Learning to Cook

Wow, I can't believe the last time I posted was August 18!!  I apologize to those of you actually reading this :)

I am beginning to count down the days left in the semester because when it is finished I will be off on another adventure.  We only have 22 school days!! I am still in shock at how quickly this semester has been going.  On October 2, I will be flying to Borneo, Malaysia with Emily and Nathan.  We will be doing some jungle exploring for a few days... I am praying we don't see any snakes!  On October 9, Emily and I will be making our way to the Philippines where we will stay until the 20th.  Nathan is heading back to BKK on the 9th because he has made the wonderful decision to stay in Thailand!  He got a job with a company in Bangkok so will be moving to the city.  After traveling I will be back in Bangkok for one day and then on October 22nd I will be returning to Minnesota 368 days after I left.  I am getting pretty excited :)

Recently Emily and I took a cooking in the Silom district of Bangkok.  We have been wanting to take one since getting here and it was her birthday so we had the perfect reason to finally do it.  This is low season in the tourist industry so we ended up being the only two in the class.  We were able to make a lot of dishes and got a recipe book so with any luck I will be able to somewhat replicate the meals at home.  Here are a few pictures from the day.

The beautiful herbs and spices tray before cooking.

First up was the famous Thai curry Tom yum goon or spicy shrimp soup.  It is one of my favorites!

Next up was pad thai gai or fried noodles with chicken.  Aroi mak mak... very very delicious.

Kang Khiao wan gai was next... green curry with chicken.

     

Laab gai.  Laab is a dish from Northeastern Thailand with minced meat, onion, rice powder, and a slew of spices.

For dessert we had rubies in coconut milk.  Thai people love coconut milk!

So, there you have it.  Hopefully I learned a little bit about cooking Thai food so I can have dinner parties with some of you wonderful people soon!

Names and Ladyboys

Every Thai person has a nickname. At first I thought it was kind of strange, but after realizing the length of their full names I was very grateful! This week have to do a little bit of grading and recording for an upcoming school inspection. Here is a little taste of the names I have to fit into a very small space on a chart.

Chotika Tantiphiwatthanasakul

Phuritchaya Phongthawornphinyo

Anaphat Lertchalernwongsa

Natnihcha Tangpihrihyahwit

Aratchaporn Suishai

Patnaree Saksakunkaileart

As you can tell writing all these names becomes daunting very quickly!! On another note, for a recent school celebration there was dancing at morning assembly. We have learned that with any special occasion comes some sort of performing, usually dancing but every once in awhile singing. The most recent performance combined dancing and ladyboys. Ladyboys are a very noticeable part of Thai culture and it is often astonishing how many men can make themselves look like women. Our students are required to wear uniforms everyday so they may not dress like ladyboys, but during this performance it was allowed. See if you can find the ladyboys.

Surprisingly enough the girl in the black is not really a girl.

The people are hard to see, but the two girls in front are in fact boys.

Happy Birthday Queen Sirikit

Hello all! It is Monday morning here and I am fresh off of yet another four day weekend. I am very sad to report though that it was our last day off of school until the end of the semester. There are only seven weeks left in the semester which is very hard to believe, but I must say I am getting a little burnt out on the teaching gig. I know the next few weeks are going to fly by though.

This time the long weekend was in celebration of Queen Sirikit's 78th birthday. Her birthday was on Thursday and the government announced that Friday would also be considered a holiday. Woohoo! Nathan and I decided to take a little road trip with our Thai friend, Jade. One of Jade's friends from university was getting married and Jade invited us along, basically we created the Thai version of Wedding Crashers. The wedding was in an area named Bankrut which we had never heard of, but it was beautiful! The ocean looked untouched and was crystal clear. We arrived in Bankrut just in time for the reception and dinner to begin. I mean literally just in time. We changed clothes in the car and I went without any make-up on. Yikes! We found our table and sat with a few of Jade's other friends from university. The dinner was served in true Thai fashion meaning everything is served family style. There were about ten dishes including fish intestine soup, pigs stomach, and century eggs. If you are unfamiliar with century eggs I suggest looking it up on Wikipedia. I will just say we steered clear of a few dishes. Thai weddings don't have the big dance American ones do, but there is karaoke. Of course! A few people sang and the bride and groom gave a small speech, but other than that there was not a whole lot going on. The wedding was very beautiful, but because it was dark outside I didn't get any good pictures, below is the welcoming stand and guest book though!

Friday morning I woke up early and enjoyed sometime by myself just hanging out and reading on the beach. One of the workers at our hotel brought me out a nice chair and umbrella...usually for the sun but during these months for the rain. It was drizzling slightly, but the water was unbelievable! I think it was the epitome of relaxation.

Once the boys started moving for the day we visited a temple overlooking the ocean with a few of Jade's friends. We have become so used to seeing temples that their glamor has worn off, but this one seemed different from many others. It wasn't nearly as gaudy and had some great views.

The large Buddha statue at the base of the temple.

Jade and friends making merit at the base of the Buddha statue from above.

A woman praying at one of the small temples.

The stairs leading up to the main temple.

