i hope they're alright!

it's sunday afternoon (2pm) here. that's makes it sunday early morning in MN (2am). i wonder what you're all dreaming right now. what a thought! i can't remember my own dream from last night. that's strange.

on my way here to school, i saw the aftermath of the first vehicle accident i've seen thus far here in thailand. i reached the main road from my alley and noticed, immediately, everyone (in the entire neighborhood) at a stand-still looking at a tuk-tuk which held a little girl (maybe 7 or 8 years old)... and a bunch of fruit spilled over the road that seemed to have come from a blue motorbike that was parked near the curb. i stopped to scan the scene and noticed two men helping a woman into the same tuk-tuk with the little girl. i'm against gawking (i'm that person who wails on my horn at everyone else who's slown traffic to a crawl just to see blood and guts at the scene of any flashing lights or cars pulled over. it's a top three pet peeve of mine.), so i tried to keep walking while i looked back and forth between the sidewalk ahead of me and the scene of the accident. everyone else was just standing, hushed, and watching. as the women was helped into the tuk-tuk i noticed she looked very out-of-it. once she was in the tuk-tuk she hugged her daughter tightly and they drove off. i noticed then that her daughter was crying very hard. as they were about to turn the corner i saw the woman holding the crown of her own head. off they went while the rest of us were obviously sobered and very quiet. i immediately thought, 'wow, no ambulance, no police, no reports, no nothing but a TUK TUK?! huh.' there is a hospital on the other side of the school so i'm sure that's where they were taken. the bike (with its contents... the fruit) were left at the scene of the accident.

as i walked on i ran into anelda and she asked if i saw what happened and the told me she had been walking right next to the place where it happened but she only heard a falling-bodies type noise. when she looked she saw and heard the little girl screaming from under the bike. everyone was just staring at first, probably in shock. the women was slumped over and had a helmet on. people rescued the girl and the mother. when they lifted the mother and put her on the curb she just slumped backward, probably unconscious... and that made the daughter scream louder. i asked anelda if she knows who hit them and she said she thinks that they just fell, no one hit them. i hope they're okay. i'm glad to know the woman had a helmet. i don't know about the daughter. both were conscious when they left. hopefully they'll be just fine. three months and that's my first accident to report.

the coming week will be our fifth week of school. that's halfway through the first quarter. 20-week terms. 10-week quarters. 2 terms. 4 quarters. (right, my star mathletes!? you know who you are...) the routines at school are constantly practiced and will be perfected soon enough. the boys are still in need of work on their walking-in-line abilities. it's gotta be straight, school standards.
i was on timeout duty for grades 2 and 3 last week. that means i go fifteen minutes after lunch and 'handle' the boys who've been sent to timeout for their 'bad boy' behavior. there are such offenses as: 'talking while others were talking,' 'fighting' (which is play-fighting here), 'unfinished work,' 'playing,' 'talking in lines,' and my favorite: 'late to timeout yesterday.' there was a crackdown on the grade 2 - 6 boys because their behavior in morning lines was an embarrassment to the program. timeout consists of the boys standing outside the classrom in two lines while i inspect their uniform status (tuck in shirts and tie shoes), then we go into the classroom and they fill out a timeout form, then they 'sit properly' and wait with their arms folded on their desk, mouths closed. once everyone is finished they each stand behind their chair and share what they had done to 'earn' timeout, then tell what they should have been doing, and what they'll do next time. it was intense and the boys were very nervous. many i'm-sorrys and thank-yous and a lot of wai-ing (bowing with prayer hands). the only repeat offenders i saw were the ones who were late the day prior... and no one was late twice in a row. they miss out on play time after lunch and it is not fun. it works well for our boys here.

what else is there to report? hmmm... school's out in MN. that is so WEIRD! it's perpetual summer here so i don't even know the difference. what's everyone doing for the summer and what's in store for LLCS (my old school in mpls) next year? i'm eager to hear!!!

