So I'm 24 days in and I've spent the last two weekends in the backpacker area of Kanchanaburi city and this weekend in Bangkok (but that's another post in the making!)
First weekend in Kanchanaburi:
Well it rained and poured and rained a little more. Ok, I say a little but it was more like a constant shower of water since the Thursday night (just after a quick run to the Tesco Lotus for a pastry and ice cream). Roseanne and I met with Kate and Dave for an afternoon munch and had a really interesting catch up and 'getting to know you session' over a fresh fruit drink (passion fruit) and food. We were staying in a lush 650TB per night guesthouse called Noble Nights (little did we know that there were cheaper rooms and were a little mislead to taking the room for the whole weekend!) But at an awkward time of the month the comfort was much appreciated! A little bit of luxury in an air conditioned room and en suite not-so hot shower and English toilet made it a little hard to leave on Sunday but we knew the quicker we went back the sooner we could come back to a similar style (not so expensive) room. Apart from the home stay on Friday, we all adventured out on Friday evening to enjoy a little Western food at a bar on the backpacker strip. I literally devoured an omelette covering rice and chicken and a side of carbs (in other words fries) with a helping of the good old tomato ketchup. It was amazing, never loved food like I did that! After a meal (I'm making it sound like a posh affair but it weren't, we all yammed hard and moved towards the sofa for group bonding time!) Obviously after a week apart we all had a few stories to tell and a bit of steam to let off. Drink anyone?
So I don't really plan on drinking much while I'm out here (as I can basically do that back home) but I do plan on trying a few local drinks. So the first one... A Spy. Its a wine cooler, nothing fancy but sweet. But anyway... the Friday night ended at Blue Jeans, a live band, rock and old school kind of place (which we just keep on going back to). The Sunday (omg) we found Wilson and Rob at a quiet Australian cafe which made the best fry up breakfast ever (that one 130TB breakfast was my only food on that day, it was that good). Talking about food, (yes, this may someday turn into a food blog the way I keep going) the Saturday night we enjoyed an Italian meal. I had a spicy chili chicken pasta and garlic bread. It tasted amazing and would totally recommend this place for food (not so much for the entertainment, I will say no more... But if you're travelling as a couple you may not enjoy it so much but on the good side they show sports on the TV there!). We headed to the city shopping bit near the bus station, window shopped through a couple of market stalls and caught the bus home (a well ventilated hot kind of bus) back to WangSala where the Sunday evening consisted of washing clothes and adjusting back to a hard bed nights sleep.
Teaching Time:
Nerves, number one because of the language barrier and more nerves because I was timetabled to teach... Wait for it... Teenagers! Matium (grade) 1, 2 & 3 were all timetabled for me and oh my god were the most traumatic moments ever. Guess you're wondering why well...
We were given a massive introduction to the school over a tannoy to the students then I was guided (and left) in a classroom full of 20+ kids who didn't know much English.
So the perception I had about teaching abroad was tragically broken on the first day. The teenagers here are exactly like those back at home; the attitude, the not bothered approach to learning, the cool kids clique and the smart kids were all (I am unhappy to say) encountered in my first lesson. A classroom full of teenagers staring back at me blankly as I spoke to them in a total foreign language with the 'no intention to learn' look. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, in my second lesson thus reoccurred and a student was asleep at the back of the class (so not good). The Monday was a horrific tragedy and a traumatising experience I was happy to forget. On the good side, however I met a group of girls who played volleyball and had a 15 minute knock about at the end of the school day (trust me, with the heat and exhaustion of waking up at 6.30am that was long enough) and I am now timetabled to play volleyball with them every Monday and Wednesday.
Prepping for lessons between those I taught was a good way to fill the time and I learnt that the younger ones knew more than the 16 year old... I mean what!! So back to basics I went with a name game and an introduction to colours.
For the rest of the week I taught (well tried to) English and helped Roseanne with the kindergartens singing the wheels on the bus, heads shoulders knees and toes and if you're happy and you know it. The enthusiasm to learn and get involved was also witnessed in my p6 class, where the students were more happy about learning new words and English. This reminded me of why I was here and was ready for a challenge to get the teens attention and make a lesson more appealing so they want to learn. I'm timetabled to endure the painful teenagers classes twice a week... Oh the joy?! (It gets better... just like the cold water hose baths are in the mornings now).
Lunch:
I think this deserves a special section as I'm sure you're all aware I can't get enough of posting pictures of my lunch (for those of you not following me, my instagram name is NP120... may as well plug this). Lunch here always consists of rice with some sort of chicken and soup dish. All yummy but strange and to be honest I can't really complain because being served lunch at 11.30am is pretty much brunch and I love brunch! Fruit or ice-cream also helps complete the meal.
And Friday... Two weeks in and teaching would not be the only thing I would find challenging. Bring on the weekend!
Images:
1. Noble Night hotel
2. Rain in Kanchanaburi
3 & 4. pastry after and before it was devoured
5. Chicken rice covered by an omelette (which also contained chicken)
6, 7 & 8. Food, food, food.
9. Spy drink
10. Bar on Saturday night next to Noble Night
11. #LoveTEFL crew
12 & 13. Full English and coffee
14. The mall also KFC making an appearance
15. Tuk tuk (funny story, no where else to add it but here... So this is the thing which took me and Roseanne to our hotel. The poor guy that was pedalling was unfortunate to have us and my heavily packed weekend bag on the back! Only made 80tb from us and a little more from the hotel... How you wonder? Well you have to read the next blog.)
