Jacqui and Richard Abroad: July 2017

The flight to Bangkok was great as both times we were sitting at the back of the plane, where it starts getting narrower in the tail, so it goes from three seats to two seats, with a lot of space on the side. We flew Korean Air and were quite satisfied. We had lots of room, the food was good and the service was excellent!

We left at 12:40 from Toronto on Friday July 21st and landed in Bangkok on Saturday, July 22nd at 9 pm (there is an 11 hour time difference with EDT). We were greeted at the airport by the high school principal and the elementary VP, and a representative from the hotel where we stayed for the first five nights (until Thursday morning). The school puts all new teachers in a hotel, for up to 5 days, until they find accomodations. They also provide transportation to and from school, which is a big reason we stayed at the hotel as we already had our apartment before arriving.

Jacqui went to school on Sunday. She had a chance to meet a lot of the new teachers and get a tour of her new workplace. We had visited in January, but it was nice for her to do it with her new colleagues. Meanwhile, I met our landlord at our new apartment. It looks like a nice place, close to school. We have a 3 bedroom townhouse, so we have room for company to visit! She got back around 2 and we both took an afternoon nap - from 3 to 9! Ya, we're a little tired!

Both Jacqui and I went to school on Monday as there was some paperwork to be done (bank account, residency, applying for substitute teaching); we were back early afternoon and then went to a nearby mall for lunch. Tuesday was a nothing day as new teachers are still looking for places to live but we don't have that problem. It was so nice to sleep in, and do nothing all day. Summer at home has been pretty hectic, so this day was more than welcomed. There was a social gathering at the hotel for new teachers and management. It was very nice as it gave us a chance to know more people. All of them seem really nice. We seemed to be the only token canadians in the group, as just about everyone is from the US originally - a lot of them have taught abroad already.

We moved into our apartment on Thursday and also got a set of wheels: we rented a Club Car (golf cart) for one month. We don't think we really need a car as the school is pretty close and taxis are super cheap. We'll try it for one month and reajust if need be.

The food is super good and really cheap. We've had a large pizza and shared a beer (620 ml) for less than $11 CAD. Two burgers and a large beer for less than $8 CAD. We might never cook again!! Real street food is even cheaper: a skewer of chicken for about 40 cents, water bottles for about 25 cents. However, cherries (imported from the US) at the grocery store were about $ 80/kg. We didn't buy any!