A taste of Bangkok

Since I last wrote, things have been quite good. I went swimming with a teacher named Angie. The pool was spectacular! It was just built a few months ago – it’s nice, clean, calm. This would be a definite advantage of teaching here at Banrung Wittaya. I think I would probably use the pool almost every day, and it only costs 50 cents per use! I did some chatting with Angie and I told her about my concerns about the contract I was being offered. She suggested that I ask for my own classroom (with AC) so that at least I would have my own desk, be able to decorate my own walls, and set up my desks the way I want to. I really liked that idea and the thought of being able to do that made the contract a lot more appealing.
At night we went to dinner in town. There is a great little night market with a lot of really cheap food stalls. I liked the atmosphere – it was certainly very “Thailand” (especially since this isn’t a touristy area and we were the only foreigners in sight) but it wasn’t as chaotic as Bangkok.
Yesterday morning Angie took me into Bangkok. She goes there 4 times a week to workout but she decided to postpone her workout to help me with my errands. We took the bus into Bangkok, a cab to the self storage place (so I could get rid of my god-forsaken luggage for 2 weeks), the skytrain to my travel agent to pick up my ticket to Kanthmandu. Then we ate lunch together and she helped me find a place to stay for the night!! How sweet is she? By this point it was 2:30 pm – she had spent 5 hours helping me! We parted ways and I was genuinely sad to see her go, not just because she was so helpful, but because she was really cool and I could see the two of us being great friends! Unfortunately, after two years of teaching in Thailand, she is returning to the States in April (just when I arrive to Thailand – bummer).
The area where my guesthouse is is a backpackers’ haven. It’s very hippie-ish. I can see myself coming here on a monthly basis to buy clothes (the clothes here are SO my style), music (I already found my new favorite music store), and books (I also found my new favorite used English book store). I walked around for an hour or so just to soak it in, and then I sat down and had dinner. I had a yummy green vegetable curry and a tom yum soup (sweet and sour soup, which I’ve had 3 nights in a row because the flavor is so excellent!). Then I came back to my guesthouse and sat out in the front studying Thai. There was a nice breeze going so I was quite comfortable.
Today I have decided to go up to Nakhon Sawan. It’s in the North Central part of Thailand and I have a school I want to visit there. I’m a little worried about finding a place to stay because I don’t think I’ll get there til late afternoon, but I emailed my contact at the school and asked him to find me a place to stay. I could stay in Bangkok another day but I don’t really want to. not only is it too expensive (I spent as much $ yesterday than I did the last 4 days combined!)n but also if I leave this little backpacker area it’s too intense, hot and smelly for my taste. And if I stay here I feel like I’m not getting an authentic taste of Thailand, whatever that may be. Plus Angie is going to meet up with me my last weekend in Thailand and show me all the “tourist” sights and I’m going to play ultimate frisbee with her team! Fun fun!