Chaing Mai - Mae Hung Son

This weekend again took us to Northern Thailand. We left after a morning of teaching and a quick box lunch on Friday and arrived in Chaing Mai. We spend the evening at the night safari which was amazing. We took a footpath around that allowed us to see several smaller animals in the park, and then took two Tram rides through different parts. Much like an African Safari, parts of the grounds resembled Rain forests, and we saw many different animals, both indigenous and foreign. Our second tour guide was a hoot. A great sense of humor and spoke Thai English with an Australian accent.

Today we took an extremely windy trail through the mountains. The drive was long, and arduous, but the views were absolutely breathtaking. Our tour ended in the town of Mae Hung Son. Where we toured a very large cave, climbing over stairs and rocks of various degrees of stability and riding bamboo rafts (Okay I thought I'd step right through them, but they're surprisingly stable). Our raft driver only stumbled once (bad images of him falling face down in the river went away as he recovered quickly while pulling the raft by hand and walking up stream). Following our cave tour we drove to the outskirts of town to see a hill tribe called the Long Neck Karen. The women of this tribe where long brass coils, most noticeably on the neck to push down the collar bones and make the neck look longer. For me, a humbling and memorable experience I will carry for a long time.

Touring

Tomorrow at noon we all leave to go North for the weekend....that means we will probably not post till next week....we shall see...I have my computer along and if a hotel has wireless we might be able to post something.

Russ and Judy will be back at school on Monday and Tuesday, however, Mr. Tawin and his wife are taking some vacation time and we will be extending our touring into next week.

This evening (Thursday), we had a party at Chaimongol Pittaya School with the teachers. Wonderful food and drink (Lee Ann said I should call it water). The pah-au (principal) presented me with a beautiful hand made spider made from parts of the coconut tree. He said that this exchange is like a spider where we can weave together in a web many cultures and ideas...neatly said and done. I was told tonight that tomorrow morning I need to say good-bye to the students as I will not be back at this school next week....got to go, so I can think of what to say...in Thai that is!!!

Fred

Classrooms and Tech School

A day of many differences for me today. I started in the classroom and saw both ends of the student spectrum. The seniors who are at the top of their class, and the eight graders. The seniors know English very well, and I didn't have to slow down much for them. The eighth graders a really had to stick to basics and try to show them some things, I hope they learned something.

This afternoon Judy and I visited the Si Satchanalai Industrial and Community Education College. This is not a college as we would know in the United States. It is actually a secondary school serving grades 8 and up. Students may go to this school and receive an industrial education instead of the more traditional education. They can learn computer sciences, technology, and auto mechanic types of things. We had a very good visit with the administration and staff and got to see a lot of interesting student work (Think Science Fair on a very big scale); for example one student had built an automated hand dryer like you would find in the bathroom. Something we may take for granted in US, but here very unique, and intriguing to see a student had done the planning and assembly.

From there it was out to the very naturally soothing Si Satchanalai National Park, for a short walk around the park (too hot to hike too far, but we did get to see some of the natural beauty all the same). Though it was a bit disconcerting to see a river full of fish and then settle down for a dinner which included fish. (Hmm...fresh caught perhaps?) Our groups venture into the world of frog and squid for poritons of our meal resulted in us teaching a new word to our Thai teachers as Karen (here from PA as part of Fullbright) found the meat selection to be rather chewy!

doctor visit and a funeral - no, not my funeral

I have had a sinus infection for over a week and today they decided I should see the doctor, so off to the clinic in my village. No waiting as the doctor was ready to see me and Caesar had to translate for me....Well, I ended up with medications....moxocilin (not sure of spelling but I think you can figure it out....if I could write in Thai I would tell you in Thai, something like Claritin, a cough syrup that looks like it was made out of some roots or something strange....the taste is terrible, and finally some pills I was told to suck on for my cough.....oh, they are bad!!! BUT, they are working. I feel better this afternoon.....the docctor visit and all the medicines were less than $10.

Did some teaching this morning and this afternoon I was asked if I wanted to go to a funeral for a teacher who had died. She was 55 years old and taught in a neighboring elementary school. Several hundred people were there at a covered outdoor building and the crematory building. There was a ceremony and prayers from the monks. All of the people then file past the casket and place a paper flower on the casket. After the people leave, the body is placed in the crematory for burning. The remains are then given to family members the next day. The ceremony was over in less than one hour. Similar to a funeral in the USA, there were displays of flowers from friends and relatives, someone reads a history of the person's life, and prayers. Yet there were great differences as virtually the whole village turns out for the funeral, there is no direct meeting or visiting with family members, and no food at the funeral. At the end of the ceremony people pass by the casket and then leave quickly. I was told that close friends go to the persons home where the monks will come and pray with the family. It was interesting and I am glad I had the opportunity to attend.

This evening there will be a small party at the school for some of the teachers I have worked with the past week. Most of the teachers I knew from two years ago, so this will be a nice event to talk with them. Some can speak a little English and others help to translate when I don't understand the Thai. I will not see Judy or Russ until tomorrow afternoon when we leave for Chiang Mai and the mountains of Northwest Thailand for the weekend.

Finally, I need to comment about spelling!!!! I have little time to write and do not proofread my posts, so I am sorry for the spelling and grammar errors....When I talked with Tam on the phone, she keeps telling me that I should read my work before posting it....sorry everyone!!!

Fred

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

In the class

It is good to be in front of the class again. I love the touring, but it feels good to be in class and teaching. I have gotten to work with several classes already, 7 the past couple of days, and am enjoying every minute of it. Look out Solon students, I showed my classes some of the presentations I created at the school and the Thai girls were very impressed with the American boys. :) Last night we were graciously treated to a huge dinner at Mr. Chusak's factory. He and his brother operate PK Drinking Water, right here in Si Satchanalai. It is time now for lunch and then off for more touring!

Fred's Teaching again...he's too old!!

Well, I came back out of retirement to be a school administrator and now I am even teaching school again!!! Got to teach grades 7 and 9 English classes today and we worked hard both periods on speaking English....Gosh, teaching is work!!! I got to meet with the English staff this morning to plan out my teaching schedule. Russ and Judy are teaching at Muangchaliang (the larger school) and have also had busy schedules.

For lunch, Mr. Ceasar took me, his mom ( who also teaches at this school) and two of the English teachers. We had frogs cooked two ways....one way was in a spicy soup, the other was with a gravy...lots of fresh, uncooked vegetables, sticky rice, and for the second time I also had pork entrails.

This afternoon we visited the Thai Silk museum in Si Satchanalai. This area is very well known for silk production going back many years. If you don't find a ready made garment you like, you can pick out the fabric you want and have it handmade for no extra charge. Since we are hosts of the school, we received a 50% discount over what tourists are charged.

Our day did not end until after 10 pm again this evening and we are all exhausted, but we are so excited to see, do and experience all of the things they have helped us to experience.

Its 11 pm and I have to get to bed cause it is up at 6 am!!!

Fred