Post for Friday March 31:

Ah Friday! So the my first week at the school is over and I think that despite some misunderstandings it went alright. I've been making friends with the teachers and the students are really taking to me. This morning in the K3 class we did math and I mainly helped two students. I helped Ken who is a sweet little boy who is good at math when he thinks in Thai but gets confused when he has to think in english (and this is an english program). Ken has trouble associating english words with their numerical values and though he knows words like "thirteen" he hasn't grasped what they mean. I ended up teaching him some finger math and he taught me how to count to twenty in thai and we had a lot of fun. It took Ken and I a while to form system for him to understand how to do the work sheet but when we did he was so excited that even though I tried to send him for morning snack he didn't want to go because he wanted me to finish the work sheet with him. I also helped a little girl (I still don't know her name) because she was having such a difficult time, she was like me when I was little and it came to math, she looked so lost and then started to cry. It was harder to figure out a method to help her but we managed to get a few questions done without shedding too many tears and I think she felt good about it. The K3 class is really sweet, I'm sort of sad that I may not be helping them out next week because my mornings next week may be committed to running and english camp for the kids of my soi. The english camp will be fun though and I think that it will be good to get to know the youth and junior youth (11-14 year olds) of my soi.

I ate lunch with the other teachers as usual. I ate a dish that seemed to have a million little chillies in it, it was good, but lately I've managed to pick every possible spicy dish around. Once again I was left with a bit of a burning mouth and I didn't even eat all of the chillies. One of the teachers I've made friends with (Melody) brought me a book that I think is called 'Thai for Beginners' so I'm going to try to learn some useful words and sentences, it looks like a good book full of learning activites. I've also made friends with the school's dance teacher and after lunch we went up stairs because she had to listen to some hip hop for a dance she was going to teach the students. I ended up dancing with her... I don't remember why though. At this point I should mention that all of the walls of the class rooms that aren't external walls are made out of glass so everyone who would walk by the class did see us dancing it up (this was in a room in the centre of the school on the second floor and being in the centre all walls were made of glass). It was kinda funny actually.

My afternoon class was out side which was kinda nice but so very hot! We played out door games and sang songs with the kids it was pretty relaxed. They want me to teach the kids conversational english so I have to think of things that grade one's might have to use in conversation. After class the teacher I work with (Eden) told me that she and her husband found out they were pregnant which was very exciting.

After work I bused home and Jenny and I talked about going away this weekend, we thought about leaving tonight but because we wanted to save money and because the streets were flooding from the second down pour in two evenings we decided to leave tomorrow morning. We had dinner with Lynne and then and the three of us hung out in Lynne's apartment. We were all being silly and giddy and it was a lot of fun, we told stories and laughed, drank tea and ate a lot of chocolate. I had this chocolate wafer thing to eat called a 'Tourist'. I have to admit I only bought it for it's name, now I can say I ate a tourist like I'm some kind of monster (hehehe).

I learned more about eating in Thailand today. When eating I had always followed as closely as possible what the Thais were doing as far as the use of cutlery is concerned, so luckily I think I have managed to make less cultural faux pas. I wasn't sure, however, what the exact feelings on the use of cutlery was and today I learned what it is... Ok, so when you sit in a restaurant in Thailand they give you only a fork and a spoon. I had noticed that people only used their spoon to eat with and so was following suit. It is a good thing too because today I learned that putting your fork in your mouth was considered as bad as putting your knife in your mouth in Canada, I guess the fork's sole purpose is to help your food onto your spoon but it should never touch your lips. I don't think I've broken the rule too often, but now that I know it definitively I'll be much more careful (lest I seem like a barbarian). I can see myself returning to Canada and having people look at me strangely because I'll only ever use my spoon to eat, ah well.

Tomorrow (today I guess) Jenny and I are going to Khao Yai National Park, I'm very excited. Apparently it's mating season for hornbill birds so we should see a lot and maybe even elephants and monkeys and other neat animals. In the evening we're going to go on a night Safari and we should see bats emerging from a cave at sun down (I'm told it's both spectacular and eerie). I'll be back on Sunday and if I'm not too tired I'll write all about it then (other wise I won't until Monday). I'm starting to see more wild life in my soi now and have been seeing geckos often and today for the first time saw a pretty large toad, sadly I still haven't figured out the birds. I also know what mango trees look like now.

This is the latest I've stayed up since I've arrived in Thailand and I'm beat, I just wanted to write a post before I left.