We've moved!

I've packed up all of my Teacher Meets World posts and moved over to a cosy new blog-home at Monna McD. Please join us there.

In praise of blogger... and my new blog!

Part 1: In Praise of Blogger
As if it was not enough that DP and I changed continents (and schools, apartments, wardrobes and languages) in July of 2009, I found myself wanting to give my blog a makeover as well.

It must have been the peer pressure... so many people were buying their own domain names and jumping to Word Press. I even went so far as to contact a couple of people, including the intrepid Nomadic Matt, about how I would manage such a move.

Finally, my case of temporary blog-improvement-insanity passed permitting me to stop, slow down and prioritize what I really wanted in a blog:

1. A "brand" new blog name
I was searching for a blog name that would transcend both my work (teaching/counseling) and my home (Barcelona or Bangkok or wherever) so I have chosen my very own name: Monna McD. My crazy Scottish last name is too challenging for most people to pronounce correctly so McD seemed like a great short form. In the end, I decided not to pay an annual for something that Blogger provides for free and I have created a new blog called monnamcd.blogspot.com

2. Two blogs in one
The next thing on my wish list was a format that would bring together both my current blog Teacher Meets World and my former blog Barcelona Moments. Blogger has a feature that allowed me to export both of these blogs onto my desktop and then import them into the newly created Monna McD, complete with comments and labels. This took me, literally, 15 minutes.

3. A page of their own: About, FAQ, Travel Itinerary and Links
Currently, I have much of this information running down my sidebar and I find it cluttered and distracting. I wanted the ability to create a separate page for each of the following: About Me, Frequently Asked Questions, Links and our Travel Itinerary. This is one of the reasons that I found the tabs on Word Press so appealing. After some experimentation, I learned that I could open a new blogger blog for each of my four topics and link each back to my primary blog. I have turned off comments and removed the side bar.

4. A shiny new header
In that sweet, demure way that I am so famous for, I asked DP... and he made me a new header in thirty minutes. This is not the final header but it's great for now. I've also had my first Photoshop class! (Please be warned... I am going to be a photoshop machine!)

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the kind and super-smart folks at Blogger for designing a platform straightforward enough for me to solve all of my own problems without spending a dime.


Part 2: Introducing Monna McD, the blog!
My new blog, Monna McD, is not a bouncing, new, baby-blog at all but a continuation of Teacher Meets World... and it contains every blog post I have ever written with the exception of those on Slow Blogs. I know... this is the kind of news that some bloggers lead up to for weeks but, honestly, one post is all that anyone should have to read about another blogger's platform/hosting dilemmas and epiphanies.

Technical Stuff: How do you subscribe to the new blog?

If you subscribe through a reader:
If you use a reader, such as Google Reader, then you are savvy enough to add a subscription to monnamcd.blogspot.com and then delete Teacher Meets World. Thanks! (Please e-mail me if you need any help!)

If your receive new TMW blog posts via e-mail:
If you currently subscribe to TMW by e-mail, you will find that I have used your current subscription e-mail address to sign you up for the new blog. You will receive an e-mail shortly and all you have to do is click on the hyper-link to confirm that you would like to subscribe to the new blog via e-mail.
A word of WARNING: This subscription e-mail may go into your spam because it is not a recognized email address but it is definitely not spam and it will not harm your computer. Simply open it, click on the link and you will receive Monna McD in your inbox in exactly the same way that you currently receive Teacher Meets World.

This will be the last post in this blog space but there will be no tears because nothing important is changing for you or for me. See you all over at Monna McD.

Cheers,
Monna

Europe, I miss you!

DP is totally comfortable in Bangkok... he was relaxed from the moment we arrived. He wears the chaos and the disorder of Thailand like a second skin. He never seems to mind the uneven stones in the sidewalk or the way that water sometimes squirts out from under the pavement when you step in the wrong spot. The behaviour of rude (and let's be honest... ever-so-slightly corrupt) taxi drivers doesn't faze him... nor does the heat that hovers around 32 degrees Celsius. When it rains, which is practically every day in the rainy season, he just rolls up his pant legs and wades through our street which becomes a river.

(There... I've just listed all of the things that bother me about living in Bangkok. Not so bad, right?)

I admire DPs ability to adapt so quickly and I often (as in, daily) wish that I were as skilled as he at forming that casual shrug of the shoulders. That exquisite letting go of the things we cannnot change. He is my Yoda.

Before I am tempted to be too hard on myself, I must also acknowledge that the chaos and unpredictability of South East Asia is actually DP's preference. It is not mine. When we moved to Europe from Monterrey, I never looked back. Although I missed our school and the students and our friends, I never missed the city. I did not miss the cockroaches, the construction workers hanging from billboards without safety belts, or how traffic laws were regarded as guidelines at best. "Goodbye, bedlam," I said. "Adios."

