third week...already

Monday 27th

Pissed down with rain for the first couple of hours of school. Couple of girls who had volunteered at Manaowan last year came back for a visit. Seemed really nice and the kids were happy to see them. The teachers took us all out for lunch at a restaurant near the school which was really nice. Saw a giant monitor lizard at the side of the road...didn't have my camera though. boo!

Tuesday 28th

No lessons today, instead went for a walk around the area surrounding the school with the kids. They were giving out leaflets reminding people to vote in the upcoming election...at least i think that's what they were! Despite the weather forecast predicting thunderstorms the weather was gorgeous which resulted in a lot of sweat and sunburn. Came home after lunch for some quality sunbathing hours and more sunburn...probably should have remembered suncream, the lobster look isn't too flattering! Finally got round to sending some postcards.

Wednesday 29th
Did time with the P5s, didn't really anticipate how hard it would be to teach. Think most of them got it by end though. Finally got around to buying a drink in a bag - most food places sell drink in glass bottles so if you're getting it to go they put it in a plastic bag - managed to spill quite a lot all over the balcony though. 

Second Week

Monday 20th
After staying in bed for a lot of the weekend, getting up at 7 again was pretty brutal, as was getting back on the bikes! Played basketball with the kids at lunch which was fun but very sweaty and needless to say I sucked at it. Getting outplayed by a bunch of 7 year olds was not one of my proudest moments! Also not cool was the fact that it started monsooning the minute we left the school and dried up as soon as we got home...ah well at least i didn't need to shower!

Tuesday 21st
Gave the parachute its first outing, played number and colour games with the P1, P2, P3...they enjoyed it a lot but I'm not sure the younger ones really knew what was going on! Had another game of basketball although it was abandoned fairly quickly as it was really too hot to do more than sit around and sweat. Finally met Suvanna, she seems really nice although we all had a bit of a panic when we were summoned into the director's office - felt like naughty kids! Had a couple of hours of quality sunbathing (read complaining about the heat and getting disgustingly sweaty) before heading out for tea with Kitty. We were given directions but ended up cycling aimlessly around town for a while until he spotted us and pointed us in the right direction...at which point i got stuck behind the slowest truck in Thailand, lost everyone and had to wait for Rosie to come back and rescue me. Tea was nice until Kitty decided to eat one of the chillis out of the soup and I, 2kw1 chilki queen, couldn't let a challenge like that pass. Bad idea! Oh well one day I'll learn. Spent a couple of hours in the internet cafe waiting out a fairly impressive thunderstorm.
Ok scrap that, storm lasted all night and featured a powercut during which we tried to convince ourselves that we actually weren't going to be murdered in our beds...

Wednesday 22nd
Slept really badly which resulted in being still fairly comatose by the time lessons rolled around at half nine. Bum hurts from the bikes and back hurts from a total lack of comfy seats! Got the P5s to write letters to be given to the kids back at Anstruther Primary. Arranged to meet up with a friend of the director on Sunday morning which pretty much buggers up our plans to go to Kanchanaburi. She's going to take us out to see the sights around Ang Thong which should be nice though.

Thursday 23rd
More letter writing with the P6s. Teaching P1 and P3 animals which involved making a lot of masks and covering the classroom in bits of paper...how is it possible for kids to make so much mess? Played parachute with P6 although most of the girls decided to stay inside and cry...no idea what was wrong, they couldn't or wouldn't tell us. Had a nap as it was too cloudy for sunbathing, sob!

Saturday 25th
Moaned about the lack of sun, finished my book and did generally bugger all! Got woken up by Rosie who thought a ghost was moving the clothes she was drying...we totally weren't scared!

Sunday 26th
Got taken on a tour of Ang Thong by Wasana, a friend of the school director. Went to see the big buddha and several temples. Fed some giant fish and accidentally killed a turtle...oh dear. Saw an elephant show in Ayutthaya which was wrong in all sorts of ways! Had a wander around the ruins of the ancient royal palace which was very pretty.

Bangkok

Saturday 18th
Slept in until ten which was beautiful after getting up at seven for the past week! Headed into Bangkok with Rosie, where we sat for about 2 hours in stationary traffic...naat cool! Finally arrived in Khao San Road and found a hotel for the night: 150 baht each got us a twin room with a shared bathroom, fairly basic but can't really complain. Went out for some food - macaroni - and had a look around the market before heading back to the room for a nap. Bought a bottle of Sangsom - cheap minging rum - and played cards for a while before we headed out - I lost a lot and ended up drinking most of the bottle...oops. Don't really remember a whole lot after that...further oops!

Sunday 19th
Sitting in a minibus for 3 hours while deathly hungover was never that high on my to do list...wonder why. Slept most of the afternoon and generally felt sorry for myself.

First Week(ish)

Ok so I 'll probably get bored of this in about 2 days but I have a couple of spare hours and this is more appealing than lying in a swety heap on the floor!

June
Sunday 12th
So after the 15 hour journey of death, which consisted of missing passengers, delayed flights and a lot of turbulence, I arrived in Bangkok airport tired and pretty much a nervous wreck. Needn't have worried though, got picked up and taken to Dennis and Suvanna - the co-ordinators' - house in a blissfully air-conditioned taxi.

Monday 13th
Next morning began with an orientation with Benita and Rosie, my fellow volunteers. This consisted mainly of being made to very loud and. very. very. slowly. Afterwards we had a two-hour journey, cramped up in a minibus with all our luggage, to our house in Wiset Chai Chan (read arse end of nowhere). The house is ok...apart from the fact that the fridge and the upstairs shower don't work. Once we'd had a couple of hours to settle in we were picked up and taken out to tea with Mr Kitty, the school's english teacher.

Tuesday 14th
First day of school! Left the house at 8 to cycle the 2 miles to school. We were told by Suvanna that the first day would just be for having a look round the school to see what was what...so of course we were given a full day of classes to teach! It was predictably hectic but fairly successful, the kids seemed really nice and eager to learn, if not a bit easily distracted. After classes finished we were taken up to the temple for a rehearsal of the "teachers' day" assembly which was to take place on Thursday.

Wednesday 15th
Was much the same as the day before: 3 hours of classes and another afternoon of assembly practice...joy! Spent the afternoon sunbathing and reading before heading up to the 7/11 to buy copious amounts of water and junk food.

Thursday 16th
Thursday was "teachers' day" which was essentially a big assembly which lasted all morning. Parents were also invited. And monks...lots of monks! Between the fact that it was all in Thai so I understood about 3 words, and having to introduce ourselves in front of the whole school, teachers, monks and other assorted guests it wasn't my favourite activity so far! Still, we had a nice lunch with the teachers and had the afternoon off...for some more sunbathing and another 7/11 run.

Friday 17th
Back to normal classes. Teaching the older kids "I can", "I have" etc and doing "My name is" with the younger ones. Pretty sure they understand most of it but it can be fairly difficult to tell as they're very good at repeating but reluctant to say if they're struggling. Spent most of the evening planning a weekend trip to Bangkok.