Field Trip to Planetarium

On Monday the whole school took a field trip. The primary(elementary) kids went to the planetarium and the matayuum(high-school) kids took a separate field trip. After staff worship it took a while for the buses and vans to get ready and loaded. The high-schoolers loaded and headed off first so the primary kids had to wait for a while on the white top. My kids were getting a little bit restless, but they were great otherwise, waiting patiently. The other teachers decided it would be fun to take pictures with me because I'm so tall! It's actually quite funny! They took about 4 pictures and giggled after each one was taken. I'm head and shoulders over all of them, I guess it's just not that often that that happens. Soon enough, the vans for us pulled up and we all stood up and lined up waiting our turn to get into our van. 

 

My 7 out of 10 EP5(english program) kids and I loaded up with another Thai class and teacher and we were finally all situated! Whew! Before our driver even got into the van the other teacher and I heard screaming right behind us. We whipped around and one of my boys, Korn, was up dancing and shaking and jumping. I was really confused but he looked like something was wrong. Of course I suppose when panic sets in you really don't think to switch to a language you don't know really well. He was screaming in Thai and I couldn't help him! So here I was asking what was wrong in ENGLISH and he and the other boys are screaming in Thai! The funny part is that the other teacher with me didn't even speak english. Her mother tongue  is Thai, and she couldn't even understand them! This made me feel much better! Finally, when I asked my other student, Now, what was going on he decided to fill me in. He managed to get out "Cockroach!" Of course then I completely understood their frenzy and even felt compassion for them. Wait, that still didn't explain Korn's jumping around. It was then that it all made sense. Now pointed to Korn who was then spinning uncontrollably around and around reaching at his back. I saw a nasty little cockroach crawling all over his back! I went into 'Super Teacher' 

mode. I reached over, grabbed the cockroach, and instead of calmly throwing it out of the van, I threw it on the floor. Great. Now all the boys were going crazy. Amazingly it crawled into a little storage compartment right behind me and one of the boys was able to smash it with his 

shoe.  This was the start to my day? Wow. Although, that little ordeal really helped me bond with my kids, however funny it may be.

We took the short ride to the planetarium and our first stop once we were there was the star & constellation show. We went into a dark dome shaped room and all my kids and I were able to exactly fit into one row. We leaned back and waited for the show to start. Some of the signs 

were in English, so I found myself rather hopeful. Once the show began, though, I was sorely disappointed. It was okay, I just had Alice, my student, translate. The show really was wonderful and

 informative. Even though it was in a different language, it was so fun to see them point out different constellations and stars. When the room was dark and all I could see above me were stars, I found myself missing the country life being able to look up every night and see those amazing stars. It is one of my favorite things to do. I guess sometimes you don't realize you love or even miss something till it's gone. That little bit of time I had with those make believe stars was wonderful. After the show, we went into the hands-on part of the museum. 

Oh wow, the kids went crazy. Once inside those doors they had a blast! They all(over 100) ran over to the first interactive display they saw. They all crowded around it not realizing the whole place was a gold mine full of interactive things to play with. Once they realized this, they spread around the HUGE room and had so much fun! It was so fun to see them interact with each other. I am still new here, so I'm still learning the

 names and faces. So, it was good to be able to walk anywhere and see so many faces! They stayed in that first area for quite a while and I just milled around making sure I eventually got to the number 7 when counting heads. I usually found 3 girls together, 1 girl by herself(the way she wants it), and my 3 boys together. So, it made things fairly easy. Next, we went up to the 2nd floor. Little did I know there were 3 floors all as big as the first and all with SO much to see and play with. By 11:00am we decided it was time for lunch. We gathered all our kids up and went and sat on the concrete entrance to the building we

had just been in. This was odd. We just don't set up camp outside of places like that in the U.S.! I'm still adjusting! Anyway, our lunch was one chicken drumstick and a wad of sticky rice eaten 

plain. Interesting was all I could muster. I ate it happy for any nourishment. There was nowhere to sit, so I joined my kids on the ground. Where else was I supposed to go? I looked over at the other teachers and they were laughing at me! I didn't understand and still don't really, but I guess they thought it was funny I was

sitting on the ground with the kids! 

