TraveLLs

Our school director, the Big Man, is retiring this year.   He is a large man, by status and by physical standards.   Our school is making a very big deal about his retirement.   First, they had the school shut down for three days in August so the Thai teachers could take a trip up to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.   Then, on Monday, they had a giant retirement party for the director and three other teachers who were retiring this year.   They rented out a hall at Kosa Hotel, one of the fanciest hotels in Khon Kaen.   In this hall they had 66 tables.   At each table they spent 2000 baht on food and drinks making a total of 132,000 baht.   That is close to $4,500.00 spent on food and drinks alone   Seems like a lot of money to spend on one man, however big he may be.   However, in Thailand if you have money, you can buy status, and with that status you can obtain even more money. The retirement party was gorgeous.   Everyone sh...

My friend Lana, from Salt Lake City, recently moved to Bangkok.  Like me, she is teaching for a year in Thailand!   Unlike me, she is teaching environmental education to international schools on a ship called the Barge .   It is a very different experience for her than for me.   For one, she is in Bangkok, a city with 12 million people.   I am in Khon Kaen, a “city” with only 200,000 people.   Secondly, I am teaching in a government school and she is teaching on location on a boat.   It is very interesting to see all the different types of lifestyles a farang can live in Thailand.   At first, the grass always seemed greener.   Now I find that I have a pretty good set up here in Thailand and I am not sure I would change what I here for another one.    With a friend living in Bangkok it was only a matter of time before I went to visit her!  I decided this past weekend was a perfect time!   The trip to Bangkok was ...

This past weekend my friend Danielle decided to come visit Khon Kaen.   She teaches in Chacherngsao, about 45 minutes southeast of Bangkok.   After an extensive eight-hour bus ride in which she fought off several cockroaches, she arrived late on Friday night.   This, and a full day of teaching put off our adventures in Khon Kaen until the next day. Saturday morning, after a much needed late wake-up, we decided to get some Pad Thai for lunch.   After a very filling lunch we headed to the barely-famous Wat Nongwang in Khon Kaen.   This is a nine-storied, tiered temple located on the Bung Kaen Nakhon Lake.   There is a balcony on each story as well as some interesting artifacts stored inside each floor.   Here are some pictures of the temple. View from the top!  My apartment building is where the horizon meets the sky. This was the door to the top floor.  Following the temple Danielle and I headed over to the lake.   Our...

Last week Anuban Khon Kaen participated in an English Open House, an English competition located in the Sirin province.  I was asked to come along to help out.  Anuban Khon Kaen was in charge of the speech competition for the prathom level.  Prathom in Thailand is the primary level of schooling (grades 1-6).  Because we were in charge of the speech competition we were in charge of announcing the students who were competing.  To my surprise, I was given this job along with an attractive baby blue blazer to wear for the big day. We left at the untimely hour of 6:00 am on Thursday morning.  The bus ride there took 5 hours.  Once we arrived we unloaded our things in the hotel and set off to the school where the competition was to take place.  This school was a mattayom school.  In Thailand, mattayom is the secondary level of schooling (grades 7-12).  During my time in Thailand I have only ever seen the inside of my sch...

Last week the Thai teachers at Anuban Khon Kaen had a big retirement party for our top director.  They took all the Thai teachers up to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai to do some shopping for the celebration.  This celebration lasted from Wednesday to Saturday, which meant we had three days off of school.  While I opted out of the invite to join them, I decided to use this luxurious five-day weekend to head up to Chiang Mai on my own. This trip marks the first, of what I hope to be many, adventure traveling on my own.  After talking with a few girls who had recently been up to visit Chiang Mai I decided to stay in the hostel called A Little Bird .  At only 100 baht a night it was a great place to meet other single travelers and book some great last minute tours. I took the night bus from Khon Kaen to Chiang Mai.  It left Khon Kaen at 8:00 pm and I arrived at A Little Bird at 8:00 am.  It was quite a bumpy, windy, and hot ride but after a long day a...