Week 3 in Bangkok

So, I finally got to meet the kids this week! I've met all 400 and some students from P1 to P3 in the last three days. The students are so smart and absolutely adorable! Many of the names hard to pronounce and the students don't like to correct me. Some of the students are asking for homework, and I'm not used to so many of them hugging me! There are approximately 30 students per class, and 15 classes. They are very well behaved and are very enthusiastic!!

Figuring out where I would like to go on weekends is a tough call. There are so many places here in Thailand that I would love to see, and so many things I would love to do! Some of the Brandon crew have decided to stay in Bangkok, but since I had done that just last weekend, I wanted to leave the city for this coming weekend. I was excited on Tuesday night to find out that others wanted to go out as well, and we've booked a hotel to go back to Hua Hin. For me, this is fabulous because I spent our weekend in Hua Hin with food poisoning and in the hotel room. Hopefully that doesn't happen again!! There are actually a lot of things to do in and around Hua Hin, and it'll be an exciting few days!! I'm looking forward to leaving with the ladies tomorrow night and having like an apartment style suite with two bedrooms, and a kitchenette. We haven't been able to cook ourselves a meal in ages, so that's exciting!!

Time to run off to school for some meetings this morning and a couple of days of prep!

Week 2 in Bangkok

I was so incredibly excited for classes start this week and to meet the students. However, when we arrived on Wednesday, we were told that we would not be starting classes until Thursday or Friday, depending on the grade level. I have prep days on Thursday and Friday, so I haven't met my classes yet. I'll get to meet them on Monday, starting with all of the P3 (Grade 3) classes. It meant I had a lot of time to prep for next week. My cooperating teacher was ill and so I spent a lot of time making booklets for the students and doing research for some centers for the students to work at if they complete their work early. Hope that everything turns out alright!!

Depending on the grade level, there was an ethics camp that the students had to attend. It was all done in Thai, and was taught by monks. They were there all dressed in their saffron robes, and happy as can be. They loved to joke with the students, however I could not understand any of the jokes. You would just hear a gym full of students laugh and the monks would be giggling too. I've heard from a lot of people that these are chatty students and classroom management was a challenge, but I have seen that these students are capable of very good behaviour, they were so quiet while the monks were there. The Thai staff came over and talked to me and asked a lot of questions while the monks were teaching the students. They were incredibly friendly but probably thought I was nuts to be sitting in on the ethics camp when I didn't understand anything more than the numbers! But they were very kind, and now I know a few of them by name, and they greet me in the halls with warm smiles. 

Friday night, Lindsay and I went to Mall Bang Kapi again. We went and had pizza (which wasn't as good as we had been told it was...) and then wandered around looking for things. I was hoping to find some shoes, a pair of cute and comfy black flats, but it seems impossible to find a size 8 in cute and comfy black flats. And it's not that they don't have size 8 here, just that everywhere that has a nice black shoe is sold out of sizes 7-9. If I had smaller feet, I could be very successful! I love shoes, and there is such a variety! A lot of the prettiest ones are the impractical ones though! So I've reigned myself in! So, I'm still on the hunt for some nice practical, comfy shoes! 

Saturday was interesting. Friday night almost all of the Brandon students left for Ko Samet. I have nothing against Ko Samet and would have loved to go, but we've just been travelling so much that I didn't have the energy to leave the city again this weekend. I was content to hang out in Bangkok and see the sights here. So Lindsay and I decided to get up and take the sky train to the downtown area, and then check out some temples and the Grand Palace. I had never taken the sky train (a.k.a. BTS) and had asked Francine where we would go to get there. The closest terminal is right next to the largest market in the world, Chatuchuk. That station is called Mo Chit. So I told the cab driver to take us to Mo Chit and he asked where we were going so we told him the Grand Palace. Somehow he thought I had told him Pattaya and so he took us to the bus station and not the sky train! I explained to him Mo Chit BTS and he laughed and told us it would be another 10 minutes. So after about an hour in a taxi, we arrived at the BTS terminal. We start flipping through the books to figure out where to go from there and what station we want to go to, and we cannot figure it out. My guide books don't have the same names that are on the BTS lines, but thankfully we met a wonderful lady he saw us struggling and helped us out! We had to take the train the the Siam terminal and then switch, and take the other line from Siam to Saphan Taksin.

We got on the sky train and got off to switch at Siam, but we were hungry and decided to hang out there for a bit to see if we could find some food. I decided to try something new, and ate some super spicy chicken with rice noodles, and then vegetables on top. The food was soo spicy that I drank my entire bottle of water so fast! My mouth was still burning so I went on a hunt for something to drink. Nobody seemed to have water or juice, but there were some  interesting drinks that it took some self convincing to try. All of these drinks had things floating in them. I asked what the lady would recommend (using my lovely Thai phrasebook! I highly recommend them!) and she pointed to one that looked almost like milk, but it had little slimy blue and green things that looked like noodles. It's hard to describe, and even harder to believe its a drink! She poured a little bit of sweetener (I think it was Chrysanthemum syrup) and then added the white noodley concoction and then topped it off with some ice. With great apprehension, I took a sip. To my great surprise, it was delicious! The drink was sweet and refreshing! You have to get past the texture of the noodles which remind me a lot of the bubbles in bubble tea.

After I finished eating, we headed toward Siam center, and Lindsay was swarmed by a group of Thai students that asked if they could interview Lindsay. The students asked her a few questions and then we went inside. Only moments later, they were back! She had her own little fan club happening! After they finished asking a few questions, I suggested we should get going right away to avoid being swarmed again! So we went through Siam Center (a higher end shopping center) and when we tired of that, decided to see the famous MBK mall. Lost in Siam Center and not having a clue which way to go, I asked the closest gentleman to us which way to MBK. He pointed us in the direction, but then told us that he was on his way there himself so he would just show us. As we walked, we talked and found out that he was on vacation for a week in Bangkok, it was his 6th trip to the city, and he was actually from Seoul, South Korea. He was friendly and funny, and even after we had gotten to MBK, he walked around and talked with us. We received a phone call that Kelsey and a couple other from campus one and two were coming downtown and were going to meet us at Siam Paragon, and we were sad to say farewell to our new Korean friend.

We made our way back to Siam Center and then to Siam Paragon where we met up with some friends and went for lunch in the food court downstairs. The food court is huge and has every kind of food you can think of, from McDonald's to sushi, steaks, and subs, coffee shops and smoothie shops, and desserts galore. Having recently had breakfast, I wasn't interested in a large meal so a fruit smoothie and a few fries were my lunch before carrying on to find the palace. We went on the sky train again and went further downtown to see the Palace and the temples. We got off the BTS at Saphan Taksin and went outside in search of a tuk tuk or taxi to take us the rest of the way. We ended up taking a tuk tuk with a crazy driver, but it was a lot of fun! As we drove past, we got a lot of laughs and looks. They were all probably thinking that we were a group of crazy farangs (foreigners) and laughed at us squished into the tuk tuk and giggling away. We arrived at the Grand Palace after 4:00pm and it closes at 3:30pm So I got a picture from a distance but  we didn't get to go inside. From there, a guy charmed us into another tuk tuk and sent us to see the Big Buddha. Our driver took us to see the Big Buddha, and then he took us to a bunch of tailor and jewelry shops. At one, I decided that I get a dress for my friend's wedding, and a nice skirt and jacket suit. I can't wait to see what it's like, I hope it's as amazing as I'm picturing it to be!

After all of that journeying, we were 3 hungry bears! We returned by taxi from the Grand Palace where our tuk tuk driver returned us to, and then we hit up the sky train back to Siam. In Siam, we had supper at cute Italian restaurant but were sorely disappointed when our spinach lasagnas were not what we were expecting. It was small and lacking flavour, and since we were still hungry we found other things to enjoy, like subway and ice cream! Then we took our final trip on the sky train for the night, and headed back to Mo Chit where we took a taxi back to our apartments. We were excited to have Kelsey come for a sleepover!!!

Sunday morning, we woke up fairly early and were off to see Chatuchak market. This is the biggest market in the world, and I'm not kidding you when I say it goes on forever. I believe you could spend the entire weekend there and not make it to all the stalls. There was food, makeup, clothing, accessories, dishes, furniture, everything you could possibly ever go shopping for! It is someplace fun to be, but exhausting too. It was really hot, and since it is outdoor, there is no air conditioning and very few fans. Arrive too early and you will miss many stores that haven't yet opened, but arrive too late and the place is crawling with people, and it's hot and sticky. I would aim to be there before 11am and out of there by 1pm if I could. It doesn't allow a lot of time to go through things, but you'll be tired by the time you finish. I purchased some nice decorative fans for my siblings, and a t-shirt for my dad. I also picked up some nice postcards, some of which I hope to send away very soon!

