Songrkan and Protests - Written April 16th, I think

A very warm greeting to you all! Rest assured that Bangkok is calm and quiet, for now. :-) It has been less-than-desirably hot the past couple of days but one can't complain. The rain has gone for now. It should hopefully arrive back in time for the rainy season. Let's hope, Mother Nature!


After the 'red shirt' protests canceled school (and the all-school water fight! boooo.) my friend's and I headed north-east to Petchabun province early, to avoid traffic. We encountered slow-downs here and there but the drive was straight forward and enjoyable. Bom, her Auntie Boo, Andy and I arrived in time for dinner at a local BBQ place. Now BBQ means something a bit different here in Thailand. We went to a place that puts a grill on your table and you go up to the buffet of meats and veggies and cook your own at your table. Boiling some things and grilling others. I particularly enjoyed some fish cube things... they look like tofu... and boiled veggies and ICE CREAM! (No, we didn't cook the ice cream.)


After a nice dinner we went home for a glorious sleep and woke to have a lovely breakfast made by Bom's aunts. Later we drove all the family's vehicles to another side of their property (they're farmers) and did the traditional 'washing of the vehicles' for Songkran festivities. I actually don't know the meaning of washing the cars, but it was fun anyway. Afterwards we had lunch in another city and then shopped 'in town' for water pistols for the kids. As Andy and I are two of the only white people 'in town', we are quite a spectacle when we go anywhere. Everyone stops to stare, literally, and then nudges their friends to stop and have a good look at us as well. It's really strange. At those times I just feel lucky not to have paparazzi in the mix. I cannot imagine how it feels to be a celebrity. EEK! Anyway, after returning to Bom's parent's house, we walked to Bom's father's side of the family (about a block or two away) and hung out with them, said hello, accepted drinks and laughed and laughed. They're a bit rowdier than her mother's side. Typical, right? ;)

After visiting her father's family, Bom took me, and her brother Boy took Andy on their motorbikes and they showed us around the area. It was fun! I learned that Bom is (pretty much deathly) afraid of "the cows. I'm scared." She pulled WAaaay over in the ditch to let a cow herder pass with his 'flock'. I still giggle. Bom is usually so tough about everything else. He-he-hee. So, with not much left to the day, we returned to Bom's home and had a nice dinner. It's always a nice meal with her family. I try many new things. After dinner is the time when we are to leave the elders alone and play with the kids, Bom's cousins. Last year I brought the Cranium game called Whoonu and left it for the family. (It's funny because they can't really communicate with me directly but they definitely remember and associate me with things... like Andy, Whoonu, not eating meat but 'okay with fish', that I love morning glory in oyster sauce... and my Songkran shirt.) They had the game all ready to play but I had brought them a new game: Boom-O. It's a card game and is fun, but definitely more of a game for kids than adults. So we spent the evening teaching the kids this new game... and they loved it! I caught them the next morning playing together.

(Sorry if this is painstakingly detailed. I didn't blog about last year's visit, so thought I'd really share about this year's visit. They are truly lovely people who I wish you could all meet.)

After playing with the kids we were told we'd be up by 8 am to go on a new adventure the next day. So the next day, we were all up and ready to eat breakfast and head out for a day trip into the mountains, but the opposite direction that we went last year. Last year the family took Andy and I up to see the Hmong villages (I was SO excited to see where many of our MN-an immigrants come from!) and completely understand why they stick to farming in MN. It's what they know. It's what they do in their home countries. They are really big into growing cabbages now as opposed to growing Poppies for Opium back in the day. Their fields go up and down even the most dangerous mountain slopes. It was incredible.
Anyway, this year we went the opposite direction (east I think) to a mountain lake. The aunties brought tons of drinks and snacks that we'd bought the day before when we were 'in town.' After almost three lovely hours of driving through the mountains we stopped at a lake and Bom and her aunts ordered some (lunch) food and we loaded all the stuff onto a bamboo raft!! It was really fun! Once everyone was aboard, with the snacks and drinks we brought, a long tail boat brought us to a location in the middle of the lake and dropped a HUGE stone and we just floated on the lake on this covered bamboo raft and the long tail zoomed off.
When we needed to use the bathroom (on land) or wanted more food (or even when the ice cream boat went by) we'd put up our flag and someone would come immediately to us in a long tail boat. They ordered a fair amount of food for lunch, so at first we had several boats drop by with food for us. After eating it was time to relax and just float. The owners of the rafts provide pillows to lay on and it was really relaxing and beautiful. We were on a lake in the middle of the Thai mountains. I would recommend it to anyone and hope to someday find something similar to bring my guests. While the girls relaxed, Andy and (Bom's brother) Boy decided to swim to pass the time. It was just so much fun! See pictures here.

