Lisa and Tim in China

The Land of Opposites

2008-01-12T05:39:00.001-07:00

It is uncanny and all together flabbergasting but all of the following really are true, I promise.

1. Off is up on light switches.

2. You don't leave any appliance plugged in if it's not in use.

3. Pedestrians do not have the right of way this includes women, children and the elderly.

4. If you plan to meet at 9:00, your Chinese friend will be there at 8:30.

5. If you're going to be late you say, "I'll be there in 10 to 5 minutes." In which case your Chinese friend will have been waiting for nearly 40 minutes and will be wondering where in the world you are.

6. At the zoo, the trolley stops so you can feed the bears.

7. You can be in the cage with the baby lions.

8. Zoos smell bad here too, but sticking your fingers into the cage seems to be okay.

9. As Tim bundles, old Chinese men derobe and go for a dip.

10. When you ask a negative question such as "You're not cold?"
"Yes," means "No, I'm not" and vice verse. So, their intention here is "Yes, you're right; I'm not cold." But, as you can imagine, this subtly can cause some humorous confusion.

11. Bimbo refers to bread.

12. Red wine is refrigerated. White is served room temperature.

13. Beer is served either warm or on ice but not chilled.

14. Restaurants serve weak tea, no coffee.

15. Milk is sold in bags and is not refrigerated.

16. Tim takes his shirt off when he eats.

17. Men's shirts have buttons on the left and women's on the right.

18. This restaurant advertises a good smell, no guarantees on taste.

19. Pig's feet and duck heads are delicacies.

20. Belching at the dinner table is kosher.

21. Slurping of your soup is expected.

22. There are more elderly people in the parks than children.
Here's Tim, acting like an 80 year old again.

23. People walk backwards for exercise.

24. A "day off" means that you work extra before and/or after your "holiday."

I think that's all for now. We'll add to our list as we discover others.

Getting out of Qinhuangdao

2007-12-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

Time can fly and sometimes it crawls, yet it is continually punctuated with memories and experiences. The older I get, the more it tends to fly; so my hope is to find ways to live life to its fullest, to seek out and soak up the joy as much as possible. Sometimes I catch myself wishing time away, especially here, but I try to push those kinds of thoughts out immediately. Because we've been here for 10 months now, we know just how precious it is to get out of Qinhuangdao every once and a while. These pictures were taken sometime shortly after our arrival here. Since our time here is coming to a close I feel pressured to post some of the highlights.

Our little city here has the facade of modernity and indeed some parts of it live up to that expectation, but in general, behind the tall hotels, apartment buildings and restaurants there is often rubble. I still haven't been able to figure out if it is like that because something is being built up, torn down or if it's simply going to remain that way for the foreseeable future. There is definitely a continuum of building that goes on here. Heading out of Qinhuangdao and into the countryside there is an even more abrupt change in the environment and way of life. Here you can see the mountains. It's such a refreshing site for the two of us since the mountains tend to be masked by buildings, cloudy days or even pollution.

When Kemin aka "John," and as well like to refer to him "the friendliest man in China," learned that we like to climb, he self-imposed the mission to find us some rocks to climb on. After a little off-roading in his mini-van we arrived here. Like 70% of our surroundings in QHD, this place too is under construction.

It was difficult to find rocks that were good enough to climb on, but once we did we quickly attracted the attention of several passers-by.

Here's a cute donkey eating his fill. The contrast of old and new here crops up often. When we look out of our window at the insane traffic it isn't uncommon to see donkeys hauling huge loads of construction equipment. We've even seen them on major highways.

Goofing around on top of the dam. Tim looks scared. :0)

Self portrait. We hiked off into the hills for the first time in a long time.
We were pretty content.

Home Home on the Range

2007-12-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

...where the cars and pedestrians play...where seldom is heard an intelligible word, and the skies they are coal-filled all day.

We were pleasantly surprised when we were brought to our apartment for the first time. It has a 1950's feel to it, in some ways, and really isn't much different from the places we've rented in Denver. This is the first time I've lived in an apartment building proper, and it's much more homey than I ever thought it could be. My only complaint would be about the odoriferous bathroom, but that's the breaks here as far as I can tell.

We upgraded from the wooden couch in Thailand, which was almost entirely aesthetic in nature, to a big cozy cushy leather-like couch that we can snuggle up on to watch a movie. I said that we've read a lot of books since we arrived, but we've watched even more movies. My movie standards are at present as Nescafe is to espresso...bleak. It's a good thing we're going home in March before Hollywood and coffee crystals have me entirely in their rank clutches.

Tim bought a guitar, so between books, movies and music we entertain ourselves pretty well. I've even been learning a bit on the guitar myself. Whoever said that learning guitar is easy is a liar or has a gumby arm and dexterous steel-capped fingers. I think it's my favorite instrument next to the piano, but it sure isn't a comfortable one. It's a good thing Ryan ruined my rock-star outfit with his paint pen that fateful summer afternoon at Autumn Chase. I never would have made it as a rock star, although you couldn't have told me that in the 1980's and been taken seriously. Even with my glamorous pastel yellow uni-short outfit with pink, blue and purple geometric shapes (it really was a magnificent little number), I simply wasn't cut out for a rock and roll lifestyle.

Life on the inside.

Much like campus life, the heat in our building (and as far as I can tell... for the city) is controlled not by necessity, but by the calendar. Here the heat is turned on near the beginning in Nov. and goes off sometime in late March or early April. We arrived here on the rear end of mid-March to a room that reminded me of my days as "Head Basket," at Cheese Importers and their giant refrigerated warehouse of cheese. The biggest difference being that there isn't any cheese here or a volatile guy working with big knives to cut it.

Needless to say, we were fr..fr..fr..freezing. We had arrived from our tropical venture and had few warm clothes to speak of. We learned that the reason there wasn't any heat in our apartment was not that the heat had already been turned off in mass, but that the previous tenant had not paid their bill and apparently, if you snooze, you lose. Should you fail to pay your bill at the appointed time, you are opting out of heat for the winter. Brr.

Generously, Bob and Carol the Canadian caribous, who were impermeable to the cold of Qinhuangdao, donated their space heater to get us through the tail end of winter. We really love that little guy. We consider having lived at the heavy hand of our previous landlord in Denver, who controlled the thermostat and kept us refrigerated at 64 degrees, training for our lives here.

All bundled up and writing home. The lovely red-fleece jacket was charitably donated by Bob.

Clean water gets the thumbs up from Tim. Black socks thoughtfully donated by the Old Man's society.

Busy, busy.

Unlike Thailand, we have a curriculum here which has been a mixed bag. The structure and organization is great to have (especially for newbies like us), but it's also limiting. Naturally, now that our time here is is coming to a close, we are finally starting to get the hang of it.

Speaking of which... after our clothes have danced around a bit in an iced semi-sudsy cocktail, we hang them to dry. We have a fabulous sun room with a washing machine that ties things in knots better than it cleans them. However, it beats the tubs in Thailand any day.

Life on the outside.

Here is a picture of our apartment building. We're above the Adidas store. The second bay window up is ours.

There's always something of interest going on below our window. I've considered doing a series called "Rear Window" to document the goings-on. By far my favorite activity is when the hair salon performs choreographed dance routines outside the store. The participants execute their moves at varying levels of enthusiasm. I would like to add that my stylist is totally into it and dances like he means it. The salon has been a source of both stress and entertainment, but that will be a story for another time.

A view from the rear window at night. Neon lights and honking horns are common fare.

Looking west (in more ways than one).

First Impressions of China

2007-09-06T06:51:00.000-06:00

When we arrived in Xiamen, China, we were treated to a fireworks show from the window of the airport. If you know me then you know my love of fireworks; it was the perfect beginning to our new journey. "Welcome to China," they seemed to say, and I remember thinking, "How serendipitous! " Little did we know that fireworks would be something we saw and heard on just about a daily basis. People shoot off scads of fireworks, most often it seems to celebrate a wedding or a store opening. So, despite the ubiquity of fireworks we now know, the moment in my memory remains magical just the same.

We were in such a rush getting all of the necessary paperwork, medical forms, visas and moving from our happy little (dare I forget, ant infested) home in Nonsung that we hardly gave ourselves time to ponder or prepare ourselves for China. She's all over the news as the next big thing, an up and coming economic glamour girl and of course, host to the 2008 Olympics. China is a country steeped in rich and prolific, yet isolated, cultures; she is big, influential and has had a rocky relationship with the States. This, the few blurbs that we could find about Qinhuangdao, and a spattering of facts (some founded, some not) that we have learned here and there just about exhausted our knowledge base. It's good to be confronted with how little we truly know despite our best efforts to convince ourselves otherwise; humility is a precious thing.

Tim at the head of the Great Wall in Shanhaiguan. So handsome.

Beautiful scene from the head of the Great Wall. Nearly as handsome.

Never before did I imagine I would have the opportunity to see and walk on the Great Wall of China. I hope my romanticized view and subsequent gushing and bubbling over it doesn't inspire borborygmus, but for some inexplicable reason I am totally enamored with it. It feels like walking back in time, as if in some small way I am able to participate in the history that took place long before my time and so far from my roots. I like knowing that it traverses miles and miles over both beautiful and unimpressive landscapes and villages that I will never be able to see. I find it overwhelming in the same way the sea is because it's impossible to fully grasp its expanse. This unique and bold mark of man feels good to stand on and, lucky for us, we are close enough to do just that. If it were possible, we would trek the length of it. Tim is, in fact, currently reading a book by a man who did just that. We added to our puny repertoire of knowledge recently that it's actually not one continuous wall (which does not at all factor into our not attempting to trek it). Technically it's illegal, but then, so is this blog.

An unmanicured part of the Great Wall. You can see the earth swallowing it up. Albeit hazy, if you look into the distance you can see the Wall rising up the mountain in the background.

