sandy feet world travel

life update, photo accompaniment

2011-01-27T20:24:00.005+07:00

and in reverse order from the past post...

koh samet, the return. celebrating the start of 2011.

bangkok riverside.

nothing says christmas like a bucket in the sea.

angkor wat revisited.

two months later, and i do believe a life update is in order

2011-01-27T20:01:00.002+07:00

i'm not quite sure how the time has passed so quickly, but it's already nearing the end of january. i haven't posted in two months now. i suppose an update for that time is in order. here goes...

december:
~a trip to siem reap over a long weekend. i needed to do a visa run to keep my stamp in my passport up-to-date, so why not make an adventure of it? i love cambodia. it was nice to return there and to be a bit of a tour guide for my friends at angkor wat. jess and i intended to run a half marathon there, but given the absolute lack of training and my (at the time) injured ankle, it didn't seem like the best idea. nonetheless, a wonderful weekend exploring temples.
~christmas in koh samet. we had a ten-day vacation from school, and my friend aramenta and i just decided to play it by ear. ten of us went to koh samet for christmas, and we enjoyed the usual island activities--beach, buckets, and fire. we stayed a few days afterwards and came back to bangkok for new years. the plan was to go to laos, but that was dropped as a result of a forgotten passport. everything worked out, and i spent new years' eve with good friends in our local place.

january:
~right after ringing in the new year, aramenta and i met up with my friends from korea and went back to samet for two days. rinse, lather, repeat. a good time once again.
~busy, busy with school. what have i been doing all month?!?! banging around bangkok, nothing too exciting.

and now, one month left of the term with some exciting adventures ahead. my mother is coming over in march, and i am taking her to chiang mai and then to vietnam. after that, i am going to south africa. then i have a couple more weeks of vacation. what to do?!

2010-11-29T11:46:00.008+07:00

i did something on friday night that i would like to do more often. a friend and i went to the bus stop planning to go to kanchanaburi to go hiking, but then we found out we had just missed the bus by fifteen minutes. rather than returning home and having another bangkok friday night, we walked around the bus stop, picked a random place, and went there. i went to ayutthaya when i was in thailand the first time, and i went back with jess.

ayutthaya was the capital of thailand until the burmese marched through and burned much of it a couple hundred years ago. the name ayutthaya is still a part of the capital's name today...the thais do not call this city bangkok but rather krung thep mahanakhon amon rattanakosin mahinthar ayuthaya mahadilok phop noppharat ratchathani burirom udomratchaniwet mahasathan amon phiman awatan sathit sakkathattiya witsanukam prasit (krung thep, city of angels, for short).

enough for my poor, brief account of history. the temples in ayutthaya are beautiful and inspiring. i can't help but wonder what it would be like to walk around there when they were built...

loy krathong

2010-11-26T10:13:00.005+07:00

road running

2010-11-26T09:54:00.004+07:00

when i was here in bangkok the first time in 2008, i ran the bangkok quarter marathon (10K) with my friend leslie. it was a lovely, quick run through a beautiful part of the city, including crossing two bridges over the chao praya river.

after i decided to come back to thailand, i knew i had to do run this race again. on sunday, i ran with jess. to my surprise, i had the same crew of cheerleaders as in 2008: the hua hin nature preserve. they ran as a pack and never stopped cheering. they helped me conquer my sprained ankle and keep running during the second half of the race. if i'm in bangkok for another november, i hope i will be lucky enough to hear "hua hin huh! hua hin huh!" coming up behind me for another road race.

life update, first in pictures (words to come soon...)

2010-11-23T17:56:00.006+07:00

i see this dog on my way to work most mornings. he is always taking a nap on the same table, although i have no idea how he gets on the table. in korea, one might think it's dinnertime, but here, it's just a morning snooze.

touristic cultural adventures with jess: sunday afternoon at the grand palace

halloween on khao sarn road...it's like every other night but with pirate hats!

happy place

2010-10-30T09:54:00.004+07:00

back in bangkok

2010-10-29T20:58:00.002+07:00

after nearly driving myself mental in korea, i am back in bangkok and falling in love with thailand again. i have felt that this place is where i belong for quite some time now. i am glad that i finally made the decision to come back.

last weekend on koh samet confirmed my thoughts. true, my few days there made me miss the adventures i used to have with my girls the first time i was in thailand. at the same time, i know this is a new year. i have to start again, however tempting it is to relive my past. i couldn't even recreate those moments if i tried; i'm a different person now. no longer the reckless twenty-two year old party girl, i'm a little more subdued at twenty-four. i can feel myself maturing, and i think that's a good thing. when asked to jump through a hoop of fire at a beach bar on samet, i passed the spotlight on to a new friend. (of course, i couldn't resist a little fire limbo or some twirling lessons.)

for a change, i am taking really good care of myself--lots of sleep, lots of fruit, yoga class, and training for a half marathon in cambodia in december. i'm being selfish; this year is all about me me me. i'm not sure what will happen with graduate school, although i do regret taking the gre when i was so stressed and fatigued. at this point, i am just working with what i have and letting the rest fall into place. it's a pretty amazing feeling. mai pen rai, my friends, mai pen rai.

new blog + business!

2010-10-01T00:33:00.002+07:00

hi friends,

i am starting up a little import/export business while in bangkok this year. check it out at laylawadeedesigns.blogspot.com! i don't have much up there yet, but there will be lots of photos very soon! xoxo

going to be sandy again very soon...

2010-08-17T00:04:00.002+07:00

i made a decision. i booked a flight home. now, why can't i sleep?!?!?! i'm sitting awake at 2am, eating costco cheedar cheese, and thinking about spinning class at 9 am. i wish i could sleep so i don't fall over halfway through it. oh well, i don't work tomorrow. there are lots of things i should do tomorrow, especially now that i know i am going home. but....if i am tired and decide to take a long lunch at madres then a nap, no big deal.

so much to do, so little time. i'm excited to go home though. time to get my feet sandy!!!!!

what am i ever doing?! part two

2010-08-08T22:20:00.004+07:00

i'm still not sure what i will do at the end of this month. i am looking into some public school jobs in ilsan, but i am also looking into jobs in bangkok and phuket. i hope i will get things sorted out soon, so i can start making plans. i really like making plans.

right now, i am starting to think a bit of time at home would be a good idea for me. i came to korea in october of last year, so it has been nearly a year since i was last home. i want to sit on the back porch and drink coffee with my mom while it's still misty in the morning. i want to go paddling. i want to spend the weekends on the beach in apalachicola. i want to get my grad school applications in order and take the gre (maybe study for it a little bit as well).

in my efforts to figure things out, i have made a pros and cons sheet for thailand and korea. while the reasons for each are equal in numbers, there are some huge things to consider. first, I HATE WINTER. i despise winter. i hate snow. i don't mind being inside in the winter for a few moments, but even that gets old quickly. second, i miss the sea. koh samet weekends were the best. phi phi and phuket are pretty nice as well. third, i'm never going to meet a decent guy in korea. the foreigners in korea are much more uptight than those in southeast asia. here, it's mostly army guys (jerks) and hipster teachers (too skinny). it would be so easy to stay in korea though; i already have a life here. i know my way around, and i know a lot of people.

decisions, decisions. i'll figure it out eventually.

what am i ever doing?!

2010-07-28T22:53:00.007+07:00

who knows what i will be doing after tomorrow, my last say at jung chul school? summer camp? one month with the school where my students are transferring? staying in korea? going back to thailand? everything is up in the air at the moment, but i am hoping things will start falling into place soon. i am going to shanghai for a long weekend with riley on saturday, and i think a little breather from korea is just what i need.

since i know so little about what i am doing at the moment, i thought i would post somethings that have been going right lately. photo time! the past few weeks in a nutshell...crazy life = crazy parties.

the end of a sunday funday at roofers rooftop bar in seoul

the mudfestival in boryeong. only in korea is there a festival where you paint yourself from head to toe in mud and dance around outside with your friends.

never let me join your band. i have no musical talent. a kind old lady gave me her drum to bang on for a bit though.

i ran into my dance instructors out in seoul this weekend. i love them!

back to plan number one

2010-07-25T19:58:00.002+07:00

as it turns out, i'll be transferring schools with my students when our school closes at the end of this week. i am going to stay and complete my contract on its original terms! i really liked the plan i had, and now i am happy that it is my plan again. i will get to go home for the holidays and then start something new this spring before graduate school in the fall. i am happy when things work out so well. life is good.

if you want to see a rainbow, you've got to have a little rain

2010-07-19T15:04:00.002+07:00

if you want to see a rainbow, you've got to have a little rain. too bad it's monsoon season in korea right now. i hope that means i get to see a really big rainbow.

i had a great plan to stay in korea until november, go home for the holidays, and then start a round-the-world trip in the spring. i found out last week that my school will be closing at the end of the month, and so it's time for me to get a new plan. i am not ready to leave korea so soon. i think i will stay here for august to spend time with my friends and to work a short summer camp. i know i will miss korea, but i cannot sign a contract to stay for another year. i am not a fan of the winter, and so i think i will go back to a place where i always feel beautiful.

i love thailand, and i was very happy there. i need to go back to a place where i feel beautiful everyday. i rather liked being admired on the street. i miss the simple life i had there, both when i was diving and when i was teaching. i miss the adventures. i also miss thai food a lot. korean food just doesn't compare to it at all.

