สุขสันต์วันคริสตร์มาส (thats merry christmas in thai)

this past weekend was the first in which i did not venture into the city or go on other various trips. the cause was the much anticipated christmas show/party at school. when steinar and i showed up saturday at 6, we had no idea what to expect. what we found, in addition to the decked out school and gigantic stage, were over a hundred tables sprawled out in the courtyard area, with many of the seats at the tables already filled up.

just after 6, the show began. each class had choreographed a dance and been practicing it for months now. the show started with the youngest, who are 2 years old, shaking maracas for a good 5 minutes to no beat at all. as they were progressing by age, the first hour or so of the show was less than thrilling, and i was reminded of my old dance recitals when the younger kids would have their teacher in front of them and still be unable to hold it together for a few minutes.

finally, the kindergardeners ended and it came time for my students to perform. i had seen many of them practicing and was excited to see them do it live. after they performed, they were allowed to come out into the audience and so i was able to meet some of their parents, though most of them dont speak any english so the meeting was very brief.

we came back on sunday and this time were put to work, handing out programs at the front entrance. not having uniforms like the other teachers, it seemed as though some parents thought that we were handing out advertisements, not programs, and seemed to shy away or duck past us as quickly as possible.

after the show began, we were put to work in the "prize present" area. what this consisted of was a huge present with holes cut into it on each side. with their entry ticket, everyone got another ticket to claim a plastic egg from this present. inside the egg were papers with letters on them, which determined which prize they won. im not sure who created the giant present, but they were not thinking. they should have known that it was going to be mostly little kids doing the egg picking, and made the holes closer to the ground. ill tell you, working that station and picking up kids all night while its 80 degrees and wearing a santa hat with lights in it make you sweat. and this made it feel like anything BUT christmas.

following the show, there were many photo ops. it didnt matter who the camera being used belonged to, everyone jumped in. and after they jumped in, they wanted pictures of just them with certain people. being white, steinar and i became like another, live, attraction, and students as well as teachers and parents, were stopping to pose with us. id sum it up by saying the phrase of the night was "teacha, one more pictah!"

so that was my weekend. for christmas, the group of us in bangkok have done a secret santa drawing and were planning to do a "party" on christmas. some of the group is heading down to an island, and so it will be smaller than expected but at least we will be together. ill be staying in the city with steph at her place, which has a pool, so it wont feel much like christmas anyway.

sunday night i leave for laos to do my visa run. im going with a company that does two runs a week, so im not worried, but i am not going with anyone i know. ill only be there for two days anyway, and then i come back tuesday night and wednesday night leave on the overnight bus down to koh phangan, an island south of here known for its full moon parties. we are actually staying in koh samui, and going to koh phangan for new years even, when there happens to be a full moon party as well. it should be madness.

theres a good chance i wont post again until i get back from traveling, but i will be checking email if you want to send me greetings :)

happy holidays to everyone!!!

do you seem to be lacking holiday spirit?

borrow some from thailand.

for a buddhist country where only a fraction of a percentage of people celebrate christmas, they seem to have an abundance of christmas cheer. the students have been practicing for the christmas show for months and the set was finally finished today, just in time because all this weekend is the show for parents and then they do it again thursday, on christmas eve, instead of having classes.

the stage is in the courtyard and the teachers have been spending every extra second they have working on it. there are lights in every tree and fake icicles and snow on every building. its strange to see that every aspect of their idea of christmas here is shaped by our own customs.

its also the absolute worst time to be preparing for midterms, which is what ive been doing this week, as next week i begin the speaking portions of the exams. see, the thai exams are a few weeks after the new year, and we are suppose to be finished our exams by then. however, throughout all of my review sessions this week and even today during the beginning parts of the speaking exams, students kept having to leave to practice their dances or there was music blaring outside the door from them testing out the sound system.

im sure the show will be amazing and the party will be fun. im really excited to see it this weekend, and i have to admit its almost a comfort that the kids here are getting just as excited as kids back home would. its just frustrating how much of the structure has been shoved aside, and it would be nice if i could be doing some fun activities with the kids related to the holidays rather than hounding them with questions in a language they cannot comprehend.

