Attack of the Tesol

So, I guess my blog is similar to Star Wars. My episodes are out of order. This one falls in place immediately after I leave Mel and meet people at a hotel. Let's call it... 'Venture On, attack of the Tesol'. 

Walking in to a strange group of people you've never met before... I've done this all too many times in the past. I'm almost worn out. I know some of these relationships will be significant but most will not be. I'm not trying to be cynical at all but this is what happens when you spend a few weeks with people. You make friendships with few that will last longer and be stronger. There isn't anything wrong with it but knowing this realty I tend to now not engage as much as first. I let the rain settle and I wait to make my ripple. That sounds weird...

I meet Justin, Kyle and Krissy first. Krissy is running around asking Justin questions I'm not sure of, talking about cards and phone calls. Soon I realize it's one of the horrors of being abroad. You lose your ATM/credit card. Or the machine eats it. Somehow it's gone.

Yikes! I immediately have sympathy for her knowing the struggles if contacting companies and banks while abroad. I say nothing and mind my business.

Kyle. He reminds me of my friend Josh. One of my best friends from home, but for some reason I didn't ever picture Josh doing this. Wait, I thought. Duh, this isn't Josh. It's Kyle. They are different. Sometimes it's really difficult to separate individuals in your head. I think that relates to stereotyping a lot too. Who knows maybe Josh would do this. I have no clue. But it makes me think, will I or anyone ever truly be culturally competent? Will someone ever not stereotype? Is it inevitable? I believe there are different levels of it all but really, it's so in depth I feel like I can't comprehend most of it. It's almost an overwhelming thing to think about. I stop. I'm back in the breakfast area where all the soon to be English teachers are meeting to eat.

I see Katie again. She takes a seat with some other people.

AH! I meet the now known as 'hundred baht' this guy is awesome. He has an extremely deep voice. He has quite a character about him that I can't quite put my finger on, though it's not a bad thing. It's somewhat inviting. He's got a sense of humor and loves to talk to people. On fact he was talking to me on Facebook well before we met in person. We were both backpacking in Thailand for a little beforehand. He has been to Thailand before. It's nice to have a modest traveler to talk to.

I can't help but feel like sometimes I get excited and want to share my experiences with people, solely because I was alone and couldn't share it with anyone. Like India. I find myself talking about it often. I'm not sure what but I think there is something going on in my head now. It struck a nerve or something. I've been having flashbacks. I wake up in the night sometimes. Feeling like I'm there. But then I have other amazing sights in my mind of the Taj, the Ganges river.... It's such a wild mix if emotions. Though here I go again.. I know sometimes I'm a modest traveler, but I think this is one thing that I can't stop talking about. I even annoy myself. I just hope I don't annoy others.

Were now in vans. Katie, Me, Meghan Zach, Madeline and Charney. 

These few were my first victims of excitement and stories.

Our stop at Mcdonalds and Starbucks was a western relief. We all relax on a couple hour ride to Hua Hin. We are provided some guidance on phones, cash/banks/ATMs, and where to go for goods. We were given time to go around the mall.

We split into small groups to locate anything we will need for our first few days. I buy hardly anything compared to some. A fan, some cereal, snacks and food. Oh and of course some good ol' toilet paper. 

I am approached by a small Asian girl, who says 'sooo you must be Harrison'.... I'm confused, flattered, and creeped out at the same time. I replied with a small smirk, 'ummmmm, yeah and you are?' We both laugh and introduce ourselves a little more thorughly. I then said, 'you do that often? Approach people with their name?' Haha.

That was the beginning of my group, The Red Group.

Shortly after I found the little Asian girl under my shoe, I quickly jumped to the side to let her yell at me all of the time. She is a feisty little one that we all got to know and love for her 'I. CANT. EVEN. But really can' attitude.

