This weekend was the first that I decided to actually chill out and do nothing. I didn’t hop on a bus, song tow or ferry, I simply stayed in Chon Buri. I had a great week at school and I wanted to stay ahead of the game by writing my lesson plans several weeks in advance that way during the week I only have to worry about making worksheets, preparing PowerPoints and grading my students’ work. When I signed up for this program I was told I would be teaching twenty hours a week. I’m actually in the classroom forty hours per week and I spend at least an hour or two every day outside of school preparing other materials and making lesson plans. I didn’t expect this job to be so time consuming. Teachers definitely deserve their three-month summer break. Anyway, the plan for the weekend was to catch up a bit. Catch up on teaching plans, my exercise and most importantly, my sleep! Until Saturday morning, I hadn’t slept in one single time since I’ve been here. So when Friday afternoon came, instead of heading to a bus station, I met up with two friends, bought a couple cans of Leo beer, squeezed onto one motorbike and headed to the water.
We all sat on a big rock and talked about our week at school and daily life in Chon Buri. We enjoyed just sitting, talking and sipping on beers so we decided we should do this more often. I haven’t taken the time to just sit and enjoy doing nothing lately. I’ve been on the move or keeping busy with work, photography or other random activities. I always feel a little guilty when I’m not doing “something” but sometimes doing nothing is the best something. We watched the sunset and took a little ride down the coast. The highway was empty and it was nice to zoom along and feel the breeze. Once it got dark we decided to go to the night market for dinner. We all tried a new dish called Pad Me Hong Kong. It’s a mixture of thin noodles, cabbage, carrot and whatever meat you choose. I got shrimp in mine. It was really tasty and very filling. I was in a bit of a food coma after the beer and Pad Me Hong Kong so I went home to take a nap. A nap! I haven’t taken a nap in weeks. It felt great. I woke up around 9 p.m. and headed back to the night market for dessert. The cake ladies weren’t there so I ordered an Oreo smoothie. It’s basically ice, Oreos and condensed milk and it tastes exactly like a big Oreo blended up. It’s so yummy. I can’t wait to have Dave try one when he comes; I think it’s going to be his new favorite dessert. After the night market, Saleem and I met all the girls at Bar, you guessed it, a local bar. We didn’t stay too long, instead we went in search of a place to dance, but I was still feeling tired, so after another Leo I abandoned the gang and headed home. I was eager to get into my bed just knowing I didn’t have to set an alarm for once. I watched episode after episode of Seinfeld and finally went to sleep around 3 a.m. I felt like I had so much freedom simply because I could stay up late and sleep even later.
Saturday morning I woke up at 11:30 a.m. I was surprised, I thought it was going to be 2 p.m. because I felt so refreshed and well rested. Saleem came and knocked on my door shortly after and asked if I wanted to get lunch. That was exactly what I had in mind so we got on his motorbike and explored the main road. We saw a little market, but when we stopped we realized it was all soup. I don’t understand how Thais can eat so much soup when it’s ninety degrees outside. We wandered by a restaurant and decided to try it. We ordered one of the only things we know how to say and sat down. It turned out to be the tastiest vegetable fried rice I had had since I arrived and the portion size was double what I’m usually served. It only cost $1.30 too. After lunch, I lesson planned my little heart out and then it was time to run off my Oreo shake from the night before.
I filled my iPod with new music and decided to run by the water instead of at the exercise park. It was nice and cool on the coast and the highway went on for what seemed like forever so I just kept running and running. I had to keep weaving through parked cars and jumping off the sidewalk to avoid families that were picnicking for dinner, fishermen and couples taking photos in front of the sunset. It was nice to see so many people out enjoying the night. I saw a few familiar faces of runners and bikers and many of them smiled or waved as I ran by. Each day I feel a little more at home here. After running for a half hour I turned around and started for home. On the way back I noticed another night market that I had never seen before. Earlier Saleem and I planned on getting pizza for dinner, but there was no way I could pass up this market. It was packed full of people and I could barely navigate my way through all the parked motorbikes and street traffic. I ran back to Punna Mansion, showered and told Saleem about the change of plans. We headed to the night market and were delighted with all there was to explore.