its the little things

ive been lacking inspiration to write about lately, so today in school i went through all of my old posts. i realized i mentioned some things that i have not followed up on, so ill use this post to make updates to some of those things.

first, the names.

i started trying to learn them by making seating charts and using their nicknames. after doing so, they promptly rearranged most classrooms. there goes that plan.

so after the first two weeks of school, i decided to have all my classes make name tags which they would use every time in class. of course, many of them lost those after the first day, but there are still some that have theirs, and some that even have theirs out before i walk into the room and ask them to place them on their desks. after a week or so, i took pictures of them holding their name tags, kind of like mug shots, that i have on my computer.

it worked out, and even though im pretty sure im pronouncing many of them wrong, i can recall at least half of their nicknames when i see them in the halls or at gate duty in the morning.

next, my goals.

ive been pretty good at keeping up with most of them. i wish i was running more, but its just so freaking hot and humid here that it makes it hard to do so on a regular basis. a few weeks ago there were about two weeks that it cooled down a bit and i was able to go almost every day, and the looks i got from people as a female running on my own in the evening could compare to those steinar and i received when we were trying to get my keys out of the sewer.

there was one goal i realized i didnt put on my list that i should have, and which i have accomplished beyond what i could have imagined, and that was meeting new people/making new friends. if said it before but i cant say it enough: the group we are here with is simply amazing. ive started to worry about what i will do when most of them go home at the end of this term. i know it wont be horrible, but there is definitely something to be said for having them there to go to during the weekends.

the drawings.

the ones i had the kids draw on the very first day of class. the ones i used to clean up the ants with. the ones i had a personal goal of finding as many uses for as possible. they are sitting in a cubboard in my room. i havent found any other uses yet :(

babysitting.

for the first two weeks, this meant tutoring grace and guy at my school for about an hour. after that, i was asked to meet them at their house after school, with an increase in pay and the need to leave school early, at 3 everyday. after the first week of that, someone at the school discovered that i also know spanish, and so now i am teaching them that as well, with another pay increase.

both of the kids are great. they are very good at both reading and speaking english, though grace is definitely more advanced, and they offer me a chance to interact with kids who can actually understand me. also, while im at their house, i am always given either a pastry or fresh fruit for a snack. they are definitely well off, having multiple women at the house at all times as help, in addition to two houses, one for the family and one for the live-in housekeeper, nanny, cook, etc.

their school has been on winter holiday for the last two weeks until the new year, so i thought i would have a little bit of a break again. but no, last tuesday i showed up at school to find out i would be tutoring at the school for an hour, from 4-5, every day this month since they knew i wouldnt be with the twins. oy.

my "routine."

obviously, the babysitting and tutoring have changed this a bit. since i dont get home until 5 or later, the time i am there seems to go faster. however, even though i am doing more, i have fallen back into the routine i have at home, where it takes me forever to fall asleep, and it is then that i REALLY wish we had internet at our apartment. we seriously need to work on that. it would make a world of a difference, and give me better opportunities to talk to people.

my keys.

no more incidents....yet.

quick note.

i found out today that more people back home are reading this than i originally thought. so, if you are, drop a message or become a follower or something! it would make me very happy.

to comment: click on the comments section under each entry.

to follow: click the follow link at the top of the page.

that is all.

a grand place indeed.

we finally got around to heading into bangkok and seeing some of what makes this city so special. we were off again on thursday for constitution day and decided that we were going to take advantage of that and see the grand palace. by the time we got the group together and arrived at the location, it was already 1:00. this didnt give us much time inside since it closes daily at 3:30. some of our group needed to rent clothing because of the strict dress code and so that took time as well.

finally, we got inside. it was amazing. reminded me a lot of things i saw back when i was in india and i was reminded again of how similar, but still different, these cultures are. this is me just inside the main entrance:

the main reason people go to see the grand palace is the temple that is a part of it which houses the famous emerald buddha. its actually not emerald, but jade. apparently there was a common practice years back of covering the buddhas made of richer materials with plaster to hide what it was really worth. there was a person who noticed the plaster chipping on the nose and saw green shining through and automatically assumed it was emerald, so the story goes.

