One Seriously Long Update

I realize this blog has been a little lifeless for the past 6 months. It’s on my list of things to do every weekend. Really, every single weekend I write it down. And when was the last time it happened…September. The only other thing that has been on my to do list that long is “make a dentist appointment”. I’ll let you know when I get to that.

First things first, links to pictures, because we all know a picture is worth a thousand words.

Sept. Pictures

Oct. Pictures

Nov. Pictures

So many things to catch up on. So I’ll start at the beginning and try to be brief. I’ll try a timeline.

Sept. 12-14

Beam and I went to Khorat to meet our friend Bow. If you remember, Bow, Beam and I all traveled to Cambodia together last March. It was soo great to see her! Bow has been living in Dubai and traveling around the world as a flight attendant for Emirates Airlines. Us three talked for hours and then somehow convinced Bow to come back to Khon Kaen with us. They ended up coming to school with me for a day and speaking English with all the kids. We had so much fun.

End of Sept.

My two week vacation took me to Turkey and Greece. It was bittersweet to leave on this trip. I was so excited to go there and see mom but when I came back Jordan and Joey would be back in the US. I was sad to see them go but know that they were very ready to get back home. I also had to say goodbye to our student teacher who was moving to a new school AND return my Mickey Mouse motorbike. It was a whirlwind.

And then I was on a flight to Istanbul and Mom and I met in the Istanbul airport. Right away we exposed ourselves to Turkey by insisting on taking public transportation to our hostel rather than a taxi. People were helpful if we asked and we were astounded by the beauty around our hostel. We were staying in the Old Town and for me it was amazing. This was my first time in Europe and to me it was like I had stepped into a movie. Old buildings, water, cobblestone streets. I loved it. Something we noticed right away was how COLD it was! This was a big part of Turkey as I didn’t have very many warm clothes and I also wasn’t prepared for the chill in the air. I absolutely fell in love with Turkey and here are some of the reasons and just other things we saw:

-the crowded markets reminded me of Asia

-the people were so friendly. We were asked to sit down for tea so many times. They really mean sit down for some tea and chat. They don’t care if we want to buy something or not, they just want to talk. We left Turkey with so many people’s emails and memories of good conversations.

-the food! Cheese, bread, pitas with French fries inside, Turkish delights, nuts and casseroles. You can buy bread the way you can buy meat on a stick in Thailand. That obviously was good for me. One more thing that deserves to be on its own, Baklava.

-Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkey). We went at the end of Ramazan and we got to experience the lines of people waiting for food at sunset. After Ramazan is Byrum (sp?) where everyone travels to see their family. We saw so many hellos and goodbyes at the bus stations.

-watching people work around the Sea of Marmara. Selling fish sandwiches and people with their fishing poles across the bridge leading from Old Istanbul to New Istanbul. Minus the man who told me I had beautiful teeth…so can I kiss you? Nice try but I said no without hesitating.

-the call to prayer didn’t wake me up in the early morning and was just peaceful to me.

-woman in long coats and hair covered in beautiful scarves.

-mom driving me crazy by wanting to get to know everyone. When I look back it’s a memory of spending at least an hour picking out some clay dishes but at the time (as she’ll surely tell you) I was less than happy. But she did get an amazing piece and had everyone sign their name on the back. It will be something to cherish forever, no thanks to me and my crabbiness!

-the beautiful and FREEZING Goreme in Cappadocia.

-seeing the hot air balloons fly over Cappadocia each morning.

-Hiking through the canyons in Cappadocia in near perfect weather and only the sounds of nature.

-Eating tost (grilled cheese) and watching people go about their daily lives. Men meeting for their afternoon tea. The women are said to gossip at the Turkish bath houses. Watching kids play with BB Guns and then having the boys offer us some Cheetos, and then continue playing.

-Turkish bath-we did it. The whole time I was thinking how excited I was to come back to Thailand and have a Thai massage. It was definitely not the cleanest I’ve ever felt.

-finding out that Turkish men are interested in white women! Turkey may be (on a lesser scale) for women what Thailand is for foreign men. Coming from Thailand this is a jackpot! Mom seemed to be slightly interested in me marrying this one Turkish man because his family owned a carpet shop-that means she could have at least one of the beautiful carpets we saw.

-staying up incredibly late chatting with people in Goreme and Maramaris

-seeing the lake country and Egirdir. It reminded me of MN, but with mountains.

-any problem was never a big problem as there was always someone watching out for us and ready to help. Almost everyone was helpful and overly nice.

And then we sadly boarded a boat to Greece. Of course we were excited to go to Greece but we were not ready to leave Turkey. We were regretting our mindset of “let’s just go to Turkey and Greece, they’re so close!”. On the map it was a good idea, in reality it was not. But, oh well. We were going to the Greek Islands! Our first impression was: TOURISTS! So many on Rhodes. So so many. I think we started talking about when we could leave this island as soon as we got off the catamaran. But things improved vastly from that first impression.

Greece highlights:

-walking around the Rhodes Old Town which was constructed within an old fortress. It was amazing and would have been better if we were the only ones there. How could there be so many people…and in the low season!?

-getting used to the bathrooms. I was used to no shower curtain but I was not used to holding the shower head yourself. I’m still not an expert as the water all over the bathroom floor can attest to.

-the ferry strike! As if we needed excitement like that on our trip! Well, we got it. We really wanted to see Santorini and so we had to be even more creative about how to get there since some of the major ferries were not running. As frustrating as it was it did turn out to be a good thing.

-the special catamaran from Rhodes to Crete. Look at a map right now. Now think about a catamaran. It was special because usually a big ship does this route but the ship was on strike. It was either take the catamaran or not see Santorini. We did it. Luckily neither of us became sick but I think almost every other person on board did. Catamarans do not belong on the open water. We watch a film in Greek just so we’d have something to stare at.

-Crete was lovely and we wished we had more time there. Our favorite place was the little known Sitia where are catamaran docked. Window shopping after dark. Eating gyros and pizza.

