Last Days of Teaching and Some Reflection

Today was the last day of school for us English teachers (we don't have to be here for finals week next week), which marks the end of my high school teaching career. Teaching was a great experience and I vividly remember the feeling of anxiety I experienced sitting at my computer at home thinking about what it would be like teaching a class of 50 Thai high school students (850 students in all). I have gotten to know some of my students well and have grown to love them all (well almost all). It took me some time to figure out how to teach certain classes, but I do feel like I figured it out and now some of the classes I dreaded going to the first month here have become my favorite classes with some of my most loving and passionate (which meant loud and obnoxious at first) students.

One of my favorite senior classes

The past two weeks have been busy as my seniors came in to get help on projects for their other english class, turned in optional creative projects for my class, and as I got my finals and grades together. I was incredibly impressed with many of my seniors creative projects (although there were many many other projects that were just recipe books plagerized from the internet). The only requirement was that they had to use english (written or oral) and it was awesome seeing what they came up with. I had a tie for first place. Two girls made a DIY book (with a focus on reusing things from my Reduce, Reuse, Recycle lesson) and another two girls wrote a magic cookbook with silly recipes including "crocodile heads and spit from an ugly girl" which they presented to me by singing and acting. Other students wrote and illustrated stories, comics, made photo journals, music videos, cooking videos, and more. The Thai education system really lacks creativity and the other teachers don't seem to do anything to stop the students from copying homework and exams and plagerizing from the internet, but in reality the students are incredibly creative and just need to be encouraged to think creatively and for themselves. I was so grateful for this realization and love my students for proving that they are better than many teachers give them credit for.

Adorable freshmen

After the students finished their final exam (an incredibly easy 10 question test) they had free time, which became photo shoot time in a lot of my classes. Thais love taking pictures of each other and of themselves and most of my students have smart phones or super nice cameras. It was hilarious posing with my students especially with the hilarious boys that constantly tell me they love me. My students made me feel really great and touched this week with their "I love you"s and "I will miss you." It makes me feel like I actually did a good job teaching them and/or that they enjoyed coming to my class even if it was just to be entertained by my shananigans (they seriously make me feel like I am funny enough to pursue stand up comedy). A few girls in my smartest freshman class were adorable and after asking to take pictures with me whispered to me and got the courage to ask for a hug. I then had a small line of girls hugging me and the happiness it brought me tells me I am probably a better fit for primary school.

Our teaching situation hasn't been close to ideal: classes are huge, there is incredible lack of communication and organization, we are underemployed and spend way to much time just sitting in our office, the grades in our class do not effect the students, and most things are just for appearances. I don't think I would recommend Thailand to people interested in teaching abroad (mostly because countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos need us more from what I know) and the city I live in is not what I expected when I imagined myself teaching in Thailand. That being said, I do not regret teaching here. I think I have reached some students (and that is worth it to me even if it is just a handful of students), I have developed a few relationships that I hope will last the rest of my life, and I have learned more about myself and how I respond to negative situations. My underemployment has motivated me to learn about things that interest me in my free time and I am looking forward to working hard at my future job (although I do not know what it will be).

I have been teaching for about four months and now I have four more months of some amazing travel opportunities ahead of me. This weekend Eric and I will head north to Chiang Mai to meet my cousin and spend 2-3 weeks in that region. We actually have to come back to Suphan for 1-2 weeks to teach the science and math teachers english (a very silly and pointless little project) and then my mom is coming to visit for 3 weeks! After my mom leaves, Eric and I will work our way across Laos, down the coast of Vietnam, take a quick trip to Cambodia, spend 2 weeks in Sri Lanka, and I will end my travels spending a month with my sister, Mollie, in Nepal! My travel plans are loosely based around Room to Read as they work in every country I just listed (besides Thailand). My hope is to visit regions that they work in (although I can't just drop in on their schools) and plan on doing an official school tour in Nepal. I will continue to fundraise for my Run Vietnam for Literacy campaign and hope that by the time I get home my friends, family, and I will have raised enough money to build a library (in turn changing the lives of thousands of kids) in one of the countries I visited. The work I have been doing for Room to Read has definitely kept me engaged and excited about life when things got a little stagnant here and I am so greatful for my growing passion for the organization.

