new opportunities.

Yesterday I found out that on Monday afternoons I now have the opportunity to go to a Chinese missionary training centre to teach English to students aged between about 22-28. I'll be teaching with an English girl called Emma and the group will be split into those that can speak English a reasonable amount, and those who speak very very little. I'm not sure which group I'll be teaching yet as yesterday was just a chance for us to introduce ourselves and for them to introduce themselves. They were honestly the loveliest bunch of people I think I've ever met, and incredibly full of joy. We walked in and they all waved and said hello and clapped, and my boss went up to give a 'speech' as such (he was really just introducing himself) and even though they couldn't understand the majority of what he was saying, they were clapping and cheering crazy amounts. And then Emma and me went up to introduce ourselves. First question asked - 'Do you have boyfriends?' When the answer was no, everyone seemed a little bit too thrilled. Then as they went round introducing themselves, we were kindly told which boys were the single ones. They were all so sweet though, they sang for us and asked us about our dreams and families. We were asked our ages and when Emma said '19' and they all said 'oh my, so young!' my first thoughts were 'uh oh'. But the fact that we were younger didn't seem to bother them, they were just happy to have people come and teach them English. So I'm thankful and excited for this new opportunity - watch this space.

How can you not fall in love with them?

Adventures and all.

So Tuesday night we were out for dinner and at a bible study so we went straight from school. It started raining a bit during dinner but it wasn't too bad - until we left. The street was flooded and it was still raining ridiculously heavy. To cut what could be a very long story short, we got stuck on the wrong side of the road and on the pavement. And the car wouldn't turn on again. So after getting some thai guards and american high school boys to come and help us push, one of the thai guards decided that girls couldn't steer so jumped in the car himself and rolled down the window that doesn't roll back up, and steered us into the middle of the road where there was less flooding. The boys managed to get the window back up and then we had to call our boss to come pick us up. We got the car back yesterday - a little smelly and worse for wear. All this to say that the adventures in Thailand have definitely started - and we laughed a lot. But I think that being stuck the flood is a kind of one time fun thing. 

Everything else is going well - besides being eaten alive by mosquitoes. On Monday I received a lovely total of 25 bites - and I'm pretty certain I'm allergic. So that wasn't too pleasant. But the swelling is starting to go down and they're not as itchy anymore. I only managed to get my hands on some antihistamine last night so before that the itchiness was so distracting.  Even so, it's been a good few first days at the school. Tiring but good. Monday was mostly just observing and getting a feel for the school but Tuesday I sat in on classes and even helped with teaching maths. (Those who know how great I am at maths - I managed just fine thanks very much!) And helped out with their homework after school which was nice, they're all very sweet. And yesterday was a planning day so I didn't do much in the morning because I had to go to the bank to set up an account, but in the afternoon I helped with preparing things for today and such.

I think it'll take me a while to completely settle in but everyone's very friendly and very lovely and they're making it very easy for me to like it here. It feels like I've been here much longer than 5 days - there's a lot to take in and a lot to get used to. I think I'll grow to love it here though. There's nothing that's made me want to run home yet - even the itchy bites haven't sent me running!

I appreciate all your emails and hearing from you - it's so nice to know people are thinking of you and always great to have a few emails to read at the end of the day. :)

who wants to see the house?

so very quickly I'll show you where I live - the pictures aren't that great and there'll be better photos later, but I always find it helpful to be able to visualise where people are living and stuff so thought I would share. 

Already making it feel like home - it's a pretty small room but I found a good place to put up some photos and stuff. 

The already messy room. 

The shower - there's no cubicle so the whole bathroom gets soaked whenever you shower. It's interesting. Also, a gecko decided to join me this morning. Safe to say I got a little bit of a fright..

Living room. 

Kitchen number 1

Kitchen number 2

The 'garden' as such

The car. Nicknamed 'vinty' (short for vintage). It's a little old..


And there you have it - a quick tour. Like I said, not the best of pictures. I didn't really have much time to take a lot or get really good ones. But they're better than nothing so enjoy!

first day.

Well - I'm here! I made it and I'm safe. 
There were no problems with customs or immigration anywhere - and I arrived with all my bags so I'm really grateful for that. Spent a nice couple of days in Singapore and getting over initial jet lag - thought I'm still feeling it so I'm not sure how well that worked out. 
I arrived late last night and after having a quick look around the house, pretty much zonked out. Was so strange being back in the heat and the pitch black - hearing dogs barking outside. I was immediately taken back to Chad. I wasn't expecting to find any similarities but clearly - I was wrong. One very big difference though - Thailand isn't dirt covered - it's green! 
Anyways, I slept till about 9ish this morning and got up to let the nice air con men come and fix the air con in my room so I'd be nice and cool, which I was more than happy for them to do. Though it did mean meeting the rest of my housemates in my pyjamas and not changing till 3. But that was fine, gave me the day to just chill out and try and get used to being here.
It's been a good first day though - lots to take in but it's not too overwhelming. I've had the chance to unpack and put photos up so the room feels a little bit more like home now which is nice. The heat is bearable too - a big change from Dundee but I'm not dying so all is well! 
People keep asking what my expectations for this year are . Honestly - I'm not too sure. I tried to come with no expectations so I wouldn't be disappointed and so that I'd have the attitude of being happy to do anything. All I know is that it's going to be an incredible year. Tough but incredible. 
So here we go. I guess the appropriate words right now would be something along the lines of 'bring it on'.