finally...

Finally, I have the internet at home again -but who knows how long this false sense of security will last?

Tip: ludicrously, the new windows XP service 2 version actually has a bug in it which prevents you from accessing the internet. Of course, there is a patch available to solve the problem however you can only download it from the internet - hand up anyone who sees a vicious circle appearing?! I said hand, you dirty thing in the back there!

Anyway, can also finally post those Loy Krathong pics...

First of all, I presume I ought to actually explain what Loy Krathong is all about however, I am not 100 percent sure myself as noone tells us anything. Two weeks ago I was under the impression it was to commemorate the dead however last week I found out it was to give thanks so, you know, don't quote me on this. So, at present, it is to give thanks and they celebrate by making Krathong which are like floating things made of what looks like grass and leaves and they put a candle and some flowers in the middle of it and send it down the river. We had the entire day off teaching, which was nice and the kids had beauty competitions where the girls dressed up in traditional Thai dress and singing and dancing competitions which necessitated cheerlederesque co-ordination but, they are like 10 years old so I'm not sure the dancing was quite the extravaganza they thought it was. It certainly has become apparent that Thais like to put on a show but the effort is somewhat half hearted, the end result being a whole day of laughable routines and techincal mishaps and kids scratching their arses on stage and what-not. I found it the greatest teaching day in Thailand ever of course but possibly not for the desired reasons of the hosts of the event.

A nice thing to come of it was that we truly felt like we were part of the school for the day. All the parents in attendance were eager to oggle us and seemed very excited to meet us and I had the pleasure of meeting the British father of my little goody two shoes!

As an aside, incidentally when I asked him on Friday what he was doing for the long weekend he replied thus: "well Miss Hardcastle, I might have a spot of breakfast and then mainly I shall be reading during the weekend. I love books, especially science books, that's my passion, you see I want to be a scientist" This kid is a riot. I was just thinking to myself the other day how I truly have never come across such an honest and particularly forthright person, I mean he loses points for his own team by reporting them, he doesn't do it in any way because he is an arse he does it simply because they are doing something wrong and he feels this strong pull to do something about it. And he is only 9!

Back to meeting the parents...

So, TB and I were approached, I teach the son and TB teaches the 5-year-old daughter, and it was nice to have the father thank us for teaching his kids and comment on what an honourable job it is and then he looks at me and smiles and I just know something is coming. He chuckles to himself and says the first day his son returned from school he said "Dad, I think my new English teacher is a Celt" when asked why he replied "because she got really angry at one point and started banging the board!". Clearly, TB thought it was super amusing but then the tables were turned when he mentioned what the girl said after her first day of school. They asked what her teacher's name was and she couldn't remember she knew it was Mr Something so she told them it was Mr Donut! (which is the name of a donut store here).

The first pic is of one of my P1 students. Ordinarily, she is the most demure little creature in the world. Firstly, I wondered who the hell it was waving at me shouting teacher! teacher! 1. they never tire of doing it no matter how many times they see you in a day and 2. I have discovered that you don't actually have to be their teacher to warrant being shouted at enthusiastically, and I just didn't recoginse her with all that make-up on. It is quite scary how a tonne of make-up on a 7-year-old can drastically alter their appearance and boost them up to at least 13.

I'll only put a couple of pics each time as I find if I put more they all get crapmed up the top and it looks a bit silly. Plus, I took 58 pics on this day alone, we ahve a lot of ground to cover.

The second picture is of a bunch of my P1 girls. These it hs to be said are some of my nicest students, funny, enthusiastic, they take their time colouring inside the lines, that kind of thing. They are wearing the school uniform which makes them look like they should be attending some sort of early learner's marine corps and honestly the things they wear on scout day - Thursday -is unbelievable.

Well, I'm pretty much all Loy Krathong'ed out for the moment. I have a fantastic video of my kid doing the singing dancing thing but it won't attach, I'll have to keep trying...

till the next time...