ONE PM

At one PM we all met in the lobby of our building which is actually a large outdoor covered room with multiple, nice Picnic tables. Many other foreign students, mostly Chinese female students, are busy studying while our group takes the table closes to the door. The crazy thing is when we had a monsoon rain today – and I do mean literally because it is monsoon season- these students were still working hard away in the lobby as the rain poured down only inches from them but was still far enough away to keep their laptops dry.
The first meeting was surprisingly short. We received our first month salary and some moving in allowance, discussed very briefly a few events over the next year, and received some contact information. We walked to school which was about a fifteen minute walk to the college of Education where we will be having all our seminars over the next few weeks, and then were let free to settle in or make any purchases necessary.

Most of us ventured to MBK- A large 7 story shopping mall (Much like an overgrown pearl market for those of you who have been to China) where we all purchased very cheap Samsung phones and sim cards to be able to call one another as well as any other Thai friends we meet along the way. All of this was purchased for about 30 US dollars, plus about 15 dollars for 500 minutes. For those of you who have been to China or India you know the art of bargaining and to be very aware that your first price is usually a foreigner overcharged-let me make as much money price. Surprisingly the bargaining and price raising has not been as stiff in my previous travels. There were a few places that tried to sell these phones for 1,200 baht but we found a few who were upfront in selling them for 850 baht and some of us got the vendor down to 800 baht plus free Sim card which is only a difference of about $1.70. However we knew the vendor was making money when she went down the hall and purchased three Samsung phones and sim cards and came back to sell them to us- of the power of the middle man.

So far the day was pretty successful. We had ventured around much of our surrounding area, and I must say that so far it reminds me a lot of China- the traffic, motorcyclist on the sidewalk, some bargaining, the large buildings, the shopping center. The food is better, even though I loved Chinese food- it has a lot of the Indian spice that I love.