watch out for those double dippers among us....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/dining/30curious.html
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
winter
its winter here, like everywhere else in the northern hemisphere. here that means some rain and clouds. sometimes that happens, but its still warm and sunny most of the time. although it gets chilly at night, and it did frost a couple times right after christmas. at the garden, some of the plants are covered up so they don't get frostbit. but i still see hummingbirds almost every day.
jeremiah visited after xmas. we went up to allen's boss's "cabin" in new mexico for a few days (cabin is not quite the right word...more like small luxury home in the woods). you can see some pictures when i bother to put them online. it was something of an adventure. we rented a minivan since there were 6 of us. the cabin is some distance (>10 miles) down a dirt road. this we knew. we also knew it had snowed an inch or so a couple days before we got there. we also knew there was a hill. we didn't anticipate that the snow would have stayed around quite so long, since the air temp was in the 40s during the days. and the hills were steeper than we anticipated. we got almost all the way up to the house on the first try. the last 1/10 mile we just couldn't do. the tires were just spinning. so we carried all our stuff and food to the house. jeez, do your lungs not like being at 6500 ft when you're not used to it! anyway, we go settled in, only to find that the pipes seemed to be frozen. (i concluded that the last person there did not properly flush them and close up the house, that's why they froze, but we don't know for sure--but the solid block of ice in the toilet tank is some kind of clue, i tell you!) we got the wood stove going, and the house heated up pretty quickly. from 45 to 75 in a few hours. nice. ok, so no water exactly, but it was warm and the power worked, so we were pretty stoked. and it was super nice up in them woods. the next day we went to a national monument nearby and then had some trouble driving back up the hill but we managed. other than that, nothing too significant. good food, good times, jenga marathon.
since then its been back to work. more field trips at the garden. and i've been helping interview people to be new school guides like me. and helping develop some new curriculum elements and a new "advanced science" course for the adult volunteers, on taxonomy. its pretty fun, and keeping me busy.
tomorrow we'll see steve freedberg, a blast from the past. he's in arizona with his desert ecology class from st. olaf college. i'm showing them around the garden and then we're going with tim to look for ants/other insects/whatever we can find. because, like i said at the start...its winter here. which means that things are relatively inactive. so, we might not find much. other than birds and jackrabbits and the feral cats at the garden.
and to close, a funny story for you about a field trip i did before xmas. it was a "flower and seed" tour, focusing on plant reproduction. it was a group of special needs students (down syndrome, etc.). so i had to figure out on the fly what they could handle, because i had no idea. we talked about different animals and what kind of flowers they like to pollinate, what things they eat that are fruits, how plants get traits from the mom plant and the dad plant... and i was proud of myself because i was sure they were getting something out of it and having a good time and i hadn't freaked out about not knowing i would have a special needs group... then one kid said, "how do mommies and daddies make babies?" and it was clear he was talking about human babies, not plant babies... OMG, what do you say to that?? but i kept my cool and just said, "well, we are just going to talk about how mommy and daddy plants make baby plants, ok?" and that seemed to satisfy him, he didn't ask again. WHEW.
jeremiah visited after xmas. we went up to allen's boss's "cabin" in new mexico for a few days (cabin is not quite the right word...more like small luxury home in the woods). you can see some pictures when i bother to put them online. it was something of an adventure. we rented a minivan since there were 6 of us. the cabin is some distance (>10 miles) down a dirt road. this we knew. we also knew it had snowed an inch or so a couple days before we got there. we also knew there was a hill. we didn't anticipate that the snow would have stayed around quite so long, since the air temp was in the 40s during the days. and the hills were steeper than we anticipated. we got almost all the way up to the house on the first try. the last 1/10 mile we just couldn't do. the tires were just spinning. so we carried all our stuff and food to the house. jeez, do your lungs not like being at 6500 ft when you're not used to it! anyway, we go settled in, only to find that the pipes seemed to be frozen. (i concluded that the last person there did not properly flush them and close up the house, that's why they froze, but we don't know for sure--but the solid block of ice in the toilet tank is some kind of clue, i tell you!) we got the wood stove going, and the house heated up pretty quickly. from 45 to 75 in a few hours. nice. ok, so no water exactly, but it was warm and the power worked, so we were pretty stoked. and it was super nice up in them woods. the next day we went to a national monument nearby and then had some trouble driving back up the hill but we managed. other than that, nothing too significant. good food, good times, jenga marathon.
since then its been back to work. more field trips at the garden. and i've been helping interview people to be new school guides like me. and helping develop some new curriculum elements and a new "advanced science" course for the adult volunteers, on taxonomy. its pretty fun, and keeping me busy.
tomorrow we'll see steve freedberg, a blast from the past. he's in arizona with his desert ecology class from st. olaf college. i'm showing them around the garden and then we're going with tim to look for ants/other insects/whatever we can find. because, like i said at the start...its winter here. which means that things are relatively inactive. so, we might not find much. other than birds and jackrabbits and the feral cats at the garden.
and to close, a funny story for you about a field trip i did before xmas. it was a "flower and seed" tour, focusing on plant reproduction. it was a group of special needs students (down syndrome, etc.). so i had to figure out on the fly what they could handle, because i had no idea. we talked about different animals and what kind of flowers they like to pollinate, what things they eat that are fruits, how plants get traits from the mom plant and the dad plant... and i was proud of myself because i was sure they were getting something out of it and having a good time and i hadn't freaked out about not knowing i would have a special needs group... then one kid said, "how do mommies and daddies make babies?" and it was clear he was talking about human babies, not plant babies... OMG, what do you say to that?? but i kept my cool and just said, "well, we are just going to talk about how mommy and daddy plants make baby plants, ok?" and that seemed to satisfy him, he didn't ask again. WHEW.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
adventures in babysitting
so i have been working in the education department at the desert botanical garden, doing tours for field trip groups. mostly they are in 1st to 4th grade, with an occasional older group thrown in for fun. here are some of the interesting stories.
with 4th graders: the teacher says, "this student here isn't feeling well." so i look over, and the girl just leaned over and barfed right in the middle of the trail. nice.
with 2nd graders: i asked some question, to which the answer was, "flower." a little boy shouted out his answer, which was "OVARY!!"
with 8th graders: we were talking about the parts of a flower and i said, "this is the male part, anyone know its name?" one weird kid said, i think, "scrotum." but then another kid said something else right after, so i got to ignore the scrotum comment.
with 2nd graders: everyone turned around to look at some quail. when i tried to refocus the kids, one boy said, "i need help, i have a cactus in my hand." and sure enough, he did, a piece of cholla. he was a trooper, i radioed for a ranger to come help us (no way i was touching that thing or it would get stuck in my hand) and the kid said it hurt but waited really patiently and hardly complained. there was a little squeal of pain when the ranger pulled it out, but no screaming or tears or anything. i had 2 teachers, 2 parents and 12 kids. how come no one saw this kid getting too close to the cholla?
ah, fun in the garden.
with 4th graders: the teacher says, "this student here isn't feeling well." so i look over, and the girl just leaned over and barfed right in the middle of the trail. nice.
with 2nd graders: i asked some question, to which the answer was, "flower." a little boy shouted out his answer, which was "OVARY!!"
with 8th graders: we were talking about the parts of a flower and i said, "this is the male part, anyone know its name?" one weird kid said, i think, "scrotum." but then another kid said something else right after, so i got to ignore the scrotum comment.
with 2nd graders: everyone turned around to look at some quail. when i tried to refocus the kids, one boy said, "i need help, i have a cactus in my hand." and sure enough, he did, a piece of cholla. he was a trooper, i radioed for a ranger to come help us (no way i was touching that thing or it would get stuck in my hand) and the kid said it hurt but waited really patiently and hardly complained. there was a little squeal of pain when the ranger pulled it out, but no screaming or tears or anything. i had 2 teachers, 2 parents and 12 kids. how come no one saw this kid getting too close to the cholla?
ah, fun in the garden.
Monday, December 03, 2007
science you can use
i know its been awhile, so what better way to get back into the blogging spirit than a nice article on really relevant science. as reported by CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/12/03/bad.kissers/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/12/03/bad.kissers/index.html
Sunday, November 04, 2007
i forgot to lower my expectations
we went to the state fair last night to watch the demolition derby. you may remember our trip to the state fair rodeo last year. the rodeo was pretty fun, partly because i'd never been to a rodeo. i had high expectations for the demolition derby. my only previous DD experiences were at the monroe county fair in bloomington, so i expected big things from a state fair one!
of course, i was let down. how could i forget that things here are always less exciting than i think they should be? the place was totally packed, but i don't know why. probably because there's not much else to do here? first they had three "qualifying rounds" that we thought might be the whole thing. they took all this time to get about 10 cars in the arena, then let them smash each other up for 1 minute. after that, if your car was still working you could go in the "main event". but its kind of hard to totally ruin these cars in only 1 minute. so there were 32 cars in the main thing. that is just too many. there were some good hits, and one car got flipped on its side, but pretty quickly most of the cars broke down in the middle of the arena. then there wasn't enough room for the remaining 5 cars to get up good speed for smashing the others. so we got bored and left before it was over.
the most impressive part was car 747. it was some kind of station wagon when it started, but its back end got totally crunched up so that there was nothing beyond the rear axle by the end. and it lost a tire pretty early on, but kept going on that bare rim!
there were also some fires. in bloomington, the volunteer firefighters are on hand and immediately put out any fires. here, there's a guy with a fire extinguisher and they only stop the action for him to do his work when they really, really have to. so i was sort of worried a car would explode or something.
