obligitory

Alright, been a while since I shared some cute student pictures. As much as I loathe waking up at 630 in the am and spending my whole day with 5 year olds (I guess I shouldn't be a teacher anymore...) my students really are f*ckin' adorable (see, I'm a terrible teacher!) I get to plan all my own lessons, a blessing and a curse and come up with my own ideas for everything. Yeah, nine hours of "happy learning" a day.

Last week we learned about cooking. So we went to my favorite store and went grocery shopping, each of them getting 100 baht to spend in the candy isle. I spent more than 100 baht.

 They all had their own money and got to pay the cashier. Even exciting if you rich and have everything I guess.
Later, when we got back to school we did some cooking in the kitchen. We made mac and cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which they had never tried before. I explained that these were very common foods for kids their age in America (and my personal favorite foods!)

This week is health week so I have been teaching them how to be healthy people. Then we made germs from clay, for no other reason than I thought it would be fun. And it totally was.

A couple weeks ago we made robots. These are the days that I love my job.

I love doing fun things with my students where they can learn about the real world in an interesting way (cause germs and robots are totally real.) Yeah, sometimes they drive me crazy with their non stop questions and invasions of my personal space. But like I said, I am learning patience. It's coming along slowly. 

Pin It

happy news

It has been a busy month in my world with lots of new frontiers forged in real life and with my blog! I have a featured blog on ajarn.com where I will be writing about my life in Thailand and this weekend I will be beach side for the long weekend in Hua Hin. I am doing my first, real "getting paid" to travel from my blog, staying at a cute boutique resort on the beach with Roomorama (review and blog to come but so far booking the room was super easy!) My writing brings me peace and happiness and is also starting to pay off! Thanks to all my friends and readers for following and supporting me on my journey through life!

I also want to share some other news... Eric and I signed official marriage papers here so we can be together in Thailand. This doesn't really come as a surprise I suppose since we have been engaged for a while now and even my brother was bored by the news, but needless to say, it is pretty exciting for me! The visa situation here is beyond ludicrous (we are going to immigration, yet again, today!) and it was much easier to just sign the papers now so we can stay with each other.

We are doing things a little different but I am liking the idea of having all of our "wedding" things out of order. Soon we are getting engagement photos and then having a bachelor/ette party (because I am most looking forward to this part..One night in Bangkok.) We will have a real wedding eventually but I am very fed up with how overpriced everything is and have no desire to be a broke, stressed out bride (and technically I am already a wife.) Basically our whole life is one long honeymoon but we are still deciding if we will be beach bums in Malaysia or jungle trekkers in Laos to celebrate our first big trip as a married couple. We have never been the typical cutesy couple but I think eloping in Thailand and spending our life together celebrating our love, not just one day, is hopelessly romantic and just perfect. (I do want my pretty dress and my princess day but if living abroad has taught me anything, it is patience.)

Here are some pictures of us at the local office near our house, signing our marriage certificate which is ALL in Thai, I have to go get it translated into English, even our names where written in Thai. Awesome.

Again, thanks for reading my ramblings and start saving to buy me a wedding present for when we actually have a wedding in like five years...

Much love,
 Elizabeth Frantz-Larson

Pin It

off the beaten path: Wat Suan Kaew

This is looking at you antique lovers and flea market junkies...I have found your Asian paradise! My friend lives near this temple and showed me around and I just had to take pictures and share it with the world! It is a great find and not far from Bangkok, totally worth the trip if you are into this kind of stuff, you can find some amazing treasures and get a pretty good deal. There are not usually many foreigners in this area so the Thai people thought I was very weird for taking pictures of everything but there are some real finds if your willing to sweat (it's just so bloody hot all the time) and dig around a little bit. 

It is called Wat Suan Kaew and if your taking a taxi here it is in Bang Kruai Sai Noi, near the big round about on Nakorn In Road and Ratchapruk, about 20 minutes or so from KSR. I am working on a post about cool things to do in the super cool suburb of Nonthaburi (I know you are all looking forward to that...) and this is one of the things I was going to include. In the end,  I decided it was SO super duper cool that it needed its own post, there were so many photogenic opportunities! The temple was badly flooded late last year but is finally back to life again!

