Floating in the Gulf of Siam

Fair House Resort, Chaweng Noi, Koh Samui

What I most looked forward to on Koh Samui, an island in the Gulf of Siam (Teluk Siam to the Thai, the Gulf of Thailand to those living in the Western World) was floating in the sea. The transition from land to sea is relatively seamless because the water is body temperature at least. I stop at this resort, Fair House (passing by the gate keeper without question) on my way home from school, discard my belongings and the stresses of the day on the sand and walk straight into the gulf. When all the other crazy conditions and consequences of living here (mostly financial) weigh heavily, floating in the sea balances me. I cant say it’s why I am here, but it’s important.

In many ways, unless you arrive straight to a beach resort and never see the backside of the facade (never experience what its like to live as a Thai person), Samui is not a paradise, though the sea and the resorts attempt to trick you into believing it is so. Like every other place on earth, greed is a major driving force that I cannot escape until I am willing to live even more primitively. Even here on Samui I don’t have a motorbike or a cell phone like everyone else including my 11 year old students. So, perhaps I live even more primitively than the Thai, well, except that I live in a hotel and havent quite managed to shake my computer addiction. So far the amenities the hotel offers far outweigh the $60 per month savings of living in a bungalow, but I’m still looking.

Panaydee, the British School of Samui

My classroom (the music room for now until renovations have been completed–and it’s Thailand after all, this may take a very long time) is on the second floor. I teach year 7, all subjects (English, Maths, Geography, History, Physics, Chemistry and Biology). I have 5 students, but have met only 3 so far as 2 of them are on holiday still. I have 4 girls and one boy. Their nationalities are: Korean, German, Welsh, Belgian, and New Zealand. All of them, with the exception of the Korean, are 1/2 Thai. Despite the fact that I am overwhelmed by the curriculum, I have never felt so at home on the first day of a job ever. The other teachers have been extremely friendly and helpful and the Thai staff have given me tastes of the spiciest food I have ever encountered. I think they just like to see my reaction, “can you eat?”  “Can, but just one bite!” And they are pleased that I can do even that. Teacher Sharon says “you can eat any time of day here at this school, but I wouldn’t advise it.”  Here we are “Teacher Laurie” as opposed to the Korean “Laurie Teacher.”

I have been either too tired or too busy to go see my friends the Rastamonkeys (reggae group) but I ran into Pond yesterday and he bought me ice cream and introduced me to a man with a bungalow. He chose the strangest ice cream sandwich for himself–small purple scoops on a hotdog bun. Mine was served in a white plastic cup embossed with the waffling of a real cone. Nobody here really thinks about plastic or pollution and sometimes I even wonder why bother; it’s not going to change no matter how small my carbon footprint and I cant discount the greenhouse-gas emissions of my flight here, but I can, at least  float in the beautiful sea.