thats our beach, across from the school. after the first day we decided we were going to wear our swim suits to class and go to the beach on our lunch break and again after class. going out during lunch makes it so much harder to concentrate during the second portion of class, and its already difficult because i keep crashing at 3pm every day.
our group is great. out of 31 people, we have 2 from new zealand, 7 from the UK, 3 from canada, and the rest from all over the US. its crazy hearing how different everyones english is and the different expressions we use. my favorite so far is dodgey, but it doesnt sound as cool when its not in an english accent. still, i will be adding it into my vocab. ive also started to use the word quite much more frequently and putting the midwestern/canadian "o" into a bunch of my words. im really glad i switched to the october session rather than the september one because almost all of that group is american and its just more interesting hearing about people from other places. also, we are working with the better placement group. and while i dont know yet where i will be or what age group i will have, im hopeful that it is not going to be in some rural town where i am the only person there who does not speak thai.
the training classes havent been that bad. all of what we are learning is useful and is easing a lot of my fears that i have had about teaching. of course, it is also bringing up new fears that i had not previously thought about, such as issues with coworkers because we are getting paid so much more and having so many kids in a class room. but its not as tedious as i was expecting it to be for being in a classroom for 7 hours with the beach right across the street. we do a lot of activities and
get decent breaks which makes it manageable.
in our bathroom, the windows are such that there is an opening between the two panes. this means that lots of bugs can get in, and when the light is on at night, they come in in hoards because they are attracted to it. but this also means that small animals can get in. weve had a few occasions where some geckos have used such opportunity to break in and scare us out of our wits. all of a sudden they will just be jumping from wall to wall or dashing under our doors. last night some kept banging and even woke me up. today there was on staring at me from the bathroom ceiling the entire time i was taking a shower. its funny how different our reactions to such things are over here...if that ever happened back at home it would be unacceptable.
last night we went to patong, which is comparable to any major bar area in the us. its a popular place for tourists. you can kind of see the long stretch of clubs in the background of the picture. there are games, apparently from the midwest, called "stump" where you all take turns hitting nails into a tree trunk using the back side of the hammer. im not sure who would think that would be a great idea for a drinking game. most of
the bars also have connect four games, but you play the waitresses and if they beat you you have to buy them a shot. obviously they are all pretty good at that. also, up and down the street there are tons of prostitutes. its strange to see 10 or 12 of them just standing there in only a stretch of sidewalk equivalent to a block.
we ended up at a club called seduction which is one of the most popular clubs there for tourists, and spent the night dancing to music which is popular right now in the states. it didnt even really feel like we were on the other side of the
world.
this weekend we are planning to go on a trip as a group to phi phi island (the h is silent. ph in thai does not read as an f like in english) which is suppose to be one of the best small islands around here. everyone in the group is going, which should be quite fun.
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