Blogs from North-East Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 6

Two weeks ago we received a visit from our desk officer Kate and her friend Heloise. Ben and I were up late evicting wildlife from our living room and removing peeled paint from the floor. Everything except the rotting contents of our broken fridge was spotless and ready for inspection. Tomorrow afternoon they arrived and each observed one lesson. Unfortunately my M5 class were 20minutes late and only half turned up. Afterwards we all discussed our project and talked about getting an increase in our wages. Kate agreed that 4,500baht a month was barely enough to live on and was shocked that Pra Yang had been buying us shopping almost every week. Although later in Tesco Lotus she understood how impossible it is to stop Pra Yang paying for everything. Our host really is the kindest ... read more

Here was my redemption moment, could I really ask for a better way to go out with a bang here in Thailand. I have just a few weeks left here, soccer failed miserably, I now have an obsession with running and BAM this 5k run falls into my lap like a gift from Santa. I had to prep all my crazy superstitious ways, so my outfit was ready, the breakfast prepped and the bandana bought. I chow down on a very delicious although not so sports bar like breakfast while stretching out to some P90X. Naturally nerves are wanting to bust on in but I'm punching them in the face and keeping them away. The alarm sounds to let me know that I should head to P. Aajong, who will also be running the race. He ... read more

The past two weeks has been teaching as usual around the notably cooler Muang Samsip. M5 have been writing up New Year’s resolutions, (some have been to listen less in class), and learning about English weather. My guess is that whilst I shiver in the 21degree heat, you are all sliding around in a winter wonderland/chaos depending how you look at Britain when it shuts down over several centimetres of snow. No dangers of that here! I have successfully bribed M3 into speaking English with fruit Mentos. Their lust for sweets means most are actually attempting to speak English rather than whisper it to themselves. M1 are a real mix. Some classes are powering ahead, keeping me on my toes as to what lessons I need to plan. Thankfully this is the majority of students and ... read more

I've talked about eating them and going out to hunt them but this little section is about actually farming them. Of course I'm talking about crickets. I might take it up once back in America since I'm not sure how else I'm going to get my hands on these guys. I had a soccer game today but the highlight of the day wasn't that game but instead all the cricket searching I did before hand. My sister had informed me that we would be doing this and I have to say when she first told me I thought, great I get to be dragged around while I anxiously wait for my game to start. We headed out, me dressed and ready for the game her buzzing on and on about her new truck. I clinged to ... read more

Imagine this... you live in a village of no more than 50 people. You’re sitting around one day going about your daily business and all of a sudden a group of 29 cyclists ride through. First you hear the unfamiliar sound of a bike horn closely followed by some loud and often over accentuated greetings “HHHAARRRROOOOOOOO”. And in a blink they are gone. That would happen at least 10 times a day if not more on this tour as we continue passing through tiny villages. The highlight on day 4 definitely had to be passing through a village street party. Instead of following the detour sign - which in our defense we couldn’t translate - we rode straight through to the marquee where tables and chairs were being set up for the days festivities. Of course ... read more