my new life

Ayutthaya, my future home

Instead of writing about the emotionally and heart-wrenching goodbyes I had at Ban Chang Thai, (which I'm sure I"ll get around to expressing sooner or later) ... Here's a quick life update:

I've been in teacher-training class for the past 4 days, and it isn't as much of a nightmare as I thought it would be. It's a pretty good group of kids.

And despite all the mystery that has surrounded the program up to this point, I got my school placement yesterday.

Turns out for the next five months I"ll be living and teaching elementary school in Ayutthaya, the Old Capitol of Thailand.

So much for sticking around Chiang Mai, but I really can't complain. I'm not in Bangkok, and I don't have 7th graders. So that much I'm very thankful for.

Everything this week has been kind of overwhelming... leaving my Thai family, adjusting to new people and places, and discovering what this new chapter in my life is going to look like for the next 5 months.

Needless to say, there's been a lot of som-tam [papaya salad] and lao [whiskey] consumption this week to cope accordingly.

I'll post some videos later this week, but until then I added some more pictures to my facebook album about my last weeks at Ban Chang. (see link below)

Pretty Pictures

As my last week at Ban Chang Thai wraps up, I thought I'd finally share some photos.

The link to my facebook album is some everyday life at the camp and of Chiang Mai City, while the ProThailand flickr account is of our Tree Planting Day with the school kids, and of a cultural dance and traditional Chiang Mai dinner this weekend. Enjoy!


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2184651&l=effbe88ccc&id=20007456

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myproworld/sets/72157622409861213/

ALSO, here is the website I "made" that is finally online. Not everything on it was created by me, so all the stuff that looks ugly or is poorly written is most-definitely not mine.

www.thaielephanthome.com

this has nothing to do with thailand, but....

A Eulogy for my favorite Cafe

For anyone who knows me, you know that Lake Side Cafe has been my second home, as well as my employer, for the past 2 and half years. That's why it deeply saddens me to announce that Lake Side will be closing at the end of October. (!!!) I recieved the news through an email a few days ago and have been in a state of shock ever since.

There are few places in the world where I felt more comfortable than on the floor of Lake Side Cafe, where the staff was a close-knit second family, and the customers became neighborhood friends. This vegan-organic oasis in a city of hot dogs and deep dish pizza was a true gem of the Rogers Park/Edgewater area. Lake Side made my appreciation for these dynamic neighborhoods grow in ways that even my ownuniversity could not.

It breaks my heart to think I will be returning to Chicago without the chance of scoring a vegan chocolate chip cookie, or to say hello to anyone of the number of my favorite customers with whom I became so close over the years.

Lake Side Cafe - you will be missed!