-Santorini was where we finally rested! We spent a few days there in an apartment away from people and near horses. It was too cold for the beach as the wind had really picked up. We walked around. We went to the touristy areas and saw the caldera which really is beautiful. There is something serene about the cliffs having white houses built up them. Like in Rhodes though, so many tourists and so much shopping.

-The last stop and the end of the trip in Athens. I never thought I’d care to see any of the Greek ruins but I am so happy we did. It was incredible and spectacular. I still stop and take a breath when I think of what we saw. The Parthenon at sunset. The streets all around were filled with cafes and we sat at one until we were too cold and tired.

And then we were at the airport and on our separate flights. I was ready to get back to Thailand. I missed it. I missed teaching and my kids and was excited to get back to it. It was a great vacation and I’m so happy we got the opportunity to take it. I may find myself back in Turkey next year…only time will tell.

Middle of October

Beam and her sister were staying at my house while I was gone so when I came home I had instant roommates. There was always something going on and it made me feel like I was in college again. Except that I started teaching again. This semester by schedule is a lot different. I don’t teach as many hours so I have more time to plan, grade, and think! I teach 15 hours this semester. I am mostly with the Whales class and now teaching them homeroom, theme, math and science and phonics. It’s been really nice to have one class and not be constantly changing classrooms and changing kids. I think it’s better for the kids too. Even though it was sad for the Dolphins to have a new teacher and to see myself be replaced as their teacher, it’s much better for everyone. An English girl, Naomi, teaches in the Dolphins class now. I’ve become much closer with the Whales than I was before and I teach them much better now (I think!).

My new roommate, James arrived a couple weeks after I started teaching again. I knew I wasn’t PiA anymore when they all traveled for 5 weeks and I got 2 weeks!! It’s worth it but I’m still jealous of the travel time.

Beam moved in right down the street so when she isn’t working in some faraway destination like Khorat and Pattaya we get to hang out a lot.

Oct. 25

Today was a big day. The October PiA arrived and began staying at James and my house and one of our foreign teachers was married to a Thai man today. A van of us from Patanadek drove to Ubon for the wedding reception. It was a crazy Thai experience because it took nearly 4 hours to drive there, we stayed for about 2-3 hours and then drove home. I guess I’m used to bringing down the house when there’s a big gathering but we left before karaoke had even really gotten going. Out of our control though. The day was also big because it marked the first time I have been sick in Thailand. Whoa. It came as quite a surprise and I was finally thankful to have that jug of Pepto-Bismol. That pink liquid is heaven in bad times.

I feel like this should go down as one of those “One time in Thailand…” One time in Thailand I lived with three boys. I think that that is a feat. Even if one of them was only for 2 nights, another one for a week and the other one I am still living with. I guess in the Eco-House I lived with three boys but I try to erase that from my memory. The three boys in Thailand were much better than the three in Iowa.

Oct. 31 Happy Halloween!

We had a big Halloween celebration at Patanadek. I dressed up as some sort of alien. Naomi was a pirate. Almost all of the kids were a ghost, but not just any old white sheet ghost. A beautiful ghost. A Princess ghost. A ________ ghost. It means you can wear whatever you want, put some dark circles around your eyes and maybe some blood and you’re golden. That wasn’t the end of my celebration of Halloween. A bunch of us foreigners went to a club to dance the night away. Which we did. And 5 hours later Naomi and I had to wake up for a 12 hour work day because it was the Kg.3 Scout Camp!

Nov. 1-Scout Camp

It was a rainy day where the kids spent all day doing different kinds of activities. From what I saw it wasn’t much like Girl and Boy Scouts we have in the states-they didn’t seem to be learning much about the environment and how to survive in it. They participated in lots of things: puzzles, reading a map, solving problems, doing races, riding a zip line, and learning how to line up. T. Nooch was in charge of the Scout Camp and so I helped her oversee everything. We rode on our bicycles to check in with each station and to make sure everything was going alright. Everything went well and we adjusted to the rain. That night, before sleeping over at school, the kids put on a show. Most of their parents came back to school for the show and then left when it was over. I’m sure you can imagine a handful of crying kids and some kids who went home once their parents came. But most of the continued on with the sleepover and said they had a lot of fun. I got to play a special role in the night performance. Every year it is a tradition to have people light the fire. This year there was no fire because of the rain but we used long fluorescent lights and made them look like a fire with paper. The tradition is to have the Zulu people come to light the fire. No one knows who they are or where they come from. As long as you don’t tell my kids you can know the secret, this year…it was Naomi, Mary, T. Jack and I. We wore leopard print costumes, put powder on our faces and made our hair like cave men and women. We ran out and around the fire making noises and trying to be scary. Jack had an aerosol can and matches so most of my time was watching him to make sure he didn’t accidentally light me on fire. Everyone is safe and Zulus will be back next year.

November 4

ELECTION DAY! I was so excited. I am still excited and hope that serious changes will occur. I had told myself that if McCain was elected I wouldn’t be going back to the US anytime soon, now at least that’s a possibility. Where was I when Obama became the President-elect? At Patanadek School in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Filling out evaluations when Alcyn messaged me saying McCain was giving his concession speech.

Nov. 12 Loy Gratong

This is the day where we say thank you to the water that we’ve mistreated all year long. We had a half day at school because that night our school hosts a big carnival for the holiday. Everyone dressed up in traditional Thai outfits. I was a little under-dressed as I think most of the Thai women prepared their hair and make-up for hours. It was quite a site to see. The whole night was a photo shoot that didn’t stop after the kids and their families went home.

The government

I’ll try to explain what’s been happening here but keep in mind I don’t really know either.

