Christmas In Na Kae!!

The run up to Christmas here in Na Kae has been... strange, but great! For the past week or so we've had Christmas songs being played in the mornings at school, and lessons this past week have consisted of teaching the kids to sings "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and making origami Christmas trees (which I must add quickly evolve into origami swords...). The kids at NaKae Pitt. have also been preparing for their Christmas Celebration which was held on 23rd December. As well as performances from groups of students (mainly consisting of funny dances and comedy sketches) there were Christmas Card Making Competitions and Signboard competitions (big Merry Christmas signs) and a quiz which Caitlin and I did. We were meant to do two other activities as well, but they didn't go so well... we planned to do a sort of game where we hold up pictures and words to do with Christmas and get the kids to do an action or sound to go with it (Santa Claus - Ho Ho Ho! etc...), but the kids either didn't understand or didn't want to do it because they just refused to do anything! Eventually Kru Nid told us to just leave it and they went on to do their show, and we didn't do the other activity either (which was going to be the 12 Days Of Christmas). It was still lots of fun and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves though!

On Christmas Day, after opening some presents from home, we cycled to Pippa's house. She was in That Phanom buying shiny things to decorate with, so we lazed about in her house until she came back. When she did, she came with a huge bag of tinsel (which we promptly attacked her with) and lots of Christmas lights - then we decorated. Except that really Caitlin and I didn't do a huge amount of decorating... this wasn't because we didn't want to or try, but because most of what we did was re-done by Pippa in a much fancier and prettier way! Turns out she is quite the perfectionist! I am proud to say that I wrapped tinsel round a pole, and it stayed the way I had done it :)


In the evening Caitlin and I both spoke to our families which was really nice. I was a bit worried that it would make me feel homesick, but thankfully it didn't at all. It was great to see them all, and really great to see that they haven't changed a bit - still crazy! Best lines of the evening have got to be:

Me: We gave Pippa a present to do with penguins
(holds up penguin slippers to camera)
Mum: Oh! Is that Shaun The Sheep?

and

Dad (coming quickly into the room, classically calm voice): Naomi love, I would stay and talk but things have gone very wrong in the kitchen. The turkey is cooking too fast and nothing else is, and now I have to find a way to mop oil off the floor without it going slippery...

Gotta love crazy families! While we were talking to our families we opened the rest of the presents with Pippa. I got a beautiful butterfly necklace and an awesomely colourful bracelet from Ailsa (my sister) and her boyfriend, along with a crochetted reindeer (made my Ailsa!), a book of duologues from Caitlin's mum, a book from my mum (one of two books, but the first was opened at the house in the morning) and a packet of mini-marshmallows from my mum too!!

After this we went outside and sat underneath the decorations drinking whiskey with people from the village. It was a really nice, quiet Christmas :) It was really nice and relaxing and totally different to what I'm used to at home. I'll definitely remember it forever!

The Unluckyness of Me

Well the last few days have been interesting to say the least!

Yesterday, after teaching at Na Kae Sa, me and Caitlin got a lift to Pippa's house (which is pretty much our house too now :P). She told us that in the morning before she had been to a temple 4 km away and been told by the Buddha that her future was going to be amazing - she would have happiness and wealth and love, and apparently he knew all about her German boyfriend. She went with three of her friends, and she was the only one who got a good prophecy. After telling us all about it, she asked if we wanted to go and with a little apprehension we agreed. We were both quite nervous because apparently there have been people who have been told that their family will have an accident or something really bad, and it has happened. However, we both tried to push these thoughts to the back of our mind and went for it.

When we got there we had to pay 29 baht, and got given leaves which a Thai woman rubbed on our hands. These were each put on a plate (one plate for me, one for Caitlin) along with a candle and the 29baht, and put in front of the Buddha monk. Caitlin was first, and the monk waved the candle over the leaf and spoke in Thai. Pippa and Mei were there as translators, and Caitlin got a really good prophecy - she got told that her famiy were all well, would do very well in love and that whatever work she did would be good. She was told that she would have a lot of happiness, marry a Thai, which quickly proceeded into "will marry Pippa's brother" and stay in Thailand forever. Pippa and Mei were both really excited because it was such a good prophecy.

Then it was my turn. Now, after the monk had started telling Caitlin's prophecy Pippa and Mei had started squealing saying it was really good. This did not happen with mine - instead they both said "...uuuuh...". I turned round and got told by Pippa that it wasn't good. My prophecy was as follows: I worry all the time, all my friends (Thai people and farang in Thailand and Scotland) hate me and are jealous of me, if I do anything bad everyone will gossip about me, my parents do not understand each other, many Thai men love me but only because they think I'm pretty and white, they don't actually care about me and it's not good (Pippa said basically they want me for sex, not to care for). However, I am to stay in Thailand forever, marry a Thai and will have a very good future.

