Koh Phayam

It seems funny to need a holiday when you live in Phuket, by the beach in a beautiful area. However getting away is more than the location. I need to be away from commitments, chores and anything else that I should do and could do as I'm at home. Songkran follows the Secondary Production and I really do need a holiday when it hits this time. 

We book 6 nights on Koh Phayam, also spelt Ko Payam or Ko Phayam or Koh Payam. A friend of ours recommended the island and they visit every year. Must accommodation doesn't have electricity until the evening and it is often supplied by a generator. If you can't live without AC you will struggle as places either don't have it or charge 600 - 1500baht per night for use of AC. The roads are small concrete slab covered tracks if you are lucky and are generally in major need of repair. If you haven't ridden a motorbike before you will have to start if you want to go anywhere and you need to love reggae to survive.

Driving from Phuket to Ranong should have taken under 4 hours. It didn't as there were multiple police checks along the route and we did stop for coffee. The speedboat ferry cost 350baht and takes about 40 minutes. Despite what you read online there are multiple operators that run at all times and you can just turn up. There are slow ferries twice a day that take 2 hours and cost about 200baht. We got the speedboat out and on arrival panic set in for most of us as the boat pulled up next to the pier and we were required to step onto the edge of the boat, stretch a foot up onto a tyre hanging from the pier and then to a metal ladder that it turns out was not actually attached the pier properly at all. Climbing up these 3 or 4 metres was actually rather worrying and most the passengers were experiencing the same feelings of fear, terror and panic at the prospect. We did all survive and no bags were dropped into the ocean. Hurray!

Getting to our hotel we had to take motorbike taxis. Not my favourite experience ever and I was definitely thrilled when we arrived at the resort. 

Whilst staying on Koh Phayam we relaxed, went to the beach, relaxed, went to another beach, ate, went to another beach, drank cocktails, relaxed etc. The beaches are beautiful and it was close to surf season. Sadly the waves weren't quite tall enough or breaking far enough away from shore to ride. We saw a flock of Hornbills amongst the trees, multiple eagles, climbing perch and monitor lizards. It was amazing. I was creative and calm, but I was ready to go home after my 4th night and it was the right decision.

The vegetarian food on the island was amazing. Cha Chai is incredible and I only wished that I would had been able to eat my way through more of the menu. Homemade bread was everywhere on the island and fresh healthy food was a staple requirement of all menus. Baan Nam Chaa is another great vegetarian restaurant. The only problem is that you can wait anywhere from 30mins - 2hrs for your food and even your drink.

You can't miss Hippy Bar with its odd driftwood structure that is reminiscent of a ship. Its presence completely transforms Buffalo Bay and it is ridiculously cool, quirky and the place to be. The recycled decorations and structure really make the place what it is.

Koh Phayam is ideal for a break from the world to recharge your batteries, be creative, eat and drink. 

Reflections of a year in Phuket.

Being offered a position in Phuket was a complete 'golden ticket' opportunity for my family and I. Back to the beach, the sun, the surf in low season and the amazing triathlon training opportunities for my husband. Phuket hasn't let us down. It has been an incredible year and I have learnt a lot during this time thanks to the amazing people around me.

Culture.

Adapting to a new culture is always a challenge. I confess to still feeling ignorant and am actually looking forward to the Thai cultural course I have to do during a weekend. Phuket is multicultural with 3 religions prevalent on the island; Islam, Buddhism and a version of Taoism. In some cases people cluster with others of their religion in a particular suburb and are incredibly devout. Others turn to their religion and festival time and are far more relaxed/flexible in keeping with the edicts of their religion. Still, multiple religions live side by side in peace.

Respect is a big part of the culture here. The greetings are friendly and warm where ever you go and if you wai first you are certainly looked upon more favourably. Small acts of kindness make a big difference. Keeping your cool when things aren't quite going so well is a little trickier. I had 90 minutes of nonstop phone calls from the car insurance company photographer and his nephew asking where I lived. That was a real test in patience which I'm fairly certain I failed as I handed the phone to my husband.

Beach Life.

I went through a phase of hating the beach. The sand getting everywhere and my own naive lack of appreciation for the beauty that was around me. Thankfully I got over this phase in my late teens and am very grateful to live near any body of water. 

The beaches here are diverse and we have a lazy tendency to go to the closest one, but perhaps away from the crowds by going to the national park at the far end. We started a tradition of going to the beach on a Friday afternoon as we know how easy it is to not appreciate where you live and get into the habit of not going. I go to a local yoga class and if I ask the other students when they last went to the beach most of them don't actually know.

Lots of small beach bars existed at every beach when we first arrived. Flimsy structures built from bamboo, woven mats and corrugated iron. The bars were cheap, cheerful and hired out sun-beds with the added bonus of drink service. It turned out that many of the bars were built on public land and should not have been there. Shortly after the King's Birthday all of the bars were demolished. The beach is now much clearer and I was happy to see people heading to the beach with picnics and in some cases bringing their own furniture to spend the afternoon together.

