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.