The main things…

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) wants the government ousted. They have been protesting since for a few months and had taken over the government house in Bangkok. This was all known but hadn’t really affected anything. All of a sudden the PAD decides to start their “final battle”. They storm the domestic and international airports in Bangkok and take them over. They want the current Prime Minister to resign and won’t leave until he does. The airports ended up being closed for a week. Luckily, a court ruled that the PM’s party participated in electoral fraud and so the PM had to step down. This had nothing to do with the PAD taking over the airport. This is very brief and you can read more here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1243059.stm

What did it mean for me? Life itself was completely normal but I did know it was something big when Thai people started mentioning it. Thais do not talk about politics so to even hear something about it means it’s big. Everyone kept saying it’ll never last another day, it’ll never go on like this. But it kept going on with little change. Tourists were stranded in Thailand. Thais were stranded abroad. The economy was hit hard since imports/exports were halted. It hurt the economy of neighboring countries as well because Bangkok is the closest international hub for Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. People were scared of Thailand and I read on a website that Thailand was the 6^th most dangerous country to be in. The US said tourist should not come here unless it’s essential. PiA put Thailand on its travel ban list. And here we were just going about our days like normal. Because for us nothing did happen.

It was awful for Thailand though. No matter what the PAD wanted I think they would not want to do this to their country. Tourism is expected to drop-I’ve read 40%! People working in tourism are expected to be laid off (think of all the English majors that just graduated and found jobs, and the ones that will be graduating in Feb.). I hope that people continue to come to Thailand as it is not an unsafe place and most people have no involvement in the protests. But I admit that even when I was reading the news articles in the UK and US it seemed scary. The Thai news did not make it seem scary. I don’t know which ones were more accurate.

The biggest part of all this for me is….two friends from Drake were coming to visit me and they couldn’t come. I was more than disappointed. I was angry with it all. I was really looking forward to sharing my life with them and then, something they had been planning for months disappeared in a matter of days. It was completely unfair to everyone in Thailand but this hit home for me. Right now we should be traveling together! I try to tell myself there’ll be another time but I’m still angry. Life goes on in Thailand though. There hasn’t been a word about the protests since they ended.

Dec. 4-7

Naomi, Alison and I headed to Khao Yai National Park for the long weekend (King’s Birthday/Father’s Day). We had a fantastic time but not for the reasons I expected. I was excited to hike and be in nature for a few days. We only spent one day at the park because there were SOOO many Thai people there. I knew it was a vacation destination but it was like Bangkok at a National Park. Insane! We made a friend who drove us around the park one day. It was beautiful and I hope to go back sometime when it’s over its capacity. We decided not to do a organized tour because we figured all the animals would be hiding. But next time I hope to see the elephants, barking deer, macaw, other birds I don’t know, and the elusive tiger (so unlikely though).

The three of us just had fun doing whatever. We tried and failed to find a farm (too bad we couldn’t have just flown to Wisconsin and visited the Bergmann’s!). We went shopping at a bonafide outlet mall! The prices were cheaper than at a mall but still expensive for our salaries. The highlight was eating soft serve yogurt with mangoes and strawberries in it. We tried and failed to go to a winery (my third and final phone conversation with the people at the winery me: how do we get there? Winery people: blah blah turn right blah blah me: we have no car. Can we take bus? Winery people: Huh? No car. No way to come. sorry) I’d say our proudest moment was crossing Mitraphab (the 4 lane freeway leading from BKK to Nong Khai) by foot. We did it. I still don’t know how. I finally got a reason to cheer for a European football team-Naomi is from Liverpool so we cheered for them.

All in all, great travel buddies and a place I want to go back to.

And that’s that. Not brief at all. I have no idea how long I’ve been typing but it’s entirely too long. This should be my lesson to keep up with my blog more often. It’s dark outside and I’m hungry. Tonight I’m headed to the lake downtown to watch some break dancing, BMXing and anything else that is going on there. The best and sometimes most annoying part of KK is I never know what’s going to happen. Cheers to that.

Recent KK Happenings

August Pictures
Life around here has been pretty good lately. I hate being that person that only talks about her job but really there's not much else going on. Some big news in the past month has been the surprise departure of my American student. She's back to the States as quickly as she came. I was a little sad to see her go and it was just a preview of what the life of a teacher is like every year. I think this will just go down as "that time I went to a Thai kindergarten for 4 months" in her memoir but I will always remember the good and bad things she brought to the classroom :) I think it'll be great for her to be back in time to start kindergarten in the US.
Just three weeks left of our semester so evaluations are starting. Our last two themes are really fun so I anticipate a couple fun weeks of teaching (Arts and Crafts is one of the themes!) As for evaluations, this time I am happy they're not a page long but now just a paragraph seems too short. I know I'm being too picky but when I look back at the beginning of the school year to where the kids are now I'm so impressed. They have all improved on so many levels. Some of them barely said anything to me for months and now are the kids who hang around me always wanting to know "what are you doing?" or "what's this?". I answer those questions 15-20 times a day on average-if that would annoy you then teaching English to a kindergarten class would not be fun for you. They can speak in full sentences and correct themselves when they say things in the wrong order. Their writing has improved an incredible amount and I'm still impressed when they can spell numbers. I am just amazed at how much these kids can retain. I feel so fulfilled to play a tiny part in their development.
Other than teaching I have been reading, watching movies, eating , playing tennis and other normal things. Some abnormal things took place in the last week. One of the other PiAers (Alison) and I went dancing. Not to a club...to a bona fide class...outdoors. Not just any place outdoors, at the corner of a busy intersection in the parking lot of Babies Genius (side note-you'd think if you were going to be a franchise school teaching English you'd make sure you had a grammatically correct name. You'd think.)
I will try to describe the set-up first. There's about 15-20 Thais on any given night in this parking lot. There's a DJ blasting some Thai music and there is a usually one dance that is being practiced for the night. So the first night we were there it was the Samba. Everyone is practicing independently. There are a few teachers who go around and help the more experienced. There are people dancing with partners (more women than men are in attendance) and people just practicing steps on their own. We usually find someone practicing independently and then copy her steps. Usually someone else will come over and try to help us.
I was a little shy at first since I am someone who just shakes it to a beat rather than think about what I'm doing. And now I was going to learn to dance for the first time with an audience of cars and other gawkers. Luckily, Alison jumped right in and wouldn't let me feel embarrassed for more than 2 minutes. We walked over to someone practicing on her own and started to follow her steps.
We've learned the rumba, the samba, the jive, the tango, some line dance and probably others that I can't remember. Some people speak a little bit of English. At least enough for me to understand. A usual encounter is someone teaching Alison and I the basic step of the dance. They add on a little more. Since Alison is a more experienced dancer she picks it up quickly and moves on quickly. They stick with her until she's got the more difficult steps and transitions. And there I am practicing the basics by myself. They come over and help me more with the basic and that's that. We usually count in Thai (which I have aerobics and many Grease practices to thank for having the numbers 1-10 down almost as well as English! Sometimes I prefer to count in Thai because it is so ingrained from counting while practicing Grease dance numbers). So someone teaches me the basics, I practice for awhile. The male teacher comes over and decides I need to dance with a partner. This makes me nervous and no matter how well I know the dance I will for sure mess up. As as teacher, shouldn't I be over all forms of nervousness?! I messs up and he says "no no no" and we keep going until I frustrate him too much.
I have to say I love learning to dance. It's not something that comes naturally but I do like to learn something and have a clear goal to strive for and so this is perfect. And one of our dance partners told me it takes 1 year for most people to learn the dance moves AND make them look beautiful. That made me stop worrying about making it beautiful (probably to the disgust of every Thai person) and just try to learn some moves.
I will take pictures of this soon but for now you will just have to try to understand my late night brain drain. And beware...when I'm home next I might know a few more moves. But probably just a few.