Next, we went to an aquarium. It was small, but the kids still enjoyed it. They had all kinds of exotic fish and they even had Dory & Nemo statues! Teacher Tess & I had our kids in there, but we soon realized we were all alone. We had no idea where the other teachers & students had gone. We left the aquarium, but still no one in sight. A staff member of the school and a few others were waiting by the entrance with some kids still finishing up eating and he informed us that they had all already gone to the next museum. We thought we knew the right direction to go, but alas, we did not. We ended up going the wrong direction down the road and had to turn around to correct ourselves. It's amazing how they don't worry about kids walking off by themselves at all! I, of course, was constantly counting to 7, and the other teachers seemed to

 be so relaxed even though their kids were running away! They didn't seem worried at all. I tried to relax a little more. Once we got into the next building we found everyone else. This building had, oh I don't know, 7 or 8 floors we had to conquer. Each floor had a different theme and the kids had a blast. They had so many craft things to make! I even joined in on the fun! Floor by floor we ushered the kids and floor by floor I was amazed at what else this place could come up with. 

My favorite floor by far was the play room. You had to take your

 shoes off at the entrance and they had so much equipment for the kids to play on! I got to run around with the kids taking pictures and playing with them! Every once in a while I like to just stop what I'm doing and enjoy where I am and what I'm getting to experience. I just appreciate what God has done for me. I love my kids so much and they each have so much personality. It's amazing what you can enjoy if you let God

take over. I smile a lot here. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are times when these same kids that make me smile DO NOT make me smile, but overall, I love it here. My mom is a teacher and I understand what makes her love it so much. You get so much satisfaction with what you're doing. At least, I do. 

Finally, after conquering the last couple floors, we all loaded back into the vans. We had a wonderful day and I enjoyed spending time with my kids outside of a classroom setting. I learned so much about them and it even helped me remember their names! After we got back, the other teachers practiced singing for a funeral, and I enjoyed hearing their harmony and guitar playing. We had to wait a couple hours before school was officially over. All in all, God blessed us with a wonderful day getting to know each other better. 

Mother's Day Trip to Ayutthaya

Tuesday was Mother's Day here in Thailand, so we had the day off of school. All 5 of us SMs decided to go to Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya is an ancient city that was conquered by the Burmese. There are tons of tourist hot spots that are so interesting to excavate! At 7:30am we left and got on a som tao that took us to the BTS. Once on the BTS we traveled the whole route! Once at the last BTS station, we took a taxi to the bus station. You have to make sure that the taxi driver has a meter and that he starts it because they will try and rip you off. We each bought a ticket for a bus that would take us to Ayutthaya. It was an hour and 15 min. trip in the bus. The trip wasn't bad at all since we entertained ourselves with playing cards and ipods. Once there, we got off and didn't really see what we had expected. There were tourists everywhere. We heard them talking to drivers of tuk tuks and we were really confused. We thought that once we got there we could just walk to all the locations. Apparently not....So we found a driver that said he would take us to all the spots and that it would take 4 hours. We haggled him down to 800 baht from 1000 baht for the whole trip, which we were proud of. Stephanie was just sure she could haggle him down further than that, but we took what we could get. Once in, we quickly discovered he was a...ummm....good? driver. Efficient is the word I'm looking for I suppose. We all squished into the tuk tuk and he took us to our first stop. This was a place with a BUNCH of buddha statues. It was so interesting to see all of the history that was encased in all these crumbling buildings and buddhas. There were such pretty flowers all over the ground from trees. So, I decided to put one in my hair. After this, we decided to hike up to the top of one of the buildings that was still in tact. At the top of the building they have a place where Buddhists can give an offering. You can go up the side and go to the top where you can look over the top. It was quite a hike up all those steps, but it was worth it to feel the wind at the top and to see the view. It was a beautiful view of the ruins.

The next stop was similar to the first. This location had ruins just like the first, but it also had a famous buddha head that has a tree growing around it. It's 

 really neat to see. They have rules about taking pictures with the different buddha statues. You can't be above the statue. This is why I'm crouching next to the buddha head. They

 have a guard there that will blow his whistle if he sees you on the same level as the buddha taking a picture. He'll make you delete the picture! I saw this in action. We 

decided not to go near the bigger buddha to take a picture because we were nervous to have the same thing done to us! We opted for a nice group picture instead-not beside a buddha statue! 

