Temple

So another week started….on Monday and Tuesday we say the last of our students that we hadn’t yet taught. I am starting to get the hang of this whole teaching thing. Teach for an hour, play online for 2 hours, teach for another hour, snack, teach again, relax some more, teach again, then done for the day. Yeah…pretty awesome schedule!

For those of you who are interested, I figured you might like to know some of my student’s names…

Cartoon
FlukFleet
TubTim
Nut
Toy
Game
Team
Army
Cherry
Wit
O-p
Boss
Tiger

And so on…yup, it’s pretty entertaining.

Tim learned how to say “sweet and sour stirfry” and I was STOKED to finally get my sweet and sour veggies for dinner!!!!

On Wednesday I found out that my students were going to the Temple on Thursday and Friday, so I wouldn’t have any classes to teach. SCORE! Then I found out I was supposed to be going with them. Oh.

Luckily - our agency was coming to the school on Thursday, and Tim and I had to go to the hospital to get our medical paperwork for our Work Permit, so I got out of going to the Temple today, but I still have to go tomorrow. Oh well.

While we were at the hospital today we heard someone shout out “Tim, April!” We were surprised as the only people we knew were in school…it turned out to be Annie. She is a Thai woman, our age, who lived in our town until she was 11 then moved to the states. She is back for 3 weeks working in the hospital, we met her at the market and she came up to us because I teach her cousin. She invited us over for dinner tomorrow and is taking us to a place about 45 min away where we can ride jet skis and play in the water! Needless to say, we are VERY excited!!!!

Welp, that’s about it for this week….Oh, yesterday before school ended a bunch of students came in to take pictures with Tim and I - super cute!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes

This weekend held so much promise...

Our first weekend in Phibun…there was so much to do! We had plans to meet with friends in Sisaket, run errands in Ubon, then hang out on the island and swim in the waterfalls in Phibun.

Well….we did errands in Ubon. And that was it.

Friday night Tim and I headed to a Korean BBQ (I guess here it’s Thai BBQ) place right by our apartment (hotel) and it was AMAZING! Tim cooked the meat, I was in charge of the noodles and veggies. We had beers with dinner and after about probably 2 hours we headed home. We checked in on the computer, and watched a little of the Tour de France.

Saturday we woke up with plans to take the bus into Ubon (we were told it was about 30-40min away, it was more like 1.5hrs) to run some errands - get school supplies, a few pieces of teacher clothes, etc. Once at Big C there MUST have been somebody important there, as while we were shopping, kids started running in masses to a different part of the store, and we could hear delighted screaming. We didn’t bother to check it out, as we wouldn’t have known who it was anyways.

After Ubon we had planned to take a bus into Sisaket to see our friends Ryan and Tracey for their school’s home football (soccer) game. Unfortunately, when we got to Ubon we learned the last bus back to Phibun was 5pm. So there was no way we would be able to see them this weekend So we headed back and tried to find a movie to watch (at least with English subtitles)….no such luck.

On Sunday I woke up, and WENT FOR A RUN! It has been about a month and a half since I had been on a run - so I was ready to get some motion in my legs. I only ran about a mile - just over the bridge to the other town. It was so humid already (at 930am) that I was afraid I would dehydrate. But at least my legs remember what it’s like to move! As I ran over the bridge - it reminded my of the chilly mornings I spend running across the Georgetown Bridge with Spicy. Instead, I was sweating at 930am in the blistering heat - with just my ipod buzzing in my ear. If I thought walking around town on our first day elicited a lot of stares, running through town elicited about 3 times as much. RUNNING?!?! and a WHITE PERSON RUNNING?!?! That’s just unheard of!

After the run, I got ready to head to our island with waterfalls and picnic areas. Apparently Thailand (or Phibun) doesn’t know what an island is. The river where we had dinner earlier in the week was what they considered “an island”, and it was no where near the waterfalls. With that idea gone, we decided to head over to the pool that is at the resort across the bridge. Once at the resort, we find out the pool is closed. As in, NO ONE can use it. UGH. 2 strikes already, and it wasn’t even 2pm.