I emerged from the womb craving order (some would say that I demanded it) and I'm quite certain that I am not the only Canadian who suffers from this particular affliction. When I was in university, my girlfriends and I made a list of things that made us happy; there were hundreds of items (in alphabetical order, no less) and we decorated our residence suite with these lovely, happy-making lists. I wonder, now, if I thought to include relatively mundane items such as friendly and efficient service in restaurants and stores and government offices, or mail that arrives on time, or well-maintained sidewalks. I expect not because, in my early twenties, I was blissfully unaware that most of the world's population lives without those luxuries. That was my age of innocence.

Europe is certainly not consistently efficient or clean and Europeans don't always wear their lovely manners like white gloves at afternoon tea. But Europe was, for me, knowable. I could decipher Barcelona and I could normally predict what would happen next. We had been in Latin America for many years so I often had a reference point for how things worked in Spain. As an amateur anthropologist, living and travelling in Europe, in particular the U.K., provided me a better sense of how Canada developed as a colony.

Aside from the question of understanding how and why things worked the way they did, I simply loved Europe. I adored it. I loved the cafe-life... and the sitting on benches in plazas while little children played soccer... and going to the cinema in Barcelona and Paris and finding my tribe of like-minded people who would never speak out loud or answer their mobile phone during the film. (Sigh.) I wore Europe like a second skin that glowed with health and happiness. Europe was my deeply-held preference.

As a blogger, I read a number of interesting and entertaining blogs written by kindred spirits engaged in courageous acts of travel and living overseas. Unfortunately, from time to time, a travel blogger will boast, or insinuate, complete open-mindedness to all new experiences that the world has to offer. Fiction, I think to myself. Fiction. Ex-pats and travellers are humans, after all. We need to know ourselves... and to be honest about our preferences and the stuff that makes us crazy... in order to live well and prosper in new places and cultures. The truth is that there are bad days on the road. (It's not just the competitors on "The Amazing Race" who bicker when travelling.) Ultimately, there are some cities that take our breath away and others to which we respond, "Good, not great." So far, I'm at "good, not great" with Bangkok.

I miss you, Europe. That doesn't mean that I won't grow to love Bangkok as well but it might take a little while. DP, on the other hand, is already there.

If you are dreaming about greener fields today, check out Mondays are for Dreaming at Mara's blog, The Mother of all Trips.

How to Enjoy the Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok

Bangkok's famous shopping destination Chatuchak is not a mall so please don't go expecting a lovely air-conditioned mini-vacation from the heat. The Chatuchak Weekend Market, also known as J.J., is more like a city, covering 35 acres of land. A chaotic jumble of more than 5,000 stores, stalls and tiny outdoor restaurants squeezed in between vendors this is, without question, one of my favourite places in Bangkok.

Our lovely friend Jenny, from our Mexico days, volunteered to take us on our first trip. This was an especially generous offer as Chatuchak is some people's idea of hell on earth. It doesn't need to be, though, if you follow some very simple suggestions.

1. Go early in the morning
Aim to arrive at Chatuchak at around 9:15 a.m. Most shops will be open or just opening by then.

2. Take the MRT (Underground)
The squeaky clean and efficient underground system, known as the MRT, stops in the heart of the market at Station Suan Chatuchak (Chatuchak Park). If you take the BTS (sky train) and get off at the Mo Chit Station, you will have a bit of a walk to reach the market and you will not to arrive at Chatuchak sweaty.

3. Hydrate often
You can take a bottle of water with you or buy bottled water at the market.


4. Wear a hat (or use an umbrella)
It's Thailand. The planet is warming up. Enough said.

5. Bring a map (and a list of things you are looking for)
Nancy Chandler's Map of Bangkok has a section devoted to Chatuchak. The market is so enormous that in four hours, we covered less that one quarter of the market. The map will also help you plan your shopping route as it is labeled with different types of stores such as furniture and ceramics.


6. Barter
The vendors will expect you to barter. Take a moment and think about what this item is worth and what you are willing to pay for it. Have some fun but always be respectful of the vendor as this is his/her livelihood.


7. If you find something you love, buy it then.
Even with your map, you may never find your way back to that shop.

8. Take a break to eat
About noon, I was feeling a bit market-weary, so we chose a little restaurant situated under a cluster of trees. We sampled the pad thai (with chicken, no shrimp, please) and, as the orders were large, we shared two plates between the three of us. More amazing pad thai! This was also a good opportunity to rest under the cool shade of the trees.