the other amazing thing was that the drivers were totally retarded. they'd stop all the cars for some reason, and tell all the drivers they should get out NOW if they want to get out. then they'd let the cars start going again. THEN the drivers would decide to get out. umm, they just told you to get out while there are no cars smashing into each other but you decided to wait until it's totally unsafe????? and towards the end, there was about dead 20 cars all together in the middle, and the drivers were getting out and sitting on the car roofs, even though the remaining cars were still smashing into the pile sometimes. yeah, smart folks we have here at the state fair.
one highlight of the trip was my chili relleno dog. its like a corndog, but the hotdog has chilis in it and there's a pepper between the dog and the breading. it was pretty tasty. i didn't have any of the deep fried desserts because you just can't convince me a deep fried twinkie is worth $3.50 when i can make one at home. we also got free single-serving sample packs of spam.
of course, i was let down. how could i forget that things here are always less exciting than i think they should be? the place was totally packed, but i don't know why. probably because there's not much else to do here? first they had three "qualifying rounds" that we thought might be the whole thing. they took all this time to get about 10 cars in the arena, then let them smash each other up for 1 minute. after that, if your car was still working you could go in the "main event". but its kind of hard to totally ruin these cars in only 1 minute. so there were 32 cars in the main thing. that is just too many. there were some good hits, and one car got flipped on its side, but pretty quickly most of the cars broke down in the middle of the arena. then there wasn't enough room for the remaining 5 cars to get up good speed for smashing the others. so we got bored and left before it was over.
the most impressive part was car 747. it was some kind of station wagon when it started, but its back end got totally crunched up so that there was nothing beyond the rear axle by the end. and it lost a tire pretty early on, but kept going on that bare rim!
there were also some fires. in bloomington, the volunteer firefighters are on hand and immediately put out any fires. here, there's a guy with a fire extinguisher and they only stop the action for him to do his work when they really, really have to. so i was sort of worried a car would explode or something.
the other amazing thing was that the drivers were totally retarded. they'd stop all the cars for some reason, and tell all the drivers they should get out NOW if they want to get out. then they'd let the cars start going again. THEN the drivers would decide to get out. umm, they just told you to get out while there are no cars smashing into each other but you decided to wait until it's totally unsafe????? and towards the end, there was about dead 20 cars all together in the middle, and the drivers were getting out and sitting on the car roofs, even though the remaining cars were still smashing into the pile sometimes. yeah, smart folks we have here at the state fair.
one highlight of the trip was my chili relleno dog. its like a corndog, but the hotdog has chilis in it and there's a pepper between the dog and the breading. it was pretty tasty. i didn't have any of the deep fried desserts because you just can't convince me a deep fried twinkie is worth $3.50 when i can make one at home. we also got free single-serving sample packs of spam.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
10 things that make me glad to be back in the US of A
in no particular order...
1. tap water that is safe for drinking
2. drinking fountains
3. bread
4. cheese
5. sandwiches
5. america's most smartest model
6. i didn't have to wear a yellow shirt on monday
7. wine
8. jon stewart and stephen colbert (i could watch them online in thailand, but its not the same)
9. ice cream
10. english
1. tap water that is safe for drinking
2. drinking fountains
3. bread
4. cheese
5. sandwiches
5. america's most smartest model
6. i didn't have to wear a yellow shirt on monday
7. wine
8. jon stewart and stephen colbert (i could watch them online in thailand, but its not the same)
9. ice cream
10. english
tourists
ok, here is the brief summary of our travels after i left school.
i went in to bangkok on friday night after school, to my friend alex's new temporary apartment. he works for the state department and just relocated to bangkok, but their permanent apartment was still occupied. the temporary place is pretty swank, and the permanent place will be even nicer. your tax dollars a work. then alex, his wife nithya, nithya's friend and i went out to dinner at some really nice thai-for-westerners type place. it was quite delicious and expensive (for thailand). finally around 11:45pm i headed over to the airport to meet tim. we had a general meeting area arranged but i was worried i'd miss him. it was packed with people and i had to stand on my tip-toes to see over three thai people to watch people coming through immigration. but i found him with no problem. not much PDA in the reunion, tim was worried we'd be arrested or something. :)
on saturday we slept in...it had been a late night for me and a really long day for tim. we got a late start, finally went to the national museum and walked around a little. that part of bangkok is kind of hard to get to unless you take a taxi and sit in traffic for forever, so we took the skytrain to the river taxi and then walked some. it was probably an interesting trip for tim. we walked through the amulet market, where you can also buy dentures, and ate at a small restaurant by the river where they barely speak english. it was ok, but not superb. the national museum was interesting. they have a lot of cool stuff but its not at all well-preserved or well-presented. we didn't have much time, due to the sleeping in, but we saw the rooms we were most interested in, old carvings and art and such. after that we walked over to the golden mountain, which is a hill with a big golden dome thing on top. i'm sure its some important buddhist thing, but i don't know what. it was a really nice view from the top, though, and we could see some rainclouds heading our way. then we took the khlong taxi back over to near alex and nithya's (they will be A&N from now on). we walked past the singha beer garden on the way, and how could we not stop?
on sunday we went to jim thompson's house with A&N. jim's an american who fell in love with thai silk and revived the thai silk export industry. then he moved some old-style teak houses to his compound in bangkok. there are some interesting things inside the house, he liked to collect art and all, but you can't take pictures so i can't show you. he disappeared into the thai jungle some time ago. we ate at the cafe there and it was pretty tasty. then tim got a migraine, so he and i went home. later on we ordered in some indian food, it was delicious if you ask me since i hadn't had indian in at least 3 months.
on monday morning we flew up to chiang mai. we found our guesthouse and it was quite nice. right by the river, good location, etc. we walked over to some temple and from there took a boat trip on the river to a "fruit plantaion tour". it was totally lame. don't do it if you go there. although the boat ride was kind of nice, if loud. later we ended up eating at a food court at an outside mall, which is not uncommon in thailand but tim was initially opposed. he ate some khao soi gai and found a new obsession. whatever it was i picked was not as good. tim's migraine came back, so we went back to our room and watched "my girl" on hbo. oh and we found mangosteens in a little grocery store. tim loved them. that was the highlight of the day, when he tasted them and found out how delightful they are.
tuesday and wednesday we went on a jungle trek. it was not all that exciting. we also visited a local market (nothing new for me) and a temple. the hiking the first day was kind of sucky, although we did go through some rice paddies and a guy from singapore fell in, that was entertaining. the first little hike we did was to a waterfall, which was a not-bad hike. but upon leaving the waterfall our guides didn't make sure everyone was together. i was behind tim, who i thought was following the german girls. apparently he couldn't see them and led us (and the chinese couple following us) the wrong way. no one told us we weren't going back the way we came. maybe 10 minutes later, we stopped so tim could marvel at some ants and the chinese passed us. finally we got moving again, went back most of the way to where we started, when one of the guides comes running up and tells us to go back to the waterfall. we were totally confused because he kept running to find the chinese. so we walked back slowly towards the waterfall, trying to figure out where we went wrong. we stopped and waited when we got to the first obvious side-trail. well, apparently we were supposed to make a sharp turn right when we came up from the waterfall, way back, and somehow it took all the others that long to figure out we were gone? it was kind of crazy and poor group-management skills by the guides.
anyway, that night we stayed in a hut in a karen village in the hills. the scenery was nice, and the food was pretty good. there was this crazy little man that hung out with us after dark and had all kinds of crazy magic tricks to share. he showed us how to do them, but i can't really remember them now. then he'd get someone to give him beer. it was entertaining. we slept in a bamboo hut on woven mats. don't worry, we had mosquito nets. it was a rough night. first singapore was snoring sooooo loud and sooooo grossly that i could only laugh. too bad it lost its funniness as the night wore on. then china started snoring. it was a nasal symphony. then singapore and korea got up before dawn to go look for birds. singapore doesn't really understand how flashlights work, i think, so he was shining it all over in the dark. (the previous evening he'd shined the flashlight in my face and said, "can you see now?" and i said, "not when you're shining a flashlight in my eyes" and he said, "i'm not shining it in your eyes!")
the hike that day was better, more jungly but still all secondary forest. and still a surprising lack of wildlife. we went to another waterfall. something in the creek bit tim on the toe. (it didn't get infected or give him a disease, yet.) after the hiking we went bamboo rafting, which was pretty fun. the british guy was not very good at steering, but i didn't actually fall off. he fell off like 3 times and managed to loose the long pole you use for maneuvering. tim displayed amazing balance, standing on the raft behind the thai man doing most of the work, and barely getting wet.
after rafting we went on an elephant ride through the jungle! that was fun. its weird being on an elephant, and having another elephant behind you. the little thing you sit on is not very comfortable. but its a different view than you usually get. nothing really interesting happened, we just rode around and then the elephants drank some water and we were done.
when we got back to our hotel we were glad for a hot shower. then we had dinner at the food area of the night market down the street, and that was quite delicious.
our last day in chiang mai (thursday) we just walked around and looked at various things. mostly temples. there was one that had all sorts of weird lawn ornament-type things, including a donald duck. we're not sure what was going on there, maybe they have a special attachment to animals at that one. after a long day of walking, we got thai massages. it wasn't as brutal as the first one i got, they didn't stretch as much or put me in as many weird positions, i think because this one caters mostly to tourists and the other one didn't. my massage lady made fun of the tan lines on my feet and my short hair, even though hers was shorter. tim's massage lady re-tied his pants for him with no warning. and they said something about tim looking like superman and being from hollywood.
