, then a fascial cleansing wipe….the service never ended! We stopped at 1am at a rest stop where they had food and bathrooms - squatters. We got back on and continued the trip. We were woken up around 6:30am to some Thai pop music videos which was fun.
     Once we arrived at the bus station in Chiang Rai we were greeted by our coordinators, two loving, funny ladies who spoke very good English. They took us to a morning market where we got some dried pork and sticky rice for breakfast (SOOO GOOD). After, they took us to the school where we would be living. As we pulled into the school they looked back and smiled and told us that our school is like a resort. As we drove around I definitely knew what she was referring to! There were palm trees, bright colors, so, so, so much space to run and play!

Or living accommodations:
     We pulled up to our house and it looked just as it did in the picture. As soon as we walked in, the two ladies took of their shoes and explained that it's a thai custom. We all took off our shoes too. We walked around the house which has now (two weeks later) become quite cozy. Upstairs there are four bedrooms. Each bedroom has a bed, desk and closet. The rooms do not have windows, just shutters and screens. Downstairs is our shower stall and two toilet stalls. We also have a "kitchen" that has a mini fridge, a microwave and a toaster (no sink or stove).
     In thai culture boys and girls do not live in the same house so Kyle is our neighbor across the way. He is living alone in his home. Well, not really alone though. He has a lot of gecko, snail and frog friends :)
     Our houses are on a VERY large campus with the students. At first I was a little nervous to be living on the same campus where I work. Our coordinators told us that they would like for us to play sports with the kids. I thought, are we going to get any time for ourselves? After school on Tuesday we decided to play basketball with the students and it was amazing. The students are amazing at basketball! They play smart and hard, although they are extremely polite, they are competitive! Walking around campus and seeing my students has been so much fun. It is great to see them outside of the classroom, they are full of joy and laughter and brighten our days!

Quick trip to Chiang Mai!
     When we got to our house in Chiang Rai, our coordinator told us that we would not be starting until the following week and that we should go and explore, specifically to go to Chiang Mai for a couple of days. We took her advice, repacked our bags and headed to Chiang Mai. We didn't have any plans, we didn't know where we were going to stay, we just packed a backpack with the basic things and headed to the bus station. We got our tickets for the there hour bus ride for six dollars.
     When we got to Chiang Mai one of our other OEG friends called us and told us that they found a place for 6 bucks a night. Obviously we quickly booked a room and went out explore the town. We got some GREAT thai food close by, the meals are usually only 1 USD. We stopped at a 7-11 on the way home for some shampoo and cookies and got a good night's sleep. The next day we went to Tiger Kingdom, it was awesome! I was too scared to go in with the big tigers so I saw the baby cubs. My goodness it was adorable.
     We did more exploring, more eating of great thai food and eventually headed back to Chiang Rai.

School!
    The following Monday was the first day of school: AHH! The first day of school was hectic beyond measure. The only things I knew were to get there before 7:45am and to wear a long skirt and a blouse.
    Upon arriving I met the biology teacher. He gave me my schedule and went over what the class would be learning this semester. He then told me that he was the biology teacher for M4 (10th grade) and that I would be working with the M5 (11th grade) biology teacher as well. For my M4 class I learned I would be teaching Genetics, DNA, Evolution, Biotechnology and the History of Life. I had a class in 20 minutes and I had to explain these concepts to them and get them excited for the semester. Um, what? Yea…I am going to need those 20 minutes and wikipedia before I can teach this first class!
    After I survived three classes I met the second M5 teacher who told me that I would be teaching the digestive system, the immune system, the nervous system and hormones. She told me that this week I need to start teaching the digestive system. Once again, let me study a little and whip together a quick power point and I will be there.
    Throughout this whole process I managed to use enough words to ask the teachers if the students get the classes that I am teaching in English in Thia as well. Their answer was no, that I am the biology teacher for those subjects. Yea, what?!
     So, here I am, right before heading to lunch, thinking…what. did. I. agree. to. do? What if these kids don't understand me? How do I teach? What is animal phyla? Goodness gracious!

Teaching in class:
     If the students in America acted the way the students do in Thailand…I don't even know what our country would be capable of. The amount of respect each student shows to the teachers is unbelievable. In the morning as I walk to school and to class each student will bow their head to me, look up, smile wide, wave and say "good morning teacha!" sometimes accompanied by "I love you teacha" or "how are you!?" with genuine interest in your answer.
     At PCCCR (Princess Chulabhorn's College, Chiang Rai) the students must test into the school. The school itself is a public school that is funded by the princess who was a science major. It is similar to a magnet school in the states. The school is extremely well funded with amazing resources available to the students and the teachers. For the most part the students are excited to learn and the importance of education has been instilled in them in some way. This makes teaching a little easier, but the students also inspire me with their excitement and will to learn. Their motivation to become something and work hard for it and to help each other is incredible. I feel extremely blessed to be at this school with these students!

The US teachers/my roommates
     Sara is from Missouri and has her masters in English Education which is kind of funny because she is the other one working with me in the science department. Sara is teaching general science and the scientific method to M1 and M2 students, or 7th and 8th graders. Sara is high energy and a great friend.
     Monique is from California and was also an Education major in Arts and Theatre. Monique is teaching English to M1, M3 and M4 students. Monique loves to listen to music and she has been my workout partner :)
     Kyle is not our roommate, but he is our neighbor across the way (the director's house is between our house and his house). Kyle is teaching M3, M4 and M5 students English. Kyle is also teaching an elective class in public speaking.

I would love to write more but I am fighting my eyelids right now (it's 2pm in the states, but it's 1:10am here!). I hope that this post give everyone at home a little bit of an idea/picture of what's happening while you're sleeping at night ;) it's so funny when I am on Facebook I only see my Thai teacher friend's updates because everyone in America is sleeping and right when I wake or up right before I go to sleep I see my American friend's updates :)

I will type much more later and try to keep up with this so you all can have an idea of what I am doing and how the semester is going! I love and miss everyone so much!

Goodnight!

Meg

PS sorry for all of the typos or incoherent sentences, it's been a long week and I don't have time to proofread :)