Sabai Dee Mak Mak

End of May-Early June

I've gotten a little behind on my posting lately and I guess I'm going to attribute this lack of literary endeavor the fact that life is so very good right now. I'm not sure what it is, but this semester has been really awesome thus far. My classes, despite the fact that I have more of them than last semester, are going well and I'm having a lot of fun with my students, the other teachers, friends and Thailand.

It's insane to think that I am in my 4th week of teaching in semester 2 and that my mom left a month ago. Time is flying by and I'm learning to let it, but in the process I'm learning to soak up every minute. My kids are doing well and I'm having fun being able to teach English this semester--it allows for a lot more freedom in terms of activities and classwork. My little ones (1st-3rd) have been amazing and although some of them are not always the best behaved it's hard to stay very mad at them for long :) We usually spend some of class reading aloud, then we learn a new question and answer and then usually have an activity related to that for the last part of class; right now we are working on colors and are making a sweet book with pictures and the names of all the colors. My older kids are fun as well because I am able to talk fairly candidly with most of them and, as I had them last semester, I know them all pretty well. We usually do some bookwork or a worksheet and then finish up with a game or something fun. I'm learning the importance of balancing class with work/fun so as not to have a bunch of antsy/bored kids. I will have to say though, that swimming is my favorite. It's a blast trucking through the water with a trail of 20+ little kids screaming after you trying to jump on you and be the first to get teacher and with my older kids I'm able to have some sweet races.

In terms of travels we've kept pretty close to home. We went to our favorite island, Koh Samed, a few weekends ago which was the first reunion of all my friends from the program after the big summer holiday. It was blast per usual with great food and some quality beach time. There aren't as many people as there were last semester, but it's been fun getting to know some new people who are just starting the program as well as keeping in touch with those who stayed for 1 more. Other than that we went into BKK last weekend for a night on the town and then went wakeboarding/kneeboarding with my Thai friend. He goes to this lake about 5 min from my village which was amazing as we had no idea it existed. As most people don't have speedboats in Thailand this lake has an overhead cable rig with attached ski rope handles which you grab onto and pulls you around as though you were behind a boat. It's like a little oasis with a boardwalk and places to hang out and be by the water; guess I won't be missing MN summer as much as I thought! It's also nice because we will be able to head there after school somedays and hopefully improve our skills--right now I'd say I'm pretty poor :)

So yea I guess all in all I'm sabai dee mak mak (very very good) and have really adjusted to my new home. It's been an easier transition this semester and I hope that it continues to go as well as it has been.