No worries- Maklumsy Made it to Thailand...

For this week (week four to be exact- wowza it's gone fast!), we are teaching the students to speak about school. We weren't quite sure how to do this without simply giving the students a list of vocabulary words- yuck! So we decided that if we were able to teach the students the subjects, they would be able to talk to each other about their favorite subjects, thus introducing complete sentences, which is what they need the most work on.. ACTUALLY SPEAKING! 

Therefore, "What is your favorite subject in school?" became the question of the week, with the follow-up answer being, "my favorite subject is _____". For the most part, after explaining the basic subjects (English, Thai, history, music, art, math, gym, and science), the students were able to complete the thought while pronouncing the words correctly. However, apparently the word "favorite" resembles the word "family", which we taught two weeks ago. I'm THRILLED that they remembered family, but we weren't quite as ecstatic when students were saying "what is your family subject in school?"

After having the students work in pairs to ask each other the question of the day, we played a game that I grew up playing at youth group. We had the students move their desks into a circle around the room, which was a feat in itself. Afterwards, we handed out slips of paper to each student that had a subject (listed above) written on it. The person in the middle would say, "my favorite subject is ENGLISH!" If your slip of paper said English, you would have to get up and switch seats with someone else. The person in the middle would take one of those seats, therefore leaving someone else in the middle. This game was converted a bit to work in the classroom, but it helped the students work on their speaking skills, as well as their listening. It also got them up and moving around the classroom. Just like seventh and eighth graders in the US, the students were very competitive- soon they were running, shoving, and actually sitting on each other trying to get a seat around the circle. 

Even with the constant cringe Ari and I had on our faces (worried someone was going to get hurt), nobody has so far. And some of the teachers observed us and simply laughed when students were pushing each other to get a seat- guess it isn't something to worry about... Maybe I have become a helicopter teacher? 

This lesson will be taught all week!

Monday for lunch, Ari and I decided that we would be great teachers and make lunch for the eighth grade teachers. Because none of them knew what tacos were (and we both LOVE them), we thought it would be a great thing to make! But after wandering around the grocery store, we realized that it was going to cost us about 60.00 dollars to make them, due to the uncommon ingredients. We decided that was a no-go, but we had already ordered the meat- 3 lbs of ground beef. Therefore, we thought that we could attempt at hamburger helper. Homemade of course.... We got some cheese, milk, etc. and went to work... Because I'm basically the world's greatest chef (heavy sarcasm included here), it turned out delicious.. NOT. We didn't have enough cheese, I burned part of the pan, and it tasted like plain noodles and ground beef.... yum? The teachers were nice enough to attempt to eat it... but they all added chili or ketchup to make it bearable. They told us it was "arroy arroy!", which means 'delicious'. I told them no, it's not! It was a fail to say the very least.

Tuesday (yesterday), I got sick and went home after lunch. Ari was a champ and taught the last hour of the day by herself. Thankfully by the evening, I was feeling fine again, and was able to get to school today.

Today (Wednesday) was a fabulous day. Our first two lessons of the day went great, and our professor (Denny) observed our second hour. Everything went as smooth as can be expected when you don't speak the same language and afterwards, we took Denny to our favorite lunch spot (and for Thai ice cream, of course!). The students today were amazing sports, and I am seriously blessed to get to know them all, even on a "hello and smile" basis. They have the best sense of humor, are extremely kind, and for the most part, are very excited to learn, which makes teaching them even better. I would tell anyone that is currently a student at SMSU to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look into doing part of your student teaching in Thailand- it is a priceless experience as well as a wonderful learning environment for future teachers. 


This is (today), however, where Maklumsy returned into my life. For those of you that don't know, I may be considered a bit of a klutz. In ninth grade, some of my best friends started calling me Maklumsy and whenver I fell or dropped something, they would call me Maklumsy instead... Well, today, when we were playing the game, art was called and since I had an "art" slip, i got up out of my chair, quickly crossed the room, and went to sit down. My foot however, stepped on my maxi skirt, causing me to slip and fall. Not even just slip and fall, but SLIDE into the desk, causing it to fall on top of me. I now have two bruises to prove it. Thank the good Lord I was wearing a long skirt, or that could have been another embarrassment to add to the list. The class was silent for a few seconds after it happened, but after I burst out laughing, they laughed as well. I laid on the floor on my back for a good two minutes until I finally was able to control my laughter and get up. I'm sure the whole seventh grade knows the story by now, but oh well. I will embrace my label as not only the blonde American teacher, but as the weird blonde American teacher that had a desk fall on her. 

Just a day in the life.

Xoxo Kenzkeg

Nong Khai

This weekend was wonderful, but wasn't as busy as some of the other ones had been. Our Friday night did not have us leaving the house, but after the busy week that Ari and I had, we were actually okay with it. 

 Saturday, we went to Nong Khai for the day. We took the train there for 11 baht, which translates to about 35 cents- whatta steal! It was actually quite nice. It's a major tourist city in Thailand (nowhere near Bangkok though...). To start out, we went out to the "Friendship" bridge. This bridge is a decent sized bridge that connects Thailand to Laos. It was donated by the king of Australia in the 90's. People make this bridge as this huge thing, but Ari and I weren't suuuper impressed. It was a very large concrete bridge- very similar to a bridge on 35w... Oh well, we took pictures anyway. 

After the bridge, we headed to a market on the Mekong River. It was nice to look at everything that is sold at these markets- some of the things are absolutely beautiful and I wish I could buy it all... However, I'm really not sure what I would do with twenty million elephant statues. They are all SO pretty though! Maybe I'll just have a Thai themed house someday? 





After the market, we headed to The Sala Kaew Ku Sculpture Park, where they were around probably 50 or so statues. Many of them were over 25 meters tall. They had buddhas, statues of snakes, statues telling the stories of Heaven and Hell, etc. They were really cool to look at, and HUGE. That was easily the highlight of the day, and I would tell anyone that came to Thailand to try to make the trip up there to see them- they were unbelievable. 





