Hello, สวัสดี (Sa wa dii), Hola

Each class begins and ends with the students all standing with hands in wai position (pressed together chest level) and saying, “Good Morning Teacher”, “Good Afternoon Teacher”, or “Thank You Teacher” … but the accent in which they speak English makes this more adorable that it already is!

Here is a video of my Choom Chon Nong Hee Pratom 5/1 (5th grade, 1st group) class saying “Good Morning Teacher”



Here is a video of my Choom Chon Nong Hee Pratom 6 (6th grade, both classes together) class saying “Thank You Teacher” … at the end they are all laughing because I am doing some typical Thai picture poses.

So as per usual on Monday afternoon I went to cooking class, this week we made a dessert with pumpkin and coconut milk – delish! Then while we were cleaning up I heard marching band drums being played in the pavilion. I asked Earm if I could go watch to which we replied, of course! She asks me if I know how to baton twirl and I laugh and say no I do not but I can learn hahaha … so I walk over to the pavilion where my all my favorite 5th and 6th grade boys were being instructed by Ajan Sumet. They were all playing these shiny new drums and I was very content sitting and listening. I think Ajan Sumet was concerned I wanted to go home and that’s why I was there but I assured him that I just came over to watch. I’m watching for a few minutes and some 5th grade girls start convening outside the pavilion, some with giant silver batons with decorative tassels and string on them. Then Earm shows up. Then SOMEHOW I am in a baton marching and twirling lesson and everyone is cracking up and we are legit marching around the pavilion with batons to drums. You can’t make this shit up! Hahaha I later found out that they are practice for Sport Week which starts on Monday and that the drums were bought this year … maybe because of my arrival … who knows!

I also showed pictures of my family in class today since we are learning family vocab and I obviously pointed out that my father is tall, my mother is short, my brother and sister are tall and Kerry is short. While cooking Earm and I were talking about my family and she told me that I was “recessive” because I am short and that my father, brother, and sister are “dominant”. Hahahaha She also told me that her and Ajan Sumet thing everyone and everything in America is big and/or tall but Kerry is small … same same thai people. She said, “so I think Kerry a doll, took a ta (baby doll in Thai) because you small.” So for the first time since being in NongHee I was told I am small as opposed to being told I’m gonna be fat because I think everything is delicious! Hahahhaa what a great day!

So after a long week of teaching (lies) … someone needs to unwind a bit, right? Well for starters it was not a long week of teaching since I didn’t teach Wednesday and on Friday afternoon none of my students showed up because they were all at a ‘meeting’ (ie. They all sit in the pavilion with one of the teachers talking about god knows what). So what did Kerry do? Enjoyed her high speed internet in her classroom for 2 hours … duh. In any case I get home around 4pm and head to the big Friday night market with Michelle and two teachers from her school to get some produce for the week and the most delicious Thai version of a rotisserie chicken … its basically my new favorite thing! When we get back from the market I get a call from the one teacher at PhonTan reminding me that we were going out to dinner and ‘dancing’ … ok, I haven’t spent any time with these teachers outside of school yet, this will be nice. So they pick me up and on the way they ask me if “I can drink beer”, I reply that I can which prompts excited giggles and clapping, awesome. We get to dinner, drink beer, eat, and I’m thinking this is going to be a quick early night … well was I WRONG. After dinner I am told we are going to a pub … ok I can handle that and I’m thinking it’s a karaoke bar since they were talking about singing and Thai people love karaoke … wrong again. We show up at a place called the “New Dankanhung Pub” which has crazy flashing lights, a stage, and a few raised platforms with poles. Ok Thailand. The band starts playing which is just amusing since there are 4 singers that rotate through and one of them we can’t figure out if it’s a girl or ladyboy and the people start filling up. We are having a good time and all the sudden the band takes a break and everyone’s attention is suddenly on the 3 scantily clad pole dancers! Hahahaha later in the evening as I was leaving the bathroom one of the pole dancers was very insistent on talking with me and knowing my name, etc. so now we friends. Hahaha

Saturday was our WorldTeach potluck Thanksgiving dinner, which turned out to be extremely close to the real thing! We got a pre-cooked Turkey and people made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green beans, broccoli, salad, biscuits, pumpkin cookies, stewed apples, cole slaw, and fruit salad. Rambo came and instead of bringing a simple small ice bucket has an entire restaurant size cooler and 4 cases of Leo beer … woah Rambo. Spending time with the group was a good time as always.

