About travel.

"When you travel to places new to you, you understand more, and you fear less." Rick Steves quoted in the Feb. 9, 2010, CHRISTIAN CENTURY. To which I'd say, "Maybe" and I think Rick is suggesting it as an ideal, not reality for everyone, because he goes on to say "The system encourages you to be a tourist, because the system is an economic engine. You are led to believe that you need to be a consumer, that you need a fancy hotel, that you need to take a fancy tour. You will go home having done some predictable things--just what the advertisers told you would happen....You could go to Africa and take in all the finest golf courses and come home having learned nothing. Or you could go to Africa and drink tea with local people, help them out in different ways and gain empathy for them. You'd come home changed. That's being a traveler. Travelers and pilgrims are people who are connecting, learning, challenging themselves and not doing what is predictable"

Fishing Trip!

Fisherman on the Mekong at sunset.

The wonder dog!

Trygve and Derek May.

Trygve, the wonder dog!

Here's a picture of Trygve, the wonder dog. He came to us Thursday and he was born 9/29/09 and is adjusting well to life with us. He's bonded to Joanne so I'm going to ask her to pick up after him. :)

Thailand pics.

4th grade Wat Salapoon.

5th grade Wat Salapoon.

5th graders posing, Wat Klong.

Chinese New Year's celebration.

Morning assembly at Wat Klong.

Still more pics.

The bridge in front of my house.

The band marching at Wat Salapoon.

Teachers at Wat Klong.

The cooks at my food stand.

My food stand where I had my meals when I wasn't at school.

Pics from Thailand.

The family next door to my house.

School at Wat Klong.

Kindergarten nap time.

In the market.

Assembly before school...Wat Salapoon.

More pictures from Thailand.

Students at Wat Klong.

5th grade class at Wat Salapoon.

5th grade class at Wat Klong.

3rd grade class at Wat Klong.

Teachers and principal at Wat Klong.

Pictures explained.

The top two pictures I posted yesterday are of the 6th grade class at Wat Klong, and the 3rd picture is of the 5th grade class at Wat Klong. The last two pictures are the house where I stayed outside and inside.

Home Again!

6th grade Wat Klong.

6th grade Wat Klong.

5th grade Wat Klong.

My house.

My bed in my house.

No falls, no injuries, no food poisoning...just a grand trip amd here are some of the pics!

Goodbye Thailand!

It is more difficult to blog after visiting Thailand so much. Why? Two reasons, 1. I've already written about many things, and 2. I like to blog about things that strike me as new and strange and the more time I spend here the more 'normal' Thai ways seem to me. A third reason could be that I had no illness, injuries, hospitalizations, sutures without anesthesia or other such adventures to report...and that's OK!
I'm now about 12 hours from my 5:30am Monday departure. Though it takes me about 24hrs door to door, I get home about 10:30?am Monday. It's that International Date Line thing that somebody else could better explain.
After I'm home I'll post some pictures.

That explains...

As I sit at the roadside food stall that is responsible for feeding us, traffic floods by on the busy street. Many of the passengers on the buses(public), tuk tuks, pickup taxis, motorcycles and bicycles are students. It is easy to tell that they are students because they are in uniform but there is a wide variety in the colors of those uniforms. There are blue, brown, red, yellow, black and green in various combinations. The girls are either in skirts or pants and the boys in shorts. The variety of uniforms shows that the students attend different schools.
My curiosity about all that student traffic was partially put to rest when I learned that there is a policy of open enrollment in Thailand. Any student can attend any public school. That explains the students movement in the morning. The other part of the equation is that the government provides no transportation. Families are responsible for that thus all the student movement morning and evening.

Well that's a first!

My home in Bangkok is the Bangkok Christian Guesthouse. I think it is owned and operated by the United Church of Christ. Most of the people who stay here are connected to some Christian missionary endeavor or another though anyone is welcome. When I check in they ask who I represent, i.e., mission, church, etc. I've met people from a number of countries; Norway, New Zealand, Indonesia, US, etc.
So I was quite surprised when two young Canadian men at the guesthouse asked me to recommend a good Thai beer. I've been told that there are several but I played it safe and recommended the one I've been told is the standard, Singha. :)

Weather report.

