As one sun sets a brighter one rises

I left Thailand but Thailand never left me. I wear my thai pants everywhere and I bite back so many “This one time in Thailand…” stories so I don’t sound like that ‘Gap Yah’ kid.

The summer of 2013 was a nice one, the soundtrack of my flashbacks consists of geckos chattering, tuk-tuks honking and monks chanting mixed with ‘Thrift Shop’ and ‘Get Lucky’. I had the time of my life counting fireflies, sheltered from a monsoon under a bamboo hut with my new friends, strangers I had met that day, laughing at each others accents and hiding from the co-ordinator whenever she came to yell at us for still being out, or being so loud (sorry Nikki… it was too much fun!).

During my time there I ate over 54 bowls of rice and had some of the most absurd, hilarious and enchanting moments- where do I start?

There’s the evening where torrential rain spontaneously burst upon the nightmarket and I, along with Trip, Aisling and Karan-my new friends found ourselves dancing with the locals until the monsoon weather stopped, an hour later and our clothes had soaked to our skin, rain leaking out of our shoes.
Or being woken up at 5am at the temple by teachers who, as it turned out, weren't joking about compulsory morning exercise for staff and pupils.
Last summer was something I laugh about a lot still. Because jumping in a waterfall in your best dress is a memory that can’t be over-replayed.

You can’t explore the world if you don’t open your front door. My experience only confirmed my initial optimism- that most people are good. The kindness shown to me- teachers giving me lifts, locals inviting us over for lunch and waitresses making note to stock my favourite cake as I told them I would return on the weekend, has made me determined that other young people should have the opportunity to experience a new culture while giving something back. So my advice to any young people reading this is to dream big, work hard and take the jump to go to far out places, because my only regret was that July had to end.

Those of you who read this blog last year will remember that while I was teaching English in Thailand my sister was doing an Internship in Washington DC (http://nikitagoestotheothersideofthepond.blogspot.co.uk/). This year…the adventure continues! It seems we will be spending the summer on different continents again, crossing over as I head over to the East Coast to teach Adventure at a summer camp and while I trace her footsteps she will continue mine, doing education and outreach work in China. (I made a cool map, above, which shows how we have crossed over!)

If you like travel journals, are thinking of being a camp counselor, here’s the blog I intend to keep while I’m over the Atlantic: http://i-like-to-be-in-america.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks for reading guys, I feel like you've travelled with me, really. 1470 hits? Woah!

Georgia xx

This is what goodbye looks like

my scrapbooked journal: now an inch thick with travel stories

traveller bands: the yellow stolen from southern belle Lucy, the pink and yellow made for me by girls at the orphanage, the white and red, some string I found on Mod's porch and fashioned into a band

the brown books: messages from everyone at foundation. We all wrote in each others and vowed not to read them until on the plane home. They have quotes from funny happenings here, contact details and just funny things to read. There are so many beautiful and hilarious messages in those pages, testimony to my amazing and hilarious new friends!

thank you cards: from kids at my last placement: a reminder of the children, the lessons, the songs, the games...

I want to say thank you, lastly to so many people- those who started this journey with me- who sponsored me to come out here and the teachers and friends who inspired me to travel. Those who listened to this blog which now has almost 1000 views, that's so cool to see, thank you! And to the wonderful volunteers and travellers who I shared this experiences with, thank you guys. This summer has gone beyond words (coming from someone who writes a lot...). Anyone on this webpage must fall into one of those three categories, so THANK YOU ALL!

Lastly, my wish for anyone reading this page is that they travel. If you can't get on a plane this summer, get a bus and see your own hometown- go to new coffee shops, talk to strangers, get involved in local culture be it temples, theatres or bookstores nearby. Go out and see the world (well, a bit of it...)

Above 1: A quote I found on the wall in Peace Bar (Chiang Rai) and loved instantly
Above 2: Playing my favourite game- how many people can you fit round a table in Doi Chaang

 

Until next time
"Goodbye"
Georgia <3

Vassa (Buddhist lent)

So. (Notice how every time I start a story I begin with "So"? Sorry.).

Arrive in Chiang Mai for the weekend, sitting with the Irish girls in a café, suddenly a parade goes past us- with monks filing, drums banging and floats being pulled by people. The most unexpected thing!

 

This was the start of the huge festival that is Buddhist lent!

Here are the Monks walking through town to the temple where they will spend the next 3 months. Only under exceptional circumstances can a Monk stay overnight anywhere over than this temple until the end of the rainy season.

 

Asarnha Bucha Day, the full-moon day of the eighth lunar month, commemorates the Lord Buddha’s first sermon to his first five disciples after attaining Enlightenment more than 2,500 years ago. Evening candlelit processions will be held in all Thai Buddhist temples.

 

^Google kindly summarised what this is all about. On our way to dinner we walked past a temple to see Monks circling a pagoda, chanting and holding white lilies. It's crazy, how we keep stumbling upon these things!

 

 

Also, alcohol is forbidden to be sold on this day so our plans to hit the town were instantly dismissed...

We arrived at Mirror in the early evening on Tuesday so we could go to a Wat (temple) and observe celebrations. Sadly, Kartoon, our co-ordinator thought the ceremony would be in the evening, but it was in the morning, so we missed it. Instead we visited the 'temple of light' where we walked up 10 flights of stairs, took photos with a giant statue and had our fortunes told. 

Behold. The temple of light.

 

Ash, Trip I and...Buddha!

