Goodbye Thailand!

My last day in Thailand was on May 4th, 2015. I took off in the morning of May 4th and got there the night of May 4th. It was the perfect extended day because it was May the Fourth be with you! :) I needed to say goodbye to the kids and the school a couple days and now I need to say goodbye to Thailand.

Saying goodbye to the pre-k kids.

Saying Goodbye to the School.

This semester has shaped who I am today. I have grown stronger as a person. I know how to deal with others and relate to people more. I know I have a lot to improve on still, but this semester is the semester that I have improved the most. I found my place in this world! 

I learned that you just need to be yourself to get people to like you, if they still don't like you then they are not seeing the real inside of that person. I don't have to fit in to get people to like me, I can be myself and I always will be. I know the kids I taught enjoyed having me and if they like me that makes the only difference, I guess it makes me know I make a good difference in this world. Kids don't compare themselves to others they just go with the flow, and why as we grow older we start comparing ourselves to others. We look at others and start to realize that we are all very different. We just need find our place in this world without comparing ourselves to others, and that's what I found. 

I found myself!

We also always dwell on our past, but when we look towards the future we find that we have a lot of potential to change. I am a very forgiving person because I try not to look at the past on the person. In these past four months I will look at the positive things that have happened, falling in love with the sweetest kids ever and falling in love with the place I called home for four months.

This four months has been the best! Every morning I woke up and I knew that it was going to be a good day doing something in a different country, whether it be teaching or we are on a vacation. When we taught I woke up every morning excited to see the kids I taught, teaching is hard, but if you love teaching the kids will love learning. One of the kids I taught  always wanted to be the teacher, he came in my class loving it. Sometimes he came in class, sat down and then acted as if he was asleep because he wanted to get my attention. Another student always came in my class, sat down and was out of his chair right away trying to get involved in what I was doing right of way because he loved learning. Another student in one of my classes always came in class and needed to sit right next to me, almost sitting on my lap. If I tried to sit him across from me he refused, he needed to learn right next to me and get involved in everything. All the kids had unconditional love, I will miss them so much!

Everyday I rode my bike into the small town we lived in saying hello to the same people on the side of the rode. Eating similar meals everyday for weeks. Also hanging out with the same five other friends that spoke English I went there with. 

It was a great four months in Thailand and it was hard saying goodbye

Thailand Compared to America

Thailand is so different from America and they are pretty big differences.
Goodbye Thailand!

1. Markets:

Thailand: There are markets for everything. Night markets, Sunday markets, Saturday markets, fresh markets, local markets, etc. You can buy fresh food, good snacks, cheap clothes, cheap souvenirs, backpacks, electronics, almost everything is really cheap.

America: I think there is just the fresh produce market and china town. I have never been to either, but I hope to visit them when I am home.

2. Strays:

Thailand: Stray dogs except stray cats in the islands.

America: Stray cats! I noticed I would much rather have a stray cat on the road compared to a stray dog!

3. Food:

Thailand: Rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner almost all of there meals are the same flavor. Well we eat toast for breakfast, but Thai's eat rice for breakfast.

America: Tons of different flavors and tons of different type of food.

4. Water:

Thailand: They don't drink the tap water, we need to buy bottled water or fill our water at a water station. In our kitchen we get water from the school, its like a water filling station.

America: Drink tap water, buy water, fill at a water station, etc.

5. Toilets:

Thailand: There are squatters, regular toilets, over the top fancy toilets, etc. Thai's probably have awesome leg muscles from squatters. Sometimes there won't be toilet paper in a restroom so you need to carry your own or use a bidet. 

America: There is pretty much just one regular toilet. Oh...and porta potties. Which I find worse then squatters. We also have toilet paper in most restrooms.

