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

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.

The skyline in Sriracha, taken from the pier.

Koh Sichang

Koh Sichang

Koh Sichang

Koh Sichang

Koh Sichang

Ferry tickets to Koh Sichang

Selfie!

Koh Sichang

Selfie at Koh Sichang!

Thank you for reading, keep following the Paisley Firefly blog to read about what to do when you get lost in Bangkok!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Rangsit

Rightio, time for the trip back to Rangsit (which is also in the outskirts of Bangkok, but the opposite direction from where we’d be staying). Angie and I asked the agents if we could be dropped off in Rangsit as they were going right through it to drop 3 new teachers off in an area 30 minutes from our school. The consultant we were dealing gave us an excuse and we ended up getting dropped off 5 minutes after getting on the van. Luckily for us, someone translated where we needed to go and before we knew it we were in a van on our way. We were on that van for about 30 minutes, then ended up hopping onto another van. After the second van (or 3^rd if you include the very short trip in the beginning), we got stuck in the pouring rain for 20 minutes (clever me decided to wear slops that day) and had cockroaches crawling on our feet and bags. Fun. We finally managed to get a song thaew to Future Park which was all of 10 minutes away. And now we were at the final leg of the trip and hopped on our last van, both beyond eager to lie down. After having walked about a kilometre from where the last van dropped us, we arrived, feeling rather exhausted. I should also mention that my suitcase was broken and so I had to drag it around on 1 and a third of its original 2 wheels. I was helped in last couple meters of the walk by a Thai man who used some contraption to wheel my bag the last little bit, I was so grateful.  

The next day I signed the contract for the apartment, my first apartment! It’s not much, but its mine. It felt so good to unpack everything! No more suitcases!! Well for the moment in anyway. That night I was keen to skype Tristan, but first had to help Sara out as she was rather worked up about where she was staying. After skyping her for an hour and then Tristan and I skyping her, Tristan and I could finally talk. 5 hours later we decided it’d be best to go to bed. And we’d decided Tristan would visit first, in 3 days’ time.

The next couple days involved shopping with Angie for some apartment essentials, unpacking and just chilling. Oh and Angie also helped me sort out my phone so I was able to use it when I wasn’t connected to wifi, such a relief. On Monday afternoon Angie left for Laos to apply for a work permit, so all I really had to do that day was chill until Tristan arrived, which was at about 10 that night. We’d done so much moving around in the past month, Tristan and I decided to have a relaxing week. The first week in Rangsit involved hospital visits (Tristan needed a check up on his toe), a trip to Terminal 21 in Bangkok and watching the new Captain America movie at Future park. Sadly, the week with Tristan ended all too quickly and before I knew it, we were heading to Future Park so Tristan could catch a van back to Sriracha, the area he was teaching in.

Some amazing cupcakes from Cupcake Love in Terminal 21.

Movie time!

The weather conditions Angie and I were faced with.

Tristan and I exploring Future Park.

Thanks for reading,read the next post to find out how my first week working as a teacher in Thailand went!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx