Time for this month's missings! I apologise for not writing down what I missed in January, but with the excitement of Christmas and New Year, plus with Butschi arriving and being pre-occupied with parties and socialising I couldn't think of much that I missed! But here is what I've noticed myself missing this month:
Avocados
Tuna
Avocado and Tuna salad
Mayonaise that isn't mega sweet
Noddy
Domino
Butch
Polly
Bitsa
Jasper (I want to meet you properly!!! :3)
Mum
Dad
Ailsa
Alan
Caroline
Kids TV that I can understand
UK chocolate
Public transport that always comes and leaves from the same place!!!
Uhrm.. That's really all I can think of!! What I thought and hoped would happen is definitely happening - every month I miss less and I love more. The way of life here is becoming normal, but somehow it's still so new and exciting.
Friday 25 February 2011
Monday 21 February 2011
Bangkok Trip Number Two!
As Friday 18th February was a holiday and hence we had no teaching to do, Caitlin and I decided to take the opportunity to head down to Bangkok for the weekend and stay with Pippa who is there studying German. We left at about 6pm from Ban Phon Sanuk. The journey down was good, although usually the seats are made of kind of furry material but this time it was leathery which meant that I kept sliding around when I tried to get comfy! The seats did recline a lot though so it was actually quite comfy. Plus, we were given a full packed of Cream-Os (cheap Oreos) each as a snack which was nice! We arrived in Bangkok at about 6am, got ourselves a taxi and phoned Pippa so that she could tell the driver where to go. Caitlin spoke to her on the phone and said that she sounded really sleepy. When we met her, she told us that she'd only been asleep for half an hour before we phoned and was indeed very sleepy! Where we met her happened to be outside the Hotel Malaysia - the same hotel that we all stayed in when we first arrived in August! Bangkok is HUGE, so how is that for coincedence?? I got to go back into the first ever 7/11 I went into, but I couldn't find the pizza flavoured banana chips that they had last time. When we got back to Pippa's we all went back to bed, and despite Pippa saying that she'd be getting up at 9am, we all slept until about 1pm...
When we were awake and felt human again we made our way out to a small coffee shop that Pippa likes and met one of her friends from her German course. His name is Ton, and he is one of the gayest people you will ever meet! He has a boyfriend in Germany, and is your typical gay guy. I had a cheese toastie and a Watermelon Fruit Shake for breakfast. Although, really I suppose it was lunch... After this we went to a lovely park and had a wander round before sitting down on a bench in the shade and helping Pippa and Ton with their German work. Actually, Caitlin helped them as I have never studied German in my life, but I smiled and nodded a lot :) Caitlin says that this is what she did too, but at least she was able to take educated guesses! We then headed back and went to Hotel Malaysia to get some drinks. Here we met Nat. Now, we thought that Ton was the gayest you could get. We were soon proved wrong when Nat came swaying in in tiny blue short shorts and a tank top. He also had a boyfriend in Germany. Both him and Ton are absolutely lovely! They are good friends of Pippa's, but for some reason in Thailand in a lot of places being gay is frowned upon, but being a lesbian is not. When Pippa told us on the phone that her friends were gay she didn't know how to explain it, so said "same same lesbian... but man!". This strange mentality shows at schools, especially in more rural areas, because in younger years there are a lot of ladyboys (a boy who wants to be a girl), but the older years don't. This is because ladyboys are steriotypically seen as "gay", even though they aren't necessarily. When they get older they realise that they can't continue being a ladyboy without people thinking that they are gay, so they become "normal" again. There are some gay couples in older years, but very few.
We then headed back to Pippa's apartment so I could get my camera, meeting up with more of Pippa'ss friends on the way, before heading to a Thai barbecue buffet. I love these things - it is a bucket fire in the middle of the table, and on top there is a pan/pot that looks a bit like a wok, but with a raised middle. Meat goes on the middle bit and soup goes round the outside with vegetables in it. Everyone goes to the buffet and gets plates of raw meat that are piled on the middle of the pan and shared by everyone. There is fruit and Thai desserts too, and for the whole thing it was only 150 baht each which is brilliant!
When we were done eating we headed back to Pee Dee's room, which is near Pippa's but not in the same apartment block. Pippa quickly went to get her laptop and Caitlin and I chatted to Pee Dee and watched Thai TV. When Pippa came back we played on the computer, helped her with German homework and watched a Thai dubbed horror film. Wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but it was entertaining! Nat came in and out a few times, wearing just the short shorts by now... We headed back to Pippa's and went to sleep at about 2am.
On Saturday morning we got up at about 11am and again went to the coffee shop and met Ton. After this we made our way to the bus station to get our tickets back to Na Kae for the next day, stopping off at a huge market on the way! It genuinely was massive, everywhere you went there was somewhere else to go! There was a pets section of the market which I wasn't a huge fan of. They lovely puppies that were actually in really good condition and seemed well looked after, but other places had kittens and rabbits that again looked far too young to be taken from their mums. They also had squirrels and other rodents on leads on the top of their cages for people to look at, but they all looked miserable. The puppies were absolutely adorable though, but don't worry mum, I haven't bought one. Yet... :P We then got in a taxi to the bus station, and got there after having to take a diversion due to a redshirt march. It was a very peaceful march though, and everything was controlled, so don't worry. After getting our bus tickets Pippa took us to her sister's shop, then to her sister's house. Her sister is either called Ngun or Nung, I can never remember how to pronounce it, and has a 6 month old son called Dono. He is so cute, and huge for such a young boy! Unfortunately Ngun/Nung was at work so we didn't get to see her, but hopefully next time we're passing through Bangkok we'll go and visit her.
We spent about an hour or so at Ngun/Nung's house (two of her friends were there) before heading back out. This time, onto a bus for about an hour to the food market. The bus was brilliant, really rickety but great to see so much of Bangkok! We had to change buses half way because the headlights stopped working. The buses in Thailand are so much better value! It cost us 10 Baht each, which is about 20p, and we were on the bus for over an hour. It costs me almost 4 pounds to get from Kirriemuir to Dundee! At the food market we had Som Tham, sticky rice, Chinese noodles and fish before heading back to Pippa's apartment. Pippa talked to Butschi (her German boyfriend) on skype for a while before we went to bed.
On Sunday morning we got up at... well, actually we didn't... we got up at about midday. Caitlin and I went to the coffee shop without Pippa this time because she wanted to be alone for a bit to study, so we left her to it. She joined us after a while. Caitlin and I shared a pancake with butter, syrup and lime. It was amazing! After this we went for a walk, again without Pippa as she still had work to do and wanted to be alone. We went round a couple of food markets and wandered along some small market roads before wiggling our way back to Hotel Malaysia and back to Pippa's apartment at about 3.30pm. We thought that our bus was at 6.30pm so we got the taxi at 4pm to give us time to find the bus, and sometimes it can take a while to get to the station depending on what the traffic is like. We got to the bus station at about 5pm, checked our tickets and realised that the bus didn't go until 7.15pm. Not much to do except wait, so Caitlin and I played 20 questions which was actually quite fun. The bus journey was much like the journey there but the seats were furry this time. Unfortunately I couldn't out my seat back as much because there was a woman with a baby behind me and they had lots of bags which I didn't want to crush them with. We got back to Na Kae bright and early this morning, had about an hour and a half in bed at the house, then went to teach at St. Joseph Na Kae all bright eyed and bushy tailed...!
