THAILAND & WORLD-SCHOOLING!

                             

     In August, like most American kids, I started my sophomore year at a new school. At my old school, the one good class I had where I was actually learning something was my writing class. So I figured I should probably learn more than just how to write. Now, I had good grades in almost every class (except math... I had a C), but I was just memorizing facts for the next test, not actually learning anything. So my brilliant idea was to switch schools at RMSEL... Yeah.... bad idea. At RMSEL I didn't learn shit, besides how fucked up the school system is. So here I am, trying to get up at 5 in the morning to get to school (with about 8 cups of coffee), sit in a chair for seven hours a day, listening to some old dude lecturing me on god knows what. Then finally when that's over, I go home and have another 8 hours of homework. That is if I didn't pass out beforehand.

     Yeah, sorry. I only have so much time on earth, and there is no way I'm wasting it doing what other people want me to do. One day I was sitting in class and my English teacher asks me to describe the physical appearance of the new character in "A Tale Of Two Cities". Now I get that's probably something I should know, but I hardly could wrap my head around what the book was about. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten so mad, but I was. I was working my ass off, getting no sleep, with huge, purple bags under my eyes and I was still failing four classes! And not like "failing" for some kid who wants to go to a high-end college..... no, I WAS FAILING! 'F'!... FAIL, BAD. So, I was just done. I was wasting precious hours learning nothing, and I could hardly remember what I had for breakfast. So I told my teacher to call me when he wants to teach me how to write, and I walked out, and I have never made a better choice.


     So I have a pretty awesome mama 90% of the time.... and she started doing research on alternatives to traditional school. Well, after a few weeks, she found this concept called "unschooling". So what unschooling??? Essentially it is taking all the subjects you learn in traditional school and you put them to life! For example... I had to write a couple hundred words a night. Well, I didn't just think all these words and they magically appeared on paper. In school, you gotta learn algebra, geometry, calculus, and god knows what else. At my job (I'll talk about in a later blog), I am literally doing mental math all day long. I love to cook and bake, and that is 100% math. I'm constantly trying to figure out how long it's going to take me to drive 10 miles with a crapload of traffic, and that's all math you actually use in life. So no, I might not be doing calculus, but my goal in life is not to build a spaceship. I might not be the sharpest when it comes to American History or the exact location where Vatican City is, but at 15, I've traveled more then some people do their entire life, and I know a lot more World History then you're "average high school kid".
     As soon as I was pulled out of school and officially "Un-schooling", I was looking for an adventure. I came across an incredible organization, Project World School.
 https://projectworldschool.com/.  PWS sees that the school system isn't catching up to the most important subjects today, and they have made such impactful world for so many kids who can't be put inside a box. I saw that they were having a 'teen retreat' in Thailand and of course, I had to go. So I emailed the head of the trip, and she replied back immediately giving me some work I had to do, and once that was done I got a $1,900 scholarship!!! A week and a half later, my mama and I were on a plane to Bangkok, Thailand. WHAT!!!

     After a 60 hour adventure of getting delayed, almost getting on the wrong flight and getting into a fight with some chick of the plane over whose seat was who's (I was right just in case you were wondering), we finally made it to Bangkok!!! By the first look, it's obvious that Bangkok is a crazy city... also hot! I have to say, it was so humid.... and I'm from Houston, Texas originally.... I know what humid feels like. Although, it was amazing. And my favorite, the nightlife! 24-hour food trucks, music playing, people out, stars out, it was never quite, lots of noise and laughter, and so much more! It's what I'm used to. I can't sit in silence, never have, never will. I grew up in the city, around noise and cars honking. I promise I will never be able to fall asleep or be relaxed without some background noise playing.

     A lot of times when American's hear the name "Thailand", the first thing they say is "be safe and don't go out after dark!" Honestly, I thought the same thing when I was thinking about Thailand, but honestly, I felt 99% safe. Now that 1% is just me always having my travel instinct sharp. If you are thinking about Thailand, please don't be scared. Yes, ALWAYS listen to you're head and if it's saying get out of here, then do! Just remember, that should be the same in your hometown.

     If you know me, you know I travel for the food.... and I have to say that if you're willing to try any food, then Thailand is the place. Beatles, cockroaches, worms, centipedes, caterpillars, crickets, and many more foods that will make you cringe. (Not gonna lie, caterpillars are delicious and centipedes made me want to go die in a hole) Oh.... and all the Thai food you could ever dream of! I have honestly felt more full in my whole life than on this trip. It was just Pad Thai after Pad Thai. But I can't complain because it was all delicious!




Here are just a few more meals....

We also took a cooking class with a hilarious cooking instructor and made some delicious fish, greens, rice, pad thai, soup and Mojitos.....

                            

The cooking class ended around 8ish, so everyone from the class decided to go find a club. Well, we didn't exactly find a club, but we found a little restaurant who opened up for us and we danced till about 4 in the morning and had a blast!


So enough about food.... let's talk about the markets!

      I am a sucker for good markets around the world. I lovvvve going to markets and finding weird little gadgets I can sell or fabric I can make pillows out of. Normally I am a textile person, but I didn't find too many textiles. Instead, my items were keychain elephants, Thai pants, and these beautiful blue scarfs. Now, I will be selling these items. I am not 100% sure when they will go up, but hopefully soon!!!  The markets were crazy though! The people are so interesting, and there are such unique items that either would cost a fortune in the states or just aren't legal.



The Floating Market!





