Kristine's first week of teaching break down

So one week down and only good things to report. As nervous as I (Kristine) was, I have really enjoyed getting to know all the kids so far. My biggest fear was remembering their names,  they can be quite long just to give you an example, one name could be Ratchaneekon Kransuang and imagine trying to remember 44 kids names with similar lengths. Luckily for me and all teachers most Thai students have nicknames which helps immensely. So once I got the list it was hard not to notice that some of the names were definitely chosen by the parents.

The ones that may stand out are Anfield which is the grounds where Liverpool F.C. play and are one of the four main teams supported in Thailand including Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. Then I have a student called “Vodka”, hmmm I’ll say nothing and another called “Mixer” so it may make things easier to sit them beside each other :) You can see some more unusual names on the list.

The week is made up of Monday to Friday from 9-3.30. Each day I attend assembly, where the kids sing songs, pray and sing to the national anthem. I have been advised I only have to attend this for the first few weeks then I can relax and have a coffee in the teachers’ lounge while they do this, as most of it's in Thai and I cannot contribute too much. I start the day with the alphabet, the date and weather for the day and then into that week’s lesson. This week has been about holidays and next week will be about Loi Krathong, which is one of the biggest Festivals in Thailand and it is something we are looking forward to ourselves but we'll tell you more about it closer to the date.
The main lesson uses flash cards with pictures of ways of transport, such as car, bike, train, walk and plane and another set of card with destinations such as the mountains, the beach, the city and so on. Using a number of different games and songs I would introduce them to the new words and ask them where they went on their holidays and how they got there. Then putting the pictures on the ground I would have the kids run to the mode of transport they used and then run to the place they visited which they love. Any sort of physical activity mixed with learning is the best way to keep a 5/6 year olds attention.
After that they have a small break where they get milk and cookies or fruit. I was starving on my first day, as I had no time for breakfast but was blown away as each kid came up to me all doe eyed and offered me a cookie. After a few I was quite full, but out of politeness had to keep scoffing them down which helped by giving me a sugar rush, as one thing I've learned this week is you need a lot of energy to control 44 five year olds but I love it.
Once my morning lesson is complete I bring the kids to whatever additional class they have that day such as P.E, Computers (where they learn word and paint) and music class, I have asked if I can join in and learn to play keyboard and drums, so I may be part of Thailand’s next big rock band :-)

At 12 pm the assistants help the kids to get showered and changed into their pyjamas and they all take out there blankets and it’s time for lunch. As part of the contract I was over joyed to find out I get free lunch every day and it gives me a chance to try Thai food I've never heard of.
After lunch around 1 pm I read to them a bit as they fall asleep, usually an extract from war and peace... nah just kidding nursery rhymes mostly and once they are asleep the assistants watch them while the teacher's cross the road for some coffee for a well needed caffeine fix.
Then just before 3 they are woken and dressed and we spend the rest of the day recapping that morning’s lesson and a few more games. I have to say I think I have landed the dream job but it’s not for everyone, as young kids can be a handful but they are the cutest little people I have ever worked with and I come home every day looking forward to going back in the next day, compared to dreading it. I did like my old job working in an office but the job satisfaction from seeing young kids ask you questions in English that you have thought them a few days before is just amazing.

On Thursday morning I had gate duty, all teachers do it once a week and had to be there 1 hour before and after school to greet the parents at the gate and to be grilled on where I was from and why I am in Thailand. Another benefit is I have also made some really good connections , such as one child's father gave me his wife’s details, saying if I'm sick to go to her, as she is a doctor in the local hospital and she will take care of me and a few police officers have kids in the school so always good to have on your side.

Roll on next week. Stephen got offered weekend work which may lead to a full time job working 3 hours Saturday and Sunday teaching adults conversational English where he pretty much just has a chat with them for an hour and then gives them activities and is also working on some tutoring flyers, to get some work during the week. Just doing 3 hours a day you can make more than most schools pay but you don’t get a work visa, which means he would still have to do visa trips to Laos every 3 months but we can use that as mini break if needs be. The part time position will be a trial basis for a full time job with work visas from one of the wealthiest and well-connected woman in Khon Kaen, so a good contact to have. She introduced him already to 2 other directors who will have work coming up in the foreseeable future.

So it's the weekend and one week down im ready to celebrate with a deserved night out in town...

