New Adventures...: Chan pood Thai dai nid noi kah

"I can speak Thai a little bit" is what that means. I am finally starting to attempt to learn the Thai language, and what a journey it is! My Thai teachers have been more than helpful and lots of laughter ensued due to my inability to pronounce "ng" so when I ask for rambutan in Thai, it's a lol-a-thon in the office, but in good fun. I actually am having a good time, but man is it hard. Helps keep me grounded and remember to be patient with the students when they are learning English. Especially since the students at my shook also learn Chinese and speak another dialect of thai in addition to learning English! Four languages thrown at you at a very young age, come on America- get with the program! Oh and I have deactivated my Facebook, it's been about a week and just decided that a break would be nice. Back to focusing on Thailand and my life here rather than get caught up with what everyone else is doing and what I'm missing out on. School has been a whirlwind and I cannot believe how fast time in flying. I have been playing charades with my students and my matthyom (secondary level aka high school) students have been working on their country project. I assigned them to work in groups and they got to pick a country and had to research on it. I required population, size, food, anaimal, language, capital city, and famous landmarks. And they have to create two poster boards and color and draw and present to the class next week. Have already seen some of their work and I'm so excited! My matthyom kids have grown on me and I love them, always a smile on their faces and we are having fun together. My Friday nights have been in Mae Chan and Saturdays have been in Chiang Rai with friends and escaping the small town life for a bit. Laying poolside with good friends, not a bad life :) it's still quite hot here (33-34) and at night it cools to 27...humidity is still high and I have been consuming a ridiculous amount of water. Somehow the summer solstice has come and gone, but it doesn't exist here. The days don't change too much, but the 21st was Father's Day so I called home and was able to wish my dad a happy Father's Day :) and that brings me to the next thing...my parents arrive in a week! The time is finally here! I seriously cannot believe how fast time is flying, it's scary and exciting at the same time! Last week was my friend Gemma's birthday so we celebrated in Mae Chan and Chiang Rai with teacher friends. On Saturday I had Parents Day where the top student in each class was recognize with an award in front of everyone and the teachers were introduced to the parents. I felt so proud of all of my students and then my matthyom students performed traditional Thai dancing, so beautiful and I couldn't stop smiling. I will post videos soon.This week my school has school officials visiting so we are getting the school and students all prepped for a big show. Basically we need to show our school is an amazing school so we can receive a bigger grant from the school board. So we have dances and songs prepared and freshly paired buildings and new artwork for the children. Thursday is "wey Kru" which I'm really looking forward to. In Thailand there are three levels of "wey." Informal is hands in prayer position at chest, at director level - index fingers at nose, and Buddha/the King- index fingers forehead/I think thumb too...) well so "wey Kru" is when all the students wey the teachers at the highest level. They hadpractice today and I got to sit in and observe. I love Thailand. I have 700 students this term and almost all of them were practicing at the same time. They all sat on the floor in the gymnasium and kneeled down in unison, and then after they started singing songs I hadn't heard before. It's a very big thing and I'm so excited I get to partake in it! Our little MEP (mini English program) students (prathom 1-3) are going to be on stage singing a song we have been rehearsing with them for the past week. I forgot how little the kids are! My kids are barely shorter than me and the rest tower over me haha. Not too surprising, but I did forget how little the prathom kids are. Adorable. I love them. Life at Baan Mae Chan isn't too bad :) let's see what else...I am tutoring an MEP 3 boy for the MEP competition in the spelling bee. Will be in August in another province and so excited for the kids! This is my last week tutoring with Un because she was accepted into the university in Bangkok and will be leaving to start school on Sunday! So proud of her! She is going to study English and have a minor in maybe history. She also has to learn a third language so she might be taking Spanish too! She is so sweet and I will miss her, but so excited for her new adventure. After uni she wants to go to Paris and I asked her if she's ever had French food and she said no so I told her she needs to find one in Bangkok and a weekend I come to visit we can get dinner together. Okay I think that's about sums in up...life is constantly happening and it's been a beautiful chaos! I have decided to extend my contract for 6 months after my year ends in October. So paperwork galore, but worth it. Parents arrive next week, and then I head to California on the 18th of July! Already have plans to stay in Santa Cruz for a few days and then fly to my parents house for the wedding and then probably spend time visiting with family before flying back to Thailand. Will be a whirlwind trip, but I'm so excited for the wedding, my family/friends, and Mexican food. So much Mexican food. Oh and my adorable roommate from San Diego sent me a beautiful yoga book and tapatio! The perfect care package. Oh and I've been playing football after school with my kids and back to running and finally now back to yoga. I found a beautiful spot to practice yoga at school that faces north (yoga is all about finding your true north) so I felt it was a perfect find. Granted the guys (adults, not my kids haha) play football on the field too so I get to take a few looks here and there - that's a plus ;) sunset walks with friends and singing in the evenings with my family (Emily Jeffrey, Wynnie, and Jess) while we have delicious ginger tea and relax and laugh about our day. Still endless fruit consumption- dragon fruit, mango, green mango, watermelon, rambutan, lycée, pineapple, and apples happen almost on the daily. We are in a routine of buying a big bag of fruit and sharing community style in our office. Well as you can tell, I am still loving life here in Thailand. Cannot wait to share my new home with my parents. Haven't been taking my iPhone with me lately so not as many photos, but here are a few

Rikter- the MEP 3 student I tutor for spelling bee and his friends distracting him