Jake Visits!

Jake came back into Thailand Sunday evening and would be here until Saturday morning. Sadly English Camp and Jake's visit overlapped, we gave him a few interesting things to see and do in Bangkok. We had researched some other places to see together later that week.

Tuesday afternoon, we returned from camp and met up with Jake for a New Year's party thrown by the director of the school. We explained to the teachers the situation of Jake being here and we wanted to be with him, they all told us to bring him to the party - so to the party we went. People in Thailand know how to throw a good party! On arrival we were all given red Santa hats, people here also love Christmas. We sat down and the marathon of group pictures started. Jake was pushed into many of these photos also - guess he was temporary Wat Khema School staff for a night. We ate, we chatted, we danced, and we listened/watched to other teachers as they performed on stage. We also got gifts. Josh got a towel, Beth got sweet traditional Thai pants, and Jake a traditional Thai waist wrap thing.

Foreign Languages Department...and Jake 

With the School Director and our Department Head

At one point all of us were pulled up to do a traditional Thai dance, it was a lot of detailed hand moves - we need more practice at this one to look like pros! At another point, Beth was pulled up by the director of the school (major big deal in Thailand) to the dance floor.  He is kinda treated like a celebrity and Beth felt like she was with one by all the cameras snapping away. We had an enjoyable night.

Trying to teach me the hand moves

Wednesday, we did not have school because it was teachers day, so the plan was to explore some of the city. Jake and Beth (Josh did not feel well) visited our neighborhood market then enjoyed peaceful massages, and took a tuk tuk ride. We ventured down to Khao San Road for lunch, light shopping, and to take in the culture: sites, smells, sounds, and tastes. We ended our adventure downtown Bangkok then hopped on the BTS Skytrain back home. Another great day in the city.

Tuk Tuk Ride!

Thursday, Beth had no classes Thursday and Friday because her students were gone on a trip, however Josh still had classes. Trying to make the most of Jake's visit, Beth took Josh's classes on Thursday (what a wonderful wife) so Josh could spend the day with Jake. (*Sidenote - whew! I now know what it is like in some of his classes..wow!!) They went out on the town exploring. We had our big night out in Bangkok at Soi Cowboy... interesting.

**Another sidenote - our air conditioner broke right before we left for English Camp, so we had arranged for it to be fixed Thursday. Thank goodness - it was getting a bit hot in our apartment!

At Soi Cowboy

BTS Skytrain

Friday, we both took the day off to spend with Jake. We visited the Jim Thompson House in Bangkok and wandered around downtown Bangkok for a bit. We enjoyed the pool for the afternoon into the evening. We had a lovely supper riverside that night. A great way to spend our last day together in Bangkok.
 

Bangkok Sunset

It was so wonderful seeing Jake in Bangkok! We had a great time! :)

English Camp - Hua Hin

Josh and I were asked to chaperone a 3 day English Camp. This camp is very different from the day camp we chaperoned in December, as we quickly found out. It would be us two, along with four other foreign teachers, planning the learning activities, preparing the camp handbook. and designing a camp banner. We've been working on these items for 2-3 weeks prior to camp.

We departed Sunday morning and would return Tuesday afternoon (bit of a schedule problem with Jake arriving Sunday night, but more on that later). All 80 students, 5 Thai teachers, and 5 foreign teachers loaded onto the buses and started the 3 hour journey to Hua Hin, a town on a beach. This day was filled with site seeing and tours of famous landmarks near and in Hua Hin before going to our hotel.

The first site was Marukathayawan Palace. This palace was built using teak wood in 1923 for King Rama VI. This massive Thai style palace was built right on the beach. Hallways between rooms are all open air. It is a huge compound with lots of beach! It is a beautiful palace and a great place to see the extravagance of the Thai Royal Family.

Back on the bus for our next site. Because of some chaos at the first site, we sat all the students down and explained in detail what they needed to do at each site - huge improvement! Crazy how much better things go when all parties involved are prepared. Next was Huai Mongkol Temple. This is a huge statue of a monk who lived over 400 years ago, he was made famous because he performed many miracles. We met with our teams of students and completed tasks, then had free time to walk around. This is one of the biggest statues I've seen, and with such detail too, it was quite the site!

Back to the bus for our last site of the day - Sam Phan Nam Floating Market. Again we met and completed tasks with our teams then were free to explore. This market, designed around a lake, was neat to walk around.

Josh working with his team

Next we went to the beautiful hotel right on the beach. We had an opening ceremony, where the speeches we wrote were spoken. Then off to bed for another full day the next day.

Up early for breakfast then back on the bus to Pranburi Forest Park. The five foreign teachers went into the forest to set up for an "amazing race" type activity, then the teams of students came in one by one to complete each task. We really enjoyed this activity and park.

Back to the hotel for our afternoon English activities. Each one of the foreign teachers designed an activity geared towards a specific English skill. Josh's focus was speaking and Beth's was listening. After this rotation activity we met with our teams to create a presentation based on a site toured during camp. Later that night each team presented their project. The kids also received some free-time to swim and play after they finished their projects.

Josh - Team Presentation

Beth - Team Presentation

On Wednesday night, after the students had gone to bed, a few of the foreign teachers ventured out into the sea for a night swim. It was low tide so we had to walk a long way to find water. The water was crazy because some patches had glow-in-the-dark algae! Whenever you moved in the water it looked like glitter - pretty! There were also small crabs (dime-sized) on top of the sand under the water. Whenever we would put our feet down on the ground, we could feel them digging into the sand to escape.

Tuesday morning, after breakfast, we had closing ceremonies and awards were given out. Then back to Bangkok.

The Five Foreign Teachers

All the Teachers on the Trip

Wow, we sure learned a lot about taking school trips in Thailand! You must be patient - things do not always get done in the most sensible way or on time. You must be kind - even if you think a task could be done more efficiently or practical.  You must have an open mind - culture is very different here and things are done differently. You must be able to adjust - a schedule is not designed to be accurate, you must be willing to change and bend. Overall, it was a very delightful camp, we enjoyed getting to know the English Program students and our colleagues better, and seeing Thai cultural, historical, and natural sites.

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! :)