Apartments and a Note on Ethical Issues

It seems like distant past for us now, but I thought it might be fun to relive the apartment hunting experience. By far the easiest time I’ve had looking for a place to live in a foreign country. Everything was pretty straightforward, and, as per usual, imbued with a mix of Ariel and Julia approaches. To start us off, I found a list of the 140 condo complexes available to us in Chiang Mai, and then narrowed it down to about 50 or so that were on the west side (more about the west side later). From there we set to researching them all to see if they even had a web presence or were vaguely in our price range or comfort level, by which time we had about 20 places to visit and a rough map indicating where all of them were. Then we were off on our scooter, starting with the lowest prices! The first places (about half the price of what we are currently paying) were…pretty dismal. Dirty, sparse, dingy, and with furniture that was falling apart. From my research I knew that the quality would increase significantly if we were willing to pay just a little bit more, so we pressed on. In the end, we narrowed it down to the two complexes that seemed both livable and inexpensive, both with varying facilities and styles. One had included wireless internet, a pool, a sauna, and a fitness club. All the rooms in that complex are owned and outfitted by a central owner, and it’s located on a busy main street with very few shops in immediate walking distance. The décor was very IKEA-esque, and our favorite room had a glass door dividing the bed and eating area, which we really liked. However, we were slightly put off by the smell of what seemed like rotting manure that permeated the area, as well as things like banana peels in the shower of otherwise empty rooms. How does that even happen?! Our current apartment, which is cheaper, did not have included wifi (we have to pay for each of our 4 devices, and are constantly being logged out, which is annoying) or fitness club. There’s no pool and our view is nowhere near as nice. However, we have all new appliances, a kitchenette, a tv we can plug our computers into, and homier décor set up by a tasteful English fellow. When we walk outside, we’re right next to a 7-11, a Tesco Express, and a bunch of cafes, bars, and boutique-y stores. Not to mention our new favorite place, Salad Concept, which lets you make your own enormous salad and compliment it with a refreshing fruit shake and/or baked good!  

The west side of Chiang Mai is markedly different from the rest of the city, although only a couple miles from the center. Here, it’s easy to forget that the backpacker-filled area of the old city even exists. All the shops look very up-market and it’s obviously geared toward a trendy, coffee-loving student clientele. Because we’re close to the university, there are a lot of cultural events and moving showings we can attend. The local fauna is obvious, especially in the sois, and you don’t have to struggle to remember that the hills are literally right there. It’s definitely a better feel for us – it feels closer to nature, further away from transient backpackers that don’t make for very stable friends, and closer to other expats who are also trying to set up a relatively permanent life here. So in the end, I think we really lucked out by finding our current apartment, which is somehow nicer, cheaper, newer, and better furnished than all the other more expensive ones in this building. It’s a definite win. Having a home to come back to has made us feel a lot more secure, and being able to cook whatever we want in our little kitchenette has been so fun! Cooking has always been something of a comfort activity for me, so it’s nice to be able to rustle up some eggs, home fries, and whatever else we want on our little hot plate and then eat on our couch while we watch shows projected onto our nice tv. The kitchenette also gives us an excuse to go to our local market, which, as Ariel mentioned, is a great place to practice our Thai.

On to more exciting things! I believe we neglected to debrief you on our elephant trip. Which, I think, is the best way to celebrate one’s 22^nd birthday (aka the first birthday in your life where you start to feel sad about getting old. Adults, don’t give me any snark!). I think it’s cool that conservation and ecotourism is becoming such a big deal in Chiang Mai. Sure, there are a lot of debates going as to what’s good and what’s not, and there are a lot of inexcusably bad practices still going on that plenty of well-meaning people contribute to – for instance, elephant shows in which the elephants are forced to perform circus tricks for the crowd. More debatable are things like the visits to the Padaung tribe. But there is definitely a movement towards less damaging forms of tourism, whether or not these are going to be successful in the long-term. It’s always hard to know whether what you are supporting is going to help move the participants in a positive direction, or what repercussions the industry is going to have, but part of travelling is just trying to research and check things out and make your own decisions the best you can. It’s easy to get paralyzed by the thought of the damage you’re doing and it’s also easy to just let go and do whatever sounds good. I guess I live by the motto that conservation has its pros and cons. If, after research and my own experience, I can see definite pros of supporting a place, and can’t immediately think of alternatives, then it’s probably reasonable to support. I think it’s okay to disagree with parts of their model, just like it’s reasonable to find flaws in our own policies but still think they’re the best move forward. It’s kind of like saying you shouldn’t bother recycling because a lot of places just put it all in the garbage anyway. You just do the best you can.

