August, 2007

Tuesday 2nd August, 2007

Well, I'm officially working at school now, so the daily updates aren't going to be so "daily" anymore...so I've started an August page.  The way I figure, if anything really cool/significant/interesting comes up, we'll highlight it with its own page.  Otherwise, we'll just give you some insights about our month.  Life is certainly taking on a rhythm now, with me going to work, and us trying to spend family time together in the evenings. 

Something interesting today:  We realized that buying frozen food (microwavable...for quick dinners, etc.) is much harder to do over here.  I picked out two frozen dinners last week...  I tried one a few days ago.  Wow, it was hot!  Tonight, I ended up eating leftovers, so Devin was going to eat the other one.  Even hotter!  (We are wimps, however, when it comes to spices.  Many of you would probably have enjoyed the heat.)

And today (Thursday) I got to go to the hospital in Si Racha for the "physical" that is required in order to get a work permit.  Of course, I had to get two chest x-rays, as the first one didn't turn out, because I was too darn big for the x-ray machine.  Good thing we don't want any more kids!  And I'm an inch taller!  They measured me at 197 cm, which converts to about 6'5".  Woohoo!  I'm getting taller.  And I weigh less than 200.  Kilograms, that is.  Lowest number I've weighed since 9th grade.  Loads of fun.

This weekend, we get to go to Rayong Resort on the beach for a retreat with the other new teachers.  Should be fun.  We'll get some cultural and language training.  But overall, it's still going great.

Rayong Resort Trip Report  -  Saturday and Sunday August 4th and 5th

First Day of School!   -    Tuesday, 14th August 2007

Reflections on the first few weeks:  Well, I thought I'd sit down and type a few things as a "reflection" about how things are going.  This may ramble a bit...but it should be fairly informative.  So...where to start?  The heat!  Wow, it's still hot here.  As soon as I step out of my air-conditioned house I start sweating.  But one thing I noticed the other day is actually something that I no longer notice:  The smell and taste of the air.  When I go outside, I don't notice the smell of the air anymore.  When I first got here, the air had a taste and smell to it that was very distinct.  And as I said earlier, it's not a bad smell...but it was very different.  I really don't notice it anymore. 

And we feel like we're turning into locals, as we "complain" when the costs get too expensive at restaurants.  Any entree that costs more than 100 Baht (about $3) seems expensive.  When we first got here, any entree under about 500 Baht seemed expensive...so as we get used to local restaurants, our cost expectations have come down considerably.  And I haven't updated my food page for a while...but I'm still doing alright with the food here.  We've found a favorite restaurant up the street.  Devin and I ate there for 300 Baht, including tip, last night.  And we were stuffed! 

Language:  Still a struggle for me...but mostly because I actually want to learn Thai.  I think I could survive here without ever learning much, as there is enough English spoken.  But I try to learn words every day.  With school starting, my time dedicated to learning language has gone way down, but I still get to try to use the language every day when I'm out and about.  That alone makes the language easier to understand.  And as I said, I now have a much larger respect for immigrants in the US that have to work hard to learn Engish...I'm doing the same here...working hard to learn Thai.  Yet I know so little...  Luckily, I get to teach in English.

Internet:  Sure is nice to have internet here, but it's not always reliable.  It seems to go down for a while almost every day.  Last week, it was out for two days at our condo.  When you get used to something and then it's gone, it seems worse than before you even had it.  So if you're ever talking to us on the phone and the call drops...just smile and wait for us to call back, even if we don't call back for a few days!

TV:  David has taken a liking to watching his cartoons in Thai.  So the other day, he was watching an American cartoon spoken in Thai. Kind of funny to see SpongeBob Squarepants talking in Thai...

My school:  Wow, what a difference.  My largest class is 14.  In 13 years of teaching in the US my smallest class was 20.  I love it!  And I certainly miss my students back home...but my kids here are great also. 

Visit to the Island Koh Larn - 25th August 2007

Monday 27th August, 2007

So...I thought I'd share this with all of you.  I logged into my Windows Live Messenger to see if anybody was online to chat with...and last time I was online, I changed my "location" to Pattaya, Thailand.  So this is what greeted me...to my surprise!

The Wai Kru Assembly at my school...and other fun stuff.   August 29th, 2007