we flew back to bangkok that night, then down to koh samui (actually, to surat thani) on friday morning. our plane took off for samui, we started gaining altitude and then leveled off pretty low. after awhile i said to tim, "we're still really low. and we didn't go out over the ocean yet. its weird." and then the pilot came on and said we had to go back to the airport because of problems with the navigation system. so we landed, repair-type people came on and went into the cockpit, everything seemed pretty normal until these 4 russian people started freaking out and demanded to be let off the plane. i guess they didn't trust the repair people. but there's not that many flights to where we were all going, so they probably just screwed themselves. anyway, finally we got back in the air and it was a nice 1-hour flight. from there we had a 1-hour bus ride to the ferry dock, then a 1.5-hour ride on the ferry, and finally a 45-min minivan ride to our hotel. it was a brutal day and i had thought we would be at the hotel sooner. at least we had like 5 minutes to eat some food at the cafeteria at the ferry dock. it was actually decent food, and true thai hot.
we didn't do much on koh samui. we walked on the beach. sat on the beach. went in the water. rented a sea kayak and explored a little, there were some little islands off the coast. waded out at low tide-ish and looked at some exposed rocks, saw tons of sea cucumbers and some fish, i cut my foot a little. in the afternoons it rained some and the beach totally cleared out, but after that it was super nice out. i didn't particularly like the beach, it was pretty narrow, especially at high tide. and there were restaurants and bars and massage places and tour places right up to the water. but we did get offered lots of drugs. people walk around selling various things. the strangest are the guys walking around with tablecloths. until you find out that in their hand under the tablecloth are the drugs. i think we got offered smoke, drugs, marijuana, opium and cocaine. what else could we need?
the best foods we had were for lunch. one day we got some food from a guy on the side of the road, true thai-style. when he could tell tim was considering a particular dish, which i told tim was hot, the guy was all, "spicy, spicy" and looked concerned. but we had that and some fish and pineapple curry thing. they were spicy, especially the one. i don't know what its called but i've had several variations of it and its hot. its basically just pork and chilies, sometimes green beans. the guy was pretty impressed tim could eat it, he was hovering around at first to make sure there wasn't a casualty. and then a lady (wife?) came out and asked in thai if it was good, and i said yes back in thai. yeah, language skills! it was a fun experience and really made tim realize that to get true thai food you have to go places that tourists don't typically go. and maybe risk some gastrointestinal problems. the next lunch was delicious also. it was in a restaurant, but we ate things out of the pots by the road. just like it sounds, there's a table by the road with various pots, and thais come and look in the pots and pick what they want, get a quick meal for here or to go.
then back to bangkok on sunday afternoon! 30-min taxi to the ferry, 2-hour ferry ride (why so slow?), 1-hour bus ride, 30-min minivan ride to the train station. it wasn't as bad as the way out. but then we had like 2 hours to kill before the train. we got some food from, loitered, etc. finally our train came. we had a first class cabin, traveling in style. it consisted of bunk beds, a little table that folded down from the wall, and a little sink. the bathroom was down the hall. but the beds were surprisingly roomy and comfortable. it was nice to have a sink since i wouldn't dare brush my teeth in that bathroom. and we had a window, so we could look out and watch the nighttime scenery go by. we actually slept pretty well, until maybe the last 3 or 4 hours. the tracks were nice and smooth until then, then they got really bumpy. they offered us dinner when we got on, but we already had eaten (we got on at 8:45pm!). i thought they'd bring breakfast but i was wrong. good thing tim impulse bought those pringles. actually, i was looking forward to the dunkin donuts i knew to exist at the bangkok station. :)
so we got back to bangkok on monday morning around 8:30. whole wheat donuts at dunkin d, who knew such things existed? back to A&N's. shower, do some laundry (there was a rum leak in my bag...) tim took a nap while i went to the bank to transfer the money from my thai bank account to my american bank account. that took longer than i expected...first they had to figure out what i wanted to do and then what the right form was, then i had to figure out what to write on the form. then there was some need for my work permit, which i had returned when i left school because that is what you're required to do when you don't work anymore. but eventually it all got sorted out.
that day tim and i mostly just went shopping around bangkok for souvenirs and such. we ate lunch at this outdoor food place by some of the big malls, just pointed at things, noodles, pork balls on sticks, a crab cake in a crab shell. it was all pretty good, except the noodles were just so-so. we had a farewell dinner with A&N at a foreigner-oriented vegetarian place. i had a watermelon-mint drink, it was interesting. then we managed to pack everything back up, get a few hours sleep, and head to the airport around 3am for our 6am flight. and we made it back all in one piece, although super tired.
i went in to bangkok on friday night after school, to my friend alex's new temporary apartment. he works for the state department and just relocated to bangkok, but their permanent apartment was still occupied. the temporary place is pretty swank, and the permanent place will be even nicer. your tax dollars a work. then alex, his wife nithya, nithya's friend and i went out to dinner at some really nice thai-for-westerners type place. it was quite delicious and expensive (for thailand). finally around 11:45pm i headed over to the airport to meet tim. we had a general meeting area arranged but i was worried i'd miss him. it was packed with people and i had to stand on my tip-toes to see over three thai people to watch people coming through immigration. but i found him with no problem. not much PDA in the reunion, tim was worried we'd be arrested or something. :)
on saturday we slept in...it had been a late night for me and a really long day for tim. we got a late start, finally went to the national museum and walked around a little. that part of bangkok is kind of hard to get to unless you take a taxi and sit in traffic for forever, so we took the skytrain to the river taxi and then walked some. it was probably an interesting trip for tim. we walked through the amulet market, where you can also buy dentures, and ate at a small restaurant by the river where they barely speak english. it was ok, but not superb. the national museum was interesting. they have a lot of cool stuff but its not at all well-preserved or well-presented. we didn't have much time, due to the sleeping in, but we saw the rooms we were most interested in, old carvings and art and such. after that we walked over to the golden mountain, which is a hill with a big golden dome thing on top. i'm sure its some important buddhist thing, but i don't know what. it was a really nice view from the top, though, and we could see some rainclouds heading our way. then we took the khlong taxi back over to near alex and nithya's (they will be A&N from now on). we walked past the singha beer garden on the way, and how could we not stop?
on sunday we went to jim thompson's house with A&N. jim's an american who fell in love with thai silk and revived the thai silk export industry. then he moved some old-style teak houses to his compound in bangkok. there are some interesting things inside the house, he liked to collect art and all, but you can't take pictures so i can't show you. he disappeared into the thai jungle some time ago. we ate at the cafe there and it was pretty tasty. then tim got a migraine, so he and i went home. later on we ordered in some indian food, it was delicious if you ask me since i hadn't had indian in at least 3 months.
on monday morning we flew up to chiang mai. we found our guesthouse and it was quite nice. right by the river, good location, etc. we walked over to some temple and from there took a boat trip on the river to a "fruit plantaion tour". it was totally lame. don't do it if you go there. although the boat ride was kind of nice, if loud. later we ended up eating at a food court at an outside mall, which is not uncommon in thailand but tim was initially opposed. he ate some khao soi gai and found a new obsession. whatever it was i picked was not as good. tim's migraine came back, so we went back to our room and watched "my girl" on hbo. oh and we found mangosteens in a little grocery store. tim loved them. that was the highlight of the day, when he tasted them and found out how delightful they are.
tuesday and wednesday we went on a jungle trek. it was not all that exciting. we also visited a local market (nothing new for me) and a temple. the hiking the first day was kind of sucky, although we did go through some rice paddies and a guy from singapore fell in, that was entertaining. the first little hike we did was to a waterfall, which was a not-bad hike. but upon leaving the waterfall our guides didn't make sure everyone was together. i was behind tim, who i thought was following the german girls. apparently he couldn't see them and led us (and the chinese couple following us) the wrong way. no one told us we weren't going back the way we came. maybe 10 minutes later, we stopped so tim could marvel at some ants and the chinese passed us. finally we got moving again, went back most of the way to where we started, when one of the guides comes running up and tells us to go back to the waterfall. we were totally confused because he kept running to find the chinese. so we walked back slowly towards the waterfall, trying to figure out where we went wrong. we stopped and waited when we got to the first obvious side-trail. well, apparently we were supposed to make a sharp turn right when we came up from the waterfall, way back, and somehow it took all the others that long to figure out we were gone? it was kind of crazy and poor group-management skills by the guides.
anyway, that night we stayed in a hut in a karen village in the hills. the scenery was nice, and the food was pretty good. there was this crazy little man that hung out with us after dark and had all kinds of crazy magic tricks to share. he showed us how to do them, but i can't really remember them now. then he'd get someone to give him beer. it was entertaining. we slept in a bamboo hut on woven mats. don't worry, we had mosquito nets. it was a rough night. first singapore was snoring sooooo loud and sooooo grossly that i could only laugh. too bad it lost its funniness as the night wore on. then china started snoring. it was a nasal symphony. then singapore and korea got up before dawn to go look for birds. singapore doesn't really understand how flashlights work, i think, so he was shining it all over in the dark. (the previous evening he'd shined the flashlight in my face and said, "can you see now?" and i said, "not when you're shining a flashlight in my eyes" and he said, "i'm not shining it in your eyes!")
the hike that day was better, more jungly but still all secondary forest. and still a surprising lack of wildlife. we went to another waterfall. something in the creek bit tim on the toe. (it didn't get infected or give him a disease, yet.) after the hiking we went bamboo rafting, which was pretty fun. the british guy was not very good at steering, but i didn't actually fall off. he fell off like 3 times and managed to loose the long pole you use for maneuvering. tim displayed amazing balance, standing on the raft behind the thai man doing most of the work, and barely getting wet.
after rafting we went on an elephant ride through the jungle! that was fun. its weird being on an elephant, and having another elephant behind you. the little thing you sit on is not very comfortable. but its a different view than you usually get. nothing really interesting happened, we just rode around and then the elephants drank some water and we were done.