Okay, back to the airport...we were confronted with our ill preparation almost immediately. After enjoying the fireworks and making sure we had plane tickets to fly out to Beijing the following morning (no small feat, but not worth your time to explain), we hauled our super-sized luggage collection towards the door. The entire airport was empty except for the two of us and a handful of employees closing up shop. We looked outside and saw one lonely taxi with a driver who was looking intently at us and our awkward load. He waved us over, and it was then that it really hit home. We had spent the last six months learning enough Thai to get around, and here we were about to start all over again. We were telling our last Taxi driver in Thailand that we were going to China (in Thai)...and he understood us! That was so cool.

Now, here we were exhausting our lexicon of Chinese language with "ni how" (hello). We had no idea how much a taxi should cost nor any way to explain our destination; we were carrying all that we had, and we were in a deserted airport. I felt pretty vulnerable. We considered our options. We could call the hotel and ask them to give our taxi driver directions. Brilliant!...except our phone didn't work here (it needed a different SIM card, in case you were wondering). That stinks. Hmm. The car was already loaded with our bags, we were in the only taxi left in a closing airport, we were unable to speak Chinese, and our driver didn't speak any English. There we three sat, trying to figure something out. Since I am writing you from our new home in Qinhuangdao you must know that we did make it out. In fact we made our flight out the next day, and we didn't have to spend the night in the airport. I will leave it up to you to guess how we got out of our little predicament. This I think will ensure some e-mail from those we may not have heard from in a while. :0)

In Xiamen, we noticed right away that China, on the surface, looked more like home. There were highways that were lined with light poles, trees, green and white highway signs and medians with flowers. We were in a city, so the obvious fact that it was more developed than where we had been was worthy of mention at the time. It felt good. We slept in the most comfortable bed in Asia and woke up early to go back to the airport to begin the journey we had come here for.

We arrived in Beijing smooth-sailing and were met with the open arms of our new boss Helen and her husband John, who we have dubbed "China's friendliest man." Little did I realize at the time that Helen was providing us with the first of many Western considerations and accommodations; hugging is not a Chinese custom. We piled into the car and headed for home. We stopped along the way and had our first "Hot Pot" experience. It's a Chinese soup that you make yourself by selecting vegetables and/or meat to cook in your own pot. It was yummy.

We were watching the countryside whiz by on our drive to Qinhuangdao and decided that it looked a bit like our beloved Colorado. We were liking our Chinese experience so far. I guess I should give some substance to the names I've mentioned. Tim and I flew into Xiamen and spent the night, in short, to save money. For some reason tickets from Bangkok to Beijing were really expensive, so we made our trip in two stops instead. Xiamen is coastal but much farther south than we are now. It's supposed to be a great place, but since we arrived late and left early, all we can vouch for is the awesome bed at the Best Western. We had decided to treat ourselves to a cush night in a nice hotel and, for those of you who have traveled in Asia, you know that hotels of the Best Western/Holiday Inn ilk are for another echelon of society than the ones back home. Beijing won't need any explaining, but we are located about a 3-4 hour bus ride from it. It has served as a nice weekend getaway for us several times, though the bus ride can be a bit of a chore.

Tim at our favorite restaurant in Beidaihe. They make a delicious crab and pumpkin soup.

Relaxing at the beach.

There's not much to say about Qinhuangdao proper, but what is nearby makes it worthy of mention. We are about 45 minutes from the start of the Great Wall in one direction and about 30 minutes to a fairly nice beach/resort town in the other. We had gotten about that far in our research of this place before we came, though that's about all there is to find. We decided that we were happy to be off the tourist map, as that had served us quite well in Nonsung. There are mountains nearby, but you wouldn't know it since they are usually blocked by the high rises and or gray skies. We are told that QHD has beautiful blue skies and we are starting to see more of them recently, but for now, the jury's still out on that one. There is an obscene amount of coal dust in the air which coats our lives, literally. I'm not even sure if Grandma Stringari (the most impeccable cleaner on the planet) could keep a clean house here. The important things are within walking distance: work, grocery stores, restaurants, parks, hair salon, cookie store. This place is not as lovable as Thailand, but it has it's charms; you just have to look a bit deeper to find them.

Tourist twinkies.

Here we are with Rui (aka Henry), our student, neighbor and friend. He was our tour guide for the Head of the GW.

We sorely miss the friendliness, smiles and food we shared daily in Thailand with both friends and strangers. It is generally quite the contrast here. People come off much more distanced and closed than in Thailand, and this stood out right away. In fact it is still something we are adjusting to. We've read so many books since we left home and in one of them, "Glass Castle," the main character Jennette Wall concludes as a new and young arrival to the city that, "New Yorkers aren't unfriendly, they just pretend to be." That notion runs through my mind often.

As mentioned in the previous blog, traffic here is nuts, so we're not too sad (well, Tim's sad) that our International Drivers License is not acknowledged in mainland China. I thought the driving in Thailand was pretty crazy, but China makes it look like driving with Miss Daisy. The traffic runs in a way that is completely opposite to driving as we know it. For example, people making right hand turns seem to have the right of way and will gingerly pull out at a turtle's pace in front of a car that is racing down the thoroughfare. And surprisingly, most of the time, it doesn't cause an accident. Lanes, as mentioned earlier, are at best suggestions, and people will often crowd two cars into one lane. Technically you are supposed to drive on the right hand side of the road. However, if you are in a car, you have license to go wherever and whenever with little or no warning. People use their horns more than they do their steering wheels, and since we live above a busy street, there is a constant din of traffic noise. That takes some getting used to as well. No more roosters, birds, lizards or dogs. Nearly 99% of our surrounding sounds are man-made. In fact, I remember the first time we heard a bird singing here. It was so unusual it struck the both of us right away. I felt so happy. Wildlife did exist here after all! But then we looked out the window. Was it Maya Angelou who said, "even the caged bird sings?" She was right.

A year abroad

2007-08-19T21:48:00.000-06:00

We are approaching our one year anniversary this month. I've been a broad my whole life, but this is Tim's first time and in short, we're both into it. It was in August of 2006 that Thailand had their latest bloodless coup and nearly caused us to alter our plans. I am so grateful for the opportunities and experiences we have been afforded in the last year. Thank you to those who have prayed for us and encouraged us to step out on this adventure. We think about home a lot and the people there, but we are happy and ever so thankful for this journey.

I regret not having updated our blog sooner, especially now that some of the freshness and firsts impressions have mixed in with the daily bump and grind of Qinhuangdao. Nonetheless, we will do our best to recapture the progression and some of our entertaining experiences as we muddle our way through life in a distinctly different culture.

As you may well have noticed, I have an affinity for list making and superlative declarations. I think this may be the most efficient and satisfying way to attempt to document the last year abroad.

The Top Five Coolest Things We've Done in China So Far

1. Walked on the Great Wall of China
It's totally awesome and it doesn't get old (I think that the majority of our students would emphatically disagree with the previous statement).

This is the "Dragon's Head" of the Great Wall, starting at the sea, just 45 minutes from us, in Shanhaiguan. This was our first time on the wall. Very exciting.

This is an unrestored section of the Great Wall in the mountains near our home. If you look closely, you may see Lisa standing in the nearest turret. We had the place to ourselves, it was incredible.

2. Tried our hand at Tae Kwan Do
We stink, but kicking targets is a lot of fun. I wish we had pictures of this to share. It was Tim, We Lei (a student our ours), me, and a bunch of little kids who squeaked and squealed when we walked into the room dressed to do some serious kicking. I'm sure I was a major let down to one and all. I walked in wearing a green belt (the one that comes before black). Our instructor said we should consider cage fighting. We're thinking about it. Needless to say, I didn't bring the camera but then I remember the camera about as well as I do birthdays. If we've missed yours don't feel bad. I wished my Dad a Happy Belated Birthday a few weeks before his actual birthday, missed my Mother's (mistaking her date for my father's) and then sent another belated birthday wish to my cousin Nicole, except that I got a return e-mail from a friend Nicole living in New York letting me know that her birthday wasn't until Feb. So "Happy Birthday" to one and all. I love you dearly and I hope you have a special day. :0)

3. Walked around 798, a contemporary art district in Beijing
We got to see what young Chinese artists are up to and managed to forget we were half a planet away from home for an afternoon.

You can see some of the many galleries in this area listed here. We spent the better part of the day walking from one studio/gallery to the next.

Cool sculpture.

Some graphiti art. Man with Erhu (r-who) meets Michael J. Fox from "Back to the Future."

4. Hung out with some friends in the mountains
The air was fresh, the scenery was beautiful and Tim got to show off a bit on the rocks.

From left to right, these are Gang (a personal trainer at the gym where we exercise),
David and Wei Lai (two students from AoJia).

5. Made a sandwich
You'd have to be here to fully appreciate the magnitude of this achievement. It's greatness was, however confirmed by the fascinated onlookers who gathered to watch. It really was a great sandwich. So great.

The things we have declared will be incorporated into our lives once we get back home
1. Rice cooker. How did we ever live without one?

2. More tea, less coffee (though let it stated that the superiority of coffee is not being called into question here, and on all counts, in regards to drinking pleasure, coffee shall remain my all time champion)

3. Washer, but no dryer
Thailand taught us the beauty of washing machine technology (washing in tubs loses its charm eventually) and China the superfluous dryer. You just need a good sun room and a clothes line.

4. No shoes in the house.
Dad, you can wear yours if you want to.

5. BYOTP we've given it up, along with the coffee.
Toilet paper is for Nancies. Save the trees!

Things we used to take for granted but now long for
1. queues
Even nice looking old ladies will cut in front of you, elbows and all, if you don't stand your ground.

2. days off
I wonder if there is a Chinese word for vacation?

3. clean bathrooms (t.p. and soap included)
Okay, okay, t.p's not just for Nancies actually, it's for Crigers too. Just kidding about the whole BYOTP thing, promise.

4. anonymity
It's nice not to be noticed.