Once we were done looking at the statues, we went to a famous temple. This was easily the prettiest one I have been in. The walls were all painted with the story of how the temple came into existence. Apparently, the large Buddha was being taken down the Mekong river when the boat sank. Magically, the Buddha made it out of the water, and so it is a well known temple because of that great Buddha- the Thai culture and religion is so interesting to hear about. I don't know a ton about Buddhism, but it's interesting to compare it to Christianity. 

Sunday, we spent the day lounging and at the park. We walked to the park and back, and therefore got a bit sweaty, but it was nice to get out and about in Udon Thani. We did learn, however, that you shouldn't bother looking for food/drink stands or shopping places/markets until around five- nobody is going to be open!


Xoxo Kenzkeg 

Our Third Week Teaching!

First of all, it's crazy that we are now officially done with our third week of teaching... time is just flying by. It's actually depressing- I feel like there is a quite a bit that we still want to attempt to do in our short time here in Thailand. Less than 30 days people!

This week, we taught the students the months. They knew them for the most part, but some of the students had trouble with pronouncing some of the words.

For example,

January turns into "Jan-u-R-y"
February turns into "feb-ru-ary"
March turns into "marshhh"

We had to repeat those several times over, as well as write them out phonetically on the board for the students to comprehend what we are saying. 

We also taught them to actually talk about the months. By having the students practice with a partner while asking the phrase, "what month were you born?", they were able to put together complete sentences. They would answer by saying, "I was born in ____". This may seem quite easy, but some of the classes really struggled with it. 

Monday evening was a bit uneventful, as I went home afterwards and had a lazy night at home. 

Tuesday, Arunrat took me grocery shopping for some food that I can make for dinner... she was impressed at my sandwich making skills.... haha if only my roommates back at school were impressed by that skill as well! 

Wednesday evening, Ari came home with me because we had to be at the school at 7 am the next morning to hop on the bus for our field trip.. talk about early. We watched Monsters University and then went to bed... not much different than a night after teaching back home!

Thursday, however, was a completely different story. The field trip was for boy scouts. Apparently, all students are just in boy scouts- it isn't an after-school activity, and Ari and I cannot figure out if they are even remotely similar. The girls are also a part of boy scouts- very different as well. They are still split up by gender though, so perhaps there is girl scouts?

After arriving at the school, we hopped on one of the buses. The buses were coach, which we thought was nice- nicer than a school bus. However, I would have taken a school bus any day for what happened next. Not only was this the LOUDEST bus ride I have ever had, but it was one of the most ridiculous as well. Don't worry- the bus had a karaoke machine/tv and microphone. This, of course, encouraged all the Thai seventh graders to scream at the top of their longs Thai songs. The music was blaring, the students were screaming, and it was 7:30 in the morning... let's just say it wasn't ideal. They did, however, play "baby" by Justin Bieber for us because he's American.... A special shout out to him and his DUI that he received- making America proud! 

Once we got there, all of the students did some sort of ceremony thing for about an hour... We just sat there. Only one of the teachers spoke English, so it was a bit tricky to understand what was going on. After the directions were given, the students walked away in a single file line. Keep in mind- there are about 400 kids in the seventh grade, so it was a single file line of 400 students... two other teachers went and we decided to walk with them. We were told that the other teachers weren't going to go because they were too old and didn't want to walk... We walked around, saw some pictures of the animals, and were happy. Then, however, we were led off the main road and told to walk down a dirt trail instead... after walking this for awhile, we came to road and were told to follow that... we walked a total of about 4 miles... up hill. quickly. because Thai people walk generally slower than American people (at least compared to Ari and myself), so we wanted to get out of the back of the line and into the front. 

During this walk, about 8 students got heat stroke or were dehydrated (we aren't really sure). They were crying and brought to the site where the students were camping. When Ari and I got there, the teachers were not taking care of the students really, and there wasn't a medic or anyone certified to help. Ari and I panicked a bit- some of the students did NOT look good. After a long time of us asking for water (which they didn't have any), the students began to sit up and act a bit better. By this time, however, Ari and I were furious and had left the room. It was unbelievable. 

While we were sitting outside, eating lunch, and enjoying the sun, we saw a teacher hit a student across the face. This, apparently, is okay in Thai culture- just another thing we cannot understand. the student was caught smoking in the woods during the walk, and that is the punishment for doing so. In shock, Ari tried to explain that it wasn't the right thing to do, but the only response we received was that it was a part of Thai culture.. I can only pray that someday they will see that there are much better ways to discipline a child rather than publicly humiliating him in front of everyone. 

After this, we asked to be brought back to Udon Thani- we were taken to a bus stop, hopped on the bus, and came home. It was time. The rest of the teachers were spending the night (although they weren't doing anything actually with the kids, so it was unnecessary for them to be there..). We had told them before that we didn't have anything for camping and that we were much more comfortable spending the night with our host families. 

Needless to say, I don't think that a field trip is at the top of my list of things I would like to do again.

Today, however, was great. We taught three classes of 8th grade, and then we took the public car home because our last class ends at 1:30 on Fridays- it's wonderful.  We had four students from UDRU (the university that we are technically attending right now..) observe us teach our last hour. Unfortunately, this is our lowest level and worst behaved class, so things didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked. 

Oh well, another week in the books. Ari and I have great plans for this weekend, and I'll hopefully post on Sunday!

Xoxo Kenzkeg

Third Weekend in Udon Thani

People warned me this would happen...

I'm slowly falling behind on my blogging. 

This could be for several reasons:

1. internet here is questionable, so the last thing I want to do is write an entire post only to lose the internet as I hit submit...

2. There is a lot going on over here, a million and ten things I want to share with all of you, and the desire to type is lowering every day.

