Hi everyone! I told some of you that I would start a blog so here it is! I have only been in Thailand for a little over a week but I feel like I have so much to tell! 

Kelsey and I got to Chiang Mai at about midnight on friday night. We were both exhausted from the traveling and could not wait to get to the hotel that our TEFL program director had reserved for us. However, when we got to our room we were NOT pleasantly surprised. Our room was sweltering hot, there were bugs everywhere, and the worst, most unbearable smell was coming from our bathroom! We were so tired and didn’t know what to do so we turned on a fan, ignored the bugs, shut the bathroom door and went to bed. The next morning when I went to go to the bathroom I literally gaged. I wish I could explain what the smell was but I can't. The only thing I can think to compare it to is a mixture of rotten garbage, dead animal, and porter potty. Keep in mind that I grew up on a farm so I have never really been sensitive to bad smells, so this was completely unbearable. Anyway,  we decided to switch hotels after neither of us could go into the bathroom without gagging. 

Besides that bad hotel experience I have been adjusting well.  The first few days passed in a blur because I was so jet lagged and in complete culture shock.  Chiang Mai is a pretty cool city and I know I will learn to love it but I am still adjusting.  It is completely different from home (obviously). I would describe the city as definitely a ‘developing’ city. There are areas of the city that are pretty westernized and nice. Our instructor told us the buildings and things in that part of the city have just recently been built within the last 3 years. Other areas of the city are pretty poor. Most of the places where I eat lunch would never ever pass health inspection in the US.  They are just open buildings where bugs are flying around, they are usually dirty and I have even seen some dogs walking around some of the restaurants. It sounds pretty disgusting but the food is so good that I can’t complain! 

The people are very very nice.  The Thai culture is really laid back. No one is aggressive. Everyone is very soft spoken and polite so its a nice change of pace. Oh and the Thai kids are soooooo cute. One afternoon when Kelsey and I got in the back of a ‘song taow’ (which is the Thai version of a taxi-basically a red truck with sides and a roof on the cab and  you just hop in the back)  and there was a girl about 12 years old and she couldn't stop smiling at us. After awhile she finally said 'Where you from'. It was so cute and we could tell that she had been pondering that question for a long time to make sure she said it right. 

 We started and finished our first week of our TEFL course, and are now well into our second week.  There are 11 of us in the course. Everyone is either from the US, UK or Australia.  The people in the class are all really nice and we are all getting along. Some of them aren't staying in Chiang Mai after the course but hopefully we will get to know them better before everyone goes their separate ways. As for the actual course, it is pretty boring at times.  We have to have a grammar lesson every day which is basically torture but obviously we have to know it well to be able to teach it.  We also have a 1 hour Thai lesson every day.  The language is really hard because its a tonal language, so one word can be said with 5 different tones and have 5 different meanings! So for me its pretty difficult to catch on. Even though its hard to learn it’s really rewarding to be able to use the phrases outside of class with the Thai people. The people love it when you speak Thai to them. They often start going off in Thai because they think we know a lot if we just ask them one question. It can be a little embarrassing to be like ‘um actually that is all i know’ after all you have said is 'hi how are you'.  

This last friday was  'cultural day' in class so we got to go to a temple and some museums around the city. The temple was really really cool. We got to give an offering to the monks and then they did a chant while we poured water from one cup into another small bowl. It is tradition that as you pour the water you think of friends, family, or even enemies and send your good (or bad i guess) thoughts to them.  I thought of my family and all of my great friends so you guys can thank me later if good things happen to you :).  After that, we all went down to a river near the temple. By the river there were people selling creatures that you could buy to set free for good karma.  There were birds, turtles, eels, snails, fish, and some others that I am probably forgetting.  Anyway, depending on what you set free it has different meanings. Setting free birds will help you have freedom in your life, turtles will give you a long life, etc.  I chose to set free a turtle. I didn’t really do it for the meaning but I did it because he was crawling on two of his buddies in the bucket trying to get out so I thought I would help him out.  It was really neat to set my turtle free and to watch my classmates set their creatures free.  The temple was a really great experience. 

Kelsey and I did find an apartment at the end of last week so we are happy with that. It was nice to move out of our hotel and actually settle in. We are living in the nicer part of the city and so far we really like the area.  We are living in separate apartments and each of us has a queen size bed, desk, fridge, and a nice size bathroom. We also have a balcony and there is an outdoor pool in our building. We pay less than $200 for all of that so it is such a good deal! Even though it is super cheap to live here I am excited to start teaching in another couple of weeks. It will be nice to have a different schedule and also to be making some money! 

 Well that is all I have for now! I miss you all! I will write again soon! xoxo