5. sidewalks reserved for pedestrians (rather than serving as an additional lane for completely insane traffic)
Cars are boss around here. Things like lanes, lights and speed limits are all optional, and peds are but lowly creatures who must dodge or die. Bicycles are prolific, they're a touch higher on the scale than peds and are nearly as wild.

6. food (not bathed in obscene amounts of oil)
fresh vegetable salads, chips and salsa, avocados, granola, hummus, Birdland bread, Pei Oh's cooking....

7. a general lack of spitting and horking and horking and spitting and public urination
Our friends in Thailand gave us a heads up on this one, but you just won't believe it unless you see it. Our apologies Joel if you've already bought your tickets and this revelation makes you regret it. We're looking forward to seeing you.

9. personal space
I guess that's what happens when you move to a country with 1.3 billion people.

10. fixed prices and the typically cordial interaction between buyer and seller
Bargaining is the way of life. We are better at it than we were at Tae Kwan Do but not much. Shopping in general tends to be stressful. I try to remain invisible for as long as humanly possible because once you are spotted and caught showing the slightest interest in something, you will be hotly pursued until you buy or run away. I usually dash. Sometimes Tim works as a decoy to lure off the worker bees in the opposite direction. In many stores the employee/customer ratio is about 5-to1,- so we are far outnumbered to begin with. My favorite shopping fandango happened early-on here. Tim was looking for some black pants to wear to work. In seconds we were hemmed in by at least 6 or 7 ladies talk talk talking away at us and holding up one pair of pants after another. I did the dash feeling too claustrophobic, but once I got a few clothing racks between me and them I looked back at Tim surrounded by squawking ladies in blue vests and despite the sanity and safety of my new location, I just had to go back. I arrived back on the crazy scene and a woman was holding up some faux denim pants that must have been, no kidding, a 48 inch waist. We still laugh when we think about it. What was running through her mind is beyond us. Now it's five months later, and we often find ourselves wondering that same thing on a regular basis.

Last Shots of Thailand

2007-07-20T03:18:00.000-06:00

Our last teaching "hurrah" in Thailand was a two day seminar for the teachers. We had a blast and I hope they did too. We are sitting with a lap full of gifts from the teachers. Their generosity is humbling. Notice that we are the only ones in the room not wearing the King's shirt. He he.

Our friend Doc Mai was preparing for her wedding and I was invited along to help in the dress selection process. While Mai was trying on dresses the shop owner pulled a dress out for me to try.
I was so nervous to put my sweating Western-size body into this gorgeous and very tiny traditional Thai wedding dress. Once I got it on (which was no small feat) I was afraid to breath too deeply for fear I was going to bust right through it. The fact that it is too small is being hidden by the sash over my front and my hand on my side. The store owner preceeded to pulled out a camera and began to shoot like a half-tanked hick at a fence lined with cans of Old Milwaukee's Best. The next time I went to the shop with Mai I was handed a photo album of the pictures they took and was asked for permission to have my picture blown up and put in the store front window. What as gas!

Here's a shot of us with Gib and Doc Mai. We went climbing together in an amazing and isolated area not too far from home. We really had fun with these guys and are glad they were willing to venture out with us.

Climbing in rural Thailand. If it hadn't been for Mai we never would have found this incredible spot. This place became one of our favorite (and only) spots to go climbing. It wasn't too far from Nonsung and we made it out three times altogether. If you look closely you'll see Tim on top of one of the rocks.

Krabi (pronounced like it's spelled with a G) is a beautiful and quiet island area that proved a great place to spend our last two weeks in Thailand. This is a picture of Riley Beach. There was a lot of climbing and breath- taking scenery.

Tim walking back to our swank beach house after an afternoon of climbing.

That's a big'un!

Oh how we miss our motorcycle! Good bye Thailand.

Hodge Podge in Thailand

2007-02-24T02:29:00.000-07:00

Jen and Ringo came to visit, which was awesome. I only took one picture with Jen and Ringo in it, not awesome. We swapped stories, ate dinner, drank beer and laughed a lot. Just in case you are off the Jingo circuit, they are very happily living and teaching at an International school in Manila, Philippines and more excitingly, they got married in June! If you are in the wild and crazy bunch who attended the wedding in St. Louis, I'm jealous and I hope you took a bunch of photos.

We spent New Year's with Pei Pbet and here family. Here she is preparing for the New Year's feast. I was invited to make the green curry since my neighbor declared that I know how (this mind you was after one time of making it with Oh in my kitchen at about 1/10 the quantity). The ladies came to my much needed rescue at the crucial moments.

Tim fondling pig parts; hearts, kidneys, livers oh yeah, and some meat. No, this wasn't an outreach lab, it was preparation for dinner. All parts are fair game. Tim was scorned for not being able to slice the meat thinly enough for the Korean style barbecue. "Tim why you cannot do?"

This is Ja, our Thai Taylor. She is 8 years old and opts to spend just about every weekend with her aunt, Pei Oh.

Dinner, Korean style at Pei Oh's on New Year's Eve.

The Ariston IE54G Instant Hot Water Heater, our dear friend. The weather in Thailand can be swelteringly hot causing most locals to spritz-off sometimes four or five times a day, but we two farang still desired a warm shower option. Tim's quite a cold-water chicken (Jim and Christina can attest to that). So, we installed an instant hotwater heater in our bathroom, a simple, efficient solution. After installing ours, Tim helped Pei Oh install one in her house, too.

My favorite sign in Bangkok was over a Western style toilet in a Bed and Breakfast that read, "Please do not stand on the toilet seat. Thank you." Now...I know I haven't been in Thailand that long, so the question is: Are there some expatriates out there that have lost their roots?

Other enjoyable bathroom literature includes, "Please Keep Clean," good advice. May I gently recommend some t.p. and soap, it helps.

"Please don't put paper in the toilet." Actually, this one is never written in English, so I'm leaving it up to you to trust my sources. I enjoy this one for a few reasons. One, Thai people already know not to throw paper into the toilets, it's tantamount to asking a Westerner not to stand on the toilet seat when they use your bathroom. Second, ninety-some percent of the time, there is no toilet paper, so the offender would have to smuggle it in. Third, about half of the time there aren't any trash bins available in the stall, that begs an obvious question.

I've seen this on the plastic cover for t.p.,"Happy paper." You said it.

And finally, moving out of the bathroom (our mothers will be relieved)...many of the restaurants around prominently display a happy marshmellowy figure holding a folk and spoon advertising, "Clean Food, Good Taste." Tim visualizes his plate of food being dipped in sterilizer prior to being served.

The ants go marching one by one

2007-01-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

I've never before regarded ants a foe, at most a pesky insect that has a knack for disrupting picnics, yucky in mass but generally not too bothersome. I have on occasion, thought of them with curiosity and maybe even admiration. These creatures are industrious and incredibly strong. I am impressed by their ability to carry weight that far exceeds their own and to do this while scaling the vertical objects of the world. There are countless varieties of ants and their nusiance-factor varies depending on its kind. The common sugar ant, that you might find on the kitchen window sill, not so bad really, your run of the mill ant used as bait by childhood Timmy for antlion dens (see here), you could almost call that utilitarian. Also worthy of mention are the red fire ants that build mounds in the pastures of Mississippi ready to swarm and devour any unfortunate cow and then there are those exotic African ants that you see on the discovery channel, defoliating entire forests in a swathe. In any case it is only recently that I have developed a potent distaste for the tireless ant, particularly the miniature Thai variety.

We've adjusted to our life here in Thailand quite well. We've learned to use the toilets, shovel with the fork, eat from the spoon, cope with fifty kids in a classroom, and accept extremely late notice on most important events. I'd like to think that most of the people that we work with and know could attest to our adaptation. We can order food at a restaurant without too much laughter or subsequent shock at the result when the dish arrives with tentacles, we can wear a yellow polo shirt to work five days a week (well okay four, five is just too many) and we've knocked off two scorpions in the kitchen. We have even triumphed over our two greatest obstacles to comfort, cold water showers and poor Internet access. So it was in their attack of these precious comforts that the ants became public enemy number one.

There has been an invasion of such scale that even as I write it, I know that I will not be able to convey its magnitude. We have had ants, spiders and lizards in the house since we moved in and up until now we have been able to live in relative peace. Most of the resident spiders look like daddy long legs (which I've never been afraid of) and hang out in the corners on the ceiling, all other spiders spotted indoors are promptly smashed, usually under Tim's flip flop. The lizards keep to themselves and kindly eat undesirable bugs, for this I sweep up their little turds with minimal complaint and am generally thankful for their presence. The ants on the other hand have on more than one occasion been a force to be reckoned with. They will descend from the ceiling in a line and march to their destination in droves.

One troop has persisted in their desire for the kitchen sink ( I have agreed to share this territory as they can come and go without interfering with clean dishes and counter space). Others march straight into our hot-pot that we use every morning to make coffee. This area I would like to be able to put up a fight for but they find it every time and some of them die in the hot water which simultaneously urks me and brings me joy. Dirty dishes are an obvious target and we try to minimize dirty dish loitering but we can't seem to get out of bed any earlier so sometimes the dishes get put on hold.

*Dramatization* Tim fleeing with the hotpot.

One afternoon, I heard a yelp coming from the bathroom where Tim was taking a shower. The troops crossed the line when they started invading our towels. Tim called for my help as the ants were biting and crawling all over him. They caught me off guard one time and I payed for my laziness with a bite to the eyelid. We relocated the towels to our extra bedroom which worked pretty well except for when we forgot to grab it before getting into the shower. Running, dripping wet, for a towel after a warm shower, it's just a downer. Who knew that ants liked cotton? Anyone? Well, they do, and they have invaded bath towels, hand towels and even our jar of q-tips!

We tried reaching out to the experts. At the lunch table we would mention ants and try to see what the Thai folks did to keep their towels and q-tips ant-free. It seemed that no one understood us, or maybe they didn't believe us, we couldn't tell. "The little animals, they are a problem for you?" we were asked. "Yes, the little animals are a problem." Definitely a problem.