9. Enjoy your day
Stop and watch a man doing magic tricks with carnation milk. Ask the vendor some questions about where his/her goods were made... and how. Take photographs. This is some of the best people-watching I have encountered in Thailand.

10. Know when it is time to go home
We hopped in a taxi at about 1:30 p.m. We had bought a set of dishes, drinking glasses, a large painting on four panels for our dining room and numerous other precious bits so we hired a woman with a cart to take our purchases down the road to the taxi stand.


Have you ever been to an outdoor market like this one? What strategies did you employ to get the most out of your day?

Friend Called Felicity

I spent all of this past weekend in a classroom. Friday. Saturday. Sunday.

I was learning how to teach IB English and there were times that I felt just like my Year 12 students do... bored, squirmy, frustrated.

Then, happily, our workshop presenter introduced a poem called Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle Received from a Friend Called Felicity by John Tobias. You can read it here.

For a few minutes, I was transported to summers past. Real or not, the memories are vivid.

Tell us about your favourite memories of summer.

Beach Chair Wishes

I have this thing for wooden beach chairs

I love how they look
all battered
and grey
and solid
like small ships stranded
on the shore.

I love how they feel
when I lean back hard
with my body
and tuck up my feet.
Worries seep out
of my bones
into the wood,
into the sand,
into the sea.
I set them sailing.

I love to think about
the people
who've sat here...
who they were
and what they wished for
and where they are now.

(Did their wishes come true?
Will mine?)

Of all the chairs
in the world,
these wooden chairs
are my favourite.
Better even than the chairs
at Versailles.

Pad Thai on the Beach: Mondays are for Dreaming

My friend Anna left a comment on my post, Afternoon Light. She said that I should have taken some photographs of the pad thai we ate while we on Koh Samed. When I read her comment, I laughed aloud. How could she have known my pad thai secrets? Not only had I taken the pad thai photographs (I love to photograph our food even though this is sometimes annoying for DP who would prefer to be eating his food!) but I had also planned to post them today.

Our pad thai (ordered with chicken, no shrimp) was brought directly to our beach chairs. It tasted every bit as amazing as it looks... served with peanuts and a twist of lime.

Everything you could possibly want to know about pad thai can be found at the food blog Chez Pim.

Hungry yet? Tell us about a memorable meal from your travels.

Koh Samed Afternoons

Last weekend we were on the island of Koh Samed, about three hours from Bangkok. The place where we stayed was not posh or exclusive. There were no Thai men in starched white uniforms to move our beach chairs and tables. It was perfect. We stayed in a little bungalow with a wooden porch just off the beach. We lived without alarm clocks and internet. It was the first time in a long time that we travelled without our computers. On Saturday afternoon, we walked down the beach and bought a chocolate and banana crepe (called roti here). As we walked back towards our hotel, we saw that the local restaurant owners were scurrying about, moving tables and chairs indoors. They all knew what was happening before we even saw the clouds. Moments later, the clouds broke open and a warm rain washed over us. It was wonderful.

This weekend we are at home in Bangkok, catching up on work. What are your plans for this glorious weekend?

Afternoon Light

It was a few minutes before two o'clock on Sunday afternoon and there were about twenty of us waiting for the speedboat that would transport us from Koh Samed, Thailand to the mainland. Some of our teacher-friends were sitting in teak chairs gazing out at the sea. We were finishing our lunch - an amazing plate of pad thai with peanuts and chicken. Those with children were trying to keep their kids out of the water, out of the sun, out of trouble. Frankly, it's pretty hard to keep little ones out of both water and sun when you're waiting on a beach that's been like your living room for the past two days.

I, for one, was glad that she ran out into the sun for a moment.

On the Beach

We've been to two Thai beaches in the past two weeks: Phuket and Kho Samed. In both cases, we left school at 2:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon and arrived at the resort around 7 p.m. We flew to Phuket. The journey to Kho Samed involved a three-hour bus ride followed by a 20-minute trip on a speedboat. (I was a bit scared on the speedboat as we sped through the inky darkness, exploding on our own waves. DP squeezed my hand and said I was doing fine.) Phuket was ridiculously posh. Kho Samed was lovely and rustic. I got sunburned in Phuket and in Kho Samed, I was far more cautious, covering up on Saturday and applying sun block more liberally. In Phuket we dined in an old colonial mansion where a waiter laid starched linen napkins across our laps. In Kho Samed, we ate enchilladas at a long table on the beach, my flip flops discarded and my toes burrowed deep into the cool sand. Strung from tree branches above us, coloured lights swayed gently in the breeze as we played "Connect 4" and "Jenga" at the dinner table.

Both weekends were perfect in their own salty-sweet way.

