The following week went pretty fast. One of the teachers had his birthday. So, because everyone in Thailand loves karaoke so much we decided to go out for karaoke to celebrate Chris's birthday. I was actually quite impressive. It was a restaurant sitting on a wooden pier. It was a huge place. There was a live band playing and people were outside with the band and then there were individual rooms that you could get.

SO, we rented our own room that came with leather couches, a large tv and the whole karaoke set up. There was a rather large group of us, around 20. They had quite the selection of songs to choose from. Apparently there are places like this all of Thailand. It was such a fun night!

That weekend I went to Kanchanaburi for a motorbike adventure up to the Myanmar border to Three Pagodas Pass. After school on Friday nine of us got on a bus and headed to Kanchanaburi, which took about two hours. Once we got there we all got some food and a massage and then headed to bed for an early morning on Saturday. We had to get started early because we were going to be on the road all day. But, first most of us had to learn how to drive the bikes. It look quite easy but it was extremely hard to get a hold on how the bike worked. The gas on the bike was used by turning the handles and the brakes were just handle brakes like ones on a bicycle.

It was also very hard to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road then I was used to. After we had done a bit of practicing for about a little over an hour we jumped onto the highway into traffic and began our journey up to Sangkhlaburi, which was about 200 km.

The first stop that we made was at Sai Yok Noi waterfall. It was beautiful and refreshing. We were able to climb us and explore around the waterfalls.

This journey is known as Thailand's most scenic drive, and it certainly was! Living in Bangkok it is hard to realize how lush this country really is. So much greenery it was fantastic! There were limestone cliffs just jutting out from the waters and driving through the mountains. It was such an amazing feeling to be driving through all of this beautiful country side on a motor bike! By the end of the drive my but was super sore! We finished driving a little bit after dark. I was not a fan of driving in the dark. Thailand driving is very crazy. Most of the time lanes do not mean anything. So we stayed the night in Sangkhlaburi.

Then we got up early again the next day to get to the Myanmar border and three pagodas pass, which for centuries had been a relay point for Thai-Burmese trade. The last portion of the drive was just as beautiful as the first. Once we reached the pass we began our trip back to Kanchanaburi.

It was a fantastic weekend and a scenic journey never to forget!

Catching up

So, as you can tell I have not been very good lately about updating my blog. I have been so incredibly busy it's hard to keep on top of everything. And, once the day is over it's tough to sit down and work on the blog. Also, because I started my blog a month after arriving here I have been trying to catch up the whole time all the while more things are happening! I am going to use this post to basically sum everything up so that I can start adding more short and up to date blogs.

I will start out in the teaching update. This semester we have had to cram alot of material into a short period of time. There are numerous long weekends and random days off during the week so it limits the teaching time, not that I am complaining by any means. But, I am really starting to understand what is expected of me and think I am filling the requirements quite well. We have mid-terms next week so that will be the true test as to whether or not my students learned anything! It is still a tough concept for my students to grasp that they are not suppose to be talking while I am or any other student is. I will have students doing a speech in the front of the class and another student will walk up in front of the speaker to ask me to go to the bathroom. It blows my mind! It is just so ironic to me that the culture can be so rude yet they are such a respectable culture, hard to explain.

One day a couple of weeks ago I was putting together a workbook for my students in the computer lab. I began talking to one of the Thai teachers that was sitting in the room. She started helping me with the books and we began talking and working on Thai and English words. Thai's love to play badmitten. So, Tai, the Thai teacher asked me if I would go with her and her brother to play badmitten. I was so excited because it is one of the few racket sports I have never played. So me and another English teacher, Steph, met Thai and her three sisters and two brothers to play badmitten. It was quite the family affair. It was such a fun sport, I love it! It was hard for me to adjust to because I am so used to tennis and the power and perception that I was using for badmitten was completely off. However, by the end of our time I was kickin butt. So, after we finished our game we all went out to eat dinner at one of the street restaurants that Tai loves to go to. They ordered about 20 for nine people. There was so much food but it was all so good. Even the pig intestine that I consumed, haha. I looked at it and asked what it was. When I was told pig intestine I pushed in away and right afterward it was pushed right back to me. So, I had already eaten larva as Steph pointed out so I had no excuse not to try it and it was actually quite good! However, I could only eat one piece of it just because I knew what I was eating and it was sickening to think about.

So, that was the big adventure of the week!