Many businesses still operate from the beaches. You can hire jet skis, surf boards, go parasailing and buy sarongs, jewellery and sunglasses from hawkers walking up and down the beaches if you are in a very touristy hotel rich spot.

Bella, our Labradoodle, is a beach fan as she used to play on the beach every day when we lived in New Zealand. Bella visits the beach every week and prefers to go around sunset as the crabs appear so that she can chase them around the sand. Unfortunately the beach hasn't always been a positive experience for Bella here as she got attacked by a pack of dogs one afternoon when playing frisbee. This hasn't stopped her being desperate to go and play in the sand and making the most ridiculous whiny noises on the drive to the beach. The shower when gets home is her least favourite part of the trip.

Teaching.

Teaching here has been a different experience to my international school in China. The school is well established and has a number of traditions. Of course there are still elements that are under development, but that is the case with every educational institute. One of the biggest differences for me is the student body. Thai students are allowed to attend the school and receive the same education as expat students. Classes can be predominantly Thai and this actually helps students develop their own awareness of the local culture. Another very big difference in the student body is the social status of many of the students. Many are from very successful and wealthy families. In some cases this has a negative impact on the attitude to education, but thankfully not in too many cases. 

There has been a lot of trust in teaching staff and the freedom provided around the development of the curriculum has been wonderful. Developing the units has been fun and being in such supportive environment has given me the time and enthusiasm to pursue my own interests and further professional learning. 

A Few Negatives.

Paper is as popular here as it was in China. A lot of paper needs to be processed every time you need to do something new, especially at the bank. Your personal documents need to be photocopied every time that you go too, despite the fact it was copied on the previous 10 occasions.

Road rules. They may exist but are not necessarily followed.

Road works. Highly popular throughout the island.

Settling In Again.

The settling in period is always expensive and frustrating when you have questions which you feel would be  a question too far for the person or people you have to help you. The language barrier is nowhere near as difficult and as Phuket is a tourist hub it is easy to get everything you could possibly want. Even when you move to somewhere beautiful and amazing you miss the people you knew before and those relationships. Sometimes you are sure that you are fine, everything is fine, the move is a success, but your brain is in overdrive and you are still working everything out. It takes times and that's ok.

Conclusion.

It's been a great year. I love the sunshine, the people, the teaching, the beach, the lifestyle and most importantly my husband and Labradoodle are happy.

Soi Ban Baat

I visited Soi Ban Baat recently in Bangkok. I tried to go to Soi Ban Baat in October with a dropped pin on a google map and serious determination. It didn't help. I tried again in December and was successful due to getting a taxi to Soi Ban Baat kindergarten and using a note from the hotel concierge so that I could ask for help.

Amazingly once you find the correct area everyone is excessively helpful! The Ban Baat community consists of 2 little alley ways with peoples homes and 4 artisans, that we discovered. Everyone wants to sell you a bowl so their neighbours and families are more than happy to direct you to the next craftsman or woman.

The artisans who work down Ban Baat  have been making the bowls for generations. One woman we spoke to was 65 years of age and a third generation artisan. Another woman we met had bottle rimmed glasses but still managed to do tiny detailed patterns around the edges of the bowls by hand. The patterns were repeating and somehow she managed to keep the pattern fairly accurate in all of the repeats.

All of the bowls are made from strips of steel that are then beaten together using an unusual tool that looked like a bent lug wrench. Either 6 or 8 pieces of steel are used and beaten into shape before being covered in a dark lacquer and heated over a naked flame. Everyone has their own unique steel and is more than happy for you to take photographs and look at their work. As my husband is a photographer it was great and the portraits shown here are all his work.

We of course ended up leaving Ban Baat with 2 beautiful bowls and are now in the process of slowly filling them with coins to donate to charity.

Loy Krathong 2015

This week I experienced my first Loy Krathong celebration. Each year the date of Loy Krathong moves dependent on the full moon and it also uses a traditional Thai calendar, rather than the western calendar. My understanding is that Loy Krathong is to thank the river god and apologise for making the water dirty, but it is also about letting go and moving forward, which I think is a great thing to do despite how hard it can be sometimes.

At my school students and staff can dress in traditional Thai clothing for the day and both the Primary and Secondary schools have a special assembly and time to make Karathongs. I teach in both Primary and Secondary, but ended up more involved with the Secondary celebrations due to having a Secondary tutor class and my timetable on the day itself. Scarily the Music department was asked to perform a Thai pop song, so I had a couple of days to get to grips with the pronunciation and sing in Thai. This also meant that I had to wear traditional Thai clothing. I'm not convinced that the outfit suited, but it could just be because they kept repeating that they needed to find a big size and there was only one big size left.

Students from the senior Thai classes offered some lovely performances and dances. There were also some quite comical moments that I'm hoping were intentional. Maybe the Music department performance was meant to be a comedy act. The assembly was well run and was more of a celebration of Thai culture than about letting go and moving forward, although the idea was mentioned. 

