Settling into Bangkok

It has been three weeks since I arrived in Bangkok to start this new phase of my life as a Science Teacher at Ruamrudee International School. All the reading and advice before you move overseas does not really prepare you for coping with everything being so new. New country, city, language, job, house, life, church, friends, food, shops, transport, climate - it's all very exciting but at the same time incredibly overwhelming. How the brain processes it all I don't know!

I am really pleased with the House that I found to rent. It is a Thai style, two storey, three bedroom home in a quiet suburban village called Parkway Chalet in Minburi. I found the place thanks to the Thai maid of another teaching couple and she came with me to see the place and translated between my English and the landlady's Thai. It was a very good deal and is only a five minute drive (with a neighbour who has a car) to the school. There is a country club with pool, gym and tennis courts which I am looking forward to making good use of.

The weather is like a hot summer day in Sydney all the time and it really doesn't cool down much at all at night. The air conditioners get a real workout, although I am trying to not overuse them conscious of my carbon footprint. I do prefer this to the cold and it doesn't take too long to get used to it. You do, however, seem to be sweating all the time. There hasn't been a great deal of rain even though it is still wet season, but the couple of thunderstorms that have occurred have been pretty spectacular with very heavy rain and local flooding!

The language is going to be hard to learn as the sounds are very different. The script is even harder! So far my vocabulary is very basic; Hello (Sawadee Krap), Thank you (Korp Khun) and a few numbers such as my street address. The school is going to run a free Thai Language Course soon which I am keen to attend.

Although Taxis are very cheap compared to Australia, I am mainly using Public Transport to get around. To go to the city I catch my local bus for about 30 minutes for the equivalent of about 30 cents where I pick up a boat to travel into the city centre along the canals (called khlongs in Thai) for another 30 minutes. If there was no traffic you could do the journey by car in 35-45 minutes but there is always traffic every day, every night!

I am enjoying getting to know my colleagues at RIS, especially the fellow new staff and the members of the science department. People are being very friendly and I have been out a lot in the first three weeks, either to restaurants in the area, other people's houses or down to the city. It certainly helps to have people to talk to as you are settling in.