Saturday, October 25, 2008
lah gone
that's how you say "good bye" in Thai if it's going to be for a long time. lah gone.
it feels weird! we've been living with all these people 24/7 now for a month and we have to say goodbye.
we are going to stay for a few nights in kata, moisy is coming and I think greg and lorraine are giong to come too now!!!!
yay!!
it's weird. =(
Chai is sad.
we have many friends here now... thai and ferang alike.
it feels weird! we've been living with all these people 24/7 now for a month and we have to say goodbye.
we are going to stay for a few nights in kata, moisy is coming and I think greg and lorraine are giong to come too now!!!!
yay!!
it's weird. =(
Chai is sad.
we have many friends here now... thai and ferang alike.
Friday, October 24, 2008
All done!
We're all done school!! FINALLY. Those long days were pretty brutal. We haven't seen the sun hardly for a month! (bad grammar)
Speaking of Grammar, we got all our exam marks back today!
Jessica got a 96% in Grammar (95% for me)
100% in Methodology (same same)
100% in Teaching (same same)
Best grammar mark in the class was a 99%, so we did pretty good!
We were very fortunate for our final teaching class. at 10:00 I taught Poo and Bo, two very adorable Thai girls about the same age as us. then Jessica taught them a lesson at 11:00. They are so willing to learn and they try to practice everything we teach them, Jessica ends up getting my lessons vocabulary in her lesson because they try to use the words when making sentences.
ex: I taught them what "souvenirs" were today, in our lesson about traveling and tours. And then in Jessica's lesson, she asked one of them to make a sentence and the student threw in the word souvenirs. Jessica was surprised that she knew the word but then realized later, when we were talking, that they had learned it from me!!!
It was pretty funny.
When we arrived there today for our last class, both Poo and Bo came up to us and gave us flowers. Jessica's were orange, mine, purple. They thanked us for helping them and were very sweet.
During my lesson, I asked Poo to make me a sentence with "of course" and she said....
"Of course, if you go away, you will be in my heart forever"
My observer got this big grin on his face and looked at me, and I almost started to tear up.
She always says sweet things like that, shes very cute. I really enjoyed teaching her, as did Jessica.
One time Jessica was teaching the same girl, and she was asked to make a sentence with "groom" and Poo said "the groom is the most handsome man for his bride"
:)
Now we must look for work. The manager/principal of Kajonkietsuksa isn't there toady so we must wait till Monday. But it sucks because the kids all go back to school on Monday, so if we get hired, we may be a bit behind schedule because we have to do our Visa runs too.
The new students for next month are coming to the hotel tonight to get settled. Pin (thai mom) asked us if we wanted to stay here longer until we found a job, but we dont know if we can afford to, its like $20 CAD a night! But she told us she would say she has no vacancy so that we can stay if we want, and that she wont rent it out until we give her the "go ahead"
Shes very good to us!
Jessica has a throat infection.
We were going to go over to the doctor but instead we walked to the pharmacy nearby to see if they even had pennicilin. We went in and Jessica was able to buy 12 500mg capsules of Pennicillin for only 80 baht!!!! ($2.66 CAD)
Ususally in Canada you can't get pennicillin without a doctors written prescription! so Jessica basically self diagnosed and prescribed herself medicine. It was good!!
and we picked up those nose inhaler things we see everyone using. They look like a thing of lip balm but you hold it close to your nose and it clears up your sinus's. It is 95% menthol and then like 5% eucalyptus. So it can also help with headaches (because menthol/mint helps with that) so anyways, we figured we would pick one up because its so muggy here and stuffy from the rain.
You can tell when its about to rain. Its strange because you start to sweat, and everyone starts to complain that they are hot, and then within 5 minutes it starts to downpour. But the rain ususally lasts for only 20 minutes or so. But they say that right before it rains, it gets very warm.
I must go get changed, we are all celebrating tonight! Food, Drinks and Goodbyes with all our friends/classmates.
Speaking of Grammar, we got all our exam marks back today!
Jessica got a 96% in Grammar (95% for me)
100% in Methodology (same same)
100% in Teaching (same same)
Best grammar mark in the class was a 99%, so we did pretty good!
We were very fortunate for our final teaching class. at 10:00 I taught Poo and Bo, two very adorable Thai girls about the same age as us. then Jessica taught them a lesson at 11:00. They are so willing to learn and they try to practice everything we teach them, Jessica ends up getting my lessons vocabulary in her lesson because they try to use the words when making sentences.
ex: I taught them what "souvenirs" were today, in our lesson about traveling and tours. And then in Jessica's lesson, she asked one of them to make a sentence and the student threw in the word souvenirs. Jessica was surprised that she knew the word but then realized later, when we were talking, that they had learned it from me!!!
It was pretty funny.
When we arrived there today for our last class, both Poo and Bo came up to us and gave us flowers. Jessica's were orange, mine, purple. They thanked us for helping them and were very sweet.
During my lesson, I asked Poo to make me a sentence with "of course" and she said....
"Of course, if you go away, you will be in my heart forever"
My observer got this big grin on his face and looked at me, and I almost started to tear up.
She always says sweet things like that, shes very cute. I really enjoyed teaching her, as did Jessica.