Our last day began similar to our first day being told to give a speech to the entire school minutes before it was speech time. There was a ceremony for the freshmen and seniors (M3 and M6), my students, and I was given a ton of candy and some flowers from my favorite students saying their goodbyes. I am a sucker and saying goodbye usually makes me tear up, which definitely happened when some of my favorite classes and students came to say goodbye. We had a goodbye dinner with the foreign languages department, which was delicious as always (it is great going out to dinner with people that can order more than the same stuff you are used to). We gave another speech to our department and were presented with gifts which we found out were hilarious when we got home. Eric received a tie with pink hearts all over with a matching pocket napkin thing and cufflinks. I received a black clutch purse covered in rhinestones, which would be perfect for any high school prom. Our little party really did make me realize how much I love some of the other teachers and came home only feeling good about my experience teaching.

So with that incredibly long post, I am off for some more extended traveling and will update my blog from time to time!

Goodbye dinner with our department

300 Peaks Park

  

We had yet another spectacular camping weekend with Jane and Andrew and it just keeps getting better! All four of us confirmed that National Parks are the best parts of Thailand and should be the main focus of anyone who wants to see beautiful parts of Thailand on a budget without the presense of speedo clad, obese tourists (most of the time, but every once in a while one sneaks into a national park). Jane and Andrew learned about Sam Roi Yot (300 Peaks Park) a few weeks ago and actually went the weekend after the Khao Yai race weekend (while Eric and I rested in Suphan). After staying in Suphan for a weekend, Eric and I were defintely ready for another weekend trip and were stoked when Jane told us how amazing it was and that they wanted to go again. So they picked us up in a slightly improved hooptie Friday after school and we were off!

 

The park is about 50 km south of Hua Hin, which is probably one of the most horribly touristy beach cities in Thailand. I haven't actually been there, but was appalled when we drove through on our way to the park. Helloooo fat whities! Get me to a national park! It is about 5 hours from Suphan so we didn't get there until 10 when it was sufficiently dark and creepy at the parking area. We pulled up in this abandoned looking neighborhood (which wasn't actually abandoned in daylight) and were greeted by 10 or so of the scraggliest looking and smelling stray dogs I have seen. Jane and Andrew pointed to where we were headed which was up up up into the dark. Luckily they had been there before or this place would have been impossible to find. We hiked the 1 km up and over a hill (pretty much straight up, but with stairs) and descended onto a rare sight--an empty and beautiful beach!

 

There were some cabins, a restuarant (that was closed that late), nice bathrooms (with toilet paper!), and swept paths. We pitched our tents and walked towards the water contemplating a late night swim. Eric is always enthused about swimming in the ocean so he went for it while the rest of us stood at the edge and contemplated getting bathing suits on. A few minutes after Eric went in (it was shallow for a long time so he had walked out pretty far) we heard a yelp of excitement and Eric called to us to get out there. I assumed he was just enjoying the water (same old), but waded out to him in my t shirt and jean shorts. As I was walking out I noticed there was something different about the water and checked to see if my headlamp was reflecting on the water. It wasn't and as I got out to Eric he splashed some water around to reveal one of the most amazing things I have ever seen and like to describe as shiny horses running on a wave. Whenever we moved the water, it would cause a trail of light making the ocean sparkle. We splashed in the water looking at the different ways we could make the water light up. It was enchanting and my shorts were definitely soaked in momentarily sparkly water by the time we walked out of the water. Look up bioluminescent or phosphoresence to learn what we experienced (although evidently there are a lot of forms of it).

 



We woke up Saturday morning to a still empty and beautiful beach and enjoyed some pineapple pancakes before heading out to explore the area. We drove to a hike that Jane and Andrew had done the previous weekend, which gave us an awesome view of the ocean in one direction, the mountains in the opposite direction, and shrimp farms and cannels in between. I say hike for lack of a better word, but pretty much every hike we have been on in Thailand means 200-800 meters of straight up, usually with some type of stair system. So yeah, I definitely got in my stair workout last weekend.



After the viewpoint hike, we followed signs to one of the big caves in the area and did another hike to reach it. I fell in love with caves at summer camp in Colorado  and I have loved "caving" even since then. Caves and waterfalls are probably my two favorite things found in nature and Thailand has an abundance of both! This cave was waaay bigger than the ones in Colorado with crazy stalagtites and stalamites. We explored the cave until our stomachs were growling and drove to a restaurant on the side of the road that a Thai man we ran into recommended.