Patanadek Pictures

Here are some pictures from the last couple of months at my school.
June at Patanadek
July at Patanadek

Enjoy the kids that are such a huge part of my life here!

Beam and Buriram

A couple of weeks ago we had a long weekend to celebrate Buddhist Lent. I took the opportunity to visit my friend Beam in her hometown of Buriram. I also traveled with Beam to Cambodia at the end of the KKU school year. She has become a close friend and I hadn’t seen her for 4 months! I was really excited to get to see her for 4 days and also to get to spend time with her family and in her hometown. Beam just graduated as an English major at KKU and is now studying for the TOEFL exam and helping her mom with her stationery store.

Buriram is a city of about 100,000 and is 4 ½ hours southeast of KK, getting towards the Cambodia border. Beam happened to be going through KK on the way home to Buriram the same time I was coming to visit so we met at the KK bus station and got to spend the 4 ½ hours catching up on the bus. Catching up was the only pleasant thing about the bus ride as the holiday weekend means packed buses where even the A/C on full blast doesn’t make it cool enough. At least there was something good about it though.

We had a packed 4 days together which started at Phanom Rung Historical Park.

It is something like the largest Khmer ruin outside of Angkor. It was cool to see and would be amazing if I hadn’t already seen Angkor. We had an intense photo shoot where my mouth physically couldn’t smile any longer. Seriously, a little less than 100 photos were taken in the hour we were there. And there are always people in the photos.

A picture of some of the family with me at Phanom Rung.

The rest of the weekend was sort of like a typical weekend with family. Going out to eat and just hanging out. We visited lots of Beam’s extended family in Buriram just to say hello and I got to hear the inside scoop on running a stationery store in Thailand. I won’t divulge any secrets though.

On Saturday we headed out for the temple. I p

articipated in my first real ceremony and it was exceptionally special because I could understand more of what was going on. Beam could tell me about things after the ceremony but during the ceremony things were familiar because at Patanadek I get to experience the Thai teachers teach the students. I get to learn a lot because my students are learning it in Thai! I think my Thai is improving because of it and most nights I fall asleep reciting Thai children’s songs or the national anthem. I digress.

At the temple I got to be a part of another special ceremony that is done by the solitary monk that lives at this temple. The short story of it is this monk has learned how to heal people. First there is a ceremony where he is making little sheets of 100% gold into your body. The picture on the left has two sheets-one is possibly in my body as I write this (left one) and the other wouldn't go through (right one).

Most people they can

easily pass through their body with the monk’s power but some people they will not disappear. These people have something negative in their body. The monk will then perform a ceremony to remove the bad thing in their body. Beam has seen this before and saw a monk successfully extract nails from a woman’s body. The woman I got to witness was back for the second time because the things he removed were back in her body (possibly some bad food she is eating or something like that). The ceremony went something like this—The woman is laying on her back on the floor as the monk lays leaves on her stomach. The monk has a dulled knife shaped object and a lit candle. He presses the dull knife into different parts of her body (shoulders, stomach, legs…not breaking the skin just putting pressure on these areas). He does this for as long as he needs and then takes the dulled knife and presses it into the leaves on her stomach while holding the flaming candle over her stomach as well. The woman seems to be in some pain and then a plate is brought to her stomach and there are black balls that look like dirt on the plate. Ceremony complete. Think what you will as it is hard for those of us who have such faith in Western medicine. It was interesting to get to see a different form of healing. I guess earlier that day another woman had leeches come out of her body! That would’ve been a sight to see.

Another highlight of the weekend was seeing a fortune teller and a palmist. Some things were the same as my visit to the fortune teller in Nakorn Si Thammarat which proves…my numbers have not changed!?

Highlights from the fortune teller
-I can have 4 children but no more
-I will get married between 27 and 31 but if someone is proposing to me and I say no until I’m 33 years old, then I will stay single. My soul mate will be 5-10 years older than me and he will not be a Thai man. He said stay away from Thai men!
-I will do well in a job where I take care of others. Teaching would be good but even better if I open my own school as I am suited for business. I will have peak success at 31 and the least success at 37. I will have a lot of money in the future and I will have multiple homes. But I should have no more than 4 homes.
-Beam and I will meet again and we would have a great business together if we wanted.

I had an exceptional time with Beam and her family and was treated so well while I was there. I hope to get to go back and visit for another weekend sometime. And I also can’t wait for Beam to be in the US so she can visit a special little place called Shoreview, Minnesota.

