Holi colour party & the Issan Reggae festival.

We haven't had much time to post many blogs as we have been preparing and booking a trip away for ourselves for new years as a christmas present, rather than buying stuff we don't need. so ill be posting a few blogs over the next week of our trip but here is what we got up prior to new year.

Dec 18-22th
So over the last two weeks there has been some big party's in Khon Kaen, firstly the Holi colour party that Rainny held in Supan's House just off the Khon Kaen University. This was a first for us and something we've always wanted to try 1^st hand. If your not familiar with it it's a festival which originated in India and it is known as the festival of colours or the festival of love. It is an ancient Hindu religious festival which has become popular with non Hindu's in many parts of south Asia. 
The actual festival starts with a big bonfire the night before, where people gather to sing and dance the night away and the next morning is were it gets messy. Its basically an excuse to act like a kid again and not get in trouble :) You were handed a bag of various colours as we entered the bar and spent the next few hours dancing while covering each other in powdered paint. The whole bar looked like a rainbow had exploded. People came from a lot of the neighbouring regions just for this party, as the last time she held it, it was a huge success.

We got to meet alot more teachers and share stories of experiences so far. We had a lot of fun throwing paint powder at each other as I'm sure you can tell from the pictures. 
We have mentioned that we have met some very talented people while travelling and got to see some of them preform on the night with a few of the girls doing fire hooping while we danced til the early hours and I got to try out the light capture feature on the phone Kristine got me for my birthday which made the dancers look like they were engulfed in flames. 
  
Every one raved the next day of how good the night was and how hard it was to wash the paint out of your hair. 6 washes done and I still have multi-coloured hair but totally worth it.

Over the following week I got some good news from one of my part time jobs, that they had taken on more students meaning more classes for me bringing me up to 10 classes a week and because I've already been making lessons for my previous classes I have 10 strong, fun lessons in my arsenal, so no need to stress about lesson planning for a while. So 10 hours work a week and if I get it up to 16 I'm making the same as a full time job here working 40 hours which sounds pretty good as the other school has mentioned more classes coming up and one is at least a 6 month contract with guaranteed work.

That weekend the there was a big reggae festival being held in Khon Kaen and we had been introduced to some of the acts as they had played a mini gig in Supans house the night before the big gig. They asked Anthony up to do some acoustic songs with his guitar and he killed it as usual, he is planning on recording in the new year so will have an album out for us to share in the near future. The MC for the gig was a woman named Sista Apsara was preforming in Supans and she hung out with us for the night having a few drinks and telling us of travelling around Thailand preforming and how much she enjoys it. 

We got to meet some really nice guys and the next night we headed in to the grounds to find a a huge Chang bottle of beer at the entrance as they were sponsoring the event. 
The entrance also had some old done up cars and VW hippy vans.
They had a number of acts on playing Bob Marley covers and rock songs as well as some big reggae bands from around the world.

 Walking around the crowd was fire breathers and entertainers and the whole atmosphere was very friendly as groups of Thais would join us for a sing a long or a dance.

Our friend Gagan had brought her hoops with her and was asked to go on stage for a performance between bands and had 100's of people cheering her as she hoooped. 
There was one Thai guy who had clearly had more drink then rest of the festival combined who felt he needed to hug us all continuously for longer than any hug should go on for. we got one pic with him and Kristine but he spent most of the night trying to hug the entire crowd one by one. 

Now I say hug but that employs an embrace usually around the top half of the body, were as this dude's method was more of a grind on your leg and hump you hugger. After an hour of this his girlfriend came over and started hitting him with a rolled up magazine and dragged him away into the night which gave us a good laugh.

Loy Krathong Festival Khon Kaen

                                                Loy Krathong is here !!

On Sunday it was finally the day of the big festival. Loy Krathong was here and as the song goes “every body was full of cheer”. We are living close to one of the big lakes on campus and have seen the preparation gone into setting it up over the past week, so it was an easy choice where to head. Regardless of where you went in the city or any where in Thailand, celebrations could be found. The sky was lit up with the Li Khoms ( fire lanterns ). When we arrived at the lake the roads were shut down down and huge markets were running the whole length of the campus.

A parade of floats and singers ran through the streets. We walked the full length getting a few unusual looks as most groups of farangs do. At the carnival section they had parlour games that you wouldnt find at home such as human whack a mole and the lady boy ghost house.. the lines were too long to wait but every one coming out was in hysterics laughing.