 

We ordered all seafood dishes and were not disappointed! Squid with garlic and pepper, fried fish, squid salad, sea food and vegetables, and something else amazing and we were filled up! We ended our day's exploration by putting me behind the steering wheel for the first time in over 4 months, with the steering wheel on the right side of the car, driving on the left side of the road. It was touch and go for a minute, but I got us back to the parking lot in one piece (and we saw trucks full of monks on their cell phones on our way in). We relaxed on the beach for the rest of the day and Eric and Andrew made a bonfire on the beach for our evening activity.

 

We woke up Sunday morning after being feasted on by mosquitos and I enjoyed a lovely beach run before breakfast. There was another cave near our campsite (that didn't require us to drive) that Jane and Andrew talked up a lot. Eric and I laced up our running shoes for yet another steep uphill hike and left the other two to relax on the beach. We were amazed when we walked into the cave filled with trees and bushes and crazy cave walls, ceilings, floors, etc. Then we realized this wasn't even the cool part of the cave and walked into the main section that houses a beautiful temple (picture at the top of this post). I think magnificent is the best word to describe it. It is gorgeous in photos and it is even better in real life. We took our time soaking in the beauty and exploring the cave. I think it is one of my favorite things I have seen in Thailand yet! More tourists started to find there way to the cave so Eric and I headed out to enjoy a little more beach time before making our way home. I could easily spend a week in the same campsite in Sam Roi Yot exploring the park and hanging out on the beach and am looking forward to going to more national parks the rest of my time here!

Training Race in a Beautiful Place!

I had such a great weekend racing and exploring in one of my new favorite regions of Thailand and I can't wait to tell you about it! Hiroshi, the Japanese teacher at our school, told Eric and I about a race at the beginning of the semester and after seeing that the entry fee for a 10k was only 300 baht ($10) we registered without hesitation. The race was put on by Northface and was part of the Northface 100k series. Our friends, Andrew and Jane, who we camped with the weekend before decided to join us for the trip (but not for the race since registration was closed the week before), making it 100 times more enjoyable with their company and the fact that they were able to rent a car so we had the freedom of our own wheels!

Andrew and Jane picked us up in the Crown (which I should've taken a picture of), which was referred to as the hooptie for the rest of the weekend and we were off! I cannot describe the feeling of freedom that having your own car brings in Thailand, but let's just say it is worth paying twice as much to rent a car over public transportation (although we actually saved money on transportation by renting the car). I was very impressed with Andrew's driving skills considering Thai cars have the steering wheel on the right side and traffic goes the opposite direction from what Americans are used to. Add in some crazy U turns on freeways, trucks flying past stacked 3 times their height, monkeys and stray dogs hanging out in the road, and people crossing right in front of you and you've got a challenge in front of you. However, we made it to our general destination with only a few wrong turns!

Eric and I woke up at pitch dark o'clock (5am) to get to the start of the race, which was at a resort in the beautiful countryside about 30 minutes from where we were staying. Surprisingly we found our way there without making any wrong turns due to the incredibly well marked signs and directions to the resort. It seemed like a lot of the runners (half Thais and half foreingers about) were from Bangkok, which was evident when we drove the hooptie into the parking lot filled with fancy clean cars. I was not expecting such a well organized race since organization, directions, punctuality, etc are scarce in Thailand, but this was probably the most legitimate race I have ever ran! And to top it off, it was the most beautiful race I have ever ran!

We checked in a little before 6 am and were given our nice event shirts (already making the 300 baht worth it) and warmed up around the venue while the 25k runners started their race (the 50 and 100k racers had left much earlier). We were called to the start line a little before 6:30 and the other runners were a hilarious mix of foreigners (probably many of them teachers like us), young Thai runners that actually looked like athletes, and the other Thais who look more like the people I see running in Suphan who probably run 15 minutes miles on average. This included an older woman who ran with her tiny dog on a lease wearing a dress (the dog was wearing a dress, not her). Eric and I were near the front of the start line and speculated whether the group in front of us knew proper running ettiquette when it comes to slow people crowding the start line. We were blessed by a monk before the start and the gun went off! As expected, this group did not know proper ettiquette and started the race at the 15 minute mile pace. We found our way around them and relaxed into a good pace for the two of us.