At the entrance to this stop there were lots of vendors selling items toward off the heat. Among them there was ice cream with corn(crazy), popsicles, water, and coconut milk. I opted for a strawberry popsic

le. It was an amazing refreshment! The heat here is just so

intense that any relief like shade or a cold beverage or treat is just a life saver! Especially since there's no A/C!

Next our driver dropped us off at an elephant show/elephant riding

 place. I really wanted to take an elephant ride, but it was too expensive for such a short period of time. That, and I'm stiff when it comes to money here. We don't get paid till the 25th of August, so we're all trying to save our money. We just walked around for a couple of minutes looking at the elephants and feeling sorry for them. They chain them to a tie rail and leave them until someone wants to take a ride. For such an enormous animal, you would think they'd need both more brain and

 physical exercise. I want to have an elephant and let it graze however much it wants and let people come pet and feed it for free! But I suppose I'll have to wait till Heaven until that happens! 

One of the elephant holders was holding an older elephant and letting tourists pay to feed it. He was sitting on a chair and I noticed that he had something on his head. I was really curious to what this creature could be, so I went forward to take a closer

 look. It was then that I realized that it was a baby squirrel! This guy had a baby

 squirrel on his head! I just had to pet it and hold it! I just had to. So I went over there and tried to 

motion and ask if I could pet it. He nodded his head in approval, so I pet it. It didn't mind at all! This was so awesome! So then a friend of his

 came over and picked him up and put it on my shoulder! That was awesome! The baby was totally domesticated and I loved being that close to something I've never even had the chance to interact with in America. The "friend" then said "Okay, One Million Baht." I gave him a look of horror and then a look of disapproval. He began laughing! I couldn't believe it! This man had just made a joke out of what his fellow Thais do to tourists all the time. I laughed with him and we both got a kick out of it. It's so true. They will let you pet something or hold something, and then after you're all set to take a picture, they ask you for money.  

Next, we stopped at another ruin site before lunch. To tell the truth, all the ruin spots started to look the same. I don't know if that's bad to confess or not, but it's what I was thinking. Even after looking at pictures, I can't tell what picture was taken where. Lunch wa

s our next much needed stop. We were running low on fuel, and were surprised that our driver dropped us off somewhere where we could eat. We order

ed a platter of fried rice and chicken for all 5 of us. Our order came, but it d

id NOT look like fried rice and chicken. We were quite sure it

 wasn't what we ordered, so we flagged our waitress down and she immediately noticed the mistake. The food on the left is our "mistake"

 food and the food on the right is our actual meal. Our actual meal was pretty good! We all shared, and actually had plenty of food.

 After lunch we had about 3 more stops. 

The first of the after lunch stops was the temple with a giant buddha built in the period of Ayutthaya. 

It is 12.5 meters tall. Pretty much huge! It made of bronze and there were so many people there worshipin

g. There was a large group of people

 circling the buddha constantly praying. There were people all over the floor bowing and praying. Outside there several offerings of incense. Before you enter into the temple where the buddha is you have to take off your shoes. There are lots of numbered slots to put your

 shoes in. I

 was a little apprehensive about taking off my shoes and walking around where so many people had been :( But when we went in, we were struck by the size of the buddha. 

A couple more ruin spots were next, and then came the giant lying down buddha. This was also from the Ayutthaya times. It was interesting. They covered it with an orange covering like the monks wear. There I found what I had been looking for

! I found my hammock! I was so thrilled about it, because when I saw it, I just knew it was perfect! The lady I bought it from said that her family makes them by hand. I appreciated it a lot more then. It's also made from Thai silk. It's blue, yellow, and white. Too bad I can't put it up here. No where to put it! After this we saw a cute dog that was enjoying a nice treat from the weather. I thought it was such a good idea and I thought it was so sweet that his owner had done it for him!

It was so interesting seeing the history of this wonderful place that I'm living in. It makes me feel like I'm a better addition to the country knowing a little more about what it's made of. I can't wait until our next adventure! God Bless you all. 