After spending several hours on the lake floating around, it was time to head home for dinner and an update on the protests. There were always updates on the red shirt's protesting in Bangkok. It was a bit of a nervous time not knowing how out of control it might get. They burned stuff... buses, tires, junk. They walked all over the army tanks that rolled into the popular shopping district. They just seemed very out of control. No one knew what would happen. They show things on Thai TV that we wouldn't see in America, like dead people or people causing violence. So we saw a lot more than I expected. I watched a man yank a woman around on the ground by her hair. I watched the army shoot 'blanks' above the protesters. It was crazy. Oh yea, they decided to threaten the safety of innocent people by blockading a major road with a gas tanker and threatened to blow it up. Nice. Not crazy at all.

The next day, Monday, was the first of the actual Songkran festival holiday, which is normally three days. When I woke up, I looked out the window and saw Boy at the edge of the driveway with a barrel of water, already throwing water at people in cars, trucks and on motorbikes that drove past. I scrambled to get my clothes on and went down to join him. This is something we didn't do last year, standing at the driveway throwing water. I was ALL in!!
Well, no sooner than I joined Boy and the others came too, with their loaded water pistols, it started to pour rain and I thought we'd never get into town for water fighting. It's really really fun! So we all sat around under cover and watched the rain pound the mountainside and farms around us, it lasted an hour or two and put quite a 'chill' in the air. The kids were restless, so we played games with them.
After the rain finally stopped, we were preparing to go, and I didn't see but heard Boy walk by with this crinkling noise. I looked at him funny when he walked by again and he lifted his shirt to show us all that he'd put some holes (for his head and arms) in a big garbage bag and had it under his clothes, tucked into his pants to keep himself a little warmer. When we saw this, we all wanted one and he made them for us. So if you see the plastic under my clothes... it really did keep us warmer since temperatures had cooled quite a bit. A lot of people who stand on the side of the road with water fill it with ice and it is SHOCKING to get smacked with it when you're trapped in the back of a truck. All you can do is scream. They love it! Haha.

Everyone (Boy, Andy, Bom and Bom's smaller cousin) hopped into the back of a caged pickup truck with a full barrel of water and headed for some action. What happens is that we throw water (using big plastic bowls or our water guns) at people waiting on the side of the road or in other trucks and they throw it back at us. If someone is close enough, they will sometimes put wet, white powder on your cheeks. I don't remember the tradition in this... but all the traditions are quite distorted by this day and age. SO, we made our way in and out of the roads 'in town.' Unfortunately, I'm a dead give-away with my blond-ish hair and people stare in combination with really going crazy on us since we're 'falong, FALONG! HEllo! I love you! Very Beauty-fool.' If it's the icey-cold water, then we're going to get hit with it much more than the rest of the people. Basically, we're a target. It's fun. A little overwhelming. But it was fun. After a while Andy said to stop making us such a target (as a joke) and I put a hat and sunglasses on... no one knew the difference and I could enjoy the water fighting from more of a neutral perspective. It was SO so much fun. (Much better than getting doused in Bangkok when clearly you're not dressed to water fight and you're just trying to get to a restaurant for dinner.... but in their defense, you know it's going on and should just tolerate it...?) It was a highlight of the trip for me.

After water fighting, we just relaxed at home and enjoyed another fine dinner and some game time with the kids. Updates on the protesting had us nervous about going back to Bangkok the next day but we decided to make a decision about going in the morning. We just enjoyed a nice night relaxing with the family, keeping an eye on the news.

Tuesday morning we were up and packed up the car, had breakfast and drove home. We woke up to hear that the protests had been called off after too many leaders of the red shirts had been taken into custody. They called everything off. And thank goodness! So what ended up happening was that we left town just before it all started and got back into town just after all the madness was over. We were really lucky, I guess.

It was another lovely trip to Petchabun province with Bom and Andy to spend time with her family for the holiday. A very special memory for me. Thanks Bom and family, and Andy!!

Yaaay! My first video upload that was successful! You'll notice that giggling is the best form of communication. I LOVe it!! Whoooopieee!!

