It was 79 degrees when I took this picture at 11:00am...I also have seen kids in puffy jackets with fur collars. Is heat all relative?
I found out last week only by being in the right place at the right time that mid-terms were pushed ahead a week, meaning that I had to prepare exams for this week as opposed to the week of the 26th. I scrambled to put together four mid-terms in two days, and then realized that there was no way that I could give my Monday classes mid-terms because we had missed two Mondays in a row because of holidays. I only see my classes once a week, so my two Monday classes are two sessions behind their classmates who I teach on the other days. My school coordinator said I could push off the mid-term a week for those classes, so I tried to catch them up as quickly as possible this week. Some of my other classes are behind a class or two as well, simply because there is always some last minute activity (field trip, Sport day) that I don’t know about until I show up to an empty classroom. It seems to be Sport Day every other day, and I really have no clue how often or when each class is expected to participate. It’s exactly what it sounds like though- children playing sports against each other.
Tah, the cute gym teacher, who speaks maybe two words of English but tops up my glass with his own soda during lunch. Aw.
Not sure how this little cutie got stuck holding the basket
I also found out recently that students’ grades should be broken down as follows: 20% before mid-term, 30% mid-term, 10% after mid-term, 10% behavior, 10% portfolio, and 20% final. I told my school coordinator that I can’t grade them on a portfolio because they don’t do homework, so I’m adding that 10% on to their ‘after mid-term’ percentage instead. I gave all of my students two quizzes totaling 20 points before their mid-terms…
Hmm…it’s not technically wrong…
Last weekend, I headed up to Kanchanaburi to visit Laura and Kelli, two friends from my program. There are a lot of things to do in and around Kanchanaburi, like visiting a 7-tier waterfall park, riding/bamboo rafting with elephants, and visiting a Tiger Temple. Because I have spent pretty much every weekend packing in as much as I could see/do as possible, my only goals last weekend were to see friends, meet new people, and drink some Chang beer. Kanchanaburi is also known to have a good nightlife and backpacker scene, and based on the fact that I was out both nights until 4am, I would say that the town did not disappoint.
On Saturday, a bunch of us headed to an area where we could swim and jump off of a bridge into the River Kwai. The group consisted of other people from our program, friends of Laura’s and Kelli’s from Kanchanaburi, and other travelers we met out the night before and at one of the hostels on Saturday morning. It was a collective crew of people from all over the world; definitely a very fun and relaxing day.
Through a random coincidence on Sunday, I ended up going to see a few of the closer sights of Kanchanaburi with Laura’s and Kelli’s friend Pom. All in all, a great weekend in Kanchanaburi, and I will definitely go back next time with the intention of doing and seeing a little more.
Death Railway- http://www.visit-chiang-mai-online.com/death-railway.html
In front of the 'Bridge Over the River Kwai'
Though the majority of the Thai population is Buddhist and doesn't celebrate Christmas for religious reasons, it appears that Thai people love the holiday regardless because, as a wise Thai man once told me, 'Thai people like parties.' Fair enough! I've seen decorations around Chonburi (including at our school), and driving through Bangkok last week, I noticed beautiful Christmas lights everywhere. At school on Friday, we are having an all-day Christmas event, and I have to prepare my special English class to dance and sing to ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. Everyone is dressing up in red or white, we are having six different activity stations for games and contests (I have to prepare/run one of the stations as well), and Santa and Mrs. Claus should be making an appearance too. After the kids leave at 3:00, we are having a three-hour party with games and competitions for the teachers/staff, followed by a Christmas dinner and gift exchange/party which goes until 9:00pm. I won’t be going anywhere too far this weekend, simply because I have to be at school Friday night and I don’t have any days off for the holiday. Merry Christmas from Thailand everyone!!! Hope you all have an incredible holiday. Until next time….Sawatdee Kah!