Anyway, I think we did a pretty good job in selecting Baanchang Elephant Park. I’ve heard the Elephant Nature Park is also great, but we chose the former because we wanted to be able to ride the elephants. At baanchang, they at least give the illusion that you are learning the basic commands for the elephant (lie down, left, right, stop, go), even though the mahout did most of the maneuvering and the elephants are used to the path. They clearly care a lot about their elephants and view this as the only viable alternative to keeping them in the (quickly shrinking) jungle, which the elephants are not prepared to live in anyway. They expressed frustration at not being able to keep them in a larger, grassier area, but explained that this is all the land that is available to them, close enough to the city and tourists which comprise their livelihood. Being able to ride the elephants bareback (commonly used seats hurt the elephant) was a novel experience, and while a little painful it was so cool to feel the elephant move underneath you! I think the best part was getting to bathe them at the end of the day, although it felt like it was cut a bit short. Somehow while scrubbing my elephant I ended up sprawled on its back while he decided to take a walk around. At this point he was my buddy, so I just lay there and enjoyed the ride! While I understand the very necessary touristy aspects, it would have been nice to just spend some more time playing with the elephants and getting to know their varying personalities. You could tell they were rushing us through a bit so the next group could get in the water. Elephant Nature Park also has the option of paying to volunteer for 1, 2, or 4 week long positions, but at a hefty cost. Still, it would be nice to have such a rare experience and actually get to know the elephants!    

We’ve already received some flak about going to pet the tigers, so I’ll explain our stance on that as well. Here are some pros: at Tiger Kingdom, they actually seem legitimately offended if you ask if the tigers are drugged. I imagine it would be like asking a mother if they gave their baby Nyquil to keep him asleep. Of course I don’t let that convince me – we spent time watching the tigers before we decided to buy time in their cages. I’m no vet, but the tigers just clearly aren’t drugged. They’re constantly playing with each other, unelicited by the trainers. They’re feisty. Some we weren’t allowed to go near, as they were feeling grumpy that day. All ages of tigers are available, not just the cute and cuddly babies, so it’s a sustainable environment for them for the long-term. I was frustrated by the trainers, who were constantly trying to get the tiger to look at the camera or give us various other photo ops. I really just wanted to lie down with the tiger and not bother him. I didn’t like the enclosure, as the ground was mostly concrete and there wasn’t much actual dirt or greenery for the tigers to enjoy. It was annoying that the area was obviously set up more for tourists than the tigers, but maybe the tigers don’t actually mind…who knows! I definitely got the impression that the tigers here were happier than tigers in a zoo – there was no pacing and they actually interacted with one another. So if you’re willing to support a zoo, where tigers are trapped in inappropriately small cages and stared at yet understimulated all day, I really don’t see much of a moral difference. I appreciated that Tiger Kingdom was using their funds to build another sanctuary where tigers aren’t bothered by tourists. So, mixed feelings about this place. To sum it up, cons: lackluster enclosures, annoying trainers, poor sleepy tigers. But it provides a sustainable way to breed more tigers, a way to get money to feed the tigers, and is equivalent to or better than a zoo.

Real time update: Ariel just made bomb thai tea on her second try! There are a billion recipes and ways to do it so getting it right is actually a bit of a feat! But now we know we can make it ourselves, cheaply, whenever we want! We also received our teaching licenses today, so we will finally be off to Laos probably Sunday night. I’m not particularly looking forward to it, as the visa run system seems to be a bit of a cash cow. Basically anyone who wants to work here has to do one every 90 days, and it generally entails a 12-14 hour overnight ride in a cramped minivan, lots of transfers, a $35 Laos visa, and a $160 Thai non-immigrant B visa. For reference, $160 is how much the two of us have spent on food this month. Total. The whole process takes a couple days, if you rush, but you generally don’t have much time to enjoy the city. As always I’m sure we’ll make the best of it, so look out for or update about it coming soon! 

