Seeing the Elephant

The last time I left off I was returning from my short weekend trip with Ross. Since that weekend I haven't departed too far from Phra Pradaeng, but there has still been some interesting moments. The first couple of weeks after that trip were probably my hardest yet travelling abroad. I had really heavy anxiety for a while and wanted nothing but to go home. I was unhappy, I wasn't hungry, couldn't sleep all that well, couldn't sit still, and was all around in not a very good shape mentally. I believe the anxiety was due to a host of events, one being the aspect of being away from home for 8 months and missing some of the creature comforts of California, and two was the sheer isolation of my Apartment in Bangkok.  Beyond talking to the other foreign ESL teacher at my school, I had been going on average 14 days without speaking in person to another foreigner. Thai people are extremely friendly, but with the language barrier it made any meaningful deep conversation impossible. What would happen is I would teach at school and then come home from school and be stuck in my Apartment for the remainder of the day, turning my Apartment into a place of loathing and in a way a prison. This led me to have far too much time on my heads to think, and think is what I did. The problem with this is when a bad thought would enter my head, since I had nothing to keep me busy, it would fester and grow until I was anxiety ridden from the thought. It got to the level where I told myself I wasn't going to stay home over the weekends, as I now despised the weekends due to their isolation, and instead resolved to keep myself busy and explore.

The first weekend after travelling to Ayutthaya this is exactly what I did. I decided to go for a walk and explore my surrounding area. I walked up to Big C and took this pathway that led behind the supermarket. To my amazement there was a whole community back there. As I continued to walk I noticed a magnificent mosque built right on a small river. Across the street was an Islamic school where all the kids played in traditional Islamic garments. It was as if I had transported back to the Middle East from a jungle time warp behind the local Big C. I continued to walk past the small enclave of Islam, and it was amazing how much jungle and greenery stood behind the local store. Water buffalo cooled in small pools of water and people hung out on hammocks. After about an hour I ended up at the park under the bridge that I frequent from time to time. I sat there for an hour reading before continuing on. As I continued to walk I began to get into the heart of Phra Pradaeng. As I walked the city began to fade and the jungle began to bloom. I was shortly on a street that seemed to be the only in the area and saw a sign telling me there was a floating market off to the right. I ended up veering right and walking down the road. It was a paved road but the jungle continued to grow as I adventured farther along. Shortly after I ended up at the floating market. It was quite a remarkable place as it was designed for tourists, but not foreign tourists. It was designed for Thai people who were vacationing or visiting Bangkok. It skipped a lot of the impracticalities of the floating markets designed for farang, but still had enough of a touristy vibe to set it apart from the local fish and vegetable markets.

It was a beautiful relaxing experience and there was an eating area in the back, that had tables built out in the jungle of the surrounding area. There were a bit too many mozzies, but beyond that was stunning. After exploring the market for a while I decided to take a bus back to my Apartment, the walk there sans the book reading period was a total of two hours. I rode back on the bus that traveled down the only main road in the area, and after hitting the city grabbed a song tao back to my Apartment. That was the the highlight of the day.  The next day I took the song tao as far as it went in the opposite direction and it ended at the river. There was a huge Pagoda there as well as a riverboat that crossed to the neighboring shore. I unfortunately did not have time to take the boat across, but from my understanding the other side is slightly east of Bangkok and is more or less like the area I live. That was the end of my weekend and I prepared to begin the next week.

That week in school, the week before, and the following week were spent primarily on midterms and grading papers. The 4th/5th/6th graders were tested on a skit they had to perform and the younger kids had an oral recitation test based on dialogues. These weeks were still pretty hard on the anxiety levels and it was hard to push on with so much time on my hands. Although trying to think positive thoughts it was still somewhat difficult with the isolation.  The following weekend I returned to the floating market this time with my camera in order to properly document some aspects of the area. Beyond that my weekend was uneventful and was spent, similar to many recent weekdays, revolving around walking. This to keep myself outside of the Apartment attempting to immolate my solitude to more active labors.

