THE ONET IS OVER!

For the past few months, our sixth grade students have been working extra hard to prepare themselves for the ONET. The ONET is a Thailand standardized test that is taken in grade 6, M-3, and M-6. The test has nine subjects and each subject has 25 multi-part questions. The craziest part, the whole thing is done in one day! It blows my mind that at the age of 11/12 you are expected to take a test for seven hours straight. Regardless the students worked so hard, and I am so proud of them!

                        

To celebrate the grade six students a few teachers, a few volunteers, and myself went out to a local restaurant in Kapong. The restaurant is a buffet of raw meat, vegetables, and noodles. At your table you have a little barbecue where you cook your dinner right in front of you. As always when you go to a buffet your eyes are bigger than your stomach, everything looks so good and then when it comes down to it, whoops. Well in Thailand it works a little bit different than at home. Riley, Insa, and I had noticed that after we had finished some of the teachers began finishing the food we were to full for. At this point we had just assumed they were EXTRA hungry. As it turns out, this was not the case. Apparently on top of the flat rate to eat at the buffet, any food that you leave on your plate you can be charged for! Picking up on the fact that wasted food was not in the budget, what did we do? Oh we began eating cold spring rolls, and leftover fried rice. It was quite comical, everyone was cracking up about the fact we would be walking out of the restaurant with triplet food babies. What can I say, lesson learned.

After a wonderful (and filling) dinner, the students set of a lantern for good luck. It was the perfect end to the evening. I am so proud of these kids, they have been working so hard to prepare for this test. Come mid-March when the results come back, I hope they remember that as long as the did their best... I am one happy teacher :)

Days off.

I had this realization the other day, you know when you are younger and you think your teachers sleep at school? You kind of imagine them having a secret pull out bed, or sleeping on the classroom couch and then cleaning it all up in the morning. To the students at Yaowawit, teachers sleeping not in the classroom but at school is quite normal. Although I am not exactly sleeping in the classroom, just imagine how funny it will seem to my future students that I lived at school. Since I am living at school, myself and the other staff have bizarre schedules that lead to having time off in the middle of the day and then not finishing school until eight or nine pm somedays. Therefore our full days off are precious and often used for some quality R&R.

Once a month the students all go home, which means a full weekend off. The last weekend of January Insa and I took off for Phuket! We decided to drive there via motorbike, which neither of us had ever done before. For the the most part it was an easy drive, but the closer we got to Phuket... the more insane the traffic was. At points I'd wished I had a flashing sign on my helmet that said "FARANG" meaning giving me at least five feet on each side, please. Needless to say, we made it all in one piece WITHOUT having to ask for directions once! Those of you who are aware of my directional ability know that this is a miracle all in itself. Once we settled into our hostel, we only had one thing on our minds... spa. Online we had found Kim's massage and spa, and it was everything we could have wished for and more!

Parking at the mall, this picture just doesn't do it justice!

We walked in, and right away the ambience reassured us of the amazing afternoon we were about to have. After looking at a list of the package deals, we both settled on a three hour treatment. The treatment included a foot and hand reflexology massage, and oil full body massage, and a honey-lemon facial. I couldn't believe it, all of this for roughly $40! For a lack of better words, it was amazing. I would highly recommend this spa for anyone looking for an upscale feel, with a backpacker budget. That night and the next morning was pretty much dedicated to food. We stuffed ourselves with cheesecake, mozzarella avocado salad, pancakes and a sandwich. Success. On Sunday we found our way to the mall Central, and the outlet mall. Courtesy to donations from home, Insa and I were able to pick up tons of workbooks, and books for the classroom library. The students were thrilled on Monday as I showed them the newly filled shelf. We arrived home on Sunday exhausted, but safe and sound.

                      

Most of our weekends we try and spend at least one day at Memories beach, which I have mentioned before. It seems to just be our spot. We have gotten to know the staff, and last weekend one of the guys attempted to teach us fire dancing. Don't worry mom, there was no actual fire involved. All of these things are the perfect way to leave us recharged for a full week with the kiddos!

 

Bliss.

bliss

blis/

noun

1. perfect happiness; great joy.

   "she gave a sigh of bliss"

Shutdown Bangkok, Restart Thailand.

As some of you may have seen in the media, Thailand is in the midst of a political crisis. With the help of the Thai staff at school, and the news I have tried to inform myself as best as I can. Also as I do my best to describe what is going on, know that I am located in Southern Thailand and a vast majority of my area belongs to the same political party, the yellow shirts.

Starting on January 13th protests have been held in Bangkok, the movement is called "Shutdown Bangkok, Restart Thailand" and that is exactly what is intended to be done. The goal is to shutdown Bangkok in order to keep the current Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra out of office, and off the new election ballot. Ideally people would like Yingluck to resign before the elections come, but so far this has not happened. Yingluck is the sister of the former Prime Minister Thaksin, who is currently not on Thai soil because of charges in corruption and the jail time that awaits him here. Although Thaksin is not here, it is strongly believed that he has a strong political influence over his sister.

