How much can you fit into one weekend?

This weekend was an exhausting but wonderful experience. It began Friday at about 2:30 pm when two Thai teachers we work with picked up us volunteers in the city. We were going to pick up the other volunteers and head to Surin for the 49th Annual Elephant Roundup. We thought we were going to be staying in Surin for the weekend....boy, were we in for a surprise.

Surin is about 6 hours south of Nakhon Phanom and so we arrived at about 9:00 with all of the stops and gas and whatnot. We originally had 4 to a room (with only a king or queen bed) but managed to get another room in our hotel. We were then told that we had half an hour to get ready to go out! During this time we also found out that we were not going to be in Surin Saturday night, but Khon Kaen (about 5 hours away).  In any case, most of us mustered up the energy to go out and off we went to a Thai 'music hall'. We were told it was disco but it wasn't really...Spent some time there and then headed back to the hotel. First time we have all really been out in Thailand!

The elephant roundup was amazing...at all Thai festivals it seems like a market or carnival is set up around the perimeter so there was a fair amount of shopping and food available. We arrived at about 7 am for the show to begin at 830 and with our extra time of course we did some shopping. For the festival, there were over 280 elephants in this huge arena/field. There were several different activities during the show such as a Battle Re-enactment, Elephant play time, Foreigners vs. Huge elephant in a tug of war game, and the actual round up. We were able to walk down to the edge of the arena/field and take pictures...it was awesome! The elephants were absolutely enormous and the babies were adorable. Of course they were about my size. But hey, still babies!

From there we headed to an ancient Ankor Temple (the biggest in Thailand) that has been restored. It was beautiful...called Phanom Rung. After that we headed to Nakhon Ratchasima to visit a pottery village. (Keep in mind we hadn't planned on ANY of this). We got in the van at about 230 Saturday and didn't reach our final destination of Khon Kaen until 9:00 at which point we had dinner with a bunch more Thai's we didn't know who spent the majority of dinner walking around and taking pictures of us eating. Of course, it is at this point that I accidentally eat a pepper. I haven't been in that much pain in a very long time - I almost started bawling at the table. They're absolutely terrible to eat, they make your mouth hurt so badly! I can't describe this feeling. But of course I was laughed at (the farang ate a pepper! ha ha ha). Needless to say I was done with the food after that.

We were met with another surprise after dinner  - we were staying in a home stay! I think the couple was a friend of a friend of a friend and they had no idea that there were 13 of us total. That was a debacle but we figured it out. We slept on beds, floors, couches, benches...any available surface. Luckily they had an amazing amount of pillows and blankets and most people slept comfortably. A gorgeous house, one of the nicest we've been in for sure.

Sunday we insisted we sleep in! until 8:30...then we had another string ceremony (they actually happen to originate in Khon Kaen) and were on our way to...THE MALL! it was wonderful. Real coffee and actual books and school supplies in ENGLISH. amazing. I walked around outside the mall for a while with another volunteer and found the same coffee I had in Laos! We also got some fruit which is always freshly cut on the street. Then off to the van to head back to Nakhon Phanom. Our driver was flying down these roads, I thought we were going to take off. A few close calls but no worries, I'm back safe and sound.

Here are some pictures from the trip :).

The Thai music hall/disco bar. It was actually a pretty good time and certainly interesting. They sang a lot of English songs too! After the performers, there was an awesome DJ.

This is in the middle of the street in Surin. Literally elephants everywhere. And they are all asking to be fed - their handlers have bags of sugar cane or cucumbers and its 20 baht to feed them which we did once or twice but were done after that. It actually got a little overwhelming with the number of elephants that were actually trying to hand us bags of food or wrapping their trunks around our arms! I started avoided them in any way I could...very unexpected. 

Elephants leaving the arena holding each other's tails!

During the elephant roundup, elephants everywhere.

Some of the Thai dancers in the Elephant Roundup.

The restored temple from the Ankor Empire.

This is for you kel! The pottery village - I thought you'd like this picture. nooo idea how they made this but it was pretty cool. Its about 10 ft tall.

I slept on the floor - it was actually super comfortable. As you can see two of us slept there. But we've all gotten very good at fitting lots of people in small spaces.

So there you have it. The completely surprising but awesome weekend. We're going to try to throw together a thanksgiving dinner this weekend (with Duck and Chicken - the whole turkey thing was met with blank stares when we asked if we could get one...I guess they aren't in season). So happy thanksgiving everyone! enjoy some turkey for me.