I was not born a beach person. I am not concerned with issues like an even tan. I most like the beach late at night and early in the morning. Or in the rain. I love the sound of the waves kissing the sand... and the sometimes crashing of sea against shore, that loud insistent way that the sea makes itself known. I love the smell of salt water and the reflection of the moon on the sea. I like my beaches quiet. Calm.

The beach is going to be an important character in the story of our Bangkok lives. We work hard here... and we will need the escape. I took my computer to neither beach. Those who know me will marvel at my new level of unplugged-ness but it's helpful right now as we try to find a balance between work and play, land and sea.

I've started taking some photos again after a brief summer hiatus and, over the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting some beach shots. Bringing the beach to you.

Bangkok at Night

This shot is from DP. Bangkok sparkles at night.

First Breath of Bangkok

I didn't know how to begin. (And I didn't feel very Zen about it either.)


I didn't know how to begin telling you about Bangkok. I've been away from this little blog space for weeks while we have moved continents and so much has happened... Finally, I thought that I should just dive in. Here are some moments from our first few weeks in Bangkok...

1. We left Ottawa at 6:40 a.m. on a Friday morning. Three flights and two layovers... four hours in Chicago and four hours in Tokyo. We landed in Thailand at midnight on Saturday night. Practically Sunday. This is not a journey for the faint of heart.


2. When we first arrived in Bangkok, we lived in a hotel for 10 days. A man held the door open for us every time we arrived or departed. We ate brunch in the hotel restaurant. I told DP that I thought maybe we could live there. He didn't think so.


3. We started new teacher orientation on our third day in Bangkok. The other new people seem lovely. The school is enormous and well equipped. It has a gym and a theatre and a performance studio and a multi-purpose hall and several fields. We feel very fortunate.

4. For a several days we lived in an apartment a few floors above the one we've rented while it was cleaned and painted. I chose to paint one wall of our bedroom bright red. I'm not sure if this is auspicious or not.

5. Last weekend, we took a trip to the ancient city of Ayutaya where there were once more than 400 temples. The area with the highest concentration of ruins is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.








6. It's true. The traffic in Bangkok is bad. Horrific at times. (We read a guidebook that explained that the way to enjoy Bangkok is to drink lots of water and avoid rush hour.) We will not be driving a car here. Ever.


7. Most days we walk to school. It's about a ten minute walk because I am not a fast walker at the best of times and I have to be particularly careful as the sidewalks here are a bit treacherous. I actually ripped one of my favourite shirts on a garbage can on the first day of school. Oops. On Tuesday morning we took our building's tuk-tuk to school. We left the apartment at 6:35 a.m. Ouch!

8. Every day we come home to a plastic container of fresh fruit, cut up by our maid, in the fridge. We have had watermelon, pineapple, langsat and pomelo.

9. The sun sets earlier than it did in Barcelona. Here's the view from our apartment.


10. We feel strangely at home already. I'll keep telling you my stories...

New York Memories in Black and White

1. Crossing Broadway near Ellen's Stardust Diner
2. View of Manhattan from The River Cafe in Brooklyn
3. Entering the Gershwin Theater to see Wicked
4. Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge with Santi
5. Grand Central Park the night the New York Philharmonic played

My week in New York was simply amazing! There's so much to say but I think I'll let the photos tell the story.

I can't believe how quickly the summer is passing... DP is back from the west coast where he was taking a course for his Masters... and we leave for Thailand in just three days. (Ack! Yes... I am both excited and nervous!)

What has been your favourite part of this summer?

Change is worth the risk

I want to be the kind of woman who can juggle one million things with grace and style. I want to finish off my work this week, say good-bye to our dear friends in Barcelona, pack up the apartment, return emails, do the laundry and maybe even blog a little. The truth is that this perfect woman does not exist (really she doesn't... the pressure is off!) so I'm going to give myself a little break and focus on essentials for the next couple of weeks.

I'll be back here by mid-July, blogging from my ancestral home of Canuck-landia... and also from New York City. There will be Bangkok blogging by August.

In the mean time, here are some images that I shot from inside the Cafe du Marche on Rue Cler in Paris. DP and I were in Paris for three days over the weekend and this was the one and only time it rained. The staff scurried about, unrolling the huge sheets of plastic that protected the diners from the downpour. Waterproofed, we tucked into our meal of roast chicken and lovely profiteroles covered in chocolate and cream... and then I took some cool street shots through the plastic. You never know what cool things will happen (grow, develop, unfold) if you just take the risk. If you leap!


What risks are you taking right now?

Everyday Lovely, Issue 6

Three boys check out the yellow dinghies at a shop in the Costa Brava town of Calella. Oh... how I wanted an ice cream cone! Summer is so lovely.

What's been everyday lovely in your world? (You can link to your blog or a flickr photo... or leave me a comment below.)