ah hahn gahnwahn for 4 = 80 baht

I know I keep talking about food, but food and the many varieties of food is a big thing here. Well today against major protests, I convinced Kuhn Caesar to have lunch in the school cafeteria. He keeps telling me it is not good, but yesterday I looked at what was being served and it looked great. I took two teachers along with Caesar and myself for lunch (ah hahn gahnwahn). We had a great Thai chicken noodle soup (quite different from ours) for lunch along with orange juice...Total bill, 80 baht or $2.30.

The hot lunch program at Chaimongkol Pittaya School is different from ours. They subcontract out to vendors who each sell different types of lunches. At this school there are about six different vendors. At Muangchaliang, there are over 15 vendors. Each vendor must produce a lunch for 15 baht (about 40 cents). One other vendor sells drinks and snacks. At the small school one vendor sells noodle soups, another vendor sells rice with stir fry, and another vendor sells curried vegetables and a meat of some kind (who know what----but it is protein) with rice. There is also a similar breakfast program. Most teachers bring lunch from home or stop at the market on their way to work to buy some stir fry or a soup to bring to work....often lunch is a communal affair for teachers where all the food is put in dishes and you can pick a little of this and a little of that----but in all cases the main ingredient or food staple is rice or rice noodles.

Taught again this morning and this afternoon we were off to visit the University in Phitsanulok. 10,000 students are here studying everything from the sciences, to business, to teaching. We visited with the Languages Department, meeting faculty and some English speaking teachers working in this University. There were three westerners teaching here, one from Scotland who has taught in Thailand for 7 years, one from New Zealand and one from USA. We learned that IP Video ---teleconferencing, like we have at Solon Springs, is just coming to Thailand and they are now budgeting to bring it to Phitsanulok next year...maybe.... So our idea of using IP video to share students working and to have students interconnect, will have to wait a while. We will instead focus on technologies like skype and sharing video recordings of student presentations.

I am staying at Mr. Chusaks house tonight in Si Satchanalai. He wanted me to stay here sometime while I was here so tonight is the night.....and we are actually here before 9 pm!!!

Fred