At School

The van arrived to pick us up at 11. It takes about half an hour to drive from Jitthamas Residence (our apartment building) to school. Surrounded by the city, it is like one huge garden. It's really beautiful there; there are all sorts of tropical plants and fountains and things like that. There are also a lot of soldiers in that area. You can't miss the charcoal uniformed guards armed with automatic weapons guarding the perimeter and patrolling the grounds. You can't help but feel safe.

The van took us to the school and dropped us off. That's where Geoffrey met up with us again. He gave us a quick tour around campus. There is a swimming pool and a gym that we can use after work. The pool looked amazing; it was already really hot and humid at 11:30, and we were walking all over campus.

After that, Geoffrey took us to the teachers cafeteria for lunch. I had only had my sprite and a bag of chips since landing, and I was starving! Lunch is served as a buffet, and you can just grab whatever you want. They had bowl of all these different types of fruit set out for us too. I didn't recognize anything except the bananas. Even they were different though; they are about one and a half inch long, and the fruit is a much darker gold then the ones we get in the States. Geoffrey gave me a little green fruit. At first I thought it was a lime, but it turned out to be a small, sweet orange!

For dessert they served rice pudding. The Thais eat it over ice and covered with coconut milk. "It's dangerous", Geoffrey informed us, patting his belly. "You'll end up looking like me!" It was really good, but there were pieces of salty corn mixed in; it was a little weird.

After lunch, we left the air-conditioned dining room, and Geoffrey marched us across the muggy school grounds to the bank. The school is built over an old golf course, and the Siam Commercial Bank is located inside the old clubhouse.

Like the airport, the SCB was very purple. While we waited in the purple bank lobby to be taken care of, purple clad bank employees brought us a tray of drinks. It was a weird iced green beverage served in small glasses. Nobody knows what it was. It was really refreshing, but it tasted like bubblegum and NyQuil. Geoffrey had three, and when I asked if he knew what it was, he just shrugged.

The school will pay us directly into our Thai account. The bank set each of us up with a purple debit card and purple bank book. We just take the bank book to any ATM and it will stamp the book with our balance. It's handy, and you can always see how much you have.

It took some time for everyone to get set up, and while we waited, I chatted with Geoffrey. I had heard that he was hard to get along with, but so far I really like him. He's just a stereotypical old Englishman. He asked me about my major, and when I told him about my International Studies coursework, he asked if I knew anything about politics. It turns out that he was one of the speechwriters who worked for PM Margaret Thatcher and Sir Edward Heath! He and Baroness Thatcher were very close, and even though he has been living in Thailand since the 90's, she mailed him a Christmas card every year. He was invited the the funeral, but unfortunately couldn't make it. 

By then it was nearly 4, and the van came by to take us back home to Jitthamas. We had only been out for a few hours, but taking a shower that evening felt great; It's so humid here, and I have to wear a shirt and tie every day.

Next door to our apartment is a small restaurant. We call it Toni's, since she is the owner. I don't know if that's the actual name. It has air conditioning and free wifi, so we were able to get in touch with our families for the first time since arriving in the city earlier that morning. Food in Bangkok is very cheap. Toni's is a very small restaurant; there are only three tables. They get so excited to see us, they know we are from Baylor and call us "teacher". For years its been te go-to place for Baylor grads at Jitthamas. I ordered chicken with green pepper over rice and a bottle if water. It cost about $1.50!

That evening, fellow Baylor alum Grant came by to meet us. He came to Bangkok from Baylor last year to teach, and works for State Department now. I had already been in contact with him, but we finally got to meet him in person. He's been here a year now and knows the city. Grant taught us how to catch a cab to take us to BigC, Thailand's version of Walmart, where we stocked up on essentials. Metered taxis are also very cheap. We split the fare; I think we each payed about $0.80 to get there.

Everything here is a weird version of what we have back home. I found a package of Thai fake Oreos for B8 (about a quarter)! I also bought a tube of toothpaste since my travel-sized one is running out. "Herbal twin lotus" it said on the package. It's brown and tastes like leaves.

Infamous Bangkok traffic outside Big C