I enjoyed making a Krathong with my tutor class. Fortunately there were quite a few Thai girls willing to help me and thankfully to make the design they showed me it wasn't too difficult. I took my Krathong home and my husband and I headed to an area of water where we had been told there was a Loy Krathong celebration happening. Some of the Krathongs were phenomenal and put my efforts to shame. A few people came in traditional clothing, but most didn't. Many purchased Krathongs and some borrowed scissors to cut their nails and put the pieces on the Krathong before letting it float away so that they were really letting something old go!

Watching the Krathongs float on the water I did begin to think that perhaps it is not the most eco friendly tradition as they use pins to attach the banana leaves and then there are the candles and the incense. Considering they were being floated on a lake I'm hoping that someone was employed to collect them rather than leaving them to decompse and cause issues in the water.

My Thai Kitchen

Once upon a time I really enjoyed cooking. I loved baking more than cooking, but I did enjoy it. When we lived in NZ and my husband worked shifts I'd often spend a few hours at the weekend preparing meals for the week and filling the fridge and freezer so that we didn't have to worry or resort to take away. In China my husband took over the cooking and did a fabulous job. Here in Thailand neither of us cooks any more. Seems somewhat ironic after I was so excited about having a western style kitchen.

Initially we were cooking lots and going for the occasional meal at the local restaurant. Our local restaurant is essentially open on all sides with a roof of some description. We affectionately refer to it as "the shack". We were shopping at the wholesale supermarket, the local market and the fancy supermarket to get everything we needed and spending quite a lot of money. We did some calculations and worked out that we could eat out cheaper than cooking. 

I'm fortunate enough to get a free lunch at school and so only want a snack in the evening. At least once a week I will go to "the shack" and get a mango or papaya salad for 50Baht. My husband doesn't get school lunch, but instead goes to one of the many restaurants near us each day and has a meal and a drink for around 100Baht. We now spend less than half of what we were originally spending on food by not cooking. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I will continue to allow my cooking skills to decline, enjoying the owner of one of our regulars trying to teach me Thai, and won't be hosting any dinner parties any time soon.

Wai Kru

During this last week I attended 3 Wai Kru ceremonies at my new school in Thailand. I'd never heard of Wai Kru before and had no idea what to expect whatsoever. Thankfully the ceremonies were informative and I now have a far better understanding about Wai Kru.

Wai is the Thai greeting that is a sign of respect. Even Ronald McDonald is respectful. 

Kru is the Thai for Teacher or Master. So, Wai Kru is a ceremony in which students say thank you to their teachers in advance for everything that they do for them. Teachers are greatly respected in Thailand.

During the ceremony students make a pledge to be good students, listen to their teachers, follow instructions and not cause any trouble. Depending on your own world view and sense of humour depends on how you view this pledge. Some suggest that perhaps this pledge should be repeated each morning during the school year!

Flowers are a very important part of the ceremony. Students present their teachers with floral arrangements and garlands. The flowers used are symbolic and represent their respect, readiness to learn and intelligence. Some of the flowers I received had very strong scents and most of the arrangements were in the form of a loop with a flower chain hanging down. Students kneel before their teachers, wai and present their offerings.

The Secondary ceremonies I attended involved Muay Thai demonstrations, speeches about the 21st century teacher as well as singing. The Primary ceremony included Thai songs, traditional dancing, competition results and more singing. It was a really nice ceremony each time, but I did feel a little uncomfortable having students kneel at my feet and wai. Aside from the discomfott the ceremonies were very positive as many staff felt even more positive about their job and relationships with their students.

A Modern Workplace That Cares

We spend more time at work and with our colleagues than we do at home with our families. Obviously you have to work so that you can live and as the saying goes you shouldn't live to work. Sadly so many people are working much more than 9 to 5 and are attached to technology that keeps us in touch with work where ever we are.

I've recently changed job and stepped down from a middle management position as well as moving to a different school. The differences in my work situation are enormous. I am without doubt far happier than I was and there are so many factors that are contributing to this that it is hard to put the source of my current state of happiness down to just one factor.

Management at my current school are constantly out and about around the school. They attend class, have lunch with staff, stay in the refectory to speak to students, stand at the entrance as students arrive every day and have a completely open door policy as well as strongly recommending that you call them in the middle of night if you have a medical emergency so that they can personally help you. I have been amazed by their genuine friendliness and care for the staff and students. They are also realistic. They recognise that we work hard and fully expect and encourage us to leave at 3pm on a Friday. 

I love to exercise and with time I have to leave for work it isn't happening in the morning. I have previously worked in an environment where they were happy for you to swim or run in a free period. However, with the length of my hair I would end up not looking very professional by my next class if I did this. We are welcome to use all of the facilities at work, and an added bonus I discovered in my first full week is that a yoga instructor comes to school twice a week. Even more excitingly the bi-weekly yoga classes are free.

