Merry Christmas!

I will be blogging soon about our school camping trip and Phuket, but for now Happy Holidays!

My 4's Class (10th Grade)

Catie's 5's class (11th Grade)

My 1's Class (7th Grade)

Koh Chang/Half Moon Party

Well this past weekend, Catie and I met up with some friends in Koh Chang. It's an island off of Trat which is in Southeast Thailand on the coast.  It took us about an 1 to get to Bangkok, then a 5 hour bus ride to Trat then another half hour ferry ride over, but we had friday off so leaving on thursday wasn't bad. We ended up getting to Koh Chang at 7am Friday morning. We spent all day friday beachside. The water was clear blue, you could see your feet even at about 100 yards out.  Friday night, we stayed near this bar right on the beach and a most of the CIEE program participants were there. It was nice to see everyone since we left orientation.

Saturday we got up and took a little hike to a waterfall pretty close by. It was really cool to see and the water was so fresh and felt so cold compared to the ocean which felt like a bath. The rest of the day we laid on the beach and relaxed. That night, we got some food and headed to a half moon party on the beach. They had a DJ on the beach with dancing and a fire show. Sunday, we woke up, got some breakfast and headed out as early as we could. It was quite a hike home, which ended with Catie and I having to take a cab from Bangkok to Suphanburi since there were no buses left. Overall, it was a very relaxing weekend and it's nice to see paradise once and a while.

Action Packed Weekend

Well the last weekend in November Catie and I had plans for an action packed weekend. Friday, we didn't do much because Saturday we had to wake up early to help judge a competition at another school close by. We finished around noon and a group of us from our EP program rented a minivan for our weekend activities.

Saturday, we left around 4:00pm and headed to Kanchanaburi. It was the reenactment of the WWII bombing of the bridge over the river kwai. We shopped for a bit then sat down, ate dinner, and watched the show. There were fireworks, and lights covering the bridge and a little show they put on although it was narrated in Thai so we didn't really know what was going on in the show part. After the show was over, we drove back to Suphanburi, which is only about an hour and a half to two hours away.

Sunday, we woke up around 7am and had a long day ahead of us. Our first stop was Lop Buri for the monkey festival. There is an ancient ruin in the middle of the town and most of the monkeys live and play there, but tons of them roam the streets. For the festival they had tables of food waiting for the monkey to feast. It was quite a sight. After the monkey feeding we headed to an ancient palace pretty close by. 

We got to roam around the grounds from building to building. It was a pretty interesting

 place.  After the palace we hoped in our van and headed to the sunflower fields. There were about 200,000 - 300,000 sunflowers and fields just covered the grounds. We walked around in them and bought some delicious sunflower seeds. 

Our last stop was the giant buddha in Suphanburi. The buddha is about 97m high which is about 320ft.  When you first walk in there are statues and scenes set up to portray hell. They are pretty descriptive and intense to walk through, but once you walk through them you come upon a giant sitting buddha. It was quite an exciting weekend.

Pictures

For all of my pictures from Thailand so far, the website is: http://picasaweb.google.com/annacunningham1 . You can copy and paste it the website address from under my user picture in About Me. And feel free to comment on pictures and blog posts!

Hua Hin

So I totally forgot to write about my weekend in Hua Hin. Catie and I met up with Heather and Sara in Bangkok, the weekend of Nov 14th. We took a bus from Bangkok to Hua Hin, about a 2 and a half hour trip. We arrived Friday night around 12:30, found our hotel and passed out. We woke up Saturday morning and headed straight for the beach! We spent all day at the beach Saturday, and grabbed a bite to eat at a steakhouse! It was delicious, and tasted like home food. 

Sunday we wanted to grab another beach day but it rained all day so we got some breakfast and walked around town, went to some bookstores and caught a 4:00 bus back to Bangkok! All in all it was a great weekend! Very relaxing! 

Hua Hin beach

fresh pineapple brought to you on the beach. delicious!

yes, we found a McDonalds. Ronald wai's to you, so we had to wai back.

more beach. they serve you whatever you like, whenever you like

Matti's Birthday

Well this weekend Catie and I hung around Suphanburi. Friday, was Matti's birthday dinner. The whole village got together and made dinner. We ate outside, music was playing, Thai dancers came, and at last, Thai's favorite activity, karaoke.

 our homemade dinner

 me and UB, one of the many village dogs

our outdoor kitchen

Today is Thanksgiving here, and since my students know what Thanksgiving is, but don't really know the story about Thanksgiving, I'll probably use that as my lesson today. The US exchange students were supposed to leave tomorrow but with the situation in Bangkok I think they might be staying an extra day or two. 

