Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Destination Procrastination
Talk about procrastinating!
Wow... I have been putting off blogging for awhile now. My apologies.
First I wanted to get caught up with the first few days I missed out on and then I just wanted to get todays stuff down... Now I am just going to update today and then work on the days I have missed. That way I can have everything organized and it won't be such a burden to do new post.
Currently, Tuesday, August 28th 2012 @ 2:30PM I am sitting waiting for my laundry to be done while Brooke is skyping Zack ;) I am sick...as I have been since I went to bed Sunday night at like 2am. I felt it coming. Thank God for the Z pack I packed.
I am getting better so thats the good news...As of yesterday: Being sick in a foreign country, no mama no papa... Nothing... Just a lot of medicine that is mostly in Thai. Luckily I found Tylenol at a pharmacy in KhaoSan and some chewable Halls at 7-11.
Halls in Thailand taste like candy! A cross between Mentos and Hi-chews.
Moving on, today is not a very eventful day BUT it is an eventful week because we are leaving for the islands tomorrow night at 7PM!
Me, Brooke, Kyle & Kevin (our only 2 friends who I talked about previously)...
We are so excited and can't wait for the 10 hour bus ride to the islands ;) SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP. Then FULL MOON PARTY PARTY PARTY.
Well I am going to go update the rest of my post so that I am up to date. I will try to stay on top of it so this isn't just a project=FAIL.
I have been getting good feedback from friends and family and it makes me smile to know that you are all interested in my travels and I hope you find some of this either comical, entertaining.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Koh Samet
Kho Samet:
The amazing little forgotten treasure island.
My first spontaneous trip was to this island. Had no idea who, what or where I was going. Ended up being one of the best trips of my life. We stayed at the smile inn, cheap as hell. Me and Brooke shared a twin bed, boys got the queen...
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Zen Time
Never thought in a million years that me and Brooke would be able to sit still for a whole 3 1/2 hours.... Mission accomplished.
Today we stuck to our word and went to the temple to learn how to meditate. We were suppose to go yesterday but after we met up for lunch and a beer.... it turned into two beers and then ya we decided we best just enjoy the rest of the day with a buzz instead of buddha. but I must say....
WHAT AN EXPERIENCE.
our expectations: "Ok so lets go get lunch then go to this thing for like 15, 30 minutes tops cause lets face it we both get bored easily and we can't sit still for anything.."
what happened: we got there and there were 4 other people in our class. (2 of which were a man who spoke no english and his translator aka daughter...) Our teacher Manit came in wearing jeans and a polo.
I was expecting some monk or something cra cra... He was so down to earth and normal.
So it was me, Brooke, these two girls who were backpacking and this guy who spoke no english and his daughter. The guy who spoke no english supposedly said he was just looking for a place to meditate and that he had seen the illusion of buddha a few times during meditation. He was startin to freak me out not gonna lie. So later on he got dismissed cause Manit said he could use some more "one on one" teaching ;)
Good call.
We continued our lesson where we learned the ins and outs of meditation. He said, "Welcome to the beginners class, this class will last between 3-4 hours.." I didn't even need to look at Brooke cause I already knew what she was thinking... Do we run or do we just pretend like we have self control. We stuck it out. and I am so glad we did.
The experience we had was one that cannot be described via blog/words. Its personal and self-relfecting. Manit requested that we keep the experience to ourself and that we share with others the knowledge of meditation but the true gain is within your own insight.
The type of meditation we were taught is called Insight Meditation. This type of meditation is practiced to help you have a better understanding of yourself through concentration, awareness, patiences, control, discipline and mindfulness. This meditation goes against what we have been programed to learn since birth....Since we were children we have been taught to copy, copy others thoughts, ideas and actions...What we aren't taught is to look inside ourselves for knowledge and direction. This is what I learned today...
Key reminders that stuck with me:
Today we stuck to our word and went to the temple to learn how to meditate. We were suppose to go yesterday but after we met up for lunch and a beer.... it turned into two beers and then ya we decided we best just enjoy the rest of the day with a buzz instead of buddha. but I must say....
