Paisley Firefly: October 2016

Monday, 31 October 2016

The big move!

Saturday night Tristan, Thiv, Simone, Morne, Sudarthi and Taylor (another 2 people from the course) and I went on a hunt for pizza. The place we eventually found had a special on: pay 300baht and drink as much beer as you could in an hour. The guys took it upon themselves to make the most of this challenge. Thus lead to a rather entertaining night full of stories and lots of good laughs.

The next day Tristan and I chilled for the morning and then met up with Morne to get some ice cream from Swensens. It was well deserved (we’d all reached a month working as teachers). Then it was time for me to leave. I really didn’t want to. I even took a later van to buy some time. That night I felt rather homesick and started inquiring about moving schools, to no avail as I was asked to stay at the school the agency placed me at.

After one of the longest weeks, I was finally on my way to meet Tristan at Future Park. We went to the Chatuchak market on Saturday just to explore. And we had some delicious garlic bread, for the first time since leaving SA. The weekend flew by and before we knew it, it was time for Tristan to leave. That Sunday though, there were no vans going to Sriracha. Which meant Tristan had to stay an extra night, and just leave early Monday morning. The goodbye sucked and lead to me asking that morning if any jobs were available at Sarasas. There was one position and so Tristan had to head back that afternoon for an interview the next day. The whole of Tuesday morning I was unbelievably nervous waiting to hear if he’d gotten the job. He had! That night Tristan would be moving to Rangsit!!

Swensens – 8/10: very tasty, but expensive as they charge 55baht per scoop. It’s always nice to treat yourself though.

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry for the lack of photos, been having problems with my computer and my phone won't let me access my photos. Will have it sorted ASAP!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Lost in Bangkok

LOST IN BANGKOK

My visa was about to expire and the angency I work through made me go the day before my visa expired to do a visa extension. So that lead to me heading into Bangkok on a Monday night to meet Tristan and Morne. I left for Bangkok just after 5, after being told the other two were leaving at 5 (when in fact they left at 6). Which left me having to keep myself busy at Victory Monument. Bored and hungry I wandered into a restaurant (who's name I cannot remember) and treated myself to a cappuccino and a yummy pasta. That bought me half an hour. I wandered around a little longer before my back started to ache from carrying my backpack for too long. I eventually went and sat at a bus shelter until they arrived. Which they eventually did, at about 7:30pm. I was relieved to see them because I knew it meant we would be heading to our hotel soon.

Here’s where the fun part starts. After spending about 45 minutes to get to the accommodation in Samut Sakhon, we discovered they had only one room left. That left us in shit because it was late and the only available accommodation we could find was back in central Bangkok. We found a cab and made the trip back only to end up getting lost on the way to our accommodation and deciding to walk because “maps said it was a 15-minute walk”. Well, maps lied. And we ended up roaming the streets of Bangkok at 11pm. Somehow we ended up in another cab on the way to a rather nice hotel. After a well-deserved night’s sleep, we were on our way back to Samut Sakhon. After stopping by the agency to fetch some paperwork, we made our way to the immigration office. The visa extension process was, thankfully, quick and rather painless.

We headed back to victory monument to catch a van and decide to eat at the restaurant I'd eaten at the night before. It was a crazy 24 hours and I couldn’t wait to get back to my apartment but on the plus side, just 3 more sleeps until I'd see Tristan. And all in all, it made for a pretty great story.

The altogether suite - 9/10. It's a little more on the pricey side for someone earning baht, but definitely worth the splurge!

Thank you for reading!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Wednesday, 26 October 2016

First week as a teacher!

Sawadeeka!

I arrived back home after saying goodbye to Tristan at Future Park feeling rather down. My apartment felt empty and I was already counting down for Friday. The next day (Tuesday the 12^th of May) was my first day at Sarasas, the school where I’d be teaching. I felt a mixture of nerves an excitement. Angie and I would both be teaching year 2 so we would be able to work together which was quite a relief. That evening I just relaxed and skyped home to get some words of wisdom from my parents. Feeling a lot calmer, I managed to get some sleep.

The day had arrived: my first day at my first full time job. Both Angie and I were rather nervous but the first day was a nice calm one. We were just given the day to start preparing our topics for the academic year ahead. Before we knew it, our first day at the new job was over. The next day went by quite quickly as well, the only new thing from that day was that I was moved to teach the KG 1 students. The nerves really started kicking in then because I only had a couple hours to prepare everything as the kindergarten students were starting the next day. I left quite late that day as I was kept busy decorating the class board. I had an early night that night and made sure I was as ready for the day as I could be.

Thursday the 12^th of May: My first day teaching! The first day was very eye opening. It hadn’t been made clear what the day would entail so I felt a bit lost. The first lesson was also quite a shock as it was only then that I really realised how difficult it would be to communicate with the students. In fact, at one point I remember sending a message to my parents saying “What have I gotten myself into?!”. But the day mostly consisted of me learning the students’ names and playing games with them. I felt a little more at ease by the end of the day, I just hoped the next day would be a little bit easier. And it was. I was more confident as I’d had a day to bond with the students. The second day even saw the youngest and quietest student warming up to me and sitting in my lap. This student’s name in Neena and you’ll be hearing a lot more of her. I left work that day feeling good and very excited because I was on my way to visit Tristan!

Thank you for reading!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Sriracha, Thailand.

Sriracha

The end of the first week had finally come and it was time to go visit Tristan in Sriracha. I was excited but also nervous as I would be catching a van alone. I had packed my bag the night before and so I left straight after school. After a tedious cab ride, I made it to Future Park 5 minutes before the 5pm van was set to leave. Relieved, I put my earphones in and prepped myself for the 2-and-a-half-hour trip. It was actually a rather enjoyable van ride (except for the traffic) as it was a good opportunity to see more of Thailand, even if just from the other side of a dusty window.

That night Tristan and I joined a few others for a night out. It was cool to see a new part of Thailand and to see Simone and Thiv again. Brendan (another person from the chiang mai group) was in charge of finding a club or bar for the night. After leading us to the other side of sriracha, we decided to just settle for the next bar and get some food. It was a nice chilled night followed by further rest and relaxation. Leaving Sriracha left me feeling rather down.

When I got back to my apartment I had a quick skype call with my parents and readied myself for the week ahead. Luckily the next week was a four-day week and went rather well, so before I knew it I was on my way to sriracha for the long weekend.

Thursday (night): Tristan, Simone, Thiv, Brendon and I, along with Sophia and Tania (also from the course) and a guy called Morne (he was on the course in Krabi), all went out for some drinks. We settled with just chilling on the pier and having a good laugh. Unfortunately, Tristan ended up feeling rather sick so him and I left early. He went from bad to worse very quickly and we both decided it was food poisoning. Tristan vowed to never eat another 7-11 toasted sandwich!

Friday: The day consisted of relaxing so Tristan could recover. He was better by the afternoon so we started watching ‘Stalker’ again.

Saturday: KOH SICHANG! This was a lovely adventure to a small island just off the coast of Sriracha. Just Tristan and I went so it was rather romantic. We just explored the beaches and before we knew it, it was time to return the scooter we had rented and catch the ferry back. That evening we had some food at The Pizza Company and I decided to have some calamari to satisfy my craving. And that evening I was lucky enough to have food poisoning.

Sunday: Another day in bed, recovering. I really didn’t want to leave but knew the soon I could go home and take some medicine, the better. And so ended a weekend of sickness and exploring.