Afterwards, we were able to sit on one of the farming vehicles.
Monday 29 November 2010
It's that time of year: Rice Harvesting
As harvesting rice is such a big thing in Thailand, we were able to help out with the harvesting one Sunday. It wasn't for the whole day but I didn't mind as it was HOT and I wouldn't have survived 1 hour let alone 24. We managed to do it for about half and hour as we had to borrow somebodies sickle/rice cutting thing.
It was really fun even though we were aware of the sharpness of the blade. It was funny as we had taken somebodies sickle so they just had to stand there while we did a not so perfect job as harvesting rice. When he got the sickle thing back, he had to go over out bit to get the bits we missed.
Afterwards, we were able to sit on one of the farming vehicles.
A really fun day even though it was really hot and we weren't too good at the harvesting part.
Afterwards, we were able to sit on one of the farming vehicles.
Thursday 25 November 2010
The new Harry Potter film...................... in Thai.............
Seeing as Harry Potter is famous all over the world, it was also out in Thailand. Unfortunately, the only language it was in in Si Saket, was Thai.
We went anyway.
To start with we had to stand up in the screen room whilst a small 3 minute film was played for the king. Then the film came on. It was hilarious to hear the different voices they got for the characters as they sound so weird from what I'm used to.
It was confusing for me as I never read the book so had no idea what was going on, but I had Clem whispering in my ear when stuff happened so I got the basic idea of it all. It will be funny to watch the next one in July as i will still be in Thailand so I can be confused even more!
Hopefully soon I will be able to watch it in English to help get of my confusion :p
We went anyway.
To start with we had to stand up in the screen room whilst a small 3 minute film was played for the king. Then the film came on. It was hilarious to hear the different voices they got for the characters as they sound so weird from what I'm used to.
It was confusing for me as I never read the book so had no idea what was going on, but I had Clem whispering in my ear when stuff happened so I got the basic idea of it all. It will be funny to watch the next one in July as i will still be in Thailand so I can be confused even more!
Hopefully soon I will be able to watch it in English to help get of my confusion :p
Wan Pen Duen Sip Song, Loy Krathong, Loy Krathong
Ok, so Sunday the 21st has arrived and it is the day of 'Loy Krathong' or 'The Water Festival'.
The day started at 3am for Clem and myself getting up and going into the college to have our hair, make-up and costume done ready to be part of the town parade on the college float. 3am! That's the middle of the night. Anyway, we got up when the sky was still dark and we could see the stars and went into a room to wait for the make-up, hair and costume people to turn up.
We never understood why we had to get up at 3am and have 3 people do 4 peoples hair, make-up and costume ready for 8am. We guessed that there would be a fair few of us to have to be in so early but in the end, there was only 7 of us! 5 hours for 8 of us to be done up. I had 3 inches of make-up put on and my hair was done crazily with two buns and a crown.
This costume was a lot nicer than the gold frumpy thing we had to wear for the retirement party. Once we were all finished, we were all taken to the beginning of the parade to the SISAT Technic float. It was huge, pink and driven by a mini tractor. Four of us sat on the front of it waving and smiling to all the people we passed.
We also found out that it was a competition so when we saw the judges we had to 'Wai' them as well. People were so amazed to see some 'farang' dressed up in Thai dress on a float. We had so many pictures taken of us and so many people wanted to takes pictures with us as well. My cheeks had an amazing workout from constantly smiling. They were aching so much by the end of a couple of hours. Once it was over we went back to get changed so we could watch the rest of the parade.
It was so hot during the day and it showed with the amount of people who fainted. They were dropping like flies! Thankfully, there were a number of people around ready to help them all with water and smelling stuff and fans so it all ended well.
In the evening, we went for dinner at our host families house and then went to the temple.
We also set off lanterns inbetween eating food as we just picked what we wanted from the mass amount of food on the two tables.