When we were awake and felt human again we made our way out to a small coffee shop that Pippa likes and met one of her friends from her German course. His name is Ton, and he is one of the gayest people you will ever meet! He has a boyfriend in Germany, and is your typical gay guy. I had a cheese toastie and a Watermelon Fruit Shake for breakfast. Although, really I suppose it was lunch... After this we went to a lovely park and had a wander round before sitting down on a bench in the shade and helping Pippa and Ton with their German work. Actually, Caitlin helped them as I have never studied German in my life, but I smiled and nodded a lot :) Caitlin says that this is what she did too, but at least she was able to take educated guesses! We then headed back and went to Hotel Malaysia to get some drinks. Here we met Nat. Now, we thought that Ton was the gayest you could get. We were soon proved wrong when Nat came swaying in in tiny blue short shorts and a tank top. He also had a boyfriend in Germany. Both him and Ton are absolutely lovely! They are good friends of Pippa's, but for some reason in Thailand in a lot of places being gay is frowned upon, but being a lesbian is not. When Pippa told us on the phone that her friends were gay she didn't know how to explain it, so said "same same lesbian... but man!". This strange mentality shows at schools, especially in more rural areas, because in younger years there are a lot of ladyboys (a boy who wants to be a girl), but the older years don't. This is because ladyboys are steriotypically seen as "gay", even though they aren't necessarily. When they get older they realise that they can't continue being a ladyboy without people thinking that they are gay, so they become "normal" again. There are some gay couples in older years, but very few.
We then headed back to Pippa's apartment so I could get my camera, meeting up with more of Pippa'ss friends on the way, before heading to a Thai barbecue buffet. I love these things - it is a bucket fire in the middle of the table, and on top there is a pan/pot that looks a bit like a wok, but with a raised middle. Meat goes on the middle bit and soup goes round the outside with vegetables in it. Everyone goes to the buffet and gets plates of raw meat that are piled on the middle of the pan and shared by everyone. There is fruit and Thai desserts too, and for the whole thing it was only 150 baht each which is brilliant!
When we were done eating we headed back to Pee Dee's room, which is near Pippa's but not in the same apartment block. Pippa quickly went to get her laptop and Caitlin and I chatted to Pee Dee and watched Thai TV. When Pippa came back we played on the computer, helped her with German homework and watched a Thai dubbed horror film. Wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but it was entertaining! Nat came in and out a few times, wearing just the short shorts by now... We headed back to Pippa's and went to sleep at about 2am.
On Saturday morning we got up at about 11am and again went to the coffee shop and met Ton. After this we made our way to the bus station to get our tickets back to Na Kae for the next day, stopping off at a huge market on the way! It genuinely was massive, everywhere you went there was somewhere else to go! There was a pets section of the market which I wasn't a huge fan of. They lovely puppies that were actually in really good condition and seemed well looked after, but other places had kittens and rabbits that again looked far too young to be taken from their mums. They also had squirrels and other rodents on leads on the top of their cages for people to look at, but they all looked miserable. The puppies were absolutely adorable though, but don't worry mum, I haven't bought one. Yet... :P We then got in a taxi to the bus station, and got there after having to take a diversion due to a redshirt march. It was a very peaceful march though, and everything was controlled, so don't worry. After getting our bus tickets Pippa took us to her sister's shop, then to her sister's house. Her sister is either called Ngun or Nung, I can never remember how to pronounce it, and has a 6 month old son called Dono. He is so cute, and huge for such a young boy! Unfortunately Ngun/Nung was at work so we didn't get to see her, but hopefully next time we're passing through Bangkok we'll go and visit her.
We spent about an hour or so at Ngun/Nung's house (two of her friends were there) before heading back out. This time, onto a bus for about an hour to the food market. The bus was brilliant, really rickety but great to see so much of Bangkok! We had to change buses half way because the headlights stopped working. The buses in Thailand are so much better value! It cost us 10 Baht each, which is about 20p, and we were on the bus for over an hour. It costs me almost 4 pounds to get from Kirriemuir to Dundee! At the food market we had Som Tham, sticky rice, Chinese noodles and fish before heading back to Pippa's apartment. Pippa talked to Butschi (her German boyfriend) on skype for a while before we went to bed.