Getting to Know Our Home

It’s been too long since we’ve posted a blog entry on here! Hope I don’t forget too much.

I’d like to talk a little about the neighborhood we live in. Julia and I have had some fun exploring the area during the down time before our jobs start. We typically either have no destination in mind and just wander up and down the streets, or we pick a place and end up having multiple adventures from there. The other day, we set out to walk up and down our main road and we found an adorable park just 10 minutes away. It’s a combination workout park, botanical garden, oasis with tons of equipment and pictures for various exercises (as well as plenty of people jogging/walking around). We think it’s connected to some vocational university, or it may just be an extension of Chiang Mai University. It’s really beautiful and a nice escape from the city. Great to have that right by us :).

Then yesterday we decided to head to the world famous Museum of Insects, which I think the linked article describes well. The man and woman who founded the museum have dedicated most of their lives to studying Thailand’s mosquitoes and have discovered multiple species of mosquitoes, including one which is named after the main guy (toxorhynchites Manopi). He has this funny and semi-inspiring (but mostly funny) story about how when he was a kid, his grandma gave him a rock and told him it was a vulture’s egg and he was so fascinated by it that he carried it with him everywhere (at one point he wore it around his neck, and it’s a pretty big rock). It’s now in the museum as the first piece to start his collection of interesting insects, rocks, wood, collections of art, and more “wonders of the world” (which as Julia says, is pretty much whatever the hell else he wants). Ripley’s! for insects? He has this theory about mosquitoes in that there is one species that is “vegetarian” (doesn’t feed on humans or animals) that feeds off of the larvae of other mosquitoes. He believes instead of mass gassing of mosquito-infested areas, we should focus on trying to release these mosquitoes. It’s an interesting theory to go with an interesting collection, but the stories and books in the museum can easily lead one to believe this guy verges on insanity when it comes to mosquitoes. Also I’m pretty sure the museum is in their house (not the other way around), as they have various rooms throughout the exhibits that are closed off that seem like a regular room in a house like an office or bedroom. When we were leaving, we received a brochure that had a crude map of Chiang Mai that mostly included where the museum was and where some of the open air markets were. Because we were looking for our nearest market, we saw the names of two of them right by us and decided to wing it and see if they really exist/still exist/are open. So it’s kind of funny that we ended up finding our local market via a picture of a shopping cart on a mosquito museum brochure.

This market is huge and bountiful, with tons of fresh fruits, veggies, meat, fish, etc. and a lot of cheap supplies. We were able to snag some extra bowls and glasses, a laundry hamper, and some cleaning supplies. We also got tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onions, and garlic and a giant papaya (yum!) that amounted to a few bucks. They do fruit and veggies SO well here in Thailand. The tomato is really meaty and the carrots were so orange that I thought they were already peeled! The fun part is that everybody speaks Thai and it’s a little more difficult to communicate only in English and gestures, so we get to practice our Thai here (although so far all we really have down are hello, thank you, and our numbers). With everything so cheap, fresh, and delicious plus our kitchenette, cooking meals is going to be inexpensive, healthy, and entertaining.

We’ve been able to go out a few nights as well and are still on the hunt for, as Julia says, that one place that we love with cheap cocktails and a great atmosphere. It seems like most Thais go out at night just to relax and drink (at least around 9 to midnight), though we haven’t been out in the early morning hours yet, a time when it sounds like everyone goes clubbing. Seriously, going to bars at 10 is still way too early for most places around here. And unlike the backpacker scene in the old city, the expat/local scene is more about keeping to yourself or your group than socializing with others. Thus, we haven’t been able to make many friends yet.