we spent most of our time at the temple and didnt even realize that we hadnt yet made it to see the actual palace, which looks like this:

but the whole place closes at 330 every day, and it was extremely hot in the sun, so we decided to hang around and grab some fruit shakes and food downtown as an end to the afternoon.

since i was in town the night before, i did not take my slr camera with me. it was unfortunate because i saw so many interesting photos at this site. however, i am sure it is somewhere i will visit again, hopefully when someone from back home makes it out here to visit. *hint*hint*

kanchanaburi weekend, part 2

luckily, the other group had hired a sang thoew for the day so it was there to pick them up and they let us jump on with them. because it was a private ride and it was smaller, the trip back didnt take nearly as long. still, by the time we arrived back in kanchanaburi we were starving.

we had dinner at a hotel that will and andrew were staying at and were able to eat right by the water. as it began to get dark out, we saw barges with loud music passing every couple of minutes. We asked what they were and were told they are party boats essentially, bars that float up and down the river. the group was split about wanting to try that out, but ultimately we ended up no getting on one. we chose names for secret santa and by the time we got back to our places, it was almost 9.

we had seen a sign on one of the streets that said that the room we were in was 590 baht, so when we got back, we tried to talk to the desk and get an answer. the owner, sugar, who owns the bar we had been going to, said she would come meet to talk to us but never did, so we went next door to where the others were staying and played connect four and uno for a few hours before heading out to the bars.

the next morning, we decided it was time to deal with the room issues. the day before, emily and beth had both talked to sugar on the phone and so it was my turn this time. i explained to her that a price was only mentioned once to us on friday before checking in and that was 250 and 350 for the rooms. we were willing to pay the 350 and 590 she was asking for the second night, but were not happy about it. after arguing, calmly, for a few minutes, she threatened to call the police, so i passed the phone off to beth.

it ended up that she gave us 80 baht off each night, but on principle, we checked out of that hotel and went down the street to sams. in this place, we were staying on a barge that was docked but floating on the water. it was great. and sam spoke english very well since he had studied at rutgers years ago. he had even lived in tacoma park for a few months!

he talked to us for a bit and we told him we wanted to see the bridge and some other things around town, so he suggested that we take a boat tour. there were 12 of us and each boat cost 600 baht, so it ended up only being 100 each. for a few hours, we traveled up and down the river kwai, and it was amazing.

our first stop was the bridge, made famous by the movie "bridge over the river kwai." the city of kanchanaburi itself is completely based around the pow camp that existed there during wwii and this bridge built by pows as well as used to transport them, where thousands died on the trip or in the camp.

next, we went to the other end and saw a wat inside of a cave. while crawling through the winds and nooks, it occurred to us that we didnt know how they built the wats or the buddhas inside of the cave, but there was no one to ask, since our tour guide was a 7 or 8 year old thai boy.

following the cave, we went to the jeath war museum and learned more about the history of the bridge and the town. there were pictures, newspaper clippings, artifacts and paintings made by the pows while they were being held by the japanese.

we arrived back at the hotel and ate and napped for a bit before the boats came back to get us again for a light and sound show that happens at the bridge every sunday and wednesday night. it was amazing. we were watching it from the water rather than in chairs on the land and even though we couldnt really understand what was happening, we got the gist, since it was a war reenactment complemented by fireworks, music, halograms and lights. there were even people set on fire who then jumped off the bridge or boat into the water. it was definitely worth witnessing.

it did last longer than we expected though, and by the time we were showered and had dinner, it was already 11. after such a long two days, most of us who stayed and didnt head back to bangkok decided to head to bed early. we got up the next day and finally had some of the breakfast foods i had been craving, then walked down to see the war cemetery that is in the center of town before the long trek back home.

we decided to take a mini bus back, thinking it would be quicker and more comfortable, but it ended up taking longer because of the holiday and we were jammed in so it was not either. it took us back to khaosan where the roads were shut down for more celebrations and getting a cab back to my villiage took quite a while. by the time i arrived at my apartment, it was almost 9 and i was exhausted, but thrilled by the weekend i had just experienced.

