End of week 6 - Sakon Nakhon

This week, I started to teach sentence construction, word order and verbs. The language barrier has made the lessons this week really tough, as it is hard to explain English language rules without using Thai, and I have had many a blank face staring at me. Nevertheless, by the end of each lesson, I have had each student writing and reading out loud a sentence that they have put together and that is good enough progress for me.

 

Lunchtimes have been a lot of fun recently. I have been learning Korean with Korean friend at the school and have also been sitting with the students helping them with origami and their homework. In Thailand, students and teachers are very segregated, in our school at least. But I have really enjoyed getting to know the monkeys out of class, as they are a lot less shy out of the classroom environment.

The one thing that I have learnt about Thailand is that no one ever knows what is going on, and there is no use trying to find out. There seems to be a huge lack of order and organisation with everything, from school lessons to transport. Everybody moves at their own pace and there is no adherence to structure or time. At the start, this stressed me out - for example, how could no one know what time the bus leaves the village everyday? When we were told our bus would leave the station at 10.30am, we were told half an hour later that it would leave at 12.30pm. All communication is 'organised' by word of mouth, and when you don't speak Thai, you have a problem. However, after being here 6 weeks, you learn that you must never be in a rush. You learn to relax and to try and not let hiccups bother you, and I think that is the way forward.

At the weekend, I went to stay with another ETA in Sakon Nakhon which was great fun. We spent Saturday shopping, driving around the city, going for lunch and getting coffee - it was so good to have English company! On Sunday, we climbed up a mountain in Tambon Na Hua Bo to see Phra That Phu Phek - 500 of the steepest steps I had ever seen - it was so exhausting but the panoramic view at the top was incredible.
 

My favourite photo - 5/1 class :)

 

The best cookie and chocolate ice cream from the canteen

 

The 500 steps to the top of the mountain!

The biggest millipede!

The steep stairs

The view of the jungle

Bug city

The amazing view from the top

Dressed up monk statues

The view of the jungle

Phra That Phu Phek

Phra That Phu Phek

Phra That Phu Phek

Vanessa and I at the top of the mountain

Gorgeous butterfly

A guarding dragon

 

 

 

End of week 5 - Sakon Nakhon

This four day week has been great. I have been teaching animals and their habitats to the younger children and teaching hobbies and past times to the older students. The students seem to really understand me (at least, I think they do!) and are getting on so well with all the vocab games we have been playing. As always, the younger classes of mathayom are absolute monkeys and I have had to confiscate so many things in lessons; from paper planes to teddy bears.

 

At the weekend, we ventured off to Sakon Nakhon with our friend Tae. First stop was Sakon Nakhon University; we sat in on a Business Strategy lecture...which was 3 hours...in Thai. So I put in my headphones and tried to look interested. Lectures here are pretty much the same as in England; everyone is on their phone playing CandyCrush, people wander in late and the students at the back are asleep.

Next stop was a trip to the waterfalls. It was so much fun. We went with a big group of Tae's university friends and had a few whisky's in the gorgeous surroundings. The only thing was, I didn't realise people didn't wear bikinis there, it is more of a jump-in-in-all-your-clothes kinda thing. I hadn't brought spare clothes so had to endure the awkwardness of people looking at me in a bikini...

In the evening, we went to watch a Thai movie about Issan 50 years ago. It was the most random movie I have ever seen in my life; it was in Thai but had English subtitles which definitely weren't translated right...or maybe it was. One joke was a father telling his daughter to go and wash her bumhole...I don't think I will ever understand Thai humour.

Then we went to a Thai club. I have no words.

My lovely 5/1 class

 

In a lecture at Sakon Nakhon University

 

Waterfall fun

Waterfall fun

Waterfall fun

Waterfall fun

Waterfall fun

 

End of week 4 - Bangsaen & Pattaya

This week in class, I taught the students all about English culture and important traditions; for example, about the queen, roast dinners and Harry Potter. Definitely essential need-to-know facts. I am becoming known for my PowerPoint presentations at school now and boy are they a crowd pleaser. I also taught the kids a few things about me and the students found it absolutely fascinating when you show them photos of your home life and friends. Everyone seems to be so in awe of all things 'England', from the landmarks to the way people look, that you end up feeling quite proud to be English.

 

We had a long weekend due to Monday 12th August being the mother's day. This gave us the chance to escape the rural confines of Nakhon Phanom and venture down south. We arrived in Bangkok on Saturday morning, met a friend from university and made our way down to Bangsaen. We spent the day playing on the beach, we went for a big seafood family BBQ and went out to a night market in the town. The weather was glorious and it was so great to finally relax with friends.