Backtracking a little more, when we first moved into the apartment last Monday, we set out to find things that we needed (like towels and toilet paper), things we wanted and that would be cost-efficient in the long run (like a rice cooker and pots/pans), things that would make our place comfy and home-like (like air freshener and decorations), and anything in between. In retrospect, we started at the richest/most expensive place and worked our way down by chance. We started at Kad Suan Kaew, the nearby mall, since it was within walking distance of our place. Here we found towels, a cute rice cooker, a trash can, and a sheet for the bed (which thankfully came with bedding and a duvet cover). Unsatisfied with the prices, we then researched the nearest Tesco Lotus, which was HUGE, I mean BIG. It has everything one could ever need ever. Julia tried to capture it with some pictures, but I’m sure none of them do it justice. We brought a backpack because we knew we’d be taking a songthaew home and we’d hopefully be buying plenty of things here. And as I strapped the empty bag to my back, Julia turned to me and excitedly stated, “Are you ready? Because we’re going to go down every aisle in this place I hope you know that.” I think that sums up our experience there. Julia LOVES this kind of stuff. Me, I managed. Here we got a fan (we have AC, but to be cost effective we don’t run it at night and we thought having the option of a fan would be good), a pot and pan, a rug, some strips to put on the top and bottom of our shitty door that doesn’t keep sound or light out, and some basic food items in bulk, like rice, cereal, and noodles. We treated ourselves to a pack of rootbeer and some tea as well.

This is the first time I’ve really had to live in an apartment on my own (though Julia shared a place with some friends while she was in college, I went from dorm to sorority and therefore never had to fend for myself [I’m not saying this in an, “I was spoiled and I’m awesome” kind of way, but more in a, “I am thankful for that unique experience, but it does not entirely prepare me for renting or owning my own place.”]). So what’s interesting to me is the amount of things you “need” but don’t think about, like magnets for the fridge! I wanted magnets so that we could put things like receipts or whatever on the fridge and that was near-impossible to find. And here in Thailand, tumble-drying your laundry is way more expensive than just air drying, so we had to get hooks and the like to do that. It seems like we never run out of big (and little) purchases. I mean, you start with the obvious like towels and toilet paper, but then you realize you don’t have a way to clean the tabletops, so you have to go buy cleaning fluid, and then you’re making eggs and you think maybe it’d be good with salt and pepper so you go on a hunt for that (also surprisingly hard to get a hold of) and then one time while you’re looking for the keys before you go, you discover that it would probably be convenient to have a hook or something by the door so you purchase one of those, and when you cook food or cut up papayas and you don’t have a place to store them, you have to go get some containers, and while I’m sitting here, Julia is currently hand-wiping the couch and I’m thinking a vacuum cleaner or even maybe some tape would be brilliant right about now. You get what I’m saying? Though that run-on made it seem exhausting, it’s actually pretty fun for me. Depending on who’s reading this blog, I know I most likely sound like a naïve youngster in my 20’s discovering my independence, but maybe it reminds you of that time too. Maybe? Maybe we should start flirting with the boys next door to borrow a vacuum cleaner or—I’m not kidding you—a cup of sugar (long story short: tried to make Thai tea at home today and thought it would be fine without sugar. And folks sugar is such a clutch ingredient it’s not even funny [Julia would like to interject here and point out that she said we needed sugar and I was the one who thought the condensed milk and evaporated milk would be enough sweetness]).

We went into the school today to sign some paperwork for our work visas so it looks like a trip to Laos is on our agenda real soon.

In later entries I’d love to talk about (or force beg plead get Julia to talk about what it was like to find the apartment, our experience with the tigers, our experience with the elephants, and anything else I may have missed). Julia would like to mention that she does contribute to the writing of the blog and adds sentences here and there!

The internet's being dumb right now so I'll try to upload pictures later. I know this was a long one but I hope I kept it entertaining and informative :). Thanks for reading!

Oh also our address:

Hillside 3

1 soi 8 Nimmanhamin Road, R. 718

Suthep, Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200

Thailand

If you're curious: Hillside 3 is the name of our condo complex. The way the layout of Chiang Mai works is there are main roads and there are soi's which are side streets (which is an amazing exhibition of good urban planning). So we are the first ones on soi 8 of the main Nimman road. R.718 is our room number. Suthep is the subdistrict in the Muang district in the city of Chiang Mai in the country of Thailand. We haven't received mail yet so we're not 100% sure if it will work, but they have a little chalkboard in the lobby that says "Parcels For" and then lists the room numbers so we look for 718 everyday ^-^.