So basically I learned this weekend:
- there is no place to relax and swim (as we were told)
- the bus to the city is 1.5 hours minimum (not 30-40min)
- if we miss the 5pm bus from Ubon to Phibun, we are stuck (no dinner dates in the city)
- neither of the 2 movie stores have any movies that even have subtitles in English
- there are NO bookstores with english books to read
- the only thing to do on the weekends in Phibun is eat and sleep.

Needless to say, I am already going stir crazy…no movies, no english tv’s, no books, and no phone that I can use to call and talk to anyone.

Now it’s time to get ready for a FULL week of teaching (5 days…AHH!!). I have to actually start teaching lessons now (no more paper airplanes) so I’d better do some planning!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes

So, I'm a teacher...

On wednesday we went to school…to TEACH! Teach as in teach kids, mold the minds of the future, be responsible for providing knowledge..etc. That was what we did. Kinda.

Tim and I both did the same lesson: we needed to spend a few days “playing” with the students to get them comfortable with us. Oh, let me back up…

There has never been an English program with Native speakers at this school, just Thai teachers teaching English. Think “Macalani” instead of “Macaroni” and you get the point of how they were teaching, and learning. So it was Tim and I’s job to show them REAL english (american english). They have only seen white people on TV. Our other English teacher is Filipino (he teaches Math/English).

We first have to learn their names. Now their Thai names are long and hard to pronounce, so they all have nicknames. Think of words like “arm”, “air”, “boo”, “jim”, etc. and you get the point. Ok cool, right? Well, then we have “aun”, “oon”, “oin”, etc - and they ALL SOUND THE SAME! So we had to figure out how to have fun, check roll, and learn their names all in one!

TIMMY TO THE RESCUE! He had an idea of having them make and compete in a paper airplane contest. So at the beginning of each class we had them write down their student number and their nickname on a piece of paper. Then we had them fold the paper into a paper airplane and and form teams to compete. Needless to say, all the classes enjoyed themselves (some classes a little TOO much) and it DEF helped pass the class. Afterwards, we collected the airplanes and recorded their nickname to the corresponding student number (since we can’t read Thai script that their name is printed in).

So we spend 3 days of making paper airplanes. I no longer want to make paper airplanes EVER AGAIN!

So my classes are as follows: I have 15 classes/week. I see EACH class for ONLY 1 hour each week. That means I only make 1 lesson plan, and just do it over and over 15 times. With one exception…I have an English Immersion class and I see them 4 times a week, so I need a new lesson each time I see them. So I of course did paper airplanes the first time I saw them, the the second time I saw them (as it was only half a week due to government holiday) I gave them a test. YUP, A TEST!! HAHA, ON A FRIDAY…WITHOUT NOTICE!!!

Ok, I am not THAT mean - it was a pretest, that I am required to give within the first couple of classes. It isn’t even graded - it is just so I can see where their English stands so I can know what to concentrate my teaching on.

Well now that the first week is over I can say a few things:

- Fridays at 1:30pm are my favorite part of the week (the time my last class ends)
- AC does NOT matter in a Thai class; I will still get hot and sticky
- No matter what age group (I teach 12-13) there WILL be trouble makers!
- When students say “HELLO TEACHER” they just want you to say HELLO back so they can giggle
- Thai teachers don’t really do anything except lounge around between class and eat
- I HATE the classes that have chalkboards. WHITEBOARDS ONLY PLEASE!
- Students that are not in your class will sneak in if you are doing something fun
- No one knows if you are late to class, or if you end your class early

Timmy and I ended this week with KOREAN BBQ!!!!! YAY! There are no bars here, so instead we went to the bakery (because of the french influence on Loas, and us being so close to the border we have AWESOME bakeries) and got a cake. And ate the whole thing in about 15 min. Oops.

