Rakhi: Having completed a whole year in Korea and settling in to the point that it felt like home, now we're back to square one trying to fit in and learn about another culture and language totally different to our own and Korean.

We arrived into Bangkok's new airport in the wee small hours of Tuesday (May 2nd) morning. After a brief rest at a hostel in the eastern part of town the next morning we made our way by bus to the south eastern coastal area of Ban Phe for a week's training course. Prior to leaving Korea, our consultant at MediaKids (the company we're employed by) had sent us photos of the hotel where all trainees were staying and the training course was taking place. It looked absolutely gorgeous, pretty flashy and best of all, on the beach. Discovering that the photos on the internet of the hotel are more than just a tad misleading isn't the first surprise we had upon arrival in Ban Phe. We pulled into Ban Phe bus station and hurriedly placed our bags under the shelter of a dried fish shop and out of the lashing down rain. Joel went in search of a taxi to take us to a hotel and after a few minutes returned having had no luck. Whilst considering our options, a massive elephant and his owner came striding right up to us and the elephant shoved his trunk in our faces! We weren't in Korea anymore. Ban Phe is primarily a transfer area for tourists getting the ferry to the island of Koh Samet; as such, it was quite expensive, pretty grotty and I'm told not a fair representation of Thailand.

Pines Beach Hotel needs more than just a lick of paint and a spruce. It'd be better for the dilapidated establishment to be ripped apart and rebuilt brick by brick. The first room we were placed in had an ant infestation but it didn't bother us too much until the second day when we discovered that the little blighters had made a new home in one of our bags. Thankfully it wasn't too much of a bother to move rooms and whilst all the rooms are shabby and have no hot water at least they kept us out of the rain which didn't stop pouring for the whole time we were there.

The training course itself was pretty good. All the MediaKids staff are really nice and have worked so hard to make sure that all the teachers are happy and all the schools are happy too. It can't be easy being caught in the middle of two very different cultures and trying to please everybody. The two main teacher trainers at MediaKids are a Canadian guy called Kevin and a South African lady called Lynette; they were great at being tactful and helping the Thai staff understand our needs. Unfortunately, because we arrived late on the Tuesday and the training course began on the Monday, I think we missed the two most useful days where they had covered Thai customs and language. When we joined the course on Wednesday it was time for the section about teaching in Thai schools, information about our particular schools and general teaching tips and advice. The part about our individual schools where we were shown our timetables and curriculum was really useful but after that the information was geared towards first time teachers so at times was repetitive for Joel and I. Thankfully, we managed to convince the MediaKids staff to let us leave the course early even though we had arrived late. After much persuasion, we were told we could leave on Friday afternoon rather than on Sunday which is when the course officially finished. Our main arguments were the fact that Fritz, (a guy from Holland who is also teaching at our school) was leaving then and since we'd been asked to start work on Tuesday - a week earlier than everybody else on the course- we needed time to get settled and prepare for our first week teaching in a Thai school.

So, on Friday afternoon we packed up our bags and said our goodbyes to the shabby Pines Beach and Ban Phe. Fritz has been in Thailand for the last 7 months and so has picked up a fair bit of the language and general way of life here. He organised a minibus for us back from Ban Phe to Bangkok where Joel and I, Fritz and his grilfriend Tina, who has come to visit from Denmark, stayed overnight. It took just over three hours and was comfortable and air conditioned, a great way to travel. Fritz also sorted out accommodation for the four of us in the Siam Square area which is great for shopping. Since we had time the next morning before our train left Joel and I went for a snoop around one of the malls and Joel picked up a few things. Topping our shopping list were 'King' items. Before coming to Thailand, I'd heard so much about the country; unlike Korea it's a country that's much travelled and documented. That's why I cannot believe that one enormous and defining aspect of the country completely escaped me. Thai people LOVE their king. I can't express how revered he is. Everywhere you look you can see the Thai flag alongside the royal emblem. On roadsides and buildings there are giant photographs and images of the king. Everyday at 8am and 6pm the national anthem is broadcast across the country and everybody stops what they are doing. Everybody (including us) has pictures of the king in their homes. Everybody has yellow t-shirts with the royal emblem on. It's no laughing matter and we were told that unless you have something good to say about the king don't say anything at all- you risk imprisonment otherwise. Anyway, Fritz, knowing how the Thai's love the king and how showing your appreciation impresses Thais, has already purchased lots of king items. Joel and I got some things on Saturday before we left Bangkok and now it's become a game between the three of us to see who can gather the most things! Fritz has a head start but we'll catch him up soon enough!

On Saturday, we got to the train station in Bangkok and were promptly ripped off by a guy with a trolley who took our bags from the side street to our platform. I gave him some cash and he left without returning my change. It wasn't much money but it's the principal. I think the more language we try to learn, the more we can avoid situations like that again. It didn't dampen our spirits too much and Joel and I were really looking forward to the train journey from Bangkok to Takhli as we knew we'd be passing through beautiful Thai countryside and be able to see some wonderful sights. Whilst the scenery was amazing and we managed to gain an insight into rural Thailand, the journey was one of the most uncomfortable I've ever encountered because of the intense humidity and lack of air con. To make matters worse, we were all dressed smartly because we had the importance of appearance and first impressions drummed into us at the training session. Needless to say, we didn't look so smart three and a half hours later when the train pulled into our new home town of Takhli.

We were met at the train station by one of the teachers at our school, Supranee aka 'Pi Apple.' She took us to our accommodation in two shifts, first Fritz and Tina followed by Joel and myself. We carried our bags over the train tracks (literally), in the falling darkness to her car. After five minutes or so, we turned off a main road, down a dirt road and pulled up in front of a caged property. Stepping out of the car, we were confronted with wild dogs and hundreds of bugs. We were let into our new accommodation and already completely overwhelmed tried to take in as much as we could. We weren't given much of an opportunity to snoop around as Pi Apple wanted to take us for dinner. She treated us to a gorgeous Thai dinner (I've not eaten a single bad thing here yet) and shared some information about the school. She then took us back home and arranged to pick us up at 8:30 the following morning to take us to a market. Once back home, we had time to make some sense of everything. To be honest, I felt really apprehensive and intimidated and started to worry whether we had made the right decision. Our area is so rural and there really isn't very much nearby. There's a 'Seven Eleven' near the train station but that's just a bit more than walking distance. Even the school isn't walking distance. We weren't in Seoul anymore and whilst I knew that things would be different I wasn't quite expecting things to be so different and inconvenient. Joel was great though and reminded me that I had similar preconceptions when we moved to Korea. He was right and although I had a sleepless night things seemed better in the morning and in the daylight. We went to the market which has all the same smelly things, including pigs faces, that you find at Korean markets as well as lots of delicious fruit. Pi Apple also took us to a little supermarket where we picked up some food and to an electrical shop where we got a toaster. Once she dropped us back home, Joel and I unpacked our things and started to make our place feel more like home.

Our new home is pretty nice. It's across the road from Fritz's and is a similar layout except we have tonnes of furniture. The owners live across the road next door to Fritz and have left most of their belongings here since it's just a temporary situation. Amongst their belongings are used toothbrushes, teddy bears and the crème de la crème, some king pictures. There are three pictures of the royal family in the living room and what I thought was another above our bed. It turns out the one above our bad is actually the people who live in the house, Joel discovered this whilst snooping through some photos. The picture is of a couple and the woman in it is particularly creepy looking. Baring in mind the importance of the royal family, I think if we tried to move the king pictures (which we would love to do) we would be ostracised and deported. At least they bump up our king artifacts by three! We have air con in the living room and our bedroom so that's a godsend. The bathroom's okay, we have hot water and a western style toilet. The kitchen is massive but windowless and grotty. We have no cooker but purchased an electrical one yesterday. There is also an outdoor netted area which could be pretty good if it ever stops raining- apparently the monsoon season is early. Apart from the wild dogs which I'm told are all over Thailand, there are cows and chickens down the way, millions of creepy crawlies, toads, geckos and more. There are strange noises day and night and as a city girl this is a millions miles away from what I know and is going to take some getting used to. At least our home is secure so hopefully there won't be many weird things getting in there.