Other than the trip to Buriram I have been working and working and working some more. The last few weeks have been really busy because it’s the end of our first quarter. At the end of the first quarter we have one page evaluations to write on each student as well as have parent-teacher conferences. My own lack of planning led to writing all 41 pages of evaluations in 4 nights! It was like the week before finals week of college when all the papers are due. Possibly worse because I spent my normal 8 hours a day at school and then came home to write evaluations for another 4-5 hours. I took time to eat dinner and that’s it. That weekend I had regular theme evaluations and preparing for the parent-teacher conferences. Then Monday-Wednesday this past week we met with most of the parents. It was great to get to talk to them and to hear their concerns or lack of concerns and to get to tell them about their kid. I enjoyed having the conferences although I was spending 12 hours at school a day! It was a long two weeks to say the least but now it’s finished and it won’t happen again 3^rd quarter and I’ll only have one class to evaluate. So now I’ve been thinking if this is the life of a kindergarten teacher is this what I want my life to be like?

The Misunderstood Vegetarian

I was shown this article on The Slate and I think it accurately sums up how I think about food. Being a vegetarian in Thailand can be difficult. And people always find out because one of the first questions Thai people ask is "Do you like Thai food?". I say oh yes I love Thai food, which is true. But I love vegetarian Thai food. Most people look at me with horror in their eyes. "What do you eat?" they ask me. Truth is, I eat the same things as them, but with fake meat. They look at me, perhaps assessing if I am a real person who has lived in Thailand for a year. I like to think of it as expanding the minds of the people who ask...but they probably can't begin to understand why someone wouldn't want to eat som tum with fermented fish or pork balls in their soup.
Khon Kaen has 10 vegetarian restaurants that I know about and probably more. It's very easy to find vegetarian food but very difficult to go to a random restaurant and order vegetarian. It is likely to be told a restaurant doesn't have vegetarian food even when I ask for a fried egg. It's almost sinful to cook without fish sauce and some people seem scared to give it a try. The scared people make the people who will try so much more memorable. I've realized how much I love a "can do" attitude and many people will try to make me something to eat. Because the only thing worse than someone who won't eat meat is someone who is hungry. I never go hungry in Thailand.

Kindergarten Grease

Seems like Grease really is the word in Khon Kaen. I'm sorry for that cheesiness but it's true. Yesterday my kindergarten students performed at a Alcata Milk promotion at the Sofitel. They performed a dance they did for last years end of the year talent show. It's funny how much Grease has been a part of my Thailand experience.

You be the judge of who is cuter...University students or kindergarten students.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54257&l=44f37&id=512610984

Patanadek School

I thought it would be interesting for everyone to read a little bit about what my school (Patanadek) says about itself. It’s a very progressive, private education in Thailand.

School Philosophy:
Patanadek School believes that all children can learn. Being sensitive to progressive child development, Patanadek will strive to promote academic excellence while instilling both self and group discipline in its students. The goal of Patanadek is to prepare students to learn and live in a global society, to be active in protecting the environment, while preserving their rich Thai culture and nationality.

Teaching Philosophy:
Patanadek will strive to develop students who are critical thinkers as opposed to students who memorize facts. Teachers will encourage students to learn by doing, thus playing an active role in their own education.

School Slogan:
Our school is comfortable like home. Our teachers are caring like parents.

General Info:
Patanadek School, which means “Child Development School” in Thai, was founded in 1977 by Ms. Tasiri Suvarnasara. For the first 20 years the school consisted of a very progressive kindergarten. In 1997, the school opened its doors to elementary students and the English Language Program was established to provide students with the opportunity to learn English with native speaking teachers. Today the school houses not only a Thai kindergarten, an English kindergarten, an English elementary, but also a nursery program. The entire school strives to help students learn using the latest, most effective educational techniques and practices.

The Thai kindergarten program consists of levels 1, 2, and 3 and takes children from 3 to 6 years of age. Classes average 25-30 students and are taught by a professional staff of caring teachers supplemented by special subject teachers.

The English Program school consists of kindergarten levels 1, 2, and 3 and elementary grades 1 through 6, accepting students from 3 years old to 12 years old. Classes are limited to 25 or less students and each class has a Thai homeroom teacher. The English Program classes are taught by native speaking foreign teachers with help from the Thai homeroom teachers. English, Math, and a portion of Science, Social Studies, Health and P.E. are taught in English. Other required and special subjects are taught in Thai. All students study music, art, and computers with special subject teachers. Kindergarten students are all taught to swim. (**most Thais don’t know how to swim so this is a very big deal to have children who are not afraid of the water!)

The school aims to:
-develop a growing awareness and appreciation of Thai culture
-provide the best education to young students, developing their minds and life skills as well as traditional academics
-prepare students to deal with modern technology
-prepare students to cope with the present global society
-help students become life long learners and problem solvers.


**Hopefully you are thinking the same thing I was thinking when I found all this out…it sounds like a great place to work at! And it is. I was recommended by other foreign teachers and they were right. The school is very progressive for Thailand and is similar to the Montessori preschool I worked at in Des Moines. I like the approach we use in teaching kindergarten. I think we are preparing them for 1st grade by learning different subjects with different teachers but there are also lots of constants in the day.
My job is actually two jobs right now. They haven’t hired an additional foreign kindergarten teacher so I’ve been doing both kindergarten classes. It’s been tiring but it’s nice to be able to teach some things twice and really perfect what I want to do the second time. It’s interesting for me to get to see both classes and to experience how different they are too. I have to adjust little things depending on the class because the overall understanding of the classes are not the same. Each week, my 2 Thai co-teachers (one for each classroom) make our lesson plans. We work closely so the students have very similar experiences and then can go to 1st grade and be at roughly the same level. One of the classes also has a student teacher so it’s nice to be able to have just one more person in the classroom.