We walked from Chatuchak to the BTS at Mo Chit, which is incredibly close, and too the sky train down town again. We had another lunch at Siam Paragon and then hung around the malls for a little bit and met Julie from the other campuses. We hopped on the BTS and went downtown once again, but this time taking to further so that we'd be closer to where we wanted to go. We took a taxi to see Wat Po, since we were again too late for the Grand Palace, and had an amazing tour guide. He spoke English very well, and he liked to joke with us a lot. He took us to see the Reclining Buddha, the standing Buddha, and what he told us was the most important Buddha in all of Thailand. He told us stories about the Buddhas and about Buddhism, as well as stories about himself and his daughter. When he found out that we were all English teachers, he told us how he wished we could teach his daughter to speak more English, but he was so proud of his daughter and told us a lot about her. Then, as he had promised when we decided to take his tour, he took us across the street to find the best Thai massage for cheap. We spent 250 baht for a traditional Thai massage that lasted a full hour. It was painful, and hard not to make noises with the pain, but it was worth it for how relaxed my muscles feel right now, and she cracked my back into place, so I feel pretty amazing right now!

Hua Hin Weekend

I had decided to go out and get myself a bottle of cold water on Sunday morning when I met Nick, another student teacher, on his way to 7-11 as well. We walked together and then he invited me to go for breakfast. I decided to try eating something since I hadn't left the room at all on Saturday and was still not feeling well, but knew I'd need to try and get something into me. We went to a German place for breakfast and I just ate toast, but it was kinda fun. Both of our roommates had gone out kayaking and we were both kinda missing home (I was sick, but he was missing his girlfriend - I remember what that was like, too, when I studied in Mexico.)

After breakfast, because I wasn't feeling well at all, he showed me where to find a pharmacy and I spoke to a doctor. I found out it was food poisoning and picked up the medications that he prescribed and then we went for a walk along the beach. He was hoping to reach Monkey Mountain, but it looked a lot closer than it was. I enjoyed walking with my sandals off and in the incredibly warm ocean water. The sand felt great and the little critters crawling in the sand were amusing. The horses that were walking on the beach looked weak and hot, and one was even trotting funny. People were sunbathing, swimming, or going for rides on a pencil tube. The breeze off the ocean was cool and refreshing. We walked for about half an hour before my stomach decided for us that it was time to turn back. After walking back to the hotel, I spent the rest of the evening in my room.

Monday morning came and I wasn't feeling altogether better but I was so tired of being in a box called a hotel room. I went down for breakfast but I didn't feel very well after eating it, and again missed out on a trip with some friend to Monkey Mountain. I was very much looking forward to seeing the temples and shrines on the little island called Monkey Mountain. But my stomach had it's own ideas and I spent the morning sulking in my room. I admit it, I sulked, it's tough enough to be away from home and adjusting to a new culture, but to be there and feeling incredibly sick, and missing out on 3 days of fun activities REALLY stinks and I was really depressed about it all. 

For supper on Monday, everyone from Brandon University went for supper together. Chris had chosen a place on the pier for us to go to and it was absolutely breathtaking. I loved the view, and I would have loved to have tried some of the sea food, but with my stomach being upset, I opted for a good old pizza. Which didn't really seem to go down so well either in the end. After enjoying the view on the ocean, and our meals, we went on to take a look from above in the lounge of the Hilton. I've never been in any place like the Hilton, and I don't think I ever will stay in a hotel as luxurious as that, but WOW was that ever a fantastic view... Pictures cannot show the beauty of looking down and seeing the waves rolling into the beach in the dark, and the moon reflecting off the ocean. It cannot recreate the wonder of the twinkling city lights or the little flecks of light from the boats that are out on the ocean. After a few minutes at the Hilton, it was time to go back to the hotel and get some shut-eye.

FINALLY, Tuesday morning I was feeling better. Not perfect, but better than I had been for days. The only problem is that we were leaving Tuesday to go back to Bangkok. I got up and had an American style breakfast at the hotel (bacon and eggs and toast which I was SOOO excited that my stomach was alright with!) and then went and did some walking. I went with a group (Will, Sarah, Val, and a few more) and we went to a fish foot spa. This is a place where you put your feet in a tank with lots of little fishies and they eat away the calluses and dead skin from your feet. We were definitely nervous at first, and with a few squeals, we all managed to get our feet in the water and swarmed by fish. The fish tickle and make your feet almost tingle like they do when they fall asleep. They look funny swimming around your feet and calves sucking on your skin, and it feels so strange when they get the parts in between your toes. After that, it was time to grab some lunch and pack up to head back to Bangkok.

The ride to Bangkok was shorter than the ride out, but we weren't coming in at rush hour. The city seemed incredibly hot when we arrived but it was really only about 33 degrees C, but with the humidity (according to theweathernetwork.com) it felt like 44. We unpacked and did some laundry and cleaned our apartments, while ordering some food and just relaxing after a busy weekend.

I'm excited for Wednesday (tomorrow) when the students start arriving. I have my first day of classes which are essentially just getting to know all of my grade 2 classes. I'm looking forward to it!