Tada... It's pretty :)

No shoes allowed in the temple.

The view.

After the temple trip we were back in the car for the two hour trip to Hua Hin. Hua Hin is a major beach destination for Thai people because it is only about 2.5 hours from Bangkok. The city has everything from very fancy to resorts to less than beautiful dorm rooms in the city. We spent a little time hanging out on the beach, but the rain season once again kept us from getting any sort of a tan. On Friday night we went to the local night market where we were immediately claustrophobic from the small street and large crowd. We ended up getting a schwarma (kebab) and quickly relocating to a less busy part of town. On Saturday morning Jade took us to this restaurant that supposedly had really great cheesecake. I must say though, Western countries are much much better at making cheesecake. The restaurant had a garden feel and overlooked the ocean. We also shared a really chocolaty pudding that was delicious! After that we began the drive back to Bangkok, but made a few stops along the way. We stopped at an outlet mall and at a palace built by the sixth King of Thailand (they are now on their ninth King). Marukhathaiyawan Palace (meaning Palace of Hope and Love) is built on a massive estate and is full of bright colors.

Nate and Jade 'hiding' in the mangrove forest.

Beachin' it

Last weekend we headed back to the beach and luckily had plenty of sun this time! About a month and a half ago we met two guys our age living in Bangphli, Marc and Tom. They work for a kite boarding company and live only about 10 minutes from us. This weekend they invited us to stay at their boss' house on the ocean in Pattaya. We left Saturday morning and after a short little drive were enjoying a very sunny day on the beach. Marc and Tom were hoping to kite board, but found the wind wasn't quite strong enough. After having a little snack at a restaurant on the beach we made our way to the house we would be staying at. Let me just say I was pleasantly surprised with our weekend home. It was beautiful! The house was right on the ocean, had a pool, spiral staircases, and a lot of windows! Let's just say I was in heaven and would have gladly stayed longer than one night :)

Phuket- Round 2

I don't know what I am going to do when I can't just hop on a cheap flight or an even cheaper overnight bus to one of the most beautiful tropical islands in the world. I got to spend four days with a close group of nine friends on Phuket celebrating yet another Buddhist holiday. We returned to Jenny's father's home on the island for a completely relaxing stay full of great food and unfortunately rain. The rain didn't stop us from doing too much, but I do wish we could have used the pool more. I mean look how beautiful it is...

We spent plenty of time watching movies, playing games, and cooking American meals (this is a fairly big treat). We went to Patong beach one day for shopping one day and I think everyone walked away with some goodies. Patong is among the touristy beaches in all of Thailand so you can usually find things geared towards Westerners. I was on a mission for a swimsuit and because Thai women don't wear them it has been hard to find one! I finally found one in Patong, but in true Thai style it was from a street vendor where there is no such thing as a changing room. How do you try on a swimsuit without a dressing room you ask? Just look below...

After this little extravaganza I treated myself to a Thai massage with a few of the girls. You really can't be a one hour massage for only $6!

I had a wonderful weekend thanks to these eight wonderful friends!

Embracing BKK

Over the last few weeks and weekends we have truly embraced Bangkok. The once overwhelming city has very much become comfortable and do I dare even say homey. We have been to many new restaurants, clubs, and even malls. I thought we had already explored all the shopping, but undoubtedly there was more. Bangkok is such a big city that even after being here a year I think I will only scratch its surface.

Here is a little bit of what we have been up to. Two weekends ago our Thai friend had a pool party at the beautiful new duplex she moved into. We got to meet a lot of new people and spend the evening around an aesthetically pleasing pool.

Last weekend we went to an event at a tapas bar on Silom Soi 4, right in the heart of Bangkok and where the redshirts were camped out for many weeks. Needless to say, we are very happy they are no longer there. The bar had a cover charge to get in, but with it we got an array of Spanish food. It was among the most delicious meals I have had here. We had everything from croquetas to seafood paella. After we feasted our friend was being the DJ on the next level up. We danced a little and then soon headed across the street to another tapas bar.

Everything has been rolling along nicely at school. I think the schedule is FINALLY figured out (half-way through the semester!) and it is already midterm. I am giving a few exams this week and a few next week. I even have to give them to the first and second grade class. That just seems a little silly to me, but it has to be done. I am really missing teaching my second graders, but now I am just extra excited for my one class period a week with them. I think they get excited too :)

We have Monday and Tuesday off school because of the Buddhist Lent holiday so I am headed to Phuket. About nine of us are going to the island to stay at my friend Jenny's fathers home. I can't wait!! We just have to pray it won't be rainy!

Lunch Time

Nathan and I have a newly formed fan club of fourth grade girls. There are two girls who try very hard to sit with us every single day at lunch and they even occasionally clean-up our trays! They have just the greatest time trying to interact with us through very broken English. Most of the time is spent having them teach us new Thai words and talking about what we are eating. One of the girls, Pang, is very into art and has been coming with a new drawing for us several times a week. So, here are a few of her creations. The top one is two children wai-ing a monk and the bottom one is of fairies. I think I am going to have quite the collection of drawings by the end of the semester.