Tigers!

Just wanted to post a few pictures from our visit to Tiger Kingdom. We'll definitely describe the trip in more detail later, but for now I wanted to get some sleep before the big move tomorrow!

I'd also like to say a quick note about the ethics of the place. First off, contrary to popular belief, Tiger Kingdom doesn't drug the tigers to prepare them for human interaction. If a tiger seems sad, it's probably just because they're tired, as a tiger sleeps up to 18 hours in a day and is a nocturnal animal. These tigers are born and raised to be less aggressive (the same way some wolves became dogs and eventually pets) and trainers don't let the public play with the tigers until they are at least the third generation in captivity. The place is as humane as a zoo and maybe even more so as they get to play around with each other as well as people and we didn't see any pacing animals. Really the only bad thing is that they have to deal with us annoying them for 8 hours of the day while they probably would rather be sleeping. Overall we had an amazing experience and have some great pictures to share. Enjoy! And remember, click to enlarge :)

It Takes Two Weeks to Settle In

I should probably start with the best news of all: we have an apartment in Chiang Mai!
We move in tomorrow and it comes pre-furnished with bedding and all new Ikea-like furniture. Pre-furnished also means it comes with an awesome L-couch, which is pretty much what sold Julia on the place (so for all of you coming to visit, this is for you). AND it even comes with a mini kitchenette! (A hard find in Thailand as it's usually cheaper to eat out than to make your own food at home). So we'll have a fridge, microwave, sink, and mini hot plate/stove.
This is all in a fairly small area (it's a studio apartment), but they utilize the space well so we essentially have three tiny parts: a bedroom/bed area, a living room/couch area, and a kitchen/dining area (complete with table and chairs). Finally, we have a decent size bathroom and an awesome-sized (big) TV which has a place to hook up to our computers, making the internet our television!
We'll have wi-fi, laundry, and a fitness center at a little extra cost too.
It's in a nice area filled with cheap street food, convenient 7-11s and mini marts, bars, clubs, shops, cafes, and plenty of places to explore. It's also right by the Super Highway, which is what we need in order to easily get, well, anywhere, but more specifically to our school and back (which we will most likely do via scooter and it will be about a 15 min. commute). And we're right by the Doi Suthep mountains so anytime we need to get away, it's a quick scooter/tuk-tuk ride up the mountain for some fresh air and one of my favorite wats that we've visited so far, the forest wat, Wat Umong. It's here that we met Little Buddha, our chosen name for a friendly little black cat that we fell in love with (pictures to come). We're also right by Chiang Mai University, which we had a chance to visit during our apartment hunt. It's a beautiful campus with a bit of a college feel to the surrounding area, so we could head there if we wanted to jump into the student scene.
The real kicker is that all of this is well within our budget for an apartment so we have some wiggle room to save, live comfortably, and have fun.
Some news that some of you may or may not like: the leaser is offering the apartment at a cheaper rate if we sign a contract for a year, rather than 6 months. So to save money and to think positive, we are taking that deal. Which means we will most likely still be here at least until October of next year (crazy thought!).

We're so excited about this great find. But we have other things we need to catch you up on!

For example, Sunday Walking Street. Ah, how do I describe thee. Around 4pm to midnight every Sunday, vendors throughout Chiang Mai set up tents and the like in the heart of the Old City. It's like a mini farmer's market, upscale swap meet, Third Street Promenade all rolled into one. It's a must-see in any proper visit to Chiang Mai and we haven't missed one since we've been up here (which makes 3 so far). There are goods of all sorts, from wooden combs to instruments to dog clothes to artwork. The high quality and variety of items combined with the low prices makes it a great place to shop for decorations and souvenirs. And the food. Oh the food. I'll leave the pictures to illustrate the joy and wonder and deliciousness in that.

Be sure to click on the pictures to enlarge them so you can see the delicious detail. It also makes for easier viewing as it becomes a slideshow.

Yummy variety of fruit juices

Fried silkworm, fried giant water bug, fried short tailed cricket, you get the idea.

The world's most delicious waffles

Adorable bao! Or as I call them, manapuas.

Ignore the greasy-sweatiness, it's hot and humid okay.

