Mae Sot and Hanging around Tak

12/23/15 3:00 PM

As I begin to write this I think about how half of my time teaching is already up. It is a good time to reflect on the past few months and to look ahead. Since arriving in Thailand I have travelled all over, met great people, began to learn to live in a new culture and learned what it takes to teach students here. Thailand is like no other place in the world. The people here are unbelievably friendly, understanding and happy. What this country can sometimes lack in terms of being productive it more than makes up for in happiness. Students here can’t fail a grade. While there are some obvious flaws to this system it does make for much more carefree children than at home. Kids do not live with nearly the same stress level that they do at home. It is very different than the schooling I was brought up in. It asks the question is it more important for children to be happy and stress free or for them to be learning as much as they can. Like most things in life it is about balancing those two sides, but it has been interesting to see a culture so far on one end of the spectrum.

Tomorrow Molly and I will leave for the Christmas trip that we have been planning. We will head south to Bangkok for a few days before heading further south to the beaches of Koh Samet and Rayong. I am so excited to finally make it to the beach, and to spend my first Christmas with Molly. While we will miss our families at home, we have big plans for our first Christmas together. Getting a western meal in Bangkok, seeing the Grand Palace, and watching the new Star Wars movie are all on the Christmas day itinerary. We will be attending a small church service here in Tak tonight with some other teachers from our school. 

The last few weekends I have spent in Tak and the neighboring city Mae Sot. Three weekends ago I headed to Mae Sot to visit with my friend Sean and meet up with two other teachers, Luke and Kristin, and to see some of the sights around the City. Mae Sot is directly on the border of Myanmar, and is a much more culturally diverse place than Tak. Many NGO workers live there to work with Burmese refugees; I was able to meet some awesome people from Germany, South Africa, and the U.K. The proximity to Myanmar leads to a large Burmese influence over the city. I was able to walk near the border, visit a Burmese market, and eat Burmese food while I was there. I even learned to cook some Burmese food as the four of us took a cooking class and learned to make a few dishes including an amazing tomato salad and pumpkin curry. The class even came with a cook book so I’ll be able to make Burmese food for some of you once I make it back home. Mae Sot is close enough to visit any weekend and I look forward to heading back there sometime soon. 

The delicious meal we made!

The last two weekends I have spent relaxing in Tak. It has been great to explore my local surroundings a bit more. A few weeks ago the teachers at the other school, Meghan, Sarah, and Paige found a nearby coffee shop called the Coffee Farm. It has awesome grilled cheese sandwiches, breakfast food, and an awesome atmosphere. Molly and I got brunch there last weekend; the food was amazing and they even had some Christmas decorations set up. Two weekends ago we took the motorbike to the neighboring province to see Bhumibol Dam. It is the largest dam in all of Asia and the scenery on the ride there was beautiful. We found a small temple near the entrance to the park that the dam is in. We made the treacherous climb up and enjoyed the view. Getting down the hill was harder for some of us than others… Other than that the last two weekends have been spent enjoying great company, eating delicious food, and relaxing at home.

Bhumibol Dam trip:

Life Around Tak:

Hanging with "our" dogs

Finally found a good beer in Tak!

Dim Sum for 6 people

Coffee Farm Christmas

There is a lot I am really looking forward to on this trip. My family will be coming in mid-January to visit and see where I have been living. It will be tons of fun to show them around. We have also began to plan our travels after we are done teaching. We will be heading south in Thailand, exploring other southeastern Asian countries, visiting family in India, seeing friends in Europe and more. The farther I get into my trip the more thankful I am that I took a year off from school to do this. As cliché as it sounds living in a new culture really does make you look at your life at home through a new perspective. You appreciate aspects of life at home that you didn’t even notice before; you come to see drawbacks that you would have never thought about. I also know that I will come home much more grown up than when I left. I have never spent so much time far away from home. Being away and in such a new setting is helping me to learn more about myself and to teach me about life in a much different way than the academic setting that I am accustomed to would. It has been so great to share this experience with Molly. Having someone who understands me so well to do this with has been a blessing. I have really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with her. I can’t wait to experience all of our upcoming adventures together.

Lastly I wanted to say thank you to everyone who reads these posts back home. It is nice to feel connected to you all even in a small way. It’s funny how small things will remind me of someone or a fun time back home. I seldom feel homesick, but I do think of you all often, and will have lots of fun stories to share when I get back home! Merry Christmas and Happy New year!