First week at Teaching

First of all I made it to the National Park outside of town here. It is really pretty with crystal clear water coming down from the mountains. The village at the base of the mountain is really nice also. It will definitely be a place to visit in the coming months. The people in these villages around the city don't see very many farang (what the locals call westerners) so it is very fun going out to them. The kids are very interested in you. A warm smile usually scares off the fears of the children.

Second of all I have been going jogging in a really nice park in town that has a zoo and all kinds of animals. I came around a corner and sitting in the middle of the road was an elephant. It was very surprising to see. Then his keeper yelled something all of a sudden the elephant got up and walked to his keeper. The elephant then sat down next to his keeper in the grass. The keeper just smiled and waved at me. The elephants listen just like dogs I guess.

I also got settled into my apartment. It is in a really good location. And is nice and quiet.

I am teaching 1,2,3,4 grade Health. So it should be fun. Also 1 and 2 grade English. Mostly greetings and basic information. The first week was basically a introduction of myself to the classes. It was pretty interesting. The kids are very cute. But there are some wild ones. Some of them don't like to sit down. The students especially the 1st and 2nd graders love coming up to you and shaking your hand and saying, "hello, nice to meet you." I feel like it might be a little Karma thrown back at me, from my days in school when I made havoc. The gods are getting back at me. But I think it is going to be alot of fun. The students are really bright. I think it is going to be really enjoyable. I spent most of the past week between introductions doing lesson plans. The school that I got assigned too is really nice. The mayor put me in a really good school.

At the beginning of the day all 2,500 kids at the school line up outside and sing the National Anthem. It looks pretty neat. Because each grade wheres a different uniform. The school also has really good lunches.

I'm going to start getting into a regular routine during the week with school. Doing a little jogging. Walking and biking around the city. Then go explore a national park or a beach on the weekend.

Well I posted new picture of the city and the area I am at. Again you can click on the picture at the top right or you can go to.

http://picasaweb.google.com/martin.calkins

Love Martin

Congrads Adam Calkins

The hardest decision that I had to make while planning my adventure was missing my only brothers graduation. I feel very bad about this. But I am very proud of this special young man. He is a wonderfull brother and I wish I could be back for his graduation. It is very tough for me not to be there. I send all my love and hope you have a fantastic summer enjoying the outdoors. I deeply want him to make it over to Thailand for a couple weeks and explore some of this exotic country with me. Congratulations Adam and wish i was there! All of you that make to the graduation give him an extra hug for me!

Also congratulations to my cousin Eric. Who will be having his third child any time now. I want to congratulate a couple friends from Garmin that have recently had a child or soon going to have a child.

Anyways I am still in Nohkon Si Thammarat. I ended up getting a job with the government teaching children. I will get to teach children of all ages. I had to meet the mayor of the city. He hired me after about a half hour of talking. A very nice man. But after "the interview he asked if I had read the book the Godfather. I told him that I have. He smiled and said "If you ever have any trouble, you come to me." Something I guess to think about...lol.

I have heard that he is a very nice man though and really does look out for the foreign teachers. He is a good person to be working for. I will be teaching about 20 hours a week and making a pretty decent salary for living in Thailand. I will be speaking English and doing lesson plans while I am not teaching.

Nohkon Si Thammarat is located about 30 minutes from the Gulf of Thailand. Like I said this is the real Thailand. The people of this city are very proud of their city. Over the past week in between interviews, I have been walking around and exploring this city. A Thai women that teaches English children has been showing me around. I went to one of the most Ancient Temples in the world. This temple is around 1300 years old. Think about that! 1300 years. Wow. It was really neat. We went on a Buddhist holiday so there was a number of people there. Buddhist travel from all over the world to see this Temple and give gifts and pray. There is also a very nice park in this city with a free zoo. Pheasants that are now in South Dakota ( they are originally from SouthEast Asia) are located in this zoo. They look about the same but are a little bigger. Maybe just because they are fed in the zoo.

The park has a number of basketball courts. I figured I would strap on my shoes and show these Thai boys how to play some basketball. Well I was a little wrong. These Thai boys can play some ball. They also knew many of the NBA players names. I'm going to have to get the rust out of me before I go back and play again.

I found a very nice and clean apartment. It has a nice garden and the people that run it are very nice. I moved in there this morning. It is not in the heart of the city but is about a 20 minute walk. It is in a very nice location. Located close to a Robinsons ( like a target) and there are various street vendors for food to choose from. Over the last week I have been trying something different to eat for each meal. I have been eating alot of shrimp. I'm not a big fan of the squid.

