I've only been here 2 months and I've already been given a Thai name!

The computer teacher, who I mentioned before, who is a Christian and her husband is a pastor, has been a great addition to my school life here! She is very friendly, spunky and very helpful and is always offering her services.  She came up to Cailin and I the other day and said she decided it's too hard to remember our English names so she was going to give us Thai names! She looked at me for a while and said, "Goo la pa." Pat for short. It means strong, brave, wise woman...strong like a diamond. Is this lady good or what!

This is a picture of the sunrise that shines bright on my face about 7am every morning!

Random photo: This picture is for my father, to give him a little comfort to know that even people half way across the world have to deal with milk weeds!!!

These next 2 pictures are of Cailin and I trying something new.  Let me tell you I wasn't going to try it and no part of me wanted to!  But Cailin set me straight by giving me a stern look and saying, "Lacey, didn't you come here to experience and try new things!" BUSTED! So, needless to say I tried it! I thought it was something with eggs, but it was actually a rice, coconut milk sort of mixture. It was quite tasty...I even had seconds!

This picture is of me and my new friend Bobbie. She is a fellow Dakotan! (From the North though!) Unfortunately she has finished her stint here in Thailand and headed home already! So now I'm left with Steve and Cailin, the east coasters!

This past weekend we traveled to Lopburi because they had a festival/celebration going on and James said we should go. This is also the monkey town, so I got to see some of those furry creatures up close again! I got to do some walking around by myself for a few hours and I was impressed with myself at the Thai that I am actually picking up! I know my numbers pretty well and I know how to ask "how much," so I had fun going around to all the stands asking the price of things and trying to figure out how much they were asking! I'm also learning how to ask for some foods and how to say not spicy or a little spicy! I am trying to push my limits on bit on the spicy factor so that I can hopefully build up a tolerance! I will admit, there have been a handful of times when I thought my my tongue was on fire, burning!

This was the bus that we took to Lopburi. It was only about 65 cents for the half hour trip!

These are a few pictures inside the temple area where the main festivities were being held.

In my travels walking by myself I found something that excited me! A potato on a stick!! Brilliant! The put it through a little slicer machine, cook it, and cover it with any flavor or spice you want! Delicious!

This little guy stole one of our water bottles while we were waiting for the bus and was then trying to open it with his feet. The whole thing was quite impressive!

I'll have to write more later! But I will leave you with a few random pictures that I got from Cailin. I have a question to leave you with as well. Do I need to be posting more pictures? I just never know what to do! I don't want to bore you people! I suppose you are more entertained by the pictures that my chatter!

This was at one of the temples that we went to and JJ, our guide was showing us the proper way to give your respect to Buddah. This is also when you give him your thanks and concerns. The only rules are that you cover your sholders and your knees and take your shoes off.

I believe this was in Lopburi when we were visiting some old temple ruins. Don't be fooled, we are really holding up these gigantic doors!

Safari World Zoo

Arise and Shine! 5:20AM!  It was finally the day to go to the big zoo in Bangkok! I was excited to get some time with the kids outside of the classroom. There were also about 12-15 parents that came along. At 6:30AM we took off for the 2-3 hour journey. The best part...is that we didn't get to sleep on the trip up, we had to play games and sing songs with the kids! They were so peaceful for a minute!

We had planned some activities for them to do beforehand. We also made excel spreadsheets where they could fill in the different types of animals they encountered, checked which animal group it belonged to (reptile, mammal, bird, etc), where it came from, what environment it lived in, they could draw a picture, and then put 1-5 hearts for how much they liked the animal! (The next day when we went over these sheets together, we realized they were too hard for 1st graders. Cailin and I basically had 15 students nipping at our heals yelling "teacher, teacher," and it was a big mess! We felt that it wasn't explained well enough to them in Thai so they had no idea what to do. It was the first day since I have been here that I snapped a bit from frustration. Later that day we had to help Nan, our Thai teacher, with lesson plans for the next day and next week, instead of spending time working on all the lesson plans we had to do for the upcoming school year. I feels it's very impractical. How are you supposed to plan for a whole year when you have no idea what the capabilities of your students are or how quickly they will get through the material? Yet again I was extremely frustrated because I didn't understand how she didn't have a lesson for the next day, but they expected us to get a whole year of lesson plans made! I now feel like they think of us as miracle workers. They expect great things out of us....which feels good, but sometimes I think it's irrational. They also don't want Nan to help us or translate in Thai when we are trying to explain things to the class. They think it is hindering the students. I don't understand how they expect the kids to just instantly understand what I'm saying in English. I think initially it should be translated. I realize and firmly uphold the importance of being a role model and being an example and demonstrating what you are trying to explain, but I feel strongly that there are some things you absolutely have to translate initially).

