Amazing Thailand!!!

(I went to Thailand over a month ago, but I just uploaded my pictures to flickr and relived the memories.)

I had been plotting a trip to Thailand pretty much since my feet touched down on Korean soil. It was a dream vacation come true, but not for the reasons I imagined. When people think of Thailand (myself included) they usually think of Phuket and the pristine beaches on the southwest peninsula.

We didn’t go there. My traveling companions (this time Jamie, Sarah and Kim) and I ended up flying into Bangkok and then taking a bus to Ko Chang, a slightly less touristy island in the southeast.

I talked them into going there after hearing about other people’s trips and realizing that it had everything I wanted –the beach, snorkeling, elephant treks through the jungle, kayaking, massages- without the 13+ hour bus ride down to Phuket. After Cambodia, I decided that I didn’t want to spend my vacation on a bus, I just wanted to relax on the beach. It turns out we didn’t spend that much time at the beach (we all got third degree sunburns our first day on the island) but I wouldn’t take back a minute of it.

In addition to debilitating sunburn, we experienced bed bugs, cockroaches, and traveler’s diarrhea. In spite of all that, it was the trip of a lifetime. Rather than ramble on like I usually do, I’m going to make a list of my favorite parts of the trip.

#1. Thai food – Thai food has always been a favorite of mine, and not surprisingly, the real deal is even better. Every day we had fresh, delicious Thai food and usually it didn’t cost more than $3.00 a plate. I would go back in a heartbeat for the food alone.

First amazing meal in Thailand, Fried noodles w/chicken, chili & basil (or something like that)


Mouth-watering fresh pineapple shake, I had one nearly everyday


Yellow curry w/chicken & potato, delish


Pineapple fried rice, a new favorite!



#2. Cheap as Chips – Everything in Thailand is really cheap if you think of the cost in US dollars*, and you can indulge in such luxuries as massages everyday without really spending that much. A 1 ½ hour massage cost us 280 baht, which is about 8 US dollars. (*I get paid in Korean won, so it really wasn't as cheap as I thought it was at the time.)

#3. Riding Motorbikes on Ko Chang – It wasn’t on my list, (Yes, I actually generated a “to-do” list using my Lonely Planet book) but Jamie and I rented motorbikes for a day and had our own little “Motorcycle Diaries” adventure on the island. I was a little scared because we don’t have insurance coverage outside of Korea, (when did I become such a mom?) but we had a blast and I found myself fantasizing about moving to a city where I could ride a moped around everywhere.


#4. Meeting people from all over the world – One of my favorite things about traveling is the interesting people I meet and hearing their stories. We met people from England, Holland, New Zealand, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and boatloads of people from Sweden. Many of them were traveling through several countries in Southeast Asia, and hearing about their adventures in Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc., made me want to stay another year in Asia just for the sake of traveling.

#5. The food – Oh wait, I already talked about that. It was amazing though and deserves another place on the list ☺

Coming back to Korea after this trip was really hard. I spent my first week back whining about going back to Thailand, which I will someday. I already have it planned out: I’m flying into Phuket this time and visiting the islands down that way, especially Ko Phi Phi, which is where “The Beach” was filmed and is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous.

Have to wait until I’ve paid off a few bills first though. Which is why I am going to sign off for now and get going on my online TEFL course. (I get a 200,000 won/month raise once I finish the darn thing)

Many more pictures of my Thai adventure can be found here, on my Flickr page.

I'm back!

I’ve been meaning to update this for weeks, and my excuse this time is the most pathetic yet: I am totally addicted to a cheesy Korean drama. (Thank you, Anna.)

The show’s English name is “Boys Before Flowers,” and it’s incredibly ridiculous and geared toward high school kids, but I can’t stop watching it. Between my obsession with the show and my love of K-pop (Korean pop music, more on that later) it has recently dawned on me why I get along so well with high school students; I’m basically one of them. I listen to the same music and watch the same shows. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that sophomores seem to be my lot in life.

"Boys Before Flowers"

I've been watching it with English subtitles at mysoju.com

In other news, winter vacation is officially over and the new school year has begun. I have a new crop of 10th graders, and so far they are fantastic. It really helps being their teacher from day one, rather than coming in halfway through the school year like I did in August. I think the teaching situation overall is going to be a lot better this time around. Before, my students weren’t held accountable for what I taught, so as hard as I tried to get them to participate in class activities, there wasn’t much motivation for them do so. But this year, a percentage of their grade is based on a speaking exam conducted by yours truly. The word “exam” alone strikes fear in the hearts of all Korean students, and they are already anxious about this oral exam that will be held sometime in May. I’m optimistic that this will give me the authority I was lacking last school year.

I also have my own classroom this year, and not just any classroom, but a brand new “English Zone” paid for by a grant from the government and equipped with more technology than I know what to do with. Before I had nothing but a chalkboard, and now I have a touch screen LCD monitor. (I think that’s what it’s called anyway)

It’s a good thing that the school year is starting off on a positive note, because I came back from Thailand in sort of an anti-Korea funk. When I stepped off the plane in Seoul, I was greeted by frigid cold weather and fought a throng of pushing and shoving Koreans to get onto the light rail. It’s always like that coming back to Seoul. I forget what it’s like and then I’m rudely awakened. Also, that week the won took a nosedive in value. I have to transfer money home every month to pay bills regardless of the exchange rate, and that week it was at an 11 year low, so I cringed as hundreds of thousands of won disappeared into thin air. Right now I’m making almost $500 less a month than I was back in September because of the crappy exchange rate. If the won/dollar exchange rate were to continue to plummet, it wouldn’t be feasible to stay another year in Korea. But the exchange rate got a little bit better this week (after I transferred my money, of course) so I’ll just have to wait and see. I’ve decided to put the stay-or-go decision on the back burner for a while rather than stress out about it constantly.

Well, I will leave you with some pictures of my awesome new classroom. It’s definitely the nicest in the entire school and I feel a little guilty about that. I sometimes wonder what the Korean teachers think of me because I do less work than they do, I have the nicest room, and I’m really popular with the students only because I’m one of only two foreigners at the school. (We have a Chinese teacher now too) They seem to like me though, and more teachers have been making an effort lately to try to talk to me. Today at lunch one teacher told me that she wanted to talk to me before, but she was too scared. It seems more of them have gotten over their “shyness.” It only took six months. Anyway…

Here’s my new room!