when we got back to our hotel we were glad for a hot shower. then we had dinner at the food area of the night market down the street, and that was quite delicious.
our last day in chiang mai (thursday) we just walked around and looked at various things. mostly temples. there was one that had all sorts of weird lawn ornament-type things, including a donald duck. we're not sure what was going on there, maybe they have a special attachment to animals at that one. after a long day of walking, we got thai massages. it wasn't as brutal as the first one i got, they didn't stretch as much or put me in as many weird positions, i think because this one caters mostly to tourists and the other one didn't. my massage lady made fun of the tan lines on my feet and my short hair, even though hers was shorter. tim's massage lady re-tied his pants for him with no warning. and they said something about tim looking like superman and being from hollywood.
we flew back to bangkok that night, then down to koh samui (actually, to surat thani) on friday morning. our plane took off for samui, we started gaining altitude and then leveled off pretty low. after awhile i said to tim, "we're still really low. and we didn't go out over the ocean yet. its weird." and then the pilot came on and said we had to go back to the airport because of problems with the navigation system. so we landed, repair-type people came on and went into the cockpit, everything seemed pretty normal until these 4 russian people started freaking out and demanded to be let off the plane. i guess they didn't trust the repair people. but there's not that many flights to where we were all going, so they probably just screwed themselves. anyway, finally we got back in the air and it was a nice 1-hour flight. from there we had a 1-hour bus ride to the ferry dock, then a 1.5-hour ride on the ferry, and finally a 45-min minivan ride to our hotel. it was a brutal day and i had thought we would be at the hotel sooner. at least we had like 5 minutes to eat some food at the cafeteria at the ferry dock. it was actually decent food, and true thai hot.
we didn't do much on koh samui. we walked on the beach. sat on the beach. went in the water. rented a sea kayak and explored a little, there were some little islands off the coast. waded out at low tide-ish and looked at some exposed rocks, saw tons of sea cucumbers and some fish, i cut my foot a little. in the afternoons it rained some and the beach totally cleared out, but after that it was super nice out. i didn't particularly like the beach, it was pretty narrow, especially at high tide. and there were restaurants and bars and massage places and tour places right up to the water. but we did get offered lots of drugs. people walk around selling various things. the strangest are the guys walking around with tablecloths. until you find out that in their hand under the tablecloth are the drugs. i think we got offered smoke, drugs, marijuana, opium and cocaine. what else could we need?
the best foods we had were for lunch. one day we got some food from a guy on the side of the road, true thai-style. when he could tell tim was considering a particular dish, which i told tim was hot, the guy was all, "spicy, spicy" and looked concerned. but we had that and some fish and pineapple curry thing. they were spicy, especially the one. i don't know what its called but i've had several variations of it and its hot. its basically just pork and chilies, sometimes green beans. the guy was pretty impressed tim could eat it, he was hovering around at first to make sure there wasn't a casualty. and then a lady (wife?) came out and asked in thai if it was good, and i said yes back in thai. yeah, language skills! it was a fun experience and really made tim realize that to get true thai food you have to go places that tourists don't typically go. and maybe risk some gastrointestinal problems. the next lunch was delicious also. it was in a restaurant, but we ate things out of the pots by the road. just like it sounds, there's a table by the road with various pots, and thais come and look in the pots and pick what they want, get a quick meal for here or to go.
then back to bangkok on sunday afternoon! 30-min taxi to the ferry, 2-hour ferry ride (why so slow?), 1-hour bus ride, 30-min minivan ride to the train station. it wasn't as bad as the way out. but then we had like 2 hours to kill before the train. we got some food from, loitered, etc. finally our train came. we had a first class cabin, traveling in style. it consisted of bunk beds, a little table that folded down from the wall, and a little sink. the bathroom was down the hall. but the beds were surprisingly roomy and comfortable. it was nice to have a sink since i wouldn't dare brush my teeth in that bathroom. and we had a window, so we could look out and watch the nighttime scenery go by. we actually slept pretty well, until maybe the last 3 or 4 hours. the tracks were nice and smooth until then, then they got really bumpy. they offered us dinner when we got on, but we already had eaten (we got on at 8:45pm!). i thought they'd bring breakfast but i was wrong. good thing tim impulse bought those pringles. actually, i was looking forward to the dunkin donuts i knew to exist at the bangkok station. :)
so we got back to bangkok on monday morning around 8:30. whole wheat donuts at dunkin d, who knew such things existed? back to A&N's. shower, do some laundry (there was a rum leak in my bag...) tim took a nap while i went to the bank to transfer the money from my thai bank account to my american bank account. that took longer than i expected...first they had to figure out what i wanted to do and then what the right form was, then i had to figure out what to write on the form. then there was some need for my work permit, which i had returned when i left school because that is what you're required to do when you don't work anymore. but eventually it all got sorted out.
that day tim and i mostly just went shopping around bangkok for souvenirs and such. we ate lunch at this outdoor food place by some of the big malls, just pointed at things, noodles, pork balls on sticks, a crab cake in a crab shell. it was all pretty good, except the noodles were just so-so. we had a farewell dinner with A&N at a foreigner-oriented vegetarian place. i had a watermelon-mint drink, it was interesting. then we managed to pack everything back up, get a few hours sleep, and head to the airport around 3am for our 6am flight. and we made it back all in one piece, although super tired.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
home again, home again, jiggedy-jig
we made it home from thailand yesterday. the flights were a little brutal. actually, the bangkok-tokyo flight was not bad, got in some decent naps. but tokyo-portland was brutal. two little kids in the row behind us. that's not necessarily bad, but the mom and grandma were not exactly paragons of in-flight manners. you know, when they turn the cabin lights off its usually so people can sleep better. people sleep or watch a movie or read, and pretty much there is no talking. well, mom and grandma started yelling from one end of the row to talk to each other. and what a great time to tickle the kids until the scream! for the first 6 hours of an 8.5 hour flight. i didn't get any sleep.
then i had 6 hours in portland, so i got to see michele arntz and chloe and spencer. cute kids, and i can't believe chloe is so old already! she's definitely a real person now. crazy. and it was fall in portland, something i haven't experienced in awhile. cool temperature, which i was not prepared for since i was leaving a tropical country and ending up in phoenix (high in the mid-90s today). it was a good time in portland. i had my first real sandwich (salami) in 3 months! delicious.
then the flight to phoenix was packed. by that point i could not keep my eyes open, so most of the 2.5 hours was spent napping in uncomfortable positions and occasionally banging my head on the window as i dozed off. interesting story about boarding that flight. it was on alaska airlines, whereas the other flights had been on northwest. my boarding pass was printed by northwest in bangkok. it said something about only being valid with a flight coupon attached, which was not. so i asked someone in bangkok about it, they said no problem its a boarding pass. then i asked 2 people (one from northwest, one from alaska) in portland. no problem, see where it says boarding pass in multiple places? well, when i tried to get on the plane, the lady said, "oh, this won't work. you need a new ticket." umm, what? well, whatever, they just printed one in like 2 seconds, but still. and there was another guy who'd been on my flight from tokyo that had the same problem. (he was a whole day late due to a flight cancellation the day before in tokyo, he was getting on that plane to phoenix.)
ok, that's all for now. more later on our vacation adventures in thailand, and pictures.
then i had 6 hours in portland, so i got to see michele arntz and chloe and spencer. cute kids, and i can't believe chloe is so old already! she's definitely a real person now. crazy. and it was fall in portland, something i haven't experienced in awhile. cool temperature, which i was not prepared for since i was leaving a tropical country and ending up in phoenix (high in the mid-90s today). it was a good time in portland. i had my first real sandwich (salami) in 3 months! delicious.
then the flight to phoenix was packed. by that point i could not keep my eyes open, so most of the 2.5 hours was spent napping in uncomfortable positions and occasionally banging my head on the window as i dozed off. interesting story about boarding that flight. it was on alaska airlines, whereas the other flights had been on northwest. my boarding pass was printed by northwest in bangkok. it said something about only being valid with a flight coupon attached, which was not. so i asked someone in bangkok about it, they said no problem its a boarding pass. then i asked 2 people (one from northwest, one from alaska) in portland. no problem, see where it says boarding pass in multiple places? well, when i tried to get on the plane, the lady said, "oh, this won't work. you need a new ticket." umm, what? well, whatever, they just printed one in like 2 seconds, but still. and there was another guy who'd been on my flight from tokyo that had the same problem. (he was a whole day late due to a flight cancellation the day before in tokyo, he was getting on that plane to phoenix.)
ok, that's all for now. more later on our vacation adventures in thailand, and pictures.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
so long, farewell...
t minus 5 hours and counting.
this will be the last post for awhile. in a few hours i'll head into bangkok, to alex and nithya's apartment. then around midnight tim will arrive (hopefully!). then its all fun and games for 10 days.
i submitted my final report to the principal yesterday. we had a 10 minute meeting in which he appeared to not pay attention. half of the 10 minutes were spent discussing my travel plans and talking about how his son is a pilot. so, who knows if it made any impact. although at lunch just now he thanked me for the report and said there were many things they could improve. so i guess he read it, at least.
last night was the farewell party with the biology department. the food was delicious. mostly everyone else talked in thai and i just sat there... just like the last 3 months! today i'm alternating between packing, some final internet business (like this post) and not really doing anything.
so, have a good couple of weeks without me. i'll let you know when i'm back in the states. don't forget to write!
this will be the last post for awhile. in a few hours i'll head into bangkok, to alex and nithya's apartment. then around midnight tim will arrive (hopefully!). then its all fun and games for 10 days.