One time Jessica was teaching the same girl, and she was asked to make a sentence with "groom" and Poo said "the groom is the most handsome man for his bride"
:)
Now we must look for work. The manager/principal of Kajonkietsuksa isn't there toady so we must wait till Monday. But it sucks because the kids all go back to school on Monday, so if we get hired, we may be a bit behind schedule because we have to do our Visa runs too.
The new students for next month are coming to the hotel tonight to get settled. Pin (thai mom) asked us if we wanted to stay here longer until we found a job, but we dont know if we can afford to, its like $20 CAD a night! But she told us she would say she has no vacancy so that we can stay if we want, and that she wont rent it out until we give her the "go ahead"
Shes very good to us!
Jessica has a throat infection.
We were going to go over to the doctor but instead we walked to the pharmacy nearby to see if they even had pennicilin. We went in and Jessica was able to buy 12 500mg capsules of Pennicillin for only 80 baht!!!! ($2.66 CAD)
Ususally in Canada you can't get pennicillin without a doctors written prescription! so Jessica basically self diagnosed and prescribed herself medicine. It was good!!
and we picked up those nose inhaler things we see everyone using. They look like a thing of lip balm but you hold it close to your nose and it clears up your sinus's. It is 95% menthol and then like 5% eucalyptus. So it can also help with headaches (because menthol/mint helps with that) so anyways, we figured we would pick one up because its so muggy here and stuffy from the rain.
You can tell when its about to rain. Its strange because you start to sweat, and everyone starts to complain that they are hot, and then within 5 minutes it starts to downpour. But the rain ususally lasts for only 20 minutes or so. But they say that right before it rains, it gets very warm.
I must go get changed, we are all celebrating tonight! Food, Drinks and Goodbyes with all our friends/classmates.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
OKAY!!!
Hey guys!!
long time no talk. Sorry about that. I'm about to give you the downlo on our week.
so our days were long.. .as you know by now. Classes were fairly interesting but we were getting antsy to start applying for jobs!
High season is coming... only one week away. that means it is the time of year when everything is expensive because of the high concentration of tourists! translation... what that means for us is that we need to find a job and in turn an apartment ASAP so that we pay about 6 or 7 000 baht per month rather than like 15000 .... (that's about 180$ per month vs 450$ per month ish)
TODAY we did our final exam teaching. both reffa and I did exceptionally well. Most of our class did actually!! =) we all get along really well and everyone is a lot of fun. we're actually really going to miss our possi of 11 students!!! it's so easy just to run back and forth between the rooms to ask for something or just to hang out. it's been a lot (A LOT ) of fun!! =) it's like having that many roomates. plus the staff are like family, from day 1.
Reffa and I are applying for jobs now. We put our resumes up on Ajarn.com and we got tonnnes of response. lots of job offers (it's a two way website... people find jobs and jobs find people) but most of the offers came frmo bangkok and ref and iare open to going anywhere except bangkok and the south (due to political unrest.. ie war) . we want to stay in phuket I think! or else chang mai. check out our dorky pics to go along with our resumes.... AREN'T WE PALE!?!?!? god.. I can't wait till we have time to go to the beach?!
here's a link to the school that we're seriously hoping to work at. http://www.kajonkietsuksa.ac.th/en/mainframe.html
we love it there. it's close to where we are now, close to beaches, farther away from the tourists, cheaper than patong, and teaching young children (only 20 at a time vs 40) . so it's a great deal.
we met two children who went there and played with them ni the pool one night (see pics) and their father loved us so he's putting in a good word. it's really easy to get just any job in thailand, but reffa and I want THIS job. we kindof have our hearts set on it. <3 pin (thai mum) wants us to work there too so that we're closeby.
we took pictures of ourselves and renewed our resumes. we get our certificates this afternoon so we should be set to go. hopefully we'll be working at kajonkietsuksa by monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tonight we're hanging out with everyone and saying our goodbyes.. we have to be out of this hotel (unless we keep paying.... ) by sunday afternoon. we might spend the weekend with moisy... our new best friend who we have to part with (there's gonig to be too many tears......) on karon beach. that way I can book a hotel for mom and dad too.... it's the most beautiful beach. there's a 5 star one on kata baech though thati'm going to check out too.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAM!!!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!
HAPPY BELATED GRACIE POOOOO!!!!
miss all you guys.
we'll let ya know how our relaxing weekend goes. cross your fingers for sun! (we are in monsoon season after all....)
monsoon season doesn't hold a candle stick to the rain in canada this summer..... our rain was thicker, heavier, colder and WAY more often!! hahah! and we're supposedly in the rainiest part of thailand right now..
mmhmm..
okay love you all talk soon. call me!
0898785057
that's my thai number. in order to call it, you have to dial 01166 first , so 011660898785057.
I can't call out because it's super expensive (unless someone gets a calling card and emails me the number?) but you can get a cheap calling card and call me!!!
yikes
what a long week...
