My sixth

Today is my sixth  year anniversary here in Thailand along with  a good friend of mine, Ate Che. I actually forgot the date until I saw her FB status reminding the special date.   I remember six years ago I was so impressed on Bangkok however, I didn't have the guts to try any Thai food as I found it very smelly at first.

It took at least a month for me to adjust and tried pad ka phao ta-le which I did like very much considering I'm a spicy food fanatic. We learnt about the food just in the restaurant near our apartment in Rama 2. My palate has been used to anything spicy  before coming here having Korean food for years in my previous workplace in the Philippines  as an Academic Supervisor to a Korean owned language school.

I remember, we were the very first to live in that newly renovated apartment in Rama 2, Bangkok. We used to go to Central Rama 2 a lot for meals and shopping. We did go jogging also for a couple of times at the park at dawn. I miss those moments we had that time, that was all so fun, we didn't have to worry much and we just enjoyed our stay in Bangkok. It was also amazing though we used to work very far from home, we didn't have any  difficulty in  using  any transportation. Bus number 140 was our best friend.

We took more pictures and went to many places in the city.  We met some other friends who was here ahead of us and spent time, actually more times hanging out at Landmark's Hunstman bar as they have a Filipino band. And of course, the Sunday services at Holy Redeemer Church in Ruamrudee.

It has been six years, I guess it's too long. I looked back and assessed what the years have thought me, and actually a lot. Teaching has made me even better and the experience in teaching Thai learners is different compared to Koreans and Japanese as I used to, much as I was trained for adult teaching before coming here. The six years have given me more ability balancing the approach in dealing with young learners and adults. I've been teaching in a university in here on weekdays and with kids from pre-schoolers to high school (teenagers) at the weekends.  I realized I love kids as I love teaching adult students and that's the very distinct lesson I got in my six years of teaching in Thailand. And if I get another chance to venture another environment, or a new perspective, I think I am ready to move on and will be looking forward for another set of new encounters. When will that be? I hope soon.