One Month Reflection!

*Disclaimer- for some reason, this post was much more difficult and took me a disproportionately long time to write compared to the others, so please bear with me if there are sentences or thoughts that seem scattered or don't make sense!*

     
       Well folks, here we are. I am now officially one month into my study abroad experience. Hard to believe, right? Sometimes it feels like only yesterday I was completely spazzing about leaving America, yet there are other times that I feel like I've been living in little old Hua Mak for forever. So, what are my thoughts about my first month in Thailand, you ask? Let me try to verbalize this last month for you.
       When I tried to write this blog post the first time around, I really wasn't sure what to say. I didn't feel that I had this incredible life-altering, earth-shattering experience through living abroad yet (because clearly I was expecting to step off the plane in Bangkok and boom- instantly become a new and improved, more worldly and enlightened version of myself). I have to admit- I thought that by now, I would be feeling challenged and pushed to the limits of my comfort zone. I really hadn't felt that too much in the past month, and I was starting to think that maybe I was failing this little study abroad experiment. Was I wasting this incredible opportunity? Would I ever have the same life-changing experience that others have had in Thailand? After a skype conversation with my Dad, however, my opinion changed somewhat. 
       He told me that there doesn't necessarily have to be the aha moment that I've been looking for. The little things I experience every day in my life here are all changing me bit by bit. Have I had this eye-opening, life-changing moment or experience yet that totally rocked my previous worldview? No, not yet. But does that mean I'm not constantly changing and growing while I'm here? Absolutely not. I can feel myself transforming, little by little, every day I am here. 


       There are a few things here in Thailand that have definitely taught me a lot over the past month.
      1. Living under a monarchy. This has probably been one of the most influential aspects of living in Thailand that I have encountered thus far. The Thai people LOVE their king. When I say love, I mean it- and so do they. Just driving around Bangkok, you can see it. Every other building has a giant portrait of the King and Queen. It's just a completely different way of thinking than that of Americans and the American government. It is difficult to explain, but it has honestly opened my eyes to a totally new way of living I knew nothing about. 
      2. Not being able to speak Thai. For some reason, before coming here I had zero concerns about not being able to speak Thai. The language barrier was one of the last things on my mind. However, being here and not being able to understand 99.9% of what is said here certainly has been a bit of a challenge. One friend on the trip put it perfectly when she said that this is what it must feel like to be completely illiterate at home. It is very strange to not be able to read a single sign around you. My lack of Thai-speaking skills has also forced me to learn more about human communication. It's amazing to me that I've even made it a month speaking only 5-6 Thai phrases. This is proof that even without the spoken language, people can still make connections with each other and get a point across. Pretty amazing stuff, if you ask me.
      3. Being on my own. This is fairly self explanatory. Being on your own (like when going to college) is one thing, but to be self-reliant on the other side of the planet, away from everything you know and love is a whole different ball game. I am by no means good at this yet, but I am working on it every day.


       Another thing I can say for sure is that I have become a much more relaxed person. This seems counterintuitive (at least to me it does) because how could moving to the other side of the world to a city where you don't speak the language or know anything at all possibly be relaxing? Believe it or not, it is. I'm not sure what it is- haven't been able to place my finger on it just yet- but amidst the chaos of Bangkok, I'm starting to find a sense of inner peace, I think.  


      A friend told me recently, "Whatever expectations you have about this trip, just get rid of them. Just let things happen." And that's exactly what I'm trying to do.

"When you're happy like a fool, let it take you over.

When everything is out, you gotta take it in.

Oh, this has gotta be the good life..."

Oh, so thaaaat's a monsoon......

     I already have two other posts that I'm working on finishing so I can put them up soon, but I just had to write this one right now.....

     I was just sitting in my room writing emails and on Facebook while 98% of my friends are in Theology class, when I suddenly heard both the door to my room and the door to my balcony start to shake and move around. I opened the door to my balcony and saw the beginning of an actual, real-life monsoon. Now, I've been in Thailand for a month already during monsoon season, so we've seen some pretty heavy downpours, but it was nothing like what just happened a few minutes ago. I stepped out onto my balcony and could barely see three feet in front of my own building. The wind and the rain was just incredible. And of course this happens when NONE of my friends are here to see it, either. 

    I definitely have to admit, being alone during that storm was one of the scarier moments I've had in Thailand yet! It's amazing how powerful Mother Nature can be....

What I opened my balcony door to...

  During the worst of the storm

Chatuchak Weekend Market

Today, I thought I'd write a little bit about the Chatuchak (also called JJ) Weekend Market. JJ is the largest market in Thailand, covering about 35 acres. I've been to this market twice now, but I suspect that no matter how many times I go, I will never see everything that's there! It is an absolutely overwhelming but fantastic experience. The best way to describe it is a sensory overload. There are so many sights, sounds and smells surrounding you as you walk through the endless maze of stalls and shops. Whether you are looking for some kind of clothing, decor for your home or apartment, or just new and interesting foods to try, it's so much fun! If you ever come to Thailand, be sure to check this out- but don't forget to use your haggling skills!! 