To "give myself lucky" and have this good future there are things I must do. Today we went back to the temple, and I was given a bucket of holy water to shower in. I also had to drink from it three times - it tasted a bit like flowers. Afterwards I got given another blessing bracelet from the monk, and got given a Buddha. I also got all my old silk ribbons torn off :( But I got to keep them :)

Home with us came a second bucket of holy water and the instructions to shower in it at 4pm, so I did that at Pippa's. I have to do it again tomorrow, so Pippa's going to go to the temple and get me some more holy water. After that I should have all my unlucky removed!

Bangkok Road Trip!!!!

Lets go on a ROAD TRIP!!

^ This was what went through me and Caitlin's head simultaneously when we found out that a) this Monday was a school holiday and b) my mum's friend Ian was happy to let us stay with him whenever we were in Bangkok. All 18 of us Thailanders have been thinking about going to see Harry Potter as a group, but as me and Caitlin teach on Saturdays we cant go on a normal weekend because we can't miss our Saturday classes. Made sense to "plan" a road trip! Although it wasn't really planned because we decided last Thursday (2nd December) to leave on Saturday (4th December).

Coincidentally Pippa was going to Bangkok to so we all went together. The journey down was brilliant - Pippa is one of those people that knows everyone, so Caitlin, her and I sat in the drivers cabin at the front. It was so much fun, but a bit scary because Thai driving really is quite crazy! None of us got much sleep - Caitlin went to sleep in the main part of the bus at about midnight and I went at about 2am. Pippa didn't sleep at all.

When we arrived in Bangkok we were greeted by Ian who took Pippa to her brother's house and us to his house, where we slept until about 10am. We then headed to the cinema to see about going to see Harry Potter, and booked seats for the 3pm showing at Paragon. With about 3 hours to spare we went to the food court and ate some amazing Japanese food - everything was so good!! The film was brilliant - and the cinema was amazing!! We got huge armchairs and blankets and pillows and a drink before the film! Afterwards we met up with Pippa and her brother Non for a few drinks, and didn't actually get home until about 2am...

The next day we woke up at the early hour of about 2pm... and went to Marks and Spencers to buy Christmas biscuits!! Money well spend I say, we bought loads of lovely things including Ginger Snaps which I am probably too excited about! We then went to Tawang Deng German Farang bar/brewery where there were loads of performances like a cabaret - it was brilliant and the acts were all really good! Definitely like to go there again sometime!

The next day we went across the river on a boat to an Italian restaurant which was really nice, was nice to eat some Indian food! We then went to the bus station and met with Pippa around 5.30pm to get the bus back to Na Kae.

It was a brilliant trip!

I'd like to add that I have never seen so many fish on a bus before. Actually I've never seen any I don't think! You know how on long distance buses there are compartments for big luggage? Well, on our bus there were compartments for luggage, and a compartment dedicated solely to Pippa's fish. She buys and sells beautiful fish, and had loads of huge bags of them!

The coming week at school we have sports day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday which should be fun, and on Thursday there is a ceremony for sports day at the school and we've been told that we'll have to get up at about 4am to get all dressed up for it!

Nick, Rachel and the Cruelness of Pippa!

I'm getting better at updating this more regularly, hopefully it will continue!

On Monday 29th November me and Caitlin had our desk officers from Coll visit our project. Nick (main Thailand DO) and Rachel (new Assistant DO). It was great to see Nick again after training, and also great to meet Rachel - she is new at Project Trust and is starting as the assistant desk officer for Thailand.

They arrived at about 11am and came to observe part of our lessons - they watched the first part of Caitlin's lesson and last part of mine, which meant that they got to see some very excitable kids going crazy in my class! I'm doing body parts with them, and for the last bit of the lesson I have them all come outside in groups, pick one person from each group to stand against a wall, and the rest of the group have to stick arrows with body parts written on them pointing at the right place on the person. First team to finish and sit down gets stickers! Unfortunately I don't think the other teachers in the corridor are too pleased to have 30 noisy kids outside, but it's only for a week and my kids seem to enjoy it!

After school we took them both to see our house which they loved (we really do have one of, if not the, best house in Thailand) and then to meet Pippa (more about her later...). We then went to That Phanom. We visited Prathat Phanom, one of the seven pagodas which is beautiful, and then went to the market. This proved to be a mistake as I spend 150 baat on a top, but it is gorgeous and I love love love it and will wear it loads, so really it's an investment...

