A day of adventure

This morning started off like a regular morning...got up and went to school.

However, today was full of random-ness. Enough so, that I decided to fill a post about it!

Sitting in the teacher office before heading off to our classrooms to administer finals we hear a loud BOOM. I don't mean a small boom like we are used to hearing (it's fireworks season) but like a HUGE EARTH SHATTERING BOOM!! Even the Thai teachers squealed, and many of them thought it was a bomb! I looked at Tim and said "If we were in America the school would already be on lock down" but not here in Thailand. The windows were covered by smoke from the firework - some of the teachers thought the AC unit on the first floor had blown out. All I thought was "So this is what it would be like to teach in Surin" (Surin currently has fighting going on by its border, also one of the places we were asked to teach at).

Then we were off to our first exam. During the exams Tim, Mark (the Filipino teacher), and I were called to another building. The Mayor of Ubon Province was at our school and wanted to meet us. So we headed over to building 9 (where my students are) and waited to meet the Mayor. While we waited, we chatted with (mostly listened to) his staff members who tried to convince us NOT to move to Bangkok and to keep teaching in their province. Then the Mayor's right hand man gave me his phone number and said "when you want to go to Ubon, do not take the bus. Call me and I will send a car" Well, no complaints here!!! Luckily some other teachers (I was the only female sitting in this 'boys club') made comments about Tim and I being a couple. Whew!

When the mayor was done talking to a class of my students we went in to take pictures. I had already told my students last week that I was leaving, and when a few of them noticed I was taking pictures they smiled real big and started waving (mind you, they were getting their picture taken WITH THE MAYOR), some even poked their friends and pointed at me so they would see me too. Of course I loved it :)

(2 Thai teachers, me, Tim, the Mayor, Assistant Director, Mark, 3 women Thai teachers, our school director)

After we met the Mayor it was time to head back to Finals...or so I thought. My Finals Co-teacher walked with us back to the building we were giving exams in, then looked at me and said "Oh, someone is watching the students in our class. We shouldn't go back. But Tim and Mark must go to their classrooms. You and I can go to our classroom this afternoon." It was 10:30am, so I was free until 1:00pm. WOO HOO!!

During lunch Tim and I went to the BANGING fish curry place in front of the school. Afterwards we decided to get some ice-cream from our favorite ice-cream shop (owned by a lady boy). As we pulled up to her store, we realize there had been a scooter accident. So we get our ice-cream and become part of the bystanders as we watch the young boy (who seemed drunk) yell and the old woman (who kept trying to drive away). Eventually the cops came, and a barber came out of his shop to yell about the whole incident. Tim and I just stood there watching and eating our ice-cream. No one was hurt, but it was still quite eventful.

Once back at school one of the teachers, P.R., asked if Tim and I were free on Tuesday. Since it is teacher work week we said Yes. She said they had a surprise for us, but we would find out on Tuesday what it was. About 20 minutes later she yells to Mark (who is across the room) "Mark, on Tuesday at 11:00 we will have a party" and I respond "P.R. is it a surprise party?" and she realizes that 1) Me and Tim are in the room and 2) She is not speaking Thai so we understand her. This makes all of us crack up, and she said "April, do not listen. Cover your ears!" Hahah, that woman cracks me up!

That's our fun stories from today...hope you enjoyed!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

Teaching is OOVVVEERRRRR

So today was my last official teaching day at Phibunmungsahan School. I still have 2 weeks left at the school, but next week is Finals week, and the week after is teacher work week and students don't come to school....so today was my last day with my students.

I told my advanced students today I was leaving (it was my last time with them) and they were super sad! It def made me feel good that they are going to miss me. One student even said "See you next year?" and when I said "No" the rest of the class understand that I am actually not coming back. So then they bombarded me with hugs and took a million pictures - it was so cute.