A typical day for me is:
8am Arrive at work and do any preparations and hang around the kids in hopes someone wants to speak a little English!
8:45am Flag Ceremony with all the other kindergarten students
9am Homeroom with me. We go over the calendar, count how many boys and girls, and talk about the weather.
9:45am Movement related to our topic for that day. For example-when we learned class rules we played Simon Says to practice listening to the teacher
10am hot chocolate milk time
10:10am Theme with me. Teach about the topic for the day making sure to do some listening, some speaking, a little writing and drawing.
11am Theme with me (different class!)
12pm Lunchtime in the canteen
12:30pm back in the classroom to just be around and play
1pm special subject-Thai, Art, Computer, P.E. or Dance
2pm Wrap Up sometimes with me and sometimes with the Thai teacher. Just review vocabulary and the topic today. If I didn’t do homeroom with this class then I’ll do the homeroom routine with them.
3pm Wrap Up with Thai teacher explaining homework, have a snack, put on socks and shoes, and get ready to go home
3:30pm take the kids to the playground to play until they’re picked up
4pm I go home


As you can see, I am really getting to experience life as a somewhat “real teacher”. I’m very fortunate to have had so much experience teaching preschool and then knowing Thai culture and education at KKU that it hasn’t been too difficult for me. Don’t get me wrong though, there are still LONG days! I think I’m lucky because my set up is even better than student teaching because I am put right in there but I get lots of help from my co-teachers. They have much more experience teaching this age group and so I can learn from them. It’s really great for me to be able to have this experience to be able to decide if this is what I want to be doing with my life. We’ll see what happens I guess but I just received a GRE prep book from a friend in Thailand. Is that a sign? Perhaps, but it won’t matter unless I start studying.

Back in KK

So much has happened and I'm not sure where to start. I will start with the easy part of putting up some pictures of recent events.

Pictures from a week long trip with a friend (Arielle) working for an orphanage in Vietnam. We traveled around Northern Thailand until I had to come back to KK for the start of my new job. We had a great time and I found an amazing travel buddy.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52812&l=25f78&id=512610984

I started my new job, my roommates are gone in India and I missed people from home...this all easily become homesickness and I medicated it by meeting Arielle for a long weekend in Nong Khai followed by a short visit by her in Khon Kaen! It was exciting to have a visitor and now I am feeling more adjusted to my sort of new life here.
Pictures from Nong Khai:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52818&l=baa0b&id=512610984

More updates to come my faithful readers who have probably now turned unfaithful after 3 exact months of nothing. I apologize.

1 Month Till Home!

English Camp Photos
http://drake.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41698&l=8ef42&id=512610984
http://drake.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41699&l=2f221&id=512610984


A quick update on my travel plans for the next month. I just have a few things to finish up at KKU and then my time there is done. Tomorrow I'm going to visit Patanadek to help prepare myself for what lies ahead. This past week has been full of farewell dinners (which I always end by awkwardly saying that I'm not really leaving and that I'll see them again! I don't like goodbyes). I've gotten some thoughtful cards and gifts from some students and my arms should be tired from all the hugging I've done-not to mention all the smiling in pictures. All the farewells make me even happier that I'm not actually leaving. I'm just not ready yet.
The next three weeks will be spent traveling with friends and then home to Minnesota! I'm excited for the new adventures but thinking about being home overshadows everything else. But here are my travel plans anyway...

Feb. 23-29 heading south to Nakhon Si Thammarat to visit my friend Adrian's friend. Then we'll slowly travel back up the peninsula stopping where ever we want.
March 1-3 meet with some recent KKU grads (most who were my 4th year students just a week ago) and go to Koh Kud, an island near Koh Chang.
March 3-?? Cambodia with my friend Beam and maybe others. Not too many people want to go on vacation knowing they'll have to speak English most of the time :)
March 18 6am HOME!
April 29 Back to Thailand to start teaching at Patanadek School

I'm very excited to get to Cambodia as I think it'll be different from Thailand and Lao. Isaan is not the different than Lao so sometimes I feel like I've never really seen a different culture even though I've been to two different countries. There's more of a change going to Bangkok! We know we want to see Angkor Wat and other than that, we'll see where Cambodia takes us...and we'll go anywhere as long as it's cheap!

Like I said before, it's sorta overshadowed by thoughts of going home. So in tribute to home, here are some of the things I can't wait to do when I'm home:
-overhear conversations in English
-see different colors of hair and people
-drive my car
-eat Jimmy John's
-cook food
-eat Mexican
-eat a veggie burger
-visit MCC
-see you!
-go to a movie theater and see an independent film
-watch current TV shows
-go to a library
-rent movies
-go sledding and ice skating and play hockey
-wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt
-to wear a t-shirt and not feel underdressed
-to feel cold
-read signs
-see my cats
-see people fatter than me
-eat HyVee salsa
-remember how to speak English with all native speakers
-CONCERTS!
-do things at night
-art centers and museums
-call you on the phone
-forget about time zones because it won't matter
-drink water out of the tap
-use an oven
-not consult a travel guide when traveling
-not staring at and judging every other white person I see!

I think you get the idea. You all know I like it here but there are still lots of things I miss. I'm lucky enough to get to go home for 5 weeks and do those things. Hopefully, by the end of 5 weeks I'll be ready to come back to Thailand. Although there are lots of things to look forward to when I'm home, there are some things I am not looking forward to. It will be a re-adjustment to get used to the fast-paced lifestyle, the different relationships formed with people, adequately explaining the changes I have experienced in the last 10 months and other things I can't anticipate yet. I am prepared to experience reverse culture shock and I do think it'll be harder than my culture shock coming here. Only time will tell how it goes down and no matter what, I'm very happy to be able to come home for an extended amount of time. See you soon!

End of the Year Pictures

Pictures for the Bye Nior Party which is a big event to say goodbye to the seniors. The first, second and third years all put on performances and we eat a big dinner and then we take pictures.

http://drake.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40440&l=60b9c&id=512610984

Pictures from the last day of classes with all my classes. So sad but hopefully I'll still seem the students around town.
http://drake.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40441&l=2eace&id=512610984

Grease photos

Some additional Grease photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25759&l=2b762&id=637476618
http://oregon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2142438&l=b1f78&id=11501884

You should be happy to know that there is a movie of one of the performances and I will bring it home with me. I might force you to watch it just so you can get a preview of what my life is like sometimes.

Also, in today's Nation (English newspaper in Thailand) there was an article about KKU's production of Grease. It's really neat to be recognized by the people down in Bangkok, as Khon Kaen doesn't always get too much good recognition.
Travolta Comes to Isaan

Midterm trip to Southern Laos

This year at KKU midterms fell over Christmas and New Year's so I had a nice long break. Last year, they taught on Christmas Day. It just seems weird. So I headed to Laos to meet up with a fellow PiAer who is working at a NGO in Vientiane (Elena), another NGO worker in Vientiane (Kat), and Elena's friend who was visiting from New York (Julia). We were all meeting in Pakse and we were doing a Southern Laos loop which is a little less touristy than Northern Laos.