On Sunday morning we got up at... well, actually we didn't... we got up at about midday. Caitlin and I went to the coffee shop without Pippa this time because she wanted to be alone for a bit to study, so we left her to it. She joined us after a while. Caitlin and I shared a pancake with butter, syrup and lime. It was amazing! After this we went for a walk, again without Pippa as she still had work to do and wanted to be alone. We went round a couple of food markets and wandered along some small market roads before wiggling our way back to Hotel Malaysia and back to Pippa's apartment at about 3.30pm. We thought that our bus was at 6.30pm so we got the taxi at 4pm to give us time to find the bus, and sometimes it can take a while to get to the station depending on what the traffic is like. We got to the bus station at about 5pm, checked our tickets and realised that the bus didn't go until 7.15pm. Not much to do except wait, so Caitlin and I played 20 questions which was actually quite fun. The bus journey was much like the journey there but the seats were furry this time. Unfortunately I couldn't out my seat back as much because there was a woman with a baby behind me and they had lots of bags which I didn't want to crush them with. We got back to Na Kae bright and early this morning, had about an hour and a half in bed at the house, then went to teach at St. Joseph Na Kae all bright eyed and bushy tailed...!
Tuesday 15 February 2011
End of term tests and holiday plans (in an unplanned sense...)
Last week I was asked to prepare a test for my students to do as it is nearly the end of term. So far I have taught Occupations, Family, Prepositions, Descriptions, Directions and Body Parts (plus Christmas lessons), so I decided to do my test on body parts, prepositions, family and descriptions.
It's probably not the best put together test, but it does it's job and is nice and simple. I thought that it might be too simple for some of my classes (the 3rd years in particular), but so far no one has full marks. The highest has been 19/20, and the lowest has been 0. For the first couple of lessons I found it quite difficult getting the kids to understand what I wanted them to do, so asked one of the Thai English teachers to come in and explain it to them. I find it quite funny that some of the students think that after me and a Thai teacher explaining what to do they can still claim that they don't understand, despite the fact that the rest of the students seem to be able to figure it out! I have had some pupils who sit and do nothing even after several of their classmates have explained to them what to do. This happens quite a lot in some of my lower classes, and unfortunately there is very little that can be done about it. I have been told by the head of English (Kru Nid) that if students are like that then I should just "let them go" which is an example of the "mai pen rai" attitude a lot of people have here. "Mai Pen Rai" translates as "it doesn't matter" and is heard everywhere you go around Thailand. In some ways it is lovely to be in such a laid back community, but it does mean that sometimes things don't get done until last minute and things that should be an issue just aren't. Despite the simplicity of the test, every now and then I get some hilarious answers. One that springs to mind is "she is one arm" and "she has face hair" which I thought were very amusing!
On Sunday Caitlin and I went to That Phanom for the Thai Phanom festival. The biggest festival day is meant to be this Friday, but we are going to be in Bangkok by then (we're going to visit Pippa) plus we've been told by many people that it is so crowded that it's impossible to get anywhere on the Friday, so we decided to go earlier. It was brilliant - basically just an enormous market with Prathat Phanom (the temple) in the middle. I spent far too much money but bought some very pretty things! I got a t-shirt that has a map of Thailand made up of all the province names written in Thai which I love, a pair of shorts, a lovely kaftan, a new watch and a butterfly necklace. To be fair, everything I bought is something that I will wear and that will be useful, so really they're all investements... :P
This week is our last teaching at NaKaePitt. until after the two month holiday. For the next two weeks we are teaching full time at St. Joseph Primary School because due to holidays usually being on a Friday (the day we're meant to teach the primary kids) we have missed a lot of days there. It should be brilliant to be teaching there constantly, the kids are absolutely lovely and because they are younger the lessons often revolve around songs and games! Fun fun fun! After that we are lucky enough to be going to Phukhet on a teacher-trp with some of the teachers at NaKaePitt. I can't wait for it, it'll be so brilliant to spend so much time with the other teachers and get to bond with them. We are then back in Na Kae for two days (14th and 15th) to help out at an English camp at St Joseph, then the holidays begin! As of yet our holiday plan is rather sketchy... I am hoping to be doing a week of volunteering at an orphanage in Nong Khai, but am waiting to hear back from them to find out if they have any week placements. I have a list of places that I want to see, and I think that our plan at the moment is to head south at the start of the holidays towards Bangkok as one of Caitlin's friends is coming over a week into the holidays. I doubt it will be a direct trip to Bangkok, that would be far too boring, so we'll probably wiggle our way southwards, pick up Jake and then continue southwards towards some more islands. After that I suppose the only way to go is north! Seven Steps Waterfall is definitely on the list, as are some caves that a family friend (Ian) recommended. We are hoping to be able to get over to Cambodia at some point to visit Ankhor Wat, but at the moment we don't know if that'll be possible due to the situation on the Thai-Cambodia border in Si Sa Khet. Hopefully it'll have cleared up by then, but all border-crossings have to be okay'ed by Project Trust so it depends on whether or not they think it's safe.