 

 

Placement no.3: Teaching

My sister, Nikita, after viewing all the fun posts I blog about weekends and evenings here with other volunteers asked me "Do you ever work Georgia?".
Yes. Yes I do!

Yesterday's timetable went something like this-

10-11 Grade 1 Questions   Joy  Gabby  Axel
10-11 Grade 4 Questions  Georgia  Jane  Aisling
11-12 Grade 2 Questions   Jane  Georgia  Gabby
11-12 Grade 5 Questions   Aisling  Axel  Joy

LUNCH

1-2 Grade 3 Question  Gabby Aisling Joy
1-2 Georgia Axel Jane Free
2-3 Grade 6 Question   Jane  Aisling
2-3 Grade 1-3 Song and Game  Gabby Joy
2-3 Grade 4-6 Song and Game  Axel Georgia

5-6 Karen Hilltribe Class  Georgia Jane

I love so much that 'Song and Game' makes up part of the curriculum. As well as meditation and exercise. It's makes for more well rounded students :) This means all the those I learnt in girl guide campfires became vital knowledge. A musical theatre variation of 'When the saints go marching in' became a favourite of the hilltribe girls last night and Aisling and I just taught 'Ollie Ollie Ollie/Oi Oi Oi' to Kindergarten class. Considering the entire chant consists of only two words this was surprisingly difficult. But they loved it :D

I'm trying to work out how to put this photo into better resolution, it's Aisling and I with this morning's kindergarten class :)      (I'm in yellow)

 

Another highlight of this placement has to be playing football with the children. The heat can be intense and yesterday the field was swarming with dragonflies- it was like a horror movie- the field was thick with dragonflies. It was my team vs Axel's team. We're not sure which team won, given the fact we don't know which child was one which team and because there were too many dragonflies to see what was going on. Fun though. Because even in Thai humid heat wearing flip flop I'm good at football. If only because I have a 3ft advantage over my 8 year old teammates...

PS: I may update this post over the weekend with more photos ect. but I want to publish it while we have internet connection (it comes and goes very quickly)

Placement no.3

Above photo: Taken from the hammock. Not the best quality as I forgot my camera so had to use my laptop camera. Hopefully you can make it rice paddies with a mountain backdrop.

 

I'm staying at the Tom  Karen centre- a functioning building with electricity and mosquito-proof windows. We are spoiled (this isn't sarcasm. The place is lovely). The bathroom has a light, an flushing toilet, dry floor and TOILET ROLL. All of this made for a lot of gasping from us volunteers.

 

We teach at a hilltribe school from 9-3 and for an hour after school at the centre.

 

Mod, our host Mum is wonderful. Last night Aisling told her she'd never seen a firefly, Mod ran to get a bamboo mat for us all to sit on and turned off all the lights Ash and I insisted everyone turn off their phones so we sat in complete darkness (it's not like there's any street lighting here..).
Soon fireflies came some only a metre away from us. It's like zooming fairy lights in the sky.

 

Mod also came to our school during lunch hour today and explained she had cooked tofu sweet and sour for Axel and I as the school was making pork curry and she knew Axel was Jewish and I vegetarian. She made food and bought it in for us. I love Mod!
(She also said she would teach us all how to cook Thai food tonight :D )

 

This is Axel, by the way. He's French and when he says 'Hokey Pokey' it sounds like 'Le Honky Pokeny'. I laugh about this approximately ten times a day.

 

 

TEFL: Teaching English (as a) Foreign Language

My favourite moment of teaching was probably when I was teaching ‘Time’ and, in lieu of a board eraser I used my hand. I then wiped my hand across my cheek (on accident) leaving army stripes on my face. The kids found this hilarious. One boy took out his pen and drew stripes across his cheek too (Ha! I’m a trend setter!).

My teacher partner, Steph, commented “You look like GI Joe” while I got the class to chant (chanting is the preferred method of teaching in Thai schools. I don’t know how much I believe in it, but it’s not for me to challenge their methods. After a month here, hearing Buddhist chants in markets, temples and around I realise just how ingrained chanting is in the culture, it makes sense it’s the centre of education, though I think the students memorise things they can’t understand) “One forty five is quarter to two, Two forty five is quarter to three, Three forty five is quarter to four…” and they perfectly echoed the intonation in my British accent. I try to over-enunciate everything I say so they hear distinct vowel sounds. Basically, I speak with Received Pronunciation, think stereotypical ‘posh’ British- Hermione Granger or Mary Poppins.

So that’s my best TEFL moment. Looking like GI Joe, sounding like Mary Poppins, trying not to laugh as a chorus of Eton-sounding Thai children chanted number patterns.

 

Long live the King(s)!

As my home country, England welcomes the son of Kate Middleton and Prince William, a future king, I thought it would be highly topical to mention about Thai royalty.

 

I’m sure the news at home and in America is saturated with news of the royal baby- here it’s not on any channel or news stand. Simply because Thailand has their own royalty so international ones matter little, rather than the Americans, who have Kardashians as the closest claim to royalty...

 

This is the king of Thailand. He, alongside his wife is framed inside of every school playground, classroom, hostel and roadside. You cannot go more than 10 minutes without seeing his picture. It's reverence approaching awe and worship- speaking ill of Thai royalty is also illegal. Foreigners have been jailed for this.

 

Jake's favourite game on the way to school (usually between a 40 minute and hour drive as volunteer accommodation is rural and 30 minutes from the nearest town...) is to play 'King'. Every time you see a picture of the king (or queen) you poke the person next to you.

 

 

This photo's for you Nan! It's Thailand's queen.