I am going to blame the fact that I haven’t posted about my trip to China yet on the fact that I ended up being sick as a dog twice in the past two weeks, and not on forgetfulness. It was a short but sweet trip filled with wonderful company, food, and surroundings.  I returned to…

I’m neck-deep in grading and lesson planning at the moment. There are only two weeks of classes and a week of finals to go before my time here comes to a close. I’m sure I’d be a whirlwind of emotions at the moment if I had the time and energy to stop and think about…

I’m at a point in my time here where it’s time to start thinking about the end of the semester, and I’m beginning to finalize my plans for returning home in October. This is likely my last quiet weekend in Phanom before I leave Thailand (I have a lot of exciting travel plans between now…

I’ve reached the halfway point of my first semester here. This is, to me, a milestone, and milestones are opportunities for reflection. For the most part I’m satisfied with how I’ve spent my time here.  I’ve experienced new things, met new people, and forced myself out of my comfort zone on a more regular basis…

Happy Fourth of July to all of my American readers! I spent my independence day on a quest for pizza and rum, so I definitely can’t complain about my day. I’ve been waiting for weeks to share the following.  To preface, my M4s (sophmores) have been studying describing appearance so I put together a homework…

The past couple of weeks have been busy in a way that has snuck up on me. I had the best intentions of posting about this event 6,  nope, 7 days ago, but that just didn’t happen.  So here we go now. Last week a whole day was devoted to a Teacher Appreciation ceremony called…

While I intended my next post to be about the Wai Kru Teacher Appreciation Ceremony we were a part of on Thursday, I was so excited to get out of work and go grocery shopping on Friday that I forgot to upload most of the photos.  Details will have to wait until I can access…

It’s been a while since I’ve written here, for which I apologize. I have done a lot in the past week or so, but the homesickness and culture shock has been particularly taxing lately and I haven’t had the energy to write.  Wallowing in self-pity won’t fix the issue, so instead I plan to visit Pattaya…

As you’re no doubt aware, Thailand is currently in a state of political upheaval.  The military announced that they were taking control of the government last week following months of protests and power-grabs (for more details). My experience with this, however, is all second or third-hand.  Chachoengsao province is quiet (but not too quiet) and…

Let’s play a little game called Bad News/Good News in Thailand! Bad news: There’s a military coup going on. Good news: No school today!  Long weekend!  Woop!   Bad news: Three days of diarrhea. Good news: Between not eating for three days, the weight I lost before I left the US, and the weight I’ve…

There’s a rule much espoused by improv performers: on-stage you always say “Yes, and…”  If someone makes a choice in a scene, just go with it (and then throw in an idea yourself to keep things moving). I’m certainly not the first to try to apply this theory to life offstage, and I’m sure I…

Apologies for the abrupt end to my last post, but my focus was gone and I held out hope that my cold would disappear if I could get to bed early. My hopes were dashed when I awoke this morning. Alas, such is life.  Luckily, I have all day today and tomorrow to rest and…

Everything this past week has gone by so quickly that I’m very grateful to be able to document my experience here before it flees my mind entirely. I’d like to avoid, if possible, the complete play-by-play and instead give you an idea of some of the things I’ve done in the past couple of days….