Jim Thompson Farm

Here is my desperate attempt to catch up on my blog posts. Hopefully I will have two posted between today and tomorrow so I can be on track before our traveling madness starts. First, let me explain our traveling extravaganza. This Thursday night I will be on an overnight bus down to Phuket to celebrate New Years with three other girls from my program. We will be there until Monday morning when we return back to Suphanburi. Ciana and I will teach classes on Tuesday, then leave Tuesday night to head up to Chiang Mai (our Wednesday-Friday classes were cancelled because all of our students are taking exams.) We will return on Sunday, teach Monday and Tuesday, and then leave again Tuesday night mostly likely for Koh Phi Phi (again our Wednesday-Friday classes were cancelled because the students are going to scout camp.) Soo basically if I don't catch up now I feel like I will forever be behind, so here it goes...

The weekend of December 17th a bunch of us decided to stay in Suphanburi to save money and relax a little bit. Friday was the first truly cool day we've had since we got here, so when we went out that night we had the pleasure of being comfortable in jeans and a cardigan (it was amazing!) A bunch of us went out to dinner then headed to two different bars around town. While we were at the first bar, I had the opportunity to try dried squid. The picture says it all...

(Olivia loved it, I thought it was disgusting, haha)

All in all it was a nice night out on the town. Saturday we relaxed, ran some errands and went to bed early to prepare for our adventure the next day, the Jim Thompson farm. This is an organic farm our coordinator wanted to take us to. Jim Thompson is a famous British artist in Thailand, many people go to see his house in Bangkok, who incorporates art into his organic farm. It is only open 3 weeks out of the year to tourists, and it happened to open that weekend. So Sunday morning we were picked up at 5am and started on the 3 hour van ride to the farm. Let me tell you, Thais do road trips very differently then we do in my family. We literally stopped every half an hour to get food or walk around or get gas. This made sleeping very difficult. Then, once we finally get going and are almost there, the van breaks down. We end up pulling over and up to a roadside mechanic. They jack up the van (with 9 of us in it) and proceed to work on it for an hour. So now we are all stuck in a stuffy van for an hour while they figure out whats wrong. Finally they fix the problem and we are on our way again. Once we get there we immediately realize we were foolish for thinking it would be like an organic farm in the states. It is basically patches of flowers or pumpkins and a bus that takes you between them all. The whole set up is geared for tourists and displaying art, not at all for farming, so we were a little disappointed. Regardless, we decided to embrace this touristy farm and take some pretty ridiculous photos...in true Thai style.

The bus that drove us around the 'farm'

Loving relaxing on the hammock...it was underneath a house on stilts, one of the many art installments

Ryan (a teacher who came with us from Suphanburi) and me playing in the pumpkin patch.

(Thai people, for whatever reason, LOVE putting pumpkins on their heads)

Olivia, Ryan and me relaxing on a bean bag pumpkin

H.M. The King's Birthday

As I have come to learn in my 2 months of being here, Thais love a good celebration. The semester thus far has been littered with holidays and time off, which have turned into opportune travel times. December 5th was the Kings birthday and also a national holiday. However, because it fell on a Sunday, the holiday was celebrated on Monday which meant no school for us. (In addition to no school on Monday, we had no classes the Wednesday, Thursday or Friday prior so our school could throw an exhibition to celebrate the King.) After much deliberation, we decided our first three day weekend was a perfect time to hit the beach. We knew we couldn't travel too far, so our destination became Koh Samet, an island in the Gulf of Thailand that is close to Bangkok. It is a big tourist spot for Thai people in Bangkok because it is close, but has the beauty of a lot of the beaches down south. We left after school on Friday, traveled to the ferry town of Ban Phe, spent a night there, and arrived on Koh Samet early Saturday morning. We spent two and a half glorious days in the sun, relaxing and celebrating.

