Blogs from Samut Sakhon , Central Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 2

Tests... who's really getting tested here?

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Samut Sakhon December 31st 2011

WARNING!!! THIS IS A BLOG SPECIFICALLY MADE TO RANT ABOUT TEST GIVING EXPERIENCE IN THAILAND. **even though this blog sounds angry and frustrated (which I was) I am still taking this as a learning cultural experience. You learn from everything in life** BEGIN RANT Erika, Mike, and I were so excited for test week at our school. We were sure it was going to be a breeze. How hard could it be to watch kids taking a test and getting the grading out of the way at the same time? We even thought we could get other things done like blogging, reading a book, etc. Oh how we were wrong! It was actually much harder than we anticipated. We had to watch each class like a hawk. These students love to copy and they would copy ... read more

Merry Christmas from Thailand!

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Samut Sakhon December 25th 2011

My family in Mahachai!

GypsyJourneys

Merry Christmas!!! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and circle of friends. Even from thousands of miles away I don't feel alone. Thank you so much for always being there for me. I didn't know what to expect from my first Christmas away from loved ones. I thought I'd be sad and that the holidays would make me homesick. There were moments when I did get sad that I couldn't be at home with my parents, drinking hot chocolate, wrapping presents to put under the tree, seeing everyone open their gifts, and just plain being with everyone i care about. I had to remind myself that even though I'm not there in person I can be there in spirit. Hope you felt it! Christmas in Thailand is unique to say the least. ... read more

Sports and spectacular outfits!

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Samut Sakhon December 17th 2011

Team orange!

GypsyJourneys

After our weekend in Hue Hin we returned to school on Sports Day. Sports Day happens every semester and it's a day dedicated to sports for the kids. So another non-teaching day for us teachers! We were even allowed to wear pants on this day! Everyone was taken by the bus load to a sports facility just outside the town. At first we thought that it was going to be a big citywide event where the schools compete against one another but it turned out that each grade within our school competed against one another. Each grade had a specific team color and not all students performed in the athletic activities, just a few but the rest of the grades cheered on their colors. It reminded me of Hogwarts and the different houses. Each team had ... read more

The toilet situation in Thailand--not for the light hearted!

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Samut Sakhon December 8th 2011

squatter toilet without a flusher

GypsyJourneys

Bathrooms. There's not much to them you would think. You have your average toilet with the seat that you are able to sit on for hours if necessary and a flusher. Not much to it right? Well here you have a variety of toilets to chose from. Well most of the time you don't get a choice, you get what you get. So far, I've encountered six types in Thailand. One. THE TYPICAL TOILET. There are some that have the normal flusher but most have two flushing options, one for light waste (aka number 1) and one for heavier waste (aka number 2). These are heavenly whenever you get lucky enough to run across one. Two. THE NON-PAPER WASTE TOILET. This is what I have in my apartment. I am forced to ... read more

Teaching at Samut Sakhon Wittayalai

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Samut Sakhon December 6th 2011

English Department Office

GypsyJourneys

Well I am now in my fourth week teaching! I can't believe just how fast the time goes! It does not feel like a whole month has gone by that I have been teaching. Teaching in Thailand is such an adventure in itself! I teach two levels, M2 and M5. M2's are 13-14 year olds and M5's are 16-17 year olds. I teach high school in Thailand. When I embarked on this journey I never in a million years would have thought I was going to be a high school teacher! As I learn by experience day by day, I can't help but to think of all the teachers in my life and how we were with them in school. I have a whole new perspective and appreciation of teachers!! This is a difficult yet easy ... read more

First days in Samut Sakhon

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Samut Sakhon October 27th 2011

Home Sweet Home... more like Home Stinky Home! hehe

GypsyJourneys

The program placed me and two others at a high school in Samut Sakhon teaching conversational English. Samut Sakhon is about a 30 minute drive from the Bangkok Southern Bus Terminal. It being so close to Bangkok, I figured there would be tons to do and see. So before I left Phuket I tried to do some research on the city but could only find two things. One.. that it's a seafood industrial park and two.. people consider it to be the armpit of Thailand. Even though I am not a seafood fan and I heard rumors that it was going to smell like fish everywhere you go I was optimistic about the placement. I was determined to make it work for me. The first few days in Samut Sakhon were really rough. We were dropped ... read more

Brief history of Thailand

A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy....more history

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