Update

Chakri is one of the King's daughters and it is her birthday, thus "Chakree" Day. Saw it in the Bangkok Post.

Good day!

Monday Off

Sawatdee kah! It's Chakree Day here in Thailand and we are off of school. After looking up the meaning of the holiday, I'm still unsure. I didn't find an answer. I can say that the streets are quieter and I heard a drum procession go by earlier this morning, maybe a wake up call?

School is busy. I was able to have the boys for English and Math lessons Monday through Thursday and we had an excursion (field trip) on Friday to the Children's Discovery Museum. I took some photos and videos and will post those (hidden) on the flickr page. The museum was very educational. The boys learned how blue screens work in a live TV studio. They were "flying" on a magic carpet. There was a mars space lander model (??). They learned about using energy (their own on a bicycle) to create light and to move an object. There were historical costumes and houses that they could play in and on. There were some outdoor parts that I can't remember very well. It was a really hot day and I just remember sweating a lot. Ha ha. It was a fun trip where I was able to socialize with the boys. They are a very energetic bunch and it is evident that grandma has been raising some of them, those few have very little discipline, which makes it very tough for me... who doesn't speak their first language, nor is allowed to. Eek. Please pray for patience. It will all get more serious and "official" once they are in their uniforms and actual school has started. For now I have a lot to get through and it seems that time is moving quickly!

The weekend brought a birthday celebration for Richard and a nice Sunday with Evelyn. We made it to a new mall/market that I hadn't been to before. It's one that is more popular with Thais than tourists and has very good deals. I'm in love! I didn't get to buy anything but I have my eye on what I will go back for when the paychecks start coming in.

I have found the place where I'd like to live and will see if there is still an apartment available for me. It's a little bit farther from school but still very walkable and very much quieter than the place where I'm staying now. It's a nice tree-lined residential street but the busy streets are just nearby. It will be close to my gym and a straight shot to the skytrain, two necessities. I will take a one bedroom and it has a kitchen (two burners!!), HUGE bedroom, small living and dining area and TONS of storage. I'm excited!! I'm back to lots of brown wood but brown is my favorite color, so doesn't much matter. Gotta have a place to put all these suitcases. Ha. I'll move in as soon as I get paid, in a few more weeks.

There have been some very intense thunderstorms here the past few weeks. It isn't a good thing, though I love a good storm, because this is the hot/dry season and the weather is not cooperating. Good ole Global Climate Change, I guess.

We have Songkran coming up in another week. There will be a massive school-wide water fight which I am very much looking forward to, more fun!! After that I will travel to my Thai friend's family's house a bit north and east of Bangkok. This is where I spent last Songkran holiday, Thai New Year (April 2008) and I'm excited to return again. It was a fantastic time and I'm not sure that I blogged about it, but I will this time. :)

It's been a great week here... how are things there? I saw some snow (more, heard about some snow) and so will send you some warmer weather.

Lots of love.

PS> I have tried uploading pics on this and the past few blogs but they won't post. Does anyone know Blogger well... and what might be the problem? I'm stuck!! Boo.

Not to worry

There are currently demonstrations going on all over Thailand, this is a fact. I just wanted you to know that I haven't seen any demonstrations at all as Bangkok is massive and my life is not affected by them in any way. I have direct up-to-date information coming from the American Embassy. Please have no worry about my safety, everything is as normal in my little world here. The demonstrations are peaceful which coincides with Thai culture. There is nothing else to say about this other than Not to worry.

Love.

Week One Summer School

Sawatdee kah! Hello to you. I write this from the room right next door to the apt. where I lived last time. I've moved into my own apt. after orientation and feel a little more settled in Bangkok. I have my own place again! It's been a year since that's happened! I lived at other people's homes while I was in Minnesota. Fun fact.

This new apt. is totally void of brown wood, which is a nice change since the last place was entirely decorated with wood. I'm in a two-toned turquoise room that is quite pleasant. It has all brand new furniture, including a nicely sized kitchen cabinet with an actual exhaust fan, complete with three speeds and a bunch of lights! Now I just need a couple of burners and I'm set!