kanchanaburi weekend, part 1

hands down, this was one of the best weekends ive had since coming to bangkok, and possibly thailand in general. with the three day weekend (read why here), riha loosely organized a trip over to kanchanaburi, a town about 2 1/2 hours to the west of the city, and 14 of us from the bangkok group ended up joining in on the fun.

we left friday night. half went from the northern bus terminal around 530, when the last bus from that station took off. the rest of us met in pinklao to leave from the south bus terminal at 630. we didnt actually arrive at the bus station until closer to 730-8 and didnt get on the bus until around 9. by that time, the other group had already made it to kanchanaburi and found out that, due to the long weekend, most of the hotels had no vacancies, and that part of that group got the last two rooms at the one they were staying at. obviously, this made us worry about what we would do when we got there a few hours later.

when we got to the bus station in kanchanaburi, we decided the best thing to do first was call around to some of the places we were given brochures for when we bought the bus tickets. the first place we called was rainbow lodge, and we were told that they had two rooms open for the night, one at 250 baht and one for 350 baht. there were five of us and we decided we would take it, so they sent a driver to pick us up free of charge.

it was just a short drive to the hotel, and we got there and were lead to our two rooms, which were actually little bungalows.

one, without aircon, had two twin beds, and the other, with aircon, had a double. we decided the best thing to do was to pick names out of a hat to decide which three people would share the double, and it ended up being me beth and emily, while amy and neil each got their own bed but without ac. after dropping our things off, the same guy who picked us up form the bus station, who spoke english so well he almost sounded native, offered to take us to a bar, which was owned by the same person who owned our hotel. it was walkable, so it only took a few minutes by car to arrive at sugar member, the bar that stays open past 12 when its legally suppose to stop serving alcohol. we met up briefly with the rest of the group but didnt stay out too late since we had to wake up early the next morning.

erawan national park is about an hour from kanachaburi and the park closes at 4, so the plan was to leave "early." apparently, we didnt get up early enough, because the other group had left by 10. we made it to the bus station and got on the 1030 bus, but since it was a public bus, it took almost 2 hours to get to the park with all of the stopping and how slow it had to go uphill, being such a big vehicle. when we called the other group, they were already at the 2nd tier of the waterfalls, so we knew we had to move fast.

by the time we caught up to them, it was already the 4th tier of 7. the rest of the gang decided to go swimming at that level, but i chose to stay out and take pictures with my camera. it was at this level that there were "slides" in the sides of the rocks and i was able to get some good shots of people going down them and in the water. we decided if we were going to make it to the top in time to actually enjoy it, we would go straight there from that level, so we booked it to the 7th tier. at the lower levels, there were steps and railings, but as we got higher, though we were still following paths, we were climbing rocks and trekking through smaller paths and more trees. we made it to the top, where we had been told there were rock formations in the shape of three elephants, which was seen as a good sign. this is what it looked like:

which might maybe resemble one elephant head. but since there was no where to swim at the top, we decided to head back down to the lower levels. it was a much quicker journey going down, and at tier 2 i decided to swim and get behind the falls. however, those pictures are on beths camera so a picture of that tier will have to suffice for now.

we knew that the bottom levels stayed open til 5, but just before 4 we were told the last buses leave at 4, so we rushed down to try to catch them. however, when we got there, we discovered that the one time "thai time" apparently does not exist is when buses leave for the night. the only vehicles left were private buses or vans that had already been hired.

my new favorite form of transportation.

the rumors about bangkok traffic are true: its some of the worst i have encountered. the lights in the directions i always want to be going last about 20 seconds while we wait at the intersection for 200+ seconds (i know because the lights have counters on them) for the traffic going down the cross streets. and the whole thing about lanes is kind of pointless, since it seems that those are used by the drivers own discretion.

one solution to this problem is motorbikes, which are used as taxis very frequently. they can zip through the bigger cars and on some of the smaller roads they can go faster. the problems here are 1. they do not have meters, so you must bargain the prices with them 2. they do not go to places that are very far and 3. you cannot travel in groups.

so theres another solution: river boats. and they happen to be my new favorite form of transportation. previously, i had tried out the watertaxi system in bangkok down the chao phraya. for 13 baht you can go all the way down the river, and you get a nice breeze and view while youre at it. definitely beats sitting in a cab in traffic when the minimum is 35 baht.

