Blogs from Eastern Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 16

Happy Loy Krathong! It was really neat to be a part of this beautiful, colorful celebration, despite the fact that I came out with a battle wound. "Loy" means to float and "krathongs" are the little lotus-shaped floats that are made out of banana leaves. They are decorated with flowers (orchids, jasmine, etc.), a candle, three small incense sticks, and sometimes coins. They are not only beautiful, but also a lot of fun to make! Loy Krathong is celebrated on the full moon in November, as the rainy season is officially coming to an end. The ceremony has Hindu origins and was originally begun to thank the goddess of the water. Nowadays people make wishes and prayers for the year to come and leave their past transgressions to float away on the krathongs, which are placed ... read more

Today during one of my plan periods I happened to walk by the little pool and swim lessons for some of the littlest children were in progress! They were so adorable in their little swim outfits and matching swim caps. When I stopped to watch, all the little ones were sitting around the edge of the pool and the P.E. teacher was going around one by one, dumping water over their heads (to get them accustomed to the sensation, I guess). As soon as he finished they would frantically paw at their eyes and faces, trying to get the water out. After that they practiced kicking in the water and then he went one by one again, dunking them under this time. Although it seemed a little jarring, they seemed to take it well. After that ... read more

School is going well so far, and although there are and will be challenges, I think I have landed in a pretty sweet deal. I am at a small private bilingual school that goes from nursery age up to primary grade 6. I am teaching science grades 1-6 and I have one section of kindergarten math (with just 3 little students!). It is a very interesting setup, more like an American university model in that I see each class 2 times a week, except for 1 student in grade 4 and one in grade 6, brothers, whose parents pay for them to have individual instruction in EVERY subject every day (!), so I teach/tutor them both separately in science every day. I usually teach just 4 classes a day and so I have 2 plan periods ... read more

24 hours to go until I head off to the airport with a bag of things i will wish I had never bought in about 4 days time... and war is on. My plane's destination - Bangkok - is a normally happy place, where I have made great friends in the past. But these past weeks, politcal protesters have surrounded the government buildings, demanding an end to the parliament, forcing the Prime Minister to flee in a helicopter and trying to install a non-democratic goverment! Not content with a Political Coup, i also seem to be heading off to a War Zone, as Thailand and Cambodia are rattling their sabres at each other over a border dispute. I intend to waltz across the border to Siam Reap and Angkor Wat, and i'm sure that as a ... read more

10th June 2008 Hi Everyone, I think I left off in Mui Ne, a southern beach resort in Vietnam. Cut to pictures of palm trees swaying in the breeze and waves crashing on the shore and you’re there. Onward by bus, and by our standards a very good bus too, 5 hrs later we are in Nha Trang city, a big lively seaside resort a place to catch transport and watch the locals playing badminton and doing tai chi. The next stage of the journey would have involved a 12hr bus journey, potentially with our rucksacks on our laps, so we opted to go with Vietnam airways instead. A real pleasure, happy friendly staff and flying on an airbus which strangely only had about 50 people on it. 1 hr later we are in Hoi An, ... read more