Bang Na, Bangkok, Thailand

Last Friday, Lauren, Heidi and I journeyed out to the Narita airport and met up with 6 other teachers who were all on our flight to Bangkok. We were picked up from the airport at midnight and got to our campus housing around 2 a.m. I could not believe how hot and humid it was, even at that hour of the night. It doesn't cool down here at all, staying in the 90s with lots of humidity all throughout the night. I've gone running at 6 a.m. thinking that I could beat the heat, but no such luck. I am getting used to it though.

Saturday we explored the beautiful campus and then took taxis to downtown Bang Na, which is kind of a far trip. We shopped and ate before heading back to the ABAC campus that evening. Sunday we were taken on what was supposed to be a tour of downtown Bangkok but instead turned into a tour of four (FOUR!) different shopping malls. Apparently they think Americans like to spend all of our time shopping, but that didn't exactly fly with this crowd - most of us are more interested in hiking and eating questionable meat from street vendors than seeing the high-end stores of Siam Paragon. But after our tour, we decided to stay downtown and walk around for awhile. We eventually found a place to grab appetizers and beer while people-watching from an outdoor patio. It was really nice to sit down with the other teachers and all chill out for a while.

Monday through Wednesday we had orientation and training, which was riddled with surprises and confusion. Signing our contracts and other paperwork was a huge fiasco, but that frustration has since subsided and it seems like everything will work out. We start teaching either this Monday or the following Monday... we'll find out on Monday morning. One of the things I'm getting used to is that you don't get advanced notice about anything and that you have to sift through lots of convoluted information to figure out answers to the simplest questions. Thais are just so laid back about everything and never expect much information, so that's been pretty different for us Americans to get used to. The Thai say "mai pen rai" all the time - meaning no worries, it's cool, don't worry about it, whatever, nevermind. We're all starting to internalize that as much as possible, because it's a lot easier than getting frustrated and stressed all the time. So... mai pen rai!