everything seems to happen for a reason, and maybe it's just time for me to move on and do something different. timing could have been a bit better, since now i am trying to find a job on top of applying to grad school and studying for the gre. i made a giant list of things to do while i am still in korea, and so i guess i just have to do one thing at a time. that's the most anyone can do anyways...just live one hour at a time.

mid-summer update

2010-07-07T19:21:00.008+07:00

life has been all sorts of topsy-turvy lately, but it's certainly time for an update (at least a photo one).

at the end of may, i went to a pig roast up in the mountains outside of seoul with a group of my friends. even though i don't eat pig, it was a great day with delicious food.

in early june, my friend hidie came to visit. hidie is from hong kong, but we met at summer camp in hawaii. we went out to a cafe in seoul called o'sulloc, which serves desserts made with green tea (yummy cakes, ice cream, tiramisu...).

the hamilton rooftop club pool finally opened. it's a perfect place to spend a sunday afternoon. i'm glad i have a waterproof camera; otherwise, taking a photo of rachel and me drinking on a float in the middle of the pool would not have been a good idea.

two of my very favorite people at school. ariel wrote a note to roja teacher in this capsule on a friday afternoon. the tiny note says, "teacher, do we have a homework today?" she's absolutely the sweetest and cutest child i have ever met. she draws pictures of me to give me as presents and even gave me a couple-ring (she has the other one).

riley and i went to busan, and, among other things, we found a papa john's restaurant! amazing!

random korea and china

2010-05-30T12:30:00.005+07:00

nightmare on a bus

2010-05-10T17:26:00.002+07:00

i don't always have the best luck. in fact, i have had quite a few sordid adventures with traveling. let's see, there was the trip to phuket on the king's birthday, where it took me 15 hours alone to get there from bangkok, instead of the eight-hour express bus with my friends. there was a motorcycle drive to no where in bali with warren, camilla, and nur. i still don't know how three people could miss a volcano. the freak rain showers did not help either. there was the hellish ride from luang prabang to vang vieng in laos; i was excited to have the front seat, but not so happy when the old lady next to me alternated between sleeping on my shoulder and eating cucumbers and tossing pieces of the out the window over me. there was the misadventures with jacqueline all over europe--lost hiking in malta, hot and smelly trains through portugal that seem to last forever, italian trains that never run on time, and so on...

this weekend tops all of that. i have never, ever spent so much time on a bus. anything that could have gone wrong with tranportation did.

riley and i woke up early on saturday morning, excited to get to our friends' place so we could get to the beach as soon as possible. we went to the express bus terminal in seoul and sat around for two hours, since the next five buses were sold out. that bus got stuck in tons of traffic getting out of seoul, taking an extra hour and a half to get to masan. then the four of us (leslie, grat, riley, and i) hung out for a bit and jumped on a bus to busan to go to the beach. it should take about an hour to go the short distance of 20 miles between the two cities. our bus took four hours. i'm pretty sure i could've jogged there faster. it was dark when we arrived, so we gave up on going to the beach. we had dinner at pizza hut and went back to masan (that bus did not take long at all).

we went out there to a bar named after che guevarra which was throwing a party that night. they only served tequila and budweiser. ew and ew. that wasn't the strangest part of the party though, oh no. the koreans working in the bar we wearing red shirts with swastikas on the front of them. i hoped they were the hindu symbol, but i think someone made an error at the print shop. riley and i were given a couple as parting gifts. i think i can safely chuck that in the bin.

and then sunday. we spent sometime with leslie around town and then made our first attempt to get back to seoul. it took going to three different bus stations and waiting for four hours until we could get on a bus. needless to say, i was thrilled to get back last night.

i want to travel around korea while i'm here, but i'm a bit put off by it at the moment. everything is in and around seoul anyways. i am so happy to live where i do. i'm sure i'll try busan again, but i'm flying there. or teleporting. or finding a hovercraft to borrow.

school girl thoughts

2010-04-20T18:31:00.004+07:00

there are lots of things i could be doing at school at the moment, but i have been on my feet for the past six hours teaching non-stop to a bunch of stressed-out students. all of the grading and essay preparation can wait for tomorrow, when i will have much more time than a measly thirty minutes (thirty minutes of somewhat patiently waiting to get out of here for the night).

life is a little crazy at the moment, but, then again, my life is never really normal. much of the drama is not mine to tell. i'll leave it off the blog aside from my own musings about how exactly one crashes one's car into a cow. i thought cows were slow and stationary animals, but perhaps they are faster in africa. all mammals involved are recovering and doing better...i just have to wonder.

having been in korea for a solid six months now, i haven't laid eyes on a cow in quite some time. we don't really have them in tallahassee either, so it must have been during my last trip to kentucky. i guess i don't know my farm animals, so who am i to judge?

having been in korea for a solid six months now, i'm also starting to consider what to do after the next six. my ideas change almost daily. i want to teach again. i never ever want to teach again. i want to go back to southeast asia. i want to go to south america. i want to... i want to... i want to...

who knows? but two things are definitely in my pre-law school period of freedom. i'm making tentative plans to do the everest base camp trek with a fellow scuba girl from phi phi right after i finish here. i would still be home for thanksgiving (at least, christmas). it's something i have wanted to do since leslie and grat started planning their trip there. i couldn't go with them because they started the same day i began my divemaster's internship.

speaking of diving, that's my second must-do: i want to get my open water scuba instructor's ranking. i have to do it in bali, where i did my divemaster's. i love the shop there, and i love everything about life in bali, even my commute at sunrise (if a biycle ride down the beach is really a commute at all).

as for now, just looking forward to the next weekend.

brandy anne comes to visit!

2010-04-15T22:44:00.006+07:00

photos!!

2010-04-15T22:32:00.006+07:00

riley's 23rd birthday at beer o'clock. three girls, thirty shots, lots of pizza = not really a challenge.

modeling the hanbok (korean traditional costume) with riley at gyeonbokgung palace. for a culture so obsessed with being thin, you would think it would be a little more flattering than 2000000000 yards of fabric. i enjoyed watching the costume staff run around trying to find "giant size" shoes for me. yes, they did feel like wearing baby boats on my feet.

the next installment for sea backpacker (may/june)

2010-04-14T19:08:00.001+07:00

How to dress a backpacker in ten easy steps:

1. Fisherman’s pants Without these pants, a backpacker would just have to go naked. They are perfectly suited to any traveler’s activities—lounging on a beach, elephant riding, trekking, and, most importantly, long trips in trains, planes, automobiles, and stinky buses. My favorites are the silky ones from Khao Sarn Road and the thicker, embroidered ones from the Sunday Night Market in Chiang Mai.
2. Scarves, scarves, and more scarves Wherever you go in Southeast Asia, you’ll find beautiful scarves. In the majority of places, they are silk, but there are heaps of stunning cotton ones to be found as well. They make perfect gifts for anyone, and they take up very little space in your backpack. Like fisherman’s pants, you’ll want them in every color as well as an extra picnic-printed korama from Cambodia to cover your face on the dusty tuk-tuk rides.
3. Sarong The close neighbor to the scarf but, if possible, more versatile. In fact, you can even wear it around your neck like a scarf! It can also be a beach mat, blanket, towel, wall decoration, rug, skirt, dress, hair wrap, or napsack. I even once used a sarong to bandage a friend’s bleeding foot at a beach party. Pick one up from the old lady selling them off her shoulder on the beach for 100 baht (3 USD) or hold out for fancier ones in Bali for 40,000 rupiah (4 USD).
4. Street sunnies Gucci, Chanel, Ray Ban, or just something big and colorful…You name it. You bargain for it. You look like a backpacker. Find the best deals in a night market near you.
5. Beer shirts Singha, Chang, Tiger, Beer Lao, Bintang, Angkor. You’ve been drinking these local brews throughout your travels, so why not remember it with a shirt? Pick up the local specialty with your next beer tower.
6. “In the Tubing” shirt Whether you remember it or not, you’ve been on every rope swing down the river, starting with the big zip line at Bar One. You’ve played volleyball in the mud pit and experienced Slide Bar. Your friends have covered you in handwritten tattoos, and the Q bar boys have spray-painted Q’s anywhere you will let them. How else are you going to commemorate your time there than with this backpacker’s wardrobe staple? Find them in any color and cut in the dozens of little shops in Vang Vieng.
7. Jewelry with a story You’ll keep the jewelry you get while traveling way longer than any shirt or bag, so you might as well stock up. I actually measured the jewelry I bought in Chiang Mai in kilos after I left. Favorite pieces: Cambodian silver cuffs, and, of course, the giant Chiang Mai beads. If your looking for something with a name on it, don’t forget the knock-offs to be found in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown.
8. Sundresses A sundress is perhaps the easiest outfit in the word. It’s an outfit in itself, so just throw on some of your awesome jewelry and you’re set. Extra benefit: works as a breezy swimsuit cover-up. (Guys’ option: street boardies. Where else can you pick up a pair of board shorts for the same price as your curry?)
9. Headbands Add a headband to your salty locks and instantly become a Greek goddess for the night’s beach party. (Guys’ option: the Jason Mraz hat. You put it on, and I won’t hesitate no more…I’m yours!)
10. The cloth bag Bedazzled or not, there are size requirements to be met. It must hold at least a 1.5 L 7-11 bottle of water, a copy of Lonely Planet Southeast Asia on a Shoestring, camera, travel journal, wallet, spare swimsuit, and, if you’re lucky, a kitchen sink.

