I’m writing this from my new, clean, fully furnished, and totally adorable studio apartment in Bangkok. I arrived here last night at 7pm after yet another one of those long overseas journeys. I flew from New York to Hong Kong, a 15.5 hour flight – the longest I’ve ever had to sit through. I had a short layover in Hong Kong, which was a nice change after having anywhere from 6- 17 hour layovers on previous flights. I was picked up at the airport by the head of the school’s foreign staff and dropped off at my apartment. I was immediately greeted by Muna, Justin, and Tara, three LFC grads and all teachers at my school. After hellos and a quick shower (it was HOT out!), we went out to find some street food. It was hard to become acquainted to the area I’m now living in since it was dark out, but my impression was that there were a lot of street food options as well as conveniences around, so that’s good. It’s definitely Bangkok, with busy streets, horns blaring, and people everyone, but because it’s not a touristy area I don’t have to worry as much about touts and theft, and people generally left us to our business.
After dinner all I craved was sleep, which was unsurprising since I hadn’t really slept on the flight, nor much the night before. I slept fitfully, though – probably because I was overtired, but also because I was looking forward to cleaning and unpacking. So that’s what I did today! I went to the local department store and bought hangers, cleaning supplies, a pillow, and a few mats and other necessities and began cleaning. It was a 5 hour process, but now I am looking at a nice, clean apartment. I’ll post pictures once I get a little bit of nice decor, because right now it’s quite bare in here. But I’m comfortable, anyway, so that’s great! And of course it’s nice to have my friends around. I do feel a bit dependent on them right now because my Thai is quite rusty and they know the area and the food here so well. But hopefully that will pass quickly and I will become more self-sufficient.
I don’t think it has quite sunk in that I am here and will be here for some time. I think about you folks back home, especially my family and those of you I had the fortune of seeing before I left the continent. Thank you Amanda and Stephanie, Lisa, Sahnah, and Louise for your hospitality and kindness. You made my last few days in the West memorable and comfortable, and I can’t wait for an opportunity to return the kindness. I do have a queen-sized bed in my apartment, so the door is wide open.
P.S. I have a mailbox on the main floor of the apartment building and will be checking it on a daily basis as I come and go. It would be nice if it wasn’t empty – so please, send me mail! Letters, postcards, and pictures (I will tape them onto my bare walls) would be so very much appreciated. My address is:
Soi 27, Tanon Chan
Tung Wat Dong, Sathorn
Bangkok 10120 Thailand
Written Several Weeks Ago….
