Some random ramblings.

Good day faithful readers!

hahahahahahahahahahaha

Well, it has been (almost) two full weeks at Niva and time sure does fly!  In the past 13 days I; started in a grade 1 class learning the names of the students and their routines; moved to grade 3; struggled with absent unit and lesson plans; created lesson plans for 5 subjects for the week; started planning for Heritage Day; volunteered as a helper for U13G volleyball; got a bank account, ID card and physical; created/administered a math quiz, math test and spelling test; showed the kids how to make paper snowflakes AND learned all the names of my students...PHEW!

Emily and I wake up at 5:15am to get to school for 6:30am for volleyball tryouts and stay until 4:30pm because here we have tryouts twice a day.  Some days we walk home (50mins) or walk half way (25mins) or depending on the time we taxi the whole way home.  We try to hit the gym and/or pool every other day.  We walk over to the grocery store (10mins) and we prepare dinner at home most nights.  I am sure once we are more familiar with our neighbourhood we will eat out more than we do, but it is a very comfortable routine.

This weekend we are going in to Bangkok to the MBK mall...pictures to follow...on Saturday.  Sunday we are hoping to go to Pattaya.  It is the closest beach.  There are a number of coves, islands, tourist areas near there.  I would like to visit Ko Samai and Krabi but maybe not this weekend.  We cannot make up our minds whether it is a lying on the beach, windsurfing, or something else kind of weekend, but I will let you know Sunday night!  :D

Thank you for joining us on our adventure. 
ps  If you look closely at the picture of the basketball court you will see Emily in her bright pink shorts practising volleyball with Coach Apollo.



I am so official NOW.

My Classroom - need to get some decorations.
Hence the trip to Bangkok

This snail is as big as my toe!

Our local Shopping Mall

When we decide to 'go to the Mall', here's where we go: http://www.fashionisland.co.th/
It is HUGE!  Although we have been there a half dozen times we have not seen even a 1/4 of the place.
These are a few photos of the inside to give you an idea of the size.  Right now there is a carnival going on with an 'open-air market' type thing with a lot of food vendors.  It is amazing.
We went to the movies on Wednesday which was totally different.  First of all, Wednesday is cheap night not Tuesday, each ticket is 100 baht ($3.15) and you choose your seat from the interactive seating plan.  The popcorn was delicious and the seats were like La-Z-Boy recliners.  Although, if you were with that someone special you could spend 120 baht and get a couch!  The movie was supposed to start at 6:30pm, but there were 1/2 hour of previews plus the national anthem.  So the movie didn't actually start until just past 7:00pm.
Talk to y'all soon!



How many floors do you count? If you can believe, there are only 4!

Just a few of the vendors

We chose these seats and they were perfect!









Walk

So, on Sunday 18 August, we took a little walk and what did we see?
Why the Festival Walk plaza of course!



(This place is a 20 min walk from our home)

Cool Thai pants!

Chatuchak Market

We went to Chatuchak market on Saturday...the world's largest weekend market.  And they are not kidding.
It was a-maze-ing!  Literally it is like a maze and while we didn't get lost we certainly got turned around.  Hundreds upon hundreds of stalls with everything from food to handcrafted items in wood, ceramic, glass, wool and rope to crafting items, pets and electronics.
I got a 100% cashmere pashmina for 100 baht (approximately $3.20) and 5 DVDs for $5.00!  Emmy picked up RayBans for $4.00.  We saw the most beautiful handcrafted solid teak carvings and original canvas paintings.
We have to go back and back and back it was that good. When we were leaving, the heavens opened up and we were soaked within 2 minutes.  But 5 minutes later the clouds had left and it was a lovely evening.

  

Ch-ch-ch-changes

You never know....
Emily had a bad day on Thursday (August 15); we overslept, she missed her bus, she dropped her phone twice and the second time the battery popped out and fell in the crack between the elevator door and the elevator (fortunately the maintenance man was right outside and he was able to climb down the elevator shaft and retrieve the battery), she forgot a water bottle which is a necessity around here, had to take a cab to school thus was stuck in traffic--all before 8:30am!  Poor dear.

Anyway, all this plus a little homesickness made her a little sad.  The teachers were wonderful and very supportive.  So was the principal who called me to set up a parent-principal meeting to discuss Emily.  Mr. Anthony was very nice.  We had a long chat which turned into a job interview!