Friday's have become a rather special occasion. A teacher has set up a cake roster. Every Friday 2 teachers bring in copious amounts of cake which is eagerly consumed at break. Some staff have already proven their culinary and decorative skills. I am feeling somewhat concerned about my week to bring cake as the standards are high. The presence of cake draws all staff to the staff room on a Friday and conversation is lively as the cake keeps the mood positive.

In addition to "Cake Friday" lunch features ice cream for dessert. Not the healthiest day of the week, but it does make everyone very happy.

I don't know which element is the most important, but I am recognise how lucky I am to be in a such a positive workplace that shows genuine care for their staff.

Wat Thepwanaram

Wat Thepwanaram is the nearest temple to my house. It's adjacent to Phuket's wakeboard park and I am yet to see a wakeboarding monk. I live in hope!

When traveling around asia we have often found ourselves staying near mosques and have consequently been woken every morning by the Muezzin's call to prayer. Living by a temple you deal with something rather different. At 5:00 every morning the buddhist monks begin to pray. Their prayers are in the form of a chant on a single pedal note and overtime you begin to hear the overtones. My new alarm clock is totally free, if a little early. They pray several times throughout the day and always at sundown. I'll often be in the pool when they do their evening prayers and it is such a lovely sound to hear drifting through the air. Despite the fact that they wake me up it really is quite peaceful and calming. Far better than hearing the rush of traffic that never ends. I am somehow became accustomed to the noise of the traffic in China, but this peace is bliss.

There are many temples in Phuket and we do like to visit them. Wat Thepwanaram was the first temple that we visited. It doesn't draw big trouist crowds as it doesn't have a particularly large, diferent or special Buddha so it is often very quiet. The entrance from the main road is marked by the usual stunning arch painted white, gold, red, green and other strong bright colours. The temple is a little further back from the road than most others, but is not an enormous distance. 

There are 4 decorated ornate buildings at Wat Thepwanaram as well as a the monks housing. The temples are covered in gold and bright colours that are a huge contrast to the stark white walls. The ornamentation and cratsmanship is really quite beautiful and despite the perhaps ostentatious use of colour it is not so gaudy as you might think. It is somehow peaceful. 

 One fascinating piece outside the prayer hall is a Madame Tussaud's likeness of a monk. We saw lots of smaller creations like this when we were in Cambodia in an art gallery where we were told that they were likenesses of deceased monks. The skill in these is absolutely incredible as they are just so life like.

The temple appears to be a haven for street dogs and cats alike. Numerous animals find shade and kindness inside the temple walls. A local vet often goes around the temples vaccinating the animals that make their home there too. We always see snoozy furry friends here.

Monks are a wonderful flash of colour around Phuket. Their orange robes stand out against all the other colours. I love to see them just living life. They aren't in a closed order so they go out and visit people and different temples. They catch the local bus or get a ride on a relatives motorbike. They are a part of the community and somehow their presence is very reassuring.

Huge thanks to Mr. Orangedog Photography for the pictures.

Another Country Another Hair Disaster

I've been in Phuket a grand total of 3 weeks and 3 days. Amazingly I have been to the hairdresser twice in this time and it wasn't because I liked the experience so much that I felt the need to do it again so soon.

You may or may not be familiar with my hairdressing disasters whilst living China (there are 2 posts about this here and here). Sadly these disasters were not confined to China. In all fairness I had a colour disaster in NZ too. The main problem I have is that my hair does not always take colour well. I try to explain the problem in the hope that I can avoid leaving with a weird and or patchy colour.

So, the reason I went to the hairdresser so soon in Phuket was because I didn't quite seem to find time to go prior to leaving. I didn't really want to take a risk. I researched online and found a couple of recommendations and then checked their social media presence to see if there was hope of them managing an ombre colour. Decision made, appointment booked and through the door I step.

I am the only client and there are 5 staff including the owner who is exceptionally brusque. The discussion is easy, straight forward and before I know it 2 members of staff begin piling colour on my head whilst the owner sits down and does her make up...it took her the full 2 hours that I was there too. I'm not sure if I have ever had such a silent, efficient tag team of hairdressers liberally apply colour at such speed.

After quite some time sat under a fancy rotating butterfly like heater, a toner, an amazing head massage as part of the wash, a cut and then a tag team to dry my hair and I'm on my way. 

Fastforward 7 days and the root colour is basically gone and I am somewhat greyer that I would wish to be. Not really the result I was hoping for after 2+ hours and a small fortune. Thankfully they have welcomed me back, applied a different colour for free. This time the owner was having her hair curled by a member of staff and then her make up applied by another. I think she really likes her job.

House Hunting in Phuket

The last time we were house hunting in a country where we didn't speak the language we were given an agent who ferried us around until we finally picked somewhere to live. We never met the landlord or spoke to them directly at all and we lived there for 2 years. This time it has been a very different experience. 

I am currently sat on what was the outdoor sofa which is now residing in the lounge (I'll explain later) and the rainy season has caught up with us forcing me away from the pool. We arrived in Phuket less than 3 weeks ago and within the first week we found somewhere to live. We gave ourselves 2 weeks and managed to do it in 1. As mentioned we didn't have an agent and this initially seemed somewhat bothersome. I had been directed to a couple of sites to search and get ideas and we were pretty sure we knew where we were going.

