Believe it or not, Vince and I actually do work so today is dedicated to showing you that life is not all about having fun here.....only 90% of it.
My science/math combo is turning out to be great, which is what I had expected. In my Discovery Science course I really have no curriculum at all and can do whatever I want....with my 4 students. We made solar ovens out of pizza boxes and plan to cook s'mores with them. We are allowed and encouraged to take pictures of the students and they are posted on FB so please do not think that it is creepy that I took pictures of them:)
These are some action shots of the oven-making process.
Hmm, I think he loves taping a little too much.
That was my WHOLE class.....so funny to only teach four!
The two girls have finished so they posed in the courtyard with their productions.
If there was a prize I think this one would get it. The sun actually came out for 5 min and the temperature increased quickly so things look good for s'more-day.
There are certain things that get miscommunicated....or items are just not available. This is what "Graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate" looks like in Thailand. The chocolate is excellent (1/2 was Oreo cookie) and those are chocolate and strawberry filled, individually wrapped marshmallows. Thai's have an incredible sweet tooth! We all agreed that since this was okay...who wouldn't. It then struck me that peanut cookies would NEVER be allowed in many schools in North Am.
The sunniest and warmest place at the school is outside the headmaster's office and he is more than willing to let us hang out one afternoon as long as we feed him.
I found out on Friday that I only teach this Discovery Science until January so we are hoping to do some Robotics about which I know nothing at all. However, I dug up the sets from and old course and we'll see what happens. I have to hang around anyway next Saturday for a VISA extension so Vince and I are going to go in on the weekend and play with the sets.
As for after January, they hope to use my math skills and get me to help the ELD (really weak in English) kids with math. They get extra help in all subjects except math.
At least I have some help.
My regular class is studying weather which basically means that I am relearning all the stuff I forgot in high school.
So, I wowed them with a blue ice cube and red hot water. Grade sevens are easily impressesd and the boys all seem to want to blow stuff up.
Our neighbourhood is being upgraded and the streets went from dirt with no sewers to full cement and sewers for run-off which must be great for the residents. Road construction is a little different here.
Mid-construction.
Done!
It's Friday and we are on our way to Pattaya which is the sin city of Thailand. Vince is just a bit excited. We take a 20 min taxi to the airport and the bus leaves from there.
Hey, wait up!
These are amazing busses: leather seats, LOTS of leg room and they recline far enough back to sleep.
We got the last 2 seats on the supposedly full bus which once again proves my point that being 6 foot with white hair is an advantage. There was one seat left (see picture below) and people were waiting outside just to see if there was space. The attendant ushered a man on to the empty seat when the guy in the beige pants produced two tickets, one tucked into each pocket. Haha....he bought two tickets so that he could sit alone. At the equivalent of $4 a ticket it is feasible.
The interesting architecture of the airport
We have not seen many wide open spaces yet.
Vince entertaining himself with Candy Crush. He's on level 86 in case any of you want to know
Pattaya is right on the coast and while we are off the beaten path a bit it screams of serious partying. I have seen more German men, Russian men, and lady boys to last a lifetime. I'll let you figure out how they are connected.
We are staying off in the distance somewhere.
When it rains it pours.....this is literally 1 minute after the rain started. Plastic appears from nowhere.
Major clean up happening from the parties the night before. This is called Walking Street but "Fall Down Drunk Street" is probably more appropriate.
Bars are huge! What looks dirty in the daytime must look much better at night.
We figure these baskets of food are in preparation for the day trips on boats that include lunch.
Bars within bars
Not the best beach for a beach holiday but we knew that. I think we'll stick by one of the three pools
at are hotel.
at are hotel.
Yup, no swimming for me.
Tired legs = coffee/lunch break.
So, I came down these stairs and took a major wipeout at the bottom. The sign wasn't there and I went down in a flash and Vince says that I looked like the guy on the sign. Landed 100% on my should....ouch. It's sore as anything but will be fine. So, got rid of my super slippery gap flip flops and bought something that makes more sense with all this rain and slick tiles. SOme of us learn the hard way.
They put the sign up afterwards which was nice.
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