My life in pictures

 Sawadee ka! Hello, good morning, good afternoon - it all means the same thing. Thing's are pretty good here, I'm settling into my placement finally. I've put pictures on the walls and bought stackable shelves and blankets - I'm on my way! I've been told that we are entering the Cold Season and that it gets very cold, cold enough to need a sweatshirt. However, I've yet to experience that...temperatures are still in the high 90's in the blazing sun. With the clouds it's not bad as at least the humidity level has dropped. I think (hope?) I'm getting used to this weather!

Classes have been cancelled quite a few times the past two weeks...so much so that I haven't even taught some classes yet and this is my third week. They are having an 'evaluation' that has taken over everything. Students clean and practice all day long - that is, the students that are involved. The students that aren't involved, well they just mill around campus all day. It's certainly a different system than the US or even any other country I've seen so I'm trying to get used to it. It's quite frustrating at times as it seems that we're not doing much as volunteers over here but as I'm told over and over again, I will try to 'relax'.   I will keep you updated on the teaching situation!

In any case, here are some long overdue pictures of Laos!

This is my absolutely wonderful room with airconditioning and a working fridge! My room even got dark and I was able to sleep in until about 10 am. Paradise!

And some REAL coffee. Yes, that is condensed milk on the bottom of the coffee cup - it tasted good, really! They put condensed milk in almost any drink over here - iced tea, coffee, bubble tea - definitely had some that were too sweet to actually drink. With all the sweets over here it's a wonder the Thai people are so small.

The view of the Mekong from Laos (town called Savannakhet) to Thailand!

A lot of really awesome wats over in Laos. I'm not sure if there is a difference...I'm assuming they're all Buddhist wats but I could be wrong. I like these trees -I've seen them around many places but I'm not sure what they mean. I think it's an offering or an alter for the wat...again, I could be wrong.

A boat coming over from Thailand with TOONS of stuff on it. Those things on top? those are beds and dressers. Apparently everything is cheaper in Thailand. Food in Laos actually happened to be about 3x as expensive as what it was in Thailand. Who knew?

A man taking things off of the overloaded ferry - they were doing this for hours...up and down the stairs with tons of stuff. Food, fish, you name it.

The Friendship Bridge #2 from Mukdahan to Savannakhet. I was on the bus heading back into Thailand. These bridges are fairly new - this one opened in June of this year and it's really great for border crossing, especially for the Thai's. They can go into Laos for 3 days and 3 nights without needing a visa. Us foreign travelers aren't so lucky.

Back in Nakhon Phanom, we've been doing some exploring and hanging out with the other teachers at our schools. Haley works at Annuhban and introduced me to one of her co-teachers, an Indian woman who lives very close to my school. She and her husband have a wonderful house with a coconut tree! So of course we had to climb it and get some fresh coconut water/milk.

So this, below, is a typical dinner for me! It's Thai fruit salad and it looks strange, I know, but it's actually quite good and super filling. It's got puffy rice, corn, beans, papaya, apple, guava, taro, cucumbers, pineapple, carrot shavings, squash, and a wonderful dressing! I have it almost every night...it's about a dollar from the night market. Go Thai food!

I also managed to FINALLY find whole grain bread! They only have white bread and it's limited at that.

And my bike! my life really, I bike around everywhere and it's awesome. A little nerve-wracking at first as there don't to be any rules of the road except "don't get into an accident". But I can put things in the basket and have managed to ride around with someone on the back seat! It's opened a ton of doors as I'm able to go all over the city and don't have to rely on people for rides. It's parked in front of my house/ room :).

This is my little outdoor 'hallway' to our kitchen...it's a little scary at night with no lights...we have a dog and a cat who like to hang out there. And countless bugs. I really only go when it's light out. What can I say, I don't particularly like the dark.

My kitchen!! You can't really see it but that metal thing coming out of the fridge? That's the top of our propane gas stove....I have yet to use it. The whole lighting gas thing isn't so appealing. Plus the night market is super cheap and close by. I'm sure I'll use the stove soon but for now I'm happy to leave it just sitting there.

And lastly, my new pet! He comes and hangs out in our sink every night. Doesn't make as much noise as the gecko's that live in my room tho...

So there you have it, my life in pictures. Off for some lesson planning in case there is class tomorrow!
A ru sa wat, good night!

