Chiang Mai

I left for Chiang Mai from Nong Khai on Friday night.  After an hour and a half bus ride to Udon Thani (the nearest town with a long distance bus terminal), I embarked on my 13 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai.  The bus was very nice- VIP- with reclining seats and a blanket.  However, driving from Udon to Chiang Mai is very hilly and very windy.  On a double decker bus with a crazy driver, needless to say it was a bit difficult to sleep.  However, we arrived safely and I checked into my cute guesthouse on the edge of Old City.
Sunday night is a very busy night in Chiang Mai as it is the time for the Sunday Walking Market.  And boy, do you do a lot of walking.  After wondering for about two hours, I think I saw about 75% of the market.  They sell everything from clothing to handicrafts to food and drinks.  There are also long rows of chairs set up for massage!  You can get a 30 minute back/shoulder or foot massage for 60 baht, approx. $2.  A nice treat after hours of shopping!

On Monday, I went to the Tiger Sanctuary and played with four 4 month old tigers.  They were so cute! And very feisty.  There is always the concern at places like these that the animals are not treated well, but from what I saw, the animals were well trained and the little ones were very active, just like kittens.  The older tigers liked to sleep, but compared to my cat at home, they seemed even a bit more active!  The Tiger Sanctuary seems to have a successful breeding program as we also got to see three newborn (probably about a month old) tigers.  When the tigers start to get older and possibly more aggressive, the sanctuary sends them to nature parks or zoos who are looking to mate with other tigers.   Overall, a pretty amazing experience.

On Tuesday, I traveled outside of Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, the Golden Triangle (where Laos, Burma, and Thailand meet around the Mekong River) and Mae Sai (the northern most point of Thailand where we could see across the border into Burma).  The main reason I went on this tour was to see the White Temple outside of Chiang Rai.  My description is not going to do it justice, so I will be sure to post pictures when I get home.  This temple is all white with little glass mosaic stones to create a mirror border all over the temple.   Construction only began on the temple 15 years ago and they project it will take another 55 years to finish the whole temple complex.  The sponsor, designer, and architect of the project is Chalermchai Kositpipat, the most famous painter in Thailand.  While the temple is beautiful, it is a bit odd that nearly everything in the gift shop has his picture on it.  It seems a bit like shameless self-promotion, however he is building a great monument.

On this tour, we also traveled to see the Long Neck tribe, originally from Burma, in the hills in the northern most region of Thailand.  They only arrived in Thailand about 10 years ago and still keep (mostly) to their traditional tribal lifestyle.  We also saw the tribe who elongates their earlobes like the Buddha to ensure long life and prosperity.    

The other stop on our tour was a boat ride in the Golden Triangle on the Mekong River.  This route is called so because of the Opium Trade- in order to buy opium, one had to have the exact weight in pure gold as the weight of opium desired.  This region around the Mekong had been primarily opium fields, but now they have been converted to corn and rice.

My final activity in Chiang Mai was a four course cooking class.  It was amazing!  I made Pad Thai (my favorite), Mussaman curry paste and curry (my other favorite) and a coconut glazed banana with ice cream for dessert.  The group I went with was a lot of fun and we had a good time cooking our dishes and eat together, while sharing stories about our travels.  I also got a cookbook to bring home, but who knows if I will actually be able to replicate any of the dishes :)

Tonight I am off on the night train to Bangkok.  Should be another interesting travel experience :)

English Competition

When asking if we wanted to compete in the English competition that was held on Wednesday, the Head of School told us there were going to be three other schools all located within the Isan province of Thailand.  We felt those odds were fair and that we could have a solid chance of winning the competition, which was part of the reason why we decided to enter.  However, when we walked into the gymnasium on Wednesday morning there were at least twenty other presentation boards and students were still streaming in.  I'm pretty sure the teacher and I both had a mild heart attack.  After viewing some of the boards, we realized that this competition had many categories, including math, science, scouts, and one other that we still haven't deciphered.

Then it appeared that we had found the three other schools we would be competing against for the category ASEAN Nations- English presentation.  One school had an amazing presentation board and authentic Thai costumes.  They had brought little flags of each ASEAN Nation to set up with their presentation board.  In short, it was well thought out and very professionally done.  However it was all in Thai!  Teacher Dave tried to speak to the group about their project in English and he said that their spoken English was very poor.  So we were hoping that would be a mark in our favor because at least our entire presentation and poster was in English.

