Week one

Happy Friday,

I hope you all have had an amazing week ! I sure have. I am now one week into my training course and am feeling quite happy about it.

Like I said before, we spent the first two days getting to know the Thai culture. I found this extremely fascinating, there are no many old traditions and beautiful little details in the Thai culture. After the first days we moved onto getting to know the Thai school system and different teaching methods. It was very interesting to be back in a school seat and consider all the differences between learners. For example, it is impossible to fail a grade in Thailand, further, all the learners receive the same grade !

I will be teaching in a nursery (4-5-year-old) on Tuesday ! I am now quite prepared for this (at least mentally) and even though we have been a little intimidated now, I do think that the cute little Thai kids will make it very pleasant experience.

Tonight a part of our group will be heading to the Fisherman's Market. The market takes place every Friday in central Koh Samui. There will be plenty of street food and clothing stores. I am very much looking forward to the food tasting and maybe I will get myself some nice elephant shorts (the best tourist clothing you can get in Thailand). Tomorrow is full moon and if you have ever heard from Thailand you know what that means. We are all headed to Koh Phangan on a ferry from the Big Buddha pier for a full moon party !

I will do my best to fill you all in on Sunday and give some more tips about what to do and not to do when you are partaking in these celebrations !

Have an awesome weekend.

Best wishes,

Mira

Ps. This is a treat found in all local grocery stores and it makes a great lunch for a long day ! I didn't believe sushi from a pack could ever be good, but I was happily surprised. They also have these with a Japanese omelet !

Photos and tips

Always remember to dress appropriately at temple areas. They often have scarfs or gowns for a loan outside temples, but I do recommend bringing long trousers and a light top with sleeves with you. It is not appropriate to show much skin even outside temples, unfortunately, many tourists do not abide by this tradition. 

The Buddha statute and all images of it are sacred to the Thai and should never be used as a decoration. Also, do not attempt to take funny pictures with the statutes and never touch them. 

I enjoy sightseeing tours, I have even been on one in my own home town. I would recommend taking a tour around Koh Samui on one of these tours. There are plenty of options, unfortunately, I do not yet familiar with many of them. However, a word of a warning; there have been many accidents with unsafe tour companies that have lead to deaths. Be very careful when choosing the company to go with. They say that on average there are two deaths per day due to scooter accidents (the most common form of transportation). The Thai ride scooters without helmets. I wouldn't rent out a scooter unless I was a very experienced driver, also, always wear a helmet. 

The JungleClub was absolutely  beautiful and had great cocktails and service. It is quite an expensive place, I would like to stay there for my honeymoon, but I do recommend going there even if it is just for the view !

Our course is filled with lovely people from all over the world. 

Some local calamari and a traditional Mai Thai

Got the best scenery seat with Lee. You could see most of the island from our table. 

They had reserved this adorable table for us. We really wanted to stay there for the whole night. 

When we came back we went for a dinner together. I and my New Yorker ordered this tasty filled pineapple. Yum. 

Sweat

The first days,

Hello everyone,

So sorry, I have not been keeping you up to date.

My course started on Monday, I was happy to see that I knew everyone on  my course already ! We all went for dinner by the beach on Sunday and it was very pleasant to meet new people who share the same interests ! 

Dinner  was very lovely, I had a traditional thai rice dish with some mussels. Very good. In Koh Samui you can get street food very cheap, but you have to remember that there are about two million tourists per year and that you can always haggle over the price.

During the first few days of the training course we have been introduced to Thai culture, we have gotten to know the dos and don'ts, and also the content of our job. Thai culture is fascinating, very much revolving around respect and old traditions. The Thai people love their king unconditionally, have an enormous respect towards the Buddhist lifestyle, love meeting new people and try to avoid embarrassment at any cost. There are very specific manners and habits in the culture that seem odd to many western people. For example, the Thai are very sensitive about touching each other (especially the head), they do not wish to discuss politics and never admit to not knowing (you will notice this if you ever ask directions from Thai people). 

On our second day we only had training for half of the day. For the second part we were provided with a tour around the Koh Samui Island. This tour entailed visiting the grandmother and grandfather rocks, going to see the big Buddha and the main temples, and also going to swim in the waterfalls. Our final stop was the JoungleClub restaurant, which was most likely one of the most beautiful sites on the island. I feel that the pictures will say more on the tour than any description, therefore, I shall be sharing the best with you. 

We will be starting our teacher practices next week so we shall be spending the rest of this week preparing our materials and ourselves ! Tonight we are headed to the center of the island to enjoy some fire shows and cocktails. 

Best wishes, 

Mira

Love

Hi everyone,

Today was my first full day at Koh Samui. I started it with a Thai omelette and loved it for every second after. I had an amazing time with my new friends and colleagues in the sun. It was a very warm and pretty day. I spent most of the day by the beach and I do have loads of pictures from today (they will be coming up soon).

I am just about to head out to the famous dinner with my course that I have been mentioning.
However, before that, I just wanted to thank my family and friends. Without you, I would have never made it to this point, I would have never had the energy to carry on at the points of near quitting. You might think that you did not play a big role in any of this, but I am telling you now; I would not have made it here without your presence and support.

My friends are fantastic and they have been there for me more than they know themselves so I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that I do see you, I feel you and most of all, I appreciate the love and affection you have shown to me. You may say did you didn't do much, but believe me, it has meant the world to me.

This year was truly hard for me and it did show that the true friends will stand by you, especially when you need them. The support I received from my friends this year exceeded all my expectations and I cannot be anything but grateful. So, I will be using today's update solely to thank all of my loved ones for not leaving me even when I was ready to leave myself.

