The Grand Palace

I was sick until 5 in the morning. I felt like I was going to die, laid in bed all afternoon and all night crying wishing my mom was here taking care of me. Oh yes, 25, and I still revert to a child who wants her mother and is completely worthless when sick… Thank God my orientation roomie, Olivia, took care of me and made sure I wouldn’t die. I was so sick that we called Phillip, the guy who runs the whole program, and told him I probably would not make it the next day. Yet, still, true to my character I woke up at 7 am and met the rest of the group in the lobby ready to go at 7:30 am.

We were told to wear something long enough that it would cover our knees and something that would not show our shoulders. We were going to the Grand Palace. It was Monday, and a national holiday, it was on this day 2600 years ago that Buddha gave his first sermon (or something of the sort, I was so sick that I really can’t remember as much as I would like).

The Grand Palace was beautiful. The architecture was incredible, very ornate. We took a tour that was about an hour and a half. We got to hear all the history and all about the King, but really all that stuck out to me was that his mother was a commoner and that believe it or not the King of Thailand was born in Boston! How cool is that?

While touring around we got approached by a group of Asian people, they started speaking to me and I had no idea what they were saying. My tour guide got really upset and told them to leave. She then told me that they were asking to take a picture with me, it was kind of flattering but kind of strange. From then on I was incredibly aware of random people taking pictures of our group… how awkward!

We then got to go into the temple and look at the Buddha! I was amazed at how small it was compared to its huge temple! But again, it was beautiful! The architecture, the detail, everything, it was like nothing I have seen before.

I was also given a holly egg by a monk. Pretty cool… but it ended up in the trash at the end of the night.

When we were done with our tour we walked through some more street markets and killed time until lunch. It was while walking the tiny Thai streets, where mostly only Thai people hang out that it hit me; I’m not just a tourist, I’m not just a backpacker, for now and for the next few months I am a resident. I am Thailand resident working for the Thai Government.

We then head out to lunch to a buffet, I wasn’t feeling good so I skipped out and went back to the hotel. I went to bed very early and slept through the afternoon and night; tomorrow was the first real day of my orientation to be an English teacher in Thailand. 


Oh and here is the O.G. Crew!