The second group did have a board in English and could speak English well enough for them to tell us about themselves and their project.  Then we found out they were M4-M6 students (about 10-12th grade) and our students were only M1 (about 7th grade).  We were a bit nervous that just their age could make them more confident speaking in front of the judges and that their English level would be better.  However, our board was much nice than theirs.  All in all, we had our work cut out for us if we wanted to win the English competition and move onto the next level.

Ours was the first group to be judged.  The kids did a great job; they were animated and expressive with hand gestures and facial expressions.  After the speech, the judges told us that we were the winners!  Turns out that the group with the board all in Thai was competing in a different competition about ASEAN Nations and they were not in our category.  The group of M4-M6 students was in a different division because of their age. So our group won and is now of to Korat!  The judges gave the students and Teacher Dave feedback on the presentation and what we need to work on to be successful in Korat.  While the judge was a bit harsh, he did have some good advice and hopefully that will help us win in Korat.  None of the students competing have ever been to Korat, even though it is only about 250 km from where they live and it is still in Isan Province.  Korat is considered the "Gateway to Isan" and is a city of about 1 million people.  The students are very excited to be able to participate in an overnight field trip.  We were also all treated to Swenson's Ice Cream.  Delicious!

Field Trip and English Camp

This has been quite a busy weekend. Yesterday a group of us went to visit the Than Tim Waterfall, a modern temple and a street market somewhere 120 km west of Nong Khai. The waterfall was amazing. We got to go swimming and the water was surprisingly refreshing. One of the most interesting things about swimming in rural Thailand is that people swim fully clothed. I mean fully clothed as in Jean shorts and t shirts or button down shirts. I'm surprised more people don't drown. After the waterfall, we wandered to a busy street market. Charcoal grills are very popular to prepare food with. They grill chicken, stuffed talapia, eggs, hot dogs, and sausages. It's all very good.














The monastery was very interesting. It was created to house the bones of the founders of the meditation center. The monks were buried with great Honor's including a parade umbrella. Only monks of the highest ranks, princes and official consorts are allowed to carry umbrella in the king's royal procession. The monastery is right on the Mekong River,about 500 meters from Laos. It's amazing looking across the river into another country.

English camp was a very interesting experience today. First of all, both of the words camp and English are used very loosely. It was more like a school day only for selected gifted English students. I worked on the ecology unit. The teacher who lead the unit was excellent. She was very engaging and her English was very good. We talked about ways to save the planet and how each pardon can do one or two little things and really make a difference. For the most part, the students were engaged and responsive. However it was very difficult because many of them had no idea what we were saying when we were speaking in English, which led to the teacher if the unit translating everything g into Thai and therefore defeating the point of English camp.

For the afternoon session, we listened to groups present on the various countries of ASEAN. Some groups danced, some did role plays, and some spoke in English. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves. Unfortunately one of the things I walked away with from the camp was just the lack of English skills that these students have. It's sad because many of the students are very smart and hardworking; the system in place is just not effective and many students after many years of "learning " English have just given up. It definitely makes me grateful for the education system we have in the States. While it isn't perfect, it does give most students a reasonable chance of success.


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School in Thailand

Spending days at a half private/ half government funded school has been quite an eye opening experience. First of all, its seems like kids here change schools frequently, hoping to get into schools that have better reputations and advertise their abilities for getting students into the best upper schools and universities. For a majority of the students, these are empty promises meant to secure more students and therefore more tuition dollars. Now the truly government run schools are free to the students of Thailand and education is mandatory to a certain age. However, they are frequently the poorer schools. Private schools (meaning the school is funded by another source other than the government) walk a fine line between accepting students because they will do well in the school or because they need the revenue additional students will bring in. Because of that, policies such as attendance, arriving to class on time and being prepared have little consequences when ignored. This appears to be especially true for English. English can be viewed as a joke subject, a necessity for graduation. Students are passed from one grade to the next without always receiving passing marks. But education is a business; it is better to allow the kid to move on than risk him changing schools.

