Here's the thing...

I generally like blogs/blogging as much as I like getting served a Coke Zero when I asked for a Diet Coke--which is to say I despise it. However, given that these cross-cultural adventures have sparked interest with a wide demographic of acquaintances, this is the best way to keep in touch with everyone. I know, all the residents in Hell have donned their parkas.

A bit of background for those of you who don't know the whole story: I'm heading to Thailand on October 18th to teach English in the Nakhon Phanom province (45 minutes west of the captial, Bangkok) for at least the next 5 months, potentially longer. My UNC senior year roommate and friend LA (although she's taken to calling herself Lauren, so rest assured they're the same person if it catches on) will be joining me in a little experiment we call "the economy sucks and we hate desk jobs." Our program, CIEE, promises to make it an easy transition, although after multiple telephone encounters with Marshall,the American representative, I would qualify him as "less than competent." We're pretty much going in blind as far as how much English our Thai students will know, as well as how, exactly, one should go about teaching English. Our school, the Joseph Upatham School, is strictly Catholic (no work on Christmas, yay!) and extremely conservative. If anyone knows where nuns shop for casualwear, we're all ears; skirts below the knee, no "lower neck" shirts and "sensible" shoes are all part of the job description. So much for doing Asia in style.

In any case, we leave 3 weeks from tomorrow and until packing commences, most preparations have been completed. I've personally received 4 shots (Hep A, typhoid, flu, tetanus), but if you were to tally the total between LA and I, it would probably be somewhere near 12 seeing as she got the entire rabies and Japanese Encephilitis series; I prefer to live on the wild side and avoid rabid dogs, aaaand I don't have health insurance that covers travel medicine. Additionally, I now own two backpacks (35L and 65L for all you packing enthusiasts), purchased after extensive research into the elusive and mysterious world of hiking (there are actually hooks for an ice pick--people ACTUALLY use those, and not just Yukon Cornelius of Rudolph fame). All of the visa requirements have been sent away (including a notorized letter from Suffolk County saying that I am not, in fact, a criminal--awesome) and now we just...wait. We'll fly out of JFK on Oct. 18 at 11:45 pm for a quick little flight to Anchorage (9 hours), followed by a 2 hour layover, another 8 hour flight to Tai Pai (hey, China), a 3 hour layover and a final hop skip and jump to Bangkok, arriving at 11:20am Bangkok local time--12 hours ahead of EST. We'll spend a week in Bangkok for orientation where, rumor has it, an elephant ride will be on the agenda. Seeing as I'm generally one with nature, particularly animals, you can imagine that this is what I'm looking forward to the most. Thailand will be...an experience.

So there's the background and again, my sincerest apologies for being a "blogger" (if you put it in quotations, it's not real). I promise never again to indulge in the inane details of my life--there will be no wedding or baby or reunion or LIFE blog. But bear with me...I'll put up pictures and try to maintain some level of entertainment. Thanks for reading, more to come :)

Ready To Go

Departure Date: Oct. 18, 2009