The apt. is not broken into two parts like the last one. I have one huge studio room with a lot of nice white furniture and a big bed and new lime green couch. Trust... it all looks very nice to me. I'm happy with the choices. A glass table with four chairs (FOUR!) completes a dining/work area and I have a bathroom exactly like the one in the old room. It is one cute little room. I'm pleased to have a place to call my own. Now, I vowed to not stay in this apt. building and have been looking for a place in the neighborhood. Maybe a one or two bedroom place. I've seen some nice places but yet to choose one. I've got a couple more weeks in this school-provided apt. I can always stay here if I can't decide on a different place. Prices are high in the area near school and I've decided that I want to be able to walk to school and the gym, so it's this area that I'll stay. I'm starting to get so cozy in this place that I may just stay here a couple more months until visitors start arriving. VISITORS: when are you arriving??? :)

School last week was quite uneventful. The Thai teachers had the boys for the majority of the week. I spent a little bit of time with them the first day and that was it. They had various activities all week including learning the school songs, a science presentation, practicing lines and playing cool games. Each day was something different. I hope to start right off on Monday with some basics and get through a lot by Thursday. It's a more laid back atmosphere in summer but this is the beginning for these boys in Grade one and I want them off to a good start.

I did spend a little bit of time with the class when they were playing games and chatted with a few boys, discovering that I have a boy who speaks and understands English quite well, so happy about that! A helper! I would almost guess that, if he hasn't gone to English Kindergarten, he's got an English speaking parent. And I must say... he and ALL of the rest of the boys are ADORABLE. Absolutely adorable. Something else notable is that I have one half of three sets of twins in my class. One of the sets of twins are the younger brothers to one of my former students and all three of them look identical. All in all, the class is shaping up quite nicely. There are two, maybe three notably 'hyper' boys who like to wiggle quite a bit... will deal with that in due time.

Something else quite odd is that when I entered my classroom, which is the same room I had last time, it looked/looks EXACTLY like I left it. The teacher last year changed not a single dingle thing. Some of the paper on the bulletin boards was ripped, so I spent fair time ripping things down and washing them (dusty!) and changing things how I want them for this year. It's so exciting to have the same room and all my stuff that I left (all that hard work) and to just be able to jump right in and feel comfortable. I even have the same Thai co-teacher that I had for the last school year. She's lovely and is speaking more English and actually refused to translate for me (which is GOOD!! Total immersion is best!), so there really have been many improvements. I have to say it was a little bizarre to walk into my classroom and have it look exactly as it did the last time I walked out of it. :) Funny.

With summer school comes free Thai lessons for the Newies and whomever else would like them. I attended and am hoping to become much more fluent with Thai this time around. It's really fun to practice with taxi drivers or whomever is willing to speak to a white person. (Literally some store clerks will ignore me out-right, from fear of being confronted with English and being embarrassed because they don't understand.) Evelyn is teaching us Thai which is extra fun because it's pretty informal.

What else is new? Hmm. Oh. I've noticed several changes since last time. First, is that Thai people in the markets aren't saying "hello" anymore but "hi" which is a little strange for some reason. I've noticed that more young Thai couples are showing more affection in public. Holding hands and cuddling a little on escalators and I've even seen a couple of kisses. I should mention that I see this behavior only in the high-end mall area of Bangkok called Siam. The next thing I've noticed is that after dining and asking for the "check bin duai ka" (check please) the server will bring the bill to the table and walk away. In the past the server would bring the bill and stand firmly next to the table, no matter if you've asked for a few minutes or not, and wait for the money to be paid. I prefer that they stand and wait for the money because it then gets things moving a little more quickly. If we want to sit and chat it's still fine to do after paying the bill. The restaurant etiquette here is much different than at home. After food is ordered it comes piece-meal, as the food is finished in the kitchen, instead of all at once. It's definitely different.
The last thing that is notably different is that the city is void of cockroaches, or there are very few at all. They used to scurry about under and near your feet all night long, mostly in the areas near sewer grates or garbage piles. But now they are all gone. I haven't seen a single rat either. I asked one of my coworkers and he said that some prisoners came through and cleaned the gutters and then they sprayed the whole sewer system to kill the pests. I am not quite sure how this effects the environment or my own health but it has certainly worked very well. Translation: don't swim in the nearby river, not that you would've anyway.

Now is it Sunday, my favorite day in Thailand. Everything slows down and weekend markets come out. I purchased a couple dishes today on uber clearance and had a cheap breakfast with my friend and next door neighbor. Luke is back in Bangkok before heading home to Montana (where he's been staying with a friend). He and I spent a good part of yesterday bumming around the city. Who knows what this evening will bring but I'm hoping to read, read, read!

