Welcoming you to Nan

(Me at my desk in the English room on my first day of class)







Thailand is an amazingly beautiful place with, so far, amazingly friendly people. I am living in a three-room apartment next door to the other three teachers I came here with, and we are getting along great We live in Nan, a small city in the North of Thailand. We all teach English at the same school where I’m blessed to have the most advanced students, the oldest ones and the ones whose families pay extra for them to have eight hours (rather than 1 hour) of English instruction a week. The kids are awesome. There are a few trouble makers and last week I had to call a few of them out for passing notes and throwing a ball in class, but in general they are very excited to be learning English. I think the most initially striking things about the kids are their nicknames (chu len in Thai). Their given names are quite complicated and difficult to pronounce. But we call them by their nicknames and in my two classes I have a Name, Benz, Bell, Book, Bible, Poop-Pup, Arm, Or, Yo, You, Milk, Mild, Mill, and a Prince. Their nicknames are given to them by their families, some have meaning in Thai, but most don’t.



The three other teachers and I are four of very few westerners, or farang, that live in Nan. When we walk through school or through town we get lots of smiles, stares, and yells. My boss hinted (as I introduced myself to the entire school) that I might be the first black person to step foot in Nan. One of the students pinched my skin and said “black?” Another student asked if have had my hair braided since I was a baby. One of the kindergarten students walked up to me and stared blankly at me. She then shook my hand, whispered to an older student in Thai and continued to stare. It was cute, despite the oddness of it all. The man who cooks the most spectacular pad thai at the night market that we frequent asked me if I was from Africa and in general most people do not assume that I am from the United States.

On Saturday we took a tour of northern Thai culture. We visited several waterfalls, saw traditional weaving and Thai houses, went to two Buddhist temples (and rang the gongs!!!!), stopped at a fruit market, bought rattan woven chairs, and visited a cave (pictures below). Our guide also taught us a ton of useful phrases. In the coming months we hope to spend a few days in the jungle camping out, go white water rafting and kayaking, spend the day elephant riding, and visit the major cities near Nan (and by near, I mean a 6 hour bus ride away, rather than an 11 hour ride).

I hope to be able to share with everyone all the things I’m learning about life as I spend time in Thailand. The first major revelation that I had is that I am blessed with an amazing group of friends, both from home and school. One of my fellow teachers could tell by just looking at the pictures I have with me, that my friends are unusually great. And as I listen to my new friends tell stories about their friends at home I realize (with no offense to them) that my friends are a very special group, that most people are never lucky enough to have.



Until next time…Sawatdee kaa







These are Buddha statues that were in the cave that we traveled to. Every year the entire town of Nan (pop. about 20,000) visits the cave to worship.

This is one of the doors of the temple we visited. I don't know if anyone actually prays there still, but it's beautiful.



























This is the Nan river.
















Below are rice planters. They cover their entire body to protect themsevles from the sun. We passed by the homes of several of these planters. They are traditional Thai homes with tin roofs and modest furniture. Strangely enough, most of them have very large flatscreen televisions.
Very large spiders (the bigger one, larger than my hand) that we saw in the cave. NOT poisonous.