Caves

Today was my first day of being a real tourist. I went with Tania (Mexican), Collin (Dutch), and Donna (Australian) on motor bikes to the Blue Lagoon Cave. We rented two bikes for the day and headed out. The ride was great, the scenery even better. Again I have found out that after I get so far into a cave... I really don't enjoy it. So I waited at the entrance while the other three explored the rest of the cave. Once they came back I found out that i was 3/4th of the way into it... but i couldn't be bothered seeing the rest. I'm sitting at the computer and still have the feeling that I am moving (very strange feeling). We swam in the lagoon and over all just had a very nice day. Now it is back to the farm and I teach some more tomorrow. It is still cold here at night and in the morning. I woke up at 7:30 and my room was 64 degrees so outside was even colder! I know that it is even colder at home but if I'm freezing at 64 March is going to be miserable for me.

Week One on the Farm

Okay, an update on my last week in Vang Vieng and on the farm.










I feel like I haven't been doing a lot. My mornings are spent eating breakfast which usually takes an hour and a half. I'm having wonderful banana or mulberry pancakes and talking with my new friends or people who are just passing through. After that I usually go find a spot to sit and work on my embroidering that I started last weekend. It is a slow process but I can see my progress daily. Cara usually comes and sits with me and we talk before finally deciding that we should have lunch. After lunch I complain about having to figure out my lesson plan for the day. Cara has been wonderful and has been coming with me. English grammar is giving me a run for my money. At 2:30 we start to head to our first class. The first class changes everyday but it is 1st through 5th grade. The younger classes are so hard. The kids just can't sit still. My second class of the day is an advanced class. There are about 10 boys, 14-20 years old, and they all want to know more about grammar. This week I have been teaching about when you use "to" and "to the" in a sentence. After three lessons they got it. Next it is when you use "to + verb" and "verb + to". My last class is in the evening, it is another advanced class. For this class I have a book to follow which is sort of helpful. I am teaching about past tense. At 7:30 we come back and eat dinner with the other people who are at the farm. By the teaching has worn me out and I am nice and full so I head for my room.

The farm is great, it is away from town which I am happy about. I much rather feel lazy reading, talking, or working on my embroider rather than sitting in a restaurant all day watching Friends. It takes an hour to walk into town. The walk isn't that bad in the morning but once it gets hot it's not so much fun. This is my second time in town. I am finally able to sit down and write a proper blog entry. The farm has internet but I just briefly check my e-mail with it. It doesn't seem like there is a lot to buy here in the way of stuff to bring home. Also internet is twice as expensive as it was in Thailand.

The last few days have been cold in the morning and at night. This morning it was 62 outside! I didn't think it would get this cold and have been wearing all my warm clothing and have still been a little cold. The sun finally warmed me up on my walk into town and now I don't need my jacket anymore.

On the farm there are women who spin silk which is every cool to watch. And they are very good about using all parts of the cocoon and the worm. Last night I tried a silk worm. It tasted a little like chicken but the wrong consistency. Strange, I don't feel the need to start munching on them for a snack.

Thanksgiving was a little sad for me. This was my first Thanksgiving away from home and I felt it. My thanksgiving dinner consisted of 3 English, 6 Americans, 1 Mexican, 1 Dutch, 1 Australian, 1 Canadian, and 1 Belgium. The closest thing to anything Thanksgiving like was pumpkin soup. I am thankful that I have met so many great people along the way, that I have such a great support system at home, and that I have been able to do this trip.

Valerie, from T2T Nong Khai, is in Vang Vieng and will be staying for the week. I think she will help me teach. I haven't seen her yet. Next week, Nina, T2T Nong Khai, will come up and travel with us. I'm excited to see more of Laos and to have a week long break from teaching.

Teaching is a lot harder here. In Thailand I was teaching colors and animals... here I am teaching grammar. I have never thought about how hard English is to learn. I know I have my own problem with the language but trying to teach/explain why something is the way it is makes my head hurt. But the kids who are in my advanced class want to learn and are happy that I am there.

