Numbers Thus Far

3 - Number of geckos I've found in my apartment.

#1 I found in the office/studio area the other day. Calmly caught the baby, let it go.
#2 I found scampering by my luggage in my room just yesterday. Calmly caught the baby, let it go.
#3 I heard today in my room (Yes, geckos make sounds. Now you know.). I followed the sound -- it was perched above my dresser. And it was definitely not a baby (about the size of my palm). I did not catch it. I was not calm about it. Rearranged my furniture to try and trap it, but when I came face-to-face with it while it was frozen on the wall, I chickened out and couldn't get close enough to contain it. Now it's in my air conditioner and makes the same bird-call noise every hour or so. It's loud and freakin' annoying. I have no idea how to get rid of it. I'm not even scared of it because the poor thing looked terrified during our "confrontation" (lol), but I just can't handle the thought of it growing bigger. I've tried hitting the a/c with my hanger to scare it out, but now it knows I'm on a mission to find it. If I had caught it, I would have freed it. But now, I'm considering poisoning it somehow. Is that terrible or what? Anyway, I'm quite peeved that my most recent Google search has been "How to Catch a Gecko."

Ugh.

Throughout my ordeal, I kept thinking of Liam Neeson's quote from "Taken", but modified:

"[Gecko,] I don't know [where] you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for [bugs], I can tell you I don't have [any]. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for [creatures] like you. If you [come out of that air con vent] now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you (in fact, I'll set you free!). But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

I'm now watching something a tad less menacing: "Rataouille." I'm trying to convince myself that humans and creatures can, in fact, coexist peacefully.

8 (approximately) - Number of people on the Tham Phang beach on Koh Sichang, Linnea and I included.

L & I took advantage of our most recent Monday off (Buddhist testing) and went to the nearby island, Koh Sichang, located in the Chonburi province. We left on Sunday, and after a taxi ride, a 2 hour bus ride, a 50 Baaht tuk tuk ride, and a 45 minute ferry ride (whew), arrived on the non-tourist-infested island, sans hotel plans. We were only sure that we want to eat at a famous restaurant called "Pan & David's", which serves delicious western, vegetarian, and Thai food.

And eat we did.

Tired of Thai food, L and I stalked up on our Western delights while at Pan & David's: french fries, garlic bread (mmm), and waffles. Waffles! With fresh maple syrup. On a Monday (almost like Sunday brunch at home, aw)!
Shamefully content, we took off to Koh Sichang's beautiful beach on Monday afternoon, Tham Pang, where we kayaked, played with coconuts, waded in the crystal-blue water, and made small-talk with an Aussie traveler, one of maybe eight farangs we saw on the island.


Sichang was the quiet-time she and I needed after a very long and exhausting first-week at school.

4 - Number of creatures found in our hotel/bungalow room at Koh Sichang.

Sichang was beautiful. We got to escape the noise and pollution from our home near central Bangkok, but creatures seem to be omnipresent in this country. At Rim Talay, the bungalow we stayed at, we brainstormed ways to kill two massive spiders and their wee little spidey children; we found a dead baby rat tied up in a plastic bag, and further, tied to a doorknob in our room; and, I got a pleasant surprise from a striped roach that was about the size of my pointer finger while I was showering.

Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore.

[cool bug seen during my morning read overlooking the sea. but the others weren't as such.]

32 (approximately) - Number of autographs I've given out.

I told you before how I'm a celebrity at school. But my celeb status was upped a few days ago when students started asking me for my autograph. Most of them are sweet students who are more concerned with drawing hearts around my name than with listening to my lecture during class; the others are the students who want to do whatever their peers are doing -- and that's normally crowding around me, asking for hand shakes, high fives, and even asking me to kiss them on the cheek and tell them "I love you," just as they frequently do to me. It's no bueno because 1) teachers can't go around kissing students and telling them they love them (um, hello?); 2) I will for sure get sick if I keep touching these kids.

However, I'll admit it: I secretly (or not-so-secretly?) sort of like the attention. How could you not, when you're called "Beautiful teachahh!!!" as adorable little girls bow down to you (seriously!) or touch your hand? How could you not, when these five year-olds see you, put their hands in a praying position, and bend their knees as they mutter "Good Mawning, teachah!" to you?

[my pratom 3/3 class. they love me. it's hazardous sometimes!]

So much love from these kids. So much so that I was thinking the other day that depressed people need to become teachers in my position. If your heart doesn't turn to mush when these little ones reach out to you, then you're not human.

1 - Number that Americans are obsessed with.

The longer I'm in Thailand, the more I see how individualistic Americans are. It's not a bad thing, it's just a cultural difference. For example, every day, I think about how I need my alone time. How I haven't had 15 minutes to myself yet. Me, me, me.

Thais are group-oriented. In class, though I'll be leading a competition or a game, the whole class will chime in to help a fellow student if s/he doesn't know the answer to my question. The Thai adults I've met have been unfailingly selfless to me and so entirely giving with their time. I can't imagine many Americans I know, myself included, who would be willing to give up a weekend to show foreigners around (i.e. Tor), or who'd walk a foreigner across town and wait for her to finish her mundane errands (i.e. Madame Chong).

The most basic way to recognize this difference is in our usage of iPods. Here, L and I pop in our iPods when we're exercising or when we are traveling on buses. But I rarely see any Thais do this. I assume it's because as Americans, we're so used to sealing ourselves off from the rest of the world as we get lost in our own thoughts.

7-11 - Number of the inescapable store.

7-11. It's everywhere. And might I add that I found Tim Tams the other day at the 7-11 nearest to me? Mm, like Australia all over again...

215 - Price we pay at "the cafe" everyday.

L and I make it a habit to go to this one cafe everyday after school. Without fail, she orders iced coffee + toast & marmalade; I order iced tea with toast + chocolate. We both get salad with fried prawns (aroi mah!). They know exactly what we want the second we walk in the door to its clean, westernized, chic and simple ambiance that is lined with colorful pictures of decadent desserts and is stocked with international Vogues on its white-wood bookcase. Our bill is always 215 baaht. That's like, a little over $6 for all of that after-school-snackin'-goodness.

9 - The grade I love teaching the most.

I never thought I'd say this, but I really enjoy teaching 9th graders over the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. They understand English better and know when they're being naughty. They're mature enough to know when to stop misbehaving. And they try. For the most part.

Miscellaneous ramblings:

- Thais have amazing nicknames. My friend has a student nicknamed "Income." My other friend had a student nicknamed "Photoshop." I know students whose nicknames are "Thailand," "Bangkok," "Jet," "Ball," and "Boss."

Boss. I want to name my son Boss.

-Thais are notoriously late, all the time.

- The lunch lady, Pe Oi, calls me "Noi" because she asked me what my nickname is. (This one's for Mom & Dad!). Isn't that sweet. :)

G'night!