Map of the sections of Chatuchak Market

Chatuchak is also where I get to practice a little bit of my most basic Thai, like "tao rai kha?" meaning "How much?" and all of the numbers I've learned. We practice numbers everywhere we can. When giving my laundry to the maids in our building, we count it out piece by piece. Neung, Song, Saam, Sii, Haa........


Here's a sample of some of the things I bought today at JJ Market to decorate my room:

 Small lamp with an old map of Siam 

(old name of Thailand)

Elephant Tapestry 

Close of up the tapestry 

Three panel Buddha carving

I'll be posting a reflection about my first month in Thailand soon (can you believe it's already been a month???), so stay tuned!! Thanks for reading!

"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life."

     This post doesn't necessarily have any relevance to my travels or adventures in Southeast Asia, but I would like to happily report that this trip thus far has rekindled my love for reading (I use the word rekindle because I am, in fact, reading on a kindle.....). This makes me really, really happy because I used to read books all the time, just for fun. Ever since I can remember I've always been reading. That changed a bit when I went to high school, and even more so when I entered college. There always was so much going on that I never had time to just sit down and read something that wasn't related to schoolwork. 
     Now that I have an hour commute both to and from the ABAC Bang Na campus from my home in Hua Mak, I have most definitely had time to do my fair share of reading. So far, I have completed Eat, Pray, Love and have started reading The Hunger Games series, which I am getting sucked into very quickly! It's a wonderful feeling to have rediscovered this love :)


"Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books." 

Ommmm.........

So yesterday, I was feeling really, really awesome! I just woke up in a good mood, and all day I had fantastic conversations with people that made me feel so alive. In the wake of this amazing mood I was in, I set a plan for the remainder of my day. I planned to go to our common area after my last class, and do some beginner's yoga (from YouTube of course), catch up on my journaling and reading, and finish a blog post or two!


I was so excited to carry out this plan and even got a few friends to join me, but of course life seemed to derail my plans. I had to do a lot of reading for my English class, and time just got away from me. I decided that instead of doing yoga or any of those other things, however, I would at least try to meditate- something I have always wanted to do, but haven't really tried very often. 


So at 1:30 am, instead of going to bed, I set myself up in my room with some good meditation music that I found and closed my eyes. I just recently finished reading the book Eat, Pray, Love, and used some of what I learned in that book to help me try to meditate. I didn't think it was going to work very well, but I was amazed that even with the soi dogs barking outside and people talking in my hallway, I was able to become very still and very peaceful, and the ten minute meditation song I was listening to flew by and felt like only a minute. I absolutely loved it, and I'm going to try and do it every day!


By the way, this was the mantra I focused on during my meditation:

Om Namah Shivaya, loosely translated as "I honor the divinity within me."

Koh Samet!

Hello everyone!
So, this past weekend we took our very first trip without Father Kelly (our program director)! It's kind of a tradition for the students on this trip to go to Koh Samet the second or third weekend of the program, so that's what we did! Some people left Thursday morning for a longer weekend, but the majority of us left Friday morning.....early. I got up at 3 am on Friday, and was out the door ready to go by 4!


We got to the bus station ready to catch the 5 am bus, but it turned out that there was no 5 am bus....so we had an hour and a half to kill until the 6 am bus arrived. A very sleepy four hour bus ride later, we arrived at the Ban Phe pier in Rayong and hopped on a ferry that brought us to the island!

The ferry to Koh Samet from Ban Phe...

You probably can't tell from the picture but 

the dock was extremely rickety and seemed 

like it was going to fall apart as we walked 

                                                 on it...

Our view of Koh Samet from the ferry

Once we got on the island, we began walking along the coast, looking for a place to stay. This is the first trip I have ever taken where everything has not been planned out ahead of time. We literally stepped off that ferry with no idea where we were, or where we would be sleeping that night. It was a little scary, but so freeing and exhilarating at the same time! After stopping in and checking out a few bungalows at different places, we settled on one at Sea Breeze and ended up splitting a room that was 600 baht/night between four girls (This means it was 150 baht ($5) each, so I spent a grand total of 10 U.S. dollars for a two night stay on the island!!!)

Our bungalow....Sorry this is the

only picture I got! It doesn't show

very much....oops!

Pathway to other bungalows from our porch.

Once we got a room and dropped off our stuff, we headed right for the beach! The walk along the coast was probably one of the most peaceful and beautiful sights I have ever seen.  We spent the rest of the weekend in total relaxation- I described it to my parents as being the type of relaxed where you don't even know what time it is, because it really doesn't matter! Overall, it was a fantastic weekend with people who are becoming such wonderful friends, and I can't wait for our next adventure!!

In the meantime, here are more photos from the island:

 View from where we ate lunch!

 Locals bringing in food from the mainland

 The Sea Breeze bar on the beach!

 Sunggly soi dog!

 Leaving Koh Samet :(

Colorful fishing boats

Wat Pho!

Hello again! I realized while writing my last post that I failed to write and/or post any pictures about my trip to Wat Pho! So here's my second post for the day!


On Friday, June 8th (my dad's birthday- happy birthday Dad!!), we took a group trip down to Wat Pho, a very famous Buddhist temple located adjacent to the Grand Palace temple complex.  This temple is home to the Reclining Buddha, an absolutely enormous and awe-inspiring statue.

 The Reclining Buddha

 Amazing detail on the outside of the temple.

It wasn't easy to get a good picture of it, but hopefully 

this gives you some perspective to how big it was!!

Aside from the grandeur of the Reclining Buddha, the rest of the temple complex was just as incredible! We walked around for a few hours at least, completely in awe of what we were seeing. The colors (especially against the backdrop of the perfectly blue sky- something we hadn't seen in a few days in Thailand) was just unreal. 

*Sidenote- each of the tall tower-like structures represent where someone's ashes are buried. The very tall ones are for some kings of the Chakri dynasty (the current dynasty in power).

 Wat Pho

Happy birthday Tom!!

Me and some friends on the steps

of one of the temple towers.

After Wat Pho, a small group of us went to explore more of downtown Bangkok, and ended up going to a European Film Festival, where we saw a movie in Czech! Cool ending for a pretty cool day :)

Elephants and the beach....What more could I ask for?

Hello everyone! Wow, I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted....these past few days have gone by so incredibly fast!

Last Saturday, we went to Pattaya, an area southeast of Bangkok on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. We got up bright and early at 7:45 am and got on the bus to make the two hour drive to Pattaya. 

Bus Ride to Pattaya!

Of course, I have to mention this first- I SAW REAL, LIVE ELEPHANTS. For those of you who may not know, elephants are absolutely my favorite animals ever. Now I'm sure I've encountered an elephant or two in my lifetime (at the Philly Zoo or something), but definitely not since my love for elephants began. As we were walking from the bus into Nongnooch Tropical Gardens, someone mentioned that they saw elephants and I began freaking out!! I had no idea how to react when I came face-to-face with one. I walked up to the first elephant I saw, and reached out to pet his trunk. I can't even describe how happy I was to reach out and touch this giant, amazing, beautiful animal- but at the same time, so sad to see them chained up. :(

Baby!!

After seeing a somewhat touristy Thai cultural show and wandering through the botanical gardens (losing one or two people along the way), we left Nongnooch and headed out for the beach! At this point, the heat was becoming unbearable and everyone was looking forward to a nice dip in the ocean. We were able to spend the afternoon at the Asia Pattaya Hotel laying in the sun either on the beach or by the pool, and then finished the evening with a beautiful dinner overlooking the ocean!

 Nongnooch Tropical Gardens

 Asia Pattaya Hotel

 The Beach

"Studying" Abroad.......

 It's hard to believe I've been here for three weeks already.....time here goes so fast, yet so slow at the same time- it's hard to describe. We've done some pretty amazing things so far, but I know the real adventures of this trip have yet to really begin!

P.S. I just booked my flight to India last night.......from July 20th - August 4th, me and two friends will be traveling in Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Goa and finally ending our time with a few days of service in Calcutta with the Missionaries of Charity. Stay tuned! 

What the Khlong?

Sawadi Kha everyone! 

So I was very excited to sit down and write this blog post because yesterday (Saturday), I rode my very first khlong boat! 

The khlong!

What exactly is a khlong boat, you may ask? For any of you out there who may have been to Bangkok before, I'm sure you will remember a khlong boat. For those of you who haven't, I'll do my best to explain........

First of all, a khlong is the Thai word for canal. The Khlong Saen Saeb is a khlong that runs through central Bangkok, and provides a route of transportation for lots of Thais in the city. Although the khlong seems to be a relatively safe and reliable mode of transportation (and avoids the insane traffic faced by cabs and motorcycles) they do have a major downside- the smell. Now, I had heard plenty about the smell of this canal from those who had gone to Thailand previously, but nothing really prepared me fully for it. 

The best way I can think of to describe the khlong is to tell you to envision a canal that acts as a complete dumping ground for the city. Add lots of garbage, some raw sewage and imagine what the khlong smells like. It didn't smell the entire time we were on the khlong boat, but when we did get whiffs of that smell, it was BAD. I had also heard there were big fish living in the khlong, but I couldn't understand how any form of life could possibly live in that water. That is, until I saw a GIGANTIC lizard/iguana type thing crawl out of the khlong into a sewer pipe.

To avoid being sprayed by this gross (to put it pleasantly) water, the khlong boats are equipped with shield-like tarps on the sides. Whenever you pass another boat, or the water from the khlong is being sprayed up onto the boat, you just pull up the tarp to block it.....oh, and don't forget to close your mouth! :) One of the ways we found helpful to deal with the khlong boat ride was to make it into a little joke. Phrases like, "What the khlong?" and "HOLY KHLONG" because pretty popular pretty fast!

All jokes aside, the khlong boats really are a useful and efficient mode of transportation- much better than cabs, and I'm sure I will be using it a LOT during my stay. 

P.S. I rode on my first Thai motorcycle yesterday, as well. It's cheaper transportation than waiting for an ABAC shuttle and it was amazingly fun, but pretty scary at the same time. Our motorcycle actually bumped a cab on the road- close call. Sorry Mom!!

-Emily