Playing an English quiz game about the King during the Exhibition

Olivia relaxing on the beach at Koh Samet

Everyone at dinner

On Sunday night, at midnight, everyone was handed a lit candle as they played the King's song over loudspeakers. They also lit a huge sign on the beach that said Long Live the King. The song played and everyone sang until the large sign burned out. It was a pretty amazing opportunity to see such devotion in all these party-going Thai people. They really do love their King and I'm so happy they let us join in on the celebration.

We returned home from our mini vacation with a short, 3 day week of school. December 10th was Constitution Day, another national holiday, so we didn't have school on Friday. After our crazy weekend on the beach we decided to take it easy and head to Khao Yai National Park to do some trekkinng and adventuring. Let me tell you, it was an adventure. We got there late Thursday night, so we spent Friday morning relaxing. Friday afternoon we had a half day trip where went swimming in a natural spring, explored a cave, and right at dusk watched something like 3 million bats leave their cave for their evening feeding. It was insane.

Olivia, me and Chelsea swimming in the spring

A short portion of the never ending line of flying bats

Afterwards we headed home and to bed to prepare for our full day of hiking. We woke up at 6am on Saturday and headed into the National Park for what promised to be an adventure.

Chelsea, Olivia, me and Ciana

We were driving along the windy road and then stopped it was seemed to be a very nondescript area. We then headed into the woods. No trail, no nothing. We were lead by a Thai guide named Jib, who was amazing. He has been leading tours for 10 years and knew the woods like the back of his hand. We looked at many different bird and plant species, working our way to a thundering waterfall. Once we got there, he assured us it was safe to jump, so I took the plunge. It was amazing!

After climbing up along the side of the waterfall, we all enjoyed a snack and then keep trekking. We were traveling along the river and let me tell you, it was not easy. We were jumping between rocks, climbing up rock cliffs and assuring each other this was, in fact, something we could all do. On the way we were lucky enough to see a Gibbon! This is one of our closest primate relatives and are not easily spotted, so I was SUPER excited to see one. We also made pit stops at two more waterfalls along the way, the second of which was in the movie The Beach. It was so beautiful, but filled with tourists, so after our photo opp we decided to leave.

Literally scaling the side of a small rock cliff

Gibby the Gibbon!

Us at the second waterfall

The whole tour at the waterfall from The Beach

Afterwards we had lunch in the park and relaxed for a little, before starting our elephant siting adventure. Jib warned us that the likelihood was low because SO many people were in the park that weekend, but we would try anyways. Sure enough, after about half an hour, we spotted 4-5 elephants along the side of the road. We slowed down to drive by, when one of the elephants starting charging our car. It was nerve wrecking to say the least. But then, we turn around and try to drive by them again! There is now a traffic jam of all the cars that are too afraid to pass, but we pass them all and head for the elephants again. And what do they do? They charge...again. Our driver threw the car in reverse and started backing into all the other cars. Once we joined the other cars the elephant hung back. Finally a ranger car came and drove straight at the elephant, which forced it off the road, making it safe for us to drive by again and return back to the hostel.

The elephant before it decided to charge our car

All in all it was an exhilarating and exhausting day, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I look forward to going back sometime later this year.

Loy Krathong, Thanksgiving and an English Competition

So I know these posts are a little behind...but I'm working on it! On the 21st of November was the holiday Loy Krathong. This holiday is all about thanking the water god for the ability to use water and also asking for forgiveness for any misuse of water over the past year. The celebration is usually held at night when people release Krathongs, which are usually made of bread, leaves, flowers and a candle, and made previously that week, down the river. You typically release a Krathong with your significant other. Side note--we learned from our coordinator that it's a very popular night for teenage couples to loose their virginities. In addition to being a holiday of thanks, its a holiday of romance, second only to Valentines Day (which they take VERY seriously here.) So Ciana and I spent the evening with our coordinator along the Suphanburi river watching all the festivities.