then this weekend while in kanchanaburi, we were about to go see the bridge over the river kwai when the man who owns the place we were staying at suggested a boat tour instead. for 100 baht per person, we were taken from our hotel to the bridge, from the bridge to a cave, the cave to a museum, and then back to our hotel. it was such a nice day and being on the water gave us a completely new perspective, while at the same time, it was the perspective best suited for this town, as life here does revolve around the river.

now, if only a system of canals and rivers could be dug for me by the time i get back to the east coast, that would be fab.

his royal highness.

his majesty, king bhumibol adulyadej, also known as king rama ix, turned 82 this past saturday, december 5th. not only is he extremely popular and loved by all here in thailand, but he is also the current longest ruling monarch in the world, at 63 years. here, they celebrate his birthday extravagantly and have declared it fathers day as well. as a national holiday, schools and government systems are usually closed down on this day, but since it was on a saturday this year, it became a long weekend, and we had monday off instead.

the celebrations do not just last this weekend, though. they started a week ago with songs and prayers at schools and go officially until the 13th. on khaosan, there are lights and decorations up and they have parades and light shows. fireworks displays have been sporatically going off throughout the country. and even more pictures of the king have been on display and the yellow and pink king shirts are worn by an even higher percentage of the population than usual.

on his actual birthday, bars are closed and stores cannot sell alcohol. at 719 pm, the time he was born, the biggest ceremonies get kicked off across the country.

for all of these reasons, we had a three day weekend.

what i did on my first payday.

there are few things as satisfying as holding a wad of money, especially after pinching for the last week or so and living and traveling for two months without any income. yesterday was payday, and since i have no work permit yet, i got paid in full in cash. i was holding tens of thousands (of baht, unfortunately) in my hands, and it was nice.

so what did we do to celebrate? we went to carrefour. our apartments are rather lacking and there was much on our list of what we needed: at the very top, mattress pads to make it seem less like we were sleeping on wooden tables. so we ventured out to the mecca of all things westernized and blew a good portion of our salary. two and a half hours later, it was totally worth it.

id like to say the most rewarding purchase of the trip was what i bought to make my bed softer, and though there is definitely a difference, i think it will take longer than one night for my body to start to feel normal again. instead, im sticking with saying that my favorite thing that ended up in my cart was the goldfish crackers. mmmmmm :)

the best thing is, i have ANOTHER payday on friday, when i get my babysitting money. needless to say, the bitterness from last week is pretty much now nonexistent.

a rant.

im really grumpy today. i didnt think i would be, seeing as theres nothing here to remind me that it is thanksgiving back at home, but i think thats the point. there is NOTHING here to remind me that it is thanksgiving. at least other holidays get acknowledged. and im in a really bad mood.

i have been searching since last week for a place to go in or near bangkok to find something resembling an american turkey dinner for all of us to enjoy. turns out, since they know it could and would only be americans (read:farangs) wanting such a meal, they have hiked up the prices. thats fine, a buffet can still be found for 800-900 baht, or just under $30. id be willing to pay that. but apparently the rest of our group is not as homesick for thanksgiving as me and would rather not spend such an "outrageous" amount.

so most of the rest of the group rallied around that mentality and decided they would rather spend thanksgiving with everyone than have a turkey dinner. i want both. i dont care if thats selfish. some of the people who were saying it was too expensive are not even from the u.s. so i can either eat thai food like every other meal and be with everyone, or have a thanksgiving feast and be alone. a lose-lose situation.

balancing the positive and the negative.

i havent really been posting this week because of two things: first, im getting settled into the routine that has become my new life here in thailand, and second, because im quite homesick this week since i will be missing thanksgiving.

so, i decided for my post, i would make two lists: one of things im missing, and one of things i am thankful for.

first, what i am missing:

-some food: like thanksgiving dinner. specifically, sweet potatoes, turkey and cranberry sauce. and pumpkin pie.

-cheese and juice too.

-fall. its my favorite season.

-internet at any second to calm me down with sporcle games and sudokus. and to download movies and tv shows with. and to vchat.

-talking with friends and family. (some of you could help this by sending me more messages!!!)

-dc.

things i am thankful for:

-this experience.

