Pictures from Thailand

Hi this is Eileen - just doing a quick post for Jules & Ryan. I posted some pictures below and some in this post. We just spoke to them via Skype and they sound GREAT! It is so fun to hear all about their adventures and experiences! We love you two.

The picture with Ryan and the two Thai men was from our lunch on our first day of school. The man on the right is the 'director' the one that calls Ryan "genius" and his friend who wants to learn English.

Then there is me with all the kids on Children's day, so much fun!

SPEAKER CITY

We woke up today at 7am to a gentleman yelling into a microphone which was attached to speakers right outside our window...very pleasant, indeed. Yes, all over Nong Khai people are yelling into microphones and singing songs to celebrate the children (apparently the actual holiday is today, but we observed it yesterday at school.) So at 7:01am we look out the window to see about 5 people sitting in chairs about 15 feet away from the individual with the microphone...why they need speakers which could be used at a U2 concert, we do not know.

We went to our local coffeeshop, run by an Austrian man, for breakfast and on the television was FOX NEWS and Bill O'Reilly talking with Angela Alioto...very funny, half a world away and this is the impartial "American News" they receive.

We biked over to a Wat ("temple") in our town today (we will post pictures when we get to a computer that is able to do so.) It was beautifully decorated. Julie gave some offerings to the Buddha and looked like a regular.

We are off to a birthday party for a Thai coordinator for Travel to Teach. The party is at his parent's house, so it will be nice to have a home cooked meal...just like home with Pad Thai, right mom? ok, over and out.


Pics: This is a photo of Julie during our Thai cooking class on our balcony (no stove or oven in the dorm kitchen we use a gas burner, think camping!). She was making Red Thai Curry, really good but very spicy. Then there is Julie biking down the MeKong River. A photo of us doing our best at Karoke, a Thai favorite past time at one of our Thai coordinators parent's house! And the last photo is of me with Lotta and Katrain our two Belgium friends drinking cokes out of a bag and straw (they keep the bottles for the rebates!).

NO PDA!

It is not entirely acceptable in the Thai culture to display any public affection towards each other. As many of you know Ryan and I, this is hard for us to handle. . . no hand holding, no touching and no kissing in public. We are taking this seriously as we don't want to offend the Thai people, but gosh it is a change for us. 93% of the Thai culture is Buddhist and therefore they believe in modest lifestyles. They have several sayings that exhibit their perspective in life, "Mai ben lai" means 'no worries or never mind', "Keyet" means saving face and never having a confrontation in public (no one honks their horns here or raises their voice in public). . . maybe some San Francisco taxi drivers could learn a thing from the Thais!

Today was Children's DAY at school so we got to sit and watch a talent show of all the children. They were so excited and they had Ryan and I get up on stage with them to give them their awards (candy or cookies). I was hoping they weren't going to make us dance and sing with them on stage! (Ryan tried to get me on stage singing Britney Spears!!) It was a fun day and interesting to see how their culture celebrates children on this special day. Next Tuesday is Teacher's DAY!!! So more celebrating and another national holiday for all Thai people, including us!

I think we are off to get our Thai massages as it is Friday and we are ready for the weekend!!! Tonight we are teaching University students and then headed to the local hangout, Surreal Bar. This place feels like your living room and is about that size too!

A Day in the Life

Well today we just came back from lunch with our director ("principal"). The school provides lunch for us, but sometimes the director takes us to the local restuarant, instead of the cafeteria. Today we went to the local restuarant and the director brought his other director-friends. We speak English only with our director, since the other ones don't know English. They serve up lunch and then order beer and whiskey. Of course, we were told it would be rude to refuse, so we try everything...and they finish the bottle of whiskey at lunch and then go back to school.

A couple of days ago, we went to the wat ("temple") and taught English to the monks. It was very interesting. Women cannot touch the monks, nor can they even hand anything to them...if a woman wants to hand something to a monk, she must put it on the floor or table first, then the monk can pick it up (Julie kept her hands in her pockets, so as not to accidentally touch one of them). The monks were great. They were fairly young. Every male has to be a monk for some time, it is a "right of passage" for them; therefore you see old and young alike. During class the monks asked many questions about America, wanting to know alot about the Native Americans and where they live now. After learning we were from California they asked if we liked the song, "Hotel California." We laughed and told them we would bring in our iPod and play the song next week. It was enlightening and we look forward to going back.