The whole market was filled with nothing but seafood. It was a pescatarian’s dream. I wanted to eat everything, but I decided on a container of blue crab claw meat and little fried pockets of spinach, corn and cabbage. The crabmeat was pricey for Thailand, but not for America. It was only $6 for an entire container, something that would cost at least twenty in the states. The veggie pockets were a dollar for six. I also tried a fish, pepper, tomato and pineapple cabob for thirty cents. It was delicious, except for when I ate a pepper thinking it was a piece of celery, I can’t handle spice very well and I didn’t have a drink at the time. Saleem had to talk me through it, I survived. I walked by a funky, dark green juice and I was intrigued so I bought a bottle. The sign said 10 baht, but apparently that was for something else at the stand because I had to shell out 25 baht. It ended up being well worth it. I’m still not sure what it was, but it was something natural without sugar and that’s what I was looking for. It tasted like broccoli and carrot, but I could be way off. After we ate dinner we headed to our usual night market for dessert.
Dessert is a big part of my day here in Thailand. I usually have a scoop of ice cream after every lunch and a fruit smoothie every night. I was really hungry for cake since I couldn’t find it the night before so I headed to the far end of the market and sure enough my cake table was there. I bought a slice of dark chocolate and had it wrapped up for later. On the way out Saleem tempted me to get ice cream, so I ended up saving the cake for breakfast on Sunday. I hate to admit it, but I think I’m addicted to dessert. I get it so often that it has become habitual so even if I’m not hungry or don’t think I want it, something inside of me tells me to get it anyway. I’m still on the fence about feeling guilty about it. On the one hand it’s so cheap and delicious on the other hand would I be doing this if I was at home? Traveling for long periods of time can sometimes mess with your brain. You trick yourself into thinking you’re on some kind of extended vacation when really you’re just living life in another country. After dessert I stayed up surfing the internet and watching more Seinfeld. It was nice not having anything to do for once. I knew this would probably be the first and last weekend that I spent in Chon Buri so I took full advantage of it and slept in again on Sunday.
I woke up at 12:30 p.m. this time and I almost felt like my old self again for a minute. I went straight to lunch, but the restaurant I had eaten at the day before was closed. I crossed the street and went into a Japanese restaurant. I was nervous about what to order because I really had no idea what was being served, but to my surprise they had English menus. I couldn’t believe it. I ordered lemongrass fish with noodles and a plate of banana empanadas with honey. The banana dish was so delicious. They were really warm and crispy and had just a touch of honey on each one. Once again my dessert obsession got the best of me. After lunch I planned on getting an hour long $5 massage, but I really wanted to get more planning done so I buckled down instead. I went for another long run by the water and then treated myself to a classic American dinner, pizza. There’s a restaurant called The Pizza Company at the Central Mall and I had been dying to try it out. Tonight marks only my second meal with cheese since I’ve been here. Talk about depressing. This pizza made up for it. I ordered a veggie pizza that came with green peppers, pineapple, mushrooms, corn and tomatoes. It was covered in cheese and it had a crispy crust a lot like pizza hut’s. It was amazing. I’ll have to force myself not to eat there every week. Of course after dinner comes dessert, so in keeping with the American theme for the night I went to dairy queen and got a mini brownie blizzard. That’s one thing I forgot to mention about the desserts here, they’re really small. It’s awesome. I always ask for less scoops or a smaller size in the states because you just get too damn much, but not here. You pay a smaller price and get a smaller serving; I’m down with that. After dessert I stopped in Tops grocery store for some wheat bread and crunchy peanut butter to stock up for my breakfast for the week. I love having a peanut butter sandwich in the morning, it’s my version of an American breakfast. After a relaxing weekend that went by way too quickly, I’m not sure if I’m ready for the week ahead. I have to teach about the King to my kindergarten class and quite frankly I have no clue what to say. The King is regarded very highly here and it is his birthday this week. He is the longest reigning King in the world and he has been very good to Thailand. I don’t want to insult anyone by accident, so I’m going to keep the lesson light tomorrow. I made a pretty stellar worksheet that says ‘long live the king’ so hopefully it will take the kiddies a full fifty minutes to color it. Wish me luck.
