Author: Maree Taberner

I have been in Thailand almost 3 months now.  One month was spent in Chiang Mai, one week in Uthai Thani, one week in Bangkok, and over a month in Chainat. Boy has it been an exciting and emotional ride. My first week in Chiang Mai was rough and homesickness/culture shock hit me like a ton of bricks.  After meeting everyone in my TESOL group and adjusting to my new routine things started to look up.  When my month in Chiang Mai came to an end I was supposed to move to Uthai Thani to teach English to elementary school children.  I was excited but slightly nervous about moving to a small town.  When I finally arrived my nerves skyrocketed and I was not sure I could be happy in that small of a town.  My amazing agent must have sensed my apprehension because a few days after arriving she told me about another job opportunity in a city about 45 minutes away teaching high school.  The next day I was in her car going to see the city and high school.  I knew right when I entered the town that this was where I needed to be.  I accepted the teaching job the same day.  A week later I had moved into my apartment in Chainat and began working.  Chainat is still a small town but it has a gorgeous river that runs through the town and the people here are absolutely wonderful and full of smiles.

My 5 weeks in Chainat have been incredible.  I was expecting to have really bad culture shock once I left Chiang Mai and so far that has not happened. Everyday brings new trials but also joy.  I have the most compassionate and kindhearted Thai neighbor.  She sends me sweet good morning messages, shows me new places around town, and introduces me to all of her friends.  She takes me out to dinner several times a week and her mom is always cooking and feeding me the most delicious meals.  She is also teaching me Thai and I am helping her with her English even though it is already amazing.  She is one of the most generous and gracious women I have met.I have fallen in love with this little town and my simple life here.  I know this is exactly where I am supposed to be.  I can’t even remember the last time I had a bad day.  I do not think I have ever been this happy and content with life.  I feel extremely blessed to be here and to be sharing this wonderful journey with my friends here in Thailand and back home.

There are a group of young, adventurous children who live in my neighborhood.  The first time I rode my bike past their house they stopped me to ask what my name was.  I replied and asked them what their names were and how old they were.  They were able to tell me their names but they didn’t understand the second question about their age.  Trying to strike up a conversation I said I was a teacher and huge smiles came to their face.

“Oooh Teacher Kelsey” they all said.  “Yes, Teacher Kelsey.”

After our brief conversation we parted ways and they screamed goodbye to me until I was out of sight.

Two days later I was wandering around 711 to get out of the sweltering heat and the 3 children popped out of no where.

“TEACHER TEACHER” they screamed.

We introduced ourselves again since they couldn’t remember my name. They started asking  me questions in Thai which I was unable to answer so once again our conversation was short.  I went to check out with them following right behind me.  Once outside we said our goodbyes and I hopped on my bike to head back to my apartment.  Not 2 minutes later as I turned into the neighborhood I heard loud screams from behind me.  The kids had followed me and were screaming my name.  I stopped, turned around and there they were right behind me.  The oldest girl decided she would hop off of her brothers bike and on to mine.  Normally I wouldn’t mind but my bike here is pretty old and rickety. The steering handle is broken and the brakes don’t work.  I can barely ride it by myself let alone with a little girl on the back.  It was a slow start getting the bike moving again and the boys were not having it.

“Faster teacher faster!!” is all they screamed the entire way back to my apartment as I was just trying to make it back in one piece and not hit any stationary vehicle.

FYI I am buying a new bike tomorrow so I can actually enjoy riding a bike around town and not have to worry about running into another vehicle.  After safely making it back we ran into my neighbor and fellow teacher, Grace.  We decided to head to Tesco(basically an extremely unorganized Walmart) and had to part ways with the kids.

The children said their sad goodbyes and said “See you tomorrow Teacher Kelsey and Teacher Grace!”

Sure enough the next morning around 9:30 the kiddos were pounding on our door and yelling “Teacher Teacher!”

I had just woken up and did not answer, so eventually they left.  They would pop up every 45 minutes or so to see if we were there. Around 5 p.m. I was in my living area cleaning and I look out the front window and there are 5 children staring at me.

They start screaming hysterically and bang on my door “Teacher Kelsey Teacher Kelsey Teacher Kelsey!!!”