Week 1 in Bangkok

After an intense weekend of flying including a 13 hour flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong, and practically no sleep from Friday until Monday night, the first few days here were a little rough. We arrived in Bangkok at 10pm but by the time we loaded up in the vans and got to our apartment it was 11 and we spent time trying to get working internet at our apartment (which did not work!) so we were up until about 2am unpacking. We were all awake by 5am on Monday morning and decided to go for a walk. We came across a temple on our journey but we didn't have too much time because we were being picked up for work at 7:30am, and being the bunch of keener teachers that we are, we were all ready before 7.

When we arrived at the school we were first given a tour. The campus is large (and beautiful) and has a pool, a Mac computer lab and a Windows computer lab. I love the math room that has a large clock on the wall and all kinds of other cool manipulatives. The science room looks pretty exciting too! The gym is in the same building as the mini theatre and the cafeteria, all of the primary students are in one building and the middle school students are in another building. The students here are expected to have homework every night - all of them including the K1's (Kindergarten 1 are 3 year olds, K2's are 4, and K3's are 5) and they are all expected to write exams too. 

After the tour of the campus, we spent a few hours learning about Thai culture and a few phrases in Thai. We learned about the King and the Royal Family, and about the monks and the hierarchy. It's very interesting to learn about.

In the afternoon we met our cooperating teachers. I was under the impression that I would be teaching grade 1 but when I arrived they had a different position available for me - I am helping to design a phonics program for grades 1-3 (which includes 15 classes of approximately 30 students). It's a new program and there will be no assessments. The course is activity based and just to get the students talking in English. It's pretty exciting! And the amount of prep time that we have is incredible!

Monday night after school, Matt took us to Tesco Lotus to pick up some cell phones and some supplies. He then took us to the 7-11 near our apartments to show us how to reload our air time for our phones. I went wandering around to find some things to eat for supper and then I went home and cleaned up my space a little.

Tuesday night after school, I came right home and had a nap. The others decided to go to a big mall for the evening so they left and I was on my own to go wandering. I just wandered down the street and found a place to eat. I could see a plate of food that looked amazing and because I didn't know what it was called I just pointed to it. They then pointed me to a table where 3 Thai's were sitting. To my good fortune, the one lady sitting across from me knew a few words in English and helped me to order my food, and got me all set up for my supper. The supper was great, and the people here are so incredibly friendly.

Wednesday night I decided I wanted to go check out the mall. So we went to a mall called Bang Kapi or something like that. We went for supper at the coolest place I have ever been! It was a restaurant called Sukishi. They sat you at a booth and in the middle of the table there is a digital element. They bring a big bowl around that had soup in it and set it to boil. Right next to the booth is a conveyor belt where all sorts of different things go by including: pork slices, clams, octopus, fish, tofu, eggs, noodles, pumpkin, and much much more! There was also a sushi bar, and a dessert bar. It was all you can eat for an hour, and it all cost $10. After supper we went for a half hour Thai massage that cost roughly $8 and I bought a cute little purse before going home.

Thursday we had a lot of meetings during the day. We met with Gary who discussed more about Thai culture with us and with Chris Brown who came to ease our concerns about our practicums. It is great to have him here and it is too bad that he can't stay the entire time. We had to stay at the school after work to meet our vans to come to Hua Hin for our super long 5 day weekend (which never happens! We just got lucky and get this fabulously long weekend!). It was a 3 hour drive from Lertlah Kaset-Nawamin and I was exhausted when we got here. I went and checked my emails and then went to bed.

Friday morning I was up in good time. I went downstairs for breakfast and had a nice visit with Chris and a few others before heading out to explore Hua Hin. We went wandering around the city and I found a dress and a fan, an umbrella and a pair of sandals. We also found a lovely little place that did all kinds of tours including elephant rides, snorkeling, and kayaking. We signed up for the elephant tours and the kayaking. Then we went to Starbucks for a quick bite to eat before going back to the hotel and getting ready for supper. The restaurant we went to was called Bam Bam's and it was very small - especially for 60 of us. It was hot and a long wait, but the food was good. I had chicken with Indian curry. Then we went to the night market on the way home. It is chaos in the markets - so many people and they just seem to push through wherever they can fit. The deals were great though, I bought a dress for about 5 dollars, and a pair of shorts for 10, I got plenty of other things as well before coming back to the apartment. However, I was not feeling well when I got back.

Unfortunately after the market on Friday night I didn't feel very well, I had a fever and was throwing up and my ankles were quite swollen (although that's more from the heat and a need to rehydrate). I missed the elephant rides on Saturday and the kayaking tour today. I went to see a doctor and he told me that I have food poisoning so I've got some medications to take for that. Hopefully they solve the problem and make me feel better soon!