The Big C

Monday 24th October

A 50 Baht ride on a Tuk tuk dropped us at the Big C for the first of what I feel will be many visits to this large shopping mall. It was an interesting experience though with many of locals stopping to stare at us with the whispers of 'farang.' Farang is the Thai word for foreigner and it is something I expect to hear a lot in my time in Thailand. Along with Jenny, Tim, Lindsay and Karen we sat to have a meal at a restaurant. Although I was sure I had ordered food it never showed up and after trying to ask where my food was I was only given a plate of green noodles. I gave up and went to the supermarket to buy some bananas and apples to eat for dinner. I will be learning some Thai just so I get to eat food.
We took a walk around the Big C to get some items then rode in a tuk tuk back to the school. While walking through the school grounds at night getting back to our rooms Tim almost stepped on a huge lizard. Thinking it was just part of the play equipment he stopped to have a second look when it started to move, then it started to move fast. It would have to be the biggest lizard I have ever seen. It was almost as long as me and bigger than the ones in Australia. The close encounter with the giant lizard got everyones heart pumping and made us check every step back to the rooms.
Having woken up early this morning I went for a wander around the school yard and then out the gate in the opposite direction to where we had gone last night. There must have been close to one hundred people at the school sweeping the yards even though I am pretty sure it was a public holiday and the school will not be open again until next week. The school was full of life all day with basketball training, swimming practice and what seemed to be cheerleading practice.
Once we were all awake we again visited the Big C. I purchased a new camera to replace the one I lost the other night. Tim and the girls decided to visit Phuket for the week because Tim's parents are holidaying there at the moment. I only just stayed in Phuket a couple of weeks ago so I decided not to go and instead get somewhere tomorrow on the train. I will most likely visit Lopburi where many of the other interns have been placed.
The rest of the crew left and I went to visit an internet cafe to update this blog and in the ten seconds I was on Facebook the boy next to me who was probably only ten had sent me a friend request just by copying my name. I quickly escaped and went about updated the blog which I am guessing had too many English words because he did not seem interested. The level of English among the locals does not seem to be all that high so classes are going to be interesting.