We haven't heard much about the situation, other than don't go to Bangkok this weekend. Today another airport was closed by protesters. They have already seized and closed down Suvarnabhumi Airport.  Tuke, one of the translators and teachers in the office, was saying that apparently this protest is supposed to be the biggest because it is their last one so they want to have their point made. Something like 1600 protesters have turned out for this one. Our program has emailed us saying 

"There has been a lot of press coverage in local and international news sources. Of course, you should be aware of the situation as it is constantly changing. Nevertheless, the majority of people in Bangkok and Thailand are not enthusiastic about either group of protesters and have expressed apprehension with their tactics. Life in Bangkok, aside from the protest areas, goes on undisturbed with only minor annoyances."

That's all for now, I'm safe and all is well here in Suphanburi, possible trip to Kanchanaburi for the reinactment of the WWII bombing of the Bridge on the River Kwai, and Lopburi for a monkey festival.

loy krathong

Well November 12th was Loy Krathong. It's a festival of lights and everyone in thailand celebrates. You create these little rafts and there is a candle and incense on it. You light it and send it off in the river bring new wishes in and old out. 

At school, all the foreign teachers had to perform a dance in front of the whole school of about 3,000 students, teachers and parents. They told us the day before of course and we had one dance lesson to learn the loy krathong traditional thai dance in traditional thai dress. It was pretty embarrassing but the kids loved it. 

After school, Mr. Wat and his two kids, Boez and Bam, Kai, and her two kids, Nong and Song, Matti and Kati and Matti's parents who were visiting from Finland, all went to the town loy 

krathong festival. They have a big buddha statue, with a river where you can launch your float and dancing and music. Kai pulled us into one of the dances and we danced with a few of the 

older Thai women there. 

After the town festival we stopped at a carnival on the way home and went on some rollercoasters and rides with the kids. Boez and Bam are both in the english program and speak english really well. Boez is in 10th grade and Bam is in 7th, they're really great girls. Catie has Bam as a student also. Nong and Song (which means one and two in thai) are also at Sanguan Ying but not in the english program, they speak a bit of english but they're also really great.

 Mr. Wat and his daughters, Boez and Bam

Dancing at School

Teacher at the school, Kati, Kai, Me, another teacher, and Catie

video of my house

So here is video #1, I had to take it in 3 parts because the kept running out of memory and had to delete photos and go back and tape where I left so. And my house is not really decorated yet, so bare with us.

#1

#2

#3

Bangkok, Round 2

Well this weekend Catie and I went back to Bangkok for Halloween. We didn’t dress up at all but we had a great time. We met up with a few people from our program and all stayed in an awesome hostel together. 

Friday night we went to Khao San Road. The road is closed off from cars and taxis and the streets are littered with people. It’s mostly strips of bars down the road and known for its amount of backpackers and foreigners. You meet a handful of interesting people from all over the world.

Saturday we woke up, and headed to the weekend market. I have never seen so many clothes, accessories and just knickknacks in my life.  I bought a TON of stuff and all for pretty cheap! I’m pretty sure we stayed there for about 5-6 hours. We went out to dinner to Condoms & Cabbages. It’s a touristy restaurant but great Thai food. Everything in the restaurant is condom themed. They had statues of Santa Claus and superheroes made out of birth control pills and condoms. There were

condoms under the glass on the tables and even cut outs you could stick your head in and be a condom family!

Sunday we woke up, and headed back on a minivan/bus ride home to suphan buri. The ride is only about 1 hour and 15 minutes and anywhere from 50-100 ($1.42 - $2.84) baht. Not too bad. Next weekend is a possible trip to Koh Samet. It’s beach time!

first few days of school

Well this week Chaht said we would just be going through an orientation to get used to the school, the students, and the policies. Yesterday was the first official day, we got our desks in the school teacher office and brought in our computers to be hooked up to the school system. We got a tour of the school and went over a few policies. 

This morning, we were formally introduced to the school of 3,000 by standing on a podium outside for morning announcements. They gave us flowers and pins to welcome us to the school and we had to make a quick little speech about us, that in true Thai fashion, was told to us 2 minutes before we got on the stage. We got our school schedule with all of our classes, I will be teaching 1/2 [1 means first year in EP (aka 7th grade), and 2 is the second class of 1st years], and 4/10 [4 is the 4th year in EP (aka 10th grade) and 10 is the only class]. My schedule is actually pretty nicely laid out. Monday - 2 classes, 8:30-9:20 & 12:40-1:30, Tuesday/Thursday - 1 class at 3:10-4:00, Wednesday - 2 classes, 9:20-10:10 & 12:40-1:30, and Friday - 2 classes at 8:30-9:20 & 1:30-2:20. Well that's all for now, be in touch soon!