A Krathong

Krathongs floating down the Suphanburi river

A float of various images to celebrate the holiday

The following Thursday was Thanksgiving. It was my first Thanksgiving away from home, and let me tell you I definitely missed the food. We tried to put something resembling a Thanksgiving dinner together, but it wasn't quite the same. There were about 12 farangs, or foreign white people, that gathered together at Lin's, which is the restaurant across the street from our apartment. We had chicken, rice, stir fried veggies and KFC mashed potatoes and gravy tying it all together. Leave it to American fast food to save the day. We all went around the table and shared what we were thankful for and then dug in. The meal was topped off with fresh pineapple and Chinese donuts dipped in sweetened condensed milk. Not quite the same as pumpkin pie, but delicious nevertheless.

Chelsea, me, Ciana, Andrew, Christie, Peter, Laura, Chris, Cassie, Olivia and Jenny all enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner

Family style veggies, rice and chicken

KFC pulling the meal together with gravy and mashed potatoes

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was our first English competition. As I have learned, these students are basically in school every day. They oftentimes travel into Bangkok, or nearby cities, on Saturdays and Sundays so they can go to class. This is obviously so they can improve their education but also, I swear, so they can win more competitions. It seems like almost every weekend there is a different competition in a different subject. On Saturday a school near ours hosted a competition with 85 different participating schools. The students had to express knowledge of many different subjects in English. My competition in particular was technology and English. The students had to read an entry that was about a page long, answer 5 questions about the entry, then send their answers to us via Skype. Why Skype? I have no idea. I don't know anyone who uses Skype to send files...but that's what they had to do. Afterwards, they picked a topic out of a had and had 10 minutes to prepare a 2-3 minute speech. They had to deliver their speech to us by calling us on Skype. This task seemed like a little more appropriate, but it still seemed bizarre that we were all sitting in one computer room but had to listen to the student speak through the computer. Oh well. In the end we actually had a pretty good time and it was interesting to see exactly what a competition was like. I'm sure it will be the first of many.

Kanchanaburi

Sorry for the delay on these updates! Our internet has been horribly slow, combined with the busyness of school, which has resulted in my lack of posts. But this week should be an easy week for us so I hope to do a lot of updating. Two weekends ago Ciana and I headed to Kanchanaburi again. We went there during orientation, but we wanted to go back to explore the town and the Erawan Waterfalls. We left Friday after school and arrived at around 7. We found a hostel where our rooms were on the water (the River Kwai) and went out to dinner. The town is very cute. It's basically one road littered with different restaurants and bars. The southern part of the street is all 'lady' bars...where white guys go to hook up with Thai girls. Besides that area, the rest of the street seemed pretty fun. We actually went during a long weekend where most people go up north to Chiang Mai, so the town was pretty deserted both nights. Nevertheless, we found a cute little bar where you sit on stools and pay 10 Baht for a shot of whiskey, a shot of coke and ice and had a good time. Saturday during the day we headed to a national park that's around an hour and a half away to climb the 7-tiered waterfall. It was so beautiful I had to remind myself it was real.

Me in front of tier 2

A waterfall in between tiers

Our favorite, tier 5

Cooling off under the main waterfall in tier 5

The entire hike took us a little under 4 hours. You are constantly looking at waterfalls the whole way, but tiers have pools you can swim in. The water is so blue and really refreshing. The only deterrent -- in every pool are fish. Now you all know I am a water person, so why would fish ever be a deterrent? They eat dead skin. So as soon as you put your feet in the water they swarm to you and start eating the dead skin off the bottom of your feet. While some see this as a free pedicure, it freaked me out. I made sure my feet were constantly moving while I was in the water so the fish didn't come near me. All in all it was a pretty amazing experience and I know I will be back.

Sports Day

Across Thailand there is a holiday of sorts called Sports Day. It is, in my schools case, two days where classes are cancelled and the entire school is divided into 4 teams: blue, pink, green and red. These teams compete in basketball, ping pong, techro, volleyball, soccer and running, playing multiple games for different age groups and genders. The day starts with singing the national anthem and praying/being thankful for sports and then the competition is underway. Andrew, Ciana and I just spent the day walking around watching our students play and cheer each other on.

