http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Thailand , Central Thailand , Chonburi en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:06:04 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:06:04 +0000 On Thursday Fon took us for a drive around Chonburi Province the area immediately surrounding Pattaya. This was our first opportunity to see the countryside and stop at a few places along the way. We visited a huge 140m high Buddha which had been carved into the side of a mountain and then painted in gold. We then drove around and through one of the better beaches of Pattaya Hat Jomtien. We http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-408322.html Though I am really excited about traveling for the next two and a half months first with Stephanie and Kari in Thailand then on to Laos and Vietnam it is totally bittersweet to leave the school. It is even sadder in this case because I will probably never see these children again. Even though I may come back to Thailand again in the future it is unlikely that I would find myself in Chonburi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-380730.html The clock seemed to tick faster than usual as I tried to tie up all my loose ends in Chonburi. I was scrambling to make lastminute changes to the 'final exams' I had prepared for all the students and was also trying to pack and give awaysell the things in my apartment that I wasn't taking with me. I wanted to buy some small gifts for my oneonone students and for the ladies in the office. Th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-379059.html As I finish up this blog entry I have just a couple of days of school left though I have been working on these reflections throughout the term. Before I came back to Thailand to teach as I think I may have mentioned before I envisioned myself teaching in some quaint little village up in the north of Thailand one that just had one school like the hill tribe village school Fiona and I saw on o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-379036.html Last week I was horrified and pretty sheepish when I realized that I was handing out the obscene little sticker pictured here to my students. Oops Who knows how many of them I handed out before realizing that that little cartoon man had his pants pulled down I bought a few sheets of stickers at the school supply store to revitalize my sticker offerings which were getting a little stale. O http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-376167.html There are two conceptsphrases that always come up in books and articles about Thai culture. They are ldquojai yenrdquo in Thai 365135923648361836553609 and ldquomai pen rai.rdquo ldquoJai yenrdquo literally means ldquocool heartrdquo even though the Lonely Planet Phrasebook translates it as ldquoEasy tigerrdquo. Don't believe everything you read in L http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-376163.html I walked home from school yesterday feeling lighter with the proverbial bounce in my step. It was finally sorted out that I will be finished teaching on Friday February 27 which is exactly 2 weeks from now. I canrsquot believe it. Irsquom not looking forward to telling the kids that I am leaving or to leaving them at all but I am practically bursting with excitement that my time of livi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-374992.html I wondered if Valentine's Day would actually be celebrated in Thailand but I quickly found out that many of the hallmarks of American Valentine's Day have made their way over here giving chocolates and red roses cards and heartshaped everythings seem to be standard procedure. Tami Courtney and I conspired several weeks ago to have a girls' weekend in Chonburi and it was a perfect way to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-374105.html House blessingK's mom got up at 5 am. I decided to ignore it and go back to sleep until someone would ask me to get my ass out of bed which was unfortunately only one hour later I got up and had a shower. Compared to what I had experienced during the past three weeks this bathroom and shower were pure luxury. I enjoyed every second I spent underneath this warm water shower.I wanted to help w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-373682.html I have joined street aerobics twice now. It appears that it happens at least every weekday not sure about weekends from 6 7 PM. The charge is 5 baht per person which is about 15 cents. At first I wondered why bother even charging at all but then I realized that with probably over 50 people there those 5 little baht can sure add up to a nice little wage for an hour of work. The first time http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-370574.html I think that life in Chonburi may have just gotten better I discovered a night market not too far from my apartment when I was passing by in songthaew on the way back from Bang Saen on Saturday. Besides crepes grilled corn and the usual standard stands i.e. fish and meats in a variety of different ways there were also several smoothie stands different flavors of popcorn and a stand with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-367669.html It's no secret that I love elephants. I think they are strange and beautiful in their enormous oafy way. I think that their eyes are really soulful and that when you see their profiles they often seem to be smiling and playful a bit mischievous too. They are definitely greedy for food but I guess you might be too if you needed to eat 250350 kilos of food a day. Despite what science tell http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-366060.html Today at school we celebrated Children's Day which seemed like a lot of fun for the kids. They were allowed to come to school in their regular street clothes and it was surprising to see them without their uniforms and also interesting to see what they wore. Like little girls all over the world the girls wore a lot of pink and some tiaras and the boys wore a lot of superhero shirts etc. T http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-362983.html Still at Grand Jomtien Palace Resort in Jomtien Beach but not doing anymore than I can help .... just sitting by the pool reading and recouping from a terrible head and chest cold. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-361662.html Even after all this time I still feel awkward waiing. Irsquom like a half waier. My wai is often followed by a nervous giggle. The 'wai' is the way that Thai people greet each other and consists of pressing your palms together fingertips toward the sky and ohsoslightly bowing your head . . . or not. The placement of your hands depends on the amount of respect you want to show for the o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-360688.html I got an interesting assortment of gifts at school this year. Most interesting of all was the gift from the director. She was handing out these sort of fancy health tonics and she gave me a little box containing two. There was a picture of something tan on the label and just as I was about to conclude that it was ginger the director said that I didn't think I could have that one since I am a v http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-360381.html On Sunday night soon after I got back from Bangkok and was settling back into being ldquohomerdquo a tremendous noise began outside in the street. I went out on the balcony to see what the deal was and I could see that across the way there was a performance of some sort going on that sounded suspiciously like Chinese opera highpitched voices clanging that sounds like trash cans are being http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-360362.html For the majority of December Christmas didnrsquot really enter into my consciousness. There were a few Christmas decorations here and there at department stores and at school but nothing like the fullblown holiday bonanza from preThanksgiving onward that it would be at home. The weather also didnrsquot help give me the holiday feeling since it is continuously warm and balmy a constan http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-356881.html Saturday was the big nightthe night that every student at our school had been practicing for for over a month. The annual event is a big partyfundraiser for the school and each and every class does a dance. It was a fullon dance show with intricate costumes and hairdos as well as makeup and glitter hair for both girls and boys. A lot of the little girls came looking just like little Thai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-354750.html Why does whiter skin usually equate to more beauty in the eyes of the majority and more privileges in every country on earth no matter what the official antidiscrimination policy There is a nationwide obsession here with having light skin. Whitening creams powders and soaps line the shelves of every store. In fact at the cosmetics chain Oriental Princess I had a hard time finding a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Chonburi/blog-354740.html