3. Ari tells me I can't because she is so far behind on her blog...haha

Either way, here's how the weekend went:

Friday.

We taught our three classes for the day, the head of the eighth grade English department (her nickname is Ying) took us out to lunch. Ari and I ordered chicken and rice- one of the things we both actually enjoy eating. After class, we took the public car (where you just ride in the back of a pickup..) to the Central Plaza mall. From there, we walked to UD Town and the dress market... of course we didn't know that most of the shops don't start opening until four.... we were there at 2:15, so that was great. Thankfully, we found a few things that were open to entertain ourselves. Around 5 pm, we took the public car back home (this was an achievement in itself). After getting ourselves presentable, Ari's host family took us to walking street. This is basically where they shut down a street so that people can sell stuff- a shopaholic's dream, if you will. Ari and I found headbands for SUPER cheap, which was fun. The couple that were selling the headbands were so excited that we were buying them that they gave us each a free one. It made our night! After walking street, Sirilak's husband (pronounced like Sake) and brother in law (His name is pronounced like Fork without the r) took us to Western Pub; whatta ridiculous place. First of all, why does Thailand have a Western pub? Do they have cowboys? Not sure... haha. Second, the band actually played american music! But really not country... Funny for a western pub.. We did, however, request some Johnny Cash, which they obliged. It made us happy :) It was a little taste of home 24 hours away! Ari and I tried a "sweet Cowboy" and "rum punch". The sweet cowboy was delicious- Fok (spelling?) even ordered it for his first cocktail ever.. He claimed to be a "beer kinda guy". The day ended up being wonderful and full of laughter.

Saturday.
We were up early to observe the dancing in the street. This wasn't any old dancing- in fact, it was a very very large Thai dance. In fact, they broke a world record and had a huge dealio to go along with it. There were over 20,600 dancers in all. they blocked off five roads to fit them all, and Ari and I had a great spot to watch them. We were able to get to the roundabout center, and therefore, had all of the dancers facing towards us. They made wonderful pictures! After that, we met up with the rest of Ari's host family and went to a restaurant for lunch. When we got back, Ari and I took a nap and then headed outside to sweat in the hot sun. Sirilak and her family thought it was SO ODD that we were voluntarily sitting in the sun- it's not a thing to do here apparently. However, we didn't let that stop us. Of course, Ari became sunburned again... I continue to get little to no color at all- it's a bit depressing. Saturday night was the time for fireworks. All of the commotion for this weekend was because it was Udon Thani's anniversary- it turned 121 years old this weekend- how thrilling. The fireworks were literally the best thing I have ever seen, and I wish photos did it justice. They don't, but that didn't stop us from at least attempting. They tell stories with their fireworks, as well as display photos. They also play music- it was like watching a movie with fireworks in it. Pretty cool! 

Sunday.

Today, we were able to "sleep in" for the first time since we've gotten here... we woke up at eight thirty... it was a bit pitiful. At eleven, we left to go to a mountain in Udon Thani. We hiked up the mountain, took tons of pictures, and then went to a flower garden. It was wonderful. On the way back, we stopped by Granny's garden where the family grabbed fresh bananas, papaya, and other fruits. We then went to a Thai buffet. I had rice and a salad- sound about right? After lunch, we had about an hour and a half to kill sitting on facebook attempting to catch up with the rest of the world before we left again to go to a Thai dancing performance. This wasn't any performance- it was actually a musical (kind of). It was beautiful and a ton of fun, but would have been wonderful had it been in English, or if we could speak Thai... It was almost four hours of sitting listening to Thai. Sirilak whispered what was going on as often as she could, but she couldn't obviously state everything that was happening. 

This is what I got for the basic plot line: There was a king who's queen was kidnapped by giants. In order to get her back, the king worked with the monkeys and some of the giants brothers who left giant city because their brother was corrupt. The evil giant convinced his wife to act like the queen and convince the king that she was dead. They tried to burn her body and learned that she was in fact, a giant and not his precious queen. In order to get to the giant city, they had to get across the ocean. They decided to throw rocks in to make a path? The black and white monkeys got in a fight, and the black one was banished. The white one was told he had seven days to finish the path. The white monkey went into the ocean to see what he could do and fell in love with a fish. He then came out of the water, helped defeat the giants, and got the queen back with the rest of the army. The end.

It was strange, but Sirilak said it was similar to our Shakespeare. I then thought of all of the things that happen in Shakespeare, and realized that this probably wasn't the weirdest plot line in the world... Good luck future English teacher self on getting kids hooked!

At the end of the night, we were able to take pictures with some of the cast, which was quite neat. Their costumes were absolutely amazing! We also took a picture with the mayor of Udon Thani, which was pretty impressive. 

Well, that was my weekend. Please feel free to message me with updates on your lives- I love hearing from everyone. I continue to pray for all of you every day, as well as your family and friends. 

Xoxo Kenzkeg

p.s. putting pictures up takes too long for my patience at the moment, so I shall just tell you to go on Facebook and look at them! If you don't have Facebook and want to see them, email me!

Touristy Thursday

welp- Whatta great day.

I'm not really feeling the whole writing thing, so I'm going to make a list instead of all the things we did.

We went to the red lotus sea again, then a history museum, and then a sheep farm. We also fed fish from a baby bottle... apparently something they do here.

Here is my fun poem:

U- Unusual. We went to a sheep farm yesterday. Apparently, it's the only sheep farm in northern Thailand.
D- Don't, Don't touch the pottery or the skeletons at the museum. 
O- Outside. After the museum, go outside and buy everything you see because you feel you need to.
N- Nippy. It was quite chilly this morning.... like 60's.. I did not bring ANY warm clothing. 