Sorry we haven't posted! we are too busy!! eeek. we JUST wrote two final exams, I think we both did well. we will know tomorrow.
we just have our teaching test tomorrow where someone watches us and marks us according to how we conduct our language class and how we handle issues with the students.
intimidating, we'll be aight though.
okay just wanted to let you know we're alive.
gotta go type up and prepare our lesson plans!!!!
xoxoxoxoxox
Sorry we haven't posted! we are too busy!! eeek. we JUST wrote two final exams, I think we both did well. we will know tomorrow.
we just have our teaching test tomorrow where someone watches us and marks us according to how we conduct our language class and how we handle issues with the students.
intimidating, we'll be aight though.
okay just wanted to let you know we're alive.
gotta go type up and prepare our lesson plans!!!!
xoxoxoxoxox
Thursday, October 16, 2008
teaching
teaching is a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work too!
I have a japenese student this week and Ref has two thai students. We are both having a lot of fun, but it's really intimidating because every day we have two of our peer students watching us and filling out observation papers (3 pgs) on our performance as well as one of the TEFL instructors sitting there too.
we only teach 50 mins a day though so it's definately a good way to ease into it.
we are kindof confused about where we want to teach. we were thinking Krabi... we are going there this weekend so we'll let you know our diagnosis. Mostly we jut want to stay here for now because we've become really comfortable and we have friends here and we're learning the language.. plus we're by rain forests , mountains and beaches... we may have chosen the best spot first. just as i suspected.
anyways. off to prepare a lesson!
reffa's visiting our new favourite place up the road right now. we call it the bamboo bar because it doesn't really have a name, it's just a bunch of the beach thai boys and ladies who hang out there after their long days of parasailing and sea dooing on the beach. it's a pretty cool crowd and they are helping us learn thai in exchange for them learning some english.
xo
I have a japenese student this week and Ref has two thai students. We are both having a lot of fun, but it's really intimidating because every day we have two of our peer students watching us and filling out observation papers (3 pgs) on our performance as well as one of the TEFL instructors sitting there too.
we only teach 50 mins a day though so it's definately a good way to ease into it.
we are kindof confused about where we want to teach. we were thinking Krabi... we are going there this weekend so we'll let you know our diagnosis. Mostly we jut want to stay here for now because we've become really comfortable and we have friends here and we're learning the language.. plus we're by rain forests , mountains and beaches... we may have chosen the best spot first. just as i suspected.
anyways. off to prepare a lesson!
reffa's visiting our new favourite place up the road right now. we call it the bamboo bar because it doesn't really have a name, it's just a bunch of the beach thai boys and ladies who hang out there after their long days of parasailing and sea dooing on the beach. it's a pretty cool crowd and they are helping us learn thai in exchange for them learning some english.
xo
Monday, October 13, 2008
Phi Phi Island
Wahoo!!!! On Sunday we went to Ko Phi Phi on a tour. They picked us up at 7:45 am (way too early since we stayed up late laughing all night... ) and off we went to the boat station. When I say we I mean Me, Reffa and our very good friend Moisy. Great crowd if you ask me!!!! we got on this awesome little motor boat with about 30 other people and went for 50 minutes until we came to this gorgeous island. It was stunning. It's called Phi PHi and the water is a terqouise aqua that you can't even imagine - the pictures show it but it's not the same. There are amazing little tropical fish everywhere. Even where the water is endlessly deep it is such a clean deep terqoise that your mouth falls open. stunning.
I love the fact that my camera is underwater. We took lots of pictures of the fish and of us snorkeling. IT was SO MUCH FUN!!!! we got a great tan and everyone was all smiles all day long.
I think we were the only one with underwater pictures too- muahahahahahaha .
When we went snorkeling, the people on the boats threw bread in the water right beside us and the fish - hundreds of them- would surround you and it tickled and sometimes they nibbled you!! it's scared me, but it was the coolest feeling!!!!! I loved it.
After snorkeling we just walked around the very edge of the jungle for a bit and took some nice pictures (which you can see if you go on either mine or reffa's facebook.. I will add a few here but there are more on facebook). It was bright and sunny .
We got back on the boat and went to Maya bay, another island that looked just as amazing. There were MONKEYS on this island!! we got off the boat and were given banana bits and we FED THE MONKEYS!!!!! so so so cool eh? they took them right out of our hands. I don't support the people on the streets who hand you their monkeys and hawks and parrots for photos because I think the animals are abused (me and moisy had a big talk about it) but, these monkeys are wild and choose to come eat bananas frmo people on the beach!! it's really cool .
After a few short minutes we got back on the boat and headed for another shore on maya for lunch... it was all you can eat and there was lots of vegetarian food... MMM stir fry, veggies, rice, noodles, fruit, etc yummyyy.
after that we went for a swim in the water while everyone else finsiehd (because we eat twice as fast as everyone else hahahaha) and we sang "part of that world" from the little mermaid at the top of our lungs . Pretty sure we were the most annoying people on the tour. hahaha but I think we had the most fun too.
We got back in the boat and made one more leisurely stop on khai island for tanning swimming and more snorkeling. we just laid there while everyone offered for us to buy icecream and we just kept on saying, over and over, "mai ou kah, mau ou kah , mai pben rlai kah" hahaha no thank you no thank you, nevermind please!!! hahaha they are always really surprised when we say that, or anything at all, in thai.