We did learn that almost every day the hotel crew puts in an addition to our room. We have now come home to find new clocks, new mirrors, shelves, towel hangers, shower caddies, etc. in our rooms. And our fridge is refilled with water bottles every day. Instead of a milkman we have a waterman (or woman, or ladyboy).

Life is good

Sawasdee Kha!
- Apes

This is OUR town

Welp, after an 11 hour bus ride to the city of Ubon, and then another 30 or so (I fell asleep so I have no clue) to Phibunmangsahan, we made it.

We are now temporary residents of Phibunmangsahan - spending our nights in the local hotel (there is only one).

Once we arrived, we checked into the hotel, dropped our bags and wandered around. We found the market, saw the wild horses grazing on the soccer fields, and saw where our school is. While walking around, everyone kept staring. I guess they don’t see too many (if any) westerns in this area. The girls would give us these HUGE smiles and giggle when we said hello, and the boys would shout “HELLO, HELLO” to us - since they didn’t know anything else. We would just wave and say hello. I guess this is what a celebrity feels like…well, except the fact we can’t understand anything they say to us.

This morning we woke up on a hunt to find apartments. We got lunch (I tried to order in Thai - but had to just end up pointing). Then we kept walking, and ended up in the part by the river. There were TONS of people sitting by the water, laying in hammocks, etc. sleeping, picnic-ing, and plenty with their bottles of Hong Thong and Coca-Cola. We kept walking along the water, exploring the shops, and just saying our hellos to all who stared (everyone).

Then we got to the coffee shop in our hotel to get some internet action. There was a young boy who kept coming over to us, so I decided to practice my Thai (from the thai dictionary) on him. Everytime I asked something in Thai, he answered in English. That gave me promise that I might be able to communicate with my students! It also made me realize he probably WILL be one of my students. We will see once I step in class this week.

Afterwards we headed down to get some dinner - I had to order for us since the menu was in Thai Script and I carry a “cheat sheet” of traditional Thai dishes.

As we walked past, we passed a family eating outside their house and we said Hello, and they invited us to eat with them! Well, since we don’t know much Thai yet - we didn’t realize it until we were a block past. Then we felt like morons! We are going to “casually walk past” again tomorrow, and if they ask us again we will DEF say yes and sit with them!

Tomorrow we get to meet with the head of our department and he will show us some apartments, and hopefully the school - we start teaching on Wednesday!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes

Anyone in need of a teacher?

Here’s the story of how we ended up on the OTHER side of Thailand than what we had planned for.

During the training we did in Phuket, everyone receives their teaching placement. We were told we would be in Bangkok - in “a big school in Bangkok”. So Tim and I made plans to NOT hang out in Bangkok on our “vacation” and see the rest of Thailand.

- For vacation news, see the blog post before this.

Once we finally got to Bangkok, we got another hotel room by the school we were told we would be at, and settled in to get ready to meet with the school Director and sign our contracts. As it turned out two of our classmates, Krissy and Brian, were placed in our school as well.

On the meeting day, the 4 of us met up and headed to the school. It is a HUGE Catholic school that is all over Thailand. Very expensive to attend, and very well respected. We were in teaching heaven (well, not quite - but we were in teaching luxury). So we signed our contracts and went apartment looking…after walking around in the rain for about an hour…we found it…

As we wandered past the street venders - we came to a clearing with lush plants, and a sign saying “Welcome to Sathorn Saint View”. There it was…an amazing apartment. Think Rooftop pool, AC, Hot Shower, Cable/Satellite TV, twice a week complimentary laundry service, free wi-fi, rooftop gym, lobby bar/resturant with DAILY specials for residents, in-room fridge and microwave, etc. Yes, this was it!!!

We put down our deposit to move it in 2 days and skipped back to the hotel.

