An Introduction

For my fellow Midd alumni: 

Hey there. This is the blog for that thing I mentioned I was going to be doing for a year after graduating. We talked about it when we were both a little tipsy at the Last Chance Dance or maybe when we were running to Proctor in the rain right after Commencement. No, no, not Teach for America. The Fulbright! Yeah yeah. But not Spain. No, nowhere Spanish speaking. Thailand.

For my family:

This is my blog for my year teaching English in Thailand. I'll post a lot of pictures and make sure to fill you in a lot about what I'm doing. And yes, I'll download skype and viber on my phone so that we can talk on the reg. 

For everyone else: 

Hi. My name is Cody Gohl and for the next year I'm going to be living in Thailand. The Kalasin province to be exact, which is located in the Northeast of the country. For reference, take a gander at the image below (and also keep in mind that Bangkok is to the very south near the water and that Chiang Mai is in the North). 

And although the Kalasin Province is known for its sticky rice, silkworms and touristy statues (my particular favorite being that of a figure that holds a magical staff and a teapot in its hands), I will not be working specifically with any of these things. I will be teaching English to Thai students at the local school (The Yangtalad Wittayakom School) between 15-20 hours a week, as well as acting as a facilitator for clubs and tutoring students in conversational English. I'm not sure what "conversational English" means yet. Hopefully it doesn't mean that they want me to teach Thai students to talk like I do when I'm speaking with my friends, which would result in an influx of sass, lewd commentary and gurrrrrrls amongst the high schoolers. 

I'll spend the year living in a small home provided by the school that I have been promised has a rice cooker, microwave and hotplate. The Fulbright scholar who is at the school now tells me that she doesn't even notice the lizards in the house anymore!, which seems a hearty endorsement for the zany adventures and mishaps I am just 23 days away from experiencing. She also tells me there is a 7/11 within walking distance of the house, where I imagine I'll be spending most of my nights drinking slurpees alone. 

All joking aside, it's realllllllly hard to imagine that I will be leaving for Thailand in 23 days (23...WHAT?!). I am scared, nervous, excited, anxious, joyous, worried and utterly perplexed, but almost entirely ready to jump right into this experience, dragging all of you blog-readers/followers right along with me. 

I thought I'd keep this first post short and snappy, but over the next couple of weeks, I plan to write about all of the preparations that have gone into my experience thus far, as well as the journey of how I went from a college student with no Fulbright to a college student with a Fulbright and what IT ALL MEANS! 

Best,

Cody