Wow, that was a long detour away from my initial story! Sorry! Okay.....where was I! The zoo...it was nice to have AC on the trip there for I knew that it was going to be a sweaty day of walking around the zoo! We first drove through the safari park. You have to drive because the animals are out in the open. There were zebras, giraffes, camels, lions, tigers, and bears, etc.

I thought the color of these birds was amazing.

It was then time to get out into the sweltering heat! We headed to the orangutan show. It was almost unreal. These creatures seemed so human-like; performing human acts. It was amazing, yet saddening to think about what these animals had to go through to be able to perform this show to "entertain" us.

An orangutan on a zip line?

These "ladies" were shaking their stuff to the music!

The "boxing match" champion.

You've got to love this big guy!

Next was the sea lion show and on to the elephant show. Nan told me that she feels so bad for the elephants because they have to endure and tolerate alot of pain to get to the point of being controlled and "entertainers," where they listen to their masters.

This elephant has more artistic ability in his trunk than I do in my whole body!

I guess the elephants also play basketball and soccer!

I was trying to get up close and personal with these giants!

As you can see I am perspiring a bit in this next picture! First off if you are wondering about the bright blue shirts...the school gave them to us! Lovely aren't they! Second, yes, I did design and draw my own nametag! Thank you! We split the kids up into the 6 animal groups but because I am the teacher I could draw all the animal groups on my name tag!  I'm with Wern and Ninee here.

Cailin and I with Wern and Tong.

This picture is with one of the parents. Another example of how kind the people are here is that we were watching one of the shows at the zoo and one of the moms must have noticed how warm I was and without asking she brought me popcorn and a pepsi!

Last was the dolphin show. Again it was amazing to see the things these creatures could do!

We finally got back to the school a little after 5.  I was exhausted, but very glad to be able to spend some quality time with my students!

The mob???

With our new friends that we met, we decided to check out some live Thai music in town. After being at this place for a while, listening to the music, the next thing I knew, there was a young boy that went up to sing. The 1st man who sang had very long hair and so did the little boy, which was odd because primary school kids have to have short hair. We found out that the guy who was singing, owned the place, and is part of the mob! He sends his son to a private school so that he doesn't have to cut his hair. Our one friend who had been here for a while seemed quite knowledgeable about it and said that the mob only exists in smaller towns and that whenever a new business wants to open up, they have to okay it with the mob and the mob gets half of the money.  Maybe it's because of the lack of mob action in South Dakota that made me shocked to realize that stuff like this still goes on!

I was estatic to finally receive my package from my family! It was loaded with Starbursts, Peanut Butter M&M's, homemade fruit rollup, artwork from Sam and Estelle, Reese's PB hearts, and a handwritten letter from my mom and dad....I mean could it get any better! I tried to give one of my bags of PB M&M's to James because he said after his dad was in the Vietnam war, he went to the US and would send those to him...but James wouldn't accept my gift. I laid them on his desk anyway...and later that day when Cailin tried to take some he said those were his! (jokingly of course!). Also James came into the office with my package from home and said, if you ever want to see your package again, you will have to pay me money! We never get his jokes right away because of his English, but when we do, they are hilarious! He is our angel in disguise! He has done so much for us and I truly appreciate him.

Just today I was up at the front of the class, ready to help teach, and I was talking to James about my idea of how we should teach the parts of the human body, and he said to take over! He said that he wanted the students to get more used to me and my voice and being able to understand me. It went very well, I was extremely pleased! I felt I was actually able to communicate!

Sidenote: for those who are concerned about if I get my potato intake...don't fret! There are these "french fries" right next to the school that fill my craving! I'm not sure they are made out of potato though. They taste a bit different, yet still very scruptous!

For those of you who are wondering how my bicycling is going & getting accustomed to using the other side of the road...thanks for your concern, but I am doing JUST fine getting used to driving on the other side of the road! I still get nervous being on my little bicycle with cars zooming by. But I know my bright blue helmut will protect me and I was told that alot of my students' parents are doctors and said that if we ever need anything medical, we will be taken care of! So, I feel confident and look both ways before crossing the street!

One thing that has been hard to deal with is the pace of life here. It is so incredibly different. For those who know me well, you know that I'm usually running around like a chicken with my head cut off in this crazy, hectic world! I'd claim to enjoy life, but I don't know if I really got to sit back and enjoy it and do any sort of reflection. There is no sort of strict schedule or rigorous structure to conform to here. Sometimes it can be quite frustrating, but it can also be very refreshing! It's been hard for me to not be really busy all the time, but I feel that I've actually been able to reflect on this crazy situation I find myself in. It's been quite the feeling being in the vast minority. It makes you think alot different about your perspective. It changes your thought process and opens up your eyes. I believe it is a very humbling experience.  I feel that everyone should experience being the minority in their lifetime at some point.  

