Day 1

Hello loved ones, I am currently writing this post in the lobby of my "hotel"/ "hostel" and dripping in sweat, bc ac only exists in the room where there is no wifi, but i'm making this sacrifice even though that might mean me taking my second shower of the night. thats a big deal for me. I made it to Bangkok! And in good timing, bc I kind of had it with all the traveling and I was ready to get the show on the road. I landed and made it through customs with ease. I was trained ever since I was a child to RUN off the plane, and run i did! i also kinda wanted to get the hell out of the airport already :-) so they give you a tourism visa thats good for 30 days and gets stapled to your passport. you kind of cant leave the country without it, so heres to hoping that i dont lose it! When my bag came around the carousel i was pleasently surprised since I am not used to stopovers and am not aware of the likelihood of your bag making it to your final destination. but it did! I had originally anticipated to wait for the one person i know on this trip in the airport who was landing an hour after me, but after not hearing from her for 30 minutes after her expected arrival time, and finishing finding out why jen anistons marraige plans are on hold plus doing the people mag crossword puzzle (this week was a hard one) i decided i was just gonna go solo. Got a cab and headed for my hotel to Kaoh San Road. The driver dropped me off at the top of a one way street and sent me on my way to find this hole in a wall. and lemme tell you, it aint easy doing that in jeggings, a backpack, and a suitcase with 95 degree sun and humidity beating down on you! but i did it, checked in (the group was out at chabad for breakfast/ orientation) and went up to my room. after being told i was on the 4th floor and asking where the elevator was, the woman laughed in my face and pointed to the stairs. now, im in pretty good shape, ive been prepping for this sports staff job that lies ahead of me when i return #daycamping #makingmoney! but by the time i made it to the top of the stairs, it felt like unpacking my trunk on the first day of camp and swearing to never put on that shirt again (pre bunk renovations and ac) #anubneimorasha. you know what im talking about. The rabbi knocked on my door to introduce himself and tell me to change bc the group would be meeting here to begin the day in 5 minutes. I threw apart my whole suitcase which was packed SO nicely to find the absolute lightest clothing i can find. Met the group in the lobby, introduced myself, theres another dina on the trip, so i am going strictly by dk here. and we were broken up into groups for the bangkok scavanger hunt! i had a good feeling about my team from the get go, and felt good about my winning chances. after the knicks and my recent settlers losing streak i really needed the win for self esteem purposes. Each team was given 1000 baht (dont ask me what that is in american dollars, i know its super cheap, and you can google it if you care that much, too hot to do it myself) and a list of tasks. best shot of lumphini park, best shot of erawan shrine, nicest temple shot, craziest picture with your tuk tuk driver, craziest picture on the sky train, picture of the biggest bug you can find, best thai suverneir for under 50 baht, best conversation with a thai person in thai caughto n video, best panaoramic shot of the city, and strangest looking thai fruit you can find. this started at 1 and we had to return by 7pm. arianne was assigned team accountant and map reader, i was team spirit coach and motivator, serena goes to barnard so shes smart, david was in the israeli army so hes boss, and cheryl is an experienced backpacker so we were pretty set. we basically mapped out our strategy and headed out. i wont tell you exactly how we executed everything bc i think that will bore you, plus ill put up pics on facebook at the end of my trip, but lets just say our panoramic view of the city was from the rooftop pool of the intercontinental hotel. went up there like we owned the place. a few other highlights include more walking than i ever have in my entire life (more than london eliss) and more sweating. i honestly dont remember ever being hotter. we added an additional challenge to our team and that was "shower before 7" so not only did we complete every single task but we had enough time to shower! #winning. for those who dont know me so well,im not such a passionate showerer so you can only imagine what its like. forget my hair looking normal. #msfrizzle. anyways, we met in the lobby and headed to chabad for dinner where we had like 250 baht to order whatever we wanted. solid menu! and i also hadnt eaten normal food in like 48 hours so it felt pretty nice. our group leader erin is a reality tv coniseeur like myself so it was much fun to discuss our thoughts on the lives of various celebrites who dont care for us. anddd she lives near the kipps bay movie theatre, nyc's best kept secret (your welcome) so that was points in my book. post chabad was scavanger hunt finding presentation time. we kicked asssssss. not one other group completed every single task, and the ones that they did complete were not nearly as classy as ours. as the leader said "thats what happens when you put 3 type a personalitys on one team" ummm i dont think he knows me, least type a, except my planner. it was a realy fun way to see bangkok and a really awesome day! after presentations we had our first session on the purpose of the trip and an excersise on listening with our ears (ie: not relating everything someone says to you in conversation back to yourself, and to focus on the big picture of what the person is saying) we had to speak for 10 minutes, and then listen to your partner speak for 10 minutes and count how many times you connected it to yourself. it was a great leadership lesson and one i plan to use for the rest of the trip as well as relationships in geenral. now is free time, i could have gotten a massage since after 19 hours of flying my feet look like kim kardashians 9 months preggo, but i decided to write to you all. ok fine maybe ill go get a massage now. tomorrow is our first day of work and meeting with our first ngo and then wer heading on a 1st class sleeper train to chang mai. peace and love to all! dk