Have a great week and hope to hear from you soon!
Lots of love!

it shall all begin soon!

Very soon, indeed! Summer school will begin this coming Monday and I am very excited about being back for another year! I've spent some time looking at apartments in different areas of Bangkok that are near the school. It's been difficult to decide but I don't have to choose quite yet. Will take the school-provided apartment for a month and 'buy' some time. I stayed at that apt. building the entire contract when I was here last. It was nice and all but I'd like a little more room for visitors (so come visit!!) and a proper kitchen. Maybe even a washing machine, too! There are loads of options, it's just a lot to think about! Will let you know what I choose when I choose it!

The "newies" (Australians add an "ie", "ies" or s to the end of nearly everything) had orientation today. I am not technically new but wasn't here last year, so am grouped with them. It was lovely to meet all the (6) new teachers. ALL of them are Aussie. Yes, more Aussies. I do have something like 4 or 5 other Americans on staff to "understand" me better. Evelyn and I regularly find places to eat Nachos and talk about American television. It's really great to have a close American friend. ... who speaks fluent Thai, too!

We will have orientation with the full staff tomorrow and prepare for Monday's first day of summer school! As a Grade One teacher I will have my full class of 20 and it is their first official day of school (other than the three years of kindergarten that they do here). We'll focus on routines (come in, take off your shoes and stand behind your desk), sight words (book, chair, sit, quiet...) and beginning math (of course the rest of the world calls it maths)... numbers and counting. It's really a great time to establish my rules and expectations and demonstrate them repeatedly. Over and over. In clear, simple English. And then again. Even slower and with lots of actions and gesturing. :) It really is fun!!

Have been suffering a bad headache (probably from heat and dehydration) for the past couple of days, so if you haven't heard from me, I've been bed ridden and not doing much internet.

Have a great weekend!! More to come, stay tuned!

Hello Tuesday

hello happy friends. i've return to the coffee world cafe (which has no public bathroom. geez, we're dealing with coffee here, people) to post another quick blog after trying, unsuccessfully, to post my photos. it simply would not upload them to flickr. Maybe I can post a couple here on blogger....?

Whooops, I'll get rid of the all-lowercase. Forgot, solly. (sorry)

I've spent the past weekend and few days of this week mostly at the house where I'm fish-sitting. I met a Thai friend for a (HORRIBLE) man movie, Watchmen (NOT for children), lunch and shopping!! We spent eight hours at the mall. We had ramen in these MASSIVE bowls. It was fun. Photo is me with massive bowl of Tom Yum (veg) Ramen. Spicy!!

The rest of the time I've been at the house reading. I finished an awesome book called Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan. I highly recommend it, it's about Frank Lloyd Wright's love affair with a woman named Mamah (may-mah). Incredible ending. Almost unbelievable.
Now I'm reading The Secret History, but Donna Tartt. It's decent. A big gripping since it's about some friends who murder one of the friends in their "group". Almost finished with that one. Both are book club choices that I hadn't finished.

The people who rent the house I'm in have a lovely DVD collection and I've enjoyed some movies: Rachel Getting Married (thumbs middle), Seven Pounds (thumbs down), Lost in Translation (thumbs up), House Bunny (thumbs down), Madagascar 2 (thumbs up)... and more I can't really remember. ALSO, I've had the opportunity to watch a couple seasons of How I Met Your Mother and find it much like a car crash... horrible but hard not to watch. The people in that show are annoying, dramatic and my age. Puh-lease. BUT, Britney was in a couple episodes (insert Barb, Beth and Sarah D dancing to Britney) so I guess that makes it a little better? Yes I like her. Don't be a hater. She has issues like the rest of us. (lol)

THen, yesterday I watched two seasons of Entourage (yes, I stayed on the couch the entire day) and can finally understand why people like that show. It's like the TV version of US Weekly... entertaining but not my favorite. It seems like "everyone" does a cameo on that show. Amazing, really.

Last night I told myself I HAD to physically leave the house and check internet. I hadn't been back since last post. I did spend all of Saturday out, though, remember.

I'm very excited for summer school to begin and my friends to return to the city. A whole new set of cute little clueless Thai boys under my care for another year. Can't wait!!

Oh yea, here's something interesting. He he.

I saw this in the Bangkok Post. Stinks to be her today, I guess. Whoa.

I will post again soon.
Thank you for your messages and updates!! Lots of love. :)