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
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
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
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.
Xoxo Kenzkeg
Friday, January 24, 2014
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
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
Sunday, January 19, 2014
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!
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!
Friday, January 17, 2014
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
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, January 15, 2014
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.
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
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
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
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
-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
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