India - Week 1

My last days in Thailand I was on Railay Island. I really got to unwind and chill out. I went rock climbing with a friend and was in search for a lagoon making new friends along the way. Now I am in India!!

India Playlist

Hotel Intro - Moby

Arryhthmia - Halou

Oceanwide - Halou

Gamma Ray - Beck

Paper Planes (DFA Remix) - M.I.A.

Ghostwriter (Remix) - RJD2

Loop in Blue - Halou

Bengawan Solo - Rebecca Pan

Sarasa - Susheela Raman

Taj Mahal - Jorge Ben

Souka Nayo - Baaba Maal

I have officially been in India for a week and it is still surreal to me that I am actually here. Here in Jodphur I will be teaching children 3 -8 years of age including 2 blind children that are part of the local tribal community. The living conditions here are very basic, I have access to water for 1 hr each day in the morning and no flushing toilets, but I have a roof over my head and 3 meals a day. These restrictions are liberating and it is amazing to think how much we take for granted. I am very excited to be here and I am very excited about teaching tomorrow. :)

Farewell and Goodbye

After surving 5 weeks of teaching and my TEFL certification I am thrilled to come out of the experience excited and happy to have met so many fantastic people. I was based in Ao Luk for 5 weeks teaching English and getting TEFL certified. It was an intense 5 weeks to start off the new year, but an amazing challenge.

We arrived (12 of us in total) and 9 of us found ourselves in the 'big dorm' sharing two bathrooms (one of which was a traditional Thai bath). The first two weeks was getting into the grind (the hardest two weeks). We had chores in the morning involving sanitation, cooking duty and indoor duty. We began input sessions at 9 AM sharp learning about different teaching methods and additional information about teaching. This followed up with lesson planning. It seems easy enough, sounds easy enough, but it wasn't at all. I was in a group of 4 and for the first class we all taught 20mins to complete a 90min class. We were all worried and nervous for only 20mins!! We spent days planning the lesson. After teaching 20mins we moved up to 40min lessons and then finally our own 90min lesson. I remember feeling so tired, excited and nervous. I taught at 7:oopm and my students were between 15 -55 years of age. My class of 8 (Joy, Sao, Pit, Porn, A, Suni, Wow, and Jim) really appreciated us and were so respectful and happy that we were there teaching english. Despite the nerves I had a great time with the students and the hardest thing was to say goodbye.

At the end of the 5 weeks we had a big party with our students. It was a fantastic night of Karoke, amazing Thai food, and drinks!! All in all the people of Ao Luk have been nothing but kind and I feel so lucky to have experienced real Thai culture. I took a couple of side trips to Ao Nang and Phi Phi and they do not compare to the warmth and culture I experience in Ao Luk.

I am now getting ready to leave for India in 3 days!!! INDIA!!! I love Thailand!!

:)