The next morning we wake to an email about our contracts. They are null and void because the new director didn’t have the power to hire us. Soo…we were out of a job. And our placement company didn’t have any more spots in Bangkok.

After we were switched to a new placement company we were offered a job in Ubon Ratchathani - right on the Laos border. Since school started a few days later, we took the job.

We are now 10 hours+ from Bangkok and all of our buddies, lost our apartment deposit, and are in a place that is close enough to take day trips to Laos..

Sawadee Kha..
Apes

Songkran!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Wednesday we celebrated Songkran - which is the Chinese New Year, and Thailand does it up BIG!

We got out of class early (the rest of the country had the day off) and got a ride to Rai Wai Beach. On the way there, those in the back of the truck were DRENCHED with water…oh, I guess I should tell you about the holiday first…

Songkran is a day to show respect to others. Sounds simple, right? Well, in Thailand they do so by pouring water on each other. The government puts our HUGE bins of water (like big enough to swim in) and keep them full of water all day. People can use these to fill up their waterguns, buckets to pour on people, etc.

Ok, back to our day!

So we got to Rai Wai and all 15 or so of us unloaded. We walked the street armed with our water guns and got completely soaked along the way. We learned VERY quickly that if a truck was coming past - get out of the way, as their water was ICE cold!!!

After walking for about 30-45 min (and getting more drenched by each step) we decided to take a time out and get some dinner.

After dinner we decided to NOT travel the street again, but take a tuk tuk (taxi) home.

Once home, we all dried off and headed down to the beach. As we were hanging out we saw the coolest thing! A few meters down the beach, some resort workers workers were lighting rice lanterns and sending them into the sky. So of course we joined them, and lifted some into the night sky as well! It was just like a scene from Tangled!!

I’ll try to upload some of the pix soon.

This weekend - it’s off to Kho Phi Phi Island for the Full Moon Party (google it)!!

Sawasdee Kha!
- Apes

"Vacation"

Sooo….I’ve been on “vacation”. Haha, how silly to think of this as vacation, because the 3 weeks of training wasn’t exactly work. Oh well, right now we are all vacationing before our school starts.

I figured I’d write a little post while Timmy naps, just to give you guys something to let you know I am alive and STILL loving this country.

We ended our class on 22/4 and then Tim and I headed out to Korat to spend Ian’s birthday with him. Once in Korat, we celebrated the American way - a night of drinking!!! Ian even found Jager Bombs!!

Once we left Korat we headed up to Chiang Mai to spend what we thought would be a few days…ha! We got to Chiang Mai and checked into Julie’s Guesthouse. While there we went on trekking adventures that involved elephant riding (FINALLY!!!), hiking, waterfall swimming, bamboo rafting, and white water rafting. A full day of fun!

We then headed out of Chiang Mai to head to Pai - which is nothing more than a village founded by backpackers - FOR backpackers. So it was an AMAZING place! We rented scooters and took them to the waterfalls, hot springs, and just rode around the gorgeous countryside.

We returned back to Chiang Mai after 2 days in Pai and met up with some friends from our class and decided to spend a few more days. We did a full day cooking class - we now know how to make friend rice, different curries, desserts, etc. Between Tim and me, we can make 13 Thai dishes! They tasted so great, I can’t wait to try them out back home.

Then we did a 2 day trek - which involved a LOT of hiking. Turns out I’m not the biggest fan of hiking But we got to ride elephants again (and play with a baby elephant - I was taller than he was!) and do some more bamboo rafting.

*During the hike, my hair got infested with Giant Fire Ants and Timmy had to go through and pick them out while they were biting my scalp. Imagine a HORRIBLY PAINFUL case of lice. Yeah, not fun!

Today we are planning on going to the Tiger farm to play with tigers

So now you know that we are THOROUGHLY enjoying our vacation time - but we ARE looking forward to working so we can start getting paychecks!!!

Hope you all are enjoying the pictures!

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes