Check out my new claim to fame and be envious:
http://cheapcharlies-kk.com/quiz/
For the past month, the foreign crowd (aka my foreign crowd) has been frequenting a bar that I had judged for the past year and a half. It was judged because it is one of the bars where the older foreign men hang out with a few Thai women. There is quite a divide between this older foreign men and us youngsters. But the divide has been bridged and it is thanks to the aforementioned bar.
Cheap! Charlies is now the place to be on a Tuesday night in KK because of their fabulous Quiz Night. On the website you can read some of the questions...they are quite difficult. It is an all out team effort of random knowledge and guesses the help us respectably squeeze by each week. (I will say it is quite an advantage to have actually lived through events rather than learning about them in history class.) The battle of the ages ended last Tuesday when Bring It On Hercules edged out the Khon Kaen Klan by 2 1/2 points. It was an unexpected surprise and one of the proudest moments in my last two years. On the website you can also see the Snowball prize (answering a random question individually) was won by my friend Naomi. I reckon she's quite clever (that was my British English sentence for the day-translation=She's smart). I expect to find a trivia night in the Cities that can compare.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
My December Vacation
So far 2009 has been good to me. I hope it's been the same for you. Pictures first...
December Pictures:
http://tinyurl.com/c3mc6t
January Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102710&l=d8b4a&id=512610984
The end of December I had a fantastic two weeks in Northern Thailand and then down to the beach for New Year's. A friend who was in PiA last year is working for an NGO (if you're interested, The Life Skills Development Foundation) in Chiang Mai. She invited me to work with them for a few days around Christmas. I jumped at the chance to actually volunteer my time! It's something I really miss doing here as there's not much to do other than teach English in KK. Honestly, the last thing I want to do after teaching English all week is to do it on my weekend as well. I was excited to have an opportunity that didn't involve teaching English!
We were north of Chiang Mai in a small town called Bang Maphaa (also known as Soppong in the guidebooks). The first day was a training day for teachers in the area. My friend Kirsten and I taught the first lesson of the day about active learning. Most of the teachers seemed to understand just a little bit of English and so we had a translator for our session. We had about 15-20 teachers who we pretended were elementary aged. We then did a complete lesson about hand washing. The point was to show how to teach a lesson by using active learning which is really just showing the teachers that a lecture style is not the best or only way to deliver a good lesson. I am not sure how it went but the teachers seemed to have fun and Kirsten and I had fun. It felt good to be able to pass on some knowledge and I hope some of the teachers came away at least having a new thought in their head about teaching.
The next few days we spent outside of this village at a school that has many children from different hill tribes in Thailand. It's somewhat of a boarding school because of this. From what I understood, most of the students live in group houses together because their home villages are so far away. The students then work in teams to take care of the school. Each team has a different responsibility which together runs the entire school community. I'm trying to remember all of the team tasks since we had to write a brochure for them. They had a team that prepared meals, another that maintained the water supply, the agriculture team, and a few other things. It was a very forward thinking idea for this school and it seemed to work well. Although it is still an extremely poor, education and money wise.
Our job was to build the school a playground and re-design 2 kindergarten classrooms. There were about 15 people from the NGO plus a bus load of University students from Chiang Mai. We had about two days to finish all of this, which in true Thai way, we didn't know about until after the two days. We also didn't know their was going to be two classrooms and they also misinformed us on which classroom was KG1 and which was KG2, which makes a difference. The classroom should be different if you have 4 year olds in it or 5-6 year olds in it. Mai ben rai. We figured it out.