Endless varieties of noodles

Delicious fruit shakes. I love the way they have the ingredients in the cup, so you know what you're getting. And you just pick one and he adds some sugar water and blends it! He also had a system so that the ones on the bottom row (typically just one type of fruit) were the cheapest and they get more expensive as you go up.

There are also some less-appetizing things, which are still probably delicious

Julia's one non-food picture. Some adorable puppies (might have been drugged, but what can you do :[ )

Street sushi? Hmm...

Quail eggs

I'll be sure to get some pictures of the apartment once we've moved in! Also an address :)

The Job Search

Just a word of thanks to everyone from home who has been encouraging us this past week - your sense of perspective really helps! Typically, being in a foreign country always feels like a whirlwind at first. We've been going through the always-anticipated and ever-unavoidable culture shock all while living on a ridiculous budget and trying to turn our rapidly dwindling savings into paychecks. That's not to say that we haven't been falling in love with Chiang Mai, and more broadly, Thailand. It's difficult not to love delicious street food for under a dollar, scooter rentals for under ten, and opportunities to schmooze with elephants and tigers just a tuk-tuk trip away. We're so excited to be able to indulge in all of that once the dust settles! Still, a month happens in a week, and it's easy to feel defeated. Sometimes it's nice to sit down and give each other a pep talk. Here's a typical conversation:

Aire: We've been to so many places! None of them want us! What's wrong with us?!
Julia: Dude. We've been doing this for 4 days. If we were unsuccessful in a 4 day job hunt in America, would we consider ourselves failures?
Aire: Okay true. You're right.

ten minutes later

Julia: Is it our pictures? Should we take better pictures? What if we don't make enough and our lives are miserable? What if we're not good teachers?

This takes up about ten minutes of our day. The rest is replete with emailing, calling, and visiting schools within a 15km radius. If you were wondering what it's like to land cold in Thailand and try to find a job from nothing, don't worry - I'll let you know in gruesome detail. Let me prelude this by emphasizing that Thailand is run quite efficiently and all mishaps and misfortunes are entirely due to our tight budget and inexperience. Oh, and the heat. Actually, mostly the heat.

On pavement pounding outings, we like to come as prepared as possible so we can be in and out of schools. We print about 10 copies of everything we need for applications, which tends to be anything from just a CV to a CV, cover letter, picture, copy of diploma, copy of TEFL degree, copy of passport, copy of visa, and official transcripts. We put each little packet in a folder and have one prepared for each school. Upon arriving, we get mixed responses - anything from confusion, sitting around waiting for an English speaker, an impromptu interview, or a formal application sheet. Where the fun really lies is in renting a scooter for these trips. Unfortunately, though, compared to America, Thailand is extremely appearance conscious. Wrinkles, mismatching outfits, or a hair out of place can cost you the job. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Thailand we realized that the heat and swelling made all of our shoes too small and extremely uncomfortable. Unfortunately, when in Thailand the lining of skirts and blazers very much restrict walking ability, not to mention capacity to scooter. Fortunately, Ariel and I are not too easily discouraged. Our first day out, after scootering to my first interview sitting sideways on the bike as cars whizzed by on what is termed the "superhighway", clinging to Ariel for dear life with one hand while directing her using google maps with the other (+1 for iPhones in foreign countries), we decided it was probably best to perfect this whole deal. The next day, we walked/scootered around in blouses,shorts, and tevas. When we neared a school, we located a well-positioned pay phone and sneakily slipped on our pencil skirts over our shorts and quickly changed shoes. It gave us a certain sense of satisfaction to know that we were wearing shorts under our skirts. Probably comparable to the "imagine everyone in the audience in underwear" tactic. While still exhausting, it got the job done. We didn't die on our motorbike, we didn't worsen our blisters, and we looked pretty darn classy.  