The next 2 pictures are from the weekend market that goes on in Singburi. There is almost anything imaginable in these markets! Absolutely anything that you would need to live off here. There is really no reason to go to a store because all the markets have everything.

Our new friends took us to this restaurant where you basically cook all your own food! It was a bit overwhelming. There was this huge table that had containers of all the meat you could chose from; chicken, pork, beef, and maybe some fish. Even though all the containers were over ice, I still couldn't help but think that I might get sick from eating the meat! I figured that I've been over here for 6 weeks and haven't been sick yet so why not! So, you grab your meat, your veggies, noodles or rice, and your sauces, and away you go! I guess the standard process is after you are done, you eat the "soup" of what's left around the edges......I'm sorry, but no thank you!!

I have discovered that eating is a huge part of the culture here, which coming from the community and family I was raised in...I fit in just perfect because I love to eat! They eat more small meals througout the day, which I believe is the proper way to do it, thus why they are all so small here!  Even the kids at school take snack breaks in the morning and afternoon.

Feeling alone...

Things have been all fine and dandy...and then we moved into our new house, which has been great...but we are all alone. This past week it kind of sunk it. Our evenings consist of being at home, on our computers, occasionally going toTesco for goods. I was feeling a bit alone. It wasn't a good feeling. Just when I was feeling a bit down, I was at the pool after school  a few days ago and I met 2 young, English speaking people! It was quite exciting! I seriously felt that Cailin and I might have been the only white, English speaking people in our town! They told us that they taught at the high school in town and that there was an International house next to the high school with about 10 other teachers. We were tickled pink! We now have friends! It feels good to actually have other people to interact with. I still feel strongly about taking thai lessons so I can delve into the people and culture here more extensively and to be a better teacher. The new people we met said that at the high school level, each grade is separated into about 10-14 sections. The top sections, parents pay to get their kids into. The kids at the bottom, like 12-14, are supposedly a lost cause. I think that is a very pessimistic attitute and I'm not a fan of it, but I guess the kids just don't care one lick. I still can't get over the fact that the parents pay money to get their kids into a better section.

This picture is of a rice field at sunset. The landscape here is quite beautiful. It is as green as can be with all the rice fields and the palm trees, and there are even some corn fields stuck in there!

One morning we got to take our students on a boyscount/girlscout sort of adventure, which ended up consisting of us walking around town in the penetrating heat, and making a few stops where the teachers led some activities and talked to them (which of course we couldn't understand!). It was nice to get to be out of the classoom with the students. We played a little, "what color is this," or "what is this" game while we were walking and the kids really enjoyed it! Here are some pictures from our walk.

When we stopped, all the kids pulled newspaper out of their bag to sit on to have a snack!

Can they get any cuter!?!?

This picture I found humorous because I thought for a second I had some gansters in my 1st grade class!

This next picture is typical for women here in Thailand. They are always carrying umbrellas or wearing long sleeves or covering clothes because they do NOT want to get dark! It is kind of a cultural thing because those who are darker skinned are those who work outside and labor. Those who have white skin are those who have good office jobs and aren't exposed to the sun. I was also told that some people will grow out one or more of their fingernails to show or prove that they aren't laborers. This is humorous to me because it is totally opposite in America.  The "in" thing is to be tan! All of the TV/movie/singer stars here are all very, very light skinned. The females my age that I've talked to here, want so badly to be white. They even have a whitening cream here. Sadly, I guess society affects you no matter what country you live in!

This is yet another picture to prove why I feel like a giant here! Maybe that's why I get stares...not because I'm white, but because I'm humongous! It is funny how many stares I get sometimes. At school I'll be walking up or down the stairs and some students will give a friendly hello, but some groups of kids will just stop and stare at me and whisper to each other! I take it they haven't seen many farangs(foreigners) around!

Another picture of my precious students!

Something interesting I found out from James was that most of the teacher are in their 50's. I had taken notice that there weren't many young Thai teachers around. He said it's because when a teacher starts teaching, they don't leave until they retire! He said that there should be a new phase of teachers soon because of teachers retiring and with the new materials and ways of teaching.

I have found it very difficult some days to get the students' attention because they are all being loud and crazy. What Nan, the Thai teacher does is she says "clap once," "clap twice," etc. It focuses the kids almost instantly...it's amazing! I've been trying to think of little tricks that I can use for the kids to get them focused and settled down. Until I learn the language better I think I'm going to use some sort of hand motion.

I ran into some parents of our students and they said that they kids really enjoy us, which was nice to hear. They also opened up their homes to us. The people are just so friendly here. I do not feel scared or threatened at all; I feel very safe, except for when I come in contact with all of these crazy dogs here...I've been chased on my bike a few times and it's not a good feeling!