1, 2, cha cha cha!

This past weekend we had English camp at my school.  Ours was solely for Matyom 2 students (8th grade) but English camp is a popular event in Thai schools. The purpose seems to be to emphasize the use or need for English, and is done through a variety of fun activities, mostly games.  It was up to Jessie, Alexis, and I to plan English camp, but since I had not done one before, I followed in the footsteps of Jessie and Alexis.  Our theme was “Heroes and Adventures”.  We had eight stations, each led by a foreign English teacher (myself included).  Since there are only three of us at PCC, I had to call on my fellow ETAs to come up and help out.  Jamie and Sarie came up for the weekend, and Alexis’ two friends from her program, Chris and AJ, agreed to help as well.

English camp was a lot more fun than I could have ever expected. I thought it was going to be awful.  I thought the day was going to drag on and on and on.  Luckily, none of that happened. Instead of our camp lasting the whole weekend, we started in the afternoon on Friday and ended Saturday night. We had Sunday to ourselves!

Camp began with us leading the opening ceremony Friday afternoon. We taught the students camp cheers and songs, such as “Baby Shark” and “Peel Bananas”.  We broke them up into their groups where they had to create a team banner that included a picture of the superhero they created, as well as their team’s song.  The Superheroes created included Flex, who had the power of super strength, the Hulk, who was stretchy, Tarzan (I don’t remember his power), Iceman, the ability to freeze things, and sadly, I cannot remember the others. Oh, one had the ability to talk to animals, there was Fireman, and one had the ability to make people fall in love (although the superhero was a pig…).  Then, we were off to the Night Bazaar, where students had to interview foreigners, and learn new vocabulary words while they shopped. They were so excited, since they never get to leave school (I work at a boarding school).  I’m not sure if they were more excited to be off campus, to do some shopping, or the fact that they got to eat at the Night Bazaar rather than have the cafeteria food for dinner.

Saturday was a jam-packed day, which of course meant that we started bright and early.  A traditional (and delicious!) Thai breakfast at 7:30am, and by 8:30am we were each at our stations ready to start rotation #1. Since our theme was “Heroes and Adventures” our stations had to of course reflect that theme. So, we had a relay race station called “Save the Day” in which students listened to various “superhero scenarios”, had to find the corresponding picture, and be the first team to put the picture in their superhero box. There was “blind hero” in which students were blinded and lead through an obstacle course by their “superhero” partner. “Battle cry” consisted of students creating their own superhero -themed song from a list of words.  Once their song was finished, they had to act it out while they sang.  Musical instruments were provided. “Superhero Says” (Simon Says but with superhero actions like “kicking” “flying” etc) and charades (superhero-themed) were two other stations.  “My Amazing Superhero” consisted of students creating their own funny story about their specific superhero (kind of like mad libs).  There was also “Cha Cha Superslide” which was the Cha Cha Slide, you know the song, “slide to the left, slide the right, criss cross!” 

I taught the cha cha slide, which was exhausting, but also fun and hilarious. I couldn’t really re-name the dance steps after superhero actions, because I would’ve had to re-record the song.  So instead, I tied it into the whole superhero theme by telling the students that superheroes LOVE to dance in their free time, and that their favorite dance is the cha cha slide! I was there to teach the students how to dance just like superheroes! It was a lot of fun.  I got crazy into it, exaggerating my emotions, demanding more energy from the students. I felt like an aerobics instructor, and by the end of each 30 minute rotation, I was sweating and a bit tired, but it was great. Oh, did I mention that I taught this for 4 hours in a row? Yeah.  But the kids had fun; they were smiling, laughing, and getting into it, so that’s really all that matters. They probably thought I was on crack for having so much energy, but I did hear them say to the other teachers, “teacher Leah is so much fun! She is so STRONG!” So, although it was hot out, I’m glad they had fun, and I think I was able to show them that learning English can be fun and is useful.  Needless to say that by the end of the day I was exhausted and felt like I had been working out for hours! J

The Cha Cha Slide song is STILL stuck in my head….

