Sorry for all the posts today. We have spent the entire day at our friend's house using their internet off and on. We don't have internet very often so whenever we do we try to do as much as we can.
Thai food certainly is interesting. Most things are pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of the super spicy things or the curry. The first few days here we ate at the preschool (where all the food for both schools is cooked). The food was delcious. We eat a lot of rice (sticky rice, fried rice, white rice, brown rice, rice patties, rice noodles, and my favorite sticky rice with mango which is like a dessert). Typically you get the rice or noodles, add a little meat, add some sauce or soup over the rice, put peanuts or vegetables on top. Cucumbers are served with every meal (I have to admit I'm getting a little tired of cucumbers). Once we went to observe at a public school and they were very gracious and served us lunch. They were very pleasant and hospitable. They served rice, chicken, and soup (very typical) with cucumbers of course and the very delicious blood. It was either chicken or pigs blood and they make it into a type of gelatin thing. We politely declined. As we sat down there were flies crawling all over the food. My friend/housemate Misty just looked at me and said we just have to have faith. So we gladly ate the food and "had faith" that we wouldn't get sick. (We didn't get sick by the way) It is still a funny memory. We there is much more to say but we are about to head home for the night.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Fourth of July Pictures
I wanted to show a picture of one of the motorcycle parking lots. This is only a small section of a motorcycle parking lot at Airport Plaza. There are hundreds of motorcycles all parked together where ever you go. 
There are a bunch of fun elephant statues in front of Airport Plaza.
This is some of the gang at the Fourth of July party at the consulate. Sarah, Kalena, Tessa, Brittany, and me.
My three great housemates! Sarah, Brittany, and Misty.
We got our makeup done for free pictures that turned out really cute. We were a little embarrassed to walk around all night with turquoise and pink makeup but it was fun. :)
There are a bunch of fun elephant statues in front of Airport Plaza.
This is some of the gang at the Fourth of July party at the consulate. Sarah, Kalena, Tessa, Brittany, and me.
My three great housemates! Sarah, Brittany, and Misty.
We got our makeup done for free pictures that turned out really cute. We were a little embarrassed to walk around all night with turquoise and pink makeup but it was fun. :)
Sunday Night Market
It is really hard to see but this is a cool walkway lined by trees and those lamps. 
At the market there are tons of street venders who sell just about anything. Masses of people just walk up and down the street looking and buying from the vendors.
Just a look at all the people at the market.
Statues and temples are found all around the city.
This is a food center at the Sunday Night Market.
At the market there are tons of street venders who sell just about anything. Masses of people just walk up and down the street looking and buying from the vendors.
Just a look at all the people at the market.
Statues and temples are found all around the city.
Mars Hill School Photos
This is a picture of the stairs at my school. Everyone has to take off their shoes at that middle landing so there is always a huge collection of shoes. 
This is a picture of the preschool next door (not the preschool that is connected with Mars Hill Academy) taken from the porch of my school.
This is the statue of Budda in front of our school (it is there because it was a public school before we started renting it).
This the porch at our school and all of our fifty two students. They are getting ready for a teacher appreciation ceremony.
This is a picture of my 2nd grade classroom (which I don't actually teach in and won't until Sep/Oct when the other teacher gets here.
This is a picture of the preschool next door (not the preschool that is connected with Mars Hill Academy) taken from the porch of my school.
This is the statue of Budda in front of our school (it is there because it was a public school before we started renting it).
This the porch at our school and all of our fifty two students. They are getting ready for a teacher appreciation ceremony.
This is a picture of my 2nd grade classroom (which I don't actually teach in and won't until Sep/Oct when the other teacher gets here.
Our House...continued
That is the house across the street, but ours is similar. We have a pink fence and pink tile in front of our house. ;)
This is our lovely bathroom (which we are thankful that it has a real toilet). However it is odd that they do not separate the shower (on the right side of the picture) from the toilet (the left side of the picture). It makes things interesting.
This is our only storage space for four people's groceries. We each get a little section.
This is our other kitchen area.
I took a picture of our stove (we don't have an oven) because I thought the brand name was funny. It is lucky flame, and it certainly lives up to its name because we are lucky if we get a flame out of it. ;)
Our house is good for our needs and we are thankful to have it provided for us. We hope to paint and make it a little bit more homey, but it is definitly a blessing.
