First Impressions of Thailand...

I would LOVE to write a ton about everything we're experiencing so far, but this is going to be all for now. We still do not have internet at home, and I don't like to spend too much time on the school computers.

So, anyway, here are a few of our first impressions:

• Tricia strangely finds comfort in the very cracked sidewalks. (A lot like Uzbekistan).
• Matt thinks the city is dirty, but Tricia thinks it's fairly clean.
• There are TONS of dogs everywhere, dirty ones. (No, they don't eat them because it might be their great-grandfather.) The school dogs who hang out near our house are Nipples and Dale.
• The food is really great, and we haven't had anything unbearably spicy so far. We do always feel hungry though.
• The school is pretty unorganized, and we wondered if they had forgotten we were coming... but, after asking some other teachers, we found out that it's normal.
• Apparently there is a giant King Cobra who lives near our house. This has me pretty scared.
• Fresh fruit is amazing!
• There is a 7-11 not far from the school that we will frequent.
• Tricia's favorite "treat" so far: "Caffe Yen"+ Iced Coffee, Thai style. Definitely doesn't come close to starbucks, but it's a fair substitute, especially for 50 cents.
• We've been to an outdoor market and were very impressed with the selections.
• We've been to a Wal-Mart type store and were very impressed with the selections.
• The nearby shopping center has a lot of American things: McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Swensen's (Ice cream), Starbucks, etc. This is very strange to Tricia, but we are both glad to have an option to go to if we really want something more "familiar".
• Thai people are very sweet and welcoming. "The Land of Smiles" is a true description.
• Matt is starting his classroom from scratch, except for the fact that the back of his room is a storage area for the future Thai library... He starts teaching on Monday and will have to spend a lot of time getting his room to look nice.
• My classroom looks pretty close to an "American" classroom.

Okay, that's all for now... we will try to post pictures soon!