Thai folks complain about the weather a lot and it's always the same complaint "too hot!" It is a tropical country after all and Bangkok is not all that far from the equator. Thailand is about 800 miles long from north to south so the northern hill country is cooler. Bangkok is about middle north/south.
I thought that Thai complaining about heat was odd until I though about how much I, and some other Minnesotans, complain about cold. Weather can always be a conversation starter, too. One Thai told me that they had no winter this year.
When I mention on my Facebook page that I wasn't ready to face snow and cold one friend replied "O it's not cold now, temperatures are in the 30s." Well, after having upper 90s everyday the 30s sound very cold to me. I will try not to complain, however, because I've had this nice break.

Farewell Wat Klong.

It was a day when the Buddhist students went to the temple and the Muslim students met at school...perhaps 10% are Muslim but none of the girls wear scarfs. To allow me to say goodbye the grades I taught were assembled for pictures. The students who are so shy about individual or small group pictures line up enthusiastically for group photos.
The students certainly are not regimented. While I'm teaching they wander in an out of class. Some ask to be excused and, because I don't have a clue, I always say "Yes." Wednesday was the first time I in my two years of volunteering I saw tears. Something happened in the 4th grade class, behind my back of course, and a girl was in tears. Another girl helpfully? came and pointed it out to me but it was obvious. Not knowing what had transpired and knowing I couldn't ask the girl because of the language barrier I decided not to focus on her and move on. The 3rd grade teacher suddenly appeared and asked me if I wanted her to take one of the boys I suspected of the mischief out of the room. I agreed and he reappeared later and caused no more trouble. The absence of tears seems particularly surprising given the large amount of unsupervised time they have.

What's the chances of that?

In the midst of an informative and lengthy visit with a Thai travel agent who spoke English very well I asked her if she spoke any other languages. She said "Yes, Norwegian." With only about 6? million people in the world who speak Norwegian how likely is it that I would encounter a Thai who speaks Norwegian? Why does she speak it? She had a Norwegian boyfriend.

Rigid people need not apply.

At Wat Klong this morning I asked what I should do. The English teacher thought a moment and then said "3rd grade, OK?" It would have been helpful to have some warning so I could prepare. Oh, yes, she also said "They are very naughty." The 5th graders were using the 3rd grade room for standardized testing so the 3rd graders were told to sit on the floor in the 5th grade room. That presents a challenge when I want to hear them individually pronounce the English word in question.
Nevertheless, the first 50 minutes went well. However, the last 10 minutes lasted well over an hour! To use up some timeI couldn't even get them into drawing me a picture because of the language barrier. Under the direction of their regular teacher they had done pictures for me to take home I just wanted tp kill some time.
While at lunch with the teachers I was told in effect, "O by the way the Buddhist students go to the temple tomorrow and the Muslim students stay in this building for a meeting. So there are no classes."
OK....that means I'm done teaching but I was hoping for pictures. After a bit of negotiation it was agreed that we'd have photo ops at 8:30am. Flexibility must be a good thing...right?

Saying goodbye.

When word got out that this was my last day at Wat Salapoon it became picture time. The classes I taught; 4th, 5th and 6th, were rounded up to have their pictures taken with me. The students who are very reluctant to be photographed alone are gung ho to have their picture in a group. The Headmistress brought the 4th grade out in front of the school and we all posed in front of the school sign.
I don't have the same level of grief about leaving Wat Salapoon this year. Last year I taught everyday but this year only three classes a week; one each of 4th, 5th and 6th. Now my emotional investment is much greater at Wat Klong Klang.
There is no evaluation of my work so I try to read the subtle signals. It felt at the farewell today that my efforts were appreciated. It would be very helpful if they would give me more direction. Every time I ask they say "Yes, yes" but nothing changes.

Thai casuistry.

There was some major Buddhist holiday this weekend but I could never figure out exactly what was commemorated. It seems the festival was Sunday but it carried over to Monday with most people having the day off. I asked the waitress at the place I ate last night if she'd been to the temple she said "No, but I have Buddha in my heart."
In honor of the festival establishments could not serve a bottle of beer...as they said "because of the police." However, they would pour the bottle into a paper cup and serve that. It seems quintessentially Thai. The law is passed, no alcohol on the festival because it seems the proper thing to do. Then they find a way to ameliorate the results, no bottle but you can have the beer, so that no one is significantly inconvenienced.
I returned to Ayutthaya (minibus) this afternoon (Monday) and will resume teaching tomorrow.