Now that I have arrived in Thailand I am thrown together with a group of 35 other people that traveled here through the same company as me. We are from all over the world and getting ready to take on teaching without knowing the language. On Monday morning we are all down in the lobby waiting to load onto the vans that will take us to Hua Hin, the beach town where we will all be living for the next three weeks. There are backpacks galore, and we are all clutching the orientation packets that we were given. Needless to say, it was awkward; but it was the beginning of a week full of incredible events and the start of some beautiful friendships.
Once we dropped off our stuff at our apartment, went to the mall to get supplies, and had a meeting where we signed our life away for our bank accounts; we began to explore. The beach is a two minute walk from our apartment so we went there before heading to the Night Market. The first street food I ate turned out to be chicken livers, yum! We’ve gone back to that market and others many times since and I still don’t think I’ve tried or seen everything.
The rest of the week was packed full of Thai activities! We went to a Muay Thai class, which is a Thai form of kick boxing, and it was quite a workout. Then we drove out to a pineapple farm to see how they grow, ate some of the freshest, sweetest, juiciest pineapple ever, and then bought up all the pineapples that didn’t meet the standards to be sold at the market. Those were the pineapples that we brought to feed the elephants at the sanctuary we visited next! Hanging with the elephants and learning about how they work to stop the overworking and mistreatment of these majestic animals was inspiring. They brought us to a food market to get ingredients that we used during the cooking class the next day. On the last day of the week we hiked to a temple and then had a session with a monk, where he talked to us about meditation and Buddhism. From there we went to RescuePaws, a shelter that vaccinates and treats stray dogs here in Thailand. We took some of the dogs that they had at the kennel for walks on the beach. After all that, we went to a BBQ on the beach to wrap up the week.
It was a jam packed week but by the end I felt like all the people I was with were my Thai family and that this place was a second home. Indeed it is my home, and I am ecstatic that I am able to start this adventure in such a way that makes me feel like I have a family here in Thailand.
The Voyager 