Sabbath & Sunday Fun

After church Stephanie, Erin, Leah, and I went to eat. We rested for a few hours and then Stephanie and I went for a walk. We went into Pastor & Kim William's compound. They have a playground and we had fun playing on all the equipment! We noticed that there was a soccer ball in the field. We kicked it around for a while. We enjoyed the exercise and the fresh air. 

Today(Sunday) we went to the mall. When you make a trip to the 

mall, you think, "Where are my keys?" and you're there in less than 10 min. We have several options to choose from. We ca

n take a taxi, which is probably not the best option because they like to rip of foreigners. Also, a lot of them don't like to go to certain areas. We opted to take the big yellow bus that would take us all the way to the mall. I was okay and air-co

nditioned. After we got there, we had fun looking around at everything different from what we're used to. Their malls have so

 many levels. We took a ton of escalat

ors. 

They have pictures of their queen everywhere. A lot Thais wai(bow) to the picture as they pass by. The respect they have for their king and queen is so amazing. We had fun walking around outs

ide the ma

ll. They had a fountain like the one at Bicentennial Mall in Downtown Nashville. I got cough suppressant pills from the mall to help with my cold that seems to be getting worse. Stephanie and I also got drinks at Starbucks. We enjoyed them so much! Like a little piece of home! I got a Pomegran

ate Peach Frappucino and Stephanie got a Coffee Light Frappucino with raspberry. I have enjoyed not hacking and coughing since I've taken the medicine.

 

The trip back proved to be a bit more puzzling. We decided not to take the bus because we were really tired and we wanted a quick trip back to relax and lay down. So, we decided to take the BTS(subway). We thought we had the right track, but luckily we realized we were standi

ng at the wrong one before we hopped on and headed the totally 

opposite way! We looked at a map for Ekamai and found the right one. It's always so crowded on the BTS, but we got out with a big group, so it's okay! At the end of the month, it'll just be Stephanie and I going out because Leah & Erin are being sent to another school 8 hours away. So Stephanie and I will have to brave the world of taxis, tuk tuks, buses, & the BTS alone. Hopefully Mike will come with us sometimes that way we have a larger number of people! Although, I really don't see us having to use t

he BTS or even go down that way more than once a week if even that. 

Anyways, back to the trip home. We finally got on the right track to Ekamai. That part was

 really easy to understand. They have a screen in the BTS telling you what stop you're coming up on. We got off there and that's where the confusion began. We had no idea what form of transportation to take us to our street. It was a little too far to walk, but we didn't know what to do. We accidentally haled like 3 buses that we didn't need and we didn't know how to ask them which bus we needed. finally the driver to a bus, pointed behind us at the upcoming bus on the road and motioned and nodded his head. We got the picture that we needed to be on that bus. It was SOOOOO packed and we first thought that we wouldn't fit. They waved us on anyway though. It was thrilling! 

We shoved ourselves in. Next we had the problem of understanding what the bus lady was saying....???? We were trying SOOO hard to understand, but she didn't want to waste her time with us. She was actually being really rude. We finally all paid our 8 baht and found spots to hold on for dear life. We tried asking her in Thai when our street was coming up, because there were so many people in the bus and we couldn't see out the windows!!! She wanted nothing to do with us and pretty much refused to answer. Oh well. We finally noticed stuff outside starting to look familiar, so we pressed the big red button asking the bus to pull over. He stopped and then we hopped off. We were super excited to see our street! 

We ended an exciting day. Now Stephanie and I are sitting in her room typing away on the internet. Tomorrow we will return to school and work, but we get a break on Tuesday because it's the Thai Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all! God Bless!

 

---------------------------------------------------^That's our street sign

Shopping, tuk tuks, & elephants!

Wow It's amazing how much can happen in such little time, especially the things we've done in the 1 week we've been here. Last night, Aug. 7th, was Leah's birthday. To celebrate, we took her out shopping. This included my first ride in a tuk tuk. That was so exciting! While shopping I found some awesome stuff for SO cheap! 

