Actually I was studying but keep thinking of all these things to write and feel like my brain can't handle getting any new information until it lets out all the old, so now I'm blogging!
I just got finished teaching Caya my 1hr lesson. It-well, It went somewhat as planned. I don't think the lesson part lasted an hour, but we both had fun. Maybe I should have taught someone that I don't get along with, and know as a friend, so I could have been that strict teacher making the student cram information into their brain for 1 hour. Ahh well, I don't know if she learned anything but...goodness, we had a good time.
I woke up this morning, sunburned from the beach-like really sunburned-I could barley open my eyes, and it hurt to walk around and put my clothes on. I took a cold shower hoping it would help, and it did.
Somehow I needed a little walk to wake me up this morning. I went to bed at 3:30pm yesterday, and didn't wake up until 7:30am today. I was exhausted from the weekend...details later. :)
But today I woke up and walked over to Caya's bakery for her lesson. She was happy as always to see me, and we talked about her weekend, and she showed me pictures of what she did, and her ex-husband and family back home in Japan. It was interesting to hear more about her life. I showed her some pictures of my family, and she commented on how skinny I am now then in the picture. Haha....taken in December of 2010, like a month ago. She's like- you do not look like the same person!
She jumped up and said, "you look hungry, I cook something for you!" I was like.. "okay!" But i had just eaten pineapple and some french bread for breakfast. She ran into her kitchen and started cooking something. She came back into the room and we talked some more. I told her my sunburn hurt really badly, and she ran in the other room and came back with a small piece of an aloe plant. She didn't say anything, but then started putting aloe juice all over my face. (i was like, oh my! but it felt so soothing and cool) around 10 minutes later my face felt completely better. And I could open my eyes all the way. I told her thank you, and she was like... " I have the magic, in here," then pointed to her heart and winked at me. Seriously, I was thinking at that moment, she does have some sort of special gift going on inside of her. She's awesome at everything!
We started our lesson and only got 30 minutes into studying time, when she needed to do something else, and I decided to move into the game that included some lesson point in it. We started the activate game which I choose to be the person game: basically where one person is thinking of a person and the other person playing the game has to try to guess who that person is by asking questions like: does she have black hair, is she married. This game uses the verb to be, linked to a subject, so she could use the language.
When lunch was ready, 2 hours later I was hungry, and discovered she had a friend from Scotland spend the night. He was upstairs in the shower and came down to join us for lunch. It was really interesting talking to him. He has been traveling the world for 23 years, and started when he was 17! When he told me this, I thought to myself- I don't know what I want to do, but I know that I don't want to be traveling the world doing nothing trying to figure it out. He doesn't have one job in particular, but just does odd jobs on the side to make money to travel. He was an interesting character.
We talked about the segregation in Asia. How everywhere you go instead of seeing a tanning salon, there are whiting salons. Asians don't want to be dark, they want to be white. Here white skin means you have a good job, money, and aren't in the rice fields working all day. The white people, westerners are viewed with high regard, because of their skin, and because Asians know that white people come from rich countries. I had noticed this in my time here, but just developed a hypothesis and pushed it aside. However, it was interesting talking to the Scottish guy because he noticed it too. The foreigners in Thailand are treated better than the Asians. It is such a backwards concept, because in America, you see segregation between blacks and whites, Hispanics and whites, with the blacks and Hispanics in the least respected group because they are "immigrants," illegal or legal. They aren't or shouldn't be disrespected, but automatically get paid less.
Here, if I get a job as a teacher with my certificate, I will be making 4 times the amount of an Asian, just because of my nationality. Such a weird...and backwards concept. All men are created equal....? Whoever said that?
I feel humbled even more when learning these things. At first glance, I almost feel bad because I'm white and they aren't. But then I realize how much power I have. How much I can do for them. And how much I have been given just by being born in the USA. The concept that one's skin determines where you go to college, what you get paid, how you are treated, when you can speak in public, how you should act, is so wrong! Who thought of this? I hate it! Just because I'm white, people have honked at me, asking if I want a ride countless times. People assume you have loads of money budging from your pockets just because you are white. Ah! I hate it!
But once they have met you and know you don't have loads of money, and aren't a stuck up tourist, then they are very open and friendly. I guess what bothers me is this county's mindset. I can't change the country, but maybe the mindset one person at a time.
So many people are coming in and out of the school it is hard to maintain one thought. :) Anyways, I'm changing thoughts now...
Speaking of mindsets, Nicoli just came and talked to me, and we were talking about how every day here is a freaking adventure! I told her I felt like I am living life for the first time. The Thai people are never board, and always have something new they are working on, always new construction sites, always changing themselves. It is on rare occasion that you will see a Thai sitting, unless at dinner. Point being that life is so full and new, and crazy here. They are making fun, and working hard and enjoying things. Nicoli and I were talking about how we both feel like everyday is a new adventure, and it has been! Every day I am having adventure, when I'm not at school. I think about how life is adventurous here and how exciting it is, but on second glance, I ask the question.... Could it be that I am experiencing life for the first time? Was what I called life in the states, so empty and boring that I am like a baby waking up to real life for the first time? Deep question, and it seems crazy to ask, but...hmmm.
Nicoli was saying how when she got here she had two thoughts. Life can be the same as it was back home, or life can be different. I can meet the same people as I did back home, or meet new people, and so on. She was saying that the thing that changed in her was her perspective on how to approach life. She made the choice to meet new people, and try new foods. And for her the choice to life a different life came when she first got here.
But for me, I think it is the same but also a little different. I had wanted to travel for so long, to teach, and meet people, and now that I am getting to do that. I didn't know why I had the desire to, but knew it was eating me from the inside to just go. And now that I step back and say... "girl, you are in Thailand!"....just realizing I am doing my dream is so exhilarating. For me the choice to leave "home" and all that was familiar to me, the way I behaved, and people I met- came before I left. I had collectively made that decision before I came, and I still make the decision daily in the foods I eat, the places I go, and the people I talk to. For me, I am not only living a different life, but am living life. Doing what I want (with in reason) and have never, ever been so happy.
Actually I have started a journal of meaningful thoughts and things I want to remember as they come to me. The subject of happiness has entered this journal. So much that realizing happiness is what everyone strives for, but they are striving for the wrong thing. Happiness is 2nd or 3rd best to the state of being you should wish for. More to come...
I have to study. And will be studying till late tonight. If I'm not on skype, you'll know why. :) Love you all!
Enjoying a pineapple I bought for the equivalent of .03USD....yum!
Oh ya! I went to Kata, and Karon this Friday and Saturday. Slept on these huge boulders with the waves crashing below me next to a mangy dog who shared some of my banana. Unplanned trip- but met a guy from the UK (who pulled his moterbike over randomly to talk to me), and a lady from Nice, France who I talked with and met on the open bus over to the beach. She has been traving Asia for 35 years, and used to teach English. She and I had water on her super nice balcony in Karon, and she told me about her trip around the world in a cargo ship, then invited me to stay with her in Nice! She was so cool, and also gave me some tips for traveling alone as a woman. Gosh! Every day is an adventure! Oh ya, and another thing... I walk talking with the guy from the UK, when my bus back to Phuket Town came driving by around the corner. I missed it, but managed to keep up a sprint long enough to jump into the back about 200 meters down the road. That was exciting, cuz I almost didn't get back to the school.
Here's a picture of the beach where I camped: (and the next day walked through a coconut plantation) !!!
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