Life in Phuket…

Teaching: Bianca was placed in a private Catholic elementary school of about 3500 students teaching 3rd and 4th grade ESL. She also taught a couple hours of first and seventh grade English as well. Although her school was run by nuns and students recited Hail Mary every morning, respect was still given to Buddhist and Muslim traditions (including holidays!). Joey was placed in a government high school of about 3500 students teaching 15-18 year olds English. At first Joey was a part time teacher but that quickly changed…as do most things in the Thai education system. Overall, the Thai education system is very interesting. Sorry for the following sweeping generalizations, but they must be said. In general, Thais are very concerned with the "show" or "presentation" of things. In schools this means that much time is spent on decorations, projects with little content but great artwork, and assemblies with dancing and awards given to dignitaries in the area. Which brings me to the next stereotype: there is no such thing as planning in Thai schools. Classes are cancelled a minute before they begin, entire days are taken away for sports, an assembly, a holiday, the King's birthday, or just because. As a result, foreign teachers tend to be laid back about their teaching which serves most of them well given that they aren't fully qualified teachers (although nowadays, competition is increasing and more and more schools are pickier about who they hire). Overall, both of us worked with great staff…a lot of Brits with some Americans and South Africans thrown in there…and a Kenyan. Common topics of conversation in the staff room: US's lack of universal health care, US's inability to comprehend afternoon tea and biscuits, our overall vocabulary (similarities and differences), places traveled, and places to travel. We made great connections here and we hope to meet up some day with these people in the future.

Where We Lived: We lived in Southern Thailand on the island of Phuket. Phuket is quite a big island and we lived in Phuket town…a city about 35 minutes away from the beaches. Phuket town is a great place. It's where all the Thais live and in the center it has great Sino-Portuguese architecture. Living here ensured that we didn't have to see touristy Patong and Kata on a daily basis. In Phuket town, we lived in a studio apartment about halfway between both of our schools. Interesting enough, apartments here in Thailand don't have kitchens because it is cheaper to eat out than to buy groceries. No kitchen for us meant all meals out. Laundry was done for us and our apartment was cleaned daily. All for the low cost of 150 bucks a month.

Food: Our favorite place to eat was a local BBQ restaurant serving Isaan food- which is a rural region in northern Thailand. They serve BBQ chicken, pork, ribs, fish, and occasional crab with an amazing sauce to accompany it all. Isaan is known to be the place where Som Tum (papaya salad) originated from and it is good! They also make an interesting dish called Lab Gai (which is pretty much minced chicken with onions and lime). Another favorite restaurant was a buffet place. You pick as much raw meat, veggies, and fish as you like and cook it on a grill at your table. Be sure to eat it all, or else you get fined! Other favorites included: a place we termed Sunwest that served great traditional Thai food, Masa's place that served Thai and Western food, Peet's Pizza with great soup and salad, and Natural Restaurant for a yummy mint soda and Thai food. In general, the food you eat here in Thailand does not resemble the food made back home at Thai restaurants. Although the curries are served here, they're not considered the best dishes. And we'd have to agree. *We did occasionally splurge for sushi buffet and Mexican food also…although the Mexican food was more Tex Mex and not that great.

Our daily life on Weekdays:Wake up, get ready, and head to work. Bianca would ride her bicycle to work (although, she was often made fun of as this is seen as something only someone from Burma would do because they have no money- her students got a kick out of it.). Bianca's bicycle, although brand new, had no gears and the brakes failed to work after it rained. After a few months, she ditched the bicycle and just started walking. Joey would ride the motorbike to and from work…We would eat breakfast at work-costing about 50 cents. And Bianca would eat lunch at a restaurant next door for 1-2 dollars and Joey would eat lunch at work…again, for about 50 cents. After work we'd head to the gym, attempt to work out with no AC (there were fans but the Thais kept turning them off!), and run into a few of Joey's students (one of which lived in Mexico and spoke fluent Spanish). And after the gym, we'd eat. (See "Food").At night we'd watch a bit of TV which mainly consisted of a couple Australian and South African channels, HLN (American news), Fox news (yuck), and 1-2 movie channels that showed old movies in English. Oh yes, and we watched rugby.

