Monkeys and Ruins

Monkey Fest and a City of Ruins

We just got back home from visiting Lopburi which is a small town infamous for the takeover of monkeys. After a long bus ride through Bangkok, we were dropped off literally 1 block from our hotel and then some taxi man took us 4 miles away from it for 20 baht each. What an asshole. It was literally like 30 cents so we all quickly got over it and the hotel send someone to find us. We ate a late dinner and had some drinks before turning in for the night after a long day of teaching and traveling. Saturday we woke up to some delicious fried bananas right outside our window and of course, monkeys! We went to see the monkeys at the temple briefly before hopping a bus to Ayuttaya, Thailand's old capital city. We took all these back roads and the trip ended up being closer to 2.5 hours instead of 1 so we had a pretty late start. Our friend Danielle that we were meeting up with had been waiting for about 6 hours and had made some Thai friends who offered to drive us around all day for a measly 200 baht. We went to lunch at a really nice restaurant and had some fried fish, chicken dishes and of course, rice. Then we were off to the ruins! The ruins were extremely cool and there were Buddha statues everywhere that were pretty decently preserved. We went to 4 different sites before sunset and all mostly felt that we saw all we needed to see. We took the train back which was much cheaper and quicker. The only downside? Bugs EVERYWHERE! The lights were left on and so bugs were massing around the top of the train and there were these pebble sized black bugs covering the floor so it was pretty much impossible to not be covered in bugs. We just all gave up and brushed off at our final destination. Ma pen rai. We went out for dinner and had some fried fish that was excellent, some pretty delicious duck and chicken. We only ordered 4 plates to share thinking it would be heaping servings, but we had to order another whole round! We also bought bottles of whiskey to share from 7/11 (our new favorite place), which is much cheaper than buying from the restaurant. We stayed out pretty late and ran into some other farong from our CIEE group so the next morning was pretty rough. We found a little place with some classic English breakfast food and enjoyed that before heading over to the monkey temple for the mass feeding ceremony. It was PACKED! We finally pushed throught the crowd and got some serious close contact with the monkeys. One jumped on Calan, one almost jumped on me and some girl from our group got peed on by multiple monkeys. It was hilarious! They were drinking bottles of water, cokes and eating everything you could possibly think of! We saw multiple monkey fights break out along with some brief mating and Sarah and I even got interviewed! Look on Associated Press website to see if you can find me! We finally decided we had enough and checked out of our hotel and hopped a bus back to Bangkok where we had a deliciously fantastic pizza meal. Now I'm exhausted and ready to struggle through another week of teaching...after some much needed and deserved rest. Love you all!

Teaching

So, I've been updating mostly about traveling and all the other Thai fantastic things, but most of you haven't heard too much about my teaching experience. As expected, most of my classes have some very redeeming kids and can be really fun on any given day. There's a couple of bad apples in each class but I think they're starting to respect me more and have more fun. However, I have 3 absolutely awful classes that I can not stand! One of my senior classes is full of a bunch of smart asses that think they run the school and I just lost my temper one day. I told multiple boys not to come back to class if they're not going to work or listen and I think they were so scared of me, they completely stopped coming to class. Honestly, it works out better because the kids that do show up get all of my attention and time and then I'm not fuming after that class because of those couple kids. One of my other bad classes is just lazy - the sad part is they are actually pretty decent at English but they're lazy and rowdy so nothing ever gets done. It takes all my effort to teach to about 4 kids in the front who really want to learn and seem to like me so I'm trying to focus on them.

Most of my frustration actually stems from the administration. Rowdy kids I can take, incompetency is another thing. Our school forgets to tell us about holidays, pretends they don't know when midterm exams are, forgets to tell us when classes are missing from school for special exams or field trips and has an extreme lack of textbooks. The one book they gave me has multiple paragraphs about the Soviet Union so that's not helpful at all. The Thai teachers don't speak English and so they teach all the students incorrect grammar such as "I am black hair" and "My father name's Somsak". It's infuriating trying to correct these habits! Then, there is no continuity in what the kids learn - each teacher just comes in, teaches what they want for 5 months and leaves. So my kids can say words like "coronation", "venerate", "gracious" and "honest" but they can't tell me how old they are or what their name is. I had a really hard time trying to decide what is important for them to learn so I just ended up picking things I think I would need to know in Thai - such as directions, how to ask for a toilet, introductions and food items. Teaching has gotten easier as time goes on because after a month, I'm a little more used to the daily grind. However, the administration is just as frustrating and unhelpful as ever so I really feel like the four of us Americans are just here for show and pomp - not to actually help these kids speak fluent English. Also, each of my classes is about 50 kids and some of them don't even have desks to sit in. With a bunch of 16-18 year olds, boys and girls, there is no way I can keep control of these classes! I have no disciplinary authority except to yell "quiet!" in Thai over and over again or make them stay after class and write repetitive phrases. I had my first really bad day earlier this week but I guess out of 5-6 weeks of being here, 1 bad day is not too terrible at all! Teaching is definitely my least favorite thing about Thailand, but I still do have some classes that are absolute angels to have! Speaking of, I have to go teach now. I miss you all, happy turkey day and hopefully I can talk to everyone soon!

