July 8 - 10

July 8

Started my second week of teaching today. On the way to school Bu and I stopped to get our hair washed. Today I had the first grade class and two third grade classes, and then practiced with the students who are reading Little Red Riding Hood. I was feeling a bit under the weather today, so I didn’t have that much energy, but I am hoping it doesn’t turn into anything because I was feeling a bit better by the evening. There was another big rainstorm tonight. There are some tables at the front of the house (where we often eat breakfast) under a roof, and I enjoy watching the storms start from there. I took some pictures of very dark and dramatic clouds before the storm started. Besides for the first few days I was here, there has been at least one rainstorm every day (sometimes multiple ones). Generally, it looks very ominous for a while, starts raining hard suddenly sometimes with thunder and lightening, and then stops after about 15-20 minutes.

July 9

Fortunately, I am feeling pretty much back to normal today. I was teaching the fifth grade classes today (one of them twice). We did the hokey pokey again today, which the kids really liked. Then we reviewed some foods and learned some adjectives describing foods and the kids did a worksheet that I had made. Then we made bingo boards and played bingo! Since I am teaching all the students in the school (over 200)—each class sees me one or two times a week, it can be hard to get to know the students. However, there are several students who I have gotten to know a bit better, like the two students who are practicing Little Red Riding Hood, and another fifth grade girl who seems to have a bit more advanced English level and is sometimes hanging out in the classroom in the afternoon. There was also a group of students last week who were really into teaching me Thai by doing charades, after we had done charades in English.

After school, Bu and I stopped at a friend’s house to make another Thai dessert called Gra tahm cha im. This dessert uses a fruit called gra tahm in Thai (not sure what it is in English, as I have never seen it before), which is orange and quite sour. We simmered the fruit in a sugar-water mixture and then added peanuts and sesame seeds. It has to chill overnight in the fridge, so I have not tried it yet, but I imagine it will be tasty.

When we got back to the house, Fluk was cutting open some coconuts, which he had just harvested, so we drank some coconut water and ate fresh coconut. Fluk is about 13 and also lives here, Bu told me he is her grandchild, but I think she means cousin. Also, I was a bit confused about Bu’s brother: there is a man who lives here who I thought was her older brother, but it turns out Bu’s brother is 18 and is in high school (he also lives here, but I didn’t see him around much the first few days I was here). I think the other man must be Bu’s uncle.  A lot of family to try and keep straight!

Then we went to an outdoor market. There is a weekly schedule of outdoor markets, each in a different location. On Sunday, there is a big market a short walk from the house. Then there is a small market today, which is a bit further away (beyond Bu’s father’s school). On Wednesday, there is the biggest market of the week, which we missed last week because of the rain. Then there is a medium sized market on Thursday. Generally there are lots of stalls selling fruits and veggies, stalls with various prepared foods/snacks/desserts, and some stalls selling clothes and shoes. Also, there is usually a stall or two selling fresh fish and seafood. I asked Bu about this, since we are not that close to the ocean here, and she said that they drive the seafood up for the market (her family seems to cook with fish and seafood frequently).

We picked up a dessert at the market that consisted of coconut milk with thin slices of squash floating in it (yum!). Using vegetables in desserts seems to be quite common here, in particular, including corn in desserts seems like a favorite.

July 10

Today I had the 6^th grade and 2^nd grade classes—so more hokey pokey, Pictionary, charades and worksheets! By the time I do a song with all the classes (and since the hokey pokey is ideally kind of fast—I’m doing it at least twice with each class), I am doing the song a lot of times! Actually, I’m not doing the hokey pokey with 1^st and 2^nd grades, and so I’m doing “head, shoulders, knees, and toes” with them again. I tried Old McDonald had a Farm with 2^nd grade today, but I don’t think it went that well because it wasn’t active enough. Any ideas of active songs for kids that also do not have complicated lyrics?

After school today, we went to the big Wednesday market. We ran into another English teaching volunteer there from France—the first time I have seen another foreigner here! I chatted with her for a bit, she is in university and her program requires that they do some volunteering, so she is here for three months. Actually, it turns out that there are 18 other French people who are volunteering in this province for the summer (I assume from her same program), although I haven’t seen any of the others. Bu was complaining that she had a very hard time understanding her accent, but I guess there are a lot of kids here learning French-accented English this summer!

Then back to the house where I read for awhile. The living room has chairs and benches that have intricate dragons and serpents carved in the back, and I like to sit in one next to the window and read in the afternoon. The highlights of dinner were the snacks and fruit that we picked up at the market. We had some freshly made soymilk, a coconut-pumpkin custard, mangosteens, and pineapple. I must admit that after having rice three meals a day since I got here (except for a couple times when we had rice noodles instead) and usually tasty but often quite similar dishes with the rice, I am getting ready to have some other styles of food pretty soon. I am still enjoying the fruits and snacks very much, I am not tired of those at all.