After hanging out with Jen and Ringo in Bangkok, I learned from Ringo that if you put soap in the ant path they won't cross over it. I have encircled a slew of ants with dish soap, it of course doesn't put a dent in their numbers but it is satisfying to have at least a few prisoners of war.

Lisa crazed and holding dish soap

The only solution we were getting from the Thai folks was to spray them or put chemical chalk lines around things we wanted to be ant-free. Neither of us was interested in spraying or sprinkling poison in the house so we continued negotiations and peace talks. The obvious problem is that ants are quite unreasonable. Frankly, I don't think they have any intention of compromise.

The ants eventually found the towel in the extra bedroom, that along with my closet of clothes and drawer of socks and underwear. Now, if there if one place an ant just cannot be, it is in one's underthings. This particular attack strategically took place the night before we were leaving to travel for the weekend; Ant intelligence may be more advanced than we previously thought. It was scary leaving the house undefended. They keep sending more and more troops on a daily basis, the peace talks are clearly failing. We had visions of a total ant take-over in our absence. Before we left the house we took everything out of my closet (good thing I packed light) and hung it outside to de-bug and then relocated them into Tim's closet for temporary (we hope) shelter as there is little room for the refugees there.

Ants then started to mysteriously appear in piles on the floor on our extra bedroom some dead some aimlessly wandering. We would sweep it up and if we stuck around long enough we could watch them reappear. They were falling from the ceiling. (Anyone remember the flying ant nightmare in the basement of the High St. house? At least these ones don't have wings). It took us a bit to figure out what was happening but we finally discovered that the ants were getting onto the fluorescent light where they were getting electrocuted or roasted by the heat of it and falling to the ground below. The strange thing was that it would happen whether the light was on or off.

For this we called in Pei Oh. She seemed a little puzzled about the pyre under the light but we were finally given a Thai confirmation that ants will get into towels, clothes and bedding. We were given the same advice as before, spray um.
Tim was not ready to give in (I, on the other hand, was losing my will for a clean fight, I wanted to spray them all with poison and let them curl up and die). He instead diligently took the light bulb out wiped away any potential ant attractions ( fried bug parts and such) and took the bulb outside to let the ants disperse. But they persisted in whatever it was that they were after none the less. Pyre after pyre, we swept them away. At least some were dying but I was afraid that the survivors on the floor would wonder over to the spare bed and start a three pronged attack.

As for the towels, we have rigged a system to keep them clear of ants, though not original it is supreme in design. Our inspiration was the food cabinet and it works like a charm. The four legs of the drying rack are sitting in small bowls of water, a mote the ants can't swim across to wallow in their most beloved towels. Suckers! This does means that the towels are in the kitchen now but hey, the territory is impenetrably ours. ha!

Tim and Lisa one, ants....well whose counting?

--- The Last Straw ---

Most recently we came home to two ant pyres under two different lights, one in the living room and the other in the hallway. If you need a refresher on the girth of the hallway please review pictures posted on The House," its not what you could call wide and the lights is of course nearly in the middle. In order to pass the ant grave without stepping on them and more importantly in attempts to keep your head ant-free you had to sidle up to the wall and mindfully shimmy by. Agrr. Those stupid ants! What in the world do they want with the light?

Again, we took the lights out and put them outside to allow the pests to disperse. That night as we were setting up our computer to watch a movie I hopped, freshly showered, into a bed crawling with ants.

*Dramatization* Lisa finds ants in bed

That's it! I had had it! This means war!

I was put out about the eyelid and genuinely mad about the underwear but the bed, that's just going too far! I lost it and began ranting about the ants and my ant woes. Tim managed to keep his cool (I think it's because he wasn't the one to lay down in them) reigned in my useless ant insults and carried the bedding outside, as always, to let the ants disperse. I began to hunt out the ant path. I wanted to know where they were coming from so I could massacre them. It took a while but I eventually discovered their route from the ceiling, down the door frame, from there they crossed over onto the wall near the light switch and headed behind the vanity onto a chord that was touching the wall and acted as a bridge, onto the vanity. They marched from one side of the vanity to the other, down to the floor, over to the bed frame, through the mosquito net and onto our bed. Those monsters! I got the soap from the kitchen, doused the door frame and tried to cut them off at a few different passes. They eventually found a way around it as they usually do. I had no choice but to wage chemical warfare, the ants have made me crazy! Tim obliged. For the last few nights I have had ant nightmares all night long. I wake up thinking that they are crawling on me. You might think that it ends here, with the ants in the worst possible location is the house, but as you may have noticed Tim has not yet had his breaking point and I wouldn't want to come off as a hysterical woman that can't handle the "little animals."

They cracked Tim's thick candy shell the morning after operation "Bed Infestation," when we discovered the ants had invaded his lap top. I promise that I am being conservative when I say that there were at least 600 ants in the computer (some estimates have been as high as 1000). Tim unplugged the computer and moved it to the kitchen table (this would not have been my location of choice but it was not a good time to point that out) this was my chance to be the partner of reason. I watched as Tim picked up the computer and moved it to another location on the table leaving behind about 20-50 ants. He continued this same pattern of moving the lap top from one spot to another on the table, each time leaving behind an unbelievable quantity of ants and ranting about his loathing. "They'll disperse," I encouraged him, "they always do."

*Dramatization* It took a moment for Tim to decide how to combat the ants that invaded the computer.

The key we've discovered is to separate them from their destination, if they can't deliver to the queen they will eventually go. Where they go, I'm not exactly sure, probably back to their evil lair to plot more evil ant attacks.

For now, all is quiet on the eastern front. I am typing this e-mail on our lap top under the light in the living room and there aren't any ants in the computer nor are they dropping on my head so things are looking up. Maybe they will call a truce and we can all sing karaoke together with the neighbors and if not we can always just spray um.

Sanook

2007-01-21T07:09:00.000-07:00

“Sanook,” means fun in Thai and it is an integral part of the culture here. People love to have fun which makes life, well...more fun.

Fire extinguishing training.

Here are Thai teachers having fun with fire. As we were leaving school one afternoon we were taken aback as we watched a teacher pour gasoline on the ground while another lit it with a flame ball on a stick. The teachers were hamming it up as they took turns extinguishing the fire.

Fun in class

We taught a lesson on how to ask for things politely. Here a student had asked to borrow Tim's camera and took a picture of his friend.

Students after the “polite request” lesson. You can see one of the students had asked to borrow Tim's sunglasses.
I was impressed that after a week of students asking to borrow my money that in the end I got it all back. Thai students are the coolest.

Fun at the food table. Everyday the teachers gather around the food table to eat, joke and gossip. Tim likes to put himself right in the middle and make the ladies laugh at his pigeon Thai.

When Mike found out that we washed our laundry in tubs on our front porch, he insisted that we use his machine. Mike is an older man from England (who married a Thai woman) that lives near us and volunteers at Srithani. That offer has evolved into someone in their household washing our laundry for us once a week. So, one afternoon we were driving by to pick up our laundry and Yai Wong, (the grandma of the house) who doesn't speak any English, let us in the gate and gestured us to our bag of clean laundry. She then disappeared into the house, and returned with a giant vegetable and asked “Ow mai? Alloy” Translation: “Do you want it? It's delicious.”
We had no idea what is was or how we would cook it but couldn't refuse the kind offer. We laughed as we rode home on our motorcycle with a big bag of clean laundry that she wouldn't allow us to pay for and a giant mystery gourd. The kindness and generosity of the people here amazes us daily.
We decided to give it to our neighbor Pei Oh, she'll know what to do with this thing.

Me and the mystery gourd or is it the mystery gourd and I?

Turns out that the “vegetable” was really fruit, a ripe papaya. Pei Po had us over for dinner and shared it with us and it was indeed delicious.

I came down with the flu over Christmas. So it turned out I had Christmas day off after all, home sick, while Tim went to work. We went on a tea hunting mission one afternoon to help sooth my sore throat. After sometime in the corner shop we decided on Chrysanthemum tea. When we got home I decided I felt more like a cup of coffee but Tim wanted to try the new tea. After he had poured the hot water over his tea bag my eyes caught something funny in small print on the packaging. “Indication: Laxative”

We had unknowingly bought an herbal laxative. We of course had a good laugh and got out the camera to document the moment and then Tim proceeded to drink the tea! I laughed at him and told him he would be sorry. But he approached this as he does many things, that is, he likes to find things out for himself.

And at 4:30 the following morning he did indeed discover first hand that the indication was accurate.

Simple pleasures...as promised earlier, a picture of the best ice try ever. I think this fits into the sanook category. All you do is turn the two handles and the ice falls into the tray perfectly every time, no twisting, no banging, no stress. Maybe it's just me but all the ice trays in my life have been noticeably sub-par, they're reluctant to let go of the ice cubes and ultimately they end up cracking so that water leaks all over the place as one foolishly continues it's use. Do you think customs would stop me if I tried to bring it back home? Hmm. And yes, that is ice cream, which it's not as good as ice cream back home but that never dissuades us.

Tim helping to install the neighbor's new instant hot water heater for the shower. He considers this "fun."

For New Years we had school celebrations the Friday before. We taught the first three classes of the day and after that we had a lunch with the entire school, staff and students, followed by games, relays, and dance performances. For several days leading up to this day Tim was being prepped for the eating contest that he and Ajarn Jit would be in. “Tim, Tim, do not eat too much in the morning. We will have a contest. You and Jit, eating.”
The eating contest turned out to be a three legged race where Tim and Jit were tied together and had to complete a series of tasks in attempts to beat the other contestants.

Tim and Jit eyeing their upcoming task.

The guy running in front of team TimJit had just finish set up which included opening about 10 bottles of Pepsi with his teeth.

On your mark...

Great action shot. Tim and Jit just finished bobbing for a coin out of a plate full of flour.

Task #2: Eat three sugar powder Chinese candies.