Visa run to Laos and Kristines first day of school / my first day of unemployment

So it had finally arrived, the end of our first 2 month visa. Prior to arriving we had purchased a triple entry visa which meant we could enter Thailand 3 times and each time would receive a 2 month entry visa with the option of extending it from within Thailand for 1900 baht giving you 3 months at a time. So with Kristine starting a new job, she was advised it may take up to 1 month to sort her work visa which is what allows you to work legally in the country for the contract provided, usually 1 year, so rather than chance it and cut it close we gave up the extra 1 month and went to Laos to cross the border and come back later that day without having to go to the embassy there to pay for another triple or double entry. The one draw back is you still have to pay for a one month Laos visa to enter which cost 1300 baht for Kristine and once I mentioned I was Irish the price seemed to go up to 1500 baht for me, so it's either different prices depending on country of passport issue or he had a bad experience with an Irish man in the past and wanted to get some revenge. (some how I don't think it was the latter)

We decided to drive there, as we were to pick up two friends who had been there for 4 days doing the same, but as an extended holiday. They where staying in Vientiane, the capitol of Laos and it is only 2.5 hours drive from Khon Kaen. In the 19^th century (yes it is history lesson time, deal with it) Laos was ransacked by the Chinese black flag army and was rescued by France however in 1940 only 600 french people lived in Laos. In 1953 Laos gained full independence. They had a lot of French influence as seen in the city names and also by the structures and buildings in Vientiane.

500.000 baby

When we arrived at the border we had to go through immigration and change some money and for one day we thought 40 euro would be plenty. So after the exchange that gave us, half a million kip, which some Thais joke is as useful as toilet paper due to anything lower then 2000 kip is unchangeable crossing back but it was still nice to hold half a million in notes in your hand. Last time we were here we took a slow boat on the Mekong and a bunch of falangs(foreigners) would take bets on how long the boat would take to cast off as it was delayed every day and the pot got up to a 300,000 Kip for the winner :). While there we decided to do some sight seeing and maybe due to the french influence have some of their famous baguettes which can be bought from nearly every shop and food stand in the city.

The Patuxai Gate

We met our friends and headed to "The Patuxai gate" in Thannon Lanxing. The name Patuxai literally meaning Victory Gate or Gate of Triumph and looks similar to "The Arc De Triomphe" in France. As we arrived it was a huge gate in the centre of the city and costs only 3000 kip to go to the top or €0.28 cents. 
Personally, we were blown away by the structure however the description sign, they have put up on the wall, begs to differ, stating that: "On closer distance it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete", (Way to slag off your main city attraction) But we still enjoyed it.

We thought that was unusual as it was build as a war memorial but maybe its just translating signs isn't there forte' as we seen with the "no passing a grass”sign. Which may be Laos humor, but we are not convinced.
The building was built in 1957 and the Architect was paid a total of 30,000 Laotian kip and the construction cost 63 million Laotian Kip so the architect received a whopping 3 euro for his work and the building cost 6000 euro to build, shows you how much labour is but it may have been different back then.

That aside we were impressed, as the art work on the building is amazing and the view from the very top is just as impressive. However walking to the top you pass 5 floors each one selling souvenirs, which takes away from the beauty just a bit, but the view from the top and the sculptures are amazing.You can see the main square from the top and also the Mekong river in the distance 
The river starts in the Tibetan Plateau and runs down through Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.The river itself is named Mae Nam Khong which translates as the "The Mother of Water".  

So after a few hours we picked up some Indian take-away as it's every where in Laos and is cheap and amazing and had another baguette (had to be done) and hit the road back to Thailand, stopping again at the border to get our new entry stamp, giving us 2 more months tourist visa and one month extension in Thailand if we want which will cost 1900 baht.

The next day was Kristine's first day in her new school and very nervous she went in not knowing what to expect. She said it was amazing, already she has 2 kids who won't leave her side but the first week is going to be observation and getting to know the children, but she is free to teach in between and create activities. She now knows she has 44 students split between a Thai/English teacher and herself,  so only 22 at a time which is brilliant and also two teaching assistants who can speak and explain to the students any words they can't understand. She said they are all extremely cute and wants to bring one home and has demanded a Thai baby ( We may have to work out the dynamics of that at a later stage). Around 12.30 pm she goes to a coffee shop while they have there 2 hour nap ( I know right..), so she has landed a pretty sweet job in a school that's very highly regarded, as it costs alot of money for Thai kids to go to and is also affiliated with the Khon Kaen University( so extra holidays). 

