My favourite part was the teaching, I was anxious on the first day, but that went by the second day. I thought I would be totally out of my depth but the support from Gotoco was amazing and I was well prepared which gave me more confidence. When working with the teachers on our last teaching day I expected this to be the hardest lesson, but I did a lot more planning and had lots of back-up ideas depending on the teachers language ability and this one went really successfully, which goes to show how vital it is to plan lessons in advance. The students were fantastic and it was a real pleasure supporting them in their learning and it helped me to understand teaching a foreign language and give me some more scope to understanding the TEFL training and actually putting it into practice.
We stayed in quite a small town which was in a rural area and it was not set up for tourists, in that there were few restaurants, no souvenirs and English signage, which made it really nice and a truly authentic taste of what life was like for local residents. I have not really experienced anything like this within my travels as most holiday destinations are geared up towards tourism. We got quite a lot of attention from the locals as they were not used to tourists which was interesting. Eating, going out and shopping like the locals was a fun experience, the food is amazing and I ate everything and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. I have eaten in Thai restaurants before, but this authentic food from markets and in local restaurants and food establishments was a genuine experience of local food as apposed to English-Thai takeaway food.
I had an amazing time on excursions in Ayutthaya, Utahi Thani and Bangkok, organised by our group leaders and also some things I had organised myself. Every experience was something new and there are plenty of things to experience, from food and markets, to modes of transport and temples galore. We also had a boat trip and a morning where we hired bicycles which were things that I didn't know were factored in to our stay. I was amazed by the temples, each very individual and unique, I was in aw when entering some of the beautiful buildings and shocked by the size of the Buddha. The people take really good care of the temples, both old ruins and more modern temples and you can see people are proud to have these vast monuments and respect them and utilize them. It was nice to see Thai tourists as well as non-Thai tourists enjoying these splendors and taking time to appreciate their history and significance to local people.
I really enjoyed our brief but fun-filled time in Bangkok, so I had the opportunity to experience a quiet culture in Uthai Thani and well as the hustle bustle of busy Bangkok for our final days in the midst of the city in China Town. Once again, our group leaders used their experience and knowledge to pick and recommend delightful eateries and gave us the best opportunities to explore together as a group and well as individually to make the most of our time. I really enjoyed every minute of my time in Thailand, it was more than I could have ever expected.