Students playing Techro. It's basically like hackey sack with a slightly bigger ball over a net.

Everyone in their Sports Day shirt singing the National Anthem

The second day begins with a big parade. It is put on solely by the students with very little teacher supervision. Each color has to dress in costumes that are inspired by Thai ancient culture and convey a certain celebration. For example green was celebrating music and live performances and pink celebrated the full moon festivals. After the parade, varies groups from each color come onto the field and put on a performance. This ranged from a traditional Thai dance to a lip sync that was telling a story about a girl finding love.

Students carrying blue and yellow flags because they are the colors of the King and Queen (I like to think it's a little Michigan love)

Girls on the pink team

The green team

One of my 11th grade classes performing a traditional Thai dance

Sports Day then continues next week at a district level. Kids from different schools all over Suphanburi will put on a huge opening ceremony and then compete over the course of one day. The students and the school takes this all very seriously; I'm in my second week of teaching and still haven't met 4 of my classes because they've had practice-it trumps all classes. The first week I was a little relieved to not teach these classes because it reduced my stress level, but not seeing them this second week makes me more stressed. Now I have to cover 3 weeks worth of material in 1 class. Plus, it's just a little frustrating to know my class can be cancelled on a whim and I won't know about it. (I found out my classes were cancelled because the students never showed up.) The most interesting part about it is the teachers don't seem to mind. They just tell me it's not a big deal, the students have other things they need to practice for. It is amazing how relaxed and unorganized the school is...it is something that would never be accepted in the States. Class is cancelled? Oh well. Half your class didn't show up? That's okay. Everyone is cheating on their exam? No, they're just sharing. It really is eye opening to experience a school system and structure that is so different from our own.

Side Note: I wrote this last part of the blog after school on Wednesday when my classes had been cancelled. After seeing the parade and sports day it became very clear why the students were missing class, they were in charge of quite a production. This doesn't discredit the way I felt, but I think deserves a little disclaimer.

Some more fun photos:

My school in Suphanburi

Some of my rather outspoken 7th grade boys

Our office--my desk is the first one on the left and Ciana's is the first one on the right

The canteen where we eat lunch

Some of my 7th graders cheering on their classmates

Let The Teaching Begin...

I have officially become a teacher. Monday morning Andrew, Ciana and I were picked up by our coordinator and brought to the school for a teachers meeting. After almost falling asleep because it was all in Thai we had to get up and introduce ourselves in front of the entire faculty. Afterwards there was a big luncheon where we were again put on stage, but this time to receive flowers from the principle. This was the schools way of saying welcome.

Tuesday morning school officially began. I got my schedule and the student rosters for the grades I will be teaching. I have the American equivalent of 7th graders and 11th graders. I have 18 classes per week and only see the classes once a week, which means I have exactly 808 students. This week we have just been making name tags and playing basic games so I can judge their level of English. Some of the classes are really well behaved and know a fair amount, while others are hard to keep quiet because they can't really understand a word I say.

The classroom atmosphere is very different here than in the States. Every time I walk by a student in the hall they bow their head to me or say hello teacher. Whenever I walk into a room to teach every student stands up and says either good morning or good afternoon teacher and when the class is over they all stand and say thank you teacher. In general their behavior seems to be much more controlled then students of similar age in the States. This is a relief because it makes my job a little bit easier.

We are still getting into the swing of things, but I think we've started on a pretty good note. This weekend were going into the city center of Bangkok to do some exploring, something we didn't really get a chance to do during orientation.

Even though we have started teaching, we are still finding time to explore, hang out with friends from orientation and try new foods...