Thank you very much,


Mira

Green Bush

Greetings from Koh Samui!

I arrived to Koh Samui safely last night and found my apartment. The room is absolutely beautiful with a view for the hills. I already have a feeling that I will end up having more than plenty of pictures of green bush, it just is SO green in here.

Whilst my Irish colleague was overtaken by jet lag, I went to explore the island and the beach with a New Yorker. First impression; I am in love. Koh Samui is even more lovely than I remembered and I am blessed with amazing company. The rest of our group should arrive today and in the evening we shall be having dinner together ! Very much looking forward to that and will be evidencing it later.

I had a hard time sleeping last night, but I do feel fresh this morning. Ready for the day ! I stayed up to watch the sunrise from my balcony and to listen to the birds waking up and starting their songs. I don't think an alarm clock is necessary in Thailand, the nature will take care of that.

To be continued,


Mira

McDonald's

Good morning from Thailand,

This is actually yesterday's draft, but unfortunately, I wasn't successful in downloading it from the airport.

I am currently (well, now it would be yesterday) at Suvarmabhumi airport waiting for my flight to Koh Samui. I just have to express my amazement over the fact that not only is McDonald's the biggest restaurant at the airport but also the busiest. I found this quite sad, although not very surprising.

While people were diving into their burgers and subways, I was enjoying most amazing Thai noodle dish for just five euros! (Bare in mind that airports are generally more expensive than street food).

After this small dive into the Thai culture I am  planning on buying a dictionary and improving my Thai.

I just wanted share this amazing meal with you while I waited.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend !

News from Koh Samui next.


Love,

Mira


Ps. I flew to Koh Samui on the same plane with one of my colleagues only to find out that he was actually sitting right next to me at the airport eating Burger King!

First morning in Bangkok

A night at an airport hotel and moving onto Koh Samui Island this afternoon.

A brief new update

Hello,


I have now (well, a few hours ago) reached Bangkok and am happily settled into my room for the night.

As I informed my friends and family about my trip and my arrival many of them raised the question of safety and asked me to be very careful. All of this very much warms my heart and I am touched by the concern. However, I must admit my own personal opinion that Thailand is no more dangerous than it was before or any more dangerous than any other place. I am very sad over the events that took place in Bangkok earlier this week and my heart goes out to all of those touched by this tragedy.
Unfortunately, the world is not a perfect place and sad things happen every day. I think that the best we  can do is to provide all the people near us our attention, our help and our compassion. I do hope that we all learn for all the bad in the world and encourage ourselves to make a difference, no matter how small. On this note, I do wish to move onto lighter issues as I promised that this blog will be about my travels and I do not wish to preach to anyone.

Don't get me wrong, I did study international law and I have a passion for politics, international relations and all topics of deep conversation. I will not be able to keep my own observations and opinions out of this  blog, but I do intend this to be a little bit lighter to read than an analysis on the function of the world.

So now I wish to write about my best flight journey. On the way from London to Abu Dhabi I was lucky enough to be seated next to two amazing world travelers. One of them was an Irish doctor who currently practices medicine in Australia. The other one was a Canadian who is committed to his own voluntary work and mission in Nairobi. Both of them had such an amazing stories regarding traveling and how they ended up being where they are today. It was truly a pleasure to fly with people of such different experiences and backgrounds especially because they were both more than happy to share their stories. Second half of the flight I spent in a nearly empty plane in the most beautiful sunset. All together I have a very good feeling about this journey based on these first moments.

My luck did not even end to the flight journey. One of my future colleagues happened to arrive to the airport at the same time and I got to meet him briefly. This all has made me think of a lesson I started to understand a long time ago, but what has sunk in more and more over time. If you do what you love you will always find the people who share the same passion and you have the best chance to find the most amazing people. Doing what you love might just be the key to happiness.

On this note, and because it is past midnight in here, I shall leave you. I hope my post for today was not too heavy, I just wanted to write about things that have arisen recently. I will be moving on to Koh Samui in the afternoon and then I will have more sunny pictures to show.


Sweet dreams.


Mira

The important first post

Hi everyone,

I feel that this is the high time to start a blog; my flight from London to Bangkok is about to depart in three hours. Let me start by introducing myself.

My name is Mira, I am a 23-year-old Finn who enjoys all things new. By this I mean that I love learning new, trying new and of course, buying something new. I am mainly writing this blog to make my mum believe that I am doing something productive when I leave off to travels. Only joking, at least partially. I do feel that I have something to share and to write about; I have lived all over the place and I feel compelled to always say yes to new challenges. So this blog will be about those things and places and what I learned from all of them.

I attempted to write a blog when I was living in Cape Town as an exchange student, but unfortunately, that has now disappeared into cyber history. So before I reach Bangkok I am going to bring you all up to speed about the main points of me.

I am a very happy, energetic person. On my free time I dance and practice martial arts. I have a degree in International Law which is a big passion of mine. I grew up in Helsinki (Finland), went to 6th form in Cape Town (South Africa) and achieved my university degree in Nottingham (UK).  I am now off to Bangkok because I managed to get a graduate job there as an aid worker/ English teacher with an international humanitarian organisation. I am very much looking forward to this job and the challenges it brings. I will fill you all in as soon as I have started the new chapter of my life in the land of fascinating old culture and traditional monarchy.

I promise to you to write often and to publish photographic evidence of my journey. I will do my best to write clearly, occasionally it might be rushed so please forgive me, and to make it as interesting as possible.

I am happy to get any feedback and if you have a challenge or anything new for me to try, please bring it on and I will oblige.

So until next time!

Your truly,

Mira