Sunday, November 26, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello again. I've been reduced to blogging once a week as a result of coursework and a slowly developing social life.

My first teaching day went well. I spoke too fast and my lesson ended up running a bit short, but other than that it went really well. There was tons of Student Talk Time and almost no Teacher Talk Time, which felt weird at the time, but the students are there to practice English, so it's better that way. Tomorrow I teach again, this time for an hour. I am not as prepared as I'd like to be, but I'm meeting up with my group today to cook some food and bounce our lesson plans off of each other. Hopefully that will strengthen my ideas.

It sounds like everyone has had deliciously filling Thanksgivings. I participated in some turkey at a local bakery that a friend recommended. It was a buffet and pretty tasty. We filled our plates and talked about Thanksgiving traditions, but it wasn't quite the same as home. The potatoes were nothing like the amazing ones Dad makes. It was fun nonetheless.

This weekend has been a good time. Friday night Noah and I set out to find Tesco and the mall, but we got completely turned around and ended up on the highway to Bangkok. We decided it was not the time to be driving that far on a motorbike, and eventually made our way in a huge circle and back in the right direction. Tesco was going to have to wait, so we went to Airport Plaza and saw Casino Royale again. This may seem odd, but movies are about $3 here, and it was damn good. Even a second time.
We also managed to find this strange Thai carnival right next to the mall where we wandered around eating delicious noodles, drinking pitchers of beer, and playing odd carnival games. Noah won a handkerchief and a lighter by showing off his dart skills. There was a miniature ferris wheel (sponsored by Singha beer), carousel, and some oddly dressed chorus girls dancing on a stage. There was, of course, the obligatory tent selling all kinds of merchandise (fans, shirts, windbreakers, hats, etc) with the King's logo on it. I've already been reprimanded by Trace for not taking pictures at the carnival, but the ones I did take are here for your viewing pleasure.

It's getting a bit chilly here in Chiang Mai. Of course the temperature hasn't gone below 60F, but just the other day I saw a man in a winter coat. The locals think it's downright cold, whereas I'm enjoying the cooler sleeping temperatures. Either way I have no room to complain having come from Michigan, where winter is sure to descend any day now.

I'm lame and can't figure out how to rotate a picture in blogger. Beer sponsored Ferris Wheel! The power kept going out though... not sure I'd want to get on it.


This was a "Western" bar at the mall complete with saloon doors. The best part was this headdress next to a smiling buddha that you may or may not be able to see. :)



This is the classroom where the 5 farang teach the 25-30 CMU English majors


I will leave you with a picture of the sunset from my balcony. I'm not often there to see it, but it's gorgeous.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hard to believe Thanksgiving is just being celebrated now in the States. We celebrated in Canada long ago. Love the Ferris Wheel, every colourful.

Sunset is gorgeous!

No signs of Steve as of late I take it?

Love Auntie T