It's probably not the best put together test, but it does it's job and is nice and simple. I thought that it might be too simple for some of my classes (the 3rd years in particular), but so far no one has full marks. The highest has been 19/20, and the lowest has been 0. For the first couple of lessons I found it quite difficult getting the kids to understand what I wanted them to do, so asked one of the Thai English teachers to come in and explain it to them. I find it quite funny that some of the students think that after me and a Thai teacher explaining what to do they can still claim that they don't understand, despite the fact that the rest of the students seem to be able to figure it out! I have had some pupils who sit and do nothing even after several of their classmates have explained to them what to do. This happens quite a lot in some of my lower classes, and unfortunately there is very little that can be done about it. I have been told by the head of English (Kru Nid) that if students are like that then I should just "let them go" which is an example of the "mai pen rai" attitude a lot of people have here. "Mai Pen Rai" translates as "it doesn't matter" and is heard everywhere you go around Thailand. In some ways it is lovely to be in such a laid back community, but it does mean that sometimes things don't get done until last minute and things that should be an issue just aren't. Despite the simplicity of the test, every now and then I get some hilarious answers. One that springs to mind is "she is one arm" and "she has face hair" which I thought were very amusing!
On Sunday Caitlin and I went to That Phanom for the Thai Phanom festival. The biggest festival day is meant to be this Friday, but we are going to be in Bangkok by then (we're going to visit Pippa) plus we've been told by many people that it is so crowded that it's impossible to get anywhere on the Friday, so we decided to go earlier. It was brilliant - basically just an enormous market with Prathat Phanom (the temple) in the middle. I spent far too much money but bought some very pretty things! I got a t-shirt that has a map of Thailand made up of all the province names written in Thai which I love, a pair of shorts, a lovely kaftan, a new watch and a butterfly necklace. To be fair, everything I bought is something that I will wear and that will be useful, so really they're all investements... :P
This week is our last teaching at NaKaePitt. until after the two month holiday. For the next two weeks we are teaching full time at St. Joseph Primary School because due to holidays usually being on a Friday (the day we're meant to teach the primary kids) we have missed a lot of days there. It should be brilliant to be teaching there constantly, the kids are absolutely lovely and because they are younger the lessons often revolve around songs and games! Fun fun fun! After that we are lucky enough to be going to Phukhet on a teacher-trp with some of the teachers at NaKaePitt. I can't wait for it, it'll be so brilliant to spend so much time with the other teachers and get to bond with them. We are then back in Na Kae for two days (14th and 15th) to help out at an English camp at St Joseph, then the holidays begin! As of yet our holiday plan is rather sketchy... I am hoping to be doing a week of volunteering at an orphanage in Nong Khai, but am waiting to hear back from them to find out if they have any week placements. I have a list of places that I want to see, and I think that our plan at the moment is to head south at the start of the holidays towards Bangkok as one of Caitlin's friends is coming over a week into the holidays. I doubt it will be a direct trip to Bangkok, that would be far too boring, so we'll probably wiggle our way southwards, pick up Jake and then continue southwards towards some more islands. After that I suppose the only way to go is north! Seven Steps Waterfall is definitely on the list, as are some caves that a family friend (Ian) recommended. We are hoping to be able to get over to Cambodia at some point to visit Ankhor Wat, but at the moment we don't know if that'll be possible due to the situation on the Thai-Cambodia border in Si Sa Khet. Hopefully it'll have cleared up by then, but all border-crossings have to be okay'ed by Project Trust so it depends on whether or not they think it's safe.
