Week 3

Monday

 No, I did not have a case of the Mondays. I started the morning skyping with family as I prepared for school. When I got to school one of the teachers brought us coffee and another brought us Roti (a sweet Indian pastry). Another ray of sunshine to our office was finally having Internet access at my desk. One of my fellow American teachers figured out how to use her phone to create an Internet hotspot, and voila my iPhone was no longer a pretty paper weight. A pretty amazing way to spend a Monday morning.  I finally had speaking classes with the fourth graders today. They were a lot of fun, but very chatty.  It is amazing to see the difference in English proficiency over three years. The students are able to follow more advanced instructions and the Thai teacher does not have to translate the instructions. I did have one of my first grade classes today. It was a nice break to go back to those wonderful, smiley faces. The staff at the school have begun to erect a stage for the high school graduation on Thursday. They were testing out some of the sound equipment, and played an unedited version of Bruno Mars' "Billionaire" (those who know he song will know about the f- bomb dropped right at the beginning).  The work day ended with a stop at Big C for some groceries. And here I sit, writing today's entry in a taxi as it rains and we are stuck in typical Laoprao traffic.

 Tuesday



 School was busy again. I really prefer being kept busy rather than sitting around all day and possibly napping at my desk. Many of the girls seemed to have a rough day with their classes, but my students were great. I love teaching this grade, I got a drawing from a student of traffic. Funny how children draw what is constantly around them. I feel like I am learning more of the students names, but only if they are sitting at their desks.  I think my favorite lunch was served today, Indian vegetable curry. Indian and Japanese curries feel like a comfort food to me, so it was nice to have that for lunch.  

Wednesday

Stage and students practicing for the
Graduation Ceremony. 

 Today was an off and on day. First we had to go school, even though there were not any classes to teach. The Thai teachers had meetings to attend and we sat in the office, went to the computer lab, and tried to think of something to prep. I left a little grading and started to map out the order o my lessons or the next week. After lunch, the group from Texas needed to go complete their clinic checkups that we had done before they arrived. They also decided that they would cut the power to our building as they were preparing the lighting for tomorrow's graduation ceremony. Kelly and I were told to just leave for the day, so we walked out the back gate. On our way we ran into two other teachers and one offered us a ride to the malls, where we were planning on going anyways.  I have been wanting to buy a guitar since I got here and saw that two of the Baylor ladies brought theirs. It is amazing how large a part of my life was influenced by having easy access to musical instruments. So with some of the birthday money I received from my parents in the mail, I purchased a Baracuda Guitar. This purchase made me feel so giddy an allowed my room to feel that much homier.

Thursday

 Today is finally graduation day for last years high school seniors. The Princess came to hand out the graduation certificates this time. We were able to get seats inside this time, which was not great because we could not talk or move around like the previous ceremony. We escaped out early since we had reservations at Coyote, a belated birthday celebration. I don't like being the center of a scene, and they just so happened to come out with a cake lit festively, loudly "Happy Birthday."

 Friday

TukTuk we rode. Notice the Transformers sticker
on the windshield?

Victory Monument

 After school, I went to Victory Monument (Victory for what I have still to find out) with Elisa. We went to find out what van we should take the next morning to get out of Bangkok and go to the island Koh Samet. More to come on the details of that weekend. We took a tuktuk from outside the school grounds. When I got out, I slammed against the bar and am now sporting a nasty bruise on the back of my upper thigh. I wouldn't be me without those clumsy moments and a couple of bruises :)