Hello All.
Well not to much has changed here. Seems like there is always a festival going on somewhere. With delicious little snacks and lots of colors.
It starts to get a little frustrating when you can't speak the language. Recently my school took all the teachers up to the the Island of Ko Sumui for the weekend. I was the only fa rang teacher that went. It was a nice resort. But it is very hard when you can't speak Thai. The Thai teachers are very kind and try there best to make you feel welcome. There idea of a vacation and our idea of a vacation are a little bit different. We were at a very nice resort with a great beach. But they did not want to hang out on the beach. To Hot for them! So we sat in a restaurant for two hours and then decided to drive two hours to see a temple for 10 minutes. Not my idea of a Saturday at one of the most gorgeous beaches in Thailand. Hey but it was a good experience and very nice of the school to send us up there for a weekend.
Sometimes I will go out to eat with Thai friends and it gets hard because maybe one of them can speak English but most of them can't. So they will get into a conversation that I cannot follow. I'm learning Thai a little bit. But it is tough! They have the same words with different pitches.
I don't know if anyone gets used to all kinds of people yelling "HELLO" at you. Or pointing at you and saying FA RANG (which means foreigner). But they do not mean it in a mean spirited way. This is a very welcoming culture and country. If all cultures and countries would be so kind to people from other parts of the world when people come to there countries. We would all be very lucky.
Two weeks ago. I went up to Kanome again. Which is just a beautiful beach with mountains in the background. There are some really nice people that own bungalows and restaurants up there. I spent an day kayaking hoping to see the famous pink dolphins that swim in that area. But no such luck. Maybe next time. They kayaking was great though. I kayaked right up next to some fisherman in the banana boats. Took some neat pics and said hello in Thai. I also saw some young kids fishing who offered me some water. The bay is very nice, with no waves. I did get see a storm come in from the mountains and get drenched.
This weekend we have a English Competition at our School. Everybody seems to be pretty excited about it. We have been preparing the students. I hope they do well. You would not believe how much pressure parents put on these first and second graders. Wow, they are just kids let them have fun. There is some crazy mothers.....But overall most of the parents are very nice and kind.
Next weekend i'm going back up to the Island of Ko SuMui with a bunch of fellow teachers. Farang teachers that is and we will be enjoying the beach and the heat.
Another thing I wanted to mention, I really do have some fun students. One story I would like to share. One of the students lost one of his tooth in class. And ran up to the front of the room to show me. Then he showed me he another tooth loose. He decided to pull that one out right there. So he lost two teeth in one class. He had a third one lose too. But not loose enough to lose it.
Three more weeks and I am on my way to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Loas. Might run into some people from home along the way. Not sure yet though. I will make sure I blog before I head out.
Above is some pictures from one of the festivals I attended and one of my view from kayaking. Again for more pictures click on the picture of the pool to the right.
Talk to you soon
