Sunday, July 4, 2010

Hong Nam Puchai

Well, it's been a while since I last wrote. I guess a lot has happened, but I don't notice it because, well, it's my life. Hehe. I know I need to start writing down stories of funny/cool things that happen.
For example, yesterday my parents and I went to Chatuchak market. Yes, my parents are here. The have been here since Wednesday, left this morning, and will be swinging by next weekend after a week-long conference in Singapore. Anyway, JJ is a huge weekend market in Bangkok, and actually, it's one of the largest in the world. You could spend days there - not just because they have everything you need, but because it's gigantic. We walked for a very long time, and then, as happens naturally, we had to use the restroom. Mom and I get to the women's restroom, pay the fee to use it, and get in line. There were about 7 or 8 people ahead of us, probably. All of a sudden one of the woman workers taps on our shoulder and points to across the hall way to the men's restroom. Yep, she took us to the men's bathroom, where 2 doors were labeled "Woman toilet." Another lady came too, but when she saw that they were squatty potties, she decided to hold it. So, yesterday I walked into the men's restroom, and it wasn't on accident! Hong means room; nam, water; and puchai, boy or man.
What else can I tell you about? Mom and Dad came to school with me on Friday! That was fun. Usually, I ride the van that picks us up at our apartment and takes us to school. Friday, however, I went with M&D in a cab. We figured we could leave a little later that I normally do since their hotel is a lot closer to school than my apartment is. We did not calculate, however, that a) traffic is a lot worse at 7 than 8, no matter where you are, and b) it's the beginning of the rainy season, so there are less cabs, in addition to flooded streets. Our cab driver was delightful, though. He tried to teach me Thai. I learned the words for rain and traffic jam: fontoc, roteet (rot is car, and the r is a rolled one). We talked about football (real, not American), family, traffic, .. what did we NOT talk about? You must be wondering how we communicated. A lot of people in Thailand speak broken English. Especially those who might come into contact with tourists, such as taxi drivers.
When we got to Chitralada, we left our passports at the front gate and they gave us temporary passes to be able to walk to the school. It was raining still, and though we had umbrellas, we got wet. Friday was a confusing day. I was supposed to help teach P 2 and they were going to go to the zoo. It was raining, though, so we stayed and set up stations around the school for different subjects, which were apparently going to be set up at the zoo. I teach with another teacher that day, and we are supposed to split the kids up, but she didn't really need my help. She and the Chinese teacher had a station together, so they reviewed and made games for the children to learn animals in English and Chinese. It was kind of fun and I think I want to learn Chinese now...
All of the teachers were really excited to meet M&D, and they were all really sweet! I think it meant a lot to them that they went, and now it's like they know a different side of me. I was referring to the teachers, but the same applies to M&D.
aaaah... I'm tired of writing.. that's all for now