Amy and Monica Take Thailand: Week 3

     Week three starts off strong with the Loi Krathong festival. Last Friday, we made our gorgeous floating lanterns and Sunday was the day to be in a parade and send off our offerings to the water goddess.

These are just some pretty ones.

I liked the flowers on this one.

     It was actually a really fun day. We spent Sunday day time just relaxing (I think?) And then by the time the parade rolled around everyone was ready to get going. We all hopped on to a songtow and Martin took the best picture of us loading up that songtow. Unfortunately, I can't find the picture.

     We got to where the parade started and took a bunch of pictures of everyone all dressed up in their outfits and attempted to get some float pictures taken. And then, just when we thought we were only going to watch the parade, we’re actually told that we’re in it. So we line up to wait for the parade to start--which took quite a long time, I might add—and continuously had pictures of us taken by millions of people. And we were on TV!!! So that was a bonus.

Floats!

Costumes!

Fish!

Band!

People!

Our Loi Krathong teacher!

This girl got carried the whole way.

She's in a lotus flower!

     There was also this band that was really close behind us the whole time. It drove my friend Jill insane because she thought they were torturing her on purpose. It was one of the funniest things ever. And then she felt guilty for wanting to put in ear plugs because she was afraid of getting caught on camera being “rude.”

     After the parade, we made our way down to the beach. I thought the beach looked really nice because there was a full moon and everything, so I tried to take a picture of the serenity of the moment and all I got was this:

     Next up was lighting the Krathongs which was a hassle in itself because it was so windy out, but I got mine lit, and Monica got hers lit, and we wandered off into the water in an attempt to launch them out to sea! And right now this sounds wonderful and beautiful I’m sure, but actually, it was wavy, the Krathongs kept getting overturned in the water, and there were rocks on the ocean floor. So it was not as ideal as you would imagine. But we tried our best to make it past the waves.

Get ready ......

Get set ....

FIRE!!

So much flame!!

Just before we head in.

Some Krathongs placed on the beach.

Into the water we go!

BE FREE!!

... or die with the waves.

     Monday and Tuesday was spent at the English camp with a Thai school in Hua Hin. Both days, my partners were South Africans and overall the days were really fun. And extremely exhausting by the end of it. Both days I taught basically the same groups of students, primary students up to high school level students. On the first day the lesson we presented was Under the Sea, and the second day lesson was rooms in the hospital. And I took pictures of the younger kids jumping all over my partners.

This little bugger kept trying to block the girl.

"Teacher!! Teacher!! Picture!!"

Dog pile!

I would have kept them.

Even if they're disruptive.

Necessary vulgar trashcan picture.

All the school at the morning assembly.

The kindergartners.

 

"Smile!"

"Make a funny face!"

High fives for everyone!

     Wednesday was a recuperation day with our TESOL course where we just discussed what we learned from camp and then were taught how to do a reading lesson plan. And it was Monica’s last day in class!! I held myself together better this week than I did when the news was announced. I went to the mall with Monica after class and we went with a big group to get Mexican food for dinner.I still had to finish writing my lesson plan at the end of the night while Monica packed, and her final suggestion to me was to name my superhero for my reading lesson, ClimbX.

Enchiladas!

     Then that fateful Thursday came. I had to say goodbye to Monica as I left for class and I was feeling pretty confident about my lesson plan. I stopped downstairs with Danni and we chatted a bit (she had also finished her TESOL course and was supposed to go to the hospital for her swollen ankles – but not until after hanging out with Monica until she left). And when I told Danni about my story, she said, “The boys are going to give you a lot of crap about that ClimbX character.” I said that I could handle it.

     Before I had to present my lesson plan though, I got great news! Neung called me over to talk to me and wanted to tell me about my placement! I made the mistake of saying “What?” And she thought I didn’t understand her when really I was just surprised. But nonetheless, I was told I had a placement in Lat Yao, which is in the province of Nakhon Sawan, teaching secondary and high school level students. I accepted immediately and Neung was both surprised and grateful. And I was told I wouldn’t leave until next Thursday, and I would travel with another girl from our program, Grace.