Today we left Bangkok at 6 am to make it on time for a tour group to Rose Garden, a Cobra Show, & a Crocodile & Elephant Farm. These places were so amazing

. There were tigers, cobras, and crocodiles, oh my! My favorite place by far were the elephant farms. I think they were a mutual favorite among the SMs. We fed them sugar cane and bananas. Their kind spirits just radiate through them and you can feel their warmth and how much they love to be around you. I LOVE these creatures. I would love to work with them someday and get paid for it. 

After this, we went to the famous Floating Market. This was so amazing! We were driven by boat to the heart of the market. I found the over the shoulder bag I had been looking for and Steph found some cute cell phone holders. We decided not to opt to take the 30 minute boat trip dropping you at the shops on the water. There was plenty of shopping where we were an

yway. I tried a new food, which is my new goal to keep doing! It looks like a taco with cheese, but it's a sugar based shell with cream on the

 inside with coconut on top. So YummY!

After the floating market experience, we dropped by the Cobra Show location. They charged too much to go in, so we just looked around at all the pretty flowers! So many brilliant colors! 

 Lunch, buffet style, was amazing! I loved the curry. It reminded me of Gloria's, a place in Murray, KY I love to go to get green curry. We went to the crocodile and elephant farm at the same location as lunch. These were well worth the money. Slightly touristy, but still a wonderful experience. They had tigers in addition to the elephants and crocodiles. They were chained at a tourist picture taking area, but they were still real tigers! 

Rose Garden was our next stop. There were actually not that many roses, but it's all good. There was a cultural Thai lights and drama show. This was interesting because we learned about Thai customs, dances, music, and sports. There was another elephant show afterward, which we enjoyed. Very different from the other one we saw. The knew a few more tricks.

The ride home we played the Movie Game to keep ourselves awake. We had a long but amazing day. I hope to go to the Monastery that has tigers so I can get an up close and personal look without having to pay a bunch for just 1 min with them. This has been the best week of my life. I have experienced more things here in 1 week than I have practically in my lifetime. Foods, language, culture, driving, smells, travel, exotic animals, and so many more! God has proven so capable of taking care of us and showing us His magnificent creations. I can't wait to see what happens next! Happy Sabbath to all and God Bless!

First Impressions

Although you hear things about what traveling or going abroad is all about, you can never fully understand until you actually step on that plane and take off. Stepping out into the city of Bangkok, Thailand Stephanie and I were immediately hit by the intense humidity. It is crazy. It's at least 60% humidity every day here. We found ourselves at my apartment at around 1 am falling into our beds and never wanting to wake up. To our surprise and dismay, we both arose before we had ever intended. That's jet lag for you I suppose. The next day we sought out Stephanie's director of her school. After that, Ajarn Sumchote and I dropped Steph with Kim, the director of the SDA Thailand Language School. I was then taken and introduced to all the staff at my school. All of the new non-familiar Thai names threw me for a loop, but I'll eventually get used to it as my goal is to learn as much Thai as possible. Ajarn means Wise or Elder and Sawadee Ka means "hello" or used as a greeting. Our first impressions of the food was not a good one. For some reason, we both had BAD food the first day here, but ever since then have found Thai food amazing. Pad Thai and Tofu Vegetarian dishes are our 2 favorite items. We are enjoying all of the new cultural experiences so much. The other 3 SMs with us, Leah, Erin, and Mike are a joy to be around and are so welcoming! 

My First Day of teaching was nothing short of a nightmare. I mean, the first part of the day was wonderful, but the end of my day was teaching conversational english to 10th grade. This class was full with 40 students that had nothing else on their mind except for talking and NOT LISTENING to me. I struggled through 50 minutes trying to get them to at least attempt to do something like repeating after me. They tired me out, but now I am determined to come up with activities to keep them entertained and focused. On a better note, my classes with the elementary kids were wonderful. They were still talkative, but they were so much easier to teach. They seemed to know so much more English. 

We did have our first experience in a Thai taxi on Sunday. All of the SMs went shopping at Big C(equivalent to Wal-Mart) and got essentials. We walked there but needed a taxi on the way back for our stuff. 

Well, you'll have to keep checking to see what new adventures we may encounter in our new home - Bangkok, Thailand!