A Thai Holiday Season

My holiday season was filled with lots of time off. So much so, that I only taught classes for one week in December.  How did this happen?  Well, the first week of December was Sports Day, the second week we had off for the King’s birthday and Constitution Day, the week after that I actually had to teach, then it was midterms (I gave out my exam all week long), followed by a week off (only for the foreign teachers though). The last week in December was the actual midterm week, but there wasn’t enough room in the schedule for my class (Listening and Speaking) to have the exam then, so I got that week off.

Spending my first “holiday season” away from home was interesting.  First off, it was very strange being in a hot climate during the month of December. I’m used to frigid weather, wearing sweats, and curling up in bed with a big mug of hot cocoa. Yet I did none of that here. I had to keep reminding myself that it was December, because there were no signs of it here. No frost on my windows, no snow on the ground, no icicles hanging from the trees or the roofs of houses.

My holiday season started off with Hanukkah.  Or rather, my attempt to bring Hanukkah to Thailand. I tried my best to teach my students about Hanukah.  I even taught them how to play dreidel and gave each and every one of them a dreidel to play with. Did they understand the meaning of Hanukkah?  Probably not, considering they don’t even know what the word Jewish means. In one class, I basically acted out the story of Hanukkah.  Yes, I single-handedly acted out the Maccabees fighting King Antichious and the Greeks. I think my students thought I was on crack.

Hanukkah made me feel a little homesick, mostly because I haven’t found a single Jew here in Chiang Rai. So it was a bit weird (and a little sad) not seeing a menorah anywhere in town.

However, like the good Jew that I am, I got into the Christmas spirit. We had an office Christmas party on the 24th and we even did Secret Santa. I had Jessie, so I got her four pairs of earrings from the night market (she likes to wear big, fabulous earrings). P’Kop had me. I was worried about this, because the day before our party she asked me if I would like to lose weight… so  I was obviously terrified that she was going to get me diet pills.  Not only is this a horrifying gift to receive, but knowing that we were going to have to open our gifts in front of one another, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears if she actually got me diet supplements or something.  Thank goodness she did NOT get me that.  Instead, she got me coffee and a coffee mug. Perfect, something I will use!

Christmas was a little depressing, because both Jessie and Alexis’ families were here.  Jessie’s parents were visiting and so was Alexis’ sister.  So, I was basically alone. Not to fear, P’Pie invited me to a Christmas/birthday party on Christmas Eve, which was fun, and I basically just ate Thai food (while Thai people stared at me and said I looked like Michelle Obama) for three hours. On Christmas Day, Santa Cait (Caitlin, woo!) came to town.  She actually came on Christmas Eve, and while I was still at my Thai party, she decorated my “living room” with Christmas lights, a cute little paper Christmas tree sent from home, wrapped presents, and some treats. SO CUTE and such a great replica of Christmas in America.  On Christmas Day, we met up with Jessie and her parents at the Chiang Rai Flower Festival (beautiful), then found a little noodle shop for lunch, and headed home to celebrate Christmas.  We opened up our gifts, made hot cocoa with candy canes, and cuddled in my bed while watching Love Actually.  A perfect Christmas Day! For dinner, we went to this guy’s restaurant, Thai-Texas.  John, is from Texas and his wife is Thai.  They own a restaurant here in Chiang Rai (Thai-Texas).  Caitlin and I ran into John and his wife  a week before at the Walking Street where he told us all about his restaurant and how farangs usually go there for dinner on Christmas.  Lured by the thought of a roast pork loin, we headed off to Thai-Texas for our Christmas dinner. Although instead of ordering something “Christmas-y” like the pork loin, Caitlin had enchiladas and I had a double-cheeseburger with fries.  Don’t judge, it was delicious. Some rice pudding and our Christmas cocktail of rice-whiskey and passion fruit, and it was a glorious evening.  We even hung out with a British couple who are traveling (literally) around the world for two years.

