mass email #?: "phuket"

sa ba dee KAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


hi to all

i am writing this from the sunny island of phuket. i arrived here yesterday by minibus (read: glorified semi-air-con crap mobile cruising at a nifty 150 k on roads like those in vermont up and over mountains. through villages. i was crying at one point.) we arrived yeaterday, and phuket is quite beautiful. i will tell you though, i dont think i would think it was this beautiful if i hadn't seen other parts of thailand first. thailand is, among other things, poor. it is the pooest place i have been in my life. those living in what we would call "the projects" in north america is living like royalty to the thai people. they make so little money, and live such a modest life. it is humbling to think that if i gave 20 dollars to one of these people, it would change their lives. i have never experienced poverty like this before. it chokes me up...it still gets to my boss who is a farang also, from wales, and has lived here for 8 years. bangkok,, as i mentioned is a miserable city. it is worse than hell. hot, smelly, the people are mean, no one is helpful, and they look at you as if you have a huge dollar sign on your face because you are white.

then when i went down to hat yai, i was one of about two foreigners in the whole city. this, to me, was amazing. i was the first white person many people had seen. when men with their little girl see me they point at me and laugh and smie. tonight at dinner at a little sushi place where you take off your shoes and sit on the floor, a little girl pressed her snotty nose on the window and blew me a kiss. the little girls think you're a movie star, the old men want to have their way with you, the young boys want to touch you, and the women all want to be you. i, hate it. i turned to brandi tonight (the other girl from canada) and said, "i wish for one day i was thai. because i am not living what it is like to live in thailand...i am living as a blue-eyed person." it has its perks...people take care of you, but it is still hard to be a freak show, for lack of a better phrase.

i saw the school today, and it is something you would see in a film. we have open classrooms, with fans in white stucco buildings. it is a very expensive school, and the parents here are the most wealthy. they send their children to you to learn how to speak english. full stop. there is a lot of pressure of the four of us foreign teachers, and as we began planning (classes start in the morning...it's friday night here now...) and it's going to be so hard. but it's what i came here to do, in a sense, and i know it will make me a better teacher in the future. i am teaching what i called "anuban" here, which is essentially kindergarden. i am teaching about 240 kids, 3-6 years old (i know....THREE!). i am not like the typical farang teacher...i am in the school all day, five days a week when i am not teaching i am around the school watching, learning, and helping other teachers. it is, a real job. i have not had this before, really. should be quite interesting.

as for the rest of life here, is is, well, going. we moved into apartments yesterday here, brandi and i. we went to see one section of apartments, and because we were all tired and in bad moods, we took them. i can't express the hatred i have for where i am living. it is worse than any other apartment i have seen in my life, and i am not even stretching this for effect. where i live, the apartments are falling apart. i go to sleep at night hoping the roof wnt cave in. there have been stories of king cobras coming through the drains (there is no cover, so i keep a bottle of bleach on mine). this bring me to another point. the critters of thailand. i know for those of you who have been to mexico you have encountered them, but i , canadian full and true, hate these little guys.....GECKOS. the little brats run around like mice on the wall, and crawl out making no sound at all and run run run so fast that they scare you, and if you don't have a heart atttack right then, it takes at least five years off your life. and no, they are not outside, they are inside. all over. i tiptoe around my apartment hoping one wont come out. but they come out, run over your head, and everyone insists they are harmless and helpful, but i am convinced they will go into my ear, lay eggs, and they will hatch, and then one day, while teaching class, geckos will start ppouring out my nose and mouth. i will write home when it happens, because really, it is only a matter of time. my apartment is basically a room, with tile floor, bed, a pleather couch which i am sure has cockroaches, a vanity (see previous) an armoire (see above) and that's it. i have a kitchen which is, in short, a cage. it is actually outside (i am on the 4th floor of a building, and in the center of apartments, there is a little hole where the kitchens are, and we can all see one another.) i went in therer when i saw the apartment, and i haven't been in since.. my bathroom is also a trip. you know how in north america we have western toilets?? not quite in thailand. here, there are holes yes,holes. i dont have a hole i have a "european toilet," which is a luxury (oh what you get for 100 bucks a month!) but my shower, well, is just there. it is in the middle of the bathroom with a hole in the ground. you brush your teeth, shower, do your taxes, all in a little room with a drain. smashing!


we went to the beach today, just for lunch, and it is quite beautiful. i am about 20k from the beach, but there are buses and tuk tuks (glorified lawnmowers as taxis...)

i should get going, brandi is waiting for me. i did manage to get a cell phone today. it's pretty cheap (you are seeing the theme?) but i would love to hear from you all.