A display of local vegetables for sale at the market

The Samchuk Market...over 100 years old and a tourist spot for Thai people

Andrew, Me, Ciana and our local coordinator Wattana (she has been absolutely amazing, randomly taking us on trips, making us dinner at her house and taking us shopping)

Ciana and me eating one of our new favorite snacks, grilled bananas

Grand Palace and Kanchanaburi

During our 7 day orientation, which just ended two days ago, we got the chance to do a couple of touristy activities. The first was going to see the Grand Palace. This is the most holy temple to all Thai people and is located in central Bangkok. It was originally built as a home and temple for the monarch, but has since become a sacred landmark/very large tourist attraction. On the piece of land are the king's home and temple, as well as roughly 100 other buildings used for different ceremonies and practices. The largest temple is now the most sacred because it is the home of the Emerald Buddha, a rather small Buddha statue which is actually made of jade. It sits on top of a HUGE decorative alter and attracts Buddhists from all over the world. It was a really cool experience seeing such elaborate buildings and grounds while learning all about the Buddhist religion and history in Thailand.

As a treat on our final day, we got to travel to Kanchanaburi, which is about 2.5 hours west of Bangkok. This town is notorious for being the home of the Bridge of the River Kwai. This bridge is known as the 'Death Railway' because it was built by the Japanese using American POWs, thousands of which died because of the brutal treatment. Today the bridge is still used but there are numerous cemeteries, memorials and museums commemorating all the Americans who lost their lives. We arrived at Kanchanaburi two nights ago, so we got to see the bridge while it was lit up at night which was pretty spectacular. After exploring and having dinner on the river we went back to the hotel to celebrate our friend Olivia's birthday and our final night together as a group. The next morning morning we all got up very early to head to the Taweechai Elephant Camp where we got to ride elephants!! It was such a cool experience and quite a crazy ride...

Afterwards we headed to the river where we got to ride on bamboo rafts. We rode them down a small portion of the river and got to swim in the deeper sections. This was a great way to relax after the excitement of the elephants. Once everyone finished with the morning activities we went back to the hotel where we could shower and eat some lunch. After lunch Ciana, Andrew and I had to say goodbye to the group because our school coordinator came to pick us up. Suphanburi is only about an hour northeast of Kanchanaburi which is really exciting because they also have some great waterfalls that we want to go back and explore. When we first arrived we were taken right to our apartments...let me tell you, we lucked out. We each have a one bedroom apartment that is furnished with an armour, TV, bed, desk, bookshelf and AC (thank goodness!). We also have private bathrooms with a toilet, sink and shower. The interesting part about the shower is that it's just a shower head on the wall, there is no curtain or door, so when you're showering the whole bathroom literally becomes the shower. It seemed a little weird at first but actually isn't that bad. In the grand scheme of things I would say we are very very lucky.

After we moved our stuff in we headed to Tesco to get some basic food and supplies and then we went to see the school. It is quite large, but a really beautiful place. We start teaching on Tuesday and I'm excited to explore it a little bit. After we left the school we came back to our apartments to unpack a little then had dinner with our coordinator. The hardest part about not speaking Thai is definitely ordering food, so she was introducing us to different dishes and giving us the Thai names. Also, when Thai people eat in groups they almost always eat family style, so they order multiple dishes with rice, and share everything. When we eat we all try and order our own thing, and thus far it has failed every time. One way or another we don't get everything we ordered or we only get one order of a dish when multiple people wanted it, because it is meant to share. At some point I'm sure we'll get it down. After dinner we all just came back to our apartments and crashed.

Yesterday we spent the day exploring the city. We basically walked in circles trying to find different landmarks and food stalls that we wanted to try. In this process we've already come across a little food market and convenience store that we like. The shop owner, Tony, helped us out with our Thai and was extremely generous both times we went to see him. Being in a smaller town, that doesn't usually get any American tourists, is a little like being a celebrity. Walking down the street people are always looking at us, saying hi and asking where we came from. When we sat down to have lunch the restaurant owners got so excited that we picked their place they all came over to help take our order. It is actually a pretty good feeling knowing that everyone is excited to have us here and would be more then welcome to help us out where they can. Today I think we're going to do some more exploring and hopefully come across some more cool people!