On Sunday, I got to do the activity that was at the very top of my Thailand 'to do list'; elephant trekking! We made our way down to Pattaya Elephant Village and we got to go on a long trek through the jungle and rivers. It was so much fun and on the excursion you also got to see how silk was made - although the silk worms were a bit creepy.

In the evening, we ventured into Pattaya city. For the people who aren't familiar with Pattaya's night culture, it is basically a place bursting with strip clubs, go-go bars and prostitutes where you see overweight European men trying to get lucky. Enough said.

On Monday, we headed back into good old Bangkok and had a long mooch around MBK. I'm pretty sure you could live in that shopping centre, they literally sell everything you would ever need; from wooden frogs to rubber chickens. We went for a tasty sushi lunch and headed back to Na Kae on the night bus.


Bansaen Beach

 Bangsaen Beach

Bangsaen Beach

 

Chase and I in Bangsaen

The elephant village

 

Pattaya Elephant Village - Trekking

 

Pretty flower

Feeding an elephant a banana

Watching silk being made

Gorgeous sunset in Pattaya

 

Gorgeous sunset in Pattaya

Sunset in Pattaya :)

 

Muay Thai

 

Pattaya walking street...

 

 

 

End of Week 3 - Udon Thani

I'm not going to lie; this week hasn't been the most interesting of weeks. The children have had midterms so teachers are all left at a bit of a loose end, and by loose end, I mean they're on Facebook. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed having some free time at school as it gave me the opportunity to talk more with the teachers and go on a few trips to shopping malls...

The weekend was great though. I travelled to Udon Thani with another ETA, which was a 5 hour bus journey away. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and visited the Nong Prachack park which was beautiful, we went to the Central Plaza mall, to an amazing night market and then to a beer garden with live music.

Cute bunny hedge art

Pretty sculpture

Nong Prajack Park

Gorgeous flowers

Feeding the thousands of cat fish in the lake

Pretty scenery

Koi Karp action shot

My friends at the swimming pool

Night market ferris wheel

The cleanest night market I've been to

Duck and pork noodles mmm

The Chang beer garden

End of week 2 - Khon Kaen

This has been a crazy great week. It started off on the bank holiday Monday when I was asked to attend the towns parade, where each school has a float. By attend, they meant that I would dress up as a queen, ride around on a float in a parade procession and be entered into a 'Miss Candle' beauty pageant (there is a lot of miscommunication) ...casual Monday. Despite the 40c heat in 4 layers of material, it was a fun day. It actually realised that I had won 'Miss Candle' when my director was shouting "number one! number one!" at me and the school were very pleased! Not sure how I'm going to get that trophy home though...

Teaching wise, this week has been a huge improvement. I think that the children are starting to see my as a teacher figure rather than an exciting 'farang' visitor to their school! This week I have taught the weather. I have started introducing games into the lessons, playing them at the end to reinforce the vocabulary that I have taught, and it seems as if they really help with the spelling/speaking aspect of their English learning. Hangman seems to be the winner here. I've had classes of 40 children racing up to the board to fill in the missing letters and it is so satisfying to watch, knowing that you have educated them on something new and that they remember it (most importantly!) Stickers seem to be a great motivation to get them enthusiastic about games.

I spent the weekend in Khon Kaen with a couple of other ETA's which was great, mostly because we got to escape the ghost town of Na Kae for a couple of days. The bus ride was a bit of a mare; we were told it would be around 2 hours but it ended up taking 5 hours in total - classic laid back Thai attitude with no sense of time keeping whatsoever! The bus ride was spent fantasising about English food so naturally the first stop when we got to the city was at a McDonalds! (By the time I got to school on Monday morning - our McDonald's trip was the talk of the school). We spent Saturday evening at Ton Tann Night Market which was the cleanest, most pretty night market I'd ever been to. There was live music and a lot of Chang...

In a gorgeous (very hot) Thai dress

With my 'Miss Candle' trophy!

With some pupils who took part in the parade

With my lovely mentor

Casually on a float

Monsoon season doesn't mix well with parades

With the Director and teachers from my school

 

It had to be done

Tuk-tuk fun

Ton Tann market

Ton Tann market

Ton Tann market - so beautiful

Tourists at Ton Tann

Ton Tann - For couples to attach a lock to the heart

Chang tower