The school week was spent once again working on midterms and grades. That Wednesday in order to stay in line with my now orthodox viewpoint of keeping myself busy decided to head into Bangkok. It was matinee prices on Wednesday at the movie theater in MBK so I decided to watch a movie. I watched Under World 4, which was a slightly horribly written movie, but was still entertaining. It also kept me busy for a while accomplishing its mission.

While on my way home I was walking past Big C. This was around 11 PM, and the only concern on my mind was feral dogs. Earlier that week a group of feral dogs surrounded me growling and  I had to hit one with my backpack in order to have them leave me alone.  While walking down the road with dogs on my mind I saw an elephant out of the corner of my eye. I thought there couldn't be an elephant and instead I was probably seeing the elephant, much like an American Pioneer travelling West. I looked again and to my surprise there was definantely an elephant standing before me. Here I was standing in the middle of Suksawat with a backpack for protection against dogs and standing elegantly in the middle of the road was an Elphantidae. I stood there looking at her wondering how she could have possibly arrived at this seemingly precarious spot. For all I know she was bemused at my precarious situation, with the wisdom in her eyes of the generations of knowledge passed to her. I could hear her shouting "I was here long before you boy." After watching her for a moment I chuckled to myself and continued walking home. Fortunately there were no dogs on the prowl that night and I made it home the rest of the way uneventfully.

That week Devon returned from a short trip back to the US and decided to come visit me. With my new discovery of the floating market I returned for a third weekend bringing Devon with me this time. She enjoyed the market as well, and we ate Thai lettuce wraps in the jungle seating area. Beyond that we walked a lot and she told me about her week back in the states (she also brought me Goldfish and a new pair of Rainbow Sandals). Once Devon returned home I prepared for school the following week as we would finally return to teaching new material since midterms were officially complete. During this time period Rob and I began teaching the Thai teachers once a week as well, as a new government law requires all Thai schools to teach in English weekly. It was a different experience teaching the teachers as it was a much more relaxed environment. During this time period the school also began requiring us to do a word of the week. Where once a week Rob or I, we took alternating weeks, would announce at the morning assembly on Monday a word of the week. Two of the first words we did were contest and prize. During the contest week, we announced a contest where the kids had to draw a picture of what they thought of when thinking of an English speaking country. We got a lot of really great drawings including many Tower of Londons, Stonehenges, Statue of Liberties, Golden Gate Bridges, and Big Bens. We also received some Sydney Opera Houses, a couple of Harvard Universities, and also a lot of snow. Which was cute to think the kids thought of snow when they thought of an English speaking country. The following week my word was prize and I announced the winner of the contest for each grade. During this week my anxiety levels were dropping quite quickly due to the added walking and keeping out of the Apartment.

That weekend Devon and I went to Bangkok to stay in a hotel and escape our cities for a short period. We stayed at the Baiyoke Boutique which is a middle of the road hotel in the Indian District of Bangkok. We both got there pretty late so we ended up just hanging out in the hotel room Friday night relaxing in the air-conditioning, and enjoying the amenities of hotel life. We went out for some good Indian food and called it a night. The next day we went to Dasa and I traded in all of my books and got enough credit back to buy what I wanted plus had extra which I took as cash. I bought  The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and a book of works by Edgar Allen Poe. After that we went to JJ market, which I believe I have mentioned in previous blog posts, but if not is the largest outdoor market in the world. I bought a few things as did Devon. After we were done at the market we went back to the hotel passing through Central World mall. Once we were in the hotel for a while we decided to get Indian food again and this time the food was absolutely amazing. We returned to the room full and I watched TV for a bit while Devon read. Our last day in Bangkok we checked out and then went and spent an extended period of time in Central World, with a great deal of that time in a cute little tea shop where we sat and conversed. While it continued to get later we both somewhat dreaded to head home, but after a while decided we should depart and head back. On my way back I helped some Eastern European's get to Siam Square as I was passing that way and after made my way back to the Apartment.

