Hello, สวัสดี (Sa wa dii), Hola

Today was the Wai Khru celebration/ceremony at Phon Tan. Wai Khru is essentially "Teacher Appreciation Day". The actually holiday is sometime in April, which is actually during summer break ... confusing I know. So each school chooses a day at the beginning of the school year to celebrate this with a ceremony. The ceremony is completely Thai in that there are many rituals each with many steps to complete. The students all make flower "kratongs" or small displays/bouquets to present to the teachers.

Just chillen with my flowers in my pocket ... NBD (no big deal)


Some girls with their flowers


The Paw-aw (Principle) and the teachers sit on the stage during the ceremony. Oh heyyy


One older student comes to the front to lead the other students in some kind of prayer or chant of sorts.


Students come up in groups to bow to the Buddha image and either bow or curtsy to the picture of the King and Queen.


They then walk on their knees (to be respectful and not have their heads higher than their elders) over to the teachers.


Once in front of the teachers they bow and present the flowers.


Here are the flowers that were presented to us today! Every student presented something to the teachers. SOOO cute!

Most Americans know of June 14th as flag day ... I know that flag day 2011 will be one that I will remember for a long time. I awoke as if it was any other day of teaching in Thailand, planning to teach but expecting much more. As I was preparing for school (aka going on facebook now that I have internet in my house) my phone started to ring and I saw that it was my father calling ... this cannot be good. As I tentatively answered the phone, trying to sound optimistic as usual I had a sick feeling I was not going to like the news on the other end. Through short breaths he managed to tell me that him and my mother were at the vet and were just told that they need to put Rocky down. My only reaction was "NO." No, this isn't fair! No, I am too far away! No, John and Megan aren't there either. No, we love him too much. No, I want more time with him. Through immediate sobs I managed to tell Rocky that I love him and will miss him as my dad held the phone to his ear, told my dad I would be 'okay', and hung up. I somehow continued to gather my belongings for school and begin to eat breakfast. On most mornings Michelle and I sit at the table chatting until my ride shows up anytime within a 30 minute window. Today Earm and Sumet came early! So as I was shoving the last bite of oatmeal into my mouth while simultaneously wiping the tears from my face I ran out to the car, only to realize they were early because we needed to go lamp shopping.

We arrive at school around the normal time and I head to my classroom to continue pulling myself together and prepare for a full day of 4 classes to teach. Little to my knowledge at this point, today is voting for the student representative board. I realize about 10 minutes into what is supposed to be my first class that all the students are headed to the covered pavilion to take part in democracy's finest hour(s). Voting. In true Thai fashion this involves standing line and taking one piece of paper to the next person to get the next piece of paper to cast your vote to then place in the guarded box. It was all very official and I was able to spend the whole morning, not suffering through teaching the sound the letter "Bb" makes but harassing and giggling with my favorite students. Somehow the unpredictability of Thailand manages to come through in the most surprising of ways. Now I will guide you through the process of voting in a Thai elementary school.

First, let's look at who is running . . .


Then wait in line to get a small piece of paper from this person . . .


And take that piece of paper to this person and sign your name on the appropriate class list


That person will give you a ballot that looks like this


You then take that ballot to this designated area to mark your choice


After you have made your decision you can place your ballot in the official ballot holding box being watched by security


Let's not forget how important security is during an election ... at any level!




But don't let voting get you stressed . . .


IT'S FUN!

It became clear to me sometime last week how rice is able to be Thailand's number 1 export. I live in the middle of all the rice fields but have yet to see them in all of their glory. Arriving during the tail end of the wet season, I spent the majority of my time here so far in the cool season and then briefly the hot season. After experiencing some of the biggest thunderstorms of my life including torrential downpours for the likes of an hour I finally saw the rice fields lush and green. I decided to take my favorite bike ride to Phon Tan and snap some pictures of the fields during sunset and here is what I came back with . . .

At the end of last semester I had my older students fill out an "about me" paper, including all topics we had learned that semester. They were to then draw a picture of themselves in their favorite season - here are some of the results!