Elections are intended to happen this Sunday, February 2nd. So as many Americans will be glued to their TV's for Superbowl 48 (GO HAWKS!), so will many Thais to watch the election. Nobody is quite sure what will happen come this Sunday, whether the election will happen, if the protests will continue etc. From my understanding regardless of the election happening or not, change will not be immediate. It could be years to come before Thailand is where many residents would like it to be, corruption free. This morning I read an article from The Bangkok Post stating, "It is predicted that as many as 10,000 polling stations nationwide will not be open for voting and poll reruns therefore must be held, which could take at least four to six months."

Outside the Kapong protest

What I have heard from people who were just in Bangkok, is that the protests really are isolated to certain streets. If you wish you can entirely avoid the whole thing. With Bangkok being the home to over eight million people, it is used to the hustle and bustle of people in and around the city. Until lately the protests had not been violent, and seem to have been filled with people dressed in red, white, and blue who truly just want a change for their country. In fact, tonight two other volunteers and I joined the movement here in Kapong! Around 300 people were gathered in the village's center, watching the speeches given in Bangkok, followed by some Thai dancing, and to close the local leaders gave an inspiring speech. Luckily the local people are very open to us being there and taking part, some even like to take pictures of us haha.

Selling ribbons and bows to show Thai support

Local leaders helping to keep residents informed and unified.

So as the next 48 hours are quickly approaching, I am wishing everyone in Thailand a safe and successful election whatever this may mean for you.

Jumpin' through January

 This past month has been weird. It seems like Christmas was months and months ago, yet it’s hard to believe that at the end of this week it will be February. Some exciting things have happened in the last couple of weeks, including I had another visitor at Yaowawit and Children’s day!

My friend Michelle was able to come see me in Kapong for a week! It was so good for us to catch up, and show her a little of where I have been living for the past year. Her first few days here were spent in the classroom and just my everyday routine. Then we went to the beach, where Michelle got her first Thai massage! Riley, Insa, and I showed her our favorite spot, Memories Beach. On Sunday, we went to a nearby waterfall. We decided to ride bikes to the waterfall rather than use the motorbike, which ended up being a nice little workout.

 Sunday was also Children’s day! Children’s day required a four am wake up call and some serious nap-time afterward. None of us had any idea what to expect, but at 4:15 we loaded the bus with about 60 VERY excited students. It was pitch black outside and it felt the Christmas morning. The kids were so excited, nobody was complaining about being up so early. We arrived to find about 100 booths set up with food, a giant bonfire, and a stage with monks all in the yard next to the temple. All of the students had brought plastic bags to fill with food. They had everything from hot dogs and French fries to Oreos to Pad Thai to sticky rice etc. Around 6:15 we headed back to Yaowawit and it was officially nap time for us, while the kids showered and got ready for round two.

                

This last little January event was today! The whole international team went to Khao Sak National Park, which is about 45 minutes from school. We went on a hike that was supposed to be about 8 km, and turned out to be 12 km. The trip was beautiful, but I think my nature tank is full for a little while. Our destination was a waterfall, which rocked because I was maybe the sweatiest I have ever been in my life. The humidity was not really on our side this afternoon. Unfortunately at the waterfall there were many bees and surprise, leeches. When the leeches were discovered I may have gotten all every man for himself and screeched, “SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF THIS WATER NOW!” Whoops. Once we dried off it was time to start back to the car. Riley and I decided to go into beast mode Marshawn Lynch style, and make this hike our beezy. The way back took us 30 minutes less than it did to get to the waterfall, we were ready to be out of there. As I mentioned before our nature tanks were full, and leeches kept biting people. We ended the day at a restaurant inside the national park, and we were surrounded by gorgeous scenery. Great view, great food, and great people made for an excellent end to the afternoon!

It was an excellent January, so bring it on February!

One year.

                                

So it's a little cliche to say, but time is flying by! Everyone warned me when I arrived in Thailand that the time would go by to quickly, but of course I just couldn't imagine 15 months flying by. As Spring term came to a close, I kept hearing from many of the volunteers, "where did the time go?" Well here I am, exactly one year later wondering the same thing.

It's been a year of new experiences, endless adventure, culture shock and crazy foods.

It's been a year of no make up, barefoot teaching, Thai pants and big hair.

It's been a year of snakes, spiders, cockroaches and centipedes.

It's been a year of LEARNING about myself, teaching and the world.

And most importantly, it's been a year full of the most amazing, happy, open-minded, beautiful kids. 

Landing in Thailand I wasn't sure of what was to come, or how I would handle being away for so long. Of course I have had my moments of meltdown along the way, but with ease I can say that this has been one of the most rewarding and exciting years of my life. Thank you Yaowawit for being my home away from home for the past 365 days!