Once I got back to my Apartment I noticed this weird rash that I had gotten. It looked a lot like the rash Devon had had the previous few weeks. Once mine started to spread a bit I discovered that I had gotten Impertigo, or what Devon and I decided was Impertigo. It was quite easy to rid oneself of, but it burned slightly, and was a bit itchy. I had a few circles of it on my feet, one on my index finger, and a small one on my lip. I don't know exactly how the bacteria works, but it is a skin rash that is highly contagious that kills the top layer of your skin. It isn't blood born, doesn't scar, and is relatively easy to get rid of. It makes red circles on your skin, and it is the puss that is contagious. I made fun of Devon for a bit for giving it to me, but it was probably best she did since she thought previously it was something else. Once we realized, or think we realized, it was Impertigo it was easy to get rid of.

That week in school we worked with more dialogues. I also had to go to the hospital in order to get a health check up so I could receive my work permit, with a month of school left. I first went to a local clinic but she told me she couldn't do it after an extended period where I performed a version of charades to help explain what I needed to have done. After some laughs and confusing moments she told me I had to go to the hospital to have that done and hailed a motobike taxi to take me. After arriving at the hospital they asked me for my passport and I realized stupidly I never thought to bring. Once we got passed that they asked me for my cellphone number, which I also didn't know and then asked me for my address, which I only knew some of. The nurse looked at me suspiciously, and I gave her a a half grin. She told me I wasn't making her life easy and I apologized. She then asked me for my employers phone number, which I also didn't know. After a while through some work on both of our parts we got the phone number for the school and were able to get in contact with my boss. Although I did come unprepared I do have to inform the reader I was told to get a health check from the school, but beyond that was given no guidance as to how to proceed. Well anyways after that it was quite easy as she had the information she needed and I didn't need to talk to have a conversation with anyone so language barrier was no longer a problem, as beyond a hello, and a direction of do that or do this there was no conversing. Everything on the health check-up was good and I was negative for Syphilis which is always a good thing. The nurse told me I had no Syphilis, and I said well that's good, and she laughed and said yes it is. After that I got my certificate and headed back to my Apartment. The next day at school I gave my health certificate to my boss and that was the end of that episode. That Tuesday was also Valentine's Day, and it is taken very seriously here in Thailand. There is a government law that requires all individuals under the age of 18 to be indoors after 10 PM. Yes there is a one day curfew in Thailand on Valentine's Day. That day at school I received a lot of flowers, and also stickers from students. Students place heart shaped stickers on each other and teachers. By the end of the day I was quite buried in them. During the following weeks I have continued to receive roses from students. Rob tells me I must be doing something right as he hasn't heard of that happening before--they are usually a bouquet of roses.

The next day I went to Central World which is halfway between Devon's house and mine. She had forgotten her money and her work permit in my backpack and needed them back. Before departing I walked into the restaurant I frequent in my Apartment building and gave a book to one of the workers. He normally ask's me to help him with his English for a few minutes before my dinner comes and I oblige. I had been reading the Motorcycle Diaries and it was a fairly easy read so I decided to give it to him to practice with. After I gave it to him I headed to Central World to meet Devon. We hung out in the mall for a few hours, which was a nice midweek escape. After that I went to Big C to buy some bananas and head home. By this point in time my anxiety from previous weeks was almost gone and I was mentally in a much better place.

On the following Friday I went to have dinner after work and was only slightly surprised to see the list of words the guy who I had given the book to brought me to help define and pronounce. After helping him and eating my dinner I attempted to pay but he told me no that it was on him tonight so I thanked him and headed to my Apartment. That weekend I relaxed and slept a lot due to my lower anxiety levels.