Long story short, after calling and emailing 25 schools and applying in person to a dozen of the most promising, we had little to show for it - one interview that was too low paid for the distance, long hours, and the meh vibe I had about this bougie, pretentious school for upper class Thai kids, one interview for part-time, far-away work, and 4 schools that may or may not have full or part time work and may or may not have responded to our application. We were getting pretty discouraged. But then, on Saturday, after spending the previous day researching the plethora of well paying jobs in Bangkok, we finally had a win! We received a call from a school we had dropped into the day before, saying they had one job opening and maybe two. As of today, we have visited two of the school's locations, observed the classes we will be teaching, submitted our documents for a work permit, and looked over our contracts! The school is new and looks great. There are other farang teachers who were friendly and even able to give us advice on what salary to negotiate. And, because it's a Christian school, we even get a week off for Christmas! Amazingly, after our unrelenting search and plenty of feelings of hopelessness, we seem to have a found a job for both of us, located near where we want to live and paying what we expected. All that's left to do is a demonstration lesson on Wednesday, which seems to be more of a technicality than a weeding out process. It's been crazy not knowing whether or not we're going to stay in Chiang Mai or move back to Bangkok. The cognitive dissonance is ridiculous! We went from trying to talk up Bangkok and downplay Chiang Mai to the other way about and now our minds are just a bit frazzled.

On an only slightly related note, it's very strange taking my resume really seriously for the first time. I had never thought of the things I had done in the past, be it work or volunteer trips/jobs, as resume builders. So it's bizarre being asked if I have teaching experience and realizing that, unintentionally, I do. I'm actually fairly qualified from their perspective, and all from things that I did purely for the enjoyment of it and put on my resume as an afterthought. It's nice to see how life can sort of line up like that, and I hope I can be lucky enough for that kind of thing to carry me through the future. Keep doing what you love, I guess.

A nice thing about this process is that despite the heat and lack of money, applying for the same jobs, sharing all the same food, and being around each other non-stop, Aire and I are still definitely each other's rock. As always, one of us is always around to be positive when the other is feeling cynical. It's great to have someone pump you up for interviews and treat you to a 50 cent fresh orange juice (a generous 20% of our typical food budget for the day) just because you managed to not make a fool of yourself that day. I probably couldn't do all this without her, and it would absolutely not be fun.

Speaking of food budgets, the weekend night markets around Chiang Mai are by far our favorite part of the city so far (which is not exactly fair, considering it is one of the few things we have done because they're technically free. But still). The Sunday night one is the best, starting just down the road from our guest house and continuing for a good mile. Fantastic, unique stalls abound - there are delicious fresh waffles, quail eggs, jelly drinks, noodle dishes, grilled insects, and more! Naturally there are also loads of boutique-y items, as well as some things that are actually pretty tasteful and/or useful. It's fun to see what we think are the best stalls - that is, the ones that seem to have a genuinely cool idea that corners the market in some way. That's always my favorite thing to do at farmer's markets at home, and the concept is similar here. It's fun to try to think of your own idea. Here's a start: don't be the old lady who is only selling plain wooden combs. Be the guy who has a line of people clammering after his fresh waffles full of chocolate or nuts or bananas or pork or all of the above. Yesterday, we were feeling good about our interview that morning so we decided to treat ourselves to the extraneous food items we have yet to allow ourselves. We bought everything that looked really good and came out stuffed and satisfied, if not a bit sad about how far behind budget our splurge would place us. After counting it all up, we realized we had spent $2.75 between the two of us. Again, we had failed at splurging. PS. Come visit us in Chiang Mai. And come on a weekend. Dinner's on us!

A Win

After so many days of heat, exhaustion, walking, being frugal, and trying desperately to keep our hopes up on this get a phone/get a job/find a place to live journey, this is what Julia and I listened to when we finally had a win:

(As well as this No Doubt vs. Eminem Mashup uncensored version, but that might be less appropro for here)


I will tell you what that win is at the end of this entry just to keep you reading.

Many things are more difficult here than they would be in America. That may seem like an obvious statement, but it's not because of the reasons you think; it's the heat. It's so hot and so humid that just walking to get lunch is an extensive endeavor that makes us feel like we just spent the whole day at Disneyland. At one time, while we were walking in the heat to get somewhere that people would normally use a tuk-tuk or taxi for, Julia referenced the debated topic of how much money is necessary for happiness. And we decided we agree with parts of the theory. If we weren't trying to be frugal, we would probably take more taxis rather than walking, which would save us time and energy. We wouldn't have to be sweating with swollen feet when we get to every destination. And with food, we walk further to find something cheaper and we try to buy fewer snacks. With our accommodations, we go for cheaper guest houses with no AC. If we had more money to spend at the moment? No walking in the heat, AC all day errday, and nawms galore. You get the point.