After this we headed back to our house, dropping Nick and Rachel off at their accommodation on the way. They were staying in a really nice little resort in tiny houses - they were really cute!

Yesterday we took Nick and Rachel to visit St. Josephs Primary School because they wanted to see what the school was like (I don't think Ruth and Laura taught there last year), then at about 10.30am they disappeared off to the next project. It was really good to see them, and they brought chocolate and blu-tack which was a huge bonus!!

Now, onto the cruelness of Pippa. The other night, me and Caitlin went to Lou Ang and Pee Baby's house to help them cook (Lou Ang is the PE teacher and Pee Baby is his wife). We were cooking quite a big meal because a few people were coming over, including Pippa. We phoned her to ask what time she'd be there, and she said she'd be there soon. About half an hour later I got a phone call from her - she said that she wasn't coming because she was going to Bangkok!!! She said that she was on the bus, and that she'd be staying there for 3 months because she missed Non (her brother) so much. At first I thought I misunderstood what she was saying, but when she spoke to Caitlin she said exactly the same. She said that she wanted us to go outside and wave as the bus went past (it goes past Lou Ang's house, it's all one massive, long, straight road). Eventually she convinced us that she was leaving without properly saying goodbye, and that we wouldn't see her for at least 3 months. She is our best friend and sister in Thailand, we both love her to bits, and were both absolutely gutted - I was in tears and Caitlin nearly was, but we pulled ourselves together and went out to wave. As we made our way down the drive, a Pippa was making her way towards us, killing herself laughing.

Turns out that yes, she had been on the Bangkok bus... but she was on it to get a lift to Lou Ang's house!!!!!! She saw an opportunity to have some "lawlen" (banter) and grabbed it with both hands! It was actually hilarious and we were all in stitches about it, but at the time me and Caitlin genuinely thought she was leaving!! She really has a wicked sense of humour :P

After we had eaten we went out to a karaoke bar which was fun, Thai's are obsessed with karaoke!

She is actually going to Bangkok today, but only for 1 day to visit the German Embassy. Hopefully she's feeling okay - we stayed with her last night and she really wasn't feeling well, she had a really bad migraine and sore back. She must have felt pretty bad because when Butschi skyped her she admitted that she was ill and went to bed which is very unlike Pippa!!

This month's missings

Wow, the time has come for another post of things I've missed! Seriously doesn't feel like a month has passed since the last one.

Here goes!

Family
Friends
Cats
Firehawk
Iced Gems
Ben and Jerry's baked Alaska
Being able to sit without making my legs die
Cheesecake (made by my mother!)
Dogs that don't hunt you down for your meat
MY JEANS FITTING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
60kg not being fat
My mum doing things for me :P
Chatting with Ailsa
Moaning at dad for going out in clothes with holes
Moaning at dad for going out in clothes with workshop stains
Moaning at dad for losing things
Moaning at dad for being grumpy
Moaning at dad for trying to disguise some piece of weird food
Moaning at dad for being messy
Moaning at dad for forgetting how to do something on the computer

Wow dad, you've got a lot of getting moaned at to catch up on next year ;)

Ban Pippa!

Ban Pippa!!!

I think that Caitlin and I should move all our things to Ban Pippa! We are spending another night there - this will be the 5th night in a row, and only 2 days last week (I think) were spent at our own house! Love it!


We were going to just be here for the weekend for Loy Kratong, but we had an emergency trip here on Friday night - there was some drama with the German and chocolate was necessary, but all is good now! After staying for the weekend we just sort of... didn't leave. Either Pippa or her brother (who has been here for the past couple of days) gives us a lift to Nakae in the morning, or we cycle early which is actually quite fun!

Loy Kratong was great fun - while some of the other volunteers had to get up at 3am to get hair and makeup done to be part of a parade, me, Caitlin and Pippa had a lovely lazy day and got up at about 10am. After lazily getting dressed we went to Wat That Phanom at about 12pm for an hour or so, and then back to Ban Pippa. Wat That Phanom is really pretty, it's one of the seven pagodas that represent the seven days of the week.

The winner of the Kratong-making-contest - just for show, it doesn't actually float :(

For the afternoon we went to the lake in the village (the village is called Ban Phon Sanuk - translates as Enjoy/Fun Hill!!) and met with Tomtom and his mum, Khwan and some other people from the village and relaxed. It was really pretty there, and it was great to just chill with everyone with the help of Whisky and Pepsi! We didn't have much though, don't worry!