So then we hopped on the boat and headed back home, on the way we saw a big patch of rain over the ocean in the distance- it was soooo cool, it was sunny over top of us. so so interesting. Made me a little emotional, just because of how amazing our natural earth is. Incredible.
We got home and we were exHAUSTED. which is good, except that our first lesson as teachers was TODAY!!! so we had to force ourselves to stay awake and prepare. we managed to get it done and we both did pretty well today (yay!)
we'll keep you posted. tomorrow we have to teach a class with two classmatse and a teacher observing-- talk about intimidating!!!
yikes!
anyways, gotta go work on that for a bit.
love love love xo
I love the fact that my camera is underwater. We took lots of pictures of the fish and of us snorkeling. IT was SO MUCH FUN!!!! we got a great tan and everyone was all smiles all day long.
I think we were the only one with underwater pictures too- muahahahahahaha .
When we went snorkeling, the people on the boats threw bread in the water right beside us and the fish - hundreds of them- would surround you and it tickled and sometimes they nibbled you!! it's scared me, but it was the coolest feeling!!!!! I loved it.
After snorkeling we just walked around the very edge of the jungle for a bit and took some nice pictures (which you can see if you go on either mine or reffa's facebook.. I will add a few here but there are more on facebook). It was bright and sunny .
We got back on the boat and went to Maya bay, another island that looked just as amazing. There were MONKEYS on this island!! we got off the boat and were given banana bits and we FED THE MONKEYS!!!!! so so so cool eh? they took them right out of our hands. I don't support the people on the streets who hand you their monkeys and hawks and parrots for photos because I think the animals are abused (me and moisy had a big talk about it) but, these monkeys are wild and choose to come eat bananas frmo people on the beach!! it's really cool .
After a few short minutes we got back on the boat and headed for another shore on maya for lunch... it was all you can eat and there was lots of vegetarian food... MMM stir fry, veggies, rice, noodles, fruit, etc yummyyy.
after that we went for a swim in the water while everyone else finsiehd (because we eat twice as fast as everyone else hahahaha) and we sang "part of that world" from the little mermaid at the top of our lungs . Pretty sure we were the most annoying people on the tour. hahaha but I think we had the most fun too.
We got back in the boat and made one more leisurely stop on khai island for tanning swimming and more snorkeling. we just laid there while everyone offered for us to buy icecream and we just kept on saying, over and over, "mai ou kah, mau ou kah , mai pben rlai kah" hahaha no thank you no thank you, nevermind please!!! hahaha they are always really surprised when we say that, or anything at all, in thai.
So then we hopped on the boat and headed back home, on the way we saw a big patch of rain over the ocean in the distance- it was soooo cool, it was sunny over top of us. so so interesting. Made me a little emotional, just because of how amazing our natural earth is. Incredible.
We got home and we were exHAUSTED. which is good, except that our first lesson as teachers was TODAY!!! so we had to force ourselves to stay awake and prepare. we managed to get it done and we both did pretty well today (yay!)
we'll keep you posted. tomorrow we have to teach a class with two classmatse and a teacher observing-- talk about intimidating!!!
yikes!
anyways, gotta go work on that for a bit.
love love love xo
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Yo
hey guys
we're still alive. We have a reallllllly long post on the way, but we start practice teaching tomorrow and we have a lot of work to do tonight!!!!!!!!!!
basically we had the most amazing day in the world today. Can't wait to tell you about it!
Chan Rak Thailand. (I love Thailand)
Chan pood ca sa Thai nid noi. (I can speak a little Thai)
Ra Tree Sowhat. (Good night)
we're still alive. We have a reallllllly long post on the way, but we start practice teaching tomorrow and we have a lot of work to do tonight!!!!!!!!!!
basically we had the most amazing day in the world today. Can't wait to tell you about it!
Chan Rak Thailand. (I love Thailand)
Chan pood ca sa Thai nid noi. (I can speak a little Thai)
Ra Tree Sowhat. (Good night)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Sweaty days
I hear it's cold back in Canada?
that's crazy to imagine since we sweat our buns off every day. It's so hot out in the sun, we want to tan but we run the risk of going back to class in sopping sweaty wet clothes if we do so at lunch time!!! hahaha!!
We get a lot of heat for being Canadian frmo the Americans and we have no good comebacks.. they're ruthless. they say we're their "hat" and like, that we're just the attic of a good party etc... whatev. we know how it really is right canadians?
The days are so so so long... we're growing tired of them but today was our last day that we get out at 7 . at least when we get out from now on it'll be light out (it gets dark at 7).
