First Traditional Thai Meal

So yesterday we went for our first real Thai meal. I am ashamed to admit that the first meal we experienced here was at the Sizzler (an American restaurant). The teachers here were really hungry and it was the first place we found that everyone agreed upon, so we settled. The food was very good though. However we were determined to have atleast one Thai meal on our first day so we travelled far down Kaset Nawamin (which is a freeway right close to our apartment) and eventually came to this outdoor restaurant.

We were guided on this journey by another fellow Manitoban, Michelle, who has been here for ten months and will be returning home soon. She gave us a lot of advice on living in Thailand and teaching at the school, which I think will prove to be extremely helpful.

                                 
When we finally finished ordering, which took probably twenty minutes because of the language barrier, our food came very quickly. It was delicious!! However, some of it was very spicy. Even when we asked "Mai pet" (not spicy) the food burned our esophaguses. I can only imagine what it would be like if we had forgotten to ask for not spicy. Despite the hotness of our food, it was all still very good and we enjoyed the social aspect of eating together, which is a really important aspect of food for Thai people.

 

We were entertained by live music part way through our meal, which was very amusing. I didn't get any photos of the group because I was not sure if it was acceptable, but they were very fun and they even dedicated a song in English to us.

All in all, a wonderful first experience eating out!

Arriving in Thailand

Hi Everyone!

So here I am, in Thailand, crazy hot, crazy tired--- feeling kind of crazy in general. It feels very weird to be here and I am finally realizing how long I will be experiencing this for. But I am still very excited and enjoying the beautiful Thai scenery and people.

We got in to the country around 9:30 p.m. Sunday, and got to our new homes around midnight. The apartments are small but nice. Taking a shower is an interesting experience. But I will talk about that one another time.

We had an interesting ordeal trying to get cell phones but after an hour of working on communicating and setting up phones for all eleven of us we finally got them. So now we can communicate with each other which is good because a group of the girls got lost already trying to take a taxi back to the
apartment.



The language barrier is definitely something we are going to have to get used to and learn to deal with. The first things to learn in Thai are "Hello/Good bye", "Thank you" and "Sorry". The next one will have to be "I don't understand" However it is all apart of the experience and at times it is amusing seeing where you end up. For now we will just have to smile a lot. :)