Sunday is where the real fun begins. It starts with Michelle and I having to take a sawng-tao 30 minutes into Nakhon Phanom to then get on the one that goes the 50 minutes to our village. All well and good. We get back with time to rest and shower and eat because Ajan Sumet and Earm pick us up to learn how to ‘shoot guns’. WHAD-UPPPP … we drive to the shooting range and all the guns get unloaded. There was another farang there, from England, so we chatted with him for a bit. Then came the fun. First a short photo shoot with the group and separate and the shooting! I shot a 9mm, .45, and a 22 semi-automatic.





A quick gem from my man Ajan Sumet, "Thai people, they like (counting on his fingers) Arnold Schwarzenagger, we call him iron man ... Stalone ... sylvester ... rambo, and (long pause) Michael Jackson."

Over and out from "Teacher Army"

So, I find out on Monday afternoon that I don’t have school at PhonTan on Wednesday, so I make some plans to visit Michelle’s classroom and think of all the things I could do with a day off … obviously. But then on Tuesday I get invited by PhonTan to go to an academic competition at an elementary school (Aunuban Nakhon Phanom) in the city of Nakhon Phanom on Wednesday since I don’t have to teach. When deciding between sitting at home trying to find things to do or go on an adventure with my students … what do I choose? The adventure of course! I get picked up by Earm and Ajan Sumet at 6:50 and head to school to meet some other students and teachers … Earm and Ajan Sumet were going to a different school in Nakhon Phanom so I went with some other teachers who speak less English to the school where the English “Spelling Bee” was held. The students all piled into the back of the pick-up, teachers in front and we headed on our way! I obviously understood little of what was being said but from what I can gather a lot of schools in the area compete in many subjects and skills. It goes on for two days. There is English spelling, math, science, Thai dance, aerobics, cooking, drawing, story telling, karaoke, and I’m sure many others. We arrive at the school and head to the schedule to figure out where everyone in our car goes. I go with the “English” teacher and the student competing in the category. As we are in the “parking lot” I hear “kru Kerry” (which is just teacher Kerry) and I look over to see all these students waving at me … which I didn’t even recognize as my own until they got closer and I realized they were in fact my students and were dressed in aerobics attire with heavy dance recital make-up and all … even the boys. No joke. So clearly I need a picture of this! We then make our way to the classroom where the “Spelling Bee” is to take place to realize it is basically just a spelling test so then I was shuffled by to see the cooking and eventually to aerobics. THANK THE LORD AND ALL THINGS GOOD I WAS ABLE TO WITNESS THIS! The aerobics competition is where all schools get a team of students together, teach an aerobics routine (sometimes including hula hoops), dress in aerobics attire (sometimes including sweatbands, headbands, skirts, and leggings), and performing a choreographed aerobics routine (sometimes to Thai music, sometimes American). It was everything in entertainment I could have asked for an more. And to make it even better there is no differentiation between the sexes … the boys wear makeup and leggings with skirts over them … its amazing. I was thoroughly entertained with this for a long time … then was escorted over to the “science fair” where we just met a bunch of people, they asked to take their picture with me, and we moved on to cooking. By this time the dishes were complete and the display was up. I was then asked if I wanted to take the food … pad thai and some pumpkin dish … but of course I do! So we went to taste the food, which then turned into a HUGE lunch … Kerry being told again that after one year in NongHee she is going to be fat … the usual. Hahahaha By this time the competition is wrapping up for our school and it is announced that our car is going to Tesco Lotus! Heaaaaallll yes!!!! I needed to go there! We all pile in, go to Tesco, do a little shopping, where I got the most amazing Thai treat. It’s called a Choki Choki and is basically a plastic tube the size of a straw filled with nutella. Seriously. You just suck the melted chocolate right out of the plastic. Someone’s be reading my diaryyyy. AND its only 10baht for a pack of 5. What whattt?!