Yesterday, Pi Tien (the woman who owns our house and lives across the road) who teaches at another school nearby, took the four of us on a tour of Takhli. Firstly, we stopped by our school and had a nosy at the English department and met a couple of the teachers. The school is enormous- there are nearly three thousand students. After that we were shown the park and hospital and finally we were taken to the nearest Tesco which is about 25km away. Last night we were taken out for another amazing meal by Pi Apple and one of the teachers we met earlier in the day. I have to say that the people we have met so far have been amazingly kind and welcoming and it's great to know that there is help just down the road.

So now, we're getting settled in and using the national holiday today to prepare for our first day at school tomorrow. I'm going to be teaching Mattoyom (high school) grades 2 and 5 and I believe my students are aged 14 and 17. I'm really looking forward to it.



Joel: So here we are. It's hard to imagine that this time last week I was enjoying my last Korean school lunch in Bucheon-dong Elementary. To say our new surroundings are a million miles away from the relative comfort and modernity of Yeokgok isn't too far from the truth.

The two and a half days we spent at the training in Ban Phe were okay. It rained every day but every meal we had around the town was fantastic, the hotel was a dump but lots of the information we received in the training was really useful. In comparison to the orientation for our jobs in Korea, it was much better organised and much less painful, but the most striking difference seemed to be in the attitudes of the people we met. It didn't take long before Rakhi asked me if I'd noticed this just as she had. After a bit of thought, I came up with a theory. Lots of the people who signed up for a year in Korea even though had no interest in learning about its culture were there for the money. The money and in fact the whole package they offered there were pretty good. Here in Thailand, the package seems okay and the money's pretty good by Thai standards but it is only about half that paid for a position in Korea. So, in simple terms, people from the west who come to Thailand really want to be here - you wouldn't come for the money - and this made for a much better atmosphere at the training program.

So, we were able to leave Ban Phe after lunch on Friday. I really didn't fancy having only a day to settle in to our new place before our first day at school so it was pretty good news when it finally came. It also meant we were able to spend some time in Bangkok before the train journey north. The first thing that struck when we made it into central Bangkok was the array of colours. The traffic is as ridiculous as in Seoul but whereas in Seoul all cars are black, white or grey, here even just the taxis come in varieties of green, orange and luminous pink. The other thing that neither Rakhi or I have been used to is that when someone accidentally bumps into you they turn and apologise. That this should be alien to us is testament to how living in Seoul has caused us to lose some of our manners. I think here I might begin to get some of my Englishness back.

Our time in Bangkok was just enough for us to get some hot weather garments and “King things” (we're now on eight) before our 2:30 departure for Takhli. The journey wasn't the most comfortable but the views were amazing. We traveled 238km through lush Thai countryside passing splendid temples and enormous Buddha's, flat rice fields and tumble-down shacks. I got particularly excited when I saw we were approaching the town of Lop Buri. I had read that this was place run by troops of monkeys and wanted to see if I could catch sight of any for myself. As we neared the station an enormous golden monkey flashed past and then, as we pulled out, after careful observation, I picked out two cheeky fellas sat high up on an electricity line. As we looked closer, we started to see more and more on rooftops, power cables and finally populating the remains of an old Hindu monument. There must have been hundreds there. I'm glad we aren't living in Lop Buri but I'd like to head back sometime for closer inspection. Maybe even get some five-a-side going.

Arriving at our house in the dark and rain wasn't a great experience. It seems the rain had driven all forms of life into our veranda area including geckos, mozzies and thousand-leg-caterpillars (which ARE actually dangerous.) We've done well to make the place more homely so quickly and I'm not really complaining. We've got air-con in most rooms which most folk here don't have and anyway, most weekends we're planning to head off on trips. For now, it's okay.

The teachers that we've met so far have all been really friendly and helpful – it's going to take a while to get our bearings but we've already been taken on the “essentials” tour and today's been the first day we've really had to ourselves. Saying that, we have got lots to do to prepare for our first day at school. I need to knock up two fun introductory lesson plans and make a list of question to ensure I get certain information before my first class. Pi Apple brought over the coursebooks I'll be using tomorrow and I'm going to have to gen up on some of the grammar. They're of a pretty high standard. My classes are grade 3 and 6 so that means fifteen and eighteen year olds. So I won't be singing “The Hello Song” with them anyway. I'm hoping some of them don't speak better English than I do!