This last week in school has been busy preparing the students for final exams. For all of my classes I was doing one last week of dialogues before starting the finals next week. I introduced a ten line dialogue to my 3rd grades which they got fairly easily which I was impressed with. One of my third grade classes brought their homeroom teacher in with them to ask me if I was going to stay next semester. I told her I sadly wasn't and my kids were quite sad about my answer. For the rest of class they were pretty down, and in some ways it made me feel special to know they cared that much. I also have my questions about if this is why I have been receiving so many roses the last couple of weeks. After class on Friday I decided to go to Devon's. We found a new route to get from my Apartment to hers, and I decided to take it this time. It included a couple of buses I had never taken before and five in total. I had to first get to Central World, which was easy and had to find a minibus to Mahachai. This stage was also quite easy. The only problem I had was the minibus driver couldn't understand where I was telling him I had to go, but I knew this was the right minibus so I decided to hop on it anyways and hope for the best.   Once I arrived in Mahachai I hopped off the bus and walked to the other side of the street, which Devon told me I'd have to do to catch the next and last bus I needed. I really didn't know if I was in the right spot so I asked a lady if the 402 bus came this way but she didn't know. I decided to wait for a while and it fortunately did come so I hopped on it and finished the last leg of my journey to Devon's house. After I arrived Devon made us some pasta and we had a bit of wine and relaxed.

The next day I had a quick interview with a company in Saudi for a job at an American University that I might take if I get it. The interview went overall decently well, but I did mess up a question. After the interview Devon was back from her Saturday class and we rode bicycles to the park and sat and talked for a while. Once we finished talking we rode back to the market to pick up some vegetables, but the market was closed so we ended up at Tesco. Once we were done purchasing our vegetables, and a beer that Devon got our groceries were packed and handed to us. The bag had a hole in it so when Devon lifted it up the beer bottle came flying out and shattered all over the floor. The whole grocery store got quiet and everyone was staring. Devon said of course it had to happen to the farang woman. We were helping to clean up the broken glass, and were about to leave when one of the workers noticed Devon's leg bleeding, which was unknown to us. Once we figured out why she was trying to hurry us along with her we followed the woman into a back room, not before another worker gave Devon a new beer apologizing for the ripped bag. In the back of Tesco they have their own personal infirmary with a nurse. The nurse had Devon sit down and cleaned her wound with about 5 different ointments, it was surprisingly professional. After the nurse told Devon she wouldn't need stitches, which Devon just laughed a bit about and said thanks. When we were about to leave a security guard came in and took a picture of Devon's leg for records. Once that was complete we got up and left. It was a really funny situation because neither Devon or I even noticed the cut in the first place, and it was a minor cut, but was treated with a lot of fanfare. Once we left we laughed about it on the way home and I gave Devon a hard time about it telling her this would definitely be going into my blog.

The next day we slept in and Lindsey who was from my ATI course and teaches at the same school as Devon returned to the apartment building. She had taken a week off from school as her parents were in Thailand so she vacationed with them for a bit. Devon and I went down to her partment which had been overrun by yummy American treats. We gorged ourselves on Cheez-its, and had grilled cheese sandwiches on bread handmade by Lindsey's mom. For dessert we had girl scout cookies, yum yum. After that we all hung out and talked for a while and then Devon and I went back to her room. We watched the movie The Tree of Life, which was a good movie, but a movie you have to be in the mood for. Once we finished watching Devon walked me to the minibus station and we waited for my bus.

On the way home the driver for some reason unbeknownst to me refused to stop at Rama II, even though I thought it had been made clear beforehand that I had to stop there. Despite by protests the driver continued on to Bangkok without paying me much attention. Once he finally stopped and allowed everyone out I was an hour out of my way, which had definitely put me into a mood. This was unfortunate due to the fact I had had a splendid weekend with Devon. I ended up taking a taxi back, and that was more or less the end of that short, but annoying side adventure.

That is where I will leave off for now.

(All photos are of the floating market)