i submitted my final report to the principal yesterday. we had a 10 minute meeting in which he appeared to not pay attention. half of the 10 minutes were spent discussing my travel plans and talking about how his son is a pilot. so, who knows if it made any impact. although at lunch just now he thanked me for the report and said there were many things they could improve. so i guess he read it, at least.
last night was the farewell party with the biology department. the food was delicious. mostly everyone else talked in thai and i just sat there... just like the last 3 months! today i'm alternating between packing, some final internet business (like this post) and not really doing anything.
so, have a good couple of weeks without me. i'll let you know when i'm back in the states. don't forget to write!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
i can't leave
this morning i about had a heart attack and fell out of my chair. ok, the heart attack is an exaggeration, but i really did almost fall out of my chair. and not because i'm clumsy. i went to the northwest airlines website to look up my flight itinerary for flying back to the US so i could tell michele when i'd be arriving for my 6-hour layover in portland. according to northwest, i had no flight reservations. that is when i almost fell out of my chair. i looked at that reservation maybe a month ago and changed my seat so tim and i would be sitting next to each other! what happened to it?? then i went to a website for the thai travel agency that the school used to purchase my ticket and tried to find my reservation there because that was supposed to work, too. that site also said i had no reservation. that's when i about had a heart attack.
so i went down to the office, walked in and said, "i have two problems." (i didn't tell you about the second problem yet.) having a problem is pretty much the only reason i visit the office, so i don't know why i announced it but i did. so i told them my flight problem and khun sujin said, "but you have a reservation." well, but, they don't think i do. that is my problem. but she got right on the phone and made some calls and told me they are working on. ok, on to my second problem. last week i asked to get my last payment early, on tuesday (yesterday), so i could go with someone to the thai bank and transfer money to an american account and not have to deal with cash. "oh, but everyone got paid yesterday." but not me. so sujin calls over to accounting people. apparently i'm not getting paid until next week because officially my last day is october 1. does that make any sense??? no. plus, i won't physically be here and always before they've had me sign something saying i received the money. apparently nothing here can be easy or logical for me. but maybe they'll arrange for me to be paid before i leave on friday so i can sign the thing. i hope so, i don't particularly want to leave without getting my last payment.
then someone called sujin and one of the other ladies in the office offered me some tea and cookies. i needed them because i wanted to cry, i didn't have a plane ticket home and they didn't pay me! so we had some snacks and somehow sujin did some magic and my plane ticket got fixed. my reservation was deleted or something? it didn't really make sense, but it was fixed so i didn't complain. but i still want my money.
it was not a good start to the day. and i had to go to the immigration office to extend my visa so i'm legally here after next tuesday, so i was just hoping nothing else went wrong today. the immigration office was totally packed. we sat there for maybe an hour and they had called half of the people in line in front of me (you get a ticket with a number and it also tells you how many people are ahead of you in line). nathan and lisa needed to go to the vietnamese embassy by 4 and were waiting for me. so then p-ahm (lady at school who deals with all the legal stuff for the foreign teachers) just went up to one of the worker ladies and said something, came back and got my papers and crumpled up my ticket, and we were out of there in about 15 minutes. it was pretty sweet. well, there was a moment of worry when she brought back my passport and the lady had stamped it so that i could stay until september 9. i said, "oh no, not september! october!" and p-ahm made a funny face of shock and went back and the lady changed it.
i was much more relaxed after that all worked out. but i still want my money.
so i went down to the office, walked in and said, "i have two problems." (i didn't tell you about the second problem yet.) having a problem is pretty much the only reason i visit the office, so i don't know why i announced it but i did. so i told them my flight problem and khun sujin said, "but you have a reservation." well, but, they don't think i do. that is my problem. but she got right on the phone and made some calls and told me they are working on. ok, on to my second problem. last week i asked to get my last payment early, on tuesday (yesterday), so i could go with someone to the thai bank and transfer money to an american account and not have to deal with cash. "oh, but everyone got paid yesterday." but not me. so sujin calls over to accounting people. apparently i'm not getting paid until next week because officially my last day is october 1. does that make any sense??? no. plus, i won't physically be here and always before they've had me sign something saying i received the money. apparently nothing here can be easy or logical for me. but maybe they'll arrange for me to be paid before i leave on friday so i can sign the thing. i hope so, i don't particularly want to leave without getting my last payment.
then someone called sujin and one of the other ladies in the office offered me some tea and cookies. i needed them because i wanted to cry, i didn't have a plane ticket home and they didn't pay me! so we had some snacks and somehow sujin did some magic and my plane ticket got fixed. my reservation was deleted or something? it didn't really make sense, but it was fixed so i didn't complain. but i still want my money.
it was not a good start to the day. and i had to go to the immigration office to extend my visa so i'm legally here after next tuesday, so i was just hoping nothing else went wrong today. the immigration office was totally packed. we sat there for maybe an hour and they had called half of the people in line in front of me (you get a ticket with a number and it also tells you how many people are ahead of you in line). nathan and lisa needed to go to the vietnamese embassy by 4 and were waiting for me. so then p-ahm (lady at school who deals with all the legal stuff for the foreign teachers) just went up to one of the worker ladies and said something, came back and got my papers and crumpled up my ticket, and we were out of there in about 15 minutes. it was pretty sweet. well, there was a moment of worry when she brought back my passport and the lady had stamped it so that i could stay until september 9. i said, "oh no, not september! october!" and p-ahm made a funny face of shock and went back and the lady changed it.
i was much more relaxed after that all worked out. but i still want my money.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
the beginning of the end
i've got a busy social schedule this week, farewell dinners tomorrow night and thursday night. plus trips during the day to the immigration office, the bank, and a meeting with the principal. so tonight i suggested to nathan and lisa that we check out this intriguing place down the street since its my last chance. its a "pub and restaurant" called vintage. we've been wondering about it for the past couple months but hadn't gone. so we met up around 6pm and headed down the street (part of the reason we haven't gone before its that its kind of far down the street, maybe 10 minutes walk, and this walk requires you to risk your life since there are no sidewalks or anything.) we got there and it was empty except for some workers in the back. we looked around and finally lisa went to ask if they had food, because it sure didn't look like it. they said they were closed until 7pm. the decor was interesting, lots of red and black, and the music was really loud.
since we were hungry we went to an italian-style place nearby. i ordered something called napolitano that had no description in english. it was spaghetti with a sweet tomato sauce (sort of bbq sauce-like) and mushrooms and tomatoes. it wasn't bad, but i wouldn't order it again. after our dinners we had ice cream. it was delicious. i got rum raisin. (i couldn't resist the raisins, especially since they were all plumped up with rum!) i haven't had much real ice cream here, if i get any ice cream its usually an ice cream bar from the minimart and its not even made of real ice cream. so it was a good treat.
then we walked back by vintage to decide if we wanted to go in for a drink. we decided against it. there was no one else there! and nathan had said during dinner, "when i went in, i felt like it was a place that might have vampires." or something to that effect. it was a strange place. but at least we went in. maybe on a friday night it would have more people. i hope for nathan and lisa's sakes that it turns out to not be sketchy, so they'll have something to do once all the other foreigners leave. i feel bad for them that it will just be them and all the thai teachers, but not bad enough to want to stay a minute longer.
and, just so you'll know what i'm missing when i leave, here is a picture of the head biology teacher's desk. the desk i sit across from every day. all day.
since we were hungry we went to an italian-style place nearby. i ordered something called napolitano that had no description in english. it was spaghetti with a sweet tomato sauce (sort of bbq sauce-like) and mushrooms and tomatoes. it wasn't bad, but i wouldn't order it again. after our dinners we had ice cream. it was delicious. i got rum raisin. (i couldn't resist the raisins, especially since they were all plumped up with rum!) i haven't had much real ice cream here, if i get any ice cream its usually an ice cream bar from the minimart and its not even made of real ice cream. so it was a good treat.
then we walked back by vintage to decide if we wanted to go in for a drink. we decided against it. there was no one else there! and nathan had said during dinner, "when i went in, i felt like it was a place that might have vampires." or something to that effect. it was a strange place. but at least we went in. maybe on a friday night it would have more people. i hope for nathan and lisa's sakes that it turns out to not be sketchy, so they'll have something to do once all the other foreigners leave. i feel bad for them that it will just be them and all the thai teachers, but not bad enough to want to stay a minute longer.
and, just so you'll know what i'm missing when i leave, here is a picture of the head biology teacher's desk. the desk i sit across from every day. all day.