It was a challenge but so rewarding when we finished. I don't have any before pictures because it was SO dirty that we didn't want to touch anything while we were cleaning it out. My first impression of the classroom before we started to work: piles of dirt on toys, broken and dangerous cabinets, completely unorganized toys, many things were not age-appropriate, a huge TV hid the white board, nothing interactive to allow the kids to explore and learn on their own, and dirt and mold all over their bedding. It was appalling and then sad to know that the school was doing the best they could. I felt guilty about teaching where I do when I could be helping a more needy school. I struggle with this a lot but I also want to be happy. I have justified my choice of schools by realizing that the rich kids deserve a good education too. Anyways, we worked hard for the two days. We cleaned, we organized, we designed, we re-designed, we cleaned some more, we threw things away, we made new things, phew! We were tired. The teacher of our classroom was around and I think we even motivated her to clean up her papers. The most frustrating part was finding items that had been donated but were not being used. Brand new books and toys that were stuffed into a forgotten corner. It was hard to believe that they do have the tools but they are not being utilized.
The classroom still being designed and cleaned.
I hope that they liked what we did to the classroom and have kept the changes we made. Kirsten believes she overheard the Thai teacher saying the room was "half beautiful". In Thailand, everything needs to be beautiful. I am still annoyed at that because I think it was a good classroom where it was easier to learn and engage in learning. You don't need bows and paper butterflies to help teach kids. I guess I should say in my opinion you don't need to "beautify" the classroom in that way to educate but maybe that's because that's what I know. Sigh, I'm still learning about Thai culture and how I react to it. It was a great experience no matter what and I'm so happy I spent my Christmas doing something like that.
To ring in the New Year we headed down to Koh Chang, an island southeast of Bangkok. We had 5 of us girls and had a fantastic time. We stayed up late every night, woke up early to drag ourselves to the beach where we'd fall asleep again and then do it again the next night. Looking back I am not sure how I did 5 days of that. It must've been the excitement of being just another tourist! It took dedication to ring in 2009. We didn't do much and it was perfect. I missed my kids and teaching but could've spent a few more days on the beach. But there will be more time for that soon.
January was laid back in comparison to all the traveling in December. I went to Chiang Mai for a long weekend to have a reunion with my New Year's travel buddies as a couple of them are heading back home (California and Australia) soon. If I was staying another year in Thailand I would be in Chiang Mai in a heartbeat. It's like living in Thailand but with an easy escape to tourists and foreign things. I ate delicious falafel with a bunch of foreigners and then went out dancing in a Thai club. It's lovely to have those options.
I've been feeling my time in Thailand coming to an end. The PiAers at KKU are leaving in the next few weeks as they have their last week of teaching this week. The goodbyes and thoughts of goodbyes are starting and that is always a sad time. As for me, I have about 5 weeks of teaching left. Then I have plans to travel. Here's my calendar of events so far...
March 13-last day of school
March 14-KG3 Graduation (tear tear)
March 15-27-traveling Thailand with my friend Sarah who's coming to visit from the states!
March 27-29 Patanadek Staff Trip to Pattaya.
April 1st-one way ticket to Kuala Lumpur with my friend and KK PiAer Alison
We'll be traveling in Malaysia for as long as we want and eventually making our way up through the South and eventually back to KK for Songkran which is from April 11-18. Songkran is the Thai New Year that involves ice cold water, drinking, closed restaurants and lots of accidents. I promise to be safe and will probably hide in my house after a day of it.
Mid-April-Finally get to Northern Laos and take in Vientiane and Luang Prabang
May 1-back to KK to pack up my things and say goodbye as I prepare to leave Thailand
May 4-Goodbye Thailand, Hello China! 25 days of exploring China.
May 28-FLY HOME!
May 29 onward-work for the summer and hope that a job in Turkey works out.
That will be my life for the next few months. Although home is still 4 months away it seems so close! But now that I've officially bought my ticket home and just want to be there. I'm excited to be able to just be me. Things in Thailand annoy me more than before just because I know I soon won't have to worry about things. For instance, yesterday I was walking to meet friends at the lake and a group of young Thais were in front of me. They proceeded to turn and stare at me multiple times as I leisurely walked. And try to half smile but also half "what?" them. I just don't get it. I don't know what they're thinking. Age doesn't matter, gender doesn't matter, people just stare. I know those of you who have been to China are laughing because I think it'll be worse there but as a tourist I'm in a different mindset. It's annoying to be living your normal life and to just be stared at and watched at all times. Ok, there was my vent for this entry. Oh to walk in unnoticed to a store. To be able to shop without someone hovering over me. To be able to go in a restaurant and not have to think in another language or to see people be afraid to come over and talk to me. But, as I was just telling my mom, it'll be weird to not be noticed! I'm afraid I'll walk into Target and wait around for someone to help me and then touch my white skin and tell me I'm beautiful. I'm only partly kidding.