Welcome to Reality

Chan pben Kruh. I am a teacher. It still feels strange to say!

I've been teaching for about a week and a half, or that is, I've been at school for a week and a half. I lost a few days going to Laos and yesterday we had Buddhist examinations so the students had no classes. Most classes I've seen at least twice but I just saw a class for the first time today. Some of the classes are wonderful and can read/ write..though they may not understand what they are reading or writing. Other classes don't even know how to write their names in English or what sounds the alphabet makes. It's a huge discrepancy especially as all of the students I teach are in Mattayom 3. (grade 9) It's been difficult the first few days to figure out what level the students are at so I haven't really established any long term goals. One of the hardest things is getting the students to listen to commands in English. If I say 'ngiap!" they listen (it means quiet!). If I say "quiet!" they don't listen at all. Most of the Thai teachers conduct their English classes in Thai so they aren't really used to the English commands. Luckily, I'm something novel so they are paying attention for now. However, I'm guessing that within a week or two the novelty will have worn off and there will be some disciplinary problems for sure. They are scared of the Thai teachers, esp some in particular as corp. punishment isn't quite extinguished over here. It may be illegal but it's still done. (I've never seen it, just heard about it). So they students aren't afraid of the English/ Foreign teachers as they know we won't do anything.

Let's see. A typical day...

Generally up at about 5:30 or 6:00 to finish planning - I'm just too tired to do it at night! Yes, I'm going to bed early, before midnight!

I have to be at school at 7:30 and morning assembly is at 8:00....It's all in Thai and I have no idea what is going on. But the teachers talk to me and sometimes explain. For example, yesterday during the assembly they were telling everyone that there were no classes. Us foreign teachers were left in the dark for a while.

Classes begin at 8:30 and generally go until 2:20 when activities begin. Volleyball, basketball, English club - everything. I teach either 4 or 5 classes a day for a total of 21 course hours. Each class is 50 mins though they don't have passing time so classes are generally let out 5 mins early and get there 5 mins late...if you are lucky. In the afternoon or after lunch the students are sometimes 15 minutes late - but again, no discipline! So theres not much we can do in terms of enforcing the schedule except make the beginning of class extremely fun. We'll see.

I have to stay on campus/ in the office until 3:30 or 4:00 which is annoying for now as I dont' have much to do but I'm sure once my lessons pick up it will be planning time.

I usually plan a bit after school in my room and then head to the night market to pick up some dinner - lots of sticky rice and various meat dishes. sometimes meat crepes (theyre good!). coconut juice for sure - it's delicious. And usually fruit for desert. Mango or pineapple or pomello. This afternoon some of the Thai teachers shared their lunch with me and told me the names of food so I'll be able to order things in Thai.

If I don't go to the night market I head to a little coffee shop we found that has wireless internet. Yes, they have it here! The family that owns it is super sweet and have the most adorable kids. Haley and I hang out there and lesson plan a bit before heading home.

So that's about it! I'll generally watch a bit of tv on my computer to decompress for the day or just hear some English. It is very exhausting most of the time but I'm still feeling pretty good about living in Thailand. Some days are hard for sure and I second guess what I'm doing here. Why did I want to move to an area that speaks little English and is super super hot? But then I see the other volunteers or have lunch with some of the Thai teachers and it's all okay again.

More pictures to come. Take care everyone!

As Promised, more pictures

This is a moth that visited us a few times at John's house. It's hard to tell but it was about as big as our hands. The butterflies here are about that big too - they look like small bats when it begins to get dark.

Below is some of us volunteers on our way back from an outing...We're actually in the back of the van.  Looks comfy but it was quite cramped.

These are a bunch of catfish - we went to a pond to feed them and there must have been hundreds. It was both fascinating and a bit disgusting...

We went on a dinner cruise of sorts on the Mekong which was beautiful. We got to watch the sunset and I of course took lots of pictures :).

 This is my Thai buddy! She and about 10 of her friends taught us Thai for a week and helped out at the English camp. We are actually going to go visit her (she lives in Khon Kaen, about 5 hrs away) next week for an Elephan Festival. woohoo!! 

 

 We went to a fish festival about an hour away from Nakhon Phanom and there was a huge market surrounding this park area. There was a large parade with tons of floats that went down the roads of this town and this was one of them. We had to leave before we could see the parade though as they were several hours behind schule and we had to get back. We did get to see the starting of the parade though and wander around the floats. There was also a couple baby elephants in attendance and we got to feed them sugar can and again, of course take pictures.