Other than this, applying for jobs has been stressful because what isn't stressful about being unemployed with no income? Add to that the lack of an immediate support network (thank you internet for allowing us to communicate with loved ones, how would we ever have survived in the 70s, oh wait that's what my parents did) and the previous issues with weather and money and you've got our stressed selves.

Since we were going to live here for a year and not just study abroad, we wanted to see if we could use our iPhones instead of buying a cheapy phone here. That whole process turned out to be more nightmarish and expensive than we ever would have imagined. I'll spare you the long-winded story, but suffice it to say that unlocking our phones and getting the right SIM and plan while communicating in broken English (and reading handy pamphlets that are only written in Thai) was an adventure. I say adventure and not a terror only because it's over! We have successfully unlocked our iphones and gotten a phone plan with unlimited 3G and Wi-fi. Which also means we can make our phone a hot spot. Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Still searching for a job, but we're hoping apartment hunting will be fun.

Thanks for checking in and maybe next time I can squeeze another entry out of Jules.

Oh and I almost forgot!:

Ariel: +66 909 183 214

Julia: +66 909 183 215

It won't cost us any money if you call, but it'll cost you, so if you have a smartphone, stick to Whatsapp or Wechat. And if you don't know what apps I'm talking about, download them now so we can text each other!

Holding on to hope for a job and a place to live,

JujuAire

The end of one, the beginning of another

Julia put it perfectly when she said that, in many ways, America felt like a vacation and now we're back to figuring out the life we want to live. Hard to describe the feeling that you belong in a place you have never really been to and don't quite know yet. I'm excited to start trying to learn the language, though it's definitely going to be difficult. It took 1 hour of being in Thailand to learn that, despite my best efforts to not get tan, I look Thai and therefore blend right in. And it has taken a short 4 days to have that fact confirmed and reiterated. So now me not knowing Thai makes me look worse than Julia not knowing Thai. And me learning Thai would just make me look like a stupid Thai person, as I wouldn't be able to say very much anyway. Alas, none of this should come as a surprise.

For our second and third day in Bangkok, we went to Chinatown and Old Bangkok. We experienced our first thunderstorm as we were leaving the Grand Palace and got drenched in the pouring rain, but it wasn't so bad because it was still nice and warm out. 

Currently jumbled and at a loss for words, so for once I'll let the pictures do the talking and maybe Julia can pick up where we left off in a later blog entry.

Bangkok Chinatown. One of my favorite pics.

A wild rootbeer has appeared! With some tongue and intestines in the background to give it a nice "we're not in America" feel. Another favorite picture.

So green and so beautiful. A park we stopped by in central Bangkok to catch our breath and take in the scenery.

Part of the Grand Palace in Bangkok, where the royalty used to live. Super shiny and interesting Asian-western hybrid architecture

More of the Grand Palace. Demons on a pillar.

A temporary exhibit as part of the textile museum where we got to try on some traditional Thai clothing. Had a mini professional photoshoot :)

Upon closer inspection, this guard looked like he was about to pass out. Tough job in the heat and humidity. Still, swanky clothes and an important position.

Where are you mailing your letter? You have two options: Bangkok. Other places.

Pose and clothes making us look Greco-Roman rather than Thai

Favorite picture of Julia, also looking Greco-Roman

Stopped by a mall with a Harry Potter-esque bathroom

Tried to capture the essence of the traffic in Bangkok. Providing a taste of everyday life and not just the touristy stuff.

Beautiful quilt mural in the Hua Lamphong train station in Bangkok

Our first Pad Thai! Came in adorable omelette fashion.

Trains with bedding, pillows, blankets and curtains (not to mention AC). Julia's face says it all.

Welcomed with a snazzy sign and we're home :)

Off to get SIM cards and a map. Then we need to do some research about nearby schools and such. Unfortunately, we probably won't have the funds to do any sort of vacation and so we'll have to jump right in to the job search. Wish us luck!