Now that you’re fully dressed, don’t forget to pick up a few things for your home: a hill tribe blanket, string lights, notebooks, postcards, and street art!

the way we were

2010-03-29T21:13:00.004+07:00

ray lamontagne always puts me in the mood to write, which i haven't been doing much of lately. the fingers of winter just cannot seem to let go of korea, and it's nearly april. i hope they will release their death grips and let us ease into spring. the days are getting warmer, but i come home from school in the cold every night. i'm so glad there are two soup places downstairs where i can stop for a steaming bowl of sundubu jiggae instead of cooking. sundubu jiggae is a simple spicy soup with clams, tofu, egg, and zucchini, and it's probably my favorite dish here. no other food warms me up quite so quickly.

while eating my soup and reading joan didion's "slouching towards bethelem," i thought about vassar. the epigraph to and namesake of her collection is one of my favorite yeats poems, and i still hear paul kane, my favorite poetry professor, in my head when i read it. cashmere-clad and playing with my new nose piercing, i couldn't help think...you can take the girl out of vassar, but you can't take the vassar out of the girl. someone recently told me it was "scandalous" that i went there. how so, i still can't decipher. although i have mixed feelings about some of my time there (ahem, the return from italia and hawai'i when my own 70-page thesis on fairy tales slapped me in the face), i will always love being a vassar girl.

the same person who was shocked by my past makes me think of a line from the same yeats poem: "things fall apart; the center cannot hold." although i had no feelings for him, he made me realize that i am no longer the phi phi island princess. i am not fawned over or adored by all in korea. no one has made me a crown. am i falling apart? better yet, wasn't i at my hottest mess status on that island? can i ever be that island girl again, or is life pushing me towards something else, something more serious and "grown-up"? only six more months in korea will tell. there are so many things to think about--where to go next, law school in 2011, what to make of my so-called relationship across the continents.

one thing makes me very happy though: brandy is coming to visit in two days!! she's one of my very favorite people in the world. so much has happened since we said goodbye in hawaii. if only we had known that last time we had all (me, her, jp, james, gabby, and teri) been together just how much would change in 18 months.

t.g.i.f. tomorrow

2010-03-18T18:41:00.005+07:00

friday could not come soon enough. i am so exhausted this week, but it has been a fun week nonetheless...

monday: i went out with my co-workers to celebrate a new teacher starting at our school. we went out for eel again, and i have to say it was much better this time around. perhaps the deliciousness of the eel is directly proportionate to the amount of soju i drink. dinner led to a bar and playing many chopstick drinking games. something about the flourishing of the sticks reminds me of harry potter or a fencer. i like the korean drinking games, but i do want to teach them some american games one day. then i can poke fun at them the way they poke fun at me. after the bar, we went to a noraebang (singing room). my co-teacher loves enrique iglesias almost as much as i do. he loves enrique so much that he crawled across the table singing "escape." i thought that was a move only katherine stuth and i could pull off, but he did it quite well.

tuesday: i woke up with a bit of a soju headache but still got myself to spinning class. after the gym, i went out to lunch with dave (my neighbor), james (9:30 spin guy), and ms. kim (golfs with james). we went to a nice italian place nearby that i had been meaning to try for a while. i'm already looking forward to our next lunch date.

wednesday: st. patrick's day. to humor a friend that is/was interested in some army boys, i made the mission to itaewon mid-week. i'm not planning on doing that again for sometime now. despite grumbling on the subway on the way there, it turned out to be a pretty good night. what am i saying, the three of us girls always have a good time!

assorted moments of life in soko

2010-03-14T20:28:00.004+07:00

seoul food

2010-03-14T20:22:00.002+07:00

i'm always excited to discover something new and interesting to eat. there are lots of good places around seoul, but at the moment two of my favorite are in hyewha, a university area of town. the first is a slow food place with a good fusion of korean and european food. the other is this place where they serve baked pumpkin stuffed with seafood and veggies and soju cocktails out of fruit.

lunar new year weekend

2010-02-22T21:12:00.003+07:00

chilllll...

2010-02-22T17:58:00.002+07:00

everyone at school seems tired, miserable, and stressed on this surprisingly sunny monday. i know we are all busy, but why be so miserable? all of the students whined and complained about every little thing that i asked them to do. i danced around a lot and tried to encourage them, faking much happiness.

the strange thing about faking happiness is that it actually tends to make you happy. i'm not miserable and stressed in the way that the korean teacher are (or at least appear to be), but i'm still a bit tired from a busy weekend and a morning at the gym. even though i'm frustrated with my classes from the day, i'm content that i put the effort in and again made a fool of myself being the overly energetic, crazy foreign teacher. i guess that role is one that i play well after a million years of being a summer camp counselor and the smiling divemaster. it was fun to be the life of the boat, even when you felt like you might keel over the side of it after too many days of little sleep.

the sleep question is something i am fixing here. it's not as tempting to go out during the week, since, well, most people don't except for the usual ladies' night at the frog and toad. the gym is good motivation as well. working out is so much easier when i'm not downing a couple cups of coffee to get myself going.

i complain about it as much as anyone else, but life in korea is pretty ok. i have fantastic weekends. on friday night, my friends all came over to my place and then we had a good local night. on saturday, i went shopping in myeong-dong to find the perfect shorts for my jersey shore costume. they are black hot pants that lace up in the front. if i even decide to dress as lady gaga from the poker face video, i'm already set. (i'll put photos up after my birthday party on saturday night.) saturday night, we tried to go to our friends play in itaewan but couldn't find it since we had the name of the place a little wrong. instead, we went out for thai food (i miss street food!!) and then to meet some other friends at the loft, our usual hang out in itaewan. from there, we went to mansion in hongdae to see dj klever, who i'd heard at some point while at vassar. i hope that one day my friends will learn to like house music. i've learned to like it since i've been traveling, but i just think it's a lofty and illogical goal for my friends. too bad. a good weekend overall though.

yes, being intensely happy (and happy-go-lucky) is very much a conscious decision. and it's one that i made with brandy last week. i'm sticking to it.

gotta get back to basics: one out of the archives

2010-02-18T21:54:00.003+07:00

i talked to my girl brandy last night, and she brought out a few emails from the archives. i sounded so happy-go-lucky in all of them. i miss being so happy all the time, like i was in thailand. i'm still having fun here, but i do miss being this girl....

My last email update was months ago, just after my run on Maui and
before my departure to Thailand. I just completed another big run
this weekend! With my lovely Leslie and several thousand new friends,
I ran the Bangkok Quarter Marathon on Sunday morning. The race was
much different from the one on Maui (and not just because of the
distance); the course passed several of Bangkok's famous landmarks
like the Royal Palace, the Royal Theatre, and the Rama VIII Bridge,
but my favorite sights were the Thai people cheering on the sidewalks
and the monks on their morning walks, who occasionally blessed us
runners.

Anyways, I have been here for more than two months now, and though I
cannot possibly describe that time adequately, I can at least give you
a little idea of where I have been and what I have been doing.

I spent the first month in Chiang Mai, a charming city in the
mountainous north, full of gorgeous temples, tasty food, and masters
of Thai massage. There, I completed my training with 30 other
teachers; our class days were long, but we still managed to go out
every night. Some favorite places include pubs along the riverfront
where we could watch the boats pass and listen to impressive cover
bands, a rooftop bar near the night bazaar downtown with a treacherous
stairway to get up and a creaky bamboo floor, a reggae club with sand
floors, and, yes, the occasional go-go bar where the girls had
different colors of neon bikinis for each night of the week. Closer
to our hotel was Pom's, a local outdoor bar, where Pom himself took
care of our group and taught us some basic Thai after our many hours
spent teaching English. The weeks were busy, and the weekends were
full of adventures. I must admit I spent a couple of those days
exploring the spa culture with some other girls on the program. I
also took a cooking class with a Vassar-friend-in-law named Eliza, who
is a pre-school teacher in Chiang Mai. I promise you all lots of
curries and pad thai whenever I come back (maybe some spring rolls
too?).

My favorite day during my training, however, was actually spent
outside of the Chiang Mai moat. The day began very early with a
scooter ride up to Wat Doi Suthep, which sits atop a nearby mountain
overlooking the city. I arrived just in time to climb the
dragon-framed staircase and catch the first rays of light hitting the
golden exterior of the temple. The city soon emerged in the
background as the mist burned off and the sun seemed to light the
temple on fire with an orange glow. I left Suthep on the back of the
pink scooter with the monks' morning chants still echoing in my mind
and the morning breeze in my hair. In town, I joined some other
teachers for a day of elephant-riding, waterfall-swimming, and
whitewater-rafting. The elephant ride was much what I thought an
elephant ride would be. My elephant was very hungry during the trip,
constantly pulling down banana leaves (the flying branches were a bit
of a danger to those not paying attention and, say, hugging the
elephant from behind its ears) and showering itself with water from a
stream. The swim after the ride was a bit of a necessity after the
banana leaf parade and trunk shower, but, more than anything else, it
was a group-bonding moment, as was our rafting trip/swim down the tame
river.

The last night in Chiang Mai, like any other last night, was
bittersweet. We had dinner in traditional Thai dress, and though I
rarely wear pink, I wore a pink and gold skirt and sash with white
plumerias in my hair. The stylist insisted he would make me "the Miz
Universe, dahling." It was a good night, which we all still felt the
next day. We have a great phrase here to describe those mornings:
Chang-overs. Chang, which means elephant, is one of the big brewing
companies here, and their beverages do not have a regulated alcohol
content…What happens after a drink is always a surprise, though the
feeling the next day is more of an expectation at this point.

