Thursday, May 29, 2008
More teaching practices!
As of right now, I've completed three out of my six teaching practices. The second two went really well and were actually pretty fun. One of my TEFL classmates snapped some photos today of me teaching a class of 7 year olds. Photos coming soon!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Teaching Practice #1
Today was my first teaching practice. I taught about 30-35 9 year olds for an hour. I'm still trying to figure what happened.... I could really use some recovery time if I didn't have three more teaching practices this week. :(
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Ozrics
Last week, Sarah and I ended up at this bar called Ozrics and we're not entirely sure why.
The black light usage is out of control!
The black light usage is out of control!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
A Beer With Sarah At Tuskers
On Friday evening we went to Tuskers, a touristy kinda bar that's really close to our apartment. On Monday nights they have a trivia contest, when supposedly all the city's English teachers gather round. A tusker is an elephant, which I didn't realize until two day ago.
Tuskers' beer is irresistible...
A menu with more mains sounds great to me.
Tuskers' beer is irresistible...
A menu with more mains sounds great to me.
Cultural Day
This past Friday was cultural day for my TEFL course. We started off in the classroom going over cultural dos/donts. Thailand DO: always take your shoes off before entering a home or temple. Thailand DON'T: never touch a Thai's head! They consider the head the most sacred part of the body.
The first stop was an old Christian cemetary. Westerners first came over in the 1850's as Christian missionaries. They set up a number of Christian schools that still exist today (even though 95% of the country is Buddhist).
Some of my TEFL classmates...
Next we went to a Thai Wat (Buddhist temple) near the river.
Near the back of the Wat, there were buckets of animals on the ground, including fish, turtles, birds, frogs, and eels. For a fee, you could 'set them free.' Kind of weird since they capture these animals just to set them free... The parents of this little boy in the picture just bought him a cage of birds to set free. A couple of my classmates also set free birds and turtles.
One of these turtles got eaten by a catfish almost immediately after it was released in the river :(
After a cheap Thai lunch, we went to the Chiang Mai History Musuem. It was raining so I couldn't snap a good photo of the building.
Our last stop was the Tribal Museum which showcases Thailand's hill tribes that number around 500,000 people.
The Tribal Museum is actually located on a military base. This outer area of the lake is where all the restaurants/bars are for the soldiers. The museum is on a tiny peninsula that reaches the center of the lake.
Hope that wasn't too boring! We promise we'll post some cool party photos soon.
The first stop was an old Christian cemetary. Westerners first came over in the 1850's as Christian missionaries. They set up a number of Christian schools that still exist today (even though 95% of the country is Buddhist).
Some of my TEFL classmates...
Next we went to a Thai Wat (Buddhist temple) near the river.
Near the back of the Wat, there were buckets of animals on the ground, including fish, turtles, birds, frogs, and eels. For a fee, you could 'set them free.' Kind of weird since they capture these animals just to set them free... The parents of this little boy in the picture just bought him a cage of birds to set free. A couple of my classmates also set free birds and turtles.
One of these turtles got eaten by a catfish almost immediately after it was released in the river :(
After a cheap Thai lunch, we went to the Chiang Mai History Musuem. It was raining so I couldn't snap a good photo of the building.
Our last stop was the Tribal Museum which showcases Thailand's hill tribes that number around 500,000 people.
The Tribal Museum is actually located on a military base. This outer area of the lake is where all the restaurants/bars are for the soldiers. The museum is on a tiny peninsula that reaches the center of the lake.
Hope that wasn't too boring! We promise we'll post some cool party photos soon.
Friday, May 16, 2008
More Nicknames...
Today I had the distinct pleasure of teaching...