     But boy was I wrong about handling the presentation of my lesson. I presented my lesson, passed out the story I wrote about this superhero and people just ran with it. Someone asked me for how to say the superhero’s name and I said it, but emphasized the “b” in “climb.” It was all to no avail. My reading lesson was meant for beginners, and was only four sentences long. It went like this:

                ClimbX is a new superhero. He can climb fast. He saves kittens from trees. People love ClimbX.

If, at this moment, you have no idea why this is such a terrible story, read it out loud, realize what “ClimbX” sounds like, and then think of what else a “kitten” could possibly be. Welcome to the world of dirty minds.

     Through all of this, the whole class is busting up laughing, I’m standing up at the front with tears streaming down my face I’ve been laughing so much. My face is bright red. And I can’t even hear if my instructor is telling me to sit down or not. But I stood up there like a trooper and dug myself a deeper hole. The point behind a reading lesson is to ask questions to check for understanding. And one of my inference questions was “Who else can ClimbX help?”

     At the end of the day, really I came out the winner. I got the whole class involved. Everyone had a great laugh, and the story of “one of the most innocent people telling one of the dirtiest stories ever” will go down in history in our instructor’s book.

     I texted Monica to report back to her about it and she was like, “OH MY GOSH! I didn’t realize!” I still don’t believe her.

     That night, I went with Jill and another South African boy to go see Catching Fire. It was legit!! But man, I thought previews in America took too long, in Thailand you’ve got 30 to 45 minutes of previews in English and in Thai, commercials, and then finally the King’s Song. You have to stand for that and it’s a pretty song in Thai that accompanies a slideshow of the King’s life. And this King has been King for a while, so there were some old-school remastered black and white photos as well as more recent ones in color.

     Friday was another lesson plan, this time a listening lesson. And I had the brilliant idea to do it about rap music. Especially since now I had a reputation to live up to, I couldn’t spoil it on one of the last days of class. So I wrote a rap to the tune of Biggie Small’s “Can I Get With Ya” and rapped a bit in front of the class. After the rap, the lesson plan got pretty complex and I struggled, but my teacher told me that if I just present it with confidence, then I should be okay.

     Friday night, a group of us went to visit Danni in the hospital since she hadn’t been released yet. And we at least got to be there when they finally let her go. She said overall the experience wasn’t too bad. They spoke English well and the bed was comfy and she got some good meals. So that was good to hear. Then we went out to dinner at a local Thai spot, got some pretty bomb food, and headed back to the hotel.

Along the way  I also made my friends take a picture of me with this statue.

     Then that night was the one night that I decided I would go out to see what “downtown Hua Hin” looked like. And it was the most drama filled night of all time. The minute we got there I was expected to console someone, and people were getting mad at each other left and right and I never really understood what was going on. So at this point, because of that experience, I wouldn't recommend it.

But I did have a pretty bomb cheeseburger.

     Saturday morning, Jill and I were supposed to go to a floating market. But it was raining again that morning, and I texted Jill to ask her about it, and she slept through her alarm. So we didn’t go to that. By this point, many people had left the hotel we were all staying in, so Jill and I hung out, watched a terrible movie called “Drinking Buddies” (I do not recommend this movie) and then I studied for my TESOL final exam.

Meet Jill.

     That night, we went to a different night market called Cascada. We were definitely the only two white people at this market. But it was kind of cool because some of the students from the English camp recognized me and said “Hello teacher!” as we walked by their booths. And I finally bought some appropriately-length teacher skirts. Plus an extra button up shirt or two.

Break dancing boys.

Street performer.

Dessert!!

     But the highlight of this market was when we left the shopping part and went next door to go get some food. Jill had told me a horror story about eating basically crushed squid, and where she decided to get her Pad Thai from was directly next to a stand where they were doing that exact thing. It looked like they were just pushing the squid through a pasta maker to flatten it out. We’re both looking at it with disgusted looks on our faces and they start pointing at us and speaking in Thai and asking if we want to try. We shake our heads and say “No!” And they continue to point and laugh at us in Thai and keep offering it to us. Then the guy that Jill was buying her Pad Thai from, when he was handing it to her, he wouldn’t let go of it and kept saying “See you …?” “See you…?” And after Jill was tired of dealing with the struggle to get her bag of food she said “Yeah, see you later!” And he got so excited and said “See you later!!!” And from that moment on, Jill has gained herself a new Thai boyfriend.