6. School:

Thailand: Put kids in school at 2 years old and finish at 18 years old. School is on Monday through Friday from 8:00am-5:00pm. They also only have one month for summer break and some kids don't take a summer break they go to summer camp which is like summer school. (It also depends on the school)

America: Start at 5 years old and finish at 18 years old. School is Monday through Friday from 8:00am-3:00pm. Summer break is 3 months long and some kids can take summer school.

7. Modesty:

Thailand: They wear pants and a jacket in 100 degree weather.

America: Who cares what we wear! Our weather is also very bipolar.

8. Skin:

Thailand: Make our skin whiter! So they cover up there skin to keep there skin whiter.

America: Make our skin darker! Then lots of Americans wear less clothes during the summer at least to make there skin darker.

9. Race:
Thailand: There are two different kind of cities in Thailand, one that is very touristy that has tons of different races or the other is not touristy at all and people stare at you and amazed when they see a different race.
America: Mostly white people, but there is a huge variety of races everywhere.

10. City:
Thailand: Building are close, old electric wires are still up, it is very green and very pretty, fires burn in random places, dirt and paved roads, houses are on top of each other or really nice and kind of hidden, etc.
America: New and old building which are kind of spread out, green but dry, paved nice roads, you can see houses where ever you go, etc.

11. Transportation:
Thailand: Vans=Buses, Buses=Buses, Train, Car, Motorcycle, Trucks, Bike, mostly everything. Also they barely have any driving rules here so they are really bad drivers. There cars are all also very new, I have only seen a couple old cars. There are never any car accidents in Thailand though which is very weird.
America: Cars, Nice Trains, Vans, Trucks, Motorcycles (not as much though), Buses, etc. We have very strict driving rules and also old and new cars. There are a lot more car accidents here then Thailand.

12. Culture:
Thailand: Mostly Buddhism. Everything falls around there religion, they bow there heads and put there hands by there heart to show respect while they say "Sahwatdee." They don't point there feet at anyone because it is disrespect to the person your foot is appointed towards. Also they take off there shoes in most shops/houses/
America: Different cultures/beliefs. We usually follow our own belief and do what we want. We also wave our hand while we say hello.

13. Language:
Thailand: Thai! Sometimes English and also sometimes Chinese in some places. Also most words around a town are in Thai and English, but you can also Russian, Chinese, Japanese, etc. in some areas.
America: English! Sometimes Spanish and any other language someone wants to learn. Also only English is on most of the signs.

14. Money:
Thailand: Thai Baht and everything is really cheap there at markets or convenience stores. Twenty Baht in Thailand is sixty cents in US Dollar.
America: U.S. Dollars and it is more expensive here then Thailand.

15. Clothes:
Thailand: They have a lot more smaller sizes and if someone needs a bigger size it might be harder to find because most Thais are so small. There clothes are also really cheap! For example a T-shirt is 100 THB which is 3 USD.
America: A lot of different sizes and clothes are a little bit more expensive.

16. Elevation:
Thailand: Where I lived it was 144 feet elevation, it was very humid (one day it even reached 100% humidity), and it is very green.
America: Utah is an elevation average of 6,100 feet, it is very dry most of the time, and also very green but it is a desert.

17. Seasons:
Thailand: Three seasons that are each four months long. Dry season (January-April), Hot Season (May-August), Rainy Season (September-December).
America: Four season that are three months long. Winter (December-March), Spring (March-June), Summer (June-September), Fall (September-December).

18. Recycle:
Thailand: I don't think they recycle, unless it is a big company or someone is trying to raise money.
America: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle! Especially in some places.

19. Weight:
Thailand: Almost everyone is really skinny except for only a couple people I saw that were not. They focus on being so much (they even weigh the kids when they are in school).
America: Everyone is different weights.

20. Cleanliness:
Thailand: Everyone is clean, some kids even shower three times a day. Thai people will know if you haven't showered in a couple days. They are also cleaning there city all the time, but it looks a little dirtier then America because people still liter everything all the time.
America: Maybe shower once a day or every couple of days and smell good still. Most cities look really nice and clean.

