Why we're here

Just over a month ago my boyfriend and I landed in Bangkok, Thailand. I was so afraid that somewhere along the flight somebody would stuff my bag full of drugs and various other paraphernalia and I would be taken to some God awful prison where I would have to swap my bra's in exchange for cigarettes and sing really bad renditions of "Like a virgin". Thank God the airport was fairly uneventful, the whole time we were there I was waiting for sniffer dogs to come and sniff out my crotch and alert the police that I had drugs up there. Although I'm not sure how someone would manage to get them there without my knowledge...although I was knocked out for a good 6 hours thanks to these horrid sleeping pills that I took..anything could've happened then?!?! It obviously didn't though. Because we got out of the airport without any drama.

As soon as we stepped out of the airport we were hit with the kind of heat that you can actually see. The kind of heat that blurs your vision and gives you diarrhoea. Our senses were also assaulted by all the people lighting up right outside the airport doors, standing next to all the non-smoking signs...this was something we were not quite used to, coming from New Zealand where the air is so clean and nutritious that you could actually live off a diet of air alone. We got into a taxi and gave him our friend's address. Problem 1: He had absolutely no idea what we were saying. Problem 2: He had absolutely no idea where this address was. Problem 3: He just started driving blindly, then stopped in the middle of the highway to make a phone call to find out where it was. Problem 4: There was a shit load of traffic. And it was 9:30pm. Problem 5: We thought we were going to die. Eventually we arrived, God knows how. After having aged about 25 years thanks to the taxi ride, we finally settled in. Little did I know that this experience was to confirm that this is the life in Bangkok. Taxi drivers that don't know how to drive/ know where anything is; a little bit of a language barrier; and a city so polluted that our skin would eventually develop a hard outer cuticle to protect us from damage.

Why? You ask. Why did we decide to move to a country where we cannot speak or read the language; where you have to throw your toilet paper in a bin after wiping your arse; where nobody understands you and everybody laughs at you whenever you do anything; where you have constant diarrhoea; where our neighbour drills holes in the wall at 2 am in the morning; where it's so fucking hot that you can't breathe and all your clothes are sweat stained in every single crease; where you constantly have to dodge excrement in the streets; where you have to walk really carefully around street dogs and avoid all eye contact so as not to become their lunch; where you thank God every time you get out of a taxi and you have somehow managed to survive the hellish ordeal; where you eat things which we think is something delicious but it turns out to be something not very delicious at all, like an organ of some sort; where I am absolutely clueless in the job I am supposed to be doing and should definitely not, under no circumstances be teaching morals to a bunch of very impressionable 5 and 6 year olds? WHY?

I will tell you why. Because each and every day here is an adventure. Because in certain aspects of this very dirty, overcrowded city, there are moments filled with such beauty that it gives you a lump in your throat. Because everyday I stop what I'm doing and think to myself, "Look where you are, look how far you have come". Because the food is so delicious and is so worth shitting my guts out on a regular basis. Because the taxi drivers love it when you try speak Thai to them, and I have realised that they don't have a death wish either, and so they're gonna try their hardest not to get in an accident. Because there is something new and different to do every single day. Because the culture is so rich and we have so much to learn. Because we have aircon. Because the Thai people are lovely and beautiful and happy. Because, although you're in a crazy city, you can walk around the corner and discover the most beautiful and tranquil temple. Because we want to be outside of our comfort zone. Because 5 and 6 year old Thai kids are unbelievably cute and clever. Because we want to be here, and we want to learn, and we want to experience something different that is going to change us every day. That is why we are here.