Chatuchak Market and EARCOS Conference

Chatuchak Market lunch break

Lunch break.

Found a great China shop.

Market craziness.....100's of stalls.

Chasing the ice-cream man down the street. Seems no matter where you are in the world, the ice-cream truck brings kids out.

Science class. This is what happens when kids have extra time after the experiment. They were playing around with acids and bases and the pH indicator to see how many different colours they could get.

While the more patriotic group created the Thai flag and posed it with other paraphernalia.

Vince and I are at the same conference in Bangkok. He as a vendor and myself as a teacher. It is absolutely huge and so far it has been great and very informative.

 Our balcony on the 50th floor.

We needed some teamwork on the selfie. Vince held the phone and I pushed the button....so many skills to learn.

Side view. This is where the movie Hangover 2 (3?) was filmed.

There is so much excellent food at the event. These look like marzipan fruit but are bean curd which still tasted great.

Ham....mmmmmm

Delicious.

It was so well done we felt like we were at a wedding or something.

Sunday Morning Run

Vince got home at 2 am from Singapore so I exited early to go for a run. The rain yesterday cooled things off a bit so it was actually quite pleasant. In the early morning I avoid the klongs so I don't get attacked by the seldom seen man-eating chickens. I don't need to push my luck.

So, I did the Perfect Place tour which basically means that I try to run the perimeter of each zone of Perfect: Garden Zone, Private Zone, Lake Zone...I think that's it. What it really means is that I hit a lot of dead-ends until I eventually make my way out.

I took some pictures along the way to show the kind of house that is typical of Perfect and also some of those which have been abandoned.

This is a typical well-kept 3-bedroom house.

Some, unfortunately become abandoned and look pretty rough.

 This beautiful tree/bush is on part of my regular run and wanted to share its beauty.

The one on the left looked like a doberman and they kind of stared me down. I figured that I did not need an altercation with three dogs so back tracked. I am sure I heard them snicker.

On our way to the market, this house always make me smile.

Camillian Home Mural

Our school has a connection with a place called the Camillian Home which provides a home for special needs kids who have been abandoned or orphaned. Our friends Marc and Kay have volunteered their services there in different ways and Kay, being a high school art teacher offered to paint a mural. She designed and sketched it on the wall and 17 of us showed up this weekend to begin the painting. It's basically paint by numbers.

This is what it looked like before we started. 

Some progression.

We were the "yellow team". Khun Last is also our Thai teacher. She is VERY patient.

The other half of the yellow team. Julie is an RIS student. She is 1/2 German and half Thai, went to the Swiss School for nine years (on our campus) and then switched to RIS. She speaks English, Thai and German...what a combination.

Marc, Kay's husband. 

During our lunch break we had some excitement as there was a huge fire next door. It decided to rain 5 min later which was the first time since November.

Firetruck

 KAy made it so easy for us. Sketched it on the wall and gave us the picture with colour codes.

The mural goes up a ramp so she choose to do silhouettes of things that need ramps which I though was very clever. 

The artiste and her work. There are still another few hours of work to do and I am sure that she will be fixing some of our mistakes.

Garbage Dump Fire Brings Toxic Air, Leaving out the u.

Wow, I really miss the clean fresh Canadian air right now. This garbage dump is burning out of control and is causing toxic fumes in our neighbourhood. It looks like a bit of a haze but feels toxic. We spend limited time outside, keep the kids in the classrooms and masks are readily available. 

Click here to read more about it.

On a plus side, it inspired some art work in the middle of my math board. Many kids wearing masks today which usually only happens when someone is sick. I think it's Japanese written on top. I am often amazed by the way some of them draw.

I have to spell the American way now...leaving out the u's. 

House Gecko, Names and Safari World

I never thought I would use the words "house gecko" but it something that just happens here. HG hides out behind the curtains, behind the fridge and more recently under the blender. He's quiet all night and then each morning when I come downstairs he makes his little clicking noises and I know he's around somewhere. The recent development of being under the blender does nothing for either of us as we jump in surprise.
Thai's are very superstitious and say that it is unlucky to hear the gecko when you leave the house. It hasn't happened yet.

Today, one of my students, Jumbo was laughing when the name Mary-Anne came up in a word problem. They take US standardized tests so we need to work on their US context. He couldn't believe that this was a real name. I pointed out that out of the kids in our class I had only ever heard of Brooke, Jo and Harry. The rest in the class are Radar, Milk, Asta, Tee, Pou, Mint, Play Play, Pao Pao (and her twin Pae Pae), Plankton, Ohm, Atom, Beam, Air, Fay Fay, Poon and Neck. These are there nicknames because their names are way too long to pronounce. Talk about a culture clash. So many are named some version of Pou and Pee that conversations start to sound ridiculous.

My partner in crime in grade 7 science is a great gal called Jessica from the midwestern US and we have been given the duty of organizing the grade level science trip for April 1st. The annual trip to Ocean World in downtown Bangkok has to be changed because of potential unrest. So, we decided on safari World...a place that neither of us had been to. So, we took an afternoon to visit and put together a trip for the kids. Jessica has been here 4 years and has seen a lot and has many great expressions. The new one I learn is "T-I-T Moment" as in "This is Thailand". There are so many politically incorrect things that go on here it is mind boggling.

A Thai entrance to Marine Land and Safari Park. We are so far away from the water and no idea why it is called Marine land...it's a zoo.

shows, shows and more shows.

A zoo with some of the funniest statues etc I have seen.

A lady

...and her partner.

Macaws

So, this lady squirts water at you from two place and there is a reason I am not standing in front of her.

At the dolphin show. Bollywood music started and there was a 5 min impromptu dance by many Indian men. Very entertaining but a little surreal.

 The sign reads "noodles" or something like that.

Swan boat ride? Hmmm, no thanks.

You do not want to know how loud I screamed when I came around the corner and saw this.

I don't get it....

Really...I don't

This misting is a fairly common way to cool people off.

This was downright freaky.

So, part of the trip is about becoming aware of the treatment of animals. This was tough to see. They looked so sad and bored.

...and the big guy.

 Most cages had what we thought was many too many animals. It will be interesting to look into.

....and small living areas.

Great sign.....

Is that a cow in the forest?

Lots of this

So, people can do this.

The Safari part was a bus tour in the "wild". It was so dry and dusty and so many animals.

It was a little sad but we are also in a developing country and things take time to change.