Happiness

Hey all, To make things easier for those of you reading both my blog (Marisa) and MY blog (jon) we have decided to take on a teamwork approach... this also means that we individually will have to do less writing... which is nice. Today's blog is brought to you by both Jon and Marisa, the number 2 and the letter "L". i know, shit's gettin cheezy.

Marisa: In order to arrive here, I officially went through the longest transit I have ever had in my life to get to one place. On Christmas, I was terribly ill (the works) and had to get on a bus to Quito from Puyo. This is a six hour bus ride from sea level altitude to almost 9200 feet above sea level, while sick this ride is less than comfortable especially since the bathroom on the bus was closed. I had to throw up into tiny bags as big as Ziploc sandwich bags. Dan was really nice and threw them out the door for me. That's a true friend. We arrived in Quito and stayed with Don Efren for the evening. The next day I was on a flight out to Quito to Guayaquil. From Guayquil I flew to Madrid. From Madrid I flew to London, from London to Bangkok. Quite the itinerary. From the depths of the Amazon Basin to Asia's Venice. Three continents, in about three days. Cooooooool. I arrived relatively on time and cannot describe how happy and relieved I felt to arrive into Jon's arms.

Jon: So my last post was a few hours before m-dawg landed. I got to enjoy many hours of Thai traffic on my way to the airport (almost as bad as what she described above) but then she was here! sweeeet! We went back to our apartment that night and were on a bus by 8 the next morning to Ko Chang. For all who forgot, Ko Chang is the 2nd biggest Island in Thailand. It is very near cambodia and is wicked sweet. haha. From what I gather, the island was unknown to most up until about ten years ago. Since then, tourism has boomed. Granted, Marisa and I were there over the busiest 5 days the island will see in a year, but i have no problem saying that there were lots of people there and not enough infrastructure to support them (but thats why you go to an island). For more info on Ko Chang please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko_Chang ... or don't, see if I care. The full day of travel to the island was smooth enough and soon after arriving we had rented a motor scooter and found our bungalow. That night we met up with a couple that was in my training cohort in Ban Phe. It was really nice to see them again. When TEFL international started screwing everyone over, these two just bounced to Ko Chang, and found jobs on their own. My friend Yvonne is a grammar school teacher and Jamie is training to be a SCUBA dive master. The next morning we started exploring Ko Chang, starting of course, on the beach. I gotta say, having Marisa here has made everything here even sweeter, from bus rides to tropical ass beaches, life is grand (as they say in WY). From the beach we ventured inward and took a nice little "jungle" stroll to a pretty rad little waterfall.

Marisa: The waterfall we went to was just as you would envision a jungle waterfall in Thailand to be. Beautiful. We changed into our swimsuits and dove into pools hollowed out in jet black rock.

Jon: We swam in the pool at the base and got right up underneath the falling water.Also, it was here that we started to notice that the island is well populated with these really cool spiders (head to tail, three inches, yellow and black stripes) which we later found out were poisonous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver). That evening we scooted on down the southern tip of the island to Bang Bao Bay (its just fun to say) where there is an entire little town built on a network of piers. Really rad. That night we met up with Jamie and Yvonne again because starting the next day, we were going to be watching their house and their awesome little kitten, Puss. Ok, passin the mic.

Marisa: We drove the moto over to Ivonne and Jamie’s and learned the ropes of their apartment/shop setup. It locks via a giant roll-up door that bolts into the ground. Coooool. The next morning we drove the east side of the island which is deserted compared to the west side. We arrived at the southern tip in about 40 mins via a drive past a beautiful pier that Jon dove off. We had a delicious lunch/dinner of prawns and pineapple at about 5:30 overlooking the islands south of Koh Chang.

Jon: After the dinner we continued exploring and ended up taking our little trooper moto down a busted dirt road to "Long beach." Aptly named, it is long, sandy and pretty vacant (despite the two little hostel set ups tucked in just behind the shore). While fun, the road itself was a little nerve racking because even though it was pretty empty the entire way, we saw two different motos spills, and the first one had a couple on it. luckily, nothing more than scrapes and bruises. Anyways, the road was well worth it because Long Beach provided a great spot to watch the sunset. Before it got too dark we moto-ed it back and were up and out again the next morning.