So with it being the 1st day of my (unemployment /holiday till I decide to work) myself and some of the gang from Supans house were heading to the river by the Ubol Ratana Dam. the Dam is only 30 mins drive away and the boys brought guitars, beers and the mentality of a group of 12 years olds, which was well needed. We spent the day trying to catch fish using plastic cups, skimming stones, climbing rocks and climbing on any piece of art sculpture they had around the parks such as a huge bicycle and a couple of giant dinosaur sculptures. 

Always watching for that mean old park ranger like Yogi (should have brought a pic-a-nic basket). Rainny happily used the dinosaur to reenact the opening scene from the Flintstones were Fred Flintstone is finishing work and Rainny surfed down the tail :). 

On a side note we've found some nice traveler quotes, we may start adding to each blog as a sign off.

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only one page"- St Augustine

"Not all those who wander, are lost" - J.R.R Tolkien  

The second quote i like a lot, as the first (lets say longer than any Roald Dahl or Goosebumps) book, I (Stephen) remember reading  was "The Hobbit", at the age of 11 it blew my mind and have loved it ever since. At age 12 i read "The Lord of The Rings" and am a life long fan of J.R.R Tolkien for that, so i feel this quote is fitting.

At the end of this week we will have an update on Kristine's first week of school and less interesting, my first week as a kept man ;-) 

Halloween in Thailand and The Walking Market of Khon Kaen

Happy Halloween folks, it's always been one of our favourite nights of the year as back in Dublin everyone makes a big effort and a good night is always had, usually ending in 5 of the guys all going as the construction worker from the village people. So when we spent 2 hours driving to every shopping centre in Khon Kaen, asking if they had face paint, we always got the same response “OH for Halloween” .”yes yes Halloween” we'd reply happy they understood and knew the holiday, but “Yeah don't have” was always the response. That or they would just giggle and shake their heads as I explained face paint.

So on Friday we helped decorate the bar “Supan's house” with Rainny and had ourselves an arts and craft day. Turned out to be fun as we got everyone involved and the placed was ready for Halloween, Rainny had a few black lights so it made everything look that bit better for the party, we made spider webs from wool and I drew a few pictures of spiders and skeletons and we all cut out happy Halloween for the front of the bar to entice some people in, not realising they may not know of the holiday. So we either introduced them to it or scared them half to death.

That day Rainny brought us to a market where they had a few masks and Halloween items so we left happy. I made an attempt at making my own costume but as I'm living out of bag I didn't have much to use. I tried to make a monster carrying a man in a box costume (something I had seen online).. if that makes sense.. probably not so there's a pic, unfortunately it wouldn't stay together, so I opted for the mask only, I did try everything even using an entire role of sellotape trying to keep it held up but to no avail.

The night was a success and alot of others turned up in fancy dress and we took over the stage with some dancing, wait... a lot of dancing.. There was special offers that everyone indulged in for buckets, yep buckets of Rainny's secret cocktail. We never did find out what was in them but everyone seemed to enjoy them.. well the ones that could remember the next day :)

We finally found some black and white makeup so Kristine dressed in a “Day of the Dead” costume which is a Mexican festival and a celebration for family and friends who have passed and the loved ones pray for them. It is also celebrated on the 31^st of October so seemed fitting .

The scariest costume of the night had to go to the bar owner, she had rented a traditional Thai dress but made it a bit scarier by dawning some white face paint and dripping blood, and spent part of evening walking around with a candle under her chin which added to the affect.

The next night we went to the night market to see what they had to offer and it was good fun, nice food and some buskers playing in the streets.
It is on every Saturday night in Khon Kaen city and two huge roads are taking over by markets and and food-stands which takes a few hours to get around Some of the items on offer were shit, "pardon my French" but no kidding they were selling fake shit on the street under the banner“shit” from Khon Kaen. 
A nice souvenir for any one at home but I decided against it :)

So with sore heads in the morning we had to go to a summer camp at Kristine's schools which is held every 3 months. It comprises of 4 hours of playing games with the kids so we sat in for a while met the principle again and walked around watching some techniques used by the teachers and some game ideas for Kristine. We took it easy that night as Halloween had taken it out of us.

