Bangkok! August 7, 2012

I just arrived in Bangkok after finishing out my teaching certificate at the Patong Language School. Unfortunately my plans to stay in Thailand have been cut drastically short due to my migraines. With consistent migraines almost everyday or every other day I have decided the only thing to do is to come home and get healthy. This blog will be interesting for another week or so as I share my Bangkok adventures with you, however after that I will be using it to chronicle my struggles with migraines. Hopefully it will not just be struggles but some successes too. Anyways, I am exhausted and just uploaded 145 pictures to the Flikr account so head over there and check out my visit to Phi Phi Island, adventures on Bang La with Louise, and a whole bunch of animals and fish. A video blog will be going up in the next day that will have more details describing what you see in the pictures!

Much love to all of you and I am excited to be heading home in a week (although a tad disappointed).
-Emo

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July 31, 2012

Sawadee ka!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful time back home. I have found myself streaming the Olympics late into the early morning watching anything thats on. I’ve seen plenty ping-pong, a little bit of shooting, lots of swimming and some equestrian here and there. Its been nice to root for America so far away from home. Its been a while since my last posting but not much has really happened since.

This past Friday I went out to Bang-La road. Bang-La is like the Las Vegas strip of Patong. It is fully of seedy looking bars, more prostitutes than you could count and enough lady-boys to make you question every woman you speak to. Although I must say there are some lady-boys who are prettier than many girls I’ve met. There are far to many ping-pong shows for my taste. Anyways, I spent the evening with three random Germans I met at my hotel restaurant. They were incredibly nice gentlemen although their English was mediocre. We went to the New Tiger bar, which has humungous tiger statues out front and dancing girls on light up platforms. We spent the entire evening playing Jenga and Connect-4, and I must say it was quite fun!

I spent the rest of the weekend reading through four books in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. I cannot get enough of these books and in the past week have almost made it through the entire series. Saturday and Sunday were also full of homework and little bit of indulgence in McDonalds. Honestly, sometimes it is just nice to take a bite of something and know exactly how it will taste. McDonalds here has Fried Chicken too, which I haven’t tried yet but since there is no Popeyes in sight it might have to do.

Last night I went out with a classmate named Nigel. He is 55 and originally from England. He has been in Patong since January and has finally decided he might as well do something useful and get a TEFL. He’s a wonderful old chap who has informed me how the bar girl system works here (bar girls are working girls who work out of bars). Its not necessarily the life I would choose but I will not judge anyone for their life choices. He took me to where his girlfriend works (she happens to be a masseuse, not the happy-ending kind either). Thanks to him I was able to get a mani-pedi for a great discount. Since he has been here for so long he has a specific route that he goes on for a pub crawl. Every bar we went to he knew the owner, which of course leads to drink specials all around!

Classes have been going well, this week we each get to have a practice lesson every day with the same students. My two students are named Mao and Aok. Both are incredibly bright and work for Patong Language School in some capacity. I will be uploading an example of the lessons we do and the 10-step method that has been drilled into our brains. For now, I invite you to check out the new photos on the Flickr site!
Stay safe back home and lots of love,
Emo

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July 25 and 26

Here is the newest video blog! Enjoy!!

July 25 Video Blog

Love,
Emo

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July 21st

Sawadee ka (hello)!
It has been a hectic week and boy am I glad it is the weekend. For the last few days I have been plagued with what seems to be a never-ending migraine. As many of you know, these are incredibly irritating and painful for me, this week was no different. I spent the majority of Thursday and Friday in the darkness of my hotel switching off between migraine meds and Tylenol. By Friday night, my head had stopped hurting enough so I could venture out into the world at least a little bit.
Roxy and I went to the beach for the sunset; doing a little bit of shopping between my hotel and the beach. For dinner we decided to visit the hotel next door to mine, which turned out to be one of the nicest places I have eaten since coming to Thailand.The service was fantastic and we were even served bread! In America, bread comes with basically every meal, but here bread is a commodity that one normally pays a good amount extra for. Anyways, the night ended up being one of the best dates Roxy or I had ever experienced (which was humorous and wonderful).
Today my head allowed me to at least visit the beach for a few hours and read my book. I just finished the first Sookie Stackhouse novel and highly suggest them to anyone who needs something to tide them over from Sunday-to-Sunday (Trueblood fans, I’m talking to you). For now I am back in my hotel nursing my migraine in the dark. I hope everything is well for everyone back home and I miss you all. ❤
Lots of love and kisses,
Emo

NEW PICS UP ON FLICKR! GO VISIT! Flickr

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Here is my flickr account!

Here is where you can find all my photos from this strange and wonderful adventure.

Flickr Photos!

Enjoy!
-Emo

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July 18

Hey guys!
Sorry I haven’t been updating much, school has started and runs from 9am-6pm. Lets just say after class I don’t feel up for much except maybe a drink and bed. I haven’t even caught up with True Blood :(, life is tragic you know? I have set up a flickr account so I can show you all the pictures I have been taking. So far there hasn’t been many interesting photos except for a handful of beautiful sunset pictures or the view from the bar I visit for happy hour. I will hopefully get that flickr link up later today or at least tomorrow morning.
There is another girl in my class who is from Colorado and is also 23. Needless to say we became instant friends and as she put it, “best friends at least for the next month”. It’s really nice to have someone to commiserate with and adventure with. Her name is Roxy and she’s wonderful. She’s a photographer for fun but does sell some of her prints on Etsy. When I get her Etsy story name I will put it up here too. I hope you are all having a great time and living your lives to the fullest while I’m gone. I expect many stories from each of you! Anyways, I am off to class for the next 9 hours but I will try to post again soon!
Lots of love,
Emo

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Day 4!

Alright ladies and gentlemen! Here is day 4’s video blog!

Day 4 Video Blog

More to come later, lots of love!
Emo

(The video might take a while to load, just be patient :D)

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Phuket

Hey Guys! Here is my first video blog, I will be doing a combination of video blogs and regular postings. Please let me know if there is any issue in viewing the video!

First Video Blog!

Love and miss you all
-Emo

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The beginning…

Welcome!

In 11 days I will be moving to Phuket, Thailand to begin my TEFL training. For those of you who don’t know TEFL stands for Teach English as Foreign Language which is exactly what I hope to be doing in a few months. The course is 120 hours that will teach me how to approach language as a secondary language. By the end of the course I will know how to approach teaching English to those who speak a completely different language and use a different alphabet. Although I am taking the training course in Thailand, the TEFL course certifies me to teach English in any foreign language country. For anyone debating traveling the world, obtaining a TEFL certification is key if you plan on teaching.

The first month of life will be incredibly difficult. I will be living at the Aspery Hotel in Phuket which is here, right off the beach. My hotel is located right off the beach as is my training facility. After Phuket, I will be attempting to find a job in either Bangkok or Chaing-Mai. But between now and then I have pretty rigorous training to complete and an adventure to start.

The countdown has begun and I am incredibly excited/nervous to start this new journey. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments you may have and I hope my blog can offer some insight into Thai life.

Lots of love,

Emo

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