Teaching Update....

(It's official: I do not have blogging blood in me.... but I'll probably put out an update every month or so. Maybe I'll get better....)

I've been teaching for a little over a month at SBW (Saraburiwitthayakom School).

Time seems to pass by at a much different velocity since I've been in Thailand. Each day flies by. Really, some days feel as if they're only a few hours. Despite the swift turning of the calendar, I feel like I've been here for much longer than 10 weeks. The thought of being back in Washington state, where everything is familiar (and cold!) seems like a distant memory.... Life here in Saraburi, Thailand is so different!

Teaching has been interesting. It's a huge challenge to try to engage classes of 50 Thai teenagers with a English lesson; unless I turn the lesson into a competitive game, it's a tough crowd. Challenge aside, I love getting to know my students. Some of them are angels: they always smile and wave when they see my between classes, stand up and thank me after class, offer to carry my teaching materials back to my office, and a few tell me they love me! I'm sure I'll have to be pried away from them when the time comes to go home!

I've also started volunteering at an all girls orphanage out of town.... which has been AMAZING! I love spending time with the girls! If it weren't for the fact that each time I come, my legs and feet morph into unsightly, red, bumpy, itchy extensions of my body (killer mosquitoes inhabit the orphanage property, and they FEAST on me!), I would go everyday after school :)

After I finish this week of school, It'll be December. December is full of Thai holidays..... so, I have quite a bit of traveling in store! I'll keep you updated :)

A bonafide teacher

First week down.

I'm officially an English teacher! This week I had 20 classes of 35-55 students.... high school students! I was really nervous to start teaching, but once I got to school and meet my students I realxed. Some of them are SO CUTE!! I already have some favorite students.... and some not-so-favorites! The best teaching experience I had was my last class on Friday: 3 boys jumped out of the window (on the 3rd floor!), I had no idea what to do.... I ran to the window to see them running along the building on a shallow ledge (what a relief!). I can't imagine what kind of crazy stories I'll have by the end of the semester!

I'm still alive!

It's been almost a month since I've arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
I've been so busy with my TESOL course and enjoying life here, that I forgot about this whole blog thing!

Let me fill you in:
For the last 3 weeks I've been working towards getting TESOL certified. That means staying in class from 9-5 everyday, working after class to create lesson plans, and going to actual Thai schools to teach. I'm now in recovery-mode from that intense schedule, as we just finished Friday. Friday evening, we all dressed up in traditional Thai clothing (yes, we looked stunning!), and ate a fabulous, spicy dinner that the resort provided. We were entertained by beautiful Thai dance performances and then decided to supply our own entertainment.... Karaoke-style! It was a lot of fun (and a little embarrassing!)! After the karaoke fun was over we all headed over to our favorite Roots Reggae Bar for a couple hours of dancing. When Roots closed at 1am, we moved over to Spicy (a ridiculous techno dance club). We headed back at 3am...

Saturday morning, we all went out for a delicious brunch at Art Cafe, in down town Chiang Mai. Then everyone left :(

I'm spending my last night in Chiang Mai, before I head down to Bangkok, and then Northeast to Saraburi. I have 2 weeks before I start teaching, so I'll have some more time to explore Saraburi and set up my house.

And so it begins...

I just got my Thai visa.

Less than a week before I fly out, but it's the earliest I could have gotten it (I had been waiting to recieve my official diploma, which my school in Thailand needed in order to process the papers necessary to apply for a working visa... which was mailed to me a few days ago).

The only way for me to obtain a visa in time was to fly to Los Angeles and apply in person... fun! Well, it wasn't exactly fun, but I did have a pleasantly smooth trip- I flew out Monday morning, landed in L.A., went straight to the Royal Thai Embassy, applied for my visa, walked about 5 miles under the HOT mid-day sun, checked in to a hostel on Hollywood Blvd. (RIGHT across the street from the Kodak Theater!), walked some more... a lot more, tried to sleep, got up and checked out, walked back to the Royal Thai Embassy, picked up my passport and then headed back to the aiport. Ahhhh... it never felt better to sit down in the nice, air conditioned terminal and wait for my flight back home :)

Now the real challenge awaits: Packing!