     There are hundreds of unique markets around the world that I have had the privilege to travel to, but I have to say.... this market was one of my favorites. The floating market is exactly what it sounds like. It's a market, on a river. There are people in boats, that go up, and down the river trying to sell you food, or textiles and much more. The colors are magnificent, and some of the food was quite delicious. Now, do I support the floating market, and would I go back? No. I would not go back, nor do I hope you go, because the number of animals being sold at the
floating market was horrific. People trying to sell pythons, and lemurs, cobras, and heartbreakingly, one man was even trying to sell a tiger. It absolutely broke my heart seeing all those beautiful creatures locked up in those cages. So, please. If you do decide to travel to Thailand, or anywhere else in the world, please do more research then I did on where you go to, and what you support.

     A time did come where it was time to say goodbye to Bangkok. Saying goodbye to waking up to the sound of action, eating the best street food of my life, crazy markets that you're trying you're best not to buy everything you see, taking Tuck Tuck's  everywhere you go (I'll talk about those later), sightseeing while trying you're best not to get caught into tourists zones, and dancing all night long, Bangkok was amazing!

 Next.... Ko Phi Phi!




     It was about a four-hour boat ride from Bangkok to Ko Phi Phi and wow, was it gorgeous! My favorite place on earth is the ocean. I believe with every bone in my body that the ocean is the most healing, powerful, beautiful place of earth. It holds so many secrets and is so mysterious. One minute it is so calm and warming to the soul, but any minute it can turn into a beautiful mess. Crashing into rocks, and destroying anything that is in its path. Roaring louder than million's of lions could ever. I feel like I was honestly made to be next to an ocean. The watercolor in Ko Phi Phi was miraculous! It was perfectly clear in some spots, but in others, you couldn't see you're feet. Sitting next to the ocean, writing and reading poetry all day was the most healing act in the world. The lifestyle was very different from then Bangkok. Bangkok was full of partiers. Ko Phi Phi was full of true hippies that never bather, or brush their hair and pretty much just smoke weed and take shots all day. Can't complain though..... if I lived there I would probably extremely happy with my life.


      My favorite day in Ko Phi Phi was taking a boat to all the different islands surrounding. Why was it my favorite? Well, if you know me, you know that I absolutely love Leonardo DiCaprio with all my heart.... and one of the islands off of Ko Phi Phi is where Leonardo Dicaprio filmed 'The Beach'. If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend it. (Beware, it is extremely cheesy) Not only was it my favorite because The Beach was filmed there, but it was one of the most gorgeous places I've seen. The water was this bright, turquoise color.

     We went to about 5 different islands that were all completely different. One of them was a complete madhouse, where everyone was drunk and you could hardly walk anywhere without someone spilling beer on you're feet. Another one of the islands had almost no one on it, and to be honest, completely freaked me out. The others where very chill, and had good music playing all day. I basically just drank margarita's, wrote in my journal and looked at the ocean. Unfortunately, I don't think I can live that way all the time.


 Our next adventure was to Chaing Mai for the teen retreat.... the whole reason why we went to Thailand. I will never forget walking into the hotel where all the World Schoolers where staying, and seeing what felt like hundreds of kids and not one person even close to my age. I was honestly terrified, because I had traveled for this, and If I was the only person over 13, I would have flipped.

     Thankfully that was not the case. A few days later, all the teens got together and man did we have a blast! Granted, the first few days we spent in a mall, and I was wondering what we were supposed to do... but after a few days, and everyone got to know each other, we just started running around Chaing Mai. We talked about what is happening in the world (which btw, we never talked about in school), we talked about religion and I'm, for the most part, it seemed everyone felt comfortable about that topic. We talked about women's right and LGBTQ rights while at the same time not putting men or anyone else down. Let's be real, in school, you try to talk about you're a friend who is attracted to the same sex, and the teacher shuts you down because it could 'offend a student'. Now, I am not attracted to the same sex, but I have amazing friends who are, and anytime I hear someone judge them for that, I ask them what the bigger problem is. That my friend isn't straight, or that they can't focus on their own life, they have to judge someone else's. But with PWS, It was actually okay to express how walking down a street can be scarier for women then a man and nobody put you down for expressing that.

     I had a blast with everyone. It was amazing to know that I'm not the only person who thinks that school doesn't teach kids anything useful. I met people who are doing amazing things to get them across the world. I learned about one organization called 'Work Away', that I am looking into for possibly next year to allow me to travel to South America. I also met a guy who's sold his house, and has been traveling the world for a year! I made some amazing connections that could possibly help me out a lot in the future, and just good friendships around the world. I mean come on, how many times can you say "I'm texting my friend, who's traveling the world with his family, for a year from Africa!" Like... that's new for me.

     First, let me say I am extremely sorry, and I'm an awful person. The last day of my trip, I went to a so-called 'elephant rescue sanctuary', and I did ride an elephant named Dong Mai. It was only for about ten minutes, but I did it. I felt extremely guilty, and promise to never do It again.... but being around Dong Mai for a day and taking care of him was an amazing experience.  Dong Mai, was rescued from a gunshot wound to the leg and survived! He can now walk better than ever and is in amazing health. Riding Dong Mai was a terrible decision, but, I knew that, and got off to walk him almost immediately. I got the chance to give him a bath, which he loved, and we bonded as much as a human and elephant can in one day.
 
Giving Dong Mai a bath...

Hey, look! He likes me!



THOSE'S EARS:)



He decided to give me a bath....


And that was pretty much my trip....
I made a video on it, and would love for you to check it out! As always, follow your heart, surround yourself with people who make your soul happy and cut out toxic people, listen to great music, read a book, sleep under the stars, and party all night!

Please check out my Youtube video I made on my trip. I put a lot of work into it and I'm so proud of it!!