As the days go on, life here at Payap is becoming more normal. I'm still struggling with the fact that this will actually be my life for the next year, not just some awesome vacation that I'm on, and I'm sure I'll still be feeling like this even a few months from now. In the meantime, though, let me give you an idea of my daily schedule.
6:45 AM: Wake up and use the Internet. We have Wifi in the dorms here, but our room only has strong Internet in the mornings, before we go to class, so this is my requisite "check email, Facebook, etc." time. I'm hoping to get an Ethernet so that I can have better internet all the time.
7:30 AM: Go to 7-11 and get breakfast, which is usually yogurt or a pre-packaged croissant. 7-11 is literally EVERYWHERE here...have I explained this yet? It's probably going to require its own blog post. You know how they say Starbucks is on every corner in the US? That's what 7-11 (or Seven, for short) is like here. Anyway, breakfast isn't a huge thing in Thailand, so this is kind of a good excuse to get some Western-style food.
8:30 AM: Walk to class, or bike to class! Maddie and I just got our new bicycles on Sunday, so we've been able to skip the long walk and just bike! It's pretty awesome, though biking isn't really a thing here. Most people have motorbikes that they ride to class and into town. I'm pretty sure that I'll be getting one later in the year, but for now I'm enjoying zipping around on my bicycle.
9 AM: Class. All the new GVs (Grinnell Volunteers) and CVs (Christian Volunteers) are taking required TESOL classes (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). The classes are usually pretty interesting, but sometimes it's tough to be in class again for six hours each day. We've already done a few teaching activities, and next week we will be teaching our first group of real students. I'm nervous already!
12 PM: Lunch! There is a little area with lots of food stalls that I usually go to for lunch. So far, I've had woon sen (glass noodles), delicious spring rolls, crab and long bean omelets, and I almost always get some fruit from a Burmese woman who has a fruit stand. She's been teaching me all the Thai words for fruits (and let's be honest, I'm eating so much fruit that it's worth it to learn the names early!). I'll do a food picture post soon so you can see all the delicious things I'm eating!
1 PM: More class, usually. We haven't really had an afternoon off since I've been here, but when we're actually teaching, it'll be more likely that we'll have freer afternoons.
4 PM: Done with class! At this point, it's really varied what I'll do. Some days I have to just hang out and hunker down on my homework, but other days are a little freer. On Monday, I went to an aerobic dance class, which I've never done before. It was really fun and it's going to happen again today! Yesterday, Maddie and I rested a little bit, before biking into the Old City for a free rock climbing class. It was a lot of fun and I reached the top! After that, we had dinner in the old city--I had kao man gai, which is one of my new favorites! It's basically just Singaporean chicken and rice, but always with delicious sauces to pour over the top. We also really wanted smoothies from Mrs. Pa, but she wasn't there yesterday...maybe it was her day off. Oh! and I tried rotee for the first time, which is a little bit like a crepe, but with bananas, chocolate, and condensed milk. So good but so rich!
Today, in comparison, I didn't go to the Old City but I went to a free aerobics class that Payap offers. Maddie and I went to today and Monday. It was so much fun!! Also a great way to make friends with Thai people, mostly staff at Payap.
8 PM: At least yesterday, we biked back from the Old City. Sometimes around this time, I'm just hanging out in my dorm roodI'm really enjoying the new freedom of having a bicycle, which means that if I want to brave traffic, I can really go to the Old City anytime I want, without having to walk 45 minutes to catch a song tao (red taxi), and then possibly have it take me on an hour-long ride around the whole of Chiang Mai (this actually did happen--it took us an hour to go probably 2 miles because we took a detour via the airport...).
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