Off to Laos in the morning for our first visa run!!

Our first local festival, job hunting and Kristine landing the best job ever!!!

So last weekend the surrounding area of where we are living, which is a small enough village area beside the campus, came alive. The streets were filled with markets and street food, as well as what we would call a carnival atmosphere (Thai Style).


One of Thailand's biggest rock groups Carabao (the Thai Metallica) was set to play a gig next to the temple at the end of our street, so we figured we would stroll up for a look.
When we got there they had alot of the games you would find at a western carnival, including a few you might not, such as throw the basket over the bottle of whiskey to win the bottle or fire a dart at balloons to pop them, only the balloons seemed to be made out of some NASA style material, which would cause them to bounce back and narrowly miss passers by, which would excite the Thais to no end, and we got a good giggle from it also.

A friend of Rainny's was visiting so we all went out that night to try some pizza that we had heard alot of good things about, claims that it was as close as you could get to an genuine Italian pizza here in Thailand, and we can confirm it was amazing. We washed it down with a few German beers and the owner brought out speakers so we could throw on our own music and enjoy the night.
We put our heads down over the next few days to finalise our CV's in preparation for job hunting in Khon Kaen, we were advised the best way is to go into the schools and ask for the head of English department and try sell yourself straight away. So we packed up the bike on Wednesday and traveled around a few schools and made some phone calls.

That night, tired from the hunt we got a phone call from an English teacher who we had met the first week of the course who asked if Kristine and I could come to his school Thursday morning, so Kristine could do an interview for a kindergarten position, teaching 5 and 6 year old kids and for me to meet with the head of the secondary school across the road as they both needed teachers.

Ecstatic we woke up early and went down to the Sathit school, which means demonstration school and is very well recognised in Thailand and is also affiliated with the university, which means good pay and a lot of holidays as well as very good classroom set ups and facilities.
Kristine did the interview with the head of the school and the head of the primary school (she was there to translate) and they went through the questions and she nailed each one, so much so, that they asked her to start on Monday straight away, which we were both over joyed with.

P.E. ground

They advised me (Stephen) that on Monday they would bring me over to the secondary school, which is right beside the kindergarten and introduce me to the head of department there, as they are looking for a teacher to teach 13/14 year old's in English, Its in no way a promise of a job but they said they have a lot of pull so with Kristine starting on Monday in the same company hopefully I can mention that and could be starting next week as well, but we are so happy one of us has gotten a promise of a start already, as we thought we may have to wait a month or two.

Main Hall

So now let me introduce you to Kristine's new school. We started the tour by being shown the main hall were each morning the kids would attend an assembly, to go over any news and maybe sing a song or two (warm up the vocals). Not mandatory, as English teachers are free to head to the canteen for free coffee and tea. Then your classroom begins and here is that part where I (Stephen) was very jealous.

The day consists of 1-1.5 hours of warm up teaching such as date, weather and alphabet followed by that days lesson plan. Then the kids get ready for either  P.E., music class, or some times they go to the library. After all that they are ready for their lunch followed by a nap, yep that's right, a two hour nap followed by a recap of that days lesson and some story time. The kids we met where soooo well behaved and each room has an English teacher, a Thai English teacher and 2 assistant teachers for explanations and helping out with controlling the room.

The other half... 

Half of Kristine's new class room

The respect the kids give the teachers is amazing and Kristine was grinning from ear to ear during the tour and the facilities where on a par with a private school in the western world. Kristine would also once a month have to put on a show for the morning assembly, usually a song and in costume for 5-10 minutes of singing and acting. Oh, did I mention they had an entire room devoted to funny and unusual costumes for each show and previous performances have included gang-nam style.... The wages include free lunch, tea and coffee as I've mentioned and a housing allowance which pretty much covers our rent already so I (Stephen) may not bother with the job and just be a kept man for the time being :-).

Library

She has two months paid vacation in April and May and all other holidays, which Thailand has a lot of.
They have a summer camp every few months on Saturdays, so we asked if we could attend this week to show interest. Working as a teacher is all about presentation and commitment, as a lot of teachers are backpackers who only want to work for a few months and then move on.

