The Best (and the worst) Parts of Living in Thailand
A few days ago, I had my 3rd "I don't like Thailand" day. I feel pretty excited about the fact that in my year of my time here, this is only the 3rd time this has happened to me. I decided that I needed to sit down and write the post I've been thinking about sharing for quite some time.
If you ask me on most days, I would tell you all about how much I LOVE living in Thailand. Even though today has been a frustrating day (more on that later), I'd love to share all the things I absolutely love about this place I've been lucky to call home.
Things I love about Thailand:
1. Children are allowed to just be free. Children run around barefoot, play without yard duties at lunch, and walk themselves to after school tutoring. Children have far fewer tantrums here and are generally much happier.
2. The food!! It's amazing, you gotta try it.
3. The fact that buying coffee normally comes with a hug and a smile.
4. Most of my meals come from the street and I'm 100% ok with that.
5. Nightly watching the sky light up with huge and beautiful thunder.
6. EVERYONE wanting me to teach them Uno. :)
7. Sitting outside and eating dinner with my Thai family.
8. The fact that I can regularly message my students outside of school. We chat about anything and everything, and it's perfectly ok.
9. My ability to travel. Although comparatively, I make a lot less money in Thailand, I have much more disposable income. I am able to travel often, and that feels amazing!
10. Teachers are treated with the utmost respect, something America definitely needs to learn.
11. Thai kindness. Although not everyone is kind, most people really, truly want to help others as often as they can.
12. Buddhist ideals. Although I am not Buddhist, 95% of the Thai population is. A big cornerstone of Buddhism is kindness, and that is felt in many realms of society.
13. Watching people care for street puppies. There are SO many dogs on the street here, but most people try to watch out for them. There is a pack of puppies that live in a trash pile across from my school and two women regularly come to bathe and feed them.
14. MY STUDENTS! I mean this when I say they are some of the most wonderful people I've ever met. They are smart, kind, loving, and loyal to each other. They look out for each other and want good things for the world. I'm so excited to play a part in shaping their minds and hearts.
Things that frustrate me about Thailand:
1. Racism. Hear me out before you react. As a light skinned person in Thailand, many people try to charge me more, scream "white!!!" as I walk down the street, and assume I am very rich. However, I am making Thai baht and living a (mostly) Thai lifestyle.
2. School politics. Schools have so many more "political" situations here. It's very frustrating and schools would run more more smoothly without them.
3. Not being able to fully understand what's happening around me. Although my Thai has gotten much better since living here, there are still many things I don't understand.
4. Saving face. In Thailand, it's very important to control negative emotions to "save face" and protect your image. However, I think that sometimes it's just ok to feel pretty sad or angry, and then let it go. Sometimes, I feel as though I have to hold back my emotions.
5. Transportation. Transportation and I have a lot hate relationship. I love it because it's so cheap, but it often takes many steps to get to one place. Want to go to an island?
1. Walk to the motorcycle taxi
2. Ride motorcycle taxi
3. Ride minivan 1.5 hours
4. Ride BTS skytrain
5. Ride on a 10 hour bus
6. Ride in a song-taow
7. Arrive; finally!
6. Wastefulness. There is SO much waste that happens here in Thailand. First of all, when you buy anything, you are given a plastic bag for your plastic bag for your plastic bag (get the picture?). Second, there are hardly any garbage cans anywhere and people often throw trash and other articles all over the ground.
7. Value of money. What I mean by that is that money is often spent to give the appearance that a school or home is perfect, instead of spending money buying books for the school or investing in the family that lives in the home. I know that appearances are important many places in the world, but here they seem much too important, in my opinion.
If you ask me on most days, I would tell you all about how much I LOVE living in Thailand. Even though today has been a frustrating day (more on that later), I'd love to share all the things I absolutely love about this place I've been lucky to call home.
Things I love about Thailand:
1. Children are allowed to just be free. Children run around barefoot, play without yard duties at lunch, and walk themselves to after school tutoring. Children have far fewer tantrums here and are generally much happier.
2. The food!! It's amazing, you gotta try it.
3. The fact that buying coffee normally comes with a hug and a smile.
4. Most of my meals come from the street and I'm 100% ok with that.
5. Nightly watching the sky light up with huge and beautiful thunder.
6. EVERYONE wanting me to teach them Uno. :)
7. Sitting outside and eating dinner with my Thai family.
8. The fact that I can regularly message my students outside of school. We chat about anything and everything, and it's perfectly ok.
9. My ability to travel. Although comparatively, I make a lot less money in Thailand, I have much more disposable income. I am able to travel often, and that feels amazing!
10. Teachers are treated with the utmost respect, something America definitely needs to learn.
11. Thai kindness. Although not everyone is kind, most people really, truly want to help others as often as they can.
12. Buddhist ideals. Although I am not Buddhist, 95% of the Thai population is. A big cornerstone of Buddhism is kindness, and that is felt in many realms of society.
13. Watching people care for street puppies. There are SO many dogs on the street here, but most people try to watch out for them. There is a pack of puppies that live in a trash pile across from my school and two women regularly come to bathe and feed them.
14. MY STUDENTS! I mean this when I say they are some of the most wonderful people I've ever met. They are smart, kind, loving, and loyal to each other. They look out for each other and want good things for the world. I'm so excited to play a part in shaping their minds and hearts.
Things that frustrate me about Thailand:
1. Racism. Hear me out before you react. As a light skinned person in Thailand, many people try to charge me more, scream "white!!!" as I walk down the street, and assume I am very rich. However, I am making Thai baht and living a (mostly) Thai lifestyle.
2. School politics. Schools have so many more "political" situations here. It's very frustrating and schools would run more more smoothly without them.
3. Not being able to fully understand what's happening around me. Although my Thai has gotten much better since living here, there are still many things I don't understand.
4. Saving face. In Thailand, it's very important to control negative emotions to "save face" and protect your image. However, I think that sometimes it's just ok to feel pretty sad or angry, and then let it go. Sometimes, I feel as though I have to hold back my emotions.
5. Transportation. Transportation and I have a lot hate relationship. I love it because it's so cheap, but it often takes many steps to get to one place. Want to go to an island?
1. Walk to the motorcycle taxi
2. Ride motorcycle taxi
3. Ride minivan 1.5 hours
4. Ride BTS skytrain
5. Ride on a 10 hour bus
6. Ride in a song-taow
7. Arrive; finally!
6. Wastefulness. There is SO much waste that happens here in Thailand. First of all, when you buy anything, you are given a plastic bag for your plastic bag for your plastic bag (get the picture?). Second, there are hardly any garbage cans anywhere and people often throw trash and other articles all over the ground.
7. Value of money. What I mean by that is that money is often spent to give the appearance that a school or home is perfect, instead of spending money buying books for the school or investing in the family that lives in the home. I know that appearances are important many places in the world, but here they seem much too important, in my opinion.
I hope that after reading this, you can understand a little bit more about why I love Thailand. My list of things I love FAR outweighs the things that frustrate me. Ultimately, these things frustrate me because I've come to truly love and appreciate Thailand. I feel so lucky to get to call this place my home. Through the good and the bad, Thailand, and it's people, have a very special place in my heart.
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