I know there is more I wanted to write about, but now that I am at the computer I have forgotten it. My pictures are taking a really long time to upload so I'm not sure if I will get them all up.

The Farm

I've made in to Vang Vieng and to the Organic Farm. I spent four days in the capitol, Vientiane before coming here.

I met two German girls who I stayed with for a day. When the girls left I hung out with 2 American guys, 1 English man, and an Irish couple. They had all met a few days before. It was fun listening to all their stories - they are all traveling for 1+ years. I finally met up with Jason and we hung out together and traveled to Vang Vieng. Vientiane wasn't that exciting, but it was nice to check it out. The only really great thing out of it was meeting up with the random strangers, something that I wished had happened while I was in Bangkok.

The 4 hour bus ride was so beautiful and the farm is even better. Soon I will get picture up of the mountains. I'm in aw every time I look outside. The farm is a very nice place. I have my own room and the whole building to myself. The bathroom is open to the outside and I'm still not use to cold showers. The farm is a very quite place - especially at night. During the day the farm is the starting place for tubing - so there is a little more going on during the day. Just down the river is where all the bars starts. It sounds like what I think Cancun at Spring Break might sound like. Two very different atmospheres.

Once the tubing dies down in the afternoon the locals come out. There are little kids running around playing in the sand and water. Families come down to wash their clothes in the river and to bath. It's very interesting watching the local grown ups bathing in their clothing while the little kids splash around naked.

These first few days on the farm have been very relaxing. I have been reading, writing, and people watching. I've even milked goats on the farm and have been taught how to embroider, so that is taking up most of my time these days. I really haven't done anything touristy I haven't spent more than 10 mins in "downtown". I'm loving the relaxing feeling of just being.

Yesterday I started teaching. I teach 3 hours and day, five days a week. My first class is hell. Just imagine kids climbing in and out of the window... running outside... never quite... standing on desks... yikes... I feel more like a baby sitting than a teacher... It feels more like a waste of both of our time. However, the other classes are great. The kids are older and want to be there. More teaching today. I'm teaching the difference of when you use "to" vs "the" in a sentence.

I'm not checking my e-mail every day and only for about 30 mins. I still love reading your e-mails... but just know that the response might not be as long as usual.

All is well in Vientaine

Loas is going well. I stayed with the German girls and spend the morning with them looking around. This afternoon I hooked up with a group we met yesterday. Joe's brother arrived this afternoon, I've only seen him for about 5 mins. I haven't really figured out my visa stuff yet. I'm happy to have company... meeting these people that I am meeting is what I needed but didn't have in Bangkok. I'm happy to have it now!

All is going well. I head to the farm this weekend. Vientiane isn't as big as i thought it would be... I'm not sure what I thought but this is different.

Laos

I've made it to Laos. Right now I am in the capitol (and can't remember how to spell it, plus i don't have my book with me). I think that i won't be posting as much for a little while. I need to figure things out and make it to the farm in Vang Vieng.

While crossing into Laos I met two woman from Germany. They are about my age and met on the internet. They both didn't have anyone to go with so that's how they met up. I'm staying with them for tonight and maybe tomorrow. It was so nice to have someone else to figure out where to stay and what not. I would have been in tears and was already overwhelmed when I had two other people to go with.

The money is very confusing to me... I had Thai baht down and now to try and master the kip.

My plan as of right now is to stay in the capital till Sunday. Joe W.'s brother will be meeting me tomorrow and it's my plan to hang with him while I am here. I think the German girls will only been here a day or two.

The capitol isn't want I was expecting... but then again I'm really not sure what I was expecting.

I'm excited to get to the farm and to settle into my daily routine.

English Camp

Wow, I have so much I want to write about but i think my fingers will fall off before i can finish typing everything I want to. I have spent the last four days in Nong Bua Lam Phu which is 2.5 hours southeast of Nong Khai at an English Camp. I had a fabulous time! So far I think that my time at the English Camp has been my favorite thing in Thailand.
People working in the rice field.