T- Truck. We drove a pick-up truck with seven of us... yes it is possible when people ride in the bed.
H- Hats. I'm very tempted to buy one of those straw hats that are very not okay in MN. still pondering.
A- Anacondas. We went to the Red Lotus Sea again, and a teacher is convinced there are giant snakes. 
N- Nikon. Ari and her host uncle (if that's a thing?) talked about their cameras for a good three hours....yay.
I- I love you all, and today was a great day!


Xoxo Kenzkeg

Wednesday- whatta day

Today was an absolutely fabulous day.

Ari and I taught a great lesson on how to talk about "your family". We had the students discuss with a partner, and then draw out their families. This, of course, required Ari and I to show off our artistic abilities as well... let's just say they fell a little flat compared to some of the students. They were unbelievably talented. The students really seemed to enjoy the lesson, as some of them were able to show their artistic/creative sides. However, there were a few students that were quite content with their stick drawings and were done in less than five minutes.

The questions the students worked on in partners.

A fabulously drawn dog.

Some of these kids are SO TALENTED.

These drawings look like the characters from Pokemon...

One of our classes- each has around 45 students.

The picture of his brother made me laugh out loud. 

Ari and I also walked around showing pictures of our own families on Ari's computer. The students had wonderful reactions... "boootiful.", "handsome!!!", and tons of giggling. We aren't quite sure what was so funny, but Luke and Isaac (Ari's brother) may have a few young Thai girls searching for them on Facebook... they seemed to be impressed! 

After class, I went home with Ari, as tomorrow is Teacher's Day! This means... bum bum bum- no classes again! How great, right? America, get the hint- teacher's day is a necessity I believe...  We are going to the Red Lotus Sea with Sirilak's family and then a historical museum thing, as well as a sheep farm. Shortly after getting home, we all jumped into the truck with Sirilak's husband's brother. He is in town visiting- he's also a senior in college, so we have something to talk about at least! His name is Foe? Not sure if that is the correct spelling, but that's how it would be spelled phonetically.

After walking around the lake, Ari and I grabbed some fruit smoothies and waited for the others. It was quite cool in Thailand today, and so Ari and I both had on sweatshirts and yoga pants- strange to call it "cool", still! 

After the walk, we went to UD town for dinner. We ate food at an outdoor food court, which was pretty neat. Ari and I tried pizza, which had tomatoes, lemon grass, mushrooms, and onions on it... look at us thinking outside the box and trying new things!

On the way home, the WORLD'S BEST THING HAPPENED.

WE SAW ELEPHANTS. 

JUST WALKING DOWN THE STREET.

Yes, I realize that people shouldn't encourage the elephant owners to bring them into the city, because it's horrible for them, but you have no idea how unbelievably neat it was to see them, feed them, and touch them. THEY ARE HUGE! Way bigger than what I pictured- it was a bit of a shock.

I am still smiling- I just might have a bit of Elephant fever!

Xoxo Kenzkeg

No Teaching on Tuesday

Because the students had testing (midterms...gross), Ari and I were free for the day, which meant a great day to go over to the University (UDRU) to visit. Technically, we are students there, so it was probably about time that we made an appearance. Dr. Denny showed us around the school, as well as took us to two different classes where we were able to meet and talk to students. You have no idea how great it was to simply have conversations with people that were 21 and 22 years old. That was the best feeling in the world- you don't know how valuable something is until you aren't able to have it. That leads me to give a special shout out to all of my friends back home- thank you for talking to me for the last 21 years; I would have been incredibly lonely without you. The students were great; they asked us about our home lives and we asked them question after question as well. Two of the students spoke English very fluently, which made it much easier to communicate with them. They would then translate to the others for us, and visa versa. We asked them the typical questions any college student would ask...

-what do you do for fun on the weekends?
-where do typical college students live?
-is it normal for most students to head off to college in Thailand?
-Do most college students go out on the weekends?
-what is a "typical" date? Where do you go?

(I know we asked a million more, but those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.)

After meeting with the two classes, we went out to lunch with Denny and Dr Panayuth Choeybal, a professor at the university. We then walked 
around the campus and talked about Thailand as a whole, as well as shared
 stories about the culture and how different it is from the states.

After school, I went for a run through the neighborhood. I now know better
than to go a certain way, as two stray dogs started barking at me and then 
chased me when I kept running... it was terrifying.

Only in Thailand...

Xoxo Kenzkeg

Monday- Fail.

Monday- what a day...

If there was one word to sum up this attempt at a day, it would be, "FAIL". 

To start out, the internet wasn't working last night, so Ari and I couldn't connect with anyone back home, which was the one thing we wanted to do after a long and BUSY weekend. We also couldn't blog or watch a movie, which were the next two things on our to do list. Because that was a bust, we simply went to bed.

This morning was a STRUGGLE to get up, as the alarm came about four hours too early for my liking. After finally rolling out of bed, Ari and I attempted to get ready. We went to Auntie's school for the day, which was another very interesting experience. Besides one student, not one person there spoke English. That was problem number one. The second problem was that we were left alone in a classroom to teach.. without being told what to teach. We were with those students for two and a half hours... there is only so much English that a student can learn and retain in a day... we hit that mark about an hour into the day. Ari and I improvised for the rest of the time. At around eleven thirty, we met Arunrat and another teacher for "steak". Apparently, steak is something else in Thailand, as it could be any type of meat... fish steak, chicken steak, etc. Ari and I split spaghetti and fried chicken (very similar to sweet and sour chicken). 

After lunch, we headed back to our school for the last two periods of the day... well.. kind of. We got up to the class on time, and they told us that we didn't have that class during that period. Well, according to our schedule, we did! We had been given the wrong schedule, and therefore missed our first class, which was at 12:30 that day... Thank goodness for the Thai's "don't worry, be happy" attitude, as they didn't see it as a huge deal. Ari and I taught our eighth grade class the last hour of the day, laughing at ourselves the whole time.