"Chang" in Thai means elephant. Ko Chang is was named "elephant island" because it supposedly looks like an elephant on a map.... supposedly. The people on the island have really taken to the whole elephant thing and so there are tons of "Elephant Jungle Tours" throughout the island. They are "amazing adventures" into "the heart of the jungle" while "riding a vast and magnificent beast." Which is true... kinda. More true is that the navy actually owns the heart of Ko Chang's jungle and they have full liberty to shoot on-site. So "heart" was a bit of an exaggeration but it still was a ton of fun. Marisa and I sat on this bench that was strapped to an elephant and this wee little dude sat on the elephants neck with his feet underneath the elephants ears and his hands grasping his bull hook. The bull hook is pretty much the epitome of why I in general try to avoid the elephant stuff here. Anywhere you go, you can most likely buy sugar-cane off some dude and feed the elephant he is walking around. Invariably, there is a man sitting on the elephant's neck with a 3 foot stick with a sharp metal hook on the end. And, just like on our elephant tour, when the elephant starts to do it's own thing, it receives a forceful bonk on the skull with the business end of the hook (and you get an idea that just maybe the animal responds because the hook has done worse before). So elephant hooks are bad..... buuuut I had never ridden an elephant before (moral flexibility). Despite the hook the ride was definitely awesome. Both Marisa and I got to sit on the elephant's neck and snap some shots. We also went swimming with the elephants, which was great fun. Before getting in the water the elephants stand next to a big platform (which is how they get the stupid tourists on and off the elephants) and they took off the bench. Then our wee-guide-man, marisa, and I got onto the elephant and we, along with the three other elephants on the tour, sauntered into the water. The stupid tourists all laughed with glee upon entering the water. The elephants expressed their sheer enjoyment by all pooping in unison. Elephant poop is big; and it floats. For the first several minutes the tourists (myself especially) were just so happy to be in a river while riding an elephant that no one really took notice of the poop... well Marisa did.... and maybe other people did too..... but I didn't.... I was giggling like an idiot! Then, I looked to the left and saw this very nice man with this very adorable little daughter and his face was coated in panic as he was trying frantically to paddle away the monster nugget that was threatening to rush him the next time the elephant dipped down. And it was funny. So funny. Then I looked to the right and saw that the other elephant would dip down, then bend its trunk backwards and shoot shit-water all over the tourists. and that was REALLY FUNNY! Then I realized that our elephant, the most devious of them all, was bucking us. It would dip down, then rise-up tall and when it came back down it would fall hard to the right, trying to knock us off... and landing me right in a rather unclean patch of water. Since I was the farthest back on the elephant (where they tend to be rather wide) I would slide around the most.... and so was dunked the most times into the water. Even though I knew that it was gross.... I couldn't stop laughing. It was so much fun! I just had to focus to laugh with a closed mouth... cause I didn't the first time the elephant dunked me and no amount of listerene can make you feel clean after that .... So after the elephant ride we showered with bleach. ha, okay not bleach. but with water... lots of water. That evening we got some drinks on a nearby beach, had a lovely dinner and were up and out again the next morning. That night Jamie and Yvonne were coming back that day so we tidied their house up, said goodbye (tearfully) to the cat and headed back to long beach to spend our last night. Spending our last night on Ko Chang way out there was a great idea! It was beautiful and peaceful. The next morning we were making our way out on the busted dirt road by 7 and were about 20 minutes away from where we rented the scooter when we heard a pop and the tail went squishy. In retrospect I should have noticed that the tires were old and worn and thought twice about doing some minor off-roading. Either way, I had to leave Marisa and our stuff at a restaurant and find a moto shop. Other than that, smooth sailing on the way home.

Marisa: On Monday, I had an interview with Siam Business Administration College, the school that Jon teaches at. All in all it was an eight-hour process, which involved me wearing a pantsuit, which in Bangkok is a ridiculous thing to do. It is so hot. So I filled out an application and took two English tests (both of which had some terrible grammatical mistakes). Following that I had a mock teaching presentation. There were two interviewers, a man and woman. Here is where it gets really interesting. I asked if it was ok to ask my interviewers for participation, they said no, and that they would just like me to teach. Ok, so I gave my little spiel and at the end, the woman interviewer told me that I did not involve students enough. WTF? She further grilled me on student participation, and I got the very distinct impression that she did not like me. How the hell am I supposed to answer a question properly if the interviewer asks something unintelligible? So, I find out after my interview that this woman is known affectionately as the Dragon Lady and otherwise as something not polite to repeat. Good grief. On the plus side, the male interviewer is Jon’s immediate supervisor, and a really super nice guy. Now, to up the ridiculousness. I was told that I was to have my next interview with the director. Only this guy is really busy with stuff, but he doesn’t have a set schedule. What? Yeah, ok. I’m over that. Let’s raise the ridiculous barometer with this BS. Repeatedly, other teachers told me that I needed to lower my salary request. I asked for the same amount as Jon. Turns out, as the director told Jon in a little aside, that because I look Thai I will not get the same wages. Auuuuugh. Racist. So so racist. I can do this job. Bah. I’m trying to look at it that looking white is part of the job requisite and I don’t have that particular asset. Sometime this week I will have my interview with the director and we’ll see how that goes…Wish me luck. I’ve been trying to decide if I should show just how American I am with some rebelliousness and audacity coupled with a take-no-prisoners attitude. I don’t think it would translate too well.