Once our bellies were so full they were bursting, we went to the temple to float our 'Krathongs'. There were so many people all trying to get onto this little boat! It was rocking so much at some points I thought we were going to capsize! Anyway, we made it to the middle of the river and let our 'Krathongs'
Once we were all back on dry land, we went back home via the lucky numbers thing. We payed 10 Baht and picked a piece a paper to find out what he won. The prizes we little drinks and sweets to rice cookers and bikes.
All I managed to win was a pink drink and a small bag of potato sticks. Nothing compared to P-Pui's rice cooker that she won! She was so lucky compared to everyone else. Well that's the day of 'Loy Krathong' a once a year thing so probably a once in a lifetime experience, and it was a good one. :)
The day started at 3am for Clem and myself getting up and going into the college to have our hair, make-up and costume done ready to be part of the town parade on the college float. 3am! That's the middle of the night. Anyway, we got up when the sky was still dark and we could see the stars and went into a room to wait for the make-up, hair and costume people to turn up.
We never understood why we had to get up at 3am and have 3 people do 4 peoples hair, make-up and costume ready for 8am. We guessed that there would be a fair few of us to have to be in so early but in the end, there was only 7 of us! 5 hours for 8 of us to be done up. I had 3 inches of make-up put on and my hair was done crazily with two buns and a crown.
This costume was a lot nicer than the gold frumpy thing we had to wear for the retirement party. Once we were all finished, we were all taken to the beginning of the parade to the SISAT Technic float. It was huge, pink and driven by a mini tractor. Four of us sat on the front of it waving and smiling to all the people we passed.
It was so hot during the day and it showed with the amount of people who fainted. They were dropping like flies! Thankfully, there were a number of people around ready to help them all with water and smelling stuff and fans so it all ended well.
In the evening, we went for dinner at our host families house and then went to the temple.
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Loy Krathong Making
Let me tell you, to start with I was very confused with all the folding of the banana leaves but I gradually understood it and got into the swing of things. :)
As the day went on, I gradually increased the Krathong to this finished product.
We managed to get there without anymore incidents and made our second Krathongs with P-Aims family.
As I already knew the confusing folding and such, I managed to take my own spin on the design and made a small Krathong with a large number of flowers.
Sunday 14 November 2010
Baking and Making with an Oven
We met some friends of P-Aim who she learnt English with and they incited us to come and bake with them as the place where they are staying has an oven. We jumped at the chance as we are missing food that you can only use an oven for. For instance, cakes, roast dinner, lasagna, the list goes on.
To start with, we made chocolate brownies! We even doubled the mixture so we had more as well. We managed to create a bit of a mess but that's all in the package of baking cakes.
Next we had some lunch. We made our own Som Tam which was really delicious and gave us the strength for the carrot cake which was next on out list.
Like usual, we managed to make some form of mess yet again but we carried on and created a huge carrot cake.
Last but not least, we watched P-Da make her no recipe cookies. It's amazing as she just adds in ingredients without measuring or reading a book. They tasted amazing though.
After we had baked the cakes and cleaned up the mass mess, we sat and ate fruit so some part of the day was healthy. Let me tell you, we had a lot. Logan berries, two types of mango, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, some form of apple and some other fruits that I cant name. I think that cancels out the amount of cake eaten throughout the day.
In the evening, we rented a movie. We ended up watching Shutter Island which I had never seen. It was actually really good. The only problem was that when we were back home, we went exploring in the school grounds looking for a source of music but we ended up getting really freaked and had to practically run back home as we were still a bit mind boggled by the film and it's scary music. Thankfully, I managed to sleep without any nightmares of being crazy so it's all good.
To start with, we made chocolate brownies! We even doubled the mixture so we had more as well. We managed to create a bit of a mess but that's all in the package of baking cakes.
Next we had some lunch. We made our own Som Tam which was really delicious and gave us the strength for the carrot cake which was next on out list.
Like usual, we managed to make some form of mess yet again but we carried on and created a huge carrot cake.
Last but not least, we watched P-Da make her no recipe cookies. It's amazing as she just adds in ingredients without measuring or reading a book. They tasted amazing though.