After Tesco, we head back to NongHee and I get dropped off at home. I take a little nap since the ride nearly put me to sleep and decide to go for my run. I’m crusin along the main road when I see two of my students (Khem P.5 and Min P.3) on the other side of the road. I wave as usual and continue on my way. I turn off the main road back towards my house, see the girls continue down the main road… am deciding I can probably do another loop when I realize there are bicycles behind me … so I turn and its Khem and Min … ok they turned down this road too … So I take off my headphones and ask where they are going (in Thai) … they point at me … okay so you’re coming with me … I motion them to follow and I keep going! A little ways down the road I realize this is gonna be really rough on me if I try to run/walk another lap with them on their bikes and we’re kinda close to my house so I ask if they want me to get my back (though a lot of motioning) which gets me excited smiles and nods … so we head back to my house, I get my bike, and immediately feel like a Thai version of Now and Then. YES. We ride the loop a couple times and then I head home.

One major “up” this week is that my students are becoming a lot less shy and a lot more fun to hang out with! Woo!!!

Friday after school Earn and Ajan Sumet drove Michelle and I to Nakhon Phanom to meet up with the rest of the WorldTeach Volunteers for our insane trip to Surin to go to the Elephant Round Up. They first took us to dinner at the restaurant that was built by the man who owns it and is legit a maze of bamboo high off the ground on the banks of the Mekong River. There are all these little raised rooms of the main path that either have regular table and chairs or the short tables where you sit on the floor. We sat at a regular table. Our dinner was phenomenal as always and I even learned to cook one of the dishes on Monday during cooking class. We then met up with the rest of the bunch and explored the festival that happen to be going on in town and watched a little bit of professional Ta-kaw, which is a sport played in Thailand that is a mix between volleyball and soccer. It is played with 3 people on each team on either side of a volleyball net. The ball they use is small and woven, either from wood or plastic. The team kick the ball over the net and can only keep the ball on their side a certain about of kicks. The high kicks and backwards jumping kicks that happen during this game are ISANE. Our vans then left for Surin around midnight. We arrived in Surin around 6am and freshened up to head over to the Elephant Round Up, which started at 8:30. It initially seemed very odd that a show be from 8:30-11:30 am but then I remembered it is actually fairly cool and daylight hours at this time, so then I thought it was very genius. Hahaha The elephants did all kinds of crazy tricks and had mock battles with epic music playing representing the history of Surin. It almost felt as if we were on the set of an elephant version of 300. They even played a game of soccer … or rather football. It was quite amusing! There was a coupon attached to our tickets and the Thai woman we were with, Daew (who is one of the volunteer’s host mom and is the craziest person EVER) insisted that we use them so I got a Tshirt that has 3 pink elephants sitting on a heart shaped green earth with little pink and green hearts all around it and it says, “Elephants love the earth. Please love our earth. Surin Elephants Round Up 2010 Thailand” … it’s also a white v-neck. What whaaaaat! Basically all the souvenir shirts they sell in Thailand are v-necks which is AMAZINGGG. So then for the rest of the day we explored Surin, took a little nap, went to the night market and hit the nightlife. When we were at the night market we ran into a bunch of other volunteers with a different program. They then ended up at the same bar we were at so it was really nice to mingle with a bunch of other Americans doing the same thing as us. Our program is so much more legit though since they all only work at 3 schools, have dinner together every night and are here for only 5 months. There of course was a guy in the group from Philly so initially I got really excited and was like oh where are you from and he goes, “Center City” and my response was clearly, “ohhhh like you’re actually FROM philly … I’m not. Hahaha” He found that quite amusing and refreshing that I actually admitted to being from the burbs. So then we got on the convo of where we went to school and when I said University of Hartford his reply was, “oh do you know Joe Zeglinski?” … all I could do was laugh. This is a disgustingly small world we live in. The rest of the night we had an awesome dance party on the porch of this bar to the American music they played for us … what a blast. The next morning we left at 6am, which was painful but do-able … until we were about an hour from Nakhon Phanom and our van broke down. Legit. It started to get really stuffy in the back where I was sitting and so we asked for the air conditioning to be turned back on and it was for a little but then it just suddenly turned off … and then we noticed that a lot of people were passing us … and then we saw smoke … and then we smelled oil … and then we realized that we were only in first gear and the clutch was broken … awesome. So we convinced them to pull over and then Daew goes, “ok get out to push the van to the side of the road.” So we did. And then we sat on the side of the road, exhausted and hot, waiting for the other van to come back for us, a bus to drive by for us to flag down, or the driver’s sister to come pick us up. The sister got there first in a pickup truck, so half of us jumped in the back, the rest of us in the cab and we were off to Nakhon Phanom!