Our Daily Life on Weekends: Wake up late, eat breakfast at our apartment building's restaurant, put on our bathing suits and sunscreen and hit the beach. We'd go by motorbike and visit as many different beaches as we could. Generally speaking, the water was perfectly clear, the sun hot, and the scenery gorgeous. We couldn't lay out for more than 10-15 minutes, which made the water even more inviting. The only drawback is the jellyfish. They're tiny and give harmless stings, but they're there. After a day at the beach we'd usually stop for some juice or a juice shake, head home, and eat. Some nights we'd go to the movies (quite nice) and some nights we'd rent a movie and buy a 2L bottle of wine with some cheese (very expensive here in Thailand). Weekends never seemed long enough, but were always pretty amazing.

Fun facts about life in Phuket:

Food on wheels: every type and everywhere. Chicken, fruit, McDonalds, soup…all food is motorbike transportable.

Motorbike taxis: Cheap, easy, and must be bargained with (if you're pretty and can speak a little Thai, they'll give you the Thai price)

Sewage odors: you'll get a waft every 2 minutes.

The King: He is loved, respected, and his picture is everywhere. Literally, everywhere.

Brits: live here, don't really ever intend on returning to the UK, and enjoy making fun of us Yanks.

Geckos, mosquitoes, occasional cockroaches: everywhere. You get used to the mosquito bites, though.

Sweat: It's hot here. We've gone through a lot of clothes.

Defensive driving: Never assume they look before pulling out.

Bars: Many. Some new, modern bars that cater to the wealthier. Some pubs that cater to the Brits. And some neat, small, dark wood bars that cater to everyone. Or, you can just buy some beers or a bottle of whisky and drink it at the outdoor liquor shop (they have tables and chairs…usually only Thais do this, but we have seen some foreigners).

Thai women and foreign men: normal. Their half breed kids were in our schools and are very cute.

Clothes: don't expect to fit into anything sold at a market. They're tiny- for guys and girls.

Phuket: It's safe, it's hot, it's cheap, it's gorgeous, it's fun, it's friendly, it's great. A place we would gladly call home…if only it was closer to family and if only we could say something in Thai other than: Hello; How much?; Too expensive; and Thank you.

Shout Outs to Our Visitors:

Just wanna say thanks to those of you we got to meet up with while here in southern Thailand. Our first visit was from Fernando, Joey's brother. We spent an awesome weekend in Phuket lying by the beach and pool, eating, and enjoying the night life. Our second visit was a brief dinner/drinks night with Ms. Allegra Bartlett who both Joey and Bianca went to school with. We enjoyed good talks and a good bottle of Thai whiskey with this ray of sunshine! Lastly, we enjoyed a great vacation with Manny Zusmer who both Joey and Bianca went to high school with. We met Manny and his friends, Itai and Roshan, on the ferry in Phi Phi and enjoyed a hike to a viewpoint, a day on a longtail, some amazing seafood, and fun beach parties. Thanks to all of you for making the effort to see us.

Leaving PhuketAlthough our stay here was short, we leave Phuket with sadness and excitement. The sadness comes from leaving familiar paths that were carefully carved through repetition: the path from our apartment to our favorite beaches, the path from our apartment to our favorite restaurants, the path from our schools to our gym. Hopefully we can revisit these well worn paths again someday. The excitement comes from having a general plan, but not knowing exactly what the future will bring. We know that we'll see and do some incredible things, we'll meet some great friends along the way, and we'll eat some amazing food. Even though our time in Phuket is now restricted to our memories of it, we know we'll make some new unforgettable memories.

The Plan:

Although we think we're pretty stupid for leaving paradise, we know there's still so much to see. So it's off to northern Thailand first (Chiang Mai and Pai area). We'll then head to Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia. We're planning on meeting up with Avra and Justin (Stanford friends of Bianca) and Barry (Bianca's best friend's father) all in Vietnam. After Indonesia, we'll head back to the states (around mid-June). We're currently in the process of applying to schools for next year. Our plan is to go to Mexico but if the violence continues or worsens, we might head back to Asia. Stay tuned for more travel adventures! Next stop…Chiang Mai.