We tried to have the class play telephone, but they were naughty and wouldn't stop cheating- it was frustrating. Also, we are pretty sure a boy set another boy's leg hair on fire during class... Ari is pretty sure she saw a flame.. I was on the other side of the room.

Only in the lives of Ari and Kenzie would this happen. All of it.

Until next time,

Xoxo Kenzkeg

Cheers to the Weekend!

Hoofta- where to begin.

Friday: we taught eighth grade again for the first time since Tuesday. We were observed by Denny the last hour of the day, and then discussed our lesson afterwards. The kids were very excited about him being there and attacked us with cameras and hugs and stuff afterwards- it was a bit much. Ari and I didn’t want to do at first, but we’ll have to do something about setting boundaries for that particular class.

After class, we went out on the town on our own. We walked from store to store and talked about life. The constant American English chatter was wonderful, mostly because the listening/paying attention level was lowered for the time being. We began to sweat a ton, and so walking the streets became not so much fun. We then took the public car (which is 10 baht… suuuper cheap) to some shops a few miles away. We found a suuper cute high end glasses/sunglasses store and spent a good hour or so looking/trying on glasses. We then vowed to return when we had the chance/ I had my glasses with. We then walked to the mall and wandered around comparing/complaining about the prices of items in the store compared to what they sell in the markets- there is an unbelievable difference between the two. Around 5:30, we got several calls from Arunrat and Sirilak asking where we were because the publc cars only go until six, and therefore, we didn’t have a ride home… Arunrat ended up picking us up with Auntie and her friend from Hong Kong. We went out to eat at some restraint where they ordered a bunch of things we didn’t know existed and forced us to try them all.

Once we were done, we hopped back into the car and headed back to my house- Ari spent the weekend with us. Ari and I literally collapsed as soon as our heads hit the pillows and were out by about nine thirty.. we went nuts on our Friday here in Thailand.

Saturday morning we woke up quite early and headed out to the Red Lotus Sea, which is a large lake covered in lily pads with red/pink lotus flowers everywhere. They only bloom in the morning for about two hours, so you have to be there during that time. Your group takes a boat and a tour guide/driver joins you for the ride. It was unbelievable. Not only was it a hot sunny day, but the flowers were gorgeous. Afterwards, Ari and I wandered around the little market place next to the lake. I bought a traditional Thai skirt to wear to school, and both Ari and I decided once I have my own classroom, I’ll just be the teacher with the cool, kinda “out there” Thai skirt. It’ll be great. For lunch, we had Vietnamese. Ari and I ate some sort of pork with Arunrat, Auntie, and their friend from Hong Kong. We also had spring rolls that were quite tasty!  We then headed back to the house for “naptime” before going out for the night. We must still be suffering from some Thai sleeping disease or jetlag, because Ari and I slept for about two hours Saturday afternoon… After getting about ten hours of sleep the night before- we decided that wasn’t okay! Once nap time was done, we went to UD Town and some parts of walking street to window shop- some of the things you can find are ridiculously cheap- shoes for three or four dollars each, my friends! Also, I almost got Ari to buy a pair of Crocs, so I must be rubbing off on her!

At about nine thirty Saturday night, Arunrat took us out to a bar. So yes, we went out for the first time in Thailand with three 50 something year old women, one of which didn’t even speak English. And did we drink, you ask? No, we had sprite… So Ari and I sat for about two hours drinking sprite, watching the band without understanding what they were saying, and semi-attempted to have a conversation between the two of us. It was, however, very noisy, so very little actual conversation went on. Dancing, however, was hilarious to watch. In Thai bars, apparently, people do not simply go to the dance floor or by the stage to dance.. Oh no no. If you like the music/want to dance, you stand up, push in your chair, and dance right next to your table. The awkward level is quite high, as people around you are still sitting and just stare at you, especially if you look differently than them. Auntie took us home at around midnight, but Arunrat stayed out with friends until two… whatta party animal.

Sunday morning, we were up bright and early again, as we had a wedding to go to. What an experience that was. Thai weddings could not be further from an American wedding. Not only was there really not a ceremony, but there really wasn’t structure at all. For example, a lady narrated the whole thing and people came and went as they pleased. Ari and I went out into the sunshine for a while because it was freezing inside the building. Also, the outfits that EVERYONE wears are super elaborate. Every single person that attends the wedding dresses up in fine silk (they all look like the mother of the bride/groom). Fun fact as well: only the relatives get to eat the huge cake that could feed a town.. Ari and I actually were forced to participate in the ceremony and brought a flower thing down the aisle. That was interesting as well, considering we didn’t even know who the bride and groom were. Apparently, everyone is invited when it comes to a wedding; it doesn’t matter if you know them or not. The food was very elaborate as well, but not my cup of tea.

After the wedding (we left at noon…), Arunrat’s sister took us back to the mall that we went to on Friday- that was nice, and we finally got to take the public car home, which I thought was fun in its own tourist way. It’s not that exciting, obviously, for Thai people, as Arunrat laughs at me when I get excited about it.

Ari and I made Mac N Cheese for dinner and made Arunrat try it- she actually liked it!

Also, one of the dogs must not like us, because he peed on my pillow and towel… but Ari touched them last- I think he doesn’t like her! Ari started crying from laughing so hard- we are causing quite a corruption here in Udon Thani.

On Mondays, we don’t teach until the afternoon, so we are visiting Auntie’s school in the morning- I’ll let you know how that goes!

Xoxo Kenzkeg

"What Do You Like to Do?"

I will blog for the last two days, as I literally got home yesterday (Wednesday), and plopped down on my bed in exaggeration for how tired I was... and never got up again. That was at 5:30 pm. Therefore, I literally slept for 12 hours... I didn't even think that was possible, especially on a school night. 