From Chiang Mai, I traveled to Koh Pha-ngan, an island down south,
with twelve of the original 30. After a night train, a day train, a
night ferry, and no sleep since we kept the party going with our
travels, we arrived and settled into our bungalows on the beach—home
for a week. During that time, we went to the Full Moon Party, the
beach event that has made this island famous. Seeing the sunrise
while still dancing with friends after the whole night's party is one
of my favorite moments during my time here. I'll never forget
screaming and running into the ocean with them and those first few
minutes of daylight.

After a lot of floatie time on the beach during the days following the
Full Moon, I left with two friends for another island: Koh Tao.
While on Koh Tao, I went diving. I went diving a lot. I went diving
so much that I wound up with blood in my ears and a gnarly infection.
I spent a day out of the water but still riding around on the dive
boat and was back in as soon as possible. We spent every day of the
week diving and every night hanging out with the divemasters at the
Buddha View, a little beachside patio that just might be one of my
favorite places in the world. Perhaps I have a career as a divemaster
in my future, who knows? I suppose I will just have to keep my ears
in check…

After Koh Tao, I spent a few days helping my blonde partner-in-crime
Leslie settle into her school in a fairly sleepy beach town in
Prachaup Khiri Khan province. I went to school with her one day, and
I am happy that her kids still ask about me a month later. Going to
her school made me far less nervous about coming to my own, which I
did after leaving PKK and spending a few days in Bangkok, that crazy
disco ball of a city. Technically, I am still in the greater Bangkok
metropolis, but my little suburb does not feel like it, except when I
make the short van ride south.

And now, in this little place with a huge school, I teach
kindergarten. My kids are crazy. Absolutely crazy. I teach 27
classes a week and see nearly 900 kids in that time. I wish I could
remember all of their names and faces, but I really just know the kids
that stand out for some reason or another, like the girl with the
impossibly long name who bangs on my stomach on Tuesday afternoons or
the little boy named God that head-butted me on Friday. Midway
through "If You're Happy and You Know It," God ran at me full speed
from the back of the classroom and head-butted me. That's right, I
was head-butted by God. I cannot help but wonder, is this supposed to
be some sort of awakening? Wait until class next week, and I'll let
you know.

Outside of class, there is little to do in my town. I joined the
Fitness First nearby, where I take yoga, hip hop, or spinning classes
everyday. The classes are a lot of fun, even though I do want to
rename my hot yoga class "Advanced Sexual Positions and Language
Barriers." Unless I am somewhere near the front so I can watch the
instructor, who always has his legs wrapped around his head in some
twisting shape or another, I have no idea what is going on and end up
face-planting (read more about face-planting later). Unlike yoga, I
can always follow hip hop class, especially with the instructors'
little exclamations in English like "get low," "shake it fast," and
"work it out." When I am not too destroyed by kindergarten, I still
run too—obviously, I just ran a road race.

I promised more on face-planting, so here it is, the section of my
long email about how I have embarrassed myself in front of the locals.
On my first day here, I went to the noodle stand on the street.
There are about 5 street carts that share the same sitting area, where
I pulled up a nice plastic stool while waiting on my pad thai. I
received my noodles and started to eat them, when I turned my head a
little too quickly. I fell off the stool, and I rolled until I hit
the noodle cart. Nan, my English-speaking friend at the neighboring
fruit stand, introduced herself at this point, making sure that I was
ok amidst the horrified looks on all of the other Thai faces, which
were trying to enjoy their noodles just like I was moments beforehand.
When I went back to the noodle stand, my pad thai provider pulled up
her own plastic chair for me to sit in. The next day, Nan brought
over a special wood and metal chair from her house. That's right, I
had a special girl chair, where I sat every time I had pad thai. I am
happy to say that I graduated from the special chair on Friday
afternoon, when I ate with Nan, and we both sat on the stools. There
are more humiliating stories, like locking myself out of my apartment
(that one involved a ladder) and accidentally dressing like a school
girl, but those will have to wait until your next very lengthy email.
Congratulations to you if you read the whole thing!

I miss you all! Send me your stories!

Love and love,
Charla

spring, spring, where are you?

2010-02-07T17:56:00.002+07:00

it's february now. i hate february. it's still cold! when will spring finally come and melt away the ice?

i've had a surprisingly fun week of february so far, despite my vendetta against the month. friday night was one of the surprise nights out. it started out with having a drink at home with my neighbor, who i now consider my older brother while i'm in korea. then we went out, still planning on a quiet night. after running into some other friends, the early hours of the morning were soon calling me to sleep. i love those random nights.

saturday was much more planned, even though we struggle with directions to the club. we went to a place called monkey beach, which tries to capture the spirit of the full moon party on koh phangan. they have fun lights but no sand. free shots but no fluorescent paint. tables and poles to dance on but no ocean to swim in. they have the buckets but no amphetimine-laden red bull (you wonder why thai people smile so much? speed in the energy drinks might just be the answer...). you don't even have to haggle with the bartender! the buckets were a lot tastier than many that i had on the islands. of course, i miss the islands, but i feel like i have found a good replacement for when i need a beach rave in the middle of winter in korea. it was a perfect night of being silly with the girls.

i'm so lucky to have found such an amazing group of girlfriends here. what are we ever doing? we are having fun!

i also had a bit of good news today...my "lingering travelers" article will be published in march!

and when i'm not at school

2010-01-30T14:17:00.002+07:00

clubbing in seoul

at naked

winter conversations class

2010-01-30T14:11:00.004+07:00

we cooked a lot in my winter conversation class! this class....pancakes!

face of a teacher

2010-01-25T21:43:00.003+07:00

my body aches from exhaustion.

i hate when people tell me i look tired. several people did today. first, they are stating the obvious. second, why don't they just tell me that i look like shit? i'm equally entertained and annoyed when they try to guess why, like the front desk manager at my gym. he saw me leaving after a two and a half hour workout, told me i looked tired, and then asked if i drank too much soju over the weekend.

no, michael, it wasn't the drinking. it was your trainer who tried to break me this morning. and it wasn't soju; it was the free vodka drinks.

i'm tired but putting off going to sleep. my mind is so busy, so frenetic right now that i just can't seem to calm it down. i know i don't have to decide the rest of my life in the next few moments or even in the next few months, but i just keep thinking about life after korea--boy, grad school, life...

add to that the approaching february. since boarding school, i have feared february. boarding school february is a psychological event to me, continued through college and halfway escaped last year. speaking of last year, i am really going to miss the princess this february, especially on valentine's day. that changes my thoughts of the month too. it will have been a year, but she's still on my mind everyday. of course, there are some things that are better; i no longer have to deal with a stressful academic workload nor am i dealing with the stress of and training for state swimming championships. life is so much easier than it was when i was a student, but i can't help but dread it. even though it's pretty confusing at the moment, there are so many good things in my life. how many people can say that they really love their lives?

...and a little more than a month until i'm 24. what crazy things should i do before then?

winter in korea!

2010-01-16T23:03:00.003+07:00

2009, i'm a lucky duck.

2010-01-05T23:36:00.000+07:00

hello, 2010

2010-01-05T23:18:00.003+07:00

so much happens in a year, and yet it passes so quickly. one year can change a life, and 2009 certainly changed me more than i could have ever expected. i spent only a handful of weeks at home this year, but it is the thousands of miles and dozens of passport stamps that mark the inward change.

in one year, i have lived in thailand, bali, and south korea. in my mind, i have lived in a place when i have been there long enough to need a haircut (a strange indicator, i know). i have traveled through laos, cambodia, and malaysia as well. i took a special trip with a best friend through my homeland in the south while at home. i have left pieces of myself in all of those places, but it is the things i still carry--physical or not--that stand out the most.

how am i so lucky to have met the people i have this year? then there are the ones i have kept up with all this time...for one special girl it's been over a year and a half since i bailed on camp for a day and jumped in the van in my climbing gear to take her to the airport when she was leaving oahu. how fitting it is that the last time we were together i was in a harness and a helmet. that's what we need in our very parallel lives. she's the friend who is always mysteriously there. lines will intersect eventually. i know they will.

where will we all be in one more year? the island princesses, slashies, the boxfish, and the woo-girls? maybe slashy and i had the best answer to my mantra, "what am i ever doing?"

at the end of the day, i am always having fun.

somethings are universal

2009-12-08T14:08:00.002+07:00

i left the gym this morning just in time to see snow beginning to fall. there were flurries on saturday, but this was the first heavy snowfall i had seen since my days at vassar. the snow lasted only a few moments, an hour at most, but i was surprisingly happy to see it.

i stopped in a store on my way home, one i had been meaning to look into for sometime since it looks a bit like a small anthropologie with a flower shop attached. aside from "hello" and "thank you," i had little to say to the girl working there, whose english-speaking abilities rivaled my korean. there were still big smiles as we pointed out the windows and looked at sweaters. ah, the first snowfall.

monday, monday, monday

2009-12-07T21:54:00.002+07:00

i am way too exhausted for it to only be monday. i worked a six-day week last week, and i just had my sunday off. i couldn't be bothered to go out on saturday night when i got home around 10, the perfect time to go out. needless to say, i am already looking forward to the upcoming weekend.

aside from being painfully tired, today has been an alright day. my gym just started a boxing class today, so that was a great way to start my morning (and maybe another reason that i'm tired, considering that i haven't done any boxing work-outs since thailand).

i'm a bit worn down by one of my classes at the moment. i'm usually great with seven-year-olds, but this one class is full of little terrors!! i keep asking the korean teachers for help/advice, but they just say the problem is the students. i've figured out that much. and then, of course, little ariel is in this class. she always gives me candy and smiles. she always comes to my friday essay class, so i think i will have to bring cookies this week or something. ariel is me at seven-years-old: a bit on the nerdy side, often in her own world, but absolutely adorable.

i know it's a cover, but i'm digging this damien rice and ray lamontagne duo

2009-12-07T21:52:00.000+07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNJwBaYAtcM&feature=related

something from another vassar girl, by way of brandy belt

2009-12-07T21:12:00.000+07:00

when it's over, i want to say: all my life i was a bride married to amazement. i was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. when it is over, i don't want to wonder if i have made of my life something particular, and real. i don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. i don't want to end up simply having visited this world. -mary oliver

at school on a saturday night...