I open the door and they all run up to me with huge grins on their faces. We sit on the bench and Pim, the girl I had met before introduces me to the other children I have not met yet.  After our brief introduction she says that she wants me to write the Alphabet for everyone.  I come back inside to get everything together and I write each kid the alphabet on a sheet of paper.  I brought out a folder with paper, crayons and some miscellaneous items still in it from my TESOL course.

The children here have no sense of personal space and will pry through anything that you have next to them.  While two of them were looking through my phone the others were searching through my folder.  That’s when they found it.  The envelope that had my cell phone number on it. Luckily I had just switched phone numbers several days prior because they went nuts.  They each took out a blank sheet of paper and a crayon and wrote the phone number on the paper with my name next to it.  They said thank you for stealing my phone number and put their paper, neatly folded up, in their bike basket.

Throughout this whole experience they kept asking me questions in Thai which I couldn’t understand.  It was getting late and I was hungry so I tried to politely tell them I needed to eat dinner.  They got upset and didn’t want me to leave so I decided to stick around several more minutes.  Pim then told me that Mu, the youngest of the girls loves me.

“Mu loves Teacher Kelsey” “Teacher Kelsey loves Mu.”

“Yes” I replied.  “Teacher Kelsey loves Mu and she loves you all.”

Their eyes got large and huge smiles covered their cute little faces.

“Mu loves Kelsey” Pim said again as she stroked my hair.

That sentence was repeated for a solid 5 minutes while they ran around my front door screaming and giggling.

Although I will probably have 5 cute little kiddos pounding on my everyday for a year wanting to play, there is nothing more sweet.  The genuine excitement, fascination, and desire to learn these children have is incredible.  In moments like this I am reminded why I moved half way across the world. Although I moved to see more of the world, I also moved to inspire young children.  Based on my month and half here I have a feeling they will be teaching me a lot more than I will ever teach them.

I have a new favorite holiday.  A holiday that is only celebrated in Thailand: Songkran. Songkran is a 3-day festival celebrating the Thai New Year. Now if you are in Chiang Mai, you are lucky enough to be able to celebrate Songkran in all its glory for a full week. Songkran is a countrywide water fight where everyone (except Monks) is fair game and if you are a westerner you are the first target. Tacky Hawaiian shirts are worn, super soakers are loaded, and buckets/trashcans are filled with icy water. The streets are lined with vendors selling buckets, water guns, goggles, and waterproof bags to store your money and phone.

 

Our TESOL group headed down to the Chiang Mai’s Old City where the main Songkran celebration is held.  We arrived at the Old City early in the morning so we could find a good spot to make our base and get the festivities started. We were lucky to leave our accommodation early enough that we somehow stayed dry for the entire Songthaew ride to the Old City. Now once we arrived at the Old City we were soaked in a matter of minutes. Everyone who walked past us was being soaked with water from our trashcan and people who drove or walked by us were hurling water at us. The main targets of the day were westerners, anyone who was dry, songthaews, and trucks that had 8-10 people in the back with trashcans full of ice-cold water.

After a couple of hours near the moat outside the Old City gates we all wanted some beer and food so we ventured farther into the Old City to grab a bite to eat. We ended up at the ever popular McDonalds where we demolished our burgers, fries, and drinks. Across from the McDonalds was a stage with live music and dancers where we wandered next. It was basically a huge dance party with water flying all around. We made it to the front of the crowd and danced away while enjoying the craziness surrounding us. The rest of the day was spent meandering between bars and finding people to soak with water.

One of the things I have come to love about Thailand is how genuine and nice the people are here. Even when they were pelting you with water they had a huge smile on their face and gave you a thumbs up once their bucket was emptied. I can not remember the last time I had that much fun and it was made better by the great people who I was able to be with.  There is no holiday that compares to Songkran. It is 3 days spent acting like a kid, where you have no cares in the world except for who you are going to soak next. I do not know of any other country that celebrates the New Year with a massive water fight but Thailand has the right idea. One year I will come back to celebrate the glorious festival that is Songkran!

