Sore Butts and Fun Times

It's about time for a little update, eh? Yay! I know, I know... I'm just as excited as you. Well, here it is. Sure enough... when I said that 5 day weekends won't last for long, I was sure right. Granted, we still aren't working our fingers to nubs, but we are starting to feel a little more put to use now. Summer now has 12 or 13 classes she is teaching, and now she gets to teach a couple Matayom classes as well as her Pratom classes. She has the 7th graders. I have been bumped up to 14 classes now, from 8th to 12th grade, and no longer have Thursdays and Fridays off. I knew it was too good to be true. I don't mind, though. Going on our 4th week teaching, things have gotten a little more difficult. At first, they were just excited that they had new teachers, and we could really have done anything up front, and they would have enjoyed the class. Now that we are starting to settle in, though, it is challenging to keep the attention and interest of the classes. Yesterday, I had a challenging day trying to teach to blank stares. It is so frustrating when you ask a question or say something to someone and all they do is smile and look at their friends and speak Thai. *sigh* Most days aren't that bad though. They will always smile and talk to their friends in Thai, but most days they will put forth an effort to answer your question.

This last Friday was education day at the school. All the students from Pratom (1-6) came to Matayom (7-12), and in the courtyard was a stage where all kinds of things happened. It was fantastic! There were skits, cultural dances from different tribes (like Mong and Korin (sp?)), music, games, and contests. The color and decoration was just amazing! One thing I have really appreciated about the Thai is their use of color. They use so much of it, and it is beautiful. Thai people are so creative too! In the classrooms of the school, they had on display different projects and things that the students had made and done. On a whole, the students are much more creative than students at home in the states (at least, that's what it seems like to me). The standards here are just so high. Everything from the way they dress, smell, and look to their school projects to their celebrations and festivals have high standards.

After we finished with Education day, Summer and I hopped on our motor bike and drove into Chiang Mai (about 55 kilometers east and south). Let me tell you about driving in Thailand. It is cool! It is definitely structured, yet it's almost as if you are free to do whatever. Kind of hard to describe. The general rule that is observed is... if your car/bike/motor bike/bus/over-loaded truck/tricycle can fit/squeeze into a space, go for it! The correct side of the road to drive on is the left here, which (surprisingly) didn't take much getting used to. I haven't driven on the wrong side of the road yet. It seems natural to me now. I just hope I don't decide to drive on the left when I get back home, though. That could be fun.

We spent the afternoon in Chiang Mai, where we picked up the suit I had tailored for me and some other grocery items. It was the first time we had driven into Chiang Mai by ourselves, and we only got not-really-lost once. I am uber-excited about the fact that I can buy a fully tailored suit, pick out the fabric I would like, and pick out the style I would like, only to pay about $110 for it total. That, my friends, rocks my world! It was cool enough that I could wear it to church on Sabbath too, which was great. The only downside to driving into Chiang Mai on our bike, though, was that our butts hurt like crazy when we got back!

Some things I realy enjoy about being here: people are interested in you (maybe because we are white and American, but, in general they are just genuinely interested in other people); being a teacher receives a lot of respect-- students stand aside when you walk by, face you, and "wai" you; I get to take my shoes off and walk barefoot every time I go into a building; Thai people all say the same things when they see you-- "Where you from?" "Where you go?" "How old (are you)?" "Good morning/afternoon/evening" "God bless you" and "you so white." It's really quite intriguing.

On a side note, this last Thursday, we saw the first clouds we had seen since we got to Thailand... we were beginning to wonder if clouds even existed here. Yesterday, it actually rained here, which was wonderful. First rain since October, so I'm told. Well, that's enough for me. I hope it's enough for you. I'll see if I can't put some pictures up after this.

~M