They had carnival games like dunk the Thai in a vat of water by hitting the target or just paying a donation to hit Thai men with water balloons which Kristine was very happy to try.. hmmm. They had Ferris wheel and bouncy castles set up for the kids. 

On our way back we found a section of campus holding some big game events involving Thai games one which is like hacky sack with a raised net about 15 feet from the ground, they would attempt trick shots to hit it in without letting it hit the ground.
 They played a game which could be described as football volley ball with a bamboo ball. The player would serve up the ball by kicking it and instead of the usual spiking in volley ball they would somersault while kicking the ball and landing back on their feet ready for the next return. Amazing to watch.

We began to observe a sack race when one of the teams asked if I ( Stephen) would like to join in. "Sure why not" was my reply and I was added to a team. They let me do a test run on my own while the whole crowd laughed and cheered and with my technique down, I was ready for the big race. My team won the semi's and were on our way to the finals. Having a Farang on your team was a huge crowd pleaser and they made me pose for a million pictures possibly for local newspapers and college flyers.. so I may be on the front page of every newspaper after this :) Unfortunately we lost the final by a hop or two but the team was given a cash payout which I was happy to give to the rest of my  team. Only after words I found out I could have gotten a cool 1000 baht but was happy to part of it. 

After that the girls got shown around the arts and craft section and where able to make their own coloured sand candles while we checked out the local guitar stand. Anthony played a few songs on the electrical guitar which drew a crowd of Thais and received a huge cheer. He is playing a gig next week in a bar in town so we are on hand as his hype crew.

We made our way past live music and shows and competitions such as Win free phone credit by popping a balloon with a pump in 15 seconds.. i got 16 seconds and Anthony took away the prize. Again they asked us to hang around while they took 100's of pictures of the falangs. We brought our premade Krathongs and queued up at the lake to drop them in passing through crowds of 1000's but was an amazing feeling standing next to the Thai's enjoying their festival

After we walked up to the stadium where they had a Beauty pageant which goes hand in hand with Loy Krathong. We stayed for a while taking in the show before heading an other lake which was aimed more at adults as the one on campus was very family orientated. 
The other lake was full of groups setting off their lanterns so we purchased one and a few beverages and went to the edge of the lake to let ours go and wish in the new year. We had an amazing night and Anthony even broke his bug cherry trying his first fried insect.



Next week kristine has sports week and I have a week of lesson planning in the sun... its a tough life really

Loy Krathong at Kristines kindergarten and Stephens first few days teaching uni students

So it was only a few days til Loy Krathong, one of the biggest festivals here in Thailand. But before the big day on Sunday I (Stephen) had 8 private lesson classes to teach luckily enough would mainly revolve around introduction ie where am I from, whats Ireland like and things I like and dislike. The first class as we were thought is all about assessing your students proficiency in grammar, past tense, pronunciation and vocabulary. 
From there you can build your lessons around this. So my first two hour lesson would be to 24 university students and I was, as they say in Australia “ packing my dacks” which im sure you can work out for yourselves. The most I had thought previously was 6 students and in a 1 hour lesson that I had a week to prepare. When I first arrived I was shown my new desk in the office. 
Oh no, back to an office I thought, but turns out its only where I keep my materials for the week and check in for absenteeism. Which is quite ironic as absenteeism was my major in secondary school. I was extremely proficient in it :) I was met by a man who is running the English program I had been assigned to and we were chatting for an hour just about life and my reasons for being in Thailand. 

I think it was mainly to find out if I was another backpacker who would start a job and disappear without notice after 2 months once I had enough money to continue my trip. 
This happens all too often here with travelers but luckily for me it means there is always work all year round and not just at the start of semesters. So after the chat he showed me to my classroom which made my heart sink a little bit more as it was a huge room with a projector screen which would be more suited as a football stadium big screen. However I may consider watching a few movies on it if I get bored.


