Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Saturday and Sunday
Early the next morning Cruell took me back to nuan's, but she was not there, so I had a relaxing day alone, and did a bit of wandering around! Nuan got back at about 4pm with a large bucket of little crabs and frogs for us to eat over the week! I wish I could have gone with as it sounded like fun!
Next didnt get up to much so nothing to say really!
Early the next morning Cruell took me back to nuan's, but she was not there, so I had a relaxing day alone, and did a bit of wandering around! Nuan got back at about 4pm with a large bucket of little crabs and frogs for us to eat over the week! I wish I could have gone with as it sounded like fun!
Next didnt get up to much so nothing to say really!
Friday night
I went to a katong festival which was absolutely amazing! A katong is basically a little bowl made from leaves an flowers! In the centre there is some food like rice and a candle, they also put some hair and nail clippings of their own! Then they put the katongs in the river to float away! This is meant to represent them giving something back to the river as it gives them so much, but it also represents them sending the bad things about themselves away in the hair and nails! For the festival they create big katongs that are on a stage on the back of a pickup truck! They are very beautifully decorated with lights and flowers and pictures! In them sat a beautiful Thai girl and later all of the girls from the katongs take part in a beauty pageant! Each katong entered is matched in a parade and each katong has its own contingent of paraders behind it, I was asked to be in one of these and I was given a little katong of my own! It was so exciting ans so much fun! Later each katong has a dance which is performed on stage! Each bit of this festival was judged! Everyone was very drunk which was greatly amusing! There were also lots of fireworks, but out here they seem to just throw them all by hand which is rather disconcerting! I also got to release my own moon lantern which was nice! After the festival it was too late to go back to nuan's so I stayed at Cruell, the English teachers for the night!
I went to a katong festival which was absolutely amazing! A katong is basically a little bowl made from leaves an flowers! In the centre there is some food like rice and a candle, they also put some hair and nail clippings of their own! Then they put the katongs in the river to float away! This is meant to represent them giving something back to the river as it gives them so much, but it also represents them sending the bad things about themselves away in the hair and nails! For the festival they create big katongs that are on a stage on the back of a pickup truck! They are very beautifully decorated with lights and flowers and pictures! In them sat a beautiful Thai girl and later all of the girls from the katongs take part in a beauty pageant! Each katong entered is matched in a parade and each katong has its own contingent of paraders behind it, I was asked to be in one of these and I was given a little katong of my own! It was so exciting ans so much fun! Later each katong has a dance which is performed on stage! Each bit of this festival was judged! Everyone was very drunk which was greatly amusing! There were also lots of fireworks, but out here they seem to just throw them all by hand which is rather disconcerting! I also got to release my own moon lantern which was nice! After the festival it was too late to go back to nuan's so I stayed at Cruell, the English teachers for the night!
Thursday, 10 November 2011
I got to school this morning ready to plan my lessons for the afternoon only to find a great gaggle of children coming into my classroom demanding that I teach them, they were young and I had never taught them before so I started out with the basics to grasp where they were, after this I had them draw a person and label the body parts, and then the clothes! They seemed to love this and tackled the task with great enthusiasm, although the concentration on their faces was very amusing! Then we played head, shoulders, knees and toes. So they all left smiling! I also had this class avian later so we did similar things but I had two people crying in this lesson! It was very hard for me to diffuse the situation and figure out what was wrong because of the language barriers! I went to find a teacher which took about 15 minutes because they were all building katongs! Tonight I am going to the katong festival which I am really looking forward to!
Tuesday
Today i taught two combined classes! They had a very mixed knowledge of English, and it was also very limited! So I decided that we would play stuck in the mud, Simon says, and Chinese whispers! Stuck in the mud did not last long as they said it was too hot to play! Then we came inside and attempted to play Chinese whispers but they didn't seem to grasp the concept that you aren't supposed to announce to the whole room what is first said! They were just so intent on getting it right!
Wednesday and Thursday
I was I'll on both days so there isn't really much to say!
Today i taught two combined classes! They had a very mixed knowledge of English, and it was also very limited! So I decided that we would play stuck in the mud, Simon says, and Chinese whispers! Stuck in the mud did not last long as they said it was too hot to play! Then we came inside and attempted to play Chinese whispers but they didn't seem to grasp the concept that you aren't supposed to announce to the whole room what is first said! They were just so intent on getting it right!
Wednesday and Thursday
I was I'll on both days so there isn't really much to say!
Saturday
U did not do much today! I mainly just sat with the locals trying to learn Thai, and doing what they do (which isn't much)! The village I am staying in is called ban santisuk, and everyone is very friendly! My laptop and kindle on the other hand have not fared so well and have decided to stop working which is rather disappointing to say the least, as I need my laptop for teaching and my kindle so that I can read as I am an avid reader! I am trying to sort it out but to little avail!
Sunday
Today Nuan took me to her mothers with the rest of her family which was lovely! They made me a little Karen bag and we all sat on these big banana tree leaves and ate this delicious melon that was coated is a salty chilli soup like sauce! In the afternoon I played with namsup and generally relaxed as it was very hot! I tried to watch the t.v with them but it did not entice me to stay for long as it was all in Thai!