I headed out early to take me time to get to Pakse. I stopped for a night on the Thai border town, Mukdahan. Isaan towns get a little prettier when they're on the river. The thing I remember most about this town is waking up in the morning had having some terrible diarrhea that lasted for wayyy too long. I don't know what it was but now I understand Traveler's Diarrhea. OH....MY....GOSH.

DEC. 22
So Elena, Kat and Julia and I meet up in Pakse, do some introductions and go to rent motorbikes for our motorbike tour of the Bolaven Plateau. I was the only experienced motorbike driver but everyone eventually got the hang of it--even if it took some close calls and a couple minor scraps at a gas station. It was weird for me because all of a sudden I was back on the right side of the road. I think it's' one of those things that you never forget though.
The first day we went to a place called Tad Lo. Our guesthouse was overlooking a river and a pretty waterfall. We stopped at another waterfall on the way but the whole day I was starting to feel un-stunnable. Everything is beautiful but it feels like nothing amazes me anymore. It's great and beautiful but I'm not going crazy over anything.

DEC. 23
Today we woke up to explore some of the other waterfalls in the Tad Lo area. There were some breathtaking parts today...but unfortunately I am still having some serious stomach issues that get in the way of pure enjoyment of the scenery.
We biked to this AMAZING waterfall that took us to the top of it where we could look down at the far drop. It was maybe three feet of water wide but it's the dry season. I'm curious to know if the whole area we were walking is actually filled with water in the rainy season-it probably is. We chilled out here for along time just looking at the view over the land. Then, as we were going back to the guesthouse these village boys were waving us over and told us they would show us a waterfall. We figured they would show us the same waterfall but from the bottom (so looking up at where we had been). These boys took us on a hike through their village, past the bathing children and adults, past the neatly rowed garden, up, down and over boulders and finally we stopped. We took pictures of the waterfall and the boys. The boys started showing off by doing some cliff jumping and adventurous Elena took a plunge as well. As the boys were walking us back they stopped and asked for some money. Here I thought they were just nice boys who were bored and wanted to show us something special. They charged a hefty sum but it was really just a little over a dollar.
But I was lucky enough to leave them a little present in the woods that refused to wait until we were back at the guesthouse. By this point, I am only eating bread and rice.
THE PHOTOS from Mukdahan to Tad Lo

So we grabbed some lunch and headed to our next stop, Sekong. The ride is pretty and it's just freeing to be riding a motorbike. I can now understand the phenomenon of motorcycles. It is amazing and being here really makes me want to have one when I am older. Or even just a scooter! There was an amazing sunset in the plateau (at this point we are on the plateau) and the colors brightened the sky for a long time. And then full moon rose in front of us. WOW! It was spectacular. But then we were riding at night and the bugs were out in full force. Bugs in my eyes, hair, nose, mouth, ears, everywhere. So gross. Since we arrived in Sekong at night it was really hard to find where anything was. We had a hard time finding a place to eat dinner and when we stopped to ask some people where we could eat the drunk men started getting a little touchy feely--which is so abnormal for Laos just like it is in Thailand. It was really uncomfortable and it added to our overall feeling of not liking Sekong. We ate dinner, went to bed, got up the next morning and left right away. In that time, I finally succumbed to modern day medicine and took some traveler's diarrhea medicine. Thankfully Kat and Elena were more responbile than me and brought some with!

DEC. 24
The next day was supposed to be the roughest road leading to Paksong, with dirt roads and supposedly a road full of pot holes. The road was rough but so spectacular. The dirt road meant that every time a car or truck passed us they would form an intense dust cloud where sometimes we couldn't see in front of us. We stopped at some waterfalls on the way but nothing surpassed the beauty of just driving. There are just a few pictures of this drive because there's no way to capture it. But the views of green forested mountains is priceless. Add in a sunset and it's almost perfect.
At this point I am starting to feel so dirty. Wearing the same dirty clothes because I know I will get dirty the next day on the motorbike. Dust from the roads were slowly overtaking our skin and clothes!

TAD LO, SEKONG and PAKSONG DRIVE PICS

DEC. 25
Christmas Day but doesn't feel like it in any way. There isn't Internet to call home but at least it's just Christmas Eve at home. Christmas is not Christmas when you're not with your family. In the morning we went to the Paksong market which was a perfect market size. We had fried bread and some Lao coffee for breakfast and then had some traditional Lao skirts (Sinh) made. Julia got a beautiful silk fabric and I got a more low-key cotton with stripes. We picked out the fabric, they took our measurements and made the skirt in about 30 minutes. We all had a great time exploring the market because it was so easy to navigate but still had everything you would need--but not 10 stands of the same thing which is usually what a market has! It was a good morning in the market and we were all sad to be leaving Paksong. There wasn't much more to do there but it'd be a nice place to live.
This was our last ride on our motorbikes as we were ending our loop and heading back to Pakse. In Pakse we had reserved a nice hotel to treat ourself on Christmas Day. The name is Champassak Palace and that says enough about it. It looked like a palace that belonged on top of a cake. Amazing! A splurge at $25 a night but well worth it just for a hot shower after the past days of feeling filthy.
We arrived back to Pakse and all of a sudden had to drive in traffic again! Luckily not for long. At night we tried to go out to celebrate with these guys we met but we couldn't find the club. So we went back to get a midnight Indian dinner and eat some Christmas cake I had found. Like so many other times in the trip, us 4 girls sat around, eating, sharing stories and just relaxing together.

