Cristal and Jacob in Thailand!: One Month Thai-aversary!

I can’t believe it’s only been a month. I feel pretty settled by now. I’m almost done with my second full week of teaching, and Jacob seems to have a good work at home schedule as well. He went to rugby practice downtown for the first time last night, but is planning to make that a regular weekly thing.

Teaching is going well, I feel like I’m supposed to be preparing ALL the time though. When I’m not planning, I feel like that’s what I’m supposed to be doing. I underestimated the difficulty that the language barrier would bring to my project class (chemistry) and definitely overestimated the English abilities of my English class. I’m readjusting though, and things are going well.

In other news, we’ve also had our first weekend trip outside of Bangkok! Last weekend we went to Hua Hin. It was great, it’s a small beach town and it took us about 2 hours to get there by van. You can get there by train, bus, or van for different costs and travel time. While in Hua Hin we ate some great seafood – biggest prawns we have ever seen! – with a friend of Jacob’s from rugby and his Thai wife, we relaxed on the beach, and we walked a lot. The King of Thailand has a palace there where he spends most of his time when not in Bangkok. There are two royal palaces in Hua Hin, we got to visit the one where he doesn’t live regularly because he is currently at the other. It’s called Maruekatayawan Palace. It was used mostly in the 1920s as a relaxing beachside getaway, then again the 1940s for parties. It’s now restored and open to visitors.

Hua Hin isn’t the closest beach town to Bangkok, and it’s definitely not the biggest or the most touristy. Pattaya is a little closer, and known to be a huge party beach (though they’re trying to make it more family friendly). Hua Hin had a good amount of expats, and mainly older couples on vacation from Europe.

Oh! Guess what I found out today! The King has a dog named Copper! Or had… I’m not sure, I think she’s still alive. I was in the school library this morning and found a book called “The Story of Thong Daeng.” It was written by the King himself, and when published in 2002 it became a bestseller and a very popular gift to give. It’s the biography of his dog Thong Daeng (which means “Copper”), but also is “a parable on many social topics,” says Wikipedia. I agree, I read it this morning. Lots of discussion about why she’s such a great dog, she’s so loyal and humble, she knows protocol, she always sits lower than the King, etc.

More on the King: I don’t think I’ve mentioned him before, but he’s everywhere. Literally. His face is on all the denominations of bills and coins for Thai currency, and there are pictures of him all over the place. I must see his face at least 50 times a day. The royal family here is a really big deal, and no one can ever say anything negative about it. The pictures are mostly of just the King, but sometimes the Queen as well. And, along similar lines, the national anthem is played every day at 8am and 6pm. I’m not sure if it’s a Bangkok thing or the whole country, but pretty much wherever you are at those times, you’ll hear it. All the radio stations play it, any parks, malls, etc. Here’s a picture of the King and here’s the Thai National Anthem.

Some other pictures from the last couple weeks:

Seafood in Hua Hin!