the boys have been busy learning more letter sounds (and not in alphabetical order. nor do we introduce the name of the letter, just its sound), they learned the names of our body parts (but not all), we did more practice with color names, sang some new songs, 'head, shoulders, knees, and toes' is their favorite because i can be quite dramatic when doing it 'vveee-rrrrr-yyy slllloooowwwwwwwwwllllly.' they become quite the giggle-monsters. we're still working on settling down after fun activities like songs and games. they're getting better, as is their English and confidence with using it. my little mathletes learned horizontal and veritcal addition last week, no carrying yet, that's next week. i'm not sure what they're learning in the classes with their thai teachers (careers, resources, thai, chinese, boy scouts, music, art, and social studies) but i did have one of their thai teachers approach me to report that 'they are so cute, your class.' i agreed (of course) and then she said, 'they are so polite. more polite than other classes.' i said, 'awww, that's wonderful, thanks for sharing!' that was nice, huh?! i'm so proud! *smiling*
everything is a competition here and we've only won the weekly contest for Tidy Classroom once. there's a 'shield' (award) for Best Lines and Best Assembly (behavior) as well. we have a grade one assembly every week. it works really well for motivation and is a lot of fun for the boys. we sing happy birthday to anyone who's had a birthday, give merit awards (two boys per class each week), sing another song, give out shields, do announcements about big events, and say the prayer in English (the school prayer is said at the end of each day school-wide and at assemblies).

other than school, just practicing yoga and running on the mouse-machine (treadmill). i've also been heavy into reading and am loving our latest book club (my girlie book club from mpls... miss you ladies!!!) pick: eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert. i highly recommend it to anyone. it's a memior and i've really connected with her story. i'm hoping to finish by our meeting day so i can put in my baht's worth. i've got a lot to say on this one... i've never dog-earred and underlined so much in a book ever before. definitely recommend it.

no new bugs to report... but now that i said that i'm bound to have the biggest cockroach in thailand become my roommate until its cleaning-solution death. anelda really hates cockroaches and does the sweetest little dance whenever one approaches her path on the sidewalk... it's so funny i wish i could videotape it... but i asked her, 'if they were purple and glittery would you still hate them?' she said she hates purple and yeah she'd hate them. so i asked if they were yellow (her favorite color) would she still hate them... she pondered and then said, 'YEAH! it's not because they're ugly, it's because they eat and live in rubbish (trash)and they're dirty.' i tried to ease her mind, but the dance continues and so does my daily entertainment. haha. (hey, she laughed at me about the GINORMOUS spiders that were out for my blood in the bungalows. and i don't even hate them.)

better sign off, there's work to be done and i'm sure i've been wordy enough already.

hope all is well with you. i always love hearing from you!!! send me a message.

what an amazing view!

this friday was payday, and you know what that means... the girls are going out! so some of the girls from work (and one lucky man, richard) took motorbike taxis (my FIRST TIME! it was awesome!) to the state tower and went to the top and took in the view at the sky bar. what a sight! we arrived just in the nick of time for the sunset. breathtaking and amazing are the words i use to describe it. whomever makes it to thailand will be escorted there by yours truly. i did the best i could with taking photos. there really isn't any way to capture what you experience up there... i'll post the photos when i have some free time among all the work.

my friend anelda and i have been frequenting our local 5-star gym. we joined last month. it's our entertainment now. i've enjoyed the yoga classes and actually got myself on the treadmill for a normal run last night. the steam room and sauna always cap off a good day. the pool is beautiful and a great place to read and relax. it's been a wonderful investment. i even save money on shampoo and deodorant. they provide everything you might want. hairbrushes, water, blow dryer, the whole lot.