We are learning lots of Thai. We tried a new restaurant today and spoke mostly thai to order our food and she was impressed that we'd learned that much in only a month (and it's acutally only been 2 weeks) so I guess we're doing well. our Thai teacher is really really nice, her name is tin. (well her nickname is Tin.. )
All the boys in our class are getting really really carried away with all the Thai girls. There are prostitutes everywhere, and even girls who just want to sleep with white guys ..... they love it . yikes! takes the pressure off of us to look good I guess though- there's no competing with these petite gorgeous little asians. We have to shop at tesco in the extra large section HAHAHA
Thai mum, Pin, even commented , as a joke (I hope) , "how many mons??" meaning... how many months pregnant are we. she tapped our bellies as sshe did this.. OUCH that one stings eh?? hahaha apparently it's not rude in thailand to ask about each others' weight and to comment on how "fat" or "tiny" people are. they also don't shy away from asking how old you are. hahaha it's a big change from at home. every adult is like "how old? how old?" and then they ask you to guess how old they are it's so so so funny . they ALL wihtout fail are like "how old you think I look" ? ?
hahaha
We are getting to be really good friends with a nice woman from our class named Moisy. she's really really cute and accepts everyone for who they are and she is goofy like me and ref. we have a lot of fun the three of us, but we might come home with an English accent!! AHAHAH we constantly catch ourselves talking like her and she talks like us accidentally sometimes too. we are way better at asian, english and irish accent impressions now lol (I am still no better at french accents though eh rich... ) hahahaha
I think this saturday we're going to go to Phi Phi (Pee Pee) island. it's only 30$ for an entire day tour with scuba diving, beaching, travel, food, etc etc so we're going to do that on Saturday. We'll have lots of pictures!!~
This monday we begin teaching English as student teachers. we get to watch each other. YAY but... kindof scary too. English is the hardest language in the world... grammar is impossible.
anyway, gotta go do my laundry now (and by do.. I mean, walk accross the road and have it professionally done dry cleaned and ironed for 4$ because theeres no such thing as doing anything for yourself over here... )
miss you guys!!!!!!
thanks for reading about our adventure guys..
that's crazy to imagine since we sweat our buns off every day. It's so hot out in the sun, we want to tan but we run the risk of going back to class in sopping sweaty wet clothes if we do so at lunch time!!! hahaha!!
We get a lot of heat for being Canadian frmo the Americans and we have no good comebacks.. they're ruthless. they say we're their "hat" and like, that we're just the attic of a good party etc... whatev. we know how it really is right canadians?
The days are so so so long... we're growing tired of them but today was our last day that we get out at 7 . at least when we get out from now on it'll be light out (it gets dark at 7).
We are learning lots of Thai. We tried a new restaurant today and spoke mostly thai to order our food and she was impressed that we'd learned that much in only a month (and it's acutally only been 2 weeks) so I guess we're doing well. our Thai teacher is really really nice, her name is tin. (well her nickname is Tin.. )
All the boys in our class are getting really really carried away with all the Thai girls. There are prostitutes everywhere, and even girls who just want to sleep with white guys ..... they love it . yikes! takes the pressure off of us to look good I guess though- there's no competing with these petite gorgeous little asians. We have to shop at tesco in the extra large section HAHAHA
Thai mum, Pin, even commented , as a joke (I hope) , "how many mons??" meaning... how many months pregnant are we. she tapped our bellies as sshe did this.. OUCH that one stings eh?? hahaha apparently it's not rude in thailand to ask about each others' weight and to comment on how "fat" or "tiny" people are. they also don't shy away from asking how old you are. hahaha it's a big change from at home. every adult is like "how old? how old?" and then they ask you to guess how old they are it's so so so funny . they ALL wihtout fail are like "how old you think I look" ? ?
hahaha
We are getting to be really good friends with a nice woman from our class named Moisy. she's really really cute and accepts everyone for who they are and she is goofy like me and ref. we have a lot of fun the three of us, but we might come home with an English accent!! AHAHAH we constantly catch ourselves talking like her and she talks like us accidentally sometimes too. we are way better at asian, english and irish accent impressions now lol (I am still no better at french accents though eh rich... ) hahahaha
I think this saturday we're going to go to Phi Phi (Pee Pee) island. it's only 30$ for an entire day tour with scuba diving, beaching, travel, food, etc etc so we're going to do that on Saturday. We'll have lots of pictures!!~
This monday we begin teaching English as student teachers. we get to watch each other. YAY but... kindof scary too. English is the hardest language in the world... grammar is impossible.
anyway, gotta go do my laundry now (and by do.. I mean, walk accross the road and have it professionally done dry cleaned and ironed for 4$ because theeres no such thing as doing anything for yourself over here... )
miss you guys!!!!!!
thanks for reading about our adventure guys..
Monday, October 6, 2008
Never Eat...
Street Meat!
Our teacher gave his dog some street meat and it KILLED the dog.
Also, Sam (one of the guys in the class) got mega food poisoning.
He ate for the first time in like 3 days today.
Aye yai yai!
Our teacher gave his dog some street meat and it KILLED the dog.
Also, Sam (one of the guys in the class) got mega food poisoning.
He ate for the first time in like 3 days today.
Aye yai yai!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The Weekend!
We went with Pin to the vegetarian festival this morning. She wanted us to see the preformances, where people put objects through their cheeks/mouths.
We got there at 7:00am, which was very earlier, because we went to the "disco" last night. It was a dance club, with English music. Very Fancy and extremely overstaffed.
We had a lot of fun. As you are walking in the street, they have it blocked off so no cars can drive on it, and there was a man with a iguana, and he asks for money and takes a picture for you and lets you hold it, or have it climb on your arm. We didnt give him any money but Jessica got to have it climb up her arm.
Our friend Lorraine took a picture, but she hasnt sent it to us yet. Maybe next week?