On a more positive note, the school I am volunteering at has had a great up swing in enthusiasm for English, mostly because the English teaching program works and the kids are appropriately challenges and rise to the occasion. Today we found out that the school has been chosen to participate in an English competition. The topic is ASEAN Nations and the school chose to do Laos, as the capital of the country, Vientiane, is directly across the river from the school. So my current assignment is to reseach as much as I can about Laos to help the three chosen student give a five minute presentation, complete with stunning visual aids (ideally :)) The students will then travel to Nong Khai from their school in Si Chiang Mai (about 50 km away) to compete against two other schools in the region. If they win then the students will compete in a larger regional competition. This competition helps to bring prestige to the school and the head of school is very excited that her school was chosen for the competition. The English teacher and I have our work cut out for us but he has some very talented and enthusiastic students and I think we have a a great time. I'm excited that the competition is in the town Isara is located, so hopefully I can convince some of the other volunteers to come yo the competition with me to support the students.

I've also discovered another type of street food today -it's like a crepe made in a griddle with a sweet custard inside. You also have the option of putting in hot dog (go figure), pork, and/or egg. It is very popular among the students.

Today was another beautifully sunny day without a drop of rain. Unfortunately that means it was also unbelievably hot. I'm not sure how people survive the hot season!

Week 1

It's hard to believe that I have been in Nong Khai for almost a week. Some general things I have learned about Nong Khai:
1) It is do humid here the amount of condensation from a single cold glass of water could fill another glass of water.
2) Thai Ice Tea is by far my favorite thing in Thailand. 3) While one drives on the opposite of the road here, that is about the only traffic law usually universally followed. All intersections function as a yield and it's every man for himself.
4) Sticky rice might be my second favorite thing in Thailand.
5) Thailand had three "seasons": hot, wet, and manageable. Currently we are in the wet season and it has been pretty warm- about 90 during the day and 80 at night. Again, the humidity is quite the intensifier.

Isara is a great program; it offers free English classes tor a variety of ages and ability levels all based on phonics and becoming fluent readers. In Thailand, English is taught more through basic, generic sentence memorization so introducing phonics is a novel way to teach English here.
I've changed where I am going to teaching while in Thailand. Instead of going to a government school away from Nong Khai, I've decided to stay in Nong Khai and work with the teacher who developed the Isara Phonics program and volunteer at his school. I've moved into my own apartment (I'm using that word loosely, but it does have its own bathroom and a/c which is fantastic) which is right by Isara so I can still help out here as well. The school I'm going to be volunteering at is in Si Chiang Mai about 50 km away.
The town of Nong Khai is rather small -easily bikeable. There are a lot of great little restaurants, most are very cheap. There are also a few massage places that are AMAZING! You can get a massage for an hour for $5-6. So far, so good. I'll be in Nong Khai until July 28 and then I am off to Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

Orientation

After 48 hour of travel, I successfully made it to my destination of Nong Khai, Thailand.  It is located almost in Laos on the Mekong River (near the new Friendship Bridge).  The guest house that I am living in during my orientation period at Isara sits right on the river and has a lovely view of Laos.  Pretty spectacular.
Today I went to Isara for the first time to meet the program leader and for my (brief) orientation.  I have been placed at a school a few hours from here in a town called Nong Bua Lamphu.  The school is Nong Pua Pittayakan- although I am still not 100 per cent sure on the spelling.
They have done a very nice job making the Isara Center welcoming for both volunteers and students.  The classrooms are big and bright with lots of color and pictures on the wall.  It looks very much the way a kindergarten or first grade classroom would look in the States.  This afternoon I have my first Thai speaking lesson!  I think it is going to be a bit challenging, considering I still can't quite figure out how to spell anything, but hopefully I will be bargaining like a champ in no time. 
So far, I haven't been anywhere with air conditioning, but that hasn't been too much of an issue.  It was quite warm yesterday, but last night there was a huge thunderstorm that continued into the morning and that has cooled things down a bit.  Still hot and very humid, but I actually think it is cooler here than at home.
Everyone has been very friendly and there is a large expat community here, which I was a bit surprised abut.  However, even the people who don't speak English have been great, as getting a sim card for my phone yesterday proved.  Actually putting the sim card in the phone was a greater challenge than speaking with the sales clerk.  Go figure.

Almost time!

I am beginning my trip to Thailand tomorrow!  I will be updating my blog as often as possible while in Thailand, so make sure to follow.  For the first week of my trip, I will be in the northeast of Thailand, almost on the Laos boarder, in a town called Nong Khai.  From there, I will go to the school that I will be teaching English at for the rest of my trip.  Please comment, I would love to hear from you!