Once we were back in the city of Nakhon Phanom Michelle and I got on our Sawng-Tao and headed back to Nong Hee. At 6pm Earm and Ajan Sumet picked us up for Loy Kratong, which is a festival where Buddhists make a “kratong” (which is a float made out of banana leaves with a candle sticking out of it), light the candle on it, and set it afloat in a river or pond for forgiveness and pardon. You also pray for health and happiness after you have asked for forgiveness. You can also light a ‘kohm’ which is a tissue paper lantern with thin wire in a circle at the bottom and in the middle a small circle that gets lit on fire; when the hot air fills the ‘kohm’ it floats up into the sky. Seeing about a hundred of both the lit kratongs in the water and kohms in the sky when it is literally pitch black around you is just breathtaking. We first went to the celebration in NongHee, which was adorable and I saw students at it and then we drove to That Phanom which is about 20km away to go to dinner and see a bigger Loy Kratong festival where there were HUGE and ornate Kratongs, made by the villages in the area. To say the least I was exhausted and even though I very much enjoy the festivals I was ready to go home and sleep so I could begin another week of teaching.

Monday brought two great victories in my life: realizing the wireless internet works extremely fast on my laptop in my NongHee classroom and getting NongHee to split the 3^rd grade class so I only have 20 at a time once a week. A WOO WOO!!! And to make things even better this is the second week in a row I have not had to teach p. 1 and 2 due to random activities. And tomorrow I don’t have to teach at PhonTan because they are going to a competition in Nakhon Phanom so then NongHee invited me to go with them to see the English spelling part of the competition … this should be interesting. Hahahaha

I <3>

One of my 6^th grade student’s notebooks says is very artsy font “Wondering what you have been doing lately” … he has no idea what it says or means!

A group of my 6^th grade boys at Nong Hee are your typical “Big man on campus” and “SO cool” … yet half of them have moved to my front row/hover in my doorway when they are not in class … and the girls sit in the back of the room (VERY odd for Thailand, especially in 6^th grade) … I am OBSESSED with them!

The two 3^rd grade groupies I have acquired. They carry their baby dolls and purses while hovering in my doorway or closely following behind me. LOVE THEM.

The fact that two 3^rd grade girls brought their baby dolls to class and somehow configured a bassinet out of their zipper front sweatshirt jackets … unfortunately the babies had to be moved to the front of the classroom while we were learning.

That my students repeat literally everything I say! … even when I have moved on to explaining something they try to repeat after me, which ends up being a hilarious jumble of sounds! Hahaha

I saw a student wearing a “Pizza Hut” t-shirt after school one day and one student was wearing a bedazzled “Angel” long sleeved shirt in class … to make it even funnier it was also a boy wearing it! There was also a boy wearing a dalmation patterned fur trapeze style jacket one day … bless his heart. Hahaha

BOY SCOUT DAY … each day of the week there is a specific uniform that is worn … the regular button down and shorts, sports day which is track pants and a sporty material polo and then there is boy scout day in which all students wear the most adorable boy scout uniform including high socks and caps. The girl version is similar but with a skirt … it makes my students look ten times cuter.

How excited my students get to come to the front of the room and participate because they get a sticker … stickers are gold here and I will use it to my advantage.

The way my students greet me at the beginning of class and thank me at the end. They all stand and say “Gooooood Mooorn-Ing TeeeeaacchER” and “Thaaank you TeeeeaaachER” … I will try to get a video to post because it is priceless.

The married couple Earm and Ajan Sumet who drive me to and from ChoomChon Nong Hee/ take care of me. They are HILARIOUS. I believe they are in their 40s or 50s and both drive huge old boxy Land Rovers and have multiple guns they like to shoot and have 6 dogs that just roam around Nong Hee. Apparently they are going to teach me to “Shoot a gun”.

The “American” music that gets played for me; including but not limited to Avril Lavigne, Shakira “Underneath It All, Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”, and some very old country songs I don’t even know what they are. Love it.