At the Vegetarian Festival, they had street food, or sit down restaurants. Everyone there had to wear white. And there was Yellow Flags everywhere. From what we understand, the three colors combined to symbolize vegetarianism are red,yellow, and white. red represents the blood,. and yellow and white represent puirity .
I was given a red,yellow and white handmade braclet that is supposed to bring "good luck" Pin said. It was given to me by one of the preformers who had a sword sticking through one cheek and out the other.
We got there at 7:00am, which was very earlier, because we went to the "disco" last night. It was a dance club, with English music. Very Fancy and extremely overstaffed.
We had a lot of fun. As you are walking in the street, they have it blocked off so no cars can drive on it, and there was a man with a iguana, and he asks for money and takes a picture for you and lets you hold it, or have it climb on your arm. We didnt give him any money but Jessica got to have it climb up her arm.
Our friend Lorraine took a picture, but she hasnt sent it to us yet. Maybe next week?
At the Vegetarian Festival, they had street food, or sit down restaurants. Everyone there had to wear white. And there was Yellow Flags everywhere. From what we understand, the three colors combined to symbolize vegetarianism are red,yellow, and white. red represents the blood,. and yellow and white represent puirity .
I was given a red,yellow and white handmade braclet that is supposed to bring "good luck" Pin said. It was given to me by one of the preformers who had a sword sticking through one cheek and out the other.
(this is jessica) We got there and the road was blocked off. Jess was expecting it to be kindof like the buskers but glorified where you go to where the "act" is and watch, but it was actualyl a parade from 7-1pm (so we had to get up early... even though we got home last night at 2am)... the parade is sacred. when you see somethign that you highly respect or are impressed by you have to waii (WHY), which means that you put your hands together in a prayer position at your chest and bow, depending on the age. It is tradition to put these things, wide, kinves, poles, odd things (one guy had snakes in his cheeks), etc because the mouth is the area which commits the initial sin of eating meat.
It was incredible. so we're standing on the side of the road as group after group after group of people come walking through. dressed head to toe in white, other than the "performer" him/herself. they are dressed vibrantly to bring attention to them and their sacrifice for the vegetarian festival.
the food was amazing too...mmmm yummmyy
one of my (jessica still) favourite parts of the day was when I Asked the owner of a vegetarian sit down place if he was a vegetarian forever and he said yes , and I said "me too" and he looked at me with an all new expression and reached out to shake my hand and said "congratulations".... it was really really touching and brought a tear to my eye. Someone understands? It's really nice to be accepted for who you are all the time.
(Reffa) Firecrackers were constantly going off all day. We stayed till about 11:00 and then Pin took us for a drive to see a few of the beaches that are further out of our town. They were less commercialized, and more private. Less expensive as well. They were AMAZING by the way
After we got back to the Hotel; Me, Jess, Daryl, Lorraine, Moisy and Greg went to Katon Beach and swam for about 2 hours. Then sat on the sand and talked and laughed and then all went out for supper together.
We had supper at a place that was right on the beach, it was right on the rocky shore near the forests.
A great weekend. Nice to have a break from our 11-hour school days!
Only homework we have is to practise our Thai.
To Swim- Waai nam
To Go- Bpai
um... (i'm trying to think of ones I used today...we are trying to use them when we talk)
Mai Tee Nee- Come here
Tee nee- Here
Tee nan- There
Her- Ter
I - Chan
Mai- No
Meow - Cat (hahaha)
Prong Nee- Tomorrow
etc..
(Reffa) Firecrackers were constantly going off all day. We stayed till about 11:00 and then Pin took us for a drive to see a few of the beaches that are further out of our town. They were less commercialized, and more private. Less expensive as well. They were AMAZING by the way
After we got back to the Hotel; Me, Jess, Daryl, Lorraine, Moisy and Greg went to Katon Beach and swam for about 2 hours. Then sat on the sand and talked and laughed and then all went out for supper together.
We had supper at a place that was right on the beach, it was right on the rocky shore near the forests.
A great weekend. Nice to have a break from our 11-hour school days!
Only homework we have is to practise our Thai.
To Swim- Waai nam
To Go- Bpai
um... (i'm trying to think of ones I used today...we are trying to use them when we talk)
Mai Tee Nee- Come here
Tee nee- Here
Tee nan- There
Her- Ter
I - Chan
Mai- No
Meow - Cat (hahaha)
Prong Nee- Tomorrow
etc..
Thursday, October 2, 2008
A day at school.
Right now we are only taking 3 classes. Methodology, Grammar and Thai.
Our Methodology Teacher's name is Stefan. hes from Germany and he speaks German, French, English and Thai. Hes a very smart man and we are learning a LOT from him.
In Methodology he teaches us how to make lesson plans, and How to teach without confusing the student. Theres actually a lot of details that you wouldnt think of.
What we do is we make a "Drill Circle". In the class we have to try to make it 70% Student talk time, and 30% Teacher talk time. Stefan is a strong believer that language study should be entirely communicating amongst each other, that way the students are learning from each other. So basically we have to try and teach the class with as little explination as possible. He encourages us to draw pictures, or refer to picture dictionaries or to act out the verbs.
