Hello All!

Once again my fingers cannot keep up with the wealth of experiences I've been having! It has been over a week since I last posted and circumstances have changed dramatically.

1)I have a job!

I had some interviews, turned in some resumes, and got mostly positive responses but no job offers. I then found out I only had 2.5 weeks left in the country on my visa! Eeek. I started thinking about other ways to stay in Chiang Mai, but I was getting pretty worried that it wasn't going to work out. Then I got a call from a school I had emailed asking for an interview. I went in that day and they offered me a job on the spot! Everyone always says don't take the first job offer, but I talked it over with lots of friends, hammered out the contract, and went back the next day to sign. I'll be making good money, have relatively small classes, and I'll get a visa and work permit to stay in the country legally!

2)I have a visa!

As soon as I signed the contract I whisked myself off to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, to apply at the Royal Thai Embassy for a non-immigrant B visa (this allows me to stay in Thailand for a year without having to leave the country). This trip was a whole blog post in and of itself, so more on that later.

3)I have an apartment!

If you recall, my apartment search was not going so well the last time I wrote. It turns out that I was looking in a pretty expensive area and wouldn't have found much in my price range no matter how hard I tried or what languages I spoke. My friend Eddie (speaks Thai and perfect English) took me to see a few places and we stumbled on one that looked really good. It is a little along the lines of a hotel room, but is decent sized, has air-con, internet, hot water, a western style toilet (non squat), and a refrigerator! The manager wasn't in so we said we'd come back after my trip to Laos. In the meantime I emailed another apartment and went to see it. It is closer to the school, but just not as nice as the other one, AND more expensive! In the end, Eddie took me back to the first apartment today and worked out a great deal where I sign for 6 months and pay approx. $100 per month. I move in tomorrow and am SO excited to have my own place. It even has a balcony! I will miss the girls who run my guest house though, as they have been so supportive of my job hunt and settling in to the city. They actually cheered with me the day I came back and told them I got a job!

Other than these major developments, life goes on. I'm continuing to meet new people, discover yummy foods, stumble across fun places, and generally make a life for myself in this amazing, vibrant city. Just the other night I was eating noodles at 1am when I saw an elephant walking down the street with a blinking red bike light attached to its tail! Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore…and it's GREAT! I'm sure I will have tons more to tell you after my first week of classes (which begin MONDAY *gasp*) immediately followed by the festival of songkran (where people drench each other with ice water for 3 days) but for now I'll leave you with the story of my adventure to Laos.

The VIP bus was very comfortable for the 12 hour overnight journey to the Thai border. I met a few "farang/falang" (as westerners are called here) and we chatted a bit, but mostly I slept. Upon reaching the border us falang decided to haggle for a taxi to the bridge (which is further than you'd think from the border town) and ended up piling in a truck for the 45 minute drive. I'm sure we paid too much, but there really aren't many options. The Thais have got this system down! One of the guys, Roy, and I stuck together through the Thai immigration and getting our Laos visas, and met a family with two young daughters who were also on a visa run. The kids were the cutest things imaginable at 2 and 5 years old, and both spoke English though they looked Asian (the mother was from the Philippines). We chatted andI played with the kids while we waited for our passports, and then we all ended up in the same car to the Embassy.After hours spent waiting at the Embassy for our numbers to be called (and me stressing out about having all the right paperwork and correct answers on my application) we turned in our documents and paid the visa fee. When I say hours spent waiting, I mean HOURS spent outside in the heat, making sure your pictures didn't stick too far over the edge of the application, worrying about your documents, and drawing mermaid pictures for little girls who are very bored. It wasn't the best time I've ever spent, but we got through it. Afterwards we got our same driver to take us to a nearby hotel. At that point it was easier to just stick together. The father of the family spoke excellent Thai, which is apparently not much different from Laos, so he was able to get us room discounts and barter for the tuk tuks we took everywhere. We wandered, had a nice Thai lunch, rested, and then went out to hit the town!...not really. Vientiane, while it is the capital city of Laos, is extremely poor and underdeveloped. Its greatest claims to fame are a 12 story hotel/club and an "Arc d' Triumphe"look alike. The Mekong river is running very low due to a dam the Chinese put in upstream, so the riverbank is a mass of dirt and sand. The Laotians try to make the best of it, setting up a market and eating stalls along the river, but it really isn't a nice place to be. This is what communism gives you… :p In the end we found a random carnival, ate some good food, and I tried the infamous Beer Lao (compared to the bad beer in Thailand, I suppose it would be considered MUCH better).The next morning we tried the morning market, but my overall impression of the capital was one of underdevelopment and construction, so maybe in a few years it will be looking better. At 1pm we went back to the Embassy to scorch in the sun until they opened the gates (Thai time is its own special entity) and nervously wait in line to receive our passports with the all-important full-page sticker telling us we could re-enter the Land of Smiles. Fortunately, despite my worrying, everything was fine and I am now eligible for a work permit and a legal year of stay! With pay! Since we all finished at the same time and the family had a truck right across the border, Roy and I decided to skip the VIP bus (which left at 8pm) and travel with them to a midpoint town, and then get the train to Chiang Mai. This ended up taking us longer, but I got to ride in the back of a pickup (legally!) with the wind blowing in my hair and my legs stretched out in front of me. We stopped for amazing noodles at the roadside, and Aubrey and I sang Disney songs to our hearts' content. By the time we reached the train station at 10pm I was VERY ready to be home, but of course the 10:30 train was sold out. We said goodbye to the lovely family and waited for 2 hours for the midnight train, stuck it out overnight on uncomfy train seats, and "woke up" in the morning to beautiful countryside slowly chugging by. Train seats are not great for sleeping (the beds were sold out) but it is certainly a more romantic way of traveling during the day…even my sleep deprived brain could appreciate it. Upon our return both Roy and I gave a deep sigh of satisfaction - Chiang Mai already feels like home. I gave a wide grin as I told the songthaew driver "Moon Muang soi 9" and settled in for the bumpy, sometimes smokey, but always exciting open-air ride to my guesthouse in my own little piece of Chiang Mai. Home.

Until I move to the new apartment…but that's another story I'm sure.

Stay tuned for details on the move, my first days of teaching, and much much more!

XOXO

Karissa