The adventures of Kevin!
Two days ago I got home and put the gerbil cage out on the balcony as I always do so they can enjoy the fresh evening air and then sat down to unwind with the newspaper, about an hour later Glen arrived with some fruit and went to feed some to the gerbils only to discover the cage door was open! Now gerbils are not the smartest or most co-ordinated of creatures but Kevin does have a sense of adventure and has climbed out of the cage door before (always when I have been watching). Glen looked about the balcony a little then fearing the worst looked down he drain. There was movement he went and got a candle to illuminate the situation and sure enough there was Kevin down the drain swimming and scrabbling away.
Now the drain is quiet deep and nothing seemed to fit down the narrow neck to scoop the poor wee beasty out, time moved on and I worried how long had Kevin been swimming, I know he works out in the Hamster wheel all night but still he must be very tired by now. Glen handed me a rolled up towel and I stuffed it down the drain, I couldn't see anything, I didn't want to stuff it too hard and push his head under, but I didn't want to not push it far enough and have him not be able to reach it, I tried once, twice, three times and on the fourth attempt as I pulled the towel out and peered down into the dark drain the movement had stopped. I reached for the candle and as I did I saw a movement in the towel and out crawled a very bedraggled Kevin.
Too add insult to injury he stunk and so he then suffered the indignity of a bath, he has a small cut over his right eye and it looked nasty today and so now we wait.
Yesterday we went to "Dreamworld" Bangkok's version of Disneyland. It is garish, so pink even Barbie would consider re-designing, finally relenting and letting GI Joe paint the gym camo for her after all. Once inside you are confronted with pink flower beds contorted and clipped to grow in unnatural heart shapes. pink flamingoes and love seats as far as the eye can see. We covered our eyes and ran the gauntlet of kitsch. Free at last we started with the hanging roller coaster which was great fun. It had corners, you know the kind, your whole body tenses up and then that climatic moment, that terminal velocity moment, when your body realises it is completely out of it's depth amidst a wave of tingling shivering you become pliable and if you were projected into a brick wall now Humpty dumpty would start looking like a together dude.
We did the water rides, the "Grand canyon" and "the big splash" which were really just glorified excuses to get wet but in this heat that is not necessarily a bad thing. We found ourselves outside the Hollywood action auditorium just in time for the next showing, incredible over acting and shonky plot lines, the special effects explosions weren't bad though. Tim, something you could do in your backyard on weekends to bring in some extra cash.
We tried the monorail in which the carriages looked about as stable as cardboard boxes covered in tinfoil, but it gave you a nice over view of the park, we followed it up with a trip on the cable car from which I could see Chok chai school where I work and Cinderellas castle, though trying to tell them apart was tricky. Glen and I went on the Hurricane, Poi and Adrian piked out, hanging upside down is quite an unnatural sensation. so we ran back through fairy tale land and finally out again into real live Bangkok, I was left with the feeling that I had spent the day at the Sydney Easter show the Indianna county fair or even the Upper Hutt AMP show, candy floss and popcorn included, Pluto pups, deep fried mars bars, show bags and grans home made jams aside.
Lesson plans wait for no-one I'd better go write some.
See ya N.J.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Bangkok 20/8/06
Again almost a month has passed since my last posting, rainy season continues.
Yesterday I went to a local water fall which was very beautiful, it started raining and Poi became very scared at the prospect of landslides, the water positively gushed down the mountainside it was all pretty amazing. She is Stephen's TA and need I add brilliant. Next month all the National parks in Thailand will double there price of admission, making it a ridiculous 400 baht to go to them. Thailand is rapidly removing itself from the backpacker circuit with policies like this. Fortunately with a work visa I get to pay local prices which is currently 20 baht but which will also double to 40 baht next month.
Last weekend was the Queens birthday, therefore a long weekend and we went to Ayutthya which was the capital of Siam during the fifteenth century till it was sacked by the Burmese, some of the ruins were lovely, little boys frolicked amongst them attempting to foist postcards upon me, but considering I have still to send the flotilla I purchased in Chang I restrained myself. Some of the ruins have been restored, restoration is a funny kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario, if you don't the remains crumble away to rubble if you do to much you risk making the whole place look tacky and fake.
It was great to get out of Bkk for the weekend and empty my head. School is rife with rumors and intrigue it's bizarre but the Thai's seem to love intrigue and gossip, personally I can't be bothered. I had an observer in my class the other day, observing my little ADD boy, luckily it was a day when he was behaving well.
My TA is still driving me bananas, he is like having an extra child in the room not an assistant at all. but as most of Thailand it is a boys club and he is a friend of one further up the food chain so is unlikely to be fired. Anyway I must write some lesson plans I promise to write sooner next time.
N.J.
Yesterday I went to a local water fall which was very beautiful, it started raining and Poi became very scared at the prospect of landslides, the water positively gushed down the mountainside it was all pretty amazing. She is Stephen's TA and need I add brilliant. Next month all the National parks in Thailand will double there price of admission, making it a ridiculous 400 baht to go to them. Thailand is rapidly removing itself from the backpacker circuit with policies like this. Fortunately with a work visa I get to pay local prices which is currently 20 baht but which will also double to 40 baht next month.
Last weekend was the Queens birthday, therefore a long weekend and we went to Ayutthya which was the capital of Siam during the fifteenth century till it was sacked by the Burmese, some of the ruins were lovely, little boys frolicked amongst them attempting to foist postcards upon me, but considering I have still to send the flotilla I purchased in Chang I restrained myself. Some of the ruins have been restored, restoration is a funny kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario, if you don't the remains crumble away to rubble if you do to much you risk making the whole place look tacky and fake.
It was great to get out of Bkk for the weekend and empty my head. School is rife with rumors and intrigue it's bizarre but the Thai's seem to love intrigue and gossip, personally I can't be bothered. I had an observer in my class the other day, observing my little ADD boy, luckily it was a day when he was behaving well.
My TA is still driving me bananas, he is like having an extra child in the room not an assistant at all. but as most of Thailand it is a boys club and he is a friend of one further up the food chain so is unlikely to be fired. Anyway I must write some lesson plans I promise to write sooner next time.
N.J.
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