Saturday 5 February 2011
Lucie and Unorganised Temple Visits!
On Friday of this week Lucie, our Rep, came to visit us in Na Kae. Lucie was a volunteer in Thailand in 1992 and loved it so much that she has now lived here for over 15 years. She is employed by Project Trust to be our in-country Rep so that if any of us have any problems there is someone close at hand to help. Her visit was simply to see how the project was going and to make sure that us and our hosts were happy, which we are!
She arrived at about 12pm at St. Joseph Primary School, where Caitlin and I were working (we work there every Friday). Well, actually, we weren't working because we had arrived bright and early to be told that we didn't actually have any pupils to teach because they were all sitting mid-term tests. This is a regular occurrence here - quite often we won't be told that something has changed or that something special is happening until the day, and there are a lot of things happening! I genuinely cannot remember the last time I taught a full week of normal classes - there is always something exciting going on! Anyway, Lucie arrived with her 3 year old daughter, May, just in time to have lunch at St. Joseph before having a wander round. She had never been to that primary school because we are only the second set of volunteers that this project has had, and the last volunteers worked at a different primary school.
After this we made our way to NaKae Pitt. with Caitlin and I on bicycles and Lucie following us in the car. Lucie had a quick chat with Kru Nid and then came to see our house. As Na Kae Pitt. is our main place of work and Kru Nid has become our main host, at about 2pm we went back there so that Lucie and Kru Nid could talk some more. While they were talking we used the time to play with May. Actually... in all honesty, we used this as an excuse to play with her toys. It was fun!
We then went on to NaKae Sa., the private school that we work at on Saturdays, to give Lucie a look at all the places where we work. As no one was expecting us and we arrived after the school had finished there weren't many people about, but we managed to speak to teacher Gai who is heading the Saturday project that we're involved in which was nice.
At about 4.10pm we headed on to Ban Phon Sanuk so that Lucie could meet Pippa's mum and dad and see where we had made most of our friends. It was great for her to meet them - she speaks fluent Thai so was able to explain who she was and chat to them. At about 5pm Kru Nid phoned us to tell us that there was a party at the house next to the bridge on the way to the school and that we were invited to eat there, so off we went to eat! It was a lovely house, we thought it belonged to one of the teachers, then got told that it belonged to another teacher (Kru Keh), but it turns out it doesn't belong to Kru Keh but we're still not 100% sure who it does belong too...! The food was good as always though.
Lucie and May stayed at the same resort that Nick and Rachel stayed at when they visited, which is about 2km away from our house. Before they went there though they came back to our house to have tea and chat about how the project is going. We found out that Kru Nid wants us to talk to more people and try not to get lost in our own little world as much, so we know what to work on.
On Saturday Caitlin and I were going on a field trip with the NaKaeSa. pupils, so as Lucie had no plans for the day other than make her way back to Ubon her and May came with us. The plan was to visit Prathat Srikhun (one of the 7 pagodas of Nakhon Phanom) and then go to a temple on one of the mountains just outside Na Kae called Wat Dan Sao Khoi where they have miniature versions of all 7 pagodas. Lucie, Caitlin and I arrived at Wat Srikhun along with Gordon, Dave and Martin who are other 'farang' teachers who have been helping with the project. We waited there for about 20 minutes for the minibus (which left before any of us) to arrive. We then got a phonecall from Joe (another 'farang') who told us that the Srikhun trip had been replaced by a trip to 7/11... I'm being serious. They took so long at 7/11 that there was no time left to see the temple. Luckily the temple is about 8 minutes down the road so we can see it anytime, but it would have been good to be able to talk to the kids about it in English while we were there!
