วันสุดท้าย ทำงาน

สวัสดีค่ะ
วันนี้ วันสุดท้าย ทำงาน
แครีไม่สบาย ตลอดวัน อยากจะร้องไห้ เพราะว่า ยัง ไม่ พร้อม กลับ บ้าน ค่ะ
ฉัน คิดถึง นุ่น และ ทุกคน ที ออฟฟิศ
คิดถึง แมว ที่อยู่ ร้านอาหาร ตรงข้าม ออฟฟิศ
คิดถึง กมล บ่น ทุกๆเช้า เพราะว่า แครี่ ขี้ลืม และ พูด สวัสดีค่ะ สบายดีไหม ไม่เป็น ค่ะ
คิดถึง ทุกคนอยู่ที่บ้าน
คิดถึง ทางเดินที่ท่าเรือ
คิดถึง คน ขายอาหาน ใกล้บ้าน
เมื่อเช้าฉันได้รับ ของขวัญ จาก เพื่อน ที่ ออฟฟิศ
เป็น เสื้อ กางเกง และ หนังสือ ตำรากับข้าว
ใน 1 เล่ม มี 2 ภาษา ภาษาไทย และ ภาษาอังกฤษ
ชอบมากมากค่ะ
เมื่อ แครี่ กลับมา แครี่ อาจจะทำกับข้าวได้
ตอนนี้ ถ้า แครี่ ทำกับข้าว ทุกๆ จานจะไหม้ ไม่อร่อย
แครี่ดีใจมาก
แม่ของแครี่ อาจจะ ไม่ดีใจ เพราะว่า ตอนนี้ แครี่ อยากจะ ยืมเตาแก๊ซ
ฉันคิดว่าแม่ กังวลเกี่ยวกับ บ้าน ลุกติดไฟ ค่ะ
ตอนนี้ แครี่ ต้องการ ทำความ สะอาด โต๊ะ ทำงาน
ไม่ชอบ อยากจะร้องไห้ เพราะว่า อาจจะ คิดถึง คุยกับ ทุกคนที่ ออฟฟิศ ด้วย ค่ะ

ตอนนี้ แครี่ คิดว่า ปีหน้า อยาก จะกลับมา กรุงเทพฯ
อยากจะไปเที่ยวที่ ภาคหนือ และ อันดามัน
อยาก จะ เห็น น้ำตก ทีลอซู และ ไป เรือยาง อีก ครั้ง ค่ะ
อยาก จะ ไปหา เพื่อน อยู่ที เกาะ เสม็ด และ ดำน้ำลึก ค่ะ
ฉัน ตื่นเต้น ไปพบเพื่อน และ ครอบครัว ที่ อังกฤษ ตื่นเต้น จะไปดูบอล วันที่ 26 ธันวาคม ด้วย แต่ อยาก จะกลับมา กรุงเทพฯ

Going to write this is English too...
in a bit... when I get round to it...
as the guys in my office always say....

'coming soon.........'

Today was my last day at work - well the last day this year, but it feels like the last day ever. Its been a very strange day. In some ways its been a normal day (sat in the office, checked my mail, nattered to my friend Noon on MSN, went over the road for Tom Yam soup for lunch with 2 of the guys from the office and watched our channel's flagship program 'Thailand Weekly.') In other ways its been strange. It was my friend Noon's birthday today, and the office that I work in was quieter than normal as the gobbiest of the Thai guys, Kamon, wasn't around. I spent most of the day trying to tidy my desk and organise my stuff, but the more I went through things the more I kept thinking back to when I first came over here, the October before last.

I've been feeling very mixed up and have spent most of the day wanting to cry... I still can't believe that I'm really going home on Sunday. Like really, really, really going home.... The last year and a bit has gone horribly fast, and it doesn't seem that long ago that I go off the plane in Bangkok, armed with a suitcase full of how to 'teach english' books and not quite sure how / whether I'd get through the CELTA course that I'd planned to study. A hell of a lot has happened since then.

Part of me wants to go home. I want to see my nan, grandad, auntie dot, sister, Dave (bf) and my friends. I wanna see my mum and dad too (but am not that desperate to see them, as they came out here for a week or so a month ago), and I want to go watch Sheff U play footie again. As long as my plane lands on time, I plan to go see Sheffield United V Norwich with my dad on the day that I get
back.

In other ways I don't really wanna go. I've fell in love with the chaos of Bangkok. I love the colourful, crowded streets, the street food (which often tastes waaaay better than the food in the 'hi-so' restraunts), and the fact that Bangkok seems more alive (day and night) than Sheffield, Liverpool or even London (the 3 english cities I've spent most time in) ever has.

I've also started to get used to things here. I like the little room where I live. I don't mind having to take a freezing cold shower every morning and I like the guy who works in my apartment block who can't speak much English but, some how or other, after seeing me wear my Sheff Utd top, has managed to learn to say 'I like Reading. Reading are number 1' - his pronunciation being word perfect

I walk to Pinklao boat pier every morning, and love seeing the people on the street selling food, scarves, 2nd hand clothing, stationary (you name it... theres someone on Pra Pinklao that will sell it) on the roadside. My journey to work - a 10 minute walk with a 5 minute hop across the Choapraya river sandwiched in between makes me wonder why on earth I ever used spend up to 1 1/2 hours changing buses and trains and struggling to get across London everyday...

I also like the people I work with. Theres a kind of confused understanding between us. They're all really kind and friendly and, although they tease and make fun of me everyday - their teasing has helped me learn some (but not much) Thai. Although most people can't understand me when I try speaking in Thai, after a year of being in Bangkok I can now - just about - get food, tell taxi drivers where I live, find out where the toilet is and more importantly, get beer and whiskey. Its only in the last couple of weeks that I've started to realise that my crap Thai is nowhere near as bad as I thought it was... OK, its still pretty crap, but every so often I manage to find someone who can understand me...