*A special thanks to the awesome Phoebe for this video:)

I have been in Thailand almost 3 weeks now and it feels like I have only been here several days.  The first week I was here was Orientation Week so it was filled with fun excursions and cultural and language lessons.  We did everything from visiting temples to Muay Thai training to visiting Maesa Elephant Camp.  It was an exciting and exhausting week.  My favorite activity at the time was visiting the elephants at the camp.  Before I came to Thailand I knew I did not want to ride an Elephant due to the abuse they endure for this popular tourist attraction. For those that wish to watch here is a video that shows the horrendous torture elephants go through for the tourism industry. Matthew from Expert Vagabond also wrote a nice article about on why we shouldn’t ride elephants in Thailand.  I had glanced at Maesa’s website before we arrived to see how well they treat their elephants.  Based off their website it seemed that they treated them fairly well.  When we arrived I was excited to see and interact with the baby elephants, but first we learned how to make Elephant Dung (poop) paper. The process is fairly simple. They collect the elephant dung and wash and boil it for 5 hours to take out any harmful bacteria or lingering, unwelcome smells. After the boiling process is over they spin the dung to help take out the clumps.  They then put it in a bucket with water and they will mix it with the water to remove any clumps left over from the spinning.  Then it is transferred into a frame and the dung is spread throughout the frame.  The water is then drained from the frame and the frame is left out in the sun to dry.  If they want to make colored paper they would mix in the coloring during the spinning process.

Once our elephant dung paper making was over we were finally able to interact with the elephants! We were able to feed and take pictures with the baby elephants and their mothers.  The baby was still very young so when feeding her we had to take the peel of the banana and squish it up so she could eat it.  It ranks as one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

 

After about 20 minutes the mother started getting protective so we left and went to watch elephants getting bathed. This is where the day takes a turn for the worse.  I noticed some of the elephants had chains around their neck that connected to their foot.  The trainers also had long, sharp sticks they had with them. That combined with the fact that they also had Elephants with saddles on their back for riding left me with an uneasy feeling.  I tried to shake it off because I didn’t see them being physically injured in my presence.  After we left I found out that one of the members of our group saw an elephant being beaten with a bull-hook and that it had open wounds on its head.  If I had known this before hand I would not have gone to this elephant camp.  It baffles my mind that workers can show up everyday and treat these gentle animals like this.  I refuse to support any business that intentionally harms animals just to make a profit.  After this experience, I believe I found an elephant sanctuary that actually treats their animals humanely.  It is called the Elephant Nature Park and it is located about an hour outside of Chiang Mai.  I would love to spend a day volunteering at the park to help the elephants.  Hopefully once the course is done I will have some time to explore and support the Elephant Nature Park.  Stay tuned for more updates and pictures from Songkran!!

5 Days.

In 5 days I will start a new chapter of my life teaching English in Thailand. This is not a dream that I have had for a long time nor is it something I knew I wanted to do since I was young. The opportunity sprang up on me 9 months ago and I leaped at the ability to change my life and the lives of the children I will be teaching. Do I think every day will be a walk in the park or filled with happiness and laughter? Absolutely not. I know there will be hard days, days when I wish I were home, and there will be days where I feel like giving up, but the rewards will outweigh all of bad days. I want to go on this journey to explore the world, the people who inhabit it, and myself. This journey, however long it may be, will be filled with self-exploration and self-empowerment. It will be challenging, but boy will it be worth it. In my 22 years of living I know this is the best decision I have made. To say I’m excited would be an understatement, but I would be foolish to say I am not nervous. I don’t think anyone who is moving half way across the world and thousands of miles away from his or her family could say they are not nervous. As my departure date draws near the nerves become more apparent and many thoughts run through my head:

Will I lose contact with my friends?

Will everyone forget about me while I’m gone?

Am I going to like the food?

Will I be a good teacher?

Will I be homesick the entire time I am in Thailand?

Will my cat feel like I am abandoning her and will she be miserable the entire time I am gone?

When these thoughts pop into my head I try to dismiss them. I know I would regret not taking this opportunity of a lifetime. I do not want to live a life of “What If’s” or turning away the chance to do something great with my life. I am determined to make this year MY year! A year of self-discovery, a year of change, and a year full of exciting new adventures!

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.” – Paulo Coelho