1 of 4 playgrounds

If you are willing to hang on with a school, you will get a wage increase every semester. So it's safe to say that we are extremely happy that the job hunt took one day and fingers crossed that I (Stephen) will have some good news come Monday, but even if they already have someone lined up, I have a few part-time work offers on the back burner, which should allow me to make the same as a teacher just without the contract, this will mean I've to do visa runs every 2 months but it's also a mini holiday. But for now I'm hopeful that this job will happen, as it would be perfect for the both of us as the schools are so close together and we will have the same holidays.

Now this Friday we have the Halloween party to celebrate and then we will head off to Laos on Sunday for our first visa run.

Creatures and creepy crawleys we have encountered in Thailand

This week has been a slow week as we have been working on our CV's and will start job hunting, so we thought we would take the time to introduce you to some of the creepy crawleys we've seen since arriving here. Now they're also a snack to a lot of Thai' s and we did try some first time around and they taste like burnt popcorn. They all taste the same as they are deep fried so its more like an empty shell its more the visual of putting a large beetle or cockroach in your gob.

We will start with the ones who have rudely invited themselves into our rooms unannounced, and who then proceeded to scare the crap out of us. If you are not a fan of creepy crawleys, look away now, cos Thailand has some weird ones and we have only seen the ones from wet season. We still have the dry season critters to arrive.

We will start with the enemies first and show you the allies later, the allies are the creatures working with us who eat these critters so we are more than happy to let them hang around.   
So first off we have the dragon flies. These guys are beautiful and they are everywhere, they move at lightning speed but hover like helicopters, so it's pretty amazing to watch them swarm around after a heavy rain fall. Near water and lakes, which are everywhere, you see huge groups of them also.


With most of the bugs around here they keep to themselves and are not afraid of people, so they stay quite still for pictures.

Next we have, what we have described them as "Fish bugs".
We have seen a lot of them around but they move so quick it is very hard to get a pictures off but these guys are crazy looking. They look very similar to fishing lures but not knowing what they can do, we usually avoid them.



This next group are bugs that, whoever created them was pure evil, as they are the things of nightmares... 
So everyone knows centipedes and cockroaches and thank fully we don't see that many cockroaches very often, as something about the way they move, seems unnatural to us, they move like a shadow. Then the centipede we seen was quite big and we know that they have some centipede that are poisonous so we got the picture and got out asap.

They have a lot of these beetle things around also and we've seen some on the road bit enough to make me swerve to avoid from fear that they may try to topple us and bring us back to their layer.
Oh did we mention we are not a fan of bugs, at home I (Stephen) would spend hours chasing a common house fly out of the house or leave the room if a small spider came, usually happy to sign over the apartment to him and pack my bags :) 


Thailand also has some cool bugs like these green guys a mix between praying mantis grasshoppers and these can be found everywhere, and I mean everywhere. 
They seem to enjoy the camera so I've taken quite a few pics of these guys. If you hang around too long though they will get bored possibly as the last one decided to fly directly into my face and flutter about.
I (Stephen) screamed like a girl before he was happy he had humiliated me and got out of there. 
Kristine was in stitches, pointing and laughing at me...

So we mentioned earlier that we are not a fan of bugs and if you go further north we found one of these guys on our last trip but the one we found was already dead, after seeing this pic I may leave trekking off for a while...

The allies

Now we have the guys who eat the critters our friends and allies.  The lizards and geckos hang around outside our apartment and eat a lot of the mosquito's and other bugs and some of the smaller ones will hang out in our room, they keep to themselves so we have no issues with them. 

In the campus we see hundreds of small bird who do the same and they are friendly enough to come up and eat food from your hands.

 
We have also seen some snakes around but were advised they will not come close to us and they eat spiders, so well done snakes.
They are also suppose to taste quite nice but we haven't seen anywhere were we can sample them. Not too sure if we want to either. Spiders are suppose to be tasty as well but that will definitely never happen. 

We have also seen some frogs outside but they don't do too much and a couple of crabs who are curious enough to wander over to us. The crabs are closer to the lakes so no bare feet running for us.




So we had mentioned the Tarantula we've seen while jogging but just to remind you I feel he belongs in here.

So that's a few of what we've seen but I assure you, there are many more out there but they keep to themselves, so don't let any of them put you off Thailand, as it's still one of the most beautiful countries we have ever visited, but with scenic beauty comes wildlife to share it with.