My first class today was grade 7b. The class was ok, but they wasted a lot of time being rowdy and we didn't even really get a chance to get into the proper lesson.
After class I had to get down to the dentist's office and get my filling checked. Good news all looks good! When he had checked the filling he cleaned my teeth and then I made the arduous trek back to School. There is currently an exhibit/tribute about/to the King going on at Impact (which you may remember is in Muang Thong very near my school) and so many people are going to see it. So many in fact that the ride to work takes an extra half hour and the sawng-thaew is packed. I'll see if I can take a picture of a packed sawng-thaew because it really is amazing how they fit 25+ people on one of these vehicles, it is also uncomfortable and extremely sweaty.
This year is the anniversary of 60 years on the throne for King Bhumibol, and as I've mentioned before everyone really loves the King and so there is a big to-do going on because the anniversary date is the week after next. I thought he was the second longest reigning monarch but it would seem his is first.
I got back to school and waited for the leadership club to begin. I only have the morning class on Thursday and then I have to wait until 3:10pm for the leadership club to begin. So I waited and waited, and chatted with people, wrote a nice long letter, and checked my email in the computer lab. When it was 3:05pm I went up to wait for my kids. We meet in the 9a class room. It was empty when I arrived so I sat down and listened to some music and proceeded to wait some more. I waited, checked the time, and waited until I became a little discouraged. I checked my schedule a few hundred times to make sure I was in the right place, but I had been right and this is where I was supposed to be, but my students were 25 minutes late. Then I began to worry that they had ditched leadership club permanently, which was confusing because I thought we had so much fun the last time. This possibility made me even more than a little discouraged. I went to the other rooms to see if my kids had in fact ditched me and joined other clubs, but their rooms were empty too. This made me wonder what was going on so I went downstairs to enquire after the whereabouts of the 7, 8 and 9 students. I was told that they had gone to Impact to see the exhibit about the King, and why didn't I go with them? I wanted to growl and be annoyed because I had waited around all day for this club that no one told me was cancelled, but instead I said "Oh I wasn't aware, that's ok" and I calmly went home. I'm learning to accept that you just aren't always informed about what's going on. I mean how long did it take for the school to get me my proper schedule? I got it yesterday, by the way, which was nearly three weeks into school. As the Thais say "mai pen rai" which means "it doesn't matter". I just have to learn to be patient and gracious. It is difficult, but I think I'm improving and am learning to at least check the expression of my frustrations.
This evening I tutored my Ruhi book one group. Everyone showed and I think we're doing well and I'm starting to make relationships with the people who are coming. I'm tutoring a group that studies in Thai and don't always know what they are saying, but that is something I'm ok with now because we've improved our translating methods and I have a couple people translating Thai to English for me and English to Thai for the participants so that I can guide conversation in a tutoring capacity. The other plus is that we're teaching each other some new words and I'm picking up a bit more Thai.
Oh here is something I'm proud of: Today I wanted to get a Taro filled bun but the brand I wanted to buy didn't have english on the packaging and I managed to recognize the words in Thai! I wouldn't say that I 'read' Thai but I did recognize and that is pretty awesome, reading may be on the horizon.
I'm a bit tired tonight and my throat.... well it isn't sore but it does feel tired, so it's an early bed time for me because I don't want to get sick.
Today's picture is a painting on the wall of one of the temples at Wat Phra Kaeo.
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