2009-12-05T18:12:00.002+07:00

thanks to the mini-vacation we had as a result of swine flu in my school my second week here, i have the pleasure of working a couple of saturdays this december. today is one of them.

having school today didn't stop me from going out with my friends last night though. we went to a club in hongdae, the university area of seoul, to see some (supposedly somewhat famous) dj's from tokyo. we danced until early morning, when we just could not stand up any more.

i finally saw some people i met in koh phi phi in the club last night. so much has changed since the last time i saw them. i think they were surprised to see me wearing shoes!

in fact, i really miss being barefoot all the time. i'm growing to like my life here, but the beach is definitely a part of who i am. i miss it. the name of my blog is "sandy feet world travel," after all...

thanksgiving

2009-12-01T22:42:00.002+07:00

essay highlights

2009-11-30T17:51:00.004+07:00

for the speaking contest, the students also have to write an essay, which i grade. this month's topic: christmas. here are some of the highlights:

"christmas is a very very happy peace day."
"hello my name is jack. i hate the christmas because, santa is doesn't live in the world in the earth in the space but i can play on christmas."
"i want to the present. i want dog, dog, dog please."
"i like christmas, but i am not like noisy."
"i have a banality dinner."
"i study hard because too soon exam...i pray good lucky!"
"christmas is gob's bornedday."

i love speaking test days.

2009-11-30T16:11:00.002+07:00

once a month, we have a speaking contest at my school. the students memorize short passages from the books they are reading to recite to the korean teachers. they have a 3-minute interview with me. i get to see all of my students and ask them fun questions, like, "what do you want for christmas?" in my book, today's winner is jane, an eight-year-old girl, who answered, "teacher, i want a fireman."

sometimes i just have to wonder

2009-11-30T13:18:00.002+07:00

fashion is a fickle beast, especially when it comes to athletic wear...

there are always interesting ensembles at my gym here. there is a constant assortment of neon spandex. women dress very sexy for dance class (do they realize our teacher is far from interested in women? probably not.). today, i saw the best and possibly most uncomfortable outfit ever. the woman in dance class next to me had on her normal blue spandex pants, but on top, she was wearing a rashguard. now, there are no surfboards in my gym, only yoga mats, but this tiny woman was wearing a 3-milimeter, long-sleeved hot pink maui built rashie. how she didn't die of heat stroke after spinning and dance, i have no idea. here's to you, crazy lady.

a charlie brown thanksgiving, year number two

2009-11-26T18:43:00.002+07:00

not only a time to give thanks, thanksgiving is also a time to let our sense of nostalgia for a part-fictional past momentarily take over. in most minds, there is an image of a perfectly happy family sitting around a table smiling and eating.

i'll take my somewhat messy past over the american holiday dream anyday. my family is anything but boring, although i told my mother that we were sometime in elementary school, when i was too consumed in my own little world to realize anything going on around me. my favorite thanksgivings are the ones that have been completely chaotic...

1. thanksgiving 2008. i was in bangkok during all of the protests, so my planned trip to chiang mai to have thanksgiving with friends there was not a possibility. instead, i had thanksgiving on my street corner with a boy named matt, the other american teacher in my town, and nan, my fruit lady/thai mommy. matt never talked much, so nan and i carelessly chatted away. we had pad thai and tons of papaya and pineapple. she wanted me to feel at home there and did everything to help make my stay there a good time, even showing my mom around when she came to visit. we had drinks on the street that night too. while i was there, i didn't quite understand why it was called "soi dee" ("the good road" in thai), but now i know it's because of the sweet people who live there. i spent a lot of great nights sitting on the street corner, especially when one of the local college kids would haul out a guitar and pick away at attempted english songs.

2. thanksgiving 2007. my mom and i signed up to run the tallahassee turkey trot and trained for it, but when we woke up to rain, nothing could be further from our minds than running. instead, we made a light breakfast and watched a bunch of "friends." then we went to chez pierre, just the two of us, for our own perfect thanksgiving.

3. thanksgivings growing up. they were always a zoo of family members, friends, and food...

oh, time leave school. happy thanksgiving, charlie brown.

still waiting on a "wow!" (the remix)

2009-11-25T16:59:00.003+07:00

i have been in korea for nearly six weeks now, and i am still waiting on a "wow!" day, when i am excited about my life and everything going on in it. i have had a lot of those days over the past year and a half, as i've traveled to a lot of interesting places.

i have been in korea for nearly six weeks now, and i still haven't had one. i have had some good days, some solid-effort days, and the occasional bad ones. i don't expect everyday to be a "wow!" day, except for when i was in bali, but i do like to have one every now and again. if i'm not truly excited by anything going on around me, what's the point of travel? i suppose i am not traveling for the time being though; i live and work here, just as the other 5 billion people in the world live and work in their cities.

while most of my life has been a steady curve of highs and lows, with a few plateaus (bali) and a few flat valleys (first semester of senior year at vassar), good things usually come along soon enough. i feel like my time in korea has been a bit of a downhill slide, albeit a slow one, from a very high peak. i came here after a month at home and a brilliant time in phi phi, so i didn't expect to stay that content forever. things started out so well here. i loved everything with my school and the promise of new friendships. now, my school is giving me a headache. i'm expecting my first pay day this weekend, and they seem to be skirting around the issue. today, they just canceled my winter holiday. i will be at school until the usual 9 pm on new years eve. i'm only off for christmas day and for new year's day. i love teaching, but i'm starting to feel like all i ever do is work. when i was working 24-7 in thailand, i was diving my heart out and playing on the beach. my two lives seem worlds apart, a la wallace steven's professional life in connecticut and his fanciful one in key west.

i miss my thai life, not just my diving one but the teaching one as well. i miss my christmas and new years parties with the girls in thailand. there was this amazing moment on new years eve last year. we felt crowded at the central world countdown (the thai version of the new york times square party). we jumped on the skytrain at 11:30, went a few stops down sukhumvit, and ran out to a bar just in time to have champagne in hand at 12:00. cheers to those girls.

the way a new year starts says so much about the year to come. what if this one is alone and lame?

the remix: two little things that made me happy this evening.
1. i got out of school early because i'm sick.
2. mr. joon gave me a free red bean carp bread to thanks me for treating my kiddos yesterday.

carp bread! carp bread! carp bread!

2009-11-24T16:41:00.002+07:00

my kids love the "carp bread," which is their english translation of the "bo-bang" sold outside of our building. rest assured, "carp bread" contains no actual fish. they are little fish-shaped grilled pastries stuffed with either sweet cream, spicy rice, or red beans.

i took one of my classes out for them after we finished our book today. this class actually did all of the work and turned in their homework on time (something almost unheard of in this school!). i told them i would last week, so i had to fulfill my promise. i'm a bit afraid that every class will expect it. uh-oh.

[photos to come soon.]

a great little cafe called art bar

2009-11-23T22:47:00.003+07:00

my friends and i stumbled upon this charming little bar thanks to some street musicians. it's called art cafe, and i adore it (sangria, mojitos, and free cheesecake, oh my!).

much better

2009-11-23T22:41:00.003+07:00

the rest of school today was much better after the fantasy class. some days, they are fantastic, but others they are little brats.

after teaching in bangkok, i thought that i loved teaching the babies, but i actually prefer my older students now. i can have real conversations with them. i never have to resort to my little bit of korean vocabulary--"sit down," "stand up," "shut up". these are three phrases that any english as a second language teacher needs to learn). i love that my principal walked in my office one day when i was practicing with a korean co-teacher. we were chanting in korean. sit down! stand up! shut up!

i'm usually nice in class, but sometimes, especially on mondays, i have to break. at least i know the basics. accidentally, i do give them commands in thai from time to time. i hope that's not a problem.

i guess there's one great thing about teaching, or any job really: tomorrow is a new day.

welcome to monday

2009-11-23T16:00:00.003+07:00

my little ones were terrors today, and i now have a headache the size of a small country. when did it become ok to throw things at your teacher? i don't care if you hug me afterward, but launching a marker across the room is not acceptable! i think it's one of those days of really hating a place. wherever you travel for an extended period of time, it's bound to happen. it catches you by surprise but leaves you wanting to scream.

although hospitality is highly valued in korean culture, people here are also extraordinarily xenophobic and aggressive. i'm tired of being pushed all the time! one of these days, i might just have to push back. as for now, i just have two relatively easy classes standing between me and a night of doing nothing.

what i'm working on...