Yesterday, Ari and I spent the day with seventh graders. We taught them other responses to "how are you?" besides "fine, thank you". They say that, but we don't think they actually know what it means. It is simply something they have been taught to say to greet us at the beginning of each class period. We then taught them how to ask, "what do you like to do?" and had them answer with, "I like to ________". They practiced each question/answer set with a partner as Ari and I went around the room checking their English. For most of the students, it was actually easier for them than with the eighth graders the first two days. We aren't sure why, but it may have something to do with their previous teachers, whether that is good or bad? We introduced the kids to charades, telephone, and hangman as well to practice their sentences, communication, and listening skills. A few of the kids really got into charades, and were willing to attempt some of the funniest things. One boy's sentence was, "I like to play baseball", and he hiked up his pants, pointed to left center, and gave the biggest imaginary swing of his life. It was hilarious. A boy today decided to make his sentence, "I like to moonwalk", and actually did it! Ari and I laughed hysterically, as did all of the students. Some of the girls came up afterwards and said that they loved my laugh... how funny!  

 For lunch, two of the Thai English teachers took us out to lunch at Mcdonalds... neither of them had ever had it before, so it was fun to see them attempt. First of all, they walked up to the drive through to order... We had to direct them towards the door. They then sat down, and we had to direct them to the register where you have to order. It was quite funny! They also cheated and didn't even order Mcdonalds food... they ordered the one Thai meal that the Mcdonalds offered... Ari and I had them each try a french fry for good measure. 

In the afternoon, we taught the same lesson and one of the classes begged their homeroom teacher to let us come back to them later that day... So we said yes, of course! We have to stay on their good sides ;) We thought we were just going to be there to help answer questions, etc., but nope! the teacher sat down in the back and told us to teach food and drink... so we attempted. Thankfully, Ari and I are both decently quick on our feet, and so it worked out great. We added on to our lesson from the morning, and had them work on, " I like to drink ___________" and "I don't like to drink _______". We played a variety of games for them as well. As semi-stressful as this was, it's almost something that education students should have to do in front of a class- no lesson plan, no talking about it before, just winging it! You never know when the technology is going to fail or you are going to attempt to teach something the kids already know.. This was seriously the best training in becoming a teacher I could have asked for! 

Some of the students asked us to take pictures and stuff like that again, which was fun for us. It's amazing how much the students enjoy our company and want to talk to us, even if it's just "hello!" from across the street. This is one of the biggest things I will miss when I have to come back to the US. Not only do the students like us, they want us to teach them things. How many American students do you know that admire their teachers that much? Very few, especially in the middle and high school settings. I love it! Today, a student gave Ari and I presents... like wrapped and everything... and we hadn't even taught her class yet! It was the sweetest thing ever!

After school, Arunrat and Auntie took me to an American grocery store where I was told to pick out things I like. I grabbed some deli meat, some crackers, cereal, and mac 'n cheese, just for those nights when I am on my own... they are nice to have. 

When we got home, like I said before, I literally passed out with my purse still on and everything... I was tired.

Oh, and today,
all teachers are supposed to wear orange because it is Udon Thani's color. Arunrat and Sirilak didn't tell us, so we didn't quite fit in today... as if we don't stand out enough. Next week though!

As for my night tonight? I just finished my dinner and am now simply waiting for it to be eight pm, which makes it 7 am back home and an acceptable time for some people to be awake. Markie's setting his alarm- whatta gem. 

Today, we were asked on more than one occasion if we will come back after our two months is up, and my response is always, "If I can convince a few people to come back with me!" That response is coming more and more true every single day- I adore Thailand!


Xoxo Kenzkeg

Weasuur vs. Weather

Today (Tuesday the 7th) was very similar to yesterday when it comes to the school day. Ari and I had a great time teaching three classes how to say "how are you?" and ask about the weather. We also had the students teach us how to say "how are you?" in Thai, and were thrilled when we were able to semi-do it. Rolling my "r"s is basically impossible, so none of the words quite sound the way they should. However, this is one of the reasons that many of the Thai students are unable to say "rainy", "weather", "cloudy" the way Americans do. We also taught a Thai English teacher how to pronounce orange. They really over-pronounce the "N", so it comes out a bit off. We also visited a class and the teacher had us explain Minnesota and our lives to them. They were literally appalled by the temperatures back home... although, to be honest, I am equally appalled with my hometown at the moment- temperatures this low are NOT okay... The students then asked us questions, like what our favorite color is, what is our favorite song, what is our mother's name, do we have boyfriends (they really laughed hysterically at that one when it was asked..), etc. They also thought the name, Mark, was the weirdest thing ever. Ironically, it's a much more common name than Ari and Kenzie, which they were perfectly fine with apparently... 

For lunch, we went out with Arunrat and a few of the English teachers. It was nice to speak in English with people that understand much of what we are saying. We had pasta with ham in it, which was quite tasty.

And what am I doing for the rest of the evening? I am sitting. I haven't done much of that over the past week (Holy cow, it's been a week already!), and so it is nice to sit and relax. However, netflix and hulu do not work in Thailand, and therefore, I am stuck with the computer... Which is wonderful, but would be more entertaining without the time difference! 

Don't freeze!

xoxo Kenzkeg

Fish Out of Water

I know many of you were anxiously awaiting this post… Refreshing the page over and over again until you heard how our day of teaching went… well, at least I hope one person checked at least once! If you didn’t know, a usual first day of student teaching is observing the host teacher teach the class so that you become familiar with the curriculum, procedures, and the students before jumping in. Well, that was not the case for us today. Never has the phrase, “a fish out of water” fit my life better. But for the first half of the day, we sat in our “office” that we share with two science teachers…not sure why we are there, but we have our own desk, so that’s fun. Ari and I taught two classes today of English. Not the English we were trained for (communication arts and literature), but ESL classrooms. The students were eighth graders, so about 14 years old. Some of them can decently speak, but for the most part, they can say good morning very well… That’s it. Not knowing where to start, we thought we could focus on the weather. Have you ever thought about explaining the word weather? Without being able to speak the language the rest of the class speaks? Let me tell you, it’s difficult. I really want to send a “thank you” card to every single one of my Spanish teachers that tried to attempt to teach a girl that couldn’t care less about the language. It’s a tough thing to do, especially for middle school students.