We ran through farms and beautiful fields at the foot of some small moutains and ran as the sun rose in front of and then over us. Eric and I were amazed by the region and were really grateful for the beauty of the course which started on paved road, then became a dirt road, then some sections of single track (that made us both wish we had mountain bikes here), by some ponds and temples, and back to the resort. The only downside was the smell of burning trash that lingered from the night before. I felt better and better as we ran (Eric feeling the inverse) and had a little bit of competition the last kilometer of the race as another American girl passed by me. Don't worry, I hung with her and then passed her at the end and almost caught up to an energetic Thai guy in front of me! A finisher medal was placed around my neck and I was told that I was an inspiration (Thais really love boosting my ego!) I ran 51 minutes even, which is slower than I wanted, but I was perfectly happy considering how enjoyable the race was (and I beat Eric).

It turned out that both Eric and I got 2nd in our age groups and I got 3rd overall for woman! We were awarded our trophies and laughed at the assembly of the tops of the trophies--Eric's runner had boobs and mine did not. At the finish of the race there were two elephants congratulating finishers, classic Thai dancing done by extremely made up little girls and some Thai drumming from some little Thai boys. It was very cute and what was even better was the amount of free food! They had fried rice, pad thai, tons of fruit, and sports drinks for finishers. We probably didn't earn everything we ate and received, but loaded up nonetheless! Seriously, the best 300 baht I ever spent.

These are Thais favorite poses: "I so cute" and "I smart"

After stuffing ourselves and taking pictures at the finish, we headed back to the hotel to meet Jane and Andrew to continue our adventurous weekend. We drove the hooptie into Khao Yai National Park, which is the biggets national park in Thailand, and set up camp at a very crowded but nice camp site. Eric and I were pretty beat from the early morning and the race so we all did a short (1km) hike to a pretty awesome water fall and just hung out and climbed around for the afternoon. The evening was spent trying to make a fire (Eric and Andrew tried and eventually did make a fire while Jane and I layed around and talked) and fearing the monkeys that were way to used to being fed by humans. The next day we went on a bit of a longer hike where within the first five minutes we saw a sloth bear and huge wild elephant tracks. That was pretty much all the wildlife we saw besides some more monkey (waaaay cooler to see them in the wild than stealing your snacks at your campsite), but there were crazy trees and vines everywhere and it was an amazing hike through the jungle. It ended at an open field with a lookout tower about 1km from the main road so we hung out and then hitched a ride back to the park headquarters where our car was parked.

 

We drove home back through the hilariously gimmicky area outside of the park that is known as Thailand's little Switzerland. It included hundreds of resorts and silly roadside restaurants or attractions that evidently some tourist are into. It was a really great weekend and the 10k gave me a lot of confidence for my half marathon in May! If you would like to contribute to my Run Vietnam for Literacy campaign in honor of my second place finish, please do so here!

The Tallest Mountain in Suphanburi

Eric and I have been wanting to visit our friends, Andrew and Jane, who are also teaching in Suphanburi province and live just an hour and a half van ride away and we finally made the quick trip last weekend! They are also interested in exploring the more rural parts of Thailand (like us) and their small town, Dan Chang, actually gives them access to some awesome wilderness! So Friday after school Eric and I left the big city (Suphan) for some outdoor adventures. Down the street from Jane and Andrew's apartment is a Swedish guy who makes some awesome pizza and we definitely indulged in the western treat Friday night. I haven't eaten pizza since our first weekend in Suphan since it is incredibly expensive (for living on a Thai salary) and not that great, so I definitely took advantage of dinner in Dan Chang.

Eric and I woke up Saturday morning to check out Dan Chang near Andrew and Jane's apartment before our 10 am scheduled meeting time with the guy who was going to take us to the mountain and camp site. Dan Chang is much much smaller than Suphan and has a really good vibe, which made Eric and I a bit jealous of Jane and Andrew. There is nothing wrong with Suphan, but it isn't a big city and it isn't a small town so it lies in that awkward size where it isn't like everyone knows each other but it doesn't have all the activities that a big city would have. After buying some snacks at the market for our camping overnight we left to meet up with our driver. 

Andrew and Jane have been trying to figure out how to get to the tallest mountain in Suphan that they had read about and finally figured it out a couple weeks ago by talking to this guy who they think runs the Dan Chang mafia (basically just one of those guys that is always on his phone and knows everyone). He arranged to have his friend (who also seems like a mob boss but has the best smile) pick us up and drive us to the camp site at the base of the mountain. He was running an hour late, so we walked to the big reservoir dam about 2 miles from their apartment. It was amazing being able to walk from their apartment to some country roads and to enjoy the company of some people we don't get to see that often. (sidenote: Jane is the only foreign girl in Dan Chang so she was really looking forward to girl time and Eric pretty much only interacts with girls in Suphan so he definitely needed some male company.)

The second mob boss picked us up (I will now refer to him as Smiley since I can't remember his name) from the reservoir in his pickup and we began the longer than expected cramped ride to the mountain. The only camping Eric and I have done here was at Erawan falls where there was a very official yet cheap camp site with food stalls near by and we had no idea what to expect with this camping experience. We stopped at Smiley's house on the way to buy a ridiculous amount of eggs to take with us (evidently no food stalls) and also stopped at this little water fall off of the dirt road (I think mostly so Smiley could get rid of us for a little so he could take a nap). We finally made it to our camping spot after some other stops by 4:15. At this point I was pretty tired and dehydrated so I decided to skip hiking the mountain Saturday afternoon with promises from everyone that they would do it again the next morning. 

They headed off and I enjoyed the start of a new book and appreciated the quiet and the beautiful views. It always surprises and pleases me that Thais like to camp and this campsite definitely filled up despite it being so far away from anything and up a long dirt road. By the time Jane, Andrew, and Eric got back from the hike, the newly arrived groups of our fellow campers had set up their giant tents, busted out the propane tanks, woks, variety of meats and vegetables, and had just put away their super fancy cameras for sunset photos. I hope to be invited to go camping by a Thai family because they do it in style. Unfortunately for us, they love to stay up late and wake up eeeeeearly. We were woken up between 6 and 7 am to "Noooong, Soooong, Saaaaam! Hehehehehehe!!!" (1, 2, 3) as the various groups photographed the sunrise and posed in their pictures. 

So we got up with them and left to hike up the tallest mountain in Suphan (which is actually only 800 meters from where we started). That sounds pretty pathetic, but it was 800 meters of straight up and was a great outdoor stair master workout. We were led by the two friendliest and most active dogs I have met in Thailand (who we named Kingston and Tukie after some of Eric's friend's dogs) and hiked up in the fog. We walked through various fields of vegetables and a small village (mostly just a collection of houses with their respective farms) and loved every minute of it. We made it to the top and enjoyed being in/above the clouds looking down on our campsite.  

Of course there was a giant Buddha statue at the top of the mountain that I'm pretty sure the guy that runs the campsite hikes up to every day to honor. Thais love their Buddha statues. We took some short naps and snacked on our treats from the Dan Chang market and waited for the fog to clear a bit, which it didn't, and descended back to our campsite, then back to Dan Chang, and eventually home to Suphan. It was a great weekend and I am definitely looking forward to spending more time in more rural areas of Thailand and Asia when we are finished teaching! Also, Eric and I are running a 10k in this coming weekend and Jane and Andrew are joining us! The race is outside of a national park that is supposed to be pretty amazing and we are going to do some more camping and exploring after the race! This is my first (and maybe only) training race for my half marathon so if you would like to show some support for my Run Vietnam for Literacy campaign, please donate at my website and join me by running or getting outdoors this Saturday! 

More Hilarious English

We lesson this week involves group story writing where the students get into groups of 4 or 5 and write a story together, but each student writes one sentence at a time and then passes the paper on (so they are not actually creating the story as a group if that makes sense). Anyway, here are my favorite stories (I gave them the first line):

1. Once upon a time, there was a Thai boy who hated rice....because he dreamed that a rice to become worm. So he never eat rice. Finally he very fat until he can't walk anymore. The angel show up and blame him and tell him that he have to eat rice everyday. (Shows you how important rice is to them!)