2009-11-19T13:39:00.002+07:00

i'm writing a little article for a backpacker's magazine about lingering travelers. here's a draft of what i have so far. thoughts or comments??

Mmm Mmm, I want to Linger…Mmm Mmm, a Little Longer, a Little Longer Here with You

"One more week," I told my dive shop manager on Monday mornings to make sure I would be on the boat for the week. Along with the rest of my friends on the island, she thought I would never leave Phi Phi. We all knew that I just had to linger around for a while longer, diving everyday and playing on the beach every night.

In fact, I started lingering around Southeast Asia long before I ever became a divemaster. At the end of the summer of 2008, I went to Thailand to be a kindergarten teacher. Hooked on the mai pen rai lifestyle, I went to Bali to do a divemaster internship in the spring of 2009. Upon completing the course and wanting a change of waters, my heart brought me back to Thailand. This summer and fall, I found myself on Koh Phi Phi, diving, flyering, and never wanting to leave. I knew I would be diving everyday when I arrived on the island, but I had never even considered flyering for a bar until one night, parked in my usual spot at the Dojo with a vodka tonic in hand, my friend made a suggestion. Everyone on both sides of the bar agreed, and I started the next night. I have always been a person who plans ahead and likes to know her next step, but those Andaman breezes flung open the windows so I could throw caution out and let in a whole lot of love.

During my several months there, I met dozens of like-minded travelers, but it is the flyer people of Phi Phi who kept me lingering just a little longer. Like the people I met at summer camp as a girl, we became fast friends for a few days or weeks and then parted for the next adventure. These people, however, are the ones who made my traveling experience fabulous and will always make me want to linger…

HOLLY AND ALICIA They were the two regular flyer girls at the Dojo; they were there every night—smiling, chatting, and having a good time. Meeting Holly and Alicia convinced me to flyer, and they became two of my good friends on the island and the throwers of the world’s best going-away party. Holly is the definition of the lingering traveler: she came to Phi Phi, fell in love with it, and plans to stay for a full year. Alicia went back to Phi Phi for her sixth time on the island and recently left to go to nearby Phuket with her boyfriend. The Thai islands are always in their hearts, so regardless of how much they may or may not try to leave the them, these girls will always be held captive.

LAURA I met Laura on my first night as a flyer girl. We became fast friends and staked out the bar’s best corner with a shiny silver bucket in hand. As we made our way through the pink jungle juice, we started dancing outside, trading travel stories, and bringing people into the bar. That night, we may or may not have flyered Leonardo DiCaprio; we know he was on the island that night, and we certainly tried to talk to a heart-stopping beautiful man with dreadlocks that passed by with equally attractive friends. We had a perfect night flyering, so it must have been him. Leo or no Leo, Laura and I kept flyering together for nearly a week, when she left the island to continue her round-the-world journey.

MOLEY I met Moley on the same night I met Laura. I had seen him around the island for a few days; flyering on a busy corner did have its advantages for scoping out who was in town. He was the guy who was always dancing in front of the Irish bar down the street, bucket (or two) in hand. He was on the island for a week, flyering because he always found himself at the bar anyways, until he left with a group of new friends to go to the Full Moon Party on the other side of Thailand. While backpacking in September, I saw him behind a bar in Laos. He's in Australia now, but he gets my Southeast Asia wild-roving bar-guy award.

MIKE While sitting in the dive shop, I said hello to nearly everyone on the island, and I'm pretty sure I tried to convince him to go for a dive about 5,000 times. Even though he never went diving with me, he did eventually stop by to chat. I saw him out later on that night in town and on the beach. One night of buckets and the beach turned into many, and after a quick ten days, he left the island. He came back in August, about two months later. he planned to spend a couple of weeks there before moving on to continue traveling to Indonesia and Laos, but on his first night back, he came to the bar where I flyered. By midnight, he was flyering for Tiger Bar, across the street. This Tiger Boy outlasted me on the island and plans to be there until February.

EMILY AND LUCIE These two were an all-star team in front of the Dojo, and when I asked them about their time on Phi Phi, Emily was quick to gush: “We never expected to go traveling round Thailand’s islands and actually spend some of our time working! But when we came to a place that we loved so much we never wanted to leave, all we wanted was to feel like a part of the community there. Going out every night with all the people who’d just arrived made us feel like such tourists. So we set about finding ways to make the island our home.

“Flyering for the bar was perfect – an excuse to chat to everyone who walked past you on the street, we made great friends with all the tourists and the locals. Not to mention the free drinks all night, and a (tiny) bit of cash at the end of our shift, at which point we all staggered drunkenly down to the beach where the real partying started. Some nights the flyering wasn’t really very important, and we just danced inside the bar, or sat around drinking and looking pretty to make the place look cool, or led group drinking games. It was by far the best job I’ve ever had.

“Thailand was the last stop on my six-month round-the-world trip. I won’t lie – I was sincerely tempted to stay there and never go home. I’m sure it won’t be long until I run away again back to the carefree traveler’s lifestyle!”

dance class

2009-11-18T12:54:00.002+07:00

i love taking dance classes in foreign languages. true, they're much easier in english, and i make a lot less mistakes. there is just something incredibly beautiful about a big group of people seamlessly dancing together, even though they cannot actually communicate. i love my jazz class on wednesdays and fridays. my instructor is a 30-something russian guy who speaks a bit of italian and french, and the class is all korean. then there's me, in the middle of the room and at least six inches taller than everyone else. it's fabulous.

saturday: flippy cup, elevator, and snow

2009-11-16T16:02:00.002+07:00

i went back to college on saturday night. although i didn't go back to poughkeepsie to stomp around vassar, i had a typical college night out; i could very well have been back in the living room of b8. for the first time since i left, i played flippy cup. ah, what a useful skill it is to be able to turn over an empty plastic cup with two fingers. needless to say, i have lost that skill as the cocktail glass (and occassional sand pail) has completely replaced the solo cup in my book. like bowling, flippy cup is a game you should not be good at.

several games later, i left the crowded apartment with friends to go to a club down the street. we divided between the hallway's two elevators. apparently, i chose the wrong one. junior jumped, and our elevator stopped in between the fifth and sixth floors. i am terrified of small spaces, especially those that can plummet eight stories down a shaft. after some patient waiting, also known as sitting in the corner with eyes closed, we escaped.

we walked out of the building and into the first snow of the season. for five minutes, i was excited about korea again.

it all starts with caterpillars...

2009-11-11T17:24:00.002+07:00

...or at least last night did. every couple of weeks, the principal here takes us out. the first night out with the jung chul crew was my first night here. the next morning was my first expeience of the dreadful soju headache. warning to future visitors: just because your korean friends are force-feeding you surprisingly decent-tasting shots of beer, cola, and soju, doesn't make it the best idea for you. i remembered that tidbit last night and negotiated my way into a harmless couple of cocktails.

around the same time as round one, our table received our soup. while i had figured out that they were talking about t.v. shows like fear factor and survivor moments before, i didn't realize that we were about to have such a challenge at our table. the soup arrived and everyone dug in. they said it was vegetarian, so i stuck my spoon in too. what i lifted out of the communal pot was something startlingly familiar and certainly not vegetarian. "caterpillar baby!" my boss smiled. too bad i already had the spoon hovering over the table. i had to give it a go. i ate a few odd things in thai markets, but crispy-fried-whatever in no way compares to a steaming mouthful of "caterpillar baby." thank god the salad arrived just a few seconds later.

as dinner became more normal (salmon salad, fruits of the sea plate, and spicy mussel soup), my co-workers became less normal, pushing through a few bottles of soju. then they decided we needed to go to a "western style" bar. we went to bar indiana. i think the barman just picked a random state as the namesake, since it was decorated with any and all sorts of american kitsch, including a giant cigar store indian chief statue and budweiser banners. "just like america, right?" "i guess it depends where you go..." in an american bar i probably wouldn't be frowned upon for eating the apple slices from the fruit plate ("very bad for health at night"). hell, there probably wouldn't even be a fruit plate! korean bar snacks absolutely trump their american counterparts. we played darts there; my team finished second.

i thought the night was slowing down at this point, especially considering we had a seven-month pregnant woman in the group. no no, she was worried that i would be tired at school the next day. i told them i would be fine. what 23-year-old will ever be the one to end the party?

apparently, 3 am is the perfect time to go to a noribong, a korean karaoke room. we spent an hour in the cute room on the third floor of my school building singing the world's most random mix of music. i'm glad to know my co-workers and i share a passion for enrique iglesias and savage garden, not to mention a common knowledge of super junior's dance moves ("sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, kalinka kalinka"). too bad there are only five of us. if we can find nine more, we can be the next super junior!

glue

2009-11-10T17:04:00.001+07:00

my little terrors covered me in glue today. needless to say, i choose the wrong day to wear a silk shirt.

even though it's eleven months away

2009-11-09T22:48:00.002+07:00

even though i am starting to feel settled teaching here in korea and it will be about eleven months until i'm a travel bum again, warren and i have already started planning our pre-grad school lovers' adventure, covering three continents (where i am now, where he is now/from, and where i am from). although it's a short list at the moment to be added onto until we actually settle down and start school, i still love the satisfaction of making a list.