We all rushed around for necessities and foooooood! Me: toilet paper. Gotta have it. Sorry but I ain't no bushwhacked man. I'm a full grown man with some manorilla puberty hair. That needs wiping. No squirt squirt or hand wipin will do the trick. Now that the graphic part is over...

I looked to my left to see two odd individuals carrying their cart outside to the group waiting location. One with a fan and one with a giant knife. What the hell?

We don't have kitchens! It was pretty funny and cool, though. These fond individuals are now two of my good HuaHin made friends, Jessie and Stacey.

Back to Suchaya House.

We moved in together, learned together, practiced together, taught together, drank together, went crazy together, and were tourists together... We were the red group in the TESOL certification course. Friendships were made, drama was swarming around us, and we could have been the next 'Real World' house.

Almost every day we were practicing our extremely similar lessons, to the most minimal and easiest possible way to teach pronunciation and vocabulary.

It was a brutal process for the first few days because some of us weren't quite sure if we were supposed to be doing it different ways. After the first few, almost all of us were in the groove with these new methodologies. This was a foundation. I do believe it's necessary to make sure teachers are able to do this. And follow direction. First step to being a good leader is to be a good follower. I think..

I feel like I'm getting in the groove and really starting to do well. I feel like I'm on fire. Literally. These temperatures are whaling on my pores so much that on the drive home, standing in the sungtaew, my elbows have a continuous drip. Some would even say waterfalls. I am now known as the most sweaty person these people will ever know. And to think that in 4th grade during recess, I thought I was weird and uncool because I didn't sweat as much as Stefan Bilinski. Pft, I caught up for the missed years I missed out.

Almost every day we entered the pool by the house, and had some beers. I usually say out on some beers because I didn't have much money. I saved for the well worth moments, though. Like the beer pong that Katie and I totally won at the bar, but they said it costs another 200฿ to move on to the next round. Pssshhh. Or the celebratory beers after we successfully made it through day 2. Or successfully made it through day 3. Or successfully made it through day 4. Catch the drift? It was a mad house. Rumors, gossip, who's hot, who's not?

However, we all made it worth it and had a blast. Our placements were being announced slowly, through interviews and demo lessons, to phone calls and trips around the country..

Katie and I were called in. We were told we had interviews. They went well. Or, well enough. Sitting at the interview table, we met Kate and Colleen. Another red team member, Cherene, sat there as well. All soon to be office butt bumpers. We were all told we would be teaching at Assumption Suksa. This branch of school is really well known. All girls. Catholic. Oh shoot. If my buddies got word of this they would definitely make some jokes about it. Probably innapropriate jokes. :O to say the least, I was pumped and ready to go. Please for the love of... Don't take that as a pun. Really. I'm a teacher. Here to teach. 100%. Maybe a little venture and exploring. Maybe some booze. But I'm here, to teach.

As time went by, Kat and I decided it was time for the inevitable... We stopped our attempts at communicating as much due mostly to my schedule during the month.

Soon after it all, we were graduating and saying our goodbyes. Goodbye drama. Goodbye friends. Hello to the next part of my life.

300+ Catholic Girls. Here I come.

Venture On.

Ayuttaya and the end to begin

Mel and I grab a taxi to head one hour north. Ayuttaya is full of ruins and older temples. We are worried about weather and rain and have so far been extremely lucky and times everything perfectly. Rain has not gotten in our way yet.

We got a taxi to the bus station 'Mo Chit'. This bus station is full of mini vans, buses, taxis, etc.. We keep asking around but the language barrier is rough. Mel tries a security/info desk. I try a ticket window. We are asking and it's to no avail. Really need to learn a little more Thai, haha. We make it easier for us, but just longer by staying 'ayuttaya?' And we are pointed where to go. It's across the station. Unsure if where 'pointing' meant to go we just went ahead and tried asking more people... Eventually we'd get to a vehicle right?

One after another we keep asking. We find our way into a small mini van that will cost us 60 baht each one way. Sweet. Approximately 2 USD.