2. Once upon a time, there was a rooster that could not crow....so it is sickness but it patients symptom. A man see rooster sickness. He cares it. He gets it to hospital and get to love it. When a rooster gets better. He takes it to his house. He care it such as feeds food and cleans feather's rooster. Once a day the rooster become beautiful boy. He says "I'm a fairy and I'll give a prize to you. What do you want?" The man say "I want you to be my wife, will you married me? I love you." He watches eyes to eyes with him and say yes. (This is a first of a series of stories where there is some interspecies, gay romance)

3. Once upon a time, there was a hunter who loved animals....but I don't love animals. But a hunter loved animals. Although he loved animals but he need to kill them for survival. One day, he found a cute rabbit and he fall in love it at first sight. In full moon day, rabbit become a very cute boy and hunter loves him very much and named him "Mildy." They are going in the room together and the hunter kissed the cute boy. They promise them are married and love together forever. After that they belong together. A hunter promises that he will not kill any animals. And a hunter changes his job to grow carrots for trading and Mildy. (unclear at the end here if Mildy is a rabbit again or if he is a boy who loves carrots)

4. Once upon a time, there was a girl with magic shoes....and she have a magic book. She is going to Hogwart by magic broom. Suddenly, she see the big storm. Three hours later, she is eating rabbit. Mommy made some cookies made from meat for us. Then she is die by poison in the cookie. After that she resurrect by the prince's kiss. Three year later she have three baby. (This one has some interesting plot point changes, kept me on my toes the entire read!)

5. Once upon a time, there was a princess who smelled very bad....She took a shower twice a week. She said "I had this shower!!" She liked to wear a dirty cloth. Everybody wouldn't like to get along with her. At last, the princess determined to scoop her eyes out so she can't see everybody who dislike her, cute he ears so she can't hear the irony of everybody so when the princess in handicapped, she is going to live in North Korea. (I found this one seriously disturbed/hilarious)

6. Once upon a time, there was a boy with magical sunglasses. He is very smart. He live in Bangkok. His name's Aut. He is going to Japan. He is looking for girlfriend. But he was gay. He uses magical sunglasses for see woman. After that he go to Tokyo. He earns money from wash dishes. He fell in love with Briget, will you marry me? (omgomogmogmogmg he proposed!--the collective he of five 17 year old Thai boys)

So you now see what I am working with! Pretty awesome. 

Hazards of Running in Thailand

When I first got to Thailand I thought there was no way I could ever run here. Most of this was based on the heat I experienced at our orientation in Bangkok. After a week or so of getting settled in Suphanburi, I was brave and motivated enough to give running a try here (how else can I continue to justify eating so much great food!) It is definitely possible and enjoyable, but here is a list of the top 5 things that make running in Thailand a bit hazardous.

This is the best time of day to run and it definitely helps being near water!

1. Heat—This was the first thing that turned me off from running in Thailand, but it has actually cooled down a lot since we got here (70 seems cold now) which has made running much more enjoyable. However, I should probably get used to running in the heat to train for my race which will be mid hot season in Vietnam.

A standard Thai restaurant set up before it gets busy with people. 

2. Sidewalks—We are fortunate enough to live in Suphan where one of the ex prime ministers is from. This means the city got a lot of funding when that prime minister was in power and we actually have sidewalks. However, it is very rare that I see a Thai person walking to their destinations, so sidewalks are not really used for walking. What are they used for? Eating. A sidewalk is like a restaurant’s or food cart’s outdoor dining room and I almost feel guilty when I am actually walking on the sidewalk and walk through their restaurant. So I either weave my way through people, tables, and chairs, or check the street a couple times to run in the road to get around the sidewalk restaurants. Also, there are a bunch of signs and poles in the middle of sidewalks to watch out for. At my height, I can usually walk under the signs and just have to avoid poles, but Eric being so tall makes him really have to pay attention.

The guardian of the river run.

3. Stray Dogs—Thailand has a huge number of stray dogs (although not as many as India) and the streets and sidewalks are their domain. I have heard of other Thai cities where you can’t really run because of the stray dogs chasing after you. I’m not sure what makes Suphan dogs different, but they are friendly or completely ignore you for the most part. I have only been scarily barked at and followed once while running, which I think is pretty good. In that dog’s defense, it was nighttime and it was probably protecting the food it had just been given. That’s the problem with stray dogs in Thailand—the people constantly feed them so they will always be around. Not sure if this is a Buddhism thing or what. All I know is that things dogs are almost overfed at times. 

