Still a pop star...

I went to my usual som tum/gai yang (papaya salad/grilled chicken) shop today, and as I was waiting for the Khun Pi to make my som tum bpuu, I saw a group of about 9 of my M1 kids come in to sit down and order food at the next stall. They wai-ed me respectfully with not a lack of giggles when they spotted me. While I was observing another Khun Pi making fried snacks, I kept seeing the M1 kids come to the road in pairs behind me appearing to hold their cellphones up the the road. What? The Khun Pi smiled as I, still clueless, kept staring at how the other Khun Pi was making beautiful fried taro cups. Another pair of kids came up and this time, they were facing me and as I stole a glance, they got startled and ran back to their seats. Unbeknownst to me, they were each taking a photo of me on their cell phones! I chuckled and chased the two boys back to their seats at which all the kids exploded in laughter and nervous giggles. The other people at the restaurant all shifted their gaze toward me as I told them they can take photos with me and that they don't have to be shy to ask. Each of them went home with a photo of me and them. This is Thailand. I am still a pop star here in this small town.

Loy Krathong

We celebrated Loy Krathong festival in Thailand last weekend. During this festival, people float little banana boats called "krathongs" in the river. People release krathongs to let go of the past year and look forward to the coming days. On Saturday, my teachers took me to Tak province where the krathongs are made of lighted coconut shells "Krathong Sai". The tradition there is to release thousands of shells at once, thus the scene is quite spectacular. We also got front row seats to watch a competition where teams had to release 1,000 krathongs in the neatest manner.

On Sunday, the younger teachers and I went to the Loy Krathong celebration in Sukhothai historical park. Before that though, we went to a teacher's house to make traditional Sukhothai style krathongs which are made of a cut banana stem decorated with folded banana leaves. It actually wasn't too difficult to make it, and I made one of my own. Everyone laughed at my krathong, because it was not very traditional (I added my own touches like a fish and crane made out of banana leaves). My sense of style caught on though, because all the other teachers started adding elements of my krathong to theirs. This festival at the historical park was quite overwhelming and crowded with thousands and thousands of people and vendors. We watched a light and sound show amid the ruins and then released our krathongs. We also released a lighted floating krathong in the Lanna style "Yi Peng". On the way back, our good luck of the new year was manifested in our car breaking down. We got back home alright though....at 3 AM in the morning. I had classes the next morning.

King Taksin Shrine (Tak Province)

With the teachers

The krathong sent my HM King Bhumibol to Tak Province

A coconut krathong "Krathong Sai"

Lighting a floating krathong

Releasing the krathong with some teacher friends (Kuk and Aom)

Thousands of Krathong Sai

Making a krathong with Nada

My krathong

My avant-garde krathong

Aom and her krathong

All of our krathongs

Wat Si Chum Buddha

With Nada in front of Wat Si Chum

Releasing our krathongs

Lighted krathongs above Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai Historical Park

Fireworks at Wat Mahathat

First impressions of Sawankhalok

I am now in the process of settling into my new home in Sawankhalok, Sukhothai province. After waiting so long, I'm finally here! Sawankhalok is a small town of about 18,000 people and this region provides 80% of the banana leaves in this country (or at least that's what I was told). There are many places to eat here contrary to the boring description provided by Lonely Planet including the night market "Soi Bead" (Soi 8) which has mouthwatering treats as well as amazing local dishes including the famous Sawankhalok pad thai among others. My host teachers have been great, and I feel so comfortable talking to them. Their favorite hobby is eating, just like me, so we get a long quite well and we snack A LOT. There is a table reserved solely for communal snacks in the office. Anything that is on the table (and fridge) is fair game. There are also a few teachers in the English office who are around my age, and I've hung out with them a lot. I thought I would be lonely here, but I've had dinner or lunch dates almost everyday.

My house is luxurious in contrast to my prior expectations (or lack thereof). There are two bedrooms and the one I sleep in has an air conditioner. The living room downstairs is huge with a fridge, table, and decorations left by my really kind predecessor. There are two bathrooms. The one downstairs smells a bit funky probably due to the lack of ventilation and because it is squeezed in under the stairs. It looks like somewhere Harry Potter would live in if he was at his muggle home. There is also a kitchen, but I don't go in there a lot because it's quite dirty. The place was dusty when I moved in, but I think my feet has done most of the cleaning in the main parts of the house so it's quite clean now.

The house has also been invaded by four giant spiders of which all has been squashed by my shoes. There are also many house geckos and I like them for the most part. There is also a giant tokay gecko outside my front door, and I don't know what to quite make of her. I have been slowly filling my home with necessary supplies from local shops and also Tesco Lotus. My host teacher took me today to a plant shop to get some green things for my small 'yard' as well. I have three pots of jasmine and three pots of orchids so far. I'm planning to visit the pottery store later this week to see if I can get one of those ubiquitous water jars to grow some water lilies and fish outside.

Oh yes, I almost forgot about the teaching part, hah. I teach Matayom 1 and 6 which are equivalent to 7th and 12th grade. It's really fun to teach the two extremes of the classes. My school, Sawan Anan (which means 'endless heaven'), is made up of almost 3,000 students from M1 to M6. I'll talk in more detail about my classes in a later post, but for now, I am loving teaching. It's a challenge everyday, but everything is sanuk sanuk. I am so thankful to be in Sawankhalok.

Lana and I on Bangkok Airways, the 'boutique airline of Thailand'

Sukhothai from the sky

Bangkok airways, notice the propellers

My first friend in Sawankhalok: presenting, Simon the gecko. Simon lives upstairs and scared me the first time when he came into the bathroom while I was taking care of bodily duties. Our relationship got off on a bad start because I threw a bucket of water on him, but we made up and we're good friends now.

My M1 students lining up in the morning; Wednesday is scout day

More students

A cool spider I found in my sink

A random large slug that I found behind my fridge?