(my advanced class - before I told them I was leaving)

I have been telling my classes as I teach them this week that I won't be back (since I see all but my advanced class only once a week) and today my VERY LAST class gave me gifts! One girl gave me a mini mouse charm for my phone, and one little boy gave me a necklace (Timmy - take note!).

It is exciting to be done with actual teaching for a while, but I will DEF miss my students. They all asked for my phone number, email, and facebook - but I told them no to all. Let's see if they end up finding me on Facebook :)

Tonight we are celebrating with dinner at Riverside Bar (the only bar in town) and a beer - wooo hoooo!! No drinking heavy, because we have an exciting "Fit and Fun" weekend planned - lots of old field day games and some exercise mixed in for Timmy and I to compete against each other...should be interesting :)

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

WOO REDSKINS!!

I am pretty sure you all have seen the video of Tim's and my's students singing "Hail to the Redskins" and have realized the awesomeness of the video.

Well our fan love DOESN'T STOP THERE!!!

For the first game of the season, Timmy and I did NOT want to miss out...so we made sure we were ready:

USA: 4:14pm EST game
Thailand: 3:15am
We set our alarms, and were up watching the whole thing.

USA: Free viewing on TV or at a bar
Thailand: 2 computers
1 for live streaming, and 1 for watching the TV through skype (thanks pops) in case the live streaming didn't work.


USA: Redskins memorabilia
Thailand: Redskins memorabilia
I dressed in my jersey, and hung signs my students had made for the Redskins

USA: Wings and Ranch
Thailand: Wings and Ranch
We hoarded all the wings from the market, and marinated them in Chili Sauce. Then we dipped them in homemade ranch from dry ranch packets Beaz had sent me.

USA: BEER BEER BEER
Thailand: Beer
Small beer - also a light version (difficult to find)

So yes, we got as American as we could and watched Skins win their first game :)

Sawasdee Kha!!
Apes :)

Weekend Planning

Tim and I decided that we would take turns planning a weekend. The other person had to go along with the plans, with no complaints.....

First up - TIMMY!!

Tim planned an afternoon bar crawl on Saturday of his weekend. Since our town only has 1 "bar" he counted resturants and food carts that sold beer as a "bar" for this activity. He started the crawl off with a Thai version of bloody mary's and then we made a "hurricane roadie" for the walk (obv we weren't driving the scooter). We walked to the end of the main road, and made the corner food cart stand the first stop.


There we had spring rolls (a quick snack before we started) and got our first beer....and guess what - THERE WAS ANOTHER WHITE GUY!! Turns out his partner's family owns the spring roll stand, and they lived right down the street. He (his name is Gary, and his partner is Hong) invited us to his house, where his neighbor is also a foreigner. So we met the neighbor - David - and had a drink there. Then Gary gave us a few beers at his house. We agreed to meet up later for dinner at our last stop - the town bar.

So Timmy and I went on our way, back to the bar crawl. The next stop we came upon was a little store that ended up being owned by one of my student's families. Tim pulled out part of his supplies - Ping pong balls and plastic cups and we played a game of pong.


We got my student to play - and she made it on the second shot! Don't worry - we didn't let her drink!!! Then we headed to our next stop....

Another food cart - and Tim pulled out more suprises!! A game of flip cup, and bags of peanuts - like an AMERICAN BAR!!! I won flip cup (of course) and then we were off again...

We headed to a little spot almost in the center of town, where we drop our laundry, and pick up fruit from our favorite fruit stand. We grabbed a beer and drank it at a table in front of our laundry shop. There some of the locals decided they wanted to chat with us, and one of them ending up kissing Tim on the cheek - and left a lipstick mark that stayed the rest of the night! Then we got a call from Gary and Hong to join them at dinner - so we headed to the town bar (called Riverside).

At Riverside, we ordered dinner - and Saw came to meet us up. We ordered a bottle of whiskey (as if we needed it) and spent the night dancing around and I even got on stage with the Thai band - and they gave me a "Riverside" Polo!! Saw gave us a ride home...and we were QUICK to pass out.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Saw's house for the day. He drove us out to Khon Chian, where the Mekong River (from Laos) and the Moon River (from Thailand) meet and form the 2-colored river. Then we went to the Pha Daem national park.


