Murray Head says in his well-known "song" One Night in Bangkok that "one night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster".  I think he may be onto something. 

Hanging out in downtown Bangkok was an interesting experience for all my senses: there were food carts everywhere lining the street with all kinds of smells wafting around in the sticky air; techno beats drifting from the VW bar vans that lined the edges of all the sois (Soi means street in Thai); and there were more people hanging out on the street than inside the restaurants, I daresay. 

My friends and I went to a borough of Bangkok called Sukhumvit, and for my DC people, I could maybe call it kind of like the Dupont Circle of Bangkok. All the restaurants on Soi 11, where my friends and I went, were pretty fancy...and populated almost 100% by expats.  We hung out outside, as most of the restaurants had open-air patios and people tended to prefer to sit around out there. There were tables and chairs along the side of the streets where people would sit and chat while drinking from their bucket-o-beverage from one of the VW vans, and the atmosphere was fun and relaxed. The party was all around - inside and outside! 

Well, I arrived in Thailand after a 28-hour trip late on July 31, and right away the activities directors at ISB (International School Bangkok) had us busy with newbie tours, activities, and icebreakers to welcome us and get us comfortable with each other and our new lives here in Bangkok. One of the icebreaker games they had us play was a game called Same Same, but Different; and it's a game in which you 'connect' to the other people by making a few statements about yourself and your likes and dislikes. When you hear someone say something that you have in common or different from them, you can 'link up' with them and share what's the same and what's different about you. So, as I've been walking around Thailand, I have found myself noticing some things that are the same, but different about this place from home (Virginia); and for my introductory post, decided I would share just a few things with you. 

House plants: they've got them for sure, but they're a slightly more exotic breed here. 
One of our very first newbie outings was to the nursery down the road, where we were greeted by the soldiers that ran it (yes, a military-owned plant nursery. I don't get it either) and our eyes feasted on a tropical oasis of brightly colored plants! So, I set my limit at 6 plants: 3 for inside, 3 for outside - thinking that would make for a nice sprucing-up of my as yet plain apartment. 

Alas, I am like my mother and stepmother, and the beautiful plants called to me. Now, about $100 and 18 plants later, my balcony is my own little oasis. 

Facilities: What do you do with a toilet that is about 3 inches off the ground? 

Thai name brands: yes, they are the same, but...different.
Yes, in Thailand there is Kellogg's and Tony the Tiger, but here we have Frosties instead of Frosted Flakes. And, as you may notice, Tony's slogan is ever so slightly different from his US claim to fame. BE A TIGER! 

Tissues: yes, we have Kleenex here too. But can YOU find the friendly type in the US? Didn't think so. I guess you just have to settle for unfriendly Kleenex.  

Fruit: yes, we have apples and pineapple and watermelon and bananas here. But there's more.

The first time I saw these fruits in the store I did a double-take. "Are those sea urchins in the fruit section??" I puzzled as I drew near and cautiously touched one. 

Come to find out, they are a very common fruit here called rambutans, and they have an inside kind of like a grape once you peel off the spiky outside. The other fruit on the sticks are very similar: these I think are called lychee and they are pretty good too! You just have to watch out for the seed in the middle! 

One more thing that's different: my mae bahn (house mother - - aka maid) bought them for me. Yeah, she does my grocery shopping. 

And she's an awesome cook too. 

Traffic: same same, but different.
It may be a little difficult to tell, but can you see the car and tell what side of the road it's on? 
Yeah, that takes some getting used to. I have nearly gotten hit when crossing the road more than once and I forgot and looked the wrong way first. 
I'll get the hang of it soon: hopefully before it's too late for me!

BUGS!: some things are just bigger here.

And I am a little grossed out to report that bugs are one of them. 

If you know me at all, you know how much of a personal risk I took putting my finger within an inch of this giant snail, and how much courage it took me to do it. (I almost touched it by accident at one point, but thank goodness I realized how close I was before I made contact with its slimy blob body.)

Yes, now that we are in the rainy season, bugs come out and hang out on the sidewalk. This means that my walks home from school are a little bit of a dance, stepping over snails and centipedes and frogs (a few of my favorite things!). I must look ridiculous too, with my eyes constantly cast downward hopping around.  And yes, that snail is as big as my finger. If you think that's big, wait till I get a photo of a centipede for you.

I must interrupt myself to add one little note: another taste of Thailand is its spotty Internet. Every single picture I've uploaded has taken at least 2 tries, and the whirling circle of death is commonplace when I try to save each paragraph. This is a labor of love. As my new friend Jen said after our first taxi misadventure (more on that in a future post), "Welcome to Bangkok."

This one's for you, Dad: boats!
In the first couple of weeks, one of our tour days was around downtown Bangkok, and there we learned that the BTS system includes not only buses and subways, but also sky trains and boats! A river called the Chao Phraya runs through the center of the city, and we've seen every kind of water vehicle from dinner cruise boats to jet skis to public transit boats to tugboats to these little colorful ones! I'm still not sure of their purpose, but I thought this one looked cool so I took a photo. Rumor also has it that crocodiles/strange giant lizard monsters hang out in these waters. Want proof? Check out my friend Kari's blog.

Running scenery: beautiful, like Virginia, just...a little sweatier.
In our neighborhood, Nichada Thani, there is a nice little lake with walking paths right beside it, lined with all manner of tropical trees and flowers. It makes for a really beautiful running trail right outside my house. Except...two laps around the lake, or about a 5K, and I can ring out my clothes. Since it's the rainy season, it's really humid all the time, so I can barely walk outside without sweating, even if I don't feel all that hot. It's like a Virginia summer, just a little stickier (to my running friends: yes, it gets worse than VA summer humidity!). And to those of you who know me, this is paradise. Ah, the land of the eternal summer welcomes me with a warm, sticky embrace every time I walk outside. Heaven help me when I go home in the winter. 

Classroom set-up: this one's for you, teacher friends! 
So, the first day I walked into my classroom, this is what it looked like. We have desks, a smart board and bulletin boards, but I also entered to find a genre-organized classroom library and my bulletin boards already papered for me. My jaw dropped and I almost cried. We have instructional assistants here, and mine is awesome and a genius. She has also made all of my math copies for the entire year, and reading logs for the whole year for my kids too. I swear I'm not telling you this to make you jealous: I'm telling you to make you consider teaching abroad!! Because the only way this teaching experience could get better would be if you guys were here too!