It is a temple with beautiful grounds sprawling over a good sized area. There are several antique shops with the real finds, old Thai chairs and nick-nacks, bizarre old electronics and some cool old toys. There are some really beautiful Siamese pieces that might cost you a bit more but are probably priceless! 

Coffee and antiquing

So much random shit!

Walk down a little further and you will come to a courtyard with some restarants and more random shops selling random things - old toilets, hospital beds, homewares and such. Then you will stumble on this this multilevel building decorated with falling off colorful tiles. Inside there are used household appliances, old clothes in piles for 20 baht, some old computers for sale (very cool idea, they were very cheap so even poorer families could afford them and they still worked well), and some other random China-made crap. It is a fun place to walk around in but unless your in the market for a used refrigerator, you might not find what your looking for here. 

Inside this main building you can buy computers for about 100 dollars, various tools and appliances and dig through piles of old clothes if you so desire. 

Need a new/used toilet?

Where old TV's go to die.

kinda like Goodwill....

The walls are beautifully adorned!

If you have an extra day in Bangkok and enjoy seeing things not in your Lonely Planet guide, check out Wat Suan Kaew and have a lovely day out in the 'burbs! Pin It

feeling fruity

Lately some of my new favorite fruits from the market are in season and you can buy 1 kilo of many fresh, sweet delicacies for about a dollar. Fruit really is natures candy and I grew up with summers full of fresh pears, cherry's and apples from the orchards near my town, some of my fondest memories of home. Thailand also has some amazing fruits, most that I have never heard of and want to share with fellow fruities! These are some of my favorites (and I am not including the infamous, Durian, because I think it really does taste like it smells... nasty!) that may look a little weird but are beyond delicious!

Mangosteen - fleshy, sweet like a passion fruit. I could eat these all day!

Longon - a new one to me, they come in little bunches like grapes, have a ugly hard exterior and a tangy sweet surprise inside with little seeds.

 Rambutan  - This one looks SO cool, they remind me of a fruit from Dr. Suess land. You peel off the bizarre outer later and inside its a little like a fruit snack. (There is a seed inside that is sometimes hard to disconnect from the fruit)

Rose Apple - or Shampu in Thai - Kinda like if an apple and pear had sexy time, very refreshing!

Pin It

expat

Expat: v. - To give up residence in one's homeland.

adj. - Exile. A person who is voluntarily absent from home or country

Its a funny thing being an expat. At first things are new and exciting and you see everything as an adventure. But after a while you realize that you just signed a contract to live in this place for a while and mundane routine sets in. Of course, I can always travel somewhere close and new on the weekends but when your working, trying to save money and have a social life it can be hard to balance it all. This blog really is an outlet for me to vent my frustrations when living abroad becomes overwhelming, when I feel like running away again. More often I find myself perusing the Portland craigslist for jobs and houses and dreaming about shopping for sizes that actually fit and being able to order food and know what I am getting. Of course, I know that would probably seem boring after a while, but this back and forth mentality is a trademark of the typical expat.

Who could be unhappy living in paradise?

I have not been back to the states in almost 2 years and its quite scary to think how long it will be before I can go back (the Thai baht to US dollar exchange is not favorable for my salary.) There are more opportunities for me in Asia and it is pretty pathetic that it is actually better for me to live here because of the shitty job market for young people with bachelor degrees in America. I don't want to move back home and have to live with my mom or work as a waitress again. I want to have a real life and Asia seems to be the only way I can provide myself with one right now. It may be a few more years til I can get back home, find a job and go to graduate school and while I might have to fight off a little homesickness once in a while, adventure and independence are a good selling point (plus I can't even afford a ticket home with my laughable savings.)

It's not always easy, its not always fun, but most of the time living abroad is a rewarding experience that is daily making me a stronger person with an open mind and heart (I always say that because it sounds like what should be happening, but I am still waiting for some proof that it is...)  I still have a lot to learn and patience has never been my strong point but while there are times I wish I had enough money to just be a "traveler" the total immersion of being an "expat" makes me appreciate home all the more, and I have been known to take it for granted in the past...