From all of our research we discovered a couple of housing communities close to school with a tiny gym and pool. They even had a hot yoga studio on site and this really appealed to me. I loathe the drive to school. It includes the busiest road, the silly blocked off roundabout and 2 U-turns. The fact that we only want to have 1 car also meant that living near school would be good for Adam as I could leave him with the car. 

School advised us to basically drive around Phuket and go into housing areas, look for "for rent" signs and phone the number. We started near school and called a few numbers. The houses were generic and quite cramped with hideous, cheap, white flat pack furniture. The pool was practically a paddling pool and the gym had 2 treadmills, 2 elepticals, a small amount of weights and room for a stick insect to walk behind them. Also, every house was over budget and we weren't in love. No cafe, restaurant or beach in walking distance at all. 

The search continued with an agent sending us photos of a house that was a little over budget with its own pool that looked incredible. We set up a viewing and it was quite a shock. There were about 20 tiles missing from the pool, the roof of the gazebo was still bare building paper on the inside, the kitchen cupboards were hanging off, the furniture was covered in cat hair and was horribly aged, beaten and uncared for. The location was a random side road just off my most hated road with maye another house somewhere down there. Pretty isolated.

Continuing on we drove into a housing complex next to Wat thep wanaram and Anthem Wakepark. It's about 15 minutes to school and 5-10minutes to the nearest beach. We drove round and found a house for rent. Sadly it was already taken, but the agent said they could show us another in the same compound the next day. We continued checking out the houses and found another for rent. It was still available and the landlord lived a 1 minute walk away. Hideous bar in the kitchen, bizarre cupcake bed covers in the guest bedroom, oversized lounge furniture, an oven, pool, and some shocking paint used on the gate and all trimmings in the house. Not as overbudget and a good location with lots of roadside reataurants in walking distance, not to mention the wakepark being walking distnce.

It turned the agent wanted to show us the house we had seen with the landlord and charge a higher price in rent. So, instead of viewing it again with them they took us to a crazy overbudget show home style house with pool in Bangtao. The property was stunning. It was the best house on the block by a long way, perhaps too far. There was a garden opposite that was full of trash and several run down houses. Add the story of a friend of a friends dog sadly not surviving living in Bangtao due some people having very strong beliefs against dogs guided by a religion, this was a no go.

The same agent took us to a beautiful holiday home in Laguna. I stress holiday home. Again it was show home esque with lovely finishes and great attention to detail. Sadly you could only maybe hang 20 shirts up in the master bedroom and there was no other storage. The pool had two sunbeds in single file next to it as that was it for the space outside. This was also the best house on the block and directly outside the front door a neighbouring property had chickens and a rooster scratching around. Despite the locks and doors this tiny pot hole riddled road didn't feel like the right location for this beautiful holiday home.

We were limited on properties due to our Labradoodle and the budget was another issue. The school budget is generous, but you need to spend all of it to get all of it. Basically there is no point in going under budget. Inspired by the "House Hunters International" we decided to have an incredibly staged conversation walking along the beach to make our decision for the imaginary camera crew.

"We've seen X properties. I think we need to start by ruling one out. Which one would you rule out?"

Agree to rule out the same one.

Discuss pros and cons of the remaining properties.

Each state their choice and normally it is the same.

Hug.

So, we decided to negotiate with our one landlord direct property as he had another viewing and we wanted to get in quick! During negotiations we somehow managed to get the best internet package in Phuket thrown in and cable TV saving ourselves 2000THB a month. Not quite sure how, but that was great. We get the pool cleaned 3 times a week too. We were concerned about the furnitre and that has proved negotiable as just today we had the lounge set and obselete TV unit removed. Sadly the bar is not going anywhere.

Arriving Early

I really advocate arriving early to the destination of your new school. More time to pick the right property and vehicle if you need one. More time to work out where to shop. More time to work out how to get around. To me it just makes sense, especially if you have a dog (child replacement with fur).

We chose to arrive in Phuket early. We had to vacate our appartment in Suzhou before the end of June and the we expected the Suzhou Summer to heat up and so decided to leave 5 days after I finished work. At the time I didn't realise that this meant I would be arriving in Phuket before my new school had finished for the year. I got asked to go in for a meeting with my new Head of Department. I landed on the Thursday at 1am and on the Friday I had a meeting at 10am.

This all meant that we had to get the hire car a little earlier. I had to consider my outfit very carefully. Shoulders need to be covered at my new school and no open toed shoes are allowed. I knew that it was a staff only day, but I really didn't want to rock the boat before I'd even started my contract.

With a screenshot of the directions we headed out. I considered Melbourne to be the city of U-turns, but Phuket may actually be the winner of this award. I got really confused that the roundabout has gates blocking some of the junctions meaning that you can't actually use it as a roundabout. I really have no clue what is happening here. It basically causes the need for masses of U-turns. Following 4 U-turns, a slow moving bus and some roadworks we made it to school.