Then this weekend I went to my friend Gen's house, which is about 15Km away. A bunch of volunteers went for the night and we made spaghetti, breaded chicken, and broccoli. It was nice to eat American food but in all honesty I wanted to put chili flakes on it! I am getting very used to eating spicy food and the tomato sauce actually tasted sweet hahaha Then on Sunday morning we all went to yet another string tying ceremony. This time it was at my friend Heather's house. We made American breakfast (french toast and pancakes) but then we were told by Gen's host mother that we were bringing breakfast to Heathers, so we did and it was obviously cold by the time we got there and then we couldn't even eat until after the ceremony! But of course this wasn't just a ceremony, it was a full on party with tons of food plus what we brought, plus the leftover spaghetti ... seriously. And people were drinking ... at 10am on a Sunday. no joke. During the ceremony they give you hard boiled eggs to eat afterwards for a long life ... that is all well and good until you have 3 eggs in your hand (which happened to me at the ceremony at Michelle's school's) and then another 2 today ... apparently I am living forever! hahahaa no complaints there!

Now that the first week of teaching is under my belt I feel a lot more comfortable in my surroundings and am noticing a lot more little funny nuances of life in Thailand. The language barrier creates quite interesting conversation and the Thai views on life and me being a Westerner are also quite amusing. I am apparently very loved at the “talaat” (fresh market) in Nong Hee … according to one of the teachers at my school who drives me they want to see me everyday and think I am “suay” (beautiful). They also refer to me as their daughter. Hahaha As we were walking down one of the aisle yesterday he told me it was a catwalk and that I had to be a supermodel hahaha … my life here is ridiculous!

Teaching 50 first graders with a microphone in a pavilion looking out over a pond is also not so outlandish anymore and I actually quite enjoy it. Also seeing students using sharp objects to cut food or shave wood unsupervised doesn’t shock me as much. hahaha

There are also English quotes and phrases on almost everything and the grammar is always so unbelievably wrong that it is precious. Every notebook says something on it in English as opposed to Thai … haven’t figured that one out yet. One of my favorites is “Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary” … I will collect more and send them your way since every time I read one it makes me smile.

I now fully appreciate a hot shower more than ever. A hot water heater was installed in my house and let me tell you … it is a blessing from God! During the hot season I probably won’t even go near it but for right now … it is glorious!

So my first week of teaching has concluded and I have survived with flying colors. The week was filled with up and downs, mostly ups (thank god!) and now I will try to concisely describe the chaos that is my amazing life teaching here. I teach at two schools, Choom Chon Nong Hee and Phon Tan. Choom Chon Nong Hee is where I am at on Monday, Tuesday and Friday and there are about 300 students there. Phon Ton is where I teach on Tuesday and Wednesday and is significantly smaller with only about 55 students. At Nong Hee I teach P. 3-6 (which is the same as American 3^rd-6^th grades) twice a week for an hour at a time and P.1 and P.2 once a week. This all sounds well and good until you realize how many students that actually is! The P. 6 is combined and is about 30 students, there are two P.5 classes each with about 26 students, and there are two P. 4 classes each with about 21 students. I love these classes. Then since the school wants all of their students to be exposed to a native English speaker I have all of the 3^rd graders at once, which is about 40 students. Not ideal but definitely doable and I understand why it is this way so for that one hour I just need to be especially on top of my game. BUT THEN I realize that they are also giving me every P. 1 student at once and same with P. 2, which equals 50 at one time. WOAH. On Tuesday afternoon I was escorted to this pavilion that sits on the edge of a pond where there are 50 P. 2 students sitting cross-legged in neat rows staring at me. I am handed a microphone and told to teach them. O. K. WHAAAT?!?!?! Hahahah Luckily I am good at teaching on a whim because that was the hardest hour of my life and then I had to turn around a do it all again with P. 1. And if these students were the most adorable creatures to walk the earth and they had more opportunities in life I might complain or say no, but under the circumstances I am more than happy to sing songs and play games with these adorable children once a week! Also, at Nong Hee I was apparently signed up for cooking class and dance class … alrighttt! So on Mondays when I finish at 2pm I go to cooking class with the students, which consists of a recipe being described, students taking notes and then students using butcher knives unsupervised. YES Thailand! I am not exaggerating when I say that these were butcher knives or that the students were unsupervised. The students were literally behind a building washing and peeling papayas with these huge knives with the teacher around front. AND NO ONE GOT HURT. And I guarantee there were no lawsuits involved. Hahhaha Then at 3pm everyday there is dance class that I go to which consists of me and about 8 students learning traditional Thai dance … MAN THESE PEOPLE KNOW HOW TO MAKE ME HAPPY! On Wednesday and Thursday I went to Phon Tan, which is so small and so cute, and I teach Kindergarten, P. 1-3 and P. 4-6. So when I go there I teach, have a break, teach, eat lunch, teach and go home around 2pm. It’s awesome!