back to the motorbike taxi. WOO! what a ride! they take you through (meaning between) the traffic at fairly high speeds. my dad would kill me if he really knew what it involves. oops. i guess he knows now. NooOOoo, it's safe. they and their riders must wear helmets. it was a really exciting ride. i was nervous (since i've been here) about riding one because i see how they dodge cars and dart around traffic, but it was really nice because we arrived at our destination at least ten to fifteen minutes sooner than a car could have. i highly recommend it!

if you've seen the newly posted photos, then you see i've 'moved in' or unpacked myself in my apt. it feels very cozy and i even bought a fan this weekend. i'm pretty disappointed because it's not what i expected. i'll have to put it full blast and pointed directly at me tonight to see if that's better. at least i can lay off the air cond. for a while.

we've been getting regular rain lately. i think we've entered the rainy season. each day at work i look out the window in the afternoon to see the dark, dark clouds rolling, or sometimes rumbling, in. it's beautiful, fun, and a hassle all at once. i love storms and thailand's are INTENSE! the temperature hasn't gone down at all since the summer. the islands and south were much, much cooler, but the city is STEAMY and humid.

school... the boys are busy learning all sorts of things like the letter sounds for s, i, p... the ideas behind the words, 'under', 'on', 'in front of', (prepositions for those teachers out there! ;-)) we've covered colors, numbers up to 20 and addition and subtraction up to 10. science has covered living and non-living things (living things need food, water, and air. just as a reminder. hehe). it's been a lot of fun through all the trial and error i'm going through. the boys are doing better with English each day and becoming more and more brave to speak the words they know. it's great to see them making progress already! smiles abound and they are SO proud to show off their work. i have a couple VERY talented artists in the class. one boy can draw dinosaurs with extreme detail. maybe i'll take a photo of some of his work and post it ... we'll see.

i have a meeting to attend but before i go ... one more thing. CONGRATULATIONS to LLCS (my previous school) on their first year (almost) completed as a new school! it's such a wonderful place and i'm so proud of everyone who works and attends the school. WAY TO GO!!!! i miss you all very much! tell me all about how school ends and what's new and exciting for next year!

off i go...

school has begun and times they are a'changin!

sorry for the lapse in posts! i've been so busy getting prepared for school and the first week was hectic as well as fun. now that i made it through the first week it seems like it'll be smooth sailing from here forward. the boys are getting used to tackling the subjects all day long, they have amazing classes! i can't believe their schedule! they have a careers class... and weekly meditation class. it's so interesting! thai teachers are very tough on the students, which helps and hinders when i have them. it's something of a sigh of relief to see me and then again, i can't let things get crazy in class even if i'm not as strict as the thai teachers. i'm always warm-hearted when i hear, "i love you miss beth" or get a big hug. they continue to melt my heart. they're at the age where they're very big on getting the approval of adults, so i constantly have a boy proudly showing me his work, even after i've asked them to "stay at your desk, please." all in all, it's going well and i'm glad to be with them each day, even on the 'long' day... thursday. oh, and i've finally gotten my uniforms... they're nice to have. it takes away the morning, 'what should i wear' decision. they're not that bad. i'll post a photo soon.