16. Morning assembly
17. My volleyball coaches
18. Kindergartens
First weekend in Kanchanaburi:
Well it rained and poured and rained a little more. Ok, I say a little but it was more like a constant shower of water since the Thursday night (just after a quick run to the Tesco Lotus for a pastry and ice cream). Roseanne and I met with Kate and Dave for an afternoon munch and had a really interesting catch up and 'getting to know you session' over a fresh fruit drink (passion fruit) and food. We were staying in a lush 650TB per night guesthouse called Noble Nights (little did we know that there were cheaper rooms and were a little mislead to taking the room for the whole weekend!) But at an awkward time of the month the comfort was much appreciated! A little bit of luxury in an air conditioned room and en suite not-so hot shower and English toilet made it a little hard to leave on Sunday but we knew the quicker we went back the sooner we could come back to a similar style (not so expensive) room. Apart from the home stay on Friday, we all adventured out on Friday evening to enjoy a little Western food at a bar on the backpacker strip. I literally devoured an omelette covering rice and chicken and a side of carbs (in other words fries) with a helping of the good old tomato ketchup. It was amazing, never loved food like I did that! After a meal (I'm making it sound like a posh affair but it weren't, we all yammed hard and moved towards the sofa for group bonding time!) Obviously after a week apart we all had a few stories to tell and a bit of steam to let off. Drink anyone?
So I don't really plan on drinking much while I'm out here (as I can basically do that back home) but I do plan on trying a few local drinks. So the first one... A Spy. Its a wine cooler, nothing fancy but sweet. But anyway... the Friday night ended at Blue Jeans, a live band, rock and old school kind of place (which we just keep on going back to). The Sunday (omg) we found Wilson and Rob at a quiet Australian cafe which made the best fry up breakfast ever (that one 130TB breakfast was my only food on that day, it was that good). Talking about food, (yes, this may someday turn into a food blog the way I keep going) the Saturday night we enjoyed an Italian meal. I had a spicy chili chicken pasta and garlic bread. It tasted amazing and would totally recommend this place for food (not so much for the entertainment, I will say no more... But if you're travelling as a couple you may not enjoy it so much but on the good side they show sports on the TV there!). We headed to the city shopping bit near the bus station, window shopped through a couple of market stalls and caught the bus home (a well ventilated hot kind of bus) back to WangSala where the Sunday evening consisted of washing clothes and adjusting back to a hard bed nights sleep.
Teaching Time:
Nerves, number one because of the language barrier and more nerves because I was timetabled to teach... Wait for it... Teenagers! Matium (grade) 1, 2 & 3 were all timetabled for me and oh my god were the most traumatic moments ever. Guess you're wondering why well...
We were given a massive introduction to the school over a tannoy to the students then I was guided (and left) in a classroom full of 20+ kids who didn't know much English.
So the perception I had about teaching abroad was tragically broken on the first day. The teenagers here are exactly like those back at home; the attitude, the not bothered approach to learning, the cool kids clique and the smart kids were all (I am unhappy to say) encountered in my first lesson. A classroom full of teenagers staring back at me blankly as I spoke to them in a total foreign language with the 'no intention to learn' look. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, in my second lesson thus reoccurred and a student was asleep at the back of the class (so not good). The Monday was a horrific tragedy and a traumatising experience I was happy to forget. On the good side, however I met a group of girls who played volleyball and had a 15 minute knock about at the end of the school day (trust me, with the heat and exhaustion of waking up at 6.30am that was long enough) and I am now timetabled to play volleyball with them every Monday and Wednesday.
Prepping for lessons between those I taught was a good way to fill the time and I learnt that the younger ones knew more than the 16 year old... I mean what!! So back to basics I went with a name game and an introduction to colours.
For the rest of the week I taught (well tried to) English and helped Roseanne with the kindergartens singing the wheels on the bus, heads shoulders knees and toes and if you're happy and you know it. The enthusiasm to learn and get involved was also witnessed in my p6 class, where the students were more happy about learning new words and English. This reminded me of why I was here and was ready for a challenge to get the teens attention and make a lesson more appealing so they want to learn. I'm timetabled to endure the painful teenagers classes twice a week... Oh the joy?! (It gets better... just like the cold water hose baths are in the mornings now).
Lunch:
I think this deserves a special section as I'm sure you're all aware I can't get enough of posting pictures of my lunch (for those of you not following me, my instagram name is NP120... may as well plug this). Lunch here always consists of rice with some sort of chicken and soup dish. All yummy but strange and to be honest I can't really complain because being served lunch at 11.30am is pretty much brunch and I love brunch! Fruit or ice-cream also helps complete the meal.
And Friday... Two weeks in and teaching would not be the only thing I would find challenging. Bring on the weekend!
Images:
1. Noble Night hotel
2. Rain in Kanchanaburi
3 & 4. pastry after and before it was devoured
5. Chicken rice covered by an omelette (which also contained chicken)
6, 7 & 8. Food, food, food.
9. Spy drink
10. Bar on Saturday night next to Noble Night
11. #LoveTEFL crew
12 & 13. Full English and coffee
14. The mall also KFC making an appearance
15. Tuk tuk (funny story, no where else to add it but here... So this is the thing which took me and Roseanne to our hotel. The poor guy that was pedalling was unfortunate to have us and my heavily packed weekend bag on the back! Only made 80tb from us and a little more from the hotel... How you wonder? Well you have to read the next blog.)
16. Morning assembly
17. My volleyball coaches
18. Kindergartens
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