Arriving in Ayuttaya right across the bridge, we are greeted by the wonderful 'HELLOOO TUK TUK! I show you many things.' We say no thank you and keep walking. We hae time and we see that Ayuttaya isn't that large of a place so we can see the things we want to see, or majority of what we want to see fairly easy. We decided to walk almost everywhere. From walking through the older ruins and hearing people bein blessed by monks, to hearing music and seeing elephant rides/shows happening in the near distance, we were please with what we saw.

The architecture was actually really interesting. I couldnt to stop looking at how the bricks were layed and cemented over to form the taller spiers. I'm not sure what the correc term is for the things I'm describing, but seeing the chips and pieces fall apart, the deformities in the structures was almost soothing. You could see how long and what efforts were put into building this piece of artwork. To see it being preserved and idolized is refreshing. Not sure why, but I'm hoping to connect with that more later, or disconnect... I just want to understand more.

Mel and I walk and walk and walk and take pictures and pictures and pictures and then we just think about what we want to eat eat eat.

We decide to walk across the other end of town to a restaurant that is in our books, but it's kind if difficult to find. We see it, but don't know how to get there. The canal doesn't really allow for easy crossing unless you venture behind all the buildings on the other side. We decide to try. We find our way to a temple, strolling on through and finding different pathways that lead to beautiful flowers all around. We don't really care what happens were just happy to be here. Finally we reach a guesthouse of some sort. Maybe this is it?

Woah this isn't it, but it's a damn good guest house. Has some extra curricular activities, and it's all very nicely displayed.  From the furniture and the wooden legged structures it definitely seems like a place I'd enjoy. Anway, the owner sees us because it's not really peak season and no one is around. He leads us through to the correct way through the temple and towards our destination. Thanks kind man!

Despite the vicious dog's territory we were passing through, we made it! Sadly... We wanted to eat on the boat but this is when the rain got rough. And I mean ROUGH. I think this is the hardest of the monsoons we've seen. The plastic and plates and food is blowing in the wind. Across the river, from where we came, we see cars stopping to wait it through. Honestly we could hardly see the cars. Barely even the lights. The rain was falling so fast in so much volume that I was truely amazed. It's like you can read things and see things in tv but you really just don't know, until you feel it like that. - like climbing to a high elevation for the first time and the struggles that you can encounter/ not expect. It's so difficult to describe.

Nonetheless, we were dry. Sitting and eating under a roof next to some older women sharing food. We all laugh with each other after we've relocated a few times haha. WowZaaa. 

The restaurant/guest house helps us get a tuktuk/taxi back to the bus station. No way we were goin to go in this rain walking. It did slow down a lot so it wasn't as bad. We take a ride back on another minivan, get of at victory monument and walk around for some food and maybe some shopping. This is a huge hub for transport. We arrived in the evening and the night life came alive. Second hand shops everywhere. Were enjoyin our last time strolling through Bangkok together. We find extremely cheap food, and take some back alleys that seem a little less traveled. Of course it's all been traveled before. It's Bangkok. Tourist central. But it's the last bit of adventure we can find.

Back at our hotel, we sleep. The next morning, is an early one. I have to meet up with my group and hop on another van, that will take take me to Hua Hin, where I will take my TESOL course with XploreAsia. It's a fast morning and I'm hugging Mel all too soon looking through the glass door widows as she walks away. I'm thinking about her on her day alone, what she will conquer and what she will see. It's one last day. Live it up, safe travels home, and thank you SO much, for giving me the best vacation of my life. No one will take this from us, it was our time and our experiences. I loved it! Love you, Mel!!!!!!!

Here we go. Teacher Harry is back.

Krabi and Ko Phi Phi

Mel and I took our new outlooks on northern Thailand and sought out the south. We had a connecting flight to Krabi, a well known tourist spot for some island hopping. We arrived in Krabi only to realize out ferry to the island was not running anymore. The ferry is longer than an hour ride so it only runs a couple times a day.