I start teaching Monday. In the meantime I have been exploring the city as much as possible. I also have been volunteering about an hour or so every day to the Thai woman that has a small English language school. She teaches children that sometimes can't afford to pay her. She is very kind. I plan to keep helping out for a few hours a week. The students are between 8-12 years old. They really know how to read and write English well. They just have a hard time understanding and speaking it because they have not heard it from a native speaker. They really get excited when I come by to teach. It is a really good feeling and I enjoy it. The students are great.

This weekend I'm going to a National Park about 20 km from the city. It supposedly has one of the tallest waterfalls in Thailand. Since it has been raining hard for nearly an hour every day, this will be a wonder full time to visit.

Nohkon Si Thammarat is located in a great spot to explore Thailand. There are numerous mountains and national parks. And is close to some of the most famous beaches in the world. It is not on the tourist path, so also gives me a chance to really have a cultural exchange with this exciting country.

Not everything is fine and dandy in this country. You sometimes see areas where some Thais have no regard for garbage and you will find a ditch full of garbage. It is not a happy sight. Or in the evening you might see an occasional rat run across the street. But for the most part this country is clean and the people go out of there way to help you.

I will get some pictures up of this city in the next few days.

With love,

Martin

A week at the Beach

Hello all.

Well it has been a busy two weeks since I talked to you last. I took the bus from Chang Mai down to Bangkok. I stayed in Bangkok for two days. It was 107 degrees when i was there. That place is like a concrete jungle with know place to hide. I took a river ferry up and down the river to cool off. I also hung out with a fellow South Dakotan that was over there doing an exchange program. Two days in Bangkok is more then enough. It is so big and everyone is hassling you to buy something. It is really neat to see though.

I then met up with a friend from my class and we took a 15 hour bus down to Puhket. The time share thing did not work out as planned. It was NOT a nice hotel. After two days of complaining he got his money back from the company. We still got a chance to spend two days on the beach. The beach is really beautiful there, but the rest of the town is very sleazy. (old men with young Thai women) We decided to jump the first boat to KO PI PI.

It is about a two ferry ride. When I said Pie was the coolest place I have been to, I guess i hadn't seen the rest of Thailand yet. This is the Island where the movie the Beach was filmed. This place is beautiful. The sunomi of 2004 leveled the town. But it is now back and better then ever. The beaches here are white sand, with clear water, and these granite cliffs hanging everywhere. We went strait to the beach after getting on the fairy. I can't say enough about this beach. Gorgeous Europeans everywhere and just a chill spot. Bob Marley music playing in that background. I met a guy from Columbia and we rented some Kayaks and went and Kayaked the cove. It was pretty cool. But I did not realize how far it was out there. It took some effort.

The following day I met up with some people with Great Britain that I met on the boat and we went sailing and snorkeling for the day. The guy who owned the sale boat actually sailed across the Pacific from Vancouver, CA. You garmin people will be happy to know that he was using one of your products with Blue Chart Data. He said it was great! The snorkeling was very cool. There are reefs that surround the island. So much color full fish and they travel in these big schools. They would be alot easier to spear then the ones in lake oahe because they come right up to ya and look at ya. The water is so clear. You can see as far as the sun lets ya. The sailing was also very relaxing. We sailed all around these two islands. The granite rocks have some much vegetation growing from them. He took us to a spot where we could go cliff diving. I jumped off once. It was pretty high. Not as high as the Stilling Basin bridge back at home. It would have been fun to jump off more. But it was a pain in the ass to climb up there. It was really slick and rocky. We then went to the spot where the movie the "Beach" was filmed. It was pretty cool. A gorgeous little cove.

O ya the sea food around here is really good. I don't know what kind of fish there feeding me. But it sure taste good.

In the evening there is many bars on the beach that have these fire shows. The Thais must train really hard for this because they are fling fire all around them and through the air. The shows are really neat and performed to all kinds of music. The next couple days we spent pretty much just chilling at the beach. I can't wait to get back there.

Well now i am in Nokhon Si Thammarat which is located on the Eastern side of Thailand. Next to the Golf of Thailand. I had a job interview here Monday. It went really well. They are going to let me know today or tomorrow if I got it. Anyways this city is one of the oldest city's in Thailand. They think it was founded around 1278. This is the real Thailand. I have only ran into one other westerner in my three days here. And only three people that can speak English as a conversation. Yet it is pretty cool. There are street stalls of all kinds of food everywhere and all these old colonial buildings. It is fun to just walk around and get a feel for the culture, people come up to me and ask where I'm from. Everyone is very welcoming. I will fill you in a little more once I figure out if I get the job or not.

Anyways, take care

Martin

I will have new pictures posted today or tonight. Again to go to the pictures website click on the picture of the pool on the top right and that will take you to the website. I will set up new folders.