i should fill you in on our holiday to koh phangan and koh tao. my friend anelda and i travelled south with her friend, matt, and another colleague, tom. the four of us stayed at the same bungalows as luke and i had two weeks before. the guys shared and the girls shared since the bungalows were full. on our first evening at nantakran, i went to our bungalow to use the toilet and on the way in the door a thought crossed my mind, "there's a lizard in the bathroom... look for him" because our floor had frequent and large, green lizard poo since we arrived, though i hadn't spotted the culprit and wanted to see who had created such large treasures. i opened the door to the bathroom, switched on the lights, stepped down halfway into the bathroom and looked to the very spot where our frequent 'gifts' were left only to see the LARGEST black spider i have ever personally encountered *SHIVER*. it took my breath away and i immediately panicked. WHAT is that thing doing in MY living quarters!?!? get it out! get it out!! is all i could keep thinking. i promptly closed the door (so it wouldn't get into my bedroom and ON ME, of course) and tromped out to the restaurant/common area, retrieved the bungalow 'tour guide' and asked him to kindly REMOVE the bloodsucker from our home. after a lot of squealing from yours truly and the comment, 'just kill it, i don't mind'... it died a brutal broom-swatting death which i feel ever guilty about to this day. anelda laughed and laughed at me standing on the bed declaring, 'i just canNOT sleep with that thing in my bungalow.' in the end: we slept with the lights on until daylight and i awoke almost every half hour to inspect the bungalow for any new "rain spiders." apparently, according to anelda, they're rain spiders that come indoors out of the rain. unfortunately, it was not the last rain spider that we had to 'deal with.' (death to all of them, sadly). each one of our 3 bungalows had a rain spider, each of equal human-devouring size. ah, i digress, the third one, who stalked me from the ceiling of our grass bungalow, was shooed out instead of brutally smashed with a broom. by then i guess the guilt had gotten to me. let me tell you one more fun fact: those things can COMPLETELY flatten themselves to look the size of a popsicle stick. their legs flatten sideways and their bodies somehow deflate. it's incredible. i'd have taken a picture but i was too crippled with fear. for the record: i'm not AFRAID of spiders, i just REALLY don't like LARGE ones that vacate the same living quarters as i do. that's all. looking back, it was no big deal. really. (and i thought the cockroaches were bad. pff, they're NOThing!)

other than the spiders, the weather was very rainy, every day. we spent five long, slow days on koh phangan. we rented motorbikes and i overcame my fear of being the driver. i'm now addicted and can't wait to meet my new hog next visit to the islands. i named my motorbike on koh phangan Sally. she was a lot of fun and we covered many miles together. not to brag, but we broke 40 SEVeral times. (that's 40 KILOMETERS PER HOUR. mm hmm) when we got to koh tao i had a leaner, meaner, sportier bike and decided the name Larry would suit him. koh phangan has MUCH better, smoother roads for buzzing around than koh tao has. we went to koh tao for another five days, which flew by. i miss koh tao, i really liked it there. it's different than koh phangan because it's an island for getting your deep sea diving certificates, so there are many foreigners sitting in classes and studying on the beach. it's a different atmosphere and i liked it. the thai people all spoke pretty good english and the menus are mostly western food. it was a wonderful, relaxing stay and i can't wait to go back. it was just anelda and i on koh tao, the boys went their separate ways in search of adventure. we had fun just beaching, hammocking, reading, eating, and dancing at night. somehow, we both ended up with colds... i returned to bangkok with laryngitis and anelda's best friend was her box of tissues. it turns out that something was going around the country because nearly everyone showed up to work with some sickness or another. strange.

there really isn't much more to the story of our holiday. see the photos if you're interested. just a lot of relaxing and biking. we tackled some pretty crazy dirt roads on koh tao since we quickly bored of the ONE paved road that they have on the island.

i think i'm headed off to a book store to try and purchase some of our recent book club selections... or something to read after i'm finished with "i know this much is true," by wally lamb. any recommendations? i'd be glad to have them!!

hope you are well and i'd love to hear from you soon!!!

motoring the islands

sawatdee from koh tao. just a quick update for my faithful readers. . . i've been six days on koh phangan and now have dedicated a couple days to koh tao before heading home to BKK. my friends and i have each rented a motorbike to get ourselves around. it's been fun... my hog here on koh tao is SWEET! you'll get full photos once i return to BKK. i had to say goodbye to my bike Sally this morning. i haven't decided what to name my new beast. it's a bit more rugged so i must find a boy name. maybe andy?? no. i'll consider Larry for the time being. Larry has BIG wheels to yield my way through the sandy-slash-muddy-slash-washed out roads of koh tao.

this island is popular for divers (deep sea diving) and that made it difficult to find a reasonable location that would offer us a place to relax and be lazy which is our mission for travel. tonight we dine with new friends made minutes after our arrival to the new bungalow. don't even know their names yet. should be good...