To my happy surprise I walked out of my first class grinning from ear to ear. All the students where attentive and happy to interact rather than shy away like some
 younger kids I've thought. The great thing is that I'm still teaching them intermediate English, so I have no issues talking to them, the hard pint is finding different ways of explaining it to them with gestures and diagrams. I knew all those Christmas's kicking ass at Pictionary and Charades would pay off :)

The second lesson I did about was a restaurant lesson on the Friday, were I would teach them different methods of using the verbs “can and would” and to give you an idea those two verbs can create a 1 hour lesson.
 I had them role-play sitting in a cafe ordering starters mains, drinks and dessert and then changing the quantities of items to see how they got on. In order to get the room a bit more more working as a team. Using some techniques and games I found online from 100's of teaching sites.. really all you need to teach ESL (English as a second language) is good internet connection and the ability to speak in front of a crowd.. oh and have fun..fun is 60% of the class. So using an instruction game where I asked them all to write out 3 personal questions and put them in a box then to stand in a circle at the front of the class. This took a bit of coaxing as they walked up to the front with expressions of "lambs to the slaughter" on their faces. 
I had written 10 rules on the board ranging from "ask a girl, ask a boy, answer 2 questions, ask the teacher and pick a topic" etc.. they would take turns to pick a number from 1-10 from a cup and then using that number pick a rule from the board then pick  a question from the box and choose another student from the circle to answer. This went so well as they would laugh when a question like do you have a boyfriend/ girlfriend would come out and giggle as a girl would ask another boy in the class slightly giving the answer away :) When the “ask the teacher” question came up fits of laughter as they would get to find out something about me. I would correct any grammar of pronunciation errors in the questions and answers. This lasted an hour and could have gone on longer so i will be returning to this game again in a few weeks, the topic question required them to pick a topic ie. cars and go around the circle until someone repeated or couldn't guess.
When I left that class 2 students met me outside and wanted to keep speaking English which i thought was a good sign.


On Saturday and Sunday I thought 3 classes each day to kids ranging from 12-16 year olds and only the first class having 16 students and the other 2 only four students which was a whole other kettle of fish and I was able to use my pre-made lessons from the TEFL course, so I have 5 weeks of no preparation for that class which makes life a whole lot simpler as I can take my time staying ahead of myself.


The same week I (Kristine) had been busy all week with my Kindergarten kids getting ready for the schools Loy Krathong parade, happening on Friday (15^th nv.). I was asked to wear traditional Thai garments which I was not sure what they were yet. I arrived at school and as usual was met by all the happy kids dressed in traditional clothes and began to prepare for the parade.
 The kids made their own Krathongs which are the floats you put in the water at the festival in order to wash away any past indiscretions and bring in the new year. The kids walked around the school grounds singing the Loy Krathong song and I had a blast spending the day with them, as did they. Loy Krathong falls on the Full moon of the 12^th Thai month. Loy Krathong translate to Floating Crown or decoration. Krathongs are made from banana leaves and trunks and decorated with flowers. On the night they have fire works, shows ,parades, sporting events, markets, beauty pageants and the release of the large fire floats or Khom Loi's which have now made their way to western events like new years and Halloween and look and act like mini hot air balloons. The festival itself they say may originate from an ancient ritual paying respect to the water spirits. 
The whole day was full of singing songs and some dancing, it was hard to wipe the smile off my face at the end. The kids are sooo respectful to each other and to their elders. They go out of their way to greet you before and after each class and bow and every time they see you. Ok here is a quick run through of how and when to give some one a Wai in Thailand. To Wai is to bow your head and bring your hands together in a praying action at chest level. You are suppose to Wai to your elders and to some one in a higher position first. Children Wai you first so you never initiate it. When giving a Wai to a Monk or to the King( if you ever get the chance you place your praying hands above your head. The higher the Wai the more respect given. A Wai is meant as “ Hello, thank you, I'm sorry or goodbye”. You are not suppose to return a Wai to a child, waiter, clerk etc simply nod and smile. I wondered why people in shops laughed when as I would leave I would Wai.


