the heavenly city

We finally got our site placements!  I found out I am moving just a couple hours north of our training site to a province named Nakhonsawan.  The bad news is that it is crazy hot, prone to floods, and has the largest swamp in Thailand (hello mosquitos!)  Good news is that I’m only an hour bus ride away from my Peace Corps BFF, people speak Central Thai so I don’t have to learn a dialect, and it will be super easy for me to bpai tiao (travel) all over the country!

On Friday morning we headed to Bangkok for a quick trip.  We toured the Peace Corps Office and ate Mcdonalds.  A lot of Mcdonalds.  Then I was on a bus headed for Nakhonsawan. 

I had a great welcoming committee at the bus station.  My co-teachers, Omsin and Nang came to meet me with the principal and assistant principal from one of my schools.  We went out to eat downtown at a cute little restaurant with amazing food.  They told me I would be staying with my assistant principal, Sasi.  Her house was a “traditional thai style” home.  This meant it was up on stilts and was open to the outdoors.  Minimal walls/doors and a lot of mosquitos.  A lot.  I spent the weekend with Sasi and her family and we bpai tiao to a million places.

Monday I got to go check out my community.  When I move to site, I will live with a host family for the first month so they can help me learn my way around town and introduce me to people.  I met two potential host families, toured their homes, and picked the one I am going to live with.  My future Thai mom #2 seems so nice and really excited that I am coming.  The two schools I will be working in are right near my host family’s house.  I got to walk around and meet the teachers.  The office has air conditioning and high speed internet!  At noon there was a welcome lunch for me.  Town leaders, policemen, and government officials came out to meet me.  I had to give an impromptu speech and spent a lot of time smiling and having no idea what was going on.

After school on Monday I went house hunting!  My school doesn’t have too much going on around it so I chose a house about 7k away in town.  It has a western toilet and a 7-11 a minute’s walk away.  The icing on the cake is that a couple blocks away, there is a river.  The area has sports fields and a path where people jog and ride bikes.  There is even an aerobics class in the evening for women.  I am super excited that I’ll have a place to exercise and hopefully i will become best friends with all the old ladies who do aerobics.

There are only 18 days left of training.  Time is seriously flying by.  As excited as I am to go off on my own, I am equally nervous and scared.  Being the only foreigner in a town for 4 days was a struggle.  The next few months are probably going to be crazy and I am anticipating some obstacles along the way.  Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me throughout this process.  It’s the little things that keep me smiling – getting a letter or email can turn my day around like you wouldn’t believe.  So keep ‘em coming!

im lovin it

peace corps office in bangkok

principal, co-teacher (nang), me, asst. principal (sasi), and co-teacher (omsin)

top of a mountain

this room was so cold and i loved it

one of my schools

future house!

river!