Bangkok, an easy place to get accustomed to!
I'm finishing my 10th week in Bangkok and it only seems to be getting better, which is a good sign. I've found things to be pretty easy here...it's a big city, so you have all of the modern conveniences, as well as the big-city ease of everything being right under your fingertips.
I found a cobbler of sorts right under the SkyTrain who fixed my sandal strap by hand-sewing both sides of each sandal in a way that they'll never come loose and all for 40 baht, the equivalent to a US dollar! He went on holiday, so I used a different cobbler just down the road, to tighten the straps on another pair. The new guy isn't able to speak English any more than to say hello, tomorrow, and a few numbers. I wanted him to shorten my leather flip-flop straps, so they'd be tighter on my foot. I stopped back to pick them up today and in various Thai words, including nit noy, which I've come to learn means can't, he showed me that he'll have to pull up the sole, pull the strap inside, and glue it back down. From what I could tell, he wanted my permission to do so before taking the shoe apart. When I finally understood what he meant and approved his craftsmanship, he told me I could come back "tomorrow" to pick them up, just in time for my vacation down to Phuket with about 20 other TCIS teachers. The Vegetarian Festival http://www.phuket.com/festival/vegetarian.htm is going on, which involves people walking on coals, shoving large objects through their faces, and jumping in hot oil all in the name of a diet restrictive of meat; I'm not sure about the connection, but it'll be entertaining regardless!
Leah and I came home last week to the nice surprise of a brand-new washing machine, courtesy of the owner of the condo! When we first moved in, I attempted to use the washer (apparently, there are NO dryers in all of Thailand, so things are washed, hung to dry, and ironed, although I'm trying my best to skip the last part!) and water "flooded" the tiny patio off the kitchen and didn't appear to be going into the machine. The "maintenance" guy came up, looked at it, and said, "Broken." I asked Liza, the building manager, if we could get a new one and she said she'd contact the owner and look into it. After all the hassle and communication difficulty getting our cable and internet hooked up, I thought I'd give the other projects a rest for awhile. It turns out, Liza hadn't forgotten and the next time the owner was in town from Singapore where he resides most of the time, he bought us a brand new one! I did my first load last night and it's awesome! It spins the clothes so well that they are close to dry when you take them out. I hung them overnight and they were dry this morning with no ironing necessary - yeah!
Along the same lines as the cobbler, there are seamstresses on every block! I dropped off a few pairs of slacks to have the gentlemen closest to our apartment cut out the pockets and sew them shut. He did a great job and returned the slacks to me, charging a mere 20 baht (50 cents) per pair. Everything is so incredibly convenient, it's great!
We paid our first set of bills in September and I figured out that we can pay all of them online through our Thai bank, except the water bill which we pay in the business office of our apartment, another pleasant convenience! They were all very reasonable, which was nice seeing as we had no idea what the "damage" would be. Our phone bill was a whopping 31 baht (under a $1), water was a hysterical 164 baht ($4), satellite television similar to the US at 1568 baht ($38), internet was free for a reason we're unaware of, and electricity was 3493 baht ($84) because we ran our aircon during the day for the first month and Leah sleeps with hers on at night. In Saipan, we ran our aircon because otherwise it would get extremely stuffy and your clothes would get musty and smelly. Here we found that doesn't happen. Now we leave our air-con off unless we're home and the apartment stays comfortable. Hopefully, our October electricity bill will be a little less, although it'll still be a little high because Leah runs it at night, which I can understand if you're one to get hot and uncomfortable while sleeping.
Some differences I've noticed around here are the WILD thunderstorms, the way people use their utensils, and the cheapness of the taxi fare, to name a varied few. We've had crazier thunderstorms than I've ever seen in all my years of living in the Midwest. There is a wide variety of lightening virtually every night, rain or not, from the quiet flashes to the bomb-like, blasts that will literally jolt you upright in bed. The rain comes down in sheets and quickly fills the clogged storm sewers, making for an interesting morning commute through knee-high waters.
One thing that always varies in different cultures is the way they use their utensils. In Argentina, they held their fork backwards in the left hand with the knife in the right, pushing food onto the back of the fork or cutting their meat and eating it with their left hand. Once they finished they'd place their utensils criss-crossed on the top of their plate to signal that they were done. Here in Thailand you pick up a spoon and fork and immediately dip them into very hot water to clean off any germs they've picked up since being washed. You hold a spoon in your right hand and a fork in your left, pushing food onto the spoon and eating with your right hand. If you have meat on your plate, it's already been cut so there's no need for a knife. It's been very easy to get used to eating like this, as it makes sense with the type of food you consume, rice, short noodles, or soup.