Despite being late and having to then walk into the staffroom in the hopes of spotting my HoD. Thankfully everything went well - phew. My work permit is in process too, hurray! One day closer to being allowed to ship our belongings.

We've had a romantic dinner on the beach for 3 with the Head of Secondary and today we had drinks at a different beach with the Head of Primary and some new and returning teachers. It would appear we aren't the only ones that think being in Phuket during rainy season and don't mind arriving early.

Incidentally, this school leaves you to fend for yourself a lot compared to my previous school in China. I can see that it is easier to fend for yourself here though. We sorted our phone cards quickly and looked after ourselves for our "House Hunters International" style quest, which I will talk about in another highly enlightening blog. We are still working out where to buy food cheaper than eating out, but we'll get there. I know that we'll have everything sorted by the time school starts and that way I will be able to focus fully on the curriculum re-writes. For now I will enjoy the weather, the beach and the Thai food.

Labradoodle Shanghai to Phuket - One Way

There are lots of things that I could write about following our first few days in Phuket, but I think Bella our Labradoodle is probably the most important. That's definitely what she believes anyway!

When we moved from NZ to China we paid a pet transport specialist to move her via Hong Kong so that she could avoid quarantine. I don't think that we would have been able to organise this ourselves and so it was worth the exorbitant price that we paid. When looking for a new job checking the quarantine for Bella was top of the list. Did it exist? What were the conditions like? How long was it? How much did it cost? Could we organise it ourselves?

Thailand was perfect as there is no quarantine for dogs coming from a rabies free area and that have their health certificate, microchip, pet passport etc. We got a quote from a recommended pet moving company and crazily it was more than we paid to move her from NZ and that involved 2 flights, a car over the border and return airport transfers for her. It just didn't make sense. We decided to do it ourselves and this largely fell to my husband, Adam, as I was fairly stressed at work. 

So, to get a pet from China to Thailand there are a few things that you need to do. About a month or so before leaving top up the vaccines and get anything that you are missing, there is a very specific time frame to stick to for this and we used a website for clarifying and getting hold of the appropriate documents. You can them a small fee to get everything you need and you can ask questions too, but I think that cost extra. You have to do a final health check 7 days before the flights and 2-3 days later you pick up the official certificate from an office on the Bund. You then have to email the health certificate along with everything else you have to the Thai quarantine department and wait for them to email you the import license. You can get the import license upto 45 days before you travel, but you can't get it withouth the export health certificate. 

Bella was really over driving to Shanghai by the time the flight came around. We got in the car and she decided to sneak onto Adam's lap and spend the entire 2+ hour journey asleep on him. Adam was thrilled, especially as he was already really hot! At check in we were feeling confident as we had everything that we needed. We were certain. We started having doubts though when the number of staff looking at our documents rose from 2 - 6. They all spoke in Mandarin and really spoke to us. It was pretty scary! In the end it was decided that we had everything and that we had booked her on the flight. We just needed to get some tape wrapped around her box for 20RMB and then pay for her ticket at which point Bella was whisked away from us and only had 90 minutes until take off.

From reviewing the airline's policies we knew that we would have to pay per kg for Bella and as Adam was taking his bike as an extra piece of luggage we would need to pay the flat fee of 1000RMB for it. At the counter one person passed the papers to antoher and then nothing happened for 15 minutes. Great. I politely asked what was happening and the guy shot out of his chair to find his supervisor. He gave me a price and then decided that this wasn't for both items. The new price was crazy and I mentioned what I had read on their website about additional pieces of luggage only being 1000RMB and the supervisor disappeared again. On his eventual return my new bill was the flat fee of 1000RMB for the bike and 1000RMB for Bella. I was not going to look this fabulously discounted gift horse in the mouth. I speedily paid and sprinted to claim our boarding passes and get to the gate as we had less than an hour to boarding. I'm not stating the name of the airline just in case they come after me for more money!

Funnily having Bella on the same flight was almost more worrying than when she flew alone. Was she on the right flight? Did she have enough water? 

After 5 worrying hours and clearing immigration we headed to baggage claim and I was torn between getting my camera ready and rushing to find Bella. I was highly disappointed that Bella wasn't cruising round on the conveyor as I'd been led to believe. Instead I found her lying down in her crate chilling next to Adam's bike. She still had a few drops of water left and she was fine. We called our horel, got outside and proceeded to find water and scissors. Once free Bella happily strolled up and the pavement gaining as much attention as possible.

The following morning we went to the quarantine office to finalise everything. Not the easiest office in the world to find, but we got there. It was empty. 4 desks and no people to work at them. A lady who worked in another office went to find someone and we began processing the paperwork and waiting to find out just how much this was going to cost us. From talking to other colleagues that have moved dogs abroad your fee can depend largely on how nice you are. So, I tried out some Thai, played charades and was the friendliest I can possibly be. 15 minutes and 100baht later and we were free to go. Ironically at 2am I had to pay 100baht for a bottle of water at the airport.

