happy happy happy

So it's been a while since I last updated. Whoops. This hopefully will flow in order from the 3-day weekend in Khao Yai.

It's been a crazy flurry of testing and grading my little munchkins. Yes it was that time of the semester….midterms. I was testing them on what I've taught the past couple of months.  I had less than 20 question on how to spell or to draw things relating to family (ex. grandfather), weather (ex. storm), food (ex. vegetable, pineapple), and body (ex. elbow).  Simple enough right? Hardly. Add in grading and it was no walk in the park. Remember I have about 60 kids in each class and about 20 classes total, and so truth be told, I was tempted to just give a class average. After some consideration (and realization that I have to turn in grades at the end of the semester)…ehhh… their grade is their grade. This will serve to be a wakeup call to them.

My class isn't hard. We do a little vocabulary, I teach a short lesson/ give students a worksheet, and then play a game relating to the lesson. All they need to do is listen and attempt to participate. Guess time will tell how they behave after the test.  I'll let you know once I find out myself.

***Jim Thompson blog***


Besides that, I received some awesome packages and letters from friends and family this holiday season. It helped ease the homesickness that suddenly crept up on me. I guess those holiday times are a tricky bugger. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SENT/EMAIL WARM THOUGHTS AND GOODIES MY WAY. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!! <3

And so Christmas was a warm affair in Bangkok. We celebrated in a new part of the town, Sukhumvit and RCA [Royal City Area]; went for a little Mexican instead…rather a lot of Mexican food from this one little place - La Monita. Love Love Love. <3 Woot for a BayArea folk opening up shop in Thailand. We proceeded to splurge - courtesy of Starbucks with some holiday java, and then Saturday night wandered to Siam Square to view the lights and Xmas decorations. I was blown away with how many people came out. But then again…this is Thailand. This is what they do - take tons of photos when they can. And furthermore, how else would you celebrate this holiday in a country that generally doesn't know much or has never seen snow and hardly knows what a pine tree/douglas fir/etc… looks like. Close but no cigar.

Double Cali Fish Taco

Chelsea, Allie, Jenna, and I

For New Years, the girls and I preplanned to head to Phuket (thank goodness since places were booked, and prices went up). But before I celebrated with them, I celebrated with my school. U-Thong had a large running/marathon to the temple down the street. Tons of kids filled the field and I was surprised that some actually ran. They bombarded the gates and sprinted down the street. As they were going, the teachers began their run. This was a competition for all to participate, but all I was thinking was I should of rode my bike alongside them hahahaha. Of course I didn't…I walked with Jenny and many of the other students who came to realize that running in the heat despite the occasional breeze at 830am was no bueno.

So of course it's not a celebration without food, presents, and singing; and that was what followed. There was a two hour presentation of trophies to the winning runners of several age groups, and a raffle of an assortment of donated prizes from the community (ex. clocks, sweaters, umbrellas, tvs, dvd players, fans, and MO-PED [which was the ultimate prize dangling in front of the students all week]. Insane! By noon, all the students and teachers split to their respective homerooms or to their buildings to celebrate the upcoming year. Jenny and I were invited to go to the Commercial building to eat and celebrate with them (our go to Thai family - Wanchai and Tu besides our lovely local coordinators). And celebrate we did. We had two servings of this delicious noodle. Yum!!! This is one of my favs….thick gravy broth slavering over thick rice noodles and vegetables.  We helped hand out raffle prizes. Simple gifts like whitening lotion/body wash, a hello kitty pillow, pots and pans, water filter, doremon things, etc… made them so happy. 

And then Tu took us to the quad. There was a stage and extremely large speakers set up… ohh this was what Jenny and I my students told us was where they were going to dance and sing…right??? Not quite. We assumed the students were traditionally singing and dancing, but it was actually a concert. What a surprise! I never thought U-Thong would have such a event.  The kids went insane. A sea of yellow and red uniforms, jumping all around, going crazy to their favorite pop songs.

The "Start" of the Race

On the way to the temple

Go Go Go!!!

The Ultimate Prize - MoPed!!

Delicious Noodles - without the gravy

Just an offering to the masses...

Jenny and I getting groovy with our kids

Enough Said.

What a way to end 2010, and a way to begin 2011!  A little morning exercise, the giving away of prizes, with food, music, and dance to end the school day.

(New Years in Phuket to come shortly...)