 

We stopped and were offered water in some people's huts along the parade route so we rested here for about an hour. It was one of those days that felt hotter than usual so it was great to get out of the sun. The women tried to talk to us and the men were making fish cages. 

The market at the fish festival! They even had fair games like throwing darts and such. Most of us tried and failed miserably...I guess there is always next time!

At School!

Teaching in about 10 minutes! things are pretty good here...the people are all very nice but the students aren't the best behaved and I'll admit, it's a bit intimidating. This morning I introduced myself to a class that was very well behaved and it was a joy! Not intimidating at all, which was a relief. Off to teach

just a quick update for now -I have wonderful internet on campus :)

Take care!

English Camp pictures

 With a bunch of the students! We taught grades 4-6, ages 9-12. The kids couldn't have been sweeter.

 

The impromptu dance party the 2nd day of camp was a wonderful surprise. The kids got up from lunch and just began pulling us up from our seats, telling us do dance.  There must have been 70 + people on the 'dance floor'.

Afterwards, we had some performances. Our kids did the Hokey Pokey and they thoroughly enjoyed it from what we could tell. We were also taught how to make baskets and given little gifts from all the children.

These are some of our Thai teachers from the last week of Orientation. My 'thai buddy' is the one on the right! She lives in Khon Kaen, about 5 hours away and we are going to go visit her in a few weeks. A couple of the teachers live down there and there is an elephant festival (or something). I think we're gonna try out the local bus system. 

The pre-k English camp put on a show for us before everything began on the first day. They were adorable but had no idea what to do on stage!

A traditional Isaan soup we were served for lunch - see those dark spots? Those are ants. I didn't try it...but others did and said they couldn't taste anything different. I just couldn't eat it with ants floating around...

My (Impromptu) Laos Adventure!

*I finally learned how to ride a bike with two people! My friend Haley and I made fools of ourselves on the streets of Nakhon Phanom tonight, but we figured it out!

*I had REAL coffee for about the first time since I’ve been here…of course it was in Laos and I have no idea what it was called

I just returned from two days in Laos as my visa was stamped incorrectly when I entered the country and I was only given 30 days.  A woman from the local government office has been working with us to try to have our work permits ready by today, but no such luck. And for that reason, I got to go too Laos!  It’s been said that if you ‘negotiate’ with the officials at the consulate, you can get your visa back in the same day, versus the normal policy which is to return the visa the following work day. Well, our negotiations failed and thus I stayed in Laos overnight.

It began yesterday when the director of the English program picked me up at 6 am (after returning home the night before to find that my housemates room was completely flooded – 2 inches of standing water as her toilet was broken) and we drove 100 km south to a town called Mukdahan. They have a ‘friendship’ bridge there that buses and cars can drive across to get into Laos. We were a bit confused at the border crossing but managed to get on the bus across the bridge. Also got confused on the Loa side but again, eventually made it to the consulate where another 50 people were waiting for visas.

We met a Thai woman and her British husband (boyfriend?) who was doing the same thing as I was and they sort of took me under their wing. I do not think I could have survived without them. My director guy had to get back to Thailand and he was planning on leaving me alone in Laos until I could get my visa the following day. I would have also had to get the bus and go through customs alone and I know not a word of Loa. Soo this couple brought me to their hotel and got me a room and we spent the last two days together! He was about my parents age or so (late 40’s?) and she was in her thirties I think. It was certainly an interesting dynamic between the two of them but seemed to work for them. It was interesting to see them as there is such a negative connotation to the white or ‘farang’ men marrying Thai women. But they were great and I owe my entire Loa experience to them!

We got coffee several times a day (it was amazing) and walked up and down the banks of the Mekong, did some shopping in the market, got some wonderful food (just sticky rice and chicken but they know how to make food!). The hotel was awesome as well –a hot shower and AC…a huge luxury here! I hadn’t quite planned on staying overnight.. I really thougt our ‘negotiations’ would work so I didn’t quite have a change of clothes or anything, but of course it didn’t really matter.

We woke up today and did the same thing as yesterday – wandering the streets, chatting, eating and drinking coffee. They live in a place called Buriram (gotta check spelling on that one) and own 11 chickens. We had a funny conversation in which they said ‘fighting cockerals’ and I thought they were talking about ‘fighting cockroaches’. So we straightened that one out

They helped me get the bus from Savannakhet, Laos to Mukdahan, Thailand and then from Mukdahan to Nakhon Phanom. All in all, a crazy experience! I didn’t even know I was leaving until the night before…the night my housemates room flooded no less. I’m not sure I’ve ever had such a crazy few days but it’s all part of the experience and now I can say that I’ve been to Laos! Woohoo!

On another note, after I got back tonight my housemate, Kara, wasn’t back and I went to get food with Haley who lives in another part of the city. I got to take my new bike out and I’m slowly able to navigate the city. We ahd dinner and then walked the Night Market and I wanted to show her my place at Na Po Wo (the high school) aaand we got a little lost. So these three girls showed us back and it turns out that they were students at Na Po Wo! Hopefully I’ll run into them but it does happen to be a school of 2000 kids…

The internet is spotty at best so I’m writing this in a word document to post tomorrow! Hopefully by then I’ll have a better signal.

More about teaching to come – my second day begins tomorrow morning! Mostly observing, perhaps a few getting to know you activities.

Sweet dreams!

The Hokey Pokey and Chinese Festival

I have officially moved out of the orientation housing though I haven't quite officially moved into my new housing...There was a change of plans as one of our rooms isn't ready yet. And there is a bit of construction on campus that is creating some complications. It turns out that there is also no water in our housing yet soo Kara and I are living in an 'apartment' about a kilometer away. It's actually air conditioned and we are sharing a king bed but that's nothing compared to the mats we've been sleeping on! Hopefully everything will be fixed tomorrow...though we've found out that when we are told one day that will generally mean about 3 or 4 days...only time will tell.  The day started out pretty overwhelming but turned out wonderfully. I even got to talk to friends from school this morning. Turns out to be quite necessary some days.

We spent the last few days of orientation holding English camp at the school our Field Director will be teaching at a few days a week. There were 60 students in all and they were adorable. Ages 9 -12 or so. They were quite bashful the first day but by the end of the second day they were completely outgoing and chattering at us in Thai that we couldn't understand. We taught in teams as our 'practicum' before actually teaching and it turned out quite well! The second day of camp the kids had one lesson, then a super informal 'quiz' and then we put on a presentation. My group decided to teach our class the 'Hokey Pokey' and it was a smash hit. They loooved it, especially the dancing around in a circle and yelling 'hokey pokey!' at the end. They got really into it and it was a wonderful presentation. Everything we could have hoped for! Afterwards we had yet another string ceremony and watched the village women make baskets. They were awesome and of course I bought a few...one to use at school and one for a laundry basket. We also got little gifts from all of the kids. In the villages, the gifts tend to be sticky rice baskets but they're good decorations/ can hold lots of little things. It was a completely gratifying experience as the kids wanted to learn English and speak with us and of course, take dozens of pictures fitting as many kids in as possible!

Today was hectic as it was moving day and it was also sort of sad. I've gotten completely used to all of the other volunteers that it was hard to leave! It was also completely overwhelming to be 'on our own'. Tomorrow though is Loy Gratong day so we are going to another volunteers school for the festival...which means I get to see everyone in less than 24 hours. I've already had several phone conversations with people to see how their placements are and everything like that. I believe we'll all be seeing a lot of each other on the weekends, which will be wonderful.

Tonight, the director of the special English program at my school took us out to dinner. We weren't sure where we were going but it ended up being a Chinese festival on the Mekong! It was amazing. There was a Chinese Opera at one end and students from Nakhon Phanom High School (Nakhon Phanom wittayakhom OR na po wo) performing traditional Thai dance and Thai classical music at the other. They had some incredible contemporary dance. It was quite scandalous by Thai terms though! The director's wife is the dance teacher at Na Po Wo and she also happened to teach us Thai dance during orientation, so we got to say hello to her and their daughter tonight as well. They, in the Thai fashion, brought us toons of food and drinks. I also happened to meet the director of the Chinese School here in Nakhon Phanom and we managed to talk in Chinese all night! It was a little confusing but fun. Hopefully I'll see her again soon. The festival goes on for a week and I have a bike ( with a basket and an extra seat and everything!) so I'm planning on going back and getting some good food :).

That's the quick update for now! Tomorrow is the first day of school (I am just observing for the first few days) and the Loy Gratong festival so plenty more pictures coming your way.

aaand of course I've temporarily misplaced my camera cord in all the moving around. So, just the update for now and pictures soon, as per usual. goodnight!