We lived in a little house that reminded me of Little House on the Praire. I shared a room with my teammate and friend Denise. Our room was very small! The huge fan taking up the majority of the space. At night we would go to sleep in a clean bed with clean sheets, and would wake up to dead bugs all over our mattress. At times it was hilarious, and at times disgusting. But somehow, we bonded through this experience.
There was so much laughter in that house, some of the conversations we would have, games we would play, intruders we experienced…
One night I had to go to the bathroom, but my teammate, Jackie, told me a huge gecko was guarding the door. I didn’t believe her. I go downstairs, see the how big the gecko was, and staring laughing, and yelling, and stood frozen out of fear, while Jackie stood on the steps laughing. I almost peed my pants that night. So what did we do? We welcomed the gecko with open arms, realized he had a friend, and named them Jamal and Moneisha.
One night, there were these bugs that looked like ants with really big wings swarming our house. With doors with cracks, and windows that did not close all the way, a lot of the bugs ended up inside the house. All you could see were girls running and screaming, killing bugs. It was a massacre. It was war.
There were three rooms. With only one room with AC, that room became a hang out spot for us. So much fun, laughter, prayer, tears, that little house went from being simply a place to live – to being a home.
We cooked our own food for dinner but we had to be creative because we only had a rice cooker, and a wok to cook with. We made brownies, pasta, stir fry’s, beans, cooked pork, and rice in that rice cooker. And it was all delicious!
With a bathroom that had lizards, centipedes, and mosquitos to keep you company, when you would shower you were rarely lonely…or alone. Haha.
At night time after we were done teaching we would walk to the outdoor school cafeteria because that was the only place with wifi. I feel like by the end of two weeks, because it was the beginning of the rainy season when we arrived, the mosquitos had grown, and their bites became more painful.
Our little house was by a big pond, and a dock. We all set up our hammocks to sit and have quiet times on the dock. There was basketball, volleyball, a beautiful wooded area to run, and soccer.
This was my kind of month. I absolutely loved Thailand. It was so beautiful. And peaceful. And my students were so funny and hungry for knowledge.
I taught four different classes, 6/9, and 6/1, who were my two classes of seniors, and I taught one class of freshman, and one class of sophomores. I taught the seniors the most out of the week.
The two seperate classes of seniors could not have been more opposite. 6/1 was more quiet, their learning styles were different, what motivated them to work harder was different, and then 6/9 who were louder, and also were motivated differently to learn. I had so much fun learning names, learning styles, and ways to motivate them all as classes and as individuals.
I taught 2-3 classes a day, 5 days a week. I LOVED being a teacher. Grading papers, giving assignments, teaching them games…it was the best.
They always made me laugh. When I was teaching in the class room, I would have a big smile on my face. Because they were so funny and so kind. And I didn’t realize the way I talked English was so confusing….or so funny until I started teaching English. Haha.
The students and our host made month 6 so special. I played basketball with the students, talked, laughed, adventured…not only did I become acquainted with strangers, I made friends and sisters and brothers.
And I loved every second of it. I loved Thailand. They say month six and seven are the hardest out of the race. You really begin to miss home, and think about your family and the comforts of home. And I agree. I really missed home month 6, in Thailand. But God provided for me a really supportive team, and really awesome host who loved us so much. And made Thailand feel like home.
So a typical day for me looked like this- I would wake up around 8, depending on what time i would have class. Some days I had class later so I could sleep in. 2 days out of the week, three of us would have to go to the front gate and greet the students. From 7:20-7:55 we stood outside, saying good morning to the students. Then we would be invited to the Directors office to drink coffee and have breakfast.
Afterward we would go to our classes.
Eeddie and Sweetie, two of our wonderful host, they dropped us off at the bus station the last day, and as we all hugged goodbye, we cried. They became like family to me that month, and Thailand will have such a special place in my heart because of the country, the people we met, the students, everything. I love and miss Thailand and pray that one day I can go back.
Our little house by the pond looking on the mountains will always hold a special place in my heart because of the memories of love, laughter, prayers, tears, hugs….that little house was a place of peace were we grew as individuals and as a team. That little house will always be one of my favorites places I have called home while on the World Race.
