Having not slept well, I stayed in bed until about 10 when Francesco called to confirm our plans to travel to Rukhi (a village bordering Abkhazia with a ruined castle). I have been invited to Rukhi with a police officer later when the weather is nicer, so we decided to meet at 1PM, talk with his host family, and make a Plan B.
His host sister came with us luckily. As she skillfully navigated her way through the market stalls directly to where her father and mother own a stall, I followed like a puppy. I have yet to not get lost in the market.
We asked Francesco's host mom for another suggestion, and we settled on Kortskheli (a village 7km outside of Zugdidi with a church and monastery). His host mom noticed me looking at the hair dye. Having had my hair dyed last week, I showed her the box top from the color I used. To my great surprise, she gave me a box of the same dye, and very generously refused to let me pay for it.
After very little encouragement, we talked her into leaving her husband at the stall and coming with us to Kortskheli for the afternoon. Again to our great surprise, she hired a taxi and refused again, to let us pay for it.
We stopped by her sister's house very briefly as she handed her a bottle of something which would later become clearer. The taxi inched its way up a surprisingly snowy embankment as Zugdidi has absolutely no snow on the ground anymore. It came to a stop in between the monastery and the church. We first visited the monastery which I'd imagine is absolutely gorgeous in spring as the trees and brush from the garden were still visible over the mounds of snow. We were invited into the monastery to listen to some nuns sing. As we exited, we were greeted by a guest of the monastery who spoke very nearly perfect English.
Natala showed us around the 17th century church explaining its history and how it had been defaced by the Russians during the Soviet times.
We headed back over to the monastery as we had been invited back for tea. From the monastery grounds, it is possible to see the Black Sea.
We headed inside and had a nice chat with the nun who invited us earlier and Natala. Francesco had loads of in depth questions about Orthodox Christianity and how it fit into the Byzantine empire and questions about churches and Russian reactions. I just let him go... Haha.
After talking for a while, the nun gave each of us a biscuit baked at the monastery and two candles to remember the monastery by and invited us to come back anytime. Very very kind!
Afterward, the bottle of mystery liquid came into play. It was wine. We stopped at a cemetery to pay respects to one of Francesco's host mother's relatives.
We then headed back to Francesco's host family's house where Francesco and I talked for a while. By the time I realized what time it was, I had been invited to stay for dinner.
I ended up making it home just before dark and just after Francesco's house had lost power.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Death Anniversary - Saturday February 11, 2012
Today was the one year anniversary of the death of my host father's father. I'm quickly learning that death plays an immense role in Georgian culture. After a person dies, there is 40 days of mourning, which includes wearing black and fasting from meat. There is then a one year anniversary. Depending on who has died and depending on the extent of tradition in an individual, the person mourning may wear black for years.
In any case, I laid in bed until around 11 before waking up to go next door. I set down my tea to help Tiko and my host parent's daughter, Sopo, dry the billion plates that had been rented for guests who would be coming later to eat. I then watched as my host mother made khachapuri - enough to feed an army. It was quite the process. I believe I have watched it being made so many times that I may have a shot at making it on my own. Dough, make it into a ball, kneed it slightly, fill it to the gills with Georgian cheese, gather up the corners to once again make it into a ball, then smoosh it out to resemble a cheese filled pizza, and place in an over on a pizza pan.
While my host mother was completing a task I'm sure she's accomplished many times in her lifetime, my host sister-in-law and a cousin took charge of me to get me to the cemetery with everyone else. We took marshutkas to the cemetery to perform a tradition of offering wine to the dead by sprinkling it over his grave and drinking a bit. There was also an offering plate of food which we were supposed to eat off of. As I was offered the platter, I tried to take the tomato as I'm missing fresh produce in my life,, but was instead instructed to take khachapuri. I may never know why...but was left looking longingly after the tomato.
From there, we hopped back on the marshutka to come back to my host father's mother's house next door where I was led upstairs to take part in another tradition of sprinkling something over a fire and dipping bread in wine and eating it. I was mortified to see a cow's head (eyes open, tongue sticking out) and the remains of a lamb lying underneath the table.
From there I was led to an upstairs area that had tables lined up from end to end that had been decorated with fruit (FRUIT!) and loads of other food. I had some of my fave - badrijani (eggplant with walnut paste). After that I also had some khachapuri, gomi with cheese, and some salads...followed by a precious banana. I will never take fruit and veggies for granted again!
After that, it was time for the men to drink and for the women to hang out downstairs. I managed to stay up until 9 or 10 before heading upstairs to pass out.
All in all, a very interesting cultural experience.
In any case, I laid in bed until around 11 before waking up to go next door. I set down my tea to help Tiko and my host parent's daughter, Sopo, dry the billion plates that had been rented for guests who would be coming later to eat. I then watched as my host mother made khachapuri - enough to feed an army. It was quite the process. I believe I have watched it being made so many times that I may have a shot at making it on my own. Dough, make it into a ball, kneed it slightly, fill it to the gills with Georgian cheese, gather up the corners to once again make it into a ball, then smoosh it out to resemble a cheese filled pizza, and place in an over on a pizza pan.
While my host mother was completing a task I'm sure she's accomplished many times in her lifetime, my host sister-in-law and a cousin took charge of me to get me to the cemetery with everyone else. We took marshutkas to the cemetery to perform a tradition of offering wine to the dead by sprinkling it over his grave and drinking a bit. There was also an offering plate of food which we were supposed to eat off of. As I was offered the platter, I tried to take the tomato as I'm missing fresh produce in my life,, but was instead instructed to take khachapuri. I may never know why...but was left looking longingly after the tomato.
From there, we hopped back on the marshutka to come back to my host father's mother's house next door where I was led upstairs to take part in another tradition of sprinkling something over a fire and dipping bread in wine and eating it. I was mortified to see a cow's head (eyes open, tongue sticking out) and the remains of a lamb lying underneath the table.
From there I was led to an upstairs area that had tables lined up from end to end that had been decorated with fruit (FRUIT!) and loads of other food. I had some of my fave - badrijani (eggplant with walnut paste). After that I also had some khachapuri, gomi with cheese, and some salads...followed by a precious banana. I will never take fruit and veggies for granted again!
After that, it was time for the men to drink and for the women to hang out downstairs. I managed to stay up until 9 or 10 before heading upstairs to pass out.
All in all, a very interesting cultural experience.
Georgian/Italian Family - Saturday February 11, 2012
I was kindly invited to Francesco's host family's for dinner. It was a wonderful opportunity to view another host family's interaction with their host teacher.
I left a bit early to meet Francesco at 5:30PM as I could no longer watch my host family getting ready for the death anniversary tomorrow as we had piglets with slit throats hanging up next door clearly visible through our living room window.
When I entered Francesco's house, I was firstly overwhelmed at how many people there were. Francesco has a host father, mother, sister, brother, cousin, and uncle. Plus another cousin came over with her mom and sister later on in the night. This cousin, Kristine, knows English very well and was able to translate for us.
I was secondly overwhelmed with the amount of generosity and kindness I was afforded while in their home. We had khachapuri, fried potatoes, three different kinds of salad, and lots and lots of wine!
We drank quite a bit and the night ended with the family showing me their 700 Litres of wine stored up until the next season. No wonder they take it as shots, there's so much of it!
Francesco, his host cousin, and host uncle offered to walk me home as it is only 15 minutes away. I was tipsy but quite capable of making the 3 turns it took to get to my house. Unfortunately the lot of them were not as capable to take the 3 turns back. Straight off they went right instead of left. An hour later, I received a phone call from Francesco telling me that they had to catch a taxi as they had somehow ended up in the countryside. HAHA!
After I returned home, I went next door to watch my host family get prepared for the ceremony. I was cordially invited by my host uncle to take shots of tchatcha (homemade vodka) with him, my host bro, and random guy. As it is insanely difficult to turn down a drink in this culture, I sat to have 4 shots of tchatcha before running away to avoid more drinks. I headed to bed around 11PM. The whole night was a good pick-me-up to the test taking disaster at the police academy earlier.
I left a bit early to meet Francesco at 5:30PM as I could no longer watch my host family getting ready for the death anniversary tomorrow as we had piglets with slit throats hanging up next door clearly visible through our living room window.
When I entered Francesco's house, I was firstly overwhelmed at how many people there were. Francesco has a host father, mother, sister, brother, cousin, and uncle. Plus another cousin came over with her mom and sister later on in the night. This cousin, Kristine, knows English very well and was able to translate for us.
I was secondly overwhelmed with the amount of generosity and kindness I was afforded while in their home. We had khachapuri, fried potatoes, three different kinds of salad, and lots and lots of wine!
We drank quite a bit and the night ended with the family showing me their 700 Litres of wine stored up until the next season. No wonder they take it as shots, there's so much of it!
Francesco, his host cousin, and host uncle offered to walk me home as it is only 15 minutes away. I was tipsy but quite capable of making the 3 turns it took to get to my house. Unfortunately the lot of them were not as capable to take the 3 turns back. Straight off they went right instead of left. An hour later, I received a phone call from Francesco telling me that they had to catch a taxi as they had somehow ended up in the countryside. HAHA!
After I returned home, I went next door to watch my host family get prepared for the ceremony. I was cordially invited by my host uncle to take shots of tchatcha (homemade vodka) with him, my host bro, and random guy. As it is insanely difficult to turn down a drink in this culture, I sat to have 4 shots of tchatcha before running away to avoid more drinks. I headed to bed around 11PM. The whole night was a good pick-me-up to the test taking disaster at the police academy earlier.
Ultimate Fail! - Friday February 10, 2012
Not Friday the 13th but almost as ominous. Today is one of those days...you know, one of those days when you feel like a total and utter failure. This most awesome of days has been brought on by the sudden realization that while there is a program in place, it does not effectively benefit everyone equally.
We had our first "test" today and the mounting stress painted across the faces of each of the officers made my insides melt. I have to split my classes into levels.
I personally despise conventional testing, but at the same time, understand its existence. I also felt like I had failed as a teacher in not fulfilling the obligation I had to prepare them properly.
After watching each student agonize over different sections of the test, I told them that if they don't finish or feel as though they have accomplished as high on the test as they would like, they can take the test again next Friday after we've done more review.
There is no point in allowing students to sit frustrated. It will only create a hatred of a subject.
Just because I will allow a retest this time, does not mean I will allow one next time or the time after that, it simply means that I recognized my failure as a teacher, and worked to correct it.
I will create a schedule of 3 classes to start the week after next with a more properly managed leveled class system so that I can give my students the proper level of education they are prepared for - whether that be 8 steps back and at a slower pace or 3 steps forward and at a faster pace.
We had our first "test" today and the mounting stress painted across the faces of each of the officers made my insides melt. I have to split my classes into levels.
I personally despise conventional testing, but at the same time, understand its existence. I also felt like I had failed as a teacher in not fulfilling the obligation I had to prepare them properly.
After watching each student agonize over different sections of the test, I told them that if they don't finish or feel as though they have accomplished as high on the test as they would like, they can take the test again next Friday after we've done more review.
There is no point in allowing students to sit frustrated. It will only create a hatred of a subject.
Just because I will allow a retest this time, does not mean I will allow one next time or the time after that, it simply means that I recognized my failure as a teacher, and worked to correct it.
I will create a schedule of 3 classes to start the week after next with a more properly managed leveled class system so that I can give my students the proper level of education they are prepared for - whether that be 8 steps back and at a slower pace or 3 steps forward and at a faster pace.
Big Bro Bully (Russia) - February 2, 2012
Tamuna is a wonderful woman! She is the police chief's secretary and my sanity. She also acts as the interpreter in my classes at the police station until next week when I will politely kick her out of class. No worries...we talked about it, and she agrees 100% that it'll be good for English language learners to hear and speak only English rather than relying on her translations.
Anyway, Tamuna is a fairly liberal-minded, 29 year old, unmarried Georgian woman. Gasp. 29 and unmarried. One of the first things she ever told me was that her mom believed that education was the most important thing she and her sisters could ever achieve. Already decades ahead of her time. She was not expected to get married and forget about education.
She is always very curious about American culture and asks how things are done there and explains how things are in Georgia and why they are the way they are. We sat down yesterday to lunch, where our conversations usually take place after classes are finished.
I plucked up the courage to ask her about the 2008 war with Russia. It was the first time I really recognized how young of a country I am living in and that everyone I meet has seen war.
Tamuna told me about leaving her home with her mom and two sisters as she heard Abkhazians were coming along with Russians as she remember from her childhood hearing of Abkhazians chopping the heads off of Georgian citizens. Her father stayed behind.
They went to a village 20km away from the main street of Zugdidi to stay with a family member. They were so terrified of the Russian planes overhead targeting houses that they all slept outside. After 4 days, the war was called off, but Russian planes continued bombing. After a week, this small country of Georgia had been rocked by it's big bro to the north.
Anyway, Tamuna is a fairly liberal-minded, 29 year old, unmarried Georgian woman. Gasp. 29 and unmarried. One of the first things she ever told me was that her mom believed that education was the most important thing she and her sisters could ever achieve. Already decades ahead of her time. She was not expected to get married and forget about education.
She is always very curious about American culture and asks how things are done there and explains how things are in Georgia and why they are the way they are. We sat down yesterday to lunch, where our conversations usually take place after classes are finished.
I plucked up the courage to ask her about the 2008 war with Russia. It was the first time I really recognized how young of a country I am living in and that everyone I meet has seen war.
Tamuna told me about leaving her home with her mom and two sisters as she heard Abkhazians were coming along with Russians as she remember from her childhood hearing of Abkhazians chopping the heads off of Georgian citizens. Her father stayed behind.
They went to a village 20km away from the main street of Zugdidi to stay with a family member. They were so terrified of the Russian planes overhead targeting houses that they all slept outside. After 4 days, the war was called off, but Russian planes continued bombing. After a week, this small country of Georgia had been rocked by it's big bro to the north.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Politsia - February 2, 2012
So, I teach police. It sounds pretty awesome, doesn't it. It actually is pretty awesome. I am enjoying it for the most part, and it is providing me with an experience I never could have dreamed of.
When we first got to Zugdidi, which is where my placement is, Pavell and I stopped at the police station before heading to our host families. I met a woman named Tamuna who is sort of in charge of me at the police station. It's hard to explain. If there is anything wrong, I contact her instead of TLG (Teach and Learn with Georgia). She also sits in on my English lessons and translates where necessary. She is 29, very sweet, and unmarried. She has had experience working with other foreigners, so it has been a wonderful experience getting to know her.
Two days later, on Monday, I decided my schedule and found out who would be in my classes. I teach Monday, Wednesday, Friday of every week for 4 hours each day. In theory, I have two classes of 14 and each class should last two hours. In practice, I have between 4-8 police officers that show up for each class and each class is between 1.5 hours to 2 hours.
There is a police officer that picks me up everyday from my host family's house and takes me to the police station. The police officers who work at the station I teach at work in one of five different departments within the station: HR, Detective Investigators, and Financial are three of them. I can't remember the others. They are considered "Neighborhood Police." They usually tend to be better paid than patrol police which are at a different station. If I were to walk to work, it would be between 1-1.5 hours which is quite far when it is this cold out, hence, the police escort to work. :)
In general, the police officers' English level is much higher than I had expected. They are half way through the second Level of the Cutting Edge books we are using to teach. The past two weeks, I have simply been working on review and will start teaching a new Module hopefully this Friday. They are expected to take a test the Friday of each week to show understanding of the new information. Even if the police officers didn't show up for the lessons, from what I understand, most try to show up for the tests.
With the idea from Pavell, the Patrol Police teacher, I start my lessons with a quote, a tongue twister, and a discussion of current events. This past Wednesday is when I felt my first disenchantment with teaching adult police officers. They were talking in my class which as a teacher of any age level, is frustrating. They speak in Georgian, and I cannot understand them. With that, there is occasionally more translating within the classroom than I would like, but Wednesday was the first day where I felt truly frustrated. I had the class take a break, so I could get my frustration under control before continuing the lesson. I asked the class if they wanted to discuss current events and most said yes. I asked them to bring in a current even that they could share with others on Friday. We'll see if they do.
The other troubles that go without saying when teaching police officers is that they are incredibly busy individuals. They have to put work first and answer their phones during class and may even have to get up and walk out. These I understand. It is the nature of their positions. But the talking...NO WAY I'm getting used to that.
