Well hello! So I have now been here two weeks and LOVING MAE CHAN! I have made friends with some other ESL instructor's and we all seem to get along so we hang out and discuss/share kindergarten songs and just enjoy the small town feel. Definitely a slower pace of life than what I've been living this past year, but it's a good change. So I teach a kindy class for 30 minutes every morning and then I have the same two classes for IEC Primary 1 (6/7 year olds) and then twice a week I have conversational English with kids after lunch. With the Kindy...I chose ANIMALS as the topic for this week and I have the kids act like animals, we play games, we sing and dance...It's really a lot of fun. I go by Teacher Dao (means Star in Thai) because the kids can't pronounce my name and when they see it written it just confuses them. I like my Thai name, everyone calls me Teacher Dao :) So I am enjoying the teaching aspect, however lesson planning is the end of me! So much detail and blah. Perks of a government school = lots of holiday ; downside? PAPERWORK PAPERWORK PAPERWORK. *sigh* Oh well. The kids are worth it! So the school provides breakfast and lunch - heaven! I'm constantly eating...I don't know how the Thai's stay so skinny with all the food. I am in heaven with the food, curries and veggies and soups and sweets. And the best part? it's all super cheap! So my daily routine now is wake up and get ready for school (why I have some selfie photos in the other blog - to show how much makeup/hair brushed/wardrobe effort goes into appearance. Thai's are all about appearance and well I'm a yogi that went to UCSC so I love my flip flops, yoga clothes, and little to no make up...not very Thai so have had to make some adjustments haha). So after that whole ordeal, I walk with Jeffrey (ESL teacher from the Philippines and we sign in at the office and then go feast (I mean eat) breakfast. Then we head to our little office/teacher's room and prep for the classes. After assembly the bell rings for classes to begin so I skip off to Kindergarten to play with the kids. The sounds of their giggles and shrieks?! priceless! Here are some photos of them on Friday. They dressed up for Loy Krathong. A festival/tradition that you make a krathong and send all your bad habits/spirits/negativity with it and light the candle and send it down the river. Also to give thanks to the river and to apologize for treating it badly.
Okay so here is my kindy class:
^We are playing "duck duck goose" - such a fun game with them. They love it and it gets them to run out of energy haha :)
Aren't they cute?!
Teacher Dao and students :)
My Primary 1 IEC class.
Teacher Dao!
So after a week of teaching my friends and I decided we needed a weekend in Chiang Rai and catch up. I was so excited because I missed my friends and was looking forward to a little city action. Ally and I find a hostel that's close to the night life that Chiang Rai has to offer, which is a very mellow scene - much needed! We meet some new teacher friends and low and behold I meet two guys from San Diego! What are the odds?! So fun! We all quickly became friends and had a relaxed weekend. After being out late on Saturday Conor (San Diego) suggests a chill day by the river so my roommate Bethel and I hop on his vespa (again sorry mom!) and head to a chill place by the river. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon!
These two - I can't. So fun :)
View from our little bungalow hangout!
So after that I hopped on the bus to head back to Mae Chan and then got some dinner with friends and then bed time. Had teaching today, but we have tomorrow off. One of the teacher's died last week and we are having the funeral tomorrow. It's a sad time in the school. Very tight knit community, teachers from Chiang Rai are even coming for tomorrow.
On a lighter note...I am back into practicing my yoga daily (thank you youtube) and doing a little workout after work. I also got into full dancer's pose! Never thought that would happen! I am still settling into the town, still making this town my new home. Until next time!!
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