At the end of the day though I think about Thailand and the US like this---soon I'll be in the US and no one will tell me I'm beautiful but no one will tell me I'm fat either. I think I can accept that.
December Pictures:
http://tinyurl.com/c3mc6t
January Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102710&l=d8b4a&id=512610984
The end of December I had a fantastic two weeks in Northern Thailand and then down to the beach for New Year's. A friend who was in PiA last year is working for an NGO (if you're interested, The Life Skills Development Foundation) in Chiang Mai. She invited me to work with them for a few days around Christmas. I jumped at the chance to actually volunteer my time! It's something I really miss doing here as there's not much to do other than teach English in KK. Honestly, the last thing I want to do after teaching English all week is to do it on my weekend as well. I was excited to have an opportunity that didn't involve teaching English!
We were north of Chiang Mai in a small town called Bang Maphaa (also known as Soppong in the guidebooks). The first day was a training day for teachers in the area. My friend Kirsten and I taught the first lesson of the day about active learning. Most of the teachers seemed to understand just a little bit of English and so we had a translator for our session. We had about 15-20 teachers who we pretended were elementary aged. We then did a complete lesson about hand washing. The point was to show how to teach a lesson by using active learning which is really just showing the teachers that a lecture style is not the best or only way to deliver a good lesson. I am not sure how it went but the teachers seemed to have fun and Kirsten and I had fun. It felt good to be able to pass on some knowledge and I hope some of the teachers came away at least having a new thought in their head about teaching.
The next few days we spent outside of this village at a school that has many children from different hill tribes in Thailand. It's somewhat of a boarding school because of this. From what I understood, most of the students live in group houses together because their home villages are so far away. The students then work in teams to take care of the school. Each team has a different responsibility which together runs the entire school community. I'm trying to remember all of the team tasks since we had to write a brochure for them. They had a team that prepared meals, another that maintained the water supply, the agriculture team, and a few other things. It was a very forward thinking idea for this school and it seemed to work well. Although it is still an extremely poor, education and money wise.
Our job was to build the school a playground and re-design 2 kindergarten classrooms. There were about 15 people from the NGO plus a bus load of University students from Chiang Mai. We had about two days to finish all of this, which in true Thai way, we didn't know about until after the two days. We also didn't know their was going to be two classrooms and they also misinformed us on which classroom was KG1 and which was KG2, which makes a difference. The classroom should be different if you have 4 year olds in it or 5-6 year olds in it. Mai ben rai. We figured it out.
It was a challenge but so rewarding when we finished. I don't have any before pictures because it was SO dirty that we didn't want to touch anything while we were cleaning it out. My first impression of the classroom before we started to work: piles of dirt on toys, broken and dangerous cabinets, completely unorganized toys, many things were not age-appropriate, a huge TV hid the white board, nothing interactive to allow the kids to explore and learn on their own, and dirt and mold all over their bedding. It was appalling and then sad to know that the school was doing the best they could. I felt guilty about teaching where I do when I could be helping a more needy school. I struggle with this a lot but I also want to be happy. I have justified my choice of schools by realizing that the rich kids deserve a good education too. Anyways, we worked hard for the two days. We cleaned, we organized, we designed, we re-designed, we cleaned some more, we threw things away, we made new things, phew! We were tired. The teacher of our classroom was around and I think we even motivated her to clean up her papers. The most frustrating part was finding items that had been donated but were not being used. Brand new books and toys that were stuffed into a forgotten corner. It was hard to believe that they do have the tools but they are not being utilized.
The classroom still being designed and cleaned.