-the new friends ive made here.

-(most of) my students.

-the school placement i got.

-not being the only english speaker where i live.

-internet, to stay in contact with the friends who keep up.

-7/11 and tesco for offering me things similar to what i could find at home.

-the weather starting to cool down for a bit.

-payday is next week.

-going to the post office today to pick up my first package, which includes my camera.

-the lady at the market who sells salads and is there every day.

added bonus: the fact that my first two classes are canceled today because a monk is here teaching the kids how to wai and pray properly. of course, i just found this out as i went to the classroom. but because of said monk, i was able to write this post and find pretty pictures.

Three Cups of Tea

"If we try to resolve terrorism with military might and nothing else, then we will be no safer than we were before 9/11. If we truly want a legacy of peace for our children, we need to understand that this is a war that will ultimately be won with books, not bombs." ~ Greg Mortenson

I have a tendency of buying books whenever I see that they are on sale. Because of this habit, throughout college I amassed a shelf of books that I never had time to read because I was too busy reading for class. Since I've now graduated, I've had time to start reading them. I vaguely knew what this book was about beforehand, so once I knew I was coming to Thailand, I kept it to read while I was here.

Hands down, it's one of the best stories I've ever read. And the fact that its a true story, not fiction, makes it that much more incredible. Not only is it amazingly inspiring, but it is well written, and was extremely powerful and moving at various points.

Three Cups of Tea is about a man who attempted to summit k2 and failed, winding up in a small, closed off village in the mountainous area of Pakistan. While there, he made a promise to the chief that he would one day build a school for the kids, who he saw taking classes outside in the cold, scratching their lessons with sticks into the snow. His promise to build that one school, and the struggles he endured to do so, sprung into the Central Asia Institute, a nonprofit which now is focused on building schools and other projects to help make the lives of other mountain tribes a little easier and better. The belief is that the terrorists recruit from that region because the children there have no other means of education, and by building schools, they are giving these kids a different option other than the madrassas that teach Jihadism and eventually recruit for Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

What Greg Mortenson is doing and how he came about doing it is exactly what I needed to read about at this time in my life. I decided to come to Thailand because I wanted to make more of a direct and immediate difference than I could have while pursuing journalism. Reading his story simply reinforced my belief that this was something I needed to do at least for a point in my life, if not permanently.

And what he is doing in this period in history is phenomenal. I've thought about all the things in that area that I want to see, but have always worried about the dangers, especially to Americns, at this time. He shows that even that hatred is not universal and can be overcome.

But nothing I say about this book can do it justice, so all I can do is urge everyone to go read it. And if you're going to buy it, do some from a website that donates part of the proceeds to the CAI.

my list of reasons for taking this journey

a bunch of things in my life just seemed to fall into place to make this happen. the short list is as follows:

-i was no longer passionate about journalism and the lifestyle it would require to continue down that path.

-i had nothing keeping me tied down in one spot.

-i knew i wanted to take a year off after going through everything during college.

-for a while, i thought that i would maybe go to key west and bartend.

-while watching extreme makeover home edition, i decided i wanted to do something that helped people

-after looking into various volunteer possibilities, i realized to do something outside of the u.s. would cost money that i did not have if i wouldnt be making any my entire time abroad.

-i decided that doing something like this was the best opportunity because i could travel, do something to enrich others lives, but still live without worrying about money.

-thailand was on my first list of "top 6" countries i wanted to visit, specifically so that i could ride an elephant through the jungle.

and now im here, accomplishing everything on that list and nothing from the previous list i made about what course my life would take. and im happy.

my hero.*

my keys and i are not having the best relationship here. not only did i drop them down the sewer, but this past weekend, i left them in my room. and the door locked.

upon returning to the apartment, sweaty and exhausted, i realized i had no way into my room. this made me very unhappy.

i figured since it wasnt even 7, the landlady would be around somewhere, but after searching all the normal places she has been spotted, and without knowing which apartment is hers, i decided i would wait a bit. luckily, steinar did have his keys, so i was able to relax in his aircon for a bit, but eventually decided i should wait downstairs incase she came back. so i took my book and sat on the new benches at the bottom of the stairs.

