A bit of randomness....

We were teaching the kids about the weather the other day and how to ask, "How is the weather? It is sunny/cloudy/rainy/etc." I decided to also teach them about snow! I knew that just talking about it wouldn't be enough, so I got my laptop out and showed them some pictures of my home before I moved here! There were gasps and smiles and looks of shock! I had to shake my head in agreeance for it was QUITE different then what we were experiencing at the moment in Thailand!
The next few pictures are going to be of the view we had while we were fishing in Singburi by the river. The rest of our fishing trip will follow!

That afternoon I was told we were going to give a practice test for Math. I thought to myself, sounds good, let's see what these kids have learned! I shortly learned that we had to make the test yet! So we spent the first 30-40 minutes of class preparing a test, in which we had 4 stations with the 4 teachers who would test on differet standards. To say the least, it was kind of a loud, crazy ordeal! I have felt many times that time is not used wisely. Although I do understand that this is the first year of this mini-English program so there are kinks to be worked out. I confessed to James that I think it's a bit ridiculous to plan lessons for a whole year because you don't know how much time the kids will need to understand this new material that is in a foreign language and that you will discover the best strategies as you go. He said he completely agreed and said that he was sorry it appeared as though all of this was thrown at us once we arrived. I told him that I understood that since they didn't do lesson plans for this first year, we needed to put forth the effort to do that now and that for the years to come it would be alot easier and would only consist of tweaking and improving the plans.

Yet another hilarious James story! I'm not sure how this came up, but James was talking about me looking German, by my structure and features I presume, and I told him he was spot on! Then he gets into more of my character/personality that he has observed, like when the school bought us bikes and the one I chose was a bike with a good frame and structure versus beauty. I had to chuckle that he pegged my simple, practical personality! 
I have started to notice that there are quite a few overweight kids here. It's unlike the sterotype that most people would have for Thais in that they are all small and skinny. Thais eat all the time, but the times I see the students eating, especially after school it does not look healthy. I assume there is some American influence with the food.....such as salty, sweet snacks instead of what they used to eat. It reminded me of the classrooms I had back home and how many obese kids there were.
So I've talked a bit about these crazy bathrooms here. I just found out that part of the reason that there usually isn't even toilet paper in public places is that Thais don't really use toilet paper, they use their hands and these sprayer things that are next to every toilet. Thus this is why when Thais greet each other they don't shake hands like in America, instead put their hands together under their chins and nod with a smile. ( I will remember this the next time I feel the need to shake someone's hand!). I'm not sure if it's because toilet paper is expensive or what. Or potentially their drainage/sewer systems aren't sufficient.  Again, it's the simple things in life that you take for granted when you come to a country like this!

Every day it is refreshing to me how friendly people are here. People go out of their way to give you a smile/nod or to make eye contact, give a greeting and they actually give you the time of day! I feel it's becoming a lost art in America because people are too busy and involved in themselves.   

I've been working like a mad woman the past 2 or so weeks trying to get all these lesson plans done. I felt I had put in my time and needed a chance to kick back and relax...so when Stephen (a guy who teaches at the high school in Singburi), asked me to go fishing I said of course! You don't use worms for bait, but instead this green mush mixture that smells a bit of a sweet bread!

We found a stick to rest our pole on while we waited to reel in a big one!

Here is a picture of me with some of the locals who must have been observing us and laughing at us from afar because they came down to give us some friendly advice of how to be better fishermen and to tell us that we should go further down the river! The lady in red was a mute and it was quite interesting trying to communicate with her. At one point she was trying to draw on her arm and then Stephen, in hopes to communicate, was trying to draw and write in the mud. (I asked him if he was trying to be Jesus! Didn't Jesus deliver some of his parables by writing in the dirt/mud?).

Surprisingly we actually caught something! It was nothing to write down in the books but it was definitely worth cooking up! Stephen and I both agreed that we should give it to this family, since they probably needed it more than us. We ended up giving them our fishing pole as well.

I feel this fishing experience was one of the best cultural experiences that I've had since I've been here because of the interaction that I was able to encounter with the people who are the bread and butter and at the heart of Thailand. To stretch that experience even further we were invited by our new Thai friends to play yard bowling with them, which we found out was the same as botchee ball. It was quite an interesting and very satisfying experience. I even got to quench my competitiveness by winning one game!

At one point I had to use the restroom and it was a humbling experience to have 7 kids lead the way for me to make sure that I was able to find it. Do we take enough time to do the little things for people? Or again are we just too busy sometimes to show a little kindness and put others before ourselves?