New Adventure

I have 6 days left in the states, for a long while at least. It seems to weird to think about. For those of you who don't know, I'm leaving October 12 for Thailand. I'll be there for 5+ months teaching English at a high school in Lampang, Thailand.

I've been out of the country before but its still a new feeling for me. When I studied in Mexico I had some of the same jitters I do now but I can say that I'm less nervous than my last trip abroad even though I know absolutely no Thai at all. I was nervous about how my Spanish would fair when put to the test (it turned out to be fine). For some reason though, I'm not nervous really about not knowing Thai. The fact that Margo and her parents will be at the airport when I arrive in Bangkok (in 1 week!) is putting me (and my parents) at ease.

The only part I'm nervous about is the teaching part. My undergrad degree in Environmental Engineering did not exactly prepare me for teaching. Why teach English in Thailand when I studied Environmental Engineering you ask? Well, for one, I'm not ready to enter the "real world" and get a real job. My internships have given me a taste of that and honestly I'm not ready for it. Secondly, why not? I wanna travel as much as I can so why not travel and teach English to make enough money to continue traveling. I've only planned as far as February 28th (the last day of the semester). Who knows where I'll be after that.

Margo is working on finding me a house or apartment...but that won't be settled until I get there.
What else? Oh yes, what to pack? I am limited to the amount I can bring on the flight and wouldn't want to bring too much more because we plan on traveling around after the semester is over. Everything is cheap there, but I'm surely much larger than most Thai women that I might have to have clothes made specifically for me...and forget about bras. I know I need to be prepared for not being able to buy any that would even come close to fitting. I'm a procrastinator, and although I've thought about these things- I've done little to address them. Now I'm running out of time to get it all done and see everyone before I leave!

I'm so excited to get out of the country and to see Margo, but the full effect has not hit me yet. I don't think it will until I'm actually on my flight...my 14 hour flight from JFK to Tokyo and then another few hours from Tokyo to Bangkok. I'll have so much time on my hands during that flight- I could write a book, but I promise not to bore you with that.