Jon: First, I don't know anyone who affectionately calls that lady "dragon lady," from what I can tell of this woman she is unfamiliar with the idea of affection. Now, I feel that it is only fair to say that racism is everywhere. Look at the racial breakdown of health, criminal justice, and education in the United States and tell me that we aren't a racist country. However, I do not know if I have ever seen such blatant racism as I have in this past two weeks. It is now thursday of Marisa's second week of trying to get a job at my school. Everyday I go and talk to a woman in the office and everyday she gives some excuse as to why the director (Dr. Shit-for-brains) can't meet with Marisa. Homeboy is in meetings all day. How can an organization with this many meetings be so unorganized? Any who, in the "aside" that Marisa mentioned above, Dr. SFB talked to me like I was the stupid one because i couldn't see how obvious his logic was. "Her skin is not like yours, and her hair! its not like yours!" Now, if you are reading this then you, as well as anyone who has ever met both Marisa and I, must know that Marisa is definitely more qualified than me to teach english. Everyone has strengths, but mine do not include spelling, grammar, punctuality, and a firm grasp of the English language. I'm ok with that. What I am not ok with is how the school is handling this situation; and worse, I don't know what to do. I do need a job (for the paying of the rent) and I technically need to keep this job if I want my teaching certification. But how can I continue to work for an organization that would treat my significant other this way? How can I work for a blatantly racist organization (Dr. SFB is definitely not the only one who believes what he believes)? And honestly, I am mad at these people for screwing over their students by not taking advantage of such a good opportunity to help their students. The tests that this school hands to students are filled with attempts at english that end up being gibberish. Even the lesson plans, from which teachers are supposed to enlighten students (supposedly), are garbled messes of english words. I hate watching people shoot themselves in the feet. I hate it more then people shoot OTHER people in the feet. As the school is conducting a slow down with Marisa's interview (in the hopes that she will just give up and go away, thus saving everyone face) I have begun to conduct my own slow down. I am doing much less work at school and putting much more effort into sneaking out on-time. Strangely enough, this has started to make my classes go smoother and smoother. This week, all of my difficult classes went really smoothly. Some even went great! (then again, most were cancelled for no apparent reason).

Maybe the worst thing about all these little "set-backs" is that I am afraid that I am not learning from them as much as I could. And I mean this in regards to culture. I recognize that things here are different and that I am in no place to put value judgments on anything, but I AM putting value judgments on EVERYTHING! I came abroad to expand my horizons and I am afraid i am just becoming racist! Today for example, my first period of class was cancelled for an all teacher meeting in which the director of the school told all the teachers that it was bad that some of the students were potentially going to fail (some = most) and that the teachers need to go back and change the grades and boost them up. A fellow teacher of mine showed me her grade book. There were several students who had nothing but zeros because they never even came to class.... but, she has to give them passing numbers now. Then I taught for one hour and my next class was cancelled and I was done for the day. And all day I keep thinking "wow, how Thai is that.." THATS NOT GOOD! So, my new goal is to learn and try to not simply critique and move on.... except for the racists.... i god damned hate racists.

Ok in all this rabble-rousing both Marisa and I skipped over last weekend... which was raaaad!!!!! We went a little bit south and west of Bangkok to two floating markets.

Marisa: The first floating market we went to was a Thai tourist oriented market and it was amazing and fabulous. It's called Amphawa and it's a lovely little town situated on a canal that is an offshoot of the Mae Klong river. The water was clean, and we stayed in one of the town's homestays. Amphawa is known for it's homestays, families run the little hostels and they have porches that back right up to the canal. The porches are decorated with traditional Thai cushions and little tables with candles, and hammocks. The vendors in the market paddle their tiny wooden boats (which are very tippy) up and down the canal. There is a pad thai , freshly grilled clams and prawns, a traditional Thai salad served warm with rice gluten, mango with coconut sticky rice, thai iced coffee, thai omelettes and tons of other delicious treats! Each boat has a different speciality and you can just wave them over and order what you want! My kind of living. Jon and I were the only tourists who rented one of these typically vendor boats and paddled around. Ok, technically Jon paddled, but he wanted to so I didn't protest. Jon tried mangosteen for the first time, which by far is one of my favorite fruits if only for it's perfectly fruity taste but it's also really fun to eat. We also ate Meang Kam, which is like my most favorite thing ever!!!!! The Meang Kam guy first starts with a betel leaf which he folds like a little cup (about the size of a cough syrup cup) and into it he puts a little dried coconut, a piece of ginger, a piece of onion, a little sliver of lime, some really hot chili, a sprig of cilantro, a bit of peanut and a dollop of his homemade fish sauce. Then you pop the whole thing which is now wrapped up like a little green pyramid about the size of a wonton into your mouth and WHOA. So much flavor. Yay. At night, we took a firefly tour by longtail boat, which was so beautiful. It was Jon's first time seeing fireflies as well. Haha, I think they may have underwhelmed. But the boat ride was beautiful and we got to sit at the very front which was cool. The next morning we headed to the very famous Damnoen Saduak floating market and it was a zoo! We got a lot of photographs of sunburnt tourists and their boat drivers jockeying for position among the vendors.

Things to Learn and Wonder About:

1. How do people in Thailand actually get things done?

2. I need to find out what these red bell-shaped fruits are.

3. UCSF may have found a cure for Chagas. Thanks Gabe!! (This last note is unrelated to Jon's blog, but to mine :) )