After we had baked the cakes and cleaned up the mass mess, we sat and ate fruit so some part of the day was healthy. Let me tell you, we had a lot. Logan berries, two types of mango, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, some form of apple and some other fruits that I cant name. I think that cancels out the amount of cake eaten throughout the day.
In the evening, we rented a movie. We ended up watching Shutter Island which I had never seen. It was actually really good. The only problem was that when we were back home, we went exploring in the school grounds looking for a source of music but we ended up getting really freaked and had to practically run back home as we were still a bit mind boggled by the film and it's scary music. Thankfully, I managed to sleep without any nightmares of being crazy so it's all good.
Teaching in a Technical College
Ok, so now I'm back from Chiang Mai, Myself and Clem have moved into our house and have started teaching the students. Let me tell you, teaching them can be a nightmare at times. To start with they hardly know any English and that doubled up with my not very good Thai, means that communication can be a problem at times.
I have basically started from scratch doing my first lessons on the basic of numbers and introductions. They have managed to go well as well. The first few lessons I did were a bit shaky as I was as nervous as mouse faced with a cat but I pulled through and survived and now I'm teaching with alot more confidence. (Although I still need to gain some more). I will quickly summarise what the students already knew. "Hello teacher", "How are you?", "I'm fine thank you. And you?", "I like teacher", "Beautiful", "sexy" and "I love teacher". As you can see there is some work to be done.
I have to teach two hour lessons. Unfortunately I can never manage to teach for that long. I never really have to though as my students always turn up 30minutes to 1 hour late and that's if they turn up at all! Sometimes when I enter the room all they say is "teacher, check names, go home". They haven't quite figured out that that's not going to work though. One fun thing in the lessons is trying to get them to come up to the front to say the conversation we are doing that lesson. They are all so shy and try to hide, say no and even move to the other side of the room thinking that I cant see them do it. The tricks never work though. Some students even point out who I haven't chosen as well so everyone has to do it!
The house we have moved into is actually really nice. It's quite big so Clem and myself mainly keep to the top floor. For the first few weeks we had no water or electricity which can the feeling of camping just with a nicer bed and sturdier roof. Thankfully it's all fixed now so we can do everything we need to. The only weird thing is that we live in the school grounds so all the students know where we live and when ever we walk home to pick something up, we hear shouts of "Hello teacher" and "My name is .......". It can get a bit scary at times when you are on your own.
That's basically it. The main thoughts and stuff on the beginnings of teaching and our nice new house.
I have basically started from scratch doing my first lessons on the basic of numbers and introductions. They have managed to go well as well. The first few lessons I did were a bit shaky as I was as nervous as mouse faced with a cat but I pulled through and survived and now I'm teaching with alot more confidence. (Although I still need to gain some more). I will quickly summarise what the students already knew. "Hello teacher", "How are you?", "I'm fine thank you. And you?", "I like teacher", "Beautiful", "sexy" and "I love teacher". As you can see there is some work to be done.
I have to teach two hour lessons. Unfortunately I can never manage to teach for that long. I never really have to though as my students always turn up 30minutes to 1 hour late and that's if they turn up at all! Sometimes when I enter the room all they say is "teacher, check names, go home". They haven't quite figured out that that's not going to work though. One fun thing in the lessons is trying to get them to come up to the front to say the conversation we are doing that lesson. They are all so shy and try to hide, say no and even move to the other side of the room thinking that I cant see them do it. The tricks never work though. Some students even point out who I haven't chosen as well so everyone has to do it!
The house we have moved into is actually really nice. It's quite big so Clem and myself mainly keep to the top floor. For the first few weeks we had no water or electricity which can the feeling of camping just with a nicer bed and sturdier roof. Thankfully it's all fixed now so we can do everything we need to. The only weird thing is that we live in the school grounds so all the students know where we live and when ever we walk home to pick something up, we hear shouts of "Hello teacher" and "My name is .......". It can get a bit scary at times when you are on your own.
That's basically it. The main thoughts and stuff on the beginnings of teaching and our nice new house.
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