After a very rushed 30-minute layover in Seoul, we finally arrived in Bangkok on Friday, July 20th.  It was late in the evening, maybe about 10:30pm.  Some of the TCIS staff had arranged to meet us at the airport, complete with printed out pages with our pictures on them, and helped us move all our bags to the brand-new TCIS Buses.

(Photo Courtsey of Ellen Visscher: http://www.flickr.com/photos/southeastellen/)

Everyone from the airport was super helpful, and it was our first opportunity to meet all of the other new teachers.  We all seemed quite excited, but tired.  Since our apartments at Big Tree weren’t quite ready, we went straight from the airport to the Avana Hotel (http://www.avanahotel.com/language/english.php).

Our rooms were quite nice, and despite the time difference, I would say Beth and I slept pretty well that first night since we didn’t sleep much on the flight over.  The hotel had a nice coffee shop downstairs with WiFi access, a large buffet breakfast, and a swimming pool that most of the new teachers enjoyed.

The TCIS staff also gave us 4500 Baht, and told us to meet the next morning downstairs at 10am, ready to start our orientation…