However, in general, I feel very fortunate for the experience I am having. Not to mention, it'll look great on the resume. :)
When we first got to Zugdidi, which is where my placement is, Pavell and I stopped at the police station before heading to our host families. I met a woman named Tamuna who is sort of in charge of me at the police station. It's hard to explain. If there is anything wrong, I contact her instead of TLG (Teach and Learn with Georgia). She also sits in on my English lessons and translates where necessary. She is 29, very sweet, and unmarried. She has had experience working with other foreigners, so it has been a wonderful experience getting to know her.
Two days later, on Monday, I decided my schedule and found out who would be in my classes. I teach Monday, Wednesday, Friday of every week for 4 hours each day. In theory, I have two classes of 14 and each class should last two hours. In practice, I have between 4-8 police officers that show up for each class and each class is between 1.5 hours to 2 hours.
There is a police officer that picks me up everyday from my host family's house and takes me to the police station. The police officers who work at the station I teach at work in one of five different departments within the station: HR, Detective Investigators, and Financial are three of them. I can't remember the others. They are considered "Neighborhood Police." They usually tend to be better paid than patrol police which are at a different station. If I were to walk to work, it would be between 1-1.5 hours which is quite far when it is this cold out, hence, the police escort to work. :)
In general, the police officers' English level is much higher than I had expected. They are half way through the second Level of the Cutting Edge books we are using to teach. The past two weeks, I have simply been working on review and will start teaching a new Module hopefully this Friday. They are expected to take a test the Friday of each week to show understanding of the new information. Even if the police officers didn't show up for the lessons, from what I understand, most try to show up for the tests.
With the idea from Pavell, the Patrol Police teacher, I start my lessons with a quote, a tongue twister, and a discussion of current events. This past Wednesday is when I felt my first disenchantment with teaching adult police officers. They were talking in my class which as a teacher of any age level, is frustrating. They speak in Georgian, and I cannot understand them. With that, there is occasionally more translating within the classroom than I would like, but Wednesday was the first day where I felt truly frustrated. I had the class take a break, so I could get my frustration under control before continuing the lesson. I asked the class if they wanted to discuss current events and most said yes. I asked them to bring in a current even that they could share with others on Friday. We'll see if they do.
The other troubles that go without saying when teaching police officers is that they are incredibly busy individuals. They have to put work first and answer their phones during class and may even have to get up and walk out. These I understand. It is the nature of their positions. But the talking...NO WAY I'm getting used to that.
However, in general, I feel very fortunate for the experience I am having. Not to mention, it'll look great on the resume. :)
The Host with the Most - January 31, 2012
So, now I'm at my host family's house.
All in the Family
I have a 21-year-old host sister, Tiko, who is the only person who speaks English. She is married to a 30-year-old police officer, Dato. They live with his parents, Murmani and Eliso, who own two markets. So, strangely, everyone in my family works which is not the Georgian norm. Usually there is one woman who stays home and attends to "womanly duties" (cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids.) So they work everyday from 9AM-6PM roughly...although it seems like their schedule always changes. Everyone works at the market except for the host bro who has a 24 hour duty cycle supposedly every other day, but I have not seen him for 4 days straight. In addition, we live right next door to my host father's brother, sister, and mom. His sister was never married, his father passed away a year ago, I think is what I understood, and his brother, Kosta, works in Belarus but is on holiday to come home for the death anniversary of his father. Kosta is divorced but has two boys who live in Belarus with their mother. In addition, to Dato, my host parents have two daughters, Sopo and Maga. Sopo has one son named Saba and is pregnant with another boy. Sadly, her husband died a little over a month ago of an aneurysm. Maga and her husband have one daughter named Qeso and one son named Luca.
Temperature
We have arrived in the heart of winter which means we are in the midst of a nearly unbearable cold front. Something our program forgot to mention is that families in Georgia have one room in which they keep warm. The rest of the house is as cold as it is outside. I talked the host family into letting me have a small electric heater in my room that I turn on an hour before bed which doesn't exactly make it warm, but makes the cold a little more tolerable. My host sister also sent me to bed with two soda bottles that had been emptied of soda and filled with hot water (instant hot water bottle). I clutch those two bottles as if my life depended on it. Once under the three blankets hugging the water bottles for about 30 minutes, it starts to warm up and sleep is possible.
Food
The food has been pretty tasty. I arrived during the period where my family was mourning for Sopo's husband which includes fasting. They did not eat meat for 40 days. They are now back to eating meat but understand that I do not eat meat. I think they are worried now about what to make for me. I eat a lot of bread, cheese, salads (cabbage, carrot, mayo), cabbage/potato soup, ghomi (a grit like food), and fruit. Still working on the protein aspect. I had beans once and haven't seen them since. My host family also realized that I like wine, so I have homemade wine with dinner every night.
The House
The houses in Georgia are bigger than what I thought they would be. They are equipped for housing parents and children and children's children. So, when you walk into my host family's house, there is a living room with 6 doors off of it. One is the front door, one is the back door, one is the parents' bedroom, one is an extra bedroom, one is the kitchen, and the other leads to the shower room and to a staircase that goes upstairs. There is a small hallway with a door at the end upstairs that leads into another huge living area. There are two bedrooms off of there, one mine, and one the bedroom of the son and daughter in law. There is a toilet inside that doesn't flush. We are allowed to use it but have to "flush" with a bucket of water afterward. To add too much information, the inside toilet is only if you have to pee. You must use the squat outhouse for the alternative. I pretty well pray that I don't have to go.
Next post will be about my job. :)
All in the Family
I have a 21-year-old host sister, Tiko, who is the only person who speaks English. She is married to a 30-year-old police officer, Dato. They live with his parents, Murmani and Eliso, who own two markets. So, strangely, everyone in my family works which is not the Georgian norm. Usually there is one woman who stays home and attends to "womanly duties" (cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids.) So they work everyday from 9AM-6PM roughly...although it seems like their schedule always changes. Everyone works at the market except for the host bro who has a 24 hour duty cycle supposedly every other day, but I have not seen him for 4 days straight. In addition, we live right next door to my host father's brother, sister, and mom. His sister was never married, his father passed away a year ago, I think is what I understood, and his brother, Kosta, works in Belarus but is on holiday to come home for the death anniversary of his father. Kosta is divorced but has two boys who live in Belarus with their mother. In addition, to Dato, my host parents have two daughters, Sopo and Maga. Sopo has one son named Saba and is pregnant with another boy. Sadly, her husband died a little over a month ago of an aneurysm. Maga and her husband have one daughter named Qeso and one son named Luca.
Temperature
We have arrived in the heart of winter which means we are in the midst of a nearly unbearable cold front. Something our program forgot to mention is that families in Georgia have one room in which they keep warm. The rest of the house is as cold as it is outside. I talked the host family into letting me have a small electric heater in my room that I turn on an hour before bed which doesn't exactly make it warm, but makes the cold a little more tolerable. My host sister also sent me to bed with two soda bottles that had been emptied of soda and filled with hot water (instant hot water bottle). I clutch those two bottles as if my life depended on it. Once under the three blankets hugging the water bottles for about 30 minutes, it starts to warm up and sleep is possible.
Food
The food has been pretty tasty. I arrived during the period where my family was mourning for Sopo's husband which includes fasting. They did not eat meat for 40 days. They are now back to eating meat but understand that I do not eat meat. I think they are worried now about what to make for me. I eat a lot of bread, cheese, salads (cabbage, carrot, mayo), cabbage/potato soup, ghomi (a grit like food), and fruit. Still working on the protein aspect. I had beans once and haven't seen them since. My host family also realized that I like wine, so I have homemade wine with dinner every night.
The House
The houses in Georgia are bigger than what I thought they would be. They are equipped for housing parents and children and children's children. So, when you walk into my host family's house, there is a living room with 6 doors off of it. One is the front door, one is the back door, one is the parents' bedroom, one is an extra bedroom, one is the kitchen, and the other leads to the shower room and to a staircase that goes upstairs. There is a small hallway with a door at the end upstairs that leads into another huge living area. There are two bedrooms off of there, one mine, and one the bedroom of the son and daughter in law. There is a toilet inside that doesn't flush. We are allowed to use it but have to "flush" with a bucket of water afterward. To add too much information, the inside toilet is only if you have to pee. You must use the squat outhouse for the alternative. I pretty well pray that I don't have to go.
Next post will be about my job. :)
Friday, January 27, 2012
Oh-rientation - January 21, 2012
Orientation was actually pretty fantastic. I love the people in the program and attempted to soak up all of the Georgian we were learning very rapidly as our orientation was only a week long.
Our days were packed as breakfast started at 8AM followed by an orientation session from 9-10:15. Language classes started after that and ran until lunch at 1PM. At 2PM we had another session followed by a 3 hour intercultural training. We had a final wrap up before dinner at 7:30PM. This is when we could either eat at the hotel for dinner or go out and explore.
A small group of us went out the second night to the town center of Tbilisi. It was much more modern than I had thought it would have been. We went to a restaurant downtown where we had traditional Georgian food including kinkhali which is basically like a dumpling with either meat, cheese, or veggies in it. Khachapuri is another traditional dish which is just bread with cheese in it. From there we walked passed the president's house, a fortress, and a bridge that is gorgeous when lit up at night.
Another night, we went to the restaurant next door for dinner and watch the place explode into dance and song. I am eager to learn Georgian Dance but am not sure if there will be a means to do so. We'll see.
Mid-way into orientation, our group was asked if any of us were interested in applying to teach police officers instead of at a school. About 12 of us were interested. We were asked to send in our resumes. They made a decision the next day and I was one of two selected! So I will be teaching police at a police station rather than children at a school. I'm very excited for the opportunity!
As orientation came to a close, the host families or representatives of different areas came to pick all of us up. Pavell, the other police teacher, and I were picked up by a driver from the police station. It is technically a 5-6 hour drive, but it took us about 4. Demur drove like crazy! I do not recommend ANYONE to drive in Georgia. Trust the locals that they know how to drive on their roads, so leave it to them. :)
More to come about host family situation...
Our days were packed as breakfast started at 8AM followed by an orientation session from 9-10:15. Language classes started after that and ran until lunch at 1PM. At 2PM we had another session followed by a 3 hour intercultural training. We had a final wrap up before dinner at 7:30PM. This is when we could either eat at the hotel for dinner or go out and explore.
A small group of us went out the second night to the town center of Tbilisi. It was much more modern than I had thought it would have been. We went to a restaurant downtown where we had traditional Georgian food including kinkhali which is basically like a dumpling with either meat, cheese, or veggies in it. Khachapuri is another traditional dish which is just bread with cheese in it. From there we walked passed the president's house, a fortress, and a bridge that is gorgeous when lit up at night.
Another night, we went to the restaurant next door for dinner and watch the place explode into dance and song. I am eager to learn Georgian Dance but am not sure if there will be a means to do so. We'll see.
Mid-way into orientation, our group was asked if any of us were interested in applying to teach police officers instead of at a school. About 12 of us were interested. We were asked to send in our resumes. They made a decision the next day and I was one of two selected! So I will be teaching police at a police station rather than children at a school. I'm very excited for the opportunity!
As orientation came to a close, the host families or representatives of different areas came to pick all of us up. Pavell, the other police teacher, and I were picked up by a driver from the police station. It is technically a 5-6 hour drive, but it took us about 4. Demur drove like crazy! I do not recommend ANYONE to drive in Georgia. Trust the locals that they know how to drive on their roads, so leave it to them. :)
More to come about host family situation...
What do you mean 57? - January 17, 2007
Sitting in the O'hare airport, I look across to see a group of people chatting outside the gate to Warsaw, Poland. Strange. Surely not all of us could be on the same flight randomly. So, naturally, I eavesdropped until I felt quite certain that they, too, were through the Teach and Learn with Georgia program. Sure enough...9 of us met in the airport all the while I was thinking I would be the only one. My recruiter left some details out. Many people went through a recruitment agency named GreenHeart or FootPrints. I went through Reach to Teach. I missed out on a LOT of information as I would come to find out.
No worries. Adaptation and flexibility is the name of the game. About an hour into our flight toward Warsaw, I realized that the guys on either side of me were also TLGers! Ha! Sweet. We got to chatting. One of them had just finished a one year stint of teaching in Thailand and the other just finished an unsuccessful attempt at the Peace Corps.
The 9 original of us that met up in the O'Hare airport went out into Warsaw which was a bit of a gong show. We went out in the freezing cold, hopped on a bus, and went into the center of town. After walking into the Old Town, we found a nice warm place to sit down and have a bite to eat. All but 5 of us went back to the airport, but with a 13 hour layover, we had plenty of time to kill, so the rest of us set out to see if we could find the Warsaw Ghetto. Big mistake. Apparently it doesn't exist anymore... We walked around in the cold and snow to walk into a Radisson Hotel which responded to the question, "Where is the Warsaw Ghetto?" "You are in it." Haha. Very well. We headed back to the airport to meet up with other TLGers who were on the same flight to Georgia. After another 5 hours of lying around on the airport floor, we finally boarded the plane to Tbilisi.
We were met by a TLG representative, Tamara, who took care to get us all to the hotel. I was interviewed by a tv crew about why I was in Georgia. At the hotel, we were left to sleep or explore until our medical exams at noon. My roommate, Krissi, and I passed out and woke only to head to our exams. With all said and done, there were 57 of us in the program and we were to spend the next week getting to know each other and Georgian culture.
No worries. Adaptation and flexibility is the name of the game. About an hour into our flight toward Warsaw, I realized that the guys on either side of me were also TLGers! Ha! Sweet. We got to chatting. One of them had just finished a one year stint of teaching in Thailand and the other just finished an unsuccessful attempt at the Peace Corps.
The 9 original of us that met up in the O'Hare airport went out into Warsaw which was a bit of a gong show. We went out in the freezing cold, hopped on a bus, and went into the center of town. After walking into the Old Town, we found a nice warm place to sit down and have a bite to eat. All but 5 of us went back to the airport, but with a 13 hour layover, we had plenty of time to kill, so the rest of us set out to see if we could find the Warsaw Ghetto. Big mistake. Apparently it doesn't exist anymore... We walked around in the cold and snow to walk into a Radisson Hotel which responded to the question, "Where is the Warsaw Ghetto?" "You are in it." Haha. Very well. We headed back to the airport to meet up with other TLGers who were on the same flight to Georgia. After another 5 hours of lying around on the airport floor, we finally boarded the plane to Tbilisi.
We were met by a TLG representative, Tamara, who took care to get us all to the hotel. I was interviewed by a tv crew about why I was in Georgia. At the hotel, we were left to sleep or explore until our medical exams at noon. My roommate, Krissi, and I passed out and woke only to head to our exams. With all said and done, there were 57 of us in the program and we were to spend the next week getting to know each other and Georgian culture.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Georgia, I have arrived! - January 15, 2007
As I attempt to re-integrate myself into the blogging community, I realize it has been quite some time since my last update. My hope is that this won't again be the case.
I have journals of Andy's and my travels from this summer, but conveniently have left them on my other computer. When I manage to extract them, I will also post them on this blog. We had the amazing opportunity to travel through Pittsburgh to DC, up to New York City via a stop in Delaware to visit my cousin Carrie, and on up to Boston. We then drove up through Maine on our way to Canada where we camped in Quebec City before heading to Sutton Montreal for a friend's wedding. To finish off our road trip, we traveled down through Niagara Falls and finished with a trip to Cedar Point to fulfill Andy's and my love of roller coasters. We also spent two weeks in Alaska. After my cousin's wedding in September, I headed to New Zealand to meet Andy for the Rugby World Cup. We rented a camper van and traveled all over the country stopping occasionally for rugby games. In between the last main game and the final, we traveled to Australia for two weeks where we also rented a camper van and traveled from Melbourne to Sydney. We returned to NZ for the rugby final where luckily the kiwis overcame, for if they had not, the country would have fallen apart. We then traveled to Fiji for two weeks to visit friends before heading back to England for a month.
That brings me to now!! I am in Georgia (the country!) It came about quite quickly, but I decided that this was the best option for me with the amount of time I had. Andy stayed in England and continued his search for a job, and as it is quite an ordeal to get a visa for an American in England, here I am. I am here teaching until June before hopefully heading back to England to complete a masters in International Development. I have already been accepted to the University of Manchester and am waiting to hear back from the other three universities.
I have been here for two weeks but will make separate posts about my experiences as to not overwhelm with details.