As an expat there are some parts of my life that most people I know would find ridiculous that I now find totally normal and sometimes down right genius (a lot of them annoy the shit of me too!) This is my life and it isn't changing soon. Guess I should just enjoy it!

~ Most of my food I buy from a vendor on the street for about 1 dollar. And it is delicious! (Usually it doesn't make me sick, even though food preparation standards are appalling!)
~ Riding my motorbike through the jungle,on my way home, careful to brake for soi dogs. 

~ My dentist doesn't wear shoes, nor do I during work. 

~ The shower is heated by a little electric water heater over the faucet, it is always hot and never runs out!

~ Forks are stupid. Spoons are necessary and chopsticks are useful but the pronged utensil is essentially useless except for shoveling my food onto my spoon.. 

~ I put my hands my together by face to greet and thank people. 
~ I don't drink my beer without ice. 
~ I wear long sleeve shirts when I go out even though it is 30 degrees, because I know I will be cold in the AC.
~ My pay-as-I-go phone is eerily similar to the first phone I had when I was 15, it barely texts but it was 20 bucks and I can fill up the credit at my local 7/11.
~ I can pick my seats before I buy tickets to a movie - Why they don't do this in America is beyond me!
~ I tune out pretty much everyone talking around me. I never want to listen to stupid conversations again.
~ For breakfast I enjoy eating grilled chicken skewers and sticky rice sold by the man that drives around with a portable grill attached to his motorbike. Super gross but OH, so good!
~ I used to think it was cool to get stared at. Now I just find it annoying and ridiculous. It's really difficult not to yell "Why don't you just take a picture, douche!" 

Fellow expats, can you think of any others to add to the list?

Thinking of home always

Be well,

Elizabeth

Pin It

daydreaming

I don't know what I would do if today wasn't Friday. This whole "being a teacher" thing is really draining and some days I just don't know if I can make it to the end of the week.

But this week I did. Just barely. Like always I am travel dreaming and planning my next escape. This habit might be one of my worst.

Guess I will get back to real life now, . Happy Weekend to all!

Pin It

Lae mae phim

Way back during the great floods of 2011 we were drifting around meeting new cool people and trying to stay afloat. We met some cool people on the beaches of Koh Samet (an island I also need to write about) and they invited us to their small town of residence, just off the main coast line across from the island, in Rayong. Lae Mae Phim is a small town situated right on the beach, the main part of town is filled with delicious Thai seafood eateries, some good drinking holes and a few nice places to stay. But we were lucky enough to get deeper into this Swedish tourist destination spot and become good friends with the amazing people that keep it alive!

To get here, you can easily hop on a bus from victory monument (you might have to ask around a bit for one directly to the town, since it is a small one) in Bangkok and it will take you straight to the main drag in town. There are a few places to stay for about 800 - 1500 baht a night, cute little bungalows and beach front access are included... (We are lucky we get to stay with our good friends when we go for a visit!) There are some amazing houses in the area that I dream about living in one day...

The people are really what make this town what it is! Our good friends have just opened up a school in the area and it is growing fast... I am good friends with the teachers there and they have been working hard (or hardly working) to get the school up and running (♥ you Andy and Sydney!) The family that owns Villa Bali is amazing and welcoming; you have to try the Panang pizza that they serve from a wood fired oven, YUM! The small town charm makes this place memorable and even makes me miss home a little bit :)


Chris at Undiscovered Thailand is a very knowledgeable tour guide and also a funny and entertaining friend! He was nice enough to let us stay at his house when we were waiting out the floods and we went out on his tour with him one day, fishing off the boat and visiting a small island just off the coast where the Queen has established a sea turtle sanctuary. It was a lovely day and Undiscovered Thailand does many other tours as well... You can find their office next to Villa Bali.

Some of the best places to grab a drink in town are Lucky's Salon where you can play free pool and they also have a Wii, or Phish Bar, a cute, stylish place at the end of the beach with good food, yummy drinks and a fun crowd. 

Check out the facebook page for more info and up to date stuff about Lae Mae Phim, it is my favorite place in Thailand (and it is the only place I have been here where there are no girly bars) and I look forward to our weekends spent there, with amazing friends and spectacular sunsets!

Pin It