Monday, September 24, 2007
homesickness
i haven't been too homesick here in thailand. its not like i've never been away from home before, i guess having experience helps some. not that i don't miss anything, but i can generally deal with the loss and longing or whatever it is that constitutes homesickness. i've never HAD to have something you can only really get in the states (or bangkok). but i've decided there are 2 broad categories of things i miss.
category 1: things i know i miss.
these are the things i have more or less missed since i left. tim, luna, family, you who are reading this, my good pillow, good bread. i miss these things, but i do my best not to think about it because there's no way luna's coming to visit, and generally i ignore the missing and do ok. but every now and then, something happens to make me really miss one of these things. i've missed luna more since little cats have started hanging around school. they are so little and cute, and i pet them until they are done being petted and go about their cat business. then i miss luna the rest of the day. and i spent this weekend with my good friend alex and his wife nithya. now i really miss all my old friends. i've gotten to be good friends with lisa and nathan, 2 americans who teach english here, but its not quite the same as friends i've known for a long time (alex for 11 years now, hard to believe)...
category 2: things i don't know i miss until i re-experience them.
then there are the things i never thought about missing until i had them again. at dinner with alex and nithya on saturday, we had a dish with raisins in it. i couldn't stop eating the raisins. they were so good! i think alex thought i was a little crazy, eating all the raisins, but i couldn't help myself. who knew i missed raisins!?!? who knew anyone missed raisins? but apparently i do, and i'll be glad to have a large container of them available when i get home. i know there are other items in this category, but i can't think of them right now...
so, what did i do with alex and nithya this weekend? not much. on saturday we checked out their temporary apartment, mostly to find out where it is because they'll have to commute from there to the US embassy every day. its a nice building and all, but kind of inconvenient relative to the embassy since they'll have to walk to the skytrain in their suits. then we went to one of the malls, where there was a member of the royal family doing something. i thought it was going to be the king because they had the yellow (mercedes) cars all lined up outside, and some thais told me that only the king goes in the yellow cars. but it turned out to be one of the princesses, i think. we thought maybe the queen (it was definitely a lady but from a distance its hard to tell 50ish from 70ish) but one of the thai teachers told me today that the queen basically never goes out these days. so much for the color coded cars. then we went to eat a place called eat me, where the raisin revelation happened. then i went home and they went to their hotel.
on sunday i showed up at the hotel, we watched the end of pretty in pink and 2 episodes of entourage on HBO, then went and walked around lumpini park (the central park of bangkok, i guess). there was a strange interaction with a lady who wanted our empty water bottles. then we went back to their hotel and hung out by the pool for awhile, it was quite relaxing and nice. the weather was beautiful, not too hot and a good breeze. then we had some pizza. thais eat their pizza with ketchup on top, and even though this was a swanky western hotel chain they served the pizza with a bowl of ketchup. i abstained. alex tried it and declared it delicious, but maybe he was just showing off how he's so accepting of this new culture he has to live in. nithya went to take a shower (she had actually gone in the pool) and alex and i just hung out and talked. a delightful evening. then i went home and they went to bed because alex had to go to work this morning. (apparently the people in his office usually work 7am-4pm. i don't think i'll be joining the bangkok embassy staff.)
and, TODAY WAS MY LAST MONDAY. only 4 more days to go. well, 2 full days and 2 half days because i have to go to the immigration office and the bank.
category 1: things i know i miss.
these are the things i have more or less missed since i left. tim, luna, family, you who are reading this, my good pillow, good bread. i miss these things, but i do my best not to think about it because there's no way luna's coming to visit, and generally i ignore the missing and do ok. but every now and then, something happens to make me really miss one of these things. i've missed luna more since little cats have started hanging around school. they are so little and cute, and i pet them until they are done being petted and go about their cat business. then i miss luna the rest of the day. and i spent this weekend with my good friend alex and his wife nithya. now i really miss all my old friends. i've gotten to be good friends with lisa and nathan, 2 americans who teach english here, but its not quite the same as friends i've known for a long time (alex for 11 years now, hard to believe)...
category 2: things i don't know i miss until i re-experience them.
then there are the things i never thought about missing until i had them again. at dinner with alex and nithya on saturday, we had a dish with raisins in it. i couldn't stop eating the raisins. they were so good! i think alex thought i was a little crazy, eating all the raisins, but i couldn't help myself. who knew i missed raisins!?!? who knew anyone missed raisins? but apparently i do, and i'll be glad to have a large container of them available when i get home. i know there are other items in this category, but i can't think of them right now...
so, what did i do with alex and nithya this weekend? not much. on saturday we checked out their temporary apartment, mostly to find out where it is because they'll have to commute from there to the US embassy every day. its a nice building and all, but kind of inconvenient relative to the embassy since they'll have to walk to the skytrain in their suits. then we went to one of the malls, where there was a member of the royal family doing something. i thought it was going to be the king because they had the yellow (mercedes) cars all lined up outside, and some thais told me that only the king goes in the yellow cars. but it turned out to be one of the princesses, i think. we thought maybe the queen (it was definitely a lady but from a distance its hard to tell 50ish from 70ish) but one of the thai teachers told me today that the queen basically never goes out these days. so much for the color coded cars. then we went to eat a place called eat me, where the raisin revelation happened. then i went home and they went to their hotel.
on sunday i showed up at the hotel, we watched the end of pretty in pink and 2 episodes of entourage on HBO, then went and walked around lumpini park (the central park of bangkok, i guess). there was a strange interaction with a lady who wanted our empty water bottles. then we went back to their hotel and hung out by the pool for awhile, it was quite relaxing and nice. the weather was beautiful, not too hot and a good breeze. then we had some pizza. thais eat their pizza with ketchup on top, and even though this was a swanky western hotel chain they served the pizza with a bowl of ketchup. i abstained. alex tried it and declared it delicious, but maybe he was just showing off how he's so accepting of this new culture he has to live in. nithya went to take a shower (she had actually gone in the pool) and alex and i just hung out and talked. a delightful evening. then i went home and they went to bed because alex had to go to work this morning. (apparently the people in his office usually work 7am-4pm. i don't think i'll be joining the bangkok embassy staff.)
and, TODAY WAS MY LAST MONDAY. only 4 more days to go. well, 2 full days and 2 half days because i have to go to the immigration office and the bank.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
thai talent
last night was a school talent show. i guess that is the word for it. it was mostly a karaoke competition, if you ask me. this was the 3rd talent show of the semester. the first one was karaoke with songs in english, the second was thai folk songs, and last night was thai pop songs.
it was interesting. and long (5:30-9pm). other than that, words sort of fail me. there was a lot of screaming on the part of the audience (probably at least half the kids in the school), and performer's friends would run up to the stage to give them flowers and stuffed animals and half-drunk bottles of water in the middle of the performance.
anyway, i'm posting some videos of it for your amusement. the sound isn't great, due to all the screaming, but you'll get a general idea. sorry, the files are big.
ok, sorry, this is the only video i can upload for some reason.... maybe more later!
it was interesting. and long (5:30-9pm). other than that, words sort of fail me. there was a lot of screaming on the part of the audience (probably at least half the kids in the school), and performer's friends would run up to the stage to give them flowers and stuffed animals and half-drunk bottles of water in the middle of the performance.
anyway, i'm posting some videos of it for your amusement. the sound isn't great, due to all the screaming, but you'll get a general idea. sorry, the files are big.
ok, sorry, this is the only video i can upload for some reason.... maybe more later!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
weekend excitement
well, another weekend in bangkok. it was interesting. yesterday i went first to a really touristy area (had to pick up train tickets for when tim is here). not my favorite part of bangkok, but what can you do. i got hit up by a classic scam, but i'm so savvy i didn't fall for it. then i was headed to the big weekend market on the north edge of town. to get there, i took a khlong (canal) taxi over to the skytrain station. the khlong taxi is really more like a khlong bus, there's a big boat you got on at specific stops and it drives you down the canal. its actually really convenient, fast, and cheap. definitely the best option for where i was and where i wanted to be. you have to put up a tarp along the side of the boat, though, so you don't get sprayed with nasty canal water. and you sort of have to jump from the boat to the "pier" when you get off. but its an adventure and mode of transport i recommend for east-west travel in bangkok.
then the weekend market. they have everything there. i got some souvenir stuff and food. it was exhausting, as always. too many people and things and too hot. but i did speak enough thai that some of the vendors would answer me in thai, and usually i understood. because i just asked how much did something cost. then i took the metro to the nearby train station, and then train back to school. i'd only been to that train station before when i was already on the train, but i was able to talk to understand when the guard asked me if i was going to hua lumpong (the main train station) and tell him no, i'm going to salaya. and he understood and sent me to the right place! it was a proud day for me and my thai skills.
today i went into bangkok again. i was supposed to meet the other american and one japanese teacher for dinner. first i went to a mall noted for cheap electronics because i wanted some new headphones. in the atrium part of the mall, there were just sort of stands all over, not real shops, more like a market. they sell all sorts of stuff. and then there were some real stores... all the stuff i looked at was clearly fake--i'm pretty sure Sony doesn't have major typos on their boxes--but i bought some headphones for about $6 anyway... at least they stay in my ears, even if they aren't real sony. and they work, so...
now, i'm pretty used to seeing weird stuff every day. i saw two very interesting new weird things today. first, people eating ice cream off of hot dog buns. the mushy, wonderbread, 5 bags for $1 kind of hot dog buns. with scoops of ice cream where you'd usually put the hot dog. i just can't imagine how that tastes good. and then, at one sausage/meat ball stand (pieces of sausage and/or balls of meat on sticks), i saw what appeared to be a corn dog! i couldn't believe it! but i was on the far side of the sidewalk and it can be hard to navigate and really i needed to get into the mall to find the bathroom. so i missed out on the corn dog! its not really a weird thing, a corn dog, but its the first such thing i've seen in thailand. sure, sausages out the wazoo (some are gross, some are good, i am pretty good at distinguishing now). but never a batter dipped sausage on a stick!! i should have gone back, but then i was running late.
and then dinner. we had mexican food! who knew, mexican food in bangkok! surely there's not many mexicans here... it was actually tex-mex, it said on the door. which isn't the same. but they did have quesadillas and burritos and chimichangas and enchiladas... it was alright, i can't rave and i don't know that i'd recommend it except for a serious mexican food craving when you've been without for several months. there was cheese on the quesadilla, but i'd like more and i can't really verify its authenticity as cheese other than that it was not american cheese. and the sour cream...grainy. but it was an experience.
my friend alex and his wife arrive on thursday night! i'm sooooo excited to see them! they better be ready to see me, because i plan on visiting them in their swank hotel (your tax dollars at work, i believe) all next weekend. and sure, i'll show them my limited knowledge of bangkok. at least i can show them shopping centers and movie theaters. and tex-mex food.