I have journals of Andy's and my travels from this summer, but conveniently have left them on my other computer. When I manage to extract them, I will also post them on this blog. We had the amazing opportunity to travel through Pittsburgh to DC, up to New York City via a stop in Delaware to visit my cousin Carrie, and on up to Boston. We then drove up through Maine on our way to Canada where we camped in Quebec City before heading to Sutton Montreal for a friend's wedding. To finish off our road trip, we traveled down through Niagara Falls and finished with a trip to Cedar Point to fulfill Andy's and my love of roller coasters. We also spent two weeks in Alaska. After my cousin's wedding in September, I headed to New Zealand to meet Andy for the Rugby World Cup. We rented a camper van and traveled all over the country stopping occasionally for rugby games. In between the last main game and the final, we traveled to Australia for two weeks where we also rented a camper van and traveled from Melbourne to Sydney. We returned to NZ for the rugby final where luckily the kiwis overcame, for if they had not, the country would have fallen apart. We then traveled to Fiji for two weeks to visit friends before heading back to England for a month.
That brings me to now!! I am in Georgia (the country!) It came about quite quickly, but I decided that this was the best option for me with the amount of time I had. Andy stayed in England and continued his search for a job, and as it is quite an ordeal to get a visa for an American in England, here I am. I am here teaching until June before hopefully heading back to England to complete a masters in International Development. I have already been accepted to the University of Manchester and am waiting to hear back from the other three universities.
I have been here for two weeks but will make separate posts about my experiences as to not overwhelm with details.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Back in the Loop - April 24, 2011
*Most recent update to family and friends.
It's been way too long since my last update, and I've stayed in touch with some of you much better than others. I apologize for that.
A lot has happened over the past two years, and I can't remember the last email I sent out.
Was it two...almost three summers ago even? Hopefully not that long.
I am now nearing the end of my second year in Kuwait. Last year I taught grade 6 girls and this year I have taught a coed kindergarten class at an "American school that respects Islamic values."
I quickly realized how very different Kuwaiti culture is compared to western culture, to far eastern culture, and well...to every culture I had experienced previously. The culture seeped into the school inevitably. Though we are an American school, I teach all Kuwaiti students and Islamic values rule the school. We are to dress a certain way, to teach a certain way, and to leave most of our personal touches out of teaching.
I had a hard time with the culture last year. There is an underlying, very visible hierarchical system in Kuwait. This year, I'm starting to understand it even more but last year it was almost unbearable. Kuwaitis are at the top of this hierarchy. They just are. They have the money, they have the expensive cars, they have the enormous houses. Westerners, I would say, are the next rung on the hierarchical ladder. However, we are still servants; servants to the Kuwaitis' children. Below westerners are immigrant workers. There are a LOT of them. Workers come from the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Egypt mostly. There are also many workers from other areas of the middle east. There are only 1 million Kuwaitis living in Kuwait with a population of 4 million. What do all of these immigrant workers do? They do the jobs Kuwaitis do not want to do. They are family cooks, family drivers, nannies, taxi drivers, car mechanics, restaurant workers, etc.
Toward the end of the school year last year, I had almost had it. I had almost had it with my school's administration and with the structure of Kuwait's society.
Why come back?
Awesome travel opportunities. Good friends. To continue learning about Islam and the middle east. To save money for grad school.
People say to me, "You must like it if you're going back." I can't phrase it that way. Most of us can't phrase it that way. There are things that I like about living here, but I do not like living in Kuwait. This was hard for me to admit. Still hard for me to admit.
What do you do when you dislike living somewhere? You find things that get you through. I joined rugby, started taking zumba lessons, and took up ultimate frisbee. I also found a very dear friend who was as willing as me to drop everything and do anything - a fellow explorer of sorts.
Rugby allowed me to get out of Kuwait every other weekend or so. We played internationally within the middle east. We played several times in the UAE (Emirates) and were also able to travel to Qatar. I met Andy, my now partner, at the biggest middle east rugby event of the year - Dubai Sevens (December 2009).
Because of our holiday time last year, I was able to travel to Ethiopia during our November Eid break with a fellow teacher who had set up an NGO (Non-Governmental Org) to help former sex workers and orphans. During my 2 week February break, I traveled home to meet my new baby brother, Ryan David Carmichael! :) During New Years, I traveled to Abu Dhabi with two good friends. I spent a few days in March exploring the beauty that Oman had to offer. Spring Break was spent in Istanbul with a friend and fellow rugby mate. Finally, Andy's and my first official trip together in May was to the oddly European Middle Eastern country of Lebanon.
When summer came, I spent a week with Andy and his family in England. He is from Guildford, just 30 minutes south of London. We also visited a friend of Andy's in Wales. I then spent 3 weeks traveling solo around Europe by train and staying with fellow couch surfers. Couch Surfing is an amazing network of people who put up their couches or extra rooms for fellow travel lovers. I met many interesting people with varying levels of travel under their belts. The best part is that it is free. It is simply focused on a cultural exchange. I had only wonderful experiences with CS. I traveled to Brussels and Bruges, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna Austria, Budapest , Zagreb, and Ljubljana and the surrounding areas of Slovenia.
Berlin was my favorite. There is a very unique sub culture that I was able to explore through the use of New Europe Free Tours - 3-4 hour free walking tours. The tour guides are incredible, hilarious, and international. They work solely for tips.
I traveled back to England, home, and to Colombia in the span of 4 days. I went to Colombia with CPT on a delegation focused on the human rights unrest in and around Bogota, Barrancabermeja, and the Las Pavas Community. This is a link to an article my friend wrote about my experience and the internally displaced peoples of Colombia: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-solis/colombias-internally-disp_b_715186.html
After a month at home, I stopped back through England and Scotland to meet up with Andy on my way back to Kuwait.
This year has taught me very much that I am not cut out to live in Kuwait long term, but I cannot say I regret the decision to stay this second year. I have had a chance to go to some amazing places and experience some incredible things that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. For this November Eid break, Andy and I traveled to Sri Lanka for a week. I am now convinced that I will once again visit Sri Lanka; I fell in love with its beauty and kind people. I spent New Years in England for a friend's wedding. For the winter break, I traveled to Dubai for a few days to visit Andy's parents while his father was on business and then traveled to Sudan and Uganda with New Community Project to learn about the projects they sponsor for girls' education and reforestation. Most recently, Andy and I just returned from a week trip to Jordan. I was there for two days before he came out to meet me. We visited Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba, Jarash, the Dead Sea, etc. Jordan is a very versatile and gorgeous country; it has so much to offer in terms of landscapes and natural beauties.
I might have caught you up on the past two years of my life. I'm sure some of you are wondering what's next. Your guess is as good as mine. I know I am leaving Kuwait and traveling this summer, but I'm not sure about much beyond that.
Andy and I will spend a part of the summer as a road trip up to Montreal, Canada with stops in DC and Niagara Falls on the way to a friend's wedding (a couple I taught with last year). We are leaning toward traveling Central America for a few weeks before heading out to New Zealand for a month and a half as Andy managed to acquire tickets for the Rugby World Cup, including the final! There is a 3 week break between our last game and the final where we are going to try to hop over to Australia for a bit. How are we going to afford this? Lots of camping, couch surfing, and WWOOFing (organic farming in exchange for room and board). Beyond that the vision gets blurrier. A few ideas have been tossed around which mostly end Andy and I up in England...at least for a little while. Grad school is somewhere in the future with a focus on International Studies/Human Rights. Stay tuned as I figure out my future. ;)
Here's to the next adventure.
I would love to hear from those of you I haven't heard from in a while...and from those I talk to on a regular basis. I miss you all! Don't think for one minute that this crazy life I lead stops me from missing home, friends, and family.
Much love.
~Stacey
It's been way too long since my last update, and I've stayed in touch with some of you much better than others. I apologize for that.
A lot has happened over the past two years, and I can't remember the last email I sent out.
Was it two...almost three summers ago even? Hopefully not that long.
I am now nearing the end of my second year in Kuwait. Last year I taught grade 6 girls and this year I have taught a coed kindergarten class at an "American school that respects Islamic values."
I quickly realized how very different Kuwaiti culture is compared to western culture, to far eastern culture, and well...to every culture I had experienced previously. The culture seeped into the school inevitably. Though we are an American school, I teach all Kuwaiti students and Islamic values rule the school. We are to dress a certain way, to teach a certain way, and to leave most of our personal touches out of teaching.
I had a hard time with the culture last year. There is an underlying, very visible hierarchical system in Kuwait. This year, I'm starting to understand it even more but last year it was almost unbearable. Kuwaitis are at the top of this hierarchy. They just are. They have the money, they have the expensive cars, they have the enormous houses. Westerners, I would say, are the next rung on the hierarchical ladder. However, we are still servants; servants to the Kuwaitis' children. Below westerners are immigrant workers. There are a LOT of them. Workers come from the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Egypt mostly. There are also many workers from other areas of the middle east. There are only 1 million Kuwaitis living in Kuwait with a population of 4 million. What do all of these immigrant workers do? They do the jobs Kuwaitis do not want to do. They are family cooks, family drivers, nannies, taxi drivers, car mechanics, restaurant workers, etc.
Toward the end of the school year last year, I had almost had it. I had almost had it with my school's administration and with the structure of Kuwait's society.
Why come back?
Awesome travel opportunities. Good friends. To continue learning about Islam and the middle east. To save money for grad school.
People say to me, "You must like it if you're going back." I can't phrase it that way. Most of us can't phrase it that way. There are things that I like about living here, but I do not like living in Kuwait. This was hard for me to admit. Still hard for me to admit.
What do you do when you dislike living somewhere? You find things that get you through. I joined rugby, started taking zumba lessons, and took up ultimate frisbee. I also found a very dear friend who was as willing as me to drop everything and do anything - a fellow explorer of sorts.
Rugby allowed me to get out of Kuwait every other weekend or so. We played internationally within the middle east. We played several times in the UAE (Emirates) and were also able to travel to Qatar. I met Andy, my now partner, at the biggest middle east rugby event of the year - Dubai Sevens (December 2009).
Because of our holiday time last year, I was able to travel to Ethiopia during our November Eid break with a fellow teacher who had set up an NGO (Non-Governmental Org) to help former sex workers and orphans. During my 2 week February break, I traveled home to meet my new baby brother, Ryan David Carmichael! :) During New Years, I traveled to Abu Dhabi with two good friends. I spent a few days in March exploring the beauty that Oman had to offer. Spring Break was spent in Istanbul with a friend and fellow rugby mate. Finally, Andy's and my first official trip together in May was to the oddly European Middle Eastern country of Lebanon.
When summer came, I spent a week with Andy and his family in England. He is from Guildford, just 30 minutes south of London. We also visited a friend of Andy's in Wales. I then spent 3 weeks traveling solo around Europe by train and staying with fellow couch surfers. Couch Surfing is an amazing network of people who put up their couches or extra rooms for fellow travel lovers. I met many interesting people with varying levels of travel under their belts. The best part is that it is free. It is simply focused on a cultural exchange. I had only wonderful experiences with CS. I traveled to Brussels and Bruges, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna Austria, Budapest , Zagreb, and Ljubljana and the surrounding areas of Slovenia.
Berlin was my favorite. There is a very unique sub culture that I was able to explore through the use of New Europe Free Tours - 3-4 hour free walking tours. The tour guides are incredible, hilarious, and international. They work solely for tips.
I traveled back to England, home, and to Colombia in the span of 4 days. I went to Colombia with CPT on a delegation focused on the human rights unrest in and around Bogota, Barrancabermeja, and the Las Pavas Community. This is a link to an article my friend wrote about my experience and the internally displaced peoples of Colombia: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-solis/colombias-internally-disp_b_715186.html
After a month at home, I stopped back through England and Scotland to meet up with Andy on my way back to Kuwait.
This year has taught me very much that I am not cut out to live in Kuwait long term, but I cannot say I regret the decision to stay this second year. I have had a chance to go to some amazing places and experience some incredible things that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. For this November Eid break, Andy and I traveled to Sri Lanka for a week. I am now convinced that I will once again visit Sri Lanka; I fell in love with its beauty and kind people. I spent New Years in England for a friend's wedding. For the winter break, I traveled to Dubai for a few days to visit Andy's parents while his father was on business and then traveled to Sudan and Uganda with New Community Project to learn about the projects they sponsor for girls' education and reforestation. Most recently, Andy and I just returned from a week trip to Jordan. I was there for two days before he came out to meet me. We visited Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba, Jarash, the Dead Sea, etc. Jordan is a very versatile and gorgeous country; it has so much to offer in terms of landscapes and natural beauties.
I might have caught you up on the past two years of my life. I'm sure some of you are wondering what's next. Your guess is as good as mine. I know I am leaving Kuwait and traveling this summer, but I'm not sure about much beyond that.
Andy and I will spend a part of the summer as a road trip up to Montreal, Canada with stops in DC and Niagara Falls on the way to a friend's wedding (a couple I taught with last year). We are leaning toward traveling Central America for a few weeks before heading out to New Zealand for a month and a half as Andy managed to acquire tickets for the Rugby World Cup, including the final! There is a 3 week break between our last game and the final where we are going to try to hop over to Australia for a bit. How are we going to afford this? Lots of camping, couch surfing, and WWOOFing (organic farming in exchange for room and board). Beyond that the vision gets blurrier. A few ideas have been tossed around which mostly end Andy and I up in England...at least for a little while. Grad school is somewhere in the future with a focus on International Studies/Human Rights. Stay tuned as I figure out my future. ;)
Here's to the next adventure.
I would love to hear from those of you I haven't heard from in a while...and from those I talk to on a regular basis. I miss you all! Don't think for one minute that this crazy life I lead stops me from missing home, friends, and family.
Much love.
~Stacey
Friday, September 11, 2009
Philippines - August 2009
Hi everyone!
I'm carrying the same list from Korea over to my experiences in Kuwait.
*If you'd like to be taken off of the list, please let me know.
I've been in Kuwait for about a week after an amazing summer vacation! My flight got in around 3AM, and I was met by a woman who is originally from Palestine but has lived in Kuwait for over 40 years. We had orientation for 5 days and are going to start working at the school on Sunday. My work week is Sunday through Thursday and we'll start school September 27th as long as the H1N1 paranoia doesn't push the school start date back like it is predicted to do so. Kindergarten isn't starting until December because of the scare. We arrived at the time of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. It is illegal at this time to drink (even water), eat, smoke, and chew gum in public between the hours of 4AM and 6PM. I'll start trying to type in my blog again. I've changed the name and address to: www.stashiwanderer.blogspot.com
This summer I spent a few days in California visiting two friends of mine, Chris Cosner and Nick Kauffman. After that, I spent 3 weeks at home with family and friends.
From there, I traveled to the Philippines, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India. I visited friends in each of the countries for 10 days minus Malaysia. I spent only a day in Malaysia with a woman I met on Couchsurfing.com, a website that allows you to connect with people all over the world willing to house travelers that are passing through.
I'm going to break them down into three emails. Always so much to say. ^_~
PHILIPPINES
I arrived in the Philippines on August 3rd late at night. Having not booked a guest house in advance, I asked at the information desk for a recommendation. Because of that, I spent an interesting taxi ride trying to find a place to stay. I settled on a room more expensive than the "dorm" which consisted of bunk beds behind bamboo screens in what appeared to be the hallway of a building. When I realized there was A) a cockroach roaming around the community bathroom and B) there was no toilet paper, I decided to NOT go the bathroom. However, around midnight I finally gave in and decided to brave the cockroach. After getting semi-comfortable with the presence of a cockroach, I look over and there is a worm crawling on the side of the toilet tank. Ha! I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night.
I had coffee with a family who was on vacation in Manila from another part of the Philippines in the morning. The father and daughter offered to take me to meet my friend, Malcolm - a Kiwi friend of mine who I met in Korea while volunteering at the House of Sharing together. The traffic in Manila is HORRIBLE so we transferred to the metro.
After being late to meet my friend, I found out that we couldn't take the boat to the island we were headed to because of a typhoon. It had made the water unsafe for travel. We spent the night at a dorm where volunteers are trained for my friend's organization (Meaningful Volunteer - meaningfulvolunteer.org) and an organization called CERV. They work together on projects mostly based on the island of Romblon, in the village of Sugod (pronounced "So Good").
The next day after a taxi ride, a 2 hour bus ride, a 10 hour boat ride (I slept the whole time - there were beds provided), an hour and a half jeepney ride (a vehicle extended at the back to be made into a form of public transportation by the local population after Americans abandoned a large number of jeeps after the war), and a 30 minute walk, we arrived in Sugod at 4AM.