4. Cars—The hierarchy of the Thai traffic system puts pedestrians and runners at the bottom of the food chain so you always have to be on your guard. Think you are safe looking just one way when you cross a one-way street? Think again! Traffic rules are more like suggestions and I have seen some sketchy maneuvers with cars going the wrong direction on a one-way street. I still have yet to see an accident though so this makes me feel a little safer. (There is actually very little traffic in Suphan on Sunday--probably because there is no school or special Saturday class so I didn't get a picture of the traffic)

5. Burning Trash—This is sadly an incredibly common practice here (and Anna tells me people still do it in South Carolina—come on US citizens, get some sense!) and is something to be avoided unless you want to suck in the fumes from burning plastic. I almost always run after school around 5:30 when it is cooler and still light out and this coincides with the time most people burn their trash, which is always a bummer for me. However, it does make me run faster when I am near one of these trash fires!

Bonus Hazard! Children with guns.

Don't worry, just toy guns. 

As you now know, running here is not necessarily the easiest or most convenient form of exercise but a runner has to do what a runner has to do. Please make my training in these less than ideal conditions worth it by donating to my Run Vietnam for Global Literacy campaign here! 

Bridget's Birthday Ball

Now don't confuse the title of this post with a extravagent party (ball). I am, of course, referring to one of the highlights of my 23rd birthday here in Thailand, which was a giant pork meatball. Let me explain.

I couldn't finish it, too much meat for one ball

I was very fortunate that my birthday fell on Teacher's Day in Thailand, which meant we had a day off midweek! Eric, Anna and I woke up Wednesday morning and met some of my students (obviously Nay was the one that invited us) to go to the 100 Year Market in Sam Chuk. Evidently this market has been around since the early 1900s and was settled by a largely Chinese population (something like 85% of Thais have Chinese ancestors) and the super old buildings are still around. We didn't eat before leaving so the first order of business was sitting down for a late breakfast at the market and a shop that was known for its huge pork meatballs. I obviously had to order one (50% to eat it and 50% to take a picture with it), but learned that it was meant to be shared between a much larger number of people. It was really good though and I got to call it my birthday ball the entire meal, which I still find more funny than it probably is.



We strolled around the market and tried the many weird and sometimes tasty Thai treats. In general, Thai desserts and sweet snack are not my thing but we did find some good ones! Most of the shops sold some type of food, but there were a few cool clothing stores, standard souvenir stores, and other random stores. INCLUDING one of those amazing places where you dress up in traditional wear depending on where you are and take an awesome black and white picture. My family took one of these types of photos in Virginia City when I was a kid and it hangs on our wall in Tahoe keeping the cabin classy. Eric, Anna, Nay, and I dressed up in some traditional Thai outfits, which are hilarious and posed for an ancient looking camera (is was 60 years old). The woman knew what she was doing and put us in different outfits and sat us or stood us where she wanted us. Unfortunately it takes a while to get the official picture (it will arrive at Nay's house in a couple weeks), but we were able to snap a few of our own! (which will be posted soon)


We finished the market outing at a cake shop where we ate some delicious cake that was half chocolate and half orange. Of course is did not compare to a cake my mom or sisters would make for me, but it was amazing for Thai standards and I got a couple pieces to go to eat after dinner. We headed back to Suphan and Eric and I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the hotel pool down the street and getting our bronze on (Sidenote: I accidentily bought lotion for making your skin whiter and have been using it the past couple weeks after every shower. I was wondering where my New Years tan was going!

We then made some pesto pasta made from Thai basil and asparagaus for dinner, which was awesome, finished off the cake I brought home, and may or may not have (we did) go buy icecream too. The three of us finished my birthday off playing Jenga and Uno. It was a very nice birthday and it was great to receive birthday wishes from my family and friends via email and facebook! I am also asking anyone who would get my a birthday gift if I were home to donate to my Run Vietnam for Literacy campaign here. Thank you to everyone who made 22 such a great year and I look forward to the adventures to come this year!