Daily Life Update

It's been a while since we've updated you on the little things that happen in our daily lives. Life during the week is pretty ordinary. Generally we go to work, go home and snack, go to the gym, back home, then out to eat - oh and we tend to watch tons of Netflix.

School Stories: As we've mentioned before, school is very different here than at home. We thought we'd enlighten you (and make you laugh) at some of the things that have happened in our classrooms and some differences between the school systems (home and here).

1. A dog or cat may wander into the classroom - and class goes on as normal.
2. Electricity flickers off and on - and class goes on as normal.
3. At least once a week (sometimes more) classes will be canceled for a school event - we find out the morning of, sometimes the hour before, sometimes when we show up to an empty room.
1. Next week - Beth has no classes because of different events going on!
4. A M1 (7th grade) student of Beth's - one day after teaching Beth was filling out the class book on a students desk. The boy reached his arm out and put it next to hers- he gasped and yanked it away. Then did it again and said something about how white Beth's skin was and how it is a good color, and that his skin was black and a bad color. In all reality his skin was not even close to black, but a nice tan brown color. She told him she liked his color. After more comparing she left class. The student ran after her in the hall way to compare again. Every week he compares again.
5. It's normal for almost half the class to be missing... or for students to sneak out after we take attendance.
6. Midterms Week - midterms are different here. We write the test, if you are the main teacher of the class  (Josh is main teacher in 1 and Beth in 2; the other classes our points are a part of the core teachers' grade) and hand it in to the Thai teachers. Then we sit in the office all midterms week and "prepare and grade". Thai teachers are the only teachers who administer the tests.
7. Beth's M1 Class - The teacher before me left class and Beth attempted to walk in but was surprised with almost all the students rushing out asking to use the toliet. Beth said no and attempted to usher them back in - her arms were up. A few students managed to sneak by regardless.
8. Josh - Josh walked into his classroom to find a motorcycle parked in the room! A few minutes later some students pushed it outside. 
9. Josh- Josh came to a class early only to find a teacher sleeping behind her desk.
10. When a foreign teacher is absent, it is the teachers' job to find a sub. Which means asking another foreign teacher to cover our class.
11. Beth is the token white female in the school - quite the change from from home!
12. We attend 1-2 hour long meetings all conducted in Thai. Often times we are told we have to attend them.
1. Most of the time we're informed the day of.
2. One day we were informed that people from an ASEAN (the European Union of Southeast Asia) are coming to our school (in an hour) to complete evaluations of our school - and we have to prepare presentations for the evaluators then be ready for a Q&A session with them. Frantically we rushed to prepare something out of nothing. At the meeting (which turned out to be 4 hours later), we never presented because we had to leave and the meeting had run long.
13. What we consider to be "pretty good English" has drastically changed.
14. Today we wrote a speech for the head of our department and the director of the school for the opening ceremony of English Program Camp next week.
15. It's not uncommon for boys in class to change shirts or complete unbutton and zip there shorts to re-tuck in a shirt.

Other interesting facts or stories outside school:

1. We are still discovering new places to eat around us.
2. We were at our usual ba me ge ow spot (an amazingly delicious Chinese soup!), it was busier than usual so we waited. A very young girl (around 2) sees Beth and says something to her mom, who says something back. Then the tiny girl Wai-ed Beth. (a wai is similar to a handshake and hello here, fold your hands up to your chest, nose, or forehead depending on the age/status of that person and bow) So cute to see a little girl do such a respectful gesture.
3. Another day Beth ventured out on her own and was able to get some street food "to-go!" Made it home and our pad thai was still hot and delicious! 
4. People in Thailand rarely use toilet paper instead they use the Bum Gun, the water gun next to the toilet. This is the tool used to clean, not toilet paper. Drying... well we haven't figured that out, we think they just use one piece of tp to dry. Same with hand washing - there is never a way to dry your hands, only choice is tp, that that isn't very effective. Guess they are fans of air drying but not with electric air dryers, more like move your hands fast while walking.
5. Speaking of toilets - ours was acting up so we got help from the apartment owners and workers. Fixing it consisted of them completely removing the toilet from the floor! 
6. Beth ventured out one her own one day to the market. She heard farang so many times walking around and no one wanted to sit by her on the bus.
7. The family that owns the hole-in-the-wall restaurant place (they serve the best ba me ge ow)  doesn't speak any English, and we have very little Thai - so our conversations are full of body language! We both want to speak to each other badly but many things get lost in the language  The family is very nice and now when we eat here if feels as if we are sitting down at our own kitchen table.
8. we love ba me ge ow, and really wanted to find out how to create this so we won't go through withdrawals at home. Beth asked one of our M5 students to come with us, and be our translator. The family was very helpful and shared the recipe and even let us practice making some of the pieces. The Thai cook said "if we didn't love you we wouldn't tell you" So excited to re-create this at home for of you - it is amazingly delicious!

with our "translator" Pink who is on the far left.

The Family and Us

What's Coming Up?

1. This coming Sunday - Tuesday Josh and I are going to Hua Hin to chaperone  English Camp. I think this camp will be different than the previous one that was in December. There are 5 foreign teachers going, and we did most of the planning for it.
2. This coming week - Jake is coming to visit! We are so excited! :)