ที่นี่ - Here

Here I am. Sitting in my room in Thailand after meeting all the students. It has been a very long past few days but we are here. The word "here" has always meant the United States, and sometimes Canada, but now, for the first time and hopefully not the last, "here" means something completely foreign. Asia: a romantic place I have dreamed of since my family had our first exchange student. Asia: I place that has enchanted me since I saw my first anime film. "Here" my temporary home is Thailand. And I am not only in the place I have dreamed of but I am fulfilling the role I played most as a young child: A teacher. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was young and now I truly am "Teacher Jessi."

We boarded our first plane, to Las Vegas from Salt Lake City on Monday, August 20th at 3:00. After this 45min flight we had a layover in Vegas for seven hours. We attempted to visit the strip but failed when we realized we could not get our boarding pass until two hours before take off to Seoul Korea. We made phone calls, met up with the other two teachers, and got to know each other a little. Once we boarded the plane to Korea, it hit me. I was moving to Thailand. I was the minority on this flight and saw just as much Korean around me as I did English. The plane was VERY nice, the biggest I had ever been on. The flight was thirteen hours long, but we were so pampered that it went by fast for me. We were given two meals, drinks, a miniature toothbrush, hot towel, headphones, wet wipe and the best service I had ever received on an airplane. These are what the flight attendants looked like, and they were the cutest girls ever.

The flight was long, and a little uncomfortable but I watched multiple movies and slept a lot, since we boarded around 11pm. Once we landed, we were in Korea! It was 4am but it was the next day. We entirely skipped August 21nd, it was the 20th when we took off in Vegas and August 22nd when we landed. At this point we had a 13 hour layover a head of us, so as soon as we, a long with the airport woke up, we located breakfast (after a long search for anything other than coffee or Korean food) and the information desk to look into a tour. We talked to an adorable Korean who went by Rachel. She took us on a five hour tour of Seoul, were we saw the Cheonggyecheon stream, in the heart of the city, the Gyeongbokgung palace, Insadong market and an authentic Korean restaurant. Rachel was adorable, and very helpful. Here are a few shots of the tour. 

Cheonggyecheon stream

This a symbol of Seoul, his name is Haechi, he represents justice, safety and happiness. 

Next was the Palace, dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries. 

The entire group with our cute tour guide Rachel.

Inside the palace 

Rachel made fun of us a little, but we couldn't help ourselves. We were so American and everyone seemed to notice, but it was a little refreshing to be the minority for once. 

Next was the Insadong market and lunch.

Right outside the restaurant we ate at.

After our tour we boarded our plane with Korean Air again and prepared for a five hour flight to Bangkok. We were finally going to be in Thailand! All of us six slept the entire flight, it was the shortest flight yet. After being taken care of so well by the flight attendants, and having them be all we saw for the past 18 hours I did not expect service that surpassed their's but our driver proved me wrong. 

We still do not know his name, but he was the first Thai person I had ever met and I don't think I'll ever forget him. He was young, around thirty years old and hardly spoke any English. He wore sandals, jeans and an Angry Birds shirt (Which is VERY popular here, a lot of the children we met today had Angry Birds backpacks, shirts, binders. You name it.)  He greeted us, holding and ILP sign and led us to the street, smiling the entire time. We waited and he came around with a very large van and he did not let any of us help to lift our 50 pound bags (which we each had two of, a total of 600 pounds, not counting our carry ons). We piled into the van and drove off. I sat in the passenger seat and I could hear him huffing and puffing as we drove into Bangkok. I assume he heard that Americans struggle with the heat and humidity because he blasted the air the entire five hour drive. We made a quick stop at a gas station about an hour into our last stretch of travelling. Our driver kindly said "Toilet?" (Which is what Rachel our tour guide would say. Here in Asia all the restroom signs say "Toilet" and every time I see it I can't help but laugh a little). After a quick break we hurried on. I occasionally woke up but mostly slept. The first time I woke up it was to our driver pulling into another gas station, but it wasn't to fill up. He got out and walked to my door and gently tapped on my window; he could tell I was awake. I opened my door and he simply showed me how to recline my chair. My head must have been bobbing because he went back to his seat and we drove off. It was such a kind thought. I had never experienced anything like that from a stranger before. The next time I woke up it was to the van bumping along a dirt road. Our driver was going extremely slow through the rough patches so he wouldn't wake us. It was very sweet. The last time I woke up I saw a sign that said "Phichit 17." After that I could not sleep. I just stared at shacks outside my window. I had never seen such poverty, but it was so peaceful that late at night. We arrived in Phichit shortly and the different was very apparent. I could tell that we were in a town and that we were getting close. We were greeted at the school by some of the guards and a teacher to help us find our room. All were very polite and caring. The driver slipped away with a mere "Thank you" from us. 

We were shown to our room while we carried our bags up the stairs. I had overlooked the beauty of the school due to the darkness as well as my jet lag, but we all agreed that our room was much nicer than we expected. It was perfectly clean and and very nice. We got a little situated, took showers and went straight to bed around 4am, Thailand time. The next morning we unpacked and ran into some of the children who ran to the windows of their classrooms to yell "teacher!!" they were so beautiful, we all thought we were going to cry. We met with Tang (Our boss, native coordinator) and also met the children. We then went to town with Tang. She is a young Thai woman and the school we work at is owned and ran by her. She is a civil engineer who went to school in England and speaks with and English accent, we all love it. She is very well known in the town and very accommodating to us. She took us out for drinks (milk shakes, smoothies, soda) downtown, and then to her father's clinic to meet her family. We met Tom, her brother and her parents. They were all so nice! We visited with them until some of us were falling asleep on their couch and we then returned home to sleep. Tomorrow we will explore downtown and have a BBQ with Tang and her family. They said that they are now our temporary family, we even call them "mom" and "dad." I am in love with Thailand already and it has been only 24 hours. I love the smell, the food, the children and the spirit of hospitality. It truly has been an adventure and it just began. 

A special thanks to my family and all of those who have supported me! That may be taken me to make my many purchases, donated to a great cause like ILP in my name or simply wished me luck, I am extremely appreciative of you all!! And also a thank you to Charlotte, one of the other teachers, for taking these pictures for me, since my camera was in my checked luggage,