A man by the name of Mongkot has lead many English camps before and he came to help the school we went to with their first English camp. Alan, Susi, Valerie, Nina, and I all went. We stayed at one of the teacher's aunt's house under mosquito nets. We ate our meals at the school. We were provided breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. The food was made the the teachers, some better than others and we also went out to dinner a few times.

We were picked up on Thursday afternoon by three pickup trucks that had full backseats. We drove 2 hours before eating Korean BBQ at a restaurant. This is where you get raw meat and veggies and cook it yourself. We then drove another 30-45 min to get to the village/town we were staying in and found our living accommodations to be quite nice. The hardest part of living there were the cold showers and not having any toilet paper.
Students learning colors by playing twister.

I think we all woke up around 5am to roosters making noise. Luckily I turned on my ipod a little louder than I would have liked to drown out the outside noises. Our first day at school was Mongkot doing most of the work, he lead the warm up and got everything started. There were about 130 students around the age of 14-16th (though they looked a lot younger). We broke up into four groups, 1 volunteer for each group (and one group of two volunteers) and made up names for our groups... An intro into us teaching the children. My group were the fish. Nothing fancy but it was fun. Then we made a cloths line story. The students were suppose to make up a story and all read one of the sentences. Having 26 students in my class who didn't speak English very well was very hard. But we did it. We ate dinner at school and then were taken to these floating rafts to watch the end of the sunset and see where we would eat the next night.



Students working and the teachers and volunteers at the National Park.
Saturday, the second day, was mostly spent teaching. I taught about colors and had four classes where I was teaching the same thing. It got old after awhile and I was exhausted at the end of the day. We had Thai teacher who were suppose to help, but their English wasn't that great. The first class I taught was always the hardest, it always seemed like my group was just the slowest but I'm sure it was really me just figuring out how I was going to teach the lesson. By the fourth class I had to find more activities to do because the students were doing such a good job. We went to the raft thing to eat dinner. The raft was very cool, it's on a small lake and you pull, by steering, the raft out into the middle of the lake and then you slowly will float back to the dock. We ate good food and watched the sunset. One of the dishes we had had raw shrimp in it. However, they weren't dead when you got them so you had to shake the bowl to kill them before eating them. Valerie tired them. As Alan said it, he was scared it would give him the shits. I was taught not to eat raw shellfish and I didn't want any problems. Valerie said they were crunchy and spicy because of the sauces on it. But she didn't get sick.














Me on the raft and the group of volunteers. Left to right: Alan, Valerie, Me, Nina, and Susi.
Sunday was a half day of teaching. I started loosing my voice on Saturday so I wasn't so excited about talking too much more. I taught the first group about the months and it was a rocky class. The students didn't get how the game should work and all of the Thai teachers disappeared. I think they just didn't want to come. Mongkot had no clue what had happened to them either. Susi then came for the second group and it went much more smoothly. The afternoon was spent going to a cave. We had to climb around 600 stairs to get to the entrance of the cave. There was a big Buddha there where we caught our breath before venturing down into the cave. This cave was very big and had lights inside it so we could see but I have decided that caves are very interesting but not my favorite thing. I found this out in 7th grade camp... and reconfirmed by beliefs. At the other end of the cave there was a nice few to look at. We then went to a national park to watch the sunset above the city of Nong Bua Lam Phu... it wasn't as nice as the last two nights because there were too many clouds. The afternoon activities were only with other teachers. We went to a different Korean BBQ restaurant and had some more good food.

Monday was our last day. We got up extra early so we could take a E-tak ride around the town. The student drove us. I would call it a tracker type thing. It was fun and once I was actually on it I found that it was a lot harder to drive that I thought.
E-tak and the student getting it on the road. This is the one Nina and Alan rode on.







We spent the morning teaching. This time Valerie and I taught about telling time. We had to teach about "half past," "a quarter past," and "a quarter to". I don't tell time this way so I was having a hard time with it... plus trying to explain it to the students was quite difficult. Like always the second lesson went better than the first. I'm glad that Valerie and I were working together. The end of the day was spent getting our certificates for teaching and saying goodbye to the students.
Students working.