Task #3: Drink a Pepsi. (Everyone cheated on this one)

Task #4: The reason Tim was not supposed to eat a big breakfast. Everyone had to eat two bananas and an orange.

Task #5: Thread a needle. Look at the concentration fixed on his face.

Task #6: Light incense and a candle.

Final Task: Blow up a balloon filled with flour until it pops.

Jit's balloon just exploded.
Now, that's fun.

Close to Home

2007-01-20T00:15:00.000-07:00

Ajarn Dangue and here husband offered to take us sight seeing to some of the neat things we have not too far from home. About 10 kilometers from NonSung there is an archaeological dig sight in Ban Prasat. This sight is free to visit and is surrounded by a small village of people that live and work in unbelievable proximity to it.

-The sight is protected by this structure and on the walls in both Thai and English, is an account of the work done and speculations on time and origins of the people buried here. The burial sight is about 30 feet deep at its deepest and maybe 1000 square feet. It is close to the size of a volleyball court.

-You can see the burial sites are at different levels and are likely an indication of time. What amazed Tim and I was how well things were preserved. It seems like in such a wet climate and ground the bones would have deteriorated. You can see the wet ground in the far end of the picture.

The items found in the burial sight included pottery, jewelery of bronze, beads, stone tools and part of a loom.

-Homes are literally a few steps away from the dig site.

Also near our village (about 30-40 kilometers) is Phi Mai, famous for it's ancient architecture built during the 10-13th centuries by the Khmer Empire ( it is what you would find in Cambodia).

-Ajarn Daang walking on the Naga bridge into the ruins

-Us, looking like a couple of tourists.

-A view from the inside.

-Ajarn Daang's husband in the corner. A view of the largest structures.

-Scale check.

-Picture of the temple wall.

-A view after walking through the central structure.

-Close-up of carvings that are on most mantles.

-Pi mai

We had been to Phi Mai once before in the evening for a festival. Ajarn Tak (pronounced talk) and her husband took us to see an elaborate stage performance that was translated in English, Chinese, Japanese and German and performed right on the ruins. We were given complimentary ear pieces and tuned in to the English channel. Local drama teams danced and acted out the mythology of the Hindi the Buddhist gods.

Phi mai and Fireworks!

I love fireworks. This really was a treat for me.

We were also taken to see a Banyan tree that is said to be 350 years old and covers about 35,000 square meters. Inside of the tree there are walkways, benches, shrines, and fortune-tellers. It's a terrific place to escape the heat as the temps are a bit cooler under its canopy.

-Flowers decorating the main trunk of the tree.

-Tim and Daang under the tree.

-The outer layer of the tree.

-Fighting a famous Muay Thai boxer from Phimai.

Weekend Getaway with Ajarn Tak and her Husband Taw

Vacation time is not something that we always have advance notice on, despite our best efforts to acquire the information. Thai's are not exactly planners, but somehow things still get done and it all works out in the end. The teachers will tell us, “It is the Thai way.” So, we learned of an upcoming three-day weekend when we were approached by Ajarn Tak the youngest, and best dressed, teacher in the English Department. She invited us to visit her hometown for the long weekend.

She grew up in Buriram (about a 3-4 hour drive from NonSung) near the Cambodian boarder. Buriram is home to Thailand's most famous Khmer temple, Phanom Rung.

We arrived late Friday evening and spent the night in what we have voted Thailand's most comfortable bed and indulged in a really long and hot shower. Tak arranged for us to stay in a bungalow near her house because she said we would be more comfortable there. Oh, we love her for that.

-Our bungalow, site of Thailand's most comfortable bed.

The next morning before Tak and her husband arrived to take us to her parents house, Tim and I went for a walk to see the surroundings. We found ourselves in a rural farming village.

We headed down a road lined with houses and were greeted with an enthusiastic “hello” by almost everyone that saw us often followed up by “Where do you come from?” Others just stopped to stare. When we came to the end of the houses the land opened up in beautiful rolling hills with tall trees and big farming plots. Right at the start of this opening there was a group of children running around chasing each other and climbing up into a tree. We said “hello,” as we passed and they all screamed and squealed and scrambled into the tree. When we were a “safe” enough distance, they climbed out of the tree and came out to the road and began to shout all the English phrases they knew. My personal favorite, “I am a boy!” was very emphatically yelled out by a boy with toothpick legs sticking out from his little shorts. I replied by telling him that, “I am a girl.” The kids giggled like crazy and yelled their English at us until we were out of ear's range.

We enjoyed a breakfast which was something like a 5 course meal, ice-cream included, at Tak's parents house. They run a restaurant, known here as a “food shop,” so her mom is an amazing cook and we gratefully indulged in all they offered us.
After breakfast and some time in the hammock (funny hammock story later), we drove to see a lookout where you can see into Cambodia.

We climbed a look-out tower and Ajarn Tak wanted to know if we could see any Cambodians taking a bath in the river through the complimentary binoculars.

-Tak and her husband

No Cambodians were to be spotted but it was the first time our eyes had laid sight on Cambodia and the surroundings were a delight. It was a bit like being in the foothills of Colorado in early fall. The air was crisp and fresh and the surrounding trees were tall with outstretched arms.

-Tim and Tak

After spying on Cambodia, Tim inquired whether there were any tall stones he could climb since he'd noticed some big rocks in the area. So, we were driven to a quarry whose entry was flanked by two large rocks, one of which Tim climbed to the top. I'm sure you can imagine what a spectacle that was, and I'm sure you can also imagine Tim's contentedness after showing off for a cheering crowd of Asian tourists that had just piled out of their double-decker bus. Tak declared Tim the “winner” and took us back to her parents for another round of eating. After lunch we went to Phanom Rung.

-Ah, bouldering in rural Thailand.

-The "winner"

-Lisa getting in on the fun

-Tim is surprised to find just how much water is inside a coconut.

-Lisa is tickled when Tak informs us that she thinks Tim is “too fat” to snooze in the hammock. Lisa must document this with a photo. Come on, I may have put on a few kilos (76 kg, roughly 170 lbs), but can you blame me, they feed me five times a day!!
(Please note, the chair Tim is in was brought out just for him and his big belly)

Phanom Rung would serve handsomely for either of these uses: a site for the coolest of weddings or as the setting for the climactic showdown of the next James Bond movie. In any case, the temple is built upon an extinct volcano and you have to climb a bazillion steps to get to the top, so it's impressive even from afar.

-Lisa and Tak at the start of a bazillion stairs.

-Tim and Taw looking really GQ. Tim is demonstrating the proper way of posing for a photo in Thailand, this gesture lets all viewers know that you are a smart and handsome person. ha.

-Monks walking from the temple.

-Yep, more steps

-The stonework on some of the spindles, murals, and frescos in the temples are amazingly preserved (some have been restored).

-This is a fun juxtaposition of the old and the new(er) in Thailand. These jalopies are used by farmers and vendors in rural provinces to cart around hey, rice, animals, food, supplies, the family, you name it... Their top speed is maybe 15 mph and they make a putter-putter of small explosions as they chug along the roads.

-The grounds around Phanom Rung are full of flowers and trees that are being climbed by a snake-like vine-cactus ( sorry botano-nerds that's the best I can do)

After visiting Phanom Rung, we returned to Tak's family home for.... yep, you guessed it, more eating. But instead of eating at home, we went to a nearby lake where we were treated to spicy somtam (papaya salad) and canoeing.

-Enjoying the lakeside dining and the giggling children playing in the water. Look as those noses will you? I fear for our children.

-These children just moments before where splashing and laughing and shouting out “Hello, what's your name? Do you speak English?” and the like, until we asked to take their picture, then we got their serious sides.
When I asked, "Do you speak English?"
They replied, “No! No!” giggle, giggle and then proceed to yell out more English phrases.

Top Ten School Highlights

2006-12-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

1.Each day starts with a 30 minute assembly. The national anthem is sung, students say morning prayers and listen to any variety of announcements and or speeches. This is followed by 20 minutes of free reading. It's a nice slow start for us and gives us a chance to do any last minute prep.
2.Female P.E. teachers are butch here too. I thought that was kind of funny.
3.Teachers swat naughty students with bamboo sticks. Even better though, is that you will find students bringing replacements to the school for their teachers when one wears out.
The naughtiest thing we've seen at school is smoking in the bathrooms. Punishable we assume, by a swat.
4.We've seen teachers trimming student's hair and fingernails. Hygiene and appearance are important and monitored closely.
5.A student pointed at Tim's wrinkled shirt one day and snickered. The student playfully pointed out that I did a poor job ironing Tim's shirt, well the assumption anyway was that I had done it. The truth is, that morning Tim proudly held up his shirt and declared his mastery of ironing.
6.Dogs live on school grounds, some healthier than others. Unlike the students, dog hygiene and appearance are not important and are not monitored at all.
7.No one bats an eye when a grungy dog licks itself for the full 30 minute morning assembly.
Maturity check.....I have to fight off laughter. The students may be more mature than me.
8.Students clean the classrooms, school grounds, and our lunch dishes daily.
9.Tim and I will have to periodically speak at morning assembly. So far, we have only embarrassed ourselves once. I should mention that we've only gone twice.

Drum roll please...
10.Our all time favorite, we saw Ajarn Go (female P.E. teacher) rip a chin hair from a student's face. Tim looked over at me and asked if he had any strays he should take care of for fear he could be next. You can see a picture of her in the “Sports Day,” entry with Tim's footsal team.

Sports Day

2006-12-26T02:22:00.000-07:00

Dook: He may be only three apples high, but he can hold is own on the basketball court.

The famous Thai pose. The kids giggle like crazy when we imitate it, but they giggle when we say hello too. Anyway, keep your eyes open for it.

Colorful Sports Day decor.

Last week we enjoyed three days of what our Thai teachers and students refer to as “Sports Day.” For three days the entire student body takes turns competing, performing and cheering for one another in a variety of sports.

Students posing and wearing hats for shade. Temperatures soared for these three days likely in the mid to upper 90ies.