This is our lovely bathroom (which we are thankful that it has a real toilet). However it is odd that they do not separate the shower (on the right side of the picture) from the toilet (the left side of the picture). It makes things interesting.
This is our only storage space for four people's groceries. We each get a little section.
This is our other kitchen area.
I took a picture of our stove (we don't have an oven) because I thought the brand name was funny. It is lucky flame, and it certainly lives up to its name because we are lucky if we get a flame out of it. ;)
Our house is good for our needs and we are thankful to have it provided for us. We hope to paint and make it a little bit more homey, but it is definitly a blessing.
Our House
<-- Our laundry room (yes that is where we do our laundry) 
Our back "kitchen"
Our front door (Our Thai tutor gets a kick out of the fact that only four of us live in this house but we have so many shoes out front) As you can see this door is also a place where we dry our clothes.
This broom serves as a clothesline. Pretty much very available space is used to hang clothes, especially if more than one person does laundry at a time.
Our front door (Our Thai tutor gets a kick out of the fact that only four of us live in this house but we have so many shoes out front) As you can see this door is also a place where we dry our clothes.
This broom serves as a clothesline. Pretty much very available space is used to hang clothes, especially if more than one person does laundry at a time.
Fourth of July
We had a great fourth of July, at times it even reminded me of home. We had two things to celebrate. First, the freedom of our country that was bought at a high price. Second, our independence here in Thailand. Since we got here we have been tied down without any transportation. We spent a lot of time calling our already extremely busy boss to come and pick us up random places often when our song tow (a form of public transportation) drops us off at weird out of the way spots. Our boss lent us his wife's car for our five day weekend. We were sooo excited! Learning how to drive here is a very scary prospect as there really aren't any rules or laws. People pretty much do what they want. To make it worse the cars are standards and completely opposite (since they drive on the other side of the road.) Sarah (one of my housemates) drove us to the office (the only place we get internet) but we were disappointed that the internet didn't work. But the biggest part of our day was spent at Tesco, the local Walmart type store. We don't get to go very often so it is always a big event. We ate in the food court, which is really pretty good. I even ordered halfway in Thai. After that, we spent hours searching for school supplies, groceries, and other necessities. I even got a fan!!! Which is really exciting since I don't have air con and it is often 94 degrees in my room.
After Tesco we met our boss and some other friends and went to the Fourth of July party at the American consulate. We got our makeup done and housemate pictures taken for free. We also had the choice of several American foods that we are otherwise unable to get here such as: cream soda and ribs. We felt like we were at home since nearly everyone there was American, but we looked up the mountains and trees reminded us that we were still in Thailand. The night ended with a good fireworks show. After a song tow took us back to our car we made a trip to Big C, the other Walmart type grocery, because our Thai tutor told us that there was a sale on isakriim (ice cream). We were pretty excited about an ice cream sale so we made a special trip.
So that was our fourth of July. We were definitely thankful for our nation's freedom and our freedom to travel wherever we wanted. It was Misty's (another housemate) first American fourth of July. She was amazed at how much food there was. Funny note: Towards the end of the night a man came around trying to get us to take free seaweed chips (they had tons leftover) we thought they should have realized that it was an American party and Americans aren't as fond of seaweed products as some other people in Thailand.
After Tesco we met our boss and some other friends and went to the Fourth of July party at the American consulate. We got our makeup done and housemate pictures taken for free. We also had the choice of several American foods that we are otherwise unable to get here such as: cream soda and ribs. We felt like we were at home since nearly everyone there was American, but we looked up the mountains and trees reminded us that we were still in Thailand. The night ended with a good fireworks show. After a song tow took us back to our car we made a trip to Big C, the other Walmart type grocery, because our Thai tutor told us that there was a sale on isakriim (ice cream). We were pretty excited about an ice cream sale so we made a special trip.
So that was our fourth of July. We were definitely thankful for our nation's freedom and our freedom to travel wherever we wanted. It was Misty's (another housemate) first American fourth of July. She was amazed at how much food there was. Funny note: Towards the end of the night a man came around trying to get us to take free seaweed chips (they had tons leftover) we thought they should have realized that it was an American party and Americans aren't as fond of seaweed products as some other people in Thailand.
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