until bangkok.. have a great day! stay tuned....

the third cockroach was the biggest

last night anelda and i returned to my "flat" (as she calls it) to find a cockroach quietly sneaking in from my balcony door. (i'm not scared of bugs. i'm grossed out by two-inch cockroaches crawling in my living space). apparently the crack under the door must be sizeable enough for the nasty buggers to make it in comfortably because this guy was enormous. he froze upon discovery and played along with our game of trying to get him into a bag for removal. that didn't work, so anelda used her patented method of dousing the poor guy with bathroom cleaning liquid and letting him wander, dying all the while, through the apt. until flipping over, wiggling legs to the final excrutiating moment. BLECH!!! he died after taking his last steps under my couch and then anelda (my brave hero) scooped him into a bag and deposited it all into the alternate garbage at the very end of my hall. i couldn't watch the actual last moments of life slip away, nor the bagging and removal, so i'm not exactly sure if the thing was dead. i assume and trust anelda's diagnosis, but for all i know he could reappear for some revenge tonight.

let me tell you, he was not the first and he will most likely not be the last. he was the third and not the worst. the absolute worst was the first. she (she's a she because she was a touch smaller *cringe*) was CRAWLING on ME in MY BED one night as i slept. i woke up to brush 'something' off of me (my arms and neck) THREE times. on the third i finally realized it was a crawling something-or-other and not the tassles of my blanket. i wiped 'it' off for the third time while snapping awake and flipping the lights on, all in one motion. the first thing i saw was Her at the very corner of my bed, near my feet. i ran to turn the extra lights on by the door and by the time i returned, she'd slipped into the night. i scoured the bed, sheets, pillows, floor, furniture, everything for a few minutes and decided the couch was the safest place to sleep, but definitely NOT with the lights off. roaches love the dark and i loathe roaches... so lights it was until dawn. it was restless 'sleep' until i absolutely had to give up hope of spotting the critter again (to throw her out the window, of course). luke slept through the whole ordeal and was uncooperative when i want to lift the mattress and hunt that thing down. i think he's the one who planted it in the bed in the first place. maybe they're friends and co-conspirators.

i've got to find a way to secure my living space from the inevitable Roach of Thailand. though one (of the three) died, thailand has trillions more. they barely escape the step of my feet each and every night on the sidewalks. one might suggest a roach killing type product purchased from a store. pff. try to read the bottles, people! i've been searching for a Goo Gone type product since the first day i stepped into my classroom. the former teacher was in love with the EXTRA sticky tape and it has left unremovable stains of goo on my whiteboard.

eh. enough of that. cockroaches were here before i was. maybe the three cockroaches were indeed one and i have rid my life of this problem. for some reason i highly doubt it.

the saga continues, i'm sure. beth vs. the city roach. my life's important to me, right? don't ya think they're lives are important to them? anelda doesn't think so. next time i'll get photos of the action so you have a healthy visual.

holiday, shootings, and contests

a week ago i returned from a week's holiday (vacation) to the south island, koh phangan (i went again). it was an extremely lazy, relaxing adventure which included: swimming in the salty, warm, greenish-teal ocean (repeatedly), motorbiking, losing in connect four to lucas (also repeatedly. he is the Lion of the game), lucas (of course), bungalows on a different side of the island, lots of eggs with onions, tomatoes, and cheese (mmmmmm), a lot of walking, long-boat ride to an amazing hidden beach, reading (finished one book), aaaaand lazing in the bungalow hammock for countless hours. it was a true holiday in which distinct events are difficult to remember because of the incredible amount of laziness. after the hustle and bustle of the city for a few weeks, i was ready for a vacation. i took full advantage of the clear air and beautiful beachy views. see photos for visual.