After attempting to explain what the word weather means, we had them practice communicating using that word. They got in partners and asked each other, “how is the weather?” and their partner would answer, “the weather is _______”. We taught them the words: hot (Thailand), cold (Minnesota), sunny, rainy, and cloudy. We drew pictures to help them understand as well. The classrooms have little technology, so we used a white board for our lessons. I haven’t been in a classroom without a smartboard while teaching ever, so this was an experience as well.

Once the students had discovered that “the weather is sunny”, we moved on to the phrase, “how are you?” with responses like, “I am ___________ (good, bad, sad, mad). Hopefully, these things made sense to at least half. We used actions for several of these. Good always had thumbs up, and I’m pretty sure I stomped on the floor for mad, so there’s that…

For lunch, a nice teacher took us to lunch across the street. Apparently there is no such thing as cafeteria duty or anything like that! Kids just simply wander where they want to- MUCH different than schools back home. However, when we were done for the day, 4 students took pictures with us. It was almost like being a celebrity… Ari and I felt legit, despite the sweat glistening on our foreheads. If only we had a makeup artist to help us out like all the actresses do!

For dinner, Dr. Denny, who is our university supervisor, took us, our host families, his own family, and several other professors from UDRU (Udon Thani’s university) out to BARB-B-Q. This is, in fact, the Thai version of barbequing. It was quite the experience. Words and pictures do not do it justice. You order raw meat, sea food, and veggies and then you fry it on your plate. When it’s done, you can dip it in multiple sauces. Afterwards, we had ice cream. And why wouldn’t the chocolate chip ice cream have coconut jello squares in it? Just a day in the life of Thailand.

So apparently, I’m a teacher. I also am quite successful at using chopsticks. I am also famous.

Or simply an American girl in Udon Thani, Thailand.

Xoxo Kenzkeg

Blessed Beyond Measure

This morning, I was a bit whiny... it may not have come off in my blog, but I was definitely feeling a bit sorry for myself. Everyone told me I would have a bit of culture shock, but it certainly isn't something you can prepare for. However, there were many things that I simply wasn't thinking of this morning.

I am incredibly blessed. I am incredibly blessed for the life I have lived so far. I am incredibly blessed to have the family and friends that I do. I am incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to travel to the beautiful country of Thailand. Thanks to the wonderful God upstairs, I am able to do and see many things that others simply do not have the opportunity to have.

As I travel around Udon Thani, there are many people that have simply not had the financial means that I have and have had throughout my life. For example, I am sitting typing this on my laptop while my nook lays beside me next to my phone and Ipod... If that isn't ridiculous, I don't know what is. People living outside in shacks is a common thing here, and it breaks my heart. Every single time we pass one, I say a little prayer that those people are happy and that no harm comes their way.

When God began showing me all the wonderful things in Thailand, as well as how blessed I am, I was able to have a fantastic day. Not only did I successfully use chop sticks, I also was able to eat some pork balls and noodles (a traditional Thai dish) and didn't hate it! Would it be something that I chose to eat on a daily basis? No, but I could eat it again! My favorite part of the restaurant was the roosters and chickens casually walking around the tables. Yes, it was an outdoor place, but it was still funny to see.

After lunch, we headed to the department store (and by department store, I mean five story shopping mall..). Arunrat and Auntie had a few errands to run and we ran into Ari and Sirilak there as well. Ari stayed with us for the rest of the day and came back to my house with us. We hung out for a while before going to the park for the late afternoon/evening. We walked around the lake where HUGE fish lived and had fruit smoothies. While eating our smoothies, we met up with Sirilak while my family ate hot soup and chatted. We compared our lives back home to their lives here- it's amazing how similar yet different the two worlds are. We also took a picture by the huge rubber duck in the lake... nobody is quite sure why it is there, but they heard that yellow ducks symbolize peace. Ari and I decided that there should be more yellow ducks in the world then!

Tomorrow is day one of teaching, so it's time for bed!

I thank God for the wonderful day I had, as well as all of you wonderful people back home! I miss you all!

xoxo Kenzkeg

discoveries

I promised an update on the meal... Let's just say Shrimp and Broccoli soaked in oyster juices isn't exactly my cup of tea. However, just so everyone is aware- I do officially eat oranges now! Turns out, I like the taste of a good ole orange way better than some other things, so I've eaten several! Maybe it just took a trip to Thailand to get me over my fear of weird textured food. 

After dinner, I literally opened up my computer, and fell asleep within five minutes... what an eventful night huh? I don't think I went to bed before midnight my entire college career, but when I go to a foreign country, I have fallen asleep at 8:00 pm three days in a row... must be jetlag still? Let's hope!

This morning, I woke up at seven... what a treat that is, and have spent the last four hours looking up things that Ari and I want to do while in Thailand, getting ready for the day, and catching up with friends back home. 

Here are some of the random things I have learned in my short time here:

-it is winter right now and it is cold. Arunrat wore a turtleneck sweater yesterday.

-there is no need for a shower curtain or door, the water just goes toward the drain.

-absolutely no rules for the road.

-Thai people love their seafood.

-A smile goes a loooooong ways, especially when you have no idea what a person is saying to you.