We then jumped back in our vehicles (Lucie, Caitlin, May and I in Lucie's car following Martin and Gordon's car) and went on up to Wat Dan Sao Khoi. We arrived about an hour before the kids because they had to walk up to the temple as the road was too steep for the bus. Lucie went home just as the kids were arriving as she had to get back to Ubon in time to get ready to go to a wedding in the evening. The aim was to get the kids to do a mini tour-guide presentation in English as we saw each mini-pagoda, but all of them were too shy. Instead we ended up asking them questions about each pagoda and letting them use their leaflets to answer them in English. Admittedly it probably didn't teach them a huge deal, but it was good to get to see the temple and talk to the kids.
Today had been fun, we got up at about 7.30am because we were meant to meet a student called Natacha (nickname Nom-Briou - it means yoghurt!) at 8am at the school to be taken up to Wat Dan Sao Khoi again, this time to watch a mountain biking competition. When we arrived at the school, no one was there, and after 30 minutes when there was still no one there we decided to make our own way up (we remembered the way from yesterday, or rather, Caitlin did). When we got there Natacha apologised profusely, as she had forgotten about us. She is really lovely, she is in 6th year and sings the prayer at morning ceremony. Her English is quite good too.
We spent the day wandering around talking to students and watching people on very fast mountain bikes cycling round the course and up the mountain. Cudos to them, there is no way I could have cycled up there! For lunch however we did have to walk, and it was very steep and very hot. Not exactly my idea of fun, but looking back on it I'm glad I made it to the top. It wasn't very far, but it was actually really hard work! We ate rice, som tham and vegetables, and got free ice cream!! I love the ice cream here - a lot of the stuff you get at the market is made from coconut milk and is amazing.
We got a lift down the mountain with a teacher, and then cycled back to our house to shower. At about 5pm the same teacher who drove us down the mountain drove us to Ban Phon Sauk to see Pippa's parents who we now stay with a couple of times a week. My main job there is watering the plants and looking after Pippa's garden... lets hope it survives!
Oh, on a side note, if I thought that getting the hang of one new language was difficult, it has just got a lot harder! As Pippa is now studying German, and I have never studied German in my life, I am now getting taught how to say lots of things in German, and I get asked questions in German! It is really fun, and I hope asking me questions is helping Pippa to learn, but it is really hard to remember!
She arrived at about 12pm at St. Joseph Primary School, where Caitlin and I were working (we work there every Friday). Well, actually, we weren't working because we had arrived bright and early to be told that we didn't actually have any pupils to teach because they were all sitting mid-term tests. This is a regular occurrence here - quite often we won't be told that something has changed or that something special is happening until the day, and there are a lot of things happening! I genuinely cannot remember the last time I taught a full week of normal classes - there is always something exciting going on! Anyway, Lucie arrived with her 3 year old daughter, May, just in time to have lunch at St. Joseph before having a wander round. She had never been to that primary school because we are only the second set of volunteers that this project has had, and the last volunteers worked at a different primary school.
After this we made our way to NaKae Pitt. with Caitlin and I on bicycles and Lucie following us in the car. Lucie had a quick chat with Kru Nid and then came to see our house. As Na Kae Pitt. is our main place of work and Kru Nid has become our main host, at about 2pm we went back there so that Lucie and Kru Nid could talk some more. While they were talking we used the time to play with May. Actually... in all honesty, we used this as an excuse to play with her toys. It was fun!
We then went on to NaKae Sa., the private school that we work at on Saturdays, to give Lucie a look at all the places where we work. As no one was expecting us and we arrived after the school had finished there weren't many people about, but we managed to speak to teacher Gai who is heading the Saturday project that we're involved in which was nice.