10 days of work left.
then the weekend market. they have everything there. i got some souvenir stuff and food. it was exhausting, as always. too many people and things and too hot. but i did speak enough thai that some of the vendors would answer me in thai, and usually i understood. because i just asked how much did something cost. then i took the metro to the nearby train station, and then train back to school. i'd only been to that train station before when i was already on the train, but i was able to talk to understand when the guard asked me if i was going to hua lumpong (the main train station) and tell him no, i'm going to salaya. and he understood and sent me to the right place! it was a proud day for me and my thai skills.
today i went into bangkok again. i was supposed to meet the other american and one japanese teacher for dinner. first i went to a mall noted for cheap electronics because i wanted some new headphones. in the atrium part of the mall, there were just sort of stands all over, not real shops, more like a market. they sell all sorts of stuff. and then there were some real stores... all the stuff i looked at was clearly fake--i'm pretty sure Sony doesn't have major typos on their boxes--but i bought some headphones for about $6 anyway... at least they stay in my ears, even if they aren't real sony. and they work, so...
now, i'm pretty used to seeing weird stuff every day. i saw two very interesting new weird things today. first, people eating ice cream off of hot dog buns. the mushy, wonderbread, 5 bags for $1 kind of hot dog buns. with scoops of ice cream where you'd usually put the hot dog. i just can't imagine how that tastes good. and then, at one sausage/meat ball stand (pieces of sausage and/or balls of meat on sticks), i saw what appeared to be a corn dog! i couldn't believe it! but i was on the far side of the sidewalk and it can be hard to navigate and really i needed to get into the mall to find the bathroom. so i missed out on the corn dog! its not really a weird thing, a corn dog, but its the first such thing i've seen in thailand. sure, sausages out the wazoo (some are gross, some are good, i am pretty good at distinguishing now). but never a batter dipped sausage on a stick!! i should have gone back, but then i was running late.
and then dinner. we had mexican food! who knew, mexican food in bangkok! surely there's not many mexicans here... it was actually tex-mex, it said on the door. which isn't the same. but they did have quesadillas and burritos and chimichangas and enchiladas... it was alright, i can't rave and i don't know that i'd recommend it except for a serious mexican food craving when you've been without for several months. there was cheese on the quesadilla, but i'd like more and i can't really verify its authenticity as cheese other than that it was not american cheese. and the sour cream...grainy. but it was an experience.
my friend alex and his wife arrive on thursday night! i'm sooooo excited to see them! they better be ready to see me, because i plan on visiting them in their swank hotel (your tax dollars at work, i believe) all next weekend. and sure, i'll show them my limited knowledge of bangkok. at least i can show them shopping centers and movie theaters. and tex-mex food.
10 days of work left.
Friday, September 14, 2007
the power of positive thinking
as of right this second, i have approximately 2 weeks of work remaining. i should have a party! but its still 10 days of trying to think of something to do with my time. well, maybe only 9 days because one half day is another "inquiry teaching" workshop and one half day will be required to extend my visa at the immigration office. and maybe an additional half day taken up to go to the bank and transfer money to my US bank account. so that's really only 8.5 days! now i really should have a party. i can see how well this positive thinking business works.
so, keeping on that positive note, i have created a list of things i will miss when i go back to the states:
-witnessing 2 people, neither of whom speaks english well, try to have a conversation in english. (it sounds mean, but it really is quite interesting, seeing how they use the language and how different it is from real english.)
-fresh coconut milk
-most of the fruits
-the food in general
-rain (it might be a good many months til there is rain in phoenix again)
-being able to completely ignore everything that is going on around me because i have no idea what people are saying
ok, that is all i came up with. but i think its a pretty good list. the fruits are interesting... i haven't figured out why thais like to eat some fruits before they are ripe. ripe guava = delicious. unripe guava, the only kind you can get here, is hard and flavorless. like a pear that's not ripe yet. i know they are really good for you and all, but i just don't like them. you shouldn't have to dip your fruit in sugar+chili flakes to make it tasty. also unripe--the oranges! there's lots of little clementine-sized oranges at the market, but they are green! maybe they taste alright, i've never actually tried them. and a more recent appearance--pomegranates. the outside of the pomegranate is yellowish, and the seeds on the inside are basically white. that can't taste like much, can it? i think not. i personally like the ones that are really red.
so, keeping on that positive note, i have created a list of things i will miss when i go back to the states:
-witnessing 2 people, neither of whom speaks english well, try to have a conversation in english. (it sounds mean, but it really is quite interesting, seeing how they use the language and how different it is from real english.)
-fresh coconut milk
-most of the fruits
-the food in general
-rain (it might be a good many months til there is rain in phoenix again)
-being able to completely ignore everything that is going on around me because i have no idea what people are saying
ok, that is all i came up with. but i think its a pretty good list. the fruits are interesting... i haven't figured out why thais like to eat some fruits before they are ripe. ripe guava = delicious. unripe guava, the only kind you can get here, is hard and flavorless. like a pear that's not ripe yet. i know they are really good for you and all, but i just don't like them. you shouldn't have to dip your fruit in sugar+chili flakes to make it tasty. also unripe--the oranges! there's lots of little clementine-sized oranges at the market, but they are green! maybe they taste alright, i've never actually tried them. and a more recent appearance--pomegranates. the outside of the pomegranate is yellowish, and the seeds on the inside are basically white. that can't taste like much, can it? i think not. i personally like the ones that are really red.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Avast!
ahoy, mateys!
ye best be preparin' yer poop deck... it be TLAPD next week! ready the grog, scalywags and wenches, or ye be walkin' the plank!
iron ethel.
ye best be preparin' yer poop deck... it be TLAPD next week! ready the grog, scalywags and wenches, or ye be walkin' the plank!
iron ethel.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
nasty #2
today at lunch i picked up what looked like a tasty dessert, sticky rice with what i thought was some spice and coconut milk. turned out the spice was powdered fish. who comes up with these ideas for desserts????? and why does anyone need to eat powdered fish??? luckily i could just remove the top layer of rice that was contaminated, and the rest tasted just fine. sticky rice and coconut milk, can't go wrong.
on a completely different note, i'm watching a movie called "vampire bats" at the moment. who i imagine will be the heroes of this bad horror movie are both biology professors. the man is teaching ecosystem ecology (he used the phrase 'ecosystem structure and function' and i almost swooned), and she teaches animal behavior and evolutionary biology. how can this be a bad movie?? i can't possibly imagine! i can't tear myself away! i can't predict what is going to happen, especially since a student already got drunk and disappeared! you need to go out and get a copy of this movie right away, move it to the top of your netflix list.
on a completely different note, i'm watching a movie called "vampire bats" at the moment. who i imagine will be the heroes of this bad horror movie are both biology professors. the man is teaching ecosystem ecology (he used the phrase 'ecosystem structure and function' and i almost swooned), and she teaches animal behavior and evolutionary biology. how can this be a bad movie?? i can't possibly imagine! i can't tear myself away! i can't predict what is going to happen, especially since a student already got drunk and disappeared! you need to go out and get a copy of this movie right away, move it to the top of your netflix list.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
i give up
update on the workshop last week: went ok, better than i expected i guess. the teachers didn't talk when i was talking, but i tried really hard to make it so i never talked more than 5 minutes without asking them some kind of question so they could talk. i was assimilating their cultural ways and all into the structure of the whole thing. how considerate of me. it did go like 30 minutes over time, but it wasn't my fault. and i think they learned something, even though they seemed utterly shocked at my suggestion that they should focus their teaching on scientific processes (e.g., basics of experimental design, how to draw a graph) rather than on the minute details of specific methodology.
then this weekend was camp. i was cautiously optimistic about camp. they asked me to design two "experiments" but gave me absolutely no idea of how camp was structured or what sorts of things are typical "experiments" for such a camp. so i came up with 4 ideas, presented them to the boss, and she said they all look fine so i should just write up 2 of them. so i wrote them up, directions, data sheets, questions for the students to answer, the whole shebang. gave them to the boss to look over, said she should change things or have me change them if they didn't fit with the plan. to my knowledge, nothing was changed.
so we left at 6am on saturday morning for the 3 hour drive, which was followed by a full day of activity with like 30 minutes of rest scheduled. holy crap, that was brutal. because of course we were running late. so my first experiment was scheduled for 2pm. we started that part i think at about 3:30. this experiment was supposed to look at ant diversity in different habitats. each group was supposed to get pork balls and some jelly to put out to attract ants (or whatever) and then the students were supposed to collect whatever came, compare and contrast among the different habitats. well, they were given 4 sugar cubes and i think told to put them wherever they wanted. pork balls are not hard to come by!!! and i gave you a weeks notice that i wanted them for this!!!
my second experiment was basically an excuse for me to hopefully see some cool insects. we set up a blacklight after dark. but my understanding was we didn't have an extension cord, so our options for placement were extremely limited. so i put the lamp in a crappy place and crossed my fingers. it totally sucked, basically nothing came. there was better stuff out by a huge floodlight on the field across from the cabins. so mostly we collected stuff there. then i found out, low and behold, we had several extension cords! oh i was so pissed, why did they tell me i could only plug the lamp into the outlet???
so it was a totally crappy time. it could have been so interesting. but like so many other things here, it seems to me that they like to just do things for the hell of it, with no real plan for what the learning goals are or anything. and totally inconsiderate of whatever i planned or asked them to do or anything. sooooo frustrating. not to mention that someone's alarm started going off at 5:30 in the morning and they just kept hitting snooze. oh, they just ooze the respect for other people that they pride themselves on.
i won't even go into what we did on sunday. suffice it to say, it was perhaps the most boring morning in my life. absolutely dreadful. the whole time, i couldn't keep myself from thinking, "i should be watching elephant polo right now." because i could have been. i was supposed to be. and how could it not be interesting???
i'm ready for this to be over. only 18 more days.
mental list i made while bored out of my mind--things that make me excited to go home:
-pizza (especially chicago style)
-cornbread with honey (just sounds good right now)
-bread (not the wonderbread style you get here)
-people will talk to me (it sucks when almost everyone you know tries to avoid talking to you because it means they'll have to speak english)
-having a sense of expectations and knowing what is going to happen
-cooking for myself so i'm not surprised when a whole chicken leg appears in my green curry (**clarification--by "whole chicken leg" i mean the whole part from the claws to where the feathers start growing, not the drumstick and thigh**)
-not having to answer the questions "can you eat spicy food?" and "do you like thai food?" (have you ever met anyone who doesn't like thai food?)
