We
arrived in Pattaya on Sunday, July 23rd, in the evening and went
directly to check in our hotels. The boys stayed in LanguageCorps Asia’s hotel
and Gayla, Vicky and I stayed at the Green Vale, a hotel down the block. We
were at the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors and had to
drag our good-for-a-year luggage all the way up, since most hotels here are not
your conventional establishment with elevators or bellboys. This hotel does not
even have a reception desk. If you need help, you need to call a number posted on
the wall.
Ten
minutes after putting away our bags we were all at the classroom creating
lesson plans for the next day. We started teaching on Monday morning. Our
driver picked us up at the hotel and took us to our respective schools. Vicky
and Steve did not come because they were assigned to teach at schools nearby
the hotels. The other schools were a lot further: first we dropped Sam off,
after driving half an hour; then Alex, a few minutes later; then it was my
turn, almost one hour after leaving the hotel; and last were Gayla, Brian and
Don, who were in the same school, at about ten minutes from mine. In our way to
school we passed some rural areas, new developments, an elephant training
center, a dinosaur park, the mountains, the sea… All this we saw, from the
covered back of the pickup truck, aka: our taxi.
Ride back from school
Although
we were nervous about our first day teaching, everyone got back in the back of
the truck filled with the great energy from the children. Thai kids are just so
excited to see you! You can be teaching anything and they will just love you
the same. They greet you with smiles, handshakes, hugs and high-fives. The
teachers are also loving and appreciative and always fed us (especially to
Alex, who got several meals each morning).
Our daily
routine consisted in doing our teaching practice in the mornings, having a
quick lunch, taking Thai classes and doing lesson planning for the next day in
the afternoons. Even though our group got a lot smaller we nonetheless had a
great time together. Vicky and Steve, who did not want to join us for the
social activities, still entertained us during classes with their peculiarities.
We will never forget Vicky’s constant complaints or Steve’s constant confusion
or how they both treated each other as if they had been married for many years.
Fun in Party Land
Following
the crazy weekend in Sihanoukville I felt closer to my new friends and less
strict about my self-imposed routine. Several times in the next two weeks we
visited Walking Street, a pedestrian section of the street parallel to the
ocean infested by tourists (mostly Russians) where anything relating to sex is
sold: “pussy shows” (in which skilled ladies perform mesmerizing tricks with
their vaginas, such as shooting darts, playing ping pong, and mixing drinks),
all kinds of services done by women or ladyboys, phallic-shaped lighters and
key chains, and other interesting things. On the same street there are also
many bars, food stands, children making contortions for a few Bahts, owners of
lemurs offering you to get a picture with them, tacky clothing vendors, loud
music and colorful lights.
On
the Thursday of the first week we had dinner at a Korean restaurant and Don and
I stayed in the area to watch live Thai boxing. It was pretty amusing but we
decided to leave when it was the turn of a couple of very young kids to fight.
On Friday we all decided to venture to a more local scene than the one in
Walking Street. We walked a little further on the coast and found a quaint
restaurant on the ocean. Sat at one of the tables on the sand, we ate under the
open night sky, hugged by a warm breeze. In the way back we stayed at a bar, also
sat in the open air. Hookah, beers, sweet alcoholic concoctions and wonderful
friends! We did some pull-ups from the pipes of a metallic pergola by our table
and tasted crickets from one of the street vendors. The night ended,
inevitably, at Walking Street, in one of the bars were the ladies strive to
make both men and women have a fun night and compulsorily buy drinks for them.
The group split and I came back to the hotel with Gayla, while the boys got
lost in another club.
Dinner by the beach
We planned
an unforgettable weekend, since it was our last one together. We took a boat to
Koh Larn, an island at one-hour ride off the coast of Pattaya Beach. From the
main harbor we rode motorcycles to Samae, a small beach of the most turquoise and
warmest water I have ever seen or felt. The only hotel in the area looked like
a kindergarten, painted in many bright colors. We rented two rooms for the
night. In the afternoon we swam, jumped in the waves, walked through rocks and
climbed boulders overlooking the ocean, drank from pineapples, and relished in
our freedom. In the evening we watched the Olympics with some Thais at a bar,
ate delicious food and walked by the beach. The next day, after more swimming and
a bicycle ride, we took the boat back to the mainland. I absorbed each moment
to its fullest. In a few days, there would not be any ocean, any sand, neither
these friends… When each day looks the same, you take everything around you for
granted. At this paradise, each minute felt so ephemeral and so glorious.
Kho Larn
The
next week passed by as quickly and as intensely as a summer storm -a very valid
metaphor in a tropical country during the rainy season.
On
Tuesday Brian, Don and I visited the Sanctuary of Truth, an all-wood building filled with sculptures based
on traditional Buddhist and Hindu motifs. It was started by the businessman Lek
Viriyaphant in 1981, and is scheduled to be complete in 2025. As you
come down from the entrance and spot this temple, which sits by the ocean, you
get the impression that it is not real. Its image-rich wooden frame is from
another world.
The Sanctuary of Truth :)
Our last day teaching at the schools was
Wednesday. As everything that ends, it had its bitter-sweet taste. On Thursday
we practice teaching one-to-one classes at Steve’s school. At night, after a
three-hour spa session with a ladyboy, I met Don for dinner at the fancy Mantra
restaurant, a huge place with five different kitchens featuring Thai, Japanese,
Chinese, Korean and Indian food. We ate some of the best sushi ever, drank
Argentine malbec, and tasted the desert sample. The night was long and I was
barely awake for our graduation lunch the next day.
Our teachers, Jam and Amie, took us to a
hot pot restaurant where one creates her own meal from foods that pass by on a
conveyor belt. So much fun! After a long nap I met my friends again, for out
last night together. We had dinner at the French restaurant across the street
from the hotel with other three teachers that came by the school. We ended up
scattering around town. The next morning I got up early, again sleep deprived,
and left quietly and swiftly. I just could not handle any more goodbyes…
Our AWESOME teachers, Jam and Amie
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