Kroo

So i just discovered that more people are reading this than I thought. So I will write a little more often now.
We decided to sign on at the schools in Surat Thani. Jessica's is called Tessaban Saam(3) and mine is called "Baan Pa Sa Ang-Grit" (Home of English)
Jessica's is a government school, she teaches young kids with up to 40 students per class. She teaches about average 4-5 hours a day.

My school is a private language school. The kids come twice a week for two hours a day, and its usually after they are done regular school or on weekends. So I work from 10am-6:30 pm and I only have to teach from 5:30-6:30. My boss teaches them English in Thai (yeah I know... doesnt make sense) but basically he translates words and gives them like 10-15 vocabulary words and then he lets me teach them how to make the words into proper sentences and teach them how to pronounce it properly.
Example: My Boss taught them all the ingredients to make a Spicy Papaya Salad, and showed them on a video how to make it. Then he made them write the steps on paper. And he gave me their worksheets with what they wrote and it said things like:

Step one: "scrap papaya rain on bowl" (which should actually be "scrape the raw papaya into a bowl") hahaha
And thats where I come in, I have to teach them how to make it into a sentence that makes sence.

it can kind of be a bit frustrating because the students are very shy, Thai children are embarassed that they may make a mistake in front of their peers, so they would rather say nothing at all , than make a mistake. So its very hard to encourage them to talk during class. Which, really...thats what learning a language is all about, is talking!! So It takes abit of patience.
But the kids are very adorable. They all have funky nicknames like "Benz, Wave, PingPong, GiGi, Boy, Guy, A (yes, the letter "A"), Fifa, Earth, etc..
Benz is my favourite student. hes this sweet little boy that comes up to me shyly every afternoon and says "Good Afternoon Teacher Reffa" and hugs my waist. And he always tries really hard in class. and when another student is too shy to answer a question in front of their classmates, he gets up from his seat and goes over to them and grabs their hand and comes up to the front of the class with them and helps them if he knows, and if he doesnt know, he just stands their with them and puts his arm around them and smiles at them to assure them that they can do it. <--- really cute kid!
Most of my students have never seen a white person before, so they are constantly asking me why I am bigger than most girls, and why my eyes are grey. They ask if they can look at my eyes all the time, and then they giggle amongst each other after crowding around and looking at my eyes in amazement. Sometimes out of nowhere, they will raise their hand and say things like "Teacher Reffa, how tall are you?" or "Teacher Reffa, what do you like?" and they are always interested in things about their teacher, so you get asked a lot of questions like how much you weigh, where you live, etc..

Right now, My boss is teaching me about Thai history, because he wants me to teach it to the kids so they learn about their country and culture. So I am learning about the royal palace, the different kings, buddhism and all the temples and their symbolism.
Some things I've learned so far:
The Marble Temple, in Bangkok (me and Jessica have a few pictures of outside of it) was made of white marble from Italy. Within it, there is a replica statue of the "Golden Buddha Image" (there is only one buddha, but there are many "images" of buddha and there is a statue for every one. Ex: Standing, Sitting, Emerald, Tourturing ) and the golden sitting buddha image is said to be the most beautiful buddha statue in the world. There is an original, and a replica. The original is made of pure gold, and the replica of brass. Anyone can go and see the replica, but you have to remove your shoes before entering the temple.
Outside the temple there are two white lion statues. They aren't fully sitting, and they aren't fully standing, they are there to "protect" the temple from bad things, which is why they are neither sitting, nor standing, they are in a stance where they can pounce at any time.
Just little neat facts like that. And like the royal palace was built for the 5th king, and there is a picture of it on the back of a 5 Baht coin. Nobody is allowed in the palace except for the royal family, and the symbol of royalty is a three headed Elephant with a Rahman God sitting ontop of it.
It can be interesting. But I think you would need to see pictures and stuff to make it more interesting.

Anyways,


It hasnt stopped raining here. Its very rainy but hot at the same time, its been 34 degrees some days but rain up to your ankles!! Not what we're used to.
Monsoon season will be over soon though, and then we will start complaining about how its too hot!!

My Boss told me something very eerie the other day. It keeps popping up in my head. He was telling me about how Thai people are very small/petit framed (which is obvious) and he said that he refuses to buy clothes from a second hand store. And I was telling him that I thought second hand shopping was a great idea, and earth friendly and a cool way to bring back old styles and have unique clothes from different places and he stopped me and said "I know, you never know where the clothes come from" and I didnt really say much and then he said "You wouldnt understand this, because you didnt live here during the tsunami, but before the tsunami came, you couldnt buy large clothes at the second hand stores... Now they are having Large Brand name clothing and clothes made in Europe and with European brand names... After the tsunami a lot of tourists died, and the poor thai people took the clothes of the dead bodies so that when they re-built their shops the could sell the clothes to survive and get back on their feet. Some of these clothes are still in the shops i'm sure, and I don't want to purchase them"

UHHHH Gross.

Anyways, a little weird...

Jessica and I decided to move into the house in Phorkuntale(friendly little quiet neighbourhood) Its near Scott (friend from school), about 2 streets over, and its a 2 bedroom house, with a front deck and a bathroom. No Fridge or AirConditioning, and no Stove....but we can be thrifty and creative.Especially for $100 a month! We will buy a fan, so we dont die.... but we want to build a firepit outside and cook outside every evening. We dont want to buy much, because we dont want to worry about the hassle of selling it later. Plus, we cant afford to buy stuff anyways!! haha
The price of the house is good for me, because I only make around 400 a month at my job.
Its going to be hard to save to travel around on our holidays from school, but we are going to head over to our homebase (Patong Beach) on December 5th, 6th and 7th to meet up with Aunt Reta and Uncle Dave for a few days, hang out on the beach and show them our favourite places.
We're looking forward to it. We'll take the 4 hour bus after Jess gets out of school and get there just in time for the sunset hopefully!

Thats enough for now. I am going to pracise my Thai. we are getting better, but we still haven't gotten the tones down pat. You have to have a sing-song voice sometimes to get the word right!

Miss everyone, LOTS. Hope you enjoyed reading. Whenever something interesting happens I will try and rememeber to put it in!!

Hugs and Kisses!!
Reffa