With the whirlwind that has been orientation so far, it’s been too easy to convince myself to crash in the hotel room early and call it a night.  Last night however, I made the effort to be social, if not as adventurous as I might have hoped.  4 cabs worth of us soon-to-be-teachers headed off in the direction of the nearest sky train station.  The sky train, which was very easy to navigate by the way, took us to Terminal 21.

Let me just start by saying that I did not intend to visit a mall in my first week in a foreign country.  I’m slightly ashamed to admit how impressed I was.  I’m very ashamed to admit that I was talked into trying the Mexican restaurant there.

Hot Tip: Do not waste valuable eating time on Mexican food while in Thailand.

Weird corn chips aside, the mall was pretty cool.  Each floor was themed; the first floor was the Caribbean (complete with near-to-scale lighthouse), the second floor was Paris (with a very cool section set aside for Thai fashion designers), one up from Paris was Rome, followed by Tokyo, and topped with San Francisco and a giant replica of the Golden Gate Bridge.  I did take some pictures, but be warned that they are beyond blurry.  Had our first lesson in the more relaxed sense of time in Thailand: according to the Mall’s website they closed at 10pm, but most stores were pulling their gates down by 9:30.  Mai bpen rai!*

This is what it looks like while waiting for the Sky Train (if you have poor eyesight and forgot your glasses). Again, apologies for the blurry pictures.

Looking down on the lighthouse of the Caribbean .

What, you don’t have a scale copy of the Golden Gate Bridge in your mall?

Surprise!

Within moments of stepping off the train, there was torrential downpour.  It was cool to watch, but also less than convenient.  But hey, if the price of warmth and humidity is thunderstorms, then that is a price I’m willing to pay.

Today was spent in class after informative class, followed by a delicious dinner of crispy stir fried duck with holy basil (whatever holy basil is).  I don’t think I can overemphasize how delicious it was.  It rocked.  I loved it.  I want more now, and I finished it an hour ago.  More exploration wasn’t possible as the main road that connects this neighborhood to downtown Bangkok is currently being blocked by protesters.  Definitely not going to effect me safety-wise, but traffic is going to be hellish in Bangkok for the foreseeable future.

I stopped off a 7-11 on the way back to the hotel (of course; this is Thailand after all) and had a Farang* Moment when I told the cashier “Excuse me” instead of “Thank you.”  Definitely could have been worse for my first language blunder!

Tomorrow we have group presentations to show off our shiny new lesson-planning skills, but once those are done we leave for the Kanchanaburi province.  Spoiler alert, there will be elephants involved.

Unsure about the availability of internet access for the next few days, so you may have to wait until next week for another post!

Signing off!