1. vietnam
2. everest base camp trek in nepal
3. return to laos for a bit of tubin' and a bit of culture
4. great wall of china
5. volunteer in india
6. south africa
7. mozambique to namibia
8. madagascar
9. the great american south-land (a super-sized version of helen's trip)

just a few ideas...who knows what will happen between now and then?

finally

2009-11-09T16:06:00.002+07:00

i taught my crazy little ones today, and while they weren't exactly well-behaved, they did not make me want to jump out of the window! i think i may just be getting somewhere. we'll see if it holds out. hopefully tomorrow will be equally mediocre. they are actually getting through all of the work in the lesson plan, so piles of cut-up paper on the floor (we do a lot of cut-and-paste projects) or no, i'm a little bit happier on this monday.

bali moments

2009-11-08T22:53:00.002+07:00

camilla made a collage of some of our favorite moments and places in bali. i miss the colors there; i have to say, they are much better than the urban gray.

it's the faces, not the places

2009-11-07T15:24:00.002+07:00

i like to think that i have traveled quite a bit for a girl of twenty-three. i've had some amazing experiences, above water and below, in the sun and in the snow. the thing that stands out in my mind about a place, however, isn't how beautiful a sunset or a temple or a painting was. the images that come to my mind from traveling are the faces of the friends i have made along the way.

i think of my summers in hawaii, and i think of brandy and keely. wherever we were, we were laughing together. we took too many photos. we spent too much time in the sun (yes, i do have sunspots already). we got on the bus without having a destination, just stopping when we saw a nice beach, waterfall, or something interesting on the side of the road.

i think of my junior year in italy, and i think of patrick, sara, and jacqueline. we may have complained about our program, but we had far more fun than anyone else. we spent hours in coffee shops, museums, and piazzas. we were always dancing. or cooking. we cooked a lot.

i think of my time teaching in thailand, and i think of leslie, grat, and katherine--the yellow spotted boxfish of love. we met in chiang mai and became life-long friends. we spent every weekend together tearing it up in bangkok's clubs, lounging on the beach, talking about our schools, and, let us not forget, getting terrible haircuts and funny henna tattoos.

i think of bali, and i think of camilla and warren. camilla and i are quite possibly the world's best divemaster team. we come from two very different places, and yet we think so similarly. and then there's warren, the love of my life. i'm so glad the three of us decided to go surfing on sunday mornings.

i think of koh phi phi, and i think of my dive girls. sure there were lots of interesting boys on the island, but they came and left. the dive girls made everyday in "the office" fun and every night an adventure. i'll never forget my going away party...completely covered in fluoro paint, we danced on the rooftop of the banana bar to "sex is on fire."

i'm so much happier in korea now that i have a group of friends here. amanda, gina, and karla, those will be the faces that will come to mind with this place.

halloween in seoul

2009-11-07T00:56:00.001+07:00

ok, you know about halloween now, so go take a picture with your teacher

2009-11-07T00:53:00.002+07:00

it doesn't really look like anyone is having fun on halloween here. obviously, they had not eaten 5 kilos of candy yet.

top 10 sounds of korea

2009-11-07T00:37:00.003+07:00

while people watching in la festa tonight, a friend and i started talking about the unusual and unforgettable sounds in korea. my top ten:

1. men hacking
2. slurping noodle soup
3. smacking when eating
4. the man on the intercom on saturday mornings who sells refrigerators, fruit, etc.
5. the rice cake man on his bicycle ("suck my toooooeeeee")
6. whiny women
7. children shouting "TEACHER!"
8. squishy food being cut by scissors
9. loud english
10. the card clicker on the bus

which one?

2009-11-03T23:59:00.003+07:00

i am so many people at one time. maybe that's why i love traveling; it helps me sort through these many mirrors and ideas of myself. traveling also adds more of these reflections. i am sitting at my teacher's desk, smiling and chatting with all of the kids who pass by during my free period, but my mind is on the island. i think of a beautiful photo that warren took of me in bali. in the first photo he took, i am perfectly posed and smiling, but this second photo is much better. i am looking down at the water and stepping out of a space between two rocks. what you don't see is the cut on my foot, caused by a misplaced step. even though i'm not smiling in the photo, happiness radiates out of it--the happiness of a perfect day on the beach with a true friend and the love of my life. i am also thinking about diving and the person i am on a boat and underwater. there's also the girl hanging by her knees on a rope swing in laos, body covered in paint and mud. i'm also the girl at vassar, sipping a coffee and debating an italian phrase out of james joyce's ulysses while the snow thunders down out the window. when will i figure out which girl is really me, or is it better to accept being the ubiquitous answer (e), all of the above?

oh, i'm just blogging so much today, aren't i?

2009-11-03T16:51:00.003+07:00

thanks to swine flu, i have a lot more free time today than i normally do on tuesdays. my private lesson/make-up class students didn't come to school today, so i don't have class with them. instead, i just have my four normal classes. the first class on tuesday is the same group of kids that i teach second period on mondays. they drive me insane! there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to do with them, even according to their korean teacher. in bangkok, i taught 40 7-year-olds in a class and had very few problems. i could separate the kids who were causing problems because they only made up 10 percent of class. now, i have 5 little terrors and one amazing little girl. i'm doing everything i know to do but still feel like nothing is working. help, please!

as for the swine flu here in korea, it's incredibly widespread. some of my friends have already had their schools shut down. i may have a long weekend this weekend. we'll see what happens. as long as i'm still at school, i'm required to wear a mask while i'm teaching. if you have ever attended a class taught in a foreign language, you understand why it doesn't work out. it doesn't work out at all! while i was studying in siena and bologna, i used to constantly watch my teachers' lips. looking back on it, i may have freaked out the occassional art history professor...

j.g.

2009-11-03T14:23:00.004+07:00

i still love the painting by john gallery that i tote around with me when i travel. i hung it in my rooms in bangkok, bali, koh phi phi, and now here in korea. i still always think about the painter and my conversations with him whenever i have been in chiang mai.

not all who wander are lost.

so true, so true.

my first winter in a long time

2009-11-03T13:26:00.002+07:00

on sunday morning, winter rolled into korean. it is cold. it is windy. i do not want to be outside.

i didn't expect winter to arrive so swiftly. going out for halloween on saturday night was very pleasant, but i woke up on sunday to the complete opposite.

this is my second halloween in asia, and yet again, i could not quite figure out the whole costume thing. i tried to go shopping on satuday morning but quickly grew tired of walking around in the rain. i did find some great leggings, which i paired with a fuschia top and a sparkly mask. it wasn't exactly the best costume of the evening, but it was a little something. i went out in itaewan, one of the foreigner areas of seoul. itaewan reminds me of a cleaner version of khao sarn road. unfortunately, it is not filled with street carts full of tropical fruit and lousy pad thai (a result of the climate, i'm guessing...who would want to stand outside in the cold and rain selling kimchi? better yet, why would you want to eat just kimchi on the street?).

maybe it's because i came here in the fall or maybe it's because i really fell in love with the island, but i can't help but miss thailand. i miss the life i had there. i never thought i would say this, but life here is too easy. there's no constant battle to figure things out or to not be taken advantage of.i miss the simplicity of life there--living in tree house, for example.

perhaps it's just the beginning of winter blues. there's only one solution to that in korea: work and more work.

writing in real-time

2009-10-28T18:27:00.002+07:00

although i have hardly covered anything from my travels since last june, i think it's time to move out of the past and back into the present. whenever i start a new life somewhere new, i find myself with the same mix of emotions--the euphoria and excitement about the new and the longing for the life i had just left. like returning to camp summer after summer, i have to close the door on the previous experience in order to move on, and that can be a difficult task after something magnificent, like my time in bali or phi phi.

i have a great life in korea now. it feels so much like a normal person's working life. i sleep late in the mornings, have coffee and orange juice while watching the news, go running around the lake by my building, ride the bus to school, work until i am finshed (pronounced "finish-ed"), and then ride the bus back home and sometimes go out. my school takes such good care of me, which is such a surprise after my last school and the dreaded head teacher ajarn unchalee. as the saying goes, life is good.

home, part two

2009-10-27T08:43:00.008+07:00

i love going for walks in my neighborhood; helen took these photos one afternoon. the kayaking photos are from the st marks.

homecoming

2009-10-27T08:09:00.010+07:00

the longer i am away, the more i love where i am from. in september, i went home to get my korean visa after things failed to come together in bangkok. going home meant starting my new job a bit later than i had planned, but everything happens for a reason. my friend helen came to visit me from california, and i took her on a tour of the forgotten coast--st george island and apalachicola. we went kayaking down the st marks river with my mom and her friends, and we spotted some huge gators there! i'm already excited for helen to come visit again. the two of us can make any travel idea work, so it will definitely happen. the weekend after helen left, i made a surprise visit to kentucky to go to my father's wedding. there's certainly never a dull moment with my family!

bye bye in bangkok

2009-10-23T22:25:00.003+07:00

a little trip to laos

2009-10-23T22:11:00.006+07:00

i fell in love with laos, as most travelers do. i started out the trip with my headband friend imogen from saraburi, where we got on the train the thursday night when i was recovering from the bangkok bug. i thought the best way to squash it was with some tubing down the river in vang vieng. i immediately felt better, although we spent the first day doing little other than lounging in hammocks, watching friends, and eating sandwiches. tubing was a blast, but there are no pictures to show for it since i didn't want to lose another camera. i went back for tubing part two with a friend i made in luang prabang. i really thought about staying to work in laos, but i had a flight home planned and some good-byes to say in bangkok. chances are, my new school probably wouldn't have been too pleased if i had turned up looking like i did when i arrived home (and without any dress clothes to my name...17 bikinis and a stack of sundresses would not have been appropriate attire for korea!). i can't wait to go back to laos one day, especially if i get the chance to bring along helen or warren.

ha's birthday weekend....when we all thought we had contracted the plague

2009-10-23T21:47:00.004+07:00

and then

2009-10-22T22:36:00.007+07:00

after too much time partying on the beach, i decided it was time to relax a bit. the solution: a week in a spa in chiang mai. i could live here and be euphorically happy. my days included having breakfast in bed, floating in the pool, reading poolside, getting massages, and going on bicycle rides.

the transition...bouncing around

2009-10-22T22:32:00.003+07:00

my one week before teaching turned out to be several before going home. i had a fabulous time revisiting a few thai places and exploring laos. first stop, return to bangkok, home of the pizza sounds restaurant and spicy affair.

the island said goodbye

2009-10-22T22:25:00.005+07:00

alicia put together the world's best good-bye party when i left. somehow, she even managed to arrange the most beautiful sunset ever, as seen from the mojito bar. there was so much love that it almost looked like a bachelorette party. to leave my little mark on phi phi, i painted a corner of the banana bar, a place where i spent many of my favorite nights and the hungover morning-afters, munching breakfast burritos and watching movies.

some more favorites...working hard!