I have decided to take a teaching position (grade 1) at Emily's school NIVA IS (the IS is for International School).  This decision was not made lightly as I had to consider the impact this would make on everything however in joining the new school, I will be with Emmy which is most important.  School breaks match up, the schedule is better (except we have to be at school at 7am) and the pay is much more attractive.

All in all what started out as a bad day ended on a very high note indeed.  Therefore always try to be positive because you just never know!

First days!

Hello everybody!
Well, yesterday was my and Emily's first day at school.
First my school; the staff are really friendly and young (hahahaha), very helpful and most of us are Canadian (apparently I helped tip the scales).  I have two classes P 1/5 and P 1/6 to whom I teach English, Math and Science.  The /5 or /6 represents their level in grade 1, these kids are the top kids.  The difficulty with teaching here is that it is QUITE normal and acceptable for the kids to call out, talk during lessons and get up and move around.  They talk when I do and generally are really, really noisy...Ms. Nicole has a headache!  Any and all suggestions for classroom management will be greatly appreciated.

Emily has made some new friends (names later).  She is enjoying her classes thus far except Thai for foreigners.  This class is not a newbie-beginner learn Thai, rather it is for students who have a grade 1 or 2 equivalent.  Poor Emily, she has no Thai but is able to switch out of the class and is going to do so tomorrow.  The students ask whether her hair is her own colour because blonde is very rare here.  She has been complimented on her hair, eyes and legs so far!  hehehe My little movie star.

Morning traffic - see the flag? That's my school.  I walk because it is only 20 mins away and faster than driving.

One of my classes. P 1/5

The front of the school (view from my class).

Emily on her first day at NIVA IS.

 Silly Emmy!  hehehe

Mother's Day and the Grand Palace

First of all let me say...today was way hot!  34 degrees felt like 45 with the humidity.

We went in to Bangkok to the Wat Phra Kaew (a temple in the outer section of the Royal Enclosure of the Grand Palace).  Before we could go in however, we had to get "polite clothing" for Emily as she was wearing shorts and a tank top.  She had to wear a shirt covering her shoulders and a long skirt.  These items are available to borrow.  Poor Em, she just about melted in the heat.

According to tourism literature, it is a temple in the Royal compound.  Within the walls, are other temples including one home to The Emerald Buddha which is the only one open to the public.  There is no photography allowed within the temple and you have to remove your shoes because it is a very holy place.  When we went inside, there were signs asking for quiet as there are people praying.  It was absolutely beautiful!

We took pictures of the various buildings within the walls but I am not sure which building is which.  Suffice it to say these are all really important and old and Beautiful.  There is an area called the Balcony which has hand-painted murals on the wall (some of the artwork is shown below).

The tour ended at the Grand Palace.  And it was amazing.  It even had Thai 'beefeaters'!  We took a taxi home and while we were stopped in traffic, the driver bought a bag of something from a guy walking between the cars.  Turned out to be fried banana which he shared with us.  Delish!

 

Sunday August 11, 2013

Hello everybody!
Sad, sad news; CBC.CA does not stream Coronation Street in Thailand!  Almost packed my bags and went home.  lol

Anyway....we did get our internet and TV hooked up today.  So that was (kind of) good news.  We went for a little walk around our neighbourhood and took a couple of pictures.  The weather here has been very hot and humid every day with an amazing thunderstorm each night. 

Emily and I swim in the pool and go to the gym everyday and walk over to the Index Living Mall for groceries.  It's not a far walk (8mins), but no one here walks and we get taxis honking at us each and every time.  We just laugh.  Yesterday we walked further into the mall than on previous visits and found it is attached to another mall - THE WALK - construction just being completed.  It's beautiful.  We had cheesecake and smoothies at the Secret Garden café; delish!  Les, you will love the food.

We are heading in to Bangkok tomorrow for the Mothers' Day festival which is really the Queen's birthday, but they call it mothers day.  We will take a little walking tour around Bangkok and take lots more pictures.

Emmy and I miss you all.
Talk to you soon.

ps. If you want to text, please download an app called line.  It's free.  My username is nicolewilliams.

New 'CCC Park' across street from home

The Cool House Pub down the road        

Soccer Land also down the road.