(categorized for easy perusal)
Film, Cartoon, Piano, Guitar, Fame, Copy, News, and Pop. (MEDIA AND MUSIC CATEGORY)
Mild, Nut, Ice, Donut, Mint, Oat, Milk, Peanut and Ham. (FOOD CATEGORY)
Boat and Bus. (TRANSPORT CATEGORY)
Mail and Stamp. (POSTAL CATEGORY)
Eye and Arm. (BODY PARTS CATEGORY)
Gift, Toy, and Games. (FUN CATEGORY)
Champ, Great, and Best. (BIG EGO CATEGORY)
Pee. (AWKWARD CATEGORY)
Bank, Bee, Palm, Pond, Men, Day, France, Tar, Bamboo, and Bell.
(MISCELLANEOUS CATEGORY)
and now for my personal favorites...
Beer, Fun, Fight, Dong, and Porn. (SCANDALOUS CATEGORY)
...and if you need a good rinse off after those last ones, you can always count on:
Clean and Nun. (PURE CATEGORY)
(categorized for easy perusal)
Film, Cartoon, Piano, Guitar, Fame, Copy, News, and Pop. (MEDIA AND MUSIC CATEGORY)
Mild, Nut, Ice, Donut, Mint, Oat, Milk, Peanut and Ham. (FOOD CATEGORY)
Boat and Bus. (TRANSPORT CATEGORY)
Mail and Stamp. (POSTAL CATEGORY)
Eye and Arm. (BODY PARTS CATEGORY)
Gift, Toy, and Games. (FUN CATEGORY)
Champ, Great, and Best. (BIG EGO CATEGORY)
Pee. (AWKWARD CATEGORY)
Bank, Bee, Palm, Pond, Men, Day, France, Tar, Bamboo, and Bell.
(MISCELLANEOUS CATEGORY)
and now for my personal favorites...
Beer, Fun, Fight, Dong, and Porn. (SCANDALOUS CATEGORY)
...and if you need a good rinse off after those last ones, you can always count on:
Clean and Nun. (PURE CATEGORY)
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Friendly Elephant
I was walking through this parking lot when I came across this friendly little elephant just wandering around. He seemed really hungry. Luckily I had some peanuts in my pocket.
Just kidding, that's actually just an elephant sculpture.
Just kidding, that's actually just an elephant sculpture.
TEFL has begun
Hey everyone! Apologies for not writing in a while. Since my last post I didn't really have much to do. Sarah was training for her job and it was too hot to walk anywhere during the day :(
My TEFL class started this Monday and it's been really great so far. It's good to be back to a normal schedule again. Having a full month off was cool, but it feels good to have some sort of daily purpose. In class we jumped into things right away, giving practice presentations and learning how to be great teacher. We visited a real Thai school on Wednesday, took a tour, and sat in on their awards ceremony for summer camp. Today I had to interview a real Thai student! I recorded the inverview and now I have to transcribe it, analyze their language, and build a lesson based on their needs.
The real fun begins during the 3rd and 4th weeks of the class. That's when we start our 'observed teaching practices.' Altogether I'll be teaching six hour-long sessions in different schools. WOAH. I've never really done anything like this before, so it's a bit strange, but hopefully I'll be a good teacher!
This is where I go every day. Our classroom is the 2nd floor corner room (in the middle of the photo).
On Tuesday I learned how to do this properly:
It's called a wai. There are three different wais that are used in different circumstances.
The first hour of my class every day is devoted to Thai language instruction, which has been a lot of fun. Phome Maa Jaak USA krab. That means 'I'm from the USA.' We haven't started learning the Thai alphabet yet. I'm thinking that might be a little hard...
Lastly, this is the emblem of Thailand. Pretty cool right???
Tomorrow is our "cultural awareness day." We're going to a bunch of cool, cultural-y places around town and learning certain customs and do's and don'ts. I'm hoping to get some great photos!
My TEFL class started this Monday and it's been really great so far. It's good to be back to a normal schedule again. Having a full month off was cool, but it feels good to have some sort of daily purpose. In class we jumped into things right away, giving practice presentations and learning how to be great teacher. We visited a real Thai school on Wednesday, took a tour, and sat in on their awards ceremony for summer camp. Today I had to interview a real Thai student! I recorded the inverview and now I have to transcribe it, analyze their language, and build a lesson based on their needs.