So Sunday is the big festival and we cant wait.. plus Kristine has sports week next week so preparations for egg and chopstick races are in order.. yep no spoon used here :)

A night on the town and Super Nintendo night on the projector

After a first week of teaching for Kristine and a week of well nothing for me (Stephen ) we fancied a night on the tiles. During the week I would pick Kristine up from school, after spending the day attempting to learn a new skill. We were fortunate enough to meet a couple from the UK who have numerous talents. To name a few they shared, we have mixed martial artist, yoga, Juggling, hooping (Hooping combines technical moves and tricks with freestyle of technical dancing), Slack-lining (walking and tricks on a suspended nylon rope or walkway, more like a long skinny trampolining, combining tricks with balance) and contact juggling with a crystal ball, which blows my mind to watch, here is a YouTube video of someone doing it - check it out: Contact juggling video. Picture David Bowie in Labyrinth. And that's just a few of their many talents.
So feeling lazy, we said we would try a few new skills and they lent me some juggling balls, as it's been on both our... lets say bucket list, as I've always wanted to learn. So after a few hours of practicing and getting very frustrated, I can now juggle 3 balls up to 9 catch and releases and Kristine started practicing as well. That night they set up the slack-line in the bar and we had to give it a go. It was a lot harder then he made it look, as he was bouncing and dropping to his knees, as he walked it. I on the other hand tried to stand up on it bounced off and landed bare foot on a small rock, which was quite painful, thus ending my possibly promising career as a Slack line artist.  Kristine however was able top stand up and walk un-aided a few steps, but more practice is definitely required but she is also attempting the hooping and has fun doing it :).

This is another reason we came to Thailand, as even at night here, it is still 25 degrees, so the whole area is alive with groups of people playing games like Lawn Bowls, Basketball, football, volleyball and many more. They have big sporting events as well as markets and shows. And this means we are a lot more active during the week, with the Muay Thai as well. During the week Rainny was able to get a basketball and we spent one evening trying to get at least one single shot in, but had fun in the process. A group of  Thais playing volleyball asked one of the lads to join their game and from all the laughter we could hear, it sounded like a good game. Thai people are officially the nicest people I have ever met. With the basketball we said we would keep it up, so NBA here we come, I'm sure a 5ft 7 guy could learn to dunk....right ...right?  "The hoop is how high *cough*, never-mind", But still fun to play :-)

On the Friday a group of us headed to the students bars as Rainny's sisters boyfriend was playing  in a band in one of the big bars. We all got a little merry before heading out and ended up going to a club in town called U-bar, it was a huge club with live music in one bar and outside in the garden was a DJ. Place was a bit pricey but we all had a good night. A small amount of night swimming in a city hotel may have been done as well...

The next day we nursed our hangovers and as Rainny is having a "Street Fighter" for the Super Nintendo tournament next Thursday, we said we need to get in some practice. We had downloaded all the best games for the Snes and it was amazing playing them on the projector through a website, which has every Sega game, every Snes and every other console games you can think of ready to download. I got all nostalgic as I remember playing a lot of these games as a young teen.

We played for hours games like: Street fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 3, Donkey Kong, Mario all stars and a few more. I'm waiting for Crash Bandicoot to download and that will be me happy :) I was surprised I could remember a lot of the moves seeing as it's been nearly 20 years. Roll on Thursday night, as not only is it "Street Fighter" tournament night but that evening I start "my new job" :) Yep you heard me I'm starting to work, no longer a kept man :)

So the new job is really 2 part time jobs that I found through different sources. I'll be teaching adults conversational English on Thursday and Friday for a few hours in a German/ Thai Technology University and Saturday and Sunday in a different school, teaching 3 classes a day for 8-10, 12-14, and 16/17 year olds which because it's all beginner I can teach the same 2 lessons to all students so only have to create 2 a week which I have plenty of time to do, if the juggling doesn't get in the way :)

My first lesson will be introducing myself and where I'm from, so I've printed off loads of pictures of the

greener side of Ireland and where we are on the map. Don't think I would have gotten away showing pictures of every pub I've drank in, in Dublin as most schools are looking for non drinkers but sure everyone says that in the interviews. I heard one guy who was asked this and didn't want to lie so said he drank a bit on the weekends and they went cold for the rest of the interview and no call.

Kristine is spending this week preparing for Loi Krathong the big Festival here with her kids making the Krathongs (Floats made from banana tree's). This Friday they have a big show on and she has been asked to wear traditional Thai clothing. We don't know what that is yet :)
So next weekend for the festival we will be heading to the city to send up the lanterns and make our floats to send down the river, last time we where in Chiang Mai for this and it was amazing, unfortunately our camera decided to give up on life and in the process deleted every photo we had from that time. So we're not even going for us we're going for the pics :). It's kind of like a new years eve atmosphere and every one comes out so hopefully we can share our pics next week at the festival.