WHAT AN EXPERIENCE.
our expectations: "Ok so lets go get lunch then go to this thing for like 15, 30 minutes tops cause lets face it we both get bored easily and we can't sit still for anything.."
what happened: we got there and there were 4 other people in our class. (2 of which were a man who spoke no english and his translator aka daughter...) Our teacher Manit came in wearing jeans and a polo.
I was expecting some monk or something cra cra... He was so down to earth and normal.
So it was me, Brooke, these two girls who were backpacking and this guy who spoke no english and his daughter. The guy who spoke no english supposedly said he was just looking for a place to meditate and that he had seen the illusion of buddha a few times during meditation. He was startin to freak me out not gonna lie. So later on he got dismissed cause Manit said he could use some more "one on one" teaching ;)
Good call.
We continued our lesson where we learned the ins and outs of meditation. He said, "Welcome to the beginners class, this class will last between 3-4 hours.." I didn't even need to look at Brooke cause I already knew what she was thinking... Do we run or do we just pretend like we have self control. We stuck it out. and I am so glad we did.
The experience we had was one that cannot be described via blog/words. Its personal and self-relfecting. Manit requested that we keep the experience to ourself and that we share with others the knowledge of meditation but the true gain is within your own insight.
The type of meditation we were taught is called Insight Meditation. This type of meditation is practiced to help you have a better understanding of yourself through concentration, awareness, patiences, control, discipline and mindfulness. This meditation goes against what we have been programed to learn since birth....Since we were children we have been taught to copy, copy others thoughts, ideas and actions...What we aren't taught is to look inside ourselves for knowledge and direction. This is what I learned today...
Key reminders that stuck with me:
- YOU ARE THE BOSS OF YOURSELF.
- EVERY FEELING YOU FEEL IS BASED ON A CHOICE THAT YOU MADE.
- YOU CANNOT CONTROL OTHERS, YOU CAN ONLY TRY TO INFLUENCE THEM BUT IT IS THEIR DECISION IN THE END.
- NOTHING IS PERMEANT
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Meditation & Mary Poppins
So yesterday I meant to update but I got caught up....its hard these days when you have so much going on and so much responsibility! .....but really, me and brooke watched a movie and I had no energy to write after that. Bachelorette= Hilarious. Go watch it, now! (after you read this wonderful story)
Yesterday was classic. Tuesday, my first day of school. well if you think about it I have had like 21 of those "first" days but whose keeping track.
You know when your in a class with all of your friends and then there is that one "new" kid or the "FOREIGN exchange student"..Hello I'm Chrissy Bowman. YEP that was me. the american girl with the strong accent. ? what? Never saw that coming. So in Thailand its like ok to be late. it's not like a blind date where if you are waiting for 5 min your like wtf and then 15 your like never again... its like 15 and your sold. First impression=Teacher is hilarious. Interpersonal relations in thailand.....common what could be better? (sticky rice and mango ;)
So we had our first group assignment and I got in a group with these 3 girls and 1 guy.... I was trying to be friendly and ask what everyones names were..."Oh I'm Chae, I'm Kuie, I'm Maye, I'm Aunta" this is when I realized yep... I am the foreigner. When I got out of class Brooke met me at school and we decided to explore. Greatest idea ever... we ended up finding barred treasure behind the school..aka The hidden temple. Meditation temple for international students! after passing some messed up little kitties and some monks we made it to the international meditation room. Unlike anything I have ever seen/experienced. Took off our shoes, filled out some paperwork and next thing you know we are following this sweet lady upstairs to the room where people meditate. You thought twilight had a lot of vampires....we peaked in and people were meditating standing up. I can't even describe to you what it looked like. So of course me and Brooke wanted to fully experience it. We went in and sat down on the floor mats, cross legged and all. I had NO IDEA what I was doing or what to do. I just pretended to do something that I saw in a movie or in hot yoga. After a long 3 minutes I looked at Brooke and she said, "I think we should come back when we know what we are doing..." I said "Good Idea".