In total Bella's vet visits, paperwork, cars to the vet and flight cost less approximately a quarter of what we were quoted by the pet moving company.

Bella has been unable to believe her luck that she is back living on the ground floor and get out really easily. She has 2 new dog friends where we are staying and several cats to consider chasing, or not. The beach has been one of her highlights, but the fact that she now has a car to ride in is probably her favourite thing. 

Bella's first time back at the beach.

Thanks Adam! Bella wouldn't be here without all of your hardwork.

P.S. Bella just fell in the swimming pool....

Zai jian China

I've been somewhat lax as it has been somewhat busy with all of the preparations for our departure. As it has been so busy I am not fully mentally and emotionally prepared. I feel like I'll be back here in a few weeks working with the same colleagues, hanging out with fabulous friends and teaching some familiar faces. 

The last 2 years have gone by in a whirlwind. I have learnt so much professionally as well as personally. I've also had some fun and made some amazing friends. Some of the best times have actually involved teaching friends the Ukulele, with a few drinks to help. Another highlight is somehow managing to persuade a group of teachers to get on stage and sing an arrangement of "Goodnight Sweethear" with the words "Goodbye Students" on the last day in 3 part harmony.

It has been a crazy last week in Suzhou. One of the more memorable moments involved my husband going to Shanghai for the final pet check, but getting the wrong car. Apparently the guards from the compound pointed to a car and he got in it. The only problem was that it wasn't the car we booked. This is one of the dangers of living somewhere that you don't speak enough of the language to communicate in this situation. Thankfully the person at work who had booked the actual car was able to speak to the driver and persuade them to take my husband and our Labradoodle to the vet and back in Shanghai for less than our original booking. However, there was a major traffic jam and it took them 4 hours to get there. I believed that we were buying a car in Phuket as it was a necessity, but I think it may now be to stop my husband getting into strange cars!

On a positive note Bella, our gorgeous Doodle, got her export license and is officially booked on the flight ot Phuket on Wednesday. Phuket Quarantine sent us an email that makes no sense. Fingers crossed! An English Teacher from my new school emailed me to explained that he arrived late at night with his dogs when quarantine was closed and they appeared on the baggage carousel amongst the suitcases. I can't wait for Bella to appear with our luggage! It'll be her birthday when we arrive and so her birthday present is a trip to the beach.

I've been to 3 leaving dinners/parties in a week, received several highly unexpected presents, letters and cards with amazingly kind words. People have made such a huge difference to me in so many ways and still I don't feel like I'm leaving.

A thoughtful colleague decided that the leaving teachers needed a sort of leaving item to be signed by their colleagues. So, she asked a highly talented and fabulous Kiwi Tech Teacher to laser cut some Shanghai skylines. They are so beautiful and thoughtful. I felt like one of the kids making my way around the foyer trying to get some of my favourite colleagues to sign it! Having the words to look back on alongside the memories really helps with the move.

China has been one crazy ride. I can now shop and haggle reasonably well in Chinese. I can try desperately to get them to believe that I don't eat meat, they are not convinced by this at all though. I've done my first half marathon on the Great Wall of China with my husband and traveled more than we have for quite some time. Although we don't want to prolong our stay her in China it was the right move for us and a whole new adventure is about to begin.

"Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow."

Anita Desai

Transition Time and the Epic Visa Quest

In 4 weeks and 1 day we are leaving China. Time to wind down, pack and enjoy the company of friends or you could write reports, review curriculum and endure an epic quest to get a visa. (Teachers do work right to the end of the year and during the holidays, in case you were wondering.)

It's funny how your block out the annoying, time consuming and negative things that happen when you move overseas. I feel somewhat like an ostrich. I am really trying to bury my head in the sand and pretend that certain things are not happening! I love the massive spring clean you do when you move, it is just so liberating! I don't love the paperwork. I am a perfectionist and I know from living in China how precise you need to be. The errors and discrepencies between different consulates and the HR team I am working with have been driving me to distraction. It would be really nice if every consulate for a particular country required the same paperwork. It would also be nice if they listed all the paperwork they wanted rather than expecting you to read their mind. It would also be nice if they didn't hang up when you called to ask a question.

We still don't have visas. No time to think about that though! I want to make sure that I leave the curriculum and my resources in a format that makes sense and meets the needs of the students. Nothing worse than arriving at school where documents are missing and you can't understand a single thing the previous person taught. I really hope that my units and plans can be understood.

This time the shipping company dropped boxes off, which I think I mentionned. Initially I was confused as they are paid to do the packing. However, I started packing at the weekend and it felt great! It really helps you to get in the "moving on" mindset. I am only packing the non-breakable items, such as sheet music and snowboarding clothes. I would rather the professionals are responsible for my breakables so that I can be mad at them and not me if they break!

We are 5 weeks into our epic visa quest and we can count 13 problems so far. Impressive huh? Clarity, efficiency and competence are all things I value highly. Sadly these elements are not all present in our current quest. We are following the trail of breadcrumbs and hoping that it leads us into our new adventure on time and unscathed...