At about 4.10pm we headed on to Ban Phon Sanuk so that Lucie could meet Pippa's mum and dad and see where we had made most of our friends. It was great for her to meet them - she speaks fluent Thai so was able to explain who she was and chat to them. At about 5pm Kru Nid phoned us to tell us that there was a party at the house next to the bridge on the way to the school and that we were invited to eat there, so off we went to eat! It was a lovely house, we thought it belonged to one of the teachers, then got told that it belonged to another teacher (Kru Keh), but it turns out it doesn't belong to Kru Keh but we're still not 100% sure who it does belong too...! The food was good as always though.
Lucie and May stayed at the same resort that Nick and Rachel stayed at when they visited, which is about 2km away from our house. Before they went there though they came back to our house to have tea and chat about how the project is going. We found out that Kru Nid wants us to talk to more people and try not to get lost in our own little world as much, so we know what to work on.
On Saturday Caitlin and I were going on a field trip with the NaKaeSa. pupils, so as Lucie had no plans for the day other than make her way back to Ubon her and May came with us. The plan was to visit Prathat Srikhun (one of the 7 pagodas of Nakhon Phanom) and then go to a temple on one of the mountains just outside Na Kae called Wat Dan Sao Khoi where they have miniature versions of all 7 pagodas. Lucie, Caitlin and I arrived at Wat Srikhun along with Gordon, Dave and Martin who are other 'farang' teachers who have been helping with the project. We waited there for about 20 minutes for the minibus (which left before any of us) to arrive. We then got a phonecall from Joe (another 'farang') who told us that the Srikhun trip had been replaced by a trip to 7/11... I'm being serious. They took so long at 7/11 that there was no time left to see the temple. Luckily the temple is about 8 minutes down the road so we can see it anytime, but it would have been good to be able to talk to the kids about it in English while we were there!We then jumped back in our vehicles (Lucie, Caitlin, May and I in Lucie's car following Martin and Gordon's car) and went on up to Wat Dan Sao Khoi. We arrived about an hour before the kids because they had to walk up to the temple as the road was too steep for the bus. Lucie went home just as the kids were arriving as she had to get back to Ubon in time to get ready to go to a wedding in the evening. The aim was to get the kids to do a mini tour-guide presentation in English as we saw each mini-pagoda, but all of them were too shy. Instead we ended up asking them questions about each pagoda and letting them use their leaflets to answer them in English. Admittedly it probably didn't teach them a huge deal, but it was good to get to see the temple and talk to the kids.
Today had been fun, we got up at about 7.30am because we were meant to meet a student called Natacha (nickname Nom-Briou - it means yoghurt!) at 8am at the school to be taken up to Wat Dan Sao Khoi again, this time to watch a mountain biking competition. When we arrived at the school, no one was there, and after 30 minutes when there was still no one there we decided to make our own way up (we remembered the way from yesterday, or rather, Caitlin did). When we got there Natacha apologised profusely, as she had forgotten about us. She is really lovely, she is in 6th year and sings the prayer at morning ceremony. Her English is quite good too.We spent the day wandering around talking to students and watching people on very fast mountain bikes cycling round the course and up the mountain. Cudos to them, there is no way I could have cycled up there! For lunch however we did have to walk, and it was very steep and very hot. Not exactly my idea of fun, but looking back on it I'm glad I made it to the top. It wasn't very far, but it was actually really hard work! We ate rice, som tham and vegetables, and got free ice cream!! I love the ice cream here - a lot of the stuff you get at the market is made from coconut milk and is amazing.
We got a lift down the mountain with a teacher, and then cycled back to our house to shower. At about 5pm the same teacher who drove us down the mountain drove us to Ban Phon Sauk to see Pippa's parents who we now stay with a couple of times a week. My main job there is watering the plants and looking after Pippa's garden... lets hope it survives!
Oh, on a side note, if I thought that getting the hang of one new language was difficult, it has just got a lot harder! As Pippa is now studying German, and I have never studied German in my life, I am now getting taught how to say lots of things in German, and I get asked questions in German! It is really fun, and I hope asking me questions is helping Pippa to learn, but it is really hard to remember!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)