PICS

Some amazing coconut art 

It is impossible to even describe how monsoon looks or feels like but I love it ! 

Some reading in the sun at Choeng Mon beach

You might find interesting things in menus, keep your eyes open !

Way excited for some German food we found 

Fried banana for lunch, local delicacy 

Cooked pumpkin with custard inside, interesting taste

Grilled oysters with way too much garlic even for my taste

Thai are up to date on the latest songs and sayings 

Secret beach we found on our hike

Interesting adverts everywhere 

Home sweet home

Some Italian food; salmon, feta salad 

Hmmm.. Did not cross my mind but thanks !

Coconuts and sunset, oh yeah 

This local miracle, merimies is Finnish and stands for a sailor. Even the sales assistant didn't know.. so not too patriotic !

First bad experience

Hello,


I have just suffered in bed for three days after a nice Thai bug that caused me fever and nausea.. So much fun. I must just say, remember to hydrate and do not eat anything that seems dodgy. I think in my case my immune system was just not having the climate change and decided to start an open rebellion. I am feeling a lot better now, all set for next week !

I had two teaching practices this past week, I enjoyed them both and received some great feedback ! The coming week I have three teaching practices, I will teach in middle school and in  the international school. I am quite excited for this, though not yet fully prepared, because the content of the classes will be quite different to teaching the little children. For the past week we have mainly focused on our teaching practices and grammar. I find learning grammar fun and semi easy which was a good ego boost after being put down for not being a native English speaker.

I feel happy after week two of training. I felt a little bit more alive today so I actually ended up going for a two hour hike, followed by eating some light western food (I wasn't too sure what I could handle after two days of fasting) and fruit shopping. There are a lot of smaller food stores around Thailand, such as 7 eleven, however, these places rarely sell fresh fruits or western food. Fruits are often sold in stalls by the road and you can only find a good selection of food in bigger supermarkets. I fully enjoy Thai food but I must say that I need something light and non-spicy once in a while.

Because I don't have much to tell from the week just gone I shall be posting more pictures. I do really understand the pros of a progo camera in here !

Anyways, till I have something further to add,


Mira

Fisherman's Village, Full Moon Party and My First Teaching

Dear Readers,

My apologies for the absence. I shall bring you up to speed now.

I went to the Fisherman's Village on Friday, they have a huge market on Fridays with plenty of food and clothes. I had an amazing time ! For all the travelers, I highly  recommend walking around first and seeing what you would like and how much are the asking prices. You can easily haggle the prices down to about half from the asking price. Do not be afraid to do this. Also, in this specific market (and I would imagine in general as well) many people sell the exact same products and the prices are about double or even triple by the main gate compared to the furthest shops. Definitely worth walking all the way through at first ! A word of a warning; the drinks sold at the market are very strong ! Also, the locals get quite angry when you end up now buying their product after you have haggled over it for some time.

Then we traveled to Koh Phangan for the full moon party on Saturday. Never take anything with you to a full moon party that you are not willing to loose. None of us had anything else on us but some money (you will not need a lot, but check the boat prices first). Everyone from my group put their keys into my bedroom and I was the only one taking care of a key at the party. It was very refreshing to have a night where no one has any photographic evidence from ! All things sold at the party are the cheapest right by the gate into the beach strip. Sellers tend ask ridiculous prices from drunken tourists so keep a count of your money. The party was fantastic. There was 11 of us going together and we managed to get quite a lot of attention as we created our own dance floor as soon as we got there ! During the night we had a swim (watch out for men pissing in the sea), climbed a 'mountain', I did rope jumping with a burning rope and tasted all sorts of weird local food (cannot name any of them any more). On the way back I met a sweet UK couple who paid for my speedboat journey back (thank you!). I was in the boat with another couple who were very busy with each other. The boat journey to Koh Samui takes nearly an hour and is lot of fun especially in a speed boat! I managed to hitchhike a ride with a Dutch group to my residence. I was under the impression that I had spent all my money at the party but to my amusement when I got back home I noticed that I had barely spent any !

Monday was spent preparing for my first teaching, I also went to observe a third grade lesson with my New Yorker. Thai kids are extremely cute and they love their teachers ! Teaching is a very highly valued profession in Thailand, especially foreign teachers. Tuesday morning I had my first teaching with my Irish friend. We were appointed to a class of 30 four-year-olds. So cute, so excited about everything. It is very hard work to keep the class organised and to get them to learn any English. Our first lesson was about the weather, I feel like we did a great job and the kids really enjoyed it ! We received very good feedback afterwards.

Now I am busy preparing to teach 7-year-olds tomorrow with my lady from Bristol. We are also starting to look for jobs this week. I am a little bit upset about how little the fact that non-English speakers will have a harder time to look for a job is advertised by the TEFL agencies. Before the course, I was made aware of the fact that majority of the people on m y training course would be native English speakers. I am currently the only one who is not. In my 'job interview' my employer said that my English is great and because of that I will not face any difficulties in finding a job. Today I was informed that I might be obligated to take a language test in order to get a working permit and that I might be paid less than the native English speakers. It makes me quite sad and a little bit annoyed  that I was not made fully aware of this fact before putting a lot of money into my training. I just wish all the non-natives are aware of this so that it won't put them down later. I do want to also encourage you to go after your dreams regardless as, in the end, it all comes down to your personality and skills!

I hope you all have a fantastic first week of September ! Speak to you soon.

Best wishes,


Mira

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 !

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