2009-10-22T22:22:00.002+07:00

some favorite faces of phi phi

2009-10-22T22:14:00.003+07:00

a few more photo reflections of phi phi and then back to my new life....scuba girls gone wild

2009-10-22T22:07:00.002+07:00

during one full moon, alicia and i planned a brilliant night out for the girls who lived on the island. we called it the "wear what you never wear party." we started out at mojito bar (r.i.p.) and then moved on to banana bar. we stopped by the dojo, where most of us worked or hung out every night. sim started a train around the bar, and while phil got on top of the bar with a cocktail shaker containing something delicious. like any other night on the island, we ended up on the beach. i love these girls so much!

2009-10-21T17:41:00.001+07:00

another first day of school in a new country

2009-10-21T17:04:00.002+07:00

after my visa application was accepted in atlanta last thursday, my life has been moving pretty quickly. i received my passport on friday afternoon while packing, yet again, for another year. i left tallahassee on saturday morning, after trying to cram everything i love about home into 18 hours. i went out for indian food and shopping with my mom. i love shopping with her, because both of us absolutely hate shopping; we run in and out, just lingering long enough to pick up what is absolutely necessary. we sat on our back porch and enjoyed the cool, cloudy fall day (quite the rarity in tally). we went out in town for sushi and drinks downtown. we baked chocolate chip cookies and ate cookie dough. i quickly finished packing on saturday morning, being sure to leave enough time to stop by waffle house for breakfast. oh, food and the south.

forty hours later, i arrived in seoul. i really felt like i should have arrived in bangkok after i left eh states. i was just glad to arrive after a very rough flight that involved flying around korea for an extra hour to avoid actually going through the thunderstorms covering the city. i wish we could've just gone through; it would have taken ten minutes, tops, and would have cut out a lot of screaming and puking (oh, how i wish the italian girl sitting next to me had eaten less for breakfast!).

i thought getting to my apartment would be easy after the mental morning. a korean man met me at the airport and put me on a bus. i thought he would ride with me, but he seemed to be telling the driver to let me off at a certain stop. needless to say, the driver forgot. i got off at the last stop on the line with all of my bags. freezing in the early morning wind, i asked around for a little help and made a new friend named deborah, who contacted my school for me. he was waiting many stops before mine and had been there for a couple of hours, panicking that he had lost the new teacher.

given the morning, i thought i was in for a terrible day. i was wrong. sophie teacher took grat care of me on my first couple of days here at school. the other teachers are amazingly kind. i think i will be happy here.

fun times

2009-10-18T03:06:00.003+07:00

malaysia

2009-10-18T03:03:00.004+07:00

sim and i went to kuala lumpur to renew our visas and made some interesting friends at the reggae bar.

tiger bar

2009-10-18T03:01:00.000+07:00

after my first group of friends left, mileli and grappan came to see me!

hmm

2009-10-18T02:58:00.001+07:00

sometimes, we found strange things in the water, like this traffic block. when we pulled it out, one instructor was caught in a downpour of fish and crabs.

cruisin'

2009-10-18T02:55:00.005+07:00

my teacher pals, katherine, ha, and alice came to visit, and we hired a long-tail boat for an island cruise, including a stop by leo's beach, maya bay.

work

2009-10-18T02:53:00.001+07:00

when i wasn't in the water, i sold dives at the shop on the main street. this little guy was my favorite customer, even if he usually caused me to abandon work for impromptu soccer games in the street.

ma ney!

2009-10-18T02:51:00.000+07:00

i lived at ma ney resort, which means "come here please" in thai.

vc scc 09

2009-10-18T02:49:00.002+07:00

on my second morning of work, i bumped into a friend from senior class council at vassar! i have to say, phi phi was a much better fit for me than the hudson valley.

island home

2009-10-18T02:47:00.001+07:00

i lived in a treehouse bungalow that was quite a hike up the mountain from town below. i'm still surprised that i always made it up there after partying every night.

phi phi paradise

2009-10-18T02:39:00.002+07:00

had i kept up with writing these past few months, there would be a lot more about my time on koh phi phi in the andaman sea. i fell in love with this island, however touristy it may be. i worked as a divemaster and in a bar, and i had an incredible time there. as soon as the ferry pulled into the harbor, i knew i would be happy in my new home.

since april x2

2009-10-18T00:38:00.003+07:00

since april

2009-10-18T00:36:00.000+07:00

my friend brandy wrote this little article, and i love it

2009-10-17T01:35:00.000+07:00

An ode to Charla, my schmoo…

September 29, 2009 at 10:30 am (Schmoopies, Uncategorized)

So there are some people put on this planet that inspire you. Charla is one of these people. As I am sitting here in a little cafe waiting anxiously for my first phone interview I can’t help but feel extremely grateful for Charla being in my life. She is the one that inspired me to come to Thailand. It was her, her happiness here, and her persistence in me coming that made my final decision to come here. And I think I am going to love it here. In fact I already do.

I first met Charla my first summer in Hawaii at Erdman. She facebooked me before I even got there because she went to high school in Asheville, which was super random, because that was where I was coming from. I remember she arrived late to camp, after all the other counselors, and was insanely jetlagged because she had been doing a study abroad in Bologna, Italy. Charla and I hit it off right from the start, along with our friend, Keely. We were a beautiful trio, full of bus rides to random places, many crazy nights on the beach, lots of shopping, and lots of hung over mornings in which we called “schmoopy saturdays.” Charla came back a second summer after that, and we’ve always stayed in really good touch, which is weird, because I always love my camp friends to death, but somehow I always seem to lack in the keeping in touch department.

She has been such a wonderful friend to me, and has helped me, from across the world, with advice and solace through a bitter breakup, helpful, and super positive and supportive with everything I have done and want to do. I guess she’s one of those people who have made a huge impact on my life, and I had no idea when I first met her that that would happen. Thank you Charla for everything you’ve done for me. Love you, schmooo…xoxox

fall in the bluegrass

2009-10-17T01:33:00.001+07:00

south korea's got seoul

2009-10-17T01:17:00.002+07:00

i'm getting ready to go to korea tomorrow. my passport came in this morning with a shiny new korean visa in it, and the school arranged for me to fly out in the morning. i cannot quite believe how quickly everything turned around, but i am glad that i had an extra week at home that i wasn't planning to have with the october 10th departure date. this week has been crazy. rebecca at the delta counter here in tallahassee is my new best friend. last saturday morning, i went to kentucky to my father's wedding. for a hughes family affair, it was drama-free. i love kentucky in the fall too. i had a perfect weekend there at the peak of leaf season. on sunday, i revisited my childhood at keeneland. unfortunately, i don't have the good luck i did as a little girl. none of the horses i bet on won. when i was younger, i managed to pick every winner one day. people were checking with a five-year-old in pantaloons to pick a horse. i still love kentucky. on wednesday, i went to atlanta to interview for my korean visa. the consular asked another girl in my group if she knew where korea was. i nearly choked stiffling my laughter. now, i am packing for yet another country. better brush up on my korea. so far, i know the following: "hello," "i'm cute," "you're cute," "let's make some tea," and "i love you." i'm ready, right?

still around

2009-09-23T03:26:00.002+07:00

i haven't written in ages, and i'm truly sorry to those of you who still read this blog-thing. no worries, though. i am back on the map, pen in hand and keys beneath my fingers.

after 15 months of traveling, i feel incredibly american at the moment. i'm in a coffeeshop, and i'm not drinking nescafe. life here is just so easy. there are no difficult language barriers. everything is so familiar. i don't think i like the familiarity. it's so boring. i'm ready for the next adventure already.

manning the helm

2009-04-04T15:57:00.000+07:00

functions of a divemaster

2009-04-02T18:32:00.002+07:00

sometimes, the divemaster tests have really funny incorrect options. i suppose the good folks at padi do that just to give us a laugh between the more difficult ones, which tend to have several correct answers. on a recent test, "manning the helm when requested" was offered as one of the roles of a divemaster. needless to say, camilla and i took the response literally while we were out partying in kuta last weekend.

my balinese home

2009-04-01T15:50:00.001+07:00

just another day at the office

2009-04-01T15:46:00.001+07:00