We all felt like superstars here. We were the first volunteers to come to the camp and the students loved us. We got all kinds of cards that said "I love you," or "you are beautiful." The students also wanted our signatures. But they had to be able to say "may i have your signature please" before we would give it to them... that way they had to use their English. On the last day it seemed like students were taking their own toys and giving them to us for gifts. At one point I had so much in my hands that I needed two students to help me carry everything to one of the classrooms. By the end of the last day it hurt to smile because i had taken so many pictures. And what i thought was funny, was that it wasn't just the kids who wanted pictures with us, but also the teachers.
All the students want to take so many pictures!

Over all the camp was great. We were all exhausted by the end. And my voice sounds horrible because i was talking so much. There is so much more that I want to be able to tell you but then I would be on the computer for hours and hours today.

They like to give kisses too.






Tomorrow I leave for Laos and while I'm excited to work on an organic farm and teach English I have made friends in Nong Khai who I am sad to leave. If everything works out I will meet up with a friend's brother and we will spend a few days in the capitol of Laos before I move on to Vang Vien. I'm having some problems figuring out visas because i want to spend 38 days in Laos and my visa is for 30. It will all work out but I have been worrying about how I will make it work. Hopefully Valerie, and possibly Nina too, will come to Laos and we will travel together. I'm still not sure if it will work out but I think it would be great if it does!

Pictures of the classroom and a little more

This is the second school I was teaching at. Grades 4-6th. I think this is the fourth grade. It was Karima, Suzanna, and I, plus we had a T2T intern Nam to help us out. Nam was the only adult who spoke Thai, the teachers let us have the class to our self.

Here I am calling on someone.

Writing on a chalk board isn't fun. I got nice and white from it.

Another day at the front of the class.

The director of our school took us out to lunch with directors from other schools. It was slightly awkward when only the director and Nam spoke both English and Thai. Suzanna in the black shirt and Karima in the blue shirt our standing next to the director. It was good food though, but the conversation wasn't that great between us and the other directors.

I was in Nong Khai for the festive Loi Kratong. We went out with the director and one of the classes to float our Kratongs. Later in the day I made my own and floated it at night.

Left to right: one of the teachers, Karima, the director, Suzanna, Nam, and Me with our bought Kratongs and big Kratongs in the background.

Nina, me, and Valerie on top of one of the temples that has a big Buddha on top.

This was the big Buddha on the temple.

Here I am with some of the fourth graders.

More on Life

I've gotten the hang of things here and my life in Thailand has now become my day to day routine. At times I forget that I am actually in Thailand. Ever day doesn't seem so exciting and I am liking the life I lead. I feel like I have a home here and we are just doing our day to day thing. It's a strange feeling. I have almost been here for three weeks and it feels like so much longer. In just a week and a half I will move on to Laos. I'm having a hard time believing it.

It was very strange being here for the election. I voted right before I left and then forgot about it for a few weeks. I did my part and didn't feel like I could do a whole lot more being half way across the world. I woke up excited on Wednesday (your Tuesday night) of the election to check the results. At the time it was too early to call it... but Obama was ahead. It wasn't till 1ish my time that I got a phone call letting me know the results. People here are happy that Obama won but I don't feel the excitement or joy that must be running through the states right now. When I come back at the end of March I will be coming back to a very different country (or at least I hope) but it will be very strange not watching the changes happen... more just hearing about them from friends and family.