as it became later and later, and the exhaustion from the weekend set in, i decided i needed to take actions into my own hands, and thought i would be able to break in by picking the lock. i first used steinars keys to see how similar they were, and of course, that made him want to come and watch my patheticness.

while i was picking away, he decided to try to break through my window. now it is covered with slats and behind those has a screen, but it is next to my door and if he could have gotten in, would have been able to unlock it.

which is exactly what he did. and i had access to my room, shower, clean clothes and my nice table-top-like bed.

yesterday, i went running for the first time because it was finally cool enough, and when i got finished, all i wanted was my cold shower. a few hours later, as i was still relaxing, i heard a knock on my door and thought it was our landlady. it was steinar, letting me know that i had left my keys IN the lock on the outside of my door. luckiy, he was the first one to notice.

moral of the story: i am really bad at keeping track of my keys, and thankfully, i have steinar to rescue them.**

*any sarcasm contained in this post is offset by the fact that im writing these notes.****

**comparatively, i am lucky that steinar is the person i am stuck with here. i could have done much worse.***

***i promise i did not include that note because i know that, one day, as he promised, he will read this.**** :]

****minus the one above this one.

props if you kept track of all of those footnotes.

ripple effect

so now im staying after school for about an hour almost every day to babysit the grandchildren of the director of our school. grace and guy are 6 year old twins who go to an international prep school in bangkok. after school, they come to kasintorn and i help them with homework and reading before they get passed off onto one of the gym teachers for swim time. so now, i dont get to walk home with steinar, but i do get some extra cash. me as a babysitter is kind of a funny thought...but then again, so is me as a teacher.

waterfall, part 2

all weekend, though we were emersed among the other teachers, steinar and i were still treated as guests. no matter how much we offered to help cook or clean, we were told to not worry about it. they were always insisting that we were the first to eat, drink, or shower. and whenever we tried something, or were even just sitting there doing nothing, they continually asked us if we were ok. at first, we both tried to insist that we help out or eat second, but after a while we realized there was no point to that and gave in, accepting that this was part of their culture.

so after sleeping on a hard marble floor in a freezing room without a blanket, i was awoken earlier than id prefer for it being a sunday. after another small feast, we were told to shower and pack up, as we were getting ready to leave to head out to a temple and then back to bangkok. what we were not told, was that we would not be getting back home until about 8 hours later.

we stopped first at the temple, which seemed more like a bazaar to me. it was a tiny structure in the middle of stands and racks of everything imaginable, and of course, the lotto tickets they sold as you were walking out after finding your lucky numbers. it reminded me nothing of the temples i had visited while in india, and i was a little disappointed.

we piled back into the van and went on, to where i had no idea but assumed it was towards home. i was wrong. next i knew we were back by the army base we had accidently gone to on our way in. but this time, we didnt turn around. instead, we continued inside until we found a tallish structure. then everyone emptied the van for a second time.

it turned out that here, we were doing some "army training," and did something similar to a zipline, but we were hanging much lower from the apparatus. it was amusing that the first in the group to go turned out to be bai thong, as she was only 4, and they werent even sure at first that she should do it at all because of her size. but shes a daredevil and went without thinking twice. afterwards, some people repelled from the side of the structure as well.

bai thong was upset that she couldnt take a second turn, so after getting in and out of the van yet again, we came upon a quiet place by some water that had paddle boats, kayaks and a zipline designed especially for little kids. bai thong went numerous times, and after a while, the guys decided they wanted to do paintball, which was also available at this area. it seemed too hot for me to even consider putting on all that padding and running around for an hour.

et again, we got back into the van, for what i thought would be the last time. i was wrong again.

we drove around the base to a monument for king rama v, perhaps the most revered monarch of thailand. the day of his death is even a national holiday. so everyone got out here and went up to pray to his statue as well.

we got back into the van, drove around and saw some buildings, and finally hit the road. for about 20 minutes. then, of course, it was time to eat again, and we stopped at a small restaurant for lunch.

finally getting back into the van for the last time, my shirt drenched with sweat from the constant movement in the humidity, i put on my headphones and zoned out for much of the trip back. at some point i turned off my music and at 6 i was woken up by the national anthume playing on the radio, as it does daily at 8am and 6pm. we werent too far from home, and so i decided to stay up for the reminder of the ride...luckily, as i would have been woken up a few minutes later by the guitar and another sing a long anyway.

