My last flight lands. I check my phone for the directions my agency has given me. I make sure I have my passport accessible. I know the name of who I am looking for and the area I should be able to find her. I know I am entering on a tourist visa and will get my work visa later on.
Regardless of everything I know, I am still completely freaking out. I find customs and am prepared to explain where I am working and the name of my agency. Or any other questions they have... He takes my passport, smiles, stamps it and waves me on. Well that was easy!
Now I have to get my gigantic backpack and my overweight suitcase. Of course they are some of the last items to come off the plane, but I get them and head out the exit I was told to, exit 4.
I wander around a bit with the obvious, "I'm not sure who it is I'm looking for, but I will read every sign I see" face. Finally I find Supamas. She is the wife of the guy in charge of setting me up. After she sees me and we make sure I have cash we head out! Supamas tells me another girl arrived around midnight the night before so we will be picking her up and then heading to Singburi.
I ask where the other girl is working, she says the same city and school! This girl doesn't know it yet, but we are about to be best friends. I call my sister and brother in law and let them know I've arrived, I'm with my agency and everything is good to go. Afterwards Supamas tells me to take a nap because it will be about an hour drive before we get to the next city and it is obvious how tired I am.
Finally I succumb to the exhaustion that outweighs my excitement and fall asleep. I wake up just before arriving in Suphanburi, where this other girl is staying. She comes down, throws her stuff in the back and introduces herself. Her name is Jenny and she is from BC, Canada. Our next stop is lunch, my first meal in Thailand! What will it be? Should I order? No, everything is in Thai. Supamas orders some kind of fish for us. It is good, but so different. The bones are in it, it is seriously a fried fish.
I eat as much of it, rice and everything else that comes with it. Then off we go! I learn a little bit more about Jenny, who is extremely nice and I am so glad to have her. We find out we are living in the same apartment building, so it is nice to know there will be someone else nearby.
On the way to Singburi we see a giant buddha off in the distance. Supamas takes a quick side trip and we go check it out. I feel like Donald Trump wouldn't know how to describe it any better.. it is huge. Jenny and I get out and wander around a bit and take some photos.
It is my first day and I have eaten Thai food, made a new friend and seen a buddha. Thailand is off to a great start!
We finally enter Singburi and the first stop is our school, or the main building of the school. The kindergarten is a separate building down the street. We sit down, fill out and sign all of the paperwork. As we review the paperwork we see that our salary is not what we were quoted and also find out we won't start teaching right away. The salary we were quoted was less because our agency had removed their take of it, so easy enough to explain. We weren't teaching right away because the school was closed for the month between terms...
So both Jenny and I were under the impression that we had to start teaching that week, which would lead to a paycheck at the end of October. This is no longer so. We wouldn't start teaching until the beginning of November. So we had about 2 weeks to kill before real work set in. I think at that point it is decided to go on an adventure if we have this time off already.
Our apartment building is nice and secure. Has an electronic lock that you need a key or the code to get into. There is a tiny office out front that usually has someone in it, and basic essentials like water, canned cold coffee, etc. Jenny and I both end up on the same floor, right around the corner from each other.
The layout is pretty basic. It is one big room, studio, and you have a mini fridge, bed, vanity, closet and shelves. We have our own bathrooms and a balcony. The room also comes with a small table and two chairs, and a drying rack for your laundry. So it is a very basic studio, sans kitchen. But the floors are all tile, easy to clean, and no one really cooks.
When we got to Jenny's room first she had a new mattress, the room had been cleaned, everything was freshly painted. It was one of those moments you go, alright, I can handle this. Then we went to my room and it was.... more to handle. The previous tenant had just moved out and they hadn't had a chance to clean yet. The mattress on the bed was old, warped and dirty. The room was just dirty and compared to Jenny's not anywhere in the same standard range. Luckily, Supamas was on it and got on the phone with the apartment owner right away. She said it might take 7-10 days but I would have a new mattress and they would repaint and clean the room.
Now Supamas was kind enough to bring us some basic home good necessities. We have hangers, basic dishes/silverware, sheets and pillows. But we obviously need more, so after dropping off our stuff (I left my things in Jenny's room at that time) we head to Tesco/Lotus. This place is mecca of everything you need at home. The Thai version of a Target or a Walmart to an American. It is huge and has everything. Being jet lagged, hot, and overwhelmed I'm not really sure what I need. We get the basics: laundry detergent, bug spray, floor/tile cleaner, dish soap, sponges, an extra pillow for me (I think to make up for the mattress fiasco). I buy a hair dryer and Jenny an electric kettle. We get some basic food, but not too much since we decided to leave the next day for Bangkok to travel before we teach.
Jenny's phone was unlocked so she is able to get a phone plan at this point. Mine was being difficult and I wasn't able to unlock it right away so we essentially shared her phone plan until that was settled.
Loaded up Supamas takes us back to our apartment and drops us off. We drop everything off and arrange to meet up with Matthew for dinner.
Oh, so I forgot to mention two things. One, we were introduced via Facebook messenger to Matthew, a teacher who has been here for 2 years. And two, that we can only wear skirts to work. We will get back to the skirts in a bit.
We meet up with Matthew and he takes us to the main street in Singburi. This is the perfect description of culture shock. I felt so overwhelmed when we were walking to this street. The noise, the people, the smells, the completely different lifestyle that I was going to be surrounded with. I almost had a break down moment, but just decided to breathe and keep walking. We sat down at a table next to a few small stands on the street. Matthew orders dinner for us, fried rice with egg and chicken (I think). There are mosquitoes and other bugs flying around, which I'm used to but it is also overwhelming. Then we get our food. For the most part it is really good. Then I bite into something extremely crunchy, turns out to be a bone. This isn't a big deal but it kind of hits hard. I'm not hungry anymore, I don't really eat anything else from there. We grab a few other items from street carts and head back to the apartment.
We told him our plan to head to Bangkok the next morning and he said he would meet us and take us to the bus station and tell us where to go, etc. We unpack the items we know we won't need, shower, go to bed. I'm laying there exhausted and uncomfortable. What did I do, why did I come here? Is this too much? It is normal to be this freaked out, right? I tell myself, "You're just exhausted and overwhelmed and jet lagged, everything will be fine in the morning."
I wake up and everything is going to be fine. Matthew takes us to a great coffee shop, BB's, before we go back, get our things and head to the bus station. He tells us what bus to take and some general info for the trip back, and about Bangkok, how to use the BTS, etc. And away we go! On our first minivan experience and to a city where we don't know a whole lot and not sure what we are going to do! The travel adventure begins!!