Once we create our lesson plan we want to do, we have to teach the class. What Stefan does, is he acts as a student as well, and he makes it difficult for is.
For example: I was chosen to teach the class today. I made my lesson plan the night before based on a story that Stefan printed out of a storybook. When I got up in front of the class, I tried to get the students to make a sentence using "Around" and the example I took from the story was "The train is coming around the bend"
When I asked stefan to give me an example, he said "This is a round watch" and pointed to his watch.....DOH!!!
And going by what he taught us, I had to try and explain the word "around" with as little words as possible (because the more you explain, the more confused the students get because you are explaining in a language that they dont understand yet)
Anyways, yeah. Its a lot harder than we thought. But we are all helping each other and we all have a little bit to contribute. Our creativity, Ideas and support combined makes us a really sweet class. We all get along really well too and when we go eat, we all go together. :)
In Grammar, basically we are learning our grammar all over again because WE TALK WRONG. And worst part, we are learning it by the Brittish Books. Us Canadians and Americans are like...."HUH?" when we read some of these sayings... Then it always turns into a class debate about which one is the proper way. All the Europeans defend their way, and how its the right or more sensible way to say it, And then the Americans and Canadians do the same for theirs.
It ends up being 20% of the class is actually practising our grammar and the definitions for the terms. The rest is us arguing and laughing. The teacher loves it. (Ray, who is also Canadian...from Toronto, married a woman from Nova Scotia so me and Jess are his favourites we say) He gets right involved and starts laughing and ends up telling a story and we end up telling stories for the rest of the class.
But not to worry, we make up for it at home. We are really good about doing our homework together.
Thai is mine and Jessica's favourite class. We learn SO much. And the Thai teacher (her name is Tin) loves hearing us try and say the words. She is always laughing and giving us the thumbs up.
She taught us proper Thai etiquitte.
-When you greet someone who is older than you, or more superior to you, you must put your hands in a prayer position up to your chest and bow to them only once. After that, you can greet them in a normal fashion.
-When you sit, it is not proper to cross your legs. Girls must sit with their feet flat on the floor and together. Men, can have their feet about 30 cms apart if they wish. Your hands must be cupping each other and resting on your lap, and you must not sit with your back resting to the back of the chair. You must sit up straight. This is how you must sit when you are a teacher and when you are in interviews or sitting with an elder.
-You are never allowed to stand over an elder or sit on a higher chair than them.
-You are never allowed to touch someone with your foot (wether to get their attention or to show them that they have somthing on them...it is the RUDEST.....er.....um...Most Rude thing you can do)
Just wanted to say that school is VERY fun, and we can't wait to start to teach. We have been finding out lots about our options and we can sign a 3 month contract with a school if we wish. And move elsewhere after that. That is one of the options.
Still looking into the visa runs and what we will do then, but thats a long ways away.
Chan Rak Khun
That means "I love you" in Thai. [Pronounced: Chan Raccoon]
Our Methodology Teacher's name is Stefan. hes from Germany and he speaks German, French, English and Thai. Hes a very smart man and we are learning a LOT from him.
In Methodology he teaches us how to make lesson plans, and How to teach without confusing the student. Theres actually a lot of details that you wouldnt think of.
What we do is we make a "Drill Circle". In the class we have to try to make it 70% Student talk time, and 30% Teacher talk time. Stefan is a strong believer that language study should be entirely communicating amongst each other, that way the students are learning from each other. So basically we have to try and teach the class with as little explination as possible. He encourages us to draw pictures, or refer to picture dictionaries or to act out the verbs.
Once we create our lesson plan we want to do, we have to teach the class. What Stefan does, is he acts as a student as well, and he makes it difficult for is.
For example: I was chosen to teach the class today. I made my lesson plan the night before based on a story that Stefan printed out of a storybook. When I got up in front of the class, I tried to get the students to make a sentence using "Around" and the example I took from the story was "The train is coming around the bend"
When I asked stefan to give me an example, he said "This is a round watch" and pointed to his watch.....DOH!!!
And going by what he taught us, I had to try and explain the word "around" with as little words as possible (because the more you explain, the more confused the students get because you are explaining in a language that they dont understand yet)
Anyways, yeah. Its a lot harder than we thought. But we are all helping each other and we all have a little bit to contribute. Our creativity, Ideas and support combined makes us a really sweet class. We all get along really well too and when we go eat, we all go together. :)
In Grammar, basically we are learning our grammar all over again because WE TALK WRONG. And worst part, we are learning it by the Brittish Books. Us Canadians and Americans are like...."HUH?" when we read some of these sayings... Then it always turns into a class debate about which one is the proper way. All the Europeans defend their way, and how its the right or more sensible way to say it, And then the Americans and Canadians do the same for theirs.
It ends up being 20% of the class is actually practising our grammar and the definitions for the terms. The rest is us arguing and laughing. The teacher loves it. (Ray, who is also Canadian...from Toronto, married a woman from Nova Scotia so me and Jess are his favourites we say) He gets right involved and starts laughing and ends up telling a story and we end up telling stories for the rest of the class.
But not to worry, we make up for it at home. We are really good about doing our homework together.