The real fun begins during the 3rd and 4th weeks of the class. That's when we start our 'observed teaching practices.' Altogether I'll be teaching six hour-long sessions in different schools. WOAH. I've never really done anything like this before, so it's a bit strange, but hopefully I'll be a good teacher!
This is where I go every day. Our classroom is the 2nd floor corner room (in the middle of the photo).
On Tuesday I learned how to do this properly:
It's called a wai. There are three different wais that are used in different circumstances.
The first hour of my class every day is devoted to Thai language instruction, which has been a lot of fun. Phome Maa Jaak USA krab. That means 'I'm from the USA.' We haven't started learning the Thai alphabet yet. I'm thinking that might be a little hard...
Lastly, this is the emblem of Thailand. Pretty cool right???
Tomorrow is our "cultural awareness day." We're going to a bunch of cool, cultural-y places around town and learning certain customs and do's and don'ts. I'm hoping to get some great photos!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
School Has Begun!
Hello all! I know it has been a little while since me (or Joe) have posted. All last week I was involved in "orientation" at the school that I am now teaching at. It was a very interesting week, to say the least. The school which I am teaching at is one of the largest in Thailand. There are over 7000 students ranging from 2 years old to 18 years old. The campus is huge and really nice (however I am still figuring out my way around). I am teaching Mathayom 2 (which is the American equivalent of 8th grade) and today was my first day of actually teaching Real Live Students! After being successfully "oriented", which involved a lot of madness -- singing silly songs, doing funny dances, and spending 8 hours a day in chairs meant for kindergarteners (kindergarten being the only room available to accomodate all of us), we were finally released into the madness of the Thai school system.
The school itself is a traditional Thai school, meaning that every subject is taught in Thai except for (obviously) English. I teach approximately four classes everyday. Three of these classes are not airconditioned in an open air classroom with three fans and over 50 students. Needless to say, a little overwhelming! For these classes I have a Thai co-teacher who helps me out. Today involved a lot of introductions and somehow managing to get the kids into groups. Their eyes light up when I tell them that I am from New York City (easier than doing the whole shpeel - 'well i was born here, and then I moved here, and then I moved here, etc.').
The one other class that I teach is a godsend (ie, smaller and airconditioned). They are "my" official class and I have them all to myself all year! Basically, their parents pay extra for them to have A/C classrooms and a full-time English teacher. After teaching two of the 50 student classes this morning (and sweating a lot) when I finally made it to this class, it was such a relief, and we had so much fun. I am very excited about being with them all year! They are adorable and seem like a great group.
In Thailand, everyone has a nickname. Therefore, when learning students names, a teacher basically just has to remember their nickname. However, some of these nicknames are just ridiculous. First we have the norm, your "Pui"s and "Nan"s and this ranges to (I swear these are two of my students) "Dump" and "Fiber". A fellow teacher was telling me that her kindergarteners have even more absurd nicknames, one of them being "Website". I will be sure to keep you all posted on Dump's progress this year...
In other news, Thailand is great. Everyday I take a songtaew home from work, which is basically a red pick up truck with two benches in the back. It costs about 50 cents and you just tell them where you want to go and if they are going in that direction, they will take you. Joe and I have also found a great vegetarian place right by the school (and conveniently right between my school and Joe's TEFL course) and you can get an amazing and filling meal there for less than a dollar. What seemed like a piddly salary at first is starting to seem like a small fortune by Thai standards. Worried about the US economy? Move to Thailand! We are living well...
We will post more pictures soon (the apartment, our neighborhood, maybe even our two neighborhood brothels...)
Take care!
The school itself is a traditional Thai school, meaning that every subject is taught in Thai except for (obviously) English. I teach approximately four classes everyday. Three of these classes are not airconditioned in an open air classroom with three fans and over 50 students. Needless to say, a little overwhelming! For these classes I have a Thai co-teacher who helps me out. Today involved a lot of introductions and somehow managing to get the kids into groups. Their eyes light up when I tell them that I am from New York City (easier than doing the whole shpeel - 'well i was born here, and then I moved here, and then I moved here, etc.').