The language barrier is proving to be fun and hilarious and exhausting all at the same time. On Sunday before we could begin teaching Monday is was imperative that we offer flowers and pray to the 2 Buddha statues and campus to ask for safety and happiness. We also has to pray and offer flowers to the “spirit house” that is on the edge of the teacher housing to ask for protection from spirits while we are living in Nong Hee. The Thais are very concerned with spirits and have these decorative little houses on pedestals outside residences to protect the house from spirits. Very cool. So now everyone has seen my house and knows that there is no chance of a ghost attacking me. Hahaha Another weird thing about Thailand is that it get dark at like 6pm and everyone is very concerned with our safety so we’re basically not allowed out after dark. This means that I need to plan my day around what needs to get done during daylight hours in the 2 hours after I get home from school. Hahaha This first week of teaching was a little difficult party due to that and partly due to the fact that dinner came from somewhere random each night and that there was a lot of prep work to be done for each class, especially since I was making nametags for all my students. Classic overachieving attitude of mine. But my classroom will look SICK because of it AND hopefully I will learn these adorable students’ names. (and of course they always DIE laughing when I try to say them) There is a lot of laughing going on in my classroom, sometimes because I am trying to speak Thai and other times because when Thai children are nervous/shy/uncomfortable they giggle … and this happens A LOT with a farang (Thai word for white foreigner) teacher they just met!

I have been told so far by co-workers that I am “happy, happy, happy, smile, smile, smile” “quick to learn” and “funny” when I am teaching, which has also been described as “acting” hahahahaha

On Wednesday we had our last day of practicum, which meant games and pictures and good old fun! When we got to school we were greeted by students bearing little flower bouquets, which consisted of flowers being stuffed into the center of a bigger flower, just picked of course! They were so adorable! We then played games and took lots of awesome pictures! I was really getting attached to these kids which was sad to have to say goodbye to them but made me even more excited to meet my students! Wednesday night Pla Pak Wittaya (the school we’ve been staying at) held a “Thank you” party for us at an awesome little outdoor restaurant near the school tucked away from the road. There was awesome food, drinks, dancing and of course karaoke! Rambo greeted us as we got out of the car with a laminated 5x7 picture of the Rambo movie cover that has all of his contact information on it and at the bottom reads “Volunteer Teacher Thailand 2010-2011”. It is my most favorite thing I have received since being in Thailand and it is most definitely getting framed when I return to America. Hahaha During dinner I ate my first bug … as in on purpose! I have the whole thing documented … cricket in hand, cricket in mouth, cricket swallowed Kerry smiling. Hahaha it was very salty and kinda tasted like a potato chip … yea I said it! And despite my terrible voice I am forced into singing karaoke so this time my friend Kaitlin and I sang “Barbie Girl” and some chumbawumba … trying to figure out which American songs are available is always a treat since you have to just think of one off the top of your head and type it into the computer. In any case I will be a karaoke queen when I get home! So the party ended and we continued the party back at the school with Rambo (obviously) and another teacher at Pla Pak Wittaya whose name is Thon (he’s 24 and actually spent a few months working at a burger place in Florida recently so he knows enough English to hold on a conversation). Kaitlin and I were on a high from listening to music at the party to we sat around our computers having a mini sing and dance party with Thon which ended up being hilarious! My favorite line from the night was Thon telling me that when he was in American he worked at the grill and did not practice his English much, he said he only knew “meat” “double meat” and “pickles” hahaha to which I replied “I love pickles” and he started hysterically laughing. He knew a lot of American music so we had a good time picking out songs to listen to.