We had crabs! Ok...just one. Literally a little crab had wandered in from the ocean which was a 2 minute walk from our front door and was chillin' with us in the dorm. We also had a few cockroaches scurrying about and tons of geckos which are absolutely adorable!
Malcolm and I stayed in a "dorm" with two volunteers, Camilla, a 22-year-old from England and Emily, an 18-year-old Korean from Canada. Just down the road, two more volunteers, Ingrid, a 26-year-old from New Zealand (whom I also met in Korea) and Rita, a 20 year old from Cali, were living with Ma'am Tess (Mom Tess) and Felix. Mom Tess and Felix cooked all of our meals for us and are absolutely incredible people!
Although I had come to the Philippines to visit Malcolm, I was lucky enough to be able to do some volunteer work while on the island.
There are many projects that Malc has been working on. 1) Building a school and bringing in volunteers to teach students English. Currently the students are taking English classes at the school that already exists in the village. 2) Computer classes for teachers. 3) Mangrove replanting because a good majority of the mangroves which help protect against typhoon damage on the island have been cut down for firewood or made into charcoal. 4) Lifecycle project working to education women in a Catholic nation on a natural birth control method. *If you want to know more information, please don't hesitate to ask me or visit the website!
These amongst other projects are currently in the works in Sugod. Malc wanted me to interview and take pictures of students and their families to put on the Meaningful Volunteer website so that students can be sponsored in the future. In doing so, I interviewed nearly 35 students and their families and was able to take pictures of the homes of almost all of the students.
After getting 3 hours of sleep the first night, I headed home with two students, Baby Ann and Jude Ann. They were released from school to show me their home so I could interview their parents and take pictures of them with their house and family. Their home...is on the top of a mountain; it is over an hour trek up. This is the story of so many students; they hike down the mountain for school and back up after school. Many of the families living on surrounding mountains must do the same with the crops they have planted.
I also helped teach one of the computer classes for teachers. We were teaching how to use excel spreadsheets. Teachers, listen up! These teachers were spending hours upon hours calculating their grades by hand because that had no such technology to help them. By teaching them the methods of calculating standard deviation and simple multiplication, it will take HOURS off the work they have to do. The problem is is that they don't have a computer that can be left at the school to be used by the teachers. They are learning on computers that were donated to the organization and they will be transferred to the new school once it is built. A single computer will cost around $350 USD. *If you're interested in donating, especially teachers who can understand what a pain hand processing grades can be, I will be sending out an email soon about how you can help.
We had a going away party one night for a few of the volunteers who had been there for a while. We rented videoke (video karaoke)! All of the students came and we fed them each! ^_~ We sang and danced the night away. Camilla's students came down from the mountain (where she teaches) with hair cuts and their nicest clothes on. So cute!
Besides that, we swam in the ocean, climbed a waterfall, and took showers in our outside shower when we couldn't stand the heat.
Taking a shower in the outside shower with four walls and no roof was incredible! Especially early in the morning when you could barely make out the mountains and palm trees surrounding the dorm but had the sunshine on your shoulders and just before bedtime while gazing at the stars.
I am continuously amazed at how attached I can become to a place and to a people in such a short span of time. As I left the village after only a little over a week, I had tears in my eyes at the thought of leaving the incredible people who had my short stay so memorable.
I promised Camilla I'd visit her in England. You can hold me to that promise..."Inshallah".
I flew from the island to an area called Dau and met up with Malcolm's Philippino girlfriend, Sel, and one of her friends. They showed me a not so nice area of the Philippines. There was an active American Air Force Base in Angeles. And because of the base, a localized prostitution street grew around the area. Since the base was cleared in 1991, there are fewer Americans visiting the area, but the prostitution area is still thriving with men from all over the world frequenting the bars and strip clubs. I was disgusted to see the manner in which women are treated in the area. At one club, we waited for a male friend of Sel's to show up because women couldn't enter unescorted. Inside, the women who weren't dancing, were responding to men's signals to come over. After a man had "chosen" a woman, the others were dismissed with a flick of his hand.
I chose to go to this area because I believe it's important to experience different sides of a country; to see the beauty but also understand where the problems of a nation lie. I hope to return to the beauty of Sugod someday and see how the children have grown.
MALAYSIA
I flew from Clark airport to Malaysia. I spent a very short time in this country and don't have more to report. I made a rookie traveling mistake and paid WAY too much for a taxi to the apartment of a woman I had met through Couchsurfing.com. Once I dropped my stuff off at the apartment building, I wandered the city of Kuala Lumpur by foot while I waited for Zurin to get off work. She, her roommate, and I spent the night talking and hanging out around the apartment. The next day, Zurin and I had breakfast together at a small Indian restaurant and she dropped me off at the metro. I ventured out to find the towers of Kuala Lumpur before heading to the airport by bus (which cost 1/8th of what the taxi ride cost). I flew out from Kuala Lumpur to Bangladesh...
*I've been slowly trying to upload pics from my camera to my computer to PhotoBucket. I finally got my pics recovered from my memory card that isn't working. There are some pics from the Philippines up on PhotoBucket now but not all.
Peace and Love from the Middle East,
Stacey
I'm carrying the same list from Korea over to my experiences in Kuwait.
*If you'd like to be taken off of the list, please let me know.
I've been in Kuwait for about a week after an amazing summer vacation! My flight got in around 3AM, and I was met by a woman who is originally from Palestine but has lived in Kuwait for over 40 years. We had orientation for 5 days and are going to start working at the school on Sunday. My work week is Sunday through Thursday and we'll start school September 27th as long as the H1N1 paranoia doesn't push the school start date back like it is predicted to do so. Kindergarten isn't starting until December because of the scare. We arrived at the time of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. It is illegal at this time to drink (even water), eat, smoke, and chew gum in public between the hours of 4AM and 6PM. I'll start trying to type in my blog again. I've changed the name and address to: www.stashiwanderer.blogspot.com
This summer I spent a few days in California visiting two friends of mine, Chris Cosner and Nick Kauffman. After that, I spent 3 weeks at home with family and friends.
From there, I traveled to the Philippines, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India. I visited friends in each of the countries for 10 days minus Malaysia. I spent only a day in Malaysia with a woman I met on Couchsurfing.com, a website that allows you to connect with people all over the world willing to house travelers that are passing through.
I'm going to break them down into three emails. Always so much to say. ^_~
PHILIPPINES
I arrived in the Philippines on August 3rd late at night. Having not booked a guest house in advance, I asked at the information desk for a recommendation. Because of that, I spent an interesting taxi ride trying to find a place to stay. I settled on a room more expensive than the "dorm" which consisted of bunk beds behind bamboo screens in what appeared to be the hallway of a building. When I realized there was A) a cockroach roaming around the community bathroom and B) there was no toilet paper, I decided to NOT go the bathroom. However, around midnight I finally gave in and decided to brave the cockroach. After getting semi-comfortable with the presence of a cockroach, I look over and there is a worm crawling on the side of the toilet tank. Ha! I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night.
I had coffee with a family who was on vacation in Manila from another part of the Philippines in the morning. The father and daughter offered to take me to meet my friend, Malcolm - a Kiwi friend of mine who I met in Korea while volunteering at the House of Sharing together. The traffic in Manila is HORRIBLE so we transferred to the metro.
After being late to meet my friend, I found out that we couldn't take the boat to the island we were headed to because of a typhoon. It had made the water unsafe for travel. We spent the night at a dorm where volunteers are trained for my friend's organization (Meaningful Volunteer - meaningfulvolunteer.org) and an organization called CERV. They work together on projects mostly based on the island of Romblon, in the village of Sugod (pronounced "So Good").
The next day after a taxi ride, a 2 hour bus ride, a 10 hour boat ride (I slept the whole time - there were beds provided), an hour and a half jeepney ride (a vehicle extended at the back to be made into a form of public transportation by the local population after Americans abandoned a large number of jeeps after the war), and a 30 minute walk, we arrived in Sugod at 4AM.
We had crabs! Ok...just one. Literally a little crab had wandered in from the ocean which was a 2 minute walk from our front door and was chillin' with us in the dorm. We also had a few cockroaches scurrying about and tons of geckos which are absolutely adorable!
Malcolm and I stayed in a "dorm" with two volunteers, Camilla, a 22-year-old from England and Emily, an 18-year-old Korean from Canada. Just down the road, two more volunteers, Ingrid, a 26-year-old from New Zealand (whom I also met in Korea) and Rita, a 20 year old from Cali, were living with Ma'am Tess (Mom Tess) and Felix. Mom Tess and Felix cooked all of our meals for us and are absolutely incredible people!
Although I had come to the Philippines to visit Malcolm, I was lucky enough to be able to do some volunteer work while on the island.
There are many projects that Malc has been working on. 1) Building a school and bringing in volunteers to teach students English. Currently the students are taking English classes at the school that already exists in the village. 2) Computer classes for teachers. 3) Mangrove replanting because a good majority of the mangroves which help protect against typhoon damage on the island have been cut down for firewood or made into charcoal. 4) Lifecycle project working to education women in a Catholic nation on a natural birth control method. *If you want to know more information, please don't hesitate to ask me or visit the website!
These amongst other projects are currently in the works in Sugod. Malc wanted me to interview and take pictures of students and their families to put on the Meaningful Volunteer website so that students can be sponsored in the future. In doing so, I interviewed nearly 35 students and their families and was able to take pictures of the homes of almost all of the students.
After getting 3 hours of sleep the first night, I headed home with two students, Baby Ann and Jude Ann. They were released from school to show me their home so I could interview their parents and take pictures of them with their house and family. Their home...is on the top of a mountain; it is over an hour trek up. This is the story of so many students; they hike down the mountain for school and back up after school. Many of the families living on surrounding mountains must do the same with the crops they have planted.
I also helped teach one of the computer classes for teachers. We were teaching how to use excel spreadsheets. Teachers, listen up! These teachers were spending hours upon hours calculating their grades by hand because that had no such technology to help them. By teaching them the methods of calculating standard deviation and simple multiplication, it will take HOURS off the work they have to do. The problem is is that they don't have a computer that can be left at the school to be used by the teachers. They are learning on computers that were donated to the organization and they will be transferred to the new school once it is built. A single computer will cost around $350 USD. *If you're interested in donating, especially teachers who can understand what a pain hand processing grades can be, I will be sending out an email soon about how you can help.
We had a going away party one night for a few of the volunteers who had been there for a while. We rented videoke (video karaoke)! All of the students came and we fed them each! ^_~ We sang and danced the night away. Camilla's students came down from the mountain (where she teaches) with hair cuts and their nicest clothes on. So cute!
Besides that, we swam in the ocean, climbed a waterfall, and took showers in our outside shower when we couldn't stand the heat.
Taking a shower in the outside shower with four walls and no roof was incredible! Especially early in the morning when you could barely make out the mountains and palm trees surrounding the dorm but had the sunshine on your shoulders and just before bedtime while gazing at the stars.
I am continuously amazed at how attached I can become to a place and to a people in such a short span of time. As I left the village after only a little over a week, I had tears in my eyes at the thought of leaving the incredible people who had my short stay so memorable.
I promised Camilla I'd visit her in England. You can hold me to that promise..."Inshallah".
I flew from the island to an area called Dau and met up with Malcolm's Philippino girlfriend, Sel, and one of her friends. They showed me a not so nice area of the Philippines. There was an active American Air Force Base in Angeles. And because of the base, a localized prostitution street grew around the area. Since the base was cleared in 1991, there are fewer Americans visiting the area, but the prostitution area is still thriving with men from all over the world frequenting the bars and strip clubs. I was disgusted to see the manner in which women are treated in the area. At one club, we waited for a male friend of Sel's to show up because women couldn't enter unescorted. Inside, the women who weren't dancing, were responding to men's signals to come over. After a man had "chosen" a woman, the others were dismissed with a flick of his hand.
I chose to go to this area because I believe it's important to experience different sides of a country; to see the beauty but also understand where the problems of a nation lie. I hope to return to the beauty of Sugod someday and see how the children have grown.
MALAYSIA
I flew from Clark airport to Malaysia. I spent a very short time in this country and don't have more to report. I made a rookie traveling mistake and paid WAY too much for a taxi to the apartment of a woman I had met through Couchsurfing.com. Once I dropped my stuff off at the apartment building, I wandered the city of Kuala Lumpur by foot while I waited for Zurin to get off work. She, her roommate, and I spent the night talking and hanging out around the apartment. The next day, Zurin and I had breakfast together at a small Indian restaurant and she dropped me off at the metro. I ventured out to find the towers of Kuala Lumpur before heading to the airport by bus (which cost 1/8th of what the taxi ride cost). I flew out from Kuala Lumpur to Bangladesh...
*I've been slowly trying to upload pics from my camera to my computer to PhotoBucket. I finally got my pics recovered from my memory card that isn't working. There are some pics from the Philippines up on PhotoBucket now but not all.
Peace and Love from the Middle East,
Stacey
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Kuwait: A New Chapter - Sunday September 7, 2009
I got into Kuwait 3 days ago. Today was my first day of orientation.
I've met many wonderful people. Very few are my age from what I can tell. My neighbor, Lisette, is very friendly and despite the fact that she looks 25, she is 30. Most of the teachers, like Lisette, are Canadian.
I have met 3 other people from the states. They are all from Michigan, one couple and one girl my age. The girl my age, Addie, is soon turning 25 and is a Korean adoptee. We have shared our passion for Korea. Even though she hasn't been back since she was adopted at the age of three, she hopes to visit one day soon.
My brain is all over the place right now because I'm exhausted. Sorry for the randomness.
Today we met our admins minus Diane who is my principal and my mom's friend. Diane is the one who recruited me to teach at ACA, American Creativity Academy. She was delayed a day because her flight was canceled without warning. She is coming with my two suitcases because I traveled directly before coming here. I will post blogs soon about my travels this summer.
I also realized that the two boxes I sent from Korea to Kuwait may never make it; I have heard horrible things about postage to Kuwait. Things often disappear and/or never make it. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed.
I think the most surprising thing for me right now is that we live in a "concrete jungle." There is no nature. Not even sand. I have yet to really see much of the city or the country, so I'm sure I'll find nature in unexpected places still. Until then...concrete jungle it is. ^_~
As soon as I figure out how to get pics off of my camera, I'll put pics up on facebook and on photobucket.
I've met many wonderful people. Very few are my age from what I can tell. My neighbor, Lisette, is very friendly and despite the fact that she looks 25, she is 30. Most of the teachers, like Lisette, are Canadian.
I have met 3 other people from the states. They are all from Michigan, one couple and one girl my age. The girl my age, Addie, is soon turning 25 and is a Korean adoptee. We have shared our passion for Korea. Even though she hasn't been back since she was adopted at the age of three, she hopes to visit one day soon.
My brain is all over the place right now because I'm exhausted. Sorry for the randomness.
Today we met our admins minus Diane who is my principal and my mom's friend. Diane is the one who recruited me to teach at ACA, American Creativity Academy. She was delayed a day because her flight was canceled without warning. She is coming with my two suitcases because I traveled directly before coming here. I will post blogs soon about my travels this summer.
I also realized that the two boxes I sent from Korea to Kuwait may never make it; I have heard horrible things about postage to Kuwait. Things often disappear and/or never make it. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed.
I think the most surprising thing for me right now is that we live in a "concrete jungle." There is no nature. Not even sand. I have yet to really see much of the city or the country, so I'm sure I'll find nature in unexpected places still. Until then...concrete jungle it is. ^_~
As soon as I figure out how to get pics off of my camera, I'll put pics up on facebook and on photobucket.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Part 6: Cambodia
I forgot to post this email.
This is the final leg of my trip. From Pakse, Laos by plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia and down to Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.
SIEM REAP
In Siem Reap, I was met by a motorbike driver at the airport. It was $2, I think, for him to take me to a guest house. The guest house was great, and I kept the same motorbike driver for the day and the next day to take me around Angkor.
I was shocked at how westernized Siem Reap is. Everywhere accepts US dollars and when you retrieve money from any ATM, you receive US dollars. Everyone is trying to sell you something and foreigners everywhere. It was a long way from the laid back lifestyle in Laos.
The first night, I watched the sunset over a temple of Angkor. It was gorgeous. I slowly realized that I was again traveling alone. It was was a few and far between experience to see people traveling around Angkor on their own. That night, I went to see a traditional dance show at a hotel.