upon return, lucas and i spent several days (me grumpy from laziness ending) wandering the city to dine, shop, and entertain ourselves (mr. bean's holiday is hysterical in old mr. bean fashion). anelda returned from her holiday to chiang mai and we had a third partner in crime, though no crimes were actually committed. not much to note, accept that when lucas finally departed the land of thailandia i was quite sad and a touch homesick. (feeling better now.)

amidst the last few days with luke, there was a devastating shooting, again. you all know about it. i was deeply sad and prayers were necessary. extreme rage and saddness to lose a loved one to a sad human being. i cannot imagine. i still struggle with the idea of placing blame on the school, though it is natural to feel. the blame only goes to the shooter. there were, unfortunately, no heroes this time. my last comment about the madman: please stop playing his videos and showing his photos. THERE ARE IMPRESSIONABLE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WATCH TV. talk about irresponsible.

just to note: Dad is doing well and healing fast. the only problem... you can't hug him as tight as i like to. thanks for your many comments of well-wishes.

songkran festival = thai new year. i am still confused about what year they are now in... they understand and recognize the year 2007, but they have their own year... which is either 2550 or 2551. i thought it was 2550 when i arrived, which would make it 2551. i'm not sure. it's very interesting, though.

songkran festivities were pretty dull in our neighborhood upon arrival home to BKK. there were maybe two or three groups of children that were stalking each other through the neighborhood with their giant water machine guns. the water fighting is a thai tradition to cool off during these excrutiatingly hot weeks of the summer. they also concoct a paste solution from powder and water. the solution is spread over other people's exposed body parts (face, shoulders, arms). it's a contraversial act since buddhists believe the head is the most sacred part of the body and one is never to touch another on the head (feet are the dirtiest and are not to be pointed or touched to others). in effect, some thais believe that paste to the face is an extreme sign of disrespect.

we had an all-school water fight. several, or most?, of the EP staff members participated. it was more fun than i could've imagined. soaked to the bone and battling for over an hour, i was happily exhausted at the end. very fun. private photos are available. send me your email address if you'd like to be invited to the private sector.

just in to school this weekend to finalize some lesson plans for term one and use internet. not much to note about the weekend. hot, sunny, and low-key.

there is a contest to note for those of you who like movies and music. see: www.ourstage.com/go/plug to vote for signed and unsigned musicians, moviemakers, and artists. check it out if you're interested.

hope you're all well and enjoying the flip-flop weather traditional to MN. what a great place! the state fair is coming? please make early arrangements to send me cheese curds and something-on-a-sticks. thank you.

sawatdee kah. (goodbye in this case)

tough news from home...

i received an email today, from my dad, saying he had been in a motorcycle accident and has four broken ribs and lots of scrapes and bruises. so, if you know him, take care of him for me! i know he'll hate me saying that but i love him and he needs to know others do as well. i wish i could be there and i know i couldn't do much but i'm missing a year of time with him and that's bad enough. i wonder when he'll be back in the saddle and scaring the guts out of me again... grrrrrrrr.
GET WELL DAD!!!! SO grateful that you're still with us!

enough before i start crying. school is good. the short week is almost over. tomorrow we take the boys to the ZOO! they are as excited as am i. i guess i hadn't considered that bangkok would have a zoo. wouldn't it be funny if they have "exotic" animals only found in America? what would they be? bunnies? wolves? dairy cows? squirrels? whitetail deer? grizzly bears? moose/meese? buffalo? i'll let you know what i see.

still working hard to teach the boys discipline and commands in english. they are a squirmy bunch. THANKS to angela for the suggestion (in the comments of the last blog post), you know i'm going to use it!!! i'll confirm the pronunciation with my thai language teacher (pee dao, her name is dao and she is my elder, so i must call her "pee" dao). we've learned all kinds of useful words and phrases to help us in every day life. we learned all about their money and how to say "how much" yesterday. it's coming in handy!!!

i guess we have a meeting about our bank accounts... so i better get going.

much love!! MISS YOU ALL! take care of DAD !!!!! :-(

more soon :-)