Khwan next to the lake

Me and Caitlin with Non (Pippa's brother)

In the evening we went back to That Phanom to float our kratong in the Mekong. Me and Caitlin had made stunning kratongs at St. Joseph primary school, but they didn't survive the bike ride to Pippa's too well, and sort of went a bit crispy in the night so we floated the one that Pippa and her brother bought instead. When we got to That Phanom there were huge fireworks going off - they were really beautiful! The firework setting on my camera looks like it could have been quite good, if only I had aimed properly! Instead of lovely big fireworks, I have the wiggly remains of dying ones... We also floated a lantern which was really fun, took a couple of times to get it to keep floating, but we got it going and it disappeared up into the sky nicely! Then it was time to float our (Pippa and Non's) kratong!! We all put a tissue with a small bit of hair and nail clippings wrapped up in it into it before we made our way down to the river. It was quite difficult to get down to the river because it was really steep. I thought I was getting down the slope alright, until Pippa called from behind me becauise she wanted a hand and I realised that although I was getting down quite well, stopping was going to prove difficult. I managed it though and we all got down safely. Getting up was much easier thankfully!

Our Kratong!

We got back to Pippa's at about 11pm-ish and takled to Butschi (Pippa's German) over skype before going to bed.

The last few days have been spent relaxing at Pippa's after school! We should really be planning lessons, but that's much less fun :)

Teaching

Pippa learning English!
Wow last week seems to have gone in a blur!
Me and Caitlin have been properly teaching for a couple of weeks now and although my classes are not saints by anyone's standards, it hasn't gone badly! Last week I started off with the topic of Occupations, and one of the first things I noticed is how the ability of the kids vary. Each year has 5 or 6 classes which are grouped by ability, but it is general ability, not ability in each class. So my class 3/1 has some kids who are fantastic at English, but others who are awful at it and are fantastic at maths or music instead. It does make teaching the classes more difficult because while some kids are really enthusiastic, others sit at the back and obviously don't care about what you're trying to teach them - it's a challenge to get all the kids to take part in the lesson, but it's not a bad challenge and I'm looking forward to trying different things to try and get them involved and enjoying class.

I've been finding that my Matthayom 3s (age 14 - 15) are often worse behaved than my Matthayom 1s and 2s, and today found out why! Apparently kids can leave school after M3, so a lot of the time the kids who have decided they're going to leave after M3 don't care about school so don't try. M1 and M2 are only just past the cute primary school stage so are more pliable!

I missed quite a lot of my lessons over the last couple of weeks - last week we went into Nakhon Phanom to sort out work permits and visas etc., and missed a while day of lessons (we just had to go to Tescos to get cake mix too of course!), and the week before that on Monday morning we met with some of the teachers from St. Josephs Catholic Primary School where we are going to teach every Friday, on Tuesday morning we went with Pee Fah to the hospital to get a note saying we were healthy enough to get our visa extended (took blood pressure, weight and height - a very thorough check I thought!). On Wednesday we spend the day in Nakhon Phanom getting something with our visa done, then went to the temple (3rd time for me, first for Caitlin!). It was really nice, we spend the day with one of the English teachers from NaKae Pitt. and he bought us a huge lunch and ice cream - it was really sweet of him! However, missing this many lessons last week meant that so far this week it's been a bit of a rush to try and all of my classes at roughly the same point (continuing with occupations this week), but so far I think it's been successful!

We are only teaching the older kids at the primary school - Lucie (our Thailand Rep) phoned us to ask how it was going and when we told her that we were teaching the younger primary kids she said that we should ask to teach only the older ones, because it will be more beneficial to both the children and us. We also felt that we don't know enough Thai to teach the younger kids - we observed some lessons, and the teachers had to use a lot of Thai to explain what they had to do, and it would be extremely difficult to try to control the class while explaining something they don't understand, especially the nursery kids who we were originally going to be teaching! The older kids are absolutely lovely, their English is fantastic though!

We got a rice cooker from someone at school and a huge bag of rice to go with it which is fantastic! Means we don't have to spend as much money on rice, so we can buy more shiny things instead! :) Caitlin was quick to begin the process of destroying it though... We also borrowed an electric pan from the school, and she used the rice cooker's PLASTIC spatula in it... This was what happened:

I'm still unsure how she managed to not notice such a huge amount of spatula melting into her pan, but she's special :)

We were at our friend Pippa's house a couple of nights ago, and decided to have a night where none of us was allowed to use the translator!! The idea was that she would learn more English and we would learn more Thai. It was actually loads of fun, but I have a feeling that Pippa was one of those pupils that played up a lot...!

We asked her to write in English... Her response was "Thai, English SAME SAME!"

We asked her some questions...

It was hilarious!! Not sure how much she learned though...