Kanchanaburi

The first activity they had planned for us on Friday was elephant trekking! It was two people per elephant and a rider pretty much guiding the elephant. Occansionally the guide would hop off and we could each sit on the elephant's neck by ourselves! I have some really great pictures that I will be posting soon! They took us through a small village and down to the Kwai River. Once we got to the river we were able to get on bamboo rafts and take a relaxing drift down the river. Our paddler let us jump in and take a swim next to the raft. When we got back from rafting, they had some lunch for us and a baby elephant for entertainment. This little elephant could play the harmonica, dance and hula hoop around it's trunk, it was pretty awesome!

After the lunch we all got on the buses and headed toward a children's orphanage. It was probably the best part of my whole time yet in Thailand. The orphanage we went to, was solely run by donations and all the staff that worked there also lived there. They grew their own food, and as a community built all the buildings they use. They teach the children to call them Mom and Dad and use them as the family they don't have. 

They hold community meetings where the children can speak up about what they want in the small village and play a part in making decisions. We each got into groups 

and taught a lesson to a group of the kids. Even though they knew most of the lessons we came up with to teach like numbers colors, animals, they were good sports about it.

After our lesson we could hang around, go to the gift shop and play with the kids. They loved taking pictures, and fooling around with us. THey were quite adorable. I'll be posting pictures from Kanchanaburi soon!

Meeting my school coordinator!

Well today I got to meet my school coordinator, Mr. Supannachaht or just Chaht. He said that the Sanguan Ying School I'm placed in has an English program building that I'm gonna be teaching in. Apparently the students must pass a test to be admitted into this program and their parents pay 17,500 baht (when the regular school is 2,000 baht). The program size is about 180 students and class sizes range from 17-22! Each student has a laptop and the students learn most subjects all in english. We have a pretty strict curriculum to follow but all amenities available to us which is awesome. He also said in November our school will be getting 9 exchange students from Wisconsin. We also have teachers around my age from Tasmania and Finland who will be living close to me. 

I was also able to get the lo-down on the living situation. Our house will have internet! We have a kitchen, each our own room and bathroom, living room with TV and washer. He told us that there is an aquarium and lots of museums near us. Even though Suphanburi is not a touristy place there are some things for locals to do. He also said that the markets we have are traditional old school Thai markets, which I cannot wait to see. 

Oh and side note, all mail to me should be sent to my school, here's the address:

Sanguan Ying School (English Program) ..(<- be sure to put EP or English Program next to it)

134 Prachatippatai Road

Amphur Muang, Suphanburi 72000

Thailand

**I also get to go on school trips to Chang Mai and the far south!

site seeing in bangkok

Yesterday our program took us to the emerald buddha temple and grand palace in Bangkok. It is quite a site to see. The gold and jewels on every building sparkles and shines as soon as the sun touches it. Although the sun made the buildings look gorgeous it was hotter than the hottest day in Florida in the middle of summer. Pretty much everyone was sweating mainly also because to get into the palace and temple there was strict dress code, long skirt and close toed shoes with blouses  for girls and pants and shoes for boys. There is actually a security guard who sits at the door who's only job is to look at the clothes people are wearing. The emerald buddha was pretty cool to see. The buddha is made out of pure jade and depending on the season, wears gold and jewels. Each season the king changes the outfit on the buddha. I wanted to get some pictures of the buddha but you were not allowed to take pictures inside where the buddha was sitting. We had to take off our shoes and we were allowed to walk in and had to sit legs folded and feet pointing away from the buddha. It was pretty amazing to see. 

Tomorrow we meet our school coordinators, and have a dinner with them after classes all day. We will be able to talk to them and ask questions about our school, so tomorrow will be a long day. Posting again soon.

First day in Bangkok

Well, I've made it thorough my first day in Thailand! We had "classes" I guess you could say all day. We went through the school system and expectation of the teachers, a language course that we will have everyday and a teaching course that we'll also have everyday. There are 64 of us in the program which is a pretty big group and we're placed pretty much all over Thailand. It's nice to meet everyone so I'll be able to visit them and get to see most of Thailand. By the end of the week, I'll be getting my Thai teaching certificate and heading off to Suphanburi. 

Our teacher for our teaching course said that most classes sizes run from 25 to 60+ students, so I'm hoping I'll be on the 25 side of it since I can't imagine having 60 students in one class! We're on our own for dinners so I think some of us will be going out tonight and experiencing Bangkok on our own which will be interesting! I guess last night some people went out to a bar and there was a band playing Johnny Cash all night and apparently he was a pretty good impersonator, so we'll see what tonight has to offer! Everything is good so far! Be in touch soon!

Teaching Abroad

Well I've decided to keep a blog for family and friends to check up on me and my whereabouts while I'm in Thailand! I'll try and keep my activities posted and keep everyone updated so be sure to check the blog!