-my pillow (why did i not bring it? its awesome.)
i think their are other things i forgot. its hard to remember things when you are soooooo bored.
then this weekend was camp. i was cautiously optimistic about camp. they asked me to design two "experiments" but gave me absolutely no idea of how camp was structured or what sorts of things are typical "experiments" for such a camp. so i came up with 4 ideas, presented them to the boss, and she said they all look fine so i should just write up 2 of them. so i wrote them up, directions, data sheets, questions for the students to answer, the whole shebang. gave them to the boss to look over, said she should change things or have me change them if they didn't fit with the plan. to my knowledge, nothing was changed.
so we left at 6am on saturday morning for the 3 hour drive, which was followed by a full day of activity with like 30 minutes of rest scheduled. holy crap, that was brutal. because of course we were running late. so my first experiment was scheduled for 2pm. we started that part i think at about 3:30. this experiment was supposed to look at ant diversity in different habitats. each group was supposed to get pork balls and some jelly to put out to attract ants (or whatever) and then the students were supposed to collect whatever came, compare and contrast among the different habitats. well, they were given 4 sugar cubes and i think told to put them wherever they wanted. pork balls are not hard to come by!!! and i gave you a weeks notice that i wanted them for this!!!
my second experiment was basically an excuse for me to hopefully see some cool insects. we set up a blacklight after dark. but my understanding was we didn't have an extension cord, so our options for placement were extremely limited. so i put the lamp in a crappy place and crossed my fingers. it totally sucked, basically nothing came. there was better stuff out by a huge floodlight on the field across from the cabins. so mostly we collected stuff there. then i found out, low and behold, we had several extension cords! oh i was so pissed, why did they tell me i could only plug the lamp into the outlet???
so it was a totally crappy time. it could have been so interesting. but like so many other things here, it seems to me that they like to just do things for the hell of it, with no real plan for what the learning goals are or anything. and totally inconsiderate of whatever i planned or asked them to do or anything. sooooo frustrating. not to mention that someone's alarm started going off at 5:30 in the morning and they just kept hitting snooze. oh, they just ooze the respect for other people that they pride themselves on.
i won't even go into what we did on sunday. suffice it to say, it was perhaps the most boring morning in my life. absolutely dreadful. the whole time, i couldn't keep myself from thinking, "i should be watching elephant polo right now." because i could have been. i was supposed to be. and how could it not be interesting???
i'm ready for this to be over. only 18 more days.
mental list i made while bored out of my mind--things that make me excited to go home:
-pizza (especially chicago style)
-cornbread with honey (just sounds good right now)
-bread (not the wonderbread style you get here)
-people will talk to me (it sucks when almost everyone you know tries to avoid talking to you because it means they'll have to speak english)
-having a sense of expectations and knowing what is going to happen
-cooking for myself so i'm not surprised when a whole chicken leg appears in my green curry (**clarification--by "whole chicken leg" i mean the whole part from the claws to where the feathers start growing, not the drumstick and thigh**)
-not having to answer the questions "can you eat spicy food?" and "do you like thai food?" (have you ever met anyone who doesn't like thai food?)
-my pillow (why did i not bring it? its awesome.)
i think their are other things i forgot. its hard to remember things when you are soooooo bored.
Monday, September 03, 2007
culture shock 2.0
sometimes i think, "why do i bother?" about my work here. no one else seems to care what i do, so why should i? its somewhat frustrating, especially since they do want me to be in the office all day (they come looking for me if i don't show up). some days are fine, i just entertain myself all day. today is a frustrating day.
a few weeks ago they told me (with less than 2 weeks notice) that i would be presenting a workshop on inquiry teaching. that was all the guidelines i was given, its a workshop on inquiry teaching. in less than 2 weeks. oh, and there would be a second workshop 2 weeks after the first one. so i worked pretty hard the next 10 days to put something together that would be useful and informative and educational and not too boring, etc. 2 days before i was scheduled to give the workshop, it was moved back a week. too bad for me, i was ready and wanted to get it over with! but good for them because i had given the teachers a test to take that assesses their scientific inquiry knowledge (topics like what is an appropriate control, why is replication important, how to interpret a graph and draw conclusions from it). they originally had 5 days to complete this test. i figured that was a decent amount of time since the test is in english and they are not so good at english. (bonus: practice your english reading skills!) so they ended up with 12 days to take this test. it took me about 40 minutes to take the test. 12 days should be no problem for anyone. right? (i won't even go into the disturbance i caused by telling them they had to answer the questions on their own, no copying off each other, but could ask other people for help interpreting the questions/answers.)
well, the workshop is tomorrow (wednesday). they were supposed to turn in their tests on monday. the head teacher wrote a note on the board on friday reminding all the teachers to turn in their test. who wants to place a bet on how many tests i have received?? come on, it will be fun! well, i will just tell you. the answer is 2. 2 out of 12. wow. what the hell do i do with that? sure, its hard. sure, it takes time to take a test and you have other things to do. but give me a break here, folks!! i didn't do this just for my own amusement! YOU TOLD ME I HAVE TO GIVE YOU THIS WORKSHOP AND THE TEST IS PART OF IT. if you can't complete an assignment, what kind of model are you for your students?? (ok, so you can't fail your students, but still.) there is clearly a reason that none of the students has decent critical thinking skills! and i am not going to get started on how poorly they did on this test. holy crap. some of it can be chalked up to poor english, but sure as hell not all of it.
so, i'm totally irritated. but what exactly can i do? nothing. god forbid i freak out on them and embarrass myself. well, i have no problem yelling at them or chastising them, but they'll sure have an opinion of me since its such a sin to "loose face" here by freaking out. but i feel like someone needs to knock some sense into these people. i can't believe that some of them want to go to universities in the states for masters or phds in education. they take zero advantage of me being here to practice and improve their english, they can't follow simple instructions, and they ignore deadlines. boy are they in for a shock if they go to the US.
and do i feel any desire to really help them when they treat me like this? no. especially since thais love to talk about how their culture is so great and so respectful of others, especially those with more training or higher rank, etc. i really just can't get over the amount of hypocrisy here. its unbelievable. so, i'll do the workshop tomorrow but i don't know that i can put any enthusiasm into it. and i'll have to say something about the low test return rate. i can't hold back.
AAARRRRRRRRRRR.
a few weeks ago they told me (with less than 2 weeks notice) that i would be presenting a workshop on inquiry teaching. that was all the guidelines i was given, its a workshop on inquiry teaching. in less than 2 weeks. oh, and there would be a second workshop 2 weeks after the first one. so i worked pretty hard the next 10 days to put something together that would be useful and informative and educational and not too boring, etc. 2 days before i was scheduled to give the workshop, it was moved back a week. too bad for me, i was ready and wanted to get it over with! but good for them because i had given the teachers a test to take that assesses their scientific inquiry knowledge (topics like what is an appropriate control, why is replication important, how to interpret a graph and draw conclusions from it). they originally had 5 days to complete this test. i figured that was a decent amount of time since the test is in english and they are not so good at english. (bonus: practice your english reading skills!) so they ended up with 12 days to take this test. it took me about 40 minutes to take the test. 12 days should be no problem for anyone. right? (i won't even go into the disturbance i caused by telling them they had to answer the questions on their own, no copying off each other, but could ask other people for help interpreting the questions/answers.)
well, the workshop is tomorrow (wednesday). they were supposed to turn in their tests on monday. the head teacher wrote a note on the board on friday reminding all the teachers to turn in their test. who wants to place a bet on how many tests i have received?? come on, it will be fun! well, i will just tell you. the answer is 2. 2 out of 12. wow. what the hell do i do with that? sure, its hard. sure, it takes time to take a test and you have other things to do. but give me a break here, folks!! i didn't do this just for my own amusement! YOU TOLD ME I HAVE TO GIVE YOU THIS WORKSHOP AND THE TEST IS PART OF IT. if you can't complete an assignment, what kind of model are you for your students?? (ok, so you can't fail your students, but still.) there is clearly a reason that none of the students has decent critical thinking skills! and i am not going to get started on how poorly they did on this test. holy crap. some of it can be chalked up to poor english, but sure as hell not all of it.
so, i'm totally irritated. but what exactly can i do? nothing. god forbid i freak out on them and embarrass myself. well, i have no problem yelling at them or chastising them, but they'll sure have an opinion of me since its such a sin to "loose face" here by freaking out. but i feel like someone needs to knock some sense into these people. i can't believe that some of them want to go to universities in the states for masters or phds in education. they take zero advantage of me being here to practice and improve their english, they can't follow simple instructions, and they ignore deadlines. boy are they in for a shock if they go to the US.
and do i feel any desire to really help them when they treat me like this? no. especially since thais love to talk about how their culture is so great and so respectful of others, especially those with more training or higher rank, etc. i really just can't get over the amount of hypocrisy here. its unbelievable. so, i'll do the workshop tomorrow but i don't know that i can put any enthusiasm into it. and i'll have to say something about the low test return rate. i can't hold back.
AAARRRRRRRRRRR.
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