The following day, I was no longer on my own. With my motorbike driver, we traveled from temple to temple within the grounds of Angkor. At my favorite temple, Ta Prohm, I ran into an incredibly kind British couple in their late 40's/early 50's who let me tag along with them and their guide. I was lucky enough to run into them again at Angkor Wat! later on in the day. Despite the incredibly exhausting day of being in the sun, I knew where I wanted to go that night. I had found a flyer advertising a traditional dance show at an orphanage. I asked my motorbike driver to take me there. What an incredible experience! And, I guarantee, the dance show was just as good...scratch that...better than at the hotel. ^_~
I said goodbye to my driver because I was to head out to Phnom Pehn the next day; the last leg of my trip.
PHNOM PEHN
I met 3 British guys, 2 Canadian girls, and a Dutch guy on the bus ride to Phnom Pehn. We stuck together for the next two days.
The first night, after a game of charades at a restaurant to explain what we wanted to eat (amazingly we successfully explained one with no meat and 6 with meat...haha), we headed to a really awkward night club. Awkward in regards to the number of old foreign men hitting on younger Cambodian women.
The next day, I was relieved to have company as the two Canadian girls (MJ and Amy), the Dutch guy (Casper), and I headed to S21, the school turned torture camp/prison during the Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge regime. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it turned out to be one of the most impacting experiences of my 2 months traveling. The things I learned...the things I hadn't known before made me angry at myself and ashamed.
Quick explanation for those that may not know what I'm talking about: During the years of 1971-1975, the communist party Khmer Rouge regime was in control of Cambodia headed by Pol Pot, a ruthless killer of 1/4 of the population of Cambodia in the span of a few years. Pol Pot believed that if you weren't from the country, you were "tainted." Anyone with education was killed first: teachers, former government officials, doctors, etc. Everyone who was living in the cities was forced to move to the countryside where they were forced to work producing rice; rice that was mostly sent outside of the country, despite Pol Pot's stance that the country was self sustainable, allowing "his" people to starve. Currency was banned, jewelry was banned, everyone was to wear identical black pajama-like clothing, individualism was banned. Besides S21 being used as a torture prison, the Killing Fields (much more "famous") was a place where those serving under the regime would take people, mostly those who has lived in the cities, and conduct mass murders.
After reading loads of information about the Khmer Rouge at S21, Casper and I continued on alone to the Killing Fields. Amy and MJ chose not to come along. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. A giant monument constructed in memory of those who had been murdered, filled to the top with skulls of the victims found. Remaining bones and clothes scattered about the ground. Emptied mass graves. A tree marked "Killing tree against which executioners beat children." Casper and I hardly spoke as we walked around, barely able to catch our breath under the weight of what we were seeing...all the while hearing the laughter of children at a school nearby.
That night, after a very heavy day, the four of us relaxed in our room and watched Slumdog Millionaire on MJ's computer.
The next day as the others headed out one way, I headed back to Bangkok for my flight "home," back to Korea.
It was a very sombering way to end my two months of travel, but it ended with new friends by my side. Not everything worked out perfectly or even the way I thought it would, but I wouldn't change any of it for the world.
Thanks for hangin' in there while it took me forever to get these emails out!!^^
Peace and Love,
Stacey
This is the final leg of my trip. From Pakse, Laos by plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia and down to Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.
SIEM REAP
In Siem Reap, I was met by a motorbike driver at the airport. It was $2, I think, for him to take me to a guest house. The guest house was great, and I kept the same motorbike driver for the day and the next day to take me around Angkor.
I was shocked at how westernized Siem Reap is. Everywhere accepts US dollars and when you retrieve money from any ATM, you receive US dollars. Everyone is trying to sell you something and foreigners everywhere. It was a long way from the laid back lifestyle in Laos.
The first night, I watched the sunset over a temple of Angkor. It was gorgeous. I slowly realized that I was again traveling alone. It was was a few and far between experience to see people traveling around Angkor on their own. That night, I went to see a traditional dance show at a hotel.
The following day, I was no longer on my own. With my motorbike driver, we traveled from temple to temple within the grounds of Angkor. At my favorite temple, Ta Prohm, I ran into an incredibly kind British couple in their late 40's/early 50's who let me tag along with them and their guide. I was lucky enough to run into them again at Angkor Wat! later on in the day. Despite the incredibly exhausting day of being in the sun, I knew where I wanted to go that night. I had found a flyer advertising a traditional dance show at an orphanage. I asked my motorbike driver to take me there. What an incredible experience! And, I guarantee, the dance show was just as good...scratch that...better than at the hotel. ^_~
I said goodbye to my driver because I was to head out to Phnom Pehn the next day; the last leg of my trip.
PHNOM PEHN
I met 3 British guys, 2 Canadian girls, and a Dutch guy on the bus ride to Phnom Pehn. We stuck together for the next two days.
The first night, after a game of charades at a restaurant to explain what we wanted to eat (amazingly we successfully explained one with no meat and 6 with meat...haha), we headed to a really awkward night club. Awkward in regards to the number of old foreign men hitting on younger Cambodian women.
The next day, I was relieved to have company as the two Canadian girls (MJ and Amy), the Dutch guy (Casper), and I headed to S21, the school turned torture camp/prison during the Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge regime. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it turned out to be one of the most impacting experiences of my 2 months traveling. The things I learned...the things I hadn't known before made me angry at myself and ashamed.
Quick explanation for those that may not know what I'm talking about: During the years of 1971-1975, the communist party Khmer Rouge regime was in control of Cambodia headed by Pol Pot, a ruthless killer of 1/4 of the population of Cambodia in the span of a few years. Pol Pot believed that if you weren't from the country, you were "tainted." Anyone with education was killed first: teachers, former government officials, doctors, etc. Everyone who was living in the cities was forced to move to the countryside where they were forced to work producing rice; rice that was mostly sent outside of the country, despite Pol Pot's stance that the country was self sustainable, allowing "his" people to starve. Currency was banned, jewelry was banned, everyone was to wear identical black pajama-like clothing, individualism was banned. Besides S21 being used as a torture prison, the Killing Fields (much more "famous") was a place where those serving under the regime would take people, mostly those who has lived in the cities, and conduct mass murders.
After reading loads of information about the Khmer Rouge at S21, Casper and I continued on alone to the Killing Fields. Amy and MJ chose not to come along. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. A giant monument constructed in memory of those who had been murdered, filled to the top with skulls of the victims found. Remaining bones and clothes scattered about the ground. Emptied mass graves. A tree marked "Killing tree against which executioners beat children." Casper and I hardly spoke as we walked around, barely able to catch our breath under the weight of what we were seeing...all the while hearing the laughter of children at a school nearby.
That night, after a very heavy day, the four of us relaxed in our room and watched Slumdog Millionaire on MJ's computer.
The next day as the others headed out one way, I headed back to Bangkok for my flight "home," back to Korea.
It was a very sombering way to end my two months of travel, but it ended with new friends by my side. Not everything worked out perfectly or even the way I thought it would, but I wouldn't change any of it for the world.
Thanks for hangin' in there while it took me forever to get these emails out!!^^
Peace and Love,
Stacey
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Part 5: Laos
From Chiang Mai, Thailand ---> Huay Xai/Luang Namtha/Luang Prabang/Vang Vieng/Vientiane/Pakse, Laos
I met a girl from Germany (Mari) on the border of Thailand and Laos, so we started traveling together. We took a mini van with a French couple up to Luang Namtha. We had planned to take a long boat down to Luang Prabang but changed our minds.
The day after we arrived, Mari and I decided to rent motorbikes to ride out to a waterfall near a village. She had ridden loads of times but had been in a bad accident a week before; it was my first time. They didn't have automatics, so we rode geared motorbikes.
We set off and soon realized the road was a dirt and gravel road that wasn't the easiest to ride on. The ride was gorgeous though. We rode through a few villages; the rice fields and mountains were amazing.
At one point there was a hill that my bike decided it didn't want to go up and I didn't gear in time, so it and me rolled backward down the hill and the bike landed on me. I just laid there for a bit while Mari helped get the bike off of me. I just sat while village children surrounded me as I tried not to black out. Luckily we had helmets, so that wasn't a problem. I scraped my left elbow and hurt my wrist pretty badly. We cleaned off my elbow, and I told Mari we should keep going. This was before my wrist really started to hurt.
So, it was just a short ways to the waterfall we were going to climb up to. We sat down at the small store in the village and an old medicine man immediately realized what had happened. He crushed some sort of plant in alcohol and spread it on my elbow (OUCH) and my wrist. He pulled my wrist a bit as well. I had hit my back during the fall, so he gave me a massage. Really, he was very very kind. They were all so worried for me.
Mari and I sat there a bit and decided to go ahead and walk up to the waterfall. It was a little less than incredible, but it was a nice climb. When we came down, there was a French man who had biked in. We sat and talked to him and the villagers for hours. The villagers allowed us to take pictures of the adorable children!
As we got ready to go, Mari asked me if I could ride the motorbike. I, being stupid, said yes. It was obvious after just pulling it out of a parked position that I couldn't. The medicine man offered to ride me back to the city and then Mari could bring him back and go back to the city on her own. We agreed, happy that he had offered. I didn't mention that this man didn't really speak that much English, but we were able to use hand gestures to figure out what was going to happen.
When he dropped me off, a really sweet 22 year old Laos man who works at the guest house we were staying at, held ice on my wrist for a while. I soon realized that I had to go to the hospital; I was afraid it was broken. He took me to the hospital where I learned that if I wanted an xray, I had to come back the next morning. I had planned on leaving the next day to Luang Prabang but decided to stay for the xray.
The next morning, the same 22 year old took me back. He really was so sweet, telling me not to worry and making sure I understood what was going on at the doctor's office. Luckily nothing was broken...just hurt like hell.
That day, Mari and I decided to do some trekking on our own. We went on the main road until we got off a bit and ended up sitting in a bamboo hut in the middle of a field for a few hours just talking. We headed out, and of course I was on a streak of bad luck, and my foot ended up in a giant mud puddle...mud covering my shoe. Haha! We walked back through some beautiful rice fields occasionally taking some scary chances by crossing sticks (they were sticks really...not even logs) across small streams. We walked through a village until we finally made our way back to our guest house. I washed my shoe and it actually ended up cleaner than the other one. :)
I decided then to go on a 2 day trek with Mari and a group of a 22 year old Israeli guy, a 28 year old French couple, and a dutch girl my age. The people at the agency asked me if I could go trekking with my wrist as it was (it was wrapped at this point). My response, "You trek with your feet, right?" Haha!
The trek was good. A little intense at times with a mountain to one side and quite a long drop at the other side. There was actually times where I had to use my arms because the climb was so steep, but I tried to use my left arm as little as possible. We had lunch on the way at a little bamboo shack. Lunch mostly consisted of rice and a few roots and some wet seaweed. It was quite nice. I'm not so used to wet seaweed as dried, but it was decent.
We arrived at the village around 4PM where we would spend the night. We walked around the village with our guide Keo while our guide Noi cooked dinner. Dinner was rice, cooked cabbage, some egg and tomato mixture, and a few other things. We met the chief of the village afterward and a few others from the village. It was a great time! Asking questions and laughing. The chief told the French couple they should get married while he told me I should move to the village and teach the children. He was fantastic!
Apparently as a way to welcome visitors to the village, they give massages. So we had a massage before bed.
The next morning I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and I walked into a bamboo shoot sticking off of the school. I had an "X" shaped injury on my forehead until just recently. Haha! Luang Namtha has been a rough area for me.
We had about 4 more hours of trekking, stopping to eat lunch and nibble on some amazing mint candies called Dynamite with a delightful chocolate surprise in their centers. :) Oh, to add to the ridiculousness that I experienced in Luang Namtha...the bag with all of the cabbage juice spilled and was all over my pants and sweater. HAHAHA! It was a sign that it was time to move on to a different city.
We arrived back at 4PM where we all moved into the same guest house down the road that was cheaper. We met for dinner and some beer. The group also tried Laos Laos which is something we were offered by the chief of the village as well. It's a potent rice wine. Similar to the soju some of you tried from Korea. It wasn't as strong in the village as it was in town. Yuck!
The next day Mari and I traveled 8 hours south to Luang Prabang.
The next day, we climbed to the top of a large hill to see Wat Phousi (a temple) and had a gorgeous view of the city. We also bargained our way into a tuk tuk (a taxi like vehicle) only to find out that the tuk tuk didn't actually have room for us. So we just went to a travel agent for the same price to go to an absolutely AMAZING group of waterfalls and to see black bears at the entrance (no fears...they were in a cage). I swam in one of the waterfalls. I'll try to get pictures on facebook soon or send them. It was a torquoise blue. We started climbing not knowing where it was going to take us. I was in flip flops and it was very steep and very dusty, but we made it to the top to find out that it was the top of the waterfall. We carefully walked across the waterfall happy to find that the descent on the other side was much less likely to die from. We both went down in bare feet.
We spent the rest of the day drinking nutella and oreo shakes, eating, and exploring the enormous night market.
We left the next day for Vang Vieng. It was, next to a ride in Kenya, the worst ride of my life. It was horrible! I sat in a fold down chair in a mini van thinking I would have window access and more leg room only to find that fold down chairs are the least comfortable seats ever. I was holding on for my life as we went through the mountains for 4 hours. Our driver made everyone in the van angry after 4 hours of no food and no bathroom breaks. A laos woman with us luckily said that if the driver didn't stop, she was going to go the bathroom in his van. So, where did he stop? Of course, on the side of the road. We all peed in a field. Eh...at least he stopped. We stopped shortly after that for lunch as well. I changed seats with a man in the back who was bigger and not so tossed around by the shittiness of the fold down seat.
Mari and I decided to stay outside of the city in Vang Vieng at an organic farm. It was very peaceful. We went into town and found a great little chill out bar (unlike the music thumping that was coming from most of the bars). It was called Bamboo Restaurant. We each had a bamboo bucket of mojito ( ~$4) and I ate at their vegetarian buffet ( ~1.50/plate). We had rented bikes to travel the 4km from the farm to town and back.
The next day, we ate breakfast on the farm (mulberry pancakes and laos coffee!) before heading into town. We had to walk b/c the woman we rented bikes from was a little crazy and didn't want to give us bikes again. Mari had laid the bike down instead of using the kick stand, and she hated us from that point on. So we walked into town and rented bikes. We met up with a Dutch girl (Fieke) who we decided to travel with to the caves. We wanted to go to Phoukam cave but got off track somehow and ended up at Lusi cave. The ride was not easy, especially with an injured wrist. We were riding through a dry rice field. Fieke and I decided to go ahead into the cave. It was cool, minus the guide we had to pay. After a few inappropriate jokes in his minimal English and some unecessary handling of our butts to "help" us in the cave, we had had enough of him. He actually wanted a tip after that.
We rode on to find Phoukam. We ran into a friend of Fieke's she had met the day before. His name is Tom, he's a model in Bangkok from the states. Well all headed to the cave together only to realize it was 7 km of utter misery. Rocky, dusty... When we finally made it there, we jumped in the blue lagoon at first chance. Mari went into the cave before us because she didn't have her swimsuit. Tom, Fieke, and I went in later. It was actual climbing around on rocks once getting into the cave...pretty far from the ease of the Mammoth Cave trails of Kentucky. It was amazing though. Huge!
Mari rode back, but the other three of us decided to tuk tuk our way back. It was the best idea for my wrist. The four of us met up at the Bamboo Restaurant for dinner and mojito buckets and spent the whole night talking. Mari and I were a little lost trying to find her bike after walking Fieke back to her guest house but found our way eventually.
The next day, I went tubing alone after a goat cheese sandwich and laos coffee. Mari was sick and couldn't do anything all day. Tubing is getting a tube to float down the river while stopping at loads of bars along the way. The goal: To get drunk and stupid. It didn't turn out to be my thing. It was fun for the first few bars. I met loads of nice people and ran into an Argentinan couple that we met in Luang Prabang, but I guess I'm not the type to enjoy getting drunk while floating down the river. Not to mention, everyone who tubes gets injured somehow. They swing into the river and fail to avoid missing the rocks, they aren't careful while climbing out of the tube into the next bar and spear their foot with a rock, they (like the American model, Tom) are so drunk that they fall off the bridge while trying to cross the river at 4AM. Toward the end of tubing, I was very ready to be done. Most people get a tuk tuk back to the tubing place to get their deposit by 6PM. This is what the Argentinan woman and I did as well.
Mari was feeling a little better, so we met to return our bikes and eat dinner before walking back to the farm.