I hope that they liked what we did to the classroom and have kept the changes we made. Kirsten believes she overheard the Thai teacher saying the room was "half beautiful". In Thailand, everything needs to be beautiful. I am still annoyed at that because I think it was a good classroom where it was easier to learn and engage in learning. You don't need bows and paper butterflies to help teach kids. I guess I should say in my opinion you don't need to "beautify" the classroom in that way to educate but maybe that's because that's what I know. Sigh, I'm still learning about Thai culture and how I react to it. It was a great experience no matter what and I'm so happy I spent my Christmas doing something like that.
To ring in the New Year we headed down to Koh Chang, an island southeast of Bangkok. We had 5 of us girls and had a fantastic time. We stayed up late every night, woke up early to drag ourselves to the beach where we'd fall asleep again and then do it again the next night. Looking back I am not sure how I did 5 days of that. It must've been the excitement of being just another tourist! It took dedication to ring in 2009. We didn't do much and it was perfect. I missed my kids and teaching but could've spent a few more days on the beach. But there will be more time for that soon.
January was laid back in comparison to all the traveling in December. I went to Chiang Mai for a long weekend to have a reunion with my New Year's travel buddies as a couple of them are heading back home (California and Australia) soon. If I was staying another year in Thailand I would be in Chiang Mai in a heartbeat. It's like living in Thailand but with an easy escape to tourists and foreign things. I ate delicious falafel with a bunch of foreigners and then went out dancing in a Thai club. It's lovely to have those options.
I've been feeling my time in Thailand coming to an end. The PiAers at KKU are leaving in the next few weeks as they have their last week of teaching this week. The goodbyes and thoughts of goodbyes are starting and that is always a sad time. As for me, I have about 5 weeks of teaching left. Then I have plans to travel. Here's my calendar of events so far...
March 13-last day of school
March 14-KG3 Graduation (tear tear)
March 15-27-traveling Thailand with my friend Sarah who's coming to visit from the states!
March 27-29 Patanadek Staff Trip to Pattaya.
April 1st-one way ticket to Kuala Lumpur with my friend and KK PiAer Alison
We'll be traveling in Malaysia for as long as we want and eventually making our way up through the South and eventually back to KK for Songkran which is from April 11-18. Songkran is the Thai New Year that involves ice cold water, drinking, closed restaurants and lots of accidents. I promise to be safe and will probably hide in my house after a day of it.
Mid-April-Finally get to Northern Laos and take in Vientiane and Luang Prabang
May 1-back to KK to pack up my things and say goodbye as I prepare to leave Thailand
May 4-Goodbye Thailand, Hello China! 25 days of exploring China.
May 28-FLY HOME!
May 29 onward-work for the summer and hope that a job in Turkey works out.
That will be my life for the next few months. Although home is still 4 months away it seems so close! But now that I've officially bought my ticket home and just want to be there. I'm excited to be able to just be me. Things in Thailand annoy me more than before just because I know I soon won't have to worry about things. For instance, yesterday I was walking to meet friends at the lake and a group of young Thais were in front of me. They proceeded to turn and stare at me multiple times as I leisurely walked. And try to half smile but also half "what?" them. I just don't get it. I don't know what they're thinking. Age doesn't matter, gender doesn't matter, people just stare. I know those of you who have been to China are laughing because I think it'll be worse there but as a tourist I'm in a different mindset. It's annoying to be living your normal life and to just be stared at and watched at all times. Ok, there was my vent for this entry. Oh to walk in unnoticed to a store. To be able to shop without someone hovering over me. To be able to go in a restaurant and not have to think in another language or to see people be afraid to come over and talk to me. But, as I was just telling my mom, it'll be weird to not be noticed! I'm afraid I'll walk into Target and wait around for someone to help me and then touch my white skin and tell me I'm beautiful. I'm only partly kidding.
At the end of the day though I think about Thailand and the US like this---soon I'll be in the US and no one will tell me I'm beautiful but no one will tell me I'm fat either. I think I can accept that.
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