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Published: January 17th 2012
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School has been plodding along quite normally since New Year (as you can tell by the fact that I have time to write an entry during school hours - I have just marked 36 workbooks, honest!). But, the last few days were supposed to be special occasions here in Thailand. I say 'supposed to be' because the one I was most looking forward to got cancelled at my school!
First, we celebrated Children's Day last Friday (13th - not unlucky for children, apparently!). It meant that there were no lessons for the day and the students were free to do whatever they wanted. This mostly involved them running around like crazy people and making a nuisance of themselves. As far as I could see there weren't any special activities, just music blaring out loudly and a few staff on hand to supervise! My contribution to the day came in the form of helping to prepare a very large Papaya Salad. I peeled and chopped the papaya (which is actually a pawpaw), ready for one of the Thai teachers to mix it with all the other ingredients. A lot of staff were very excited about this dish but, after
tasting a little, I'm not sure what all the fuss was about. It was very bitter and I definitely preferred the rice and fried chicken that I ate instead. All the food was free so I definitely can't grumble at having saved a few pennies!
I also had to work on Saturday this weekend. I say 'work', I actually just sat in the office on Facebook catching up with people for eight hours, wandering around to see what was happening outside every now and then. It was Sports Day, which I was quite intrigued about as soon as I heard it was happening. With no field and a car park that seems to triple as a classroom AND basketball court, I did wonder what was going to take place. I soon found out. Musical Chairs? Penalty Shoot Out? Some sort of relay race that involved spinning a hula hoop and running at the same time? All very bizarre! Definitely not my idea of Sports Day and I could absolutely have done without getting up so early, but I will get paid an extra 1000 baht at the end of the month (it may only be £20 but it'll feed me for at least a week!).
Then came what I had been most excited about since arriving in Thailand. The prospect of Teachers' Day. A day when teachers across the country are celebrated and given presents by their students. Again a day that lessons are cancelled for, in fact, some schools close all together so that teachers can have a well deserved rest. Nothing of the sort at Phra Mae Maree! Because of the late start to the semester, the day went without ceremony and lessons carried on as normal for us. Some of my AYC colleagues in other parts of the country were taken drinking by their colleagues and others enjoyed all sorts of activities in their honour. I had to make do with buying myself a bar of toblerone from the 7/11! I think it'd be worth introducing in schools in England though - teachers here don't seem to work half as hard as teachers at home!
I did manage to enjoy my weekend despite having to work half of it. We went out for a Mexican dinner on Saturday in honour of Abi's birthday. I wouldn't have chosen it because nearly every dish had peppers in, but I managed to get someone to write, in Thai, what being allergic to them means and they were very accomodating. It was a very pleasant, relaxed evening. Everyone wants to try and save money so nobody went mad and then I discovered that four people can sleep quite comfortably in my apartment, providing one doesn't mind being on the floor! I could probably get five in at a push!
Everything is back to normal now with nothing special lined up for a while. I'm in the middle of writing mid-term exams for my classes at the moment. They have to be done by Friday (which is clearly why I'm writing this instead of them!) but I'm using material from the workbooks and it won't take me long. I've got a very exciting weekend ahead with Miranda flying in from Canada on Friday night. Naturally it means this week is already going really slowly but I really can't wait to see her!
Love to you all xxxx
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