Are You Wearing Pink Today?

Feb.29th, 2012. It is Anti-Bullying day! We brought the annual pink shirt day over from Canada (which started 5 years ago). So proud of my grade sevens, they all wore pink!

Bullying stops here.



Rice



Hello! Yesterday, I went to a rice farm with a group of teachers to see check out the place, and see if it is a suitable place for a future field trip. They suffered a great deal from the flood, so they wanted to make sure we were happy with what they have left to offer during field trips. I am definitely taking my students out there. The farm is located an hour from the school, but really feels like you are out in the countryside. It was fun and I learned a lot.



The farm is run by a family that lives in this house (which is made of teak). They are so kind and charge next to nothing to host field trips that are super educational and fun for students. Next year I am going to bring my students out here for an overnight trip. They will get to sleep in tents in the field (something many of them have never done).

Their kitchen...outdoors.





Where they get water to water their plants.

The owner showing us his vegetable garden.

His neighbour's rice field.

Mushrooms (not to be consumed).

The mama cooking in her kitchen.

More cooking.

Cutting the claws off some feet (luckily we were not served these for lunch).



An river eel trap. Kind of like a crab trap...they swim in, and can't get out.



A gift of corn. Maybe I can plant some at home ?

We got a tour of inside their house (which is all open except the bedroom).
Talk about having fresh laundry.

Roar.

Gooseberries growing by their bedroom.

An ice cream man cruising around their neighbourhood. Not sure how much business he gets way out there!

One of their rice fields!

Showing us how they harvest it by hand (the old fashioned way)



You have to beat it against wood to get the grains loose.



Then you shake it to separate the rice from its shell (not sure what the proper terms are).



Rice.



Translated to english, this is what they call a "dumbass trap". Where the dumb river fish simply swim in and trap themselves. No need to waste bait. Little effort required.

Sharing a home cooked meal, Thai style on the ground.





Doing dishes after the meal....Thai style.



No, we didn't do all of them. There was a group of university students visiting that day too.



Beautiful rice.
I have more of an appreciation for it now!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

A rose from my Valentine.



Valentine goodness at school.
(Yes, they do celebrate Valentine's Day too......in the same commerical way the majority of Canadian's celebrate it. I did manage to sneak in a quick St.Valentine story to my students though.)



Flowers above all the girls' lockers. Who knew little boys could be so romantic.

Happy Valentine's Day from Ms. Melanie's grade 7 class!

I got a box of dietary supplement drinks from one of my students for Valentine's. What did YOU get?

P.S. Mom, I have been checking my mailbox for my annual '90s Valentine.

Teacher Andy

Hello! Another good week in the Land of Smiles.

It started off with another visit with my relative from Poland, Lukas and his girlfriend, Zuzanna. I can't remember if I said this already or not, but they are traveling around southeast Asia for 6 months. We will see them again in May, before they head back to Poland.
Things at school have been good. Report card time is coming up again, which always keeps me busy. We had an Open House on Friday night. It was a long day.
Yesterday, I finally went and saw where Andy works! We had a fun day.

They even pulled out the old red carpet for the Open House.

Scholastic Book Fairs (for those of you who know what I am talking about) even come to Thailand!!
I couldn't help myself...I had to buy some picture books to add to my own collection.

I came home from the Open House to find this in the pool.

Taking a subway for the first time in Bangkok! Super exciting! I am holding a token you need to ride the subway (which is way cheaper than the skytrain, but just as nice)
Andy has to trek right across the city every day for work, which takes him about 1.5 hours each way. He usually takes a shuttle bus or taxi, skytrain, subway AND motorcycle all in one day.



Andy going in to work (the place with the black and yellow sign).



Andy in his private classroom (where he works one-on-one with students). Wish I had better pictures of the rest of the place. It is modern and pretty awesome. Jealous he gets to work in a place like that.
He even gets to look out across the hall at a daycare all day. Cute.

Waiting to enjoy a beef bowl at his mall.
(I was so excited about the book I bought. Tons of people told me it is hilarious and that I have to read it. I brought it home and started reading it immediately. I soon realized that I already own the book and have read it before. Fail.)

Regular traffic by Chatuchak Market (where Andy switches from skytrain to subway)

Oh, just hanging out on the skytrain.

We went to an IMAX 3D show at this mall.

Wine during the show? Yes please!
(We were celebrating Valentine's Day early).

Andy had a buddy while he did dishes.
He really didn't want to leave.

Good Company, Raw Meat & Balloons

Random pictures...




My drama students.



"Alright Grade Sevens, get out your pencils. Pop quiz!"
And this is what one of my students pulls out of his bag.
He was so serious about it, and no one in the class cracked a smile. I laughed my face off!



I see a lot of random things when I look out my classroom window.
I think I am going to start taking pictures and documenting it.
These are some of the students from the Thai school doing...something ?




(Old picture). The cleaning staff cleaning the courts after the flood. Such hard workers.



We went out for supper tonight to celebrate one of my co-worker's birthday.
It was a great place down by the river.




We cooked our food on grills at our table.
Brought back good old memories of Shabusen (a Japanese restaurant) in Vancouver....and our BBQ feast in Cambodia :)




The men behind the heat.




Some of our table.





We happened to have a balloon artist in the mix!




He made Andy a motorcycle!




Our current Kleenix box (1 of 5). The only option the store had!