So as per usual my life is far from dull while living in NongHee. I arrived home on Saturday night, called Earm to tell her I made it back safe and was told that I would be picked up to go to school at 8:30am on Sunday to get my schedule ... SUNDAY?!?!!? I obliged, went to school, got my schedule and then escaped quickly to go into town since I had just gotten back from two months away. Monday I was also picked up at 8:30am to go to school, but this time to clean my classroom, which desperately needed it! As I entered campus I realized every student was there and sitting in their morning assembly rows listening to Sumet go on about something ... as I walked by I did however hear mention of my newly tanned skin and how beautiful I am ... awesome. There were also my excited waves and "hello teacher"s to be heard! adorable! Later in the morning I was invited to dinner with Earm and Sumet's family because it was their son's birthday. (he is my age) I obviously accept and am excited for a night out with them. I also knew the next day was a Buddhist holiday so I wouldn't be teaching and was excited to sleep in and have the day to myself ... WRONG! At about 8pm after a few beers I was informed that I would be getting picked up at 7am to 'make merit' ... it was also described to me that all of the 6th graders would be planting a tree ... or something along those lines ... ok, understandable. My ride arrives the next morning at 6:30am - not ready at all - and I run out the door. Since I was told I would be 'making merit' I dressed accordingly in a long skirt and a pink shirt (it was a Tuesday) and thought I had finally gotten this being clothed appropriately thing down - almost. Apparently this planting thing is serious business and not only were all of my sixth graders there but a bunch of the high school students as well ... and there were about 100 small plants in the back of a pick-up truck ready to go into the earth. The place where this all went down is literally in the woods and I had been back where it is only once and was then told thats not a safe place to be in, so I haven't been back. Now I know exactly whats there ... so here I am in my adorable sandals, skirt, pink shirt, and white cardigan gardening in the woods. And yes, I was off the path and planting things legit in the woods. I am sure there is a significant meaning to the planting with the specific holiday we were celebrating but it was not explained to me. I spent my time hands covered in dirt pretending to touch my students faces and basically annoying them, while trying to remember everyone's name!

Teaching itself has been fairly uneventful ... just getting back into the swing of things and getting acquainted with my students again ... I received many hugs and saw many excited smiling faces screaming my name from across the school yard and was even attacked by a class of first year high school students while riding my bike through campus, some were my students from last year but most were not! I almost fell off my bike trying to return the handshakes everyone wanted to give me! hahaha

I am being quite long- winded so I will stop for now!

4 months till I am back in America, exactly 1 year after I left!

Highlights of my two month journey throughout Thailand ... I have so many pictures from this trip I don't even know if I can make a memory book!

Fish Spa in Bangkok ... yes these fish are actually eating the dead skin off my feet ... and yes I totally made Fran and Jim take part in this hilarious spa treatment!!!


My first fast food since America!!! Obviously I picked Burger King over the multitude of choices in Bangkok!


I made it to the beach! Classic longtail photo


My elephant!!! well, the one that i rode on through the jungle


Temple Spotting!!! This one is in Mae Hong Son which is a grueling 7 hour van ride through 1,864 curves and Thai people throwing up from motion sickness the whole way - super fun!!!


The White Temple - construction on this temple began in 1997 and it is not actually all finished yet ... the artist is trying to bring modern art to Thailand and around the whole temple there are hilarious depictions of the devil in terms of modern day vices such as smoking and whiskey ... it is quite the experience!


Holding the Buddha at Sukothai historical park!


The sign at the bus station on the way to the waterfail ... gotta love Thais attempting to write signs in English!

At the waterfail ... which wasn't so much a fail after all


Fran and Jim came!!!! Here we are at a sky bar having a fancy cocktail while watching the sunset over Bangkok


One of my favorite temples ... its completely decorated with broken plates ... so very shabby chic and therefore me!


Hope you enjoyed this very brief overview of my travels ... if you are interested in seeing more pictures from a certain place or hearing more about a certain part of the travels you know I'll be happy to tell you all about it!

To all of my loyal readers (aka my family and friends) I am safely back in NongHee after two months of utter nonsense and frolicking around the amazing country of Thailand - If I didn't already love this country and my choice of coming here I sure do now! Thailand can offer literally everything you could ask for in a vacation - beach, mountain, city, history, and delicious food all while meeting to most friendly of all peoples on earth - Thais. I got to experience some pretty crazy things including, snorkeling, being attacked by leeches, biking around ancient ruins, being evacuated from a flood by the Thai military, sampling culinary treats from every region, clubbing, hiking in a cloud forest and on a sub-alpine meadow, visiting temples old and new including the most recently build Thai temple that is all white and full of off-hand modern art, laying around on the white sand beaches and playing in the crystal blue water, going to a mall and eating Coldstone creamery ice cream and an Auntie Anne's pretzel, shopping in markets of all sizes, going to a movie in English and having to stand at the beginning to sing the Thai national anthem, riding on an elephant through the jungle, and most importantly seeing Fran and Jim! I ended this crazy trip with them and it was two weeks that went by too fast!

I am now back in my village and PROMISE to update some pictures this week - I have about 650 to sort through and pull out the good ones for you! I also begin teaching this week so I am sure I will have some interesting stories for my last 3 1/2 months here in Nong Hee!