My New Home

After a long search which resembled some kind of treasure hunt, I finally found myself a home here in Mae Sot. I moved out of the office this morning and into my "house". I was going to live in this very cool teak house with a yard and everything. Brooke, my co-worker, found it for me during the week but by the time we went last night to look at it, someone had already moved in. Alas. I did get a nice place though. No yard and in a complex with a place on either side but very spacious. Downstairs is tiled with a "garage" type area open to the street and a teak chair to relax in the breeze, a living room and a small kitchen and bathroom. The bathroom is equipped with a hot shower and sit-down toilet because two foreigners lived there awhile ago and had them installed. It is a bit unusual for a place, so a good bonus. The stairs and all upstairs are teak, so it looks very homey and comfortable. There are two bedrooms with ceiling fans and big windows (although no balcony). Included is a good mattress and mosquito net. The phone line is already hooked up and the kitchen has dishes and stuff. There are a few items of furniture and the landlady was over this morning cleaning the place up for me, although it is pretty clean anyways. She takes care of the bills also and has a good reputation (rare among landladies). So I'm pretty excited about it. It is located right across the street from the Buddhist Temple and my next door neighbor is "Tim, the crazy Aussie" (according to Brooke). But he is a friend of Patrick's (my other co-worker). This Tim character is currently in Vietnam visiting his girlfriend and left behind him five dogs and one very cute cat which the land lady is feeding in order to prevent them from joining the roving packs of dogs that haunt the night streets of the town. The place is about a ten minute lazy bike ride down the main highway, so good roads and very close to a restaurant favored by ex-pats and the massage parlor recommended to me by Brooke (to be visited this weekend for a two hour Thai massage).

On Monday, I headed up to Umpiem Refugee Camp for my first week of teaching. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed camp. Brooke and Patrick had to go to a meeting in Bangkok and felt bad leaving me up there by myself for my first week. Although I had a lot of free time (I only teach for about 12 hours a week), I never felt lonely. After only four days with them, I am in love with my students. They are bright, intelligent and full of laughter. They talk in the same tone about their boyfriends, the football game in camp, and their father who is a soldier in the jungle who they have not seen in four years and don't expect to ever see again. Then they joke about how I have a blue nose again from the whiteboard markers and we laugh.

Camp is surprisingly cold. It is up in the mountains and gets a good breeze. I snuggle into my fleece blanket and comforter at night and will go out this weekend and buy myself a sweater. Coming back into town yesterday was like descending into a heat wave. Although I sleep warmly up in camp, I am kept awake by the sounds of the rats at night. Eventually, I am sure I will get used to it. For now, I wake up five to ten times a night, sure that, despite my snugly tucked in mosquito net, they are right by my head or ready to bite my toes (as my students tell me that they sometimes do).

The food is cooked by the students and purchased with their rations with some extra funds to cover the teacher's food. It isn't anywhere near as bad as I had thought. In fact, my blood sugars are fabulous, maybe because it is very similar from day to day.

Breakfast: Rice

Lunch: leftover Rice

Dinner: Rice.

There is always something to go with the rice and sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bland. However, because they are expensive, food is always peanut free.

I spend time at camp planning my lessons and writing in my journal. I have started several letters which I haven't yet sent and would love to have letters to read and respond to. All mail, no matter how short or insignificant would be such a pleasure for me.

My address:

Jennifer Jones (EIP)
c/o Consortium Thailand
PO Box 27
Mae Sot, Tak. THAILAND
63110

I even have a phone, although please remember that I am 16 hours ahead of Calgary and 14 hours ahead of Montreal (I think). I am in camp Monday morning (my time) to Thursday afternoon. I think you can reach me by dialing the following number from Canada:

+ 011 66 9 055 534 015

All this to say, I am having a great time, but would love to hear from you. And, of course, emails are equally good.

Have a great week!