Thailand!

So I did make it safely. Tipawan and Jang (the ladies who picked me up at the airport) were so awesome! They helped me get a sim card for my phone, took me out to eat, took me to a supermarket, helped me get to my place (which happens to be kind of far from everything, unfortunately), and helped me settle in. It was just great.

My CELTA course is going to be extremely time-consuming, so I probably won't be able to write very often. I started Monday morning. There's only six of us, and all Americans except for one Kiwi. A little disappointing, since a mixture would have been nice. Also, I am the absolute baby of the class. I'm twenty-two, while the next closest to my age is twenty-eight. Then they are thirty-one, thirty-two, forty-one, and sixtyish. But oh well. I will definitely learn a ton. We are going like lightening.

I taught my first class today. I was a bit disappointed in how it turned out because I made a lot of mistakes that I knew the moment I did them. The trainers are very encouraging, though, and on Friday I'll have another go.

I'm feeling very comfortable here, actually. Even though I'm staying alone and often go places alone (out to eat, shopping, going home, etc.), I'm not minding at all so far. It's so interesting seeing all the people and buildings, and just watching people's interactions.

Tonight was a nice change. One of my mom's good friends has a son near my age who is teaching English in Bangkok. She flew in today to see him, and I met up with them and his roommate for dinner. Both Mark and his friend Joel are crazy about food, so they took us to this awesome hole-in-the-wall Thai place. They ordered five dishes, and all of them were wonderful! They said that it was actually a little sub-par tonight. It was hard for me to believe that since it was so good! Both of them speak fairly conversational Thai, and we were always stopping to talk to construction workers, foodcart owners, and other people.

They inspire me to try to learn some more Thai while I'm here. It's such a fun language. Although it will be hard with how busy we are with the CELTA course. I have to get up at five-thirty and tonight I didn't get home until ten-fifteen. I still have to write a mini lesson plan, so I probably shouldn't be doing this now, but I figured Life needed an updating.

I'm hoping that this weekend I'll get to go to Jakujut market. It's supposed to be the biggest market in Asia! Stay tuned...