My Ducks Are All in a Row

Hello! I have been wanting to do another post for awhile now. But, as I live the life of a teacher, September has been rather uneventful in terms of my personal life! So, here is an update on the life of Ms. Melanie.

Ms. Melanie's 17 little ducklings.
(Yes, they are allowed to be posted on the internet)

Busy as a bee.
There are over 10,000 idioms in the English language. We waste no time learning about them!

We also waste no time learning about the 6 species of early humans.

What I teach my students every year.

Pictures of two of my favourite things on my bulletin board. Beaches and my niece.

Participating in the annual Terry Fox Run, all the way in Bangkok!

Red and white.
A Canada spirit day!

They were obsessed with these tattoos "all the way from Canada".

Art class.

Preps every Friday afternoon = a quick stroll to the coffee shop.

Birthday Week Fun

Greetings from BKK! First off, I would like to thank those of you who sent me birthday wishes this week..it is always lovely to hear from my loved ones! I am now 26! Dustin and I celebrated our birthday on the 11th. It's fun having a birthday in Thailand because you get to celebrate for two days. When everyone was done wishing me a happy birthday here, I just started to get wishes from home (with the 13 hour time difference and all).

 

On Saturday night a bunch of us (teachers from my school and their friends) went on a big boat party. The night felt like a blur (kind of like these pictures), it went so fast.

We took tuk-tuks to a pier.

At the pier we boarded this boat, which cruised down the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok for a few hours.

My night was especially fun because I was wearing awesome green pants.

The boat had two levels with DJs pumping different kinds of music. It was super fun.

My dance partner for the night.
(Photo clearly not taken by me)

After work on Tuesday, we went to our fav restaurant on the river, Princess Terrace, for my birthday.

The food was divine, and so was my company.

 

A birthday card from one of the grade 3 students.

Canadian beavers on another birthday card.
 

Best birthday wish of them all!

A Jack of All Thai Trades

Well, my summer is officially over! How sad. I spent the week at school, attending meetings and planning the year. I also completed a three day Culture Training course, along with the other foreign teachers. It's a mandatory course, implemented by the government, for all foreigners who wish to teach in Thailand. Some of it was boring, and some of it was quite interesting.

 

We had a lot of staff get-togethers throughout the week- which included going for supper at my favourite restaurant on the river. Our school has expanded even more this year, and we have quite a few new teachers (including another Saskatchewanian!) They all seem like an awesome bunch.

As part of our Culture Training, we went to a tourist/cultural centre just outside Bangkok. It ended up being a ton of fun.
We learned all sorts of things, like how silk is extracted from cocoons.

200 to 300 metres of silk can be reeled from a single cocoon- crazy!

We took turns painting an umbrella, the traditional Thai way.

The umbrella I painted.
(Not actually)

We learned some Thai dance.

 

We made fish out of palm leaves. Lots of steps!

All us ladies and our fish.

We did some pottery.

My heart pot!

We learned how to grate coconut and make banana wraps.

We made some flower decorations with fresh orchids.

We learned about rice.

We saw some Thai games/dances.

We learned how to make a Thai herbal compress with all of these ingredients.

I did some teaching and scolding.

Hey, who put this snake on my head?!