I headed out early the next morning to Vientiane, which is where I am now. I found a guest house and had way too much pizza for lunch. This might have contributed to why I'm sick now. Last night, I went to a laos traditional dance show which was fantastic, but I didn't feel well all day. I met up with some people, including Fieke from Vang Vieng and we went for Indian. I didn't eat because of how I was feeling and left early. It turns out that I left just in time; I definitely threw up all over the streets of Vientiane. I, just a step above crawling, found my way back to my guest house and slept all night minus the few times I had to wake up throughout the night.
I woke up finally around 11AM this morning having to check out by noon. I'm still not feeling great which is part of why I'm spending the day in an internet cafe. I'm leaving soon to go to a meditation session at a nearby Wat (temple). Tonight, I'm taking an overnight bus to the south of Laos and then a plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Peace and Love,
Stacey
I met a girl from Germany (Mari) on the border of Thailand and Laos, so we started traveling together. We took a mini van with a French couple up to Luang Namtha. We had planned to take a long boat down to Luang Prabang but changed our minds.
The day after we arrived, Mari and I decided to rent motorbikes to ride out to a waterfall near a village. She had ridden loads of times but had been in a bad accident a week before; it was my first time. They didn't have automatics, so we rode geared motorbikes.
We set off and soon realized the road was a dirt and gravel road that wasn't the easiest to ride on. The ride was gorgeous though. We rode through a few villages; the rice fields and mountains were amazing.
At one point there was a hill that my bike decided it didn't want to go up and I didn't gear in time, so it and me rolled backward down the hill and the bike landed on me. I just laid there for a bit while Mari helped get the bike off of me. I just sat while village children surrounded me as I tried not to black out. Luckily we had helmets, so that wasn't a problem. I scraped my left elbow and hurt my wrist pretty badly. We cleaned off my elbow, and I told Mari we should keep going. This was before my wrist really started to hurt.
So, it was just a short ways to the waterfall we were going to climb up to. We sat down at the small store in the village and an old medicine man immediately realized what had happened. He crushed some sort of plant in alcohol and spread it on my elbow (OUCH) and my wrist. He pulled my wrist a bit as well. I had hit my back during the fall, so he gave me a massage. Really, he was very very kind. They were all so worried for me.
Mari and I sat there a bit and decided to go ahead and walk up to the waterfall. It was a little less than incredible, but it was a nice climb. When we came down, there was a French man who had biked in. We sat and talked to him and the villagers for hours. The villagers allowed us to take pictures of the adorable children!
As we got ready to go, Mari asked me if I could ride the motorbike. I, being stupid, said yes. It was obvious after just pulling it out of a parked position that I couldn't. The medicine man offered to ride me back to the city and then Mari could bring him back and go back to the city on her own. We agreed, happy that he had offered. I didn't mention that this man didn't really speak that much English, but we were able to use hand gestures to figure out what was going to happen.
When he dropped me off, a really sweet 22 year old Laos man who works at the guest house we were staying at, held ice on my wrist for a while. I soon realized that I had to go to the hospital; I was afraid it was broken. He took me to the hospital where I learned that if I wanted an xray, I had to come back the next morning. I had planned on leaving the next day to Luang Prabang but decided to stay for the xray.
The next morning, the same 22 year old took me back. He really was so sweet, telling me not to worry and making sure I understood what was going on at the doctor's office. Luckily nothing was broken...just hurt like hell.
That day, Mari and I decided to do some trekking on our own. We went on the main road until we got off a bit and ended up sitting in a bamboo hut in the middle of a field for a few hours just talking. We headed out, and of course I was on a streak of bad luck, and my foot ended up in a giant mud puddle...mud covering my shoe. Haha! We walked back through some beautiful rice fields occasionally taking some scary chances by crossing sticks (they were sticks really...not even logs) across small streams. We walked through a village until we finally made our way back to our guest house. I washed my shoe and it actually ended up cleaner than the other one. :)
I decided then to go on a 2 day trek with Mari and a group of a 22 year old Israeli guy, a 28 year old French couple, and a dutch girl my age. The people at the agency asked me if I could go trekking with my wrist as it was (it was wrapped at this point). My response, "You trek with your feet, right?" Haha!
The trek was good. A little intense at times with a mountain to one side and quite a long drop at the other side. There was actually times where I had to use my arms because the climb was so steep, but I tried to use my left arm as little as possible. We had lunch on the way at a little bamboo shack. Lunch mostly consisted of rice and a few roots and some wet seaweed. It was quite nice. I'm not so used to wet seaweed as dried, but it was decent.
We arrived at the village around 4PM where we would spend the night. We walked around the village with our guide Keo while our guide Noi cooked dinner. Dinner was rice, cooked cabbage, some egg and tomato mixture, and a few other things. We met the chief of the village afterward and a few others from the village. It was a great time! Asking questions and laughing. The chief told the French couple they should get married while he told me I should move to the village and teach the children. He was fantastic!
Apparently as a way to welcome visitors to the village, they give massages. So we had a massage before bed.
The next morning I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and I walked into a bamboo shoot sticking off of the school. I had an "X" shaped injury on my forehead until just recently. Haha! Luang Namtha has been a rough area for me.
We had about 4 more hours of trekking, stopping to eat lunch and nibble on some amazing mint candies called Dynamite with a delightful chocolate surprise in their centers. :) Oh, to add to the ridiculousness that I experienced in Luang Namtha...the bag with all of the cabbage juice spilled and was all over my pants and sweater. HAHAHA! It was a sign that it was time to move on to a different city.
We arrived back at 4PM where we all moved into the same guest house down the road that was cheaper. We met for dinner and some beer. The group also tried Laos Laos which is something we were offered by the chief of the village as well. It's a potent rice wine. Similar to the soju some of you tried from Korea. It wasn't as strong in the village as it was in town. Yuck!
The next day Mari and I traveled 8 hours south to Luang Prabang.
The next day, we climbed to the top of a large hill to see Wat Phousi (a temple) and had a gorgeous view of the city. We also bargained our way into a tuk tuk (a taxi like vehicle) only to find out that the tuk tuk didn't actually have room for us. So we just went to a travel agent for the same price to go to an absolutely AMAZING group of waterfalls and to see black bears at the entrance (no fears...they were in a cage). I swam in one of the waterfalls. I'll try to get pictures on facebook soon or send them. It was a torquoise blue. We started climbing not knowing where it was going to take us. I was in flip flops and it was very steep and very dusty, but we made it to the top to find out that it was the top of the waterfall. We carefully walked across the waterfall happy to find that the descent on the other side was much less likely to die from. We both went down in bare feet.
We spent the rest of the day drinking nutella and oreo shakes, eating, and exploring the enormous night market.
We left the next day for Vang Vieng. It was, next to a ride in Kenya, the worst ride of my life. It was horrible! I sat in a fold down chair in a mini van thinking I would have window access and more leg room only to find that fold down chairs are the least comfortable seats ever. I was holding on for my life as we went through the mountains for 4 hours. Our driver made everyone in the van angry after 4 hours of no food and no bathroom breaks. A laos woman with us luckily said that if the driver didn't stop, she was going to go the bathroom in his van. So, where did he stop? Of course, on the side of the road. We all peed in a field. Eh...at least he stopped. We stopped shortly after that for lunch as well. I changed seats with a man in the back who was bigger and not so tossed around by the shittiness of the fold down seat.
Mari and I decided to stay outside of the city in Vang Vieng at an organic farm. It was very peaceful. We went into town and found a great little chill out bar (unlike the music thumping that was coming from most of the bars). It was called Bamboo Restaurant. We each had a bamboo bucket of mojito ( ~$4) and I ate at their vegetarian buffet ( ~1.50/plate). We had rented bikes to travel the 4km from the farm to town and back.
The next day, we ate breakfast on the farm (mulberry pancakes and laos coffee!) before heading into town. We had to walk b/c the woman we rented bikes from was a little crazy and didn't want to give us bikes again. Mari had laid the bike down instead of using the kick stand, and she hated us from that point on. So we walked into town and rented bikes. We met up with a Dutch girl (Fieke) who we decided to travel with to the caves. We wanted to go to Phoukam cave but got off track somehow and ended up at Lusi cave. The ride was not easy, especially with an injured wrist. We were riding through a dry rice field. Fieke and I decided to go ahead into the cave. It was cool, minus the guide we had to pay. After a few inappropriate jokes in his minimal English and some unecessary handling of our butts to "help" us in the cave, we had had enough of him. He actually wanted a tip after that.
We rode on to find Phoukam. We ran into a friend of Fieke's she had met the day before. His name is Tom, he's a model in Bangkok from the states. Well all headed to the cave together only to realize it was 7 km of utter misery. Rocky, dusty... When we finally made it there, we jumped in the blue lagoon at first chance. Mari went into the cave before us because she didn't have her swimsuit. Tom, Fieke, and I went in later. It was actual climbing around on rocks once getting into the cave...pretty far from the ease of the Mammoth Cave trails of Kentucky. It was amazing though. Huge!
Mari rode back, but the other three of us decided to tuk tuk our way back. It was the best idea for my wrist. The four of us met up at the Bamboo Restaurant for dinner and mojito buckets and spent the whole night talking. Mari and I were a little lost trying to find her bike after walking Fieke back to her guest house but found our way eventually.
The next day, I went tubing alone after a goat cheese sandwich and laos coffee. Mari was sick and couldn't do anything all day. Tubing is getting a tube to float down the river while stopping at loads of bars along the way. The goal: To get drunk and stupid. It didn't turn out to be my thing. It was fun for the first few bars. I met loads of nice people and ran into an Argentinan couple that we met in Luang Prabang, but I guess I'm not the type to enjoy getting drunk while floating down the river. Not to mention, everyone who tubes gets injured somehow. They swing into the river and fail to avoid missing the rocks, they aren't careful while climbing out of the tube into the next bar and spear their foot with a rock, they (like the American model, Tom) are so drunk that they fall off the bridge while trying to cross the river at 4AM. Toward the end of tubing, I was very ready to be done. Most people get a tuk tuk back to the tubing place to get their deposit by 6PM. This is what the Argentinan woman and I did as well.
Mari was feeling a little better, so we met to return our bikes and eat dinner before walking back to the farm.
I headed out early the next morning to Vientiane, which is where I am now. I found a guest house and had way too much pizza for lunch. This might have contributed to why I'm sick now. Last night, I went to a laos traditional dance show which was fantastic, but I didn't feel well all day. I met up with some people, including Fieke from Vang Vieng and we went for Indian. I didn't eat because of how I was feeling and left early. It turns out that I left just in time; I definitely threw up all over the streets of Vientiane. I, just a step above crawling, found my way back to my guest house and slept all night minus the few times I had to wake up throughout the night.
I woke up finally around 11AM this morning having to check out by noon. I'm still not feeling great which is part of why I'm spending the day in an internet cafe. I'm leaving soon to go to a meditation session at a nearby Wat (temple). Tonight, I'm taking an overnight bus to the south of Laos and then a plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Peace and Love,
Stacey
Monday, April 13, 2009
Part 4: Chiang Mai
From Burma, I headed back to Thailand.
I arrived in Bangkok where, the same day, I took a 10 hour overnight bus to Chiang Mai. The AC was BLASTING the whole way.
When I first arrived, I nearly unsuccessfully found a cafe that I was meeting a woman I was to later take a cooking class with. The class was to be a three day cooking course held at a community outside of the city on an organic farm. Uuuunfortunately, she came to the meeting to tell me that I was the only person signed up and she wouldn't be doing the class.
I had lunch with her and few other people she knew before spending the day wandering around getting lost in Chiang Mai. ;)
For the first time, I realized exactly how long a month traveling alone could be. I had chosen very specifically to travel on my own during the next month. I have traveled a bit before, but I wanted the experience of traveling totally on my own...figuring it out on my own...making decisions on my own...and making mistakes on my own.
What I soon realized was, when you travel "alone," you are never really alone. There are so many other solo travelers out there and friends are so quickly made when we're all out of our element, that I never went more than a day without a friend.
Although that first night, I definitely wondered if I would make it through the next month. After getting lost multiple times, urging myself to leave the comfort of an internet cafe, getting lost again a few times, and finally finding a place to spend the night, I sat down at a bar to read a book and drink a glass of wine. I deserved it, I decided.
The next day, a Thai guy (nicknamed Bell) the same age as me randomly talked me into a 2 day trek at a guest house I wasn't staying at. Haha! I signed up with a group of random strangers. Strangers who became fast friends. On our trek, we had 3 Aussies (18 and 19 years old), a Korean couple (26 years old), 2 Dutch girls (27 years old), and a Swiss couple (26 and 27 years old). The first day, we visited a gorgeous waterfall, relaxed in a natural hot spring, and trekked through the jungles of Chiang Mai. We stopped at two hill tribe villages on the way to our final village destination for the night. After a quick dip in the river to wash up, we had dinner and ate sticky rice by the fire. The second day, we started with an elephant ride through the jungle...segue into a fantastic story.
While on the back of an elephant in the middle of the jungles of Thailand, I heard someone screaming my name. Tim Polakowski, a friend of mine from college who is in his first year of Fulbright in Korea, was shouting to me from a raft with 3 other Fulbright friends of ours. Their trekking group was only the second group I had seen while trekking. Small world, right?!
So, anyway, after elephant trekking, we also rode/surfed on bamboo rafts down the river. It was very relaxing. The adventure came in when one of our two rafts got stuck between rocks and was quickly sinking. Our guide jumped off of our raft to rescue the raft that was sinking. The girls on the other raft were in the process of climbing to safety and rescuing the bags that nearly met the same fate as the raft when the guides were able to pull the raft back to the surface. After lunch, 6 of us decided to do whitewater rafting. We learned the basics and had a guide. The rapids were only at about a 3 because of the low water level, but that didn't stop 2 of our 4 members in the raft from falling overboard. ^_~ It was a good time minus an annoying guide.
I spent the rest of my time in Chiang Mai, experiencing a motor bike ride for the first time with Bell as we sneaked a peak at the flower floats for the flower festival, meeting up with Timmy and the other Fulbrighters I saw during my trek, hanging out with the amazing group of people from my trek group, meeting up with a good friend of mine from Burma, and eating INCREDIBLE food!
BTW...Chiang Mai is a vegetarian's PARADISE!!^^
I arrived in Bangkok where, the same day, I took a 10 hour overnight bus to Chiang Mai. The AC was BLASTING the whole way.
When I first arrived, I nearly unsuccessfully found a cafe that I was meeting a woman I was to later take a cooking class with. The class was to be a three day cooking course held at a community outside of the city on an organic farm. Uuuunfortunately, she came to the meeting to tell me that I was the only person signed up and she wouldn't be doing the class.
I had lunch with her and few other people she knew before spending the day wandering around getting lost in Chiang Mai. ;)
For the first time, I realized exactly how long a month traveling alone could be. I had chosen very specifically to travel on my own during the next month. I have traveled a bit before, but I wanted the experience of traveling totally on my own...figuring it out on my own...making decisions on my own...and making mistakes on my own.
What I soon realized was, when you travel "alone," you are never really alone. There are so many other solo travelers out there and friends are so quickly made when we're all out of our element, that I never went more than a day without a friend.
Although that first night, I definitely wondered if I would make it through the next month. After getting lost multiple times, urging myself to leave the comfort of an internet cafe, getting lost again a few times, and finally finding a place to spend the night, I sat down at a bar to read a book and drink a glass of wine. I deserved it, I decided.
The next day, a Thai guy (nicknamed Bell) the same age as me randomly talked me into a 2 day trek at a guest house I wasn't staying at. Haha! I signed up with a group of random strangers. Strangers who became fast friends. On our trek, we had 3 Aussies (18 and 19 years old), a Korean couple (26 years old), 2 Dutch girls (27 years old), and a Swiss couple (26 and 27 years old). The first day, we visited a gorgeous waterfall, relaxed in a natural hot spring, and trekked through the jungles of Chiang Mai. We stopped at two hill tribe villages on the way to our final village destination for the night. After a quick dip in the river to wash up, we had dinner and ate sticky rice by the fire. The second day, we started with an elephant ride through the jungle...segue into a fantastic story.
While on the back of an elephant in the middle of the jungles of Thailand, I heard someone screaming my name. Tim Polakowski, a friend of mine from college who is in his first year of Fulbright in Korea, was shouting to me from a raft with 3 other Fulbright friends of ours. Their trekking group was only the second group I had seen while trekking. Small world, right?!