There are a lot more differences between the two countries, but this a list of twenty differences of Thailand and America.

End of the Semester BBQ

One more week until I am home, crazy right?! So today we had a goodbye barbecue. :( We would do it the next weekend right before we leave but we are going to Vietnam.

We had American food at the barbecue too because we didn't know if we would like a Thai barbecue, and we like American barbecues. We had hamburgers, salad, and fries. 

During this barbecue it also hit me that I am leaving in a week because some Thai teachers and students that we taught were there (also because it was the end of the semester barbecue). We would be flying on a plane from this day, I'm hoping to see them again if I bring family or friends back, but I will see.

I will miss them all!

We had a surprise at the barbecue! Some of the Thai teachers came!!! In this picture this is Qwang, I knew her ever since the beginning of the trip, she is a very awesome teacher and friend! She wasn't that excited to take a picture though especially because she was eating.

Also during the barbecue we celebrated two birthdays! We celebrated Hannah's and Ake's birthday, after the barbecue we had cake and brownies. We also had four Thai teachers come, in the picture  from left to right there is Teacher Fon, Teacher Cookiek, Teacher Hannah, Teacher Anna, and Teacher Talina. :)

This is Prima he is one of the K-2 students I teach. He came to the barbecue as a surprise, we didn't know he was going to be there until we saw him and his three sibling that we also teach ran after us when we went into the garden home gate.

One more week...I will miss it sooo much, but I am sooo excited to see everyone back home!

Summer Camp

There school year ends at the end of March and then they have summer break or they have the choice to come to summer school (summer camp) to learn more english. We have about 16 pre-k students and about 32 kindergarten-first grade students. We have a total of five rotations that are from 8:30-12:00.

First we line them up and sit them down on our L shape table. "Who's being good?" They are crossing there arms and then they get to sit down.

My first two rotations I teach pre-k students, my first rotation are the younger pre-k students. One of them is one and a half years old and the others are about two years old.

My second pre-k rotation, most of them are two-three years old and they have been learning english longer then the first rotation. Part of my second rotation students are in the picture below.

This is Kaow-Poon he is in my second rotation, he is two and half years old. He loves school, the teachers, and other students. He knows a lot of English, he is also the class clown in that class.

This is Eak-Eak he is in the second rotation too, he is two years old. He is the quiet one in that class, but he is also learning english quickly. He is very shy just like his sister Aom-Aom in a K-1 class.

This is Deva he is in the second rotation (most of the pictures I have of the pre-k students are in the second rotation). The Thai teachers say he is shy, but to me he is not. He always acts like he is the teacher or he acts like he is asleep sometimes to make everyone laugh. During break time he always hangs out by me to do flips or to take my phone and take pictures. He is so cute and funny!

Break time: I have the older pre-k class for break. Break time is fifteen minutes long. They love going in the corner to hang out.

They also run around everywhere, its good then they get rid of there energy during break. So then they don't run around during class time. 

Every student during break gets to drink there milk too. This is Tatar, she is four years old and is in K-1.

More of pre-k, except the first girl on the left side. She is supposed to be in K-2, but she just joined us for summer camp and is in the younger class for now to get started on english. She is improving so much though, and she only started learning a month ago.

Can you tell I love this class yet? Plus, I have them during break so I can take more pictures.

This is the K-1 class, in the picture is Jinpao, Lina, and Tipco. That day we were playing a game from  minute to win it. It was the game where you put an oreo on your forehead and you use your face muscles to move the oreo to your mouth. Except we used a coin and found out some of the kids were so sweaty because they don't use air conditioning that the gold coin was just sticking to there face. Some of the kids understood the no hands part, but some students didn't.

Summer camp is different from regular school because they don't wear outfits and we don't teach in the afternoon. Im glad a lot of the same students came back to summer camp though so we could see a lot of them again.