We had to whip out the books and find a hostel or hotel. We decided to stay in Pak-up hostel not far from anything we wouldn't mind seeing. We took advantage of the night and walked around, found a random festival of sorts with a stage for participants in some karaoke event. It was alive with a night market, food, and accessories for whatever you could think of.

This is where Mel and I had our first encounter with the King.

We were enjoying some cheaply made cocktails and some mediocre sushi when the clock struck 6:00pm. We were a bit confuse when everyone around us stood up and was still. I wasn't sure if it was like the start of an American baseball game or what was happening..

We stood as everyone else did and stopped what we were doing.

The song was in honour of the king.. the nation.

Now before I say anything more I want I make a statement that it's illegal to speak of the royal family with any negative context. This is a law that is much different than other countries. So with travelers, they should be aware and educated on this so they do not make any remarks, and find themselves in trouble.

We enjoy some Thai ice cream and some children performing on the ground playing instruments. This is a common practice, at least from what we've seen.

I'm eager for a burger. We find a place to eat. It seems like an Australian bar and grill or something. I gotta ease off the American. India was rough and exciting. Thailand is great. But food.... Yeah I need that burg.

We are happy to get some rest in the hostel which is actually pretty nice. Only 250฿, which is around 7-8 USD. Booya.

Next day we head off to Ko Phi Phi. We got a ticket at a ferry office the night before. I forget the exact price but just as everything else, once you but something you find it cheaper elsewhere. We rode on the ferry to the island watching the cool clear blue water under the skies. It's a long two hours or so, and we approach the long tail boats you dream of and see in pictures. The boats are all lined up on the sand, the bungalows are in sight, an many, many people trying to recruit for the next dive. Diving is huge here. I want to try so bad. It's very cheap here for this kind of sport. If you want a diving license, do it in Thailand. As so I've heard. I haven't done it yet and I want to. I am rather poor.. So even though it's cheap, I have bills to pay, haha. Dang student loans.

Were walking through the people trying to sell things, and are lookin at the poorly scaled map. Easy to read but confusing at first as anyone would be with anything new.

We reach our place to stay for the night after a short walk (long walk in respect to the islands size). We check in for one night and realize that in two days, the boat returning to krabi will be too late for our flight. We apologize and tell the hotel we need to check out after one night.

Everything is alright, after some brushing around for our documents. Walking to our nice little hut, we take a look off the edge of the hills and it's got a great view. We are able to unload, and go enjoy the beach!!! Yes! This island is hounded with tourists and party goers, Muay Thai, tattoos, etc.. Were walking around trying to find some things to eat or just see. We keep passing this 'pirate' restaurant? It's quite funny. I'm not sure if Mel knew the whole time but I didn't realize the restaurant had multiple openings to enter from either side. It was all open air walls/pillars, but i didn't know that. I guess I just couldn't see through to the other side? Everything is so crammed here. Nuts. At least for the Farang (westerner). We also keep passing this place called 'The Rock'. It looks like a dominant restaurant, more expensive and up on a higher level. Literally.. Elevation.

Mel and I spend some time on the beach walking out to the water, explore the weird slimy sand creatures we found that look like clear spaghetti and slurp themselves back into holes as soon as they make contact with someone. Ewwww. Hehe.

We spend a decent amount of time on the beach laying there. Relaxing. It's nice. I see a group of guys throwing a football. Man I wish the guys were here. My dudes would love to have a catch in the mile long ankle high water. 

After some photo ops, and some relaxing on the beach in front of some tunes from a nearby bar, we head on up to bed.

We hear and FEEL the bass from the beach. It's bumping outside like crazy.

Were in one of the farthest places to stay, too!

I take a look down towards the beach, much lower than where we are currently. It's loud, there are lights, fire twirlers, an it's like the night is young. Mel and I don't feel like going nuts, we try to get some shut eye, wow that music was loud. Haha. I can't imagine staying closer down towards the beach.

