Welcome to Thailand Part 2: Once More, With Pictures

Okay, I know I said I was going to get on to the real deal with teaching in Thailand with this post, but I just recovered some pictures that I thought were lost forever, and with them I also found some more things I wanted to talk about from orientation.

This is Kanchanaburi, where you can not only ride elephants, but have them lift you up with their trunks or give you a massage, watch them play basketball, and feed them bananas. If they don't drop the bananas, which is exactly what the baby elephant in the photo did, right before the picture was taken. He found it eventually, though.

About that white string around my wrist: There's a traditional Thai welcome ceremony which was part of the second day of orientation. There were candles and incense, and each of the orientation participants went up to a row of chairs where our Thai hosts (OEG, not our individual schools) were sitting. You kneel in front of them, hold out your hands, and one of the Thai hosts ties the white string around your wrist, giving you a sort of blessing as they do so. The man tying the string around my wrist said something about being safe as I travel, making friends, finding inspiration, and always looking back on this experience as a good one throughout my life. You're supposed to leave the string on for three days for good luck. It was a sweet little ceremony. I can't think of anything so polite and welcoming that we do in America!

And, in case those of you who are acquainted with my fear of heights are doubting I actually rode an elephant, here is the proof:

Not nearly as bad as climbing the open stairs in the HFAC at BYU, in spite of all the rocking involved when you're riding an elephant.

This is my favorite photo from the trip to the Grand Palace:

But of course, that was earlier in the week. When we got back from Kanchanaburi, we went straight to meet with our school coordinators and head off to different parts of the country--and have the true adventure begin. :)