2 weeks in Kutchum

First of all, it’s hot here. Really hot here in fact and I love it. Even though it is monsoon, most days it is still very warm and when the downpours of rain come it is very refreshing. This past week I have learned a lot about Thai people. At the weekend, it is perfectly acceptable to eat and sleep all day - which left myself and Ocean stuck for things to do when we were invited to our hosts house for the full weekend – fully expecting a good 2 days’ worth of activities – when in fact the only things planned were eating and sleeping – and a lot of it! The food here is not always very nice looking but it is almost always guaranteed to taste amazing.  I have tried so many different things already! We have visited lots of lovely restaurants where you can eat a full meal for 30-40 baht (about 80-90p) – it’s almost cheaper (and easier) to eat out at these places rather than cook dinner at home.

The majority of people have motorbikes as modes of transport and it is not uncommon to see 3/4 people on the one motorbike! Ocean and I have bicycles which allow us to get everywhere we want/around kutchum easily as it is not very big at all. Most people are farmers here, and cattle and chickens are often seen in peoples “gardens” and wandering about the road side. The roads here are very different from in the UK:  people drive wherever they like and the hard shoulder is always used as an extra lane, Zebra crossing - although marked clearly on the roads - are irrelevant and commonly ignored. There are also a large number of stray dogs who are free to roam the roads/streets wherever and whenever they please.

Every Wednesday there is a market, which sells absolutely everything and anything you could possibly want – it’s probably been the highlight of these past few weeks.  

This week didn't start of that so great – especially for Ocean who spent the first 3 days ill and in the inside of the rather interesting kutchum hospital. The rural hospital was where the language barrier became more apparent than ever. Describing symptoms of sickness and other not so nice things proved much harder than we had initially thought – the use of actions didn't seem to help either. After half an hour of finally putting across what was wrong with her we were finally on the way forward on the road to her recovery.  By Thursday – after a good food shop at the Tesco - she was as fit as a fiddle, almost anyway. On Thursday we were taken to the nearest city – Yasothon – to apply for our work permits, after visiting yet another hospital, to get my blood pressure etc taken, we were granted our wish of becoming teachers in Thailand and given our permit.

On Saturday, we ventured into Kutchum to do some more exploring and clothes shopping. Thai people like to remain well presented at all times and therefore they are very particular about how smart our uniforms are and even how well ironed our shirts are – yes I can now successfully use an iron! After a successful shop we are now kitted out with shirts and pencil skirts and ready to at least look like smart teachers.

The next day, Sunday, was spent doing more exploring – this time we left the safety of rural, small Kutchum and headed to Yasothon alone. We successfully managed to find our way around and even found a shopping mall, where we ate lunch and tried out some of our Thai. The waiter unfortunately didn't seem to understand much that we were saying and found the whole thing really funny, we then had to result to pointing to what we wanted and hoping we got the right thing. The day passed quickly –something that doesn't happen often here- and we then headed home to Kutchum.

Slowly but surely getting used to Thai culture and everything that comes with it. Although their lack of having any concept of time can prove very annoying - who cuts their grass at half five in the morning!? Thai people believe it or not do, waking me up every morning in the process. It has to be said though, I'm enjoying myself nonetheless and it’s all part of the experience.