There's loads of things that people do in Bangkok that no one would ever do at home. For instance, sitting in the park by work drinking beer (something only the homeless alchos do at home), drinking beer with ice, or whiskey with ice and soda (at home this would be seen as a waste of booze - and you would be seen as a wuss for daring to suggest that whiskey might taste better, and beer might keep cool longer if its watered down a touch), singing karaoke, or taaking a guitar, a bunch of mates and an icebox full of beer to the beach, sharing food and getting to try 4-5 different tasting dishes each time you go to eat.. the list is endless - and I'm soooo gonna miss doing / seeing all of them....

The things I think I'm gonna miss most are:-
- My Friend Noon. I don't know how I'd get through work without our MSN conversations and giggley gossiping sessions. Today's her birthday, and have been trying hard to be cheerful all day, though a couple of hours ago she told me that she was gonna miss me and I've been bawling my eyes out ever since.

- The people in the office. They have their good days and bad days. On a bad day I struggle to understand them and feel really stupid and embarrassed that they are using simple words and I still can't work out what they are on about... On a good day they can all be total sweethearts, and would do anything to help you... This morning a couple of the guys in my office gave me leaving presents - a traditional style top and pants and a Thai cook book. I ws sooooo pleased with them both - especialy with the cookbook as I have spent a week or so complaining that I will freeze and starve to death when I go home, as English food tastes horrible compared to Thai food. I really want to learn how to cook Thai food - though, once I'm at home, I'm not sure that my mum and dad will be too keen to let me. Whenever I try to cook, my mother gets frightened that I will burn the house down.

- The animals that live in the restraunts around Pinklao and Banglumpoo. A couple of months ago I thought I'd fallen in love with a kitten called 'To-Lek.. - thai for little one...' Now the kitten's cat sized and its mother's already given birth to 2 more. They're too young to have names (their eyes are only just starting to open) but they are unbelievable cute. I'll really miss going to cuddle the cats every day, and having my morning curry and coffee with them.

- Beer Leo, iced coffee, hot water with Ginger, iced lemon tea, Tom Yam Nam sai, pad prik gprapow, sooper, yam hed, yam woomsen, laab, namtok... probably my fave thai drinks and dishes - though everytime I eat Thai food I discover more thngs that I like...)

- My friends. Esp. Noon and Tuk, my old neighbour - who insisted on teaching me how to sing her favourite karaoke songs, tried to show me how to arrange flowers (she quickly gave up on that one) and helped me loads when I was trying to learn how to read Thai.

I guess its been a weird year. In some ways its been really hard. The teaching course was a good laugh but for me (someone's who can be quite shy and not used to standing in front of people and talking a lot) very difficult. Somehow or other I survived the beer chang filled evenings and the daily teaching practise and critical evaluations and scraped my pass... I made 2 great friends on the course, Mo, (now back in Korea) and Ricky, who, when the course finished asked me to be her roomate. Teaching at the school was nightmarishly scarey at first, and there have been times at work
where I've burst into tears as theres only so much teasing I can take...

In June, Ricky - my roomate, and my closest friend here by miles and miles, died and I spent several months feeling very down and lonely, hanging around work till all hours in the morning - frightened to go for beers on Khao San or back home to my room, in case I broke down in tears... I really, really missed my friends at home (it doesn't matter how friendly people are (and Thai people are probably the smiliest and friendlist people in the world) - sometimes you need to talk to someone you feel close to, and, at the time Ricky died, I didn't feel there was anyone in Bangkok I wanted to talk to or hang out with...)

Trips away (including a rafting trip to Phitsanulok, and a couple of days in Ayuthaya) were fun but didn't stop me missing her, and being moody and getting upset when I realised that she wasn't, (and
never would be), around...

Now, I've just started to find my feet again. I've got a nice set of friends here (Noon esp...), have just started to enjoy going out again, and chatting with other backpackers and foreigners who, like me, came to Bangkok and have somehow or other never quite got round to leaving... Now it feels like everything's over (or will be on Sunday) waaaaay too soon. I don't really wanna go home - and don't really feel ready to go home just yet...

In other ways its been a brilliant year. I've seen, heard, learnt and done so many things I never thought I ever would... I've seen some awesome scenery and places - mountains, beaches, islands, rivers, waterfalls, swamps, lakes, cities, temples, palaces, traditional thai houses on stilts and floating villages; some amazing animals - monkeys that can open coke bottles and prefer drinking pepsi to water, huge and tiny snakes, colourful tropical fish and giant lizards. I've learnt to teach English, had people help me learn to speak, write and read Thai, been rafting, snorkelling, kayaking, diving and trekking - all in just over a year. Its been incredible really... I've had so many amazing experiences and met so many friendly people. I can't quite imagine getting on the plane on Sunday and being back in cold, rainey England.

But... guess I'll be back in Bangkok next year. I have to come back as there's so many things I still want to do. I still want to see the north and the north east, I want to go trekking around Umpang and see Tirosu waterfall, I want to go back to Ko Samet and go diving and I want to travel down the Andaman coast - to Phuket, Krabi, Ko Phi Phi and Trang.

I also promised some of the guys in the office that I'd help them with their English, and that I'd bring some English biccies back for them too.

I keep wanting to cry - but at the same time keep thinking that I won't be home for that long, and keep looking forward to being back here next year and doing all the things I've planned...

Hope everyone has a cool Christmas and a great New Year and see you all back here sometime in Jan...

Create Date : 23 ธันวาคม 2548		5 comments
Last Update : 28 ธันวาคม 2548 16:54:47 น.
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