The one other class that I teach is a godsend (ie, smaller and airconditioned). They are "my" official class and I have them all to myself all year! Basically, their parents pay extra for them to have A/C classrooms and a full-time English teacher. After teaching two of the 50 student classes this morning (and sweating a lot) when I finally made it to this class, it was such a relief, and we had so much fun. I am very excited about being with them all year! They are adorable and seem like a great group.
In Thailand, everyone has a nickname. Therefore, when learning students names, a teacher basically just has to remember their nickname. However, some of these nicknames are just ridiculous. First we have the norm, your "Pui"s and "Nan"s and this ranges to (I swear these are two of my students) "Dump" and "Fiber". A fellow teacher was telling me that her kindergarteners have even more absurd nicknames, one of them being "Website". I will be sure to keep you all posted on Dump's progress this year...
In other news, Thailand is great. Everyday I take a songtaew home from work, which is basically a red pick up truck with two benches in the back. It costs about 50 cents and you just tell them where you want to go and if they are going in that direction, they will take you. Joe and I have also found a great vegetarian place right by the school (and conveniently right between my school and Joe's TEFL course) and you can get an amazing and filling meal there for less than a dollar. What seemed like a piddly salary at first is starting to seem like a small fortune by Thai standards. Worried about the US economy? Move to Thailand! We are living well...
We will post more pictures soon (the apartment, our neighborhood, maybe even our two neighborhood brothels...)
Take care!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Photos from tha streets
You'll probably notice a lot more posts from me this week. Sarah started training for her job this past Friday and has ultra long days. I'm starting my TEFL course on Monday, so this is my last week to bumble around a bit.
Today's been interesting so far. After doing some errands, I came back to the apartment building and tried unsuccessfully to find out where garbage goes. Someone from the office (aka our landlords' ground floor apt) came out with a white bucket after being gone for a couple minutes and I got confused, so I smiled, said thanks, and went up to our room. I think it's time to start learning the language...
Here are some various photos taken throughout the city.
Today's been interesting so far. After doing some errands, I came back to the apartment building and tried unsuccessfully to find out where garbage goes. Someone from the office (aka our landlords' ground floor apt) came out with a white bucket after being gone for a couple minutes and I got confused, so I smiled, said thanks, and went up to our room. I think it's time to start learning the language...
Here are some various photos taken throughout the city.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Imm Eco
I'm glad to say that I'm currently writing this from our new apartment, enjoying damn fine A/C, listening to Nikki Sudden, and checking my favortite blogs! It's the first place we've stayed in that's not a hotel/guesthouse and it's definitely a good feeling.
We spent the past week at Imm Eco, a "boutique youth hostel" (whatever that means). It started off on a bad foot. Once we had the keys to our room, we opened the door - everything looked really awesome and new. Then we checked out the bathroom and that's when I saw this creature, about 3-4 inches in diameter, hanging out on the floor. I did a little research and I'm pretty sure it was an orb spider.
This is what it looked like....
Holy turds. I tried capturing it by putting a wastebasket over it, but it ran away when I got closer. That's when we decided to switch rooms, which was pretty easy since there were NO GUESTS! Well, maybe one or two, including an older German couple we referred to as "our buddies." Other highlights include a really obnoxious French family, two Italian dudes who took multiple pictures of themselves posed in the pool with sunglasses, and a creeper older man who blew bubbles in the pool as he did his excercises. Not cool.
The place itself was beautiful, and overall it wasn't so bad. Just a little creepy considering this place could probably house over 250 people and there were maybe 7 guests at a given time. Here are some photos:
the building that housed the lobby
the pool area
the small-tree area that didn't really serve a purpose
a photo from inside the room. sarah's neck pillow functions as a white hair helmet, virtual reality future glasses, and santa beard.
photos of the new apartment coming soon!