The land of smiles.

Students played basketball, football (soccer), handball, takraw, volleyball and put on some stellar dance aerobics performances.

Takraw: A game that's origin is in Thailand. It's a physically demanding game best described as a cross between hacky-sack and volleyball but played with the skill of a gymnast. Players literally flip upside down to spike the ball over the net with their foot. It's a lot of fun to watch and difficult to play.

Tim trying his hand at Takraw, or his feet rather.

I was struck most by the way students behaved themselves. For three days they nearly had free reign to do whatever they wanted. If students were not playing a game or cheering for one they were sitting in groups laughing, reading comic books, sleeping or snacking.

Kids enjoying their free time.

Many drum sets where scattered around campus. Students used the drums to celebrate any scoring by their team. The best part was watching the students dance around to the tribal beat. We have of course added these moves to our dance repertoire.

These students requested that I take their picture. Who could refuse?

The opening ceremonies included a teacher line-up, some photographs and the director
of the school kicking a soccer ball into a net. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the minor explosion of confetti and fireworks (Wyoming grade).

Students dressed in their Sports Day uniforms.

Students opened Sports Day with a choreographed sword fight.

No doubt we are in Thailand, land of the "gatoys" (ladyboys).

Each time a team scored in this basketball game, the drummers beat out a rhythm for this group of students who would run out and dance around for about five seconds before running back to their seats on the sidelines. The more I laughed, the sillier they got.

I couldn't get over how 2200 students could go three days without incident. Come to think of it, I haven't seen one fight since I've been here. This of course makes me reminisce to my years at King MS where fights and fires were common fare. I am thankful to be half a world away from those days.

Students peeking their noses through the back gate waiting for the shop owners from across the street. Money is passed through the gate in exchange for goodies.

Students dolled up.

Despite the oppressive heat students wear jackets, gloves, hats and or wrap their heads to protect their skin from the sun. Light skin is a sign of wealth and a symbol beauty here so people go to great lengths, including the use of whitening cream, to keep their skin from getting dark.

Students cheering in the stands.

Sports Day cheerleader.

Tim was of course asked to ref the basketball games since he can be found on the courts playing with the students after school about 3 or 4 days a week.

There was an attempt to recruit me to ref as well but I assured them I would be a better judge for the dance aerobics. My well known attendance at the local park for outdoor dance aerobics has earned me expert status at Srithani and I was awarded a seat in the panel of judges. Up until the actual event, I had been told, “Lisa, you will be judge for dance aerobics.” I was relieved when I learned I wasn't the going to be the only one. You may get a laugh out of knowing that after the students performed, the dance aerobics instructors, and yours truly, were called out to show our moves, so I got up and jazzercised in front of a cheering mass of students.

Although it may look like I am being out-danced here, trust that I was merely studying the competition and planning my dance attack.

My first showing at the NonSung outdoor dance aerobics was something of a spectacle as is most anything Tim and I do for the first, second or even the third time here. I was welcomed in English over the mic and asked a few questions (what is my name, where am I from, why am I in NonSung) and I would periodically catch the instructor counting in English for my benefit. The second time I went a woman approached with a friendly smile, welcomed me warmly asked my name and then proceeded to tell me that the members were afraid of me. I wasn't sure I understood, so I said they are afraid? “Afraid of what?”
“You,” she laughed. Never really thought of myself as scary before. But now the folks at dance aerobics smile and wave and are not so surprised to see me anymore.

Dance aerobics by the way is made up of mostly women of all frames and ages who can keep up in varying degrees with the spunky Thai instructor named Pei Yaho, who moves like she's in fast forward to the blaring cluby dance music. The stretch and cool-down session is lead by a man who has periodically come over for a one on one tutorial during aerobics when “Yahozersizer” starts doing crazy, unpredictable moves and I am obviously floundering. The truth is that the moves are not entirely unpredictable and I'm beginning to catch on. Ha ha. But if not I just bounce about and try to move in the right direction. I've tried to get Tim to join me just once so we could all have a good laugh. So far he's hasn't taken the bait. He does however have the very important mission of an undercover photo shoot so you all back home can get a feel of the hilarity.

Ajarn Gowitz, the head of the English Department supervising as the students begin to clean up.

After three full days of action packed fun the students took down all of the decorations and cleaned up the school campus. This is another thing I enjoy about being here. The students set up, break down and clean up without any flack.

Not only was there sports day at school, but NonSung (and the rest of Thailand) was celebrating a 5 day Chinese Festival during which people play sports in the quartered-off streets. We were welcomed very enthusiastically over the mic by one of the sports announcers upon arrival. We smiled and waved at the ogling crowds and tried not to over-react to the thousands of bugs swarming under the flood lights.
Tim had been invited by Dough, one of the PE teachers to play in a Footsal tournament. Footsal is like soccer but with a smaller fields, goals and teams.

Tim nervously awaiting his first footsal tournament game

The Team! Yes, I know, the photo quality stinks.

Note Ajarn Go in Red. You'll read more about her in the future.

The first night Tim's team lost zero to five. The game was over in about two minutes since the other team made five unanswered goals. A very fast and somewhat disappointing end to the first game.

Footsal tournament night 2:

Tim on the bench.
Tim's team lost again. Also sad, but a good time was had by all.

Footsal tournament night 3:
Tim scored his team's first goal of the entire tournament! The crowds went wild.

The game ended in a shoot out and Tim again was the only guy on the team to make a goal. In the end the other team won, 3 -2. But Tim is often approached by people who will let him know they saw him in the tournament and as Dough said, “you have good time, no?”

My champion.

The Office

2006-12-15T03:06:00.000-07:00

It will take a leap of imagination on your part to picture the office. There are nine English speaking teachers in the large room with table-sized desks. In the mornings, the windows are opened to permit the cool air in. In the afternoons, ceiling fans are switched on, blowing papers around on desks. The teachers go in and out all school day chatting and laughing. It seems the majority of their time in the office is spent around the food table.

The food table is a cornucopia of dishes amassed from the teachers' daily offerings. Because of its plenty we have yet to bring lunch to work for ourselves. We use our free periods to stuff ourselves with various Thai foods: fermented fish paste (not a personal favorite), red and green curries, papaya salad, fried vegetables and pork, sugary sticky-rice desserts wrapped in banana leaves, tasty mini bananas, baked fish, snails, shrimp, crayfish, oysters, sausage, varieties of vegetables alien to our eyes, bamboo shoots, juicy sliced fruits... the list is still building. Thai edibles (and not-so-edibles) must be one of the most diverse of all cultures. As we've wandered through some markets in Thailand we've seen things such as pigs' faces, live turtles trying to escape baskets, long catfish flopping around in a heap, roasted crickets and grubs, chili powders, curry powders, grasses and herbs of all kinds....

I've come to believe that this action of bringing so much food to share with us is not only an experiment of curiosity and cultural pride by the teachers, but also one of appeasement. The English teachers at our school normally teach between three and five classes of students each day. With Lisa and I here, one of their classes each day is taken by one of us to practice speaking and listening. The result is us teaching five or six classes each day with a random period or two off, during which we are kindly and aggressively invited to eat what has been brought.

Never have I seen a more constantly eating bunch of people, except, of course, my own Criger family on Christmas or Thanksgiving Day when we will stuff ourselves silly from morning to night and rest only at intervals to drape our swelling bodies like Dali's clocks over sofas and chairs. These Thai teachers may not devour quantities like the Criger's, but could rival us in their frequency of food-table-visitation. They spend nearly every free moment either gathered around the food table sampling its delights or being invited by those who are gathered to “gin khao” (eat).

And most of them are shameless about their joking, particularly Ajarn Gowit, known in the office as, “joke man”. He will often introduce us to someone and quickly add, “She's ugly” or “She's fat.” And if he notices we don't remember having met someone, he might assert that it's because, “She's not pretty.” Laughter is as common as eating here. Sometimes we are in the know and other times the teachers are speaking to each other in Thai and laughing it up.

The teachers are all very productive despite accusations by one another of being “lazy.” Students duck into the office in two's or three's and kneel at the teachers' desks to receive an assignment or ask a question. Desks are piled high with stacks of notebooks bound together, these are their grading or marking that must be two to four hundred students each. Our school teaches around 2,200 students in Mathyom 1 through Mathyom 6 (grades 7-12). Between the two of us, Lisa and I teach them all.

Despite the business of our schedule and the heat bearing down nearly all of the time, we are excited to come to work each day. Anyone who has had the good pleasure of working in an environment filled with fun-loving, happy people can attest to the difference it makes in the work day.

Tim, with the morning sun shining on his face, ready to go to school.

The teachers from left to right...Ajarn Daang, Ajarn Gowit (head of the English Dept) Ajarn Pakawan, Ajarn Tak, Ajarn Ajarn Pyrapah, Ajarn Lisa, Ajarn Tim and Ajarn Soam.

papers piled high

room 426: This is our least favorite room. The desks are like cubicles, the students get tucked so far away in there and it is impossible to walk between the aisles. Tim and I are convinced that the naughtiest children must race to class to sit in the seats farthest in. This is safety from the teacher. There they can hide in the impossible-to-get-to cube and read comics all period long. When possible we usually take this class outside where there is no where to run...well actually...

A typical classroom

Every Wednesday the students (and teachers) wear their scout uniforms.

The House

2006-11-12T03:14:00.000-07:00

In short, our house rocks the casbah. For those interested in our living quarters, read on.

Tim on the patio. You can see Pei Oh's house behind Tim and to the left.

We are the middle in a set of row houses. We have a shaded front patio with tables and benches, a variety of potted and hanging plants, and some racks to hang our clothes on laundry day.

Lisa's first laundry adventure in our new home.

Our living room has a couch, table, chairs, a TV and a DVD player. Sometimes we watch Thai TV to see what words we can catch, or we make up our own dialogue. Thai TV is pretty much just as lame as TV back home. We have discovered a video rental place not too far from our house with a selection of movies in English. We accrued a late fee the first time we rented... some things never change no matter how far across the globe you run. What's great is that the fee is only ten baht, about 25 cents.

