Saturday, 18 September 2010

School's out Forever!

Well not quite, as a teacher I go to school four times a week. Tuesday and Wednesday in secondary school and Thursday and Friday in Primary School. It's quite fun. the other day me and Anna did our first joint lesson teching fruit to Battong three and four (years three and four. I think.) They're enthusiastic and totally loved playing 'slap the board' at the end. School on the whole is fairly laid back. The students don't do an awful lot of work, the teachers answer their moblies in class and the children just walk in and out all the time. As do stray dogs. And lesson times aren't really set. We gathered that they were all on the hour every hour but apparently it's perfectly normal for the whole class to turn up fifteen minutes late. But they're generally well behaved so I can't really complain. Except the boy we've dubbed 'Devil Child' already.

Okay Beth asked about lizards 'and shizz' they're very cute and we have loads living in our house. They hide behind bookcases, run up the wall and eat the insects so they're good roomates! And there are alot of insects. Ants are always around, as are spiders and mosquitos which are mysteriously attracted to clean laundry for some bizzare reason. There's also huge dragonflies and huge butterflies and huge bee/wasp/hornet things. The last two are the only ones that really freak me out though.

Lauren mentioned weather. It's really really hot all the time and it rains heavily everyday for a few hours- usually in the evening though so it cools everything down for the night. I have to sleep with a fan on still. It's getting colder though (hurrah) and temperatures my even dip to 24 degrees! (shock, horror)

My after school anglish class went fine but it's funny because Anna is Scottish so whatever she teaches them, they repeat in her accent. Amusing! She says the same about me but I can't see it myself. :)

Going to Mukdahan tomorrow ( check the Lonely Planet guide Mum!) for shopping and generally doing some touristy things for once. Sawat Dee Ka!

Sunday, 5 September 2010

Blood, Sweat and...Rice?

Okay so there wasn't that much blood. Just a tiny bit from where I cut my toe on some grass. Yes grass. It was sharp. Today we went to grow rice with some of our Thai students/friends, two are twins and they live on a rice farm just outside the town where we're staying. We waded into the paddy fields and stuck green shoots in the mud. It was alot of fun but I couldn't do it for an entire day. I ended up losing both my shoes when I got stuck in the mud and so I am a pair of flip flops down. In November it's harvest time so we'll be back for more! (and armed with a much more secure pair of shoes) So beware, the next batch of rice you eat could have been grown by yours truly. Food for thought indeed.

In other news, me and Anna (my partner) moved out of our host family's house and into our own lovely accomadation. It's a three bedroom three bathroom bungalow with proper showers! ( we've been dunking our heads in buckets for the past week) Our host family threw us a kind of leaving party and many people came. They held a special welcoming ceromony for us which entailed every guest tieing a white string around each of our wrists and wishing us health, happiness etc. It was so nice but now I have aroung thirty white (well greyish now really) strings on my arm that I can't take off for three days otherwise I'll get bad luck.

That's it for now so Sawat Dee Ka!

 Oh and tomorow I'm giving my first after school english lesson so wish me luck...