We spent the past week at Imm Eco, a "boutique youth hostel" (whatever that means). It started off on a bad foot. Once we had the keys to our room, we opened the door - everything looked really awesome and new. Then we checked out the bathroom and that's when I saw this creature, about 3-4 inches in diameter, hanging out on the floor. I did a little research and I'm pretty sure it was an orb spider.
This is what it looked like....
Holy turds. I tried capturing it by putting a wastebasket over it, but it ran away when I got closer. That's when we decided to switch rooms, which was pretty easy since there were NO GUESTS! Well, maybe one or two, including an older German couple we referred to as "our buddies." Other highlights include a really obnoxious French family, two Italian dudes who took multiple pictures of themselves posed in the pool with sunglasses, and a creeper older man who blew bubbles in the pool as he did his excercises. Not cool.
The place itself was beautiful, and overall it wasn't so bad. Just a little creepy considering this place could probably house over 250 people and there were maybe 7 guests at a given time. Here are some photos:
the building that housed the lobby
the pool area
the small-tree area that didn't really serve a purpose
a photo from inside the room. sarah's neck pillow functions as a white hair helmet, virtual reality future glasses, and santa beard.
photos of the new apartment coming soon!
Clear Day
after a couple days of rain last week, i took these photos on a remarkably clear day. click for larger
Monday, May 5, 2008
Cyclone
Hello all - just a quick post tonight. The past week or so we were bombarded with heavy rains nearly everyday. We thought this was weird because typically the rainy season in Chiang Mai does not begin until June. As we were wondering why, we saw in the paper that a cyclone was passing through parts of Myanmar (Burma) and that Chiang Mai and other parts of Thailand would be getting a lot of heavy rain and some winds. The cyclone has since passed but only now the reports are starting to come out of Burma. At this point, nearly 4000 people were killed and thousands more are missing. It is a huge story over here although I'm not sure if American TV will be focusing on it. We just want to let everyone know that we are fine but to keep all of those people in your thoughts and prayers...
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Last Night
Last night we were planning on writing a ton of new posts for the blog. We had an early dinner, so once we got back to our room we were looking forward to a lot of quality time to get things done. It was raining pretty hard at the time, and that's usually when all the creepy crawlers come out, especially if it's also dark.
In order to get internet access in our hotel Imm Eco (where we've been staying the past week), you need to go to the lobby and get a 1hr wifi card. So we opened the door to our room (which leads directly outside), and did a quick scan for any crawlers lurking near our door (which has become one of our rituals), and we saw a fairly large lizard in the corner. That's when I took out the camera...
Woah, we had never seen this guy before. We were also pretty certain it was the same lizard that makes an incredibly loud croaking noise every night. It was really dark so I snapped the photo and we both went back inside to get a better look. I zoomed in as far as I could on the creature, and that's when this image popped up....
Yikes! We were pretty freaked out and decided to stay in for the night. Obviously we couldn't leave the room.
In order to get internet access in our hotel Imm Eco (where we've been staying the past week), you need to go to the lobby and get a 1hr wifi card. So we opened the door to our room (which leads directly outside), and did a quick scan for any crawlers lurking near our door (which has become one of our rituals), and we saw a fairly large lizard in the corner. That's when I took out the camera...
Woah, we had never seen this guy before. We were also pretty certain it was the same lizard that makes an incredibly loud croaking noise every night. It was really dark so I snapped the photo and we both went back inside to get a better look. I zoomed in as far as I could on the creature, and that's when this image popped up....
Yikes! We were pretty freaked out and decided to stay in for the night. Obviously we couldn't leave the room.
Baan Orapin
After a rough night at Eagle House, we headed over to Baan Orapin, a Thai bed and breakfast where we'd be spending the next two nights. Expensive in Thai terms, but an incredible deal for anyone coming from New York, our time spent here was probably the best 2.5 days ever! We had essentially a full floor of a tradional house, and together there were only about 6-8 other houses on the property. The staff was amazing, and we seriously recommend it for anyone visiting Chiang Mai.
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