Note the dolls in the cabinets...just like Grandma Criger.

and the fake flowers...just like Char.

Lisa in the livingroom working on school stuff.

Back to the house. We have two bedrooms, this means there is one for you if you decide to visit. Unfortunately, we are not near the beach anymore, so it won't hurt our feelings too much if Nonsung is not your ideal vacation destination.

Guestroom

Bedroom

The hall. :)

Our “hong nam” fits well its literal translation of “water room.” Tim would describe it as “adequately fitted, but not modern.” The shower is not isolated by doors, so the whole bathroom really is the shower perimeter and the room drains out of a corner. We gave it a good Perna-style scrubbing the other day, Grandma would be proud. The hose/toilet thing we are still experimenting with; the jury is still out for that one.

The hose...our nemessis.

Self portrait

Our kitchen is huge and entirely unexpected. We were told most homes in rural Thailand do not have kitchens, and rarely indoor ones at that. It was a welcomed surprise with refrigerator, stove, pots/pans, utensils and all.

Cock head to the right and notice the picture of the chicken on the refridgerator. Were you able to open the freezer door you would see the best ice cube tray system of all time. I'll add a photo next time.

Tim is still the breakfast king, and I do my best to be the dinner queen. My neighbor Pei Oh, I promised you would hear more about her, taught me how to make Thai green curry, Tim's favorite. Ajarn Dang from school also gave me a Thai cookbook. So, if you do manage to visit our humble home, I may try to cook you something Thai style.

That's pretty much the house. It is fully furnished and fans are mounted to the walls in most rooms. We drink purified water that is delivered by motorcycle to our house any time we run out at a meager cost of 13 baht (about 30 cents for a 10 gal jug).

As for the neighborhood, children play barefoot in the narrow gravel roads between houses, men burn 50 gal barrels of wood to make charcoal, and others run laundry service from their front porches full of hanging clothes.

In the evenings, some gather outside to drink and chat while others can be seen inside watching television. In the mornings, the free-roaming roosters affirm that it is morning and time to get ready for school. Most people shout hello to us as we come and go on our motorbike. Even the neighborhood dog has befriended us, though this has much to do with feeding it a large Chinese sausage given to us by Ajarn Gowit.

We never know when we might receive a visit. We might hear our front gate creak, or we may just become aware of someone calling, “Hello.. Teeem, Leez-sa” through our front window. Random stop-ins are frequent at our house, and gifts of food are not limited to the office. The owner of the house, Pei Pet, might deposit a bag of oranges and apples on our coffee table if we are absent when she visits. She just stopped by yesterday to deliver rice and this particular juicy fruit that Tim loves (similar to a pear... “same same, but different” as a Thai might say).

New-rice and coconut, sold wrapped in a banana leaf. A yummy treat.

Sticky rice and peanut in a bamboo shoot, a gift from Pei Oh. Also yummy.

First Impressions

2006-11-12T03:02:00.000-07:00

Since we have arrived here in Thailand, we have been inundated by the importance of first impressions: dress, smiles, smells, the proper “wai,” the exchange of gifts... these are all important firsts. Little did we know that we would be carted to school straight off the bus the Friday we arrived in Nonsung, leaving us with no time to ready ourselves for all these firsts.

We rolled in on the bus we had boarded... scratch that... ran to catch at 7am that morning in Non Kai near the Laos boarder. The journey was six or seven hours, sans air conditioning. I would like to mention (primarily for Sherri's sake) that we started off fresh and showered but we were wearing the same clothes we had been in for a few days (remember the Laos boarder debaucle?) and after a few solid hours of sweating on the bus we were grubby to say the least. Our Media Kids coordinator Pai, had called our school to let them know we were arriving Friday. “They will be there to pick you up,” he assures us.

Here's what we are thinking...
We don't teach until Wednesday, we could go to Bangkok and visit people there, or we could go see our new home and get settled in. We decide on using the weekend to settle into our new house, thinking that we will have Monday and Tuesday to prepare for our first day of teaching. Doesn't that sound nice?

Our phone rings, “Hello, Teem, where are you? I am waiting for you.” Our teachers are at the bus station already! We're a bit nervous. I wish we knew how long it was going to take for us to get there. I wish we knew how to tell the teachers when we would be arriving. The first of our language barriers goes up.

We try to “freshen up” in the bus bathroom. It's challenging to stand still on a barreling bus and all the more intimidating when there is a sloshing bucket of water (used for flushing) lapping at the sides of the bucket next to you. I pull the wrinkled sleaved shirt from my bag... first impressions are important. I may look and feel disgusting, but I will do it with covered shoulders and toes!

We arrive. We call our Thai teachers. We can't understand them and they cannot understand us. We hand the phone to the bus driver. He looks really confused but takes the phone. He speaks what seems like rapid-fire Thai, hands the phone back to Tim and points us toward some doors leading to the bus terminal.

We go in...no one approaches. How will we know them? Actually, it doesn't matter, we stick out like a couple of sore and grimmey thumbs. They'll find us.
People stare...we stand smiling and occasionally shift locations to attempt an escape from the many eyes. Impossible.

Finally. “Teem! Lisa!” I was so nervous about this first introduction all I really remember is Tim and I gave a couple of fly wais. We have practiced during our training classes, in our hotel room and even on the bus ride to Nonsung. Tim may be “Mr. Media Kids,” but I proudly hold the silver medal for the best female wai. I was shown up by a Philippino, she has the most fly wai of them all. I think it must be proximity that gave her the edge. Darn. Maybe next year.
We wai, we eat, I drink a cup of coffee in attempts to quiet my pounding headache and we're off to our new home... or so we thought. We are desperately looking forward to a shower but instead we are going to the school. “That's okay,” they are excited to show us the school.

Taken from the English Department.

Hmm, why are there students here? We thought the students were on vacation? “Students are here?” we ask timidly.
“Yes, yes. Students are here.”

During morning assembly each day this area is full of NonSungSriTani's 2000+ students.

Taken from the 2nd floor balcony outside of our office. The school campus is beautiful. It looks more like a college campus than a highschool.

We are brought up to the English department, “the office.”
“Here are your desks,” say our beaming Thai teachers. “Ajarn (teacher) Gowit can make the schedule for you to teach next week.”
“So, are the students here during vacation?”
“No, no. Not on vacation.”

Tim and I begin to piece it together bit by bit as we ask the same questions in different ways.
The students have been back from vacation since Thursday (the day before). We are indeed at school, on a school day meeting teachers, assistant directors and being shuffled around campus in front of students. First impressions are important. We are dying.

After we wai each person that we are introduced to we try to explain that we were not expecting to come to school, we have been on a bus all day, we don't look very nice...

We get the impression that the English department wants to have a welcoming dinner. We express that we would like to buy a nice shirt, our bags are in Bangkok and we would like to change before dinner. The school wants to buy us some King's shirts (I will never escape uniforms and dresscodes). The yellow polo King's shirt is worn on Mon and Tues. The good news is I can wear pants on these days. Whoo-hoo!

We are driven to a shop and we try to find clothes. “Pants, are pants okay?” I ask Ajarn Dang. “No, pants. Skirts” Language barrior #? I've lost track at this point. Actually pants are okay with the King's shirt. I learned this from my neighbor P.O., she's a teacher and a God-send. More about her later. So I buy a black skirt and a King's shirt. Tim gets a pair of dark brown pants and his King's shirt. We are ready for dinner. Well almost.

We are taken to our house and shown around. It is fantastic, I'll describe it later. The two teachers Ajarn Dang and Ajarn Puchilom wait while we shower. Oh, the pressure!
We shower, put on our new clothes and we are driven to dinner.

Turns out to be just the four of us, not the big English Dept dinner like we thought they were telling us. We didn't need to dress up at all. Not sure how that was miscommunicated, but we were delighted to be in clean clothes anyway.

They order dinner for us and we, finally for the first time since we arrived, began to relax. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and some conversation, sometimes understanding one another and sometimes not, but smiles dominated the evening. They told us that Thai culture is “relax” and we “can be okay.” And we were. Very okay.

Ban Phe to Laos...

2006-11-02T03:08:00.000-07:00

Taken from one of our favorite places to eat and drink with friends. Thai kids playing on the beach in Ban Phe.

Melians Beachside cafe. Great Pad Thai and happy hour.

Lisa at Sue's Seaside Cafe. Our favorite lunch spot. All you can eat, 30 baht and ladies first. Neither are customary here in Thailand.

Hmm...where to begin. Once again we have let too much time pass between now and our last update. Diligent and loving though you all may be, I know that I could not pack in all the things we have been up to and have you stop to read about it. If you are anything like me (Lisa) you skip over long e-mails and such to read later when you have more time. The problem is that sometimes (most-times), later never comes. So, in honor of my lazy self, I will try to keep this short, sweet and limited only to the best of the best.

Leaving Ban Phe:

Our Hotel, Pines Beach...a novel in itself.

Tim won the Mr. Media Kids award for his fabulous teaching skills. I am proud to mention that he earned the nickname “Teacher Tim,” from the folks that observed him teaching during our training. When he was presented with the Media Kids sash (much like the dmns dubbing sashes) the whole room was chanting “Teacher Tim, Teacher Tim.” It was a riot.

Teacher Tim, exhausted but still smiling.

Our walk from the hotel to teacher training. Dog dodging was the name of the game. Write and ask for pictures if you are interested.

Dear Mamma. This was our surogate mother. She made the best breakfast in town. Mamma is a type of noodle and the name of her food shop but she let us call her Mamma anyway.

Birthday party in Ban Phe. This evening ended up in the hotel pool. Thank goodness for chlorine!

We managed to pawn off 7 of our bags on Media Kids so we could travel light to Laos. Yes!
By the way, 4 of those are work bags (2 of our own and 2 we acquired from Media Kids, full of curriculum).