People have been asking me questions so I will try and answer a few of them. First of all, look at my map! I've added even more places that I have written about and you can see how far away the school I was at is... where the pool is... I will try and add a little more. As for your questions: Nong Khai is very flat. There are a few gradual inclines that you can get a little speed going down but nothing that you have to work too hard at. Which is good because I have a one speed bike. I'm slowly learning the language. I have had three hours of Thai language lessons and have a few words that I can do, mostly I use hello, thank you, not too spicy, chicken, and a little bit. I have more words written down in a little note book that I carry around. It hard to say what the most common foods are. There is lots of pad Thai, stir fried veggies and meat with rice, fruit shakes, papaya salad, pad see u, fried rice, lots of noodle soup with beef. You can buy fish and lots of seafood type grilled things... I don't think they look appealing at all though. My favorite thing for dessert right now is a piece of dough that is fried with egg and bananas inside it, then condensed milk and sugar on top. It is so good and slightly disgusting to watch how much fat is put into it. I eat lots of fried rice, any kind of noodle dishes, not enough veggies and I have just fallen in love with the fruit shakes - banana, pineapple, ice, and something else... but i don't know what it is... sugar water maybe. It seems like everything here is fried which I am not use to so my stomach isn't always great... the fun of eating other kinds of food :(. Today I'm in a strange mood and all I wanted for lunch was a sandwich - which I was able to get at Mut Mee.

I can't even try to explain how things are different here (well I can, but I won't do it justice)... I'm starting to get use to not hearing English spoken... not seeing other Americans. I'm not in a touristy spot so seeing farang (foreigners/ to me white people) is a little strange. Seeing old men (especially the ones with pot bellies) with small Thai woman grosses me out... but I guess it is very common for whites to come to this area of Thailand to find a wife. Traffic is crazy. I always have to remember to stay to the left (which doesn't always happne)... there really aren't any rules, you just have to fend for yourself and pedestrians nor bicycles have any kind of right aways. I don't think there is a health code here and that grosses me out. Terry (my dad) taught me too well and seeing flies on my food makes me just about want to puke. Eating at a stall at night is normal. I am now thinking in terms of baht and spending 75 baht on a meal seems expensive... that is like 2.50 dollars for a meal... and a good meal too. Squatting to use the toilet is normal but I still don't like it too much. Riding a bike with bad breaks, no helmet, and no lights at night is normal now. I walk down dark streets at night that I wouldn't walk down in Seattle. I'm use to people saying hello to me and being called a farang rather than a volunteer. This list of things goes on and on.

I'm just feeling like I got the hang of things and I'm leaving... and slightly freaking out about starting all over again. I'm reading up on Laos in my Lonely Planet and even though I'm freaking out I'm really excited. So far this has been a great experience and I'm so glad that I have come. Yes, I'm excited to be home and sleep in my own bed... not worrying about whether or not I have bed bugs. To eat food that isn't only Asia and to get hugs from everyone I know! The girls here are great and I'm glad I went through a company. There are god and bad things about T2T that I won't get into my blog - but I guess I knew there would be the good and bad with any program. I have learned that I don't like traveling on my own... and because of that I don't think I get to see as much as I may want to... Bangkok being my first experience of this. Trying to keep myself safe but meeting new people is harder than I though. In a way I guess I'm not very trusting of the random stranger who wants to befriend me.

I know that there is more I want to write but when thinking about it it is all very overwhelming. When we went to Tesco today the girls went to Starbucks and it was great to be inside one... Even being so many miles away from home there are some things just seem the same. It was strange seeing the holiday cups out when they don't have the same holidays that we have at home. I'm having a hard time with the date, what day of the week it is, that it is actually November...

Oh, I think part of the reason that i am frustrated/sad/i don't know what... is that I really, really, really want to see the new James Bond movie and there is a theater here but it is in Thai! No subtitles in English or anything. That bursted my bubble today. Other than that I'm doing okay.

Last night Nina, Susi, Valerie, and I went on a MaeKong River boat ride at sunset. It was pretty but nothing extra special. These are pictures of me on the boat, the sunset, and looking back at part of a temple from the boat.

Last day at the Vocational School

Okay... a few little things. It is very hot today and I'm tired because of it. When I left the dorm about 30 mins ago my room was 94 degrees.

One of the volunteers asked if I was part Algerian. She says I look like one of her cousins with my olive skin and curly hair. She is half Algerian, half German. I thought that was a funny one.