-there is no need for carpet. Absolutely everything is tile, including the yard/driveways. 

xoxo Kenzkeg

First Taste of Udon Thani

Dinner with Ari and her host family consisted of pizza… surprise surprise I again didn’t try anything new.. However, the pizza was delicious and did remind me of home away from home, which was quite nice. I also learned that in Thailand, they dip their pizza in nacho cheese…. Not sure why we Americans do not do that! After all, what could go wrong with more cheese added to pizza?! After that, we walked around some small stands in a shopping market. I found Toms for $20.00, and our host moms bought us Udon Thani shirts to wear at a conference that was today (Saturday). They also got us bell things to wear in our hair. It was fun to see all the things that were being sold- I wanted to buy quite a few, but don’t worry mother, I controlled myself!

After we were done shopping, I literally crawled into bed, which meant I was asleep by 8:00 pm… for the second night in a row. I am really living it up in Thailand, let me assure you!

Today (Saturday the 4^th), I was up by five thirty (serves me right for going to bed at 8). I got ready for the day, as we were going into the school at eight for a conference. Ari and I were introduced to the teachers and we were able to meet our host teachers (we think they are anyway..) and somewhat learned the curriculum. I will be teaching 8^th grade and Ari is teaching 7^th, but we will be teaching together for most of the time because we don’t have class during the same time. I’m pretty sure that’s what they meant, but maybe not. We also met a teacher that was the drama instructor- she was precious and definitely belonged on stage. Because the conference was completely in Thai, we were able to leave after break and Ari’s host mom brought us back to her house to hang out for a while. We wish we could have gone site seeing for awhile, but we weren’t sure where to go by ourselves. However, we were able to spend some quality time out in the sun, which is more than anyone else can say that is currently reading this, as it is negative back home ;)  I also got a tour of the village on the back of a motorcycle, so there's that.

As for what I’m doing now? After going grocery shopping with Auntie and Arunrat, I am now laying in my bed typing this and listening to “Let it Go” from Disney’s Frozen in typical kenzkeg fashion.

Also, fun fact for you all: Pandora doesn’t work in Thailand….

Wish me luck on dinner- it’s shrimp and broccoli.

Xoxo Kenzkeg

Getting There

Hello everyone! It's been quite an experience so far, so now that I have a few moments, I'd love to tell you all about it.

First thing's first- the flight to get to Bangkok, Thailand...

Our flight left at 5:55 am on the 31st- turns out, my list of fun things to do on New years eve does not include sitting on a plane.. On a bright side, I was able to see my Samantha Mcgaffee while in the Denver Airport (one of our layovers). After seeing Samantha, however, we learned that our flight was going to be delayed. Immediately both Ari and myself became incredibly nervous, as we only had a 1.5 hour layover in Tokyo between flights. Our 12 hour flight to Tokyo ended up being delayed a total of two hours, which added to more sitting around and reading in the Denver airport. Now, I haven't ever flown a long flight like this before, and I actually really enjoyed it. Each seat had it's own individual television where you could pick from a variety of movies and television shows to watch, as well as music.... let's just say I loved Despicable Me Two, Princess Bride, and Glee. They even provided us with ice cream, which for those that now and understand me, I was absolutely thrilled! Once we arrived in Tokyo, we learned that we did in fact miss our flight (30 of us missed it actually), and were told that we would have to go through immigration, get our checked bags, and report to a shuttle bus, who would take us on an hour drive to another Tokyo airport to fly with a different airline. Special shout out to United Airlines for this fun experience.... However, it ended up okay, however, because we were able to see a bit of Tokyo... How many people can say they've spent time in Tokyo, Japan? 

After finally leaving Tokyo, we went on an eight hour flight to Bangkok... Let me remind you, that with the time difference (12 hours), we arrived at 5:00 am on the second of January... Our flight to Udon Thani was scheduled for the third at seven am (whoopsie- my bad) and so we had the day to spend in Bangkok once we found a hotel..

With the help of Ari's host-mom, we found a hotel that was cheap... $20.00 cheap actually. After showering and actually making ourselves look decent, we took the hotel shuttle back to the airport to get on the Bangkok version of the light rail. We took that to the end of the line, and then had to get a taxi to get further. 

THIS IS WHEN THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING EVER HAPPENED TO ME.

I waved down a cab for the first time ever in my life... I was actually proud of myself! I asked him to take us to the Grand Palace in Chinatown; he looks at me like I'm stupid, tells me no, and drives away...... let's just say it was awkward, and Ari had to flag down the next couple. 

We ended up getting a Tuk Tuk (which is 3 wheeled taxi thingy) to the Siam mall.. it's a 3 part mall and is HUGE. The prices, however, were about the same as the US, and you all know how cheap I am... so I didn't have anything. Ari and I actually had Subway for our first Thai meal.... sorry to all those I promised to eat cool food for.... I did have Gelato on a stick though! I think that's pretty neat...

After the mall, Ari and I finally got a taxi to take us to China town, but once we arrived, another Tuk Tuk driver convinced us that we needed to see a few more sites first, so we went with him to some specialty silk producers and a temple. We learned afterwards that Tuk Tuk drivers get gas coupons from certain stores if they bring tourists to them.... thanks Tuk Tuk driver... After arriving back at the grand palace, we took pictures and stuff (didn't actually pay to get in, so we just stood outside). By this time, it was about four, and we were tired, so we took a Tuk Tuk and the light rail back to our hotel... and passed out by 8pm. 


AT 7 AM WE FLEW OUT OF BANGKOK AND FINALLY ARRIVED IN UDON THANI!!!!!

After four days of traveling, we finally made it to Udon Thani where our host moms were ready to great us. I was actually dropped off quickly, as Arunrat had to go to work. I showered, unpacked my things in my new room, and read a book and a half.... surprise surprise. it is unbelievable how relaxed and beautiful the environment is here... Half of my new house is simply outside. They don't really have screens and everything is wide open. I read outside for most of the day actually- Hope you all aren't freezing back home!

Tonight, we are meeting Ari for dinner- I'll keep you posted on how the food experience goes for me!

XOXO kenzkeg