So, anyway, after elephant trekking, we also rode/surfed on bamboo rafts down the river. It was very relaxing. The adventure came in when one of our two rafts got stuck between rocks and was quickly sinking. Our guide jumped off of our raft to rescue the raft that was sinking. The girls on the other raft were in the process of climbing to safety and rescuing the bags that nearly met the same fate as the raft when the guides were able to pull the raft back to the surface. After lunch, 6 of us decided to do whitewater rafting. We learned the basics and had a guide. The rapids were only at about a 3 because of the low water level, but that didn't stop 2 of our 4 members in the raft from falling overboard. ^_~ It was a good time minus an annoying guide.
I spent the rest of my time in Chiang Mai, experiencing a motor bike ride for the first time with Bell as we sneaked a peak at the flower floats for the flower festival, meeting up with Timmy and the other Fulbrighters I saw during my trek, hanging out with the amazing group of people from my trek group, meeting up with a good friend of mine from Burma, and eating INCREDIBLE food!
BTW...Chiang Mai is a vegetarian's PARADISE!!^^
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Part 3: Burma
Hello all!
* Sorry it's taken so long to get Part 3 out. My computer's hard drive crashed taking with it all of my files and my ability to do anything at home. OTL
Anyway...
From Bangkok --> Israel/Palestine --> Egypt --> Bangkok --> Burma/Myanmar
I first went to Burma in January of '08. The year before my first year of Fulbright, two Fulbrighters began a small non profit organization (Opening Possibilities Asia) that I am now working with. My first year was led by one of the founders of the organization. Our main focus of last year was to create and teach a workshop to teach teaching methodology to teachers at a free education monastic school in Mandalay, Burma. Confusing enough? Haha
PDO (Phaung Daw Oo) is the school we volunteer at. It is a school that literally started under a tree and has grown to over 7000 students. There is also a monastery within its walls. The principal's newest project was to take children affected by Cyclone Nargis into the school as residents and students. Many students graduate at the age of 15 or 16. Some want to give back in anyway they can, so they become teachers. The teachers who participate in our workshop consist of new teachers who have never had any training before and veteran teachers who want to continue education as well as help train new teachers.
Our leader from last year, Margaret, is now living in Burma. With her away from Korea, I led 3 Fulbrighters in creating a similar workshop to teach in January of this year. We spent 3 months writing and revising the workshop and planning our visit to the school in Burma. Margaret met my group in Yangon/Rangoon to take them to Mandalay on a 12 hour bus ride. I flew to Mandalay to prevent missing the first day of the workshop after leaving Israel.
It was great to be back. So many familiar, friendly faces. It took me a few days to adjust to being back, but I soon fell in love with the country and the school all over again.
Three of the four of us from the first year were back together (Margaret, Rebecca, and me) and three new workshop leaders (Anna, Raisa, and Josh)! It was a great group this year. My group focused on teaching the workshop, while Margaret and Rebecca taught a children's English camp.
The workshop went very well, and we definitely see where we can make positive changes for next year. Beyond the workshop, we also observed the teachers from our workshop to better understand where they need help, I helped with the English camp from time to time, we led a nightly debate for whomever wished to participate, we visited the Golden House where the chidren affected by Cyclone Nargis live, we visited Mingon and Ubein Bridge with friends (teachers, novices, and office workers) from the school, we visited the Mandalay zoo with children from the school's orphanage and Golden House, and watched Wa monks play with a pinata that they helped us make.
For some reason or another only part of the pictures made it onto my photobucket site. I'll have the link for the rest of the pictures next time I email.
Hope everyone is doing well! Miss each and everyone of you!
Peace and Love,
Stacey
* Sorry it's taken so long to get Part 3 out. My computer's hard drive crashed taking with it all of my files and my ability to do anything at home. OTL
Anyway...
From Bangkok --> Israel/Palestine --> Egypt --> Bangkok --> Burma/Myanmar
I first went to Burma in January of '08. The year before my first year of Fulbright, two Fulbrighters began a small non profit organization (Opening Possibilities Asia) that I am now working with. My first year was led by one of the founders of the organization. Our main focus of last year was to create and teach a workshop to teach teaching methodology to teachers at a free education monastic school in Mandalay, Burma. Confusing enough? Haha
PDO (Phaung Daw Oo) is the school we volunteer at. It is a school that literally started under a tree and has grown to over 7000 students. There is also a monastery within its walls. The principal's newest project was to take children affected by Cyclone Nargis into the school as residents and students. Many students graduate at the age of 15 or 16. Some want to give back in anyway they can, so they become teachers. The teachers who participate in our workshop consist of new teachers who have never had any training before and veteran teachers who want to continue education as well as help train new teachers.
Our leader from last year, Margaret, is now living in Burma. With her away from Korea, I led 3 Fulbrighters in creating a similar workshop to teach in January of this year. We spent 3 months writing and revising the workshop and planning our visit to the school in Burma. Margaret met my group in Yangon/Rangoon to take them to Mandalay on a 12 hour bus ride. I flew to Mandalay to prevent missing the first day of the workshop after leaving Israel.
It was great to be back. So many familiar, friendly faces. It took me a few days to adjust to being back, but I soon fell in love with the country and the school all over again.
Three of the four of us from the first year were back together (Margaret, Rebecca, and me) and three new workshop leaders (Anna, Raisa, and Josh)! It was a great group this year. My group focused on teaching the workshop, while Margaret and Rebecca taught a children's English camp.
The workshop went very well, and we definitely see where we can make positive changes for next year. Beyond the workshop, we also observed the teachers from our workshop to better understand where they need help, I helped with the English camp from time to time, we led a nightly debate for whomever wished to participate, we visited the Golden House where the chidren affected by Cyclone Nargis live, we visited Mingon and Ubein Bridge with friends (teachers, novices, and office workers) from the school, we visited the Mandalay zoo with children from the school's orphanage and Golden House, and watched Wa monks play with a pinata that they helped us make.
For some reason or another only part of the pictures made it onto my photobucket site. I'll have the link for the rest of the pictures next time I email.
Hope everyone is doing well! Miss each and everyone of you!
Peace and Love,
Stacey
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Part 2: Israel/Palestine/Egypt
Here's part 2 of my travels this winter.
My last email left off at me flying from Bangkok to Israel/Palestine. I spent 2 weeks in Israel/Palestine with an organization called CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams) on a peace delegation to learn first hand about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and to participate in nonviolent action in support of ending the Palestinian occupation.
Before I begin, please understand that I speak from my experiences only. The history between Palestine and Israel goes far beyond my current understanding and there is always more to learn.
I landed at Ben Gurion airport two days before most of the members of my delegation were set to arrive. I met our fantastic delegation leader, Rick Polhamus. He and I spent the first day touring Jerusalem and chatting with an incredible Palestinian man, who I now consider a dear friend, Saleh. Saleh is the owner of the hotel we stayed at a portion of the time. My new Palestinian friend spent the first day and second day, for that matter, teasing me about how I would probably go to jail because I had asked the airport not to stamp my passport as I was entering the country. So, technically, I didn't have a visa. ^_~ A woman from the delegation arrived late that first night, Sharon (a 56 year old former army radar repair technician - a quarky woman who marches to the beat of her own drum.)
Upon arrival back at the airport the next day to make sure that I wasn't going to be deported from the country, Rick and I met two new arrivals, Greg (a 61 year old pastor from Canada with a very distinct laugh) and Jerry (a 34 year old Brethren pastor from Ohio). Jerry and I hit it off right away and became good friends over the course of the delegation.
Jerry, Sharon, and I made our way to Kalia beach to visit the dead sea. The dead sea is apparently slowly disappearing due to the selling of the sea's salts and mud. It is still gorgeous though, and we had a great time! Take a look at the pics! That night, the remaining delegation members arrived. Christina (a 26 year old community lover), Renee (a 43 year old strong and independent married woman), Melissa (a 44 year old hilarious, spunky mother of 4), Betty (a 76 year old woman with an incredible life story), James (a 50 year old Canadian living in Germany as a Mennonite church director), Nate (a dumster diving 29 year old who is quiet, passionate peace worker), and Neil (a sweet, incredibly knowledgeable 75 year old retired Wilmington professor).
In the next few days we met with human rights and pro-Palestinian groups as well as pro-Palestinian Israeli activists. They all helped to explain a bit about the conflict and occupation both currently and historically. One being B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in Israeli Occupied Territories (B'Teselem). We visited the wall constructed to separate Israel from the Palestinian West Bank. Graffiti found on the wall portrays the feelings of most people who visit.
We visited Dheisheh, a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem. 11,000 Palestinians living there remain after 750,000 Palestinians were displaced in 1948. More information can be found at their website. (Dheisheh). Upon arrival at the camp, we witnessed a protest march in support of the people of Gaza completely comprised of children. Children have been taught how to express their frustration and thoughts through non violent action, an incredible skill to have at a young age.
We toured the camp and stayed with a Palestinian man and his family. I was disgusted to see the bullet-riddled walls of the girls school, bullets left over from the second Intifada where Israelis attacked the homes and schools of this refugee camp.
This was not the only story that made my stomach turn while I was in Bethlehem. After a brief tour as a delegation, we were given time on our own. Some of you may have read this story already.
Jerry, and I were walking around Bethlehem with the bit of free time we had. We walked past a man trying to convince us to shop in his store. We said "maybe later" and kept on where we were going. We were walking back by and this man reminded us that we had said we would come in and look around. We agreed and headed inside. Assuming the man would simply try to start selling items to us, we were a bit hesitant. He didn't try to sell us a thing. He wanted us to listen to him. He wanted us to hear his story. We soon learned that this "man" was 23 years old. His father had lost his leg in the 2002 Intifada. He was the man of the house now. He told us how the soldiers stormed the town and how he was beaten by an Israeli soldier for standing in the doorway of his home instead of remaining inside. As this man lie bleeding from his mouth on the street, the soldier said, "Fuck you! If I see your face again, I'll kill you." He told us of how he felt helpless as a soldier held a gun to his 8 year old sister. He told us his story. He didn't once ask us to buy anything. After telling us his story, he offered us tea while trying to hold back the tears of his memories. This young man, Allah, said that he could break off a piece of his heart and we still wouldn't understand what he has had to face. He wants to believe in peace, but he just can't. He has seen too much, experienced too many times the hatred of Israeli soldiers.
To make this as brief as possible, our delegation also joined the Women in Black who gather every Friday to demonstrate against the occupation of Palestinians. Israeli women began the organization in 1988. (Women in Black)
We also joined a march in support of medical aid support in Gaza. Two members of our delegation gave interviews to news reporters.
A week of the delegation was spent in Hebron. A few nights were spent at the CPT apartment in the old city, one night I spent with one other delegation member in the home of an incredibly friendly Palestinian family, one night was spent in a small village called At'Tuwani, and one night was spent in an even smaller village Gwynn (I don't think that spelling is right).
The old city of Hebron has been left quite destitute after the most recent Intifada with many Palestinian shops being warned against their re-opening. Israeli settlements have been built almost entirely to control the Palestinian population. In the old city, Israeli settlers as well as an israeli military base set on top of Palestinian shops. There were fences placed above the shops to "protect" Palestinians from the rocks, glass bottles, and bleach the Israeli settlers are throwing down at Palestinians.
On a day spent touring the old city, we faced Palestinian children who were causing trouble. They fired a rock with a slingshot toward our group, nearly hitting a member. Most Palestinians find relief in the CPT group, but some Palestinians have a hard time trusting foreign faces. That day was the first time I had ever experienced tear gas. It burns the eyes and stings the nose so that water runs from both uncontrollably. Relief came from a group of young Palestinian men who offered us tissues with scented spray to cut the burning. The city is a very different place on days when Palestinians shut all shops to pray at the mosque, desolate and a little eerie.
The most memorable part of staying with the Palestinian homestay family, was something that happened while trying to learn Arabic. There was only one member of the family that spoke English, a 30-something female teacher. She lived with her father, mother, 2 of her sisters, and 2 of her brothers. I couldn't for the life of me remember how to say "welcome" in Arabic. He jokingly said, and for this the teacher translated, "You must remember or he will kill you." At the time it was off-putting, but I understood what was meant by the cruel joke. I had been welcomed into this family's home, I had eaten with their family, I had sat around a single heater and huddled for warmth just as they do...and these are the types of people who are portrayed by the media as terrorists. He was making a point, a point I will never forget.
In the village of At'Tuwani, we learned why it is necessary for a CPT team to be present. Israeli settlers have been attacking children who walk from one Palestinian village to another in order to attend school. CPT set up a camp there to ensure the safety of the children and the people of this village. Settlers have gone as far as to poison the drinking water well with dead chickens and kill shephards sheep while taunting the shephards themselves.
In the second village, we visited families who live in caves, talked with villagers about how they were cut off from their jobs when Israelis dictated which roads they could travel on and which they couldn't, slept in a tent-like structure with a cement floor, and used rocks as "bathrooms". We looked for the biggest ones!^^
All in all, the experience was one of the most incredible of my life. Some members of the delegation left before me and some left after me, but I headed from there to Egypt for a day.
The day I spent in Egypt, I decided to get out of the airport and travel to the pyramids and the sphinx. I had met a guy on the way out of Israel who had just as long of layover as I did in Egypt, so we spent the day together.
From there, I flew back to Bangkok where I spent a day. I flew out the next morning for Yangon, Mandalay.
To be continued...
My last email left off at me flying from Bangkok to Israel/Palestine. I spent 2 weeks in Israel/Palestine with an organization called CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams) on a peace delegation to learn first hand about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and to participate in nonviolent action in support of ending the Palestinian occupation.
Before I begin, please understand that I speak from my experiences only. The history between Palestine and Israel goes far beyond my current understanding and there is always more to learn.
I landed at Ben Gurion airport two days before most of the members of my delegation were set to arrive. I met our fantastic delegation leader, Rick Polhamus. He and I spent the first day touring Jerusalem and chatting with an incredible Palestinian man, who I now consider a dear friend, Saleh. Saleh is the owner of the hotel we stayed at a portion of the time. My new Palestinian friend spent the first day and second day, for that matter, teasing me about how I would probably go to jail because I had asked the airport not to stamp my passport as I was entering the country. So, technically, I didn't have a visa. ^_~ A woman from the delegation arrived late that first night, Sharon (a 56 year old former army radar repair technician - a quarky woman who marches to the beat of her own drum.)
Upon arrival back at the airport the next day to make sure that I wasn't going to be deported from the country, Rick and I met two new arrivals, Greg (a 61 year old pastor from Canada with a very distinct laugh) and Jerry (a 34 year old Brethren pastor from Ohio). Jerry and I hit it off right away and became good friends over the course of the delegation.
Jerry, Sharon, and I made our way to Kalia beach to visit the dead sea. The dead sea is apparently slowly disappearing due to the selling of the sea's salts and mud. It is still gorgeous though, and we had a great time! Take a look at the pics! That night, the remaining delegation members arrived. Christina (a 26 year old community lover), Renee (a 43 year old strong and independent married woman), Melissa (a 44 year old hilarious, spunky mother of 4), Betty (a 76 year old woman with an incredible life story), James (a 50 year old Canadian living in Germany as a Mennonite church director), Nate (a dumster diving 29 year old who is quiet, passionate peace worker), and Neil (a sweet, incredibly knowledgeable 75 year old retired Wilmington professor).
In the next few days we met with human rights and pro-Palestinian groups as well as pro-Palestinian Israeli activists. They all helped to explain a bit about the conflict and occupation both currently and historically. One being B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in Israeli Occupied Territories (B'Teselem). We visited the wall constructed to separate Israel from the Palestinian West Bank. Graffiti found on the wall portrays the feelings of most people who visit.
We visited Dheisheh, a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem. 11,000 Palestinians living there remain after 750,000 Palestinians were displaced in 1948. More information can be found at their website. (Dheisheh). Upon arrival at the camp, we witnessed a protest march in support of the people of Gaza completely comprised of children. Children have been taught how to express their frustration and thoughts through non violent action, an incredible skill to have at a young age.
We toured the camp and stayed with a Palestinian man and his family. I was disgusted to see the bullet-riddled walls of the girls school, bullets left over from the second Intifada where Israelis attacked the homes and schools of this refugee camp.
This was not the only story that made my stomach turn while I was in Bethlehem. After a brief tour as a delegation, we were given time on our own. Some of you may have read this story already.