Today was my last day at the Vocational school. Next week I am working in a primary school. I'm happy to have a change and to do something else. Because it was our last day we were given certificates saying we taught there and a little present. We met the director and took pictures... it was a little formal but I went with it. I didn't really look at the certificate or the wrapped present till I got home. When I looked at the certificate the date on it said from September 7 - October 20th. I got a kick out of that because i wasn't even in the country on those dates. Oh well. But I received a little box that will fit two lip sticks and has a mirror. From left to right: a woman I don't know, I think she worked in the office, the director, Sev, Me, George (one of the teachers), Alexis (another one of the teachers).

I'm getting into the groove of things and feel like I need to start packing up for the next place. On the 19th of November I will leave for Laos. I still have some time here but I have been thinking about my next place recently.

I think I have attached a link of where I am. Take a look. It's called "Amy's Map." Hopefully you can see where I am in Nong Khai.

Oh, I haven't actually gone into a Starbucks, but this is the second one I have found. They have the traditional holiday cups and everything. I think that is so strange! It doesn't feel like November to me at all!

I miss you all!

Pictures

Okay, today is a post of just pictures.

This is the sunset from the upstairs of the second dorm. It was a pretty one. The sun sets and then it is dark - we don't have dusk here.










This is on the boardwalk right next to the MaeKong River. The monk is staying out of the hot sun.

















Valarie and I at the pool. About a 20 min bike ride away and the water feels so good after the ride.











This is me in one of the Vocational School classrooms. It's very exciting stuff.

















These are just a few of the monks I teach!
From the left you have Khum, Seed, and Noukith all working hard on their English worksheets.









This is Jerry (from Tom and Jerry) and Chum.





Seed and Noukith listening to a Dutch songs on Nina's ipod.

Here are the monks... they are a little hard to hear/understand... they are saying hi to you all from Thailand.

More on teaching

I have been thinking about my experience teaching at the Vocational school and with the monks. Out of the two, i really like the monks and am sad that i can't work with them every day. i feel like i am actually doing something and that I am wanted there. The monks smile, work hard, ask questions, we have interesting discussions... i leave feeling good - and i love that feeling... that is the feeling that makes me want to be a teacher. I leave excited because i have had fun talking with them or repeating words that they want to know how to say.

Then there is the vocational school. Everyday is different for which class we are teaching so, for the most part, we can have two lessons for the whole week and we just repeat our self. The students are 16-18 years old, there are anywhere from 20-35 students in a class, and all they have had English before. Debbie, Sev, and i work together - three is too much for a classroom... two is just right if not too much at times. We make our lessons and explain it to the the class only to have to have the teacher re-explain the directions in Thai, which i can't understand. I think the hardest part is not speaking Thai and to rely solely on the teacher to explain what we are going to do. At times I feel that the teacher is giving the answer to the students as well because the students aren't getting it. Plus, i don't really know how much the students know or what they are capable of.

One example of what we are doing: we write questions on the whiteboard and then say a skit out loud. the students must listen to the skit and write down the answers. first of all, i think the skit is over the student's heads. The skit is of someone go to the store and buying all different kinds of food. second, we probably are talking too fast. however, we do repeat it a few times so the students can listen for the answer. third, who knows if the students even get what we are doing. we tried this again with a different skit, which was a lot easier, it was just question and answer straight out. we said the question and then the answer. the students did a good job there... we just need to find a middle ground.

Sev and Debbie were saying how they were getting frustrated with some of the students. the students would just give them a blank face when they would come to listen to the students repeat the small skit we had written out for them. yeah, it is a little frustrating but i get it. i was the kid who didn't talk for four years in Spanish unless i had to. I'm sure i gave my teachers some great blank faces when they said what we were doing in Spanish because i had no clue what my teacher was talking about. but the difference is that my teacher was able to speak English to explain what we were going to do. I'm learning that going through an interpreter is hard.

This has been a good experience. the vocational school isn't my favorite place though. I might be moving somewhere else next week depending on if sev stays longer in nong khai or if she moves on.

I'm at an internet cafe where the shift button doesn't always work so my capitation isn't working tonight. picture are also not working very well for me. i had two other ones i wanted to put up but they will have to wait.

the first picture is of one of our classes. this picture is of one of the stands by the school that we eat at.