Laos

We went to Laos for one day to renew our visa, Laos doesn't have that much in it except the Buddha park and we never made it to that because we went to eat lunch and we took to long to eat lunch so then the main attraction closed for the day.
Instead, we just explored the city a little bit and got a massage.

This was a building in Laos a couple blocks away from us, I think it was a national museum but we were not allowed to go inside.

Do you think these are big or small statues?... They are really small statues.

In our hostel there was a ton of graffiti everywhere. This was one of the drawing! I find graffiti and drawing on walls really cool when they are everywhere.

We only went to Laos for a day, but it didn't have that much in it so we didn't have to stay long. Its cool now that I have another visa in my passport and some more stamps! :)

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Temple

After our trip at the zoo our feet were aching, but we still had a lot more to do that day. We needed to go to the temple at the highest point in Chiang Mai. It was a long twisty road up the canyon, but when we got there it was beautiful!

Before we went we thought we needed to climb 1,000 stairs to get to the temple, but we ended up taking the elevator instead of the stairs because our feet hurt (it was a big zoo in Chiang Mai)... 

This was the first part of the temple we saw when we got to the top. It was a huge temple on top of the mountain and it was very pretty. It is the most popular one in Chiang Mai.

We were more interested in the viewpoint though looking over the city and the forest. It was very beautiful. From the view of the city we could even see the square in the main part of the city.

This is what part of the forest looks like, it has a lot of palm trees and a ton of other trees around.

When we were looking at the viewpoint this was another temple right behind us. There were like three temples on top of the mountain. We didn't look at them as much as we looked at the view.

Chiang Mai Zoo & Aquarium

Welcome to the Chiang Mai zoo where it is probably triple the size of the Hogle Zoo. It is also very spread out so we need to walk awhile to the next animal. I was excited to see this zoo because it is a lot different from Utah's zoo and had a lot of different animals.

We also found out a ton of the areas the animals are living in are not very enclosed, the cages are really short or they have no roof on the bird area. Its weird that no animals try to escape.

How do Flamingos stand on one leg, I wish I could balance that long, but they do it to conserve body heat. They're also pink because of there diet that is primarily consists of organisms they eat for example shrimp and algae that is high in pigments. When they lifted there necks all the way and stood up all the way they got really tall.

These hippos were really loving there food, and one of the hippos wouldn't stop eating even though it had a ton of food in its throat/mouth still.

A leopard! It is a very beautiful animal!

We could feed the giraffes too! One person in our group fed the giraffe. The giraffes, ostriches, and zebras were all in the same area.

A very cool flower at the zoo, I enjoyed the look of this flower. :)

They are trying to bring the mammoth back by putting an egg from a mammoth into an elephant and the elephant having a mammoth. Hopefully it works, fingers crossed for them.

Black bears, it looked like the bears were laughing when i took a couple pictures.

The monkeys are protecting there babies, it looks like the monkey on top and the monkeys on the ground got in an argument and are not talking to each other, while they have there arms wrapped around there baby monkeys.

These animals sort of like ostriches, but I don't know what the name of the animal is, when they looked at you it looked like they were questioning you. "What are you thinking?" "Why are you looking at me?" "Are you about to do something?"

The Chiang Mai Aquarium and Zoo were in the same area so we decided to go to both.

The aquarium looked really cool, it was dark and it had a lot of cool looking fish tanks. Like this fish tank was the first one we saw and it was right in the middle with pathways around it.

This was one fish tank, the fish are the worm looking things coming out from the sand. They are very long and odd looking swimming around.

Hello fish, what are you looking at? Time to finish the zoo, bye to the aquarium.

We were exhausted by the end of the zoo day, our feet hurt, but we still had a couple more activities to do before the day ended. It was a very good day at the zoo, I saw a ton and enjoyed it very much. We were going to the temple on top of the mountain of Chiang Mai and joining part of the Songkran Festival water fight.