There are dogs everywhere in Nong Khai . They bark constantly and chase you on your bike at night. They wake us up every morning with their barking at 6am.

Tomorrow is Children's Day, a holiday for children...much like we have Father's Day and Mother's Day. Thailand has more holidays than any other country in the world. We are going to the local supermarket - Tesco - like a large TARGET/WAL-MART and going to buy cookies and candy for the kids. Since it is Children's Day we will not teach English, but will be playing games all day; it should be fun.

Attention Class!

Ryan and I have survived our first two days of teaching!!! We are teaching 4th, 5th and 6th graders at a primary school in Nong Khai. The children are simply adorable and come running and waving to us each morning as we bike up the path to the school. They know a little English and many are eager to learn more. The first day we were told we were simply going to be introduced to the class. . . next thing I know. . . we are teaching and the Thai teacher has left the room. Ryan did an amazing job entertaining the kids and singing to them. I was a bit overwhelmed but today we arrived more prepared and we had three good classes. The favorite song of the director (principal of the school) is "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. . . ." so he has asked us to teach the students that song. I think we might need to practice ourselves! The Director and another teacher friend took us out to lunch on our first day, very kind people. Then we had a Thai culture class where we learned the "Do's and Dont's" of the culture and people. After that we had a Thai language class and Thai cooking class (very spicy) so needless to say we were exhausted last night.

A little about the other volunteers. . . as we expected we are the second oldest of the group. The oldest volunteers are two women from Sydney. We don't feel completely old but at the same time we are still getting used to the time so we tend to go to bed early!!! (shocker!) It is a large international group who are here for various lengths of time and for many different reasons. Some on holiday, some a break from school, other are expanding their studies it's fun to learn more about all the different people and where they come from.

A few funny things. . . Ryan was offered a job as a master teacher after his first day on the job by the Director!!! The Thai toilets are exactly what you expect, thank goodness our dorm has western toilets and warm water! I have become a vegetarian! We are becoming Lance Armstrongs on our bikes as this is our ONLY means of transportation other than our two legs! We had no electricity last night in our house. . . looks like they forgot to pay the bill on time. Many, many more to come.


Any teaching ideas or American songs we can teach them, send them our way!!! Also, we are having a hard time uploading photos to our site. We hope to get some up here soon~

Nong Khai, Travel to Teach

Today we woke up well rested and ready to head to our volunteer dorm. We flew about an hour northeast of Bangkok to Udon Thani. We then took an interesting cab ride (with 8 other people) to Nong Khai. The taxi dropped us off at the 'Green Dorm' of Travel to Teach where Rick and our other coordinators were there to greet us. The Green Dorm is located in the heart of Nong Khai. We, however, are in the Meechai Dorm about a 10 minute bike ride from the Green Dorm...and what a bike ride it was!! We were dodging traffic and looking over our shoulders so as not to be run down by the occasional toyota truck with 13 people packed in the cab. After reaching the dorm, we were introduced to 2 of our housemates; two women from Belgium. We saw our room, yes, OUR room...with a full bed and were happy to know that no one else was staying in our room!! (We also have internet access at our dorm). We have unpacked and are getting settled. 2 of our housemates, guys from Australia are in Laos for the weekend, so we will meet them later. We are off to dinner tonight with the rest of the crew...we are the only Americans, so I am instilling them with some Republican values...just kidding Fishers...ok, signing off.

We Made It!!

Well, after 20+ hours of travel time (slight detour to Alaska in order to refuel), we finally arrived in Bangkok. What a beautiful airport! This airport was completed 3 months ago and it is 45 minutes away from our hotel. After a precarious taxicab ride to our hotel, we were pleasantly surprised when we were upgraded and are staying in a suite at the Marriott! We both want to stay longer, but must leave tomorrow to take a flight to Udon Thani and then a 45 minute taxicab ride to Nong Khai, where we will meet our roomies and hunker down for the next month! We are both spent and on the ropes with jet lag, but filled with excitement that after months of planning and anticipation, we have arrived.