Dec. 26
We said farewell to our motorbikes and our turquoise helmets to squish ourselves into a minibus to Champassak. Champassak is a tourist destination for a Khmer ruin named Wat Phu. Wat Phu is actually 10K outside of Champassak and we decided we were going to bicycle there. 10K in the afternoon heat is a pretty good work out but you feel so good when you see the other Asian tourists riding back in their AC vans! Not too many western tourists but mostly Thai and Japanese tour groups. The Thai tour group can be spotted anywhere because they are all wearing identifiable bright yellow hats. Oh Thailand. I was sorta excited to see some Thais again and excited I was able to know who was Thai and who wasn't. I remember the days when I would just say Asian. Well, there are huge differences between each country and each person's ethnic make up obviously.
A nice Khmer temple that is in need of some serious repair. We could see where the walls will collapse in the next few years. It is a UNESCO site so we saw some people repairing a part but a lot is needed. We bicycled back at sunset, which was breathtaking. The bike ride was nice because we got to see so many villages stretching from Champassak to Wat Phu. I like getting a feel for the life that people lead in these places where I'm just a tourist.
I took a nighttime walk with Elena where we tried to find a market but really ended up looking up at the bright stars that were so clear. So many stars.

PAKSONG, PAKSE, and WAT PHU PICS

Dec. 27-30
We headed down to our last stop today, Si Phan Don, or 4000 Islands. It's a point in the Mekong that has lots of little islands (or just river plants shooting up) but a few big islands where there are villages and inevitably guesthouses. It's right on the border with Cambodia so it's the end of Laos. We boarded on a minibus for the ride down there. We always get stared at, talked to in Lao and maybe some English. But this time was special. Julia got asked to be a woman's girlfriend who was especially touchy-feely. The same woman took her comb out of her hair and started brushing and braiding Elena's hair. It was hilarious and I don't think we were sad to see her get off in her village eventually. But it's better than being ignored! The hour and a half ride took three hours but we traveled like Lao's travel. No wonder traveling is an all day thing, you never know when you'll get somewhere.
We stayed on Don Khon and it was so much more beautiful than I expected. It was also the most touristy place we had been but it still does not compare at all to Thailand's touristy places. There are lots of guesthouses but the people who live there don't seem completely effected by it. People are still bathing in the river, carrying water from the river back to their houses, going to school, etc. It was so nice to lay in a hammock overlooking the Mekong and read a book. Watching fisherman go by in boats and sometimes jumping out to take out nets that were placed in the morning. I don't know how they swam though because the current was pretty strong.
We rented bicycles for a day and explored our island. There were some magnificent waterfalls and even went swimming and sunned on a beach! Each night we made sure to be in a good spot for the sunset. The colors were different every day. Then dinner and trying to be home before 9pm because that's when the electricity would turn off (the islands run on generators!).
One morning we got up before sunrise to travel down the river a bit to the Cambodian border where you can see Irrawaddy Dolpins. They are an endangered species that are thought to only live in this area. They are small dolphins that can live in fresh water and sea water. We were lucky enough to see a lot of them even though they were far away. They prefer the Cambodian border and we were told we could bribe someone so we could be closer but the opportunity never came up. It was so peaceful to be sitting on this rock in the middle of the Mekong watching the sunrise and people start their days. Kat left a couple of hours later to meet friends for New Year's in Hong Kong. Elena had another friend who met us so one gone and replaced by another, Rachel.
Our last night there we organized ourselves to see a waterfall on the mainland. The owner of our guesthouse took us but we think he only took us because there was a celebration going on that night and he wanted to drink with his buddies. He was obviously disappointed when he thought we'd want to stay at the waterfall for an hour and we were back in 15 minutes (it was nothing compared to what we had seen in the past few days). He then took us to a sunset spot and then dropped us off at a neighboring island that is much more touristy, Don Dhet. All of a sudden, so many foreigners. Every restaurant was packed! It was fun and we met a few interesting people but there is always a disconnect when you live somewhere and when you are just traveling through.
We didn't stay out late as we wanted to get back to our island before the generators turned off. Well, we definitely miscalculated how long it would take us and how dark it really gets. And we had forgotten our flashlights. So with flashlights and a lighter with a light someone gave us we speed walked for 6KM. Of course, it was cloudy so the full moon was nowhere to be seen. It was terrifying to the point where you can't be scared. I almost took some dives because of the big rocks in the gravel road. We made it back with no problems and it was a walk to remember!
The next day we all headed back to mainland and back up to Pakse. Elena and Julia headed off to Thailand to have New Year's in Bangkok. Rachel and I stayed another night in Pakse just chilling out and then the next day we went our separate ways. Rachel to meet friends near Champassak and me heading home.
SI PHAN DON PICS

I missed Thailand and was ready to be done traveling. I didn't think I'd ever feel that way but I did. It was a great trip and an awesome group of people to travel with. As soon as a crossed the border and started heading first to Ubon and then to KK I almost missed the first bus and the woman starts running through the grass to catch it before it leaves without me. She went out of her way for me without even thinking. Maybe that just happens more when you travel on your own or maybe I've just had more opportunities for it to happen in Thailand or maybe it's just Thai people. Either way, I love it.



Differences between Thailand and Laos-
-no 7/11s! I didn't realized how much I depend on 7/11 until it's not there. Tear.
-most women wear the Sinh, traditional skirt. A Sinh and a t-shirt is a normal outfit
-lots more signs in English (more specifically comparing KK to Laos)
-buses are infreuent and mostly non-AC, most rides are in a minibus or large sawngthaew
-no shorts or tank tops. HOT!
-you can pay in kip, baht or dollar. I can barely keep track of one exchange rate let alone 3!
-being gay is not OK so no lady boys
-no nightly aerobics
-even the touristy places weren't that touristy, especially by Westerners and almost no Americans
-not as many cars or traffic in general
-lots of babies, maybe the population will be increasing as Laos is the least populated country in Southeast Asia
-bread is always available...I can get used to that
-people weren't yelling "farang" even though it's the same word
-all the guesthouse provided towels! It's the little things that matter
-not as many Lao women with farang men but still some
-most children were just running around without pants and underwear on. I think it's a pre-potty training thing so then there's no mess to clean up. Completely normal to see a kid just wearing a t-shirt
-I saw more drinking in the village by men. Being outwardly drunk and obnoxious
-not as service oriented in any restaurants. Meals would take up to 2 hours and we would only be eating for 20 minutes of it!