My Everyday Routine

I moved to a place that is farther away from my home than anywhere else on the planet. There were bound to be changes in my everyday life, but I never expected my entire life to flip upside down! I want to share with you the changes in my daily routine. It took about a month and a half before I felt mostly comfortable with my life here, and could perform daily tasks without much hesitation. That's not to say I don't cringe during my daily bucket baths --- I still do! I may not exactly "like" every change, but I've grown to appreciate how people live their lives in this country, and I've also grown to appreciate the things I took for granted growing up. Here is an example of my typical day here in Thailand:

6:00 AM: Wake up and spend a few minutes thinking about how I'd like to go back to sleep (only half-kidding). Take a cold bucket bath, put on my school uniform, and go downstairs to drink a hot cup of Milo (similar to hot chocolate) and maybe eat a few 'platong koh' (rice-donuts) or a banana.

7:15 AM: The whole family is ready, and we're off to school!

7:40 AM: Arrive at school just in time for the 30-40 minute school assembly (which occurs everyday).

8:30 AM: Begin classes which include English, Genetics, Calculus, Thai language, and Thai painting.

12:00 PM: Gin khao! (Eat lunch)! Lunch will usually consist of a rice or rice noodle base with some kind of protein like chicken or pork and/or an egg, and some kind of sauce. My favorite is khao gai tohd (rice with fried chicken and plenty of sweet chili sauce). Sometimes kids will get ice cream or fruit for dessert, or go to the shop in the canteen to purchase treats. The lunch break is always an hour or more, so there's plenty of free time to do whatever you'd like!

1:00 PM: Resume classes. For some reason, Thai teachers don't always hold class. You're almost guaranteed at least an hour of extra free-time each day. These free periods tend to occur in the afternoon. Most students usually just study, do crafts, eat, socialize, and you can count on some music to be playing in your home-base classroom!

4:00 PM: Classes are over! Since my host mom is a teacher at my school, I usually have to wait for her in her office until she's ready to leave school.

4:40 PM: Depart school and go pick up my siblings from their schools. Most often, we'll stop at the market to pick up dinner.

Here is an example of Thai "fast food."
This is "khao mook gai tohd," which is
turmeric rice with fried chicken, crispy
onions, and sweet chili sauce.

5:30 PM: Arrive home. This is the time to relax, or do whatever you want until dinner.

7:30 PM: Dinner time! Although Thai food is extremely delicious, there isn't a great deal of diversity. You can count on eating rice, 99.99% of the time. There's usually a few different dishes, from curry, fried meats, soups, and sometimes vegetables. Vegetables are kind of a rarity here. Many times we'll all just eat "fast-food" which is really just rice with some kind of protein and sauce.

8:00 PM: Time to do any homework, use the computer, or talk to the family. We are all usually busy with something, so a lot of the socializing occurs on the weekends.

11:00 PM: Time to turn out the lights and hit the hay. Sometimes I'm a little rebellious and I keep using the computer or my phone until midnight or 1 in the morning, but I always regret doing that when I have to wake up in the morning!

I hope this provides a little bit of insight as to what I'm doing on a typical day. Eventually, I will write about what I do on the weekends and on special holidays, so look out for that!

Until next time,
Brandon