Now, we wake up, eat a nice complimentary breakfast, and are headed out back to Krabi.

It's funny, we ask if no assistance for this man to help us. They load us in a truck, on the back. Kinda like a sungtaew. Were going down the sometimes steep hill, one way hardly paved path. Holding on for dear life at points to not fall off, haha.

The end comes near and the truck stops. We unload our bags and the man throws them in a sort of square cart/trailer/dolly thing. Were wondering what is happening then realize it has wheels. He's pullin it! He starts to pull our bags through to the ferry on the other side if the island. We feel bad because we just walk behind him, passing all the other foreigners feeling like this is some sort of, indecent treatment. We try to say we can take the bags but the man insists. He's extremely kinda smiling, and generous.. Then again... this is just a walk to the ferry.. Not Mongolia.

We reach our ferry early, watch some fish under the docks, wave goodbye to the scenery and take a much wanted spot on the top of the ferry to lay down, in the beating hot sun. Another two hours or so back to Krabi. Easy enough we just walk around Krabi and search for a place to stay again. Worst case scenario we go back to the hostel, otherwise we just keep looking for a nice place to relax and feel comfortable.

We find a place and are able to bring down the price a little bit. Mel says 'screw it' and takes her card out, haha. WOOO. A/c hehe.

Were just roaming the streets we were roaming the two days before and are ready for our flight back to Bangkok. This is where it sucks. Going back to Bangkok means Mel and I are coming to an end in our vacation and fun.

Besides from the excitement of getting back to Bangkok, and getting my luggage from the storage unit, there wasn't too much more excitement other than good old Khao San road. We were staying on Khao San road. This road is permanently closed and had a vast amount if bars an restaurants. This place goes WILD at night. From Ping Pong show offers to laughing gas, to just hanging with friends or gettin down on the dance floor.. It has a chronic environment. I mean that in a both positive and negative way. 

Katie Matero, my Student Staff Coordinator in Johnson Hall for the Spring 2014 semester. She's taking the course too. We message each other and find out she and others in the group are coming to khao San road. We decided to meet at 7 eleven. Mel and I wait around and meet up, get introduced to some people, and have a night turn old. We watched foreigners take the 'spotlight' in search of peer acceptance, watched child break dancers, are scorpions and eventually made our way to 'the club'.

The Club. The entrance is a large oval neon sign which has a small opening with some

Guards standing under it. You pay a cover fee which gives you a stamp for re try and a drink once you get in. (Ticket). The doorway leads you down a long ish dark hallway, which seems darker when it's your first time and you are under the influence. Definitely quesionable at first when you are unsure of the territory and surroundings you are in. Mel stayed in the room for this part which is okay, but I really wish she came! It was nuts. The hallway opened up to (again seemed larger than it was while under the influence.. Haha) a huge opening of a dance floor with a center rounded DJ stage. Lasers and lights and robots filled the underground club feel of the cement walls. Katie and I walked in an got our picture taken and were put on the club's Facebook site. Oh boy. Then we were all going wild snapping pics and dancing to some wild house/techno music. A bit intense. After being there more often now, it's definitely not as insane or wild as it felt. It felt like I was in college again.

Despite all the crazy fun, we all separate and hit the sack. The next day, Mel and I were going to head to Ayuttaya for a few hours. After Ayuttaya Mel is going to have her one night in Bangkok. Within te next 48 hours I'd be off to meet my group for the TESOL course. I'm eager to meet people and get started but... I'm definitely going to miss Mel. She was a huge uprising of spirits for me after all of the highs and lows in India. India... You got me good, but I'll be back some day. I want to. See more, volunteer more... I need to understand you more. Damn Delhi. Haha.

Up next: Our day in Ayuttaya.

Goodbyes and see you laters wih Mel.

The end of the beginning.. And the beginning of the rest of my life.