all in all, i was very happy with the weekend. it gave me a different perspective of thai culture and i even had a lot of fun. it was also nice getting to know some of my coworkers in a different, more relaxed setting than at school when we are at school and seen as the outsiders.

waterfall, part 1

this weekend was interesting to say the least. steinar and i went with some of the other teachers from our school on a trip to what was only described to us as "the waterfall." we were told to meet at the 7/11 by our school at 6 am on saturday with 700 baht. as we were walking in the dark to meet, we got a call saying that it would be a little later. turns out, we didnt end up leaving until almost 8. such is life in thailand.

so we drove about two hours to get to this waterfall, nang rong. the place we were at was actually a bit of a distance from the waterfall, so we dropped our stuff off and changed before heading out. im not really sure what the point of changing was though, since thais swim in their clothing. i put on my bathing suit underneath anyway though.

at the bottom of the waterfall.

all of the pictures from actually being in the water were taken by the others from our group. i went right into the water and didnt want to ruin my camera so i ended up not taking it out. i was so excited to be able to get water for the first time since leaving phuket, and it was actually really clean too, if a little chilly. but the humidity made the water feel amazing, and we stayed there climbing and relaxing for a few hours before we were toldto pack up because we were heading to raft.

most of the group at the top of the dam, after rafting.

so we arrived at a river just past a huge dam, as it happened to start drizzling. by the time we got all of our gear on and were piling into the two rafts, it was a full out thunderstorm with lightning and thunder, which im sure was not the safest thing. still, as we made our way down the river, in the raft with the group who really didnt speak english, we had a blast battling the rain, rapids and language barriers. at one point, we bumped into a raft in front of us, causing ours to tip, and everyone got dumped out. i have to say, except for the coldness following the rain stopping, it was a fantastic experience. once we got to the bottom of the river, we piled into the back of a pickup truck, standing, and rode back to the start. it was a truly thai experience.

me with bai thong, the daughter of ms. tuk ta, another teacher at the school.

once back at the house, we were fed. actually, we were fed constantly. it seems as if the thais eat every half hour, which is why, steinar decided, they are so tiny, because their metabolism never stops. perhaps. but we had a thai barbaque, steaming meats and vegetables for literally hours. following food, or rather during food since it never really stopped, one of the other teachers broke out his guitar and started to play some thai songs, followed by steinar playing some songs from the us. it continued on like that for hours, back and forth between thai and american songs, and sitting outside that night listening to everything, both cultures coming together, and surrounded by thais doing what they normally would whether or not i was here, it hit me that i am actually in thailand.

TGIF.

im worn out. this week went by much faster than last week, probably because i am getting more used to the whole thing, and thats a good thing. but as i get further into teaching and the lessons, its becoming harder to explain to the kids and the more familiar they become with me, the less they are paying attention. its hard to find the right balance of friendliness and discipline, especially with the younger ones. i dont want them to come to fear me, they have the thai assistant to fulfill that role. but today especially, even they didnt care enough to control the class.

this weekend steinar and i have been invited by the thai teachers here at our school to go to what has only been said to us as "the waterfall." all i know is that we meet at 6:00 tomorrow morning, get back around 8 sunday night, and need 700 baht for everything. im convinced its some kind of initiation event for the new foreign teachers, and that we will show up with them in robes and fire and chanting before throwing us into the woods to find our way out. but ill let you know how that goes if i get back next week :)

simple pleasures

when im at home, one of my all time favorite things is a hot shower. on cold mornings, i like staying buried under many blankets. fresh squeezed lemonade in the summer. bubble baths with candles lit after a particularly stressful day. breaking in a new pair of high heels walking down the sidewalk. here, i have two new ones: finding a message or email from someone from back home, and stripping out of my "teacher clothes" after the walk home in the smoldering heat and sprawling out on my bed in my underwear with the aircon blasting overhead. in fact, all of those other things would probably make me miserable here....well, except for the lemonade, but they would probably ruin it with too much sugar anyway.