Our One Month Anniversary!

Hello Everyone,

As you can see from my title, it has officially been one month since we have arrived. This month has been one of the most incredible months of my life, testing everything I have ever learned or believed. Many of the things I have witnessed or been apart of will stay with me forever, and have definately changed my view on the world and our role in it. Even though some days are hard, I would recommend an international placement for everyone.

Since it has been one month since we have been here, we have also found that the vacation feeling is over, and we actually live here now. This has lead us to do more regular things such as grocery shop and see a movie, but it has also lead to different feelings. When all of the fun tourist type of activities are eliminated, this job is a lot of work, both planning lessons, teaching, and controlling emotions. However, I am thankful for this experience.

I had a wonderful chat with mom and dad last night and am happy to report that the robotic milkers are going well. Hopefully everyone can start to get more sleep soon. It was also very nice to hear their voice on the phone. And as i said to Misty "Operation, get mom to come to Thailand - needs to step up in full gear."

This morning I have finally figure out why George would send two elementary teachers here. After getting ready while listening to children's music such as the bird dance and the hokey pokey, I have concluded that if he would have sent an elementary teacher and a secondary, only one may arrive home alive.

Yesterday we changed our schedule a little more. Misty and I are both very happy with the changes. We start teaching our first preschool class in a few minutes.
During the afternoon we ventured back over to Emporium to pick up Misty's camera and then decided to stop by the park. We made a joke about looking to see if we met any of our regulars since we have been there every day since Sunday. Well we did meet one of them! Mr. Norwegian Boy was there again and happy to see us. We still did not get his name so we decided to name him ourselves : Fransisco. So Fransisco is leaving tomorrow and that may have been the last time we will meet up with him in the park. Oh well, it was nice to have an english conversation with a fellow teacher.

Rec went a lot better yesterday. We did have over 40 children but they listened a lot better and really enjoyed our games. Well done. The new schedule will go into affect next week, which will mean that we will have more classes with fewer students.

In the afternoon I taugh some of the teachers how to make lesson plans. I also talked about activating prior knowledge. Barry Corbin would have been very proud.

Last night we went with one of the staff memebers and a teacher from the preschool for supper. The food was good and cheap. We will plan to visit there more often instead of Tesco.

Tomorrow morning, my accounting class invited me to go with them to help one of their mother's cook soy beans. I guess this is her speciality. I look forward to that.

I'm sorry this seems rushed today but I must go to the preschool. I'm hungry...and am actually craving rice now...life is sure changing. :)

Sending Love from Thailand!