So, there you have it, my holiday season: a mixture of East and West this year!

Christmas Party at the office. Showing off our Secret Santa gifts.

At the Flower Festival with Jessie and Catilin

New Years Eve

Part of the view and part of the resort

 A lot has happened over the past month. Don’t worry, it’s all been good/amazing things. Yet since a lot has happened, that means there is so much I haven’t written about.  However, I figured it would be easier to start at the end and work my way up.  Plus, I still can’t believe where I spent my New Years, so I’ll start with that.

New Years Eve was f---ing fantastic.  I’m not trying to build it up or make anyone jealous.  I’m telling the absolute honest truth when I say it was wonderful, beautiful, glorious, fantastic, and exceptional.  It was also the classiest party I’ve been to for New Years since my sophomore year of high school. Okay, here are the details.

I was fortunate enough to spend NYE with my wonderful Fulbright Fam courtesy of P’Ngae, a Thai Fulbright alum.  P’Ngae knows everyone in Thailand, so it was of no surprise when she invited us to spend NYE at her friend’s resort in Chiang Rai. Her friend owns Puchchaisai, a resort on Doi Mae Salong (a mountain, “doi” means “mountain” in Thai).  This resort was literally on top of a mountain, overlooking all of Chiang Rai. Can you say, ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS?! We stayed in the owner’s house, which is made entirely of clay/mud, adobe-style. Beautiful. The house was all open-air with endless views of the mountains. Seriously, while you showered you looked out at the mountains, same with the bedrooms, and the kitchen. It was just stunning.



For NYE we attended a party at the resort, which was filled with drinks, a large buffet, live music, and of course dancing (although it should me noted that we, the Americans, were the only ones dancing. Well, us and two drunk Thai girls that we befriended).  So I rang in the New Year at an outdoor party, on the top of a mountain, in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

We spent New Years Day bamboo rafting down the river that runs through the mountains. Our guides were members of the Akha hill tribe. I had done some bamboo rafting in Kanchanburi, but that was crap compared to this. This was legit bamboo rafting. Like, long pieces of bamboo stalks tied together that I sat on while we floated down the river (the oars were also just long bamboo stalks). It was beautiful, peaceful, and serene. Lunch, was also amazing.  Fitting with the theme of this resort, which I would describe as outdoorsy-but-classy, we had a traditional Akha hill tribe lunch, which used all natural elements to cook and eat the food. Everything was cooked and eaten using some part of bamboo.  The food was cooked in bamboo/banana leaves, our place mats were bamboo/banana leaves, the food was served either in carved-wood trays or in leaves, and our utensils were our hands! Oh and the cups and serving spoon were both carved out of bamboo. Did I mention we ate in an open-air “hut”? Just glorious. I kept having to ask myself “is this REAL?”

 It should be mentioned that I have never, EVER considered myself an outdoorsy person, but being in Chiang Rai where I am surrounded by beautiful mountains and lush rice fields, it’s such a nice change from the city life. And being on top of that mountain was even better.  I felt calm and peaceful this weekend.  I did my senior thesis on the use of play and natural as learning tools in early childhood education.  Some of the articles on the use of nature in education discussed how just having a view of nature instantly made children feel calm, relaxed, at ease, and more focused. Such emotions and behaviors were enhanced when children had the opportunity to play outside in nature. I have definitely felt “nature’s effect” here in Thailand. Just getting on my scooter and riding down the highway that’s completely surrounded by rice fields and mountains instantly makes me feel calm, peaceful, and just happy. So, I’m enjoying the greenery; at least for the time being.

Once again, I feel like I’ve been on a lucky streak lately. I’m meeting so many wonderful people here, and having great experiences.  2010 was a fabulous year, here’s to 2011 being even better!

Health and Happiness to all in the New Year! xo

Bamboo rafting. Just straight up bamboo poles strung together.

Our delicious authentic Ahka lunch.

Roof of the house we stayed at.

Just part of the almost 360 degree view of the mountains we had

Part of the house

More rafting