Thai is mine and Jessica's favourite class. We learn SO much. And the Thai teacher (her name is Tin) loves hearing us try and say the words. She is always laughing and giving us the thumbs up.
She taught us proper Thai etiquitte.
-When you greet someone who is older than you, or more superior to you, you must put your hands in a prayer position up to your chest and bow to them only once. After that, you can greet them in a normal fashion.
-When you sit, it is not proper to cross your legs. Girls must sit with their feet flat on the floor and together. Men, can have their feet about 30 cms apart if they wish. Your hands must be cupping each other and resting on your lap, and you must not sit with your back resting to the back of the chair. You must sit up straight. This is how you must sit when you are a teacher and when you are in interviews or sitting with an elder.
-You are never allowed to stand over an elder or sit on a higher chair than them.
-You are never allowed to touch someone with your foot (wether to get their attention or to show them that they have somthing on them...it is the RUDEST.....er.....um...Most Rude thing you can do)
Just wanted to say that school is VERY fun, and we can't wait to start to teach. We have been finding out lots about our options and we can sign a 3 month contract with a school if we wish. And move elsewhere after that. That is one of the options.
Still looking into the visa runs and what we will do then, but thats a long ways away.
Chan Rak Khun
That means "I love you" in Thai. [Pronounced: Chan Raccoon]
tgtif .. thank god tomorrow is friday
School takes a lot of energy. we never get home until 7pm and we only get one hour break for lunch. we can't pack a lunch either so we have to eat out every day.
it's hot, it's tiring and we are losing our tans. wah.
good thing this is only for a couple or few weeks.
we have a test tomrorow so we have to study today.
We are excited for the vegetarian festival this weekend, and maybe the weekend after we might go to koh phi phi... a really awesome beautiful island. it's only 1400 baht for an entire day trip there and back with meals and touristy stuff. that works out to about..... 50$ ? maybe? 42$
our favourite person in thaialnd is Ya. pronounced YAH . he is SO nice. he's the sweetest little thing you'll ever see. never stops smililng. he is the one who drives us to and from aschool every morning and the one who bought us water, juice and a snack after our long hard bus ride.
he holds your hand to help you out of the car and carries your things everywhere. as a gentleman. soooo adorable.
<3 a really good heart.
gotta go study. poo. i want to go to the beach.
it's hot, it's tiring and we are losing our tans. wah.
good thing this is only for a couple or few weeks.
we have a test tomrorow so we have to study today.
We are excited for the vegetarian festival this weekend, and maybe the weekend after we might go to koh phi phi... a really awesome beautiful island. it's only 1400 baht for an entire day trip there and back with meals and touristy stuff. that works out to about..... 50$ ? maybe? 42$
our favourite person in thaialnd is Ya. pronounced YAH . he is SO nice. he's the sweetest little thing you'll ever see. never stops smililng. he is the one who drives us to and from aschool every morning and the one who bought us water, juice and a snack after our long hard bus ride.
he holds your hand to help you out of the car and carries your things everywhere. as a gentleman. soooo adorable.
<3 a really good heart.
gotta go study. poo. i want to go to the beach.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
clammy hot
it's soo hot a clammy here. we sadly do not get very much time in the sun though.
we get up in the morning for school and go straight there, have ten minute breaks all day and a one hour lunch and then work away until 7pm each night. eeek!!!! then we have homework... and drinks with the hotel staff and customers. it's really really fun.
they have smirnoff ice (smirnoff is the devil eh mag, it folloewd me here... ) but don't worry grownups, I won't drink much.
we are gonig to the vegetarian festival this weekend where people put bikes and pipes and stuff through their faces and walk on hot coals etc. it's gonna be crazy.
sorry that there is a severe lack of update- it is due to the fact that all we do is sit in class all day!!!
we continue to meet amazing people everyday.
we learned a little about thai culture today and about proper behaviour- they are SO CUTE SO CUTE!!!!
<3 I love it here so so much. me and reffa are all the time looking at each other and hguging just out of pure joy of our surroudnings. I don't know if it's the people, the city, the great food or the amazing weather .. or maybe all of it put together but I do know one thing. Thailand is a dream destination and from what I've seen so far I Don't think I will ever ever stop coming here . it's so wonderful.
we get up in the morning for school and go straight there, have ten minute breaks all day and a one hour lunch and then work away until 7pm each night. eeek!!!! then we have homework... and drinks with the hotel staff and customers. it's really really fun.
they have smirnoff ice (smirnoff is the devil eh mag, it folloewd me here... ) but don't worry grownups, I won't drink much.
we are gonig to the vegetarian festival this weekend where people put bikes and pipes and stuff through their faces and walk on hot coals etc. it's gonna be crazy.
sorry that there is a severe lack of update- it is due to the fact that all we do is sit in class all day!!!
we continue to meet amazing people everyday.
we learned a little about thai culture today and about proper behaviour- they are SO CUTE SO CUTE!!!!
<3 I love it here so so much. me and reffa are all the time looking at each other and hguging just out of pure joy of our surroudnings. I don't know if it's the people, the city, the great food or the amazing weather .. or maybe all of it put together but I do know one thing. Thailand is a dream destination and from what I've seen so far I Don't think I will ever ever stop coming here . it's so wonderful.
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