Monday, August 13, 2012
Eat Pray Love
What I realized today is if you have nothing planned for the day it is extremely hard to motivate yourself to not just lay in bed all day and be lazy. (hence we have officially been here for a week and sleeping has not gone to waste) I don't know if its the jet lag the spice food? the hot air...I could probably list 20,000 more excuses but I am just going to go with
"Well this is what the queen would want me to do"....
In all honesty we did get out of the house...after wasting about an hour deciding what we were going to do (beach 2hrs away) VS what we were going to do (5 min cab to fish spa), we got a cab to KhaoSan road. aka backpackers stomping grounds.
Lunch and Spa day!
Highlights of today:
*NO BUY NO TOUCH* While street shopping this cute little artsy journal caught Brookes eye...It was covered in plastic wrap but only tapped up. Brooke wanted to see if there was lines in it so she proceeded to unwrap the book and open it. BAHA the owner (i'm guessing) came over, cig in mouth...and started yipyappin and speaking angry thai/foreign huha..... "aslkjdflkasj mam!!!NOkljekjaslk;fja;lsdjNO" He was extremely upset and looked as though his life was about to end. I said "um? excuse me how much?" He said "NO, 250 BAHT... YOU MUST BUY" Brooke looked at me... um what is going on. I said oh "no thank you.." He looked as though he was going to write his confession letter in that little book if we didn't buy it. Brooke; "Oh My Gosh um Chrissy should I just buy it?!?" me-"Legoo"....The look on Brookes face priceless.. The look on his face Mugshot.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
12th Floor
For the next 6 months (at least) of my life, I am going to be living in Bangkok. Obviously It hasn't settled in but once me and Brooke decided it was time to find a place we can call home, we felt better about our decision.
Unpacking and packing again reminded me just how much I miss moving...ew.
So we started our morning with an ice coffee from Mcdonalds, mind you we were told by several people not to drink the ice in Bangkok.
Ops, thank god for that Hepatitis A shot.
Mcdonalds; or Mcthai as it is referred to here, is not the same as home.
EVERYTHING in Bangkok has some sort of fish or meat in it.
They really should call it TunaTownToGo...one of the items on the menu looked like a hot pock but with tuna and cheese in it...can you image what that is made of ?!?
Anyways, this is day 2 in the city and what really began to sink in was the language barrier.
I guess I was ignorant in thinking that everyone in Bangkok will know english and if not then I will just find someone that does. That is most definitely NOT how it works over here.
But I must say... the moment me and Brooke hear someone speak English, we are magnetic to them.
On our way home from Mcthai we met Matt...so positive, happy (& gay) and lost like we were so we instantly had a connection. He came from UC Berkeley. Like a lost puppy we took him back with us to show him the tricks we have learned in bangkok thus far. We also talked about all the gay clubs we are planning on visiting together while we are here.
Moving on, we moved into our place...what a joy! So exciting to have such a great apartment with an amazing human to share the experience with. (this is Chrissy referring to Brooke)
After unpacking we decided to get crafty....took out some pastels and began to decorate the walls.
Art really does bring out the kid in you....no wonder I was an art major for a year.... I don't want to grow up :)
The reality of Thailand made me reflect on these key points:
1.) Living in the OC is like living in a bubble and until you pop out of their, your never gonna understand
2.) Language can be simultaneous; dividing and connecting people
3.) Don't expect someone to know your culture when you are the visitor...."Why doesn't anyone know english?" is the same as saying "We are better than you so why don't you learn english?" according to locals, it is not their responsibility to adapt to you
4.) Don't ever assume you know what your eating....a pancake in the US is not the same here, let me tell ya!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Hi-5 Wi-Fi
So I FINALLY got my blog working, a few technical difficulties but it's up and running now.
We basically haven't had internet for like the entire time we have been here.....except for now, 4 days after we moved in to our new apartment.
Man do I have a lot to fill you in on!
Lets start from the beginning...
Heres some photos from the last few days in Cali.
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