All my love,
Katie

Weekend in Bangkok

This past weekend we went to Bangkok and stayed with a coworker of Mr. Arntz named Somsak. His family offered to pick us up in Chachoengsao, drive us back, and let us use their condo! The condo facility was amazing, we even had hot water and a glorious resort-like pool. We went to JJ Market, the biggest market in the world, and shopped like crazy. This market had everything from live animals to clothes to kitchenware. You can find absolutely anything you need, except for shot glasses apparently. I bought a big traveling backpack for about $4 and had a blast bargaining. We went to Siam Paragon, the huge center of Bangkok, and saw a famous Thai popstar, a dance competition and surprisingly, the USA fair. The mall was all decorated for Christmas so that made us feel a little bit like back home. The next morning we got up really early to travel to the floating market in Ratchaburi, about 1.5 hours away from Bangkok. We rented a boat and bought several things along the river but didn't really get started until we walked around to all the rest of the shops. I had a total blast bartering with everyone; I even started bargaining for stuff I didn't even want! I bought a silk Thai robe for about 15 bucks, even though it started more at like 35 and I got a lot of really cheap souvenirs. Some woman gave me a discount because I "spoke Thai so well" - aka I know how to ask how much things are and then can make a distressed face and say ahhh, too expensive! We tried some coconut ice cream, a huge selection of new fruits and altogether had a blast. After a quick nap and some lunch, we headed back home, thanked Somsak and got settled back in for a full week of teaching. He offered to pick us up and let us stay at his place again (since he has 3 houses) and we'll probably see a Muey Thai boxing tournament next time we head up there. Another successful weekend and now back to the daily grind of losing my voice, hating my administration and teaching from a textbook that apparently still thinks the Soviet Union is real. Oh Thailand...

Tigers in Paradise

We just returned from an exhausting weekend in Kanchanaburi -sleep deprived, horribly hot, filthy but absolutely satisfied! We stayed at this hostel called the Blue Star and the staff was great and we ended up booking the last two rooms at the cheapest price (phew - we traveled without having a place to stay!) Our rooms were great for such a cheap price and we were pretty close to all the other hostels, restaurants and bars. The first night we went exploring and found tons of ladyboys and dirty hippie tourists. We woke up early the next day and took a day trip to the 7 tier Erawan Waterfalls. It was absolutely mind blowing! The hike to the first four was nice and scenic but the higher we went up, the harder the struggle. The path up was downright unsafe and we stopped at most of the tiers for a quick swim or picture extravaganza. Some monks randomly stopped us to take pictures because apparently we're so beautiful covered in mud and sweat, so that was odd. We finally made it to the top and it was well worth it! The 7th layer was at least 3 cascading layers and had a sizable pool to swim in. We cooled off but then started getting nibbled on by the fish. Apparently some people love the fish biting but most of us were just creeped out. We climbed a little bit up the waterfall and relaxed for awhile before hiking back down - which was even more unsafe, if that's possible. We saw a big group of monkeys on the way down that got extremely close and there were even 3 baby ones! The waterfall took most of the day so we all went back, showered and went out to dinner.
The next day we woke up early again and had a lovely English breakfast. We took a song-taew to the Tiger Temple and the tigers were amazing!! We took tons of pictures with the tigers, got to pet them and walk around with them. There were 4 cubs that were sweet as could be and it was really funny to watch the monks play around with them like they were common house dogs. The tigers took most of our day up and before we knew it, it was time to go!
We have Mon. and Tues. off school this week for Sport Day - which is a school celebration in honor of harmony amongst the students. I was asked by several students to be in a parade in traditional Thai dress so I have to wake up at 5 am. I have literally no idea what I'm doing, in classic Thai style so it'll be a big surprise tomorrow! I'm exhausted and headed to bed, but enjoyh the pictures and hope to talk to you all soon!

All my love

My students! and Loi Krathong pictures

Koh Samet

On Friday, Chachoengsao held a parade in respect for the buddha in our local temple. The parade started at 8:30 and was pretty insane - all the schools get involved and build these huge, elaborate floats and the students dance in the hottest clothes for hours in the sun. There was a Chinese dragon, school bands and circus folk galore. After 3 hours directly in the sun, we were all exhausted and ready for our vacation.

Sarah, Beth, Kevin and I all went to Koh Samet - an island about 2 hours from Chachoengsao. We successfully left our city and went to Chonburi to catch a bus to the ferry pier but the bus station seemed to not exist anymore in Chonburi. After much gesturing and confusion, we discovered the bus station had moved and had to take our first harrowing motorcycle ride for $1.50. After finally arriving at the bus station, we had to wait an hour and then we were finally on our way to the ferry. We boarded the ferry on a 2x4 - things are just done differently in Thailand...We reached the island at sunset on Friday and went straight to the beach to watch the sunset over the water. I instantly fell in love! We stayed in a beach hut on the island which consisted of a double mattress on the floor surrounded by a mosquito net. Bugs were surprisingly not a big problem as we basically camped in the jungle and waking up to the sound of the water was absolutely amazing! We spent the whole day lounging on the beach and even got a massage for about $4 for a half hour. We ate dinner on the beach too and watched a fire show which was very cool. The food was not that great but drinks were cheap and there was lots of free entertainment. On Halloween, the whole island gathered to play games on the beach and I partcipated in the fire limbo. On Sunday, we lounged on the beach again and then had a 4 hour trip back to Chachoengsao (because we had so many transfers). It was a fantastic weekend and my Mondays are pretty easy teaching so I had some rest time at work.

Exactly today, I have been teaching for 1 whole week, even though it feels like a lot longer. It takes 2 weeks to make copies here - multiple heads of department have to OK our material so Sarah and I pretty much have our voices alone to teach these kids English. That involves a lot of horrible drawing on the board and wild gesturing. When I get back to the states, it's going to seem like I talk condescendingly to everyone because I have to speak sooooo slow and gesture wildly for anyone to understand me. My favorite thing so far is that the English teachers in our department literally don't speak English - so they teach all these kids incorrect verb forms, pronunciation, etc. and it has already become a habit so it's very difficult to correct. Sarah and I are chugging along but still getting used to working without any support whatsoever from the school. Most of my classes are really fun, I only have 2 or 3 really bad ones so the kids make it more enjoyable. I'm off to class right now but I hope to hear from everyone soon!