Monday
This was my first day teaching so iwas both nervous and excited! When I woke up this morning I went outside to find Nuan coming back from the market, she laid out all her goods on the bench and there was a rat like creature in the display but it had a round head! I said please don't feed that to me! She looked as though she understood! Teaching was interesting as they do not know much English, and whenever I tried to get them to converse with me they just repeated what I said! So I resorted to playing head shoulders knees and toes with them, then we named all the animals I could find pictures of which they really seemed to enjoy! At the end of the hour session we played musical statues! And they seemed very happy about this!
U did not do much today! I mainly just sat with the locals trying to learn Thai, and doing what they do (which isn't much)! The village I am staying in is called ban santisuk, and everyone is very friendly! My laptop and kindle on the other hand have not fared so well and have decided to stop working which is rather disappointing to say the least, as I need my laptop for teaching and my kindle so that I can read as I am an avid reader! I am trying to sort it out but to little avail!
Sunday
Today Nuan took me to her mothers with the rest of her family which was lovely! They made me a little Karen bag and we all sat on these big banana tree leaves and ate this delicious melon that was coated is a salty chilli soup like sauce! In the afternoon I played with namsup and generally relaxed as it was very hot! I tried to watch the t.v with them but it did not entice me to stay for long as it was all in Thai!
Monday
This was my first day teaching so iwas both nervous and excited! When I woke up this morning I went outside to find Nuan coming back from the market, she laid out all her goods on the bench and there was a rat like creature in the display but it had a round head! I said please don't feed that to me! She looked as though she understood! Teaching was interesting as they do not know much English, and whenever I tried to get them to converse with me they just repeated what I said! So I resorted to playing head shoulders knees and toes with them, then we named all the animals I could find pictures of which they really seemed to enjoy! At the end of the hour session we played musical statues! And they seemed very happy about this!
Update
Right so I am having to update everything from my phone so please excuse any mistakes as it is hard to type on it!
Last Thursday
I arrived at Nuan's house today with nootsabar! She has a young child, he is about 1 1/2 and he is called namsup! The house is not at all what I expected as it is full of luxuries such as a t.v, a fridge, a cooker, and a washing machine! It is also situated on a main road and there are little shops about 50 yards away! Not exactly the back and beyond village I had been informed of, but there you go! Nuan dosent speak English and she is helping me to learn Thai, and she is very nice!
After we arrived nootsabar and I went exploring! First of all we went to the school to meet the English teacher! She is nice but she dosent really speak good English! After a chat with her we went to visit the temple to see the locals preparing for the up and coming festival, there was so many beautiful decorations everywhere! Then we went through the 'town' which was more of a cluster of stalls and very quiet! Everyone was very friendly though!
Friday
I woke up to go to school today at 6 am! It is about a 15 minute walk from the house to the school! It is nice and cool in the morning so it is a good walk! I was not scheduled to teach, butto organise my timetable with the teacher! After we did this we went up to the temple to help set up the stage and help decorate which was great fun, although none of them spoke any English! After this I went home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon as it was very hot! The food here is interesting and spicy! But they don't really have fruit or veg and they eat a hell of a lot of rice! I don't like rice so I have been living on a diet of spicy soup! The meat is also interesting as it is not meat but fat, grissle and bone! I am hoping to glean some recipes off of Nuan, so that I can cook them in England!
Last Thursday
I arrived at Nuan's house today with nootsabar! She has a young child, he is about 1 1/2 and he is called namsup! The house is not at all what I expected as it is full of luxuries such as a t.v, a fridge, a cooker, and a washing machine! It is also situated on a main road and there are little shops about 50 yards away! Not exactly the back and beyond village I had been informed of, but there you go! Nuan dosent speak English and she is helping me to learn Thai, and she is very nice!
After we arrived nootsabar and I went exploring! First of all we went to the school to meet the English teacher! She is nice but she dosent really speak good English! After a chat with her we went to visit the temple to see the locals preparing for the up and coming festival, there was so many beautiful decorations everywhere! Then we went through the 'town' which was more of a cluster of stalls and very quiet! Everyone was very friendly though!
Friday
I woke up to go to school today at 6 am! It is about a 15 minute walk from the house to the school! It is nice and cool in the morning so it is a good walk! I was not scheduled to teach, butto organise my timetable with the teacher! After we did this we went up to the temple to help set up the stage and help decorate which was great fun, although none of them spoke any English! After this I went home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon as it was very hot! The food here is interesting and spicy! But they don't really have fruit or veg and they eat a hell of a lot of rice! I don't like rice so I have been living on a diet of spicy soup! The meat is also interesting as it is not meat but fat, grissle and bone! I am hoping to glean some recipes off of Nuan, so that I can cook them in England!
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Technical difficulties
Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long, unfortunately I have been experiencing some technical difficulties! Will update properly as soon as I can, and fill you in on the missing days!
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Khun Yuam
Hi everyone! I am safe and happy in a little guest house in Khun Yuam! I had a very long bus journey today! 7 hours!! thankfully it was air conditioned so it was actually a pleasant trip except for the fact that my Kindle wouldn't turn on! disastrous! I also discovered on the bus that I managed to leave my passport at the gust house in Chiangmai, but I rang them up and they have found so Nootsabar - a lady who works with KHT - is going to pick it up for me this week as she has work to do in Chiangmai! Tomorrow I am going to see the district officer and I have to make sure that I am very polite and tidy. I am very tired so I must be off to bed! I hope everyone is well!!
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