Laos:
Essential background info.
A. 15ish of us were crossing into Laos to get Immigrant B work visas for Thailand. I do not understand why you have to leave the country for this, but you must.
B. It costs $30 American dollars to get into Laos. Or the equivalent in Baht. Dollars are best.
C. The company we have been hired by brought the money for this transaction and were doling it out to those who had finished their paperwork. Slow Jones failed to grab onto the free-flowing $10s and $20ies and select $100s.

“The system”
1. You go to one window to receive the proper paperwork.
2. Fill it out, don't mess up.
3. You go to another window to hand it to a gruff man.
*Note: This gruff man may choose to ignore you for a solid 5 minutes (and he did). Although it had nothing to do with me, I could feel the eyes behind me in the long line piercing my back and trying to cause my instantaneous combustion so they could move up one in line.
4. Then, your paperwork, money and passport disappear for a duration of time.
*Note: Getting your paperwork through to window #1 does not mean that the others behind you will be processed after you.
5. A woman (or so I am assuming one was attached to the hand) slides open the same window that your original paperwork was passed through, gives 3 or 4 solid taps with passport in hand. 6. Hopefully you are watching because if you miss it, the magic hand will disappear along with your passport. Revert to #4.
*Note: The magic hand is mysterious and unpredictable.

**If you give more than $30, you will not get your change until the magic hand produces it with your passport. This unforeseen part of “the system,” caused Lisa and an unlucky few to not have money until others were processed. (Refer to C on essential background info.)

7. You pass by a booth where your documents are scrutinized. If approved your passport will be vehiminatley stamped and scribbled on.
8. You will pass one last table where you can see a van load of hot people waiting for you to hurry up and received your final approval to enter Laos.

In short, we had to spend an extra night in Laos because by the time we all finished, the Thai embassy had stopped accepting visa paperwork.

Taken from the balcony of our hotel in Vientiane, Laos.

But it all worked out well in the end. We had fresh baguettes, wine, and hot showers in Laos. The people there were very friendly and Tim and I had some adventurous meals (ask us about this sometime). We also indulged in a sauna and massage located in a small hut surrounded by tropical flora. The people there spoke English incredibly well. When we asked where they had learned to speak, the answer was the spa itself. It attracted so many foreigners that not only do they speak English but Thai and French as well. Humbling.
I have to describe this quickly.
We were greeted in English, “Would you like a sauna and a massage?” We used two Lao phrases we know, “Sabai-dee,” (hello) followed by “yes, cup jai” (thank you).
The hut was built up off of the ground so a fire could be kindled underneath to create heat for the sauna. I would say the sauna could seat 6. We were given serongs to wrap up in and then we stepped into a steamy room that was impossible to see in at first. We sat in the sauna sweating like crazy and soaking up the smell of the fresh herbs they put in the steaming water. When it was too hot to handle we walked out into the hot Laos air which felt cool in comparison. We were offered a seat and some tea at a table horse-shoed with seating and other sweaty guests.
You may go into the sauna as many times as you want before you dry off and get your massage. Scrumptulescent, as Paul would say.

Okay, okay, I'm going to stop.

For you map lovers out there we were in the capital of Laos along the Mekong River, I'll let you look it up.

Ocean Creatures, Scrumptulescent! You may know them as Goldfish.

Market in Laos.

Best iced coffee in Southeast Asia so far.
I want more.

The Arch de Triumph of Laos given as a gift by the Chinese. It is larger than the one in France, partly to spite the colonizing Frenchies. Ha.

The ceiling of the arch. The first time we saw this it was at night and there was someone watching T.V. in the leg of the arch. Weird, someone lives in there.

You can climb the seven floors to the top for 3,000 kip (falong price), if you are Asian 2,000 kip. This is about 30 cents, a reasonable fare we thought.

This one is especially for Sherri, who requested more nasal shots.

What we've been up to, and other stories...

2006-10-14T01:02:00.000-06:00

I cannot believe that Tim and I have been here for three weeks already. Time has flown by! I have been admittedly terrible with e-mail. Sorry guys.

The things that have been taking our time and energy from our loved ones back home include our training classes, sitting through boring lectures (unless it's Suman's (shoe-men) class), teaching cute Thai kids, preparing lessons to teach cute Thai kids, comparing white sand beaches for softness and cheap accommodations, eating delicious dinners and sharing drinks with friends at sea-side cafes. In short, life here has been pretty good.

Oh yeah, and we had our TEFL test last Thurs. on which we had to transcribe Roman script into phonetics....lame.

So, Ban Phe (Ban Pay) is a pretty small and often a stinky little town with a slew of disgusting dogs. We'll have to take some pictures for you so you can see it for yourself, as they cannot be adequately described in words. We have considered phoning Bob Barker and suggesting he head up a special Thai spay and neuter project.

Some things we have learned since we arrived in Thailand:
1. How to order scrambled eggs (this took about 2 and a half weeks to discover). We ate many a fried egg before making this valuable discovery. In fact, this morning we even learned how to say it, not just gesture it.
2. What those hoses in the bathroom are for....yuck. This is a good lead in to #3.
3. Tim learned how to solve bathroom issues sans standard toiletries. More elaborately, without toilet paper, tissue, hose, or any shred of paper or lint that he may have been lucky to have in a pocket of his pants which hung helplessly around his ankles, he managed to "clean" himself "sufficiently." For those of you who don't mind more detail, read on, for those less interested, proceed to #4.
So, you daring soul.... Tim was teaching in a nearby rural school that apparently gives no regard to wiping or spraying the necessary area post-poop. Tim was unaware of this, and since this experience, does not proceed to a rural area without a small stash of tissue in a pocket (as Lisa already insisted). In this particular situation with pants at his ankles, he began to ponder just how large a bill he was willing to use in the cleaning effort... 20 baht?...50.... 100.?!!! Well, he finally decided to do as many Asians do... and this is why it is dishonorable to shake hands with your left. Imagine him trying to get his pants up and belt fastened with one "clean hand" and then appearing sheepishly from a stall searching and eventually finding a sink to wash in... um, no soap. Don't worry folks, we haven't gotten sick yet. I guess that's why Lisa brings tp and hand sanitizer everywhere.
4. Ice cream bars are cheap. Well, everything here is cheap.
5. Bring an umbrella, it will rain if you don't.
6. You don't pay 100 baht for a short lift (this we learned within the first 24hrs.) You can however get a 1 hour Thai massage for this same price (about $3.00)
7. Motor bikes are fun. Actually, we knew that already.
8. People just toot their horns, nothing personal.
9. Cold showers stink, even if it's really hot outside. It's hard to shave with goose bumps, the mosquito bites are challenging enough.
10. No matter how mangy, sad, and elephantine a homeless dog looks the Thais will let it live....well, persist.
One more for good measure...
11. Use the electric converter everytime.

We love you all dearly and hope you have had a good chuckle at our expense. Below you can find pictures of the people and schools with been teaching with.
Next time we'll share with you pictures of our school. It looks really nice.

Lisa and Tim

P.S. I have been wanting to write postcards but realized that in our hurried departure we gathered e-mail addresses but not postal. Send me your address if you would and will somebody please make sure Lana has this address? She left her e-mail on my phone, which I don't have anymore. Thank you!

This is one of the nicest Thail classrooms we've been in so far... whiteboard, large area, bookshelves.... sometimes it's nothing more than a dark room with a hopeless fan and warped, peeling chalkboard.

Elementary students (Pratham) playing outside school while the principal looks on.

Our friend Gen practice teaching. The girls here have to be really careful what they wear in the classroom, nothing that shows skin of the shoulders or knees or even hints at a shapely figure. We've decidid that despite their best efforts, some of the fine ladies in our group are "too sexy for their jobs."

We're pretty sure this is supposed to read "Fry Steam Bake Grill"

Chillin' between classes. Isn't Tim cute?

After a three days of teaching in this school the students presented us with songs and roses.

This is a daily sight in Thailand... you take your shoes off at the door, so schools look like this at the entrances. Just hope none of those sickly dogs doesn't make a deposit in your footwear while you're teaching.

Lisa snapped this shot of a cute Thai student who presented the English teachers with roses.

This is a friend Rob who's also teaching here. He's sporting his superhero-like goggles that he wears when he's on his scooter. Scooters are a major mode of transportation in Thailand. You'll often see entire families on one scooter... baby in a basket on front, toddler standing behind the handlebars, mom, dad, and older sibling riding on the seat. Yep, nuts.

Here we are, making this post on our blog for you to read... love you guys.

We've got pictures

2006-09-28T04:46:00.001-06:00

So you finally get to see some pictures. I'm no photographer, so I'll hand the camera off to Lisa more often. Below is a picture of our lovely training school in Ban Phe.

We are a stroll from the beach. The cool mornings are a particularly nice time of day to enjoy a jog or saunter. The skies are usually cloudy, but this only makes the occasional patch of blue sky even more welcome.

The local village has plenty of cafes and shop houses. This cafe "Mama's" is just across from our training school. The family runs the cafe and lives above the storefront. They have terrific banana pancakes, fruit and yogurt, eggs, and rice dishes that we've sampled so far.

First Post from Thailand

2006-09-26T21:52:00.000-06:00

Wow... that would about sum things up, but we'll try to be more elaborate.

We've been in teaching classes for only two days, but it seems much longer. We get up around 5:30am (yep, even Lisa) and have time to walk, eat, breakfast, and read before our classes begin at 9:00. We get a 1.5 hour lunch, which is necessary given that the little cafe's in the area (the only way to eat in Ban Phe) take their sweet time netting up some squid and making your soup.

The classes are over at 4:45, leaving up plenty of time to go out to eat and enjoy ourselves in town. We're also enjoying learning some Thai language as we live here.

Well, I've got to get back to class. More words and pictures later.

On our way to Thailand

2006-09-08T18:46:00.001-06:00

Leaving Soon!!!