Counting Down and Moving On

In less than 40 days we depart China and start our next adventure. It's a lot easier this time as we don't own an entire house of posessions, a house or 2 cars. Impressively we are only taking one cubic metre more than we arrived with and most of that is probably my mid 20th century hand made and painted chest with a revolutionary poem on. I may happen to love this item of furniture a little more than you should. It came from a little shop known as "Frank's". I fell in love the moment I saw it sitting on top of a wardrobe. I then saw the price and assumed it was wrong as it was so cheap. Apparently it was right and included free delivery. Who doesn't love a bargain?

I don't know if moving gets easier. This is our 3rd overseas move and we are hoping that my wandering feet and I can put down some roots for a few years this time. It should be easier for me to settle living by the sea, but the surf may impact on my ability to stay. 

As this is my second international school I had some things I was really looking for in my move and I also had some expectations for what I would receive support with. Juggling flights and shipping between two different companies in two different countries is difficult. I am a little concerned that the shipping company gave me boxes when they are the ones that do the packing... Working with countries that have very different work speeds is not particularly easy either. The perfection levels of the visa paperwork also seems to vary a little. I'm used to jumping hoops these days and apparently I may not have to jump quite so perfectly through the centre these days.

We are doing things differently this time. We aren't using a pet shipping company. My husband has been organising all of this and it is literally saving us thousands. It does make you wonder what the pet shipping companies are charging us for. We are flying with an airline that offers more luggage allowance and my husband's beloved bike is coming along for the ride. We don't get picked up at the airport. We don't get school accommodation because we have a dog and we apparently miss out on the welcome pack because we aren't going to school accommodation. We don't get a housing agent to look after us, but the Principal is giving up his first weekend of the holiday to look after us. 

We're still arriving early to take our time with house hunting. We're looking forward to no longer haveing to live beneath people that roller blade in the apartment when we are trying to sleep. We have seen a rather nice complex with a gym, swimming pool and hot yoga studio and that's where we will start our search. So many rental properties are beige, understandable, but I had an extreme reaction to our current beige apartment and brought ridiculously bright soft furnishings. Considering I've never really gone for bright colours it was a bit of a surprise. I somehow need to restrain myself this time.

It seems funny that in 8 years I have set up home in 3 different countries. Starting again can certainly be expensive, but the adventure is worth it as are the amazing people. 

So, over the next few weeks we are hoping that we will get the correct documents to get our visas, Bella's export license from China and her import permit from Thailand, our belongings packed, we'll spend time with some great people and get the bond back for our apartment.

The Relationship Between International Schools and Summer Camp

Many people say that Summer Camp is the best experience of your life. I am fairly inclined to agree. My time working at camp was life changing. My whole mindset shifted, my path changed and I learnt so much. It's not the easiest few months, but it is the most rewarding. 

For me I didn't want to do what everyone else did. I didn't want get some boring Summer job working in a shop or down the local pub. I guess my 20 year old self wished to be different, unique, special and perhaps even shock people with my choice. I accidentally saw a poster for Summer Camp on the notice board at my uni and that basically led to me teaching horse riding at an all boy's camp in North Carolina. Not the logical choice for the Music student that loves shoes.

I have been unable to settle for long since working at camp, which explains my current location in China and upcoming move to Thailand. There are a lot of similarities between camp and being on the International Teaching Circuit. A lot of the people I currently work with have had worked at a camp in the past. This probably doesn't come as any surprise as both camp and teaching involve working with children and a work location away from your home if you desire.

Both work environments I'm talking about give you the chance to put yourself outside of your comfort zone. Although the hop from the UK to the USA was not so great. I swapped my parents 4 bedroom detached house in a quiet cul de sac for a log cabin nestled amongst the tress that house 10 females, 2 bathrooms and not enough hot water. You work hard, it is intense, you work with multiple nationalities and you exist in a bubble. The bubbles are slightly different, but still you live in a bubble.

The nature of the community to which you belong to causes you to make friends fast. We've met very few expats outisde of the school community, but the friends that we have made I cannot imagine losing touch with these people. You create a unique bond with anyone that you are priveleged enough to share these amazing experiences with. Despite perhaps not seeing some of these people for years you know that there is a spare room or a sofa waiting for you to go and a conversation ready to be picked up from where you left off.

You live in the moment when you know that there is a deadline on how long you will be in a location. See the sites, take trips, go out for dinner. You try to cram a lifetime into a few months or a few short years. Life is for living, experiencing and learning from. You make the most of everything before your expiry date.

I wanted to go back to camp, but I was advised by one person to not romance camp. It's a great piece of advice as so many people become a part of the loop and keep going back. I realised that had I gone back I would have been one of those people that kept going back and struggled to tear myself away. I'd probably still be there now.

I am priveleged to travel and spend my time with so many wonderful, like minded people who developed their understanding of the world through their experiences.

The Summer Camp experience isn't exclusive to camp. I am still living it, but not in Summer.