07-8949368 the country code for thailand is 66, and there is an area code for phuket you have to look up, because this cafe is slow as hell. i am in phuket town, in the province of phuket...so give me a shout. also, i am 13 hours ahead of new york time...when it's noon there is is eleven at night the same day here. just to keep in mind. but really, call whenever you want.

thanks for all the emails, and i wish i could get more personal ones out. but i dont have a lot of free time at the moment,

hope to talk to you soon

ps...sorry if this is a litle bit of a downer. really, i think it is all getting to me. i am now on thai time, and i am sitting here looking at the broken houses and poor people who only want money from me, and the dirt, heat, language barrier, staring, pests, etc, and i just a thinking "why the hell would anyone come here? i hope i snap out of it, for my sake and for my kids sake. but right now, i'm pretty damn lonely, and pretty sick of being out of my element all of the time. but i am only staying in this apartment for a month, and then i will find somewhere i like...it will get better. it has to.

oh, also, as for the political unrest, it's okay. i was in the southern priovinces when it happened, and there were bombings in the southern most three provinces (i was in the 4th) and it is muslim terrorism over those provinces by malasians who want the land and think it is theirs. in phuket it is rich chinese, and this wont happen. it has crossed my mind, but i am sure i am fine, and if anything arises, i have a return ticket, and will come home, simple. so no need to worry. (mom. ) but i am being more careful

thanks again

gros bisous

mass email #2: first one in thailand, "greetings"

well hello to everyone,

i fired out a short little email from the airport, but i understand it didn't get to many people...i think the thai spies are on to me.

at any rate...HELLO! i have arrived in thailand last friday, stayed in bangkok for the weekend, and then headed down to where i currently am in hat yai until tomorrow morning, when we head to the beautiful isla of PHUKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

holy holy moly...there is so much to tell. i think the best way i can describe what i have experienced is.....shock. everything i thought i was going to be experiencing, everything i thought i was to expect has been thrown out the window. nothing is the way i pictured it, and for this, i am really happy. while the nice little story i convinced myself of was quite romantic, this is more real, more surreal i suppose.

i have met up with my three fellow farang teachers (farang in thai = foreigner...my new name also...) and we have been spending some great time here in the south. there's brandi from regina, liz from down under who has sailed here with her husband and two girls...and mark who has spent the past year or so in india and is from the uk. the four of us have been hanging around trying out some chang (cheap thai beer...cheaper than water...and quite strong...) and being stared at like gods and goddesses. it's quite bizarre.

thailand is beautiful. but i can't lie...it is most certainly a third world country. i will be making each month more than a whole thai family will make in a year, and then some. prices are dirt cheap, but i have been told to take the western price, and mulyiply it by five, and then we have what it costs in the thai mind. for example, water here is around 20 b (baht) for a bottle...a huge one. this is about 50 cents american...and it's about a liter. but then to find the price for a thai, you must multiply this by five, and you ghave $2.50 for one bottle of water. this, is expensive, especially since the average thai salary is quite modest.

david, my boss, is a sweetheart. i think he has given me the best advice so far. i had a rough experience with two of the thai teachers when they took me to the beach on sunday...there were some muslim men at the restaurant we went to, and they were obviously talking about me in thai, they were more or less swarming around me, and saying obnoxious things, and i was quite uncomfortable. (there is a certain fondness for bright blue eyes and fair skin...) and i was talking to david the next day saying i couldn't understand why they were doing this. i said i wanted to know what they were thinking. he then told me, "think of the way your mind works. now think of everything totall opposite to your logic. lines on the road are meant to be driven over...the thai buddhist mentality is to be free. think of the way you see lizards and rats, and how you dont like them crawling around, and think of the opposite. this is how thais think." i think this has been my best advice so far.

at any rate, i have to get going, the thai teachers are going to be arriving today who i will be working with and i have to air off. thais are born without sweatglands, i swear. i have been wearing skirts and t shirts since i have arrived and i am surviving as if i am a faucet. it's not pretty, that's all i can say.
i have so much more to write...i am keeping a jounal i hope to bind one day for people to read...and i have a list going of "things i have learned in thailand." like my minimal thai words (hello, thank you, how much is the water...do you have geckos?) be sure to post this once i am on my ISLA BONITA!!!!!

thanks for the emails, and please keep them coming. i think i am going to be getting a cell phone this weekend. (though all these damn europeans have me saying mobile...i am talking to myself at night to protect my accent...)
mom, if you could call pops and bo, i havent had a chance and the phone booths either are covered in slime or dont take international cards...i will be better off in phuket...but even read this to them. grazie

and christopher...i will call you this weekend...xxx

gros gros bisous, and please keep in touch.

teacher heather, miss heather or farang.