The park is full of Cliffs which prehistoric paintings, caves, etc. One of the cliffs is the eastern most part of Thailand, and in the mornings people go to the cliff - there they will be the first people to see the sunrise of the day. We spent the day adventuring through the cliffs and paths - and took AMAZING pictures. Then we headed over to the Mushroom Rock Formations - part of them are 130 million years old, and the other parts are 150 million years old. They look like Humongous mushrooms!! We also saw the "Divide Rock" which is a HUGE rock (that is really the ground) that is split in two.

It was a VERY entertaining weekend - and Tim did a GREAT job with all the planning!!

Next up - APRIL!!

So for my weekend - I planned a weekend in Ubon Ratchatani. We got up on Saturday morning and made egg sandwiches and had coffee, then loaded onto the bus. It's about an hour and a half bus ride to the city, so once we arrived we checked into a hotel and met up with Gary and Hong (from the bar crawl) for lunch. Our hotel was the Nevada Inn - a hotel with an entertainment center attached: movies, shopping, restaurants, bar, etc.

For lunch we had decided to go to Wrong Way Cafe because we had heard about the amazing steak and burgers at the "western establishment". We showed up with our appetites and what do you know - IT WAS CLOSED!!! NOOOOOO. It's only open at night, so we decided to go ahead and get lunch somewhere else. We headed to Pizza & Co. where Tim and I split one of the specials: Medium pizza (loaded toppings), Spicy Bacon Spaghetti, Italian Cheese Roll, Wings, and a Bacon Salad - all for a measly $15USD total. WIIIIINNNNNIIINNNGGG!!!

After lunch, Gary and Hong headed back to Phibun, and Tim and I decided to take care of some errands and try to work up an appetite for Wrong Way later. We got plenty of new clothes and did tons of walking around. Then we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the evening.

After we were so fresh and so clean, we tuk-tuk'd (taxi) it to Wrong Way Cafe (IT WAS OPEN!!!) and ordered some drinks to wet our cocktail appetites. Then we played some pool,and then it was FINALLY TIME....CHEESEBURGER TIME!!!!

The burger was made on home-made sourdough bread, topped with cheese, bacon, and served with HUGE french fry wedges.

Then we continued our night with beers and pool. Once it was time to go home (closing time = 12pm) the bartendar gave us a ride home since we "were going her way".

Sunday we woke up and had the hotel buffet breakfast - then grabbed some coffee and a little more shopping before we headed back to Phibun.

My weekend originally had no shopping planned, but since the rain came (and stayed) and Timmy needed new clothes, it ended up being a shopping expedition!

Sawasdee Kha!
Apes :)

Thai Redskins Fan

Just in time for the start of the 2011-2012 NFL season!!!
LET'S GO REDSKINS!!!
HTTR!!



These are both Timmy and mine's classes. My kids are the smaller ones (with the Redskins signs they made) and Timmy's are the older ones (not as "redskin-ed" out).

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!!!

Ok, it may already be September 3rd...but hey, better late then never, right??

This month marks so many things for me:
- (American) FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!
- 1 month left of Phibunmungsahan
- 1 month left until I have completed my FIRST SEMESTER OF TEACHING
- 1 month until I am laying once again on the Thai beaches :)

Since I only have a month left in this town, I will make sure the upcoming posts involve things that I have realized I haven't written about: a normal school day, my fellow teachers, the school itself, etc.

And on that note - I am off to start "Tim's weekend" (a weekend planned by him...starting with a "rainy bar 'bar' crawl)...but first, I'll leave you with a picture of what our sunsets on the water look like:


Have a great weekend - and an AWESOME SEPTEMBER!!

Sawasdee Kha!
- Apes :)

PS - don't forget to click on that little "become a follower" button on the left side of my page :)