I headed to the tailor shop where I bought some slacks last year to have them taken in and hemmed and I wasn't sure where it was located exactly, so I hopped in a cab, gave him a sheet of paper with the location written in Thai, and let him figure it out. I was a little worried when he looked at me and asked if it was in Bangkok! Of course it is! But, he got me there with little unnecessary driving around. It was a Saturday morning and the traffic was crazy on Sukhumvit! Thank goodness for the SkyTrain, which allows me to avoid Sukhumvit most of the time. It took me an hour for what should have been a 20 minute commute, but it wasn't much of a problem because the taxi meters move at a snail's pace! When you hop in, the meter already reads 35 baht (just under a $1). After one hour, the price was only 140 baht ($3.50). I couldn't believe it! No wonder why the cab drivers go like maniacs around town. They actually make more money taking people on short trips, rather than driving around for a mere pittance. After the tailor, I hopped in another cab and headed to Chatuchuk Market to meet Leah and do a little sauna-shopping. It's always hotter than blazes in that outdoor market, so I don't go often, but it can be fun to look around.
Last Sunday, a group of TCIS teachers headed to the Thai Cultural Center Theater for Ramayana, an Indian epic put on by The Embassy of India during Bangkok's 7th International Festival of Dance and Music http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/maxpages/special/ramayana/story.htm. It was performed by the Kalakshetra Theatre, one of India's premier institutions devoted to the performing arts. We were aware there was royalty in the theater because of the strong presence of Thai MPs and we had to stand and face the balcony where Thai Royalty is designated to sit during performances they attend during some type of anthem. Goi, a teacher who is from Chiang Mai, didn't recognize the first song, so we're assuming it was the Indian National Anthem or something along those lines. The performance was interesting and worth seeing, especially for $10. Amazing you can attend a theater performance for 400 baht! It was translated into both Thai and English and the music that told the story was incredible and really made the show.
This week has been a bit hectic; next Friday is the end of the quarter, our grades are due on Tuesday, there have been curriculum meetings and training on the computer system, and after-school tutoring began! But, I'm handling it and I can't complain about the extra money that comes with tutoring. My student is a Chinese girl, named Kiki, who is in 8th grade EIP (English Intensive Program). Her English is extremely limited; today I was explaining through body language and pictures the words melt, answer, hero, sadness, come along, reach in, etc. She's a sweet girl and we have fun laughing during our Tuesday through Thursday one-hour sessions. I'm pretty confident she'll stick with it all year, as she has a lot to learn to be up to speed with even the other EIP students in her grade. Students at TCIS are supposed to have "working English", but it's obvious that some slip through the cracks, probably for money-related reasons.
I'm getting ready to head to Vietnam in a week, as well, and I've been doing a lot of reading of the Lonely Planet Vietnam book. It told the story of a boy who was badly disfigured, most likely from a landmine from the American War, as it's called in Vietnam. Tourists would give the boy money and he actually became quite famous. Some tourists would even take him to doctors, paying for the visits trying to help him out. Well, from the donations, this boy was able to become addicted to heroin and eventually died. Lonely Planet encourages people not to give money to street people for this reason. There are a handful of homeless people holding cups near the SkyTrain and I've started buying them fruit or food from a nearby vendor. I figure that's what they need and that way they can't use it for drugs or alcohol. This is a country that values respect toward others, as is obvious in the tradition of the wai, or the Thai bow with hands in prayer position near the face, or in the manner in which people simply bow, greet one another, and usually wear a smile. It only seems right to allow such values to rub off and do a little something nice for people on a regular basis.
Well, I'm off to bed. We just had our nightly thunderstorm where the satellite went out and we even lost electricity for a bit, but it seems to have quieted down. I plan to fall asleep to the movie Miracle for a little Midwest hockey home-memory. I miss you all! Have a great week and send me updates as often as possible. I'd love to hear from you! xoxo
Travel Agency:
East Wing Travel Co., Ltd.
669 Sukhumvit Rd, Soi Sukhumvit 39
Klongton Nue, Klongtoey
Tel. (662) 261-5485-7, 261-5489
Fax. (662) 261-5488
lalita@eastwingtravel.com
maneerat@eastwingtravel.com
luck@eastwingtravel.com
I found a cobbler of sorts right under the SkyTrain who fixed my sandal strap by hand-sewing both sides of each sandal in a way that they'll never come loose and all for 40 baht, the equivalent to a US dollar! He went on holiday, so I used a different cobbler just down the road, to tighten the straps on another pair. The new guy isn't able to speak English any more than to say hello, tomorrow, and a few numbers. I wanted him to shorten my leather flip-flop straps, so they'd be tighter on my foot. I stopped back to pick them up today and in various Thai words, including nit noy, which I've come to learn means can't, he showed me that he'll have to pull up the sole, pull the strap inside, and glue it back down. From what I could tell, he wanted my permission to do so before taking the shoe apart. When I finally understood what he meant and approved his craftsmanship, he told me I could come back "tomorrow" to pick them up, just in time for my vacation down to Phuket with about 20 other TCIS teachers. The Vegetarian Festival http://www.phuket.com/festival/vegetarian.htm is going on, which involves people walking on coals, shoving large objects through their faces, and jumping in hot oil all in the name of a diet restrictive of meat; I'm not sure about the connection, but it'll be entertaining regardless!
Leah and I came home last week to the nice surprise of a brand-new washing machine, courtesy of the owner of the condo! When we first moved in, I attempted to use the washer (apparently, there are NO dryers in all of Thailand, so things are washed, hung to dry, and ironed, although I'm trying my best to skip the last part!) and water "flooded" the tiny patio off the kitchen and didn't appear to be going into the machine. The "maintenance" guy came up, looked at it, and said, "Broken." I asked Liza, the building manager, if we could get a new one and she said she'd contact the owner and look into it. After all the hassle and communication difficulty getting our cable and internet hooked up, I thought I'd give the other projects a rest for awhile. It turns out, Liza hadn't forgotten and the next time the owner was in town from Singapore where he resides most of the time, he bought us a brand new one! I did my first load last night and it's awesome! It spins the clothes so well that they are close to dry when you take them out. I hung them overnight and they were dry this morning with no ironing necessary - yeah!
Along the same lines as the cobbler, there are seamstresses on every block! I dropped off a few pairs of slacks to have the gentlemen closest to our apartment cut out the pockets and sew them shut. He did a great job and returned the slacks to me, charging a mere 20 baht (50 cents) per pair. Everything is so incredibly convenient, it's great!
We paid our first set of bills in September and I figured out that we can pay all of them online through our Thai bank, except the water bill which we pay in the business office of our apartment, another pleasant convenience! They were all very reasonable, which was nice seeing as we had no idea what the "damage" would be. Our phone bill was a whopping 31 baht (under a $1), water was a hysterical 164 baht ($4), satellite television similar to the US at 1568 baht ($38), internet was free for a reason we're unaware of, and electricity was 3493 baht ($84) because we ran our aircon during the day for the first month and Leah sleeps with hers on at night. In Saipan, we ran our aircon because otherwise it would get extremely stuffy and your clothes would get musty and smelly. Here we found that doesn't happen. Now we leave our air-con off unless we're home and the apartment stays comfortable. Hopefully, our October electricity bill will be a little less, although it'll still be a little high because Leah runs it at night, which I can understand if you're one to get hot and uncomfortable while sleeping.
Some differences I've noticed around here are the WILD thunderstorms, the way people use their utensils, and the cheapness of the taxi fare, to name a varied few. We've had crazier thunderstorms than I've ever seen in all my years of living in the Midwest. There is a wide variety of lightening virtually every night, rain or not, from the quiet flashes to the bomb-like, blasts that will literally jolt you upright in bed. The rain comes down in sheets and quickly fills the clogged storm sewers, making for an interesting morning commute through knee-high waters.
One thing that always varies in different cultures is the way they use their utensils. In Argentina, they held their fork backwards in the left hand with the knife in the right, pushing food onto the back of the fork or cutting their meat and eating it with their left hand. Once they finished they'd place their utensils criss-crossed on the top of their plate to signal that they were done. Here in Thailand you pick up a spoon and fork and immediately dip them into very hot water to clean off any germs they've picked up since being washed. You hold a spoon in your right hand and a fork in your left, pushing food onto the spoon and eating with your right hand. If you have meat on your plate, it's already been cut so there's no need for a knife. It's been very easy to get used to eating like this, as it makes sense with the type of food you consume, rice, short noodles, or soup.
I headed to the tailor shop where I bought some slacks last year to have them taken in and hemmed and I wasn't sure where it was located exactly, so I hopped in a cab, gave him a sheet of paper with the location written in Thai, and let him figure it out. I was a little worried when he looked at me and asked if it was in Bangkok! Of course it is! But, he got me there with little unnecessary driving around. It was a Saturday morning and the traffic was crazy on Sukhumvit! Thank goodness for the SkyTrain, which allows me to avoid Sukhumvit most of the time. It took me an hour for what should have been a 20 minute commute, but it wasn't much of a problem because the taxi meters move at a snail's pace! When you hop in, the meter already reads 35 baht (just under a $1). After one hour, the price was only 140 baht ($3.50). I couldn't believe it! No wonder why the cab drivers go like maniacs around town. They actually make more money taking people on short trips, rather than driving around for a mere pittance. After the tailor, I hopped in another cab and headed to Chatuchuk Market to meet Leah and do a little sauna-shopping. It's always hotter than blazes in that outdoor market, so I don't go often, but it can be fun to look around.
Last Sunday, a group of TCIS teachers headed to the Thai Cultural Center Theater for Ramayana, an Indian epic put on by The Embassy of India during Bangkok's 7th International Festival of Dance and Music http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/maxpages/special/ramayana/story.htm. It was performed by the Kalakshetra Theatre, one of India's premier institutions devoted to the performing arts. We were aware there was royalty in the theater because of the strong presence of Thai MPs and we had to stand and face the balcony where Thai Royalty is designated to sit during performances they attend during some type of anthem. Goi, a teacher who is from Chiang Mai, didn't recognize the first song, so we're assuming it was the Indian National Anthem or something along those lines. The performance was interesting and worth seeing, especially for $10. Amazing you can attend a theater performance for 400 baht! It was translated into both Thai and English and the music that told the story was incredible and really made the show.
This week has been a bit hectic; next Friday is the end of the quarter, our grades are due on Tuesday, there have been curriculum meetings and training on the computer system, and after-school tutoring began! But, I'm handling it and I can't complain about the extra money that comes with tutoring. My student is a Chinese girl, named Kiki, who is in 8th grade EIP (English Intensive Program). Her English is extremely limited; today I was explaining through body language and pictures the words melt, answer, hero, sadness, come along, reach in, etc. She's a sweet girl and we have fun laughing during our Tuesday through Thursday one-hour sessions. I'm pretty confident she'll stick with it all year, as she has a lot to learn to be up to speed with even the other EIP students in her grade. Students at TCIS are supposed to have "working English", but it's obvious that some slip through the cracks, probably for money-related reasons.
I'm getting ready to head to Vietnam in a week, as well, and I've been doing a lot of reading of the Lonely Planet Vietnam book. It told the story of a boy who was badly disfigured, most likely from a landmine from the American War, as it's called in Vietnam. Tourists would give the boy money and he actually became quite famous. Some tourists would even take him to doctors, paying for the visits trying to help him out. Well, from the donations, this boy was able to become addicted to heroin and eventually died. Lonely Planet encourages people not to give money to street people for this reason. There are a handful of homeless people holding cups near the SkyTrain and I've started buying them fruit or food from a nearby vendor. I figure that's what they need and that way they can't use it for drugs or alcohol. This is a country that values respect toward others, as is obvious in the tradition of the wai, or the Thai bow with hands in prayer position near the face, or in the manner in which people simply bow, greet one another, and usually wear a smile. It only seems right to allow such values to rub off and do a little something nice for people on a regular basis.
Well, I'm off to bed. We just had our nightly thunderstorm where the satellite went out and we even lost electricity for a bit, but it seems to have quieted down. I plan to fall asleep to the movie Miracle for a little Midwest hockey home-memory. I miss you all! Have a great week and send me updates as often as possible. I'd love to hear from you! xoxo
Travel Agency:
East Wing Travel Co., Ltd.
669 Sukhumvit Rd, Soi Sukhumvit 39
Klongton Nue, Klongtoey
Tel. (662) 261-5485-7, 261-5489
Fax. (662) 261-5488
lalita@eastwingtravel.com
maneerat@eastwingtravel.com
luck@eastwingtravel.com