Then on Thursday everyone got picked up from orientation by someone from their school, summer camp style, as in all of our belongings were packed up by our beds in the big room we’ve been sleeping in and one by one our rides arrived and many hugs were given and tears shed. Hilarious. My roommate Michelle and I got picked up by one of the teachers from Choom Chon Nong Hee along with her daughter, nephew and nephew’s friend. Her daughter Tee-da is an English teacher at another elementary school and is 25 with a 1 year old son. Her nephew’s name is Fam and he is same same 22 like me and goes to school in Bangkok for Information Technology. They both speak enough English for us to communicate and laugh when I try to speak the little Thai I know. I asked if they like American music to which I found they do and then Fam played a Westlife cd (which I believe is an Irish boyband). Too funny! We also had to take the mattress I’ve been sleeping on all of orientation with us which was so funny because most people were just sleeping on mats that either fold or roll up and I had an actual mattress. Luckily the boys came along and they loaded and unloaded the pickup truck seamlessly. Once we got to the house we brought everything inside and decided that Michelle and I would go to Tee-da’s house for dinner. We got picked up around 6 and were met at the house by my paaw-aw who is her uncle, the teacher I will work with who is her mother and a slew of other family members including Tee-da’s husband and adorable baby boy! We ate dinner Isan style which meant sitting on mats on the ground around a hot plate with a pot of boiling water that was filling with vegetables and herbs. We used these neat little basket-like scoopers to cook meats and noodles. There were delicious spicy sauces and we could just use our chopsticks to pick out vegetables from the pot to eat. What a fun way to eat with your family! It gets so dark here so early and so quickly that it was already pitch black when we got picked up and when we got home it was around 8 o’clock and felt like 10! Fam and Tee-da invited us to go to Mukdahan with them on Friday so at 8am they picked us up and we set out on quite the adventure. All they communicated to us was that we were going to Indochina Market in Mukdahan (which is one of the cities that has a “friendship bridge” with Laos. So Michelle and I are thinking we can get a lot of errands done today and whatnot … well were we wrong or what! Hahaha I complete and awesome Thai style this day turns quickly into a sightseeing photo shoot extravaganza! To the extent that I was actually told to be like a supermodel. Seriously. If anyone every made the comment that Asian people like to take a lot of pictures … You. Have. No. Idea. Its like the paparazzi was following me around today … and I’m not complaining its just funny. Tee-da was trying to teach me Thai all day which was hilarious since I can repeat after her but then forget what she told me 5 minutes later. Also, during the car ride there was another game of do you know this American song which resulted in the entire car belting “My Heart Will Go On” … yea Celine Dion! But I digress, the first stop of the day was Wat Phra Tat Renu Nakhon (a temple in Renu Nakhon, which is in Nakhon Phanom Province, close to where I lived), then it was off to the friendship bridge even though we couldn’t actually cross into Laos, but then in order to get a picture we were directed to a lookout point which took forever to find because the signs were misleading but then we finally found it and of course it was windy so then we all imitated the epic “king of the world” scene from Titanic … some things don’t change no matter where you are in the world! We finally got our pictures and headed to Phu Pha Thoep National Park right outside of Mukdahan. There are incredible rock formations there with wild flowers growing all over. This is where the true photo shoot happened climbing rocks and posing it funny ways. The art of a sightseeing picture discriminate no race or ethnicity. No matter what language you speak the urge to take a picture pretending to push over big rocks or climb to high places does not change. Hahaha We also rented umbrellas to shade us from the sun which was hilarious to me and of course it was super windy so I felt like Mary Poppins the whole time! At the entrance to the park there are vendors selling really inexpensive handmade baskets made of plastic strands, so I bought 2. Hahaha I got one small one what will probably come home with me and another larger one about the size of a small trashcan to use in my room which has very little in it. After lunch we went to a lookout tower/museum. You had to take your shoes off to go inside, which is so funny to an American and yet so refreshing. Then after the lookout tower we FINALLY went to the Indochina market. I got a sarong that is BEAUTIFUL and an elephant bangle and best of all a tshirt that had a giant fish made of patterned fabric sewn on to it. Even Michelle knew it was trouble that I had seen it because of the colors on the fabric design. It even has little bubbles coming out of its mouth! SOOO precious!

On Saturday Michelle and I took the sawng tao from our school for the first time into Nakhon Phanom for an extensive shopping trip since we realized all of the things we needed after moving in! It was a successful first trip into the city from our new home. THANK GOODNESS! You see taking the sawng tao from Pla Pak was the end of the journey so you got on and off at the station ... from our school we must stand at a stop on the main road, flag down the correct sawng tao and then manage to take the correct route home and press a button when we are nearing our stop to signal the driver that we want to get off! The sawng taos are all similar colors and stop on the same street in Nakhon Phanom, the only differences are the writing stamped on the side, which is of course in Thai. So we had a Thai teacher write what we needed to know in Thai and brought it with us. what an adventure! hahaha ... I'll be a pro in no time!

School started on Monday, I will write another post describing that so far at another time. And of course I will upload pictures and hopefully a video tour of my house soon! Reliable internet is on my fingertips!