Jerry, and I were walking around Bethlehem with the bit of free time we had. We walked past a man trying to convince us to shop in his store. We said "maybe later" and kept on where we were going. We were walking back by and this man reminded us that we had said we would come in and look around. We agreed and headed inside. Assuming the man would simply try to start selling items to us, we were a bit hesitant. He didn't try to sell us a thing. He wanted us to listen to him. He wanted us to hear his story. We soon learned that this "man" was 23 years old. His father had lost his leg in the 2002 Intifada. He was the man of the house now. He told us how the soldiers stormed the town and how he was beaten by an Israeli soldier for standing in the doorway of his home instead of remaining inside. As this man lie bleeding from his mouth on the street, the soldier said, "Fuck you! If I see your face again, I'll kill you." He told us of how he felt helpless as a soldier held a gun to his 8 year old sister. He told us his story. He didn't once ask us to buy anything. After telling us his story, he offered us tea while trying to hold back the tears of his memories. This young man, Allah, said that he could break off a piece of his heart and we still wouldn't understand what he has had to face. He wants to believe in peace, but he just can't. He has seen too much, experienced too many times the hatred of Israeli soldiers.
To make this as brief as possible, our delegation also joined the Women in Black who gather every Friday to demonstrate against the occupation of Palestinians. Israeli women began the organization in 1988. (Women in Black)
We also joined a march in support of medical aid support in Gaza. Two members of our delegation gave interviews to news reporters.
A week of the delegation was spent in Hebron. A few nights were spent at the CPT apartment in the old city, one night I spent with one other delegation member in the home of an incredibly friendly Palestinian family, one night was spent in a small village called At'Tuwani, and one night was spent in an even smaller village Gwynn (I don't think that spelling is right).
The old city of Hebron has been left quite destitute after the most recent Intifada with many Palestinian shops being warned against their re-opening. Israeli settlements have been built almost entirely to control the Palestinian population. In the old city, Israeli settlers as well as an israeli military base set on top of Palestinian shops. There were fences placed above the shops to "protect" Palestinians from the rocks, glass bottles, and bleach the Israeli settlers are throwing down at Palestinians.
On a day spent touring the old city, we faced Palestinian children who were causing trouble. They fired a rock with a slingshot toward our group, nearly hitting a member. Most Palestinians find relief in the CPT group, but some Palestinians have a hard time trusting foreign faces. That day was the first time I had ever experienced tear gas. It burns the eyes and stings the nose so that water runs from both uncontrollably. Relief came from a group of young Palestinian men who offered us tissues with scented spray to cut the burning. The city is a very different place on days when Palestinians shut all shops to pray at the mosque, desolate and a little eerie.
The most memorable part of staying with the Palestinian homestay family, was something that happened while trying to learn Arabic. There was only one member of the family that spoke English, a 30-something female teacher. She lived with her father, mother, 2 of her sisters, and 2 of her brothers. I couldn't for the life of me remember how to say "welcome" in Arabic. He jokingly said, and for this the teacher translated, "You must remember or he will kill you." At the time it was off-putting, but I understood what was meant by the cruel joke. I had been welcomed into this family's home, I had eaten with their family, I had sat around a single heater and huddled for warmth just as they do...and these are the types of people who are portrayed by the media as terrorists. He was making a point, a point I will never forget.
In the village of At'Tuwani, we learned why it is necessary for a CPT team to be present. Israeli settlers have been attacking children who walk from one Palestinian village to another in order to attend school. CPT set up a camp there to ensure the safety of the children and the people of this village. Settlers have gone as far as to poison the drinking water well with dead chickens and kill shephards sheep while taunting the shephards themselves.
In the second village, we visited families who live in caves, talked with villagers about how they were cut off from their jobs when Israelis dictated which roads they could travel on and which they couldn't, slept in a tent-like structure with a cement floor, and used rocks as "bathrooms". We looked for the biggest ones!^^
All in all, the experience was one of the most incredible of my life. Some members of the delegation left before me and some left after me, but I headed from there to Egypt for a day.
The day I spent in Egypt, I decided to get out of the airport and travel to the pyramids and the sphinx. I had met a guy on the way out of Israel who had just as long of layover as I did in Egypt, so we spent the day together.
From there, I flew back to Bangkok where I spent a day. I flew out the next morning for Yangon, Mandalay.
To be continued...
Part 1: Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand
Starting out with 3 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 1 jacket, a few odds and ends, and two months of traveling ahead of me, I arrived in Bangkok on January 2nd not really knowing what I had gotten myself into but knowing the next two months were sure to be an adventure.
At 2AM, the streets were clear enough for taxis to easily make their way through the city; in fact, taxis were the only cars on the road.
After only a few hours of sleep, I woke to meet 4 of the 5 other girls I was sharing a hostel dorm room with: Two 18-year-old British girls, Harri and Brit, who had set out on a 7 month journey, a 32-year-old German woman named Frieda, and a 27-year-old Korean American woman named Victoria. We spent the day together. The Sky Train conveniently took us to a boat taxi that would then take us to the Old City. Within the Old City, we visited the Grand Palace which contained the Emerald Buddha and a museum and then headed to Wat Pho which housed the largest reclining Buddha. The two places took the entire day of exploring. When we returned to the hostel, I met a 40-year-old woman named Michelle from LA. She talked me into going to see a Lady Boys Cabaret with her; it was an INCREDIBLE show! Lady boys are an entire culture of men who dress like and/or become women. A funny story about these beautiful lady boys: After the show, they descended the staircase before the audience in order to clap for us as we came down the stairs. Michelle and I had our picture taken with a few of these gorgeous women, and then of course, they asked for a tip. Michelle, having just come from Vietnam a few days earlier where 1000s of Dong equal only a few dollars, gave the women what they asked for...1000 Baht. As I pulled her away from the greedy lady boys, I explained that she had just given them a $40 tip. In between Michelle's bits of cursing, we laughed all the way back to the hostel.
The next day, I went on a tour to Kachanaburi, a province outside of Bangkok, with Michelle and Jane, an Irish woman from my dorm room. We visited the war cemetery that was constructed for those who died during the forced building of the Death Railway between Burma and Thailand during WWII by the Japanese military. 90,000 Asian workers and 16,000 POWs died during the bridge's construction. We took a boat ride down the River Kwai and under the reconstructed bridge. The original wooden "Bridge over the River Kwai" remains partially in the JEATH War Museum (JEATH = Japanese, English, Australian, Thai, and Holland: The 5 main nationalities involved in the construction of the bridge). After leaving the museum, we hopped on some elephants for a ride through the jungle which ended up being sadder than I thought. Our mahout (elephant trainer) didn't treat our elephant very nicely. The mahouts aren't all like that. Finally, the tigers at the Tiger Temple were definitely one of the highlights of the day. They were so precious; we spent an hour or two getting our pictures taken with the them. The tigers are taken care of by volunteers and monks. That night, we ate at a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. A portion of the money spent on dinner goes toward AIDS education and research. We got condoms instead of dinner mints! Haha!
The next day I spent the day at an amazingly overcrowded weekend market with THOUSANDS of stalls. It was quite the sight and experience. I had to take a breather, so I hung out by a pond the rest of the afternoon until I had to make my way to the airport to fly out to Israel/Palestine...
...to be continued. :)
Starting out with 3 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 1 jacket, a few odds and ends, and two months of traveling ahead of me, I arrived in Bangkok on January 2nd not really knowing what I had gotten myself into but knowing the next two months were sure to be an adventure.
At 2AM, the streets were clear enough for taxis to easily make their way through the city; in fact, taxis were the only cars on the road.
After only a few hours of sleep, I woke to meet 4 of the 5 other girls I was sharing a hostel dorm room with: Two 18-year-old British girls, Harri and Brit, who had set out on a 7 month journey, a 32-year-old German woman named Frieda, and a 27-year-old Korean American woman named Victoria. We spent the day together. The Sky Train conveniently took us to a boat taxi that would then take us to the Old City. Within the Old City, we visited the Grand Palace which contained the Emerald Buddha and a museum and then headed to Wat Pho which housed the largest reclining Buddha. The two places took the entire day of exploring. When we returned to the hostel, I met a 40-year-old woman named Michelle from LA. She talked me into going to see a Lady Boys Cabaret with her; it was an INCREDIBLE show! Lady boys are an entire culture of men who dress like and/or become women. A funny story about these beautiful lady boys: After the show, they descended the staircase before the audience in order to clap for us as we came down the stairs. Michelle and I had our picture taken with a few of these gorgeous women, and then of course, they asked for a tip. Michelle, having just come from Vietnam a few days earlier where 1000s of Dong equal only a few dollars, gave the women what they asked for...1000 Baht. As I pulled her away from the greedy lady boys, I explained that she had just given them a $40 tip. In between Michelle's bits of cursing, we laughed all the way back to the hostel.
The next day, I went on a tour to Kachanaburi, a province outside of Bangkok, with Michelle and Jane, an Irish woman from my dorm room. We visited the war cemetery that was constructed for those who died during the forced building of the Death Railway between Burma and Thailand during WWII by the Japanese military. 90,000 Asian workers and 16,000 POWs died during the bridge's construction. We took a boat ride down the River Kwai and under the reconstructed bridge. The original wooden "Bridge over the River Kwai" remains partially in the JEATH War Museum (JEATH = Japanese, English, Australian, Thai, and Holland: The 5 main nationalities involved in the construction of the bridge). After leaving the museum, we hopped on some elephants for a ride through the jungle which ended up being sadder than I thought. Our mahout (elephant trainer) didn't treat our elephant very nicely. The mahouts aren't all like that. Finally, the tigers at the Tiger Temple were definitely one of the highlights of the day. They were so precious; we spent an hour or two getting our pictures taken with the them. The tigers are taken care of by volunteers and monks. That night, we ate at a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. A portion of the money spent on dinner goes toward AIDS education and research. We got condoms instead of dinner mints! Haha!
The next day I spent the day at an amazingly overcrowded weekend market with THOUSANDS of stalls. It was quite the sight and experience. I had to take a breather, so I hung out by a pond the rest of the afternoon until I had to make my way to the airport to fly out to Israel/Palestine...
...to be continued. :)
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
BUSY!! OMGoodness..busy!
I am beyond busy! I don't think I quite knew what exactly I was getting myself into when I signed up for all of the stuff I did. The amount of classes does it, I think. I'm just going to type out my schedule...partially for you to understand exactly how crazy I am, but mostly for me to figure out how this happened.
Monday:
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - 2:20 (Hanging out with first grade teachers/lesson planning)
2:20 - 4:40 (Co-teaching 3 classes with Monica, the new foreign teacher)
4:40 - 5:10 (Walk to Guitar academy)
5:10 ~ 7:00 (Practice guitar)
7:00 - 7:45 (Walk to dance class)
8:00 - 9:00 Night Dance (Similar to Jazz dance/they call it club dancing)
Tuesday
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - 2:20 (Hanging out with 1st grade teachers/lesson planning)
3:30 - 4:10 (Teach a teachers' English class)
4:30 - 5:00 (Travel to Yonsei University)
5:10 - 6:00 (Korean language class)
6:15 - 6:30 (Wait for Carl and Ellen to finish their class/eat packed dinner)
6:30 - 7:30 (Take the bus to Lotte Cinema...get off and walk to guitar academy)
7:30 - 9:00 (Guitar practice)
9:00 ~ 9:45 (Walk to climbing gym)
9:45 - 11:00 (Climb)
Wednesday
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - 4:00 (Hanging out with 1st grade teachers/lesson planning/organizing my life)
4:00 - 5:00 (Take bus to Yonsei and hang out with Ellen)
5:10 - 6:00 (Korean language class)
6:00 - 6:30 (Wait for Ellen and Carl/eat packed dinner)
6:30 - 7:00 (Bus)
7:00 - 7:30 (Walk to dance class)
8:00 - 9:00 (Dance class)
9:15 - 10:45 (Guitar Practice)
Thursday
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - 2:20 (Hanging out with first grade teachers/lesson planning)
2:20 - 3:50 (Co-teaching 2 classes with Monica, the new foreign teacher)
4:00 - 4:40 (Teach a teachers' English class)
4:40 - 5:10 (Bus to Yonsei)
5:10 - 6:00 (Korean Language class)
6:15 - 6:30 (Wait for Carl and Ellen to finish their class/eat packed dinner)
6:30 - 7:30 (Take the bus to Lotte Cinema...get off and walk to guitar academy)
7:30 - 9:00 (Guitar practice)
9:00 ~ 9:45 (Walk to climbing gym)
9:45 - 11:00 (Climb)
Friday
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - ? (Hang out with the teachers)
7:15 - 7:50 (Walk to dance class)
8:00 - 9:00 (Dance class)
9:15 - 10:15 (English club discussion)
10:15 - ? (Hang out with English group)
I love walking, but it is definitely something I could do without if it would get me places faster. The problem with taking the bus is that it would get incredibly expensive. Two and from Yonsei for one day is ~$2.20. If I go to and from Yonsei and to and from my guitar lessons, that's $4.40/day, $22.00/week, $88/month. Too much! If I could get to Yonsei by walking, I would...it would take FOREVER though.
Anyway...that is my schedule. I partially did that so I could see if I could actually even fit in the climbing club. I think I may be able to. I'd hate to quit just like my friend said most foreigners do, but I don't have shoes or a harness and by the time I get there, I'm so exhausted because of everything else going on.
BTW...I moved up from beginner's level to intermediate as far as language classes go. I think intermediate suits me better, but I think I have a lot of catching up to do. When to study?
Anyway...I'm exhausted.
Peace out for now.
Monday:
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - 2:20 (Hanging out with first grade teachers/lesson planning)
2:20 - 4:40 (Co-teaching 3 classes with Monica, the new foreign teacher)
4:40 - 5:10 (Walk to Guitar academy)
5:10 ~ 7:00 (Practice guitar)
7:00 - 7:45 (Walk to dance class)
8:00 - 9:00 Night Dance (Similar to Jazz dance/they call it club dancing)
Tuesday
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - 2:20 (Hanging out with 1st grade teachers/lesson planning)
3:30 - 4:10 (Teach a teachers' English class)
4:30 - 5:00 (Travel to Yonsei University)
5:10 - 6:00 (Korean language class)
6:15 - 6:30 (Wait for Carl and Ellen to finish their class/eat packed dinner)
6:30 - 7:30 (Take the bus to Lotte Cinema...get off and walk to guitar academy)
7:30 - 9:00 (Guitar practice)
9:00 ~ 9:45 (Walk to climbing gym)
9:45 - 11:00 (Climb)
Wednesday
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - 4:00 (Hanging out with 1st grade teachers/lesson planning/organizing my life)
4:00 - 5:00 (Take bus to Yonsei and hang out with Ellen)
5:10 - 6:00 (Korean language class)
6:00 - 6:30 (Wait for Ellen and Carl/eat packed dinner)
6:30 - 7:00 (Bus)
7:00 - 7:30 (Walk to dance class)
8:00 - 9:00 (Dance class)
9:15 - 10:45 (Guitar Practice)
Thursday
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - 2:20 (Hanging out with first grade teachers/lesson planning)
2:20 - 3:50 (Co-teaching 2 classes with Monica, the new foreign teacher)
4:00 - 4:40 (Teach a teachers' English class)
4:40 - 5:10 (Bus to Yonsei)
5:10 - 6:00 (Korean Language class)
6:15 - 6:30 (Wait for Carl and Ellen to finish their class/eat packed dinner)
6:30 - 7:30 (Take the bus to Lotte Cinema...get off and walk to guitar academy)
7:30 - 9:00 (Guitar practice)
9:00 ~ 9:45 (Walk to climbing gym)
9:45 - 11:00 (Climb)
Friday
9:00 - 12:30 (Teaching)
12:30 - 1:00 (lunch)
1:00 - ? (Hang out with the teachers)
7:15 - 7:50 (Walk to dance class)
8:00 - 9:00 (Dance class)
9:15 - 10:15 (English club discussion)
10:15 - ? (Hang out with English group)
I love walking, but it is definitely something I could do without if it would get me places faster. The problem with taking the bus is that it would get incredibly expensive. Two and from Yonsei for one day is ~$2.20. If I go to and from Yonsei and to and from my guitar lessons, that's $4.40/day, $22.00/week, $88/month. Too much! If I could get to Yonsei by walking, I would...it would take FOREVER though.
Anyway...that is my schedule. I partially did that so I could see if I could actually even fit in the climbing club. I think I may be able to. I'd hate to quit just like my friend said most foreigners do, but I don't have shoes or a harness and by the time I get there, I'm so exhausted because of everything else going on.
BTW...I moved up from beginner's level to intermediate as far as language classes go. I think intermediate suits me better, but I think I have a lot of catching up to do. When to study?
Anyway...I'm exhausted.
Peace out for now.
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