That weekend I had to teach Saturday class, my last one! So, on Friday night me and a few of the girls decided to go see a movie. I was blown away by their cinema. It was so nice, I felt like I was going to see a play or something. You had the option of getting regular seats or VIP seats. The VIP are only a few bhat more an they recline and have feet rests. They also sell beer and interesting flavors of popcorn. Most of the movies are in English with Thai subtitles. After the movie we went for dinner at a place called Sizzler to get a break from Thai food. They have one of the best salad bars I have ever eaten at with soups as well. So, we were waiting outside of the restaurant to be seated and I sat down on the bench. I said hello to the girl that was already sitting there and her English was amazing! So we began talking and hitting it off real well. When I was called into the restaurant she asked for my number to be able to hang out. She was so excited to have met a farang, white person, so she could work on her English.

Long story short, we ended up meeting up with her the next day and have been keeping in touch every since. She has introduced us to a few of her friends and we have had some great times together.

So, Saturday class went well. I got to work with the younger students again so we did arts and crafts and had a good time. Afterward, a few of us went to the Bangkok zoo. It used to be a garden and then they turned it into a zoo. The area and walkways around the animals and habitat were great but the actual animals and their habitats looked very poor. It was quite upsetting. Makes me never want to go to a zoo again. So we did a little more exploring of the city of Bangkok and then made our way home. That night we did some of the Bangkok night life which is always a fun time!

Sunday was great because I finally got to sleep in and then we went to the market and have a picnic in the park. There are actually quite a few parks randomly throughout Bangkok. All and all it was a good week/weekend.

I will try to do some more posting tomorrow and about the following few weeks and time in between!

Keep emails coming to me an feel free to send mail!

Taste Testing

The following week consisted of my continuing to get used to teaching and beginning to learn all 60 of my students name. It is easier for me that they all have nicknames but not English so it's still tough to learn them. The most popular name of my students in Pooh. I have four of them in total. I do not have any funny names as some of the other teachers do. Some names that I have heard are talkshow, lobster, salmon, so funny!

Luckily the teachers I have been working with are so great and supportive. I work immediately with two other teachers and we do all of our planning together so they made my teaching adjustment so much easier. I have such an appreciation for teachers now. There is more work behind the scenes then I ever imagined. Lertlah has their curriculum based on the Manitoba curriculum in Canada. Not exactly sure how the relationship began but it seems to be working very well.

Each teacher is required to work two Saturday classes a semester. Luckily they are paid and it's not too painful. Students who's parents want them to get extra practice have their children attend Saturday class from 9-12. It is quite unbelievable how much school these kids go to. They rarely have time to just play and relax. The new generation of children seem to be having the same problem as the Western world. The children are no longer getting outside during the little free time that they have. They are playing on computers and it is beginning to show. There are quite a few large children at Lertlah as well as the rest of Thailand. It's interesting because my perception of Asians has always been skinny and now that is changing especially for the upcoming generation.

Anyway, after Saturday class I went downtown with some people and ate my first bug! Eating bugs is a huge thing in Thailand. The bugs range from little larva, which I had to larger bugs like scorpions, crickets, water bugs and such. My larva was quite tasty. It was fluffy like a puff chip or something. But, I could not handle any of the other bugs that were being sold on the cart. Khaosan road is known as the home to all backpackers. It is a fun place to visit. Its the main road in one part of Bangkok that all foreign travelers go to. There are all kinds of things for sale and the street is lined with bars and restaurants as well as mines, sellers and other performers.

Definitely worth a visit when coming to Thailand!

Loy Krathong

It is tough to stay ontop of keeping my blog up to date, but I am trying my best. Everyday is filled with new experiences and so busy.

So, once Katie and returned home from Hua Hin we decided to go down town to celebrate Loy Kratong. This is a Thai festival in which people offer thanks to the water goddess. Loy means to float and Krathong means a lotus-shaped vessel made of banana leaves. The Krathong usually contains a candle, tree joss-sticks, some flowers and coins. On the night of Loy Krathong, people light their candels on their krathong and cast it into a river or waterway. It is believed that the Krathongs can carry away sins and bad luck, and the time to start the coming new year. People usually make a wish at the same time as casting thier krathong. It is believed that if the candle remains burning until the krathong is out of sight then their wish will come true.

Katie and I decided to buy a krathong and participate in the festivities. We went on a boat on the river to cast away our krathong. It was quite interesting and beautiful to see all the krathongs floating down the river by candle light. It was so crowded and so many people packed the sides of the river all trying to cast away their krathongs. Quite beautiful until the next day when all the canals and rivers are polluted with the reminence of the krathongs!